"Have a good mission!" Arnie exclaimed to the ten missionary crewmates, "and be good to one another, alright?!" He and Rice were waving at them while they got into the dropship.
"The impostors should be stealthy as ever!" Rice exclaimed, "and not leak too many details about it!"
The group of ten crewmates just chuckled at the latter's statement before the door of the ship closed behind them and they swiftly got into their suits, oxygen tanks and accessories.
"They're most likely very excited to suddenly have three impostors among them this time, huh?" Rice headed for the kitchen. "Would you like some coffee or tea, Arn?"
"Some coffee, please." Arnie sat down at the dining table and Bobby joined him on his shoulder.
The younger twin prepared the requested drink, as well as a good cup of tea for themself.
"Yesterday, when I was with Snippet, Aeris suddenly came into the office and informed that they would also have three impostors among them today. Pretty funny coincidence if it comes to us, I presume."
"Or perhaps Mack consciously planned it this way?"
"Could be, but that's not too typical of him."
"I do wonder how it'll go. Too bad that I'm not directly there, though, because I'd love to experience such a thing anytime soon."
"As the leader of all of you, me too, really."
Rice then put Arnie's coffee and their own tea onto the table, grabbed the biscuit tin from one of the cupboards, opened it up and had a seat.
"I honestly never really remained at home with you before, but so far, it's pretty good."
"Of course it should be, silly, because I'm someone fun to be with!"
"I know, but it just feels so different to stay home with someone other than you. Not that it's boring or anything, no, you just get to experience something entirely different every time."
"And not just with our crewmates."
"So you're saying that I should pay a visit to the neighbours more often, like you do?"
"Not necessarily, but it is an option."
"A good option, since the neighbours are nice people."
"They definitely are."
In the meantime, Bobby sneakily slithered towards Arnie's cup of coffee, wanting to take a sip of the addictive concoction.
"No, Bobby, that's Daddy's drink, not yours."
Rice got up, grabbed the nearby water saucer (which was really a plant saucer, but who cares) and filled it back up with fresh water.
"This is your drink, Bob" they said as they put the saucer down in Bobby's eyeshot.
The Brainslug carefully slithered down Arnie's arm, then down his body, then down the chair, and finally, towards the saucer of water.
"That's the spirit." The younger twin then carefully grabbed their still hot cup of tea and took a few tiny sips. "What does Bobby think of the neighbours, though?"
"He likes them" Arnie replied, "and he can also socialise with Buggs jr. and Jeff very well, much against what used to be my expectations."
"How so?"
"Well, because Buggs jr. can be a bit of a vice, and because Jeff often tends to grab everything and everyone around him with his greedy little hands and his typical overwhelming toddler curiosity. On the contrary, Jeff can also socialise with Buggs jr. quite well, by gently petting him, which is really the only thing he does."
"Sounds quite civilised for a nearly 18-month-young child."
"I honestly thought the exact same, and when I told Snippet about it, we were both left laughing downright to the bone."
"I can see why."
The two crewmates were left laughing fairly heartily, while Bobby just silently watched them as if his drinking session needed such an interesting interlude.
Once all of the tea and coffee were drained, the two started doing their chores, which was really their original plan, and were still laughing at the fact that they were a little late with it.
Meanwhile, at the Polus, fairly intense snow fell as the door of the dropship slowly rolled open.
Fourteen pairs of eyes (yes, I'm actually counting those of Digit, Nika, Neri and Yuri as well) watched the door roll up in anticipation, and the crewmates already held their hands onto their pagers, as everyone was curious about whether they'd be the impostor or not, in response to the message that Mack sent them this morning.
Afterwards, a brief silence fell, in which one could only hear the soft howling of the gentle wind and Lava who softly hissed so no-one would accidentally spill the beans about their status soon.
The hustling and busting instantly burst back once everyone's pagers went off, and while especially Nori and Lava were very disappointed at the fact that they were regular crewmates, Yikk stealthily put their arms around Squee and Billy's bodies and softly pressed the two against themself in adoration and glee.
"Fo' the sake of Squee" the youngest crewmate whispered, "we should wohk as a team at all times. Eithah I oh Biwwy will watch ovah Squee, aight?"
Billy nodded in agreement and secretly winked at their moirail.
Next up, they pretended to insert the keys into the dropship before 'continuing' with the rest of their fake tasks.
