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toothpastecanyon · 2 months

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Unto Dust, Chapter 2

Lucy Ann was nothing if not a survivor. After weeks of being on the run from the Angel, she was looking forward to getting back to her life of wandering the world, and relaxing in the sun.

But this time, it may not be so easy for things to go back to normal.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

Lucy Ann remembered that day on the banks of the Thamesis. The fear that rose in her chest as light bled into the horizon, as the fading stars above slowly abandoned her to her fate. She remembered the terror, the struggle, the tears welling up in her eyes as she realised this was it, this was the end, there was nothing she could do…

Nothing she could do.

She remembered thinking those words; she remembered how, as she lay back, her eyes fixed on the orange glow beyond the river… they didn’t seem as scary, now. She had done all she could, lived a good, long life. A life that she’d miss - stars, she remembered how the only panging regret in that moment was that she’d reached the end of it.

But if this was truly it, then so be it. She’d hidden from the light for a thousand years, and as she lay there, she realised she’d forgotten just how beautiful the sun was when it rose. The glow of the clouds, the village in silhouette, the first few rays peeking through the trees on a distant hill… she took a deep breath, in, and out, and she smiled.

She wasn’t scared at all. And when the light finally reached her, and gently warmed her cold skin, she laughed until tears ran down her cheeks, because she was alive, she was alive, she was alive!

She was alive. Lucy Ann had drawn the corner of the blinds, and was peeking out at the grey glow of early morning when there was a knock on her door. She glanced over sharply, and stood there still until there was another knock and a voice.

“Hellooo, it’s June! Are we awake?”

Oh - the fairy who owned the condo. Lucy Ann cast a glance at the summoning circle still drawn on the floor before reluctantly slinking over to the door. She opened it to a winged woman in jogging gear with a paper bag in her hands; she gave a sparkling smile that Lucy Ann struggled to match.

“There we are! Gooood morning, darling!” She gave Lucy Ann a kiss on each cheek before gliding past her. “Sorry to pop in so early - I hope I didn’t wake you up! Just wanted to drop off some supplies before work!”

“Um, thanks?” Lucy Ann saw her notice the summoning circle as she set the bag down on the coffee table. “I, uh, was gonna clean that up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about a little Alcor circle! If you’re going to summon anything else, though, could I ask you put down a little protection ward on the floor?” She gave an airy laugh. “Demons just love scratching up the hardwood. Anyway, I popped down to the supermarket and picked you up a few more bloodpacks! You don’t mind B positive, do you?”

“No, that’s, that’s fine. I’m not picky.” Lucy Ann watched her open the fridge. “Thanks, again… uh, I can put that away-”

“Nonsense, guests sit down!” June waved her off, and then did a double take. “Oh no! Are you cold, dear?”

“Cold?”

“You’ve got my ski gloves on!”

Lucy Ann blinked, and looked down at the thick black glove on her hand. “Oh,” she said, and quickly hid it behind her back. “Right, uh… a little? But it’s fine.”

“Oh, you poor thing! Let me show you where the thermostat is!” Her wings fluttered as she made her way to what was very obviously a thermostat right by the couch. Lucy Ann made a face, but decided to play along. “Here it is! Now you just tap the screen, and you can set it to whatever you like, okay?”

“Okay.” Lucy Ann turned it up a few degrees, then gave a crooked smile. “That’s, uh, much better. Thanks.”

“I hope it’s more comfortable! I won’t have my guests needing to wear gloves in my house - that just won’t do!”

She made her way back to the fridge, leaving Lucy Ann to discreetly slip off the glove. June shut the fridge, and beamed at her.

“That should be you stocked up for the week! And if you need anything else, anything at all, you let me know, okay? You’ve got my number?”

“Yeah. Uh, thanks, June.”

“It’s no trouble at all, love!” She was folding up the paper bag she made her way towards the door. “Now I have to get back to my run, but I’ll see you… oh, I almost forgot!”

“What?”

“Darcy from the Dinner Crew wanted me to invite you to our monthly meeting this evening!” June took out a hairband and started tying her hair back as she spoke. “Everyone would love it if you could come - we’ve all been so thrilled to have an original member back in Portland! You’d be a guest of honour!”

Lucy Ann grimaced. Meeting a whole new Dinner Crew - she didn’t know if she was up to that right now. “Uh, that’s real kind of you to offer, but I’m not sure-”

“Oh, and it’ll be after sunset, of course!” June laughed to herself. “Don’t you worry, we wouldn’t invite you somewhere you couldn’t go!”

At that, Lucy Ann froze. It was what a lot of well-meaning strangers assumed about her, and it wasn’t unreasonable; there weren’t many vampires who lived long enough to walk in the sun. Normally she took a bit of smug satisfaction in correcting them - or if they were outside, simply staring blankly back until they realised - but today, she didn’t quite find the words in time.

“Anyway,” June continued, opening the door. “I really must run now, darling, but I’ll swing by at seven and give you a ride! Ooh, this is so exciting!”

And with that, she was gone, and it seemed like Lucy Ann was booked for the afternoon. Great. Wonderful. Letting the polite smile drop, she went over to slump on the couch, and dragged a hand down her face.

Ugh… Oh, well.

Maybe it’d be a good thing to get out of this house for a while. And meeting the newest cast of the Dinner Crew could be nice - June was certainly a sweet lady, even if she was a lot.

A glance at the blinds, a grimace at the glow behind them. And of course, it’d be fucking dark outside. Because that was something she had to worry about now, wasn’t it?

Lucy Ann stared down at her hands, and remembered the dirt on them as she clawed her way up the banks of the Thamesis. She remembered the long, stumbling path she took back to her safehouse, the times she had to stop and hide in bushes at the sounds of footsteps because stars, she didn’t know what they’d do to her if they found she hadn’t burned. She remembered the grime on her skin, the deep ache from bruises she was too weak to heal… and the wonderful warmth of the sun.

She remembered making it home, collapsing into bed, and sleeping for a whole season. By the time she awoke, she’d wondered whether the whole thing had been a crazy dream; had she really walked in the sun?

She remembered seeing the drawn wooden shutters over her window, the soft glow of the sun peeking out from the edges of the panels. She remembered stepping towards them, remembered unlatching them, remembered throwing them open wide open and feeling-

Lucy Ann turned away from the blinds. She sat still for a moment, one hand pinching the other, before grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. Something stupid was playing; she changed the channel to something else, saw it was worse, so she changed it back and settled in and forced herself to relax.

Stars, it was so stuffy in here. You know what, it was a good thing she was going somewhere; anything to get out of this fucking house.

