Please let go
Belle Sterling by @marypsue
Naomi Argenta by @toothpastecanyon
Bonus image, which can be brightened for “surprise”
Dancing around the problem.
Secondary
Whenever Noie goes off to hang out with her university friends, Dipper finds he really doesn't have anything else to do but sit in her room and wait for her to come back. He gave up going to college himself because he's a demon; he doesn't need that kind of stuff.
And he's fine with that, really. He's just happy to still be in his sister's life. His feelings are secondary.
(A follow-up to Noie’s Brother by the lovely and talented @toothpastecanyon!)
(AO3 link)
===
“Dipper?”
He looks up from where he is curled by the foot of the bed. Noie is at the door, with that sort of tentative look that she has whenever she has plans to see her friends. He smiles back, making sure not to show too many teeth. Don’t want to scare her.
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to the coffee shop with Bea.” She grabs the doorknob, then pauses, just like always. “Do you... do you want anything?”
He waves her off. “Nah. Go have fun with your friends.” There’s something unsaid in the stare that they trade, but today is not the day that words come up to meet it.
“Alright.” One more pause, and, “I love you.”
“Love you too,” he says, and then she’s gone.
Dipper straightens up, and thrums his fingers on his chin. He has approximately three- no, four hours before Noie comes back, and not a lot he can do to fill that time. There are always summonings coming in, minute after minute, but for some reason he does not feel like answering. People never have interesting things to offer him these days -- never have really tricky terms that he can revel in finding a way to twist to his advantage. It hasn’t been that fun for a while. So now he ignores a lot of them.
What else even is there for someone like him to do all day on a university campus? Usually he would just conjure a book and read it until Noie got back, but he suddenly feels like he’s reread every book he likes too recently, and if he tried to do it again now he’d ruin it. So instead he floats over to her desk and sits in the chair -- feels how hard and uncomfortable it is on his back, and he smiles because to him that’s what university should feel like. Cramped rooms with uncomfortable furniture where very smart people with absolutely no ability to command a room would attempt to impart their knowledge. He sort of misses it.
But it’s fine. It’s fine that he basically disappeared from the school he was going to when his demon memories came back. He doesn’t need to go to school -- it was just an act, a little game he was playing as a human. So what if he was having fun doing homework and trying to grow facial hair and playing games with his roommate? He isn’t really Dipper Argenta, not anymore.
There are claw marks on Noie’s desk. He remembers to relax his body.
Dipper thumbs through his sister’s assignments anyway. They are scattered all over her desk, and she’s only barely started a couple of them. He can let himself get lost in drawing little graphs and finding overcomplicated mathematical solutions to her economics homework. He’ll just snap his fingers and erase it all before she gets back, anyway, so that he doesn’t take away her chance to learn stuff.
When she gets back. It’s nice, he thinks to himself as he instinctively works through an economies-of-scale problem. It’s nice that she’s making friends. She never really did, when they were in high school together. All she had was him -- which, if he recalls, was exactly the problem. She really did deserve better than having a demon as a best friend. Sure, she never seemed upset to have him stay in her dorm with her, but sometimes he wonders if he was just her backup plan in the event that she never made any real friends. And it’d be fine. He just wants Mizar to be happy.
Something bitter reaches Dipper’s nose. He looks down, and he’s gripping the desk again, and that’s smoke rising from between his fingers. He jumps back. Stares at the charred residue and warped wood.
Maybe it is not fine.
He’s fucking up the world, as always. Dipper steps through a fold of matter back into the Mindscape so he can run damage control a little bit. He doesn’t understand why he’s getting so bent out of shape about this. He’s a good brother! He’s supporting his sister in doing the kind of human stuff she deserved to get to do, without him getting in the way!
There is a part of him that feels like sinking his teeth into a solid titanium girder and feeling the pressure as it deforms and eventually shatters.
He lies face-up on a cloud and runs a hand through his hair. Those feelings are secondary, he tells himself again and again. Ultimately he feels lucky to be a part of Mizar’s life -- of Noie’s life. Stars, he’s given her enough reasons not to let him stay.
“I̸͇'m͎͕̘̝̙ͅ ̖̗̙̲̳͢r̙̳͕̻͔͘ų̼ͅn̸͔͔̺ͅṇ̙i̜̭̝͙͚͞n̡̖͍͔g̡̪͖̲͙̘ ̻͔̲͟ͅǫ̠͍̹͙͇u̱̜t̞̯͙̮̟̲ ̰̳͔o̷̝̘̼̬f̢̠̹̹̖ ̻̖̦̙͢p̥͓͕͓̤͕̤a̯͓̤̹̜͠ti͉͙̫̞e̗n̦̦̫c̟͍͚̥̦̭̟e̪̗̭̜͉̙!̴̭̩̬” Alcor roared. “M̜̹̹̺̗͔a̟̘͍̩͖͕̘k͚̪͇̬e̲ ̝a͏̻̥̰̭͖̪̠ ̴͉̗̝̺͉d̙̝̟͝e͍̼̗̠̮ͅa͍̜̖̟̗͕l̡̠͎̬̭̘ ͈w̰i̞͘t̠̘̜͔͜h̘͇̱̰̤ ̣̳͕̳̮̯͖m͏͈̠̼̹e̳̣̠̙̣͓̰ ̙̘͔̭n̴o̝͉͡w̠!͈͕͝”
Yeah. Reasons like that.
Dipper sits up, and comes face-to-face with a snarling, rabid demon that looks exactly like him. He’s remarkably well put together -- a picture of class, with his smart suit, top hat, and cane. He’s also a revolting monster, radiating fury and bloodlust from his golden eyes. Spit flies from his mouth as he bares two sets of horrible teeth because he does want to scare, it’s what he’s built for. It’s how he gets what he wants.
“I̢̜̥͚̭̱̯ ̴͎̹͖̱D̡͙̤͇O͙͉̮̞̣̥Ṉ̣̬̠̖̲͖'̸̳̠̰T̼̟͇̞̥̰̻̕ ̙̣W̹̥̭A̗͔̣̮̻͉N̟̭̯̺̳T̖͡ ͚̭̳͖̼̤̮E̜͎X̷̺͈C̯̫̹̘̠̺U̜͎̩̮̰̼̝͠S̡E̼̱̪̥̻S̲̭͙͇̯,̛̰ ̡HU͈M̠̥̱̦̭ͅẠ̴̗N̺͉̼͓͜!͚̱̰̟ͅ” Alcor screeched, his voice like nails on a chalkboard, the sound knocking out any nightmare within a 50 mile radius. “Į̲ ̠̟̻̫̠͈ͅJƯ̬̲̱̮͈S͕͘T̲̥̳͇̦̳̫ ̧̜̱̻Ẉ̗͓͔̩͍͠A̟̲̫͟N̘̼͇̥̯͔ͅT̺͠ ͈͔͓̮̤̠̜T̞̬Ḩ̗I̘͔̬S̹̠̫̥̘͖̯ ̯T̶͓O ͓͚̣̻̳̠W̶̙̺̜̖͚̘̫O̴̗̳̟R҉̳̻K̢̠̘͎̖̭͍! ̦͙I͙ ̸̣̞̬J̣̞͔Ư͎͚̻̺͓S҉̺̦̼͕͍T͓̜͕̹̣͢ ͔̲̯͟Ẉ̣̱̻̝̰A̧N̗T̘ ͖̤̯͔͎͖͠E̞̮̮̤̼͘V҉E̕R̮ͅY̰T̗̪͙̻͠H̰̘̯͖̟͉I̲̹͡N̬͉̟G͍͍̦͕̫̤̭ ̪͈̗̫̰͞TƠ ̱͟W̹̻̦̦̭O̬̩R̗̭̗̲̕K͖͇ ̸̤̠̦̝A̻̪͕̪̹ͅG̨̯̦̘̟A̲̻̩͙̣I̗̱͜N͚̪͕̥ ̜̜͖͔̪̹A͏̯̰̬̤̙̟̩N͍͠D͙̳͉̮͔ I̹̦̖̻͎ ̼̻̮D̳̖̻̞͠O̫N̛̮̩̺'̘̳̟̭̙T̛̤͓̜̞̗̯͉ ͖̼̬̙͍̙͕Ṳ̢̦̯̜͍N͎͉͔͓D̡͇E̸͓̹̤̣͈R̨S͍͎͖̱̰͈T͇̜͚̩̳AN̬D̴̯̞ ̝͟ͅW̶H҉̻̦̻͈͖Y͔͕ ̻̯͔̗͍͚I̷̫͍͇̰̙T̸͖̠̪̻̬̱'̫̩͚͙̦Ṣ̜͍̪̟ͅ ͇̝̞̞͖̣͠NOT̯̦̞̱̣ ̠͝W̱̫̜͍͔̘̲O͉R̜̞̰̙͟K̵̟̘͈̰̮I҉͔͓̖̣N͙G̞̙ ̟͈̳̩̱̪-͍̰̺͔̱̠͖̕-̣͉͔̘”
There’s a bubbling feeling inside Dipper’s stomach as he watches himself. He’s never been able to forgive himself for what he did, even though Noie said it was okay, it was the past, things are different; he knows they aren’t different. It hangs over him when he spends time with her. He can feel it like a heartbeat, pulsating from behind her confused gaze.
