Carrot and Stick

[violinsnbobbles]

Kotomi Ichinose's introduction to the human class was a formal one, noise only made by the clatter of her hooves. Towering over everybody, the holstaur introduced herself at first in japanese, and then in all forms of human languages known and clearly out of the reach of everybody, before she was told she could sit already. Which... proved to be a problem for monster-people such as her, especially with digitigrade legs.

The class passed mercifully quick, nothing challenging her at all in matters of knowledge, and yet noticing she still got curious stares ever since she arrived in human lands, arms curling books beneath her big chest.

Once the time to eat arrived, Kotomi had managed well enough to pass unnoticed in spite of the noise her hooves made, and her spotted tail she kept low, as she served herself...

... well, everything green. Luckily, it seemed grass had been just added to the menu.

Her laser-point concentration focused on gathering vegetables, grass, broccoli, spinach, legumes, carrots...

Bump.

Kotomi turned to her side, blinked, then looked up...

Comments

[neigh_slayer]

Anyone else would have gotten a curt look and maybe a hoof-stomp at calling her 'chan' or giving her a nickname without permission. But Kotomi's sweet face simply didn't allow for anger or yelling. Centorea allowed herself to be lead away, still confused about how and why this was happening. Why had she been chosen? Where had that little name come from? Who was she???

"Ichinose-san..." She hoped she had used the correct attachment, Japanese was a very tricky language to master. Last name, then honorific, then... "Ah, um... M-May I ask why you're being so... um. Familiar? Everyone else here uses their last names, and you don't know anything about me!"

[violinsnbobbles]

Kotomi Ichinose was Kotomi Ichinose. The living proof that someone with enough intelligence to understand the fabric of the universe and manage to connect both M-Theory with the Standard model in light of the connection between the human world and the monster world, could also be a complete careless doofus.

"There are still few monster-people in this world, and I would like to be your friend." Cows. They get sent to a parallel dimension, and nine times out of ten, they will be too calm to care. "You might be alone like I am. I can make food for you if you want."

That, and Kotomi tends to use first names instead of last ones. Kotomi had an incredible hold on human languages, although she , to put it bluntly, was weird.

[neigh_slayer]

Again, Centorea should have been insulted at the 'alone' remark, except it was true. She didn't exactly give off any friendly vibes, and her curt remarks often stung by accident. So really, she had no choice about this, and decided to, as the Americans say, go with the flow. What other option did she have?

"... Let's just... take this one day at a time, shall we?" She mumbled, not making eye contact. "If it truly makes you comfortable, you can... call me whatever you wish. I suppose."

[violinsnbobbles]

"Hmmoo?" Kotomi looked puzzled at the Centaur girl as she barely understood her body language, and it wasn't a problem Kotomi had exclusively with humans by a long shot. At the very least, the holstaur assumed she might have done something wrong, but smiled at the allowance to call her a good name.

"Thank you, Cerea-chan." She bowed to her, and... holding her own bust, as its weight was the hardest part of the gesture she had yet to master, as she quietly huffed to lift it back up, "what do you mean with one day at a time? Are you not hungry...?" Kotomi lowered their plate.

[neigh_slayer]

She had meant taking the super close friendship attempt one day at a time, but Cerea believed trying to explain this any further would just put them in circles around and around again. Best to stick with what she knew for certain, which was "Actually, I'm quite hungry."

She cleared her throat, trying to regain some dignity. "I'm certain our bodies are very alike, so we can probably stand to eat the same things. It's one less thing to worry about."

[violinsnbobbles]

The holstaur smiled, and like a little girl, she pulled Centorea to come with her, her free hand balancing the heavy tray up, AND having to move with two hooves instead of four.

"You are right, Cerea-chan," Kotomi's long ears moved happily, "while metabolic processes will heavily differ regarding our respective physiologies, the actual food fit for our consumption should be relatively the same."

... Then smiled as she left the tray on their shared table, "do you have problems sitting?"

[neigh_slayer]

... Metabolic... Psysiogies... Was this the same girl that just mooed in confusion about social norms a minute ago?! Centorea absolutely didn't know how to handle this adorable pile of surprises. It was with every passing second she was turned upside down. Even more startling, this wasn't turning out to be a bad thing. It was rather... exciting, in a way.

"As long as I have room, I am able to lower myself." She answered, slowly calming down about the entire situation. "Like so." Centorea adjusted herself first, but instead of using a chair or seat, she sat at the end of the table, her extra legs taking their time to bend and lower.

[violinsnbobbles]

The holstaur sat only on the edge of her own chair, as she spread over their food into portions, and as a matter of fact, while taking her time, actually making a really good salad with it. Not just by holstaur and centaur standards, but even human ones. Mixtures of tomatoes, leafy greens, carrots...

By the end, Kotomi makes a plate for Centorea, and her hooves clack over the floor as she walks up to her, and then bends down for her...

... Centorea's plate on one hand, fork with salad on another, hovering above her new friend's mouth, and monochrome tail waving happily.

"Open wide, Cerea-chan."

[neigh_slayer]

It looked absolutely delicious, and Centorea wound up smiling as she watched Kotomi's handiwork. This spoke of both experience and care - Kotomi must have dozen this many times before, and each time with love. It was rather touching. She couldn't wait to chow down on those tasty looking carrots.

