[Halloween 2019] Full House

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It was a nice house. It really was. It was big, but not too spacious. Each room had its defining feature, such as a stove for the kitchen, a fire place for the living room, and doors into everyone's rooms. The wooden flooring didn't have some annoying creak, the walls looked sturdy and none of the windows were shattered or broken. It was a nice pleasant little house in the suburbs of Grassveil, if you could call it a suburb given that Grassveil was a small yet busy town.

She woke up in the mornings on a comfortable bed, had access to food to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner with, and had all the time in the world to spend with...kids who weren't really all that interested in sticking around it seemed. Chance liked to wander off, resulting her needing to chase him down if he didn't come back at a certain time, and Emmelyn either was dragged off with him or at the library.

Which meant Mirage was left home. Alone. To do...well, that question bothered her every day for the past two weeks. At first she waited for Sova. After she told him about the kids, she kind of expected him to show up. As each day passed, however, she began to lose hope. Instead, it began to anger her. It started to feel like she was more of some pet waiting for their master to come home. After the first week, she decided that perhaps it wouldn't hurt to wander Grassveil a little. She kept up disguises, of course, but every time she went out she worried about Sova coming back to find nobody home. She couldn't bring herself to have the courage to speak to any pokemon either.

What was the point of it? She was just going to be someone else tomorrow. There would be trouble if she tried to establish an identity. She'd have to upkeep it, maintain it, and if the disguise ever broke, she's done for, Sova's done for, and even the kids. She had no choice but to resign herself to the house and...do nothing. What could she even do? She was a wanted outlaw who didn't do outlaw-y things anymore. She was a fugitive who had no choice but to stay in the same bland empty looking house she didn't really know how to go about decorating.

In a way, it felt almost like a prison to her. A prison that held the door open, but every time she left it was a roll of the dice whether she'd be thrown into an even worse one. It was demeaning.

At the very least, each day brightened up a little when the kids came home. Emmelyn would have something new she learned while Chance would have some wild tale of adventure to tell everyone. It was nice to hear from them, but whenever they asked her about the world and what to do...she was lost. She gave the best answer she could, but she knew it wasn't enough. She didn't know anything about the world. Everything she did know was a lie, that was made very apparent to her.

Now, she was stuck with two kids at dinner on a Friday night pretending everything was absolutely okay.

Lu hopped up into a chair and sat down quietly at the table, looking down at the bowl of... berries. She couldn't help but look at the bowls being taken away that seemed to be filled with what was left of, well, basically the same thing. A saddening realization hit her as she watched...

This poor girl couldn't cook.

The glaceon bit into a random berry in the bowl, uncaring for what the flavor might be since the eating was more a means to an end right now and she wasn't picky to begin with. She didn't want to just sit here in awkward silence, but she made sure to swallow before deciding to say anything. "Sorry, I know you... probably wanted more from me, but I'm just as lost as you are," she began, wanting to at least try to console the zoroark. It was clear she wanted answers, but Lu didn't have many of those, at least in regards to this situation and the happenings in Sova's life.

But maybe she could still do something to cheer this girl up... "Well, like I said earlier, I'm... Lu," she began, having to practically force herself to say the name, "I might not know what Sova's been up to, but I could... um... help you cook, yyyyouuu... I don't think I ever got your name?"

She didn't want to come off as rude, but it seemed sad for someone having to support herself and two kids to be resorting to such basic dishes. She knew how to cook, so she could help... and for that matter, she had taught Sova how when he was a child. Why wasn't he helping!?

This dice is not existing.

The bowls clattered against one another as they were placed on a counter top. Lu seemed eager to carry out a conversation with her over the dinner. Part of her was relieved to shoo away the awkwardness, but another part of her just wished she was back to being alone. Things were so much less complicated when she was alone.

"Lu" seemed to still have issues with their own name. An eye narrowed while an eyebrow went up inquisitively. She figured she wouldn't get an answer just like her other question, so she decided not to bother with it. If the glaceon was just going to lie to her about her name, then let her. It's not like this night could get any worse.

"Mirage," she responded quietly as if there were potential for lurking ears, "Residents around here know me as Sidonia, a weavile, so use that if you're talking to other people." Her ears folded back as she struggled to get comfortable with...well, everything. From how she felt right down to what to do with herself at that moment exactly. Sit down? Eat again? Stand there? Clean up...? Arceus this was...pathetic.

