Vicky stared intently at the clock on her PET, desperately willing that five to turn into a nine. It did not turn into a nine, instead resolutely remaining a five. This was also possibly not the first time that she’d woken up over the course of the night and stared at the clock for what felt like hours before maybe falling back asleep. Maybe. The whole thing was a vague, indistinct blur mixed in with a lot of yelling.

Eventually, the five turned into a six on its own damn time, at which point Vicky decided that there was no fucking chance she was getting any more sleep in. Again. “I should look into some fucking sleeping pills or something,” she muttered to herself, slowly pulling herself out of bed. “Fuck, I hate this.”

She did her best to move quietly, so as to not wake anyone else up. She didn’t want to make the rest of the house miserable because she couldn’t sleep. They were already kind enough to let her stay with them on occasion, and they even helped with Sophie more than their actual parents did. She was imposing on the group more than enough as it was without waking them up at six o-mother-fucking-clock in the mother fucking morning.

“Mornin’!”

Well, okay, waking the sane ones up at six o-mother-fucking-clock in the mother fucking morning. She gave Ursula a death glare, placing a finger over her mouth and hissing sharply, which the dog chose to ignore. “I’m goin’ for a jog, wanna come with?”

“God no.”

“Suit yourself. It might help with your sleeping problems, you know.”

“... I’ll consider it.” She did not consider it, instead shuffling her way over to the coffee machine.

“Nice understickers.”

“Eat my entire asshole, Eckstein.”

“I’m serious! They’re cute! I didn’t peg you as a jack o’lantern kinda girl, but they suit you pretty well.” Vicky hissed again. “Well, okay then! Enjoy your coffee. Try not to drink too much or you’ll have even more trouble sleeping.”

“Mnrf.”

“One cup a day is probably a good rule of thumb.”

Vicky staunchly ignored Ursula, readying her cup and then pressing the button.

“You should take the time to warm your cup up, it makes your coffee stay hot for longer.”

“Eckstein I will fucking bite you if you say one more word to me before I finish my coffee.”

“Fair enough! I’ve gotta get to my jog, anyway.”

“Mnf.” Vicky elected to not give any more snarky replies. Partly because she worried that Ursula would keep responding to them and wouldn’t leave her the fuck alone but also because she was too fucking tired to come up with any more snarky replies. Besides, her coffee was done, and so she just fucking grabbed it and then left the kitchen, idly waving goodbye to Ursula in the process.

The plan was to return to her bedroom and browse the internet on her PET until it was a reasonable time to go pick Sophie up from Phoebe’s. With the occasional break to go get more coffee because frankly, in spite of the very good point Ursula made, fuck staying up without multiple injections of caffeine. But, well, plans change, and the faint sound of noise coming from the TV room caught Vicky’s attention. She knew that Ursula was usually up and about this early in the morning, but the only other person in the pack house she could think of who was this early of an early riser was Ami, who wasn’t here. Sometimes the twins woke up early to get a start on making breakfast, but never this early. And they would be in the kitchen making breakfast and not watching TV. Maybe Miranda? She hadn’t really interacted with her, maybe she was another freak who, ugh, lived a healthy lifestyle.

Or it could be Lilly. Vicky hadn’t pegged her as an early riser, but apparently she was? Whatever the case, Vicky circled around the couch and took a seat beside her. “G’morning.”

“Oh! Um, sorry if I was too loud. I couldn’t sleep so I was watching cartoons.”

“It’s fine, I couldn’t sleep either. Everyone else is fine except Ursula who is a weirdo and gets up early intentionally.”

Lilly frowned. “Ursula’s nice.”

“You can be nice and also be a weirdo.”

“Well... Okay. If you say so...”

“Trust me. Anyone who intentionally wakes up before eight at the earliest is a weirdo.”

“Oh.”

“Like, I can’t sleep, you can’t sleep. Neither of us wants to be awake, because we both instinctively understand that six in the morning is way too early for a human being to be up and about, but we don’t have a choice for whatever reason.”

“Right.”

“And obviously if you’ve got a job or school you can’t choose when that starts.”

“Uh huh.”

“But no one who isn’t insane would actively choose to be up this early.”

“Right.”

“And so anyone who would actively choose to be up this early, like Eckstein, is a weirdo.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you okay? You’re kind of looking off to the side.”

“You’re, um. You’re not wearing any clothing.”

“Oh. I’ve got understickers on?”

“Understickers aren’t clothing!”

“Is that gonna be an issue?” Lilly’s furious blushing was a clearer answer than any words could have given. “Okay, I can go get some clothes and then we can watch some cartoons for a bit.”

“Okay.”

Vicky pulled herself up off the couch. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Okay.” Lilly shuffled awkwardly in her seat, clearly more uncomfortable than she seemed. Honestly, Vicky probably should have put some clothes on in the first place. She was too used to living with family, she supposed. No one said anything about dragging her heels on putting clothing aside from understickers so far, so she’d just assumed everyone was okay with it. But she was technically a guest, not actually a full pack member. Going around nude was, she supposed, a bit rude. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful, after all. As much as she grumbled, she really did appreciate them opening their home to her, so it was best to at least try to seem grateful. So, no more going around nude outside of the bedroom or bathroom. That seemed like a reasonable compromise, even if no one had complained yet.

Although she had gotten a few weird looks from Viola, like the one she was getting now. “Speaking of people I’d have assumed would be asleep.”

