With the resolution of Stanley and Ezraphel's relationship things didn't go back to normal or what counts as normal in that household where the population of normal humans was zero. In any case things couldn't go back to the way they were for the simple fact that ever since Golem A was revealed she was no longer content with hiding in the proverbial background. So of course the very next day she was found sitting on the couch playing the Nintendo Switch Stanley and Natalie left out.
The first one up was of course Ezraphel who paused at seeing her "oh, you're already up."
"…" A said nothing as she seemingly kept her gaze on the screen while playing Mario Kart.
The Lilim frowned "you know now that I know for a fact that you can talk you don't have to do that 'silent speech' thing right?"
"…"
"What do you mean only Stanley has that privilege!?"
"…"
"So what if he's scary? I am your creator."
"…" this time after crossing the final finish line in the game she gave Ezraphel the side eye.
In response the Lilim's eyes narrowed "your lack of respect is noted" she stated before turning her nose up at the Golem as she strutted away.
A let out an exasperated breath through her nose before
The next person to greet her was Natalie who came in with a steaming cup of coffee.
"Morning" she grumbled.
"…"
"Oh you're still doing that pseudo telepathic thing"
"…"
"Why bother? I mean you kinda gave away your ability to speak normally."
"…"
"Hey I drink coffee because it's been part of my morning routine for over a decade now. I don't want to lose touch with the habits I had as a human. Besides this stuff actually does do things for me…somehow."
Again she wasn't about to question why caffeine affected her as a corpse though that does raise the question of whether or not the same could be said for alcohol.
Shaking her head she asked "and this isn't about me. This is about you and your insistence on doing that pseudo telepathy thing" she took a sip of her coffee "so spill, what's that all about?"
This time there wasn't any communication to be had which had the Wight
"Now you're choosing not to say anything at all? Fine, just tell whatever profound reasoning you have doesn't include you just trying to be 'quirky' or something."
"…"
To her credit her expression did not at all change
"Oh my God that's it isn't it!? Ha!"
"…"
As Natalie laughed the Golem turned fully to stare at her and while her expression remained neutral her eyes glared with such a intensity that it cut through Natalie's mirth causing her laughter to peter out though she never lost her mirth.
"I'm sorry!" she eventually exclaimed "it's just that…ugh, never mind. By the way how long have you been playing this?"
"…"
"All night? Don't you sleep?"
"…"
"Oh right"
For the next couple of minutes Natalie watched as A played a few more races in silence. Eventually the final resident of the house arrived in his rumpled tank top and pajama bottoms despite having literally rolled out of bed. He had been on a direct course for the kitchen to receive his daily top up of milk yet the familiar sounds coming from the living room gained his attention.
He wasn't exactly sneaking nor did he didn't announce his arrival either yet the moment he entered the game was paused and the player, Golem A's attention turned towards him. the sudden action garnered Natalie's attention as she regarded him.
"Oh, it's just you."
"Who else were you expecting?"
"The other Golem Ez has stashed in secret."
"…"
"…"
Two sets of eyes stared at the Wight in silent admonishment to which Natalie winced "too soon?"
Stanley decided to ignore that and move on with "I thought I packed the Switch back in my office."
That got a subtle reaction from A which Stanley noted with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
'Why does she look likeshe got caught with her hand in the cookie jar?'
"Yeah, I snuck into your little man-cave and took it out when Ez kidnapped you."
"Uh-huh" he hummed ignoring her words for the most part to continue staring at the Golem "is that what really happened?"
'Huh, didn't think Golem's could sweat.'
"Leave the poor girl alone Stan" Natalie interrupted in a more stern tone of voice.
Stanley looked to his sister to find her glaring at him. It had bite he could admit but any reluctance (meager as it would be) got completely demolished with the thought of someone going into his office to touch his shit.
"Since this is your first time I'll let you off with a warning. Don't go in my office again."
You'd think living with two women who casually disregard this once sacred edict would make him loosen up a bit but nope if anything it only made him more sensitive towards that kind of thing.
The Golem nodded her head frantically "o…kay."
"Good"
He turned to leave only to catch the glare his sister gave him and this wasn't the I'm disappointed in you glare nor was it the you're being an asshole glare no this was the you better fix this shit or there will be consequences glare. Considering the circumstances he had a pretty good idea of why she was giving him that glare and while he would prefer not to address it there was another thought.
'It is way too early to be dealing with this bullshit.'
And so with a roll of his eyes he looked at the Golem though this time without the subtle pre-milk fugue haze of sleepiness. His sharper more considerate gaze made the Golem tense further owing to the inherent fear she had towards him which was kind of ridiculous if you ask him.
'I wasn't that bad towards her…was I?'
He didn't think so. Frankly with the amount of fear she was showing towards him you'd think he threatened her.
'Oh wait, yeah I did.'
Well he didn't verbally threaten her but he definitely had a threatening aura and given what Ezraphel told him about that one episode back when they were visiting his friends the 'threatening aura' might have been literal. Does that mean he was exposing her to an actual fear aura while he was interrogating her?
