2292/Click and Tag

Click and Tag
Date of Scene:	04 February 2025
Location:	Dorms
Synopsis:	Amy brings Veronica to her dorm room, and introduces Taro + Dolly and Veronica to each other, explaining the latter's circumstances, and letting the russian blue and Dolly play games of tag.
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Amanda Faust, Veronica Perenna
Tinyplot:	Flameborn Façade

---

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro Yamada enters Amy's dorm cautiously, Dory the doll hiding in one of his pockets.

He knows this isn't a fight. Amy had texted him specifically to say they were meeting another mahou as allies - as friends -

he's. not good at those. He'd accidentally managed to upset that one little mahou so much she'd screamed at him and siccced her allies on him. And he's aware of what his face looks like. (Bad.) And what his general vibes are. (Badder!)

So Taro Yamada arrives in his red Hello Kitty sweater with a Hello Kitty clip pulling his bangs out of his eyes, trying to look as safe and gentle as he can. There's not much he can do about having a scary face, but he can try?

"Hi Amy!! I'm ready to meet our new friend!" he chirps.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "You can come in!" comes Amy's voice through the door.

    She's at her desk, in a black T-shirt and her favorite red skirt, setting up Veronica's laptop for a usability test. Veronica is...

    Well, Amy brought her here from the cafe, in her backpack or riding her shoulder or being carried. So at this moment she could be anywhere in the room -- Amy's bunk is the bottom one, Mio's is the high ground, or the floor, or Mio's chair or desk, or on top of the minifridge.

    She smiles brightly at Taro, "Good to see you again!" Walking up to hug him once he's in the room, and then stepping back and looking significantly at the small russian blue kitten as if she expects it to introduce herself. There's a brief pause before her... social activity script? terminates with unhandled exception CATS_CANNOT_TALK and she has to fo the introduction for her. "Uh... this is Veronica! She is... presently turned into a cat. Veronica, this is Taro! And Dory. They're friendly and very sweet!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
The past few days since she got her second curse went a long way in helping her get used to things, Veronica found. It has not been two weeks yet, but she has yet to experience the energy loss that she has gotten used to ever since becoming a magical girl. Is it because she sleeps more now?

At least the help and the hope her friends had given her since then contributed extremely making her feel more at ease, and she is now mostly comfortable with her current form. Sometimes she thinks too much so, to the point of finding it a little scary. What is it Amy had said? That some things came with the body? She must have been right then.

The young russian blue has decided to handle the trip to Amy's dorm room from her shoulder after preferring the open space and also deciding she probably ought to leave Amy's hands free for her. Once they have gotten to the redhead's dorm room, Veronica has taken a place on top of Amy's desk, and is laying there mostly just looking at her friend's activity.

When Taro comes in, she stands up and turns in his direction, staring unblinkingly at the tall guy. A low and friendly sounding meow comes out of her mouth, but other than that she stays there. If she had one of her interpreters around, that would have been translated as "Hello, Taro-san, and Dory".

Taro Yamada has posed:
This... is a kitty girl. Or presumably this is, since this is an entire cat. A full cat. He believes Amy that this kitty is a girl, it's just a little - magic usuallyl has so many bells and whistles, doesn't it? And this is a cat.

He bows politely anyway, because his mother raised him right and he should be polite to girls, even if they're kitties at the moment. "Hi, Veronica-san. Dory and I are mahous who become Kuiper Belt Cape when there's danger."

Dory clambers out of his pocket and up to his shoulder - which is a wild thing for a six inch tall ball-jointed wooden doll to do, but do it she does! What does a doll need with conventions?

Once she's up there, the doll in the Noh mask and white kimono bows as well before waving enthusiastically, practically vibrating with excitement.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy wonders what Veronica's saying -- some kind of greeting, obviously, but how would she word it? And she waves to Dory, smiling, "Hi Dory! How've you been?"

    She turns back to the laptop, "So uh... as far as communication... I thought we'd see if you can log into your laptop and type to us, when you need to say things? If that doesn't work, you can also try my full-size keyboard here." She looks uneasily at Veronica, not yet having been around her as a cat that much and still worried for her.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica couldn't really blame Taro for being slow to believe. There really is no particular distinctive sign that separates her from a cat. She certainly appreciates how polite he is being at the moment. It's a stark contrast from his first impression, but one should really not judge a book by its cover.

His bowing is returned with a bow of the kitten's head, and a mewl of surprise escapes her mouth when Taro introduces his magical identity. The weird familiarity becomes clear when the Veil gives way and allows her to recognise Taro. I see, so that's who That's still just a meow, or a series of meows.

She tilts her head curiously at the notion Dolly is as much Kuiper as Taro himself apparently is. She has never heard of a fairy like that before. Sensing Amy's concern, the russian blue briefly rubs against her arm, before turning her attention to the laptop.

