It was quiet in the dorm room, and the moon shone through the windows of the roof, but not as bright as Yikk's nightlight.
Well… let's say the quiet was eventually broken by the sound of soft sobbing.
Billy couldn't sleep properly because they felt such strong platonic feelings for Yikk, and didn't have anyone to discuss it with yet. Especially the last reason made them extra restless.
Yikk themself, who felt that something was clearly wrong outside of the dream world, slowly but surely woke up and quietly sensed their surroundings at first.
They sat up, took their thumb out, rubbed their eyes out and then noticed the distraught Billy. They then sat down on their knees next to their best friend's bed.
"Bill?" they whispered. "You otay?"
"Huh?" Billy replied. "Well, I'm fine, thanks."
"No, you not be fine. Why else would I wake up fwom the dweam wohld because somefin' outside of it was not wight?"
"Alright, I'll admit it. I cannot get any proper sleep…" The Latinx sobbed a little louder, but it was muffled by their pillow so nobody else would wake up from it.
"Thewe, that be one step. Now, why can't you sweep?"
"Because… because…"
Yikk rubbed Billy's back in an attempt to comfort them.
"I have… I have… I have a p-pale crush on a c-certain someone for a while n-now…"
Silence minus the occasional sobbing remained for a brief while.
The lime crewmate swiftly looked around the room to see if nobody else was awake as well, and everyone was still soundly sleeping despite the slight ongoing chaos.
"A-and… that…" Billy tried.
"Yes?"
"That certain s-s-s-s-someone is… it's… it's you, Yikk."
The childish youngster briefly gasped with widened eyes.
"You do?"
"I'm s-sure of it…!" The yellow crewmate practically muffled their entire face in their pillow to cry loudly. "I didn't realise this u-until a few hours ago…!"
"I see. Tell me mowe."
"And I've suddenly b-b-been wondering s-stuff like… well… what if you don't have a pale crush b-back on m-m…. m-m-me?"
"Weawy? Well, that be unexpected, to be honest. Any chance you checked youh wettahbox wecentwy?"
Billy looked at Yikk with widened and slightly bloodshot eyes.
"What does my letterbox have to do with it…?"
"Well, thewe be a note in it fo' you, fwom me. You haven't wead it yet?"
"Well, no… why, is it important?"
"As well as wewated to this topic."
"O-oh… I see… then I'd better read it now."
"Then wet's go togethah and be weeeaaawy quiet…"
The Latinx nodded in agreement, got out of their bed and shyly grabbed their platonic crush's hand as they quietly headed out of the dorm room, towards the letterboxes downstairs.
"Now, which one was my letterbox again…?" Billy drew their free right hand over the row of letterboxes.
"Wemme hewp you wif that." Yikk gently grabbed their friend's wrist and brought their hand towards the correct letterbox. "Now, gwab it."
The yellow crewmate grabbed the note, but decided not to read it until the two were back upstairs.
They sneaked back upstairs, and could suddenly hear the faint sound of Yuri crying from behind the door of the 'master' bedroom on their way.
Yikk held Billy close to them when they went back inside of the dorm room, back towards their respective beds. The former huddled back into their covers and held on tightly to their comfort blanket, while the latter carefully opened the note and quietly read it for a few times.
The fourth-to-youngest crewmate then looked their crush into their eyes in slight disbelief, but also in appreciation and surprise.
"You mean it…?" they quietly asked. "Y-you really do…?"
The youngest crewmate simply nodded with a slight smile.
"Oh my goodness, that's so sweet of you…!" Billy got off of the edge of their own bed and huddled underneath Yikk's covers. "Of course I'd like to be your moirail, Yikk…"
"Then, in that case… me, too, Biwwy. Wet us be moiwails."
The two newly-coupled moirails rubbed their noses and kissed one another's lips with a smile.
Everyone else in the dorm room was still asleep and completely unaware of the current goings-on. They didn't even feel a certain feeling outside of their dream worlds.
Yikk quietly kissed all of Billy's remaining tears away and then rubbed their cheek with their own.
"Sweet dweams" they whispered before popping their thumb back in and closing their eyes, sleep really wanting to be present in their mind and body now.
