#ty for the tag :) this monster piece will be done in probably not too long. a bit longer if I decide I want to do cover art

[ehlnofay]

wip wednesday aka friday aka saturday three minutes from sunday

tagged by @wispstalk​ :) here is an excerpt of the current Long Thing I’m almost done working on, which is an extremely self-indulgent character study in which arabella, having been insane for the better part of a decade, picks a random place to sit down and declares “I’m going to be normal now.”

[therobotmonster]

Let's talk about Toys in Cereal

This is a part of several posts of mine that have gotten big, but I figure it's best to address the phenomenon itself in a new post.

If you want to just browse a ton of cool old cereal toys once we're done, go to: www.cratercritters.com. It's a neat site.

Cereal toys are a long-standing American tradition. Some tag-questions asked if they went away because of greed or because of regulations, and that's complicated.

There are food regulations that complicate things. You may have heard that Kinder Eggs are not legal in the US.

This is usually framed as a "fear the stupid American Kids will eat the toy" kind of thing. This is not the case.

The actual regulation that blocks the Kinder Egg is about food safety from bacterial and undisclosed allergen contamination. Inserting a baggie with a toy into that exposes everything in the cereal bag to the outside of the toy package, and that's a no-no in the US market. The rare thing we're more strict about than the EU.

But that doesn't affect cereal toys, because they can get around it by having it in a separate package outside the food bag, between the inner back and the cardboard box. Much easier on the parents to find when you open the box, too.

Kinder has, themselves, addressed the US Kinder Egg problem the same way, with the Kinder Joy.

Splitting the package. into two sections that are individually sealed.

But a big blow to the practice was the end of the Australian R&L Toy Company.

R&L made tons of simple pack-in Premium toys from the 60s through the 80s. They were the primary supplier to Kelloggs, and made everything from simple one-piece figurines to little build-yourself-action-toys.

For instance, these "Wacky Walkers" worked by tying a string to the figure and the weight, then dropping the weight off a table. The figures would hobble forward on their feet, pulled by the weight. Neat-o!

Then there's stuff like these Toolybirds. I'd sell any one of you to the goblin king for a set of these, because I sure can't afford them at $25 apiece or more. I'll probably just make some dinosaur-knockoff version or somesuch to 3d print, eventually.

R&L went out of business in the 80s and its molds were sold to a toy manufacturing company in Mexico that produced their stuff as bag toys for awhile, before everything just faded away.

Meanwhile, the cereal market was forced to contract elsewhere without a devoted company doing essentially just that.

Liscenses came to the rescue. Fun fact, if you wanted toys from most of the Disney Afternoon, your only hope was Kellogg's.

As time went on, you started even getting software in cereal.

Chex gave out a free, PG-version of DOOM for free. Not a couple of demo levels, a whole game, run on the doom engine, with aliens you zap with a spoon.

But as time went on, companies got less and less into the idea of enticing with freebies, and parents started objecting to the marketing of sugar cereals with toy surprises, because given the opportunity, most parents will blame the company for making something the kid wants for their unwillingness to say "No."

The eternal conflict:

Cool thing the kid would enjoy that you might have to put your foot down over because enforcing moderation is a parent's job, verses unobjectionable conformist mush designed to increase your kids' "goodness levels."

I think the banning of cartoon mascots for snacks in certain countries is also ridiculous.

Thing is, any company could bring them back at any time.

The Monster cereals did figurines of their mascots in cosplay in 2021. Of course, they did it as a limited edition bullshit thing where the actual monster cereal mascots were chase figures, but they made them, they could do them at any time if they wanted to.

They could bring the magic back. Nothing is stopping them.

'cept there's no room for joy on the spreadsheet.

Gotta hit you with a little ennui. It's that ambergris stink that makes the perfume truly sweet.

