Dactyle woke up yawning and stretching.

They threw the blanket off them and stood up. They stretched out their body. Some of their siblings joined them in the process of waking up. To be more specific, Jasper, Magma, and Diamond woke up alongside them. Magma simply moved out of everyone's way and immediately went to the bathroom. Dactyle knew he got out of the room to avoid them. They were "too much of an annoying cretin" to be in the same room as them this early in the day.

They simply shrugged it off as him needing the time to wake up before anything else. Dactyle wasn't cruel enough to mess with him like that this early. Diamond, maybe, but not them. They brushed their hair and threw on a blue plaid shirt. They adjusted it where their chest fur would poke out of it. Dactyle felt like wearing something different today. They then went to grab breakfast with their siblings.

Hermodactyloides ate their breakfast in peace. There was some chaos happening at the table with Jasper trying to do something funny and bring a smile to Magma's face, but it backfired. Marino and Soma had to step in to make sure it didn't get worse. When it was over, Dactyle patted Jasper's shoulder.

"I'm sure you'll get him next time, Jazzkie." They reassured her.

"Maybe," she pouted as she leaned onto them.

Besides that, it was mostly calm. Emerald, Peridot, and Aero joined the table moments after Jasper's attempt. Marino gave them their food so their parents didn't have to. They thanked him before they started eating. Once everyone was done eating, they went in different directions. What everyone did was typically the same, though there were times where it'll be slightly different.

For Dactyle today, they joined Peridot on her way to her seamstress room. This was one of the few times in a day that she was seen without Emerald with her. Emmie was getting her stuff before she rejoined Peridot's company, so Dactyle didn't necessarily find it unusual. They'd leave when Emerald came back to give them both space. For now, Dactyle walked by Peridot's side with a swaying tail.

「おはよう、 ペリドット。」 They started. "Are you working on anything new?"

Peridot smiled. "Good morning! Yeah, I am. I'm afraid there's not much to show right now since I started on it last night, but I can show you the sketches!"

"Jag skulle älska det!" They clapped their hands together. "I get to see a little preview of what's to be made!"

"I'm sure you'll love it!" Her tail rose high and wagged.

"Do I also get to model it?" They asked.

"Oh, I'm afraid not this time. But I'll make something just for you after I'm done with this if you want!"

Dactyle lightly waved their hand. "You don't have to, I was simply curious. If you're willing to make me something, though, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

"I'll surprise you then."

Once they got to her room, Peridot showed off what she designed to Dactyle. She had a few things designed, but from what Dactyle noticed when coming in, she got started on only one of them at this point. They had a close look at the designs. The measurements for one of them was Emerald's measurements. That made Dactyle take a much closer look at the dress design.

It was short, but very puffy and frilly. There were no sleeves. Nothing accompanied the dress besides a headband that would suit it. Pink, purple, and white were written down as the main colors to be used for it. It seemed simple but quite cute.

Dactyle smirked and hummed as they looked at Peridot. They leaned onto their hand.

"Something just for Em, huh?"

Peridot looked away. "Yeah, she wanted something like that."

"Does she wear anything you've made for her? I haven't seen her wear them so I dunno."

She pushed some of her hair behind her ear. Dactyle noticed that there was a light blush painted on her cheeks.

"Yeah, Emmie wears everything I made her. She just doesn't wear them all the time." Peridot responded.

Dactyle patted her on the back. It made her jump.

"You know you don't have to be shy or embarrassed, right?"

"I- I know."

Dactyle looked at the design again and the actual dress in the works. They were always in awe about the things she's created, whether it was dresses like this or even hats. She had a talent nobody else in the family had and they admired her for that. They wouldn't be able to make any of this no matter how hard they tried. It just wasn't something they were meant to do and they were okay with that. They smiled before they looked back at her.

"I think it'll be magnificent when you're done with it and I'm sure our dear Em would love it." They complimented.

「あ-ありがと。」 Peridot played with her hair.

Before anything else came from either, Emerald came in with light engineering equipment. That was their cue to leave now. They gave Peridot a kiss on the forehead, then Emerald. They flapped their fingers.

"Nara!"

Dactyle blew a kiss before they left the room entirely. Emerald put everything down so her hands could be free.

