Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Callian doesn’t know why he keeps doing this to himself, they know when he needs to wake up for school and yet he always stays up ‘till like 4 AM and gives himself 4 hours of sleep. Well, there’s no changing the past… but they can lay here for a few more-

“Con ơi!”

Guess not.

“Dạ mẹ, I’m awake… I’ll be out in a few minutes…” Guess his mom is pressing him for time…

He looks at himself in the washroom mirror, he’s not the worst looking guy out there, the only thing above average about his looks is his hair, long and tied back, everything else is meh.

They’re in the car twenty minutes later, it’s a cold day today. Honestly he had stopped expecting snow and ice in December for a while now but the north will north and this is a welcome surprise. Climate change is a bitch for these new expectations.

His younger brother is in the front seat, they remain silent but it’s a sleepy morning, none of us are in the mood for a conversation, and it allows him to close his eyes for a bit longer on their way to school… and how nice it feels~

“Mẹ will pick you up back of the school, ok?” His mother says, like she does everyday.

“Dạ mẹ, bye.” Both him and his brother say, before his brother goes into school.

"Con thương mẹ." They follow his brother in after that.

Going in, he sees people are roaming the halls, going to lockers, talking with friends, and waiting for school to start.

Callian does fairly well in school, 80s and 90s, though that’s basically average here, they saw the median grades on the report cards after all.

They arrive in his first class, it’s nice to have a seat next to his friends, he counts himself pretty lucky having a class with at least one friend every class, his afternoon as actually filled with them, perks of a program I guess. Last year had him separated half the day and running across the whole school twice to get to classes.

After his first period ended he went to his second class, then lunch, third class… yeah yeah yeah, it’s school what do you expect? 

After getting his jacket from his locker, they makes his way towards the street behind the school.

“What… aghhh, this path has barely been salted, I did not come here to walk on so much fucking icehh-WOAH-!”

Callian slipped backwards and SLAMS his head and neck on the concrete he just stepped off of. They only got the time to have one thought run through his head that was fading quickly, and that’s… 

‘Ugh… in front of everyone?’

Then it all went dark, his final thought being embarrassment.

Callian wakes up… somewhere. He doesn’t know how much time has passed, has it been ten minutes? 8 hours? Weeks on end? And why is it so dark?! Their eyes have been shut for who knows how long so they should be used to the dark to see what the room looks like… 

Ugh, what even happened? School was done… Then they went to leave and slipped on some ice, it felt pretty bad…so they must be in a hospital bed.

Wait…

He is not laying on anything, not that he could feel.

He… is FLOATING.

They try to look around some more, he’s just…. he’s in a VOID!

Are they dreaming? This could be a dream, this has got to be a dream, a lucid dream! Yes it has to be that because if not he’s…

But the dreaming conclusion came far too quickly though, so this can’t be a dream… but, no they can’t be… they’re not… he’s not…

He’s…

He’s… not right?!

HE’S-!

OH GOD 

THEY’RE DEAD HE’S GONE Ĥ̴͇É̶̫ ̸̯̾D̷̗̓Ị̶͊É̶̻D̷͗͜ ̴̞̉G̴̫̔O̶̧͝D̷̩̕S̸̐͜ ̴̗̄M̷̛̺Y̵͙̅ ̸̱̓F̸̙̃A̵͍͑Ṃ̴͝Ĭ̵̡L̶͉̓Ÿ̶̗́M̷͚͉̣̣͛̈́̐͋̂͊̑̿̚͘͜Ỹ̴̧͙̙̰̣̪͉̊̃̀́̎͂̾͘̕͝ ̷̠̪̱͙́͆͐B̶͇̳̗̼̟͚͑̊̿̃̂͒́͒̽͆͘R̵̡̛͉̼̦̮̹͓̖̩̎́̈́̾̅̀͜O̸̢̤̫̤͑̀T̸̻̻͉̥̙̟̺̤̔͋̕͝H̵̗̦͑̌͗̇̈́̓̓̄̏͋̕͝Ę̵̧̮̼̤̏̒͂̈́́̐̽͂̽͐͐̓Ŗ̸͇̯̦̻͈̔̂͊͐͝ ̶͉̼͈͖͙̲̪̏̀̽̑̏̐͛̚ͅͅM̵̨̨̝̘̳̒̉̔̉̇͗̅̏̐͋͠Ỹ̵̟̭̜̻̖̗̩̾͐̐̈́̂͐̚̕ ̵̩͕̠̹̥͊͆̏̍̾̈́͝ͅM̵̢̛͎̬̟̾̈́͆̆̀̄͑͌̚͜͝O̸̭̞̲̤͔̞͆͋͆Ţ̶̡̥̙͔̠̙̠͉̫̩͌̏ͅḨ̸̛͔̠̝̀͌͠É̴̯̳̻̝̗͈͉̥͉̅͆̀́͝R̸̗̤̝̲͔̲̜͛̀̈́ ̷̛̫̔͆̋̉́̍͋́͝M̵̨͖̳̜̙̜̟̮̥̬͈̽̄̔̌́̄͆̊̎̕͜͝Y̸̩̩̳̩̬̖͙͈̰̤̗̦̐͆̎̑̊̃̿-̴̝̂̅͑̄̀͊͝͝ 

They can’t handle this, he wasn’t ṙ̴͉e̶̺͆ḁ̷͂d̸͔̐y̶̤̽, he’s stuck in an ENDLESS VOID AS AN AFTERLIFE! 

NO!

…

Gods their face feels so gross right now…oh… he can actually see himself… huh… that makes them feel a bit better… he exists, his body is here. 

This isn’t nonexistence, he’s here, somewhere.

Yeah… he’s… he’s not gone, not yet…

“I’m… not gone… I’m not…”

…

Oh this will get dull…

…wait, isn’t this space like-

“Helloooo my dear new sponsee!”

“GAH?!”

He quickly turned frantically for where the voice came from, finding the direction it came from fast.

The being that spoke sounded… oddly enough, they sounded Acadian. That is not an accent they expected. He couldn’t really see anything about what they (it?) looked like. There was a circle that warped to imitate mouth movements but he’s fairly sure that’s just to give him something to look like. There is something else out there but he doesn’t know what it could be.

