Morning, Thursday 21st December. Home.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing as best they could in each other’s company, aside from when Trisha went to oversee the birth of her new bees and tend to the still growing one. Their emergence from the flesh tendrils wasn’t particularly pleasant, so it made most sense for her to do that and then show Casey some of the new ones.
She
had come out of the greenhouse to much more stuff in their main room than there had been when she’d left. Equipment that Casey had dragged up from downstairs in her short absence, and more still once she was back. It wasn’t a
fight but it did take Trisha a little while to accept half their main room becoming his makeshift workshop.
It meant he was there with her, technically. In the house. Even if it made things noisier… It wasn’t like she could complain when she had her bees.
It was a double edged sword when it came to the already arduous task of getting to sleep. Casey wasn’t much in the mood for it, and Trisha wasn’t going to drag him to be when she reluctantly went up. Exhaustion was catching up with her, after all. The sound of him tinkering just down the stairs was comforting in that it let her know he was still there, but at the same time the strange sounds made it difficult to drift off. Not just strange, but
loud. At least she wouldn’t have found it easy anyway, without him there next to her.
She’d eventually drifted off, still looking at something on her phone, just before the sun started to rise. The couple of hours she got weren’t restful, but at least the nightmares were less intense. When she woke up it was still early… Eight AM, read the clock on her phone in front of her face. She unwrapped her arms from around Princess, made as big as she could get, to sit up with a gentle groan.
Before she actually got up, she picked up her phone to sort out a couple of things. Replying to Cass for a start, who’d messaged yesterday afternoon about a chill gathering her and Leon were having in his flat tonight. A lowkey celebration before she went back to England for Christmas, and the two of them went away. She’d emphasised in the text multiple times that it was just a chill thing, and that they were welcome but her and Leon would get through a bunch of shitty Christmas movies either way.
Casey had gotten something similar from Leon. The decision between the two of them had been they’d see how they felt today, and Trisha finally replied to Cass saying as much. It was difficult not to feel pressure… And she did actually want to go, even if just for a little while.
Then, the next thing was more important. Sylvie had let Trisha know she could get Casey’s present to her whenever she wanted… By some magical means, Trisha assumed. While the last few days would’ve been perfect if she wanted to keep it a secret, she hadn’t exactly been in the right state of mind. And it wasn’t going to be a secret anymore. So, she sent a message to ask for it this morning.
Then she got up, fumbling in their wardrobe for one of Casey’s sweaters to pull on over her pyjamas. Going downstairs meant dealing with it getting
louder. But it was alright. It was his way of staying around. She’d rather the noise than be alone.
“Casey?” She spoke up as she came to the bottom of the stairs, shuffling towards the kitchen and trying to get into his line of sight at the same time. She wasn’t sure if he could
hear her, after all.
She spoke up a bit louder.
“How do your grandparents normally send deliveries?” Casey’s makeshift workshop consisted of whatever he could get within the confines of the fireproof curtains he’d set up later on the previous day. With a few of them miniaturizable, it was a bit more than he expected once he managed to requisition some open-style shelving units that magically clung to the walls through the fireproofing. It was a cacophonous noise scramble consisting of echoes from all throughout the spectrum of metalworking. Grinding, polishing, milling and carving, stamping- The various processes of weaponsmithing were on display all at once.
Casey was wearing a long leather apron and thick black goggles, staring down at a plasma torch blasting a piece of metal while he mashed it against an anvil with a dark black hammer. Trisha’s voice almost didn’t penetrate the noise. But, a voice in itself was new enough for him to take heed. Looking up toward the only place he expected it normally, he saw Trisha trying to talk to him and pulled the goggles off. As if he were somewhere in the void of space, he simply released the goggles where they were, allowing them to hang midair in wait for his return. Most of the automated machines continued to run, though the torch did cut out.
”Huh?” he asked turning his head and cupping his ear, not entirely trying to be rude, but certainly being curt for it being their first interaction in several hours.
Trisha pursed her lips, but managed to not look too upset. Or get too upset. It was difficult when she was so tired, but she was interrupting him.
“How do your grandparents send deliveries?””Oh! Shipping stuff! Probably the Pigeon Force. Max makes brass birds with little ramjets in them. They can really shake a tailfeather. Why, what’s coming? Did you tell Nana we were leaving for Christmas?” he asked her in return, twisting his body out of the leather gloves and apron before approaching her more directly and hugging around her.
”I wonder if Leon’s going over there. Shit, I wonder if they’re even gonna do anything this year! It’s… Pretty big. Maybe they’ll send a whole flock of them.” he giggled, looking out the windows in anticipation.
Trisha let out a soft sigh, arms wriggling under his to hug him as she relaxed into him.
“I didn’t specifically say we were going away, though she might’ve guessed when I said when I’d need this by… It’s, uh, your not Christmas present. It’s something I asked Sylvie to make, and I’ve asked for it to be sent over this morning. She said before delivery would be quick so… I was curious about that. Maybe there will be a whole flock, if she’s realised we’re leaving.”Casey took a deep breath as he felt her relax, only realizing after the fact that he could’ve affected her anxiety by not seeming terribly chipper. It’s not that he wasn’t. Contrarily, he felt alright that morning. Especially having his workspace up here. It was nice to take a break and walk into his own kitchen.
His duties as Blade were essentially finished. An unceremonious way to end the esteemed position, but so many things were unceremonious. Life didn’t always imitate art. But, it meant he was suddenly listless again. He’d need things to do. Especially since they’d still be living in the Cannery for the foreseeable future as the siblings went about ensuring that their mother’s misbegotten flock all got their just desserts.
What kind of life would they have for the next few months? Would he get better? He didn’t know… But if there were days like this, maybe he’d be better off than he thought. It was just incredibly difficult from moment to moment, and he wished with all his heart that it wasn’t so.
”Well… If it hasn’t already gotten here? I’d say we’re in for a surprise. C’mon… Let’s go, uh… Maybe start getting ready to go downstairs. I need to get everyone else’s gifts too.” he offered Trisha his hand, motioning toward the bathroom.
Close to an hour later, the skies filled with the echoes of microjets filling the neighborhood before it all got incredibly quiet… Then the roof started to experience an incredible pelting as machine after machine, no bigger than a baseball each, tumbled from the sky and hit the roof with precision like that of a professional airstrike. Coming outside, the two would be greeted by a literal flock of brass birds, clockwork movements prying their beaks from the roof’s tar and positioning themselves into a pattern.
Three very simple words, and one incredibly Max-style sentence: The birds fanned out finally, to form “Ho, Ho, Ho!”
Casey held Trisha in his arms and giggled as the birds tutted about. It was comforting, and menacing all at once. The deadly precision that his Grandfather could control these things pailed in comparison to the implication of their being so many. That there really would be no Christmas. That they expected war… Still, he took a picture of it and sent it to Leon before waving his hand.
”Down! Down with all who are not Caseau’s!”Many of the birds quickly lifted off and zipped down the building. Five birds remained, and Casey grinned at Trisha.
”Oh? Two from each person, one for each from each… But, there’s an extra? Whose that from I wonder?” he prodded before holding his arm out. The mechanical birds rushed him, climbing up and allowing Casey to bring them inside with them.
“Santa, obviously. Did you not read the message?” Trisha managed to joke, even though the sheer quantity of mechanical birds that had landed on their roof was overwhelming. The landing itself would’ve been terrifying if she wasn’t expecting it thanks to Casey’s explanation. The brass creatures themselves were interesting… So realistic.
As they headed back inside, she subtly called a small number of specific bees- from her original hive, especially good natured ones. A good first test. They buzzed out of the greenhouse and landed in her hair before she closed the door behind them.
She moved close to Casey, staying at the side that didn’t have the birds on it. She knew they weren’t actual birds, so they weren’t going to try and eat her bees or peck her, but she was still cautious.
“I can’t believe they used my delivery as a cover for a gift drop.” She joked again, smiling at him, then looking at the birds and their goods with curious interest.
And their
goods were little neck pieces tied off to their bodies, which slipped down their backs and looked like they formed equally small pouches. Casey quickly set about unclipping them, and with his hand still covered in his channeler, he proceeded to grab ahold of the packages within and pull them out into the light.
Each turned out to be actual Christmas gift boxes, just like one would see in an old movie with the bows and bright, fancy designs on them. Four of them were stacked together, joining Casey’s other boxes containing gifts for their little family. The girls would be there at some point if they weren’t already, though he hadn’t checked himself. He figured they’d all open their two gifts from Max and Sylvie as a big group. He could guarantee everyone downstairs got their own set of two, since that was always the tradition with Max and Sylvie’s celebrations.
Casey’d been told of a fabled time where the first grandchildren all got spoiled rotten. But, once the amount of Grandkids equaled the amount of birthchildren, the compromise was established and remained unbroken since.
”Well, it certainly worked out.” he smiled, scratching one of the birds behind its metal neck.
”I bet you weren’t expecting to get anything from them, were you?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows at her.
“I wasn’t.” Trisha easily admitted, shaking her head. She didn’t even get presents from her own family, she hadn’t expected any from his grandparents. They’d only gotten together a couple of months ago! Sure, they were engaged, but it was still… Unexpected. Nice, but unexpected.
“Your grandparents are very generous.” She said softly as she moved to pick up the one delivered gift box kept separate from the other four. Thankfully they’d labelled them, otherwise it would be impossible to tell them apart… Then again, that was what it was like for all presents.
“With their actions and kindness especially. I actually… Tried to pay Sylvie to make your gifts, but she wouldn’t accept that. She said they ask for nothing from family, which is strange to me. But nice. Anyway, uh- happy early Christmas? Or… Happy I love you and wanted to get this specific thing made for you?” She held out the gift towards him with a smile.
Casey looked down at the box, expression warm as he picked it up and rolled it in his hands slightly. It was light, but he could practically taste the magic inside.
”Oh, so you don’t want to save it for the big exchange downstairs? I-”He paused a moment, realizing that she was starting to be crowded by bees.
”-can’t… Imagine why!” he joked slightly, waggling the package again.
”Couldn’t bee related to anything we’ve got a common interest in, right?”“Mayyy-bee.” Trisha giggled, clasping her hands in front of her and blushing a little bit as he took a guess before even opening it. She didn’t mind, though. The surprise wasn’t important, just that it was something he liked.
“If we do it now, you can test it out before we go downstairs… We probably have time. I don’t want to bring too many down with me, since food and more people will end up a disaster.” She smiled, reaching up to gently knock over a bee crawling up her neck. The little creature fell onto her back on Trisha’s shoulder, legs waggling for a moment as she gave off little huffy pheromones before righting herself.