Veronica doesn't move right away however, staring at the keyboard pensively. How would she do this really? She doesn't want to put too much pressure into it, or too little. Her paw slowly presses the number 4, and she moves onto the other keys, forming the password NNLXjdnm. A press of the enter Key unlocks the desktop, a bust shot of Veronica smiling with Emery between her arms.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Dory gets handed Taro's cell phone and rapidly texts: WE HAVE BEEN DOING LOTS OF BAKING NO MAGIC LATELY. VALENTIMES DAY COMING UP. I WANNA PLAY!!

Meanwhile, Taro leans over the laptop, considering - he hasn't met Veronica in her civilian form, so she doesn't spark any recognition, but the cat -

"Is that your pet? The eyes are different," he says thoughtfully. "I guess it makes sense you'd turn into your favorite animal."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy pointedly looks away when the password is being typed in. Her phone goes off at the text -- that's the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers communicator sound -- and Amy reads it and shows her phone to Veronica. "Is that why you turned into a cat specifically? Is it your favorite animal? I never thought to ask..." She reaches up to -- if Veronica has given permission before -- pet her back lightly.

    Amy reaches for the keyboard, and hesitates. "Oh, uh... do you want me to open notepad for you?" If Veronica nods, she quickly types windows+R notepad.exe enter and raises the font size, but if Veronica wants to do that herself Amy won't stop her.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica stares for a second at her image, scanning the weird brownish green of her hair. She knows that's her, but even so it feels weird having to reconcile how how she has seen herself for all of her life to how she appears on the screen now. And her green dress appear grey to her now, what kind of weird trade is that?

Veronica emits a gentle appreciative mrroow when Amy pets her, and gives her a nod at the offer to open notepad. "Thank you, Amy-chan." is the first thing she types.

"Yes, her name is Emery, Taro-san", Veronica slowly types on the keyboard. If seeing a cat type a password somehow didn't dispel his doubts, this probably did.

"I have always liked cats, and russian blues above all. They are both elegant and kind. My parents approved because it's also a luxurious breed, but I have never cared about that specifically." she tells the two mahous.

The kitten looks up at Amy for a second while she thinks, and then her paws move through the keys again. "I don't know why exactly a cat. You could be right, or maybe it's a taunt. 'Since you like cats so much, why not be one?' That sort of thing. I did use my powers to turn into a double-tailed catgirl for Halloween after all."

Veronica softly meows when Amy shows her Dolly wants to play, considering that she has been staying still for a while now, and she does want a change of pace herself, but she doesn't know if that's something she is able to take part in now. "What do you like to play?" she asks between clacks of the keys.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Emery. That's a good name," Taro says once it's typed out. (A cat typing out a password and typing in full Japanese is definitely not a normal cat. doubts have been averted!)

"Either way, a cat is both a blessing and a curse," Taro muses. "Cats are normal to see around town - but people don't think much about cats being there and are careless about their safety. Which - obviously, you know about car safety, but you should be careful." A beat, and Taro amends: "Can you eat human food anymore? I have no idea if kibble tastes any good."

Dory, meanwhile, is busy with her reply to Veronica via text: I LIKE TO PLAY 'GET THEM!!' WHERE I SEE SOMEONE I WANT TO GET AND I GET THEM!!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy notices Veronica staring, but draws perhaps a different conclusion. With a bit of unease, she asks, "Does it... help? To see yourself, like... a reminder that you're human? Or is it more of... a painful reminder of what you've temporarily lost?"

    She watches the cat type -- a novel experience she will remember forever -- and looks at the curor, watching her words appear. She nods at the anecdote about Halloween. "I didn't know it was a luxurious breed. I just think of like... the 'i can has cheezburger' cat." Beat. "I suppose it is for the best that that meme was before Generation Alpha's time, or you'd be getting sick of everyone referencing it fast."

    She nods with Taro at the comment of cats being normal -- she's thought about how things are different for, say, Luna, then they are for other mascots."

    To help speed things along, she notes of Veronicat and Dory, respectively:
    "She has the teeth and body of a cat. Cats can eat some human food, but she probably shouldn't have chocolate." That way Veronica can elaborate from there.
    "Dory gets energy by stabbing people. The wounds regenerate, and they don't remember because of the veil."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"I don't really think of it like something I have lost, I have faith this is going to be over soon, and your help has me gotten accostumed to my situation now", she types. "I want to go back to normal, but it's more a general longing than actually being sad. I was just thinking I look a bit odd to my eyes now." She doesn't know the meme Amy is referencing, so she can't comment much on it.

