A longform story about two cryptids local to the sleepy seaside town of Wakemoor. Involves found family, a pyrokinetic bioweapon, and a mermaid with space lycanthropy! Co-written by @fedoraspooky and @mysticdoodles (a.k.a. @displacedentities)
"Whatever emotion she was wearing now, it was one he didn't recognize, one he'd never seen before on the faces of any scientist or person in town.
That emotion gets shoved aside, and is replaced with determination.
Then- suddenly she's moving forward, letting go of his hand and pulling him into a strong hold around the torso with both of her arms.
He can't help the fear that comes, at first."
Summary: Matchstick spends a day by himself until Tikki gets home with some new clothes for him, and he finds out the labs weren't the only places with security cameras. He doesn't take it well.
---
Mystic
Dreams came gently, for once.
No cold darkness, no shattered windows, and no taunting voices. A cloudy dream, filled with some kind of music he didn't recognize, from a voice he felt he should know. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't grasp the identity of the singer, only absorb the peace that their singing brought.
He could distantly feel someone's hands running through his hair, while he was tucked up in what felt like a hug.
Hair? He had hair? All he could ever remember having was a tiny tuft on his forehead, the same charcoal black as his skin. And for that matter, he must be really small, to fit so snugly in the arms of another.
Whoever it was doing this, they sang to him a lullaby he couldn't remember.
He felt safe, wrapped in the comfort of the unknown.
…
When he wakes up, the ghost feeling of loving arms around him is replaced by the soft embrace of the blankets and couch cushions. He's warm, but the comfort granted by the feeling of another presence has departed.
All he can hear is the pop of embers in the fireplace, the hum of the heater in the walls, and the quiet ticking of a clock.
Spooky
He blinks and sits up more, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. The awkward position had left his muscles feeling a little stiff, but everything seemed to right itself when he stretched with a great big yawn. All of the curtains were closed over the windows, but the bright light filtering in through their fabric at least told him it was daytime now. Maybe morning, still...
That was... a weird dream. It wasn't scary at least. It was a happy one, he was pretty sure, and left him with a sense of warmth and comfort... but it also left him feeling a little sad, for some reason. He couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was because he was by himself again, for today?
He dragged himself off the couch and lumbered groggily over to the kitchen. Maybe the strange emptiness was just his stomach telling him it was hungry. Yeah, that was probably it.
Mystic
Opening the fridge- which is apparently what the white storage box was called- yielded expected results. The brown bag was gone, which meant Tikki had indeed left for the day. She must have moved very quietly, to avoid waking him. The stack of sandwiches they'd made together was still on a plate, waiting for him under a sheet of thin plastic just like Tikki showed him. She said something about it 'keeping them from drying out'. There were other containers full of unknown ingredients in the fridge; he'd seen them only briefly while Tikki explained how to make a sandwich in the first place. One of them held those extremely spicy peppers that were definitely present in at least one of his lunch sandwiches.
Was it even lunch time yet? When did he wake up? A glance at the curtained windows didn't yield any useful information, since he couldn't see outside to judge the sun's position.
Ah- there was a digital clock on the counter. 10:15, it said.
He didn't know how to read a clock, so the numbers didn’t tell him much.
Whatever. Now he could definitely parse the ache in his stomach- though, the ache in his chest felt separate in a way he couldn't place. Either way, there was definitely hunger in this equation, which could be eliminated by stuff in the fridge.
Spooky
He took the plastic wrap off the sandwiches and picked one up off the top of the stack, making short work of it. After taking out a second and chowing down on that, his stomach felt okay enough that he put the wrap back on and stuck the remaining sandwiches back in the fridge.
He was still a bit hungry, but he didn't know when Tikki was going to get back, and it might be good to save the rest until later. Tikki had also showed him where the drinks were in the fridge, and where the cups were. There was a carton in the fridge that had a picture of a familiar orange spherical fruit, the same that used to be on the tree outside... Opening it up, he saw it seemed to be some liquid form of those- definitely smelled like it too! He poured some into a cup and put the carton back, taking a sip. Ahh, he'd kinda been missing the taste of those things...
...What now?
His eyes went over to the TV. Maybe he could play more games? How did she set it up again...?
Mystic
It took some time to figure it out. Pressing the button on the remote didn't make him jump this time, since it was already set to the previous input when he was playing the Pink Guy game. The controller was already hooked up to the console box, so that was done for him. Next was...
Which button did she push to turn on the box, again?
Finally, he found it, after several unfruitful attempts. And besides, even if he did jump a little at the initial loud noises- which he totally didn't!- at least Tikki wasn't around to witness it.
Although, now that he was back at the 'start' screen for the console, he did have a full box of games he could pick from. There were many more than just the Pink Guy game. Maybe he could try another one, after beating it?
Spooky
It was definitely something to consider! In the meantime, he sat down with the Pink Guy game, or as he figured out from actually reading the title screen this time, 'Kirby'? Was that what the pink guy was called? Huh...
Making his way through the levels went a lot more quickly this time, now that he'd gotten the hang of how it worked. He died a lot less, only twice before he made it to the end. He wasn't sure why various names appeared on the screen afterwards, and they kept disappearing too quickly to read all of them, but the ones he did read weren't recognizable to him anyway. Weird, but it didn't last too long.
Regardless, he'd won! Yesss!
Now, to see how many other games he could try to win before Tikki got home... He rifled through the box and grabbed another at random. It was a little difficult to make out the colorful blocky letters at first glance, but he figured out it said 'Super Mario World' on it. It had some little man with a red hat and a yellow... blanket? around his neck, and he was on the back of some kinda lizard. And they were jumping... in a blue sky. O... okay? Might as well see what this one's about...
Mystic
After beating 'Kirby', this next game turned out to- somehow- be even more absolutely batshit insane.
Not only was the world colorful and full of things, but this time, those things didn't even appear to be visually congruent with one another in places. Turtles in and out of shells would get in the way, there were golden discs everywhere that made a satisfying ding! noise when he picked them up, and flowers he saw on the path spit fireballs or tried to eat the little red guy's face off. Sometimes he'd run into one of those dinosaur things, and it was either small and soft-looking and needed to eat a bunch of the enemies in the path, or it would just manifest fully grown and he could ride on its back. There were guys in the clouds, guys in the water, guys that threw fuckin' hammers at him, and walking mushrooms all over the place- some of which were good for him, and others which looked exactly the same but hurt him instead.
Despite being a little overwhelming, it was still-? Fun? In a strange way, the incredible amount of sensory input felt like a challenge. Dying and starting over was still frustrating, and the pace of the game was faster than Kirby's, but even if he had to figure out the layout as he went, it still gave him the same rush of positive emotions and made him feel energized.
Spooky
He definitely died a lot more at first, but having made it through another game just before this one, he was doing better than he would have, had this been his first. Going between platforms was more difficult without the ability to float like Kirby, though this guy could also get different powers that made getting through the level easier. He could even throw fire, which was great for dealing with enemies. Just like in real life!
Dying wasn't frustrating either- well okay, maybe a little in certain places he had difficulty with. But once he made it to the end of each level and it played a little victory tune, any frustration that level had given him felt like it was worth it. Like he'd overcame it all and beat it soundly into the dirt. It was a good feeling.
Mystic
Once again, more hours passed.
He played through level after level- getting briefly stuck in the forest section of the game where the map looped on itself a whole lot, and in the giant spooky houses full of flying sheets with goofy faces. They laughed at him and stuck their tongues out, as though mocking him. They were adorable, and rude! It was hard not to like them.
He was starting to get hungry again. And on top of that, he could feel a very slight headache coming on the longer he looked at the screen, and his throat itched. Maybe the orange juice from before didn't quite sate his thirst.
There was another digital clock on the face of one of the electronic boxes below the screen that read 2:07.
...Still can't read clocks.
He's had to adjust his seating position many times while playing this game. His muscles and joints felt strained if he sat cross-legged or leaned to one side for too long, so he had to shift and move around. He tried leaning back on the couch, but that caused something lodged into the rock on his back to jab him. Ouch! He had to bite back a loud curse of pain at the feeling.
Spooky
His breath hissed out through his teeth instead, and he slammed on the pause button. Uggh, if that wasn't a sign to get up, he didn't know what was. He walked around the living room for a bit, noticing the fireplace had all but died out. Moving the fence thingy out of the way, he tried to relight it, but the logs in there were pretty spent. There was a thing with some fresh ones nearby, though...
He grabbed one in his hand and just set it in there on the rack like someone just putting something in a microwave, the other burnt up logs beneath it crumbling into ember-filled ash. He put another one in and lit the both of them, then put the little fence thing back. There! He smiled at his handiwork, not really caring that he'd gotten soot all over his hand, and then all over his clothes.
He didn't notice it was getting on anything until he smeared it on the fridge in getting the sandwiches back out, after which he panicked a bit and did his best to wipe it away with his shirt. He then had to run his hands under the sink water, squinting in mild discomfort as he did. Didn't help that it was cold... There was only one lever on this one, how were you supposed to get hot water?
Grumbling, he started to dry his hands off on his shirt- ....ah, shit.
After running his hands under the water again, he found a clean dishrag to dry his hands instead.
He then wolfed down the rest of the sandwiches until his stomach stopped complaining, though by that point they were gone. Welp... at least there was more bread and stuff if he needed to make more, but this seemed like a good stopping point.
And since the orange juice didn't really help, he filled a cup with water from the sink and downed that instead, breathing out a puff of steam when he did. That was better... It wasn't like the honey cider, but it did soothe his throat just a little bit.
Mystic
...
How strange, being on his own in this house. He knew it wasn't his place, technically Tikki owned it. But she gave him free reign, and was trusting him with it, and he was managing to do stuff like feed himself and clean up his messes all on his own! Tikki had given him a blanket and a pillow that were now his, and he slept (mostly) comfortably, without a muzzle or shackles slapped on. He still fumbled like a colt with some of the unfamiliar tasks, but he was getting the hang of it.
Felt good to stick it to Aria, that their 'expensive training' was going towards keeping him alive as far away from them as possible. Mental middle fingers were being sent in their direction with a grin.
With every hour he spent away from their prying eyes, or the fear of being discovered outside, he could feel some sort of tension in his body slowly begin to unwind. Like a coiled spring held under tension for years, he was able to let some of that internal pressure creep out, and... he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Was he supposed to feel good? Maybe... for now, though, he just felt numb. Everything had suddenly moved very quickly in the last week or so. He needed time to come to terms with everything.
...he had food. He had warm, soft things to sleep on. He had fun games to play when he was bored, which was admittedly a lot of the time. And while he didn't build or own the property, this was 'his' place, too. Nobody was going to demand he complete tests, shock him when he misbehaved, or administer some sort of liquid in a tube to... make him stop.
Snowfall and cold weather notwithstanding, he felt more free than he had in a long, long time.
Spooky
Emboldened by this sense of newfound freedom, he did the one thing he'd been wanting to do for so long. He took in a deep breath, flipped the bird to the sky with both hands, and shouted "FUCK YOU, RAINER!!" as loudly as he could before his voice caught and he quickly devolved into smoky coughing.
Okay, maybe he couldn't do everything he wanted yet, but as he sat there hunched over and wheezing, he started to laugh, as well as he could with his throat in this state. Fuckin' worth it.
After a few moments, when he caught his breath enough, he filled the cup back up in the sink and gulped it down.
Mystic
Take THAT, stupid science lab and its halls full of white-coated assholes! He could curse them out and they couldn't do anything to stop him anymore!
He definitely needed that second gulp of water, though. Yelling hurt his throat something fierce. Washing down the smoke he could taste at the back of his tongue, he gets his composure back.
Refreshed and revitalized with spite and fresh water, he can get back to his games with a full stomach.
--
This 'Mario' game was a lot longer than the Kirby one. By the time the sun had set through the curtained windows, he was almost finished with an island full of fire-breathing dinosaurs. He had no idea how many sections of the game map were left. It had to be close to the end, right?
...
clck-click
The handle of the front door jiggled, a faint rattle of metal coming from the lock.
Spooky
It was a small sound, but he picked up on it quickly over the sounds of the game, anxiety breaking his previous state of focus. Sitting up, he hit the pause button, not sure what to expect. What was- was that sound coming from the door? He turned to look, eyes wide as he tried to figure out if it was Tikki or, as his anxiety warned him, someone from the lab? Had they heard him yell? Oh shit...
Not really having anywhere to hide in time, he threw himself down as the door just started to open, crouching almost flat against the couch cushion as he listened...
Mystic
The handle jiggled some more, before he heard a resounding click.
creeeeak
...
plap-plap plap-
thnk-
"Ow- hey- Sticks, you around? Could use- some help with all this-"
That was definitely Tikki, much to his great relief. There was no mistaking that floppy sound of her webbed feet on the floor. But what did she mean by 'all this'?
Peeking over the couch, it was revealed to be- a mountain of bags in her arms, which were almost totally blocking her line of sight indoors. They also appeared to be rather cumbersome, as she tried to balance them carefully as she inched her way to the open counter space. In one hand, she clutched a small key, the rest of that arm wedged in an awkward hold around the bags to make sure she didn't drop anything.
"Sticks...? You here? Agh- fuck-"
Spooky
He jumped over the back of the couch and hurried over, grabbing the bag that had started to get away from her and picking it up before it could fall. He held it like it weighed nothing.
Seeing where she was going with it, he plopped the bag down on the counter, but not without having a curious peek inside. It was loaded with food! Tons of it, looking like she'd gotten it from one of those big buildings with shelves full of the stuff. He recognized some of the packaging.
"H-hi Tikki," he said, sounding like he'd swallowed a cup full of powdered chalk. Okay, yelling earlier was a bad idea, now he sounded worse than yesterday...
Mystic
"Thanks," Tikki grunts, exhaling once the unbalanced weight is relieved from her arms.
Tikki, upon setting her burden of bags on the counter, shoots him a worried glance.
"Did you not sleep well again, Sticks? Or catch a cold? You sound really hoarse... just hold on a minute and I'll make something hot for your throat, okay? I gotta get all this new stuff in the fridge first."
With more speed than expected, Tikki swiftly unloads as much from the bags as possible, organizing the new foods by type and whether or not they needed to go in the fridge.
However, some of the bags didn't contain food. A few were stacked with neatly folded clothes, articles that were far too big for Tikki to wear without impeding her movement.
"I wanted to surprise you, but I guess that's what I get for trying to get everything inside in one trip," Tikki mourns. "I just figured since it's still a sensitive time, you'd appreciate the door being open for less time. Maybe I was overthinking it."
...
She pauses again.
"Is your shirt covered in soot?"
Spooky
He tore his gaze away from the bags full of clothes and back to Tikki, before looking down at his clothes. They were smeared with soot. In the shape of his hands, no less. His cheeks glowed orange and he glanced to the side guiltily.
Honestly, he'd forgotten it was there, but now he was the spitting image of a dog that had been caught eating food off the table.
Mystic
"Welp. Guess the lesson of today is 'laundry' after all," she says, letting out a chuckle. "I suppose my shopping was perfect timing, then. Should have seen this coming, with a pyromancer in the house. That's on me."
As promised, she goes about heating the water for another hot drink, sorting the remaining food into the various locations throughout the kitchen while it boiled.
"Besides getting ash all over yourself- playing in the fireplace, I assume- how was your day alone, Sticks? The house didn't blow up, so I'm guessing positive reviews are in order?"
Spooky
He watched the fire on the stove beneath the kettle curiously as she sorted out the rest of the food and put them away. A little ring of flames...
He snapped out of it when she spoke to him again, and he looked down at her and nodded- today went pretty well. He smiled proudly as he motioned towards the TV, where he still had 'Super Mario World' paused- by the looks of it, he'd gotten pretty far into the game!
Mystic
"Oho, trying a new one!" Tikki grinned in approval. "You beat Kirby already? And you're almost all the way through Mario World? Damn. Should I be worried about the longevity of my game collection, now?"
A familiar whistle of the kettle sounds, and she removes it from the fire, turning off the stove with a click of the burner. Taking the kettle to the counter top, she rips open another packet of cider mix, and dumps it into the mug before pouring the steaming water along with it. The same spicy sweet smell wafts upward. She grabs a small plastic container filled with a clear golden liquid, which goes in as well.
"You even did all your dishes by yourself," Tikki says with pride, examining the dish rack with his plate and cups. It wasn't much, but it was something! "You learn fast."
She slides the mug of cider over after stirring it with a spoon.
"One cider mug, fresh off the stove. Ready to go learn how to do laundry, buckaroo?"
Spooky
He looks almost bashful, but he grins as he takes the mug. He did a good job taking care of the house! Taking a congratulatory sip of the still steaming cider, he nods.
He didn't know what the laundry was, exactly- hopefully it didn't involve putting his hands in water like the dishes- but he was curious enough to wanna see what it was all about. It was cleaning clothes, right? He remembered when his blanket and pillow were just done being, uh... laundried? the first night he was here, and they were really warm and soft...
Mystic
Tikki takes him to that small closet-like room where he’d seen her walk off with piles of clothing the first day.
She spends some time explaining the basics of the two machines in the room- one washed clothes with soap and water, and the other dried them with hot air. The soap had to be loaded into the washer in a small tray, but other than that, the machine did the rest once set to the correct mode. Tikki decided to once again keep it simple, and told him to never use another setting besides ‘Permanent Press’. He didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded important. As for the drier, it needed nothing besides loading in the clothes and pushing the start buttons.
“Okay, time to lose the dirty shirt,” Tikki says, picking up the bag she had stuffed all the new clothes into, and pushing it into his arms. “Garfield is retiring, now. Go try these on instead.”
Spooky
Okay, laundry seemed straightforward enough... He did his best to commit the steps to memory, when a bag was shoved at him and he nearly fumbled it before getting a more solid hold on it.
What was a Garfield...? Well either way, he had to change his clothes. He looked through the bag and pulled out a new shirt that he liked the colors on, and another pair of soft pants that was longer than the pair he was wearing, and- huh?
He held up a pack of smaller garments that looked kinda like shorts? But were shorter? And looked at Tikki as if to ask what they were.
Mystic
Tikki snorts.
“They’re boxers, you dork. You put them on under your pants so wearing pants is more warm and comfortable. Gotta dress in layers in this climate.”
She pats him on the shoulder as she passes him to exit the laundry closet.
“You can use the guest room to change, if you want- again, there’s nothing in there, and it’s a bit… fucked up. But it has more space than the bathroom.”
Spooky
Oh, huh... He gave a small shrug and put those and the clothes he picked out on top of the bag, following her out. Once she pointed out to him where the guest room was, he went in and closed the door behind him.
It was... Weird. The rest of the house was so lived in, full of stuff and signs of life, but true to what Tikki said, the guest room was completely empty. No furniture, nothing, just a big empty, and kinda dusty rectangle, save for obvious signs where her transformation had caused damage.
Hell, swap out the walls with some white ones and change out the floor for tile or cement, this would've looked no different than a testing cell... Maybe that was why he felt so unnerved.
He changed out his clothes quickly, and left the bag in there when he was done. Might as well, if that was the place he was supposed to change clothes in. He did his best to shake the feeling of unease as he gathered up the dirty clothes and took them back to the laundry room.
...and just kind of stood there with them, since he wasn't sure where he was supposed to put them. Unsure what to do, he went to go find Tikki instead.
Mystic
Tikki was in the living room when he emerged, sitting on the couch and leaning forward against her knees. She had a frown on her face, watching something on the screen. It looked like she changed it momentarily away from his game screen, and was back to the noise and colors from the first time she’d ever turned it on. He could hear people speaking through the screen, though the words didn’t mean much to him. Brow furrowed and her chin in one hand, she was listening intently to whatever was being broadcast.
”-local sightings of the latest cryptid resident, the Cat-Man, have been coming in hot for the past few weeks now! The reported incidents have even been captured on security cameras of local shops, as it appears the strange entity has a crafty mind for food theft- just like the average domestic feline!”
The picture on the screen showed a very grainy camera feed of the outside of a store at night, with only one light source in the form of a single bulb over a back door. A dark figure flashes across the screen, pulls open the dumpster in the half-shadowed alleyway, and hops inside.
”Multiple accounts of store owners who caught the supposed Cat-Man in the act have corroborated claims that the strange entity has glowing eyes visible in the dark, despite previous theories that it was simply the reflective shine of a cat eye.”
The camera feed zips forward to show another person emerge from the building, and chase the dark figure off, a brief glimpse of bright spotlight eyes visible for one moment before vanishing.
”There have been no recent reports of the town’s favorite tall tale, the Silver Fang, but enthusiasts are clamoring to-“
At that moment, Tikki notices him standing there.
“Oh- sorry,” she says, masking the worry with another smile. “I just wanted to check the news. I’ll switch it back to your game. Need help with something?”
Spooky
It didn't occur to him that the voice on the TV had been talking about him, at least at first... The grainy footage they showed gave him pause, though, and he stood in the doorway to the hall, squinting as the figure fled the dumpster on screen. It looked just like the reflections that greeted him in darkened windows, when he used to scrounge around town at night.
That... Was that him? Why was he on the screen?
He jumped a little when Tikki spoke, though at her question he remembered why he was in here and held up the wadded up ball of dirty clothes in his hand.
Mystic
Tikki presses a button on the remote, and the screen goes black before displaying the same green text as before. The paused Mario level returns within short order, right back to where he left it before Tikki got home.
"The dirty laundry can go in the hamper," she explains, standing back up from the couch. "There should be a basket in or outside the laundry room. That's the dirty laundry hamper. I use that to put my dirty clothes in to be washed, and once the hamper is full- or I'm close to running out of clean clothes- I load the washer to start the cycle."
She points out the hamper, which currently sat in the hall.
"Since we don't have a lot of clothes to wash right now, it's okay to just throw it in the hamper for now, and we'll wash it later once it's more full."
Spooky
He nodded and went to go toss the clothes in the basket, but he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd just seen...
He returned to the living room, not really sure if he should bring it up, though... She did look very worried. Still, if Tikki was worried, maybe he should know about it?
Giving her an inquisitive look, he pointed at the screen, then himself, hoping that got his question across.
Mystic
Tikki's smile, which had been present up until that point, falls. She lets out a sigh, glancing back at the TV that now showed the game screen image.
"You're wondering about the news?" She runs a hand through her plant-like hair, taking a deep breath and letting it out through her nose. "Yeah... it looks like you've been caught on film by store cameras. The time on the video they showed was from a couple weeks ago."
Guess there was no point in beating around the bush, or trying to hide it. Tikki takes the remote again, and switches the input back to the news network. It continues rambling away in words he didn't recognize, but the text on screen said 'Cat-Man Cryptid Sightings'.
"It probably doesn't change anything about our current situation," Tikki continues, biting her lip. "You were already hiding out here with me, and I deal with dodging press all the time because of my 'Silver Fang' situation. Not to mention, we get a lot of weird animals and cryptids that spring up every now and then- I think people just really want something cool and strange to exist in this town to give us some sort of unique identity, I guess. Harmless fun, mostly. The one thing I'm concerned about is... there's a chance it might get Aria Corp's attention. The average layperson won't be able to tell that's you, but..."
...if someone in Aria happened to see the video, they might recognize him.
"I don't think this puts you in any more danger than you were already in," Tikki says, filling the silence in her worry. "From what you said, Aria was already looking for you. I'm just- fretting, I guess."
Spooky
He... hadn't known they had cameras. Why did humans always have cameras?
His pulse spiked at the realization that anyone from Aria could have seen it. There were a lot of people who worked there, and if any one of them saw, they would know he was still in this area. Despite her words of reassurance, he broke out in a sweat and clutched at the front of his shirt, backing up to lean against the door frame. He felt like he was gonna fall over, but he nodded, trying not to look like his vision was going unfocused.
Mystic
"Hey- hey, are you ok??"
Tikki's voice sounded warped and distant, as the fear clouded his mind.
"Sticks- Sticks, it's ok- you're gonna be ok-"
His heart was pounding in his chest, drumming a frenzied beat and sending blood pumping into his brain so quickly that it felt like every beat was stuffing cotton into his skull. There was a ringing somewhere in the ears he didn't have.
He feels hands clamp onto his shoulders.
Tikki is in front of him, looking up with fierce eyes.
"Sticks- listen. Look at me. Breathe. Take deep breaths, okay? Take deeeep breaths, slow and steady."
Spooky
It's difficult, trying to hear what she's saying, let alone following it. His mouth was open but it felt like no matter how much he panted, he wasn't getting enough air. Shaky and numb as he was, it was feeling more and more like Tikki was holding him up by the shoulders.
And the fear was only growing worse as he struggled to get himself back under control. He couldn't do it, he couldn't get it to stop, something was wrong with him. Aria was gonna find him and he couldn't do anything about it he could barely stand up there was not enough fuckin’ air!!
Thunk!
His head rolled back and hit the door frame with a dull thud. Staring wild-eyed up at the ceiling, he gasped for air like he was in the middle of a water endurance test. Fuck, that's what this felt like. This was exactly what he felt like, when the water started to creep up past his shoulders...
Mystic
Lost in his own head as he was, he's wrenched somewhat back to reality as the hands on his shoulders clench tighter, and begin to push downward. He can feel as his knees, already weak, buckled underneath him when the strong grip guides him to a half-kneel sitting position on the floor. The door is a cold slab of wood at his back, which hurts in spots, but is a solid anchor for his overheating skin.
"Breathe, Sticks- you're safe," Tikki keeps talking, not sure how much of her words are getting through, but trying anyway. "They're not going to find you. You're safe in my house. Our house. We signed an agreement, remember?"
Well- she signed it, but in his name.
"Deep breaths. In. Out... In. Out."
He can barely register as she kneels to sit across from him, her own knees tucked on the floor under her.
"I know your voice is kinda fucked right now, but I need you to try to repeat after me if you can, okay? I'm safe. They're NOT going to find me. I'm going to be okay."
Spooky
Being on the ground seemed to help a little- he could focus less on trying not to collapse and more on Tikki's voice. The sting in his back felt distant, barely noticeable, but Tikki's hands on his shoulders coupled with the feeling of the door frame behind him and floor below kept him grounded in reality.
It was a gradual process, but he did his best to try and slow his breathing as she guided him through it. Black smoke with occasional little flecks of embers when he coughed slowly lessened into thinner, lighter smoke. This room was going to smell strongly like a campfire well after this, wasn't it...?
He still wasn't out of the woods yet, but he seemed less immediately in danger of catching himself or something else on fire, at least...
"M...mnsafe..." He started, in a hoarse whisper. "I- th... they..." He swallowed, slouching forward a bit and sliding his hands over the back of his head and neck. "They're..."
Something kinda hot and wet started to roll down his face, welling up in his eyes until he had no choice but to blink...
Mystic
…
“…oh, Sticks,” he can distantly hear Tikki say, something cracking in her quiet words. He wasn’t as sure if he was meant to hear those. “You’ve been holding this in for a long time, haven’t you…?”
The liquid building up in his eyes falls from his cheeks to the floor, producing a faint hiss on impact and evaporating immediately. The heavy orange drops leave behind faint glittering speckles like golden dust on the floor.
There’s a pause as Tikki struggles to find the right thing to say. He can hear as she shifts her sitting position to be a bit more to his side. The strong hands on his shoulders loosen; one of them moves to rest on his upper back, thankfully avoiding the part that’s scabbed with rock, and the other reaches over to take one of his own hands off of his neck, holding it tight in reassurance.
“Sticks- I probably should have asked in the first place before laying hands and moving you, but- what can I do to help you? Is it ok if I give you a hug?”
Spooky
Holding what in...? His face was leaking, though he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with this happening. It was still a rare thing to occur, but usually it happened when he was scared. And while that was the case here, there was... something else too, that he didn't have words for.
