Illusion is Reality

Chapter 125

-Some kind of big answer-

Ford had thought that once Blue left, he would be safe. Get a good night's work done for once, into the evening. He was rather comfortably working on the next modification to his notes, a small, low powered prototype on his desk making little humming sounds as he made sure it was functional. It was made to shut off if any interference happened, to keep it from causing any of the 'tearing apart' of space time in the case of disruption. It wasn't strong enough to power a lightbulb, so he figured this was safe enough to work on alone. Besides, his glasses hadn't reacted to this, which meant this was the sort of test that he was allowed to do. All in all, Ford had planned to spend the rest of his evening quietly reworking his notes.

...he should have known the world wasn't that kind.

"HAHAHA- SCIENCE!" he heard as the door to his lab suddenly slammed open.

"Jesus-!" Ford jumped. His prototype powered down instantly. "Blue! For ONCE, why can't you just-" Ford turned and then went shock still. Blue wasn't alone.

"Uh… so where's all your security?" said the glasses-wearing twenty-something year old standing in the doorway. "Seriously, Blue. You do somethin' to all of them, first? This is kinda creepin' me out," he added, strolling in both slowly and looking over things carefully as he went. He was keeping his hands in his pockets.

"Blue makes it his habit to get through all my security." Ford deadpanned, trying to move to put his table between him and his guests, so that less of him was showing. "...Stanley?" Ford asked quietly. ("Uh, yeah?" The Stanley pulled one hand out of his pocket to scratch at the back of his head.) "Which dimension did Blue abduct you from?"

"Uh," said the younger Stanley, before he frowned as he walked up to Blue. "-Thought you said he knew all about other sets and stuff," he said to the demon, frowning a bit, and sort of eyeing Ford uncertainly a little sidelong.

"Well the other Stanford that he's brought here was much… older." Ford explained, just… giving up on hiding his state of dress and hoping that if he was super casual about it, this younger Stanley might think that such clothing was normal in this dimension?

"Shit, wait," said the younger Stan, straightening up in place, before rounding on Blue. "You what?!"

"Lee, Miz's new 'Hand! New 'Hand, Lee!" Blue said, gesturing quickly between them, while keeping up a bit of a smile. He looked like he was practically bouncing on his feet, and like he was trying not to laugh over all this hysterically.

'Lee' let out a breath at this, rolled his eyes, and reached out to drag a hand and an arm around the demon, pulling him in, almost under his armpit completely. (Blue let him do this; practically giggled at this.) "Freaking crazy demon- You okay?" Lee asked Ford next, looking over at Ford again. "You want me to drag him outta here on you, or somethin'?" (An exclamation from the demon at that.)

"I'm… well, having Blue out of my lab, and sight, would do wonders for my continued mental health." Ford admitted.

"Yeah, okay," said Lee. He started to turn away, taking (read: not quite bodily dragging) the protesting demon with, then stopped for a moment and said, "Hey, you eat yet?"

"...no? Not yet. I've… been rather stuck in my lab. As I didn't want to go out there… looking like this." Ford finally admitted.

Lee blinked and then more-visibly looked him over.

"So uh, not the usual thing here, with the frills?" Lee said then, but otherwise more or less shrugging it off, seemingly taking it all in stride. (Well he was wearing some sort of odd-looking black leather jacket there. Most of his clothing was some shade of black. He almost looked like some sort of biker with the way he was standing there, or something. In this respect - the color of his clothing, or lack thereof - he and Blue almost seemed to match.)

"I had wanted to pretend it was, to spare myself the embarrassment, but I'm beginning to realize it's a lost cause." Ford knew he was going to have to leave the lab eventually. (And yes, he could have used his portal device for it, but if that 'penalty' curse was something that was going to just… happen, from now on, he might as well go out and explain it to his staff now.) "Also, I suppose proper introductions are in order. Hello, I'm Stanford Pines, of this dimension."

"Eh, I've seen crazier," said Lee. "I'm Lee Pines, uh, Stanley Pines," he shrugged off. "From this jerk's 'set. Dimension forty-six-apostrophe-backslash-plus, or whatever." ("Not 'whatever'! You got it right!") Lee rolled his eyes at this next, with a sigh.

"It's nice to meet you." The older man nodded, adjusting his glasses and pulling on a lab coat, it helped somewhat to hide his clothing. "Just saying this now, we don't have interdimensional portal travel here in this Set. So… I hope you don't mind?" Ford recalled the other Stanford being rather upset about that.

"Shit, seriously?" Lee said, his eyebrows going up. "How do you get around? And why are you wearin' that shit, if you don't like it so much," he said next, looking over his clothing (and his posture) again with a frown. "I gotta pop somebody in the face for you?" ("No.")

"Well. I have a portal device that gets me around here within this planet." Ford blushed faintly. "And I upset Miz, so this was my punishment? I suppose?"

Lee blinked at him. "The dragon-demon's here?" (Blue chitter-giggled again, then slapped a hand over his own mouth. His eyes were gleaming. Lee tilted his chin down and gave him a really long look.)

"Yes. She's a dear friend of mine. And… has apparently chosen me to be her Zodiac?"

"Uh huh." Lee looked up from the demon and back over his shoulder at Ford. "And ya pissed her off, so now you're wearin' frills? ...How does that work?" Lee looked at him oddly at this next.

Ford sighed. "She likes to embarrass me. Thinks it's funny."

Lee, remembering the way Miz liked pressing herself against him or his twin, or when she 'penalized' by mussing up someone's hair, just sighed. "Yeah, that… sounds like her, actually."

Ford sighed. "Yes, well, I'm going to just get something to eat." He gave Blue a tired look as he stepped out of his lab. The lab coat covered most of it, but his pretty shoes and stockings could still be seen, along with the headdress. Still, this was the best he was going to get. Ah. He was getting odd looks from people. Ford curled up on himself, losing his nerve quickly. But he kept going, because he needed food, and just portalling there would be cheating his punishment, or something? So Ford just ducked his head and hoped people could read the sign he put on, the one reading [I'm being punished] because even if that was embarrassing, at least it would explain to anyone who saw him, the reason why he was dressed the way he was.

Lee turned to talk with him, did a double-take at the sign, and then got a steely look in his eye and ripped it right off him - up over his head, then tore it in half and dumped it in the nearest trashcan down the hallway as they went.

"Fuck that shit," said Lee (as Blue kept on walking beside him despite having been 'freed' from his 'grasp'), "I'll talk with Miz. That shit ain't right." (He didn't like bullying, for one thing.)

"Oh… um…" Ford blinked. "...it's not really that… well, I mean, I know it looks kinda bad but, I agreed to this, out of the list of other outfits…" He sighed, straightening up. "I think she wants me to stop being embarrassed about… this sort of thing, so she puts me through it as some sort of exposure desensitization."

"She tell you that?" Lee said.

"Well, that one time she turned me into a woman, over the summer…"

Lee eyed him. "You got a choice in wearin' it? Or bein' a girl?"

"...well, she and Seb worked to make this more comfortable to wear. The turning me into a woman thing was half-way an accident."

Lee gave him an odd look. "Well, that sucks. I ain't hearin' a 'yes, I want to wear this thing' here. -You wanna wear that or not? I got more clothes on me, you want to change in the bathroom or somethin'," Lee offered. He wondered who this Seb was.

"I don't know what would happen if I tried to get out of this." Ford admitted. "She might give me a new one."

"Then she's gotta show up for that, don't she?" ("That's what I said!") "C'mon, where's the restroom," Lee said next, more actively craning his head to look around.

"Oh, it's there…" Ford pointed off to the closest restroom.

"Yeah, c'mon," said Lee, reaching out to get a hand around his back-shoulder to lead him on over. (And then had to stop for a minute and say, "Nuh-uh. You, stay outside," to Blue.)

Ford followed him in, feeling sheepish. "Why're you… helping me?"

"What, I need a reason?" said Lee, as he did something at his chest, seemed to pull around an odd sideways belt (two belts?) and then unclasp it, and was then holding what looked to be a thin, small backpack with two thin belts attached across it diagonally. (Ford hadn't seen it at first with the black-on-black of fabric against his chest.)

"...hey, just a quick question." Ford started. "Is the color Bled really such a big deal?"

Lee paused in place for a moment.

"Yeah," the younger twenty-something year old said, before he went back to working out the flaps and flat buckles on the 'backpack'. "Least in my 'set, it is, anyplace I've been that Blue's taken me."

"Well, Miz and Blue were quite upset when I made Bled paint and covered the couch Blue was going to sleep on, with it." Ford gestured at himself. "This was the fallout."

"Heh." Lee grinned, as he finished undoing the buckles, then splayed his hand across the flap for one long moment, and then flipped up the flap and got the thing open. "Bet Blue got that whole look and everything, all offended." He looked amused for a couple long moments, before he got down to business again, rummaging inside the thing before pulling out a rather normal-looking white button-down shirt and handing that to him (without looking at him), then pulling out next a long-sleeved, large, and rather bulky looking plum-colored sweater.

"He was quite livid. I knew it would upset him, but I thought it was only going to annoy him, not… piss him off."

"Blue didn't do nothin', did he?" Lee glanced up at him for a moment. "I gotta talk with him, too?"

"He told on me to Miz." Ford sighed, as he took the sweater from him as well. "After he vaporized the color down into its subatomic levels."

"...Yeah, okay," said Lee, getting back to his rummaging. "Didn't try vaporizing you then; that's good." He pulled out a bulky pair of pants next, riddled with gigantic pockets. Lee considered this for a moment, grimaced, then shoved it back in. "Maybe the dress pants…" he muttered half to himself.

"From what Miz described, the color is more than just repulsive. It's apparently the equivalent of magical rot. I'm surprised Blue didn't do anything awful to me. He… doesn't like me." Ford sighed, undoing the ribbons and pulling the dress off.

"Blue don't like most people, he just 'puts up' with 'em," Lee commented almost absently, not touching on the color issue (for a reason) as he pulled out (and then pushed back in) a pair of blue jeans, a pair of red trousers of a very odd cut, and (finally) a pair of black dress trousers, which he tugged out the rest of the way, and handed over to him, too.

Then Lee turned a bit to the side (where he was holding his 'backpack' at the sinks) and asked, "You need socks and shoes, too?" He winced at something out of nowhere (Blue complaining in his ear, from his dimensional translation unit, his-ears-only), shook his head, and kept on rummaging.

"Yes please," Ford answered before continuing the conversation, "Well, apparently, since Miz chose me as her Zodiac, Blue is now trying to make sure I stay alive. Even if he's being a bitch about it."

"...yeahhhhh, that's 'operational security' shit. I ain't talkin' about that," Lee said next. "Don't feel like spending a whole afternoon with Program, tryin' to get back my lost levels. -Seriously, though. Shoes and socks? Or are you good with that," he nodded down to the leggings and somewhat-normal looking boots.

"Shoes and socks, please. Yes." Ford repeated, since Lee hadn't heard him the first time over the sound of him taking the dress off(?). "...how long have you… known Blue?" Ford asked, this Stanley was… very… casual with Blue. In a way where he could man-handle the demon with no trace of fear. Why was that?

"Couple years." Lee pulled out a pair of thin-looking socks, and a bulky pair of what looked like snow boots. 'Ain't so sure these'll fit you," Lee said as he handed the boots over. "Dunno if this is gonna be enough room for your toes." He was going with the boots he usually wore himself for the more icy planetary regions, when he needed at least two thick pairs of socks added onto it.

"...he lets you man-handle him like that?" Ford asked. "Ah, I've got a size-changing crystal with me, can make the boots larger." He was happy about the pockets this dress had. Much better than the first dress Miz had given him, though, she hadn't thought about pockets back then.

"Might not need to too much, you can try the fit first." Lee shrugged. "You can do whatever with it, I got two spare sets." (Needed to replace the third ones; he usually rotated them. But this Ford didn't need to know that.) Lee turned around and leaned back against the sink, as he redid clasps and put on the 'backpack' again without even looking at it, with the long ease of practice. "I don't manhandle the devil-demon," Lee said next, as he put his palms down on the sink and leaned back easily. "I ain't grabby, and he knows I ain't tryin' to kill him, or worse."

"Ah, I can buy you some new clothes you might want." Ford told him. "As thanks."

"Nah," Lee said, waving it off. "Don't worry about it. Devil-demon had me pack light this trip, said he didn't want to test out too much of that space-warpin' fold-into-us stuff above a couple volume limits," Lee rolled his eyes. "Think he saved some of the bigger stuff he was tryin' out for him. Just in case, and all." Blue had most of it on him.

"...speaking of, why are you here? Not that I'm saying you shouldn't be here, just…" Ford pulled the socks on. "...last time he brought someone here, it was an accident."

Lee shrugged. "Devil-demon told me about sets and stuff; he wanted to test out some 'recursion' or whatever for all that space-warpin' stuff. Tucked me inside him, and a bunch of stuff alongside me, except for this thing here, which he sorta tucked in almost inside of me," he said, as he patted the almost invisible cloth straps of the backpack, "Plus my clothing and junk. And it ain't like I'm not up for a trip places with my business partner," he ended casually.

"Inside?!" Ford looked at Lee with worry. Then the next part registered. "Business partner?!" Then he paused. "I could see Stan working out some partnership with Blue, if he thought he could get some good arrangements…"

Lee let out an easy laugh, and crossed his arms, looking kind of amused, and almost… fond?

"Y'know you can change in one of those stalls, while we talk?" Lee said, with a bit of an easy smile, ticking his head towards said nearest stall behind Ford (and in front of him). "Or maybe one of those shower-lookin' ones?" He glanced off to the side, to the far wall at the end of the restroom. He knew his own twin sometimes had a thing about that, and all.

Ford blinked. "I have my underwear, you won't be seeing anything explicit?" Ford said, as he started to shimmy out of the next layer of the dress. Ford had less embarrassment with being naked than he did with wearing things he thought he shouldn't be wearing.

"Hey, you do you," said Lee, shrugging. He waited until Ford had gotten started changing into the stuff he'd handed over (after wiping down the sink counter with a few paper towels, making sure it was completely dry to set down the other frilly clothing on top of it as a shelf), before continuing up with, "Inside's how the devil-demon puts it. I didn't take some Mindscape trip here," Lee told him, "The devil-demon 'energized' me and the stuff I was wearin', or somethin', wrapped himself around me from that stupid Mindscape place, and off we went. This is my body here, even if he's still doin' some 'vessel' thing."

"Fascinating…" Ford grinned. "I wonder if Miz can do that." She'd only ever pulled him into the Mindscape and then off through a Door to look around at stuff.

"Blue tells her how, she probably can?" Lee shrugged at this. "Blue was talkin' more like this was more of an 'emergency' thing, though, he was wantin' to try out before maybe needin' it. Don't really like the whole Mindscape thing, so I was up for it. Out of body junk is the worst."

"Only if I don't go back into my body afterward." Ford chuckled. "I… actually think being in the Mindscape is interesting, I feel so light."

"I don't." Lee grimaced. "Blue thinks it's 'cause of the whole 'needing touch that bad' thing."

"I guess, long term it would be rather uncomfortable." Ford noted.

"I start gettin' itchy, five minutes in. And a couple seconds; we timed me." Lee let out a breath. "I can do it, if I have to; it just really sucks."

"Odd." Ford hummed. "I don't feel itchy. Just… light and… warm? Though that might simply be due to staying by Miz's side. She's really warm."

"Yeah, well," Lee rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe that's you, but I get all messed up 'cause I can't feel anything, and it feels like itchy, even though I'm not feelin' anything at all. And I can't scratch anything, 'cause there ain't no you to touch, and you can't get at your own hands, arms, shoulders, or nothin'. Y'know?" (Wasn't like Blue didn't feel 'cold' instead of 'itchy' like he did. Lee knew it wasn't just him.) He looked uncomfortable even thinking about it, and physically had to shake it off a bit after he stopped talking then (pulling his arms up to shake them a bit, like he was trying to get rid of the memory of something, before crossing his arms across his chest after that, instead).

"I see. Now I want to have Miz help me with an experiment where we take volunteers into the Mindscape and see how different everyone's experience is." Ford smiled at the thought. "I wonder if there's a reason for some people to have negative or positive reaction to it."

"Yeah, well," Lee said, a little self-deprecatingly almost, and maybe a little darkly. "You get anybody you know as touchy-feely as me, and they've probably got it all, too. It ain't so bad I can't stand it at five minutes and change," Lee told him, as Ford finished slipping on the large winter boots. "That's just when I start feelin' it enough that I notice it all." He frowned a bit. "Those fit okay? Or do you need to go the other way with thicker socks?" He had no idea about shoe fit; his brother had always complained about it to him, though. (At least until he started going two sizes up and stuffing scraps of cloth in the toes and up the sides. He'd always had to go bigger, to get enough width in the toes.)

"A little snug, but it's much better than those frills." Ford sighed. He considered the dress and then folded it up neatly and tucked it under his arm. He didn't like it, but Sebastian and Miz had worked hard on them. "I can enlarge the shoes easily enough…" and he did, pulling out a small flashlight and clicking it on and off quickly. The shoes changed, a tiny bit.

"That actually works without makin' your feet bigger?" Lee watched this critically, tilting his head.

"I modified the design to make it more exact in its use. You could even point it at just one finger and have only that part enlarge."

"Huh," said Lee, like he was storing that little tidbit away for future use. "That right."

