‘What do chuchus eat?’ Shalbie thought as he took a quick look at the kitchen. ‘Maybe some bread to start is okay!’ He continued to go over the items on the pantry until he spotted a loaf of bread. ‘Wait it is a baby so maybe just milk. Now where did Link leave the milk bottle?’
After
a while of searching Shalbie finally found a bottle of milk and still
decided to bring the loaf f breath to cat slime. “I hope this is okay, I
have no idea what else is there to offer, maybe some jerky i don’t
know haven’t checked what meat we have.” he added as he left the milk
and bread by the slime. “Dig in!”
Cat Slime was beside himself with excitement. A new friend, and already he was being offered food! Best of all, the Repairman couldn’t stop him from “overeating” this time!
He hopped up and down in excitement, imagining all the pastries and sandwiches and fruits he would be diving into…
…Only to see a loaf of bread and some milk. Okay, it wasn’t a king’s feast, but it was something. His hopping slowed to a halt, squeaking a calm thanks before starting to nibble on the bread.
“I
think everyone would be more than happy to see you two again! And you
have to tell me about the strange countries you visited recently. My
kids can’t get enough of the stories, they’re even drawing pictures of
them.”
“…Oh wow!” the Repairman exclaimed. “You’ll have to show me these drawings!”
He beamed with pride, much to Marie’s confusion. He caught her eye and cleared his throat.
“Ah, a-anyway, we were just coming from a place called Inkwell Isle…”
“Oh come on, why does nobody remember me? Repairman, you and I know each other. We’ve been friends for years. We were going to have tea with Kitterah and your sister Marie tomorrow.”
“….”
The Repairman squinted. Well, he had dealt with Albie as a baby before. Was this the same kind of thing…?
He cleared his throat.
“Oh, right,” he said, trying to play along. “Sorry, just…new haircut?”
“Repairman, what are–” Marie began, before being lightly elbowed, “–y-you planning to…bring…tomorrow?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe…er…saucers?” he managed, lamely.
“That’s fair,” the Repairman nodded at the shade. Animated skeletons
were nothing new to him; he was just surprised to find one of the Links
as one.
He was just putting the finishing touches on the fix when it suddenly burst, sending him flying back several feet. When he looked up, he immediately tried to avert his eyes from the real things that were appearing. Already, he was sweating, backing away, and trying hard not to scream.
“I…I…” he stammered, quickly falling silent as the mun spoke.
B-blood? Broken bones? Did…Did she…?…I don’t even wanna KNOW what’s in that envelope!
The inkblot, in spite of himself, was openly gawking as she moved on to Wind. He was just as confused as when she talked to Light.
“St-stop!” he finally managed, weakly. No one deserved anything like this…
And then she turned to him.
“Spu…Specifically requested?” he whimpered.
Lucky me…
The inkblot shook even harder as she revealed the Dip. He pulled out a paper bag and started to hyperventilate in it. Thiswastheendwhatcouldhedowhatcouldhedo–
He stopped, looking at her confused. She wasn’t going to use it? Then why–?
Oh.
He swallowed. As she told him all this, one had to wonder what was going through his mind as he stared at the bottle in silent terror.He watched the swirling green and orange colors for an uncomfortably long time.
Finally, he silently reached into his hammerspace and produced a large bottle of bleach. Oddly enough, it had grey and pink markings on it…
He also pulled out a measuring cup, and began to pour some bleach into it. Satisfied that he had the right amount, he set the bleach down. His expression did not change throughout all this. Taking one hard look at the cup, he suddenly dumped it onto his own head. One could now easily see the “Brain Bleach” label.
He shuddered as the stuff seeped through his ink, but only momentarily. He had successfully forgotten the last half-minute or so of cruelty.
He looked uneasily at Clara, then back to his hand. In it, the bottle of Dip still remained.
“AAAAA!” he screamed, throwing the bottle onto the blanket. “Okay, I get it, I’ll pick someone I’ll pick someone pleasedon’thurtus!”
He leaped back towards the table and (with some help from Cat Slime) rapidly and messily devoured all the remaining food. It was all really good, to be fair, but clearly, there had to be only one winner!
“Uhm…” he said, sweating, “I really liked all those foodstuffs, but I think I’ll have to go with…Twilight’s machaca! But really, you should all be proud of what you made–”
Cat Slime angrily squeaked, pointing to his aunt Bowyetta. Everyone knew stuff made by your aunties was better!
The Repairman pointedly ignored him, instead looking right at the mun in the room.
“All right? No need to dissolve anyone today? Please?”
It was clear from his tone it was the nerves talking. It was also clear from the fact he was being a smart-aleck to the one who threatened him with DIp moments ago (or so he thought).