“I̳͝ ̬̳̝D̮O̞͕͙͝ ̡͍͖̲N̟̘̟͙ͅO̱̭̘̬͔ͅT͏̬̬̲ A̶͈̰̜̦N̜͉̠ͅS͚͎͖̳̩̪W̷̲̺̼̺̱̟͔E̜̞͉̪͓̦R҉̟ ̵̪̦̤̹̼̠T̟̗̝̣̲̰Ơ͔͕̤̲͚̟ ̶̤̫̤̖Y̻̰̭̰̥̬O̟̻̥U̺,͟ ̩̤̤͙̹̹̭͞H̯͓͇U̹̤̝̻̠M̭̗AN͈̠̫̲̟͡!͓̖”
He can’t watch this. Dipper’s legs wobble as he tries to get up -- fails once. Stumbles over. Now he’s sure he looks like a fool. He has to put his weight onto Noie’s hand in order to actually stand. The demon glares at him with pity written all over his face.
Dipper tries to ignore it. He lets Noie guide him down the hall, his weak steps only really able to shuffle a few inches at a time. He’s thankful for her help -- he really is -- because he depends on her. He loves her so much -- trusts her with all of him. Neither of them have anyone else. They are each other’s only support.
And right now he’s too sick to function on his own. Something is horribly, horribly wrong. The hallway stretches, twists. Their footsteps echo on the ground and it pounds painfully in his ears. He can’t believe how scared he is, how lost and alone he feels even standing next to her. His arm seems so thin in her grasp. The bubbling feeling in his stomach gets stronger. His skin is mushy, and it’s starting to slough away from his tiny frame.
There is an angel, using his sister’s hand to press a knife to his throat, and it burns brighter than anything he’s felt in a long, long time.
Gasping, Dipper bolts upright in Noie’s room. Warm light streams through the thick glass of the dormitory windows, illuminating the heaving breaths of a young man with too much on his mind. The angel. Noie’s betrayal. Lucy Ann saving him. It’s all so clear and vivid, just like it was happening to him all over again.
But it’s just a memory. It’s practically ancient history -- it shouldn’t matter to him. He forgave Noie long ago. Practically immediately, in fact. It wasn’t her fault. She was being taken advantage of by the angel. He can’t blame her. He doesn’t have any feelings on the matter so he should just stop thinking about it right now. He just has to live with the fact that it happened.
For a minute, it is all he can do. Dipper gulps down another breath and composes himself. It’s fine, really. He’s over it.
“Aaaaaaagghghhhh!” he yells, tears streaming down his face.
He grips his head in his hands, trying to stop himself from crying but it’s far, far too late. It isn’t fine, it wasn’t fine, and it won’t be fine until he tears that feeling out of his chest and lets it exist. There’s so much frustration and betrayal wrapped up in that memory and he’s never let himself feel bad about it. Because he’s a demon, because his feelings are secondary. But now he’s contorted on the floor and those feelings are not secondary anymore, they’re eating him alive.
He really, truly did not blame Noie for what happened to him. He knew that she had just been a child and someone else had taken advantage of her. But still it remains that he too had been a powerless child. Dipper Argenta, the person that he was, still existed, and all of the memories he had of being that person were real. Noie betrayed him. He got hurt. And he’d only come to resent her if he didn’t acknowledge it.
Maybe he already did resent her, a little bit. When he watched her head out to spend time with her friends, without him. Maybe he felt a little bit bitter. But he doesn’t have to feel that way anymore.
Slowly, Dipper’s sobbing begins to subside. He sniffs, and a glob of goldenrod snot drips onto the floor. There’s a sizzling sound as the glob burns through the wood and seeps down to the room below. He smiles a little at this. It’s kind of funny.
He didn’t realise how good it would feel to smile, after that.
He wonders if he shouldn’t try to find some other reasons to smile, during the day when Noie isn’t around. Maybe sitting around in the dark isn’t the best thing for him. Maybe he could try to join a club. Make some friends again, just like she did.
Dipper Argenta starts to feel like he deserves it just as much as she does.
(When Noie arrives back at the dorm later that day, she’s met by a teary-eyed twin who immediately gives her a massive hug. Disoriented, she notices how much of a mess the room is, and asks him what’s up. He gives her a little smile and says first, tell me about your day. Then I’ll tell you about mine.)
(AO3 link)
Noie's Friends, Chapter 3
A collection of oneshots about Noie's years at college.
See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.
_____________________________________________________________
“Hmm… what should I have today? What, should, I, have?”
Tapping on the counter. Noie stretched her shoulders a bit, and tapped the register to stop it going to sleep.
“Huh. You know, I just don’t know any of these teas.” The man scratched his stubble. “You guys sell an awful lot of them, don’t you?”
“Yes. We’re a tea shop, sir.”
“Oooh, sir. I don’t get sir’ed very often…” he peered at her name tag. “Naomi. Oh, that’s a pretty name. Where’s it from?”
She shrugged.
“You don’t know? Oh, I know where my name comes from, John’s a good English name, you know? There was a King John once. In fact, how’s about I write it down on this napkin…”
Noie found herself glancing over his shoulder. If only she could tell him there was a line.
“You can call me up anytime, little lady.” He passed it to her with a wink. “Anyway, where was I… Oh, do you guys have Dr Salt? I think I’ll take that over your weird teas.”
“Okay, we’ve got them in the back.” Noie stepped away. “They’re kind of expensive here, though.”
“Aw, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Hey, don’t forget my napkin!”
Noie headed to the back, which was a small tiled room with an asphyxiatingly-strong stench of various spices. Even after a week she still hadn’t gotten used to it; her eyes watered a tiny bit as she headed to the tiny soda fridge in the corner of the room.
“Somebody wants another soda?” A voice - Sara stepped out from behind a column of spices. “They know there’s a restaurant right next to us, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s here for a drink.” She tossed the napkin at her. “Check out what he passed me.”
Noie opened the fridge and picked a soda out. She heard a sniggering from behind her.
“Why did he…” Sara snorted. “Why did he write ‘King John winky face’ on it?”
“Oh my god, did he? I didn’t even look at it.”
“Yeah, look at it there. He sounds like a real catch.” She shook her head. “You want me to go out there? I can always chase off a creepy guy.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Thanks, though.” Noie heard the front door jingle. “Oh, sweet, new people!”
“Now you can tell him there’s a line.”
“Hah! Did you read my mind?” She winked at Sara as she opened the door. “Seeya.”
“Silver!”
Noie recognised the group strolling into the shop - and especially the woman in pyjamas making hre way to the counter. “Bea! Isn’t it Magic 101 for Gus and Mina right now? I thought you guys were coming after that.”
“Hey,” The man glanced between them. “About my order-”
“What, you dreading us?” Bea winked at her. “Nah, there was - heh - a little accident in the labs.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She stabbed a thumb back at Gus, who seemed to be missing his eyebrows. “You should get the story from ol’ fire fingers over there. I hear primary sources make the most engaging narratives.”
The man cleared his throat. “Excuse me-”
“Oh, I’ll ring your soda up for you, it’s five dollars.” Noie grinned at Bea. “Did he blow himself-”
“Five dollars?!”
“-up?”
“I’m not saying nothing! You’ll have to-”
“Excuse me kid, I’m still ordering!” The man shoved Bea a little back. “Hey, what’s the big idea? I could go down to the gas station and get this for a fifth of what I’m paying here! What kind of stupid fucking-”
Bea tapped his shoulder, and he stopped midsentence with a choking gasp. He grabbed his throat gasping for air, eyes bugging out, and started coughing up leaves and loose soil. She pushed him aside, and leaned an elbow on the counter.
“Okay, so what’ll we have today?” Bea slid the soda away. “Obviously not that - jeez, five dollars? Does anyone actually buy those?” A pause. “What?”
Noie was leaning over the counter with wide eyes. The man was on his hands and knees, making shallow gagging sounds. “Uh, Bea? Is he gonna be alright?!”
“Hmm? Oh, sorry about the mess. Shouldn’t have done that spell indoors.” She snapped her fingers, and everything dissolved into air. The man gave a gasp of relief, and curled up into a shuddering foetal position. “Now I’m the bad customer, right? There you go.”
“But is he gonna be okay?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s an old elven children’s prank. I don’t know why he’s being such a baby about it.” She nudged his leg. “Come on, man. I’ve seen elflings half your age take this better than you. Stop crying.”
As Noie watched, Sara came out of the back. She saw her peeking around the corner- as soon as she caught sight of Bea and the others, she came wandering out.
“Oh, hey guys! Hi Bea!”