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It looked, Lucy Ann thought, like a mix between a warehouse and a restaurant. The building was truly massive, with concrete floors and ventilation tubes weaving their ways across the tall ceiling. Dinner tables were neatly arranged across the room, and a buffet stretched down one side. A huge, messy line had formed; the whole room echoed with the sound of voices and laughter. It was so loud that June nudged her and said something; she couldn’t hear it at all, but she just smiled and nodded and that seemed to satisfy her.

June started digging into her meal: a steaming meat pie of venison, potatoes, and green vegetables. It looked so good Lucy Ann wondered whether she wanted to chance the line… maybe when it died down a little bit. For now, she was happy sipping her wine glass of blood.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Unlike June, Lucy Ann had no trouble hearing the deep, booming voice of Darceus Alamastern. The leader of the Dinner Crew was a lion of a kitsune, easily twice as tall as the other two foxes on either side of her, with nine great tails fanned out behind like a peacock’s train. Her smile was friendly, and her eyes were bright and curious, but it was hard to look at her and not find one’s eye drawn to the size of those teeth in her mouth.

One fang was broken off, Lucy Ann noticed. Ouch, she thought, and then shook herself, cleared her throat.

“Uh, yeah.” She said, and stared out across the crowd. “Lot of people tonight; are they all in the Dinner Crew?”

“Oh, no.” Darceus gave a hearty laugh. “We’re a little lean on formal members lately, but these meetings are open to the public. Anyone can come in and get a hot meal.” Her eyes twinkled as she watched Lucy Ann. “Were there so many members in your time?”

“With Hank?” She chuckled. “Oh, I’m not sure. We were a lot less organised back then. Took years before we started keeping any kind of track… but we got big pretty fast.” She sipped her drink, smiling to herself. “Yeah, pretty fast. It was really something.”

Darceus listened with interest. “To see the beginning of the Dinner Crew… it must have been quite remarkable.” She looked around the room, seeming to analyze something, before turning back to Lucy Ann. “It looks like everyone is getting settled in. I’m going to make a speech shortly, welcoming everyone to the meeting. Would you like to say a few words?”

“Sure.” She chuckled. “I hope you got a megaphone, though. This room is huge.”

With a grin, Darceus tapped the edge of the table; glowing purple runes flickered to life, and dimmed again as she took her hand away. “Don’t worry,” she said, “you’ll be heard.”

“All the tables have it,” June added, leaning in close. “After dinner, we have a kind of town hall where anyone can ask Darcy anything. I’ll tell you, you won’t believe some of the oddball questions we get!”

“Oh, I’m sure I can believe it,” she muttered. She would have said more, but Darceus was rising to her feet. Tapping her wine glass, all heads began to turn as she cleared her throat and started to speak.

“My friends!” Darceus began, and the chatter in the room immediately died way down. “Welcome one, welcome all, to our monthly Dinner Crew dinner! I trust you’ve all got something to eat - our thanks again to the Greater Portland Forest Community for catering tonight.”

She nodded to a white-haired elf seated at a table not far from their own, and continued.

“Whether you’re here for the meeting, or just for the delicious food, we really appreciate you all coming out tonight. The Dinner Crew’s got a long and proud history of holding these meetings - it’s been about one hundred and seventy years, now, unbroken since we reformed after the Chancellor administration.”

Darceus glanced down at Lucy Ann, and smiled. “But our history of giving back to the community stretches back far longer than that. Friends, we’re honoured tonight to host a truly legendary figure, a founding member of the Dinner Crew and lifelong advocate for the preternatural. Give it up for our own Lucy Ann!”

Lucy Ann stood up on her chair, and felt it in her chest as the entire room broke into thunderous applause. it was surreal, sometimes, to see just how much she meant to the Dinner Crew. She didn’t even think she had that big a role in founding them, and she certainly hadn’t been keeping up with them the past few centuries, but to this sea of strangers cheering her on, she might as well have been Hank himself. It was a humbling feeling, to wonder why they thought she was so important.

The applause took a while to die down, but eventually it faded, and she cleared her throat. “Uh, thank you, thank you!” She started, and grappled for something to say. “It’s… it’s an honour for me too, to be here with you all! You’ve all been, ah, more than kind.”

She felt like she wanted to stop there, but a whole room of eyes still looked on expectantly. Lucy Ann wasn’t one for stage fright, but she found herself fiddling with her wine glass as she went on.

“And, uh…” she started, and chuckled. “It really has been a while, hasn’t it! I don’t think I’ve been back to Portland since Dave was in charge - anyone remember Dave?” No hands went up at first - after a moment there was a lone whoop from the back. “Yeah, hey, someone remembers him! Of course, heh, he was before the Chancellor administration, so, ah, a long time ago, now. A long time.”

Silence, again. Lucy Ann scratched the back of her neck; stars, she’d been trying to kill time this morning, and she didn’t think to prepare something to say? Finally, she gave a bit of a shrug.

“Anyway, ah, that’s it for me. I’ll be in town for a little while, so if anyone wants to hit me up, go for it.” She chuckled. “I, uh, I probably don’t know where the party spots are anymore, so if anyone’s up to show me around the new Portland, that’d be great.”

After that, she sat down, and Darceus nodded at her.

“Lucy Ann, everyone!” She said, and raised her glass. Everyone else did as well, and there was a chorus of clinks across the room. June offered her drink, and beamed when Lucy Ann clinked with her.

Lucy Ann found herself smiling, too. Eh, her speech was a bit crappy, but everyone seemed to enjoy it well enough - with the way everyone started tucking into their meals, they probably liked how short it was. She watched as Darceus took a seat and rather awkwardly picked up a fork with her huge, paw-like hand.

Maybe this wasn’t the old Dinner Crew. Maybe these weren’t faces she knew… but they were faces she could know, if she stuck around. She’d been going it alone for a good while even before the Angel chased her across the continent; maybe it’d be nice, to let herself be a part of something again.

“Oh dear,” June said bashfully, looking over her empty plate. “I think I should have waited to start with everyone else. How rude of me!”

Lucy Ann snorted. “Hey, you said you were starving in the car. You said you were doing, like, marathon running?”

“Oh, yes, I’m training for my 10K.” She stared wistfully at the buffet table. “Do you think they’ll mind if I have a bit more?”

“Go for it!” Lucy Ann said; when she still hesitated, she added: “You know, if you’re up anyway, could you grab a little bread roll for me? If you don’t mind.”

June was on her feet in an instant. “Of course I’ll get that for you, darling! I’ll be just a moment!”

“Thanks!” Lucy Ann said, and called after her: “Perfect host!” She chuckled at the way June’s face lit up, and sat back in her seat.

