Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A light knocking on the door. “Oh! I’ll get that!”

With little hesitation, a teal-scaled dragon had hopped up from a couch and made a slight beeline for an apartment’s front door. Opening it, she was met with a strange-looking fellow.

A man with a light tan, close-to-mantis green short hair, a deep green sweater-vest with lighter green sleeves. Also wearing deep green fingerless gloves, brown shorts, similarly deep green boots, as well as a meadow green bowler hat adorned with a light green feather.

The last thing of note on him, other than traditionally green eyes, was a meadow green, leafy cloak of sorts - held together by a pale yellow brooch that resembled a musical note. Said cloak seemed to be concealing a bright green pair of tucked-in wings. “Right. Hello there. I believe this is where I’m meant to be staying?”

“Staying? Oh, you mean…”

The dragon snapped her claws (saying fingers would be odd here), before nodding. “I think I know what you mean! That house plan DID say five people were gonna be here. Better late than never!”

A light sigh escaped the green-clad man. “Oh. I’m late, then. What can you do, I suppose… Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Same here! Are you going to need any help with unpack- huh?”

Looking around the house’s patio, it didn’t appear that the newcomer had any packages with him. Only a leafy tote bag of sorts, which he was already rummaging around in. “I didn’t have anything of note to bring with me. But I do have the move-in form you requested. Speaking of,” he offered the sheet of paper to her. “What warrants this?”

“We can talk about that inside. Let’s move!”

After the duo moved forward into the house’s main room, the dragon had half-flung herself onto the couch. Her new companion chose to remain stood up, glancing around the room. It was a fairy open room, with a wooden floor half-covered by a dull pink carpet. The wallpaper was a light blue with a wavy pattern, which he considered to be a good complimentary duo.

The couch in itself was large and a dull red in colour, with about four cushions on it - teal, yellow, bright red and purple. There was also a black side table on either side of it, and a dark brown coffee table just in front of it.

Said couch was positioned in front of a wall-mounted TV, which rested above a dark brown shelving compartment - currently empty, anyhow. A staircase rested behind the location of the TV and couch duo, likely just… going upstairs.

Lastly, aside from the door he entered through, there was also a door leading off into another room from the side. “Hm. Not an awful place,” he muttered.

“Yeah, I know. Not much, but it’s home to us! We’re mostly using the money we get from hosting our games to work towards home improvements. Because… I don’t know, I GUESS those guys at Jackbox pay us to host this stuff?”

“First time I’ve heard of such a thing. Acceptable, however.”

“I’m not even USED to using money yet.”

The dragon then placed the earlier ‘move-in form’ onto the coffee table, before placing her own one down. “So, seems your name is… Avery? Sorry, your handwriting’s a little hard to make out.”

Avery nodded at the comment. “Yes. And you’re a… Tournament Mistress…?”

“...It’s a formality thing. You can shorten it!”

“So… how about Misty?”

“That’ll do! It’s just like… what’s-her-name did!”

As she mused, her face fell. “Oh my god.”

“Um…?”

“I HAVEN’T KNOWN ANYONE’S NAME UNTIL NOW! SORRY, GIVE ME A SECOND!”

Avery watched her take off from the couch and shoot upstairs, slightly shocked at her flight capabilities. He was left in awkward silence before a slight sliding noise caught his attention, with somebody new sliding down the stair banister.

A strange looking girl… She was wearing a grayish red trench coat, unbuttoned so that he could see she was wearing a deep grey jumpsuit below it. She also had dark… blue, he’d say blue, ankle boots on, plus a pair of black gloves.

Strangest thing of all, she had some white cube-like helmet on. It had a black hemisphere on it, which held a bright red pupil upon it. On the side of her helmet was a deep red square, patterned with a brighter red ‘X’ on it. The side of her helmet also had air vents on it.

Some form of red antennae rested upon her helmet, as well as a smaller black rod next to it. Her actual skin, which was visible thanks to it not being a full-head helmet, also had a tanned kind of tone to it. To conclude her image, she seemed to have neon red, shoulder-length hair.

And judging by how she slid down a banister before jumping off, managing a forward flip and nailing the landing, she was quite the athletic type.

“...Hello?” Avery said.

The newcomer glanced his way, before double-taking somewhat. “Oh. You’re the fifth guy who’s meant to be here, right?”

“Yes, I am…”

“Nice. It’s been a while since the last guy showed up.”

Following in the helmet-donner’s footsteps, a new person had emerged from the staircase, though just by walking as opposed to sliding down the railing. She was also similarly tanned, while having her neon yellow hair tied up in a thunderbolt-shaped ponytail. Hell, even her bangs looked thunderbolt-shaped.

She was wearing a red sleeveless hoodie, adorned with a lightning-shaped patch, and a tritoned tube top beneath it - blue, yellow and red from top to bottom. This was paired with a pair of white trousers, yellow rubber-toed sneakers with blue laces, and a pair of black fingerless gloves adorned with yellow cuffs.

Also, her eyes were red with bright yellow highlights at their bottom. A weird combo, but Avery HAD just met a dragon a few minutes ago. “Whoa, fresh blood? It’s been a MINUTE, let me tell-”

“I already said that to him.”

“Damn it!”

Following her was the now-dubbed Misty, who had flown back onto the couch with a frustrated exhale. “GUYS. I think I can safely say I’ve fucked up by asking you guys to fill those forms out, intending to use it to get to know you guys, and I just totally forgot to LOOK at them! So, I figured… Why not get to know each other now?”

A light murmur filled the room, with the thunder-haired girl holding out her form. “You can go ahead, then! At least let us know you.”

“Least I can do after this mess-up… Here.”

With that, she introduced herself properly. Using her tournament title (but then thanking everyone for shortening it to Misty), as well as a few other facts. Turns out she was a pretty big fan of sports, fashion, and she also apparently had a somewhat maternal side to her.

“...lastly, I can assume my birthday is June 24th! That’ll do it for me.”

“Assume…?”

“Well, I’m a dragon. Our lifespans are really complicated when you try to look at them. But I think it’s about… ten dragon years is about one human year? So, I’m… hm… About 35 in human years. ‘Happy 350th birthday’ doesn’t sound right.”

“So, we’ll just say you’re 35? Neat. Okay, I’m doing things next!”

Again, it was that thunderbolt-headed girl who grabbed her form after Misty had finished up on her reading.

She went by Lexy, and she happened to be fond of programming and visiting arcades. Quite a lazy person, she’d admit, but not in an awful way. Just mildly annoying at worst.

“Birthday stuff… December 12th! And we’re done here. Redhead, you give it a shot!”

The aforementioned redhead inhaled sharply through her teeth. “Sheesh. The fact we seriously didn’t know each other’s names until now is… weird. But whatever, give me that.”

After scooping her form up, she had moved to a more open part of the room. Turns out she was called Jerri, and was pretty into studying history and… thrifting. Not an obvious hobby, by the sight of her… Also, a decent person in slight-asshole’s clothing.

“And I guess my birthday’s February 28th. Okay, there. Now, where exactly is HE…”

“I’m right here?,” Avery replied. “Am I not leaving a strong impression?”

“Not you.”

While Jerri’s bluntness answered his question quickly, Avery was still a bit annoyed.

One of the forms on the table abruptly lifted itself up, surrounded by a light purple aura. Someone quietly clearing their throat was heard from atop Misty’s draconic mane, which nobody really commented on - letting the seemingly invisible figure talk.

Wanted the others to call him ‘MM’, and he sounded very calm. Apparently, he was also into theatrics and literature, which painted… quite the picture for an invisible guy. After declaring his birthday to be April 23rd, Lexy had scoffed lightly.

“How on earth did you even hide up there? You HARDLY camouflage with the colour of her hair!”

“Mane. And, well, it worked. Don’t knock an idea until you try it.”

A light, grey-ish violet pair of eyes had hovered down from Misty’s mane, donning a tired expression. “Talking to people head-on has never been a strength of mine, by any means. My thanks for accommodating me, Mistress.”

“N-No problem? But you can just call me Misty…”

“Never mind that. We finally have a new-”

“We’ve both said that already.”

MM sighed. “...a new arrival. You may as well take your turn, shouldn’t you?”

“I shall. Now then.”

Following that, Avery recounted what he wrote upon his form. His name, his passions surrounding nature and music, and a description of him being formal and blunt simultaneously.

“Lastly, my birthday is May 11th. It’s an honour to be here.”

“It’s just living here,” Lexy added, “it’s not a HUGE thing. Not like it’s mandatory! We can just go between here and home on a whim, anyway.”

“Hm. Useful!”

Letting the positive mood hover for a while, Misty eventually stood up. “Right then! Thanks for putting up with my stupidity… Looks like we all know each other at a glance now, so things will hopefully be less awkward!”

The group seemed to agree with this, before her excited tone dropped down a little. “Anyway, uh, you can get back to what you were doing now. I’ll show Avery around. If we show up at your rooms, that’ll be why.”

“Gotcha!” “Fair enough.” “Go ahead.”

As the other trio had gone back upstairs again, the dragon sighed. “Okay! How about we get going?”

“I believe we should. Lead the way, if you will.”

…So, well, yeah. They just spent the rest of the morning… slash-afternoon-ish time period… getting Avery adjusted to this new batch of chaos. Albeit, it was tamer for the time being, while tinted with awkwardness from everyone only just having met each other formally.

Though, you could easily ask, why specify the timeframe like that?

You see…

Chapter Text

Somebody had a very, very stupid idea. That’s why.

“So, I’m pretty sure you’re asking. How is a sleepover gonna work when we live in the same house? Easy. We just do it, like… down there.”

The group of five were left overlooking the main lounge from atop the landing area at the top of the stairs. The one who proposed this idea, Lexy, had leant against the railings that accompanied their overlooking spot.

“I see the appeal, anyway! We get whatever stuff we have, shove it down there for a night, and make up for Misty’s blunder with the cards. We down or what?”

An awkward silence fell over the area, followed by Misty sighing. “It does seem like a good idea and all! I’m just unsure of what those three think.”

“What, introvert central?” Her response was rapid and snappy, but she hummed briefly. “Actually, no. Still introvert central, but she’s definitely ambiverted. Don’t know about-”

A spare pillow was abruptly tossed across the room, slamming into Lexy’s face and making her stumble to the ground. Not over the railings, obviously… Jerri didn’t have murderous intent with that.

Speaking of her, she had grabbed that pillow back up and shrugged. “Y’know, you CAN just ask us outright if you want. Or, well, I guess we’d prefer you just did. Either way, I’m in. You can ask the others on your own.”

“HEY, COME ON!”

Alas, she had already left the scene.

After sighing and sitting up, Lexy had turned to MM and Avery. “So, um… How do you two feel about things?”

Judging by the silence afterwards, she could have gauged up a response easily. Though she just chose to wait instead, which was met by MM sighing.

“I suppose so.” He replied.

“It’d be quite complex to argue with a crowd in agreement,” Avery added. “I will also entertain your idea.”

After getting those verbal confirmations, she leapt back up and laughed. “Haha, yes! You four aren’t gonna regret this!” She had then sped off to her own room, undoubtedly in preparation for this.

With that, the first stupid thing this quintet had agreed upon had been set into motion.

A few hours later, a frustrated ‘hup’ filled the main lounge as Lexy tossed down a handful of roughly two blankets onto the floor.

Her own attire had obviously been swapped, for a more cozy and sleepover-appropriate one. She had ditched her goggles and ponytail, having let the latter down for a more wavy and loose hairstyle.

She had also donned a plain white tank top adorned with a lemon pattern, a black pair of knee-high shorts as well as a mismatched pair of red and white socks. Anyone could make fun of Lexy’s look for all she cared.

Comfiness is comfiness! That’s a personal hill she’d be happy to die on.

“Right. Now, waiting for those guys to show up should be easy.”

She paused. “Unless…”

She cautiously grabbed one of the pillows from her pile, taking a surprising amount of caution into mind with the action. Then, when she thought she had a good opportunity to act, she spun in place and hurled the pillow behind her.

To her glee, a result! “GAH, YOU-”

A distressed sound that was closest to ‘brbrbrbr’ (as if shaking themselves free of the shock) had met her pillow crashing into them, before hovering up on its own and being thrown back at her. Lexy simply stepped out of the way, before laughing maniacally.

“I KNEW that was gonna yield some good results! But not as good as THAT!”

MM didn’t give Lexy anything back, other than staring her down for a few seconds. He wasn’t really wearing anything special - she didn’t know how that would even work.

After catching her breath, Lexy had noticed Avery floating down from that landing area whilst carrying his own stuff with him. Must’ve been unpacking when she didn’t notice, for him to have all of this new stuff with him.

Lo and behold, another outfit change as well.

For a start, he wasn’t wearing that hat anymore. If anything, he was going for more of a…ehh… traditional look? He’d just swapped what he had on for white nightwear with green stripes on it. You know, vertical ones.

It’s like the ones that a cartoon character wears…? Okay, Lexy had to stop overanalysing outfits. But he also had those kinda socks that’re colored at the toes - green, in his case.

“That’s certainly a… look, you got there!”

As Avery landed, he dropped his own blankets and such on top of Lexy’s. “Truth be told, I would have ideally stayed in my previous attire. It’s how I would have done things back at the forest, that’s all.”

The comment only served to confuse her, and make MM glance over at him for a moment.

Giving it another second, a good few more blankets had abruptly turned the previously small pile into a miniature mountain of just… pure, fluffy chaos. The trio from downstairs were confused, before some upstairs chatter added some clarification to it.

“You sure you’re balanced there?! I-I’ll go ahead a bit, just to make sure you’ll land safely!”

“I’ll be fine, stop freaking out! Now, something cool to say while… oh whatever, screw it!”

That was followed by a red blur crashing down from the air, and crashing into the mountain of blankets - before abruptly bursting out with a gasp. Lexy gave her a second before blinking. “You said your name was Jerri, right?”

“Uh, yep?”

“Geronimo could’ve worked, y’know?”

“...honestly, fuck you.”

Misty had flown down after the two had shut up, even revealing that she had bothered to try dressing up for this. That was just by swapping her red hoodie for a green one, sure… But it was a decent swap, for what she had available.

Of course, so did that redheaded adrenaline junkie. She just stuck to an oversized, red and black striped T-shirt, plus some white leggings underneath it. There were also… pretty short socks.

She seemed aware of their weirdness, just sighing. “C’mon… Tall ones squash down and stuff. One of the worst things I’ve honestly ever felt. Anyway, we’re all here and all, so… What’s the agenda now, Sleepover Girl?”

Lexy snickered a bit. “Typical sleepover stuff, duh! Just talk about stuff, get to know each other, hang out overall! Since you asked, you can give us a decent conversation starter!”

In response, Jerri just blinked and sighed before sitting down. ‘Shit,’ she thought to herself.

‘What’ll even cater to these weirdos…’

She then clapped abruptly. “That one streaming service, it, uh… like, shut down recently, y’know?”

Misty blinked. “There’s a lot, y’know? Which one?”

“You know… OBSESSED with pink?”

Those three words caused a collective sigh of relief among the group. This served to lighten up Jerri’s mood, despite her anxieties. “Okay, so we can all agree it was a bunch of crap?”

“Agreed.”

“Those good-for-nothing CEOs were ASSIMILATING people into a content database,” Lexy added. “Or so the rumours went. You’d have to be crazy or brainwashed to think them shutting down is a bad thing! ‘Sides, some nerd’s probably pirated that crap anyway.”

“So, you’re saying nothing of value was lost?”

“Oh, I’m saying EXACTLY that!”

“Jeez, you guys aren’t as half as bad as I thought you’d be!”

After that conversation trailed on for a while more, the group seemed to have fallen into a flow of genuinely just wanting to hang out.

It certainly hadn’t been an awful idea on Lexy’s end, and she was inexplicably proud of that much.

So, riding the wave of conversation, she perked up. “Okay, new idea! You guys got any specific music tastes?”

“I think I’ve heard of this one overseas band before,” Misty replied. “Like uh… sunset-based? Rock music? Well, this is inconvenient.”

After thinking, Lexy snapped her fingers. “Nah, got it. Afterglow, yep?”

“Ohh, yeah, that’s the one! That band-franchise thing has really good music overall. Hold on, you’re even vaguely aware of them as well?!”

“Duh! But what about you three?” Lexy’s question was now asked with her lying on her back, yet awkwardly tilting her head back to look at the remaining crew.

“...well, I suppose I’ve a fondness for classical music.”

“Okay, go on.” Lexy’s tone dropped. “If we can talk about a fictional rock band without judgement, classical music’s just… real different,”

A beat.

“It’s good for focusing, you know. Helpful for getting a job done.”

That said, MM’s general manner of speaking did seem a lot more closed-off and dry all of a sudden.

A fact that didn’t go unnoticed. “Uh… You doing okay there, MM?”

“Fine, I’d say… if slightly dehydrated. Since you brought that up, Lexy, could you go grab me something to drink?”

“Uh, sure?” She was a little skeptical, but brushed it away. “Anything you’d prefer?”

“Just water.”

“Gotcha!”

As Lexy got off and walked away, the remaining quartet had waited in silence. A moment of unusual peace, really.

Well, maybe unless-

“GYAH!”

A pillow had been tossed up into the air through MM’s telekinetic powers, before having being thrown head-on at Lexy. Since she hadn’t gotten to grabbing that water yet, no serious harm had been done.

Didn’t change how she felt, though…

“HEY, C’MON! How necessary was that?!”

“You mustn’t count a man out just because he’s quiet,” MM chuckled. “That is STRATEGY!”

“Okay, fuck your water, you and I have business to settle! C’mere!”

The duo had rapidly abandoned their previous plans, snatching up nearby pillows and just starting to go all-out on the offensive with one another.

Thus leaving Misty and Avery incredibly confused in their own right - yes, there was a reason only those two were mentioned.

“...wait, she managed to just fall asleep with all of this just erupting? Have to admit, that takes some guts…”

“Guts or not, we’re moving to the couch.” Misty had flown onto the couch, having dragged Avery and Jerri up with her. “These two seem like they’ll be at it for a while - and I personally don’t want to imagine what she’d do if woken up and roped into it.”

“She jumped down from a balcony into a pile of cushions and LIVED!” Avery whisper-shouted. “She would kill us.”

“...I doubt that, but sure.”

Well, uh…

That was essentially what marked the end of the sleepover’s events. Lexy and MM had just fought their hearts out in a one-way pillow fight before eventually just collapsing on the couch as well.

And, no, all those pre-gathered pillows and blankets never went to waste. Avery and MM had combined their efforts to at least bundle the quintet up before passing out properly.

All in all, it went pretty well.

Chapter Text

A quiet yet homely room.

Most of the colours a muted shade of red or grey, with a lot of the room being taken up by a dedicated computer setup and workbench.

A whole wall lined with clocks, some running and some inactive. None of which ticking loudly - if anything, it’s better to keep ‘em silent.

Dim lighting, a silent atmosphere…

And a girl donning an oversized T-shirt holed up like an idiot. Well, it was 12:30am, what do you expect?

Either way, she couldn’t get any rest.

“This… isn’t really new,” she thought. “I usually pass out around now, but the head… the head isn’t doing it.”

Sitting up with a sigh, the blankets she was bundled up in fell away from her body. Then, idly tapping at her helmet, she kept talking to herself.

“C’mon… get tired already, you- huh?”

A certain spot caught Jerri’s attention.

Felt… wrong. She could usually tell how, but not this time.

Just wrong.

Following a sharp breath, she had pulled off her helmet and looked it over with her good eye. Sure enough, one side of it had developed a sort of crack.

Now, see, that wasn’t a tremendous problem. Jerri had welded and mended her helmet too many times to count by now, to the point of it becoming almost second nature.

But now, and so late at night…

Something about that didn’t click right with her head.

She huffed silently before getting out of bed, putting her helmet down onto her workbench area. After that, she had just slumped back into bed with a frustrated groan.

“This isn’t even a PROBLEM,” she thought. “You have the time to fix it, the knowledge to fix it, but nope.” She glanced down at her hands.

“You just have to do this, huh.”

…

Damn it. This was going to get her pillow all dampened again.

It was just a… habit, she thought. Like-

[Knock knock.]

Ugh.

“I-I, uh… now’s not a good time!”

With a panicked tone, Jerri had hopped back up and pressed her back against the door. She didn’t even know who this was, yet she was just as panicky as prior.

But the kind of response she’d have for each of ‘em… Decent, bad, awful and who-even knows.

“Look, you’re probably just sleepwalking or… something! Can’t really come out and help, so, uh… you’re on your own!”

“...you sound as if you’ve been crying.”

Oh dear.

Count that as the awful response.

“Pssht, c’m- c’mon! At 12:30? Who cries at THAT time of night?! It’s not a designated crying time! That nine times out of ten isn’t a thing people do. Right?”

An awkward pause followed, then being broken by a soft sigh from outside.

“...look. I’d like to come in and investigate.”

“You, uh… you really don’t have to-”

She couldn’t so much as stumble away from her door in surprise when it opened from behind her, a pair of eyes (literally) sneaking through the narrow gap.

Thus meeting Jerri in her helmet-less form.

…

Was she going to start crying again? Just because of that?

It’s just one change.

ONE change.

Normal people don’t cry to themselves at 12:30 in the night because of something they never expected! Something they know can be fixed!

Was that why she couldn’t sleep? Why does her body know everything is wrong before her head does?!

Why on earth was she having this kind of breakdown NOW of all times, anyway? Does time travel accumulate a karma she never read up about?!

And she isn’t WEIRD without that helmet or whatever! Just looks different! Sure, it made her feel safe and cool whenever she wore it, but she can live without that! Normal people can!

She- She was normal, right?!

…

What?

What just happened? She was still crying, but…

“You were hyperventilating.”

“What… what the hell did you do?”

“I doubt you fully registered it,” MM’s tone was as dull and quiet as usual. “But I was assisting you through some breathing exercises to help get yourself back on track.”

“I...thanks? I- I guess.”

Well, it did work, whatever he did. Now that Jerri actually thought, things did feel a bit suffocate-y when she was spiralling just now.

Though she found herself glancing back at her helmet, with MM’s gaze following hers.

“...something’s wrong with that helmet, is it?”

“Not… not totally,” she murmured while sitting back down. “I can fix that up easily. Just…”

“Bad timing?”

“...I guess that’s the word, yeah.”

Bad timing. HAD to be bad timing… 12:30 isn’t the ideal kind of ‘bad timing’ at all.

“I always, uh… freak out when that thing gets damaged.”

“Why, exactly?”

A sigh. “Never worked that out. I just feel… don’t know, safe when I wear that thing. I know it’s a sturdy piece of work, and little scratches like this won’t be the end of it. But I just LOOK at it being outta whack, and…”

She trailed off, curling in on herself somewhat. “I just want to fix it and go to sleep. Damn it…”

After hovering over to it, MM had shut her room’s door. It was dark enough that he didn’t need to dim any lights, which saved him some effort.

“Well… Do you feel as if you can’t sleep until your helmet is fixed?”

“That sounds about right, I think.”

“Then I say you should get that over with. Not wise to suggest you just sleep when this is bothering you.”

After nodding, Jerri had just gotten up and stretched out. MM had kept his distance as she silently worked on her helmet’s repair work.

Part of him theorised she wasn’t usually silent during all this.

Either way, after about twenty minutes..:

“...there. That’s that done.”

That minor crack had been fixed, basically unrecognisable amidst a few other stray bumps and scratches. She was satisfied, anyway.

So moving back to her bed, she just immediately bundled herself up in those blankets again. “Whew… Better.”

“That’s good to know. Will you be okay in terms of getting rest?”

“Should be? I know you mess with that kinda stuff, but can you…” She exhaled in frustration. “...help? Not in the way I know you usually do it, just-”

“Perhaps.” MM had moved down onto some of her blankets. “I mean, it’s good we haven’t made direct eye contact when my eyes are all silvery like this. That’s when my usual powers are their strongest.”

“Seriously? So it’s not just a design choice when you look all… yellow-y and infected?”

“No. Also, you think I look infected like that?”

“Sorta.” A laugh had seeped into her tone. “But, uh… how does that work anyway? I’m kinda feeling like background noise to just shut my head up tonight, y’know?”

MM paused, before nodding. “Well, I picked up on the right way to stare at people in order to grab their attention, but…”

…

Between a blur of waking and sleeping, some quiet thoughts echoed.

‘Strange guy. Didn’t comment on how I looked under that - or how I really freaked out. Then again, I’ve known him for a few months now.’

…

‘Huah… either way, I’m exhausted. So, where was I before all this? Oh yeah, trying to get some sleep. Welp, don’t mind me…’

Chapter Text

April 23rd, 2025. 9:37am.

Tucked away in the darker corners of a certain beachside host’s abode, a particular figure had only just seemed to wake up.

“Ghk… it’s nearly two hours after I usually get up. What on Earth…?”

MM shook off his fatigue and confusion, before stretching out to the best of his ability. Sure, that was just stretching his eyebrows, but… hey, whatever works for a guy.
He knew well what day it was, despite his lack of reaction.

Slipping out from his room, he was immediately met with Misty’s looming figure. “So, it’ll be finished by 1pm, then… O-Oh, you finally got up!”

“Yes. Is my lateness a problem to you…?”

“No, n-NO, don’t worry about it! By the way, uhh… happy birthday, gotta go!”

So she had just flown off downstairs at an unusually rapid pace. MM sighed softly to himself at her uncharacteristic panic. He wasn’t really bothered about celebrating his birthday, in all honesty. Besides, he didn’t just magically change overnight, so what was worth celebrating?

But the panic in that dragon’s eyes told him enough about the rest of the day.

“...definitely a party,” he murmured. “I really would have thought you would have been able to hide that better…”

With the element of surprise now as good as dead, MM made his way downstairs for the sake of breakfast.

While re-acquainting himself with his most trusted associate (formally known to others as a coffee machine), some other clamouring in the kitchen had captured his attention.

“C’mon! It’s not that hard to draw a star, is it?!”

“You’re not helping this either, you know! These are hands made for CONDUCTING, not for cake decorating!”

“If you mess up this cake, I’ll make you eat your hands!”

“What are you two doing in there?”

The door to the dining room slammed shut at MM’s comment, with the similar sound of Lexy slamming HERSELF against the door to keep it shut. “None of your business, man! Just go drown in some coffee or something!”

“Y-Yes, yes,” Avery added, “it’s nothing to worry about…”

“Very well.”

On finishing up his ideal breakfast for the day (being fresh coffee and a scrambled egg sandwich of all damned things), MM had returned to his room in silence. Wouldn’t want to disturb the obvious party prep going on.

If Misty’s jumpiness hadn’t explained it, those two blathering on about a cake gave him the message even clearer than before.

…still, since he knew the party was a THING now, he hoped that it was a chocolate cake. Always a treat, that… ooh, or maybe coffee cake existed? No, wait, was that just a fancier word for tirimasu? That'd be even better, actually!

“...G-GAH! Snap out of it, you… you CAN’T be excited for some silly party, can you?”

Because he was talking to himself, MM got no answer.

Whilst eating that sandwich of his to ground himself from such nonsensical excitement, he realised something new. Since Misty was seemingly handling overall prep, while Lexy and Avery were doing cake-related business…

…where was SHE?

Holstering some incredible timing, a basic-looking package slipped through his ajar door. Judging by the light ‘thunk’ of some-helmet trying to poke itself through the same door, he knew who his mailperson was.

“Package came through for you. Birthday stuff?”

“Mhm. Wait, why didn’t you just tell me that it came? Like… no ‘hey, package for MM’? God, that sounded so immature.”

“Because THAT came at the same-” The sound of breathing in through gritted teeth was overheard. “Ooh, uh… no reason. Just DON’T go anywhere near the living room at 1pm, alright?”

“...if it’s about the surprise, Jerri, then I’m… actually, nevermind. I-”

“You sure that you know?”

“Hm?”

That said, she had left without explaining any further. She at least shut the door behind her, which he could always appreciate.

MM blinked in confusion, before just quietly opening the package that he was given. “Aha! Just as I ordered for myself. Well, with what’s going on later today… I suppose I might as well.”

Having spent such a calm and passive morning to himself, the time had shifted to 1pm before he even knew it. Now donning a black, glittering tophat and cape (both adorned with purple accents, he deemed himself party-fit.

So now in the hallway that hung over the living room, he figured he should play it innocent. “Uh… hellooo, anybody? What’s with all the radio silence?”

No reply.

“...really, now, what are you all up to? You being this quiet, no offense, is impossible.”

Again, no response.

“...oh, that does it. I’m coming down to see what you’re doing!”

So he promptly popped out of reality, before re-appearing in the living room to find…

…nothing had changed.

“H-Huh?”

It didn’t matter how often MM blinked in shock or whipped his gaze around the room. It was just… empty! No decorations, no signs of the others, not even the slightest hint of… ANYTHING!

Had there really been no party planned all along…?

“I… I can’t believe it,” he gasped. “I really thought that they… no, no. I mustn’t let it bother me too much. It wouldn’t have made a lot of difference, regardless… h-hm?”

Glancing at the floor in disappointment, MM’s sight caught hold of a black piece of card resting upon the carpet. Lifting it up, he simply saw an arrow that pointed in the direction of the garden.

