ten_fwd | Room 747 closed to itmeanstruth

Entry tags:

cat,
minoru

Room 747 closed to itmeanstruth

When the security officer opened the door to room 747, Cat looked around, established it was empty, then headed into it. There was no-one living there, that much was clear. Although Cat glanced at the other person security had brought to this room, he appeared to ignore them. However, that was only an appearance. He knew exactly where everyone in the room was and had been.

For now, the most important thing was to inspect the room thoroughly. He began by lifting up the cushions on the couch. The room had been cleaned and there was nothing beneath them. There was nothing under the couch either, when he looked. Which was a pity - couches were good places for people to drop things that Cat could then find.

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Minoru walked into the room with a bit of a spring in his step. It was small, but when it came to amenities, it was actually more than he was used to.

Sure, he had a nice room at his brother's home whenever he happened to be in his birth village, but when he was at Ryuuchi Cave, he was pretty much sleeping on whatever ground he felt like. On his travels, he'd slept in trees, dumpsters, a hammock on a rooftop, wherever he happened to be at the time. To have a room on this giant starship was pretty neat.

He looked around for a minute, noticing the bunk beds, the bathroom, the replicator box in the wall that makes food. And a roommate! ... Who was looking under the couch?

Minoru hopped over the arm of the couch, perching on the seat. "...Did you lose something already?"

Cat looked up and shook his head. "I'm investigating," he replied, as if that was the only explanation that was required. He left the couch to look over the replicator. He was used to food machines, although this one was different. But if it did the same thing then he didn't care. Once he'd finished investigating, then he'd get a drink from it.

There wasn't much to the living area and he looked into the sleeping area. Two rooms! That was more than he was used to. Not that he was used to sharing it, but he'd hadn't twigged yet that the monkey on the couch was his roommate.

Minoru was thrilled that the bathroom was separate too. Unlike the more communal areas of the quarantine, he could shower with no one else around. (Yes, Minoru is the most friendly, outgoing person you can meet, but when it's time to bathe, he will shy away from the entire universe if he has to.)

He followed Cat into the sleeping area and immediately scaled the bunk.

"Can I have the top one?" he asked cheerfully. "I don't snore."

"If you want to sleep on something so bare," he replied, looking doubtfully at the bunk. "Where's the comfortable blanket and the fluffy pillow? Why is there no colour in this room?" Well, apart from Cat, who was nearly always colourful.

He stalked off into the bathroom, complaining. "There's not enough space for my beauty products," But he was distracted by the mirror. He admired himself for a moment, before taking a comb out of a pocket and tidying his hair. Most people wouldn't think it was untidy, but the Cat wasn't most people.

"I guess we can decorate." He shrugged. He hadn't heard any explicit orders not to, but the frequently homeless don't have much experience in the way of interior decorating. He'd leave that up to Cat.

He climbed the rest of the way up to the top bunk. It felt pretty comfortable, and he had no complaints. He didn't mind the size of the bathroom either, but one look at that uncontrollable mane of hair suggested that beauty products weren't exactly high on Minoru's shopping list.

"They have lockers if you need more space. I think we're supposed to put our clothes there." He called out from the bedroom.

Cat came to have a look, tucking his comb back into a pocket. He frowned at the size of the lockers. "They expect us to keep all our clothes in those?" And he was assuming both were for him. "If I had that few clothes I'd be as good as dead." Admittedly he didn't have many yet, but he was working on that problem and was sure he'd acquire a few roomful of clothes very soon.

The only time Minoru really cared about getting more clothes was when he'd managed to mangle and destroy the set he was wearing beyond repair. If he was lucky, he had one spare set tucked away, but that didn't always happen.

"You know any sealing jutsu? If you sealed your extra clothes into scrolls, they'd fit for sure."

No one could fill that entire locker with scrolls, especially when each scroll could contain multiple items. ...right? Or was Cat going to convert their bedroom into his own personal closet?

He totally was. Where else would he put all his clothes? And beauty products, of which he needed many.

Cat spun round to look confused at his roommate. "Any sealing whatsu?"

"Jutsu." Minoru repeated, holding up his arm as though that helped explain things. On his left wrist was a snake tattoo. "Techniques."

He was nowhere near the master of sealing techniques that his brother was. Isamu was skilled enough to create and even rewrite seals that could do all kinds of impossible things. But he could do a few simple things, like sealing items into scrolls for easier travel.

