#Lamp rambles

[thelampisaflashlight]

Psaltarian, entering Copia's office: "Your mother's ghouls keep showing up in the mausoleum and-" Copia, putting down his paperwork: "Seestor-Mother had ghouls?" Psaltarian, holding a whimpering Cowbell and Special by the ears: "Who did you think these two belonged to??" Copia: "The old bastard?" Psaltarian: "No, no, Nihil's ghouls were inherited by Primo." -shaking his head- "At any rate, these two keep trying to climb on top of the coffin and sleep on it, so you need to invest in better locks." Copia, looking at the ghouls: "Why would they do that?" Special, sad: "We miss her..." Cowbell, poking the tips of his fingers together: "...Hungry-" All: "NO!"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Swiss, being cocky: -teasing Cumulus about her height- Cumulus: -gestures for Swiss to lower himself down onto her level- Swiss: -does so expecting her to whisper something- Cumulus: -motioning for him to drop down further- Swiss, gets on his knees, smirking: "Finally seeing eye to-" Cumulus, tipping his chin up, glaring down at him: "The next time you try and act all high and mighty, remember how easily you dropped to the ground without me having to say a single word. I'm the one in charge here, talk down to me again and I'll make your nose touch the ground." Swiss, actually intimidated: "Oh. Oh damn, okay-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Dew, standing in front of a projector screen: "Everyone's always curious about the abbey's history, so I figured I'd throw together a little slide show to explain what we know about the place." -clicks to the first slide- "As we can see here, we have a sketch done in charcoal by one of the monks who resided on the land back in the early 1500's and... Huh." Mountain, sees Dew looking at him: "What? What is it?" Dew, pointing at one of the builders in the background of the sketch: "Does that look like Mount to you guys?" Everyone, turning: -looking at Mountain and then back at the slide, then back to Mountain- Mountain, arms crossed: "What? A man can't have had a life before?" Dew: "Bitch, how fucking old are you-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Aether, consoling Aeon after he learned how Dew joined the band: "Let's look at it this way; You ever see a cat that needs a home? Do you ask the cat's permission before you go, 'Imma give it a little salami and take it with me'? No, no you usually do not. You just grab that cat and you bring it with you, maybe give it a little bath in some flea treatment, give it a silly name and call it a day." Aeon, taking a deep breath: "You're not wrong but..." -pauses, thinking- "Wait, are you saying Dew had fleas-" Dew, shouting from the kitchen: "I did not have fleas!" -mumbling- "...Did have that weird rash though..." Aether: "You DID have that weird rash though..." Aeon: "...I feel like this is all a bit TMI." Cumulus, from down the hallway: "Get used to it, baby boy, the walls are thin! ...Also it's not kidnapping if you go pspspsp and the other party goes 'merp merp?' like a little goober and willingly comes along." Dew: "I DID NOT MERP MERP! ...I meep meep'd, how dare-" Aeon: "This family is a fucking nightmare."

[thelampisaflashlight]

Dew, shooing Rain away: "Just because I have time off, does not mean I'm free. I have serious plans for tonight, and I'll not be disturbed!" Rain, looking him up and down: "It's 7pm and you're already in your pjs, drinking sleepytime tea, wrapped up in a blanket. Unless your plans are to 'honk' and then 'shoo' or perhaps 'snork mimimi' than I don't know why you can't sit and watch a movie with me." Dew: "Maybe I do plan to honk the shoo!" Rain, dragging him along: "You can sleep later, come on!" Dew: -hissing- Copia, watching this unfold: "Ah... this reminds me of Sister and the old man somehow..."

