setepenre-set:

displacerghost:

setepenre-set:

Concerning the M’ega and the Mnyn (edited version with additional information)

( “Mnyn” is pronounced as “minion” with the initial “i” swallowed and the “io” spoken as a kind of sliding “y” sound, as in “syx” )

The M’ega and the Mnyn have a close symbiotic relationship; in prehistoric and early historic times, this involves them working together with hunting, school/pod protection from predators, and child rearing.

M’ega, as a global language, is spoken by both the M’ega and the Mnyn. There are, however, many geographical dialects and accents, and the dialect/accent of the Mnyn often differs from the accent of the M’ega found in the same geographical area.

Although their societies are intertwined, they are still distinct; the Mnyn have an oral history, and they also supplement their use of oral language with gestural language—the gesture language of the Mnyn can also be used without spoken language, so that communication may be silent.

The M’ega choose their own names; the names of the Mnyn are given to them by their social group. These names develop organically, like nicknames. And, as with nicknames, different members of the group may call the same person different things, depending on their relationship.

Megamind calls Minion “Minion” in canon / main Set-canon for the same reason he calls himself “Megamind”—he thinks that remembering their world and people is important. Even then, though, “Minion-you-fantastic-fish” is something like the long form of Minion’s name, with Megamind. (Not with other people, though; because Minion doesn’t have the same relationship with them.)

The “true and final” form of a Mnyn’s name is only given to them after death, when they are added to the oral history song. This is why the Mnyn in general—and Minion, specifically—are so reluctant to use the true names of M’ega and humans. They find it not just inappropriate but morbid and creepy. Roxanne is “Miss Ritchi” (or, in Safe If We Stand, “Miss Roxanne”) until she is “Ma’am”, and Megamind is “Sir”. Metro Man mighy convince Minion to call him “Wayne” only by asserting that it’s not his *full* name, and after much argument.

As the M’ega come to spend more time on land, their relationship with the Mnyn changes; the Mnyn stay in pools and rivers near the M’ega, and spent much of their time assisting and looking after children and other vulnerable members of society, with some of the Mnyn still joining the M’ega during hunting. Even when the M’ega hunt land animals, the Myn still work with them: the M’ega drive large prey or herd animals into the sea, pools, or rivers where the waiting Myn attack from the water while the M’ega attack from the land with spears and arrows.

As agriculture and technology develop among the M’ega, hunting is de-emphasized as a way of obtaining food. The M’ega share their technology and food with the Mnyn, and the Mnyn keep the M’ega’s beaches and swimming areas safe from predators, and help to look after groups of M’ega children.

@nigaiamaiyume mentioned thinking that the M’ega bonded to Mnyn would include those of high status in need of assistance in their work, and the more I think about it, the more I think this idea is right. (I knew there had to be some social tension around bonded pairs, and I think this gives that tension nuance.)

Some Mnyn obtain robotic suits from the M’ega; these are usually the Mnyn who look after groups of children, individuals, or the Mnyn who choose to bond with one of the M’ega.

Bonds mostly happen when both the M’ega and the Mnyn are young. The bond is chemical / has a pheremonal component; a bond will not happen unless both the M’ega and the Mnyn involved wish for it. A bond can later be broken, if either (/both) party should desire it, but this is difficult and unpleasant.M’ega bonded with Mnyn in their early life will sometimes use a system of gesture language based on the Mnyn gesture language. This can be supplemental to verbal communication, or used instead of verbal communication.

Individual M’ega that are helped / cared for by a personal Mnyn include those of high status or exceptional gifts who require assistance with their work, the disabled, the elderly, and the neuroatypical. The elderly do not always bond with their personal Mnyn. High status M’ega and exceptionally gifted M’ega, as well as the disabled and neuroatypical, usually bond with their personal Mnyn;

Megamind is neuroatypical for his species–the M’ega equivalent of autistic and ADHD, but he also still struggles with depression. In canon, his depression is greatly worsened due to trauma, but even in a universe where the Black Hole Event does not occur, the depression is still there.

Some aspects of autism and ADHD would be seen as desirable as the M’ega: the ability to hyperfocus, special interests–even impulsivity, to a certain extent, and hyperactivity, if channeled into productivity. Some of the differences in social interaction and communication and difficulties paying attention that come along with autism and ADHD would be seen as less desirable. Though, since they are understood to be connected to the desirable aspects, they are more accepted on M’ega than on Earth. Autistic and ADHD (equivalent) M’ega are also more common than autistic and ADHD humans, and much more likely to occupy places of high status, authority, and power.

Megamind is exceptionally gifted for his species (It’s also possible that is family may be high status.) Even in a universe where the Black Hole Event does not occur, Megamind is still bonded with Minion. (Minion is both a work-assistance Mnyn and a medical-assistance Mnyn to Megamind.) And, even in that universe, Megamind’s way of speaking and gesturing is noticeably different from the communication norms of his species.

The relationship of a bonded M’ega and Mnyn is a unique one, having aspects similar to a familial relationship, a friendship, a caretaker and ward, and an personal assistant. The Mnyn is never considered a servant or lesser than the M’ega. A bonded M’ega is generally perceived as lucky.

Unpleasant people may suggest that certain M’ega don’t ‘deserve’ their Mnyns for various reasons–that someone has no exceptional gifts (and that they were bonded only because of their high status, or because it was erroneously believed that they did have exceptional gifts)–or that they are not ‘really disabled’–or simply that disabled people should not be bonded.

How does it work when M’ega with Mnyns get married? Do the Mnyns get a say in their partner’s partner? What if they both have Mnyns? And if only one does, does the Mnyn do any caring for the partner, too? And along those lines also–what about offspring? Just wondering what the family dynamics would look like. Are the Mnyn considered family, if they’re bonded?

A bonded Mnyn wouldn’t be able to forbid their M’ega partner from marrying a certain person, but marrying someone your bonded Mnyn disapproved of or disliked would be extremely rare and shocking, much more shocking than simply marrying someone that your family disapproved of. And it would likely lead to the bond between that M’ega and Mnyn being broken, which would also be very rare, and extremely unpleasant for both of them.

If both M’ega in a relationship have bonded Mnyns, it becomes even more complex–both Mnyns must approve of and get along with not only their bonded M’ega’s prospective partner, but also that partner’s Mnyn. Again, it’s possible that the M’ega partners might still pursue a romantic relationship if their Mnyns dislike each other, but it would be very rare, lead to much friction, and possibly lead to broken bonds.

Usually, though, if a M’ega and a Mnyn are bonded, it is because they have complementary personalities; if the M’ega in a bond likes someone, that person is likely to have a personality that will appeal to their bonded Mnyn.

