Never made collages as a young child - not that much to see, so much to say...

[howmuchisfate]

In the common area of the Conrad, Shilo's curled up comfortably in an armchair too large for her, knees pulled up to her chest and a book in her hands, Leapsfar fast asleep on her shoulder

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[please_see_me]

Dusty has been sort of furtively watching Shilo and her squirrel for a while. After all - this girl has a rocking haircut and a pet squirrel. That's just cool.

Eventually, she gets up the nerve to walk over to the (not much) older girl, a shy smile on your face. "Um, I like your hair," she says, tucking some of her own behind her ear. "It looks really cool."

[howmuchisfate]

Shilo jumps a little, but catches herself before she moves enough to wake up Leapsfar. For a moment, she just looks up at Dusty, startled, and then smiles, very slowly. "Thanks," she says quietly, reaching up to touch her head self-consciously. "It's... sort of new." Not the haircut. The hair.

[please_see_me]

Dusty grins a little, and might bounce. Just a bit. "How long was it before you cut it?" She will feel ridiculously bad when she finds out it's the hair not the haircut, but hey, it's all good.

"Also, your squirrel is totally cool. I've never seen one so tame before!"

[howmuchisfate]

"Oh, um... I didn't really... have it before. I had a wig."

She doesn't really have time to respond to the comment about her "tame" friend. Leapsfar, only half awake before, is conscious enough to hear that, and he opens his eyes, chittering an annoyed reproof. Shilo grins, despite herself, and tries not to laugh.

"He's not actually tame. He kind of adopted me."

[magelet_daine]

Daine comes in from the direction of the elevators - she's been at the zoo, working. It's wonderful, to her, that she gets to do these wonderful things, and take care of these animals, and they're paying her for it.

Maybe she should get one of these "apartments" that people say they live in. A small set of rooms in a larger building, available for a small fee. Like a boarding house, she supposes. If she has money, she could get one. (Really, she'd have to take someone with her who understands the concept of bills - that wouldn't even figure into her calculations.)

Still, despite how much she loves her job, it is occasionally very tiring - today, for example, while she was off for a couple days, a bug got passed around the birds in the aviary. It wasn't bad, or life threatening, but she didn't feel right leaving them sick, and she's very drained. So she flops in the cushy chair next to Shilo with a groan and little else to say.

Hello, Shi. Have a biffle.

[howmuchisfate]

"Daine!" Shilo folds up her book right away, shifting around in her chair to face her. "...are you alright?" She knows what it looks like, after all, when someone's not quite at their best. When you spend most of your life sick...

The movement wakes Leapsfar up - sort of. He opens his eyes, takes in the fact that Daine's there, and hops off Shilo's shoulder to go curl up on Daine's lap. Looking after Shilo is tiring. She keeps going out to chase bugs, and he really can't work out why.

[magelet_daine]

Daine initially only grunts a little, though she does gently run her fingers down Leapsfar's back - instinct, to love on the animals, and all. Then she sighs again.

"Yes. Just tired. A couple of birds in the aviary got sick while I was gone and passed it to at least half of the others. So that, on top of normal daily healing and activity. Tired."

Also, Daine would point out to Leapsfar that Shilo can probably look after herself, and if she can't, that she keeps a pretty good eye on Shilo herself. But she knows animals, and when one adopts you as firmly as Leapsfar adopted Shilo...

Well. Daine has a pony who did that, you see.

[howmuchisfate]

"Oh." Shilo frowns a little, and then asks, "Are they okay now?" She believes Daine when she says she's alright, but... well, the birds matter to Daine like they're people, Shilo knows, so it seems only logical to ask about them too.

[clockwork_doc]

Doc wanders into the common room, a couple of pieces of paper tucked under his arm. The papers are covered with equations -- Doc was double-checking his theory of time travel earlier, and he thinks he may have found an error in the re-entry formulas. So he's going to redo a bit of the math. He'd do it in his room, but he's feeling too cooped-up in there lately. At least in the common room there's other people. And maybe if someone scientifically-minded happens along, he can get their help with this.

He's looking for a table when he spots Shilo. And does a double take. What the -- "Er, excuse me -- is that a squirrel?" He supposes it could be a shifter, but -- still, that's a little strange, even for the Conrad basement.

[howmuchisfate]

Shilo looks up, blinking a little. "Um. Yes?" She pauses a second, and then adds, "His name's Leapsfar. He's not a pet, he just... follows me around."

[clockwork_doc]

Doc looks a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I've just never seen anyone down here with a squirrel on their shoulder." He considers what she said. Leapsfar suggests the squirrel isn't a shifter. "Just one you managed to befriend, then?" Then, having a thought, "Is he just an ordinary squirrel, or one who came through the Rift or is otherwise unusual?" He's just curious -- besides, this is Chicago. Unusual animals are more or less the norm.

[howmuchisfate]

"No, he's from here. But I think he's smarter than the other squirrels." Not that Shilo's ever been around squirrels who aren't Leapsfar and the ones she met in the park, but they can't all be like him. "I have this friend who talks to animals, and she said he thinks I need someone to look after me. I guess that's him." Yes, Shilo's been adopted by a squirrel. It's a little strange, but Shilo barely knows what normal is, so it doesn't much bother her.