Nexus. Hormah's sanctuary. Noms and Neighbours.

[firra]

Continued from here.



Mouse: *looks down at something, and then turns and moves away* Ve go to Black Dog? Eat sveets?

Requiem: Sure. Let's go have fifty gallons of bot scream.

Mouse: Yum! Antifreeze flavour?

Sheol: With glitter.

Requiem: Sounds good. Sparky, leggo, I need that leg to walk. *chuckles as he moves away*

Lorraine: *looks back over her shoulder at the bots* Are you leaving?

Requiem: *glances back* Yeah, Hormah gave us a goodie gift card and said to get outta her hair.

Sheol: *softly* Would you like anything?

Lorraine: Uh, oh. Well, thank you. *awkwardly shaking her head* I don't... I don't eat. It just... sits in my throat. *puts Anne down gently* *she walks over to Adrian and starts helping with his hair*

Requiem: How about the squishy guy? Burger? Pizza? Chip shop special?

Adrian: *head jerks up, face already going red* Squishy?!

Lorraine: Stop moving. *puts her hands on his shoulders and pushes him down, sitting him on one of the wings of the ship* *bats his hands away from his hair* Stop helping! *looks back up at the bots* Just get him something his physiology can handle, we'll figure out preferences later.

Adrian: *grumbling* Squishy. Well I never.

Requiem: He eat dead animals?

Adrian: *scoff* Do I eat dea... *cut off*

Lorraine: *cuts in with an eyeroll, talking over him* Yes, he does. *pinches one of his cheeks, having decided it's nicer not to go right for his belly right now* And you are squishy.

Adrian: *indignant gasp!*

Requiem: What's he think of sweets? Chocolate? Crystal snap?

Adrian: *looks like he's trying to invent new ways to murder people with his mind*

Lorraine: *ruffles Adrian's hair, laughing* Just get him a sandwich or something.

Requiem: Kiddy meal. Got it. *sounds like he'd be smiling if he didn't have that plate over the lower part of his face* *turns and follows his younger sisters, his furry pet mooching happily along at heel*

Adrian: ...I hate everything.

Lorraine: *patpat* I know.

Anne: *little voice from by his leg* Here's a screw.

*beat*

Adrian: A tiny robot brought me a screw.

Lorraine: *pushes on one cheek* Stop moving your head.

Anne: Oh, I'm sorry. *attitude says that she'll stand there and hold it till he can get it*

Hormah: *lands on the far corner of the roof with a soft thump, then stands and ambles over to do a walk-around of Ship's main body* *diagrams and readouts of what she's seeing form in the air around Adrian and Lorraine*

Binky: *comes over and lays down companionably. Still has that tire around his neck*

Mittens: *has somehow managed to drape himself over Binky* Maaah.

Adrian: *sighs, watching the readouts in front of him.* I've got most of this already.

Lorraine: I patched him in. *pause* ...Patch her in.

Adrian: What.

Lorraine: To SPoT. Show her.

Hormah: *glances over and helpfully sends her frequency*

Adrian: A SPoT isn't that easy! It's... it's an extremely rare piece of technology, no one can just, just, 'patch in'! It takes work! It takes hundreds of computations, passcodes, I, I, I had to break this thing just to get it to open up to...

Lorraine: You're not fooling anyone.

Adrian: Well I'm not now! *glares, rolls his eyes, sighs, and opens up the frequency*

Hormah: It gonna *beep* ye off if I was t' tell ye how simple t'at t'ing is compared ta I?

Adrian: *sighs and shrugs* No, it's, it's fifty year old technology. Wasn't even cutting edge when I had it installed. I mean I've made some improvements, but it's a blunt instrument most of the time. *raises one finger* But. It's hard to trace, and because it was hilariously, embarrassingly underutilized when it was new, where we're from it's almost impossible to attack. At all.

Hormah: *grins* Kinda like I's after bein' on account 'o bein' half Chaos spawn. *studies his data, then highlights parts of her own diagrams that he hadn't shown her*

Adrian: I have no idea what that means, but I'm going to say 'yes'. *studies the diagrams*

Lorraine: *leans over his shoulder to look, having finished fixing his stupid hair awhile ago*

Hormah: *brief rundown on Primus and Unicron as from the 'Armada' style realities, and then the fact that her father was a creation of the Destroyer* *then rubs her face where she has no nose* Ye wants replacement parts jes' the same as t'ese? Or sturdier?

