//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Let's Talk // Story: We Three: With You In Spirit // by Eyeswirl the Weirded //------------------------------// Vote count as of 6/16/2016: Tell all: 3 Tell none: 5 Tell Lemon: 8 I take a deep, slow breath through my nose. I'd only just learned my sisters were going to be following me around as ghosts, and now I was (by default) the one in charge. The leader. The one who made the decisions. Well... We can trust Lemon, right? She totally could've back-stabbed us in the city and didn't, so... I looked up to find my spectral sisters just kinda hovering around as they looked back at me, waiting for my verdict. My verdict!! The thought makes my fingers twitch, but I manage to get my tongue working. "Okay, I'm... I'm gonna tell Lemon and figure things out from there." I'm looking straight at Adagio because this is the first time I'm openly defying her wishes with nothing she can do about it. That is, I'm about to learn if there's nothing she can do about it, because I don't know what kind of rules she and Sonata have now. I think she knows what I'm thinking, because she gives me an amused little smirk and shrugs her shoulders. "Alright then." Something goes boink in the back of my head. "I said I'm gonna tell Lemon about you guys!" "Yes, I caught that the first time. I still don't recommend it, but I hope you'll think twice before you tell anyone else." I look at Sonata, who gives me an irritated glare. "She's still waiting out there! Get going, dummy!" I nearly fall on my face scrambling back to the front door, but Lemon doesn't look at all annoyed about having to wait. Stupid Sonata. "Heya again. Feeling better?" "Huh? Uh, y-yea, uh... can I, talk to you for a minute?" The look in Lemon's eyes tells me she's bracing herself, but she nods and comes in anyway. I'm wishing I knew how to say I have weird news instead of bad news, but by the time we're sitting on the couch, I opt to just blurt it out. "Sonata and Adagio are ghosts." Lemon looks at me with sad eyes, her mouth hanging open a little. Then she forces a smile and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Y-yea, I know, I heard from Twilight. For someone that lost their whole family, you look like you're keepin' it together pretty good, so if that's how you wanna think of it, I guess-" "No, no, I mean, they really are ghosts, they're floating right next to us as we speak!" Sonata tries to confirm my story by drifting where Lemon should have been able to see her and shouting. "HIIIIII LEMOOOON!!" Lemon doesn't react to her at all, instead giving me a very rigid smile. "...Ooookay, maybe you're not taking this so well... Wh-which is totally understandable, I mean, what wi-" I groan, looking to my sisters for help. "Guys, what's something I can tell her to prove it?" They share a quick, uncertain look, but neither give me an answer right away. I can tell they're trying to think of something, maybe something personal by the looks on their faces, but that doesn't make sitting here looking like I'm talking to myself any less awkward. Adagio opens her mouth first. "Tell her-" But then she's cut off by Sonata. "Tell her her best is good enough," she says with slightly teary eyes, "she'll know what it means!" "Uh... okay." I look Lemon in the eye. "Sonata says your best is good enough." She looks back at me, blank. "...Huh?" Sonata is pissed. "SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER?!" She looks directly at Lemon to shout the rest. "It was our big, touchy moment together, you mop-haired eardrum-blasted bitch!! HOW COULD YOU FORGET?!" I wince, and not just because of the name-calling. I remember what Sonata said that day. "Sometimes, I feel like I don't belong with Aria and Dagi, either." "Uh... Sonata? Are you talking about that time while we were still a snake-lady? Because, Adagio and I were there for that too, y'know." On account of everyone turning to look straight at me, it's possible that this utterance was a mistake. On the bright side, Sonata looks less angry, more shocked. "W... wait... y-you guys heard that? When I said I thought that I...?" She's startled when a guilty-faced Adagio puts a hand on her shoulder. "I whispered into Aria's ear to wake up and keep quiet the second I leaned down, nuzzling her only enough to keep up the facade that we weren't eavesdropping." The wide-eyed look Sonata gives her leads to a sheepish smile. "We weren't sure how to approach the subject without spoiling the moment, but... Well, honestly, you are kind of a screw-up and you have held us back a few times, but even if we don't say it as much as we should have, Aria and I-EEP!!" Her arms wrapped tightly around Adagio, Sonata tearfully demonstrated that the two of them could still hug each other. "Awww, you guyyyys!!" She glanced over her shoulder at me. "Wait, is that true?" I don't wanna say it out loud, but I feel myself turn a little pink anyway as I nod, and not just because I know Lemon is watching this in silence. Her smile almost doubles in size. "Awww!!" Possibly to make up for the fact that she can't hug both of us, she settles for squeezing Adagio even harder. Part of me takes morbid delight in the way she squirms in Sonata's grip, so I'm almost disappointed when she sighs a little and gently hugs Sonata back. "Okay," says