#dp quizz

Jazz looks away, nervously chewing on her nails- a habit that not even bitter polish could break. Quizz waits patiently for her to speak; the few false starts makes a shiver of anxiety race through his Core, especially paired with her grim expression.

"Does it get easier? Knowing you could have been there for him- er, them in your case- like, knowing they'd died- and yeah! They got better! But the mere concept that they went through that sort of trauma and kept going? Without any sort of help from anyone?!? Without parents or adults?!? Without..."

'Without you' remained unspoken, but they both get the gist.

"It doesn't sit with me right, and I feel selfish for wanting to have known earlier. I deal with it every day, and then there's the lying to our parents thing, and-"

Quizz puts his hand up, stopping Jazz in her spiraling tracks. "First things first, you gotta breathe, kid. Okay? Ya good? Cool! Now, second thing second- you're doin' great with the boy, you're a tried and true ally for him and it's what he needs. You're doin' whatchya can to keep him kickin', and that's all ya can do as a big sister, trust me."

Jazz finally sets her mug to rest with the other. She takes a few minutes to think it through before speaking again. "Was it the same for you and Stuffie then? The anxiety, the secrets?"

"Hell no! Stuffie passed in a house fire when they were younger than Danny! It's similar but not the same, y'know?"

"Oh uh... I'm sorry for- I never asked how I guess?" Jazz backtracks.

Quizz scoffs and offers her a smile. "No, you did the right thing in not askin'. Ghosts don't like talkin' about it- their death or death in general, but you're practically a younger sister to me through your dork of a brother, so it's all good.

"I think I was like, your age-ish when it happened, and I don't remember the full of it, but ever since I found the blog I kept while I was still alive I can pretty much taste the guilt from how angsty my teenaged ass got. And sister, what you have is kinda similar to mine- but mine? It ate me away for years. Even now it kinda eats at me, but I promised to never let someone I care about down like that again.

"S'why I do what I can for Stuffie now that we're both miraculously too stubborn to pass on. Like, what I went through? It was a different beast of burden and guilt 'n shit compared to yours. And again- I've done the whole 'guilty big sister' thing enough for one lifetime, s'why my afterlife is 'protective big bro' hours all day, every day."

"So... it might get easier?" Jazz finally speaks up, eyes sad and full of hope.

"Well, yeah! You gotta repeat the mantra that the past is the past n' you can't really change it... unless you got powers or some shit? But like- you didn't do anything malicious. You're a kid, and it ain't your responsibility to parent your little bro, even if your parents make you feel it sometimes. You're doing what you, at your current age and ability, can handle emotionally n' financially. Just be there for Danny so you won't miss anything else."

Quizz crosses his arms and huffs in accomplishment. He was never the best at giving pep talks, but with Jazz's happy tears he feels a bit accomplished.

He's about to grab his coffee when wiry arms wrap around his waist and squeeze.

"Thank you- it just gets hard when there's no real adults that can help us."

"Not a problem kiddo, just don't try to be Atlas with your bother's issues, you got a wicked tight-knight support group, after all."

Quizz hugs the girl tight, wishing he could have spared more of her pain, but growing up is never easy. Neither is having an undead younger sibling who loves to cause chaos.

Jazz pulls away, wiping a stray tear from her eye with a smile. Quizz watches as her expression changes to her standard 'baby psychologist' one and smiles back nervously. "So... big sister, huh?"

"Listen, as someone who transed their gender after death, I can only be described as the omni sibling- both brother n' sister at the same time. Quizz, the blue hair n' pronouns ghost, as your bro calls me when he wants to piss me off!" they laugh heartily.