Mahina woke up the next morning, not really excited for the day. She tossed and turned in her sleeping bag bed.
On one hand: she knew how important today was. All the amazing things that would come in the future were started today. Stitch being adopted, that training montage, Nani being fired from her job, and then Stitch questioning basically his entire life's purpose. Basically: a good day to exist alongside the characters.
On the other hand: that meant Mahina had to get out of bed.
So an even split.
After another twenty minutes of debate, Mahina got out of 'bed'.
She'd decided that even if the effort wasn't worth it, she could always come back to 'bed'. She lived alone, who was gonna stop her from sleeping all day?
A worthy goal, if there ever was one.
==M&J==
Most of the morning went by fast, thankfully.
Mahina had gotten herself a juice cup, drinking it to get in some morning sugar while watching a boring street. She was aware she could've snuck down to the Pet Adoption clinic to watch Stitch get adopted, or to keep Jumba and Pleakley from going full idiot, but that was so much walking and Mahina had no bike.
She should really get around to stealing one...
Or building one.
Mahina huffed at the idea of doing work.
'Okay but let's put a pin in that idea.' Mahina told herself, sipping some more juice.
'Cause a bike sounds cool. I mean unless it's SuperBike. That thing is a demon nightmare...can't wait to meet him.'
While Mahina enjoyed herself with a juice box, up the road Myrtle and her gang were riding this bikes. Mahina heard the jingling of the bells. She hummed in confusion.
'Feels a little early, for that. Unless-' Mahina checked her wrist, which had no watch. '...in that case whatever time is the perfect time.'
The girls froze, as Stitch approached them.
Mahina's heart literally exploded.
'HE IS EVEN CUTER AND FLUFFIER IN PERSON!' She squeaked, cause it was true. Stitch was without a doubt the cutest thing that Mahina had ever seen.
And she'd seen newborn puppies.
'LOOK AT HIS EYES!' Mahina cooed to herself. 'My heart is going to explode. It's decided- it's done. I'm just waiting for it to pop at the cuteness.'
"My friends!" Lilo shouted in delight. Lilo ran up the road to the other girls.
Mahina crossed the street, walking closer to them. She stopped to hide, unnoticed.
The girls screamed, trying to get away from Lilo. She ran in front of them to block their path.
"What do you want?" Myrtle snapped.
"I'm sorry I bit you and pulled your hair and punched you in the face." Lilo apologized.
"Apology not accepted." Myrtle answered. Mahina thought that was rather rude of the little girl. "Now get out of my way before I run you over."
Stitch ran up to Lilo's side, innocent as ever. Mahina cooed at him. The other girls straight up screamed.
"I got a new dog." Lilo cheered. "His name is Stitch."
"That is the ugliest thing I have ever saw." Myrtle insulted.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Mahina became enraged. She ran to the crosswalk, stopping at Stitch's side. "Your dog is awesome!" Mahina told Lilo. "And he's fluffy."
Lilo beamed. "Thanks! Mahina, right?"
"Yeah!" Mahina had to hold back from squealing. 'Lilo knows my name- she knows my name-SHE KNOWS MY NAME!'
Stitch sniffed at Myrtle's bike. "Eww! Get it away from me! I'm gonna get a disease!" Myrtle ordered.
Stitch pushed Myrtle off, jumping on the back. He lifted Lilo up onto the back of the bike.
Myrtle sobbed.
"Somebody do something!" One of the kids screamed.
Mahina waved Lilo goodbye.
Once the two were off in the distance, Mahina had to run off to avoid the screaming children. The screams were irritating her.
She didn't get too far down the street before she saw him.
Bubbles!
There was a small squeak from somewhere. Mahina was not entirely sure who. It could've been another small child. Who knew?
She knew she had a real problem- she had to move fast.
She spotted Pleakley and Jumba, pretending to hide behind newspapers.
Mahina saw an opportunity.