“Mnf.” Viola blushed and shuffled awkwardly, which kind of seemed to be her default state of being. She always seemed to be some kind of permutation of blushing and-slash-or shuffling awkwardly. Which fit, given her reputation. She was that crazy weirdo who only talked to mirrors – though, of course, in hindsight that talking to mirrors thing wasn’t actually all that weird. People probably only hadn’t figured out that she was Inked because she’d stopped doing that in public long before Inklings became public knowledge, or at least gotten better at hiding it. “I woke up early to start prepping breakfast for everyone. Vienna’s up, too.”

“I figured. Do you want any help with that?”

“Um. Maybe put some clothes on first.”

Vicky rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Guess someone was gonna complain eventually. Don’t worry, I was about to do that.”

“Okay. Um. We’re going to be making fresh bread, which is the most time consuming part because it has to proof. It’s gonna take a few hours. Which, um, which is why we’re up so early. You can wash the vegetables.”

Obviously a token easy job to keep her out of the way, but Vicky wasn’t gonna complain. “Can Lilly help too?”

“Is Lilly awake?”

“She said she couldn’t sleep,” Vicky replied with a shrug. “We were gonna watch cartoons but I figure that contributing to breakfast is a bit more productive.”

“Right. Um. A-anyway, we’re making bread and shakshuka. Extra peppers, three kinds of mushrooms, no onion because Erin doesn’t like onion. Oh, and I’m adding in some bacon because we had a vegetarian dinner yesterday and I want meat.”

“... Is Lilly a vegetarian?”

“Her mom would have said something about it when she talked to me yesterday.”

“Is Miranda a vegetarian?”

Viola frowned. “Shit. I didn’t ask.”

“Bacon on the side?”

“Yeah, best I can do.”

“Okay, cool, I’m gonna go get dressed.”

Viola blushed furiously. “You, um, you don’t need to rush if you don’t want to.”

“No one else goes around in their understickers.”

“Ursula does.”

“Ursula wears a sports bra when she’s going jogging, that’s different. Kinda weird, but whatever makes her comfortable.”

“Erin does too.”

“... Okay, fair.” Honestly, if Vicky had tits like Erin’s she would probably also go topless as much as she could get away with.

“Really, no one minds. Unless someone said they mind, in which case I’ll talk to them.”

“I-”

“Look, you’re- you’re basically in the pack, at this point.”

“I am?”

“If you’re okay with it. Ursula’s okay with it. I’m okay with it so long as you’re on your best behaviour and, um. So long as you’re on your best behaviour. And the same goes for Erin and Vienna, or they would have told me otherwise by now.”

“Oh.” Vicky honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Happy? Eckstein was a strange mix of obnoxious and terrifying, and Leroux was a bitch, but she did like Vienna and Viola had been growing on her. “What about Sophie?”

“What about Sophie?” Viola replied. “Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to look after her here than at your home?”

“The whole point of you guys getting your own place was so you could, you know, without having to worry about people walking in on you.”

“That’s not on the table so long as Lilly’s around anyway,” Viola replied. “It’s fine, Vicky.”

“Ugh.” Vicky made a Face. “Fine. You’re not the first person to point out that I need help with this and you’re right and I hate it.”

“Oh.”

“So...” Vicky made another Face. “Look. I don’t know if I’m okay with outright joining you guys right now, but I’ll at least accept your help with Sophie.”

“Oh.” Viola visibly relaxed. “Okay. That’s good. I was worried you were mad.”

“I’m too tired to be mad,” Vicky replied. “Anyway, I really do need to go get dressed if I’m gonna help cook.”

“Right,” Viola responded, audibly disappointed, which prompted one last Face from Vicky.

“... Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Mmm.”

“So like, I promised I’d spend some time with Lilly and I really need to do that at some point today but maybe later tonight we can, you know, cement things. Or something.”

“Oh. Um, yeah, okay.”

“You’ve been staring by the way.”

Viola violently wrenched her eyes away from Vicky’s chest. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, it took me too long to pick up on the Vibes. I’ve got one condition, though.”

“Oh. Um. What condition?”

“You’ve gotta try and get Vienna in on it, too.”

“Okay. I can do that. Probably. I don’t know.”

“Okay cool.” Vicky continued on her way, trying to figure out how she felt about this whole arrangement. It all felt very... sudden, but now that she thought about it she should have seen it coming. She’d literally been living in their house on and off since they’d first moved in. Shit. Was she literally the only person who hadn’t noticed? Maybe it was the fact that Lars had kind of done the same thing that threw her off, because she couldn’t believe that Lars would be okay with joining Viola’s pack or that Viola would be okay with Lars joining her pack.

“Eh. Screw it. I’m too tired to think about this shit,” she grumbled to herself as she entered what was, apparently, her room and not just the room she was staying in. “Gonna hafta pack some shit up I guess. What do I want to wear today? Probably nothing nice if I’m helping with cooking.” In the end, she just grabbed some casual sweats that she would normally wear when working out. Fuck, that was a thing, wasn’t it? She’d let herself fall out of the habit of exercising after she’d left the cheer squad. “Maybe Ursula has a point. But I’m not waking up early to jog, fuck that.” She threw her clothes on and left her room. She’d had enough thinking for now, given how tired she was. Time to help make some shakshuka.

