eek, monsters

[pandion]

Time goes by. Trouble keeps right on bringing desserts (and once a quiche and once a loaf of bread with nuts in it). The Swans are uncomplaining. On Christmas Eve he brings two kinds of cookies and an astonishingly edible fruitcake and stays overnight on the couch. (Andi, self-servingly, got him a little box of assorted Genuine Maple Products. Bella got him an inexpensive yet adorable miniature sewing machine.) Robin comes over too, Christmas day (Andi gives her a packet of guitar strings and sheet music for assorted Green Day songs. Bella gets her a tiny tape recorder.)

School is back in session in January, after New Year's. (The twins set off small fireworks in the driveway - well, Andi does. Robin is invited to this event; Trouble is not, it somehow does not seem wise.)

Now it is the first weekend after the resumption of school.

Robin's supposed to be over any minute for practice for Nameless Band Which Kind Of Needs A Third Person But Bella Doesn't Want To. Andi taps out beats on her drums. Taptaptap. Taptaptap-kish. Taptaptap. Taptaptapkish.

Comments

[instar]

"Yes." Bella lets him have a good long stare at the alien, then tucks it between the eight-legged bird and the fairy. "Do you want me to reconstruct the reasoning that led to 'aliens' and whatnot?"

[aeskhyne]

"Sure."

[instar]

Bella reconstructs said reasoning. "Other options," she concludes, "are not off the table, but alien seems most likely."

[aeskhyne]

"Gotcha," says Trouble. "Well. Fuck."

[palmofyourhand]

"That about sums it up," says Ethan, helping himself to some spaghetti.

[instar]

"So this could be a coincidence, but does this look to the rest of you like the Sharing might be alien-oriented in some way?"

[palmofyourhand]

"Definitely seems fishy to me," says Ethan.

[hold_infinity]

Robin nods.

[pandion]

"Does... that... mean that Dad is a Pod Person?"

[instar]

"Not necessarily. Especially if you mean that as a specific guess and not a class of hypotheses."

[hold_infinity]

"Oh, Lord," mutters Robin.

[instar]

"Having thoughts, or just - discomforts, Robin?"

[hold_infinity]

"Discomforts. By the bucketload," she says.

[instar]

"Trouble, you never got around to poking the Sharing with a stick, did you?"

[aeskhyne]

He shakes his head. "Never did."

[instar]

"Does this information make it likely that you will decide to?"

[aeskhyne]

He glances at the last known location of Andi's sketch and quirks a wry smile. "Maybe."

[instar]

"For whatever reason, the Sharing Aliens aren't public and may have pod-person capabilities, I would be very gratified if from this point on none of us made a move without checking in with at least one other of us."

[aeskhyne]

"...What's a pod person?"

[instar]

"It's a movie reference, but the general idea is that they can convincingly replace - or maybe possess or mind-control or something - people. Such as possibly Charlie."

[aeskhyne]

"Mind control." He shivers. "Second thought, maybe I won't go. No matter how much I wanna give that alien a hug."

[instar]

"I doubt they can do it indiscriminately. And this is if they can do it at all, which is not guaranteed - it just explains Charlie way too neatly. They're probably limited in resources, or maybe range-limited so they have to balance inconspicuousness with collecting people to - pod. Which would be a damn good reason to have a The Sharing, wouldn't it."

[aeskhyne]

"Creeeeepy," says Trouble, shivering again.

[instar]

"The Sharing could also just be an alien-allied cult, we can't lean on any of these guesses," says Bella, scribbling furiously. "Or the owner of this particular bookstore could be connected to both things independently - or could be an innocent, albeit Sharing-affiliated, dupe, whose store is being used unbeknownst - we'd need more data to know. Besides, Ethan, your parents are acting the same, right?"

[palmofyourhand]

"Yeah," says Ethan, "but acting the same means they don't bloody talk to me, they could be recruiting everyyone they pass on the street and I wouldn't have a clue. About the only way I'd know if they'd been replaced by alien clones is if they started taking an interest in my life."