Chapter Text
The first few nights after “the Moon incident” were unsettling to say the least. The wreckage rising over the horizon instead of the whole, beautiful Moon felt like a metaphor for the onslaught of bad news in recent days. A bombing in Tokyo, unsanctioned military testing in Russia, an attack on a government facility in London, and a secret superweapon stolen, primed, and nearly fired onto the planet sounded like the plot of an action flick too many sequels into its premise.
Despite it all, the world kept turning. Mail needed to be fetched, tea needed to be brewed, and tomorrow morning, fences needed to be mended. On a ranch house in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, a woman reclined in her patio chair, nursing a glass of tea after a hard day. Flyaway hairs from her bun stuck to her slightly sweaty face, just enough to be annoying but not enough to fix it. Taking in a deep breath, Olivia enjoyed the last few minutes of the sunset. Another peaceful day on the peaceful planet.
BANG.
Olivia startled, dropping the half-empty glass. “What in the world…?” She muttered as she got up carefully. Frowning first at the mess on her porch, then out into the field where the sound came from, a few thoughts rose in her head. Might be a neighbor messing around with fireworks, might be an out of season hunter getting one last trophy for the night, might be someone scaring off some critter who woke up just a bit early. There’s plenty of normal reasons for that abnormal noise, she kept telling herself. But, this has definitely been the most abnormal week in Olivia’s admittedly boring life, so what’s one more thing to tip it over the edge? Eyeing the broom propped up against the wall for all of ten seconds, Olivia stepped over the broken glass into the house, ignoring it completely. She grabbed a small flashlight and hopped off the porch with purpose. “Just a quick look for now, I’ll check it out more thoroughly tomorrow.” Olivia reassured herself, clicked on the flashlight, and walked into the increasing darkness.
It didn’t take long to find the site of the noise. On the corner of her property, Olivia tripped into a crater. A crater that definitely didn’t exist earlier that morning. She spat some loose dirt out of her mouth and started sweeping the flashlight around. “Well now… what do we have here? Moon rocks?” Olivia whistled low as she hauled herself to her feet. The crater was a bit of a mess, branches and half-burnt brush littered around the basin. She took a few steps forward, and a strong static shock shot up her foot. “Agh, shit! Maybe not moon rocks… what are you?” Olivia picked up the offending foot to find a black wiry thing underneath. Using the edge of her shirt, she gently grasped the spike and brought it up to the light. The more she studied it, the more confused she got. It was almost completely black, but faded out to a more reddish color at the tip. If she hadn’t just been zapped by it, Olivia would’ve thought it was animal hair. Really long, really stiff cow hair, or something like that. Frowning, she looked around again and sure enough, there were more scattered around the basin. “O… kay, so someone’s probably missing a cow. I can work with… that…” The flashlight’s scanning stopped on something gold glinting in the dirt. Stuffing the black hair in her back pocket (and getting a tiny zap as punishment), Olivia crouched down in the dirt next to the buried treasure and plucked it from the earth. It looked like a chunky costume bracelet, but its weight proved how real it was. It didn’t zap her like the weird cow hair did, but it did hum with power. It was uncomfortable to hold, and a little creepy. “You might be my mystery debris.” Olivia hummed, eyes fixed on the jewelry. “You fell from… wherever, made a big bang. Then, someone’s cattle got spooked by the noise, hopped the fence, tripped through my new lawn feature, which scattered the hair.” She shoved the bracelet in her other back pocket and dusted off her hands. “Whey, mystery solved! Time for bed, we’ll find the missing heifer in the morning.” Everything explained, she walked back to the house. It’ll all make more sense in the morning light. Everything does. The contentment of a successful outing, combined with dropping adrenaline, protected Olivia from feeling a glare from the darkness boring into her back.
Back in the kitchen, Olivia pulled her prizes out of her pockets and laid them out on the counter. “Yep, weird night. We’ll see what the morning brings.” She yawned, hit the lights, and with one last tiny wave to the inanimate objects on her counter, fell into the warm embrace of her bed.