Mahina ran up to Pleakley and Jumba. The two aliens pretended she wasn't there. "Okay. This is going to sound very weird, but I need you guys to pretend to be my parents. I'll give you each twenty dollars."
To prove it, she pulled up the two bills from her small knapsack.
Jumba sneered at the offered money. Pleakley on the other hand cooed in delight.
"I heard about this!" Pleakley cheered. He turned to Jumba, pulling him closer to whisper. "Those are called 'bucks'. Earthlings exchange them for food or shoes!" They reaches for the twenty, staring at it with a wide eye of joy. "How fascinating!"
"Yeah they're cool. Can I stand with you?" Mahina pressed. "That's how 'bucks' work. I give you 'bucks', you go with it."
"Really?" Pleakley asked.
'They are worse at pretending to be human than me.' Mahina thought. "Yes."
Pleakley stared in awe. "Amazing!"
So Mahina stood between the two aliens. She did her best to make it look natural, in preparation against Bubbles. She took one of the pieces of paper from them, reading it over.
Someone walked up. Mahina ignored him, focusing instead on a story in the paper.
A finger pushed the paper down. Mahina stared up at Bubbles. "Hello Mister Bubbles." She greeted.
Bubbles glanced at Jumba and Pleakley. They lowered their papers, surprised to see the agent there. "Mahina."
Mahina hummed. "This is she." She used a hand to wave at him. "Hi again!"
Bubbles glanced up at the two aliens, who stared right back. "So. You're Mahina's parents?"
The two aliens reacted like any normal people would when told they'd been thrust into parenthood.
"Yep!" Mahina smiled. "This is the mother and the father. This is Mom." Mahina introduced. "And this is my Pops!"
Pleakley smiled tightly. Jumba was-reasonably- annoyed. "Hey- you didn't-"
"Oh yes. This is our little girl!" Pleakley cheered. He pulled Mahina up into his arms, which Mahina reasonably didn't like. "Such a- sweetie!" Pleakley pinched Mahina's cheek.
She jumped out of his arms, getting back to her feet. "See? Parents."
Bubbles watched them from behind his sunglasses.
Mahina grinned happily back.
Bubbles looked up at Pleakley and Jumba. They were less cool under the pressure. Pleakley whistled loudly to pretend he was innocent. Jumba put the newspaper back over his face.
Bubbles hummed. "I'll be seeing you around." He pulled down the shades to give the two aliens harder stares. Pleakley winced, looking anywhere other than Bubbles. Jumba was hiding behind the newspaper still. "Good to see you up from your nap."
Jumba ignored the humans.
When the agent walked away, into the rental car then driving out of sight, Mahina let out a relaxed breath. She plopped down on the ground, huffing.
"Great. Just great." She muttered to herself. "That's what I wanted today."
"What just happened?!" Pleakley yelped, panicking.
"That was Cobra Bubbles, a social service worker." Mahina explained. "He's trying to take me away. But I like it here. So I'm not leaving."
Pleakley rubbed her hair. "Don't worry, little earth child. I'm sure you can stay."
"I'm going to." Mahina stated, confused at the idea that she'd be sent away from here. 'Like they could catch me. I was in the FBI for five years. I know all their tricks, the bastards.' "So what's next?"
"Nononono-not stay here." He tried pushing her away by the pushing on her head. "Now, go away. We're on important business! We don't have time to babysit!"
"How's stalking Lilo important business?" Mahina asked.
"You know that girl?" Jumba asked, sounding happy at the news.
"She's my friend...ish." Mahina admitted. "She's probably chasing after her new dog, Stitch. Myrtle said he's an ugly dog, but I think he's cute and fluffy. Why're you stalking Lilo?"
"We are not stalking earth girl." Jumba explained with an overdramatic roll of his eyes. There was some heavy disgust in his voice, or maybe it was just his accent. "We are stalking little blue experi-" Jumba was elbowed by Pleakley.
"You're stalking a little girl's...dog?" Mahina pointed out. "That's not much better..."