It was funny how most of them had little personalities. Nothing major like larger animals had… She was fairly certain it was because of the magic imbued in them by her and the Queen. They weren’t intelligent, but they acted closer to pet rodents than they did insects with very strict tasks to follow.
With him still not opening it she pouted playfully.
“Don’t make me wait… I want to see if it works.”He grinned, making her wait just a hair longer before his head moved down to kiss her again. Casey’s eyes were warm and alive thankfully. It seemed like he was all there today. Noticeably different from the end of last night when he asked to begin bringing his stuff up. His hand popped the lid of the box off, and he looked in to find one of his Grandmothers’ company’s jewellery boxes sitting suspended inside. He plucked the little box, and with it came a piece of paper stuck to the bottom.
Trisha and Casey- Please thank Mia for her brilliant assistance, and consult her with any complications. I must admit, this challenging piece was much needed to mend broken bonds of my own. I love you both dearly. -NanaCasey’s eyebrows climbed up, and he narrowed his eyes. Mia? Sylvie had pretty strong feelings about Mia and the other girls. So, this was good news. It meant neither of them were letting their hurt feelings get in the way anymore.
And so he popped the box open. Inside, the little amber disk no bigger than a dime sat cradled in black velvet. On the inside of the cover was a little picture of the disk sitting between two dogtags as a stopper, and Casey’s eyes immediately welled up as his gloved hand shot for the chain with his tags. They came around his head and off his neck faster than Trisha’d ever seen him take them off, and he was unclipping the brace to let the chain accept a new inhabitant.
One tag slid off the chain, and he tucked it into the little amber disk’s center hole to let it slide all the way back down. It only took him a moment to make the adjustment entirely, but once it was done, he and Trisha would both be able to catch him staring deeply into the golden jewel. Its insides were only marred by its single inhabitant: A spindly, long-legged bee that looked like it was trying to bridge the evolutionary gap with a hornet. And as he stared, tears fell from his eyes like raindrops.
”Trisha!? You’re kidding me! It’s… It’s so fucking gorgeous! What… You… It’s fucking magic as shit, Jesus! What’s it meant to do!?” he turned his head rapidly.
Trisha’s whole expression had lit up as she watched him open it and immediately put it on the chain. She’d been a little worried about it being an addition to something important to him… But it was clearly the right decision. It
was gorgeous. She hadn’t actually seen the piece, only the original design. It had turned out so much nicer than she could’ve imagined. The bee within the amber evoked a strange, primal memory within her mind… Not hers, but the Queen’s. A memory of a time long gone. The wistful pheromones that gently leaked out of her had the bees on her shoulders rolling about.
She reached out to wipe away his tears with a warm smile, eyes creased into joyful crescent moons.
“I’m really glad you like it… Try channeling your White Lux through it. I assume that’s how it’ll work.”She didn’t quite answer the question - but she wanted him to experience it. Hopefully, it would be a good experience. At the same time, she bolstered the bees with her own pheromones. It energised them, with some of them wiggling their little butts while others started crawling over her. And they were absolutely bombarding
her with their pheromones. Like little excited cries, some curious about what was going on. One was even asking where the
fruit was in her own little bee way.
For a long moment, Casey tried to figure out how he was supposed to get a channel into such a little thing until it finally clicked that he had to take his glove off. This little amber ring was, amazingly, a perfectly capable and already attuned channeler which readily accepted his magic as easily as he accepted channeling through it. Before he could do what Trisha was hoping for, he was already paused in shock.
Shocked by the fact that his trusty glove was
no longer necessary.”Oh, holy fuck!” he almost grimaced, a look of shock splitting his face as he clutched the neck piece and watched the autolaithe crank up to full speed as the other machines gently rerouted their energy intakes toward the new channeler. It was rather shocking, and only became more so as the intended side effect also began to take hold.
Trisha’s eyes widened, even as she took a moment to fully register what was happening. She wasn’t an Adept, after all. She’d never needed a Channeler or experienced what it was like to use one. But she’d seen him take his glove off, but the machines kept going- one even got faster. He wasn’t showing any signs of wildcasting… So…
“Is it… Functioning as your Channeler?” She asked, clearly shocked herself.
“I- I didn’t realise that’d happen.”At the same time, one of the bees on her shoulders was getting especially passionate as the autolaithe cranked up and got louder. She started buzzing, waving her front arms and seeming to be… Trying to assert dominance on the machine from a distance?
Casey could feel the different bees almost like he could feel a typical presence in the room. They made themselves like solid structures, each one now more like a foot-by-foot cube hovering around. And Trisha herself was an incredibly noticeable geometric pattern in the center of reality, like honeycombs layered inside themselves a thousand fold. He could hear the little bee, not just feel its discontent with the autolaithe…
So, he did what felt natural, and tried to comfort it. Staring directly at that spot where he imagined the bee as a cube, the new Channeler began to leak out a communicative pheromone encouraging the bee’s confidence and ensuring its safety all at once. He didn’t answer Trisha directly, but did absently nod his head as he felt the new sensation of spells he wasn’t casting simply existing because of him.
Trisha could sense the pheromone coming from the amber disk. It was strange, sensing it from something that wasn’t a bee… Different, though she recognised it intimately. It mimicked her own, after all. It was
exciting. A whole new world for the two of them- and the bees- opening up.
Unfortunately, the pheromone Casey sent didn’t quite have the effect he’d wanted. Mostly, the surge in confidence led to the little creature thinking she could take on the noisy, light scented machine. It did comfort her, in a way, but it also led to her preparing to ‘defend’ her Queen. Though Trisha was quick enough to realise what was going on, one hand moving up to catch the bee as she tried to fly off.
“Not a threat, it’s not a threat.” She giggled, before looking at Casey with a bright smile.
Now that he’d given off actual communication, the bees realised that the large bee their Queen really liked smelled
different. The pheromones she’d soaked him in were still there, but there was more another, new pheromone among it. They were confused by it, but also curious- this small group was among the more confident of her original bees, without being aggressive.
The majority of them flew over to Casey all at once. Some confidently landed on him, wiggling their bums at him, while others buzzed in front of and around him, trying to suss him out. They were all blasting him with greeting pheromones. It was like a combination of friendly hellos and requests for him to identify himself.
Trisha watched carefully- though she was mostly sensing the pheromones they were giving off.
“I’m not sure how they’ll view you when they properly recognise the pheromones. They might see you as an equal- like one of them- or as a more important bee that they should listen to.”Casey was locked in a bit of shock as he tried to get over how
big they all felt. It was like getting jumped on by a bunch of good sized dogs with how much mental space each cube took. And in his head, it felt a whole lot different than he imagined it felt for Trisha. These little girls were
loud! And they had identities, if only through some basic self-distinction signal that he was commonly picking up in the form of different single-word callsigns. Names like “Dart”, “Flash”, “Split”, or “Cool” rolled through his head until he managed to passively assign the names to the boxes.
It was only once he could distinguish them at all that their massive space seemed to get smaller and smaller, until they really were bees again. Then, it was off to the races. He was intelligent enough to pick up on and imitate the components of their myriad of signals and salutations with which he was now being bombarded. With the rapid knowledge, a lot of the things that were included in the bee knowledge he’d taken were suddenly contextualized. Not only would this help him in a personal way, but he knew in that moment that it’d help him come to understand and relay her powers that much better.
Trisha would be able to feel his signals manipulating by the moment, rapidly shifting until he beamed out his own introductory signal at rapid pacing. Soon, the space around him was filled with one simple message.
I am Friend. Friend is Safety.There was a moment of confusion from some as they seemed to echo
Friend? Friend?. But they recognised the word safety, and his unique pheromonal scent was familiar to them. Not one they knew, but familiar.
Now they were excited. A new protector! The ones that had been circling him properly landed on him, absolutely blasting him with happy pheromones. One even landed right on his face, her little antenna prodding at his face in an extra greeting. It was a lot of noise without much content from them- the kind of pheromones Trisha had grown used to parsing through in her time having the bees.
Though there was some confusion about what
friend meant. They were bees with a strict hierarchy, after all. It was a little more complicated in the realm of magical bees, which gave Trisha a little wiggle room to assign Casey a role between her and them. One they would listen to without ignoring her for.
Knight.The direct translation was a simplification of an overly complicated pheromone marker indicating a specific type of bee. Or perhaps, something closer to a bee spirit. They were long gone bees imbued with enough of the Queen’s magic that they grew to the size of half a human, while taking on more humanoid characteristics. Like the Queen’s true form, but these were made to be her direct bodyguards- or the bodyguards of her Princesses. They were relatively unique, in that they weren’t quite bee anymore but they weren’t quite Apparition either.
But it was a good fit. She was the only one above him in the pecking order, seeing as she was an Apparition that could create more to fill the role of Princesses.
The bees immediately understood, growing even more excited. And underneath their excitement, they were practically begging for his attention. Not only that, but they were asking for a path to tasty nectar. Guidance, like as the important Friend-Knight he would know where the best flowers were.
And he did! Every chemical shout and cry was a new sensation bombing down into his mind as he looked back and forth toward each and every little bee. White Lux made it far easier for him to keep track of them, heightening his senses and opening himself up to subtleties that spread out from each source independently. But the call to be led and directed was hardly subtle. The cacophonous outpouring, overwhelming in its own sense, didn’t actually die down until he figured out how to change their signals up and reproduce them himself.
White Lux once again came into play, and rather than simply telling them that they’d all be fed soon, he tried something strange. Pushing a good memory, he began to channel a futuresight spell that showed the observer the future of the caster’s choosing. It was simple, but as it converted outward into magical bee pheromones, he wondered if their brains were even complex enough to handle foresight. Still, the future he conjured was very real, if not a little bit of time off. One where they were all downstairs, eating fruit together. Friend and his Friends. And
Mom of course. She’d
have to be there.
If successful, it was a strong enough spell that Trisha would also be able to perceive the future he was projecting, if only through the veil of her Emotional Field.
Trisha’s brow furrowed slightly as she sensed the strange pheromones, taking a moment to parse out the image. But for her it was clear. Not quite an actual image, because she didn’t visualise pheromones. They were like a sixth sense for her but… She could perceive it. It was odd, having a sense of understanding of a future he was trying to show without really seeing it. Fruit, friends, happiness.
On the other hand, the noisy bees’ couldn’t understand it. They were smarter than normal bees, but not enough to handle foresight. Strange pheromones and strange images that came with it led to them being perceptibly confused. Not only did their confusion radiate off them in pheromones, a group of them flopped onto their backs and flailed their legs around in the air. One that perceived it the most tried to eat fruit that wasn’t there, sticking out her proboscis and tickling Casey with it.
But they didn’t seem distressed at least. Just incredibly confused.