[kaioken16]

Unspoken Affection

Mallek Week 2021 - Day 3

Day 3: AU day (Bloodswap AU) Word count: 2544 Rating: Teens and Up Character(s): Mallek Adalov, Original Character, Diemen Xicali

AO3 link

A/N: This is a sequel to a entry I wrote for last year’s Mallek Week titled ‘Friend or Foe’ for a purple blood!Mallek and my OC, you can read it here.  CW: mentions of blood, injury, violence, and death.  (side note, the bold text are flashbacks scenes.)

Summary: Mallek smiles as he watches him, lost in his thoughts as he comes to a conclusion regarding the human that had been under his care for the last year...

You sit there on your couch, you feel a sense of content as you were always relaxed around these two. After all, you knew you didn’t have to put a front or a shield around them as opposed to the rest of your crew.

You can’t help but stare at them from the corner of your eyes. Zack was cleaning a nasty cut that Diemen got earlier after a fall, your friend was always durable but he wasn’t invincible. And of course, the human’s medical care always overtook everything and he insisted that he clean and wrap up the wound.

He was applying some kind of ointment that he made from a plant that grew far off in the outglut. As you know at least 68% of Alternia’s plantlife was lethal in one way or another from poisonous to literal troll-eating traps. But this plant secreted a fluid that had something Zack called ‘antiseptic’ properties and so he used one of his strange alien tools to combine the fluid with some sopor slime to make this special formula which was perfect for cuts and wounds.

It was great. But it stings like the acid rain that falls over Alternia or getting attacked by wasp lusii.

“Ah!” Diemen flinches when the other presses the cloth dipped in the solution against Diemen’s cut.

“Stop squirming, or I’ll have to start all over again.” He tells Diemen, as Zack carefully cleans the wound, the piece of cotton fabric was soaking up the dark crimson.

“You don’t gotta worry about it-!” He let out another yelp in pain. You can’t help but smile. Not that you were smiling at the sounds of Diemen’s pain but rather just happy…

You’re happy to be around them.

Things had been crazy since you met Zack last sweep.

That chance encounter where you saved him from those rival subjugglators. From that point on you were inseparable, what was supposed to be a few days turned to weeks, then months. He was something different, obviously being an alien had that glamour to it. All trolls were different too, but also similar at the same time, but Zack wasn’t a troll…

Everything about him was foreign, his appearance, his nature. There probably wasn’t another like him anywhere else on Alternia. He was a curious being to you, yeah he bled a candy red blood, but aside from that, he had many interesting qualities.

He was strong but fragile.

You knew that it would take little effort from someone of your build to crush him with their bare hands, and he knew that too, and yet… How many times did he throw himself into harm’s way to protect you or Diemen and a complete stranger? Even when the odds were stacked against him.

But you knew that his strength was beyond just the physical sense, he had the strength of heart. He was so compassionate, kind, fierce, brave. Even when he was scared, like genuinely terrified he was honest about it.

Sometimes when you look at him, you would honestly see like some fragile lost purrbeast. Those big yellow eyes filled with such pure innocence, he’s the kind of guy that would be an enemy even after they tried to kill him. Someone like him would never have lasted this long on Alternia without you. So you took some precautions when he had to venture outside…

Zack was sitting on the couch, and Mallek was knelt in front of him, on the ground beside him was a small makeup kit that he and many other subjugglators used for their face paint.  

He had carefully painted the unique pattern worn by him and members of his crew. Mallek had gotten some of the old clothes that he simply outgrew, a hoodie that originally has his sign but he graffitied it with various art and tags used by his gang, some purple jeans, and plain white trainers.

It wasn’t too big or Zack too tight, but it kinda hung off him in a cute way. He had also given him some purple gloves, and finally, a bandana that was gonna wrap around Zack’s face.

“Alright, just one last final detail…” Mallek says as he grabs a set of fake detailed horns, curved shaped and wielded to a band, that only had a strap on the end to tighten. He then carefully puts around Zack’s head and clicks the lock-in.

He pulls the hood over Zack’s head and voila!

“There... all done. Now, all we gotta do is get something to hide your face, and then you’re good to go.” Mallek smiles, admiring his handiwork, he grabs a mirror to let Zack see.