"Sweet dreams to you, too… my moirail…" Billy whispered back, as they also closed their eyes and draped an arm around their fellow crewmate's body.
The second good-night-wish was heard by deaf ears, though, as the childish crewmate had already fallen back asleep so swiftly.
Soon, the morning came, and once everyone was all ready for the day, only five crewmates got a message that they had to go on a mission.
Good morning! This isn't just going to be your average mission – in fact, prepare yourselves for quite the surprise soon! Regards, Mack :)
"A surprise, he says?" Arnie said as he read along from Vienna's pager.
"Yeah" Squee said, "I wonder what it is."
"He never sends such informal-looking messages either" Rice stated, "judging from the smiley face at the end of it."
The correct statement caused a buzz in between the rest of the missionary crewmates.
A little later, Lava, Squee, Yikk, Vienna and Rice departed towards their spaceship, but only had to change into their spacesuits, oxygen tanks and accessories there, since there appeared to be a note pasted on the door of the 'wardrobe':
Meet the others in the neighbouring ship! -Mack :)
"Wait" Yikk said, "so this not be a mission wif jus' the five of us?"
"Doesn't look like it" Vienna replied with a slight shrug.
"This isn't fair" Lava complained, "I want a mission with our own crewmates only, not with neighbours!"
"Calm yourself, Lava. If you received such a message, then stick to the promise, too."
"They may be our neighbours, but they don't belong to our group!"
"Stop being so childish and just follow the rest of us to the neighbouring ship."
"Fine."
Neri tapped Yikk's right side.
"She's more childish than me and Yuri combined…!" he whispered with a giggle, making the lime crewmate nod and giggle along.
In the neighbouring ship, Dexter, Alph, Tereza, Goosey and Buggs sat and already awaited five of their neighbours for the mission.
"Good morning, you lot" Dexter greeted them. "Unexpected of Mack to suddenly send us on a mix-up mission like this, huh?"
"Hewwo!" Yikk said with a smile. "Fo' suwe!"
"This'll be fun" Tereza chuckled.
Buggs noticed Lava's presence, and headed towards their former classmate.
"If she even dares to harm you" he whispered in their ear, "I'm definitely going to scare her. Trust me, I'm still as good at it."
"Aw, Buggs, that be too kind of you…!" The childish crewmate couldn't help but hug the tough guy and kiss the cheek spot of his helmet.
"So how is it to suddenly be on a mission like this?" Vienna asked.
"Strange" Alph said, "but it's going to be fun for sure." He then noticed Yikk's robot. "Ah, it's the robot that Marny and I gave you! How do you like it, Yikk?"
"I wuv them!" the lime crewmate said with a giggle. "Theih name be Digit an' they be vewy sweet."
"That's very nice, and I'm glad you like them, too." The engineer-in-training patted their temporary crewmate's shoulder.
"I didn't want to do this at first, really" Goosey said, "but Dexter convinced me to go for it nonetheless, so here I am."
"Whuzzat thing?!" Neri exclaimed upon seeing Buggs jr. the Bedcrab. "It looks weird!"
"It doesn't" Dexter said, as he crouched down next to the Bedcrab. "This is Buggs jr., and he doesn't harm a fly."
"Yeah" Buggs said. "You should pet him, he likes that."
The little boy sat down next to the creature, and hesitantly caressed him with his right hand. This eventually became gentle caressing, as Buggs jr. didn't turn out to be that weird and scary.
"Aw, he's so sweet!"
"See?"
"What is it with everyone and their weird pets nowadays?!" Lava scoffed. "Can't we just have regular dogs and cats and such around here?!"
The crewmate in black grabbed the one in red by her collar and glared right into her face.
"But I do harm flies like you, Lava, so either say something positive about Buggs jr., or don't say anything at all."
"Pwus" Yikk added, "I be awwehgic to dogs, so no."
"Then you should be wary when visiting some of the other neighbours" Alph said. "They occasionally do have dogs. Oh, and hamsters, but I don't think I know anyone who's allergic to those."
"Nah, it jus' be dogs an' gwass."
"That's good. Well, being allergic isn't, but you know what I mean."
The childish crewmate nodded with a slight smile.
"What age awe you, anyway?"
"Eighteen, why?"
"Hey, me too! I'm fwom Octobah twenty-fouhth, and you?"
