Chapter Text
It was another long day for Noie. Another long, weird day spent sneaking glances at Dipper and jumping at the sound of school bells. Another day spent keeping conversations short and strategic, vague and unhelpful; keeping certain topics close to her chest, like cards in this weird game she was playing with her brother.
Playing, not talking.
“Oh, wow, Dipper, you’re right, that doesn’t make it sound like vampires can affect your dreams that much… but who knows, maybe it’s a super powerful one! I got some more books for you on that!”
Acting, not reacting.
“Your shoulder hurts? Oh no, bro! It’s probably from all these nerdy books you’ve been hunched over all day today - c’mon, sit back for a second.”
Showing, but never, never telling.
“Nervous? Haha, what’ve I gotta be nervous about, bro?” Her eyes flitted towards the clock in front of the classroom. “We’re going home soon! Going back to the house, yeah…”
Dipper opened his mouth to reply, but then he hesitated, closed it, and turned back to his notes without protest. The look on his face… it put a strain on her smile.
She didn’t remember when he’d stopped arguing with her.
“And I believe that is all I have for today!” The teacher’s voice made Noie glance up at him; she watched his brow furrow at the rustle of people reaching for their bags. “Hey, hey! Did I say you could pack up? Everyone can stay in their seats and talk - quietly! - with your neighbors until the bell rings. Let’s have a little patience, alright? Thank you.”
With that, he strode over to his desk and sat himself down behind a computer, leaving the room to fill with chatter. Noie looked down the many rows of students in seats, textbooks on tables, and the top of her teacher’s face bobbing up and down above his monitor, cut off just above his eyes.
No one was looking her way, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that had kept her on edge all day today.
The feeling that she was being watched.
Noie shivered at that. She opened her mouth, hesitated, pressed her pencil against the desk until the lead broke, then swept the mess away and turned to Dipper.
“Going to the store today.” Her words came out too quiet; she cleared her throat. “Dipper?”
He didn’t look up from his notes. “Yeah?”
“We’re going to the store today, okay?”
“Okay…” Dipper said, but confusion quickly spread across his face. Now, he looked up at her. “Wait, what? The store?”
“Yeah!”
“Why? I thought we were good on food and stuff this week.”
“We’re low on ibuprofen.”
“I mean, not that low. No need to make, like, an emergency shopping trip-”
“It’s not an emergency!” Noie cut in. When he frowned at her, she grinned and gave him a nudge. “C’mon, bro! It’ll be good! Why’re you giving me that face?”
Dipper took a moment to respond. He looked down, covered his face with his hands, and kneaded his forehead. He let out a groan, then: “Ugh… sorry, Noie.”
“Aww, don’t be sorry, bro! We’ll get you the extra strength tablets, alright?”
“No, it’s just… can we do this some other day? Please?” He sat back, still rubbing his face. “I’m not really feeling a shopping trip right now - my head hurts, and my shoulder still feels weird, and the whole… whole deal with the vampire… I kind of just wanted to go home.”
“Aww, Dipper…”
“You can go if you want, I’m not saying that. Just let me-”
“No, you can’t go home on your own!” She thought of Lucy Ann in the backyard and shook her head. “Look, it’ll just be-”
“Noie, please? I, really really don’t want to.”
“But-but-” Noie stammered. “But you promised!”
At that, Dipper hesitated. He lifted up his head and raised an eyebrow at her. “I promised?”
That look he was giving made her cringe. She racked her mind for some kind of answer. “Um, yeah! Back at the- back on the bus! This morning! Before, uh, you went to sleep!”
“I promised… to go on a shopping trip?”
“You don’t remember?” Noie could see a little uncertainty creep into his frown. “We were sitting there, going to school, and you were like- um, I was like… actually, you were like ‘Let’s go to the store!’ and I was like ‘yeah!’”
“But why would I-”
“Because…!” Her eyes landed on his textbook. “Because vampires! I mean vampire stuff! We were going to buy vampire stuff, remember? For your dream things!”
He blinked. “Oh… we were gonna buy, like, garlic or something?”
“Yeah! Haha, you could put some garlic under your pillow - that’d stop anybody from getting too close to you!”