Also they were just called a sponsee, so the being talking is my sponsor to… HOLY FUCK MAN!!!

“Ah, I should probably tell you what you may call me since, well, my name would break you. Heh, you may call me the Spinner of Fate!”

“...Do you have any idea as to how overwhelmed I am right now?” He looked like he just had a massive cry not that long ago… which did just happen. And they were also dealing with the fact he is getting ISEKAID!!! It’s too much to deal with!

“Oh, yes, it’s incredibly clear… Did I pick a bad time? Should I leave you be a little longer?” {Spinner of Fate} looked hesitant… somehow, like they didn’t know what to do with me.

NO! They didn’t want to be alone in here, who knows how long they could leave for, no no no, not risking that ever! Gods!... Callian doesn’t want to think about that.

“Oh no no no no no… it’s… it’s fine Spinner of Fate… may I call you Spinner?”

“Yes, you may! Whatever makes you feel better. I will try to make your future comfortable for you. However my partner in this may want somethings to happen to make your new life a bit more interesting. The title she picked for this is the Allotter of Events. Shall I begin explaining what will happen now?”

Callian’s eyes widened when he heard what the Allotter wanted.

‘I’M SORRY THE ALLOTTER WILL WANT WHAT?!?! OH NO!’ 

“No no! I’ve read ICPA and many other fics like it… wha- do you know about what kind of events she wants? Uh, nothing that would put me in the same situations as… Ollie?”

“Oh, [REDACTED]’s sponsee? Oh I assure you, the events won’t be like that in the slightest, neither of us would do that to you. I’m glad you made my job easier too, explaining would take a while.”

“Oh! Oh dear, they’re real? Bless their soul, good grief.” Callian is surprised and now more worried due to that fact.

“Yeah, we don’t understand how they could do that to their sponsee." {Spinner of Fate} frowns at the thought.

"Now, as you likely know, you’re getting sent to the Phighting world, the version of the Inphenity you’re getting sent to is modified however so you'll have hair and a tail.”

“Ah, like the world Anne is in?” They always found giving the inphernals those kinds of features interesting and really charming, and think of the body mods! Gods… I was going to get my ears pierced soon… hm…

 “Yes, actually. I know you like your hair and you wouldn’t mind another limb. Pretty great eh?”

{Spinner of Fate} looks amused, even if there’s just a circle to look at, it has since closed into a line that could look like a smirk.

“Yeah… I almost… no, I can’t believe this is even happening to me… it’s almost a dream come true but… m-my family is the price…”

‘I’d never accept this if I could go back…’ He doesn’t say that.

“I… assume I’ll get some sort of boon going there?”

“Your boon! Yes, make any wish you please, I will provide.” {Spinner of Fate} has now revealed hands, they look fairly soft but there is no mistaking that they could kill him easily since he could tell they’re a distance away and the hands still look big. That makes him scared to ask for what he wants. 

“Um… this may be a bit boring, but could I get my laptop with access to my home internet? M-maybe with the ability to talk with my home? Ah- home universe?” Gods, I hope this isn’t too much for them to give me, this is a classic boon after all! Please be kind to him, don’t kill me! He wants them to know he’s alive… Yes, he is alive…

“Hm… that is a rather big ask, at least from what I know of what has been given to others like you.”

“O-only for an hour a-a month! I only get one hour a month to talk! Please? Please!” They need this, needs this chance to see them, tell them!

{Spinner of Fate}’s hands have disappeared, fuck where are they going?! Is something going to happen to him, crap, fuck, I messed up!

Gods, he’s shaking, get it together! It will be a better impression to not show his fear… 

“Is this what you want?” {Spinner of Fate} says while his massive hands him a… his laptop. What?

“I… you’re giving it to me now? Uh… this… this is perfect.”

He opens his laptop and enters his password. Everything is there, his games, his files, his way to his friends and family…

“Thank you… Spinner of Fate, THANK YOU! Gods… GODS… hahahaHAHA!!” Callian’s crying now, tears of joy instead of the sorrow from before… gods, oh they’ll know he’s ok…

“It’s indestructible, infinite storage, infinite battery, no one will be able to see the human internet, and you get one hour a fortnight to talk with your loved ones on Earth. This is the most I can give you while allowing a second boon, albeit a smaller one.” {Spinner of Fate} is smiling.

After wiping the tears from his eyes, Callian finally replies after a few moments to calm down.

“Wha… oh… wow… I am so lucky that you’re my sponsor, I can’t think of anyone better.” He doesn’t know what to do with this, they did the basic device boon, but what else does he want… or need?

He knows what he wants.

“Will I be getting a normal gear with my laptop?” He doesn’t want to be put in the same situation as Ollie was with the frying pan. 

“Of course Callian, are you wishing for a powerful gear? Didn’t think you were the person to want that.” {Spinner of Fate} managed to look confused, it surprised him how a circle can be so effective at showing emotion. 

“No, I want the Dueling Piano, nothing too powerful, I just wish for the innate knowledge to both yield and play it. It would be nice to be able to play piano, my mom would appreciate that. And I recall some sponsees being unable to even fight.” 

Callian took lessons on how to play the piano for years before stopping when the pandemic began. It would be nice to have the ability after years of effort.

“Ah, that makes sense, quite the mother’s boy aren’t you?” {Spinner of Fate} looks amused again, Callian can’t help himself from feeling slightly embarrassed from their reaction.

“It’s rather obvious isn’t it… hehe.” Are they blushing? Callian might be blushing.

“Are you ready to head to the Inpherno, Callian? We’ll give you everything to live in the Inpherno.”

He thinks he’s ok now, he’s got everything they can think of ready to go…

“Yes, why delay the inevitable any farther. Take me.”

He’s ready.

“Alright, you’ll feel a bit odd while this change occurs, but when you wake, you’ll feel as if you took a long, long sleep. We’ll check on you later, goodbye Callian, or maybe you’ll prefer Dueling Piano soon. Hope you like the home.” As soon as {Spinner of Fate} finishes their sentence, Callian’s vision goes dark.

