Grains and Gains
I have started the CC oneshots that people recommended! Thank you for everyone who did so! I'm starting with @parisimms 's request of a Sandra/Steven Hwang piece. Additionally, the idea of Sandra being turned into a mouse belongs to them, I just thought it was a cute idea that I ran with.
Steven considered himself to have a strong, healthy, and reasonable belief in the supernatural. How could he not, considering he lived right next to Grim Chapel? That district was full of vampires, witches, ghosts, and demons. Rumors had it that the Rochesters had even made a deal with the devil himself.
But despite Steven’s convictions, it was still a shock when he awoke to a mouse sitting on his chest, calling his name.
He shouted in alarm as the mouse called his name again as he bolted upright, sending the mouse tumbling into his sheets with several squeaks.
He gaped at the mouse as it extricated itself from the blankets from Steven and Sandra’s bed, squeaking his name. “Steven! Steven, stop!”
Collecting his wits, Steven cried out, “Sandra! There is a….bewitched mouse in our bed! No, stay away! Stay away!” As the vermin crawled near him, Steven sprung out of bed, painfully slamming his hip against his dresser, as he looked for something to slam over the mouse to trap it. Settling on a jar containing decorative marbles, he dumped the marbles out and lifted his hand to bring the jar down on the mouse to entrap it.
“Wait! Wait! Steven, it’s me!” the mouse cried out, barely audible over Steven’s own pounding heart. “It’s Sandra!”
Steven stared at the mouse, the jar still raised, before indignantly saying, “My wife is not a mouse! Where is she? What witchcraft is this?”
Although now that he was thinking of it, the mouse did sound suspiciously like his wife.
“It’s not witchcraft!” the mouse said. “Well, actually, it very well might be, I suppose. I woke up, like—like—this! Ask me anything, Steven, and I’ll prove to you that I am your wife!”
“When is Sandra’s birthday?” Steven said, prepared to slam down the jar if necessary.
The mouse told him.
“When is our anniversary?” Steven asked.
The mouse once again gave the correct answer.
His aggression and certainty was beginning to waver. “What are the names of Sandra’s parents?”
The mouse again answered correctly.
Steven gave a great sigh, placing down the jar, before confusion once again overtook him. “Sandra, how—how is this even possible?”
“How am I to know?” she said. “I woke up in this state!” After a moment, she added, “But I must inform the mayor I will not be coming into work.”
A flash of irritation sparked through Steven. “Sandra, you have bigger problems than work! The mayor can run the city on his own!”
“Trust me, Steven, he cannot.”
“Well, I—we need to figure out how to reverse this spell!”
“Yes, but could you please call City Hall to inform them I am sick? I have their number.” Before Steven could argue back that they needed to go to Grim Chapel and find someone to reverse this curse, Sandra said, “I know the number. It will just be a short call. You can make it after you get dressed, and then we can figure out how to fix this.”
After a moment of hesitation in which mouse Sandra gave him a very pleading, endearing look with her eyes, Steven sighed again. “Alright, Sandra. Allow me to prepare for the day.”
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A couple hours later, Sandra was sitting comfortably in Steven’s pocket, her head and front paws sticking out as she peered over the edge of his clothing, as he stepped outside the cab that had taken him to the town square of Grim Chapel.
Despite it being morning with birds chirping cheerfully and people walking about at the town square, Steven still felt a veil of unease as he walked about the district. Even if the evil in the district often came out at night, it was still a place where monsters and devils lived and slumbered.
But it was also the best place to find help for his wife’s strange condition. After he had called into City Hall. eaten breakfast with Sandra being content to chew on fruits, grains, and nuts that Steven had slipped under the table to where Sandra was sitting on his lap, and gotten dressed, Steven had tucked away Sandra into his pocket, telling their staff that Sandra was not feeling well and was very tired, wanting to be left alone and sleep in their room.
Sandra had told him of George Okamoto, a historian in Grim Chapel and an expert in mythological lore that she knew of, who could potentially be able to help her, and so, after arriving in the main center of the district, Steven and Sandra had been pointed to the archives where he worked.