[thelampisaflashlight]

Rain, sopping wet, trudging in from outside: "...Did you know it is me-ing outside-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Rain: "Sometimes, I go into Dew's closet and put random clothes in there to see if he notices or even cares, and the answer so far has been no, because he approaches fashion the same way Adam Sandler does; He just wears whatever he finds in there, and, as such, I've had to... curate a couple outfits for him on the sly if I want to see him in them without asking for it specifically." -watching Dew wander around the kitchen dressed in a shark costume- "...That being said, sometimes he still amazes me." Dew, in the confessional later, still dressed like a shark: "I put it on to fuck with Rain, because I know he's been making outfits for me to wear, 'cause he thinks my fashion sense isn't very good, but then the zipper broke and I guess this is just my life now-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Copia: "The biggest problem with ghouls, is if you leave them to their own devices for long enough, they can and will build a series of cabins in the woods complete with a communal bath and attempt to abandon society, because they saw someone on TV do it." Copia, sniffs: "And the worst part is that they'll actually be just fine and look at you funny when you tell them they have to go back." -hands on hips- "They go the weirdest kinda feral, I swear." Dew, in a towel: "You're just jealous we won't let you use the sauna." Copia: "You are killing your papa-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Aeon, watching Dew float along peacefully on a raft in the abbey's indoor pool: "It's so tempting to go over there and flip him into the water..." Swiss, placing a hand on his shoulder: "As much as I agree, I strongly advise against trying it if you value your life." Aeon, looks at him, and then at the raft again: "What's the worst that could happen? He tries to drown me? I'm gonna do it-" Swiss: "It's not Dew you should be worried abou-uh oh." Aeon, screeching, treading water: "THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE WATER!!!" Rain, unfurling from beneath the raft in full sea monster form: -letting out a guttural croaking and hissing noise- Swiss: "GOOD LUCK!" Dew, undisturbed, getting rocked slightly by the thrashing waves: "Remember not to eat him, summoning a new quint would be expensive-"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Dew, in the confessional: "Okay, so this one's kind of a doozy... I'm not a ghoul." -pauses for a moment, then continues- "Like, I kind of just went along with it, because everyone thought I was, and I've been bluffing my way through everything and somehow haven't been caught yet, but it's starting to get really awkward in the den, because everyone's like, 'Come on, show us your tail!' or 'We wanna see your horns!' and, like, I don't have any of those, what do I fucking do??" Copia, processing this: "...Then how have you been doing fire magic??" Dew, crying: "Bitch, I don't know, that's why I'm asking you!" Copia, crying, too: "That's scary!" Dew: "I KNOW!"

[thelampisaflashlight]

The ghouls wandering around in public, but they're always following after the shortest member of the pack with them at the time no matter what size grouping they're in.

You just see Mountain looming over Cumulus, Dew, or Aurora, just walking about like a lost puppy.

For some reason when ghouls travel in groups, they just... default to following the small ones.

Like, "Oh, we just follow the one that seems to know where they're going/how to get through the crowd." because the bigger ones have a harder time navigating/tend to make themselves smaller in those settings because they don't want to bump into others, so they let the smaller ones cut through the crowd and make room for them, because they're less inclined to let people take up their space.

They've stopped at a truck stop to get food? Cirrus, Mountain, and Rain are standing behind Aurora in a line and letting her order everything/be the one in charge, because, "We don't wanna be a bother." or "This place is too packed and we feel uncomfortable/cramped."

"The biggest, strongest member of the pack is in charge!"

Not even remotely true.

See Dew turning around while in the gas station/convenience store side of the truck stop and he's got a chain of ducklings behind him.

It very quickly becomes like kids in the grocery store with their parent energy.

It becomes clear who is in charge at that particular moment.

Swiss is out here quietly asking Cumulus if he can buy spicy fry chips even though he is a grown ass man and could buy them himself -and is the one who does pay for them- but it's late and he's feeling shy for some reason?

Yeah.

Also see Cirrus in a very, "She asked for no pickles." situation with Aurora standing there, hands on her hips while she stands back there like, "It's really okay-"

But also, this with all of the ghouls and Copia.

Just looks behind him like, "And what do you guys want?" cue a line of adults looking awkwardly between him and the overhead menu, making him have to decide for them, because they're all somehow incapable of speaking up.

Just that.

