Yeets the Babey

[bloodboxes]

[Goro doesn't know how he got here with the weird man with the big nose who seems weirdly worried for a stranger, and he mostly just knows that he really needs to Get Home, because that's what he was doing before he was here. 

So he heads out of the door that feels like it should go where home is, and... promptly feels overwhelmingly lost. Tokyo is BIG, after all! And there's so, so many people...

But Goro is Strong and Brave and he didn't like the blue room so instead he can currently be found wandering around Shibuya and trying to find somewhere familiar.]

Comments

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro squints hard and plays the words back in his head a couple of times before he thinks he gets them. I don't think there's any holes... maybe. ]

Then how do you do it...? I just use a straw too, but I don't have pointy teeth...

[ Wait. Something belatedly occurs to him. ] If your mama... [ He wavers for a moment. He misses his mom. ] ...If she said that, does that mean you'll get even pointier teeth when you're bigger?

[bloodboxes]

[He lets go. And now his mouth feels all funny.]

I dunno, they're called that but they don't do anything. [He blinks.] Maybe they'll do something when they're pointier?

[He's- not sure what to feel about that.]

[aspiringhero]

We could find out. Probably. If you want? We can go to the library. Or we can ask an older one of us. He might know.

[ He has skipped over explaining the "alternate versions of the same people" thing, however. ]

[bloodboxes]

An... older us?

[Yeah, Goro here has been assuming they both look exactly the same like twins all this time.]

[aspiringhero]

Oh. Um. [ ... Goro has never had to explain this before. ]

We're in a place where lots of the same person can come. From different... worlds? [ He kind of pictures different planets when people say that, but he doesn't think that's right. But they also say universes, and there's only one of those... ]

And there are lots of us. They've all been older than me till now. [ He's on firmer ground here. ] And one of them is really smart. He knows lots of stuff. He might know about your teeth.

[bloodboxes]

Like in Featherman... [He seems kind of awed.] Those stories are really weird. But they're also really cool.

Lots of us... wow. [Thinking.] I wanna be smart like that too.

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro nods enthusiastically. ] Me too. I want to be like him when I grow up. Except maybe not as scary. Do you want me to call him?

[bloodboxes]

I wouldn't mind being a bit scary, as long as it means I can protect mama. [Hang on-] Call him? We can talk to the older me, um, us?

[Excited!]

Do it, do it!

[aspiringhero]

[ So Goro takes out his weird future phone and pokes the screen until he reaches the Magpie contact. One more poke, and he can hear it ringing through one end of the phone. He holds it up to his ear expectantly. ]

[pancakeboy]

[... that sure is a call from an unknown number. Who has his number, here?]

Yes? [He sounds extremely scary. Plus, you know the problem with being surrounded by duplicates of yourself? It makes answering the phone really hard.]

[aspiringhero]

[ Goro is a little scared! But not very scared, not like he would've been before. ]

Um. Hi, Magpie. I'm Hawk.

[pancakeboy]

[... what the shit.]

Hello there, Hawk. Did you find my number on your own? [He forces a bit of fake cheer into his voice; he doesn't really want to spook the kid.]

[aspiringhero]

No. Crow gave me it. [ He doesn't realize there's anything potentially wrong with this, so he moves right past it. ] I found another us my age but he has pointy teeth and he says they're called milk teeth but he doesn't know why. But you know a lot of stuff.

[pancakeboy]

[Okay, "Crow", there are going to be words had—and then the kid just rolls straight on through to the meat of the question.

Huh. He knows a lot of stuff, does he? That's true. He worked his ass off to know a lot of stuff. Pointy teeth, though.]

You say pointy. You mean, not in the way that your teeth are pointy?

[aspiringhero]

No, they're pointier than mine. And bigger. [ He looks at other-him as he talks, to make sure he's saying everything right. ] They come out of his mouth.

[pancakeboy]

[Yeah, he sounds displeased. Because he is displeased.]

It sounds like the two of you are getting along. What's he like?

[aspiringhero]

He's nice. [ He looks back at the other him again, remembering his excitement when Goro said they could talk to their older selves. ] Do you want to talk to him?

[bloodboxes]

[He's been listening and leaning in and and-] I'm Goro but you already know that if you're me and why do people call 'em milk teeth if they're not for drinking milk? What about juice teeth?

[The scariness clearly hasn't deterred him! If he's that scary then clearly it means he's allowed to be, which boggles the kid's mind.]

[pancakeboy]

[... on the other hand, the kid just sounds like a kid. But he knows better than anyone that that doesn't mean anything.]

Hello, Goro-kun. Pleased to meet you. [He remembers the vampire he spoke to in the blood aisle, okay. But that guy was his age. Kids are... well, kids.]

Your teeth fall out too, is that correct? And you grow bigger ones?

[The other vampire, the Akira, had implied he ate ordinary food, so the mention of juice doesn't startle him.]

[bloodboxes]

Hi! [He sure is a kid.] Yeah, the older kids in school sometimes have holes in their mouths.

[He doesn't even bother pointing out a difference between kids like him and kids like the other-him next to him here. It happens to everyone, right?]

[pancakeboy]

[Huh. Good enough.] There you are, then.

They're called "milk teeth" because it's a reference to mother's milk. The age you are when they grow in, I suppose.

[aspiringhero]

Ooohh... [ He makes a small noise of comprehension. ] I get it.

[ He knew Magpie would know! ]

[pancakeboy]

[Of course he knew, and thankfully the explanation doesn't seem to have phased the two kids. But hold on a moment.]

One more thing, if that's all you wanted. What's happening with you, new Goro-kun? [What even is his codename going to be? Bat?]

Who's taking care of you? Where are you living? [And what's he eating?]

[bloodboxes]

I get it, too!

[And then he's asked that, and he gets sad.]

I was going home and then I was in the blue room but when I got out I- [He bites his lip, small baby milk fangs pressing lightly into it.] I don't know.

[pancakeboy]

[Huh. He's upset the vampire. He... didn't quite expect that.]

It's all right, Goro-kun. You don't need to worry.

There's another of you here. Have you met any of the Akiras?

[Does he mention Ren—the single, solitary Ren? No, he does not.]