“Cool, I could definitely pass for a troll dressed as a clown.” Zack was impressed, it was perfect, between only being able to go outside at night, and most purplebloods always wearing this paint, he could pass as one of them.

“Yeah. But still the same rule. You stay right beside me, don’t leave my sight, or don’t go out alone.” Mallek was very clear as it was still risky for Zack to go out by himself at least with this clothing he’s covered up completely and if he should somehow bleed the red will be hidden.

“Okay. Makes sense, I won’t leave your side.” Zack nods as Mallek blushes faintly.

“R-right, let's cover your face up.” He looks around until his eyes land on the fresh purple fabric that was a custom order from a friend, it was worn by a few crew members and would wear it sometimes. He wraps it around the human’s face, tying a knot at the back.

That was a clever idea on your part, and so far now has caught on, you were careful when taking Zack outdoors. It was a pain and sometimes you thought it could be frustrating for him, but it was for his own good and he understood that too.

Because let’s be honest you know that on his own he would last about an hour or so. And that’s if he laid low and avoided others. You really don’t know what possessed you to keep him, after saving him and giving him a place to crash for a couple of days you could’ve easily let him go on his way. But no.

You told him he could stay for as long as he needed. Obviously, he was intimidated by you, but you couldn’t really blame him. Look at you, you stood a glorious 8ft tall, between your aggressive clothing, intimidating face paint, and the fact that you were armed to literal teeth. It was no wonder he was initially wary of you.

But he wasn’t afraid of you. More like he stared at you with awe and it was due to the fact that your appearance didn’t match your personality after all. You had been affectionately referred to by many who got to know you on a personal level as the most calm-headed, least murderous purpleblood.

You had always had control of the raging seas that inside of you, in fact, that’s what made you more dangerous. Controlled rage was more effective and wild, you know exactly how to inflict the right amount of pain and how to swiftly deal with your opponent.

Taking a life wasn’t something that you were familiar with.

But Zack… He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Not to say that he couldn’t fight and that he couldn’t kill someone, especially with those freaky powers of his. It’s that he wouldn’t kill or even like to fight for that matter.

Those hands of his… They were made to help, to care for, loving hands that always soothed you and anyone else they touched.

Your hands… You’ve inflicted pain, they’ve been stained with blood, bruised from throwing punches You were no stranger to violence after all.

Zack was worried, it had been so long since Mallek left to deal with “business” as he called it. Of course, Zack knew that was code for his gang’s activity or dealing with a dispute with another gang. Normally when Mallek left he would come back in a couple of hours, with a few cuts and a hoodie stained with blood that wasn’t his own.

But it had been at least 6 hours since he left and he hadn't messaged in that time and he always checked in with Zack. He was so tempted to go out and look for him, but where would he look? Besides, it was dangerous to go out without his disguise but Zack wasn’t ready to waste time getting that all together.

He’s standing in front of the door, the only thing between him and the outside. His hand reached for the handle, it was a very foolish, dangerous move he was about to make, but he was gonna do it anyway. He couldn’t stand around and just do nothing. Suddenly he grips the handle and pulls it open, and waiting for him on the other side was Mallek!

He stood there, his clothing torn apart, stained by blood, his face was bloody and fresh with bruises and cuts, purple trickling down his lip. He looks like hell as Zack just stands there staring at him, the purpleblood just looks at him but then starts to sway his body, taking a single step as he then collapses onto Zack who manages to catch him. “Mallek! H-hey! Mallek?!” Zack cries out to him but it’s no use as he’s already passed out.

Zack somehow managed to get Mallek to the couch, thankfully he was still breathing, just unconscious. Thankfully he didn’t have any serious wounds, and he knows that he’ll be okay, he could heal from this. And yet, that didn’t ease his heart, he feels so helpless as Mallek lays there, so all you can do is just sit there, holding his hand tightly until he wakes up.

...

“I don’t like fighting, or hurting someone… But I get it. Here is your world, it’s kill or be killed, death and violence are the norms here.” Zack sighs, before looking over to Mallek.

