Snippet #2765732

"Heh, you take this stuff seriously, don't you?" Skitters said, in response to Vragi.

"So, as a connoisseur of knowledge, curiosity overtakes me," Grimms finally said, lowering his book to glance over the top of it. "How does a being such as yourself end up inside common vermin?" There was a moment of silence, followed by rustling in the bedding fort.

"Ay? And how does a git like you end up in a tin can?" Skitters responded, sounding a bit agitated.

"Touché, but I meant no disrespect," he responded, before he returned to his book.

"Yeah, well... I... ugh... if you really must know, I'm from the edge, or rather, I was born in some isolated bubble in it," she finally said after some stuttering. "And I outgrew that bubble."

"That... doesn't really explain a lot, does it?" he said.

"Okay, sure, fine! But I don't know all the exact bloody details, they get foggy when your brain is put through a ringer! So yeah, anyways, Basalah? Yeah, that is my real name, Lady Basalah I was. My people were mostly a bunch of timid little mice... not literally, mind you, but bright lights and loud noises causes them to scatter. I mean, sure, we lived in a land with only twilight and night, by your terms, but still... a little light ain't gonna kill ya! So yeah, I felt my growth was being bloody stifled! So maybe, I got a bit overly ambitious, sure! But I'm a bloody genius! I can't be satisfied with accepting things as-is. And I got treated as a deviant, insane! I mean, I was also taller than the average git, get on my bloody level! Was..." she paused there, to try to gather her thoughts. "So I came up with a theory, one they really didn't like. I devised a way to pierce the veil and bridge into a hypothetical other world, using a kind of primordial energy I had concentrated by siphoning off some spacial anomalies at the world's borders."

"Sounds eerily familiar, and what device did you use to pierce the veil?" he asked.

"Wait... device? No no, I drank it."

"You... drank it?" Grimms responded. "I'm lifting a brow, by the way."

"Yeah... ehhhh..." she answered, her voice cracking a bit. "So, maybe not my brightest moment in retrospect, but everyone was wanting to have me committed and I was gettin' flustered and may have gotten a little full of myself. I mean... I am amazing! But... well, I had a split second of regret, before my everything was being being stretched across several planes like taffy, through an inconceivable multiverse... then nothing. Don't know how long it had been, but the next time I'm conscious, my everything ached like hell, and I awoke inside this... dinky roadkill of a shell."

"Roadkill?"

"Well, ugh, so it wasn't in the best condition when I first got into it, okay? Busted up all to hell, the animal was dead as it gets. B-but don't look at me like that, I ain't some bloody pet cemetery freak! I-I mean, I hope I'm not... that'd be utterly pear-shaped... But yeah, that is about everything, I ended up being experimented because I'm some kinda edge hybrid thing."

"I see," Grimms responds, yet his tone hinted he wasn't entirely convinced on that being the full story. "And... what are you seek-"

"W-well, enough! I answered your question, now mine!" she interrupted rather abruptly, popping up from her fort and pointing accusingly. He backs down, and rubbed his chin.

"Mine... I suppose is a bit more simple, I once looked human, a rather god-like one I might say. Strong and worshipped, I grew arrogant, thought nothing could stop me, that every obstacle I could overcome with sheer strength alone. I was almost right, but... well, a servant woman, sick of my garbage challenged me that the one thing I could never do is be humble... and I took the challenge. For the life of me, I couldn't do it, I thought too highly of myself, and I was, angry and defeated, left with the only option to admit that there are some things I wasn't good at... and shortly after we married. It was a learning experience for sure, and then we had two kids, a son and then later, a daughter. I was... happy? And yet I wasn't smashing things with my head and fists. But..." he pauses for a moment and lowers his head, placing his book in his lap. "I... should have known something was coming, glowing cracks had begun forming in my body. I told no one, especially not my beloved. And then, in my arms, that mortal shell ruptured, and the surge of raw energy from my body... and well... I suppose the one grace is there was likely no suffering involved. I tried to cry but my eyes were dry, I tried to drink it away, but the alcohol burnt away on my tongue... I couldn't even comfort my children, as I'd burn them too. This clumsy suit, a clunking wearable reactor shell, is the only way I can engage at all in the worlds, and it lacks any of the delicate qualities I once took for granted. My son turned from me, and my daughter... regressed. Perhaps out there is a means to once and for all shed this suit, and live... somewhat normally again. That and adventure... I've missed those."

"Geez, make me look like a selfish git, why dontcha? S-soo, you want your body back, huh?

"Essentially, yes, I suppose it is also closure, as well, with it. But I assume you want yours back too, right?" he asked, but Skitters simply paused, thinking on it for a bit.

""Y-yeah! Of course! It... uh... this body is total bollocks! W-well... I'm not sure, really... I mean, there's no way I can make this work as-is right? A lady as I, reduced to the body of a pathetic and graceless vermin! How am I to receive any envy like this? Pah!"

"Hah, you're a bit vain, aren't you?" he laughs, causing her to huff and plop back into hiding in her fort. Grimms then turns to Vragi. "And, where are my manners? We cannot forget you, friend, what is your story?"