Transcript: Closer Than Ever

The next morning, when Gille woke, it was quiet, and his arms were empty.

Gille opens his eyes slowly, and starts at the sudden emptiness in his arms. He sits up and looks around, grabbing for the glasses on his bedside. He forces them onto his face before taking stock of his room. "Psychopomp?"

There didn't seem to be anything out of place in his room. No signs of shenanigans, and it was quiet.

Gille's posture slumps forward, a frown on his face. The bathrobe he had on turns slate gray from the orange it had possessed when he was sleeping. The glow from his eyes dimmed until it was almost dark. "Was that... just a dream?"

There was another moment of silence, and then a very timid, "......Gille?" From the floor beside his bed.

The purple devil toon's eyes immediately light up at the sound and he jumped towards the edge of his bed, hanging over it to look. "Psychopomp?"

He was looking straight into the glowing eyes of his patron, who was half phased through the floor, looking right back up at him.

The warne toon's eyes glow brighter at the sight of Psychopomp, his grin growing wider. "Psychopomp! Your here!" His slate grey bathrobe flickered into a dark orange for a moment, before going back to being slate grey. He tilted his head to the side, the amulet hanging off of his horn clattering against it. "Why are you on the floor?"(edited)

He slowly floated up, rubbing the back of his head sheepshly. "Oh... ah... yeah. I... Well I... was tryin' really hard t' keep my mouth shut. Y'know... so you could sleep." He explained. "But... I... don't sleep so y'know... it was... kinda boring after a while and.... I... stopped bein' solid again there and sorta.... fell."

Gille leaned back as Psychopomp floated upwards, more properly settling on the bed. He thought for a moment before grinning wider. "So it wasn't a dream. I'm sorry if you were bored. Kind of... have to sleep." He reached up and started to run his fingers through his long red hair, combing through some knots that had decided to form. He raised his eyebrows as he looked the spirit up and down. "So, Psychopomp, what happened?"

"Don't apologize, y' can't help it, s'fine." Psychopomp had made himself about the same size as Gille, and was floating nice and close. He looked about the same as he always had done, with two, notable exceptions. Firstly, the light of his eyes and mouth seemed... well, it was a light at all. The orange yellow had a very soft glow to it. Secondly, there was a sash around his middle. "Happened?" He asked. "I mean fallin' through th floor is nothin new. It was just a bit sudden is all. Stopped payin' attention fer a second and then woop! Gravity wins again!"(edited)

Gille narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, lifting his finger to point at Psychopomp's face and then at the sash that was around his middle. "No not about falling through the floor. You've got different elements to your design now. Did you get a design change?"

There was a rapid set of blinks and then he looked himself over. "A design cha..??" He poked at the sash. ".....When did that get there?" He frowned a little. "Dang it. First it was random pockets and now I have a belt. I don't have pants! Why am I wearing this?!"

Gille blinked rapidly, throwing back the blankets over his legs. He moved to sit on the edge of his bed, folding his legs in front of him. He set his elbow on top of his knee, leaning his cheek onto his hand. "I don't know. I don't remember seeing something like that last night. It's definitely new though." He more obviously looked Psychopomp up and down before grinning wider. "I like it! It looks good on you, Psy."

Psychopomp paused and looked back at Gille, almost bashful. "Y... you think so?" He moved to sit beside Gille on the bed, hesitating just above the mattress, before dropping down onto it. He went tense for a second, but then relaxed, grinning.

Gille reached up and twirled his mustache, lifting his chin up a little higher. "Do you doubt my words? I wouldn't say that to you if I didn't mean it." He pauses, his expression clouding over darkly for a moment. He shook his head back and forth, turning as Psychopomp sits, his eyes widening. He grinned again, resting his hands on his legs. "You can sit! You're not just sinking through. That's pretty amazing Psy."

That expression did not go unnoticed, but Psychopomp left it be for the moment. "*I KNOW!*" He responded, giddily. "I'm not even like, just floating above it like I used to! I got actual weight!"

Gille lifted one of his hands, leaning forwards and tried to rest a hand on Psychopomp's shoulder.

His hand connected, feeling the same rough cloth texture from last night.

