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Id: The Demands
Thea (Throne3D) + Cynthia (RoboticLIN)
Permalink Mark Unread

Down in nowhere USA (a small town in Illinois, New Loffville, to be exact) a shitty teenage party continues, just before midnight. Bottles strewn about, host nowhere to be found, and police likely on the way by the amount of noise.

"Have you SEEN her hair?" prompts a horde of preppy girls to laugh uproariously. An out of towner created a horde of fawning girls (alcohol access helped) and displaced an area for themselves. A pack of drugged-out kids remains shambling around as if zombies, trying to find a place to get away from the comments.

"Turn that shit OFF ALREADY!" yells a drunken party-goer. the music had been so bad that the radio had been turned on to replace it. Arguments already ensued after someone decided that they were in control (he turned on some trance-classical station), and it currently rests on a rap station playing a song that could be described as 'bass with no discernible lyrics' (the dissenter was hauled out back by a jock and is nowhere to be seen).

"Wait, Thea? Are you leaving already?" starts the conversation this story is here for.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, yeah. I'm a bit tired. And. Um," she says, then looks around, fumbling for a way to say 'have you seen this place?'... "Yeah. See you soon?"

And off she goes. She did not realize that party was going to turn into that. Eugh. Fortunately, she wasn't part of any fights, she didn't take any of the drugs, her drink wasn't spiked, and she's ultimately fine. She is definitely going to be more careful about what parties she goes to in the future, though.

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"Yeah, soon!" cries from behind her in a slur.

Outside is slightly better. Past a few smashed bottles near the steps up and the smokers off next to the garage, the only issue is the bass and the lights from the house. People leaving and arriving every few houses, a full moon on a lightly-cloudy night aiding the streetlamps to leave it more-or-less bright enough to make your way around.

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Well, that's nice of the moon. Probably the most pleasant thing in the area. Not that it's exactly in the area, but whatever. Thea looks at her phone to check the time – the party started pretty late on, but it got really bad, really quickly.

... It's 11:59. Okay, well, she can get home and get to sleep at a mostly reasonable time, and put the party out of her mind.

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While she stares at her cellphone's clock, the time ticks over to 0:00. Or, perhaps more accurately, minus 1:00. The screen promptly goes blank.

In the time it takes to blink, the world changes. The moon takes on a sickly yellow hue, the streetlamps shutting off. The few clouds turn a poison green, creating patches of heavy darkness in a few areas. Nearby people are replaced with looming jet-black coffins. Grass turns to burnt strands, puddles to splashes of blood, electronics to unworking pieces of plastic. The sounds from the party dissapear. Nearby cars on a road lay stopped, more coffins sitting next to them. An eerie silence is left behind.

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"Um."

She taps the buttons on her phone a few times. Tries pulling out the battery, then putting it back in and turning it on again. Still nothing. Oh wait, her phone isn't literally the center of her world – she looks up at the world around her.


Nope, that's not how it's supposed to look. That is not how the world looks. That is not how the world looked. None of these thoughts are doing anything to make it better. It's still not how it should look. Why are there coffins, red puddles, and green. What.

Is there anyone still around?

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The nearby smokers, a pack of tightly-spaced coffins.

The passed out near the door? An upright coffin where his torso was.

The people down the street? Coffins in the middle of the sidewalk.

Nobody seems to be around that hasn't been replaced.

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... Rrright. Coffins.

She goes over to one, avoiding the puddles and weird grass, and looks around it. What does it look like?

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It's a large coffin. Black, with nothing different between any of them regardless of how tall the person was. Standing next to it, it could easily be 8 feet tall. Any tapping results in a solid, hard result. No real noise comes off of it, nor does it seem openable on either side. It remains in place.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay. Nothing weird about that. Totally an everyday occurrence.

So. She finds herself alone, surrounded by a bunch of coffins, weird grass, weird puddles, and a weird sky. Electronics are also broken. What does she do?


She continues to walk home, obviously, avoiding the puddles, the weird grass, and any places that are particularly shadowy, because she has seen movies, and she doesn't want to be eaten by the wraith-like monsters, thank you very much, assuming any of this is real. She's probably having some sort of psychotic break, so that's fun, but she should be safer either way if she gets home.

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Walking, the scene remains the same. Anywhere a person would be, stands a coffin. Based off of a pair near a car that has inexplicably stopped in the middle of the road, their orientation seems to be that the flat side will face whichever way they were facing and the coffin shows up in the nearest position it can fit without changing.