"It's all about the focus. A wider beam will affect more, even going through clothing. But concentrating it with a lens makes it only affect the part it hits. In this case, I hit the side of the shoe, where my toes are."

"So, somethin' about spikin' the amplitude's changin' the frequency, then," Lee said almost consideringly, as he pushed away from the sink counter behind him, still looking at this, and the effects, as Ford put it away.

"Exactly!" Ford said with a wide smile. Then he grinned even wider. "You know science?"

Lee looked up at him then, and he got kind of a quirky smile on his face.

"I hang out with the devil-demon," he said, with a slight blush, and half a grin. "What do you think?" (And Lee just decided to leave it at that. Didn't have to be a nerd to get science.)

Ford nodded. "Right." He chuckled. "My brothers don't bother with science. A shame really." Then his expression fell. "...It… might be my fault that Seb gave up on anything to do with science…"

"So, what," said Lee, as he headed out of bathroom with him. "This 'Seb' character runnin' with the dragon-demon some kinda 'flat earther' or somethin'?"

"Oh no, nothing like that." Ford blinked. "He's a fashion designer, and tailor. But during our last year of high school, he… worked very hard on his project for the science fair, but… the teachers refused to even let him do a demonstration. They… didn't even bother reading through his work. They… gave up on him before even letting him try." Ford sighed. "Then… he destroyed his project in frustration and accidentally broke mine as well."

Lee winced. "Shit, man. Too bad the dragon-demon didn't stick around for you, I bet. Shouldn't half-ass that shit."

"I… that was before I met Miz." Ford sighed. "We… we didn't have anyone back then. No demons. Sebastian was thrown out with nothing but the clothes on his back, and I didn't hear from him for years…"

Lee blinked at him as he held open the bathroom door. "Thrown out of where?" He'd figured that the dragon-demon must've pulled her schtick here and gotten this Ford and Stan a few friends, and then split? But if that hadn't happened, then…?

"Our house." Ford paused, catching onto the confusion. "Oh, in this dimension, I was part of a set of triplets. There's me, Stanley and Sebastian, my youngest triplet."

(And Lee frowned as he remembered how Miz had stated that someone got disowned, always. He hadn't gotten that what she'd really meant was that who exactly it was would change, but that someone always bore the brunt of Filbrick's rage.)

Lee blinked at him as he walked through the doorway, mentally shook himself and followed through after this… triplet Ford?

"...Damn, man. That's cold." It really was. He hoped the other-Stan here had taken good care of him at the boat here, instead. -Woah, with three of them, how much faster would the boat have gone?! -Aw, hell. Or would it have gone slower, 'cause there was that whole exponential volume thing, and it would've needed to be a hell of a lot bigger and take a lot more stuff to make it, for a whole three of them, instead of just two…?

"...I wish Miz had found us back then…" Ford sighed, rubbing his face. "Maybe then… things wouldn't have turned out so badly…" He shook his head. "Seb still doesn't like to talk about it, but Miz has told me some. He was alone for years, living on the streets…"

Lee frowned at this (as Blue pushed off the wall of the hallway right next to the door and came up beside him). He put an arm around Blue's shoulders (almost a comfortable reflex, at this point), and said, "...The hell? Didn't your Stan help him out, stayin' out at the boat?"

"He…" Ford paused. "He couldn't find him. Sebastian disappeared." Ford winced. "I… I didn't care, I was still too hung up on my own stupid feelings. But Stan looked for our brother. And he never found him. Not until years and years later."

Lee made a wincing face at this.

"...You, uh, found him though, and he's okay now, right?" he said next. "Doin' all that designer-tailor stuff?"

"He's okay now. But that doesn't change what he's been through." (Lee cocked his head at him, thinking 'well yeah…' as they started walking, but he didn't say anything.) Ford scrubbed his face in frustration. "I should have been there for him. But even when Stan found Seb and brought him to me, for a reunion… I… I wasn't in my right mind at the time. The local demon is nowhere near as nice as Blue, and nothing near as nice as Miz…" Ford shuddered.

Lee frowned at this.

"You need help with that?" was his next, very serious question, and when Ford glanced over at him, he was walking a little bit taller, at his full height, and looking almost a little bit dangerous.

"It's fine," said Blue, still perfectly relaxed under Lee's arm. "It was handled. And it'll get handled again if the stupid broken thing ever thinks about coming back." (Lee sent the devil-demon a look at this, slowly starting to settle, before looking back over at this Ford here for some actual context more than just confirmation.)

"He's dead." Ford confirmed. "We killed him." Ford added darkly. "And Sebastian nearly died to do it. The idiot sacrificed himself… to take the demon down with him…" Ford used to have nightmares about that. The way Sebastian bled out, stopped breathing… "According to Sebastian, he did die that day. But the Axolotl sent him back, gave my brother back to us…"

(You're welcome.)

"Yeah, yeah," Blue muttered, looking up at the ceiling briefly as they walked. "Least it could do."

At Ford's words on this, Lee's eyebrows went up.

"...'Deranged lizard', huh?" Lee said next, down to the demon he had under his shoulder, walking along beside him. His tone held far more than just a tinge of amusement.

"Different Set, different Axolotl." Ford corrected. "I don't know how the Axolotl in your Set works, but from the way Blue's ranted about him, I suspect he isn't nearly as kind as ours."

Lee looked up at him.

"Dunno about kind or nothin'," Lee told him next, as they turned the corner and came up on the exterior doors. "But Blue told me about the different lizards thing before we got here. Said this one was 'stupid', 'deranged', 'actually talky', and kind of more 'active' about junk. Pretty sure that means he almost likes 'em, more than the one that's in our own set, except for the whole 'there's no games everywhere here' thing." (Blue shot him a look at the 'almost likes him' part, but didn't say anything one way or the other, just let out a huff.)

"...I don't think he's deranged…" Ford blinked. "Then again, apparently he's planning to fire God. Didn't even know that was possible…." (Miz had told everyone about that, and also that she wanted Wanda to take over for him.)

"Yeah," said Lee. "Thing about the devil-demon is," he told Ford, as he pulled his arm back from the devil-demon briefly, to shove open (and hold open the exit door), "He don't actually speak English. It just sounds like he does."

"I speak that stupid 'modern' human American English language of yours very well," the demon huffed out at him, as he walked through the doors, then stopped and waited for him next. "I speak it better than all of you!"

"Different language," Lee repeated, following Ford out and letting the door fall closed behind him, as he let go of it, then got an arm around the demon again, before he started thinkin' about gettin' too huffy about all of this.

"That would explain all the misunderstandings we've had, and the way he needs clarification on what I mean when I say anything." Ford groaned.

"Yeahhhhh." Lee said, as they started walking away from the building. "Think that second one has more to do with the whole, 'an apple is a smell' 'no, it's red' 'no, you make pies out of it on some winter morning' whole thing that he does. -Anything this one says," Lee sort of jiggled his arm, pulling the devil-demon a little closer, "Is really exact, and also super-general and all 'foofy' and 'fuzzy' and junk. Even if you're goin' by his own dictionary."

"...Blue. May I have a dictionary of how you define things so I can converse with you in a way we both understand?" Ford asked, realizing there was apparently a DICTIONARY for demon-speak.

Blue eyed Ford at this, then rolled his eyes and grumbled at the look Lee was then giving him (mostly a 'c'mon, yeah?' and sort of patient-on-purpose expectation, ready to be all waiting him out), as he reached for his pocket, and un'fold'ed his custom-made by Stanley patchwork 'all triangles' ('witch's') hat.

Lee let go of him for a minute, so the devil-demon could work better as they walked, not distracted by the touch; Blue on his left side, Ford on his right, him as the buffer between them. (Not like he hadn't caught that 'mental health' thing he'd said earlier.) And Lee watched as Blue shoved a hand in, made a twisting motion, then pulled out and handed over a good two-inch thick volume, for him to hold.

And then shoved his hand back in and did it again.

And then did it again.

And then did it again.

...Lee was starting to worry that he wasn't gonna be able to fit his chin over this, when Blue stopped at the fifth volume.

"...Didn't realize it was this much stuff now." Lee was really startin' to appreciate Program and his whole phone. "Uh." He slowed down a bit and looked over at the Ford. "You maybe wanna stop off somewhere where we can put this stuff? And maybe that dress?" He glanced over at the one standing structure that had stood out like a sore thumb, on both their way in. "That house over there yours?"

Ford, staring at the stack of books, breathed, "I have a lot of studying to do…"

"Yeah, well," Lee shrugged (without managing to jostle the stack he was holding all that much - he'd learned that one dating Carla, back in the day). "Don't gotta read it all in one sitting. Could just let me translate for you instead, while I'm here."

"Right." Ford glanced over at the Shack, since the three of them had left the Center. "Yes, we can drop these off at my place." As it was night, the tour groups had left hours ago. "Then… we could make dinner or go out to eat? I have a portal device for local…" Ford paused. "Actually, I… I wonder if it's too late to have dinner with Seb…" He pulled out his phone to text his brother.

"Cool," said Lee. He wasn't about to complain; the thing was right over there, maybe three minutes walking away? "Hey, I'm up for whatever," Lee said. "It's six o'clock somewhere, y'know." Had more than enough gold on him for a jeweler for some cash-of-the-realm, as long as they went someplace where one would be open for him to get that cold hard currency, first; he wasn't worried about that.

"...Seb says we're welcome to come over for dinner. He and Miz made a feast apparently."

"Uh, okay," Lee said, then shrugged that one off as they came up on the cabin. "Drop this off and then… uh what're the coordinates?" he asked next, as he checked Blue's expression and caught the look of distaste from the demon - he knew that look. Devil-demon was picky as hell about his portal technology.

Ford told him the coordinates. Then saw Blue's expression. "...Blue doesn't trust my portal device?"

"Blue don't trust shit," Lee said, real bluntly. "Half the time he don't even trust his own portals."

Ford looked over at Blue, who kept on walking, hands in his pockets, and did not contest that. "...I see…" was it because of the way Blue got some of his tech from other people? Or was there another reason?

"Don't worry about it," Lee told him as they walked up onto the porch. "Just means that you know you ain't gonna end up dead or worse, if you go through one of his with him, after that."

"Would it be safe for me to go through one of his portals while wearing my own portal device?" Ford asked.

Blue glanced over at it. Briefly.

"Depower it first," Blue said, looking away from him again.

Ford turned a dial on his watch-like device. He had wondered about the off switch.

"No," said Blue. "I mean actually depower it first. -Ground out the energy; don't just turn it off." He let out a huff of breath next.

Ford blinked. "Take out the battery to leave behind or drain it?"

"Battery removal would be better, for an open circuit," Blue said next. "The battery's just a battery. You didn't add anything on there to that."

Ford flipped the face of the 'watch' open and popped out the faintly glowing blue chip. He would put it on his bedside table.

"Mine, or yours?" Lee said next to the demon, as he waited for Ford to open the door so he could set this stack down. Ford got the back door open and stepped into the house, hearing the sounds of Soos and Melody in the kitchen. "Ah, I'm going out for dinner at Seb's tonight." He told them. ("Sure thing, Ford!." Melody called back.)

"Yours," said Blue. "Not like I couldn't force a workaround for it," he said, as he (and then Lee) followed the local Ford into his house. ("Yeah, yeah," Lee verbally waved off. "I'm workin' on it; I know.")

"Where you want me to put- yeah, okay," Lee said next, as Ford turned around and took the whole five-volume stack from him in one practiced and fell swoop. "I'll just, uh, wait out on the porch for you, if you wanna change." He tossed a thumb over his shoulder, back at the door, then turned and started heading back out again, Blue strolling after and behind him.

"Thank you, I'll be back soon." Ford called over his shoulder as he went the rest of the way inside the living quarters of his shared house. He would read over these tonight after dinner. Maybe then, he could finally understand Blue somewhat. (A part of him said that he should stop trying, but if Blue was going to hang around to keep him 'safe' for Miz's sake, then Ford was going to have to learn how to deal with him, at least somewhat.)

"Sure," Lee called back, pausing for a moment, then finished walking back out the door.

As Ford said, he was back out within just a few minutes, his normal turtleneck on, Lee's lended clothes folded under his arm. "I fixed the shoes back to the way they originally were." Ford held out the clothes to Lee.

"Uh, sure?" Lee shrugged it off, then blinked and got it, that this Ford was giving them back. He started raising his hands to the belts for his small 'pack of holding +1' (no, he was not that kinda nerd; Blue was the one who had named it), then stopped (and didn't worry about it), as Blue pulled out and un'fold'ed his hat again within a half-second, holding it out - brim and 'head hole' upwards - to Ford.

Ford dropped it in. "Thank you."

"Mm," said Blue as he re'fold'ed and repocketed his hat (to which Lee had to stifle a laugh, but not the smile that followed; heh, it was fine, he wasn't gonna say nothin' about it).

(And Ford was very confused as to why Blue was almost being… civil?)

With that handled, Lee stepped off the porch and strode out into the yard (Blue following). He stopped in place (as did Blue), and he brought his left arm up, made a gesture with his right hand, and then started making finger motions at and just above his arm, peering through his glasses at something Ford couldn't see.

Lee confirmed the coordinates with Blue - who gave him a slight correction (to outside their front door, not their own living room) - then made another few more small tapping gestures, a cursory 'flick' of a gesture-

-and then he raised his arm up, made a sharp 'punching' motion with his left hand and arm, and- green portal.

Blue walked through first, Lee shortly after (only stopping to turn and make a waving 'come on' motion forward to Ford).

Ford considered this scene only briefly, before walking on through.

"Brother!" Miz's delighted cry was joined by Zach and Zoe's equally happy calls of, ""Blue!"" when the front door of a quaint little suburban house opened. The three bounced in place. Seb, holding the door, rolled his eye. "You're a child magnet, aren't you?"

In (only partial) response to this, Blue simply gave him a slight knowing look, then held open his arms at his sister as he looked down at her with a bit of a smile, and...

The three ran forward to hug him. Miz buried her face into his chest while the twins got hold of his legs.

"Pf-hah!" went Blue, who ended up giving Miz a hug first, then having to crouch down to meet the two younger demon spawn halfway.

"RrrAH!" Blue said next, getting his arms around them and hoisting them both up to sit up against him, one on each hip. "Did you MISS me? Admit it, you missed me!" he grinned out at the three of them there, walking forwards. (He'd had a lot more practice with this sort of thing at this point, between a significant amount of exposure to Eclipsa's Meteora and Marco's own Mariposa together, along his own personal timeline, since he'd been here last.)

"Yes!" Zoe squealed. "You were sleeping the last time you came and you left without even saying hi!" Zach rested his head on the side of Blue's shoulder. "No fair Miz gets to hang out with you and we don't…"

"Ah. WELL. I am rectifying this now. Yes?" said Blue, smiling a bit more seriously as he talked, and then nosing his face into Zoe's hair a bit back and forth (with a humming "Hiiiiiiiiiii!") before pulling away, grinning again. (Because human-ish and human beings seemed to like that sort of thing, when they were around about this size, for some reason.) Zoe squealed with laughter. Seb watched all this and wondered why Blue was good with children, when he was so awful to other people.

Lee rolled his eyes a bit at this, good-naturedly. (He'd seen this before, though this was involving a lot less climbing by the kids, usually the other set spent a lot more time trying to use Blue as their own personal jungle-gym). He glanced over at Miz - mostly at ease, hands in his pockets. He trusted this place to be safe, with the way Blue was actin' all relaxed and stuff here; not on-guard at all. He was still watching her and Ford though.

"When daddy said you were coming over, Zach and I made more terrible cookies!" Zoe told Blue quite proudly. "I made sure they're edible." Miz added. Then she turned and saw Ford. She pouted. "Aww… you took it off already?" Ford stiffened. Then he relaxed when Miz didn't add on anything else. "You're… not mad?"

Miz shrugged. "I had my fun. As long as you understand what you did wrong, and don't do it again, I don't care."

"Told you," was Blue's addition to this, not looking away from Zoe and Zach in the least. Then he raised his voice a bit and said to Miz's littler brother and sister, "-Tell me: where are all of these edible cookies of yours, that will now soon be mine?" He put both the kids down then, and let Zoe begin to drag him off by one arm into the house next, moving forward. (He glanced up briefly, to exchange a more human-like 'hello' nod with Seb as he passed by him. And Blue paused very briefly to shift his shoes from 'dirty outside shoes' to an indoor clean pair of something close to house slippers; he'd understood that one from the last time he'd come to visit, when Miz hadn't nagged a bit at him at the door briefly at all - she'd just flicked a hand and dissolved them out from under him without him barely even realizing it or caring at the time, so very tired was he.)

"They're in the oven. They'll be done in fiff-teen minutes." Zach said, clinging to Blue's side as they walked. "We got them made as soon as daddy said you were coming over. So we just put them in the oven," he explained. ("HM!" went Blue, before he rounded the corner and disappeared off with them into the further depths of the house.)

And finally, Miz turned to Lee and frowned a little as she looked him up and down. Then, with some uncertainty, "...Lee?"

"Yeah?" he said. "That's my name, don't wear it out." His smile lowered a bit as he said, "Maybe tell the big nerd when you're done messin' with him. He was feelin' pretty bad there, when Blue knocked down his door."

And Miz blinked. "I thought he'd…" she turned to Ford and ran forward to hug him around his waist. "Geez Fordsie. You always take things too seriously," she said fondly.