“Heh, yeah… I guess that does make sense. Not the garlic under the pillow thing, but yeah, we should stock up on that stuff.” Dipper opened the book. “Thanks for, uh, reminding me.”
Noie didn’t say anything to that. She just sat there, and smiled at him, and twisted her pencil ‘til it snapped in two.
The bell rang. Dipper looked up.
“Oh, nice.” He closed his book. “So, uh, are we going to the convenience store, or the store store… oh wait, I’m dumb, they don’t sell garlic in convenience stores. Heh, you ever just immediately answer your own question like that, Noie? Noie?”
His words washed over her. She stared through his face, and for a moment even the churning pit in her stomach seemed so very far away…
Then he touched her and she jumped.
“Hey!” She started to knock his hand away, but gave it a quick pat instead. “I mean, hey. Oh, cool, did the bell ring? Alriiight, school’s out!”
“Noie, are you-”
“Fine! Fine! Everything is fine!” Noie shoved her book into her bag. “Everything is completely fine and let me just zip this up here, aaand done! Alright, bus! Bus bus bus!”
She jumped up and flashed him her brightest smile. He returned a frown, his face a mixture of concern and confusion and frustration that put a lump in her throat. She swallowed.
“What?” Her voice came off angry; she barked a laugh to try and soften it. “Hah, what’s up with you? Why the long face? I said I’m fine.”
Dipper looked down. He didn’t say a word.
“I am fine, okay? Dipper?” Noie’s smile stretched paper thin. “Cool, good talk. Well, we’ve gotta catch our bus now, okay? Come on.”
She stepped away, and he followed just behind her. The hallways were already quite empty, and the odd group of chattering students didn’t do much to distract from the looming silence between them.
Down the stairs they walked. Out the building. They rounded a corner, and Noie found herself staring down the main gates, and the glowing figure standing guard beside them.
At that, she caught her breath. She slowed down to walk with Dipper, and they walked closer, closer.
She shot him glances. Stared at his soft brown eyes. Linked hands with him, and tried for a smile when that made him raise an eyebrow at her.
“Hey, Dipper.” She squeezed his hand. “I love you.”
“I… love you too? Why are you saying it like that?”
Noie opened her mouth to respond, but the words shriveled on her tongue when she saw his eyes flicker black on gold.
At first it was just a flash; it was hard to tell if it’d been a trick of the light, and Dipper looked concerned at the sudden shock on her face. He squeezed her hand, and opened his mouth, but they walked closer and his eyes kept flickering.
Kept flickering, and emotion drained from his face. Noie looked away, but she could feel his gentle squeeze get tighter and tighter and tighter until it felt like her hand was going to fold down the middle - ow.
She sucked in a breath, kept her head down and kept going.
Kept walking.
They were nearly there.
Nearly through.
Dipper would be back soon, she told herself.
Dipper would be back soon.
Dipper would be back soon-
“Hello, child. Please wait.”
Those words came through a chorus of voices - the angel. Noie frowned at its glowing boots, and reluctantly came to a stop.
“Um, hey?” She cringed as Dipper’s grip tightened even more. “Do you need something? Not that it’s, uh, not nice to see you and all, but I can’t really stay and chat-”
“Oh, I have no favours to ask of you. Quite on the contrary, I have listened to your needs and taken it upon myself to - oh, shall I use a human colloquialism here? There are so many to choose from; your language is charming in its inefficiency, I must say.”
“Can we maybe get to the point?”
“‘To the point’ - heh, there’s one of them. Yes, let us ‘get to the point.’” The two officers cleared their throats, and then a man stepped forwards. From his rubbery gloves and dark blue apron, he looked like one of the people who worked in the cafeteria. He gave Noie a too-wide smile, and then reached into the pocket of his apron and drew out…
“Oh. Garlic?” Noie made a face. “And a hammer. And a… a stake. That is an actual stake you’ve got there. Um.”
“I have blessed these with the cleansing light of my innermost essences. They will be far more effective than any equivalent one could purchase at a human marketplace.” The man held them out to Noie with a grin. “You’re welcome, child. Or as your kind may say, ‘it’s on me.’”
