TV. // (STATIC GIF TW)

*loud tv static noises*

almost always wearing a bag on his head. don’t take it off please

afraid of adults

can travel through TV screens. in other words don’t be surprised if he pops out in your apartment at 3 am like a cryptid, okay--

don’t be surprised if the TV screen shatters in the process, either

used to doing just about anything to survive in his world; very resourceful, but also very much a thief. also alarmingly good at wielding a sledgehammer or busted metal pipe

tiny

like really tiny, even for being a child

strong though

very friendly once he warms up to you

very compassionate too

@monochromedtv​

“Oh? Mono, you’re here! Were you thinking of trying one of these? I’d be delighted to aid you. Why not pick one?”

It looks like there’s a few things labeled easy… though, he wonders if the city’s watchers are really expecting kids to participate in this silliness. But it might be good practice… just in case things actually did go devastatingly wrong. Grimm’s making a note to research the history of the city, now.

“Carrying a torch sounds easy…” he mumbles after browsing through the list. “You could carry it. You’ll look cool doing it!”

Oh, it was that creature who had helped him before! Grimm, he had said he was called, right? After being showed some magic tricks by the bug, Mono wasn’t nearly as afraid of him as he had been before. In fact, he was quite relieved to see a familiar and friendly face among the crowd. The announcement last night had startled him quite badly, and knowing the city had been under attack at one point... well, it was nice to know there were people who would help him here already, was all.

“Carry a torch?” Mono thought about it for a moment when the idea was suggested to him, reading the quest over for himself. He had to admit, it didn’t sound very hard-- which was a good thing for him, considering he didn’t have much to defend himself with at the moment if things went sour-- and he would indeed look rather cool carrying it, wouldn’t he?

“Nothin’, really.”

..

…

…..

“It’s just a funny joke word people try to get you to say.”

     “Are you hungry?” The answer is obvious, and Atom doesn’t hide the fact that he knows, eyes lingering on the apple in the other child’s hands; the apple that, moments ago, was sitting among others in a nice little farmer’s market stand. Atom’s frown deepens.

     It was his innate sense of rules-following that had him trailing after the thief in the first place. It’s his understanding of hardship, fear, and their current situation that has Atom handling the moment delicately, having followed as quietly and casually as possible. Not wanting to risk scaring them off, he just slightly raises his hands with palms facing forwards.

     “…You don’t have to steal things, you know,” Atom continues in a softer tone. “They give us some money when they leave us here. You could probably get more of a meal than that, too.”

@monochromedtv​ ❤’d.

Although Mono had debated on going through with the act in the first place for quite some time, the growing pain of hunger in his stomach had prompted him to eventually sneak the apple away from the stand as discreetly as he could manage. It hadn’t been all that hard for him; he was very small, and very good at being quiet as a result of the world he came from. Of course, now that the deed was done, hunger was no longer the only thing gnawing at him-- he could feel guilt churning away in his stomach as well, even as the starving child moved to take a bite from the stolen fruit.

And that was when he realized that someone had not only been following him, but had seen him take it-- another child, but still someone. He quickly pulled his bag back down to cover his mouth again, embarrassed that this other kid had even seen that much of his face.

“Money..?” Mono echoed, frowning under his bag as his stomach growled again. To be honest, money in general was a foreign concept to him, as a result of being in a world where adults had been warped into monsters by the transmission. He didn’t exactly have anyone to teach him anything other than the basic knowledge of ‘how to not die’-- which, really, was something he was learning mostly by having to run for his life several times.

Still, with what little he did know about money, he knew it was... coins and such, right? He certainly couldn’t feel any coins on his person, so what was this other child talking about?

“...I just got here, and I don’t have any money.” The idea of getting a better meal was nice, but... it just didn’t seem possible, at least from what he understood. Hesitating for a moment, the boy held the apple out to Atom.

The Koopa’s red eyes fall down to the……Really tiny child as he heard the whisper….Well just barely did as he raised an eyebrow for a moment before letting out a small huff.

“ Unfortunately yeah I gotta sleep outside,guess I’m just a bit too big to get a place ”

He says with a bit of spite in his voice. Some place this was huhs? Taking away one of his abilities and then making him sleep outside! That is not a way to treat a king and future ruler of this place!

“That’s not very fair... if they’re gonna kidnap us like this, they should at least prepare a bigger place so people like you have a place to sleep, right?”

Mono sounded a tad more vocal and confident now as he spoke to the king, putting a hand to his face (or, well, to the front of his paper bag) in thought. The boy didn’t know where he could find a blanket big enough for this beast, but maybe he could try to make a quilt? If only he had fabric... and a sewing needle. And knowledge on how to actually sew.

...yeah, he was probably going to need to find someone else to help him with this.

  “ Hate how I’m becoming used to sleeping outside now….. ”

“...you have to sleep outside?” Ignoring for a moment that the poor boy’s voice was barely a whisper due to how intimidated and scared he was of the appearance of the beast before him, Mono couldn’t help but feel bad for this guy despite his monster-like looks.