He tensed initially as he felt a hand slide onto his back, but that was only a temporary reaction, since it didn't cause him any pain. His hands felt numb and shaky, and they didn't carry the same heat that his face and chest did at the moment. He didn't fight her as she lifted it away and... Held it. It was a firm hold, but it wasn't uncomfortable or restricting his movement in any way like the shackles would've. His palm and fingerpads were a bit rough, but the rest of the skin on his hand felt surprisingly smooth in comparison, and... damp?
He blinked at her, sending more teardrops rolling down his face to fall and sizzle against the floor. He looked completely lost, as far as he could recall his training never covered body malfunctions like this, and more than that...
"Hh- ...hug?"
He didn't know what that was.
Mystic
When he finally looks up at her- really looks at her through whatever was happening with his eyes- Tikki's tense and worried expression breaks. There was a hint of moisture welling in her eyes, too, though it was hard to see past the molten liquid spilling from his own. Whatever emotion she was wearing now, it was one he didn't recognize, one he'd never seen before on the faces of any scientist or person in town.
That emotion gets shoved aside, and is replaced with determination.
Then- suddenly she's moving forward, letting go of his hand and pulling him into a strong hold around the torso with both of her arms.
He can't help the fear that comes, at first. Instinctual reaction for self-defense nearly kicked in.
Had she been lying, and she was going to choke him out?
Did something in that 'cider' drink poison him, and she was going to finish him off?
Silver monster form or not, this was incredibly dangerous. All he had to do was bring his own arms down, and he could crush her. Easily. He knew he could.
But... she doesn't move. Despite being smaller than him by a good foot or so and stronger than she looked, those arms don't move to strangle him. She just... holds him, sitting there on the floor. It didn't make any sense. Tikki wasn't doing anything besides wrapping him up. But at the same time, it felt like his body had been tearing apart down the middle of his chest, and now he was being held together.
Tikki tries to hide her flinch every time a molten tear lands on her back. It hurt, but she didn't care. It wasn't important right now. And she had dealt with far worse.
"I'm sorry," Tikki says, her voice muffled by cloth. "For whatever those awful people did that hurt you and made you so scared, I'm so sorry. You're not going back to that. I promise."
Spooky
He'd lifted his hands almost automatically when she wrapped him up in a hold, though he'd come to his senses enough not to attack. Instead, he'd just gone completely still, his arms hovering awkwardly at either side of her. Even if it had been a reflex, a defense mechanism, whatever, he'd stopped just seconds from trying to hurt her, and that was so fucked up, for real!! Why was he like this?!
Tikki's words cut through his self-deprecating thoughts like a knife, though, and his arms fell loosely back down to his sides.
He didn't know he'd stopped breathing until a hiccup forced air back into his lungs. Holy shit... He knew what this was, now. This hold, it wasn't to restrain him. This was the same kind of hold he'd felt in that strange dream. He might not've been small enough to be picked up, but the feeling was the same...!
He choked. Then a sob forced its way out of his damaged throat, and he slumped forward to bury his face against the back of her shirt.
Mystic
More tears are now pouring down Tikki's back, but she doesn't let the pain show or force the hug to stop. He needed this right now, and she could handle a few hot scales.
"It's ok to let it out, Sticks." She squints her eyes closed, keeping her voice steady. "You'll feel a lot better."
They sit in the relative silence of the house for a while, broken only by the hiccuped sobs and the pop of the logs in the fireplace. The whole time, Tikki didn't let him go, holding him tight enough to stop the whirling thoughts in his mind that the world was ending.
It wasn't until his legs felt a little numb and tingly from sitting in this position that she finally backed off from the 'hug', which he could only assume was what the gesture was called. She moves her arms so that they're bracing against his shoulders again, looking at him with tear tracks on her face. Hers didn't glow, but he could see the reflection of the firelight in them as she swiftly wiped her cheeks.
"...How's your heart, Sticks? You had a panic attack, and almost passed out- I want to make sure you're going to be fine. If you can, nod or shake your head for me. Okay? Remember, deep breaths."
Spooky
By this point his heart no longer felt like it was trying to hammer its way out of his ribcage or escape out of his throat, so he gave a weak nod. Lifting his arm, he wiped at his face.
'Panic attack'... He definitely felt like he'd been attacked by some kind of invisible something... Like he'd been slugged really hard in the chest and had the wind knocked out of him, and was left feeling achy, shaken, and exhausted. His breathing was still uneven, catching at times when he tried to breathe in or getting interrupted by a quick gasp or two when he tried to breathe out... But he did his best to breathe deeply despite that, not wanting to experience that fuzzy, cottony feeling in his head again.
He clumsily started to slide his legs out from under him, trying to change position so they wouldn't keep feeling numb. He grimaced a little as the tingling intensified for a few moments, sensation returning to them.
Water had been coming out if Tikki's eyes too... Was she also attacked?
Mystic
"You're doing great, Sticks," Tikki says, giving him a weak smile. She was coming out of whatever just afflicted the both of them, too.
Tikki scoots so her back is to the wall, sitting down with her butt on the floor next to him. No longer so directly in his personal space, but nearby.
A shaky breath of her own, that she exhales long and heavy.
"...I know it's a lot," she says, not making eye contact and instead gazing up at the slow rotation of the ceiling fan. "You haven't had much time to process anything at all. There's no shame in crying it out. It's how we work through our sadness, our anger. Grief for what we lost, or could have had. God knows I went through a lot of that on my own when I had to leave the sea. I'm sadly an old hand at this."
Tikki sighs, running one of her webbed hands through her hair and letting it rest on her forehead.
"...man... can't believe I'm sitting on my floor, comforting a homeless teenager I caught eating birdseed a few months ago," she says with a low, breathless chuckle. "This definitely isn't how I saw my Christmas season going. I imagine you were expecting to spend the winter holed up in that den, surrounded by garbage for warmth."
Spooky
He nodded a little, at least in agreement to the part he could understand. He didn't know where he'd expected to be. Maybe in his den with the blanket she'd given him instead of the trash he'd accumulated. Maybe he would've had to move on eventually if Aria managed to catch on to where he'd been hiding. Either way, definitely not here, sitting on the floor of a house of someone nice, having just been attacked by a panic.
Was grief what he was feeling? He didn't know. This wasn't the fear or anger he was used to when it came to bad feelings. And most of all, he could barely remember any of what he'd lost. That thought right there, though, sent another pang through his chest, and he had to stop thinking about it if he wanted to continue trying to pull himself back together...
Instead, he tried to figure out another thing Tikki had brought up. "Christmas... season?" He asked. Was that what they called it when there was snow on the ground? If he thought back hard enough, he may have heard some scientists mention it. Usually a little while after, there would be less scientists in the lab for a short period of time. Too bad Rainer stuck around, even during those times.
Mystic
Tikki pauses. Her eyebrows furrow as she lowers her hand from her forehead, turning her head to regard him.
"Right... you wouldn't know what that is. It's December, which is the month of the Christmas holiday. It snows a lot, and in a couple weeks, Christmas Day's gonna happen. On Christmas, it's custom to get presents for someone you care about. I uh... usually just celebrate by myself."
...Tikki brightens a little, her eyebrows raising again as she looks off in the distance.
"Huh. Guess this'll be your first Christmas. Maybe it'll give me a reason to do more than just make some cookies, this year? We could make a lot of treats, and maybe a honey ham. Hm. I might get a tree, for once. What do you think, sound fun?"
Spooky
Despite his current state, he perked up a little and a small smile found its way onto his tear stained face as he nodded. It did sound interesting, and like there would be a lot of nice food involved.
Getting a tree confused him a little, since they already had the one outside. Was that one broken? Oh, maybe that was why it wasn't making any food right now...
Mystic
Tikki quirks up a smile of her own, watching him take shaky breaths as he tried to recover from his breakdown.
She shuffles, sliding her feet underneath her body so she can stand.
"...do you think you can get up? I'll pull you up if you need it."
Tikki offers a hand.
Spooky
He takes her hand, and while he still feels a little weak, he's able to get up without further incident. Seems his legs were working again. Good...
The sound of the TV slowly fades back into focus for him, though by now they had moved on to a different subject.
...At least the news didn't say exactly where he was. Maybe if he just stayed inside...
Mystic
Tikki helps him back into the living room space- and noticeably sticks closer, in case he needed support. She leads him back to the couch, grabbing the remote and switching the input back to the game feed. Mario was still paused on the screen.
"Here- you can get back to your game, and I'll start on dinner. I'll be ten feet away if you need anything, okay?"
Spooky
He nodded, sitting down on the couch and positioning himself... kind of oddly, in a way that wouldn't put much pressure on his back. Seemed kind of awkward for his spine- was that how he'd been sitting all day?
Didn't seem to bother him too much, as he picked up the controller. It took him a bit to get back into it, but it was a welcome distraction from his worries, at least for now.
Mystic
Tikki makes quiet note of it, but doesn't say anything. Now was not the time.
She double-checks the curtains are fully closed before getting to cooking dinner.
...
An hour or so later, his stomach had started to protest being empty yet again.
And just in time, too. He could smell something cooking in the kitchen. It smelled very rich, like the patties he swiped during his first week on the streets.
Spooky
That was a very compelling aroma, and he paused the game as he looked towards the kitchen. Tikki hadn't said it was time for dinner yet, but he was too curious not to go have a look.
Sliding off the couch, he took a moment to stretch before wandering over to the kitchen to see what Tikki was making.
Mystic
She was standing at the stove again, this time with some sort of dark red slab on a skillet. Tikki was handling it with a pair of tongs, wincing as popping noises from the slab occasionally threw hot oil in her direction.
At his approach, she glances up, before returning her attention to the stove.
"Hey, Sticks. I'm trying my hand at steaks- figured you might need some more calories and protein, since you're a teenager. I think I'm getting the hang of this..."
Tikki pinched the slab with tongs and flipped it over, revealing the underside was a coffee-brown color. The red side making contact with the pan caused even louder popping to sound, and she hissed in pain as some oil popped onto the side of her arm. She withdrew the arm and shook it, clenching her jaw.
"Fuck that hurts. Hot oil sucks. Okay. Almost done."
She pulls up a plate, where an already-prepared steak waits.
"Go ahead and get something to drink, I'll be right over."
Spooky
He could feel the drool starting to well up in his mouth as he watched it cook. He snapped out of it when Tikki flinched back from the oil. Wha? It hurt?
She seemed okay, though, so he grabbed a cup and got some juice out of the fridge. He did pause a little, seeing some more drinks in there than before, including a jug of white stuff. What was that, some other kind of juice? Oh well, whatevs.
He poured himself some orange juice and put the carton back in the fridge.
Mystic
Tikki took a bit longer to make sure the steak cooked, flinching and twitching back from the stove whenever oil popped, as though anticipating more pain. Once it was done, she removed it from the pan and turned off the fire, the popping sound finally dying down as the oil stopped heating.
The steaks arrive at the table, along with a bowl full of some kind of white fluffy stuff. It smells heavy and buttery. Tikki plops a big serving spoon into the mass of white stuff.
"I made some quick box mashed potatoes, too- that was kind of impulsive, I'll admit. I think you need it, though," she explains, sheepish. One steak for him, and another for herself, along with a helping of buttery white 'potatoes' on each plate. Tikki picks up her serrated steak knife and starts cutting her steak into bite-sized chunks, taking a test bite.
"Mm- I think I got it," she says around a mouthful while chewing. "I didn't have time to marinade it, so I just did a salt and pepper rub, but I think it turned out okay."
Spooky
His orange pupils grew so big with anticipation that they almost drowned out the whites of his eyes as he watched her put the food on his plate. It smelled so good he could barely hold still!
The moment he had it, he stabbed the steak viciously with his fork and picked the whole thing up to gnaw on it, tearing into it with his fangs. Yesss this was it! It was like those patties but even better!!
Mystic
It was quite impressive, actually, how effectively he was able to make short work of the steak. Those teeth were sharper than they looked!
And the steak itself- words could hardly describe. It was rich, and very satisfying to chew through. He had to take longer to eat it than the easier, softer foods, like sandwiches or 'mac cheese'. Even when he bit into the meat and could feel parts start to crisp in his mouth, the flavor didn't deteriorate one bit. If anything, the crispy parts heightened the taste!
Tikki was a lot slower, but she chowed through her steak shortly after. A happy sigh, and she began digging into her potatoes.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked between bites. "Better?"
Spooky
He nodded vigorously, a big grin on his face. If playing games for a bit helped him feel a little better, the delicious food had completely revitalized him, apparently. Ducking his head, he shoveled the potatoes into his mouth. All that work to make a hearty dinner, and it was gone in a minute... That said, he did thoroughly enjoy it.
He finished up the potatoes and licked the plate, kinda wishing there was more...
Mystic
There's a faint sliding sound as the bowl- consequently, with the remaining potatoes- is pushed across the table towards him.
"Here, you can just finish them," Tikki chuckles, tired, but amused. "I'm going to have to get used to not having leftovers, haha. In return, I get the validation that my cooking is apparently really good."
Spooky
There's more!! Pulling it towards him, in his excitement he just sort of ended up dunking his face directly into the bowl with a thunk! Funny enough, given the shape of his head, it was a perfect fit.
Thankfully he calmed down enough after dinner to help with dishes. He had to wash his hands and face off a little too, but it was worth it. He finished scrubbing off the last plate and put it on the rack, turning the hot water off in the sink and stepping back, shaking the water from his hands.
Mystic
Tikki, even though she had been showing signs of her own exhaustion after work and the ordeal, couldn't help but guffaw with laughter at the sight of him stuffing his entire face into the mashed potatoes. It was worth the minor cleanup to see him practically wearing the bowl like a hat!
She stood by while he finished with the dishes, drying off her own hands with a towel. She offers the towel to him next.
"Thanks for the help, Sticks," she says, her ear fins drooping noticeably now after the long day. "Ready to brush your teeth and turn in for the night? We can get to Christmas prepping tomorrow, after I get back from work."
Spooky
He nodded, wiping his hands with the towel. He still didn't know all of what Christmas prepping entailed, but was still looking forward to it anyway. He wasn't looking forward to Tikki being gone again, but understood she had to. The thought of being alone was just a little more... unsettling, after knowing about the TV telling everyone about him.
Before he could psyche himself out again, though, he busied himself with brushing his teeth- once again as fast as he could- and spitting molten toothpaste into the sink.
He would just... stay inside, and away from windows. There was no way anyone else knew he was here in this house, except for Tikki. And he could call her if something happened. I'm safe, he repeated in his head, staring back at himself in the mirror. I'm safe.
Mystic
Aria didn't know he was here. Sure, they might have figured he was in this town at some moment in time. But he'd been hiding out with Tikki for days, now, and she insisted that the video footage from that store camera was weeks old. Without him actively on the street disturbing trash cans and breaking into stores, it would look like he moved on from the area.
The face that stared back at him in the mirror was a worried one, trying to hide that worry behind stern determination.
Having to return to work soon, Tikki wants to make sure her new roommate can look after himself while she's away. She also teaches him about video games, for enrichment!
~*~
Spooky
It took... A little bit longer than it probably should have, but thankfully Matchstick figured out quickly that he probably shouldn't be attempting to put everything Tikki handed to him on at the same time. When the bathroom door opened again, he shuffled back out wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, both of which were a simultaneous and strange combination of being both very loose on his frame and too short for him as well. The shirt showed about an inch of midriff and the sweatpants stopped partway down his shins, making them look more like a comfy pair of somewhat long capris. None of that really seemed to bother him, though, so much as how the shirt seemed to keep catching on his back... at least he wasn't wearing anything tight enough to pull on it.
Mystic
Tikki turns around- and has to fight a smile for a moment.
“Oh- wow yeah those don’t fit you,” she says, her ear fins falling in defeat, despite the fact she was smiling. “Still, it’s something. It’s a good thing you’re probably not going outside for a while, snow or otherwise. I can grab you some outfits after work tomorrow.”
Work?
“Oh, right,” Tikki says, snapping her fingers in realization. “I forgot to mention- I have to go back to my work shifts tomorrow morning, so you’ll be by yourself in the house. Do you know how to use a phone of any kind? Because if not, I can teach you in case of an emergency. And I might need to prepare some meals for you in advance, since we haven’t gotten around to cooking lessons yet.”
Spooky
Don't fit? But... He was able to wear them. And it did feel more comfortable than the shorts he escaped with, even if he wasn't as used to this.
-Wait, Tikki was going away?? He looked back up at her with an alarmed expression, but then he remembered the times he saw her leave in her blue truck... Was that where she was going? Work?
His initial alarm gave way to uncertainty, and he shook his head 'no' when asked if he knew how to use a phone, walking back over to her from down the hallway. He was now hugging the bundle of clothes underneath one of his arms, since he'd left his pillow on the couch.
Mystic
Tikki nods, pursing her lips.
“Yeah, I figured not. I’ll show you how, in case you need me for anything important.”
She gives him another shoulder pat upon seeing the sudden fear in his eyes.
“Believe me, I’d much rather stay home and make sure you’re okay and adjusting. But if I don’t keep going to my work shifts, I won’t make any money, and then we can’t keep the place.” Tikki sighs. “I was able to get out of it for a couple days because of my curse flare-up, which my boss thinks is a medical condition. But normally, I work five days out of the seven day week, for eight hours per day. You’re going to be spending a lot of time by yourself during the day- but don’t worry, I’m not going to force you to sit bored and do nothing all day. You’ll have things to entertain yourself.”
Spooky
That sounded like a lot of time... But money seemed pretty important. He'd been reminded plenty of times that a lot of it had been spent on him, usually whenever he misbehaved. Or how much he was going to make for them whenever he was finally forced to follow instructions. It still felt like a nebulous concept, tied directly to how 'good' he was being somehow, so to hear it talked about in a way that had nothing to do with his behavior was strange. Guess he really didn't understand it after all...
Still, it seemed like it was needed, or else the house would be taken away? That was a scary thought. What would be big enough to take away a whole building...?
When she came to the end of her explanation, he tilted his head. Things to entertain himself? Like rocks and sticks? It was kinda fun to see how far he could throw stuff... Or holding a twig or a stick in his hand and slowly burning it to watch it crumble. He knew it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try that with anything in here, though it would be a lie to say he wasn't curious about how a wooden chair would crumble... That was way bigger than a stick.
Well... She did have books, too. He looked over at the bookshelf, though his face crinkled somewhat as he remembered the one he'd tried to read. There really wasn't anything great about that ‘gatsby’ at all, shit was just confusing...
Mystic
Tikki follows his gaze to the books, and snickers.
“Oh, you don’t have to read if you don’t want to, though that’s certainly an option.”
She moves toward the big black screen, opens the cabinets underneath it, and rifles around for what appears to be a set of blocky plastic boxes. They’re attached to cables that go to the back of the screen.
“You could draw- I have plenty of paper and drawing stuff- watch television, or play with these video game consoles.”
Spooky
Going off his expressions, he seemed to recognize what drawing was easily enough, though he had no idea what the electronics were. He didn't pay the monitor much mind, since he already had seen those before and knew it was a screen, albeit one that wasn't powered on at the moment... But what were these things down beneath it? They had a lot of shiny buttons, and unable to curb his curiosity, he reached around Tikki started poking at them just to see what they did.
Mystic
"It's not on yet," Tikki chuckles, not doing anything to dissuade him from poking and prodding at the controllers or console. "You will use those to control the game, though, so you're on the right track."
She grabs a small remote from a table by the couch. He'd seen a few of those before, when scientists would click their little buttons to turn screens on or off, or alter things on the screens themselves like magic.
She pushes a button, and the television screen clicks on, producing light and noise he'd never witnessed in his life! This was wildly different from how the screens looked in the lab. This big screen had moving pictures of people, plants, animals, and he could barely understand any of it.
"Oops, not on the video game port," Tikki says, clicking another button. "Forgot I had it on the news."
The screen clicks to a black background with green text in one corner, which reads 'VGA'. Tikki kneels down to push a button on top of one of the consoles, which lights up, and the screen follows shortly after. It goes from showing nothing but black to a vibrant, smooth display of some sort of menu. It read 'Console Input- Super Nintendo', and had an empty window in the center.
"This is the console screen. The box I just turned on is the console that you load games into the port," Tikki explains, indicating the slot where the cartridge was to go, before pointing to the controller he was poking. "And that's the controller! You push the buttons on it to move around and select stuff. And this-"
Tikki has a big smile as she reaches into the cabinet again, and pulls out a box full of small grey cartridges and plastic boxes with discs in them.
"-is my game collection. See any you like?"
Spooky
The sudden visuals and noise coming from the big screen as it came to life gave him quite a start, and he immediately backed up and ducked behind the couch. It all vanished before he thought to flee the room, though, and he was left staring dumbstruck at a blank screen again with three letters in the corner. What just happened...?
Watching her pull out the box, he glanced nervously at the screen like he was half expecting it to raise its voice at him again, then back at what she was holding. When it remained as it was, though, he ended up approaching again and peeking into the box. These were games...?
...Well, some of them were kinda gray like rocks. He reached in and picked one up at random, immediately finding it wasn't as heavy as a rock either. Also, it had a picture on it... Some kinda round pink thing? Didn't look like any animal he'd ever seen, and he tilted his head a little and squinted at it as he tried to make sense of it.
Mystic
“Ooooo, Kirby! A fine choice!” Tikki grins, reaching over and taking the cartridge from his hand. Kneeling down, she slots the cartridge into the port on top of the console.
The window on the screen fills with a colorful image of the same pink orb, which had a big cartoony mouth and tiny eyes, surrounded by stars and puffy clouds. Tikki presses a button on the controller, and the screen makes a happy ‘brring!’ sound, before going black again.
When it loads up again, big bubbly text says ‘Kirby Super Star’, with the little pink dude wearing a colorful hat and surrounded by more stars. It says ‘Press Start’ in flashing letters.
“The game is in the cartridge, which the console loads up on the screen,” Tikki says, watching as the screen loads up a demo level, showing the little pink character running around, jumping and- floating? It could float, apparently! And then it starts- eating things? Upon eating another thing that was walking around, the pink thing gains a hat and a sword, which it uses to start smacking other things.
Spooky
He gave a little snort as he watched. That... was surprisingly violent, and kinda funny since it looked so cute. This little dude was just walking around eating other little dudes like it was no big deal, and now he had weaponry somehow? He got so wrapped up in watching what was happening in the demo level that he forgot it was supposed to be a game of some kind.
Mystic
He suddenly feels plastic being inserted into his hands.
Oh- Tikki just handed him the controller. She presses a button in the center that says ‘Start’, and the demo level disappears to show a brand new level screen. The pink dude wasn’t moving this time.
“Press buttons on that,” she says with an amused smile on her face.
Spooky
Why wasn't he moving...? He glanced between the screen and controller, before hitting a button, and the pink thing scooted forward just a little before stopping again.
...Wait. He poked at another button on the other side of the plastic thing, and sure enough the pink guy moved again, jumping this time. His eyes went wide as he realized what was going on- he was making the guy move! With the buttons!!
Needless to say he started pressing more of them to see what they did, which quickly turned into button mashing to see what would happen if he hit multiple buttons at once. Hah! Pink dude looked super confused- whoa wait he's flying! What- how did he do that?? He looked down at the buttons trying to figure out which one did the flying thing.
Mystic
Tikki snorts a laugh.
"Good job, you're figuring it out already! Welp, have fun saving the planet of Popstar."
And with that, she turns on her heel and heads off to her room, grinning the whole way. She had to go get changed out of her pajamas, and start making a plan for meals for the week.
Spooky
He gave a small nod in response, but was otherwise completely absorbed in playing, his eyes never leaving the screen.
After figuring out the movement well enough, he started to explore the level, mostly inhaling enemies and spitting them back out until by sheer accident he figured out how to swallow them and get abilities from them. He caught on quick and was feeling pretty confident, until suddenly a huge tree started attacking him! He panicked because he couldn't eat it, and the tree having hollow, empty holes for a face was pretty unnerving too. Swallowing the apples didn't seem to do anything either, and he died before he could figure out what to do.
Mystic
Tikki lets him continue to enjoy the game- even the parts that would have been frustrating, like losing all of his lives and restarting from scratch. All that mattered to her was that it kept him engaged for a bit. A good sign that he wouldn't be bored to tears while she was gone during her workdays. It was also very encouraging in terms of his cognitive development. If he could piece together how to play a video game, his reasoning skills and learning capability were pretty good! His practical application of language and math was a bit behind- maybe at some point, they could move into actual educational lessons...?
Augh- there was the older sister instinct kicking in, again. She missed her siblings in the ocean. This kid wasn't family; she was helping him because he was a lost soul who was taken advantage of and needed help, and no kid deserved to be on their own.
...it was very endearing, though, watching him laugh whenever he made Kirby dance in confusion.
A few hours later, and Tikki- now in her day clothes- was in the process of making sandwiches.
"Any luck beating Dedede yet?" she pipes from the kitchen.
Spooky
Almost as if on cue, there was a small "huh?" as he took his eyes off the game for a moment, followed by Dedede's theme song getting cut off by the little death jingle that played. He made a frustrated noise, and the fight music started over.
Funny, for how much timidity this kid showed when confronted with unfamiliar stuff, he could also be pretty stubborn. He kept dying, but instead of getting upset to the point of giving up, he just tried again. That was encouraging, at least!
Mystic
Tikki giggled.
“Oops, sorry.” She loads up several sandwiches onto a plate for him, and one on another for herself. “Didn’t mean to throw off your groove. Maybe next attempt, you take a break for lunch? Can’t play games well on an empty stomach.”
Spooky
It took a moment of confused button mashing for him to remember how to pause, but the presence of food reminded him he was hungry- Hammer guy could wait.
So excited was he to get to his lunch, he nearly tripped over the couch when hurrying over.
Mystic
"Whoa, don't fall over!" Tikki says with a gasp that turned into a breathless laugh. "The sandwiches aren't going anywhere, and I don't want you to hurt yourself."
She hands him his plate. This time, it doesn't have any utensils on it.
"I figured if nothing else, you might be able to learn how to make a sandwich for the times I'm gone," Tikki says, taking her own plate to the actual dining table for once. "It's very easy- you just layer food between bread, and bam, sandwich. I don't know what you like, though, so I made several kinds."
Spooky
He scarfed them all down in a matter of bites, licking the crumbs from his face with a big grin. He apparently enjoyed all of them, which was good- he wasn't picky at all. Not surprising, considering the kind of stuff he'd subsisted on before... But at the very least, it would make keeping him fed on a budget a lot easier.
"Put stuff in bread," he rasped, trying to see if he got her instructions right. Seemed easy enough, as long as he knew where to find the stuff he needed. From what he could tell all the food came from the room with the counters though, so shouldn't be too hard to find something to put in some bread.
Mystic
"...I don't know why I continue to be concerned for your diet," Tikki says, munching her own sandwich with a smirk and a shake of her head. "You haven't turned down a single thing I've offered yet."
She eats in comfortable silence for a moment.
"So- how are you feeling today?" she asks, curious. "I'm sure these past few days have been kinda... overwhelming, for you."
Spooky
He stopped licking the remaining crumbs from his plate and pondered her question, nodding a little. It had been a lot to take in... It felt almost like too much at times. But confusion aside, there hadn't been anything bad that had happened to him since he'd been in this house. There was a little nervousness that came with being in a building at first, but... He hadn't been forced to stay in one room, and he was allowed a surprising amount of freedoms, to the point where he wasn’t even sure what to do with them all. She'd even given him the option to leave if he wanted to.
A few days ago he'd never thought he'd be in a house, cleaned up, and wearing clothes. It was kind of surreal. Still... it was nice.
"Better," he said after a few moments, having found a word for it. He felt better.
Mystic
Tikki offers him another smile, taking another bite of her sandwich and swallowing before she continues.
"That's the best I could hope for, I suppose," she said, keeping her attention on her plate.
...
"...Sorry, I'm not used to having company for this long," Tikki says, feeling awkward as she avoids eye contact, scratching behind her neck with one hand. "I didn't really... let myself have any, for a long time. For obvious reasons."