The walk is silent, besides the echos of her own footfalls.

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... Maybe she should have gone back into the party and checked there first. It would probably be the same, and if she is having a breakdown, maybe someone would have noticed? ... No, probably not.

She really hopes her phone isn't broken. She knows it's stupid, what with the weird environment around her, and the potential she's having a mental break, but really, she uses her phone for a lot.

Is there any other creepy stuff? Or is it just coffins, a weird sky, weird grass, and also the red puddles?

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So far, nothing else seems weird. Besides the lighting scheme, nothing along the way seems wrong. A discarded rubber ball alongside the path gets kicked and bounces as it should. The cars, besides not moving while in drive, are still peeks into people's lives. The buildings, including the outside of her own house she arrives at now, remain as normal as can be. Her keys work properly when tried also.

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Inside her house, she feels a bit better. She really hopes she isn't going crazy, but she also really hopes that thing isn't real, and it's easier to put it out of her mind now she's in her house.

She looks around for her dad.

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It's her house. Same layout, same furniture, same coffin sitting next to the dinner table... Or not. Her dad is a coffin, but any time to react is cut short by the noise of clapping jarring away the silence, as a figure steps out from behind it...

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A figure much like her own.

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... What.

What the hell.

Okay, seriously, this hallucination is messed up. What the hell, brain? What the hell!

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"What's wrong?" asks the body-double, sweetly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

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Okay. That's her voice, too. And it walks like her. What the fuck.

Well, at least her hallucinations are detailed? That's a good thing? Maybe? At least she's not, y'know, unimaginative?

"What the hell are you."

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"Oh, honey. Don't you already know?"

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"Oh, fine, you're no fun. I'll stop teasing. I'm you!"

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That is... not exactly what Thea was expecting. Why would a hallucinatory person who looks exactly like her but doesn't act like her claim to be her?

"What?"

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"Okay, so I'm not you, but I'm close enough. Don't you want to ask me all about yourself? I know you better than even you do!"

She slowly moves closer, swaying from side to side.

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That is entirely all too much fun to have when Thea is freaking out. "I repeat: what," she says tersely, glaring.

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"Do I have to do all the work myself?" she asks rhetorically, then sighs dramatically. "Fine. You're Thea Jennison, I'm... not Thea Jennison. You're boring and self-centered, and I'm... not? I'm what you wish you could be."

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Uh, no. "I'm fine being myself, thanks." Then, realizing she's just talking to a hallucination, she sighs, goes to sit at the table (on the side away from the coffin), and puts her head in her hands.

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"Oh, Thea. Poor, pathetic Thea. I'm not a hallucination. Honestly, so worried about your precious image all the time, what would people think, knowing you think you're going crazy?"

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Oh yes. Thea can totally trust the hallucination that she's not going crazy. Of course she can.

She laughs a bit hysterically.

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"Yeah, I didn't think that would do anything. You know, you actually are obsessed with your image, but you're never going to realize it. No, what's more interesting is your godawful inability to do anything."

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Another laugh. So what if the hallucination is from her subconscious, it's obviously not very effective at whatever it's trying to do.

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"Ineffective? Moi? How dare you," she states, really not seeming to care. "I'll have you know I'm more effective than you are. Look at you. You think you're having a psychotic break and all you do is sit at a table with your head in your hands."

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She laughs again, but this time she's a little hurt. It's true, she is just sitting down, going crazy, and listening to her hallucination. She doesn't want to be crazy.

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"Aw, don't worry, no-one wants to go crazy. You're not special. No matter how much you want to be." She smiles viciously.

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Hiccup.

What? Surely her subconscious can do better than 'you're not special'. Thea looks at the copy, obviously unamused.

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The copy is rather closer than she was before. She gives Thea a look.

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That is definitely closer than Thea expected. She jerks back in her seat.

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"You're just a poor, little girl," she says, punctuating it with a look. "You feel the need to prove yourself. People assume you can't do things because you're pretty.

"You're disappointed in your family for not sticking together. You're disappointed in your friends for their pointless arguments. You're disappointed in your school for their inability to teach people effectively, and you're disappointed in your society for how it acts towards you."

She gets closer with each statement.

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Thea would really like this to just stop now. She knows all this, and she's thought about it before, and does she really need to just torture herself with it?

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The copy leans in and whispers, "You know what the common theme is here?" Gradually getting louder, she says, "You're disappointed in the things around you. You haven't actually gone and fixed anything, because you tell yourself it's not your place, or you'll do it later, or that it's too much for you to handle, but you haven't actually tried."