Adrian: *glances back at Lorraine, putting his hand on hers almost unconsciously* Sturdier, I think. Money's no object.

Hormah: *snort sound* Cases like t'issin, parts is after bein' free.

Anne: *found another screw, is now offering two of them. One's a little scorched*

Adrian: *looks at Hormah, shocked. Blinks. Looks at Anne.:

*beat*

Adrian: The tiny robot brought me another screw.

Lorraine: *rolls her eyes* Here, Anne, give it to me. *holds out her hand*

Anne: *uncertainly, as she hands them over* Is there some sort of context to these that I don't know about?

Lorraine: He's just being weird.

Adrian: *scoff* Yes, I'm the weird one. Anyway - task at hand, free? Parts are free? Are they... stolen? *he doesn't sound like he'd mind, he's just very confused*

Hormah: *snort* Nope. Some old bat as buys 'em.

Requiem: *standing on the stone block and looking onto the roof* I heard what you just called Blackout.

Hormah: *deedlebeep!* *turns her head* Binky, git t'at slaggin' cat outta yer *deedlebeep* mout'!

Binky: *drops Mittens*

Adrian: *distracted!* Are you eating my cat? Do not eat my cat!

Binky: *head tilt. Chirrup? You wants kissies? Tries to give!*

Hormah: *sputter, and then beeps and laughter*

Bbbrl: He was playing...

Adrian: *leans away, batting at the rather large pet* What? No! Don't kiss me! No one kiss me!

Lorraine: No one? *arms crossed!* Fine.

Adrian: Oh, darling, you can kiss me!

Requiem: Hey, squishy. You want this food or not?

Adrian: *colors and starts to sputter*

Lorraine: *calls out* Yes, he does.

Requiem: ...He needsta wash his hands.

Hormah: *snorts at younger brother as she wrestles gently with Binky*

Anne: :o *looks up at Adrian's hands*

Adrian: *sighs, drumming his dirty fingers against his arm, apparently counting to ten* *looks up at Lorraine* Wash still working?

Lorraine: *considers this* Yes. In the kitchen.

Adrian: Right. *goes inside the ship for a moment*

Requiem: *hand up to offer something to Lorraine* Here, I gotcha treat energy.

Lorraine: *walks over to the side* Oh, but, I don't eat... *taps her neck* My throat stops right here.

Requiem: *snerks and gives her a little bottle of softly glowing energy* I gotcha yellow.

Anne: *calls in her tiny voice* It's a treat made for people like us.

Lorraine: *accepts the bottle, her brow furrowed* I mean I don't have anywhere to put it... I don't absorb things this way. I... I dock. I charge from that part of me. *points to the ship* Although... that gives me an idea.

Requiem: *hand is replaced by red optics peering over the edge of the roof* Trust me, you can have that.

Lorraine: *goes over to an exposed panel on the side of the ship and pops the bottle between her lips. She digs around in the side until she finds one of her fuel lines and follows it to a tank. Carefully she pops open a little panel on it, then pulls her arm free* *uncaps the bottle with her teeth, spits the cap aside, and sticks her tongue in for a little taste.* Oh, Maker. That... that tastes like yellow. *smacks her lips and pours the rest into the fuel tank*

Anne: *now holding her own tiny, fancy bottle of pink* What do you think?

ship: *lights flicker, and there's a quick ripple of static through the comms*

Lorraine: Oh! *giggles* Oh, fun!

Adrian: *comes dashing back out of the ship, his arms red and steaming slightly. This is apparently not why he's running* What-what-what-what's happening? *sees Lorraine* *and the fuel tank* *and the bottle* Did you just put something in your fuel line?!

Hormah, Requiem, and the dark haired human guy that just walked up with a box in his hands: *all stop to watch the fun*

Anne: *hugs her bottle and looks concerned* :o

Bbbrl and Binky: *try to lure Mittens away to watch cartoons*

Adrian: Are you insane? *stammers* Are, are you trying to die? Are you trying to make me sad? I will not be sad if you kill yourself being an idiot and putting things in your fuel line!