It’s like they died again, it scares him for a moment, but he’s asleep in the very next.

Callian wakes up to see… his bed, but not his room, and from his best guess, it was dawn.

The nest that was his bed was identical to the one he would wake up in back on earth. Seeing it made him think he had dreamed the whole interaction with the {Spinner of Fate}. Then he saw that his desk had moved… walls a different color…

There was something else he noticed, and it was the brand new tail. It was that of a shark, what kind he did not know, it was grey and it felt like a shark's tail too… oh his arm is also grey.

…Well the grey is an off grey actually but definitely not any human skin tone he’s aware of!

Looking at just his arm alone, it was clawed, off grey toward yellow, and the flaws of his skin were with vibrant yellow, almost golden freckle like dots. He felt the sides of his head for the weight he felt there, where two massive horns meet him instead of ears.

“Oh good lord, these are like a meter across!” They truly were massive, they had slotted themselves in two gaps in his pillow walls to span more than half the mattress. He quickly felt farther up and felt two smaller horns. 

‘I have four horns… cool.’ He thought to himself, he sat there contemplating that yes, what happened really did happen.

“I truly am an Inphernal now…” They got out of bed with a wired mixture of excitement and disbelief. He then finally took a good proper look at the room.

It looked around 50% larger than his last bedroom had been, and had no sign of it being used by anyone else but him, which was an improvement since his old one was used by like three other people in his family, he’d get to use the closet! There's also a full body mirror in here now, and there they see his whole body.

His overall facial structure was the same, but the differences will take some getting used to, eyes are yellow, the freckles are on his face as well it seems, his hair was a darker grey then his skin but had streaks of yellow too, they have a lot of yellow actually. 

Hm, asian and yellow… never mind that, the piano has yellow accents, what did he expect?

“Pretty cool- how did I not notice the shark teeth!? Wow.” Gods is all so cool, all he needs is a good outfit to wear, he’s just in pajamas right now! But later, there is something he needs to prepare for.

However, there was a jarring gap in the room between the furniture that looked like it was… meant for something.

“Why is there a gap…” Then it dawned on him like a certain truck that never hit him. 

“My gear!” He exclaimed aloud. A piano would fit perfectly there, they just need to summon it… which they can do.

He focused on bringing his gear out and it felt like he had already done it for his whole life, it is then they are startled by the sound of a piano falling to the ground with its loud impact.

“Gah! Jeez… ah fuck it’s too far forward.” Guess it only felt like he’s done it for his whole life, he doesn’t have the practice with this. They go to push it when they just move it effortlessly… like if it weighed a kilogram of two.

“What?” He… wasn’t expecting to be able to hold his gear since it was an entire upright piano. The fucking thing is nearly his height man! This should be over 500 lbs, possibly 1,000 lbs! Does this… strength apply to anything?

He goes to lift his bed and-

“Heeu- GOAAH FUCK!!!” Seems it does not.

After being a tad bit sore, Callian leaves his room to wash up (thank you Spinner for making my place have the proper horn space.) He heads farther into his new home, it appears to be like a big loft apartment, which is so cool. He takes the time to actually have a nice morning and make himself feel as great as possible for what he needs to do.

“Ok… need something better to wear for this… what has Spinner put in my closet… let’s take a looksee.” He says as he looks in his new closet, and there's one thing that really grabs his attention. 

“Oh this will make me look like a professional pianist! Love suits!”

He dawns the outfit with all the accessories and ties his hair back, he is finally ready.

Callian walks to his laptop and goes to Discord. He sees the date though… a few days have passed… it’s the 14th… it’s been two days.

“I may not have my mom’s number on my laptop, but I can talk to my brother.” He says, before beginning to type.

Plus 

I’m not hacked, can we please have a video call after I explain.

!

Voice call right now

Plus

Oh, yes, okay.

Guess he's going straight to a call... okay, you can still do this...

Oh fuck his brother started the call. Gods this is going to be so hard… alright!

They join.

“I’m here, Casey, I’m here!” They say to reassure him as fast as possible. He hears their brother inhale sharply.

“Call… what is happening, how are you even… I saw you die right there!”  Casey says, they can hear the emotion already welling up in him.

“I did die there… but this is honestly ridiculous but… I got isekaid?”

“...I… how… what… what world are you in?!” It sounds like he caught him off guard there… and he believes me already?

“You… believe me?”

“Yes, Call, now tell me where are you?!”

“Uh… can I just show you? You know the world.”

“Please, yes, show me!” Gods they don't like hearing him like this… They turn their camera on.

“Surprise?”

“What in the… ARE YOU IN FUCKING PHIGHTING!?!?!?” Oh good lord.

“...Yes?”

…

All I get is silence for a few moments… then they hear a chuckle… then tears combined with it.

“Casey, oh jeez, are you okay?! Casey!”

“You’re still alive… oh thank god… hahaha…” Casey then turns his camera on… he’s smiling, tears rolling down his face but… glad to see me.

“Yes, YES I’M ALIVE CASEY! I can talk to you! Haha! I’m here!”

We both laugh there for a few moments, emotions whelming up in Callian, they are barely able to keep their tears in.

“I’m here…”

That’s when our mother comes in, probably due to how loud Casey got.

"Oh god..." They say softly.

“Con ơi, please be more quiet.” She… doesn’t look that well.

“Mẹ!? I’m here! I’m alive! Casey, tell Mẹ it’s me!” Callian says before they can stop to think, and I see that my voice pierces her like a bullet.

“Was doctor wrong?! Khuong, are you feel okay?!” She’s in tears now… gods this is so hard to keep my composure…

“Dạ mẹ, con ổn. But… uh I look different now. Crap, how do I explain an isekai right now…” They can do this… she will still have me in her life.

“I did die… I’m in another life now, but I can talk to you still… for an hour every two weeks…”

“WHAT?!” Casey yells out, his mother still trying to understand what he had said.

“It’s only been like 10 minutes, I have a timer telling me how much I have left… It’s better than nothing. You get an hour of time for new memories with me every two weeks.” They think they’re doing a good job here.