"I'll go to the storage" Billy swiftly whispered, "and then you should meet me at the office, alright?"
"Gotcha" Yikk and Squee whispered in unison as they went off to the electrical hall to fake a few tasks there together.
In the storage shed, Billy swiftly hid into the vent hole, and waited for someone to come and fill a jerrycan up with fuel.
But that suddenly took a different turn, as both Lava and Navy then showed up for the task.
"Dammit!" the Latinx whispered at the quietest tone that they could manage before quickly sabotaging the communications.
"Nooo!" Lava exclaimed at the top of her lungs. "I hate this kind of sabotage!"
"Fine then" Navy sighed, "I'll do it, but only once, alright?"
"Yes, Navy. I still know what kind of task to do, though."
The feminine man headed off to the communications satellite, and this is where Billy struck their attack on the busy Lava before sabotaging the door to the storage shed and swiftly 'venting' towards the office, which was now vacant.
In the O2 room with the tree, Squee had knee-kicked a focused Choco before heading back to Yikk, who pretended to empty the trash hatch.
"What do you think you be doing?!" the lime crewmate hissed. "You be supposed to wemain wif me oh Biwwy, not to cwown awound!"
"I'm sorry, alright?" Squee softly grumbled.
"Now, fowwow me towahds the office, an' be quick about it!" Yikk roughly grabbed Squee by the wrist and practically dragged them out of the O2 room, where it was fortunately completely vacant for the time being, and nobody was at the cameras either.
As soon as the three impostors were reunited at the office, they swiftly headed towards the specimen room via the decontamination chamber there.
However, on the half of their way, Vienna had apparently discovered an unconscious body somewhere, and thus, a meeting was mandatory to be held.
"Where did you find it?" almost everyone asked at first.
"I suspect Pop" Vienna said. "She most likely ran from Choco's body at the O2."
"I saw nobody" Pop said, "in neither the respect of someone conscious nor of someone unconscious. I was at the boiler room after having filled the oxygen canisters."
"Suuure, be that way."
"I indeed saw Pop being a little sus the other minute" Billy said in an unusual, not soft and no-stutter voice. "She briefly stood still when the last sabotage happened."
"Hmm" Navy said. "That's strange."
"I know of absolutely nothing, trust me!" The girly girl was quite distressed at this point.
"I'm sowwy" Yikk said, "but to me, you no sound wike that." They grabbed their pager and voted Pop out.
"Nah, me neither" Squee said, as they followed the example of one of their fellow impostors.
Pop was soon voted out, but she wasn't the impostor. Nonetheless, the mission still continued, and everyone else was still as wary for any surprise attacks.
At the main ship of the Skeld, ten of the neighbouring crewmates prepared themselves for the very next mission.
They all watched in anticipation as the doors of both the ships slowly rolled open.
"And remember" Dexter said, "no-one should forfeit the mission if they turn out to not be the impostor. That's nonsense, nonsense, and once again, pure, utter nonsense."
"My words exactly" Buggs said.
"Quitting is for weenies" Rose said.
As soon as Beanie also wanted to speak, everyone's pagers went off, and the three impostors turned out to be Dexter, Alph, and Buggs.
The crewmates- I mean, impostors in black and yellow briefly looked at one another in disbelief, as if they were predicting to be their current status with their spoken sentences just now.
"We should refrain from working as a team" Alph said. "We should try to work independently. If that doesn't turn out to work, then we'll stick together."
Dexter and Buggs nodded, and the mission quickly started.
Per usual, all of the crewmates had the ID card swipe as their first task, followed by several subsequent tasks around the admin room, such as the fixing of the wires, or the filling of the fuel jerrycans.
Very soon, Buggs had sabotaged the lights, and as expected, a whole ton of crewmates who only paid one half of attention headed to the electrical room.
In that same room, Dexter already came via the vent, and he sabotaged the doors as soon as Marny and Biscuits were inside. He punched the latter hard in her temple and vented away.
Marny, even though they were busy fixing the fuse box, noticed it, and immediately reported the unconscious body to call up the next meeting.
"Let me guess" Tereza said, "in the electrical room? I already thought I heard something from behind those closed doors."
"That's right" Marny said, "and even if it was almost dark, I could still make out the contours of the one and only silhouette of Dexter." They glared a little at the yellow crewmate. "Don't think I suddenly suffer from night-time blindness during a mere sabotage, sir. Plus, your hair is obviously not tied in twin tails."
