Welcome to Gaia! ::

Somehow, someone else cracking a cold joke in a cold room did not immediately send the temperature plummeting. Grateful for that! "It doesn't? Hmm... That might explain why that cat doesn't eat so much. As for him," he went back to yelling at the wall again when more repeated thumps - quite like someone trying to ram themselves through it, in fact - "he can come back later unless it is an emergency! And wanting a taste of food is not an emergency!" just in case someone took a leaf from their charge and decided to get all politically correct. Now then, back to normal conversation.

".... There's a strange intern upstairs that has this strange fascination with rabbits. Wears these huge ears just like them on his head." And of course he goes with the tangential reference. "Guess you're right. Nearly everywhere we turn there's a rabbit somewhere. You think it's coincidence?" A question just barely dipping into the joke section, but still.

"Claimed immortals?" From his line of work, not a surprise. Okay, maybe not medical work. "Mister Grumpy Tin Can's one of them, if you could count him. Always blowing his own horn about how you could run him over with a tank and he'd still be standing. But! The thing he needs," he swirls the cup in his hand around, staring at the sweet liquid inside, "is very simple and easy to get. I guess it doesn't apply to all of those kind of uh, entities, but their weaknesses are there if you look hard enough, holy instruments or not. At least, that was what the tin can kept talking about." Looks like a little something managed to rub off on him after a homestay of considerable time.

Her other question had caught him off guard, however, and it showed quite plainly as a frown. "Now why would I want to know something like that, Ama? This isn't exactly that kind of 'tit for tat' thing, is it? Isn't it enough that one of us knows how to kill the other in the most horrible way possible?" Aha! A long way from wanting to bonk her over the head with a staff now, isn't it? He does not seem to notice what he was saying, anyway. Such a tactless person.

"Oh, um. Hold on." Back to the food again, of course! Out pops the notebook from the recesses of one of the drawers, plus a pen from the pile of stationery dumped on the side of the table. "The cookies are really sweet," an interruption of tart sampling, "the tarts have just a little bit of that sour taste," and he shoots a glance at the cake, "and um.... Well, this is new. How'd you make this?" An idea of putting tomatoes into cheesecake was something he had not tried before (and probably might need to keep well away from the other denizens of the hospital lest he find that he has no shortage of food thieves) and so he hands her the notebook. Something else to try cooking in the pantry, then! That is, if he could just convince someone to let him go ingredient shopping... Which the person outside might be dismayed at. Oh well. And of course, there being the mention of cheese, there was a soft squeak from just beyond the office door. Rubbery, plushie-ish, like getting flattened by a quick foot. Already the everyday shenanigans of the hospital were starting up, but Amarante's little visit was spared, not to worry. Well, for now, at least, with two people now on the lookout for any more party poopers.

The universe giving them its blessing? After having dealt them both such awful hands? Could it be any more cruel to make them paranoid about it? "... Just hope that no one decides to turn it into a running joke, or we'll really start seeing rabbits everywhere." From food to toys to... I really don't know what else. They can be creative." Like a rabbit slung into their little picnic, perhaps. Those things were cartoonishly elastic.

"....." Ah, the subject of that cold-hearted grouch. Something he only just realized he knew quite little about, even with all the time he had spent confined in his vicinity. "... To be honest, I don't really know. I mean, I have heard of machines having programmable emotions and slight sentience, but um... He seems off, somehow. Not completely there. But I agree on that, it's better he has a constantly grumpy personality than a callous one. Would have spelt doom for us a whole lot earlier." For a robot that was more inclined to really act on the spot, perhaps neither of them would be having the current conversation in this relatively peaceful environment. But then, he still had all those doubts nagging at him.

Hey, never mind those! Go take care of your girlfriend and stop drifting off unless he really wants to - Oh, snap. A nerve, a nerve! Hard enough to silence one out of three!

He could keep his fingers from tensing up and accidentally crumbling the cookie in his hands to bits, but not keep the light in his eyes from winking out or the temperature from taking a sudden plunge. "I guess.... Normal is relative," he mumbles, finishing the cookie before he ended up saying anything else that he might regret. "There are those who revel in their newfound state and others who wish time can be flipped without such consequence." From the frosty tone alone, it was quite clear that he belonged to the latter group. After all, such an abomination could easily choose to wreck biohazardous havoc on the earth instead of being holed up practicing medicine and chatting with a visiting friend. Of course, one had the former opinion, except phrased in a way more accommodating for gathering knowledge about his 'condition', and the other was simply oblivious. All the more a reason to wear the human-shaped mask for poor mimicry, if it was not scaring off the patients with a six-eyed poisonous tentacle monster, even if the extra limbs meant extra control during the more strenuous procedures. And of course, nature developed mimicry for a reason, too. The darker ones, in particular, of predator and prey relationships.