He didn't have any on him right now, though. So he settled with using what he did have - a summoning contract tattooed on his wrist. He drew his hand across it, and with a little chakra, a small snake appeared! It quickly coiled around Minoru's arm.

An expression of understanding came over Cat's face, along with a smile. "Magic!" he said, excitedly, pointing at the snake. It was beyond Cat's understanding - but then so were lots of things. Describing it as magic was probably about as sophisticated as he could manage.

"I suppose it's a little like magic." He nodded. It wasn't the first time that association had been made, and it wouldn't be the last.

Minoru turned to the snake, and asked it if it had any blank scrolls he could use. There was a slight nod from the little serpent as it opened its mouth wide. It regurgitated a small scroll. Minoru removed the rest of the way, and shook it clean.

"Thank you." He whispered, nuzzling the snake with his nose before it vanished again.

"Okay, now I can show you what I was talking about!" He held the scroll toward Cat. "Go get me some of your extra clothes. And I'll seal them in here."

Cat looked dubious. He was expected to put his clothes inside a scroll that a snake at spat out. It wasn't even a big scroll.

"And get them crumpled?" he said, as if that was the worst thing in the world that could happen to his clothes.

But although that was bad, it wasn't the worst thing about it. No, the worst thing was that since his wardrobe hadn't come with him, he'd only managed to acquire one more suit. So far he'd managed to mix and match them enough that no one could tell, but if he had to admit the truth to someone he'd be as good as dead. Since he cared so much about how he looked, he automatically assumed that everyone else cared about how he looked too.

"Not crumpled. Sealed. It's like they shrink inside. But come out good as new when you unseal it again."

Minoru, unfortunately, did not read between the lines. He didn't catch the obvious fact that Cat had yet to find the clothes he was worried about finding enough space for. Why would anyone be worried about storing what they don't yet have, anyway?

"Shrink?" He cried out, slightly hysterically. That was even worse. It didn't matter if they'd be good as new, he wouldn't be able to wear them if they'd shrunk.

"You're a monster." He flounced back out into the living area, to get a glass of milk from the replicator to drown his sorrows in.

"They unshrink again!" he insisted. He knew a demonstration would help, but he didn't really have worldly possessions of his own and if his roommate thought he was a monster, stripping down naked to use his own clothes as an example wouldn't help.

"How much space do you really need?"

Cat didn't really believe him and he was hardly going to risk his clothes if they didn't unshrink again. He had a sip of his milk and gave his roommate a look that said Cat thought he was crazy.

"All my suits, back on Red Dwarf would fill..." he paused, thinking hard, trying to estimate spaces. "This deck," he managed. It was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but Cat hadn't seen his wardrobe for a while. Being stuck on Starbug with only one rack of clothes, before he'd ended up here, had made him a little nostalgic.

Minoru stared at him, his jaw dropping. He couldn't even imagine that many pieces of clothing in one place. Really, even stores were smaller than the deck they were on.

"...How do you... How do you have time to wear them all?"

Cat shrugged. It shouldn't be hard to understand, but he was used to living with people who didn't change their clothes very often. "I can't wear anything more than once, can I?"

Minoru blinked, and then scratched his head. Most of the time, if he needed to wash his clothes, he was naked in the river right along with his laundry. So the concept of wearing something only once seemed like a big waste of clothing.

Then it dawned on him!

"...You don't need that much space! If you can't wear something more than once, there's no point in keeping it! So everything will fit just fine."

"But they're my suits! I need my suits!" Cat was a bit irrational when it came to clothes. To him, though, that was a completely rational response. It didn't matter that he wasn't going to wear anything again (unless he had to), he still needed his clothes.

"If you're never going to wear them again?"

It made little sense to Minoru, who had just hopped up to grab a pipe that ran along the ceiling and was now swinging on it. Thinking while standing still was nearly impossible.

Maybe a change of topic was in order.

"... What do you like to do?"

Cat drunk his milk, not bothered by someone swinging off a pipe on the ceiling. He'd done his fair share of that sort of thing as a kitten. He, though, lay on the sofa, looking pretty relaxed.

"Sleep," he said. And after a moment added, "Fish."

Their respective energy levels were definitely opposite each other. Minoru was relaxed, his body loose and moving easily, but it was a very different sort of relaxed.

