video

[pinksidekicking]

Type: video
Sender ID: pinksidekicking (Nimona)
To: General
Subject: Distractions, Story Time
Warnings: Vague mention to the kidnappings

[ When Nimona appears on the shellphone, she's wearing a manta ray onesie and has an extremely big manta ray plush as her pillow. ]

I know some big terrible things are happening right now, but that's kinda the point of this. I just need a distraction, because I dunno if I'm gonna get much sleep anyway.

[ She'd rather be out there searching, breaking things... ]

Let's talk about our worlds. It can be about anything. Stories, legends, stuff that's happened to you personally, whatever. I'll start.

[ The shellphone is propped up. ]

My world is weird. We've got knights and a kingdom, but we've also got crazy levels of tech compared to this place. Flying vehicles, laser weapons, those sort of hologram screens. Don't ask me how any of it really works, I only know how to use it.

We've got royalty... though the queen was recently killed. Not sure who's gonna be in charge now. I don't pay that close of attention to what the humans do. And we've got our old stories too. Mostly about a monster and the woman who defeated it a thousand years ago and became a hero.

[ Nimona points at herself. ]

It's me, I'm the "monster". Not really a monster, though, just different from everyone else in my world.

Your turn, if you wanna talk to anyone.

Comments

Video;

[baymaxing]

Just because you could shapeshift that doesn't make you a monster. I think it's awesome!

[Then again. It's Hiro. Of course, the kid thinks that would be really useful and love something like that.]

....as far as stories. Oh! This one time, when I was younger, I made these rocket boots and I wanted to test them out, so I put them on Mochi, our cat. You should have seen Tadashi's face when he woke up and Mochi was right there hovering! It was hilarious!

[pinksidekicking]

[ She shrugs. ]

We were really living in the dark ages back then. Horse and buggy kind of days, you know? People were afraid of anyone and anything different from them.

[ And Nimona was as different as can be.

That makes her laugh. ]

Now I want to turn into a cat and try on these rocket boots myself! How many people do you think I could freak out?

[baymaxing]

Yeah. I get that. I got bullied all the time back home. Just because I skipped like four? years of school and everyone else in the class was way older.

[So. Even among humans who look the same. It still happens. It's not just you, Nimona. Trust him.]

They kinda freaked Mochi out. Got a little outta control. But it was hilarious watching Tadashi. I don't have the boots here, but I could probably figure something close enough. If you want me to try figuring some things for your shapeshifting some time.

[pinksidekicking]

It's not your fault your brain has way more wrinkles than some others.

[ Having smart friends just makes things better! They make awesome stuff and let you test it out. ]

Good thing I'm not Mochi, then. Man, you should have recorded it. Just so you could play back the whole event whenever you wanted. Shapeshifting toys! I would never say no to that. And I'd pay for it.

Video;

[bountyfull]

[ You know, there are some weird parallels he's picking up on as Nimona talks, but he's not really feeling like pointing that out directly. ]

Humans usually use that word when they don't understand something, but it doesn't mean it is what you are. At least, that's the impression I get.

[ He smiles a little, the expression soft and a little lopsided. ]

Trying to give everyone a distraction while things are going on says a lot more about you.

[pinksidekicking]

[ Until this place, Nimona had never really found anyone else much like her. There's a small quirk of her lips. ]

I won't say I don't get it, what they must have been feeling. After a while, I stopped trying to show them any differently. But not anymore. I'm Nimona, and I'm gonna write my own story, you know?

[ A shrug of her shoulders. ]

It's as much for me as it is for everyone else. Figured I wasn't the only who needed a distraction.

video; un: reindered

[reindered]

Stories from home? Hm. Oh! The one we know back home is about this one pirate. He put this treasure, the One Piece, somewhere, and told the pirates to go find it before he was executed. Whoever finds it will be king of the pirates!

[Chopper says, exclaiming excitedly, before his expression falls. That she calls herself a monster. That was what people back home had called her. It hits something inside of him, considering his own situation. His own past with people, with the other reindeer shunning him because of his appearance.]

