Inception

Chapter 56: Birb, Rabbit, Wapter Season?

Lena sat in the sunshine of the Hoshina house porch. She hadn't moved much since the Vice Captain had left with Leno. They couldn't stay away from their jobs forever.

Lena wished she could have gone with them. She had wanted to.

But then feathers had popped up on her arm.

Even now, as she sat in the sun, her vision kept shifting in and out, adding colors she hadn't known of and a thin stream of glowing smoke from somewhere to the east. Sometimes she'd smell a whiff of whatever Granny Hoshino was cooking on the otherside of the house that she shouldn't have. Sometimes she thought she could taste the sky: it would rain soon. There were clouds just out of sight. To the east. The same as the thin stream of bright smoke. She wondered if there was a connection.

Then she'd scratch scales back into her face.

There was an odd connection between her shifting. Whenever she'd get curious or start thinking about work, something would pop up, whether it was scales, claws, feathers, or a change in her senses. She was curious. At the same time, her life's purpose was crashing around her ears. A kaiju couldn't work in a lab or make fine sodering adjustments.

She heard Granny Hoshino shuffling through doors long before she reached her.

When the door directly behind Lena finally opened, the old lady gave a hum.

"Those rabbit ears are a lot cuter without the rest of the package."

Lena's hands flew to her head where, indeed, two fuzzy long ears had grown without her notice. Flushed, she tried pushing them back in, but of course they didn't listen. Especially when she caught the sound of Granny Hoshino's heartbeat and the breeze like fwoosh of blood in her veins. Just how much could she hear if she focused?

"I brought breakfast, darling." A tray of simple, traditional fair was set before her. Lena could smell the jasmine rice as she never had before. A tray of tofu had replaced the fish, as they had discovered the night before that Lena could no longer stand anything strong smelling with her nose warping back and forth between bloodhound and human.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Lena asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Granny as she knelt besides Lena with the air of planning to stick around for a bit.

"Because I'm a stranger...and a monster..."

"I wouldn't call you a stranger. And having a condition doesn't make you a monster. You haven't hurt me none."

Lena rolled around a square of tofu on her plate with the chopsticks.

"Speaking of, how's practice going?" asked Granny.

A brief breeze played with the glas wind chimes. The tinkle was louder than they had a right to be.

Ah, yes, she still had her ears out.

"I think I have a theory..." said Lena. "But...but I keep..."

Granny waited patiently, even when Lena gave up for a bit to eat some tofu and rice or a slice of fresh cucumber. Lena really liked that about Granny. Not that she didn't love her own grandma, but she was a chatterbox, which was relaxing in its own way. At times.

Lena found the mind to continue after she'd finished off her cucumber.

"I think it's connected to my curiosity."

"Oh?" said Granny.

Lena rolled her lips beneath her teeth.

"That's a problem," she said. "I mean...I'm a scientist. How can I...I mean, my job is about being curious and trying to use my senses to discover something. How can I keep them in if I'm constantly using them?"

"Hmm," said Granny. "Yes, that does sound like a problem."

"But, at the same time," and even as Lena mentioned this, she felt a pressure under her lungs lifting up and up. "If I can be allowed to use these senses, I could find out so much more—I mean, half the battle is finding instruments that can measure what we're trying to find out about it—measure stuff we can't catch with our senses, but if my senses are like this I can skip it completely and..." Lena took a deep breath. "I could find the source. Then it's all just about figuring out how to use it or block it or even setting up protective barriers or something—but that doesn't mean anything if I can't get back into a lab or working with the community or anything and I...I'm just..."

But if the Defense Force could accept Kafka...but there was just so much she didn't know about the situation. Was Kafka like her? How had they found out? She desperately wanted to go back and find out and it was driving her nuts.

So she'd just been left here, figuring out what to do with her unstable body. Sitting on the fence, not knowing which side she'd fall down, had never been so uncomfortable. She wanted Leno. She wanted her grandma. Heck, she'd even settle for Hoshina and his flirtations, because at least when he was around it felt like everything would be okay.

A small, warm hand on her back brought her up from her thoughts. Granny Hoshina rubbed across her shoulders.

"Everything will work out," she said. "The Defense Force isn't the end all be all to fighting kaiju. Before them it was families like ours who protected humanity. So if the Defense Force doesn't accept you, you have a place with us."

Lena frowned. "You...you have lab?"

Granny chuckled. "Oh, we're not that fancy. But we could make do. Humanity always does. Besides, we'd need an addition like you."

"Um, I'm not...that strong. Even as a kaiju. I don't think I could kill anything."

"Neither can I, and yet these children couldn't live without me. Darling, a hunter family needs a lot more than just the hunters, just as the Defense Force has a lot more than just soldiers. Tatsuhiro specializes in support. He is the one who rescued you lot the other night and brought you here. He is perhaps the most skilled out of everyone here, a jack of all trades, so to speak."

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I don't want to do dishes. But dirty dishes have taken over my kitchen like my children to my pikachu plushies. Nuuuurgh. I want a dishwasher so baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.