The purple devil toon gently squeezed Psychopomp's shoulder, his irises glowing brighter. His tail swished back and forth behind him, a short giggle coming out of him. "You do! You really do. You've changed for the better, Psy." Gille grinned more sharply, his eyes closing for a second into lines. He opened them up again, scratching at the back of his head. "I wanted to talk to you more. Although I did try... when I couldn't hear you or see you. What was going on, Psy?"(edited)

He winced a little and looked down. "Ah... I wasn't.... doin' it on purpose." His grin fell completely. "I... was still talkin' to ya as normal but...." The glow of his eyes and mouth flickered a little.

Gille slid a little closer, slipping his hand around Psychopomp's shoulders. He pulled the old spook closer before wrapping his other arm around him. His arms were a little stiff, he was still not quite used to hugging other people. "I didn't know. Was I... was I doing something wrong? Not listening hard enough?"

Psychopomp's arms came up to hug Gille back, clinging to him in that same, too tight hug as the night before. "No! No Gille it... wasn't you. I..." He sighed. "She said I.... didn't have enough juice."

He looked up into the Pumpkin's face, hugging back just as tightly. This time he didn't sputter, he didn't wheeze like he was cracking. Gille furrowed his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side. "She said you didn't have enough juice? Who is she? And what did she mean by juice? I notice you now light up, but what does that have to do with juice?"

"She was not exactly married to a paricular analogy, Gille." Psychopomp told him. "Batteries, Juice, Booster Shot.. I dunno. She had a little candle flame thing she found in her closet and then she poked me and then I felt.... different."

Gille tilted his head to the side, blinking. "Good different? Who was she? You never told me that part. Who is this she you're talking about?"

Psychopomp let out a small little "*Heh*.", leaning heavily into Gille. "That *rainbow bird* that you know."

Gille blinks once. Twice. His eyes widen and he smiled wider. "Oh you met *Her*. My... His goddess. How did it go? She's... honestly pretty easy to talk to. I was surprised at how much of a Sailor's Mouth she's got."

"Yeah, I heard ya say that. Y *didn't* say she was a bigger airhead than me though."

Gille wrinkled his eyebrows together, at that statement. He rose an eyebrow up and tilted his head to the side. "She is? She was pretty put together when I was talking to her. And... He looked at me like I was a wackadoo when I said that about her. Hm... weird."

He snorted. "Oh yeah I remember. But nah she was so spacey. We're still not sure how I even GOT there. She insisted it wasn't her doin though."

He laughed a little, shaking his head back and forth. "I dunno what to tell you. She certainly wasn't the way her statues made her out to be. Wait... got there?" Gille's eyes go glossy as he tilted his head to the side. "You went somewhere?"

He nodded. "Yeah... it was weird. Apparently I was still as close to you as I had ever been.... but also in UPA? Apparently?"

Gille's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking for a moment. "No shit. That's a long way away from here. But... how can you be in two places at once? Have you ever done that before?"

He shook his head. "It wasn't me, I think. It was her room that was weird." He scratched at his cheek. But then, with a movement that looked altogether too practiced, he reached into his sash and pulled out the letter that he'd been given. "Was one heck of a day."(edited)

Gille hummed thoughtfully, gently squeezing Psychopomp a little. He leaned back a bit to watch the spirit pull a letter out from his sash, tilting his head to the side. He uncurled his hands, returning them to his lap. "You pulled that out of your new sash. Is this like... one of those things that you used to be able to do a long, long time ago and you forgot?"

"Huh...?" He looked at the letter, then down at his sash. "....Forgot....?" He said softly. Suddenly, It was like the ground opened up beneath him, Psychopomp falling straight down with a yelp, the black evelope fluttering out of his hand and floating to the floor.

Gille's eyes widened with clear panic for a moment, before he reached forward to try to catch Psychopomp, hands missing him and catching the envelop instead. "Psychopomp?! What happened?!"

There was a moment of silence, but then he slowly phased back up through the mattress. The expression on his face wasn't one Gille had seen often, sort of annoyed... sort of... disappointed. "I'm okay, I'm still here."

Gille relaxed, slowly nodding to Psychopomp's words. He looked down at the letter, turning it over in his hand for a moment. He looked up at the Spirit, offering the black envelope back to him. "Guess being solid has a time limit. Or did you just lose focus?"

He reached out to take the envelope, but his hand just passed through it. His shoulders drooped a little. "Both, maybe. Y..you can still see me.. so... it's... not all bad..."