"That ain't on him," said Lee, not in for that sort of 'get away with it' shit, no matter how the dragon-demon was tryin' to make it sound. "That's on you. -He was feelin' really lousy there," Lee told her as he walked past her into the house. "Was that what you were tryin' to be goin' for there?" He didn't look real pleased with her, still.

"Oh." Miz blinked again. "I'm sorry Fordsie. I'll… tell you next time when my joke's over." Ford sighed. "I thought you were really mad at me." She nodded, "I was. But, you should know I can't stay mad very long."

"He's had enough bullies," Lee told her flat out after that. "He don't need one more."

Miz looked distressed by that. "...is teasing him like that, bullying?" She asked.

"He starts feelin' bad, and you keep goin' and won't stop when he tells ya to, yeah," Lee said to her next, easing up a little bit, shoulders relaxing just slightly (and his hands in his pockets uncurling from fists).

"...he didn't tell me to stop?" Miz frowned. Ford winced. He… had trouble telling people to stop. His bullies never had, Bill never had. He wasn't used to being listened to.

Lee looked over at him next.

"Nobody ever told you about the whole 'stop and no are important', thing?" Lee asked him, straightening up a bit.

"I… well, they did but I just…" Ford scratched his head. "I don't always remember I can tell them to stop…" Blue certainly didn't stop breaking into his lab, after all.

Lee just rolled his eyes at this.

"I mean somebody human," Lee said to him next, pretty sure about this now, but... "Did somebody human explain the whole thing."

"I'm unsure what you mean?" Ford walked into the house, and when Miz let out a distressed sound as he attempted to go past the area three feet around the entryway, he paused and then slipped his shoes off, neatly putting them to the side. Miz relaxed and made a happy sound.

Lee blinked at this. "Shit, man. Maybe you shoulda kept the shoes." He kept forgetting that most of them weren't that self-cleaning; his own had self-cleaning soles. "I'll tell ya about it. Quick thing is: you don't like somethin', you better tell Blue 'no' or 'stop' real damn fast. Pretty sure it usually works on Miz, too." (Wasn't holding his breath on that one last one completely, though. He remembered all that junk about dryin' him off with spells after showers, and not listening to him then, any time.)

"...Is THAT why Blue is so insufferable?" Ford and Seb groaned. Miz blinked up at them. "Niceties don't work on Blue."

"Devil-demon's got no patience for 'niceties'," Lee told them evenly. "Most people in non-human dimensions where we're from don't. -He don't see any reason in havin' to guess at shit. You either tell him, or you don't. He can tell when you're 'disrespecting' him - that's thinkin' he ain't worth shit, or wantin' him dead and gettin' ready for tryin' it - but he don't care about the rest of it. Just don't call him flat or stupid. He kills people over that one. Anything else you want to throw at him, he don't really care. Half the time, he calls 'bein' nice' just one big fat lie, 'cause you're holdin' back what you actually want to say about him, instead of just sayin' it. He don't like puttin' that much work into things, thinks it takes way too much time. He don't like lying when he don't have to do it, either - which is weird I guess, unless you know him." It had taken Lee awhile, to really figure that one out (and start to trust it), anyway.

"Oh." Ford sighed. This would have been nice to know before. "Miz, why didn't you tell me?" She just looked confused. "I did!" And Ford realized this was why Lee had asked if a human had explained it to him. Oh. Wait, was this why Miz had put him in that maid outfit and left without telling him he could take it off? Because he hadn't explicitly told her how much he didn't like it?

"Look," Lee said, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head. "He told me how there ain't so many demons here. Human dimensions don't got 'em, not anymore - he got fed up with that, way he talks about it, anyway - but every place else is just infested with 'em. They're everywhere. And most of 'em don't got time for playin' word games. You're direct, and real fast in gettin' your point across, or you get dead real quick 'cause you're 'boring', and then they move on to the next guy instead, after maybe looting your corpse." Or cutting you up into more pieces for sale. "And that's just the kinda nice ones, if you're lucky."

""Oh."" Seb and Ford said in understanding. Ford took this time to tell Miz, "I do not like having to wear feminine clothing." ("But that's why it's a penalty.") "Yes, but I really don't like it. If it was just embarrassment, I could deal with it, but it made me really upset. I don't like it. Can I have a different sort of penalty?" he tried, and... he remembered now what Blue had said to him earlier that night, and (given Miz's own response to him now) he was beginning to realize that maybe...

And Miz's eyes went wide. "Ok, we can choose something else. I'm sorry… I didn't know you hated it that much…" she hugged Ford again. "Kryptos always says he doesn't like when I dress him up, but he actually loves it…" why else would he let out those 'happy' feelings whenever she did so?

...Yeah, Lee wasn't gonna trust that one farther than he could throw it. He felt bad for this Kryptos dude, whoever he was.

"You all maybe want to get some water on for tea? Helps keep the devil-demon calm, you get a cup of that stuff in front of him, and keep the pot full." He tossed a thumb in the direction he'd seen Blue go off with the two kids in. "Some kind of 'hospitality' thing: you treat him like he's welcome and actually mean it, he feels like he's welcome, and acts like it. Even not-meanin' it still has him sheathin' the claws a bit, 'cause at least you're puttin' out some effort for demonic civility, or whatever."

"Well, Wanda's getting the tea on." Seb smiled. "And I don't mind Blue being here. I don't like him, but he's still Miz's brother. And he's surprisingly good with the kids."

"Probably why he's so freakin' relaxed," Lee noted. "Most people kinda want ta bury an axe in his head, even if they know they can't do it." 'And it shows.'

"...so the reason he's always to mean to me is because…" Ford sighed. "But back when I actually didn't mind him, he got mad at me for almost liking him."

"Look," said Lee, as he followed Seb and Ford out to the next room, Miz trailing along at Ford's side, "All I know about this place right now is what Blue told me, and that ain't a lot. He told me was a couple things about the local lizard, that there ain't so many demons here, there was a Ford here who he thought I should meet, and that he wanted the rest to be a surprise, after we visited somebody else first, before droppin' in on ya to see you," he said to Ford, with a shrug.

Ford considered it. "Well, with how much you've helped me in understanding demons within just these past 30 minutes of meeting you, I'm quite grateful that you're here." He was especially grateful to learn that he was allowed to tell Miz when he didn't like something she did and she wouldn't get upset at him for it.

Lee shrugged. "I ain't told you shit about demons. Most of this stuff only really works on the one in there, mostly. The rest of 'em, you just gotta be ready to fight off. It ain't so bad that he's talky," Lee said, "When he ain't tryin' to talk your ear off. Sure as hell beats tryin' to get stabbed, though," Lee noted, as he shrugged his shoulders at them, and looked around the living room to try and find a good seat, except... "Uh, kitchen or living room?" he turned back to ask them. "Been awhile since I've done this," he admitted to the three of them next, a bit sheepishly.

(Ford and Seb exchanged a very brief glance at the 'trying to get stabbed', before Seb spoke up next.) "Dining room, just have a seat, I'm gonna help Wanda take plates out." ("Yeah, okay." Lee tilted his head at him. "You want any help?" Seb just smiled and shook his head. "Nah.") Then Seb paused. "Oh right, I forgot introductions. Hi. I'm Sebastian Pines. Those little gremlins you saw earlier are my children Zach and Zoe. And I'm assuming you know Miz?"

"Never too late for introductions," Lee told him easily, with a relaxed grin. "I'm Lee Pines. Lee's short for Stanley. Pretty sure you already know Blue, yeah?" Lee said next, nodding at him as he memorized all the names, while putting them to faces.

"Nice to meet you. I'll introduce you to my wife when you meet her." Seb waved and walked off to the kitchen. The remaining three of them made their way into the dining room then; Ford sat down and Miz climbed into his lap. "From now on, tell me when something hurts your feelings! I don't like hurting you!" She had her hands holding the sides of his face, pressing her forehead against him. Ford winced. "Yes. I'll remember that." ("Good!") And Miz settled down in his lap, "I don't like you being all sad 'cause of me…"

Ford sighed. "Wasn't your fault. I'm the one who's not telling you how I feel. And the fact that you didn't know just means you've been respecting my privacy by not reading my mind."

"...only because I'm better at layering now."

Lee pulled out a seat. "This one taken? Or, uh…" he tried to remember, yeah, "Somebody usually sit here, in this one?" (The heads-up display from his bracer, that was connected to his glasses and beaming the appropriate light signal from it directly into his eyes, kept reading that nothing around him was claimed by anyone at all, ever. It was kind of throwing him off. Even a bunch of shit around the Shack, back where the old-thems were living, was all mostly 'taken'.)

And Miz pointed, "That and that are Zach and Zoe's. That and that are Seb and Wanda's. I sit wherever I feel like," she told him. "But even if you took the seat they like, it's not a big deal. They don't claim stuff very often."

"Yeah, well," said Lee, moving one seat down. "I ain't against bein' polite." He sat down, 'claimed' it on reflex for the duration, then had to stifle a wince and let go of it then.

And Miz beamed at him, still seated in Ford's lap. "You grew up so well. I'm glad to see you're doing ok. I was kinda worried, since I had to leave and didn't get to watch you graduate."

Lee let out a snort. "Yeah," he said, "That would've been a trip and a half." He sent her a look. "You know I know about you and your brother and 'parties', right?" he said, with a lot of loaded 'yeah, I know about that one there, you' behind it. (And yeah, he meant both meanings there.)

Miz tilted her head. "Parties?" ("...Parties?" also echoed out of the kitchen, in Blue's voice.)

Lee let out a huff of a laugh. "What," he said, "That thing with some 'floating music stage' thing there didn't count? Pretty sure Blue's not the only one who likes goin' overboard for all that shit, either. Heard you were a bit of a ringleader that time there, too."

And Miz blinked. "Oh. I just wanted to have fun. Didn't realize that counted as a party…"

"Parties?" they heard next, and Blue had his hands curled around the frame of the other doorway now, leading in from the kitchen, poking his head in. He looked very bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and very interested. (Barely holding back a full emoting of excitement there, really.) "Did somebody say something about a party?" he asked, eyes shining and looking very lively.

"No parties at my house unless it's a holiday, birthday or some such occasion." A blonde woman said firmly as she came out with a tray of food. (Blue deflated a bit, with a huff, before slinking back off into the kitchen. Lee covered a grin at this with the back of his hand.)

"OH!" Miz straightened, "Party! Like when I built that new wing of the house for the twins' birthday, or fixed up the Pines 'O War for Fordsie, Stan and Seb's birthday."

"Pines O'-? Oh, yeah. Okay." It took Lee a moment, before he nodded. He sent a glance over Ford's way, wondering if he was paying attention to this like the warning it was about... "Demons like to go overboard on stuff," Lee told him directly, dropping his chin down into his hand with half a smile.

The blonde woman put the tray down and smiled at him. "Hello. I'm Wanda Friedmann, it's very nice to meet you."

"Lee Pines," Lee introduced himself next. "Lee is short for Stanley. Good ta meet you, too. You got some really cute kids." (He knew this stuff from hanging around both Eclipsa and the Diaz'es more than enough.)

Wanda laughed. "Yes, they're troublemakers though. Especially Zoe."

"I AM THE TROUBLE GOD!" the little girl screamed. ("You are a demon spawn; demi-god status has not yet been achieved, though it is within your grasp, if you so wish it," they heard drift out of the kitchen from Blue.)

"Even better," Lee said in a mostly-deadpan voice, with a pretty big grin.

"Please don't convince my kid to be more trouble." Seb sighed. Then he reached down to hug Zach. "At least you're a good boy. Aren't you?" Zach rolled his eyes.

"Nah," Lee said, holding a hand up to his chest and trying to look very (mock-)pious. "I solemnly swear that I am really sure your kids don't need any more help with that, already. Pretty sure they've got Blue for that." He couldn't quite hold back the smirk.

"And Miz. Though, she actually helps them both to behave and cause trouble." Wanda sighed. "Well, that's what I get for adopting a demon-god." Wanda placed some plates in front of Ford and Miz. "Are you going to sit on Ford's lap the whole time?" she asked wryly.

"Yup!" Miz snuggled against him. Ford rolled his eyes. Wanda narrowed her eyes at Ford. "Well, Ford isn't spending the night," she said warningly. Miz nodded easily enough. "Um…" she glanced at Blue (who was walking in after Zoe with a plate of cookies and a cup of tea in-hand, heading for the chair next to and on the other side of Lee). "Are you or Lee spending the night?" Seb sighed. He'd be more upset about Miz wanting to invite people over to his and Wanda's house, but… she did build that new wing of the house with all the guest rooms. That part of the house was technically 'hers' so if she wanted to invite people to sleep over there, then… well… Seb looked over at Wanda. She glanced at Lee, "Do you two have anywhere to stay for the night?"

But Lee just shrugged and said, "I can grab a hotel for me and the devil-demon-" He stopped as he glanced over at said devil-demon, as he sat down in the chair at his right (that Lee had almost invisibly motioned towards as being 'okay'; habits), and then said, "...or…..."

And Blue picked up there with, "Couch in this local-'Hand's lab." (Lee eyed him at this, not least of which because the Ford here had apparently poured bled paint all over his couch there, to apparently try to stop Blue from doing that very thing.)

"...If I get the security up in my lab so that people can't break in to steal my projects, will you stop sleeping in my lab?" Ford asked, having finally gotten a better idea of what Blue wanted.

Blue eyed him at this, and Lee let out kind of a 'pfft' sound.

"Uh," said Lee. "Pretty sure that just means he wants to sleep there even more," Lee told him, "'Cause it'll be, y'know, 'even more safe', maybe?" Lee glanced back and was eyeing Blue again, next. (Waiting to see…)

"...alright then." And Ford thought about this. And all the other things that he had learned over the course of the past few days. "Then, if you're going to be sleeping in my lab, would you like me to bring you breakfast when I come in, in the mornings?" Because Blue and hunger was a bad combination.

Blue gave him the stink-eye for a moment. "You try to steal brussel sprouts." Blue may have eaten something that he'd passed off to him that was very obviously from his little sister the once, but… ("Wow, no." Lee said, thinking 'what?', and really damn surprised at this Ford offering that. His head coming up out of his palm, as he sat up straight immediately.)

"I don't even like brussel sprouts. I was just messing with you, teasing, as the way it goes." Ford rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, no," Lee cut in, glancing between Blue and Ford here (on either side of him). "Food is serious shit." He gave Blue a frowning look, trying to figure out… yeah, no, Blue wasn't talkin' on this. He turned back to Ford. "Don't go offering him food. That's, kinda… he don't trust too many people for that. Goin' outta their way to give him somethin', specifically." Lee was frowning.

"I can pack Blue some food and just pass it off to him?" Miz pointed out.

"Too many hands on it," Lee said, then turned his head back towards Blue. "You didn't tell them this?" (A half-shrug from the demon, as he sat back in his chair.) "Uh huh." Lee let out a sigh and sat back in his own chair, himself. He glanced over at Ford again. "He say anything about why he keeps sleeping in your lab over here? How many times has he done it?"

"He says he's there to keep intruders from getting into my lab and messing with or stealing the portal devices I'm in the middle of building."

Lee had a bit of a thinking frown going, arms crossed but sort of relaxed. "Okay… He take down the circles and stuff in-between? I didn't see anything in there," when they got there, not even on the ceiling.

"He has these accessories that dissolve in water and strike out at anything going near them with lethal force." Ford shrugged. "They're quite amazing, I'd like a closer look at them, but I haven't worked up the nerve to ask."

Lee listened to this, didn't recognize the specific tech (Blue changed stuff up every so often, so that wasn't anything to write home about; but what was was that-) but turned towards Blue, arms still crossed, and raised his eyebrows a bit, waiting.

Blue didn't say anything, though. Devil-demon was just sipping away at his tea and eyeing the cookies like he wasn't even sitting there. (Uh huh.) So Lee stifled the sigh, bit the bullet, and said in Galac' Standard, "Okay. What's goin' on here? You never don't put that shit up. -You wanna tell me what you were lookin' for happening there, highest priority and likelihood combined?"

Blue glanced over at him with his eyes and said, "Don't talk in other languages that not everyone in the room can understand; it is rude." (And Lee blinked at this, straightening slightly. They didn't have portal tech; who did Blue care about hearing this shit, Miz?)

"I'm teaching Zach and Zoe Cantonese." Miz commented lightly. "I was gonna start them on Standard Galactic once they were older."

...Yeahhhh, Blue was always really specific about the 'it is' versus other verbs and stuff. They had a system. So Lee glanced over at her, and around at the rest of them, and said, "Okay, so who else has been doin' the other-dimensional thing. -Thought you said you didn't have interdimensional portal tech here." He was frowning at the Ford, not understanding. (...Had he lied to him, here?)

"I've been on the other side of a portal, by accident. And it took me 13 years to get home. And then I destroyed the portal. I've only recently decided to try working on portal tech again." Ford looked around at everyone else. "And Miz has brought us to her set before, but we don't really… travel around interdimensionally."