Sipping her drink, she just watched the crowds for a moment, let herself zone out to the hum of conversation happening all around her. Darceus seemed to have slipped away at some point to walk among the tables; she wasn’t expecting someone to talk to her until June got back.

Which was why she jumped a bit when someone tapped her on the shoulder. They were right behind her; it took a second for her to turn her chair.

“Oh, man, you really do look like a six year old.”

That was the first thing Lucy Ann heard from a strange young woman standing in front of her. She was elven - the pointed ears gave away that much - but she was dressed almost in pajamas, with sweatpants and a loose t-shirt with a graphic of some tv show she didn’t recognize on it. She had her hands in her pockets, and a crooked sort of smile that immediately put Lucy Ann on edge.

“Yeah?” Lucy Ann said, and frowned at the gaggle of five, much more nervous humans that seemed to be gathered around the elf. “Can I help you guys?”

“You definitely can!” Said the elf. “See, my name’s Bea, and I’m a college student over at Portland State. Doin’ my masters in, heh, Elf Studies. Top of my class.”

“Okay?”

“I heard you might be attending this dinner, and when my friends heard that-“ Bea put an arm around one guy and dragged him in closer. “They were just begging me to introduce them. Especially this dork, he’s writing his whole thesis about you. Tell her, Matt.”

Matt’s hand was visibly trembling as he held it out. “Um, h-hello Ms. Ann. I-it’s, uh, i-it’s such an honour to meet you, I’m Matt- but, sorry, you already knew that, I-I didn’t mean to- sorry!”

Bea whistled. “Damn, kid, you’re really blowing this.”

“He’s not blowing this.” Lucy Ann cut in, and took his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Matt. What’s your thesis about?”

“Um…” His eyes bugged out a bit. “The impact o-of the downfall of, of the Chancellor Administration on Elven Societies in the Western United States, um… I-I’ve been reading a lot a-about the impact you had, i-it’s really impressive, you’ve been such an inspiration to me since I was a kid-“

“You’re losing her,” Bea snipped, and smirked as he seemed to deflate. Lucy Ann watched incredulously as she strode over to June’s chair and sat herself down in it.

“Okay - Bea, is it? What the hell is your problem?”

“I knowww, I’m sorry for bringing a bunch of humans over here to gawk at you.” She waved them away. “Come on guys, clear off! You’re bothering her.”

“They’re not-”

“Hey, is this blood?” Without warning, Bea picked up her glass and took a swig; almost immediately she made a face. “Eugh, yep, that’s blood,” she said, but to Lucy Ann’s disgust, still decided to swallow. “Oh, shit, that was nasty. Gotta ask - do you end up liking the taste of pennies, or is it more of a ‘gotta have it or I’ll die’ kinda thing?”

Lucy Ann was caught between shock and fury; she could only manage to snatch her glass back as she tried to form words. “You… what are you-“

“I’m back!” Came June’s singsong voice; Lucy Ann watched her pause as she noticed the figure in her chair. “Oh, Bea. You’re in my seat, hun.”

“Yeah, just a sec,” Bea said, putting her feet up on the table. “So you said you needed someone to show you around, huh? Show you where to have a good time?”

“And you’re volunteering?” Lucy Ann gave a harsh laugh. “You’ve got to be joking, right?”

“Why would I be joking? Hey, if it’s about those humans-“

“It’s not about those fucking humans, it’s about you!” She watched Bea flinch at that, and raised her eyebrows. “Are you- holy shit, are you actually trying to impress me right now? Is this what you do when you want someone to like you?”

Bea sat up straighter. “No. Hah! No, I just-“

“Because I’ve got some advice. Go say sorry to your fucking friends, because I don’t know how you managed to make them.” She leaned in closer, and watched Bea shrink back. “And they’re not ‘just humans’, you know. Just because they don’t live as long as you or me doesn’t make you better than them.”

“What? I don’t, I don’t think I’m better than them-”

“Oh, please, of course you do. You and every other baby immortal who decides to try ‘living amongst the humans.’” She scoffed at the thought. “Yeah, you’re, what, a hundred? Two hundred? If you wanna pretend you’re soo much older and wiser than your friends, maybe you should act like it.”

Bea’s face had gone a deep, angry red; her whole body had cringed into the chair, and her face was frozen in a tense smile that bared all her teeth. She didn’t seem to know what to say; Lucy Ann tilted her head.

“Well?”

“I…” Bea gave a hollow chuckle. “I meant…”

She trailed off there, and Lucy Ann rolled her eyes. “Just get out of the seat,” she said, and waved her away. “My friend was sitting there.”

Bea quickly got to her feet, backed away, and scurried off back to her table without another word. June sat down, her wings fluttering a bit as she gave an anxious chuckle.

“Whoo, that was… remind me not to tick you off! Here’s your bread roll.”

“Thanks.” Lucy Ann cast one last glance behind her, before pushing her chair back in. “So, ah, who’s Bea? Not a member of the Dinner Crew, is she?”

“Over my dead body!” One of the other kitsune spoke up across the table. June laughed nervously.

“Bea? Oh, not technically - she’s a young elf from the GPFC. She likes to get involved, though! She lives on campus, helps out with outreach there.”

“Outreach?” Lucy Ann snorted. “No wonder membership’s low.”

“Oh, no, she’s actually quite good!” June said, and then seemed to think about her words. “When she wants to be, she’s quite good. She’s, uh, definitely a character sometimes! I do like her - haha, I tell myself, the more she tries to rile you up, the more she likes you!”

“I see.” Lucy Ann arched an eyebrow. “She must love me.”

June only gave a tight smile at that, and took a bite of her meal. “Oh - oh, wow, this is so good! How’s your bread roll, darling?”

Lucy Ann wasn’t quite ready to let it drop yet, but it seemed the conversation was over. With a sigh, she took a bite of the bread roll.

“It’s good.” She muttered, and it was - almost annoyingly so. It was hard to stay angry with good food. “Yeah, it’s good.”

“Wonderful!” June perked right up. “You just let me know if you want anything else, okay? I talked to one of the caterers and he said they’ve got plenty of food to go around! I might even be a bit naughty and go for thirds, hah!”

Lucy Ann swished her drink around, and made a face as she set it on the table. If nothing else, she was definitely getting a new glass.