“Can mẹ visit you?” His mom asks.

“Um… not unless you get really lucky if you die soon I guess… so no. This is the only way. It’s 7 AM there right?” They ask.

“Yeah” They both say.

“Call me on the way to school then like you do with ngoại, I’ll make time.” They sees Casey’s eyes widen at the recommendation.

“Yeah! We’ll call!” He says.

“I’ll cut this call short, you wanna save our limited time for the next 14 days afterall. I trust you’ll properly convey all of this to mẹ.” 

“I will, Call, I’ll see later.” He’s saddened, but he understands.

“Guess I’ll end like we do with ngoại, ahem… ’Bye Cadeo! Bye mẹ!”

Casey laughs at this. “Bye Khuong.”

His mom is caught by surprise by this but quickly follows along. “Bye con.”

I leave the call. Oh damn that was hard… but he managed to talk to his family, they’ll tell his dad in a bit probably.

They turned off his computer, it had around 40 minutes left to talk to his loved ones on earth. 

He heads back down to sit in his seating area…

“Ok. Cal- Piano! Can’t use any old names now… crud…” That will take some getting used to… hope he does it fast.

“You got a whole day ahead of you Piano, why not start this new life strong?” Callian Piano says to himself, They’ll do great!

Chapter Text

How does one actually get a good start in a reincarnation? Callian Piano does not know.

He wants a bit of a buffer before having that same talk he just had but with his friends… maybe he could go out to buy something to show them some stuff from this world. That would get him out the house.

Oh, but with what money? It’s not like they could just put a hand in their pocket and pull out a 20.

“You can actually, any denomination from your pocket or wallet.” {Spinner of Fate} says as their circle mouth appears on the wall in front of him.

“GOOD F-! Well hi, uh, can you please, make your presence known before speaking, Spinner?!” Second time too…

“Sorry, sorry” At least they are apologetic. 

“Yeah alright… wait can I really just…”

"Yes."

They pull a $20 out of their pants pocket, then another, and another…

“Huh…” He is still going...

“This is some clown bullshit here.” They sound amused at this, they will definitely be laughing at this later~

“Here’s something else you need to live here.” A smaller version of {Spinner of Fate}’s hand appears to give me my phone.

“OH I NEARLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS!” He yells out, eyes wide.

“Heh, I saw that giving you your old phone with the same boon didn’t make much of a difference. This doesn’t double your time though.”

“Yeah, okay, that works out fine. This just gives me my contacts back. Thank you!” “They smile at their sponsor.

“You are welcome, goodbye Piano. I’ll return when you need something else.” And with that, the circle is gone.

Oh that name will take a while to get used to… Wonder what that meant though…

He looks at his phone and unlocks it. It’s exactly it.

“I’ll… put my new address in here for when I leave.” Don’t want to get lost after all.

They slide their phone into their pocket and go to leave, grabbing the keys, putting on their shoes and walking out the door. 

He passed the front desk, giving them a brief wave.

They hope that they won’t mind them much thought.

Outside his building he’s met with a chill breeze fit for September.

But what if it was September?

Well how they knew they weren’t dealing with misaligned timelines and that maybe they were actually in September or anything was the Christmas- er, Phightmas decor literally everywhere.

“Ah, right… holiday season.”

…

You know he could do something really funny that has been done before…

No, they’ll spare this world of Mariah Carey.

He looks around the area and decides to walk toward the Crossroads Tower to explore.

As they got farther and farther from their new home the more stressed they got. They’ve never been too far from his friends or family outside, so their first real walk alone in a different universe is really just throwing him to the wolves.

‘Ugh, focus on other stuff C-Piano! Piano! You can’t mess up!’ He thought, chastising himself.

They sighed and looked at where they were even going.

He was on the side of a semi major road… at least for Crossroads he thinks since there were a few cars.

They saw a convenience store called… Square O. Useful to know living here, they could get something from there, there’s probably some unique stuff there. 

But is that really where they want to go to show his friends what this world has to offer?! A convenience store? No, they need better, moving on.

There was a hair and horn supplies store called the Pointed Tip… maybe that could work… eh, probably not, no.

Oh there’s… no.

That could… nah.

Argh! What in the world will work!?

He made it to an intersection, guess he could see down this other road for something…

Nothing, no, no…

Noth- wait… That’s Slingshot’s… PERFECT!

Oh they would definitely wanna see something made by him! Or Vine Staff and Shuriken!

Is it open… Yes! Oh it’s called Thieves Rest… wasn’t that… huh. Continuity across the multiverse.

He walks in to see it moderately calm, it wasn’t nearly as monochrome as the one from the game, still blue but it was an actual cafe with a more reasonable design. There were also a few cats there.

So cute~ 

The one manning the front was Slingshot himself. 

“Welcome to Thieves Rest! What would you like?” Slingshot says.

Perfect… What does he get?

They want… want… fuck…

“I’ll… will tell you in a minute.”

“Ok!”

What does he want?

…

Oh they have a brilliant idea to get two birds with one stone.

Plus 

Yo, I’m at Slingshot’s cafe, what should I get?

Christmas Pineapple

YOU DIED! I SAW THE BODY WTF!?!?

Plus

Isekaid, managed to get an hour a fortnight to talk with you guys. I just got here and wanted to get something to show you something from here.

Christmas Pineapple

i

i have no reason not to believe you.

Plus

You can ask my brother tomorrow if you want to confirm with him.

Christmas Pineapple

i might

Plus

Thank you Nikola.

Monkkkkei

YOU’RE ALIVE AND IN PHIGHTING!??!!

Plus

Alborz, tell me what to get from Slingshot.

Monkkkkei

Wtf man, you reveal you’re alive and you immediately make me, an indecisive person, choose a cafe item?

Christmas Pineapple

we are of no help here dude

Plus

Ok, yeah I knew that, the reason I chose you is because you would most understand what’s going on from what we talk about. Not your decision making skills.

Monkkkkei

Ah

Plus

Do you two want to forfeit this choice and leave this just on me?