"A little late for cooking though," she commented, "Everyone else has already eaten and the kids are staying in their room for the night."

This dice is not existing.

Mirage... That seemed like a pretty name. Lu committed it to memory and ate another berry as she listened to Mirage. Yes, she supposed it was true that now wasn't exactly the greatest time for cooking lessons... for a lot of reasons. "You're right... but if you'd like any help with that sometime while I'm around, just let me know," she responded. There was a momentary pause before she added on, "O-or anything else!" She really wanted to be helpful to someone... and maybe get to have a bit of interaction with Sova's family

Well that was hardly a conversation... Where to go from here? She contemplated as she ate, not wanting to leave the room hanging in awkward silence. She probably wouldn't be around much longer anyway, but she could at least try to make the best of this time. "Sova can cook too, by the way. You should get him to help you with things. He should anyway," she spoke once more, deciding to sell Sova out because she felt it was incredibly sad that he would leave his girlfriend with children to feed and no cooking skills.

She should get him to help her with things. The sentence felt like slap to her face. The sentence itself was harmless in reality, but to her it felt accusatory. It was her fault that Sova wasn't around, it implied. As if it were that easy to just ask him and he'd just come right home and do it. Suddenly, the front door looked awfully inviting. It was kind of Lu to offer her services, but Lu's existence around the house still hinged on one particular event...Sova being around.

Her fur slowly began to raise up, making her appear just the tiniest bit larger. Her breaths became deep, slow, but remained quiet. She avoided eye contact with Lu, instead suddenly opting to do dishes...like the house wife she'd become. It didn't help her calm down, quite the opposite actually, but it gave her a reason to not look at Lu...or rather Sova.

"I appreciate the offer," her strained voice responded, "But both of those rely on him being around in the first place."

Lu's warm, friendly aura felt suddenly suppressed when Mirage's fur stood. Had... she said something wrong? A hesitant frown crept over her as she watched the zoroark get up and start doing the dishes. The look on her face only grew more despairing when she heard the agitated tone of voice, and the dismissive words... Yes, she had clearly done something wrong, and it was being made quite apparent what that was. It seemed Sova's avoidance of his family was much worse than she thought... She couldn't blame Mirage for getting so upset at what she had said, then. "I... understand," she spoke, hesitating, but not because of the words. She was hesitant because of what she knew had to come next.

She sighed and looked down at the food on the table. One more bite. She ate another berry, just to be safe, because she doubted Sova would be willing to make such good decisions. Then, she looked back to the zoroark who was still practically ignoring her. "So we'll bring him back then... Come over here," she continued, her voice more solemn now. She was disappointed at having to go so soon, but was perfectly understandable, and she wanted Sova to be here just as much as Mirage seemed to.

It took control not to break the dishes as she cleaned them. She reminded herself again and again of the consequences of just cracking them to satiate her frustrations. Not only would she probably cut herself, but then she'd be down a dish. While she was fine with not using them, she doubted the kids would be. Emmelyn would probably very much question it and talk about how dirty it was to not use them, while Chance would probably just complain about not having "his" plate.

Lu's tone caught her attention again. She was ready to just end the conversation there or move on to something else, but Lu seemed to imply that there was a way to bring Sova back...What? An exasperated exhale escaped her. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to see him at this point. Despite her uncertainty, she gave in to Lu's request. There wasn't a point in fighting it, she might as well just let the glaceon do whatever she wants. It wasn't any different from what Sova did before this night after all.

She said nothing in response and waited for further instruction.

The zoroark silently and unquestioningly obliged, coming closer when asked to. Lu was hesitant, but fairly certain that her plan would work... If Sova and this girl cared about each other enough to both be this... distraught... then... Well, she wasn't much looking forward to her little plan, but she had a feeling it would get Sova's attention. She just hoped Mirage here would try not to hold it against her. "Okay, come closer," she spoke, trying her best not to be hesitant. She didn't want to explain what it was she intended to do for fear that the zoroark would reject on principle or make it weird, and fortunately, it wasn't questioned. Mirage did as instructed once more and came closer, and Lu's expression grew more worried.