Looking around a final time just in case, he decided to heed the call of mystery and make his way outdoors.

Even more confusingly, the garden door was open… but pitch-black on the outside. Yet MM cautiously wandered into the dark regardless.

“...h-hello? Is this where you’ve-”

The quiet ignition of a flame caught his attention, with him hesitantly turning around to find-

“Well, well… we’ve been expecting you, you know.”

“Y-YOU FOUR?! Why- Why are you here?! Why is it so dark, and why do you feel the need to light a…”

Glancing down, the first thing he saw was a cake clad in deep purple icing, and decorated with a starry pattern. The flame was just for the sake of lighting a lone, moon-shaped candle atop it.
In general, the dark area was also soon lit up by some soft strings of light upon the ceiling - revealing itself to have been a tent with a tunnel leading into it all along. Thus creating a majestic, eerie and yet serene party environment. Even with a few presents and spare pillows scattered around, too.

That, and the others were clad in equally dark, starry ensembles.

“Well,” Misty started, “we- we didn’t know if we’d be able to surprise you at first with how observant you were… b-but we decided that making a fake party up to hide the REAL party was a good idea, so-”

“Uh… Misty, look at him.”

“Oh?”

Avery’s comment wasn’t in vain, as MM had just taken on a bit of a sparkly-eyed look. If it could be described in words… well, you could leave that for MM to describe shortly after a soft sigh.

“G-Goodness… to think even I could be outsmarted like such, and in such a kind-hearted way… It’s truly enough to warm an enigmatic man’s heart.”

“Why are you speaking like a grandfather on the brink of death, man?!”

“Lexy, I’m having a genuinely happy moment. Just… look, can I call the shots for what we get up to first?”

“Be our guest, magic man.”

So, that afternoon was spent with MM calling the shots for the celebration that he totally, TOTALLY hadn’t been secretly yearning for all long.

He had started by the choice of investigating the gifts that everyone else had offered out to him. It turned out that he was the type to warrant receiving a star-clad weighted blanket, some lavender bathrobe, a textbook on the history of magic (who even knows how that exists), as well as a CD containing some classical music.

No points for guessing who had given him what.

Things had then led into cake-eating. While the cake had turned out to be a vanilla flavour as opposed to the chocolate or coffee that he PROMISED he hadn’t been dreaming of receiving from his new friends, it’d be stupid to not be grateful for it.

After the group had dispersed, MM was left to his own devices in the tent. After all, it was his ideal location to just mellow out for a while outside of his own room. Dark, quiet, mystical… perfect, no?

While investigating the decorations, some kind of fluffy… thing was found resting behind a spare pillow. Lifting it up with his powers, it certainly wasn’t what he had expected.

Some kind of… big, stuffed plushie of an arctic fox. Didn’t say who it was from, but…

“...oh my goodness. You’re… quite the beautiful thing, aren’t you?”

It was only safe to assume that it was his. Though, something new was for certain.

“Hm… between you and I, I’ll refer to you as… how about moonlight. Mhm, that will do. Well, I suppose I had better make use of all of these comforting things I’ve been given… may have slept in earlier, but a little extra won’t be my death. Let’s see, now…”

He hadn’t been happier to be tricked in his whole life.

Chapter Text

“Hm… yes. I do believe a bit of a reunion is in order for us both. Let me see… Yes, there it is. Winds of Life, cast out the tune of Subconce Memoria as I sleep tonight… So that I can finally tell him. And now… the concerto begins anew.”

— — —

This particular mess started with waking up.

“Hmm… gah. Goodness’ sake…”

Quite notably, everything felt… really weird, even though he was clearly at home. Nothing that he could put his finger on, though.

“...this won’t do. I need to get some fresh air in…”

So upon standing up and stretching out his wings, Avery slipped over to his balcony and opened up the door to it.

Seemed fine. The balcony was still intact, that wood was firm, and the only damn sight that he could see beyond the balcony was a pitch black expanse.

“...never mind,” he muttered. “I may as well be dead. That, or the world ended… But while I was asleep? I’m not THAT light of a sleeper… Seriously, I can’t so much as breathe without waking Lexy up sometimes.”

Despite this, he still hopped up onto the balcony before flying down onto the dark grass below. It still felt slightly unusual, mind, but this didn’t exactly feel… bad.

That said, though, it wasn’t totally silent out here. He could definitely pick up the sound of a waterfall from…

…oh, come on, in the void?

“Well, I… If I AM actually dead, then… ah, no. Hang on.”

Avery sighed before looking down at his hands. Five fingers on the left hand, an utter mess on the right…

“Not dead,” he sighed. “Just dreaming… So, I suppose it won’t hurt, will it?”

So once again, he flew off into the darkness.

It took him a few minutes of flying, but he eventually arrived at a quiet, secluded neck of the woods. Somehow.

The central point of which was, to be expected, a glittering waterfall - hell, even the way the thing flowed felt melodic.

To be expected, especially from what he had heard a few minutes ago. While it was louder here, it somehow felt… quieter? Something was definitely afoot with the waterfall.

Like life itself was flowing through it…

A sharp flap of wings from behind him caused him to turn around in a heartbeat.

Behind him stood a surprisingly tall man, adorned in green clothes - from cloak to boots - that glowed with soft green and blue highlights. Well, the cloak was glowing, anyway.

His deep teal hair swept around with a familiar style to a certain time traveller that Avery knew, as well as also being adorned with a peacock feather.

But the most notable thing to him was that he had huge, bright turquoise wings at his back, as well as a bird-like tail - both also glistening with a peacock-like pattern.

“G-Great Cycle…!”

This man was the “Great Cycle”, a guardian of life, and had served as Avery’s guide in the early days of his career - known by others as Avastrice Cantore.

As opposed to his usual stoic and grand demeanour, Avastrice beamed abruptly and wrapped his wings around him. “Avery! How marvellous it is to see you again!”

“G-Great Cycle?” he asked. “What is… What is the meaning of this?”

“Meaning? Let’s not worry about that… How has living with those new friends of yours been? Haven’t been too much, have they?”

“Well… no. Misty keeps things orderly, Lexy certainly spices things up, Jerri is… definitely a wildcard, and that Mentalist is far more musically sound than I had guessed.”

“Simply marvellous! But that said, you have to be exhausted by now…”

“Hm… n-no, I don’t believe that I am.”

“Better safe than sorry, now. Here, let me show you to someplace comfier.”

So Avastrice flew up above the waterfall, with Avery in pursuit. They found a large flower floating upon the glistening river, which they both sat down upon.

In particular, Avery sighed and slumped forward, resting on his arms as he stared down at his reflection in the water.

…pretty garbled.

And too shiny to really focus on.

“...you know you’ve more than earned your right to rest and relax, don’t you?”

“Hm?”

“You know, Avery… back when you were first born, I always assumed you to simply be a mere vessel to grow up and take on the powers of the Cycle of Life. While that has proven to be the case… I have also started to see you as my own son in this time. One who conducts his job with pride, grace and efficiency… One of which I could not be prouder of.”

“I-I’m… your what now?!”

“Quiet now… You have worked more than hard enough in your life, Avery. I’m sorry I never explained that you are allowed to relax when there is no work to be done.”

It shouldn’t have made Avery want to tear up, but… he was doing so anyway. But… But why? Why did this feel so freeing…? Like a weight was lifted off of his wings after who knows how long?

The Great Cycle shouldn’t see him like this… Crying his eyes out for such a silly reason. So he buried in on himself.

Avastrice sighed at the sight. Yes… it had been his fault that he had never truly explained that Avery had the liberty to relax in his life, So he had cast upon the Subconce Memoria to allow him to talk to his… Well, son figure.

So he had wrapped him up in his wings once more, offering a silent embrace.

After some time, he scooped Avery up and took flight to the hollow of a random tree. He set down the fellow conductor in a cozy, dimly-lit area that was fresh out of a fantasy novel.

But…

…had he already fallen asleep on the way up here? He really had to have been exhausted all along.

So Avastrice nodded, opting to simply tuck him in for now.

“...dream as this may be… in reality, you’re free to relax as you wish. You always have been… so, for now, sleep tight. Don’t forget to tend to your duties when the need arises, of course…” He whispered.

“...mph… mhm…”

“That’s the spirit… rest well, now.”

With that, Avastrice fluttered out and sat upon a nearby tree branch, starting to hum a simple melody to himself.

Somehow, the forest was lit aglow thanks to that little tune…

Even for a dream, it was truly beautiful to behold.

— — —

In reality, morning broke once again.

“...hey, you getting up?” A familiar, lively voice rang through Avery’s bedroom. “It’s, like, 9am… 9:30, anyway. You’re usually up by now… hweh?”

By the looks of things, he was still sound asleep.
With a stupid little grin on his face, too.

Not dead! Lexy knew her way around checking pulses.

Still… his room did have pretty big windows, and she didn’t feel like letting him get disturbed from any outside light. So she closed the curtains, warranting a soft hum from the conductor.

“...you seem real cozy for once.”

It didn’t seem to let up, so Lexy nodded and slipped out of the room while she still had a chance.

“Whew! I swear, listening to that sleep-humming for long enough can knock a girl out… Well, he’ll wake up on his own. Let’s get back to work!”

Chapter Text

Amidst the lonely frost of the night, a pseudo-argument of sorts was at play within a certain beach house.

“You already know what’s gonna happen if we try it! I-I haven’t got anything against it, of course!"

“That isn’t the problem! We get on that couch, one way or another, our nights are coming to an abrupt end! Just… bam! Gone!”

“I don’t see you running back to your room to sleep it out solo, though.”

“You aren’t going anywhere either, are you?!”

“Why are we even arguing about this, again?”

“Because we can't seem to get comfy at all! We all want to hang out on the couch, but we DON'T want to hang out on the couch! Probably NOT because, as Lexy's tone suggests, we might die!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! That couch is just fucking weird!"

The creeping sense of 'I've been waiting for this moment' began to grow more obvious in the room. "I believe I know what's up."

"WHAT?!"

“We’re cursed. Simple as, no?”

Silence.

“...leave it to MM to say the creepiest shit ever.”

“Not creepiness. In fact, I’ve even got evidence of it! If I may present it?”

“Better question, why are you potentially logging down the ways that we sleep?”

“Research is research, Misty. I’m a man who takes his specialist subject quite seriously.”

“Uhh… right. But, uh… are- are we all okay with that? Having our sleep being studied by this guy?”

“Hey, I take things seriously too! More in the way of having special interests, but… wait, is sleep one of yours? You do kinda give off the vibes of somebody on the spectrum, y’know…”

“Let’s NOT turn the conversation into that, please…”

Not wanting to think about that, a stack of papers teleported onto the table, with them being levitated up to where MM then hovered. The others just stood quietly, honestly slightly terrified of just what he had considered to be a ‘curse’.

Especially with that mystical nature of his…

“Now then. Allow me to present my theory surrounding what I have called… the Lethargy Link.”

– – —

In my time of living in this house, I have identified that everybody here has… quite the unique sleeping habits to them. Not in ways to be shameful of, just to get that clear in case I ever have to read this out to people.

“You were prepared for this?!”

“Naturally so, Conn. Anyway…”

So, I have decided to jot down the quirks of my roommates - as well as providing sufficient evidence for what I consider to be the Lethargy Link. A mysterious curse, capable of inflicting relaxation en masse from one simple act.

To begin, that dragon - she requests that we call her Misty, a shortened version of her formal title of Tournament Mistress. Her non-human nature, while sometimes slightly inconvenient in smaller spaces, makes her a clear example for how she plays into the whims of the Lethargy Link.

“I… that’s not meant to be rude, I’m assuming? I’m kind of used to squeezing through small spaces, anyway. And I’m PRETTY sure my mentor is learning a way that allows us to take on human forms. Can’t guarantee when it’ll work.”

“Hmm, interesting… I’ll need to update this.”

“Yeah, could you… NOT, for me? Is it just me that finds you doing this really weird?”

“Understood. I have my limits.”

As she has previously demonstrated, she holds the ability to breathe fire. Her body is naturally very warm as a result, and combining that with all of the fur upon her… she’s essentially a living, fluffy space heater. Combining these aspects makes her an incredibly easy person to relax against - thus proving the evidence of the Lethargy Link.

“Woah! That’s next-level! C’mon, I wanna give that a shot, now!”

“You sure came around quickly… but, sure. Let me get on the couch real quick.”

“Yes! I mean, if you wrote her stuff down first, I assume I’m next?”

“Correct.”

Next up, we have Lexy. She has a slightly more… how to write this… CLICHÉ-like way of playing into the Lethargy Link? Considering that she, and everybody else on this document (excluding Misty), are humans.

She just seems to have a concerningly infectious yawn. Combining that with her naturally laid-back nature, she seems to abide by the laws of the Lethargy Link via pure mellow-ness. Not quite ALONE, but still.

“Huh? Were you saying something?”

“Let me guess. You yawned while I was reading, and I was too immersed to notice.”

“Maybe…”

“Damn it! Then again, I guess I DO remember that I usually tend to doze off pretty quickly after Lexy does that. H-Hurry up with me and Avery’s stuff, would you?”

“He’s going to do that anyway, Jerri. Odd as he is, he’s efficient!”

“Correct.”

Next, we have Jerri. She’s more laid-back than Lexy is, or at least more used to handling herself in rough locales… since she has a habit of dozing off pretty much anywhere if the mood strikes her. I almost fear how comfy she finds certain things… But that ties into how she plays her part in the Lethargy Link.

“Yeah, just… so what, huh…?”

“I haven’t got a problem with it, you know.”

“Just carry on… you’ve got a nice, uh… voice, anyway…”

It’s that snoring of hers. Something about it overly exudes calmness and peace, enough that it’s hard to NOT feel relaxed and tired alongside her. Slightly annoying as that is, I do have to admit how curious it all is…

– – –

…why was nobody commenting on it anymore? MM was a bit too caught up in his reading to notice that everybody else had already just dozed off.

Ignorant as he was, he chose to keep reading - even with external sounds fogging up his focus slightly.

– – –

Lastly, we have Avery. Judging by what he’s confided to us about his past, he has quite a musical history to him - one that basically runs through his blood, even. As constantly stern, prim and proper as he seems to be, he seems to be able to relax very well.

In a similar but not identical verse to Jerri, he has a habit of humming - or singing - in his sleep. It varies between being understandable or not, but it still has an incredibly calming undertone to it - likely representing his relaxed state, and blending with the laws of the Lethargy Link perfectly.

As for myself…

– – –

He sighed abruptly, lowering his papers and finally realising what had happened.

“I KNEW it…” he muttered. “We really are cursed. Either way, I had better get going…”

Honestly, he could say that as much as he wanted, but the Link already had its grip on him in the one way that he hadn’t considered.

For the absolute LIFE of him, he didn’t feel like actually going back upstairs one bit. While he had been reading, he hadn’t really stopped the others from doing whatever they wanted - allowing Lexy to bask in Misty’s warmth, which led to her yawning getting to Jerri and Avery, thus triggering THEIR traits of the Link…

And his body hadn’t ignored the aforementioned signs of things, despite him being too focused on reading to NOTICE it all.

“...goodness. It really IS a potent curse…”

With a hesitant sigh, he teleported a slightly-oversized blanket on top of the quartet (undoubtedly Misty’s, if the size told any stories. It was a cold night and all), before just nestling into a certain corner of it himself - then teleporting a certain weighted blanket and fox plushie into place for himself.

“I’ll have to research more about this… much more…”

Bold words, considering that he was pretty much asleep by the end of that sentence anyway.

Thus turning an argument-filled winter’s night into coziness incarnate.

…but I bet you wanna know what he wrote about himself, right?

– – –

As for myself, I believe that I’m also under the influence of this Lethargy Link. Given my profession, it’s fair that others have picked up on my naturally, well… level-headed attitude and smooth tone of voice. “Good for telling stories”, to quote someone here.

And that’s where I believe it comes into play for me. My… EXISTENCE, in certain situations, just seems to draw out any persisting tiredness or relaxation in a person, whether they realise that I’m the cause of it or not. So they could be awake and simply in my presence one moment, and then out cold the next.

It would be quite silly if it happened to me one day, I believe…

Either way, I shall update this if I’m to find more evidence in the future.

Chapter Text

“Okay, we’re… w-woah. Sure is… decorated.”

“You’re telling me! This place is amazing!”

T-Shirt Island was always a lively place, and that was especially true at this time of year. Due to its main inhabitants having strong Japanese roots, they had decided to start hosting annual fireworks festivals in the height of summer.

It was a bit of a long-standing tradition, passed on throughout many a year - and while it hadn’t been an exclusive event by any means, a certain Decapack had been invited over to partake in the festivities this time around.

“Still… Misty said she’d be overseeing things, right? Wonder how she’s doing.” Lexy had led the way through the lantern-lit groves of the island, now donning a black yukata adorned in maple leaves and fitting sandals to boot - as well as her hair being tied back more securely.

“It IS her duty to do it, you know. I doubt she’d do anything other than a good job.” Avery followed behind her, with similar sandals and tied back hair (into a ponytail instead of a bun) - the main difference being that he was wearing a jinbei with a green and white yagasuri pattern.

I actually looked that up, by the way! Real thing, and it looks swell.

Trailing behind the group, a more one-sided conversation was afoot.

“...and, if you tie it at the front, it’s actually a sign of you being an idiot. Or something similar to that, anyway.”

“I-I see.”

I think you know the drill. Jerri had her hair tied back (at least the hair that stuck out from under the helmet), a dark red yukata with a cherry blossom pattern upon it and black sandals on.

And, MM, well… he doesn’t have a corporeal form, so he can’t really wear anything. So he was just hiding behind the others in what one could only assume to be shame.

“What do we even plan on doing while we’re there, anyway? I don’t want to disrespect her culture by mistake, y’know…”

“Misty said to have fun, Lexy. We should do just that.”

“Fun isn’t fun when you’re being a jerk to other people’s cultures, Avery!”

“...h-hm. That’s a fair point…”

“That said, one of us has gotta be the one to branch out. If you don’t mind!” Jerri pulled out a scrap of paper from under her helmet, before throwing it to the wind. Not long after, a ghostly crow-like yo-kai had flown over to her while clutching the paper… by its red corner.

For context, it also had a yellow, purple and green corner - whatever corner someone picked it up by, she’d elect them as the one to bite the bullet.

“Well, leave it to me to eat my own words. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, you’re the guests that the Mistress invited personally, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, we are… Any reason why you wanna know?”

“Yes, she had a message that she wished to pass onto you. She appreciates you all dressing appropriately for the occasion, but you don’t need to take this all too seriously - we locals are more tolerant than you’d expect.”

“I don’t think we want to look stupid, though. We’ll try to stay polite for the most part.”

“Another question,” Avery perked up, “why are you a ghost?”

“Back when the old Tournament Master hosted our annual tournaments, he had a far more… brutal approach to things. Since then, the lone yo-kai that survived the final tournament that he hosted requested a way to revive our spirits in this form - something that they succeeded in doing, at the cost of their physical form aging rapidly… because, you know, yo-kai don’t exactly… age. It allows us to partake in these festivals, as well as spectate these new tournaments.”

The crow sighed, before turning back to the keenly attentive quartet. “Wait a minute, you were listening to that the whole time? Nobody’s done that before.”

“We’re not animals. And history is awesome anyway!”

“That was meant to be my line. Also, it sounds like you’re in an education-slash-entertainment show for kids.”

“You just said slash out loud! That’s not even-”

“ANYWAY… The main festival grounds are just up ahead, and the fireworks display should start in an hour from now. Have fun, now.”

They flew off again, with Avery perking up not too long after. “Wait a minute. Are festivals usually this… fragrant?”

“Hold it! I’ve done enough research on festivals to stop us looking like utter idiots to know what that is! Let me see… bold, savory… I got it!” With that, she eagerly speed-walked away, as to not ruin her newly attained grace from having that yukata on.

How she was even that fast, when it was just speedwalking, nobody wanted to know.

By the time they had caught up to her, she was already wandering away from a stall with a stupid grin on her face.

“Just as I figured. Okonomoyaki stand!”

“Oh, nice! How much did that cost you?”

“They said it was on the house, since we’ve been invited a-la-Mistress. Probably gonna be the same for the rest of the food-based stalls here. Not the more general goods, though. Why did she prioritise the food, anyway…”

“I’m not going to say that she’s a GLUTTON, but-”

“Avery, she has different nutritional requirements than we do! Partly if not mostly because she isn’t human at all!”

“My bad.”

The four of them paused for a minute,

“Anyway… if food’s on the house, then I’m off to grab us some more stuff! And… eeny, meeny, AVERY. You’re comin’ with me!”

“G-Gah! Don’t grab me like that! And where will we even meet up afterwards?!”

“Food now, important things later, birdbrain!”

So, those two had dispersed into the crowd in a flash to the beat of a nearby taiko performance, which left Jerri a little dumbstruck.

“...huh. Guess I’m stuck with you, Mental… hang on.”

Glancing around briefly, she realised that his uneasy silence from a second ago had suddenly vanished. How she even noticed was a whole other story…

“Oh.”

It took about five seconds of silence for the gravity of the situation to hit.

“Yeah, I gotta make sure he’s not dead. Mental! Where’ve you gone?!”

So after plucking up the courage to do so, she was off to roam the festival herself. As for the others…

“There’s gotta be something good around here somewhere! You got any opinions, Ave? A-Ave?! Ohh my sparks, I didn’t account for the crowds! Or I ran too fast? BOTH! LET’S JUST SAY BOTH THINGS ARE THE PROBLEM!”

And meanwhile, who-knows-where…

“...hm. She let go of my hand while running off. This DOES raise a problem… where exactly am I now?”

Thus, a new problem was born: Where the hell WAS everyone?

Chapter Text

In a more closed-off corner of the island, a worn-out exhale was heard.

“Whew… if I was around those drums for any longer, I would have lost it. Trouble is, I’ve… certainly gone astray from everybody else. Hmm…”

MM’s situation was exactly that. That abrupt roar of noise didn’t sit right with his head one little bit, so he had done what a mature soul would do and quietly exited the scene for his comfort.

That, in hindsight, was a bad idea when you don’t know where you’re going to teleport away to.

On the plus side, it was a nice place. Very quiet, spacious… and it overlooked a nice part of the island, too. He liked that! He’d stay around here if he had the chance.

“I had better find a way to get back to everyone else…”

He glanced around, before being met with the sight of some more yo-kai akin to the crow from earlier. A pair of oni, by the looks of things. Despite their ghostly appearances, one was at least semi-obviously blue and the other was red.

They were messing around with… sparklers?

“Seems like this’ll be the perfect spot! They shine perfectly bright here!”

“You’re right! I couldn’t ask for a better spot to observe the fireworks display if I was that dragon!”

That dragon…? Wait, they had to mean Misty!

She WAS the one in charge of this festival, after all. Judging by how that crow from earlier seemed to hold her in high regard… These two HAD to be finding a nice spot for her. What a stroke of luck!

“What brings you here, stranger?”

“G-Gah! I… Sorry to disturb you both. I seem to have gotten separated from my friends, that’s all… I was just trying to find solace from that taiko performance.”

“Not for everyone, huh?” The red oni laughed. “Can’t blame you. That kappa knows how to get a good beat going!”

“Yes, I suppose they can… Out of curiosity, are you trying to prep this spot for that Mistress?”

“Yeah, she loves to watch… wait, hold it! You’re one of her guests, right? You can wait here for her! Knowing her, she’s got a knack for finding things - so your pals are in safe hands!” The blue oni pointed a lit sparkler at MM, whose expression seemed to get all glittery at the sight of it.

“I… y-yes, I’ll do that. Thank you both.”

"That, or fate takes the wheel. Both work to me!"

"...actually... may I borrow a sparkler?"

"Sure! What for?"

"...showmanly business, my friends. Showmanly business, indeed..."

– – –

“Well, it seems like it’s that time of the year again! I had better be off. Hopefully you guys find good spots to watch the show!”

“Understood!”

Clad in a large, dark cyan yukata covered in a cloudy pattern, Misty had taken flight out of a temple resting near the peak of the island. Her mane was tied back considerably, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“So, if I’m going to the usual spot, then-”

One of her ears twitched at something ringing among the crowds.

“Okay, c’mon. You got this!”

Followed by one of the worst attempts at birdsong that she had ever heard in her years of… hearing people mimic birdsong.

But why would Lexy be doing that?

“...I think whatever she’s doing, she’s got this. If I head off to the usual spot now, I should be there with five minutes before the display starts.”

Back on the ground, Lexy was trying to awkwardly shove her way through the crowds and find Avery.

Not before she had panicked a lot, bought herself some cotton candy to revitalise her spark, and then realised that was only going to hype herself up MORE.

After she finished eating it and couldn’t undo the process.
“C’mon…! Flundera?! Flundera, are you around here somewhere?! I’d prefer you didn’t die out here, you know! Nobody would prefer that, now that I think about it, but still!”

Amidst the friendly chaos of the festival, a more quiet corner stuck out to her. Seemed to be a more humble, slightly run-down stall…

And you wouldn’t believe whose dumbass she found lurking there.

“Hm… MM would be having a field day with this, providing that he were here. He has a thing for visual cues, doesn’t he…”

It turns out Avery had slunk off here, to some kind of goldfish-scooping stall. Not too shabby of a spot, she would admit…

“A-Avery! I thought I lost you, man! I’m so sorry!”

He was relatively unfazed by her abruptly side-hugging him.

“You’ve got cotton candy on your face, Lexy.”

“Crap! I forgot to clean it off… b-but, still, sorry for dragging you along like that and getting you lost…”

“You’re alright… ah. Seems I’m done playing here, anyway. Thank you for the test run, and let’s get going.”

“Where are we headed? And what’s with the bag?”

“I found a stall offering ramune on my way here, so I picked some up for us all. Melon for myself, watermelon for Misty, mango for you, passionfruit for Jerri and grape for MM.”

“Not bad, variety wise! But, about MM, what were you saying about him and visual cues?”

Avery blinked in confusion. “Haven’t you ever noticed? He always gets so easily distracted by stuff like that. Lava lamps, glittery things…”

“What, so he’s like a cat?”

“...okay, maybe he is…!” Laughter leaked into his tone, making the two’s conversation abruptly take a sillier turn.

“Like, one of those black cats that try to act all tough and mysterious on their own, but they just totally melt when you give ‘em even the tiniest headpat!”

“And his habit of lurking in the dark.”

“Yeah, that too!”

After a minute, things finally seemed to get back on track.

“...speaking of, how do we intend on finding Jerri and MM?”

“Hm… shoot. But I’m sure SHE won’t be up to anything too stupid by the time we find her, right?”

“Yes… hm? Hang on, what’s that?”

– – –

Anyway, Jerri is stuck in a tree.

“Okay, consider this yukata pretty messed up… also, I don’t really wanna get down from here.”

Yup. Her yukata was slightly ripped and scratched all over, and her sandals were messily kicked aside to allow her to climb up at all.

And no, to the one person who might come across this one day, I’m not describing her feet. Please find your pleasure somewhere other than here.

It was a shame, considering Misty had lent this to her for the festival. And it’d probably take a lot of money to repair… if not outright replace it.

She didn’t wanna cover the costs of that.

“...Don’t really want a repeat of the pumpkin patch apple tree incident, though…”

Now, see, when you spend a year travelling with a batch of yeardos in what’s more or less a goofy family movie about trying to find your way home, you accidentally learn how to get yourself comfy in very unlikely spaces.

Junkyards? Check.
Kitchen floors? Check.
Trees? Well, yes, because the apple tree incident exists!

She sighed softly, before stretching out on the tree branch she was stuck on. “Well, I guess this is my life now. That spooky ghost girl who lives in a tree, heh…”

From the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed a bright swirl of light.

“Woah, what’s- wait, no, no no NO NO NO-!”

But apparently, leaning over to investigate isn’t a good idea when you’re sitting on a tree branch, because Jerri promptly fell off without a lot of hope to save herself.

Face first.

“Eurghhh… o-okay. Yukata’s TOTALLY ruined now, helmet still seems to be functional, but probably needs a good clean and tune-up when we get home… wait, the others! And I only know one idiot who’d make a swirl of light like that if you asked him to draw a shape out with it! Let’s get moving!”

So she got up, brushed off the dust, took off her helmet and made a break for it. It was a downhill run, but she liked those odds!

She couldn’t just fall twice. She’s Jerri FUCKING Rig, and that lady can frontflip off of a stair banister! She won’t just-

Yeah, I’m not lying to you guys anymore. She totally tripped.

“GOD DAMN IT!”

– – –

Meanwhile, Misty had finally settled into her usual spot. A quiet, hillside clearing that overlooked where the fireworks would be set off…

It was a spot her mentor had found himself, anyway - and she wouldn’t lie, he had an eye for quality.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on this spot for me, you two!”

“No problem, Mistress!” The two oni nodded before starting to head off, but not before the blue one paused.

“Wait! A pair of eyes came over here a while ago. Your guest, right? He said he got separated from the others, so we told him to wait here.”

“That Mentalist? A-And the others?! Are they okay? He hasn’t run off looking for them, has he?”

“No, he’s just there.”