“Now I have to bring them down with us.” Trisha giggled softly, as the pheromone future stopped playing across her senses.
“I did promise Cass I’d show her some of the new ones when I had them… Though I don’t want to end up the centre of attention if I bring any of those.””That’ll be fine. You’ve got an extra layer between us to distract them. Cass’ll get super excited, and I’ll swoop in with my brand new gift, so she’ll be too distracted to ask you a bunch of questions and shit. I wanna show off, actually.”Casey did his best to correct his mistake by shaking his head and making way for the fridge. It didn’t have a lot left because of how close they were to leaving, but there was always going to be something sweet and fruity in the fridge as long as he was around. Pulling a pair of peaches from the produce drawer, it didn’t take him long to start splitting the thing up into tiny pieces for each of the several dozen guests who were now doing the crazy dance. This command, he figured, would be much more direct. Friend has food. Friend is pointing at food. There’s food for everyone. It’s
awesome.The bees didn’t need much encouragement. The ones on their backs flipped back round, and the whole group swarmed from Casey onto the little pieces of fruit. They immediately started to devour it contentedly. As they ate, their pheromones were much less noisy- at least they weren’t in Casey’s space and directing them at him. They just let out little contented signals in the air.
“You should show off. You’re a natural.” Trisha smiled at him, her eyes shining with warmth. She was glad he’d taken to the gift so well. There were a lot of ways it could’ve gone, and she was great at focusing on the possible negative outcomes. But none of them had happened in the end. And he was right that Cass would be excited enough about the new bees and seeing what his gift did… Trisha wouldn’t have to deal with everyone’s focus being on her.
“These ones will share your pheromone signal with the others in their hive, so they’ll recognise you. I’ll have to identify you to the other Hive, and I’m not sure if the new types share information with the honey bees.” Trisha continued. She’d split the original hive out into two of the environments, putting a smaller group into a second a while back. The new honey bees she’d gotten- enough to make up for those lost and more, as she’d gotten efficient at growing them- were added to that hive. Her new bee species- Steel Bomber Bees and Soldier Bees- were with them too, though they didn’t keep to a hive in the same way. She had a small group of yet another species- bigger, more robust and buff bees with spikes on their abdomen that specialised in
crushing things- that would emerge by the end of the day. Those were the group she was least sure about of the new ones she’d made, which was why she’d left them till last.
There were so many different types of bees she could make, and they’d made a list between them of priorities. But even with that, she’d barely scratched the surface. At least the Soldier Bees were made
from honey bees, and she’d quickly figured out how to implant honey bee larvae as quickly as possible. A thousand in an hour by the end of the first day, and she was only getting faster. The Steel Bombers had taken more work, as had the Buff Crushers.
“I’m really glad you like it. I know there’s the laptop, but that’s only predefined commands. I thought it’d be useful if you could command them on the fly… And more than that, it’s another thing in my life I wanted you to be a part of. The bees are such an important thing in my life, and I wanted you to be able to communicate with them.”Casey nodded emphatically. In truth, the only reason they really needed the computer system at this point was to go through the equipping of the bees as a mechanism. With Trisha’s awakening, and this new development on the ethereal side of bee communication technology, Casey figured there probably wasn’t any real reason to use the directory system except in the case that they were fielding an overwhelming number of bees.
”You bring up a good point, actually. Have you had time to think about how controlling a lot of bees would go? Because if you think at some point you’d be able to handle dealing with a literal fuck-ton of them, we’ve pretty much outgrown the box thanks to your new open line to the-”Bee-kashik Record…”-Well, whatever it is the Queen knows. If you study how she handles mass numbers, chances are you’d be able to direct them better through magic than technology.”Trisha nodded.
“I haven’t studied that yet… But she used to have millions. I imagine I’ll be able to handle a lot, as long as my brain can, and that’s bolstered by the Queen’s magic now, right? Though we’re not at numbers I can’t control yet. I’ve got almost eighty thousand honey bees, which was the largest number I had while fighting the Snake, and only a couple of hundred of the other two.” She spoke matter of factly for a moment, eyes losing a bit of emotion as she focused on the practical side of the current bee situation. She still thought the box might be useful, in case she panicked under the stress of a fight. But if she panicked and her pheromones went wild, would they really listen to the pre-programmed commands or Casey?
She bit her lip, pushing that thought down. She
wouldn’t panic when the stakes were that high. It had only occasionally happened when fighting the Stygian Snake, and she’d been much younger with worse control then.
Instead, her mind turned to something else.
“Can you turn it off? Reading their pheromones, I mean. They can be quite noisy… I meant for it to be something you chose to read rather than always on.”Casey laughed, realizing that she didn’t quite understand how their family’s magic worked. Which made sense, because the entire Tribe were not normal kinds of Adepts. His gut reaction was to just tell her that he could, because by technicality, he could do something similar to shutting it off. But, for him, and as something designed with Mia’s help, it’d never be fully off. They’d all been taught circulatory channeling, where the only time they weren’t engaged in casting a low level sensory-enhancement spell was when the circuit was broken by a lack of channeler.
Now that this new object was always going to be against his chest, he’d have to re-learn how to contend with compartmentalization. Which, he imagined, would begin to help with how loud the bees were.
”I’d have to take it off! It’s like glasses, kind of. You get reexamined, things are worse, suddenly you’ve gotta get used to a new magnification to see the same old shit you always have. I’ll be fine; and I’d want to get used to hearing a lot of them anyway. It may be useful to me if you could get more, honestly.” he thought, understanding that he’d probably feel a bit overwhelmed by how crowded things would be, but also understanding that they were bees, and not stupid mewling apes breathing in his vicinity and laughing while touching one another’s faces and hands and-
”It would. There’s gonna be times where there’s a lot of them! I’d rather bee used to the noise when it comes. I got used to bombs dropping. No shellshock for me, thank God.”Trisha let out a soft, breathy laugh, clasping her hands together and looking a little uncomfortable. Not because of him, but because she hadn’t realised it would be like that. She should’ve told him what it did first and asked! Now he couldn’t take it off… Because it was his Channeler, wasn’t it? If he took it off, he couldn’t use magic. She hadn’t meant to curse him with constant noise. She wasn’t sure how he saw the pheromones either. It was probably quite different to how she did. For her, it didn’t overwhelm her other senses. Though it could overwhelm her if there was enough, especially emotionally.
“Are you sure? How many more? They’ll be curious, and probably swarm you. They’ll be blasting you.” She asked, rocking from the balls of her feet to her heels. Maybe she shouldn’t doubt him. He had gotten used to bombs, like he said. But it wasn’t doubt! She just knew what it was like. It wasn't actual noise, like the buzzing. It was just constant, because they were always communicating with each other. Simple things, normally. She was used to tuning them out. But they were her bees, and it was her magic.
“It will be the noisiest they get. They’re always giving off pheromones, but often it’s simple communication between them. You learn to pick up only the important signals, and get used to the constant pheromones. But… I really didn’t mean for it to be a constant thing. I know you’ve said you’ll be fine, but I’m sorry you’ll have to get used to them.”Casey shrugged, knowing that this is what he’d had bee suits made for.
”When we go downstairs, we’ll stop at the Greenhouse and go inside. I’ll just get saying hello over with, and I’ll get one of the bee suits out of storage. So long as they don’t cook me to death, we should be great.” he concluded, taking a slice of peach for himself.
”Unless you’d rather not, obviously. We can save it for another time: I’m not trying to force you into anything you don’t want to do!” he explained gently.
“We should do it today, since we’re going away tomorrow.” Trisha responded, managing to relax a bit and nod. She wasn’t that worried they’d hurt him, but it was better to be safe this first time. Then, they’d know who he was and she wouldn’t have to worry at all.
A short while later, the two were headed downstairs to the basement apartment. The quick visit to the Greenhouse had gone well. The honey bees had swarmed Casey just like Trisha had expected, but with her guiding them, they quickly got used to this sort of new Knight-Friend maybe bee. At least the Soldier Bees were more chill- more intelligent than the honey bees, they were calm and generally stuck close to Trisha when she was around no matter what. The Steel Bombers, on the other hand, had been a bit of a worry- but they were friendly, if overly excited. It was surprising how little difference iron fiber fur made when it came to them swarming a person. The danger was when they weaved those fibres into something more solid. When not acting aggressively, they were just like heavier, slightly rougher bumblebees.
Trisha had brought a small group of bees out with her. Around thirty honey bees crawled on both her and Casey, with two Soldier Bees sitting on her shoulders. Their sleek bodies make them look more like hornets, though they were larger than the majority of hornets you’d find too. Around five centimetres from head to tail, they looked both regal and naturally intimidating with their elongated jaws and sharpened sting. There were two Steel Bomber bees with her too, though the fuzzy creatures had crawled into her comfortable emerald wool jumper to tumble around.
“I’m a little worried about what Cass might have gotten us.” Trisha commented as the elevator neared the bottom floor, most of the short journey down spent in comfortable silence. She was glad they were able to have that again, even if it was just while they were both feeling a bit better. She leaned against Casey, letting the bees move between them as they pleased.
“We’d always do a small potluck before everyone left for the holidays, and she did these ‘funny’ gifts. Some years were awful. I’m worried she’ll decide to get us some inappropriate couple gift this year.”Casey was busy fiddling with his new good natured friends. He’d found the Bombers to be just a bit more ditzy than the actual Honeys, which made them that much more endearing. Like puppies he could talk to, “Friend” was more than willing to impose himself upon them. Several signals Trisha could’ve felt would’ve translated out into what could only be described as rolecalls. Casey would exert the signal, and the Soldiers would give instant responses, followed by the myriad of typical workers…
Then the two metal bumblers…It was almost comical how lackadaisical they were, and he wondered if it was more because of how distracted they were by Trisha’s sweater than their lack of reflexiveness. They seemed to have some kind of tactile obsession, perhaps a fixation for softness where their lives were spent as reverse pincushions.
”Well… There’s a chance that Leon’s discouraged her from doing that in lieu of how we’ve been acting lately. I can see that being a possibility.” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders and returning his full attention to the situation at hand.
They were almost down, so he also bent down to pick the still-wrapped gifts up in order to bring them through the hall.
“True… There’s only a fifty percent chance she’d actually listen, though.” Trisha responded. Though if Cass got them some horrendous sex toy or sexy outfits, Trisha could just throw it in her face- literally. It would hardly hurt her. But she did hope there wouldn’t be anything like that… As much as she said otherwise, she trusted her friend that much.
Just not entirely. There’d been some awful ones during their University years.
As the elevator stopped, Trisha took a deep breath before shuffling out. She
was looking forward to this. It would be nice. But it was difficult to stop her anxiety from ticking back up again. A lot had happened since she last saw Cass and Leon, nevermind the girls.