The copy stands back up and walks around Thea's chair, over to the end of the table, and practically spits out, "You know what the common theme is here? You are the problem in your life. You just think you're so perfect and you don't realize it."

Permalink Mark Unread

Thea will just sit here, trying not to cry. She knows all these things, dammit. It's not a revelation.

It still hurts, though, to have it phrased that way. Even if it is true, why does she have to torture herself over it?

She looks back down at the table.

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"You need to hear this because you won't do anything otherwise. You already know it all, but you're just sitting there, feeling sorry for yourself."

Seeing no reaction, she hisses, "Why don't you just do something?!"

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Thea startles at the hiss, and is now failing to stop herself crying. She was fine just earlier tonight. What the hell is wrong with her!?

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Seeing this, the copy starts to smile.


Then she lunges.

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Thea screams and scrambles to get out of the way, shaking.

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Meanwhile, somewhere a distance away, another uncoffined soul walks the streets, but it is not as unfamiliar. Cynthia walks casually down the middle of the street, humming a tune and listening to it bounce off the night. Quiet night. If it wasn't a full moon I'd be having such a fun time without anything around. Still too early to hang out with 'She' yet.

A sudden scream, a distance away, ruins the peacefulness. Cynthia shrugs before beginning a sprint towards that area. To seemingly nobody, she says "Human screams mean big trouble, get ready Lib!" and then tears off into the night. She draws a small pocketknife, to use to face the 'trouble' she runs toward, but seems confident regardless. Hopefully there's enough time to make it over...

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The copy stalks Thea around the kitchen. "What's wrong? Finally realize you're worthless? Or are you just scared of the big, bad wolf?" Another lunge.

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Eep! She feels really unprepared to fight a fucking hallucination. She's heard that they can have real effects, like leaving bruises, even if they're not actually there, and she doesn't want to test it.

"Stay the hell away from me!"

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Another scream, closer atleast... 'stay the hell away from me'? Alright, human confirmed.

But probably little time. Left right left, faster now!

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"Aw, c'mon, it's rude to make someone play with their food," she says, then bares her teeth. "You can't solve any of your problems yourself. How about I just remove you from the situation?"

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"You're not even real!" Thea shouts, dodging away from the copy's advance.

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"Yet you still run. What does that tell you about yourself?"

She passes by the knife rack and picks two of them up.

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"That I'm not willing to be stabbed by a psychopath like you!"

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She aims with one of the knives, tracking where Thea runs. "A psychopath? Well, I guess that's true," she says, somewhat to herself, then continues a bit more loudly, "Nothing to say about your problems though, just blaming it on others!" And throw.

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Thea ducks under the table, evading the knife. "Knives are not my problem! My friends are not my problem!"

She gets up and runs in the direction of the hallway.

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The copy glares when Thea dodges the knife, and takes aim again. When she runs to the door of the hallway, the copy launches the knife and her and then follows her out.

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Thea gets clipped on the arm by the knife, but continues, "My family is not my problem. My fucking society is not my stupid problem! You are just my imagination and should summarily fuck right off!"

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Cynthia hits the intersection just outside Thea's house just as Thea finishes those words. Seconds late?! Always the bride's maid and never the bride... Wait, I'm sure that didn't make sense. I'd rather this didn't happen to me.

"Hey! Get outside, whoever just said that, MANDATORY! The bride has arrived!" Okay seriously. Still didn't make sense. Why can't i sound sensible while I'm not focused on talking?

Inside, the darkness of the unlit house seems to pull itself closer to the 'imagination Thea', a distorted cackling making it's way past "it"s lips...

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Theo's just about to open the door when she hears the shout, and so she continues and starts to run out of the house. Looking behind her, wary for more knives, she sees the darkness bunch together, and shouts, "Not my fault! Not my fault!"

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"Yeah yeah, not important! Back behind me, watch out for wild shots, and ignore my scary-thing since she's actually really nice and all!"

The cackling from inside quickly reaches a crescendo, the darkness having obscured the 'imagination' billows outward, sweeping over the two, blocking their sight for a few moments...

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... And when the darkness clears, there's a creature left behind. It's very obviously not the copy that was there before, yet also at the same time, it's very obviously related to it.

It's a misproportioned copy of Thea, as though a child attempted to draw a picture of her. It has an extra set of arms, and has a weird blurring around the limbs – if you don't look too closely, they're very obviously moving slowly, but as soon as you try to determine precisely where they are and what they're doing, it gets somewhat... fuzzy.