He frowned lightly as Psy's hands passed through the envelope. He lowered his hands to his lap, still holding the letter he'd been handed. Gille looks up and smiles a little wider, his orange eyes glittering. "Yeah I can. And I can still hear you. I can put this on my table until you can pick it up again." The purple Devil toon leaned over and placed the black envelope down on the edge of his bedside table. He turned back to the Spirit, putting his hands on his ankles. "So Psy, what do you think about the alter I'm making so far? I've only got the table stand finished, but there's more to come."

Psychopomp nodded, but the disappointment didn't leave his expression. "Yeah, you hang onto it for me." At Gille's question, he did brighten a little. "It looks good! I had a quick look when you were sleepin'. You're really handy with a paint brush!"

Gille puffed out his chest proudly, his eyes brightening. "Of course I am!" He chuckled to himself, grinning brightly at the change in his best friend. "Oh, is there anything you want me to add to it? I am going to add more things, now that it's all painted."

He shrugged a bit. "I dunno. I never thought about it before. I've never had stuff. Y'know. Of my own."

Gille hummed, twirling one side of his mustache. "Well, if you see something you like while we're out and about, just say something. I can get it and then you'll have stuff that's yours." He moved until he could lean against the headboard, moving his pillow so that it's behind his back for support. He puts one of his legs up, leaning his arm on his soft pajama pants. He looked back to Psychopomp, raising his eyebrows. It was all too clear that he wanted to talk about something, as he kept looking away and looking back at the Spirit. His hands flexed as he attempted to look casual, his shoulders a little too tense. "So, do you want to talk about anything, Psy?"(edited)

Psychopomp blinked and looked at Gille for a long moment. "....Sure, if ya like." He grinned. "I mean I've not been able ta provide my usual insightful commentary of late. So I'm happy to go off a bit now!" He giggled and floated close, above Gille like he often did. "Pick a topic."

Gille nodded along up until Psychopomp told him to pick a topic. He tilted his head to the side just slightly, feeling beads of sweat slide down the side of his face. His tail flicked back and forth behind him, thumping against the bed. "Well, taking the Hopeful Diamond didn't exactly work out as I expected."

The spirit snorted and grasped at his sides to laugh. "Oh *man*, that was a hoot, Gille!" He cackled. "That place was hilarious!"

He relaxed a little, his orange eyes sparkling. "Yeah it was! I think they might have caught us if we didn't manage to break from that weird face. Did you see how it kind of grew as you got closer to it? And then the gravity room was crazy!"

"Oh yeah!! That was some weird ass stuff there pal. Not like any museum we'd ever hit up before." He gestured to the empty space under him. "Floatin's kinda not that excitin' fer me but... heh!! The big fella seemed to have a time of it!" And he laughed again.

Gille laughed, relaxing a little more. "Yeah, poor Ross couldn't keep his hold on the bridge and kept disappearing and reappearing. I think if I asked to go back with him, he'd probably say no."

"That's a shame. He seemed to be a good guy for that kind of thing. Maybe somewhere with a little less... nonsense... he might be down for?" He smiled at Gille. "Y' seemed to get on well with him."(edited)

Gille closed his eyes for a moment, cackling at that. "Yeah, he'd probably be down for something a little less weird. But it was so exciting to go when they were letting all the weirdness from the valley out." He opened his eyes, reaching up to comb his fingers through his hair. "Yeah Ross is great. Uh... you said you wanted to get to know him better earlier. And he isn't around a lot, because he's got other things to do. But we all live in the same apartment now." He pauses, looking out towards his bedroom door for a moment. He turns back to Psychopomp, a soft chuckle falling out of him. "You know, I thought I'd come to the wrong place after that happened. Mersel has some crazy friends."

He nodded. "Well... anythin' less would be a bit boring, don't y' think?"

Gille tilted his head to the side, tapping his fingers against his cheek. He nodded. "Yeah that's true." He fell silent, his eyes dimming slightly as his thoughts trailed off. He pressed against his chest with his unoccupied hand, smoothing his palm over the scar that lay there.

Psychopomp frowned and floated closer, reaching a hand out to rest over Gille's hand, his glove feeling a lot like leather. "Does it... still hurt?"

