Niiue wandered down the cold, grey path that was the beginning of he and Giegue’s shared Magicant. He had the feeling Giegue would lash out again soon, and seeing as his emotional state affected the physical state of the shared Magicant, it only felt right to make sure the residents knew beforehand.

Already, the muddy green horned thing was quivering. He crept up to Niiue and tapped him on the shoulder.

Niiue let out an inquisitive hum and asked, “What’s up?”

“Oh, it was terrible, Niiue! A strange portal opened up in the sky, and there was such a horrible noise coming from it! These two orbs and a piece of paper, I think, floated out of it, and now there’s…!” the horned thing raised a shaky hand and pointed a green Mook and a light pink UFO idling near the right-side dead end.

“…Huh. They weren’t there before,” Niiue commented. He looked at the horned thing and assured him, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re friendly.”

The green horned thing smiled slightly.

Niiue walked over to the dead end where the Mook and the UFO were standing. He heard a crinkle underfoot, and took a step back. On the ground was a square photo of sorts. Curious, he picked it up and examined it.

The photo had small images of four aliens standing next to one another in a line – a green Mook, a magenta UFO, a Blue Starman and a light pink UFO. They were in front of a black background, and underneath was a purple and orange checkered pattern. Underneath the photo was neat handwriting in the native language of the Geegs that read “faces2”.

Niiue frowned and bit his lip in thought. ‘”faces2”? What the heck is that supposed to mean?’

He turned the photo over to find more handwriting on the back. In a quiet mutter, he read the handwriting aloud to himself. “To whom it may concern; I apologise for any scares I may have caused, and the sudden appearance of the green Mook and the light pink UFO. They have come from another timeline to take refuge in this one due to an event that caused their home timeline’s destruction. Please, take care of them, and make them feel welcome in their new home.”

Niiue raised his eyebrows. “Huh. Polite Geeg, but really sad story…”

He went to simply shove the photo in his jeans’ pocket, but stopped himself. After some consideration, he decided to neatly fold it before pocketing it. The Geeg who wrote the note seemed so polite; it would be disrespectful to let the photo get crumpled.

Niiue walked up to the Mook and the UFO, waved and smiled as he greeted, “Hi there! Welcome to Magicant!”

The Mook flinched, then turned to face Niiue. “That’s what this place is called? Magicant?”

“Yup! My name’s Niiue, by the way. I’m one of the owners of this Magicant.”

“One of?” the UFO echoed.

Rubbing the back of his head and glancing away, Niiue replied, “Yeah, it’s a long story. The other owner is called Giegue. He looks like me, but taller, and with red eyes, and…” He only realised how awkward it would be to say a split second before he said, “…naked.”

The Mook pointed at Niiue’s hair and asked, “Does he have that yellow stuff on your head?”

“Hair? No, he doesn’t have hair. He’s also… bald.” Wow, this was a really awkward description of Giegue. “He’s been really upset lately. Don’t be surprised if he comes in here and starts yelling.”

Niiue clicked his fingers just a second after he finished his sentence, then said aloud, “Oh yeah, that’s right! I have the feeling he’ll lash out really soon, so watch out, and stay safe, alright?”

“Um… okay,” the Mook replied, his voice now quiet.

The green horned thing ran up to Niiue and exclaimed, “He’s going to lash out again? And so soon?!”

“I get the feeling so, yeah,” Niiue replied.

The horned thing wrapped his arms around Niiue. “Can’t you protect us from him? Please?”

Niiue placed a hand between the horned thing’s horns as he replied, “He’ll be reacting to the outside world, I’m afraid.”

The horned thing sniffled, and released Niiue from his hug. “Well… stay safe, okay?”

Niiue gave the horned thing a wide smile and nodded. “I will. I’m going to go tell the trash can Mook about it as well now, okay?”

The horned thing nodded. “Okay.”

The Applechasers all let out a sigh of relief.

“Out there scary, boing! Feels safe here,” Colonel Saturn said.

“I sure hope it is. I don’t wanna fight any more lunatics,” Zarbol replied.

Alinivar nodded, then motioned for the others to follow as he began to walk down the grey cliff path.

The first thing the Applechasers saw was a muddy green horned… thing that stood on two legs, like a human. What was it supposed to resemble?

The Applechasers walked up to the horned thing, and Alinivar waved.

“And who might you be?” the horned thing asked. “We haven’t had anybody new here for a long time.”

“We are friends of Niiue *click*,” Larice replied. After a second, he turned to Zarbol and quietly asked, “We are his friend, correct?”

“Oh, that’s good to hear!” the horned thing said with a smile.

Alinivar let out a little “oh!” and slithered off to the right. Colonel Saturn squeaked as he noticed the blue Mook wander off, and trotted back up to him. Larice and Zarbol followed.

Alinivar had slithered up to a light pink UFO and waved. The UFO watched as Colonel Saturn, Larice and Zarbol caught up, then said, “Ooo, you’re weird. Have you seen Niiue lately? We all miss him.”

Alinivar frowned and pressed his lips together, then glanced down at the cold, smooth ground. His upper eyes scanned the area, and lit up when he saw a green Mook standing not too far away next to a gift box with a blue ribbon. Normally, he would be afraid of other Mooks, but this one brought back memories he thought were buried in the depths of his mind by the ‘saving the world’ business. A few of those… weren’t very good, but he cherished the ones that were, and hopefully he would be able to apologise for his teenage self and make up.

He slithered up to the green Mook, gave a big smile and waved. The green Mook curiously looked him over before telling Alinivar, “You look like me, but you’re not the same colour. Why?”