aterat | Story Event

Entry tags:

Story Event - Nomes

Who; Mono and anyone! Open to all!
What; A Network Story and a Log for the event!
Where; All around Aterat!
When; Early August
Warnings; None to start, but if something comes up I will update.
Note; So I'm thinking this could provide some options. The network could be a fun chat story time, the log for after-story experience, or we could mix it up and people could reach out to Mono via the network if they come across Nomes and the log doesn't grab you. You are also totally welcome to do your own thing with Nomes if you want. Also if you want something personal written up, I’m happy to do so! My plotting post is over here

The Mystery of Nomes - Network Video - Open

[ Mono is not known for doing posts on the network on his own unless it’s strictly necessary. Not that he’s anti-social or anything, it’s just that the static feedback caused by his own abilities gets annoying and a bit hard to explain.

However, here he is with a slightly confused little scrunch of his nose. ]

Anyone ever hear of Nomes before? They’re these little things in my world, at least I think so. They’re a little smaller than me, and they got pointed hats that cover their faces… Kinda like those funny capped mushrooms you see sometimes? Or those hats they make kids wear in school when they do bad, I guess.

Um… Anyway, you see them in pictures and stuff around the pale city. But… I think I saw one once, maybe? It’s kinda fuzzy. I think it happened before a long time ago-

[ By which, the boy means a long time ago. Which is odd coming from someone who looks to only be about 12 at best now. But Mono is far older than he looks, and there are so many cycles he’s been through. ]

Back when I was exploring the hunter’s cabin, there was this little guy that hurried out of a drawer I had pulled out. It was really surprising, ‘cause of all the other stuff I saw in the cabin... So I followed it up to a different part of the attic. It made a funny almost squeaking sound. Seemed really scared, but I guess that’s fair since being little is scary sometimes and I’m bigger than them.

Its shadow was kinda weird, though. 'Cause didn’t match the shape of the nome, right? But other than that, it looked just like the picture I saw! Guess you don’t see shadows in drawn pictures unless someone draws them though, so that makes sense.

I dunno if it really happened or not, could’ve just been a dream too, I guess.

[ And the boy falls silent, tugging the brim of his cap a little lower and rubbing at an eye with a sleepy little yawn. ]

Dunno why I remembered them now… But I guess I was just thinking about stuff.

You get Nomes! And you get some Nomes! Nomes for everybody! - Log - Open

Mono hadn’t thought much beyond the weird need to share the story about the Nomes on the network. He put the tell-phone away, took a nap, and then tugged on his mail-carrier cap and grabbed the bag he used to carry the messages for work to head out the door. The boy almost misses the raspy squeak coming from somewhere in his bedroom, but maybe it’s one of the cats… They make funny sounds sometimes!

Plus, he doesn’t want to be late to the delivery service, so he glanced over his shoulder curiously but kept walking. Mono did stop long enough to grab the little lunch Ignis usually had packed on the kitchen counter before hurrying out the door for the day.

What he hadn’t expected, perhaps what no one expected, was that the day would entail far more than carrying mail. Either interrupted by texts asking more questions about the nomes for good reason, or being stopped on the street when someone recognized him and needed help with their newfound guests. “Huh? What do you mean you saw one? They aren’t here, they might not even be real in my world??” He started, but stopped when he realized this was Aterat and just about anything seemed possible here…

So colour the boy curious as he eagerly hurried to follow and see.

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Well, he knows what to do in those situations. Things with 'prey' instincts didn't like eyes on them. So Tommy? Tommy doesn't look at the nearby Nome, instead watching Mono.

"You doing okay little man?" he asks softly of Mono. Loud noises might be bad too.

Mono didn’t look over as he continued the game, the nome he was in charge of still leading him along around things or under them. Its little nervous skittering had shifted to something more playful and relaxed. The boy does answer over his shoulder, though, “Yup! I think it’s just playing around a bit to figure out if I’m mean or not. The one I found before eventually started playing around to get me to follow it more. Then it let me find a hat, so I think it decide I was a friend. I think this one’s got the same idea.” Aside from the hat thing, but that was fine. Mono was set on just getting it to trust him enough to get it to listen to him.

The nome Tommy was in charge of had finally made it to the candy, picking up a piece and turning it over in its hands… Before it disappeared up under the hat and seemed to be eating it. After a minute or two, the nome finished and then directed a curious, raspy little squeak at Tommy.

Translation: You got more of that stuff?

