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Beckket lied awake, sprawled out across their apartment floor in a dissociative state.
They had spent the entire night tying strings and scrawling on papers to the point of exhaustion.
Their muscles ached, their throat ached, and worst of all they couldn't sleep no matter how hard they tried to pass out!
It was agonizing, ridiculous even!
Until the door to their room creeaakked open, the light burning into their retinas.
“Youse should really stop doing dis Beckks”
It was John, here to scold him about his “irresponsible habits” once more! Greeeaaattt!
“Don't you have anything better to do than scolding me like a child?”
He snapped back, grinding his teeth a bit as an intentional bite slipped through his voice.
“I do’s actually! Me n Percy were thinking of driving down to DriftCoral Harbor and having a beach day! We’s thought it could be good for youse!”
“All the way to the harbor? Isn't that like- a 2 hour drive from the city?”
“Yeah, days why we’s started early! Do you even know what time it is?”
The empathy in their voice made him stutter a bit. Why should the time matter to him?
“Isn't it like- I don't know- 4AM????”
“Beckks… its 7AM, youse been awake for hours”
7AM??? WHEN THE HECK DID IT BECOME 7AM???? HOW LONG WAS HE HALF-ALIVE ON THE FLOOR FOR????
“...”
“...”
“I knew that-”
“I think dis just told me all I needed to knows…”
Percy leaned in, carrying her notepad as she always did before showing to Beckket from across the room.
The words: “ur coming with us >:3” were written in neon pink sharpie.
And he knew at this point that he was just trying to avoid the inevitable.
“Fiiinnneee!!! Let's goooooo…”
“YIPPPEEEE!!!”
John was a grown ass person and Percy was a grown ass man/woman and they were both jumping for joy at the mere idea of taking their roommate to the beach.
How did he end with people like this?
…
…
“Beckks”
…
“Beckks?”
…
“Beckks!”
“Ack! Whaddya want?”
John startled them out of their train of thought.
They had been on the road for around an hour now and Percy was the one driving so there wasn't much conversation happening between the 3 until now.
Beckket was wasting her time by staring out the window and thinking about her theories.
The closer they got to the harbor the more missing posters for some guy kept popping up.
Beckket remembered taking one of the ones in the city down and sticking it onto her corkboard because “it had to be related to the labs SOMEHOW!”
This family must've been REALLY desperate to spread them so far out across the area… it made her uncomfortable…
…
John leaned over their seat, smiling the moment their friend acknowledged them.
“Youse hasn't gotten to pick a song yet!”
“Seriously?”
She squinted, that's what they want?
“Yeah! Me n Percy have been controlling the radio the entire time but youse hasn't gotten to choose yet!”
They radiated an optimism that she couldn't dare to crush so she had to comply with this obvious plot to try and get her to be more “social”.
“I don't know! Just put on some Lime Imp or something!”
“Youse sure you don't want anything specific?”
“Nothing I can really think of, I'm not a music person John”
“Really? Never woulda guessed considering you have such a nice singing voice!”
Her face flushed red from the sudden compliment, anxiety making its presence known immediately after.
“THATS MIKE! MIKE HAS A NICE SINGING VOICE!”
“But youse is Mike?”
She froze, mentally readjusting her thoughts and thinking…
“Right… BUT THAT STILL DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING! MIKES THE MUSIC GUY! MIKE LIKES TO SING! NOT ME!”
“But youse always haves such a good time doing it!”
“MIKE has a good time doing it! MIKE is the one who sings! My voice sucks!”
“But you ARE Mike??? His voice is yours??? Dis is gettin confusin…”
How were they not getting this??? Just because she was Mike didn't mean that she liked doing what Mike liked doing!!
Well… MAYBE she did BUT THOSE ARE MIKE THINGS! NOT HER THINGS!!!
HER VOICE JUST SOUNDS BETTER WITH THE MAKEUP AND SUIT OK?
THERE'S NO WAY SHE CAN BE AS GOOD A SINGER AS MIKE IS!!