That is all.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Dew: "Sometimes the guys hangout without me, which is whatever, but, like, whenever the girls hangout, they're always like, 'Dew! Come on, it's girls' night!' and I'm like, 'Okay, cool, have fun.' and they're like, 'No, come on, silly, let's go, you're part of the girl gang!'..." -arms crossed- "...I dunno how I got into the girl gang, and quite frankly I'm scared that I may never know." Rain, jealous: "I never get to be part of the girl gang..." Dew, hands on his hips: "You wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, Rainy." Rain: "Pressure?" -flashback to the previous girls' night- Cumulus, leaning over the map of Vatican: "-at which point, Dew will slip into the artifact room and grab the skull." Cirrus, slamming her hand on the table: "Dew's not ready for this, let me do it!" Cumulus: "After last time?! I can't risk another loss!" Aurora, sniffling: "Poor Sunny, she was so young... and now she's trapped in a lake... Salt Lake City, Utah..." Mist, shouting: "Enough! We'll go ahead with the plan as is. Dew! Can you handle this responsibility?" Dew: "I-" -fades back to the present- Dew, wistfully: "You just wouldn't understand, Rainy..." Rain: "???"

[thelampisaflashlight]

Swiss, in his nature documentary voice, observing Aeon: "The young ghoul enters the den, seeking a place to rest and recover from the night's hunt." Aeon, bleary eyed and grumpy: -hungover from the party they threw in the woods last night- Swiss: "Hoping to find a comfortable perch to settle upon, the ghoul scopes out his surroundings, but finds, to his dismay, that the most comfortable spot has been taken up by an elder male." Dew, laying on the couch: -passed out with the tv remote in his hand- Swiss: "Though smaller in size then the younger ghoul, the elder male is incredibly territorial, and will wake easily if disturbed, grumbling something about how he's 'watching that' should anyone attempt to remove the object in his possession." Aeon, looking over the back of the couch at Dew: -sticking his leg over and stepping onto the space between Dew and the cushions- Swiss, watching closely: "A bold move, what does he hope to accomplish?" Aeon, maneuvering over: -sits down on Dew and then leans forward until his head is in the crux of Dew's neck- Swiss, blinking: "Huh." Dew, waking up from the sudden weight on his body: "...Don't touch the remote... I'll kill you..." Aeon: -loud purring- Dew, wraps his arms around Aeon, still clinging to the remote: -goes back to sleep- Swiss: "...What."

[thelampisaflashlight]

Dew, sitting in the living room with his feet propped up: "I told Aeon I lost my will to live and he's been searching for it for about an hour now. Bless him for trying, but devil below is that man a fool." Aeon, searching under furniture: "I haven't found it yet, but I'll keep looking! Don't worry!" Dew, smiling fondly, whispering: "...Perhaps there are some good things about this life after all." Aeon, thinking: "...If I keep goofing around like this, it'll make Dew laugh a bit, so there's that."

[thelampisaflashlight]

Mountain: "Once, during a full moon, I wandered away from the abbey into a farm field in full creature mode, and there were these sheep, yeah? Well, I was like, 'HELL YEAH! SHEEP!!!' and was petting them... and then the farmer showed up." -clicks tongue- "After he decided NOT to shoot me, he just kinda sat on a rock for a while and didn't say anything, but Copia did get a letter the next day that said, 'Not for nothin', but ya could've warned me about the huge large feckin' moose of a dog you've got over there.'... Suffice to say I haven't returned." Cumulus, standing with her hands on her hips: "You just have to blend in better, become one with the flock and they'll be none the wiser-" Copia, holding another letter from the farmer: "Which one of you got sheared by accident?" Cumulus, sporting a new haircut: "You've no proof of anything."

[thelampisaflashlight]

Cumulus, making her coffee, senses something behind her: "..." -glances over her shoulder- "...Dude." Dew, perched on the back of one of the chairs in the common room: "..." Cumulus, turning away: "Why're you being so we-" -turns and sees he's clambered up onto the counter- "...No. No, it is 5 o'clock in the morning. It is 5AM, Dewcifer, I'm just trying to have a cup of coffee and get ready for the day." Dew: -head tilt- Cumulus: "Uh-uh, mister, you aren't gonna get me today." Dew, the briefest of movements as Cumulus blinks: -just ever so slightly closer- Cumulus: "Goddammit." -Sometime Later- Cirrus, watching Cumulus and Dew walk in for breakfast: "Wow, you guys almost missed breakfast, did you sleep good?" Cumulus, glaring: "Yes. Actually." Dew, tail wagging, perked up: "I had the softest pillow-" Cumulus: -swats him-