Foster's

Babs 5

Her new monster was female.

She told her so.

It was probably silly to keep asking a monster what gender they preferred but soon or later she was going to get a monster that wanted they-them pronouns or something and she wanted all her monsters to be aware that she was okay and supportive of that.

The new monster was only two inches tall and she looked like a mix of a cat and an owl. She had a feathery head with a little black beak and a pair of wide yellow owl eyes. Her feathers descended into fur, the body of what looked to be a house cat. The purple feathers ran down her back and stopped short of the tail. She even had tiny little black claws.

She was all purples, starting dark purple at the top and down to lavenders and pinks closer to her paws. She was literally ombre coloured.

She liked round foods. Grapes, Skittles, M&Ms, cookies. If it was round she liked it. Angelica had gotten different sized circular cookie cutters to cut things into circles for her new monster. Sandwiches, French Toast, slices of meat. Anything to get a regular diet into her new little Boogie.

Her illusion, which could appear like a normal 1940 pin up woman, couldn't talk to her, but she could point frantically while the Boogie trilled or screeched or got the alarm on her clock to ring.

She didn't have a name, but she was good with the name Barbara, Babs for short. Angelica had asked and the illusion had nodded her agreeance to the new name and she had no problems responding it to it.

Babs liked music, and often chirped along with songs on the radio. Because she liked music, Angelica was often leaving the radio on for her to listen to, but that led to her realizing that all three of her other monsters liked music too and they had all very specific genres they preferred. Like Kevin liked folk music, Chad had a thing for pop and Kyle like old rock and roll. Babs like instrumentals with sweeping melodies.

Dance nights had become a thing in Angelica's house. She would create a playlist with all different songs that her monsters liked and then they would dance around the living room to them. It was a fun new thing they could do together as a group, instead of just sitting there and watching TV. Something that was quickly becoming tiresome because they all argued about what they wanted to watch.

But Babs' absolutely favourite thing to do was to sit on Angelica's desk and watch the sidewalk. She'd chirp happily as people walked by, sang to other birds, and often climbed up the curtains to get a better look as people walked away.

Babs' was a lot like a dog, in the sense that she was always excited to see Angelica and always wanted to be with her.

If Angelica went out for any point in time, the second she came home, Babs would throw herself at Angelica off of whatever perch she had taken and then she'd sit on her shoulder. Babs loved sitting on Angelica's shoulder, a piece of her hair in her beak, watching as she did whatever it was she was doing.

Like Angelica's own little shoulder supervisor.

But because Babs was doing it, and Angelica was letting her, the other monsters wanted to join in.

That meant Kyle was less in her peripherals and more in her main focus. He had gotten into the habit of appearing behind her to watch from over her head. Every time he did it the hairs on the back of her neck would raise and shiver would go down her spine.

It was slightly more muted now, but the tingles were still there.

Chad was spending more time under the oven or fridge now, sneaking out a tentacle when she walked by. Not to trip her up but to remind her that he was there and to maybe throw him a little tidbit to snack on.

And Kevin.

Well Kevin was coming out of the chimney more. He liked to sit at the table or on the counter, which meant Angelica had her phone book sitting on the chair as a sort of booster seat for him, and was leaving chairs and other climbable things pushed up against the counter for him to use to get up high.

Babs still didn't trust him fully since he had tried to eat her, so if he got too close she would making this hissing noise that was absolutely terrible. Like amplifier feedback in her ears.

That day, Angelica came back from the grocery store and right away there was a twitter and then Babs jumped from the side table to Angelica's arm.

She used her claws to climb up to her shoulder where she perched herself, much like usual, leaving a trail of little picks up her arm that she'd have to get out later.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" she called to the house.

Kyle appeared in front of her, arms already outstretched. He wanted to take the bags from her. He liked doing that for her. Helping her out in some way.

She handed him all the bags except a small gift bag she had specially packed in the car before coming in.

She offered it down to Chad who had come out from under the couch. He too liked to help but he was smaller and closer to the ground and she didn't want him dragging the bag into the kitchen. The gift bag was his special little bag. He could make his way into the kitchen with the bag aloft with ease, which he did right away.

"I will make the tea!" Kevin cried dropping out of the chimney and rushing into the kitchen to join the boys. His hooves clopping against the hardwoods. She really should look into getting carpet so he didn't damage the floor.

Angelica kicked off her shoes before walking through the house to join them in the kitchen. "I hope you guys behaved while I was gone," she called and got a chorus of different answers. A chirp, some static, a belch and one very heavy German yes.

They always said they had been on their best behaviour but sometimes it was a lie. She'd find out later when she found the evidence of what they broke or she'd find claw marks in the furniture, floor and sometimes walls later in the day.

She joined her monsters in the kitchen, noticing that they had basically gotten almost everything put away for her. There wasn't much for her to really do.

"Do you guys want me to make some cookies?" she asked and once again got a chorus of different versions of yeses and one illusion jumping up and down and clapping her hands wildly.

"Right, you guys finish putting everything away and I'll make the cookies," she said.

She was really starting to like having monsters in her house, even though they seemed to be multiplying. She was really going to worry about them being home alone when she went back to work. She had a feeling that they might take the house apart while she was gone and then point the blame at one another.