Mnyn are considered family, yes! When a bonded M’ega marries, their romantic partner would consider their spouse’s Mnyn to be their family, too. The bonded Mnyn may do some caring for their M’ega’s partner, too, or they may not; it depends on what the partner needs. Sometimes a M’ega’s romantic partner will take over some of the responsibilities that formerly belonged only to the M’ega’s Mnyn.

This may lead to friction, but it is more likely to be seen as a positive change by everyone involved. Bonded Mnyn want their M’egas to develop healthy personal relationships with people other than just them. And in a healthy M’ega and Mnyn bond, the bonded Mnyn feels able to form personal relationships of their own.

In canon, when Minion tells Megamind, “my sole purpose in life is to look after you!”, that is not what a healthy bond should be. When Megamind says “some days it felt like it was just me and Minion against the world”, that is also not what a healthy bond should be. Their bond has grown like this because of their unfortunate circumstances; in a better world, Megamind and Minion would each have friends of their own as well as shared friends, and Minion would feel free to pursue other interests in addition to caring for Megamind.

Part of the reason, I think, that Megamind pretends so hard to be mentally and emotionally okay is because he does know Minion feels like the only thing his life has room for is looking after Megamind, and Megamind feels terribly guilty about that. Megamind says to Roxanne in Code: Safeword that, when he thought about committing suicide, he knew that Minion would be sad, but he also knew that Minion would be free. Megamind sees himself as a burden, something Minion has been shackled to by their bond.

“My sole purpose in life is to look after you,” is a terrible thing to be told. On the same level of terrible, I think, as “I’ve failed as a parent.”

It’s no wonder that, when Minion tells Megamind that his sole purpose in life is to look after him, Megamind insists so wildly that he doesn’t need Minion to look after him. The feeling of being a burden to someone you love, the idea that they only stay with you because you need them and they feel obligated–those are absolutely awful things to feel.

In canon, I think, as in all of my stories, Megamind and Minion’s bond becomes much healthier after Megamind and Roxanne get together.

An example of this is in the Kiss Me universe; Minion is pleased when Megamind starts spending time alone with Roxanne, and when Megamind has one of his bad depression days, Minion feels comfortable leaving him and going to spend time with Wayne because he knows that Roxanne, as Megamind’s romantic partner, will care for Megamind.

Another example of a healthier bond between them is in the Safe If We Stand Close Together series; their bond in that universe will likely never be as unhealthy and codependent as in other universes because Roxanne befriends them at a young age. In Terms of Endearment, Minion leaves the room to let Roxanne talk to Syx about Syx’s pattern of using Halloween costumes to hide. Minion trusts her to help care for Syx. And Minion knows that the three of them have a friendship together, but Syx and Roxanne also have a deep and unique friendship that exists specifically between the two of them.

A bonded Mnyn will sometimes form a kind of secondary bond with their M’ega’s spouse, sometimes not; and the strength of this bond varies. And the bonded Mnyn may form a tertiary bond with their M’ega’s children, or they may not, and the strength of this bond varies. The presence or absence of these secondary and tertiary bonds isn’t necessarily indicative of the Mnyn’s affection for the spouse or children of the bonded M’ega. A Mnyn may like their M’ega’s spouse and children very much and still not form a bond with them–sometimes because the spouse and/or children don’t need a bond, and sometimes because there just isn’t that ‘click’.

I’d say Minion definitely forms a secondary bond with Roxanne when Megamind and Roxanne get together, and that he does do some caring for Roxanne. She seems, on first glance, to be perfectly put-together and entirely functional, but when you look closer, she’s the kind of person who talks to statues and hyperfocuses on big projects and ends up fighting evil in a pair of fuzzy pink house slippers because she forgot to put on real shoes when she left her apartment in a moment of excitement.

If Roxanne were M’ega, she would probably have been bonded with a Mnyn. Unless her intellectual brilliance and social difficulties were as overlooked on M’ega as they were on Earth, which is possible, but unlikely.

I would theorize that Minion, in the canon timeline, might form a slight secondary bond with Roxanne even before she and Megamind actually start dating–because as far as Minion’s instincts are concerned, Roxanne and Megamind are already together.

(This is why Minion can’t seem to stop himself from answering Roxanne’s question about the tesla coils and blinky dials even when Megamind orders him not to, and why Minion says “yeah, good luck with that one” and sides with Roxanne when she tells Megamind that his plan is failing.)

Megamind and Roxanne repeatedly go through the M’ega courtship ritual in front of Minion, and they give off such strong ‘these people are together’ vibes that Minion’s instincts just sort of…subconsciously decide that Roxanne and Megamind are already married.

(This is all definitely subconscious, though, which is why Minion still freaks out when he realizes that Megamind is in love with Roxanne. It doesn’t help that Megamind is, at this point, lying to her and going about dating her in completely the wrong way, and declaring that, because of her, he means to abandon what he’s always told Minion is his life’s work. Any bonded Mnyn would be inclined to panic if their bonded M’ega said something like that.)

So about the Mnyn only using a person’s full name after their death: would Minion consider “Metro Man” to be part of Wayne Scott’s name? How would he refer to Wayne after his “death”?

OOOH THOSE ARE INTERESTING QUESTIONS!

Okay, so the answers will be different depending on which universe we’re talking about, because it depends on how well Minion knows Wayne, and how much he likes Wayne.

I don’t think Minion likes Wayne very much in canon. Like–I don’t think he actually wants to kill Metro Man (he’s relieved when he sees Metro Man flying out of the explosion, apparently unharmed). But once he is dead–well.

At least Sir is safe, now! So much less likely to get himself killed fighting!

So–I think canon!Minion, and Minion in fics where Minion dislikes/doesn’t know Wayne very well–I think Minion in those universes considers Metro Man to be Wayne’s name–because it’s the name Wayne chose for himself. He’s Metro Man and not Wayne Scott to Minion in the same way that Megamind’s name is Megamind and not Syx to Minion.

So Minion calling Wayne ‘Metro Man’ before his death is a mark of dislike–he’s basically cursing every time he calls Wayne that, and nobody knows but Minion and Megamind (who probably thinks it’s hilarious, let’s be real).

(Minion is all about throwing that subtle passive-aggressive shade.)

But I don’t think Minion truly hates Wayne, even in canon. If he did, Minion would refuse to use his name after his death. The M’ega and the Mnyn have a shared cultural tradition of damnatio memoriae for people they truly hate. (sometimes the whole society will do this for a really evil person; sometimes a single person or a family will do it for more personal enemies.) In the M’ega and Mnyn tradition of damnatio memoriae, you either avoid saying the hated person’s name, possibly giving them a disparaging nickname, or you use their name but say something like ‘may they be swiftly forgotten’ after their name. (A person doesn’t have to be deceased for this damnatio memoriae to occur, either.)