Centorea nodded in approval as Kotomi approached and... No. Kotomi wouldn't. She couldn't.

Oh, yes, Kotomi was doing this. Hoo boy.

"I... I am perfectly capable of..." Centorea mumbled, her cheeks getting redder and redder as he fork hovered in front of her. She only hoped no one was watching. But if there was no steering Koromi before, there probably wouldn't be any chance now. So with a tiny sigh, Centorea gave up and opened her mouth.

[violinsnbobbles]

Genius involved many different fields of which people can only master one in their lifetime, and thus the skill Kotomi sacrified to become a genius in physics and many fields was social awareness. Which, wasn't all that unexpected for cows, really.

She smiled even as Centorea turned red, ignoring the curious looks as she hovered the fork to the centaur's mouth, Kotomi in her own cloud like always, as she fed her the first portion of the salad...

... The crunchy texture of the meal was a unified melody of tastes in a hamornious mixture of lettuce with sliced radishes and cucumbers with tiny tomatoes in the mix for juice, all with the cover of grated carrot over the meal in a thick, but nowhere near overwhelming layer, meant to give many layers of taste, all ingredients as instruments to taste, becoming absolute music in the experience, a grand symphony of unified taste...

"... I'm sorry it doesn't have much lemon," Kotomi's ears lowered after serving her a bite, "is it good...?"

[neigh_slayer]

Centorea's eyes almost popped out of their skull. How could ANYTHING taste this good?! There weren't any words in any languages to describe the feelings this left on her tongue! She could almost weep - how could she ever eat again, knowing it would all be so bland compared to this? This was the nirvana of vegetables! She almost didn't want to chew and swallow, so she could make this heavenly experience last longer!

"... H-How much of this can I have?!" She suddenly blurted out, though she tried to compose herself soon after. "I-I mean... it's... it's the best thing I've ever had!" ... Well, sort of compose.

[violinsnbobbles]

"Moo?" Kotomi sounded surprised by the words. But slowly formed a smile, and handed her the large bowl she had made, mooing softly and happily to her newest friend.

"Have as much as you want, Cerea-chan. I can make more for you in the following days if you want." She lifted her own bowl of salad, which she half fed herself with and half fed Centorea with, as she bent her bovine legs to sit beside her, and pat the bigger girl on her head. "It is all ours to eat."

Her arms pressed her breasts together as she fed Centorea. Her tail gently bounced over the floor, as Kotomi let out soft, almost inaudible moos.

[neigh_slayer]

This was equal parts embarrassing and delightful. Because of Centorea's somewhat-strict upbringing, and the fact that she was typically a somewhat serious person, she'd never been babied like this. It was oddly comforting, though she did wish no one could see this behavior.

"You have my most profound gratitude." Centorea said after taking a big, long swallow. Was it just her, or did it taste better with every bite? "Surely there must be someway I can repay you for your kindness."

[violinsnbobbles]

Kotomi held one of Centorea's hand, and... not impeding her from eating as much as she wanted. In fact being quite happy to let Centorea eat as much as she wants.

"If it is no problem... I would really like you to visit me in the library. We can eat together and read together if you'd like. I read Centaur-peoples liked romances and sagas a lot." Kotomi cradled Centorea's hand. "I know where they are in the library. I would be delighted to have you visit, Cerea-chan."

[neigh_slayer]

Thankfully Centorea was a composed person, because if she wasn't she would have spat out her food in surprise - that's what people thought of centaurs?! ... Sure, it was true, but WHO TOLD PEOPLE THAT. Now she was blushing so badly she wouldn't have been surprised if even the tips of her ears were red.

"Ah... w-well... If food is allowed in the library, I could make time to visit. It is my duty to do research on all cultures and species so we can all work together for a more perfect union."

[violinsnbobbles]

As the human book One Hundred Years of Solitude read, in this case more by a scatterbrained bovine girl rather than a scatterbrained alchemist, 'everything is known'. The encyclopedical knowledge of two civilizations was successfully stored into Kotomi's slow mind by gleefully sacrificing all unnecessary social skills beside 'My name is Kotomi Ichinose. I like reading books. I would like to become friends with you'.

"Moooo...!" Centorea's hand outright disappeared beneath Kotomi's chest. Which, was even bigger than Centorea's own, both of which bumped together. "Thank you, Cerea-chan. I will be happy to show you everything in there."

Then, finally kneeling and sitting over her strange legs, the cow-girl ate from the same salad in peaceful crunches. Before offering Centorea more bites throughout the lunch time.

[neigh_slayer]

Centorea did her best to ignore the difference in their chest sizes - which was difficult, as she was used to being the more endowed one - and they began to eat together like actual friends. Or something close to that, she figured. Centorea was unsure of what else to add to this odd conversation, so she was content to eat in silence. After all, she had to prepare herself for whatever curveball Kotomi would throw next.

But as Centorea ate, she had yet to realize a smile had taken place on her face. For all the oddities of this luncheon, it had turned out well, and she'd gained a friend. Who could ask for anything more? Even her annoyance at being fed began to diminish over time. This was something she could get used to.