______________________________________________________________

It took a little time for Lucy Ann to get settled in again after her encounter with Bea, but she didn’t show up again, and many friendlier faces introduced themselves over the night. The two other kitsune at the table were Jasper and Anadixis; they were Darceus’ nieces, taken in after their mother was murdered by a cult shortly before the reformation of the Dinner Crew. Darceus himself returned with the leader of the GPFC, a venerable old elf called Gweiyir who introduced themself, but said very little otherwise and left shortly after. Vincent was another vampire who came up to give her a coupon for his nightclub; he seemed a nice enough guy, but listening to his rambling sales pitch, she really found herself regretting that open invitation she’d given in her speech. Yeah, sure, tell a room full of strangers to all try and be her buddy at the same time. Great idea.

Before she got too tired of him, though, the town hall portion of the dinner began, and she had an excuse to shoo him away. The questions were mostly pretty dry, but she listened in, trying to piece together all the new factions making up this Dinner Crew. There was one pro-nat who spoke up, but the whole room seemed well-practiced in shouting him down before Darceus even got the chance to cut off his mic.

“What a silly, silly man,” June had snickered, shaking her head. “You notice he waited until after dinner before getting himself thrown out? Ridiculous.”

And slowly, the night wound down, the crowd thinned out, and the loudest sounds became the squeak of shoes as Dinner Crew members started going table by table, gathering up the many empty plates. As Lucy Ann finished off her drink, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Ready to head home?” June said, and at the sight of her gentle smile, Lucy Ann felt her own slowly slide off her face.

Oh, right. Back to that house. She hadn’t thought about her hand all night long, but on the car ride home, she found herself rubbing it again, found her mind wandering back to that slightest tingling across her skin, so light it could be nothing at all… but would she dare to test it? What if she was wrong, what if it burned again, what if… what if he’d done exactly what he set out to do?

What if he’d hurt her in a way she could never heal from? What if he’d forever changed how she’d feel to walk in the sun, made it so she’d always wonder if its warmth was too warm, made it so she’d have to think about it, to worry about it, every time she left her house?

What if he had won?

Lucy Ann didn’t hear June’s voice at first. She flinched when a hand touched her, and stared as June gave a little laugh.

“Did you nod off? I don’t mind if you did, it’s been a long night.”

“Heh, yeah.” Lucy Ann summoned up a ghost of a smile. “A good one, though. I’m glad I went.”

“I’m glad, too. You let me know if you want to meet up sometime!” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, you know what we could do? Evening runs!”

“Hah, uh, you know, I’ll have to think about that.” She reached for the door. “Goodnight, June. Thanks for the ride.”

“It’s no problem at all, darling. Goodnight!”

Lucy Ann stepped out of the car, and watched it drive off. Then she turned to look up at the condo building, dark and silhouetted in the moonlight. She stared at it for a moment longer, then looked to the side, at the trees lining the gentle upward slope of the sidewalk. She gave a grim sort of smile.

Maybe not a night run, she thought. But she wasn’t ready to go inside just yet.

Lucy Ann started off down the path, her hands in her pockets, and her head tilted up, taking in the stars.

#transcendence au #Noie's Brother #lucy ann #toothwrites #Beatrice Delion #alcor the dreambender #worldbuilding

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toothpastecanyon · 3 years

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Noie’s Friends, Chapter 1

A collection of oneshots about Noie's years at college.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

Finding out your brother’s a demon was both more and less surprising than Noie expected. She didn’t anticipate how quickly everything would settle back into a routine; before she knew it, she was finding herself going to the tea shop with her friends, and hanging out with Dipper in her dorm whenever Val wasn’t home - or outside if she was. It felt just like before, only with Dipper right there with her instead of chatting through a screen.

Just like before. Just like before.

She never saw his eyes flicker. She never saw his wings. Sometimes he’d excuse himself to the bathroom for an hour, or disappear when Val burst through the door, but any hint that he was something more than Dipper Argenta was always tucked away behind a door, behind a nervous laugh and a change of the subject, out of sight, out of mind. It was surprising, how much he still hid from her.

Noie… didn’t know how to tell him it was okay. Part of her was a little relieved he was still keeping it under wraps; with remembering came old memories, old nightmares of a shadowy figure bursting from her brother and lunging for her, reaching in and ripping out… she’d never tell Dipper how many times she woke up sweating from those.

And then, to have that same shadow in her room, putting his wing around her, being her brother?

Look. Noie so badly wanted to say she’d be okay with it. She wanted more than anything in the world to tell Dipper he didn’t have to pretend to go to the bathroom to answer a summons. And maybe if Dipper hadn’t started pretending again, she’d have gotten used to it by now and it wouldn’t be a problem.

But she didn’t want to be wrong. She didn’t want to say it was okay and then see Alcor and not be okay and… hurt him. She didn’t want to hurt him, okay?

So maybe it was better, like this.

No surprises.

______________________________________________________________

“Boo. Hey, Silver.”

Things were winding down. Gus and Mina had already left the tea shop a while back, Jess had gone to the bathroom, and Mako was on his phone in the corner. The fading sun outside lent a warm, sleepy air to the whole scene; until Bea bumped her shoulder, Noie was feeling about ready to nod off.

“Silver.”

“Yeah?” She rubbed her eyes. “What’s, uh, up?”

“Just got a text from my roommate. AC’s busted.”

“What? Oh…” She looked outside. “Well, at least the sun’s gone down.”

“Nah, he just got home, he says it’s a million degrees in there.” With an enterprising grin, Bea slung an arm around her shoulder. “Lucky I got a friend to take me in for the night, eh?”

“Huh? Me?”

“That would be correct!”

“Wait, I just have one bed-”

“I’ll sleep on the floor. Trust me, I spent my childhood sleeping on elven barkrests, I’ll be fine.”

“Barkrests?”

“Have I never told you about those things?” She chuckled. “That’s a story for tonight. When I’m sleeping at your place. It’s happening, right?”

“Uh… I’ve never had someone stay overnight before.” Noie made a face. “I guess it’d be fine? Yeah… yeah, it’d be fun!”

“That’s the spirit! Now c’mon, let’s get it on!”

They walked out of the tea shop together. Noie nervously pointed the way, and flashed a smile at Bea as she followed along. Bea raised an eyebrow.

“What’s up with you, Silver?”

“Wh-what?”

“You look like I’ve put a gun to your head.” She slowed. “You know I can find somewhere else to stay, ri-”

“No! No, it’s okay! It’s good!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, no, I’m excited!” Noie barked a laugh. “I just - I don’t know how this works.”

“What’s ‘this’? Walking? Breathing? Existing?” Bea gave a crooked smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

She laughed again at that… and then trailed off. They walked in silence for a little bit, and at some point the streetlamps turned on. Noie wondered if she wanted to say something more, wanted to mention that this was the first time she’d ever had a sleepover - ever had a friend who’d want to sleep over, actually, and wow, that was kind of sad. That’d bring down the mood.