The Repairman, of course, was not at all used to talking to muns. What was worse, he didn’t understand half the jargon Clara said. It didn’t sound good, though…
“O…kay…erm…”
He looked at the food, and suddenly wasn’t hungry. But if it meant whatever that totally normal and not fourth-wall-breaking voice was saying didn’t happen, he’d do it.
…After he fixed the new crack in the wall, of course. He set his fork down and picked up a paint roller, which was already slathered in cement, and moved over to the Wall. He would be quick, sure, but would he be quick enough?
“Yes! Youwillbeneedingofforksandknivesand-” Bowyetta suddenly shook several pieces of silverware out of her hair handing them over to Mr. Sir and Link. “Youmustbetryingofthis-”
Vinny, however, looked concerned by Bowyetta’s behavior. “Bowyetta, maybe you should eat something too… You’re not acting like yourself…”
“NonoBowyettaisnotbeingableto-”
It was then that Bowyetta suddenly coughed up quite a bit of smoke. Her face turned dark blue once she realized what had happened. This only happened when her internal fire started to get low…
“Now that Bowyetta is thinking about it, maybe she should be having of some. But, she will be waiting until sirs are finished first.”
The Repairman, being rather self-conscious about his blobby form, refrained from making a mouth for himself, instead opting to “absorb” the food where his mouth would be.
He made it a point to keep his plate away from the table. You never knew…
In any case, the Repairman and Cat Slime both smiled as they ate their share of the egg…thing (Cat Slime more so). It was melt-in-your-mouth, and quite flavorful!
They both tried dipping a bit into some queso, which the inkblot definitely enjoyed. Cat Slime, however, felt his cheeks turn red as the sound of a steaming kettle could be heard. He made a mad dash for the toolbox, where he proceeded to drink some water out of a seltzer bottle for a minute. The Repairman couldn’t help but chuckle a little at this.
The two were about to start on the omurice when Bowyetta coughed up smoke.
“…Are you okay, Bowyetta? You need to…?”
Cat Slime, however, wasted no time in rushing back to the toolbox and pulling out a large cookie jar. One with a variety of locks and chains on it. He handed it to the Repairman.
“Gotta make sure he doesn’t eat all of them at once,” the Repairman explained, his hands becoming a blur as he opened the jar. “Anyway, uh, here.”
Link stared at Bowyetta with a frown. Something was wrong. She was shaking and wobbling on her legs. The little hero jumped up and reached over to the mechanical girl, hoping he could support her before she possibly collapsed.
“Bowyetta? Hey, are you okay? Your face looks flushed.”
Once Repairman had handed her the cookie, Link helped walk Bowyetta to the table and sat her on a nearby chair. He couldn’t help but fret over his friend, she had been acting weird the entire time.
Meanwhile on the other side of the window was the muffled sound of mechanical grinding. Truthfully it was irritating, but after a moment the sound stopped. Beside the whiteboard appeared a cup full of some kind of… purple red liquid. Link stepped over to pick it up and look at its contents.
“It’s cold like snow.”
//Ya//
“Is this supposed to be for Bowyetta?”
//It’s a good idea to have fruits and juice alongside a high calorie snack when feeling an incoming burn out so the lag doesn’t come back to hit you.//
“What’d you put in it?” he asked, handing the drink to Bowyetta.
//Frozen blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, mangoes, mint, and pomegranate juice. Stuff that’ll keep you full for a longer time.//
The little hero sat back down beside the robot, hoping to see some kind of change.
“Is the food helping at all, Bowyetta? If you need to lie down or something the bed’s all yours.”
“Oh, ah… Thanking of you muchly, you two.” Before Bowyetta could start eating, however, she found herself quickly whisked away by Link to sit on a chair. “This is really being okay, Mr. Link? Bowyetta did not mean to be worrying of everyone. Am thinking that she is having gotten a little too excited.”
She ate the cookie pretty quickly, and before long found herself presented with some sort of drink. “Oh, thanking of you muchly, Mr. Link.” She didn’t exactly know what was in it, but it did smell good, so she took a drink anyway. It was a little bit sweet and a little bit sour, but also oddly minty. “Am better feeling now, thank you. Bowyetta is apologizing muchly for worrying you all.”
Twilight frowned in concern at the strange sounds and behavior of Bowyetta. Or well, he couldn’t exactly frown with his impassive skeletal face, but he certainly looked worried. “You sound hungry, Miss Bowyetta. Do you want me to make some more? It doesn’t take long, I just have to send the others on a fetch quest again…” he crossed the room, kneeling in front of her to get a better look at her face, and the glowing blue orbs in his eye sockets narrowed slightly in concentration. She looked… flushed perhaps, since he wasn’t an expert on the physiology of robotic bow girls, but the cookie and juice seemed to be doing some good already.
