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Oh, I see, I see! So I just have to tell you a story! [Enthusiasm, followed immediately by realization, and he hangs his head.] Wait, but do I really have to write it down? [The young man droops significantly at the prospect of writing.] Aaaah, can't someone else do that part? My handwriting is no good, nya.

[The kooky old man was always talking about that, though, he thinks- collecting stories, and remembering stories, and ...twisting stories?? Something like that. He doesn't really get it, but if the family patriarch does, then maybe this is something worth doing, too.]

I got a really good idea for a story to tell you! So, if you'll write it for meow, I'll trade! How about it?

( A really good story, huh? ........Well, she doesn't mind writing it down for him if it means she gets a good one out of it— )

Alright. ( Let her just get some blank pages... her pen... okay. ) What sort of story would you want in return? I'll try my best to find one to fit your desires.

( ...She's sort of excited. Her first proper customer. Wow. )

Me-ow?? I don't really have a preference, but... I like stories with happier endings! [He grins sunnily, looking around for a place to park himself; those stacks of paper honestly look like a nice place to curl up for a nap, and those narrow bookshelves...! But trying not to be distracted, he eventually scoots himself onto the counter at the front of the store- at least, unless he's redirected to put his butt elsewhere.]

Happy ones are good. Say...... When you say you collect stories, don't you just mean books...? Is there a difference between people just retelling their stories and writing it down?

[It did say it was a "bookstore", after all...]

( Happy story, got it. She has an idea of one... )

Maybe not to someone else, but to me, yes. ( It's a little hard to describe. ) I've used books to learn about the outside world, so perhaps I consider them more... informative than a story might be. Meanwhile, stories can be so much more than that—they feel alive.

( Even if she writes them down, it's still a "story" to her, not a book. )

Does that make sense?

[About the outside world?] Were you stuck where you were, before...? [Maybe she was under house arrest. Probably not locked up in a storehouse or in a glass case like he was, but hey! Humans were really surprising, sometimes!]

[He gets what she means by "alive", though. Especially with how people tended to remember them and give them power through those stories that were passed down... It's just that, usually, the stories that kept them alive were oral traditions.]

[Nansen's never thought about his story being put to paper outside of gifting and storehouse records, before.]

I get it! I do. [He reaches up to rub at his chin.] You know how sometimes people inscribe special events on objects when they give 'em away as gifts, or to commeowmorate something? Winning a battle, or a coming of age, or inheriting a title....... I guess those are also types of recording a story, nyeah.

I nyever thought of 'em in the same breath as a folktale, but I guess it's nyot that different!

( Oh, she's relieved he understands--she nods. Those examples might be a tad bit more historical-sounding than she'd think for a story, but on the other hand--she can see where he's coming from. )

They say every story has a grain of truth, so perhaps some of those records were the basis for one of your folktales... It isn't out of the realm of possibility at least. So, with that said... ( a smile. ) Allow me to record your story, sir.

....You're right. People end up forgetting some'a the details over centuries and stuff gets exaggerated... I'm not even sure I remeowmber everything correctly...

But even so. I think I want people in the future to know.

[His face scrunches up. Well, he can still tell the story, even if he doesn't remember it perfectly, right? That's better than it being forgotten; an abandoned history that will be gone once he breaks and disappears, too. He gives himself an affirming nod.] Nya...

Let's see. This story is from the Edo period. [He just assumes she knows what this means; hope Angela is familiar with Japanese history with all the terms he's about to spitball!] There was a family called the Ii that acted as the head of the ruling government's advisors. The head of the clan had a lot of sons, but in the end most of 'em died or left the clan to inherit other domains, meow...

So, because of that, the son that eventually inherited had been raised as a monk since he was little. Everynyan thought he'd be unfit, but he turned out to actually be pretty good for the job! Funny how people that weren't seen as fit end up turning out pretty okay, huh?

Anyway, that guy was called "Naosuke".

( Sorry, they don't have Japan—she'll still be taking notes as he talks though, adding the way he pronounces words as a bonus just in case someone decides to read this aloud.

...she is also keeping his meow tic intact. It's important. )

I don't think it's so out of the question. Monks learn discipline, patience, fortitude... those types of things, correct? I think someone with those traits would make a fine leader. ( well. ) As long as Naosuke was also incredibly confident, at least.

( Even without that he'd probably be fine, but confidence really sells it. )

What happened next?

