mental link

[whowhatnow]

[This little mental nudge comes from Nathaniel Horn, someone who is, oddly enough, not at all used to making these kinds of things on his own. Still, he's been thinking since the bombing a while ago, and this is a good chance to let everyone know what's been on his mind.]

(So........ladies, gentlemen, people in general, let's talk about monsters. Spooky beasts. Creatures that go bump in the night. Those things. They all exist in one form or the other. Lots of terrible tales about abominations that want to like, rip you apart and suck out your eyeballs or something. Anyways, they exist! And how do I know they exist?)

[A pause for dramatic effect here.]

(Because I am one. Annnnnnd I don't mean the whole "something is crawling inside of me, alas I'm like the worst person ever" kind of monster. And honestly, I'm not a monster, but an alien, but...semantics! Anyways, if you see a big hulking flesh thing that looks like it crawled from your worst nightmares sometime, please don't try to destroy it like right away. It might be me. And I wouldn't like that. Just say hi over the mental telephone before doing anything rash.)

[There's a long pause here as he tries to piece together what other points he wants to make. It looks like he didn't think all of this whole mental speech thing out beforehand.]

(Anyways, uh...are all of you human? For the most part? I don't think there's anything like me among the broods...unless I'm wrong. So like, if you have any questions for me to answer, or want to share examples of big spooky monsters where you come from, just, like, tell me? Honestly, I think I'm pretty good-looking no matter what form I take, but I know most of you guys don't like seeing things like, I dunno, teeth growing in different places outside of human mouths and stuff, so I just wanted to give you a heads up. I don't transform often, but it could happen. Just be aware, and all that.)

Comments

[whowhatnow]

(Too many to count! Well, honestly, in the...forties? Probably. I was a space pilot for my race, so I got to transport my people around for their dumb lectures.)

[decommission]

( But if Earth didn't have much to do with space travel, then what brought you there? )

[whowhatnow]

(I crashlanded there. Totally an accident. I thought there would be apit stop in your galaxy, but well, guess there wasn't. So I basically got stranded on good old Earth.)

[decommission]

( Lucky you could fit in.

Could you get in contact with home? )

[whowhatnow]

[The tone of his thoughts suddenly becomes serious.]

(No. And I'm glad I couldn't. I never want to go back to that place.)

[decommission]

[ A pause at the change in tone, but his question hums along the connection. ]

( Why? )

[whowhatnow]

(When I crashlanded on Earth, I wasn't on a job. I was escaping. Back there, I was practically a drone. You guys on Earth, you have rules and laws, right? Well, turn that notch all the way up to maximum for my planet. Everything we did, everything we wanted to do, it was all limited by millions of rules. You couldn't do anything just because you simply wanted to. You literally had to fill out forms for like, something as simple as decorating your living quarters, and even THEN nine times out of ten you weren't allowed to do it.)

[He sounds incredibly bitter.]

(Anyways, I was sick and tired of it, so I left. Good riddance.)

[decommission]

[ It's not hard for Steve to sympathize. Doesn't sound like any way to live. ]

( There anything at all that you miss? ) [ Family, friends? ]

[whowhatnow]

(Nope.) [He says, without even a pause for thought.] (Karnonian society is different from most - we don't have familial units or anything similar to that. Everyone was just a cog in the system, nothing more.)

[decommission]

( Now you're here. )

[ There's a wryness to his tone. Part of another unit, if a different kind. ]

( Your people never heard of anything like the Nest? )

[whowhatnow]

[It's an irony that honestly, Nate does not appreciate one bit. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, indeed.]

(No, we've never heard of anything like it. We still had our own thoughts and everything in our society, and we weren't parasites. And all the other aliens we met...there was nothing like this. Whatever the Nest is, it's kept itself pretty well out of the universal limelight.)

[decommission]

[ The Nest is at least a little better, Steve imagines. ]

( Guess it makes sense if their enemy can really find them anywhere. )

[ Part of the reason why none of them can go home - the ones that want to, anyway. Steve hasn't thought about it as much lately. ]

( Actually - ) [ An image passes through the link, a chaotic portrait of a tall, shadowy beast, no eyes and all teeth, the scent of copper in the air. His mood darkens. ] ( That's the spookiest monster I've ever seen. )