thisavrou | video | backdated to the third or so

[The first thing visible on the screen is eyesockets. Big, round, empty eyesockets, with the back of the skull just visible if anyone's paying attention.]

Wowie! This is even cooler than my phone at home! Look at all the buttons! And now everyone can see and hear me, regardless of where they are? Nyeh-heh-heh!

[Finally, the person on the screen pulls their arm away from their face and holds it up, tilted down slightly at a classic selfie angle.

Word has probably spread about living skeletons on the ship, and now it appears the tall one is addressing everyone.]

A-HEM!

[He doesn't have a throat to clear; he just literally said the word "ahem" really loud.]

Attention, monsters and humans and... otherwise! I, the great Papyrus, was selected to act as your new Morale Officer, and as such, I have some questions for you. Do not be intimidated! There are no wrong answers, just a really cool guy listening to everything you have to say!

[He ticks the questions off on his bony fingers.]

Firstly! If we haven't yet met, what is your name?
Secondly! Are you happy here on the ship?
Thirdly! If not, what is troubling you, and do you need a hug?
And lastly, if you said yes to the second part, what is your location. I may need a few minutes, as this place can get a little confusing, but just hang in there! I believe in you!

[A short pause as he tries to think of what else to say. This is his big debut, he should make himself seem as cool as possible so he can attract a lot of friends! Maybe he can just use some awesome radio slang and end it here? Yes, yes, of course, that's totally what cool guys do!]

This has been a very important message from the great Papyrus! Roger and out. No, wait--!

[Thinking he can erase the message and do it over, he jabs a button and turns it off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Uh… Not a skeleton? [Not a human either, though Zam feels their answer is more relevant. Not like anyone on this kriffing ship knows what a Clawdite is anyways.]

How uh… How did you become a skeleton? Did you die?

Er...

[Long answer: Yes, but he was a skeleton before that happened, and also he doesn't like to think about it.]

Well, I became a skeleton by being born one! It was a momentous day for everyone, I'm sure.

[...What.] But that’s-- Bones don’t-- You’d need--

[You know what, screw it. Life on the Moira is already so kriffing weird, this might as well happen. He sighs.] Never mind. I’m Zam Wesell. Welcome to the Moira.

So wherever you’re from, skeletons are just born? You don’t have to die to uh, become one?

Of course not! How would you die to begin living? That doesn't make any sense at all!

Though there must be some sort of connection between us and humans. I have a theory that you must have descended from skeletons, since it's such a large part of your iconography!

[Oh boy, this is going to be fun to explain.] Uh, that's not it. Humans and pretty much any other living thing with bones have skeletons inside them. Under their skin and flesh and organs. They have to die for everything else to rot away, and then only a skeleton is left.

Except those skeletons don't walk and talk.

[Papyrus actually blinks. Like, his eyesockets somehow shift to close, and then open again.

He does this more than once.

It's taking him time to process that, because it sounds super gross. It's not really good enough to be a prank, or funny enough to be a joke. It's just WEIRD.]

You must be joking! That's just silly, keeping a skeleton inside you!

[There is long sigh on the other end of Papyrus’s MID. Then, the audio feed switches to a video one. It shows a copper-haired young man with a look that says, “You brought this on yourself.”

Without warning, his face begins to change, flesh seeming to melt away and skin growing paper thin. It continues until the skin of his face and neck is pulled taut over bone and the skull and bones of the neck show very clearly through his now translucent skin.]

See? [The skull says, lifting one hand to gesture at his face.] Skeleton.

[...]

[What.]

[Papyrus knows magic, of course; he IS magic, but this is not... normal. He honestly has no idea what this is. It's a skeleton, of course, but. With. Skin?!

Where a human stood not a minute before, now there's a...

Um.

There's a delayed NYEHHH of alarm and Papyrus covers his MID screen with his other hand.]

Oh my god! Put it back at once! Put it all back!!

Told you so, [the skull says. At least Zam obliges the skeleton’s request, skin once again growing opaque and flesh filling out the hollows between bones until he once more resembles a human. He seems completely unbothered by the grotesque display he’s just made.]

Well, you didn't believe me. What else was I supposed to do? [...Not peeling back your face would have been a good start, Zam.]

[The fingerbones covering the screen separate just a fraction, and a worried eyesocket takes a quick peek to make sure Zam really did fix it. Relieved at the normal-looking person on his screen, he sighs and takes his hand off it.]

I... I've never seen anyone do anything like that in my life! How did-- that was astounding! Absolutely terrifying and please don't do it again ever, but astounding nevertheless!

[Zam grins, clearly enjoying the “praise.”] Most people haven’t. Even other changelings would have had trouble pulling that off. [Not Zam, though. He’s just too good.]

Changeling? So you're a person who changes?

[His vocabulary was already pretty impressive, in his opinion, but it's really been expanding since he got here.

A moment later, he gasps, looking excited.]

Oh my god! That explains so much! No wonder humans are so strong; they're all fortified skeletons!!

Yup. Got it in one. [Not like the associated verb is right there in the name.

He can’t help but laugh at the skeleton’s revelation.] That’s one way to think of them. It’s not just humans either; any vertebrate creature has some sort of skeleton.

Amazing! The surface world must truly be an impressive place to live.

But one thing still eludes me! I always heard that humans have no powers, and that they don't understand even the simplest magic. How is it that you learned to do that?

Well, it probably helps that it’s not magic. And I’m not human. [It’s curious, actually. Even in a universe that’s so different that it has a race of sentient skeletons, humans manage to be a constant.] Do they really only have skeletons and humans where you’re from?

But you-- oh!!

[Of course, he can change his form. It makes sense that he went with the most intimidating. Makes perfect sense to Papyrus!]

Oh no, of course not! Monsters come in many shapes and sizes! Actually, since you mentioned it, there aren't that many skeletons. But there are monsters that look like surface animals, and monsters that are ghosts, robots, boulders, living fire, cool fish people... monsterkind is a very diverse group!

What sort of creatures exist in your world? Can you tell if they're really changelings in disguise?

[He gasps suddenly as a super neat idea comes to him.]

Do you guys have a secret handshake??

Monsters? [That’s an… interesting word to refer to anything that’s not human. Definitely not something Zam would like to be called, though the skeleton seems perfectly fine with the term.]

Too many to name. One city block on Coruscant has enough kinds of life to fill half a dozen books. [He shrugs.] Well, at least in the undercity. [Once you get higher up, things tend to become more homogenous.

He grins at the skeleton’s next question.] Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret, would it?

video | backdated to the third or so

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