Day 42: Noon - The Pet Supply Place
[continued from here]It took the trio a few short minutes to walk over to the pet store, and like before, Senna ignored it utterly in favor of the brown horse to the side. Once the mare was in sight, Senna ran ahead beaming. "Hey girl," she greeted, then made a clicking noise with her tongue. The horse waved an ear at her, then basically ignored
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"Good job," Meche told Soma. "That's the way to do it, just let her get comfortable with you. She's a good girl, aren't you?" This last was to the mare, who didn't bother to offer a reply. She was starting to make more contented noises now, though.
Meche wanted to pet her too, but she hung back a little until the girls finished--having three people in your face all at once seemed like it would be enough to get on anyone's nerves, even the most patient of horses. Besides, they were running out of accessible places to pet.
It was wonderful watching the two of them playing with the mare, though. What a contrast from all the horrors of last night. "You know, I'm almost tempted to change my answer from last night," she said. "Right now, I think this girl is my favorite animal."
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As Meche continued talking, Senna sighed contently and fell backwards onto the ground. Yeah, it was cold, but she didn't mind as much now. The girl stared up at the clouds. Today they were unidentifiable masses, nothing like the day Hanatarou and her had looked for shapes in them. Was that only yesterday? She watched the clouds move slowly across the sky, half paying attention to her surroundings and half very far away. "She suits you," she heard herself replying. "You're both really sweet."
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Still, the feel of the mare's nose against her hand was pleasant, and Soma found herself untensing as she continued to pet the horse. She had always liked horses as a general idea; they had always seemed free-spirited and swift as the wind in books. It was difficult to reconcile that idea of them with the old mare nudging her hand for more food, but she decided she still liked horses nonetheless.
Senna had flung herself down on the ground and was staring up at the sky, and Soma had to repress a smile herself. Everyone here was so relaxed, despite the way they all spent their nights. What was their secret?
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She smoothed her dress under her legs and sat down on the grass near Senna--better to let Soma have the mare's undivided attention. In the meantime, Meche had a question to consider: What to do with those spare coupons? Surely someone would be willing to trade something for them, but she knew from last week that the nurses searched everyone before they got back on the buses. Meche had a few ideas about hiding places for small objects (a girl had to stash her lipstick somewhere when she wasn't carrying a handbag, after all), but what was there in town that could be useful?
She thought briefly about trying to bring something back for Manny, but so far she hadn't even been able to get a message to him. Sending a present to the infirmary would probably be even more out of the question.
Well, maybe next week he'd be better and they could go to lunch at one of the restaurants, she thought. With all those coupons, she could even buy.
"Can you think of anything useful that we can only get in town?" she asked out loud. "The trips are so relaxing, but I always feel like I should be...I don't know--moving ahead somehow." Downtime here felt good, but also almost wrong. The way Meche saw it, she could--quite literally--rest when she was dead.
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She wondered, briefly, is this is what it would have been like if she existed--if she had been alive. Hanging out with friends, doing nothing but enjoying the day and themselves. There was a pang of a loss that never occurred, then she swallowed, looking at Soma this time.Enjoy this, something told her. You never know when second chances run out. "So you really were in space a lot then, huh?"
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"I'm not hungry at the moment, but I wouldn't mind going with you two." She doubted her sense of fullness at the moment could strictly be counted anyway; before she'd arrived here, she'd been capable of going considerably longer than the average human without feeling hungry.
Nodding in response to Senna's question, she resumed petting the mare, tentatively perching on the fence as she did so. "I was. I was raised on a colony in space to begin with, and a lot of battles took place up there." A pause. "Is that very unusual in your time? History isn't one of my strong points."
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Meche imagined Soma riding a space shuttle to get to school or something like that--Pugsy and Bibi would probably approve. "Did you say when you're from?" she asked, wondering suddenly if Soma was from the same time (apparently in the far future) as Albedo. Maybe from the same place, even? They did have the same unusual hair color, although that could be par for the course in space for all she knew. Soma hadn't started glowing yet, anyway.
She got up and stretched. "I wouldn't mind some food, but what if we take a walk first and see if we can find Hokuto? She might be looking for us." After all, the three of them had all had the same thought, so their other teammate might be worried too, even if she was having fun with her girlfriend. Meche couldn't remember where the restaurants were either, so a quick stroll around town couldn't hurt anyway.
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Senna glanced up at the sun. Seemed like time was passing by quickly here. "Yeah, we should do another round at the park and see if we can find her. Then maybe." That said, the girl got up, dusting off her knees. Shooting a small smile to the others, she started to retrace their path.
[to here]
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