There's lots of people here. Most of them look Vaguely Official. Cops, or bureaucrats or scientists in obvious white-collar clothes. She was a waitress even before she turned into a MOUSE. So she's doubly uncomfortable here.

The food is... Cafeteria food. It's not bad. And it gives her something nice to smell with this slightly overwhelming nose. She recognizes that coffee smell, someone needs to clean the machine, though.

After her escort tells her it's free she gets a bunch of bread items and a bunch of fruit and a glass of water and...

Goes to sit nearby the one nonhuman with odd ears in here. The one person who doesn't look like part of the system. (Her escort settles in at a spot three tables down, and the cafeteria's pretty empty at the moment.

"...Hey."

...She's suddenly not sure what to say. Wow, you're obviously magic, like me? Of course she's magic. She's .... Cel shaded?

She bites a strawberry. Her ears twitch slightly at the sharp taste.

She takes takes a sip of her coffee, pen still sitting in the cup, and makes a face.

"Cops can't be bothered to spend money on better pens. What's a girl gotta do to get something better than dimestore ink?"

Then she processes that a mousegirl is sitting next to her now. "Oh! Hi!"

"Hi..." Headshake. She tries again, more enthusiastically. "Hi. Neat diet. Ask 'em for money, order from Amazon? -Alphazon? They're gonna pay me something, apparently, because I got awakened by this bitch who turns out was mind controlling me or something. And then a cop made of fire shot me. And I can't go home because of the masquerade." Gesture at ears. "Everything's so loud now."

"I would have, if I could've just gotten through 'til payday. Just got awakened... yesterday? The day before? Just got awakened within the past forty-eight by someone who forgot to mention weird cravings and I'm broke until I finish this writing commission. At least she explained some of the basics, though, and didn't whammy me. That sucks." She shakes her head in sympathy.

"So she explained basic Witchery before she left, and when the sudden craving for ink hit and I didn't have any in the house, I stretched my Hat out to cover my ears," she conjures her Hat demonstratively, "and reshaped my Garment," tugs her dress now, "to add a big overcoat to hide my tails, and slipped down to the store and shoplifted a little bottle of ink. With a bit of magical help."

She winces at the memory. "Masquerade headache hits like a baseball bat, right on top of the ink deficit headache. So I rub my forehead in pain, and accidentally knock my Hat off, and make the masquerade breach worse. At this point I've got a three-for-one deal on headaches, and just argue my way out of the store. And then, because I was Just Done with all this, I magicked my way up to a nearby roof, on my broomstick."

She facepalms now. "Little did I know that this would be a blatant alarm to the O-R-C here, on top of the fourth level of headachy goodness. So I dismissed my broom and hat, opened the bottle, and was about to take a sip, when suddenly I hear a field agent shout FREEZE behind me."

"And in my shock, I dropped the bottle. And watching all that pretty cerulean treat shatter on the ground just pushed me over the edge. I whirled around and started shouting at the Kekubi field agent, and she shot me."

"And then I woke up in a cell here."

"Oh, geez. That's cops for you. Always making trouble for people who have enough already. I don't know any magic. Except for flinging rocks. Kinda scared to try in here, with-" She gestures over at the sunglasses and small horn-bearing cop who escorted her in and is now chewing through a stack of pancakes with gusto. "Are you getting used to the - tails and stuff? It's fuckin' weird for me. I'm tiny."

"Ooh, yeah, that's such a big adjustment! I was most of the way to six feet tall before, and now I'm barely over four! And the ears are so sensitive, and I've got three tails, and I'm toonshaded! Like what the fuck!"

She holds up her hand, which looks like she escaped from a high-budget anime.

"And then there's the constant need for headpats. And I tried to give myself a headpat, and that just made me cry!"

She shakes her head. "Yeah, there's a lot to adjust to."

"Uuuu. Why do headpats sound nice." Head, meet hands. "Why me even. I mean, magic. I wouldn't go back to being a waitress. But! It could have been a little better paced! I could have been made of fire, or turned into a dragon or something instead of a mouse. How many witches are weird like this, do you think?"

"I mean, the cop that shot me was literally made of smoke and ash and shadow, and the cop that brought you here and hooked me up with these cheap-ass Bic knock-offs has horns? I think normal fell off the back of the bus, and we forgot to get off and rescue it."

"Are most of these people just ... Human you think? Not witches?"

Her tail, moving around of its own accord, thumps hard against a table edge. "Ow!"

"Oof. That looked like it hurt. I did that a few times at home before my ill-fated shoplifting."

Why does she have the urge to pet the fuzzy tail? She is not going to pet the fuzzy tail. She's not even going to offer to pet the fuzzy tail.

"Hm. As for the people here, I think so? What little I remember learning about ORC," she pronounces it this time, rather than spelling it out, "suggested that it was pretty human-run and human-focused."

"Someone probably needs to do it if there's Chaos corruption or something around. There's a lot of humans! And the cults and probably werewolves and vampires and goblins can hurt people. But they're..." Vague wave. "Cops. In charge here and make sure you know it. Even if they're nice, they're cops and I'm kind of prejudiced at this point."

"No argument here. Y'know the old rule, right? If you see someone shoplifting food—"

"Huh? No I didn't. 'Sides, it was probably spoiled."

"Damn right."

She sips her coffee some more. "Sable," she adds, by way of introduction.

"Lenora." She nods firmly. "Was a waitress yesterday. I don't suppose you can show me the - whatever basic magic you've heard of already?"

"Sure. I am not remotely a teacher, I'm just a ghostwriter who was still trying to get enough money together to start transitioning last week, and now I'm a pint-sized foxgirl who barely knows what she's doing, but sure."

"-Huh ooh. Is that maybe a bright side, sort of? You're pretty girly now. Even if kind of... Anime. Not that I can say anything." She tugs gently on an ear and winces slightly.

She grins and blushes. "Heh, yeah, I am, aren't I?"

Then she notices the wince. "Not a fan of your sudden cuteness?"

"No, that just - Well, yes, but also that just kind of hurt."

"Awww, sorry. On the bright side, though, we can figure out all the ways you can be dangerous, and then you can wreck people who disrespect you for being cute, and it'll take the assholes by surprise."

"Hmm. That does sound appealing. Tiny titan. You know, I'm not sure whether to like, expect story stuff? Am I in a fantasy novel now, and I should expect to find a legendary sword or have to find the girl who awakened me and fight her? Or is it just life, with magic."

"I think it's mostly just life, with magic. Can't really rule story out though, because I'm apparently a literal storybook character now. Inkborn, which is what I am other than Mimi, awaken into narrative archetypes and charge from storytelling."

"That sounds... Inconvenient. Not that I really know."

"I like it well enough so far. I think it helps that we usually get archetypes that resonate well for us. There isn't really a lot of data, though, given that there are so few of us. Actually, on that note..."