Day 60: Cafeteria
Anise had been lying snug in bed, only vaguely aware that she was awake, when her rest was disturbed by the one sound in the world she'd never wanted to hear again.
"Good morning, everyone!"
The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that ( Read more... )
"Good morning, everyone!"
The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that ( Read more... )
It was a bit awkward to be complimented on her name like that, but it seemed like the bubbly girl just happened to be the kind of person to do things like that.
"I wouldn't know. I don't go out of my way to make friends." To emphasize the point, she pulled her notebook closer and flipped it open, searching for a place to write her latest findings, and pointedly avoiding eye contact with Mokona.
Despite the cold response, though, there was a small feeling of familiarity in the stranger's words and behavior... Rita soon found herself thinking back to the first time Estelle took her by the hand, the first time she'd ever made a friend... Rita's pen hovered above the page, unmoving, as she stared downward, not quite at the notebook but somewhere beyond it, off into space.
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“Mokona loves making friends! All kinds!” she chirped, continuing the conversation without the slightest hesitation. “Its one of this Mokona's special talents!”
She beamed proudly for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the still-blank paper, eyes eager as she waited for its surface to become covered in words or pictures. “What are you writing about? Or are you going to draw?”
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When the girl continued to pester Rita with questions, she glanced away from the page, moving her eyes without lifting her head at all. She wasn't backing off easily, was she? What a pain.
"Magic research," she answered simply, then began to write in her near-illegible scrawl. "Formulas for spell-casting. Probably too complicated and boring for you." As it was for the vast majority of people, but Mokona in particular didn't strike Rita as the studious type.
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Mokona's expression grew even cheerier, if that were possible, when Rita's answer finally reached her ears. She quickly leaned up on her knees again, the motion springy and reminiscent of the hops she'd used to move about so often in her original form - though this movement was just restrained enough that she didn't end up sitting on the table. While she'd have normally preferred that more elevated perch for watching someone work and write, the last few days (and more than a few accidents) had started to teach her that there were many places her new, human form wouldn't fit quite as well...
"Magic? Mokona knows lots about magic!" The little creature replied enthusiastically, her smile growing even wider at the prospect of already having so much in common with her new friend. She raised a small finger to her face for emphasis as she continued. "Two very powerful magicians created both Mokonas, and lots of our friends can use spells, too!"
"Even Mokona can use them!" She added, then paused, face obviously thoughtful - her finger raised to tap her chin. "Though not all of them, in this world. And none of them seem to work until the sun goes down. Is it the same for Rita?"
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Finally, she was able to shake off the surprise long enough to process what she just heard. She nodded slowly at Mokona's question. "Yeah. No one here can use magic during the day, and at night, we're heavily limited. I can't manage more than a couple fireballs, most nights." Last night was a pretty big exception.
But from what Mokona said, she didn't sound like the typical magic-user. And what was that business about 'both Mokonas'?
"If you were created by magicians... does that mean you're not human? And what sort of magic can you use?" If Mokona was originally something other than a human, it could explain her failure to pick up Rita's social cues. And on the other hand, it would give Rita a reason to want to hear what she had to say.
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"Ooh, fireballs? Mokona can't do anything like that!" The little girl clapped her hands, impressed. "Rita must be very strong!"
She paused, nodding enthusiastically in response to the first question, and raised her small hand so that it hovered about a foot and a half above the surface of the table, to indicate the size of something. "Mokona is supposed to be this tall, with loooong ears and big feet, and soft, white fur!"
As she spoke, she tugged and pointed at the corresponding human body-parts she now possessed, and even rubbed at her skin, illustratively. She frowned for a moment, as if she thought she might have forgotten something, then grinned widely, and gestured to the center of her forehead. "Oh! And a big red jewel, right here! To help everyone talk to Yuuko!"
"Yuuko and Clow made the Mokonas for different reasons. This Mokona is meant to help on an important journey!" The creature continued cheerily, happy that the witch's name led her right into the explanation. "So my powers let me move between words, and take my friends with me! Or talk to people in other worlds, and send them things. Oh, and sense things, or people, with lots of magic in them."
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Additionally, it sounded like Yuuko had to be the magician who created her. It was too bad Rita probably wouldn't get to meet her in person. There was probably a lot she could learn from someone like that.
But more interesting than anything were the abilities she then described to Rita. Moving between worlds, sending things to other worlds... if those were Mokona's powers, then...!
Rita leaned in closer. "Mokona," she began slowly, feeling a little hesitant after she'd been so dismissive of the girl minutes ago, "if you got your full powers back, would you be able to help the rest of us get home to our own worlds?"
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