“And you, every day you have to face death, from the drones to other trolls, the climate!” Mallek knows this all, of course, it wasn’t news to him after all, it was just the way of things.

“Yeah, this place is designed to make monsters… Not enough good people, or people living in fear of accepting it. Survival of the fittest and all that nonsense. But you don’t gotta worry about it… We’re all used to it, we were born in it.”

The human’s expression dampens, it bothers him how much Mallek was just okay with all this. “I’m sorry. But I can’t accept it. I wish I could do more… If there was more I could for you, and the others.”

Mallek just stares at him, he doesn’t say anything at first. He chuckles. “You don’t have to apologize. This has nothing to do with you, it wasn’t your fault our world is like this.”

“It’s very cute…” He smiles at Zack, gently touching his forehead. His action causes a reaction from Zack making his cheeks heat up, darkening with a shade of blush.

Maybe human beings as a whole were cute, but truthfully it was more so your own biased feelings towards him. But after that incident and then the conversation between you two all those months ago, you came to the decision to ensure that the ugliness of violence, bloodshed, and death would never reflect through his eyes. Though that was easier said than done, being the leader of a gang, and constantly fighting after subjugglators for territory and drone attacks.

You know that there were those who couldn’t be reasoned with, if they learned of Zack’s existence, he would be hunted for his blood color by various trolls for many gruesome purposes. And he was precious to you, important and you would protect him, along with all those who you cherished. No matter what.

“There, all done.” Zack finishes wrapping the bandages around Diemen’s arm, the shortest of the three examines with his arm before smiling at the human.

“Gee thanks.” Diemen spreads his fingers around, shaking his arm slightly.

“Try to be more careful in the future.” Zack instructs Diemen who is just rubbing his bandages a little, Zack then holds out his fist and Diemen responds appropriately as they bump fists.

Another grin spreads across your face. Diemen then runs off, something about getting some food and that he would be right back. And you know by the food he meant nothing but hot dogs. Now it’s just the two of you, and Zack then glances over to you and notices you smiling, and returns the expression. He then approaches you, and sits beside you on the couch, instinctively you pull him close, throwing your arm around him.

He closes his eyes, a warm smile. Since you were sure that Diemen was gone, and it was just the two of you, you then pull Zack up onto your lap, his arms wrap around your neck, his head against your chest. You enjoyed having him close to you, it was mutually comforting to the both of you, he had told you that he always felt safe like this, from that first meeting when you literally picked off the ground and carried him home with him.

“Are you okay? You’ve been really quiet.” He asks you, his voice was a little slow, peaceful even.

“I’m okay. Just thinking about stuff, no need to worry.” You reply back to him, speaking in a soft, hush tone.

“If you say so.” Zack responds, he was probably trying not to pry you think, but you know that he tends to worry.

“You know… The chances are that Diemen will probably get another random injury within the next few days right?” You make a joke at the expense of Diemen’s usual careless nature when it came to him getting minor injuries or just getting into trouble.

“Ha. Yeah… I figured as much.” Zack chuckles.

You look at him, giving him a little squeeze. “Yeah, but still I know it’s pointless to tell you not to, you always treat mine, Diemen, and some of the guys when we get injured whether from an accident or fighting some assholes. And that’s who you are.”

That was one of the many things that you loved about Zack. His kind nature, the way he cared for everyone, it was such a warm feeling, a light that welcomed everyone he interacted with. Maybe that was the reason you were so set on protecting him, driven by this need to keep him safe and ensure that while remains with you that no harm would come to him.

You got lost in your thoughts again, and you look down to see that Zack has fallen asleep on you. You can feel your face warm up with blush when he nuzzles against your chest. Seriously, this was adding more to your theory on the cuteness of humans, but honestly, it was more that you found him so cute. You smile, gently stroking his hair with your claws, laying back on the couch to get more comfortable.

[keelywolfe]

Drabble: A Criminal's Best Asset is His Lie-ability (baon)

Summary:   The scariest statement in the English language?Stretch has money on 'we need to talk'.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Established Relationship, Domestic, Fluff, Sweet Boys

Notes: Anyone else need some fluff today? Yeah? Awesome.