"You're a day older than me? Neat."
"We both be Scohpios."
The two crewmates exchanged a fist-bump while the ship finally set course for the main ship of the Skeld.
Everyone made sure to turn their oxygen tanks on at the right time, and either waited anxiously or patiently for the ship to finally connect to the bigger spaceship.
"We often seem to go to the main ship of the Skeld with the neighbours from the same side, huh?" Goosey said to Yikk.
"Indeed we do" they replied in slight surprise.
"Most likely because Mack knows that we're the most familiar with that."
"Yeah, couhd possibwy be."
Click, the small spaceship emitted as it connected to the bigger spaceship, and a few seconds later, both of their doors opened, giving extended access.
Vienna picked Yuri up from next to Buggs jr., but the theyby whined in disapproval.
"Don't worry" Neri said, "you'll get to play with him again soon." He tried to reach his little sibling to comfort him. "Aw, man, I wanna be much taller than this." He then looked at his mother. "Mummy, shall I help you again with the tasks?"
"Of course" she replied, "it's always a pleasure to have such an amazing help like you." She ruffled her son's hair.
A few seconds later, everyone's pagers went off with their functions.
Lava was one of the impostors, but she scratched her head upon also seeing the name 'Tereza' on the display.
But Tereza knew a little better, and headed towards her fellow impostor.
"Let's do this" she said in an eager whisper, "as a team."
"I can hardly contain my excitement" was Lava's answer.
Billy, Charlie, Navy, Pop, Choco and Nori were only just done doing the everyday tasks at the living building, while Arnie and Bobby went to visit their next-door neighbours.
"Ah, Arnie" Snippet said as he opened the front door up, "good morning to you, please come in."
The former private took his coat and shoes off and followed the other leader towards the dining room, where Rose and Beanie had already taken care of a biscuit platter and two thermoses of coffee and hot water for tea.
"And if you'd like anything else to drink" Rose said, "please inform us."
"Oh, that's very kind of you to say" Arnie said as he sat down, "but I'm good enough with coffee, thank you." He grabbed himself a mug and provided it of a good dose of coffee.
Bobby slithered onto his owner's left shoulder to make himself comfortable.
Snippet, in the meantime, took Jeff out of the nearby playpen and put him in his highchair before sitting down himself.
"So how is it to suddenly have a few of your crewmates going on a mission with a few of mine?" the red crewmate asked as he adjusted his glasses.
"I don't know. Like, it's not that either of us are also on that mission, even though that would've been quite fun, too, and not just for the sake of the overall experience."
"Yeah." Snippet poured himself some coffee as well, added some sugar and also put a few biscuits onto the saucer. "Care for a biscuit?"
"Sure." Arnie grabbed a few plain biscuits for himself and immediately ate one, too. "So how are you doing?"
"Pretty good, how about you?"
"Me, too. A few others and I had a day off yesterday, and that was quite relaxing, especially for Yikk, who never really had a day off before in a period in which they weren't sick."
"I see, and how are the other crewmates of yours doing?"
"They're doing good as well, thank you."
"Foon!" Jeff shouted as he saw the biscuits. "I wanna!"
Both of the gentlemen burst out in chuckling before Snippet handed a few biscuits to his son to silence and satisfy him.
"And well, how's Jeff?" the dark green crewmate asked.
"He's also doing pretty good. He's healthy, he's eating and developing well, and he enjoys watching me do tasks."
"Did he ever help you with tasks?"
"Not often where I directly was, but back when Yikk was accidentally sent on a mission with me and a few others, they did help him out with emptying the trash when I was unconscious. I saw it when I was a spirit, and Jeff was visibly happy to have lent a hand."
"You should do the same more often. It's not that all of the other crewmates always give him the privileges of doing so."
"You're right, I indeed should… I protect and coddle him way too much."
"How so, if I may ask?"
"Well… I hate to tell this story, but…" Snippet breathed in deeply and took a brief sip of his coffee. "His mother was suddenly addicted to drugs and alcohol upon discovering that she was pregnant with him, and no matter how hard I tried to persuade her to stop, she just didn't… even after his birth, she just… kept on abusing those substances, and even tended to abuse me as well…"
"Oh dear me, that's horrible." Arnie reached for the single father's shoulder and rubbed it in an attempt to console him.