"Sh-oot, seriously?" (he censored himself, because kids in the room, and hanging out too much with Mariposa around Marco, the little cutey, and) Lee blinked at this, as his shoulders dropped a bit. "Uh. Why didn't we grab your other- uh, triplet? From the Institute then? He ain't up for these dinner-things?" Or was there, like, some feud going on? That might make sense; the Stan here leaving and takin' the entire security staff with him. (Was that why Blue was patrolling the place; specifically, this Ford's lab? Lee glanced back at Blue over this.) "Or is he all, avoiding Blue outta principle or somethin'." Lee added, frowning a bit as he turned back towards Seb and Ford. (Lee figured that Stan must be running the place, like older-Ford's twin had been. Even if they weren't doing portal runs like the International Institute in Dimension 46 yet, Lee couldn't see this Ford running the place, or anything. So to his mind, that meant the local Stan here must've been in-charge of everything else except all the labs. ...Unless the local him was pissed off about not Blue, but the fact that this Ford had started working on those portals again...) (It didn't occur to Lee that Seb might've been the one to work on the portal instead, instead of the local Stan like the 'old-man him' did - nor did he know that the local Stan had gone through the portal with this Ford, given how Ford had just put things.)

"Oh. Stanley doesn't work at the Center. He's in New York. I know, we're not… very similar to other dimensional versions of us. I've heard from the other Stanford that Blue brought here about how we're… different." Ford made a face.

"Okay…" Lee blinked at this, trying to process that. "I guess that kinda explains the real lack of goons runnin' security around the joint," if the local Stan didn't have anything to do with what was goin' on there. Lee frowned a bit. "Who's runnin' the place, then?"

"Me and Fiddleford?" Ford blinked. "If you're wondering about the security, we are planning on… fixing that. Blue showed us a lot of holes we weren't thinking of."

(The Backupsmore pig farmer guy? ...Yeah, okay, Lee could sort of see that. Guy pretty much had his shit together, far as Lee could see. Lee couldn't remember seeing him around the Institute in 46, though; guess things really were different from there, over here.) Lee did a bit of a raised- eyebrow thing at that. Blue checkin' things out for him, though? "...You paid Blue to do a security check of the place?" And he was still sleeping there? Lee turned to Blue to ask, "-He paid you to-" ("No.")

"...he did it without telling us we were supposed to pay…?" Ford glanced over at Blue.

"Yeah, no. Blue didn't show you nothin'. He's just playin' around, and you're maybe noticing some random stuff." Lee was frowning in consternation at Blue now, because what the heck?! "-Seriously. Highest priority and likelihood combined," he repeated to Blue, and Blue grumbled at this, eyeing him back as he bit into a cookie.

Miz was looking uncomfortable. "...I'm sorry I don't think about operational security… I just… never had to do that before… my Set doesn't have any real demons aside from me… I never had to learn to do this…"

"Ain't your fault or nothin'," said Lee, while not looking away from Blue as he talked. "Devil-demon's a walking rule-breakin' security black-hole hazard, and a headache and a half." (And the fact that that didn't get a "HA!" out of the devil-demon was-) "-C'mon man, give up the goods here, or tell me why not."

"But I should be the one helping Fordsie with this kinda stuff…" Miz curled her hand around Ford's, which she had pulled up to hold in her lap. Ford petted her head with the other hand. "It's fine. Your Set is apparently safe enough you never had to do things like this. I won't think any less of you for being unable to help."

"It's fine-for-now; you are learning," Blue said as well, pulling up another cookie. "I'm the big brother; it's my job to think of these things overall." But before Lee could ask a question of him right away, he popped said cookie into his mouth and chewed, chewed, and chewed. (Lee eyed him over this, as Seb started setting out silverware, with the little twins' help, around the table for everybody.)

Lee blew out a breath, then turned back to the Ford here.

"Yeah, okay," Lee said next. "If he ain't telling me, and it's your space, then you're gonna have to be the one to ask him." He glanced back over at Blue again, then to Ford, before adding, "Usually he don't do this sorta junk without pay." A hell of a lot of pay; Lee didn't know what was going on here. ...Devil-demon and his 'surprises'. Geez.

Ford looked down at Miz in his lap. "...Blue, are you doing the helping thing with me and the lab and security, because you feel you need to? Since Miz is your sister, and she cares about me and my family?" Ford paused. "And if my assumptions are wrong, may you tell me what your reasons are?"

Lee winced at this. "Not like that. Ask him if…" Lee bit his lip for a second. "Uh. What he thinks is most likely to happen with the worst thing happening… balanced against each other... worst-overall thing first." Lee glanced back over at him after that and said, "You don't ask him for at least the first twenty things on his list, you won't start getting to the stuff maybe you'll think is the worst thing too, usually." (Lee left out that Blue would probably leave shit off or out of it if he either didn't trust him enough, or if the devil-demon thought it might get in the way of something else he was doing. No point in that. Either this guy knew that already, or he didn't and wasn't ever gonna be able to figure this out.)

"...Blue? What's the worst case scenario if you aren't there in my lab?"

"You murdering yourself because you didn't listen to me about all the no-testing?" Blue said, before popping another cookie in his mouth.

"...which is why you and Miz have decided to Curse me to be in a maid outfit in the future if I ever try to do so without supervision." Seb snorted. Wanda looked uncomfortable.

"That's one thing," Lee stressed out to Ford, as he kept on watching Blue. "Ask for the list." There was no way Blue was giving that one in order; it actually sounded almost reasonable for a human. Blue spiked the low-probability most-terrible outcome stuff like he was a pro-baseball batter set up in a zero-g stadium. "At this point, I wanna know what I'll be walking into, if I end up spendin' the night there," Lee said half over his shoulder to Ford next. (Because he would be, if Blue was sleeping there.)

Ford wondered if this was appropriate dinner conversation, but Seb and Wanda had already spooned out servings for themselves and their own children, and the twins were eating without a care in the world. Seb and Wanda were keeping quiet for now, they weren't engaged in this conversation, but Ford could see that they were listening. So Ford asked Blue for the list.

Blue glanced over at him, then Miz, then Lee, then let out a huff. He took a long sip of tea - during which Lee re-crossed his arms again, while giving him a look - and then Blue started listing things off.

"Point one: there is no physical security to speak of," Blue began. "Anyone could enter that place any number of ways and grab and make off with whatever they wanted to, whenever they want." He took a small bite of a cookie. "Point two:" he began, managing to talk like he didn't have any cookies in his mouth, somehow. "That one is working on portal tech, but he doesn't even have the decency to write his 'language' notes in something like Galactic Standard, let alone using that alphabet. He hasn't encrypted the equations for any of all of it in the least. Point three, which is a set of scenarios for edification," Blue said next, "A military squad enters the building, takes out everyone in sight. A cleaning-staff employee who has the keys to every lab-and-workplace is subverted, handing over information daily. That local demi-god's demonic spawn gets dropped off by a 'brother' of his outside the front door of the place - unless he wants to be that 'stealthy' about it and drop directly into the center of your lab instead - but most likely just strolls on in without wearing those sunglasses of his, that I modified to allow him to cut through his own 'charm'," Blue said next, "Asks for directions to this one's lab on a day or hour that he is well-away, literally everyone in sight is oh-so- helpful to him, he waltzes in and takes or does-whatever he wants with whatever is there, just because he is thinking that this would be a good 'revenge prank' against Miz. Because he is hers," Blue said of this Ford here, "And that would be one way to 'get back at her' for being in his territory before, both in that city he lives in, and also that doctor of his that you are now both constantly having to share."

Ford and Miz seem to wilt with each item listed. Miz looked guilty and Ford looked disappointed in himself for never thinking about this sort of thing.

"-And does not run into her 'Hand here, if her 'Hand is lucky," Blue continued, "Because he would be falling all over himself, for 'approval', at getting hit with even a fraction of that little 'spawn's Charm is capable of doing to him here." Blue lifted his tea to his lips again, and took one very long sip.

"...And?" Lee said next, prompting him.

"And that is assuming that the military or other-group wouldn't just toss low-frequency noise at the walls, to leave every last human in the place stunned there and dropping, and then just strolling in to grab them all, every last one, and abduct them. Or take over, not let them leave, make them work for them, instead of just 'removing' them all from the equation-thereafter. With added leverage of family and friends." Blue glanced over at Ford next. "Your people can get a very lot done in only a few hours. Even only one, I believe?" Blue said leadingly. "With the proper motivation." (He was speaking of the 'field trip' and the 'challenge' they'd run there.) "And that is assuming that your friend-versus-foe works," Blue said next, "And they don't simply grab the local Glasses before he's in that day, show up on site, and say that you or he wanted to conduct another 'challenge' that day. That you both 'contracted out' for it. -I wonder what they would be able to come up with," Blue said almost reflectively, "If told that it was just a thought exercise. Like a think-tank, looking for vulnerabilities in somewhere or something, before they can address them. For the 'bad guys' or 'bad actors' who are 'good' at all the LYING instead. Oops." Blue popped another cookie in his mouth, and chewed.

"...There's a lot of work to do…" Ford sighed. "I'm going to have to put my current projects on hold to get security up first."

"You should lock down your current projects currently first," Blue said next, sounding out-and-out irritated, and Lee reached out and dropped a hand down on top of his head.

"This is that battle librarian thing again, ain't it," Lee said to him, trying to calm the demon down, as he sort of made that chittering 'burr' noise under his head from down low in his throat. "Got all that 'knowledge' stuff in there on portals and junk, that just ain't bein' taken care of all right. Not locked down enough for you to be happy about it, either, is it. Ya big lunatic." Lee ended with a smile (that was rueful and almost fond), mussing up his hair a little good-naturedly, which had Blue chittering out a bit of a protest (but Lee pulled his hand back again before Blue was at the point of working at shoving it off).

"...does this mean I'm really going to have to wear a combat ready battle maid outfit?"

Lee glanced over at him at that. "Uh…" Lee blinked at him. "...you gotta sleep sometime?" His forehead scrunched up a bit in a 'what the heck' frown. "There's way better stuff out there than that that you could be wearing, y'know."

At this point, Miz, who was eating while listening, realized Ford wasn't eating and began taking spoonfuls up to the man's mouth and poking his lips with it. "Listen and eat at the same time," she scolded. Ford blinked, almost forgetting where they were, "Right." He took the spoon from her and ate the offered bite, handing it back to her afterward. There were mashed potatoes today, with various sides of vegetables. There were also some chicken fingers that Miz was cutting up together with the broccoli and carrots to place on another spoonful so she could stick it to the mashed potatoes and give Ford a bite that contained a little of everything. Wanda watched this all with a very bemused look. She wondered if Ford even realized how it looked, with Miz essentially feeding him. But Ford was more focused on listening to Blue's list, brows furrowed and frowning at all the things he had never even thought of.

"-and that's not even getting into meteor strikes from above!" Blue exclaimed at him next, gesturing with a cookie, but then stopped and calmed down a bit as Lee shoved his chair over so they were touching, and went shoulder-to-shoulder with him at his side. "Mm?"

"Food, yeah?" said Lee, nodding at the plates as he reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes. There was a plate piled high with chicken fingers, which the twins were grabbing from - and Lee grabbed a few of those too, while he was at it - a bunch of side dishes of vegetables, and some fish burgers that were a 'build your own' sort of deal, with the buns nearby and various sauces. A dish with more butter in it was off to the side. Miz had made her own burger with a salmon patty and mashed potatoes/veggies. There was a pitcher of gravy but Miz went for the mustard instead.

"Brother? You should eat more than just the cookies." Miz pointed out before biting into her burger. Seb ate his own, wondering if Blue would be okay with just vegetables and mashed potatoes. ...Ah, except the mashed potatoes had milk and butter whipped into them, didn't they...

"Hm!" said Blue with a closed mouth (still munching down on a cookie). He set aside the cookie plate (half-empty by now), picked up his own plate, and then-

-grabbed the large serving spoon for the mashed potatoes and scooped up three large helpings onto his plate, poured a good third of each of the vegetables into the mess of that, grabbed the pepper shaker, and put that back.

And then stood up, leaned forward, and scooped up one-two-three sets of buns and fish burgers quickly (bun-to-'burger') and added those to his plates as well. Then sat down again with a thump.

And Miz stared before a bright smile broke out. "You're ok with eating meat now?"

Blue, who had just gotten done stripping off his 'hand and arm' tattoos one after the other like gloves (then tossing them over a shoulder to lay there over it like a pair of scarves), was making 'unbuttoning' motions at and under his chin to then have the dark black 'brick' pattern slide over, off, and down him like a 'fishnet' shirt of sorts to pool open like he'd truly just been wearing a shirt underneath his other shirt, as he told her, "Among other things, yes!" Once the 'brick' pattern was off and 'hanging open', he pulled in a breath and let it out in a huff (like he was letting something go just a bit, a little like a girder?), then slapped his two hands together and rubbed them vigorously. Then pulled them back and made a sort of 'finger-waggling' gesture of 'which one shall I grab first?' for a few seconds before grabbing up a fork in one hand, one of the burgers in another, and diving right in. (He was alternating between forkfuls of mashed potatoes and stab-fulls of veggies, and bites out of a fish burger being held up in his other hand, in quick snapping bites each time.)

"...since when did Blue start eating meat?" Seb wondered, as he looked Blue over. Miz huffed. "He's older now. So, sometime in those years." She noticed of course, that he was older. Heck, she was rather annoyed that no one here noticed that she was older everytime she slept and went home before coming back here.

Seb looked him over more carefully, then blinked as he realized that not only was the cut of Blue's clothing a bit different than before - which had been masking how very thin to the point of emaciated he had been - but that Blue had actually filled out a bit to a somewhat more healthy-looking slenderness. He was pretty angular-looking still, not exactly soft or curvy by any means, but… he didn't look like a rail that had been on a starvation diet anymore.

"Huh. He's finally put on some weight. That's good." Seb smiled. He knew what it was like to be starved and underweight. It was good to see that Blue was doing so much better now.

And Miz was tilting her head at Blue, looking a little closer now. She'd gotten a feel of him, yes. But there was something else different here, beyond just that he was older. Something about the 'feeling' of his energy had changed somewhat… but she couldn't put her finger on it. He seemed more… settled, she would almost call it 'happy' but Blue often said he wasn't happy. He was angry and that was that. But… he was...

"Yeah," Lee shrugged off. "Guess today is a 'burger' day." Blue didn't always do it, but sometimes he felt like going with the 'flow' and using those new layers that he'd apparently set up for things, cleaning things out for him automatically without issues, among other things. Chief among the more 'optional' ones including some that shifted 'sugar' and 'salt' tastes to other mapped-out ones, if and when he wanted.

"-Gettin' him fed a bit on that one trip awhile ago helped some," Lee noted next, lifting one hand briefly to scratch at the back of the top of Blue's head (which led to him letting out a few quick almost-chirrupy noises at each scratch before Lee stopped, and slowing down in his eating to something more reasonable, just a little bit). "So did him addin' those couple extra layers for cleanin' out food-to-energy, or somethin'." Which apparently he'd gotten the idea from by thinking over something Miz did awhile ago? Lee lifted a chicken finger. "Old-man me said he started mellowin' out a little more after the whole mewberty thing, too, before that." ("Yes," was Blue's short addition, before taking another three quick snapping bites out of a second fish burger, leaving it half-eaten already as he chewed.)

And Miz gasped. "I missed your mewberty! I forgot about that!" she whined. "Wish I could have seen it. I bet you were adorable…" ("...mewberty?" Ford was very confused.)

Blue just hunched his shoulders a little and made a long, deep disgusted 'burrrrrr'ing and almost warning-like insectile sound at this, but kept on eating (and brightened up a little bit as Lee calmly picked up the teapot and served him another cup of tea; by the time he was done pouring, Blue was sitting up straight and relaxed again, reached out and began downing the tea... and Lee just kept on eating without a word or a worry - he was kinda used to this sorta thing at this point).

"What's mewberty?" Ford asked. Miz glanced over at Blue. "Am I allowed to talk about this?" she asked.

Blue gave out a sort of 'hmph!', not looking towards her (almost refusing to), but Lee was like, "Yeah. S'fine," around a bite of chicken finger. He cleared his mouth and said, "Just don't go askin' him what happened specifically. Him and older Ford ain't talkin' bout it- ow." Lee said evenly, then glanced over at Blue, who'd elbowed him lightly in the side, but was also half-pretending like he just hadn't.

Taking that as a go ahead, Miz wiggled on Ford's lap. "Ok, so… there's this lady called Eclipsa, Blue knew her, I've also met a version of her in my Set as well. But anyway, so when Blue came back to life in his human-ish body, the body was based on Mewmans. Due to something he and Eclipsa worked out years before." Miz explained. She liked explaining things.

"Except 'Mewmans' are just humans who were livin' someplace else for awhile, ended up in some 'monster' dimension accidentally from another human dimension; not any of ours," Lee put out there, as he reached for his glass of milk. "So, it ain't like 'regular' humans can't do it too, if they're exposed to enough magic, or whatever, for long enough. Takes a lot of channeling it inside to outside for 'em, though." Was half of what the wands were for. He took a drink, then set the glass back down. "Was kinda more of an accidental deal-y, without really bein' a 'big deal'. -Basically, this one time Eclipsa said that he was kinda like the black sheep uncle she'd never had but had always wanted? And he was all 'sure!' about it and liked the idea, kinda leaned into it and stuff from then on. So when he came back, that was kinda the 'connection-thread' that stood out the most, more than any of that 'triangle' or 'cat' likin' stuff. Plus all the likin' humans stuff to begin with. So yeah. Preferences and junk, already set."

"And mewberty is when a mewman turns into a super cool winged creature and-" Ford had to hold Miz down as she bounced on his lap. "Miz, calm down."