The purple devil toon fluttered his eyes in surprise at the feeling of Psychopomp's hand on his, his eyes refocusing on the Spirit. He blinked owlishly before looking down at where his hand was. He swallowed before looking back up at his best friend, his shoulders slumping. "It doesn't right now. I... didn't even know I was doing that."

The frown did not subside, but he did relax a little. "Somethin's botherin' ya, then."

Gille pulled looked down at Psychopomp's hand over his, a frown appearing on his face to replace the grin that had been there before. "Oh. Yeah. I... didn't really want to talk about it. Not when it looked like you needed cheering up."

"What about *you*, though." He got closer, the faint glow of his eyes hardly two inches from Gille's face.

He looked up at the question, jumping backwards as he was suddenly too aware of how close Psychopomp had gotten. His eyes go wild for a moment as he breathed, his pointed ears twitching up and down. He took a big sigh in and out, letting his hand slip away from his undershirt and down to his lap. "What about me? I can handle it."

He leant back a little bit and nodded, settling back down on the matress. "I'm sure ya can. But y' can talk t me. Y' know that... right?"

Gille looked away from Psychopomp, knitting his fingers together in front of him. He slowly nodded, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. He didn't look away from the spot on his bed that he decided to try to make a hole in with only his eyes. "Back when we were getting away with Bondlock. When they caught up with us. I've been thinking about it. About what I said..."

Psychopomp nodded keenly. "That was *badass* Gille!" He praised. "Y' caught fire!! I didn't know you could *do* that!!" He giggled.

Gille smiled weakly at the praise, reaching up to pull his fingers through his hair. "I didn't know I could do that either. But I've never been that angry before. Never cared enough to be that angry over something."

Psychopomp nodded understandingly. "Yeah. I've seen ya pissed off but that was somethin' else."

He finally looked back up at Psychopomp, pulling his fingers away from his hair. He reached into one of the bathrobe's pockets and pulled out his hairbrush, starting to more properly brush his long hair. Gille sighed, furrowing his eyebrows inwards. "I thought He'd lied to me. When we had gone out on that date. That Jay wasn't what he had always made himself out to be. "It really hurt when Jay had the audacity to say that, right then. With what it looked like they were doing. How dare he say that to me."(edited)

"....Yeah..." He nodded. "Was weird to see him there." He paused. "....You looked like you were damn ready t kill him."

Gille's eyes dimmed and he looked down at his hands, brushing and brushing away at his hair. His pointed ears tilted downwards. "I was ready to kill Jay. I was ready to kill anyone who thought they were going to take Bondlock back to that place. Back to that *Half Mara.*" He made a *tch* sound with his mouth, his nose wrinkling in disgust. He furrowed his eyebrows further, his hand gripping the handle of his brush harder. "I was so angry, I didn't think they could be there for any other reason than that. How could I think they could be there for any other reason? I didn't even give Him a heist note, like I did for the Museum. I told him I was busy."

He nodded again listening keenly. "....Yeah..... the rainbow kid really..... didn't look so crash hot." He mused. "That colour he turned... kinda looked like he couldn't breathe."

Gille flinched at that, like he'd been hit. His ears tilted downwards and backwards, his eyes dimming to cinders. He paused in his brushing, his hands trembling. "I think I messed up. I messed up bad again. But I'd already said it, I'd already done it. I can't take it back."

"No. I suppose not." Psychopomp thought about it for a long moment before speaking up again. "Might not... be my place ta say it Gille but... when they left... it didn't look like he really wanted to."

He pressed his lips into a hard line, the sharp points it turned into moving up and down across his face. Awaiting judgement as Psychopomp held silent for a long moment. He slowly looked up at the Spirit as he started talking again, his eyebrows wrinkling together in a mild look of confusion. "Really? You really think so? But why would He want anything to do with me after I said that about him? After I thought that about him, even if I was mistaken."

"I don't know him like I know you. So... the only way you're gunna know for sure is to ask. But... I dunno." His expression was a little sad. It was an expression he hadn't really... shown before. A caring,, protective sort of expression. Hurt for Gille's sake. Hurt to have to watch his friend go through this again. To suffer this heartache again. He hated it. "....He clung to that blue haired kid pretty hard as they left. You could probably kidnap him again to get his attention."(edited)

Gille's pointed ears tipped downwards, his eyes moving back and forth over Psychopomp's face. He put the hairbrush down beside him on the bed, folding his hands over his knee. He was quiet for a few minutes, his eyes dimly lit behind his glasses. "He did, didn't he. Maybe I should. Maybe I should kidnap Chifley again. If that works, then I know that he still... wants something to do with me. Right?" He looked back up to the Spirit, a small amount of hope in his expression.

