The protein dense food was distributed, and Trisha managed to get herself a mug of mulled wine. The necessary presents were collected and Cass corralled them all over to the massive couch. Unlike their big green one, which was great for them but less friendly for having people over, Leon's setup was much more open with plenty of space for everyone to sit and talk easily.
Though Cass still chose to plop her ass down on the floor like a weirdo. Then immediately jumped back up when she realised she wanted to give some of her presents out first!
Trisha at first chose a corner spot, before thinking better and shuffling just to the side of it. It would give Casey the choice… He always shuffled to their corner of their sofa after all. It just meant she wouldn't have anything to lean into if he started feeling less affectionate- but he seemed to be happy with hugging right now. So it shouldn't be a problem. She pulled her legs up onto the crouch to cross them, putting her little bag of gifts in front of her.
"So- Let's get started! The most important part of doing gifts with me is everyone gets something silly." Cass grinned, before starting to hmm and haw over her pile of gifts. She glanced between the girls, and Trisha and Casey. Who to give them to first? Eventually, she made her decision, pulling up three horrendously wrapped presents. It was like she'd taken a whole roll of sellotape to them.
"This one's for you, Hari!" She tossed one over with a grin, knowing it couldn't hurt her. It was just a t-shirt, after all! With only two left, she waved the one in her right hand towards Mia and Ed with a grin.
"I really struggled to decide which of you to give this to… But here you go, Ed!" That package went to her.
"And Mia!"
Casey had, as Trisha seemed to actively make his way for him, clambered into the corner spot that had coincidentally been his favorite childhood seat. It was the right hand corner, closest to his old bedroom, and an easy escape for him in those days when escape was needed most. He remembered plenty of opportunities to tuck and climb backwards to the solid floor whenever Elise decided to cop an attitude with Lynette.
The girls seemed fairly excited about being chosen by Cass first, and Mia felt around the crumply paper into the soft interior.
”Bro, is… Is this a fucking shirt from that website we were looking at the other day?” She asked with a loud laugh.
Ed didn’t hesitate in ripping hers open. Holding it up revealed the front to everyone else, as she realized quickly that she’d unfurled it the wrong way. The text caused quite a stir for Leon and Hari, who were both actively looking while Casey was cuddling his face into Trisha’s shoulder and missed it.
In big white letters on an otherwise black t-shirt, “I <3 my Lesbian Cousin.” was written with the heart being rainbow patterned. It was the only shock of color on the damn thing, and Leon nearly spat his mulled wine out as he began to cackle like a madman.
”Who would even make that fucking shirt!?” Mia groaned, holding her hand out in an axe-like chopping motion.
Ed finally managed to turn it around, looking for a second and laughing aloud, only to surpass Leon’s cackling as she peeled through the layers of the joke. For most people, the entire thing would’ve been an incredibly uncomfortable callout. But, not these girls. And thankfully, not Cass either.
”Fucking kudos, Cass. I think you’re the only person whose balls are big enough to make that joke.” Hari laughed a bit more calmly, ripping the paper for her shirt.
Which quickly revealed a theme, as she made sure to open it to herself first and look at the front. Similarly black, this t-shirt had a more intricate design of an old fashioned woman sipping tea in a dress with a bow around her waist, looking upward with a smirk. Around her, the phrase “Allergic to nuts because I just like girls.” wrapped around both hemispheres of the image.
”Dude, I’m the only one who doesn’t just like girls!” she laughed in response, shaking her head.
”You were so close!”
Mia saved hers for last, shaking her head and leaning into Cass playfully.
”She’s a lying hoebag. Never seen a lick of straight porn in your browser history.”
And as she spoke, Mia opened the final gift between them, and showed hers off before looking at it.
This one was much more intricate, with a dozen pictures of cats wearing shocked or otherwise confused faces. In massive pink letters, the phrase “LESBIANS EAT WHAT?” highlighted the cats. Now, even Casey was laughing as his attention had been fully drawn. He wasn’t proud of the first thing that came to his mind, and so did his absolute best to keep it in without getting too comfortable with his base nature.
”Damn, it’s like a choose your fighter screen.” he joked instead, pointing at the shirt.
”I’m the orange one on his ass when I realize lesbians eat pussy.”
Mia laughed in turn, finally spinning the shirt to look at it squarely. The grin that formed across her face was warm, and she tightly embraced Cass.
”Thank you Sissy… It’s super fucking cute.”
”Thank you times three! You knocked it out of the park.” Ed added genuinely.
Cass was letting out little cackles the whole time, happily hugging Mia back. She was glad they went down so well! Not that she'd been super worried… But the one for Ed could've been too on the nose. But at the same time, she felt she knew the girls well enough to know it would be taken well.
"You're all welcome, glad you all like ‘em! This kinda thing is my specialty! Cause, y'know, the massive balls and all." She winked at all of them with a grin, before shooting a finger gun at Hari.
"I'm sorry, Dude, is this an awful time to come out as biphobic? Cause, y'know, it's entirely dependent on who you're with! That's why that's why that shirt is totally correct, and we're all super duper straight."
She gestured to herself, Leon, and Trisha, sticking out her tongue.
Trisha had been quite happily cuddling Casey while gently giggling at each t-shirt reveal, suddenly dragged into something that actually was yet another insecurity of hers. But it was Cass. She was clearly joking! Sure she'd been with a way more even split of genders than Trisha ever had, but it wasn't like she'd erase her own identity like that.
“I’m getting a straight pride one, then?" She managed to joke rather than getting upset, turning in towards Casey with a teasing smile.
“I can see the resemblance between you and that orange cat, Babe. You're both cute."
"Oh man, you guessed it." Cass laughed, throwing her hands up.
"You'll see- Oh, but first! I, uh, also got one for Ren! I mean obviously she can't wear it but I figured she could like replicate it, and honestly if you adjust it back to the original it'd totally fit any of you three anyway-"
As she rambled, Cass searched through her pile, before pulling out one of two unwrapped t-shirts. She'd been unsure if she should wrap this one, or even bring it out here but- fuck it.
She unfurled it in front of the girls with a wide grin. It was another black shirt, with a strange combination of a tank, a bald eagle and George Washington holding a lesbian flag, with an explosion in the background. It had clearly originally said ‘I may be gay but at least I'm not British', but Cass had crossed out the gay bit with fabric paint and wrote above it so it read ‘I may be a ghost but at least I'm not British'.’
Serenity had been absent as she usually was. Where she went, or what she did in her spare time was a mystery to all but the trained master of the building, who knew she simply spent her time lounging between the floors and otherwise existing in a small flower bed on the side of the building. It was where she kept her poppies, though the winter usually brought her in more. Ed had to summon her forth directly, practically waking her from a nap in order for her to see the shirt.
By the time she arrived, Ed had passed all the info Serenity needed, holding it out and having the ghost float up from the floor into the shirt in a single swoop.
”But… Wot if oi was Bri’ish?” she asked aloud, perfectly imitating Cass’ accent as she grinned sweetly.
”Watch this, Auntie Cassie…”
The friendly ghost wriggled through the shirt, pulling away from it and revealing her own incorporeal form was now wearing the same shirt. Ed pointed at it, hyping her up.
”Yessss! That’s our girl. Good job, sweetheart! You did it perfectly!”
"Hell yeah, it looks great on you!" Cass grinned, flashing the ghost girl a thumbs up. It really did… She'd replicated it perfectly! It was super impressive, honestly.
"Now you can match your Mums… Well you could match ‘em anyway, but now you can match ‘em with a super duper Cass gifted t-shirt!"
”I can only recreate stuff I see in person! So, whenever we go out, I like to make new clothes. But, this is special ‘cuz it's a gift!” Serenity intoned with great joy in her voice.
Mia giggled up at the floating ghost.
”You’re getting the spirit right, Honey Bunny.-” she spoke before leaning in toward Cass.
”The whole gift thing still hasn’t quite hit her.” she giggled.
Cass laughed back, grinning up at Serenity.
"Even if it ain't, she's still being super cute about it! D’aw, kids are just the cutest."
She honestly wanted to reach up and pinch Serenity's cheek, but knew she couldn't. Instead she gave each of the girls another hug, before bouncing back over to her present pile. Even though it had all just been carried over and dumped on the floor, it was easy for her to tell what were the silly gifts and which were the serious- because most of the serious shit was hard cubes that she'd never mistake for a t-shirt. It was just finding the right ones- Aha! Easy.
"Next upppp, the most sickeningly sweet couple." Cass waggled her eyebrows at Trisha and Casey, coming over with two gifts wrapped in what would've been an adorable bee themed wrapping paper if she wasn't so awful at wrapping gifts.
Trisha looked at it with a slightly furrowed brow. While what Cass had given the girls wasn't as bad as what this kind of gift had been in previous years, she was still a little worried.