Christmas Pineapple

yeah 

Monkkkkei

Sure

Plus

Thanks, your two were so helpful.

I’m glad you took this well, tell our other friends.

Christmas Pineapple

i’m going to be thinking about this for days but ok, yeah

Plus

Oh

Monkkkkei

Yup

Plus

Uh, bye for now.

So that was one bird, but at least they’ll tell everyone else about him… his brother will probably do the same.

But the problem they still have right now is still unsolved… what to get… they do want something from here…

He goes to get up from where he sat when another customer comes in… Holy shit it’s Coil.

You know what, they can sit and wait a little longer, they wanna see what happens between the two.

“Hello, dear cafe owner!~” Coil says with a shit eating grin.

“...What do you want, Coil?” Slingshot immediately looks done with him. Oh this will be fun to watch.

“So rude! You would wound me with your words, kitty?”

“Don’t call me- oh SFOTH give my patience, just order.”

“Oh fine fine… I would like a… oh what did I want? I could have sworn I had an idea coming in! What was it… hmmmmmm…”

“...If you’re not gonna order you can sit like that person did until you can!” Pointing at me… okay.

“No no… it's just on the tip of my… oh what was that blasted order! What was it?”

“JUST SIT DOW-”

“I GOT IT! I would like a medium mocha without the chocolate with an apple tart, please!”

“Wha- a mocha without chocolate is just a latte!”

“Must I repeat it kitty? I WANT A MEDIUM MOCHA WITHOUT CHOCOLATE WITH AN APPLE TART!”

“SHUT YO- ugh… forget it, sure sir! I will gladly make that for you! That will be ten bucks!” Gods, he looks pissed at him.

Coil pays.

Jolly good show right here, hehe.

He waits around until he’s handed his order back to him.

He takes a sip and spits it out, “This is a latte! I wanted a mocha without chocolate! And I think I want a strawberry tart instead.”

“I told you!- You know what.” Slingshot takes the cup, puts one drop of chocolate and his strawberry tart and hands him that. Taking back the apple tart.

“This work?” Pissed…

Coil takes a sip, “Aw yes, perfecto cat man”

“Wonderful, have a nice day!”

“Bye!~ Gotta get to my match!”

Coil leaves the cafe smiling.

“Ugh…” Slingshot rests on the counter, hands on his face.

Piano finally gets up from his seat at a booth and approaches the counter.

“I’m- uh, ready now.”

“Yes, what do you want?” Slingshot composes himself with a breath. 

“I’ll take that apple tart from Coil and a vanilla coffee.”

“Yeah sure, that will be-” Piano just gives him 100 bucks.

“I- it’s just ten bucks, you don’t need to pay this much!”

“Take it.”

They grab the already bagged tart and returns to the booth.

“I- uh, alright then?!” Slingshot is flabbergasted but goes to make the coffee.

A few minutes later, the coffee is ready.

“Vanilla coffee for... uh” Slingshot yells out.

“Yes, thanks!” Piano immediately leaves after taking it.

“Wai… okay”

Ca- Piano got through buying something! That was stressful and exciting since that was Slingshot! And judging from what Coil said, they’re professional Phighters! The Phights are real! HaHA!

‘Calm yourself, it wasn’t even that much of a big thing… and you’re in public.’

Hehe… okay, he’ll send a photo of this stuff to his friends now… and there we go!

So now they guess they can go home now since they're done.

He turns to start heading back but it’s then he sees a Biograft in the alley right next to the cafe. A Zeta one too… 

They look around to see if they have the space for what just popped into their mind, They do.

Hm… he thinks he’s going to do Coil a favor here.

Let’s see if they can do this…

Piano goes to summon his gear again, but this time in his hands. 

They take hold of the piano by its legs, approaches the robot, and just as the Biograft took notice of them, it was already too late for the bot.

“THREAT DE-”

With a loud smash he hits the robot with the heavy weapon and it’s destroyed by the force, small bits of metal and screws scatter across the alley from the body. 

The strings of the instrument ring out from the impact, playing a horrid chord, but the piano is left unharmed.

The Biograft is now laying on the ground, nonfunctional. 

“Holy shit! That felt great!” They felt really powerful there, one hit! 

He placed the piano next to where his food was to take a closer look at the mess in front of him. 

The power was dead (like the rest of the robot), so they could touch it without concern.

He pries open the chest, the impact already made it ajar, inside he sees the crystal powering the whole thing, somehow undamaged. 

“Shiny… woah…” They snatch the crystal and place it in their pocket.

“Alright, now to actually head-”

The door to the alley from the cafe opens, and Shuriken walks out.

“What in the world- gahuh?” 

He sees the scrapped Biograft and Piano just standing there, they stare at each other for a moment.

“...So I can explain.”

Looking at Shuriken, he definitely does not trust them, which is understandable. They are next to a dead robot. Sure it’s none sapient… but still, it's odd.

“Look… I may not know much, but I’m fairly certain Biografts want to kill some people you know and that I’m aware of. And I just don’t like Blackrock, so this right here.” He gestures at the metal scrap, “Is pretty alright.” 

‘Oh gods, I hope that works!’

Shuriken just looks at them.

Piano stares back.

“Sure…” Shuriken says.

Gods, this is awkward… and he… woah… oh… summoning a 500 lbs gear twice in just a few hours… fuck-!

They stumble a bit towards the wall of the cafe.

“Woah hey! Jeez dude, what’d you do?” His mistrust outweighed by concern for a moment.

“N-no worries! Just kinda drained from summoning my gear, I-I already did it not that long ago… It’s big and heavy, ok? It’s the piano.” He points at it.

“...How did you even lift to hit the Biograft? That does not make sense.” And it’s back to mistrust.

“It’s the truth! I can use the thing, I’m Dueling Piano.”

“Sure… you better?”

“I just need another moment…”

“Eat your food man, that’s gonna help.”

“A- oh, right, yeah.” They go grab it from next to his gear.

Shuriken just has a weird look on his face.

“Mmm, isf really good.” He says as he eats. “I’ll need to come back here.”

“...Yeah… do that.”

