#as!illusion

[toomanyillusions]

Ah,yep,that's my home! Hahahh...

....

*She shakes his hand*

Nice to meet you!

His smile widens at his gesture being reciprocated, seemingly a genuinely happy one. Despite how terrifyingly he had been made out to be by AA!Reality beforehand, he seems shockingly calm and nice right now. Although, it could always just be an act (*dun dun dunnnn*)

"It's nice to meet you as well, Invi!"

He lets go of her hand after a moment, his smile faltering slightly.

"Alt?"

The other freezes up again for a second, despite Cosmonaut's words holding no malice in them.

"Uh- yeah?"

"I get the sense that this one was already warned about me."

"Oh- yeah, B-Rooms mentioned you around Battery, so you know how that goes."

"Hm. I see."

Cosmonaut frowns and looks down at his platform boots. He looks disappointed, but by no means angry. After a few seconds, he looks back up with what can best be described as the same expression of a guilty golden retriever that just did something bad and feels bad about said mistake.

"I'm not quite sure what Reality back there said about me, but it's probably wrong or exaggerated. I wouldn't hurt anybody here and that's a promise."

[toomanyillusions]

. . . Not a kid.

*Invi looks nervous at the name,but gets in front of Alt*

Uh...The names Invi.

Alt doesn't try to stop Invi from going in front of them, but they aren't sure if that was a great idea or not. Cosmonaut looks a bit surprised at the correction but calmly smiles and nods anyways.

"Oh, I see... I'm Cosmonaut, from the Hero/Villain AU. It's a pleasure to meet you, Invi!"

He holds a gloved hand out to shake hers, smiling wide with two cat-like upper fangs poking out. Alt takes a small step back. but stops themself from going any further and decides to undo that progress towards retreating by stepping two steps closer.

"For the record, she's not another version of us- but she IS from The Steve Saga!"

Alt seems proud of this, while Cosmonaut has zero reaction to it whatsoever.

[toomanyillusions]

Ah,not many,in all honesty.

*She shrugs*

I've probably read a couple manuals...we tried to write one for handling demon steves once- andddd I've read enchantment books!!

"Hm.."

They pause for a second, thinking.

"That's... not exactly what I meant, but it's at least something."

"What'cha talking about?"

Alt nearly jumps out of their own skin at the sudden appearance of a new person. Roughly 3ish rows of bookshelves behind Invi and Alt is someone leaning against the side of a shelf who was not previously there when the two came into the room. This person is dressed a bit strangely in mostly black and white with a few cyan and hot pink accents- the most distinctive feature being a large masquerade mask with black and white fins on each side. A long, almost vine-like tail curls around the bottom of the shelf he's leaning against, which is also black and gray with small flecks of pink and cyan in it, like his clothing. Either he has his clothing to match the tail, or the tail is matching the clothing. Who knows- I don't.

(Sorry- I put him in a different pose for the ref than what he's doing here :[ )

"Oh- oh, hi Cosmonaut..."

Alt looks infinitely more uncomfortable now that they've recognized who this is, but they at the same time are far too calm about being here with the supposed murderer. Cosmonaut nods casually at Alt, then focuses his attention on Invi.

"Hey- wait, who's this? I don't recall any of you having kids?"

[toomanyillusions]

Woah....

*She watches his ability with sparkly eyes,clearly impressed*

Oh,um,yes,that works!!

Alt would be wagging their tail if they had one. They don't seem to pay too much attention to their own usage of power, still trying to wrap their head around the fact that Invi hasn't really read any fairytales.

"Perfect! I have to ask since you haven't read any fairytales, how many other books have you read?"

[toomanyillusions]

:0! O-oh,thank you Alt!

*Invi sways unsteadily,trying to hold all the books. She may fall. That is okay <3*

Really,thank you so much :D

*She does seem genuinely excited about all this,which is good*

It takes a moment, but Alt realizes that Invi was just handed Too Many books and takes a couple off of the stack.

"Oh- sorry, I keep forgetting that most people can't make whatever they're holding float."

Showing off what they just claimed, the books they took off Invi's tack float a few inches above Alt's hands. They carefully push it to the side, so it's floating off to the side.

"hmm- you can take those, and then if you want, you could come back for the rest later..? I don't want you to tip over from all that-"

[toomanyillusions]

,,not really-

*She admits,messing with her hair*

At first I couldn't cause y'know I'd destroy anything I touched,then Lu and I were busy and then,well...I-I guess I never thought about it!

"Well, we need to fix that immediately!"

Alt quickly scans the shelf they're standing at before crouching down to look at the ones near the bottom. They start grabbing several books, creating a small stack of colorful covers before turning back to Invi. They hand her the stack of 5 different collections of fairytales happily.

"Here, these are what I think are the most popular or common fairytales that you should know about!"

[toomanyillusions]

Um...

*She pauses to think*

...I'm not sure. I mean,I know what they are,but that was passed down knowledge,so...I don't know any specifics.

Alt goes silent for a couple seconds, staring at Invi and doing their creepy, emotionless stare again.

"You mean to tell me that you've never actually read any fairytales before..?"