“Uh…” Noie shuffled back. “Thanks, buddy, this is real… real thoughtful of you, but I think I’m gonna pass on your, um, innermost essences.”
“Pass?” All three heads cocked in unison. “You are refusing my gifts?”
“I mean, refusing’s a strong word, but y’know, my folks like getting points for gas when I use their card, and I’m pretty sure that stake thing is actually super illegal, so…”
She trailed off. The men just stared at her, faces completely blank.
“...so yeah? We’re still good? Still…” Noie heard a deep rumbling sound start up beside her; she glanced over to see Dipper baring his teeth at the angel, face contorted with rage. “Oh, he is… he is growling right now. Okay. Um, I think I’ve gotta go? So bye?”
She stepped back, and stepped back again. The angel didn’t react, so she flashed a smile, snapped a wave, and dragged Dipper out of there at the fastest walking speed she could manage.
She didn’t look back. She didn’t look at Dipper. She kept her eyes facing forwards, fixed on their bus as it pulled away from their stop and drove off into the distance.
“Dipper? How’re we holding up, bro?”
“Ughhhhh…”
Noie made a face at her brother, who was currently crumpled on a bench outside the supermarket. She waved off some concerned-looking shoppers with a “Don’t worry, he’s okay!”, then gently pried one of his hands off his forehead and pressed a packet of frozen peas into it.
“Here,” she said, and tucked a receipt into his pocket. “And keep this too, just in case. I’m ninety nine percent sure nobody’s gonna ask for it, but hey, people are jerks sometimes, y’know? Hah!”
She laughed, but Dipper didn’t respond. He wasn’t very talkative at the moment - he hadn’t been since that encounter with the angel at the gates.
The memory sent shivers down her spine, brought back flashes of glowing golden eyes, of growling, of looking down at the ache in her hand and seeing actual claw marks in her skin… Noie shook her head clear, and rose to her feet.
“Alright, you wait here.” She hesitated before patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll be super quick, okay? Pinky promise.”
Dipper managed a nod.
“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” With a grin, she stepped away. “You’re the best, Dipper! Love you!”
Noie took a few steps backwards… then a few more, and a few more not quite able to take her eyes off him. There was a pit in her stomach when she looked at him sitting there, all alone, with his head buried in a pack of frozen peas…
Maybe this was a bad idea.
Before she could think too much on it, there was a “Hey!” and Noie had to dodge a cart she’d wandered into the way of. The man pushing it shot her a glare. “Watch where you’re going!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Her cheeks burned as he stalked past her. “Sorry…”
Then she cleared her throat, glanced one last time back at Dipper, and made her way inside before she got in anybody else’s way.
She’d be quick.
Noie grabbed a basket from the side and held it in the crook of her elbow as she linked her fingers together. One hand rubbed the claw marks on the back of the other as she made a beeline to the fresh produce - it was right by the entrance - and picked out a head of garlic and some pumpkin seeds. She spotted some bananas and remembered they were out, but a split second later she also remembered Dipper hanging on for her for outside and skipped past them to find the painkillers.
Ugh, the medicine aisle was all the way on the other side of the store. She rolled her eyes and broke out into a little jog as she made her way there; the extra strength ibuprofen was about halfway down the aisle, and she picked one out - no, two. Just in case.
Noie tossed those into her basket, and grimaced at her little collection.
Alright. That should keep Dipper from getting suspicious about this shopping trip.
Now for what she actually needed to buy.
Noie paced the aisles a little bit before she found the one she was looking for. Fridges full of frozen meals lined one side, and on the other was a man choosing between two bottles of wine; she pretended to stare at the frozen meals until he sighed, threw both of them in his cart, and shuffled off.
With a shiver, she looked both ways and headed to a very small section tucked to the very back of the aisle, labelled ‘Vampire Products’. Between that title and the bright red bloodpacks dangling from each shelf, it was obvious a human like Noie was not supposed to be opening this particular fridge.
So she did it quickly, and moved away to examine the squishy bag of gross that was now in her hands.