They both just sit there awkwardly.

“I think I’m good now.”

“Great, ‘cause I need to head back in or else I’m gonna get yelled at.”

“Bye then.”

“You too.”He closes the door, leaving him alone again. 

It’s about time to get going again, they have had enough of this little side quest with the bot.

He has finished his food, so he’s going to bring his gear home with him. It’s not like he’s going to just leave his gear in this alley!

They pick up their piano and go back home, getting an odd look from carrying their massive gear the way back.

Back home! Ugh… What time is it now… Only 11:00? 

Lunch is soon… Guess he could try to cook a meal, he was taught. It should probably be more than just some eggs though. 

Hmm… a pasta dish could be nice to try, it’s been like… 6 years since they’ve done one, and that was their first.

“Okay… let’s find a recipe to get started…” He pulls out his phone and gets started… 

…

Oh…

So uh…

They may have gotten carried away.

Piano is staring at… many containers of leftover food he made.

“So this is how she feels…” They recall another friend’s urge to bake a BUNCH… They're more alike than they had thought.

This whole thing took him all the way to dinner… and there is no way they’re eating all this with it still tasting good.

What to do with it… he’ll keep some but… hm.

“I think I’ll be making a delivery.” They should be closing in only 20 minutes if they remember correctly.

Chapter Text

[Slingshot]

It was nearly time to close the cafe, the machines were cleaned up, floors getting mopped, and surfaces wiped down.

It was an average day, Coil had come in to annoy him but he’s a regular so the average is lowered, but there was that demon that gave him a 90 buck tip… so that was nice. 

They were in such a rush to leave, couldn’t even get their name… so odd.

He looks at the clock, five minutes left. Now he must stay focused or else… no don’t even think that. That will-

Someone walks in… great… wait a minute. It’s the person who overpaid. Hm… here’s hoping what they want is easy.

“Welcome to Thieves Rest! What would you like?” He says like he has all day.

“I’m not here to order, don’t worry!” The demon says. 

Oh, well thank the SFOTH then…

“Oh? Then why are you here so close to closing time?” He tilts his head a tad bit.

“Well after I got home I got a bit carried away making food at home… and maybe made too much for me to really eat in a reasonable amount of time. Then I remembered when you close and it is around dinner so I thought I could just give you three some of the excess." They said with seemingly full honesty from what he could tell. Then they placed a plastic bag on the counter.

How oddly kind of them.

“Oh, uh, why thank you then, what did you make?” He took a peak into the bag, seeing the containers of food when the demon began answering. Pretty sizable there… 

“Some various pasta dishes. I was getting really carried away…” Guess he didn't need to make dinner for Vine and Shuriken today.

“May I take a look at them?”

“Sure!” 

He takes the containers from the plastic bag and opens them to take a look. They weren’t the best but did look good enough, they could eat these dishes just fine he thinks. Guess he should call them in.  

“Vine! Shuriken! Could you get out here?” He calls out for them.

“Yes, Slingshot?” Vine says as she comes out, spotting the demon but saying nothing about them for now.

“What is it- IT’S YOU! I KNEW YOU WERE SUS, COMING HERE RIGHT AT CLOSING!” Shuriken yells as he comes out the back.

Vine smacks Shuriken on the back of the head from this while he’s intrigued by his words.

“You know them?” Looking at Suriken as he recovered from the hit.

“Yeah, they absolutely destroyed a Biograft in the alley next to the cafe with his gear!” Huh, interesting.

“Did you now? What’s your name?” He asks the demon.

“I never gave that to you, did I? Hehe, it's Dueling Piano, but call me Piano.” The now named demon says. “And is destroying a Biograft really that bad?” They continue.

“Yeah, I won’t judge you for that. And by the way, Shuriken, Vine, Piano here has brought us dinner for today.” 

“Did they?” The siblings said together, Vinestaff in pleasant surprise, Shuriken with suspicion.

“I made way too much for me to eat, hehe. Got carried away.” Piano says again.

“Hm, now where does that behavior sound familiar?” Vinestaff says teasingly at him. 

“Quiet you!~” He shoots back, ”Not the time, hehe.”

“There’s still more than this, not sure if I can even handle that but I’ll manage. I’ll be going now, I’ll see you tomorrow alright?” Piano says, an uncertain smile on his face.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye!” He said.

“Bye!” Vinestaff says happily, Shuriken just waves.

The demon leaves the cafe into the dim evening street.

“What a strange demon they are.” They just come in,  give them free food and leaves.

“It was nice of them though, it looks pretty good too.” Vine comments, “Do you two just want to eat in the back so we don’t need to carry these home?”

“Sure, why not.” He agrees.

“Fine.” Shuriken also agrees with no real emotion to it.

They all went into the back of the cafe to eat.

[Shuriken]

It’s his turn to take the morning at the front and oh may Ghostwalker take him away, he is so tired. 

He may have pushed himself a bit last night when on patrol, but nothing that bad, he has pushed through worse and hidden it just as well. Not like that really affects how much sleep he gets.   

Though if you look back, does he really… forget about that! Doesn’t matter, it’s just not suspicious, alright? It’s normal!

Ah, and here comes another customer… oh it’s the Piano guy, and he’s got a bag with him today.

Shuriken likes to think of himself as a pretty good judge of character, sure, when he’s wrong he might end up hitting the wrong demon every once in a while but with this guy… he is confident there’s something up with this guy.

But that’s something to look into later, he needs to serve the guy…

“Hello there! What would you like?”

“Yes, hi, good morning… you look tired.” The demon says.

Looks like he’s worse at hiding his exhaustion than he thought, people don’t usually ask. Fuck.

“Sorry! That was rude to say, it’s just… Can you have free drinks or do you also need to pay?”

Eh? What is he… is he trying to get a free drink? He already gave us 90 bucks and a dinner so it’s not like he wouldn’t not deserve it…

“We have an employee discount, we all need to pay for anything we eat.” He explains.

“Here’s 150 bucks, I want a vanilla coffee, a brigiderro, and charge me whatever coffee you want right now. I’ll take the brigiderro now.” He says as he casually pulls the bills from his pocket.

