2684/Sentient Roomba in the Cat Cafe

Sentient Roomba in the Cat Cafe
Date of Scene:	11 July 2025
Location:	Cafe BAKE Neko
Synopsis:	Entrapta meets the Cat Cafe.
Cast of Characters:	Entrapta, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Amanda Faust, Ikiko Hisakata, Catra, Ami Mizuno

---

Entrapta has posed:
The door chimes. Or meows. or Cheows, which is a mix of the two, doesn't matter, as long as it opens. The cat door is limited access, but the fact that what enters is..

Not. A cat. It is the size of a cat, it even seems to act like one much of the time. However the fact that it noses the resident roomba out of its charging dock to quickly top up its power supply suggests that it doesn't want cream. Maybe a scritch would be welcome though.

Which is, of course, when the human who was following it faceplants into the door behind. It's a pull, not a push, purple girl. And then she slides slowly down the door, having hit it kinda hard.

"I thought it was automatic.." It was not.

See her? Yes. That happens.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's another day after school -- Mamoru's feeling a lot better from when Demande exploded his chest armor, he's fine now -- and it's really horribly hot, but the cat cafe is air-conditioned, and Yukata Boy is actually just wearing cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with his sandals, his glasses smudged and the tips of his black hair dyed violently red.

He's got bubble tea and-- yup, he just spotted Entrapta outside. He puts his tea on the table next to Usagi and goes (nearly scrambles) to the door to entice the purple-haired girl in. Because those windows are big and he SEES Emily and he's worried! that she might melt--

It's not the whole building that shakes, it's just the door and windows and the kitty airlock, when Entrapta slams into a glass door like a birb.

Mamoru opens the door slightly too late, and lunges to catch Entrapta before she actually lands all the way on the floor, then drags her in (or helps her up). "Emily, here, come in this way. It's so hot out! Entrapta-chan, are you okay?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Homework? WHACK! Studying? WHACK! Having to fruitlessly scramble to catch up on an entire month and change of schoolwork because you were in the future and brainwashed? WHACK! Getting bubble tea with her ~husband~ in the cat cafe and lamenting to the universe (a small cat that helpfully perched on her laptop and is refusing to let her work)? TIGHT AS FUCK!

In other words, Usagi Tsukino is having a normal one when Entrapta crashes into a door, earning a heartfelt wince.

"Oh, that had to hurt..."

At least Mamoru is on top of it! Once he's enticed her in, she waves cheerfully. "Entrapta-chan! Come sit with us!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's so hot. It's so hot! But, studying with friends can entice Amy to leave the air conditioned dorms (briefly, to travel to another air conditioned location.

    She sees Entrapta up ahead of her about to go in, and raises her hand to call out to--

    THUMP

    Amy starts to run, but then fast-walks over to the door. Mamoru's already on the case, and the doors have started to close before she reaches out her arm and holds it open so she can slip in. "Uhh... usually its cats that have trouble getting in... although I see they added a cat door now. Are you OK?"

    She looks from Entrapta to the others and waves as the door closes behind her. For the heat she is wearing a slightly bluish-green cami and black well-above-the-knee shorts. And she has her backpack full of schoolwork, US army surplus in desert camo. She offers a slight smile and small wave, "Hi guys! Still studying?" before glancing back and forth between them and Entrapta with some concern.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
It's a hot day, but strays still need to be fed, which means Ikiko has been out and about tending to them. And what better way to relax after an afternoon out in the heat than to get a cold drink in an air-conditioned cafe that's run by a friend?

She's about a storefront or two away when Entrapta discovers the properties of the cafe's door, and so it takes Ikiko a couple of moments to catch up and enter the cafe herself -- running in this heat isn't a good idea, and Mamoru and Amy are already making sure that Entrapta is okay.

Taking a moment to bask in the indoor cool, Ikiko glances over to some of the nearby cats, who are looking rather askance at her. Oh, right...

"My smell, sorry for," she meows apologetically to them. "Stray dogs, I was feeding. Nice to meet you, it is."

    (yeah, this is about as good as her Feline syntax ever gets.)

Entrapta has posed:
While the human seems to be less than perfectly agile, "I hit the door," and stating the obvious, apparently, the robot makes its way in through the options available, and immediately begins to whine.

Whine, rumble rumble. Lower whine. Beep, beedle-beep. Ba-beep! With that out of the way (have to be polite after all) the roomba gets a sip from the room's charger port, then begins to look around.

If you've ever seen a roomba, you'll know how they act. Bumping into walls, mapping the room with touch. Emily does not. She goes immediately to a cat, and pauses.

