Ice Statues

[bido]

Characters: Bido, Kaie
Setting: Jump City Park, during a mid-afternoon winter
Previous Threads:
Plot Summary: Bido does a rare say-light trip out of underground. He has his greedy little eyes set on a set of shiny ice statues.

[bido]

"Biiido is cooold." Bido usually didn't wear clothes. He fidgeted with the socks he was wearing over his hands. It didn't feel natural to the chameleon-man. It made him feel visible and vulnerable. But today was a weird day. It was cold, there was snow all over the above-ground and Bido saw a crystal dragon.[/b] "Bido itches." The chameleon clearly felt uncomfortable wearing layers. He shook around, hands scratching at the scales underneath his sleeves. On the plus side, Bido did not look anything like a lizard, covered from head to toe. But in true Bido fashion, it was a patchwork of colourful cloth without any logic besides "flashy is better".

Bido opened up a manhole right into the park. A head covered in not one, but five different layers poked out of it. The chameleon-man squinted his eyes at the harsh sunlight. "Bido likes the sun. The sun warms Bido." But it also increased the feeling of exposure. Bido's squinty eyes shifted around, spotting people in the distance. As he turned around, the flaps of his aviator hat bounced against his over-sized beanie. Socked hands then pushed him out of the manhole. With the speed of a mouse hearing a purring cat, Bido skuttled towards the nearest tree. "Biiiido." He exhaled in relief. He was now above-ground... in broad day light! "Bido saw the shiny crystal people close to the field."

Bido moved carefully, going from tree to tree and avoiding people whenever he spotted them. It was late afternoon, and there were a couple of people enjoying the park during these snowy days. As Bido came closer to his target, he realized that there were more and more pesky humans around. Bido needs to find another way to approach. There was a family of four right between his little section of the forest and the open field where all the ice-statues were. "Maybe Bido could crawl in the snow?" Bido crouched down. Upon touching the cold snow with his claws he gave a theatrical shiver and straightened back up. "Bido will do a half-circle." As he moved around the annoying group, something caught his eyes. Something sparkly. "Shiiiiny." The ice-statues really sparkled in day-light. It was dazzling. Feet moving of their own accord, the clothing-mountain around Bido's body began bee-lining to the statues. They were all roughly human-sized, depicting different mythological figures: a sphinx, a unicorn, countless angels and a dragon! There was no fence, or any kind of protection, just a sign saying: "Annual winter Ice Sculpture Competition. Theme: Bringing life to myths!" "Respect the art: don't climb on statues!".

[kaie]

Kaie had never seen anything like this before. She hadn't expected Jump to get cold enough for ice sculptures, but it seemed like the coastal city hit a nice happy medium. Cold enough to do the sculptures, not so cold that you wouldn't want to go outside. The giant stepped carefully through the crowds, trying to get a better view. It was always nerve-wracking for her, trying to see anything remotely touristy. Kaie was larger, stronger, and heavier than anyone around her, she had to pick her steps carefully, like a human walking through a room crawling with kittens.

Finally she found a spot, with a nice view, her back to a wall so she wouldn't be blocking the view for a chunk of the crowd. The titanic Titan looked over the sculptures, eyes wide. She wondered how long all this took to make? Her awestruck staring was interrupted when something bumped into her leg. Kaie looked down, confused. How could someone possibly not see her? It wasn't like she was easy to miss. It was like walking into a pillar. Then again, it seemed like the... man? She was going with man. The man had been looking over at the ice sculptures, not watching where he was going. She supposed they could be kind of hypnotic.

"Ya okay there?" the giant asked, leaning down to see if he'd hurt himself. His outfit was weird, to stay the least. He looked like he'd dressed himself in the dark, rummaging through a Goodwill storeroom. He was covered head to toe, too, every inch of him buried under layers of random jackets, scarves, and other bits of clothes and accessories. At least he was well-padded for his crash. "Gotta be careful there." She smiled, offering a finger to help him up.