Psychopomp was thinking very hard about it. "Why was the blue haired kid there?" He wondered.

The purple devil toon blinked before he considered that line of questioning, rubbing his chin. "I don't know. I mean, I know that Sammy likes Chifley. Otherwise when I kidnapped him the other day, Sammy wouldn't have come after me, right? He's the Damsel... usually. But he wasn't right then, the narrative wasn't right for that. "I certainly didn't kidnap him. And Jay was there! That means that this wasn't usual. Hmmm I think I have to read some of the old stories to figure it out what that means. I don't quite remember all of the narrative structures."

"HmmmmMMMMMMMmmmmmm..." He mused. "Yeah bud I got nothin. I mean you probably remember them better than me. I..." He paused to giggle and rub the back of his head. "...will admit... I stopped payin' attention a lot o' the time when you were readin' em to me."

Gille starts to twirl his mustache, thinking about it. "I do remember one story, where the old Nemesis teams up with the new Nemesis. But like, the Villain in that was just trying to raise the sea level so that his house was beach front property. That's hardly comparable to what I was doing. And the Damsel didn't even make an appearance in that one." He blinked and looked back at Psychopomp, raising an eyebrow. "Oh really? I wondered why you'd just stopped asking questions about it. Were you bored?"

He offered a little awkward chuckle. "You were so into it I didn't really wanna burst your bubble..." He admitted. "I was more inta the scary ones than the mushy ones."

Gille placed a hand over his heart, letting his mouth drop open. An offended expression came over his face, too exaggerated to be truly real. "I am so offended that you didn't like the quote unquote mushy ones. I don't know if we could be... pffffft." The act drops as suddenly as he started it, cackling and kicking out his legs as he rolled onto his side. "I couldn't even" *gasp* "finish that" *hehehe* "sentence!"

Psychopomp grinned and cackled in reply. "Damn right!" He reached a hand down and ruffled Gille's hair. But after a moment it turned into a pat.

Gille finished chuckling, swiping lightly at Psychopomp's hand as he ruffled his hair. "Hey, I still need to brush that! You're going to make knots in it." He settled down as it turned into a pat, relaxing against the bed. He moved slightly, putting his elbow on the bed with his face in his hand. "Today I was going to the Back Alley Market. Maybe I can stop by the bookstore and get you some Heebie-Jeebies to read when you're bored?"

Psychopomp's large hand reached down and picked up the brush, before his large body settled down on the mattress behind him, close enough that he could feel the rough cloth form against his back. He then started brushing Gille's hair himself, unpracticed and frankly, a little unhelpful. But it felt so much like the spirit just wanted to be as close as he could get. To be able to feel him. When he spoke, there was a hint of something in his voice that didn't quite match the words. "Ooh! Yeah! I can touch stuff now, I can actually turn the pages n' stuff!!"

Gille blinked as Psychopomp settled behind him, relaxing back against the spook a little bit. He bit back the flinches he would probably normally make as the brush hit a couple knots in his hair, trying to carefully wipe any tears that came up while his best friend continued to brush his hair. He nodded slowly, carefully at the Spirit's words to not pull his long locks out of the other's hands. "Hey Psy, what's wrong? You sound kind of off still."

His hands stilled, still holding onto Gille's hair. "....Sorry." He responded softly.

Gille suddenly sits up, turning around to wrap his arms around Psychopomp. He narrowed his eyes, staring straight up into the Spook's no longer empty eyes. "Don't. Apologize. Tell me. What's going on, what's wrong?" His voice cracked as he growled, his arms tightening around his best friend to just pull him against him. He didn't like hearing Psychopomp sounding like this, it made him sad.

Psychopomp squeaked slightly at the sudden hug, dropping the brush. He blinked once, twice, and then hugged Gille back, tightly.

Gille squeezed a little tighter, grasping the rough cloth that made up most of Psychopomp's body. He sniffled, looking up at the Pumpkin with tears starting to build in his eyes. "Please... please tell me what's wrong."