The next morning, only one prize greeted Olivia in the morning. “What the hell? Where’d the bracelet go?!” She exclaimed, searching all around the counter. There was no bracelet, just dust, dirt, and a few more hairs to match the one she took last night. “Well, I guess you didn’t come from a cow… so who are you?” Olivia gathered the rest of the strands with a thoughtful expression. Out of curiosity, she poked the reddish tip of the hair, and swore quietly as it pricked and shocked her simultaneously. “Sharp? Like a spine? Weird…” She put the bundle of spines down and sucked on the bleeding fingertip. Olivia walked out onto the porch to the second surprise of the day: the mess from last night was gone. The world’s most polite burglar had swept up all the glass, wiped down the wood the tea had splattered on, and even had the audacity to straighten the cushions. Another pair of spines gave away their identity, which Olivia dutifully grabbed and added to the pile inside. She laughed quietly to herself, admiring the pile of evidence. “You’re probably long gone, but thanks I guess. Wasn’t looking forward to finding bits of broken glass in my feet two weeks down the line.” Olivia smiled sheepishly at the half dozen black quills sitting innocently on her counter. She let herself hold it for a few seconds more, then let the weight of responsibility settle back across her shoulders. World’s most polite burglar or not, the garden still needed tending and now the fences needed checking more than ever. Olivia sighed, squared her shoulders, and with one last glance at the spines, stepped out of the house and back to her regular adult life.
The morning passed without much incident. The crater from last night was still there in the corner, though it looked much smaller than it had seemed last night. Out of habit, she picked up the rest of the spines to add to the growing collection back home. With the debris picked up and a cursory glance at the fences to check for breaks, Olivia shrugged and decided that was enough of a patrol for today. She clapped her hands together and let herself grin. “Garden time!” She half sang, a small skip in her step as she headed to her second favorite spot: her garden shed.
Olivia had always been taken with growing plants, so when the opportunity to leave the city behind to maintain a tiny plot and farmhouse, she jumped at the chance to live out her idyllic dreams. Five years in had rubbed some of the glamour away, but watching and helping the little plants in her garden flourish renewed her love every time. Humming lightly to herself, Olivia pulled her keys out of her pocket and - the door was already open. “Did I forget to lock up yesterday? Odd.” She frowned and pushed the door open. Everything looked like it was in its right place, so even if the world’s most polite burglar had been here, they hadn’t messed with anything. Olivia shook herself. “Get a grip girl. Sheesh.” She tugged her gloves on with more force than necessary, and almost missed the sunlight bouncing off an oddly familiar bracelet. Olivia did a double take. Yup, that was definitely the bracelet from last night, peeking out strangely from the folds of her winter tarp pile. “Guess the burglar left you behind after all.” She crouched down, and reached out for the trinket.
Several things happened at once. As her hand closed down around the bracelet, a shockwave erupted from the pile of tarps. Olivia was flung backwards with a yell, slamming against the door with a loud crack. With the tarps disturbed, a low growl filled the whole shed. A pair of red red eyes glared murder at her from the pile, daring her to try that again. Olivia put her hands up in full surrender. “Easy there bud, I’m not gonna hurt you. You, uh, you okay?” The growling abruptly ceased, and those red eyes finally broke their staring contest, darting around the shed. If Olivia was a betting woman, she’d almost think they were confused. Confused, easily startled, defensive to the point of aggression? Sounds like a wounded animal to me. Olivia felt her mouth twist into a grim line. “Hey, uh bud? Stay put, I’ll be right back.” She said, getting up slowly. The growling didn’t start again, but the eyes tracked her every movement. She swallowed her fear and backed out of the shed, her mind racing a million miles an hour.
“What the fuck, what the fuck…” Olivia muttered as she escaped to the house. Sure, this wouldn’t have been the first or the tenth raccoon she’d sheltered, but that was no damn raccoon. She thought for a brief moment about calling the police, or animal control, but shook it free as soon as it came. Who’d believe her? And if her hunch was right and it was hurt, sending it off to a pound somewhere or worse felt wrong. A plan began to form in her mind. It probably needed something warmer than those tarps, and it probably needed food and water. Moving with purpose, Olivia grabbed some roast chicken from a few nights ago, threw it in the microwave, and started hunting for a spare blanket. Once the microwave began beeping, she reemerged from the spare room with a thick, dark green blanket that had seen better days, but it was still plenty warm. Grabbing the tupperware of now room-temperature chicken, a pair of plastic cups, and her thermos of water, Olivia felt ready for battle. She bundled everything up and marched back out to the shed, praying to anyone that would listen that this wasn’t a horrible idea.