"We are not even stalking!" Jumba excused. "It was my experiment!"
"So why don't you just tell Lilo that?" Mahina asked. "She'd probably give it back if you said your dog got lost."
"Because...!" Jumba shouted, not dragging off. He looked at Pleakley. "Because...?"
"Because we can't interact with the humans-I mean with the girl." Pleakley answered.
Then it was like a spark went off between their two collective brain cells. Jumba and Pleakley looked down to Mahina, who was staring flatley at them.
"...right." Mahina remarked, dryly. "Would the dog bite you if you got close?"
"Possibly." Jumba admitted.
"Jumba!" Pleakley hissed under his breath.
"Ah. Did you guys scare him? Cause I run away when I'm scared of something." Mahina asked. "The best place is this tiny grove of trees in the woods-"
"Wait. You said you know girl with 626?" Jumba recalled.
Mahina beamed. "That's Lilo."
"So...you can show us where little girl is?" Jumba interrupted. "Help get back Experi-" He was elbowed again by Pleakley. "-...dog?"
Mahina nodded.
'Hook, line, and sinker. Guess it was a good idea to get out of bed.'
==M&J==
For the rest of the day, Mahina helped Jumba and Pleakley track down Lilo and Stitch. It was actually easy, once you got into the swing of it. Multiple failures at training a dog, which would've been better on an actually dog.
Mahina almost felt bad for Stitch. She knew what it was like to want to leave but you were tied down. Then again, she left places to help instead of destroy, so clearly the overlap want very far.
Jumba had taken great joy in seeing Stitch so distressed all day. Mahina had tried not to laugh, instead giggling behind more juice boxes. Whenever Jumba mocked Stitch, taunting him with the weapon or words yet not using the weapon, Mahina would turn away. Second hand embarrassment, ya know?
Mahina often used her 'credit card' to buy things while they watched. Pleakley seemed to tolerate her presence as long as Mahina gave them 'bucks'. So who was she to argue? Plus Pleakley understanding of the monetary system of Earth was hilarious.
As the sun set, Mahina's party and Lilo's party ended up at Nani's place of work. It was pure luck they were sat beside Lilo's table.
Mahina had ordered food for the table. She was eating a vegetable bowl (no matter how much her mind complained) while the aliens had some bigger meals with fish.
"This is ridiculous. I feel ridiculous." Pleakley whined, running a hand in his new wig.
"No, it looks great." Mahina assured. She bit into a carrot. "The black suits you better than the red."
Pleakley pouted. "It's still not fair."
"Well...the dress looks nice." Mahina tried again.
Jumba laughed. "HA! It looks like-"
"No! Shut up!" Mahina punched his arm. He yelped in surprise. Mahina leaned closer to him. "Do you want him to start crying?!"
Jumba winced. Pleakley was already whimpering, headed towards the start of a heavy sob fest. "Eh...it's not worst dress."
"Y-you- you mean it?" Pleakley asked.
Jumba rolled his eyes. Mahina glared at him. "Yes."
Pleakley beamed.
Mahina leaned towards Jumba. "But you were right. It's ugly."
Jumba grinned.
Mahina heard Lilo speaking at the next table. She leaned back in her seat, tilting her head so she could hear.
"This is you. This is your badness level. It's unusually high for someone your size." Lilo explained to Stitch. "We have to fix that."
David walked by the table. Mahina winced in sympathy at the soot marks all over his body.
"Ay-yi-yi, Lilo! Your dog cannot sit at the table." Nani scolded.
"Stitch is troubled. He needs desserts." Lilo assured.
"Oh, you didn't even eat your sweet potato. I thought you liked them." Nani commented.
"Desserts!" Lilo repeated. "David! I got a new dog." Lilo announced.
"Oh! You sure it's a dog?" David asked.
Jumba sneered- like he had any time today people called Stitch a dog. Mahina giggled. His irritation was hilarious.
"Uh-huh. He used to be a collie before he got ran over." Lilo explained.