What the fu- why the hell are they so generous??? They just met yesterday, what are they trying here?

He won’t say no to free coffee though…

“Uh, thanks, Piano, here's the brigiderro, I’ll call you up when your coffee is ready.” He hands over the chocolate ball.

“No problemo! And get more sleep dude!”

“I’m not your brother man. Don’t nag me” He is so weird. And it’s not like he could when he could be out there saving people.

“Heh, yeah, you’re not my brother.” That was an odd reaction from them, it was subdued though.

I’ll need to keep an eye on him. This is all weird.

[C-Piano]

He sits at a booth thinking about those few words… he was still trying to figure out his feelings on his situation here in the Inpherno.

Sure, they could talk with their friends and family, they had just shared some moments on Facetime before leaving for the cafe. 

It’s all so strange, so...

But now is not the time for this Piano! Leave those feelings behind closed walls for now. There’s some things he wants to do here, and things he needs to ask people.

“Vanilla coffee for Piano!” Shuriken yells, and he walks up to get it.

“Thanks, and uh, by the way, can I talk to Vinestaff about something?” 

“Why do you… need her right now?” Shuriken asks skeptically. 

“There’s some spaces in my new apartment that I want to put some house plants in and she seems like a good person to ask about that.” 

They have some gardening experience, enough that they actually tried out the gardening club at their high school, but they never really had specific advice as to what they should do. 

Vinestaff seems like the best person to get just that.

“Hm, right now she’s currently busy with Slingshot in the back, it will be a while before you can speak to her.” He relaxes a bit.

“Oh… you wouldn’t happen to know anything would you?”

“None in the slightest, I can barely be trusted with watering them. Barely.” Shuriken deadpans.

“Ah, well then, thank you for telling me who not to ask if I needed someone to housesit. When I get those I will not trust you!”

“Yeah.” Shuriken stares at him awkwardly. 

“I have nothing to really do today though, so I’ll wait until I can talk with her.” He says with a small smile.

“Alright then…” Shuriken gives a slight look.

They return to where they were sitting before and they take out their laptop from their bag.

Infinite battery and durability so, why not? It was kinda heavy though…

He’s just scrolling through the Inphernal internet for plants to get… while also having a human window to search for sheet music.   

They weren’t sure if they wanted to post piano covers on… what was called here? ScreenU? Yeah, bit on the nose there. 

He loves covers, being able to add a piano to back him would be wonderful, but he wouldn’t be able to share any earth song covers anywhere! He can’t put it on Youtube, that takes from his hour, and not ScreenU either because inphernals would only have the cover!

They guess they could still do covers of songs from the Inphinity… yeah, wait ok…

He can, no- he will make both but only the Inphinity ones are public… yeah.

But all that stuff is for later, they have other stuff to do, like searching for good house plants.

“Oh that one looks nice.” He says to himself.

…

A while passes, and finally Vinestaff is available! Piano walks up to her to finally ask her what he needs to know.

“Hey, Vinestaff?”

“Yes? Oh, Piano! I wanted to tell you thanks for the food yesterday!” Vinestaff tells them with a smile.

Oh, well thank you! I appreciate that.” They liked their cooking it seemed, nice!

“Anyways, what did you want?” She asks him.

“I wanted to ask if you have any advice on house plants, I’m looking to put some in my apartment. I’ll get a notebook to write it all down if needed.” She has plants at her place too if they remember the Crossroad sneak peaks correctly.

Her eyes widen a bit, then she smiles.

“Oh you have no idea the can of worms you just opened.” She says, laughing softly.

“What?”

[Vinestaff]

This has been the most they have been able to talk about gardening to someone in a long, long while. Piano paid attention and gave her some very useful details on what they were working with and what they wanted, how much light there was in his home, where the sun rose and its angle in the house, and a bunch of other stuff on top of that.

They made pretty good conversation all things considered. It was nice to be able to have another person in her life listen to her about her interest and actually understand what she’s talking about!

“-and so that should be all, is there anything else you need?” This has been pretty great! Pretty fun, so she would not mind more.

“I think that is about everything… yeah, it’s everything now.” They confirm. Aw, but alright, they  do have enough for their house anyways. 

“Then everything that you should need is in this notebook now.”

“I’ll keep that next to all the supplies I’ll need. Thank you so much, Vinestaff! You have been such a great help!" They said gratefully with a smile.

“It’s no problem at all really, it’s nice to talk about this with someone for once!”  

“We all have our interests. I could talk for an hour about mine too and more; I’ll give you updates on the plants every once in a while, okay?”

“Perfect!” Wait a moment, an hour?

She looks at the time, and goodness, it has been over an hour! Crap!

“Oh gosh, I took so long explaining all that to you! I’m so sorry for taking so long!” She screwed up… why did she have to get carried away! She messed-

“I told you it’s fine! I could spend just as much time as you explaining space and the stars. I probably will eventually! It’s all good Vinestaff” They say calmingly to her. “And plants are interesting too. Moss, weeds or the tallest tree, they all have a cool trait.” 

Oh…

She stares for a moment before sighing.

“Well alright, if you’re so sure.” She still feels bad for taking so long.

“I am.” They smile up at her. “Trust me when I say, I’ll let you know if it’s an issue.”

Alright then…

“Could I actually get a way to contact you if I need to ask anything else?” They add after a short moment.

“Oh! Yeah sure, of course, let me give you my number.” She writes her number in the book.

“Thanks, I’ll be sure to send you a bunch of photos of the plants in their proper places when I go get them!” They smile.

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” Guess she didn’t mess things up here.

Nice.

[Shuriken]

Despite his suspicion about Piano, he’s glad his sister is making more friends.

While he was working the counter, he’d been peeking at the conversation the two were having the whole time and they both seemed so interested in it.

Apart from Slingshot and himself, none of the other Phighters were really friends with her, most were friendly, sure, but not friends. Plus she didn’t really know anyone outside of the matches very well. So seeing her make one is great to see.

But he’s also going to be a little protective here.

“Piano, come here.” He asks as Piano is packing his messenger bag to leave.