Then slowly begins to circle around it, keeping a distance. Wait, it can circle strafe? I want to see Emily play Fortnite now.

But the soft beeping noises it makes are clearly inquisitive. What is...this thing?

Catra has posed:
Arriving just in time to miss everything that happened is Catra, disguised as the permanently obnoxious American tourist, Rachel Miller. (Well, more like American permanent resident at this point.) In the wake of people running into windows and all that, she slinks in, hoodie drawn low over her face and hands shoved in pockets, earbuds lodged firmly in place with something aggressive and German playing loudly enough to be heard from several feet away.

She stands there, just inside the doorway, taking in everything.

Oh, and there's people here.

Some of whom may or may not have been her enemies up until recently and may or may not STILL BE (or be again) depending on their opinions of recent events. So, what to do? Aside from stand there like a cat who's extremely startled to have been noticed.

"...Uhh... Hi,' she mumbles at last.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Anko muscles her way up to Ikiko to tell her in Feline instead of Japanese, and it sounds like mrow-ow-wow-wow brip brow. What it means is, Your Japanese is very good! So she says this and then kitty-snickers, which sounds in her case a little like 'ke ke ke ke ke'. Mamoru looks nonplussed, but he doesn't understand Feline, and he really is too hot for cat politics today, so he just sort of gives a halfhearted, "Sorry I have no idea what she said but she sounds like she's causing trouble," call over to Ikiko.

Mamoru watches Emily approach a cat, and the cat immediately bends to sniff Emily, then jerks its head back when Emily moves, then smacks Emily on top. Whap, whap. The Paw of Damocles hovers above. The prince, on the other hand, steers Entrapta toward their table and gently encourages her to sit in a chair. "Here, sit. Rashmi told me you needed lab space, so I have a space I'm reinforcing for you. Are you hungry? The question is unrelated."

And then there's Catra.

Mamoru grins at her and pulls over another chair toward their table. "Hi, come sit."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Just a bit of friendly razzing," Ikiko reassures Mamoru as she heads over to sit at a table close to the group -- after all, it's good to not crowd too much when studying is involved, especially when cats decide to join in and adorably take up space.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Still studying," Usagi confirms in response to Amy's question, and she's greeting her just as cheerfully as she had before finding out about that crush - the crush they haven't had a moment to sit down and talk about.

There's room enough at their table for everyone, but no snacks available, just the crumb remains of previously devoured snacks, stacked on little plates to the side of the table.

"You guys should absolutely come rescue me from studying, though! Who cares about studying! I'm not going to finish enough to pass exams next week!"

That's right - the 1st term of school will officially end next Sunday, which means they are finally fully staring down the barrel of exams.

"Entrapta-chan, is that your Roomba playing with the cats?

Entrapta has posed:
Emily beeps indignantly at Damocles, then turns around and revs wheels at them. Then and only then does she wheel about, bumping into people's feet that she knows from the past.

That is Mamoru's boot. He has nice shoes, but is very tall. That is Usagi's shoe. She needs better traction, because she falls, but this makes her easy to remember the features of! Amy has nice shoes. She is less tall. And there are other new footwear to look at!

Kind of snuffling around, the roomba beeps at each new person one time, to see if they notice her. Her, the cute attractive and smart roomba.

Entrapta sits, then leans her head to the right to look downward. "I think so. She's gotten some processor upgrades recently. I keep noticing her rearranging my shoe rack for some reason."

Duh, it's because that's how she knows people primarily! What would you know about the world if your vision was limited to bellybuttons? A lot of beltlines.

Amanda Faust has posed:
I hit the door.

    "...Technically, that doesn't answer the question." Amy notes, looking over Entrapta for any signs that her state is more serious but not seeing anything. Emily's noise -- always strange for a roomba -- does make her turn and look over there, and then she starts to look back at entrapta and then double-takes at Emily. Staring. "It's not moving like a robot. That's weird, right?"

    And then her head whips back around after she realizes what Mamoru said. "There's gonna be a magi-tech science lab' here?! Damn, this place just keeps becoming an even cooler place to live!" she gushes, smiling excitedly!

    Beat.

    "...Unless it explodes." She starts to look towards Entrapta, then looks back to Mamoru, who once worked with Riventon after all. "...Is that likely to happen, with magic science?"

    Actually, Amy's sneakers are getting pretty worn. She's just been wearing the same ones that came with the body, and despite as much time as she spends on the computer and reading manga, she's still much more physically active than she's been in a long time.

