Violet eventually had to leave, though it was nice to meet her dads when they came to pick her up. Thankfully she didn't bother to mention the whole magical mess that had happened, I'm guessing that they wouldn't have been quite so eager to let her return if she had brought it up. Unfortunately with her gone and Webby off talking to her grandmother about something, likely me again, I was left with nothing to do but park my butt on the couch and watch some trashy television to distract myself.
In all honesty, I really wanted to just spend the rest of the day hanging out with Webby and Vi, but I also kind of knew that I had to get used to being away from them. If I did manage to actually leave, I needed to be able to function on my own. Of course, I had barely managed to walk away from Beakley and Webby to turn on the lounge TV before Louie interrupted my privacy and threw himself onto the lounge beside me, snatching the remote from my hands in the process. I guess I wasn't going to be getting any privacy any time soon.
"Come on, I just returned to reality. That's totally worth tv privileges." I complained though it was admittedly half-hearted. The triplets had wisely kept their distance for most of the day, Webby and Violet had apparently gone around the house and basically told everyone to leave me alone while I sorted stuff out. While it was nice to know that they had done a lot to make my return more manageable it didn't stop me from feeling useless knowing that everyone knew that I was struggling to even handle people saying hello. At least they weren't aware of the magic issues yet.
"You had the tv all last night!" Louie shot back before shoving me over so he could sit in the centre of the couch and threw on that stupid footrest show with the horribly nerdy pun of a title. "Now be quiet, I heard that this is going to finally be a reunion episode with Randy's return." I briefly considered using a bit of telekinesis to snatch the remote off him, I wouldn't even need to channel the spell through the Sumerian talisman around my neck. However I decided against it, it's not like I knew what to put on.
So I instead just kind of shook my head and curled up on the couch to watch the mess of a show with one eye as my mind muddled its way through the mess around me. However, before I had even really gotten to understand why the Johnny rooster was complaining about polyester blends, an advertisement flashed on the screen and the tv was muted before our ears could be assaulted. Louie was rather proficient at the mute button it seemed. Unfortunately with the television no longer providing a distraction to Louie, I had suddenly become a good source of distraction while he waited for the break to end.
"So, how are things?" He asked casually as he checked his phone. I really miss my phone, I wonder if Magica threw it into the ocean or just smashed it.
"Really, is that how you want to start this?" I asked him incredulously. I returned after being nearly killed and lost in a shadowy void for six months and all I got was a lazy 'hello what's up' from him.
"Well, I figured it was better than asking what it was like in the shadow realm and whether Magica banished you or killed you." He replied with a shrug.
I winced at the mention of that decrepit place and her. The Sumerian talisman hanging around my neck suddenly seemed to feel a lot heavier, I quickly focused my attention away from it, I really didn't want to need to explain why the stupid thing was shining. "The first option was the right choice." I sighed as I tried to make myself more comfortable on the couch. Six months of no feeling and now I was struggling to enjoy a couch. "I'm still trying to work out what happens now that I'm back, I guess."
"Sounds rough, though better than being stuck with Magica, right?" Louie did not do subtlety, and a part of me was appreciative of this fact, though most of me was rather annoyed at him.
"Anything is better than having to live with Magica" I groaned as I turned over and stared up at the ceiling. "I don't think I could ever tell you exactly how much I don't want to ever be around her again."
"Sounds bad?"
"You don't even know the half of it" I paused as I realized that this was probably the first time that I had ever actually talked about Magica to anyone, admittedly I hadn't really had the chance to talk to anyone while she was hovering in the shadows. Then again, what really was I supposed to talk about? Maybe talk about all the horrid things I had to do for her, or maybe I could talk about how she was the closest thing I had to family. Neither option was something they would want to hear about, it wasn't even something I wanted to think about. "Not that there is anything in there that you would actually want to hear about."
"Webby's new friend told us all to not to force you to talk." Louie chuckled. "No idea why she thought that we would actually listen to her. So either you hurry up and spit out what's bugging you, or I'm going to marathon the entire season of Ottoman Empire and you'll never get to watch what you want."
"I know, and her name was Violet. I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure she is my friend as well" I sighed, wondering how accurate that was. Violet seemed to at the very least hold some level of concern for my well-being, but I wasn't so sure what we had really counted as friends yet. "Also you know, that isn't exactly the deep threat that you seem to think it is, I was stuck in shadows, unable to talk to anyone for half a year, so I'm not exactly that inexperienced with being a bit bored."
"You realize that it is comments about that mess that worries the others so much, right?" Louie seemed certain that he was going to be able to make me talk, but he knew nothing about the levels of petty stubbornness that I was willing to use. However, I couldn't hide the fact that the mention of Webby made it considerably more difficult.
Thankfully it was at this point that the stupid show came back on and I knew that Louie was about the get engrossed in the stupidity of two roosters arguing about exactly which timber type would better suit the client. Unfortunately, it was here that all my luck ran out as the show paused and Louie turned to me with a frown. Stupid smart TVs and their stupid convenient live pausing stuff making Louie actually act responsible.