"They do realize that we don't know what they're saying sometimes, right?" Em signed with a raised eyebrow.

Peridot sighed. "Yeah but it's probably second nature to them at this point so they might not realize they're doing it."

Emerald simply nodded in agreement.


After Dactyle was with Peridot, they went to Marino.

It was their day to do some cleaning. Every kid had their days of the week to do a majority of the chores. Marino usually shared his day with Kaminari on Sunday, Peridot and Diamond did most of the chores on Monday, Emerald and Astral on Tuesday, Aero and Jasper on Wednesday, Magma and Soma on Thursday, Hermodactyloides on Friday, and on Saturday everyone cleaned together, both the kids and the parents.

Marino always got a little work in regardless of the day though. He believed it was good to do at least a little bit every day, and today he decided to clean the dishes. Dactyle grabbed the broom and dustpan, then they started sweeping with the kitchen first. They didn't enjoy doing some chores so they threw on some music beforehand and tried to get those out of the way first. Marino looked their way.

"Do you want assistance?" Marino put another clean plate in the dish rack. "I do not mind helping if you need it."

"As much as I would love that, dear," they smiled, "I'm afraid I have to do this myself."

He shrugged. "Okay, however if you need it at any point, I will help and I can tell our parents why I helped when it's your day to do most of the chores."

They nodded before they continued sweeping. After sweeping, they mopped, cleaned out the fridge, and cleaned other rooms, all while humming with the songs that played. Dactyle had to make this fun and enjoyable somehow. It took them until almost fourteen hundred hours to be done with all their chores. This time was a little slower than usual, but there was still plenty of the day left. They just needed to take a breather before anything else.

Dactyle had the perfect idea of how to relax after they caught their breath.

Their tail swayed as they made their way to Magma. They knew he would be in the training room at this time, since that was always the case unless it was Thursday, then it would be a couple hours later. It only took a few minutes for them to get there. When they opened the door, they were greeted with the sight of Nova and Magma. They were training together; the two laughed and Nova gave him help and advice on how to fight better.

It was a sweet sight. Dactyle was gonna ruin it for a mere moment. They felt somewhat sorry about it. At least their mom and brother could resume once they left.

Dactyle smoothly moved to Magma's side without making a sound. Nova noticed them and tried not to snort or make any sound.

"Guten Tag, Magma~!" Dactyle put their hands on his shoulders.

Their voice and touch made Magma jump.

"Fucking hell!"

He nearly hit them out of instinct and Dactyle moved back so he didn't accidentally hurt them. Nova bursted with laughter. She tried to calm down seconds later.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." Nova apologized, but Magma sighed. "What's up?"

He crossed his arms. "Yeah, whaddya want, ya cretin?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see how my dear ole brother is doing. Är det där så fel?" Dactyle moved one of their hands to his cheek.

Magna smacked it away. "Dunno what you said, but when you get like that, it's definitely annoying!"

"Oh don't be like that, マグマ、 ou twò bèl pou sa."

His face turned a bright red and three quarters of his body was red as well. His lips pressed together. Magma harshly and sharply inhaled. Nova's eyebrows dropped and her tail fell to the floor.

"Magma…"

He slowly exhaled. "Don't worry, Mom, I know."

He took more deep breaths. Nova looked at Dactyle.

"Hermo, please stop doing that." Nova requested.

"But why? It's fun seeing him like that!"

Magma took yet another deep breath. "Well, you won't be gettin' that reaction from me anymore. I'm gonna control my anger and whatever you do isn't gonna change that."

His fur went back to normal. The blush on his face wasn't as big as before, but it was noticeable despite how small it was. Magma looked at them, much calmer than before but still bothered by them. They were happy he was getting a hang of it now, but at the same time it felt weird that they wouldn't be able to mess with him like that anymore.

"Alright, well… I really hope it goes well for you. I'll leave you be then."

They smiled and patted Magma on the shoulder. They walked away from the two; they stopped at the doorway and looked back.

「。。。糞垂れ。」 Dactyle smirked.

"Hermo!" Nova's eyebrows furrowed.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I knew what you were doing by callin' me a shithead or asshole, whichever one you're goin' for, and I don't wanna hurt ya," he crossed his arms and looked away, "you'd be on the floor with a sore ass right now."

