starfishlovesyou | ★4th Star☆ [Video]

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★4th Star☆ [Video]

[It had taken her some time, a little heavy lifting and an awful lot of reading up on taking care of fish and sea life in the library, but it's finished. Room twelve in community building three now has a fully functioning fish tank! There's a hanging filter happily bubbling away into the water of the pretty bare looking tank. Fuuko had wanted to go down to the beach and find a few shells and what not but it's really cold, so for now the tank only has some gravel along the bottom and a rock or two in it.

As the journal comes into focus it's possible to notice something in the tank past the gravel and rocks. In fact if you can't notice it you must need your eyesight checked as Fuuko currently has the journal pushed right up against the glass of the tank.

The most adorable of adorable starfish is inside, laying on top of one of the rocks. Yes, a real live starfish. Fuuko couldn't believe it either. A real live starfish! It needs repeating, okay, it's a real a starfish. REAL. Many a trance came and went when she first unwrapped the jar containing the little guy.

Having kept the journal on for a minute or so in silence whilst she shows off her new pet, Fuuko speaks up.]

Fuuko cannot thank whoever gave Fuuko such a gift this Christmas time enough! Had Fuuko been able to find a tank and supplies sooner then rest assured, Fuuko would have thanked whoever-you-are long ago!

[Turning the journal towards her face which has a giant smile plastered all over it, because hey, guess what guys, it's a real starfish. And it's her pet! Aaah!]

Fuuko has even decided to keep the jar that-- Oh, Fuuko still needs to think of a name... But Fuuko is keeping the jar he came in as a memento of this wonderful present even in his nameless state! [Giving the journal a wave she starts closing the journal-- But wait, ooone more thing.] Fuuko almost forgot to mention the Starfish Festival seeing as all Fuuko can think of right now is this cute little guy. It'll probably be in April sometime, though there's no definite date yet. Just letting you all know!

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[Waaait wait wait wait. What was that, astrobiology? Life from other planets?]

You're familiar with aliens?! How very weird.

Well... extrasolar l-life forms, yes....

[Awkwardly:] I am aware that... s-some worlds have... yet to make c-contact with any, but... Terrans have known of non-human sapients for... qu-quite a long time, now.

[It's something that Robert is kind of weirdly proud of.]

[Extrasolar... Uh, Kotomi, where are you? Come and translate all this for her.]

Fuuko has never heard of a Terran before and yet you keep using that word. Could it be that it means humans, because that seems to be the impression Fuuko is getting. [...] So are the aliens like little green men or is that just a common misconception?!

Ah, m-my apologies... it is, er, the n-name of those who are... r-residents of my home planet, T-Terra.

... M-Mostly homo sapiens sapiens - th-that is, humans - of course, but there are... o-others.

[And at the second part:] ... It is... indeed a misconception. Where does that... i-information even come from...?

So it does mean humans, Fuuko was right! What do you mean by others though?

[Maybe it's because she's rolling on the hype of the starfish but she's staying pretty excited and curious.]

Who knows! Fuuko has always thought they were green men who abduct cows, it seems to be that way on most movies too, green men! If they aren't green then what could they look like?!

There are... m-many non-human s-sapient residents of Terra... [Strictly speaking, not too many, but there are enough for them to be a sizeable minority.]

...

And... w-well. It, er... varies strongly d-depending on the species, but essentially n-none of them are hominids... in fact, h-hominid body plans are... relatively limited to Terra...

[Most of them, Fuuko would find, look more like some strange being than anything a human imagination could conjure up.]

... There are other... four-limbed beings, b-but... most follow a different body plan...

[Veering off again to ask another question--!]

IF Fuuko ever became a marine biologist then would Fuuko start sounding like you when talking about the starfish, calling them echinoderms and using scientific names for everything?!

[...]

Could proper love for the starfish be expressed through science?!

... It is... not n-necessary, I s-suppose, to... to use scientific terms... but, er, they are... u-useful in the sense of... categorization of species...

