Grin Brown's Story

Grin Brown got a huge smile on his face, grew wings and flapped over to the newcomers. "Hi! Welcome to Hebe! You keep going from here, the people at the control tower will take you to New Dev Eru if you're nice. And not Aschen. The Belkans gave us a new one after the old one got blown up."

James' monotony was broken with the whisp of smoke that appeared to his right.

What in Nodixeo's name...

he exclaimed, surprised by the bizarre occurrence. He wasn't familiar at all with the idea of magic, let alone apparation.

He lept back, causing the steel chair in which he sat to clatter across the ground. His shock was augmented by the speaker to his left, who was greeting him. Where had these people come from? James wrestled with his state of mind, trying to come to grips with what had just happened.

Mr. Yatata saw Grin Brown as he grew wings and flew over to him. This reminded him of his cat Muffin Murder who has the ability to morph into different forms. "Umm hello there!, what is you'r name? and I have a few questions" Mr. Yatata then made an 'ahem'. "What is a Aschen,Dev Eru,and Belkan?" asked Mr. Yatata.

Grin Brown was happy to answer, though Mama Ike wouldn't be happy that he went all the way out here. "Aschen are meanies. They hate Terrans for some reason, I don't know why. Dev Eru...that's where we Erutins come from! And Belkans are very friendly friends. They protect us from meanies like the Aschen!"

The flurry of strange words confused him even more. He immediately lept to intervene on the ensuing discussion.

Excuse me, what do the two of you think you're doing here? This is a secured area,

he stated.

James Wharton, you see, was a responsible for the monitoring of the arcology's network infrastructure, which was a particularly tedious job. He was only slightly upset that he'd been interrupted by these... foreigners.

Mr. Yatata was very interested of waht these Aschen and Belkans are. Although there was one question that Grin did not answer, his name. "Wow fascinating, but there is one thing that you forgot to answer my freind! what is you'r name exactly?" he said. But then he thought he should introduce himself first. "Oh wait silly me! I almost forgot!". another 'ahem' was made by the magician boy. He then bows "My name is The Mysterious Mister Yatata! and this here is my magic assistant 'Muffin Murder'!. The cat then makes an unusual sounding meow noise as he examines Grin.

Grin Brown grinned even wider at being investigated by the kitty. "My name's Grin!" He then morphed back into his natural cat form to get to know this 'Muffin Murder' better.

The shape-shifting anomaly before him was simply too much. James started to cry out at the two beings before him—but nothing came out but a dry croak.

James' lithe-like figure staggered as he reached up to his temples, questioning his sanity. What was going on? Where had these things come from? What were they talking about? The questions rushed through his head, a storm of contradiction and anomaly.

"Oh my! he seems to like you!" says the magician boy as Grin morphed into a cat like 'Muffin Murder'. "So Grin huh? that's a nice name!" says Mr. Yatata.

The storm in his mind had risen to hurricane force, drowning out the spoken language that Mr. Yatata presented. Instead, James heard a muddled flurry of syllables—no, concepts—that evoked only further confusion.

His clutched fingers suddenly tensed, and James lurched forward into a doubled-over position. Suddenly, the floor around him began to darken—slightly at first, but then flickering back to the clean tile that the maintenance bots had polished just this very morning.

Something bizarre was happening to James, something that Hebe had yet to experience. Something dark.

Grin Brown looked around, rather confused at the flash of darkness. "I, uh...I'd better go home." Just like that, Grin grew wings and was off like a shot.

Muffin Murder hoped on top of Mr. Yatata's hat, frightened. "Oh um well by, it was nice meeting you!" said Mr. Yatata. "Muffin Murder? what is wrong?" asks the magician boy.

He stretched, his buttoned vest wrinkling. A few cracks of his spine did the trick. Even harsh administrators like himself had to relieve themelves of a long shuttle ride. The man was of tan skin, and black curly hair. He appeared of Indian, or Middle-Eastern descent. But, that's all it was: An appearance. He was Erutin, himself. He was dressed in something akin to the attire of a waiter: A grey vest matched with a white cuff-linked shirt, and grey pants.