"So only just one day after Jeff was born, I divorced that pathetic Siren Head of a person and estranged her to leave her wallowing in her own sadness. I still cannot believe I've ever loved her… so yeah, Jeff and I lived with my parents for quite a while, and it was only a good thing that they already had utilities for him there, because otherwise, we would've both ended up homeless…" Tears stood in the young man's eyes. "And I'm also only glad that Jeff was still born fairly healthy nonetheless. He doesn't seem to be delayed in his development. He can speak a little, he can walk fairly short distances, he can eat and drink independently, and he's very aware of his surroundings."
And right Snippet was about the last statement, because Jeff currently just looked at his father, even if he didn't quite understand what the matter was.
"I'm seriously very sorry for you, Snip." Arnie got up from his seat and gave his neighbour a well-deserved hug. "But you know what, now that you have a lot of nice fellow crewmates under your wing, you might be a lot happier with this new kind of life, too."
"Yeah, that's right… but nonetheless, I'm still mandatory to follow EMDR therapy to be able to process my past relationship with… you know, Siren, a little better. It still hurts so much, and such therapy is awfully difficult, too…"
"I know that feeling. I, myself, used to be in the army, and some of my peers there had also seen very horrid things for which they had to undergo the same kind of therapy, and some of them still do."
"I'm very thankful for your support, Arnie. You seem like the only person in the world who understands me completely, even if I really am the one who knows himself the best…"
"Dada?" Jeff cooed, as he reached a sticky hand out towards his father.
Aeris, who was just about to ensure the toddler of something to drink, immediately grabbed a wet wipe from one of the cupboards to clean his hands with at first.
"Aw, Arnie" they said as they saw their colour counterpart interact so sweetly with Snippet, "you seem like the perfect agony uncle for the crewmates…" They ruffled his hair, grabbed Jeff's empty cup, unscrewed its lid and refilled it with plain water at the sink. "There you go, Jeffy."
"Thanks for your hospitality, 'Ris" Snippet said as he dabbed his tears away with a paper tissue. "Seriously, I have such helpful crewmates."
"Is it even a common thing for crewmates dressed in dark green to be this hospitable?" Marny asked, as they also came into the kitchen to get themself a cup of tea. "Don't mind if I steal a little tea from here…"
"Or it's just a coincidence" Arnie replied. "I'm known for being hospitable myself, and not just because my parents and little brother told this a lot in the past." He petted Bobby's slimy head. "And I'm not just hospitable with people, either. In fact, I've had quite a few pets back at my parental home, and this is how I also decided to have Bobby as my pet. Everyone among my group loves him, except for Lava, who thinks that he's scarier than spiders." He chuckled a little before grabbing his mug of coffee again and chugging quite some of the beany, bitter concoction.
The nerdy crewmate had successfully poured themself a good cup of tea in the meantime, and went back towards the main room to slowly consume it and ask the others for a drink as well.
"Have you considered becoming a veterinarian instead of a crewmate or a private?" Snippet asked as he finished his own coffee and took Jeff out of his highchair to sit on his lap instead.
"Good question. Not quite, to be honest. My little brother is a veterinarian nowadays, and the idea of me becoming a private was merely conceived out of my seriousness back then. And that seriousness still lasts nowadays, really."
"I originally wanted to be a scientist after having graduated from the university, but no science jobs ever were open in the meantime. And before I knew it, I stumbled upon the website of the Skeld company one year later, answered a questionnaire there, and was apparently approved to be a crewmate, so yeah, here I am."
"I also stumbled upon the same site back when I was about to leave the army, since I heard some fellow privates gossip about it. And then suddenly, I was approved as well, much against my expectations."
"But isn't everyone approved to be a crewmate against their expectations?"
"I guess so?"
The two gentlemen were left laughing for a little while before continuing their 'big small talk' under the enjoyment of a little more coffee.
Back on the main ship of the Skeld, Tereza was most notably the better impostor compared to Lava. She was more oriented and planned her tricks more thoroughly, and always checked if the coast was clear before either faking a task or going into a vent to perform some knockings-out.