Blue let out a breath in not quite a huff, then held out his cup to Lee for more tea (jiggling it slightly in place, not quite at him). Lee snorted at this, but he did reach out, pick up the pot again, and fill it. (While giving Blue an amused look all the while. Blue, for his part, tried to look kinda of imperious and imperial about it. ...Uh huh.)

"So… like some sort of metamorphosis?" Ford wondered. Miz nodded. "And it's super cool!" Then she looked down at herself. "...I kinda wanna go through mewberty too…" she sighed.

"It requires a body that does not keep going through 'disorienting changes'," Blue said, "And significant weight-gain. And significantly more channeling of magic through it, of a certain specific type, in ever-increasing amounts to increase your channeling capacity. Also: no. You really do NOT," he ended that last part in deepening tones, looking rather disgusted with himself.

"But it looks so cool!" Miz gave her brother a wide eyed, pouting look.

Blue glanced over at her.

"It's an energy form," he told her, "Linked to a body. With an easy path for energization-and-transformation. -You don't need to go through that to set up something like THAT."

"...I know. But it still looks cool." Miz leaned back against Ford's chest, kicking her legs. Ford sighed. "Can't you simply shapeshift into a form like that? Quite easily, even?" The scientist reminded her.

"Bit more complicated than that," Blue noted. "Physical form at the same time, but also an energy being. The balance is personalized, and can shift with time. Also may not work the same way, in this 'set or her own," Blue shrugged. "Can't just 'copy' it one-to-one; it won't fit or work."

"I see." Ford patted Miz's head head. "It might be too dangerous for you to try. So… maybe you shouldn't mess with this sort of thing."

Blue eyed his little sister. "You need to work up to it. Figuring out what you want, if you want it. WITHOUT the stupid 'mewberty' phase; you should bypass that ENTIRELY." He sounded disgusted again, before shoving a huge spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"...you really didn't like going through mewberty, huh?" Miz noted. Then she intuited, from what Lee had said earlier, "Is it because that Stanford-"

And Blue lifted a hand and made a gesture with his finger; the result being that Miz got a spoonful of mashed potatoes stuck in her mouth. Miz blinked, but just chewed and swallowed, dropping the topic. It was about then, that Zoe finally spoke up to give her thoughts on the 'grown up' conversation. "Can I go through mew-perty?" She grinned. "I wanna grow wings!" Zach also thought that would be kinda cool.

"I would NOT recommend it," said Blue. "There is none of the recommending going on here. NONE of it. I am doing the OPPOSITE of all of the recommending of this thing here," Blue said to them both next.

"Yeah, you guys are already gonna be getting 'monster forms' when you're older." Miz told Zoe gently. ("Yes. Stick with THOSE, they are MUCH BETTER for not-pure-energy beings; there are less drawbacks, when compared to your future lifespans. -Also, all of the proper-most training," was Blue's next contribution on the matter, before he shoved another spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.)

That made Wanda speak up. "Wait, monster forms?" She glanced over at Seb. "Like… your monster form?" Seb paled. "Wait, wait. Miz, the… twins are gonna get monster forms?!" Miz blinked. "Yeah? Should start developing once they're in their teens, at the rate I can feel their powers growing." Seb and Wanda paled even more at that. That sounded pretty bad...

"This is a problem?" said Blue, looking up from his seven-eights already done meal. (He still had another half fish burger and several spoonfuls of mashed potatoes to go.)

"I… didn't realize they inherited that from me too…" Seb winced.

Blue blinked at this, then looked over at Miz. Because yes, he hadn't been certain about it before, when he'd been here the first time, and then again with Sixer, but the demon spawn were much farther along now to the point that their progression was now very clear, given all of the practicing that they'd both been doing, along with the bracelet's proper 'force multiplying' tuned-to-them support.

Lee frowned at them. "...Monster form?" he asked. Because… wasn't Seb the local Ford's triplet? "You three ain't from Mewni, are ya?" He blinked. "This ain't Mewni, is it?" He frowned. "Or did you have the 'crash' here, too?"

"No. We're human. And from Earth." Ford clarified. "But Sebastian… was a demon in his past life." Seb rolled his eye. "I'm human now. I just have some of my powers… and stuff…" he glared up at the ceiling. "The stupid lizard just put my Weirdness onto an extra gene in a random chromosome, and that got passed down to my kids."

Lee blinked at this, then looked over at Blue.

"Not an Outsider," said Blue, unconcernedly. "He's a Bill Cipher Like my little sister and me."

Lee blinked at this.

"...Yeah, okay," said Lee, shrugging this off. He reached out and took another drink of his milk. Lee knew the score. Being a 'Bill Cipher' and all the other 'set stuff. Multiples, and sectioning, and 'fake walls', and junk - all the rest of it. He knew about 'demons' and 'Outsiders'. 'Demons' didn't always come back the same way, or have as much control over shit. They were just the 'beings' who knew how to 'game the system'. He'd met several 'him's, and how different they were and they weren't; he didn't see what the big deal would be about there being multiple 'Bill's around too, as long as they weren't getting all murder-y on people just then.

"Not Bill anymore." Seb complained under his breath. Yeah, he still understood Standard Galactic Common. Languages were some of the few bits of knowledge he kept.

"Sure, whatever," said Lee, not seeing any problem with that. (Lee knew how Outsiders changed names when they wanted to start over and move on; Blue had told him about that, and some other bits here and there of 'demon etiquette' and 'demonic civility'. He couldn't care less, one way or the other.)

"""Monster form! Monster form!""" The twins and Miz chanted, slapping the table. Wanda rubbed her temples. "Ok, what will we need to prepare for these monster forms?" They already fireproofed the house, what else would they have to do?

"Variable clothing?" Blue offered. "Need the specialized nanofabric material for it." It would need to feel the pressure changes, react to the biochemical shifts, and then shift into the different 'phases' it was programmed with, for its form to follow and allow for the 'monster form's function. "Ooh~ Science clothes~" Seb's eye sparkled.

"They're gonna grow more arms after all." Miz nodded. "Seb ends up ripping his clothes when he transforms. So having clothes made for it should help."

"Could make a supply run for ya while I'm here, if ya want," Lee offered, biting down on a bun roll (just for the bread and butter he'd spread on it a little like a dinner roll, nothing else inside it). He was using it to mop up the remaining juices and mashed potato remnants that had been left on top of his plate.

"I can make anything if I have an example to study." Miz shrugged. Then she shoved the rest of her fish burger in her mouth. "Like- I could-" she said between chews before frowning and switching over to telepathy instead, "-just create anything and everything that people need. But doing that too much tends to upset people. Like, Fordsie wants to make his projects himself, so I don't just 'make' everything for him." "And I wanna be in this science clothes creation thing!" Seb begged.

Lee frowned a little bit as his 'protections' stopped the direct 'send' (and his dimensional translator worked in conjunction together with his glasses) and instead auto-translated it into text for him, to read off of his projector-glasses instead. "...Probably better if I grab it for ya, then, plus a few extra samples, if he don't know how to make it, yet," said Lee, "I've seen how much you can eat." He hadn't exactly missed how much more she'd eaten at the boat, after creating stuff for them every time.

"I'm actually doing pretty well right now. Regular worship from an island of people." Miz 'said' cheerfully, her cheeks bulging out as she chewed. "So I won't have to eat mommy and Seb out of house and home. Or make those buffet owners cry."

"Do I wanna know how many businesses you've gone and run under?" Lee said, giving her a sidelong look, in response to the 'buffet owners' comment.

"Mommy made me stop before they got to that point." Miz shrugged. Wanda sent Miz a look, "You also liked seeing them cry." She knew Miz thought it was funny. Miz shrugged. "You think it's funny. It's why you don't stop me until they start crying." Wanda looked away. "Only a little." she admitted.

Blue finished off the last of his meal and looked over at Lee. "I'll need to 'disguise' it," said the devil-demon, "If we go Outbound so the local demi-god isn't 'peering' in."

"Yeah, okay," Lee waved off, before finishing off his last bite of burger-bun bread. (All that meant to him really was, 'don't go using your interdimensional setting unless and until I've set up a blocker for the surrounding area for you first'. Not like he was wanting to piss off his business partner by letting other people get a good look at his 'low-level' working tech, even if he wasn't anywhere close to being through that whole learning sequence with Program yet.) "Really good meal here, folks. Thanks for invitin' us over." Lee nodded to Seb and Wanda. (Being etiquette being a little different than the demonic version kind.)

Seb and Miz beamed proudly. "I made the mashed potatoes and chicken," Seb said, preening. "I made the veggies, fish patties, and baked the bread!" Miz bounced as she waited for more compliments. ""We made the cookies!"" The twins cheered. Wanda coughed. "I washed the dishes."

"The main meal didn't take much cleaning of anything, yes," was Blue's contribution, after internally double-checking his layering functions and 'mess'. "Cookies were terrible, and required no cleaning at all. I am eating the rest of these now for 'dessert'," he then said, pulling the cookie plate back towards him again, and starting in on the rest of the half-a-plate. (Lee didn't quite snicker at this, as he reached out and refilled Blue's cup with tea.)

""Yes!"" Zach and Zoe high fived each other. (Blue smiled at this rather 'fondly', for him, as he popped another cookie into his mouth.)

Ford wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Delicious as always. Thank you Seb, Miz." He nodded. Miz made an expectant sound, looking up at him. Ford chuckled. "And yes. I like yours better." Miz cheered and Seb groaned. "You're totally just saying that because she's sitting within elbow-to-the-ribs distance!" Wanda patted Seb's arm. "You don't have to compete with her. You're both good chefs."

"So, what, he's gotta worry about revenge now?" Lee snorted, while watching the reborn now-human demon.

"Naw, I know I'll beat her next time, when we have to make princess cakes." Seb cackled. "She doesn't have the patience for it!" (And neither did he, to be honest, but Seb used baking as one of his ways to practice his focus. So he had more experience with it. Miz always ended up 'cheating' with magic when making cakes.)

"Yeah, I can see that," said Lee good-naturedly, as he looked around at the plates and said, "You want any help with gettin' this stuff cleaned up?" He stood up from his chair and collected up his own plate, silverware, and glass, looking over at both Seb and Wanda.

Wanda smiled at him. "That would be appreciated." She began gathering the plates.

"Sure," Lee shrugged. He was used to handling this stuff himself on the boat. "Blue, you-? Yeah, okay." He added the demon's stuff to the pile (except for the cookie plate, teacup, and teapot). He helped Wanda load up the tray that she'd used to bring everything in earlier with the rest of the stuff, and it went pretty quickly between the two of them working together.

The two walked into the kitchen with the plates and Wanda commented, "I almost wish our Stanley was as courteous. Carla complains about how he just leaves the dishes without helping at all."

"Like I need bugs in my galley to learn it's easier to clean stuff up sooner than later," Lee shrugged. "Easier to get it all off before it's caked on, anyway."

"Galley?" Wanda asked, scraping off the food bits into the organic waste bin before putting the plates next to the sink.

"Yeah," Lee told her, as he headed for the sink and started rolling his sleeves up, glancing around at everything. "I got a boat. -You want me to wash this down before I stuff it in the dishwasher here?" he asked her, "Or did that Ford get at it first at some point and make it so you don't gotta?"

"Yes, we scrub them down a little before using the dishwasher. It's much cleaner that way." Wanda blinked. "Ah, I think Stan's got the boat right now. But they haven't taken it sailing at all since Miz gave it to them for their birthday…"

Lee just nodded at this, before opening up the dishwasher, pulling out the bottom rack in preparation for loading... and then he moved the first pile of dishes over into the sink. He was already reaching for a scrubbing pad and the soap before the rest of the words actually registered with him, and he blinked. "They don't sail…?" Miz had said she'd given them the Pines 'O War earlier, but... they'd only taken it sailing together once? Lee just sighed at this. ('Guess that's better than no times together at all.' Lee grimaced a bit.)

"They're all busy with working." Wanda chuckled. "Seb's got another show coming up. Stan's got a company to run. And Ford's always cooped up in his lab." Wanda shrugged. "But Seb made them all promise to go sailing once all the kids are old enough that they can take care of themselves."

Lee let out a sigh, and barely kept himself from scratching the back of his head with one soapy hand. "Guess it's good he's got the boat, then." Figured that he'd need it more to live in it for business and stuff. "Where's he livin' anyway? His dock and berth?" They'd said New York before, right? But that was still a pretty big coastline...

"...I think he keeps it in a jar on his desk, actually." Wanda blinked. "Stan doesn't sail with it. He's in New York, in a penthouse with Carla and his sons."

Lee nearly dropped the dish he was holding. He turned to stare at her incredulously.

"He what?!" Lee said, eyes wide and looking more than a little bit horrified.

"What's wrong?" Wanda blinked. "Oh, his sons? I mean, yes. That's what happens when a man and a woman love each other very much…" She laughed a little, misunderstanding the reason for Lee's expression.

"Uh, yeah," Lee said, trying to shake it off. Right. Couldn't have meant- Right. "Hell," Lee said, blowing out a breath and turning back towards the sink, rubbing the back of his hand across his forehead. "How many 'Carla's a guy end up meeting in New York?" Probably a lot. Couldn't be her, she was- nah. Nah. That was stupid.

"...I'm not sure what you mean?" Wanda frowned.

"Nothin'." No reason to dredge up a bunch of stupid high school stuff. "Don't worry about it. -He's got kids, right?"

"Are you thinking about your own Carla?" Wanda asked.

"Nnnnnope," said Lee, cleaning off the one dish and reaching for another. "I am definitely not thinkin' about anythin' at all about that. Not even a little." He was not going there.

"Oh." Wanda paused. "I take it things didn't work out?" Then she paused as her eyes widened, realizing what she just did, "Sorry, you don't have to answer that. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

Lee pulled in a breath and let it out. He knew this Ford here had thought that the Seb in the other room had 'accidentally' broken his science fair project, and he did not want to dredge up stupid shit if that wasn't really what happened. Especially if the guy had two kids with the broad. Because if that had happened, then- "Non-specific excuse," Lee said with a little strain in his voice, as he shoved a couple of the now-clean dishes into the dishwasher. "You want me to keep helpin' you with cleanin' this stuff instead of runnin' out on you here and takin' my demon with me, we can maybe talk about somethin' else," Lee told her next. (Workin' at trying to be an adult here.)

Before Wanda could respond, Miz's voice piped up, as she entered the kitchen, standing over in the doorway. "Oh, things in his dimension went really different." Wanda turned to see her oldest daughter walking over to lean against the counter, "The Carla here never touched Fordsie's project. Had no reason to do so."

Lee pulled in a breath, and raised his hands up.

He flicked the water off of them with finality down into the sink very roughly, then turned on his heel, and walked right out of the kitchen, moving past her.

He was walking over towards the devil-demon, as he said, "Blue, I ain't puttin' up with any more of your sister's shi- dumb games here. We're leavin'. Now." He wasn't quite clenching his fists at his sides, as he looked down at the demon waiting for a response. (Blue looked up at him from where he was sitting, then brought his head back forward, popped the last of the cookies into his mouth, and stood up casually while still-chewing, grabbing his 'gloves' quickly from over his shoulder to shove them down into a jeans pocket. He squatted down and gave a goodbye, and a set of quick small-squeeze goodbye hugs, to the smaller twins rather quickly - he'd learned that one from Mariposa and Meteora real quick - then started to pull away to stand up again.)

Miz frowned. Then she looked over to her brother, "Is this still… is he still…" and then she looked distressed. "What does Lee know of what happened in his dimension?" (She'd only been able to learn so much from Mary.)

"Now," Lee repeated, and Blue nodded once without even looking at him, in the process of straightening up after having let go of the twins, giving them both one last headpat. "Local-'Hand, are you coming with?" Blue said, as he turned and started heading back for the front door, leading in front of Lee there, though not at a very fast clip.

"...Yes." Ford glanced over at Lee's obvious stress and Miz's confused expression. "Miz, I don't know what you're on about, but you shouldn't talk about it anymore." Miz bit her lip, but she kept quiet.

"Shouldn't have pushed him when he already said 'no' to the talking about that particular thing, little sis," was Blue's casual contribution to the matter, an almost-verbal shrug. (Blue had a line to Lee's translator unit; he'd had a sight-line transcript of every last piece of that conversation in real-time as it had been happening in that other room, without even needing to use his suit's own sensors or processing power for it.) "'Change the subject or I'm leaving' means change the subject or he's leaving."

"...oh…" Miz fidgeted in place, trying to figure out what she did wrong this time. She was just trying to clear up a misunderstanding...

"Don't go tryin' to step all over my own choices and 'Free Will'," Lee said tersely to the crazy dragon-demon as Blue walked past him, right before he (Lee) looked over to Seb with a quick nod of 'goodbye' and managed a short wave and something of a smile for the twins (to show them he wasn't angry with them). But after that? He headed right out the front door without looking back, Blue following after.

"...I'm sorry…" Miz threaded her fingers together, clenching her hands together. She upset him. She hadn't meant to, didn't realize he still felt so strongly about his own Carla.

Blue switched his footwear back to what it had been upon-arrival as he stepped out the front door, and stood there out on the front stoop, waiting for Lee - who was working at his 'hidden' interface around his left forearm.

Lee pulled in a breath, still fuming. "I ain't okay with her pulling that shit on me," Lee said, as he worked at his interface. (Blue said nothing.) "I ain't goin' back in there," Lee said next, still not looking up.

