It was a beautiful evening, the moon shining bright over the swamp, and yetVenator followed her dad into the living room, tail flicking in annoyance.
Toffee sat down on the couch and motioned for her to join him. Huffing, she obeyed, plopping down next to him with a thwump.
"What were you doing?" asked Toffee, looking over at her with a stern brow.
Ven scoffed, "Hunting for crawdads" she signed, "like Gar's mom said too"
"uhh-huh" said Toffee, "Hunting for crawdads. And that was it, I'm sure" he sighed "Ven, Star is a guest. It's not her job to help around the house, especially if it involves going into the swamp, you know how dangerous it can be"
Ven's crest bristled, "You don't know her like we do" she said, "Star's a Johansen through and through"
Her lips raised in a sneer as she signed 'Johansen'.
"Back when we lived near Butterfly Kingdom she'd come into the forest and beat people up for fun, she targeted us a few times, when we strayed too close to the castle. We were simply getting her to make up for it"
"Okay" said Toffee, and then his cold expression broke into a grin, "good job, Ven" he said, "You handled things wonderfully"
Ven looked smug, but Toffee wasn't done.
"Just run it by me next time" he said, "you may go"
Venator nodded, "Okay dad" she signed, getting up to go.
Breakfast was... Awkward.
Star had got up when she felt the tears come on, not wanting to cry in front of these strangers.
She ran out the door and ducked back inside her tent, burying her face in her pillow.
A few minutes later someone tapped on the fabric of her tent. Star tried to ignore them, but they only tapped again, more insistently this time.
Growing annoyed, Star burst out of the tent, glaring up and the offending septarian. "What do you want?" she snapped.
Toffee's kid-Ven, Star remembered-stood over her, holding Star's plate. She leaned down, offering Star the rest of her breakfast.
Hesitantly, Star took it.
"Thanks" she murmured, and then began picking at her food.
Someone tapped her shoulder. She looked up to see that Ven was showing her a notepad.
"Are you okay?"
Star sighed. "Yeah, I'm just... Worried about my mom" she said.
Venator nodded, putting pencil to paper.
"I get it. My dad wasn't around much, and my pop was away for weeks sometimes. I always worried about them"
Star raised an eyebrow, "two dads, huh?" she asked.
Ven wrote furiously for a moment.
"None of your beeswax, Butterfly"
Star raised her hands, "Woah, no, I'm not- I kinda like girls, too" she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck, "geez, I've never told anyone that before"
Ven rolled her eyes. "Good for you"
"Man, I'm here spilling my deepest secrets, and you're studying the art of sarcastic handwriting" said Star. She sighed, "I mean, we didn't really talk a lot when she was around, and I'm kinda starting to regret that, you know? Toffee says she's fine but... I don't know if I believe him"
"Whatever you mewmans say, Dad is a man of his word. If he says he didn't kill Moon, then he didn't"
Star sighed, "I guess I have to take your word on that" she said, the absolute picture of misery.
""He used to write a lot from Amphis." Ven wrote after a while "Fatherly advice, stories about where he was staying, or who he was working with, anonymized of course. Sometimes he'd go quiet though, and pop always said he just needed to lie low for a while, but I still worried something had happened"
"My mom used to write me letters, too" said Star with a smile, "Ha, she was always busy back at the castle, so we couldn't talk much, but sometimes if something important was coming up, she'd write me, so I wouldn't forget" she smiled, "man, I just... I miss her"
Ven furrowed her brow, tapping her pencil against her knuckles, as she thought about this. And then, she touched pencil to paper.
"What, like, on trips and stuff?"
"No, just when something important came up, you know? Otherwise she'd send a servant" said Star.
"That's a bit sad, Star"
"What? No it isn't" Star straightened up, "You yourself just said-err, wrote-that Toffee used to write you letters all the time, why's it sad when my mom does it?"
Ven cringed at the name 'Toffee'.
"He didn't talk through letters when he stayed with us" she wrote, "only when he was away. And don't call him Toffee, his name's Mortodonte"
"Morto... wha? How's that pronounced?" Star asked.