Minion uses Metro Man’s name in canon after his ‘death’, which is why I think that he didn’t really hate him. If he really hated him, then after Wayne’s ‘death’ Minion would probably be more likely to refer to him as Wayne or Wayne Scott.

In a world where Minion knows that Wayne doesn’t want to be Metro Man (like–in a post-canon fic, after he finds out that Wayne faked his death) Minion would understand Wayne Scott (or Music Man, if Wayne’s really serious about that) to be his name.

If Minion wanted to be really blatantly impolite in these circumstances, he’d call him Metro Man–using someone’s explicitly rejected name is a piece of rudeness that translates over all the cultures. If he wanted to be more subtle, he might call him Wayne–although Wayne would probably read this as friendliness, which would annoy Minion. So Minion would probably call him Wayne Scott instead, which Wayne would read as over-formality, and be uncomfortable with.

If, as I suspect, Wayne drops the whole Music Man idea pretty quickly, Minion could be really rude by continuing to call him Music Man afterwards.

If Minion actually likes Wayne, he’d be more likely to call him Mr. Scott. Ironically, in the universes where the two of them get along, this is something that Wayne dislikes. It makes him feel like Minion’s holding him at a distance or trying to imply that Wayne is somehow above him.

If Wayne really insisted, and Minion liked him, he could convince Minion to call him Wayne–because, for a Mnyn, making sure a person you like is comfortable/happy is more important than all other social norms.

And I do think Wayne is the type to insist. Especially in universes where Wayne and Minion are dating! One of the arguments Wayne uses is that his real name is his full name–so Minion calling him just Wayne is like using a nickname, really!

If Roxanne really insisted, she could convince Minion to call her Roxanne, too, but Roxanne doesn’t insist. (…human Roxanne finds it easier to accept nonhuman social norms than actual-alien-Wayne.)

The real-name thing is why Minion uses Roxanne’s name to Megamind in canon when he says “what happens when Roxanne finds out who you really are?” She’s Miss Ritchi in Minion’s previous line; he switches to her real name there because he’s essentially cursing for emphasis. There’s a strong undercurrent of ‘what the fuck, Sir’ to that line, with the strong additional implication that this is going to be a possibly fatal disaster.

Safe If We Stand Close Together: Safety Instructions Not Included (chapter 7)

The Roxanne and Megamind are friends as children AU.

K+ rating

AO3 | FFN

(Follows Safe If We Stand Close Together and Happy Returns.)

There aren’t any guidelines for being best friends with an alien, no map key, no index, no safety instructions.

Roxanne tries, so very hard, to get it right in spite of this.

Syx and Roxanne linger outside the doorway of the classroom that day after school until everyone but Miss Anderson is gone.

As the last of their classmates disappears down the hallway, Roxanne glances over at Syx. He looks pale, but when his eyes meet hers, he nods.

Roxanne takes his hand and gives it a quick squeeze, then lets go of him and ducks back into the classroom, leaving Syx hidden in the hall.

Miss Anderson is at her desk, sorting through papers; she looks up when Roxanne comes in.

“I just wanted,” Roxanne says, moving to Miss Anderson’s desk, “to say thank you. For letting Syx do the demonstration with the Read-Write today. At our old school…” she trails off, making a face.

“You both had a rather rough time of it there, it seems,” Miss Anderson says with a sympathetic smile.

“Yes,” Roxanne says. “Especially Syx. Miss Simmons—she didn’t treat him like a person.”

Miss Anderson frowns, her head tilting slightly; she clearly doesn’t completely understand.

“Because he doesn’t look human,” Roxanne says. “She didn’t treat him like a person because he doesn’t look human. She called him ‘it’.”

Miss Anderson sucks in a sharp breath, looking horrified. She shakes her head—a small movement, more an expression of abhorrence, rather than disbelief, Roxanne is pretty sure. For a small moment, her mouth works as though she might say something.

“And she’s not the only one,” Roxanne says, before she can. “When Syx was little, a bunch of people from a government lab tried to get him classified as non-sentient.”

Miss Anderson looks pale, and rather as if she might be sick.

“They said he was like a parrot,” Roxanne says. “Some kind of—a trained animal. They made him take tests. There was a hearing and everything before the judge finally said he was sentient.”

“I’m so sorry,” Miss Anderson says faintly.

“Yes,” Roxanne says. “Well—Syx did fine with the tests, of course, but—that’s why Syx is so worried about his brother. Because—reading and stuff like that doesn’t come easy to him, the way it does Syx, and what if he doesn’t do so good on the tests?”

“Oh,” Miss Anderson says, “but—if Syx has already been classified as sentient, then surely his brother—”

“They’re not blood relatives,” Roxanne says. “And he isn’t the same species as Syx. He looks less like humans than Syx does. That’s why he doesn’t go to school.”

“—I’m so sorry,“ Miss Anderson says again.

Roxanne swallows.

“Yeah,” she says. “Me, too. They turned in his brother’s sentience paperwork, but it’s going to take a while. And his brother really wants to go to school.”

Again, Miss Anderson seems to be trying to find the words to say. Syx, though, comes into the room now, just as he and Roxanne planned.

“Roxanne?” he says, hovering in the doorway. “The bus is going to be leaving soon.”

“Right, sorry,” Roxanne says. She puts on her backpack and starts to walk to the door. “I was just—we were talking about the Read-Write, and your brother’s paperwork.”

(it’s important that Miss Anderson knows Roxanne’s not telling her this behind Syx’s back)

Syx makes a noise of understanding, and nods.

“I hope your brother’s paperwork gets approved very soon, Syx,” Miss Anderson says. “I look forward to him joining us here at school.”

“Yes,” Syx says, and bites his lip. “If he does get to come to sh—school—would you let him use the Read-Write for class?”

Miss Anderson blinks.

“I certainly would,” she says slowly. “And—your brother…it sounds as if he has some form of dyslexia? The Read-Write is an assistive technology device. Schools are legally required to allow students with disabilities to use their assistive technology devices.”

The sheer and utter relief on Syx’s face is almost painful to look at.

“Thank you,” he breathes.

“You really should patent the device, you know, Syx,” Miss Anderson says, “it’s quite amazing; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Syx looks as if Roxanne could knock him over with a feather. She takes his hand; he glances down at their joined hands, then up at her face.

“—ah!” he says, “I—yes, right; we should—the bus—”

Roxanne leads him to the door, and out into the hall.

“So?” she says in an undertone. “That went good, right?”

