Chapter 4: Pursuit of Answers

With the search for the truth officially underway, Quote found himself at a bit of a loss on what to do. He needed to find this Sue person, but she could have been anywhere in the village. Perhaps one of the other Mimiga knew… if he could meet one who didn't flatly ignore him, that is. The young man decided to begin his inspection of the town with a visit to a branching cave labeled "reservoir" by a sign outside.

In the confusion of his arrival, he hadn't noticed what exactly the village smelled like. As he walked through it, however, there was no way not to notice the apparent scent of Mimiga fur: sweet and almost floral, but to a degree that Quote found too strong for his liking. Even if there were only seven in the village, they certainly made their presence known in one regard. He picked up the pace toward the reservoir, hoping to at least distance himself from the smell for a short time.

The village's appropriately-named water supply, fortunately, did offer a small reprieve from the floral scent. Quote breathed deeply and enjoyed the (marginally) better one: cool, wet rock surfaces like he'd been surrounded by earlier. At least it wasn't causing tickling his nose… he thought so, anyway. Part of him wondered if he'd just been imagining that sensation earlier, and another part wondered why he was distracting himself with thoughts on smells when he had more important things to be doing.

Snapping himself back to the present, Quote proceeded forth across a small bridge extending over the water. His attention was immediately grabbed by a single Mimiga who was seated at the edge of the bridge, dressed in a dark purple shirt and holding a fishing rod in his paws. How he could hold it without thumbs was a question that Quote decided to not ask himself; he had to focus on finding Sue.

The Mimiga turned his head at the sound of footsteps and looked up at his visitor. An odd expression came over him- clearly he had been taken aback by the young man's unusual appearance- but he didn't look suspicious at all. After a moment's staring, he just returned his attention to fishing.

"Hey there, stranger. How's it going?" he idly commented.

Quote didn't really know how to respond. Up to that point he'd only spoken with one person since his awakening, and that one person had been on edge and frustrated. Casual conversation wasn't something he fully grasped.

"…"

"You're not with the Doctor, are you? I mean, you look kinda like a human but I've never seen one like you before."

His eyes widened slightly. Whoever this Mimiga was, he didn't mind talking. This was where he could start making some progress. Quote mentally registered "human" but, strangely, didn't have any sort of reaction to it.

"Not much for words?"

"Hm? Uh, sorry. No, I'm not with the Doctor. I just arrived in this village, actually. Do you know anybody named Sue? I'm looking for her."

The Mimiga nodded slowly, not looking away from the water.

"Yeah, she's that cute girl who's staying in Arthur's house. We found her washed up here in the reservoir about a month ago. She doesn't come out much… I don't think she likes the other Mimiga. If you want to see her, try looking there. Arthur had the biggest house in the village, so it should be easy to notice."

Quote took all of that in eagerly. Even if he didn't know much more about himself, this was still making headway.

"What about the Doctor? I've heard his name a few times. What's he like?"

"Sorry, man, I don't know much specifically about him. All I know is that he showed up one day and declared himself our leader. He's a tall human with a sort of gaunt face and some blue helmet or whatever on his head. Since he first arrived, every now and then he'd send a henchman to take one of us away."

"Alright. Thanks for the help, I have to go find Sue.

The Mimiga turned his head to look at him with a grin.

"No problem. Good luck with whatever you're up to, stranger."

As Quote was leaving the reservoir, he almost bumped into another resident on the way out. She- though he wasn't familiar with the Mimiga species, somehow he could tell it was a she- had evidently been spying on him, and once he approached she bolted out the exit before he could say a word. Shrugging his shoulders, he left in pursuit.

The girl was standing right outside, being scolded by King. Quote was able to put two and two together, determining that this was the second Mimiga he'd heard earlier. What was her name again?

"I'm only saying it one more time, Toroko. Give me the key!"

Oh, right.

"NO!" she cried, charging right at King. Catching him off guard, she was able to knock past him and sprint back toward the village.

He regained his balance with an annoyed growl. Rather than chase after her, he rounded on Quote, who had just stood there watching the exchange silently.

"It's your fault I lost her in the first place, you know! If you hadn't popped up out of nowhere I could've convinced her to hand over the key to Arthur's house!"

When no reply came (due to the young man not having much of an idea on how to respond), King just rolled his eyes and left the scene to continue looking for her.

Quote wasn't entirely sure what was going on- he could only recall bits and pieces of the conversation he'd overheard earlier- but he decided that if he was going to find Sue, he would have to get the key to where she was staying back from Toroko. Hoping that this wild goose chase wouldn't continue for much longer, he began the search to find her.