"Y'know it was super hard to find something that wasn't sexy or sexist! So much shit about being trapped or owned!" Cass couldn't help but ramble before they'd even opened them.
That did make Trisha worry a little less, at least. It shouldn't be something too sexual. Not that it was a problem, because she didn't have to wear whatever it was- but it would be a waste of a good piece of clothing. Assuming it was also a t-shirt. It sure felt like it.
She carefully tore into it, furrowing her brow further in confusion at the t-shirt she pulled out. Black, as seemed to be the theme, with a goofy cartoon fried egg on it. The text said ‘I couldn't if I fried.’ It made no sense and she had no idea how to react, so she looked over to Casey.
”Is it sexist if I’m a little possessive? I wouldn’t say own, but…-” Casey responded absently, furrowing his brow at Trisha’s shirt before ripping and pulling his own.
Similarly, the long strip of cartoon bacon seemed to be longing for its eggy companion, stating “Don’t go Bacon my heart.” It was even reaching out in a longing fashion, its two little stick arms beckoning the egg toward him. He stared at it for a lot longer than he probably should’ve, thinking about all the fried meat he’d ever seen. How bacon was fleshy, and even this cartoon somewhat repulsed him as it so troublingly resembled a strand of sinew hanging from a missing limb.
Still, it was a gift. And he couldn’t let Cass’ good humor or generosity go to waste. He turned his head, looking at Trisha’s egg, then sliding his own shirt closer so that the matching pair could be observed in proper positioning.
”I’d say you did what you set out to do, at least. It’s funny. I like that he’s kinda running toward the egg. Makes me wonder if he’s sad or hungry.”
”Geeze, dude… You’re always adding to stuff like this.” Leon giggled softly.
”What do you mean?” Casey returned, brow furrowing.
”Why would you say he’s sad, he’s just presenting the words like that.” Leon shrugged, pointing at the bacon.
What Leon was trying to figure out, is why Casey seemed to be projecting on what he thought was a perfectly innocent vibe, making it stick out in a more real and less fantastic fashion. He felt it diminished the gift if Casey saw “sadness”, rather than neutrality or better.
Trisha didn't think that either side of the breakfast t-shirt pair looked like they felt anything at all. If anything, beyond the goofy cartoon-ness they looked soulless like only a basic cartoon could. She thought it was kind of cute overall, mostly because it was a matching pair. Her free hand moved to rub Casey's thigh comfortingly, holding her egg t-shirt with the other.
"He also said it looked hungry! Which is obviously the case! It wants to eat the egg, if you get what I mean." Cass waggled her eyebrows as if anyone would miss what she meant. She really wasn't bothered by Casey reading into it like that, but obviously she wanted to lighten what felt like a mood drop. He found it funny, and that was good enough for her! After all, this wasn't her real gift, although she'd also put a lot of effort into it.
“Really? Now you've made it sexual." Trisha groaned.
”Eggnant.” Mia said loudly, causing the other two to both smack her head with their shirts and forming an overall uproar.
”Sunny side up is not for fertilizing.” Leon giggled, turning to Cass and wagging his eyebrows.
”You’re all terrible except for Trisha.” Casey laughed, adjusting his arm around Trisha and rubbing her shoulder.
”Still, thank you, Cass. We’ll wear them both tomorrow when we check into the resort.” he laughed aloud.
"You better send pictures then! And don't go getting eggnant this early-"
“Cass! Stop!" Trisha actually raised her voice, though it was clearly out of embarrassment, her face having gone bright red. She twisted towards Casey to hide her face.
“You’re right, they're all terrible."
Cass was cackling away. Both Mia and Leon's jokes had hit the spot, and it took her a moment to stop laughing. She wiped away tears from her eyes before dramatically pointing at Leon. Her lips curved up into an incredibly teasing smile, eyes narrowing playfully.
"As for you, Babe… I prefer you with no shirt on at all!"
Leon didn’t bother hesitating, shrugging his shoulders and reaching back to pull his shirt off. Shirtless Leon, after all, wasn’t anything new or shocking he figured. And, as none of the trio made any big deal of it, he simply leaned back on the couch and swung his arm over Cass.
”Well, merry Christmas! We don’t even need matching shirts, you just have to take yours off too.” he grinned back at her, sticking his tongue out playfully.
This behavior felt eerily similar to someone Casey knew. Maybe he was just reading too far into it, but seeing Leon and Cass sitting where they were, he was transported back in time. Gravity, no shirt, arm around an otherwise scantily clad Lynette. Cartoons were on. Neither were paying attention. Too lost in one another to worry about Casey or Junior being there. Suddenly, the couch felt sticky. Moist. Like he was in some kind of dream he couldn’t get out of, he shook his head and moved to kiss Trisha on the top of her head before shifting up and back like he’d done a million times.
”Anyone need refills?” Casey asked calmly, doing his absolute best to mask the passing discomfort with action.
But as he’d stood, Trisha would’ve felt the strain in his hand as he raised up. It was a strange thing for him to have been hit with, but he realized long ago that he was never going to be able to control what his triggers were when they happened. He could only control how he responded. Here, at least, it was something half way decent… At least, as long as Cass didn’t start snapping about him not being dismissed. He figured she wouldn’t, but if it happened, he could see himself screaming and maybe running away in fear.
Anything else, after all, would come out as aggression. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted to yell at Leon for acting like their Dad either. Frankly, that playful whimsy was still one of Max Gravity’s best traits, even if it led to some serious parental ignorance on his part. Casey ultimately admired the connection, but struggled with the memories it subsequently dredged up.
”More wine would be nice, if you don’t mind pouring it? If not, I-”
Casey moved over to their side, holding out his hand for the cups. At least Mia seemed like she had little more interest in the scene before her than he did. Hari looked up at him and frowned.
”Dude, are you sure? Like, I get what temptation is, man-”
Hari elbowed Ed.
”We just talked about-”
Ed threw her hands up, nodding before taking her cup and also handing it off to Casey. He smiled in return, hanging the mugs from his fingers with one hand and running his hand across the trio’s faces in a playful slap-line. Leon hadn’t realized there was a connection between his shirt coming off and Casey getting up, so he held his finger up.
”The case of Cass’ birthday beers are in the chiller? Can you grab me any random one?” he asked, turning his head to look up at Casey with the tender smile of a concerned older sibling.
Casey nodded in return, smiling back.
”Only if you promise to get a shirt on by the time I get back. Trisha Bee? Cass l’Ass?” he let the referential questioning hang in the air, ready to take on all orders.
Trisha shook her head, though she did shuffle over a bit to reach out for Casey's free hand. Just to grasp it for a moment and squeeze, looking up at him with a warm smile. She didn't know why he was suddenly a bit tense, though she could guess something had triggered some memory for him. Leon stripping, maybe? Or was it the t-shirts from Cass? The what didn't really matter right now, because she wasn't going to say anything about it. That would just be drawing more attention to him… So she could only be there if she needed him. Even if it was difficult to stop herself getting tense in turn at him moving away from her.
But it wasn't anything she'd done. And this was definitely the kind of thing she'd promised him she'd get better with.
“I’m not done yet, but thanks." She said softly, legs curling up towards her chest as she shifted back towards the space he'd left. She continued with a playful smile.
“I’ll send you back up to get my refill when I want it."
Cass was pretty busy trying to strip the rest of Leon's clothes off with her eyes, only so she could resist the urge to go for a good grope. It definitely wasn't appropriate with present company, but it was so hard to resist when his muscular chest was right there. At the same time she was going to pull off her goofy jumper to play along with the joke- She was wearing a sports bra underneath, after all! It wasn't that inappropriate! She wasn't a prude anyway.
But Casey's question grabbed her attention. Her head snapped over towards him, then down to her empty mug.
"Yes please! Thanks, Dude, you're a lifesaver- I would've been so mad if I went for a drink and there wasn't anything there!"
She patted Leon's arm before bouncing up and over to Casey to hand over her mug, just to make his life easier. She grinned brightly, not thinking too deeply about his move away or the comment about Leon putting a shirt back on. It all seemed good spirited.
"Don't worry… He'll just have to wear the t-shirt I got him!" She winked at Casey, before bounding back over to plop her ass beside Leon. She didn't give him much chance to get his arm back around her before leaning forward to grab another gift, twisting around and slapping it right against Leon's chest. Mostly so that she could use the parcel as a cover up for getting a little grope in with her other hand.
"While I think the less clothes you're wearing the better!" Cass giggled, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Obviously I still got you one!"
Leon had expected a shirt, obviously. So, it wasn’t any problem ripping the package open and sliding it on without even looking at what was on the front. Frustratingly, the shoulders were a little tight. But, he was also built like an upside down pyramid… It was expected that an open-order t-shirt wouldn’t fit with 100% comfort.