Spooky
Understandable, though it still sucked. Tikki was nice, even when she was the silver beast... But people got scared easily.
"...S' ok."
He wasn't exactly used to it either. He'd been told plenty of times that there wouldn’t be anybody nice on the outside, that he was dangerous and they'd want him destroyed. And as shitty as that was, he'd kinda started to think they were right for a while, there. It... didn't really occur to him that there would be anyone else like him out here, that'd be able to relate at least a little bit. Sure, she could blend in enough to go to town, but her transformations still clearly limited her in a lot of ways...
And the worst part was, he couldn't really say any of this shit to her because his throat didn't wanna fuckin' work.
"Wwish m'fuggn... voice wasn' broke," he grumbled, frustration evident as he frowned down at himself.
Finally had someone to talk to after who knows how long, and he couldn't fuckin' do it. Not for more than a few seconds at a time, at least not without feeling like he was gonna cough up a lung.
Mystic
Tikki gives a small start, before turning her head to give him a wry smirk.
“Aha, got a sailor mouth on you I see,” she snickers. “Good, I was worried about how much I’d have to censor myself around you. I hope you put those swears to good use against the assholes that ‘worked’-” she lifts her hands to do air quotes “- on you before. God knows they deserve so much worse. And don’t worry about your throat- just take it easy, drink more hot drinks, and it’ll heal up real fast.”
She didn’t want to think on it for too long. If she let herself get pissed off, the beast might come out.
Tikki finished the sandwich, and stood from her chair, stretching her back with a pop of vertebrae.
“Okay, now that you’re over here and fed, maybe I could help you learn how to wash dishes? I did some thinking, and laundry is a bit more complex, so for now we’ll start with easy stuff. You’ll need to be able to do your own dishes while I’m gone, or we won’t have clean plates and cups to eat and drink from.”
Spooky
Despite any frustration about himself, he clearly was trying to force an encroaching smile back down at hearing her call those Aria scientists 'assholes' after she'd spent this whole time not cursing around him. Awp, there was the telltale sharp exhale of a suppressed chuckle, too.
He nodded. They definitely deserved worse. Especially that lying fuck, Rainer.
The dishwashing suggestion was a welcome distraction before his thoughts could spiral into something more violent about what he wished he could do to them, and he nodded quickly, getting up. While he didn't have a beast form to worry about, he did have to consciously loosen his grip on the plate in his hand, feeling like it was gonna break into pieces if he didn't.
He sighed as he followed Tikki to the kitchen. Why did everything have to be so damn fragile...?
Mystic
Tikki spends a good amount of time teaching him how to clean the dishes. Trepidation naturally followed the turning on of the kitchen sink, but then she showed him the water flow was controlled by a pair of handles, and could be hot or cold just like the bath. Again, he had total control over the water flow, and it was destined for the drain, nowhere else in the room. She showed him how to get soap, and how to scrub the plates and cups before rinsing them, and where to put them on the rack to dry.
It took a few tries to get down, but Tikki quickly figured out he was a visual learner, and demonstration worked wonders on getting the instructions across. She remained patient the whole time, even when he accidentally broke a plate. She just scooped it up the shards in a towel and threw them in the trash, joking that ‘we don’t need a stabbing weapon today, but something to keep in mind if the dinner is a little too raw’. Turns out the task of washing dishes was indeed relatively simple to figure out.
“Alright, that’s the last of them,” Tikki says, wiping her hands on a towel. She gives him a smile. “Thanks for helping, Sticks. If you wanna get back to your game now, you can go ahead- I’ll make another mug of cider for your throat.”
Spooky
Even though it was a little frustrating at first, especially when his first attempt to scrub a plate led to him applying too much pressure and breaking it down the middle, he powered through it. He still didn't really like putting his hands in water, but at least it wasn't enough to cause a panic. On the bright side, he figured out how to clean without breaking stuff pretty fast after that first attempt, and... Maybe it was learning a new skill, or the repetitive motions of gently scrubbing dishes helping him get his mind off things, but as he carefully put the last mug on the rack and stood back from the sink, he did feel at least a little better.
Toweling off his hands, though, he noticed the skin on his hands looked kind of weird and dull afterwards, returning to their normal sheen about halfway up his forearms, the transition definitely more noticeable than when he'd gotten out of the bath. Uhh, was that supposed to happen...?
Well, it... didn't hurt or anything from what he could tell, so after a brief moment of inspecting his hands, he shrugged it off and went back over to the couch to continue the match against hammer guy.
Mystic
Tikki didn’t comment on it, but she had spied the thin streams of dark… something… trailing off of his arms into the sink. It had the shiny quality of an after-rain oil slick, before it got sucked down the drain with the rest of the dishwater. The fact that he acquired an almost mitten-like pattern to his hands once he dried off was quite noticeable, and surprising. What was that about? Huh.
Deciding it wasn’t an issue for now, Tikki resolved to keep mental tabs on it, but leave him be. He had enough decompressing on his plate to manage for now.
Tikki lets him spend the rest of the day chilling out, enjoying the game console. In the meantime, she cleaned up the bathroom, having finally seen the mess he’d left it in after the bath. It wasn’t horribly dirty, but the towel had dried into a stiff crust like a cracker, and the splashed water left marks on the tile floor.
The only time Tikki interrupted his fun was for a brief lesson on how to use a phone. The concept of a phone was practically magic to him, even with his basic understanding of common tech he’d seen around the lab. She taught him the standard emergency number- which was very easy, but risked getting attention he might not want- and her own number, which was a lot longer, but would only call her directly. His fingers were a bit larger than the buttons on the landline phone, but in a pinch, he could probably do it.
Evening drew close, then night again. Dinner was a bowl of some kind of yellow soft stuff in golden sauce, which was hot and delicious! And from what he saw- very easy to make, too. Another recipe he might be able to get a handle on?
Spooky
It had proven to be a pretty eventful day, if only because of his introduction to so many new things. Some were easier than others- He'd struggled somewhat with memorizing Tikki's number, so she'd written it down for him on a piece of paper next to the phone just in case. His hands had also regained their normal sheen by dinnertime, so he didn't think any more about it as he shoveled said dinner into his mouth like coal into a furnace.
After that, Tikki helped him make sandwiches for tomorrow, showing him where the bread and the stuff to put in the sandwiches was. She put the sandwich she made in a plastic bag, then put that in a brown bag along with some other stuff. Apparently that would be for her to bring to work to eat later, so he needed to leave that bag alone if he was hungry. The other sandwiches were his lunch for tomorrow, though, so it wasn't like he was gonna go hungry, either.
Finally bedtime rolled around, and as he was climbing back onto the couch with his blankets and pillow, he heard a strange sound coming from the bathroom. The door was open, so when he peeked in, he saw Tikki scrubbing at her teeth with some kind of... plastic stick? Buh? Was she washing her teeth like the dishes??
Mystic
Tikki continued brushing for a few moments longer, before one of her ear fins twitches. It twitches again, this time more noticeably in his direction, and she pauses, feeling eyes on her. When she glances towards the door, she’s treated to her house guest watching her with the most baffled look on his big owl-eyed face.
Tikki quickly leans toward the sink as she snort a laugh, trying not to spit toothpaste. Wiping her mouth with a towel, she chuckles.
“Right. Brushing teeth is a new thing, too. Alright, big guy, get in here.”
She scoots aside to make room at the sink, and digs in the cabinet below for a plastic package containing a second plastic stick of the same design, but red instead of green like hers.
Spooky
Blinking, he shuffled over to the sink. When offered, he took the small stick in his hand. Noticing the bristles at the end of it, it clicked that those were what she'd been scrubbing with on the green stick. What was the weird foamy stuff, though? Was she foaming at the mouth? He'd foamed at the mouth before, but it wasn't a good thing...
He gave her a look of confusion mixed with concern.
Mystic
Tikki takes the end of the brush, but doesn't remove it from his hands- instead, she takes a bottle and squirts a bit of some kind of white-and-green paste onto it, before capping the bottle again.
"That's toothpaste. It'll taste like mint, but it's not edible. It's for cleaning your teeth, and getting excess food and plaque off. Taking care of your teeth is important if you want to keep them- otherwise you'll get painful cavities and need to have the teeth removed, it's not fun at all."
For a second, it sounded like she was spouting total bullshit, but her delivery didn't sound like she was lying. Concerning.
"I don't know if you will need to worry about that too much, considering you uh-" Tikki searches for the right word for a moment "-roast everything you eat. But it might help, and it's better to be safe about it. Just, uh, brush your teeth fast. I don't know if your weird lava mouth will melt the brush."
Tikki picks up her own brush again, and starts cleaning her incredibly sharp set of chompers.
"Wghen yur dun, shpit id oud," she says past the toothbrush, before spitting the foam into the sink. She grabs a cup, pours some water into it, and starts gargling, which also ends up in the sink once she's done.
Spooky
Fast? Uh, okay.
His lips drew back as he bared his teeth- primarily human in shape, save for some very large, sharp canines that had mostly up to this point remained out of view- and scrubbed as fast as he could.
Mint was definitely a new flavor- he wasn't sure if he liked it or not, but it did have an interesting effect of making his tongue feel a little weird, and the air feel colder when he breathed in. He almost stopped there, though Tikki showed him he was supposed to get both sides of his teeth, so he opened his jaws and scrubbed the other side as well.
When he spat out the foam, it landed in the sink with an audible sizzle. Same went for the water he gargled with- seemed that happened with any liquid that remained in his mouth for long enough. Brushing fast was probably a good call...
Mystic
When he's done, Tikki is staring.
"Are you secretly a vampire?" she jokes, snickering. "You got big ol' fangs, Sticks. Planning to hunt some ring seals with those canines? Heheh- I'm one to talk. I have shark teeth."
Then she reaches up, and gives him a brief noogie on the forehead with one fist.
"Proud of you, kid. You're learning really fast, and soon, you'll be able to do all kinds of stuff all on your own!" Tikki tosses her toothbrush into a cup by the sink, which seemed to be its dedicated storage. "I'm gonna turn in for the night. You have a good sleep, whenever you get to it- I'll probably be leaving for work before you wake up tomorrow. Stay indoors, it's supposed to snow a lot, and you don't have any winter gear yet."
Spooky
The fuck's a vampire? Was she teasing him?
He gave her a confused frown, though it gave way to a grin and that quiet, chuffing laugh when she noogied him, and he saw it for the playful gesture it was. Yeah, okay, she was just teasin'.
He nodded, and he turned to put his brush in the cup as well. She didn't need to tell him twice to stay indoors, his natural shadowy camouflage was rendered completely useless in snow, and he wasn't a fan of cold!
Each retiring to their respective rooms, he crawled onto the couch and snuggled back in that corner between the back of the couch and the arm of it. It took a little bit more to get comfortable since his shirt kept pulling at the rock on his back as he tried to get settled. He was half-tempted to take it off, if only it didn't help keep in his body heat...
...Hm. While he wasn't really used to sleeping in any other way than upright, maybe he should try something else until he felt comfortable... He changed his position, trying to lay where he was more draped face-down over the back of the couch. Wasn't perfect... but the couch cushioning was soft and wasn't too different from hugging his pillow as he slept, and he was still sorta upright... And most importantly, it kept pressure off his back. He pulled his blankets up, held Slithers close, and after some time, he somehow managed to actually fall asleep.
Matchstick uses eating utensils to varying degrees of success, while Tikki draws up a roommate contract.
~*~
Mystic
Morning comes again, as it always does.
And with it, the spicy smell of a hot drink, as the catalyst to his waking.
Sitting on the rug next to the couch is another mug of the hot 'cider' Tikki made the previous night- but he can smell something else, too. The scent of the only other hot drink he was familiar with, the one the scientists in the lab carried around sometimes. It was earthy and bitter, but not in an unpleasant way.
Clinking noises from the kitchen, and plap plaps. Tikki must be awake, and making something.
Spooky
Slowly he unfolds himself, lanky legs stretching out from under the blankets followed by his upper torso and arms, his bones popping. He wasn't used to sleeping on something quite this soft... Sprawled out on the couch, he turns his head to try and see what Tikki's doing, but all he sees is her back as she prepares something just out of his view.
He was almost reluctant to get up, but the smell of the cider beckoned, and his mouth was feeling dry. He leaned down and scooped the mug up from the ground, holding it carefully in both hands and slurping noisily.
Mystic
"Wow, your bones sound like glow sticks," Tikki comments, back still turned. "First time you're sleeping on something soft?"
She tried to hide how much the thought pissed her off. Who was responsible for taking care of this kid in the 'lab'? They were shit at their job. Probably on purpose, which made her more angry, which forced her to stuff that feeling away for another molotov cocktail that surely wouldn't detonate later.
"I made you more cider- sounds like it did the job last night," she continues, not waiting for a response. "You should start drinking more regular water after this, though. Can't have you dehydrated, and you'll get more energy back if you eat properly. Which probably means I shouldn't be giving you too much sugar, but ehh..."
Tikki eventually turns back around, this time carrying a platter over to a strange contraption on a rotating spit. She flips it open, and pulls a set of puffy, boxy discs from inside. Loading up a plate with four separate discs, she sets up a second platter with only two, and lathers them in a translucent golden-brown syrup. With a march in her step, still wearing her colorful fish pajamas, she goes back to the living room that seemed to their designated eating space for the moment.
Tikki holds out the plate to him, complete with the utensils he wasn't sure how to use, and sits with her own.
"You're going to want the cutlery for this one," she says, smirking as she sips from her hot drink. "It's very sticky without it. Then we can start talking plans for whatever you're doing."
Spooky
He took the plate and was just about to pick up the food with his other hand, though he stopped dead in his tracks when she warned about it being sticky. Remembering the nectar tubes outside, he was reminded all too well that ‘sticky’ meant having to wash off.
Not really keen on taking another bath so soon, he considered the metal instruments that were given to him along with the disc- a long, flat one and another one with four prongs. Tikki had used the pronged one just yesterday to eat the, uh... theeeee omm... omelet! Yeah, she stabbed it and used it to pick it up. Didn't seem too hard.
He sat down and put the white disc in his lap, wrapping his fingers around the handle of the pronged utensil until he was holding it in his fist. He then lifted it and stabbed it more viciously than necessary into the food disc at top of the stack, attempting to pick the whole thing up with it. The puffy food was soft despite its crispier outside, though, and fell off the utensil, landing with a syrupy plap back on the stack and lightly splattering him in the stuff.
He slouched forward a bit in response, his brow knit together as his eyes regarded the stack with a rather grumpy look.
Mystic
Tikki snorts into her mug, clearing her throat before setting it aside, and picking up her own utensils.
"You have to cut the waffle, first," she explains, taking the fork and poking it, then cutting into it with the knife in the other hand while the plate rests on her lap. "You can use the knife, or the edge of the fork if you're lazy, like me."
Tikki then does just that, using the side of the fork to cut another square of her food. It takes a bit more wiggling, but once it's free, she pops it into her mouth just as easily.
"I'll get you a wet napkin after we eat, don't worry about it."
Spooky
He huffed out a breath and picked up the knife in his other hand, holding it just about as clumsily as he did with the fork. He stabbed the stack with the fork once more, then stabbed his knife into it as well, awkwardly sawing back and forth with it until it scraped noisily against the plate.
He stopped, grimacing at the sound but... there weren't any pieces free yet, so he wrenched the knife to the side and started sawing again.
Yeah, he was definitely going to need a napkin.
At last he managed to get it into smaller pieces... He stabbed those, carefully lifted them up to his mouth, and finally was able to take a bite. His eyes widened. While this whole utensils thing had been a bit more complicated of a way to eat something... It was so fucking worth it! The... bread? was nice and crisp, and the syrup was way better than the sugar water in those flower tubes. Prior annoyance forgotten, he licked his chops and went to stab another piece.
Mystic
Tikki shakes her head in mild amusement, eating some more of her own waffles.
"You might have an easier time if you're a bit more gentle about it," she says, smiling tiredly as she lifts her mug and takes another drink. "Moving harshly is what splattered the syrup. One sec-"
Tikki goes to the kitchen, grabs a napkin from a rung, and soaks it with a bit of hot water. Returning to the couch area, she holds it out to him.
"Here- you can wipe off the syrup with this."
Sitting back down, she hums, finishing her own two waffles in short order.
She waits quietly while he eats, drinking more of her mystery drink.
"So..." she says, finally breaking the silence once he's had time to work through the stack of waffles. "What's your plan going forward, Sticks? Do you have an idea of what you want to do?"
Spooky
He paused and looked up from his plate, his cheeks visibly stuffed with waffle and syrup dripping from his mouth. Then, still wide-eyed, he looked past her, not really at anything in particular.
Plan going forward? He'd been on the run for a while now, technically free even if he was being hunted, but up to this point it felt like his days had to be almost entirely devoted to his continued survival. If it wasn't hiding, it was food and water he was primarily focused on.
Now that those needs were met, though...
Now what...?
His eyes focused on her again, and he looked almost as if he was expecting her to continue on with what she wanted him to do, but no instructions were forthcoming.
Feeling lost, he gave a noncommittal shrug and went back to eating.
Mystic
Tikki hums, frowning a little.
"Okay, maybe that was a bit too broad," she acquiesces, cleaning a bit of syrup off her plate with the fork and nibbling it off the tines, almost literally chewing over her thoughts. "Anywhere in particular you want to go? You don't have to stay in this town if you don't want to- from the sounds of it, you seem pretty scared. I can help, but... I don't know, I guess I just feel bad that you seem so afraid all the time. You shouldn't have to be."
She felt a little bad pointing it out, but it needed to be said. She was observant. She'd seen him running for cover in the trees, acting like exposure to the world for even a fraction of a second meant certain death. Granted, she had no idea which 'lab' was responsible for... this. Whatever they'd done to him. Who knows, they could be near town.
"...it- reminds me of how I used to feel, early on," Tikki explains, scratching at one arm. Her pointed fingers catch lightly on the silver scales that faintly dust over her regular teal ones.
Spooky
With his waffles now gone too, he stuck the end of the fork in his mouth for a minute as he tried to think. When he took it back out again, the tines were red hot.
"Where else...?" He mumbled, looking down at the syrup puddle on his plate. It wasn't very reflective, but he could see the vague circular shadow of his head in it, blocking out the light that would otherwise be making it shine.
He truly didn't know any other place in this world, and it had taken a while just to get used to this one. Maybe it would've been better to just have kept running until he was far away, but even on the outside it seemed like he couldn't really escape. How long would he have to run until he didn't see that logo anymore? Until he knew he was out of their reach?
"They're ehn... ev... everywhere," he added.
Mystic
"...oh."
Tikki seems saddened by this, frowning as she looks down at her own empty plate.
"...I'm sorry," she says. "I know I didn't have anything to do with it, but- well, somebody has to say it."
...
"...who did it?"
Dangerous question to ask. But then, it was dangerous for her to simply have him in her home, and she seemed fine enough breaking that rule.
Spooky
He slid his fork around in the syrup, though he made no move to lick it or anything- it was just movement for movement's sake.
He was clearly hesitant to answer... Not because he didn't trust Tikki by this point, but moreso that he was afraid. Perhaps irrationally so, since it wasn't like it would summon them to just utter the name of it... But knowing that didn't ease his paranoia any. Still... if he was going to stay, she deserved to know, if only so she knew who to avoid too...
After seeming like he wasn't going to say anything, he finally opened his mouth and spoke again, this time in a whisper.
"Aria."
Mystic
...
"...wait."
Tikki says nothing for a moment as the gears turn. She sits up, removing a small tablet device from a pocket on her pajamas. She taps at it for a second, staring at the screen on the front as a light comes on, casting faint illumination on her cheeks.
"Aria, as in- the megacorporation? The company that does appliance and tech delivery, and is a giant monument to the follies of capitalism?" Despite almost none of these words making sense to him, Tikki seems to be getting incensed the deeper she goes, so it must have communicated something accurate to the true Aria conglomerate. "Ugh. Figures it would be a giant business with its fingers in so many pies that it could pay to get away with murder."
It was truly sad how little of an exaggeration that statement was. Tikki had no doubt in her mind that if this kid stayed where he'd been before, and proved not useful enough to whoever deemed the criteria, they could have simply erased him. Be done with him and act like he was never there- against his will or not.
"You can't leave, then," Tikki continues, thinking. "Otherwise, you'll get caught by the vainglorious manchildren with too much padding in their wallets. I'm certainly not going to turn you over to that. So... do you want to stay, then? Again, I don't have much, but... I have a roof and a couch, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at avoiding the public eye."
Spooky
There were a lot of terms being used that were flying over his head, but as he leaned to try and get a look at her screen, his wide-eyed, anxious reaction upon seeing the logo was all it took to confirm it for her.
He stared down as she scrolled through the results, his shoulders tense.
While he had been developed in their labs, the fact remained that he didn't understand the full scope of what Aria was. How could he? He had seen computers before plenty of times, but he'd never been allowed to use one himself. He'd never had money before, to his knowledge. The smiling, corporate facade of this company was just baffling to him, it painted a friendly picture so alien from the place he was used to that it gave him a severe sense of tonal whiplash just to think about it.
Listening to her, though, was kind of cathartic even if he didn't know some of what she was saying. Her anger was a small comfort to him, and it made him feel less alone in the world to know he had at least one person who had his back in this case.
Even though he was worried about what they would do to her if they found her, let alone what they would do if they found out she'd been hiding him...
At this point, the question wasn't whether or not he wanted to stay- he did, very much so. The question was really more like 'am i willing to risk Tikki's safety?' Tikki was the first and only truly friendly face he'd encountered... that he... didn't struggle to recall from an old memory, anyway.
On one hand, it would be dangerous, but on the other... He was a weapon. If they did track him down, or did anything to hurt Tikki... He would make them hurt too.Or worse.
Looking back up at her with a more resolute expression, he nodded.
He wanted to stay.
Mystic
Tikki smiles, pleased with this response- and kind of relieved.
“Oh good,” she exhales. “I wanted to give you the choice, but I won’t lie, I was probably going to worry about you a lot if you left.”
Tikki sets her plate aside and claps her hands together.
“Then, I guess we gotta draw up a roommate contract. Y’know- lay down some terms so we’re both comfortable.”
She leans over to rifle through a drawer of the cabinet set under the silent television, removing a yellow paper pad and pencil. Snapping the paper out flat, she places it on her knees and starts writing, talking while she does so.
“I’ve never had to share a space with someone that wasn’t a sibling before, much less on land, but I think I can handle that. Since this is my house, here are my terms: One, obviously you don’t have a job, so you can’t pay rent. That’s fine- but you’re going to have to help me around the house. Managing a space for two people is a challenge on my own, and in the process, I can teach you how to take care of yourself. Like laundry, cooking, etcetera... I’m not going to be your maid, but you’re not going to be mine, either. Could be helpful in an emergency, like if I get um- indisposed. Basically I’m just saying we help each other, okay? Two, you don’t sell out my uh-“
Tikki scratches behind her neck.
”-medical condition to any authorities. I’m not even normal by non-human standards, but hey, neither of us are very normal, are we? It’s like we’re made for each other,” she jokes.
Tikki finishes writing her notes, tapping the pencil on the paper before her gaze slides over to him.
“Does that sound fair? Anything you’d like to add, any rules you want to lay down?”
Spooky
The corners of his mouth quirked up a little at her relieved response, though it quickly turned to a look of surprise when she grabbed a paper and started talking about a 'contract'. That was a word he'd heard before, he was pretty sure, but like most things he overheard in random conversation snippets from scientists, he didn't have enough context to really understand what it meant.
Listening to Tikki though, he was able to figure out that it seemed to be some form of agreement. Wasn't sure why it had to be written down though... Maybe so both people wouldn't forget it?
Idly licking the syrup from his plate as he watched her write, he did his best to follow what she was saying- he wasn't sure what a rent was or what 'indisposed' meant- but he was able to grasp the main idea of it. 'Help each other' seemed reasonable enough.
Second part seemed obvious enough to him that it didn't really need to be written. After all, he did already promise that he would keep the secret! But if she felt better writing it on the paper too, well, that would be alright.
It sounded fair enough, so he gave a nod to that question, though when asked if there was anything he wanted to add, any rules he wanted... He got that far-off look in his eyes again and set the plate back down in his lap, immediately paralyzed by choice. While in the lab there were a lot of decisions he wished he could make in regards to his living situation, like no more ‘resilience testing’ chambers or shackles, or no more jabbing metal shit into his back... It didn't seem like Tikki's house had anything of the sort, and he'd only been here for one night.
What could he want that would apply to this place? He glanced over at Slithers as if to see if he had any ideas, but as Slithers was an inanimate plushie, no suggestions were forthcoming.
He gave an awkward shrug to Tikki. There was only one thing he could think of that was super obvious, but if they were gonna write everything down, might as well.
"Hh... Hide me... from Aria," he said.
Mystic
Tikki nods, not questioning the request in the slightest.
“Good, we’re on the same page.” She puts a line on the paper between her points and his, writing ‘Stick’s Rules’ above his section. “We can add more if you think about anything later.”
Tikki finished writing, and signed it with a looping scribble of some sort.
“I do have a guest room,” Tikki explains, sheepish all of the sudden, “but it’s- not furnished. I never had a reason to buy a second bed, and I was… kinda using it as my indoor hiding place when I change? So unfortunately that room isn’t usable right now, cuz it’s just kinda an empty box. Maybe sometime soon, though, once I save up enough money, we can set you up in there? Apologies in advance for any damage to the room. It’ll take a while, so you can have this living room as your space until that day. I don’t use it much anyway, the fireplace dries out my scales.”
Spooky
He blinked, perking up a little bit in intrigue. A room of his own?
His cell back at the lab had been very sparse save for restraints, and it was more part of a larger room with heavy duty viewing windows separating them. Needless to say it hardly felt like a space to call his own, not with so many eyes on him.
He would gladly take an empty cameraless box over that, at least it offered some privacy. In the meantime, though, the living room seemed nice.
...Why was it called a living room, though? Didn't seem like it was alive, any more so than the rest of the building at least. Weird...
Still, the thought of staying in it was kind of exciting- it was warm, had a lot of stuff to look at, there were good smells from the kitchen, and he liked the fireplace. It was probably a good thing he didn't have any scales to worry about drying out.
...That did remind him, though. Tikki was a fish lady. Weren't fish supposed to live in water? There was an aquarium at the lab. He'd only seen it a few times in passing, but it was a rare spot of colors and visual interest in an otherwise mostly monochrome environment, and he probably could have watched it for hours if they'd have let him. There were fish in Tikki's room too, though that tank wasn't nearly as big, nor populated.
The only water he'd ever seen Tikki in, though, had been the pond outside. Did she normally go in there when it wasn't iced over? Hm...
That in turn made him wonder about the place she said she was from before. Picking up Slithers and looking down at its beady lil' eyes, he thought for a moment before asking: "what's... Sea?"
Mystic
Tikki blinks. Her eyebrows raise when she realizes what he was asking.
“Oh- the sea! It’s a large body of saltwater, just a few miles away, also called the ocean. You can’t drink it, but the water is home to a lot of colorful fish, animals, and plants. My people live there- in your tongue we’re called ‘mermaids’. There are some of us that can live in rivers, but most of us live deep in the ocean. It’s my-“
She pauses, the cheer dissipating for a brief moment. When she speaks again, it’s muted.
“-was my home.”
Spooky
It didn't escape his notice how her expression seemed to light up when she started describing it, but faded so quickly at the mention of her leaving. It was... very clear she hadn't wanted to go. Something had forced her to leave. Whatever the reason was, it probably prevented her from going back, too...
Remembering Slithers's purpose, though, he lifted the plush up and nudged her shoulder with it, trying to hand it back to her.
"...don't like water..." he mumbled, sliding his hand over the nape of his neck. "liked... watchin' fish, though." His voice was still weak, but it was at least sounding a little better today, and not as much like he'd been gargling gravel.
