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He sighs. "It's okay. It's not a big d-"
Kissa peeks her head out of her room. "I can cut his hair!"
He glares at her.
GO. A. WAY.
She glares back at him.
NO.
-
Cage lets out a small gasp as she tugs him away from the mango-eater, drawing the attention of his orange eyes for a split second.
"Hey," Cage whispers, "His teeth are pointy!"
Silver lifted her head just enough to send a scathing glare toward Kissa. "No one is cutting his hair." she snapped.
Miki nodded. "Mhmm. Yep. Pointy teeth. Just like a few other people we know. Who used to kidnap us and take us to bad places and probably eat mangoes in the middle of the grocery store." she stopped in front of the cooler and grabbed a package of steaks. "Stop staring at him, Cage!"
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Cage looks away and stares down into the cooler, suddenly paler.
"Do you- You think he's here to get us?" He quietly asks, standing completely still.
The man scans the mango and pays, heading out with it in hand, taking a bite every now and then.
Kissa rolls her eyes and slams her bedroom door, making Ben jump downstairs.
"What are you guys doing? Don't slam my doors!" He shouts.
Miki ruffled Cage's hair and headed down another aisle. "I don't know, kid. But he saw us and he's… no, he's not following us. But he was super weird. We need to tell Ben about it when we get home."
Silver sighed and looked back up at Gabriel. "Hey. It's okay. We don't have to cut your hair today." she grinned slightly. "One day we will need to cut it. But it doesn't have to be today."
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Cage coldly follows her, obviously still afraid. He stares at the door for a moment.
"Do you think Kissa knows him?"
Never.
Gabriel gives her a small nod.
Miki shrugged and tossed a few things into the shopping cart without really paying attention to what she grabbed. "Maybe? She talked about living back with her people–the Kavi? Kovi? Whatever they are. We can definitely ask her."
Silver smiled at him and ruffled his long, messy hair. "You do look really shaggy."
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I don't look shaggy.
He gives her a small, sleepy smile, that's gone after a few seconds.
Cage nods, feeling a little better and holding his carrots a little less tight.
"I wonder what they ate back there. Mangos? Whole, uncut, unwashed, mangos?"
"Who even cut your hair before we came along?" Silver asked. "Did Kissa do it?"
Miki shrugged. "Yeah, I think it was a mango. You're supposed to peel them first before you eat them. Weirdo. Let's get back home." she said as she headed for the checkouts.
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Gabriel shrugs. “She did while Airrow held us I guess.” He mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck.
Cage gives Miki a shove. “No, I mean back there as in their homeland. Do they all eat stuff like that?”
Silver pushed herself up on her tiptoes to peck his cheek with her lips. "Well, someone did it, so there's hope that one day you'll let me do it. Come on, have you eaten yet?"
"Oh." Miki said, realizing what he meant. "I don't know. Kissa seems to eat normal food like us, but Gabriel doesn't. We should ask them when we get back."
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Gabriel follows but doesn’t answer.
Violet stands in the kitchen alone, moving things around on the counter to scrub behind them. She gives Silver a smile and small wave. “You found him.”
Cage picks up a package of peeps. “Bet they’ve never tasted these angels! Ha. Imma feed em this too.” He giggles, throwing in a case of popsicles.
Silver nodded, descending the stairs. "Yeeeaah, but we're not gonna cut his hair. Not today."
Miki snort-laughed. "Okay, first off–those things are gross. Second: I don't think you can just 'feed' them stuff. Have you seen how hard it is for Silver to get Gabriel to eat food?"
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Cage grins. “Yeah, but don’t you remember when she asked him to try the ice cream? At least he’ll try it.”
Violet gives a small nod before turning her attention back to her work. “That’s alright. Some other time then?”
Miki nodded. "That's true. Maybe the weirder it is the more likely he is to try it." She paid for their groceries and handed him a few of the bags.
Silver sat down on a stool and pulled a lock of her straight, dull blond hair in front of her face. "What if I dyed my hair."
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Right after she's proposed the idea, without missing a second, Gabriel flatly says, "You should dye it white."
Violet peeks over her shoulder to blink at them.
Hm? That was… Fast.
Cage skips out with the groceries in hand, relived that the rain has ceased. He gives the parking lot a good once over before pointing to the playground across the road, where you can see in between a few trees the man sitting on top of the pavilion roof eating the last bit of his mango.
"Look, Mik!" He says in a hushed voice.
Silver made a face at him. "Why white? I was thinking maybe a light blue."
