(featuring @gerbiloftriumph 's, @captmickey 's, and @thewatercolours ' Cracker family hcs mixed in with a few of others & my own)
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Young Graham - one of the newest members of the Cracker family and the one who stood out the most. Not only was he the youngest brother, surrounded by sisters, but he was also considered one of the ones who got into the most trouble.
Sure, his sisters got into their own fair share of situations. When they were younger, Anisette tried to cut her hair by herself, Ginger had fallen off plenty of rocks and short trees, and Madeline took eggs from the cupboard and wrapped them in blankets in hopes they would hatch.
However, Graham's incidents fell under a whole new level of problem, because they were constant. Once, Madeline had discovered that 9-month-old Graham had snuck outside the house and covered himself with mud. She brought him inside, then locked the door. Minutes later, Graham was gone, and Madeline found him again, in the same spot outside, while the door was still locked. Turns out, he climbed up onto a desk, unlatched the window, and crept outside.
They found more strange Graham-related occurrences. He babbled to bugs and animals, yet stayed sad and silent around people. He would hum and sing to himself a song that his family never taught him - in another language too, when he barely spoke Common. He wouldn't eat meats or let others eat meats in front of him - he would throw a tantrum just to get them off the table. He was frequently sick, with no clear sign of a specific illness, and yet never wanted to stay in bed, always sneaking into trees or the family farm.
Graham was concerning, and quite the handful, but Mrs. Cracker had raised a family from the ground up. This was simply an extra challenge.
(Although, part of Rosie suspected this was all part of their plan. It made sense, but she never wanted to view her boy as a life-ruining curse. He was more than that.)
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One sunny morning, Graham leapt out of bed, spry as a feather, and grabbed his day clothes. Today was his day, after all - his birthday!
He struggled more with putting on his tunic, but that was alright, he didn't have time to worry. They were going to have a party, with the whole family, at the restaurant Mom worked at before they settled at home.
He slipped on his oversized cape and plopped on his adventuring cap. The cap fell right onto the floor. Graham tried again, securing the cap by pressing it onto his head. It popped off, falling into his hands.
That was... weird. Graham wandered over to the mirror, to see what was the matter.
He almost fainted at the sight.
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Mrs. Cracker hummed a melody to herself while heating up the butter and the milk. Anisette was standing on her tippy-toes, reaching for the flour on one of the higher shelves.
"Be careful, Annie," Mom chimed.
"I am!" Anisette grabbed a wooden spatula, edging the flour closer and closer to the edge...
...and the room soon clouded with white powder.
Mom fanned away the flour. "Annie, dear, you could have waited for me to be done and I could have helped you,"
Anisette looked down at the mess on the counter. "I wanted to get it myself..."
"And you did, in a very clever way too," Mom patted Anisette on the head. "You just need to figure out when asking for help is needed, because that's just as important as independence."
Mom rubbed Anisette's shoulder. "Good. Now, go wake the birthday brother! I can clean this up."
Anisette nodded. She rushed to the bedroom and rapped on the door. "Wakey wakey, pancakey bakey!"
...No answer.
Anisette struggled with the doorknob. Huh, locked.
"Graham?"
"I don't wanna." Grumbled a voice from behind the door.
"Why don't you wanna come out?" Annie smirked, "Mom's making choco-chip pancakes for your birthday~"
Graham gasped, but stayed behind the door. "Um...hair..."
"Hair? Oh! Are you having a bad hair day? I can help!"
"Nuh-uh."
Anisette rubbed her neck, recalling her childhood self's very poor lack of bangs. "Yeah, okay, I get that. But still, it's your birthday! You shouldn't let a hairy situation ruin your special day!"
There was a beat of silence, then shuffling of feet and unlocking of the door. Anisette giggled, for Graham had covered himself in a bedsheet.
"You look like a ghost!" Anisette laughed.
Graham's voice shook in fear. "I do??"
"Yeah, you look like a sheet ghost on Halloween!" Anisette tugged on the sheet. Graham pulled it back over himself. "C'mon, Graham, you can't wear this all day!"