Mahina giggled into her hand. Jumba scoffed.
"Yum!" Lilo cheered. Mahina grimaced at the sounds of Stitch eating the two slices of cake. "Hey..." Lilo complained. Stitch spat the cakes back out. "Ew!"
Mahina giggled again. She couldn't really see what was going on. A mixture of being too short and a screen divider between the two tables.
"Howzit, Nani?"
"Did you catch fire again?"
"Nah, just the stage. Listen, I was wondering if you're not doing anything this-"
Mahina took another big bite of her dinner. She glanced up, seeing Jumba reach for the phaser. Mahina did a quick switch- trading the gun for the leg of alien meat that Jumba thought he'd hidden rather well. It smelled like old beef.
When Jumba raised the leg to fire, you can imagine his expression when he saw it was just the leg. He knew immediately who'd done it. "Pleakley-" He growled.
Pleakley looked up from the mirror he was looking in. He had been fluffing his hair. "Huh?"
Mahina snickered. She put the phaser away. She pulled out a string.
"Give me back-"
"Hey use this." Mahina held out the string.
"I don't need-" Jumba glared at her. "You took it-"
Mahina tilted her head in faux confusion. "Took what?" She held the string up higher. "Stealing is wrong, Mister Jumba."
Jumba glowered. "You-"
"Jumba! Shh!" Pleakley scolded.
Jumba waved his arms at Mahina.
Pleakley hushed him again. He raised his hand, blocking his mouth from Mahina. "We can't be caught." He whispered. "We need her help to get back the prisoner!"
Jumba growled. He hated it when Pleakley took the girl's side.
Still. He took the string from Mahina, tying around the bone of the meat leg.
Mahina beamed proudly at his simmering annoyance/rage.
Jumba tossed the leg towards Lilo and Stitch's table. Mahina grimaced at the smell, going back to her nearly finished vegetable bowl.
Stitch cooed. He sniffed, coming down from the table to follow it.
Jumba grabbed Stitch by the back. He lifted him up by the scruff. "Aha! Look what I find!" Jumba boasted.
"Quit shouting!" Mahina scolded. "Other people can see!"
"Get restraints!" Jumba ordered Pleakley, speaking over Mahina.
"Right." Pleakley nodded.
Mahina sighed, hiding her face behind her hand.
"Ow! Take that! Hurry!"
"Uh, hold still just a-"
Stitch leapt out from Jumba's hands. He went over Mahina's head, latching onto Pleakley. The alien screamed.
Nani ran up. She tried to pull Stitch off, but Stitch latched on. Mahina's hand shot up, hitting Stitch in the stomach. The experiment whined, mouth opening wide. Mahina pulled him off Pleakley, tossing him to the ground.
"Sorry Lilo!" Mahina apologized, ducking behind her seat again.
Pleakley coughing, trying to get Stitch's spit off his head.
Mahina was regretting every decision she had ever made in her life. She had hit Stitch. Hit Stitch. Why hadn't she just splashed him with the water jug?! Her life was over. OVER!
The manager walked up to the table. "Hey, Nani! Is that your dog?" The manager demanded.
"Uh..." Nani turned to the small Reality Jumper.
Mahina was frowning guiltily at the server. "I'm sorry I hit him!" She repeated. "That was mean-"
"All is well." Pleakley spoke up, finally done with coughing. He patted Mahina on the head. "Please, go about your business. I'm okay."
"Oh, your head looks swollen." Nani remarked.
"Actually, she's just ugly." Jumba answered dryly.
Pleakley laughed awkwardly. "Darling...He's joking." He waved his hand, dismissively. "Ugly... look at me..."
"He's right, Mom, you're ugly." Mahina stated with the same bluntness. She added a wide smile. Jumba grinned smugly. "Don't look too excited, Pops. You're ugly too."
Jumba gawked at her. "Why you little-"
Mahina stuck her tongue out at him. She ducked beneath the table.
"Get back here!" Jumba reached for her.