Thankfully she didn’t have anything to carry, her gifts all small enough that she’d fit them in one gift bag on Casey’s stack. It made it easier for her to walk while the two Bombers were playing inside her sweater, probably slowly tearing it to shreds from the inside.
It was a nice one too… But it was fine. Their enjoyment of it was cute, and they were good enough at ensuring their metallic ‘fur’ lay flat whenever they hit her.
“I’m going to need to get a whole bunch of wool sweaters to wear just around these guys, so they don’t ruin my nicest ones.” She commented, looking up at Casey with a smile. As if protesting that comment, one peered her little head out. Her forelegs clung to the neck of the sweater, fuzzy metallic body rubbing against it even more enthusiastically.
“Though, I like how playful they are. I’d find it strange if most of the new bees were calm.”He found that a little odd. Why wouldn’t they be calm? They didn’t know anything else but an artificial life between her and their hive. They were practically newborns! Outside stimulus, he figured, was the only reason they’d have for freaking out… Like the sweater!
”Maybe we could line part of their hive with wool? I mean, there’s no fire hazards around anywhere, and they don’t seem to cause enough friction to burst into flames. So, why not give them places to cuddle up and roll around? There’s even a chance that they’re so instinctively attracted to it that they teach one another not to wax it up. Or, maybe they just rub it so much that anyone who does try waxing over it just gets their work ruined?”Intentionally, he dragged himself slightly as he exited the elevator. He knew for a fact that this was going to be a lot more awkward for him than anyone else. Sure, he and Leon worked things out privately like they always did, but still: Facing Cass after almost ruining her birthday bash by bashing one of the birthday besties’ honored guests was
not his intention. And it was
incredibly embarrassing to be doing so so quickly. He knew she wasn’t the type to judge like that, but he still carried the shame. It wouldn’t be easy, but he hoped that Cass would be quick and open with her affection like usual. Anything else, he wasn’t sure how he’d take it.
Her disliking him, or worse, being afraid of him for some God forsaken reason, would really hurt. But, he only had himself to blame, right?
Trisha hung back with Casey, moving intentionally slowly when she noticed he was too. She could guess why… Well, it wasn't even a guess. He'd told her about how he felt when it came to facing other people, both after what happened at the party and then at Halcyon. She couldn't take his hand like she wanted to since he was carrying the large bundle of presents in his arms. So instead she just reached out to rub his arm comfortingly, without verbally acknowledging his hesitation.
“That’d be a good idea. I imagine the honey bees wouldn't choose to put wax on it when they have plenty of empty space elsewhere anyway… Wool isn't ideal for making any kind of comb. They'd normally only move into stuff like that if they ran out of space, which isn't a risk!" She said with a smile, gently tapping the steely girl peeking out. She wriggled away back into the wool sweater to play.
“Especially since there aren't many of these ones yet. They could all fit in one sweater. Maybe I'll just donate this one and call it a day. Or maybe it can be your Christmas gift to the girls… Some wool lining."She glanced towards the door they were slowly approaching now. No one had come out yet, like last time… Though, she hadn't texted Cass to say that they were on their way down. Her friend had seemed incredibly chill with the whole pop down anytime thing… And it felt like maybe there'd be less of a fuss if they just turned up. Maybe.
“Hopefully no one else is wearing wool, though. These two might get too excited."Casey could easily feel Trisha’s tender acknowledgement of his anxiety. That was exactly the kind of thing he needed, thankfully. He wanted Trisha’s love and tenderness without feeling smothered. He hadn’t had the chance to fully explain yet, how he sometimes got cuddle anxiety when she was the one doing the hanging. How on the good days, it was fine… But the bad days, she just felt like a body. Too much like any of the bodies he’d held dead in his arms, or over his shoulders, when things were at their worst. He would at some point, but he feared the potential of overreaction.
Which explained his own clingyness. If he was doing all the smothering, she had to use all of her muscles and strain back against him in order to cuddle back. She was alive again, and not in a “painful flailing” fashion either. Just slow, purposeful movement.
Just like this arm rub now. He smiled down at her, and he tilted his head down to plant a kiss on the top of hers.
”That’s an easy win. If they could all fit in one sweater, I’ll get ‘em ten. There’s crazy Army surp that’s available still. I can get a crate of wool pullovers, frankly, we could let them go crazy with it.”As he got to the door, he was about to start kicking it like he was knocking, then stopped himself and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to be intrusive, and really didn’t want to seem like he was in a bad or aggressive mood. Today was relatively level, even if the level was still low. Besides, they’d said “come down whenever!” So, he figured they were allowed to just walk in without getting assaulted by naked people or some other known potential situation.
”Can you get it, Honeybee?” Casey asked, doing his best to be cute.
“I supppoose.” Trisha jokingly groaned, smiling cutely back at him. She leaned up to press a light kiss on his cheek, before going to knock.
Anxiety aside, his arms were full. It made sense that she knocked, with her hands being free. Or… Could they just walk in? With the whole come down whenever, they might’ve made it easier for them, right? Something to avoid that awkwardness of forcing someone to come get the door for you.
Though she’d already knocked- albeit not that loudly- she went to push the door open rather than waiting. It
had been unlocked, which was nice. She shuffled forward, holding the door open to let Casey in too.
Before she had a chance to say anything, there was a sudden shift in the bees. Not all of them. The Soldiers on her shoulders were still calm, and her old honey bees happily settled on her or their new friend. It was the
new ones, including the two tumbling around in her sweater.
They were suddenly blasting out excited pheromones and before Trisha could react, the two Bombers and about half the honey bees shot down the corridor and further into the apartment.
”Ahhh, no, girls, you can’t! It’s hot! I’m cooking, it ain’t for bee consumption yet-” Cass shouted loud enough that it’d be impossible to not hear her.
”Huh?! I know I’m so hot even bees recognise it, but now ain’t the time to cling!”Trisha stared wide eyed after the bees, before looking up at Casey with some amount of confusion. She hadn’t sent the bees to Cass… Sure, they could get excited, but normally not like this. The only time any had acted like this was when Casey had fruit for them… Or this morning, when he started communicating with them.
But they weren’t attacking. They were excited. So… It was probably fine. No need to panic! There was probably just something that smelled nice in the kitchen.
“I guess I should go rescue her?” Trisha said quietly to Casey, though she wasn’t rushing after her bees.
Casey’s eyes narrowed at the situation. There wasn’t any immediate explanation for their behavior, but he recognized the possibility almost right away.
”Well, they’re not eggmakers, are they?” he asked ominously as he walked through the door.
Before Trisha could answer, Casey was walloped from behind, wind nearly knocked out of him as two thumping footsteps turned into a spider monkey wrapping around him and squeezing tight. At least she didn’t feel dead…
”Where the Hell have you been!?” Mia’s voice echoed from behind both of them.
”I texted you six times, and you never answered once!”Casey grimaced at Trisha, then closed his eyes with a frown.
Honesty, honesty, honesty-”Too embarrassed to answer. I wanted to let things cool down bef-”Mia’s arms squeezed harder with that surprising Richoux strength naturally built into her lanky frame. Casey choked out slightly as the air started to be compressed out of his lungs.
”I can’t blame a triceratops for doing what it does. You’re like an elephant in a room full of mice. I just love you.”Still frowning, Casey nodded and gave Trisha a smile as he used the packages to urge her into Leon’s side of the apartment. For the moment, it was only Cass in the kitchen, with Leon
somewhere else for the immediate moment. He figured they’d split the current “opposition”.
Trisha did twist around slightly to look at Mia with a smile. Even though she’d quite literally pounced on them- well, Casey- it would be rude to not greet her.
“Hey, Mia. It’s nice to see you.” She said simply, before going along with Casey’s gentle package nudge to move into Leon’s side and the large, main room there.
Cass had moved away from the stove and the variety of things she seemed to be cooking. Some kind of vegetable medley, a thick looking sauce, and what looked and smelt like mulled wine. All four of her hands were thrown in the air as the honey bees clung to her, the two Bombers going absolutely crazy crawling all over her goofy Christmas sweater. Antennae had popped out of her head, but it wasn’t actually helpful- she could sense their pheromones but couldn’t really understand them!
”Trriiissshhhaaa, why do your bees suddenly adore me?” Cass playfully wailed as Trisha entertained, though she was laughing away as the bees crawled over her.
Trisha furrowed her brow as she concentrated on the pheromones they were giving off. It was difficult to tell, until the two Soldiers bowed towards Cass and gave their own pheromonal greeting. Ah.
“They recognise your magic, I guess. They were all born from your… Well, y’know. So they recognise you.” She was surprised by it. The limbs Cass provided must’ve been saturated in her magic for them to recognise her like this when she wasn’t giving off any
pheromones.
”Ohhhh... So you recognise your other Ma, huh?!” Cass grinned, going to rub one of the Bombers on the back- and getting nicked on the finger as the spiky girl rubbed back. It healed immediately, so it wasn’t an issue. Not quite so distracted by the bees now that she knew what was going on, she turned to properly face the couple as they came in.
”Hey Trisha, Casey! Glad you made it- I’d hug you both, but I don’t wanna squish the bees!” She was incredibly enthusiastic in her greeting, like always, though there was no leaping at them like she’d wanted to with the small group of bees all over her. Just in case! After what happened at her party, she’d had some pretty choice words she’d wanted to hit Casey with… But Leon had worked shit out with him. If he said it was sorted, it was sorted for her too.
”You’re gonna have to wait till they get bored of me… But get comfy! There’s loadsa drinks in the fridge, or if you wait a lil bit there’ll be some nice mulled wine. We got a shit ton of snacks and fruit and shit too- though my lovely kitchen assistant ain’t here to get ‘em out for me.”At the mention of kitchen assistant, Casey felt the weight climb off his back and down to the floor. As Mia brushed past him, she passively leaned her head against Trisha’s shoulder for a brief moment.
”Hi Sissy…” she said to Trisha with something of a pouty voice.
In truth, she knew they were both probably still feeling down. It was all she could do without making the assumption that she’d be making Trisha uncomfortable. Hell, she was pretty sure this little gesture of sisterly love would probably be too much, but she couldn’t help herself. It was nice that at least Cass wasn’t so stingy with her love. She intended to move away, assuming she’d need to make herself as scarce as she could in avoidance of the inevitable discomfort.
Before Mia could move away, Trisha turned towards her- hesitantly, but she didn’t pause much as she actually went to
hug Mia. It was a loose hug, a bit stiff, but it was one mostly given by her own choice.
It was partly because she could hear Casey’s words echoing in her mind from their fight.