Honestly, Nomes tended towards being pretty childlike. Though that was also for good reason.

Well, there is a hardened hat around, part of the collection of them Tommy had insisted on providing for the construction workers. Not a high concept here yet, but it was a hat.

"Alright then, good luck," he says. As for his own Nome...

"I don't think you're supposed to eat the paper," he chuckles, but he does roll another piece out. "Mono, how do we explain this place is dangerous?"

Mono definitely wouldn’t say no to one if offered. They looked kinda neat! He didn’t even have anything like that in his current collection. That could wait though, because he was set on winning over this little nome of his. They were so close, though!

The nome doesn’t know that you can’t eat the paper, and it seemed to think it tasted just fine! So it eagerly reached out to catch the next piece rolled out to him, at least taking the time to try unwrapping it… So maybe it did kind of understand??

“Good question. No one really talks much where I’m from. A lot of stuff you learn when stuff happens, and it kinda gets to be instinct? So maybe if we just give them a safe place to stay, and we show them it’s comfy, they’ll feel like they can stay there?” It was the best plan the boy could offer, given how different this place was from their world. Showing was better than explaining, perhaps.

Apparently it did understand. Holy cow. That's really cool. And he really is pleased by it, smiling to himself.

"Yeah," he says, frowning. "But I don't have another place."

The nome enjoyed the next piece of candy as well, but this time? Instead of gesturing for more, it wandered right up to Tommy with a little wobbling posture before sitting down next to him. Apparently, the requirements for deciding ‘not a dangerous giant’ had been met. The bar was never high. They did make mistakes often enough when it came to who to trust… But at least this one had chosen well. Congrats, Tommy, you now have a new friend.

Mono smiled to himself as the nome playing follow-the-leader finally stopped with a raspy squeak, arms wiggling a bit as Mono caught up to it. It took him a minute or two to figure out what it wanted, before he gave it a cautious and quick little hug (he’s still not good at them). Making sure it was steady, he awkwardly tilted his head.“You done now? That was fun and all, but we gotta go see Tommy now, kay?” The nome squeaked again and jumped a bit to indicate it was ready to follow. Which it did, like a little duckling.

“Hmm… Is there any space in here that they’re not gonna be working on or already finished renovating? We could just put some boxes and blankets for them to stay in? Then I could watch ‘em for ya.” If not, Mono wondered if he could bring them back to Ignis and Nida’s house. They might not mind, right? Then again, there were the cats to think about. How did Nomes get along with cats? The boy wasn’t too sure.

Oh. Tommy was absolutely shocked by this turn of events. He wasn't expecting the little thing to sit with him. He does pull out one more piece of candy to pass over though. Apparently he'll need to buy more for his delivery boys and his own sugar needs.

"They haven't started upstairs yet," he tells Mono, but then gestures up. There are clearly some holes in the floors up there. "So that's not much better. I guess... I guess I could always use my apartment? Speedy won't mind it."

Don’t be so shocked, Tommy. You’re cool, and kids like you. Nomes were very childlike by nature, and less cautious when they knew you weren’t going to try to eat them. So the little creature accepted the candy from him with a pleased little squeak, before it set carefully unwrapping it while it sat next to him.

Mono glanced up on the way over, the nome behind him mimicking the motion with a wobble. It’s kind of cute, really. “Oh, yeah that’d be dangerous if they fell through one.” Nomes seemed kind of clumsy at times, and Mono himself knew how easy it was… So, the upstairs area was out.

He finally came to a stop in front of Tommy and the other nome. The one following him scurried over to sit in front of the one sitting next to Tommy, squeaking at it in greeting. The other squeaked back, before looking at the candy in its hand, and then back at the nome, before offering it up and sharing the last candy. Mono smiled a little at that, before focusing on his boss at the next idea. “Yeah? That would probably work, they don’t seem to mind you now that they know you’re not gonna hurt them. If you want, I can check on them if you’re busy? I kinda like getting to see them again anyway, and you’ll be busier here than I will.”

Yeah, but Tommy tends not to process that children like him. Because he doesn't like himself as much as he should. Even while acting like he's the best shit ever. With the new nome arrival he feels a bit relieved. Less emergency risks now.

"Think Speedy would scare them?"

NOt that speedy moved very fast now that he was an adult.

"I could lend you my key, yeah."

