The Livestream

I tried to make myself comfortable on the chair they had me sitting in. It was really more for show than something to sit in for a long while. The bright lights in the room didn't help either, and I had to look into the camera they had hooked up to that computer... At least when I wasn't checking the monitor for questions.

"And we're live," The technician at the computer announced.

"Okay, hello internet people," I said as Mister Snuggles adjusted our eye lenses so the lighting didn't seem so bad. "I'm Cuddlebug. Weaver's busy fighting crime right now. I don't know why we didn't postpone this. Anyway, there's been some talking about Vista mentioning 'My world' during the Mall attack the other day, so I'm just gonna come out and say it: I'm what the PRT calls a Case 81: A cape from another universe." Already a few questions and comments were coming in on the stream chat. "The PRT initially wanted to keep it secret because there's some stuff from my world that can be a little scary if you're not used to it—like, in your world, Bram Stoker wrote Dracula as fiction. In my world, Bram Stoker collected the letters and writings of the actual people who actually lived through that because the actual Dracula is an actual vampire and I swear on Thor's glorious golden locks that I'm not making that up."

Several people made comments of one or two words that mostly invoked cows going to the bathroom, though 'The_Fourth_Reich' called me an idiot barbarian child and claimed that Thor had red hair.

"Okay, chat mods? Can we eject The_Fourth_Reich from chat? I mean, for one that's obviously a Neo-Nazi and my stream, my rules, I don't want to engage with that, for two 'Idiot Barbarian Child' is what that G-Shaft Nazi Cape called me, and for Three, Thor had red hair in this universe. In mine, he's blonde." I blinked as something occurred to me. "Also, seriously, what the Hell Donar? You don't have anything better to do than troll my PRT Q&A Livestream?"

More comments came up. "Yeah, all the Old Gods are real where I'm from," I explained. "All of them. Like, almost every religion is true. Not all of the Old Gods are actual Gods though. Anyway, I'm gonna get some basic questions out of the way: Weaver isn't really my sister, she's my foster-sister but her family is working on adopting me. She's from here. We don't use the term 'Parahuman' where I'm from and powers don't really work the same way as far as I can tell. I'm not really a Tinker and I didn't make Mister Snuggles. I know I already replied to comments but official question taking starts now. You can ask me about me and Mister Snuggles or about my world, but no personal questions please, I've got a secret ID for a reason."

I leaned back in the chair and pulled my legs up so my knees were up in my chest. I don't know why but that's always felt the most comfortable for me. I took note of the comments coming in.

"XxVoid_CowboyXx asked 'So what do you call capes if you don't use Parahumans?' Well, Void_Cowboy, where I'm from we mostly just call people with powers superhuman. There are different kinds of superhuman though. Most Superhumans are either Mutants or Mutates, but there's a bunch of other kinds that are a bit too complicated and would take me all day to explain."

"Tinker_Girl_2000 asked 'So, if you didn't make Mister Snuggles than what is he?' " I had to think about it for a minute. "He's an organism called a Klyntar Symbiote. They live in symbiosis with other organisms, making the hosts stronger in exchange for feeding on their hormones and absorbing their DNA and knowledge. My inherant powers make me a perfect host for a symbiote." Mister Snuggles whispered something into my ear. "Also, they aren't actually boys or girls. Mister Snuggles says that the most accurate pronoun for Symbiotes would be 'it' but it sounds really rude to call someone with thoughts and feelings an 'it' so I call him a 'him.' He doesn't mind."

"Lovestruck_Starchild asked 'Do you have any crushes on anyone?' Lovestruck, I'm TEN!" I shouted as I set my legs down and sat up straight. "I don't even know if I like boys or girls yet. Ask me in like, five years or something. I'm not really concerned with that kind of thing, anyway."

"Void_Cowboy asked a follow-up question, 'what's the differance between a mutant and a mutate.' So Super Powers are genetic where I'm from. It used to be that Mutant meant people who were born with powers and mutate meant people who developed super-powered mutations after being born, but nowadays mutant refers specifically to people with something called the X-Gene while Mutate refers to people got powers from external mutations and people who inherited those mutations from their parents. Mutates are considered to be humans, but years of people in positions of power failing at Evolutionary Science have gotten Mutants reclassified as a separate human subspecies called Homo Superior. I think this is stupid for dozens of reasons. I am a mutant." I formed a Thing-Fist on my right hand and raised it for emphasis. "And I will punch anyone who calls me Homo Superior right in the groin. And while we're at it, 'Mutie' and 'Genejoke' are considered slurs against mutants where I come from. Say either where I can hear you and it's," I made another thing fist and used one to punch the palm of the other, "right in the groin."

