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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 19:27:31 UTC
A squid walks into a Bar.

And Mia Malfoy-Ausa could not possibly be happier about that fact.

The mother-to-be was just relaxing at a table with some lunch, enjoying an unusual break of not having to go to the bathroom, when her eyes happened to land on the squid.

Her face immediately lights up the way a child's does when they're informed they're getting that pony they wanted for Christmas and they won't lose any birthday presents because of it.

She tries to quell this some when she addresses the very lovely squid.

"Hello. Are you new here?"

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 19:31:48 UTC
The creature's head swivels around and lowers so all six black eyes are focused on the speaker at once. It cocks its head to one side and lets out a 'prrt?' noise; that probably means yes, or possibly where am I, please?.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 19:45:05 UTC
"It's all right. This is a good place."

It's intelligent. But of course it is; Mia wouldn't expect anything less.

"Welcome to Milliways."

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 19:54:11 UTC
Milliways. It will remember that. It makes a face best described as

^__^
.^__^
..^__^

and gives a pleased trill. Oh, and it lifts its tentacles and flexes them outward; it has little hope that any individual human necessarily understands the gesture, but it seldom hurts to say hello, even if not understood.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 19:58:51 UTC
Mia interprets it as happiness, not necessarily a greeting, but she does offer her own greeting.

She holds up a hand as if to wave and says, "My name is Mia. I'm pleased to meet you."

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 20:07:34 UTC
Ah, well, it was worth a try. And now it has a name to go with the face and the voice. Mia goes into its memory banks as it dips its head once.

This place is so very unlike the Spark in Darkness that it does not know where to begin investigating. Although the door behind it might be a good start. There were no wooden doors anywhere on the Spark, even in the officers' quarters. The door gets a very long look, head raising and lowering like a bird's, before it turns back to Mia and blinks again.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 20:18:42 UTC
"The door you came through?" she asks, following the glance. "It should open up to what you've just left. Time stops there while you're in here."

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 20:24:20 UTC
O__o
.O__o
..O__o

... which is to say, skepticalface from the squid. It cruises over to the door very briefly and opens it with one slender blue tentacle. Beyond lies a narrow maintenance corridor of grey metal, dozens of instruments and lights, and angular pillars. Nothing, however, appears to be moving, at least not until the creature pokes its head through the door; then the lights begin to glimmer and shift. They freeze again when it withdraws its head and turns around.

Huh. How very peculiar.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 20:32:02 UTC
"I had tried looking into it when I first came here," Mia says. "But there's so much conflicting information that I eventually took it for what it is and decided to go with the flow."

She scoots her chair back and carefully gets up to join it, hands on her back to help support her very pregnant frame.

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 20:38:36 UTC
That gets a surprised twitter, as it hadn't been looking much below the table. If the human- Mia- is having some difficulty standing- well, it looks around briefly and then puts one tentacle on a chair, as if to offer it. There is no reason to force Mia to stand up, after all. It can float a little lower and just keep its tentacles off the ground.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 20:49:20 UTC
"Oh, well thank you," she says, surprised and touched by the offer. "It is nicer to sit these days. Just seven weeks before the baby's here."

Which means she's been carrying him without a chance to put him down for 33 weeks. It's enough to wear anyone out if they think about it long enough.

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 20:56:27 UTC
It takes the creature a moment to riffle through its available data banks and find the medical files from the New Mombasa Superintendent's links to city hospitals. Human gestation takes an awfully long time, if the data is to be believed. The creature will definitely make sure she gets to sit, then, and lower its cruising height to something a little easier. There is no harm done by flexing one's neck to make eye contact from a different altitude than usual, after all.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 21:03:53 UTC
"You're very sweet," she says, and she carefully reaches out a hand.

It's either to take a tentacle for a kind hand-tentacle-shake or to pat its head.

"Are you hungry?"

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 21:16:24 UTC
It's been patted on the head by humans before, so it's quite used to that gesture. Once again, it makes the

^__^
.^__^
..^__^

face, and then gives a prrt of acknowledgment. It was caught up in its work earlier, and forgot to eat.

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gorgonfondness January 9 2010, 21:21:39 UTC
"Then we must get you something."

She waves over a waitrat.

"You can ask him to bring you whatever you like."

There are a couple of waitrats behind bringing what Mia didn't finish at the table.

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helpful_squid January 9 2010, 21:23:59 UTC
It looks at the rat; this is going to be... interesting.

Fortunately, rats appear to speak more of the creature's sign language than humans do. The rat chitters in response to the complex tentacle-gesture and runs off to the kitchen. It returns somewhat later with two bananas and some of the most brightly colored junk food the year 2552 can offer.

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