    There is a slight awkwardness to her smile at Usagi, something unsaid that it seems now isn't the time to say. "I mean... uh... it's worth a shot, right? If you pass any of them, that's one less summer school class..." she says uncertainly, torn between shreds of past self-image as a goody-two-shoes good student, not caring what adults think of her, and then having to care what adults think of her again when she got threatened with summer school after disappearing to Crystal Tokyo and then not seeing the point of even trying at school anymore for a couple weeks after with Usagi missing and Chibiusa evil.

Catra has posed:
"It won't explode."

Catra meanders over to the communal table and drops her illusion as she plops down into a seat that is not beside or across from Usagi. Actually, it's as far away from the long (or long-ish? Oh no, long again) haired girl as she can possibly manage, but she is at the same table. And, hey, even if some unenlightened normie sees her in here with ears and tail and all that, this has got to be the best place in town for her to pass herself off as a cosplayer. Right? Right. Definitely.

That doesn't stop her from looking over her shoulder, since she still hasn't squared things up with Joker.

"Entrapta's inventions don't explode. They usually do weird stuff, but they don't explode." A pause. "Unless she wants them to explode. OTherwise they just boost weapons efficiency or rip holes in time space and dimension when someone who should know better but doesn't pulls the lever to turn them on."

After that, the feline falls silent again, and rests her elbows on the table in front of her and one hand atop the other; and then she pulls out her phone, shifting in her seat uncomfortably as she looks on the internet to see what there is to ear here. Since she's never actually checked out the menu.

Entrapta has posed:
Entrapta aws! That was almost a compliment, from the...lady with the ears. And eyes. And other stuff. Names are not Entrapta's forte.

"I mostly mess up smaller stuff. All science is built on failures, you just eventually get to where you're going on the small incremental gains from each loss." She's realistic. It's odd in her field.

However, she did NOT either affirm or deny the possibility of explosions.

Emily however beeps up at people again, looking for some kind of reaction. She's here too!

Bumping into dress shoes, the roomba seems interested in the Cat. Cats, really.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi dips down under the table to investigate Emily, and coos at the sight of her, reaching out and running her fingers along the smooth surface.

"I'm sorry Emily! We didn't mean to ignore you! You're such a good Emily, do you want to come up here, or would that be like, holding a cat upside down? Not very fun for you, even if it looks cute to us?"

Yes, of course she's talking to the Roomba. Her voice is a little muffled when she calls above the table, talking to her friends, "I'm definitely going to try and pass! Mamochan and Ami-chan would be really disappointed in me if I didn't. I'm just, you know, realistic. Entrapta-chan, do you mind security cameras in your labs, or do you prefer them outside? Kazuo-kun watches security in the building, but you know, not in people's spaces, because that would be weird, and I've been real curious."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko (durable sneakers, perfect for lots of walking; trace amounts of dog hair from being rubbed against by friendly strays) reaches down and pets Emily. Patting might be the more normal reaction to a Roomba, but Ikiko spends a lot of time with animals, and Emily is acting like a domestic animal, and since petting is a common way to show affection to animals... therefore, Emily get petted.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Finally Mamoru gets to sit down again, in His Spot which is Next To Usagi, and he picks up his bubble tea and sips it before briefly putting a warm dry hand on the back of the dipping down Usagi. "Don't bump your head, bump-head," he says affectionately. "The security cameras can be outside, or you can work something else out with Kazuo-kun," he tells Entrapta. "Or you can delegate to Emily, they might be able to communicate with each other the way he communicates with his snek."

Entrapta has posed:
Entrapta.

Entrapta?

ENTRAPTA! "What?!" Her head jerks up, looking around, and she pauses to review her memory of conversation that's been happening around her. "Oh. I don't mind if people watch, I love to share my research! Set them up anywhere you like! If they get in the way or are destroyed in a fire I'll make new ones. Better ones!"

Wait what was that last part?

"You can pick her up," she adds, though Emily is already rumbling as she's given attention. "She's quite affectionate actually.

Which is when a cat, jealous, decides to ..um. Involve itself, plopping itself on top of Emily, under the table. Sprawl. Jealous sprawl.

Rude. Beep boop.

Amanda Faust has posed:
It won't explode.

    Amy immediately feels kind of bad. She looks at Entrapta, "I'm sorry, I should know better. Of course you wouldn't make things explode. By accident, I mean."

    She looks from Usagi to Emily. "Does it... understand Japanese?" She blinks. "Were people speaking Cat earlier?" She doesn't know feline but she can kind of tell it apart from random cat noises much of the time after hearing Veronica use it with the other cats while she was a cat.