To her relief, the blue oni pointed out that MM was just nearby - theatrically swirling and twirling a sparkler around like a parade leader’s baton, quietly scatting his game’s main theme all the while.

He really WAS a performer when he wasn’t such a ball of stoic nerves, wasn’t he?

Also, that probably wasn’t safe. She should stop him from-

Her ears twitched at a sudden whooshing, making her jump up and catch a certain helmet with her tail - followed by a certain time traveller crashing right into her chest after falling out of nowhere.

“Ghh… Why did I run down the hill… o-oh! Misty!”

“Why were you running down a hill, anyway?” She used her tail to pass Jerri’s helmet back, which she was quick to put back on.

If she had to guess, she had thrown it down right before entering the ‘can’t get up, help’ phase of rolling down a hill.

“I wanted to see what that light was, but I guess I know what it is now. Also, sorry about the yukata. Also I think the sandals are gone.”

…

“Actually I think I REALLY screwed up today.”

“You’re alright… you doing okay, MM?”

He had just sighed and dropped his little show, now just awkwardly hovering in place. “Yes. I had to get away from that noise somehow…”

Not long after, a pleased sigh was heard. “Aha! That’s what it was.”

“Ring ring idiots, ramune delivery coming through!”

Lexy and Avery were now back on the scene.

“You guys! Wait, did we all end up reunited by pure luck? Or-”

“Coincidence. I personally refuse to be responsible for something so minor.”

“If you say so…”

The five sat down, for now focusing on just enjoying the aforementioned drinks that Avery had grabbed beforehand.

“...on second thought, I dunno if I want this one. Avery, can you trade me yours?”

“After tonight, I don’t want any more trouble… sure.”

“Thanks! Uh, how do I open this?”

Amidst the calm of the moment, a flash of light and a loud burst filled the air.

Confused as everyone was for a split second, it was almost immediately clear that they had met up just in time for the fireworks display to begin.

“Just as I figured. This place is always perfect for watching fireworks.”

“No kidding! I can’t really open this ramune and watch at the same… time… though…!”

“Take it easy. This really isn’t half bad at all.”

“...truly marvellous…”

“My soul feels alight with the inspiration of a new melody!”

And thus, the outing to the fireworks festival proved to not be so bad after all - especially with things ending in such a calm, cozy setting.

“Aha! I got it! Let me see…”

…

“No. it- It’s somehow worse than what I was expecting it to be. Eurgh. Can I have mine back?”

“Trades are trades.”

“Aw, dang it!”

Chapter Text

A sharp slamming of the door resounded amongst the thunderstorm outside.

“O-Oh, gosh!” Misty was quick to get to the door, where MM had dropped a sopping wet bag of groceries onto the floor.

His equally drenched expression said “Just my luck,” but he really didn’t seem to be feeling it. Nobody would after getting caught in a sudden storm, Misty knew that.

Above all else, he just seemed… exhausted.

“L-Look, don’t worry, alright? I’m gonna get you back to your room and help you dry off and get cozy. Okay?”

He tried to nod, but just sighed heavily instead. Misty sighed and scooped him up, before moving the grocery bag to somewhere warmer to dry out (not before making sure stuff would be okay to do that.)

After that, she flew back upstairs, but not before poking her head in Lexy’s room. “You three doing okay?”

“I-I knew it was coming, at least!” A certain redhead’s voice was buried under the blankets. “That, unfortunately, doesn’t change how scared my body is trying to make me!”

“You’re allowed to be scared, you know?” Avery sighed, patting the mound of blankets.

“I’d much rather not shut down over a phobia!”

“We gotcha, Rigster… I’m gonna sort us some hot chocolate. Fancy one?”

“Yeah, go ahead!”

“Wait, Lexy, can you sort one for MM while you’re down there? He got caught up in the storm, and I feel like he could really use it.”

“Fine by me. How does he like his, again?”

“Hm… extra cocoa, plenty of cream, maybe throw some chocolate sprinkles on.”

“Roger, Mistress! I’m on it!”

…that was the first time in probably a few months that anybody had ever called her that. Oh… oh scales, what was up with that? That was WEIRD.

No losing focus! She’s got a drenched pair of eyes that needs some R&R!

Slipping into MM’s room, she curled up on the floor and focused on making herself a cozy place to be. Her natural warmth did help a lot with that.

After a minute, his static expression un-froze with a gasp, shortly followed by a dull groaning.

“...doing okay?” Misty whispered.

It didn’t look like he wanted to respond, just shivering and trying to hide away from her. Though, he tried to do that by just shutting his eyes as if he was invisible because of it.

Geez… he was in rougher shape than Misty thought he would be.

“...gotcha. I’m gonna help you dry off, and then get you in bed. I’ve got Lexy on hot chocolate duty, though. I expect that’ll get you back on your… hovering.”

…

“Words honestly aren’t my strong suit a lot of the time. Sorry.”

While letting him dry off, she decided to get a better look at his room. She had somehow never done that, despite having lived with him for so long.

It was probably out of respect.

Besides the obvious things (a deep and lighter purple striped wallpaper and a dark brown floor, plus a star-shaped rug), the main thing of notice was that bed.

…where does she even begin to describe that, actually? That thing may as well be cursed.

It was a normal bed, just… loaded up with the fluffiest blankets and pillows that MM could get his telekinetic grip on, as well as a small collection of stuffed animals that he ‘found’.

Likely meant to be a cure to insomnia, or at least cozy enough that MM wouldn’t keep getting out of bed to do scales-knows-what.

…and cure to insomnia it was, just for literally everyone else in the house.

Misty was SLIGHTLY terrified of that bed.

Why would MM make up a bed so comfortable that you could SWEAR you heard it inviting you to relax for just a second, okay, maybe a minute, and then it’s suddenly 7am the next morning.

Still, o-other things to focus on…!

Well, it looked like he had a pretty big bookshelf pressed against one of his walls, as well as a little reading setup next to it. Armchair, side desk with a lamp… that stuff.

He probably knew how to make himself comfy with that, despite it making no anatomical sense.

After a moment, the door to his room was opened, with a tray of hot chocolate being slid in, shortly before the door was shut again.

When she went to go and grab it, a sharp clap of thunder rang across the room.

“G-GAAH!”

Accompanied by MM jolting back to life, zipping around in a panic before burying himself into her mane, arguably the most terrified she had ever heard and seen him.

She decided to keep her mouth shut, as he just trembled and ranted.

“I-I CAN’T GO OUT THERE AGAIN! I-I-I SWEAR! IT- IT WAS BAD ENOUGH WITH- WITH HOW QUICKLY THE RAIN PICKED UP, B-BUT YOU JUST HAD TO M-MAKE IT A THUNDERSTORM, DIDN’T YOU?! HAD TO BE A FUCKING THUNDERSTORM!”

…no wonder he seemed so exhausted earlier…

Things had just gone from 0 to 100 for him, and he had probably just shut off his feelings to stop them from getting overwhelming.

Except he hadn’t shut them off at all.

Just shoved them aside and out of sight, until that clap of thunder found them, kicked them like a football and struck his brain HARD. Wherever that was.

Thus resulting in… this.

“...j-just… try to breathe, okay…?”

“I-I-I CAN’T. IT DOESN’T MATTER H-HOW I TRY TO SLOW MY BREATHING DOWN, MY BODY NEVER FOLLOWS SUIT. IT ALWAYS FEELS LIKE IT HURTS, O-OR THAT I CAN’T BREATHE…”

“...even though you’re just trying to relax?”

“WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE TRYING TO DO?!”

Another thunderclap made him jolt again, now making him zip into his fluffy mass of a bed. Fortunately, due to how dark and muffled it was under all of those blankets, it would serve to help him at least mellow out.

…

This was reminding Misty of something she heard somewhere before… where she couldn’t remember, but…

< You’re not feeling nothing. You’re feeling everything. >

…

“...hey. MM.” She dropped her voice to as audible of a whisper as she could make it.

“...wh-what…?!”

“...I got the hot chocolate. Extra cocoa and cream… the way you like it.”

The cup was shakily levitated for a second, before it dropped back onto the tray.

“Don’t try and do that right now.” The gentleness of her tone took on a firmness all of a sudden. “Here.” She opened a small gap in the blankets, gently pushing the cup through it before shutting it again. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

Within his mound of blankets, MM was just left in the muffled darkness with his drink.

It wasn’t faintly illuminated like usual, so he had gotten startled enough to be stuck with his usual, yellowy eyes…

…he didn’t want to think about what got him to the point of having eyes like that…

Or… or anything.

He was just overwhelmed with how rapidly everything had changed, so much so that his composure had just tossed itself out of the window.

At the bare minimum, at least the cocoa was a (literal) sweet relief. A bit of warmth to melt away all that strife…

…no. He hadn’t made a fool of himself today by letting things silently creep up on him to the literal breaking point. This, as little as he resembled one, was human.

Knowing that much was essential.

After he finished his drink and moved it out from the blankets, he sighed wearily to himself.

…he should really get some sleep…

The thought was interrupted by Misty returning, and promptly making herself comfy under those blankets as well - even bringing an extra pillow for MM to cosy up on.

“I don’t get how this thing knocks the rest of us out so soon,” she murmured, “and I’m kind of scared of it, but I don’t care. I’m waiting this storm out with you.”

“...wh-why did you go, then…?”

“Had to tell the others, heh… I was jumping into something as… quote-unquote dangerous as this, after all.”

She snickered to herself, before shifting the end of her tail to stick out from under the blankets. Better to let them know about it, and all.

In her quiet of acceptance, pondering about how things were gonna go, she was cut off by an uncharacteristically soft, tired murmur from just beside her. He usually kept them silent, didn’t he?

…he needed this, after today.

So she decided to not impose on how he wanted to get comfortable, and just settled down herself.

As for MM, he just blinked wearily and tried to shake off his tiredness - only for this little alcove of coziness to be lit up in a faint lavender.

His usual gaze was back, at the cost of illuminating a more starry blanket just above him. One of the lower layers on purpose, due to how much comfort he took in things like that.

All it took was one glance up at that for his priorities to be set in motion.

“I… mm…”

Following a soft yawn, he calmly buried himself into that pillow that Misty gave him and settled down faster than he could get test sub- VOLUNTEERS for his show to do the same.

It was just… dark, warm, quiet and peaceful.

…safe, even.

So, the night carried on as usual. The other three spent it relaxing and having fun to ease Jerri’s phobia-induced discomfort, whilst the other duo just snoozed away without so much of a stir.

Weather be damned, these guys know how to be there for each other.

Chapter Text

“...so, that’s how I got these vouchers!”

“You got them as a trade, in exchange for… what, exactly?”

“It was meant to be a jumbo version of that yellow mouse dude, but I couldn’t get ‘em home with me. So I talked to the arcade clerk, worked a bit of persuasive magic, and voila!”

“I’m older than you by a good few years and lived in a forest for roughly 90% of my life, but I KNOW what a Pikachu is. You don’t need to anonymise him.”

“That’s cool, sure, but… why plushies? I think I’ve made it clear enough that I don’t roll with childish stuff like that.”

“You do, just very rarely.”

Semi-frequently, actually. Lexy wasn’t lying to herself, or at least saying that part out loud. “Also, you have a hug like a vice grip. You could use a big, cozy cuddle buddy for when none of us are around for you to half-squeeze the life out of.”

“Okay, fine…”

So, I imagine you're looking for a more helpful context surrounding all this talk of plushies and arcades. Let me explain.

You see, Lexy has a habit of going out to arcades in her free time. Mostly for the fun and thrills of it all, if you wanted her to describe it to you herself. That and the fact that you could find REALLY cool stuff lying around there if you played enough.

This was a thing that had resulted in Lexy’s latest predicament. If I may cut back to a few days ago…

– – –

“Wh- H-Huh?! Oh, geez…”

“Is there a problem, here?”

“Yeah, I… I was trying to go for a smaller plushie, but I accidentally got this huge dude instead! And I’m PRETTY sure I can’t get the guy home, no matter what I physically do!”

“I see… hm, hold on. You’re friends with people who work at Jackbox, aren’t you?”

“Uh… yeah? I got invited to be part of Party Pack 10. Why do you ask?”

“I’ll be honest - that game with those… floating brain things? Sorta glitchy as it all was, it honestly really got me going after a pretty rough patch of mine!”

“Got you going…? Not just because of the guy’s voice, right?”

“Huh?”

“N-Nothing. But, yeah, cool! I’ll pass it on to him!”

“Nice! And I think I can do you a favour surrounding this plushie issue…”

– – –

“...seriously, it’s a good thing you stay off social media,” Lexy sighed. “It’s a dumpster fire out there… for your game, anyway.”

“Rumours get around,” MM blinked. “I KNOW what people think of me and the game. And I’m not fond that the public’s first reaction to me was that I had a voice worthy of-”

“LET’S STOP TALKING ABOUT THAT. Anyway, seems like we’re here!”

So, the quintet had entered the shop that Lexy had stringed them on into coming out to.

Looked to be a pretty big, spacious spot - stylised with the mixed aesthetics of an amusement park and arcade combined. Just… bright, whimsical, chaotic, but not enough to actually hurt your eyes.

Yet the sight of their aspirations lay just beyond the entrance - what looked to be a positive HORDE of plushies of all shapes, sizes and other general adjectives.

“Now, I know what one of you are thinking. Positive. HEAVEN. But let’s be smooth and casual about it. By that, I mean NOT randomly teleporting around out of star-struckedness and getting lost.”

“Don’t give me any ideas.”

She wandered over to the main checkout, offering five slips of paper to the girl behind it. “Howdy! Got some vouchers that should work for here, just wanna check if they’re good to go.”

After a few minutes, the process was completed, thus leaving everyone to go and pick out a plushie that would best suit their preferences. As such is the beauty of being given vouchers to just go steal a plushie from a good-quality shop.

As such is the perk of fame!

“I already know where I’m going, so I’ll be off! But to avoid another fireworks festival incident, let’s just meet up at this circular bench place when we’ve got our pals picked out.”

“Got it!”

With that, this little quest of plushie procurement had kicked off with speed and eagerness aplenty.

– – –

“They do really have a lot of stuff out here, don’t they?”

Misty had opted to aim for the more draconic plushies first. Familiarity, if she had to explain her logic to literally anybody who asked.

“I mean… like, these things are nearly ALL Pokémon, though. I’ve either gone down a certain aisle for them, or… no. No I DEFINITELY have, I saw those plush rabbits earlier! So, what kinda thing do I want…”

Aisle confusion aside, she focused on scouring the area for what’d probably be her ideal pal. This eventually just devolved to her floating around on her back. “C’mon… Any kind of plush would be fine, honestly!”

She then bumped into a certain something snout-first.

Some kind of… green dragon thing, with a darker green crest on its head and big wings with a red outline - plus some red, goggle-like blobs covering its eyes. A stripy tail with diamonds on the end of it, and…

What was this thing called?

“Hm… so this guy’s whatever a ‘Flygon’ is? Not gonna lie, I think I like the look of you! Unless…”

She took a glance around, basically triple-checking that the coast was clear.

“...nah, this is totally the right guy!”

– – –

“How did you already, supposedly, work out what’d be good for me?”

“Plenty of reasons, my dearly platonic Rigster.”

“...huh?”

“Okay, never saying that one again.”

Lexy had been triumphantly skipping down a certain aisle of the shop, seemingly laser-focused on retrieving the best plushie pal that Jerri could probably ever ask for. Yes, she did give GREAT hugs, but they were just a bit… what’s the word…

Constricting.

Speaking of, the redhead had been trailing behind her and eyeing up the shelves at her own leisure. If Lexy was so focused on finding something for HER, then who’s to say she couldn’t return the favour?

A lot of good-looking things stuck out, but one certain thing stuck out like an error in a timeline.

Some silvery-white… hedgehog thing. A big grey, lightning-bolt shaped tail with a yellow tip, and yellow cheeks… she knew this one, at least. Togedemaru, or something like that.

“Hm… Yeah, I guess that’ll work for her.”

So she scooped the plush up, only for Lexy to immediately shove something in her face. “BEHOLD! Your ideal partner!”

It was a big, bipedal plushie - mainly yellow with a white belly, and black stripes littered around - like on the neck, ears and tail. It also had two red gems, one upon its forehead and the other was the tip of its tail.

“This bad boy’s an Ampharos! Perfect hugging shape for you, and you seem kinda alike anyway!”

“H-How so?”

“It seems all nonchalant and chill, but it’s twice as awesome when you realise that it’s actually smiling! See?”

“...heh. I guess so. Also, uh… since you were grabbing one for me, I kinda did the same for you. Don’t think of it as too much.”

“Whoa! This guy’s perfect, no doubt about it! Let’s get back to that bench, if you’re happy with your pal!”

“P-Perfect…?! I-I mean, yeah. Let’s do it.”

– – –

“Well, look on the plus side.”

Avery should have seen this coming. MM had immediately made his way to an aisle packed with Psychic-type plushies, and to say that he got comfy was an understatement. How many things had he NOT gotten all sparkly-eyed for already?

It was quite endearing, really.

“You know where this place is now, and your show rakes some good money in, as does Jackbox… You can just come back here whenever you like and buy more of these.”

MM gasped, whipping his gaze back to Avery. “I- I know that! But I can’t just settle on JUST taking one of these for now! Gah, this is too much of an addiction for my own good!”

“Hm…”

Looking just behind him, Avery eyed up a funny-looking plush. Some kind of circular, light pink body with only feet and a mouth showing, as the rest of its face was covered by… hair? Whatever it was, it was light blue and came down at the sides like one of those hats with flaps that covered your ears.

It also had a sort of… light pink antennae sticking up above its head, with a light blue blob atop it. What was this thing?

“...Hat…tenna…?”

The name was a bit of a given, then.

“What do you mean, Hat-”

The sight of MM turning around and suddenly becoming even MORE sparkly-eyed was just as endearing as Avery had unknowingly suspected it to be. It also seemed to quell his indecision, as he carefully levitated the plush away from the shelf.

“That settles it! I simply have to bring this one back with me, thanks to that keen eye of yours!”

“It was literally just behind you…”

“Well, at least you didn’t pantomime it out… Nevertheless, what do you plan on picking up?”

“I did pass something interesting on my way here… Let me show you.”

Avery had gone over to an aisle adorned with Flying-types, being quick to scoop up a blue plushie with a thin neck, white beak, ribbon-y head decorations and an absolute CLOUD of fluffiness surrounding it.

“According to the tag on it, Altaria has a habit of wrapping people in its wings and humming to them when it trusts them.”

Although he had no ulterior motives initially, he did get the LITTLEST idea when he noticed MM’s expression widening at the explanation. “Not only fitting for me… but the PERFECT way to get you to actually settle down!”

“You WOULDN’T.”

“I would.”

“NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!”

This resulted in the two getting wrapped up in an undeniably silly sequence of Avery trying to chase after MM under the guise of wanting to trap him in a hug like his newfound plushie pal was known to do. They both knew he didn’t mean it, but it was still fun - and the duo’s chase led them back to that assigned meeting spot, too.

With that, the plushies had been picked out.

“Alrighty! Let’s get these guys outta here!”

– – –

“I still can’t believe we all ended up picking things like that, though…”

“Yeah… But I don’t mind. They’re all neat - and I think we’ve just found a new way for you-know-who to fuel his addiction, too.”

“I’m not going to go TOO overboard. I need room in my… ROOM to breathe, you know.”

“Whatever you say, pal!”

So, that night, that quintet of plushies wound up having quite unique experiences being presented to them with this newfound freedom.

It did vary a little between owners. Misty had put her Flygon on a shelf to keep it out of harm’s way, Lexy’s Togedemaru quickly found itself a good home on her desk, Jerri’s Ampharos was pretty quick to be subjected to one of her vice-grip hugs, MM’s Hatenna was gifted a place of near luxury in the form of atop his bed’s pillows, and Avery’s Altaria was left on a table next to his bed - not after being carefully fluffed up, though.

All’s well that ends well for this little excursion!

Chapter Text

A soft, triple knock at the door.

“Yes, come in.”

That was confusing. It was about 2:10 in the morning, and MM usually stayed up well past then… And Avery didn’t know how he could even knock doors.

After a second, a tangled mess of blonde hair poked her head into his room. “Heya…”

“What’s gotten you up at such a late time?”

“Dunno… ‘s the same for the others…”

“Others?”

Getting up from his bed, Avery had peered into the others’ rooms. Misty was just constantly shifting around to try and get herself comfy, MM was just trying to bury himself in his blankets, and-

“Wait, wait, where is-”

“She’s in my room… Snuck in after she couldn't get to sleep either. Has that plushie at least, so I wasn’t stuck in a hug.”

“That’s a relief.”

Nearly anything is better than unknowingly being tangled up in one of those holds. When it was done on purpose, it could actually be very cozy… provided a certain hugger knew her limits.

Still, it raised the question - what was Lexy EXPECTING him to do for them all? He wasn’t the group’s… calmer-downer.

That was usually MM’s job. But he was certainly in no place to be doing his usual shtick tonight…

Actually, no, he knew why HE was being asked to do this. Nobody else was in the right shape to help out.

“...I know what you’re going to ask me, Con. Yes, I’m aware I have no choice BUT to help you all.”

“Really…? Sweet… see ya in mine…”

So she just staggered away, leaving the conductor in a rut.

How can he help them to actually rest? Music was his go-to plan, because… it’s music, he was kind of born to be a pro with the stuff. But using it for other people, and NOT the cycle of life?

…no, the Great Cycle would be okay with that. If that dream from a while ago told him anything, he should be more flexible with it.

It was quite fiddly, though… He only had himself as guidance in regards to how to do things. The birds were asleep and everyone else was in no place to help him out…

“...I guess I must do something.”

Opening his bedside table’s drawer, he pulled out a lime green notepad and a leafy-patterned pencil before starting to gently scribble down some sheet music.

He could go off of that.

“If I remember correctly,” he whispered, “the lyrics of something like this are less relevant than the main melody itself… But it mustn’t be totally ignored.”

It was easy enough to compose a song on the fly, pun intended.

The song had to be slow and easy to follow along with, but at the same time something that’d draw in those four’s attention so that this would actually work.

Mainly because he’s nothing close to MM’s abilities…

“...there. Now I need to find lyrics for this piece.”

He got up, deciding to head out to his balcony for inspiration.

As to be expected, very dark.

And slightly… drizzly?

No, no, very drizzly.

He didn’t notice that it had started raining.

But it wasn’t the end of the world. It’d probably feel that way for the others, though…

“Hm,” he muttered. “Dry… no, cozy… something like that, surely.”

So he just calmly stood out in the rain, as if it was going to solve his writer’s block.

He couldn’t stoop to thinking about it like “How would MM solve it?”, because he needed to solve this with his own hands.

His gaze fell to a puddle on the floor, ripples occasionally flowing due to raindrops falling on it.

“...ripple…” He quietly mused. “Ripples… floating… sparkling… ah, there we are.”

Stepping back inside and shaking himself dry, Avery sat back down on his bed and began to write out some lyrics for the piece.

Midway through the process, he was cut off by a distressed squawking. “H-Hm?”

One of those birds flew out from nowhere, landing anxiously on his head.

“Having trouble getting to sleep, is it?” He asked.

The bird nodded, trying to hold its head in its wings.

“You wouldn’t be the only one… Either way, how about you try singing this? See if it calms you down.”

After a moment, the bird scanned over the sheet music and started singing out what it knew. To Avery’s surprise, the room itself felt quite audibly calmer as it did so.

He must have been doing something right.

When the bird finished, it whistled softly before fluttering away again. Seemed a lot more relaxed, too.

“...seems like I’m on the right track,” he murmured, before getting back to work.

After about half an hour (and sending an email to Jackbox about how the other four hosts would be out of commission for the day), he eventually sat down in the hallway.

The perfect spot for his voice to reach all four of them.

“You four?” He asked. “Still awake, I guess?”

It took a moment to get the responses he wanted.

“Yep…”

“I thought you were workin’ on something…?”

“Mmph… shut up… I swear I was THIS close to dozing off…”

“Y-Yes, why…?”

Pretty easy to tell who was who.

He let there be silence for a moment as he consulted the notepad for the lyrics - since he had that melody down already.

So, tucking his wings in, he cleared his throat.

“A ripple echoes out

In the dark beyond where worries rest

I’ll at long last embrace the calm

That lies beyond the tempest”

At first, it was quite confusing to the other four. Avery had really gone out of his way to do something like this?

That said, thoughts like that were quickly put aside in favour of the melody lingering in their heads.

“I… woah…”

“Wha…? What’s up…?”

“...nothin’... just real... tired all of a sudden…”

“Mm… yeah, me too… night…”

“Mhm…”

That was only with one verse of it? Those two were usually such a big problem to deal with, so it was nice to handle early on.

“Throw my stress out to the river

Let it float out with the flow

I’ve all the time I need

To just unwind and live life slow”

Similarly, in the break between verses, he overheard another content sigh.

“You’ve actually got a really nice voice… a-and music? I dunno… I’m too tired for this.”

“Thank you. I believe that leaves one of us… and I’m not surprised that it’s him. You just get some rest, alright?”

“Noted. Night…”

That’s one dragon down, and one local insomniac to go.

So he got up, intentionally standing closer to MM’s room to let things reach him more clearly.
Whether the guy admitted it or not, he had a hunch that he liked the little show.

“So now, following that careful flow

Behold the sparkle of a dream

Behind those weary eyes, embrace

A melody imbued with peace”

…peace didn’t really rhyme with dream, did it. He should have considered that.

Either way, the song was over, so he peered into MM’s room properly.

It looked like that last verse had done the trick in getting him to settle down…

“...there we are.”

Standing back in the hallway, he stretched his wings out and sighed calmly.

“...everybody, take all the time that you need to rest.”

He went back into his room, not before carefully shutting everybody’s doors on his way back.

– – –

Not before a soft sneeze was heard behind his own.

“Eugh, oh goodness… I shouldn’t have stayed out in the rain for that long…”

Chapter Text

“...and I assume that’s all that you remember?”

“Yeah. You really DID have a nice voice, not gonna lie… But standing out in the rain for however long it was?”

“About twenty minutes?”

“Standing out in the rain for twenty minutes was honestly pretty stupid, as helpful of a gesture as this was.”

To no surprise, Avery had ended up sick after his little act from last night. (Yeah, this takes place literally the night after the last chapter, That’s just how the Masterson crumbles, pals.) Excellent singer and adjusted to forest life as he was, well…

He can’t just be immune to colds.

“I didn’t anticipate the symptoms to come into play so soon… it was, what, four hours ago…?”

“It’s 3pm.” Lexy sighed. “You kinda passed out for twelve hours. If MM said you went to bed right after he did, being about 3am, anyway…”

“Oh sweet serenades, what the-” Fortunately, Avery cut himself off by sneezing again.
“Either way, do you four… really need to dote on me like this as a result?”

That said, they hadn’t done a lot. Mainly just let him rest for the day, and offer him water and cold medicine once he had gotten up. As well as this little checkup, obviously.

“Are we- Are we doing that?”

“I’d say ‘dote on’ is a strong pair of words to use…”

“I wouldn’t trust the words of a smooth-tongued maestro like that when he’s sick. Wait, I shouldn’t be talking about him like this when he’s right there. What am I DOING?”

Before anyone could even think to check on her own health, Jerri had just run out of the room with an iron grip on her helmet.

“...ten bucks that she’s getting sick too?”

“Make it five and a sundae from that new place down the road.”

“How long are we… giving her to get sick?”

“Hm… three days. She IS usually a pretty tough cookie, after all…”

“Consider it done.”

“STOP BETTING THINGS ON MY HEALTH!”

“Can’t really stop those guys from being themselves,” Misty sighed. “Look, we’ll leave you alone for a while so you can get some more rest. Is there, uh… any food that you usually like eating? I’m pretty sure the four of us are capable of not burning a kitchen down trying to make something up for you.”

That was definitely a tricky question. What did… What did Avery even eat back at home?

…

“...I don’t know.” He huffed.
“I don’t really remember eating anything back at home…”

Misty blinked and rested her tail on Lexy’s shoulder. “If you ask him how he’s even alive, then I’m calling that bet of you and MM’s off.”

“You can’t just call it off as-is?! They’re betting on me being healthy! That’s- I- You know what, I- I make enough damn money by repairing people’s old tech that I’m just gonna buy you both a sundae now! C’mon!”

“...too far?”

“Yes, that was too far of us.”

So, those three were off before the other two could really even register it.

Giving it a minute, an idea seemed to float down and into the conductor’s head.

“Hm, well… are you good with handling spaghetti, would you say?”

“Yeah, that’s not too hard of a thing to make. Bolognese?”

“Try and make that meatier than usual, if you will?”

“I’ve had to do weirder things before, so no problem! Be back when it’s done.”

She left soon after, shutting the door behind her. Avery grumbled and just nestled himself deeper into his blankets. He hadn’t really felt the full force of a cold in a good while…

Still, this wasn’t the end of the world - nor him. He’d just have to hunker down until that food was done.

– – –

So imagine his confusion when he was woken up about half an hour later, slightly sweaty and dishevelled, by a tap on his head.