"That's fine," said Blue in return. "You have boundaries; you can keep them. The Wanda was also being very... 'nosy'. Yes?"

"Yeah. She was." Lee finished off the settings for this thing, then glanced over his shoulder, looking for the local Ford. (He didn't want to leave him behind and stranded, here. Wasn't like he didn't know or remember that he'd pulled the battery out of his own thing and left it behind. If the guy didn't leave now and wanted to stay, he'd be making a portal for him in the morning.)

Ford was there, looking confused. "...would it be stepping over your boundaries to ask what that was about?" the man asked, following them out after getting his shoes on.

"Yes," said Lee, rather tersely and without looking at him. "You ready to go?"

"Yes. I'm set." Ford nodded.

Lee nodded once, made his left-hook punching motion, and the green portal appeared. Lee held out his left hand, Blue stepped forward and took it, and they both walked through the portal together. Ford followed behind shortly thereafter.

As soon as the portal vanished, Miz hung her head. "...I messed up again." Always, always. Why was she so dumb? Wanda crouched down to look at her from her level. "Miz, honey. Relationships… well, they're complicated. It sounds like that boy is still hurting. So you… shouldn't have- heck, I shouldn't have pried either. I was wrong too, in this case." Miz blinked at her. "You were?"

"Yes. We both did bad tonight." Wanda told her. Because Wanda wasn't going to let herself off the hook, she hadn't been thinking, got too curious, and she realized, and she knew that what she'd done was wrong. And making this clear to Miz would help her learn to recognize such a thing as well.

"...how do I apologize for what I did?" Miz asked. Wanda sighed. "That, I don't know. But giving him some space and leaving him alone would be a start."

Miz nodded, still looking unhappy. Would there ever be a day where she'd understand how to not hurt people? She was starting to think it was a lost cause… she was simply a terrible person...

Once Lee was through the portal (with Blue), he dropped Blue's hand and scrubbed both hands through his hair, pacing forward and then starting to arc out in a circle. (Blue took a few casual steps forward and to the side - out of the way of the event horizon - and watched him do it.)

Lee scrubbed his hands back and forth quickly, letting out an "AAAAAA!" kind of loudly, then dropped his hands roughly, let out a breath, and felt… a little bit better.

"...are you quite alright?" Ford asked, almost timidly.

"Shit no. Yeah. Maybe. Thought I was over this shit," Lee said next, as the portal closed behind him. He scrubbed his hands over his face next, up under his glasses. "Kids, damnit."

"...some pain never really goes away…" Ford rubbed his arm. "I don't know what this is about, but, it's… ok, even if you're not over it?"

"-It's freaking fine, I just wasn't expecting-" Lee cut himself off, dropped his hands again, then winced and rubbed the back of his head roughly. (Blue walked over to stand in front of him, watching, and reached up to put both hands on either shoulder - really, either side of his head down on his shoulders, 'cause Lee had told him not to touch his head like that before, it felt too weird.) "Freaking tag-teamed me after I thought- y'know what? It's fine," Lee said, pulling his hands up and forward, then back to lay them down on top of Blue's own. He closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing. "They want ta gossip and shit behind my back, about all the stupid shit Miz didn't talk about before now, all seeing things and stuff? That's fine." He lifted and dropped his hands onto Blue's own twice, before leaving them there, and reopening his eyes. (Blue kept staring at him then.)

Lee had mostly gotten over Blue just… not tellin' them this shit, because of all the bullshit goin' on with the two older-thems. But he knew Blue better now. He knew that the devil-demon had been the one wanting at least one of them - the old-man-him - to stay and fix all their shit later. He knew that the devil demon hadn't really cared about what was going to, and had then happened to, them, at all. ...Not back then. Except now, that had changed. Or started to. He wasn't gonna hold it against the devil-demon that he hadn't helped them out before, not really; not any more than he'd blame somebody else for driving on past him on the highway. He'd had his own shit going on.

And yeah, the devil-demon had wanted Miz to not talk about it before because of the shit he'd had going on with the two old-man thems - just kind of 'look away', move on and say nothing, Lee knew that - but Lee couldn't blame him for that, not really. Because him and the demon had talked about it all, eventually; they'd talked it all out - he knew why the devil demon had done what he'd done, and not done, and why. And he hadn't been happy about it, so he'd made it clear how he felt about things, and Blue had listened to him; the demon was handling things better with him now. Blue was pretty damn consistent on this stuff, predictable to him almost now, and as for the rest? They'd been working on that, working through it together. But Miz had been anything but to them all, back then, playin' girl games like Carla did, forgot shit all the time, was just damn careless about everything...

What he couldn't freaking stand was people acting like they gave a damn about him over anything, when they were really just going out of their way to play him instead. Blue had always tried to be pretty straight with him; Miz had been all over the freaking place.

"...I'm sure Miz hadn't meant to hurt you? She doesn't… really understand certain things… she makes a good effort of trying?" Ford spoke up quietly.

"I know she don't get shit. And I know she don't always stop. Didn't see me try and toss a punch her way, did you?" Lee let out another breath, slowly calming down with Blue's hands on his shoulders, under his own. "She's sure as hell trying something," Lee muttered out next, then closed his eyes and dropped his head to shake it once, still trying to shake it all off.

Ford winced. "Wanda and Seb are sending her to see a human therapist, to try and teach her how to better understand things, as well as helping her through her own issues."

"Yeah, well, good for her," Lee said, finally (slowly) pulling Blue's hands down off his shoulders inside his own. "Don't mean I gotta be around her if I don't want to. -They wanna talk? They can do it without me bein' there. I don't feel like talkin' about it, is all." Lee grimaced slightly, then slowly let go of Blue's hands. (Devil-demon was still watching him.)

Lee let out another breath, and rubbed at his left eye under his glasses with his fingers.

"You want me to try and talk Blue outta stealin' your couch again?" he asked Ford next, glancing over at him. "Y'know that most of his 'worried about' shit is just maybes, not anything that he sees comin' right now. Right?" ("I'm not 'worried'-" "-Yeah, Blue, I know. Human talk here right now, okay?" "...nnmn...") Lee sounded tired.

"...no, it's fine. I'll just ignore him tomorrow." Ford sighed. "As long as he doesn't have an overnight DDNMD session and leave my lab a mess again…" Ford gave Lee a worried look. "Will you be in my lab too, or do you want to spend the night at my house? The attic guest room is still there."

Lee let out a tired sigh, and pinched at the bridge of his nose. He knew that one from a long time ago.

"...I ain't askin' you if you can ignore him." (Definitely didn't know Blue at all; sayin' that in front of the demon was just asking for trouble. Practically a miracle Blue was lettin' that one just slide, even with the 'human talk' thing.) He'd talk to Blue about the dirtying up his lab stuff later; that was probably gonna be a story and a half. "I'm askin' you if you actually want him in there." Lee lowered his hand away from his face. "Forget all the 'security' stuff for a second, okay? Do you actually want the devil-demon in your lab, or not?" Lee asked him directly.

Ford thought about it. "Honestly, no. My lab is my space. It's… it's supposed to be where I can relax and just enjoy myself. I don't mind the occasional visit from people, and Miz is always welcome, but Blue didn't…" Ford rubbed his own eyes, sliding his glasses up. "I didn't welcome him into my lab. I might have, if things had turned out different. But they didn't. And I don't." He liked Blue in a very weird way, he was interesting, but something about the way Blue behaved around him just… got on his nerves.

"Yeah, okay," said Lee. "Gimmie a minute." And then Lee turned away from him, tapped something unseen at his wrist, and started talking to Blue. Ford couldn't hear either him or Blue, though, and couldn't quite see what they were saying when he tried looking at their lips.

"Okay, ya lunatic. What's goin' on here, really?" Lee leveled with him, putting his hands on his hips. "I know that if you were just concerned about 'security' and junk, that you could just set up somethin' inside there, inside or out. You ain't there twenty-four-seven. What's goin' on."

But at this, the demon (who had crossed his arms at the beginning of this 'negotiating session' with him), just shrugged a bit.

Lee was frowning at him now, as the demon didn't pick up any piece of bait there for some sort of 'objections'. "What's the reason you want to be in there most, and not anyplace else. Where else would you maybe be, anyway?"

And that, at least, got the demon talking. "I don't want to be at Seb's place, because the Zoe and Zach do all the poking," he began. "It's also supposed to be 'Seb's turn' with Miz right now. I don't feel like together-sharing her right now; if I stayed there, I would probably try to steal his turn away from him, instead. So I'm not doing that," Blue said next, "And I don't want to fall asleep inside her extended space there. It isn't all that comfortable," he explained. (Which had Lee stifling a sigh, because he knew what kind of standards Blue had for that shit, and they'd already talked about Blue falling asleep half inside her 'sandcastle' on the deck before, but not wanting to make her 'feel bad' for not having it up to his own (pretty damn almost-unreasonable) standards yet.)

"And…?" Lee said next.

"And I don't feel like crashing at this Stanley's place again," said Blue. "He tried messing with me in my sleep before; I don't feel like putting another several circles up over there again, or handling that shit." Blue paused, then said, "I'm definitely NOT staying over at the local warlord's place- Kari," Blue noted next, "She wants me dead or worse." (Yeah, Lee knew how Blue felt about that shit. Never sleep someplace where somebody had the time to maybe try and get creative on you while you weren't watching; neither of them were that dumb.)

"And…?" Lee tried again, watching Blue carefully next. (Devil-demon looked like he was coming up on the actual thing now, from the way he'd just shifted his shoulders.)

"And I like this Stanford's lab space," said Blue next. "It feels like his Mindscape. ...Probably."

Lee was very careful not to stiffen in place too badly. But he came real close to cursing him out a lot and pacing back and forth in place.

"His Mindscape," Lee repeated. Because the way this was sounding-

"The whole setup feels 'comfortable', almost… 'cosy'?" The demon tilted his head at him a bit. "Almost like my 'Hand's personal Mindscape used to be."

...And he'd been entering into it without permission. And telling him over and over again that he should lock it all down. -Damn it. This asshole.

Lee pulled in a breath, keeping hold of his patience with some effort.

"You tell this Ford that?" said Lee. "Any of what you just told me?" (To a "No," from the demon.) "Good. Never tell him that." Lee grimaced a bit. "You better always ask for and get permission going into there, before ever going in there again. -Except for stopping thieves, or keeping him from dying; you know the drill," Lee rolled his eyes and said quickly next, cutting the demon off before he objected.

"Fine," said the dream demon.

"Good. Okay." Lee let out a breath, still pretty damn annoyed with the demon. Doing the next worst thing to crawling inside this guy's actual Mindscape headspace.

Lee set his shoulders, and straightened back up in place. "Okay, so. We don't actually need to be in his lab to tell what's goin' on there; we got the tech for that sensing. We really gotta be on the premises, even?" Lee put out there next.

"He's working on local portals, and portal denial tech," Blue told him next. "Someone uses either one of those there, while I'm waking up half-asleep, or you're using that thing right now…"

Lee grimaced. "Recommendations? How far down the hallway is too far, for us to be up and running?"

And then they got down to really bargaining over this whole thing.

Lee let out a consternated sigh, tapped his interface again to undo the 'privacy filter field' tech there, and turned back to Ford.

"You got a problem if we set up a tent in the hallway, instead?" the younger Stanley asked him, now able to be heard again. "Maybe put up a sign in your handwriting so nobody goes botherin' us, like 'Security team here. Don't pet the demon'? Blue brought all that junk with us, he's just holding it on him right now, instead of me. Got food and other stuff in there, we'd be good for the night and the morning, easy."

"Oh. That… that would be fine." Ford nodded.

Lee nodded to him, then gave Blue a really long look and said, "You want to write it and sign the thing? Or you want me to half-ass writin' it up for you instead. We can talk supply runs tomorrow morning." Lee shrugged over this, like he didn't mind either way.

"Yes, I can write a note right now…" Ford pulled out his journal to tear out a blank page and scribbled a note with his signature.

Lee nodded, and stuck his hands in his pockets, waiting. (Meanwhile, Blue was pulling out and un'fold'ing his hat, then pulling another camping-style backpack out of that…)

"Would this be alright?" Ford handed over the page, which read [Authorized security personnel. Don't poke the Blue one. -Dr. Stanford Pines]

"Heh. -Yeah, that'll do it," said Lee with a grin, folding it up and pocketing it, then taking the backpack from Blue, shouldering it, and telling the demon seriously, "C'mon, you."

Ford watched them trek off towards the building's front entrance of the Center's main facility. He considered going with them, but figured he'd have Dr. Poddar show him the security tapes tomorrow morning to see how they got in and around security. Might as well see what other holes existed in his security.

Lee left the tent the next morning to find two tupperware containers along with a box. And a little hand written note of [The blue box is Blue's breakfast. The red box is Lee's. Also some peanut brittle for Lee.]

Lee sighed. He'd told Ford that they had their own food, and told the lot of them last night that Blue didn't trust most folks for stuff, especially not handed off. And this stuff had been sitting there for who knew how long, unless he checked the sensors - not that this Ford would know that...

...and with this not being Ford's handwriting...

...that meant that the dragon-demon wasn't even listening to her brother even a little bit here. Damnit.

Lee let out a sigh, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Was this her bein' just that bad at the whole operational security thing? Or just forgetting? Or not caring? -Either way, she wasn't actually trying to make Blue feel okay with any of this stuff here. Definitely wasn't listening to him; he'd told her 'no' and explained why last night. So she wasn't listening to him (yeah well, what else was new), and who knew what was going on between her and Blue on top of that, too. That freaking shrug of the devil-demon's at whether or not he'd explained this food shit to the two of them before? That had been weird at the time. And that 'stealing food' shit as 'messing with' and 'teasing' him had already had Lee feeling really off-put.

Lee grimaced as he stared down at the two boxes. Because this shit just wasn't okay.

So Lee didn't even bother with it, not even touching it.

He just double-checked his heads-up display from his glasses, from his scan, then pulled out his gun, took aim, and fired. Zapped the 'protective layer' away like it wasn't even there ('course not; the whole place had a magic-suppression barrier up that hit maybe half the proper wavelengths), switched the setting over, then zapped both container and contents to ash in two bursts - first container plus note, then second - without even touching them. He knew better than that.

He holstered his 'space pistol' again, and it 'vanished' up against his side again.

He ducked his head back into the tent for a moment, to tap a quick note for Blue before exiting. Then he ducked out, up, and strode forward. He stretched in place a bit, then looked both ways down the hallway, and decided to head for the bathrooms, just because. (Didn't even bother knocking on this Ford's lab door as he went; didn't see any reason to bother him.)

Some other workers gave him quick glances, a few seemed to think he was Ford's nephew. "Oh, hello. Are you Dillon or Dipper?" One of them asked, good naturedly.

"Nope," he said, giving them a winning grin, "I'm Lee. From way outta town visiting. Keepin' the Blue outta his office and all of his hair too, y'know?"

"Ah, that… witch? Sorry, Dr. Pines hadn't really told us who or what Blue is."

"Heh. More of a wizard; ain't a witch," Lee said. "Keep it under your hat though, yeah?" Lee told them, making an 'adjusting hat' gesture above his head in the hallway, turning to keep addressing them as he just walked on by. "Blue usually does."

Lee gave them one last smile, pointed at the bathroom, and gave them a sort of half-salute as he pushed his way in by way of shoving open the door at his back on the way in.

Lee let out a small sigh, and his smile dropped a little bit. He headed over to the sinks, planning on using a bit of the soap and splashing some water on his face there; none of the interdimensional stuff really had the same smells. People didn't usually notice that stuff consciously, but they still reacted to it. Better to handle a bit of that stuff now. (Couldn't do much about his own clothing, though - just do the opposite there and remove all the smells instead. He was gonna have to stock up on more of that 'leather soap' stuff again the next time; he was pretty much out. Was a good way to de-stress in the evenings too, he'd found, scrubbing that stuff into his gear the first night every night he came back.)

He got to washing up, using the soap on his hands up to his elbows (after taking off his jacket for a minute and rolling up his sleeves), and then his face, neck, and chin - even up and behind his ears.

He was drying off with paper towels when a tall young man, who seemed too young to be a worker here (not almost-thirty-something or older like most of these scientific 'Ph.D.'s yahoos were supposed to be, yeah?), came in and started washing his hands. The boy didn't seem to have noticed Lee consciously as he grumbled under his breath about, "Slime, why is it always slime?"

"When is it ever not slime, amiright?" Lee said, pretty good-naturedly. (Because yeah, most beings and demons not liking getting slimed? Pretty universal there, yeah.)

"I know right?" The other man sighed. "I hate having to help out Dr. Clark, he's got this thing for slime molds and other icky stuff." the man turned to blink at Lee, finally looking at him properly.

"Heh. Maybe one of 'em got up into his brain and is trying ta reproduce, there." Lee said it only about half-seriously as he finished drying off his hands, tossed the paper towel, and grabbed up his jacket again, tossing it up and over and putting it back on, both arms at once.

"Hah! I'd see that happening. Hi, I haven't seen you around before? I'm Terrence." The guy grinned.

"Lee," said Lee, giving him a cocky two finger salute. (Not the bird one, the one-handed one, this guy didn't seem all that bad.)

"Are you… a new intern? I didn't know we were getting more?" Terrence blinked at him. "Ah, no offence, you look too young to be another worker?"

