Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As you're walking over to Loop, you have to drag the creature with you as it hangs onto your cloak stubbornly. Seriously, WHY IS IT SO ATTACHED TO YOU???? It's not too hard to pull around though, it just… slides. Like a half-deflated pillow with no motor function.

Okay, now as you see the upper half of Loop, you take a few more steps and wave to them nervously while dragging the creature behind. 

Loop looks at you and waves back, they see you dragging the creature, and they light up a bit. “Looks like you found them!” they say while chuckling.

“Do you know what it is Loop????” you ask in confusion as you walk over to the base of the tree and sit down. The creature sits next to you, still holding onto your cloak, and then relaxes a bit; sighing. 

“Well~ I thought you might want something else to talk to as well! Sometimes you seem to want someone other than your good friend Loop~!” they chuckle while saying that. That still doesn't answer your question. Loop seems to notice this and replies “Don’t you know what it is~? It’s not hard to tell~” 

They’re just annoying you at this point, so you give them a dead-pan stare, communicating that you're done with this. In response, Loop says, “It’s a slugcat Stardust~!” 

YOU WERE… Half right. But…. a Slugcat? You’re not too sure you’ve heard about this before. Are you supposed to know this? Maybe you forgot, that’s normal. But Loop said you might want something else to talk to? Is that why this Slugcat is following you? 

“Loop, does it know about… the loops?” the Slugcat is looking at you again, you notice something, its right eye is… not as black as its left, can it see out of that one? 

“Well, why else would it be following you?” They look at the Slugcat too, making eye contact. “Also, have you’ve been calling them a creature? They deserve a real name Stardust~!”

Loop has a point. But… you’ve only known the creature- the, uh, Slugcat for only a few hours now, and besides. Will it continue to follow you, or will it get bored and leave? You feel like you have so many questions but no good way to word them. How old is it? Can it go through the house, WILL it go through the house with you? Does it take kids well? You haven’t talked to Bonnie yet and you don't know how Bonnie will react as well. Great; now you're panicking a bit.

“Calm down Stardust~! Have you forgotten that if something goes wrong you can just loop back?” Loop looks at you and sees the small bit of panic you have in your eyes, even with them reassuring you they can still get on your nerves a bit.

The Slugcat climbs back into your lap. Okay, you're getting used to it now, in fact it feels kind of nice now, like it's looking out for you. Like it wants to be with you, it's… comforting, and it’s genuine you can feel it, you smile a bit. 

Should you give it a name? You’ll need a lot of time to think about it. Loop is looking away at the two of you, they seem happy but a bit saddened.

And they take some time before speaking up again “So, do you like the little cutie~?” Okay, back to being sassy it seems.

What else did you expect? Should you thank them? Yeah, you should. “Thank you, Loop.” they look a bit surprised then giggle and say “ ewww~ a genuine thanks!”  Okay. Next time, don’t thank Loop. they’ll always find a way to annoy you more then a bit or get on your nerves.

You try to stand up to leave, but it feels like the Universe won't let you, probably because the Slugcat is on your lap. You stop trying to get up. You feel like you’ll anger the world if you force the slugcat off your lap.

The Slugcat takes notice of this and slowly shimmies its way off your lap and then keeps its grabby hands on the edge of your cloak, allowing you to get up.

“See you around Stardust~!” they wave to you as you walk away, you wave back to Loop as you walk away from the Favor tree. 

Okay, now you wonder. How will Bonnie react? Will they question its edibility, or try to pet it like the dogs and cats they see in the other towns sometimes? Didn’t they always do something when they saw one? You're pretty sure they would ask Mira if they could pet it. Mira would also want to pet it, but would ask the owner first. 

Well, time to give it a shot. You walk over to the east side of town past the blind man to the veggie fields. Bonnie is looking at the veggies, and you walk behind them.

“Hey Bonnie.” They give you a glance.

“... heyfrin. … ...Do you want something? …” you look down at the Slugcat and look back at Bonnie “I wanted you to meet someone” you smile a bit as the slugcat, still holding onto your cloak, wobbles a bit over to bonnie. Not too close though.

“Who?” Bonnie looks down and sees the creature, their eyes light up and they try to pet it. But stop and look at you “umm.. … Can I pet it?” you look at the Slugcat and say, “Only if it lets you.” they took that as a yes and reach down to it. The slugcat freezes but tries to toughen up as it lets Bonnie pet them, once. Then hides under your cloak.

“Aww…” Bonnie looks at the Slugcat as it hides under your cloak. They stand up. “Hm. ...See you at the clocktower.” and they walk away to the clocktower. 

That went better than expected! And the Slugcat let Bonnie pet them! Well, it’s almost time to head over to the clocktower yourself. But now you have another question… will the Drawing kid draw them? So, you walk over to the young artist, the slugcat dragging behind.

You walk next to the amazing artist, and they show you all their wonderful drawings again, and they see the Slugcat and point to it, wondering if they can draw them too. You see their curious face and let them see the slugcat. After a while, they draw a picture of the creature. 

They smile at their own drawing as they show it to you. The little slugcat likes it too, their eyes seem to shine a bit more. 

After saying the usual stuff, they draw a picture of you and your family! You smile and say “Thank you, talented one!” you look over it once more they seem to have drawn the Slugcat on your hat. You show the creature. The Slugcat lights up again. Then you carefully fold the drawing and put it in your pocket. 

Time to head to the clocktower. You head over to the broken bridge and you jump over. The Slugcat is still on the other side.