Mystic
Tikki glances over in confusion as she feels something squish against her. Then she smiles, seeing the plush. She takes it and gives it a small hug.
“Thanks,” she mumbles. “You’re a good kid.”
A sigh.
…after a few moments, she places the plush back on the couch next to him. She appreciated the gesture.
“Yeah? Fish like watching us, too,” Tikki says with a chuckle. “You gave the guppies a big spook when you woke us up. They’ve been babbling about you all morning. They think you’re some kind of giant walking eel.”
Tikki stretches her back, grunting as the vertebrae pop a little.
“Any other questions you got for me? Since we’re laying all cards on the table now, might as well, I guess. You already know my biggest secret.”
Spooky
There it was again, that odd chuffing kind of laugh, the best he could manage currently. Eels were those noodly ones with all the teeth, right? He only really saw them poking their heads out from rocks in their tank for the most part, but they looked kind of goofy. The mental image of him poking his head out of a rock and opening and closing his mouth a lot just struck him as way too silly not to laugh, despite the state of his voice.
"Tell 'em sorry," he rasped, coughing a little from the laugh. He didn't mean to spook them, but at this point he was kind of used to that reaction.
That did remind him, though, of something else odd he noticed the night before. "...I couldn't h- hear 'em..." he whispered, trying to give his voice a break. He'd seen them swim towards Tikki, and they seemed to be the ones to wake her... but surely enough, he'd only heard the bubbling of the filter at most.
Mystic
"Oh don't worry, I did," Tikki giggles, sipping from her mug. "Guppies aren't the brightest, and thought your glowing eyes meant you were a predator there to eat them or something."
Hearing him whisper and cough, she reaches over and pats him on the shoulder.
"It's okay, take it easy on your throat. You'll probably need several more days of resting your throat and drinking cider or tea with honey to heal whatever damage you may have."
Tikki takes his mug, which was now empty, and goes to refill it in the kitchen.
"I'd be surprised if you could hear them!" Tikki says idly. "It's a mermaid thing- we can talk to fish, and understand them. They're not always intelligent, it can depend on the individual, or even type of fish. Usually larger fish are smarter- bigger brains to absorb more information, n' all. Anything that's not a fish, like turtles or otters, are harder to communicate with; not quite the same language."
Spooky
Huh... That sounded pretty nice, talking to animals... even if only a certain type of 'em. He'd seen a few animals at the lab, and plenty more of them while roughing it outside, but they didn't seem to like him. They usually ran away before he could even get close, which made sense for the wild ones, but even the domestic ones that were perfectly fine with being around humans seemed to freak out when they saw him. Which sucked, because they were cute, and it seemed like it would be nice to pet them...
His gaze drifted down to his hands, and his eyes fell half-lidded as he sighed. Yeah, right... Probably better that he didn't, he'd probably just crush or burn them by accident or something...
He didn't notice Tikki returning until a refilled mug entered his view, and it almost made him jump for a second.
Mystic
"I don't blame you for being skittish," Tikki says, somber as she hands him the refilled mug. "I don't know your full story, but I can imagine you've been through some hell. It's okay if you need time, there's no shame in it."
Leaving him to his drink, she picks up the contract and folds it, tucking it into a pocket on her pajamas. Hands now mostly free, she grabs his abandoned plate and stacks it on top of her own to go clean.
"Which reminds me- you've been kinda running around in tatters for a while." Tikki looks over her shoulder from the sink. "You need clothes besides- y'know- a blanket. Are you fine with hand-me-downs? Just nod yes or shake your head for no, to save your voice."
Spooky
He looked over his shoulder and tilted his head at the term 'hand-me-downs', having never heard it before, but... he did know what clothes were, and while the blanket had been doing okay at keeping him warm, it was a little annoying to have to hold it around him with his hand to keep it from falling down...
Also, a quick look at the shorts he'd been in since before he'd even escaped- now threadbare in places and torn in others- told him they were definitely not going to last much longer.
Not wanting to go completely without, he looked back up at her and nodded quickly, his face faintly glowing in embarrassment.
Mystic
Tikki accepts that answer.
“Awesome. I’ll see what I have that fits- might be a little big for even you, since I’ll need to pick something not form-fitting, but you’ll grow into them.” She gives him a quick, wry smile. “As if you’re not already a beanpole, heh.”
True to her word, once Tikki finishes with kitchen cleanup, and walks back off toward her room and disappears again for a few minutes. He can hear the distant clatter of moving drawers and the creak of hinges on closet doors, along with a faint plastic clicking noise. Eventually, she emerges with a small armload of cloth.
“Got some sweatpants and leisure shirts that’ll probably be fine,” she says, rifling through them before lightly tossing them in his direction. They land on the couch cushion with a pff. “Mostly just comfort clothes. Go ahead and use the bathroom whenever you want to change.”
Spooky
He made a face at the beanpole comment as she turned back around to finish up in the kitchen. Beanpole? What does that even mean??
When Tikki left to get the clothes, he looked himself over front and back, trying to figure out what she meant. The moment he heard her returning, however, he quickly stopped and pretended to just be chillin' out with his arms loosely crossed instead.
When she unceremoniously tossed the clothes on the couch next to him, he was quick to start checking them out. On top of the pile was a big shirt that, when held up, had a drawing of an orange animal sleeping in a red box, with a blue blanket draped over them, and the words 'I HATE MONDAYS' on it.
He blinked, before shrugging and tossing it back on the clothes pile. He then scooped the whole thing up in his arms and went off to the bathroom to get dressed.
"You... are one of OUR products, Matchstick. Don't forget that."
~*~
Mystic
Tikki works on her own omelet in comfortable silence, letting her guest relax by the fire while she filled her own egg patty with her additions of choice. Once her folded egg taco was on the plate, she drizzled some kind of red liquid over top of it, and took up those metal tools he could never quite understand the purpose of. Lifting her plate, she goes to sit at the couch, and- uses the tiny knife and spoked thing to poke and cut her omelet, eating it off the utensils.
Oh. That’s what they were for. She didn’t need to get food on her hands at all.
…
“Have you been on the streets your whole life?” Tikki asks, quiet.
Spooky
He looks up from watching her cut the omelet and poke it with the pronged thing, before frowning a little and shaking his head no.
No, being on the streets was a relatively new thing for him. In a way, he had kind of lucked out that adaptability was part of his training, otherwise he may not've survived very long, but... This probably wasn't what they had in mind while training him. It was more for use in battle.
He glances down at the floor in front of him, wishing he still had the snow and stick to help him explain things. The best thing he could do for now, though, was try and sum up everything he could into one word, and force it out of his uncooperative throat.
"L.. ll- laa... b," he rasps, looking back at her.
Mystic
Tikki, who had been mid-bite of her own omelet, chokes on the piece of food. She has to pound on her chest for a second before the food is dislodged, and she can breathe again.
In just one word, that was- quite a bit of information to swallow. Just like her omelet.
"I'm- hkf- sorry," Tikki apologizes, rubbing at her throat for a moment. "You- wh- but- how-? You came from a lab? Excuse me? As in- wait-"
She frowns, staring into space. He can see it in her eyes- she was putting together a lot of puzzle pieces. She sets aside the plate, losing her appetite in this moment.
"...that- suddenly a lot of things make sense. But- why were you in a lab?"
Spooky
He looked alarmed when she choked on her food, but once she'd dealt with that enough to ask him more questions, he ducked his head slightly and slid his hand over the nape of his neck. He gave a small shrug, mainly because he didn't know how he'd got there. He couldn't really remember being anywhere else, leading him to think that maybe he was born there…? Though there were some things he could just barely recall that seemed to contradict that.
He knew what trees were, before he’d even escaped. They'd never let him outside, not once, but he could picture outside, sometimes in dreams... And there were other things, too. Faded voices and shapes, and strong emotions attached that left him feeling lost, scared, and like he'd been hollowed out whenever he thought about it too hard.
So usually, he didn't.
All he had for an answer as to why he was there was what they were developing him for.
"...w... wepn," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact and looking back at the burning fireplace.
Mystic
...There's a long pause.
Even though he wasn't facing her, he could feel her eyes boring into him. Analyzing.
Behind his back, the scales on the back of Tikki's arm start to stand on end. She clasps at her forearms with her hands, clenching her jaw as she wills the beast back into the depths, forcing the scales back down.
The thought, and all the implications it carried, made her so, so angry. But she just got back to normal from a shift- if she let it happen again so soon, it would exhaust her. She'd be so depleted of energy that she wouldn't want to move for a week, and she wasn't in a position to let that happen anymore.
"...Okay," she says, finally. A brief, forceful exhale as she quells her outrage for his sake. "I see why you ran away, now."
Tikki puts her chin in one hand, thinking. Then her eyes flick to the door. Then back to him in worry.
"...Am I gonna get in trouble with the law or something if someone finds out you're in my house? Are YOU in trouble with whoever you ran from?"
Not that she was particularly bothered by the idea of someone reprehensible showing up at the door. She'd welcome the opportunity to feed someone a knuckle sandwich and have it be sweet justice. But not at the cost of somebody else being put in danger.
Spooky
Feeling her staring, he glanced back at her, worried he'd made her angry at him. He could sense the tension, and his eyes turned downwards as he fidgeted with his hands.
Her questions didn't assuage his nerves any, either... because he had, if only for a brief time due to the distractions and curious things in this house, forgotten he was being hunted.
He was hesitant to answer, worried that confirming this fact would get him thrown out. Tikki was nice, but to get involved in anything like this seemed like too much to ask of anyone.
He didn't know what this 'law' was, but he knew the Aria Corporation was big, and they had a lot of resources. Hell, their damn logo still haunted him whenever he sneaked into town, never truly letting him forget that he wasn't safe.
...It wasn't fair not to tell her, though. To not at least try and warn her about what she was getting into if she let him stay in her home.
Looking conflicted, he finally nodded. Setting aside his disc, he reached down and tried to trace a shape on the rug with his finger, but it wasn't very clear.
Mystic
A long, sad sigh.
"...ok. I figured."
Tikki glances at the rug, leaning to see what he was drawing- but she couldn't make anything out from here. Hm. Maybe he was just doodling from the stress. She did sorta put him on the spot, all of the sudden.
"...well, I'm not going to just let you freeze to death in the snow," she says, frowning. "And whoever uses a kid test subject for scientific experiments is super fucked up, I'll tell you that."
Standing up from the couch, she moves to sit on the rug next to him, scooting a bit closer so she's near enough for expression of comfort, but just at the edge of his personal space. She looks down at the carpet as she talks, idly trying to decipher his finger-drawing on the floor.
"I don't have much to offer, Sticks. I do have a roof, and food, sometimes. I don't make a lot of money, and I'm dealing with my own demons- but I'd still like to help you, somehow. If you want it?"
Spooky
He doesn't seem able to get the tracing of his finger across, so he stops. The best that could be deciphered from it was that he seemed to be writing an 'A' for part of it. If he was trying to make a word, though, the rest of the scrawl was incomprehensible. There didn't seem to be any other letters, and even the A was kind of questionable.
He looked unsure at her offer, not because he was keen on turning his figurative nose up at it though. Moreso, he was worried. She already had stress from turning into the silver beast, and didn't have much money, and... he didn't know what 'demons' were, but that didn't sound good either.
...
But at the same time, he didn't wanna go back to taking his chances in that hole in the ground. Not after he knew what being in a warm house on a soft rug, with not one but TWO blankets was like.
His eyes searched her expression. She really did seem to want to help...
He hugged his pillow close and gave a little nod, before resting his chin on it.
Mystic
He feels more than sees her hand clasp onto his shoulder, squeezing once in reassurance before letting go.
"Okay," she says, offering him a little smile. "I'll do what I can."
Tikki leans back to the couch again, and takes her plate with the half-eaten omelet. She sets it on the carpet and slides it over to him, letting it rest by his knee.
"Here- you can have the rest of mine. I wasn't very hungry, anyway."
A lie. Shifting consumed a lot of calories she had to replenish, which she had every intention of doing so later when he was asleep or something. But right now, she lost her appetite. At least this way the food wouldn't go to waste.
Tikki stands up, stretching her shoulders and wiggling her webbed toes.
"I don't know a lot about you, and that's fine- you don't have to share what you don't want to." Tikki scratches behind her head, starting back towards the kitchen to start cleaning. "Just let me know how I can best help you, alright?"
Spooky
He looked from the offered omelet half to her, before he picked it up with his hand and stuffed it in his mouth, licking the remaining red sauce off his fingers. This had a different taste than his, but was still good!
He didn't seem as keen to get up, covered in fluffy blankets as he was. While he wasn't full, his stomach was no longer empty, and going from being outside in the snow with almost no clothes for most of the day to taking a hot bath and sitting all bundled up next to a roaring fireplace... Sleepiness was definitely setting in, and his eyelids drooped.
He nodded in response to her, rubbing at one of his eyes with the palm of his hand.
"Th... thanks," he said, straining to try and be louder since she had walked back to the kitchen. Oof, probably wasn't the best idea. Fuck, he wished he could figure out how to fix his broken voice. It'd been a long time since he'd heard what it sounds like normally, but he knew it wasn't supposed to sound like this.
Mystic
Tikki glances back in his direction at the sound of the voice crack. Ouch. That sounded very unpleasant. Did speaking cause him pain? Maybe his throat was damaged from... whatever happened to him in the 'lab'.
She tried not to think about it. He wasn't there, now.
"It's no trouble," she says, offering another smile as she removes the pan to wash it. "Nobody should have to live on the street- especially not kids."
In the background, Tikki quietly goes about making some hot apple cider. It was just a cheap packet mix, but it was easy, and fast. The water boils gently on the stove while she cleans up the containers of omelet fillings, and puts away all the washed dishes once she'd dried them with a kitchen towel.
She is left to ponder in silence for a while. He'd never seen silverware, didn't know how to feed or take care of himself. Laboratories that tested on humans- at least, he might be human, she really wasn't sure- evidently still existed, and were doing shady shit like turning children into weapons. That was the most she could ascertain from his broken speech and limited information. Whoever was responsible, they were probably out looking for this kid. And if she was caught with him in custody, if she was lucky, she'd be left alone- but he would no doubt be taken back to whatever hell he endured.
She had seen the rocky injuries all over his back. She couldn't begin to comprehend what would cause that. It looked a little better after he was able to bathe, but there was still a substantial amount of rock crust covering his spine. She was hesitant to touch it, or ask about it in case it was sensitive.
Steam hisses from the kettle, and she turns off the stove burner. Water is poured into mugs, and Tikki shakes out the cider mix into the mugs, pouring honey into both. Stirring them with spoons, she walks back out into the living room to check on him.
"I've got hot cider, for your throat," she says, rounding the couch.
Spooky
He looked like he'd gone into almost a kind of sleepy trance, watching the flames dance on the logs...
But he perked back up a little when Tikki returned with- Oh! He'd seen these before, sometimes he would see people at the lab walking or standing around with these little handled cylinders in their hands, usually in the hallways when he was being transported to another area. He never knew what was in them, but they had a nice smell...
These smelled good too, but in a different way. When Tikki handed one over to him, he took it and held it in both hands, peering down at the unfamiliar drink. Unsure how to proceed, he dipped his tongue into it to give it a taste.
Mystic
The immediate taste was sweet, with a hint of spice that wasn't quite the same as the red thing he ate earlier. What did Tikki call it? 'Pepper'? This was different. It was hot, though, and the little bit he managed to swallow off his own tongue actually soothed his aching throat a little, more than water had up until this point.
Tikki, seeing this, chuckles into her own mug that she had just lifted to her face.
"Okay, that was pretty cute," she says, snickering. "And you have a lava tongue?? Weird, and cool. But yeah- you drink it like this."
Tikki demonstrates, holding the mug in her hands up to her chin and tipping it back a little, taking a gulp of the liquid inside before tipping it back down, swallowing with a satisfied exhale.
"It has honey in it, which is a natural remedy for throat problems," she explains, sipping more of her own drink before continuing. "I've had to use it before when shifting damaged my voice for a day or two. Should help, I think. And if it gets too cold, you can always reheat it."
Spooky
He flushed with a faint glow at her comments, but did his best to mimic the demonstration, slowly tipping and attempting a sip with a noisy slurp.
...Holy shit! A way to drink without getting it all over himself! He looked down at the mug with big eyes full of wonder. This was awesome!
He was quick to drink the rest of it down, steam spilling from his mouth when he lowered the mug and exhaled afterwards. The honey coated his throat, making it feel less sore after his attempts to talk. His glowing tongue poked out again, licking his lips.
Mystic
Another chuckle from Tikki.
"I mean this in the best way- you're like a big puppy," she jokes, watching the steam puff up towards her ceiling. "A lanky, fire-breathing puppy."
Sipping her cider, she sighs, getting up from the carpet one last time.
"You look ready to pass out, so I'm going to let you rest. You can use the couch, or stay on the carpet, whatever you feel like- sleep well, Sticks."
And with that, she walks off to the rest of her house, presumably to wind down for the rest of her afternoon. It wasn't far past midday, but she'd had an exhausting morning, and she figured he did as well.
Spooky
His expression briefly turned to confusion as he tried to figure out what a puppy was, but he shrugged it off, setting down the now empty mug. He was very sleepy, and probably would've been content to just sleep next to the fireplace, though without anything to prop him up he kept slowly listing to the side until he'd jerk back upright with a start.
He let out a tired grumble and crawled like a blankety slug across the floor until he was at the couch, where he leaned back against the side of it. It was definitely softer than the dirt had been, and the blankets added extra cushioning. Hugging the pillow close, he curled up and rested his head on it, so cozy that he drifted off in no time.
...
"You really thought you could just leave... Didn't you?"
His eyes shot open at the familiar cold voice of the ponytailed man, Dr. Rainer... but he didn't see him anywhere when he looked around the living room. It was nighttime now and the fireplace had gone out, bathing the room in darkness, and any warmth seemed to have been sucked out of the house along with it.
Then, a red dot appeared in the window. Followed by another, then another, and they continued to multiply until they were peering in through every window, swarming, a buzzing sound reverberating off the walls and leaving him rattled. Drones.
With a smash of glass they set upon him, giving him barely even any time to stand before they were already on him, a writhing mass of buzzing motors and claw arms, reaching and scratching and grabbing. He managed to fight back, blasting them with fire and setting his fists crunching into metal when they got too close, but there were always more to take their place.
"No matter where you scurry off to, you can never truly abandon your purpose. You know that, don't you?"
Metal parts crunched underfoot as he continued to doggedly fight against a neverending onslaught, pouring in through the windows like wasps from a nest.
Suddenly, another piercing pain lanced through the back of his neck, near the base of his skull, his vision blurring and going white for a few moments as he was brought to his hands and knees.
When he opened his eyes again, the drones were gone, and the room was quiet... But as he remained there, trying to catch his breath, he realized something very quickly. He couldn't move.
"Stand."
To his dawning horror, he stood up. Without trying to. His body was moving without his input. His eyes wouldn't even budge when he tried to look around.
"You... are one of OUR products, Matchstick. Don't forget that. Now... Destroy."
NO!
It was too late. Fire sparked and climbed up his limbs, engulfing his body in flames that started to catch on the floor around him. He raised his arms and sent blasts of fireballs careening around him, smashing walls and furniture, anything not annihilated on impact would perish in the blaze... The walls buckled in the inferno. Chunks of ceiling fell. This house was done for, and everyone in it, including Tikki.
And as he distantly heard her screams, he felt...
nothing.
-!!!
Heart hammering in his chest, his eyes opened for real this time and he sat bolt upright with a gasp, prompting a coughing fit. Smoke spiraling out of his mouth, he tried to catch his breath and regain his bearings.
Mystic
The house is quiet. Besides his panting breaths and his heart trying to decide if it wanted to break his ribcage and escape, there was no sound beyond the distant hum of the heater in the walls. The fire- which appeared to have had an extra log placed on it at some point- had burned low until all that was left were charred husks, and a pile of glowing embers. It produced only a faint pop and hiss, along with the lightest aura of remaining warmth.
The house is dark. Just like in his nightmare- but there's no voice to taunt him in the shadows. The windows, which had been an open view out into the world, were covered by thick drawn curtains. Nothing could see inside, not even the searching cameras of the drones he knew were looking for him out in the city. No light is leaking past the borders of those curtains, either. He'd passed out somewhere around noon. Had he slept so long that it was nighttime?
The house is empty. Tikki is nowhere to be seen. A door at the far end of the corridor across the living room is shut. Perhaps she was there, or perhaps she left.
A hand flies quickly to the back of his neck-
-and he feels nothing. No robotic devices, no grasping claw-like limbs, no collar, and no needle stabbing into his skin. All that he finds is... the pre-existing injection site, that had long since healed over.
He was alone with his blankets and his pillow, a dying fire in the fireplace, and the lingering terror of the nightmare.
Spooky
Despite the realization that it had been a bad dream, and that there were no threats in sight, he still felt almost afraid to move for a while. He pulled the blankets up around him like it was a barrier, camouflage to hide him from whatever lurked through his imagination.
Still, he couldn't go back to sleep. Not without making sure everything was okay... So holding the pillow and clutching one of the blankets around him, he got up and checked the perimeter, wandering through the living room and down the hall, peeking in through the doors just to be safe.
Mystic
…So far, everything seemed to be clear.
The kitchen still smelled like the food Tikki made earlier - ‘om-lets’, or something. The burners in the stove were off, and all the dishes had been cleaned and returned to their rightful places.
The living room was the same. The book he picked up still sat haphazardly on the stack when he set it aside. The fire was still dying, the firewood stack neatly piled.
The windows were unshattered; no glass or broken drones littered the floor from his imagined combat. Peeking beyond the curtains showed a gentle fall of snow from the sky, and a dark, starless night filled with clouds.
…
Paying close attention to the house let him notice a few things. The scratches from the driveway were present here, too- they had been spackled and repaired wherever possible, but the signs of wear persisted. Wooden furniture was bent or scored in places, as if something big had clumsily scraped by it. These must be the signs of whenever Tikki transforms against her will, identical to what he found outside. This was a small abode to contain the oversized- whatever it is she turns into.
The door at the end of the hall has the most prominent damage, where the frame is buckled up and outward in a couple places, and the hinges had been repaired multiple times.
What did she say again? ’Shifting outside sucks because she can’t fit through the door,’ or something.
…There’s a faint buzzing sound coming from the door. She was probably asleep, oblivious to his nighttime panic.
Spooky
The sound was sort of like the breathing noises she made while asleep as the silver beast, but smaller... It wasn't like the buzz of drones, this was far less harsh and only happened at intervals instead of continuously. Still, just in case, he listened for a bit, before gathering up the nerve to open the door just a crack and peek inside.
Mystic
The inside of Tikki’s room was also dark, all lights in the room turned off save for a single lamp in the shape of a spiny fish plugged into a wall socket. There were more plants in hanging pots, some with flowers that wafted a sweet scent. A fan overhead spun in a slow circle. Against one wall was a tank full of water, plants, pebbles, and several small fish that flitted about once the light from his eyes was upon them. A filter hummed quietly on the tank, the only other notable sound in the room.
On the bed was Tikki, fast asleep. She was haphazardly wrapped in a thick blanket of her own, and what was visible of her arms and legs was covered in some sort of cloth outfit with more fish stitched onto it. She had a book open next to her on the bed. Thin red lines on the sides of her neck produced the buzzing sound he’d been hearing, every time she breathes. Was that how she snores?
The fish in the tank all swim at once towards the corner nearest the bed, swimming frantically at the tank glass.
Tikki grunts, her snore sputtering as she reaches up and rubs at her face with one hand. Moving to sit up, she looks first towards the tank. A pause, ear fins twitching, before she looks towards the door. The mermaid squints, her eyes reflecting the light from the doorway as she sleepily processes.
”Nghf- Sticks…? I see… your eyes glowing.”
Spooky
The glowing eyes peering from the doorway glance to the side self-consciously and duck behind the door, though after a few moments, one came peeking back into view.
Yeah, she'd seen him, there was no point hiding. The door opened more and he stood in the threshold, huddled in his blanket, his tallness diminished in appearance somewhat by his nervous, slumped posture. He squeezed his pillow underneath his arm.
"S... sorry," he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the fish tank filter. "Checking... if safe." The honey must have helped somewhat, that was the most talking he'd managed in one go since they'd met!
Mystic
There's a pause as Tikki's sleepy brain works its way through what he just said.
"Oh..." she mumbles, yawning- and revealing a mouth absolutely full of sharp teeth. "It's... ok, Sticks. It's just you, me, and the guppies... they started yellin' the moment you-" another yawn "-opened the door."
She rubs at her face again, this time with both hands.
"You gonna- be ok...? Can you go back- to sleep...?"
Spooky
Guppies? He looked at the fish in the tank, though he hadn't heard them make any noise, let alone yell. He blinked, but turned his attention back to Tikki.
He nodded, but it was clear by how he was carrying himself that he was hesitant to go back to sleep. He was still tired, but fear had put him in a state of alertness despite that. Backing up from the door, he turned to go back down the hall. Maybe if he couldn't sleep, he could at least keep watch...
Mystic
"Wait."
Tikki grunts, scooting to the edge of her bed and rolling her legs over the side. She adjusts the sleeves of her colorful cloth attire, and digs around in her blankets. She removes something lumpy and plush from the bundle of blankets, standing up to approach the door.
"Here," Tikki says, holding out the object to him. "Holding this helped me relax when I first started living on land instead of the sea."
It was a stuffed lizard of some sort, but it had tiny plush spines on its back and a little pair of plush wings. Fabric fangs poked out of a sewn mouth underneath tiny black bead eyes.
"His name is Slithers. Maybe he'll help you feel safe, too."
Spooky
His glowing eyes blinked in the dark like two half-covered spotlights as he picked up the little soft... creature? He didn't know what it was, but it didn't seem to be alive. It appeared to be made out of the same kind of soft stuff the pillow was. The fabric that made up its plush hide had some kind of a spotted pattern that glimmered in the light of his eyes, like scales. Whatever this fake creature was, its appearance was endearing, and he smiled a little despite his anxiety.
He nestled it between the pillow and his body and gave a little nod to Tikki in thanks.
As he made his way back to the couch, he thought about what Tikki had said. She used to live in the sea... But what was that, exactly? A different town? He wondered how often she had to move. She had to hide too, right? If people found him scary to look at, they would absolutely find the silver beast to be scarier...
Getting to the couch, he took another look around the room. Still all clear. He was about to settle back down where he'd been before, when he stopped, noticing how his hand sunk down on the cushion of the couch when he started to kneel down on the rug. His eyes widened, and he squished the cushion with his hand.
This thing had pillows on it!
He got back up, and almost as if he wasn't sure if he was allowed to do this or not, he cautiously sat on the couch instead, curling up in the crook of the couch's arm. It felt like he had more defenses this way, being in a corner- and it was a very soft and squishy corner. It was like he was gonna sink into it, but he didn't- not enough to be alarming, anyway. This was a good spot...
Snuggling down in the blankets all curled up and hugging his legs, with the pillow and plush sandwiched between the front of his torso and the back of his thighs, he sat there in quiet comfort until he finally began to doze off again...
Mystic
...This time, he's unbothered by nightmares, or even dreams. The comforting blackness of exhaustion envelops him, and for now, he's allowed to sleep in the peaceful silence of nothingness.
Tikki has a strange new guest in her house. He acts like he's never been in a house before, doesn't know what baths are, and isn't much for conversation, but... He seems polite at least?
(content warnings: old wound description, inhuman scabs (made of rock))
~*~
Mystic
The interior of the home was dark the moment Matchstick walked in, but when the fish person reached over to flick a switch on the wall, warm golden light bloomed from several glass bulbs in fixtures about the space.
It was a cozy room, with a brown leather couch across from some kind of hollow made of brick. The bottom of the hollow had a small metal rack with a few wooden logs, chopped and sitting inert. A larger pile of neatly stacked logs sat next to the hollow. A few photographs in frames lined a small cabinet under a large boxy screen that was currently black. The shelf above the brick had small knickknacks made of glass, plastic, and other things he couldn’t possibly identify.
