Laughter Lines

Gonna Lose My Own Head

Vivi clutched Chloe's mane, burying her face in sweaty unicorn hide for a few precious seconds of sanity-gathering. Lewis banged around in her ribcage like a panicked hummingbird, trying to remember how they'd worked together last time. Chloe was blessedly silent, hooking her neck back around Vivi and whickering concern but not asking questions yet.

Lewis rushed through her arms and pooled into her hands, but Vivi yanked him back, compressing him up by her collarbone. "No!" she shouted. "We are not rushing into this! Last time I did that it set us way back and I don't care if things have to happen right now, we are going to think this through. Especially because I can barely think! So help me process this and don't push past me!"

"You said Mystery's going after hostages?" Chloe prodded. "Who?"

"Dulcie!" cried Lewis, through Vivi's lips. "We have to get Dulcie and Lance, then grab Kay. We have to go now!"

Vivi jerked her head from side to side. "Just because Arthur came up with that plan doesn't mean it's the right one!" she seethed. "He's doing his best but he's panicked too! Lewis, stop fighting me and see if we have any other solutions!"

Chloe laid her ears back. "I could fight Mystery. He wouldn't dare touch me."

"So he wouldn't bother with a fight, he'd change forms into something much faster than you and run off," Lewis countered.

"Not if I injure him enough," Chloe replied, grim.

"Again! He would just have to be faster than you! And you don't have total control over that shockwave you send out. You don't even know if that would work on him. Even if you stun him, there's nothing to keep him from turning into something that can sneak off under the radar. I'm sure he has a thousand forms he hasn't even begun to use in front of us."

A flicker of an idea lit up in Vivi's mind. "Then... then we have to stop him from shapeshifting." Her hand went up to her throat. "We have to steal his Hoshi no Tama. That way, he'll have to obey us. We can keep him from attacking anyone, maybe even get information. I know where he hides it, I can grab it. Then we can..." she took in a ragged breath.

Lewis broke in. "But Vee, if Mystery turns on us, or if this plan goes really badly, like bite-your-hand-off-badly, there's no one to protect Dulcie and Lance. Please. If we're not going for subtlety, it won't take more than two minutes to pick them up through the mansion. Please. Then we can try for more information from Mystery if you really need that."

Exhaling slowly, Vivi nodded. It made sense. "I'm sorry. I just... I don't want to butcher this and right now I'm not totally sure what's reasonable." She stepped back from Chloe and spread her hands out, swiveling them at the wrists. A pink glow lit her fingertips.

"Chloe, when the door appears, rush it." Vivi's voice deepened as Lewis muttered, "It's still hard to sustain doorways by themselves."

...

The body's senses sifted through a heavy veil before reaching Artie. Wherever Arcturus had crammed him, it was nowhere near enough to the surface to affect anything.

If he didn't break through, Arcturus would burn both ends of the candle to get away from whatever he was scared of. Apparently "Mother" was bad enough that Arcturus was blatantly ignoring his job as their survival mechanism, which meant Artie had to step in.

He'd been deeper than this, once. When trying to escape Arcturus and fade away for good, Artie had tried to lose himself in these depths. For now, though, Arcturus didn't want him gone. Just silent.

Last time there had been an active search for him, something of a rope he could use to pull himself back into concrete consciousness. He didn't have time to wait for that to happen again. Kay had no way of knowing he was being suppressed, though she'd figure it out whenever she next talked to Arcturus. By that time Arcturus might have burned through their whole lifespan.