“Eurgghhh… g-give me a second…”

Poking his head out from that little nest, Avery was met with an extra-meaty plate of spaghetti as he had requested. Misty being the one who woke him up, unsurprisingly.

“All sorted. Also, I sorted you some water and cold meds as well - should help you take it easy.”

“I’ve slept for how long already… I don’t want to waste away in bed forever…”

Oh scales, he was kind of out of it.

“You aren’t gonna waste away, Avery. Just focus on eating for now.”

“Got it…”

Fortunately, he was coherent enough to get up and eat without looking like too much of a lunatic. Or need any help, either! That’s always a victory.

“...why did you want extra meat in the bolognese, anyway?”

“Just tastes nicer that way.”

“Fair enough.”

“...what about the others?”

A well-timed crash from outside gave him half of the answer.

“...two of them should NOT have eaten those sundaes. Since MM has more energy now, he should be able to take care of them.”

“Just toss them onto his bed, for god’s sake…”

“He probably will, but not before just making sure they tire themselves out first. I think the last time that I tried something like that WITHOUT adequately calming one of those two down first…”

– – –

[MS] “A-Alright, c’mon…! Let’s get you back to bed…”

[JR] “No way, c’mon! I’ve- I’ve got ALL the time in the world to do whatever I like! ALL OF IT, I TELL YA! EVERY LAST OUNCE OF IT IS MINE! ALL! MINE!”

[MS] “You’re, um… are you-?”

[JR] “A kid? Maybe I am! WHO KNOWS! Time’s way outta fuckin’ control as is! How do I know I’m NOT a desperate kid who never got to live freely and happily deep down?! I SURE DON’T KNOW, ‘CAUSE I CAN’T REMEMBER CRAP, AND I SURE AIN’T ABOUT TO GET THAT CHILDHOOD BACK! Alley-oop!”

[MS] “H-HEY! Get back here! I didn’t just trap you in a hug for nothing!"

[JR] “That’s gonna be a no, pal! I got things to do, places to be, and times to JINX! SEE YA!”

[MS] “Ugh- NO!”

– – –

“...honest to the Tournament Master who raised me, I never want her to get to that level of overtired-ness again.”

“Me neither… I could almost HEAR her screaming that nonsense.”

“Yeah… MM knows a lot of psychological stuff, right? Maybe I should ask him if that meant anything. I feel like it does.”

“Do that later… I’n going back to sleep. Stop those two from blowing something up…”

“I gotcha. Hope you get better soon.”

So Misty grabbed the plate of leftover spaghetti, then left once again. It didn’t take a lot of time for Avery to doze off again after that, likely due to the combination of the cold meds and a full stomach.

It took him a few days to properly recover from the cold itself with the help of the others, but he was soon ready to roll again.

“Alright, I’m off! I should be back by later, depending on how long these birds drag it out.”

“Got it! Take it easy out there!”

“I know, I know. Haven’t spread my wings in a good few days, so let’s get back to work!”

So following a skip in his step and a strong flap, Avery Flundera was back in business. And the sky.

…yes, so what if he flew to work?

Chapter Text

“...I think you know the gist, gang. Cozy up?”

“Happily…”

11:55pm, on a calm and clear night in March.

Today had been… a day, to put it lightly.

Following an overly intense tournament, some unanswered texts becoming particularly overwhelming, a timeline getting worryingly close to collapsing, an uncooperative batch of volunteers and the life cycle just asking for too much in regards to how much you can fine-tune it…

The best way to describe it all was positively exhausting.

At least enough so that the group had already decided on plans to get away from it from the get-go. If, by get-go, you mean 8am that morning.

-

scalehoodie: I feel like today’s gonna be a rough day. extra feisty tournament goers on my end anyway :’) cozy pile after work?
(mentamaster reacted: thumbs-up)

THUNDERBOLT: ugggh yes!! I’VE DONE TOO MUCH AND THERE’S TOO MANY TEXST TO WORK WITH

RiggedLooper: eh. sure ig

scalehoodie: mm, can you tell avery about the plan? i’m not sure if he got the phone stuff down yet
(mentamaster reacted: thumbs-up)

THUNDERBOLT: is reacting all you can do???
(mentamaster reacted: thumbs-down)

THUNDERBOLT: ohh you enigmatic son of a bitch
(RiggedLooper reacted: tornado)

RiggedLooper: fuck. misclicked

scalehoodie: what were you trying to click?

(CrescendoTone joined the chat.)

scalehoodie: oh! nice to see you here!

CrescendoTone: Hw dos this wurk

RiggedLooper: oh yeah. i keep forgetting he doesn’t know shit outside of music

THUNDERBOLT: whuh??? what the fuck do you mean???

mentamaster: That is for me and Jerri to know, and you to work out on your own. I’ll go and get the autocorrect sorted on Avery’s phone in the meanwhile.

THUNDERBOLT: THAT’S WHEN YOU TALK???

CrecendoTone: Sorry about that

scalehoodie: anyway! we’re making plans to get cozy after work to relax, are you interested?

CrescendoTone: Sure sounds lovely

RiggedLooper: y’know without the punctuation he sounds real sarcastic
(CrescendoTone reacted: ?)

RiggedLooper: nvm i guess

-

All that texting fun aside, of which would totally make for a very fun chapter as-is…

What’s the absolute peak of comfort in a couch cozy pile without a certain dragon being the centerpiece of it all - just flopping down on there, belly-up minus her usual hoodie covering the upper half of her body.

She’d usually just curl up on herself like a snake, but she wasn’t in the mood to limit the coziness she could offer her roommates tonight.

Maybe she had a belly worthy of napping on? She wasn’t sure.

Regardless, she was soon met with a blonde-haired assailant just curling up by her side. “Just so you know… we’re all fucked from the moment I in particular get cozy.”

“It could be anyone’s fault, actually… that’s the Snooze Chain for you.”

If this was any other situation, those two would have gotten a cold glare of ‘Stick to my scientific terms for things, damn you’, but he was too busy being exhausted to partake in that.

Following a moment for someone’s helmet to be placed aside somewhere safely, she had hopped over the back of the couch and promptly curled up on Misty’s stomach.

“Hey… I thought I was gonna get cozy there…”

“You totally weren’t, c’mon… look at yourself.”

“L-Let the other two get cozy before I set the Chain in motion…”

Shortly after that, Avery had moved over to the group while offering a few blankets out. “I know what you three are like. One of you in particular…”

“Elaborate?”

“Now THAT’S more like it… w-wait, this thing’s been DRYER-DRIED?! Ohh my timelines, this is already AWESOME!”

…

That’s probably what he meant.

The three of them just agreed to leave her be to allow her to keep snuggling into that, repeatedly murmuring about how damn fluffy and cozy it was.

Quoting Avery’s whispers from a second ago, “Give her a minute and she’ll shift gears.”

While those two waited on that, he had moved over to a new armchair that the group had bought a few days prior.

“Give it a second, and…”

He promptly sat down, and MM teleported himself right by his side a second after.

“You’re like a bird when you shake a bag of seeds near it, you know. You just come out of nowhere.”

MM just blinked, promptly half-collapsing onto the armrest of the chair.

“...it always hits him really hard, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah… Also, I think if you keep talking, you’re gonna get her even further asleep than she already is. Chest vibrations, y’know?”

“Wh- Oh, come on, she’s already out?”

“Keep it down. She’s a nightmare when she’s half awake.”

Misty just nodded, before stretching out and promptly taking it easy. She could question her roommate's sleeping habits another day.

She looked back at the literal lovebirds sitting across from her little pile of coziness. Avery was already curled up in the depths of that chair, with MM having shifted over to bury himself into a pillow resting on the conductor’s chest.

When did those two get together, anyway? It happened kind of sneakily, but at least they were happy.

Her thoughts were cut off by a certain, commonly dreaded sound in any other scenario.

That damned yawn.

“...welp, I guess we’re better off calling it lights out now. You guys doing okay?”

“Mhm…”

“We’ll be alright, yes…”

“Alright. Take it easy.”

The lack of response from the other duo told her the rest of the story.

Following that, the group were able to spend the night recharging from the absolute nightmare that they had endured earlier in the day.

As such is the ideal life to live.

Chapter Text

Right. Let’s see…

A quartet of signed permission slips, here within his telekinetic grasp. Consent that the others had granted him, and had not since withdrawn. Because, yes, consent is a thing that can be withdrawn at any damn time.

He’s weird, but he’s no maniac.

So…

This was in his hands, now.

“Tonight’s agenda,” MM murmured, “Investigate everybody’s pasts. I will admit to this being for no real purpose, other than sheer curiosity… It doesn’t have any effect on the research done surrounding the Lethargy Link, I’m aware. But I’d rather push ahead regardless.”

He started by teleporting over to a more turquoise, clothes-clad bedroom, with his first research subject of note seeming to be lightly asleep at this time of night.

So he levitated a stray hoodie off of the ground, rubbing it against her head to rouse her. “Gh… o-oh, MM? You had a bad dream?”

“N-Not that,” he would much rather push that under the rug as fast as Mentalist-ly possible. “It’s just about the looking into your past thing… Nighttime being the best time to get a look into people’s minds, of course. Going all abuzz with info processing…”

“I guess it is?”

“So, before I go ahead… Do I still have your consent to do this?”

“Mhm. You’re all good.”

“Excellent. Just… ignore that I’m here and just get back to sleep.”

He waited for Misty to settle down properly, before inhaling sharply and channeling his powers to the best of his ability.

~ ~ ~

The initial vision that awaited him was of a bright, lively island in the height of summer.

‘Good thing this is merely a vision,’ he thought to himself. ‘I’d rather be found dead in heat like this.’

He was interrupted by a harsh crash coming from the ocean, of which he turned to investigate.

Some kind of younger dragon was busy splashing around to her heart’s content in the sea. Dull turquoise scales, a shorter mane with the normal yellow tips not being present at the moment. And judging by that wide-eyed look of hers…

Certainly a younger image of the Mistress that he and the others knew in the present day.

“Goodness… Mesei! You can’t keep running away like this!”

Soon on the scene was a far larger, older dragon. His scales were more of a deep turquoise, while his mane being far more voluminous and seemingly dyed a bright orange at their ends. While he had a more tough and strict energy surrounding him, ‘Mesei’ didn’t seem to be the slightest bit afraid of him.

“Oh! Sorry!”

“You’re alright, just…you’re unharmed, so that’s what is important.”

It was good that her - presumably - father was understanding of her, despite a seemingly far more carefree side to her.

“I just wanted to cool off!” Mesei added. “‘Cause it’s so hot.”

“I understand. Getting overheated could distract you from working on your training to become a worthy Mistress after I retire… Let’s take things easy until the weather calms down.”

“Really?! Thanks!”

Following that, the larger dragon had flown up briefly before playfully crashing into the sea with a far more tremendous splash - with the wave crashing right into MM, and blowing him out of his focus not so long after.

Not before a last comment from Mesei, though.

“I’m gonna be great at this when I’m older! Promise!”

~ ~ ~

Blinking back into reality, he nodded and moved away from Misty’s bed.

“I see… She had a lot of expectations on her shoulders in her youth, but she seems to have been raised well. Well enough that she hasn’t become overwhelmed by it all, nor abandoned her duties overall. Assuming that was the Tournament Master she’s brought up a good few times… he did a good job of things. Also, apparently she’s called Mesei. The more you know, I guess?”

With her out of the way, it was time to move on to the second part of this experiment.

So, he was off to teleport into a new room.

It was far more cluttered and messy, but hardly on purpose. Amidst all of the clutter was a positive horde of goodness-knows what, but mainly old pieces of tech. And a lot of DVD boxsets, too… good variety, too. Random sitcoms, kids’ TV shows, the whole collection.

“I don’t think she ever mentioned being so into physical media preservation. Ah well.”

So he used his telepathy to grab the end of her blanket, and proceeded to rub it under her nose. The ol’ wake them up via sneezing method.

Which worked after a minute.

“Bleurgh… h-huh? What’re you doing here?”

“Sorry… we made an agreement to let me look into your past, remember?”

“Ohh… yeah, I think we did? Does this warrant waking me up at this time of night, though?!”

“Unfortunately. But, still… Do I still have your consent to go ahead with this?”

“You’re still not gonna tell anything you see to the others?”

“Still no.”

“Then sure. knock yourself out. I just wanna go back to sleep…”

“Yes, you can do that. Don’t worry about me.”

So, following her quickly drifting off again, MM re-focused his abilities and aimed in on Lexy’s memories.

~ ~ ~

Definitely a different bedroom, but not too different from her one in the present day. Certainly messier, even with the floors being a mini sea of garbage to wade through…

‘Goodness. Was… Was Lexy okay in the past?’

He was quick to get an answer through a sudden shouting.

“Alexis! Can you just clean this mess already?!”

“I’ve been meaning to!”

From MM’s view of the vision, Lexy - or Alexis - was about a teenager. Her hair was a more dirty blonde, and her way of dressing seemed quite similar. An oversized graphic shirt, a pair of yellow headphones around her neck, some shorts underneath it, and a lack of socks on.

Whatever suited her, he wouldn’t judge. But she seemed a LOT snappier…

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’ve got a condition that makes this stuff hard?! I’m doing my best!”

“I don’t care what conditions you have! You need to do something, before this becomes unliveable!”

“And you’re not gonna help?! If you care so much, why don’t you do something about it?!”

“Alexis, this is YOUR room! So it’s YOUR damn problem! And if I WANTED to do something, I would have kicked you out of-”

Lexy abruptly got up, slamming her bedroom door shut. “SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

She then just flopped back onto her bed, groaning loudly. “I fucking hate my life… a-and her! God damn it!”

After pulling out her phone, her distressed and tearful expression seemed to brighten up a tad.

“...oh… good time for you to text… amidst the… whole mess of everything else I haven’t…”

She sniffled quietly, before seeming to set up a call with the other person.

While it was just a vision, MM moved away from her so as to not disturb what she was doing. Even then, it didn’t change what he heard.

“Y-Yeah… she just keeps yelling at me… I-I really do mean to clean up! A-And do everything! B-But… I just can’t get the motivation to get it done… I-I fucking hate having this damn disease…”

Whoever she was talking to seemed to be good at reassuring her, though.

“...I know it’s not really one, but… s-sorry. No.. th-thank you. So much… y-yeah. Please. I wanna keep talking more… I-I love you so much.”

~ ~ ~

After a bit, MM snapped back into reality with a soft sigh. He decided to teleport away before talking to himself.

“Hm… she didn’t have it very easy back then, unlike Misty. Mostly due to… that was her mother, I think. It’s good that she had someone there to have her back. And that she’s somewhere more accepting now…”

…he wondered who she had fallen in love with, though. He shouldn’t ask.

“...okay. Time for the bulk of the experiment.”

Next, MM teleported to a certain time-filled mess of a room.

A positive example of the word ‘special interest’ if he had ever seen it. Walls and shelves adorned with clocks, a desk in the corner of the room with a laptop atop it…

And a messy bed in the centre of it all, plus a dreaded redhead to investigate.

…hoo boy.

He moved one of her clocks over to her, which served to confuse her awake.

“H-Hm…? What…?”

“Sorry for waking you. Now is just… an ideal time for looking into your past, that’s all.”

Silence.
He didn’t like that uneasy look in her eye. (Considering that her other eye, without the helmet on, was glossed-over and such. She had mentioned being blind in it one time when she was half-awake, so he wouldn’t worry about it.)

“...do I have your consent to still do this?”

“...yeah.”

“Are you… are you sure?” MM’s voice took on a more concerned tone. “I won’t go ahead with this if you don’t want me to. You can be honest with me.”

“...I wanna know that something’s there… j-just don’t tell me what you see, if there’s anything.”

“...if you’re certain. Just… just relax, alright?”

He took a second to tuck her in properly, as well as helping her to doze off comfortably once more. Mainly through him making up a pretty good story on the spot - he had a nice voice for it, after all.

Maybe he should make a few new ones soon, though - that one about the unicorn, cheetah, fennec fox, wolf and peacock was starting to feel a little old.

Still… time to focus and delve into just what past Jerri held. Or, well… held onto.

~ ~ ~

Static.

All he could see around him was static.

Given how she wanted to know that ‘something’ was there, MM decided to not question just what he was witnessing. He just had to focus deeper, beyond what she was able to remember. Just…

Deeper into the mind, really.

Heightening his focus, he eventually noticed a small tear in the mess of static. It was one of the only faintly warm things in this mess of static, and some faint noise was coming from it.

‘...the only thing that could be warm and intact in a place like this, whether she remembers it or not, is…’

Saying that, he carefully peeked into the tear.

He saw a quiet, autumn afternoon. Cloudy weather, a playground absolutely littered in fallen leaves, and a generally quite calm vibe to it all.

In particular, he saw… her.

Her hair was a lot longer and messier, and she had a more timid and closed-off demeanour to her. Wearing some kind of large, black hoodie, dark trousers, dark red sneakers… was she maybe about 7 or 8? He couldn’t tell.

…she seemed really sad. Hiding away from everyone else at the top of a slide, reading to herself in that calm but sad silence.

“What are you reading?”

Another kid, their features blotted out by the static that MM saw, seemed to startle the younger girl heavily. “Oh… wait. You’re the girl in class nobody wants to be friends with, right? ‘Cause you’re so quiet.”

That younger Jerri held the book up to try and hide her face, which made the other kid realise what book she was reading. “Wait, you like dinosaurs too?”

She seemed too shy to initially respond back, but it didn't stop the other kid from carrying on. “What one’s your favourite?”

“...the… um… that, uh… l-long-necked one…”

“You mean a brachiosaurus?”

“...y-yeah.”

“Ooh, why do you like it?”

The static closed in on the surroundings around the duo, but MM realised that this was just the memory focusing less on how lively everything was outside of this little moment on the slide.

While he couldn’t exactly hear just what Jerri was saying, she seemed to be coming out of her shell quite fast - especially with that other kid not leaving or seeming to find her rambling weird.

Even when her rambling got so excited, and she even put that book down to start happily flapping her hands amidst it all…

“That’s really awesome! Do you wanna be friends?”

“...r-really?”

“Yeah! Really!”

“...yeah…!”

~ ~ ~

So, then, MM was back in reality. He took a second to sigh and whisper something to her.

“...there’s something there, Jerri. Don’t worry…”

He then left Jerri’s room before starting to gather his findings.

“...despite all that static, her inner child is still intact. Which likely explains why she acts the way she does sometimes… But, back then, it seems as if she was very lonely. Probably isolated due to being autistic, if what she was doing there tells any stories… But connections really do mean a lot to her.”

This only left one member of the group left, so he teleported away with a tired sigh.

Avery’s room was simplistic and forest-y, basically like a little tree hollow. Adorned in musical instruments, the rest of his birds, and-

“There you are.”

“A-Avery? Why are you still awake?”

“I just couldn’t sleep… But. either way. You wanted to look into my past, yes?”

“Mhm. I’ll ask as I have done for everyone else… Do I still have your consent to do this?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Alright, then. Just relax.”

Giving Avery a second to compose himself and settle down, it was time for MM’s last mind-venture of the night. Just what was his past like?

~ ~ ~

It was partially the sight he was expecting. A large, incredibly dense-looking forest - one that MM recognised as the Capella Woods, Avery’s home.

So… where was he?

“...I’ll make this clear from the get-go, Flundera… by my powers, you were created to uphold the cycle of life in this forest.”

Huh? Was this…

Was this the very start of Avery’s life?!

He hadn’t meant to go THIS far back… MM glanced around in panic, only to find Avery…

…fully grown?

“I understand, Great Cycle. I shall not let you down.”

He… He didn’t expect that, either. So, not only did Avery NOT really have a childhood from the get-go, but… he was happy with this?

To listen to that “Great Cycle”?

He… he… what?!

WHAT WAS THIS?!

~ ~ ~

He gasped abruptly, shaking himself free of his vision.

“...strange sight, I assume?” Avery sighed.

“...admittedly… y-yes. I’m sorry for the panic.”

“You’re okay. I shouldn’t be surprised that the circumstances for my birth could startle others. But you seem exhausted… you should go and get some rest yourself.”

“I will.”

So MM went to leave.

“...say, MM, what about your past?”

Silence.

“...I burnt it.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s as simple as that.”

…Avery knew that MM was lying about this.

He hadn’t ‘burnt’ his past at all - he was just trying to say that he would rather not talk about it right now.

So, Avery would respect that choice.

Back in his room, MM finished jotting down his findings from the night before getting himself cozy in bed.

“...it’s all in the theatre,” he muttered, trying to shrug off his heavy-liddedness. “That’s… that’s where everything even close to my past is.”

The silence in his room felt a little suffocating tonight.

“I don’t want them to know anything about me.”

He sighed, before just tiredly nuzzling into his pillows.

“...please let me remain an enigma to them all.”

Then he dozed off, carrying that uncertain request.

~ ~ ~

Buried within the depths of his mind, though, was a young kid who existed before taking on the form that he held in the present day.

Dark skin, black and curly hair, simply hiding behind a tree at what looked to be a family gathering.

The kid simply fiddled with a cape made out of a blanket, not seeming to want to really move a lot.

Though…

“Hey!”

Another kid showed up out of nowhere, jumping behind the tree. More tanned skin compared to him, but with black, short hair and a purple shirt adorned with green and blue stripes.

“...who’re you…?”

“Josh.”

“...okay…”

Josh seemed to blink at the other kid, before dragging him by the arm to a part of the garden the family gathering was being held in.

“I can actually do magic, actually! Lemme show you!”

He snatched away the blanket cape, tying it around his neck before reaching inside of it, and…

Some orange, moon-shaped creature was pulled out of it, chittering happily.

“W-Woah…!”

“Yep! My dad said they’re called Quips, but I dunno how they work. They’re cool though!”

The other kid gave Josh a sparkly gaze. “That… that’s awesome. I, uh… I wanna be magic like that when I grow up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It’s all, um… showy and sparkly, isn’t it?”

“Yep! Wait, uhh… What's your name?”

“...M-Martin.”

Thus, in that dream of the past, a certain future Mentalist’s path was set in stone by looking up to his (albeit distant) cousin as a form of magical inspiration.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Text

Mail. It exists, right?

On one side of the table, it can be a good thing. An old friend finally saying hello again, getting a highly anticipated package…

On the other side, bills. We- We don’t need to explain how those are annoying.

But what about the secret, third option?

“Hey, dude, I think you got a letter from Jackbox.”

“R-Really? I don’t think I’ve done anything awful as of late… Is- Is that what it’s about?”

“I wouldn’t know. Pretty sure it’s illegal to open other people’s mail, anyway… Still, just take a look.”

Lexy slid the envelope into Avery’s room, of which he picked up and opened cautiously.

“So? What’s the situation?”

She got silence back.

Geez… How deep in trouble WAS he?

“...you doing okay in there, Ave?”

Still silence, bar some hard-to-understand mumbling.

“Okay, seriously, this is weird now. Are you-”

“H-Hmm… t-toe… a-vury… flown… terra…?”

…

Huh?

Why did it sound like he wasn’t too sure on how to pronounce things? Or, no, wilder shot in the dark, was he… could he just nod read it?

Well, what’s the worst that asking could do?

“...Avery, do you know how to read?”

“It… depends on what I’d have to read.”

“As in?”

“Sheet music. I can do that. Anything else, well…” He let out a whistle of embarrassment.

“Really?” After a moment of thinking, Lexy entered his room. “I sure wouldn’t have guessed. Because you write down lyrics for songs to perform for us all the time, AND know exactly what they say… I dunno, music vision?”

“Maybe. I somehow know what I’m doing when it follows the musical flow of life, but anything OUTSIDE of that is a total blank. Like my heart knows what to do, but when I look BACK on the lyrics outside of that, they make no sense to my head.”

Well, the more you know. Your roommate doesn’t know how to read outside of a musical context. Weird, yes, but you’re the one with ADHD, so you really shouldn’t be judging people for developmental stuff just because you’re kind of in the same boat.

“You need me to read that for you?”

“P-Please do.”

So she took the letter from him, giving it a lookover. “Hmm… Phew, nothing serious. They’re just letting you know your game wasn’t in as high demand as it usually is in these past two weeks, so they’re upping your pay a little this time around.”

“Ah, I see.”

She sighed quietly, before handing him the letter back. “Still, uh… I don’t mean this weirdly, but have you ever thought about learning to read?”

“A few times… I have told MM about this flaw of mine before.”

“Gah! THAT’S what he meant by that’s for him and Jerri to know, and me to find out!”

“...I shouldn’t be surprised that she wound up learning about it too.”

“Whatever! Let’s see what we can do with you!”

So following Lexy’s guidance, the two headed off to her bedroom.

-

“Hm. Not like her to put a sign up on her door, is it?”

‘NOTE: I’M BUSY WITH TRYING TO HELP AVERY OUT WITH A THING. PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE FOR A BIT
– LEXY’

“...eh, it’s probably just about the thing. I'd better leave her to it.”

-

“...so, that should be the basics of how everything sounds, in all of its… really confusing glory.”

“Mhm. I think I understand…”

“Then let’s put these guys into actual, readable words! Lemme see…”

Lexy took a minute to jot some random words down and then slid it in front of Avery.

She figured words that were TOO traditional wouldn’t cut it. She had to test this guy!

While it did still look like a bunch of nonsense scribbles to him, he at least understood things a touch better this time.

“So… that’s an L, that’s meant to be an A… l-lackey?”

“You’re on the right track, just…”

She sighed. “Okay, so… that actually says lake, but you don’t really SAY the ‘e’ in it. I should have gotten more into silent letters…”

“You know that I’m fine to not rush this, right? Even if you do prefer going around things in a crash-course type fashion.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… I guess I was just eager to help you out. Still, no issue! Unless I’m out of the house, there’s a 90% chance that I’m gonna be around to lend you a hand with this anyway.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you again. But… let me look at this one more time. That one there’s lake, so this one… hm… I think that’s flora?”

“Yep! You got that! Not too bad for a second try!”

“In that case, let’s leave things there. I’ll try to work on things in my own time, too.”

“Noted!”

Following that, Avery got up and left quietly. Well, this wasn’t REALLY a big deal, anyway… But it was a little confusing as to how he had gotten by in reality until now.
Still! Any progress is good progress.

“...maybe a more hands-on method isn’t my style. I should try and dig out some old stuff.”

So she spent the afternoon rummaging through her countless stash of DVDs and old VHS tapes for some educational content to maybe lend Avery a hand. It was… all mainly pretty childish stuff, really.

It’s teaching a guy how to READ, spark-darn it! That literally has no choice BUT to be aimed at kids, considering how early in life you have to learn that!

Still, she at least ran things by him.

“Yeah, uhh… n-not a lot of stuff I have is catered towards teaching ADULTS to read. Sorry.”

“It’s not going to be the end of the world if I get a more basic, albeit light-hearted look at things.”

“Albeit? Well… yeah, you DO like things being more serious, don’t you.”

“That I do, Con. Still… let’s leave watching that stuff until tomorrow. I’d rather focus on my own studying for now, as well as just… hm…”

“Living?”

“Yes, that’s the word.”

“Eh, not a problem to me! Glad to know you’re still on board!”

It was arguably quite a stupid thing to do, but it was at least coming from a place of kindness. So who really cares about how ‘stupid’ it looks, actually?

Chapter Text

Ahem. Where to begin…

‘Twas the midday before Christmas, and all through the house…

Well, everyone’s still stirring, I’m not sure what you expected honestly.

But, yes. The holiday season! A time plentiful in a marvellous plethora of emotions. Stress from having to buy your close friends and family presents, stress from worrying about if the weather is going to take a drastic, family holiday movie-type turn for the worst, stress from not knowing just what’ll go wrong in general…

Actually, was December just an avid breeding ground for stress?

That would warrant a LOT of investigations…

“...so, what are you two doing?”

“The idea was we exhaust ourselves now, so that we aren’t a huge problem for tonight! Gotta make sure you guys rest well and all.”

“...let me guess, it’s because of the big guy himself?”

Despite the self-dubbed science duo’s energetic frolicking outside a mere moment ago, that lone sentence had stopped them dead in their tracks.

This guy could NOT be kidding.

“...who?”

“Y-You know, S-”

“You of all people still believe in him?!”

It was a mix of playfully judgemental and genuine confusion. “How out of touch is your inner child?!”

That sentence warranted Lexy getting some snow shoved down the back of her neck with alarming speed.

“ACK! S-SORRY! SORRYSORRYSORRY!”

“Had to do it to ‘ya.”

“I DON’T- MM, LEVITATE HER BACK INSIDE OR SOMETHING! I-I’LL TAKE BACK MOCKING YOU FOR STILL BELIEVING IN SANTA!”

“Hm, no. You… hang on, is this speaking from genuine discomfort or a more playful kind?”

“H-Huh?” Lexy snapped out of things for a minute. “Um… I don’t think I feel AWFUL awful, so… playful?”

“Then you got what you playfully deserved.”

“You people fucking suck.”

“Ah. Shame.”

“I will shove snow down the back of your neck too, Jerri!”

“That’s what scarves are for. And a pow-pow to you-”

This failed to stop Lexy from grabbing a handful of snow, pulling back Jerri’s scarf, and returning the favour in the blink of an eye.

“T-T-TOO! GAH, GOD DAMN IT!”