"But perhaps that's not a topic that either of us would like to pursue?" Snapped out of that empty reverie with a good old impatient twitch of an autonomous hand, huh. Someone must be rather tired of the usual thought-dramas in his mind, no need to be spouting it out for others to hear too! Unhealthy, but she did not need the burden of knowing that. Irrelevant, therefore shall be put aside by that familiar, unpractical and emotional logic that had landed him in situations he had no way to crawl out of before.

"....." Never mind that, he had no intention to burden her with yet another weepy tale. One was more than enough, the rest he could deal with himself. Ultimately, it was still him who had to solve that problem, not her. Not ready to drop all his shields yet, huh. Just shove another cookie in the mouth to stop any unnecessary comments from falling out. And go back to rabbits and bots. Rabbots. Darn that talkative fellow. But a good way of warming up the temperature in an already slightly tense situation, no less.

"... It seems that the abominations are likelier to get pinned with the cute objects. Perhaps it is a relationship of some sort?" If the penguin was an example, even if it was not in a rabbit motif. "Perhaps it's to offset how awful we can be? Or to emphasize it?" Mouthed off again, no one likes being called awful! "I-I mean, uh, never mind that." But... Pets! Calm that rosebud, he was bad with pets. Awkward. "Perhaps it would be better to keep them safe instead, if... Um." Could the little animals be resistant too? She did create them, it would make sense that they have the same immune system, unless she was going for accuracy to the more ahem, organic version? Would that be safe? The thought of a simple visit turning into an accidental massacre was not a good one. Wrap those hands up, no petting them at all!

Suppose he even had answers for her, he had no understanding of them anyway. "Don't humans strive to make something sentient? On par with them, no matter how many get paranoid about robot uprisings and things..." Someone has been reading too many stories. "A sentient being that's always fixable. Perhaps it might learn enough to be too much? Does data storage go that far now?" Like he knew anything on machinery, that was just a fishing guess. "Would make sense if they always fixed themselves since they can, but if they don't, it's a lot more confusing. Why not?"

Now, before any more of that philosophical wild guessing comes out, he's finished another cookie. Paste, was it? He jotted that down in his notebook, tore out the page and stuck it in the drawer beside him, sending up a little dust of wrinkly memos along the way. Ah, he had to organize the recipe book too. A little too stuffed of food memos now.

Oh, death was not an option. Hooray! "I see. Still, better to take precautions, just in case. I think I've got spare antibiotic gel for after petting them." In case anyone else came in and gave them cuddles too. So, so troublesome to quarantine yet grant freedom at the same time. Hey, what's that little dot sailing over his head? Oh, it's nothing, just the unsaid point. Dense little idiot as always.

Did said database happen to have eighty percent of its response entries as 'ignore', 'sit' and 'sleep'? "Then the both of you can share all the pets in there, then." Flat attempt at humor incoming, even if he was more familiar with solitariness than socializing. "If they don't meddle with your research materials, that is."

"...?" Ah, oop. He knew he should have kept it away! Like under his 'bed', maybe. No wait, she could still see it. Under his blanket then. "Oh, that? It was a going-away gift from Marie just before I moved out. Don't suppose you two have met before? I was kind of wondering how she managed to get coffee takeaways from your shop when I had not told her anything about it yet." The wonders of people leaving stray portals around, of course someone curious would wander in after a while! Especially if it happened to be an eight-year-old with an appetite for adventure.

Of course the sudden jump in tone had not escaped unnoticed, however. "If you're wondering whether it's bugged, it isn't. Last I checked, the tin can tends to not mess around with Marie's things." Stuffed toys in this place, though. Not exactly the nicest happening around, if anyone nearby could say as much.

Sure enough, the people he ran into who may have (accidentally) gotten skin contact with him via the usual punches, body slams or window-breaking could attest to the harsh scrubbing as their reward. A pet would probably endure more, and worse. "Huh, I thought you would have given them a better memory span. At least the association process for petting and disinfecting would take longer to build." Gloves it was, fresh pair out of the sterilizer, or it was really brush-grinding time. Reports were a different thing, even if he had to quash that silly idea of nosing around for interesting things if he popped by their laboratory. But he'd get to learn! What wonderful things they could create, the possibilities th - shut up. He's gone through that topic once, no need to do so again and risk getting yelled at by two people instead of one.