Ven cocked her head, nibbling the erasure. "Like Donte, but with a "Morto-" in front"
"...thanks" said Star flatly.
"Well, I've never had to say it" wrote Ven.
"... ah" said Star. "Wait, does he have a problem with being called 'Toffee'?"
Ven actually groaned at that, "No, he loves it too much. I get that he earned it, but it's so uncool! He should go by his birth name! It means 'The Enduring Teeth of Death", Star, that is awesome! My name just means 'Hunter', I'd kill to be 'The Enduring Teeth of Death!"
"Yup, that's a much cooler name than Toffee" Star admitted.
"I know, right?" Ven paused, flicking the notepad with a claw. "Your mother did talk to you, right?"
"Yeah, of course she did! Not... not as often as I'd like, and... Mostly when I did something wrong, but, she talked to me"
Venator didn't seem to know what to say. "That isn't less sad, Star"
"Well.. what do you even talk about with your dads?"
"Dad stuff, mostly" she wrote, "Odonte loves history, too, though, and Pops used to talk about comics with us kids. Anything, really"
"Sounds nice" said Star, sounding wistful. "So... Why can't you talk?"
Venator huffed, narrowing her eyes. She hunched over and started writing.
"Well, when I was a little kid, I had a beautiful voice, the most beautiful in all of Mewni, but one day I stole from the garden of an evil witch, and she cursed me so I would never speak again. She took my voice and used it to become a pop star, and every day I sit, and I plot my revenge"
Star frowned, sympathetically, "Oh, I'm so, so sorry, that's horrible!"
Venator grinned, shaking with suppressed laughter as she wrote, "I made it up, dumbass, I was born this way."
"Well why didn't you lead with that" asked Star.
"I don't know. Why's it your business?"
"Why's my relationship with my mom your business?" Star shot back, but her voice held no bite.
Venator blinked, "Fair" she scribbled down, then stretched, cracking her hands, and set the notebook aside, clearly done with conversation.
She gestured to the house and got up. Star watched her leave. Huh. Strange girl.
As early as septarians seemed to rise, what they didn't do, Star learned, was stay awake through the day.
It was a buzz of activity all morning, but around noon, after one of the adults made her a quick lunch, the Disastorvaine family gradually settled around their house, resting on rocks and the muddy bank and even the roof, and drifted off to sleep. Rasticore, prosthetic arm missing, pulled Toffee from his very boring looking work, and the two curled up in the sun, Rasticore drooping himself comfortably over the smaller septarian, something no one else did, cuddly as they suddenly were.
Star raised a brow at this. Guess that Rasticore must've been "Pops". Huh.
Ven and Gar stayed up a bit longer, but eventually they, too, found places to sleep, Gar curling up on the roof while Ven settled half in and half out of the water.
Star was about to bite the bullet and try to take a nap, too, but just as she'd settled in to sleep somewhere in the shade, she became aware of... Whimpering.
She sits up, trying to figure out where it's coming from, when Toffee starts to stir, waking his apparent partner as well.
He shoves the larger septarian off with a yelp and sits up, eyes wide and haunted. He looks around the peaceful village as though it was a war zone, gaze unseeing as it passed over Star.
"Odonte?" Rasticore says, gently touching his shoulder only to be met with an exaggerated flinch and a show of teeth.
Toffee gets to his feet, clutching his head, and goes inside, Star ducking behind a tree as he passes her. Rasticore follows at a distance, slipping inside after Toffee.
When he came back out, Star was waiting for him on the porch. "What's wrong with him?" she asked.
Rasticore sighed, settling next to her, musclebound arm resting on the railing, "Well, he had a nightmare, Star. About the war. It's... Something that can happen when you go through stuff like that, you know?"
Star thought back to the last few weeks, and the nights where she'd awake from dreams of syrupy magic filling her lungs while Toffee loomed over her, laughing. And then she'd wake in the real world, with the real Toffee, watching her with an expression closer to concern than cruelty.
"Yeah, I know" she said. "I-I died, you know?"