She thought of that, and then cleared her throat. Opened her mouth.

“Jeez, there’s so many crickets out,” Noie said. “I’ve never actually seen a cricket. I’ve only heard them. They’re like ghosts, heh.”

“Man, you’re not missing out. They’re ugly fuckers - one jumped on my face once.”

“Haha, what?”

“Yeah. Let me tell you, everyone thinks it’s so awesome to be an elf and to be all ‘living with nature’ and shit, but this is what they don’t think about: all animals wanna be around you. All animals.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“You don’t know the half of it, Silver.”

They walked on for a while, chatting as the sun strayed down. Only a dull glow remained as they made their way to the front door; Noie swiped her keycard, and motioned her inside.

“Thank-ye kindly.” Bea glanced around at the stairs branching off from the entrance hall. “Where do we go now? Up, down?”

“Down this one.”

“Ah, they shoved you in the basement.”

Noie snorted. “It’s not too bad. There’s still a little window. My roommate says- Oh shit, Val!”

“Strange thing she says.”

“I should- I hope she’s okay with this, I should’ve asked her, or…”

“Ah, don’t worry too much about it.” Bea slung an arm around her, kept her walking down the halls. “Best lesson you’ll ever learn, Silver: don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness.”

“That’s not- I don’t like that. I don’t think that’s a great lesson, actually.”

“Well sure, you gotta know to use it in the right context. Isn’t your roomie the one who doesn’t clean up her shit and makes you do it?”

Noie was fumbling for her keys. “Yeah, that’s her.”

“Then she’s been asking for a looot of forgivenesses. Let’s say she owes you this one.”

They were approaching Noie’s room. She fished her key out of her bag, and shot Bea a look as she unlocked it.

“Okay… I’m still gonna text her, though.”

“Good, I wasn’t sayin’ you shouldn’t.” Bea strode through the open door as Noie got out her phone. “Aww, look at this place! I didn’t know they made apartments smaller than mine - oh, hey Val. It’s Val, right?”

Val? Noie glanced up from her phone. She was never home this early - was she here? She hurried into the room after Bea, and came across…

Oh.

Dipper was sitting at her computer, an expression of pure shock on his face at the sight of someone other than her. He was going to be a little harder to explain.

“Or, uh, some other name?” Bea asked, and chuckled awkwardly at the ensuing silence. “Any other name?”

“This is Dipper,” Noie cut in. “He’s my brother.”

“Oh, he’s visiting again? Sweet, it’s great to meet you, man. She’s told me a lot about you.”

Bea gave Dipper an easy smile, but Noie noticed how he didn’t return it at all. It wasn’t shock anymore; a different expression had shadowed his features, one that sent a shiver down her spine.

After just a split second too long, he smiled widely, too widely, and rose from his chair. Stuck out his hand.

“Hello,” he said, and narrowed his eyes when she took his hand. “Went right in for the handshake, huh?”

“Yeah? You offered it to me-”

“Beatrice, right?” He kept shaking. “Beatrice Delion. Nice name you’ve got this time round.”

“Do you know me from somewhere?”

“You could say that.”

“I could say that, I could say anything.” Bea bared her smile. “I asked you a question, though.”

“A question you already knew the answer to.”

“A question you could’ve really just answered like a normal fucking pers- augh!”

“Dipper!” Noie yanked Bea’s hand out of his grip. “What was that for?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t look at her; he stared past her, to Bea cradling her fingers, with a strange gleam in his eyes Noie could only describe as… predatory. Her heart caught in her throat, and she tried to shove him towards the bathroom.

“Hey, why don’t you, uh, take a breather, bro?” She nudged, then elbowed, then pushed, but he wouldn’t move. “Seems like you two got off on the wrong foot.”

“He got off on the wrong foot, you mean.” Bea chuckled; there was an edge to it. “And here I was thinking you’d be a cool guy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Means that you’re acting like an asshole, man! Take notes, that’s how you answer a question!”

“How-”

“Dipper.” Noie grabbed his arm, and finally he looked at her. “Go to the bathroom.”

“Fine. Come with me, I have to-”

“No. You go to the bathroom, okay?”

“Naomi-”

“Go.”

Dipper glared at her, and for one terrifying moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to leave. Finally, he turned around, and with a low but rumbling growl, he stalked out of the room.

A growl. The sound turned her blood to ice, and she stood there frozen until Bea put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, not to push an issue or anything, but he’s not staying here tonight, right?”

“What? Oh…” Noie hesitated. “No, he, uh… he has a hotel room.”

“Sweet, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna stay a night with him. Prick.”

She cringed. “Bea, I, I’m so sorry. That wasn’t okay of him at all, I-I don’t even know what-”

“Don’t even stress it, Silver. Trust me, I don’t care. I know how to handle his type.”

Noie felt something at that. It came down on her like a dark cloud, a watchful eye… a presence. Bea gave her a squeeze, and grinned.

“Now, let’s do something fun together, eh? What does the great Silver like to do on her time off?”

“O-on my time off?”

“I assume you don’t stand there waiting for the sun to rise, but that’s not for me to judge.”

“Oh, heh, no…” Noie glanced behind her, and then cleared her throat. “I mean, I don’t do too much, I’m usually on my computer… I dunno, I read, I guess. What about you?”

“Whaddya read?” Bea sifted through the titles on her shelf. “Heh, ‘Rainbow Adventures of Mr McStabberson’? Where’ve I heard that one before?”

“You’ve probably seen the TV show. Did you know it actually started from a book?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I actually only read the source material pretty recently.” She sat down in her chair. “It’s interesting, actually. I think they’re both kinda good in different ways? Like there’s definitely more about some of the side characters in the book, like Alexy and-” She blinked. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling. Have you seen the show?”

“Nope.” Bea leaned against the wall, grinning. “I wanna hear about it, though.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah. Keep going, Silver.”

Noie smiled at that, and launched back into her explanation. For a little while as she talked, the thought of Dipper’s odd behaviour and the presence had entirely slipped her mind.

“-so it was really cool how they expanded on her character in the book. Obviously books aren’t really strapped for time like TV shows are so I get why they dropped some of the smaller character moments, but I think it’s cool to watch the show again with those in mind.” Noie laughed a little. “If you ever wanted to watch it.”

“Hey, seems like some cool new human shit. Wanna watch it right now?”

“Wh- really? I don’t think I can stream it anymore-”

“It’ll be pirated somewhere.” Bea sat down at her computer. “Seriously, I can’t believe you guys’d pay to watch it when there’s a free version floating out there.”