It was on regardless, however. And, having not looked at it, he instead looked toward the reaction of others to gauge how silly it was overall. As it turned out, it had to be hilarious. The throuple collectively broke down within the time it took them to read the text…
Depicting scenes of various wolves and werewolves, with one howling up at a full moon, the phrase “Hide your wife / The Alpha is here.” flanked the otherwise hilariously goofy set of images. One werewolf had a fedora on, tipping it forward while another sat on the ground in contemplative reflection.
Finally, he looked down at it himself, only to shake his head and stare in disbelief as the laughter echoed around him.
”God, I feel like a dildo would’ve been less embarrassing! I can’t imagine what horrible thing you got to-”
Looking back up, he could only stare in shock as Cass had quickly shifted herself into her own new shirt…
Cass was cackling away as she spread her arms to show off her own ‘matching’ t-shirt. It was incredibly similar to his. The main differences were that it had an image of an actual wolf on it along with the goofy muscular werewolves, and not one but three moons. There was lightning crackling all across it, making it even more dramatic and stupid looking.
It even had the exact same phrase on it. As far as Cass was concerned, wives needed to be hidden from her too!
”What d’ya think, Babe? Perfect, ain’t they?” Cass grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at him. She was absolutely in her full gremlin mode, with the most teasingly demonic expression on her face.
”Or were you expecting the opposite?! Something like ‘breedable omega-’”
“Oh my God, Cass, keep your kinks to the bedroom.” Trisha interrupted. She was laughing enough at the ridiculousness of their wolf t-shirts that she wasn’t as harsh as she often was when Cass started boundary crossing… But she wasn’t just going to sit and listen. It did make her feel like her and Casey had gotten off lightly. She had a moment of sympathy for Leon, which quickly fizzled out. He’d chosen to date Cass, after all.
”Well, clearly it ain’t! Cause, y’know.” Cass pointed down at her t-shirt, sticking out her tongue.
”I am the Alpha.”
Trisha groaned, shaking her head as she looked away from Cass’ wicked grin towards Leon.
“She has gotten you the most embarrassing one… But, she would manage to find a dildo that’s worse.”
Had. Though it wasn’t a story Trisha wanted to offer up unless she was pressed.
”I’ll be honest, if I was gonna get you one, it’d be something like that scene from Triassic Land 3, where the kid’s hiding behind the counter and the alien dinosaur is creeping around the corner. Except, like, a werewolf is hiding and it's just a normal chick stalking him.” Leon admitted, looking down at his before looking back at hers.
”Hide your monsters, the Nightmare Fucker has arrived, I don’t know…”
Mia and Hari were both leaned into Ed, laughing their asses off with intensity as the latter simply stared in cool examination. Having gained her composure, Ed was simply enthralled by just how cringy these two dorks could get. Leon had never been one for sharing ideas like that, and was usually more of a doer than a teller. Maybe he was just sure there wasn’t a shirt like that.
Yet.
”Oh, certified Monster Fucker, or something. We can do that. Hell, it should be Cass depicted too. And make her like as human as possible for the contrast.”
”Right! Uh, still-”
He leaned in, kissing her on the cheek.
”-Thank you, Baby. I do like it. I’m sure it’ll stretch where it needs to if I wear it a lot.”
Casey didn’t love what he was hearing, but as he came back, he could see Cass’ version and just grinned.
”Christ… Thats unethical.” he said with a shaking head as drinks were passed back around and he took up his spot next to Trisha once more.
”What d’ya mean unethical?! No werewolves were harmed in the making of this shirt!” Cass cackled, kicking her legs a little bit even as she settled back down with her refilled drink in hand. As much as she ever settled down, that was. She had done her t-shirt handing out duties, at least, which led her throw a bunch of limbs over Leon as she pleased. She assumed her serious ones for Trisha and Casey wouldn’t be next, after all.
”Or are you worried ‘bout the wives? They ain’t safe ‘round me whether I wear this or not. But don’t worry, I ain’t gonna steal yours.”
She winked at him and Trisha with a bright grin.
”Not for lack of trying!”
Trisha just shook her head, shuffling closer to Casey and leaning into him now that he was back. Not that he’d been gone long. She just always missed him when he wasn’t there, and was going to make the most of the moments he was happy to be close right now.
”But-!” Cass jabbed a finger teasingly at Ed.
”I am human! I look super human! So if it’s depicting me, of course it should be human?!”
“I don’t know. I feel like Leon’s been maligned here, just because he turns into a werewolf occasionally. You do far more freaky transformations far more often.” Trisha piped up.
”Whoa, are you hearing this?!” Cass reached up to pinch Leon’s cheek, tugging it. Her eyes widened like she’d just heard the cutest thing ever.
”You two have come so far! Trisha’s choosing you over me!”
“I’m just being honest.”
Leon bowed his head slightly toward Trisha, cracking open his beer and lifting it at her.
”When it’s right, it’s right. Thanks, Trisha.” he giggled.
Casey had come back with a bowl of macaroni and cheese for himself, and had spooned several shovels of it down his gullet by the time he had the errant thought of offering Trisha a spoonful. Staring at them, Mia frowned and cleared her throat before looking at Ed. Ed looked back quizzically, shrugging her shoulders.
”He’s trying to feed her…” she grumbled.
”Yeah?” Ed replied with a sarcastic grin.
”And?”
Mia frowned again, and Hari twisted her body to look from one to the other. Her smile remained, and even brightened as she began to chuckle to herself.
”Gosh, don’t you know?” she asked Ed, shaking her head jokingly.
”Well, go get more and I’ll feed it to you, I don’t know!” Ed laughed aloud now, shaking her head completely before her arms stretched out to wrap around Mia and make a grab for Hari.
Connecting the circuit, Hari wrapped around the other side of Mia, and the three hugged into one another, their new shirts all in their laps. Upon release, Mia actually did get up to get some more food, but not before moving to the tree and passing out a couple of gifts. One to Trisha and Casey, and the other to Cass and Leon.
”From our trio, to you couples. Uh… I know that, y’know, life is really shitty kind of? At the moment? But, I really… We really take a lot of solace in being together with you guys. In whatever capacity. These are more sentimental than useful, but I hope you guys all agree on nice places to keep them.”
She planted a kiss atop each head, from Leon all the way down until she reached Trisha, then turned her back and made way for what was left of the tray.
Cass' fingers started wriggling immediately, going right for the gift. She paused before ripping right into it, looking up at Leon with a grin.
"I can open it, right?!"
Not that she waited for a confirmation.
Trisha looked away towards their own, not wanting spoiled if they were similar. She still had a mouthful of macaroni cheese she'd been slowly chewing, which she swallowed before speaking softly to Casey.
“Why don't we each unwrap it from opposite ends?"
Not that it mattered much in the end, because it wasn't a massive thing to unwrap. Opening it revealed glass nodules strung on a chord, reminiscent of fairy lights. There was something different in each one. Mixtures of herbs, stone powders, some even had jewels. Trisha leaned forward to peer at each, though she didn't have the knowledge to figure out if any had actual meaning.
She didn't entirely understand the meaning of it. But Mia had said it was sentimental rather than useful… If she was honest, she liked that. She liked that it had clearly been put together with care and with thought for who it was being given to. Looking over at the one Cass was holding up with a grin, they both clearly had different contents within the glass orbs. It was a genuine gift. The kind she really wasn't used to.
"This is fucking awesome- did you three make it yourselves?!" Cass asked with a wide grin, carefully handing it over to Leon so she could bound over to the two still on the couch. They both got pulled up into an incredibly tight hug and lifted up into the air. Mia would get the same treatment when she came back around.
"It's so pretty! I love it!"
Trisha nodded slowly, taking her gaze away from the gift and looking towards the girls. Her smile was soft and genuinely warm.
“Thank you. It's really nice. I like that it's sentimental. I can see the care that's been put into it, which really… Means a lot to me, honestly."
”Back in August, I took a glassblowing class. I’m pretty proud to say that there wasn’t any magic used in the making of them.” Hari explained with a wide grin.
”Well… There was, but not in the actual formation of them. One of our friends played furnace while she blew the glass out. It was fun, though. That was back a couple weeks ago, I think a few days before Thanksgiving, y’know?” Ed added, extrapolating on what Hari had said.
”We had to be a little sneaky about getting the ingredients. Some of them are pretty personal.”
Mia’s voice echoed across the room as she purposefully laughed aloud.
”Understatement of the fucking year.” Ed intoned in response, shaking her head.
”Tell ‘em, Mimi.”
Mia laughed again in a slightly more nervous tone. But Leon cleared his throat to speak, so she let him go in order to avoid the embarrassment.