“I do not know him well, but he is an intelligent and knowledgeable man,” she had said. “Perhaps not important enough to be invited to any balls or elite parties, but someone who the mayor has spoken with on occasion when Cornelius has inquired about happenings in Grim Chapel. George is the unofficial leader of the district.”
“I thought the unofficial leader of the district was the devil and his associates,” Steven had said, despite being worried that invoking such evil could potentially cause it to appear. Maybe that was why Sandra had been cursed. Steven had thought too often about the devil, and a curse had landed on his wife.
“Hush, Steven. That is all hogwash.”
He had bit his tongue to prevent a retort that would start an argument. Despite his disagreements, now was not the time for arguing.
After a few minutes, they arrived at the address they had been pointed at to reach George. Steven hesitatingly knocked on the door to the building, and a moment later, an older gentleman swung open the door, brandishing a book and feathered writing quill.
“Good morning!” he said, smiling. “I know everyone in Grim Chapel, but I do not believe I know you? Are you here to learn about the history of Grim Chapel? I have books that anyone may—”
“Excuse me, Mr. Okamoto,” Sandra said from Steven’s pocket; Steven jumped, he hadn’t been expecting her to immediately address Okamoto. “We have a slight situation here. This man is my husband, Steven. And I am Sandra, the deputy mayor of Concordia. I woke up this morning in this….form. We were wondering if you could potentially help me?”
George had a significantly less strong reaction to a mouse speaking to him than Steven had. George’s eyes widened for all but a moment or two, before he broke into laughter. “My! Apologies, Madame Deputy Mayor, but it is rare that a person of such status comes to me when turned into an animal! Although, there was recently that one young lady who came to see me with a frog. But that is a different case entirely. Sandra and Steven, may I take you to the back of my archives? I just want to run some tests on Sandra.”
“You want to experiment on her?” Steven said indignantly.
“Oh, certainly not. I merely wish to see what type of curse this is.”
“How many curses do you deal with?” Sandra said incredulously. “I could hardly believe it when I woke up in this state.”
“Oh, a plethora, Deputy Mayor. You know of Grim Chapel’s reputation.”
“I thought the supernatural occurrences here were all nonsense.”
“See, Sandra, I told you!” Steven said. “I knew that Grim Chapel’s stories were more than just talk.”
“Come now, Steven, now’s not the time for “I told you so” Sandra huffed. “I would like to quickly exit this mousy form. Let’s hear what George has to say.”
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“Well, that was relatively painless, Steven. There truly was no need to worry,” Sandra said once more as the cab stopped in front of their residence.
Steven sighed. “Yes, but…the sooner this is over, the better. Hopefully the curse wears off soon.”
As Steven had anxiously watched, George had run some small tests on Sandra, before announcing there was no need to worry. She was the victim of a practical joke, he’d explained. She had been cursed by a very temporary, mild curse. Sometimes, witches enjoyed strolling about the city, flicking spells on random houses, inflicting pranks, as George had put it. These curses turned someone into an animal for several hours, but never more than 24. George assured them that within a few hours, Sandra would be turned back into her human form.
“The curse…” Steven said, his train of thought shifting as held Sandra up near his face to more easily speak with her. “Sandra, all of these prove that the supernatural is real! You dismissed my theories, but you cannot deny them now!”
Sandra gave a squeaky little huff that, Steven had to admit, was a rather adorable noise. “Just because witches are real, does not mean vampires and ghosts are. Sometimes I think you are just looking for a spooky tale to scare yourself with.”
“Sandra, if magic is real, if curses are real, then dark magic that would allow vampires to live on would be, too! And many people die with unfinished business!”
“I have some unfinished business!” someone announced before stepping out behind a hedge.
Steven jumped, instinctively cupping his other hand over Sandra, accidentally bumping her, causing her to let out an undignified squeak. Sorry, dear! He thought.
A tall man with curly brown hair was smiling as he sauntered up to Steven. His expensive, colorful clothes marked him as a man of importance, but Steven was unsure of his name. “The staff kicked me out of the manor when I kept insisting I see Sandra in her room. I snuck back in to see if I could bully anyone into letting me enter….who are you? You don’t look like staff.”
