The deer was salvaged - a little char here and there, no biggie - and laid over a long-ass cutting board. Cuppet stood over the big slab of gamey goodness, a scissor blade twirling in each hand. Displaying flashy dexterity and flourishes that would make Chikita blush, the marionette chopped up and portioned out the meat perfectly in about twenty seconds at most.

Richie clapped, flabbergasted.

"I have my talents, Bro has his." Cuppy smiled.

"Yes. Yes he does." Richie nodded.

Holly was staring at the puppet as if trying to remember something. "You know, maybe it's just the uncanny valley, but I can't shake the feeling I've seen the creepier of you two before."

Cuppy nodded. "Yep! That's cause he tagged in for me a few times at school!" he chirped.

Holly frowned. "You little truant!"

Richie frowned. "You're getting lost in character again..."

Holly dropped down, twirled her bladed club, and slung it across her back, attached to a magnetic holster she slapped together. She approached Cuppet, trying to get a closer look at him.

Unblinking painted-on eyes stared back at Holly. She shivered involuntarily. "I thought you seemed a little off sometimes. Well, more off."

Richie scratched his head. "Hold the phone. How did he pass for you?"

"Oh!" Cuppy clapped. "Right. Check this out." he nodded to his wooden counterpart.

Hundreds of threads burst out of Cuppet and wove together into a second skin, which swiftly colored itself in Cuppy's likeness, like some high-tech camouflage cloaking device. Only the uncanny eyes betrayed the stand-in's true nature.

"No wonder you were so quiet." Holly whistled.

"Wait, I thought Pup couldn't sprout strings like you could?" Richie said.

"He can't." Cuppy smiled.

...

"...care to elaborate?" Holly asked.

"Sure!" Cuppy chirped. "He can't produce his own string, but I'm able to loan him some and incorporate it into his design. I thought being able to pass for each other would come in handy here and there. I didn't know how I managed the colors yet, took me a while to realize I was bending light in a preprogrammed way. Should have tipped me off how high I could climb." Cuppy looked proud of himself.

Richie wondered exactly how high that truly was.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Well, that explains the jumper cable." Holly said, remembering Cuppet's last minute assistance in the sewer, linking her psychometry with Freyja's memories through Cuppet's own status as an 'object'.

"Hey Richie?" Cuppy said, looking past the rune-covered boy.

"Yeah?" Richie asked.

"The weird kitty is gnawing on the food prematurely." Cuppy said cheerfully.

Richie looked up to find that the wampus cat had one end of a deer leg clutched in its snaggletooth jaws, the other clutched by Cuppet trying to yank the filched drumstick back.

"I said I'd tell you when it was ready!" Richie tore at his hair, disbelieving.

Cuppy went rigid all of a sudden.

"Cuppy?" Holly asked as Richie and Cuppet grappled with the determined food thief.

"Freyja's having a bad dream. Be right back!" he saluted, then went lax. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backward, dropping into one of his hidden Viet Cup tunnels. Below, Cuppy landed not in the subterranean clubhouse he had dug out, but in the Backyards.

-

Freyja woke up surrounded by trees, charred black and snapped off at the base of the trunk, splintered shards and ashes everywhere, beauty-marked by small flickering embers. She was panting heavily.

"Where are we? Is this real, or the Backyards?" Freyja asked.

Chikita emerged from a turned-over log she had frozen herself a little safety den beneath, dusted herself off, and composed herself.

"Uh, well, we're in the real world now. The halfwit halfling helped pull you out." Chikita pulled Cuppy out with her, holding him by the scruff of his hood.

"You set everything on fire!" Cuppy chirped. "Went into autopilot and started tuckering yourself out, foaming at the mouth and whatnot."

"I think you overdrew power from your yard and started burning through it faster than you could repay it." Chikita said. "Even dreamscapes have boundaries and finite supplies of energy. We cut you off from the supply and waited for you to, well, collapse, here, deeper in the woods. How do you feel?"

"Exactly how you described." Freyja grumbled, head pounding and ligaments sore.

The air seemed like it was put through an orange filter. Another lingering fire? No. Actually, it was dawn.

"If you don't mind reheating them, there's plenty of leftover pieces of meat to replenish your energy. You hungry?" Holly asked, stepping into the smoldering crater.

"Starving." Freyja nodded.

She even looked thinner, almost gaunt.

Richie was already starting into his bitching about the huge, tasty dinner he and Cuppet prepared, only for half the party to be a no-show, but Freyja silenced the further tirade by slinging her arms around Richie's neck and half-collapsing into him and a hug.

"Sorry to worry you." Freyja said.

Richie, after a moment, hugged back.

Tight.

Cuppy and Cuppet joined the group hug.

Chikita tried to worm her way in on the action, breasts pushed conveniently against Richie's back. She was promptly side-kicked a dozen feet away.

"Mean." Chikita pouted like a sullen child.

"Does the word consent mean anything to you?" Holly pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah. A turnoff." Chikita grumbled.

"Oh my god." Holly said, resigned.

You feel my pain. Yukihana thought of Holly.

I can hear your dissent. Chikita thought toward her blade.

You'll never find a more elegantly crafted, efficient blade. I have immunity and you damn well know it.

In checkmate, Chikita continued pouting.