    She nods to Usagi and smiles, and offers a hug, as trying your best but expecting to fail anyway is a rough situation. "Well... best of luck. I'm glad that you can see your friends recognize your effort, even if the system won't."

    And then she realizes something elsde that was said, and looks back to Mamoru in surprise. "Saito-san has a talking snake?!"

    Also, Entrapta, and then Amy looks about for Emily. "She's... affectionate?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Who said anything about talking? It's a mystery how he communicates with his snake, he just does it, so I assume the same would be true for Emily-chan," Mamoru tells Amy, sipping his bubble tea again, then chewing on boba.

He returns his attention to Entrapta, then gets distracted by Emily with a cat on her. "Yessssss, cat on a roomba o'clock--" he says and gets his phone out and starts filming. "Come on, Emily-chan, take the kitty for a ride!"

He looks up at Amy again, eyebrows up. "Of course she's affectionate! She's Entrapta's friend. And don't worry. ~My wife~ will pass her exams." +_+

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Emily - and the cat - are scooped up, right before Usagi does indeed bump her head against the table. "Owwwwwwwwww..."

Husbands have a certain foresight, but clearly this wife does not have the ability to counteract it. Still, she triumphs! Emily and the cat resting atop of her are brought up and held in Usagi's lap, and her hands busily pet both, though she's shifted Emily in such a way that Ikiko can also continue to pet Emily.

"I think Ikiko-chan was, earlier? Luna can speak Feline, and Anko, but not me." She is barely managing the scraps of English she knows! "And - your wife is going to pass her exams? Really? I didn't know you and Rei-chan and Neptune-san read my fortune."

She is giving him a look that says Mamochan please your expectations for me are SO high and I am just a local failwhale!

"I can't really blame the system on this one, Amy-chan. I really did miss school, and all."

Entrapta has posed:
"Why wouldn't she be?" Entrapta asks, regarding her friend the roomba. Which are not known for affection. More known for knocking over the drapes, or sucking up the cat. That stuff. Ish.

"What's an exam?" she aks, then. So she is tracking, at least partly, the conversation. But not her life in general. I take it she's never had an exam?

I mean, it's Entrapta. She might be okay.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy ohs. "Like how the other characters can understand R2D2." Amy sits down to watch Emily and the cat, and another cat comves over and sits by her. "Oh, hello!" Amy happilly pets it. A living creature sought out her company and wants to be close and touched! Yay!

    Amy then winces as Usagi bumps her head on the table. She picks up the cat next to her and brings it to the table too to set down in front of her and pet, which it seems to be okay with for now. "You were saving the future. And then got turned evil because of trying to save the future and your daughter. That... that's not something to be punished, you know?"

    Amy then looks over at Entrapta. "........Are you actually enrolled? ...Have you been going to classes?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Yup," Ikiko nods to Usagi. "I was apologizing to the cats for showing up with the relatively fresh scent of stray dogs on me... and then Anko came up and complimented me on my Japanese." That last line is said with a bit of a giggle.

There's a pause, and then she adds, "And before you ask, I doubt that I could speak Reptile. It's hard enough for me to speak very fragmented Bird, and reptiles are even further away from canines than that."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Some of them!" Mamoru says staunchly. "Those mnemonics we made up for English are going to work great, and Ami-chan's been on you hard for history, and we've got you coming and going on trig. AND the teacher gives you the tables. That's at least three!"

He cannot actually keep himself from reaching out to just-- touch lightly and briefly again, and spill joy through that touch to Usagi. But he looks to Entrapta and tilts his head. "Whenever you want to have a talk about what your lab needs, let me know. I'll see if we can get some help from Ami-chan in translating."

Entrapta has posed:
Unfortunately, Entrapta is lost in thought again. Zoned out, she's not answering. Kind of sitting there, staring into space.

Emily however is doing GREAT! She pops her hood enough to get the cat into a better place, then makes the oddest little beeping sounds as she's stroked. Not rumbling, that'd be like a purr, but something else.

It really sounds like an attempt at communication. Does anyone here speak, you know. Um.

Droid?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Rubbing the back of her head, Usagi just laughs. "But they're not punishing me! Honestly, most teachers wouldn't let you do this much make up homework at all. I missed class. I mean, it wasn't my fault! But it wouldn't be my fault if I was out because I was in the hospital, either, and I'd still have missed my classes and not known what the heck was going on in class, you know?"

For someone who's been complaining about it so much - and oh, she has, oh, she hates it - Usagi doesn't actually see this as an evil done against her, or anything like that. She just really doesn't like school.

And then Mamoru clarifies - "Oh! Yeah! I think I can pass some!"