Lemon, snapping my attention back to her, "either you're a way better actor than I'd have given you credit for, or there really is an invisible conversation going here, because I don't know how else to explain the way your face keeps changing." She looks in the direction I've been looking. "So... Nata? Hebi-sama?" My sisters break the hug, Sonata angrily crossing her arms and scowling at Lemon. "Still mad at you!" Confused though I am at 'Hebi-sama,' I relay Sonata's reaction to Lemon, making her frown and ask why. I have to look at Sonata for her response. "Because she forgot our tender moment together! You don't get those every episode, dammit!!" I again act as the middle-man, making Lemon chuckle and dope-slap herself, looking apologetically in Sonata's general direction. "Ohh, that! Yea, don't worry, I remember that talk, and it's helped me a lot since then. It didn't spring to mind right away, though, so sorry if that bothered you. Can you forgive me?" I don't know what it must be like for her to stare into empty space while waiting for an answer for a question she asked someone else, but I stay the course anyway. Sonata smiles, blushes a little, gets all giggly, and dismissively waves a hand. "Aww, it's okay, Zesty!" For the sake of my dignity, I only relay that Sonata forgives her before asking about 'Hebi-sama.' "Um... I guess she never told you guys, but Dagi came back to the city a few nights a week to help with the tea shop. She called me about helping to work off that debt and-oh!" She looked where she guessed Adagio was, frowning. "And, about that... Let it go, okay? I really don't need the money, the shop is doing fine, and... I don't wanna take money from a dead girl, whether you have any to offer or not." She glances at me out of the corner of her eye, waiting for Adagio's response. Whether ghosts need to breathe or not, I see Adagio take a long breath through her nose as she floats in place, arms crossed, and stares back at the girl who can't see her. She shrugs. "Well, I've paid with my life, haven't I? And Sonata's too." Sonata wraps her arms around Adagio's mid-section, looking up at her with a "No Hard Feelings" face, and I'm pretty sure I see Adagio's lower lip twitch before she looks at me. "I was the one that chose to shoulder the task of paying back what we stole anyway, and no legal documentation of the matter exists, so you should be effectively absolved. Tell her the matter is settled." My first instinct was to object and ask about whether or not she was still worried about the Rainbooms, but I really can't see them tearing into me over 'making things right' at this point. I turn to answer Lemon. "She says it's fine. Now what was that about the tea shop?" "Oh, yea. Like I said, she wanted to settle things because she was worried about Sunset, Twily, and the rest making life hard for you guys if she didn't (though I doubt they even remember all that by now), so we worked something out at the shop. Hehe, I started by helping them decorate, and somehow I wind up helping run the place, canya believe it? Her idea was just that she help serve food and drinks, but to keep the theme of the place, she let me doll her up in the kimono again, do up her hair, add some details with make-up, that kinda thing." Lemon grinned with pride. "And then I got some ideas. Y'see, I figured if the shop was named 'Hebi No Onna Herbal Beverages,' we might as well go all out with the original snake-lady herself, so I brought some special contacts, fake fangs, and even subtly painted her hands to look sorta reptilian if you looked close. She was a natural at the elegant, fancy lady routine, too, which was a hit with some of the regulars. Before we knew it, she went from bringing people food to sitting in her own corner, peering over a fan while reading the patrons old folk-tales and poetry under the name 'Hebi-sama,' which is like 'Miss Snake.'" She winked in Adagio's general direction. "They really like you, y'know? Probably because you've only shown up a few times, which keeps the mystique going, but I actually set up a 'tribute box' to see if anyone would give 'offerings' in the hope of 'summoning' you, and if the tips keep coming, we might be able to afford someone to play tradi-" "Okay, okay," I interrupt, "so business is going great over there." I look at Adagio. "Why didn't you tell us you were doing this?" She sighs. "Frankly? Unlike you two, I haven't done any paying work since our gems were destroyed, and if I wasn't working on them night and day anymore, I figured I should do something constructive myself. I meant to tell you both when the debt was fully worked off so that I could report solidly good news without risk of things falling apart later, or when you first caught me sneaking out in the middle of the night and cornered me into answering, but neither had happened yet, so..." Me, Sonata, and technically Lemon staring at her got her to blush and look away as she shrugged. "Just the same, sorry I never told you." Sonata made an annoyed face. "Bet the attention was nice." "If it were me they actually liked instead of the costume, nevermind that I was stuck in a kimono the whole time?" "Oh. Right. But, weren't you worried someone might recognize you before?" "Constantly, but the plan was to flee the city and never come back if I so much as suspected