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It was a quiet morning, with the house blanketed in comfortable silence. Sunlight peeked through the gaps in the curtains, spilling onto the couch where the lone occupant of the house sat.
Shiori sits on the couch, pieces of yellowed parchment spread across her lap as she works on deciphering the runes. Something that was long lost to the knowledge of mankind, barely any trace of it left in the annals of history.
She hums softly as she works, notes growing ever longer in the journal laid open over the armrest. To comprehend a language from nothing but a few pieces of paper and barely any references was nigh impossible, but she didn’t mind the sparse resources.
She always liked a challenge after all.
The sound of words being put to paper and the occasional thoughtful hum was all that filled the space for the next hour. It was rare for her to be working in such a calm environment, Shiori was much more used to having background noise coming from the others.
A certain pair of puppies arguing over the remote control, squeaky laughter from a gem egging the fight on, their raven at the side supervising to make sure no one’s tail gets chomped on this time around.
Silence used to be a familiar friend to her, but it never felt the same after her girls came around.
As if on cue, the front door slams open with a force that almost takes it off its hinges. Shiori pretends not to notice but she starts gathering up the parchment and bookmarks her journal, knowing what comes next.
Speak of the devil, hm?
Shiori barely had enough time to set her materials on the coffee table before she finds a raven demon draped across her lap, a pair of wings flaring out to encase both of them in a curtain of feathers.
She chuckles softly at Nerissa’s antics, her posture relaxing slightly as she tilts her head up to meet wine red eyes. “Welcome home, little birdy. What’s got you so worked up?” She could feel how Nerissa was practically vibrating with excitement, even with the raven holding back enough to press a kiss to her forehead.
“Look at what I found on my walk, Shiorin! It’s so pretty and shiny, can we keep it?” Shiori feels something being pressed into her palm, and bringing it up to eye level reveals a rather rough rock half the size of her hand. She runs a thumb over it, the rock’s exterior was tinted a reddish-brown, but she could spot speckles of yellow peeking out in certain spots, most likely a gem.
“Turn it over, Shiwowi! It’s cracked on the bottom so you can see inside, it kinda looks like your eyes!” She does, appreciating the way light glints off the gem inside, a jagged crack in the exterior revealing what was hidden within.
“Mmm, chalcedony? Oh, but it’s banded on that area right there, so it’s probably yellow agate. Good find, Rissa.” The wings surrounding them flapped happily at the praise, only calming when Shiori reaches up and starts running her fingers through the jet-black feathers.
“Do you like it, Shiorin?” Shiori’s lip twitched, the urge to tease the raven too strong to resist, not when Nerissa was looking at her with such expectant eyes. A pleased trill escapes Nerissa when Shiori leans up to kiss along her jaw, not catching the grin on the archiver’s lips.
“Everything you give me is precious, Rissa. But you say that like you didn’t pick this up because it’s a shiny little thing you just can’t take your eyes off of, hm? Just like how you pick up every single pretty girl you see.” The choked noise of disbelief Nerissa gives makes Shiori giggle and she pats the raven’s cheek gently, watching her face heat up in a shade of pink.
“Aww, it’s okay Rissa. I was just teasing.” Nerissa whines softly and drops her chin on Shiori’s head, pouty and indignant. “You’re so mean to me, Shiwowi.” Shiori laughs as she twirls the loose strands of hair beside Nerissa’s ear between her fingers. “But you love it, Rissa.”
They stay like that for a little longer, Shiori finding the silence less empty with Nerissa’s slow and steady heartbeat accompanying her. She taps Nerissa’s cheek with a finger after a few minutes, drawing half-lidded eyes in her direction and a questioning chirp.
“Go hop in the shower, Rissa. Beebs and the twins went out to get breakfast, they should be back soon as long as Fuwawa doesn’t get distracted by the expensive grapes again.” Nerissa snorts at the reminder of the incident and reluctantly extracts herself from Shiori’s lap, stealing one last kiss from Shiori before heading towards the shower.
She doesn’t notice how the archiver flips the rock over in her palm, a mischievous smirk on her face.