“Yes,” Syx says dazedly. “Yes, it did.”

Roxanne squeezes his hand. He gives a breathless kind of laugh, shakes his head, and squeezes back.

“Phase two of the plan tomorrow,” he says.

“If Minion is ready,” Roxanne agrees as the very impatient bus driver motions them onto the bus.

“I wonder if you could adapt the Read-Write for other people,” Roxanne says thoughtfully, as the bus pulls out of the school driveway.

Syx looks at her questioningly.

“Like—the scan part of it, instead of having it in cursive, you could have it in bigger print, for people who have trouble seeing. Or if you added a voice to it, then it could read it out loud to you…”

Syx’s face lights up.

“Oooh, I like that!” he says. “What else?”

“Oh—” Roxanne frowns, considering. “Well, you could—”

The next day, Syx’s backpack looks very full again, and he puts it very carefully on his lap when he sits down next to Roxanne on the bus. Roxanne looks at him sharply and he nods.

She gulps, her stomach flipping over with nerves.

Syx tightens his hold on the backpack tightly. Roxanne puts her hand on top of his and takes a deep breath.

Okay.

Okay, they can do this.

They can do this.

Roxanne’s nerves wind themselves tighter and tighter; by the time the lunch bell rings, she’s almost ready to scream. And if she’s feeling like this, she can’t imagine how Syx must feel.

The other kids file out the door and into the hall; Roxanne and Syx move aside into the Science Corner and wait for them to go. Miss Anderson, seeing them waiting, looks at them questioningly.

“Miss-Anderson-may-we-please-talk-to-you-about-something-important,” Syx says, words running together.

Miss Anderson blinks.

“Yes, of course,” she says.

“Is it okay if I close the door?” Roxanne asks. “It’s—we don’t want anyone else to overhear.”

“All right,” Miss Anderson says slowly.

Roxanne closes the door and goes back to stand beside Syx.

“You remember we told you about Syx’s brother,” Roxanne says.

“Of course, yes,” Miss Anderson says.

Roxanne glances at Syx; he’s looking pale again, and clutching his backpack so tightly his knuckles have turned white.

“You remember the first day of shool,” Syx says.

(he doesn’t even try to pronounce the word correctly; Roxanne can tell he’s fighting simply to get the words out.)

“You remember—what you told me,” he says, voice tight, “about show and tell.”

Roxanne shifts her weight so that she’s closer to Syx, presses their shoulders together. He takes a quick, uneven breath and, like he’s tearing off a bandage, unzips his backpack.

“I’d like you to meet my brother,” he says. “Minion.”

Minion squints slightly when Syx takes his sphere out of the backpack—adjusting to the light after the darkness of being inside the bag. His eyes meet Roxanne’s, and she gives him the most reassuring smile she can. Minion turns towards Miss Anderson.

“um—hello,” he says, voice nervous. “It’s, uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

Miss Anderson’s eyes go very wide.

“Oh,” she says faintly, “oh.”

She swallows hard, shakes her head.

“—and I assumed you were a pet,” she says, “I am so sorry.”

Minion flutters his fins in a surprised motion..

“Oh,” he says. “That’s—thank you?”

Syx puts his ball down on the desk.

“But, really,” Minion says, “we were—I do pretend to be a pet mostly; we figured it would be safer, but—”

He hesitates, and rolls the ball so he can glance at Syx, who touches the tips of his fingers, quick and light, to the sphere. Then Minion looks again at Miss Anderson.

“—but I want to stop doing that now,” he says. “I want—I want to go to school with Sir and Miss Roxanne.”

This time, when he rolls the ball, it’s Roxanne Minion glances at. She touches her fingertips to the glass the same way Syx did.

“And we thought,” Roxanne says, “that maybe you would help us make that happen.”

Miss Anderson swallows visibly, and then she nods.

“Yes,” she says, “yes, of course, I will.”

Beside Roxanne, Syx lets out a shuddery breath, the tense line of his shoulders relaxing. Roxanne takes his hand and holds it tightly.

“Oh,” he says, sounding near tears. “Oh.”

He can’t seem to say anything else.

Things do get a bit—messy—after that, but, then, they always knew that was going to happen if they used the plan.

Miss Anderson has Minion rest on her desk until the end of school, and then she asks Syx to stay after school. She doesn’t ask Roxanne to stay, too, but she doesn’t seem surprised when Roxanne does.

And then the phone calls start—first Miss Anderson calls the office and has the superintendent, principal, and the school’s special education teacher all come to her classroom, and then she calls the Warden and Dr. Kelley, and they both come down to the school.

The Warden is glowering and gnawing at his mustache, and Dr. Kelley looks—well, Roxanne always thought that hopping mad was just a weird thing that people said, but Dr. Kelley looks mad enough to start hopping at any moment.

The adults all send Syx, Minion, and Roxanne out into the hall, close the door, and argue. Luckily, the classroom door is thin enough that when Roxanne tries to eavesdrop, this time she’s able to hear some of it.

“—even without citizenship and sentience documentation—”

“—legally required not to share that information about our students, Dr. Kelley; they’d have to have a warrant—”

“—called an Individualized Education Program; all children who receive special education will—”

“—wanting to speak to you concerning Syx as well; he’s very gifted; an IEP for him would—”

Roxanne doesn’t hear who it is who decides to call her dad, and she’s not completely sure if he’s there as her dad or as a lawyer.

By then, the whole thing’s gone on long enough that it’s almost time for Roxanne’s mother to be home from work, so Roxanne’s dad calls her, and she comes down to the school, too, and joins in the—by now very heated—discussion. Roxanne’s still out in the hall with Syx and Minion, but they can all hear the upraised voices.

Eventually, it’s over, and the adults all come out into the hall. Roxanne’s mother takes her wrist in a very tight grip.

“Does Minion get to go to school?” Roxanne blurts out, as he mother starts to walk quickly down the hall.

Her mother doesn’t answer, so she glances back at the rest of them. She catches Miss Anderson’s eye, and Miss Anderson gives her a very small nod.

Roxanne grins and lets her mother pull her the rest of the way down the hallway.

Not even her mother’s angry lecture, after they get home, about respecting authority figures and not interfering with Syx and Minion’s parents, can’t dampen Roxanne’s spirits. She doesn’t even try to argue, but just lets her mother go on until she’s finished.

Even when her mother insists that she write the Warden and Dr. Kelley each an apology note, Roxanne doesn’t argue.

The notes she writes are as full of lies as the apology note her parents once made her write to Miss Simmons, but she writes them with a light heart.

The next day, Minion, wearing his robotic suit, stands at the front of the classroom and introduces himself.