His joy is infectious, as is her admittedly lackadaisical attitude towards all this. She's already resigned herself to summer school, so even though she's studying, it's more like something to make Mamoru and Ami happy and thus The Things We Do For Love.

"Hmmm... Sorry Emily," she tells the beeping little rumba in her lap. "I don't speak appliance. But! I bet Rashmi-chan can - or, well, Nicomachea, anyway."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods to Usagi. "I mean, I know, they don't know, but it's like... It's unfair. It's no one's fault - -well, I mean, it's the Black Moon Clan's -- but it still sucks."

    Amy blinks. "Wait... reptiles and birds can talk too? They all have language? How does that..." Amy furrows her brow as she tries to comprehend the implications. "...All animals are smart enough to talk? Or is it magic...?"

    Oh, and Emily talks too. "I uh... I don't understand that either, I mean, I know programming languages but that's uh... not the same."

Catra has posed:
Catra sits there, looking at her phone, and eventually ordering something. And then she sits there while everything is going on around her, until eventually a bubble tea in a plastic cup with a straw shows up, and she picks it up to look at it like she's never seen one before.

And then she tries it, and makes a face when she gets one of the pearls in her mouth, like she can't quite decide if she likes it or not. Maybe she likes it.

Maybe it's okay to like it. Maybe.

"How can you all just... sit there," she blurts out, "Like nothing happened?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Because if we didn't, we'd be crying all the time or breaking things or never getting out of bed," Mamoru tells Catra immediately. He straightens up in his chair, his formerly dyed pink tips now dyed the same red as the inside of his cape (that he is not wearing oh my god), and somewhat less fluffy in the heat and humidity, even though it's cooler in the air conditioning now. "I'm tired of being angry and sad."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko shrugs to Amy. "I mean, practically everything that's alive has something it wants to communicate; magic just... makes it more comprehensible, at least to those with applicable magic," the younger girl explains.

Catra's sudden outburst prompts a thoughtful look on Ikiko's face. "The present and the foreseeable future give us enough to think about," she muses in expansion of Mamoru's point. "Sure, we can -- and should -- learn from the past, but if the event of the past is resolved, why dwell on it more than we need to?"

Entrapta has posed:
Entrapta is mumbling.

"Magical wavelength interaction is naturally set up to resonate with like frequencies. Languages are all frequency 'Y', and therefore are within reason assumbled in a similar manner and magic would find it would use the least energy to assemble into like patterns."

She pauses, looking up, then says, "It means that magic is good at translation. Did someone say something to me?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks at Catra. "Um. Which thing are you talking about? Going to the future and Usagi-chan and her daughter being evil for a bit? Or something else? There's kind of been a lot."

    "...I mean, honestly, I did kinda just stop caring about school for a couple weeks when we got back from the future. But like...." She shrugs, and gives Catra a moment to elaborate.

    Also, there's Entrapta. She looks at the pink-haired one, then to the others. "...Was that scientific sense? I mean, I thought... I mean like... animal brains don't have language centers, and, and, neocortexes and all that, how does that even..." She sighs and slumps her head forward. "I keep forgetting science is wrong. Except when it isn't. This is what it's like for everyone else coming to Earth huh, somehow all of this nonsensical-sounding stuff works, on completely different principles..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yes. Entrapta-san. Entrapta! I said, I need to talk to you later to start getting your new lab set up," says Mamoru and he feels somehow like Entrapta's coming up from underwater. He glances at Amy and grins. "Yeah! Entrapta-san figured that out when she did her survey of magical types. It's nonsense. A wizard did it. Anko is a ghost demon cat. Dark Energy makes Usa vomit rainbows."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Neocortexes are needed for words, right?" Ikiko asks, not highly versed in what all of the subcomponents of the brain do. "Because if my fragmented knowledge of Avian is anything to go by, what animals communicate about are items and non-theory concepts, using just body language and tone, and magic just parses those into words."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh, it super sucks. It suuuuuucks! Big time! But, you know..."

She shrugs. And Catra's outburst? It gets her to look at the other girl for the first time tonight, really look at her, and she just... shrugs.

"I mean... we've all been through enough stuff before that... unless you want to talk about something specific?"

Entrapta has posed:
"I'd be happy to! Can someone watch Emily for me? She's easy to take care of, just let her plug into the charger when she beeps." When she beeps? She's been beeping this whole t...oh. She's hungry.

Well, woujld have been nice to know that earlier. As Entrapta hops up from her chair, Emily gives one last aggreived beep. And then, she pauses. Not Emily, Entrapta. Emily is always paused.