anyone remembered who I was. Luckily, there were only perhaps two people I recognized to stop by, and neither showed any sign that they'd seen me before." She chuckled, idly scratching her head as she started to blush again. "Of course, that was when I panicked and reached for a fan to cover my face as casually as possible, which was part of how the rest of the routine got started." I look back at Lemon to clue her in that the others have stopped talking, then sum up Adagio's response. Lemon nods. "I guess that sorta makes sense." She frowns. "I'll have to explain to the management why 'Hebi-sama' isn't comin' back, though. The shop brings in enough business even on days she doesn't visit, but still." She gives me an apologetic look. "I guess this is where I'd normally offer for you to give it a go if Dagi was okay with that, but I don't think anyone would be fooled." I shrug. Not like I wanted to sit around sipping tea or reading to random weirdos anyway, nevermind regular, boring bus-rides to get over there. Instead, I nod to my sisters. "So, about these two... any chance you can keep a lid on them still being here? I kinda wanna keep it on the down-low for now." She gives me a reassuring smile. "Totes, don't worry 'bout a thing. Y'know, I was wondering why you didn't look all cry-faced when you answered the door, and this is way better than thinking you'd be over here totally alone." We talk a little more, with me middle-manning for Adagio and Sonata, then Lemon has to head home, but says she'll be there by cell if I need her. When she's gone, Adagio picks up an earlier topic. "So, have you tested the gem yet?" "Uhh... It's kinda been a busy almost-an-entire-day-now..." "Fair enough. Test it now." My eyebrows furrow a little. "Hey, I'm the one in charge here, aren't I?" She gives me an amused little smirk. "Oh, of course, forgive me, it hadn't crossed my mind that your brilliant plan was to leave it a mystery, but if such is your enlightened ruling, then-" I cut her off through gritted teeth, certain I'd be blushing even without Sonata snickering at me. "Alright, smartass, I get it." Remembering too late Adagio's talent for making people look stupid, I take a breath and try to focus on the gem. I hold a note, just a little warm-up tune like I've done a thousand times, just to see if I've got any juice. I do. For the first time since that night onstage, I can feel the magic, and not just the pitiful trickle we had before the night we saw that first rainbow-blasty thing, but a real, pulsating pool of energy. And it's all mine. The thought makes me hate myself intensely, but when I look at the others, I try to mask it as tears of joy. "It works." I think it worked, because they're smiling too, in the same way they did when they first showed up. "Good for you, Ria," Sonata says softly, like she's almost glad I have this when she doesn't, and never will again. Adagio gets my attention before things get really sappy, floating around me with an appraising look on her face. "I'm still not sure why it would have turned white... Does it feel the same as before?" "Pretty much, like it did around the time we started feeding directly on Canterlot High kids." She nods, keeping up the floaty staring routine. "Hmm... I, I'm trying to remember, we only had a few days to look at the tablet before everything fell apart back home, so..." The way she stares harder and harder at my whitened gem starts to make me uncomfortable, but she eventually sighs and breaks her gaze. "Dammit, I don't remember what this means, if it means anything at all. We'll have to keep an eye on it, so please tell us if you feel the slightest bit unusual, alright?" I nod, which gets Sonata to smile too as Adagio makes one last note. "And, just to reiterate, you cannot let the Rainbooms, or anyone, really, maybe even Lemon, know that you have any measure of your old power back." "Yea," I answer immediately, "I got that." She smiles approvingly at me and says no more about it. "So, what do you want to do now?" I glance around the apartment. Nothing I really care to watch is on TV right now, don't feel like surfing the net with those two over my shoulder (because it's weird, okay?!), and don't have the energy to work out something so we can play Sewers and Sphinxes with only one warm body. One body, period! In fact, I'm actually feeling kinda drained, and not in terms of magic. "I... I think I'd like to-" Sonata grins. "Porn stash?" I'm burning again. "NO!!" "I'm just saying, you've technically got the house all to yourself, so-" "That is NOT how privacy works!!" Her wicked smirk tells me I've made a mistake. "Does that mean you would if-" I'm pretty sure my voice cracks. "SHUT UP!!" Adagio is giggling, but puts a hand on Sonata's shoulder. "Let her be, Sonata," she smirks a little as well, "she'll indulge her interests when she's good and ready." They giggle at my expense, but it ends with two genuine smiles. I sigh and try again. "I think I'd like to get some sleep, actually, it's been a Hell of a day." "Of course, rest up if you need it." I don't remark on Adagio giving me orders this time, but I'll try to think of it as her supporting a decision I've made for myself. Already makes me feel warm and tingly! I head toward my room, realize something, and turn on a heel. "Wait, uh... Do you guys