Miss Anderson writes his name on the board—in print, first, and then after that she writes it again in cursive.

And then Minion sits down at his own desk.

“I’m grounded for a month,” Roxanne tells Syx, grinning.

“Oh, us, too!” Syx says happily, and Roxanne laughs.

Her mother drives her to the prison after she gets home from work, and marches Roxanne up to the Warden’s office. She hovers angrily in the doorway as Roxanne hands the apology note to him.

His eyebrows go up when he takes it, and his mustache moves thoughtfully, as if he might speak. Finally, though, he just nods.

So Roxanne takes that as her cue to leave, and to let her mother march her down to Dr. Kelley’s office.

Dr. Kelley’s eyebrows snap down when he takes the letter, and he actually reads the whole thing in front of her.

Then he looks up at her, wearing that expression of sardonic amusement.

“You,” he says, “didn’t mean a damn word of this, did you?”

Roxanne hesitates only a moment.

“No,” she says honestly, “I didn’t.”

Behind her, in the doorway, her mother makes an angry noise.

Dr. Kelley glowers at her silently for a long moment.

Then lips twitch, and, to Roxanne’s surprise, he suddenly bursts out laughing.

“Oh, go away, you awful child!” Dr. Kelley covers his face with one hand and waves her out the door.

After Roxanne, Syx, and Minion are all finally un-grounded, Roxanne helps Syx work on creating additional assistive technology features for the Read-Write.

When Syx patents it two months later, he puts her name down on the form as co-creator, and refuses to listen when she tries to convince him to take it off.

Minion does get one of those things the adults were talking about, an IEP. He’s still able to stay in their classroom with them most of the time, but sometimes he goes to see the special education teacher for help with reading and writing. And he’s allowed to use the Read-Write, which really is helpful.

Syx gets one of the IEP things, too; him being allowed to work on other things after he’s finished with his classroom work is one of the things that gets written into his.

Minion is very popular with the other kids—and with the parents of the other kids, too, although it usually takes the adults a little longer to get past the whole fish-and-prosthetic-suit thing than it did the kids.

A month after Minion joins their class, Gary tells them excitedly at lunch that his parents finally are going to let him be in special ed for math.

“They said they didn’t want me getting made fun of,” Gary says, waving a french fry, “but I told them Minion is in special ed, and nobody makes fun of Minion!”

Gary and Minion also join a extra tutoring group for children with learning disabilities at the community center.

When Syx and Roxanne make several more Read-Writes with various experimental features, Minion gives them to the other members of the group so that they can test the devices and suggest improvements.

Minion’s sentience and citizenship paperwork is approved that summer.

Nobody even attempts to contest his sentience.

Roxanne, wearing a nice dress and new shoes that pinch her feet, sits beside Syx during the hearing, holding his hand tightly. When the judge signs the papers, they both jump to their feet excitedly, bouncing up and down and hugging each other.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Roxanne says, as Syx laughs joyfully.

“Sir! Miss Roxanne!”

Minion, robotic suit clanking, moves swiftly towards them, and the two of them pull him into the hug.

the end.

HAPPY DAY NINE OF MY NINE DAYS OF MEGAMIND!!! o<{}( :D~

A big thank you to @siadea for giving me information about special education (during the holidays too!)

Thank you for continuing to read, like, reblog, and comment; I’m so glad to have you guys as my readers! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to Safety Instructions Not Included!

The Safe If We Stand Close Together universe will continue! The next story in the series is the already-published Terms of Endearment. Following that will be a story called Changing Times (yet to be published as of 12/25/17). While waiting for that fic, you can re-read my story Given Names, which serves as a prequel to it (as well as to Code: Safeword)!

(I plan to continue the Safe If We Stand Close Together universe after that as well; my current outline has it going on through their high school years and into their first year in college!)

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING! ❤

Safe If We Stand Close Together: Safety Instructions Not Included (chapter 6)

The Roxanne and Megamind are friends as children AU.

K+ rating

AO3 | FFN

chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

(Follows Safe If We Stand Close Together and Happy Returns.)

There aren’t any guidelines for being best friends with an alien, no map key, no index, no safety instructions.

Roxanne tries, so very hard, to get it right in spite of this.

They don’t put the plan into effect right away; even Minion sees the necessity of making sure he’s reading first. And he seems calmer, now that they do have a definite plan.

The next weekend, Roxanne goes over to the prison every day and they work on Minion’s reading. He’s progressed during the week; Syx goes through the alphabet formations ten times on Friday after school, and Minion doesn’t miss a single letter.

Syx wants to move on to spelling out words for Minion to read in the tank, but Roxanne says they’d better make sure Minion can write the letters, too.

Using a pencil throws Minion off; he says it’s the ‘short dry strokes’ that confuse and distract him. He has better luck when he switches to a pen; and even better luck when Syx gives him a paintbrush and paint. The fluidity of the movements with the paintbrush makes it easier for him to focus.

Syx included the letter blends in his swimming alphabet—ch, th, sh, and so on—he really is right; they do make their own unique sounds distinct from their component letters. Roxanne remembers learning how to read, how hard the letter blends were to understand. Minion definitely catches on to them much faster this way, because he sees ‘ch’ as a pattern completely distinct from ‘c’ and ‘h’.

They move on to Syx swimming simple words for Minion the next day; Minion catches onto that impressively quickly. When Syx comes out of the tank, though, and they try having Minion read the same simple words from a written page, Minion is unable to do it. He says, frustrated, that the letters stay too still on the page—like they’re dead—is how he puts it.

None of them can think of a way around it, so on Sunday, Syx swims numbers for Minion, instead of trying reading again.

Minion doesn’t actually have trouble with the math part of math at all; the only thing he struggles with is reading out the numbers themselves.

“Minion’s excellent at math,” Syx says, “If you say a problem out loud, he comes up with the answer quickly, and he’s really fantastic at geometry; he has amazing spatial awareness!”

“Swimming in schools,” Minion says, with a gesture of his fins, “and in open water. You have to.”

Roxanne makes an impressed noise.

Their next weekend, they work on cursive; Minion picks up cursive quicker and easier than print because of the way the letters all flow together in cursive.

He writes it fairly easily and is able to read it, although slowly and very uncertainly.

Interestingly, he actually tends to read words better as Syx and Roxanne are writing them, rather than after they’ve finished writing. He says the words are more alive that way.

On Monday, Syx gets on the bus with an unusually full backpack and an excited gleam in his eye.

“New invention?” Roxanne asks, as soon as he sits down.

He grins at her.

“Yes,” he says, “and it’s brilliant! I’ll show you in the science corner when we get to shool!”