Oop, does the stoic doctor not like that getting pointed out? If his once-again red face was anything to go by. "Um... I.. Well, you try saying no to her face, then." She might not have stomped on his foot like some kids, but those teary eyes? Such guilt! Such a pushover, too. "... Was a joke, really. Mentioned something about fridges and things, so a penguin. A bunny would freeze." It left him floundering for words enough to start rambling again. "Now that I'm here, I wonder if she's been sneaking in lately. Eight pairs of eyes on her and it was not enough to keep her out, apparently." Even for a deed that so easily deserved a lecture, he seemed to be oddly indifferent about it. The coffee must have been late-night bribes of silence, then.

"With the frequency of um, things that happen, it's kind of hard not to." Not as much as once upon a time, but its mark was quite obviously left on him. Pity the next group who falls under the spotlight. "Exploding letters and corner ambushes are a bit more common than usual, and occasionally the exorcism targets aren't umm... Aren't the usual kind."
The penguin falls over with a little plop. Somewhere, something snapped, and the penguin was flung above both their heads by a hidden spring panel in the floor. Seconds later, a water balloon follows suit, hitting the wall just above the innocent plush's head, the water freezing solid on the spot like some statue of a half-explosion.

"So I should be happy it's a penguin and not a snow hare, then?" Comic-style veins appearing! "I suppose if you'd like, I could find a spare pair of ears upstairs and stick it on Pengu. Or one of those Eskimo hats with ears. Might as well go with the recurring motif." A penguin-bunny. This was not going to end well, and more so if they did take it to the lab running. At least she didn't make the cookies bunny-shaped. Would have been the last nail in the coffin, but not ye - heeey, file that information! File it! Now! In case he ever needed to... Go look up those rabbits. Something might be useful.

Impassive, his response was a simple one. A nonchalant shrug. "Like so. That was a trap meant for someone else. Oh well, it's served its purpose, I guess." Getting up to reset the trap felt like such an unnecessary hassle. "Never mind about that, Ama. Penguins don't have a very developed sense of taste, much less a stuffed toy that looks like one." His eyes were pointedly locked on the penguin as he spoke, but then again it was still stuck on the wall with only thin air to fend off gravity. "I think that's the only trap I armed today, so don't worry about stepping anywhere else, really. I can assure you that you won't get your head flash-frozen like astronaut food."

"Ah.... No." Face red. Liar. "M-Marie called it that, so... uh..." Name errors aside! Though, getting a few more decorations for the office did not seem so bad. Until his colleagues caught on and started flooding it with beanbags and trinkets and plush toys and... Oops. Just man up and admit that he would not mind one more already! "If it'll keep Pengu company, then. I really hope it does better than getting its body snatched by someone else on the first day here."

"R-Relax, it's just um, an example. Next time you're coming over, I'll just disarm all of them first." Can't be doing that while he's snoring all over his work in his dreams, can he? "And it need an emergency procedure to get your head out before anything bad happens." Like her bumping into everything in sight thanks to blurred vision and sluggish thought trai -

"He's just scared that someone would come in and cut him into ribbons again. What is this, the third time your trap's failed?"

- ns. He sighed, dropping his head into his hands, quite un-humored at the joke. "Are you still here? Run along already before I do get up and smack you out of there. And put the penguin back to where it came from, please." How he could even think of hitting such an adorable penguin was left unquestioned. Was enough of a threat however, to have the penguin slink back to the ground and belly-slide over to the cupboard.

"I certainly can't bring either of them into the operating theaters." Well, if he was not in here, there would be a place he could be easily found. And besides, this place was lonely enough with hardly anyone to speak to, but that was not a complaining point. Books and research could do as good company, and as makeshift weapons for people intending on annoying him.

"Who, me?" And the 'penguin' was back, head poking halfway out of the closet door. "I can tell you! Maybe for just a tart? Do the tarts taste good, Doctor? Must be really sweet having your girlfriend make food for - "

And its words was cut short by the doctor finally trudging over to grab the plush, fingers pinching where a ear might be if it was a naughty monkey. A practiced yank between alarmed yelps later, a light blue wisp came free in his hand, and was soon flung out the door. How frustrating to have to watch for party crashers while having someone over. He took his seat back, this time putting the penguin on his table in case anyone else decided to try and puppet it again.

"... Now that that's dealt with, I'll just have to trust that there won't be any more interruptions." Said loud enough for anyone else lurking nearby to hear, and as a request for the doorkeeper. "I agree, next time I should do the visiting." He would have added that her house probably had a better security system than anywhere he could choose, but that might tick off someone. A word of warning just before those words decided to proclaim themselves.