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

Read it on AO3

or

Read it Here!

~~*~~

One of the nice things about not having a 9 to 5, was that any given day could be a day off. That his chosen one was Saturday was coincidence, really, and Stretch was enjoying it with as much laziness as he could muster.

Which meant he was currently lounging in a deck chair with a piece of reflective cardboard, working on his tan which was a hilarious joke, thank you. It was well into the chucklicious stage when a shadow interrupted his basking. Stretch slit open his sockets and through his sunglasses, he could see Edge looking down on him with a Very Serious Expression ™.

“hey, babe,” Stretch put down his reflector and reached out for his drink to lift it in a mock toast, ice cubes clinking merrily.

"We need to talk."

Well, that sounded sufficiently ominous. Stretch set aside his piña colada, plucking free the paper umbrella as something to fidget with while trying not to look too anxious. Edge seemed awfully damn serious for a Saturday morning and Stretch couldn’t think of anything he’d done lately to warrant that kind of expression. Or at least nothing he would have been caught at so quickly.

Edge opened his mouth, shut it, opened in again, took a moment to rub his forehead and let out a long suffering sigh, and then finally he said, "I want to ask for an explanation, I do, but I'd like to start with saying that I completely and irrefutably forbid you from robbing a bank."

Oh. That. "look, it’s not like that, babe."

"--because we hardly need the money and even if we did, turning to a life of crime isn't a valid choice, and honestly, love, you’d be a terrible cat burglar, you trip going up the stairs every other day—"

"hey!"

“—besides, if your teammates get detained, you won't even be able to drive the escape car—"

“okay, you have me on that one.”

"--and if, heaven help us, my brother got involved, it would almost certainly end with a multi-state manhunt, possibly international, and someone would be hurt or killed, and—

“edge!” Stretch said loudly when he finally paused for a breath. “babe, i’m not actually robbing a bank.”

“Ah. That’s…good to hear.” But yeah, that was enough lingering doubt to spread on a suspicion sandwich, with a smidgen of hope for garnish. It probably would have been insulting, but— “Perhaps you can explain this then?”

Edge held up what he had in his hand and, yeah, that was a little awkward. Blueprints, alarm system schematics, and a notebook that had ‘Bank Robbery’ written at the top with doodles down the margins of bags with money signs on them.

Yeah, he was having a hard time faulting Edge for his trust issues on this one.

Stretch tried to hold back the grin, he really did. Tried to think of hurt puppies and dropped birthday cakes and lonely lovers standing with flowers in the rain. But the pained, earnest look on Edge’s face as he stood there trying to convince him not to devote his life to crime was too much.

It started with a little smile, one that strained at feeble hold of his restraint and grew, swelling into a giggle and finally broke through with a roar of helpless laughter. Stretch fell back on the chair, giggling madly, and it was only when he could see honest irritation starting to spark in Edge’s eye lights that he sat up, wiping at his damp sockets.

“babe,” Stretch said patiently, and he could do fuck all about the quiver of laughter lingering in his voice, but hey, it was the effort that counted. “it’s a game.”

“A game,” Edge repeated slowly.

“yeah, a game! like a board game? it’s called ‘heist’, me and andy have been playing it over skype.”

The relief that passed across Edge’s face at learning he wasn’t going to have to live his life on the run like a Monster-version of Bonnie and Clyde was kind of fucking adorable. Shame it didn’t last. That reserve that Stretch hated so much dropped down over his face like a curtain, show’s over, no encore.

“I’m sorry,” Edge said, stiffly, and fuck. He knew his baby entirely too well. Anyone else might doubt his sincerity or think he was a prick, but Stretch knew him. Edge wasn’t much for role-playing games but if this was Monopoly, he was heading straight for embarrassed without passing Go or collecting two hundred bucks.

