Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

[zerotohiro]

'Busy, leave a message!
...oh, you've reached Hiro Hamada. Whatever. Still busy!'

Hamada art by D-Joel, found on tumblr

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[zerotohiro]

[Hey, it's much cleaner than his room at home or the garage. It's only when Kon mentions Mochi that the cat stirs, opening bright green eyes and giving a plaintive meow up at him. His tail flicks, brushing some of Hiro's papers aside and finally pulling the boy out of his work.]

Huh? Oh. Mochi, stop. [He gently tugs on the cat's tail a bit and the cat gets up, leaning further over the edge of the table to get a better look at the new stranger. There's another chirp sound from the cat as Hiro reorganizes his notes, suddenly realizing he may have very well lost Kon's attention.]

...he really is kind of huge, isn't he? [He lets his eyes glance over Kon for a moment, nodding to himself.] Nice to see you in normal, non-Edo-era clothes.

[refate]

Mochi, oh my god, it's perfect. [ Unable to help himself, Kon laughs, completely enchanted by this frankly enormous cat - it's not even like he's just fat, he's huge. Mochi looks like he could have eaten him in one bite when he was Hiro's age, probably, but he still wants to pet him.

So he offers him his left hand, grinning. The mess on his desk doesn't even faze him, before or after the cat's swished his tail across it. ] Hi. He looks like a ball of mochi.

[ But he does manage to split his attention between the two of them, angling his head a little towards Hiro while still looking at this damn cat. ] I fit in either way where I'm staying, hilariously, but it's nice to have normal shoes again. [ And actual underwear, but we're not talking about that. ]

[zerotohiro]

[As soon as Kon offers his hand, the cat butts his head against it, immediately starting to purr. Hiro rolls his eyes, putting down his pen finally and leaning back in his chair as he watches his friend and his feline friend interact.]

That's kinda the point. [He shrugs.] My aunt owns a cafe called Lucky Cat. Mochi's kinda like a mascot. [The damn cat continues to purr, even going as far as to lick Kon's hand.] I'm not sure what that says about you or the people you're staying with if your old clothes would fit in. You were going to explain about spirits and technology though, remember?

[Y'know. Before they get into the whole "look at these chips" thing.]

[refate]

[ There's way too many cute animals in Cerealia, honestly, but Kon wouldn't exactly reach out to the smallest fox like he is Mochi. There's kind of a difference between someone's pet housecat and a kitsune that's bound to a tsukumogami. At least Mochi seems to approve of him, and after he gets a lick he scratches under the cat's chin. ]

Your aunt makes great choices. [ Look at this cat, of course he'd be a mascot. But then he figures he ought to focus properly. ] Right - so, in Japanese lore, there's these spirits called tsukumogami. They're the spirits of inanimate objects that have reached a hundred years, gaining sentience and power, and they can be literally anything. In this case, I somehow got taken home by the sword of Sakamoto Ryouma, and he's probably one of the youngest swords in the place. There's sixteen, I think?

[ He rubs his thumb across the bridge of Mochi's nose. ] They're still learning about modern tech and appliances, and apparently things glitch a lot in the apartments we're all spread across, so I'm not really keen on keeping any tech around there for long.

[zerotohiro]

[Mochi's incredibly receptive to what Kon's doing and Baymax has finished downloading his database, also listening to Kon's story the same way Hiro is. Before he can even stop himself though he finds himself saying:] Yokai. [He understands what tsukumogami are, having a firm grasp of Japanese lore even if he doesn't entirely believe or care for all of it. He also seems to know who Sakamoto Ryouma is and before Kon can question it he sort of waves a hand.] The school system taught us both US and Japanese history. I didn't think that tsukumogami were actually...y'know. Real? How'd you end up going home with a sword?

[And even moreso. Mochi licks Kon's thumb (or tries to) while Hiro snorts in response.] In that case I can't say I blame you. It's cool, you can keep stuff here. Tadashi and I probably won't break them. [Probably.]