My Monster and Me...

[bigsoftie]

Who: Leatherhead and Whomever
What: A gator's on the loose and no pizza place can hold him
Where: On the outskirts of the new town
When: Mid day

He didn't care for this new change. In fact, his first instinct was to hide. It had been so long since he went without this for and now...now it was back. And just like that all the old insecurities rose up. Would they accept him? Or did they only accept him on the merit of being human? And what's more, did this just mean they'd go back to casting him out or worse?

Well, don't worry. He'll reject himself you don't need to worry about that. The alligator had already abandoned Duke and Roadbuster. For a big guy he managed to give them the slip pretty well. Guess it was back to being on his own at least until this change went away.

The mutant liked it much better than in the city, really. A lot more grass, actually. And actual flowers. He liked those. The mutant could get used to this for awhile. Soon enough the mutant began wandering the area of the outskirts, enjoying the flowers of every hue and size. Yeah, if only Mikey could find him..

Comments

[alley_kit]

Someone else had come out to enjoy nature today. Two someones in fact; Kit had had wanted to go alone, but Emerick had insisted that Aburn go with her so that Kit wouldn't be without protection, just in case. It wasn't so bad, though. This way she didn't have to carry both baskets herself. Aburn carried the larger one for flowers, while hers contained the fresh herbs.

The excuse she'd made was that she wanted to gather some flowers and herbs, which she did, but... she also just kind of wanted to get away. Too many things that she couldn't do anything to help were happening in town, and she needed a little space to deal with it.

Eventually, though, she decided to stop near a large tree stump to rest a little while. While Aburn sat down next to it, leaning back against it, Kit opted to sit on top of the stump. Once settled, she pulled out her flupe and began to play. Things always seemed clearer when she was playing; music seemed to help untangle jumbled feelings.

[bigsoftie]

Everyone should enjoy nature, at least as long as Leatherhead doesn't bother everyone. As he sat amongst the flowers, his inner shyness attuned itself when Kit came over. She didn't look human, either but...ah, she probably didn't want to see him like this.

He almost hid away before he heard the music. It was so different...a good different. The song wafted through him like a good breeze. He had to see more. It wouldn't be too bad is he just quietly sat behind her and listened for awhile?

[alley_kit]

Aburn had been relaxing against the tree stump, listening to his Chosen's music when he noticed the rather large newcomer. The scaly being wasn't doing any harm, though, and only seemed to want to enjoy the music. Aburn couldn't really blame him. Thus, he said nothing as the alligator mutant sat down a little ways behind Kit, though he did surreptitiously keep an eye on the other, just in case.

It wasn't until Kit paused in her playing that she too sensed she was being watched and turned to look behind her. The large, scaly, toothy being who sat there made her eyes go a little wide. He looked like someone she might see at home on Third Earth. A lot like Donnie did, come to think of it. Which gave her a hint as to who he might be.

"Leatherhead...?", she asked.

[bigsoftie]

Such a shame, Leatherhead liked the music quite a bit. The alligator instantly retreats to his fours, gazing through the grass,

"...you knew it was me?"

[alley_kit]

"Well, not til you said so," Kit said, smiling a bit as she turned around on the stump to face him properly. "But I thought it might be you. I talked to Donnie earlier, and he's a turtle again, and since you and him are from the same world, I figured the same thing might've happened with you."

"Why're you trying to hide in the grass, though?", she asked. And 'trying' was the operative word, since even down on all fours, Leatherhead was rather too big to be hidden by the grass.

[bigsoftie]

"You know Donatello?" wow, the turtle must be real popular around here, "And Michelangelo?"

He sinks back into the ground since it's all he knows what to do, "...I thought they would not want to see me...see me like this..."

[alley_kit]

"Uh-huh," she said. "I met Donnie at Chris Kratt's birthday party and Mikey while we were helping fix up the city." And she still knew both of them, even if Mikey wasn't there any more.

The comment about not wanting to be see causes her to cock her head curiously to one side, though. "Why not?", she asked. "I think you look cool!"

[bigsoftie]

"They are good friends. You would do well befriending them," Leatherhead is glad she met them.