”I’m guessing the center bulbs are Union Charms?” he asked aloud, staring into the string of glass.
Both girls on the couch nodded, and Leon smirked before turning to his contemporaries.
”Then Mia must’ve been the one to get our hair and fingernails…” he narrowed his eyes playfully.
”That is pretty embarrassing!”
Mia bridled as she made her return with her second big bowl.
”Can you not ruin the moment?”
”Hey, there’s no shame in… Y’know… Stealing your family’s keratin byproducts for a traditional purpose. At least you’re not trying to curse us with them.” Leon laughed, mostly brushing the idea off.
But, now Casey was watching Trisha closely. He didn’t respond himself, not wanting to make her feel like if she had a complaint, nobody would care. He would. He didn’t love the idea that someone was stealing hair off his hairbrush without him knowing, but like Leon said: She was family. She wasn’t going to use it in a curse or anything… But Trisha’s privacy…
Trisha's lips pressed together as she stared downwards, first at the centre charms and then at her own hands. More specifically her nails, as she stretched her fingers out. Her brow furrowed slightly. How? Hair was easy, but she tended to file her nails rather than cut them. So how did they… Wait, that how didn't matter. How had Mia gotten all that stuff without Casey knowing? And from where?
Had she snuck into their home to collect it? It was uncomfortable to think about. The 'traditional' purpose or whether it was used for a curse or not didn't really matter to her. Collecting stuff like that was invasive! It wasn’t normal among family. At least she didn't think it was. No, it definitely wasn't. This wasn't something her family was weird to not do.
"Whoa, I was wondering why I woke up with a bald patch one morning!" Cass joked, easygoing as always. Though it wasn't such a major privacy breach for her, since she'd spent enough time in Leon's apartment that there'd be plenty of hair and nails alike to collect. Especially when she tended to just cut stuff off after magical growth.
"You did me a favour cleaning up some've the nail ends I left lying around!"
Her easy acceptance left Trisha feeling more conflicted. Was she the weird one for being unhappy about it? And that aside, it was a gift they'd put so much effort into. They'd made all of it! Could she really complain when she hadn't made any of hers? It would just make her feel worse in the end.
“I’d rather not have known. It's uncomfortable." She mumbled, quiet enough that just Casey should hear (while forgetting about the sharp eared duo). It conflicted with everything she’d said about wanting honesty- but this was different. It wasn't something between them, and suddenly she had to deal with her displeasure in front of a group where she didn't want to ruin things. She didn't know what she could say that wouldn't be an outright lie, or upsetting. Because she knew Mia would get upset, and Leon would probably get annoyed at her for making a big deal out of it.
It was better not to say anything else at all. She managed to relax her hands, putting on a half smile and leaning her body towards Casey.
”I’m glad you noticed, Cass. I was kind of worried the balls would be too annoying, so… Y’know, one here, one there. Sometimes they’d just bring me back, like, some dust bunnies. Other shit. Most of it is easy, since just about everyone’s got long hair. It just kind of falls, so it’s like a strand here and there.” she explained further, not hearing Trisha’s protest.
”You made something to do it?” Casey asked aloud.
”Like, you weren’t digging through our trash or anything?”
Mia shook her head.
”I kind of thought about asking… Should I have?” she asked nervously, looking at Trisha and frowning slightly.
”I’m… I’m sorry.”
Leon shook his head.
”You… Did what came naturally, and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. But, y’know, uh…”
Of course Leon had heard Trisha’s comment, since he was paying attention. He had a bad feeling just about as soon as the girls started talking about it. But, obviously, the three of them couldn’t help but hide the mutual disappointment in the mood shift from their brothers. Leon looked to Cass in a quick glance, hoping that she had some solution that he hadn’t thought of.
Cass was a bit stumped for once. She understood why both sides were upset… And she also knew that both sides were fragile enough that it'd be difficult for her to say something that didn't leave somebody upset! Really, it depended on how Trisha reacted. Maybe doing damage control after that wasn't ideal, but she had no idea what to do now!
Trisha frowned, not quite meeting anyone's gaze. She hadn't said anything loudly to avoid this. But she just couldn't control her expression enough to appear perfectly fine with it, could she? The fact that it wasn't Mia herself was a small comfort but it was still… Weird. How could she say that, though?
At least her anxiety was strong enough right now that it clamped down on any immediate snappy reaction she might've had. She honestly wanted to just run away. Because it was her fault the mood had dropped. She was ruining everything again. Why would anyone want to be around her when they were always so worried about how she'd be, of course they expected her to get annoyed, no wonder Casey-
“It’s fine. It's just…" Trisha managed to say, forcing down the panic crawling up her throat. Her back was stiff and straight, and her hands clenched in her jeans. She didn't even lean further towards Casey for comfort, worried that in that moment he wouldn't give it.
“It’s normal for all of you. It's not normal for me. So it's a little uncomfortable… Next time, please ask-" Though even just the use of her hair in something made her uncomfortable.
“But- but that doesn't change how much the gift means. I still like it."
That was true, at least. She hadn't gotten many gifts as thoughtful as this, weird use of hair and fingernails aside.
"Yeah! It's all done now, and it ain't like you were being intrusive! It's just a case of different expectations, I think!" Cass jumped in, moving closer to the girls so she could physically jump in if any looked upset. She could get what Trisha was trying to say, and went on to try to elaborate on it.
"Any discomfort is outweighed by all've the effort you put in! Cause clear there weren't any bad intentions, and you were just doing something that felt normal. Now we know it ain't for everyone, but that's alright. It's clearly a gift you've put a lot've effort and love into. That really ain't diminished by this! It's so fucking personalised and sentimental, God, it's like a lil piece of each of you! Honestly, I'm really touched by it! I'm sure Trisha is too, and I'm sure deep down inside she's really happy about it! She just ain't gonna sit like me and get all sappy ‘bout it cause she's a-" Cass cut herself off with a laugh, about to call Trisha a tsundere.
"She's her."
Trisha frowned a bit at Cass, but it softened as she turned towards the girls. Then she nodded. Cass did explain it better. That she could be upset about something while still feeling more positive over it than anything else.
Mia shrugged, head bobbing from Ed to Hari with a hard to read expression. Whatever it was, she turned back to Trisha with an understanding nod. She’d put her bowl of food down, and seemed reluctant to go back to it with the moment hanging. But, after everything they’d gone through so far, and knowing everything that would come after, Mia did her absolute best to throw herself into high gear.
”I did think. Next time I try ignoring an instinct, I’ll think twice. Valuable lesson… I’ll… Well, can I make it up? Obviously, it’s a Christmas gift, and I know you said you still appreciate it, but… Y’know, it’d make me feel worse if it was something that made you feel uncomfortable. I seem to keep… Fucking up a little bit.” she intoned in a rather matter-of-fact tone. It wasn’t like her to get like this…
But, she’d been practicing something. A little trick of foresight and manifestation. A White Lux boon that she wore like a mantra across her Emotional Field. Long neglected, a new set of strong memories brought a nostalgia that couldn’t be beat by sights and feelings still tangible in their world. She could hear the echoes of the ancient muse spanning across time.
”Hey… Don’t panic. We’ll get her next time.”
”I don’t know how, obviously. But, y’know… If you think about it, and it’s something you decide you feel strongly about, there’s no shame. Blind gifts are blind gifts. Hit, or miss.”
Casey cleared his throat, but found himself choked. His mind was unwilling to make the decision, knowing that two fragile coils could once again clash against one another. At least Mia seemed to be taking it well enough. No tears. It didn’t feel like an exception to him. It was something he knew Mia would do, because it did come from a place of personal pride. The girls all worked hard on what he understood as a Love Link. Two, even. Almost matching, yet he could see where the inspiration in each came down to the flora that anchored the chain inside of both end nodules. Honeysuckle, goldenrod, and witch-hazel, followed on the other side by pine, oak and redwood sticks and greens.
”I… Would put it in my office, or whatever my personal space was. I’d find a place to put this, far far out of the way of Trisha if it made her uncomfortable… But, honestly, Mia? I can’t possibly get rid of this…”
He looked at Trisha, wide eyed and surprised at the words coming from his own mouth.
”Baby… You mean it? You’re alright with it? I’m… Really sorry. But, I’ve gotta make sure it’s kept safe. It’s us. For better, and for worse.” he did his best to explain, holding it in his hands furtively, as if it could be ripped away at any moment.
“Why is everyone acting like I’d want to get rid of it?” Trisha asked quietly, hands trembling slightly. That wasn’t what Casey was asking. He was asking if she was alright with it, but then he went on to apologise and talk about having to keep it safe. It felt like he was worried she was going to grab it and throw it on the floor. She wouldn’t. Even if she didn’t understand what it was where Casey clearly did, she could feel the love the girls had poured into it.