You wouldn’t even let her fucking hug you!He’d been right. She’d barely let Gin have or show any of the affection she’d wanted to- because she wasn’t used to it, and was letting herself slowly get used to it. Eventually, she thought there’d be a day where she’d be better with it. She’d never be like they were, but at least she’d not dislike it. But Gin wasn’t here anymore. So… She wanted to try harder. It wasn’t a natural way for her to show her affection towards anyone but her partner, but she
did like Mia. So she should do her best to show it in the way everyone else but her did.
Mia froze, like there was some sort of creature at the door. Not that she was actually in any kind of fear; it was a complete and total shock to her. The idea that she felt the return, and nobody else had prompted for it, was simply not what Mia was used to at this point. It seemed unnatural. She took a hail mary guess that she wasn’t feeling good about the latest problems either.
How close the End was.So, she lingered a moment longer. Long enough to show Trisha what a real hug from someone who wasn’t Cass or Casey really felt like. She fully turned to face Trisha, her tall frame bending and letting both arms slip under Trisha’s and squeezing slightly.
”This is a really nice gift. Thank you.” she whispered before turning her head slightly.
”I’ll get it all in a sec, Ass-ass!”She didn’t even begin to imagine that hearing someone else giving her best friend a pet name that seemed so casual may actually have an emotional effect on Trisha. She never could’ve imagined that Trisha may feel some kind of creeping insecurity over all the time spent around the girls, and whether or not Trisha would feel like she was being replaced.
But Casey thought about it as he moved toward the spot where the family Christmas tree had always been set up: Right behind the couch, with a big black curtain framing it from the rear to prevent the light from outshining the television set. There were the other gifts from his grandparents, and plenty of other packages to pick and pluck through. This was the girls’ Christmas too, after all. Nobody expected to have the time for it on the actual holiday.
”I think I can take care of both your problems, Cass.”He moved to the fridge, and before he’d even opened it, he was sending the signal for the dinner bell to the bees. The first thing he pulled out was the massive tray of fruit. Casey had to laugh. He didn’t know how these two idiots found the time for all this chopping and domestic housework, but it was incredibly amusing to be looking at a cartoonish amount of sliced fruit.
Cass had even gone through the trouble of making flowers and other designs out of it. He almost felt bad as he eyed what he assumed was a watermelon poinsettia.
Almost. Letting his magic radiate, he set the fruit platter down and pulled open the clingfilm, leaving it fully accessible to the bees.
The honey bees didn’t hesitate, immediately buzzing away from Cass and descending onto the fruit. The ones still on Casey and Trisha did too, joining their new sisters in fruit devouring. The Bombers took another moment to rub their fuzzy asses on Cass’ sweater before following. It left only the Soldiers on Trisha’s shoulders still.
”Whoa, you’re giving off pheromones now too?! Did Trisha sting you with some radioactive bee juice?!” Cass laughed, shaking her arms now that she was bee free. She turned for a moment to give everything under stir, before doing just what she said she’d do- going in for the hug. Casey was closest, so he got the Cass jump and squeeze first. Awfully similar to how Mia had jumped on him…
Trisha managed to not get any tenser as Mia hugged her back- to be expected- even as the anxiety crept in. Her and Cass had gotten so close so quickly… It was the same with all of the girls. Obviously it made Trisha worried. She
knew Cass was someone who could easily have loads of friends in her life. But eventually she’d realise Trisha wasn’t really worth it, wouldn’t she? The worries were only stronger after the near breakup. She should be glad Cass got on with everyone so well. She was!
But it also meant she wasn’t needed. Cass had integrated into the family easier than she had… If something really did happen between her and Casey, Trisha would probably lose all of it.
It wasn’t Mia’s fault. So, Trisha managed to keep herself at the same awkward level she’d been when she initiated the hug. That wasn’t
bad. Just uncomfortable.
“Why is your first assumption something like that?” Trisha asked. She paused before she followed Casey into the room properly, even as Mia let go. She lowered her voice even though Cass could probably still hear- but she wanted to let Casey show off the gift, rather than just outright saying what it was.
“Thank you too… For helping with Casey’s gift.”Hopefully Cass was equally distracted by Casey’s own pensive whispers. At least enough that she could somewhat ignore the conversation on the other side of the room.
”I’m… Not making today sad or anything. I just haven’t apologized to you directly yet. I’m very sorry for how I acted and for the things I said the other night. And, I hope after we left, you guys got back on with it and I didn’t ruin the mood entirely. I’m… I’m ashamed and, uh…-”He paused trying to look for the words while he clung to her tightly. He felt like an animal, even a few minutes after it happened. In the cab ride back, drunk as he was, he felt like a beast. Like some untamed boar.
Mia certainly wasn’t listening to her brother at the moment either. All she heard was the gratitude in front of her.
”-You may not realize, but… That was the second gift you gave me. Uh… Nana and I, y’see… Well… She’s never been thrilled with me. But, Papa called, and asked if I had any insight about it! The piece I mean. When I explained that I’d already worked with the Queen’s frequency, they asked me out to the island… I spent the day with Nana, and showed her how to work with it like I did with Princess. We actually managed to use some pretty crazy Purple Lux machine to backtrace the pheromones that the bee in the amber produced, and those let us directly tap the magical frequency. She… Actually apologized to me. Because she’s said some nasty things to me in my life…-”Mia’s eyes were filling up with tears rapidly. Thankfully, or maybe it was more of a hope: Not all Richoux were crybabies. Just
these ones. Because at the same time she was tearing up, so was Casey as he tried to explain
just how sorry he was to Cass.
”-and I really want to just drive home that it’s real warm to me. Things have just been so fucking hard lately, and she and I are both down, which is alright and I know we’ll work through it. But, its so hard to focus inwardly on our own mental health, and it just gets harder to do for people outside. It makes me feel real stupid, like we should’ve just taken your offer and stayed home. I thought I was trying really hard, and it was more like I was a briefcase bomb.””It’s alright, dude, I forgive you for all’ve that. Sure, it was pretty shit! But it didn’t ruin the mood- gotta do a lot more than that. I mean, I did have to deal with Lee’s apologies and anger after- but anyway! He said you guys hashed it out, so that’s good enough for me.” Cass said after Casey finally stopped babbling, patting his back as she did so.
”I appreciate the apology, but there ain’t any grudge holding here! Just do me a favour and, y’know, like you said ‘bout taking my offer… Just say if you ain’t up to something! Wayyy better that way, and I ain’t ever gonna hold it against you. You ‘n Trisha both really gotta work on that… It’s water under the bridge! Hopefully it ain’t gonna happen again, but if it does, we’ll just deal with it all again- I might just beat you up a bit this time.” She laughed, so she was probably joking.
”We’re basically family, after all! So I ain’t gonna hold hard times against ya- even if I don’t hold back ‘bout telling you what I think was fucked up and shit, y’know?”Unlike Cass, Trisha was a bit more unsure about how to respond to the emotional Richoux she was dealing with. She really didn’t feel like she could take any credit for that. When she’d asked Sylvie to make a piece for Casey, she hadn’t thought about Mia being involved. It
made sense but hadn’t been the intention. And she barely knew what their relationship was like… Though she maybe could’ve guessed with how Sylvie talked about Elise.
She understood what it was like to hear nasty things from a family member. More than she’d like to admit, really. Older siblings, younger siblings… Her Mom. She’d probably be elated if she got anything close to an apology from Maria.
“I’m… Glad. I really don’t think it’s a gift from me because I didn’t know, but- I’m glad it set up an opportunity for you two to talk. And for her to apologise.” While she was struggling with what to say, she reached out to awkwardly pat Mia’s arm. There was so much she
could say, but that required revealing more about herself. Should she? Could she?
“I know what it’s like to have family who isn’t the nicest to you. N-Nothing on that level, not where truly nasty things are said- But I understand a bit. So I’m happy for you because… Well, I don’t think you deserved whatever feelings she had towards you before…”Mia immediately shook her head in agreement, hands coming up to practically push the tears back into her skull. She’d always been a lost goose trapped between two worlds. Never native enough to relate to her Mother’s family, and never Richoux enough for her Father’s. Big Max wasn’t particularly cross with any of his grandchildren, and his namesake’s children were all far closer than the others.
And that’s probably why Sylvie’s feelings were so strong as well. Proximity, time spent, and being able to see the concept of Mia’s future slowly fall away.
After the Emancipation trip, when the three girls had gotten home, Sylvie had been the first one to send a
formal letter condemning Lynette’s choice to allow her daughter and the other two back into the fold. After all…
Ed was her granddaughter too. Aletta L’matise was born Aletta Richoux, and was probably the most neglected of the pair’s children being the absolute youngest
and a girl. When the Emancipation came for the throuple, both Ed and Mia became clean and open about their relationship, and when they returned with a freshly Aberrated Ed, all leeway fell into an abyss.
”Well, y’know, you’re only allowed to be a gay drug addict if you’re useful to the clan… It’s still a little bittersweet, but hopefully its the door to something better. For me and Ed both… She went too. We all had a cry, I think. It’s typical of you… To redirect thanks. It’s not the first time you’ve done it in front of me. It’s okay, obviously, because I’m really hoping that deep inside, you can feel my love and that I’m coming from a real place.”She didn’t say such a statement with a great deal of emotion. She had come to recognize that Trisha had a few robotic habits, and hoped that having a little bit of a mechanical vibe herself would put Trisha somewhat at ease. She spoke with an incredibly matter-of-fact tone, and didn’t hesitate to gag Trisha with another hug, which was more like a quick peck.
”And I don’t mind keeping it up as long as you need me to. And one day, we’ll be at Sylvie’s funeral together. And when I slap her stupid dead face, you’ll love me enough to back me up when shit comes apart. I’d bet money on it.” she grinned.
Casey
had heard the last few moments, and grimaced as he thought about how Trisha could possibly react to everything Mia said. It was, after all, not exactly something nice or comforting to do… To point out what she felt was one of Trisha’s flaws… Or, was it said as a flaw? Was it an insult? If he couldn’t tell, he didn’t know how Trisha would fair. He patted Cass’ arm with the back of his hand, throwing his finger up to his lips before pointing at the two.
Cass’ eyes widened slightly and she cautiously, silently, leaned to the side to peer past Casey at Trisha and Mia. Her ears perked up, practically listening for any emotional distress or snappiness in Trisha’s response. She didn’t want any fighting today, after all!
Trisha did tense up, not returning Mia’s brief hug as her hands gripped into the fabric of her jeans. What did she mean it was typical of Trisha? She just didn’t feel like she
deserved the thanks. It wasn’t like she’d done anything. Her reacting the way she didn’t wasn’t because she thought
Mia’s feelings were insincere.