“I dunno, viruses?” She raised an eyebrow at Bea. “You know where to go, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Cool. Well, I guess, if I really wanted something, I’d ask…”

Dipper. Noie made a face at that; it must have been pretty obvious, because Bea looked over at her and gave a wry smile.

“Your brother’s the tech savvy one, eh?”

“Tech savvy? Uh, sure… you could say that.”

“I see you’re a fan of that phrase too.”

“Wha- oh! Oh, sorry-”

“Ah, don’t you worry about it. I’m teasing you! I’m teasing.” Bea sat back in her chair, chuckling a little as her smile faded. Her eyes, fixed on the computer screen, suddenly flitted up to meet hers. “You said he’s got classes up at SASU, right.”

“Dipper?”

“No, a squirrel. Of course I meant Dipper.”

“Oh, heh, sorry.” Noie fiddled with the front of her shirt; this was getting into some dicey territory. “Yeah, he, uh, takes online courses, mostly?”

“I see, I see.”

“Yeah… so he can come up and visit a lot. That’s why. That’s why he can do that, I mean.”

Bea was nodding. “I see. So he’s here a lot of the time with you, huh.”

There was a strange tension to the air, building the more she spoke. Noie found herself shivering a little, though she wasn’t cold.

“Yeah! Yeah, he is.” She leaned forwards with her widest smile. “So, how are we-”

“Does he act like that a lot?”

A sudden spike. The walls felt closer, and the lights felt starker. Bea’s carefully blank expression suddenly had an air of menace, of danger to it, and Noie leaned back.

“L-like what?”

“You know what.” Bea said, and sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to corner you in anything. I’m just wondering how happy you are with a brother who comes around and acts like that around your friends, y’know?”

Noie felt a pit in her stomach. “Wh- oh, oh no, Bea… you have the wrong idea, okay?”

“Okay.”

“He’s not usually like that, I swear. Like, genuinely, he’s not, I’m gonna talk to him about that later, I…”

“Okay. Seriously, it’s okay. You know your brother better than me.” Bea stretched, slowly, deliberately. “Just wanted to say, you better talk to him about this weird eavesdropping enchantment he’s got going on, too.”

Eavesdropping enchantment. It was like the air froze in place, and Bea gave a wry smile at her wince.

“That’s the one. Bet you barkskin he’ll come through that door any moment-”

The door burst open like an explosion; it made her flinch. She hardly recognised the figure who stormed into the room, pointing fingers, yelling, “I am ņot̶ eavesdropping!”

(and was that the hint of an echo to his voice?)

“I mean, I’d love to agree, but you’re really just proving yourself wrong by barging in-”

“I did not!” He planted himself between Bea and Noie, and stabbed a finger in her face. “I’m here to protect my sister. What are you doing here? What are your intentions?”

Bea raised her eyebrows. “My intentions? Getting somewhere to sleep. Sorry if you were expecting me to say murder, I guess I’m not in the mood.”

“You watch what you’re saying. You have no idea what you’re up against.”

“Oh-hoh, is that a threat?” She chuckled. “Look, human, I get you were top of your magic class in highschool or whatever, but you and your - eh, half -decent - eavesdropping charm aren’t gonna do squat against me.”

Noie could practically see the fury emanating off of her brother. She tried to tug at his sleeve, but it was like he’d stopped paying attention. He was wound up tight, and stone cold to the touch.

“Just walk away, man. Your sister doesn’t want your stupid fucking ‘protection’ bullshit.”

Noie shook her head at her. “Bea-”

“Why don’t you try listening to what she wants?” Bea leaned back in her chair. “You know, if you care about her or whatever.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Noie felt it like a physical pain; she recoiled as Dipper stepped forwards.

“I car͜e ab̛o̵u͝t my̢ si̡şt̷er.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why don’t you prove i-”

And in the blink of an eye, Alcor the Dreambender had her by the throat. Noie watched in horror as his shadowy form snarled and slammed her against the wall so hard it cracked; in a millisecond Bea’s face went from shock to anger to eyes-bugged-out terror.

“M̞͈I̛͕̤̟̹̞Z͎̠A̳̭̪͙͖Ŗ̸̩̮̤͈̭͈ ҉҉̼̺͙̰I̞͔͍͚͕͕͢S̸̞̤͙̜̖͝ ̺̗̘M̥̥͈̬͓͟I͏̤̮N̪͈̺̥̗̘͘͟ͅͅE. M̶̸̦̹͖̜̣̳̤͘ͅI̧̛̼̟͉̞N̴̜͢E. ” He pressed harder, and she struggled for air. “Ḭ̸̺̺̫̟̦̲͇͉ ̥͇̯̣͕S͝͏͓̼E̻̺̲̼E̢̻ ҉̨͚̞̖W̖̘͝Ḩ̢̭̙̰̼̺̮̜A̩͚͓͉͔̤ͅͅT͖͖̩ ̞̗̭̰͓̫̰͍͠Y̳̙͝O̧̨͕͙͕͇͝ͅU̮̺̰͟ͅ'̥̪̣͙R̘̙͇̼ͅE̛͇ ̲͖D͇̖Ǫ͇̮̳̭̫̖͔̼̕I̦͙̫̭̭̯N̶̥̳̖̤̬̱͈͝G̳̳̩̝͠, ̴͇͉͇͖̼͍̰̠̕B̸I̢L̺̰͟Ļ͇͔̺͔̘̝ͅ Ç̬̗̤͕̜I̶̛͖̗̝͙P̸̛̭͔̖͓͎͍͎̦̤͡H̛͚̦̻͉̦͇͝E̲̤̹͓͠R̤̺̬̳̭. I҉̶̲̼ͅ ̝̖͠Ṣ̴̩̩̲͜͞ͅE͏͏̸͓̥͙̲̟̮̤̙͓E̝͠ ҉͈̱Y̧̫̳͖͙͔O̵̩̤̲U͉̬̣̺'̜̼̹͘͟R̘̠̻͡͠E̵̖͇̣̠̦̩̹̹̻̠̫̥͝ͅͅ T͕R͖̩͓̘̪̙͞͞ͅY̡͉̳͖̙͔̺̬̫͟I̴̘̞̮͜͠N̶͓G͙͉̼͎̰͕͘͟ ͞͝͏̖T̷̛͕̞̰̟̥̥͖͍O͚̙̰̞̟̙͡ ̙̫͍̜͓ T̛̻̲̭U̧͇̣̻̭̠ͅR̟̖͠ͅN̞͚̠̝͙͚̠̼ ̵̛̫̗̗͕͜H̴̷̛̱̖̥̤̼̲̤E̩̰͉̪̠͟ͅŖ̻̗̻͔͡ͅ ̱̖A̵̫̻̘̭͕̘̩͢G̤A҉̳͈I̧̤͍̹̰̖̩̩͙͠N̼S̨̘̩̪̜͎̖̭T͙͚ ̷͠͏̩̱̖̳M̸̡̞̻̥͎͓͙E̶̫͕̘!̘̹̘͢”

Noie could barely comprehend what she was seeing. Bea shot her a terrified look and she tried to speak up… but nothing came out. She tried again.

