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I glared exasperatedly at Maw's food-filled teeth. Now I was starting to think putting him on a leash wasn't such a bad idea. He ate most of the free little sandwiches on the "take one" tray, ate 4 cupcakes, a big bowl of soup, and 2 sugar cookies. But somehow he didn't spill a single crumb during his spree. The cashier scolded him but secretly enjoyed seeing someone breaking the rules without their manager around. Maw finished the orange juice he had and he gave a satisfied sigh.

"Why are you like this?" I handed him a napkin.

"Oh come on, you love it." He said, wiping his chin and giving a smirk.

I rolled my eye and chortled. 

"I'm not gonna spend money for a while but you deserve this one time. I swear, I'll get you some better food down the line. We still have a long way to go."

"Great!" He scrunched up the napkin in his hand and chucked it at a garbage can across the room. It nearly went in but hit the rim of the bin and bounced onto the floor. Maw cursed under his breath and then got up.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's go." 

I paid and then we went back to the hotel room and Trine was still sleeping. Maw and I watched sitcoms and cartoons on the TV and talked about miscellaneous things. Maw shared how he went to jail one time and I asked why. He said he stole candy from a 7-Eleven. I shared that I liked painting and he said he has eaten paint once. I was not expecting that conversation to go that way. Trine woke up after a couple more minutes and she pointed out that it was raining outside. Then I noticed the beautiful pitter-patter of it and eagerly rushed towards the window. Rain was one of my favorite things; sometimes it worked with the sun to make the most beautiful skies and rainbows and the smell and sound were so peaceful. It was nostalgic for me too for some reason, just as the sun was.

"We should go out!" I insisted, grabbing a coat from my bag. I was so excited I tripped and fell on my face. 

"New to walking?" Maw jeeringly chuckled as he reached his hand out.

"Shut up." I took it coldly and he pulled me up. I let go and combed my messed up eyelashes back with my fingers.

Trine followed and took out her coat too, rubbing her eye and smiling with zeal.

"You wanna come, Maw?" She asked, trying to stop her coat from scrunching up uncomfortably against her arms.

At that moment I thought I heard a quiet, desperate "no" from Maw, but when I looked back he was already putting his coat on.

"Yee, sure." His voice was less loud than it usually was, like he was thinking about something else. He put his hood over his toothy head and tugged at its drawstrings to make it tight on his body. The motions he did seemed dwindled with fear and gloom. 

I squinted as the earthy-sweet-smelling rain fell. We were outside in the hotel parking lot, it had a few cars around, all of their windows were very foggy. Trine let her hood fall down and the rain drizzled onto her face, feeling it sink into her like purity sinking into grime. Maw just stood there for a while, frequently looking up at the sky nervously and shielding his face. He anxiously fidgeted with his fingers and clicked his nails together. 

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I- nothin'. Rain just isn't.. my favorite." He shrank away and adjusted his hood to make it further cover his face.

"Oh, why?"

"I just don't like it! It's wet and cold and it doesn't even taste good! And... -uh, yeah. It's just annoying!" He said with urgency. It seemed like he was hiding something from me in that sentence but I'm sure it wasn't important.

"But there are so many good qualities about it too! It helps plants grow, it keeps oceans full, it helps the whole Earth regulate the health of its inhabitants, and it's just nice sometimes. After a long stressful day, you can just listen to the rain trickle down your window, almost like a comforting blanket. It's cold and wet, but beautiful."

Maw listened through my whole speech amused. I really geeked out just now. But Maw did straighten himself up and accept the rain a bit more.

"You're such a nerd, you know that?" Instead of saying it with derision, he said it with affection. I ignored the tone in his voice and took his comment with salt.

"Yes, you've made that clear." I purposely splashed in a puddle his way and it splattered on Maw's boots. He accepted the challenge and splashed so hard the water got all over my legs. 

"Ow, frick! I stomped too hard." He groaned, his feet hurting from hitting the ground.

"That's what you get!" I laughed in his face and we went back and forth splashing each other. Trine joined in too and splashed us. We were having fun for a while, giggling and all. Again, it felt like being a kid without actually knowing what being a kid felt like. Maw was lightening up too, he was still hesitant about the rain but at least I made him forget what he hated about it. While the splashing was slowing down, I saw out of the corner of my eye some shape moving on the sidewalk across the street. It was a bright fuchsia triangle. It completely clashed with everything around it and I thought maybe I was imagining things. It stopped and then rotated around slowly like a head scanning an area and at that moment I realized that the shape was attached to a body. Before I could make out the rest of its features, multiple arms rose from its back and wiped the rain off of its face, like a spider grooming itself. The person turned around to look at me. They had bright yellow circular eyes. They kept peering at me for a while like a spider studying their prey and I was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Um, guys. Someone is looking at us." I got Trine and Maw's attention and pointed over to the direction where I saw the bright person, but they were gone when I looked back.