They’ve moved on to chapter books in reading class; they’re reading a book called The Witches together. Miss Anderson has them read paragraphs out loud in turn each day, and then they fill out a worksheet by themselves to make sure they’ve understood the chapter. After everyone’s finished with their worksheets, Miss Anderson leads them in a discussion about the chapter, going over the answers to the worksheet questions.

Syx finishes the worksheet first today, of course; when Roxanne, finishing second, turns her worksheet over and goes to the science corner, he’s already there and has gotten the new invention out of his backpack.

It looks a little bit like a computer, but only a little bit. It’s much smaller and lighter—basically just a keyboard attached to a screen, with a few strange instruments wired to the keyboard. The keyboard is different from a normal keyboard; it’s black instead of grayish white, the keys are bigger than normal keys, and the letters on them are written in cursive, with extra keys for each of the letter blends.

“What is it?” Roxanne asks, careful to keep her voice down so Miss Anderson won’t think they’re being too distracting to the other kids.

“I don’t have a name for it yet,” Syx whispers back, “but it’s for Minion! To help him read and write. Look!”

He presses the power button and the screen lights up, blank and white. The keys light up, too, their letters starting to glow—but the glow moves on each key, brightness following the outline of the letters.

“Writing them!” Roxanne says, understanding hitting her, “So the letters aren’t dead for him!”

Syx types, pressing the glowing keys quickly, letters appearing on the screen in cursive:

exactly

“And watch—” Syx says.

A clipboard is mounted to the right side of the keyboard, with extra clips added on each side of the board, and on the bottom of the board. Syx takes a notebook from his backpack, tears out a blank sheet of notebook paper and clips the paper into place on the clipboard.

There’s something almost like a little folded arm on the right side of the keyboard, too; Syx unfolds this. It terminates in a kind of metal grip; Syx puts a pencil in this and tightens it so that it’s held securely in place.

On the left side of the computer, a thin black thing that’s shaped like a paintbrush is plugged into the keyboard; Syx picks it up and presses a button on the brush-less end.

Roxanne jumps a little in surprise as the metal arm moves, turning the pencil point-down and placing it at the top of the page, against the paper, as if poised to write.

Using the paintbrush thing, Syx writes in cursive on the screen:

you can write in cursive here and it appears in print on the paper.

Roxanne gasps, delighted, as the metal arm moves, writing the words in print on the sheet of notepaper.

Syx taps the paintbrush on the top edge of the screen, as if it’s a magic wand, and the letters on the cursive side begin to glow and move like the letters on the keyboard, glow following each word in turn. He reaches up to the screen and wipes out the word ‘and’ with the tip of his finger. On the screen, the word disappears as if his fingertip is an eraser.

The metal arm moves up, turns the pencil around so that the eraser is pointed down, moves to the word ‘and’ on the page, and erases it in three firm strokes. Then it moves up, spins again, so that the lead tip is downwards again.

Syx rewrites the word ‘and’ in its place on the screen again, and the metal arm rewrites the word on the page in print. Then he moves down on the screen and writes:

You see?

On the notepage, the metal arm writes the same thing in print.

“That’s amazing,” Roxanne breathes.

Syx looks at her sidelong, a small smile starting to curl the edges of his mouth.

Then he clicks the paintbrush again.

This time when he moves the paintbrush over the screen, he writes in cursive:

And look what else it can do!

The metal arm writes the same thing on the next line of the notepaper in cursive, too.

Roxanne gives a breathless laugh of amazement and Syx, really smiling now, clicks the paintbrush once more and sets it down.

“It’s in his handwriting, too!” he says, “Even the print! I had him write the letters for me and programmed the shapes into it!”

He takes the pencil from the metal arm and folds the arm down.

“And it does one more thing,” he says. “Hand me a book!”

Roxanne hands him the extra copy of The Witches that Miss Anderson keeps on her bookshelf. He opens it to the first page, then picks up the last of the mysterious instruments wired to the keyboard.

This instrument looks like one of the price scanner guns that they use at the grocery store. He aims this at the first page of the book and presses the trigger.

There’s a quiet click, and then the words of the books first page start slowly to appear on the screen in cursive, as if someone’s writing them.

A Note About Witches: In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they…

Syx puts down the scanner and looks at Roxanne.

“What do you think?” he asks.

Roxanne, grinning, puts her hands on his shoulders and gives him a light, delighted shake.

“It’s fantastic!” she says, hugging him quickly. “Syx, you’re so smart; you’re a genius! Has Minion tried it out yet?”

“Not yet,” Syx says, grinning widely at her. “I just finished it this morning and I wanted to show it to you. We’re going to test it out when I get back home today!”

“I wish I could be there,” Roxanne says.

“So do I,” he says. “Really, though—you think it’s going to be useful?”

“Definitely,” Roxanne says.

“Do you think I should change anything?”

“I—” Roxanne pauses, thinking.

“You’ll need to add a way,” she says, “to adjust the speed of the words when he’s using it to read. He might need it slower for now, and later he’ll be able to read faster.”

“Oooh, yes,” Syx says, “speed adjustment; I hadn’t thought of that!”

He begins to pack the device away again into his backpack.

“The Read-Write,” Roxanne says suddenly.

Syx, zipping his backpack, looks at her inquiringly.

“That’s what you should call it,” she says.

“The Read-Write,” Syx says, eyes lighting up as he gets the pun. “The Read-Right; ahahaha, yes! I love it!”

Roxanne laughs, too.

“All right, class,” Miss Anderson says, “is everyone finished with their worksheets?”

Syx and Roxanne go to sit again at their desks, and join in the discussion.

Afterwards, as they’re getting out their social studies books, one of the other kids, Dwayne, raises his hand.

“Dwayne?” Miss Anderson says.

“Can Syx and Roxanne show us the thing they were using?”

Roxanne glances over at Syx; he’s wide-eyed with surprise, looking at Dwayne.

“Syx?” Miss Anderson says. “Roxanne? Would you like to give the class a demonstration?”

Syx’s eyes go even wider as he looks at Miss Anderson. Roxanne looks at her, too; she’s smiling.

Roxanne glances back at Syx, who’s already looking at her, a question in his eyes. She nods decisively.

This wasn’t originally in her plan, but it will definitely be useful.

“Um,” Syx says, “yes. I—you’ll all be able to see easier if everyone comes over to the science corner?”

He glances uncertainly at Miss Anderson, who nods encouragingly at him.

Roxanne and Syx lead the way over to the table in the science corner and Syx starts to set the device back up again.

“This is the Read-Write,” Roxanne says, raising her voice slightly so that everyone can hear. “Syx made it. It’s for his—”

She hesitates, looking over at Syx, not sure what relationship word approximation he would prefer to use.