It was cold to the touch. The plastic felt thin and clammy - kind of like seran wrap, Noie thought, and with that analogy in mind she was careful not to squeeze it too hard. The label was plain white and noticeably devoid of branding; apart from a logo and tagline tucked into the corner (‘Sated Solutions: Keeping Our Streets Safe Since 2029’), the rest of the space was packed with warnings, each one delivered with more CAPITALISED WORDS FOR EMPHASIS than an angry internet post:
BLOOD PACK FOR VAMPIRIC CONSUMPTION ONLY: 495ml WHOLE BLOOD, COLLECTION DATE 04/25/85
CAUTION: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN TRANSFUSIONS.
CAUTION: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR GENERAL CONSUMPTION. CONSUMPTION OF HUMAN BLOOD MAY LEAD TO HEMOCHROMATOSIS (IRON OVERLOAD) WHICH CAN CAUSE ORGAN DAMAGE, IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT, CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER…
It went on, and Noie skimmed the rest before gingerly placing it in her basket and proceeding to self-checkout. No drinking the blood, got it.
She scanned the garlic and the seeds and the ibuprofen, and put them in a bag. Then, with a quick glance over her shoulder, she scanned the bloodpack and shoved it into another bag as fast as she could. She wrapped that bag up, put it in with the other stuff she’d bought, then got out her grandfather’s card and went to pay.
The bloodpack was twenty-five dollars. Noie muttered a little ‘sorry’ to the card reader as she typed in his pin.
(This was just a one time thing, she reasoned. She only needed it to last a few days… it’d last that long, right?)
(Seriously, how much could a vampire even drink?)
She doodled a little heart on the signature line, and took a deep breath to to steady her own racing pulse as she waited for the beep. Once it went through she pulled out the card, grabbed the bag, and darted for the exit.
“Dipper? Dipper!” She called his name before she could even see the bench. She rounded the corner, and- “Dipper, there you are!”
Dipper had sat up, and was giving her an odd look. “Yeah? You told me to wait-”
“I’m sorry I was gone so long!” Noie wrapped him up in a hug. “I’ve got everything you wanted though, so- oh! How’s your head feeling?”
“Not great, with you yelling in my ear like that.”
“Sorry! I mean, sorry… You okay, though?”
“Yeah… I’m feeling a little better.” He rubbed his forehead. “I’ll be fine, I just want to go home and lie down for a bit.”
With a tight smile, Noie drew back. “That’s fair, bro. We’ll go home now.” She helped him to his feet. “We’ll go straight home, and you’ll go straight to bed, okay? Okay. Ohhh-kay.”
Noie had this evening all planned out. Dipper was going to go sleep off his headache, so she’d take that time to slip the bloodpack to Lucy Ann. She could do that in five minutes, then go pick up a few more vampire books from Grandma’s study; if she dumped some heavy ones on his lap as soon as he woke up, she could probably keep him in his room all night. There’d be no chance of him even seeing the vampire!
She opened the front door, grinning to herself. This was good! This was a good plan. Then she could wake up early, and do breakfast in bed...
“Hey, kids!”
Wait, what?
“Good day at school? Say, aren’t you back earlier than this most days?”
Noie stared at her grandfather, who was sitting in the dining room and reading an actual newspaper. She was about to ask where her grandma was when-
Oh, stars.
Oh, no...
“Everything alright?” David frowned at them. “You two look terrible.”
Dipper was already shuffling towards the bedroom. “We’re, uh, fine, Grandpa… I got a headache today.”
“Another bad one, eh?”
“Yeah. I’m going to lie down.”
“You do that, kid. You’ll feel better.” David watched him go, forehead wrinkling in concern. “Might need to take him to the doctor… hey, Naomi, what’s the, uh… the number for the lady your brother sees? D’you know where Allie kept it?”
Noie didn’t answer. She didn’t hear the question. She was too busy staring at her grandmother.
Sitting outside.
Talking.
Laughing.
Lucy Ann.
“Naomi?”
Where was Lucy Ann?
“Naomi!”
Noie blinked. Her grandfather was frowning at her, now.