“Ugh… just- pick a song for me… please…”
John gave her that oh so sour look of pity before putting on Mask of Someone Else's Face and the car returned to silence…
…
…
Percy fired off 2 fake shots to tell them that they were here.
“QUIT IT YOU LUNATIC! YOUR GONNA GET THE COPS ON US!!”
he frowned before scribbling down: “but they were fake :<”
“DO YOU THINK THE COPS WILL KNOW THEY WERE FAKE???”
he wrote down a very confident “yes >:3”
And so Beckket silently got out of the car with no opposition whatsoever.
There was no negotiating with Percy when he was that confident with his own tomfoolery.
“Hmmm where do we’s head first?”
“Anywhere I don't have to think-”
Percy held up his notepad: “ICE CREAM!!! :D”
“well da jury has decided… ICE CREAM!”
the 3 of them rushed to the harbor’s local sea salt ice cream shop and each selected their flavors.
John got Rocky road and fudge
Percy got strawberry/raspberry blend and lemon twist
And he got pistachio and sea salt caramel
Obviously the best combination of the 3!
“We's should go eat dese on da beach! Dat way we have a nice view of da ocean while we enjoy our treats!”
“Tha honestly doesn't sound like too bad of an idea! As long as it's not too close to where the ships are docked”
Percy took out her notepad and very smugly wrote down: "I know a shortcut to the BEST spot!!! >:3”
John’s already bright smile grew even brighter as they let out a slight giggle in response to Percy’s smug attitude
“Alright den buddy! Lead da way!”
“AY AY WAIT! Are we suurreee we trust Percy to locate a good spot? What if this is a prank?”
He squinted as the 2 followed her footsteps to an area that had no people in it.
“Im sure she wouldn't pull a prank on a day like dis! Besides, she seems ta know where she's going!”
She ushered them past a road that led to a scenic viewpoint and towards a small patch of beach that was beside it, completely devoid of people and blocked off by a chain link fence with a suspiciously Percy shaped hole already cut into it.
“Of course this is where you take us, why am I not surprised that you somehow managed to commit a crime here BEFORE I met you?”
John completely ignored his remark and instead ruffled Percy’s hat and called her a stinker before ducking down through the hole in the fence themself.
Eh, wouldn't be the worst crime he committed! He followed behind John, violating yet another law.
“Good find Perc! Dis place is GORGEOUS!”
“Eh, it's fine, Better than the crowded beach that everyone else uses!”
He immediately flopped onto the sand (bad idea) while the other 2 emptied their bags (which he did not bring).
But while the other 2 were setting up towels and umbrellas, she caught sight of something…
Something was floating above the water, something purple and… crown? Shaped??? What the heck was that????
When she approached to try and pick it up she saw something beneath the waves before the strange object vanished underneath the water! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT???
The other 2 had just finished setting up their spots on the beach (and also brought extra stuff to give her a spot since she didn't bring her things) before she rushed back towards her roommates.
“BOYS, WE GOTTA MYSTERY TO SOLVE!!”
“What kinda mystery bawss?”
Percy looked at her with confusion
“THE MYSTERY OF WHAT THE HELL THE THING I JUST SAW IN THE WATER WAS!!!”
“youse sure it wasn't just trash?”
Percy nodded
“NOPE! trash doesn't DIVE when you approach it! Neither does it hover above a weird… animal??? THING?????”
“dat does sound strange…”
Percy nodded once again with a “serious” look on his face
“THEN WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR??? LETS GO ASK THE LOCALS ABOUT IT!!!”
“ok!! Oh! Wait, I brought your camera! Just for an occasion like dis!”
she immediately snatched her camera and hung it around her neck, perfect position to be ready at all times!
“PERFECT! ALRIGHT BOYS, LETS GO HUNT US A SEA MONSTER!!!”
…
…
“YOU! FISHERMAN! Have you seen anything STRANGE in these waters?”
Beckket rushed up to the man, prying for any information from any sources she could!
“Huh? Uhhh- how strange?”
