pandion | eek, monsters

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

aeskhyne

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

From:

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."

From:

aeskhyne

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

From:

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."

From:

aeskhyne

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

From:

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."

From:

aeskhyne

"Creeeeepy," says Trouble, shivering again.

From:

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?"

From:

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."

From:

instar

"...Okay."

She doesn't look at Trouble.

"If they can do pod people - which is not the only explanation but is very fitting - then that makes the potential downside of reporting the sighting to authority types way worse... Ethan, what do your folks do for a living? Charlie's a cop. If they have any discrimination, if that's the kind of person they grab..."

From:

pandion

"Do you think our real dad is dead or something?" whispers Andi.

From:

instar

"I don't know. It's possible. I can't trust any conclusions on this little information - we have one alien sighting and one club membership of a nearby retailer. It's possible."

From:

palmofyourhand

"Tech industry," says Ethan. "Dad's a programmer; Mum's an engineer."

From:

aeskhyne

Trouble shakes his head.

From:

instar

"And a bookstore owner. Okay, maybe they aren't being selective, or very selective - that still means we can't necessarily assume politicians or law enforcement or whatever are alien-free."