Oh no he's back for more

[dehipster]

[So Benny's still in Wankerville. By now, he's getting a better grasp of what's going on and what to expect. This isn't just because he's spoken to Shelly and Tori; it's because he found a certain convenient book. It's titled "Welcome to Wankerville, Random Nexus Facts For Dummies".

That's not the only thing he's found.

Right now, he's sitting on the front steps of one of the houses, playing with four kittens. He's not sure where their mother is, but he does know they were incredibly hungry when he stumbled across them. Luckily, they seem to about four or five weeks old, so they accepted meat scraps just fine. He fed them and now he's stuck with them. Not that he minds, of course. He enjoys their company. Shoe was already a fully-grown, lazy tomcat when Benny got him, so the opportunity to play with actual kittens is new to him.]

Comments

[dehipster]

[Another one? Good grief, this kid's been to others?]

Only that all the resources are free for the taking and very few other people can be found here.

[keptasecret]

Hm. Yes, this place does seem emptier than the last one. [Stay strong, keep the act going. Don't show how scared you are.]

[dehipster]

I'd say the dominant species in this place would be cats. At the moment, they outnumber us two to one.

[keptasecret]

[Oh, wow. Wow. You (most likely) human, how dare you. Don't think you're going to break her down, she's got Papa's attitude backing her up--

Except she's totally laughing a little. Oops.]

[dehipster]

[Manipulative therapist strikes again!]

Would you like to pet one?

[keptasecret]

I really can? [She's still pretty suspicious though, so she frowns again.] But I wasn't exactly kind to you...

[dehipster]

If you'd been unkind towards the kittens, I might not offer. However, I see no harm in it.

[keptasecret]

I wouldn't have been unkind toward the kittens! They're not... [Well, let's not get into that. She crouches down, gently petting one of the kittens. She's being extremely careful, even. So cute...]

[dehipster]

[Yes, good. Go right ahead and pet the kittens. Benny will watch, keeping a tight hold on his own kitten.]

[keptasecret]

[Petpetpet... oh, the little kitten is purring! So adorable! She giggles a little again, completely off guard despite Benny's presence.]

[dehipster]

[Wow it sure is a good thing Benny's not an assassin or anything. Yup.]

... So, do you like cats?

[keptasecret]

[Nod.]

Uh-huh. My family has a couple. [Even if Mithos had decided he wanted to say "no," it would have been four to one. And so, kitties.] They're really sweet.

[dehipster]

I have one at home as well. He's rather old and sluggish- the complete opposite of these four.

[keptasecret]

[So he doesn't just have these sweeties, he has one back in his world. People who like cats can't be bad, right...]

But you love him all the same, right?

[dehipster]

Of course. He's one of my best friends.

[Benny has remarkably few friends. He can't even count Bobby, because that's one of his patients. He needs to be careful not to blur the line between business and personal.]

[keptasecret]

What's his name? Your cat.

[She peers up at Benny in curiosity, but he might be able to notice that her guard has slightly risen again and that her body language isn't entirely relaxed. Now that she's looking at him, she remembers why she was wary in the first place.]

[dehipster]

[Benny doesn't mind at all. It's good for children to be wary of strangers and honestly, he'd prefer this over a kid who's nosy and overbearing.]

Shoe. As in... a shoe. [He gestures to his feet, where a kitten is playing with his shoelaces.]

[keptasecret]

...is it common to name cats after things like that?

[She honestly wouldn't know.]

Mama likes naming cats after cookies and wafers, but...

[dehipster]

[Cookies and wafers... Who else does he know who's like that?]

Cats can have all sorts of names. From footwear to wafers to human names. It all comes down to the preference of the owner.

[keptasecret]

Mama must really have a preference for cookies and wafers, then. [She laughs softly, mostly to herself.] It's a little strange, since Daddy's the big cookie fan...

[And also the one who slips the kids cookies when Tori says no. Who knows where Mithos stands on that?]

[dehipster]

Perhaps she chose the cookie names to appeal to your father's love for cookies.

[... Would Matt Engarde have had a love for shoes? No, that makes no sense. Knowing Matt Engarde, he either thought it was cute or he was high off his rocker. ... Matt Engarde was such an asshole. Benny never even met the guy, but he's sure of it.]

[keptasecret]

...Mama's the type of person who would do that, I think. She's sentimental like that, and she really loves Daddy a lot.

[And Papa. Sometimes she wishes she didn't have to waltz around all these details. She has two fathers and one mother, they all love each other very much and they love their kids.

...if only it weren't for her elven blood...]

[dehipster]

[Hearing words like that, it rather makes Benny wonder what it'd be like if he'd had two parents. His father wasn't such a sentimental person, though. It'd be hard to picture him with a woman. ...Or a man, for that matter. That'd be even worse to picture.]

Is that so? It sounds like you have a wonderful family.

[keptasecret]

I do. We all love each other a lot. It almost makes up for not knowing many other people...

[Though because Faith and herself have gained a curiosity toward the world outside their comfortable home, there's been a bit of tension from within it as of late.]

[dehipster]

[Tisk tisk. She'd better watch her wording more carefully around Benny, because he picked up on that one.]

Almost?