[Awkwardly:] I... suppose it... d-depends on what 'proper love'... means, to you...

If Fuuko ever did become a marine biologist then Fuuko will probably stick to calling them starfish, their scientific names don't sound as adorable.

[What does she even mean by proper love...] Proper love! The kind of love you feel when you gaze at a starfish and you feel a strange fuzzy feeling between the two of you!

A... s-strange fuzzy feeling...?

[... Hmm. That's unlike anything Robert has ever felt before for much of anything. He wouldn't describe how he feels about Don that way...]

Hrm... w-well, I... am u-uncertain if I have... ever felt such a thing, b-but... certainly, if you f-feel that way...

If you have never felt that way then it's important that you find a starfish and stare at it for a very long time until you do start feeling that way!!

[Or until your legs fall asleep, but that's more a tingly feeling than a fuzzy one.]

Why would... staring at a s-sea star... produce such an effect...?

[It's not like staring at other things has produced it.]

Isn't it obvious?! The starfish are just so cute and adorable that even just looking at one for a long time will fill you with the feelings Fuuko mentioned, maybe even different feelings! The starfish are very wonderful in that way.

[Starfish are awesome. Can you tell?]

[If he didn't know that before, he'd know by now!]

You certainly have... qu-quite the affinity for them...

I-In... in that case, I... I would say that whomever gave you this sea star kn-knew you well...

[Though he's still curious about where the sea star came from in the first place.]

Very well! Fuuko doesn't know many people here who would be able to pick out such an adorable starfish and give it to Fuuko as a present, they would surely keep such a wonderful little guy to themselves... But they didn't!

[It's not like anyone who talks to her finds out she might like starfish in their first conversation with her or anything.]

[Nope, not at all. Robert could never have guessed!]

... I w-wonder if the sea star is... from the L-Lucetian ocean...

... That, er, seems the m-most... logical place. I... d-doubt the Malnosso would have deposited it in the... I-Item Shop...

[Or perhaps they would. He's yet to see anybody alive there, though.]

[Well she was going with the idea that it came from the ocean, given that if any starfish showed up in the item shop she would be all over it by not.]

Probably! The starfish love to spend time on the shore and out at sea, so of course it would make sense for it to have come from there. If the Malnosso ever did bring in any starfish the Fuuko hopes they appear in glass jars filled with salt water!

I would h-hope so as well, if... if o-only for their health...

[It wouldn't be fair otherwise. Then again, knowing the Malnosso...]

... How long have you... b-been such a sea star e-enthusiast...?

For as long as Fuuko can remember! [So a veeery long time.] Fuuko has always loved and cared for the starfish, there probably isn't a moment when Fuuko was without them!

D-Did you live near a... r-research facility for o-oceanic life, perhaps...? [The concept of living near a beach or something is practically nonexistent to Robert.]

No no, nothing like that. Fuuko didn't even live close to the ocean, Fuuko's sister took Fuuko on trips to the beach now and then and that is where Fuuko met the starfish.

...

You were... a-allowed to go to them...?

[... That's kind of new for Robert. Most beaches are protected, government-mandated recovery zones.]

...Yes? Lots of people go to the beach, especially during summer when it's warm you know. Spending time at the beach can be a lot of fun.

[As far as she knows beaches are just for recreation and fun and stuff, given the amount of people who seemed to go there back home.]

I-In my world, such a privilege is reserved... o-only for those with, er, certain scientific and research p-permits.

...

Even then, it is... d-difficult...

[The idea of people just going to them - it's both shocking, almost angering - isn't that the kind of pre-Terran wastefulness that destroyed the climate in the first place? - and envy-inducing.]

Is that really fair? Maybe beaches are different in your world to what they are in Fuuko's, they seem to be fun places where everyone can have a good time.

But Fuuko is sure scientists do research on beaches back home sometimes too.

[Beaches are sort of an odd subject, given she likes going to them but has only been a few times, but she's trying to cope with the conversation anyway.]