“Brother,” he says, looking at Miss Anderson. “It’s for my brother.”

“He has trouble reading and writing,” Roxanne says, “Syx made the Read-Write to help him.”

“He understands movement best,” Syx says, warming to his theme, beginning to gesture excitedly. “We figured out that he can understand written language if the letters and words appear as movements, rather than static, unmoving symbols!”

He turns on the Read-Write with a flourish.

“You see?” he says, pointing to the glowing keys. “Movements!”

“Why are the letters cursive?” Gary asks.

“Cursive is clearer for him than print,” Syx says. “The movement is more fluid; it feels more natural to him that way. Now—” he begins to set up the arm of the Read-Write again, putting a pencil into the grip, “—I’ll show you how it works.”

Everyone seems really interested in the Read-Write, Miss Anderson included. They all lean forward to watch as Syx continues the demonstration, answering their questions, explaining things. Roxanne helps, jumping in from time to time to break Syx’s explanations down into simpler words when they get too complicated for their classmates to understand.

Syx gets more confident as the demonstration goes on, his gestures and expressions growing gradually more and more animated, until he’s practically glowing with happiness, his hands dancing in the air as he talks.

Roxanne, watching him, smiles so hard that her face hurts.

…to be continued.

HAPPY DAY EIGHT OF MY NINE DAYS OF MEGAMIND! Thank you all for continuing to read, like, reblog, and comment; it makes me so happy. I hope the new chapter makes you happy, too!

Safe If We Stand Close Together: Safety Instructions Not Included (chapter 5)

The Roxanne and Megamind are friends as children AU.

K+ rating

AO3 | FFN

chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

(Follows Safe If We Stand Close Together and Happy Returns.)

There aren’t any guidelines for being best friends with an alien, no map key, no index, no safety instructions.

Roxanne tries, so very hard, to get it right in spite of this.

On Thursdays, they have gym class. After the dodgeball ordeal of P.E class at ‘Lil Gifted, going back to normal gym classes is a relief—although Roxanne definitely misses having gym class to talk to Syx and Minion.

Today, they’re doing relay races on those flat, square wheel-y things that Mrs. Kimber, the gym teacher, calls ‘scooters’. First they sit on them normally and propel themselves to the other side of the gymnasium and back using only their feet—then they kneel on the scooters and propel themselves with their arms—and then finally they lie down on their stomachs and use their feet again.

Mrs. Kimber’s divided their class into four lines of five people; the first person does the sit-and-leg-propel move, then gives the scooter to the next person in line and moves to the back of the line. Once they’ve gone all the way through the line like that, they move on to the kneel-and-arm-propel move, and so on.

There’s a certain amount of time, between the back of the line and the front, in which they can talk to the people standing in front and behind them. Strictly speaking, they’re not supposed to talk to each other, but as long as they’re not actually shouting, Mrs. Kimber pretty much turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to it.

Which makes it frustrating that Syx is in another line.

Roxanne is standing in front of Monica, though, so there is at least that. They laugh at the way Roxanne’s hair keeps falling down from her ponytail—the elastic band she’s using is all stretched out—and Monica offers to braid it for her. Which is risky, considering Mrs. Kimber’s right there. But Monica says she can finish it quick, so Roxanne lets her, and Monica winds the elastic band around the end of the braid just in time for Roxanne to take the scooter and send herself rolling across the gym floor.

When they’re both back in line again, slightly out of breath, Monica fusses briefly with the end of Roxanne’s braid, repositioning the elastic band.

“My parents say I can have people spend the night this tomorrow,” Monica says. “Will your mom let you come, do you think?”

“I can’t,” Roxanne says, “I’m going over to Syx’s tomorrow after school.”

“—oh,” Monica says.

She’s silent for a minute as the line moves forward. It isn’t until they’ve both had their second turn on the scooter that she speaks again.

“Caitlyn and Nicole are coming,” Monica says. “And Lindsey’s coming.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Roxanne says.

Even if she can’t come, she won’t be ruining Monica’s chance to have a sleepover altogether; that’s a relief.

There’s a pause.

“Lindsey moved here from New Jersey,” Monica says. “Her mom is in the army.”

Roxanne makes a noise of mild interest.

“I went over to Lindsey’s house last weekend,” Monica says. “Her family has a dog.”

“That’s cool,” Roxanne says. “What kind of dog?”

“—a black lab,” Monica says. “His name is Max. You still don’t have a dog, do you?”

“No,” Roxanne says. She laughs, a thought occurring. “Syx made a robot pet out of my dad’s toaster, though. After he set it on fire on accident. It was pretty funny; he was trying to—”

“Max does tricks,” Monica says.

Roxanne blinks, startled and confused at the interruption.

“Oh,” she says, “that’s—that’s cool.”

At this point, she is handed the scooter, and has to propel herself across the gym floor for the third time. When she’s finished, she watches Monica push herself across the floor. Monica’s face is set in a scowl and her legs work furiously as she turns the scooter around and races back.

Why she’s bothering to go so fast, Roxanne doesn’t know. Monica’s always been competitive, but it’s not like Mrs. Kimber gives out prizes or anything in gym class, and their group is already second to last. Maybe she just doesn’t want to end up in last.

She doesn’t, anyway, and then Mrs. Kimber tells them to stack the scooters in the equipment closet and go line up.

“Lindsey’s my best friend,” Monica says, as they’re moving to the line.

Roxanne makes a noise of approval.

“I like Lindsey,” Roxanne says. “She’s nice.”

Lindsey had been very understanding that day at lunch when Roxanne asked her not to correct Syx’s pronunciation. And, the next day, after Roxanne had quietly corrected Syx herself once, Lindsey had taken Roxanne aside and reminded her in an undertone that Syx didn’t like to be corrected. Roxanne had explained about her and Syx’s arrangement, but she’d definitely appreciated Lindsey worrying about Syx’s feelings.

“I’m sorry I can’t come tomorrow,” Roxanne says. “It sounds fun.”

“—yeah,” Monica says.

Syx is already in line; Roxanne moves to stand behind him.

Monica moves to stand with Lindsey.  

That night, when Roxanne is in bed, reading, her mother comes in.

“I just got off the phone with Anne Hansen,” she says. “Why didn’t you tell me Monica had invited you to a sleepover tomorrow?”

Roxanne lowers her book.

“Because I’m going over to Syx and Minion’s tomorrow,” she says. “Remember?”

“I’m sure they won’t mind if you leave a little early, dear,” her mother says. “And then you can go to Monica’s.”

“—but I don’t want to leave Syx and Minion’s early,” Roxanne says. “And Monica’s having other people over, too; it’s not like she won’t be able to have the sleepover just because I’m not there.”