“I’m uncomfortable that my hair and nails were collected without me knowing. But I’m not-” She bit her lip, feeling wildly misunderstood. Even if it was her fault for not explaining… But it was hard to. She looked over towards Cass, who had seemed to understand before.
Cass honestly had no idea what Trisha wanted to say now. But her friend was looking to her for… Affirmation? Comfort? Something like that! So she flashed a warm smile and nodded encouragingly. Hopefully she wasn’t encouraging Trisha to say something that’d just cause more upset.
“I like it. I really like it! I don’t care that it has that stuff in it, I just can’t pretend I’m alright with how it was obtained-” She was dwelling too much on that negative. They knew, they knew that she wasn’t happy about that invasion of privacy. It really was just about that. Her eyes got a bit watery. Why was she the one getting emotional? Oh, she’d had a whole mug of mulled wine. That was enough to push her into being a bit more openly emotional, wasn’t it?
“I don’t normally like gifts! Because they were always so impersonal. Something like this is the opposite of that. So of course I like it, I- I really really do, I’m sorry I made you think any different. I just don’t know how to show it, and I’m not used to things like this. I want to put it somewhere we can both see it. It doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. It-” Her voice trembled slightly.
“Makes me feel loved.”
Mia’s head and face seemed to perk up with great interest, eyes peering at Trisha with what seemed to be a bright beam of light.
”I do. We! We love you! And it’s not intuitive, because yeah it hasn’t been long. And we’re definitely not like people you’ve ever spent a lot of time around. So, stuff’s gonna be weird and messed up. But, the same love is the love that’s just… Y’know-”
She paused for a moment, hands gripping like she was trying to find something intangible within herself.
”-that’s where that kind of offer comes from! I have enough love that I want to make what I give you better for you. It’s a purely unconditional offer for any potential improvement you may feel is attainable. It’s, I guess, just a hypothetical. Which is why, y’know, I would directly ask you about it.”
Casey knew that Trisha’d been talking more about him, and what he’d said than the offer that Mia was making. It wasn’t a bad offer in its intention, of course… And, again, he knew for certain that it wasn’t an offer made out of exception. Mia would do the same for anyone she felt that way about, which was… Far enough from an exception as it included what he imagined was a decently sized list of people.
”Well, I mean… Ultimately, there’s nothing to be done, is what she’s getting at. Right, Honey? Not in a bad way; it’s happened now and I think the sentiment is understood. I’m sorry about, uh… Like, escalating the feelings you were having. Both of you. Obviously, the only thing to take away is the lesson you already acknowledged! If your gut says you’re doing something wrong, listen and double check!”
Hari and Ed had remained mostly silent, giving reassurance through contact and the occasional nodding that had to be done in the interim. It was mostly guidance for Mia’s emotions to climb off of, Hari’s Pink Lux forming a light connection with Mia’s White Lux to dredge memories in a more vivid fashion and establish a better wall of nostalgia. She was remembering plenty of times where her gut had told her to do something she didn’t… And plenty where she did. Each was a curated memory like the last, and each one retained the magic of a moment.
”Then I’m just glad you like it. And, obviously, I hope that the feeling of appreciation continues to overrule any other negativity that may linger… It is supposed to be a good charm, even if the magic in it isn’t Luxal. Apparitional magic can work in mysterious ways. I hope it dredges up a spirit of love for all of you when you look at them.” she conceded, nodding along and finally dredging up an actual smile, rather than a stern look.
Trisha nodded, reaching up to rub her eyes. At least she hadn’t outright started crying. That would’ve been embarrassing. It was from frustration more than anything, but she didn’t enjoy getting too emotional, even if everything had worked out this time.
“I’m sure it will.” She said softly, managing a smile.
“I, uh, much prefer weirdness from a place of love than something normal that… isn’t.”
Even with the whole weirdness of hair and fingernails being used in it, it really was one of the nicest gifts she’d gotten. It was far nicer than the expensive but soulless gifts she’d gotten growing up.
She tilted her head up towards Casey, finally relaxing her body back against his.
“And it’s alright, you were just trying to help. And it’s your gift too… You’re allowed to have feelings about it.”
Cass let out a very gentle sigh of relief, plopping back down beside Leon now that she didn’t feel like she was going to have to tackle hug someone to stop them breaking down.
”Well, it ain’t really a Christmas celebration without some tears! Though I’m used to ‘em happening ‘cause of present related fist fights!”
“I’m not crying.” Trisha intoned.
”Sure, sure you ain’t.” Cass stuck out her tongue teasingly. She then pointed down to her and Leon’s.
”Just as importantly… Which flat is taking custody of ours? We ain’t technically living together like those lovebirds are.”
Leon pushed air through his pursed lips in a scoff.
”You need as much magic as you can get. I’m sure it’ll look great on the wall over the TV, or maybe by your fleshputer.”
”Fucking abominable!” Casey laughed aloud, clearly joking as he leaned closer to Trisha and squeezed. He hoped she could feel the ”Good Job!” tucked inside of it.
”It’s horrifyingly awesome… Have you named it yet? It’s practically a pet at this point.” Ed added, causing Leon to go a little green in the face.
”Sometimes I hear it smacking its lips when she’s been using it too long. I swear, it’s like… About to speak sometimes. I’m getting ready for it to start screaming.” Leon smiled and leaned into the bit, knowing full well it wasn’t that bad.
”If it was gonna start screaming, it would’ve done it at some’ve the things it’s been forced to witness.” Cass cackled, sticking out her tongue at Leon and waggling it for good measure. She was still figuring out what she could and couldn’t do with her biological computing magic, but she was pretty sure she’d need to choose to give it a mouth. Which would be pretty hilarious for a joke one day… Maybe April Fools next year…
“You’ve given her ideas.” Trisha recognised the glint in Cass’ eyes a little too well, managing to catch it even as she enjoyed cuddling her whole body into Casey.
“She’s definitely going to make it scream now.”
”Whoa, don’t out me like that, Trisha! I mean, I would never ever subject my lovely, delicate minded boyfriend to a screaming computer. You’re slandering me.” Cass grinned, one arm wrapping around Leon while the other hand caressed his face.
”Don’t worry, Baby… I’ll make sure Cassandra the Second never screams around you. I’ll give her a good telling off for smacking her lips in your presence too.”
”God, now I’m uncomfortable.” Mia joked, having definitely not been uncomfortable just a few moments prior.
”About what fucking part?” Leon asked in turn, casual nature glossing over a hidden shock and confusion that hardly manifested beyond stunned and slack-jawed staring.
Out of the throuple, only Hari seemed to be having a rather sick laugh at the others’ expense.
”Put a ball gag in the processor cooler fan.” she quietly gritted her teeth in a reserved cackle.
”You people are fucking sick bastards. I can’t believe you.” Casey blushed.
The group laughter filling the intimate space was hopeful, and seemed to clear the air of the tension once again, at least on the surface. Casey nodded his head in response to Leon’s furious shaking in turn.
”Just… Get rolling! More presents, you… Goon.” Casey urged.
”Whoa, who you saying that to? I ain’t the one suggesting gagging Cassandra the Second!” Cass cackled.
”Though… I guess I can pull out my serious gifts, cause they’re related!”
Related how? Trisha tilted her head, lips pressing together. Probably related to computers, not the ball gag joke. Hopefully.
”I only brought over Trisha and Casey’s… But if we’re doing everyone’s right now, I can grab yours too!” She gestured to the girls, before patting Leon’s arm with a grin.
”I ain’t got anything serious to give you yet, Babe… Cause one ain’t appropriate with company, and the other’s kinda in the wrong company!”
She waggled her eyebrows. Sure, she could’ve gotten her brother to send the thing she’d also gotten him to pick up for her, but it just seemed easier to bring it back with her later. And Leon would get a gift around Christmas… Just not here!
”Well, anyway, first! Here you go, Trisha! For my bestest friend in the whole wide world.” She leaned over to hand Trisha a square gift, which was somehow wrapped as shoddily as the t-shirts. There was so much tape on it that it took Trisha a while to get through it.
It revealed a cardboard box, which she opened. Inside was a small, black box and a power cable, along with a few other wires. She picked it up to inspect it. There was an on button, and a bunch of ports on it… But she had absolutely no clue what it was. There wasn’t any kind of screen.
”It’s a mini computer! You’ve complained ‘bout how your laptop ain’t all that good, but it’s a hassle to go down to your office to use your desktop. I bet you ain’t gonna wanna do that much now, so- I put this together! You can plug it into your laptop and it’ll, like, sorta take over? But you won’t lose all the shit on your computer. It’s kinda like having another processor and shit… Anyway, it works! I made sure of it, and you won’t have to worry about shit crashing on your laptop.”
