thehometree | Glimmer, glitter, shine...

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Glimmer, glitter, shine...

One by one, new adventurers now arrive in the Tree. As one gain wings and rises to the second floor, another light brings in the next person. Soon, a steady stream of people from all kinds of worlds, times and realities come to join the others. Whether confused, angry, excited or scared, your arrival is welcomed with nothing but joy as the fireflies and glow worms descend to greet their new friends.

The Tree offers no explanation and no reason, but the truth is undeniable.

As you will soon realize, it isn't easy to be tiny.

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[Kit has acquired a fresh blackberry and is currently looking for a spot to sit down and eat it when she hears the two commenting on the firefly. Obviously they don't know what it was. Well, she could help with that!]

Back home we call them lightning bugs. And this is a glow worm.

[She indicated the worm draped around her shoulders like an odd scarf.]

They're not slimy or anything, so don't worry. In fact, this guy's nice and fuzzy.

[ Wyrden's gaze swivels to where Kit was standing. She offers the girl a nod of acknowledgement before replying. ]

I see. Do they produce electricity?

[ The firefly scuttles up her arm and starts nuzzling her. She jumps very slightly, but manages to keep still. If she gets shocked, she doesn't mind. She can easily heal off the damage. ]

[Kit shook her head.]

Nope, they just glow. But the ones back home flash on and off the way lightning does. Dunno about the ones here though.

I'm Wily-Kit, by the way. What're your names?

[ Hm, interesting. Maybe it'll shock her if it doesn't feel happy. Best to get on it's good side, then. ]

I'm Wyrden. [ She learned not to give out her last name or codename - they mean nothing here, anyway. ] This is Ramiel, my android partner. He doesn't talk much.

[ That seemed the best way to explain Accessories' nature, honestly. ]

Nice to meet you.

[ Her expression doesn't deviate much from deadpan, but at least she gives Kit an appreciative nod. ]

Hmmm... never met an android before. Though he kinda sounds like a Berbil.

[Slight pause, as she realizes Wyrden would probably have no idea what a Berbil is.]

The Berbils are some of our friends back on Third Earth. They're robot bears about my size who're really good at building things. And they grow candy fruit, which is just about the best fruit ever!

[ Berbils... friends... third earth... bears?? ]

Haven't heard of them, sorry. [ What's a bear? She envisions little skittery creatures on four legs, that was what the word sounded like. ] But they sound like helpful people.

[ And productive, too. Good at building things, growing things... sounds like prime Citizen material to her. They'd be important. ]

[Little and skittery maybe, but Berbils are bipedal. Except when they turn into balls, but that's really gotta be seen.]

They are! They fixed up the Thundertank, built me and Wily-Kat - he's my brother- hoverboards, and even made Panthro new arms after he lost his old ones fighting Grune.

They aren't very good at fighting though, so this jerk named Conquedor kept raiding their village to catch them and sell them as slaves. Us Thundercats took care of him, though, and helped the Berbils fix up their village with booby traps so they'd be protected if anybody else came after them.

[She sounds rather proud of this. Granted, her part in the whole thing was relatively minor but she had helped in the battle against Conquedor and his allies, so she figured it still counted.]

[ None of the technobabble really means anything to her, but she can guess, especially the arms. In her world, a Sinner with irreparable limb injuries would usually be left to die. It must have been good-quality work, too, since replacing a lost body part is so expensive. ]

Well, I'm glad they're safe. [ It reminds her all too much of saving Citizens from being grabbed by the Abductors. ]

Do you know anything about what they make, though?

You mean what kind of stuff they make normally? Hmm...

[Thinks a moment.]

Well, houses and stuff for their village, I guess. And machines for harvesting candy fruit. And new parts for themselves too, probly, since they're kinda robots.

[ They definitely sound like Citizens, then. Valuable craftsmen who were unable to protect themselves... ]

How'd they do that? Like, the specifics? Do you know?

[ It'd be useful, but Kit doesn't seem like the engineer type. ]

[Kit shakes her head.]

Nope, sorry. I know what they do, but not how they do it. If Panthro was here, he might be able to tell you, though. He's good at fixing and building things too, and he's really good friends with Rober-Bill, the leader of the Berbil Village.

[ Ah, well. At least it was a try. ]

People like that exist in my world, too. They're called Citizens, and they're really skilled at machines. If one of them came, they'd be able to help us too.

[ No use for wishful thinking, though, so she just continues. ]

How're you settling in?

[Kit looks slightly confused at this definition of 'citizens'.]

I thought 'citizens' were just people who were born or lived in a certain place. Like I was born in Thundara, so I'd be a Thundaran citizen.

[Regardless of that, though...]

I'm doing OK so far. Somebody showed me where to get food and stuff.

[She indicates the berry she's carrying. Her glowworm seems to be trying to sneak a nibble or two while she's distracted, but she hasn't noticed yet.]

[ That gets a slight raise of Wyrden's eyebrow. ]

I'm not sure. [ Well, it would make sense... sort of... but Sinners were the ones less likely to get abducted. ] In my home, there are two sorts of people. The fighters, called Sinners, like me, and the Citizens. We protect them, and they maintain our home.

[ An equal trade, and the only compromise. ]

Huh... Where I'm from, the fighters are called soldiers or warriors, but that's really just their job, not what kind of person they are. People who aren't fighters are called 'civilians' and they have lots of different jobs. Some build and maintain the cities, some grow food- like my family did-, some make things like clothes and tools, some sell things, some play music, some run inns, all kinds of things.

Do people really only do those two kinds of jobs where you're from?

[Because kit is a little confused about how things can run, if that's the case.]

[ Well, about that... ]

Yeah. [ Sorta. ] I'm not too familiar with that, sorry. But it's a harsh place, so we have to work all the time if we want to survive.

[ Running inns, playing music... honestly, she doesn't even know what those jobs are supposed to mean. ]

I just know what I'm supposed to do, and I do it.

[That... sounds a lot more familiar to Kit than Wyrden might think. Kit smiles a little sadly.]

Not so different, then. At least if you're poor.

Papa had to work all the time too. Kat and I wanted to help, but we weren't strong enough. Then some... stuff happened, and it was just Mama having to try and take care of all four of us: our little brother and sister and Kat and me. And she was really trying, but...

[Kit sighs, then, after a moment, straightens up.]

But we know what we need to do too. And we're gonna do it!

[Pauses, looking around the tree a bit] Well, as soon as I figure out how to get back home, anyway. Don't think either one of us can really do what we're s'posed to here...

[ So they aren't that much different after all... but for someone who looks so young to have such a fate, it almost seems unfair. Almost, because one of the best Sinners at missions is a girl who hasn't even turned eighteen. ]

Yeah, that's true.

[ Kit's cheerful. That's rare where she comes from. ]

We can try, at least. And help the people here, too.

[ It's not like they have anyone else they can rely on, at this point. ]

[Kit nods.]

Yeah. Til we can find our way back to where we're supposed to be, we can help each other, and the other people who were brought here.

And speaking of helping, did you find out where we can get food yet? If not, I'll show you.

[Because knowing where you get food is very helpful, yes? And she shifts her hold on her berry, indicating it as proof that she knows where the food is, and incidentally shifting it away from the mouth of the glow worm who was trying to nab a bite. Better luck next time, glowworm.]

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Glimmer, glitter, shine...

A! :3

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