“Di… Dipper…”

Bea was going red in the face. Noie picked up something from the desk - her phone.

“Dipper, stop. Dipper.” She clenched it with a shaking fist, “Dipper, STOP!”

And threw it as hard as she could at the back of his head. It shattered off of his shoulder, and he looked to her with the glowing eyes she saw in her nightmares - oh, stars, oh stars, oh stars…

“Y-you’re killing her, Dipper. You’re killing her!” Noie struggled to look him in the eye. “She didn’t do anything wrong, I-I don’t know why you’re acting this way! Just let her go!”

“Mi̶̛͜za̴r-”

“Please! Please, j-just let her go.”

Alcor the Dreambender stood there for one moment longer, one awful moment longer with the sound of Bea kicking against the wall as she struggled for air. Then he blinked, and stepped back. He let her crumple to the ground, and Noie could feel his eyes on her as she dove to her friend’s side.

“Bea, I-I’m so sorry, are you okay!?”

She tried to rasp out some answer, but it was lost in a coughing fit.

“Oh, my stars. Oh my stars.” Noie felt for her phone. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna call for someone-”

“No…” Bea put her hand out. “I…” she managed, and coughed as she sat up. “I’ll be…”

“No, lie down-”

“Like hell I’m ly-y-ing here.” She pushed Noie aside and staggered to her feet. “Not with…”

She pointed at Alcor as she made for the door. Noie could hardly look at him; he stood still as she followed Bea out of the room.

“Hey, wait! Bea!”

Bea glanced over at her. “You tryin’ to wake up the whole wing, or what?”

“Wh- I…”

“Look, Si- Silv-” She coughed and rubbed her neck. “I don’t know what kinda shit you’re mixed up in, but… we’ll talk later, okay? I gotta find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

“I-”

“I’m not gonna tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not dumb enough to piss off Alcor the Dreambender… more than I already have, apparently. Fuuck.”

“That’s not what I was…” She stepped forwards. “I’m sorry, Bea, I-I didn’t… I… I can explain-”

“We’ll talk later. Just-” Bea held her hands out. “We’ll talk later, okay? Bye.”

And then she turned a corner and was gone, her footsteps thudding in Noie’s mind like the beat of her heart. She stood there for a moment, eyes staring, mind buzzing, every fiber of her being wishing for this to have all been a dream, for this to have turned out any other way.

Her first night over, with her first real friend, and this happened.

She clenched her fists.

Dipper.

His presence was still there, still watching. She wanted to scream right then and there; it took all her effort to take a deep breath, walk back down the hall, and enter her dorm room.

It was empty. And dark - darker than plain darkness. She jabbed the light switch.

“Dipper.” Noie walked forwards. “We have to talk. Now.”

Nothing, for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but-

“I-I’m here,” Dipper came in through the front door. He looked entirely human again - human, and nervous. “So, uh-”

“What the fuck was that.”

“Yeah… That wasn’t, um, great of me-.”

“‘Wasn’t great of you’, that’s all you’re gonna say for that? Jeez, I don’t wanna hear what a bad day is for you if that is just ‘not great.’” She laughed angrily. “I mean, what the fuck, Dipper! You strangled her!”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to hear about how you know, I wanna know what on earth possessed you to do that! Is that just a thing you do? Are you gonna kill all my friends, or is Bea just lucky?”

“It’s- I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Dipper avoided his eyes. “I just… got surprised.”

“Got sup-?!”

“No! No, that’s- that’s a bad way of explaining it! Sorry. Sorry, it’s just…” His voice lowered. “a demon thing, I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to, want to hear about, uh, that kinda stuff…”

Noie felt a cold pit in her stomach as he trailed off. A demon thing… her mind flashed back to all the other times that part of her brother had come into play, had hurt people… had killed . Maybe it wasn’t like she was thinking.

“Just tell me why, Dipper.”

“It… it is your friend. You’re right, she’s special, kinda.” He gave a tense chuckle. “Look, um, it’s hard to explain, but her soul, she came in the door and I recognised it.” His fists clenched. “It… belonged to a bad person, a long time ago.”

She frowned. “Dipper, Bea’s been nothing but nice to me since we met. She’s not a bad person-”

“You’re right, she’s probably not! I overreacted, I just- I wasn’t expecting to come across that soul! Usually I can… prepare, to meet that one.” He stared into the middle distance. “An elf, this time around. Strong control of magic, clearly trained in shielding… no wonder I didn’t notice her.” A grimace. “I really hope she’s a good person this time around, that’s… formidable. Have to keep my eye on her.”

Noie made a face. “Dipper…”

“Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m doing it again.” He sighed. “Look, I really am sorry for what I… what I did to your friend. I swear, though, that was a very, very unexpected event. You’re not gonna see me like that again.”

That was a little reassuring… but a sentence jumped out at Noie. She raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean, see you like that?”

“Well… you know.” He mimed something coming out of his back. ‘Like that, you know. My, uh, business attire.”

“Your demon form?” She watched him cringe at that. “You think that’s what bothered me about what happened?”

“Well, not the main thing, but I know… I know it does.”

Noie blinked. “It doesn’t.”

“It’s okay if it does-”

“It doesn’t!” She snapped. “We’ve been over this, I get you’re a demon! What kind of sister would I be if I decided that made me uncomfortable?”

He just looked at her.

“Dipper, it doesn’t! It…” Noie swallowed. “I don’t want you to be scared of sharing stuff like this with me! I don’t want you to hide it, I… I think it makes it scarier. When I don’t know things about you.”

He just looked at her, with that ancient expression. A million alarm bells went off at the being who stood before her; she tried to talk past them, tried to talk to Dipper.

“Because there’s so much I don’t know about you. There’s so much you don’t tell me about you, and I get that it’s probably hard, that you think I don’t want to hear it, but then…” She gestured. “Stuff like this happens, and I don’t know how to react! I don’t know why you’re doing it, I don’t know how to help you… I-I don’t know you, all of a sudden! You’re just a demon, doing demon stuff, a-and that’s scary!”