This was especially notable when Yikk hurried towards the reactor room to stop the current sabotage, and Lava and Dexter were also there. And just as Buggs was also about to arrive despite the timing, Lava pounded her knee hard in between Dexter's legs, making him scream and subsequently faint.
"She's a mean girl for sure!" Dexter's spirit huffed. "I would never want to date her!"
Vienna and Squee's spirits nodded in agreement upon having heard the source of that exact statement.
The snob subsequently reported the unconscious body, and already claimed to know who the impostor was.
"It was Yikk!" she exclaimed. "They knocked Dexter out right in front of me!"
"No I didn't!" Yikk said, visibly being angered by their arch-nemesis. "I was stopping the sabotage!"
"You were not, I was!"
"I didn't even see Dextah bein' knocked out in the fihst pwace!"
"Liar, of course you did!"
The word liar pressed the lime crewmate's berserk button hard, and they threw themself on the floor to cry out loudly in rage, shocking poor Neri, Yuri and even Digit and Buggs jr. a lot harder than Lava's consistent yelling.
Goosey, who also seemed to be a little stressed about the whole current situation, attempted to console both himself and the two weeping children at the same time.
"The only liar here is you, Lava!" Buggs retorted. "Just as I came into the reactor room, albeit a little late, I literally saw you knock out Dexter and subsequently self-reporting his body!" He grabbed Lava by the collar. "Also, nobody ever insults poor Yikk for such a hateful deed! How dare you angering and saddening them like that?!"
"That be wight…!" the angry crewmate sobbed towards the snob, "you… you… mowon!" They let loose of a next weeping wave and simultaneously slammed their fists on the ground hard for a few times, with Digit helplessly watching and hearing the thing happen and feeling really bad about it from the inside.
"Listen up, moron. We're going to vote you out, and otherwise, you're going to pay me quite a few bucks for what you just did, because money happens to be one of my weaknesses." The tough guy grabbed his pager with his free left hand and voted Lava out.
Rice and Alph also voted the red impostor out before trying to console the enraged Yikk, who also frantically grabbed their pager and voted Lava out, also for being mean to them just now.
Even Tereza voted Lava out for being so mean and harsh, despite being an impostor herself, too.
Once all of the votes had been cast, Buggs grabbed the snobbish impostor by the neck and dragged her towards the storage to send her outside of the ship for her new tasks.
"Also" Lava grumbled with a hint of fear in her voice, "fuck you, Tereza, for voting me out just now, too. I hate you even more than those scary eight-legged arthropods." She shot the bird with both of her hands before the hatch on the roof was closed.
"What a bad impostor she is" Rice said, "ratting out the apparent second impostor, too."
"Yeah, I'll admit it" Tereza sighed, "I'm also an impostor. Go vote me out in the next meeting, if you'd like, but please don't send me outside to do those 'impostor tasks'…" She briefly took her shades off to wipe her eyes.
"I can assign you to help take care of the unconscious crewmates, if you'd like. My brother and I did the same yesterday."
"What a sweet way" Alph said with a smile, "to come in peace like that. Rice, you're so kind. Boku wa anatagasuki." He patted the younger twin's shoulder.
"What?"
"I like you… as a friend, of course. I just said that in Japanese, my secondary language."
"Nice. I like you as a friend as well, Alph."
Tereza headed towards the cafeteria to call up an emergency meeting, as she felt guilty for being the impostor now.
"Attans" Goosey mumbled, "that was quick."
"What?" Neri squeaked.
"Oh, nothing, really."
"I may be the other impostor" the cool demi-female started, "but once I've been voted out, I'll come in peace. I don't want to work with that dreaded Lava. Instead, I want to help take care of the unconscious crewmates soon."
"Oh my" Yikk sniffled, "that be so kind of you…" They sat back up, grabbed their pager and was the first to vote the other impostor out. "You know, Teweza, I awso hate to be an impostah, myself. I know how you feel wight now. Guilt that be wike a cold pit in youh tummy, that be what I often feel as an impostah."
Digit rubbed their head against the childish youngster's left side as if saying: "I'm only very glad that you feel a little more at ease again."
"Yeah, the cold pit is indeed what I feel! Man, we're so in sync." Tereza voted herself out, feeling a weight being taken off of her mind as she did.