sleep?" They share a glance, Sonata answering first. "I dunno. We kinda just popped into the apartment after Dagi did her technobabble-get-us-out-of-the-dark-place-by-holding-hands thingy," I can't help smiling a little at the irritated face Adagio is making, the one that tells me there was a LOT more to it than that and that she doesn't like having her magic know-how dumbed down, "but we've only been ghosts since we found you crying on the couch." Now I'm the one annoyed. "I wasn't crying!!" "You did cry later, th-ow!" As Sonata rubs the back of her head, I find that I'm extremely grateful that Adagio can administer dope-slaps for me. "It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if the dead needed to sleep, but that wouldn't explain why we can, somehow, feel pain, if only from each other. Perhaps we sleep when you do?" I make my way back toward the living room. "Maybe, but, I'm gonna leave the TV on just in case." Grabbing the remote and flipping through channels, I don't know what both of them would like, but I know I don't want them watching me all night. "Cartoons okay?" Sonata beams and gets all starry-eyed. "YEEEESSSSSS!" She grabs Adagio by the wrist to bring her over the couch. "C'mon, Dagi, we've finally got time to show you what you've been missing!" To my surprise, Adagio actually giggles a little and goes along with it. "Alright, alright, suppose I've nothing better to do." Smiling, she gives me one last look. "Sleep tight, Aria, we'll see you in the morning." I don't think of this one as an order so much as one of those normal-family things. It's been a long, long time since we were one of those. --- When I wake up, I'm instantly punched in the gut by a mess of feelings. All alone, sisters dead, got magic again, sisters actually ghosts, Lemon still around, everything that happened over the last day or so. My brain sorts itself out in a minute or two and I check my phone, finding a few more messages from the Rainbooms hoping I'm okay. Part of me actually wants to respond this time, but I have no idea what I'd say to those girls. Hoping I figure it out before I see them at school, I get up and head out to the living room, where I see Adagio trying to comfort Sonata as they float above the couch together. "I keep telling you, it's a nonsense program about a pink dog on a dirt farm, none of it is real." "I know, but it's soooo spooky! Can you believe this is a kids' show?!" "Yes, which is precisely why none of us are in any danger from it." "What're you guys watc-" I catch sight of the screen, along with some unholy abomination of animation that makes me jump back around the corner. "GYAHWHATTHEFUCK?!" "See?!" Sonata is probably pointing at me. "Totally spooky!" I can almost hear Adagio rolling her eyes. "You're both pathetic." "More like you're desensitized!" "I respond to threats and horrific things when they actually exist." "Pfft, whatevs, I'm just glad I don't have to sleep anymore." She gasps. "I'll never have nightmares again! I can watch ALL THE HORROR MOVIES!!" Trying not to look at the screen again, I step out where they can see me, getting a wave from Adagio. "Sleep well? I hope Sonata's screaming didn't wake you." "Screw you, cats are not meant to have British accents!!" In light of that... thing I spotted, I'm actually scared to ask what they're talking about. "Uh, I-I'm fine, thanks." I head to the kitchen for a bite, ignoring Sonata's pleas to change the channel. --- We watch some stupid game show together while I eat, then it's time to get ready for school. "Ooh," Sonata chirps, "you should raid our closets for a whole new look! Not like we need the outfits anymore." I glance down at myself. "What's wrong with a hoodie and jeans?" "Other than it being totally boring? It's frumpy, and doesn't show off your cute butt at all!" It's been a few years since we came to this world. I'm comfortable with my human body. Really. The exceptions to that are when I'm naked when no one else is, and when people (usually Sonata) eye me up when I don't want them to. In Sonata's case, I never want her to. That is the only reason I turn red and try to cover myself even while fully clothed. "Y-you, you keep your eyes to yourself!!" Adagio shrugs. "You won't garner as much respect if you don't put any effort into your appearance. Make use of our wardrobes if you like, but your old dance outfit should be fine." She gives me a self-effacing smile. "At least we know the pants will fit this time, right?" I chuckle, then really take a minute to think about it. It's a new day for me, and I can present myself to the world however I want. I could just stick with what I've got now. Clothes are clothes, and I'm fully dressed. It's not all that flattering, but I don't draw extra attention this way either. On the other hand, I kinda like my own outfits. They're unique, they're me, but I just wasn't in a mood to care what I wore before. Still, what message would it send if I came in looking like I did when we first showed up? Or maybe I do something totally different, reinvent my look like Sunset did some time after we skipped town. Sonata and Adagio even gave me permission to take their clothes, so I could wear pretty much anything in the house if I wanted to. Heh, I hate to be stereotypical, but it's a pretty normal 'girly' problem: What should I wear?