The rest of the room was no exception- strange objects he didn’t recognize sat on tables and shelves throughout the area. A couple plants sat in pots indoors, as well. They didn’t appear to serve any purpose besides decoration. Even though it was the middle of winter, the inside of this house had an overall beach vibe- not that he understood entirely what that felt like.
The fish person sheds the blanket once the door is shut behind them, sighing in relief to be indoors. Bundling the blanket up in her arms, she drops the torn remains of her clothes in a trash bin by the door- atop many fragments like it of various colors, and goes to grab a not-so-destroyed change of clothes to put on in their stead.
“Feel free to sit on the couch- I’ll light the fireplace so you won’t freeze while the heater warms up.” She gestures towards the brown cushy furniture, eyeing his… magma crusted back. “…do you want to go wash up, while I clean the blanket and start making food? You look like you could use a hot bath.”
Spooky
Feeling a bit lost and out of place, he'd started moving towards the couch as directed, but stopped when she spoke, looking back at her like she had suddenly switched to a different language. "Bath...?" He rasped.
Suddenly it made sense why he only ever really seemed remotely cleaner when it rained. Or why his back was still... Like that. At first glance it probably appeared like it was part of him, like some kind of shell or something, but on closer inspection, in better lighting, it was far too uneven and scab-like, having cracked in places and re-scabbed, and other parts looking like the rock had chipped and broken off, revealing skin underneath... and what was even more telling that it shouldn't have been there were the appearance that some kind of other more artificial, plastic-y material had melted and mixed into the rock in places, as well as the glint of a few... metal pieces? Trapped in the rock on his upper back, like the magma had oozed over them and hardened. There were a few other, much smaller instances of the rocky scabs on his body, but his back was absolutely the worst of them all.
And yet, he seemed unbothered by it. Probably because, worryingly, it had been stuck to him for months now.
Mystic
…She bit her lip, seeing the visible confusion on his face.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend,” she says. “I know you probably didn’t have much choice out in the street. I don’t know your story- maybe you have a severe phobia of water. But if you’re going to be in my house, you’re going to have to clean up. Plus, you’ll feel a lot better afterwards, I guarantee it! If you don’t want a bath, we can use wet towels, it really doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re comfortable with your choice.”
She turns again, and starts walking down a hallway to another part of the townhouse, with a quick pause at the corridor. She peeks back to make sure he’s following.
“My name is Tikki, by the way- welcome to my house.”
Spooky
He looked from the couch to her, not realizing he should follow until she looked back at him, and he hurried to catch up. He was still holding the pillow close like it was a security blanket, feeling awkward and like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing.
Didn't help his nerves at all to try and piece together what a bath was, from her words. Had something to do with water, and getting clean...
He tilts his head though, when she tells him her name. Tikki... Never heard a name like that before, but from what he could tell, there were a lot of names. All the scientists in the lab, at least the ones he heard about, all had different ones. He remembered having one too, though they gave him a new one to replace it. And if he kept trying to use the old one, then... then he would have to go back to the room w-where...
...It was just better to act like he forgot it.
He nodded to her, but didn't say anything else.
Mystic
…
“You don’t talk much, do you?” Tikki asks, frowning a little as she walks beside him in the hallway. She flicks another switch to turn on more lights in the building. “You don’t have to- sounds like you tried to eat a packet of charcoal sticks at some point. It would be nice to have a name to call you by- I’d rather not call you ‘kid’ forever. But you don’t have to give me one on my account if you’re not fond of it. Hell, you can make one up if you felt like it. I’ve known a few people who tossed their deadnames and didn’t look back.”
They reach a small door in the hall, and she pushes it open to reveal a small bathroom with a bathtub, shower head, sink, and a toilet. It’s very clean, like some of the rooms in the facility, but warmer and more welcoming than those sterilized white tiled chambers with chemical hoses. There’s even another plant on the counter.
“Here’s the bathroom,” Tikki gestures with one hand, standing aside. “It has a shower and bath, and hot and cold water- red for hot, blue for cold. If you don’t want to soak, there’s towels in that wicker cabinet you can dip in the water instead. And because it’s occurring to me just now- nothing in here is edible, it’s all soaps. They’re for cleaning, not eating.”
Tikki holds out her hands.
“I can clean the pillow while you’re in there, ok?”
Spooky
Dead name? They could die?
Guess that made sense, with those white coated assholes trying so hard to kill it...
His eyes followed wherever she pointed and he tried to mentally note down the instructions as best he could. Easier said than done, there was so much new stuff in this place to take in at once that it felt like his brain was working in slow motion. He almost jumped when she held out her hands, before realizing what she was asking.
Hesitantly, he relinquished the pillow. Like a well-loved plush animal, it looked like it had been trampled by a stampede and had lost a lot of its initial fluffiness.
He then went over to the cabinet she'd pointed out and got a towel. Immediately he was engrossed in feeling how soft it was, petting it curiously with his hand, before wrapping it around himself like he did with the blanket. It didn't cover nearly as much of him, though... It seemed like he kind of lost the plot of what he was supposed to be doing in here, at least until he went over to the tub and, looking between the two taps, tried the red one. It took a few tries to figure out he was supposed to twist it, but when he did and water suddenly rushed out of the faucet, he startled away from it like a snake had tried to strike him.
Mystic
When he jumped back like a spooked gazelle, Tikki raises an eyebrow. Was water actually scary to him? She’d been poking at the possibility, before, but…
Setting the pillow aside, she ducks into the bathroom next to the startled teenager.
“It’s ok,” Tikki says, keeping her tone gentle. “It’s just bath water. See?”
She places her hand under the stream, letting him see the water pour over her arm and into the tub. Any residual dirt on her from laying in the den washed away, spiraling down the drain. Steam began to rise from her scales as the temperature of the water started to climb, so she retracted her arm before it could burn her. One webbed hand adjusted the knobs so it wasn’t scalding, but nice and hot.
“And you can pull this to make it fill the tub, or start the shower.”
Pulling a small metal tab on top of the faucet, there’s a brief halt in the water, before it starts pouring out in heavy sprinkles from the taller faucet. Pushing the tab back down makes it stop, and start gushing from the lower again.
Spooky
He watched the dirt spiral down the drain along with the water, and it didn't seem to be accumulating much. His tension slowly eased, though the sudden hiss of the shower brought it right back up again, making him duck his head and wince even though he wasn't underneath it. In comparison, the water going back to gushing from the faucet seemed less frightening.
Taking a moment to calm his breathing, he looked at Tikki with uncertainty before sticking his arm in like she had. The water splashed over his hand, and while it didn't hurt, his fingers still curled a little in anticipation of discomfort. It... wasn't as bad as it usually was, though, he had to admit. It wasn't uncomfortably cold like the rain or the pond, nor was it painfully cold like the lab's. After realizing this, he relaxed a little bit and watched the dirt wash off of his hand and wrist, down the drain.
Mystic
Tikki smiles.
"Just like that," she says in encouragement. "Here."
She pulls a different tab, which causes a metal cylinder in the drain to compress. The water, no longer able to drain out, starts to fill up the tub.
"It'll take a while for this to fill- turn it off when it gets about here, okay?" Tikki gestures with her hand to about a third below the rim of the bathtub. "Otherwise it'll flood the bathroom. You can use the soap on the shelf over here to get rid of any tough dirt."
Tikki picks up the pillow she'd momentarily placed to the floor, and stands up. She turns to leave, hesitating at the door again.
"You going to be ok? If you slip and can't get up, uh- throw something against the wall. I'll hear it."
Spooky
He looked at her and nodded to show he understood.
While he felt a small sense of unease form in the pit of his stomach watching the water slowly inch its way up in the tub, it did help a little knowing that he wasn't trapped in there, and he had control over when the water stopped. He didn't have to worry about it filling up the whole room, and... blocking out all the air...
He felt a cold shiver go through him, and turned off the faucet probably a little earlier than needed.
...What now? He had the water. Was he... supposed to go into it? Hmm... He wasn't sure he wanted to do that. Instead, he remembered what Tikki had said about the towel, so he unwrapped it from himself and dipped it into the water. Leaning a bit over the side, he started wiping down his other arm with it. While water often felt weird on his skin, the towel did kind of help to mitigate that, and the warm temperature took away the other uncomfortable part.
After scrubbing at his arms for a little bit, he finally gathered up some courage to climb in, since it seemed like it'd be faster and it was warmer than sitting outside of the thing. The water quickly turned dark from months worth of accumulated grime washing off. Soon enough he had managed to clean up pretty well, although he left his upper back for the most part untouched.
Mystic
In the other half of the house, Tikki had started going about what she promised- washing the blanket and pillow. The fabric had to be taken outside and shaken thoroughly to remove all the dirt crumbs and bits of rock. No way was she going to ruin her washer and dryer by turning it into a tumbler. She tossed the now slightly less filthy cloth into the washer, pouring some soap and a bit of diluted vinegar into the vats for detergent and softener. With a soft beep, she shut the door and set it to a heavy cycle. Wonderful! Now the two articles should be nice and clean within the half hour, then dried by the time an hour had passed. Plenty of time for her unexpected guest to wash up.
The heater had kicked in, so now warm air was beginning to waft through the house from the vents in the floor and ceiling. Good. It would take some time to warm the building, but it was something. If she could just get the fireplace going, then they’d have a dedicated warm spot right then and there.
She struggles with the matchsticks as she crouched by the fireplace, frowning. Dammit, these things were such a pain.
Spooky
The water was starting to cool down, making the bath feel a little less hospitable... but he figured he was clean enough now. He climbed out, dripping wet, and proceeded to shake himself off. Some of the rock on his back had loosened and crumbled off of its own accord, which was an improvement, but the worst of it on his upper back remained stubbornly in place. It was kind of nice to have less of it pulling on his skin when he moved, but the rest of it itched a little. He started to reach back, but touching it stung pretty bad, so he stopped.
Instead, he looked back at the towel he'd brought into the bath with him floating in the muck-filled water, and he made a face. There was a way to drain it- how did she say to do it again? It was this little thing here, right...? He tried pulling it up further, but it wouldn't budge, so maybe... he pressed it down instead, and the drain gurgled as the water started to go down. He smiled a little to himself, feeling kinda good about figuring it out!
And then, neglecting to grab another towel to dry off, he left the bathroom, trailing water down the hall.
Mystic
Exiting the bathroom, he's greeted by a slightly warmer atmosphere than when he first walked inside the townhouse. It wasn't quite cold anymore, though a bit less cozy than the steamed-up bathroom. Still, a marked improvement. He could feel the warm air blowing into the space from a vent in the floor, which he walked over on the way back to the living room at the front. A rumbling sound of some kind of machine could be heard thrumming dully through the floor from some closet in the hall.
Tikki was on the floor by the brick hollow, trying to run some sort of stick across the side of a box. She clicked her tongue every time it didn't do whatever she was trying to get it to do. She was clicking her tongue a lot.
Finally, there's a snap of some sort of friction, and he can see she holds up a very tiny flame on the end of the stick. She leans forward, trying to press it to the side of the logs held in the hollow, and-
-it goes out.
"God dammit," she curses under her breath, sighing.
Wet footsteps cause her ear-fin things to perk up, drawing her attention in his direction. She stares at him for a second.
"...right. I didn't tell you how to dry off," she mumbles, sighing once. "You're lucky I'm a mermaid, otherwise I'd probably take a lot more issue with you dragging water throughout my house."
Tikki lifts a hand and flicks it.
In time with the motion, all the water he had trailed lifted off the ground in series of floating bubbles. They follow her hand motion towards various potted plants, where the water is dropped over the contained soil.
"Sorry, fireplace isn't ready yet. You're still welcome to sit, though. Here, dry off first-"
She grabs another blanket from inside a cabinet, resolving to washing that later, too, and chucks it at him.
Spooky
With wide eyes, he watched the water lift up from the floor, moving as if it were alive, only to drop itself into the plants. Whoa!
Distracted as he was, he almost didn't notice the blanket being tossed his way. He fumbled a little, but caught the heavy cloth, ruffling his face and head dry with it before wrapping it around his body for warmth. Moving over to where she was, he plunked down on the rug and snuggled into the blanket, breathing out a contented sigh.
Watching what she was trying to do once more, he saw her swiping a stick against a box again until she managed another small flame, but it failed to catch on the pieces of wood. Realizing what she was trying to do, he dried off his hands really good and, with a snap, created a small flame at the tip of his pointer finger and stuck it into the fireplace, holding it there until the logs finally caught.
Mystic
Tikki stops short as he- quite easily- produces a fire with nothing more than his fingertips. She watches in quiet awe as the fireplace is lit, and quickly, too. Within moments, the first log is throwing gentle pops and sparks as the bark begins crackling with heat and light.
"Ok, I've decided," Tikki says. She chucks the box of matches over her shoulder. "Until further notice, your new nickname is Matchstick. We can retire it if you're ever in the mood to share your real name, or make one up yourself."
Dusting her hands, she gets up from the floor, and plaps her way into the other half of the space, which is separated off by a counter and several appliances.
"I'm going to start cooking- something. I don't know what yet. I'll figure it out. You get comfortable, look around at stuff, read a book if you like. I can even turn on the TV for you, though it's mostly going to be Christmas specials this time of year."
Spooky
He tensed a little as paranoia crept around the edges of his mind, wondering how she knew the name the scientists had given him. Although, it didn't... seem like she knew about any of that, especially if she was surprised to see him light something... Maybe it was just a guess…?
She got up, and his eyes caught the label on the box she had. M... a...
...'Matchsticks'. Huh...
...Wait- Had he seriously been named after these things??
Man, now he didn't know what to think... At least the 'new' nickname appeared to be a coincidence after all.
He huffed out a breath and settled down near the fireplace, content to watch the wood burn for now. He didn't really know what TV was, or... Christmas? Or what was so special. Looking around the room, he could see what he recognized as a monitor, but it was off. Guess it wasn't hooked up to any vitals... He could see books on a shelf. He knew what those were, he vaguely remembered... He was pretty sure he'd read at least one, once, though he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was about. It might've had pictures in it...
He went over to investigate, picking one up at random and turning it over in his hands, looking at the cover on it.
Mystic
The cover on this one was kinda hard to understand. ‘The Great Gatsby’. What was a ‘gatsby’, and why was this one so great? He could read- the lab scientists had insisted he learned some basic English. He wouldn’t be able to follow complex instructions otherwise.
…
Wow, this book was hard to understand, though. Not only did he have to read slowly in order to piece together the sentences, but he just straight up didn’t know some words, so the meaning was lost on him. On top of that, a lot of what he was able to understand sounded just- stupid. People were throwing giant parties, being obscenely rich, and apparently the ‘gatsby’ was a dude they just arbitrarily decided was great because he threw massive rich people parties. And everyone in attendance was rude.
The logs in the fireplace settled with a puff of embers up the chimney, and warmth billowed out from the fireplace now that the fire was large and sustained.
A faint beep is heard in the distance, followed by the telltale plap plap of Tikki’s fish feet walking over the wooden floors towards it. There’s a kachunk noise of a door being opened, and the steady approach of more plap plaps.
A hot, soft cloth is placed over his head. Oh shit it’s the blanket she gave him!
“Fresh out the dryer,” she announces, holding the pillow- freshly cleaned and fluffed- at the edge of his vision past the blanket.
Spooky
He put the book back on top of the other books, not really caring where it went because his blanket and pillow were back! Not only that, they were warm and smelled nice!
He grabbed the pillow and hugged it excitedly, feeling immediate comfort from having it back and fluffier than ever! He didn't know what the dryer was, but he didn't care- whatever it was, it did miracles.
Mystic
“So, Sticks,” Tikki says as she walks back to the kitchen, a pleasant smile on her face. “You’re some kind of pyromancer, looks like. I don’t know how old you are, but you look pretty young to be running around by yourself, eating peanuts out of bird feeders. Why are you on the run? Did you steal food and piss off the authorities?”
Tikki pulls down some kind of flat black metal sheet with a handle, and placed it on the appliance with plastic and metal discs on top. She turns a dial, and there’s a quiet popping before small flames catch around the disc. The metal pan goes on top, and she opens a big white box behind her to pull out some cardboard container with a strange lumpy shape. The lid is popped open to reveal many white, ovoid objects.
“Ah shit- are you allergic to anything, actually? Anything you ever ate that made you feel sick, like really sick?”
Spooky
He had a somewhat guilty expression when asked if he stole food... That was part of it, but not the main reason. He wasn't sure what to say though, or how to even start. Or if he could use his voice enough at all to even try... He opened his mouth- "Aa..." -and closed it, looking frustrated.
Well that was a no-go. Instead he moved a little closer, curious to see what she was doing. When asked if anything he ate made him really sick, he thought about it, but shook his head no. He'd eaten a lot of things, even literal garbage, but the only time he felt sick was when he hadn't eaten enough.
Mystic
“Okay that’s good.” Tikki accepts that response, deciding not to pry on the first topic. “Because you’re getting an omelet.”
Scooping a bowl from another cabinet, and removing a plastic carton of some white liquid, she pours a little into the bowl before grabbing one of the white oval things. A quick smack on the side of the bowl, and the oval cracks open, dropping a clear goop with a golden center into the liquid. Repeating the process twice more, she grabs a whisk and mixes the two ingredients together with ferocity, until it forms a light yellow liquid somewhere in the middle of the two consistencies. The solution gets poured into the pan, producing a loud sizzling pop as it starts to bubble.
In the meantime, she turns to the white box again, and starts pulling out little plastic containers.
“Fillings, fillings,” she mumbles to herself. “I’ve got- bacon, mushrooms, cheese… hm.”
Tikki chews her lip as she ponders another container.
“I’ve got peppers too, but I don’t know if you’ll like hot stuff. I’ll put it out anyway.”
Arranging the fillings on the counter, she grabs a spatula and flips the mixture in the pan. It’s a floppy golden disc now, and the popping sound starts anew.
“What do you want as filling?” She asks, gesturing to the opened containers.
Spooky
He inspected each thing he was presented with curiously, and he seemed to like all of them as he tried a little bit of each one. The bacon seemed to be his favorite, due to how enthusiastically he pointed at it, until he got to the peppers.
Before he could be stopped he stuck a whole chili pepper in his mouth, his eyes going wide as he bit into it and a more intense flavor than he'd ever experienced before bloomed across his tongue. There was a moment where it seemed like maybe it might've been too much for him, but he quickly turned to Tikki, practically with stars in his eyes, and pointed excitedly at them.
"Mm!"
Mystic
Tikki raised both eyebrows, not having enough time to react between him grabbing the pepper and pointing excitedly to do anything about it.
“Ok, I was wrong- you have tastebuds of titanium I guess. Shoulda seen that coming, you’re a teenager,” she says with a smirk, taking a handful of the peppers and placing them on a rubber mat. She reaches behind her to a wooden block, and unsheathes a knife. Rather than pointing it at him, though, like the instant of fear spiked into him, she took it to the peppers, and deftly diced them into slices. Using the flat side of the knife as a scraper, she picks up the peppers and wipes them off onto the half-cooked omelet. Then she sets the knife down on the mat, and grabs handfuls of cheese and the bacon, filling in the rest of the space on the omelet patty. The spatula comes out again, and she picks up one end of the omelet to fold it over like a taco, before removing it from the pan entirely onto a plate.
Tikki holds out the plate to him.
“Here you go, Sticks- one hot pepper omelet! I gotta make mine now, so you can go ahead and sit to eat already. Mine will take a minute.”
Spooky
Grinning from- well, what would have been ear to ear if he had any, he took the disc with the food on it and brought it back over to the fireplace instead of the table. It didn't really occur to him to sit there, and he was perfectly content near the heat of the crackling logs instead.
It took a physical effort to NOT just toss his head back and gulp the whole thing down like a seagull. Human food was a treat, and he wanted to make sure he tasted it! He ate it in bites, however given the size of his mouth... it was only about three bites before the whole omelet was gone.
Mystic
“Damn,” Tikki comments, impressed. “Should have made you two omelets.”
Matchstick goes to confront the Silver Fang, and...
everything changes.
~*~
Mystic
It’s a good thing the inclement weather had made drone appearances less likely, or his frustrated tromping through the snow might have gotten him caught right then and there. The sudden stress had caused his footsteps to dissolve the snow around his ankles even faster, leaving a trail of melted prints in their wake.
He reaches the second burrow, and yep, the beast is still in there. Curled up like a big pinecone, it lifts its head at the sound of his approach, blinking blearily in the sharp winter light. They look dozy and quizzical at his return.
Spooky
He doesn't slow in his approach until he's standing right at the entrance. He wasn't sure it would be good to go further in, and they could see each other well enough from here.
Looking upset, he holds the tattered shirt up so the silver beast can see it. In fact he seems so distraught that he tries to force words out of his mouth for the second time in months.
"Kh... D did... You...?" It sounded awful, especially since he was trying to raise his voice. It came out as more of a growl than a rasp, but still barely any actual voice, and it was audibly strained.
Mystic
The beast, seeing the shirt, goes still. It looks at the shirt, then at him. Their expression was the closest approximation to ‘biting their lip’ that a muzzle could make.
At his stuttered question- or, half-question- the silver beast slowly looks away, staring at the wall as though trying to do some sort of mental calculation. It side-eyes him. The claws on its front limbs fidget, creating a low clacking sound. Despite the behavior of someone caught misbehaving, there’s still confusion through the nervousness.
Then, very slowly, it lifts the joints of its shoulders up and down, frowning.
What was that supposed to mean? It wasn’t sure? How could you not be sure if you killed someone?? Or- it didn’t know what he meant, because he didn’t specify what they did?
Spooky
He looked at the silver beast and stood there with steam puffing out his mouth for a few more seconds. His voice did not want to keep going, but he swallowed and tried to continue.
"Eh... Eat?" He managed, sounding somewhere between a vaguely human voice and two rocks scraping together. His expression was more like a grimace now from the attempt to force words out, one of his eyes squinched almost shut and the corner of his mouth drawn back to the point where there was actually a rare glimpse of fang.
Mystic
…
The creature stares at him. Gears click into place. Realization dawns.
As if a silent bubble had popped in the atmosphere, their cheeks puff out with barely contained air, which burst out into rhythmic, high-pitched wheezing sounds.
W-
Were they laughing at him?
The silver thing leans forward over its own tail, struggling to breathe as the edges of their mouth curve up in a full-toothed smile of glee and utter relief. They lift a paw to wipe tears from the edge of their golden eye. Gasping breaths, still trying not to laugh, they look up at him and shake their pointed head back and forth.
No? They didn’t?
Spooky
He dropped his hands to his sides at that reaction, tilting his head in bafflement. If the silver beast didn't eat that person then what happened? Why wasn't the fish person there, but their truck was still there?
Still, being laughed at when he was upset didn't make him feel any better, and he frowned in response.
"Ffii-" he started, trying to ask if they got into a fight or something, but his voice gave out and devolved into smokey coughs.
Mystic
The scratchy cough, followed by smoke, allows the beast to finally get its breath back. They inhale and exhale deeply, calming down from their mirth. Dirt shuffles underneath them as they uncoil from the cinnamon bun position. The beast starts climbing its way out of the hole, returning to the entrance where he was standing.
Brow ridges furrowed, they inspect him. They appear to be concerned by the puff of smoke.
Kneeling down, they lift their paws and scoop some snow off the ground. Rolling a small ball out of the powder, they nudge it toward him with their snout.
Spooky
He managed to stop coughing enough to pick up the snowball, taking a bite. It hissed loudly in his mouth as it rapidly melted, and he popped the rest of the snow in after it. The drink seemed to help a little bit, he'd been feeling especially dried out for some reason since it got colder out.
Still- there it was, the silver beast being nice again. His glowing eyes glanced from the beast's face to the shirt, then back, his own brow furrowed in a rather conflicted expression. As silly as the conclusion he'd jumped to was, he was still worried...
Mystic
The beast exhales a huff, nodding once. They appear satisfied that he drank something, though they don't quite understand the steam, watching it drift upwards curiously.
Their attention returns to him, golden eyes inspecting him. Reading him.
They turn their head left and right, as though looking for something. Checking to make sure it was clear. Of what, he didn't know. People? Maybe.
The beast hauls its weight back up into standing position, turning around to sweep its tail over the ground. The whoosh of snow clears out all their footprints- save for the ones he melted- and makes a blank canvas of white. Shaking the tail off, they spin to sit back down, and start scratching in the snow with a claw or two. They struggle for a moment. Their digits aren't as dexterous as they'd prefer, and he can see them attempting to flex their padded claws in ways they simply didn't want to.
A series of lines are scratched into the ground, forming a coherent message.
KEEP SECRET?
Spooky
He craned his neck, trying to see what the silver beast was doing with their claws. Digging? Wait, no- drawing something? Then when they stopped, his eyes widened when he saw them. Words!
He was still a little rusty with them, though he had improved somewhat since leaving the lab- going near the town at least allowed him more things that he could read, usually colorful words on buildings or up on sticks near the paths that the trucks took. Sometimes there were words on the trucks too, though usually it was a jumble that he had no chance of comprehending... While he didn't make a noise, he quietly mouthed out the sounds the letters made as he pieced the words together. 'KEEP... SE- ... SEE-CRET'.
That little mark at the end, too, told him it was a question. The beast wanted to know if he would keep a secret?
He looked back up at them and nodded. It wasn't like he even really had anyone else to tell it to, even if he wanted to.
Mystic
The beast puffs a breath out its snout, and leans forward to wipe the snow clean again with a paw. It starts scratching a second time.
ME
They pull back and gesture to themselves with the other paw.
More scratching. This time, a shape. It looked like a stick person of some kind, albeit a rough rendition due to the difficulty the beast was having.
A second shape, next to it. This one was spiky, and hunched over with a tail.
They drew an arrow between the two, going from the stick person to the spiky thing.
The beast then taps at the word again with the same paw.
Spooky
It was... confusing. Not necessarily the message the beast was trying to get across- the visual aid definitely helped him figure out what they were saying well enough, but he wasn't entirely sure he'd... understood it right?
Looking even more confused than before, he held up the shirt like he was trying to figure out how the silver beast would be able to fit into it.
How could they be the same person?? He knew Aria had been able to turn people into monsters, at least from the limited amount of things he saw about other experiments... And, well... he wasn't entirely sure if he was always like this, himself...
But to be able to change back? ...And forth? Regularly?
Mystic
The beast gazes upon the shirt with a forlorn rumble, their frilled ears pinning back to their skull. They rotate their body slightly, so the kid can get a better view of their spine-covered back. The plates move slightly to stand on end, rather than rest flat against their back. Wrapped around one of the plates, now that he can see it up close, is a tattered fragment of the same blue fabric. It was torn and stretched, barely hanging on.
The beast stretches up to scratch at it, grunting in mild annoyance when they can’t reach. They give up, and go back to scratching a new message.
CANT CONTROL
SLEEP GO BACK
…
USUALLY
Spooky
Oh, shit...
He kneels down to try and write something too, but his body heat and the slow carefulness of his scrawl just kind of melts the snow before he can really form words in it. He huffs out a breath and starts trying to look around him for a stick or something he could use instead, though in the meantime, he looks back up at her and manages a very raspy "Why?"
Mystic
At that, the beast sits back, pondering. This was a lot more complicated to explain than scratched half-sentences would convey. They reach forward and sweep it clean again, before continuing this communication through art.
MISTAKE
They draw another stick person, and next to it, some sort of spiny creature much like the one they used to depict themselves. And yet, there was something different about that shape.
They draw the odd spiny one lunging, with cartoonishly large triangles for teeth, latching onto the person's arm.
BITTEN
The stick person, lying on the ground.
Spikes jutting from the back of the stick person.