It looks like it’s about to- you get tackled by the Slugcat as it leaps over the gap, and you fall on your butt. Ow! That hurt! But you quickly recover as the Slugcat gets off you, only to latch onto your cloak again as you stand up.

You walk over to the clocktower. Mirabelle sees you “Siffrin! You're here!” she sees the Slugcat again “It’s still following you?” Odile gives it a look too, Isabeau tries to pet it again. But alas, it goes under your cloak not allowing him to pet them. He sheds another tear as he looks a bit hurt. He looks more hurt as the Slugcat allows Bonnie to pet it once. You could've sworn that the five stages of grief went through his expression at once.

Bonnie smiles; “ I brought back a bunch of food! Let's go, let's go!!!” you all enter the clocktower and set the table as Bonnie grabs the food. You sit down at your chair and the Slugcat climbs onto your lap. Odile raises an eyebrow at it, but dismisses it. 

“Are animals allowed at the table?” you ask Bonnie, and Bonnie sees the Cat on your lap “I suppose… but what does it even eat?” they reply with. The slugcat is looking at everything, you look at the creature “I’m not too sure?” Bonnie looks at you then the slugcat. Then, Bonnie offers the slugcat some fruit, and the creature takes it happily, holding the food close to its chest as it happily takes small bites out of it.

“Did you figure out what it is Siffrin?” Odile looks at the slugcat munching on the fruit .

“Yeah! I’m wondering too!” Mirabelle looks at the creature “Is it yours? It’s quite attached to you.” 

Isabeau is munching happily on his food. You look back at the creature on your lap. “I don't know why it’s so attached to me, but the animal is called a Slugcat.”

“A Slugcat?” Odile and Mirabelle say, Mirabelle leans over to the slugcat, the slugcat hugs its food, thinking Mirabelle might take it. 

“It’s quite fuzzy! But it has short hair!” Bonnie smiles and gives it some more fruit as it finishes the apple, core and all. The slugcat’s cheeks are puffed up as it stuffs itself with fruit. 

You haven’t felt it yourself yet, well, you always have your gloves on unless you're going to bed and sleeping. … you take off one of your gloves and see if the Slugcat will allow you yourself to pet them. And, it does! In Fact, more than once! But you only pet it twice so bonnie doesn't get jealous. 

Everyone finishes eating. The Slugcat ate quite a bit and more, like you.

“That was DE-LI-CIOUS!” Isabeau exclaims. You’ve heard this before, so you just zone out. The slugcat gives you a look and snaps you out of it by bunting your cheek with its head when Mirabelle’s speech comes to an end.

Everyone gets in for a hug but you and Odile. You look at them. Longingly, but look away before any of them see you. There is something wrong with you, that's why they won't touch you. Do these versions of them even see you as family? You doubt they even see you as a friend. Maybe. But they would show that they cared for you…. Right? 

The Slugcat hugs you, they put their arms around your legs and tightly squeeze. Helps you not tear up, not like you could anyway. They put their hands up to you seemingly asking you to do the same. So, you pick them up and hug them. 

Odile sees this. She is a bit confused at your sadden face and the fact you're hugging something.

“Siffrin, is everything okay?” she comes up to you as you're holding the Slugcat. 

You look up at her and as you force a smile on your face, you say, “Yeah!” The slugcat doesn't like this and hugs you tighter. Odile takes notice of this.

“Siffrin, you and I are very private people. But please do talk to us when you can. Isabeau is better at the feelings thing than I am, but you can talk to me too.” … you hide your face with your hat.

“let's just get ready for bed…” you can't muster out anything more than that.

 You put the slugcat down and head to the bathroom. It stays at the door as you go in. Odile is already suspicious of you, you can’t have them find out about this, but… you’re getting tired. Is it that hard to keep a smile? To not make them worry? An actor needs to be good with their expressions. Or else the play may not be the same.

You look at the mirror and try to smile, It hurts. Oh well, time to get ready for bed. Like always, you can’t find your nightdress, so you go with sweatpants and a t-shirt. Will you ever be able to wear dresses again? You brush your teeth, and something enters through the bottom of the door. The slugcat manages to fit under the very thin and small crack at the bottom of the door somehow. So you quickly finish up and open the door to leave, and the slugcat follows you out, allowing Bonnie to use the bathroom.

You hang your cloak and hat up, then sit down on the bed and the slugcat gets onto your lap and buries itself into your stomach. Isabeau comes out of the bathroom, drying off his hair from a recent shower. He sees you and sits down next to you.

“You doing okay Sif?” 

“Oh- uhh… hi Isa.” you slowly pet the Slugcat as it keeps itself on your lap.”Well, I’m Feline Fine” you say with a smirk, Isabeau laughs at the joke, but not too loudly because we’re getting ready for bed.

“Well, that pun out of the way, seriously are you. .  okay Sif?” 

Why does he keep asking you? You need to make up something good. But the pun didn’t work so what can you do to avoid this conversation..? Well, maybe a half-truth would work: “I’m wondering why this little guy is so attached to me” that should be good enough, but, seriously, please stop prying Isa!!

“Do you know its name?” Isabeau asks. Looks like you're off the hook right now, don’t mess this up Siffrin. 

“No, I do not.”

“Maybe you could name it?”

You look at the Slugcat’s lighter  eye, it’s right eye opposite of your blind left one. Maybe something on the lines of that, maybe there's a good word for it. But you're not too sure. Isabeau sees the eyes of the slugcat, and how one is lighter than the other, his eyes widening for a bit. 

You look at the Slugcat’s eyes for a bit longer, they look like pearls, big, shiny, pearls… 

That seems like a good name, Pearl.

“Pearl.”