[bido]

Bid, transfixed by one particular ice-angel, bumped into another person. "Bido!" he exclaimed with alarm. The lizard-man looked up to where a voice was coming from. His head tilted left, then right as he took in all of Kaie. Then, he yelled, "Big girl is big. Did big girl drink a lot of milk? Can Big girl hear little Bido?" That's when the mound of clothes realized Kaie had asked a question. "Bido is good!" He kept yelling. His eyes sparkled as he gazed at an ice-phoenix. "Bido is very good." That last sentence Bido uttered in his normal voice. He looked up at the giant again. "Bido needs to find the crystal dragon. Big girl has eyes high up. Can Big girl help Bido?" More yelling. Sock-hands patted at over-sized boots. They looked comfy. Maybe Bido could take one home and use for his bed?

A group of humans appeared behind the statue of a giant tortoise. Alarmed, Bido jumped back to hide behind Kaie. Somehow, the large person felt more familiar to Bido than the regular kind. Bido couldn't see the group, but he could hear the sound of their feet crunching the snow below. "Look at this one dad, it's a unicorn! Can I ride it?" Bido just kept circling Kaie's feet, trying to put the maximum distance between himself and the humans. "Biiido." he exhaled. Underneath the clothes, his colors shifted to a scared purple. "Are they gone yet?" Bido tried to peek past the shoe.

[kaie]

Kaie just stared at him for a moment, trying to process this. This guy talked really weird. She couldn't tell what his accent was, but his way of speaking seemed almost Jarjar-esque. Maybe he was an alien? Starfire talked kinda oddly, after all, and it would explain him being all mummied up. "I guess I do, ya."  She did need a good bit of calcium with her size, though she wasn't sure if he was having a joke or just thought that enough milk could turn you into a literal giant. The guy was kind of weird, to say the least. 

"Tha dragon ice sculpture?" She looked over, trying to find it. Almost immediately, she was distracted by the smaller man running behind her leg. Kaie stood very still, looking down at him. She didn't want to squish him, but he was being super weird. He seemed to be hiding from a family that was scoping out the sculptures, running around her legs like she was a pillar in a cartoon. "Ya okay down there?" Seriously, what was up with this guy?

"Yeah, they're gone." she told him the second they left. It was weird having some stranger hiding behind her legs like that, especially one who acted as oddly as he did. "Why don't ya go over and look at the sculptures? Ya can get pretty close I bet." She was always nervous getting close to fragile things, especially a big cluster of them like was here.

[bido]

"Bido is hidden. The normies cannot see Bido. The big lady is hiding Bido. Bido likes the Big Lady." The lizardm-man reassured himself. As Kaie told him that the coast was clear, Bido cautiously let go of her foot. He looked back up to the giant face. "Big Lady has a big heart." Bido's scales turned a sunny golden color. He made a big hugging motion, to show how big he thought Kaie's heart was. One of his socks fell off, revealing his currently very yellow hand-claw. "Many Bido thanks!" He uttered, before scuttling along to the statues.

Darting from statue to statue, he tried to focus on finding the one he really wanted. "Biiido. So many crystals. So many shiny angels!" He exclaimed. The excited lizard couldn't help bit prodding at the statues. Then he pinched himself. "The statues are solid... and cold. Bido didn't know crystals were cold." But a lot of shiny things were cold. "Bido! The dragon!" Bounding forward, Bido quickly closed the gap towards the mighty dragon statue. It was roughly twice his size, crouching menacingly with wings half-opened. It looked like it was ready to bound, take flight, and rip its prey apart. As Bido came closer, his steps slowed down. His final approach was much more cautious, and he made sure to not enter the dragon's field of view. "Bido doesn't want to disturb brother dragon." He said slowly, choosing each word with care. "And brother dragon lives in a nice hoard of shinies." Bido tentatively touched the scaly statue. He too, was cold. "But Bido has a shiny hoard too. Maybe brother dragon would like to see it?" At this point Bido was caressing the tail of the dragon. His eyes went over the beautiful reptile curves, admiring each glistening scale.