I pointed at one of the grown-ups off camera. "If any of you are hearing a thumping sound, it's because the PR guy overseeing this is banging his head on the wall." Really he was just glaring at me. "I'm probably gonna get lectured about the groin punching thing later, but the point stands."

"Flippinmad asked how I beat The Azn Bad Boyz... Uh, Jorogumo mostly beat herself, Oni Lee it mostly just acting on instinct—I've got ESP that lets me know when I'm in danger and reflexes that go automatically, Lung I just kinda punched him till he fell down, and Miss Militia and Vista showed up and dealt with Bakuda."

"Point... Okay, new rule, no questions about Panacea or the Bank fight, please. I... Uh... I'm sorry, I..." I wasn't crying. And even if I was, nobody could tell because I was wearing a mask.

"N-Next question... No, Dragon_Fan, I'm not that concerned about privacy when it comes to Mister Snuggles. I had health issues growing up. On a good day, I could maybe stand on my own for an hour so I'd be under constant supervision. I never really had that much privacy so it's not something I value outside of important things like my secret identity, and the benefits of being bonded with Mister Snuggles are more than worth it. I mean, I couldn't be a superhero without him." I felt a little better after that question.

"Sailor_Weeb asks what my favorite food is... Uh, Bacon." I answered quickly. "And Chocolate. And sweets in general. And pizza with mushrooms and anchovies... Which kind of sucks because no-pizzerias around here use anchovies. If anyone who owns Pizzeria in or around Brockton Bay is watching, start using anchovies. Please. I'll give you a free endorsement. Don't make me go all the way to NYC just to get a decent slice."

I scrolled back through the chat log to see if I missed any questions. "Uh, I'm seeing a lot of comments about my accent, yes, I am originally from my World's Manhattan."

I scrolled back down to the new comments. "I'm seeing a couple of questions about the history of Superhumans in my world. Uh, mutates are mostly a recent thing but there have been magic users, mutants, and aliens for basically forever... Yes, magic is real in my universe, deal with it. There's a couple of mutants alive today who claim to be thousands of years old and survived to the modern day through various means, but the only one who can prove it is a Supervillain who goes by the name Apocalypse who was a Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt over five thousand years ago but that's a lecture for another time." And one I already gave. "In terms of Superheroes though, they've only been around for over a hundred years and been a major thing since the forties—actually the most famous Superhero in the world, Captain America, led a team of heroes from the US, England, and Atlantis against Hitler's armies of vampires and Super Soldiers." checked the chat. "Yes, Atlantis is real where I'm from. Deal with it."

I noticed that Void_Cowboy left another comment. "Yeah, I guess my world does sound like a bad comic book. But you're the world that doesn't have a nature preserve full of dinosaurs in the south pole, so really, which universe is really the bad one?"

I was seeing a lot of questions on a specific topic. "Uh, I'd really rather not talk about how I ended up here on Earth Bet or how I met Mister Snuggles... Not in detail, not like this." I noticed some other questions though. "I joined the Wards mostly because they helped Weaver's family foster me. Though I have always loved Superheroes for as long as I can remember and I've always wanted to be one." I smiled behind my mask. "In fact, my earliest memory is being saved by Spider-Man, the greatest hero in all the world back home, when I fell out of a window."

A few people asked why we were doing this as a Livestream. "We're doing this as a Livestream instead of a press conference because those Crystal things that attacked the mall like to eat people wearing Klyntar symbiotes and they're apparently after me specifically so I'm not allowed to leave PRT HQ until they're dealt with. Kinda means that anyone they hurt is hurt because of me and... Next question," I said quickly.

"I'm seeing some people ask about Spider-Man," I noted, "uh... Spider-Man would probably lose to your Scion or Eidolon," the people who were said to be the greatest heroes in this world. "Spider-Man isn't the greatest because he's the strongest, or the fastest, or the toughest, or the smartest. Spider-Man's the greatest because... Spider-Man believes that with Great Power, there also comes a Great Responsibility. Because of this, he's always trying to help others and he never, ever, ever, ever gives up. No matter what. That's why he's the greatest hero. And, uh... I think that's all the time we have for the stream."

The technician confirmed so I finished. "Okay, bye everybody," I said with a wave goodbye.

"And we're clear," the technician said after a little bit.

I stood up and stretched a bit. The chair they had me in really wasn't very comfortable. "How'd I do?"

"Other than the groin punching thing," the PR guy said from his monitor, "very good. People are still in the chat and they seem to be reacting well. We might do this again later."

"If we're doing this later, you need to get a more comfortable chair. If we're done I'm gonna go rest for a bit. Maybe take a nap." Answering questions was surprisingly tiring.