Lorraine: *hand on her hip, watching him*

Adrian: Because it will be your fault, not mine! I've done my best for you, taken care of you for our entire life together... *cut off*

Lorraine: *incredulous* You tried to kill me once!

Adrian: But I didn't!

Hormah: *eyes twinkling with unexpressed laughter as she watches*

Adrian: I made a decision not to kill you!

Lorraine: That is not something I should be grateful for.

Adrian: You threw me out the airlock.

Lorraine: One time!

Requiem: *very very faint, muffled, snigger*

Lorraine: One time, and you were traumatized, and I never did it again.

Adrian: And that is not something I should have to be grateful for!

Lorraine: It makes us even!

dark haired guy: *snork*

Adrian: *huffs for a moment, catching his breath* What did you put in your fuel line?

Lorraine: *eyeroll* It's like... robot candy. It tasted like yellow.

Adrian: *sighs deeply and presses the heels of his hands to his eyes*

Requiem: *oh. Show's over?* *hand up again* Here's yours, squishy.

Adrian: *fumes for a second, eye twitching* *goes. and gets. his lunch.* *glares back at Lorraine* Seriously, you're too trusting. And 'yellow'? Really?

Requiem: *hands him a raw leg of lamb, dried in the salty seabreeze of Greenland*

Hormah: *starts* Requiem, ye *deleted*!

Adrian: *dryly* This is the least sandwich-like thing I have ever seen. I accept.

Requiem: *unrepentant* It's freshly cured Greenland lamb.

Adrian: Wait, what? What? *looks at the meat, then at them, then the meat* What?? This is real?

Requiem: *blinks* Yeah. Lookit the hoof.

Adrian: *gawks* This came off something that was alive?

Requiem: You said you ate dead things.

Adrian: I do! I... yeah. I just, I didn't, you can get this here? *to Lorraine* Ship! Ship this came off something alive!

Lorraine: *is actually just as shocked*

Reqiem: You can get it raw off the corpse, if that's what turns yer crank. *brows slowly rising with wonderment as he watches Adrian*

Adrian: *looks for a second like he might actually be into that idea* I... this is... wow.

Lorraine: Everything where we're from is... it's from far away. And it has to be preserved.

Adrian: We live in space.

Lorraine: It's a lot of flavored protein chains.

dark haired guy: Oh. That stuff. It's not bad if you use the right seasonings and mix it with a little real food. *sets the box down and then starts taking out ship parts that should NOT fit in a small box like that*

Requiem: Shut up, Fred. *to Adrian* Lotsa fresh squishy fuel here.

Adrian: Mix it with-, no, there isn't, we can't... *whew* Imagine if you couldn't do that.

*beat as he contemplates the leg*

Adrian: *looks at Lorraine*

Lorraine: *blinks* ...We've been planning to retire for...

Adrian: ...Years now. We're rich as we're going to be...

Lorraine: Infamy's getting too high...

Adrian: Getting dangerous out there...

Lorraine: And all we have is time.

Adrian: As much as we need.

Fred: Lots of empty places in the Nexus. *turns a small part over in his hands, and then pulls the shrink wrap off it*

Hormah: *nods* Aye, me son.

Adrian: Going to need somewhere to fix you up, old girl.

Lorraine: Yeah. *slowly starts to smile at him*

Adrian: *grins back*

Hormah: Lotsa old garages 'long the Lost Highway.

Lorraine: *walks over to him*

Adrian: *takes her hand, grinning like an idiot* *looks at the leg* I'm gonna eat this. If you don't mind.

Lorraine: Go get 'em. *smooches the corner of his mouth*

Requiem: *bored now* So you want the resta this lunch, squishy?

Adrian: *looks up, already on this leg* ... *muffled* Ahg 'ave ah lehg.

Requiem: *snorts and holds up a grapefruit nearly as big as Adrian's head*

Adrian: *SPARKLES*

Lorraine: *clearly extremely amused* Oh now you've done it.

Requiem: *and then his other hand comes up with a fabric wrapped package that is redolent of a fresh, warm, HUGE, ham sandwich*

Lorraine: *smiling* You're gonna kill him.