“Will you listen to me, kid? I was asking you a question. I wanted to make an appointment with the neurologist for your brother; I’m getting worried about all these headaches he’s been having lately-”
“Oh, I can set that up.” She blurted out, then: “Why’s Grandma outside? Who’s she talking to?”
“Huh?” David glanced outside. “Oh, uh, she’s… She came out with me while I was tryna see what was tapping at our porch this morning, and for some reason she didn’t want to come back inside. Wanted to keep sitting out there.” He stuck his nose back into the newspaper. “Don’t ask me why. It’s hot as… it’s hot today.”
Noie watched Allie let out a laugh. She could hear the faintest bit of it come through the glass, loud and happy. “B-but who’s she talking t-”
“She’s fine.” He cut her off. “Everything’s fine, she’s just… practicing an old speech of hers or something, I don’t know. I’m just waiting for her to come in so I don’t have to keep sitting on this damn chair - my back’s screaming for the couch, I tell you.” He looked down at the bag in her hands. “Did’ja go to the store?”
“What? Oh, uh!” Noie hid the bag behind her. “I just- we got garlic.”
“Were we-”
“Yes, we were out!” Darting over to the counter, she dumped the garlic and - she’d find a home for it later - the pumpkin seeds into the fruit bowl, then squeezed past the dining table to get to the porch. “I’m going outside!”
“What? No, don’t…” David hesitated, thought on it for a second, and then sighed. “I mean, uh, I guess you can if you really want to. I don’t know why I’m saying no, I don’t see the harm.”
She gave him a hug as she passed his chair. “Thanks, Grandpa!”
“What are you- oh, hugs, alright. Yes, yes, you’re very welcome for, uh… well I’ve been thinking, and, y’know, I say no to a lot of things that maybe don’t matter so much, and-”
“Oh! You need to go away, Grandpa!”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean…” Noie tore her eyes away from the porch, and gave David an awkward smile. “Why don’t you let me keep an eye on Granny?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want to sit out there and watch her?”
“Yeah! A-and you can go back to the couch and watch TV and not be right here?” Her smile stretched wide. “Doesn’t that sound nice? That sounds nice to me.”
“I’m not sure… you know you can’t walk off on her, right?”
“Of course! I would never do that!”
“So you’re gonna stay out there as long as she’s out there?”
“Pinky promise!”
Hmmm…” He narrowed his eyes. “Why’re we so eager to look after Allie all of a sudden?”
“Cause she’s my Granny and I love her? I don’t need a reason to wanna hang out with her!”
“That’s… I suppose that’s true, but-”
Noie forced a laugh as she plucked the newspaper out of his hands. “Besides, I have to rescue you from this. Don’t you get news on your phone?”
David tensed at that; oops, she'd hit a nerve.
“Ohh, can’t you get news on your phone?” He imitated her voice in a mocking falsetto, and she cringed. “Everyone’s like ohh, it’s so convenient, and then everyone’s wondering why journalism’s dying out - you know what happened once an old paper of mine stopped selling print?”
“Grandpa-”
“Suddenly ohh, we just don’t know if that story’s gonna get clicks, ‘cause suuure, that’s the important thing to talk about, the fucking clicks, ‘cause what else are we here to-”
“Grandpa!” Noie nudged him away with a polite smile. “That’s really cool and important and all, but…” She glanced outside. “Um…”
He rolled his eyes, and got to his feet with an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, I can take a hint. Nobody wants to hear what Grandpa has to say, he should just shut up and go watch TV.”
“That’s not what I said!”
“You keep a close eye on Allie.” He pointed at her with the newspaper. “That’s what you agreed to, and maybe that’s not convenient or whatever, but it’s important, and you young people’ve gotta learn it’s not one or the other.”
“Young people? What are you even- I’m not gonna let her wander off, okay! Why do you think I’d ever do that?”
“You gotta learn, is all I’m saying.” David shuffled off, rubbing his back. “You gotta learn.”
“Alright, alright... sheesh.” Noie crossed her arms. “‘You young people’, oh, my stars. You think there was ever some old grump who said that to Grandpa back when he was a kid? Heh, I bet he was like ‘I wanna be just like you when I grow up!’”