Whatever the fuck that was.

~~~~~~

Frankie had ended up crashing on Diane’s couch, and she woke up in the morning feeling it. Her back was gently but firmly sore, thanks to Diane’s couch not really being designed for people crashing on it. A bed would have been ideal, but unfortunately every bed was taken, mostly by kids. It was either the couch or sleeping with Diane – and it was a little bit early for that. Maybe she’d be willing to fuck the widow duck lady in her house full of small children after they’d known each other for more than like a day.

And anyway that wasn’t really a good solution to the whole soreness problem. Would’a probably just made it worse, if anything.

Frankie slowly pulled herself up, transitioning from lying into sitting. It was marginally more comfortable, but she was probably going to have to do some stretches to work all the kinks out. And she had no idea where Diane’s bathroom was, let alone the kitchen or anything other than the lounge. “Mfff. I shoulda just walked home,” she muttered to herself, rubbing her temples. “Glass ‘a water would be nice.”

“The kitchen’s over there.”

Frankie hadn’t noticed the company, and it kind of caught her off guard. Being a teacher, Diane probably had to wake up early, but even then she’d figured she’d let herself sleep in on a Saturday, and the kids should definitely still be in bed. Fuck, the only reason she was awake was because she was so uncomfortable. It was the weekend god dammit. She shot the little snow leopard a death glare. “You shouldn’t be up and about yet, kiddo.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Okay.” Kid of few words, this one. “You’re still young, though. Y’need to get proper rest or you won’t grow up big and strong like me.”

“You’re not really big or strong.”

Ouch. Frankie made a mental note of the kid so she could complain to Diane later. Some sort of spotted cat – likely a snow leopard given the white fur and pale grey eyes. Fairly average build for a ten year old kid except that she was a bit tall for her presumed age. The pinkish hair also stood out. She hadn’t actually learned any of the kids’ names the previous night, but all of that would probably be enough. “Perceptive, aren’t you? Or rude.”

“I have a proper, balanced diet, go to bed early, and exercise regularly,” the kid replied, clearly ignoring the crack about being rude – and, in the process, confirming it in Frankie’s mind. “Just like my big sister taught me. I don’t think I’m in any danger of my growth being stunted.”

“You said the kitchen was over there?” Frankie decided now was the time to change the subject. That crack about her big sister reminded her exactly why this kid was living with Diane. Brat or not, she was an orphan and didn’t really need to get hassled by some random adult she didn’t know.

“Yes.”

“Okay. Respect your elders, kid.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She didn’t sound particularly sarcastic, but something about the way she said it still rubbed Frankie the wrong way. Probably the presence of the ‘ma’am’.

“I see you’ve met Ophelia.”

“She’s a brat.”

“She’s always been a bit difficult. But...”

“It got worse recently?”

“Yes. She’s a good girl, just a bit... troubled.”

“You’re her teacher, right?”

“Yes.”

“That prolly doesn’t help then.”

“Mmm. But where else would she go?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. Same with all of ‘em, probably.”

“And I’ve never really... been a mother before.”

“I gathered. Is there anyone you can ask for help?”

“Like I said yesterday, my social circle mostly consists of parents and teachers.”

“Well, hey, that sounds like the exact right social circle to have for this problem.”

Diane shook her head. “They’re all busy with their own kids. Vicky’s been helping occasionally.”

“Vicky?”

“You probably haven’t met her yet. She’s still in high school.”

“Ah. Which is probably why the occasionally, then.”

“It’s her last year so I think she’s a lot more busy than she lets on. Especially considering she’s got her own little sister to look after.”

Frankie raised an eyebrow. “Wow, kid said she had a sister too. Lots of sisters in this town.”

“Oh. She, uh. She mentioned that?”

“Yeah. Speaking of, I assume there’s a reason you haven’t asked the older sibling for a hand?”

“The older sibling isn’t an option,” Diane replied with a frown. “... Actually, I should probably just tell you.”

“Hey, I don’t want to pry into your small town drama.”

“No, this is relevant to you.”

“It is?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice the resemblance. Her full name is Ophelia Corven.”

“Oh. Shit.”

“Yes.”

“Ugh. That explains why she’s troubled.”

“How much do you know about, you know.”

“Mags filled me in on the backstory, yeah.” Maggie’s family were one of those families that had never really admitted to themselves that the Neo-Victorian period was long over and got really weird about subtypes. The family had, allegedly, been entirely corvids for centuries (a fact that Frankie found kinda fuckin’ doubtful) until Maggie happened. She hadn’t gone into more detail than that, but Frankie wasn’t fucking stupid. She could put two and two together to get child abuse. Or at least neglect. And, further, she could add another two and figure out that six was Maggie’s parents trying again and getting another feline. Which probably explained why she was such a brat. “I think you should probably tell her about this.”

“Absolutely out of the question. I’ve already gotten on her bad side enough without being the bearer of bad news again.”

“Mn. Mind if I grab a glass of water?”

“Glasses are in that cabinet.”