CHANGE
Spooky
He ponders this quietly, not really having any prior knowledge of lycanthropy to go on... The concept of changing due to a bite was a new one to him. So were there more silver beasts out there somewhere that were biting people?
Still... He couldn't imagine how painful it would be to have metal plates erupt from your skin. It sucked enough to have metal things poked into it, but those were a LOT of spikes. He winced at the thought.
Finally locating a stick, he carefully scrawled out
HOW OFTIN?
Mystic
The beast taps at their muzzle with one claw, thinking.
RANDOM
Oh. Well that explained why the beast hadn't shown up for a while- she simply hadn't changed in that time.
IF STRESSED
CHANGE
They drew what could best be approximated as a scared face, followed by pointing at the previous drawing of presumably them changing shape.
HAPPENS WHENEVER
DAY
WEEK
MONTHS
CANT STOP IT
The beast shrugs again.
Spooky
Oh...
While on one hand it seemed like it would be nice to be able to change into a person and go into town and do people things, the fact that it happened at random was a scary one. What if they changed back in the town? It would be harder for something that big to hide, too...
He started to write S... O... R...
...Did it have one r or two? Shit. Wait... Uh... Two! It had two, right?
SORRE
....huh. Still didn't seem right...
Mystic
Another quiet snort of amusement to his right. The beast is smiling again, with their muzzled face that's clearly not built to smile, and is doing its best.
They bump his nearest shoulder with the top of their head, nudging him.
Guess that was their acknowledgment- or rejection- of his apology. He didn't have a hand in their situation, and they both knew it.
...the beast watches him for a moment, before wiping the snow smooth again and writing once more.
YOU COLD
HUNGRY
ALONE?
Spooky
He flushed, a strange orange hue glowing on his cheeks. He wasn't expecting them to get right to the meat of his situation, but it did remind him that if this was the fish lady, they had been the one leaving food out for him for, uh... well, a LOT of days. More than he could count. AND gave him these soft things to help him stay warm.
He pulled the cloth rectangle up a little more and huddled in it, not really sure how much he could, or even should, say.
But, they had proven pretty trustworthy. At least, the most out of anyone else he'd run into.
He shrugged a little, and wrote out
RUNING
HIDING
then, after a small pause
THANKS FOR HELP
Mystic
It's not a lot of information, but it's enough for the beast. They nod in response, looking down at his message.
THANKS
FOR NOT SCREAM
OR GET COPS
They stretch their back, causing the metallic plates to realign with a clatter. Shaking snow off their head, the beast writes one last message.
SLEEP NOW
TRY CHANGE
TOO COLD
With a creaky heave of their metal-plated body, the beast shakes themselves off again. More white powder snow showers off of their body. Flakes had begun to flit down from the sky, which meant the snow was going to get even thicker. She squints up at the thick clouds, puffs a sigh from her nose, and turns in defeat to slink into the burrow. It wasn't much better than being out in the open, but it was at least an overhang.
Shudders run through her body as she coils up at the back of the den for the second time that day, attempting to get warm and comfortable in a hole in the ground on a winter day.
Spooky
'Cops'? What were those?
He didn't get a chance to ask though, because it seemed like the cold was getting to them. He stood and watched as the silver beast turned around and sleepily trundled back into their den.
Tossing the stick aside, he started to head back to his own den... but hesitated, glancing back at the beast.
They seemed pretty cold still, like a big shivering pinecone. He hesitated, not sure if he was welcome to do so, but he knew he was pretty warm... so he climbed down into the den with them. He took his cloth rectangle, and while he wasn't able to really drape it over their back, he did his best to try and cover what he could of the claws and snoot with the warm cloth.
Mystic
The beast had quietly ignored the sound of him sliding down into the burrow after them, but the moment they draped the blanket up and over their head, their ears perked up. It looked like a pair of antenna comically poking up from underneath, and the blanket rippled as the creature shifted about underneath in confusion. They managed to slide one paw out from underneath the fabric, and pat it around the den floor.
Once it makes contact with his side, the clawed digits proceed to wrap around his torso, engulfing him in the grip. The beast pulls him closer in a tug that was far stronger than it looked, and yet was careful and didn't cause any pain. He is tugged right up to the side of the beast's front, where he had placed the blanket, which is then nosed off of their face to fall back over him.
He can feel as the long plated tail shifts around the body of the beast, this time cupping around the both of them. The thick physical barrier prevents cold wind from reaching them.
The beast is giving him a gentle look, rumbling quietly. Without the writing on the ground, it's no longer possible to directly translate, but it could be interpreted as some form of thanks, and perhaps a reassurance. They'd be safe from the dangers of the outside for today- at the very least, for now.
Spooky
While he was startled at being pulled in closer, it soon became clear why, once he was situated next to them and the tail curled in. He had to wriggle a little to where he was seated more comfortably- and to get the blanket off of his face after they flopped it back onto him- but he soon settled, finding this arrangement surprisingly comfy. The beast did have a lot of fur under those plates, which was soft enough that it felt like more blanket.
And while he wasn't feeling particularly sleepy, he didn't mind just staying here like this. Heck, he was warmer than the blanket was, and this felt nicer than laying on the ground by himself.
It was strange, but for once, as he felt the slow, gentle rise and fall of the breathing wall of fur he was resting up against... it was nice not to feel well and truly alone anymore.
Mystic
Satisfied, the beast closes its eyes again, and nestles back down to rest.
Wind passes by the opening of the burrow, creating a low whistle combined with the rustle of the last autumn leaves. Cozy atmosphere inside prevented the weather's chill from reaching too far into the den. It also helped that the lost teen was pretty much a living space heater.
...
After some time of slow breathing, he can feel the beast next to him start to shift.
The tail, which had served as a large blockade around the both of them, began to slide across the dirt like a snake. It was ever so gradually getting smaller. The pinecone pelt of silver plates also starts to retract, each individual hunk of metal falling down into a neat orderly pattern of scales that bloom with teal color as they shrank. The claws and thick digging paws lose their weight.
Just like she claimed, she was changing back in her sleep.
Spooky
He sat up, not wanting to fall back on her as she reverted back to fish-person form. It was kind of fascinating to watch, though realizing she might be cold and didn't seem to have any clothes left save for the scraps that had been caught in her plates, he took the blanket and draped it over her shrinking form once she was small enough for it to cover.
Not wanting to wake her, though, in case it would make her change back again or something, he moved to sit back against the dirt wall instead, blinking out towards the bright light filtering in from the entrance now that the tail was no longer blocking it out.
Mystic
The blanket proved to be necessary, as the shivering started back up once the coat of fur diminished. All the fluff was replaced by more, tinier scales of varying teal shades, that did absolutely nothing to block out the winter cold.
Perhaps the most drastic change was the profile of the head, which remained visible outside of the blanket. Pointed snout and animal muzzle draw back into a humanoid jaw line and facial features, with several of the silver plates on the head turning back into plant-mimicry 'hair'. The ears, though, remain mostly the same, shrinking just a little to lose some of the pointiness.
By the time the changes stopped, she was-
-well damn she was smaller than him, actually. Now that he wasn't running in terror or getting ambushed from a pond, she was tiny in profile. The blanket covered most of her, but curled up underneath it, she took up less real estate than he remembered doing. He couldn't tell her actual height on the ground like this, but still. Small.
...what now?
Spooky
A part of him wondered if he should stick around, but... It kinda didn't feel right to just leave. He hadn't expected her to be this small and... He knew nothing about whatever her species was, but he knew humans didn't handle cold as well as he did, so if she's anything like that and he left, he would have to leave his blanket behind.
She'd probably handled going back on her own just fine before, but... Fuck. Maybe he should just stay and make sure she at least makes it home safe. He decided to wait until she woke up, so he sat there... and got up and walked around a few times. And tucked the blanket around her a little better so she'd be more comfy and bundled up, trying his best to be gentle. And paced around a bit more. And peeked out of the entrance briefly to make sure the coast was clear. He looked at the sky, to make sure that was clear too. Then finally, returned to the back wall of the burrow when the cold bothered him too much.
Mystic
…he ends up waiting a while longer before a response is finally forthcoming.
The fish lady grunts, sitting up. She rubs at her face, letting out a shaky sigh. Her bones crack as she stretches, settling back into their proper places. They had to change to accommodate the different body build, and it felt awful and satisfying at the same time to fix them.
She turns her head to look around, and spots the kid fidgeting next to her on the ground.
”Oh- you stayed,” she mumbles. ”Kinda figured you’d leave, I guess. That’s sweet of you.”
Sliding her legs into a sitting position, she glances down at the blanket.
”…Might need to wash this, it’s got dirt all over. Your pillow, too, if you have it.”
With a huff, she gets up, wrapping the blanket like a shawl around herself as she stands next to him, expectant.
“Come on, let’s go get warm. You’re hungry, right? And I’m done being cold in a hole in the ground. I bet you are, too.”
Spooky
He blinked. Wash? Wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he was, with utmost certainty, hungry.
He did have his pillow with him too, though currently it was behind him, flopped against the dirt wall while he had been moving around and trying to keep watch. Getting to his feet, he went over to pick it up, hugging it against his chest and resting his chin on it as he looked down at her. Yeah, by the looks of it that pillow had definitely seen better days.
He gave her a small nod, ready to follow her back.
Mystic
Nodding, she turns on her heel and starts walking up the slope of the burrow. Her feet sink into the earth, leaving webbed footprints like a duck. They exit back out into the snow, their breath visible in the cold air. It’s not as obvious or impressive as the steam that puffs out of his mouth, but that just goes to show it was far too cold for either of them to stay outside.
“Changing in the winter is the worst,” she grumbles, thinking out loud to fill the silence. “Especially outside. I can’t fit through my own front door without damaging it, so I have to stall for time in a den until it goes away. Sucks. But at least I’m not wild and rabid- I was worried I’d lose myself eventually. Haven’t had anything like that yet, so I’m hopeful. I probably would have been caught a long time ago, if I did.”
They reach the edge of the road, and she crosses without hesitation, reaching the snow-covered lawn and examining the moved box and empty plate. She gives a woeful smirk.
“Guess I wasn’t as good at hiding it as I thought,” she shrugs. “I was in a hurry, I thought I heard a mail truck or something coming down the road.”
Kneeling down, the fish lady starts picking up the tatters of cloth that had been left behind, tucking them into her arms. Standing back up, she begins climbing the porch, fumbling around under a plant pot for something.
“Come on- I’ll turn the heater on, so it won’t be freezing.”
Spooky
He listened to her talk as they headed back. It sounded pretty scary to change, and he wasn't sure what 'rabid' was, but he nodded. He could definitely understand the fear of getting caught.
He was more hesitant to cross the road than she was, but after a brief pause he hurried after her to catch up. Once they were in the yard, he went over to the steps where the empty disc was and sat there as the fish lady gathered the remaining cloth scraps off the ground, glancing at her in confusion as he overheard her talking.
Male truck?
Before he could attempt to further ponder the genders of vehicles, however, she moved past him on the porch and retrieved... Something from under the plant pot, that she used to open the door.
He had been prepared to sit out there and wait for food, but when it became clear she was inviting him in, he looked back at her with wide eyes.
While before he probably would've been more reluctant, the cold was definitely getting to him by this point... He stood shivering on the path by the stairs, clutching his pillow close to himself and looking at the house with its darkened windows as he took a few moments to consider. He didn’t have a good track record with being inside buildings, after all… But finally, he made his way up the steps to the door, peeking inside before giving her another glance, as if to ask if she was really sure she wanted him to come in.
She didn't seem to have any objections, though, so… Cautiously, he stepped over the threshold and went inside.
With the arrival of winter comes new challenges. Now armed with a blanket and pillow to help fend off the cold, Matchstick has started to make a daily trek to the mysterious fish person's house since it's the only reliable source of food... even though he still has no idea why they're leaving food out for him, or if he should even really be trusting it, but hey- beggars can't be choosers, right?
~*~
Mystic
That evening was the fastest Matchstick had ever fallen asleep. The apparatus that hooked him up to the facility wall couldn't compare to the comfort of this plush square of softness.
Time passes.
The weather gets colder.
The miracle cloth rectangle and square of cloud fluff made it bearable, though. He could sleep on the soft dirt of the den floor, wrapped in the blanket and resting his head on the pillow. The best damn sleeps of his whole life. Nightmares didn't come back to torment him when he slept with the soft stuff cocooning him. Must be some kinda magic.
And every day, he'd find a platter of food waiting for him on the steps of that house with the 'bird' feeders. It wasn't always the same food, but it was tastier than 'birdseed' and the sticky syrup from the cylinders.
He saw the fish-looking lady only occasionally, ducking in and out of their house to leave the plates of food, or heading out in their blue 'truck' to go god knows where. He saw the silver forest beast even less, the only signs of its presence being the fresh hole it dug into the earth a short distance away from his current hideout. It didn't leave any other gifts for him, either. Where had it gone?
Spooky
His breath was visible all the time now, even when he was calm. He noticed the people in town, in the times he ventured close, were starting to wear more and more stuff. And more noticeably, something seemed to be wrong with the trees? They were changing colors to something more red and brownish, and they were... shedding. A lot. The entire entrance of his den was getting crunchier and crunchier as the wind kept blowing the tree bits in. He would be lying if he said it wasn't fun to go bulldozing through piles of it, though.
Still, despite his naturally high temperature, the cold wasn't very pleasant. It seemed like the only time he was comfortable was when he was safely tucked away with the nesting stuff the silver beast had given him... So he started taking them with him whenever he ventured out.
He didn't have clothes like the people in town, save for the now VERY ratty and worn form-fitting shorts he'd been outfitted with at the lab... but the cloth rectangle was closest thing he had besides that, especially if he pulled it around his shoulders and over his head. At the very least it helped keep in his body heat and made him feel a little safer in regards to how easily a camera drone might spot him. The bad weather seemed to bring fewer of those, and it probably helped that he didn't actually enter the town in a while. He didn't have to, not when that one building with the pond had food out every day. It may not have filled him up entirely, but the feeling like he was going to die didn't crop up like it did when his food sources were less... certain?
...Part of him still wasn't sure about it, but he'd been going there daily for a while now, and still no ambush of any kind, save for the one time that person leapt out of the pond.
It was weird. He didn't know them, but he'd sort of gotten used to the routine with them. He knew when the food would be left out. Sometimes he'd arrive a little early and hide, watching from the safety of the trees until they went back inside, but it wasn't like they tried to look for him.
....Still had no idea what to do with those little metal things, when those were there. They almost looked like they could be some kind of weaponry- a blunted knife of some sort and a little four-pronged pokey thing- but they seemed kinda flimsy, and probably wouldn't be more effective in combat than the abilities he already had at his disposal... Not really worth the extra effort of carrying with him, so he left it be. Was it a sign of concern to want to arm someone...?
Either way, he would go there, eat, and somewhat cautiously go check on that second burrow on the way back. Still no sign of the silver beast.
...
Soon the day came when he poked his sleepy head out of the burrow, only to see the ground covered in a layer of... dust? No, as he climbed out and it melted around him, he realized pretty quickly that it was a powdery layer of ice. How'd all this get here? He shivered a little and pulled his cloth rectangle tighter around himself. His back stung when he did, but that feeling had almost turned into background noise for him at this point, and he gave it little notice.
The icy ground and dead tree stuff turned out to be a pretty slippery combination, especially since his footsteps melted it a little and made it more wet. Eugh, it was a quick way to make this walk completely unpleasant, though it still wasn't as bad as the days where water fell from the sky. He spent as little time outside the burrow as possible during those days, but would still accumulate mud on him regardless, that would bake in his body heat and come off in chunks.
...Okay, flaking it off was kinda fun, when he was bored. Which was kind of a lot of the time...
As he walked, he glanced over at the other burrow, which remained as quiet as usual. It didn't look like anything had come out of it, otherwise there probably would've been fresh marks of that big spiny tail dragging in the icy stuff. He was starting to wonder if maybe they left, and this had only been a temporary den...
Mystic
....
crnch
shfff
scrnchhh
Something was coming this way.
thnk
A mass of the powder fell from the branches of a tree at the edge of his vision. It lands with a dull whump.
"...hrmf."
The sound of a chain link fence rattling.
scrnch
thmsh
Then- the sound of something big letting out an equally big sneeze.
Spooky
He had been crouching at the entrance of the second burrow, peering into the darkness to see if he could catch a glint of light shining off one of those armor plates, when the sound of something huge slogging and crunching through the ice jarred him from what he was doing. He stood very quickly at the huge sneeze, looking like a kid who'd just been caught with his hand in a cookie jar, and turned around to look.
To his credit, he didn't try to hide this time. He was genuinely surprised to see the huge creature after days and days... How many days was it? A lot of days.
Mystic
He's greeted by the sight of- no surprise- the big silver beast. It's shaking its head back and forth, which... is covered in the white dust, freshly fallen from the tree. Said tree is making subtle vibrations, as though-
-it just ran right into the tree, didn't it.
Shaking its head wasn't doing the trick, so the shaking increased until it traveled all the way down the length of its body and tail. The chain link fence noise returned- ah, so that was what it sounded like when it shook out that pelt of metal plates. By the time it settled, a substantial amount of the white powder had fallen from its back.
At this point, it notices him. Squinting in the bright albedo from the icy coating all around them, they regard the kid, then hang their head, letting out another big sigh.
Stepping into the clearing, the shake off their limbs one by one, like a dog. A low humming rumble passes from their throat. Was that supposed to be a greeting? It didn't sound like words, but it didn't feel hostile.
Spooky
As... kinda silly as it was to witness a huge creature, the size of the trucks he had seen at Aria, go bonking into a tree... it was hard not to still feel somewhat intimidated when it approached him. Something about being near a living creature that enormous made him feel small, and that wasn't a very common feeling for him. At least he didn't feel like he was in danger this time.
It sighed again, he was pretty sure of it. Between that and how it hung its head while trundling along, he sensed it probably wasn't a fan of the cold, or the ice on the ground. Maybe wasn't feeling its best. Made sense though, it was covered in what looked like metal, and that would get really cold when exposed to this kind of temperature.
He stood there in thought for a few moments, then walked over cautiously... and after a few moments of uncertainty, he pulled out the pillow from his makeshift blanket cloak. He'd been hugging it for additional warmth and softness, and he gently pressed it against the side of the silver beast's snoot. It was kind of dirty by this point, but it was warm, very warm, like it was fresh out of the dryer.
"Aa.. hh..."
He'd opened his mouth and sounded like he was starting to try to say something, but his voice was a weak rasp from lack of use, barely above a whisper, and it was mostly lost beneath the sound of the wind.
Mystic
The beast blinked in surprise as- of all things- the kid approached them rather than ran away. It looked even more confused when the pillow is presented.
However, once the pillow is pressed against their cold snout, the frilled ears perk up. Their eyes widen, holding this strange position of mid-shaking a limb while the odd kid in the blanket burrito holds a pillow to their muzzle.
...they let out a snort. The edges of their mouth curl up. That was definitely a smile, and perhaps a laugh.
They enjoy the warmth for a minute or so, before retracting their head. Lifting one forelimb, the silver beast gently places their thick clawed digits over the hands holding the pillow, and pushes them back towards his chest. Plopping back down onto all fours, the beast stretches its back, tail curling into a spiral as they do so. Their tongue flops out as they let out a big yawn, showing off all those big teeth before they close the mouth again, rubbing at their muzzle with the opposite hand-paw from the one that nudged the pillow back.
"Mmmrf," the beast rumbles, the thudding steps continuing once more as it crunches its way through the snow towards the hole in the ground. Crawling through the entrance, it slips down to the base of the burrow, and wraps itself up in its tail at the bottom of the den. Faint shivers run through their chilled body, and they tuck the tail closer around themselves like a pointy cinnamon bun.
Spooky
Wrapping his arms back around the pillow, he felt himself smile a little as well, watching the big creature crawl into their den and get comfortable. Sure, the pillow was small, but he still felt like he helped, if only a little bit.
Also... it was weirdly kind of a relief to know they weren't gone.
Remembering why he was outside, though, he turned and walked back along the usual path he took to the food building. Curiously, as he walked along, he could see the big path in the snow the silver beast had taken to get to their den. Seemed they also walked this way. Actually... huh! He slowed a little, his eyes following the big footprints and lines where the tail dragged. It kinda looked like it swept its tail back and forth in some places, but for the most part...
He hopped from footprint to footprint as he followed that instead of the usual path, since it seemed to be running pretty parallel. It was kinda fun, though he cut it out when he slipped on some leaves and fell on his ass.
Ow.
Okay, had to be more careful walking in this stuff.
Still, it was strange... The trail was visible through most of the walk, but he lost sight of it somewhere around the time he was approaching the food building. Guess it was still a mystery where the silver beast had been... Oh well.
There was the white disc in its usual place on the steps, though the food seemed like it had been out for longer than usual. There was a very thin dust of ice on the two pieces of bread with meat and stuff in the middle that had been left out for him. No little stabby things this time, but whatever, he would've left them anyway. Maybe the person was in kind of a hurry this time.
Weird, though, their truck was still here...
Didn't look like they were inside, either. The windows were dark.
Mystic
The food, even though cold, was still delicious. It must have been sitting outside for a while. A few hours, maybe.
Sitting on the porch, wrapped in the blanket, he's able to sit back and take in the peaceful scenery. Despite the thick coat of white powder and ice on everything, the cylinders of food for the 'birds' (and ambitious fluffy rodents) were still out on their hanging hooks- with the exception of the sticky syrup ones. Those were put away somewhere he did not know. The tiny buzzing birds that used that feeder- which gave him a heart attack the first time one flew by his head- were absent once it got too cold outside.
...huh.
That was odd. There were scrape marks in the snow here, too. A lot less noticeable, due to the jumble of bird feet stamps around feeders, and snow mostly being replaced by thicker ice on the black stone path, but they were there for sure once he paid close enough attention. They looked like- scratches. Had a scuffle taken place here?
To the side of the house, on the small juncture of black path where the blue truck off-and-on rested, the scratches were deeper, and more numerous. Some wooden structure he couldn't fathom the purpose of had broken planks in the center, as though pushed by great force.
A small corner of something colorful poked out from underneath a haphazardly placed box at the side of the house.
Spooky
The pond was too frozen to drink from, so he scooped up a handful of snow into his mouth, letting it melt into water as his eyes traced the path of the scratches to the strange structure. Huh... he'd never really noticed that thing before. Mostly because there weren't any tubes by it, but the corner of something bright and colorful stood out like a beacon among all the white and gray and muted brown.
Soon, curiosity got the better of him, and the signs of damage and scrapes were concerning... He got up and moved closer to the box to investigate, too curious to just leave it be. What happened here...?
Mystic
The colorful thing was a piece of fabric, sticking out from under the edge of the box.
Removing the box entirely revealed it to be-
…a tattered shirt. It had been torn asunder, but even he would recognize this article of clothing from the shredded remains.
It was the fish lady’s shirt, the one she wore almost every day on her trips out of her house. Blue strings hung off the edges where something sharp had rent the once-whole article of clothing into many, many pieces. Most of those pieces were shoved under the box, and some were caught under the edge of the wooden porch.
Spooky
Realizing the implications of what he was looking at, he dropped the box in shock, eyes wide. The claw marks, upset snow and broken wooden structure- signs of a struggle, and now a torn piece of clothing, looking like it was hidden... And the fact that the trail seemed to lead back here...
Did the-
...Did the silver beast EAT the fish lady?!
There wasn't any blood, was the weird part, but maybe it swallowed them whole?? ...Minus the shirt? Somehow? It tore off the shirt, and then ate them?
Shit... Why didn't it just eat the food left out for him instead? It was a little cold but that's no reason to eat the person that made it!
Mystic
What was he even supposed to do, now? If the beast did eat them, his reliable food source was gone. He’d have to go back to swiping from trash cans as his primary method of scavenging. And on top of that, the bird feeders would be left empty, too- not only was he getting shorted on bird seed, but so were the birds!
If big silver animals ate people, how was one so close to town? And- why didn’t it eat him, then, when it found him trapped in that hole? Maybe he was saved by the trash smell- but then, it didn’t eat him earlier, and he was a bit less stinky now after a few rain showers. The beast never seemed hostile or territorial- or hell, even hungry.
…
Was that house just- going to be empty, now? It felt sad, in a way he couldn’t place.
Spooky
He paced anxiously in the yard as he tried to make sense of it all. If this happened- if the fish lady was... dead... there was nothing he could do about it, and that upset him even more. For the first time, he ventured up to the windows and peeked inside in hopes that he was wrong, but the place was indeed dark and empty.
...This was awful. He'd never really gotten to know this person, but... To feed random creatures outside even if they weren't people, just because they could...
Man, he didn't trust people, as a general rule... but this one seemed different. And they were gone now.
He sat on the porch for a while, staring blankly at the snow. Finally he got up, went back to the box, scooped up the tattered shirt remains, and marched all the way back to the silver beast's burrow. While it might have been a dangerous idea to confront it... It looked like he was gonna have to start risking his life for food again anyway. And he wanted some fucking answers!
On his way back to his hiding spot, Matchstick encounters the Silver Fang once more, in the process of building a new den for itself. However, a surprise is waiting for him when he gets back to his own.
Is it... normal for giant forest cryptids to feel sorry for you?
~*~
Mystic
Running back into the woods, he’s a lot more lucid this time around. The wonders that fresh(ish) water and food could do! He can even see faint scorch marks where his hands had dug into the earth whenever he tripped and dragged himself up again, singeing it from the stress. That was no good- obvious tracks. A few kicks at the soil was enough to erase the evidence.
While jogging, it occurred to him that his hidey-hole might not be safe and secure anymore. The former occupant had returned. Clearly they made the original den. Granted, they left him there and didn’t aggress, but was it worth the risk to piss off a big creature for a hole in the ground?
-and before he could reach the spot he’d marked (with a subtle singe mark on a tree bough), his travails through the woods are interrupted by the sight of a big silver tail, sticking out of the earth and draping over the ground. Every now and then, big puffs of dirt are thrown out into the air behind it, forming a pile of turned earth past the stocky silver-shingled legs.
Shit. This thing was still here. And it was- digging? This wasn’t the spot where he’d found the hole. Was it making a new one?
Spooky
Whatever it was hadn't seemed interested in eating him, but he was still hesitant to get too close. If it was making a new hole, maybe it truly had abandoned the other one after finding him in it... but who the hell knows, it wasn't like he could ask.
Nervously biting his lip, he did his best to move stealthily behind the trees, past where the huge creature was snuffling and burrowing. He probably didn't have to worry about making noise so much, since it seemed pretty busy and its head was literally underground at the moment, but he still crept as quietly as he could... and then took off running towards his hiding spot once he felt he was far enough past that point.
Man, he was gonna need to plan out another route to that house if he didn't wanna keep running into that thing...
But that was a problem for future him.
For now, it was back to his- ...giant... very conspicuous pile of discarded food trash that wasn't there earlier.
He slowed to a stop and just stared at it. Holy shit, had he really eaten that much food since hiding out there? Didn't feel like there was nearly that much trash in there, but it was also dark so it was not like he could tell. The tunnel had some freshly scraped up earth at the bottom of it, and the same went for the inside floor of the den. All empty now, save for big sweeping claw marks that were a dead giveaway as to which giant silver armor-plated creature had done this.
....But why, though?!
Mystic
No answers were forthcoming from the trash pile, which was his only company. Maybe it was just meticulous about keeping clean burrows. Hopefully that didn’t mean it was coming back.
…and now that it was in isolation, and he’d had a good face washing while guzzling down that pond water, boy did it stink. He’d been sleeping in that. He must smell awful.
scrnkkkkk
Oh wow, THAT was a loud noise. Some sort of- dirt grinding sound? It was coming from back the way he came, where the creature was digging.
shfff shf-shf
Leaves rustling. Or being removed.
What in the hell was it-
thnk thd thshf
Fuck, it was coming back!