“Is it alive?” Trisha couldn’t help but ask, turning it around in her hands.
”A lil, but not like my computer is. I used some magic to like, link shit up where it was gonna be hard with actual parts. That’s how I managed to cram so much into something so small and portable! But it ain’t gonna be noticeable.” Cass explained easily.
Trisha nodded, before a smile replaced her confused expression. She looked at Cass warmly. It was nice. Another gift made from the heart and with a lot of effort.
“Thank you. I really like it. I was worried I’d have to try and fit a desk up in our house, and it’d only get more cramped. This solves that.”
”Hehe, you’re welcome!” Cass grinned. Before Trisha could decide whether she wanted to go in for a hug or not Cass had bounced up and pulled her into one anyway. A tight squeeze that was reciprocated lightly.
Then, Cass grabbed the last two gifts from the pile that had been at her feet. The smaller of the two was held out to Casey with a grin. It was a box shape like Trisha’s, but a fair bit smaller.
”And this is for you, Casey! Well, technically this other one is kinda more for you than it is Trisha, but it’s technically for both of you!”
Pursing his lips, Casey plucked the terribly wrapped package from Cass’ grasp, immediately going for his pocket knife which he almost always kept. The Blade. For the moment, it wasn’t anything more than a tool, and he kept its form small for the task at hand. Splitting the tape, he peeled open the small cardboard giftbox.
Inside was a little case, and inside that were a pair of digital earplugs. Cass didn’t give Casey a chance to react before she started explaining.
”They’re earplugs that properly adjust to the surrounding sound, and muffle however much you want. Like I’d do with my own magic! Though I didn’t add any enhancement just, y’know, sound negation. It’s something my older brother complains about a lot- struggling with crowds and loud noises and shit, but then the earplugs he’s got mean it’s hard to hear anyone he’s with! You can get a bunch’ve settings with these… Like it can cut out everything else aside from people speaking directly to you, or it can just muffle it. Again, a lil alive, but not much!” Cass nodded, before being struck with a realisation. She slapped her forehead.
”Wait, shit- White Lux enhances your senses too, don’t it?! These are probably useless!”
Casey laughed warmly in turn, popping the buds into his ears around the same time Cass was doing her explaining, knowing full well that he’d happily use such a thing over his own magic.
”It’s pretty straining work! So, these are perfect. They’ll be perfect for outdoor shooting too, since they’re nice and subtle. Compact. I have a pair of enchanted tacs in my kit, and I’d been meaning to crank a new design out too, so… You’ve saved me a lot of time and effort. They’re Green Lux? Tell me about it, like… Do they just know what I want? That’d be pretty awesome if that was that case.” he asked warmly, knowing full well that the mechanical intricacies played a massive part in his appreciation for them as a set of artifacts.
After all, Green Lux artifacts were often strange. He presumed this would be no different.
”Nahhhh… That’d be cool, but it’d have to shove a nerve through your ear and into your brain. That’s, like, super intrusive! I mean, it’s something I can do if you want it, but right now it doesn’t know that.” Cass grinned, raising a hand to her right ear as if she had one in herself.
”There’s a little dial in the right one you should be able to move. You’ll feel a bit’ve resistance at four points, for the four settings! The first reduces any noise above a certain level to something manageable. The second muffles background noise only, the third blocks background noise, fourth blocks everything- so full noise cancelling! There’s also a dial on the left, which works with mode two and three and adjusts the range. Roll up for a larger range, down for a smaller one. This determines the distance at which it starts just muffling everything.”
She rambled on, hoping he was understanding it a bit… She could answer questions at the end anyway.
”The modes and some’ve the noise suppression is mostly mechanical. I basically took apart a pair and redid all the wiring. The Green Lux comes into determining what’s background noise. Cause it acts a bit like an actual ear would to figure out what sound is what. It should be in mode two right now- so muffling background noise. So if I do this!”
She started clapping loudly, the noise loud over her talking. Casey would feel a subtle, odd tingling at his external ear- like it was being brushed by a few tiny, soft feelers.
”It should muffle my claps, and you should still be able to hear me talk. Can you? I tested it a bunch, but I’ve got Green Lux, so I ain’t sure how much of it was me adjusting for it! If there’s any problems I can probably fix ‘em… Also, y’know, any questions, just ask!”
Casey was smiling like a little kid for once, eyes wide as everything became singular in the nifty new gadget they were playing with. Cass had done a terrific job integrating the technology into its magical components as she had, and a gentle honeycrisp scent crept up around him as his own magic poked and prodded the spell’s structure. Organic components, connected to circuitry at the most basic of levels with a crystalline lattice allowing the transfer of energy like living fibre optic cables.
He found he could even turn the dial beyond “one”, and began his reply while entirely deaf to his own voice. This setting was far more useful for gathering external memories without the influence of one’s own bias. For a brief moment, he wondered if she knew just how useful a thing she’d really done.
”I think they’re perfect. Enhancing my sensory perception is like running up a hill, and after a long day of doing it, I start to cramp. I’ve dabbled in enchanting military ear protection devices, but- Well, there’s this distinction, between enchanted items and true Artifacts. Not all enchanted items are artifacts? Right? So, most enchanted items need to be used by an Adept, because they need a source of Lux to be powered. These? Nothing. They’re perfectly self contained, they work of the battery, you’ve got the funky energy-to-light thing going on that Green and Red Lux can do… It’s… Thanks, Cass. Seriously. I… I mean, I’m stoked about them.”
And then he turned to Trisha and beamed with pride as he pulled them out and wiped them off with his shirt before handing them to Trisha. Pausing his hands, he made sure to turn it back to a sensible range before she actually took them.
”Check ‘em out. It’s pretty intense! God, you guys are both so creative and talented…”
He didn’t spare a glance over at his sister, but his magic practically lashed out at her Emotional Field in a spiritual lovetap. The kind of kiss on the head that said “You’re included too.” It was necessary, as he quickly realized he’d not given quite the same reaction to their gift in spite of his emotional, even passionate defense of the trinket.
But, in saying “you guys”, he included Trisha too… Even if she didn’t have much time to make anything crazy… The honey took a while, after all.
Trisha popped the earbuds in, expression one of interest. It was amazing how many background noises there were that she didn't particularly notice until they were drowned out. It was pretty nice, actually. Maybe something like this would help with her anxiety in crowds… But she couldn't exactly ask Cass to create another pair for her when she already had a gift. Though she wouldn't need anything as fancy, as she didn't go shooting or have her own enhanced senses. Only a sixth bee sense.
“They’re really impressive. I don't know how you think of these things." She said with a smile, holding them back out to Cass. Her gifts were completely different from the girls', but both had clearly had so much care put into them. Casey was right about them being creative and talented. She glanced at Cass, then the girls with a gentle laugh.
“It feels a bit like a really good craft fair."
It made her not want to give out anything she'd brought. She really wasn't creative or talented like they were. There wasn't anything she could make to give as gifts… Only honey, but she didn't have much of that left. And she handed that out to everyone all the time. But her gifts felt so soulless in comparison. Maybe she could pretend they were just extra gifts, because she hadn't finished the real thing? But then what would she do… Learn how to make something? Hope that she was good enough to do that? It'd just end up worse.
"Aw, thanks! I'm really glad you like ‘em! It makes all the back pain worth it!" Cass joked, grinning at Casey brightly.
"Well, the only thing that actually suffered was Leon's nose from my old soldering iron… But it was real fun to make ‘em! Cause I really got to combine my magic and tech skills, y'know. It's pretty fucking great to make shit people'll actually use, rather than more crap I'll keep in boxes."
She nodded. It probably wouldn't come as a surprise that her gifts for the girls were similarly tech-y items… Only Leon escaped that. Sort of.
"Oh- This one ain't so exciting, but I think it's cute! For you both, but I feel like Trisha's gonna feel like it ain't a few pages in." Cass laughed, holding out the third parcel she'd brought.
Hard again, but this time it was a more flat square. Trisha let Casey open it, seeing as he had the pocket knife and she'd struggled so much to get into her gift. It revealed a plain black, spiral bound square book. Opening it revealed that it was some kind of scrapbook Cass had put together for them.
The photo on the front page was of their proposal. It was a surprisingly nice one, considering it was obviously taken by Cass based on the angle.
"You can replace it with a nicer one if you wanna! I used photo pocket things for everything, so you can just slide em in and out." Cass commented.
Trisha smiled, reaching out to flip to the next page. Across the double spread were various photos of the couple that Cass had clearly subtly taken. Another from the engagement when Casey had lifted Trisha up. There was one from the Sycamore celebration party, where the two of them were drunkenly lost in each other with no care for the world around them. There were a few other shots of them like that from various gatherings, though none quite so egregious- just the two of them looking at each other, talking or giggling, not paying much attention to their surroundings.