---
Nerissa exits the shower in nothing more than a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting shirt she was pretty sure belonged to one of the twins at one point. She pads in the direction of the kitchen, hoping that Bijou and Fuwamoco already made it back with breakfast in tow.
She finds them crowded around the kitchen counter, attention laser focused on something. Enough that the twins gave no indication that they noticed her entrance other than two pair of ears swiveling in her direction.
“Hey girls, what are you all looking at…?” Nerissa trails off as three sets of eyes turn to look at her, and from the way Bijou was grinning she could tell that something was definitely up. The gem snickers softly under her breath and points in the direction of the kitchen counter.
“Dang, Rissa, Shiori sure works fast huh? You two already got a baby on the way, congratulations!”
Nerissa’s thought process comes to a screeching halt.
“What?”
Instead of elaborating, Bijou simply tugs her forward to see what she was gesturing to and Nerissa freezes in her tracks. There on the kitchen counter was the gem she’d given Shiori, with the addition of a placard with Shiori’s neat flowing script right beside it.
Rissa’s first baby! PS: No touching, our little one is very fragile! Love, Shiori.
Nerissa barely processes what she was seeing before she was tackled from behind by a blur of blue and pink, shotgun questions tumbling out from them rapidly.
“You had a baby with Shiori, Wissa?!”
“I didn’t knœh raven eggs looked like that, Rissa!”
“When’s the baby gonna hatch?!” “When’s your baby gonna hatch?!”
It took her a moment to wrestle both hellhounds down from her back, and now Nerissa had an armful of twin puppies looking up at her in barely contained excitement. She wonders how she can explain herself out of this predicament, shooting a dry look at a snickering gem in the background.
“First off, why was I not informed that I had a baby with Shiori?! Second, do you seriously think raven eggs look like that?! Also, I don’t even lay eggs, what the heck?”
The hellhounds tilted their heads in sync and blinked at her, confusion written on their faces. “That’s not your baby, Rissa?” Nerissa groans, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, she could never tell if Fuwamoco was being serious or not when it came to these topics.
“Of course not, you silly dogs! I found it on a walk this morning, it looked pretty so I just brought it home with me.” Fuwamoco nods along to the raven’s explanation, it was a common occurrence after all for Nerissa to collect jewelry because the raven just could not resist the sparkly glow. Rocks however were a first for the raven but the hellhounds were with Nerissa on this one, shiny sparkly rocks were very cool!
One resident gem grins as the twins started to calm down, deciding that it was the perfect moment to spark some chaos. “Wow, Rissa, you’re replacing me with some random pebble from the side of the road? I’m so sad, you’re breaking my heart here Rissa! Am I not your favorite rock anymore?” Bijou warbles sadly at Nerissa, covering her face with her hands as she hiccups, shoulders trembling with the force of it.
Nerissa panics. Fuwamoco follows suit.
It took less than a second for Bijou to be swept up into a hug by the raven, wings tucked tight around her and peppering her with kisses and reassurances. “No no no, Biboo, I swear it’s not like that! You’re forever my favorite little gem, I would never look at another rock like that!” The twins nod rapidly in agreement, oblivious to the gem’s acting. “Yeah, Biboo is the best shiny rock! Forever and ever!”
Shiori picks that exact moment to pop back into the room, eyebrows raised at Bijou’s smug little smirk from the middle of the snugglefest. The jewel makes a discrete shushing gesture and Shiori shrugs, deciding it’s not her battle to fight.
Slowly, Shiori inches her way towards the takeout bag perched on the edge of the countertop.
Somehow, Nerissa looks up in time to lock gazes with her.
Shiori holds the eye contact with Nerissa while retrieving a single waffle from the paper bag, pretending not to see the panicky help signals Nerissa was sending her.
Shiorin, help me!
Shiori dangles the waffle in between her teeth, flashing Nerissa a cheeky grin along with a two-finger salute.
Good luck with that, Rissa. Peace out.
A moment later Shiori was nowhere to be seen, and Nerissa snaps her gaze towards the hallway only to see a puddle of ink round the corner at top speed.
