TINY CAT PEOPLE: THE MAZE TRIALS

[skinstealer]

  

SEE: Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me.
SEE: ...well, I do want to know for like, safety reasons, but it’s just the two of us right now.
SEE: We can just sit, don’t even have to say anything if you just wanna enjoy the silence.
????: No, I’m...good for talking.
????: Just not about that.
SEE: That’s fine! Are you hurt at all, though?
SEE: That’s the one thing I want to check on for sure.
????: No, just...I don’t know.
 

You sit down next to them, the large TCP scooting over to make room. They’re absolutely towering over you, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t intimidated, but they don’t make any sudden moves- to hurt you or otherwise. 

 
SEE: I didn’t catch your name.
????: ...Monty.
SEE: Cool name.
MONTY: Thanks…
 

  

It’s awkward for a moment as you think of things to say, but the doll catches your eye again.

 
SEE: That doll a reward?
MONTY: Yeah...I got it after dodging a trap that shoots these heavy round things at you.
MONTY: I’ve seen it a couple times now, but they can really do some damage if you’re not careful.
MONTY: They just wind me when I get hit because of how big I am...but to a little one like you, they’d knock you over.
MONTY: ...better be careful of pits like this, if you’re around those.
SEE: Y-yeah…
 

More silence, but Monty starts talking this time.

 
MONTY: It was worth it for the doll, though. I named it Mint.
MONTY: Mint is...it’s a kind of herb, and they put it in different kinds of food as a flavor.
MONTY: It’s pretty popular in the outside world, but I haven’t had it yet. I’m thinking about asking for some mint ice cream as a reward, maybe my next one.
MONTY: It’s not yellow like the doll though, I just thought it was a cute name.
MONTY: ...and I don’t know any words for yellow things yet.
SEE: That’s really cool, though.
SEE: I don’t know what ice cream is-
 

 

Monty perks right up, getting progressively more invested in the conversation as they get to ramble.

 
MONTY: It’s a dessert. It’s cold and made from dairy products most of the time- dairy is stuff like milk and cheese and cream, and it comes from animals.
MONTY: Ice cream comes in all kinds of flavors and you can get really fancy stuff if you go to these places called ice cream parlors, and I’m thinking of asking for a proper sundae when I get the mint ice cream reward-
 

They catch themself in the middle of it, looking embarrassed.

 
MONTY: ...sorry.
MONTY: I get caught up in learning about new things sometimes, and I don’t shut up when I get the chance to actually talk about them…
SEE: No, I love that! It sounds really good, honestly.
SEE: Where do you learn all this stuff, anyway?
MONTY: I’ve been here for a while...I don’t really know what constitutes a long time, but I have a lot of books by now, and I use the info I get in those to get more books on things I find interesting.
MONTY: I have what’s called a library by now, but it’s not a very big one. 
MONTY: I actually figured out a really good system with it...along with asking for new books from the info I learn, using that info in practice gets me a lot of impressions, sometimes more than one at once if I break it into steps and take my time.
MONTY: They really like it when you do that. One time, they told me that us learning helps them learn. 
MONTY: So...I like appealing to that.
MONTY: It’s the safest way to go about it, really…
 

While Monty talks a lot- and you mean a lot, you get the feeling that they’re actually enjoying themself now.