It made Trisha feel like it was yet another person judging her for- and scared of- how she reacted to things. She wasn’t sure she could say she loved Mia yet- because she truly didn’t know what familial love was like. But she was her as a friend… And while she liked Sylvie too, she wasn’t exactly on the side of the
grandparent who didn’t accept a young
grandchild. She had too much experience of family judgment herself.
It was hard not to react when it felt like Mia was calling her
cold. Like she didn’t feel things because she reacted the way she did, but also that some act needed to be kept up to keep her happy… She really didn’t know what to say that wasn’t getting upset. She
hated this kind of thing being pointed out.
But she also didn’t want to ruin the day. It was a real fight with herself to push through it, but how everyone would react if she snapped would be worse.
“There won’t be any of that in the future.” She got out, incredibly stiffly. In the end, the only way to not get upset was to not actually respond to anything Mia said about her
flaws. She
knew she had them. She didn’t need it brought up.
“The having to be useful thing. You’ll always have a place with us.”Mia smiled, giving a simple nod. Casey, in turn, gave a brief look at Cass that screamed “Oh shit.” before starting to make his way toward the two of them.
”I just… Want you to feel like you deserve the gift I have for you in return. Because I didn’t have a lot planned before that trip. And when we left,- Ed and I, I mean -I just… Started thinking more and more about how you make me feel. Not to mention, uh… Well, I’m really not gonna have many friends in a few weeks, here. Already losing some.”Casey managed to step in close enough that it didn’t seem awkward for him to jump in.
”Mimi…” he said with a rather exhausted voice.
”We can’t be doing this to people, bud.”She frowned at her brother before wincing.
”I’m… A fu-”Casey pushed forward, pulling his little sister into a hug.
”I’ve learned over time that we’re misery spreaders. It’s as natural as breathing. Juuuuust take it easy, and enjoy our early Christmas without starting arguments about who deserves what.”Mia palmed her face, gently slapping her forehead a few times. Thankfully, right around that time, the others were swaggering back in from the side hall entrance. Ed was first, and had no singular clue about what was happening, but she was wearing a hilariously vulgar ugly Christmas sweater. It had Santa holding a black cat in his hands, with the words “Pussy or Coal, you decide.” in bright green bubble letters.
”Oh, heyyyyy guys!”Though, she was pretty quick to notice Mia’s forehead gripping.
”Baby giiiiirl? What’s wrong now, is the holiday getting to you?””You know damn well what’s getting to me!” she snapped a reply, avoiding making it sound so harsh that she’d be considered rude while still getting her point across.
Ed pursed her lips and nodded.
”Yep, yeah… Fair, fair.”She seemed good enough to brush it off herself, however, waving at Trisha and Casey as the other two made more formal introductions.
”Hi you guys… Cass said you may come down, so we uh-”Leon was proudly waving more grocery bags.
”Pretty sure I said ‘Lets go get s’mores stuff and use the fireplace.’ Just saying.” Leon proudly announced.
”Yeah, yeah, you’re the guy with all the big ideas, we get it!” Cass teased, bouncing towards him with her arms out to take at least one grocery bag off him. Mostly cause it’d be more efficient for them both to unpack them.
Trisha was glad, for once, that the space filled up with more people. It meant she could mentally step back for a moment, taking a deep breath and pushing through any upset she felt. Because no matter what Mia said, if there was some big gift for her she probably wouldn’t feel like she deserved it. Especially not with what she had to give everyone… But if she said that, it would end up an argument like Casey said.
He’d stepped in and given them the chance to stop it being an argument, and then everyone else was here now… So there was no point going back to it.
“Hey everyone.” She said simply, managing to relax her body a bit again. At least there wasn’t obvious tension held in her shoulders. She did glance at Mia, giving her a slight smile she hoped read as everything being alright.
“I haven’t had s’mores in a long time… Are you planning to have them before actual food?””Well it ain’t like it really matters for most of us, does it? Turkey and roasts are gonna take a couple hours, anyway… Cause I’m making sure they’re cooked real nice. Really, it’s whatever everyone wants!” Cass shrugged.
Leon laughed aloud.
”Come come, Trisha… You know as well as I do that everyone in this room could eat half a horse by themselves. Of course we’re making s’mores now. And later.”Hari had waddled a couple bundles of packed wood over to the hearth, setting them down before she pulled her jacket off. It was a much more PG sweater, though still sporting some seriously ugly printing. It was all from
Santa’s Halloween, a stop motion movie that got made when they were all kids, and a favorite of people their age for
both holidays involved.
It even had the scene where Santa and Rudolph win the hot cocoa contest against Jack Frost. Casey loved it every time she pulled it out.
”There it is! My favorite fucking sweater, ugh… You didn’t wear it Halloween!” Casey blurted out as he pointed at Hari.
”I did! Just, after we got to Mary’s place.”Casey’s face turned to a grimace.
”Ugh… It better have been washed.” he stuck his tongue out.
”I wish they made that shit in my size. I could buy a small one and size it up, but every time I’ve done that, it gets super disproportionate. The arms turn into sails.”Leon plucked a fruit off the plate before seeing a couple of silvery-grey bees hanging around and
absolutely shredding a cantaloupe piece with their razorblade rear ends.
”Oh, shit, Trish! New bees!?” he pointed down at them with excitement.
Trisha nodded, smiling. The excitement was nice, even when she didn’t want to be the
centre of attention. She still wanted to show them off.
“They were born just yesterday. Those two are a type me and Casey have been calling Steel Bombers. Their fluff is metallic, and they can solidify it into armour. They’re very friendly, though.” She explained, glancing at Cass.
“I’m glad you noticed, because Cass didn’t.””Hey, I noticed when they slammed their spiky butts into my face!” Cass protested with a laugh. She’d been about to force Casey to give his opinion on
her ugly sweater, but with the topic turning to bees she stopped before she said anything. She was very visibly pulling it out though to show the full text.
This year she’d gotten something new, discarding her old, vulgar ways for something nerdier. It showed santa in a computer screen with text underneath it that read:
He’s making a database.
He’s sorting it twice.
Select * from contacts where behaviour = “Nice”
SQL Clause is coming to town!”You missed it, Babe… They swarmed me when Trisha and Casey came in, cause they recognise their other Ma! Ain’t that cool! Not that I could understand any of the shit they were blasting at me.” She let go of her sweater, pointing finger guns at Casey.
“Also- can’t you just, like, get a small sweater and Orange Lux it up?! Or does that shit not work.”Casey nodded at Cass.
”That’s what I meant! Watch, uh…-”Casey spun, kissed Trisha, then sprinted off toward the other side of the apartment, raising Mia’s alert flag and causing her to rush after him.
”No, Casey, don’t! Use on-”As their voices became muffled, Leon was busy observing the metal bees. Casey had talked about them briefly, and about his plans to network assassin bees that could remotely reduce their target to hamburger by simply existing. He let a finger out toward the distracted little ones, brushing it just like Cass and finding the exact same experience of skin shredding.
”I’ll bee damned. Do they make honey still?”Casey ran back out from the other hallway, holding up what was clearly a woman’s small shirt. Only then did he notice Cass’ ugly sweater as he got closer, and narrowed his eyes.
”Computer stuff, right? I mean, I can’t really laugh at it if I don’t get it, but it definitely fits you. Now, watch!”The magic… Always with the magic tricks. Casey was hopeless in focusing on anything else fully, and got to use his new channeler for the first time in front of everyone. Leon and Cass would now be able to smell a sweet, honeyed scent as Casey’s magic transferred through his hands to the shirt. As he pulled, the fabric stretched like he grabbed the corner of a desktop window. In doing so, the entire shape began to pull and tug out of whack. By the time the shoulders were the right size, the arms may as well have been tanktop arms. The openings were wide enough that Cass would’ve been able to slip her whole body into them.
”This is how it comes out naturally. Arms basically shrink, because I can’t figure out how to do it all accurately and separately. It’s just a weird medium, and shirts are a weird shape. There’s basically nothing in nature that’s commonly shaped like a human torso, right?””Godamn, if you wore that, you could fit Trisha in the sleeves and carry her about!” Cass cackled as she stared at the ridiculous looking garment. It looked ridiculous. Like the kind of shit some crazy shaped alien would wear.
”I suppose magic really doesn’t fix everything… Damn, you get some kinda magic scent when Trisha injected you with radioactive bee juice and made you Bee-Man?!”While Cass didn’t always pay attention to small details, she definitely wouldn’t have missed if Casey smelled sweet every time he cast something.
“I told you, I didn’t inject him with anything.” Trisha pouted, attention moving from Casey’s cute excitement- at least he seemed excited- to answer Leon’s question.
“These ones don’t produce honey. Not really… They can still collect pollen and nectar and store it, but not in the same way honey bees do. It’s more like a snack left in the fridge for later than something they’re storing. If I tried to gather it, it would be more of a sweet liquid- and there wouldn’t be very much of it. They don’t overproduce either. They’re a lot like bumblebees, honestly, just… Made of metal.“"They're fucking cute! Shame they're lil finger shredders." Cass grinned, bouncing away from Casey and the oddly shaped shirt to go back to the stove. She didn't want anything to burn! Though she made sure to bounce up to smack a drive by kiss against Leon's cheek as she went past.
“They’re actually quite good at flattening it if they expect it. If you make sure to stroke from head to stinger you can avoid it. If they couldn't, we probably wouldn't be here, because Casey would'ce had to rush me to hospital from them slicing open my stomach."Leon was happy to return the favor with a driveby ass slapping, massive hand cupping the whole cheek on entry. He could smell the magic in the scent of Casey’s spell as deeply as he could smell Trisha’s constant reeking. It wasn’t her fault, and it wasn’t an unpleasant scent at all. Honey was delicious, and Trisha’s product was especially so. He’d not ever managed to get close enough when they were kids, but then he ultimately wasn’t sure she was even trying to
make honey then. For all he knew, she didn’t do much of anything: It’d never been his first choice to hang out with her. Not until these days, anyway… Even though Casey had made an ass of himself, she pulled it together and wrangled him when it mattered most.
It was a moment of respect, not embarrassment, that he perceived. At least for her. Casey… Well, he still felt like Casey deserved a big sack of coal for Christmas. But, instead, there was magic radiating around his neck. Strong St. Portwell Richoux magic. An orange creamsicle, now featuring Trisha. His eyes wandered to Casey’s neck, and both Leon and Lelou honed in on a surprising new piece of jewelry tucked between his dogtags.
