70/Fishy Monkey business

Fishy Monkey business
Date of Scene:	12 July 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Coco and Cho meet as roommates! And, uhhhh... fun into a bit of a... problem. Weird how these things happen, amirite?
Cast of Characters:	Coco Kiumi, Cho Konishi

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Coco Kiumi has posed:
In the dorms of Radiant Heart Academy, Coco has finished setting up her transfer to her new dorm room. 'I hope my new roommate won't mind me, can't tell what goes through the administration here for doing this so unexpectedly.'

She kneels down to give the otter to her side a small pet. 'This is my new dorm room, so if you have anything to say, this is where you have to go. Can I count on you to spread the news to the others?' she asks to the otter telepathically.

'That's no problem', replies the animal in the same way. 'I will have them all informed in about 2 days.' 'Thank you lots, Arry', Coco replies with a smile.

Just then, the otter stands on its hind legs, sniffing the air. 'Why does this place smell like monkeys, though? It's especially strong from that door over there', pointing the nose towards said door. 'Oh, that's the bathroom, but there was nothing there earlier', replies Coco as she moves to open the door.

As she does that, she is greeted by a shocking sight. "What are you doing there!?"

The recipient of her question is question is in fact a monkey, just as Arry smelled, currently rummaging through the items Coco had just finished placing. It seems to have taken quite an enjoyment to her makeup, as it's currently eating it with evident happiness.

Coco quickly jumps towards the makeup gourmand, trying to salvage the salvageable. Expecting her reaction, the monkey jumps on Coco's back, emitting a yell of mockery towards her, makeup in its paw, making a rapid exit from the bathroom.

Less expected is Arry's intervention, headbutting the monkey and causing it to drop the makeup. Lost its prize, the monkey just above the cupboard, away from the otter's range.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi was in the other room, her bag laying on the ground, Wuwu sleeping on her bed in 'stuffy' mode. She was watching a history documentary about the egyptian pyramids...

When suddenly there was a crash. Now, one might think she was hiding in her room to avoid having to help her roommate move in. WRONG! She was in her room... Hiding because she was afraid she'd get in her roommate's room and her new roomie had enough problems WITHOUT her being underfoot. And hey, if the new girl needed help, she left a note that said she'd be in her room if she needed anything.

So when she heard the noise, she hopped out of bed and came out. "Hey. Everything okay? What's... going... is that a monkey?" Oh, that was a monkey. She barely suppressed the urge to STRANGLE Wuwu. HE was behind this. She knew it. "Errrr... I don't... suppose that's... your pet? Eh... heh... errrr. Oh wow. Uhhhhh... I guess we need to try and... catch... and release it?" she said sheepishly.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
At the monkey's irreverence, Coco gets ready to chase to chase it all over the room. 'Thank for the assistance, Arry', she tells the otter, having taken note of the makeup laying on the floor.

Having evidently heard the ruckus, her roommate emerges out of her bedroom, a look of annoyance and worry on her face. "Hi", Coco says with a nervousness of her own.

'Talk about a first impression', she reflects in the privacy of her own thoughts, 'It's just like a scene out of a joke: a mermaid, a monkey and an otter walk into a room...'

"Yes... Thank you! It was going through my stuff and I caught it eating my makeup. But it's not my pet, that monkey wasn't even in the bathroom when I set my possessions in there", she explains, giving an annoyed glare to the monkey grinning onto the cupboard.

As if to mock Coco further, the culprit points at the half-munched makeup box lies on the floor and emits a series of laughs, accompanied by a sequence of small jumps. Coco smiles tentatively towards the pink-haired girl, trying to ignore the animal's sneers.

"Sorry for bothering you like this. I don't suppose you are an expert in catching monkeys, right?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi just stared at the monkey for a few moments. Great. Just... just great. "I... see. It..." Aaaaand then she saw the otter. "Oh. And there's an... otter... too... it... I guess... they're... fighting?" she said.