"I've fished on occasion." he noted.

Unless it was the only option, though, he usually didn't eat meat. Beggars couldn't be choosers, after all. And if, in his travels, refusing a meal would offend his host, he dared not be picky!

"I like to train, to spar, definitely to run."

His style of running would be a lot closer to parkour than actual running.

Cat could be active if he needed to be. Or if he wanted to be. But given the option he'd definitely choose relaxing.

"I like to eat fish," he clarified, with a grin. "And catch fish. But there's no live fish on board." As far as he knew anyway, but in his experience spaceships didn't keep live fish.

"The replicator boxes are able to make almost anything, they said. That probably includes fish."

Catching and eating things is far better than killing for recreation or sport! Being a student of the Great Snake Lord Elders, he had his share of giant rat over the decades... Even if he still couldn't quite bring himself to kill his meal himself.

His favorite foods? "If it's sweet, chances are I like it."

Cat shrugged. "Fish are more fun when they're alive." Although, of course, he doesn't object to eating them when they're dead either.

He didn't comment on his roommate's choice of food because he didn't really care. There was only one person he cared about and Lister wasn't here.

But all this talk of food was making him hungry. He stood up, suddenly looking a lot more energetic than he had a moment ago, and went over to the replicator. "Fish," he said at it, to see what would happen.

What happened was that it beeped and asked him, "Please state the variety of fish you require." Cat's eyes widened as he looked over at his roommate. How was he supposed to make that sort of decision?

"What's your favorite kind of fish?" He shrugged. Minoru had gotten that reply when he asked for vegetables once at Ten Forward. "Though if you wait for a while, it starts making suggestions. At least the one in Ten Forward did."

And it was a good thing, really.

Cat's favourite fish was whatever kind he was eating at the moment. But he went for the first one that came into his head. "Tuna." The replicator duly delivered him a plate of tuna. He happily took it over to the table and gobbled it up. He used a knife and fork, at least.

It was finally dawning on Minoru that his roommate was a lot like his name. He liked fish, drank milk, stayed exceptionally clean and relaxed. He'd seen enough of Isamu's summons to know how cats behaved.

"You know, it's almost like you're an actual cat." He mused aloud, not realizing at all what kind of world he'd come from.

"I am a cat." He stopped eating long enough to look up at his roommate. "And you're a monkey."

Minoru blinked. Even the ninja cats still looked like cats - fur, tails, etc. And Cat definitely looked human. Perhaps 'Cat' was a title. Much like...

"Monkey?" The fact that he was swinging playfully from a pipe on the ceiling probably didn't help, but he countered, "No. I'm a Snake Sage. A Dragon."

He released natural energy from the seal on his chest and his entire body transformed. His skin turned scaly white, his eyes turned color and four horns poked out of that shaggy mane of hair.

"Dragon!" he said excitedly, pointing at his roommate. He didn't know what Snake Sage meant, so like lots of other things he didn't understand, he ignored it. "Do you breathe fire too?"

Minoru mistook the excitement for understanding, but it seemed to have the same effect.

"I could do that since I was four." he laughed, pursing his lips and blowing a fireball just large enough to be impressive, but too small to do any kind of damage.

Technically, his fire abilities had nothing to do with his sage training or being in sage mode. A lot of the people in his world had affinities for manipulating an element or two. His was fire, which was very common in his family. His twin brother used air and water.

"Impressive, Bud." Here was someone who was almost cool. Certainly cooler than anyone Cat had met, except himself. "If I had to share a room with anyone, I'm glad it's with you." Maybe if he found himself any live fish, this guy could cook them.

Minoru gave a nod as he dropped out of Sage Mode. The transition was just as quick as the first one was, and Minoru appeared completely human again. "Thanks. I think we're going to get along just fine."

And if he did happen to get enough clothes to use the entire bedroom as a closet, well, the couch wouldn't be the strangest place Minoru's slept.

"I get along with everyone." Well, sort of. At least in Cat's opinion, if not in anyone else's. "Everyone wants to get along with me." Also, only in his opinion. But his opinion was the only one that mattered.

Minoru shrugged with a laugh. "Sounds good to me."

Who knows, this might be a pair that actually works out!

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Room 747 closed to itmeanstruth

Whee!! Hello!

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