"We never had any honest impostors before here" Buggs said, as he also voted via his pager, "this is something completely new."
"Yeah" Goosey added.
"For you guys, that is" Rice said, "but for my group of crewmates, it isn't. My brother and I came in peace yesterday after being the impostors. And I'm only glad that Tereza will be doing the same."
Once the second impostor was also completely voted out, the mission was as good as done. The only ones who had tasks left were Goosey, Alph and Rice, so they finished their remaining tasks, and Neri was allowed to help Goosey out with one easier task.
Buggs and Yikk remained in the cafeteria to have some small talk and a cup of water.
"I so hope that mean Lava is now scared of me" Buggs said. "I could already see her pupils grow smaller when I glared at her."
"I hope so, too" Yikk replied. "But you know what? She awso be afwaid of spidahs. Vewy afwaid. Even mentioning the mewe wohd alweady fwightens hah."
"Ooh, also a huge advantage! Arachnophobia. If spiders could possibly survive in an environment like this, I could use them to distract her next time her and I are on the same mission."
"Squee has a wubbah spidah as one of those distwactions. A few missions ago, they and I wehe the impostahs, and Squee distwacted Wava wif that fake spidah befowe knockin' hah out cold." The lime crewmate took a tiny sip of their cold water. "We both be pwankstahs as impostahs, as I awso pwayed a few twicks on othahs back then."
"You're one smart cookie, pal. Wait until the rest of our former classmates know about it in our chat group!"
Both of the crewmates chuckled as they sent a few messages into the aforementioned group, who already knew that the two had become crewmates at the Skeld company in the meantime.
Tereza, in the meantime, found herself at the medical bay, making sure that Squee, Dexter and Vienna were as comfortable as possible before regaining their consciousness.
"Is it trending among your group for impostors to suddenly come in peace?" Dexter's spirit asked.
"I don't know what it means" Squee's spirit replied, "but the twins did the same yesterday, and I'm only glad that Rice passed it on just now. Doesn't make me less angry at Theresa, though."
"That's Tereza, not Theresa."
"Same difference."
The dreadlocked young man pinched the dumb blonde's cheek and tickled her in a teasing fashion.
"I think Lava should talk to Arnie soon, one on one" Vienna said. "It's as if something is consistently bothering her, and she refuses to tell it."
"She is a bother" the orange crewmate said with a cute smile. "A rotten tangerine in the crate."
"But don't all of the crates or barrels have at least one rotten fruit somewhere?" The yellow crewmate ruffled his dumb neighbour's hair. "On another note, very well said."
Soon, Alph came to help Tereza out after finishing his last task: submitting a scan.
"Now I know I hate being an impostor when I have the wrong co-impostor" the dark blue crewmate said. "That uh… what's-their-name sure knows how I feel."
"It's okay to not like being an impostor, 'Ree" the young engineer-in-training said as he rubbed the former impostor's upper back. "You didn't deserve that negativity from that darn Lava either. She seemingly doesn't know better, I'm afraid."
The three spirits of the unconscious crewmates nodded in agreement before they quickly woke back up as their normal selves.
In the living building of the primary cast, it was still slightly bustling. Choco and Charlie were upstairs in one of the recreational rooms where the latter showed her vibraphone skills to the former.
Navy and Nika were playing a simple card game in the main room, where Billy, Arnie, Pop and Nori were watching How I Met Your Mother on TV in the background.
"Do you have seven with hearts?" Nika asked.
"I do" Navy replied, giving his daughter the requested card.
"Do you also happen to have seven with clovers?"
"Why, yes."
"Yay, another quartet!" The kindergartner put her complete stack of four sevens down. "Now, do you have a king of spades?"
"I don't. Do you have a, uh… an ace of spades?"
"Yes."
"Neat, that's my first quartet."
"Looks like I'm obviously better at quartets than you, Dad."
"Then, my honest apologies for being better at board games."
The two were briefly left laughing before continuing their game.
Once a new episode of the iconic comedy show on TV was about to start, the front door opened up quite loudly, shocking Billy, Arnie, Pop and Nori a little.
The sound of someone frantically stomping up the stairs at quite the pace. Subsequently, the sound of slight chatter, shoes being placed at the left window, and the same chatter slowly coming in the way of the main room.