'Now that I'm thinking about it wasn't Amelia a little skittish around me after that?'
It wasn't the kind of thing that was obvious at first glance nor did he pay much attention to it back then especially with how brief it was but he could remember Amelia being a little scared of him. He hadn't even been directing his attention to her she was just unfortunately near him when it happened.
'Well shit no wonder she's scared of me.'
Now he felt bad but not as much as he probably should because well he actually liked the idea of the Golem being scared of him. What can he say? After living with two women who were familiar enough with him to be casually dismissive of him the Golem's fear, exaggerated as it was, felt like a breath of fresh air.
Was it wrong for him to want respect in his own damn house without a layer of sarcasm or indulgence exhibited by Natalie and Ezraphel respectively? He swears nowadays it feels like the two treat him less like an adult and more like a child prone to tantrums. Embarrassingly its sometimes literal in the case of Ezraphel.
…He'd rather not think about it but let's just say he's unfortunately dipped his toe in degeneracy most unexpected and still coming to terms with that fact.
In any case he could not in good conscience lave things off in such a negative way with the Golem.
"Despite what you may have seen or heard from Ezraphel and this freeloading corpse I don't like people taking my things WITHOUT PERMISSION!"
He shouted the last two words with a pointed glare at his sister who looked utterly unrepentant.
"…"
"Now if you want to play any other games or want recommendations you can just ask."
The Golem looked at him with wide eyes "t-thank you that is very generous of you."
"You're welcome" he nodded at the Golem before catching the look of suspicion on Natalie's face prompting him to ask "what?"
"Since when are you"
"Tch, I can be nice when I want to."
"But you hardly do and not for nothing."
"Well it just so happens that I don't have to explain shit to you so…"
He then walked away without another word.
As he left Natalie turned to A "well good news is that he likes you."
"Is that bad?"
"Oh, so you decided to ditch the silent speech then?"
"…"
"Alright, alright" she waved off her annoyed look "as for your question he really doesn't do nice without a good reason or at least a reason that makes sense to him. So either he feels bad about how he grilled you the other day or…" she trailed off with a considerate expression.
"…"
"I dunno" she eventually shrugged "my advice? Keep doing what you're doing. Stan isn't nice all the time but when he is he can be really generous."
Later that morning the quartet sat down to have breakfast and surprisingly Stanley was the one to start up small talk.
"So what exactly is your name?"
The question got a bunch of different reactions from the gathered women. The Golem in question froze as she was prone to do whenever she so much as glance her way for more than a few seconds.
Ezraphel looked confused "you don't know her name?"
Natalie looked annoyed "please tell me it didn't just now occur to you that you never got her name."
"I was distracted" he defended himself…poorly.
The three women looked at him with varying degrees of unimpressed, even the Golem in question.
Seeing this Stanley indignantly yelled "as if you know her actual name."
"It's A" Natalie answered easily enough.
"That's not a name it's an alias."
"It's a nickname" Ezraphel corrected.
"Seriously?" the Wight looked genuinely surprised at this.
Natalie looked to the Golem who with a flat expression subtly shook her head.
"Please tell me it didn't just now occur to you that you never got her name" Stanley mocked throwing her words back at her.
"I thought we were friends and you never even told me your real name?"
In response the Golem shrugged before speaking "didn't seem important plus…"
"Don't you fucking dare-"
"You didn't ask" the Golem finished.
"Hah!"
"Shut up Stan you didn't know it either."
"Yeah but I didn't care to know until now and the first thing I did was ask."
"…I hate that that's a valid excuse for you."
Ignoring his sister's muttering Stanley turned to the Golem "well?"
The Golem took a moment to consider before replying "Anastasia, my name is Anastasia."
"So Ana then? Gotcha" he nodded to himself
"Why that name?" Natalie questioned.
"Because it starts with A" Stanley answered between bites.
His earned a look of admonishment from Ezraphel "Stanley-"
"Yes, actually" the now named Ana interrupted "that is one of the reasons."
"You really shouldn't indulge him" Natalie muttered.
Ignoring Natalie the Golem continued "and I just liked the sound of it."
At the end of it Ezraphel looked disappointed "that's it? I was expecting more."
Stanley rolled his eyes at this "not every decision made has to be profound or make a statement Ez. It's just a name, not that big of a deal."
Of course this earned him glares from Ezraphel and Natalie as well as a look from Ana "why are you looking at me like that? You know I'm right."
"You really aren't" Natalie shot down.
"Stanley you dunderhead."
"Who the hell says dunderhead nowadays?"
"How would you feel if you were named something ridiculous?" his sister piled on.
"But I'm not and even then I'd like to think that at this point in my life I wouldn't care" he shrugged.
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah."
"Well I heard from mom that one of the names considered for you was Beau short for Beauford."
"Bullshit" he immediately denied "I don't believe you."
"Believe it…or don't" she shrugged "just know that in some other reality you might have been named-"
"Beauford Berkowitz" Ezraphel finished with a giggle at the utter look of revulsion on Stanley's face "come now Stanley it's not a bad name. I think it's cute actually."