[Hmmmm.... The way he pronounces things might be a problem with all the meowing, but Angela can find that part out when someone else tries to read this. That sounds fun for the next person, right??]

... You might be right. [For whatever reason, Angela's observation seems to get a warm, genuine smile out of Nansen, like he feels proud for some reason. He's happy that the old man's feelings are coming across in his words.]

Mmmm... So. Around that time, the country was facing all kinds of pressure from the nations from the West to open up to trade and stuff. But the old man-- I mean, Nyaosuke knew that the lords under the Tokugawa domains were all so busy fightin' each other, nyo-one would stand a chance to fight against the foreign powers when they couldn't even make peace with each other!

So............. He decided to make a bunch'a meowves to protect Japan. He decided to give in to the foreigners and sign a trade deal without even asking the emperor's permission.

An' that made a lotta loyalist leaders real angry.

[Nansen's forehead creases.]

( That makes sense—it'd be akin to her librarians going behind her back and making a pact to skip work... well, she'd only fussed a little at them and set Roland onto cleaning duty, not completely eviscerated them or anything like that. Still... )

...I can't say I don't see where they're coming from, since it's something that should've been cleared with the emperor first, ( she figures that must be the boss, anyway, like the Head ) but his heart seems to have been in the right place.

( Saving the place you were born in. She has little loyalty to where she was born, the City or that laboratory otherwise, but that isn't to say she can't see why people might want to... if their homes are better than the one she experienced. )

Did they kill him?

[By the way that the man goes quiet with a sorrowful frown in the wake of Angela's question, she can probably take that as an answer. After a lingering moment of worrying over a button on his shirt, Nansen speaks up again,]

Mrw... After he signed the treaties, during the fight over the succession, he'd ordered a purge of a buncha anti-government loyalists. It was that same faction that ended up attackin' him later...

[The events he'd had to go back and watch again play out in front of his eyes as he thinks about it.] ...In the first snows, Naosuke was attacked and beheaded in front of Sakurada Gate, while he was on his way to the castle for a meeting.

[There's a moment of quiet where he bites his lips and grips the edge of the desk he's sitting on. That was the correct history, right? That was the one that was already recorded and passed down to people.]

[... But what about the alternate history? Was it so bad to tell people about what could have happened, the Naosuke that made a brighter future for everyone? Nansen leaps up from his seat,]

--Nya, but, there's another version of this story, too!! Can you write that one down, too!?

( Another version...? Angela finishes copying the end of this one and pauses.

Then, she takes another blank page and sets the others aside, smoothing it out. )

Of course. ( It's not like there aren't multiples of the same story in a world anyway. And... he seems eager. Maybe a little desperate, if this one has a happier ending... ) What happened to Mr. Naosuke in that one?

[Hmm, did he come on a little too strong there? Nansen's cheeks flush and he quickly seats himself back down on the counter he was perched on, folding his hands in his lap with a sense of propriety.]

[Play it cool, Nansen. Even if it's an "incorrect history"... It's not like a human would know that, right? It'll be okay to tell it as just a "story", right?]

Yeah, so.... M-maybe in another time, [Smooth] Ii Naosuke met one of the Mito rebels by chance. [It hadn't been chance.] And that guy... Let's call him "Yoshida Shoin". They became friends! They passed letters back and forth while exchanging ideas and thinking about how Japan should be in the future. And eventually, they were able to change each other's minds about some things.

[Nansen worries at his clothes again, continuing.] ...Eventually, Shoin became an advisor for Naosuke.... and together they began a nyew, reformed meowdern Japan. It was called the "Keiou Era". Power was restored to the emperor, education flourished, poor people were able to learn alongside the wealthy...! [He jumps off his perch again, arms spread wide.] It was-- it was a good place to live, nya!!

[His eyes drop to the ground.] ... Well, it was good... But, that's where it ends. [With a sigh, he plops back onto the counter.] Sorry, that's nyot a very exciting end to the story, is it?

Not every story needs an exciting end.

( Just a satisfying one. Would it be bad to take some liberties here and there, to flesh it out some...? She'll think it over. For now, she'll copy it as-is and set it aside. )

Most people don't meet exciting ends either—they'll simply die in their beds, or out on the streets, alone and without anyone noticing. ( Wow......... real uplifting talk there, Angela. ) As long you're happy with that ending, that's good enough.

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