"Lava's really afraid, huh?" Rice said. "Like, she's never like that!"
"If it's not spiders" Squee chuckled, "then it's also Buggs. That guy's so cool, like a guard dog!"
"Not jus' one" Yikk said, "mine, wathah quite! We used to be cwassmates fwom kindahgahten to thihd gwade, and as ouh fwiendship pwogwessed, he stahted pwotecting me fwom hahm mowe often, ain't that sweet?"
"Then what happened in fourth grade?"
"Oh, I emigwated to the Nethah. It be bowing without him and the othahs, but at weast we still keep in touch via Skype an' messages."
"What was that about Lava?" Nori asked. "Did you lot just mention that she was scared? Is that true?"
Squee, Yikk, Digit, Vienna, Neri and Rice nodded with a slight smile.
"There's this crewmate named Buggs who's kind of a tough guy" the younger twin said, "and he literally scared Lava down to the bone after she screamed at this poor sweet Deku Scrub over here…" They took Yikk in a tight grasp, rubbed their cheek against the other's and began speaking as if speaking to a baby. "That wasn't fun, was it? You should be protected at all costs, huh?"
The lime crewmate simply giggled a little in response before playfully licking their fellow crewmate's cheek with the tip of their tongue.
"Hey, what do you take me for, you silly?" A chuckle, and then the tickling of the youngest crewmate.
"No! Wice, stoppit!"
"Lava was one of the impostors" Vienna told further, "and when I was a spirit, I saw her knock Dexter out, report his body, and subsequently blame it on Yikk, who did nothing but stop the sabotage prior to that. Even Dexter didn't agree with it, and he said that he'd never want to date her."
"Understandable" Pop said, "neither would I, even if I'm not a lesbian."
"And Lava also made it quite obvious that she was the impostor by angering that poor little bean over there…" She pointed at Yikk. "…and you know what's the worst part? She even betrayed Tereza, the other impostor, before being sent outside of the ship for tasks there, making Tereza feel very guilty from the inside and forcing her to come in peace soon after."
The eyes of Billy, Arnie, Navy, Pop and Nori widened upon hearing "come in peace".
Even Charlie and Choco seemed to have heard it soon after having headed downstairs due to all of the sudden ruckus on the ground floor, and they were also very surprised.
"Wait" Choco said, "another impostor actually came in peace? Is this a new trend or something?" He chuckled a little about it.
"I think so?" Squee said.
Rice stopped tickling Yikk as they also wanted to speak.
"To be exact" they started, "the other half of the crewmates were five of our neighbours: Dexter, Alph, Tereza, Goosey, and Buggs. They're all nice people, and Buggs apparently used to be Yikk's classmate in kindergarten, so they knew each other already, and he also has a pet Bedcrab named Buggs jr., who is very sweet."
"He is!" Neri said. "Buggs jr. loves to be petted, and he loves apple slices, of which I only gave him one because I usually don't want to share, but he looked at me funny, so I just had to give in."
Everyone chuckled a little about the statement.
"And Lava is scared of Buggs, too" Squee enthusiastically added. "No, really, ask her!"
"Is Lava scared?" Arnie gasped in surprise. "I'd better go and see her. If she lets me, that is." He got up from the sofa. "Bobby, stay here. I don't want to expose you to that ridiculous loudmouth soon."
Another shout of laughter from the other crewmates.
"Well, she is, isn't she? Even if I'm also her leader, I can still say it, right?"
"Well, yes, I guess?" Pop said. "And Squee, you're sure it's not because of that rubber spider that you showed to her again?"
The dumb blonde shook their head.
"Buggs grabbed her and yelled right back at her to defend Yikk, and I praise him sooo much. After all, my best friend was indeed innocent."
Arnie, in the meantime, headed upstairs and hoped to be able to talk to Lava soon.
Billy was a little shocked of having heard that Lava had made their moirail angry, and they got up from the sofa to hug them tightly.
"Oh, my sweet little lime pie…" they said in a sad tone, "you don't deserve to go through that trash. I wish I was there to protect you, too… even if I'm more of a scaredy-cat myself, really."
Digit rubbed his head against the Latinx's lower leg in sympathy.
