Ben rubs his forehead with a deep sigh.
“A lot of things are illegal…” he mumbles, trying to decide whether or not the argument is worth it.
Cage shivers. “I mean, where would she put them if we told her she couldn’t have them? There can’t just be random bones in our woods.”
Kissa turns back to Ryder. “This is why they’ve never seen my bone collection.”
He smirks. “Cause you may or may not have a distant cousin of theirs bones? C’mon Kiss.” He ruffles her hair.
Miki laughed. "Yeah, well, if we go by what's legal then I think half of y'all would be in jail so… that's not really an argument, Sil."
Silver stared at Ben in horror. "You're just gonna let her keep them??? In her CLOSET???"
Ben crosses his arms, looking away from Sil. He turns to walk back down the stairs, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Cage stands and gasps. “You can’t pretend this never happened!!”
Ben continues his slow decent. “What happened? Nothing happened.”
Silver's jaw dropped and she stood frozen for a second. "BEN–what, you can't–" she bolted over to the railing again and leaned over. "VIOLET! VIIIIIIII, Ben won't make Kissa get rid of her bones!"
Miki watched Ben's retreating back and turned to Cage. "And here I thought nothing could surprise me anymore. Apparently I was wrong. Write it down, Cage. The Day Ben Didn't Freak Out About Something We All Thought He Would Freak Out About."
Cage shivers again and turns back to Kissa’s door. “You really scare me!” He shouts.
“Good!” She shrieks back.
Violet stands up again, arms crossed over her chest and obviously very uncomfortable. She passes Ben on her way up the stairs and he turns to raise an eyebrow at her.
“Kissa! You take those out of the house this instant. I will not repeat myself.”
"Thank you." Silver sighed, leaning against the banister. "At least one person in this house is sane right now."
"Oooooohhhhhh," Miki crooned. "Mom's gonna get you, Kiss! Come on, Cage." she grabbed his hand and tugged him back toward Silver. "We should get a safe distance away before this goes down."
Ben stays on the steps and leans against the railing watching all of it he could see.
Violet stays silent for a second, before following up, “Kissa?”
Kissa slams the door open, making Vi jump just a little, and glares. She holds the tote of bones. “What do you want me to do with them??”
“Take them out of the house.” She replies firmly. “You’re a bright girl, I’m sure you can think of something.”
Silver started and backed away as far as she could to give Kissa space to pass her. Miki raised an eyebrow at her. "We could just bury them." she whispered to Cage. "That's what people usually do with bones."
Kissa huffs, turning herself invisible and stomping down the steps.
“Don’t bury them in my yard!” Violet calls after her.
Ryder turns invisible and follows after her.
“Where are you going?” He whispers.
“The park.” She growls back.
Cage raises his eyebrows and looks down the stairs but only sees Ben. He turns back to Miki. “Kavi are really scary.” He whispers.
Silver grimaced, biting her fingernail again as she heard rather than saw Kissa stomp away out of the house.
Miki shook her head. "Kavi are weird, y'all. Whyever did you fall in love with one, Silver? Why couldn't you have picked a normal human?"
Silver glared at her sister. "In case you hadn't noticed, I don't know very many normal humans, and I'm not a normal human myself. And there's nothing wrong with Gabriel. I love his weirdness."
“He helped her clean the bones off, Sil.” Cage points out. “That’s passed weird. That’s messed up.”
Violet rubs her forehead with a sigh, then heads down the stairs. “What is it with this one?” She mumbles to Ben while walking past. He grins and follows.
“She’s fun.”
Violet rolls her eyes. “Of course.”
Ryder follows Kissa into the backyard where she sets down the tote and they remove all of the human bones, filling a trash bag with them. She sighs. “I wanna go home.”
Ryder looks her over, obviously sympathizing. “No. It’s a lot worse than this now.”
She sniffles and wipes her face, still flustered and angry. She ties up the bag, but Ryder takes it, since he’s stronger and she probably couldn’t carry it while flying.
Silver closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was super weird, and she was trying not to be creeped out by it. She held up a one finger in Cage's direction, still not looking at him. "Yes. I know. I just… it's fine. He's a Kavi. That's what they do. It's fine." she turned and walked toward the stairs.
Miki shook her head. "You know what they say. Love is crazy."
Cage furrows his brow. “Just cause he’s Kavi though doesn’t mean he’s gotta be so scary.” He whispers to Miki.
Violet pauses in the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water and gulping it. Ben grins and pats her back, making her momentarily choke.
“Are they getting to you?” He teases.
“She is.” She states, referring to Kissa.