Rasticore looked away, suddenly very interested in the long grass growing along the side of the house. "I heard" he said, "I'm sorry. We never wanted you to get hurt"
"As I keep hearing" said Star.
"Do you need to talk about it?" he asked.
"Huh?" Star looked up at him, brows furrowed.
Rasticore tensed, "Well, talking... Talking helps, sometimes" he said, reaching out, but stopping short of touching her shoulder when she ducked, "It doesn't stop the nightmares but... It can make you feel better"
Star blinked up at him, feeling tears form in her eyes that she hastily wiped away, "No... No, I'm okay" she assured him, a smile tugging at her lips.
She hadn't seen Toffee act like this before, but then again, she hadn't seen him sleep either. "How often does it happen?" she asked.
"I have one almost every time I sleep" said Rasticore, "I was... Butchered, once" he continued, his arm moving to his chest, where a faint scar ran down from his throat, disappearing under his pants "most of them are about that"
"Oh" Star found her mind drifting to what Toffee had told her. That he'd grown up during Solaria's reign. She wondered who loomed over him in his dreams, what past horrors he drowned in every night.
She decided to change the subject.
"So, why's he called 'Toffee'?" she asked.
Rasticore made a sound of surprise, "Never had a mewmen ask that before" he commented, "Most of you assume it's his real name"
Star felt herself blush. Before talking with Ven, she had assumed so, too.
"It's a good story, though" said Rasticore, "He killed a mewman soldier and snagged his rations, and, well, among those rations was a piece of toffee, he took on the name to commemorate it" Rasticore started laughing, but it died in his throat, "I-I think he might've been younger than you" he said, and Star could hear something in his voice break.
"Do you love him?" she asked. Might as well bite the bullet.
"Uh-wha?" asked Rasticore, jarred out of his spiral by the question.
"Oh, it's just- you seem... Close" she said.
"He's my husband" said Rasticore, and then his tone dipped, jaw parting to emphasize his teeth "I hope that won't be an issue"
Star put her hands up, "Oh, no, no, of course not! We're very accepting in the Butterfly kingdom!"
In public.
Rasticore relaxed, the darkness across his face lifting, "Well, it wasn't always that way. I hope you understand why I'd be cautious"
"Well, I-" Star looked away shyly "I think it's sweet"
"Huh, well, thanks" said Rasticore.
Behind them, the door creaked open, Toffee himself stepping out. He looked even more exhausted than normal, hair disheveled and bags under his eyes. "Talking about me?" he asked, his tone teasing, although the smile on his lips was tired.
"Naw, we're talking about the weather" said Rasticore, giving the smaller septarian a playful punch to the shoulder "not everything's about you"
Toffee looked at Star directly, gaze intense enough to burn through her. "So, you know about us?" he asked.
Cowed, Star could only nod.
Toffee snorted, "Good" he said, "Then we won't have to dance around it"
Glancing at Rasticore's remaining hand, she noticed a glint of gold- looking closer, she realized it was a piercing in the webbing.
Back in Ludo's castle, when she'd first met Toffee, she'd noticed a similar piercing. Now, it was gone.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, "you seemed pretty upset"
"Oh, just an old ghost coming back to haunt me" he said, waving a hand dismissively, "I'll be alright"
Rasticore wrapped an arm around him, giving the shorter septarian an affectionate nuzzle, "we should get back to sleep" he said, "otherwise we'll both be useless in the evening"
"Wait" said Star, "do you always sleep through the afternoon?"
"Yeah" said Rasticore, "And mewmens go to bed early just to sleep late the next day. What of it?"
"It's just, I haven't seen Toffee doing it" she said.
Both of them stared at her, Rasticore in shock and Toffee in betrayal. Then, Rasticore looked to Toffee. "Later, Odonte" he said, "we'll talk"
When Toffee awoke, the sun was creeping down on the horizon, and the trees cast long shadows over the village clearing.
Rasticore was still snoring above him, but he could see everyone else shifting, shaking off the vail of sleep to go about their evening.