"Okay look, you can't just keep ignoring your problems, Lena"
"Oh like you don't try to avoid every problem constantly," I complained.
Louie was having none of it. "I don't avoid my problems. I get rid of them. Or make them someone else's problem. Or make money out of them. You're just hiding and hoping that everything works itself out. Well, guess what, when the issue is with you then you have to sort your own issues out, or at least tell someone what is wrong so that they can help."
"I know I'm a problem for you all," I shot back with a snarl. "You think I don't know that no one wants to deal with stupid Lena and her equally annoying magic. The only way to fix that is for me to leave, and I don't have anywhere to go. So let me pretend for at least a few more hours that my life isn't a freaking mess, okay." I went to get up, but Louie just shoved me back onto the couch. Apparently, I wasn't quite as strong as I had been before the whole shadow world vacation so I wasn't able to get out of his hold.
"I didn't say that you were a problem, I said that you had your own problems." He told me with no small amount of irritation in his voice. "So you think that your magic is a problem for us. It's not, we have a ghost butler for mickey's sake. The not normal stuff is not exactly new ground for us, especially not for uncle Scrooge. So any magic junk, we can help. Or at least the others can, I am probably a bit too lazy to really worry about it unless there are some wealth acquisition opportunities."
He paused as he seemed to get stuck on trying to connect my magic issues with money before shaking his head to dislodge the thought. "Look, Lena," He continued somewhat slowly as he released his hold on me. "Your life isn't some unfixable mess, okay. Sure you have some problems that you are going to have to sort out, and some others that you are just going to have to live with, so stop ignoring your problems and let me help."
"I'm not sure that there is a way for you to help," I mumbled as I sat there, not entirely sure what I should even bring up. "I guess my biggest issue right now is that I don't know what I am meant to do. The sleepover is kind of over and Vi's already left, but I am not really sure where I am meant to go."
"I don't think Uncle Scrooge or Mrs. Beakley are all that eager for you to just leave." Louie pointed out carefully. "Also I'm like ninety percent sure that Webby is hiding in the bushes on the south side of the driveway to make sure you don't leave. So you're staying here tonight, no questions about that."
"Not unless I sneak out the north side."
"Webby might've added a couple of traps as well."
"Of course she would. Okay, fine. Let's say that I'll just stay here for the night, what about tomorrow?" I shot back, annoyed that he would so simply dismiss my worries as if there were nothing. "Or next week? I can't stay here forever, at some point Scrooge is going to notice that a freeloader is sleeping on his couch. I don't exactly have anywhere to go."
"I'm not saying that you don't have something to sort out, I'm just saying that they are going to give you plenty of time to work it out and we're all going to help you." Louie was annoyingly quick on the response and it wasn't like he was wrong. "I mean, it isn't like we don't want to help you. We're not that selfish, and anyway you basically sacrificed yourself to save Webby and my bro. That's not exactly something that we are going to ignore. We owe you."
"I don't know if you owe me anything," I tried to counter, not even sure why I was arguing at this point. "I barely helped, and Webby did risk her own life to bring me back. At best we're equal, right."
"Are you kidding?" Louie actually laughed at that. "You saved Webby, you saved my brother, those aren't debts that we can just pay off. You saved family, you're going to be able to leech off Uncle Scrooge for years if you play your cards right. Heck, even Mrs. Beakley will go into bat for you if you need it. So don't worry about tonight, or even the next month, that's Uncle Scrooge and Mrs. Beakey's problem to argue over. In fact, twenty dollars says that Mrs. Beakley just lets you sleep in Webby's room for the next week without a word."
"I'd take that bet if I had any money to my name," I groaned back, though I was feeling somewhat placated by his words. If he was right, and he often was annoyingly so, they would probably keep feeling guilty for the next few weeks which would be long enough for me to sort out something. Maybe I could get a job, a fake ID shouldn't be that difficult to get. I think I still remember some of her black market contacts.
"Donald has some contacts if you really need 'em'. Also, you talk to yourself a lot"
I groaned and covered my face with my palm, "Yeah, kind of got into the habit when I was in the shadow dimension. It took the edge off the silence."
An uncomfortable silence fell between us as Louie gave me a weirdly strange frown and tried to give me a pat on the head like I was some sort of pet. I quickly shoved him away and he fell off the couch with a yelp. "Seriously?" I asked.
"Hey, you looked like y-" However whatever defense he had was never told as we heard the squawking of Donald cut him off from the doorway. Louie winced as he saw his uncle glaring at him. "We were just watching television!"
Donald just gave a jerk of his head and Louie groaned before heading off, I didn't even bother trying to understand what the older duck was yammering on about, but it was clear that Louie had forgotten to do something that he needed to go.
I just closed my eyes and curled up on the couch and ran over what he had said in my mind. If Scrooge and the others really saw that they owed me something, then it probably wasn't that important that I leave straight away. Maybe I could spend some time and find a job in Duckberg or something. It'd be nice to still be able to see Webby and the others occasionally.