“Mono?” Her voice is a little hesitant, she hopes the boy can’t notice. He didn’t do anything wrong, it was just on the stranger side of the names she’s used to hearing. She easily pushes this aside, beginning to lead the way with the boy’s hand in her own. When she hears his questions out loud, her heart breaks another time, if it was still together at this point. What had this poor lad gone through…? Why was he so fearful of people he meets.

“Oh honey, I’m not going to hurt you at all.” She can’t even disguise the maternal tones in her voice anymore, concern taking over. Whatever buffer was there before was withered enough. “If anything, I only want you to be treated good, as long as I’m around. You seem to have been through so much and I’ve just met you…” She stops herself from going on. 

“I don’t think it’s much further.” Cissie reminds the boy, but as she does so, she notices his footsteps are becoming uncoordinated and a little sloppy. She bits her lower lip. If this had been a child she knew, she’d gladly pick him up and let him rest in her arms without a worry in the world. But she was nervous about making a sudden action that might scare him. 

“Are you too sleepy, Mono?” She stops walking for a moment, making sure he was still alert enough to stand on his own feet. “I…can carry you, if you think you won’t make it farther. But only if you want to. I promise not to hurt you. Just so that you don’t trip and fall, okay?” Despite being baby blue, her eyes hold a certain amount of warmness in them, without her even trying. She felt so bad for Mono. She just wanted to wave a magic wand and solve all his problems right here and there. 

Mono was, in this case rather unfortunately, quite perceptive. He kind of had to be, in a world like the one he came from, if he wanted any chance of survival. Still, although he winced inside at the hesitation in the woman’s tone, he didn’t try to flee from her. That was a good sign that he was slowly starting to trust her. Either that, or he just didn’t trust his legs to carry him anywhere right now. Either was possible.

At the proposal of being carried, though, the boy froze in place, limbs stiffening up for a brief moment or two. He had no idea if he should accept the offer or not. On one hand, he really did feel like he was going to pass out at any moment... on the other, this lady was still so unfamiliar to him, and could easily turn on him at any moment despite her current claims. Mono bit his lower lip, glancing away to try and hide how timid he was still feeling. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, even with his own precautions and wariness taking precedence.

“I’m... I’ll be fine. It’s not much further, right?” Even with his words, he couldn’t hide a yawn when the sentence was done. Once again, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it, then spoke once more.

“...have you seen Six? I miss Six... she’s my friend... she wears a yellow rain coat, and she’s always really bitey and kinda feral and she doesn’t like adults, but she liked me even though I initially scared her with an axe by accident and we would go exploring together and she helped me run from the Hunter and I saved her from the bullies and...” Oh, dear. He was babbling quite a bit now, going on and on about the (frankly horrifying, since pretty much all of them involved near death experiences) adventures he and Six had gone on.

Silence enveloped the two for longer than it should. She was still knelt beside him, not dare moving an inch to avoid scaring him. The wind blew around them, Cissie’s hair flowing behind her as they stood there. She could only imagine how cold and alone the child felt. Hopefully he would allow her to help him.

“I bet you are.” Cissie said in a soothing tone, smiling softly as he reached out for her hand. Cissie gradually got up, making sure to take it slow so he didn’t feel anxious. She gently took his hand in her own, gazing down at the boy with a reassuring look in her eyes she hoped he could see. 

“Do you have a name? I’m Cissie.” The blonde began leading them towards her residence, making careful and small steps so he could keep up. “If you don’t want to tell me, that is okay. I just figured it might ease you a little if we weren’t strangers.” 

“I’m Mono...” The boy had to stifle a yawn before he could speak once more, shaking his head as if that would shake the drowsiness away. It didn’t, of course, but it was worth a shot. “This isn’t the Pale City, right? You’re not going to hurt me, right..?”

Both questions were things that had been all but completely confirmed already, but the extra confirmation couldn’t hurt, in Mono’s eyes. His anxiety was finally starting to die down, due to a mixture of his exhaustion only draining him more and more as time went on and due to how soothing and slow Cissie was being. In fact, he was starting to have trouble walking in a straight line, feet dragging as he struggled to stay awake long enough to get to... wherever this warm place to sleep was. He didn’t know if he was comfortable referring to it as a ‘home’.

Plastic is still a new concept and though he’s still learning of its many uses Ichimokuren is fairly certain it isn’t supposed to utilized in such a way. How is the child able to breathe? Is he even breathing? 

“If I may..” He dares not be so bold as to outright remove the plastic bag, instead the old mountain spirit crouches down and retrieves a mask from the depths of his sleeve and silently offers it as an alternative. 

Thank goodness. Much as he hadn’t wanted to take the thing off entirely and thus expose his face, Mono had been about to pass out, a fact made clear by how much he was wobbling and how quickly he then tore the bag off his head in exchange for the mask as soon as it was offered.

He took a few moments to suck in deep breaths of air, trying to keep his head from spinning any more than it already was while he recovered from what could have easily ended far worse for him than it actually had.