Adrian: *leg still in hand, he strides purposefully over and accepts both the grapefruit and the sandwich. Pink-faced with glee but attempting dignity, he calmly says:* You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar, and I shall love you forever.

Requiem: *frowns at him* I'm a soldier.

Hormah: He's complementin' ye, afthat.

Requiem: Oh. Whatever. There's salad in that package, too. *already turning away*

Adrian: *not at all affected or impressed by the misunderstood comment* Lovely. *looks up at Lorraine, shell breaking, grin forming* I'm getting the spoon. *scampers back into the ship*

Anne: *peers up at Lorraine* Spoon?

Fred: *quizzical glance over from where he's been sneaking a look at ship parts*

Lorraine: *realizes Anne is looking to her* It's... a utensil. A grapefruit spoon. It's got, sort of, a little bladed side, and it's pointed. It's for eating grapefruit.

Anne: Ohhh. I knew what a spoon is. I just wasn't sure why he was saying it so importantly. *lifts small arms and asks to be picked up*

Lorraine: *picking her up* I mean he has a specific one for grapefruit. Designed for grapefruit. He has a few, actually.

Anne: *little grin* Special spoons. *pause and thinking* *looks up at Lorraine's face* So they were signs of him dreaming of a meal like this?

Lorraine: *confidentially* He's had those spoons since before we met.

Anne: Awwww! *sudden concern* Is he going to get sick?

Fred: *soft snerk* *still checking on ship damage, without touching anything*

ship: *Fred is seeing a lot of damage - most obviously that the whole front end is pancaked, but a lot of little things have jostled loose or bent or snapped or... it's a mess, basically*

Lorraine: *snickers* Maybe. But he'll be very happy.

Fred: Yup. That's how most guys are.

Anne: *turns and peeks at him* Ohhhh.

Lorraine: *laughs quietly, then settles into a somewhat challenging smile* Are you seeing anything you like, son?

Fred: *looks over, his eyes full of compassion* Does it hurt?

Lorraine: *eyebrows up! Her joke diffused by empathy!* *she's silent for a moment while she gathers herself, and then, abrupty:* No. I don't feel pain. *indicates her current body* This does. I don't.

Fred: Okay. Good. *gives her a gentle grin, and then goes to peer through the door* Do you have all the tools you need? I brought mine.

Lorraine: *her brows furrow, but she cracks a smile* Leave them. He's got his own ideas about what's good.

Fred: We could use a wish, too.

Lorraine: A... wish?

Fred: It's a little ball of energy made by a Guardian Fae Changeling. If you take one and wish for something, it'll grant it.

Anne: He's not joking. *looks up at Lorraine with her big eyes*

Lorraine: *stares at them, silently calculating what's just been said*

Adrian: *comes out of the spaceship, juggling a little table, a folding chair, a plate with the grapefruit halved on it, the rest of his lunch (the leg is more chewed than it was before he went in) and the sandwich with expert care* Darling, I've been thinking. I like it here.

Hormah: *as she settles her butt comfortably down onto the rooftop* Ye already said t'at, b'y.

Adrian: Well, my large and confusingly sapient friend, I am saying it again. *he punctuates this by opening the table and setting it down*

Hormah: *snerks* Ye arter wantin' t' see the Real Estate Fairy, t'en?

Adrian: *sitting down and crossing his legs* You know what? If that's literal, it's not bothering me. *digs a small, sharp silver spoon into half of the grapefruit*

Hormah: *deedle of amusement* T'ings like t'at bot'ers ye, ye're to the wrong neighbourhood, b'y.

Adrian: I probably am. *noms the grapefruit. And. Immediately. Squees.*

Hormah: *much quiet deedling of laughter*

Fred: *grins* *then looks at Lorraine* Do you want to try a wish?

Lorraine: *purses her lips* N... no. No, I think we'll just do it the old fashioned way.

Fred: Okay. *grins and then goes to look over the parapet and have music played at him by Eleanor*

Hormah: So, ye arter wantin' t' see t'at Real Estate dame?

Adrian: *has completely tuned all of you out in favor of mouth-based bliss*

Lorraine: Let him finish. Then, yes.