Mono sat down himself next to the other two Nomes, smiling a little as they squeaked at each other and shared the candy. He had to pause, though, thinking about Speedy now that Tommy mentioned it. “I don’t think that he would. He’s not super fast or anything.” On account of being a sloth, it worked out well for this! “So they won’t be startled by him, probably just kinda cautious till they see him eating plants and stuff.” Plus, now that they seemed to like Tommy, they probably would be more comfortable going where he went. Nomes were sometimes a little like ducklings too. Just follow you around with an eager curiosity.

He nodded at the offer; it would make things easier! “That helps. I promise to be careful and not lose it and stuff.” Because he was pretty responsible for a kid, he would make sure no one got into any trouble and that everyone was taken care of.

"He had his bathroom break yesterday, so it's not like he'd even come down for another week," Tommy points out. So that's pretty good too. But how to get them there through a busy city?

"You're really careful," Tommy says. He's not worried at all.

“I try really hard to be.” He smiled, because this should work out pretty well. Especially if Speedy was going to be okay with it. Mono looked at the little nomes curiously for a moment. “We can probably lead them back to your apartment? They seem to like us enough now that they’ll follow.” And it’d be like a game of follow the leader, since the nomes were prone to tagging along once they decided someone was a friend and not foe. “Maybe once stuff gets quieter, so there aren’t any crowds to scare them.” Rather than leading them through the busy streets and stuff.

But there's so much between here and there. So what do they do with that? Tommy considers it for a long moment before turning his attention to the Nomes.

"You guys ever go for rides before?"

Because maybe if he got a nice big tarp he could put them in the delivery cart and pull them to the apartment buildings. That way they can be out of sight but still get some safety as they would be able to escape if they really wanted to.

The nomes responded with the same sound they seemed to make in general, but they didn’t seem disturbed by the idea at least. “You got an idea?” Mono asked, glancing up from the nomes himself to see what his boss was thinking.

The cart would be the perfect idea, both because of the cover it provided and they wouldn’t have to worry too much about the little nomes getting tripped over if there were people around that didn’t see them there.

“What if we use the delivery cart? I have the rain blanket that will cover it, so they can be sheltered and protected from sight. No one could step on them, they don’t have to let me carry them in a box or something, plenty of stuff like that to make it easier for them.”

And if he could get them to the apartment building, he trusted Mono to sneak them in.

Mono glanced up again with a grin. “The delivery cart would be perfect, they’ll feel all safe and hidden in it if we use the rain blanket!” He agreed, pushing himself carefully to his feet and watching as the little nomes did the same now that their candy was gone. Mono was pretty confident they could get to the apartment like this, and he would be able to get the nomes safely inside since they seemed pretty okay with following them now.

"Here," Tommy says, tossing his keys to Mono. "Let me go fetch the cart. I'll be a second."

He gets up and walks out, at a low and careful speed. To not upset the Nomes. Of course once he's out there's very shortly later a rumbling sound of the cart pulling up. Tommy pops his head back in and holds out the blanket.

"Alright then. I could try and hold this up over the door or something?"

“Okay!” He responded as he reached out to catch the keys tossed his way. It’s kind of different to see Tommy walking so slow and careful, compared to how the guy usually moves. It was a good plan, though, and Mono was happy the Nomes didn’t seem too alarmed by the much bigger person moving. It almost looked like the one that had been eating candy wanted to follow him!

It wasn’t long after that, though, that his boss was back and he got to his feet with a little gesture to the nomes with a careful little wave. They squeak a bit and clumsily get to their feet, happy to follow the boy in a little line. “That should work. They might not get as scared that way.”

"Hopefully that works out," he says as he tries to hold up a nice little dark blanket tunnel to make it easier for everyone. "Lead on, Mono. I've got you guys the best I can."

“Okay! Let’s go, guys.” He responded, gesturing to the little nomes again as their procession moved across the room and out the door under Tommy’s blanket, it wasn’t a far walk to the cart at least, and before long they had the little nomes all comfortable in the cart. They didn’t even seem too alarmed, at least having gotten comfortable with both Mono and Tommy.

Good. They're all comfortable, the blanket is draped over the cart and anchored to its spots outside, and Tommy takes a deep breath.

"Okay then. Time for this train to depart. You wanna walk or ride, Mono?"

Mono considered it for a moment, before figuring it would be easier for Tommy if he decided to ride in the cart. Otherwise he’d have to go slower and the boy realized going even slower than normal would be hard on the guy. “I’ll ride, that way I can keep an eye on the nomes to make sure they stay comfy and don’t fall out or something.”

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Story Event - Nomes

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