"He walloped Biscuits?!" Eggs exclaimed at the top of their lungs. "Nooo, not Biscuits!"
"Eggs, for Pete's sake, stop being so hysterical and vote Dexter!"
"Are you sure you saw Dexter in that pitch dark, Marny?" Rose asked.
"I'm absolutely sure, as his silhouette wore dreadlocks just like him."
"Fair enough, then it's Dexter. Sorry, pal." The young brunette voted the rasta-esque guy out.
Once all of the votes were confirmed, Dexter was sent outside of the ship to do his impostor tasks there.
"Well then" Buggs sighed to Alph, "guess we have no other option than to team up, I guess."
"Good thing we know how to move while sabotaging simultaneously, huh?"
"Surely."
As soon as the meeting ended and the mission continued, Alph sabotaged the reactor and headed near there with his remaining fellow impostor.
You know how impostors are also able to fix sabotages, right? Well, the two impostors here were exactly planning to do this thing, but they were a tad late since Marny and Aeris were as quick to apparently head to the reactor room a little earlier.
"It's a good thing that I wanted to start the reactor anyway" Aeris said as they took their 'stand' at the start-up buttons.
"You should see me scan soon" Marny said before swiftly 'wheeling' off towards the medical bay, where they had a task of inspecting samples at first.
"Dammit" Buggs whispered, "Marny is now confirmed safe. We should head for the navigation room or something instead." He and Alph then headed for the aforementioned side of the ship to pretend to chart the course and download some data.
During the faking of the tasks, Alph swiftly sabotaged the communications, and swiftly headed towards the O2 room, where Eggs was happily cleaning the oxygen filter on their own.
Neat, the crewmate/engineer thought, this is my chance!
But once the punch landed and fully knocked the tiny crewmate out, Beanie noticed it quite quickly as she passed by on her way to the communications room, and caught Alph red-handed straight away.
"Uh-oh… busted…"
Back at the living building, Snippet, Jeff and Goosey were paying a sudden but nice visit to Arnie and Rice.
"So it is true?" Snippet asked. "Both of our groups are currently on a mission in which there are three impostors among them?"
"That's right" Arnie replied.
"Do you wonder how your crewmates are doing in a situation like that?"
"Yes, but I'm not hoping they win from your group, because that wouldn't be fair."
"Very well said, because I honestly think the same."
"Too bad that there are only 10 crewmates allowed on one mission" Rice stated. "I really wanted to be in that exact same mission since my older brother is also there!"
"Too bad indeed" Goosey said. "If only Snippet and I would replace… well, Eggs and Biscuits, who are a pair of impostors very often, in my honest opinion!"
"But how would Jeff react to that many impostors?"
"Oh, don't worry too much about that" Snippet chuckled as he ruffled the younger twin's hair, "Jeff doesn't quite understand the concept of imposing yet, but I do love tricking the crewmates with a little help from him if I'm the impostor!"
"Dadaaa" Jeff cooed as he stuck his cup out towards his father, "I wanna wawa!"
"A refill for you, little guy? Alright then." The red crewmate gently took the cup from his son's grasp, went towards the sink, unscrewed the cup's lid, refilled it and then handed it back. "There you go."
"Say 'thank you'!" Arnie jokingly whispered towards the toddler.
A happy-sounding "Fank you!" sounded from Jeff's vocal cords.
All four of the crewmates chuckled about it, even if Arnie was only kidding just now.
"Are those kids at your pad that civilised, then?" Goosey asked.
"Nika and Neri are" the former private replied, "since they're the only children that are able to speak plain English. Yuri, on the other hand, can only say three words, and furthermore only babble."
"Oh, they'll eventually learn it."
"They are quite aware of their surroundings, though, and they know what they want quite well, too, even without words."
Rice took some careful sips of their still hot tea, and then offered the biscuit tin to the other crewmates.
"Pollux, do all of the biscuits have to be eaten?" Arnie jokingly asked. "Just kidding, I don't mind a few extra ounces anyway." He grabbed a sugar biscuit and ate it straight away.
"Please don't refer to me as that if the situation's not serious, Arn."
"Sorry, didn't mean to say it like that."
Goosey and Snippet also grabbed a few biscuits from the tin.
"Jeff, would you like a biscuit?" Snippet then asked.