A scrutinizing gaze was casted upon the boy, and the other man, of whom were both mingling up ahead of the platform. "You there!" He called out to the man. This Erutin had missed whatever mysterious incident had just occured. "Where do I go to get to Dev'Eru?" He looked around, obviously unsure of which direction to proceed.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! SO MANY ANIMALS!" Keeping up with Grin was quickly becoming a lost cause for anyone foolish enough to attempt it. Even tethering him wouldn't work, as the crowds and his shapeshifting made this solution awkward at best. However, maybe Darien Papa had a point--shapeshifters WERE the ideal candidates. Changing glamers was one thing, but actual physical shifts, without the stigma of 'omg a demon'...this just might be the perfect business opportunity while he walked around on a fool's errand to stop the Lord of Greed himself. No way could Darien hope to match someone that powerful.

"I know! That's why it's FUN!" Grin bounced on the balls of his human toes, enjoying the sensation of leaving the ground and then coming back down again. "These human-shape feet are weird. They're loud and small for the height, but so springy." He lost his balance a few times, but Ike was there to catch him. "So, does Darien Papa have that illusion thing like you do?"

"Wow. That's cool. But it's not as cool as ACTUALLY becoming the other thing, I think," Grin mused as his cat nose started sniffing the ground. "Ooh! Over there! There's a street performer!" Indeed, a small crowd was gathering around an Erutin who had mastered her shifting to the point that she was impersonating various personas as part of a dramatic re-telling of the destruction of the "old" Dev Eru for interested tourists.

Hm? The Erutin Empress was about to hold a conference? Oh boy, Grin thought! Time to sneak away from Mommy and Daddy while they wrestled and find out more about who he really was! Hm...first thing he would need was a spaceship. Lots of important-looking people were boarding one...easy enough to blend in that way. Lots of them also had something around their necks. He'd have to grab a dropped one, those looked harder to fake. "Press pass," one of them said. While the flustered man tried to argue his way past the guard that he was a real reporter that had lost his pass, Grin just smiled to himself while taking careful notes about the dude he was impersonating. Once he got into the conference, it wouldn't matter if he got small details wrong. Access was the important thing.

"Oh, you're that Terracast reporter!" the woman next to him smiled and held out a hand for him to shake. Hm...she looked kind of like Mommy...what would Daddy do? Ah yes. "W-wait! What are you doing? I thought you Terrans had bathrooms for that! Go in there if you want to change!"

A few minutes later, Grin was holed up in the spaceship restroom, blushing and wondering what he did wrong. People were weird. Then the announcement came up that everyone was to report to their seats in preparation for takeoff. Time to come out and maybe not talk to that pretty lady ever again, lest he further damage his credibility. When the guard came to check their passes, Grin confidently whipped his out, but covered the name with his hand. "Grin Brown, Terracast." The guard nodded and went on with it, clearly at the end of a long shift.

Finally, the spaceship rocketed off, toward the Inner Empire. The paparazzi had arrived, eager to catch shots of the Empress in the latest fashions. Erutin fashion was rather unique in that it was rather baggy to accommodate minor to moderate changes in the wearer's physique to suit their whim, but it was also highly sought after by performance artists of all sorts who needed to change outfits quickly. Whether one was a cosplayer, a con man, or a street performer, they would want to know every detail of the gown. But Grin was here for something else as well...to have a rare opportunity to ask what an Erutin was. To ask questions that nobody else could answer. And maybe, just maybe, to discover something about himself. But first, the in-flight meal, which was predictably bland. Yecch. He held out hope that the banquet would offer better.

