It is not as if he is especially intuitive, but rather he sees what is already there. People sometimes refer to him as naïve, which isn't totally untrue. Being locked in a basement for most of his life has limited his experiences. During that time he mostly kept himself hidden from anyone except people who looked like him, thus he is naïve to how people will react to him when they see him. Little fella and Medium fella say that he is different and people don't like things they don't understand or have never seen before. Both Little fella and Medium fella are different from him. They have soft skin, dry noses and flat teeth. Inside they are strong, strong enough to breaks the chains of Manticore and unlock the doors that kept him caged for so long.
He understands that before her he didn't know about the outside world. Now that he is in it, he sometimes feels scared. Sometimes he feels unbearable pain and loneliness. He is out of Manticore's basement, but still he is caged in Father's house. Not allowed to peek through the curtains to see the world. So close to a life of air and sky, but contained by wood, glass, cement and dusty books. There are times he feels love and belonging, emotions he never felt within the basement. He feels them when he is with Little fella or anyone else of their kind. People who have to hide their faces like he does, nomlies who are still finding a home. He is learning that though the world is broken and it may seem like there is no place for his kind, there is a simple solution to the problem. Make a space for his people like the city they live in now.
Being simple does not mean stupid. He knows that, even if others don't. Little fella knows that truth and so does Medium fella, but sometimes he feels like the two of them forget. He watches them, when they are together and apart, and he knows the dance they do even if he doesn't understand why. He listens, observes, and smells them when they are around him.
Having dog in his cocktail lets him know what they are feeling just from their scent.
Having Picasso in his cocktail lets him see the colors each of them carries.
Having human in his cocktail lets him understand that their words don't always mean what they really want.
He thinks that both are scared and lonely, but for different reasons. She has a family that she always wanted, but now she is the leader. A special position that she sees is meant for someone else more capable. Not only is she marked by her bar code as a freak, but by father's writing on her skin. Making her more of a black sheep in her family even though there is no sheep in her cocktail. Medium fella is now stuck in a family that he never wanted to belong in, but can't let go of. Drawn into the fold of his brethren through memories and a bar code that will never fade away. He has been burned by love once and yearns and dreads the feeling so he always wants women that are out of his reach. Now he is starting to find out how costly that habit is.
When they are together he can see their colors mesh and mix together, blue and brown, tricks and treats. He can smell their scents change according to the distance between them. He ignores the words they throw at each other because he knows better than to listen to their white lies. Every time they part he wonders why they make their problem so complicated. Joshua scratches his shaggy head with his thick claws and sighs knowing that really, the solution is so simple.