"No" Jeff replied, as he tried to shove his father's hand away with his own.
"Well, more for me, then." The red crewmate turned back to the others. "That's quite unusual, a toddler who doesn't want biscuits. Most of them do!"
Another shout of laughter sounded though the kitchen.
"Then" Arnie asked Jeff, "what do you want?"
"No" was the answer again.
"You're sure you want nothing, little guy?"
"I no wanna."
"Are you pleased enough with your cup of water?"
"Yeah."
"Well, alright then."
Snippet, Goosey and Rice chuckled again.
"He's quite the quirky guy, huh? Never experienced him like that."
"Neither did I, honestly" Snippet said.
Goosey shook his head in agreement.
Bobby, who saw the biscuit tin still being open, slithered from the floor onto Arnie's chair, then onto his body and arm, and then onto the table.
"Bobby, no" Rice then said in a strict tone as they pulled the biscuit tin away and quickly put the lid back onto it. "I know that you like biscuits very much, but you'll get fat if you even eat only one."
"Well, I still happen to have a few very plain-tasting biscuits in my pocket" Goosey said. "Lessee… yup, those boring biological biscuits that taste like carbon anyway."
"Be careful with what you feed to a Brainslug."
"He can handle it" Arnie said to Rice, "don't worry. I've read enough pages on what and what not to feed to Brainslugs."
The male pink crewmate then got one biscuit out of the packet from his pocket and fed it to Bobby, who did like the taste.
"Well, well, well, guess he has quite a boring taste, since he apparently loves them."
A third shout of laughter sounded through the kitchen.
"Then Jeff probably does too" Snippet chuckled, "with his water." He then seemed to notice something. "Speaking of, we'll be right back." He grabbed his utility bag and lifted his son out of his chair. "Arn, where's the best spot to change a child around here?"
"The medical room" Arnie replied, "otherwise, it'll be too much of a hassle to go up the stairs, you know."
"Ah, good point, thanks." The red crewmate headed towards the assigned spot and closed the door behind him, so no-one could possibly eavesdrop or peek, which he really disliked when changing his son, similarly to how people would commonly lock the doors when using restrooms.
Bobby looked at Goosey with a pathetic look in the eye, longing for more of those biscuits.
"Aw, sweetie" the Swedish crewmate chuckled, "do you want more? You know what, for all I care, you can have all of them." He petted the Brainslug in a loving fashion and took the rest of the biscuits out of the packet, which he disposed in the trash hatch behind him.
"Do those biscuits have such a boring taste, then?" Rice asked.
"Yeah, in my honest opinion, they do. But at least I'm glad that Bobby loves them."
"Hey!" Nori exclaimed. "I saw that, Squee! How dare you?!"
At the moment, the seismic stabiliser had been sabotaged by Squee just now, and this was a humongous chance for the other two impostors to strike on any passer-by crewmates who were headed for the stabilisers to stop them.
During that sabotage, the dumb blonde stood still, as they were very clumsy when walking and sabotaging at the same time.
"You saw nuffin'!" Yikk exclaimed, as they swiftly pinned the older twin to the nearest wall. "I hate having to pin you to the wall because I be a pacifist, but now I have to!"
"I… no… please don't harm me… please…!"
Even Digit glared hard at the crewmate in black, because that's most likely what robots of impostors do, right?
"This be wevenge fo' what you did to me a few missions ago when you be the impostah…!"
"Yes, Castor" Squee triumphantly added with a dorky smile.
Bam! A knee-kick straight in between the legs, and the three impostors rose to victory.
"Wait, w-what?!" Billy huffed, as they arrived in the laboratory from the nearby decontamination chamber. "We a-actually won?!"
"We did?!" Squee exclaimed in disbelief as they grabbed their pager to look for proof.
"We did!" Yikk giggled. "It was thanks to me an' keeping my eyes on the wemaining cwewmates!"
"Yay for Yikk and their keen eyes!" The dumb blonde glomped their best friend so hard that they could almost shatter their bones.
"Ow, go easy on me! I be a human, not a doll!"
"You're definitely the smartest out of our current bunch…!" Billy also hugged their moirail tightly, albeit gentler. "I should definitely follow your examples more often by keeping my eyes on everyone." They also planted a good kiss on the other's cheek.
