Explain It Like I'm Tree

Dynamics

Note: Yes, I absolutely just need a place to put oneshots as they come to mind without necessarily creating a whole new oneshot fic each time. Also, "Rest, Nestling" is the precursor to this set of oneshots, though not required reading to understand these ones. Advance warning, I will probably loop in child!Dib from Invader Zim from time to time, but I'll try to present him in such a way that you don't have to be familiar with that fandom to enjoy. I just think the crossover works and is neat. For now, this is just a set-up chapter to cover where the group dynamics are. Cover Photo by Ice Tea on Unsplash.

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"So... for sure, you've seen her, right, Mystery?"

Vivi stared out the window, her nose and hands smushed against the glass. The backyard and acreage of the property was the only real sweet part of the deal they'd gotten on this place. Sure, the house looked pretty swell at first glance, but it came with a lot of emphasis on "as is" that made her more nervous than it would have if Arthur was a handyman as well as a mechanic, which he was not. Still, there was a good deal of space around the house, and in the backyard grew a very old tree that Arthur swore up and down was alive. Well, more alive than one would normally consider a tree to be. Not that trees weren't alive, it's just that this one—

"Yes, I've seen her arm once. It was larger than all of us combined. She moved Arthur like a pup." Mystery stood at an angle to the window, where he could see but not be seen by what was outside. "She is most certainly a nymph of some sort. Likely a hamadryad."

Vivi kept her eyes glued to the tree. The light was dying, but full dark was still half an hour off. All she saw was what she'd seen most evenings; Arthur sitting with his back against the trunk. His mouth wasn't moving this time, he just leaned against the trunk with his eyes closed. Asleep, maybe? A single leaf lay in his lap.

"How come she doesn't show herself? It's been a month and I haven't seen her even once." Vivi grumped. "And why's Arthur monopolizing her? I went in on this house, too, so when is he gonna let me talk to the giant tree lady?"

Nobody answered her. She was whining and she knew it, but it was so unfair. Arthur had a supernatural buddy nobody had known about? It was like finding out he'd grown a second head, or opened a third eye, or... or that he'd been possessed, that her dog was really a powerful kitsune in disguise, and that her boyfriend had died and come back as a pissed off ghost. Finding out she had a boyfriend at all. She fogged up the pane with her sigh, then pulled away, leaving clear nose and handprints behind, and turned face-first into the broad chest of a funeral suit.

Speak of the devil.

Lewis hovered a few inches off the ground just behind her, also inspecting the view through the window.

"What about you? Can you see her?" She folded her arms, tilting her head back. Hopefully she came across more defiant than petulant.

The soft glowing irises slid down to meet her stare, then refocused back on the tree. His skull, floating about three inches over the empty neck of the funeral suit, shook itself.

"So that would be no."

Lewis paused, lifted one hand palm down, and swiveled it back and forth.

"Sort-of-maybe?" Vivi threw up her hands. "Specifics, would ya?"

Lewis drifted backward, putting a little space between them, and folded his hands behind his back. He ducked his head.

Mystery spoke up. "Might I assume, Lewis, that you can see a sort of dim green-gold glow that moves about the trunk, like a firefly trapped inside?"