“Like a weird thingy in da water!”
“THAT'S TOO VAGUE OF A DESCRIPTION!!”
Percy held up an artist's interpretation of what Beckket had seen
The ginger headed man seemed to recognize it a little.
“Oooohhh! You mean the giant sea krait people have seen on the coast lately?”
“Giant sea krait?”
“Yeah! A huuggeee purple sea snake that hangs out in the water near the veiwpoint! People say it's some kinda mutant from an oil spill that happened a few years back, but I don't believe that! Why ya asking?”
“BECAUSE I SAW IT!!! AND AS A SEEKER OF THE TRUTH I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IT IS!!”
“well I recommend being careful, a kid went missing awhile back and hanging out too close to the water without knowing the tides can be dangerous!”
“We'll keeps dat in mind!”
Percy crossed his heart in a dramatic way
“WELL COME ON GUYS!! we gotta get a better look at this thing!!!”
He rushed back towards the beach in a hurry.
“Bye Mr fisherguuuuyyy!”
John followed behind him while waving to the fisherman
“Percy did a dramatic bow before catching up to John and waving like they did
…
…
“Youse sure dis is gonna work?”
“YES!! IM 100% SURE!!!”
Percy gave him an unconfident look before looking towards John and shrugging
“HEY! DONT GIVE ME THAT LOOK! THE TRAP IS PERFECT OK??”
Percy gestured his hand in the air, palm face down and slightly shaking it side to side as if to say “ehhhhh”
Beckket let out an annoyed sigh at his partner’s lack of confidence in his plan.
“Look, I've placed my camera as bait! Once the snake sees it, it's rigged to take a photo, THEN the net will spring AND WE'LL GET EM!”
“but how do we knows dat the snake will pick up da camera?”
Percy nodded along to Johns question
“People say it likes investigating junk, so here's some “junk” it's probably never seen before! Now quiet down or it's never gonna come!”
He rushed behind the rock that the other 2 were currently hiding behind and gave a cocky grin.
“Now all we have to do is wait…”
…
…
…
*SNAP!*
“BAWSS WAKE UP!”
John shook Beckket out of their slumber in a panic!
“WHUH HUH IM AWAKE! WHAT IS IT?”
Percy held out their notepad: “YOU GOT SOMETHING!!!”
“I DID???”
they stood and looked over the rock to see the net hanging over the sea, the trap worked!
“YESYESYESYESYESYEESSS!!! I GOTCHA! YOU BEAST!!”
they dramatically pointed at the net before approaching to see what the thing actually looked like.
“B-BEAST? I'm not a beast! Y-you got the wrong person!”
It could SPEAK?????
Beckket slowly approached the net, being careful to not potentially provoke whatever creature was inside…
“IM SORRY! IM SORRY! I-I JUST WANTED THE CAMERA! PLEASE DON'T HURT MEEE!!!”
Much to his shock this thing wasn't an animal at all!
It's “skin” (for lack of a better word) was metallic, indented joints spread across it's serpentine body (they got 1 thing right, that sure was a snake), it's face was just a hologram, and yet it wore a suit jacket, and had hair, and spoke in a suspiciously human sounding voice…
“What the hell are you supposed to be???”
The metallic creature trembled, staring at him with desperate eyes.
“I- I-I I- I… I DONT KNOOOOOWWWW!!!”
well that's a helpful answer…
“Ok… well since you're obviously a robot, who made you? WAS IT LUMINOUS???”
“N-nobody made me! I'm not a robot!! I'm just a freak!!!”
What the hell did they put in this machine???
“Look, I need YOU to calm the heck down, and TALK because you CLEARLY have human level intelligence!”
“will you let me go if I do?”
“...”
“You'll let me go r-right?”
“...”
“PLEASE DONT KILL MEEEEEE!!!”
“OK FINE! I'LL LET YOU GO! JUST TALK! PERCY, TAKE NOTES!”
their assistant gave them a thumbs up, pulling out his notepad and preparing to write down everything!
