milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

"Ma?"

He walks in, blinking around, a little confused. A small enough child, lame leg trailing behind him as he turns his head this way and that, obviously looking for someone. The cane in his hands is clutched tightly.

"Ma? Ma? Mister Stroker sir? Ma?"

He's starting to think this isn't home.

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He blinks.

And he's never been so glad not to be Tacit in his life because if a rabbit-cat-thing is freaking him out, he doesn't want to even think about how freaky a unicorn would actually be.

"That's a nice name."

She beams at him. "Thank you. You are nice to say so!"

He nods.

"I guess."

"What's your name?"

"Apropos. But everyone calls me Po unless I'm in some sorta trouble."

"Which do you prefer I call you?"

He shrugs.

"You can call me whatever you like, but I only use those two name. My Ma uses lots, but whichever one you like you can use, though it's usually easier just to say Po so people don't think you're using the word cause my name's a word."

"Okay, Po-san! It is a very great pleasure to meet you!"

"You added something to the end."

And then he nods his head.

"Oh, and, uh, nice to meet you too."

"I addad -san." She nods. "It's Japanese, sort of like 'sir' in English."

"What's English?"

He'll get to 'what's Japanese' soon enough.

If she were 95-san, she'd sit and whir.

"It's a language." She nods.

"From where?"

"Um, America?" Everything Western comes from there, right?

"Where's that?"

"Um ... are you not from Earth?"

He shakes his head.

"I came from Ma. I didn't sprout out of the ground like lettace or anything."

She giggles. "What is the name of your planet?"

"What's a planet? If you tell me what it is, I'll try to figure out what it's called."

"It's a celestial body of matter that is massive enough to create both a magnetic and gravitational pull on lesser items and bodies."

Never ask a spaceship what planets are ...

"Like a fat whirlwind?"

Never explain planets to a 10 year old.

"Like a ball."

"But a ball can't suck things in."

He knows. He's played with those before. Even if they were really cheap ones, he has.

"Planets are shaped like balls.

"What . . . is your country's name?"

"Isteria. And the King is Runcible. And my Ma likes knights but I just think they're awfully silly walking around in all that metal."