behind the vale

“If you need trees we’ll just toss her out into the woods. Her initial reaction would be all you needed.” Drake finished making his coffee and went to pull up a seat across from her. “Right, you made it seem like she had something on the roof she didn’t want us to know about.” He sipped his coffee. Drake yanked on the stings to make sure the hood didn’t fall off. He wasn’t ready to invite the world in. “What have you been up to?” He changed subjects. 

“much appreciated.” she let out a snort. “bold of you to think you can toss thea anywhere.” her face scrunched slightly. “you know, i never thought about it. maybe that is why she doesn’t want us on the roof. but mostly i think it’s because my brother is a butt and she does whatever he says.”

lil leaned forward slightly and sniffed the caffeinated air. “drawing another masterpiece. i think this is number eleven? twelve if you count the one on my door. sometimes i make that one glow just to bother him.” she grinned, pleased with herself. “what about you? what’s it like being a nocturnal creature? do you eat garbage from a trashcan? howl at the moon?”

“oh no, usually it’s not that bad. it’s just that he’s a perpetual buzzkill. oh uh, octavian; tall dude, looks like a nerd, acts like something’s stuck up his butt, professional fun killer?” lil let out an exaggerated gasp. “you haven’t seen my octopus artwork?! lucky for you there’s another one on the fridge. so first stop, food!” she reached out her hand for him to take.

“i think what you meant was incredibly beautiful,” she huffed as she pretended to angrily snatch the pencil from him. she snorted at the remark. “i know right? i have mister mind reader for a best friend and mister boss man fun killer as a brother. life is so tedious. i deserve a medal. or at the very least, a cookie.”

“grey and dull,” she repeated with a nod. “you’ve captured him perfectly.” at the question lil looked at riley and gestured at her masterpiece. “comeon ry, i already asked what color octopus octavian should be, i would think what i was doinf would be obvious.” she paused for a moment. “unless this is one of those you asking me what i’m up to so that i’ll ask you in which case, what are you up to?”

“you are a hero to us all. and don’t worry, if we get caught i will take the blame. i may initially yell out it was her, but just know, that is a reflex i’m working on and will take full responsibility for our devious actions afterward, should that be blurted out.”

“well there’s already a blue one on the refrigerator in the kitchen so i guess purple it is. would that make him ursula, orsula, ocula?” she asked, mostly to herself before shrugging. she picked up the purple and started coloring. “you’re ava, right? i think i filed you.” she paused and looked up. “that sounds weird. i put your file into our system. that sounds more normal right?”

her eyes shot up as she grabbed her chest dramatically. “octopus jedidiah vale, are you insinuating that you don’t want me around? me, your own flesh and blood? the literal only living proof that you have the capability of being fun?!” she lowered her hand to gesture to the drawing. “and i am not bored i am drawing yet another wonderful picture of you.” 

there were at least ten drawings of octopus octavian in various colors throughout xr including one that she’d carved into the door to their living quarters, and anyone who’d been there more than a day knew what they were and where they came from.

“yeah.... remember that some of us have brothers who run the place and therefore have to live here full time for the unforeseeable future. so no leveling in here-” she gestured to the room, but she clearly meant the entire building. 

“you wanna take on thea? cool. go into the woods or something. much fairer fight and much easier cleanup. also, do me a favor and tell her to bring back any trees that inevitably come down in the process.” her eyebrow raised at his question. as much as she hated it, thea was supposed to be on the roof. “presumably her job?”

lil seemed rather unphased by the step back. she was actually used to it, what with this being a generally strange environment and her usual overactive personality. “report somewhere,” she repeated with a nod. “new? you don’t say!” she grinned, making sure it was obvious that she was kidding. 

“well, if you were told to report somewhere then it’s safe to assume you’ve been checked in and all that fun stuff.” she pretended to inspect him. “and you don’t seem bored out of your mind yet, so clearly my brother hasn’t gotten to you.” she tapped her chin. “have you had something to eat? found a free place to sleep? seen any of my octopus artwork?”

“ah yes because you definitely had no idea that’s what i was doing. i was even purposefully singing ‘octopus’ in my head over and over just for you.” she picked up the dark green pencil. “it’s hard work honestly, especially when your bestie can steal all of your best ideas. not that you’d know anything about that.” she held out her hand without looking up. “now pass me the light green.”

“lucky,” lil grumbled jokingly when ava said she didn’t know octavian very well. at the question her mouth opened slightly as though she was shocked that ava didn’t realize the answer was obvious. “his name is octavian. oct-avian? oct-opus? comeon, it’s literally right there!” 

lil’s face lit up at mel’s response. she turned the picture back to herself to admire it. “some of my best work honestly. maybe i’ll go hang it on the fridge. or if i’m super sneaky about it, i can probably tape it to his back.... all good choices.” she looked over at mel, wiggling her eyebrows with a grin. “if only i knew someone with luck manipulation who could guarantee that i don’t get caught...”

lil’s eyes seemed to light up at his suggestion. “It’s three in the afternoon and grumpy pants got the last cup,” she sighed, without looking up. anyone who’d been at xr longer than a day knew grumpy pants was thea. 

“and by cup, i mean she took the coffee pot, drank whatever was left straight out of it, and then put it back.” some people would probably be surprised by thea’s actions but lil was used to them. “then she told me if i tried to go on the roof without permission again, she was going to cuff me to a radiator. so she’s clearly in an unusually good mood today.”

she crunched her nose as she tapped the pencil against it. 

“hmmm, he does like his electric energy... but it feels too easy... but then again, he’s so predictable that it would make the most sense. dark blue it is,” she grinned, reaching over and picking up a dark blue pencil that she’d taken from the kids art supplies. after a few scribbles, she held up a picture of an angsty looking dark blue octopus with a speech bubble next to it that said ‘i hate fun.’ 

“looks just like him, right?”