Spooky
He was about to go back in the hole for a second, but stopped himself, realizing he'd just be trapped in there again, and instead he ducked behind the small mountain of trash. He quickly regretted that choice when the smell hit him even more strongly, and he backed up with a grimace not unlike the one the creature had made when sniffing him earlier.
As the creature came into view, he panicked, looked around, and scurried behind the nearest tree instead, still not really realizing that his eyes were still cartoonishly visible as he peeked out from behind it. He kept forgetting that little detail...
Mystic
Soon enough, the creature returns from the other clearing where it had been digging the second hole. It walks with a strange gait that felt almost- awkward? The front claws were held up off the ground, as it stepped with the slouched posture of an eighty-year-old. In those strange paws it clutched a small, lightly dirty set of plastic bags- one empty, and the other bulging with unknown contents. The head swiveled back and forth, making a half-hearted check of the area, before it takes hesitant steps once again. It didn’t appear to notice him yet.
Satisfied, it slunk back towards the hole in the ground. Making a low rumble in its throat, it peeks into the hole. Seeing nothing, it backs up, and drops the bag containing things unknowable right at the hole entrance. With the remaining empty bag, it turns toward the trash pile. Turns out he made a good judgement call, as the silver beast lays out the plastic- and begins shoveling it with its massive clawed paws onto the plastic sheet. They definitely weren’t enjoying this, as their muzzle scrunches up in disgust once again. Oh yeah, he definitely smelled like garbage if it made that face at him.
Upon scooping all trash remnants into a pile, it then sits on its haunches, and begins the delicate process of pulling the corners of the bag up to cinch it closed… odd. That was a very human gesture for a distinctly non-human beast to do. Regardless, it struggles, grunting in annoyance any time its claws pierce the bag.
All finished, it picks up the freshly wrapped garbage, turns to leave-
-and stops dead in its tracks, making eye contact with him.
Spooky
It didn't help he'd leaned out further, trying to get a good look at what it was doing. Seeing it work so meticulously with giant claws was quite a sight... Though he wasn't entirely sure what it was doing with all that trash. The closest comparison he could make was whenever he caught a glimpse of those humans with those big plastic buckets, pulling similar bags out of the smaller buckets around the lab and gathering them up to wheel them away to... somewhere.
He watched it heft up the huge bag and start to carry it off- did it want the trash for some reason?- but he realized too late as it stopped and stared right at him that he wasn't being as stealthy as he thought he was. He looked back up at it nervously, eyes blown wide and his mouth drawn into a tight line as he slowly tried to move back behind the tree. Like that would actually work.
Mystic
As he ducks back into hiding, the thing takes slow steps of its own in retreat. The plastic bag of garbage fumbles in its grip- amazing it even managed to hold it to begin with- and it drops with a clatter of junk.
It glances from the garbage bag, to him, then back to the other bag it left behind, then to him again. Then back to the unknown bag on the ground.
In a swift movement, it ducks its head down behind the second bag, and extends its neck to push the bag across the grassy earth in his direction. The very next moment, it quickly grabs the garbage bag- in its mouth, this time, revealing a jaw full of sharp teeth. Dropping down to all four limbs, it pivots, and takes off at a swift sprint back the way it came. Branches crunch and leaves rustle in its wake, before it vanishes completely from hearing and sight.
Spooky
He watched it trundle off into the woods, his mouth slightly agape, before he looked at the bag it left behind.
So... it was leaving something for him? This giant creature was trying to give him something. Was that... a normal thing for forest creatures to do? ...Man, he didn't know shit about wild animals, but that didn't seem like something that was supposed to happen??
He really wasn't used to being given something at all, let alone from a huge beast that looked like it could eat him. Especially with a mouth fulla sharp teeth like that... He poked at his own teeth with his tongue. He had some sharp ones too, and he'd put them to use easily enough in opening some of those metal liquefied food cylinders that he found in that big building with the locked food boxes behind it, but... They still weren't nearly big and sharp as those.
...
Oh right, bag.
Well, only one way to find out what was in it... He knelt down next to it and opened it up.
Mystic
Opening the plastic bag proved to be less of a challenge than anticipated. The moment he gave it any kind of slack, the opening was practically forced open from the inside, as something that had been compressed within is given release. A plush square of linen pops out, filled with some sort of soft stuffing. It squishes pleasingly under his touch.
Underneath the small explosion of pillow softness was a pile of more fabrics- thicker, and stitched together in patterns. Pulling it free revealed that it was a very wide rectangle of this cloth, and also soft to the touch.
It left him soft things, and took the pile of trash with it. Huh.
He had lost his previous nesting material, but...
Spooky
These seemed like a pretty good trade!
It was almost fascinating how soft this material was. And squishy. He gave the plush square a few more pokes, before pressing his whole hand into it. Removing his hand, though, he was surprised to see it kind of expand back into the shape it was in before. Guess that was how it fit in the bag...
This was... kind of exciting, really! He could only just barely remember something like this at the lab, from way back when he was still small… A semi-soft rectangle that he used to sleep on, at least before he outgrew it. It had been so long that he’d almost completely forgotten…
Aware that he was still in the open, though, he quickly scooped up the materials- along with the bag, figuring it might be useful for carrying things later even if he couldn't quite fit the soft stuff back in it- and squirreled them away into the den.
It still smelled a little bad down there, but probably not as much as before... But whatever, it was safe. He plopped down with the soft material, letting it fall in his lap. The big cloth wasn't as squishy as the square was, but it felt nice to run his hands over. It also made his legs feel warm beneath its cover, or at least kept away the subterranean chill. Mostly though, he loved this squishy thing. He was quick to pick it back up and smoosh his face into it. It made him feel a little silly, and a rare smile quirked up at the corners of his mouth as he let out a small, raspy chuff of a laugh.
Pulling it away from his face, he wrapped his arms around it and squeezed it against his chest, resting his chin on top of it with a relaxed sigh. This felt nice...
Mystic
There was no mistaking it- that big silver thing definitely left these for him, as some sort of present. Something to replace the trash pile as far more suitable bedding. Why, he could only guess. Perhaps it was taking pity on him, after seeing its old den filled with trash and a teenager that stank of rotten food.
...he's sunk quite low, for a forest creature- questionable intelligence notwithstanding- to take pity on him.
But then, was it truly wild? It behaved in much the same way that a human from the town would. There were mannerisms in its behavior that were far more sentient than a simple animal.
A full meal, thirst quenched, and soft squishy things acquired for his safety den. For once, he felt satisfied, and... safe.
Spooky
Wild forest creature or not... Whatever that huge beast was, it seemed better than people. Way nicer, anyway. He remembered all the false promises of 'helping him' he was fed back in the lab, when they only ever seemed to hurt him instead. Even if the big silver thing was only helping him because it felt bad for him, at least this felt like actual help.
It gave him a lot to think about, but after spending a good chunk of his waking moments today feeling like he was gonna die, only to end up snuggling up in soft materials with his stomach finally feeling sated for the time being... Yeah, a lot had happened, and needless to say, he was feeling pretty tired...
Still sitting with his back against the wall, he pulled the blankets up around himself and curled up around the pillow, finally feeling safe enough to get some much needed rest.
Gripped by paranoia, Matchstick hides out in the burrow... At least, until its previous owner returns: another local cryptid known by the townsfolk as the Silver Fang.
~*~
Mystic
…
Aside from the distant whirr of vehicles driving by on the road, nothing reaches him in his hiding place. He’s left alone with the pile of garbage he’d used for warmth, and his fears that kept him cold.
…
The gurgle in his stomach came back.
He ignored it.
…
The next day, it hurt more.
He ignored it.
…
After two days, he couldn’t stand the ache anymore. His throat hurt, too. He felt parched. He needed something to drink. This was something he’d never had to worry about before, in the facility. Whatever they did to him- or gave him- it only eliminated the need for food and water for so long.
Spooky
Regardless of however the fuck his body was supposed to function, it was making one thing urgently clear- this was not it. He was going to fucking die like an animal in this hole in the ground if he didn't do something.
The moment he tried to get up from where he was laying, though, it felt like his limbs were made of lead. His arms reached out and felt around him in vain hope of finding anything edible in here that he hadn't eaten yet, even though he knew what little stores he had were gone within the first day.
He did find some paper trash and tried to eat it out of desperation, though it burnt to ash so quickly and his attempts to swallow it just made his throat feel even more dry than before. This wasn't working, he needed to get out.
With no fuel left to go on other than fear of death, he managed to force himself up onto all fours and clumsily crawled towards the entrance. As he did, he feverishly tried to remember if he'd seen any water close by, but the only one that came to mind was that little pond in the place with the sand tubes...
Mystic
…crnch
crunch crinkle-crnch
That was footsteps. Walking over leaves.
Getting closer.
crunch crunch
thud crnch thd
Oh that was heavy. Whatever it was, was big.
thmp crunch thd crnch
The footsteps pause. Something snuffles at the edge of the hole.
Then- all of his light is promptly blocked out, as a hulking, spiny shape blocks the entrance.
He has no visual reference to know what the hell this is. All he can tell, silhouetted by the sun, is that it’s large, reflecting light off the edges of their shape, and has two yellow eyes peering down into the hole.
Oh- and the big claws they’re using to brace themselves at the edge of the burrow. Can’t forget those.
The yellow eyes widen at the sight of him in the pit, surrounded by… trash. The head- which has two frilled-looking ears on the sides of the pointed head- tilts slightly to one side. A rumbled noise emits from its throat, staring down at him.
Spooky
Cast into complete darkness save for the weak glow of his eyes and mouth, he shakily backs away from the tunnel, terror gripping his heart. He had no idea what the hell that thing was, he had no way to even describe what he was looking at beyond huge and pointy, and that was all he could gather from the initial silhouette.
The worst part was, it filled up the whole tunnel. There was no getting around it. He was trapped. Like... Some kind of small thing in a trap. He'd been hunted before, but confronted with this huge creature that snuffled at him, he felt distinctly like prey. Was he gonna get eaten?!
Out of the sheer stress of the situation he was in, he could feel his body trying to ignite. 'Trying' being the key word, because he was running on empty at this point and any strength his powers had before were completely shot in his current weakened state. The occasional lick of flame would crawl up his body, flutter into the air and promptly die, but for the most part he just huddled against the back wall, shaking and sparking.
Mystic
The hulking thing tilts its head the other direction, blinking once as it regards him. Another rumbling sound comes from its chest.
…it leans forward slowly, taking a cautious step into the hole. The giant claws on the forelimb sink into the soft dirt.
Another step. It’s so big that each step crosses nearly four feet of distance. The spines- which appear to be some sort of silver-colored plates, once the sunlight is no longer directly shining on them- scrape faintly against the ceiling of the den. Bits of earth shower down the spines with the sound of a chain link fence, landing on the floor of the burrow with a drizzle of sand. A long tail of similar plates drags behind it, curling slightly at the end as they get closer.
The thing pauses as embers and sparks flicker at his skin. It blinks some more, looking at him curiously. It leans in, sniffing.
Then it recoils back, muzzle scrunching up in- disgust? That was a very palpable expression of disgust on that inhuman face. They stick their tongue out at him, huffing a snort out of their shiny black nose. It shakes its head. Another rumble, and it- backs up? A heavy breath, in and out.
Wait- was that a sigh? Did this thing just fucking sigh at him?
It turns around, leaving him to face a veritable wall of pinecone scales, and starts trundling back out of the hole.
Spooky
He curled up in as little of a ball as he possibly could the closer it got to him, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt its nose get close enough to sniff him.
However, instead of the sensation of teeth sinking into his flesh, the snout suddenly withdrew. He peeked up through his fingers as it reacted with disgust. There was little space with the creature in there with him, so he continued to hug close to the dirt wall as the creature turned around and another veritable wall of heavy armored plates moved past him with about a foot to spare. Soon the den emptied out as it moved back up the tunnel and out.
...What just happened?
Fuck it, he didn't care. He was so relieved that he fell back to the ground and glowing tears spilled from his eyes despite being in limited supply at this point. He needed a moment.
Eventually he regathered enough strength to climb back out of the den. He couldn't tell what time it was for the life of him. The sky was partially dark but whether it was dawn or dusk he had no fucking clue. Either way the light, as limited as it was, hurt his eyes after he'd been underground for days, and he was forced to squint.
His body still felt clunky and hard to move, but he had to get to that fucking water, so he forced his protesting limbs to move. It felt like he almost had to walk on all fours half the time to avoid falling over, but whatever worked. At this point he felt like if he fell over, that would be it for him. There were a few points where it felt like he couldn't go on, and he might've slumped to the earth and eaten some grass off the ground- it was kind of a blur honestly- but somehow by some miracle that familiar building came into sight, and that tree, and those food tubes.
He plunked down next to the pond, and had a very strange moment in which, despite being deathly afraid to get his face near the water before, thirst seemed to take over and the next thing he knew he was leaning down with his hands gripping the sides of the pond and his face practically half submerged, greedily gulping down water like... Well, his life DID depend on it.
Mystic
The water was nectar from heaven. It soothed his throat, which had cracked and ached from the ashy paper dust. Not even the sweet sticky water from the weird hanging tubes had tasted this good, or eased the pain of thirst quite this well. Even the cold temperature didn’t deter him- if anything, it felt even better! Steam puffed out of his mouth every time he had to stop to take a breath.
Nothing attacked, assaulted, or ambushed him while he drank his fill. The pond was empty, with no surprise fish people waiting for him. He could drink in peace.
By the time he’s finished, the pond water level is noticeably lower, about an inch or two. Steam is curling up into the air around him from wherever water touched his heated skin in the fervor to drink.
…his limbs feel sore. Sitting down by the water’s edge felt so nice, even though he was very exposed right now. The desperation to sate his thirst overrode self-preservation for the time being.
…hm?
He smelled something. Something- good.
Even though his stomach was feeling a bit waterlogged, it cramped in protest. He was still hungry, and whatever that smell was, it was making him hungrier.
The smell wafted from something sitting on the porch of the house. A flat white disc, with some kind of- something he didn’t recognize. He didn’t recognize a lot of things.
Spooky
He moved closer to inspect the food. It looked like a piece of meat of some kind, with little speckles of something on top of it... There were some sliced-up lumps of something else that were kind of light brown and yellow-ish, and something that looked like tiny green trees. There were some little metal instruments placed down by the white disc, but he ignored them and picked up one of the tiny trees between his thumb and pointer finger and looked at it curiously.
He could recognize this as human food easily enough- it smelled too good to not be. He wasn't sure what it was, but food was food, and he dug right in.
He was so hungry that the food disappeared before he had much of a chance to really taste it, but like the cooked patties he'd managed to snag before, what he could taste of it was so good compared to what he'd been scavenging that it nearly made his eyes roll up in his head. Sure, he'd been taking food from the town, but they seemed able to prepare the food in a way that it was even better somehow... The meat was especially good, having an interesting flavor along with it that he guessed was the stuff sprinkled on it?
Either way, the food was gone quickly and he picked up the white disc, licking it clean.
Mystic
Once the food has all vanished into the furnace that was his gullet, he finally has the opportunity to sit and think without being plagued by demanding organs and various pains.
If that was human food, why was it left out? Surely not to feed any of the animals about. He'd glimpsed people in this place chase off fluffier grey animals with ringed tails from their trash cans or their own food discs. Could those be the 'raccoons' everybody complained about?
This food was left out with the intention to feed a person. But- he'd never seen anybody besides the weird fish-person go into or out of that house. And the only person who went anywhere near the property was-
-him.
...was the food meant for him? And if it was, why?
Was it- bait?
Spooky
He put the disc back down, unease settling in. They had seen him the last time, so they knew he'd been getting food here. But at the same time, it didn't make sense to him why they would leave more food out after knowing he was taking it. The only other possibility he could think of was that it was that person's food and they just forgot it outside... But who would actually do that?
It felt like maybe this was some kind of attempt to trick him, but to what end he had no clue. It wasn't like any traps had sprung and captured him, and there was plenty opportunity for that to happen.
...
Ah shit, that's right, he was in the open! His eyes turned upwards and scanned the sky for any sign of camera drones, but there weren't any. Just open sky, and the high branches of trees. Still, not wanting to take any chances, he retreated back towards the forest.
He could try to figure this out once he was somewhere safer.
After being spotted too many times stealing food in the city, and the lab narrowing down his general location as a consequence, Matchstick has to lay low for a while. Thankfully, there is one other fairly reliable place he can go for food, but he might run into something unexpected...
(CW: brief old wound mention in the second paragraph)
~*~
Mystic
Scampering off into the woods, he's left with his bounty of- whatever this food was. A small armload of orange circles, and a handful of chewy pebbles. Did it matter what they were, exactly? It was food! And if he was really craving something else later, he could try digging in trash cans under the cover of night again. He'd have a much easier time scurrying away unseen while the sky was dark.
Odd, how strangely free he felt, now. Clearly, he wasn't safe, not by any means. But he didn't have that awful metal collar around his neck anymore, or those tube things hooked into his back. He could still feel one of them poking into the back of his torso, but it didn't sting as much anymore. The wounded area had scabbed up- he could feel the rocky, cooled magmatic texture that was the byproduct of his broken skin. Lava blood didn't clean up very nice.
...
Hours pass. The sun- at least, he thinks it's the sun, based on what information he was able to piece together from listening in on conversations at the lab and out here- was on its way down to the horizon. Once it set, he was free to go about raiding. The drone cameras would be docked. If Aria really wanted to try hunting him in the night, they'd certainly have a time of it, given his natural camouflage.
Spooky
Little by little, he was able to figure out the timing better.
The people would go away for the most part after it's been dark outside for a little while, and those few who remained were a lot easier to avoid. Turns out that empty den had been the best hiding spot he could hope for, because as the days went by he found he could sleep in there while it was light out without fear of discovery, and was relatively free to roam at night. And of course, he would take this time to go out and collect food, then squirrel it away in the den with him.
Granted, he had a hard time going completely without detection. If he wanted something that wasn't stale or rotting, he had to take his chances during the day. He discovered a sort of wooded area that people would sometimes go to that had flat-topped wooden structures that people would sit at and put their food on, and there were a few that were close enough to the treeline where he could snag something if they left it unattended. He usually did that around the time the sun would start to go down, if he woke up early enough. He was seen a few times, but was quick enough to flee that it wasn't like they could do anything about it.
He broke into a few buildings at night, too. Places where food was made, and other places where it was stored on big shelves. Locks weren't really a problem for him. Not nearly as pressing a problem as his insatiable appetite, anyway.
It didn't take long for rumors to spread around town of a strange shadowy creature that would show up to steal food. Grainy security camera footage of a silhouetted shape with two bright dots for eyes would emerge both online and on the local news, though some would decry it as a hoax to bring in business.
Still, needless to say, the number of drones increased in the area after that.
He had to lay low, and stay away from the town for a while...
Thankfully, there was always that place with the food cylinders on hooks. It was kind of out of the way, and it remained a safe enough place to go, though after he'd visited enough times the tree was kinda starting to run low on those spheres. Still, the food cylinders were as full as ever, and were quick to be replenished.
He ended up making that his main haunt for the next few days, after he quickly ran out of whatever stores he'd managed to gather in his den.
Mystic
Today, he was feeling a little bold. Instinct was telling him to stock up on food. He wasn't entirely sure why, but something about the way the air had begun to gather a chill, set off a small alarm in his brain. Somehow he knew more cold was coming, and that it meant less food.
Didn't help that if he was ever spotted, somebody nearby would yell 'it's the cat-man!', whatever a 'cat' was. It always resulted in people screaming or scrambling to get small devices he could only assume were more cameras, or weapons or something. The scientists in the lab frequently had similar objects they'd hold up toward him during or after testing. He never figured out their purpose. All that mattered was that they didn't cause him physical pain... he hoped.
Back to that house again- the one with the lawn of food cylinders. Right on schedule, they were refilled. Nice.
Spooky
By this time he'd figured out a way to carry more food with him. He'd emptied out a trash bag, and while he'd torn the top off of it while searching for food, there had only been paper trash inside it, making this one more clean of whatever gross sludge was in some of the other ones. And he could just hold the torn part at the top closed with his fist once it was full!
He busied himself with emptying some of the cylinders into the bag, and tossing in a few of the remaining spheres he could still reach up and grab from the tree. There were some more higher up, but he'd have to climb to get them... and he wasn't entirely sure how to do that. Eh, he'd deal with that later.
His attention was grabbed by a big cylinder full of those pebbles, hanging pretty close to the pond. Thankfully not too close to the point where he felt any danger of falling in, so like usual he just casually picked it up off the hook and tipped it so they fell out directly into his mouth, since his other hand was busy holding the bag, and he felt like having a nice little crunchy snack right now before heading back 'home'.
Mystic
...
....splsh
That- came from the pond.
He didn't remember seeing anything in the pond- ever.
A faint ripple passed over the still water as some fin frills broke the surface. They were swiftly followed by a head, sharp teeth bared in a grin.
"Alright, which animal is-"
The gleeful triumph- at having surprised what they thought was an animal- vanished instantly as their words choked with surprise. They drew back in the waters of the pond, staring with wide eyes.
"Holy-" their voice mumbled, that same voice that occasionally talked to the birds or themselves about eating a lot lately. It was the house resident- in the pond? How long had they been underwater??
"You're not an animal!"
Spooky
His eyes shot open wide and he froze with his mouth stuffed. He'd reflexively tried to inhale and a few pebbles got lodged in his throat as a consequence, threatening to choke him. Glowing tears springing up in the corners of his eyes, he forcefully swallowed the mouthful of mostly unchewed pebbles and lurched into a coughing fit, puffs of smoke spiraling into the sky from his mouth.
He'd dropped the cylinder in order to clutch at his chest as his coughing abated, though he eyed her warily as he backed away. Some of the contents of his bag had spilled in the confusion, but he clutched the remainder of his spoils and took off running, crossing the road and fleeing back into the treeline.
Mystic
The strange fish person jolts back a bit in shock, at the sight of him choking. They definitely weren't expecting some kid to be digging in their bird feeders, much less strangling on the peanuts!
When he bolted from the yard, the last thing he sees is the resident standing up out of the pond, hand outstretched toward him.
"Wait-!"
The voice is lost as he vanishes into the trees.
Pounding footsteps almost mask the volume of his heartbeat.
Were they chasing him? Why wouldn't they? They caught him taking their food!
...but- there hadn't been any anger. He didn't know what emotions were there, but at least he knew that anger wasn't one of them.
He makes it back to the den, heaving for breath past the aches in his throat from the singed shells of the pebble snacks. There wasn't a rustle of leaves or branches to indicate a hot pursuit. Whoever they were, they didn't follow him.
Spooky
Going inside, he plunked down on the ground with a rustle of discarded trash bags and food packaging, anxiety still coursing through his veins. Fuck, he was gonna fill this whole damn hole in the ground with smoke if he couldn't calm down...
He breathed in a big shaky breath, as much as his lungs could hold, and held it. He didn't know if this actually helped or not, but it seemed to make him feel better. He then let it out in a big woosh, which unfortunately contained more dark smoke, but at least after that he was able to breathe more normally.
Setting down the bag of food, he slid both of his hands over his head and let it fall against his knees, keeping his hands on the nape of his neck as he tried to think about what the hell he was gonna do next.
He couldn't go back to town yet, and even if that person hadn't seemed mad, he wasn't sure if going back there so soon was a good idea... If he did, he'd have to wait until it was nighttime proper, maybe they'd be asleep then.
But were they gonna still fill those tubes if they knew he was taking from them? They were trying to feed those little flying things, not... not him.
He had more time before he needed to sleep, but he didn't feel like going back out there. He idly tore open an orange sphere and tossed the bits of skin over to where the other bits were piled up, old and rotting. While the juice was kind of annoyingly sticky on these things, they seemed to help keep his mouth from feeling too dried out, and the juice was kind of a relief, as tart as it was.
A part of him wondered if he should've been trying to drink some water this whole time, but he wasn't sure, and wasn't about to try it with that pond. Especially now that he knew he could be ambushed there.
Fuck, it would've been nice if he had a manual on how the hell he was supposed to function... But he must've been doing okay so far, since hey, he wasn't dead yet.
He ended up going through the rest of the spheres he had left without really paying attention, as worried as he was about other things, and just sat there watching the entrance for a while until he felt tired enough to go to sleep...
Mystic
...
That night, he's plagued by a nightmare.
He was being hunted. He knew that already- but this time, they found him.
Branches crunched and smoked under his bare feet as he pelted through the woods.
Metal objects on cables, strings and chains flew from the darkness, trying to snatch his limbs and his torso.
One of them manages to nail a wrist. The metal clasp wraps around the joint, squeezing tight as the cable it's tethered to pulls tight, stopping his forward momentum with a painful wrench.
Another metal object cuffs an ankle, tripping him and throwing him off balance until he falls to the ground. His chin hits a rock, jarring his thoughts.
Finally, another clasps around his neck. It constricts, making it hard to breathe as he's tugged backwards like a disobedient dog on a leash.
"You're not getting away that easily," the ponytailed man threatened, the voice all too familiar even as he can't see him through the fog of the woods. "We've sunk too much time, effort, and money into you. Don't worry, you'll be worth the cost, soon. And after plenty more sessions of mental conditioning and training, I'm sure you'll come around."
Something sharp jabbed into the base of his skull.
He jolts awake. A rock on the floor of the den was poking him in the back of the neck, hard.
Spooky
Dizzied and panicked, he forces himself upright and slaps at the back of his neck with his hand, trying to feel for whatever had stabbed him. The phantom pain still radiated in his mind even as the actual minor pain of having rolled over onto a pointy rock faded, leaving him shaken and confused.
Despite his high body temperature, a cold wave of fear crashed over him, leaving him shivering and feeling a little bit sick to his stomach. He felt like he had to move, but couldn't get up, so he just crawled forward clumsily and fumbled about in the dark, mindlessly pushing the debris in front of him aside.
Despite knowing this place was safe, in that moment he didn't feel like it was. No drones were imminent, there was no clank of chains to be heard outside, nor electronic buzzing. Nothing but the faint whisper of a soft wind drifting down through the entrance tunnel. But what if they were waiting? What if they were waiting out there and knew he was in here and were just waiting for him to slip up and leave?
The paranoia that had crept up on him was paralyzing. He needed to run, but there was nowhere to run. He was already hiding, but it wasn't good enough. He needed to hide even more.
Unable to think of anything else, he went from pushing the trash away to scooping as much of it up as he could and covering himself with it, pressed up against the dirt wall and trying to stay as still as possible.
For the entirety of the next day, he didn't leave the den at all.
While exploring the woods, Matchstick happens upon a place full of strange tubes containing food and water! However, this place has a strange owner that certainly isn't like any human he's ever seen... Will he be able to sate his hunger while avoiding detection?
~*~
Mystic
Walking alongside the road, the trees and shrubbery afford some protection from sight, allowing him temporary shelter whenever a car or a person passes by. The dappled sunlight speckles the jungle-y forest floor, and he has to take care to avoid the spots. Thankfully, there's plenty of shade.
No doubt he looked like a sasquatch, lurching through the woods.
All the buildings look the same, with only minor variations to each block, for a good long while. Then, they start to shift. The concrete and large glass panes start giving way to wood, stucco, and cloth curtains and blinds. Spaces in front of the buildings became filled with short grass, potted plants, flowers, and strange little houses built on standing poles or stapled to buildings.
Oh- there was one in front of him, actually! A few of those odd tiny homes were nailed to the sides of trees, painted with bright colors and with small holes drilled where windows and doors would be. A loud chirping emanated from inside the one closest to him, and a small fluffy thing hopped out one of the holes. Hopping back and forth, it turned its head side to side, then it fluttered wings and took off in a burst of flight.
There were also- colorful tubes, hanging from the trees? They were filled with multicolored... sand? And pebbles? One had some kind of liquid.