Climbing up from the other side of the table, Mahina made a dash for the exit. Jumba gave chase after her. Pleakley yelped in fear, rushing after the two of them.
==M&J==
Mahina found them again on the hill side, watching over Lilo's house.
Over her back was her sleeping bag, with a change of dress for tomorrow. She found Jumba looking through binoculars, while Pleakley was setting up equipment.
"Hi." She greeted.
Jumba jumped in the air, yelping. Mahina was surprised Pleakley hadn't hit the tree, he jumped so high. She laughed on the inside. On the outside, she dropped her sleeping bag onto the ground.
"You scream really loud." Mahina noted. She settled down on her sleeping bag while the aliens got their breathing back to rights. "You told me Stitch could hear it when you were loud. Isn't he gonna hear you scream really loud?"
Jumba glared at Mahina. "You! How did you find us?!"
"You wanted to find Stitch, who wouldn't leave Lilo." Mahina listed. "So I knew you'd go to her house next. It made sense. And was I wrong?" Mahina waved her arms to the makeshift camp of the aliens.
Jumba huffed in annoyance. Cause unfortunately, she was right. "You- you!"
"Me- me." Mahina replied. She sat down on her sleeping bag. "I'm super smart. Deal with it."
"No! We do not need to deal with it! You will go home!" Jumba pointed off into the woods.
"A little girl in the woods at night?" Mahina questioned. "That's insane. I could die. Then there would be questions, and the worst kind of questions, and Bubbles would ask the two of you those questions." Jumba paused. Mahina grinned, pleased as punch. "See? Super smart."
Jumba grumbled to himself, going back to the binoculars.
Pleakley came up to Mahina's side. "Sorry small- uh- girl. You need to go back home."
"Okay." Mahina shifted on her sleeping bag. She was proud of herself for the little joke, even if it was depressing. "Got it."
"...now."
"I said I got it." Mahina replied.
"...so could you go-" Mahina gave Pleakley a look. He stopped. "-or stay. Or you can- stay. Wow that's scary."
Mahina beamed. "I know." She'd been practicing it for decades- it was about time she got it right. Most of the time, her face was too cute for the Angry Glare to be perfect. But the Disappointment Face? Mahina could do that perfectly.
Jumba burst out laughing. "This little girl is wasting her time, its destructive programming." Jumba continued to laugh. Mahina tilted her head. "Ooh! Push that over." He was instructing Stitch, from his binoculars. He pulled away from them. Mahina went up to the binoculars. She looked through, seeing Stitch attacking 'San Francisco'. "What are you doing?" Jumba asked Pleakley.
"Nothing!" Pleakley yelped.
"Uh, say, I want to try it on." Jumba insisted.
Mahina snorted, giggling while keeping her eyes on Stitch.
"No!"
"Share! Let me try it!"
"Hey! Ow! You're just jealous 'cause I'm pretty!" Pleakley whined.
Mahina turned around, in time to see Jumba wearing the wig. She giggled at how stupid it looked on him. Jumba turned to him, narrowing his four eyes.
"What are you laughing at?" Jumba questioned. Mahina giggled again. "Hey- hey! What is so funny?" She moved fast to dodge him, for he had charged at her continued giggles. "Stop that!"
"No!" Mahina giggled.
Pleakley yelped loudly.
Mahina wasn't sure why for a second. She hadn't stepped on him. Mahina gasped when she saw the mosquito resting on Pleakley's arm.
"Don't move." Pleakley instructed Mahina and Jumba. "A mosquito has chosen me as her perch. She's so beautiful."
"Pleakley that's not a good-" Mahina squeaked, cowering away from the other approaching mosquitos.
Pleakley cooed at them. "Look, another one. And another one!" Soon, Pleakley's entire head was covered in mosquitos. "Why, it's a whole flock. And they like me! They're nuzzling my flesh with their noses. Now they're, um, they're..."
The alien shrieked. Mahina pitied him.