Graham trembled, "...I don't want you to be scared."
Anisette's face softened. "Why would I be scared? Of you?"
"I look weird."
"Weird hair is okay, Graham! I've had weirder hair," she rubbed him on the back, "Plus, I'm not afraid of you! I love you a lot, and nothing beats that. Okay?"
Graham hummed, "...Okay." Then slipped off the bedsheet. Anisette promptly screamed.
"You! You're pale as a bedsheet!" Anisette yelled.
Graham cried, "I know!"
"Your hair is silky!"
"I know!"
"You have a tail! Pointy ears! Your pupils are gone!"
Graham choked up. "I-I know... I'm scared..." His voice gained a more prominent echo, getting pingy, like a windchime.
Anisette brought Graham in for a hug, to let him cry into her dress. She noticed how clean his face is - how it didn't get red and puffy when he cried. She wasn't sure *what* he had become, but she was determined to find out. "Hey, we can figure out what is happening if we gather some context behind this all," She rubbed him on the back.
Graham tilted his head. "Con-tex?"
"Oh, um," Anisette tapped her chin. "It's like a clue about what really happened. Like in a mystery story!"
Graham clapped, humming his cheery tune. It was rare to see him smile - usually he simply hummed when he was feeling content, and that was fine with Annie.
She led Graham back into the bedroom, suspecting the first clue must have been around the area. She paced the room, stroking her chin while she pondered the situation. Graham waddled behind, mimicking her chin-stroking. What neither of them noticed was how Graham seemed to be growing in size.
"Have you found anything, Graham?" Anisette turned around, then realized she had to look up to meet... Her own eyes?
"No... I don't see context," Graham said, in Anisette's voice. He covered his mouth.
Annie bounced. "You turned into me! You can change your appearance!"
(She stood back to back, comparing herself to Graham as herself. "You're too tall, though."
"But you are tall."
"Well, compared to you, I'm probably a giant! But sadly I'm not that tall.")
Graham looked at his hands and his golden curls in awe. He was a shape changer!
Meanwhile, Anisette was conjuring up ideas. There were so many possibilities offered by having a shapeshifting brother. Maybe she could become part of a crew finally - even though a ship wouldn't allow anyone under 14 to join. She could have Graham sign for her as a slightly older version of herself - even though he barely knew how to write his alphabet, let alone forge a signature...
A knock on the door. Zards, Annie had forgotten about breakfast.
"Are you two alright? I heard a lot of yelling," said Mom.
"Yes~!" Anisette groaned. She threw the bedsheet back over her brother-shaped-like-herself, then she brushed past Mom to grab two plates of pancakes, only to be stopped on the way back to the room.
"No eating in the bedroom, Annie," Mom chided. "I'll let you eat in the living room, but only if you promise to not leave any crumbs."
Anisette crossed her heart. "It'll be as if I was never there!"
Annie sped to the bedroom, and brought back sheet-ghost Graham. They sat in the living room, with Graham kicking his legs and giggling as he ate pancakes from under a bedsheet.
Mom served Madeline and Ginger - who, unlike their younger siblings, decided to sit in the dining room - then sat down across from Anisette and someone under a blanket.
"Graham, what are you wearing?" Mom beamed, holding back her laughter.
Anisette butted in, "It's his Halloween costume!"
"In... July?"
"Yeah!"
Mrs. Cracker scratched her chin. "Well, I still wanna see the birthday boy's lovely face!"
Annie and Graham jumped. "No, don't! He's having um- A bad face day! He doesn't wanna face his face." Anisette objected.
Mom sighed, smiling. "Good face or bad face, I want to properly greet my boy."
Graham whispered to Anisette, *"I don't know how to change back..."*
*"Um, you have dark hair and freckles and blue eyes. Now, go!"*
Graham waddled up to Mom and let her take off the sheet. At the sight, her jaw dropped, for the child before her didn't look like Graham at all. More like Annie had dyed her hair darker and put on freckles.
Graham saw his mom's face - clearly disappointment - and teared up. "I don't know how to look normal again!"
"Normal?"
