Out of Place

Friends?

Luigi quickly wrote a note for when his brother got home, stating where he was going and what he was doing. Mario often worried, so Luigi was usually very good about letting his older brother know where he was in order to put his mind at ease. He also sent Mario a text message on his cell, but Mario rarely responded so Luigi left the paper note just to be safe.

"What are you writing?" Dimentio asked, peering over Luigi's shoulder and cocking his head to the side, curiosity in his eyes.

"I'm just telling my brother where we're going." Luigi quickly replied.

Dimentio nodded and looked down at Luigi's handwriting. It was rather charming. Sloppy and rushed, it had its own personality. Much more interesting than his own fine cursive which he perfected as a child. Reading Luigi's words was like trying to de-code a puzzle, trying to figure out what each letter actually was. It was quite wonderful, really.

The note read: Hey Bro. Need Merlon's help. Heading to Flipside Be back soon.

It was a funny way of wording things. Luigi had kept it short and sweet, cutting out all unnecessary words. He didn't waste any time with details.

"What's a Flipside?" Dimentio muttered.

"Just a place," Luigi replied, placing the pen down on the table next to the note. It was a blue pen, Dimentio observed. The ink was a little smeary, but a beautiful dark blue color. Very pretty.

"How descriptive," Dimentio laughed. "And who is this Merlin?"

"Merlon," Luigi corrected. "And he's an ancient. He knows a lot of stuff, so I think he could help us."

Us, us, us. The reminder of him not being alone sounded so sweet, like gentle wind chimes in the blissful spring. "Wonderful!" Dimentio beamed, turning on his heel and marching for the door. "Then let's go-"

"Hold up," Luigi interrupted, grabbing the back of Dimentio's cloak and preventing him from taking another step forward. "Before we show up at Flipside, there are a few things we need to... take care of."

Dimentio coughed and stumbled backward a step or two as he felt the cloak tug at him, but was quickly able to recover, shaking his head and turning to look at Luigi. "Oh. Okay! Like..." Dimentio trailed off, curious.

"Your name," Luigi breathed. "There was... a really bad man with the same name as you. So I'm worried that if people hear it, they'll confuse you for him. Is there anything else we can call you? Any nicknames or something?"

"A bad man had the same name as me?" Dimentio questioned. "Who? What did he do that was so bad?"

"He... did a lot of stuff. He was this jester who nearly ended all worlds," Luigi mumbled. "Is there anything else I can call you, just so people don't get worried?"

Dimentio paused, tapping his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Well... you could call me Dim. It's short for Dimentio!" He chimed, smiling and looking at Luigi again.

"No. That's too similar." Luigi replied.

"Dimmy?" Dimentio asked with a light giggle.

"No... Mimi called the bad man that name. Did you ever have any other nicknames? It just has to be different enough so that no one would get PTSD upon hearing your name."

Dimenito took a moment to think about it. It had been so long since he had been home. He had a nickname, but something felt wrong about using it. No one had called him that since he got lost. But...

"Well..." Dimentio started, offering Luigi a small smile. "Back at home... people used to call me Dio."

"Perfect!" Luigi chimed. "That's different enough! From now on that's your name."