“Goddamnit Shiori!”
---
It becomes something of a collection after that, with Nerissa bringing back more shiny pebbles and rocks from her walks. Most of the time it was just common quartz and smooth little pebbles but every now and then Nerissa would snag a cracked geode with gems peeking out from the inside. The others just giggled at how happy Nerissa was at finding a rare geode, the raven positively glowing for the rest of the day.
Shiori would sometimes add to Nerissa’s growing rock collection when she returned from wherever she wandered off to for her archiving duties, usually with something that wasn’t commonly found just laying around.
Nerissa’s eyes tracked the teardrop shaped gem Shiori had retrieved from what looked like a very expensive velvet box, drawn to the way the purplish gemstone seemed to be reflecting greenish highlights. “This is called Alexandrite, it’s pretty fascinating with how it changes colors under different lighting conditions. Here, lemme show you, Rissa.”
The archiver finds herself with an extra clingy raven throughout the week, Nerissa’s way of showing how much she loved the thoughtful souvenir from Shiori.
The twins hunt for things to bring back for the raven’s collection whenever they go out to play, but they were still easily distracted puppies after all. They end up with marbles that someone forgot to bring back from the playground and bizarrely enough, a handful of shiny black coal.
“Wissa, look, look! It’s round and pretty and sparkly, Fuwawa’s gonna keep it if you don’t want it!” Nerissa blinks when the two hyper puppies present her with their haul, staring blankly at the shiny coal bits.
“Did you two raid someone’s backyard barbeque or something?”
She immediately panics and backtracks when the hellhounds’ tails droop sadly at her question, petting and cooing at them both to reassure them that it was the thought that counts.
The marbles and coal join Nerissa’s collection of shiny rocky things on the countertop, in what Shiori designates as ‘Rissa’s Rock Adoption Corner’.
Bijou wanders by the rock corner on a lazy evening, wanting to find a snack or two for her upcoming gaming session. She blinks at the new addition on the countertop, backtracking out of the kitchen to the couch where Shiori was laying with a book in hand, the elder hellhound sprawled out on top of her.
“So uh, Shiori. Why is there a literal brick just sitting there in Rissa’s collection?”
Shiori tilts her head backwards over the armrest to look at Bijou upside down, dual toned hair cascading down the edge with her motion. “Hm? It’s just a brick. Nerissa got it for me.” The gem raises an eyebrow at the nonchalant answer the archiver gives.
“Just a very normal, no magic attached, totally not out of place brick with your name written on it?”
“Yep, exactly.”
Bijou snorts, about to snark on the totally normal brick that apparently just exists on the kitchen counter now when Fuwawa makes a noise in her sleep, shifting over to the left slightly. Shiori loops an arm around the hellhound’s waist to ensure that she doesn’t fall off, and Bijou finally spots the missing twin somehow wedged between Shiori and the back of the couch.
And both of them were seemingly waking up because of the conversation.
“Wanna wake the twins up from their nap and find out what the brick does, Beebs?”
Bijou swears she’s never backed out of a situation as fast as this in her whole life, including however many years she’s spent locked up in that place.
“Uh nope, you guys keep doing whatever it is you’re doing! I’m going back to my room, I don’t need snacks anyways!”
The speed at which the gem exits the room with draws a chuckle from Shiori, Fuwawa’s ear twitching instinctively at the sound but thankfully not waking the twins.
The weapon of mass destruction stays on the kitchen countertop.
---
Eventually, the collection grows too big to stay in the makeshift rock corner and Fuwawa finally issues the executive order to have it moved out of her kitchen, huffing at Nerissa when she tries to protest.
Nerissa chirps sadly at the thought of losing her prime sunlight spot that hits her collection perfectly. “Shiorin, can’t we just keep them there? They do the sunlight sparkling thing just right in this position, it’s not gonna look right anywhere else!”