As always, he tried to crawl out from under his partner without waking him, and as always, he failed, Rasticore stirring awake not long after.
He stretched, then blinked down at the shorter septarian. "Good evening" he said, giving Toffee a cheeky grin. Toffee grinned back.
"Good evening to you" he responded.
They stayed there for a moment, and then the both of them got up properly, prepared to go about their evening routine.
Toffee raised an arm and groaned. He missed sleeping in mud, but he'd forgotten how uncomfortable it could be, sticking to his clothes and making the fabric stick to skin. "Now if you excuse me, I need to get cleaned up"
He got to his feet, brushed himself off, and started down the shore.
Rasticore followed him, "Mind if I join you? It's... Been a while" he said with a smile.
"Of course I don't" said Toffee. He grabbed Rasticore's hand, "Every moment with you is a gift" he blinked, and after a moment, added "Grab the washboard, we're going to need it"
The two walked until they couldn't see the village, and then stripped and waded into the water.
"By gods" muttered Toffee, "Remind me to pick up some proper outdoor furniture once we've got the money. I'd forgotten how miserable this was"
"Well, I'm enjoying the view" said Rasticore, waiting his turn from behind, pants slung over his back.
Toffee snorted, "Keep talking like that, and I'll make you wash both our clothes" he said, but he preened at the attention, nonetheless.
In short order, they had done all they could and left their bedclothes on a nearby branch to dry.
Rasticore took his husband by the hand, "Now, why don't we clean up?" he purred.
Toffee only nodded, releasing a low rumble as he was led into deeper water. He slapped his muzzle onto the water, splashing it over the both of them.
They returned an hour later, dressed in their now dry clothes.
When they got there, they saw that a group had gathered outside his home. A young kappa he didn't recognize, uniform marking her as a member of the council, pushed their way through the throng, a letter held in their beak.
The six-foot-tall bird strode over, handing it to him. An official summons, sealed by the council head and addressed to him.
"General Toffee, a lot of the old mewman nobility aren't happy with the new status que" said the kappa, "Most are occupied trying to put down rebellions in their own kingdom, but a few of the lessor nobles have kept out of the fight. We fear they may be aiming higher. Your experience would be invaluable in helping us deal with this threat"
Toffee stood there a moment, mouth agape as he was struck with the realization that he was wearing a loose, stained bathrobe and little else. Burying his embarrassment, he took the letter from her "Well, when you're good at digging ditches" he said to Rasticore, slipping a claw under the wax.
He read the letter, wearing a slight frown as he did.
No mention of River or Moon, but it sounded like a few of the other prominent families had been testing the boarders of New Septarsis, Testudine, and the former Butterfly kingdom.
Led, they suspected, by the Johansens.
Toffee rolled the letter up, pocketing it. "I will be there" he said grimly, "Don't worry about getting a carriage ready, I can procure my own transport"
"I've solved the 'tail severing' issue!" Rasticore reported cheerfully.
"Regardless, we will have no trouble getting there in time" he assured, "I understand that the meeting is to take place one week from now, in the normal location."
"the New Septarsis capital building, yes" said the kappa.
"Oh, and one more thing" Toffee added, "I must apologize, but, what is your name?"
"Stabber Shrikeston, Sir Toffee" she said.
Toffee nodded, "Stabber Shrikeston, I'll take note of that"
When the kappa woman left, taking off and flying back towards the capital, Star approached him.
"Hey, what was that about?" she asked.
"As expected, mewman nobility hasn't taken well to our little revolution" Toffee replied, "their circling us like vultures. The fall of magic has left a power vacuum, and if I don't tread carefully, someone might fill it"
"Should I be worried?" asked Star.
"Extremely. You know how to fight?"
Star huffed, "Of course I do"
"Good." that Johansen heritage was good for something, at least. "I'll try to keep you out of the worst of it, but... I'll feel better knowing you can defend yourself"
Star laughed nervously, "Wow, ominous much?" her laughter, already weak, died a quick death. "it's not my parents, right?"
"We don't know" said Toffee, "Try not to worry about it, okay? I'll keep you updated"