Enid Sinclair awoke to the sound of muffled voices, a conversation in murmurs and whispers.
From the brightness she sensed despite her closed eyes it was clear that it was already late in the morning. It had been a while since she had slept in late, but the excitement of the previous day (assassination attempt included) seemed to have been more than she expected.
A clandestine conversation in your room might be somewhat alarming, but Enid's lupine hearing had no trouble recognizing the voices. Wednesday and her counterparts, and... ah, yes, apparently Yoko was also present. An outside observer would have seen how the young werewolf's ear would have become slightly pointed and twitched to focus on the direction of the sound.
But Enid remained motionless, her back to the other occupants of the room, snug under the warmth of the duvet of Wednesday's bed with a tiny smile on her face, listening to the fragments of conversation that reached her ears.
Hey, she had been the queen of gossip at Nevermore for much of her time at the academy. Old talents linger on.
From what she could discern... the Wednesdays were playing a game? Or trying.
"It's just cards? Doesn't that limit the range of play? Aren't there any related physical activities?" asked Needler's monotone, unmistakable voice.
"It's a tabletop game, Needler," Wednesday replied.
"But there's no board, no dice, it's just cards."
"A card game is by definition a tabletop game," Woe's voice interrupted, irritation patent as she spoke in a sharp whisper, "Even if we are not using a table. I'm surprised someone of your intelligence has trouble grasping the concept."
"My ludic experiences boil down to rag doll decapitation, my experiments and crimes against nature, and attempts to mutilate and bury Pugsley alive. I have absolutely zero knowledge when it comes to tabletop games," Needler explained, "I do have some video game experience," she added, speaking even more softly than she already did, if that was even possible.
"Parker?" asked Woe, her tone noticeably less curt than it had been a few seconds ago. Enid remembered the name. The friend (or certainly something more) that Needler feared she would never see again.
"Yes. She had... She has multiple electronic gaming systems. Many games are incredibly irritating, but there are some notable exceptions. Delightfully gory."
"Can we finish with the rules and start playing now?" asked Yoko, "I think the little ones are going to die of boredom at this rate."
"I don't want to die of boredom...that would be a very boring way to die," said Pup's childlike but serious laden voice.
"I'm fine," said Friday, "Some of the card illustrations are a lot of fun, and the effects they describe promise mayhem."
"It seems to me an absurd method of play for this premise," Woe interjected, "Taking on different classes or species to hunt treasure and amass loot by killing monsters and only using cards?"
"And dealing with curses," Wednesday added.
"And the fun that to win you have to screw over the other players, betraying them, helping monsters...," said Yoko.
"But don't take the rules literally," said Wednesday, "I learned that the hard way and I still remember Enid's scolding."
Yoko let out a restrained laugh that she cut short. No doubt Wednesday had thrown her one of her looks.
"Ah, the dagger incident," the vampire said.
"Daggers?" asked Pup and Friday's voices in excited unison.
"Among the character classes a player can have in the game, there is the Thief," Wednesday explained, "Who has an ability called backstabbing that allows them to cause harm to another player in their turn for combat."
"And Addams here, in her first match in the game, took it as an invitation to literally pull a dagger out of nowhere and try to stab poor Bianca," related Yoko.
"Ooooh!" exclaimed Friday and Pup with delight. Enid had to remind herself once again that they were still Addamses, after all (and completely ignored her impulse to laugh at the memory of the scene described).
"Bianca knew the risks," Wednesday said. Enid couldn't see her but she had no trouble imagining her girlfriend crossing her arms with an irritated gesture.
"Wednesday, Bianca wasn't even playing," Yoko reminded her.
A dry, choppy sound, as if an animal was choking, came from Needler's throat. Something like a quiet chuckle, guessed Enid.
There was no sound or comment from Woe, but the she-wolf imagined her smoothly raising an interested eyebrow at the story, or perhaps with a faint hint of a murderous grin in her lips.