“hey,” Stretch said softly. He hooked his forefingers into Edge’s belt loops, tugging him forward until Stretch was craning his neck to look up at him. “we’re cool, mama bear. if you didn’t worry, then i’d end up worrying about you, and that’d worry you, which is a never-ending cycle we probably shouldn’t start up.”

That curtain of reserve wavered, blowing back enough for Stretch to see the shame and uncertainty hiding behind it. “I shouldn’t have assumed—”

“shoulda, woulda, coulda, babe. and let’s be real, here, if my bro saw that shit? he would’ve tied me to a chair before settling on a chat.”

Yeah, mentioning his bro and his smothering tendencies was a good way to get a scoff and a roll of eye lights out of Edge. “I might have tried that myself, but I know full well you have a book on magic and knot-tying in the living room.”

“aww, you ruined my surprise.” Stretch let his hands slide down Edge’s femurs, watching the crackle of interest in his eye lights turn to surprise as Stretch abruptly shifted to push hard on the backs of his knees, sending Edge nearly sprawling into his lap. “ah, there we are. hi.”

“Hi,” Edge said dryly. But he only wriggled a little to get comfortable, for once not crabbing that he was too heavy for Stretch. Instead, Edge took advantage of their equal height to take a kiss that didn’t make him crane his neck one way or the other.

He tasted like love and apology and Stretch only sighed and accepted it. He also made a mental note to tell Andy that they were starting a new game called ‘Heist’, because if Edge found out he’d planned all that out as a mental exercise in a moment of manic boredom, he was probably gonna be sleeping on the couch for a week, possibly longer.

And maybe he should go ahead and burn the notes, because he’d never actually planned to rob a bank, of course fucking not, but if Red caught a gander at it…? Yeah, maybe that was a limb he shouldn’t go out on. Better safe than sorry and all that shit.

In the meantime, he had a husband to reassure that he wasn’t about to squeeze into leather pants and a mask to hit up the local credit unions with a freeze ray or something.

Now that was a job he could handle, no international manhunts required.

-finis-

[little-world-of-kyton]

Mandy’s Care Home

Characters: Tyler Sharp, Quinn Sharp, Eliza Riley-Sharp, Matty Davidson-Sharp, Damian Sharp, Ant Sharp, Vikki Barnes-Sharp, Mandy McGinnis, Heather Sharp (Mentioned), Jessie Goldhart, William Lyne, Lauren Maaya (Mentoned) , Pixie Patterson, Mikey Patterson, Nadine Holt, Gus Griffith, Daxter Griffith, Bryan Torres, Danny Cook, Gracie Christ (Mentioned), Molly Arbore (Mentioned)

Ship: None/Polysquad

Words: 1807

Warnings: Mentions of/Hints at Will’s abuse, hints at Quinn falling, ask if you need something added.

~~~

Tag List: Empty

Want to be tagged in my OC work? Let me know!

~~~

Tyler placed his camera into his bag alongside his notebook before slinging it over his shoulder.

“Hey, guys!” He called through the house from the front door. “I’m heading to Mandy’s care home! Anyone want to come?”

He’d expected Matty to come along, and maybe Eliza if she wasn’t busy. What she hadn’t expected was for all of them to decide to join him. (Besides Heather, who at the time was getting ready to go to work.)

They all walked as a group along the streets. Quinn held tight to Eliza’s hand, Damian and Ant arguing about something stupid, Matty skipping and talking about a new song he was working on. Tyler smiled. He loved taking trips out with the others.

The care home was a new building. Mandy had had help from Lauren when raising money for it (Which might’ve been helped by the fact Lauren was constantly followed around by a very large dragon). It stood tall and welcoming, the orange bricks painted over with white paint. The windows were clean, and Tyler could see the flower-patterned curtains inside and a little cactus on one of the window ledges.

He knocked on the door and a small, round woman with fiery red hair answered. Her eyes lit up when she saw the group and she smiled wide. Her face radiated the same warmth and kindness as the building itself did.

“Oh! You’re all here! That’s lovely,” She opened the door and gestured for them all to enter. The inside of the house smelled of brownies. “Gracie… Had to stay home today,” She said sadly, frowning slightly. “But Molly said she might stop by later to help! Until then, feel free to introduce yourself to any of the children.”