“How’s it hanging.”
“You’re here early, right? Why do I feel like- oh my stars, Gus, your eyebrows! Your hair!”
Laughter erupted across the table, and Gus went red. Bea chuckled.
“Yeah, tell her the whole thing, dude!” Bea turned back to Noie. “Eh, I think we’ll all just have our usual. You know what that is, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Noie turned towards the brewing machines. “Alright, gimme a second…”
She got out a pot, and from behind her she heard the ongoing conversation.
“So what happened, dude? Did you blow yourself up?”
“I didn’t blow myself up-“
“Yeah, cause it was a candle spell.” There was a chuckle from Bea. “First time I’ve ever heard of a human hurting themselves on one of those.”
“No, no, okay, so I had my hands like this, okay! I was rubbing my forehead from all the Latin, and then suddenly my head feels really warm and Mina starts screaming that my hair’s on fire.”
“Your hair was on fire, dude. It looked like a campfire up there for a second.”
“Yeah, and then Mr Jasko grabbed me and basically threw me into the lab shower. How often does that water get cleaned, do you think? It smelled really bad.”
Noie poured the tea, and turned around as it brewed. She saw Gus rubbing at his eyebrows; Jess was patting his shoulder.
“Ughhhh… I look like a damn thumb.”
“No you don’t, dude. You still have… some of your hair.”
“Oh yeah, that’s great, that’s great. Some of my hair.” He ran a hand through it. “Shit, and I have a date this Friday! Do you think it’ll grow back by then?”
“I can grow things.” Bea gave a smile. “Hair is kinda like moss, right?”
“Oh no, you are not touching my hair, Bea. I know you too well.”
“Yeah, you do. But really, that sucks, man. I’m sorry for you.”
“Maybe I’ll just wear a hat,” Noie heard as she placed all the mugs onto a tray. “Hats are cool right? He’ll think it’s cool, right?”
Noie walked over. “I’m sure it’ll go fine, dude.” She carefully placed the tea right next to Gus’ book. “At least you gotta get a good grade on the fire spell thing, right?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly light a candle, did I.” He flipped his textbook to a certain page, and picked up his tea. “The lab’s probably gonna be redone anyway. I gotta study up for it.”
“Heh, don’t go saying it out loud again-”
“No. No, I won’t, Mina.”
Noie started going around the table, but Sara suddenly noticed her and jumped up. “Oh my gosh! Noie, I should’ve been helping! Let me do that!”
“Oh, it’s fine-”
She took the tray. “No, no, you made it, I’ll do the rest. Bea, were you paying?”
“Yeah, it’s my turn.” Bea turned around, digging in her pockets. There seemed to be a lull in conversation as everyone set up their books and magi-orbs; Noie found herself standing awkwardly behind Gus, looking down at his textbook.
Huh. She’d never actually looked inside a magic textbook before; it looked a lot like any other, with dense pages of information cut up by a few diagrams and headings - here, the headings seemed to be the spell incantations themselves, judging by the fact that they were in latin. There was one incantation next to a drawing of someone lighting a candle with their finger; that was probably the one Gus messed up on.
She frowned. How do you even pronounce Latin? She tried sounding it out in her head, flam-mul-a ex stud-
There was a shout. The next thing Noie knew she was on the floor, her hands twisted behind her back. She opened her mouth, but-
“D’arvit!” Bea’s voice was right next to her ear, louder and sterner than she’d ever heard. “The hell are you playing at, Naomi!”
“Wh-what-”
“Don’t let me ever see you trying that shit again! You know better!”
Noie blinked; she could hardly form words. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! What did I do?”
“You don’t know?!” A pause. “You don’t know?”
“No!” Noie tried to move her arm, but it wouldn’t budge. “Agh, ugh, I think you’re twisting my wrist!”
There was a moment of silence, and then Bea let go of her completely. She pulled Noie up, and there was something strange in her eyes as she patted her down. She felt along Noie’s wrist, and Noie couldn’t help but notice the whole table had turned around to stare at them.
Noie shivered at that… shivered. She felt strangely cold, strangely drained. She opened her mouth, but nothing really came out.
Mina was the first one to speak. “Uh, Bea,” she started. “What was that about? What happened?”
Bea’s eyes flitted up to her, and then traced across the whole group. She let go of Noie’s arm, and after a moment, Noie could see her stretch a big smile across her face.
“What was that?” Bea asked, and then gave Noie a light shove. “Pranked! It was a prank! You should’ve seen your face, Silver!”
She gave a great laugh, but Noie could still see that glint in her eyes. She didn’t laugh back; no one did.
“Eh? Prank? Nobody up for some good ol’ horsing around?”
“Seriously? That, uh, wasn’t very funny, Bea.” Sara walked over to Noie. “I think you really freaked her out. You freaked me out.”
“Yeah, me too.” Gus frowned at her. “You really shouldn’t tackle someone like that. That hurts.”
“I see your point, I see your point.” Bea raised her hands. “Guess I don’t know my own strength. I won’t do it again… unless, like, hypothetically, you were standing next to some kind of bomb and I had to tackle you to save your life-”
“Dude. Just apologise.”
“Alright, I was getting to it!” She looked at Noie, and held out her hand. “Hey. I’m sorry I freaked you out.”
Noie glanced down at her hand. She gingerly took it. “Uh, no problem, Bea-”
We need to talk.
She froze at a clear voice in her head - Bea’s voice. Still smiling, the elf nodded once, and let go.
“Alright, glad we reached an understanding.” She dusted her hands off. “Now, what was I doing? Oh right, paying for junk! Sara, get over here!”
Sara put a hand on Noie’s shoulder - it was strangely warm, or maybe Noie was strangely cold. “Are you gonna be okay?” She asked. “You’re shivering.”
“Me? Um,” Noie gulped. “Y-yeah, I’ll be, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“You should go stand out in the sun for a bit. I’ll cover for you.”
“Yeah, that… that sounds good. Thanks.”
Sara gave her a quick smile, a squeeze, and then headed off. Noie watched her go, then looked towards the front doors. She stumbled as she made her way over, and struggled a little to open them.
She stepped out into the sun, into the harsh rays beating down on her face, her shirt, her soul…
And still she shivered a little.
She needed… she needed to sit down. Wow.
_____________________________________________________________
The little study session ended much sooner than usual - only a little after the end of Noie’s shift. It was a bit awkward the whole time, with Gus touching his hair and Sara shooting daggers into the back of Bea’s head. For Noie it still felt like an eternity; she’d managed to warm up, but there was still a strange weakness in her knees, a sluggishness in her mind that was hard to shake.
It was strange. The looks Bea kept shooting her didn’t help either. What was going on?
“I think I’ll be heading out,” Gus said, closing his textbook. “Gonna go hat shopping.”
“Oh, if you’re heading out, I might too.”
“Yeah, it’s getting late.”
As everyone started packing up, Noie felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” Sara spoke quietly. “You, uh, want a ride home?”
Noie glanced over at Bea, who was ostensibly cleaning her magi-orb; somehow Noie still felt watched.
“Uh,” she started. “That’s okay, thank you. I think I’m gonna walk home - uh, with Bea.”
Sara frowned. “You sure?”
“Don’t worry,” Bea spoke without looking up. “I won’t tackle her again, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Noie gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s fine, Sara. Thanks.”
Sara didn’t look entirely convinced, but she hugged her goodbye and left the shop. The rest of the group filtered out shortly after, leaving only the two of them, sitting across from each other.
Bea didn’t immediately talk. Noie tapped her fingers a little on the desk; she made a face, and then opened her mouth.
“Bea-“
Bea stood up. “Walk with me, will you?”
“What?”
“Just follow me.” She reached out an arm. “Take my hand.”
“Why?”
“I wanna show you something.” She flashed a smile. “You’ll like it, I promise. Trust me on this, Silver.”
Noie hesitated… but after a moment, she did take her hand. Bea gently pulled her upright, and led her out the door. Immediately they turned into a back alley, and Noie frowned.
“Uh, where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Why are you being so weird about this?” She stumbled as they made their way down the edge of a parking lot. “What happened back there? And, uh, not to be rude, but did you do something to me? I feel kinda weird after you tackled me back there.”
“Hmm?” Bea suddenly turned and lead them through a dead bush. “Oh, yeah, sorry about that. It’ll go back to normal in the next few days.”
A twig slapped her in the face. “What? What’ll go back to normal?”
“Your, uh, magic.”
“Magic? What?” Noie could hardly see her through the greenery now. “Okay, where are we going, seriously? There’s got to be an easier way to-“
She stumbled out of the bushes, and blinked hard. Her eyes went wide.
“To…”
They were inside the biggest forest Noie had ever seen in her life. Old growth trees with trunks wider than a car towered way overhead, up into a canopy of leaves that caught all but little flickers of sunlight. Beneath her feet was suddenly ferns and mulch, and all around her were animal sounds - caws, chirps, cheeps, foliage cracking, woodpeckers hammering. This was… Noie looked to Bea, and found her grinning back.
