"– We might be nothing to do with the Sideways, I might just be paying too much attention to something silly." She shrugs, looking down. "I just, it was nagging at me and I was worried."

"N—no but if we're at the Sideways then I never left // still there," she says, her voice overlapping with itself. "I // I // Can't not have left, I escaped him // her // them." Her face frameskips a few mouth positions as she speaks, and the Sideways feeling flares up.

Rachel possibly looks a little strained now. "I – uh – we're – we're in the burger bar – orientation. We're – we're not there."

"But you said you knew // felt the Sideways," she says, grasping for the reassurance, anything to say they're not back there and this isn't "a dream // nightmare // beautiful // terrible."

"I was probably wrong! People feel it all the time, the security people even said! They – I'm just being silly, apparently it happens all the time," she babbles. "People think they see the signs of cubism just after having heard them and like, it's so unlikely! It'd never happen, the Sideways are long gone, we're in the City now and I'm pretty sure I have no idea how I'd even get back if I wanted to, I'd have to ask someone, so we're fine?"

"Okay // okay. Fine. We're fine, yes," she nods, skipping a frame here and there... until she doesn't. "Fine. Not there. Not with him or her. Away. I got away."

"We're totally fine," agrees Rachel. "Orientation isn't the most fun but at least it's safe, we're okay here and the rest of the city should be just fine too."

"Right. Yes." The feeling subsides, returning to its regular levels. "Thank you. I'm sorry I freaked out, I just—I'd forgotten. What I'd spent all my time doing in the Sideways."

"It's fine!" says Rachel, trying to look quite calm. "I mean, thank you for getting me out of there – you don't need to revisit it or anything."

"But I don't want to—repress it—then it's worse, when I remember."

"… I'm guessing they have counselors and therapists here, somewhere. Who might be a good idea to look into, if it's that sort of, a thing?"

"They're gonna lock me up if I tell them, I spent years there and they think I think it was just a day or two but it wasn't, I remember all the years, it was really years, they'll think I'm cubist."

"And, you're sure you're not? I don't know what it's like – you seem fine – surely there's probably symptoms if you are…"

"I'm not—I'm fine, aren't I? Not a Picasso, not me, I'm okay. Whole." She shows Rachel her hand. "See? Whole. No flickering. I'm okay. Okay. I'm all okay."

"Do you – uh, have you ever heard of someone coming back from cubism?" Pause. "I'm not sure what people know about it, but I get the picture the solution is… somewhere along the lines of 'kill it with fire'…"

"It is. I don't think anyone's ever heard of that, once you go cubist you're supposed to be gone forever. No one really understands how people get infected."

"It's… supposed to be worse if you panic, right?"

"Panic causes cubism causes panic, no one knows..."

Nod. "Well, I – um. Yeah, I'm – I'm feeling a bit tired right now." She rubs her eyes. "I should probably be getting back to my room."

"Okay. Sleep well."

"See you some other time."

And she's gone.

Her bed is as she left it.

And she lies down on it and curls up a little and shivers and has no idea what to do.

Her bedroom does not have any suggestions.

She would be frightened and afraid if it did.

So she spends most of the next couple of hours trying to think through what to do and deciding she's already vaguely alerted people to Sadde and she's not got extra evidence and she can't really go all 'she blurred!' because that would be first of all – okay, rude, but that's not the point – second of all panic inducing, third of all horrible for all sorts of reasons and fourth of all of course she totally should do this she is going/gone cubist this is not going well.

Augh.

It can. Probably. Possibly. Wait until tomorrow. And hopefully she doesn't go cubist herself, she doesn't know how infectious it is, Sadde looked fine after things what does she even do aah.