“Uncle Ty!”

Tyler barely had chance to look towards the source of the yelling before a blur of pastel colours threw itself at him. He stumbled slightly as he looked down, seeing a small, blonde girl beaming up at him.

“Pixie!” He laughed, picking her up and spinning her around. She giggled, kicking her legs.

He placed her back onto the floor and dragged him into the main room. There was a table in the corner with chairs set up around it. The surface was covered in paper, pencils and crayons. A box of blocks lay scattered on the floor near the window, two small children talking quietly to themselves and building little houses. Pixie pulled Tyler towards the table and made him sit town before climbing up into his lap.

“Look what I drew!”

On the paper in front of her was a drawing of herself, her brother Mikey, a kid covered in band-aids that Tyler could only guess was Jessie, a kid holding a book that was definitely Will, and then Lauren. Tyler smiled. “That’s wonderful, Pix! Where are the other little monsters, anyway?” He asked.

Pixie kicked her legs and picked up another pencil and a new piece of paper, beginning to scribble more people. “Think Mikey an’ Jess are playing football in the yard,” She shrugged. “Mandy said Lauren’s got college an’ she’ll visit us when her lesson is done. Think she’s doin’ English.”

“What about Will?”

Pixie paused. “He’s havin’ a bad day. Mandy said he hasn’t been talkin’ to anyone today, not even her.”

Tyler frowned and nodded. Given Will’s past, moments like this were expected. Tyler turned around to the others, seeing them all looking around. It was their first time really visiting.

“Hey, Quinn?” He said.

The angel looked up, lip red from biting it. “Mm?”

“You remember Will, right? D’you think you can go sit with him for a bit, make sure he’s ok?”

Quinn nodded and turned to leave the room. Mandy walked with her, leading her up the stairs.

The others all looked around, deciding they should probably communicate with some of the kids too. Matty walked out towards the back door, following the sounds of giggles and small voices. He found Jessie and Mikey outside – Jessie up in the treehouse and Mikey on the floor as they threw the football to each other. Matty grinned.

“Hey guys!”

The two turned to look at him and instantly lit up. Mikey grabbed hold of Matty and tugged him towards the treehouse. “Wanna play?” He asked, handing the ball to Matty.

“Hot potato?”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah! But Jess wanted to be higher up, so they’re in the treehouse.

Matty laughed. “Of course, I’ll play.”

——————-

Back inside, Eliza had followed the smell of brownies to the kitchen. A young teen, possibly around the age of 13 if Eliza had to guess, was sat at the kitchen table with a worksheet and a frustrated look on their face.

“Hey, dear,” Eliza said softly, sitting down on the seat next to them. “Do you need help?”

The teen shook their head. “No. I gotta do it by myself or it’s not the same.”

“Oh,” Eliza said. “You know, you’re allowed to ask for help if you’re struggling, dear. It doesn’t make your work any less good. If it helps, I can give you questions like what you’re answering, but with different numbers, and I can show you how that works, and you can apply that to your work. Does that help?”

The teen finally looked up at Eliza and nodded slowly. “Y-Yeah, ok. That works.”

Eliza smiled and picked up a spare piece of paper and a pen from the stack in the corner. She wrote down some questions and handed them to the teen. “Oh, and I’m Eliza,” She said.

“…Nadine.”

——————-

Vikki had taken to the two boys sat on the floor building houses. She sat next to them, slightly floating off the floor. One smiled at her, the other nodded in her direction but kept his eyes on the blocks.

“I’m Gus,” Introduced the blonde boy, lisping slightly due to the missing front tooth. “That’s my brother, Daxter. He doesn’t talk very much but it’s ok because Mandy says I talk enough for both of us.”

Vikki laughed. “Well it’s nice to meet you both. Mind if I build?”

“Sure!” Gus grinned, pushing some blocks towards her. “Why are you floating?”

“I’m a ghost.”

