I entered Uncle Toten’s apartment. Aunt Minami and Aunt Carmen lived here too, but it seemed that they were busy, because only Uncle Toten was around. He had all sorts of equipment on his table, and he was prodding a small, four-legged monster with a beak with… I think they were called forceps? I also smelled a really familiar smell: ethyl alcohol.
Uncle Toten was doing a procedure called taxidermy; it was something of a hobby for him, but now also a job, because he had clients now. I saw a poster on the wall advertising his services for 80,000 yen.
Hello there, Aurita. What brings you here?
Just curious. I thought I’d see what you were up to. The whole company’s so busy these days.
Of course. We’re getting jobs left and right. You sure the smell doesn’t annoy you?
I can tolerate it.
If you say so.
Uncle Toten was stuffing the monster with some kind of fiber.
So this is what happens after Jin-yun freezes a monster…
Sometimes. Other times, we just eat them.
Do they taste good? Dad never lets me eat any… He’s always giving me barnacles and chum…
Heh. Maybe one day he’ll let you try some. It’s some pretty strong stuff, though.
I can handle it.
I sat on a nearby stool and marveled at Uncle Toten’s taxidermy collection on a shelf.
Hey, speaking of Dad…
What about him?
You two are good friends, right? How’d you two meet?
Oh. It’s a long story. Let’s just say we met the same day we found you.
The same day?
Tali had some important work in the Philippines.
The Philippines… I came from there, didn’t I?
You sure did. There was a… What was it? A homunculus research symposium. Tali was doing research on homunculi. I happened to be there too.
What kinda research?
Oh, you know. Physiology, psychology, that sort of stuff. Homunculi were still a bit of a mystery, so we were doing what we could to learn about them. Doing what we could to learn about you.
Uncle Toten patted my head, then went back to work on his taxidermy.
Tali and I made a lot of friends back at that symposium. But then something happened.
Huh?
It was. We never found out who made you, but Tali…
He took me in.
You know the rest by now.
Uncle Toten began stitching the monster’s skin back together.
How does it look, Aurita?
Whoa. It looks… Sorry, I can’t find the right words.
It’s OK. Still need to work on your vocabulary, eh?
It looks like it’s still alive.
Thank you. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. My client will be quite pleased with this. Until then, though, it stays here.
Uncle Toten put his lifelike taxidermy on the shelf, next to the rest of his collection. Then, he cleaned his desk, making space on his desk for a new monster to taxidermy: one that looked like a snake. Next to it was a log that was carved to make a branch.
It's time for my next one.
You’re always busy, aren’t you, Uncle Toten?
Of course. When I’m not stuffing monsters, I’m out there exterminating them.
You sure you don’t need help with that?
Heh. You know we spirits don’t need rest as often as you do.
But… But I wanna help!
Uncle Toten looked back at me, holding the snake monster in place.
You sure?
Yeah! I’ve never taxidermied something before, but… I wanna do something other than study monsters all day! I’m bored!
…Heh.
Huh?
Well, if you’d like, you can keep the specimen in place while I work.
Really?
Sure thing. Just make sure it wraps around the branch here firmly…
I had to hold my rhinophores back so that the smell wouldn’t overwhelm me. Keeping the monster in place was a little harder than I thought it was, though, and Uncle Toten had to constantly remind me to stay still or else he could accidentally cut me.
When the monster was wrapped around the branch just nice and tight enough, Uncle Toten would sometimes ask me to fetch him some of his tools. It was small work, but it was fulfilling.
Maybe I could brag about this to Dad when he would come back.