Oookay now she's bored. Wandering around it is!

Pothos that filters air with particular oomph! Turmeric that turns pink if it's contaminated with lead! Spy seagulls! Chinchillas that shed their skin like lizards so you can ethically fur-farm them! Floating orchids giving new meaning to "air plant"! Sedentary decorative frogs you can suction-cup to your shower wall and feed human hair! Jellyfish-spider hybrids! Fast-growing coral suitable to dry out and use as a colorful building material! Yeast-based nutritional supplements for what ails you! High throughput pitcher plants that will keep a typical home kitchen free of flies and also enjoy surplus bacon grease! Retrovirus that manages your cholesterol!

AAAAAHHHHHH FUCK katie is frightened by the jellyspiders she's going back to mo for hugs now now now god damnit it's hard to run in this dress

"Something chasing you, peach pie?"

"saw spider thing. frightened. need hug."

"Aww, scared of spiders?" Under one heavy arm goes the Katie.

"very." She clings tightly to Mo's soft, warm bulk.

"Noted." Scritches.

"You'll protect me, right? You'll protect me if anything tries to hurt me? Because you love me?"

"I will not let spiders eat you up. Because I need you and you're cute." Scritch scritch.

She's disheartened at the lack of an explicit "I love you" but is not in a state to say so out loud.  She tries her best to forget and lean into the hug.

Squish squish.

"What've you got there, Monoceros?"

"I'm gonna grow Gilesian pearls in her."

"Ooh, hence the dress, love it. What's got her wibbly, did you kidnap her from someplace sunshine-and-rainbowy?"

"Not hardly, she's scared of spiders."

"Ha! Going to use that information for evil?"

"That's always a possibility."

Audible whimper. "Please don't." God, she just wants to be loved and cherished and valued. Why must the world be so cruel.

"Well, you're usually a very good little pannetone so I probably won't find myself moved to do so." Pet pet.

Fear. Second, louder whimper.

"Awwww. Button mushroom, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself, nobody's bringing spiders over to eat the tunafish."

Deep breaths. Her back straightens a little. She gets up and has another slice of the sashimi. "Thank you."

"Naturally." Pat pat.

"I love you." Tears are welling up in her eyes.

"You are the cutest peanut butter cup ever to come down with Stockholm syndrome."

"You too." Out go the tears.

Monoceros giggles and pets her.

"It sucks because all the other stuff looked cool. I'd love to see more of it, but..."

"But a convention of biotinkers isn't exactly profligate with the trigger warnings. You could plot a route with your map."

"I forget the exact definition of profligate, does that mean they do or don't have them?"