Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ellen pushed through the front door with her hip, only to find the Random Play storefront uncharacteristically empty. The lights were on, the door was unlocked, everything was set up for sale, but no one was in sight.

"Belle? I know you're here, Corin met with everybody today and I bring news and also milktea."

Belle's phone sat face-down on the counter. Ellen set her drink carrier down and flipped it over; she'd sent a message to Wise half an hour before, but she couldn't see what past the lockscreen.

"It went well, but there's some stuff I wanna talk about with Corin and stuff."

The archive room was both unlocked and empty, even though neither half of Phaethon was careless enough to leave their proxy gear easily accessible to the outside. The lights were on but the room looked untouched.

"Billy showed up and I don't know whether I should thank him or punch his face in, you should be all over this shit."

The stairs creaked slightly as Ellen walked up them. The door to Belle's room at the end of the hallway cracked open, though no light shined out.

"Belle, normally this stuff is like catnip to you, are you okay -"

Belle sat on her bed in the dark bedroom, her sheets wrapped around her; she stared emptily out into the room, her face completely slack. 18 and Eous sat on either side of her, stroking her sheet-covered arms and crooning softly despite the lack of response. They looked mournfully at Ellen as she walked in, but neither said anything.

Ellen set the tea down and crept up to Belle, waving her hand in front of her face. Up close she could see Belle was breathing and shuddering slightly, but her eyes didn't track the movement.

"... I'm not qualified to handle this. Belle, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm gonna go get Wise and -"

"You don't have to."

Ellen whipped around to see Wise peeking through the door. He gestured to her and she followed him out into the hallway.

"It isn't always this bad," Wise said, "but this happens every few months. She sees something that reminds her of... before... and she can't shake off the memory in time. I go through something a little similar, but it comes on much slower, so Belle always sees the warning signs first and heads it off. With her, it kicks in so fast she barely has enough time to send off a text before she ends up in her bed or a corner somewhere. She'll respond if there's something dangerous happening, and sometimes you can speed it up, but for the most part, we have to wait it out."

"How long, usually?"

"When she's like this? A few hours. Less if you have something unusual to lure her out with, but... not always."

Ellen sighed sympathetically.

After a long pause, Ellen noticed Wise visibly struggled with something.

"I... I feel like I should..."

He closed his eyes in resolution.

"Don't," Ellen said.

"It -"

"You obviously don't want to talk about why, so don't. I don't come to you guys because I want to dig into your issues, every time I've done this since my little episode it's been something I chose. If you want to share, you can. If you don't, you don't. I thought that was obvious by now."

She rolled her eyes at his conflicted look. "Seriously, I've watched Corin stumble over her feelings enough to tell when somebody doesn't want to talk about something. Forcing that shit never works. You don't need to make this even or whatever, I'm not gonna pry."

After a moment, Wise sagged slightly.

"So. 'Something unusual', right? What's that look like?"

"Something unthreatening, odd but not negative. It has to surprise her, too. The same thing never works twice."

Ellen turned it over in her head, then sighed. "You guys have fine china?"

"Porcelain you eat with? I don't think so. We don't even have a kitchen. We just have a few plates and some silverware."

"Do you just live off takeout and instant dinners? That shit's bad for you." She sighed again. "I think I know where to pick cheapo set in Lumiya. And I'll grab an electric kettle too, sounds like you people need it."

Maybe 20 minutes later, Wise sat quietly shoulder to shoulder with his sister. Ellen had bustled past them and grabbed the drink carrier a few minutes earlier, but Belle was just aware enough to track her with her eyes. The two sat in silence, their bangboos keeping them quiet company. Then the door opened, and what came in earned a flabbergasted look from Wise.

Ellen was still wearing the same outfit as when she'd left, a perfect example of the bolder, edgier look she'd adopted since changing careers: torn and worn black jeans cut low to accommodate her tail, a deep red band T-shirt with the sleeves torn off to show her arm muscles, combat boots off a rack at a store barely in her price range that had somehow survived actual combat. But instead of the slouch and slight swagger she normally walked with, she was now straight-backed and stiff-necked, her face a mask of polite neutrality, taking deliberate small steps with her tail trailing behind her in an elegant S-shape. The tea set in her hands, a steaming white teapot with a simple floral design on a matching tray with two mugs clearly borrowed from elsewhere, looked like it sold for less than the tea inside it, but she carried it with all the dignity of aged royalty. Wise stared at her, a little dumbfounded; Belle's eyes finally focused on something, her blank face gradually filling in with confusion.

Ellen set the tray down on the table and, with her back still perfectly straight, bent over to pick up the pot. She gracefully poured the tea from earlier, reheated, into the thicker mug, then scooped it up and strode confidently to the bed.

"Your tea, madam," Ellen said in an eerie echo of Lycaon's accent. She placed it delicately in Belle's hands as the proxy looked at her like she'd sprouted wings. Ellen stood up straight, clasped her hainds in front of her waist, and in the same voice she continued, "does madam have anything else she'd wish to request?"

"Are you real?"

All at once snorted Ellen dropped the facade. She sagged and muttered "fuck, I hope so", squeezing a watery laugh out of Belle before flopping down next to her. "You can't work for Lycaon without picking up how to do his high society bullshit, but I forgot just how oppressive that shit was from the inside. So, how're you feeling?"

"Raw," Belle said eventually, her voice soft and scratchy, as Wise radiated support from her other side. "I'll be better soon, but I don't feel very good." She took a sip. "I don't want to think about myself right now."

"You wanna hear about Corin's Totally Bogus Adventure?"

"What?" Belle said with a shaky laugh.