She didn't know what this was, but there was a monkey king sized hole in... all of this. It was Wuwu's fault. She knew it. "... Yes. I mean, no, I'm not a monkey catching expert. It must have... come in through the windows. Probably... someone... else's. I think there are... monkeys you can train and... errrr... I have an idea. I'll be right back. Don't! Let it... ummm... touch you."

She quickly disappeared back into her room, closed and locked the door... and dang near tackled Wuwu. Grabbing him by the front and shaking him. "Listen here, you little shit. There's a monkey and an otter out in the front room. What did you do?"

"Who, Robert? He's cool," Wuwu said dismissively. "He's going through a tough breakup with his-- urk!" And Wuwu was shaken again.

"My new roommate is out there and she's going to think this place is a monkey's den and that I'M a weirdo. How do I get it out of here WITHOUT freaking everyone out?"

"Fine, fine, chill. Tell you what, open a window, I'll get the monkey to go out it, okay? Easy, peasy. You really need to chill, though. all this stress isn't good for you."

"You are my stress," Cho hissed at him before all but chucking him out the window.

She came out a few moments later. "So, errr, I did a quick looksie online!" she lied. "Apparently, errr, it's not... that uncommon. Eh... heh. So, err, if we open a window it should go out on its own. So, err, I'm going to... do... that..." she said, nervously walking towards the front room's main window and pulling it open with a grunt. "Totally... wild, huh? What a strange way to start the day, eh... heh heh... eh?" she said sheepishly, trying to play it off as tooooootally normal.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Right as Cho promised, the monkey quickly dashes out of the open window, leaving the three of them alone with each other. 'I think you should go too, Arry', Coco says to the otter. 'She seems tense as is and I don't want to make her worry about you'. 'Ok, I understand', replies the otter with a bit of a displeased tone. 'Thank you, I will show up with some grapes later', replies Coco.

"Yes, that was totally wild. In fact, this otter came in too as soon as it heard the monkey's yells. Weird, right?" Coco starts walking to the room's door as she keeps finding an explanation for Cho. 'It will probably go out on its own now the monkey isn't here anymore if we just open the door." With that done, Arry quickly dashes out of the room, tail swishing as the otter picks up speed.

"Phew, that's over with", Coco exclaims, closing the door and picking up the makeup box on the floor. Her face slightly contorts in disgust as she examines the makeup's sorry state. "I guess I will toss this away, it's probably full of that monkey's germs now", she observes, closing the box and putting it onto the nearby desk.

"Anyway", she addresses Cho with a tentative, nice to meet. I'm Coco. Just our first day here and we are already tackling challenges together. We will get on well in no time."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi let out a sigh of relief once the animals were gone. "W-weird right?" she said with a light chuckle. "I guess it's just another day in Radiant Heart Academy, huh?" she asked, nervously laughing and rubbing the back of her head. Yup, just laugh it off. Yup, just don't... think it over too closely. Dang it, Wuwu. At least her roommate seemed to accept it was all okay.

She cringed at the broken makeup, though. "O-oh. Ummmm... that's... rough. Errr... was it expensive? I uhhh, could help you get some replacements?" she offered. "I have some stuff you could use, but, errr, I don't... know if it's that good." It was bargain bin stuff she'd picked up without any real idea how to... use it. The equivalent of going to the dollar store for 'half a pound of makeup'. Ergo, mostly useless.

"Yeah. I'd show you around, but well... it's really not that big. But if you need any help with anything, let me know. And if y ou need someone to help you hide the bodies, well... we're not that close yet, but I do accept bribes," she said. Yes, she was obviously joking, judging by the grin on her face and the silly laughter.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"There a lot more animals that you would think at this Academy, right? A few days ago, I was at this animal party and there were quite a few of them. One of them was this huge dog, really friendly too." Coco starts chatting with ease, putting the incident behind her. "A person would actually need your services to bring a dog of that size around."