“Get snow-necked, loser!”

While those three were outside, a more in-depth conversation was happening between Misty and Avery.

The former of which had just gotten inside after putting a sign up on the house’s front door.

“So? What did you say?”

Misty sighed. “We appreciate your presence, but we’d prefer any carol singers not bother us. Have a good holiday.”

“That meaning…?”

“We’re not listening to them. But said really, really politely.”

“Mhm, I see. Especially after a few nights ago…”

– – –

[MST] “Oh, I’ll get that… though we probably know what it is.”

[AV] “Thanks. Hm?”

[MM] “...w-woah.”

[AV] “Sorry… Did the knock at the door wake you up?”

[AV] (Figures… How close was he to dozing off, anywhere.I swear he was right there.)

[MM] “You… you’re like a bush…”

[AV] “...oh.”

[JR] “What’s going on in here? Where’d Misty head off to?”

[AV] “Door. Probably carollers.”

[JR] “Gotcha.”

[MM] “...why is that marshmallow’s hair on fire? Are you… are you gonna put it out…?”

[JR] “What in the shit is this.”

[MM] “Hm… nevermind… I’m sure you’re plenty delicious anyway… uhuhoh…”

[JR] “...is- is he-”

[AV] “I swear to the Great Cycle, keep quiet and get out of earshot. I’m singing him down.”

[JR] “Right, ro-ger. I got a game to host anyway, better I stay awake for that.”

– – –

“I swear, in the five minutes that he was half-lucid, it was enough to rival the likes of her.”

“At least he fell back to sleep quickly.”

“Mhm. I dread to think how he sees the world when he’s like that.”

Avery wandered over to a table and grabbed a notebook, offering it back to the dragon. “Anyway, how are the plans going?”

“Let’s see… We’ve got food prepared for the next few days, considering everything shuts for Christmas?”

“Check.”

“We haven’t made any plans that are reliant on the weather staying ‘good’?”

“Check.”

“Haven’t invited any guests over?”

“Check.”

“And we haven’t overstepped anybody’s boundaries or religious beliefs by mistake, b-because we never chose to ask about if we had things like that?!”

…

“...I think MM’s cousin was Jewish.”

“That was a distant side of the family, anyway…”

MM had suddenly appeared with an immense aura of dread around him.

“I was not raised with the same beliefs as my cousin, so… you don’t need to worry about that.”

“...why do you seem so sad?”

“We… We were quite close. It’s just that… w-with the rumoured Murder Hotel incident, it’s… it’s very safe to assume what’s happened to him.”

Misty and Avery looked at each other awkwardly.

A, that incident did happen, yes, but B, literally everyone else and their dad knew that Schmitty wasn’t fucking DEAD from it. By some miracle.

Had- Had nobody told MM?

“...I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s alright…”

So, he had teleported away again.

“I never knew those two were close.”

– – –

We now cut to 9pm, a fairly peaceful time,

And yes, all these transitions are going to be in rhyme. You’re just going to have to deal with it.

The science duo had since retired inside from their self-exhaustion mission, just opting to eat dinner and take it easy.

“I never knew they made microwaveable curries, honestly. Like how there’s ones for spaghetti or mac and cheese.”

“Yeah, surprised me too. It’s a good distraction from eating dinner tomorrow. Strong, spicy, the whole deal.”

“We aren’t gonna force you to eat things like you… HAVE to.”

“You were gonna mention being a kid, weren’t you.”

“...yeah, sorry.”

“Honestly, you’re so lucky that I can’t just go outside and get more snow to shove down your neck. That’d be too harsh anyway."

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

After a minute, the other trio had returned with their own dinners and settled down in their own spots in the living room.

It created a pretty cozy sentiment, just eating and talking about whatever.

In particular, after Lexy had finished, she was quick to clean her stuff up and head back upstairs before anyone else did.

“Bathroom! Be back in a minute!”

The remaining quartet stayed pretty chilled-out during the evening, mostly just talking about ideal presents and such.

Mostly because it’s 9pm on Christmas Eve, and you sure as hell can’t turn back now.

“I know I’m big on fashion, but I’d be happy to get my hands on some hair-care stuff. Dyes, moisturisers, that kind of stuff. It’d be fun to experiment, right?”

“I need to get some more tools, really… The usual stuff I use to repair people’s junk is starting to wear out. Better to stay on top of things. right?”

“You people know what I’m like… and what I like. Not a lot of point in lying about it. It just would have been more plushies… for the love of the stars.”

“Hm… I think I could use some more instruments to practice with. Even so, they are awfully expensive… I’d take what I can get, though.”

After a bit, Lexy had come back downstairs with a tired sigh. “Sorry. Stomach cramps…”

“Oh. Period?”

“That’s come and gone for this month… Yours due anytime soon, Rigster?”

“Closer to the end of the month. I can’t wait to spend New Year’s BLEEDING.”

The sarcasm was heavy in that claim.

“Welp… either way, I’m exhausted. You guys done all that you have to do?”

“Give me a sec.”

Following a minute of getting up, heading into the kitchen and then coming back out, Jerri just shrugged. “Making sure we turned the oven off.”

“O-Oh scales, I forgot?!”

“No, it was off anyway.”

“Eurgh… what a relief.”

“Anyway, I think you all know the drill. Cozy up, folks…”

So, the group just bundled up on the sofa and chilled out until the Lethargy Link took its course. Surprisingly, this was due to MM passing out first and letting his magic drag the others down with him.

All that was left now was waiting for the day itself to break.

Chapter Text

Now, the day of Christmas proper, that fated day has arrived

Despite the stress aplenty, this here Decapack had thrived

Enough to get through free of hassle, but they eventually had to get up

Since it’s Christmas Day, they slept in ‘til 10am, so actually, what the fuck? How did they Snooze Chain THAT hard?

“Welp… time to get to action.”

The group had woken up pretty close to each other time-wise, so it hardly took long for the main task of present-opening to get underway.

“So, handle things however you guys want to, just don’t go too over-the-top.”

One of Misty’s ears twitched as she felt someone raising her hand.

“Yes, you’re allowed to celebrate if you deem it to be a good present. Happiness isn’t over-the-top by any means.”

“Just making sure.”

“Fine by me. Happy openings to you guys!”

So, the quintet split up to gather their presents and find a nice place each to open them all. May as well keep it as a bit of a surprise from each other, right?

You know, initial reactions and all that…

I think we should just move on to that before I make this even more awkward.

– – –

“Alright. Time to see what we’ve got…”

Mesei (who was calling herself that due to her friends not being around right now) already seemed pretty eager to receive what her friends had picked out. They were good people and all! They wouldn’t give her any weird gifts on purpose!

Well, she sure hoped not.

Let’s not worry about that right now! Just embrace the Christmas-y vibes!

So, she started by aiming for the smaller presents, being Lexy and MM’s doing.

The former and latter, respectively, turning out to be…

A sort of manicure kit, and some bright red hair dye. No, wait… mane dye?

She said that, and he had literally just put some opaque tape over the word ‘hair’ and wrote ‘mane’ on top of it. Innovative, she had to admit.

“Not too bad! Makes you wonder what those two considered, then.”

As she went to go through her next duo of presents, a somewhat larger one from Jerri and a surprisingly smaller one from Avery, a faint crash from upstairs snapped her out of things.

Weird… she couldn’t tell where it came from.

“...I’m sure it’s nothing.”

So she got back into investigating her new goods. The larger one ended up being a set of hand weights (did she… did she even need those? Well, she wouldn’t berate Jerri for a gift that she didn’t consider to be love-at-first-sight), and Avery’s gift ended up being a few rock CDs.

Not bands that she was familiar with. but no harm in expanding the ol’ music range, right?

“Not too shabby, all in all! I’ll have to let them know it wasn’t too bad later on. But, that noise… I’m gonna go see what it is.”

– – –

“Hoo boy. Let’s see…”

To be honest, Lexy’s own expectations for presents were pretty low. So long as she figured they’d be ‘cool’, she had no complaints.

Sure, everyone’s offered presents were on the smaller side of things, but who is she to be a pain about that?

After moving her presents onto the bed, she sat down, only to get distracted by some crashing from somewhere else upstairs.

“Hm? W-Wait, wasn’t that-”

She paused.

“...a-actually, no… I should focus on the presents.”

While going to open Misty’s gift, she paused again. “Wait, no, that was weird! That was definitely MM’s room, but… why’s he trying to make me ignore him? I’m not that much of an asshole, am I?”

She sighed. “I’m checking on him after this…”

For now, presents.

Now starting with MM’s gift out of slight worry for the dude, she ended up digging out an old DVD collection for an old gameshow she remembered watching. “I didn’t know they made a DVD set for this. Unless he worked out how to burn things into CDs. Wouldn’t hold that against the dude! Either way, sick!”

Yeah, that’d give her a great reason to talk to him afterwards. Thanking him and all that jazz.

Now, back to the others’ stuff.

They felt a… LITTLE bit lackluster compared to that, but not in a bad way! Just good, but not AS good as the DVD set.

It just happened to be a black graphic hoodie, a pair of wireless headphones and a… guide to learn how to DJ?

“When did Avery learn I was gonna try getting into this? Welp, I’ll take what I can get!”

So she placed her gifts on her desk, cracking her knuckles with a sigh. “Let’s go see what’s up with MM.”

– – –

“Okay. Keep your composure.”

Now, what do you give to a girl who’s hyperfixated on time and probably has anything and everything you could possibly throw at her? Like, for Christmas?

That’s what those four had to work out for Jerri, really. Ever the enigma she was, anyhow.

“Just… Stay cool. Even if it’s good. You don’t really wanna get too loud out there.”

So, she decided to focus on Avery’s gift first. He knew her the least out of the quintet, so she probably wouldn’t be TOO hyped up by it…

She was right. A CD of lo-fi music.

“Huh. Could be worse, I guess. Remind me to never listen to this when I’m working on anything, knowing how quickly I mellow out…”

Now, for the worst part - Misty, Lexy and MM’s presents.
They knew her a LOT better than Avery did… But she just had to stay cool, right?

…

Yeah, not possible.

“Oh. Oh my timelines.”

Besides from Misty’s gift being alright (a little collection of stuff to take care of her hair better, considering how messy it was under that helmet), and MM’s being pretty good (a red, metallic flask - probably to drag along with a drink in it for her time travelling escapades), Lexy had… wow.

Another weighted blanket, usually great as-is but somehow customised to have a clock-filled pattern on it. Even with a note from Lexy on it.

‘i worked some things out ;) have a good one!!’

“I… this… this has GOT TO BE ONE OF THE COOLEST THINGS I’VE EVER GOTTEN MY HANDS ON!”

So she just held the packaged blanket up to her chest, kicking her legs like a slight maniac from the sheer happiness of it all.

Though, her moment of happiness was cut off by a crashing from across the hall.

“H-Huh? That was… that’s MM’s room, I think?”

She put the blanket down, hopping up curiously to go and investigate the scene.

– – –

Now for the hardest guy to really pick a gift out for.

“Okay. Remember, don’t expect anything grand…”

The others were all quite sure that Avery would probably be UNsure of how to react if they gave him things to ‘replace’ what had been his lifelong gear. Like, would he find it odd?

So they had to work around that little hurdle.

“Now, let’s see.”

He started off with Misty’s gift, which wound out being a thick, moss-green scarf and gloves combo. Fair… When he had come home from a game the other day, he WAS admittedly quite unwell for a bit due to how cold the woods got this time of year…

Lexy and MM’s gifts weren’t so bad. The former had bought him a few basic-looking books to improve on his reading ability (a flaw he had recognised in the past), and the latter grabbed him a new notepad for writing lyrics down in. (Even slipped a ticket to one of his shows between the pages… That sly buffoon.)

Of which left one present.

“...let’s hope she hasn’t taken this too literally and just dug out an old dodo skull.”

Don’t ask where he got that from.

Instead, no. He found that Jerri had pulled together a sort of evergreen leaf crown instead. Big enough to fit on his head, and quite snugly at that.

“Hm. I’m no fashionista, but it’s not half-bad.”

After a second, his wings stood on end as a crash shook from next door. “G-Gah! What’s he doing in there…?!”

So, refusing to abandon his leaf crown, he hurried over to that room.

– – –

The four ended up entering MM’s room at about the same time, with the scene being… confusing.

There was a big mess of plushie strewn over the floor, with a fallen net of fabric squashed underneath them all. AKA, Lexy’s present of a plushie hammock. (Which she had snuck upstairs to set up last night.)

Avery’s offering of a classical music CD was left on his side-table, plus Misty’s bundle of detective novels that hadn’t even been taken out of the box yet.

There wasn’t any sign of what Jerri had bought him, though…

Meanwhile, Lexy’s eyes were caught by the pattern of blankets that set up that comfy void of a bed. Hm… dull purple, indigo, space-like, starry…

“...Rigster, did you get him a space-y blanket like that?” She whispered.

“Yup. Why?”

She signalled for the others to be quiet.

“...just let me be invisible forever…”

…what was he saying?

“I’m not… I’m not meant to be- no, stop this! You’re a grown adult, you shouldn’t be moping over a basic fact of life! But… but here you are. Moping over it anyway.”

The quartet continued to listen, while fixing up his plushie hammock in silence.

“...you’re no main character, Mentalist. The world is not here to give you 24/7, undivided attention. To- To everybody else on this planet, you HAVE to be nobody. You don’t exist to them, and you cannot help that. B-But…”

After fixing it up to what they deemed to be his standard, they started quietly debating to themselves about whether they’d just…

Dive into the void or not.

“...we haven’t turned anything on, right?”

“Nope. Just woke up and… presents, really.”

“Good.”

So, they let him keep talking.

“...but… I-I really do just want to exist to people… n-not just on a screen, but… genuinely…”

After that, the four of them sat down, and-

“WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?! YOU- YOU CAN’T BE TRYING TO HELP ME NOW OF ALL TIMES!”

…that wasn’t what they were trying to get out of this. Not a tearful, seemingly quite pissed-off MM popping out from under the covers.

“I- THIS- THIS ISN’T MEANT TO BE ‘CUTE’ OR ‘WHOLESOME’! MY- MY PROBLEMS AREN’T ABOUT TO BE DULLED DOWN TO THAT! I- I’M- I’M SUFFERING AND I’M LONELY AND I-I JUST WANT TO EXIST TO OTHER PEOPLE! NOT BE A PERSON TO ‘AWW’ OVER AND FEEL BAD FOR! I- I’M HERE! I’M A REAL PERSON! SO… SO WHY AM I NOT BEING ACKNOWLEDGED AS SUCH?! WHY?!”

…even though he was.

The group wasn't perfect. They knew that, even if MM was as lonely as he said, they couldn’t give him that 24/7 attention that he was talking about.

They did their best to be there for him, whether he was in the mood to have company or not.

To just… Comfort him if things got rough.

And he… felt as if it wasn’t enough? Was that it?

“...I don’t… I don’t know if I’ve done anything to warrant it, but… p-please tell me if I have done, a-and if not… don’t leave me alone… unless it’s, well… warranted…”

That anger had very quickly crumbled into hopelessness, with him just hiding back under the blankets again.

…

Earlier made sense to Lexy, now. He didn’t want anyone checking on him because of how crappy he felt.

“...hey,” the blonde whispered. “...do you want us to stick around right now?”

“...d-don’t… Don't you pity me… I-I just… let me be nothing.”

“You… you’re not nothing, and you’re not just a ‘character to pity’, either. You’re a genuine, real person to us. Just one that’s going through a… a lot.”

“...how?”

“...”

“...I knew it.”

“...I just needed to get the words. Look… you’re a real person, just as much as the rest of us. You have good days, you have real dumpster-fire days… there’s stuff you like, stuff you hate, different little things that keep you going.”

“...just like any plain, invisible character that’s out there…”

“Character or not, invisible or not, you’re still YOU. I know we aren't perfect at keeping ourselves in good mental shape, let alone you… but- but that doesn’t mean we don’t care! You’re having a seriously shit day, and we’re… well, I’M doing what feels right at the minute. Talking a bit of sense into you. But in general, we're all doing what feels right - making sure you're okay."

“...”

“...”

It was quite an uneasy silence.

“...too much?”

“...I don’t know.”

“...do you… do you want us to go?”

“...n-not- not Avery. The rest of you, j-just…”

“Gotcha. We’ll… we’ll be around if you want us to be there for you, okay?”

“I… I understand.”

“...thanks, dude. A-And… sorry.”

“D-Don’t be… I’m the one who’s… like this.”

The other trio had left him be, shutting the door behind them as Avery curled up on his bed. He felt like MM was just… in a really bad place right now.

He just let him curl up into his stomach from underneath the blankets.

“...you don’t have to say anything else,” he whispered. “...you’re here, you’re real, and you matter to all of us so much.”

“...do you promise that?”

“Yes. We can ask everybody else when you feel more willing to interact with the others again. For now, just… exist, knowing that you exist in the eyes of others.”

“...mhm.”

And thus, the rest of Christmas was quiet and complete,

While starting swell and joyful, yes, things had turned bittersweet.

Between the clutches of a downward spiral, where hope had tried to die,

While it was awkward, a day like this let a message ring: “Tomorrow, I’ll try.”

…after all, Avery brought him dinner to his room and such later down the line. They had just spent the rest of the day recuperating from that mental crash, in fact.

MM had just… slept. A lot.

And he didn’t feel better for a good few days after that.

But … he’s here. Here, alive, and trying.

…that’s enough for now.

Chapter Text

[PROPERTY OF MM]

<< HOW DOES THE BED WORK? - AN ANALYSIS >>

– – – – –

To my knowledge, my bed did not originally hold such unusual powers. It certainly wasn’t like that when I first arrived here, anyway.

If anything, it was very traditional. Simple, comfortable, does the job it's there for when I actually have the desire to lay down.

So, what could have happened to it?

I feel as if I have a hunch…

See, I have a bit of a naturally calming aura to me. Not sure where THAT came from.

Maybe that aura seeped into my bed in the few times that I’ve slept in it? I suppose it wouldn’t be outlandish to assume.

Even so, knowing just that wasn’t quite enough…

While my bed is normally cozy and simple to me, it seems to have a surprisingly strong influence on my roommates. But what causes that…?

I decided to investigate this. I shall write down a separate log of two conversations I had with two of my roommates, who go by Lexy and Avery, below about the matter.

– – – – –

<< TESTING THINGS, MARK 1: LEXY CONN >>

[LX] “What’s with you writing down so much?”

I told her that it was for the sake of science.

[LX] “Okay… So, what’s the deal? You want me to just lie down, or…?”

I explained that she often struggles the most to get good sleep outside of myself, so she would ideally be able to help me. She’d just have to lie down on the bed, and explain how it… baits her in, I suppose?

On top of this, I asked her if she was still willing to help, despite knowing what fate she’d likely meet by lying down.

Consent’s always mandatory in the field of research, you know.

[LX] “Sure, I guess. I need to get some good sleep anyway… okay, hup!”

That ‘hup’ is the sound she made upon hopping onto my bed. Wait… hop, hup… perhaps the two are linked.

Nonetheless, I remained focused on Lexy.

[LX] “Nothing so far, I g- h-huh, hold on. Now that I actually focus on it instead of arguing with someone about not wanting to go to bed, I feel like I hear something!”

I requested to know what.

[LX] “Sounds a bit like you, but… more like a girl? Softer, lighter… kinda just… uh…”

I hadn’t accounted for how quickly she’d get caught up in things, of course.

[LX] “Sorry, dude, I… I just listen to this thing, and…”

She wound up falling asleep before I could ask her more things. So, I moved her back to her bedroom for the night.

– – – – –

<< WIDENING MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS, MARK 1: AVERY FLUNDERA >>

Like with Lexy, I had explained the prior concerns about my bed to Avery before he agreed to help me.

Including consent.

[AV] “I see. I’ll be careful.”

So, he lay down, and didn’t comment until he heard what Lexy must have.

[AV] “It’s someone that sounds like you. Telling me to relax, as expected.”

I asked Avery why he figured that.

[AV] “Well, your bed is strange. We’re usually more focused on getting cozy than working out why… ah, hang on.”

His endurance in the face of the coziness proved more powerful than Lexy’s.

[AV] “...I presume the voice is clouding my judgement with that soft cadence of its. Since I’m finding it gradually harder to focus on anything other than the bed at the moment…”

Upon noting that down in a later page of this book, I thanked him and asked him if he could elaborate on how things were feeling.

[AV] “I’ll try… well, my vision’s certainly focused on the bed, and… I-I suppose the blankets are quite suddenly a lot warmer. And… oh, MM, I can’t do this. I’m sorry…”

I’m unsure whether reassuring him that he had nothing to say sorry for was heard before he fell asleep.

I let him stay in my bedroom that night.

– – – – –

<< IN CONCLUSION >>

– I believe my calm aura has merged with my bed’s already soft essence, essentially creating a sort of “pseudo-me” that may match the inner voice of whoever hears it. (As Lexy described my voice as being more feminine.)

– With a person’s “inner voice” telling them to relax, I can understand why it’s hard for them to turn down the offer to do so. Also, it seems to cloud their judgement in regards to anything other than relaxing things quite quickly…

– So, I have gathered that my bed has no harmful intent. It simply makes use of a little illusion or two to coax others into relaxing better.

With that, I shall leave this report here.

Chapter Text

“I like the idea of you being the one to find new places to get food from. You seem real street-savvy, and all that.”

“C’mon, it’s nothing! It’s weird that they only accept in-person orders, though…”

“Let up-and-coming businesses get their feet off of the ground, darn it! Either way, is this the spot?”

“Yup.”

Said ‘spot’ being a large, barn-like building, red with white framing and all, adorned with decorative (while alive) plants, as well as a lot of cookie-related decorations.

A bit standout in the middle of the city, though…

That’s probably how Lexy learnt about it to begin with, though! And exactly why her and the four other idiots were here.

“We should be fine, though! I talked with the girl who runs this joint. We should be all good in regards to just waltzing on in and seeing what she can do for us.”

“And if we aren’t?”

“Then I’ll be the one to embarrass us all, I guess. I’m goin’ in!”

With that, Lexy hopped into the building.

“...I don’t like how ‘fresh’ and ‘cookies’ are in quotation marks.”

“Isn’t there a subreddit for that?”

“A what?”

“Quit the social talk and get on in here! I’ve just struck GOLD!”

The rest of the crew filed in, bearing witness to an interesting sight.

Bunched up at a table seemed to be quite a curious cast, indeed…

At the leftmost side of it was an anthropomorphic Pomeranian, donning a tan flatcap and detective’s coat with a hole cut in her back to let her tail out. Which was good because sweet sparks, that thing reached up to just below her ears in height.

Next to her was some kind of skeleton hidden beneath a large, grey cloak. Ominous, minus the fact that he was hovering over the table with a pair of short, fluffy wings, and that he was wearing a pair of flip-flops and had a fanny pack around his waist - both a tacky yellow-green.

Actually next to that Pomeranian was what looked like what would happen if you took a shark and turned it into a human. Grey-blue skin adorned with gills, an ice blue haircut obscured by a dark blue fedora, as well as a saturated blue jacket, black belt and boots… the dude even had a fish tail and fins poking out from his wrists, for crying out loud.

At the end of the table was a green, slightly-prickly-skinned humanoid figure with a darker green, asymmetrical haircut. He seemed to also be wearing an oversized tie-dye sweater, had green headphones around his neck, and some thick leather gloves over his hands.

Lastly was Lexy’s conversation partner - a bipedal, brown cow donning a chef’s hat. She was also wearing a white dress, a black… corset? Was that it? As well as having a green apron that only wrapped around her waist, black heeled boots, and purple oven gloves. Also, she had brown hair on TOP of her, uh…

…cow-skin.

“Oh! I’m guessing that these are your friends, then.”

The utter absurdity of this quintet told the others one thing:

These guys can’t NOT be with Jackbox.

“Either way,” the cow walked forward, “we shouldn’t skip on introductions! Name’s Moonique. I actually run this place!”

“I figured as such, with the apron.” Misty also moved forward to close the gap between the two of them. “Are these guys, uh… your fellow pack hosts?”

“Oh, yeah! I had promised your friend here a free batch of cookies for you guys for having put up with being Jackbox’s main representation for a good while, pack-wise, but I totally forgot that I was inviting my OWN pack’s fellow hosts over here on the same day!”

Now that the others looked back at the table, it did feel a little…

…tense.

“...we aren’t really getting along so far.” Moonique tried laughing off her unease, but it was obvious she wasn’t sure how to handle this. “It’d be nice to at least not have every conversation feel like we’re walking on eggshells.”

She was cut off by someone slamming their hands on the table.

“What did you people do to immediately hate each other?”

The other quartet looked at Avery curiously.

“...I admit,” the Pomeranian rested one of her paws on the table, “I think this was my fault. Name’s Esther Rollover, detective, and dictated as the leader of Party Pack 11’s hosts by Jackbox themselves. I believe my nature of leadership got us started on a bad foot.”

Esther sighed, before looking up to the cloaked figure above the table. “All of you, let’s just introduce ourselves. These ARE the hosts that we’re taking over from, after all…”

The cloaked figure shrugged and landed. “Alright, fair enough. So, uh… name’s Jim.”

“Formality, Reaper! I… ugh. This is why we don’t get along. I take things too seriously. And I guess that bad vibe spread to the rest of us…”

“We know. But, sure.. my last name’s actually Reaper. Just put two and two together, alright?”

Next, the shark-like one stood up.

“I am Finnero Tritone, amateur bard. Pleasure to meet you all.”

Following them was the one with the tie-dye sweater.

“Well… turns out I’m not Hear Say’s HOST, exactly, but they hired me to take care of the critters that make use of the player’s voices. Either Ozzy or Spiny works.”

“And you already know me!” Moonique added. “That’s our little ensemble. But, still, back to business. What cookies can I get you guys?”

So, the Decapack contributed to the order.

“Just regular chocolate chip, huh? It’s usually a lot, well… weirder. No matter! I already checked what my pals wanted, so no need to delay further. Let’s get to it!”

Saying that, she swiftly vanished into the kitchen.

While the other nine waited, though…

“...say, Jerri.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“You saw the décor outside this building, correct?”

“Mhm…?”

“It specified ‘fresh milk’. And, well… Moonique is…”

It took a second for Jerri’s expression to darken. “...I didn’t want to consider that.”

“Just- Just be formal anyway.”

As those two dreaded the idea that MM’s common sense had dug up, that shark-one ended up intruding on their conversation.

“Would there be any problems with that?” Finnero asked.

“Kind of. Like… h-how fresh IS fresh? How quickly does that stuff pasteurise? Is that why the food rating on that wall there is a C?!”

The others looked over at the wall MM had glanced at.

“...could be.” Jerri shrugged. “Though, uh, Finnero… what do you do with your whole game, anyway?”

“Not a lot of heavy lifting… I convinced this duo of adventurers, I think their names were Azure and Olga, to be a bard to narrate their group’s quest across the land.”

“By ‘quest’, you mean Legends of Trivia?”

“Exactly that! I hold great pride in my lyre-playing skills, you know. Would you both care for-”

“I always pass out when I hear classical music.”

“I just pass out in bad places in GENERAL.”

Finnero frog-blinked awkwardly.

“...I see.”

As that conversation died down, Lexy had decided to talk to that cactus-looking dude. He said his name was one thing or another for sure, but she didn’t care a lot for which one she used.

Besides, he was pretty chilled out.

“So… you’re cool if I just call you Spiny, yeah?”

“Sure, knock yourself out.”

“Gotcha. Soo… if Hear Say doesn’t have a host, why did Jackbox invite you into the group for just being a creature caretaker?”

“I think ‘host’ is a pretty loose term… Just, like, someone who represents the game in their pack, that’s how I see it. Unless they ACTUALLY host the game, of course.”

“Oh, yeah, Also, can I… ask about the whole cactus thing you’ve got going on?”

“Yeah, no sweat! I just kinda woke up like this one day, and I’ve had to roll with it ever since. Slightly threw me off of my DJ side-gig for a while…”

“Wait, you DJ in your free time?!”

“It’s fun, and it helps me understand those Hear Say critters better. What else can a guy ask for?”

“Man, that’s awesome!”

This left Misty to be in the company of Esther and Jim, with the former of the newcomers still seeming very guilty.

“...so, you reckon you being too ‘formal’ with Jim made things tense from the get-go, and that spread to the others?”

“That’s my only safe bet,” Esther sighed. “I know it’s early days, but this is shameful… the pack isn’t even close to out yet, and we have such bad rapport.”

“It’s not totally ruined yet. The packs usually release in October, right?”

“Yeah… by the paw of the law, you’re right! I just need to mend the rift between us!”

Esther jumped onto the table with a sense of newfound confidence. “A-hem! Reaper! I’d like to apologise for my treatment of you thus far!”

“Yep, go on.”

Honestly, Misty found Jim’s fairly nonchalant nature a little endearing. Familiar? Well, she knew that she cared for her pack hosts, but she couldn’t compare them to everything on the planet.

“In particular, when we first met a few weeks ago, I described you as ‘a lazy scumbag who has no drive to take on his new job to save his undead life’!”

“Whoa, jeez, you remember that far back?”