“I---um---who are you?” Steven said nervously, trying to step around the man.
The man ignored him. “Wait, aren’t you Sandra’s husband?”
“Uh…” Steven, still covering up Sandra with his hands, tried to draw himself up to his full height (which was still much shorter than the other man). “I am one of the owners of this property, and I do insist that you leave.”
“So you are her husband,” Larry said. “What are you covering up with your hands? And why were you talking about magic just now?”
Steven was now sweating profusely. There was a rather sinister aura to this other man. “Nothing. Please leave, or I will call my—oomph!”
The other man had, with a mighty shove, pushed Steven backwards into a bush before prying open Steven’s hands and seizing Sandra.
“Larry!” squeaked Sandra. “How dare you attack my husband! Release me at once! Release me, I say!”
“Aha!” Larry said triumphantly. “No wonder you were talking about magic!” He seemed remarkably unperturbed at seeing and hearing a talking mouse. Turning to Steven, he said, “I must speak with your wife about urgent business matters. Toodleloo!” With a loud cackle, Larry stuffed Sandra into one of his waistcoat pockets before sprinting out of the Hwang property and down the road, leaving Steven covered in leaves, branches painfully poking in his back.
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When Larry finally pulled Sandra out of his pocket, they were in someone's flat, an interior that Sandra did not recognize.
"Let me go, Larry!" Sandra squeaked indignantly. "How dare you shove my husband and trespass on my property? What do you need? You have been quite capable with your…financial scam thus far on your own!"
"Tsk, tsk, Sandra, I let you in on the loop, and you forget about my co-conspirator!" Larry said before shoving Sandra into a very smelly bird cage and locking the door with the key that had been left on the cage's lock. "No, there is something very important that all three of us must discuss!"
"You did not have to kidnap me!"
"It was the most efficient way to get a hold of you, and I suspected you did not want to talk to me anyways!"
"How did you even immediately know that I was the mouse Steven had?"
"Oh, Sandra, do you really think you are the only important person to be cursed with such a fate?" Larry said. "I spent three horrid days as a toad once! Nasty curse from a very unpleasant witch. You should not be complaining about being a mouse, it's nothing compared to being a toad…though giving my father the fright of his life when I spoke to him was quite worth it! Well, almost, at least. Speaking of which–"
Larry was cut off by the sound of the front door's handle of the apartment rattling as someone attempted to open it.
"Aha!" he said, smiling, as he dashed next to the door. From where she was at, it looked like the door would swing open and smack Larry in the face, but Sandra knew it was also a possibility that being a mouse was giving her poor depth perception. After a moment, the door opened, and another man entered the living room.
"Hello there, Joseph!" Larry said, stepping behind Joseph and wrapping his arms around his shoulders.
Joseph jumped violently, breaking himself free of Larry, before sighing when he realized who his assailant was.
"If you value your safety, you'll stop that," Joseph said, shrugging off his coat. "You know how many enemies I have. One day, if you'll startle me, I'll take out your eye."
"Can you even reach my eyes given how much taller I am than you?" Larry said. "You would need the tallest of shoes to even have a chance at stabbing out my eye with…what, your pen?"
"With a mighty enough jump, I could easily take it out," Joseph said, swatting Larry. "Why are you in my home?"
"We need to talk with the deputy mayor. About you-know-what."
Joseph snorted. "Larry, I don't think you need to use such cryptic language. Let's not be ashamed of what we're doing. Otherwise, how will we enjoy our vacations throughout the world together? Away from our irritating fathers and everyone else…"
Larry scoffed. "I still think my father is much more irritating than yours. At least your father doesn't constantly bemoan the fact that you are unemployed."
"My father is not even satisfied with my own profession," Joseph said with an eye roll. "Constantly criticizing me for what I write. He is worse than Leopold. At least Leopold is too busy with his altruism to truly bother you constantly. My father is not famous, and does not have such things to keep him busy."
"At least you do not have annoying cousins," Larry said, flopping down on Joseph's sofa, seemingly forgetting about Sandra. "You'd think that Malcolm would lose his voice between his asinine speeches and screeching and yelling at assistants, and not have enough energy to yell at me at family gatherings, but you would be sorely mistaken."