They called you a monster? You don't look that like a monster to me? But I know what it is like. To be different. I was shunned, by the other reindeer, by people that were scared of me because of my appearance.

[So says the toddler sized talking reindeer....]

[pinksidekicking]

That sounds like an awesome story! I mean, not for the guy who was executed, but for everyone else. You're either a pirate rushing to find the treasure - fighting off other pirates and the people who keep order and justice or one of those order and justice people. Sounds like there's a lot of adventure!

[ She's trying to change her story, to remove the "monster" label. It's a Process, but something she got to start back home. ]

This is my secret disguise for blending in with people. [ Nimona shifts to be a shark - still wearing the manta ray onesie then back again. ] I can do a lot more, too. Well, you're in luck. This place is really accepting of people who are different. You're gonna fit right in around here.

[reindered]

I'm a pirate! My captain wants to find the One Piece and be king of the pirates. That's his dream! So we're exploring and looking for it.

[And working on everyone else's dreams as well. They're a team. They're in this together.]

A disguise? Oh! Sort of like what I do. I can't quite totally transform like you can, though. You think so? At least, people here haven't been that scared of me.

[pinksidekicking]

Have you been in any epic battles yet? Did things blow up? Do you man the cannons?

[ These are the things a girl needs to know. ]

Really? What do you transform into? Yep, I know so! I've been here over a year and shown people my worst side and they're just like "oh Nimona, what a cute little shadow dragon you are, lemme make you hot chocolate and food!"

video

[sos_pilot]

Well, I'm always happy to talk about home sweet home - problem is where to start! I've gone on so many adventures, my family's super amazing, beaten up a lot of bad guys, whaddya feel like hearing about?

...

Okay and, yeah, I'm sure people have already given you all the sappy speeches about it, but, uh, "monster"? If that's how people in your world label anyone who is different, than everyone's a monster. Cause we're all different. Some of us are just way cooler monsters than others.

[ Playful wink. ]

[pinksidekicking]

Tell me your favorite adventure! Especially if it involves beating up a lot of bad guys. Is your family like in the adventure-seeking business or something?

[ Nimona is now a shark! A pink shark. ]

Well, I know everyone's different. But there are... like people, and there's me. There's no one else who can do what I do back home, makes me really stand out there. I'm just super cool like that.

[sos_pilot]

Good, then we can skip anymore sappy speeches. You're cooler than all of us combined, end of story.

As for the fam - that's literally it! We ARE in the adventure business! We travel around the world hunting for treasures, lost relics, ancient civilizations, all the fun stuff! Narrowing a favorite is a difficult one - though the first one I went on with my son Dewey might be pretty high up there!

video;

[laminitis]

[Oh you caught his Dad Senses with that last bit, Nimona. He gets real close to the screen and looks at her for a minute and then sits back, making a pointed display of how Not Human he is. Red and white skin, horns, claws, tail... Generic lizard demon things.] Your guys need an eye exam 'cause there's nothing monstrous about you. I'm a little biased, though.

[He kicks his feet up onto wherever he's got his phone.] Stories from me aren't really necessary though, I literally live in Hell so it's kind of supposed to be shit.

[pinksidekicking]

[ She does that, get Dad Senses tingling! Nimona really gets to see a lot of different kinds of people here, certainly more than what her world has to offer. A pair of pink wings suddenly appear out of her back, easy enough to see with the distance from the shellphone. ] You do a little -or a lot of- shapeshifting and people tend to freak out, you know? Not here, people are awesome here.

[ Okay but! There's a sparkle in Nimona's eyes now. ] Ooo, do you punish bad people? I bet there's a lot of blood!

[laminitis]

Ooh, that's a neat party trick, actually. [He wiggles his fingers at her.] Just the wings, or you got more shifty shit?