"It be a good thing that Nowi got knocked out exactwy neawh the med-bay, though" the lime crewmate said. "Now that we won as impostahs, we should come in peace." They picked Nori's body up and put them on one of the vacant beds. "I didn't mean to hahm you, of couwse… I hope you can fohgive me soon." They planted a gentle kiss on his cheek and gently tucked him in.
Nori's spirit blushed very hard at indirectly receiving a kiss as an apology just now. Not that he had never been kissed by anyone else other than his family before, though…
Billy had made sure that Pop stopped doing her 'impostor tasks' in the specimen room before they and the two other impostors headed towards the office, where the three remaining regular crewmates sat.
"We lost" Neri sighed.
"Bested by a bunch of three" Nika added. "Just as Daddy wanted to call a meeting despite the sabotage."
"You guys are very good co-operators as a group, though" Charlie said.
"Squee isn't" Billy and Yikk chuckled in unison.
"Am too!" Squee retorted.
"Well, under our watchful eye, that is." The Latinx ruffled the dumb blonde's bangs in a way that they were soon messed up as ever.
"Do you really think that's an excuse for making me look like a decked out cockatoo, Billy?"
A shout of laughter sounded through the office.
"We come in peace, though" Yikk said, "not to wowwy."
Pop only just smiled and nodded in approval.
"I already had the feeling it'd end up this way" Navy said. "You guys really do mean good, right?"
A nod in agreement from all three of the impostors.
"Those who had been knocked out are now at the medical bay, and we should most likely tend to them again before they all wake back up behind our backs. Come, tangerine and Deku Scrub." Billy made a gesture for their fellow impostors to follow them towards the medical bay.
Charlie and Pop were left chuckling at the nicknames that were just mentioned.
"I understand 'tangerine' since Squee is obsessed by citrus fruits" the cyan crewmate laughed, "but seriously, Deku Scrub? What kind of weird, cutesy nickname is that?!"
"Because Yikk is cutesy?" Vienna said. "Sounds logical enough to me. Rice and I also nicknamed them that once where your ears were."
"Never paid too much attention to that, but alright."
"What's a Deku Scrub anyway?" Nika asked.
"That's… a little difficult for me to explain verbally, do you mind if I show you a picture of one of those instead?"
"Okay."
The tomboy grabbed her phone, booted up Google, typed what she wanted to search and showed it to the kindergartner.
"Ooh, that indeed looks pretty cute. And that's called a Deku Scrub?"
"That's right. They only exist as figures and plushies, though, not in reality – if only that'd be true!"
"I see."
The picture was shown to everyone else at the table, even to those who already knew what it was.
"Oh, right" Pop said, "isn't these one of the species that had a certain princess in a gorgeous dress? Because I really want a dress like that too, to be honest."
"Maybe?" Charlie changed her search criterium to 'Deku Princess'.
"Yup, that princess with that dress."
"That indeed looks neat, but would you like such a dress to be made out of real or fake leaves?"
"Fake, of course, and made out of a hundred per cent cotton, because that lasts a lot longer than real leaves, as you probably know."
"I think you'll look gorgeous in such a dress, too."
"Aw, that's very sweet of you to say, Char."
Meanwhile, in the medical bay, the three unconscious crewmates were back up again under the watchful eye of the former impostors.
"Can't believe we got bested by a team like that" Lava said.
"You'd better do" Choco replied, "because neither can I."
"What's your secret to victory? I need to know for the next time I'm part of an impostor team of three."
"Well, uh…" Squee started.
"Close co-operation, I presume?" Billy and Yikk pondered in unison.
"Yeah, that."
"I wish Rice was there to experience it, too" Nori said. "I probably said it way too often, but I do mean it that way."
"I know how you feel, man" Billy said, "they're your younger twin and everything, and you go on missions together quite often, huh?"
The older twin nodded.
In the meantime, Yikk had provided the resting crewmates with a good glass of cold water.
"Thanks" Choco said, "I surely am parched after what's most likely the most intense mission ever."
"Probably" the three impostors chuckled in unison, making everyone else chuckle along as well.
"We got busted way too quickly, huh?" Dexter said. "Marny apparently has night vision or something!"
"I was just being a clumsy butt" Alph said, "knowing too little of Beanie who just happened to pass by at the same time."
"At least Buggs is still there, and he knows very well how to impose."
"Yeah, that's a real advantage for a bad guy like him indeed."