A few feet from the ajar shed door, those intense red eyes snapped open. This was a horrible idea. Olivia swallowed it all down and put what was hopefully a reassuring smile on her face. “Hey, I’m back. Glad you’re still here, I brought you some stuff.” She settled down in the far corner and started unloading. She put the container of chicken down first and popped the lid of her thermos off. Those red eyes never left her hands. Olivia poured some water out and placed it next to the chicken. As she folded and refolded the blanket, there was no movement from her new friend(?) in the tarp pile. “You can go ahead, that’s for you.” She smiled softly and laid the blanket next to the other offerings. “That is, too. Go on.” The red eyes narrowed, darting between her and the water with a furrow. God, not even some humans with their whole faces were so expressive. Picking up on the problem. Olivia emptied the rest of the thermos into her own cup, settled back against the wall and took a sip. “See? Just water. Nothing weird here.” She lifted her up to the tarp pile in a toast, hoping that would put them at ease.
If she hadn’t been watching those eyes, she would have missed it. One moment, those eyes were calculating something. Then in a flash of amber light, all three gifts were gone, and the tarp pile changed. Those red eyes peeked out through a gap in the blanket, and the cup was being held - with gloved, human-like hands - just in front of the mass. The chicken container was empty, sitting next to the makeshift nest. Olivia felt her jaw drop. How did all of that happen so fast? The little creature adjusted the blanket slightly to take a sip of their own, revealing a tan muzzle. The blankets fell back into place. It seemed to relish in her confusion, if the smugness radiating from their eyes was any indication. She huffed, taking another sip. “Well that’s one way to do that…” Olivia studied the blanket covered lump in front of her. It was exceptionally good at hiding. Only its eyes and hands were exposed, adorned with a matching set of those bracelets. Wonder if they’re meaningful. They seem to care about them, if the break-in and explosion were any indication. She mused. She wasn’t sure if they were sitting or standing, but the lump couldn’t be larger than a child. Olivia grimaced at that errant comparison - she did not need that little shot to the heart. They were clearly intelligent, and if they didn't have anywhere to go, they could certainly do worse than here. Am I really about to do this? … Your funeral babe. Olivia drained the rest of her cup and locked eyes with the mysterious figure. “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. You can either stay here and hang out, I’ll bring ya food and stuff, and just don’t like, explode me with your mind for getting my shears. Or, you can come into the house, same deal, you just get a bed instead of a pile of tarps. Door’s usually locked, but you didn’t have any issues with that last night, didja?” Those red eyes darted down into their cup - at least they had some shame. Olivia sat still, waiting for some kind of response for an uncomfortably long time. Eventually, they placed the cup down gently next to the empty tupperware and ensconced themself fully into the blanket, hiding those bracelets skillfully into the folds. They finally returned her gaze and slowly shook their head no. Their answer given, the lump shifted lower into the nest and shut their eyes.
Olivia continued to sit to just process what the hell happened. They could definitely understand her, and had probably spent time around humans long enough to pick up stuff like nodding or shaking your head. The signal was pretty clear though - they didn’t want to move. She hauled herself on her feet and dusted off her jeans. “Welp, I’ll get out of our hair, or spines, now I guess. Make yourself comfortable, bud. Seeya later.” She grabbed a few tools off the shelf, waved goodbye to the little lump, and quietly shut the door.
It took all of thirty seconds working in the garden for everything to hit. Olivia stabbed her shovel under a weed, and began laughing. “What… what the hell man… The smartest, most polite little raccoon… taking a nap in my goddamn shed! Hah! World really has gone crazy this week!” She doubled over her tomatoes, laughter bubbling out of her throat. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she quietly hoped it was from the hysteria. “Little Sly Cooper, cooped up in my shed… probably injured and… definitely alone…” The laughter dried up in Olivia’s throat, but the tears kept coming. Alone, injured, maybe scared out of their mind and just trying to survive. Just like her. A weight settled into Olivia’s stomach and a single thought crystalized.
They’ll be okay. I’ll take care of them, as long as it takes.