A line of fierce Seraphim encircled the bottom of the stage, and behind them a thin energy field rippled, barely visible and there to protect the Empress from harm. She had yet to arrive of course. The reporters, credentials checked, each checked over carefully and validated as to the invite list were there before her, each assigned a sheet. Only a single foreign reporter was likely to get to answer a question today of course. Only pre-vetted reporters with pre-vetted questions would be allowed otherwise. The likelihood that Terracast would be allowed to ask that question was, unfortunately for Grin, slim to none.

The empress, hidden behind a door, allowed a handmaiden to finish applying the make up that would hide all signs of her tears. On this occasion, she would wear the stuff, instead of taking advantage of her genes. Her children, and their own, were hidden deeper within the palace, dealing with their own grief. It was, of course, possible her husband would return. Given the latest reports on their private clinics, she doubted it, unless he had avoided informing her of one. Wing allowed a sigh to escape her and pressed her head against the door, briefly, before stealing her spine and hardening her heart.

The door opened. The Empress stepped in.

Lights flashed as dozen of photographers took picture, and the camera, the lone video camera allowed in the room, followed her as she walked to the podium.

"My people. I bring you sorrowful news." She said, slow and clear. "Earlier today, there was an attack on His Imperial Majesty as he saw to his duties." She had chosen to change out of her bloodied gown, and into a sober gown, head to toe in black. "These ursurpers destroyed the mortal flesh, of our God-Emperor." She waited, knowing the impact those words would have. "Rest assured, my people, my Scatterran and Erutin people, that it is only his mortal flesh which has been sundered."

A lie, of course. No one knew what happened to Josef, but he was missing, and not to be found anywhere. The videos even showed him simply disappearing. "Those who attacked him directly have been swiftly dealt with, killed where they stood. Those who supported this attack have been found. They will be held accountable in a public trial, so that all may know the swiftness of Our Empire's justice, and the Might of House Kampf's fury!" Oh it was a fury. Surely someone must have done this! The Empress forced herself to calm down. "I urge you all, if you provide succor to a member of the once noble house Reinhardt, to cast them out and into the waiting hands of the Landwachter. And I urge you all to take heart. Our God still lives on as our God. Divine mortal flesh or not, our God lives."

Divine mortal flesh? That didn't even make any sense. How could gods die? Anyway, Grin found himself in a bad position as the rush to ask questions started...not much of a rush. It looked like however they chose who would ask questions, they had already been chosen. The next best thing would be to ask the other people who didn't get a chance.

"Hi, uh...Haggin from Gaia? I'm Grin from Terra, nice to meet you. I want to ask the pretty Empress about Erutins. Why they can shift. Why we're born in bunches. Stuff like that. What would you ask her?" Caught off guard, all he could say was "I, uh, er...I'd ask if she plans to marry again. I don't think either of us are going to get that chance."

"I know. That's what I think, too. That's why I'm talking to you," Grin said as he flashed that signature huge smile, morphing his face to be a bit more like the Cheshire Cat to drive home the point. "I see why you're called Grin," Haggin said and shook his head, his hoary beard going from side to side.

"I'm going to ask more people what they want to ask. Nice to see you!" A real bundle of energy, this one.

As the Empress took the few questions allowed, a young Scatterran reported noted Grin’s rather suspicious and disrespectful actions. Still, judging by the tag, this was a foreigner. Terra huh? Well, that explained the manners. The veteran reporter tapped Grin on the arm as the Empress was escorted off the stage and shook his head. “Hey kid, calm down. They’ll revoke your access fi you act like that again here.” He said, the tension in the reporter field dropping. “We’ve got awhile to mingle before the press secretary shows up and lets us know what the official spin we’re supposed to put on this is. You look like you’ve got a hundred questions.”

This poor kid was clearly a rookie. He supposed that it meant that Terra didn’t care too much about Hegemony matters, but this was pretty big news. Well, it looked like they may run a Hegemony piece in the end. “I’m Rogers. While don’t you ply me with your questions while we wait.”