"I... d...don't want.... t.. plan for... playing by myself, Gille." He whimpered, softly. "I wanna.... do stuff together. Like we used to.."

"Oh." Gille looked down for a moment, before looking back up again. He gently squeezed Psychopomp. "I just thought... you were getting bored of me. Because I was just talking about some... pretty mushy stuff. And I know you get bored when I sleep. And I don't want you to be bored." He stopped, looking back up to the Spook's face again. "What do you want to do today? We could... ooh. We could prank people in the park."

His glowing eyes went very round, followed by a large grin that spread slowly across his face. "*Could we?!*"

Gille grinned widely, nodding emphatically. "We can! I have the fake spiders and maybe we could find snakes and frogs or something. I know it's cold out still, but maybe we'd still be able to find some and drop them on people."

He giggled excitedly, bouncing slightly, still clinging to Gille, jostling the Warne up and down. "Yesyesyes *yesyesyes!!*" It might have been the imagination, but Psychopomp felt ever so slightly warm, just for a moment.

Gille toonishly rattled around as he was jostled, having to take back one of his hands to fix his glasses. He grinned widely, chalking up the slight warmth to his own imagination. He chuckled, his orange eyes glowing brighter. "I just have to get clean and into my regular clothes... Hm. I shouldn't wear my jacket, it makes too much noise."

"Yeah, not really made for stealth..." He let go, though it seemed like he didn't much want to. He looked Gille up and down. "....And maybe brush your hair. I.... think I made it worse."

Gille didn't let go yet, still hugging Psychopomp. He raised his eyebrows and looked towards some of his hair. "Eh, I'll do it after I wash it. It will make it a lot easier to brush when it's wet. Hmmm. What should I wear? I have that suit I haven't worn yet. I could just wear the trench I usually use for Tremelo..." He started to scooch over towards the edge of the bed, pulling the Spook along with him.

Psychopomp might have been tangible but he didn't have any weight, really, so Gille was able to pull him along very easily. And when Gille hadn't let go, he returned his arms to Gille's back. "Somethin' warm, I guess? It mighta stopped snowing, but that doesn't mean you can't get sick."

Gille nodded, standing up as he got to the edge of the bed. He hummed, his eyes screwing up as he thought. "Well I'll still be wearing my turtleneck. I'm not leaving that behind just yet. It is kind of a little colder here in Toontown than we're used to anyways. I think the trenchcoat is a lot warmer, and I can still wear my turtleneck. I just realized that I don't have a proper winter jacket. I kind of left it... I've got some gold now, so we could go shopping while we're out. "After we prank people. Because the trenchcoat should do anyways." He grinned brightly up at Psychopomp, his tail twitching up and down.

"Yeah... yeah! Priorities, Gille. Fun first, business second." He agreed.

Gille squeezed Psychopomp once, really tightly before letting him go. He chuckled, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "I'll be right back." He dashed out of the room, already starting to pull out clothes from the pockets of his slate gray bathrobe.

There was no response as he darted off.

Part way through his shower, there was a very soft splishy noise from somewhere near his feet. He almost missed it amongst the other water sounds of the shower, but it didn't sound quite right.

Gille paused in the middle of washing his hair, blinking and looking down at his feet. He slowly pushed his feet through the water at the bottom of the tub, trying to feel out what was there.

Just at the edge of the water, a very familiar pumpkin was sitting, form very small, as small as Sandy had been when she was trapped in that doll at Animas. And he was just bapping at the water with a hand, looking facinated.

Gille watched for a moment before he laughed loudly, his cackles bouncing off of the walls of the bathroom. He had to grab the wall to not slip and fall over, his hair moving back into the water. There was a slight hiss as the water hit his hair, throwing some amount of steam into the air. He washed the shampoo off of his hands, reaching downwards and attempting to scoop his patron up from the tub's edge. "If you wanted a shower too, Psy, you should have said so."

Psychopomp jumped a little as he was picked up, and looked up at Gille owlishly. "...Water's weird."

Gille giggled, standing mostly under the stream of water while holding Psychopomp outside of it. He got a mischievous glint to his eyes, before he suddenly stepped backwards, bringing the small pumpkin underneath the stream of water if he didn't move.

The moment the water hit him, he let out a shriek, thrashing in Gille's grip for a second before diving out of his hands and away from the tub.