“Thanks. You should definitely tell her.”

“I-”

“Yeah, I know, you just said, but as a counterpoint if I know her as well as I think I do, she’d definitely be madder at you if she found out you were holdin’ out on her. Especially about this.”

“Mnh. I just don’t want her to be more mad at me.”

“Sometimes there ain’t a right option. But the way I see it, there’s definitely an option that’s wronger.” Frankie took a sip of water, taking a seat at the table across from Diane. “You should tell her. ‘s better than her finding out on her own.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Diane sighed, sinking into her chair. “I just... don’t want to screw this up, you know?”

“Oh. Ohhhhhhh.” Frankie grinned leaning forward in her chair. “I see how it is.”

Diane’s blush was immediate and furious. “Wh- what do you mean, you see how it is?”

“I’m just sayin’ that I saw them first.”

“N-no you didn’t! I knew her way before you! A-and anyway, I’m not just interested in her boobs!”

“Suuuuure you’re not, that’s why you immediately assumed I was talkin’ about her tits,” Frankie replied, shit-eating grin in full force. “That settles it. We’re officially in competition. The prize; Lefty and Righty.”

 “I- Couldn’t we just be a pack?”

“I don’t do packs,” Frankie replied smugly. It was a bit of a white lie – she wasn’t in a pack, she had no real interest in being in a pack, but she wouldn’t say no to being in a pack. It wasn’t like she’d never been in a pack before, they just... hadn’t worked out. Anyway, Diane was nice enough, and free easy access to Maggie’s tits whenever she wanted was a hell of a selling point. But she got the feeling that this was a duck who needed a kick in the tailfeathers when it came to romance. “So that means you’re gonna hafta make a move before I do.”

“... I’ll consider it.”

“Don’t just consider it! Do it!”

“I’ll consider it,” Diane repeated, sticking her tongue out.

“Bah, you’re no fun.”

“I’m serious, I really will consider it. I just don’t know, you know, how Maggie feels about it.”

“And ya’ never will know if you keep sitting on your ass about it.”

“What if she says no?”

“Then she says no.” Frankie took a sip of her water and shrugged. “At least you’d know where you stand then, right? And maybe from there you could start to fix things.”

“Maybe. Ugh.” Diane nursed her coffee like it was alcohol.

“Look, just talk to Maggie next time you bump into her. And, like, actually talk to her this time? Don’t go into teacher mode and lecture her, just talk.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all we can do, babe.” Frankie took another sip of her water. “Anyway, you’ve prolly got plenny of time before you bump into Mags again, unless you actively seek her out.”

“I don’t know about that. Esterwood’s not exactly a very big town.”

“She’s been around for months and you only just bumped into her now.”

“Yes because I was actively avoiding her.”

“Ah. Fair enough.”

“Let’s talk about something else.”

“Yeah okay. Do you follow any sports?”

“No.”

“Neither do I! We’ve got something in common!”

“I don’t see us building a productive conversation off of a mutual apathy for sports.”

“Not with that attitude.”

Surprisingly, they did actually manage to spin things off into a mostly successful conversation that wasn’t about Maggie. It was actually a lot easier than it sounded – just don’t talk about Maggie, simple. Mostly they ended up complaining about work. There was a lot more overlap between elementary school teacher and chemical engineer than one might initially think.

“Anyway, that’s why I’m not allowed near magnesium anymore.”

“I’m surprised that you didn’t get fired.”

“Me too! But no one got hurt, so the boss was generally willing to be forgiving so long as I try not to blow a hole in the Ring. Which, obviously, would be bad.”

“Obviously.”

“The way I see it, it ain’t chemistry if you don’t at least set something on fire. Just, yanno, gotta be careful about that shit in space.”

Diane laughed. “Try to be careful with your language, though. There are children in the house.”

As if on cue, Ophelia walked into the kitchen and gave both of the adults an innocent look. “Hey kid, don’t go repeating any swears outside of this house.”

“Shit.”

“What did I just say? You’re gonna get me in trouble.”

“Yes.”

Frankie frowned and stuck her tongue out. “Mneh.”

“You did say not to swear outside of the house. She’s inside.”

“Hey, don’t you go taking her side.”

“She’s a ten year old. They’re like little sponges. You do a thing, they see you doing it and learn from it and then copy it. And sometimes children just sort of do things for no reason.”

“Ugh, I have no idea how you can stand it.”

“Someone’s got to.”

“Yeah, yeah, can’t exactly throw kids to the wolves and let ‘em fend for themselves. Even if they’re brats.”

“Ophelia isn’t that bad once you get used to her. She’s just troubled, that’s all.”

“Mneh.” Frankie downed the rest of her coffee and pulled out her PET. “Anyway, this has been fun and all, but we’ve both probably got stuff we need to do. Gimme your contact info and we can hang out again sometime.”

“Oh! Um, okay.” She began to fumble around for her own PET. “Are you sure about that?”

“Hey, we’re romantic rivals now, remember? Besides, I thought you wanted more friends that aren’t coworkers or the parents of kids you teach?”

“I never actually agreed to the romantic rivals thing, you know,” Diane replied with a huff. “But fine, we can at least stay in contact. Here.”

“Gotcha. Long goodbyes suck so I’m just gonna go now. Seeya around, babe.”

“At least let me see you to the door.”

“We’re romantic rivals, not romantic partners. Or at least not yet.”