"That's what I'm calling what she and Billy got up to today."

"What was Billy doing there?"

"Shut up, I'll get to that," Ellen said without heat. Belle leaned over and slumped against her side, and Ellen fought off an old crush before continuing.

"Corin... we ran into her, almost four years ago I guess? Lycaon didn't scrub our clients like he really should have, so we signed up to work for... uh. I really shouldn't say who for a couple reasons, but we worked with NEPS to put 'em in jail while we were still under contract with them. Lycaon NEVER does that, it proves just how fucked the whole situation was that Victoria came out with a clean reputation despite breaking, like, one of the biggest rules of working for rich assholes.

"Anyway, we took Corin in while everything blew over. She was... I know you hang out with her sometimes, she's afraid of basically everything but she always seems to pull through. She was like that back then, except instead of apologizing when something went wrong she'd ask where she should go to get... God, the shit she thought she deserved when she messed up. And she was twelve." Ellen shivered. "This was before I met my friends, I was an antisocial piece of shit, but the shit I saw happen turned my stomach so bad I basically taught myself how to be nice so I wouldn't fuck her up further. And, and she isn't bad at what she does! She's never been very precise, you do better having her pick up furniture to clean under it instead of making her clean it herself, but she's crazy good in a fight and she never gets tired. Like, I don't mean she works herself to the bone without complaining, I've seen her hold up pieces of furniture for hours and not even blink."

Ellen shifted, gently jostling Belle. "Maybe she would have been better off in the orphanage system, but... maybe it would've been better for me, too, but I already had blood on my hands by the time I ran into Victoria, they wouldn't even look at me. Corin, she had too much politics behind her, nobody was going to take that leap, and like, I get it, you're not gonna put all your other kids at risk for another one, but also they can go fuck themselves for that. So she stuck with us."

Ellen sighed. "Anyway, it took years for us to get Corin to where she is now. She's put in some HEROIC effort, too. She deserves everything and it kills me when she doesn't get it. There's a reason I melted down like that when I smacked her a few months back, it took me a while to get over doing that. And I'd just gotten her past calling me 'Miss Ellen' too... she doesn't seem scared of me any more, thank fuck. I talk to her every week or so and she mostly just seems lonely."

Ellen paused for a bit.

"You know, I feel like my friends meeting Corin should have been some seismic event, but it really wasn't. I grabbed Corin at the station, we went and met my friends at this little rooftop cafe near the HIA building, and she shoved a whole pizza down her face as we all talked. It - I... I feel like Corin grew up while I was away. She's still kinda hesitant and apologizes too much, but she was listening to Ruby gossip and Lynn ramble - they both really like physics - and she was socializing better than I do sometimes." Ellen frowned. "Something's going on with Monna. School just started and Ruby and Lynn had plenty to talk about, but... Monna's usually pretty quiet anyway, but she wasn't really following the conversation. I don't think Lynn or Corin noticed, they were too busy talking about chainsaw physics or whatever, but I know Ruby picked up on it. I'll have to follow up on that. But that aside the whole thing went like a dream."

"What about Billy?" Belle asked quietly.

"Oh believe me, I have PLENTY to say about Billy." Ellen snorted. "So, we'd just wrapped up. Ruby made sure to add Corin to the group chat, and the fact she's the first person Ruby let in there since me says a lot. We were on our way back to the station - and there was fucking Billy, carrying boxes for... whatever Billy does that isn't rewatching shit. So he greets her, says something dumb about Starlight Knights because that's what he does, and Corin says, all wide-eyed, 'what's that?'" Ellen scoffed. "Should've guessed she never watches TV, she's a romance novel girl. Gets them from Rina. That and textbooks she reads for fun... I guess I shouldn't've been surprised she and Lynn get along. Whatever, doesn't matter. What DOES matter is what he said next. Can you guess what he did?"

A mumbled negative from the pile of blanket next to her.

"Billy said there was an afternoon showing of the first Starlight movie in walking distance - because of course there is - and he offered to watch it with her. And buy her popcorn and soda."

Belle poked her face out of her blanket, blinking. Wise said, "I'm not the only one who thinks that sounds an awful lot like..."

Ellen shook her head. "I don't think it occurred to them he was asking her on a date. They kind of assumed I was coming with, and I would have invited myself along anyway. And the movie was better than I expected! Not amazing, a little simple for me, a good enough way to kill a few brain cells. But... Corin spent the whole movie practically hanging off him, she was so absorbed. Billy told her she had stars in her eyes when we walked out and he wasn't wrong, it's like she had a religious experience. And... I've never seen what Corin acts like when she likes somebody, but I'd put good money on her crushing on him. Do you guys even know if AIs can like people back?"

"I guess?" Wise said. "I think it varies depending on how they reached sentience."

"That's a useful answer," Ellen grumbled, leaning back and knocking her head against the wall. "I feel like I should be defending my sister's honor or whatever. But... I don't think I've ever seen Corin this invested in anyone or anything, and Billy's too much of a goober to really hurt her. Plus," she said, shifting uncomfortably, "I learned pretty early not to try and make Corin avoid risks because I get nervous about shit. She's a big girl, even if she jumps at her own shadow sometimes. So, whatever. If she decides she wants to date the guy who loved a kids show so much it turned him into a person, she gets to. Not gonna buy her any action figures, though."

"Baby birds leaving the nest, huh?" Belle said, her voice wistful but stable.

"Yeah. But if he hurts her I'll wipe his hard drive and fill it with whatever porn he likes the least."

The three sat in companionable silence for a short while. Then Ellen's eyes popped open.

"Aw fuck, my tea!"