Veronica's ears flattens at Taro's warning. Streets definitely both look and sound a lot more chaotic now, and she certainly tries to stick to one side of the street now, and avoid walking next to people. Both because of the uncaring ones, and for the ones that care way too much.

"I have been careful, but yeah, I won't miss that once I return to normal. They are far too noisy and fast. I try to be as fast as I can even if the light is green." she types.

A short meow in recollection of when Norie has first brought her into the dorm, Veronica replies "I don't know. My roommate is caring and feeds me fish instead of kibbles, but that's not really human food either, so I can't say. The big change has been eating from bowls."

A pause as she listens to Amy adding her own comments, and types "She certainly hasn't fed me chocolate. Nor did Mamoru-san. I know how bad it is - I have Emery - so I don't want to try it, even if sometimes I think it would be nice."

Basically, it's like running then, Veronica thinks of Dolly's playing. She is about to ask Amy if she is comfortable with running in her room, when her fur stands straight at the redhead's clarification. "I won't play something that drains me", she meows, before remembering she has to type it still, adding to it that a normal chase she would be fine with.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Oh, I remember those cats! They wanted those cheeseburgers so much," Taro chirps, and then nods. "I know basic cat food safety, I worked at a pet shop for a while. It sounds like your roomate's taking goo dcare of you - just look out for bones, they're a pain to deal with."

Is that useful advice? It was useful for him but he doesn' tknow.... but he's got to try.

"And Dory's not going to try and eat you or Amy, Veronica," he reassures - "If we haven't fought a youma in a while, I'll let her feed off me. She doesn't bite. She's like a kid for a magical little buddy, so she's got a lot of excess energy. The most she's gonna do now is play tag without using anything pointy."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Odd to her eyes? Oh right. Amy nods. She has briefly played around with colorblind simulators and looked into how human vision works, because sometimes you find something interesting and then fall down a rabbithole of learning.

    Amy tries to imagine what walking along a sidewalk or crossing the street would be like as a cat. Amy didn't leave campus when she was a doll except by flight (Rashmi's or her own, which she was just figuring out then). The expression on her face shows she does not imagine it to be pleasant.

    "I think fish counts as human food." Amy states, and she tries to imagine eating from a bowl cat-style. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard, although surely whiskers and the fur around her mouth would get messy. Cat tongues must be good at cleaning that though.

    There isn't the twinge of embarassment she expects, and she reflects on that: Her friends now wouldn't judge, but other humans... she shivers at that thought. People can be very cruel about things that are just part of how you are.

    For whatever reason in this mental image it's Hannah putting food in hypothetical kitty-Amy's bowl and Amy feels kind of warm and fuzzy about that.

    Taro says Dory wants to play tag, and Amy cannot help but grin wide at the thought of Dory and Veronicat running around the dorm room playing tag that sounds so adorable she might get diabetes!

    But before that starts, Amy stands up from her chair. "Oh, um. I did have something for you, if it's a positive reminder and not a negative one." She goes to her backpack and fishes something out of it, then walks back to her desk and places it in front of Veronica. "I wasn't sure if this was in good taste, but... I tried to think of some sort of 'I am a human' indicator... and I thought back to the display I prepared on Halloween my first year..." It's a mockup student ID, not exactly Radiant Heart style, with Veronica's name and picture on it, on a little ribbon lanyard.

    "I guess your actual one is wherever stuff goes when you're shapeshifted... the size isn't exactly convenient, hmm. Maybe if it were smaller... well, you wouldn't exactly want to broadcast it all the time either... I dunno," Amy shrugs, blushing awkwardly a bit, "I had the idea, and the process I used to make the ones for the haunted house display of people-turned-objects, so I thought I'd just... put it together and see how it came out." She smiles awkwardly.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"She is touch-starved, and I get it given her situation, so, I get pet a lot, but yes, she is great. She has taken care of the bones too", Veronica agrees with Taro, adding that bit of info. And she doesn't really mind being pet all that much, it mostly feels relaxing, even if she sometimes puts up with the frequency of it. "You are right about the pets feeling like a massage, Amy-san", she types after a bit of embarassed hesitation.

"Don't worry about that, I am careful", Veronica types in response to Amy's expression, and adding a meow that she thinks should sound confident to stress her point.

Veronica considers Taro's reassurance for a few seconds, tail swishing behind her. "You have a dangerous fairy", she finally types, and adds. "I am fine with it then, if Amy-chan is ok with us running around her apartment." Though, a part of her would find it more enjoyable if she did the chasing, but she makes a point of not listening to it.

Veronica studies every detail of the ID Amy has prepared for her. It is certainly quite cute, and she can appreciate the effort the redhead has put into it. If it weren't due to its size, and due to the issue Amy has raised, she would probably try wearing it.