"D-don't... hold this against me..." she spoke with a gulp, and then shut her eyes and leaned in to kiss the zoroark without warning. She felt a fuzzy feeling in the back of her head, melting over her body... and then she was gone.

Sova's eyes blinked half-open to see a familiar face. He didn't know why, but he felt... happy.

Then suddenly he was being pushed away by Mirage's claws. He fell backwards out of the chair he had apparently been sitting in, and hit the ground rather unceremoniously with a confused "Why..."

Closer and closer, she was instructed to go. She wasn't exactly sure what was to happen, but it certainly wasn't anything she'd think to expect. Lu seemed nervous. What...was she planning to do exactly? The zoroark reached maximum confusion as the glaceon requested not to hold it against her. Mirage's eyes widened, her fur bristled as she started to brace herself for what she assumed to be an attack.

Instead, she received a kiss.

It felt as if every strand of fur on her body attempted to pull themselves out. Even her long hair just behind her seemed poofier than usual. Her wide eyes could only focus on Sova's closed eyes as her mind tried to register what was happening. Except...this wasn't Sova. It looked like him, but it wasn't him. All anger that was flushed away with the shock re-surged with a vengeance. The zoroark pushed not-Sova away with perhaps a bit more force than what was necessary.

She stood taller and backed away from the chair, uninterested in permitting Lu an opportunity to jump right back on and try again. The voice that spoke up from the glaceon's body was...different...again. At the very least this one was familiar. Infuriatingly familiar. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She tried again and again, each time starting with the beginning sounds of word only to cut herself off.

". . ." she finally closed her mouth, sat right down, and began to pull on her hair with a low growl. Only then did she finally think of what to say, "Why?" she started off with a low hiss so the children wouldn't hear, "Because I don't go around kissing random people that aren't Sova that's why-same body or not!" She knew Sova was there, but still, it answered his question and for all she knew, Lu could still hear. Who knew how this worked? Hahaha!

"But that's only half of it!" she snipped, "Please though, I'd like for you to explain why you might think w h y."

Sova lifted his head just enough to look at Mirage while she was talking, just to show he wasn't ignoring her. He frowned at her clear agitation; he didn't know exactly what was going on, but clearly he had done something wrong. That sounded about right. His head fell limply back to the floor and his eyes shut as he tried to remember whatever he could to help him find answers. He was pretty sure he had just been... kissing her, which she seemed to confirm, but he didn't remember anything for a while before that. The last thing he remembered was...

...Well first off, he remembered his head spinning a whole lot more than it now was. He remembered being on the floor because of that... and feeling anxious about being here. His eyes opened again and he looked around the room just to confirm where "here" was. Of course, tonight was the night he was supposed to properly meet his kids... and he was trying to take care of another child as well. He hadn't seen or talked to Mirage in weeks, since she had told him about the children... and now he had shown up at her doorstep, unannounced, and drunk. To top it all off, he could only imagine he had blacked out and let someone else take over for a while... maybe Senya.

No wonder Mirage was sad. The glaceon opted to stay on the floor where he belonged while he thought about what to say, and he took his time thinking. He had a clearer head now, and it seemed much too late to try and get out of this confrontation. "I'm... I'm sorry... Mirage," he spoke weakly, without much passion behind the words.

Finally, he rolled onto his side and slowly, carefully stood on his good legs. He had been surprised so far by the impacts of his injury; things like running and fighting felt mostly the same, but the small things... those were so much harder. He could hardly even open a door anymore. "I left you... I had to think, about if me being here would be a good thing... I'm still not sure it would," he explained the best he could muster, since it felt like Mirage was trying to... well, talk. He couldn't bear to look her in the eyes, and instead he found his gaze trailing to the floor as he spoke.

[By the way things are getting a little real in this thread probably so turn away if sensitive to certain content]

There was an apology, but it didn't feel...sufficient. The way he looked and the way he spoke, it felt more like the type of "I'm sorry" Chance gave her when he just wanted her to shut up and leave him alone. Not only that, but she was effectively kicking him while he was down. As much as she wanted to talk about all of this, now just wasn't the time. She took in a deep controlled breath and exhaled slowly, her teeth clenched together as she tried to decide what to do about this.