"Oh?" Joseph said, pulling a notebook from his work satchel. "Have you a story to tell me?"
"Hmm," Larry said, kicking his feet up on Joseph's sofa. "You still would not–"
"Ahem," Joseph said, pointing with his pen. "Get your shoes off my couch."
Larry grumbled but kicked off his shoes, sending them flying to the other side of the room, striking the wall. "I don't throw a fit when you put your shoes on my chairs."
"Probably because half of the time we are meeting in a Rochester residence, it is not actually yours," Joseph said, sitting on the edge of a table facing Larry's sofa as Larry stretched out his rather tall form across the furniture. "If I was tracking mud onto your furniture rather than your father's, I think you would complain. And speaking of complaining, you were saying?"
Larry launched into some rant about Malcolm, Bernadine, Horatio, and Rockley irritating him, having completely abandoned Sandra inside the cage. Sandra had been paying attention to the two men talking and walking about the room, but now that they were both ignoring her, she took a closer look at the cage she was in.
And once she did, she quickly realized something: the bars were very likely spaced out enough for her to squeeze through.
She took a cautious step towards the bars.
Larry and Joseph did not turn towards her. Larry was very much invested in his complaining.
Sandra began to push herself through the bars.
Larry was more interested in talking about how he had been banned from the premises of his brother's chocolate factory than looking at her.
Sandra sucked in her chest and made one final push through the cage, gripping to the bars to prevent herself from falling to the ground. Her mouse claws were at least very useful for gripping strength, and, using them, she was able to claw and climb her way down the stand.
Larry and Joseph had still not noticed her.
Joseph's door had a large enough gap underneath it for her to squeeze underneath it to freedom.
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There was a knock at the parlor door, and Steven jumped. Expecting to see the police that he had called to report that Larry Rochester had kidnapped his wife (leaving out the fact that she was a mouse), Steven ran to admit the officers.
He instead opened the door to see Sandra, who was in a distinctly human shape, albeit wearing her nightgown.
"Sandra!" Steven exclaimed. "You escaped! And–you're human!" "Yes, dear," she said. "Although, ironically, I ought to thank Larry and his accomplice for my escape. They were too busy speaking with each other to notice me leaving the cage Larry had locked me into."
"He put you into a cage? Oh, Sandra, I'm so sorry! I should have been more careful when speaking to you! I wonder how that devil even came to such a rapid conclusion that you were the mouse I was speaking to, though."
"Apparently, Larry has actually been cursed similarly before."
"Really? Well, I think they should have left him as a mouse."
"Toad, actually, but yes. Perhaps that would be for the best. Has anyone else noticed my disappearance?"
"I called the police," Steven admitted. "They ran off to attempt to interrogate Larry at his residence."
"Ah, well, they won't find him there. Although I certainly would like to speak to them. I would imagine that they will return after failing to locate Larry. But in the meantime!"
She leaned in towards Steven and kissed him on his lips, the kiss lasting for several seconds, rather than a quick peck that had become her norm for the past several years.
Steven gaped at her before blushing. "My–Sandra!"
"I must thank you, Steven," she said. "You have been an invaluable support during this…fascinating day. I doubt I would have managed to survive or get around so easily without your help. You are a wonderful husband. I love you, dear."
"Oh–I–thank you, darling!" Steven said, his face quite red, having not prepared for such a display of affection. "I admit that I was quite frightened when a mouse initially spoke to me in your voice, but I am glad that you are safe, and sorry that I did not protect you from that Larry devil when he took you."
"Oh no, I am glad that you did not attempt to fight him, and I am sorry that he pushed you into our plants. That man is a giant, especially when one is a mouse. He was quite frightening."
After a moment of silence, albeit a comfortable one, Sandra ruefully sighed. "And yes, Steven, you appear to be correct. There certainly are supernatural happenings in this world. You are more than welcome to say 'I told you so.'"
Steven laughed. "No, need, dear. I am satisfied enough with you being safe."
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And that's about it! Thank you for requesting this, Vi, I quite liked writing it!
