The only reason Kromer thinks she wakes up alone is that Izutsumi had woken up first, freaked out, and promptly squeezed herself under the couch.
The feline ears on top of her head flicker every which way as other person in the house checks out what seems to be every room in the place, by the sound of it. They pause briefly, then begin again, and by that point, Izustumi has worked up the courage to creep her way out from under the couch, and carefully up the stairs. On all fours, she's got one hand on the top stair when the other person turns around, and Izutsumi freezes in place.
"Seems pretty normal?" she repeats, baffled at that summation of things, as more pictures spread down the hallway, in all sorts of frames. Alongside the stranger's pictures are ones of Izutsumi; smiling with lots of siblings, feral and dirty in a cage, laughing with friends and eating good food, tearing into the throat of a kindly looking woman. Some of them could be real. Some of them definitely aren't.
The stranger, Kromer, is smiling like none of this is fazing her. Just so confident. Which makes Izutsumi feel both a tiny bit reassured, and... weirded out, also. She jumps as heavy knocks ring out against the door. "Izutsumi," she eventually replies, reluctant, still wary. "And I don't know what a corporation is but if something's experimenting on us I'm going to bite it really hard," she swears, scowling. "Stupid clown lady said we shouldn't leave. Are we trapped?"
please wait
The feline ears on top of her head flicker every which way as other person in the house checks out what seems to be every room in the place, by the sound of it. They pause briefly, then begin again, and by that point, Izustumi has worked up the courage to creep her way out from under the couch, and carefully up the stairs. On all fours, she's got one hand on the top stair when the other person turns around, and Izutsumi freezes in place.
"Seems pretty normal?" she repeats, baffled at that summation of things, as more pictures spread down the hallway, in all sorts of frames. Alongside the stranger's pictures are ones of Izutsumi; smiling with lots of siblings, feral and dirty in a cage, laughing with friends and eating good food, tearing into the throat of a kindly looking woman. Some of them could be real. Some of them definitely aren't.
The stranger, Kromer, is smiling like none of this is fazing her. Just so confident. Which makes Izutsumi feel both a tiny bit reassured, and... weirded out, also. She jumps as heavy knocks ring out against the door. "Izutsumi," she eventually replies, reluctant, still wary. "And I don't know what a corporation is but if something's experimenting on us I'm going to bite it really hard," she swears, scowling. "Stupid clown lady said we shouldn't leave. Are we trapped?"