Hormah: *nods, then looks at Fred*

Anne: *holding her little bottle of treat energy to her mouth. Finishes half, and then offers the bottle to Lorraine*

Lorraine: Do you not like it?

Anne: Oh, I do! But I'm so small that if I drink too much I'll get dizzy.

Lorraine: *cheerily* Ok, then. *accepts the bottle and takes it over to the same fuel line she tapped earlier. With half a glance at Adrian, who is in no position to stop her, she pours it in*

ship: *lights flicker, another ripple of static*

Lorraine: *giggles and does a little squirm* Oh that is so fun! *still giggling, she does a little sashay walk over to Adrian and smooches the top of his head*

Adrian: *leans into it, taking half a second away from his grapefruit to engage in domestic bliss*

Anne: *is politely looking away. Is also going ^_^*

Hormah: Ye knows what? I ain't gonna bot'er the Real Estate fairy. The two 'o ye jes' camp out on me roof fer now. *stern deedle and frown* 'N don't go scarin' none 'o me congregation.

Adrian: *around a nom of grapefruit* Quiet as churchmice.

Hormah: *snort* T'ey're noisy little *impolite slur on ancestry*.

Adrian: And so shall we be! *nom*

Hormah: *smirk* Ye wants somebody t' watch yer sorry afts while ye gets over the brainbreak? Or ye wants tossed out t' the mercy 'o grouchy neighbours 'n LOLs?

Adrian: *takes another bite of grapefruit. Contemplates the spoon* I suppose... I could be persuaded.

Hormah: *cheerfully lists off some of the effects of LOLs* *and then cocks her head as the sounds of two very, VERY large robots trying to beat each other to death or blow each other to pieces rise up on the warm and peaceful air* *deedlesnigger*

Fred: *decides to sit down as he looks over toward the question square*

Adrian: *dawning horror as the LOLs list off* *stagewhisper:* I like it here less now.

Lorraine: *vageuely* Eat your grapefruit. *goes to look towards the square*

Anne: *meeps and clings to Lorraine's hand as the ground shakes slightly*

Fred: *as the sounds change angle* They're moving.

explosion: *from over there! Seems HUGE! Is followed by what is clearly a grunt of pain, and then... a laugh?*

Lorraine: *peers into the distance*

Adrian: *somewhat nervously glances around... but no one else is panicking, so, whatever. BACK TO LUNCH.*

huge jet: *black with red and gold, it suddenly shoots into the air and goes blasting off toward the west*

black Pav Low: *right in its wake and firing all the way*

Hormah: *so much sniggery deedlebeeping*

Lorraine: Is... there a war we should know about?

Fred: *looks over toward her with a grin* That's just Hormah's mom and stepdad flirting.

Anne: *hiding her face against Lorraine hand and nodding ruefully*

Lorraine: *thousand yard stare*

Adrian: *chewing* Reminiscing, darling?

Lorraine: Don't start.

Fred: The Anti-Violence field keeps people from getting stepped on.

Anne: *tiny meep*

Lorraine: Huh. ...The what, now?

Hormah: Anti-Vil'ence Field. Ye can't be gettin' hurt unless ye wants ta.

Lorraine: *looks... at... Adrian??*

Adrian: *chewing* What? *gasps* We are not testing it!

Fred: o.0 Testing it?

Anne: *squeak* No, please don't. *hugga Lorraine finger*

Lorraine: Oh, you baby. *to Fred, sharply* He's immortal.

Adrian: Which does not mean I enjoy being hit!

Fred: *good natured laughter* Oh, you'll be able to find a lot of people to spar with. Or you can go to the rat pits or the dungeons.

Lorraine: Oh, that's not it. *rolls her eyes* I just wanted to see how it works.

Adrian: I mean, we did smash into someone's house. He's... on what serves as my wife's face.

Lorraine: *GLARE*

Fred: Spooks, right? *gets up to look over the parapet*

Hormah: Ye can't hurt no spook by parkin' on 'im. Ol' Jets smears t'at headless horseman alternate 'o 'is all over the road all the time.

Adrian: *brightly* Oh! Good.

Lorraine: It's like hitting you.

Adrian: You're mean today.