Piano stopped packing up, just putting the laptop in before hearing his name, notebook in hand.

“Uh, okay sure.” He walks up to the counter and leans on it. “What do you need?”

“If you’re going to have Vine’s number, you’ll have mine too” He needs a way to directly talk to him if he were to do anything.

“Ah, alright then, then uh write your number next to Vinestaff’s in this notebook.” He hands him the book.

“Yeah, yeah, here it is.” He wrote it down on the page, there was a lot in here, hm.

“Thanks I guess…” He lets out a small laugh looking at the page.

This guy now has both his and Vine’s numbers now… you know what, just so that he’s not missing out. He calls for Slingshot.

“Hey Sling! Could you come out here?” He leans around the doorway to shout.

“Oh, yeah sure!” He calls back, before quickly coming out, ”Oh hey Piano, dinner was great yesterday. What do you need Shuriken?” 

“Give him your number, he already has mine and Vinestaff’s, we all need to be able to contact each other if we’re going to be talking. Ah, and in the notebook.” He points at the notebook, it’s semi-sound logic, it will work.

“Well okay then.” He writes his number in as well.

Piano stands there stunned for a moment as he looks at the three numbers in his notebook, then at them before speaking again, “Uh… thank you? I’ll be g-going now! Eh, bye!” He then runs out the door of the cafe.

There’s more weird behavior! What is up with this guy?

After a moment, Slingshot calls his name, “Shurikan.”

“Yeah, Sling?”

“You forgot we’re fairly famous, didn’t you?”

Oh, right, they were. 

That… That explains just about everything.

“...Yes.”

Slingshot sighs, “Dish duty for you.”

“Ugh!... What!?”

He hates doing that! Ugh… stupid.

[Piano]

They're just people Piano! No need to be weird about it, just go get your plants! Vinestaff recommended a good garden center she knows that should still be open in December. So just get going dude!

…

Flowersplosian Garden Center was what the place was called and it looked like it’s name, it was a chaotic, overgrown looking garden center, though it was more a greenhouse. It was in a good location though, nice and open, not very far from his new home.

They enter the store to find that it’s honestly impossible to tell if there was another person anywhere in there, the decorative plants that go around everything block everything that wasn’t the plants being sold or the light that feeds them. 

But the catalog of plants the store had was more than just flowers, and that is all Piano needed from this store.

He got the seedlings and vegetative plants he wanted. He wanted to watch them grow to eventually make his place flourish… and it’s easier to carry home. And also he got the supplies, which were not as easy, but he made do.

After a few moments struggling to find the check out, they find it in a nock and they meet the demon that they now assume to be Flowersplosian since they were fiddling with a grenade with a flower. (They assumed that was just a creative name, should have known better.)

Piano’s first impression of Flowersplosian from their appearance was scary and small, they definitely looked old enough to have been in the war. They were wearing typical gardening clothing though.

He places his items on the counter .“H-hi?” Fuck, stutter, he’s more shaken by the numbers then he thought! 

“This it?” They asked after scanning, voice a bit harsh.

“Yep! Here is your money!” They quickly placed 400 bucks on the counter and left.

“Hey! I- Wait what?!” They looked confused as Piano left hastily, somehow making a beeline to the exit in the maze that was the center.

Crap! Gods, he’ll need to go back there eventually for a better introduction if he ever wants to use this place consistently, he can’t leave that as his only impression of himself for Flowersplosian!

But… at a later time, they needed to get to planting their little seedlings, they already left after all.

…

After getting home, a lot of hard work and a bit of mess made (after he changed into something that wasn’t a suit) he had his plants ready to grow up in their pots.

They think they did a pretty good job, following what they knew before and Vinestaff’s tips. A real good start! Their plants looked so cute in their pots!~

Now he just needs to send Vinestaff the update photo to show her he got them planted.

Vinestaff

Hey Vinestaff

}

Does this look alright?

Yeah!

You did great, Piano :) 

Which one is that?

It’s the saintpaulias that are going to go on my coffee table!

I’m sure they will turn out amazing and pretty.

I can’t thank you enough, Vinestaff.

Just call me Vine, there is no need for the formality!

Ok, sure! Just Vine from now on, lol.

…

The conversation from there continues like that for a while before it eventually drifts to casual talk: interests, projects, other hobbies, stuff like that. Piano even got a photo of her plants and they were just gorgeous! Gardens by the Bay worthy!  

The two of them talk for a while before stopping for the day.

He sighs, he should start getting ready for bed, it was getting late.

Today was a good day, sure there were some slip ups they made, like at the garden center, but this was overall great and productive! 

He even made a friend, only on the second day too! Haha!

‘Hm’

Ha…

Eh…

‘What about your old friends, Callian?’

What? Silly brain, they’ll still hang out with them!

‘And use the hour on them and not your family?’

Well I- er…

‘It’s really one or the other here if you want to maintain the relationship. Though one hour over a week for your friends doesn’t seem like enough.’

Fuck…

‘You’ll drift, you know you will.’

…Can you not?

‘Just telling you the unfiltered truth, sponsee’

I know- sponsee?

Wait a damn minute!

They look around the room frantically, and there they see her. Two white lines and the same hands as {Spinner of Fate}.

She was…

‘The Allotter of Events? Yes I am, nice to finally meet you.’

“Nnnice to meet you too. Were the depressing thoughts really how you want to make your first impression?” He is kinda pissed about that now.

‘I can’t respond verbally dear, I’m only in your mind, we can speak that way, But yeah, I could tell.’

Oh…oh, that seems a bit…

‘Invasive? It is, but I don’t care. I’m here to watch the show. You’re lucky I’m in the mood for something fairly happy and nice to watch’

Wow, great! That did make them feel very good! Totally!

‘You’re funny~ I’ll leave you to do whatever you want for a while, I just wanted to meet you directly, but know that I will come back eventually’

Alright then! Hahaha! 

‘Goodbye for now!’ And with that, he felt a weight in their mind lift away.

…

“AHHHHHHHHHHH” AHHHHHHHHHHH-

FUCK, they hated that!