Silver wrapped her arms around Gabe's arm, holding him to her even though he was invisible, and glared at Ryder.
"Heyheyhey," Miki said suddenly, smacking Ryder on the arm with the back of her hand. "I think I have a knife in my pack. Like a big one. It's like a Swiss army knife or something? I don't know, but it should be big enough."
"Miki, no." Silver growled, turning her glare on her sister.
"Exceeeeeeeeeeeept," Miki continued, tipping her head to look up at Ryder. "Some genius decided to leave my pack at Dio's when he grabbed me and yeeted across town." she raised an eyebrow at him.
Ryder coughs. “Ah, yes. Only a true idiot would do that.” He scrunches his nose for half a second before turning back to Cage.
“Where could I find Ben’s sw-“
“Nonono,” violet interrupts, shaking her head. “You ask. He’s downstairs.”
Ryder gives her a small nod. “Forgive me, I’m not used to manners.” He jokes.
Cage rolls his eyes. “Obviously.”
"Ugh." Miki groaned, rolling her eyes. "And here I thought that would be a good way to get him to go get my stuff." she laid her head down on the counter. "I'll just wear Silver's clothes for the rest of my life."
"You will not." Silver muttered, still glaring at her, but not letting go of Gabriel. "You can walk back to Dio's and get them yourself."
Ryder shoves Silver gently, igniting Gabriel’s snack as he does so. “Do you know how far Dio’s house is? Kiss, why don’t you fly her?” He turns, looking to Kissa and she gulps.
Why me.
She slowly looks to Miki, obviously distraught.
“I- I guess….”
Silver hissed, baring her teeth and snapping at Ryder. Miki slowly lifted her head and squinted at both her sister and Kissa.
"Mango, you've turned my sister into a monster and Kissa into a nice person. What have you done to our family."
Ryder shrugs. “I have that effect on people. Anyways, Kissa’s always been pretty nice,” he ruffles her hair and her cheeks turn a light pink as a small smile crosses her lips.
Violet looks between her and Ryder, still leaning against the wall.
My goodness. Not another one.
“Kissa can’t.” Gabriel quietly squeaks. “She’s weak.”
With that, Kissa’s expression changes to pure horror and she glares. “What?!”
Miki snorted. "Have you met her? She's the farthest thing from nice. And yeah, she can't carry me. I'm too fat." She proudly patted her very flat stomach.
Silver tightened her grip on Gabriel and switched her glare to Kissa in case she was going to fight with him.
Ryder rolls his eyes, “point is, I’m not leaving right after I got here. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen these freaks? I’m not just bolting after two minutes. Not to mention Dio will put me in jail next time I see him.”
Kissa shakes her head just the slightest bit, looking back to Ryder. “I could go grab it and she could stay here, if she doesn’t want me to take her.”
Miki stared at Kissa, highly suspicious and surprised. "As long as you swear on Ryder's white hair that you won't mess with my stuff. And tell Dio we're alive and everything's fine."
Silver pressed her lips together. "No. Kissa, she only wants her pack so she can let Ryder use her knife. I will pay you money to not go get it."
Kissa looks to Silver, obviously conflicted now that money was offered.
“Ha! I’ll pay you to go get it!”
Cage raises an eyebrow, “pay her what? Do you even have money?”
Ryder raises an eyebrow. “Touché. I’ll find something though. Like… odd pebbles. Heads on silver platters.” He winks at Kissa and she looks back to Silver.
“He pays in heads. I like his bribe better.”
Silver held Kissa's gaze, not blinking. "Fifty bucks. And half my candy stash."
"Silver!" Miki yelped. "Okay, knife aside, I need my stuff and Mango Moron won't go get it even though it's his fault!"
"Seventy five." Silver whispered, her gaze never leaving Kissa.
Ryder puts his hand up. “I CAN FIX THIS.” He sighs, putting his hands down. “I’ll just- Imma go ask Ben if I can use his sword, hold on.”
Cage scoffs. “Have fun.”
Gabriel watches him go to the basement door and then turn back.
“Nobody is coming to support me? Gabriel?”
"NO!" Silver yelled at the same time Miki dashed after him screaming, "I'M COMING IM COMING. I am so here for a sword haircut!"
Silver squeezed Gabriel tighter, staring after them as her anger turned to horror. "Let's go hide in the attic." She whispered to Gabe.
Gabe stays put, not wanting to say no but not wanting to leave.
“I-I can’t.” Be whispers. “My hair is too long.”
“Alright!” Ryder shouts. He opens the door and jogs down the steps.
Ben is a few yards to the left, eyes closed in a one handed hand stand.
Silver sighed, feeling for his hair until she found the locks curling around his shoulders. "Why won't you just let me trim it with scissors? Why do you have to let that crazy man hack at it with a knife?" she whispered back.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Miki whispered, catching Ryder's sleeve and pulling him back. "Shhh. Don't bother him. This isn't a good time. If you interrupt him now he'll roast you for sure."
Gabriel is silent for a second, “I just- I don’t like scissors… and he’s cut my hair before. He’s only cut me a few times.”
Violet takes a pair of hair scissors from the bathroom and sets them on the counter, taking a seat in the living room.
hopefully they’ll decide scissors are better.