Her arms crossed over one another. Sova couldn't even look at her and apologize. Her claws dug into the side of her arms, "That wasn't your decision to make," she informed him, "It was ours...unless I'm just some poor bitch for you to just swoop in, save, fuck, then abandon-" It was hard to hold herself back. She wanted so much to talk about it now, but she shouldn't...even if "now" was potentially the only opportunity she'd ever have with him. Her nails dug into her arms even deeper, she needed to stop herself from going any further.

"But-" she breathed with a rigid tension wavering to her words, "We can't talk about this right now. Not with how late it is, how drunk you are, and..." how very obvious it was that he didn't want to have this conversation. She didn't complete the statement, instead she asked, "...are you staying the night?"

Sova's eyes widened in surprise at the severity of Mirage's words. He should have been used to that by now; she was always blunt and had a lot of volatile emotions pent up in her. It was part of her personality he loved, so of course he should have expected... this. He sighed, still unable to bring himself to look her in the eyes out of shame. The zoroark wasn't leaving much up to the imagination in regards to how she felt, and yet... she still wanted to know if he was staying. Well, he was already here, so he wasn't planning on just turning around and leaving because the air was tense.

"That was the plan... I think," he responded quietly, hardly able to remember what he was even thinking coming here like this. Too bad he was here now, and he knew leaving would just hurt Mirage more. There was so much more he wanted to address, but she had already tried to dismiss all of it, so he felt like this was the best he could do.

...But it wasn't enough. It was pathetic and he knew it. He had to give her something; she clearly wanted to talk, and he really didn't but... he couldn't just sit here and watch what that was doing to her. "I'm... I-I don't feel as drunk as I was..." he spoke a bit louder his eyes trailing up to meet the zoroark's for a moment. He stared with flattened ears and his whole form sulking as he awaited her response. He wasn't going to push it by any means, but he wanted to show he was willing to talk. He owed her this much.

Oh, he thought. She could hardly stop herself from twisting every word he said into another knife in her back. When was the point where her emotions bled out and died already? The glaceon's eyes were met with a closeted anger and disapproval that begged to be released. His claim that he wasn't as drunk as he was didn't quite do much to help him. He'd already expressed just how much he didn't want to be here, consciously or not.

It didn't feel right. It felt like if she said anything at all, it was just going to get worse. If they talked right then and there, it wasn't going to accomplish anything. It wasn't to genuinely fix things, it was to make her think things were going to be fixed. If she learned anything the past two weeks, it was that waiting for something that wasn't going to come was a lot more painful than knowing it wasn't going to happen.

Still, she couldn't help at least one question, "Do-" she started off with a growl that she quickly swallowed, "Do you want to be in their...our lives...or not?" Despite her attempt to keep her anger out of her voice, her voice wavered pitifully at the end. Her intense gaze glowered down at him, almost as if she expected something of him and dared him to say it despite the particular watery shine in them.

Sova's form melted further at Mirage's question. That was what she thought of him? That he didn't want to be around her...? Well, maybe that was fair, considering how he had been acting... And maybe it was true to some extent, but...

He straightened up suddenly. "Yes! Of course I do! I meant everything I've ever said to you..." he spoke with conviction in his voice. He didn't even need to think about this question. It was because he cared about them so much that he was even having these difficulties in the first place! "But... Mirage, I... have to consider more than just me. I'm... I-I'm broken, and you all deserve more than that," his voice wavered as he continued. He turned away from Mirage again on reflex as his eyes began to water.

...But that wasn't the whole truth. He sighed, "And I'm scared. I've never been scared of much, but messing this up... hurting you just because I'm here and I can't seem to help it... That scares me." He shook his head lightly, still unable to bring himself to face Mirage. His confident posture was fading again, leaving him shrinking in on himself.

"I'm... just bad," he finished with a huff, not knowing what else to say. It didn't feel good enough, but it was honest. He could at least be honest... but he was expecting to regret it. He braced himself for anything ranging from being told to leave to just... getting punched.

She wanted a yes or no answer. She expected a yes or no answer. What she got, was not a yes or no answer. What she got was the biggest pile of "exCUSE ME???" she had ever felt. He wanted to be with this family...but he had to consider more than just him. WHAT!? How was any of that considering "more than just him?" Her claws dug deeper into her fur, pulling out bits and patches as she did so.

