Almost But Not Quite Human

Come On In And Meet Everybody

Tw: there is a swear in this chapter.

Typically I wouldn't tw a swear but there's been none in the book so far so it's only fair. If it turns out there will be a few more I'll put a mild swear warning in the first notes.
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Phill walked through the doorway and was surprised to see Tommy standing right in front of him. The child was 15-ish and his skin was the complexion of magma, he also had a small demon-esque tail that flitted close to the ground when he was excited or curious; like right now.

"Hey Toms, these are some people I'd like you to meet," Phil smiled and gestured to the arriving trio. The one with the goggles - George - looked a little uncomfortable and so did Sapnap. Phil didn't blame them; they were only humans after all and not used to seeing people like them.

Tommy looked at each in turn and complemented the first two, but when it came to Dream he cocked his head to the side and said, "You're Dream right?"

"Uh, yeah"

"Wilbur says you're a bitch" And then the little gremlin scampered away fully knowledgeable of his crimes. The sound of cutlery clashing with a plate alerted everyone to someone else in the room.

"Oh. Um. Well then..." Now Dream looked uncomfortable too. Phil made a mental note to get Tommy to apologise later. There was also another culprit to deal with, who just happened to have been the one standing on the other side of the room.

Wilbur was quite unlucky when it came to mutations. He had pale, gray, ever-so-slightly translucent skin; and could float around. He also melted in the rain - not good for someone who practically lives in the jungle. He'd adopted the name 'Ghostbur'.

"Will, please stop giving Tommy swears"

"Sorry Phil," Wilbur said, but Phil could hear the smile in his voice. Well - as much of a smile that there could be when his throat was usually scratchy. It made him sound on the verge of tears most days. Wilbur picked up the sandwich he had been preparing and said,"It was pretty funny though," before taking a bite.

Eventually Philza managed to wrestle the conversation into proper introductions, but he felt as though everyone was having quite a sour first impression. George, Sapnap, and Dream seemed to be close friends, and no doubt the other two would feel resent toward everyone insulting Dream.

To save the conversation, Niki walked in. "Hey Phil, Technoblade sai- oh hello! Who are you guys?"

Niki's mutation was a bit more obscure and much less noticeable than the others'. She neatly demonstrated it when Wilbur's jam knife slid off the side of the counter, and found itself flying into Niki's hand before the ghost boy's toe was impaled. She winked at the newcomers and said, "magnetic manipulation. It's lucky these aren't made of austenitic stainless steel huh?"

Unfortunately, no one else in the room was quite so knowledgeable of different metals and magnetic properties of said metals. Phil let the three introduce themselves, and it definitely went a lot better than with Tommy and Wilbur, the latter of whom was still here eating his jam sandwich.

"Are you guys mutants too?" Niki asked.

George was puzzled, but Sapnap spoke up, "Mutants like from the X-men?"

"Yeah! I loved those comics"

"Well, me and George aren't, but Dream is:"

Dream explained, "I've got enhanced speed and strength but a severe aversion to light." He gestured to his face, "Hence the mask"

Niki nodded thoughtfully. "Speaking of the X-men, a girl called Minx pops in sometimes and she's got practically the same mutation as Professor X"

Now George spoke up, "Uh, I never read the X-men. Who's Proffesor X?"

"Oh my god George I told you to read them a million times!" Sapnap whined, "Prof X is the teacher of the whole school! And he had telecommunication remember?"

"Oh yeah"

"Hey Niki," Phil asked, "Do you know where Ranboo is?"

Niki thought for a moment, "I saw Tommy run off to the North-most tree. I thought he might be going to hang out with him there?"

"Thanks, we'll go over the now"

Phil lead them out the doorway, and round the back of the surrounding panels to another rope bridge which George assumed was north, considering what Niki said.

As they approached the tree of on the edge of the cluster, the group spotted a figure leaning on the edge of a balcony. George saw from one side they seemed to have void-black skin (which made him very on-edge) and his eye was a glowing green. On his head was a crown that may or may not have been made from paper. Phil spoke just before they were in earshot of the figure, "So that's Ranboo, but sometimes Ran and Boo, or Boo and Ran. Just depends"

"Depends on what?" But Phil just carried in walking, apparently amused by George's confusion. "Wait Phil, depends what?!" But it was too late now, as they came to Ranboo, George had no choice but to just shut up. Ranboo turned to face them, and with some relief George saw that the other half of his skin what pure white and with a red eye instead of green. This relieved some of the tension as they no longer looked so similar to Halo.

"Hey guys, who're you?" Ranboo's voice was surprisingly deep and Technoblade-esque for his cheery demeanour. "Oh, I'm George, and this is Sapnap and Dream," They both said hi, "We were just staying for a bit in our way to Hope."

"That's cool, me and Niki wanted to visit there for a while but kinda just settled here." He shrugged. "Have you met the others yet?"

"Yeah" Dream said, "We kinda ran into them in the centre."

"Oh Dream, you've been here before right?"

"Yup, I know Phil, Technoblade and Wilbur already"

"That's cool"

They chatted for a bit longer, but soon the Dream team decided to retire to thier room. It was a bit dusty, considering Dream hadn't been there in a while, and George made a plan to ask Dream about his history here tomorrow. There was tension between him, Wilbur, Technoblade, and Phil. George wanted to know why.
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Sorry if this chapter was just a lot of info cramming today - promise things will chill out soon. The Dream team still need to talk to Tommy but otherwise Introductions are good and done!

Sincerely, an over-brewed cup of tea