There was no reply. She looked around, and saw Dipper wasn’t standing next to her… oh, right.
Tap, tap, tap.
Noie turned around, and saw her grandmother tapping on the glass. Allie smiled and waved at her when they made eye contact, and there was a flicker of a figure from behind a wall running down one side of the porch.
Oh, right.
She gulped, drew the blinds, and gingerly stepped outside.
The first thing she heard was, “Naomi!”
“Hi, uh, Granny. I-”
Arms came down and wrapped her in a hug. Allie squeezed her tight, tighter than she had in a long time. She tousled Noie’s hair and laughed; the sound was loud and loving, happy and carefree, and all the things Noie was going to say suddenly dried up on her tongue.
“It’s so good to see you!” Allie pulled back, and there was a shine in her smile. “Oh, wow, you’ve grown, haven’t you! Shot up like a seed, a seaweed!” She leaned forward. “You taller than Dipper yet?”
There was a lump in her throat. “I… um, I… I don’t... think so?”
“Aww, you should measure. Round your age, you’ll proberbe taller… pr-, properly? No, ‘probably’ ‘be’ taller.” She snorted to herself. “Words, Allie. What are we doing here?”
Noie just stared. It was strange, to see her grandmother like this: so animated, so responsive, so happy, so… herself.
Not because it was unfamiliar, because it wasn’t. Her hug, her laugh, her smile, and how it gave way to concern as she noticed the look on Noie’s face; this was all so, so familiar, and suddenly, she missed it so, so badly.
“Naomi? Sweetie?” Allie squeezed her shoulders. “What’s the matter?”
She just shook her head and hugged her Grandma. There were no words to explain it, and maybe Allie realised that, too; she just held Noie close, and rocked her a little, and for a moment, wrapped up warm and safe in her arms, everything really was okay.
Everything was as it should be.
Then Allie noticed someone. Noie felt her stiffen, and wiped her eyes before looking up questioningly.
She was frowning at the wall behind the porch… and the figure currently trying to flatten herself against it. The confusion slowly turned to recognition, and then:
“Is that… is that Lucy Ann? Oh, my stars!”
Wait, what?
Noie just had time to go, “Huh?” before she was almost pushed aside in a sudden dash over to the vampire. Lucy Ann stopped trying to hide; she stood up straight, and shot a glance at Noie before putting on her best smile and extending a hand.
“Uh, hi. Yeah, it’s me again.”
“Oh my stars, Lucy Ann!” Allie shook her hand vigorously, her words tumbling out of her mouth - almost nervously. “It’s- it’s an honour! I can believe I’m finely meaning you, I never fought I’d see- I… oh, where armyanners?” She gave one more firm shake, and her smile straightened into something more professional. “I’m Senator Aleksandra Argenta, from Southern Arizona. It really is a pleasure to meet you.”
With wide eyes, Noie watched Lucy Ann look from Allie’s disheveled grey hair down to her faded blue nightgown and bare feet, then dip her head and say: “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Senator. Big fan of your work.”
“You guys know each other?!”
Allie turned to Noie, and her smile brightened even further. “Oh, Naomi! You’re here!” She dashed up to her and gave her another huge hug. “It’s so good do see you! Howave you been? How’s school? Oh wow, you’ve gotten so much taller!”
“I-” Noie pointed at Lucy Ann. “I don’t… How do you…?”
Lucy Ann chuckled. “Oh, I might’ve made a couple names for myself over the years. I’m surprised you didn’t recognise me with a grandma this cool, though I’ll cut you some slack - I didn’t recognise Argenta either.” Her grin sharpened. “Guess I didn’t see the resemblance.”
“What?”
“Naomi, you have to meet this, this!” Allie took her hand and dragged her right up to the vampire. “This is Lushiann, she was instruments in taking down the Chancellor admini-uh-instrumentation acapple decades ago! Living histree!”
“What?”
“There was a very pro-nat President you guys elected a hundred years or so back.” Lucy Ann crossed her arms. “Me and a Mizar and some friends, we, uh, ‘took care’ of her.”
“Oh…” Naomi tried for a smile. “That’s nice. Good job?”
