DON'T Call Me Roxanne, Chapter Seven
Author: Moonstar00125
Story Summary: This is a Total Reversal AU, in which our beloved Roxanne Ritchi is sent off to the planet Cerul when planet Earth is devoured by a black hole.
Chapter Summary: Mace drops in to pick up his watch and makes an impromptu inspection of Quicksilver, and Roxanne half-convinces her brother she has mind-control powers.
Chapter one: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1395219.html
Chapter two: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1398003.html
Chapter three: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1399568.html
Chapter four: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1401591.html
Chapter five: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1407761.html
Chapter six: http://megamind-movie.livejournal.com/1411241.html
Isst cracked the door open early the next morning before throwing it open with a wide smile on her kindly face. "Mace Mind!" she exclaimed. "How nice to see you! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Mace smiled and nodded.
"Indeed, it has, Lady Cerebellum," he greeted. Isst waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.
"Isst is fine, dear. But knowing your family, you'll probably insist on calling me something formal anyway, so Mrs. works, too." The Minds and the Cerebellums were not strangers-even before Roxanne had been brought into their lives, Loral and Macklnn, as well as Loral and Mendje, had done a lot of work together; Loral was a government official in charge of census-taking and population, which meant he often had to deal with immigration policies and interplanetary travel, not to mention the fact that Macklnn still stopped by every once in a while to check up on Roxanne and question the family on how she was doing.
Mace hadn't been to the Cerebellum household in quite a few months, but he was impossible to miss. Mace and Reptung were also placed in the same class, to graduate in the same year, although Mace was younger and looked older, and the two had worked together on projects before.
Despite the events Roxanne had informed her of the day before, Isst, rather painfully, had to accept that although it would be nice for the two to become friends, Mace was much more likely to have come to see Reptung, and so it was that that was where she directed him.
"Reptung's room is up the stairs and two doors down," she instructed him, gesturing to the staircase.
"Actually, I'm here to speak with Aida," he corrected. Isst could have hugged that boy until he was no more than a gelatinous blob of blue skin cells, bone dust, and organ tissues.
"Well, then her door is the first to the right," she directed, and with a word of thanks, the touching of foreheads, and the nod of his head, Mace headed up the stairs. Once he was a safe distance away, Isst shut the door, calmly turned away, taking slow, careful steps to the kitchen before she broke out into a full-blown run and practically tackled Civ as she leapt onto the minion's arm with a squeal.
With a heavy thunk, the butter knife in Civ's robotic hand flew up and imbedded itself in the ceiling. With a weary inner sigh she made a promise to herself to get it and the four others down once Roxanne and Reptung went off the school.
It had been a long month.
Mace knocked thrice upon Roxanne's bedroom door, each rap of his knuckles on hybridized oak and titanium crisp and precise.
"Reptung, I swear, if I get one more letter accepting the donation of my body to science, I will tear you open from-oh." Roxanne froze mid-sentence, eyes wide, a stuffed toy held high as if she were poised to strike. She was still dressed in her nightwear, her hair having yet to be properly groomed, and she looked as if she were a house pet caught in the wake of an automatic cleaning system. Mace smiled.
"Ollo," he greeted.
"O-ollo," Roxanne managed at a squeak before clearing her throat and fixing her posture. Ollo? Ollo?? Ollo was a greeting reserved for affectionate souls or when some form of business venture was forthcoming. What kind of business could Mace Mind possibly have with her!? "Can I-Can I help you?" she asked, her eyes refusing to stop being plate-sized, no matter how hard she tried to stop herself from looking like some sort of scared animal.
"I do believe so," Mace said with a nod. "I recently misplaced a watch of mine-a very important one, I might add-and the last time I took notice of its presence was yesterday morning. I was wondering if you had seen it?" Roxanne could have smacked herself. The watch! Of course it was the watch, duh!
"One minute," Roxanne said, quickly shutting the door. Mace waited patiently as he heard the sound of muffled footsteps and low murmurs. It was only a moment or two later that Roxanne reappeared at the door, a silver object clutched loosely in her hand, which she quickly deposited into Mace's hand. "Here," she said quickly, nervous. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it, but I think it fell off of your wrist when you helped me to class."