“Detectives have to stay on top of everything, Reaper, no matter how far back it is! It’s the reason I was chosen to be lead of interrogations for Operation Suspectives! So… I’m sorry for my treatment of you.”

Following a shrug, Jim just landed back on the ground and gave Esther’s cap an awkward pat.

“You’re fine. I didn’t really think it was too big of a deal to begin with. !

“Wait,” Misty interjected, “if you didn’t care, why was the mood around you and Esther so tense?”

“I mean, the whole ‘hosting Doominate’ thing means you get pretty used to people throwing insults at you. Also, Esther’s got a habit of letting her feelings really clog up the room.”

“You…! No, I should take that as advice and learn from it. Thank you.”

The awkward, tense mood around the table seemed to lift after the two had finally cleared up the misunderstanding.

Not long after, a few boxes of cookies were slid across said table, due to Moonique returning like a sort of angel of baked goods. “All yours, folks!”

“Nice! Thanks!”

As requested, each group ended up getting their requested orders sorted up. The lighter mood certainly hadn’t gone unnoticed, anyway. “What did you get up to while I was gone?”

“We’ve tidied up the issue that’s been holding our moods back!” Esther chirped. “From here on out, we should be a-okay!”

“Oh, great! In which case, I’ll join you guys!”

Thus resulting in the two groups spending the afternoon eating and conversing happily.

Later in the evening, when the groups were going their separate ways, Esther had paused. “Hold on… dragon!”

“Hm? Give me a ‘sec, guys.”

Misty flew over to Esther. “Also, the name’s Misty. But what’s up?”

“...the arrival of Party Pack 11 won’t put you all out of a job, will it?”

That wasn’t what Misty had been expecting.

“I’d… you know, I imagine not. Jackbox is a funny company… any game can be for everyone, at any time! It’s not like the hosts of a previous pack just vanish off the face of the Earth every time a new pack comes out. We’re always around for people!”

“Is that so? In that case…”

The Pomeranian extended a paw out. “I wish the rest of you a pleasant workflow, even after our debut!”

“Thanks! Here's hoping that you guys get the same treatment!”

After Misty shook Esther’s paw, she flew back to the others and let them hop onto her back (Avery probably just wanted a break from flying via his own wings). “We ready to get going?”

“You gotcha!”

“Yep, whenever you’re ready.”

“Mhm.”

“Go on ahead, Mistress.”

“Got it! Let’s get this show on the road!”

So, with a slight tremble in the ground, she had shot off and took the rest of the Decapack with her.

Meanwhile, Esther had caught up to the rest of her group - the Hendecapack, if maths said anything.

“They said they’ll be fine, so there’s no need to fret!”

“Cool. They seem pretty competent, anyway.”

“Definitely a lot friendlier than we were… Did we work out why?”

“Nah. Esther just had a bad groove she needed to get off of her chest, didn’t she?”

“Either way, since we don’t have to worry about those guys getting in a pickle come October, I guess it’s full-speed ahead with getting our games finished up!”

“Affirmative! Let’s make great strides, team!”

“Alright!”

As awkward as the Hendeca’s bond was, things were at least looking a little brighter.

Both for their bond, and the next step in Jackbox’s legacy.

Chapter Text

Your own thoughts can keep you up a lot of the time.

It doesn’t matter if they’re loud, all-consuming or just a quiet monologue in the back of your head. They’ll just hover around anyway - those pieces of trash aren’t too picky.

Especially if they’re recurring thoughts.

“Unless I’m in the present day, I don’t exist.”

…obviously, this snarky redhead HAD to have had a childhood and grown up in order to be where she was today. That much was common sense.

But, when you LOSE all of your memories of that in the accident that kind of re-shaped your identity and life as a whole…

…

…it’s hard to believe that you ever had anything before that day.

And it honestly really, really screws with you.

You can’t even hear your roommates and friends talking about their own childhoods…

You can’t even look at actual kids living their lives…

You can’t do anything without feeling like crap, and reckoning that you’re like a quick and easy way to ruin anyone’s attempts at sharing a segment from their past. It… It could be a lot worse, really…

At least you’re not stopping them from living. But you still feel like a piece of shit.

But, at the same time, these same thoughts were just the thing that had kept you up until 5am this morning.

“...eugh. Of course it’s already that early.”

At least she didn’t have a game to host today. That meant she could at least just sleep the rest of the day off, minus the others waking her up to eat.

Nodding to herself, she just put her phone down and stretched out - only to look down at her hands in distaste.

…THAT usually happened, didn’t it.

“...why does my body try to remind me of something I never had?”

Could she just tie her hands behind her back, somehow?

…no, that’s not comfy.

But if she has them in a ‘comfy’ position, then THAT would probably just happen.

So what choice did she have in regards to this…?

“...welp, I guess I’m not going back to sleep!”

Because if you can’t stand your own unconscious traits, you may as well run away from them altogether. As such is the “JRMTAYP” - the Jerri Rig Method to Avoiding Your Problems!
Effectiveness pending.

So, she had gone downstairs with a more unbalanced gait to her step. As opposed to just sliding down the banister as was traditional… she had limits after all.

“Morning, weirdo- o-oh yeah, it’s just you, isn’t it.”

“...yes.”

So, she might have forgotten that Misty, Lexy and Avery had to be out early today to host some games. Thus leaving her with the worst guy to be with in the house if you happened to have problems.

MM knows too much, that’s why. Exhibit A:

“...you look like you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

It was obvious to him. Her unsteadiness, her more hesitant and quiet tone… it wasn’t how she USUALLY was when she got tired, but it wasn’t unlike her.

“Y-Yeah, I know. I’m just gonna get myself some cereal and go back to my room.”

…but at the same time…

…it wasn’t LIKE her.

“Alright. Remember to bring the bowl back downstairs later.”

“Mhm.”

…

Yep. Something felt off.

He didn’t comment on things further, just letting her sort out the cereal and head on her way.

After all… ominous and enigmatic as he was, and while there was the SLIGHTEST possibility that he experimented on the brains of the unsuspecting public…

He. Had. Logic.

Logic that wasn’t about to go unused, mind you.

Logic meant being calm and practical in his analysis of what was wrong with her, and if he did run into issues, waiting for clear consent to lend her a hand.

For now, he just had to wait.

– – –

At about 9am, his first sign of an anomaly came in her returning that cereal bowl.

“Ah. Thanks for getting around to that.”

“D-Don’t say that.”

“...oh. Sorry.”

“You’re fine.”

Even she wouldn’t usually tell someone to not thank her for doing a thing she commonly puts off.

It’d be more of a… ‘oh, well, I had to do it eventually’.

So, the reason that she was directly asking him not to thank her for this…

“...can we talk? Upstairs?”

“Hm? Yes, that’s alright.”

But he wasn’t given a long time to think about it or speculate further due to her sudden invitation.

It’s always good for one to speak on their own terms, after all.

– – –

“...weird, eh?”

“Yeah. I’ve just felt out of it and weird all morning…”

“How so?”

“...stuff’s just weird. I don’t know. I just wanna go back to sleep, but my hands just do stupid stuff that I can’t help when I get too cozy… s-so I can’t.”

Hm… peculiar.

What she said after that made him raise an eyebrow, though.

“I don’t know why my body is trying to remind me of something I don’t even know if I HAD… b-because it’s a stupid, childish thing to do when you’re an adult.”

“...do you usually ever process that you’re doing it?”

“No… it just happens before I really notice what I’m doing. What’s the word… subconsciously?”

“I see. Is it usually a problem when it does happen, before you notice it? It doesn’t hurt you or anyone else, I assume?”

“Not really… At worst, it just leaves me feeling all weird and awkward when I realise what I’m doing.”

“And you said this happens when you get comfortable?”

“...yeah.”

…

MM felt like he knew what this was.

He’d researched enough about psychology and people’s heads that, over time, he’s found out about many a way that people will use, often subconsciously, to cope with things.

Probably stress or trauma, if he had to guess for her.

Some people would lash out at everything they could find.

Some people shut down, refusing to face things in any way, shape or form.

And some…

…

…just wished things were easier again, like their past. And their heads usually acted in ways similar to the past, too.

It’d certainly explain how she acted sometimes.

He’d seen the way to cope that he suspected his roommate was taking on getting mixed up with something similar TO it, but far more… not safe for shows.

Clear differences were there, of course. This one obviously not being used for acts like that.

…but now wasn’t the time to offer all the words to solve her problem. She didn’t seem ready to process that her body was trying to help her relax by making her think it was the past she didn’t even know if she had.

“...okay. Sorry for all of the questions. But you’ll be alright.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm. Whatever’s going on with you, it’s not harmful or going out of your way to embarrass you. And, in case you’re worried about it, it won’t tear any timelines apart.”

“...alright. Thanks.”

“So… would you like any help with getting back to sleep?”

“Even though I’m probably gonna do that again?”

“Mhm. I’m not here to judge you for whatever you do, and neither are the others. What matters is that you’re comfortable and safe.”

She seemed to soften up at that.

“...sure, then.”

So, he spent about half an hour getting her all sorted out.

It was mainly him reassuring her that she was going to be okay, alongside getting her comfy to begin with.

Also, the fact that he still had a knack for telling good stories on the spot. If things went badly for him, maybe he could take up narrating audiobooks.

She certainly had a strong grip on that Ampharos when she was out cold, he had realised…

But she’d be okay. MM knew she was a tough one, unique way to cope or not.

…

He’d rather just leave her to get some sleep for now, with how exhausted she was.

So, he did that.

...this secret would be between him and her until she felt ready to be more open about it with the others.

Chapter Text

Where to start this particular story… oh, I should elaborate. I’m just the NARRATOR narrator, not MM or anyone else who’s trying to tell a story, okay?

Okay, great! Back to business.

So…

Once upon a Party Pack, there was a certain group of hosts that called themselves the Decapack.

They were an unusual group of hosts compared to the others that Jackbox wrangled up, because they actually chose to live together.

And, one night, they all seemed to be having the strangest dream…

Partly because they were all having the same one!

Misty was busy diving and darting between a vast sea of clouds as if it was the actual ocean, with Avery flying beside her and doing the same, singing to himself as he did.

MM also seemed to be nearby with a more human form, flipping and jumping among the stars with a hero-like grace and all the flair of a cartoon supervillain.

Then, there was the “Science Duo” - Lexy and Jerri - who were just happy to be splashing each other with the water of a large, starry river. They were treating it more like the ocean, if anything…

Either way, they did all seem to be having their own kinds of fun.

Well, until…

“What are the five of you doing?” said a new voice.

They all stopped and looked around, only to find what looked like a tall stranger in a black robe and nightcap. It blended very well with the starry surroundings.

“Who are you meant to be?” asked Avery.

“Well, I’m the Drowsy Maestro, of course! Not unlike your friend up there, actually. But don’t you know what time it is?”

“Hold it, are you meant to be, like… another version of MM when he’s all calm and dad-like? Because he’s all villainy and sneaky out here?”

“I… okay, sure, let’s say that. But the time. What is it?”

“Definitely night…”

“That it is, but it’s 3am in reality! If you spend your time asleep playing around and not resting, you’re going to wake up not feeling refreshed at all, and that just won’t do! Come along!”

The Drowsy Maestro pulled out a black staff from his robe and tapped the cloudy ground, suddenly making a bunch of holes appear in the clouds below everyone - even MM, who had jumped down from the stars to see what the intrigue was all about.

So, the quintet were left falling through the clouds for a few minutes, before… whmph!

They all ended up landing on a big, mattress-like cloud in the bottom of the hole.

“Aw, geez…” Lexy whined from the shock of the landing. “Where are we?”

“Wherever we are, I don’t think we can fly out. I can’t see any light up above at all!” Misty sighed.

It didn’t stop MM from trying to jump up onto the walls, leaping to and fro in order to scale the pit.

He really was a villainous one, trying to avoid having to follow the rules…

But, suddenly, he fell back onto the cloud with a thump, wearing a pair of black, starry pyjamas and a fluffy purple nightrobe on top of it.
“What in the stars…? I was trying to jump up just now, but some shooting star hit me in the chest and knocked me back down here!”

“We can tell.” Avery deadpanned. “But you do look quite dashing."

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind that! Take cover!”

As Lexy called out, four more stars suddenly crashed onto the cloud, each one glowing a shade of blue, yellow, red and green.

“If MM’s outfit change happened when he got hit by the star, then…”

Lexy tossed the yellow star into the air, before it hit her head with a soft ‘thunk’. She was suddenly changed into a pair of lemon yellow, checked pyjamas as well. “Huh. You don’t suppose that Drowsy Maestro’s doing this to get us cozy, are you?”

“I don’t mind.” Avery had already changed into a slightly oversized hooded blanket styled like a peacock, with a plain green t-shirt and trousers beneath it.

The other girls had agreed to the idea as well, now donning a blue-green, stripy shirt and a red, clock-decorated set of pyjamas respectively.

You really can’t get rid of that fixation, even in their dreams…

“That’s already a great start,” that Drowsy Maestro spoke up again. “Now, let’s get you all properly cozy!”

“Uh, elaborate?”

The cloud beneath their feet started to rumble after Jerri spoke, before bending underneath them and tossing them skywards like a trampoline kicked into overdrive.

Being shot into the skies, they didn’t have a lot of time to process things before they landed atop a… uh…

Large, cloudy hammock suspended in space.

“How do you even make this thing work?” Misty wheezed from the others landing on her chest quite quickly after one another.

“You know hammock physics! We move it, it moves us! Rigster, you faring well?”

“Yup! The adrenaline's still pumping HARD from that!”

“...give her about twenty minutes.”

“Yeah…”

MM and Avery refused to talk, just keeping to themselves.

A large breeze suddenly cut through the area, which served to shake the hammock slightly. The dragon sighed and curled onto her side, trying to block the cold from getting on her tummy.

But, alas…

“Misty, you maniac!”

“H-Huh? Gah, damn it!”

She had accidentally given the hammock enough momentum to get moving. “Sorry, guys… I-I just really can’t stand the cold. I wasn’t trying to make it move on purpose.”

The breeze picked up again, making her rub her eyes - but something felt different.

Everything felt fuzzy around the edges now.

“Uh… guys? Anything up with your eyes?”

“Sorta. Stuff looks like it’s wavering and getting weird.”

“Well, the dream’s at its limit.”

The group looked over to the Drowsy Maestro hovering just nearby. “You and the dream have had your time to play around, but it has to end eventually.”

He cast a sort of oversized blanket over the quintet, with quite precise holes cut in it for the others to stick their heads through rather than just keeping them under the blanket.

Room to breathe, and all that.

“Just take it easy for now. You’ll hear what you need before you know it.”

They didn’t understand what he meant as he disappeared into the night. However…

…MM heard something.

The very faint, but unmistakable sound of a city drowned in slumber. Quiet breathing, the odd snore here and there. That meant…

“...it’s just me up here,” he whispered.

After a moment of thought, he giggled quietly. “Ah… as expected from Chicago’s grandest supervillain. I’ve finally found the true peace and quiet my villainry has been hunting for… now, to revel in it…”

With a soft sigh, he snapped his fingers and materialised a certain Hatenna plush, slipping it under the blankets to use as a cuddle buddy. He pulled some of the blanket up (via telepathy) to bury his face into it, before properly relaxing into the flow of the hammock - prompting a lavender aura to glow around it.

Misty noticed this, before picking up on the distant noise of lively chattering.

While faint, it was the happy talking of yo-kai who had pushed themselves to the limits in a certain tournament - but safe and sound, thanks to new guidance.

“That’s what I like to see,” she nodded. “Safe journey home, you guys…”

The idea of her company being safe and sound got her to settle down quickly, prompting her body temperature to rise and cast a comfortable heat across the hammock.

That heat prompted a certain redhead to curl up on her side, pulling one of her legs up to her chest and draping an arm over the edge of the hammock.

In terms of the noise she was picking up on, it sounded like reassurance. That no matter how stupid or unusual she sometimes looked, so long as she was being herself, nobody would ever hate or shun her.

It got her a little tearful, really. “G-guys…”

Rather than get caught up in the crying, Jerri simply wiped the start of tears away and relaxed into the heat that was behind her. As to be expected, out like clockwork. Apparently, adrenaline really helped to keep her up until she’s faced with cozy-armageddon.

In a sharp contrast, the thing that Lexy was hearing…

…

Nothing.

It was just silence. No thoughts in her head jumping around like live sparks, no fear of her mom bursting in out of nowhere to berate her… just quiet.

“...this should be… alright, right?”

She was met by the group’s general silence.
A safe one.

“...yeah. I think so.”

So she cuddled up to the blankets with a sleepy sigh, followed by a similarly soft yawn. It was a good thing that they had already accepted going to sleep by now.

Thus leaving Avery to find his noise.

Sounded like a sort of… light, airy melody on a piano from far away.

“...that’s the song of the Great Cycle. Or… well. My father.”

Akin to how Avery had more of a natural affinity towards woodwind instruments, he had learned that the Great Cycle - a man named Avastrice - had been created to protect the avian life cycle with an affinity towards classical music.

He really was quite talented with it…

Mostly because Avery chose to take it as a sort of serenade, gently wrapping his wings around himself as he settled down into the hammock’s embrace. “...thank you, Great Cycle.”

“...you guys all sound pretty cozy.”

She was just met with a plethora of drowsy mumbling as a result.

“...I think I’m gonna turn in… night…”

“Mhm… same.”

“...mrm, yeah, whatever…”

“I see…”

“...alrighty.”

With them accepting their fates, the hammock finally stopped moving and left the five hosts to get some actual sleep.

So, the dream of that starry wonderland had faded out for the night, which made sure that that quintet would sleep safe and sound until morning came.

Meanwhile, the essence of the Drowsy Maestro seemed to turn into a white ball of light, which hovered over to MM’s forehead before absorbing itself into him. “Hmhm… oh, stop it…”

Maybe he really WAS part of him all along - just that calmer part of him that wasn’t playing a supervillain.

Either way, the quintet stayed snug and secure, catching up on the rest they needed to get.

And that, for now, is where this story ends.

Chapter Text

…

…

…

…you really think I’d be more surprised than this.

I already know it’s a nightmare.

The house being empty besides from me, all of the dried blood, this generally really freaky energy…

…I just can’t be bothered to be scared.

Like… What am I meant to do?

Just be screaming, crying, begging for mercy over something that doesn’t even… well, probably DOES exist in this place.

And wants to hurt me.

…sigh.

This is stupid.

I’m probably just stuck here, unfazed as all hell, while my body’s being all cowardly about it in the real world.

…I need to lock that door when I get up. I’d really rather they all just leave me alone anyway.

…

Is there not gonna be any real kicker, now that I know what’s going on?

[CRASH!]

Never mind…

…

I definitely heard one of those guys. Probably being chased by… whatever made that crash.

Then some kind of scream that’d usually scare the daylights out of me. But no. It had to be the route of apathy.

Honestly, it’s a wonder that I haven’t cracked yet. Even a bit.

…you really couldn’t get yourself to worry about one of your friends DYING.

Even if one of them’s the mom you wish you had from the start.

Or your Platonic Partner in Crime.

Or a freak who at least researches the hell out of people’s bodies and minds with consent.

Or just a cool musician to look up to.

…you can’t even get yourself to care about them? Really?

It’s a miracle they put up with you to begin with.

Because… honestly, I’m tired that they do.

I’m not asking to have mountains moved by wanting them to not tolerate me anymore, I don’t think.

Just… be more harsh. Be more unforgiving towards me.

I can handle it.

I have to handle it.

Literally everything in life says I have to handle it. So I’m going to.

Can something just… wake me up already so that I can move ahead with this mess?

…hm.

I guess something is.

– – –

“...o-okay, uh… hey. You alright?”

“...”

“...put ‘alright’ aside for a ‘sec, I guess, are you… there?”

“...”

“Right, okay, you at least nodded. That’s… that’s cool. If you were wondering why I woke you up, then-”

“Take the bed.”

“...huh?”

“You heard.”

I didn’t really care about what she had to say tonight. It’s usually the same thing every time.

‘I couldn’t sleep.’

‘I had a nightmare.’

‘I just can’t relax.’

You can grow up and grow a fucking spine, that’s what you can do!

I’m not saying it out loud, but… that’s all there is to this! To YOU!

So I just left her alone and went downstairs.

Nobody ever sleeps downstairs.
It wasn’t like I really planned on going back to sleep anyway.

I just needed to get away from them all. In general.

So I just found an empty closet-like spot in the kitchen and crammed myself inside.

Real dark.

Real lonely.

But it’d do the job.

…

…

…

…oh. I guess there’s a spider in here.

Makes sense with how quiet and closed-off this place is. Like…

It’s not even a laundry closet.

It’s just me, this spider, and the cold ceramic floor.

…

I gotta get used to this.

– – –

I don’t know when the hell it became morning, but I wasn’t asleep for any part of that.

Was that… was that what dissociating was?

…

…give me more of that. I don’t want to do anything anymore.

I can’t be scared by a nightmare that implies all of my friends are fucking dead.

I can’t give the most basic hint of sympathy to whatever my Platonic Partner in Crime went through.

I just felt nothing and ran off to hide in a piece of shit closet that nobody in this house knows exists.

Nobody wants that.

Nobody will EVER want that.

THESE PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE RESPECTING ME.

I NEED TO DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THEM HATE ME AND GET ME OUT OF HERE IF I WON’T LEAVE MYSELF.

I NEED THEM TO HATE ME.
I NEED THEM TO HATE ME.
I NEED THEM TO HATE ME.

[Click!]

…

“...huh. This was the only place I had left in mind.”

…

“...maybe she just had a game to host this morning that she forgot to mention.”

…

Of course you had to sit behind where the fucking door would hide you.

You coward. You brain-fried piece of shit.

You’ll just have to LIVE here now. In this piece of shit cupboard.

With that damned spider - I don’t know, Ethel. Yeah. Ethel’s my FUCKING roommate now until I have to eat her.

“...things feel kinda static-y in here.”

I know I can’t show my face in the house again! They don’t want it there!

So I can’t eat, I can’t get drinks, I can’t even uphold basic hygiene!

I’ll just become a dust-caked closet hermit!

They want THAT, though! It’s only fair!

“...TOO static-y.”

[Click!]

They don’t- They- They don’t want- But they DO-

Even when- Though I haven’t- I still- They still-

I don’t know.

I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t-

JUST MAKE IT FUCKING STOP!

– – –

“...g-ghh… eugh…”

…shit.

Everything hurts. Like…

I don’t think I can move.

…it was…gah. Nope. No memory of anything…

Other than really freaking out.

…

I’m not in hospital, at least.

This is still my room, no matter what…

Still really blurry and weird, tho- o-oh.

…I’d recognise that red-haired mass anywhere.

“...you okay?”

“...no.”

I think she was relieved to hear me talking again.

“Mhm. Got it.”

…

“Do you… wanna know what happened?”

“...sure.”

“...I think you shocked yourself pretty hard. Wasn’t bad enough that you needed to go to the hospital or anything…”

“...how the hell am I still okay?”

“...I’m not sure.”

…

I can’t tell if she’s relieved about that part, though.

“...you think you can sit up?”

“No.”

“Crap. Uh…”

She definitely had… something. A plate?

I couldn’t smell anything certain on it.

“I’ll put this here for now.”

…come to think of it, it’s really dark in here. And soft under my… wait…

“...why am I in MM’s room? Why am I not-”

“He has a game. And you needed the rest.”

…

“...it was actually pretty hard to get you up here. Your body was pretty static-y to the touch for a while after I found you in that closet.”

“...d-did I kill the spider?”

“Hm?”

“Th-There was a spider in there. Did the electricity kill it?”

“I don’t think I saw any spider corpses.”

“Okay…”

…

“Am I at least not acting like a toaster-in-water anymore? Albeit, way less deadly?”

“Yeah. That much is over.”

“Mhm. What did you want to, uh… see me about last night, anyway?”

“I was just getting some water, and you looked like you were curled up real uncomfortably."

“Shrimp-like?”

“But WAY curlier.”

“Oh. That’s normal for me. I thought you just had another bad dream. And… said a lot of bad stuff in my head.”

“Nah, just thirsty this time. Also, what stuff?”

“...that you needed to grow up and grow a fucking spine.”

She probably wanted to do something a lot worse (but still lighthearted) to me for saying that, but she just stuck to grabbing one of my cheeks instead.

At least she has limits.

“...warranted.”

“You looked kinda awful last night, anyway. I won’t totally hold it against you.”

“...thanks.”

We just spent the rest of the morning talking about whatever until I got the strength to actually move again. Turns out that thing she had was a grilled cheese sandwich that she made for me.

She, uh, reheated it. Since it had gone cold.

…could have been a lot worse. It was alright having breakfast at all.

…

I don’t want to look at this positively, even if she potentially saved my skin by being around. I know I wasn't at risk of dying, but...

…let me be sad. Don’t ‘aww’ it, don’t pity it. Just…

…

Y’know.

At least KNOW I’m sad, and leave me alone regardless of how bad everything sounds.

…

…remind you of someone?

…ugh. I must be really out of it to be thinking like that.

Let’s just… pretend that never happened.

Chapter Text

Hm…

Heading out for food was off of the table. Someone would surely over-indulge in whatever was there.

They couldn’t go to any amusement park or similar attraction. MM’s lack of a body would undoubtedly get them kicked out before they even knew it.

Park? Too unpredictable.

Shopping? They had to keep funds saved away, just in case.

Staying at home and indulging in a Link? They can’t, everyone's been relaxing too much as of late.

Something had to happen, but…

…nothing felt like it COULD without some odd consequence of sorts.

…ugh…

…Avery had just been noticing, as of late. Things had been…

Fairly strange.

Between Lexy shutting herself in that closet, and MM’s breakdown closer to Christmas… things were basically just screaming “Please, Great Cycle, grant me a rest from this chaos”.

But…

They either just work, get up to some nonsense, get wrapped up in a Lethargy Link, or one of them totally snaps.

That much had become ‘routine’ by now.

A really weird one, at that.

He was hardly the only one to notice, either. If yesterday was anything to pay attention to.

“...look. Let’s just try to find a way for us to take it easy, okay?”

He should’ve expected that dragon to be overly on top of things, especially as it was regarding everyone’s mental (and maybe physical) health.

That was fair.

…but did she even WANT to be put into that parental role, now that he thought about it? Being the one to stand tall and be an unconditional source of warmth for the others.

The same went for the others, actually.

Lexy never signed up to be classed as the ‘youngest’ one. The loud, chaotic one who can’t be trusted with even the smallest mature task, even though she could.

Jerri certainly didn’t ask to be stereotypically stoic and unbothered by others, only to have a secret soft side for the people she came to love… embarrassing habits included.

And MM, well… okay, he was probably the only one who liked the idea of his ‘role’. Shady, mysterious, plagued by hidden darknesses, but not an irredeemable man.

Uh… what role was Avery even meant to fulfil, if that was the case?

Stoic? Odd? Mysterious, musical fuckwit?

Gah, no. He was meant to be worrying about how nobody can have any nice things without things going wrong somehow!

…oh.

Oh, yeah.

That was actually really weird.

Did a plan to… actually have a nice time without consequence… exist?

…hm…

He couldn’t think of any good ideas to help himself, so he just grabbed his notepad and decided to try and write something.

Maybe more of a fast-paced tune…

‘Every last step that I take, laced with anticipation

The art of having fun in life shouldn’t bring hesitation

And yet, here I am, here we are

A hopeless quintet of ever-shining stars

What do we fight for? Why wander on when

We all know our fate, even when unsaid?’

“...that’s not it at all, is it.”

He should have figured trying to do ANYTHING was going to have bad results.

And he sure as hell wasn’t trying to do trial and error in regards to this whole mess.

“This is worthless.” Avery sighed. “We may as well be doomed.”

“Took you long enough to even vaguely suggest it!”

“Huh?”

Avery’s gaze rapidly fell to the outside of his room’s window, which opened up to the balcony. And who else would be lying belly-down on the balcony itself, kicking his legs like an idiot…

Then that Cycle-forsaken Reaper.

“...wuh-oh.”

A beat.

“...oh, yOU MOTHERFUCKER! GET BACK HERE!”

“I HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED RUNNING YET!”

So he jumped up and seemed to zip into the sky, with Avery soon leaping outside to pursue him as soon as he had vanished.

Thus leaving the duo awkwardly flying over the house, with one of them being CONSIDERABLY angrier than the other.

“I didn’t sign up for any winged warfare today, man!” Jim sighed. “What’s with you getting all aggro, anyway? Can I say that?”

“IRRELEVANT! Are you responsible for my housemate’s inability to do anything without anything going right?!”

“I’m not saying I’m totally responsible for it, buut…”

The skeleton snapped his fingers together, making a scroll appear and unfurl next to him.

‘THE DECAPACK (COOL GUYS)

BUT THEY CAN’T DO THINGS WITHOUT IT FEELING WRONG (SO THAT WE BECOME THE BETTER PACK)’

“What do you MEAN, you’re not totally responsible?! Also, buh-come the better pack?! Was this one of your friends’ doing?!”

Another snap of the fingers.

‘-SPINY’

“The guy was curious about what my limits were! So he asked to screw you guys over! I actually didn’t even know that this stuff happened in real-time, if that helps!”