“This…” she managed. “This isn’t Arizona.”
“Sure it is! Also it isn’t. Don’t worry about it.”
“Did you teleport us?”
“No, no.” Bea let go of her hand. “This is, uh… well, there isn’t really an English word for it - let’s call it the Elfscape!” She snorted. “Stars, the Elders can never catch me calling it that.”
“Elfscape? Like the Mindscape-”
“It’s complicated, it’s, uh… well, kinda, but it’s more physical than the Mindscape. Or maybe it’s the Earth’s Mindscape?” She shrugged. “Look, it’s complicated even for elves, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Oh, okay?”
“Also, uh, if you see anything between the trees, try not to stare at them.”
“What?” Noie followed her gaze, and saw a shadowy figure far in the distance. There was something eerily… angry, there - she could feel it like a pit in her stomach. She looked back at Bea. “Uh, what’s that?”
“Another elf. They’re probably fine - they just get a bit touchy about outsiders coming here.” Bea gave a laugh. “I’m gonna get an earful about it when I next visit for sure.”
Noie frowned. “Then, uh, why’d you bring me here?”
“Because you are gonna test something for me real quick.”
“Test something?”
“Yeah!” Bea touched her hand, and gently lifted it up. “Alright, that goes - yeah, there. And point for me; any finger’s fine. Yeah, that looks good!”
Noie found herself pointing straight forwards. She raised an eyebrow at Bea. “Uh, okay?”
“Now, I want you to say flammula ex studio.” A small flame appeared on Bea’s thumb; she winked when Noie’s eyes went wide. “Can you do that?”
“Are you trying to get me to do magic? I don’t think I can do that kinda stuff; don’t you have to really practice for it? And-“
“Just! Just indulge me for a second, Silver.” Bea stepped back. “Try it. Please?”
Noie made a face at her, then turned to look forwards again. She felt a little ridiculous standing here like this, but Bea shot her another smile and she sighed.
“Okay… fine. Fine. What do I have to say again?”
“Flammula ex studio. Whenever you’re ready.”
Noie grimaced. “Okay, here goes nothing. Flammula ex studio.”
She’d hardly finished the incantation when she felt a rush of heat. One moment she was standing there, the next all she could see was a great ball of fire coming out of her fingertip.
“Wha- oh, shit!” Noie jumped back and instinctively tried to shake it off. “Bea! Bea! Help, I’m on fire! I’m on-”
With a chuckle, Bea walked over and put a hand over the flames. They seemed to extinguish it, and Noie was left standing there, eyes wide, heart thudding in her chest. Distantly she could hear Bea laughing.
“Now that is what you call no flow control!” Bea patted her shoulder. “You really haven’t done magic before, huh? Wow!”
Noie gulped, and tried to steady her breathing. She forced herself to meet Bea’s eyes, and opened her mouth. “W-w-what was that? Why did th-that happen?”
“Why’d you think? Magic!”
“Magic?”
“You better believe it! Seems like you’ve got a bit more juice in your tank than the average human! A lot more juice, but of course,” Bea winked at her. “I already knew that.”
Noie blinked. “You did?”
“Course I did! Magic’s not subtle, Silver. It’s written all over you!” She patted her shoulder. “Honestly, the only thing I’m surprised by is that you didn’t know. Don’t human schools have those little magic exams in elementary school these days?”
“Magic exams?” Noie frowned. “I don’t remember those… but I was exempt from magic stuff as a kid. Dipper has magic sensitivity, so he-” She glanced at Bea. “Oh. That was, uh, his cover when we were growing up.”
“Huh, not a bad cover.” She rubbed her chin. “Well, that definitely clears it up, but that’s still nuts to me that you didn’t know. I guess that’s just me talking, though; I dunno what I’d do without magic.”
Noie laughed a bit at that, but the sound faded away quickly. She found herself looking down at her hands, rubbing her fingers. They still felt warm, and she frowned.
“Bea?”
“Yeah?”
“You said…” Noie clasped her hands against her chest. “You said I had more magic than most humans.”
“I did.” She chuckled. “Gus’d have a way worse day if he could do what you can.”
“But - how? Is it just… random chance? Do you know?”
“Do you know?”
Bea had that strange shine in her eyes again. Noie hesitated as she stepped a little closer.
“I’m asking you seriously.” Bea was studying her face; after a moment, she looked away. “You know, it’s a common joke that humans suck at magic, but you know why they do?”
“Why?”
“Cause of the Transcendence. Or at least, all that time leading up to the Transcendence, living in a world without magic. Y’know, elves were in their forests, mermaids were in the seas, all your city preters kept themselves under wraps.” Bea touched a budding leaf, and watched it open. “Magic follows magic, and for thousands of years, you guys just weren’t having much sent your way. Now you’re playing catch up.”
She looked at Noie with a knowing smile.
“So that leaves us two possibilities,” she said, and pushed off the tree. “Either you’re just a real lucky human - and that happens! - oooor, someone in your family was a little more in touch with their magic, if you know what I mean.”
“More in touch-” Noie started, and then she stopped dead. Oh.
Oh, she knew exactly where she got this from.
“Anyway, you don’t have to say anything. Just telling you what might be going on” She passed by Noie. “You wanna head home? I’m thinking I should probably take you back to your brother before he thinks I trapped you in an alternate dimension or something.”
“But- what do I do?”
Bea raised her eyebrows. “Do about what?”
“I-I nearly burned everyone back at the tea shop without even realising!” Noie stammered over her words. “What if that happens again? I was lucky you were there - I don’t know how to control that on my own!”
“Hey, don’t panic. Panic makes magic explode, I’ve heard.”
“Wh- that’s not funny, Bea!”
“I know, I know.” She chuckled to herself. “Couldn’t help myself, but, uh, if you’re asking for serious advice, I guess you could just make sure you never read anything that sounds like a spell again. Oh, also, since you don’t have to speak it out loud, try not to think too hard about that spell I taught you, flammula ex studio.” She gave a sly grin. “Yeah, don’t even think about flammula ex studio, don’t even think the words flammula ex studio, don’t-”
“Please stop.”
“Okay, or what you could do - and I think this is better - you could maybe learn some basic flow control so you stop going full blast on every random spell you see. It’s not hard to learn, I bet I could give you a handle on it in a couple hours.”
Noie just stared at her. Stared, as she reached out a hand.
“C’mon, Silver. Let’s get you home.”
After a moment, Noie took a deep breath, in, and out. She swallowed, and then she took Bea’s hand. Bea smiled, and then took them through a bush; they made their way through the greenery, through cool leaves brushing past her face, and then came out in the garden bordering Noie’s dorm. She looked behind her, and saw not a forest but a shrub and the corner of a building. There was a chuckle from Bea.
“Yeah, don’t tell the others about that little trick. They’ll be asking me for shortcuts until the end of time.”
“Hah, yeah-”
“Wait.” Bea held up a hand. “Do you hear that?”
“You!”
A shout. Someone was stomping over to them - someone with a suit, glowing eyes, and a shadow that sported wings. Noie blinked.
“Dipper?”
“You’re okay!” Dipper hugged her tight, then turned to Bea. “Okay, where’d you take her?”
“Back to her dorm, of course.”
“Don’t play games with me, mortal.” He stabbed a finger at her. “I just spent the past hour tearing through pocket dimensions to see where the hell my sister went. Where’d you take her?”
Noie patted his shoulder. “Dipper…”
“Nah, it’s okay, it’s a fair question.” Bea brushed his finger away. “It’s just a little hangout place for elves, it was totally fine.” She chuckled. “I’m glad that’s the part you noticed - you know, not the part where I totally broke her arm a tiny bit. I thought I was a dead girl walking there.”
“You did what?!”
“You broke my arm?”
“See? She didn’t even notice before I healed it, it was fine.”
Noie watched Dipper make several attempts to speak. He clenched his clawed fists - and then, with some effort, unclenched them, and pinched his forehead.
“You… make it very hard for me to like you, you know?”
“Aww, I try.” Bea winked at Noie. “Anyway, I oughtta be heating out.” She took a step away, and then clicked her fingers. “Oh, you know who else could totally help you with magic? Demon boy over here’s pretty good at it, I’ve heard.”
“Magic?” Dipper looked over at her. “You want to learn that? I could definitely help.”
Noie stared back.
“What?”
“You knew I could do magic too?”
“Yeah?” Dipper frowned at her. “I could always tell, why?”
There came a chuckle from Bea as she walked away. “Yeah, you two have fun now! Bye!”
_____________________________________________________________
“So, you had a bit of a day.”
“Tell me about it.” Noie unlocked her dorm’s door and collapsed into bed. “I can’t believe you knew this whole time. You didn’t think to mention it?”
“I mean, no!” Dipper closed the door; immediately he shed his human form, and floated close to her. “I’m sorry, I just - I didn’t think you were that into magic!”