Well, I’ll be damned a second time.Beezard. It smells like Nana a bit too.It’s jewelry, is it not?”Ah, yeah… They’ve got this thing about soft surfaces, I guess. Wool… I’m gonna get some surplus sweaters from the Reserves, and staple them in a big patch on the Bomber hangar wall. After all, if they’re not making honey, is it really a hive? They’re bombers. They live in a hangar.” Casey grinned widely, doing his best to shrink the shirt back down to normal..
”I’m sincerely trying to figure out whether or not you’re dumb for that joke.” Ed responded almost immediately, an equally big smile splitting her face as she tried her best to hide it.
”You’re jealous it didn’t leave your mouth first.” Hari laughed, letting her head tilt forward knowingly toward Ed, who only laughed harder in response.
”I’d confirm or deny, but either way, I’d have to kill you.”Leon was still utterly transfixed by Casey’s new necklace… It was a channeler! And he had
no idea how Casey converted so quickly. Maybe there were issues with it, but-
”Did you… Get rid of your glove?” Leon asked calmly, head tilting as he approached his brother to get a better look at the necklace while Mia snagged her ruined shirt out of Casey’s hands.
Casey nodded, face tightening slightly.
”You never got used to losing channelers, did you? It took me a few gloves before I finally realized ‘Oh, I should enchant this!’. So, I know what the process is for forcing a swap. Plus, Nana used Mia’s help. And Mia loses her hat every couple of weeks.””I’ll get better about it next week… Where is my hat?” Mia’s brow furrowed, looking around playfully before smacking the top of her own head where the beanie was hanging from and giving a funny look.
”Well, really impressive work all around I guess. Is it your bee Trisha? Lelou tells me it isn’t, but maybe you’re doing shit she doesn’t know about.” he redirected back to the Beestress herself.
Trisha shook her head, watching everyone else with a subtle expression of fond amusement.
“It’s one of the Queen's. An ancient one… So it'll be from long before I was born. It would be a bit morbid to use one of mine."She'd moved towards the plates where her bees were gorging themselves, reaching out a finger. One of the Bombers waddled towards her, rubbing her little face against her finger without cutting it.
"Can you help me change my channeler?! I'd love it to be something that ain't my bones!" Cass twisted around from where she was aggressively stirring the thick, red sauce. The sweet cranberry smell from it was a bit overpowered by the mulled wine she was making, but it smelled pretty good!
Trisha wasn't sure if Cass was expecting a laugh to that, or any positive reaction. Probably, it was Cass… she wouldn't want them to be sad in response. But she didn't really know how to react positively to it, so she didn't entirely react to it.
“It isn't just his channeler." She said cryptically, looking over at Casey with a smile.
"Ooo, is that why he smells like you?! It is also like a collar to show ownership?!" Cass joked, bouncing around the kitchen to pull out a big serving spoon. She brandished it in the air.
"Also, who wants mulled wine?!"”I do, but you’ve gotta suck the alcohol right back out of me. I just want to taste it, since you made it and all… But, after the other night, I’ve decided I’m pretty much done with alcohol.”Casey’s statement was less of a guarantee, and more of a hope. A goal to set, and to stick to as long as he was on his own. It wasn’t good that he
wanted to drink. And it really wasn’t good that he didn’t have a grip on it when he felt that way. Good days, like early November, had been far easier. And he accepted that he’d allow himself the luxury so long as he could control himself.
But, right now? He didn’t want to deal with it. And he
really didn’t want to cause a bunch of problems because of his selfish wants.
”Forever? That’s strong, dude.” Leon replied simply, stowing away his instant doubt. After all, it wasn’t healthy for him to be instantly skeptical. Even after what happened, Casey didn’t deserve that doubt and negativity. He needed reinforcement. He needed people to stand with him…
”I’ll uh… Do the same.”He couldn’t have expected Casey’s reaction.
”Don’t. It’s… Embarrassing. You can handle it, and it’s more embarrassing being made to feel like I’m the cause of an exception. So, please… Drink as much as you can fit. Cass deserves to have all the bowls and plates emptied, so she knows that it was a good job all around. I’m honestly sorry I even mentioned it.”Hari, of all people in the room, had been in enough people's brains to know what this kind of emotion was. Which is why it was pretty impressive to hear Casey verbalizing it, instead of bottling up and hiding it. Most of the time, people hold back to keep from offending others, or to stop themselves from throwing things back in the face of people who care.
”I’ll drink to that!” Hari said, stepping forward with confidence enough to cover Casey, rather than egging Leon on by taking some big moral stand.
The big man’s face was shocked up until Hari stepped in, as he simply couldn’t come to terms with what Casey was saying. That…
People supporting you is embarrassing? As a thought, he couldn’t understand it. Who didn’t want the people around them to relate and participate? Embarrassed people, apparently…
And then a memory hit him. He was fifteen. It was his first youth tournament in the Juniors, rather than in the true youth division. Other older kids, teens, and young adults up to the age of eighteen. He was too tall to box in his age divisions, so he’d almost always participated in open tournaments. Now, he was old enough to go to the official stages, and beat on other kids…
And he lost. This eighteen year old, a foot shorter than him, built like a beer barrel on legs… Because of his height and weight, Leon’s bracket put him up against other heavyweights. And this dude punched like he had pneumatic pistons in his arms. And after he hit that mat, and got back to the hotel room, he remembered Gravity sitting him down on the bed to talk.
And he fucking hated it. Because he didn’t want to hear about his father’s first loss. He didn’t want to hear about how it was inevitable, and that he just had to work harder from now on. He didn’t want to hear his father try to relate. All he wanted was for the guy to shut the fuck up and leave him alone with his misery.
And in remembering this, he realized too that his brother was simply inside that headspace. Not healthy, not happy, but the embarrassment was a fact of life. If it was so touchy, then Leon would simply do as his brother said, and enjoy himself like he usually would.
”Alright, Case… I’m sorry, man!”Casey didn’t hesitate to slide over to his brother and hug around his arms tightly.
”It’s done out of love, right? I get it. It’s just rough, right?”Leon nodded, hugging him back before they both let go and Casey was able to return to Trisha’s side. He figured he’d wait until the others got theirs before going in with Trisha. His head turned back to Cass, and he smiled as Leon and the girls started to crowd around with their little mugs.
”Now, Cass… Watch! Watch, and smell.”As he said that, he released a recalling burst of pheromones that called the collective bees back toward him and Trisha, and he held out his right arm before giving a more implicit directive signal for them to identify his arm as the most welcoming platform around. All the while, the baseline signature that rang out between all the bees was his personal identity in their language. Every little command was underpinned by that signal, telling them all directly that “Friend says-”.
In this case, it turned out to be something like “Friend says there’s something interesting on his arm, and everyone should check it out.”
The bees were a bit slow on the uptake. The honey bees had finished gorging themselves and were lying around in various states of rest, while the Bombers were getting full too. It took a moment for them to react and climb to their little legs, before ascending in an unspectacular and slow flight towards Casey's arm. The whole group landed and started milling around, looking for the ‘interesting’ thing he'd mentioned. Some started to give out disappointed buzzes when they couldn't find anything, while others just plopped their full asses down with the intention to continue their rest on him.
"Holy shit! You speak bee now- cause've the necklace?!" Cass shouted excitedly, antennae poking out from her curls again. She could sense the pheromones coming off Casey before the bees went over to his arm- and while she couldn't recognise what they said, she could guess.
"That's so fucking awesome! A channeler, and a bee translator… Fuccckkk it's so cool!" Even in her excitement, she managed to stop bouncing long enough to safely spoon out generous portions of mulled wine to Leon and the three girls. As the spoon tilted, Cass also leaned in with a grin- giving each of the girls a friendly kiss on the cheek, and Leon a less friendly one right on the lips. She only didn't go all out cause Trisha and Casey were in the room…
"That's payment for all my labour!"“Now he can tell them to do things when I'm feeling too lazy to." Trisha joked, managing to ignore how affectionate Cass was towards everyone and leaning her body against Casey for a moment with a smile up towards him. Another small gesture of comfort without saying anything- she was glad he'd made the decision not to drink, even though she knew it wasn't an easy one to make and follow. Nevermind telling everyone. Whenever she was at her worst- her loneliest, at least- it was difficult not to just turn to something like that.
“You can have some of mine, Case." She said softly.
“Then you'll only get a sip or two before I possessively hold onto it."The Bombers had quickly grown bored now that there was nothing interesting to see, and they weren't so comfy on Casey's arm. So they lazily moved over to Trisha, crawling back into her wool sweater to crawl around a bit. Hopefully they'd settle down soon- she wasn't sure if she could deal with them playing in there all day.
“You need to be able to carry me back upstairs later anyway." She continued playfully- though she didn't plan to have more than a mug or two of this. Nothing else alcoholic.
“Me and the bees, since they've already decided your arm is their bed."Casey shook his head in response, turning into Trisha and curling around her in a hug. He didn’t want to go into an immediate tirade about her immediate acquiescence to enabling him. Even a sip or two, he felt, was completely disrespectful to himself and his goal. It undermined everything he’d just said…
But he couldn’t
act mad at her. It was hard to remind himself that she was coming from a place of love, and that all she wanted was to comfort him a little bit. And, he’d openly admitted that he wanted to. But, there was also a person there who could enable him in a very mechanical way. For Cass, it was as simple as a spell. So, he really couldn’t
get mad either.
The arm still holding the bees stayed outstretched as he spoke softly in Trisha’s ear.
”Better none than a little. Especially if it’s good. The Devil tempts with love and all that.” he kissed her temple.
”Maybe we can find a bottle or a jar for her to put some in. Next time we’re both feeling better, we’ll crack it open. Can you accept that compromise?” he asked as even-toned as he could.
Trisha nodded, tilting her head to look up at him. Her face scrunched up a bit, but it was more out of confusion than anything. He was the one that had originally said he wanted to taste it… So she'd assumed he wanted a little, even though he'd said he was pretty much done with alcohol. She understood when he said it would be tempting if he had any, at least. And he didn't seem upset with her.
“I just thought you wanted to try some." She responded quietly. She didn't feel like there
needed to be a compromise. It made it seem like she was forcing the drink on him… But she wouldn't shoot down his suggestion.
“Alright, we can do that. If they don't have any jars, I have plenty upstairs for the honey." She acquiesced, pursing her lips slightly. The way he phrased it made it sound like he thought she shouldn’t drink either, talking about when they both felt better. He probably didn't mean it that way, but… it was better to ask than feel anxious about it.
“Am I allowed to have some? I only want a mug or two."”As much as you want! Just, y’know, when I said that I… Immediately thought about how nice it would be to go bobbing for apples in that boiling pot of wine knowing full well there aren’t any apples. So, I kind of decided in a split second that none is better than a little. I’m sorry, I know it’s probably a pain in the ass.”He hadn’t. He knew what his first thought was, but he also knew that the fragile pane of stained glass that was their collective emotional strength couldn’t take it like that. The only lie was that it was his first thought, and as long as it stayed in his head until he could clear it away with a little sleep, it’d be alright. She didn’t need to hear everything.