“This is really cute." Trisha said softly, smiling. Though she changed her mind as she flipped to the next page.
It was filled with pictures of just her from their university days. Not just any pictures… These ones were all embarassing. There was one of her drunkenly asleep on their flat couch, leaning against Cass' shoulder with her mouth half open. Another of her drunkenly ranting about something. One of her so deep in her studying she clearly hadn't noticed Cass sneaking into her room. She looked an absolute mess in that one, hair shoved up onto a bun with strands falling all across her face, textbooks and paper strewn everywhere as she nibbled on her pen. Then there was one she remembered Cass taking… And she'd told her to delete it! She was curled up in an armchair, glaring at the camera with her whole expression scrunched up in grumpy indignation.
“Cass… Really?"
Casey only needed to take a few seconds of looking at Trisha’s pictures before his face became bright red and he bumbled into her like a giant bee. He was still holding the book on his lap, but his torso had twisted and spun to a point where Trisha could feel him almost picking her up off the couch.
Not that he said anything… His actions spoke a lot louder than words ever could. Clinging tightly to her, he kissed her spare hand and nuzzled his head into her before finally coming to words.
”Nobody asked- I do have goofy pictures from my service! They’re just like these! W-we’ll text Nana, and she’ll send the bundle over! We can pick through them, and put equally embarrassing ones in for me! That way you’re not singled out here… It’s like, y’know, where we were versus where we are!” he exclaimed in defense of Cass’ choice to put embarrassing pictures into the gift.
”God, two knockouts! Cass? You’re on a roll, dude!” Casey added with great enthusiasm, finally looking back up at Trisha.
Trisha let out a few quiet grumbles, cuddling into Casey as fervently as he did to her. It was impossible to hide her own blushing… She'd hoped that by having no loving family or embarrassing childhood photos she'd avoid something like this. Of course Cass was doing all the legwork to make up for it!
"Hehe… What can I say, I'm that great." Cass cackled, grinning.
"Obviously I didn't ask cause then it'd ruin the surprise… But a lot've it's actually empty! I stuck down a bunch've photo pockets in what I thought was a nice layout, figuring you guys can go ham and fill the rest up as you get more pictures. Embarrassing ones of Casey included!"
Trisha nodded slowly, coming out of her embarrassed state to smile softly at Casey.
“I’d like that. To go through your goofy pictures together and pick some out. It's only fair that I can flip between pictures of us and cutely embarrassing pictures of you too."
Though saying that was admitting the ones of her were cute. Maybe they were to him… She hoped they were to him… But they were extra embarrassing to someone who tried so hard to show a certain image to people.
"I'm just sad I don't have any embarrassing childhood ones of you." Cass jokingly groaned.
"Oh, but you should turn the page! There's more!"
Trisha wasn't sure if she wanted to turn the page, when she could just keep staring at Casey instead. But she felt Cass' gaze burning into her head so… She turned her head down towards the collage book, turning to the next page.
It was more photos of Trisha… But a much younger Trisha. Fourteen year old Trisha. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the pictures from the Sycamore Tree coven period that she'd never seen before.
The first one was her squatting down sorting through medical supplies, her expression filled with seriousness. There was one of her with the Rich Clique, talking to Lin at the side while the rest of the group laughed over something. Seeing that made her feel a bit sad. Another was hard to tell if it was a fight or training- she was facing off against another Sycamore member, directing her bee swarms against her spiders. Lisa… It was training from what Trisha remembered. Because it made sense for the two people with bug swarms to go against each other. Then another one of just her, in a forest with her arms up saying something to the bees surrounding her. It was a bit blurrier than the others.
Cass would never admit it, but that one had actually been a picture of Linqian that just happened to have Trisha in the background… But she'd done a great job editing it!
“How did you get these?" She asked softly.
"Uh, y'know Linqian's ex- Bianca! The fed- technically owes me and Leon, but anyway! Linqian happened to mention she got a bunch've pictures with disposable cameras then, so I got in touch and got all the ones with you in ‘em!" Cass grinned.
"There's a bunch more, but uh… Well, I had to check with Leon to make sure I didn't put in any with people you hated! There's one of the two of you, actually, but you're clearly yelling at each other so I figured you wouldn't want that one."
Leon couldn’t help smiling dumbly at the picture in question, his sharp memory recalling it in vivid detail. She’d just been herself at a time nobody needed her to be… An easy mistake when one’s entire life was spent in that mode of existence.
”We knew there were some people interested in documenting what we were doing. There’s other pictures too. A lot, actually, from the Temple archives. Mom’s personal collection, for the Sycamore records. I wanted to talk to you about what to do with a lot of them, but… Not now, obviously. When they’re in our hands, we’ll do our best to figure it out together.” Leon explained calmly, shrugging his shoulders in vague embarrassment as he thought about the strangeness that was his mother’s habitual recordkeeping.
So many pictures taken in secret through magical apparatuses… Especially mind-to-print machines, taking remote images from her mind and directly imprinting them onto sheets of paper. They were incredibly clear images, most taken from his waistline as the spell observed from a belt buckle or pocket level. Others were like specters standing at attention in forestlines just beyond reach. Ghastly images of teens in bloody combat. Screaming. Dying.
It wasn’t for Christmas…
Casey, however, did his best to give a positive spin on it… He looked into Trisha’s eyes, and smiled gently.
”I… Guess you’ve got that much, at least. Thank goodness people were watching you somewhere.”
His mind drifted only for a moment, to that hazy memory of her face… Spying on them in his own adventure… Trying to see a world he could only grasp at vaguely, and seeing in her the beauty he saw now.
He wished he’d had that picture.
“It’s nice to have some." Trisha admitted with a gentle smile back at him. While the idea of Lynette having all of these sneakily was uncomfortable, she liked these ones that Cass had picked out. And maybe there would be some nice ones in those ‘records’. She imagined there'd be a lot of bad ones too.
“It’s a shame most of my teenage photos are sneakshots from that summer." She half joked, more self deprecating humour than anything else. She didn't know what else to say to it that wouldn't end up negative. There may have been people watching, but they'd never stepped in to help. It made it feel empty.
She glanced over at Leon.
“Thanks for wanting to decide with me what to do with them. I'm… happy to do that when we get them." Though she didn't think it was going to be an easy decision, or an easy task for either of them.
Her eyes moved back to Casey, forcing her mind back to something more positive. They squinted teasingly.
“It’s a shame you didn't take a picture that time you saw me back then… Then you could've put it in a locket or something, and pulled it out when the time was right."
Casey nodded back pretty well instantly.
”I was just thinking that…”
Leon’s eyes opened widely, and in a telling stare between the two of them, his bottom lip began to quiver.
”Well… I mean… Maybe you two would be surprised by all the shots Mom managed to get. Again, when the time’s right.”
Casey had imagined there was a strong possibility that she piggybacked off of him in the same way she had done everyone else. Why else would he have made it to where they were without some kind of guiding fate? She could follow those sorts of things easily, and know exactly when to place an incantation on someone else that enabled her remote viewing ability. So, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a shocker. It was more shocking that Leon had bothered looking through them…
”When did you get a peek at that stuff?” Mia asked from the other side, hoping to fill in the tension a little.
”Weird quirk of the rules. I was always Sycamore first, so I always had access to the collective record of events from the Temple’s perspective. Because I was part of the founders, my rank in that coven superceded my rank in the Temple.” Leon explained.
Hari nodded along.
”Same reason I still have all the case files with my Dad, and the Chicago Steadfast.”
Mia nodded in return.
”Still, that’s really cool Cass. That makes me want to get one together for the three of us. We’ve got so many pictures of our own between us.”
Trisha managed to resist rolling her eyes at Leon talking about his Sycamore rank. A good chunk of people were ‘founders’, if you counted everyone there the day the pact was made underneath the Sycamore tree. She hadn't been, but people like Linqian had been… And nobody had treated her like she was some kind of rank above. Within the coven, Leon got that treatment because of his cousin. Other people who were viewed as having ‘authority’ were just smart or domineering.
"Oh hell yeah, you definitely should! I can help if you want… I gotta bunch of supplies leftover, at least! Plenty of photo pockets and shit! You just gotta get an actual book to put em in. When I was figuring out what to do, there were even ones where people put a bunch of cute stickers and shit… I considered getting some bees ones, but I ain't that kinda creative. If I started sticking other things in it'd look a mess." Cass smiled enthusiastically at Mia. Though it was her first time properly putting pictures together in some kind of nice format, she was quite the photo hoarder and loved to look through them… So of course she was going to encourage the throuple to make their own cute little photo scrapbook!
