(no subject)

[stayb100ponyboy]

Who : Little Equius and whoever finds him
Where: in his backyard and around the bubble
When: whenever during the age-swap curse
Style: baby!STRONG
Status: OPEN

One: In the backyard of his hive

It's very scary, waking up in a place that's not your hive and that doesn't have your lusus! Especially when you're a much shorter, not nearly as STRONG version of yourself, and know that without Aurthor around to protect you, you are subject to the whims of a brutal, ugly society. That's why the first day of the curse finds a tiny version of Equius, with both horns intact and no glasses covering his face, hiding in his backyard in the pen with Darkleer's horses. They are the closest thing he has to a lusus right now, and he's got his face pressed against the shoulder of the larger one, letting its large body block him from view.

Or so he thinks.

Two: Around the bubble

A day or so later, Equius discovers RoboEquius, and RoboEquius is about the coolest thing ever! It's like a giant, metal friend, just for him! They even have the same sign! And the robot speaks to him, but only to him, and only in his head! It's like an imaginary friend you can touch!

RoboEquius is cool enough that the little blueblood ventures out of the backyard, holding the robot's hand and letting himself be guided around the bubble. Should anyone get close, though, he retreats behind the robot's legs and peers out with serious, solemn eyes. It hasn't quite dawned on him yet that no one else can hear RoboEquius.

[OOC: I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow, so most of this log will be backtagged!]

Comments

One

[bestestfurrend]

After spending most of the day collecting grubs and playing with them and generally being an over-excited, squealing mess of a troll, it had occurred to Nepeta that there had been a curious lack of communication from her moirail. Not that they checked up on each other constantly, but they were usually in touch, especially on curse days.

And so after a quick word with Signless she leaves the grubs in his and Dolorosa's capable hands and heads to the highblood hive, peeking into all the rooms and calling for her moirail. When even his workroom yields no results she heads outside. Maybe he's with the chocobos or the ponies!

"Equius! Equius, where are you??"

[stayb100ponyboy]

He perks up when he hears his name, but that isn't anyone he recognizes! He ducks back behind the horse, hoping the scary adult troll will go away.

Darkleer the chocobo, on the other hand, recognizes his friend and starts making an unholy ruckus to get her attention.

[bestestfurrend]

Oh, but she catches the familiar scent of her moirail in the end! Less something, however, but still undeniably his, and as she wanders over to pet Darkleer and calm him down a bit she's still looking everywhere for a glimpse of him. If he'd turned into a grub and come out here he might get hurt!

"Equius! Equius, can you hear me? Please come out! I want to make sure you're okay!"

[stayb100ponyboy]

Why is she not going away?

Equius cringes further behind the hoofbeast, although now annoyance tinges his fear. She's just an oliveblood, why would she be bothering him?

[bestestfurrend]

Okay, no more miss nice kitty troll, she can smell her moirail and she's going to find him one way or another!

...leaping over the hoofbeast and right onto him is probably not the best idea she's ever had, though. "There you are!"

[stayb100ponyboy]

Shriek!

Equius curls up into a ball to defend himself, and her momentum sends him rolling across the yard. He might still be STRONGish, but he's much lighter and not nearly as solid as Nepeta remembers.

"Don't hurt me!"

[bestestfurrend]

"Shoooosh." She reaches out to pet his head gently, not having meant to frighten him. "Oh my paws, you're so small! Younger than when we first started talking I think...but I'd never hurt you! Ever ever! I promise!"

Two~

[crabbygenius]

It seems that wandering around the bubble and finding lost children is becoming a daily occurrence for Washu. On one of her errands, she spots a familiar Robot and begins to migrate towards him, wondering just where his creator was.

Once the adult approaches though, she pauses to spot a tiny Equius sticking close to the metal version of his older self. It seems like all the trolls she's fond of are being turned into children lately.

