shellphones | video

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.

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[ To her, everything is new and interesting. But you know, explosions are awesome. ]

No assassinations, or wanted criminals, or jail breaks?

[ A tilt of her head. ]

I have never heard of korf so... no! I've never been to a game.

It's a sport back home, a really popular one--goin' to the big city to see people play was pretty cool.

[A little pause.]

But I guess we've got plenty of those other things, too. If that's what you meant.

[It's almost hard not to laugh. He's a wanted criminal. He's assassinated people, and escaped assassination attempts. He's participated in jail breaks, and he's held people captive. But he wasn't about to volunteer any of that, and awesome is not the word he would pick.]

What kind of sport?

[ Not that... she knows too much in the way of sports. ]

I performed a jail break once! For someone who supposedly assassinated the Queen. That made us wanted criminals.

[ She talks about it like it was awesome, not a hint of hesitation to talk about it. ]

It's a kind of ball game... but you know what, I wouldn't mind hearing about that.

[Since she seems so cheerful about it. He's not sure the idea actually sounds fun in practise, but it sounds like she does.]

Hm, is it a violent ball game?

So there's this guy, got set up into assassinating the Queen. He walked himself right back in to explain what happened, that it wasn't him after I'd signed up to be his villain sidekick. I warned him it was gonna go bad, but nooo, he still did it.

[ A shake of her head. ]

He should have listened to me, because they tossed in the dungeon without even trying to listen him. The lady that trained him to be a Knight snubbed him and even took his mechanical arm. I felt sorry for the guy and snuck in as a little rat. I broke the lock to his cell and he wanted to be all "sneaky" getting out again or seeing his boyfriend again - I dunno.

I did already knock out some Knights on the way in so things were going pretty well for a bit. Until it wasn't. We had a bunch of Knights on us, pinning us down in a supply closet ready to kill us! [ Nimona jumps now, striking a pose. ] He was panicking so hard but I had a secret he didn't know~!

I busted us out of that closet as a rhino! Bowled over a bunch of Knights and the epic chase was on! Ballister was, of course, in a state of shocked awe of how useful I was a sidekick so it was all on me to get us out of there. I was an ostrich, an armadillo, an otter, and then a whale! The floor did support us on that one. But we fell through several stories into a huge grand hall with big statues, and raced towards freedom as the ceiling knocked those statue down around us.

[ Her free hand punches through the air. ]

Through the window we flew and out into a little forest. The Institute exploding in our escaping wake! It was metal!

[Faulkner shrugs; korf is actually one of the less violent things in his world.

He listens intently as she talks, occasionally considering asking for context, but she's entertaining either way.]

Well... I can't say I necessarily followed all of that, but it sounds excitin'. Your world sounds like something out of comic-books to me.

[A pause, but he's curious.]

So this 'Ballister' is a villain... and you're his sidekick? What does that mean?

[He doesn't seem to be judging; he already said he knows the way people end up labelled by others.]

[ Someone should make a more violent version... ]

I know, right?! Super cool. I'd read that comic book. But honestly, most of the time it's boring in the kingdom.

[ She props her chin up in her head. ]

More like "framed villain"? Someone framed him to be the villain to get rid of him for ruining her ideal world of only nobles being knights. A sidekick is an assistant or apprentice, kinda! They help the person they attach to and are pretty loyal.

I thought he was the villain when I applied to be his sidekick, but stuck around even after learning he wasn't.

[ The first part is interesting, and he's curious about several aspects, but he still latches onto the last one the most. ]

...So you wanted to work for a villain?

[ There's no judgement there, just sort of amused curiosity. He grins and tilts his head to the side a little. ]

[ Nimona lifts a hand and shakes it in a "so-so" manner. ]

I thought that maybe a villain might... understand me a little better. Outcasted, hunted, on their own. I mean, I won't say that our Kingdom doesn't need a "villain" to shake things up. They built so much on an old story about a monster and a hero, where only those of noble blood can become a knight, where they're taught as children to hate and kill anyone or anything that's different.

So yeah, I liked the idea of working for a villain. But I didn't turn my back on him when I found out he was framed and not actually a villain either.

I can understand feeling that way... I think.

[ His original goals made him either a hero or a villain, depending on perspective. He's pretty sure he was just a villain in the end. But he doesn't say any of that.

She seems like she might understand some of it, but he's not about to chance that all the same. ]

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