“W-what do you mean, yet?!”

“I mean yet,” Frankie replied with a shit eating grin.

“Miss Singh can do better.”

Frankie’s shit eating grin melted away. “Respect your elders, kiddo.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” With that, Frankie opened the door and almost got smacked in the face as Maggie moved to knock.

“Shit! Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Hi. What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, wanted to talk to Diane about stuff.”

“Okay. In that case, I’m gonna stick around for a bit longer.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Thanks,” Maggie interrupted Diane before squeezing through the door. “For the record, though, this isn’t, like, a casual conversation or anything.”

“It isn’t?”

“Nope. This is work. Sorta. So we can just talk here.”

“Okay. Um. What exactly do you need from me?”

“I’ll make things quick. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. There’s... Shit goin’ down.”

“There is?”

“Yeah.” Maggie pinched the bridge of her snout. “Look, I’m not really supposed to say anything about this right now, so what I’m about to say cannot leave this room. Understand?”

“... Right.”

“Okay. So. Long story short? There’s been sightings of actual-ass supervillains in town.”

“What?!”

“Members of that one gang of terrorists from Locksmouth a few months back, from before the thing with the robots?”

“Maggie, that’s a big deal. Should you really be keeping it secret?”

“Well, we don’t have any confirmation yet. Some people saw a big orca lady and a weird lookin’ rabbit but we don’t know that they weren’t some other orca lady and rabbit or that the anonymous tipsters weren’t just fuckin’ lying. And you know how Esterwood is. We don’t want to start a panic. I’ve gotten in contact with the Locksmouth PD and they’ve agreed to send some of their superheroes our way the second things go hot, but I’ve got a lot on my mind. Which is where you come in. Last night made it abundantly clear that things did, in fact, happen in Esterwood while I was gone and are still fucking happening and there might be actual terrorists hiding out somewhere in town and I don’t want any sudden bombshells to throw me off my groove at an inopportune moment.”

Frankie shot Diane a Look. “... Right. Of course, that makes sense. Come on,” she said, gesturing towards the living space. “You should probably sit down.”

“We can talk here.”

“Please sit down, Maggie.”

Maggie started to repeat herself, firmly. “We can-” But she cut herself off when Frankie shot her a Look. “... Fine. But be blunt about it, okay? I really mean it when I say I’m busy.”

“I know, I know.” Diane didn’t seem to be particularly happy about that fact, but she was gonna hafta deal with it. Frankie was going to keep things civil between these two if it killed them.

Diane led the way into the living room and sat on one of the smaller couches. Maggie sat on the sofa, the one that Frankie had crashed on – she was big and so needed the extra space. Frankie took up a spot behind the sofa, out of the way but near enough to intervene if things got heated. Hopefully that wasn’t going to be necessary, but better safe than sorry. As she circled around, she caught a glimpse of Ophelia crouching behind the sofa, just out of view of the other adults. She quickly put a finger to her lips and quietly hissed. Frankie gave a quick nod before proceeding to pretend the kid wasn’t there at all. She didn’t know why, exactly, Ophelia was hiding, but she could hazard a couple of educated guesses going by what she knew of Maggie’s backstory. There was absolutely no way that their relationship wasn’t super fucking complicated.

“So. Blunt.” Diane clenched her beak slightly as she visibly worked up the momentum to break the bad news to Maggie. “Your parents... were in Locksmouth during the recent incident and didn’t make it out.”

“Where is Ophelia.” Man, Maggie didn’t even miss a fucking beat. That was not the kinda reaction you’d expect from someone who, until literally this moment, had never even given the slightest fucking hint that she even had a family. Frankie wasn’t too surprised, though. Again; she could put two and two together, and knew enough about Maggie’s backstory to hazard a couple of guesses as to why she’d react in those particular ways.

“I’m looking after her for now. And... probably permanently.”

“Okay. That’s the important thing.” Maggie visibly relaxed, slumping back into the sofa. “So long as she’s okay.”

“The kids are still asleep so maybe you can come by and see her later,” Frankie said, pointedly not looking at Ophelia.

“Yeah. That’s for the best.” Maggie shifted awkwardly. “I mean... God, I probably shoulda checked in on her first thing.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“That’s a good question.” Maggie leaned back, resting her head on the back of the couch – her ponytail just barely touched the top of Ophelia’s head. “I feel guilty, I guess. You don’t really know the whole story but short version is that I was a dumb fucking kid and I made a dumb fucking decision without thinking about the consequences and as a result I wasn’t there for my little sister. I don’t like to talk about it.”

“I get that. Now’s prolly a good time to make up for that, though.”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve since I got here, but I didn’t want to have that confrontation. I guess the fact that they’re out of the way means that I don’t need to worry about that anymore, though. Is that a fucked up thing to say?” Maggie let out a long sigh. “I should have figured something was up when they didn’t say anything about me being here.”