"There are still some universal constants. Believe it or not." Well, she can believe so if she wants. It may even be true.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh! Later I think, Entrapta-san? I'd like Ami Mizuno to be there as well if possible, since she's looking to move tech into the building as well--" Mamoru's saying, craned in his seat next to Usagi, looking at Entrapta who's just gotten up. He's in a sleeveless shirt and cargo shorts today, no dignity.

Catra and Amy are also at the table! There are many cats, and Usagi is holding a roomba and a cat.

Catra has posed:
There has been a lot. Catra is forced to admit that. Her ears flatten out, and she sips her bubble tea, which does not look 'cute' in any way. Not even a little bit.

It doesn't.

"...Nothing particular," she mutters, "Just... everything. Yeah, the future thing, the other thing, the wedding thing, the..." she struggles for a second, "The Mistress 9 thing, the Obsidian thing, the... the things. All the things."

Catra looks in Usagi's direction, almost saying 'the hair thing' or 'the knees thing' but not quite getting to that point, but palpably thinking it.

And then she looks back to Amy, "And apparently now I'm supposed to like, go to school and act normal and I have no idea how to do that."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Mamoru had not spoken of the devil and so, thankfully, it wasn't any such wicked thing that appeared. He had spoken of Ami, however, and it was at about that moment that the door opened to reveal the girl still in Radiant Heart uniform with her backpack over her shoulders. A small blush bluejay swung ominously as she let a long, relieved breath free.

It was warm and the cafe was cool. Perfect. Well, almost. Ami was already making her way to the counter to rectify the imperfection with a sweetened cappuccino when her attention fell over the table and those gathered. Friends. Cats.

Roomba?

It was a short wait before she could make her way over, drink in hand, and brows furrowed a little out of curiosity. As soon as she was close enough, she had to ask--"Have you found a new pet, Usagi-chan?"

Entrapta has posed:
Oh. Not now. A quick mental review of the conversation has the purple-haired, dark-skinned one back into her seat. "I like to get right onto things," she says and it is true.

Then, glancing up as Ami comes in, she turns her gaze back to the crowd. "I wouldn't know this Ami-chan if I saw her." Without cracking a smile, without a hint of a joke evident. Either she's the best straight man/woman in history, or this is another one of those moments.

Emily the Roomba tips an ejection pod in Ami's direction though, acknowledging the attention.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks to Ikiko. "Well... yeah. I mean, like... obviously animals have calls for things like 'stay away', 'predator', 'all clear', and uh, mating calls..." She looks at the cats. "And also 'pay attention to me' and 'food' and 'do something about this, human'..." She blinks. "But you said Anko complimented you on your Japanese... although I guess she's special in the first place. So when you talk to other animals, it's more... limited to the things they normally say?"

    "I guess that makes a bit more sense... like, my soul may be a rock, but I still need a brain to think..."

    "Except for that time I got turned into a doll."

    "...Or the time Usagi turned me into an action figure."

    She sighs. "I don't know what's worse, that that doesn't make sense, or that most of the time it doesn't bother me that it doesn't make sense. I always thought that if I ever encountered magic, I'd be the one studying it and understanding it and figuring out how it works so we can use it for everyone's benefit. And look at me now..." She hangs her head.

    Catra has a lot, too. "...It's been a lot, yeah..."

    "...Don't forget the Seriss Nyx thing, seeing Melona die in front of us, the evil planet of awfulness in the future, the Black Moon clan Murdering Okana-san's dad and trying to murder a little kid, Aloisia being mind-controlled by a Lost Logia, Beryl and everything in Paris, Halloween being ruined by Walpurgisnacht, dream monsters kidnapping Hinoiri, also Hinoiri trying to destroy the world that one time, the crazy lady that burned people -- not Hinoiri the other one, that burned her -- finding out that I only have magic as part of a scheme for an uncaring alien to harvest energy, the whole 'oh yeah, we turn into Witches' thing, Otto who is now sealed away in Belkan Wizard Prison or whatever, uh... and Gaito and everything and I couldn't stand to take Chorus this year because my music teacher betrayed us to Gaito... the time we were invited to a winter castle and then trapped there. Also that Phantom is loose again and Scorn's still out there with his scary powers and did we ever free the crystalled girl in the Shed or is she still under a sheet?"

    "...I have 36 years of extra memories of another, nonmagical life and I don't have the memories of being a child raised for this life and I never figured out how to 'act normal' then and I sure can't now. All I can say is stick around nice people like these and they'll treat you like you're not shit despite being weird. Everyone's a little weird actually. It's cool, when people let it be instead of being jerks about it."