But just as that sentence was spoken, the hatch opened up, and a very unfortunate Buggs joined the two other ditched impostors in their newly assigned tasks.
"Aw, man, I'm sorry!" The young cyan crewmate carefully headed for Buggs and patted his shoulder.
"That goddamn Aeris ratted me out after apparently seeing me knock Tereza out!" the bad guy grumbled. "I should've vented sooner, even if my muscles barely let me fit into those damn shafts."
"Were there many crewmates left?"
"Only Marny and Aeris. Rose, Beanie and Tereza were being… you know, taken care of by me. So close…!"
"You're lucky to have come to us a little late" Dexter said. "The only task left is polishing the trash hatch valves, and that's mostly an easy task, in my opinion."
"Then why didn't you knock Marny out while you could?" Alph asked.
"Because first of all, that's ableist, and second, they said to Aeris that they wanted to be watched during their scan in the med-bay anyway, so they literally confirmed that they were safe in the catch of my ear."
"Ableist? Oh, right, because starting from kindergarten, one of your classmates also started using a wheelchair due to sudden paralysis. Gomen nasai, that almost slipped my mind!"
Dexter handed a water bag and a sponge to Buggs to make him do his only task, which was done within what seemed no time at all.
"And you're sure that everything among us is done now, Dex?" Alph asked.
"A hundred per cent" the yellow crewmate replied. "Now to hope that they'll get us back into the ship soon."
"Can't believe we actually lost as a threesome… but that's partly my own fault for having two right hands as an impostor." (Alph is actually left-handed, that's why.)
"It's not that much of a big deal, Alphie" Buggs said with a kind smile. "Practise makes perfect, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. Next time we're both impostors, I should keep on sticking to you to learn from you."
A little later, Aeris said that the three impostors were allowed to come back into the ship, now that they were all done with their tasks for quite some time now.
Buggs jr. was obviously happy to see his owner back, and vice versa too.
"You could use Buggs jr. as a distraction manoeuvre next time" Dexter whispered in Buggs's ear.
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea indeed" the 'bad' crewmate replied.
"What?" Aeris asked.
"Oh, nothing. Thanks for sussing me, by the way."
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
The three former impostors and the remaining crewmates were left laughing loudly.
"We should probably check on those in the med-bay" Marny said, as they 'wheeled' their way there.
Everyone else followed suit, and it kinda seemed like magic at the time, because upon their arrival, the unconscious crewmates slowly regained their consciousness, one by one.
"We didn't expect to win this mission, really" Eggs mumbled.
"Neither did I, dude" Biscuits yawned.
"A little bird told me that Arnie's group also had a mission with three impostors" Beanie said. "I wonder how they did?"
"Well, that's a coincidence" Alph said. "But most importantly, I wonder who the three impostors among them were?"
"Probably Lava with two of those who also have two left hands" Tereza chuckled. "At least, depends on what their dominant hand is."
Dexter ensured the five resting crewmates of a little something to drink. Most of them wanted water, except for Eggs and Biscuits, who chose for a good glass of cold milk instead. (Probably because that's an ingredient for both omelettes and biscuits? Who knows!)
"Do you guys also want something to drink?"
"Orange soda would be nice" Aeris replied.
"Water for me, too" Marny said.
The rest of the crewmates and Buggs jr. were ensured with something to drink as well, and they had all sorts of talks in the meantime. About their most recent mission, but also about the neighbours.
The whole conversation even kept going on when the group stepped back into their dropship to go back home after the long mission.
That evening, the two neighbouring groups of crewmates had another group dinner, but at the building of the main cast this time.
While Yikk, Billy and Squee were in major disbelief about the defeat of Snippet's group, Alph, Dexter and Buggs felt the same about the victory of Arnie's group.
"I thought you not be watted out so swiftwy!" Yikk chuckled at Buggs. "You make a gweat impostoh, Buggs!"
"But Alphie over there has two right hands" the 'bad' crewmate replied, "he's really a better engineer than an impostor."
"How did Squee even manage to emerge victorious?" Alph asked. "They're as dumb as a drunk gokiburi."
"Oh, I almost busted them while they stood still while sabotaging" Nori chuckled, "but Yikk put a stop to that at a blinding speed." He winked and smiled at the childish crewmate.
"Do you even educate the crewmates under your wing?" Arnie asked. "As for me and mine, I really don't, but for some reason, teamwork has always been one of their primary mottos."
