AN: The Subcon fam spends a night relaxing together back on Hat Kid's spaceship.
Sorry about the wait with this chapter, I got focused on writing other things and needed to get that out of my system before I could get this properly finished. Also, quick reminder for my readers on that I do have a Tumblr account where I post fics that don't have categories here yet, so if you're interested feel free to check it out.
Anyways, onto the next chapter!
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The typically quiet spaceship with abuzz with chatter and excitement, primarily due to the fact that it was not just Hat Kid on board at the moment. No, there were more than ten people on the ship, although calling them people was probably not the most accurate description given that most of them were ghosts.
Indeed, several Subconites were currently scattered about the ship, most engaged in some sort of pillow fight. Snatcher was floating near the large window that made up the front of her ship, staring down at the planet, while Christine and Moonjumper were seated on some stairs discussing decorating some of Subcon, brightening the forest up.
Mu was, of course, standing on the railing and loudly telling a story about the various times she had beaten up the Mafia to the Dwellers that had followed her up onto the ship. They were all clustered around her and seemed to be listening intently.
Overall, everyone seemed to be having a fun time and it made Hat Kid happy to see that her suggestion had been a good one.
She had seen how hard her family had been working over the past several days and while Snatcher had tried to keep the construction of the treehouse a secret, Hat Kid had easily picked up on what he was trying to not.
Not that she told him. If her father wanted to present the treehouse as a surprise present to her and Mu, then she did not want to spoil it! Plus, she was certain if she did, Moonjumper would start crying.
And that was something absolutely no one wanted.
But she did want everyone to takes breaks and not overworked, and a sleepover was the perfect thing for that! Christine and some of the Subconites would get to check her ship out, Moonjumper could stare at the stars and make up all sorts of constellations and stories about them, and Mu didn't have to worry about staying warm, everything was perfect!
Well, Cooking Cat agreeing to make food in advance was what really sealed the deal for Mu. The mustached girl was still fairly wary towards whatever Hat Kid kept in her fridge, and she still had not checked out the cupboards to see what they contained.
She was scared to, to put it bluntly. Fearful of whatever food-based monstrosity lurked in the darkness…
Like stinky, smelly fish.
So, after Mu had been appeased and seen what Cooking Cat had made, simple things like sandwiches, and everyone had arrived, Hat Kid had rushed off to her room and eagerly prepared for the sleepover by changing into a bag of lilac purple pajamas with tiny top hats scattered about, and a pillow.
She knew for a fact that the Subconites were going to drag her into their brawl at some point.
However, before she left, she quickly grabbed something else from one of her drawers and hid it from sight. Now properly armed, Hat Kid practically skipped back into the main part of her ship. She quickly scanned the group, double checking to see if Snatcher was still looking into space…
He was.
Perfect.
"You look absolutely adorable, my hatted niece!" Moonjumper exclaimed as he caught sight of Hat Kid, floating up into the air and clasping his hands together. "Truly wonder! A magnificent taste in fashion!"
Christine nodded in agreement. "I'd say it could use a bit more flowers, but maybe we'll get you some other pajamas that have different things on them."
"Like stars!"
Hat Kid grinned at the enthusiastic comments. "Yeah! Besides, I bet dad's got tons of pons to spend on a shopping spree! He's super stingy!"
Both Christine and Moonjumper started chuckling at the comment while Snatcher looked over at the trio and crossed his arms.
"HEY! There's nothing wrong with being stingy about money! You know how inflated the prices for kids' stuff are nowadays?!"
The laughter from the other two adults grew louder as the playing Subconites paused, exchanged a look with one another, shrugged, and resumed their games. It was while Snatcher was somewhat pouting, continuing to argue his point about markets gouging people with their prices, that Hat Kid made her move.
She crept over to him, glowing eyes wide and the perfect picture of innocence. When her father looked down, crossing his arms in annoyance, he took note of the expression on her face, as well as her sudden closeness, and squinted.
"What're you up to, kiddo?"
Smile practically blinding, Hat Kid revealed the item she had taken from her room as she lifted it up and showed it to her father.
It was a ribbon.
"Can you put my hair in a ponytail please?"
Off to the side, Moonjumper could be heard cooing over the adorable sight while Christine grinned upon seeing the looking of confusion that appeared on Snatcher's face. Confusion that slowly turned into acceptance as he sighed and floated lower so he could better reach his daughter's hair.
"Sure, just turn around and hold still. No fidgeting."
Hat Kid bounced up and down as she nodded in excitement before spinning around. A fond smile crossed Snatcher's face as he reached out and accepted the ribbon that she had forgotten to give him and quickly got to work. It was a bright yellow, something that matched her typical attire, and felt soft.
