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Ma-san sat behind the counter of her father's pharmacy, watching people shuffle from isle to isle. Her father told her to man the store that day so she could "learn the ropes." She had to admit, it was somewhat interesting to watch everyone come and go. To be a fly on the wall, invisible to everyone around them, until someone stopped to look at them.
However, when someone finally gave her any attention, that sense of intrigue quickly dissolved into nothing.
Ma-san used a pen and a notebook to communicate with the customers. She refused to talk, not because she couldn't speak or understand English, but because she was terrified angry at the fact that people would inevitably demean her for how her voice sounds. For how she looks, how she acts, how she breathes.
So, she didn't take the risk. She didn't give them an inch.
Even then, there were people who still gave her hell. Some made jokes at her expense, more often than not boiling down to "cat got your tongue?" There were those who gave her that look. That look with squinted eyes and a raised eyebrow that screamed "I'm judging every individual thing about you, I'm just trying to be subtle about it."
Out of pure boredom, she looked at the clock by the entrance, noting that the store had had seventeen customers in the past five hours.
Then the eighteenth customer walked up to the counter.
She was picking up a metric crap ton of stuff for her family. Acne medication for her brother, insulin for her grandma, cough drops, tylenol, the list went on.
Ma-san had the pleasure of listening to the cat go in depth about her family due to both the register and scanner deciding to be lazy wastes of metal and circuitry.
In-between her internal fits of rage and resisting the urge to break the register down into atoms, Ma-san noticed the cat doodling on the open page of the notebook. It was a small sketch of a cat, bear, and dog sitting around a table, chatting and eating snacks. It was overly simplistic, having been made in a couple of seconds, but there was a certain charm in its simplicity.
"(That's pretty nice-)" Ma-san realized a bit too late that she was talking out loud, in her mother tongue no less. The mouse quickly shut her trap and looked everywhere except at the person on the other side of the counter.
She tried to avoid the cat's most definitely judgmental gaze as the scanner failed to read something for the third time in a row.
"(Oh, why, thank you!)"
Ma-san's entire train of thought flew off the rails and into a pile of explosives. She finally looked over the counter. "(... Excuse me?)"
"(I was thanking you for complimenting my drawing.)" The cat spoke without a pause or stutter, but there was an underlying aura of confusion in her tone.
"(Sorry, it's just…)" The mouse tried to work and talk at the same time, which proved hard in such an odd situation. "(No one around here really speaks my language. I was expecting you to… make fun of me, or look at me weird, or…)" Ma-san looked down at the drawing once again, feeling oddly awkward. "(Where'd you even learn to-)"
"(My grandparents grew up speaking this language. I picked up a bit here and there… as well as studying it for a few years.)" The cat mentioned this factoid as if it was nothing.
"(Oh.)" The Mouse finally succeeded in scanning all the items. "(Cool.)"
The cat gave Ma-san her card, which didn't take an eternity to swipe correctly, thank the lords above.
The cat took her card back before starting to bag all of the miscellaneous items. "(I'm Katy, by the way.)"
The mouse motioned to herself. "(Ma-san.)"
"(Well, Ma-san, it's been nice talking to you, but my mom's making dinner soon, and I don't want to be home late.)" Katy gave a grin and a wave, and with that, she left.
That one conversation with Katy may have permanently damaged Ma-san in the long run. Everytime she initiated a conversation with someone, it was becoming harder and harder to not start blabbing in her mother tongue or subpar English.
It had been well over a week since their brief encounter. Due to her apparent lack of friends or anyone to really spend time with, Ma-san was just faffing around at the local music store. She wasn't going to buy anything, her drum set at home was fine enough, she just felt like looking at the amazing equipment she'd never have the money to afford.
In a corner of the store was a drum set on a small podium that anyone could beat away on. Ma-san soon came to realize that it sounded like "the auditory equivalent of horse vomit." Her words, not mine.
Amidst the mouse's lazy playing, someone walked to see who was making all that racket.
"That sounds god awful." The bear saying this looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep.
Ma-san simply stared at the bloated bear before resuming her mindless drumming.
Then, some friend of the bear called out for him. "Pj!" Now the mouse had a name to put on her hit list.
Actually… that voice sounds kind of familiar-
Wait a second.
"Pj, what did I tell you about insulting people you don't know?" Katy spoke as if she was talking to a child.
"Only do it if ya know you can get away with it?" Ma-san was starting to hate this Pj person even more.
Katy stomped the ground angrily before noticing who was behind the drums.
"(... Hey, Ma-san!)"
Pj looked at the cat with as much confusion as his face would allow. "Are you havin' a stroke? Also, who the heck is this person?"
Katy rolled her eyes, her patience clearly dwindling. "Her name's Ma-san. I met her at a pharmacy a bit ago, and she speaks-"
"That one made up sounding language you got hooked on?"
"Yes. That one."
Ma-san hopped down from behind the dinky drum set. "(How's life been treating you?)"
"(I'm doing great, actually. I've been taking singing lessons recently.)"
Ma-san was surprised. "(You can sing and draw?)"
"(Yeah!)" There was this level of energy and passion in her voice that toyed with Ma-san's emotions as if they were putty. "(I've also dabbled in song writing, but painting's just as fun.)" Ma-san was seriously starting to grow jealous of this cat girl's talent.
"(I was actually here to help pick out some headphones for my friend over here.)" She motioned to the bear who was holding a box of headphones and blowing bubble gum out of his nose.
"(What, he's too lazy to do it on his own?)" Ma-san also enjoyed taking shots at people she barely knew anything about.
"(Yes, actually.)"
Their conversation turned towards random songs they liked/hated, Katy's plethora of ideas for fictional stories, the meaning of life, ice cream, whatever came to mind, really.
Their conversation was cut short by Pj snoring up a storm while sleeping on the ground. He was using the headphone box as a pillow.
"(Is that… normal?)"
"(For Pj, yes… sadly.)" Katy chuckled in an uncharacteristically downcast tone. "(I should probably take him back to his folks before someone snatches him up and tries to turn him into a stuffed plushie.)"
Katy was about to drag the bear away by the arm before walking back up to Ma-san. "(Can I borrow your phone for a moment?)"
The mouse raised an eyebrow. "(Ok?)"
Katy tapped on the screen for about thirty seconds before handing the phone back to the mouse. "(You're welcome.)" And with that, she left.
Before she could even process what she meant, Ma-san found that a new contact had been added to her contacts list.
Her phone's notification sound went off. "You've received a text from ✨Artsy Kat✨."
✨Artsy Kat✨: Wanna hangout later?