Kissa sniffles while they fly, shaken and irritated, letting Ryder lead the way. “Wh-where are we going?” She asks.
He shrugs. “I’ll just put em in Dio’s closet. You obviously put a lot of work into these and I don’t want you to loose them.”
He turns to see her smile and grins.
Silver jumped over the railing and landed on the floor below, raising an eyebrow at Vi and Ben before curling up in a chair. The one time Ben wasn't upset, Violet got mad and that was worse. I much prefer the threat of being burned alive.
Miki rolled her eyes at Cage. "Cage, they have fangs. They have to be scary. It's in their DNA. Have Kissa or Gabe ever told you about a Kavi acting normal and not-scary?"
Cage thinks for half a second, then shakes his head. “No actually. They’re terrifying.” He shakes his head and shivers. “We live with them.”
Ben chuckles, pouring himself some coffee.
“It’s not that big of deal, Baby.”
Vi gives him a glare over her water. “Human bones, Ben. Human bones. I will not have that in my house.”
Miki nodded and patted his leg. "Yep. Don't try to deceive yourself."
Silver pulled out her phone, pretending to look at it while she actually watched Vi and Ben. I wish I hadn't made Violet make her take her bones out. She opened Amazon and began to browse the sales.
(Looking for bones on amazon)
Cage sighs, squishing his cheeks. “Wanna do something? She took the cooL guy.” He glances around for half a second then continues before she has the chance to reply, “where is Gabriel?”
Ben shakes his head, keeping his mouth shut now, and takes a sip of his coffee.
Alright, you win. Not like I care if there’s bones in the house or not.
He pauses for a second, then looks back to Vi. “Where is she taking them? Just the woods out back, right?”
His heart rate spikes.
Miki rubbed her nose, staring at nothing for a few seconds while she thought. "Well. Since they're both gone, we could… write fake notes to Ryder from her or something." She shrugged. "Gabriel? Who knows. Didn't he run away?"
Silver glanced toward the backdoor. "No. They… left. They flew away."
Cage nods, dropping the subject of Gabriel. “That’s a good idea! But… I dunno what Kissa would say.”
Ben sets his coffee down, staring at the window.
nonononono
“She flew away? That’s not safe.”
"Oh my goodness." Miki said, turning to stare at him. "What would she say???"
Silver glanced back at him. "Yes? She and Ryder both flew away with the bones."
Cage squints at the wall. “Uuuh, something like ‘I love you more than the jar of pickled hearts under my bed’.” He giggles.
Ben walks to the window, suddenly anxious, and stares out for a second, before pulling out his phone and texting Dio. “Did they say where they’re going?” He asks Sil, still typing.
Text: Dio, your bird just stole Kissa? If you see them, tell him to bring her back.
Miki burst out laughing and slapped Cage's leg. "YES! Yes, Cage, we need to write a note that says that! That's perfect!"
Silver shook her head. "I didn't see them leave. They were invisible when they left, I just felt them fly away." She looked down at her phone. "I could text her but I know she won't respond."
Dio's phone buzzed and he read the text from Ben, alternately frowning, raising an eyebrow in confusion, and sighing. "Lackey," he said. "Can you let me know if you see Ryder come back?"
Cage giggles. “Okay, okay. We should leave like a flower or something by it. Not a flower, something that screams ‘KISSA’. Like…. a dead mouse.”
Ben anxiously pockets the phone and looks back out the window, his stomach churning.
Youd better be careful. You know they’re looking for you, Kiss.
-
Right after Dio’s words, as if on cue, Ryders feet hit the roof with a dull thud. Kissa lands silently.
“Do you own this?” She whispers.
He shrugs. “No? I don’t own anything.” He gently takes her hand and squeezes into the attic window.
Miki howled with laughter. "YES. This is perfect. Okay, so we need to get some paper for the note. Or maybe a card? What would Kissa use to write him a love note? And…" a look of horror crossed her face. "Cage, where are we going to get a dead rat."
–
Lackey opened one eye to glance at Dio from his spot sprawled across the living room floor. A thump from the roof made him glance up.
See him or hear him?
But Dio had already put his phone down and returned to the work he had spread over the kitchen table.
“I said mouse.” Cage corrects. “And I betcha one of Gabriel’s animals has a half eaten one in the attic.” He shudders. “I don’t wanna get it though.”
-
Kissa slips into the attic after Ryder, fitting much more easily than him. “This is… weird?” She whispers, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting.
He shrugs and sets her box down under a side table, slipping a decorative blanket over it. “He’s from a different culture. Like Korra or something?”