nexus_crossings | There's No 'I' in Team but there is in Community.

There's No 'I' in Team but there is in Community.

Aal's got a stack of various flyers under a rock of a paperweight along with a few other things on a foldable table with a red and white table cloth being watched over by her beloved blonde mate. Whom even sitting his six foot frame would be hard to miss if there's any larger en masseing of folks or unfriendly type people. While she trots a smidgen away to stack stapling things to various posts in the plaza. Determined to do a fair few things while she still can even if she waddles a bit.

She's got a few brightly colored flyers in hand, as she gives a friendly smile to whoever might wander closer, her ears wiggle slightly. Even though she clears her thoart softly and gives a slightly sheepish look but depending on whom it is that might change quickly and easily to a grin or what have you. "Ahem, this might sound like an odd question but what would you say is some of your favorite summer type things to do?"

She slightly winces but gives her best smile while internally kicking herself.

Oh yes make it sound like a survey question that would surely get folks into a festive mood.

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Minoru scratched his head. "A wolf thing?"

As far as Minoru was concerned, it was simply a thing that happened sometimes.

"Ahem, I mean the chances of having a litter can be.." She tilts her head. "It can be more common in shifters of certain types. Though not always." She informs him. "I know another mother who had triplets but her's grew at the usual rate for our wild cousins and were born very healthy at three months." She murmurs conversationally.

"I mean I tend to favour chocolate but I wouldn't necessarily chance it while in my shifted form..just in case."

“Yeah, I guess in humans it’s not as common.” Minoru nodded. If Isamu were here, there’d be a list of statistics in the amount of time Minoru needed to take a breath. “But I guess Isamu and I are kind of like a litter. We’re fraternal, so that’s two entirely different babies. That’s what wolves do, right?”

He honestly didn’t know. That was just a guess.

But he did know that if parents’ stories had anything to say about it, these new parents would definitely have their work cut out for them! Two was quite the handful! Three, even moreso!

She tilts her head, "Aye, well I know twins for example can skip a generation. " She murmurs with a litle nod. She grins and chuckles softly. "ooh That's very interesting. And pups tend to be multiple and various fur colored and such so sounds bout right." She murmurs Doing certain sorts of research was kinda difficult. As they were often folks of science-minded who purely wanted to deal with shifters for non-helpful to the shifters reasons. Though she hoped to find more open-minded folks..As the flip side of it was like folks like Doctor Whale who didn't know or like dealing with magical things in general.

Besides she doubted some of his skills, and or his perchance to be libel with his drink or flirtatiousness least during the dark cure.

Should Aal and Dor ever mention the lack of research regarding shape shifters and pregnancy around Isamu, his ears would perk up faster than a wolf’s ever could. His specialty was biochemistry, but was fascinated by many of the surrounding disciplines. And his work at IRIS gave him the freedom to pursue so many different projects and publish so many papers.

(Minoru knew his brother originally planned this to be a sabbatical before pursuing a traditional doctorate, but the more settled they both became in the Nexus, the more this was beginning to feel like a permanent home.)

“Oh wow, are they actually going to be more like baby wolves than baby people?” He asked. There was no judgement in his tone, just pleasant curiosity.

If he gets Aal talking enough it just might, it's sort of a grumbly sore spot to say the least. "I mean there's..probably things among those who family's it runs in more. ahem If they're..not say in dangers of certain sorts." Tis very common even among the 'mundane or muggle/common folk of the Enchanted Forest even to get lost orphans and the like. Folks who've had to hide for one reason or another losing a village.

"MMh, it can depend. both Dor and I had to learn how to shift.. but I've felt both the swish of tails and kicks of widdle feet now and again.." She informs him softly and gently rubs her tummy fondly in soothing circles.

“Oh wow.” Minoru stared for a second.

If thoughts of tail swishing and paw prodding wasn’t unbelievable enough, the thought that shifting form was something you learned how to do certainly was.

“I didn’t know that was something you could learn either!” He exclaimed. “I know the angels can all do it. But they’re angels. And Loki. But he’s… I’m not sure what he is, actually.”

Isamu would probably have a field day with that too if he were here right now.

Aal nods, "I mean, ahem most folks tend to be close-knit or ya know cautious about certain things..As you can imagine in some places..Aren't as accepting of certain things as others." She murmurs softly. Glancing about out of habit. Or certain people did not all have the same sort of surpules. Even if in scholarly etc talk and the like.

"MMh, aye I mean in my realm ya can..If someone has mmh, the magical resources or sometimes an artifact and the like. or is gifted it." She tilts her head. Transformations of all kinds were much more common in a certain sense.