Shiori tuts at the mopey raven, gently smacking her hand away from reaching for her precious collection. “Nuh uh, Rissa. You’re forgetting that Mococo almost dropped one of your rocks into the stew last week because they were too near the potatoes?” Nerissa grumbles but concedes the point, starting to help Shiori move the collection into a box. “There, there, Rissa. We’ll find somewhere else to put them, silly.”
What Nerissa did not expect was for Shiori to uphold that promise in less than an afternoon, when she comes back from a shopping trip with Fuwamoco as an apology for making her move her collection.
She stares at the new addition in the living room, two new wall mounted display shelves appearing where there was a blank wall just this morning. Every single thing from her collection was neatly arranged, each with a neatly written placard in front of it like it was a museum exhibit, interspersed by random ones that Bijou chose to scribble on as well.
Nerissa blinks at the larger sign sitting on the top shelf, her newest addition to the collection next to it like it was being graded.
“What the heck is that sign, Shiorin? ‘On a scale of Rissa would adopt this to Biboo approves, how would you rate this?’”
The Archiver shrugs and points to Bijou who was busy trying to snatch a placard away from the twins, markers in hand as they scribbled more snarky remarks on it. “Ask Beebs, she said and I quote: ‘Rissa should have a rating system for her rocks! How else am I gonna put them into tier lists?’”
The gem turns around at the mention of her name, temporarily abandoning the fight with Fuwamoco. “Hey! I helped set this up too, Shiori! Also, I don’t wanna hear that coming from someone who almost electrocuted themselves drilling into the wall!”
Nerissa turns back to Shiori, staring at her in incredulity.
“You almost what?!”
Shiori directs a look at Bijou who lets out an eep and hides behind Fuwamoco, knowing that she accidentally outed Shiori to Nerissa. “Almost, Rissa. Nothing happened! Aaaanyways, look over there, I set up cool spotlights too!”
With Nerissa sufficiently distracted, Shiori tilts her head back and smiles at Bijou.
The gem knows she’s doomed, no one escapes the archiver when she’s got that nearly maniacal look on her face.
Fuwamoco had also suddenly mysteriously disappeared from the vicinity, leaving Bijou alone in the clear line of Shiori’s wrath.
I’m so beeping beeped.
---
“Okay, Mogo-jyan, we’re gonna give this to Wissa, and Shiorin’s never gonna find out about the money!”
“That’s why I told you not to go for that tuna plushie! Did you listen to Mococo, hæh?!”
The twins had somehow managed to get their hands on a giant amethyst geode that was nearly taller than Bijou.
And words could not describe the face Nerissa made when they plopped it down in the middle of the living room, tails wagging furiously behind them.
“Look, look, Wissa! We got this for you! It’s the same color as Biboo!”
Shiori hums softly from where she was as she keeps her attention on her journal, voice teasing as she calls out to Bijou. “They’re replacing you for real this time, Beebs.” They hear a squeak from the other side of the house before Bijou skids into the room, obviously having run full tilt the whole way here.
“Who dares challenge the mighty Koseki Biboo for the title of best rock?!” Nerissa wordlessly gestures to the huge crystal the hellhounds brought in and Bijou let out a scandalized noise at it. “Fuwamoco! How dare you bring an imposter into the house? I never agreed to this!”
Mococo hugs the crystal possessively to guard it against Bijou, wary eyes watching her every move. “Hæh? We got this for Rissa! Don’t break it, Biboo, we spent a lot of money on it!” Fuwawa makes agreeing sounds from beside her twin, both of them focused on the gem making grabby hands in front of them.
They never saw Shiori coming up behind them.
“Is that why there’s a chunk of money missing from our funds, hm, Fuwamoco?” The twins freeze in their movements at the dangerous lilt of Shiori’s voice, stiffly turning around to face her with droopy ears.
“S-shiori, it was just a tiny little bit! It’s because Fuwawa spent too much on gacha again this month!”
Nerissa just rolls her eyes fondly at Fuwawa’s disbelieving gasp of Mococo’s betrayal and moves out of the way, right before the two devolved into a wrestling match with bau baus flying everywhere. “Alright, where should we put this, Shiorin? Right under the shelves?” Shiori was already standing in front of the crystal, running a hand against the crystal formation in appreciation.