“You’re lucky I don’t rip the wings off of your back, Reaper.”

“Sheesh. Also, he asked me to write that ‘be the better pack’ thing-”

“REAPER."

“...oookay. Let’s at least land and chat.”

So, albeit reluctantly, Avery had landed back on the house’s roof with Jim and let him talk about the situation at hand.

Surprisingly honest about it too…

Spiny genuinely really HAD been interested in the other Hendeca’s jobs, considering that he had just gotten stuck with the gig of taking care of the critters that would be acting as ‘avatars’ for Hear Say.

Not being there to offer little quips every now and again, not to announce a scoreboard, just…

Take care of these guys.

So he had been asking the others to show him what their jobs were like. Trying to sneak along on an assignment of Esther’s, crashing the group that Finnero was leading, and…

Well, just getting to bake with Moonique. She had it the easiest, probably.

It just left seeing how Jim ruined things.

“...so, somehow, I don’t think he’s coming from a bad place. I can probably undo this for you guys, anyway.”

“Genuinely?”

“Yeah. I like the gig of ruining and un-ruining things equally, y’know.”

Grabbing a pencil from that fanny pack of his, he scribbled out the latter half of the scroll before tossing it up in the air. “There ya go. Bit of re-doom-ption for you.”

Avery sighed, already feeling a weight off of his chest. “Thank you. Sorry for accusing you of being responsible for EVERYTHING… even if you were for, say, half of it.”

“Honestly, fair enough.”

The two of them sat there for a few minutes.

“...and for accusing you of being the cause of Lexy and MM’s breakdowns.”

“I don’t think you said that, did you?”

“D-Didn’t I?”

“Don’t think so. You were just wondering about why nothing was going right.”

The winged conductor just squawked in frustration, faceplanting.

“I don’t think doominating things can cut as deep as mental health, anyway… bum ‘em out a little, sure. But proper problems? I’m not THAT bad.”

“...give me a second.”

He flew back into the house for a second, before returning with his notepad. “I need to revise some lyrics.”

“...uh. Am I good to stick around?”

“Provided you don’t ruin anything. And don’t try anything funny, considering I already have a partner in the form of MM.”

It was better to take Jim’s sudden silence as a “what the fuck”.

“...either way, where was I. Something fast-paced…”

So, the two of them spent that afternoon cooling off from the ball dropping on Spiny’s curiosity getting out of hand.

With Avery in particular trying to write again…

– – –

‘One single stab of chance, directly in the chest

A turnout like this, it’s reasonable to not be impressed

And alas, in a turn of fate

The man behind the chaos is dumping the truth upon my plate, like

“Hey, hi, how you doin’? Don’t mind me crashing the party

But a best friend’s bet is as simple as, so it seems you’re totally screwed - not sorry!”

Honestly, I’m at my limit

Shout out or lay low, what to do? It’s

Weighing on my mind, what a cruel crescendo

Can’t I have an answer, or reach the end?! And so

Here I am, on the edge of my limitations

There’s only so much you can do in the face of these pure frustrations

Oh, what a sickening dance of fate

My patience is running on overtime

Flockstep ‘til the end of the line’

– – –

“Ah, there we are! That feels much more put-together than usual!”

“Well, you did seem pretty inspired. I’m probably gonna head out, though - let Spiny know his thing worked TOO well.”

“Thanks.”

So, with that, Avery flew back inside while that skeleton took off for wherever Spiny was.

The former of which was met with a confused dragon as he came back indoors.

“Who were you talking to up there?”

“That skeleton from the Hendecapack… apparently, he was partly the reason we couldn’t get up to a lot as of late. I sorted him out… hopefully."

“Ohh, gotcha. That’s probably why I got the urge to head out to this one mall that’s opened up recently, so-”

“...say, Misty. What kind of role do you think I fulfil here?”

“That’s… pretty sudden.”

“I know.”

“But, still, a role… You’re like a musical mediator, I think. A guy who’s around to quell the chaos through your own means, but mostly music.”

“Isn’t that too close to MM?”

“He gives off more ‘reluctant dad’ energy to me, underneath all of his bravado… and he moreso calms things down in general, not mediating things in the way that you do. MM moreso soothes the mood in general, as opposed to you and your music being more aimed to certain problems.”

“...I see. Thank you. I say that’s helped a lot.”

“Glad to have helped you out!”

“With that, would you care for someone to accompany you to that mall? Now that our bad fortune has passed."

“Certainly!”

Chapter Text

Stoic.

Level-headed.

Unruffled.

You have to be a lot of things in order to have the guts to time travel, yet alone make a game out of it.

A lot of the traits that you need to do that can come a lot more naturally than you think.

There’s plenty of folk out there who’re level-headed in the face of stuff, but get their feathers ruffled REAL quick if they find stuff they don’t like.

Or they CAN be unruffled by running into chaos, but scared way too easily by… who knows what, really. They’re probably not unruffled at all if that’s the case, actually… whatever.

But, look. You might have the right mindset in one area or another, you could be good in a lot, or just downright awful at everything…

I’ve got reason to imagine that I’M probably the best person around for this kind of thing, though!

Uh…

Look, I’m just… naturally those things that I bought up, that’s all. Pretty stoic, pretty level-headed, pretty unruffled by chaos. You know. Pretty cubed.

And I’m not saying you can’t be good at the whole time travel deal if you AREN’T like me. Just look at those weirdos I hang out with.

That one with the lava lamp is basically the polar opposite of me, anyway…

Still. I feel like backing up this claim.

About just how little I can get fazed by big trouble, keep calm during it, and keep my strictly metaphorical feathers unruffled during it!

So, let me tell you about something that happened a few days ago.

Something that proves just how unfazed I happen to be in the face of everything! And that I’m the toughest, boldest helmet-donner around!

– – –

Day started as usual, as far as I’m concerned. Waking up at a decent 5:28 in the morning, not having a game scheduled with those weirdos.

Gave me all the time I needed to wake up, if I do say so myself. That’s usually about five minutes - stretch, wash my face off, get dressed (at least into different pyjamas, for staying-in vibes) and get ol’ reliable on.

…what do you mean, I should be doing other things?

This works for me and I’m not judging what you do, so stay off of my back.

So! It was pretty early, so I hadn’t run into any of the others. I figured I’d head on downstairs and get breakfast before I forgot to.

Usual method, and all that. Good old fashioned banister sliding.

“G-Gah! Fuck!”

…in the background of my narration, you probably just heard the sound of me screwing up my landing.

Wasn’t a huge deal, though. I just shrugged, ignored the fact that my body was trying to make me cry over my arm hurting just a BIT, and pressed forward with the quest for breakfast.

Plan was the same as usual, being toaster waffles. Hard to go wrong with those guys! They aren’t too hard - difficulty or texture-wise, pair well with plenty of things, and the VARIETIES of these guys?! Man, don’t even get me started!

A-Anyway…

On the way out from there with a well-deserved breakfast in the belly, I ended up running into one of my other roommates.

You probably know her. Cropped t-shirt, hugely fluffy mane, a tail that can either hugely help or hinder your ability to sleep depending on what it’s used for.

Really, do NOT cuddle up to that thing unless you wanna become an incoherent, dozy mess. Or Misty in general.

Or… Mesei, right? You know, I tried translating it the other day, see if it meant anything.

It does. It’s Romanian for meal.

…we probably shouldn’t tell her. I feel as if it’d be embarrassing.

ANYHOW.

She asked me if I had any games to host today, so I was honest and said no. Turns out she didn’t have anything planned either!

And that she was kinda sick. So she was gonna take it easy.

Invited me to chill out, even!

Now, I bet you’re thinking, c’mon. You’re tough, you’re cool, surely you said no!

And you know what?

I DID.

I left Misty hanging on the couch while she tried to get more rest. The other three had other things to do anyway, so they could hang out with her instead!

…see, now is about where I realise that this is a bad memory for me to use in order to prove how ‘tough’ and stuff I really am.

I got… VERY overconfident in the idea of running out with my arms outstretched, and… let me write it out.

[JR] “GAH! Damn it!”

[MS] “A-Are you okay?!”

[JR] “T-Totally! Nothing I can’t handle! I’ve always got another arm, anyway!”

[MS] “You say that, and you sound like you’re on the edge of crying!”

[JR] “Pain does that to everyone, I’m pretty sure!”

[MS] “W-Well, how bad does it feel? Nothing’s sprained or anything like that, is it?”

[JR] “Nothing too excruciating! Or broken, or… or whatever! Look, you learn a lot of medical know-how when one of your travelling companions happens to be a doctor!”

[MS] “...okay, I think the two of us are better off taking it easy for the morning.”

[JR] “I’ll survive, c’mon!”

…I think writing about embarrassing stuff might be a pretty tough thing to do, actually.

So, she might have gotten up and dragged me over to the couch (by my good arm), and let me curl up by her tail. I assume there because she didn’t want me getting sick.

And I might have cried a bit from the pain. And she MIGHT have let me do it without bothering me.

That was followed by me checking in on the arm, to see if it was really badly hurt. Ideally not, because I really didn’t want to go back to the hospital…

Like that time I collapsed in the kitchen, and ended up getting some kinda surgery?

It’s vague. A LOT of stuff is.

Still. The arm wasn’t totally knocked out of shape, so we’re all good! I mean, it was my dominant arm anyway, I kinda need this bad boy to write.

So yep, nothing to worry about! We just spent the morning relaxing.

…uh…

I think I got… very distracted from what I was trying to do originally.

What do I write to fill space?

How abouttt… ooh, something that Mental was crying about while he was overly exhausted the other day!

How did it go, again…

[MM] “EUGH-HOUGH… WHY MUST FATE BE SO UNJUST?!”
(that’s what he sounds like to me when he’s crying anyway)

[LX] “What’s up with you? Overtired, I know that much, but-”

[MM] “WHY CAN’T I LIVE THE LIFE OF DOC MEOW, LEXY?! WHY NOT?!”

[LX] “...huh?”

[MM] “I JUST WANT TO- I- YOU- CATS! BUT THEY JUST CURL UP IN PEOPLE’S LAPS AND GET DOTED OVER UNTIL THEY DOZE OFF AND- AND- WHY NOT ME?!”

They kept going back and forth until MM supposedly hid under his bed and started hissing at her like a cat.

He’s just as bad as me when I get overtired, hah.

…I wonder how those guys helped him out? Now that I think about it, I never heard a lot go down…

Ah well. :P I guess writing’s fun after all, whether I’m actually tough or not. If not, turns out I can still time travel pretty well without it!

So, no harm done.

Chapter Text

“So, let’s see.”

As it stood, it was currently 10:47pm.

The house was empty, minus one of the Decas - they already knew that their companions would be home late due to their own hosting duties.

Timezones do that to a host, sadly…

After going around to their respective rooms and, for a lack of a better word, cozy-fying it all up for their needs, they had retreated to their own bedroom.

Primarily because of a new friend of theirs…

“Okay. I imagine you’ll be comfy enough there.”

The ‘friend’ in question being a plushie of a Malamar, placed among his plentiful hoard of Psychic and Dark type plushies.

(He HAD been returning to that plushie shop an awful bunch.)

A mysterious Pokémon for sure, and one that took after MM to boot. Yellow-y eyes, a fitting combination of being Psychic and Dark type - and even having a certain craft under its belt.

If Pokémon were real, he’d most certainly have something like this as his partner.

Anyhow…

If you had lived with MM for more than a week, you’d likely understand that he wasn’t exactly a man of… pure morals.

Not BAD. But not GOOD.

Lawful neutral, was that the descriptor?

Regardless of what it was or wasn’t, a few of his roommates had certainly heard a specific story before.

One of an unknown, enigmatic fiend who swooped down upon the moonless streets of Chicago to wreak a unique kind of havoc - drowning the city within an eternal sea of slumber, all for the sake of “finding some peace and quiet in the face of such an awful ruckus”.

It was a great story. But, like most stories that MM told…

…this one needed some updating.

“Firstly, I can’t just go by my stage name. Then, any VERY lucky shmucks who escape will be able to pin down my identity.”

Orr…

Would a name MATTER?

He’s just in for a go-in, mesmerise the city, get-out regime.

In an ideal world, anyway.

Why waste time with petty introductions if they’ll never wake up to remember him?

Becoming an overlord of the night sounded to be awfully loud, irritating work.

It’d be far nicer if it was silent forever.

“So… a name doesn’t actually matter. I’d be there to do a swift, clean job - one that leaves me with no need to introduce myself.”

However, for those fleeting moments of when people DID see him…

Just how would the silent, sly menace of the streets have to look?

“I’m picturing… a large deep purple tailcoat, to begin with. The insides lined with a purple, swirly pattern not akin to my own screen when I’m performing.”

This was coming together nicely, and he had only described the centerpiece of the agenda!

“As for the rest… I’d certainly wear a black shirt and trousers beneath it, both adorned in a dark gray pinstripe pattern. You don’t get much more perfect than that! Adorn that with similarly deep purple boots, a pitch-black tophat, perhaps a spiral-shaped monocle of sorts?! Oh, add a deep red cape onto that, and-”

He paused.

…hm…

…nobody was home yet.

Why did it feel like somebody was watching him?

Let him just…

Nobody on his left.

Nor on the right.

Outside was also off of the table.

“...”

Eugh. The ONE time he’s alone, and free to ramble as he pleases, as loud as he wishes… His anxiety has to flare up?

“...okay. Where was I… oh, yes. I just finished describing how I looked. What else do I need to consider?”

He knows he wants to go by no real name…

He knew how he’d want to look…

His powers certainly wouldn't change. They’d need to be amplified far beyond his current level of expertise, he knew that much.

So… what to do, what to do?

…ah!

He had both posed himself a question AND given himself an answer!

What would he do after he initiates his grand plan? Other than soaking up the peace and quiet…

Sneaking into people’s houses was an option. They might have a nice coffee machine in there.

There’s always the option of leaping from roof to roof to initiate a graceful, enigmatic escape from the city and coming back here…

Would that be silly? Essentially ‘killing’ a whole city, only to run off back home and snuggle up in bed like a child on-

“What are you doing now?”

…who was that?

Why did it sound familiar…?

“You know magic’s not real, stupid!”

Oh.

Oh…

Had he been thinking THEY would care, all along? In the back of his mind?

…back then, you see. When the dream of following in his distant cousin’s footsteps had truly ignited his heart, but…

They didn’t live very close to each other, so he couldn’t have his back.

“Actually, give me those!”

“W-Wait-”

And MM was too shy to pursue the idea of making friends. Or stand up for himself.

[Shhrrip!]

…so a lot of his dreams were taken from right in front of him, and torn apart to become fragments of playing cards upon the ground.

Honestly…

He didn’t know why he never gave up back then.

But…

The past can’t hurt him. Not anymore.

He’s a far stronger, bolder man than he’s ever been - villain or not. So, just…

A short breath in, and then out.

“I am where I want to be right now. No petty children of the past can hold me back.”

Following that, his bout of anxiety had blown away like a breeze extinguishing a candle.

“And I… I’m as much of a villain as I wish to be.”

His gaze fell to one of the blankets that covered his armchair - a deep blue, easily mistaken for black.

Then, back to the journal he usually wrote things down in.

“...”

He’s as much of a villain as he wants to be.

So…

“The first step to true villainry… lies in rebellion.”

Following a quick scrawling of a note, tearing out the page and leaving it by the front door, MM grabbed that blanket with his telekinetic powers and teleported away.

Where?

Well…

“Aaand we’re back! Perfect timing!”

“Totally. Hm?”

“What’s up?”

“It’s a note… it’s in cursive, though. Don’t think I can read this.”

“Hm… I used to do calligraphy, so let me try reading it. Hup!”

– – –

A villain born from the shadows cast by moonlight
Has been reborn upon this September night
To unlock his heart once more, restoring light (if you can)
Find where he hides and reach his soul via solving this anagram

‘CELLO HOSTS ETC’

Chapter Text

“So,” Misty sighed, “How sleep deprived do we want to bet he was to come up with this? An anagram-driven game of hide and seek?”

“We know there’s a scale for him. ‘This is fine’ being one, and ‘what the ever-living fuck’, being ten. He’s emphasising… what, ‘reborn’? ‘Unlock his heart’? ‘Reach his soul’? Where does that fall on the scale?”

The four of them looked at each other.

“At least seven."

“Or five, if we’re lucky.” Lexy didn’t know why she was being so optimistic about this guy… he was WEIRD, sure.

A mysterious, enigmatic piece of crap who paid far too much attention to people's anatomy, and the way that they ticked…

As well as the whole morally unclear thing.

They were probably really lucky he hadn’t stooped to genuine villainry, and instead just stuck to…

Hammy McHam One-Third of a Face.

A pretty cold, montone, but still hammy sorta villain…

…wasn’t that a thing on TVTropes?

Hey, you gotta look some things up sometimes! It’s a surprisingly nifty resource!

That, and the idea of MM’s energy taking a sudden spike up made a shiver run down Lexy’s spine.

Everyone probably hoped that he wasn’t doing that, wherever he was…

…oh, snap.

What WAS that anagram he made up?

“...where do we even start with this?”

“I’ll open. It’s… surprisingly even, in terms of letter distribution. This can’t be one word on its own…”

“Well, no shit.”

“What kind of two-plus word sentence with such similar letters could also be a place to hide, anyway…?”

An unusual silence from Misty became apparent.

“Any ideas, Mist?”

“I’m thinking… Cello, cello… c-ell-o… clo? What’s clo got to do with-”

“Hold the text machine. Give me that paper!”

Lexy grabbed it and immediately started scribbling some letters off of MM’s anagram.

C-L-O-T-H-E-S…

“Perfecto! We’ve got clothes!”

“How did you get that?!”

“I made THE mother of all text-answering, non-AI-bullshit machines, Misty. First in history, even! I know my way around words. Also, my name is literally ‘lexicon’.”

“That last part feels uncalled for.”

“Whoof. Well, what letters have we got left?”

The quartet looked down.

E-L-O-S-T-C…

“...at least that one’s more obvious.”

The other trio shrugged at the redhead’s comment.

“Really? Look, just swap the ‘E’ and the ‘C’, then the ‘T’ and the ‘E’, you get closet!”

A moment of silence.

“Ohh.”

“Sweet serenades, my reading skills aren’t cut out for this.”

“I shouldn’t have bragged a second ago. STILL! Clothes closet! That’s where he’s lurking! In… one of our… okay, I hate the sound of this.”

“Let’s get up there and make sure he’s not going totally nuts.”

With that, they took off upstairs to the first closet that immediately sprung to mind, being Misty’s. If there were enough clothes in there to make a hammock one fateful winter’s night, then was it pseudo-villain hideout territory?

So, pulling the doors open, they found-

“Ah-HA! So you finally made it, eh?!”

There he was, in all of his glow-y glory, ‘sat’ upon a throne of clothes with a blanket as a cape of sorts.

“Welcome to the lair of the one and only dark-hearted ruler of the slumber-drowned world, illuminated only by the faintest sliver of moonlight - Menternis Masterona!”

And… dear Tournament Masters, sparks, timelines and Great Cycles alike…

Something felt very different.

And MM seemed to realise that they knew this.

“Wellll, I suppose if you solved my riddle, you must want me for SOMETHING. Do enlighten me.”

“We came up here to make sure you hadn’t gone insane, basically.”

“GASP- MESEI?! How DARE you! I’m the very pinnacle of peak mental health! You do know what they call me, no?! A master MENTAList?! It’s right there!”

Yeah… this was NOT the usual MM.

They at least knew why.

It started with ‘s’ and ended with ‘leep deprivation’.

“...say…” Avery stepped ahead. “When’s the last time you got any good sleep?”

“Times like those are long gone, Flundera - gone beyond salvation…”

“Make that ‘more than three days’. One of you, go and sort him something to drink.”

“Roger!”

“HM?! What’re you getting at, Flundera?! And who is this ‘Roger’ that Con is talking about?!”

“WELL, you see… being dark-hearted is likely thirsty work, no? You need something to stay on your toes.”

“Oh-ho… very well! I shall make ONE exception to my usual rules, then!”

“Phew.”

After a bit, the lightning-ponytailed girl had scampered back upstairs with what looked like a dark cup of coffee. “All yours, uh… you dark, hammy son-of-a-spark.”

“Let me see…”

He scooped it up, investigating it with an overly cartoony gaze.

“Hmm… mhmHM… perfect blend, perfect mix of additives, even the perfect time taken to roast the beans themselves! AND to scope out the ideal cup, no less! This truly was an exception worth making!”

“Uh… nice…!”

After he took a few sips, MM’s eyes met the window of Misty’s room with a sharp gasp. “The- The moonlight! It’s at its peak tonight, no?!”

“Well… it is a full moon.”

“AH! Then there’s no time to waste! The four of you, come quickly!"

He teleported away, leaving the others to find him in the garden, gazing up at the moon intently.

“NOW, THIS… THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO SEE!”

Why was he so… loud?

“THIS is the shining sky of a city simply ITCHING to be taken over by my idea of perfect silence! Simply put, a dream cast en masse to drown the city in a divine slumber, and then… a night ALLL to myself, to take in the peace and quiet Chicago has to offer when it’s like this!”

He teleported atop Misty’s mane with a swish of his blanket cape.

“As such is the grand plan of the GRRRAND, MAJESTIC AND INFALLABLE MENTERNIS MASTERONA, MAGICIAN-SLASH-MAESTRO-OF-HYPNOSIS OF THE STARS THAT GLISTEN IN THE ABYSS!”

The others seemed to liven up at his soaring confidence, going as far as to applaud his whole evil rambling.

And he wouldn’t lie - It felt AMAZING. Truly amazing to be praised and appreciated for his plan of…

…hm.

Odd.

…things felt quite hazy all of a sudden.

Sights, sounds, smells…

He wasn’t dying, was he? He was far too marvellous of a magical miracle to die from simply talking too much.

…well, either way…

Compared to that dragonesses’ mane that he was using as a perch to announce his grand plans, it all felt quite irrelevant.

He’d just lie down here for a moment… She knew his status, so she surely wouldn’t mind…

“Oh, there we go. I got this.”

“If you say so.”

“...what could you possibly be-”

“Easy, Masterona… it’s just the curtain call. You can take it easy, but end things off with a bow for the crowd first, got it?”

“...mhm… understood, Mistress…”

So he set his sights on that goal.

Just… up, for a start, yes…

Then just… lower yourself back down…

– – –

Next thing he knew, he woke up buried deeper in his blankets and plushies than he had ever remembered doing before.

“...hm… mm…? H-Hm…?”

…what was he DOING last night? He couldn’t remember at all…

Actually, what time was it? He needed to lift himself out from the coziness to check the time…

…4pm…?!

Wait. There was a note on his bedside table on top of a tupperware container of some pasta and salad.

“Hey man. You crashed pretty hard last night, like… you were WAY too hammy for your own good. It was weird. Anyway, you were super exhausted, so we messaged Jackbox to call off your games for the next few days. Until you feel ready to fire away again, anyway. Try and eat a little before (if) you plan on going back to sleep again. We’ll be around for you.
– JR”

…hammy? Him? Goodness, no…

Either way, MM drowsily ate about half of the pasta-salad combination before placing the container back down, and burying himself into his blankets again.

Reluctant as he usually was to do so, well…

It’s kind of hard to resist the charm of a late-afternoon nap with a full belly AND being wrapped up in coziness incarnate.

– – –

In the dead of the moonless night, a city lay resting in unnatural silence.

Only the wind could be heard rustling the odd tree’s leaves, or stray packet of chips…

And even then, it felt abnormally still.

The answer to why lay just above the cityscape, sat calmly upon a lavender-tinted cloud.

“Ah… peace and quiet, at long last. The city can awaken tomorrow, but for now…”

He hopped up from the cloud, flipping forward to a somewhat cartoonish crescent moon that hung high above the clouds that blotted it out from sight from the city-goers.

But, hey… this WAS the great Menternis Masterona, after all.

And if he wanted to curl up and drift off in utter peace and quiet, using the moon itself as his bed?

“...*yawn*... it’s about time we pull the lights on this little show…”

Then he’d do just that.

“And… scene.”

Chapter Text

Everything, as normal, starts with waking up.

Not usually at 2am, though.

OR to a loud, sudden crashing.

“Hmm… y-you guys okay out there?”

Silence.

…it shouldn’t be silent, though.

A noise like that would wake anybody in this house up.

“...guys…?”

Something didn’t feel right out here…

Whether it was by the twitch of her ears and tail, something in Misty’s gut just told her that something wasn’t as it seemed here.

She needed to… maybe she starts with her hands. Let’s see… aha!

Four claws on one, and six on the other.
That’s only the nonsense a dream can provide!

“That settles that,” she sighed. “But… what WAS that?”

She flew out into the hallway, and was promptly met with a lavender spark fluttering in the air before it promptly vanished.

Didn’t MM do this when they were having bad dreams? Was this something bad? That’d explain the crashing… and the emptiness.

And the generally really odd vibes.

No, wait. She remembered SOMETHING…

– – –

“You sure you’re okay down there?”

“Yep… it’s a pretty common and harmless sickness for dragons. I’ll be okay.”

“Got it. We’ll be around if you need any help with anything, understood?”

“I’ll probably be asleep, but sure. Thanks. Oh, by the way… don’t-”

– – –

Ohh scales, was this a fever dream?

Or… her equivalent to a fever, anyway. It was more so just overheating.

Her species, due to holding fire-breathing abilities, was always pretty warm to the core. This wasn’t a problem in autumn and winter, but… NOT pretty in summer.

If a dragon didn’t take good measures to regulate their body temperature in the summer (primarily through extra fire-breathing), they tended to just overheat and get feverish.

“...to be fair, it HAS been a hectic couple of days… I should’ve taken some time out to-”

She was cut off by what felt like an anxious glare staring her down, so she turned around.

…oh scales.

A certain sparky-ponytailed girl, just… a ways shorter, more timid-looking and poking her head out from behind the door. Was that about… 6-ish, in human age?

Wait. Don’t tell her…

The gist of this fever dream was just amping up her drive to protect everyone? Due to the usual Mistress-ly duties?

Predicting it was the least she could do.

“Uh… you doing okay?”

“...I think the others ran away.”

“Ran away…? What do you mean?”

“I… I tried telling them they have to go to bed, but… they didn’t listen…”

This dream-version of Lexy seemed pretty shaken up… just from failing to do one thing right, anyway.

Technically, it DID make sense, considering what MM knew about her outside of the dream world.

“Was that what the crash was? The others trying to run away?”

“M-Mhm…”

“...thanks for letting me know. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

“Y-You promise?”

“Promise. How about we go find the others and round ‘em up for a cozy time? If I can do anything, I can drag my roommates back to bed without a hitch!”

“...yup.”

With that, the duo made their way downstairs.

Misty was curious, though…

Avery supposedly had no childhood, MM was just eyes… Jerri was the only one with a vaguely normal ‘childhood’ to picture, as far as she was concerned. (Even if she didn’t remember it.)

Just what was she gonna see…?

Well, for a start, the TV was on.

What exactly was on was a bit vague, due to the nature of the dream.

If everybody else was going to be like Lexy was in the dream (being younger), then that didn’t surprise Misty an awful lot.

“H-Hey, uh,” she asked, “could we maybe turn the TV off? I don’t know if that’s gonna help you go back to sleep.”

Nobody was there, though…

Why was this on, then? And what was Lexy trying to look at all of a sudden?

“You’re too shy for your own good! C’mon!”

Well, Lexy was definitely talking to someone - someone, fittingly, only shy enough to respond with inaudible whispering.

“Just come out! W-We gotta go back…!”

More of that inaudible noise.

“...p-please…?”

“Hm…”

She flew over to where the noise was coming from, being a usually quite barren corner of the room.

Minus the now-hoard of couch cushions hiding somebody. She had a hunch as to who, though.

“...are you okay in there?”

Still inaudible, but she could make very vague things out…

‘No.’

“Do you know what’s wrong?”

‘Dark.’

She didn’t take them for being afraid of the dark. They probably weren’t in reality, mind, so best to take this with a hint of dream salt.

“Oh… so, let me guess. You wanna come back out, but you’re scared of the dark, so you can’t?”

‘Yes.’

“...I think I know what I can do. Can you stay here while I go get some things?”

‘Okay.’

“Thanks. Hang tight. Lexy, can you stay here for a second?”

“Mhm.”

With a quick bolt upstairs, she had then went into MM’s bedroom and grabbed a spare moon-shaped lamp of his that he usually claimed was just for decoration’s sake.

Though, on the way out, she noticed some paper falling from the ceiling. “Huh?”

The lyrics on it were… pretty childish, really.

So she looked up, seeing a familiar figure flying just below the ceiling. Just a lot shorter, donning a bigger cape, smaller wings, and a shorter hairstyle.

“Uh… what’re you doing up there?” She asked.

“I’m writing.” He bluntly remarked.

“That’s… cool, and all, but it’s really late. You should probably get to-”

“It’s not late.”

“Um… it is.”

“It isn’t!”

That said, his wings suddenly fluttering in a more frantic pace to stay upright told Misty a LOT.