[kaie]

"Normies?" That was some kind of weird internet thing, right? Maybe he was some kind of shut-in coming out of his house for the first time in forever. That would explain how weird he was, a lot of internet people went out of their way to be weird. Kaie watched him, a little suspicious. There were a lot of odd people out there, but a place like Jump was rife with supervillains. You had to be extra careful, just in case some weirdo turned out to be a super-powered evildoer, determined to... smash some ice sculptures? Well, she supposed some supervillains could be petty and weird like that. Everyone's a critic, right?

"Thanks?" It was kind of weird being called "big lady." She was still in high school, so she wasn't sure if she'd crossed the line into lady yet. Even weirder was the scaly yellow claw-hand under his... had he been using a sock as a mitten? Well now she knew he was a superpowered weirdo. Whether he was good or bad, or maybe just some alien tourist, remained to be seen. "Yer welcome." she said in response to his Bido Thanks. He seemed to say that word a lot, Bido. Maybe it was like a Smurf thing, just replacing words wherever? Was he a Bido alien? Bidoan?

Wait, what was he doing? Was he talking to the statues? Kaie stepped a little closer, curious what he was up to. She was still a little worried about breaking something by accident, but right now her top concern was being ready to deal with whatever superpowered nonsense was probably about to happen. The giantess walked closer, treading lightly as she could. He seemed fascinated with the dragon. Was he trying to impress the statue? "Ya okay there bud?" she asked, trying to get him to chill a bit.

[bido]

Bido looked back behind him as a large shadow loomed over him. "Bido?" It was the big lady. The little chameleon took a little time to parse her words. His mind was still on the ice dragon. "Bido... Bido is good! Bido found another dragon!" The mutant pointed excitedly at the ice statue. His fingers kept pulsing in the direction of the dragon. "Bido and brother dragon are best friends. Bido is going to invite him home." Bido dropped all of the layers hiding his head. His face was now beaming. Then, a slow thought crept into his mind. "Bido won't be able to carry the shiny dragon back home." His expression was now sheepish. "Bido's home is deep in the ground. The ice dragon is very heavy. Bido is not very strong." He now looked up at the giant woman. "But Bido really wants the crystal dragon back home."

Bido wasn't the smartest mutant on the block. He didn't even realize the shiny dragon was made of ice. But deep down, some part of him was very worried that his brother wouldn't last the winter. His eyes were now pleading Kaie to help him. "The big lady... must be really strong. Almost as strong as the boy of the bat!" In Bido's mind, Robin was the leader of the titans, and therefore the scariest. Except maybe for Batgirl. "Maybe the big lady can help bring the shiny dragon back to Bido's home lair."

[kaie]

The giant watched, baffled. "Ya know it's just a statue, yeah?" She honestly wasn't sure. There seemed to be something genuinely wrong with this guy. She knew some supers could get pretty detached from reality, but this guy seemed to be completely in his own world. Kaie kept a few steps back, not wanting to alarm him, but wanting to stay in reach if something went wrong. She hoped she could take him. This was some kind of unknown mutant metahuman, there was no telling what he could or would do.

The longer they talked, the weirder this got. He seemed okay with showing his face now, some sort of weird reptile thingy. At least he wasn't scared of her, some folks throughout her life were freaked out by her size. His idea, on the other hand, was less of a good thing. "Ye can't take these, they're fer the public!" She honestly wasn't sure if he knew what stealing was. He seemed to be a bit on the naive, doofy side. Worse yet, he wanted to rope her into his harebrained heist hijinks. "I'm no gonna help you steal these." She folded her arms, giving him her best stern face. She wasn't great at stern, but being huge and hulk-strong certainly helped get the point across, even when her face wasn't doing the trick.

It was a moment later when she realized what he meant by the boy of the bat. Was he talking about Robin? Did he think Robin was the strongest Titan? "I'm prolly a lot stronger than Robin, musclewise." In fact, she was pretty sure most of the Titans were stronger than him. He was the only unpowered, unmodified human of the original five, and one of the few normals on the expanded team. For carrying stolen ice sculptures, he'd probably be the worst accomplice.