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 Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 7:18 pm
They’d been arguing about this day for weeks now. When, why and how it should happen. Clearly the children deserved to know the truth. At first Shrill X had argued against it. Why bother telling them? It would be fine. But the more time she spent getting to know them, the more she wanted them to see her not as their sister but as a mother, even if she was terrible at it. They should do it soon, Lullaby had told her one night after another exhausting conversation, before they got to old. Now today was the day. Lullaby looked in on Thriller and Banshee playing in their room. “Hey, we need to talk to you for moment. Could you come into the living room?” Banshee put down the rocket that was sending Dinorawr and Mr. Teddybutt around the universe. “Coming dad- waaah no, our rocket is out of control we have to land, vrooooosh boooom. Oh no, we’re crash-landed on a strange planet!” She left them on the floor and stood. “We can find out if they survive when we come back.” Atmadja Struggled a bit on starting this one but this should work.
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Atmadja generated a random number between
and ...
!
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:20 am
Thriller was cheerily looking down at the crash-landed spaceship, surveying the bleak landscape of pillows and blankets he'd created for them. "They won't," he said helpfully, nodding sagely. "But when we come back, they'll have morphed into a zombie alien race. It should be good. Really good." Truth be told, Thriller would have rather seen that change from scientist to zombie alien by himself--and, you know, narrated the entire shift--but he reluctantly allowed himself to be moved by his dad. Maybe treats were involved! "Okay!" He said, trotting into the living room. "Is this serious? Did we break something? I don't remember breaking anything…"
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:30 pm
“I broke something yesterday but I already cried about it sooo it’s not that is it?” She’d given the bowl a fitting send off, crumpled on the floor as Lullaby cleaned up the shards. Lullaby and Shrill X were seated at the dining table, the latter looking as if she was sitting on a net of ants, kept wriggling left and right. “Take a seat,” Lullaby kept his voice light. “You’re not in any trouble. I just want us all to talk. You know that I’ve always told you that it’s best to be honest about things.” “Yup,” Banshee climbed up onto her chair and put her chin on her hooves. “Lying is silly because people will find out the truth anyway and get mad, that’s what you said.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:17 am
"That's very true," said Thriller gravely. "And I know you're not lying about that, because then we'd be horribly scarred if we ever found out the truth, which we would." He paused, suddenly becoming boyish again, scratching his cheek as he thought of Wallflower, whom he'd hurt with his storytelling. "And besides, lying can... hurt people's feelings, and that's pretty icky," he said with a sigh. He went over and sat by his sister, leaning gently against her. He looked up at Lullaby and smiled encouragingly. "Whatchoo wanna talk about? Slugs? I found one outside."
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:49 pm
"Lying isn’t that bad," Shrill X announced awkwardly. "You know, if it’s for the right reasons." Lullaby winced slightly. "Well, unfortunately, Shrill and I, we haven’t been truthful to you and it’s time for us to be. I’m so sorry." Banshee gaped softly and hugged her brother tight. "Are we zombie children?" She whispered eyes wide. "What?" Lullaby gave a quick shake of his head. "It’s not about slugs and you aren’t zombie children." Yes, he wanted to say, there are too many slugs in the garden, that’s it, go back to your games. He liked them running to him, calling him dad. "Draft and I, you’ve always called us your parents and we’ve called you our children but the truth-" "I’M YOUR MOM." Shrill X couldn’t handle it anymore. It was so slow, so painfully drawn out. It needed to be like a band-aid ripping off, all in one go! "YOUR DADS ARE ACTUALLY GRANDDADS aaaand we don’t know who your father is but he had a small-" "Shrill! What is wrong with you? We discussed how to handle this!" Banshee blinked and her mouth made a surprised 'O'.