Her ears perk up, "Oh aye the powerful and elder beings can do so most easily. Some say such are the originators of being or doing so." She murmurs." Though there's also the Greek Pantheon." She adds after a moment. "They're some of the ones who shaped the area where I'm from." She informs him warmly. "Shapeshifters in the traditional and purest sense." She coughs a little wry but fond. "Depends on which one we're talking about." She murmurs with a wry smirk. Now here was more her area of expertise Legends and Lore of Realms.

“Magical resources?” His mind soon went to Hermione’s shop and the series of books Isamu liked. (Which his brother learned, weren’t nearly as thrilling as what actually happened.) “Like potions and stuff?”

The twins were from a world where supernatural beings didn’t exist. Well, depending on who you asked. There were religious texts, as well as myths and legends. Some people still believed in various gods or spirits. (Their parents were devout shintoists, for example.) But whether they actually existed, could be seen and verified by science, that was another matter.

Minoru laughed, scratching his head. “It’s pretty much all Greek to me. As the saying goes.”

Aside from the many of the Shintoist stories he was raised on, he wasn’t very knowledgable about myths or legends. Even Lucifer was shocked that Minoru wasn’t familiar enough with Christian stories to be immediately terrified of him.

"Aye." She murmurs with a little nod an furred ear slightly twitched a little. "Mmh, sometimes." She tilts her head.

Aal coughs a little bemused, despite herself. Oh she knew she liked him. "Aye well, ahem. " She murmurs but looks hopeful to see if he had any interest in learning such or not. "If ya ever like to have it translated myself and I'm sure a few others would be all too happy to help." She murmurs warmly.

She loved sharing stories and helping others learn. For the betterment of folks and good reasons naturally. She knew in her own realm knowledge was power in various senses of the saying and word. The Nexus just seemed to have more and various versions which made intel important too.

“Translated? Like, learn to transform?” He scratched his head. The Greek comment was a figure of speech (that just might have been lost in translation itself).

Was that even possible? Surely…

“You mean anybody can do it? I figured magic was genetic. You either have it or you don’t!”

She tilts her head, Well that was one way of taking it. "Mmh well ya might..Not sure how things work in yer realm of course." But in other places he could. To an extent. "Most things take some form of energy..One of the reasons I make sure I have snacks and such about." She informs him cautiously.

"Mmh, well in some Realms I believe that's true whereas in my realm if something had magical properties like plants.." She tilts her head. "Or certain artifact. Like a Genie's Lamp and such. Other things need more oomph or power behind them to do so. People can be blessed or cursed..And magic can be drawn out and imbued. But there are those with a natural talent or leaning toward such. " She adds trying to clarify.

“Where I come from, people just… don’t. Nothing transforms into anything else. You know, aside from like, a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or something like that. But that’s definitely not magic.”

They didn’t have the genes. Or from that explanation, the artifacts, plants, blessings or curses. They might have the energy, though! (Okay, Minoru was pretty sure he’d have the energy.)

“Do you get to choose what form you take?”

Aal hums, a little sadly perhaps but also understandingly. "MMh, a Land without magic or least currently sounds like." She murmurs though some realms had pockets or small pools of it, or once had such. Eons ago, unless there were travelers between realms. "I know ancestors of certain folks used to travel between various sorts of places more often back in the day."

Those like Alice and the Hatter, for example, She hums and tilts her head, "Well it's Metamorphoses aye..But not many of any species are gifted with such." They weren't all dragons or Pokemon as it were.

"Mmh, again depends on the method. A spell of transformation or potion can sometimes do so.. If yer Cursed.." She tilts her head with a wry look. Like a sour taste was in her mouth. "Naturally not. Shifting, ya can do some..controlling once ya learn how though high emotions tend to take the reins. The animal form mmh, depending on the how you achieve or receive it and who bestows it." Naturally the more powerful the magician or being.."Everything has a price of some sort..literal or figuratively. " She pauses a moment trying to think of an example. "Have ya ever heard of Pinnochio and Jiminy Cricket?" She gently asks.

What it might have said about Minoru that he was more familiar with a Disney movie than many of his world’s mythologies didn’t seem to bother him. “Yeah, I know that one.”

She hums and makes a bemused sound, but nods acceptingly. Walt was a great storyteller all things considered. "Well, in my realm the Blue Fairy's the one who turned Jiminy into a cricket in the first place granting a wish of his so he could try erm to undo or make up for something he and his parents did. To Gepetto. " She adds though she murmurs lowly and softly not one to gossip..But it was a decent example.

Besides the likelihood he'd run into those involved in the Nexus..was likely slim.

“Huh.” Minoru scratched his head. “Pretty sure they didn’t put that part in the movie.”