Gus shrugged. “That’s cool. Oh! Here’s this little man, you can stick him on your house when you’re done. I called him Mr Orange because he likes to wear an orange hat.”

“I love that.”

The three build together, Gus occasionally piping up with a silly joke or to ask for a block or ask Daxter for help. Vikki eventually handed Gus her little house with a man on it. “Does this look right to you? I don’t build very often.”

Gus smiled wide and sat up straighter, clapping his hands. “Good! Look, Dax, isn’t that cool?”

Daxter looked up at the house and smiled, nodding.

Gus handed it back to Vikki. “If Dax likes it, that means it’s super good.”

——————-

Quinn hadn’t spoken since she’d entered Will’s room. Instead, she’d curled up on the chair next to his bed, sitting quietly as he slowly rocked himself. If anyone of the group knew how to handle Will, it was her. Forcing him to talk wouldn’t work – She had to wait for him to make the first move.

“Can I see your wings?”

His voice came out soft, cracking slightly. She nodded and stood up, moving to sit next to him on the bed. She closed her eyes and felt her wings appear, shaking and stretching out. It��d been a while since she’d let them out. They were a soft lavender colour, the lower feathers burned and stained with ash from her fall. Will leaned against Quinn’s side, smiling slightly when Quinn wrapped her wings around the two of them.

They sat in silence for a while longer. Will’s eyes closed.

“I was thinking about… Them… again,” Will whispered.

Quinn didn’t need to respond with words. She just wrapped her wings closer around them, a hand taking one of Will’s. Will sniffled and curled up a little tighter against the angel’s side.

“I just wish I could forget it. All of it. Sometimes I can pretend it didn’t happen, but sometimes I can’t.”

Quinn lightly squeezed his hand. “I know, Will. And it’s going to hurt for a while. Maybe for a very long while. But… But there are ways to deal with it if you want that. I can find you some people that you can talk to, and maybe they can help you feel better.”

Will nodded and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “P-Please.”

Quinn kissed the top of Will’s head. “You’ll be ok. I promise.”

——————-

Ant and Damian walked around together. Some of the other kids were out at classes, but they eventually ran into two kids upstairs in a bedroom, dressed up in costumes. One of them was a little redhead covered in freckles, a gap between his two front teeth and a wide grin on his face as he raised a fake cardboard sword. The other was dressed like a dinosaur, messy blonde hair covering his eyes. His hands were held out in front of him like claws.

“Hey there, boys,” Damian greeted as he walked into the room, Ant following.

Both boys turned, their eyes widening. “Woah!! Your eyes are red!!”

Damian and Ant shared a look and grinned.

“Yep, they are,” Ant nodded.

“Pointy teeth!” The blonde said, looking at Ant.

“Pointy ears!” The redhead yelled, looking at Damian.

“My name’s Damian,” Dami said, smiling and kneeling closer to their height. “I’m a demon.”

“And I’m Ant,” Ant waved. “I’m a vampire.”

Both young boys jumped around, excited.

“I’m Bryan,” The redhead introduced himself, bowing and laughing.

“I’m Danny!” The blonde joined in, striking a pose.

And laughed. “I guess you two enjoy acting? Mind if we join in? Damian would make a great damsel in distress,” He joked, winking towards Damian. Damian stuck his tongue out.

Bryan lit up and ran to a chest at the base of one of the beds, pulling out some accessories. “Of course, you can join in!!”

The four of them acted out scenes, each taking a turn at the different roles until Tyler called them down to leave.

——————-

Tyler hugged Mandy at the door. She smiled, holding out a tin to him. “There’s some treats in there for you all as a thank you for stopping by today.”

Tyler took the tin and smiled back. “We’ll try to come by again soon.”

“Please do,” Mandy said. She looked into the main room where all the kids were now settled in front of the TV with blankets watching a movie. “I can tell they really enjoyed seeing you all. They’d love to have you back.”

“Then we’ll definitely be back,” Eliza promised. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

“Have a good night, Mandy,” Tyler said as the group walked away.

“You too, dear.”