Chapter Text
“And to this day the beautiful sister can never look at her reflection. Even if it’s in a window…even if it’s in a puddle of water. If she ever sees her own eyes looking back at her the demon will take possession of her body. She will be forced to spend eternity trapped inside her own mind, feeling nothing but fear and pain,” Copia watched as Terzo rested his hands behind his back and let his audience absorb the ending.
The stupid smug bastard.
“Yes my little ghoul, do you have a question?” Copia whipped his head around and glared as Dewdrop lowered his hand. The little gremlin had sat perfectly still the entire time, never interrupting Papa once. The ghoul didn’t even touch any of the s’mores that were being made while Papa spoke. Terzo had brought two sisters out with him and they had quietly made them while he told his tale, passing them out to Copia’s ghouls with little smug smiles on their faces.
“Can she look at pictures of herself?” Copia scoffed and rolled his eyes. Of course she could look at pictures of herself! A picture was not the same as a reflection. He crossed his arms over his chest and began to shake his head but he stopped and turned when he heard a growling sound. Aether’s head was turned his way and Copia could see the glow of his purple irises through the lenses. Alright, fine.
“Thank you Dewdrop that’s actually an excellent question,” Even through his mask it was easy to see that Dew was preening under the praise. Sunshine leaned over and knocked her shoulder against him. A quick grin full of fangs flashing in the opening of her mask. What in the fuck was happening? Did Terzo drug his ghouls?
“You see, the poor sister can technically look at pictures of herself. She can even have her picture taken! But everytime she looks at them she only sees the demon staring back at her. It only appears to her, but it’s there no matter how old it is. It could be a picture of her as a baby or one someone just took of her today.” Copia heard Swiss mutter about how horrible that was and honestly what the fuck? He was about to grab one of the sticks the sisters used to roast marshmallows with and stab himself in the face.
“Alright, well I hope everyone had fun! Tummies full of chocolate and marshmallows yeah?” Terzo stood up and gently cupped Cumulus’s chin. When he let go she leaned into Cirrus and they giggled together. Maybe Copia should just summon a whole batch of new ghouls. Really mean ones. Terzo motioned to the sisters he brought with him and they started to gather up their supplies.
“Wait, don’t worry Papa, we’ll clean up!” Rain chirped from his place between Aether and Mountain. Lucifer even Rain had been enthralled. Like Papa was some sort of warlock. Honestly that made sense. What else would’ve made his ghouls sit there and listen to that story without interrupting? No one even stole food or bit each other!
“Thank you, sweet Rain. You are always so helpful, actually all of you are. I’m sure our Cardinal knows how lucky he is, eh?” Copia gritted his teeth at the sight of Mountain shaking his head ‘no’. All. New. Ghouls. “Alright ladies, let’s go back to my room and uh, clean up a bit yeah?” The sisters giggled as they each held onto an arm and made their way from the fire and back towards the abbey. Dewdrop even waved at them as they passed.
Copia watched as his soon to be unemployed ghouls began to pick up after Papa. They were talking with each other excitedly. Probably fawning over Papa and how good his story was. How delicious the s’mores were. His stupid handsome face.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a throat clear. Terzo and his companions had stopped right next to Copia and were whispering to each other. The sisters smiled and let go of Terzo to keep walking towards the abbey. Papa lightly slapped their asses as they left his side and their giggles echoed around the campfire.
Copia remained perfectly still as Terzo’s attention switched to him. Copia looked at him warily, unsure of what was going through the man’s head. Papa stepped up close to Copia and then leaned in to his ear, “Well that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Papa stepped back and gave Copia a wink and then went to jog after the sisters.
Smug fucking asshole.