“Yeah, I’d say saving millions of preters from getting hunted down by the government was a pret-ty good job.”
“And we’re still fighting for pretrights.” Allie grumbled. “Laws from back then, they’re still on the books and peter-epresentation is still at history lows - you know itsstimated seventy percent of pre-transcendaged citisents are-egistered devote?”
“Seventeen percent registered to vote, yeah.” Lucy Ann shook her head. “Used to require everyone to have a US birth certificate, no exceptions, and, uh, that’s rather hard for folks whose birth certificate - if they had one - predates the United States.”
“I can’t believe that’s still alaw, I have a bill going through committeen right now to strike that one out.”
“Yeah, and it passed.”
“Oh, it passed?” Allie blinked, and then smiled. “Ohh, it did, didn’t it? That’s wonderful! Still a lot of work to do, though.”
Lucy Ann nodded. “You can say that again.”
“I’ll say it as many timesi need to.” She chuckled. “Some of my colleaks could use the reminder.”
The two of them laughed, and Noie just stared. The scene was too utterly bizzare for her to process; all she could think was what the fuck was going on?
There was a hand on her shoulder. Allie shot her a grin.
“Naomi, it’s so good to see you! Oh, my stars, you’ve come at such a good time!” She motioned to Lucy Ann. “This is Lucy Ann - you’verurdove Lucy Ann, right?”
Noie nodded weakly. “She took down a bad president?”
“A bad pro-nat president.” Lucy Ann added. “Don’t you forget that bit.”
“Sorry.”
“Lucy Ann was such an inspiritasion for me getting in-tolitics.” Allie sighed. “You know, my sister got bitten when she was for a teen, and it was such a rightmare getting anything done for her… I was like, Lucy Ann showed us a hundred yearsago this was unexpectable! Why’s she still gotta deal with this? Someone’s gotta changeings!” She laughed, and squeezed Noie’s shoulder. “And I know we got quite a promisting young lady here who-onts to... to do good change things too.”
Noie stiffened when Lucy Ann looked her way. “Uh…-”
“Oh, yeah? She’s gonna be a senator too?”
“I mean, I don’t know if I-”
“She’s certainly got it in her, if she wants to.” Allie beamed down at her. “You’re a talented young lady, Naomi. Don’t short your sell short, you’re going to do amazing things. You and Dipper, I can’t wait to see what you do.”
Noie didn’t know what to say to that. Lucy Ann pursed her lips.
“Well, you’re not wrong, she’d certainly fit right in as a politician.” She cleared her throat. “Uh, Senator?”
“Yes?”
“It’s been really, really great chatting with you… seriously, you have no idea how much I appreciate the company.” She gave a barking laugh, and picked at the blood under her fingernails. “But, uh, d’you think I could, y’know, speak with your granddaughter for a sec? One on one?”
“You want to do that?” Allie raised her eyebrows. “Oh, that sounds like exciting! What do you say, Nomi?”
Noie glanced at Lucy Ann, who was giving her a very hard look beneath that smile. She made a face.
“Uh, sure, I guess?”
“Naomi,” there was gentle laughter in her grandmother’s voice. “I think you can say that a littleit more politely.”
“...Yes? Thank you?”
Lucy Ann’s smirk was hard to look at. “Oh, don’t mention it. You know I’m here all day.”
“Really? What’s the occasion?”
“Don’t worry about it, Senator. I’ll, uh, tell you later.” Lucy Ann waved her away. “Give me a second with Noie, alright?”
“Oh, you want to talk with my granddaughter? That sounds exciting, Naomi, what do you-”
“I need to walk you back to Grandpa!” Noie tugged her towards the door. “Uh, I’ll be back in a second!”
Lucy Ann raised an eyebrow. “You’d better.”
“I-I will!” She opened the door for Allie. “Come on, Granny.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Grandpa! To, uh, David!” Slowly, Noie coaxed her into the house. “Come on!”
Allie frowned, but she let herself be led down the hall and into the living room. David gave her a wave when she sat Allie down next to him; he put his arm around his wife and looked back to the TV with a little grunt of thanks.
