Sid will now explore the house. Important questions: what are the sleeping arrangements? What's the urination/defecation situation? Normal toilet or something weird? What does the kitchen look like?

There are four (tiny) individual rooms and what looks like a massive cuddlepile room with a 'bed' that's sunk into the floor. The kitchen is laid out in such a way as to provide a buffet along a counter to people and the pantry is Unreasonably Huge and Fully Stocked. Someone is already cooking something. It smells pancakey. All the toilets are on the second floor together like in student housing, normal enough that he can work it out. Separately, there's a room for baths, communal style. There are also a bunch of lounges and the big open-plan ground floor for daily use and hanging out. Someone has put unfamiliar woodwind music on.

Sid approves of the cuddle room and the bath room. He looks for someone that looks free who he can pester with questions about Iwami music.

The flirtiest Kitsune, Fei, is still sorta following him around and explaining house features!

"I'm not really a musical type, but I love orchestras. So many working together smoothly is really the apex of art."

"What instruments does an orchestra have?"

"A whole lot. Four or five kinds of drums, violins* and violas* and and cellos*, that use strings, miushis, mishos, isshis** that blow air through metal pipes, foot brasses that also blow air with bellows, and bells, zither, guitar, other string instruments you pluck with fingers, woodsticks and xylophones... A lot."

*Well, close enough, at least

**It feels like these are varieties of church organs

"No aerophones? Flutes or horns? Do you have pianos?"

"I've never heard of flutes or horns. Piano... Those are really big and heavy, right? It's more of a solo instrument than an orchestral one. Or at least more known that way. But I think orchestras usually have at least one. I'm not sure what aerophone means but it sounds like bellows instruments?"

"'Aerophone' is just the generic term for an instrument that makes sound by air moving through it. Humans have a lot of instruments we blow air into with our lungs. They're pretty nice."

"Do you have rock and roll? Played by a band, usually one or two electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, drums, sometimes a synthesizer, and a singer. I don't know much music theory but I think it's usually played in 4/4 time and with lots of chord progressions."

"Oh, yeah, bellows instruments are aerophones. My favorite is a Grass-stalks. I've never heard of that genre! Electric guitars sound so sci-fi, it sounds cool."

"...Do you guys not have electric guitars at all? It's just a guitar with steel strings and magnetic pickups."

"I've never heard of it. Maybe you can make one?"

"Yes. I think I will have to. Electric guitars are extremely important. I'm surprised your species got this far without making any. Maybe someone did and they never took off for some reason. Please tell me that Kitsune at least make music with synthesizers?"

"Well, not so much for live music, but for games and movies definitely."

"Oh, good."

Sid looks for a comfy place to sit down with Fei.

"So, I'm curious about, like, what your guys' life is like and what you do from day-to-day. I know you're onetails, and that means you're young, but I'm not sure how young, or what that means for your life. Are you guys expected to participate in the economy yet? Have children? That kinda stuff."

There's lots of couch-like objects in the lounges. She rests her tail in his lap.

"One-tails are the strongest and most physically able. It's... We do all the physically difficult work, while we still can. And we're all mostly idiots with youth and enthusiasm more than wisdom, right? So it's a one's job to listen to her elders. When I was near full size I stopped going to school full time and learned trades work. I started doing electricals, then started doing construction wiring full time, aside from vacations. And that's what I do most of the time these days. When my second tail grows in, I'll go back to school for a year or two and learn something else- Probably related to my one-tail career. Whatever I seem to have an aptitude for or there's a need for. Some people really desperately want to be a musician or an astronaut or something, but me... Meh. As far as children go, well obviously we're all on birth control pills, but those aren't perfect. If kits happen anyway, the people in our clan who like kits mostly end up taking care of them. I haven't had any, but Mika has. Statistically, most people have two and a bit eventually." She shrugs.

Sid pets her tail, of course.

"None of you seem like idiots to me."

The way these people talk about themselves is ringing his 'these people have been psyopped into thinking less of their capabilities than they should' alarm bells. But with an entirely different species, it's too early to tell.

"No, no- I'm being sarcastic. It's a whole thing. Just like none of your jokes make sense. Less 'idiot' and more 'unwizened'. The idea is that youth is when you know the least, so you have a duty to listen to those who ought to know. And those who ought to know have a duty to teach- Not just berate or command, but really teach. It's why Mika and Tak are a bit of an odd tail out. Tak's like... I want to say twenty four and a half I think? So he'll be getting his second tail any month now, too. It's pretty consistent."

"I see. That makes more sense, thank you."

Can they work out roughly how long Earth units of time are compared to Iwami units of time?

Iwami's day is about 23 1/2 earth hours. They divide it up into 16 hours with 100 minutes each and 50 seconds in a minute. Their second is pretty close to that of earth's. It's currently 11:80, or early evening. Fei thinks the topic is kind of boring but gamely goes along trying to compare the units and get a conversion.

Mika shows up and tells Sid that the Doctors Without Borders seems to think they're pulling an elaborate prank, they're being kind of short with her. Can she take a photo of Sid for them?

"Sure thing!"

He smiles for the photo.

"Actually, if baring my teeth is hostile in Kitsune body language or something, you should take a picture of me not smiling. Do they want a picture of my tailbone too?"

"Bared teeth can mean lots of things. It more depends on the tail and ears. Let's get a bunch of pictures."

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Mika shows him the photo roll. The camera quality is clearly inferior to 2019 Earth phones.

"Sending. It'll be a couple minutes, the wifi's slow out here. Fuckin'... I mean, 'actual alien' is a pretty outlandish claim but you'd think they'd at least send someone to check, Rain's sake..."

(We have just decided that Sid comes from Earth in the year 2019. You are now aware of this Sid Fact.)

"Anyways, Fei, sorry about the timekeeping rigamarole, I was hoping to figure out how old people are in units that mean something to me. How many days are in a year? How old are you guys? How old are people of different tail-quantities, in general, if that's roughly consistent?"