One of the fluffy flying things lands on the edge of one of those tubes, dipping its pointy face into a hole and pulling out some of the pebbles. It cracks them open, eats something inside, and then flutters off as he draws near.
Spooky
The sudden movements of the small creature were interesting to watch, but it had the added bonus of showing him that what he thought was sand was actually... some kinda food!
The buildings he could recognize as belonging to people, but these smaller ones with the holes in them, he had no idea. They weren’t near the buildings. Were they part of the trees?
Regardless, he grabbed the strange tube and tilted it, dumping some of the 'sand' (he had no other idea what to call it) out of the holes and into his hand. He dumped it into his mouth, and they popped and crunched interestingly as he chewed. Not much of a flavor, though... Kinda bland, but not as bad as the gross waxy, ashy thing he'd tried earlier. At least it didn't get stuck against his teeth.
The pebbles were also very crunchy, but the insides of them were actually kind of chewy and tasty! Not bad, the hard and sharp shell kinda sucked but the rest was good. Probably his favorite so far.
The liquid one... He wasn't sure about. It looked a lot like it was just water, though he didn't remember water having a sweet smell to it. He wasn't sure he wanted to give it a try, but his mouth did feel kind of dried out, especially after the sand and pebbles... How were you supposed to get to this, though? There were a bunch of little shapes around the base of it... Curiously, he tried tilting it to the side like he did with the sand. Sure enough, some of the water spilled out of the plastic flower shapes around the bottom, running over his hand and trailing down towards his elbow. He let go, making a face. Eugh, he didn't like it running over his skin like that... Licking it off the back of his hand, his eyes widened when he realized it actually did taste kinda sweet! Like, really sweet, actually.
He plucked it off the hook and did his best to tilt the rest of the sweet water into his mouth. Some of it evaporated into steam right away, but what amount of it didn't actually felt like somewhat of a relief as it slid down his throat. Man, if only this thing wasn't so awkward to drink out of... Damn it, he could tell he'd spilled some of it down his front. He did his best to put it back, though it was kind of at an awkward angle now, and wiped at his face with the back of his arm. Probably tasted the best out of all three, but was definitely the messiest and left him feeling unpleasant and sticky.
Mystic
Hmm. He probably needed to wash himself off. Preferably not with the chemical sprays the scientists used back at the lab... not that he knew where to even find those. Nor wanted to.
A quick glance around gave him some more information.
The strange tiny houses and cylinder things hanging from the trees weren't just here- they were across the black stone path, too. The building was a painted white wooden structure, with a large extended porch that met two doors, and had at least two floors from where he was standing. Patches of bright colored flowers and grasses surrounded by rings of stone sat neatly in front of this building, clearly tended to by somebody. A large pool of water was underneath a short tree laden with bright orange spheres on the leafy branches.
The hanging food containers were scattered about that lawn, as well. On the tree, on hanging hooks, on the porch.
Spooky
The wheels in his head turned as he looked at the building, not sure if he should approach. He couldn't tell if anyone was in there or not, but... That water didn't seem too deep. Maybe it would be safe to try and wash off there, though he didn't really like the thought of it. The only times he'd been doused in water before had all been very intentionally unpleasant, or in most cases, absolutely terrifying.
Still, there was more food over there too, and despite having emptied the ones on this side of the stone path, it hadn't really felt like enough.
...He'd try it, but was prepared to flee if need be.
Wanting to put off having to deal with the water, the first thing he went for was another sand tube, though this time they stuck to his hand. Ugh... He tried to lick them off of his palm but that was easier said than done. Fine... He'd wash his damn hands.
Reluctantly, he went over to the water and crouched next to it, squinting down at it distrustfully. When the water level didn't start suddenly rising to drown him, though, he dipped his fingers in- pulled them back, not expecting it to be cold- and then finally dunked both hands in to get it over with, scrubbing the stickiness from them. He then backed off entirely, having hit his limit on amount of contact with water he was willing to put up with today. He stood there with his arms out, dripping, before clenching his eyes and jaw and using the remaining wetness on his hands to try and wipe the stickiness from the corners of his mouth. Kinda worked, but he still hated it, and promptly shook himself off to try and rid himself of the sensation. He wasn't even going to deal with whatever sweet water had dried on his chest or stomach, washing his hands and face had been bad enough.
Guh... damn it, now his hands were all shaky. At least there was another tube with those pebbles to help take his mind off it. He walked over and dumped some into his hand, crunching on that while tipping it again for more.
Mystic
It takes some doing, with occasional glances left and right to ensure there was nobody around, but eventually he manages to empty every single food cylinder in the yard. He has to take greater care not to spill on himself with the other sweet water cylinders- he didn’t want to dunk his hands again. Being sticky and cold sucked.
tHD
Augh-! Something just bonked him on the head!
The sound of an object rolling in the grass drew his eyes to it. One of the round orange things from the tree. There were many others like it on the ground at the roots, likely also fallen from the branches.
…hmm… could these also be food?
clk-clik k-chk
Behind him, the door in the building was making a faint rattling sound.
Spooky
He had just picked up the orange thing to inspect it, empty cylinder in his other hand, when the door behind him started making noise. By the time he noticed said noise, though, he only had enough time to turn and look at it before it opened.
Startled, he dropped the empty cylinder and scrambled for cover, hoping whoever was coming out didn't get a good look at him.
Mystic
His dirty, damaged charcoal form just manages to slip behind the trunk of the tree as whoever was inside that building fully opens the door. He can’t see who or what they are, taut and tense behind the tree, but he can hear the creak of footsteps on the wooden porch.
They’re humming a tune, like the guy in the rich-smelling building with the hot food.
…It stops.
“…huh.” The person hums in thought, and he can hear a plastic clunk as one of the cylinders is rotated on its hook. “Birds went crazy last night… or squirrels, again.”
Rustling sounds. Another metal tin noise, and plastic crinkling. Then- a sound like sand pouring. Were they refilling the food cylinders?
The creaking wood becomes crunching leaves and brushing grass. They were getting closer.
A scaly teal-blue hand, with webbed fingers, faintly pointed nails like tiny claws, and a dusting of silver among the blue, comes into view near the side of the tree.
Shit-!
The hand picks up one of the orange spheres, and disappears from his peripheral vision.
…there’s a soft leathery sound of something tearing, followed by munching.
“Mm! Oranges finally in season~” the voice sang, gleeful. He could detect a faint feminine pitch to it.
The munching continues as the footsteps move away from the tree. He has to hold completely stock still to avoid being seen. The figure walks into view as they go away from the tree and toward the black stone path.
…He’d seen some weird folk, and all things considered, this was not the weirdest, but it was certainly strange. The odd blue skin with scale coating covered the entire body- save for the parts in clothing. Their feet were large webbed flippers, with sandals tucked around the ends of the toes and the sole. Fins cupped the sides of the head, where the hair appeared to be made of- plants?
They didn’t notice him. They were headed away from the building, towards a boxy blue thing on the path.
Spooky
He stood there with one hand gripping the sphere- 'orange'?- he'd picked up, and the other firmly clamped over his mouth to avoid making a sound. The fact the stranger had gotten so close didn't help the tension any, and his back was starting to sting from pressing against the tree.
He finally dared to breathe again once the person had started walking away, but he still knew he wouldn't be able to run for it without making any noise. As they went past, he scootched around as carefully as he could to the other side of the trunk, anxiously peeking out from behind to try and see what they were doing.
Mystic
The person keeps walking, not noticing as he peeks around the tree- thankfully, not even his glowing eyes were standing out enough to give him away during the daytime.
They get into the blue box, opening a door on the side and ducking into the inner chamber. The door shuts, and the box makes a rumbling sound as it comes to life. The blue ‘truck’ moves out of the small concrete path onto the black path, and putts away out of sight.
…He’s alone, again.
At his feet by the tree roots is a strange orange skin, curly and deflated looking. It smelled really fresh and sweet. Did it come off of the orange sphere?
And- all those cylinders in the yard were indeed full again.
Whoever that was, they kept up a constant supply of this strange outdoor sand food.
Spooky
He looked at the scraps of orange and yellow material on the ground, then at the sphere. Were you supposed to take the outside of it off? How, though? It was pretty smooth, albeit sorta bumpy too. He didn't really have any claws like that person did, so he instead used his teeth to cut into it, though it was awfully sour and made his face scrunch up. Yuck!! What was that taste?? He spat out the now partially cooked strip of orange skin he'd managed to pull off the sphere and stuck out his tongue, wishing he could get the rest of the taste off of it.
Still, looking at the sphere again, it seemed there was indeed some kind of softer food of some kind inside it. He used his hands to peel off the rest of the skin, because like hell he was going to put that shit in his mouth again, and was left with some kind of soft, segmented orb. Actually, it split super easily along the segments too, and he was able to pull a piece off of it, which he cautiously tried.
It was still a bit tart, but not godawful sour like the skin was- instead it was kind of sweet and tangy, and juice came out when he chewed on it. Huh. Not bad! He tossed the rest of the orb into his mouth.
Unlike the sand, he'd probably be able to carry a few of these back to his hiding spot. And maybe some of the pebbles too. Keeping an eye on the black path just in case that blue truck came back, he reached up and pulled a few more of those orange spheres off the branches, tucking them in the crook of his arm, and tipping some more of those crunchy pebbles into his hand for later before fleeing back into the woods.
What a score! He'd have to remember how to get back there. It seemed like a pretty good food supply, and with only one person around to guard it!
After escaping the lab, Matchstick runs into a new challenge: trying to find enough food to sustain his furnace of a stomach.
~*~
Mystic
...
...…
Something was tickling his face. It was persistent, and poking through the muddy dreams he'd been wafting on.
Oof. And that pain in his gut had come back, mildly nagging at his insides. What was that? It wouldn't go away, either.
Fluttering his eyes open, he was greeted by the sight of the earthy den he'd fallen asleep in. Sunlight was starting to trickle down through the entrance, teasing at his cheek.
Or- maybe that was the red and black bug he saw, poking up at the edge of his vision. It was small and round, and shiny in the morning light.
Spooky
...Buh.
Had he fallen asleep...?
And- damn it, what the fuck was touching his face? He blinked, and caught the movement of the small creature out of the corner of his eye. Startled, he breathed in a dry gasp and brushed it off, scooting his butt away from where he'd been seated. Shit, what the fuck was that thing?! He couldn't see it now, because it had gone flying somewhere, so he was left sitting still for a few moments with a feeling of unease.
Grrrghghlllll...
...And what the fuck was THAT? The sunlight shining in through the entrance lit the burrow just barely enough that he could see nothing else was in here with him, save for whatever that tiny thing was, but he was pretty sure that thing couldn't growl like that...
He waited and listened carefully until he heard it again, a low gurgling growl coming from- from... himself??
The fuck?
Was he dying or something? He felt like shit... His stomach especially, and now it was making worrying sounds... This hole in the ground was safe, but that wasn't gonna do him any good if he fucking died in it!
His mind raced as he tried to think of something he could do about this. His stomach had felt like this the night before, too, but it did seem at least a little less pressing before he'd slept... His thoughts wandered back to him eating those loaves of bread, it seemed to have helped a bit... In fact, he kinda wished he'd grabbed some when he escaped, but he hadn't thought to do that at the time...
His glowing tongue slid out and licked at his dry lips. Yeah... He wished he had more... But damn it, that human was gonna chase him if he went back for the rest of it.
His eyes slowly wandered back towards the light filtering in through the entrance. There had to have been more food out there, right...?
He found himself torn, not wanting to leave and expose himself to danger again, but there was also nothing in here to help distract him from the nagging feeling in his stomach... He huffed out a breath, and reluctantly began his crawl back up to the surface. He poked his head up from the soil, squinting at his surroundings as his eyes had to readjust to the light. The coast seemed clear enough...
Okay. If he could find some food close enough, he could just come back here whenever he needed to hide again. Maybe that'd work...
Mystic
...It didn't take long before something that smelled delicious tempted at his senses. What was that heavenly aroma? Mmm... he didn't have the adjectives to describe it, and it made his stomach complain worse than ever.
It was definitely harder to keep hidden in the daylight. He was very acutely aware of the fact that he had no camouflage, now that the cover of night was gone. Whatever the scientists had done to him to give him this lava blood and charcoal flesh, he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Don't be seen. Don't get caught.
Getting to the edge of the treeline again was easy. Figuring out where the smell came from, even easier- he could see an establishment not too far away that had some sort of fire box visible through a window, with patties and slices of red and brown material sizzling away. The rich smell had to be coming from that.
But actually getting over to it... that wouldn't be so simple. It was across one of those strips of black ground, where metal boxes with lights had zipped along and almost hit him. Those had to be vehicles of some sort, right? He'd overheard conversations among the scientists talking about something called 'trucks', used to move things around. Including him, on rare occasions.
Stomach growled again, demanding.
Spooky
He swallowed, staring at that building with an intensity that felt like it should've been able to bore holes through it, had that been one of his abilities.
It had given him such tunnel vision that it was only after he started to step out from behind the tree that he noticed how busy it was around the building. A 'truck' rolled past, breaking his line of sight, and he noticed some people walking around and talking to each other- some human and some not. There were more 'trucks' too, some sitting still and others moving around. His breath hissed through his teeth at the close call, and he ducked back behind the tree before any of them could see him.
Shit.
How the fuck was he supposed to get over there?!
And... thinkin' about it, there were probably more people in the building too. Even if there were no people outside, he couldn't just walk in... His previously hopeful expression soured in jealousy as he saw people walking out with food in their hands. Like it was so fucking easy.
The worst part was knowing he was strong enough that he could just as easily take it from them, but that would draw way too much attention. And apparently, going off what happened the night before, there were guards out here, too...
...About that, though... If he couldn't walk in through the front of the building, what if there were more of those food boxes out back behind it...? If he ran as fast as he could, maybe he could make it behind there before anyone could get a good look at him.
Fuck it, worth a shot.
Waiting for another 'truck' to pass, he crouched low and sprinted across, ducking into the shadows behind the building. Aw, fuck... There weren't any big boxes, just some metal cans... Nobody else back here though, at least...
Since he had the chance, he decided to see if there was at least something in the cans, so he pried the lid off one of them and tore open the bag inside. It wasn't food, just various crumpled paper-like materials tumbling out, although some were soaked in grease, or some kind of yellow and red stuff. It certainly didn't smell as good as whatever was in the building...
Though given the insistence of his stomach, he was still tempted to see if these could be eaten...
Mystic
Hm... they had something similar in smell to what was coming through that front door. Not quite the same, but close.
Maybe...
Grabbing one of the waxy papers and inserting it into his mouth didn't yield the best results. Some of that savory smell was on the paper in the form of taste, but... above all, he was tasting the waxy outer coating on the paper, which melted in his iron-hot mouth. Ugh, it was gumming up his teeth! Didn't feel very good to swallow, either- he had to cough out a small cloud of smoky embers, as the paper went down as dry ash. Not very appetizing, in the end.
click-click
Shit-
He had to duck back into hiding to avoid being seen, as a door on the side of the establishment opened outwards.
Another daytime stranger in a stained white apron- not a lab coat, thank god- stepped out into the alleyway. Some sort of tall bug-like person? In their clawlike arms they had a plastic bag, similar to the ones found in the box last night. They stopped at the trash can, with the lid still dropped to the ground. Scratching at their head, the bug person grumbles and kneels down to pick it up.
"Damn raccoons," they grumble, holding the lid aside as they drop the bag inside. Once the lid is replaced on top, they take some sort of tethers from their pocket, and strap the lid down to the trash can with the camping rope. Dusting their hands, they go back inside, shutting the door with a click.
Spooky
They kept saying that word. The hell was a 'raccoon'?
Despite the first thing he tried in that can not being the most appetizing thing he'd ever put in his mouth, he still felt a sinking feeling as he watched the stranger tie the top down. Damn it... So much for trying anything else in there.
His eyes followed the strange man back to the door, which closed. He waited for a bit before coming back out, half tempted to try and go in there too despite the danger. Maybe if he was quiet, or fast enough, he could slip in and grab something, then slip back out...
He tentatively reached out and grabbed the handle he'd seen moving on the door, and tried to slowly turn it, but it wouldn't budge. Hm. Maybe he needed to turn it a little harder…
He kept trying to turn it until the lock busted with a loud enough POP that he backed off with a grimace, knowing someone probably heard that and walking in would be a mistake. Unfortunately, with the lock part broken, the door slowly swung open anyway. There was one guy who didn't seem to notice him at all- he had some weird device over his ears and was making humming sounds as he scrubbed some metal thing next to some running water. There was one other guy though- the bug guy from before was standing next to a surface covered in sizzling patties, and the door slowly swung open juuuust enough for them to make eye contact.
.....
Fuck it, guy already saw him.
The famished bioweapon darted inside and made a grab for some patties, completely unaffected by the heat of the grill. He managed to snag two and stuffed one in his mouth like a frenzied animal before making a break for it back out the door, not stopping even as he heard shouting behind him and a flat ended instrument of some kind was thrown after him, bouncing off his back.
His back was still wounded and it stung like hell, but whatever the fuck that food was tasted so much better than anything he'd ever had in his life that he didn't even care! Fucking worth it.
Mystic
The yelling and flailing of the bug person got the attention of not only the man wearing the strange device on his head, but also the passerby and customers of this establishment.
"What the hell was that?!"
"I don't know! Was that a kid, or-?"
"No, it was like a shadow! What the fuck!!"
The outcries of the people follow the kid even as he bolts away from the storefront, swallowing the second patty of brown stuff with wild abandon. God, it was so good! Nothing had ever tasted this delicious in his life! He'd eaten meals only rarely, as rewards for 'good performance'. This made those meals taste like utter garbage by comparison. Steam puffed out of his mouth, the sound of sizzling emanating from his own throat as his inner fire burned up the material. Was this what made that delicious smell? Setting fire to food?
It satisfied the rumble in his stomach, for now. The gurgle in his gut had receded.
Back across the black stone path, he was under cover again. Safe.
And right on time, too. The familiar whine of electronics passes by overhead. Camera drones. He dodged a bullet, there.
Spooky
He ducked back into the cover of the woods and headed back towards the burrow to lay low. One drone was too much for his liking, but all bunched together like that, it was too dangerous to blow any one of them up without alerting the others. He'd caused enough alarm for now, and now that his stomach was feeling better, he didn't wanna push his luck any further than he already had.
Hopefully those people would calm down once they hadn't seen him for a while...
Once he made it back to the burrow entrance, though, he crouched with a bit of hesitation, licking the remaining patty grease off of his hands in thought as he tried to savor whatever left of that taste he could.
Yeah, he could go back down there and hide, but... then what? He wasn't tired, and he'd just be sitting in a hole in the dark for hours and hours, probably until his stomach hurt again and he'd have to come back out anyway.
Maybe it'd be better to explore a little bit first? Get familiar with the area. That way if he got chased again he could have some kind of an advantage... Or heck, maybe he could find some food out here. Animals had to eat too, right? People food was risky, but it was so good... The thought of going back to eating what he'd been used to before kind of sucked after experiencing something that nice, but fuel was fuel.
Standing back up, he started to wander again, though was sure to steer clear of the direction he'd just fled from.
Story starts here! Freshly escaped from Aria Labs, an experimental bioweapon seeks shelter in a quiet seaside town...
~*~
Spooky
Project Matchstick’s heart drummed rapidly against his ribcage as his feet pounded against the grass and dirt below. The uneven ground was completely alien to him, a far cry from more familiar smooth, sterile tile flooring. No, there were obstacles here- rocks, twigs, branches that whipped past and scratched him, bushes that threatened to trip him up... The uneven ground was only one obstacle of many. But he had to get through them, because what he left behind him was far more terrifying than the unknown he was running blindly into.
He had no idea how long he'd been running, but it somehow felt simultaneously like five minutes and an eternity. He was no longer on fire, but he had to have been leaving some kind of trail of smoke and soot regardless, his frenzied breaths puffing out of his mouth in the form of dark clouds.
Everything hurt.
He may have been built for strength and endurance, but he still had limits... and he'd probably hit his a while ago, running purely on adrenaline ever since. The trees and grass were blurring together, and his head was starting to feel like it was floating... A sudden pain of his foot catching on something startled him back to alertness, but by that point it was too late for him to do anything as he was sent tumbling down a hill.
Any bearings he had were completely lost as a moment of weightlessness ended abruptly, the world turning over and over as the ground battered him from all directions. It mercifully stopped as he finally landed with a loud WHUMP in a ditch below. He just... laid there for a bit, stunned and desperately trying to catch his breath. Having been forced to stop, any attempt to get himself to move again was a LOT more difficult... Alarm bells were still blaring in the back of his mind, but his body was absolutely fed up with cooperating by this point.
He was in that ditch for a while... There were times where approaching bright lights would shine across the leaves in front of him and a loud vehicle would pass by on the nearby road, each time making him go completely still and hold his breath in hopes he wouldn't be spotted... Maybe because it was dark by this point, he mercifully wasn't.
It was hard to tell how much time passed, or if he was even conscious for some of it... but eventually, his exhaustion eased enough for him to move again. Instead, it was replaced by a new uncomfortable- yet vaguely familiar?- sensation in his stomach. He wasn't... sure why, but the rest of him wasn't feeling much better either, so he shrugged it off for now as he climbed out of the ditch and hurried across the road. The sky was still dark, but slowly getting lighter... And it wasn't much longer at all before the trees were mostly gone, replaced with what he could only recognize as more buildings.
Surprised, he hid behind the closest tree he could and peeked around it, trying to get as good of a look as he could without being spotted... The building he'd escaped from had been a large one, and it looked nothing like the ones he could see from here. These were way smaller, and had more bright colors around them, and windows... He couldn't see in through them, though, because they were too dark. There were a few parked vehicles around... but most notably, there were no people to be seen.
He cautiously waited for another minute or two, before the lack of people gave him enough courage to venture closer, beyond the treeline and into the town. He looked with curiosity at the various colorful signs that adorned the buildings and streets, and the hanging lights that blinked yellow in places where the roads intersected. He approached one of the parked cars, silently reading out whatever letters and numbers he recognized on the front plate before pulling the windshield wipers up to see what would happen. He pulled at a handle on the side of the thing too, but then it started honking- angrily, he assumed- and he scrambled to get away.
He ran behind one of the nearby buildings- a large one, with a big glowing sign out front- and spotting some huge boxes, he wrenched open the lid of one of them- padlock breaking and clattering to the ground as he did- and climbed inside to hide. The smell in there... was not very good, and he was surrounded by plastic bags. Those guys who cleaned the lab kinda carried around something like these things... Never had any idea what was in 'em.
Without much else to do, he tore one open to see what was inside, and to his surprise, little bags of bread came tumbling out! Food! Holy shit, these things had food in them?! That feeling in his stomach came back with a vengeance, an ache so deep that he almost felt nauseous. Regardless of the fact that some of the bread was a bit spotty in places, his brain seemed to shut off for a few moments and the next thing he knew, he had ravenously torn into the packaging and devoured two whole loaves and was halfway through shoving a third into his mouth when the lid above him suddenly opened.
Mystic
When the lid is removed and light shines down around the box, he could see a figure behind it, silhouetted with impossible to discern features. The blazing light made it impossible to see much more than the outline of a head and set of shoulders.
There's a clatter of junk and plastic as the stranger gasps.
"Hey!" They yell, the voice one that he'd never heard in his life- and with a level of outrage he'd never heard in his life, "-is someone in there? You get outta there! You broke the padlock?? Get! Get out!"
The light- which appears to be coming from a metal rod grasped in one hand- moves aside, letting the feral kid in the dumpster see a bit more of their face. They're a scruffy-looking human of some kind, with a scraggly startup to a beard and tousled hair. They're glaring down into the dumpster, dropping something else they were holding- another bag of foodstuff? It makes a clinking sound when it hits the ground out of sight.
The hand that wasn't visible before comes back with a broom, shining the flashlight directly on the teenager in the trash this time.
"I said get out! You're going to attract- raccoons-"
Their anger dissipates into shock and surprise at the sight of the strange kid, stumbling back from the dumpster.
"What the hell-?!"
Spooky
For a moment it probably looked like two flashlights were shining right back up at him. The strange kid in question had gone completely still in fright the moment the lid had lifted, but while his body could blend in with the shadows easily enough, his glowing eyes were another story entirely. He flinched when the angry-sounding human pointed the light directly at him, and the moment the man reacted, he did so as well. The shadowy figure lunged upwards, scrambling out of the box and tearing off across the small, empty employee lot, before clearing the fence on the other side of it like it was nothing.
Preoccupied with escaping the human, he didn't pay attention to where he was going until he was confronted by a rapidly approaching pair of other bright lights, followed by a loud honk that got him to leap out of the way just in time to avoid being run over. Nerves thoroughly frazzled by this point, he kept running, desperately searching for a place to hide. Apparently this place wasn't as empty as he'd thought, and with the rise of the sun it was only going to get more active as the town woke up...
Mystic
"Whoa- what-?! AHH-"
The stranger's yelling fades quickly as the kid absolutely tears ass away from the building.
He ran and ran into the darkness of the night, dodging the glaring spotlights of streetlamps and vehicles soaring past him on the roads. Startling, to say the least!
The men in lab coats would come looking for him- he knew they would. They were furious when he managed to break out of containment, the intimidating one with the ponytail the angriest of all. He knew they had flying drones with cameras- he'd seen them taking video footage of his 'training' sessions, the few times he didn't blast them out of the sky himself. He couldn't let himself be seen. Not by anyone, not by any cameras.
Solace is found only at the very edge of town, where the lights are few and the people fewer. It was late at night, now. Everybody must be asleep. The only experience he had with 'night' was whenever the ponytail man in the lab coat said it was time for him to sleep. Shortly afterwards, he would fall unconscious whether he wanted to or not. It was way past that time, now, and he didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy, all hiked up on adrenaline as he was. Nonetheless, his bones felt like they were quaking under his skin from exhaustion. Guess being tired wasn't the same thing-
-and the ground suddenly dips under his feet as he jogs along the tree line. He's sliding down a dirt hollow, into a divot in the earth. The soil was softer under his hands and butt than he expected- and as a result, he kept sliding deeper, until he slid to a stop.
...It was pitch black in here, but he could still see the entrance. He could see the back, too. Shallow, but wide. A vacant den of some kind?
Spooky
He propped himself up on his elbows, trying to take in as much of his surroundings as he could, but it was too dark in here for even the glow of his eyes to fully penetrate, and in the mostly enclosed space his anxious breathing sounded too impossibly loud for him to hear anything else over it. When nothing immediately popped out of the dark to attack, though, he carefully rolled over onto all fours and crawled around the perimeter to make sure he was alone before he finally allowed himself to relax a bit.
At the very least, he was fairly certain no drones would be able to spot him down here. They'd probably see a hole in the ground, but any random creature coulda made that, right? And humans didn't seem the type to crawl into a dirt hole in the ground. They wouldn't see him here...
There was a worried thought of 'what if whatever dug this place out came back', but everything else pointed to this being the safest place he'd found all day. There was only one way in, so no one could sneak up on him at least... Too exhausted to think of any better options, he moved over and situated himself against the back wall of the den, where he could keep an eye on the entrance. He sat there for a little while- legs curled up, his arms crossed over his knees with his chin rested in them- and did his best to keep watch, though his eyes refused to stay open for long. Exhaustion could only be fought off for so long, and there was only so much adrenaline one could burn through in a day. Within minutes, he was out like a light.
Surprised I never actually posted this oOPS - this is a bit old and needs some style updating, but I'm still super proud of the scales!
This is Tikki, my mermaid character from one of the very first Fiasco games I ever played! She has an unfortunate curse of lycanthropy, which manifests as a giant reflective silver pangolin rather than a wolf. I tried to convey the silver by a pastel gradient on her pinecone back xD She's manic in this state, and keeps her shark teeth, so any bite can still transfer the curse to others. For this reason she isolates herself any time she feels the curse starting to kick in.
izzy806
gummygunk
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