Gille hadn't been holding the Spook too hard, his tail twitching back and forth behind him. He laughed and laughed and laughed, having to grab the wall again to keep from falling over.

He buried himself in one of the towels on the other side of the room, hissing. "WATER BAD!" He shouted.

Gille laughed even harder at that, rocking back and forth in place. He felt himself almost slip, reaching out to catch the wall where the water was coming from and keep him from going down. He gasped and sighed, looking out to where Psychopomp was. "Awwwww don't be like that. You only got a little wet. You're fine. It's not like you're made of sugar."

A pair of little orange yellow lights glared out from the towels. "Doesn't mean I liked that feeling any." He grumbled. "Water bad. Water not... okay we now know. Water bad. Dang I don't know how you can just... jeeze. I dunno if that hurt? I dunno if that's what hurt feels like but I did not enjoy that feeling at all. Water.. water is not pumpkin friendly. Water *bad*." He snuggled into the towel more, just muttering 'water bad' over and over.(edited)

Gille rolled his eyes, disappearing from sight to finish up in the shower. "I just surprised you. Water isn't bad, you're just not used to it. And I basically tried to push you into a uh... waterfall. It's different when it's not falling." He paused for a moment, the sound of the shower turning off. "I just didn't feel like taking a bath, because it takes longer. The falling water also kind of feels like a massage."

Psychopomp was distinctly pouting. "I'm not used ta *anything* really." He grumbled. "I've..... *never* been this solid befer and..... even when I could get my hands solid I still couldn't... feel stuff. ...Feeling stuff is weird."(edited)

Gille reached out of the shower, grabbing the orange towel from the shelf. He pulled it towards him, drying off behind the curtain. "Well, it seems like you're going to be feeling stuff from now on. Isn't it exciting? You get to have all new experiences!"

"....I s'pose..." He floated up through the towel, making himself bigger in the process. "It's not... permanent. It takes a little effort. Though Pris said as much."

Gille fixed his towel around his waist, pushing back the curtain to be able to look at Psychopomp. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of it when you're using it. It wouldn't be fun if it was easy Psy."

He put his hands on his hips and peered down at Gille with an arched brow. "You're gunna lecture me about fun? I know *loads* more about fun than you do!"

Gille stuck his tongue out at Psychopomp, blowing a raspberry. "Oh yeah? Way more? Why don't you show me."

Psychopomp just looked at him for a long moment, considering. Then, without saying a word, he started to grow, getting bigger and bigger, until he was about double Gille's size. Then, he quickly scooped up Gille's clothes that he had brought with him into the bathroom, and stuffed them into his sash, causing them to vanish, as if they had been put into a hammerspace.

Gille furrowed his eyebrows and jumped out of the tub, launching himself at Psychopomp. "Give those back!"

Gille simply fell through Psychopomp, the spirit making himself incorporeal as his friend attenpted to grab him. "*Nup!*" He responded, grin very wide. He cackled and made for the door. "You'll have to catch me first!!"

There's a sharp *thwap!* as Gille smacks face first into the ground. He immediately hops up, one hand holding up the towel to keep himself decent. He let out a growl, his smile wide and sharp. He dashed after the Spook, shouting, "Get back here with my clothes! ***Psychopomp!***"

The pumpkin's cackle trailed after him as he moved quickly through Gille's wing of the apartment, keeping well out of Gille's reach. "Make me!!"

Gille's orange eyes light up as his feet suddenly get faster, dashing across the room and dancing around various traps that snapped in his wake. He caught up with the Spook and launched towards him again, trying to tackle Psychopomp to the ground. "Being intangible is cheating!"

This time he connected, arms going around his middle and pulling him down to the ground with a surprised squeak and "Oof!"

Gille laughed loudly and triumphantly as his tail twitched back and forth. He squeezed Psychopomp a little tightly, starting to shake him. "Give me back my clothes! Otherwise we can't go outside!"(edited)

Psychopomp made a very toonish spray paint can rattle as Gille shook him, spirals appearing in his eyes. "O-o-oh k-a-a-ay!"

Gille held onto the Spook for a moment as he rattled before slowly releasing him. He didn't stand up, still basically laying on top of Psychopomp. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

He lay there for a moment, letting the spirals do a few turns, before shaking his head to clear them. "Alright, fine. Fine." He reached down into his sash, but, instead of his friend's clothes, his hand came up... empty. He just blinked at it. ".............huh?"