Dactyle sighed. "Well, it didn't hurt to try I suppose."

They then walked away after that. They'd have to find a new way to fuck with him it seemed. The old, familiar ways wouldn't work for much longer. Dactyle decided to go to the study room and take their mind off it. It was about time they needed to get some language learning done anyways, or at least brush up on something. They sat down and booted up Trilingual.

They looked at the progress they had on Scottish Gaelic. Hermodactyloides was basically done with the course. They decided to look at all the language courses they went through. Dactyle hummed looking at them. Well, they supposed it was time to brush up on Hawaiian since they hadn't used it in a good minute. They decided to go with that for the next few hours. Dactyle had some snacks beside them to enjoy while going through the lessons.

In a few hours, someone came into the room.

"Hey, Dactyle!" They looked up to see Astral. "Dinner's done!"

"'Kay." They smiled.

They put down the device and the two went to the dining room table. They sat down with the rest of their siblings. It was lively, there was laughter and smiles at almost every corner. Dactyle was part of it, even being one of the people bringing the laughter. Not everyone appreciated it, namely Magma who tried to keep himself calm and Diamond who simply shook her head and sighed.

There were even some compliments going to Emerald, which Dactyle had to admit Peridot tended to work fast alongside quickly making adjustments when needed. There were now puffy, short sleeved see through white sleeves added to the design they looked at before. Emerald covered her face with her hair to conceal the blush on her face. Dactyle voiced how fast Peri worked to get the response that she took a few breaks throughout the process. It only made them chuckle since it was still fast, even for other people who made clothes like she did.

After dinner, Hermodactyloides made their way to the bathroom. Sprx ran up to them and walked by their side.

"Hey, Kid, ya wanna play video games with us?" Sprx asked. "We're 'boutta start. It's fine if ya just wanna watch too."

"Maybe after my bath. I wanna go wash up first." They answered.

"That's fine. Go have your bath, we can wait for ya." Sprx smiled before he left.

Dactyle smiled and waved him "see you later".

When Dactyle into the bathroom, they locked the door and sighed. The room was lit with a blue tinted light. They took their shirt off. They threw a slowcore playlist on and put it loud enough to hear from the bathtub. Their helmet was laid down on the toilet seat. Dactyle started up the water and made sure it was the right temperature. They put bubbles in it as the water rose. Once it got to the right height, they stopped the water running. They took a moment and a deep breath. It was the part of the day they didn't like too much.

Hermodactyloides took their optic lenses off. They could keep them on during the bathing process, but their eyes needed to be clean as well. It felt weird having them on even if they could keep them on.

They looked in the mirror with the lenses in hand. They bit their tongue as they saw their face. One eye was burned beyond healing; they couldn't open their left eye anymore no matter how much they wanted to. The burns extended out a tad bit more where their lenses could cover. With them on, they were hardly noticeable wherever they were uncovered. Thankfully, their lenses allowed them to see out of that eye even if they couldn't without them on anymore.

It served as a physical reminder that Dactyle could easily lose something else, and they hated that very fact. It only made their greatest fear much worse than it was before.

They forced themself to look away from the mirror. They went into the bathtub and lowered their body into the water. Dactyle relaxed in the bubbles that surrounded them. They closed their eye. The echoing music and bubbles in the warm water soothed them. It wasn't as sweet as it used to be, but those two made it feel like it wasn't the worst thing in the universe. It wasn't much, but it was something.

After a little bit, Dactyle washed their body and their hair. They tried to not touch their left eye too much when they cleaned there, they didn't want to linger on the physical feeling. Their heart always pounded faster when they looked at or touched it. Dactyle tried to focus on everything else more. It always felt longer than it actually was.

Once they finished cleaning up, they drained the water and got out. They dried themself up; they put their lenses back on immediately afterwards. Dactyle made sure their shirt was in the laundry hamper before they turned the music off. They put their helmet back on. They went to grab something comfortable before they went to their siblings and parents. Dactyle gave them a smile when they joined them and picked up a controller.

Hermodactyloides would take anything else to forget about their burned eye.