Noie’s shoulders hurt; she forced them down, forced herself to close her eyes, and take a deep breath. She looked at the floor.

“I don’t… I don’t want to be scared of you, Dipper. I’m sorry that I still… kinda am.” She hugged herself. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Dipper didn’t say anything, for a long moment. She stood there, staring down, down at the carpet.

“Noie.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, could hardly bring herself to look higher than his shoes.

Dress shoes, she noticed. Black ones, and black pants. She drew in a breath.

“Noie,” Alcor said. “Do you want a hug?”

She hesitated, and then nodded. The shoes moved, and a second later, a pair of arms wrapped around her. They were longer than Dipper’s usually were, attached to a body taller than Dipper usually was… but they were just as gentle, squeezed just as hard.

She pressed her face into his suit, and mumbled, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I mean it.” She gave him a squeeze. “I wanna be better about this demon stuff. I don’t want you to feel like you gotta hide stuff from me, I wanna know my bro. Even if it gets weird at times.”

“I’m not so sure you want to know everything, Noie.”

“Well… I wanna know important stuff. I wanna know if you have any more souls you randomly hate, for one.” She tried for a chuckle. “I guess… I wanna know what you’d tell any other Mizar. I don’t wanna get the kid gloves, you know?”

Dipper didn’t answer that. For a moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to, but then she felt a pair of something that wasn’t hands wrap around her midsection. It felt like two weirdly warm blankets, it was… wings?

Oh, yeah. His wings. The feeling of them still made her a little jittery, but she gave a little laugh.

“Yeah,” she said. “Stuff like that.”

“Heh, alright.”

“Are you laughing at me?”

Dipper chuckled. “No.”

“You big jerk!” She snorted and smacked his arm. “You did that to make me jump, didn’t you!”

“Maybe a little.”

“Ohhh, my stars.” Noie grinned up at his toothy smile, his twinkling gold-on-black eyes. It was different, but it was Dipper. “I’ll get you back for this. I’m gonna dump glitter on your wings.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll catch you when we’re studying, or - no, I’m not gonna tell you when I do it. You just wait.”

“Hah, I will. I’d like to see you try.” Dipper said, and then: “Hmm, not sure if I can even start having my wings out while we study. I mean, you still have your roommate coming in at random, and-”

“Yo No-ster, I’m home!” Val burst through the door with a pizza box. “Do you know math? I have this stupid thing due at 11:59 and-”

She noticed the demon standing in the centre of the room, and stopped dead. Noie tried for a wave.

“Oh, hi, Val! You’re back, uh, early… have you met Dipper? He’s a, uh, cosplayer. Twin Souls.”

“No, I am not. Noie-”

“Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else- Uh, haha, anyway, he’s…” She kept grinning at Val’s horrified expression. “It’s, uh… so, what pizza did you get? Pepperoni? Mmm, smells great!”

______________________________________________________________

“So they just let you move in, huh?”

Dipper was hanging suits in what used to be Val’s side of the closet. “Yeah, basically. It was even easier than usual, since Dipper Argenta already exists - only had to forge a few things.”

“Only a few things, huh.” Noie snorted at him from atop her bed. “As you do.”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She grinned at him. “Good to share a room with you again, bro. I missed it… or maybe I just missed not living with Val, hah!”

Dipper chuckled at that, and turned back to folding his clothes. His wings swayed a little as he worked, and she found herself staring at them. They were strange things; every time she saw them, they were a little different, and today they were wide and sloping things that framed his head when they were folded up against his back. There was always a tinge of unreality to them - a voidlike, blacker-than-black colour to them that made it impossible to pick out any detail, made looking at them… a little mesmerising.

“Need something?”

Noie blinked. “Uh, no,” she said, and tore her gaze away. “No, you’re good.”

“Alright, then.” Dipper snuck her a grin. “This is kinda, kinda fun, hanging up clothes! I should do this more often!”

Her phone buzzed. She looked down.

“Well, you can do my closet, uh, any time, bro…” She unlocked it. “Oh.”

“What?”

“Bea got back to me!”

“Oh, cool! She’s outside, then?”

“Yeah!” Noie looked at the text. “It says… ‘I’m here, can’t wait to hear how the fuck you got a demon for a brother. PS…”

“P.S. what?”

“She’s saying not to tell you this joke.”

Dipper frowned. “What does it say?”

“Uh… ‘P.S. - make sure your brother clips his nails before he gets down here, would feel much nicer on the neck. P.P.S - That was a joke, please don’t actually tell him that, I don’t want to die.’”

She looked up after that, and sniggered when her brother rolled his eyes.

“I’m not gonna kill her over a bad joke.”

“It’s not a bad joke, she just got you.”

“She did not! She-” He huffed and fluttered his wings. “Whatever, let’s go.”

“Yeah, she got you, bro! Look, you’re blushing!”

“I’m not!”

“iiiiii’m nooooot!”

“I’m not!” He shook his head at her. “Are you ready? She’s waiting outside.”

“I just gotta get my shoes on.” Noie hopped off the bed and… tried to poke his wing; she ended up just gesturing at it. “I dunno why you’re, uh, getting on my case, you’re way less ready.”

“It takes five seconds to put on a human suit. Look,” There was a snap as Noie put on her shoes. “Noie, look. Noie.”

“I’m looking, I’m looking.” She shoved her feet into sneakers and looked over. “You missed a spot.”

“Where?”

“Riiiight abouuuut…” She jabbed his side. “Here!”

“Aaah! St-stop tickling me, hah! Noie!”

“Alright, alright…” She stopped, and took a moment to straighten his suit. He was looking at her with those familiar brown eyes she was seeing less of these days; after a moment, she remembered to smile back. “Alright. You ready to do a lot of explaining?”

“Readier than I usually am with stuff like this.” He snorted to himself. “You, uh, want me to tesser you down there? I can do that, it’ll be faster than taking the stairs.”

Noie hesitated at that. He noticed; quickly, he added:

“We don’t have to. Just, uh, offering.”

“No, that’s good, that’s… my phone’s buzzing.” Noie pulled it out. “Bea says, um, ‘I’m summoning your brother myself if you make me wait. Maybe I’ll die, but I wanna hear the storyyyyy-’, and a lot of y’s.” She looked back at Dipper, and gave a smile. “Maybe we should go the fast way.”

“Alright.” He offered a hand, and she took it, watched as his eyes flickered to that gold-on-black. “Hold on tight.”

And she did. She closed her eyes, squeezed her brother’s hand, and let him work his magic.

#transcendence au #Noie's Brother #naomi argenta #alcor the dreambender #dipper #oneshot #toothwrites

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