"Everything you've just spewed out of your mouth has made me violently ill" he looked down at his breakfast and made a face before pushing the plate away "and you made me lose my appetite!"
At this the Lilim lost her teasing expression and pinned him with a neutral expression "if you don't finish your breakfast then I will endeavor not to make anymore meals for the foreseeable future."
In the very next moment as if reality had skipped a frame Stanley had the breakfast sandwich he assembled himself in his hand chewing from the bite he took.
Not a word was said among the three women as they witnessed this bout of reality warping speed. While Ezraphel smiled triumphantly Natalie and Anastasia shared a look of astonishment.
Suddenly Ezraphel's expression turned stern once again "now, I believe it's time we have a serious discussion Anastasia."
As she said this Ezraphel steeple her fingers together with her elbows on the table in the classic Gendo Posetm which made the Golem straighten up.
"When will you be inviting your boyfriend to dinner?"
There was a beat of silence at the question where Ana hesitated only for Stanley to beat her to the punch.
"Oh, I know the answer to this one" he chirped with false cheeriness "she'll do it on nope-day at never-thirty."
"Stanley-"
"Don't you 'Stanley' me" the man interrupted "why is it so important that we meet this guy anyway?"
"I just want to meet the man who managed to garner her attention."
"That's even more reason not to invite him here" Stanley spoke frankly.
"What's that supposed mean?"
"No offense Ez but I think I'd be sparing us and more importantly her boyfriend a lot of grief by keeping him away from the clusterfuck that is our household."
"We're not that bad" Ezraphel looked from Stanley to the other two women "are we?"
Ana found herself very preoccupied with the breakfast before her but luckily Natalie was there to bail her out.
"Eeh~" the Lilim made a so-so gesture "usually I'd agree for a meet and greet just to see if this guy is on the up and up but right now things aren't really stable so to speak."
"Plus Ana is a grown ass woman and she doesn't need our approval. Not that it would even change anything even if we didn't approve of him."
"On the contrary it would be irresponsible of us not to ensure that her hubby can be trusted with our secret."
"Yeah no, let's not go there right now."
"What?"
"First of all based on what I learned Ana is plenty responsible. Enough that I can trust she knows how to navigate a relationship without us hovering over her."
At his words all three women stared at him in varying stages of astonishment.
"What?"
"We're just surprised you're willing to give her such a ringing endorsement. I for one think you're full of shit and you're working an angle."
"Hey, she's managed to go a couple months without fucking up I think she's earned the benefit of the doubt."
"…nope I don't buy it. Something else is going on."
Ezraphel looked exasperated "obviously Stanley does not want to open our home to a stranger and is willing to use anything as an excuse."
"Who says it has to be one reason or the other?"
"You're not even denying it" Natalie shook her head.
Ezraphel opted to bypass Stanley entirely to cast her gaze on the silent Golem "what do you think Anastasia?"
Ana had her mouth stuffed with food so her reply came out as "mmfhly mfh afghry mfh"
"…I'll only tolerate such tomfoolery from Stanley because it is endearing" the Lilim spoke looking thoroughly unimpressed with Ana's attempt at getting out of this conversation.
Natalie went on to add "plus you don't need spoken words to communicate remember honey?"
"…"
"Language!"
"You don't have to answer her Ana. She just wants more fuel for the Gossip Girl Collective."
Ezraphel stiffened in naked shock causing Natalie to look between the couple and ask "what the hell is the Gossip Girl Collective?"
"Oh that's the name I gave to the forums Ez likes to frequent to indulge in her relationship-related vices."
"…you're kidding. Please tell me he's kidding" Natalie looked to Ezraphel who was staring at Stanley.
"When did you find out?" the Lilim asked.
"I've always known Ez."
"How?"
He gave her his full attention "just like nothing goes on in this house without you knowing, nothing goes on with my WiFi without me knowing" he then looked to the other girls "and that goes for all of you bitches."
"Are you being serious?" Natalie raised a brow.
"Do you want to challenge me on that?" he then went to eating his breakfast.
After a moment Natalie wisely decided to back off.
"That's what I thought."
There was a lull in the breakfast before Ezraphel looked back to Ana "I still want to hear your take on this Anastasia."
"…I agree with Natalie" the Golem began hesitantly "if I had to choose I'd rather not bring Stefano here…no offense."
"None taken" Stanley shrugged.
"Some taken!" Ezraphel countered heatedly before calming down "but if that is your decision I will respect it. Just know I am disheartened to know that you don't feel comfortable enough around us to invite your boyfriend to dinner."
"…thank you."
The rest of breakfast passed by quickly enough and afterwards the four residents went their separate ways. Stanley retreated to his office and Ezraphel retreated to a pocket dimension leaving Anastasia and Natalie alone to play Mario Party until her phone started ringing.
"Hold up" she put a pause on the game before retrieving her device and upon seeing the number she froze.
'Shit.'
She looked to Ana who gave her a look that said "what is it?"
"I gotta take this"
She got up off the sofa and started exiting the room. Ana heard only two words before she Natalie got out of earshot.
"Hey mom~"