"Yeah" Yikk said quietly, "she most wikewy wanted to take hah ill will towahds me out on me exactwy, too… but Buggs be thewe to scawe hah, and I pwaise him, too…" They wrapped their arms around the yellow crewmate and dried their slight tears on their shoulder.
"I honestly want her out of here, too, but then again, that can't just suddenly happen."
"Jus' wike the fact that we be on the same missions evewy time…"
"Unfortunately, yes. I also wish that'd be the case more often, honestly…" Billy planted a gentle kiss on the bridge of the childish crewmate's cute nose.
Upstairs, Arnie desperately tried to knock on the door of Lava's room. But no matter how hard he tried, he didn't receive any response, until he heard the sound of the slamming balcony door.
"What?!" Lava then exclaimed. "Get lost!"
"I won't" the former private said. "We need to talk."
"We don't!"
"We definitely do. Now open that door before I mercilessly come and barge in there."
"Yeah, but-"
"No ifs, no buts."
"Alright, fine."
The grumpy snob opened the door and let Arnie come inside.
"What do we need to talk about anyway? There's nothing to discuss. See, my room is tidy, I definitely didn't smoke inside just now, and…"
"You snapped towards Yikk, and Buggs became angry – indeed, livid – at you for that, and I honestly think you deserved that so hard."
"Aah!" The red crewmate's pupils grew smaller and she started to shiver and breathe faster. "Never mention the latter's name where I am! That guy is creepy!"
"He's not, he just did that to defend his friend because you were very mean to them."
"Yeah, but Arnie, Yikk-"
"Did absolutely nothing." The dark green crewmate looked his underling in the eyes with a very strict and serious look. "They literally told me that in all honesty. The part where they knocked Dexter out is a lie since you really were responsible for that. Whether you're a crewmate or an impostor, you're a very rude person, and you must learn your manners."
"But my parents were also mean to me the entire time."
"That's not a good excuse for such behaviour to the rest of the crewmates among you. We're humans with feelings, not ice-cold soulless robots."
"Really, Arnie? Since when do feelings matter?"
"All the time. Admit it. Respect your fellow crewmates."
"I… I dunno… I just…" Lava broke out in tears. "I'm mean to everyone because my parents, butlers and maids were also mean to me back at home, but specifically my lame parents! I hate those White Hands so fucking much!"
"There you have it. So the roots of that start back at your parental home?"
"Yes, are you happy now?"
"Well, at least I'm pleased to know the origins of that horrid behaviour. Now to find a way to work on it."
"But I dunno how…"
"I can help you with that. Slowly, but surely. Every now and then, you should come and speak to me about what's bothering you, because I presume that a lot is bothering you."
"Well, guilty. So I should just keep myself steady with you nearby, to start with?"
"That's a very good example to start with, but that doesn't mean that you should do that without me nearby. Whenever something suddenly upsets you, just try to think of an empty void or something to calm yourself back down."
"Fine, I will try, but if that doesn't work, you'll be responsible."
"Now, that's not how it works. If it doesn't work, we could always try something else instead."
"Alright, have it your way once again." Lava sighed loudly, reached for her tissue box, dabbed her make-up-stained tears away and blew her nose loudly. "Good god, I haven't cried like this since I went to see Hachi…"
"It's alright, you can cry as much as you'd like…" Arnie reluctantly rubbed the snob's back.
"I'm very sorry for being that way to you, Arnie… and I should most likely apologise to the rest of everyone soon, too."
"I guess you're right. Having talked to you made me realise that I'm also not some soulless wreck. I cannot comprehend why those fucking White Hands of parents had always treated me that way…"
"Should I leave you alone for the time being?"
"Please do. I'll reach out to you whenever I need you, alright…?"
"That's fine by me." The former private got up from the bed, walked towards the door, out of the room, and closed it behind him before heading back downstairs.
"Did you talk to Lava?" Navy asked. "How was it?"
"I'm apparently a pretty good agony uncle for everyone. This morning, I also had a good talk with Snippet about his past life, and it's always good to share your concerns and such with someone that you really trust, you know?"
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"So if you lot are concerned or if something is bothering you, I'll be there to talk to you, alright?"
"Yes, Arn" was everyone's honest and well-meant answer.