“Now SPEAK! Or I'm gonna keep you here FOREVER!!”
“OKI OKI I'LL TALK!”
Beckket smirked “gooood…” before pointing their pen at the critter
“now tell me what you are!!”
The creature trembled and stuttered for a full minute before finally fessing up.
“I-i used to be a normal person… and then I made a dumb mistake a-and I hit my head a-a-and I fell in the water and now IM A MONSTTTEEERRRRR!!!”
well that was an unexpected response, WHAT THE HECK DID THAT MEAN???? also was half this thing's personality just crying? This was the 4th time it broke into tears and it was getting on their nerves at this point!
“WAIT WAIT WAIT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE A PERSON??? DID YOU HAVE A NAME??? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???”
“My name is Salem, i-i-” “THE GUY FROM THE MISSING POSTERS???? THAT'S YOU????”
it shamefully looked to the side, it clearly didn't like it being brought up
“Y-yeah…”
“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE OLD LUMINOUS FACILITY??? DIDN'T YOU DISAPPEAR THERE??? HOW DID YOU GET OUT IN THE OCEAN???”
“Th-the what?”
“THE OLD LUMINOUS LABS???”
“s-sir uh- at least I think your a sir… I don't know what that is?”
“THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE?????”
“Uhhh bawss haves you considered dat maybe dey went missing in da ocean and not da labs?”
“BUT EVERYONE GOES MISSING IN THE LABS!!! WHAT KIND OF IDIOT GOES MISSING IN THE OCEAN????”
“Y-you think I'm an idiiooottt?”
and great, it was gonna start sobbing again, JUST WHAT THEY NEEDED!
“NO- I- I JUS- THIS IS STUPID!!”
he pulled the skin beneath his eyes in annoyance before facepalming.
“AUGHHH!!! FORGET IT!!! ILL GET MY INFORMATION ANOTHER WAY!!”
“Soooo… is da beach day ova?”
Beckket snatched her camera from Salem, before glaring at John.
“YES!!! PACK IT UP BOYS!!! WE'RE GOING HOME!”
Percy scowled and almost threw hands before John put a hand on his shoulder and told him something about “Beckket being overwhelmed” which made him frustratedly sigh before going to pack up his stuff. John following behind.
“Maybe we’s can have a better beach day next time!”
“I need 12 hours of pure silence before ANYONE considers taking me to the beach again!!”
Percy and John looked at each other and nodded, turning the music off and driving home in pure silence…
…
…
“Hello?”
“Can anyone hear me?”
“Im stuuckkk!”
“Please!”
“I DONT WANNA LIVE IN A NET!”
“Calm down will ya?”
Salem smiled at the familiar voice of their friend coming to help them out of this pickle!
“Ani_! Oh thank goodness you came! I thought I was gonna be trapped here forever!”
“Nah, as funny as it would be I'm not letting my best client spend eternity in a fishing net”
The long machine pierced the rope with a flick of their wrist, sending Salem flopping unceremoniously into the water below.
“Now you little bundle of violet tinted anxiety, did you happen to catch the names of the fools that did this?”
“Uhhm- I think so??? One of them was Percy, uhhh- the other was John, annndd the last one was… uhhhh- Bucket??? Why do you ask?”
“Jusstt keeping a mental note, humans like those who seek out trouble on purpose usually don't last long! If they end up meeting an unfortunate fate I wanna know the names of my clients pre-maturely! especially that green eyed idiot, I highly doubt they would tell me anything unless I had dirt on them already!”
“Can you maybe tell them to leave me alone… I don't like them very much…”
“Only if they die!”
“Oh… Oki…”
“Well that's my business here done! I'll be leaving now!”
“Oh- Oki! Goodbye!!”
Beckket Pips… closely related to the Sunstain family and is actively digging up dirt on the LUMINOUS Foundation…
As much as a trouble maker you might be right now…
There's no way you're gonna stay alive for much longer!
And when you face the consequences for digging your own grave…
I'll be always be waiting :):