"You weren't considering others," she sneered hatefully. Her arms finally unwrapped themselves as she began to point at the Glaceon accusingly. "Don't pull that shit on me, because you weren't. You were only considering yourself." She began to approach the glaceon, each step weighted purposefully with her anger.

"There's a hellova lot more to consider than yourself here, snowball. If you were doing just that, you would have considered how absolutely unqualified I am to be a mother and just how much your lack of presence is going to impact them. At least you know how things work around here. I've only seen things as an outlaw. At least you can go outside and not have to worry about being arrested. If I get bumped one too many times or come across an odd Lucario, I'm screwed, and if I'm screwed, they're even more screwed! Do you have any idea what would happen to them if I were found out or if something were to even happen to me? Because I sure don't and I sure as hell don't want to find out."

"I have absolutely no experience nor help in what i'm doing. I don't have friends like you do. I can't just ask people for advice-especially with the special little circumstances we have that no normal parents ever have to go through. I've been entirely on my own for the past two weeks raising two kids who keep asking where their daddy is and I keep having to reply "I don't know maybe he'll come meet you soon" just to have you not show up. Chance even asked if it was because he wasn't an eevee because I keep having to make him disguise himself as one whenever we're out in public."

"I can't even keep track of them just by myself. They're always leaving the house. At the very least Emmelyn's usually at a library, but Chance? Fuck if I know! Sometimes he even drags Emmelyn along and I can't find them until they show back up on my doorstep. I don't know how he even does it. I put him in the room just earlier and he just teleports into the living room with Emmelyn. So most of the time I just have to sit here and hope they come back home because I sure as hell can't track them freely in the day and there's even been nights were they've straight up not come home. What am I supposed to do then???"

"So I just sit here. Day in and day out waiting for a husband-boyfriend?? Whatever the hell we are-and two children to come home, begging to everything that's holy that they just haven't gone and gotten themselves killed without me being told and being unable to do a damn thing about it. I sit here-and I wait.. Because that's all I can ever do, because I can't do anything else. I don't know how to do anything else, because everything I know how to do, I can't do and don't need to do. I just sit here and twiddle my claws like some sort of fucking trophy wife and rot as if this were a prison."

"So if you want to be considerate of people that aren't yourself," Mirage's claws rushed forward and grabbed the Glaceon by the scruff. She did not take care to be easy with him, her voice wavered and struggled with her emotions rapidly shifting between anger and tears. She trembled, but she made sure to clamp down as hard as she could on his scruff so that escape was difficult even if he tried. She dragged him down the hall, each step echoed as she continued, "Then get your flat-tailed, bulb-headed, girly-lookin ass in here," The door to the children's room swung open without hesitation. Chance was sent rolling off to the side with a mortified squeak, but she didn't seem to either notice or care, "AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR CHILDREN!" She shouted as she flung the Glaceon into the center of the room. Without waiting for a single response from either party, the door slammed shut again.

Sova felt terrible already, but as soon as Mirage started, he knew he was about to feel a whole lot worse. Sure enough, telling him he was lying about being considerate was only the start, and she went into a full-blown rant about how hard everything was and how horrible he'd been. He already knew, but having it all laid out for him like that... it left him without much left to say. He knew he was wrong, and... maybe he was just being selfish. "Oh... I-" he started quietly, only to have Mirage grab onto him before he could say anything. He didn't try to fight, instead choosing to accept whatever punishment she deemed fit.

After realizing he wasn't being blatantly attacked, he expected to be carried to the front door and thrown out. It was fair, he supposed, and he allowed himself to be carried... up until he realized that wasn't where they were going. As Mirage neared the door, he muttered, "Hang on..." followed by a more frantic reaction when she opened the door. Kicking at the air futilly in an attempt to stop her, he began to speak more frantically, "Nononono wait MIRAGE NOT LIKE-"

He hit the floor in a pathetic heap, followed by the sound of Mirage slamming the door. He was afraid to open his eyes, but... then he did. The first thing he saw was the floor, and then the little silver shape in front of him, staring down at him... way too close for comfort. He jumped back with a panicky gasp, hitting the door he'd been thrown in through. He tried to back himself up further against the door and away from the eevee out of... instinct. Some immediate fear of doing something wrong, maybe. He looked off to the side and jumped away again at the sight of a zorua who seemed to have been knocked over. This tme, he trpped over himself and fell.