“I should have told you sooner,” Diane said.

“Hey, hey, I’ve been busy. I’d have prolly told you to fuck off. This is all on me. I’m the one who’s been a shitty big sister up to now and I’m the one who’s gotta own up to it.”

“Y-you weren’t a shitty big sister!” Frankie had to actively resist letting out a frustrated groan as all her efforts covering for Ophelia went up in smoke. “U-um.” The kid shrank back against the couch as she realized what she’d just done. “I-I mean.”

“It’s fine,” Maggie said, not looking back. “We can talk later. You probably need time to work up the nerve too, right?”

“... Yeah.” Ophelia frowned. Clearly she wasn’t satisfied with this outcome, and honestly it wasn’t exactly a satisfying outcome, but Frankie could see where Maggie was coming from. If there were supervillains lurking in Esterwood, then yeah now wasn’t a great time for family drama.

“Is there anything else I should be made aware of?”

“No.”

“You’re sure.”

“I’m sure. I can’t think of anything else that might have happened in the past five years that could cause problems that you don’t already know.”

“Okay. Good. I’ll call you later and we can work out a good time to talk with Ophelia. I’d like to get that done sooner rather than later? We can also talk about, like, arrangements.”

“Arrangements?”

“I want to at least try to be a part of her life. But I don’t know if I’m up to being Ophelia’s mom and she might not even want that.”

“Just lending a hand occasionally would be enough, I think.”

“Yeah. Better let her have a chance to be stable for a bit without forcing another big shakeup on her.”

“You should bring Lilly around at some point,” Frankie interjected.

“Oh. Yeah, that’s another thing, isn’t it.” Maggie pinched her snout.

“Who’s Lilly?” Ophelia asked.

“The boss’s daughter. I’ve sort of been roped into being a big sister for her because...” Maggie sighed. “I’ll explain more later. You’d like her, I think. Maybe. God, I don’t actually know you well enough to know if you’d like her.”

“I’ll try and like her.”

“You don’t have to-” Maggie cut herself off. “We’ll talk about all this later. Right now, I’ve got work to do and you should probably be in bed.”

“I’m not tired!”

“What’s your bedtime.”

“Eight!”

“What’s your actual bedtime.”

“... Ten.”

“Yeah, thought so. You need to make sure you get enough sleep, kiddo. Especially on weekends.”

“I got eight hours!”

“Eight hours is the minimum. When you’re still in school, you need to take all the opportunities for rest that you can get.”

“Okay...”

“How are you eating?”

“Healthy! Like you always said!”

“Does she eat her veggies.”

“I do!”

“I wasn’t asking you.”

“She eats her veggies,” Diane said, smiling.

“Good girl.” Maggie sat in silence for a moment, leaning back in the couch. “Mnf. I should probably get going. Got a lotta work to do. You gonna be good?”

“I’ve managed alone so far.”

“Mnf.” Maggie turned her head to look Frankie in the eye. “Couldja stick around and help out?”

“Hey, you ain’t the only one who’s got work, Mags.”

“Yeah but you, unlike me, are a lazy bum who was definitely gonna slack off either way. You’ve got time.”

“Babysitting is way more time consuming than industrial chemistry!”

“Fine, fine, you don’t have to help Diane look after my little sister,” Maggie said with a shrug and a shit-eating grin. “Just like I don’t have to give you time with Lefty and Righty.”

“Hey, that’s a low blow, Margaret Corven.”

“Take it or leave it, Froggy~”

“Fine, you win,” Frankie said with a sullen frown. “But you owe me, Kittycat. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Maggie stood up and headed over to the door. “We’ve both got stuff to do but once that’s cleared up we can have some quality time. I promise.” She waved idly before ducking under the door and leaving.

“Toldja so, by the way.”

“... Told me what?”

“That you should tell her about Ophelia.”

“She... Took the news much better than I expected, yes,” Diane replied. “Maggie isn’t exactly known for her even temper.”

“Hey, ‘s been like a decade since she lived here,” Frankie replied, leaning over the couch. “She’s been kinda grumpy for as long as I’ve known her but not exactly ‘anger management issues’ grumpy. Maybe she’s just gotten better about that kinda thing as she grew up?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Diane sighed, leaning back in her chair. “I just hope she’s doing okay.”

And, meanwhile, just a few houses down, Maggie was decidedly not doing okay. “Fuck,” she muttered to herself, pulling her fist out of the massive hole she’d punched in the wall. “Hopefully this place is abandoned. Fuck.” It took all of her willpower not to punch another damn hole in the wall. “... It’s fine. They’re fucking dead and Ophelia is fine. Diane’s not exactly good with people but she’s great with kids, and Frankie is good with people. This is all good news, right?” So why, then, was she so pissed off?

“Because you wanted to be there. Maybe be the one to do ‘em in yourself, but at least get to give ‘em one final fuck you. This way you don’t get closure. Ugh.”

She pinched the bridge of her snout firmly. “Focus, Maggie. They’re dead and there’s nothing you can do about it. And even if they weren’t there’d still be nothing you could do about it. Just do your job efficiently and quickly. The sooner you get shit done, the sooner you get to fucking leave this shithole.”

That didn’t really do anything to calm her down, but at least she’d managed to work out some of her frustrations. “I’ll have someone come by and fix it later.” And maybe splurge on some punching bags.

Because she was definitely gonna break the ones she already owned.