"I don't see anyone." Trine stepped forward, shielding her eye from the rain.

"Huh. I could have sworn..." My cheeks reddened a bit. I saw someone. I knew I saw someone. It felt different from seeing just a random person, it felt like their presence was tugging me, horribly tugging me into a trap.

We went back inside and I decided this was the perfect time to try on the new clothes I bought from the store. I went into the bathroom and they were really cute on me. The light blue felt wings on the front collar of the dress looked appealing against the dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and my pants fit comfortably around me. I never cared for jeans or leggings that stuck so close around my legs. I showed Trine my new clothes and she loved them. Maw said they were cool too. He looked like he was holding back more words to sound like he didn't care, just as I did when I saw his outfit. Trine tried on her clothes as well and her shirt was a bright red tank top with a space pattern on it. The shorts were denim with a lace trim and she wore thigh-high white socks that made her look dainty and adorable. Maw gave a thumbs up to her and I complimented her. We did a couple more things that day like work on the novel we're writing, watch reality dramas on the television, and trying some more of those nasty sodas in the fridge, daring Maw to drink one as fast as he could. It almost felt like we were all having a silly kiddy sleepover. As night approached, we even put some pajamas on after a while. The rain kept going all through the night, getting stronger and stronger every hour. 

"So what is your dream job?" I asked both of them.

"Bah, I don't really care for a job." Maw started. "I've already had my fair share of selling my soul to a moronic company. Sign me up for a job that just lets you sleep all day, eh?" Maw took another sip of his soda and then picked his teeth.

"Fair." I agreed, lying on my stomach with my feet up, waving up and down in the air like a child. "I just want a writing and painting job that pays well. It's hard to find those sometimes but as long as you do something that makes you happy, it's worth it."

"Cheers to that," Trine added. "I already have my dream job, being an astronomer and a bit of an engineer. It's amazing, there's so much to learn about the universe. It's scary but elegant. I... I love it." Trine sighed. "I've made some friends and some enemies, and one person who... made me feel something I haven't felt before. They changed me… but they aren't around anymore. And I know I can be brave.."

As though a supernatural force was vexed by her words, there was a crash of thunder and lightning outside. At once, the lights went off. It was pitch black. I hated the dark. 

I scrambled up in a panic. Maw cursed and stood, taking another sip of his soda. 

"Ughhh, great," Trine complained, holding onto me to stand up. "I don't suppose anyone brought any candles, a flashlight, or a phone light? My phone's dead at the moment."

We all collectively said no, it almost felt comedic.

"Alright, I think I can fix this."

Without a second thought, she carefully made her way around the room and opened the window blinds so she could have a bit of the glare from the fogged moon for light, then she reached into her backpack and confidently pulled out the Exhilarator, her shining star project. 

"Let's see if this works." She plugged it into a wall light and it powered up.

"What's this thing?" Maw looked at the machine bewildered.

"The Exhilarator! It's a machine that takes energy from star molecules! I made it myself!" She tinkered with it and pressed some buttons. A button flickered on and some dust connected to the machine in a jar started to glow.

"Hell, I should've known you'd be mad enough to make something like that." Maw commented, taking a step back from it.

The dust in the jar started to float up, those were the star molecules. They sparked and flew around each other, creating energy. It zapped and zipped and radiated like a light show. 

"Hmm... I guess we should take a step back or go into the hallway." Trine warned calmly as the machine started to spark as well.

"Ya think!?" Maw freaked.

We rushed into the jet-black hallway and tried not to bump into each other. Then, after hearing a bit of zaps from the machine inside our room, I looked inside using the peephole and some of the lights were flickering. It was working! Trine looked too and she cheered with joy. Then, after a few more minutes the electricity beamed on again in our apartment, the only thing on in this whole hotel. We went back inside and I clapped for Trine. Maw couldn't believe it worked and he patted her on the back. Trine's machine finally came in handy, the perfect first test.

We stayed up until 1 AM doing random things and eating snacks. Maw dozed off first and slept on the floor for the whole night. He didn't even move into a more comfortable position, he just laid on his belly, drool seeping from his mouth and onto the carpet. Trine and I took the two beds. They were fine, but I made sure to still use my own blanket and pillow. While I was laying there for the few five minutes before falling asleep, I thought something that I didn't want to forget:

I am lucky to find new friends. Even though one is a triangle hiding from Earth's natural satellite and the other is an annoying smile with horrible baggage, it was okay because I liked them for who they are.