    And then she just sort of thousand-yard-stares at the floor in front of Catra.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Oh also Santa is real and I've helped save Christmas twice." she adds.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru clearly just assumes that this is one of those moments. "Ami-chan!" he calls cheerfully. "Please, this is Entrapta-san, you may have met or you may not have, I honestly don't know. Entrapta-san, this is Mizuno Ami-san. Ami-chan, Entrapta-san is going to be building her new lab in the building. Rashmi-chan knows. But I have no idea what would be needed--"

There's one brand of social emergency. And there's the other!

Mamoru leans over and lightly knock-knocks on the table in front of Amy. He says quietly, gently, and with good humour, "We were going to steamroll it. You let it catch you. Just steamroll it with us next time, okay?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Entrapta-chan made a new friend! And... I think she's hungry, so I'm going to put her on the charger!"

She stands, cradling the Roomba in her hands (the cat that had been perched upon Emily promptly steals her chair and curls up in the warm spot, setting up a battle for when she returns).

Catra's left things unsaid, but Usagi - well, she's not apologizing, and she's pretty sure Catra's not apologizing, and at that point, shouldn't they both just keep moving forward?

Amy is a great example of that, listing out a bunch of the utterly wild things that have happened in the last two or three months alone, and Usagi bounces over to Ami, kisses her on the cheek, and then bounces past to gently place Emily the Roomba on the charging station.

"Okay, you snack here, if Entrapta-chan leaves, I'll know where to find her, so you can always just run over my foot and I'll know you want to find her, okay?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko waves to Ami and pats Catra on the back, then gives Amy a biiiiig hug. "Honestly, even for non-magical things it usually feels like life is just a bunch of improvising as you go along, and hoping that someone you know has found anything resembling a script," she says to the catgirl and the Puella. "If you're lucky, it might even be a relevant script."

Entrapta has posed:
Deet-doot. It sounds so much like 'thank-you' that it may as well be translated as such. However, at that point, Emily powers down and her charging light begins to pulse. She's napping, and the fact that another cat comes over and curls up next to/on her is not noticed. By her, anyway.

Entrapta-chan picks up a hair strand, then waves it at Ami. Kind of like waving her hair, but without powers. You know, she thinks, I could maybe do something about that. I have the technology.

"I need to learn more, if that's the kind of list of things I need to figure out how to address," she murmurs. But Amy's not even listing everything, just the top ten. And it's possible that Entrapta knows it for a change.

"Did you want to talk about technical specifications?" she asks Ami. "I try not to take up too much space, but sometimes experiments do get out of hand."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Her cheeks flushed at the kiss, accompanied by a warm little smile until introductions and explanations all filtered their way through to her. Ami offered a very informal bow of her head to Entrapta for the introduction, the kind where not spilling her coffee was of a fairly high priority. "It's lovely to meet you, Entrapta-san."

Ikiko was on the recieving end of her own pleasant little wave and then she was setting drink down in order to bring another chair to the party. At around this time, Ami took note of Usagi's computer as backpack shrugged free and she settled to sit.

"It would be nice to know what sorts of things to expect." She smiled merrily at Entrapta. "I've had some experience with laboratories while I was away, but I'm going to hazard a guess that this one might be a little more exotic if the experiments are a potential nuisance."

At least, she hoped they didn't go much further past nuisance.

"What sort of lab were you thinking of?"

Catra has posed:
"Okay yeah but--"

At this moment one of the cafe cats jumps up into Catra's lap.

Catra glares at it. The cat glares back at her. Both of their hackles rise, eyes narrow, the cat leans back and growls. Catra growls back and hisses -- and then the cat swats at her, which she blocks with one hand.

"What the hell?!" Catra sputters as the cat bounces off back out of her lap, and watches it stroll off across the cafe floor, tail in the air and head held high as though nothing just happened.

Catra's eyelid twitches.

"..." Catra's body-language basically says 'noted'. "So, right, where were we; everything is messed up." She sips her drink, and tries to look like she's perfectly relaxed -- which she isn't, and it isn't working.

"Hey wait a sec, what's 'The Shed'?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lifts her head and blinks at Mamoru. "Huh? Oh no, I mean... like, life is pretty great now! The absolute lowest bar -- aside from moments I think I'm about to die or thought Molly was gone -- is still," she uncurls a finger on her left hand each time and taps it with her right index finger, "I get to be a cute girl, I get free room and board, I get to have magical adventures, I get to have friends I see every day, I get to help people with my special magical powers," she reverses hands, "I don't have to deal with minor or major injuries or get sick much, I get to experience feelings I never got to have before even if I'm still figuring them out, I get to see this in the mirror every single day, I still get to play computer games and read manga, I get to magically summon cosplay outfits..."