Gille wrinkled his eyebrows further together, also staring at Psychopomp's empty hand. He blinked, reaching up to scratch the side of his face. "Usually... something comes out... uh Psy. Do you actually have something in your hand, but it's invisible?"

He reached his other hand up to poke at the vacant space. ".....Not unless it's... intangible too." He tipped his hand to one side as if to drop it, but it didn't sound like anything hit the floor. "L...let me try again!" He reached into his sash again but his hand went straight through, poking out the bottom.

Gille watched Psychopomp blankly, just sitting on the Spook's lower half. As his hand reached through and poked out the bottom, the purple Devil toon looked even more confused. "Psychopomp, are you doing this on purpose?"

He pulled his hand out and used both hands to pull the top of his sash out to look inside, though from his expression that didn't help. "I'm not!!" He reached in again, and this time, something did come out. Black and fluffy, with a soft "Meow!"

As soon as Gille saw the top of the Cat, he jumped off of Psychopomp with a nearly high pitched screech. He retreated to the other side of the room, ducking behind a conveniently sized piece of furniture. He peeked with only his eyes above the piece of furniture, shivering uncontrollably. "Get rid of it!" He howled.

Psychopomp held the cat in both hands and just looked at it. "....*Tibbles*?" "Meow!" "The heck were you doing in there?" "Meow." ".......Huh." He looked up. "Gille I found my cat!"

Gille made a face, his sharp nose scrunching up. He narrowed his eyes from his position, the sound of his tail whacking against the piece of furniture he was hiding behind. "I knew that *thing* looked familiar. Why are they not in my Hammerspace?"

Psychopomp put Tibbles down on the floor, and there was a distinct purr before she slunk off into the darkness. "I dunno." The spirit admitted. "Maybe because your clothes are in here somewhere? She got out?" He pet his middle a little. "Let me just.... try this again...." And he reached a hand in, shuffling it around. His expression brightened, and then finally, he pulled out the bundle of Gille's clothes. "Ah-HA!"(edited)

Gille watched the black cat leave with suspicious eyes, moving opposite of where she went. He looked back up at Psychopomp, crossing his arms over his chest with a slight pout. "But... well I do suppose you put her into my Hammerspace all the time, so maybe it's not a far stretch that you can pull her out too." He slowly walked over to where the Spook was floating, his pout falling away as his clothes reappeared. He reached out, trying to snatch his clothes from his best friend's grip. "Finally! I was tired of feeling too much air."

Psychopomp let him take them. "Dunno what you're so worried about. Not like I haven't seen your butt before."

Gille rolled his eyes, doing a quick turn around in the cartoon fashion. He was now clothed, with the towel in his hands. "I'm not worried about you. We don't live here by ourselves, Psychopomp. And as much as I know I am absolutely gorgeous, I don't want everyone else seeing my naked ass."

That got a laugh. "I suppose so. Like that time when we were camping, and you were ha-" He cut off to laugh harder. "Wh.. when y.. you were havin a bath in the river..! And th..those people c.. came along in their boat...!!" He wheezed.

Gille made a face before bodily shoving Psychopomp, his nose wrinkling. His tail lashes back and forth as he crosses his arms. "Hey, it's not that funny! I'm never going camping again." He started to walk away with a couple of grumbles.

"Aww don't be like that " He giggled, drifting after him. "Not like we'd ever been camping before."

"It's so bad! It was cold and the ground was wet and there were so many bugs everywhere..." And Gille continued to grumble about it, pulling the trench coat from his pocket. He shook it out a little before putting it on, turning back to look at Psychopomp. "So, are you ready to go? The people in the park aren't going to scare themselves." He flashed a wide, sharp grin.

"Yeah, let's try and take you a tent next time." He giggled. Psychopomp grinned back, and shrunk down small, flopping on top of Gille's head. "Lead the way pal!! They're not gunna know what hit em!!"

"We'd have to get more than a tent." He retorted, his tail lashing back and forth. He grinned a little wider as Psychopomp flopped on top of his head, cackling as they both left his wing of the apartment. He snagged a piece of bread from the kitchen before going outside, to the park to prank people with his best friend.