"And don't worry about the makeup: it's not a big deal, you have nothing to do with that monkey. I will just buy another myself. Thanks a lot for the offer... Huh, did you say you wanted to be addressed again?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times. Oh. Right. She never... actually... asked the other girl's name. In fact, now that she thought about it, she didn't remember seeing her name at all on the transfer slip. She needed to pay more attention. She held out her hand. "Oh, right. My apologies. My name is Cho Konishi, but since we're roommates you can just call me Cho," she offered with a smile.

She chuckled a little nervously at the 'nothing to do with that monkey' comment. Technically, correct! In that... she, directly, had nothing to do with it. Indirectly, though... She tried not to think about it. After all, what Wuwu did... hopefully... didn't make her bad.

Besides, he was a monkey king. How bad could he POSSIBLY be?

"The dog sounds fun, I bet you could spend like... twenty minutes just petting a big boy like that," she joked. "The fact the dorms allow pets is so strange, but nice. I'll bet people will have all kinds of pets, considering the numberous places everyone is from."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco ponders the name for a few seconds. "Cho Konishi... It sounds well together. Thanks for the hospitality then, Cho. I hope you weren't anxious due to my sudden arrival."

'I really hope she doesn't confirm that. I don't want something beyond my control to be cause of problems', thinks Coco, her mouth briefly adopting a frown.

"I get the feelings animals are really popular around here, you know?" 'They would have to be to host a whole animal party, nevermind Cure Wukong being wholly themed after... a monkey...', she reflects, suddenly having a realisation. 'I wonder if Cure Wukong is sending monkeys around the city like I do with my others... She could use keeping them more under control though if true, considering the bad start she just made me have with Cho', Coco thinks.

"You know, I met a girl cosplaying a monkey character just the other day. Maybe she trains monkeys too and is responsible for today's accident", she casually brings up, checking if Cho knows some rumors that might be going around about her fellow magical heroine.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "Thanks! I uhh, well. It's my name. I was going to say I made it myself, but that wouldn't really work, would it?" she asked with a light chuckle, rubbing the back of her head.

She nodded to the animal comment. "Oh yeah. I've seen some birds, some cats, dogs, I think I saw one kid with a gecko, another with an iquana. I'd bet there's a whole lot of other pets. Maybe I'll try and get one later, never had one before." Yeah, unlikely. She did NOT trust Wuwu near ANY pet.

However, the comment on a kid who was dressed up as a monkey character made her cheeks go red. "O-oh? A monkey character? Like, uhhh, which one?" she asked. "I don't think I've seen anyone like that, eh, heh heh. I mean, I like monkeys. But like, not... as a pet. They'd get into so much trouble, you know? But they're kind of cute. All of that, you know?" she said, with full anime sweat drop.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"It was a character from some chinese myth", replies Coco, trying to make it seem like she heard about Wukong in passing. "I think it was someone famous for being immortal. Why, is he someone famous?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times. Ahhhhh crud. "Oh. Well, I guess that's probably Sun Wukong. And yeah, he's kiiiind of famous. Journey to the west? One of the great works of literature?" Oh, she was thankful Wuwu was outside, he'd probably go on a rant and out them both.

"I actually have a copy, if you'd like to read it. Well, one of the recreations, not an original obviously. If I had one of those I'd have sold it and be set for life," she said with a laugh. "There's like... a dozen different movies, recreations, plays, so on and so forth, about him. He's probably one of the most well known literary characters in asian mythology. Have... you never heard of him?" she asked. "Oh. Oh! You're not from Japan, are you? What kind of mythologies do you have back home?" she asked, quickly trying to steer away from the monkey king.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Oh, wow, you sound like an expert! I would love to hear all about it from you." Coco wasn't actually too happy about the subject being diverted from the "cosplayer", but surely reading the original work would make her understand her powers more. "It was a character from some chinese myth", replies Coco, trying to make it seem like she heard about Wukong in passing.