Ryder looks back to Miki, whispering back. “Why? He’s just… doing yoga or something. Worst he says is no, right?”
Silver's eyes flew wide. "He's only cut you a few times??? Gabriel, I–" she paused and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and speak calmly. "At the very least let Vi cut it if you don't trust me. Vi's never cut any of us. Ever." She stared at her hand, gently twisting his hair around her fingers, since she couldn't see his face. "Please." she whispered.
Miki shook her head violently. "No. Didn't you hear me? The worst thing he could do is turn you into roasted mango. Let's go upstairs and see if Vi will let us use the butcher knife in the kitchen."
Gabriel is silent for a good few seconds.
“No thank you.” He whispers. He slowly becomes visible and looks at her. “He does it good. I promise.”
Ryder takes Miki’s arm, suddenly very excited.
“Wait is his element fire?!?” he whispers. “Man, I gotta see that.”
Silver watched him, studying his face while she could see him. Finally she sighed and rested her forehead on his shoulder, mouthing more than whispering, "Okay," in defeat.
Miki held her hands up, shaking her head as she backed up the stairs. "Have at it. Can't say I didn't warn you." and she bolted up the rest of the stairs, bursting into the living room yelling, "THREETWOONE RYDER'S GONNA MAKE BEN BLOW."
Cage shrieks. “WAT!?!?”
“SToP!” Kissa demands, whacking his shoulder.
Gabriel sighs.
Betted now than later.
-
Ryder watches Miki retreat, then shrugs, turning around.
His temper can’t be as bad as mINE HAHAHA.
He walks down the remainder of the steps, finding Ben in the same place.
Duuude, that’s one strong arm.
He (Ryder) rocks on his heels twice, then silently walks over beside Ben, quietly getting into a handstand by him. His shirt falls down covering his face and he closes his eyes.
This is uncomfortable. My head is gonna burst.
"Hey!" Miki snapped, glaring at Kissa. "Ryder said you were nice, remember? Don't disappoint him." she walked over to Cage and slung her arm around his neck. "Yeah Ben is standing on his head and I told Ryder now wasn't a good time and he was like 'now is the BEST time' and I was like 'have fun!' and I ran away."
Silver groaned, her face still hidden in Gabriel's shirt. "Can we go hide in the attic just… in general?" she whispered to him.
Cage gasps. “Is he crazy?!?”
Kissa rolls her eyes, ignoring the remark and pulling herself up to sit on the counter.
Gabriel sighs, internally wanting to but at the same time wanted to be closer if Ryder screamed.
Ben sighs, putting his other arm down and opening his eyes. He squints at Ryder.
What the hell?
He uses one hand to slowly pull Ryders shirt up so he can see his face.
Ryder opens his eyes, his face red. “Wassup.” He says, his voice raspy from being upside down.
"Definitely." Miki said without pause. She cocked her head, listening. "I can't hear anything. Sil, can you tell what's going on down there?"
"Nothing." Silver muttered. Then she lifted her head and added, "But Ryder's heart rate just spiked, so Ben probably saw him."
Ben rolls his eyes with a huff and lets down Ryders shirt, standing. “What do you want.” He flatly says, it sounding more like a demand than question.
“You’re Benjamin, right?” He asks, his shirt still over his face, slightly muffling his words.
Ben raises an eyebrow, “Ben. Just Ben.”
Cage bites his lip. “Is he gonna die?”
"Probably." Miki said, again without hesitation. She stared at her sister like Silver was a live broadcasting station. "What's happening now?"
Silver lifted her head and glared at Miki. "I don't know! They're moving! Go down and look yourself if you want the details. I'm not your personal spy."
Cage moans. “But Silver!” He whines. “Pleeeeease!”
Yessssss. He doesn’t hate me yet!
Ben puts on a pair of gloves, preparing a punching bag.
Ryder stands slowly, blinking a few times and shaking himself since the world was all wonky and spinning from being upside down.
“Actually, I was gonna offer a fist fight, if you’re up for it.”
Ben pauses, staring at the floor.
What?
He turns to Ryder. “What?*
Silver glanced at Cage, eyebrows raised. When she saw how eager he was too, she rolled her eyes and rested her cheek on Gabriel's shoulder, staring at nothing for a moment while she tuned in to what the boys were doing downstairs.
"Ryder's not upside down anymore." she finally said. "And Ben is… not… angry?" she finished, surprised.
Cage gasps, again, and Kissa rolls her eyes at his dramatic response.
“Wuuuuutttt!?”
Ryder shrugs. “I just thought, you know, you looked like the kinda guy who liked to beat people up.” He bites his lip then hurriedly adds, “not in like a gangster way. In like a good way.”
Ben blinks.
I- is that actually an insult?
He gives a half shrug and takes off his gloves.
“I’m not going to turn down a fight.”
Silver frowned, confusion covering her face. "I have no idea. They're both calm and not moving around. Ben's not angry or burning." She looked at Miki. "They might be… talking."
Miki slowly turned to look at Cage. "Should we go see?" she whispered.
Cage squeaks. “Yess!!” He hops up and jogs to the basement door, slowly opening it.
Ryder gives a small nod as Ben approaches him. He swings a fist and Ben leans back, dodging, then retaliates with a kick to Ryders stomach. Ryder takes two steps back with a grin. “I thought I said fist?”