"Can I help you find something Little One?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

When she gets near him, Equius ducks behind RoboEquius' legs, clinging tightly to the robot's hand and looking out at her with wide eyes. He has a good lusus, though, and remembers his manners.

"... no. I'm okay." His voice is a high-pitched, squeaky version of its usual bass rumble.

[crabbygenius]

"Are you sure?" Washu crouches down to be more on his level and smiles. "It wouldn't be a problem for me to help you. Besides, I could never resist such an adorable child."

All so very true. "Why don't we start with introductions, hm? I'm Washu."

[stayb100ponyboy]

"I'm not a child!" Equius peeks out from behind RoboEquius' legs, looking cranky now. This is him without a moirail... quick to anger.

"I'm three sweeps old!"

[crabbygenius]

"And I'm several thousands of your sweeps old. I think you still qualify as a child to me."

He may be angry, but she is very, very amused.

[stayb100ponyboy]

"I don't even know what a child is," Equius informs her haughtily. "Except that I am not one!"

One

[faiofmisfortune]

He makes a habit of stopping by the backyard now that his strange collective of a family has moved in down the road. Mostly it was just because he likes watching the animals, but he also likes making sure that the things that make Darkleer happy are happy themselves. So here is Fai, peeking over the fence with some carrots in his hands for the horses.

That's funny, he thought the younger troll with horns like Darkleer had one that was broken. Oh well, he looks pretty scared about something so Fai thinks he should speak to him anyway.

"Hey, are you Equius?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

Eeep! He's been discovered! Equius scrambles around to the other side of the hoofbeast, keeping the animal between himself and the intruder.

"Go away!"

[faiofmisfortune]

Woops, not the reaction he was expecting. It's weird to imagine anybody being afraid of him, with how how often he was the one who is shy and intimidated by others. Fai turns around and leans his back against the fence in the hopes that would put the troll more at ease.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. My name's Fai and I live down the street... You looked like you needed help so I thought I should offer to help."

[stayb100ponyboy]

Equius peeks out from over the horse's back. Whatever this thing is, he's not getting any closer, which doesn't exactly put him at ease but makes him a little less nervous.

"What are you?"

[faiofmisfortune]

"I'm a human. That's what a lot of people here are, but there are other trolls in Vatheon, too."

He tries to keep his voice only loud enough to be heard clearly and the tone as calm as possible. If this really is Equius then the curse has probably gotten to him as well. It's proving to be a rather difficult and far-reaching one this time. Hopefully nobody affected gets into too much trouble.

[stayb100ponyboy]

It would be pretty weird if Equius was always like this, wouldn't it?

The strange creature's calming tone settles the nervous little troll, and he no longer looks ready to flee. "Where do humans come from?"

Two

[redcladidealist]

For someone as small as Lloyd currently is, the bubble is a huuuuge place to be in. So huge that no wonder he can't find his mom and dad. He's gotta check every place and there's so many places to check!

And maybe his progress is a little bit slow because he keeps getting distracted. The bitty little three year old stops and stares at Equius and his companion, eyes as wide as they can go.

"Whoa, what're you?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

Weird, it's one of those pink things, but one that's more his size. Equius looks down at Lloyd, but he's not hiding behind his robot as much as he did with everyone else.

"A troll. What're you?"

[redcladidealist]

Equius would be pretty scary if he was any bigger, especially with those horns on his head, but he's little, like Lloyd, so Lloyd isn't quite sure if he should be worried.

"Um... I'm a boy!" Troll, troll... Where's he heard that word? Lloyd swallows suddenly, and he shrinks back a little. "Are... you are gonna eat me?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

"No!" Equius looks completely flabbergasted by the very thought. "I don't eat meat things, and you look like you're made out of meat."

[redcladidealist]

The accusation took Lloyd aback, and it took him a moment of staring to form a protest to that. "Nuh uh! I'm made of boy. Meat is stuff you put on a p'ate an' eat with a fork an' you cut it!"

[stayb100ponyboy]

"Are you sure boy isn't meat?"