"Something Enid took care to make very clear. My she-wolf can be surprisingly stern if she determines that I have crossed certain lines," Wednesday explained, to then speak loud and clear in a normal tone of voice, "Isn't that right, mia lupa?"
Ooh, busted.
Enid sighed turning around without getting out from under the comforter, opening her eyes and looking at the scene before her. She could not restrain the smile that formed on her face.
All the girls were sitting on the floor in the center of the room, in a circle over an outstretched blanket, holding multiple cards in their hands while a pair of decks rested in the center of the group. Wednesday was closest to the bed, turning to stare at her paramour with her dark eyes. Woe was to her left, apparently focusing her attention on the cards in her hand, though casting a few sidelong glances towards Enid. Needler, seated to Wednesday's right, greeted the lycanthrope with a slight nod of her head. On the opposite side from Wednesday was Yoko, grinning from ear to ear showing off her fangs. Friday and Pup were next to the vampire. The smaller of Wednesday's counterparts was sitting on the lap of her pink-clad replica. Pup was holding the cards and it was obvious that Friday was acting as a guide and adviser to the youngest child.
Thing rested inside the empty game box, situated between the two little ones and Needler. He greeted Enid effusively and signaled a "Good morning!" with a few quick taps of his fingers.
"Good morning everyone," Enid said as she sat down on the bed, stretching a bit. She fixed her blue eyes on Wednesday's dark ones without breaking her smile, "How long have you known I was awake?"
"Since the very moment you escaped the clutches of sleep, querida."
"Or translated: I noticed the change in your heartbeat and signaled it to Addams with a nod of my head," Yoko added.
Wednesday turned to look at the vampire with an expression of the most pure indignation. If her eyes emitted sun rays Yoko would be burning up alive by now, no doubt. Enid had to laugh.
Her duo of comedians. She wouldn't trade them for anything.
(Just don't ever call Wednesday a comedian to her face, for your own good.)
Enid finally calmed down, her laughter having distracted Wednesday from her homicidal impulses, "And it seems I've missed breakfast... What time is it?" the werewolf asked as she rubbed one of her eyes.
"It's going to be eleven o'clock in the morning, Miss Enid," answered Friday.
"Gee, that late?"
"We saved you some pancakes from the cafeteria, Miss Sinclair," Pup added, "But they're already cold and not very appetizing."
"Aaaww, that's okay girls," Enid replied, "I guess it's penance for not keeping my usual hours."
Wednesday looked at her with an expression that was both stern and at the same time full of affection, "Nonsense. You had an intense day yesterday and went through a very dangerous situation. It is perfectly justifiable that your body required additional rest.”
Enid snorted. She turned her attention back to the rest of the girls, especially Pup.
"How are you little one?" she asked, "You were knocked out by sleep yesterday before we arrived, I hope it wasn't too much of a shock to wake up surrounded by this gang."
"I admit it's a disconcerting situation, especially when the chronological date was explained to me and Miss Tanaka showed me her magic phone" said Pup, "But my reception has been adequate."
"She's still a version of ourselves even with the marked age difference," Woe interjected, "It's common sense that we don't have a problem at all."
"And I always find the comparative exercise of studying the similarities and differences between us interesting," Needler said.
"I'm glad to have someone like a little sister," said Friday, "We could team up against Pugsley sometimes if one of them were here."
"Oh, yes, that would be nice," said Needler, nodding.
"Why would we want to play against Pugsley?" asked Pup, quizzical.
"Sibling rivalry," Woe said.
"But my Pugsley and I are not rivals. We take turns playing at the gallows sometimes, but it's not a competition."
"I mean...," Friday continued, "My Pugsley and I get along fine, but sometimes we like to see who wins at something, you know?"
"And that something can include concussions," Needler said.
"Electric chairs," Woe continued.
"Waterboarding," added Wednesday, with a nostalgic smile.
"That's all so aggressive, it reminds me more of Father's games with Uncle Fester," said Friday with a giggle.
"Why would Father play games with Uncle Fester like that?" asked Pup.