Her mother frowns.

“Roxanne,” she says, “it’s important not to drop your old friends just because you have a new friend. You and Monica were always so close.”

Roxanne blinks, taken aback.

She’s never…been under the impression that she and Monica were ever particularly close.

Back before she went to ‘Lil Gifted, Roxanne had spent more time with Monica than with Caitlyn or Nicole, yes, but that was just because Monica’s mother used to work with Roxanne’s. Right?

“—I’m not dropping them,” Roxanne says. “We sit together at lunch and everything. And I already told Syx and Minion I would come over.”

“And you will go over to Syx’s still,” her mother says. “I’ll just come and pick you straight up as soon as I’m finished with work. And then we can drop you off at Monica’s. Why don’t you pack a bag tonight, so it’s all ready for tomorrow?”

“This is awful!” Minion says, as soon as the three of them are alone together in Syx and Minion’s cell bedroom. “I can’t stand this; we have to think of something else!”

He’s in his new robot suit today, and his metal hands gesture agitatedly. He looks—kind of pale, too, Roxanne thinks, and tense.

“Is it always this bad when you guys are separated?” she asks.

Syx shakes his head.

“It would be one thing if it was a—a voluntary separation!” Minion says, feet clanking as he paces the little cell. “Instead of something we’re being forced into, and if he wasn’t leaving everyday to go to—school.”

He says the last word as if it’s a curse.

“It isn’t like ‘Lil Gifted, Minion,” Syx says. “I told you; it’s—”

“I know you told me, Sir,” Minion snaps. “Unfortunately, my instincts happen to run on past experience! And don’t tell me you wouldn’t lie to me if it was bad; we both know that you would!”

Syx opens his mouth as if he’s going to deny it, but when Minion gives him a hard look, he flushes and looks down at the floor.

“I wouldn’t, though,” Roxanne says.

Minion looks at her.

“Yes, I know,” Minion bites out. “Thank goodness you’re there; it’s the only thing that’s kept me from going completely out of my mind with worry. It really isn’t bad, Miss Roxanne?”

“No,” Roxanne says. “It really isn’t. It’s—the kids are nicer here; we have friends—Syx, too—and Miss Anderson is nothing like Miss Simmons.”

“She’s nice!” Syx says, face screwed up as though this still confuses him deeply. “She lets us help people! She doesn’t make me stand in the bad corner! She didn’t make me stand in the bad corner even when I set my desk on fire yesterday!”

Minion shoots a look at Roxanne, who nods in confirmation.

“I think maybe she doesn’t even dislike me!” Syx says, gesturing wildly with both hands, his eyes wide.

Again Minion looks at Roxanne, hope warring with incredulity in his expression. She nods again, slowly, thinking. Syx and Minion begin talking again to each other, but Roxanne isn’t really completely listening.

“—Minion,” she says, interrupting them, “were you—did you mean it, when you said you wanted us to think of another plan?”

Minion and Syx both turn to look at her.

“…do you have another plan, Miss Roxanne?” Minion asks.

Roxanne bites her lip.

“I think I might,” she says, and starts to explain.

Minion is on board with the plan almost immediately; an indication, Roxanne thinks, of how much this involuntary separation really is upsetting him. Syx, though, is worried—he’s terribly concerned for Minion’s safety. In the end, they all agree to give it another week—wait and see if Syx thinks it’s feasible.

They don’t have much time for talking about plans, in any case; Minion’s tutoring is vitally important whether they decide to use Roxanne’s new plan or not. The three of them head down to the prison library, where the Warden has let Syx build a very large tank for Minion’s tutoring.

The tank was Syx’s idea; Minion’s species, he says, communicated both verbally and gesturally—so it should be easier for Minion to understand about letters and reading if he thinks of them not as symbols he’s having to write with the hands of his robot body, but as patterns to swim in.

Minion and Syx both get into the tank; Roxanne looks on from the other side of the tank’s glass walls. She can see Syx’s mouth moving as he tells Minion the names of letters, and then the two of them swim each letter together. They’ve clearly been working on this before now; Minion goes through the letter formations with confidence.

(it’s like an underwater dance, Roxanne thinks, watching them, and wishes, wistfully, that she could move that gracefully either in the water or out of it.)

After the letter review, Minion gets back into his robot body while Syx remains in the tank. This is the part, Roxanne knows, where her help becomes useful.

Syx swims a random letter formation. Minion, frowning in concentration, watches him.

“R?” he asks Roxanne.

“Yes!” she says excitedly, and gives Syx a thumbs up to show that Minion has gotten the letter correct.

Then Syx moves on to another letter formation.

They go through the whole alphabet seven times, random letter order each time. Minion only makes five mistakes.

Syx is grinning as he climbs out of the tank and Roxanne is, too. Minion heaves a sigh of relief and then smiles proudly as well.

Monica’s sleepover isn’t bad, when Roxanne gets there. They eat pizza and play with makeup and paint each others nails, and then they watch a movie.

Roxanne is the only one awake at the end of the movie, but not because she was particularly interested in it. She spent the entire time it was playing thinking about Minion’s tutoring, and going over her new plan in her head.

On Monday, when they get to school, the classroom has been rearranged slightly. The bookshelves have been moved down closer to Miss Anderson’s desk, and the art supplies have been moved to the other side of the room, leaving one of the room’s corners empty.

A desk has been placed in this corner—not a wooden desk, like the rest of the desks in the room, but a metal one. Hooks have been hung on the wall; on these hooks are several pairs of plastic safety glasses and a lab coat. There’s a fire extinguisher on the wall beside the hooks.

On the metal desk is a scale; a bunsen burner; several glass beakers; and a very battered, very old microscope.

Syx and Roxanne walk into the room together; Roxanne hears the sharp breath he takes, hears the way he stops breathing after he takes it.

She watches him as they both go to their desks; he looks dazed, and he can’t seem to keep his eyes off of the rearranged corner.

When everyone’s in their desks, Miss Anderson moves to stand in front of the chalkboard. Then she smiles at them all and explains that this is the new science corner, that people are allowed to work on projects in the science corner when they’ve finished their other work—and that the first thing they’re going to do today is go over some science safety guidelines.

As she leads them all over to the science corner to demonstrate, Roxanne catches Syx’s gaze.

His eyes are very wide, with a sheen of tears to them, and when they meet hers, he swallows visibly and then nods.

Roxanne nods back in understanding.

The plan is a go.

…to be continued.

HAPPY DAY SEVEN OF MY NINE DAYS OF MEGAMIND!

Thank you all so much for continuing to read, like, and reblog. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter update!