”Oh, we’ve got jars.” Leon piped up, only after having pushed for the much more intimate face sucking that the two were used to. After all, Leon didn’t really see their prudishness as anything he had to worry about.
They were adults. They’d bitch, or they’d close their eyes. Either way, nobody could tell him the apartment wasn’t his, nor that the
building wasn’t his. He’d kiss his girlfriend how he wanted, as long as she was equally willing. Regardless, his face now free of suction, he moved to a distant cabinet and began pulling out different sized jars. Small, medium, large, and massive.
”Just depends on how much we’ve got, and how much you want. Though, maybe wait until it cools a bit. Uh, Baby, should we maybe like jar the extra and then boil the jars again? I really don’t know why people do that when they jar stuff…” he looked from Casey to Trisha, who
had experience with jarring and canning… Mostly jarring, he assumed, but
maybe canning too.
“It creates a vacuum. If you do it long enough, you don't need to sterilise the jars before either." Trisha explained quietly. It was something she knew how to do- and had done manually for years. It had resulted in her accidentally scalding herself a fair few times as a teenager… But she'd perfected it now. Well, gotten better at putting stuff in boiling water without hurting herself.
As she explained, she turned herself so she wasn't directly facing Casey without having to put any more distance between them. She didn't want to move away when he'd hugged her… While they'd talked about things much more, she was still cautious about being too clingy without him initiating it. But she wanted to make sure he knew she wasn't upset by him not wanting to drink or anything. She certainly didn't think it was a pain in the ass… But the conversation had already moved onto
jarring of all things. So all she could do was offer physical closeness and comfort like she had until now.
"Oh, Babe…" Cass' satisfied little smile turned into something wider and more wicked.
"We ain't jarring anymore than they wanna take away. That extra is for me to drink after this portion! And the next! There's enough to give ‘em a medium jar away, but I ain't parting with anymore than that. There ain't really extra." At least, not when she was around and could drink everything she'd made with it barely affecting her. To punctuate her point she waved her own mug, which she'd downed more than half of already- even though it was still scalding hot.
"Lemme just move this, then we can set some shit up to jar boil or whatever." She continued, picking the pan with a shit ton of vegetables sizzling away in it. She already had a big glass dish waiting for them- cause they'd get a little time in the oven before they were ready. She was just working around the age old problem of all Christmas meals- not enough oven space! Even if this oven was huge, she was cooking for giant appetites.
It left a free burner- seeing as the others were taken up by the mulled wine itself (which she totally could've moved too, oops!), the simmering cranberry sauce and a massive pot of boiling potatoes.
"Uhhhh… No idea how to actually jar shit, though. I ain't ever had leftovers like that!" She admitted, throwing her hands up. Then she pointed to all the other stuff she'd been tending to.
"Honestly, this sauce'll be good in a couple of minutes, then I ain't gotta watch anything for a while! I was hoping to get to s'more making and present exchanging then! Unless, y'know, we gotta eat before that, then I guess I'll just have to impatiently wait!"“I can jar it… But we probably should wait for it to cool. So there's time." Trisha said, almost happy that she could do something to help- even if it was a task that had only come up so her and Casey could have some to take back with them for a later date.
Casey nodded along, making sure to reaffirm Trisha by actually establishing the contact that he knew she constantly craved. He wasn’t sure if it was some kind of ape reaction, or if he was feeling nostalgic and able to dredge up the love, but he really wanted to hug. He wanted to gather everyone up and just be together… Even if they pissed him off on accident, not that it’d happened quite yet. Ashamedly, the closest he’d come was Trisha, or maybe Mia after she said what she said to Trisha.
He’d at least gotten to say something to the latter as they’d slipped off to the other side of the house together. It was quick, but she knew that she’d hurt him a little by saying stuff like that to Trisha when they were all in the state they were in. Obviously, she wasn’t doing much better, the poor girl. So, he did all he could to be empathetic and understanding…
Especially when he wasn’t sure if she knew what he’d done.It brought the guilt back, but he’d pushed it down hard and stamped on its head. Trisha would hear about it again later… About how he felt like a monster, and that she should’ve been there with them in spite of everything. But, for now, it was just translating into the search for genuine tenderness.
Hence, it was easier than it had been to deal with the clinging overall. And, his strategy seemed to be working. He felt the occasional hesitation to be overly physical with him… And he just hoped that she’d be able to make the not-so-consistent transition between his moods into a much easier situation for herself as time passed. The same hope gave him cause to imagine a world where he also made things easier for her by just
not having crazy mood tumbles… But, he wasn’t sure it was going to be possible.
Hope. Hope would always be there.
”I mean, is food an option? You know we’ve been fucking struggling the past few days, Cass.” Ed piped up.
”Seriously. I mean, we’re not very good quitters. Thank God Andrade left us with enough salt and other shit to kind of ween out of the Oblivium, but… Andy said it could take fucking years before our digestive systems are right again.” Hari included.
It was an ironic thing to say in regards to the three of them quitting. In truth, they all gave up easily. But
quitting something was a whole other ballgame. Especially when you were quitting something you didn’t want to quit. For her, the junk was as simple as casting a time-release spell on herself. Three hours of bliss in the poppy fields could easily be dulled by a Pink spell. Hell, she could take a fifteen minute romp if she chose.
But no spell could quell the absolute gluttony required to satisfy an individual with an Oblivium dependence. It was a magic effect, after all, and required a great deal to dispel for even a moment. The only choice was human willpower, and she
still had things easier than the actual Richouxs… They’d been eating the stuff since they were kids.
”It took me a year of being in the service to detox completely. The Doc even said it was an incredibly advanced case, and that he was impressed by the speed I adjusted to living normally.” Casey explained, having been the only one of them to successfully come off of the stuff before making a slippery slope back toward it in the last couple of months.
”Did he leave you with any of the flour from Luminous?” he asked Leon directly.
He nodded in return.
”Yeah. Lelou likes it, because it reminds her of home.”Trisha didn't say anything, concentrating on schooling her expression to not look too concerned when Casey asked that. He'd said Andrade had left him with enough to last a few months, and that she didn't need to worry about it… But him asking Leon if he had any made her worry. Was he running out already? What would they do if he did before he had time to get used to something else that could replace it? It wasn't like she could do anything about it either, considering she could barely cook.
"There ain't so much of it left, though! I made that sourdough with it, remember? And then I used it for some've the Yorkshire puddings today… not all of ‘em, of course… Oh, and one of the foccaccias." Cass piped up, not feeling any of the same worry Trisha did- after all, she didn't know as much about Casey's food struggles.
She'd been trying to use a little here and there for Lelou, but it was difficult when the Wolf Queen was gluttonous and immediately demanded Cass make something else with it after devouring a loaf of bread.
She spun around towards the girls, shooting finger guns at them.
"As for you three… Proper Christmas meal ain't gonna be ready for a couple of hours but don't worry, I thought of that!" She bounced over to the fridge, pulling out a massive, circular dish and putting it onto the counter. It was a large triple chocolate cheesecake… One of a few desserts she'd made over the last few days, when she went a bit crazy about it. She grinned.
"Who says we gotta eat in the right order?! Oh, but also-" She was back into the oven to pull out another big tray of steaming Macaroni cheese.
"There's this too! Don't worry, I'm awesome, so obviously I'm prepared."Honestly, she'd been trying to figure out some way to help the girls. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she could magic away the Oblivium in their systems… Maybe if she took it all into herself, but that would probably be worse all around with her disease. So instead she'd settled on making a shit ton of calorie dense foods to at least alleviate it, making sure to have plenty to eat today while maintaining an actual ‘traditional’ Christmas meal. Plus, she'd need to eat plenty extra too.
Out of everyone, Casey was clearly the first to go for the tray of macaroni. Absently, however, he may’ve dragged Trisha along to be first in line for that had Leon not given him a frown and a knowing glance. One that said “Really?” He
was hungry, but he immediately got what Leon was trying to get at in the silence. They were basically starving in comfort as their magically mutated stomachs decided their hosts were more delicious than the mundane foods they stuffed down their gullets. It was hard to avoid, and once again he had to wonder if his own dip-in and dip-out had anything to do with the mood crash.
There were so many factors… So many different things to consider, that he was starting to wonder
now if maybe Trisha
was the cure he hoped she’d be… And that this particular point in time was just the bottleneck of his life… Without Oblivium, without the Temple, without any great responsibility, there was a glimmer of hope that he’d be truly
free. And he wanted it terribly; far more than he wanted a bit of mac and cheese.
”Is everyone cool with splitting the time? We’ll do s’mores, and everyone can open our favorite duo’s gift before they make the great escape tomorrow morning. That way, if they don’t-”Mia elbowed Hari in the ribs, giving her a look of frustration.
”Whaaaat!? I’m just saying! Cass already said, there’s no fuckin’ pressure dude. If I can’t say something casually, that puts a lot more-””-I like the idea. All parties can choose their own desired engagement periods, and if it so happens that you guys end up chilling upstairs afterward, that’s alright. At least we got to let you guys open your gifts and we get to open ours from you. Are you both alright with that kind of exception?” Leon asked calmly, smiling.
Casey did his best not to react first, simply looking down at Trisha to gather any kind of confirmation he could.
Trisha pressed her lips together. She disliked having exceptions made for them as much as Casey did. It felt like her issues were being dragged out and focused on, which she hated. But at the same time, still being around for the actual meal didn't appeal. She didn't enjoy sitting down and eating with larger groups, especially when it felt like there was some kind of pressure. It dragged up all those memories of shitty family meals.
“I don't want anyone to feel hungry for our comfort." She said, gesturing to the food that Cass had just pulled out.
“At least eat that first… We came down because we want to spend time with you all, but I suppose it's alright to make that kind of exception in case we get tired. We'll stay as long as we can. Casey wanted to open the gifts from Sylvie and Max together too."She glanced up at him, meeting his gaze and managing a smile. Hopefully it was an answer he was alright with… It gave them some flexibility. Even if they both wanted to try and stay, it meant there was less pressure to. Hopefully.
"I got super serious gifts for everyone that gotta be opened at the same time! First, preferably!" Cass said, spinning around and throwing the hand not holding a spoon in the air. She caught Trisha's disgruntled, suspicious gaze as it fell onto her, giving a wink in return.
"Don't worry, it ain't matching sex toys this time!"
Atrophy
Evil Ghost Note
Neziul
DrDistasteful
Simply Not Real
Ohm
VenusSundew