Hormah: *snerks and points toward Lorraine's main body*

Lorraine/Adrian: *have a look?*

gentleman: *tall, pale, sepulchral, and dressed in pink flannel PJs with vampire bunnies* *steps away from the nose of Ship, bows slightly to everyone present, and then vanishes*

Lorraine: ...

Adrian: …

Fred: So that's what he looks like with his head on. Huh.

Adrian: Well! That was weird. *nom*

Hormah: Takes one t' know one. *deedlesnerk*

Fred: I better get going, Hormah. The lunch rush will be starting soon, and the kids still get distracted in the kitchen.

Hormah: Don't let the door hit yer aft on the way out, b'y.

Fred: *chuckles, then waves to Lorraine, Adrian, and Anne*

Anne: *itty bitty wave!* ^_^

Lorraine: *waves with a curt smile*

Adrian: *have I mentioned this man's love affair with his lunch?*

Hormah: *watches Fred go* *casually* Fred's after runnin' the diner fer human-size folks. *looks at the couple* I'm goin' down. Ye holler if yer after waintin' anythin'.

Lorraine: *sighs* We will. Thank you, again.

Hormah: *as a moaning sound comes from the back of the building* 'N don't worry 'bout the zombies. T'ey's penned. *turns and walks toward the stairs*

Anne: *reassuring tiny bot is reassuring!* They're humans who were affected by a virus that damaged their brains. Hormah's family keeps them well fed, so they're not dangerous. Though even when it's hungry, a zombie can't run fast enough to catch much. *happy grin* And many of the zombies here are starting to show brain function again!

Adrian: ...

Lorraine: …

Adrian: Everyone just... accepts things here, hmm?

Anne: It saves brains. ^_^

Adrian: That's sound.

Anne: And this IS a nexus where anyone or thing from any how, when, why, or what can come.

Adrian: So, how do you keep from going mad, tiny robot?

Anne: :o? I was born here.

Adrian: That'll do it.

Anne: And... well. I've seen my people break newcomer brains too. They often have a hard time believing that we're alive. *little sigh* Or they refuse to.

Adrian: Well. Tiny robot.

Anne: *looks over at him* *softly* You're kind of doing it, too.

Adrian: *matter of factly* Where I come from, robots aren't alive.

Lorraine: *warningly* Adrian.

Adrian: Ah, yes. Where she comes from, too.

Anne: Well, you're here now.

Adrian: Bit of an adjustment, to be sure. *blinks thoughtfully* Listen. I don't hold it against you. My wife isn't alive.

Anne: *wibbles at Lorraine* Well I am.

Adrian: *side eye*

Lorraine: No one thinks you aren't, Anne. *casts a meaningful glance at Adrian*

Adrian: Yes. Right. Good for you.

Anne: Why aren't you, Lorraine?

Lorraine: *she has to take as second to gather how she wants to say this* It's... complicated. You see, I don't actually feel emotions, or have memories. I'm an algorithm, a very, very complex simulation.

Adrian: *proudly* The most complicated algorithm in the universe, made by the greatest programmer who ever lived.

Lorraine: *tiny 'oh you' grin* But it's... different. And I'm conscious of the difference. Does that make sense?

Anne: ...Not really.

Lorraine: Sorry, I've never had to explain this to anyone. It's usually just... understood. Our... where we're from, it's very different.

Adrian: Hmph. *looking off to the side, hand loosely on his hip* There isn't anything to get. You're not alive.

Anne: *simple little logic* Then the programmer can't have been the greatest.

Adrian: No, he was. Anne-

Lorraine: *a warning* Adrian.

Adrian: *not stopping* Anne. If the lady says she's not alive, then there's nothing to discuss.

Anne: *blinks at him* That's not what I was discussing.

Adrian: *still extremely casual* There's nothing wrong with her. She's not incomplete. Her programmer's not lacking, and neither is the program. Lorraine... Ship... ah. My wife is not alive.

Anne: *waves a bitty hand* Could her programmer make somebody alive? *stop arguing the old argument! This is the new one!*

Adrian: *face... starts... glaring...*

Lorraine: How about we say: where we're from, it's just not possible to.

Anne: *simple logic* Then the programmer is only the best from your community.

Adrian: *my eye isn't twitching YOU ARE TWITCHING*

Lorraine: Sure. Let's go with that.