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:51 pm
The beginning of this all was tremendously confusing to Thriller. Lying wasn't always bad? Yes--it really FELT like it was to him really, with his limited exploration into the subject. But... wait. Wait. Dad and Shrill had been lying to them? When Banshee clasped onto him, Thriller returned the motion to her. ZOMBIE CHILDREN! He'd always known it. He'd always FEARED it. He'd-- --WAIT AGAIN. This time, the truth hit Thriller like a ton of bricks. His brain stopped. He stared ahead and kept ahold of Banshee, but this time it was more to keep him from sliding off of the chair. He felt suddenly very stupid. He'd always looked like Shrill X. A lot like her. And clearly neither of his fathers--grandfathers--had the red eyes or the floating hair thing he and Banshee sported. It was at least, well, sort of clear. Kind of. And Shrill, for all her awkwardness, always cared the most about his and Banshee's wellbeing. In her own way. He started to redden. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say or do, but somehow this all felt like a wave of emotions he couldn't place, and he felt young and stupid and stupid and stupid. "O--oh," he said, quietly. He looked from Shrill to Lullaby to Banshee and back to Shrill. Maybe he should say something funny? Or just pass it off? Or... Instead, a quiet, honest question came out of him. "Why... why, uhm, didn't you tell us before?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:07 pm
Banshee was confused but mostly because she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be mad or not, or sad or something. Maybe she needed time to process the shock but right now, she was just wondering how they hadn’t worked it out earlier. Shrill staring at them through the window at night while they slept suddenly made a bit more sense. She looked back at her brother and for once was completely silent, letting him speak, taking support from his presence at her side. Lullaby looked stricken and opened his mouth to explain. "I-" "I asked him not to," Shrill X interrupted, her gut turning at the look on her dad’s face. "I was afraid of being a mum. I was afraid I’d mess it up. You were suddenly there in your little blister packs and I freaked out, so I left them with Lull and Draft and thought it would be easier if I pretended to be your sister because I’d be a bad mother." It was a relief to get it out, even if she was embarrassed by the torrent of feelings. Banshee looked at each of them in turn and realized that she wasn’t really upset because it didn’t really change anything. Not for her. She loved her dads even if they were now granddads and Shill was still funny and a bit weird even if she their mother instead of their sister. They were all still family. Wait. "We don’t have to live with Shrill now, do we?" She asked. "O-of course not," Lullaby assured, a stutter returning with his stress. "I-I’m so sorry we just didn’t tell you at the start. It was unfair. I-I hope… I hope one day you’ll be able to trust me again."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:31 pm
Thriller was still red, and while he sat, listening to their explanations, he realized... he was upset about being lied to, and he felt foolish for not having seen anything sooner, but he wasn't mad. Shrill X hadn't totally abandoned them, or lied to them well into their Old-Enough lives about it. She always seemed to care, and he did love her. It felt more natural, somehow, this way--well, because it was more natural. He looked at Banshee and cracked a small smile. There was a part of him that still wanted to react, to let them know that he hadn't appreciated it, but the look on Lullaby's face let him know that his fath---grandfather knew. "It's okay," he said sort of glumly, shuffling his hooves. He looked at Banshee. Best sister Banshee. However he'd gotten to have Banshee as his sis was worth any feeling silly. He laid his chin on her and eyed Shrill. "Is there... uh, anything else?" he prodded.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 5:07 pm
Banshee was worried her brother was going to be really upset and then she was worried she wasn’t upset enough. She was watching Thriller, her head turned towards him, her own reaction to the revelation so strangely muted. Normally she was all emotion all the time, whether that meant a long agonizing death on the floor or some good old fashioned wailing. This was different. She didn’t want to make it a big deal; she wanted them to get past it quickly. "It’s okay," she repeated Thriller’s words softly, smiling back at him. Lullaby let out a sigh and a wobbly smile, clearly close to tears. "That’s all. There’s nothing else. I promise." Shrill X popped her chin on her hoof and alternated between looking at her kids and pretending she wasn’t looking at her kids. "So yeah, sorry, if you gotta be mad at someone, you can be mad at me, not Lull. He’d a good dad and granddad and you know…" She trailed off, blushing awkwardly. Lullaby was looking at her as if the sun had finally risen after a long night. "Anyway, I’m gonna go. Unless you want me to stay and then I’ll stay. Anyone hungry? This stuff always makes me hungry. I’ll make tea." Shrill was up and in the kitchen before anyone could say no. "Milk and sugar please!" Banshee yelled after her.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:09 pm
It was definitely strange, having Banshee be the one rooted in a stable calmness and having himself teetering on the brink. But she'd given him a handhold on a more mature emotion, and Thriller was strangely proud of them. As he was, he realized, proud of Lullaby, and of Shrill. It hadn't meant, he thought, that she hadn't wanted them... she could have just, well... she could have just headed for the hills! Or her club. Or have been a weird sister forever. He cracked a smile. It was nice having a mum. Or knowing the awkward sleep-watching, goofy, too-loud mare was his mum. It was going to be great fodder for stories, at least... "YOU CAN STAY!" he yelled just after Banshee, and then, realizing what his sister had said, added. "Honey for me, please!"
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