    She makes an X with her forearms, "The absolute worst" and then uncrosses them, "case scenario is that I've gotten almost two years and counting of this and I would trade the rest of the life I could've had for a month of this. If I Witch tomorrow I've come out way ahead, even if it'd be sad I don't get to have a normal life or whatever."

    Ikiko huuuuuuugs her. "Aww," she smiles and notes quietly, "squeezy hugs are the best... I don't think anyone has a script that works well. The people who seem like they do are just the best at improvising and making it look like they planned it all along."

    She hugs Ikiko back briefly, then looks between them all, then at Mamoru. "So like, just to be clear... that's the baseline. I wasn't caught, just... I guess I was making the point that the unending craziness of our lives is not new to just since Catra protectively abducted Chibiusa and started doing hero stuff."

    What's the Shed?

    Amy looks worried she messed up. Uhhhh... maybe she can deflect and buy time? She looks back at Catra. "Wait, so just checking, are you the same Catra who has been around since like, two years ago, or are you a new one from a different timeline?"

Entrapta has posed:
Yeah, don't expect Entrapta to respond past this point if you talk to her. Unless you're Ami. Or Emily. Yeah, that's about the list.

"Well. I do chemistry, engineering, assembly and theory both. Um." Thinks. "Energy manipulation, magical theory and practical work, recording and application. I've got experiments in crystal, liquid forms, sonic resonances, chaos theorems, lattice work, dark energy protection forms, magical item resonance scans which of course require systems set up to manipulate and store them with some level of suspension to keep them from being corrupted by outside influences..."

Hmm. Wait, she's not done?

Nope. "Portal technology as a background experimental setup, and some AI work, I've got a few robots kicking around that really have a good time helping out. You should meet them, they're super nice. Pure magic of course, which is largely a resonance wave system, so computers to match that level of tech. We can set them up to work independently later on. I'd go with shielding for the whole lab, and obviously recording tools like cameras which need access through any shielding we put up..."

NOW she must be done, right?

"Oh and knowledge-based magical fields, thank you Catra. That's a good reminder. The Shed is one of those, I was working on improving the concept. Oh and some books, I like to read and tinker."

...done? Done. So done.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
The blue-haired senshi listened quite intently, sapphirine gaze fixed on Entrapta as she went about her list. Ami's cappuccino lifted slowly, sipped quietly, swallowed away, and then made its way back all as she slowly nodded.

"So, full-featured would almost be an understatement, then. You're going to need equipment for everything from--" She hummed, evidently building her own little quiet list.

It was in the eyes, the way they sort of drifted toward the ceiling and narrowed into a squint. Eventually, she nodded and glanced to Mamoru.

"Some of that is going to need good external ventilation and possibly catalysation to make sure it's safe." Ami grimaced. "And the energy footprint is probably going to be substantial. I don't know if my computer has anything useful, but I'll look."

Speaking of, Ami returned gaze to Entrapta. "I've only got the one computer that's really suitable to these sorts of things--oh! I've got some scans of things that Rashmi-san was showing me the other day, I might even have some things that would be useful even if we have to find some creative workarounds for bits of it."

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Ikiko smiles at Amy's compliment, then goes and buys a juice while Ami and Entrapta talk labtech. While the magi-science stuff mostly goes over the younger girl's head, it's still enjoyable to listen to the energy of two experts in their field discussing their specialty.

Entrapta has posed:
"I want to show you some of the math," Entrapta says. Then, if allowed, she pulls out some paper.

Seriously, this is the end of her for the night. What she's drawing is basically gibberish, unless you know dark energy withdrawal rates, advanced abstract algebra, differential geometry, and combinatorics.

Which Ami does. Which some others may in fact be able to keep up with. And which, if lucky, will help to create a MATH TEAM. Of people who get lost in numerical analysis and get next to nothing done, but ..I mean, that's fun too?

"...I need more room for this, is there a room I can use a whiteboard in?" Also known as, she's going to be a while.

Come back later, be amazed. Bring a book. XD

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Also, all this is going on. Amy turns to them, listens, understands several words, but her mind is just not engaging. Is this somehow not her thing?

    What's gone wrong with her???

    A worry for another day, perhaps.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I have better than a whiteboard..."

Ami had managed to fish the Mercury Computer out of her backpack and was already opening it up. Which was perhaps a little bold of her, but if they were going to get lost in the world of insane mathletics, they might as well have a portable supercomputer on hand to work it.

"Now. Where were we?"

They were mathing hard.