“Yeah, and why wasn’t I into magic when I was a kid again?” She huffed as his face dropped. “No, that’s not a- you don’t have to feel bad about it, but that’s just the truth. I didn’t know about this because of your magic sensitivity.”
“Yeah…” Dipper looked down. “No, you’re right, you’re right.”
Silence hung there for a second. Noie rolled her eyes, and pulled him into bed.
“Hey!”
“Hey yourself.” She hugged him close. “Stop looking so sad; seriously, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m not really ‘into’ magic anyway; I was only annoyed because I’m not ‘into’ accidentally blowing myself up if I read some Latin.”
Dipper snorted at that, and she smiled. Stared up at the ceiling.
“Yeah…” she said. “It’s not important to me, you know? It’s not something I grew up with, or even knew that much about. Even if I had found out earlier… how much would it really matter, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…” Noie looked at him. “I know where it came from, you know?”
“From where?”
“You don’t know?”
Dipper stared blankly.
“From Pinni, of course.” Noie made a face. “From… my mother.”
“Your mother?” He sat up. “Oh, right, I remember now! She was a selkie, right?”
“Apparently.”
“Yeah, yeah, I see that now. I totally forgot you’re a half-selkie-”
“I’m not a half-selkie, you can’t be half selkie.” Noie cut in, and then stopped herself. “Sorry, it’s just- it's a hereditary enchantment, not a separate species. And I'm long past the age when they were supposed to do the skin thing and everything, so I'm not a selkie, I'm fully human."
Dipper was looking at her askance; suddenly Noie heard how that came off. Her cheeks flushed.
"Not that it'd be bad if I was! I'm not, like, ashamed of it or anything, but it doesn't affect me all that much!” She gave a shrug. “Seriously, I live in a desert. I've never been to the ocean in my life - heck, I don't even know how to swim. Why would I go around telling people 'ooh, did you know I'm half selkie?' That'd be so obnoxious."
Dipper didn’t say anything to that. She rose to her feet.
“It’s just - what do I know about any of this, right? What do I know about magic, about selkies - fuck, what do I even know about my own mom?” She gestured at him. “At least Leon left videos, right! At least you and David met him, right! But who the fuck is Pinni? All I ever got was, I dunno, she’s nice? She’s shy?” An angry shrug. “Apparently she came from the ocean, whatever the fuck that means, so it sounds like I’d have a hell of a time tracking down any family on that side!”
“Noie?”
“It’s just - I’m fine that I never met these people, okay? They’re literally strangers to me, I don’t know why people expect me to feel devastated about them or something.” She stared at her hands. “I guess I just… that everything could’ve been so different, you know?”
A pause. Dipper said nothing, and she sighed.
“I could’ve known about magic. I could’ve actually met my parents. I could’ve been a fucking selkie - how weird is that?”
She chuckled, but then she looked back at Dipper. He had tears in his eyes, and she watched him hang his head.
“You could’ve,” he said, softly. “I’m sorry, Noie. If it weren’t for me, you could’ve had so, so much better-”
“No!”
Dipper glanced up sharply. She ran back to his side.
“Dipper, that’s - that’s not what I mean!” She put a hand on his shoulder. “You know, I think about how stuff could’ve been, a-and it scares me! I don’t want that!”
“What do you mean? You deserved so much better, you deserved to know your parents-”
“And if I had them, I would never have had you!” Noie snapped. She put her arms around him. “I don’t care if it would’ve been better. I don’t want to imagine myself in a timeline where you aren’t my brother, okay?”
Dipper hugged her back - lightly for a moment, but then he squeezed.
“And there’s… it feels like if just one thing had changed, I would never have known you at all, and I hate that… you know?”
There was a thick chuckle. “Oh, you might have known me. You’re still a Mizar, after all.”
“But you wouldn’t have been my brother.” Noie hugged him tighter. “And I’m so glad you are. I’m so glad. I love you, Dipper.”
She heard him say something like “I love you too”, but it was too shakey to make out, and when he buried his face in her shoulder, she felt wet tears on her shirt. She smiled at that, at his wings enveloping her, and just held him for a long, long time.
It was a warm kind of quiet. Neither of them quite let go, but eventually Noie shifted her leg, and Dipper pulled back a little to wipe his eyes. They looked at each other, and laughed a little.
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” She said, and Dipper gave a chuckle.
“We are, we are…” He cleared his throat. “So, uh, I take it you aren’t up for magic lessons?”
“Huh? Oh, no…. Bea was right, I probably should learn the basics.” She brushed some hair out of her eyes. “You know, just so I don’t go blowing myself up accidentally.”
“Yeah.”
“After that… I dunno, maybe it’ll be fun? We’ll see how it goes.”
“I liked learning magic.” Dipper said. “Of course, my magic’s kind of… different from yours, but I think you’ll like it.”
“What, I won’t be making demon deals? Darn.”
“Oh, very funny.”
“I’m hilarious,” Noie said, and lay back down in her bed. Looked out her window, at the setting sun. After a moment, Dipper laid down next to her, and that warm silence descended on both of them again.
Words were needed no more. They held each other like that as Noie’s eyes drooped, as she drifted peacefully to sleep in her brother’s arms.
A selkie!noie and Alcor for @toothpastecanyon
Noie's Mother
"It's a part of you Naomi. Your coat, and the water. They're a part of you." She smiled. "Do you want to put them on?"
- Noie's Mother by ToothPasteCanyon
Another amazing commission request from @toothpastecanyon who wanted this little scene from her new story, Noie's Mother (on AO3 ). It's a really tender scene and paints the picture for the love that a mother has for her baby.
These characters also belong to the @transcendence-au so go check that out too!
Thank you for commissioning me again Tooth!
Concepting and drawing your characters is a blast!
Noie’s Friends, Chapter 1
A collection of oneshots about Noie's years at college.
See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.
______________________________________________________________
Finding out your brother’s a demon was both more and less surprising than Noie expected. She didn’t anticipate how quickly everything would settle back into a routine; before she knew it, she was finding herself going to the tea shop with her friends, and hanging out with Dipper in her dorm whenever Val wasn’t home - or outside if she was. It felt just like before, only with Dipper right there with her instead of chatting through a screen.
Just like before. Just like before.
She never saw his eyes flicker. She never saw his wings. Sometimes he’d excuse himself to the bathroom for an hour, or disappear when Val burst through the door, but any hint that he was something more than Dipper Argenta was always tucked away behind a door, behind a nervous laugh and a change of the subject, out of sight, out of mind. It was surprising, how much he still hid from her.
Noie… didn’t know how to tell him it was okay. Part of her was a little relieved he was still keeping it under wraps; with remembering came old memories, old nightmares of a shadowy figure bursting from her brother and lunging for her, reaching in and ripping out… she’d never tell Dipper how many times she woke up sweating from those.
And then, to have that same shadow in her room, putting his wing around her, being her brother?
Look. Noie so badly wanted to say she’d be okay with it. She wanted more than anything in the world to tell Dipper he didn’t have to pretend to go to the bathroom to answer a summons. And maybe if Dipper hadn’t started pretending again, she’d have gotten used to it by now and it wouldn’t be a problem.
But she didn’t want to be wrong. She didn’t want to say it was okay and then see Alcor and not be okay and… hurt him. She didn’t want to hurt him, okay?
So maybe it was better, like this.
No surprises.
______________________________________________________________
“Boo. Hey, Silver.”
Things were winding down. Gus and Mina had already left the tea shop a while back, Jess had gone to the bathroom, and Mako was on his phone in the corner. The fading sun outside lent a warm, sleepy air to the whole scene; until Bea bumped her shoulder, Noie was feeling about ready to nod off.
“Silver.”
“Yeah?” She rubbed her eyes. “What’s, uh, up?”
“Just got a text from my roommate. AC’s busted.”
“What? Oh…” She looked outside. “Well, at least the sun’s gone down.”
“Nah, he just got home, he says it’s a million degrees in there.” With an enterprising grin, Bea slung an arm around her shoulder. “Lucky I got a friend to take me in for the night, eh?”
“Huh? Me?”
“That would be correct!”
“Wait, I just have one bed-”
“I’ll sleep on the floor. Trust me, I spent my childhood sleeping on elven barkrests, I’ll be fine.”
“Barkrests?”
“Have I never told you about those things?” She chuckled. “That’s a story for tonight. When I’m sleeping at your place. It’s happening, right?”
“Uh… I’ve never had someone stay overnight before.” Noie made a face. “I guess it’d be fine? Yeah… yeah, it’d be fun!”
“That’s the spirit! Now c’mon, let’s get it on!”
They walked out of the tea shop together. Noie nervously pointed the way, and flashed a smile at Bea as she followed along. Bea raised an eyebrow.
“What’s up with you, Silver?”
“Wh-what?”
“You look like I’ve put a gun to your head.” She slowed. “You know I can find somewhere else to stay, ri-”
“No! No, it’s okay! It’s good!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, no, I’m excited!” Noie barked a laugh. “I just - I don’t know how this works.”