The next point kind of throws him off, "...you are not scared?"

[alley_kit]

"Yeah, they are," Kit agreed, smiling.

His next response prompted even more confused head-tilting, though. "Why would I be?", Kit asked with a shrug. "You look like somebody I might meet back home on Third Earth." In short you and Donnie are the first ones she's seen here who look normal.

[bigsoftie]

Not only is the attitude surprising but the news of a Third Earth is mind blowing, "...there is a third Earth?"

[alley_kit]

"I guess?", Kit replied with a bit of a shrug. "I mean, that's what my world's always been called. I dunno if there's a First or Second one out there someplace too, though; I've never been to any other world besides this one."

[bigsoftie]

"And there are others like me?" because that sounds weird yet...great.

[alley_kit]

"Well, not exactly like you," Kit said. "I haven't met any other alligators, or turtles, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. There's lots of different animal tribes. Cats- like me-, dogs, birds, elephants, lizards, fish-men, and probly a whole bunch of others I haven't run into yet. You'd fit right in."

[bigsoftie]

"It sounds nice..." he nodded sagely, imagining life there, "If I could take Michelangelo there I would..."

[alley_kit]

"It'd be nice if I could introduce you guys to Kat and all my friends, yeah," Kit said. "But I don't think you'd really wanna go there right now. Not with Mumm-Ra and his generals around."

[bigsoftie]

That last part sounded concerning. Pretty evil name if you asked him, "...Mumm-Ra?"

[alley_kit]

"Yeah," she said. "Mumm-Ra is really, really bad. He usually looks like this creepy, decrepit old mummy," she hunched her shoulders and curled her fingers like claws to demonstrate, "but then he goes, 'Ancient spirits of evil, transform this decayed form into Mumm-Ra The Ever Living!' And then he grows like ten feet tall with big muscles and bat wings!"

Kit once again tried to demonstrate, holding up her arms in a menacing pose and lowering her voice as much as she could while showing off Mumm-Ra's transformation. It's less effective this time, though, as a cute kitten doesn't easily imitate a huge demon-mummy. "He has another form too, that he can use now that he has the Tech Stone," Kit said. "It's even bigger, and it's all covered in armor."

"But what's the most dangerous is his magic," she said. "Even when he's a scrawny old bag of bones, his magic is still really powerful."

"He wants to make all the animal tribes his slaves, like they were a long, long time ago," Kit said. "That's why we're trying to get the Power Stones first, and unite the animals against him, so he can't do that."

[bigsoftie]

As Kit does her little display, Leatherhead looks somewhat taken aback by the description. He sounds awful! Almost as bad as the Kraang! He has to hide behind his large hands every now and then.

"That is terrible...I do not like creatures that try to make slaves of others.."

He tilts his head, "But what is magic?"

[alley_kit]

Kit settles back to a normal pose after her display, not wanting to scare Leatherhead any more. Though she is a bit surprised that a big guy like him would be scared just by her description.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I don't think most people like it when someone else in enslaved." That was part of what had caused Thundara's downfall, in the end, unknowingly carrying on where their ancestors had left off.

"And magic is...", Kit paused a moment, having to think how to explain. "Magic is a power some people have that lets them do all kinds of things they couldn't do normally. If they know the right magic spells, or have the right magical things, they can do stuff like run super-fast, see the future, heal people, or shoot lightning out of their hands."

Kit frowned a bit. "Mumm-Ra really likes that last one," she said.

[bigsoftie]

Not much scares Leatherhead, but descriptions of despots can hit pretty close. He replied, "It is not just..."

The mutant looked awed at her description of magic. They really could do all that? And he thought mutants had power, "You mean they can do all this without technology?"

[alley_kit]

"Uh-huh," Kit said. "I mean, not everybody who knows magic or has a magic thing can do everything I said. Cheetara can run super-fast because of the magic she learned from the other Clerics, and Lion-O can use the Sword of Omens to see the future with its 'sight beyond sight' and use it to shoot magic energy at the bad guys. Really depends on what magic you know or magic things you have."

"And for the longest time we thought technology was just a fairy tale for little cubs," she said. "We didn't learn different til the lizards attacked Thundara."