It was clearly a high-quality item, and Snatcher wonder to himself for a moment where she had gotten such a thing before shaking his head and focusing on carefully combing his claws through her hair to get rid of any tangles. Perhaps her prior guardian had gifted it to her…
"They look so cute." Christine gushed as she leaned towards Moonjumper, doing her best to keep her voice low. "And he's so focused…"
Indeed, Snatcher's eyes were narrowed with a rarely seen concentration as he carefully worked to put his daughter's hair into a ponytail. Hat Kid's eyes were closed with content, a soft smile gracing her face. It was surprising how adept he was at handling her hair, easily working getting the ribbon into place.
"I am amazed he is doing so well." Moonjumper quietly commented. "Especially for not recalling how frequently…"
Christine bumped the corpse with her shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts and reminiscing. "Hey, muscle memory-er, ghost muscle memory?"
Moonjumper shrugged, also not certain of what to call such a thing but agreeing with the frozen woman. "I suppose that explanation makes sense given our division back then. Still, it certainly is nice seeing him enjoy such a thing once again."
A quiet, somewhat sorrowful sigh escaped Christine as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's so weird how it takes me back, and-"
She reached a hand behind her and poked at her own long ponytail. Her heart clenched as the stiff, frozen substance refused to move. Such an important part of her past and childhood, those days where her friends would braid flowers into one another's hair and dance, one more thing that had been taken from her.
Christine was snapped out of her thoughts as Moonjumper reached out to take her hand, pulling it away from her hair and gently holding it. She blinked in surprise, confused by his gesture but appreciating his attempt at cheering her up while he tilted his head to the side and sweetly smiled.
Neither of them knew how long they stayed like this for, and they certainly would have remained like that for quite some time had Hat Kid not run over to them.
"Look! Look!" She exclaimed, practically dancing in place as she turned around to show off her new ponytail and the ribbon that bounced above it in response to her movements. "Doesn't it look great?!"
"Absolutely wonderful!" Moonjumper cried as he clapped his hands together while Christine grinned and sent Snatcher two thumbs up.
"Maybe you should try opening a salon instead of ruling the forest. I'm sure you'll make enough money that to buy all those expensive products you were talking about earlier." She teased, making Snatcher huff and Hat Kid laugh.
"Yeah? Well-"
"Oh!" Moonjumper interrupted while quickly raising one of his hands. "May I speak?"
"… Sure?" Snatcher replied, confusion clear in his voice.
"Would it be possible to teach me your techniques?" He queried. "For if sweet Mu ever wanted to change her hair-"
"HEY!"
Speak of the devil and she shall appear.
Mu stomped over to the group, several Dwellers floating after her. Upon reaching the group she halted and crossed her arms, foot tapping angrily on the ground as she glared at Moonjumper. "What're you weirdos talking about?!"
The corpse, not at all bothered by the girl's foul attitude, grinned and happily waved at Mu. "Hello there!"
"Don't start acting all cheerful!" Mu spat, aggression in her voice and stance. "What're you gonna do to my hair?!"
Moonjumper blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "… Nothing? I simply wished to increase my knowledge on such a thing, especially if you ever wanted to change up your hairstyle, perhaps by adding more beads to it!"
It was the mention of beads that calmed Mu down rather than the explanation, the angered expression vanishing from her face as it was replaced by a look of confusion and curiosity. Beads, why did that word sound so… familiar?
Beads. Beads and hair. Beads, hair, and a guardian offering to help-
Mu was snapped out of her thoughts as a Dweller bumped against her side. She let out a surprised yelp and playfully thumped its mask. "What? Do you wanna mess with my hair too?"
The Dweller simply floated in place, hollow eyes focused on her and her alone. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Ugh, you guys as the worst at talking!"
It was at this moment that Christine decided to comment on the situation. "Maybe that's why they like you so much. They really quiet so it's hard for people to hear them, but since you're so loud-"
Moonjumper coughed and elbowed Christine at that, but she continued speaking.
"Loud enough to be heard, maybe they feel like they can be heard with you. Like they have more of a presence. They could look up to you for that and feel grateful."
The mustached girl squinted at Christine in confusion while the other adults and Hat Kid exchanged an amused look at this sudden conversation and confidence boosting session. Was it spontaneous? Yes. Did that make it annoying? No.
If anything, Hat Kid was happy to see Mu and Christine conversing more since she had not seen them interact all that often in Subcon.
Mu puffed out her chest with pride, smacking a closed fist against it. "Yeah! You're right! It must be super awesome to have someone as great as me stick up for em!"
Granted, further inflating Mu's ego was not something anyone wanted. Moonjumper was quick to change the topic of the conversation, switching it back to what it previously had been.
"So, you would be alright with me practicing styling hair, yes?" He questioned, wide and hopefully eyes fixated on the mustached girl as his hands were clasped together in a pleading gesture.
Mu frowned; a bit annoyed at the change in topic, but she did answer his question. "Only if I say yes, got it?"
"Of course!" Moonjumper was quick to nod. "However, we do need to discuss things such as hair cuts and checkups to make sure you are healthy at some point. I worry about how healthy you are after… all that you have been through."