“What’s ‘this’? Walking? Breathing? Existing?” Bea gave a crooked smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”
She laughed again at that… and then trailed off. They walked in silence for a little bit, and at some point the streetlamps turned on. Noie wondered if she wanted to say something more, wanted to mention that this was the first time she’d ever had a sleepover - ever had a friend who’d want to sleep over, actually, and wow, that was kind of sad. That’d bring down the mood.
She thought of that, and then cleared her throat. Opened her mouth.
“Jeez, there’s so many crickets out,” Noie said. “I’ve never actually seen a cricket. I’ve only heard them. They’re like ghosts, heh.”
“Man, you’re not missing out. They’re ugly fuckers - one jumped on my face once.”
“Haha, what?”
“Yeah. Let me tell you, everyone thinks it’s so awesome to be an elf and to be all ‘living with nature’ and shit, but this is what they don’t think about: all animals wanna be around you. All animals.”
“Oh. That sucks.”
“You don’t know the half of it, Silver.”
They walked on for a while, chatting as the sun strayed down. Only a dull glow remained as they made their way to the front door; Noie swiped her keycard, and motioned her inside.
“Thank-ye kindly.” Bea glanced around at the stairs branching off from the entrance hall. “Where do we go now? Up, down?”
“Down this one.”
“Ah, they shoved you in the basement.”
Noie snorted. “It’s not too bad. There’s still a little window. My roommate says- Oh shit, Val!”
“Strange thing she says.”
“I should- I hope she’s okay with this, I should’ve asked her, or…”
“Ah, don’t worry too much about it.” Bea slung an arm around her, kept her walking down the halls. “Best lesson you’ll ever learn, Silver: don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness.”
“That’s not- I don’t like that. I don’t think that’s a great lesson, actually.”
“Well sure, you gotta know to use it in the right context. Isn’t your roomie the one who doesn’t clean up her shit and makes you do it?”
Noie was fumbling for her keys. “Yeah, that’s her.”
“Then she’s been asking for a looot of forgivenesses. Let’s say she owes you this one.”
They were approaching Noie’s room. She fished her key out of her bag, and shot Bea a look as she unlocked it.
“Okay… I’m still gonna text her, though.”
“Good, I wasn’t sayin’ you shouldn’t.” Bea strode through the open door as Noie got out her phone. “Aww, look at this place! I didn’t know they made apartments smaller than mine - oh, hey Val. It’s Val, right?”
Val? Noie glanced up from her phone. She was never home this early - was she here? She hurried into the room after Bea, and came across…
Oh.
Oh.
Dipper was sitting at her computer, an expression of pure shock on his face at the sight of someone other than her. He was going to be a little harder to explain.
“Or, uh, some other name?” Bea asked, and chuckled awkwardly at the ensuing silence. “Any other name?”
“This is Dipper,” Noie cut in. “He’s my brother.”
“Oh, he’s visiting again? Sweet, it’s great to meet you, man. She’s told me a lot about you.”
Bea gave Dipper an easy smile, but Noie noticed how he didn’t return it at all. It wasn’t shock anymore; a different expression had shadowed his features, one that sent a shiver down her spine.
After just a split second too long, he smiled widely, too widely, and rose from his chair. Stuck out his hand.
“Hello,” he said, and narrowed his eyes when she took his hand. “Went right in for the handshake, huh?”
“Yeah? You offered it to me-”
“Beatrice, right?” He kept shaking. “Beatrice Delion. Nice name you’ve got this time round.”
“Do you know me from somewhere?”
“You could say that.”
“I could say that, I could say anything.” Bea bared her smile. “I asked you a question, though.”
“A question you already knew the answer to.”
“A question you could’ve really just answered like a normal fucking pers- augh!”
“Dipper!” Noie yanked Bea’s hand out of his grip. “What was that for?”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t look at her; he stared past her, to Bea cradling her fingers, with a strange gleam in his eyes Noie could only describe as… predatory. Her heart caught in her throat, and she tried to shove him towards the bathroom.
“Hey, why don’t you, uh, take a breather, bro?” She nudged, then elbowed, then pushed, but he wouldn’t move. “Seems like you two got off on the wrong foot.”
“He got off on the wrong foot, you mean.” Bea chuckled; there was an edge to it. “And here I was thinking you’d be a cool guy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Means that you’re acting like an asshole, man! Take notes, that’s how you answer a question!”
“How-”
“Dipper.” Noie grabbed his arm, and finally he looked at her. “Go to the bathroom.”
“Fine. Come with me, I have to-”
“No. You go to the bathroom, okay?”
“Naomi-”
“Go.”
Dipper glared at her, and for one terrifying moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to leave. Finally, he turned around, and with a low but rumbling growl, he stalked out of the room.
A growl. The sound turned her blood to ice, and she stood there frozen until Bea put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, not to push an issue or anything, but he’s not staying here tonight, right?”
“What? Oh…” Noie hesitated. “No, he, uh… he has a hotel room.”
“Sweet, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna stay a night with him. Prick.”
She cringed. “Bea, I, I’m so sorry. That wasn’t okay of him at all, I-I don’t even know what-”
“Don’t even stress it, Silver. Trust me, I don’t care. I know how to handle his type.”
Noie felt something at that. It came down on her like a dark cloud, a watchful eye… a presence. Bea gave her a squeeze, and grinned.
“Now, let’s do something fun together, eh? What does the great Silver like to do on her time off?”
“O-on my time off?”
“I assume you don’t stand there waiting for the sun to rise, but that’s not for me to judge.”
“Oh, heh, no…” Noie glanced behind her, and then cleared her throat. “I mean, I don’t do too much, I’m usually on my computer… I dunno, I read, I guess. What about you?”
“Whaddya read?” Bea sifted through the titles on her shelf. “Heh, ‘Rainbow Adventures of Mr McStabberson’? Where’ve I heard that one before?”
“You’ve probably seen the TV show. Did you know it actually started from a book?”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, I actually only read the source material pretty recently.” She sat down in her chair. “It’s interesting, actually. I think they’re both kinda good in different ways? Like there’s definitely more about some of the side characters in the book, like Alexy and-” She blinked. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling. Have you seen the show?”
“Nope.” Bea leaned against the wall, grinning. “I wanna hear about it, though.”
“Really?”
“Hell yeah. Keep going, Silver.”
Noie smiled at that, and launched back into her explanation. For a little while as she talked, the thought of Dipper’s odd behaviour and the presence had entirely slipped her mind.
“-so it was really cool how they expanded on her character in the book. Obviously books aren’t really strapped for time like TV shows are so I get why they dropped some of the smaller character moments, but I think it’s cool to watch the show again with those in mind.” Noie laughed a little. “If you ever wanted to watch it.”
“Hey, seems like some cool new human shit. Wanna watch it right now?”
“Wh- really? I don’t think I can stream it anymore-”
“It’ll be pirated somewhere.” Bea sat down at her computer. “Seriously, I can’t believe you guys’d pay to watch it when there’s a free version floating out there.”
“I dunno, viruses?” She raised an eyebrow at Bea. “You know where to go, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Cool. Well, I guess, if I really wanted something, I’d ask…”
Dipper. Noie made a face at that; it must have been pretty obvious, because Bea looked over at her and gave a wry smile.
“Your brother’s the tech savvy one, eh?”
“Tech savvy? Uh, sure… you could say that.”
“I see you’re a fan of that phrase too.”
“Wha- oh! Oh, sorry-”
“Ah, don’t you worry about it. I’m teasing you! I’m teasing.” Bea sat back in her chair, chuckling a little as her smile faded. Her eyes, fixed on the computer screen, suddenly flitted up to meet hers. “You said he’s got classes up at SASU, right.”
“Dipper?”
“No, a squirrel. Of course I meant Dipper.”
“Oh, heh, sorry.” Noie fiddled with the front of her shirt; this was getting into some dicey territory. “Yeah, he, uh, takes online courses, mostly?”
“I see, I see.”
“Yeah… so he can come up and visit a lot. That’s why. That’s why he can do that, I mean.”
Bea was nodding. “I see. So he’s here a lot of the time with you, huh.”
There was a strange tension to the air, building the more she spoke. Noie found herself shivering a little, though she wasn’t cold.
“Yeah! Yeah, he is.” She leaned forwards with her widest smile. “So, how are we-”
“Does he act like that a lot?”
A sudden spike. The walls felt closer, and the lights felt starker. Bea’s carefully blank expression suddenly had an air of menace, of danger to it, and Noie leaned back.
“L-like what?”
“You know what.” Bea said, and sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to corner you in anything. I’m just wondering how happy you are with a brother who comes around and acts like that around your friends, y’know?”
Noie felt a pit in her stomach. “Wh- oh, oh no, Bea… you have the wrong idea, okay?”
“Okay.”