[He scrunches the white side of his face up, pondering that one.] Ehhh, in a lot of ways we're kind of all bad down there? That's kind of the point. But I run a business where Sinners-- that's humans who die and come to Hell --pay me to go topside and kill the guys they've got grudges against. We vet 'em, so it's not like I'm just killing willy-nilly, there's uuuusually a pretty good reason, like they killed the client first or somethin'.

[A beat.] But oh yeah, there's always a lotta blood. Weird that humans bleed red, honestly.

video

[playertwotailed]

Hey, hold on! If your world is weird, and you're different from everyone in it — maybe you're the one who's normal?

[It's not a great joke, but he's trying to lighten the mood.]

Actually, it sounds like my home has some things in common with yours. And I don't just mean the bullies who will single people out for being unique. We also had much more advanced technology, like yours. In fact, I have my own lab for building and testing it myself — especially flying vehicles!

I wouldn't say we have a lot of kingdoms anymore, though. There is a princess who would come to visit sometimes! But since her kingdom exists in an entirely different dimension, I wouldn't say it counts as being part of my world...

[pinksidekicking]

[ She gasps dramatically. ] Maybe you're right and we've been looking at it wrong this whole time! I should've been calling them all weird and asking them why can't they be normal!

[ Nimona can make it a great joke and mood lightener. ]

Someone else here from a world that has flying vehicles! I think you might be the only one I've come across who said that. Not counting planes.

Okay, but your world is attached to another dimension - how cool is that?

[playertwotailed]

[He grins when she says she should've been calling them all weird. Yes, she's got it! He'll get back to that in a moment, though.]

Hey, don't knock planes! I mean, I've built some pretty cool transforming vehicles that can switch between air and land modes, and outfitted them with lasers and grappling hooks and all that — but all those features can add a lot of weight. When it comes to pure speed, a classic plane can be hard to beat!

As far as being attached... I think most of the credit goes to her dimension. The princess, Blaze — she can travel between the two using magic power gems called the Sol Emeralds. And theoretically, she could use those to travel to other dimensions in the multiverse.

And from what little we've learned? There's so many parallel universes out there, with all kinds of differences. So, taking all of those into account, who's to say what's a normal way to think, or act, or feel? Or what a normal number of appendages is? [... or what a normal example is?]

video | un: WitherMarked

[withermarked]

People can make of you whatever they like, when they're the ones who get to write the story. Whether that's a hero or... some obscene thing. All a story proves is who held the pen in the end.

[His voice is a soft drawl, though with just a little touch more intensity than when he was awkwardly asking about hormones. While he has a lot of questions about the 'monster' idea, that doesn't seem like the nicest thing to start with.]

But I can talk about my world, if you'd like to hear some of mine. To be truthful I never know what will seem dreadfully mundane to me, but strange or fantastic to those from elsewhere.

[This part is a little more cheerful and casual again.]

[pinksidekicking]

Exactly! The story is written by the "heroes", or victors. That's why I decided to change my story. At least back home.

[ She was the one who brought up being a "monster" first, so clearly it's not a subject off the table. ]

Yes, tell me about your world. You could start with something that seems awesome to you first.

[withermarked]

[This gets a surprised little snort, although he supposes he's not sure what kind of question he was expecting.]

Awesome? I'll admit, I'm not sure things were... 'awesome' there, lately.

[But he doesn't want to bring the mood down. It would be nice to talk about something fun. When is the last time he had fun?

He wracks his brain for something he misses--even something, well, dreadfully mundane.]

You ever been to game o' korf?

video / un; Enterprise

[lucky_e]

You don't seem all that monstrous to me.

A story from home though... well, things like traveling between worlds and other timelines isn't too odd for us. And every so often we'd have people from other world appear without warning in our timeline.

[pinksidekicking]

I hide it really well.

Really? So you just hop, skip, and jump over to another world or timeline?

[lucky_e]

You must, because I don't see it.

Not exactly, it's more complicated than that. We call it "Mirror Seas" back home. They're essentially generated tears and paths into other timelines. We can enter and explore them, but often times they connect to hostile beings and cause problems.