Chapter Text
Quote is awoken by the faint glow of the morning sunrays gracing his face. Surprisingly, it’s not the light that wakes him, it’s the warmth. He can feel it heating up his face, dragging him out of his pretty decent dream. He must have fallen asleep with his prescription sunglasses on, because when he opens his eyes, he’s actually able to make out the details of his sun-bathed room, and not just uncategorized floating blobs. He tiredly hides his head in protest, feeling the cold glass press against his eyelids.
“Hrm… just five more minutes”. The sound is muffled by the abundance of blankets, piled up and stacked like a cocoon. Or a weird dragons hoard. Or a pile of pancakes. Great, now he’s hungry. Quote moves, and the pile shifts with him. Groaning tiredly, he pushes himself up on his elbows, in an attempt to get himself out of bed, but the sweet embrace of his 40+ blanket tower is quick to draw him back in. He makes it about five centimeters before his eyes flutter shut.
Then, BOOM! His stomach awakes from its slumber, and quite rudely decides that he needs food, and that he needs it now. The sheer pain of his tummy-ache is enough to drive him to his feet. Quote sighs. He needs some cereal.
When he opens his door, he is quick to notice that something is wrong. The living room is filled with faded tire tracks. They don’t look fresh, yet they must be new, they weren’t there when quote went to sleep. The living room is also filled with unfamiliar faces. One of the strangers, a bewinged troll, with yet black eyes, is quick to approach him.
His tummy might be screaming for help, but that’s no excuse to be rude. He holds out his hand for the stranger to shake. “Ello. I’m Quote. I don’t think we’ve met, you must be new.” The stranger gives him a puzzled look. “Uhm. Not really. I’ve been here since like… uhh… ” The bird guy squints his eyes. “Halloween?”
“…what?”
“Yeah, we stole pumpkins from the farmer and everything. Poor Study got trauma dumped on by the farmer”, he snickers. Quote is still frozen in his confusion. The stranger cocks his head, kind of like a bird. “Now that you mention it, I don’t recall meeting you before”, they chirp, “I’m Pie.”
“Uh. Pleasure to meet you, Pie.” Bible, he must be hungry, he can’t even remember the poor fella. “I think I have to be on my way, you know, breakfast and everything.” He hurries towards the kitchen before Pie can question him anything further.
He stops right by the doorframe. “Weird”, he mutters. The wall around the kitchen door is dusted with a faint layer of… soot? He believes? He lets his fingers dust over the charcoal powder. What happened to the kitchen? The door itself seems untouched. In fact, someone must have cleaned it, because it looks brand new. He dusts off the soot on the hem of his sweater, before opening the door.
It’s gorgeous. Everything he could dream of, actually.
Marine blue cabinets framing the walls, shiny counter tops, a working, stainless steel sink. “Oh. My. Bible.” He feels dizzy, he needs to sit down. Propping himself against the fridge, a realization dawns on him. Theres no way this was built within a day. “How long have I been out…”, he mumbles to no one in particular. His stomach answers him with a growl. Right, food.
He begins searching the kitchen, starting with the upper cabinets closest to the door. This was where he kept the cereal in their old kitchen. What greets him is a stack of wheat biscuits. He sighs, moving on to the next cabinet. It is empty. He continues his search, his desperation growing as he finds yet another empty cabinet. Then there’s cutlery, baking supplies, vegetables, bowls, and anything you’d like in your kitchen.
But there’s no cereal.
He double checks everything. The horrifying fact must be accepted; there’s no milk, and there’s no cereal.
Quote is sprawled out down on the floor. He’s empty. Both in a poetic way, and in a hungry way. A single tear drips down on the pretty floor. He shakes his head, determination plastered to his face. No. He won’t give up. Dramatically, he staggers to his feet, gripping the countertop like the floor might crumble beneath him. The bible dusts himself off and heads out of the kitchen.
He likes to think that he looks really cool, as he reenters the living room. Unfortunately, the room is empty, with no one to notice his coolness. Or maybe fortunately, seeing as he, in fact, doesn’t look that cool. His chest is puffed out way too much, making him look more like a threatened bird, than anything else. Maybe he’d look cool if someone filmed him in slow motion. We’ll give him that.
A door opens, and Racoon appears, shuffling towards their room. At least Quote believes the creature is Racoon. The last time he checked, the Racoon he knows didn’t look like a gargoyle. But a man on a mission doesn’t care about such minor details.
“Hey raccoon! Wait up!” Raccoon stops and slowly turns their head. Their eyes are tired, but Quote can see a hint of confusion forming in them, as they take in Quote’s existence. Their expression shifts as they recognize Quote, giving them a soft smile. “Hey.” Quote returns the smile. “Long time no see”, she continues, “Where you been?”.
“Uh, just in my room. Sleeping.”
“You’ve been sleeping for nine months??”
“I’ve been gone for nine months??”
Racoon laughs. Small giggles that make their shoulder shake. It makes Quote happy to see their “old” friend laugh. “I like your wings. How’d you get them?”
“Oh, you’ve been gone for a loooong time,” He giggles. “I got this back in October, maybe even September.” They shake their head. “it’s a long story.”
Quote smiles, but then remembers why he came to talk o Racoon in the first place. “Right. I’d love to hear about that later, but I just remember that I have some pretty important matters put into my hands right now. Raccoon, we have a problem.”
Racoon frowns. “Oh.” Their shoulders tense up. “What’s wrong?”
“Theres no more cereal.”
“Oh. Oh, ok”, she breathes, some calmness returning to her expression. Quote continues. “At least not in the kitchen, I’ve checked every pantry and every drawer. Please tell me there’s more cereal somewhere. Please, please, please.” Quote is practically begging at this point. ¨
The other bible stops for a moment, seemingly in thought. “I don’t think we have any more cereal, if it isn’t in the kitchen.” Quote lets out a whine. “BUT I’m pretty sure they have something at #the store. Have you checked there yet?”
“Ah.” That’s true. That’s a thing. “No, uh I didn’t think about that.” He laughs. “Thank you.”
Racoon smiles. “You’re welcome”. Then they stop, seemingly in thought again. Their smile fades. “I’m gonna go lay down a bit. It’s nice seeing you around again.” They trail off, opening the door to their room, stumbling inside with a sigh.
Huh. It’s weird seeing Racoon in such a gloomy mood. Quote quietly wonders what troubles him. A wave of guilt washes over him, as he recaps how long he’s been out. They’ve probably gone through a lot. Not just Racoon, but all of them. He’s missed out on almost a year. Worry is starting to lure its way into his brain. How can he be a good friend, when he doesn’t even know what he’s been going through?
He feels distant.
No. He shakes his head, shaking off the feeling with the motion. Racoon is probably just sad because there’s no cereal in the house.
Quote nods to himself. Yeah. He’ll get the cereal, and everything will be alright. After all, a house is not a home without cereal. He takes a deep breath before plastering on a smile and heading out, towards #The store.