“The Pocket of Sanctuary Mobile Area Pacification Fortress, the TPoS-MAP,” Ben said, trying another acronym.”
“I could really get used to this,” Anna said, sitting on the recreation of Ben's couch and watching their extremely comfortable and safe progress through some of the most notoriously difficult terrain around Solas.
“How about the Roaming Eradication Deity, the RED,” Red said, smiling and playing the game Ben had invented.
“How about the Super Heavy Action Response Killer, the SHARK,” Short Bus said, and Ben's whole group groaned. The game was to come up with acronyms for the Pocket of Sanctuary, because PoS wasn't a great one.
“I propose the Light Armorless Defensive. . . lady, I want to make it spell out LADY,” Ghost Ears said, then shrugged.
“I like LADY,” Ben said, thinking about it.
“The Armorless Efficient Obliteration Nooo. . . Noun?” Vivi said.
“How about the Fearless Relentless Aggressive Nonpacificist Killer Indomitable Engine, the FRANKIE!” Ben said, but didn't get a whole lot of support for that one. Even Frankie took the time to hang in front of his face and boop Ben's nose.
“The Great,” Short Bus began, and everyone groaned.
“You can’t keep spelling out shark and great white and caudal,” Vivi said, laughing.
“Oh, ok. I've got another one. Supremely Hilarious Adorable Remorseful Killer, oh wait that's just shark again,” Short Bus said. Ben couldn't find it in himself to laugh, but he was smiling, and possibly chuckling at the most ridiculous suggestions.
He was having a good time in spite of everything.
“What about,” Red said, “the Orbiting Remover of Dangerous Enemy Resources, the ORDER.”
Everybody stopped for a second.
“That's a strong contender,” Ghost Ears said seriously, having been writing down every stupid name they came up with, “That's a really strong contender.”
Vivi chimed up with;
“Walking Interior of Serious Helpfulness in Emergency Situations, or, WISHES,” Vivi said, looking smug.
“That's an excellent suggestion,” Ghost Ears said, then wrote the idea down on a separate sheet of paper, where he kept all of Vivi's suggestions.
“Hey,” Short Bus said, trying to be quiet and failing, due to being half-deaf, “what's up with Vivi? You're always bowing and scraping around him, it's not like you.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Oh, fairies worship Aeon Slugs like Gods,” Ghost Ears just came out and said it, “I'm not religious like that, but that's how my family grew up. Hard thing to break, and probably not worth the effort.”
“Oh, I get it,” Short Bus said, nodding. He didn't get it at all, but he knew how to be polite about it at least.
“Question,” Anna said, “for the earless fairy. Ten copper the answer is yes, but did Aeon Slugs teach you guys that religion?”
“According to our oral traditions, yes,” Ghost Ears said, and then Anna said 'Nailed it!', and Vivi groaned, his eyes sagging.
Ben was looking around, the vibe in his old apartment so chill that he. . . had a thought. He got up and started rummaging around in an old drawer he hadn't opened in a long time.
Inside was a small jar of legal marijuana, as well as a clean water pipe. Ben looked at the dried green buds, then looked at his unusual guests. He was on the fence about it until he caught another glimpse of Dryst-la-la-la.
“Hey, everyone, I've got an idea,” Ben shouted.
–
Approximately twenty minutes later everybody was stoned except for Dryst, for whom smoking was impossible.
As far as Ben was concerned, this was the coolest shit he'd ever done in his entire life. Even the Cyborg had been able to take a hit! Thirty-One was, along with everyone else in the faux apartment, staring at Dryst like he was the world's greatest lava lamp. Ben had initially rushed over to his computer to play some music, but quickly realized he hadn't downloaded any of it. He went to connect to the internet, but the only network available was 'thesystem8', and it required a password.
Then Dryst proved useful for the first time, and started playing some mellow music. His colors synchronized with the sound, and it was pretty fucking awesome.
“Ben,” Red said, her cloud eyes of energy looking a little thin, “this was a good idea,” she said, eyes locked on the liquid rainbow kaleidoscope that was the Higher Music Elemental's body.
“I must say I've never quite looked at you properly before,” Thirty-One said, drifting around and bumping into a night stand, then drifting in another direction like a hovering roomba.
“Fuck this is intense,” Anna said, squinting, then opening her eyes wide, then squinting again while she also stared at Dryst, “this stuff is a weed? Like, it grows everywhere on your home planet?”
“Basically,” Ben said, watching a splotch of cream colored yellow as it drifted around the white liquid light of Dryst.
“Earth sounds awesome,” she said, nodding her head, “oh man, Earth sounds so fucking awesome.”
“It was pretty great,” Ben said, “no monsters, well, we had some pretty nasty animals, but they weren't monsters. The worst thing we had were these big, violent fish that swam around the ocean and attacked beach goers.”
Short Bus never took his eyes off of Dryst, he seemed the most mesmerized out of any of them. He had incorrectly assumed that his massive size meant he needed a massive hit. He had been wrong, and didn't even register what Ben said.
“You guys are all right,” Anna said. Frankie portaled his way into Red's arms, good timing, because the Beyonder was starting to freak out and see demons. She started to stroke Frankie unconsciously, which helped her calm down. In her defense, she'd been fighting actual demons for a very long time.
“I think existing is all right,” Red said, blinking her strange eyes several times and then looking away from Dryst for the first time in what felt like forever, and turning to Ben. She smiled, and the joy she conveyed was almost painful to behold. It was pure and new to her, like everything was pure and new to her.
“Yeah,” Ben said, “it's pretty great all right.”