==M&J==
Mahina was wrapping gauze on Pleakley's arm. The alien continued to whimper, pained.
"It's so weird. Mosquito bites usually don't hurt that bad." Mahina remarked. She finished off the wrapping. "Usually the bites just itch really bad. Then again, those were a lot of them at once. Oh! Or maybe it's cause you're- ahem."
"What?" Pleakley asked, snapping his head around to Mahina. "What is it? What happened?"
Mahina winced. "Nothing- nothing. Pretend I said noth-"
"No what is it?! What's wrong?"
"Well maybe it's because you're an alien." Mahina stated. "Your skin may be more thin than a human's, which could be why it hurt."
Pleakley gasped, flailing backwards. "Whaaaaaat? Alien? Haha nonono I'm not a- no!" Pleakley laughed awkwardly.
Mahina sighed, lowering her head for a moment. When she raised it, her hands were on her hips. "You have one eye." She remarked plainly.
"So?" Pleakley laughed awkwardly again. "That's normal."
"No, no. It's really not." Mahina shook her head. "Also you have three legs. You don't have finger fingers on your hands, and there is an antenna on your head. You couldn't be more alien if you tried."
"I'm not an alien-"
"He has four eyes!" Mahina added, throwing her arms out towards Jumba. He'd looked into the binoculars once Pleakley started screaming to hide his own laughter. Pity, cause that meant Mahina had to be the Good One and tend to him. "And he's purple! Purple! You're the worst fake humans I've ever met."
Pleakley winced.
"What, got another argument that's stupid?" Mahina asked, going back to settle on her sleeping bag. "Cause I've known all day and trust me, you two have only gotten more alien like."
"Wait- you knew?!" Pleakley yelped. "All day!?
"Yes." Mahina replied. "You were the worst fake humans I've ever met."
"And- and you stuck around!?"
'Well...I'm the second worst fake human.' Mahina thought to herself. "Yeah." She beamed.
There was a long stretch of silence. Mahina settled under her sleeping bag. She was feeling tired, after the long craziness of her day.
"Now, this is interesting." Jumba remarked.
"What?" Pleakley asked.
"To be a monster but now he has nothing to destroy." Jumba explained. He settled onto his sleeping bag as well. "You see, I never gave him a greater purpose. What must it be like to have nothing...not even memories to visit in the middle of the night?"
Mahina worried her lip under her teeth. She let herself think, ponder about the moments in her life. She was twenty-six, there were a lot of moments to wonder about.
"...he has today. And yesterday, and the day before that." Mahina mused. The two aliens glanced at her. "He has day with Lilo. I bet...from what I've seen, I bet he wants more of those."
Mahina herself could understand that. She could remember the few happy days she had, where she could forget that she was less than human. Days that made Mahina think it was worth it, that all the struggles she had gone through came through to give her this amazing day. It wa something to look forward to on the days where everything sucked. Mahina held onto the good days like they were a lifeline.
Days...like today.
"Your real mother and father must be worried about you." Pleakley pointed out. He failed at trying to subtly push the Reality Jumper away from the camp.
Mahina curled away from them, snuggling deeper into her sleeping bag.
The scientist rolled his eyes. "Listen up." He sounded angry. Mahina tilted her head curiously. "Leave us alone. We have more important things to deal with than another annoying Earth girl. We can follow them alone. No need for your help now. Go away."
Mahina settled, crossing her arms under her head to serve as a pillow. "Mahina."
Jumba rolled his eyes. "What?" He turned to Pleakley. "What does that mean?"
"It's my name." Mahina answered, ending the sentence with a yawn. "Mahina. It means moonlight. I like moonlight." She yawned again, putting her head down next to Jumba's bedroll.
The alien scientist was silent for a long time. She was starting to fall asleep.
"You should go home." Jumba finally said.
"I don't have one." She replied with a yawn. "...Stitch got lucky. He found his in a day."
'I'm still looking.'
==M&J==
AN: May the 4th be with you!
Thanks to yukicarr for favoriting and following