"I- I didn't want to scare you. I look like a scary monster. A scary monster that changes shapes." Graham sniffled.
"Yeah, um," Anisette stood behind Graham. "Graham woke up and he was all smooth and shiny and he can change his appearance."
Mom tapped her foot. "Like a changeling..."
"Changeling?" Annie and Graham asked, in unison.
"A type of fae who takes on the appearance of a human," Mom recounted, "Typically, in tales about the fae, they swap stolen human babies with a changeling one. You're different, though-"
Her children gasped. Graham wailed, "Was I swapped??"
Mom held Graham's face. She caressed his cheeks, and he leaned into it with a quiet humming of his tune. "You were never swapped with anyone else. You're my child, and don't let anyone say that you can't be," She assured. "...Want me to tell you a story?"
Graham gasped - a story! - and plopped himself at the foot of his mom. Mrs. Cracker called over Madeline and Ginger, for they would want to hear the story - the truth.
"Once upon a time, before you were born," Mom booped Graham on the nose, "I was on a little walk home through the forest, strolling beside your father. One misstep, however, had me standing in a fairy circle, and face-to-face with a scowling fae."
The sisters gasped, for the dramatic effect. Graham kicked his legs, his smile growing wide.
"We apologized for intruding, simply wanting to get home without any fuss, but the fae wasn't going to have it. They were keeping us there for reasons they wouldn't elaborate on - they simply glared," Mom imitated the face of the fae. "I even commented on it, saying that their face could use some work - no one looks good when they're sneering."
Mom snapped her fingers. "That's what ticked the fae off."
"Zards, can't even take light criticism." Ginger crossed her arms.
"Did the fae make Graham a changeling???" Anisette squealed. Graham held Anisette's hand, his tail swaying.
Mom chuckled. "I'll get to that, Annie. Be patient."
Anisette folded her legs and hugged Graham.
"The fae boomed, 'You dare to mock my beauty with yours? No one shall surpass my charm!'" Mom waved her arms. "'Your bloodline will be disfigured for generations to come. They will be abandoned, outcast, until the end of time!'"
Graham's sisters burst into commotion. "That's terrible!" "Why had I never heard of this??" "That fae is a big meanie!!"
Graham, meanwhile, gazed at the floor. He held Anisette tighter, then buried his face in the crook of her neck. Anisette combed Graham's silky white hair with her fingers, cooing, "What's wrong?"
Graham wriggled in Annie's arms. "...Am I supposed to be outcast? Am I the curse?"
"What? No!" Anisette cried.
Mom tisked, then placed Graham on her lap. "You know... With curses, there's usually some sort of loophole."
Graham wiped away tears. "What does that mean?"
"It means that there was part of the curse that the fae may not have thought about." Mom stroked Graham's flowery antennae. "The fae didn't think about how sweet of a child you would be, about how clever and kind you are. Your charm comes from the inside."
"So..." Graham's tail swayed. "The curse made me scary, but only on the outside?"
"Yes, Cookie, you got it!"
Graham giggled, his smile unnaturally wide, and his laughter like birdsong. His sisters gathered around to give Graham a group hug, unnerved by their brother's appearance.
...Madeline gasped. "We still need to prep for the party!"
Graham frantically bounced in his seat. "I'm um, I'm not normal still!"
Mom pushed back Graham's hair and kissed his forehead. "This is how you are normally. We still love you~"
"Mom, please!" Graham kicked his legs. "How do I turn not-scary for the party?"
Anisette scanned the room, saw Madeline, and Annie's face lit up. She rushed to the bedroom, grabbed a family portrait, and shoved it under Graham's nose.
"Look at your portrait!" Anisette giggles.
Graham idly does, and as he's looking, his face melts and warps into a young boy with dark hair, blue eyes, and a face of freckles.
Ginger grabs a hand mirror, and Graham gasps, "I did it!"
"You did do it, Cookie!" Mrs. Cracker grins.
Graham rushed off, eager to continue prepping for the party. The rest of the Crackers readily pack in balloons and Graham's presents from the each of them, for a birthday to remember.
