Heroes of Flowers: Karmi's Camden Adventure

Chapter 7: The Tale of Clan Momakase

"My grandpa said I could bring my friends over for dinner."

Karmi looked up from her phone to stare at Eleanor. "Your grandpa?" They were hanging at a cafe called Toffee House when her friend spoke.

"Awesome!" Kirby looked pumped. "Your grandpa is the best sushi chef I know in town!"

I'm getting deja vu. It made her think of Momakase, but the biotech major shook her head. Just because there was a sushi chef supervillain back home didn't mean all sushi chefs were secretly mercenaries that kidnapped people on abandoned islands. "What's your grandpa like?"

"He's the only one in my family that believes I can speak to animals." Eleanor spoke in a quiet voice. "My mum thinks I have a big imagination, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins think I'm just really good at charades."

Karmi winced. "I'm sorry to hear that." No wonder Eleanor got excited when she believed in their ability.

"It's okay! I don't blame them for it, I mean it does sound far-fetched." Eleanor shrugged. "No one picks on me for it, but they do act like I'm making things up whenever I tell my cousins that their cat isn't a big fan of her water being served at room-temperature."

"Your cousins have a cat?" Kirby raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Her name is Rufus." Eleanor explained. "She goes to these yoga lessons run by this cat that lives by the Dalmatians."

Karmi hummed, Domino and Diggs were visiting today, maybe she could ask them about the cat? "I hope they're not like this corgi I heard about."

"Corgi?" Kirby pressed for info.

"Oh, while my family was visiting the museum, Domino ran into this corgi that's neighbors with his family." She had been so mad to hear that the stuck-up dog had been harassing the pup just because of his breed. "Basically the canine equivalent of a Karen."

"Yeesh." Their friend winced.

Eleanor seemed to know who she was talking about. "Oh, you're talking about the corgi who's human tried to call pest control on the dalmatian family." They took an angry bite of their scone before continuing. "My cousin Elmer told me about that, since his dad works at the same hospital one of the dalmatians do, and he was mad!"

"I bet that guy's reputation took a hit for trying to get rid of a peaceful family." Karmi frowned. She hoped to not run into that person during her stay in Camden, otherwise she'd lose her temper for sure.

"Yeah last I heard he's been kicked out of some social gatherings." Eleanor told her.

"I did not know about that part, or the whole pest control thing." Kirby murmured. "How did you know that?"

Eleanor grinned. "Oh, the dogs in Camden have this emergency system called the World Wide Woof, the pest control incident was reported on there once."

"Man, that is so cool." Kirby gushed. "You like, know all of the secrets of the canine world!"

"Not that much..." Eleanor blushed. "I didn't even interact with the animals in Camden much outside of the Canal Crew up until now."

They nervously fiddled with their sleeves. "I don't blame you." Karmi told them. "I didn't talk with most of my peers at SFIT, I just wanted to keep to myself during that time."

"Oh right!' Kirby suddenly exclaimed. "I remember you mentioned you went to college at San Fransokyo, that's so cool!"

"Uh... Thanks?"