Anne: Oh! Adrian! There's a bug sitting on your lunch!

Adrian: Ahh! *save the luuuuuunch*

bug: *flies off, after calling him something uncomplimentary*

Anne: *embarrassed by what the bug said*

Adrian: *coldly eats a section of his grapefruit*

Anne: *looks up at Lorraine* Do you want to go watch people go by while he eats?

Lorraine: I can't go very far from my body, but, yes. *to Adrian* Think you can handle being alone?

Adrian: *waves his hand* Do what you want. It's a brave new world, and I have an entire leg to put in my stomach.

Anne: *points* We'd just be going to the edge of the roof there. There's a street in front of the Sanctuary.

Lorraine: Alright. Do you want me to carry you?

Anne: *looks up with those big eyes* If you want.

Lorraine: *huffs, but smiles* You should be honest. *reaches down to her*

Anne: *surprised* What do you mean?

Lorraine: When you want something, say so. I'll carry you.

Anne: Ohhhh! I could climb up on the parapet myself, and I didn't want to be a bother if you were tired of carrying me.

Lorraine: I don't mind. *picks her up*

Anne: ^_^ *tiny mitt hand patpats Lorraine finger* Thank you.

Lorraine: *carries her to the edge of the roof and puts her on the parapet*

Anne: *plunks down on little round butt, and then holds her toes as she looks at what's happening down below* It's lunch time, so a lot of people are going by. *a lot of kinds of people too, from that tall guy who looks like a bipedal lion in a wife hugger and surfer shorts, to that rather scary looking big white reptilian guy with the teeth*

Lorraine: *climbs over the parapet carefully, sitting on the edge and watching the crowd with dreamy interest* I haven't seen... most of these. I don't recognize anyone.

Anne: *tips head back with an ':o' of surprise* Some of them are human. *looks back at the pedestrians* ...Though these are mostly smaller humans than Adrian. *little hand points to a human looking man with brown hair and laughing dark eyes* He's a Guardian Fae Dragon in human form. *hand goes to the white guy, who is around seventeen foot tall* Grok's Swampman, but he was raised by JDs, so he's nice. Those are teletubbies. They're not people, they're just pests. That's an Andalite, and that's a grey hag.

Lorraine: Those are humans? They're so... small! *nods and packs the information away about all the other people as Anne talks, dotting the descriptions with little amazed exclamations*

Anne: *little chuckle* Some human races are even littler. *points to a forty foot tall, wolfish woman with luxurious fur* Seaspray's a Lu. She's human too, but her people got really mutated by something.

Lorraine: Oh! That's familiar, at least. Sort of. Adrian... *shuts her mouth abruptly, then awkwardly continues* Adrian, ah, knew someone like that once.

Anne: *curious expression as she tips her head back again, but recognizes that Lorraine doesn't want to continue that topic* Two of my friends got lost in Seaspray's fur once.

Lorraine: *bursts out laughing, the tension snapping*

Anne: *bitty giggles as she grips her toes again* It was the most exciting adventure. Oh, the little fuzzy orange girl with butterfly wings is a Minxie. The littler winged people she's talking to are pixies and English garden fairies.

Lorraine: Did you get lost too? Oh! Fairies? I remember fairies. In my files.

Anne: Oh no. But I watched part of the live feed they sent back to us. *curious little squeak* You have fairy people in your old reality?

Lorraine: They were made up. Stories. I don't have many clear records. But they made dresses and helped people in the stories.

Anne: *blink blink* That sounds more like Minxies or Guardian Fae.

Lorraine: I don't know. There isn't much information left. People with wings, sure. But 'fairies' are different. It's funny that you use the word.

Anne: *looks up again* Why? It's what they call themselves. *and then squeaks and startles as a whistling shriek tears past* Banshee!

Lorraine: It's just funny. A coincidence. *the Banshee goes by!* Ah!

Anne: *bitty bot has bitty shivers* He always startles me!

Lorraine: He should be careful!

Anne: He's only five, and kinda excitable. *sighs and hugs herself, but then perks and points to a broad green guy* That's Rhinox, he's a Maximal.

Lorraine: Another android! *starts chattering animatedly, settling in for a long, exciting afternoon of people watching*


((Co-written with random_xtras))