Suddenly he realized that he was still a shade and the close proximity probably wasn’t welcome at the moment, so Twiight abruptly stood and backed away to give her space once more. His voice sounded almost sheepish as he added “Honestly, I should have made more to begin with, even if you aren’t judging I’ll bet you and Art and Miss Eclair would like to try the machaca anyways.” he turned to look over his shoulder at the other ghosts, Sparky rolling his eyes and Brown laughing and the two disappearing once more.
Now that things seemed to have calmed a little, since the panic of the cooking and Bowyetta’s exhaustion, the Repairman finally noticed something else about Twilight. He seemed to have gotten a skeleton.
“…Uh…hey…I just noticed the new body. It’s…something to behold,” he said, diplomatically. Maybe it was a work in progress…
Cat Slime, meanwhile, ignored everyone else and clambered up into Bowyetta’s lap. Yes, the omurice was calling his name, but his aunt needed him…
“Well,” the Repairman mused, “I could just order something for everyone after the cookoff is over. I mean, I’m not sure there’s enough food to go around…”
He realized how anachronistic this thinking was, and turned to Albie.
“I mean…” he explained, lamely, “I could…send a message and have someone send us more food pretty quick.”
He sighed.
“Anyway, we should probably finish everything before it gets cold. Let me know if you want anything delivered.”
Cat Slime, satisfied that his aunt was okay, happily bounced back over to the table, ready to taste-test what was left of the dishes.
“Okay,” the Repairman finally said, looking at the mind-swapped duo. “I do think I have some things we can try…”
He began wringing his hands. If he had feet, they’d be shuffling awkwardly. He’d never tried anything like this before, but it was a common enough trope that he would at least be able to do something, he hoped.
“…Ready?” he finally asked, his uneasy gaze shifting between the two.
“Is this really gonna work or am I going to have a bruise on my head…seems kinda absurd but at this point I’m willing to try anything.”
“We’ve got no other options, Ravio. I’m desperate to make this end all this.”
“So what, do you have some kinda magic spellor something? Lay it on us.”
“…Uh…yes,” the Repairman replied, carefully. “I do have things that I think are magical, but…let’s see if more mundane, common solutions work, first.”
He took a deep breath. This was all for curing this. Don’t worry…
And with that, he leaped up, grabbed their heads and banged them together. A sound like a cymbal clashing was heard. Quickly, he jumped back. Understandably, they would probably be a little miffed at that.
After a moment to let their pain ease a little bit, he looked at the two.
“…Sorry about that,” he said, truthfully. “It apparently works a lot for this kind of thing. Any luck?”
“What the– OW?? Lorin Almighty I’m gonna have a headache for a week! You could have been a bit gentler blobby chuchu guy!”
He paused, before looking down, seeing the robe and his own flimsy arms.
“I’m me again!! I don’t have to be blond anymore! Sweet gods above it I may have a concussion but it worked!!!”
“ACK–!”
“What is your problem!? This isn’t some kinda… Ah?”
Link looked between his friends before staring at his own hands. He held onto Ravio and began hopping in sheer joy.
“Oh thank the goddesses golden we’re back to normal! I was afraid we were gonna be stuck forever!”
The Repairman smiled, satisfied with a job well done. Still, something in the back of his mind felt…off. Too easy, a voice from there was saying, too easy.
He mentally hushed that voice and turned back to the joyous duo.
“Yeah, I’m glad it worked too…honestly didn’t expect that…”
“Okay,” the Repairman finally said, looking at the mind-swapped duo. “I do think I have some things we can try…”
He began wringing his hands. If he had feet, they’d be shuffling awkwardly. He’d never tried anything like this before, but it was a common enough trope that he would at least be able to do something, he hoped.
“…Ready?” he finally asked, his uneasy gaze shifting between the two.
“Is this really gonna work or am I going to have a bruise on my head…seems kinda absurd but at this point I’m willing to try anything.”
“We’ve got no other options, Ravio. I’m desperate to make this end all this.”
“So what, do you have some kinda magic spellor something? Lay it on us.”
“…Uh…yes,” the Repairman replied, carefully. “I do have things that I think are magical, but…let’s see if more mundane, common solutions work, first.”
He took a deep breath. This was all for curing this. Don’t worry…
And with that, he leaped up, grabbed their heads and banged them together. A sound like a cymbal clashing was heard. Quickly, he jumped back. Understandably, they would probably be a little miffed at that.
After a moment to let their pain ease a little bit, he looked at the two.
“…Sorry about that,” he said, truthfully. “It apparently works a lot for this kind of thing. Any luck?”
Siblings-a-Fixin' 