Video | Intro

[jasidian]

[ There's a matcha green, underbite-y toddler staring at the other end of the device. She's wearing a loose-fitting cotton dress, her dark brown hair messily pulled back, and holds in her hand a half-eaten, baby-sized banana.

She puts the banana down on the goddamned floor and taps the device a bit before trying to put it in her mouth. It is too wide to go in her mouth.

As she babbles something that's comprehensible only to an exasperated parent, you get a glimpse of the area around her. Clearly the private study of some sort of eccentric millionaire obsessed with weird magic forbidden knowledge shit. There's like, specimens in jars and anatomical diagrams framed on the walls and everything. Plus walls and walls full of old-ass bookshelves. Not the kind of place that you'd expect a toddler to be in, but then-

Then she gets scooped up by a massive, bearded orc man who sighs, boops her nose, and places the device on a table before wiping the saliva off the screen with a handkerchief.]

Oof, I didn't anticipate this ending up here, but... um, hello! Sorry if I ought to have said something earlier, I've been away from home for a while and then I was so caught up with some research, and I suppose I didn't-

Harliss, Harley sweetie, no, I promise you that you do not want to eat this-

-erm, I just didn't expect there to be a... Whatever this is. In my study.

... this isn't another demon thing, is it.

[ There's a weak little laugh. ]

Comments

[jasidian]

I feel exhausted just being me sometimes; I'm not sure how I could really get into being someone else.

[ There's a small laugh. Meanwhile the kid looks lost in thought in his arms, one hand in her mouth. ]

But I suppose if you're not used to planar stuff, that's...the only plausible explanation there is. Even if it's still less likely than actual magic.

[nijistaryume]

Probably. I mean, magic's kinda hard to get used to sometimes, but -- wait, can I say I got used to it? When you see it happen in front of you a bunch, that's kinda different from deciding to believe just on what you see off the internet, huh?

[jasidian]

Um.

Pardon me asking, but what exactly is an "internet"?

[nijistaryume]

Basically this, except this is a magic version. It's a virtual space connecting people from all over, and you post stuff and read stuff and try and avoid the weird conspiracy theory stuff designed to make you hate everybody. Lots of memes, though.

[This is immediately followed by a text reply:]