All stories omitted details, though. It would be impossible to tell literally everything that happened. And even if someone tried, memories are fallible. Details get embellished.

“But he wouldn’t have become a cricket if it weren’t for the Blue Fairy doing her magic to turn him into one, right?” He asked curiously. “Did the Blue Fairy make it so you could shift too?”

Aal can't help the warm bubbly chuckle at that. "Aye, I think the donkeys and other things were bad enough." True she'd once helped find some of said Donkeys back in the day.

She nods softly. "Aye exactly." She chuckles a little wryly at that. "Ah no, that would have been my Grandad who taught myself and Dor." She murmurs, "Though we did need a sort of Catalyst you might say." She murmurs warmly. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the family back in the day made a deal with some powerful being somewhere." After all, that's how supposedly other gifts had come to run in their blood.

“Who knows.” He laughed. “Maybe we did. I don’t know how far back our families go into ancient Japan. I think Papa’s side had a ninja clan in it once or something. Or maybe that was just one of Uncle Sasuke’s stories.”

There were lots of supernatural legends surrounding ninja, just like there were about kami.

Aal hums and nods softly, "Ooh I see. " She murmurs and chuckles good naturedly. "Ya never know..I mean there are ways of checking such sometimes.."She tilts her head if he was interested and game was another matter. "Some have grains of truth though. And others should be taken with a grain of salt." She murmurs she didn't have enough intel to tell for certain either way.

She wiggles a little excitedly, however. "I've heard tales of former Priestesses and Centurions myself." She murmurs with a slight wolfish smirk. At least on the one side.

Usually Isamu was the one prone to curiosity, but Minoru was the most open to seeing and exploring what could be found in other worlds. And dating Ziggy Stardust, he was starting to see supernatural abilities as pretty natural. Not much fazed him.

“You mean, actually tracing whether there was magic once in our family tree?”

Minoru would try almost anything once.

"Aye I mean sometimes it can be done one way or another. " She murmurs with a tilt of her head. "Sometimes if an object has a history to it I can pick things up from it or..people." She tilts her head though sometimes it happened by accident. She didn't like to invade folks space etc without permission but sometimes high emotions etc gave her vibes and or 'flashes' regardless.

Maybe in another world, there was a Minoru who flew on brooms and spoke to snakes. Or one that traveled the badlands as a spellcasting monk. Or even one that could breathe fire like a dragon. But this Minoru? Well, he had his doubts that he or anyone else in his world could do anything like that.

(At least, normally. Weird things did happen in the Nexus from time to time.)

“The only thing I’ve got with any history is probably this…” he tugged a necklace out from underneath his shirt. “It belonged to Mama. And her mother before that. I know that much.”

Stories of a ninja clan, however, ran on the other side of the family. His father’s, not his mother’s.

The necklace itself was simple, comprised of three small donut-shaped charms on a chain. The charms were made from Shibuichi, a grey-colored metallic alloy that was commonly used for embellishing swords back in the day. The chain looked a lot newer and has likely been replaced several times.

“Not sure if this tells you anything.” He asked, still holding it gently. Aal was welcome to get a closer look if she wanted to.

Minoru had received the necklace as a gift when he was just a child. His mother, Chichi Uchiwa, had taken ill and the family truly feared she might die. (Thankfully, she recovered.) But Minoru was struggling at the time. So, just as her mother did for her before she passed, Chichi explained to her son that the necklace was meant to be a piece of her that he could always keep with him. Living things like Kazumi aside, this was, by far, his most prized possession.

Aal hums listening raptly, her face softens. "I see, and anything with a strong connection can be just as helpful usually." She murmurs warmly. She gives him a gentle understanding smile. "Tis precious such things." She murmurs her lit coming out a bit subconsciously. She knew what it was like to lose such connections despite one's best efforts.

She softly swallows trying to clear the lump in her throat.

She tilts her head, "Worth a try." She murmurs and holds her hand palm up and out slightly as she eases closer to peer at it over the rims of her glasses. After glancing left and then right cautiously before her eyes started to glow a little bit more of an emerald or greek fire green than gold.

A small tear started to well in the corner of her one eye, as the emotions that surrounded the piece like an aura hit her first as she scanned with a soft sniffle. a finger or two tentatively reaching toward it her eyes half closing to see if there were any layers underneath.

Minoru blinked, watching Aal’s eyes glow green. Something was definitely happening.

The necklace was deeply precious to him and full of meaning, but that didn’t make it magical. At least, not in the sense of having any supernatural powers. A more loosely defined sort of magic, perhaps, in the same vein as love or luck. If kami were indeed real, as his family believed, then it might still contain a fraction of that essence from the spot the metal was extracted or energy from the fire from which it was forged.

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