~~~~~~

Roxie was, generally, not an early riser. She was a very laid back raccoon, under normal circumstances. The problem, in this particular case, was that her twin sister was still missing. That was understandably kind of stressful, so she hadn’t actually gotten much sleep. At around six-ish (she staunchly refused to pay too much attention to the clock), she gave up and stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen.

“You still jetlagged?”

“Mnf.” Roxie staunchly ignored her father for now and made a beeline for the coffee machine.

“You’re on your own for dinner again. You two can figure something out, right?”

“Yessir.” That wasn’t particularly unusual. Even before they’d been dragged to Esterwood, her father had been immersing himself deeper and deeper into his work. He hadn’t even noticed that Lola was almost never home anymore, because he was almost never home anymore.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Okay.” And then he left. Roxie sighed and poured herself a cup of coffee. She nursed it quietly for a few minutes before walking over to the window and quietly opening it. “Dad’s gone, you can come in.”

“I’m not climbing in through the window and the car’s still here. We can talk like this.”

“Come on, it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve come in through the window.”

“Yeah, in Stelport. The windows here are so fuckin’ tiny my tits can’t fit through ‘em.”

“They’re not that small.”

“You try climbing out then.”

“... I’m good.”

“Why are you even awake? I’m the early riser, you’re dead to the world until noon.”

“It basically is noon for us.”

“It woulda been noon, like, a month ago. Don’t lie, you are absolutely over your jetlag by now. What’s really up?”

Roxie bit her lip, but didn’t say anything. “I’m telling the truth. Sleep schedule’s fucked. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Roxie bit her lip harder. “Tell you what. I’ll tell you the real reason I’m awake if you stop skipping school. Or at least start letting me know where you are when you do.”

“No deal.” Roxie had expected that.

“Can you at least come inside? My coffee’s getting cold.”

“Not while dad’s-”

“He has absolutely left by now, Lola.”

“I’m not coming in.”

That was about as hard as Roxie could bite her lips without drawing blood. “Fine. Guess this conversation is over because I’m not drinking cold coffee.”

“Ah, hey! Wait!” Roxie started to close the window but Lola very quickly shoved her arm in the gap. “Fine, fine, I’m coming in.”

“I thought your tits couldn’t fit.”

“Open it as wide as it’ll go. I’m- mnf. Fuck.”

“This is as wide as it’ll go.”

“Well... At least my tits made it in. Gimme a hand?”

“You should have just used the door like a normal person.”

“You were the one who suggested the window in the first place!”

“I asked you to come inside, you’re the one who brought up the window.”

“We’re both a little bit to blame.”

“Nnnnnnno, I’m pretty sure it’s all you.” Roxie hopped up onto the counter, sitting beside her sister’s torso. “Can you get back out?”

“Probably. I could fit myself in.”

“I dunno, it’s generally easier to wedge yourself into a place than to get out. Like you shove your arm between some bars and then can’t get it back out because your elbow is too wide even though you got it in. You know?”

“... Okay but seriously could you just circle out back and push me the rest of the way in? Please?”

Roxie took a slow, thoughtful sip of her coffee. “You’re just trying to get me to touch your butt.”

“You would touch my butt anyway.”

“No I wouldn’t, because it’s outside.”

“Look, if you help me inside then I’ll at least consider not skipping school quite so much. Maybe.”

“No maybes.”

“... Look.” Lola frowned. “I don’t really want to have serious talk right now but I guess it can’t be avoided. I’m-”

“I know, okay. I’m not stupid, Lola. I know I kinda act like it sometimes but I’m not stupid.”

“Know what. I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“I mean I know why you’re skipping school.”

“Not what I was gonna say, and you’re definitely wrong about whatever you think it is.”

“Okay well then-”

“I’m planning on running away.”

“Okay.”

“That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“It’s not really surprising, is all.”

“Fair enough.” Lola sighed. “Okay, so maybe you actually guessed right.”

“We’re twins.”

“That twin telepathy thing is a myth and you and I both know it.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“I’ve been working something out with Dani, but-”

“Lola don’t you dare get Dani in trouble.”

“I’m not gonna make her do anything that’ll get her in trouble. All I need is a ride. It’s not like dad’s gonna notice.”

“I-” It was Roxie’s turn to frown. “Well, okay, you’re right about that, but... What’s even the point? We’re only going to be here for a few more months, tops.”

“That’s too fucking long.”

“We’ve barely been here a month.”

“That’s too fucking long.”

Roxie bit her lip. She had a lot to say, but she didn’t want to start another fight. She was tired. Tired of all this fucking bullshit. If Lola really, really wanted to stay behind then honestly no one would have fucking stopped her. It wouldn’t have been hard to justify – it was right in the middle of their last year of high school and frankly Esterwood just didn’t have as good an educational system as Stelport. Their father would have understood that logic. Probably even agreed with it. Roxie knew that, and if she knew that then Lola definitely knew that. Which meant that she was here because she wanted to be here. She wanted an excuse to be sullen, to spend days at a time sulking in the woods. To be angry at their father. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t healthy, but Roxie didn’t know how to stop her.

She hopped off of the counter. “I’m going back to bed.”

“H-hey, wait, could you-”

“You can deal with it yourself.”

“I promise I’m not going to get Dani in trouble. Or any of the others. I just want to go home.”

“Good. Do that, then. I’m going to try and fix that jetlag.”

“Roxie!”

“G’night. Tell Dani I said I love her.”

With that, Roxie left. Unceremoniously. Leaving Lola half inside, half outside, feeling like she’d been the asshole in that exchange. “Ugh. Whatever.” She stayed there, sulking, for a few more moments before attempting to slide out of the window.