Miki followed his gaze and then tugged Cage toward the car. "Cage, you are awful at not drawing attention to yourself. Ignore the weirdo guy and let's get out of here."
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Cage follows Miki into the car, occasionally looking back at the man on the roof. "What if he's an actual legit normal human and he just does weird things. Wouldn't that be crazy?"
Gabriel's cheeks flush and he looks to the ground, realizing how sudden and odd his interjection was. "Yeah, blue." He whispers.
Miki raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sure there's some weird human out there like that. I'm just glad I don't know them. Gabriel and Kissa are bad enough."
Silver laughed. "Why did you say white? How would I look with white hair? Violet, what would I look like with white hair?"
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Violet gives a small shrug, scrubbing the wall behind the stove. "Darling, I think you could pull of any color."
Gabriel stays quiet, rubbing his arm.
It would look more natural.
It-
Kissa heads down the stairs. "What's going on? You're dyeing your hair?"
Cage climbs into his seat, buckling and propping his feet on the dash again. "Yeah. I wonder what it would be like though, if we were in their shoes. Being shoved into a new culture and community that is so vastly different."
Silver looked up as Kissa came into the kitchen. "I asked if I should dye my hair and Gabriel said I should dye it white. I was thinking a light blue though. Do you think I'd look good with blue or white hair?"
Miki pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. "Hmm, yeah. I mean it was suuuuuper weird for me to live in Ben's shmancy house after living on the street my whole life, but at least I was used to normal human things. It must have been so much worse for them."
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Kissa seats herself on a stool. "Well, you'll look bad no matter what, but white would be the better option."
Gabriel glares her way.
WHA- Rude?!?!
Cage stares out at the rainy sky. "They were probably lot weirder when the bad guys first got them."
Silver snorted. "What is it with you Kavi and the white hair?" she looked at Gabriel, hardly even noticing Kissa's mean remark. "Do Kavi have a thing for white hair? Is it a natural color for them?"
Miki nodded. "But like… can you imagine an entire group of people who are just… normally that weird? Like for them, that's totally normal."
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Cage squint. “They probably think they same thing bout us, to be honest. What if sometimes they’re just like ‘wow, Miki is so weird. I can’t believe that’s normal for humans’ Like I bet Kissa thinks that.”
Kissa rolls her eyes. “Your wings should match your hair. White would be your natural color if you weren’t an ex…” her voice trails off as she catches Gabriel’s death glare and corrects herself. “- a monster.”
Miki laughed so hard she almost couldn't drive straight. "Oh my word, I'm the only normal human in the house! They probably think I'm a good representation of humanity. Wow, they are so wrong."
Silver frowned, face twisted in confusion. "But your hair is red and your wings are white…? How is that matching?"
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Frustrated, Kissa slides off of the chair and makes her huge, fluffy wings, visible. "Cream, Silver. They're cream. And I don't why my hair isn't the same color as them? It's not normal."
Gabriel rolls his eyes. "Dad had cream wings and red hair too. She got it from him."
Cage grabs the arm of his seat, giggling. "I mean she met Robby, right? Ugh, I feel like no one met Robby."
Silver raised an eyebrow, watching Kissa's outburst with skepticism. "Okay… I still don't really understand. But anyway; should I dye my hair?" she looked up at Gabriel.
Miki nodded. "Yeah, I don't remember if she really even talked to her. I talked to her. She was awesome. I hope we get to see her again. Robby is a much better representation of normal humans than I am."
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Kissa heads into the basement, her wings still visible.
Gabriel gives a small shrug. "I like it blonde."
Violet looks over her shoulder to give them a soft smile.
Adorable.
Cage laughs. "She really is. I bet ya Ben knows a few normal people. None that we could meet probably though."
Silver grinned and rolled her eyes. "So we're back to square one. Wait– what if I got white highlights?? Then it would still be blond but also white."
Miki laughed. " 'a few normal people'. Yeah, somewhere, I guess. But he'd never let us meet them. They probably think he's weird."
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Gabriel tilts his head a little to the left. "Whatever you want."
Cage nods. "Probably. Maybe. I don't know, he's more of exactly what you'd call a temperamental Russian. Scary, big, looks angry, may or may not cuss, has a thick accent, dark hair, fair skin, will kill you."
Silver poked him. "I'm trying to get other opinions, Gabriel! If you let me do whatever I want, who knows what I'll end up with." she laughed and turned to Vi again. "Do you know how to dye hair? Could you do highlights on me?"
Miki laughed really hard again and turned down the street to their house. "It's so accurate. And then–SURPRISE he also controls fire and will burn your house down."
