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"Stay there." Painite told him sternly, folding her arms across her chest as she often did when she was deadly serious about something. Ekanite was beginning to think there was very little she was not deadly about, in fact. Serious or not. "I hate coming here, but I have to talk to someone. Just don't move. It's dangerous here and I'm not going to drag your a** out of a youma's mouth if you get lost." And then she walked away. He knew, of course, that she most certainly would drag his butt out of a youma's mouth if he got it there, but he intended to not. Were there even youma in this part of negaspace? Sometimes, he was pretty sure she was just trying to scare him. Most of the time it worked.

Really, he definitely was going to listen to her instructions and not wander around this really cool, dangerous, awesome place that he had never been to before.

He was going to wait. And wait.

After about eight minutes of dutifully waiting and abiding the order he had been given, Ekanite's resolve wavered and he decided a little wandering, maybe pacing down the way and back, would not harm anyone. It certainly would not result in lieutenant butt in youma mouth. He nodded determinedly and began to stray, looking around in earnest and forgetting completely that he was only going to go a few feet and then come right back to where he was meant to be waiting.

What was that noise?

Leaning toward a door, he pressed his ear to it and listened intently, hearing some strange clattering and excited padding of what had to be very small feet inside.

"Argh!"

Ekanite was not expecting the door to swing open suddenly, thinking he had been rather quiet about his eavesdropping and not realizing he had been sensed rather than heard. He landed face first on the floor, perfectly unable to catch himself despite his heightened senses. In fact, he was so unused to being more powerful that his too-fast reaction times bogged him down.

He sat up quickly, tucking his feet under him to sit cross legged as he rubbed his nose and looked around the room, frowning in wonder. What was all this mess? Oh, what was that?

"A cat! What are you doing in a place like this?!" He had not been expecting a cat, considering Painite told him only the worst of the worst came to this place and they were all soldiers like him. She had not mentioned animals outside of monsters. Cats were not monsters, unless she had a severe allergy she hadn't told him about yet.

Oh.

This cat was a mad scientist. That was cool. And also not what he was expecting, but really, how could he expect anything when a cat was talking to him? It wasn't like he had a frame of reference for it: this was the first talking cat he had ever met. It was really setting the bar, so as far as he knew all cats who could talk were mad scientists.

That seemed cool. Where could he get one, he wondered?

"Thumbs? I do have those. Two of those, in fact," he grinned brightly, holding up both his thumbs in a show of proof. And because he always enjoyed a good thumbs up situation. Wait. "You want me to help you clean this place up? That doesn't sound fun. Er. I mean. My General told me not to wander away and if I'm gone for too long I'm pretty sure she'll run me through with her spear."

He cleared his throat, wishing he was joking about that.

"Though..." he looked around guiltily. How was a little cat going to move any of this crazy looking stuff on his own? "I guess I could stay for a little..."

Won't mind?

Ekans was not sure this little cat had ever actually met Painite, or maybe he would not be so quick to decide something like that. From Ekanite's experience so far, this was absolutely something she would mind, considering he was doing the exact opposite of what she told him to do.

But at least he had permission to blame the cat should things go wrong. Not that he ever would: Ekanite always took responsibility for his actions, even though he knew he was prone to making bad or instinctive decisions. Usually ending in trouble. But what could go wrong here?

"Coffee Fabricator? What, like a Keurig? Those things are sweet, though I've been told I don't need coffee. "Okay! So just moved the junk around that coffee thing and put them over there? I can do that!"

He seemed to be over falling on his face, all smiles as he got up and moved to start helping without any more complaints. It was better than just waiting around outside after all! "What are these big plans of yours? Espresso?"

Ekanite grinned, wondering what sort of traps one could set up if they played with the right equipment. After all, someone expecting a nice cup of coffee would never expect it to turn into a robot or something. If only he had any knowledge or skill with tinkering, but he supposed it was better that he not. He probably would have ended up a real prankster and troublemaker instead of the rather polite and earnest young man he was.

But he still thought about all the cool and funny things he could do if he had the chance or guts.

He had never seen a cat clap before, but he quickly decided it was his new favorite thing.

"Alright!" He quickly set to work picking things up and asking if they were the right things to move, then repositioning them as directed. As it turned out, he was very good at taking and following orders, without any complaint. By all accounts, he seemed to be having a lot of fun with it. Until a loud, angry voice echoed in the hall outside.

"EKANITE?"