"What we said...sibling rivalry," clarified Wednesday, "At family visits and gatherings they are always ambushing each other with cutlasses or knives."
"But Uncle Fester is not Father's brother," Pup said.
A surprised silence fell over the group. An expression of sincere and genuine stupefaction formed on the faces of all the other Wednesdays at Pup's statement. Yoko began to convulse with restrained laughter as she bit her knuckles to the point of blood. Enid for her part shared Wednesday's and the other variants' surprise. A Fester Addams who was not Gomez's brother? Even she found the idea strange.
Wednesday was the first who seemed to pull herself together, with a quiet "What?" escaping her lips.
Pup nodded in response, "That's right. Pugsley and I call him Uncle, but he is not Father's brother. He's Mother's uncle."
Woe raised an eyebrow, "Your Fester is a Frump?"
Pup shrugged, "I don't know. He always signs his last name Addams, but no one ever says anything about it."
Needler gave a resounding clap. The manic gleam had returned to her eyes. "This is fascinating! It's perhaps the biggest divergence we've been able to ascertain so far. Oooh, I wonder what others there are."
"Me having a baby brother didn't seem like enough to you?" asked Woe.
"Yes and no," said Needler, "Assuming our parents' relationship presents the same constants it's not unreasonable to assert that any of the rest of us could end up with another extra sibling."
"I see it unlikely here because of their ages," Wednesday said, frowning, "But I can't totally rule it out either."
Enid was about to add a comment of her own when suddenly her guts made a resounding noise that attracted the attention of the entire room. The she-wolf blushed slightly, a nervous smile on her face, "Oops... sorry."
"Looks like you're going to have to eat those pancakes after all," Yoko commented.
Wednesday stood up, "My apologies, mia cara lupa, the conversation has absorbed me in. Come, I'm sure if we hurry we can still get something fresh for your sustenance," she said, starting to hold out her hand for Enid to take and help her out of bed, "It's perfectly justifiable that...”
She couldn't finish the sentence.
The very instant her fingers brushed Enid's, Wednesday Addams' neck gave a whiplash as if she had received a strong invisible punch.
With her eyes blank, the psychic began to drop and would have hit the hard ground with her back if Enid's quick reflexes hadn't kicked in. The werewolf leapt off the bed in less than a second, catching the unconscious Addams and halting her fall.
"Wednesday!"
Wednesday heard Enid calling out to her, but her beloved's voice sounded like a distant, distorted echo, as her consciousness fell into the abyss of a vision.
It is chaotic, extremely unclear, but... As always, she sees.
The quad. The heart of Nevermore.
Night.
Enid partially transformed, snarling.
Pain and rage.
An invisible force. Strong as a claw.
A burning wand at one end, pointed at Wednesday.
Flames. An angry, frustrated voice.
Something like a roar emitted from a human throat.
A face.
A face and an accusation.
Wednesday came to with a gasp of air and a tight grip on one of Enid's arms that was supporting her. If the she-wolf felt any pain, she didn't show it at all.
Wednesday looked around, focusing and regaining her bearings. All of her variants were there, watching with varying degrees of interest and surprise. The Addams' gift had already been explained to them, but this was the first time they had witnessed it. Yoko stood beside them, and despite her glasses Wednesday could recognize the concern on the vampire's eyes. It was something that in another time would have angered her, but not anymore.
"Wednesday?" asked Enid, her voice soft.
Wednesday focused her attention back on the formidable creature holding her and let the blue of her eyes entrance her.
"Enid... mia lupa... we must prepare ourselves," she said.
It was going to end tonight.
NOTES
One thing that has always appealed to me about The Addams Family is the flexibility of parentage between different versions and adaptations. There is no precise "canon", and while there are always some constants there are also many variables (whose uncle is Fester, whose mother is Grandmama, which of the siblings is the eldest, etc.). It's something that gives a lot to play both for those who work on official adaptations and for those of us who write fanfiction and can set up our own headcanons.
Ah, the card game the girls are trying to play is Munchkin. Or at least the closest copyright-free variant.
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