“He’s not usually like that, I swear. Like, genuinely, he’s not, I’m gonna talk to him about that later, I…”
“Okay. Seriously, it’s okay. You know your brother better than me.” Bea stretched, slowly, deliberately. “Just wanted to say, you better talk to him about this weird eavesdropping enchantment he’s got going on, too.”
Eavesdropping enchantment. It was like the air froze in place, and Bea gave a wry smile at her wince.
“That’s the one. Bet you barkskin he’ll come through that door any moment-”
The door burst open like an explosion; it made her flinch. She hardly recognised the figure who stormed into the room, pointing fingers, yelling, “I am ņot̶ eavesdropping!”
(and was that the hint of an echo to his voice?)
“I mean, I’d love to agree, but you’re really just proving yourself wrong by barging in-”
“I did not!” He planted himself between Bea and Noie, and stabbed a finger in her face. “I’m here to protect my sister. What are you doing here? What are your intentions?”
Bea raised her eyebrows. “My intentions? Getting somewhere to sleep. Sorry if you were expecting me to say murder, I guess I’m not in the mood.”
“You watch what you’re saying. You have no idea what you’re up against.”
“Oh-hoh, is that a threat?” She chuckled. “Look, human, I get you were top of your magic class in highschool or whatever, but you and your - eh, half -decent - eavesdropping charm aren’t gonna do squat against me.”
Noie could practically see the fury emanating off of her brother. She tried to tug at his sleeve, but it was like he’d stopped paying attention. He was wound up tight, and stone cold to the touch.
“Just walk away, man. Your sister doesn’t want your stupid fucking ‘protection’ bullshit.”
Noie shook her head at her. “Bea-”
“Why don’t you try listening to what she wants?” Bea leaned back in her chair. “You know, if you care about her or whatever.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Noie felt it like a physical pain; she recoiled as Dipper stepped forwards.
“I car͜e ab̛o̵u͝t my̢ si̡şt̷er.”
“Oh, yeah? Then why don’t you prove i-”
And in the blink of an eye, Alcor the Dreambender had her by the throat. Noie watched in horror as his shadowy form snarled and slammed her against the wall so hard it cracked; in a millisecond Bea’s face went from shock to anger to eyes-bugged-out terror.
“M̞͈I̛͕̤̟̹̞Z͎̠A̳̭̪͙͖Ŗ̸̩̮̤͈̭͈ ҉҉̼̺͙̰I̞͔͍͚͕͕͢S̸̞̤͙̜̖͝ ̺̗̘M̥̥͈̬͓͟I͏̤̮N̪͈̺̥̗̘͘͟ͅͅE. M̶̸̦̹͖̜̣̳̤͘ͅI̧̛̼̟͉̞N̴̜͢E. ” He pressed harder, and she struggled for air. “Ḭ̸̺̺̫̟̦̲͇͉ ̥͇̯̣͕S͝͏͓̼E̻̺̲̼E̢̻ ҉̨͚̞̖W̖̘͝Ḩ̢̭̙̰̼̺̮̜A̩͚͓͉͔̤ͅͅT͖͖̩ ̞̗̭̰͓̫̰͍͠Y̳̙͝O̧̨͕͙͕͇͝ͅU̮̺̰͟ͅ'̥̪̣͙R̘̙͇̼ͅE̛͇ ̲͖D͇̖Ǫ͇̮̳̭̫̖͔̼̕I̦͙̫̭̭̯N̶̥̳̖̤̬̱͈͝G̳̳̩̝͠, ̴͇͉͇͖̼͍̰̠̕B̸I̢L̺̰͟Ļ͇͔̺͔̘̝ͅ Ç̬̗̤͕̜I̶̛͖̗̝͙P̸̛̭͔̖͓͎͍͎̦̤͡H̛͚̦̻͉̦͇͝E̲̤̹͓͠R̤̺̬̳̭. I҉̶̲̼ͅ ̝̖͠Ṣ̴̩̩̲͜͞ͅE͏͏̸͓̥͙̲̟̮̤̙͓E̝͠ ҉͈̱Y̧̫̳͖͙͔O̵̩̤̲U͉̬̣̺'̜̼̹͘͟R̘̠̻͡͠E̵̖͇̣̠̦̩̹̹̻̠̫̥͝ͅͅ T͕R͖̩͓̘̪̙͞͞ͅY̡͉̳͖̙͔̺̬̫͟I̴̘̞̮͜͠N̶͓G͙͉̼͎̰͕͘͟ ͞͝͏̖T̷̛͕̞̰̟̥̥͖͍O͚̙̰̞̟̙͡ ̙̫͍̜͓ T̛̻̲̭U̧͇̣̻̭̠ͅR̟̖͠ͅN̞͚̠̝͙͚̠̼ ̵̛̫̗̗͕͜H̴̷̛̱̖̥̤̼̲̤E̩̰͉̪̠͟ͅŖ̻̗̻͔͡ͅ ̱̖A̵̫̻̘̭͕̘̩͢G̤A҉̳͈I̧̤͍̹̰̖̩̩͙͠N̼S̨̘̩̪̜͎̖̭T͙͚ ̷͠͏̩̱̖̳M̸̡̞̻̥͎͓͙E̶̫͕̘!̘̹̘͢”
Noie could barely comprehend what she was seeing. Bea shot her a terrified look and she tried to speak up… but nothing came out. She tried again.
“Di… Dipper…”
Bea was going red in the face. Noie picked up something from the desk - her phone.
“Dipper, stop. Dipper.” She clenched it with a shaking fist, “Dipper, STOP!”
And threw it as hard as she could at the back of his head. It shattered off of his shoulder, and he looked to her with the glowing eyes she saw in her nightmares - oh, stars, oh stars, oh stars…
“Y-you’re killing her, Dipper. You’re killing her!” Noie struggled to look him in the eye. “She didn’t do anything wrong, I-I don’t know why you’re acting this way! Just let her go!”
“Mi̶̛͜za̴r-”
“Please! Please, j-just let her go.”
Alcor the Dreambender stood there for one moment longer, one awful moment longer with the sound of Bea kicking against the wall as she struggled for air. Then he blinked, and stepped back. He let her crumple to the ground, and Noie could feel his eyes on her as she dove to her friend’s side.
“Bea, I-I’m so sorry, are you okay!?”
She tried to rasp out some answer, but it was lost in a coughing fit.
“Oh, my stars. Oh my stars.” Noie felt for her phone. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna call for someone-”
“No…” Bea put her hand out. “I…” she managed, and coughed as she sat up. “I’ll be…”
“No, lie down-”
“Like hell I’m ly-y-ing here.” She pushed Noie aside and staggered to her feet. “Not with…”
She pointed at Alcor as she made for the door. Noie could hardly look at him; he stood still as she followed Bea out of the room.
“Hey, wait! Bea!”
Bea glanced over at her. “You tryin’ to wake up the whole wing, or what?”
“Wh- I…”
“Look, Si- Silv-” She coughed and rubbed her neck. “I don’t know what kinda shit you’re mixed up in, but… we’ll talk later, okay? I gotta find somewhere else to stay tonight.”
“I-”
“I’m not gonna tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not dumb enough to piss off Alcor the Dreambender… more than I already have, apparently. Fuuck.”
“That’s not what I was…” She stepped forwards. “I’m sorry, Bea, I-I didn’t… I… I can explain-”
“We’ll talk later. Just-” Bea held her hands out. “We’ll talk later, okay? Bye.”
And then she turned a corner and was gone, her footsteps thudding in Noie’s mind like the beat of her heart. She stood there for a moment, eyes staring, mind buzzing, every fiber of her being wishing for this to have all been a dream, for this to have turned out any other way.
Her first night over, with her first real friend, and this happened.
She clenched her fists.
Dipper.
His presence was still there, still watching. She wanted to scream right then and there; it took all her effort to take a deep breath, walk back down the hall, and enter her dorm room.
It was empty. And dark - darker than plain darkness. She jabbed the light switch.
“Dipper.” Noie walked forwards. “We have to talk. Now.”
Nothing, for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but-
“I-I’m here,” Dipper came in through the front door. He looked entirely human again - human, and nervous. “So, uh-”
“What the fuck was that.”
“Yeah… That wasn’t, um, great of me-.”
“‘Wasn’t great of you’, that’s all you’re gonna say for that? Jeez, I don’t wanna hear what a bad day is for you if that is just ‘not great.’” She laughed angrily. “I mean, what the fuck, Dipper! You strangled her!”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to hear about how you know, I wanna know what on earth possessed you to do that! Is that just a thing you do? Are you gonna kill all my friends, or is Bea just lucky?”
“It’s- I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Dipper avoided his eyes. “I just… got surprised.”
“Got sup-?!”
“No! No, that’s- that’s a bad way of explaining it! Sorry. Sorry, it’s just…” His voice lowered. “a demon thing, I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to, want to hear about, uh, that kinda stuff…”
Noie felt a cold pit in her stomach as he trailed off. A demon thing… her mind flashed back to all the other times that part of her brother had come into play, had hurt people… had killed . Maybe it wasn’t like she was thinking.