Only to find herself stuck. Damn. “... Well, it’s fine. Roxie will probably help me when she wakes up. Probably.” She sighed. It was going to be a long fucking day.

~~~~~~

For such a small place, Esterwood had a lot of abandoned houses. Which was perfect – if you didn’t want to be found, there were plenty of places to hide that no one would think to look. Worse comes to worst, you could switch up where you were staying every few days to make absolutely certain. Sourcing food was kind of a problem, but they had ways around that. One of them was a shapeshifter, after all, so she just had to pick an inconspicuous cover identity and then go out and get food. So long as she didn’t grab too much or anything too luxurious they didn’t even need to worry about paying. Just don’t stand out.

Which, obviously, was the issue. Neither of them had the patience for this laying low bullshit. “I’m ssssssssooooooo boooooooooored!”

“Whose idea was this, again?”

“Hey. Just because I’m technically the one who suggested lying low doesn’t mean I can’t also hate it.”

“How long do we even need to stay here, anyway?”

“Like a couple more weeks. Month, tops. Long enough for the heat to die down. From there we fuck off elsewhere.”

“You still haven’t said where we’re fucking off to, by the way.”

“Elsewhere,” Sarissa repeated firmly. “Across the country. Across the sea. I don’t care, so long as it’s nowhere near that redheaded son of a bitch or any of his stupid friends.” She frowned deeply, leaning back in her chair. “I dunno about you, but I’m sick to death of getting my butt kicked for that badger loser.”

Khurl crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, nodding in agreement. “Cedric was a waste of our time. Just like Blaine.”

“Exactly. Neither of us is getting what we were promised out of the deal, so it’s his own damn fault if we bail on him. He’s just gonna have to find some new minions to get bodied by Captain fucking Comet over and over and over.”

Khurl let out a low, frustrated grunt. She didn’t particularly want to think about all the times she’d gone up against Captain Comet and lost. Not even that, she’d gotten completely and utterly dominated. She hadn’t stood a chance, not even kind of. It was one thing to lose to Greyswift or Oakenfield. At least those fights had been fights, not curbstomps. “He only won because of his superpowers,” she snapped. “If it was just a measure of our strength then I would have snapped him like a toothpick.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t and you didn’t.”

“Hey,” Khurl grunted. “You lost too.”

“Yes. I did. A lot. You weren’t the only one who got repeatedly humiliated, remember?”

Khurl muttered a few swear words in Spanish and gave Sarissa a dirty look. “When are we leaving.”

“When the opportunity arises. Wait for some idiot to cause a big scene, then book it in the confusion.”

“And what if no one causes a big scene.”

“Someone is going to cause a big scene eventually. It’s called basic fucking pattern recognition, Khurl.”

“That’s not a good enough guarantee,” Khurl retorted.

“Worst case scenario, the heat will die down eventually. If we behave ourselves for a few months tops then we’ll be able to just sort of leave and no one will say anything. Then head to, I don’t know. New Carcosa, maybe? Can’t get much farther from Locksmouth than the south fucking pole.”

“There’s no way that you can manage to behave yourself for much longer than you already have, much less a few months.”

“Hey,” Sarissa said, leaning forward in her chair and narrowing her gaze. “I could say the same thing about you.”

“Tch.” Khurl pulled away from the wall and made her way to the door.

“Hey, where the fuck are you going.”

“Out. I’m sick and tired of staying inside.”

“Don’t cause trouble.”

“I won’t,” Khurl lied. She was absolutely on the hunt for an excuse to fight someone, though she wasn’t going to say so out loud.

“I’m serious, Khurl. You aren’t the only one who’s bored. We literally started this conversation with me saying how fucking bored I am, but I’m sitting here on my ass not causing trouble so the least you could do is also be on your best behaviour.”

“Tch.” Khurl opened the door and left. There was no way Sarissa was going to be able to continue sitting still for much longer without biting her skin off, and frankly the orca didn’t want to be around when she inevitably snapped. Besides, they had already missed a golden opportunity to run off to New Carcosa or wherever, back during the second Incident. It had been Sarissa’s idea to lay low in this backwater shithole first and thus it was Sarissa’s fault that they were now stuck here.

All of which she would be able to tolerate if she could, at least, leave the fucking house. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a workout in, let alone a proper fight. At this rate she was going to get rusty. Lose her edge. And she could not afford to lose her edge, not after the repeated humiliating losses she had suffered. So fuck it, she was going to at least go out for a walk. And, hey, if she happened to bump into someone who looked weaker then her then she could at least vent some stress.

Or, at least, that was the plan at first. She very quickly found herself revising that plan the second she made eye contact with the very large tiger lady across the street, standing beside a very large hole in a house. The woman stared incredulously at her. “What are you looking at,” Khurl snapped, as though she didn’t know she’d been recognized.

“Khurl Reefstone.” Which just served to confirm it. “Well, ain’t that fuckin’ convenient.” The tiger cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck, stepping out into the street. “You’ve caught me in a bad fucking mood, so I could use some stress relief. You’re under arrest, after I beat you unconscious.”

It was Khurl’s turn to crack her knuckles. “Stress relief is just what I was looking for,” she replied tersely. “Don’t think that I’m the one who’s going to be beaten unconscious though.”

“Why don’t you come here and fuckin’ find out.”

Khurl couldn’t help but smirk. Whoever this person was, she was pretty clearly a normal person. If she had an Inkling, she would have Inked by now and if she were a psyco she would have activated psychodrive. The only way she stood a chance was if she was stronger. And Khurl could tell just by looking at her that, while she was certainly no slouch, she was definitely weaker than her. She confidently strode into the road to meet the tiger.

Her confidence only wavered very slightly when she realized she only came up to the woman’s chest. “You were saying?”

Khurl’s smirk inverted. “You have no idea what you’re up against, pendeja.”

“Prove it, bitch.”

Khurl’s frown deepened. Fine, if she wanted to get wrecked so bad, then she’d get fucking wrecked. She pulled her fist back and threw a single punch with all of her strength behind it, colliding directly with the tiger’s abdomen, right below her breasts.

She didn’t even flinch.

Khurl could feel her heart sinking into her stomach as the tiger’s grin widened. “Not too shabby. If I didn’t know how to take a hit, that would’a floored me!”

“Y-you-”

“My turn.”