Don't Eat Yellow Snow

[thepurpleone]

WHO: Donnie and yooou
WHERE: Not-Hoth
WHAT: Baby it's cold outside
WHEN: During Nothmas
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match tag format/preferences


I. Observation
While Donnie has his qualms about the sturdiness of the structures they've been provided with as shelter for their winter exile, there doesn't look to be much by way of options. By default he chooses the one with the most purple decorating the outside (shh! No one saw him licking the building), perhaps low-key pleased that there's purple on the inside as well, even if it isn't completely to his aesthetics, but at least the color's not bad. He takes one look at the clothes in the dressers and figures it's probably some previous inhabitant's, thinking no more on that matter.

It's still strange to finally be in the same breathing space as the Agrii. Donnie wanders the weird village in his snow gear to observe their alien abductors. Take some selfies in front of the fabulous tree. Surreptitiously throw a snowball at a hapless Agrii or two and see if he can instigate snowball fights between them. For science.


II. Gift Gremlin
The barn is a curiosity, more so the big questionable robots that seem to be standing guard. Donnie watches from...the roof because that's what ninja do, right? as Agrii drop off gifts. Huh?

Presents are something he hadn't really expected. An Agrii gift exchange? Someone coax this feral boy from the roof so he can get his presents.


III. Second Childhood
a. One day Donnie's communicator is activated, but something's off about the transmission. Since when does Donnie wear glasses? They're quite huge, square-framed, and yes, that is tape over the bridge keeping it in place and string tied around the temples. He peers very closely at the screen as he plays around with it for a bit, having to stop to find his hands now and then because he's all but swimming in a big purple hoodie too many times his size. Eventually he gets tired of this game so he puts the communicator down to go investigate the drawers. Maybe there's him-sized clothes that's put away!

It takes some doing but he finally tugs one open, and perhaps that's when one can really get a sense of just how small the turtle tot is, maybe about two feet high. He starts pulling out sweaters and jackets, more to his size, frowning thoughtfully. Red? Headshake. Blue? No. Orange, that's Mikey's. He makes sure to fold each one up as nicely as he can while he sets them on the floor before looking in the drawer, but he eventually reaches the bottom and finds none for him. Oh.

This is what happens when your dad color codes you.


b. A little lost child in the snow! At least he's bundled up, and by now he doesn't care too much that the jacket he found isn't his color because it's warm and better than nothing. But winter clothes makes it hard to move, the snow, harder still, especially when it comes up past your knees.

He has no idea where he's going and he can't find the cabin he found himself in. It's a bit scary since everything outside is so big and new, not at all familiar like the sewers, not that he's gone very far in them without any of his brothers or his dad. The thought makes him sniffle as he hugs his action figure close. Donnie's not sure where it came from either but he knows Jupiter Jim anywhere! The space hero's poofy plastic afro is fitted in a fishbowl helmet, and he even has karate-chop action! Maybe it's one of his brothers, but right now, it's his emotional support.

Comments

[liliputana]

I'm a kid. We're talking through a...

[She trails off, not sure what to call it.]

... data pad?

[When it doubt, steal terms from sci-fi shows.]

[thepurpleone]

Data..? Ooh! Like in Jupiter Jim!

[His face brightens with a smile, and he tries to poke at the screen. How does it woooork.]

How come I can't see you?

[liliputana]

I don't know how to turn the camera on.

[But after taking a few moments to fiddle with it, she finds the right setting and flips on the video on her end, too - revealing a human girl. Sup, Donnie.]

Did that work?

[thepurpleone]

I don't know where the buttons are... Ah!

[He flails and almost drops the thing again. It was easier believing it was really a talking phone. Humans aren't supposed to see him!

...but she's just a little human so it's okay, right? And she's lost too.]

I see you.

[liliputana]

I'm in a nice room; it doesn't look like the kind of place a kidnapper would have. But I don't know why we're here.

[There's a weighty seriousness to her as she relays this, indicating that she fully understands the potential gravitas of their situation - but despite that, there are no signs of fear or tears or anything else one might expect to see in a lost child.]

Are you an alien?

[thepurpleone]

It's warm. And there's a bed and stuff.

[He supposes there are worse places.]

I'm a turtle!

[liliputana]

But you can talk. You look like an alien turtle.

[thepurpleone]

[Ah, what's he supposed to tell people? Dad only ever said not to be seen! He didn't tell them what to do if they were ever caught!]

...I could be?

[liliputana]

[Her brow furrows, very faintly.]

You don't know?

[thepurpleone]

[Okay, that did not work. Donnie pouts a bit.]

...not an alien. Still a turtle.

[liliputana]

But how?

[thepurpleone]

Gen....gener... Genetics?

[liliputana]

... Oh.

[That still sounds weird, but Sameen only has a fifth-grade understanding of genetics, so she can't exactly articulate why.]

Then how come there aren't more of you?

[thepurpleone]

[Oh, now he looks sad.]

...my brothers aren't here.

[liliputana]

My mom isn't here.

[She does not look sad - though she doesn't look happy, either. She looks like she's stating a banal fact, and nothing more.]

Are you scared?

[thepurpleone]

Dad's not here. Don't have a mom.

[He pushes up his glasses a bit, rubbing at his eyes with a sleeve. Not crying, nope!]

N-no! I'm not scared!

[He is so scared.]

[liliputana]

You sound scared. Do you want to play? We can play tag or go exploring.

[Playing tag and going exploring are things she likes to do, and they seem like the kind of thing that might help a normal kid - a kid who isn't like her, a kid who feels scared and sad when he's supposed to - take his mind off of what's worrying him. It's a win-win.]

[thepurpleone]

Play? ...outside?

[The proposal makes him look off-screen somewhere, the window. He hadn't taken a real look yet, but he knows he's definitely not underground.]

[liliputana]

Maybe there's a playground.

[Someone isn't even aware that she's in an alien village yet - she's been too busy exploring her communicator.]

[thepurpleone]

[Donnie carefully sets the device down so he can go try to look out the window. ...which is too tall so he goes to push a chair over to climb on.]

It's all white outside.

[The glass in front of him fogs slightly with his words, and he traces a sad face in it with a finger.]

Is it snow?

[liliputana]

Yeah. You haven't seen snow before?

It's really cold, and you can't always sled in it. Sometimes it's not soft enough.

[thepurpleone]

Cold.

[He clambers down from the chair to pick up the tablet again.]

I live in the sewers. Dad said not to go up by myself 'cuz humans will scream.

[liliputana]

You live in the sewer? Isn't that gross?

[thepurpleone]

It's home!

[liliputana]

It sounds dirty. But I won't scream.

[She pauses. ]

Or tell. When my mom was younger she had to hide and escape from bad people, too.