"- you might be fine, since you can sleep off any injuries you got, but it'd really scare anyone who you ran in front of since they might not notice right away you're not an Amentan kid, and also it could damage their vehicles, so it's better to cross with everyone else."

"Oh I think I could dodge, would that still be scary for people?"

"Yes! Imagine you were trying to walk through a field with a bunch of little mice, like your mouse but not as tough, so they'd be badly hurt and maybe die if you stepped on them. And there's plenty of room for you to step, so you go real fast, because you're in a hurry - and then mice start running across where you're trying to run. Would that be scary?"

"Oh yeah, it would be! I probably wouldn't run there once I realized that."

"Right, but these vehicles do need to get where they're going, so instead we made a crossing for us - like we're mice, and there's a place where they pause to let mice go ahead of them. You could also solve it by making it impossible for people to get anywhere the trucks drive, but that would be harder to build, and most people don't mind having to wait at a crossing like this for a minute when they cross some streets."

"I don't think I mind the waiting it just feels silly to wait when it seems like it would be fun to go across while cars are zooming and less fun when they aren't. I guess that might not be true for amentans though cause you're more deli-cate."

She bounces, wanting to keep moving even while they're waiting.

And then the signal indicates they can go. "Thanks for waiting!" says Tish. "If you like running and dodging we could play paintball or something."

"Is that when you throw paint at each other? We do that at home sometimes and I'm really good at it!"

"It's like that but they have paint guns so you can make paint fly at other people really fast!"

"Oh wow! That does sound fun. Are you good at it?"

Meelia continues walking to explore the city while she chats. Also, Cheep runs off to see if he can find anything fun.

"I'm not good at it at all but I'd try it with you if you want."

Cheep can find trash cans and streetlights and bus stops and train stations and public bathrooms.

If he looks really far afield he might find other things too.

"I bet I'd be really good at it. I'm really fast at rea-cting to things."

None of those things looks different than other things Cheep's seen here, so he'll keep searching.

Cheep can find apartment buildings and office buildings and schools and stores! He can find purples and oranges and greys!

He can find a garbage alley and a red in it picking up some things that spilled out of a bag!

Cheep hasn't seen that color before when he's been here! He also hasn't seen garbage really, it smells sorta nice. He'll watch here for a bit to see more.

The red glances at the mouse and starts picking up the garbage faster.

Cheep hides nearby where he can see and keeps following.

The trash is all picked up and loaded onto the truck. The red sprays some red spray chalk on a few spots of the alley and hops into the truck and drives on.

Cheep is sorta curious where the truck is going and will follow it for a bit if he can keep up!

The truck goes pretty slowly and stops often. The reds in it collect more trash.

Cheep keeps an eye out for any pretty trash as he follows.

The trash is, by and large, not pretty. Though there are things like shiny aluminum foil in there if one doesn't have very refined tastes.

Cheep will try to grab one of them but is mostly still trying to follow. He's going on an adventure, just like his Meelia.

The red's pretty careful about not letting trash get on the ground most of the time so there are no great opportunities to snag aluminum.

Cheep is sad about this but can keep following without getting any.

Eventually the truck gets onto a bigger road and speeds up.