open ★ cat phones idk I need a network sample

[meownites]

A [voice]
[Fun fact about telepathy-based communication systems-- to Sissel, it's just like talking to other people in the land of the dead: no voices, only thoughts. So it's only natural that he makes the (incorrect) connection between the two.]

Hey, voices out there? You're not all ghosts... right?

B [video]
[You've got the insides of a random book shoved in your face, or rather, in front of the video feed you're seeing. Feel free to make up the contents yourself.]

What's this book about? I'm curious.

C [voice]

I hear a lot about people getting "jobs" nowadays, but what are they?

Comments

[fortunesgun]

[In the last few weeks, Naoto had gotten rather used to the strange quirks of this world, so the talking (thinking) cat wasn't much of a surprise.]

[What was a surprise, however, was the book that he was asking about. Naoto couldn't help but blush; she'd seen this book make its way around the hallways of her high school, but she'd been lucky to avoid coming into close contact with it herself. Until now, anyway.]

Err...well, you see...

[This wasn't doing any good. In all honesty, Rise would be somebody much better suited to handle this.]

I'm afraid that I'm not an expert on this subject matter.

["Subject matter" being a term she used loosely.]

...is it 50 shades of gray

[meownites]

That's fine. I can't read at all, so I don't even know what the "subject matter" is. Just that it's popular in the library.

[At least it's not a picture book. But he'll move the book out of the way and give Naoto a concerned cat face at all that blushing she's doing.]

...are you okay? Your face is all red.

maaaaaaaybeeee

[fortunesgun]

[Yeah she'll just...pull her hat down. That should help hide her beet-red face.]

Even if you could read, I doubt you'd find it enjoyable. It's just a book that's primarily popular among middle-aged women.

And I'm fine.

[It's pretty easy to pick up that she's extremely embarrassed.]

[meownites]

Middle-aged women... I think I ran into a novelist like that once. She was writing about the "thrill of romance on a moonlit night" and whatnot. And she said her daughter wasn't allowed to read her books until she was older for some reason.

[But the red-faced girl clearly looks like she wants to stop talking about it, so he'll switch gears.]

What kind of books do you like?

[fortunesgun]

[She's not going to follow up on that first part, but the second question does bring a smile to her face.]

Detective novels.

[She also owns every volume of the Featherman Ranger manga, but the cat doesn't need to know that.]

[meownites]

Detectives? [A few of his friends are detectives, so his ears perk up at the word, curious to know more.]

So books about crime scenes and mysteries?

[fortunesgun]

Yes.

[Her expression lightens in return. It wasn't often that she got to talk about it like this.]

Both my grandfather and parents were detectives, so the stories were always easy to relate to. [And the protagonists were really cool.]

And now I'm a detective, as well.

[meownites]

[Detective protagonists are pretty cool, he'll agree with you on that.]

You and your whole family, wow... if I was human, I'd probably want to be a detective too.

[He pauses for a moment, not sure how much he wants to elaborate. It's a crazy story that most people would find hard to believe even if it doesn't involve jumping into TVs.]

A few of my friends back home are detectives, and they're all good people. I've watched [and helped] them solve a mystery before too. So I can understand where you're coming from.

[fortunesgun]

[A cat detective did sound pretty strange, but she hardly supposed that it would be that much stranger than Teddie. The other detectives intrigued her, too. What kind of detectives were they to be friends with a talking cat?]

What are they like?

[meownites]

[Where to even start. He's very fond of all of them, so there's a soft tone to his voice as he describes them:]

They all have their own ways of going about things, but if I had to pick a word, it's that they're all determined. Determined to find the truth, determined to save others, determined to believe in someone until the very end. They can also be a little unreasonable at times, but that just shows how strongly they want to chase after their respective goals.

But if next time doesn't involve submarines and shooting missiles, that would be nice.

[Oh wait did he think that last part out loud.]

[fortunesgun]

They sound quite like my friends [She smiles again, this time almost nostalgically.]

[Despite the hurdles, the Investigation Team had always put the search for the truth first and foremost. Although there were many times that they'd almost let the fog cloud their vision, they'd used their determination to pull through.]

I would gladly take submarines if it means never having to jump into a television again.

[Missiles, she wasn't sure.]

[meownites]

I dunno, submarines involve a lot more water than I ever want to deal with again. [He neglected to mention the fact that said submarine was sinking, but hey, it could just sound like a cats and water thing, right.]

Jumping into a television? Wouldn't that just knock it over?

[Which actually sounds kind of fun if it weren't for the possibility of being squashed under said television.]