"Intern? Nah," Lee said with a little laugh, as he stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "I ain't got no fancy degree, or workin' on one or nothin'. Could say I've got more practical experience, I guess," he shrugged. "S'fine. I'm just visiting here for a bit. Keepin' an eye on Blue for Ford here."

Terrence looked him over. "Are you one of the doc's nephews?" then he blinked. "Oh, you're Blue's friend?"

"Only if somebody really messed up," Lee said with a bit of a good-natured grimace and a wince. "On both counts." (Blue's friend? -This guy definitely had no clue about the demon at all.)

"Um… Cool? Well, it's nice to meet you Lee." Terrence pulled out a paper towel from the dispenser.

Lee just nodded to him, then pulled the doorway open, heading out of the bathroom.

-And promptly almost ran into a girl around that Terrence guy's age, who was waiting outside. Right in front of the doorway. She squeaked and backed up. "Ack!"

"What," said Lee (kinda amused at this, now that he's missed her and got a bit outta the way), "Workin' on testin' out your x-ray specs?" He tapped at the corner of his own glasses twice with one finger.

The girl blushed. "No, I was just waiting for Terrence…" The girl quickly hid something behind her back. Still inside the bathroom, but close to the door, Terrence asked (from the other side of the closed door), "...were you planning to toss more slime on me?" The girl gasped in mock offence, "What? Whaaa? Why would you think that?"

Terrence groaned. "Even if it's non-harmful, I can't spend my whole day cleaning." The girl sighed, straightening up and pulling out the small container from behind her back. "Fiiiine~"

(Meanwhile, Lee was casually walking past her, making a U-turn, walking around her back as he was pulling on gloves, aaaaaand…)

"Yoink!" Lee said, reaching around her from behind and plucking the thing outta her grasp, before taking two step back. "Huh. What is this thing, anyway?" he asked, blinking and taking a good look at it (holding it up fairly well away from his face and hefting it once or twice - not at full extension though, not about to make it easy for anybody to steal back).

"Hey!" the girl protested. Terrence laughed as he came out from the safety of the bathroom and saw this whole scene. "It's a new kind of insulation that's meant to be squishy and slimy, to trap and destroy certain harmful bacteria. So it's technically clean, just gross."

"Pretty sure it ain't clean anymore, soon as you use it," Lee said consideringly, then had to take two boxing-dancing steps backwards pretty quickly to avoid the grab the girl made on it next. "Hey," Lee protested, waggling one finger at her, while holding the container of slime out and up a bit with one hand, "At least drinks and a dinner first before that! Yeah?" then grinned as he watched her get confused, then realize what he'd just said, and then blush.

The girl took the time to put her hands on her hips and then declare to him, "I'll have you know, good sir, that I already have a boyfriend."

"Even better," said Lee with a grin. "Means I get to keep the creepy slime thing," he added, as he brought it back to be held in front of him again by both hands. (Sort of a basketball-gym hold, a bit away from his chest.)

Terrence laughed. "Give up on the slime, I'm better than any slime, right?" (Lee's eyebrows went up at this.) And the girl giggled. "I dunno~ Mister slime and I have been having talks. He's a very good listener." Terrence gasped dramatically, swooning back with a hand over his chest. "Alas! My dear's heart was stolen away by millions of microorganisms!"

"I grew and cultivated those cultures myself," the girl huffed. "Wait, you were really gonna toss your colony at me, just for the fun of it?" Terrence blinked, straightening back up. "I've got three more," the girl shrugged. "Too much, really. I probably went overboard for this assignment…"

Terrence sighed. "You still shouldn't. Seriously Estania, you need to find another way to entertain yourself. Can't you just collect frogs like Viola does?"

"Don't frogs get lots of tadpoles, though?" Lee said next. He was pretty sure they were easier to grow or whatever than some slime mold or something. (And he was relaxing a bit at the nerd banter.)

"They are pretty cute…" Estania nodded to herself.

"Wow." Lee was impressed. "You got a girl who likes frogs and knows how ta slime people? Just stand behind her when she's aiming, and you're good." He carefully walked the container over, and (gently) shoved it into Terrence's chest. (Not like he was gonna toss it and risk the guy missing and breaking it open like that. He knew nerd discoordination pretty well here.)

"Yeah, I'm a lucky guy." Terrence chuckled. "Just wish she didn't like testing slimes on me." He held up the container to eye level. "I'm more interested in plants. Algae and slime is similar, but not quite the same." Estania rolled her eyes. "Testing the cleaning properties requires me to dump them on various things to see how well they work."

"You could just dump 'em on my desk instead. Help me clean." Terrence grinned at her.

Lee just flexed his gloves (checking them over), then pulled them back off. He turned away and started off, figuring the two lovebirds wouldn't even notice him being gone. And as he thought, they were still flirting in the hallway, even as he shoved the tent flap opening up, and ducked his head (and then the rest of him) back under and into the tent.

Eventually, another note appeared on the ground outside the tent. [I'm sorry. I don't know what's the right thing to do.]

When Lee came out of the tent again later, he glanced down at it, let out a breath at the deficiencies in the barrier that was set up around the Institute 'Center' place here, and made a wide berth around it, not even touching it to open it up to read it, let alone pick it up. (He was not up for playing another demon's games today, dragon-demon or not.)

He nearly ran into Ford coming out of his lab, who blinked and smiled. "Ah, good day Lee. How are you?"

"Fine," said Lee. "You wanna go someplace and talk about this supply run?" He tossed a thumb over his shoulder (down the hallway, not anywhere close to his lab). He didn't want to even push about the guy's lab space after Blue here, not even a little. (Especially since if he did end up invited inside there and actually went in, the devil-demon would probably-)

"Sure." Ford agreed without issue. He was done with reviewing his readings for the day.

"Where you wanna sit down and talk about it?" Lee asked him next. "You eat lunch yet?"

"I was heading to the cafeteria now." Ford admitted. (Lee nodded.) "Is… Blue getting food too?"

"We've got plenty of food in the tent," Lee let him know. "He's just hangin' out in there for a bit." (Lee wasn't about to say anything more specific than that. He was in the tent; that was all this Ford really needed to know. The devil-demon took operational security seriously. Knowing when and whether Blue was napping or not was one of those things the demon wanted him to always keep under his hat and completely inside his own head.) "No worries."

Ford looked like he was going to ask more but then sighed. "I don't know if I'm supposed to be suspicious about what Blue's up to or not." He glanced over and saw the note on the ground. And then he groaned. "...sorry about Miz. I think she's feeling upset and doesn't know how to handle it. I can have a talk with her, if you want?"

"Don't bother," said Lee. "Demons usually don't know what to do when you shut 'em straight down and don't give 'em any openings, going forward. I say no, and I don't let her go back to it even a little. She just doesn't see a way to keep goin' on tryin' to do what she was tryin' to pull on me before, anymore. That's all." Lee shrugged at this, completely unconcerned.

"...actually I think she's trying to apologize and has no idea how."

Lee gave him a sideways look, as they both started walking (Lee following a half-step back at his side, not knowin' where he was going.) "Demons apologizing is them just tryin' to reset things with you, so they can keep on trying the same thing again. Or maybe somethin' a little different. -She wants somethin', anyway," Lee said to him, "And I ain't givin' it to her. Might as well make it clear now. I ain't playing her games," Lee told him again in a kind of different way, giving him another shrug.

"Should I explain that to her?" Ford wondered, heading to the cafeteria.

"Telephone is a shitty game," said Lee. "She wants to show up in person to my face? I'll just tell her the same thing. Not like I don't know how all this demonic shit works," Lee said easily, not looking concerned in the least.

"...but does Miz know how it works? From what I understand, she hadn't met any other demon until she found Blue."

"She's the one doin' it." Lee gave him another sidelong, slightly frowning look. "Not like she ain't following exactly the same pattern as every last one of the rest of them. -What," Lee said, "You want me to try and explain her to herself?" the twenty-something year old said it pretty incredulously, like he thought he couldn't be understanding Ford right.

"Blue was the one to tell Miz she shouldn't be stealing food off our plates. I don't think she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing that, for one." Ford shrugged. "And she has no idea about the security things that Blue talked about."

Lee frowned at this.

"You're tellin' me that she's a demon that hasn't had any other demons pushin' back against her anywhere ever. Except maybe Blue, a little bit." Lee was looking at him with an expression that Ford didn't quite get.

"From what I can understand, Miz hasn't had anyone who's really 'pushed' against her except her Time Baby, who she doesn't like, and her father, who… more or less lets her do whatever she wants." Ford frowned. "Miz was adopted by Wanda so she could have a parental figure who could impose limits on her, teach her what was acceptable or not."

"Yeah? How's that workin' out for her?" Lee said with not quite a laugh of Wanda there, leaning back a bit as he walked, hands still in his pockets. Because what was she gonna do? Call her names? Scold the dragon a little, for sometimes getting too big, or eating too many large cows and human sacrifice people in one sitting?

"...Sometimes, Miz almost seems like a regular human child… but sometimes she gets something wrong, and I know Wanda's doing her best, but we don't know when's the right time to discipline her, or how." Ford rubbed his face. "One time, Wanda had Miz punished for something which… was the wrong time for it. Blue was rather vocal about it." (Lee frowned at this. Not like Blue always got stuff right himself.) Ford frowned. "I like Miz." he said simply. "She's very sweet. But she's also really stubborn and tends to go ahead with what she wants unless someone reminds her that the rest of us don't want to do that as well."

"Uh, yeah," said Lee. "She wants what she wants, and right now, what she wants means needin' to keep on talkin' to me. And she 'forgets' shit a lot, and starts doin' her want thing all over again, no matter what anybody else wants. -That's demon behavior," Lee said next, wondering if maybe he just wasn't telling this Ford all this well enough in nerd-speak for him to get? "She wants to talk to me; I shut her down and won't talk with her about any of this whatever-stuff. So she can't get what she wants, with minimal effort from me. That way, I don't gotta worry what she's sayin' to me, and when she maybe starts tryin' to push at me again, whether I'm seein' it right away or not. I don't even have to think about it. I just assume that she is, and I don't put up with it to start with, okay?"

"...how do I teach her to stop doing that?" Ford asked. "I just… I want to help her be a better person."

"You tell her stop or no," Lee told him. "She doesn't listen to you on that? You shut her down right away until she stops, and then she'd better be straight with you about what she's been doing. None of this 'oh, you're so sensitive' shit. It ain't you." Lee frowned. "She doesn't change her mind on what she's wanting, or work with you on going with something else, then you'd better cut her out for awhile until she gets the message. Even if it means you gotta be ready to be shootin' that lunatic in the face for it. 'Cause sometimes," Lee told him, "They just won't stop until you drop 'em."

Ford twitched. "I don't think I can shoot Miz." he trembled a little at the thought of it.

"Well, yeah," said Lee. "She's gettin' through that cheesecloth barrier you've got here already. Pretty sure she could eat just about anything you could throw at her for lunch. Plus," he added next, just as practically, "Blue would probably murder ya for that, if you tried."

"I…" Ford sighed. "Yes, Blue has made it pretty clear what would happen if so much as a scratch was on his sister." He sighed. "There's protective, and there's… murderously protective…" He sighed. (Which still kind of reminded him of the way Seb loved them, how Seb would and could easily kill anyone who harmed them. It… scared Ford a little. He didn't want his brother to be a murderer. Just as he didn't want Miz to do so either. But he couldn't stop what Miz chose to do, out in space. He couldn't do anything to protect her out there.)

"Yeah, well." Lee looked away from him at that. "Sometimes one of those means the other one. Sometimes it don't."

They got to the cafeteria then. Ford led Lee to the line for getting food. "The only real demons I've met are Miz, Blue and the local Bill Cipher, before we killed him. So I don't really have a lot of experience with them."

"And Seb," Lee noted, getting in line along with him.

"He's human now." ("Don't mean he don't remember being a demon.") Ford winced. "And he's very sensitive about that. He doesn't like the fact that he used to be a demon."

"That why Wanda's the one takin' point on her, instead a' Seb?" Lee said almost absently, as he leaned forward a bit and looked out over the food available all down the line.

"Yes." Ford nodded. "But Wanda's never had much experience with demons either. We're all… rather playing this by ear. Don't know if we're doing any of this right." He flushed a bit. "But we've been going for a 'love and support' type of thing, to see if that works."

"Never heard of somebody tryin' to raise a demon before," Lee said next, straightening back up again. "Usually, they start out mostly adults. Heard of some folks doin' the whole chained to 'em 'demon slave' familiar thing," Lee noted. "But that's a pretty damn different thing."

"Miz is apparently young, for a demon." Ford shrugged. "And a lot of her mentality is… childish. But she isn't a child. Even if she looks like one."

"Most demons come off as 'childish', yeah," Lee nodded. "They ain't got anybody tellin' them what they can or can't do, and killin' and dyin' just a little temper tantrum and time-out for them."

"Which is why we're trying to do that with Miz." Ford sighed. "It's… a work in progress."

"Yeah," Lee said patiently. "But you've got next to no follow-through." Lee looked over at him. "Do you know what she wants out of you? And can she get it without you sayin' yes to her for it?"

"...she… wants a family." Ford grimaced. It sounded simple, on the surface, but Miz was anything but simple, even if she came off that way most of the time (food makes her happy, anime made her happy…)

"Better figure out what family means to her, then," Lee told him. "What she thinks family does and doesn't do for her, to start with. And what'll have her cutting her losses and just doin' whatever instead, if you ain't giving her that."

"She's afraid of being alone." that was something Ford understood well.

"Well, Blue ain't goin' anywhere," Lee told him, turning towards him to lean up against the counter-railing there sideways. "So it can't be just that."

"...I don't like the idea of Blue being her only company." Ford admitted.

"Yeah?" said Lee. "Well, that's a joke and a half. 'Cause I don't like her hangin' around him and pushin' him around over stuff. Or have her gettin' him all almost-murdery over stuff, just because she don't know how to handle bein' around other people, or say no herself and then make it stick."

Ford was left feeling rather odd about that. So… both demons were apparently bad influences on each other? Well… Ford sighed, rubbing his head. "What am I going to do…" he asked, more to himself than anything else.

Lee let out a laugh. "You're askin' me?" He looked away from him, with a bit of a (rueful?) smile on his face. He hesitated for a second, then glanced away from him, folding both his hands behind his back. (Using his bracer to…) It was a few moments before Lee added, "Not like I've said yes to bein' a Line yet. Still kinda thinking about it."

"A line…?" Ford blinked.

"Yeah," said Lee. "You know…" He sketches two circles, outer and inner in the air. "You got your symbol-Shapes," he pointed at a couple different locations, not ten times around the 'wheel', but eleven, as he included the Cipher triangle location in the middle. "And then you got your 'dividing' Lines that, y'know, all separate out and span the divide? Sittin' between all the rest of them?" And then Lee drew the lines that sectioned out and separated each individual shape. "Circles are just inner and outer boundaries, though. Nothin' real special about that. Just makin' things a clear 'delineating separation' from the rest of, well, whatever."

"...there are more than just the symbols?" "Yeah? Lines are optional, though." (Lee wasn't worried about saying this to him now; he'd bounced a quick-query to Blue, tapped out casually on his interface for a moment there - not like he hadn't caught the whole 'Hand thing there earlier - and Blue had sent the go-ahead back to him within his glasses heads-up-display line-of-sight.) Ford twitched. "...or is that just a thing that happens in your Set? I haven't found anything here that says there was more than just the symbols…"

"Hell if I know," Lee told him. "But it's not like older-Ford did either, back where I'm from," Lee noted. "Or that old-man-me's twin brother. Old-man-me read it the same way I did, though; guess we both thought it was obvious." (Ford twitched again.) "Anyway, Lines are all 'optional', or somethin'," Lee told him next. "We're all kinda set, ain't like he can just pick anybody, but we both got a choice in this whole shindig, him and us Lines. We don't have to be his, and he don't have to take us. And, ya know, the whole 'other way around' thing there, too." Lee shrugged like this wasn't any big deal or anything.

"...I should ask Miz about it… frankly, I thought the Zodiac was only meant for killing a Bill Cipher. So I was… unsure how to feel about Miz choosing me for it..." on one hand, a little worried, on the other hand, flattered that Miz had wanted him for something so important.

"Yeahhhhh… Blue ain't gonna want me talkin' about that part of that," Lee said with a snort. "But hey," Lee said with a slight smirk, "How many spells you know that work here, without any words you gotta say with 'em?" Lee said, looking like he was trying to look innocent there. "-Hey," he said, not quite wincing at the look Ford got at that next. "I'm just messin' with ya. Not like I know how junk's supposed to work around here. Demon's dead anyway here, right?"

"Ah, yes. I suppose that meant I was… up for grabs?" Ford made a face at that.

"Huh?" said Lee. "Oh, 'cause your demon ain't around anymore? Depends on if he's coming back like Blue did, I guess." Lee shrugged at this next.

"Well it's been over five years and there's still no sign of him. Chances are, he's dead, or he's not coming back for another 995 or so years. I believe that's around how much time it takes Miz to reform whenever she died."

"Five years is pretty out there for a demon that ain't just doin' a restart and starting over," Lee noted. "Pretty sure you'd be up to your eyeballs in trouble already, if he can bounce around the timeline like Blue can whenever, though."

"I don't think that's how a demon in this Set works." Ford blinked. "And with Time Baby dead, Bill could have come back to torment me some more, whenever he wanted. The fact that he hasn't probably means he's actually dead."