"And sure, thanks for the copy, I would like to borrow it from you. Do you like the story a lot?" Cho's last question puts a stop to her speech. 'Well, isn't this great?', Coco thinks sarcastically. 'If I reply we have none, I won't be believed, but even passing Aqua Regina as a myth would be too close to revealing my true identity.'

"Oh, uhm, well, there is a magical goddess that rules over seven kingdoms?" Coco ends up saying, praying a lot Cho wasn't at the museum's exhibition the other day when she could have heard her song.

"She also a scepter that she used to seal away her archenemies when they wanted to conquer the seven kingdoms." 'This stuff does sound unrealistic enough to pass up as a myth, right?' Logically it would, but Coco's worry would be evident even to the most oblivious person in the world.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi gave a small shrug. "I mean... I know a bit? It's fairly standard reading. Like. Journey to the west is really one of the most well known myths. I'm surprised you've never heard of it before. Then again, I guess I don't know a lot of other country's myths either, so I can't say too much," she said with a sigh.

"It's a bit silly, though. Wukong is like. The ancient equivalent 'Silly, over the top protagonist who does stupid stuff'. He gets scared of death, so he ends up like. FIGHTING death and things like that. But there have been countless re-imaginings over the years." She headed into her room for a moment, soon coming back with a really, really, really thick book.

"There's a lot of series, too. I actually watched one of the animated ones recently. And... mmm. I don't know if I like it that much? It's just kind of silly fun. Like reading about Heracles, Lu Bu, Susanoo, Yamato no orochi, Hare of Inaba, Emperor Jimmu. A lot of the myths are obviously not real, but it's fun to get lost in the... history of... oh I sound like such a nerd right now, don't I?" she asked, lightly bonking her forehead.

Stupid, STUPID! She sounded JUST like that lonely, obnoxious nerd who didn't have any friends and UGH! Her roommate probably thought she was SUCH an idiot right now.

However, the myth... made her blink a few times. And stare at her. "Seven... kingdoms? I've never... heard of that one. I've heard of China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but... Seven? Is... it an arthurian legend?" she asked, looking confused now. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? I... don't think I caught your last name?" she asked. "Coco...?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco is just about to go into panic now. "Uh, well, I am from... South America, yes." 'Technically not too different from the truth, since the South Pacific Ocean is right around there', she thinks. "And... my surname is Campus! Yes, I am Coco Campus." 'Sorry for borrowing part of your name, Hippo', she mentally apologises to the princesses' guardian.

Having replied to Cho's question, she stares intently at her face, hoping to have been convincing enough. "Frankly, who knows how the number of kingdoms came about, r-right? Myths are always so wild and weird..."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "Ohhhhh. South america! Ironically, I don't know many of those. I mostly just know some of the japanese, chinese and european mythos. That's absolutely fascinating! We should trade myths sometime," she said, buying it wholesale. She knew almost nothing about south american mythos. Actually, she knew very little about american mythos at all now that she thought about it. Which she found funny, since she was half american.

"Coco Campus? Wow. That really is an exotic name and wow that sounded like just a jerk thing to say once it was out of my mouth," she said sheepishly. "Sorry. So, ummm, how have you been adjusting to life in Japan so far?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
'She bought it', is all there is on Coco's mind at this moment. She is so happy she got past this trial she has to stop herself from sighing in relief. 'Now I hope she doesn't start checking South American myths online later on...'

"I have been adjusting quite well, thank you! Why don't we discuss this while taking a few bites? I am sort of starving..." The sudden stress took a lot out of her. She doesn't want to do this ever again.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. Fortunately, she was far, far too busy to start looking at that stuff. Yet. And hey, her roommate seemed cool. And the discussion about food was PERFECT!

"Oh! That sounds great. I actually baked some peach pastries earlier and we could probably make something pretty quick, I've already got some rice cooked," she offered, a grin on her lips.

And yay, her roommate didn't seem to think she was weird... yet. Hopefully she could keep her in the dark on that for a while.