She huffed and looked off to the side, a futile attempt to hide the faint blush that was now present on her face. "Fine! Just make sure you get lessons from someone who has hair, baldy!"
"I am not bald! I simply lost some of my head while I was imprisoned." Moonjumper squawked.
Now one would assume that Snatcher would have immediately been bothered by the mention of imprisonment, but his attention had been caught by something else.
He snorted into his shadowy claws and started laughing madly. Moonjumper squinted at Snatcher suspiciously, not quite getting what he found to be so funny, while Christine caught on immediately and began laughing as well.
"What is it?! What did I say?!"
He floated back and forth between the pair, desperately trying to figure out what was going on and what joke he had made. The two children could only stare at the bizarre interaction, blinking in confusion.
"Adults are weird." Hat Kid said with Mu nodding along in agreement.
"Super weird!"
The rest of the night was far less eventful. Mu and Hat Kid were able to decorate some cupcakes thanks to Cooking Cat having left some in the fridge for the pair, with icing occasionally getting smeared on someone's face of course. Things ended up intensifying a bit due to the Subconites intervening in the cooking session, slowly fighting over the icing and how to decorate them before eventually devolving into an all-out icing war.
A war that resulted in Snatcher getting nailed in the face with several cupcakes.
Needless to say, Hat Kid was glad her ship had multiple cameras scattered about. Excellent blackmail material.
After the mess was cleaned up, the adults helping to reach some of the cupcakes that had gotten stuck on the ceiling while Snatcher practically drowned himself in the washing machine in the back section of the ship, Hat Kid was quick to move her mound of pillows out into the main room so everyone could relax on them.
Surprisingly enough, as the group moved into the main room to relax and chat, Snatcher started telling stories. The Subconites, Dwellers, and children clustered around him as he spun tales about all sorts of fantastical things. Forest spirits and tales he had read about in his collection of books. There were several times where Moonjumper would seemingly illustrate certain parts of these stories, using his strings to create the characters and have them act out their parts, like a puppet show.
Overall, it was a nice night for the makeshift family to spend together, especially since it gave the adults a break from working on the nearly complete treehouse. Speaking of which, Snatcher still needed to drag some electricians to the forest to finish up the wiring…
Eh, he could do that tomorrow.
Much later after the children had gone to bed and the Subconites had settled down for their own rest, Christine and Snatcher stood at the front of the ship and gazed out at the void of space around them. The control panel in front of them beeped and glowed, alien machinery working hard to keep the ship stabilized in orbit while providing the necessary life support. Hat Kid had not discussed the inner workings of her ship for obvious reasons, no one among them would be able to understand what anything meant, but she had made it abundantly clear that no one was to touch anything.
A rule that everyone intended to follow.
"The stars look so beautiful from up here." Christine sighed as she took in all the stars she could now see. "You and MJ are so lucky being able to fly around…"
Snatcher crossed his arms and chuckled. "Want us to carry you around or something? Be a dainty damsel-"
His words were cut off as Christine playfully shoved him. "Oh, you stop that! You know I'm the furthest thing from dainty."
"You didn't say no to being carried around though."
She was pleasantly surprised to be able to engage in such banter yet again. Such a thing had been a common part of her childhood, joking with one another while working on their chores or other tasks. Christine always having preferred to go out and work in the fields, physical labour being far more enjoyable than the other menial tasks her mother had often tried to get her to like.
She rolled her eyes and playfully stuck her tongue out at Snatcher, resulting in him returning her prior shove with one of his own. She let out a laugh as she stumbled a bit, hand instinctively resting on the console in front of them to catch herself.
"Ha ha, very funny." She teased as she rightened herself, hand leaving the console.
"Moonboy would know more about stars and that crap if you're interested." Snatcher suddenly said as he gestured towards the room the corpse was currently in. "He'd be the one to ask. Probably gush about it for hours."
Christine nodded in thanks and took a step away from the window. "I'll definitely have to ask him about that, then, and speaking of him we should probably head back to the kids and check on them. Don't want your daughter being sad without you~"
Snatcher did his best to hide his smile, but there was no denying how his mouth twitched up into a grin. "Yeah, yeah, just don't act so smug about all that."
The frozen woman happily laughed and made her way towards the room where everyone was currently sleeping, Snatcher floating along after her. Unfortunately, as the pair moved away from the ship's control system and the series of complicated buttons that covered practically every visible surface, both failed to notice that a light which had previously been off, was now turned on.
Glowing and blinking, none were aware of what this button was for, or what its activation meant.
For now, and for in the future.
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In the darkness a single, glowing purple eye fixated on a screen, taking note of that signal their ship had just received and the coordinates attached to it. The owner of said eye leaned back in their chair and sighed, an exasperated noise.
"Oh great, another shithead who needs help. Tinker, set the course!"
"Aye, Captain!"
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AN: Oh dear, wonder what that button was…