"That's all right," Mace said, looking extremely giddy as he strapped the watch to his wrist. "I'm simply pleased to have it back. It-Good God," he said, looking up and catching sight of something behind Roxanne. "What on Cerul is that?" Roxanne turned quickly to find Quicksilver on the floor, batting at one of her erasers.
"That?" Roxanne asked, looking nervously back to Mace. "That's Quicksilver. My-My kitten. Why?"
"Would you mind if I took a look at it?" Mace asked, seeming entranced by the animal.
"I-I guess not," Roxanne answered, stepping aside to allow him to enter her room and closing the door behind him. Gilda, who was in the middle of preparing herself for the day ahead, shared a glance with the teenager.
"What exactly is it?" Mace asked, sitting down and crossing his legs as he observed Quicksilver's movements.
"She's a kitten," Roxanne answered, slowly sitting at the edge of her bed. "My birth parents sent her with me from my home planet."
"I hadn't known you had brought anything living with you," Mace said, sounding intrigued and a little startled. "I thought it was just you, a few recordings of your people, and some sort of Bar called a Tetty."
"A Teddy Bear," Roxanne corrected, and Mace nodded absently, his attention focused on the reddish-orange feline.
"This is an amazing specimen," Mace breathed, reaching out a hand briefly before withdrawing it and looking to Roxanne. "Would you mind if I touched it-her?" Roxanne shook her head.
"Go ahead," she said, feeling a little dazed and just the slightest bit uncomfortable. Mace Mind was in her room! "She-She likes to be petted." Mace reached out a tentative hand, halting as Quicksilver looked up abruptly and sniffed at his hand before resuming her eraser-batting duties. Mace very slowly, very carefully, ran his hand over the kitten's pelt, withdrawing quickly when she looked to him again. Several strands of fur had come off in his hand, and as he peered down, rubbing them between his thumb and forefinger, Mace caught sight of the time and leapt to his feet.
"I apologize, for keeping you so long, Aida," Mace apologized, touching his head to hers in a hurried motion, "but I thank you for your time. I must be going now, as Minion is waiting for me, and we still have preparations to make before classes begin!" He gave a nod of farewell before exiting her room quickly, just barely managing to save himself from tripping in a flurry of feet before he left.
Roxanne watched as he left, her hand lifting to her forehead, and she smiled dreamily. She could still feel his head pressed against her incredibly small one, one of his hands touching the very back of her head to steady the both of them…She would never have a chance to, she knew, but…she could get used to that.
Suddenly Roxanne seemed to realize something and jumped to her feet, dashing to the door and peering down the hall just as the back of Mace's head disappeared down the stairs. She felt someone watching her and turned to see Reptung and Gishnar standing in the doorway of her adoptive brother's room, their jaws slack and eyes wide. Reptung narrowed his eyes in suspicion when he processed his sister's presence.
"I'll bet you brainwashed him into helping you," Reptung accused, "and now he's somehow under your control."
"How could I possibly brainwash him?" Roxanne demanded, tapping her head in a meaningful manner.
"I don't know," Reptung said with a shrug, cross with her logical statement. "You're an alien; how do we know you're not going through some sort of weird metamorphosis that will give you all your dormant alien powers?" Roxanne could have pointed out that Reptung read/watched too many horror stories, but instead she just rolled with it.
"Yup," she agreed, catching Reptung a little off guard with her matter-of-fact attitude. "I have finished with regular puberty and reached alien puberty. My powers are slowly growing in and I've begun using them on Mace Mind. It's only a matter of time before I have everyone on Cerul under my control." She smiled pleasantly, giving her statement a creepy atmosphere. Reptung gave her a look like he was unsure whether he believed her or not and slowly began backing into his room.
"I'm watching you," he warned, then turned, slamming and locking the door behind him.
"Sir!" Gishnar exclaimed, trying the knob before knocking on the entrance. "Sir, let me in! We still have to finish your schematics for technology! Sir!" Roxanne shook her head and retreated silently back into her own room. She felt like nothing could touch her.