Mangle sat up to the panicked cry of It yelling, “Where am I?!” at 7 in the morning.
It ran in the room and gasped, freezing. Then, 10 seconds later, she exclaimed. “Dad! We moved yesterday! I can’t believe it!”
Mangle sat up in bed and patted the space next to them for It to join them. She did. “So, after that brief bout of panic, what are you thinking?”
It considered. “You took me away from the beach before I was ready to go.”
Mangle laughed. “You passed out in the back of the car!”
“That doesn’t mean I was ready to leave!”
“Okay, okay. What else are you thinking?”
“I can still feel sand,” she muttered.
Mangle got up and found a towel. “Want me to scrub you down?”
It nodded. The towel was relentless, until It yelled, “Stop! It’s gone, it’s gone!”
Mangle threw the towel in a laundry basket. “You hungry?” they asked.
“Starving,” It admitted.
“Let’s go down to this convenience store I know for breakfast. We can get groceries afterward, and then I have a few things I have to do.”
“Like what?”
“Legal stuff. Making this my place of residence, officializing papers, keeping my sister from suing me when I tell her where I’ve been for 2 years…”
It laughed.
“You laugh but I’m serious.”
It shrugged. “Still funny.”
They went out to the car for It’s clothes and she changed quickly, applying pressure to the back of her shirt via her wings until she had holes she could slip them into. Mangle sighed but said nothing. They went out to the local Wawa (how they survived the stock crash, Mangle didn’t know but were glad for it,) and got an omelette and 2 pancakes before heading out to the nearest grocery store, in Ocean View. They stocked up on milk, eggs, bread, non perishables, assorted fruit and vegetables, and (at It’s request) corn. Once done they went to a thrift store and got It some winter clothes that Mangle was positive she’d grow into, a jacket, and several sets of pajamas. Mangle got towels, some pajamas for themself, and a few washcloths, as well as shoes and socks for both of them. All of this happened extremely quickly as Mangle didn’t want the food to spoil. They headed out to the car and drove home, putting the food away and then folding up clothes in the loft for It. “Y’know what I like most about the loft?” It asked.
“What?” Mangle responded.
“I have my own bathroom,” she grinned. “And it has a shower! I didn’t get to shower a lot before, but now I can whenever I want!”
Mangle laughed. “That’s gonna rack up the water bill.”
It stopped folding. “Dad…”
Mangle looked up. “Yeah?”
“You said that you had a sister…” she trailed off.
Mangle nodded. “Which means you have an aunt. And two grandparents, and two cousins, as well as several 2nd and 3rd cousins, possibly a great aunt or uncle, and me.”
It grinned. “I like that.”
Mangle went back to folding. “Good to hear. Because I’d hate to have to unadopt you.”
It giggled. “Shut up,” she said.
Mangle smiled. “Why? Because I’m annoying you? I thought dads did that.”
It rolled her eyes, and looked down at the living room. “Can I watch TV?”
Mangle looked up. “Sure, but I’m not sure if you’d like all the cartoons nowadays. They just talk about friendship and how everyone is important, which you already know. But, there are some cartoons that were old when I was a kid but were still good. I can find those pretty quickly on MovieSubs, they just aren’t on actual TV channels.”
It nodded. “Sounds good. Do they have any learning ones like my books?”
“Oh, yeah, tons. I’ll show you.”
It grinned and leaped from the loft, flying to the ground. Mangle shook their head and walked down the steps like a sane person. They turned on the TV and booted up MovieSubs, scrolling through the listings, and making a special list for It consisting of Bill Nye: The Science Guy, The Magic School Bus, Octonauts, Wild Kratts, Zoboomafoo, and several others. “The information might be a bit outdated in some of them, but The Magic School Bus was updated around when I was born, and Bill Nye is just an all around classic.”
It reached for the remote and looked through the shows. “What’s Octonauts?” she asked.
“A bunch of animals who travel around the ocean rescuing other animals, and learning about them.”
“Cool!” It exclaimed, putting it on.
As the theme started, Mangle pulled out their tablet and started the change of address forms. Then they pulled up their chat with Sam.
Jess: Hey, Sam, funny story…
Sam: ?!?!?! “Funny story”?! You were on the news, Jess! I thought you might have died! What the heck happened?
Jess: I adopted.
Jess: Sam?
Sam: I read your post. What? How? Why? Oh gosh, you stole the kid from the labs, didn’t you?!
Jess: Technically I adopted her, and she had every right to go with me.
Sam: Jess...You’re an idiot. Where are you?!
Jess: The beach house in Bethany. It and I have decided to move in.
Sam: “It”?
Jess: The kid. Her legal name is Bethany, but to friends and family she has been and will always remain “It”.
Sam: I don’t want to know.
Jess: You really don’t.
Sam: I’m visiting. Ben and Rachel are going to be all too happy to visit the beach, and I can yell at you for you stupidity. And meet my new niece, since you were so inconsiderate as to not introduce me to her before you adopted.
Jess: She was excited about you earlier.
Sam: Shut up.
Sam: You’re trying to get on my good side, Jess, I know all your schemes.
Sam: You’re still dead.
Jess: Well It will be very upset by that.
Sam: Can I say hi to her, at any rate?
Jess: She is currently enthralled by Octonauts, but I can get her attention.
Sam: No, I’ll see her today.
Jess: Today?!
Sam: Yup. Today. Ben and Rachel are packing now. We’ll be there by 10 am. You better open the door.
Jess: Provided I haven’t passed out from going to the beach with It, I’ll still be up. It probably will be, too.
Sam: You’re a terrible parent. :D
Jess: Love you too.
It crawled over to the screen. “Watcha doin’?” she asked.
“Typing your aunt. Want to say hi?”
It nodded enthusiastically.
“Ok, hang on, I’ll set up a Skype.”
The screen changed and started to connect with Sam. The woman was a bit irked until she saw the cherubic face staring at her. “Hello! Who’s this cutie?!” she gushed.
“This is It, sis,” Mangle said.
It grinned and looked at Mangle. “She’s really pretty!” she decided.
Sam laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, It. I’m your Aunt Sam. I hope you don’t mind, I’m driving up with your cousins to see you! We’ll be there in 2 hours. Make sure your dad doesn’t fall asleep by then, old people will do that!”
It laughed. Mangle scowled. “This coming from the older one.”
“Oh, calm down, smart one, you know I’m teasing!”
Mangle grumbled. “Doesn’t make it any less annoying.”
It looked between the two, fascinated. “Jess, your kid’s trying to psychoanalyse us,” Sam laughed.
“What’s psy-cho-ana-lyse?” It asked.
“You’re trying to figure out why we say what we say.”
“Oh!” It exclaimed. “Yeah.”
Sam laughed. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to you in two hours, okay? In person.”
It grinned. “Okay. Bye Aunt Sam!” and she crawled off Mangle’s lap and went back to watching Octonauts.
“Quite the kid you’re raising, Jess.”
“You’re one to talk, Sam.”
Sam grinned. “See you soon, sib.”
“See you.”
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