Noie was just walking away when she heard, “Can you ask Lucy Ann when she’s free?”
She spun around to stare at her, then at David. “Wh-what?”
“I’d love to see her again.” Allie smiled. “Maybe I can invite her over to our house. For tea.”
Noie just gaped at her grandmother, at a loss for words. After a moment, David waved her away.
“I got her, Naomi.” He squeezed Allie’s shoulder. “Good to have you back, I was… Uh, you wanna watch anything in particular? I’m just clicking through channels - so much of it’s a bunch of crap. Ugh.”
She backed up, staring at her grandmother for one more moment. Then she turned around and darted back through the halls and back outside.
Lucy Ann was waiting for her, feet right up against the open door and all pretense of a smile dropped from her face. She raised her eyebrows when she caught sight of Noie.
“Oh, you actually came back. Gotta admit, I was ninety percent sure you were just saying that.” She stepped to the side to let Noie through. “I was thinking of just screaming ‘DIPPER YOU’RE ALCOR’ through the door - y’know, since you left it open and all.”
She slid the door closed. “Um, please don’t do that.”
“Oh of course, it’d be very inconvenient for you, wouldn’t it.”
“No, that’s-! Look,” Noie threw her bag on the table and fished out the bloodpack. “I got this for you, so I’m not gonna let you die, alright? Everything’s going to be okay, so if you could just wait here a little longer, I’m working on a plan-”
“Of telling Dipper he’s Alcor?”
“No, but-”
“How long’s this plan gonna take?”
“Uh, I don’t think it’ll be too long-”
“Do you take constructive criticism?” She crossed her arms. “Or is it not quite out of the brainstorming stage?”
“Uh… look, I have it under-”
“No, you look, Noie!” Lucy Ann picked up the bloodpack with balled fists. “Look at this! This is insulting! I am not your pet! I am not going to stand in this fucking yard thirty feet from the only person who can actually help while you run around making stupid little plans that won’t fucking work!” She noticed Noie pressed up against the glass, and took a very deep breath. “Okay. Look, I am sorry this is so hard for you, but Dipper is Alcor, and an angel is trying to kill me, and I am sick and tired of sitting around in your yard doing nothing - I have a life to get back to!”
“I…” Noie gulped. “I’m sorry, I-”
“Don’t be sorry, just go get Alcor!” She stared Noie down. “Well?”
“Um, i-it’s just-”
“Ohhhh my starrrrs…” Lucy Ann dropped the bloodpack and kneaded her forehead. “How are you related to Senator Argenta? Just… how?”
“She’s… she’s my grandma?” Noie cringed when Lucy Ann started banging her head against a wall. “Uh… did you… did you actually know her?”
“Didn’t know her - I just met her this morning - but I knew of her, back when she was a senator.” She rested her head against the brick. “She did good work. And she was a real interesting lady to talk to, real passionate… I’m sorry she’s, y’know…”
“Alzheimer's.”
Lucy Ann sighed. “Yeah, I figured. That sucks, it really does.”
“It’s okay.”
“...You know, not everything has to be okay all the time.”
Noie didn’t know what to say to that. She stared at Lucy Ann, and after a moment, the vampire turned to look at her.
“Are you gonna go get Alcor for me?”
She said nothing, and watched Lucy Ann’s eyes go flat. The vampire looked down again, down at the floor, and suddenly it was hard to ignore how small she was. How young she seemed, in a dirty red shawl several sizes too big for her.
“Then I don’t know why you’re still standing there.”
That made Noie cringe. “Do, uh, do you want me-”
“To go? Yeah, I think that would be best.” She scuffed her feet against the porch. “I gotta lot of thinking to do: gotta figure out how to get to Alcor on my own and that’s… not easy. But hey, don’t let me stop you from living your life. Go inside.”
Noie stepped back. She stepped back again. She opened the door, and glanced over at Lucy Ann one more time-
“Seriously? Just go already!”
Then slid it shut and walked away with her arms clasped around her chest, cradling the deep, sinking feeling in her stomach.
This was fine. Or at least, it was going to be fine.
She just had to hold it all together for a few more days.
Just a few more days…