“Just tell me why, Dipper.”
“It… it is your friend. You’re right, she’s special, kinda.” He gave a tense chuckle. “Look, um, it’s hard to explain, but her soul, she came in the door and I recognised it.” His fists clenched. “It… belonged to a bad person, a long time ago.”
She frowned. “Dipper, Bea’s been nothing but nice to me since we met. She’s not a bad person-”
“You’re right, she’s probably not! I overreacted, I just- I wasn’t expecting to come across that soul! Usually I can… prepare, to meet that one.” He stared into the middle distance. “An elf, this time around. Strong control of magic, clearly trained in shielding… no wonder I didn’t notice her.” A grimace. “I really hope she’s a good person this time around, that’s… formidable. Have to keep my eye on her.”
Noie made a face. “Dipper…”
“Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m doing it again.” He sighed. “Look, I really am sorry for what I… what I did to your friend. I swear, though, that was a very, very unexpected event. You’re not gonna see me like that again.”
That was a little reassuring… but a sentence jumped out at Noie. She raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean, see you like that?”
“Well… you know.” He mimed something coming out of his back. ‘Like that, you know. My, uh, business attire.”
“Your demon form?” She watched him cringe at that. “You think that’s what bothered me about what happened?”
“Well, not the main thing, but I know… I know it does.”
Noie blinked. “It doesn’t.”
“It’s okay if it does-”
“It doesn’t!” She snapped. “We’ve been over this, I get you’re a demon! What kind of sister would I be if I decided that made me uncomfortable?”
He just looked at her.
“Dipper, it doesn’t! It…” Noie swallowed. “I don’t want you to be scared of sharing stuff like this with me! I don’t want you to hide it, I… I think it makes it scarier. When I don’t know things about you.”
He just looked at her, with that ancient expression. A million alarm bells went off at the being who stood before her; she tried to talk past them, tried to talk to Dipper.
“Because there’s so much I don’t know about you. There’s so much you don’t tell me about you, and I get that it’s probably hard, that you think I don’t want to hear it, but then…” She gestured. “Stuff like this happens, and I don’t know how to react! I don’t know why you’re doing it, I don’t know how to help you… I-I don’t know you, all of a sudden! You’re just a demon, doing demon stuff, a-and that’s scary!”
Noie’s shoulders hurt; she forced them down, forced herself to close her eyes, and take a deep breath. She looked at the floor.
“I don’t… I don’t want to be scared of you, Dipper. I’m sorry that I still… kinda am.” She hugged herself. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t know.”
Dipper didn’t say anything, for a long moment. She stood there, staring down, down at the carpet.
“Noie.”
She didn’t meet his eyes, could hardly bring herself to look higher than his shoes.
Dress shoes, she noticed. Black ones, and black pants. She drew in a breath.
“Noie,” Alcor said. “Do you want a hug?”
She hesitated, and then nodded. The shoes moved, and a second later, a pair of arms wrapped around her. They were longer than Dipper’s usually were, attached to a body taller than Dipper usually was… but they were just as gentle, squeezed just as hard.
She pressed her face into his suit, and mumbled, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I mean it.” She gave him a squeeze. “I wanna be better about this demon stuff. I don’t want you to feel like you gotta hide stuff from me, I wanna know my bro. Even if it gets weird at times.”
“I’m not so sure you want to know everything, Noie.”
“Well… I wanna know important stuff. I wanna know if you have any more souls you randomly hate, for one.” She tried for a chuckle. “I guess… I wanna know what you’d tell any other Mizar. I don’t wanna get the kid gloves, you know?”
Dipper didn’t answer that. For a moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to, but then she felt a pair of something that wasn’t hands wrap around her midsection. It felt like two weirdly warm blankets, it was… wings?
Oh, yeah. His wings. The feeling of them still made her a little jittery, but she gave a little laugh.
“Yeah,” she said. “Stuff like that.”
“Heh, alright.”
“Are you laughing at me?”
Dipper chuckled. “No.”
“You big jerk!” She snorted and smacked his arm. “You did that to make me jump, didn’t you!”
“Maybe a little.”
“Ohhh, my stars.” Noie grinned up at his toothy smile, his twinkling gold-on-black eyes. It was different, but it was Dipper. “I’ll get you back for this. I’m gonna dump glitter on your wings.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’ll catch you when we’re studying, or - no, I’m not gonna tell you when I do it. You just wait.”
“Hah, I will. I’d like to see you try.” Dipper said, and then: “Hmm, not sure if I can even start having my wings out while we study. I mean, you still have your roommate coming in at random, and-”
“Yo No-ster, I’m home!” Val burst through the door with a pizza box. “Do you know math? I have this stupid thing due at 11:59 and-”
She noticed the demon standing in the centre of the room, and stopped dead. Noie tried for a wave.
“Oh, hi, Val! You’re back, uh, early… have you met Dipper? He’s a, uh, cosplayer. Twin Souls.”
“No, I am not. Noie-”
“Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else- Uh, haha, anyway, he’s…” She kept grinning at Val’s horrified expression. “It’s, uh… so, what pizza did you get? Pepperoni? Mmm, smells great!”
______________________________________________________________
“So they just let you move in, huh?”
Dipper was hanging suits in what used to be Val’s side of the closet. “Yeah, basically. It was even easier than usual, since Dipper Argenta already exists - only had to forge a few things.”
“Only a few things, huh.” Noie snorted at him from atop her bed. “As you do.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing.” She grinned at him. “Good to share a room with you again, bro. I missed it… or maybe I just missed not living with Val, hah!”
Dipper chuckled at that, and turned back to folding his clothes. His wings swayed a little as he worked, and she found herself staring at them. They were strange things; every time she saw them, they were a little different, and today they were wide and sloping things that framed his head when they were folded up against his back. There was always a tinge of unreality to them - a voidlike, blacker-than-black colour to them that made it impossible to pick out any detail, made looking at them… a little mesmerising.
“Need something?”
Noie blinked. “Uh, no,” she said, and tore her gaze away. “No, you’re good.”
“Alright, then.” Dipper snuck her a grin. “This is kinda, kinda fun, hanging up clothes! I should do this more often!”
Her phone buzzed. She looked down.
“Well, you can do my closet, uh, any time, bro…” She unlocked it. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Bea got back to me!”
“Oh, cool! She’s outside, then?”
“Yeah!” Noie looked at the text. “It says… ‘I’m here, can’t wait to hear how the fuck you got a demon for a brother. PS…”
“P.S. what?”
“She’s saying not to tell you this joke.”
Dipper frowned. “What does it say?”
“Uh… ‘P.S. - make sure your brother clips his nails before he gets down here, would feel much nicer on the neck. P.P.S - That was a joke, please don’t actually tell him that, I don’t want to die.’”
She looked up after that, and sniggered when her brother rolled his eyes.
“I’m not gonna kill her over a bad joke.”
“It’s not a bad joke, she just got you.”
“She did not! She-” He huffed and fluttered his wings. “Whatever, let’s go.”
“Yeah, she got you, bro! Look, you’re blushing!”
“I’m not!”
“iiiiii’m nooooot!”
“I’m not!” He shook his head at her. “Are you ready? She’s waiting outside.”
“I just gotta get my shoes on.” Noie hopped off the bed and… tried to poke his wing; she ended up just gesturing at it. “I dunno why you’re, uh, getting on my case, you’re way less ready.”
“It takes five seconds to put on a human suit. Look,” There was a snap as Noie put on her shoes. “Noie, look. Noie.”
“I’m looking, I’m looking.” She shoved her feet into sneakers and looked over. “You missed a spot.”
“Where?”
“Riiiight abouuuut…” She jabbed his side. “Here!”
“Aaah! St-stop tickling me, hah! Noie!”
“Alright, alright…” She stopped, and took a moment to straighten his suit. He was looking at her with those familiar brown eyes she was seeing less of these days; after a moment, she remembered to smile back. “Alright. You ready to do a lot of explaining?”
“Readier than I usually am with stuff like this.” He snorted to himself. “You, uh, want me to tesser you down there? I can do that, it’ll be faster than taking the stairs.”
Noie hesitated at that. He noticed; quickly, he added:
“We don’t have to. Just, uh, offering.”
“No, that’s good, that’s… my phone’s buzzing.” Noie pulled it out. “Bea says, um, ‘I’m summoning your brother myself if you make me wait. Maybe I’ll die, but I wanna hear the storyyyyy-’, and a lot of y’s.” She looked back at Dipper, and gave a smile. “Maybe we should go the fast way.”
“Alright.” He offered a hand, and she took it, watched as his eyes flickered to that gold-on-black. “Hold on tight.”
And she did. She closed her eyes, squeezed her brother’s hand, and let him work his magic.
Birthday present for @toothpastecanyon! I love all ur tau ocs too damn much.