“Yep, it’s the only place big enough to put this bad boy anyway. Beebs, I just want you to know your chances of summoning a moai with a pentagram are less than 1% and there’s about a 100% chance Fuwamoco won’t be happy about it.” The gem pouts, dropping the chalk she was using to draw a pentagram around the crystal. “Dangit!”
Nerissa laughs, scooping Bijou up into a hug as Shiori goes to break up the fight between the twins. “Don’t worry about it Biboo, you’re forever my favorite gem, remember? Besides, you can’t deny that looks really cool, it’s just gonna be a nice living room decoration.” The gem pokes a finger into Nerissa’s cheek, somehow still looking aggressively cute even when she was mad. “Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I can’t still be mad at it! I’m gonna show it who’s boss!”
It takes another hour for them to coax Bijou down from declaring war on her imposter, and for the twins to move the crystal into a spot under the display shelves. Mococo sneezed in the middle of moving it and almost dropped the crystal but saved it at the last second, much to the disappointment of a gem.
To this day, Bijou still whispers ‘I’m watching you’ to the crystal whenever she passes by and no one else was watching.
---
Shiori examines the rough gem in between her fingers in fascination, she’d come to expect a lot of things from Bijou, but this was certainly not something on her list.
“Beebs, wanna explain again why you showed up on a random Friday, covered in soot and dirt, and then proceeded to throw a diamond at each of us?”
Said gem which was currently trapped in between two very excited hellhounds who were very aggressively nuzzling her, Mococo nibbling on Bijou’s shoulder for some reason.
“I dunno, Kaela brought me along on her mining trip today, said she wanted to find something for Zeta.” Bijou cuts herself off with a squeal when Nerissa swept her up in a princess carry, squeaky giggles tumbling out of her as Nerissa hugs her tightly, her wings joining the embrace.
“I just asked what humans do when they like someone, Kaela said if I liked it, I should put a ring on it!” Shiori blinks at the explanation, sighs with something akin to fondness in the sound. “And since diamond rings are popular for humans, by proxy we should all get a diamond?”
“Yeah! I dunno how to make a ring but I sure can find diamonds! I know Rissa wants more for her shiny collection!” Nerissa coos in delight at the declaration, speech seemingly having left the raven at how unwittingly romantic their adorable gem was being right now.
The twins were not far behind, tails thumping so hard against the floor from the rapid wagging that Shiori was convinced that they would have bruises tomorrow.
“We’ll treasure it forever, Biboo!”
“Iyargh, Biboo’s first courting gift to us! Fuwamoco will keep it forever!”
Bijou blinks, confusion apparent.
“Wait what?”
Shiori giggles, watching the others banter and at Bijou’s deadpan face as the gem somehow gets smooshed in the middle of the twins again, Nerissa failing to defend her Bijou plush pillow from being snatched.
“Shiorin! Back me up, it’s not fair that Fuwamoco has two people to fight for Biboo!”
“Am I just a stuffie for you, Nerissa?!”
She sighs, affection blooming in her chest as she moves to join the fight for Bijou cuddling rights.
“Only for you, Rissa.”
Two rounds later and they manage to settle into a position with Bijou in the middle, Nerissa opting to brush the gem’s hair while the twins chatter away with Bijou.
Shiori toys with the beautiful little gem piece Bijou gifted her, contemplating making a custom order with Kaela to get them fashioned into proper jewelry.
Maybe not for Rissa, she would much rather have it on the shelf.
Shiori looks up at the rock collection display, filled to the brim with a colorful multitude of rocks and gems collected over time, traces of every one of the girls found in the collection.
Might as well get started on that third display, god knows how many more we’ll get.
“Shiorin, you listening?”
A poke from Nerissa snaps Shiori out of her thoughts, and she redirects her attention back to her girls.
“Mhm Rissa, sure am.”
A problem for future Shiori. Right now, she only wants to listen to the others’ voices and heartbeats, a reminder that they all still had each other in this single moment.