She stayed nearby as the wings eventually failed this different Avery, being sure to catch him before he could crash-land. “There you go. Let’s get you… hm, actually, wait. Do you know where the others are?”

“Hnph… h-he went down to get me more food, and she’s just in hers. I dunno if she broke something. And SHE’S still asleep, I think.”

There were a lot of stray food packets on the floor, now she mentioned it.

“Alright, I got it. You can get on my back and I’ll check on her, okay? It could help your wings to calm down again, so you can get back to flying.”

“Okay.”

With that, the two of them entered that redhead’s room.

A lot… messier than normal, mind.

And that aforementioned, helmetless (and a lot smaller than usual) girl was seemingly focused on the floor, trying to fix up some broken clock.

Didn’t look to be hurt herself. That was good.

“...you okay, Rig?”

She glanced up at Misty, just shrugging a little sheepishly. “I was gonna go to bed, but it broke. Soo I can’t.”

Hoh boy.

“Well… it is still really late, y’know. How about we tidy up for now, and you can work on it tomorrow?”

“Hmm… okay.”

As carefree as ever, it looked like. Better than being stuck here for forever and a half to try and drag her out of this.

After helping her to tidy up the broken components and put them somewhere safe, the duo (now including Jerri) had went back on downstairs.

Letting the duo get off of her back, Misty had taken the lamp from earlier and plugged it in to the closest outlet to the corner of cushions.

Not long after the room’s corner was illuminated, a smaller and less tired pair of very pale yellow eyes had finally come out of hiding with a small sigh.

“Thanks…”

“Not a problem.”

Considering his dreamwalking form, MM probably WASN'T just eyes when he was younger. This was probably how they looked when he was younger, she presumed.

Misty stretched out briefly, before just curling up on her side. “How about we take it easy for a bit, okay? It’s still really late, and you guys could use the energy to get back to business.”

The others seemed to agree, moving over and happily getting cozy against her.

…you know…

Considering that she already knew that the others would be dead long before she was…

A dream like this felt oddly relaxing, even for a fever dream.

She felt happy to be there for these guys no matter what, even when it was like this. And she had a LOT more time than she was worried about, anyway.

After lowering her head down, she glanced back at the others. All seemed to be dozing off, already…

“...”

She didn’t need to say it.

She knew what words were getting across even from this alone. Well, she hoped that "I love you guys" was something that could get through silently.

She’d just go to sleep for now.

– – –

“U-Uh… Lexy? A little help?”

“W-Woah… how’d you make her hug you?!”

“I was just here to make sure she dozed off safely, she said something about not getting cozy in a Link because she’s overheating, then she… I don’t know!”

“Hmm… what time’d you go to bed last night?”

“I didn’t! I had games to host from-”

“Then you need this. Happy sleeping, birdbrain.”

“What the- e-eugh… I suppose so…”

If Misty was happy and resting well, then Avery didn’t really mind getting some extra sleep in.

Chapter Text

“C’mon… I haven’t got all day! Nobody does.”

There are multiple pros and cons to hosting a game centred around time travel.

Pros:

One, it’s fun.

Two, you get to do it with like-minded people and not just idiotic weirdos.

Three, it’s cool unearthing bits about history that nobody else will know about until YOU in particular show them it first-hand! Through trivia, no less!

Cons:

One, the absolute idiot that is Lydia Wyscalyte…

(An overenthusiastic girl in an orange jumpsuit, wore a FUNCTIONING lava lamp on her head and had a mess of blonde hair beneath it, and also couldn’t give half of a crap about what pronouns you used for them…)

…had gotten lost in a last-round jump to the future.

And maybe you had to find her and drag her out of wherever she was so that you could just finish the game and let everyone go home.

Aaand probably get her a drink by the time she got back, too. It’s thirsty work, time-hopping all day.

Now, based on these prompts, where was she?

[CURRENT YEAR: 2445]

“How do you get THIS far out in time…? Eugh, whatever. Hopefully she doesn’t mind having totally blown the game. Be back in a sec.”

With that, the group’s acerbic redhead had stepped ahead into their main portal for time travelling activities.

– – –

2445.

It was… NOT what Jerri was expecting at all.

The portal she exited from (which stayed open for convenience’s sake) had her land in an empty field, where the grass was ash-gray and the few trees in the area were completely barren.

The air felt tight and smoggy… Kinda made her head hurt.

Sky was equally dull and gray, too.

…what…

What the hell happens between 2025 and now to make THIS happen?!

“...okay, I’m NOT dwelling on this for very long. Where is she…”

Fortunately, this girl had the perfect colour palette to stand out in post-apocalyptic wherever the hell she was.

And since she was a wanderer type…

It only took a few minutes for Lydia to stroll onto the scene as if she hadn’t gotten stranded here to begin with.

“Oh, it took someone long enough to show up!”

“Uh… yeah? It’s not normal when you take ten minutes to come back from jumping to the future.”

“Could’ve sworn that it was less time… Ah, whatever.”

That easy-going attitude was probably gonna be the death of her, one day…

“...say, though,” Lydia added, “it’s not just me who finds this place… WAY off, right?”

Considering that she normally found the good in ANYTHING, that was a red flag and a half.

“Duh. The grass is gray, the trees are dead, and the sky is-”

The ground seemed to start shaking before she could finish her sentence, to the duo’s confusion.

While the lava-lamped girl didn’t try to look around, Jerri certainly had. After all, you always need to know what you’re…

Working…

…

…w-was…

What the hell was…?!

Like… s-some kind of explosion?!

Why was the trembling getting worse the closer it seemed to get?!

What was- Why-How come-?!

Here?!

Was this where everything-?!

Why here?! Why NOW?!

Oh god, why was her head hurting even more?! And her chest… That was just as bad, for some reason!

Actually, no, scratch that, EVERYTHING was hurting and weird and trembling for some reason…!

She didn’t want to die.

Nobody does.

Especially from THIS.

From trying to save a friend.

From actually showing that you care.

“U-Uh…”

Why does being a good person make you stumble into what’s, oh, I don’t know, just the end of the world?!

Why do you have to LOSE everything…

Gain SOME OF IT back through the kindness of strangers…

And THEN have to lose it all again?!

“J-Jerri, I think…”

Why was it HER who had to experience this?!

Can’t it be someone else?!

The others wouldn’t even know she and Lydia were dead! That portal back in 2025 would just stay closed up forever unless the two of them did something NOW, but…

They just…

Couldn’t…

Fucking…

MOVE!

She can’t- She can’t live without those guys! Any of them!

SHE’S NOT READY TO LET GO, GOD DAMN IT.

The best thing she could do was grab that idiot by the wrist, and drag them both out of here before they became nothing more than-

“DAMN IT!”

Why?!

Why did her leg have to fail on her now?!

“W-We need to…”

It’s no wonder Lydia wasn’t trying anything! Anyone as free spirited as her would get scared out of her mind at the sight of…

Oh. You know.

Just THE END OF THE WORLD.

The two of them would just have to stay stranded here, paralysed, as this increasingly hotter wave of WHATEVER JUST KEPT CASCADING TOWARDS THEM HOWEVER-FAST-IT-WAS.

It was already too hot.

WAY too hot…

Please stop.

Please make it stop already.

PLEASE.

“WE NEED TO WAKE UP, DAMN IT!”

– – –

This was followed by one of the sharpest screams that she had ever let out in her life, as well as her crashing to the ground.

“...”

…of course.

Of course it was just a nightmare.

Yet another hunk of junk to throw on the ‘JRCGPOT’...

Or “Jerri Rig Continually Growing Pile of Trauma”.

She… really had acronyms for anything, huh.

“...”

One of those guys were probably going to come crashing in any minute now, wondering just what she had freaked out over this time.

That’s…

That’s all she’s good for, anyway.

Right?

Not to… not to be the cold, sharp and sassy host of Timejinx, a girl who could stroll through time’s chaos like it was a walk in the park (excluding random periods).

She just had to be…

A weird, emotionally repressed lump of trauma and awkwardness with no past to her memory, just someone who’s trying to rush through life and make up for lost time.

This is who she is.

No matter what she does, this is…

This is just her…

…hmph.

Wherever she was, it was… really dark, actually.

Minus a lot of really faint stars…

And a door-shaped outline.

…she didn’t…

She didn’t want to get up.

Get up and face her new situation.

She couldn’t get herself to do anything.

She was just stuck in the worst timeline possible - the one where she was as pathetic as she was now.

It didn’t matter if she had moments of “toughness” or “bravery” for her friends.

She can’t deny how worthless she is.

“...ah. Sorry that I took so long to-”

“...”

“...are you okay…?”

“...”

“You… you still deserve to be comforted after something like that, you know. If that’s what you’re thinking about.”

“...why?”

“Why not?”

It was hard to know whether to hate or love MM some days.

He’s good at getting in people’s heads and working out what they need, for a start… you know. Schmyp-notist-y business.

On the downside… he knows a bit too much about everyone else every now and again.

Like how she was so easily shaken, and…

“...hey.”

“Yes?”

“...why can I not be what the game wants me to be?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m just meant to be… acerbic and sharp, right? Why am I… why is there so much depth to me all of a sudden? I don’t want this…”

“...”

“...why can’t I just be ‘Jerri’, MM? What’s making me be like this…?”

“...”

Of course he didn’t have an answer.

He’s not… some kind of deity with all the answers. He never has been.

At the end of the day, he’s just a guy behind a screen.

A huge fucking coward, too…

Seriously, who gets scared of a little loud noise.

“...have you even noticed where you are?”

“Your dream realm.”

“Yes, but where IN it?”

“Huh…?”

“Let me show you.”

MM’s dreamwalker self stepped past her (still sprawled out on the floor), seeming to open up a pair of curtains out of nowhere.

Getting up, she noticed…

…this was a train carriage?

Specifically, one of those overnight ones. Sleeper carriages, were they called?

He had gotten her here, somehow.

And she hadn’t fallen too far, as she had been on the bottom bunk of a train-bed when that nightmare got to ‘waking up’ levels of terror.

Or at least when MM dragged her out of it.

“...you… didn’t happen to run into a girl with a lava lamp on her head, r-right?”

“There was someone like that in your nightmare, but she didn’t seem to be having a bad dream of her own.”

“Wh-What, you work by proxy now? If someone knows us Decas, you can get in their head?”

“I’ve always been able to talk to other people!”

…

“...sorry. That was harsh of me.”

“You’re okay.”

“...do I have your permission to be more doting over you to help you settle down again?”

“Uh…?”

“You have a game tomorrow, and you need the rest.”

“...do what you want, man.”

“I’m not letting past incidents repeat themselves. I need a clear yes or no as opposed to anything vague.”

“Then yes.”

“Understood. Here, then…”

So, he helped her get into some cozier clothes and get more tucked into the carriage’s bed, where she just sighed and curled up on her side.

Between how dark it was, and the way that the train moved, it…

…wasn’t enough. It was nowhere near close.

“...MM?”

“Mhm?”

“...do you think, like, personality wise… I’m in a bad timeline?"

“Go on?” He had sat down at the end of the bed.

“Well… I don’t like that I actually have a lot of things that make me tick. Make me act in a… lot of funny, but fair, ways. It’s what I was trying to say earlier.”

“Ah, about…”

“Yeah.”

“...in that case, no. The things that make you tick, even to your gloom’s concern, are precious to who you are.”

“Darn…”

…

“I’d really rather just be two-dimensional than-”

“...do you want me to make you forget about all this for a while?”

…

“As in…?”

“...my regular job.”

She hesitated.

“...no. I wanna just go back to sleep… without that.”

It was a firm, clear ‘no’. A lack of consent is ALWAYS a lack of consent.

“I understand. Let the Expanse Express do what it does best, and I shall not interfere further.”

“Is that what you actually called this thing?”

“Not really. Feel free to experiment.”

“Soo… what? The Moonlight Express? Constellation Line? Uh… something like that?”

“Call it whatever you want.”

Somehow, the night was spent debating far too many names for a train for the duo’s own good. (They had decided to just call it whatever struck their fancy in the moment.)

At least until…

“...hm. It’s unlike me to get tired in my own Expanse… may I lie down with you?”

“There’s a whole other bunk up there, dude…”

“Oh, of course. Sorry.”

“...why did you wanna do that, anyway?”

“I figured you would prefer the company.”

She sighed quietly.

“...say…”

“Hm?”

“...why do you always have to hang out with ME? There’s… you have Misty, Lexy and Avery to spend time with… why do you and I always need to be the focus…?”

“...you make a good point. It IS just the five of us… certain interactions overlap every now and again. Even if it’s quite often. I don’t think anything is wrong with it, though. We get along, we have each other’s backs… It’s nice to not be alone, I think.”

It was quiet after he finished talking.

…his voice did it again, hadn’t it.

A glance back confirmed that.

“...hm.”

He left the carriage quietly, leaving her be.

The further he walked along the train, it just kept getting darker and darker to the point that he couldn’t even make out his own lavender glow.

And it got quieter, to where he couldn’t hear the train’s movements along the tracks.

In a way, it was just…

Nothing.

As if it was just the end of the world, and he was the lone survivor of a world cast into eternal darkness and silence.

A place where it was…

…

Lonely.

Very much so.

…sigh.

Now wasn’t the time or place to cry.

He’s already basically mentally snapped on the four of them before, back at Christmas. (Five, if you counted Doc.)

He can’t snap again.

It’s not going to be right to snap again…

But he can’t hide in the dark forever.

He’d… love to, sure.

…you can’t hide if you have a loving found family, a boyfriend, supportive co-workers, a dream in life…

You can’t.

You just can’t…

…

…

…

“...hey. You doing okay?”

“Wh-What?”

“...I’m pretty sure you were crying in your sleep.”

“Oh. I… I was.”

“...come here.”

…it’s not right to spend your morning continuing to cry because you have complex feelings, just being shielded from the world by nothing but a pair of wings.

It’s wrong that you want to hide away forever.

It’s downright impossible that it’s healthy.

…

…at least you can be there for other people.

Chapter Text

Ahem. Let’s see… how to put this into words.

Buried in the deep, dark depths of the Capella Woods…

There lies what is known as the Crescendo Tree.

Rumoured to be the very reason that music flows as freely as it does among these woodlands… wrapped up in glowing vines from trunk to treetop, making it instantly recognisable to residents of the woods.

Supposedly, also blessed by the Great Cycle - an unknown, deity-like figure who watched over the woods’ avian wildlife from afar.

With the blessing of utilising music and sound to its finest potential, the Crescendo Tree was a true maestro of any kind of melody that you could dare conceive. The trouble was…

This tree was quite defensive over its home if it did not recognise somebody who entered the Capella Woods.

From what those who lived in the woods had seen it do to others in the past, the tree would ensnare unknown travellers in its glowing vines and lift them into a near pitch-black canopy of leaves up above.

Then, making those vines glow more, those who were entangled in the vines (and bearing witness to the glow) would supposedly start hearing an impossibly pure, head-fuzzyingly-soft melody.

Strong or weak enough to incapacitate them for however long the tree deemed appropriate for them to not be a threat to the Woods.

…that said, Avery had yet to witness this yet - and his home was a hand-made log cabin nestled IN the Crescendo Tree’s branches, for goodness’ sake.

But he had a feeling this was going to change…

“Aand… there we are! Consider that a tent pitched!”

“Are you four sure you’d rather not stay in the cabin? I’m sure there’s room for all of us…”

“Yup… we’ll be fine…”

“You sound kinda… weird, Lex. What’s up?”

“I think I’m just getting a cold, nothing to worry about… besides. We have all the water a girl can need, and a portable heater!”

…

“...s-sorry for patting your belly like that.”

“You’re okay.”

So, yes!

Somehow, the five of them had decided upon a camping trip to Avery’s homeforest (you know, like hometown( for… some reason, I suppose.

Mandatory nature break?

Probably.

An idea that everyone had agreed upon, even if Lexy was proving a… bit of an outlier, in the form of having recently caught a cold.

Alas, to quote her…

“I’d rather not stay at home alone like this… I’m sure I won’t get TOO bad out there.”

Which would also explain why she was wearing her pyjamas underneath a puffy jacket, and just having socks and sneakers on her feet.

Certainly a… healthy way to dress when you’re travelling, sure. Yet alone camping out in the woods for a few days.

“We should have everything packed…” MM sighed as he rummaged through one of the bags that the crew had bought. “Let me see… food to cook for later, general snacks for if that backfires, bottled water, spare first aid supplies… I think this is just a bag full of necessities. What did the rest of you pack, anyway?”

“It was mostly just spare clothes and bedding for us all… y-you know. I can carry a lot, considering the whole dragon thing…”

“I just grabbed a buncha cold meds and extra tissues, really… and a few of those nasal strips, just in case. We covered the rest of the basics anyway, right…?”

“As for me, I went more survivalist. Got some torches, plenty of spare batteries, couple of books about identifying dangerous plants in case things get REAL desperate for us, and an emergency phone. For if things go from real desperate to REALLY desperate.”

Welp. If that wasn’t proof that Jerri secretly cared for everyone, who knew what was. “Anyway… MM, what’ve you got?”

“Oh, just extra things to help us with sleeping if the need arises for it. A few CDs, extra hot cocoa mix, a few written-out versions of stories I’ve made in the past with you all… worst comes to worst, my voice is always here.”

“As for myself,” Avery chimed in, “I already have all that I need here, so I bought a few of our plushie companions along for the ride. All yours.”

So a familiar Flygon, Togedemaru, Ampharos and Hatenna were placed among the crew, to their delight.

“Yes! Nothing like bringing Neon along for rhe ride.”

“Wha…?”

“Y’know. Mister ‘Neon’ Snuffles. I decided on that a few weeks back.”

“Kinda describes me right now, huh…”

Yeesh. That was ‘out of it’ if the group had ever seen that term applied to Lexy.

In fact, she just sighed and decided to get up, wandering back over to the tent. “I’m gonna just take it easy…”

“U-Uh, okay.”

…

Weird.

Something in general just felt really…

Weird.

There hadn’t been any rumours or sightings of murderous maniacs in the woods, no.

Nothing had been left behind or left on when they left the house, a thing that everyone had checked MULTIPLE times…

Their sleep schedules were mostly intact, and they had all taken measures to ensure they’d be adequately sorted in terms of eating, drinking, and-

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...I get the feeling you all just thought of something dreadful. I’ll… I’ll show you some separate spots for what you’re dreading if the need arises.”

“...y-yeah… thanks.”

ARGH. It still wasn’t feeling any better for any of them, even after that…

They came out here to have fun, not to just mope about…

“...I hate this.”

“Same…”

Even though they didn’t even know what it was…?

The dragoness tried pinching the fluff on her wrist, but it didn’t change that she and the group were still in the forest.

Again, literally nothing was wrong here.

They had been happy to agree to the idea, happy enough to pack some stuff and head out, happy enough to not backpedal on it…

So what.

Was.

Wrong?

“...this isn’t gonna help. I think I’m just gonna fly around for a while.”

“I’ll get a campfire sorted in the meanwhile, so you know where to come back to.”

“Yeah…”

So that left Misty departing from the camping area that the group had put together…

Lexy was still in that tent of theirs…

Jerri was getting a fire started…

And who knows where MM had gone, really.

…

Even when it’s been however many years it’s been, Avery wasn’t surprised that he still wasn’t fazed by being alone.

He…

…

He’s worried about this all before.

About fitting in, having a kind of ‘role’ to fill amidst the Decas.

Was this all that his - and everyone else’s - life was?

To rinse and repeat the same worries, fears and strife over and over… no matter what?

…

Who would put them through that…?

…pah.

It’s all pretty worthless, anyway.

No, not pretty.

Very.

He sighed dejectedly and flew back into his log cabin, closing the door behind him in silence.

And he just sat on the floor.

Quietly musing to himself.

“...with how my true feelings pour themselves into music… and truly resonate with others…

...I could easily drown everyone else here into a sea of despair and futility if I so wished.

Yet, I do not wish for it.

…actually living a life… truly is an enigma.”

He wallowed in the silence that followed afterwards, at least until…

“Hey, dude!”

Her again, eh.

“We got the others back, so we’re gonna chill down here for a bit. You feel like coming down?”

…and become a danger to his introduction to truly living life, eh?

When he knows he can make a song on a whim to…

Sap them of all their happiness.

Or wills to live.

Anything and… everything…

…just because he was ‘born’ with the ability to control music in the way he did.

…hrmph…

How much easier would life have been if he was just born as a- he didn’t know- chick, or something? Like, a bird chick?

Would that have changed anything?

“...we’ll be down here if you need us.”

…

…

…

…that’s how it is, then.

No, he- Avery understood.

He isn’t relevant enough to have the other Decas come up here and dote on him until he’s okay again.

He’s just someone who has to be left alone until he ‘comes around’...

Because he's nobody to everybody else.

They don’t know what helps him… and nor does he.

He lacks that dragon’s stalwart heart, or the ability to be warmed by it.

That girl’s spunky spirit, or the ability to be energized by it.

That other one’s secret kindness, or the ability to show her hidden side was in a safe space.

And… his… silent determination, or the ability to… have his own.

…

There’s nothing that HE, as a person nor conductor, has that’s worth having anybody worth check up on how he really feels.

He just… wakes up.

Waits for a game to host.

Hosts it, unfazed by countless upon countless birds dying to the ravenous vines and fangs of that plant.

And when he got confirmation that it was over…

He’d just go to sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse and repeat.

Rinse.

And.

Repeat…

…

He took off through a balcony in his house, wordlessly flapping up to the very top of the Crescendo Tree and burying himself into the thickest bunch of leaves that he could find.

It’s silent up here, so…

Nobody can acknowledge him if they don’t want to.

And he knows they won’t want that…

So…

# The world… always remembers a well-placed name… #

# Through tournaments, shows, t-technological displays… #

# But… but nought of the man who is nothing at all… #

# J-Just a voice… j-just a sound, just… just… #

He wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t even finish that set of lyrics before breaking into the loudest, ugliest mess of tears that he had ever remembered himself bearing witness to.

Nothing more than a distant, fleeting echo to anybody on the forest floor.

“Cres-Crescendo Tree, I- I-I-” he sputtered, “pl-please. You- You need to- You need to do something…”

(What is it?)

…

“Ab- A-Absorb me into you, st-strip me of my powers, a-anything you deem worthy… please…”

(...why would I do that?)

“I-I’m not ANYBODY, Cr-Crescendo Tree! A-At the end of the day, I’m… I’m just a VOICE who NARRATES things! I-I’m not someone that anybody cares about, in th-this in- I- just…”

Even if they didn’t want this last part of this already mortifying experience to be bellowed beyond the woods and then some…

“I CAN’T STAND IT ANYMORE! I NEED TO STOP EXISTING! PLEASE, DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!”

…and yet, it echoed, casting those painful feelings far and wide, as far as the woods were concerned.

(...I will not make you stop existing.)

“...”

(...your friends are that dragon and the others, yes?)

“...”

(...I will leave them alone when they reach the treetop.)

…a lot of things were very hazy and distant for Avery from that point to where he was next properly lucid.

Obviously, there was…

Those four.

They had no doubt heard his desperate negotiations to quit existing and found him at the top of the Crescendo Tree.

Because they definitely brought him back down to the ground. For some reason…

It had also gotten later in the night, since a few fireflies had started flittering around the area in their usual, carefree manner.

…

“...nngh… wh-wh…?”

“Hey… you alright…?”

“...why am I… here again…?”

“...me and the others have been talking a bit, y’know.”

The conductor flinched where he was, despite being curled up to the dragonness and that ever-toasty campfire.

“...you’re kind of right.”

“...hm?”

“We… all had lives, goals, ambitions… plenty of unique things going on before Jackbox grabbed us by the scruff of the neck and threw us into the weirdest - but kinda best - job of our lives.”

“...”

“And… yeah… maybe we WERE just put into the role of an odd but intriguing narrator who guides newbies on what to do, and to a veteran, we might just… not matter to them. They could mute us, tune us out, play music over us… anything like that and then some.”

“...”

“...but, even if that’s the case… I really doubt our lives would have become as interesting as this without SOMEONE looking out for us. Not Jackbox, not people we know, but…”

“...you mean the… players?”

“Yep. I mean, look at me. As far as I knew before Pack 10 initially released, I was just the Tournament Mistress. Following a script that Jackbox had set me. But… time went by, y’know? And I found myself opening up to more and more things about the world, other than just what Tee K.O 2 is. I feel like that’s thanks to the players.”

“How?”

“...maybe they see- or hear- the way that I read things out, and they thought… ‘ooh, I wonder if she’d like this? Or dislike this? Yeah, I think she does!’ And, so long as they write it down somewhere, even if they’re the only one to think it…”

“...!”

“...somehow, it sticks with us. And it makes life a little less two-dimensional than it was before. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is…”

“...”

“...even if it feels like you don’t matter to US, Avery, you’ve reached someone out there. Someone who heard you, appreciated you for breathing life into Dodo Re Mi by being there, and I… guess they breathed a little life into you in return. Even if it’s painful sometimes, or a bit repetitive, it’s a sign that someone’s got your back in the off-chance that we don’t. We all exist to somebody.”

…

…when she put it like that…

…she was right.

No matter how lonely he truly felt, as if not a soul in the world would care for him if he took off into the utterly darkest depths of the woods…

…without the fans and players at his back, he wouldn’t BE Avery.

Lexy wouldn’t be Lexy, either.

Mesei - no, the Tournament Mistress, Jerri and MM would have had their own names, but…

Where would they be in life without the help of the fans adding a third dimension to their usually routine, show-hosting lives?

…who knows.

Who knows where ANY of them would be without… anything…

“...is it a bit like the Great Cycle, then?”

“Like… a god?”

“Mhm?”

“...I wouldn’t say it’s exactly like that. It’s just… a big group of fans who’re at our backs in the face of hardships. Not really a bunch of people to worship, exactly… but they’re just people living their lives, and our lives happened to become important to at least one of them.”

“Ah. I see.”

“...anyway, I don’t know if you’re hungry after earlier, but I saved you some snacks. How about you have some of what we’ve got and some water before turning in for the night? It’s a little early, but-”

“What food is it?”

“Here, take a look.”

So she spread out a few packets of food in front of him.

“...ah, how about that. Some kind of… Grah-ham crackers?”

“Oh, sure. You wanna just keep it like that, or would you prefer I smores it up for you?”

“Um…?”

“That just means you put marshmallows and chocolate between two crackers, and roast them over a fire until those two things melt.”

“Eugh. Sounds awful.”

“Ah well, to each their own. Here, all yours.”

So, he just ate the crackers in silence while having the odd sip of water every now and again.

…Misty knew this was weird.

She had talked to the other three about how they felt about Avery’s crisis a little eavesdrop-py after they found him passed out in the top of that tree.

Which they still felt bad about, yes.

Surprisingly, she had been the one to realise that fans basically breathed life into what made Jackbox truly sparkle. Particularly…

What’s a game without a host?

Or, well… someone or something to just show you the ropes anyway? (As Word Spud and Hear Say are a little… ehh…)

Without that, the players would just be lost and confused about how to have the most fun possible - as that’s precisely what games are for.

Hosting was something to be proud of.

You got the chance to reach someone’s heart, and in return, they helped you to become more than just a script Jackbox asked you to follow.

Well- Yeah, sure, you agreed with them in regards to just HOW you wanted to come off as to the players… but it’s easy to get swept away in the new version of yourself, even if it’s similar to how you normally are in reality.

…but knowing that your hard work is being seen and appreciated by SOMEONE really helps.

“...there. I think that’s my hunger and thirst accounted for.”

“Mhm. You should take it easy, then.”

“Yes… w-wait, where are the others?”

“In the tent. They’re certainly pretty invested in something, but… they’re safe.”

The duo paused for a minute, bearing witness to a certain conversation from in the tent.

“It’s one or the other, okay?! Just because Zing Zap as a move has a chance to make whoever it hits flinch OR paralyse them doesn’t mean it’s both at once!”

“It DOESN’T have a chance to paralyse them, though! Just stick to using a sure-fire paralysing move like Nuzzle or Thunder Wave instead!”

“This… this IS a matter of the imagination, you two. Would you rather not play to however you-”

“GAME ACCURACY OR BUST!”

“Oh. Apologies.”

…yeah, everyone was going to be okay.

So Avery took the liberty to lie down on the grass, just curling up on his side to take in the woods in silence.

…it was certainly weird that he was adamant enough that he’d rather be absorbed into the Crescendo Tree than accept that people truly cared about him.

But… It was very reassuring to know that…

Beyond the agreements they made with Jackbox about how they wanted to present themselves in-game, and how buried one might get in their roles…

The fans are there. They took the ideas somebody else made, and they breathed a new sense of life into…

You.

You get to exist thanks to them.

…in a way, it’s quite beautiful.

The conductor sighed to himself. He was reassured of everything that he needed to be right now, so he had the peace of mind to let himself sleep in silence.

Apparently, calm and quiet enough to get a stray firefly to land on the tip of his nose. Truly an image to treasure.

…

…it had happened a few times before he met everyone else, hadn’t he?

He couldn’t remember.

But… he was okay, now.

Everybody was.

“...everyone, I’m staying out here with Avery. Try and go to bed for now, okay? We’ll have a more proper campfire experience tomorrow.”

“Noted! Night!”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”