"Or he took one look at Miz and Blue before he decided to leap and just 'nope'd right on out of here, first." Lee sighed as they finally got to the food serving station portion of the lunch line. "Think you need another lunch line or two here, bossman."

Ford liked the idea of Miz being here as a deterrent against Bill, if he was alive. Then he looked over. "Oh, I suppose we do have a much larger staff now, compared to when we first built the cafeteria… I'll make a note of that."

Lee nodded, then scratched the back of his head.

"Don't suppose I could get you to spot me a lunch as some kinda delivery fee?" Lee tried, giving him a quirky smile. (He hadn't actually taken the time to hit a jeweler's store yet, to get some gold converted over into money. And he had food back in the tent, but one of the things they had out here today was lasagna; hadn't had that in awhile...

"Ahahahaa!" Ford burst out laughing. "Lunch is on me, or any other meal here. You're a Stanley after all. By our definitions here, that makes you somewhat family." He smiled. "And we take care of our family here. The other Stanford was rather surprised by our attempts to include him." Poor man looked so confused about all the kindness.

"Heh," went Lee, looking away and blushing a little bit. "Just for that," Lee told him with a smile, "I ain't tellin' you my usual acquisition rates." He looked up and said to the lunch lady in front of him, "Yeah, I want two servings of that," while pointing to the lasagna. (Man, his scanner had practically been going off with visual bells and whistles over that one - all of the good kind.) "Ford's kinda back and forth on stuff, yeah," Lee told him next, as he accepted his tray. "Ain't his fault he's felt like he's never fit in anywhere, really." Probably 'cause most places he just hadn't. "His twin's a downright piece of work. I could tell you stories about that one, what I've heard." He shook his head then looked up at him, kind of… oddly.

"He was quite stressed. I hope he's doing better…" Ford's eyes narrowed. "Everything I've heard about his life sounded rather unfortunate…"

"Yeahhhh," said Lee. "I dunno when you ran into him along his own personal timeline, or whatever. But I didn't know he'd been straight out to some other set. Don't think he would've said yes to that, ever. Don't think Blue jumped ahead to something like that all, either. He don't like the nonlinear stuff."

"Apparently it was an accident. Something about Blue being half asleep and not thinking straight when he pulled him here."

Lee looked over at him. "That don't exactly help narrow it down any. You know that, right?" Lee frowned. "All that means is that it happened sometime in forty-six-apostrophe-backslash in the couple years along Blue's timeline that the devil-demon's been back there, after meeting Miz. That's pretty much almost all of it."

"I suppose it wouldn't." Ford chuckled weakly. "But that other Ford looked to be in his late sixties, early seventies? I guess that doesn't narrow it down at all."

Lee shook his head 'no' in agreement. "Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and actually ask him."

The two brought their trays of food over to sit down. Ford had considered an empty table, but… he hadn't sat with his friends in a while, on account of worrying over Blue. He would admit, he missed them. So he waved a little at them. "Ah, Lee, would you like to meet my friends? Though… looks like Fiddleford isn't here right now."

"Hey Dr. Pines~ finally gracing us with your presence? Who's the kid?" Dr. Jerald asked with a smile.

"Kid, yeah," Lee practically snickered. Then he brightened up. "Hey, does that Fiddlenerd guy really know how to play the banjo?" he asked then all, grinning.

And half the table grinned while the other half groaned. "Yup! It's awesome!" Dr. Wexler giggled. "No it's not! We had to listen to him banjo all through orientation! And we didn't know if it was some kinda test to keep a straight face or not! It was awful!" Dr. Clark moaned.

Lee looked at both sets of people.

"Wow," said Lee. "It really is that whole binary thing, huh. Ten kinds of people." He sat down at the table as Ford himself did.

"...it gets annoying after the two hour mark." Ford admitted, then realized what Lee had just said and nearly dropped his tray on the way down. And he was rather weirded about by it. Because Lee had just made a math joke, and…. It was so strange. Stanley would never deem to do something so nerdy.

"Heh," said Lee. "You mean the ten hour mark," he said in a very ribbing 'yeah? yeah?' Stanley voice and, what was he referring to-? Oh. Oh! -Oh, he wasn't just repeating something there, he actually got the joke and-!

And Ford burst out laughing, pounding on the table. (Lee just grinned at this, looking very pleased with himself: the king of bad puns strikes again!) A few of the other scientists raised their eyebrows. "Oh no. You've set him off. He'll be snorting for all of lunch now." Dr. Wexler said dryly, even as her lips twitched.

"Oh yeah?" said Lee. "So, what kinds a'stuff have you said that usually gets him snortin' like that before me?" he said with that teasing lilt to his tone, and bright interested eyes. There was an undertone there of, 'what, you got some better punchline?'

"Well, there was that time Dr. Jerald was complaining about someone misplacing his potassium supplies. And then Dr. Poddar had the bright idea to say 'They were moved next to the oxygen tanks, so it's OK.' and Dr. Pines snorted so hard he nearly choked." Dr. Wexler rolled her eyes.

"Sounds more like he was lookin' for a KO to me," Lee said with a completely straight face, and-

Ford cackled so hard he slid down in his seat.

"See," said Lee, "He gets it. It was completely explosive. ...Well, mostly," Lee backed off a bit.

Dr. Clark nudged his boss with a foot. "Um… is he gonna be okay?"

"If he's anything like my brother? Yeah," Lee smiled. "Give him a few minutes, he'll come around..." Lee reached for his carton of milk, "...okay." (At which point, Ford put his head down on the bench - he'd practically slid down under the table at this point - and started pounding a fist down on the seat.) Lee didn't quite keep down the chuckle, watching this all going on next to him. ('Puns. Gotta love 'em.')

"Well, as our boss is too busy rolling on the ground to make introductions," Dr. Wexler sighed. "Hello, I'm Amy Wexler. Chemical engineer." She stirred up her lunch, a horrid mix of meatloaf and half the salad bar with copious amounts of mustard.

"I'm Arjun Poddar." A dark skinned scientist grinned at Lee. "I'm a theoretical physicist, though I dabble in robotics."

"Bruce Clark, biomedical engineer."

"He's the dude behind all the slime, if you spend any time in this lab at all, you've probably seen his work." Dr. Poddar whispered loudly (and Lee nodded). Dr. Clark smacked his arm. "Hey!"

The last man at the table opened his mouth and was cut off by Dr. Wexler's grinning exclamation, "That's Dr. Jerald. First name Jerald, last name Jerald. Jerald Jerald." ("You're all seriously never going to let up on this joke?!")

"Lee Pines," Lee returned, not batting an eyelash. "Travelling merchant, single-gold star class." He took up a forkful of lasagna, bit into it, and... Mmmmm… that was the stuff! (Lee's shoulders practically dropped completely at the taste of that mouthful.)

He chewed, swallowed, then said, "Damn. Who do I gotta kill for this recipe here?" before taking up another mouthful of the stuff.

"Who's the one who made the lasagna again?" Dr. Wexler looked over at the kitchens. "Ah, right, that time when Dr. Pines' boyfriend came in to talk with some of the kitchen staff on trading recipes… I think he taught them this one among many others. Along with this very good chinese noodle dish that I'm still hoping they bring back soon, I liked that one a lot."

"...my what?" Ford managed to pull himself up, at the same time as Lee turned and said to him, "Whoa, wait. You got a boyfriend?"

Ford blinked. "I don't have a boyfriend? Do I?" He looked quite confused. The other scientists stared.

"Uh…" Lee looked back over at the rest of them. "This guy got a name?" (The half-shock didn't stop him from eating though; he grabbed up another forkful of the good stuff.)

"Um… that man, Xin. He… isn't your boyfriend?" Dr. Clark asked, "I mean, nothing wrong with having a boyfriend or not or- I mean, but… we all just kinda… assumed… what with the way he behaves around you…"

"Pretty sure he just said he didn't have one, so this Xin character ain't," Lee said simply in response to that next, before grabbing up another forkful.

Ford was bright red. "H-he's just… affectionate! He's not… I mean… there's no way that…" he had pulled himself back up now.

Lee looked up at him then.

"Hey," he said, elbowing him gently. "Nothin' wrong with a hug or whatever, or two. Ain't like me and Blue are datin' or anything."

"...the guy sits in his lap and feeds him sometimes…" Dr. Poddar said quietly.

"Yeah, well, that's Ford." Not like he hadn't seen Miz doing that the night before; he had. (Hadn't thought to ask at the time, but…) Lee glanced over at him. "You okay with him doin' that? Or you want him to stop." Wasn't like he hadn't memorized all the names and things that the dragon-demon had shown them all, way back when on the boat.

And Ford's blush got worse. "I mean… I don't mind so long as it doesn't get in the way of what I'm doing, I just… hadn't thought people would assume I was…"

Lee eyed him. "Don't mind? Or actually want him to do it." He said it in the same way he had both about the frilly dress, and Blue going into his lab.

And Ford looked away. "I… don't know? I… enjoy the company… and the feeling of having him close by… bu-but there's no way he would- he's not…" Ford scrubbed his face. He still wasn't sure about his feelings here. Dating? Such a thing… Xin couldn't like him, in that way. He wasn't sure how to feel about any of this. Besides, Ford was mortal. It'd never work out. Yeah. Ford's shoulders slumped. "It wouldn't work out. And there's no way he would…"

"Wait…" Lee frowned at him a little bit. "Do you actually… want to date him?" ...Uh, okay. And now this Ford was blushing here. (...Well, shit.)

His co-workers just stared at him. "...have you… asked him?" Dr. Clark asked gently. Wow, they had thought they were together, they didn't realize that their boss was apparently just pining or something?

And Ford shivered. "I couldn't. What if- I mean, we're friends. I don't want to mess that up. I don't know the first thing about-" he waved his hands. "-that sort of thing! I've-" He slumped over on the table. "I tried dating once… but that didn't work out. I don't think I'm cut out for this sort of thing…"

Lee was eyeing him over this, at his side.

Then Lee just went back to digging into his own meal. (It was one thing talkin' about what they had before. This demon 'friends' relationship stuff wasn't something he should be talkin' about in front of these folks.) They could talk about it all later.

"Dr. Pines… um…" Dr. Clark said hesitantly, "Aren't you and Xin… um…" he wasn't sure if there was a polite way to word his inquiry. "Aren't you two in… that sort of relationship?" he waved his hand helplessly. Ford blinked. (So did Lee, who paused mid-chew and looked up.) "That? What do you mean that?" Well, no one really wanted to continue that conversation thread, Dr. Wexler was making 'Abort! Abort!' motions behind Ford's back. "...nevermind. Forget I said anything." Dr. Clark sighed. "...do you want to date Xin, though?" he added, even as Dr. Wexler mouthed, 'No you idiot! Shut up!'

"That wouldn't happen. I… wouldn't put Xin through that, he… deserves someone who can better…" Ford winced, folding his hands under the table. "He deserves someone better." Ford knew he wasn't any good at this kind of thing. William deserved better, someone who could actually do all of the romantic stuff correctly. (Lee eyed him over this. He heard that whisper, and he really did not like how he'd put that. He looked away from him, but scooted a little closer to him where they were both sitting on the bench, nudged his shoulder against Ford's a bit, in a sort of solidarity there. Wasn't sure if this guy was more like his own brother or 'Sixer' on this one than Ford, but… well, he could just shove him off if he wanted to, right?)

The other scientists looked at each other and decided to drop the topic. "So! Ah… recipe? Could ask the dragon for it, next time he comes around here?" Dr. Jerald tried to change the subject.

Ford glanced over at Lee, and gave him a faint smile, pressing a little closer. (Lee glanced over at him with a bit of a smile too, and relaxed a bit.) Then he looked back at his lunch. "Well, I can have Xin write down the recipes, won't even tell him they're for you, or anything, if you're worried about that."

"Or… I could just ask the people back there who made it this time, 'cause who knows if they changed up the recipe," Lee said, before taking another big bite.

"That too, probably easier." Ford admitted.

"They stick around for a bit after lunch?" Lee asked next, before taking another big bite of his meal.

"Yes, we have a late lunch, early dinner shift as well."

"Same-" Lee swallowed a bit better. "Mm. Same people both shifts?"

"Yes. They work all day, though it's technically two half shifts with a several hour break in between."

"Yeah, okay. I'll ask them for a hot minute after this. -Just five minutes, okay?" Lee still hadn't had that talk with him about the supply run just yet.

"No problem at all."

"Yeah, sure, except you'll probably wander off and get into some nerdy thing all distracted after this," Lee noted, waving his loaded-up fork at him a bit, "If I leave you alone for too long." He took another bite.

Ford chuckled. "Eh, I've been sort of banned from any practical tests on anything too interesting for the foreseeable future, on account of my continued existence being something of an important point."

"You're a nerd in a lab full of nerds," Lee said to him blandly. "Pretty sure you could still be doin' a bunch of nerdy talk with a bunch of other nerds here about almost anything, without needin' to do any 'testing'." Lee made air quotes at that with his fingers, then used his fork to take another bite. Then… "Maybe I should take you with me into the kitchen back there," he said reflectively, before taking yet another bite to eat of his food.

Ford thought about it. "You know, I have been meaning to learn how to cook. Might be good for me." He grinned. "And I could see about improving any recipes using the scientific method!"

Lee stopped chewing for a minute. "Yy-" he swallowed hard, coughed, then pounded his chest a few times. "You don't know how to cook?!" Lee said next, somewhat incredulously, staring at him.

"I can cook!" Ford protested. "I mean, I can make omelettes. And pasta. Or preparing an animal for roasting over a fire. I'm capable of surviving on my own." He flushed. "I just… normally don't take the time to do anything really special? I mean, that takes too much time out of my schedule. So stuff that requires long cook time or prep-work isn't something I bothered to learn."

"...'Bout to say," said Lee, giving him an odd sort of look. "Well, uh," Lee rubbed the back of his neck. "We got a full kitchen in the tent, so if you want to try anything out…?" He was kind of confused at the idea of cooking taking a long time, though. He'd always found it pretty easy and quick. "Just let me know." He shrugged and got back to his eating.

"...is that alright?" Ford frowned.

Lee swallowed his mouthful of food. "Sure," he said. "Not like we don't got the thing set up so that ain't practically the first thing coming in there, and all. Won't be needin' to walk through anything Blue wouldn't want ya to see. Gotta be able to entertain visitors. Or guests." Lee dug in for another forkful. He was almost done with his meal already. "Y'know most stuff doesn't actually take that long to make, right? Just set it up, and go."

Ford nodded. "Then I will come by when you're up for a visit." He shrugged. "I guess I just don't really think of it as cooking unless it's some sort of careful recipe. I suppose I should have figured." He rubbed his head, looking sheepish.

"Nah," said Lee. "Lotta stuff, you can just nuke in the microwave, or cut up and go, like salads and stuff. Cook up a bunch of meat or tofu in a big batch, and dump it into a couple things later when you need to. Ain't gotta be some big deal. -Though some stuff, you've just gotta wait. Plenty of times we've done soups or stews though; just cut it all up and toss it in the pot in the morning there, and you're good for the afternoon or the evening." Lee shrugged over this.

"I always hear Sebastian talk about how he sets up all his prep work. And Miz sometimes spends a whole day in the kitchen…" Ford noted. "I guess that's why I thought of my own hastily put together meals as something else."

"Doesn't have to be a whole day," Lee said. "I've handled stuff for an entire week in an hour. Sometimes two whole weeks, even. -For me and Blue both, for all the grab-and-go fresh stuff we both like to go for," Lee made clear then. "And we don't always eat the same thing."

"Yeah, sir." Dr. Clark chuckled. "Even sandwiches count as cooking. Any sort of way of preparing something that you can then eat for sustenance counts as cooking. Doesn't always have to be heated or anything." Dr. Jerald nodded solemnly. "Sandwiches can be a work of art."

"Heck, even cereal or that oatmeal stuff counts," Lee pointed out next, gesturing with his milk carton, and nudging Ford in the arm a bit. "There's all sorts of canned or instant stuff that lasts just about forever, even without shoving it in some sorta freeze-it box or nothin', before you use it." Stasis fields on stuff for holding foodstuffs were the best, but the tent wasn't 'safe' enough to do that inside. He had a couple of those on his boat in the gallery, and several large 'industrial sized' ones down in the hold of the boat on the lower-level next to all the hydroponics stuff, too.

"I suppose this makes me a chef." Ford laughed. "But I did want to learn more recipes." Miz always cooked for him, he wanted to return the favor sometimes. In a more personal way than simply paying for their meal at a restaurant.

"Sure," said Lee. "I can show you a bunch of stuff; no sweat. We'll eat it all eventually; you can even take some if it with you, if you want." Lee didn't mind; he could pull it out if his own personal stores, though he doubted Blue would protest much, anyway.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Ford stuck the rest of his lunch in his mouth to chew and swallow. He didn't have a very large lunch, just a chicken salad. He ate a lot last night, and had some leftovers from Melody for breakfast, so he wasn't too hungry.

Lee nodded, smiling a bit without even thinking about it. "So, we talk to the cooks in the back, then hit the tent for some quick stuff? We can talk more supplies while I show you a couple things; shouldn't take long."

"Woo!" Ford laughed, it was fun, the idea of learning something new.

Lee got a quirky smile at this. He hadn't seen a Ford get purely excited about anything in-

...yeah. This was kinda nice. (Lee was starting to reevaluate what he'd thought of Blue's 'surprise'.)