“I’m glad you didn't draw anything in it." Trisha teased lightly. She decided not to comment further on Lynette's Sycamore photo collection… Or the shots she may have managed to get from that first time Casey saw her. It was cute if it was a photo he'd snapped, but more creepy when it was his Mother taking them from some bug she'd planted on him. Especially if she'd known then.
"Hey, you just don't appreciate my artistic talents!" Cass cackled. With her gift giving done, she finally bounced away and back over to sit next to Leon.
“She draws like a teenage boy. She insisted on putting stuff on our fridge in our university apartment, but it was all badly drawn boobs and dicks." Trisha giggled in explanation to Casey, leaning into him.
”Dude, classic. Props.” Ed immediately giggled like a child, throwing her fist out to bump Cass’.
They had the kind of sense of humor that was way too close to one another to be a coincidence. Like they were cut from the same cloth, or something.
Mia shook her head, being stretched over for the fist bump to happen and being stuck in the middle of it.
”Leon? Any gifts for the duo bound for the East?” she asked, trying her best to redirect away from the two perverts being pervy.
”Uh… Well, yeah. I mean, kind of. I’m-”
He turned to Cass, dredging up a problem he’d been having for the better part of a week. With everything happening, he’d definitely slacked off and not thought about the imminent yuletide cheer necessary in gift sourcing. Sure, he could use vast wealth to acquire material goods they wanted from things they liked, but what made it any more special than something they could go and get themselves? Both were set… So, sentiment came back into the picture. What could he possibly do?
”It’s sort of… I don’t know. It feels weird to give as a gift, because it’s not really something you can hold. Or, even really much of a gift as it is like… The gift of security? I guess? Peace of mind? It’s probably a gift for everyone here, really.”
He twisted back, pulling out a few small boxes and handing one off to each person.
”May you all feel a little safer at night, knowing that the past is truly behind us.”
Casey’s brow furrowed, and he opened his little ring box first to find… A tooth. A large, yellow-brown feline tooth. Pulling it from the setting, he found it poked through a patch of fur that’d been tanned on one side into taught leather. If it’d been any other creature, this would’ve been a terrible gift… But, everyone in that room received a claw or a tooth, and everyone knew what’d happened.
Kane and Abel were no more. Wherever Leon had relocated them for the short term, it’d been secure enough that he’d managed to go through with what none of them expected he’d go through with… He’d put an end to the nightmare maker. Modferrad: The Piper of Pain, Prince of the Shimmer Wampus, was seemingly no more.
Casey looked up at him, a blank expression filling his face as he tried to find words. Words that were sucked up as Mia’s far more visceral reaction overtook her. She practically leapt across the couch into her brother’s lap, sobbing as Ed made her way not far behind. Hari, who had avoided a great deal of their traumatic childhood spent with the beast, hung back and simply stared down at the morbid little trinket.
For Casey, seeing the others happy about it was enough to call this another good gift. He only had to turn to Trisha to gauge her own reaction to the subtle yet powerful news.
Trisha's own initial reaction was muted as she stared down at her claw. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her bottom lip trembled subtly.
She'd been lucky, really. It had only truly tormented them on the bad nights. The worst had been the first time when it almost killed Casey… Other times, it had been difficult to tell if it was the cat or just nightmares of her own making. It being gone wouldn't rid her of her insecurities and mundane nightmares. But they wouldn't have to worry about that. There wouldn't be some supernatural horror bringing up all of the fears she tried to bury deep down. Thank God. Especially when one of the nightmares it had shown her almost played out in reality.
And it wouldn't be able to hurt Casey again.
“I’m glad it's gone." She said, quiet and simple. Her head turned up towards Casey, trembling lip turning into a slight smile. She reached out to grasp at him, curling in towards him with a slight tremble.
Even with the good news, it made her remember everything it had shown her and told her. From attacking Casey, to him leaving her, to him dying in front of her. It felt silly to feel anxious over something that was now gone. She'd hadn't even grown up with it. It had just been so excited to eat all of her pain. It had said everything that happened would be her fault…
“I’m really glad it can't torment anyone any more."
"It's lucky Leon decided to end it, cause if he hadn't I would've killed it myself! And then it really would've been screaming for mercy!" Cass had a typical Cass reaction, getting all violently riled up and mock punching in front of her. She did then turn to put a comforting hand on Ed's back, then moved it to Mia's.
The two girls didn’t really stop crying for what seemed like a few minutes. Casey knew he didn’t need to jump into it himself, considering they were all cuddled up with Leon and Cass. Instead, he took the chance to give himself a moment to introspect over the creature’s reign of terror. It was nice to know that Leon had taken it upon himself to make things easier in the coming days. After all, the cat probably would’ve accepted some sort of bargain from Lynette had she been desperate enough to seek it out. They’d done so before… Secret accords, deals for influence and knowledge…
Wampus were dangerous creatures. He imagined the fight hadn’t been easy, even with a free Lelou. Or, maybe it was? Maybe-
”Did it put up a fight?” he finally asked, voice cracking more than he’d intended it to.
Leon nodded in return.
”Closest I’ve ever been to letting Lelou have her way. Turns out, there’s a form beyond what you guys saw at Thanksgiving. I hope I never have to go there again. She’s been tired since.” Leon responded calmly, giving Casey and Trisha a solemn smile.
”I love you guys. I’ve got a bigger plan, too. But, it’s for life after this. For now, this is all I had on short notice.”
Casey nodded, looking back down at Trisha.
”I’m glad too… We’re all gonna be alright. I’m glad… That it didn’t have a bigger part in your life.”
”And it’ll never ever get to hurt our children. Never. That bullshit, and that pain, ends with us.” Leon said with conviction, hand rubbing his little sister’s back as she clung to him in painful tears.
”I’d die killing it again before it got near the children of anyone here.” Cass dramatically declared, though her conviction there was as genuine as Leon’s. Sure, maybe it was a bit over the top to throw her life into it, but she knew what that thing had done to all the Richoux as children. Assuming she and Leon did have kids together, she’d definitely protect them with her life against something like that.
Trisha nodded slowly. She never would have let it near their future children, whatever she would’ve had to do to stop it. But it wasn’t a problem anymore… They didn’t have to worry about that.
There wasn’t yet another external force trying to break them either. It might have succeeded, if it had long enough with her. The short period she’d dealt with it had been bad enough. It was easy to widen cracks that were already so deep, after all.
She couldn’t admit that here in front of everyone. How glad she was that it wouldn’t have a chance, and how little faith she had in her ability to not fall back into the depths of her issues with just a little bit of pressure. She had made steps forward in spite of it, Lynette and her own family trying to make it difficult. But she’d also repeated the same behaviours because of them too. It was hard to really feel like she’d improved. It wasn’t solid, at least.
“If it had… Well, it didn’t. It’s fine now.” She whispered incredibly quietly to Casey in the end.
“There’ll be a lot of pain that ends with us, I think.” She said louder, to everyone. A solemn and positive thought all at once. It was a little bit of hopefulness which was difficult for her to voice, because it meant thinking she could do it too.
“Not- Not just cause’ve stuff like this. None of us had… Great childhoods. But I think we’ll all do better.”
”Amen…”
”Amen.”
”And fuckin’ how!” Casey exclaimed in emphatic agreement. His arms became animated, body warming all at once as he squeezed happily into Trisha.
”This world’s better because we’re together.” he added, watching as Mia’s torso twisted to open up a slot in the cuddle puddle.
”W-would you guys please come hug me? Y-you can skip your g-gifts if you hug me!” she cried, as if offering for the others to keep their presents was doing them a favor.
Casey laughed, standing up and holding Trisha’s hand.
”Only if you want… But, I’ve gotta.” he sat, waiting a moment for Trisha’s choice.
Trisha only considered it for a moment before nodding. It was just one hug… Well, the second of the day. But she was trying to do better with that, and joining wouldn’t make things worse for her. Just momentarily uncomfortable.
She stood up, tugging Casey gently towards the pile. She went directly in to hug Mia, hoping that Casey would slot in around her so it minimised just how many people could get their arms to her. She was too sober to really be in a group hug.
“You’re still getting your present, though.” She said quietly, though she could’ve taken the out to not give out what she felt were comparatively shit gifts. But of all of them, the one for the girls felt the closest to anything sentimental.
”Awwww, this is so nice! I wish we could take a picture! I’d print out a massive version of it and put it on my wall. Ooo, it could replace a certain weird ass picture!” Cass exclaimed, one arm having reached out to tug Hari the last little bit into the group hug.
It was a nice moment. Even Trisha had to admit that, even though she wasn’t a fan of physical contact like that. But it was nice to know that everyone was there for each other… They loved each other.
Atrophy
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Simply Not Real
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