"Yeah" Snippet said, "we indeed are one of those groups who mostly prefer to work independently."
"Hey, that'll change soon!" Dexter said. "Buggs, Alph and I are thinking very hard of some good distraction tactics for the next time!"
"Sounds like you guys are more serious and oriented, I presume" Vienna said, "how so?"
"You lot are only co-operators because you have one couple of matesprits and one couple of moirails among you" Goosey jokingly stated, "and let me tell you, the moirails are absolutely adorable together."
Yikk and Billy blushed hard and burst out in awkward laughter at the only-half-true statement.
"Hey!" Choco jokingly retorted, "Charlie and I look cute together, too, don't we?!"
Charlie nodded and grinned hard.
"Yeah" Rice said, "we do treat one another nicely quite often." They coughed while saying "Such as by giving some of each other cute nicknames…"
"Tangerine" Pop chuckled as she pointed at Squee. "That's seriously their primary nickname."
"I be a Deku Scwub" Yikk hiccupped with laughter, "oh so my fewwow cwewmates say, at weast…!"
"Green beanie" Navy said, "or sweet pea. Yes, Vi, I actually heard you say those nicknames to Yikk!"
Vienna burst out in laughter as well, causing the entire group at the table to be laughing just as loudly as they often did that evening.
"We never really give one another nicknames" Marny said, "now that you lot mention it. Well, except for Eggs and Biscuits, probably, but that's mostly those soubriquets whenever they bicker."
"I can't do anything about the fact that I look like a huge dimwit, Mar" Biscuits said. "After all, I don't have to look completely feminine for my full gender, right?"
"No, Biscuits, you look as good as you are. Only Eggs said that you look like a dimwit, and they probably didn't even mean it."
Eggs nodded in agreement.
"The only nicknames that pass our vocal cords are the common ones" Tereza said, "such as dude, pal, friend, sweetie or my love. Furthermore, nothing that beats the nicknames that you guys give one another." She aimed her eyes at the main cast.
"I think the nicknames originate from the fact that Neri, Yuri and I are there, too" Nika stated. "Mummy and Daddy always speak to us like that, if it doesn't come to our first names."
"By the way" Alph asked Yikk, "how's Pixel doing?"
"Who be Pixel?" the childish crewmate asked.
"You know, your robot."
"Oh, you mean Digit! Yeah, they be doing good, an' they be vewy sweet, an' ahways by my side, too, on missions oh not! They kinda be wike how a child ahways has theih comfoht bwanket in theih gwasp."
"Or how Jeff always has his soother clipped to his clothes" Snippet said, "even if he doesn't use it at literally all times." He ruffled his young son's blonde hair and received a sweet smile and giggle in response.
"How's Buggs jr. doing?" Lava reluctantly asked Buggs.
"He's doing pretty good" Buggs replied. "He eats well, listens well, knows stuff well, and only ever growls and hisses whenever something or someone doesn't please him."
"Speaking of pets" Arnie said, "Bobby is also doing good, even if he's becoming more mischievous day by day…!" He chuckled.
"But isn't that what young Brainslugs always do?" Navy asked. "Mack literally told you the other day, and he heard that from one of the other managers."
"Yeah, that's right."
"But he does like boring biological biscuits without sugar" Goosey said, "seeing as he originally wanted to steal the sugary ones from the biscuit tin, even if sugar could make him sick."
"Where do you buy those?" Pop asked. "Perhaps we could keep a few with us as occasional treats or something?" She looked at Arnie. "What do you think?"
"Oh, they didn't represent anything else than a mere sample that we received while ordering the groceries at our usual hypermarket a week ago. The original price is a tad on the expensive side, though."
"If you still have a few of those biscuits left somewhere else" Arnie said, "then definitely give some to us." He looked at all of his fellow crewmates. "And I tried one bit of such a biscuit too, and it indeed tastes boring, so please refrain from eating one of those, alright? They're specifically for Bobby, who appears to be a huge fan of boring food, or so I discovered today."
The eleven other crewmates from the main cast burst out in laughter and nodded in agreement at the same time.
Around 7:30 p.m., all of the neighbours slowly but surely left after helping everyone else out with the dishes and such, and the usual, loving and calm atmosphere had returned in the building, and mainly when everyone was all clean and dressed in their leisurewear.