"I don't want to get attention from unaware people, but I really like it, Amy-chan. Is it ok if I come back and get it once this whole experience is over, please?", she gives a small mewl of appreciation. She avoids commenting on the size. It would go against what she is trying to convey.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Eh, carnivores have to eat like everyone else. Dory is well behaved, I promise," Taro says quickly, raising his hands defensively. The stabbing and feeding from people thing is not great, he's aware, but - they've found alternatives! Eat other things!

(and he wants to play with Veronikitty,,, She's so cute,,,, )

Dory taptaptaps on the phone some more, looking between the two of them:

I WANT TO PLAY TAG! VERONICA CAN BE IT IF SHE'S WORRIED. AND CAN I HAVE AN ID TOO?

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Man, she hopes no one thinks she's counterfeiting IDs. The laminated paper cards are clearly different from student IDs though, and do not aim to imitate the details of Radiant Heart's.

    Massage? Huh? Amy briefly looks confused-- ah. She had been trying to reassure Veronica to not worry that being a cat had messed with her brain just because scritches felt nice, but Veronica seems to have taken comfort from it in a slightly different way, so she won't quibble over specifics, and simply smiles and nods a little.

    If Amy's fine with people running around the dorm room. Amy starts to nod, then imagines computer monitors, or Mio's mirror, getting broken in excitement. Red eyes widen. "No roughhousing on the desks or the bookshelf. Otherwise you're good."

    Can she get the mock ID after this is all over? "Yeah, sure." Amy nods. "I have... a story for you to read, too, when this is all over." And while Mio was looking at it, Amy had put on her own. Except that's not a student ID, mock OR real, it's a real staff ID for one Mallory Faust, and the picture is of an unhappy-looking man with blue eyes and white hair. (Or is it pale violet eyes and/or pale teal hair? She can't tell...)

    The redhead looks a little uncomfortable and fidgets with it in her hand as she thinks thoughts to herself. Dory wants one? "What should I put on it?"

    Amy looks down at it. "I don't like... while I don't like the insinuation that what's on the card is more accurate... It's clear that for all of us, we are more... We're not just what we appear to be. I'm not sure what a good symbol for that is."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica wouldn't start denying Taro a request to play too. He has been kind so far, so if she knew what the tall guy were thinking, she doubts she would it. Even if she would appreciate knowing what kind of game he has in mind first.

The russian blue tilts her head at the reveal Amy has a story to her all when this is all over. Her natural curiosity takes over again, and would really like to know what that's about, but she actually can be patient.

"I guess we can alternate", Veronica types in response to Dolly, then staring at her, curious of who would actually start. "We can avoid that", she reassures Amy.

Speaking of reassuring Amy, the redhead's pauses when she tries to get out that last comment about ID produce a motion of concern within Veronica. Are you ok? her eyes ask, before approaching Amy and pushing her head slightly against her arm. She... thinks that this should be comforting, right? Is this what people like?

Taro Yamada has posed:
Dory clambers down Taro's arm with his phone tucked under her armpit so she can hop next to Veronica. She holds up the phone:

NO CLAWS NO BITING NO SCRAPING UP FURNITURE. NO BOOKSHELVES OR DESKS. TIME OUT BY KICKING THE FLOOR REPEATEDLY. OK?

The rules - the rules are important. Especially since neither of them can talk directly without a device.

And as Veronica nuzzles Amy, Taro gently bumps his shoulder against hers. "It's like Dory's mask, right? It's a symbol that's useful to show the world what we want it to see."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's not sure what Veronicat's saying with that look, but the headbump softens her expression to a smile as she leans over to carefully hug her friend-turned-cat, one arm holding the kitten gently against her chest while the other pets along her, from the top of her head and over her ears to the base of her tail, again petting all along the tail before she finally lets go and sits up straight again. Taro's said his words, and... they feel like a missing puzzle piece. "If that's it, then of course this feels off; it's not what I want to show. I'll have to think about... what that is, and how to properly symbolize it." She leans back in her chair. "Guess that's kinda what the pride flag is for, actually. But also... Hmm. A card with what you want to show the world... I'll think about what should go on there."

    And there's such a genuine and enthused smile on her face, contrasting the unhappy man on the card, as she watches kitten and doll play!

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica purrs satisfied when Amy proves to have appreciated that gesture by hugging her and petting, and even if the hug comes as a surprise as her first one with this form, the redhead applying it carefully is actually good at avoiding any suddenness.

And then she is let go, and Veronica hops down to floor, mindful of Amy's warning, and waits for Dolly to reach her there. When the doll signals itself to be ready, the russian blue does a sudden dash in the opposite direction, looking behind briefly to see if the doll has commenced running too.

The game of tag feels her with adrenaline, and from then, several times over they change who pursues and flees.