Guest: Wow, I can't believe I managed to be that convincing.
I am a burglar: Good.
Al Drin Hoshizora: Yes.
Korrasami 88: Don't start, okay?
MrScourch: Well that's not good enough for Arabella, is it? No, Ghoul's not part of the school staff; she doesn't even have a job yet. Hopefully, the tax collector won't come for a long time.
Antha1: Meg moved to San Francisco. As for the Boss...eh, plot.
After Riley had left for school, Jill extended Ghoul to go home. Oddly enough, she didn't.
The younger woman stood in the living room, looking particularly odd. Her feet were shifting, her hands were clasped together, and she was looking around the house, as if searching for something. She was making a low whistling sound to ease the silence.
Jill stared at Ghoul, confused. Is this how Others would act when Freaks weren't around? She wondered to herself. She shook the thought away immediately. Ghoul and the others weren't Others anymore. They were human. . . sort of. Maybe not quite, but getting there.
Eventually, Jill decided to say something. "Hey," She said to Ghoul.
Ghoul's head snapped over to Jill, almost as if she'd forgotten she was standing there. Almost automatically, she replied, "Hi."
Her voice was different now, Jill noticed. It wasn't raspy, like an Other, but rather soft and meek. It sounded especially weird coming out of the mouth of someone dressed like a goth.
An awkward silence followed. Jill said, "What'cha doing?"
"Uh, nothing," Ghoul replied, shrugging her shoulders tensely. She wasn't looking at Jill; her eyes were instead wandering around the room.
Eventually, Ghoul said, "How's Riley?"
Jill blinked once, then said, "Oh, she's doing great. After she was cured, it took a while to get used to a normal life again, but she's getting through it easily, especially now that she's with her mom and dad again."
"Yeah, her mom and dad again," Ghoul said, lowering her head. Jill paused for a moment. Did she hear a twinge of sadness in Ghoul's voice?
Ghoul walked over to the door. "Glad your daughter's doing okay," She called out, not losing the sad tone, before she shut the door behind her and left, leaving Jill alone to contemplate her conversation.
(In Jill's Mind)
"Did you guys catch that?" Sadness asked the other emotions, staring at the door where Ghoul had just left.
"Yeah, something's wrong," Joy agreed, nodding her head. "She showed all the signs. Lowered head, spaced-out eyes, shifty feet, sad tone in her voice...something's definitely up with her."
"How can you tell?" Anger asked, squinting her eyes.
"Come on, we're a mother; we know these things," Joy replied.
Hearing that, Sadness' eyes widened. "Hey, I think that's it!" She said, sitting up in her chair.
"What?" The other emotions asked in unison.
"While Riley was an Other, who was her mother figure?" Sadness quizzed the other emotions.
After a moment's pause, Joy said, with a shrug, "Ghoul?"
"Exactly!" Sadness pointed out. "I think she misses being Riley's mother. Don't you remember what she said to us those few months ago?"
". . . No," The other emotions replied in unison.
Sadness let out a sigh, and pressed a button on the control console. A blue memory orb was lowered, flashing the memory in front of the emotions for them to see. The orb revealed Jill, Ghoul and Noose walking down an empty street during their search for Riley, then Yellowjacket, several months back.
"She's really important to me," Ghoul said in the memory. "With her, I'm not just a creature who munches on Freaks. You see, all my life, I felt like something was missing in my life. She might be that thing I'm missing. She's almost like a. . ."
"Daughter?" Jill finished for her.
"Yeah," Ghoul said, her face brightening up.
The memory came to a close and the orb was restored in Long-Term.
"Oh," The emotions all said after a moment of silence.
After a minute of silence, Anger asked, "Well, what are we supposed to do? We're Riley's mother, not her."
"Riley was the one thing that kept her from just being a brain-eating zombie," Sadness pointed out. "We took that from her." She slumped down on the memory console, deep in thought. The others did the same.
After a while, Joy lit up. "Hey, I have an idea!" She said, her glow brightening up the Headquarters.
The other emotions turned to her. "What do you mean?" Disgust asked.
"She said there was empty void in her life," Joy pointed out.
"No she didn't," Fear said.
"More to the point, all we have to do is give her something to fill that void," Joy said. "And we're going to help her!"
The other emotions smiled in hope. "Joy, you're a genius!" Sadness said. Turning to the other emotions, she said, "Come on, let's go find Ghoul!"
Bill was out in the backward, mowing the lawn, when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Turning around, he saw the Boss approach him.
"Oh, hey Boss," Jill greeted, stopping the lawnmower. "How'd your talk with Arabella go?"
The Boss paused for a moment, then shrugged half-heartedly. "It didn't go well," He admitted, and let out a sigh.
Bill's face fell. "She still hasn't let go of it, huh?" He asked. The Boss nodded.
"Well, how could she?" The Boss asked, throwing out his arms in frustration. "I mean, after what me and my old man did to her? I don't think I'm worthy of her forgiveness."
Bill opened his mouth to offer words of encouragement, then closed it when he realized he had nothing conductive to say. Eventually, he suggested, "My daughter and Arabella are pretty close. Maybe she could say something to her and possibly help her overcome her grudge."
"Yeah, thanks," Boss replied, though he didn't sound particularly confident. Turning around, he began to leave.
After he had left, Bill resumed gardening. As he did, however, he froze, stopping the lawnmower once more and looking around the backyard.
For some reason, he thought he'd heard hissing coming from nearby.
After a few minutes of silence, Bill shrugged it off. "Probably just my imagination," He said, and resumed mowing the lawn.
As he did, he didn't notice several creatures scamper past the fence on all-fours and vanish into the woods nearby.
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