The monster makes a loud hissing noise and throws a knife in the direction of the girls. It's weird – the knife just suddenly appeared, somewhere around the blurring.

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Thea runs behind the other girl, then looks behind her and sees the monster. Eep! Eeeeep! That is not okay and still might be a hallucination and so might this other person! She is not okay.

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Cynthia barely needs to move to stay out of the way, it wasn't aimed at her.

When Thea stands behind her, she reaches back and touches her shoulder, attempting some sort of reassurance. "Recommend actually getting behind a dumpster. Stay just in-sight, but atleast a bit away from me, right?" Cynthia then turns toward the monster. "Well, still always a Shadow all the end of it, right? Here's a proper target! Libby, time to shine!"

Her sentence is punctuated by her left hand raising, then clenching into a fist, scattering blue sparks around. The space in front of Cynthia begins to shift...

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Just infront of Cynthia phases in a different creature as if someone slid a transparency bar from 0 to 100 over a few seconds. Blue sparkles cascade outward during the transition.

Standing there, a head taller than Cynthia (who is likely 3-4 inches under 6') is a human-shape created out of hair weaved like a rope, its limbs resembling more the muscular system than actual body parts. The head seems to have a short set of its own hair separate from its body, kept looking like Cynthia's. The 'face' is merely a blank curve, that ends into a knot where the neck is on the front. It stands with its limbs apart, but standing straight vertical.

Once formed, 'Libby' releases a "SKREEEEE" noise towards the 'Shadow Thea', the wind picking up pace between the monsters to slam into the Shadow. A first attack, to get the enemy's attention.

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"Okay," she says agreeably, because who can you trust if not the friendly hallucination who's going to get rid of the monster for you?

And off she runs, to go hide behind a dumpster. Then cry. Lots of crying will occur. She'll just have a little breakdown, where nobody can hear her, because she is really not a fan of this whole thing, thank you very much.

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The Shadow gets buffeted back but manages to stay on its feet, limbs still producing the weird blurring effect. Focusing on the origin of the attack, it throws a knife in that direction instead.

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Excellent. Focus on the target. Both of us on that remark.

Already prepared for that, Cynthia latches onto one of Libby's arms, Libby jumping to the side further away from regular Thea. Cynthia is let off, and Libby moves back into the center of the road with long strides that leave the hair extending to get more distance. Another skree sends another buffeting of wind at the Shadow.

The girl is safely out of the way, and I'm not directly in range, focus on Lib! Then I can get the good attacks flying.

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In response, the monster hisses again and throws another knife. It would seem it only has one trick.

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If it's only one trick, this'll just be disappointing... Or, ya know, for the best?

Libby remains mobile enough to dodge a second off-balance knife, especially with full focus from Cynthia. "Alright, finish it Lib, GARULA!" Blue sparks cascade from a second hand-clenching from Cynthia. Libby conjures a set of slicing blades out of wind (showing up a greenish color), and launches them from a frontal angle all at the monster. Libby follows up with a charge forward, slamming an expanded arm into the pelted top, slamming the beast to the ground. A few moments are spent beating on the downed foe before it breaks apart into clouds of black mist that dissipate.

"Ta-da! Dealt with. Alright... Girl is, over there." Cynthia walks over. "It's dead. Probably. Not an issue anymore though. Death is kinda wobbly when--..." Not good consoling. Need a second myself i guess.

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Sorry, Thea is busy sobbing quietly here. Too busy to listen to a hallucination.

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Time passes. Cynthia spends the time leaning against the side of the alley, where Thea can see her but Thea is somewhat obscured. Occasionally she hums, stretches, makes little noises, but doesn't really interact for awhile. After this while, she pulls out a broken wind-up pocketwatch and stares into it's gears (the faceplate is gone).

"Uh, time's going to be up soon. Things will go back to normal for tonight. I know it's messed up, but it'll stop for now, alright? I'll still be here afterward. If you want me to."

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Thea thought the hallucination had disappeared. When she realizes that actually, it's still there, she wipes her eyes and gets up.

"What do you mean?" she asks. Maybe her subconscious has a nice, handy schedule for when she's going to start imagining things. It's better than the alternative, at least.

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She remains not looking towards Thea, in some attempt to not bother her. "Midnight hour lasts an hour, and it's almost over. It'll go back to 'normal'."

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"What was that thing?"

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"Do you want the real answer or the one that'll help you sleep tonight? I mean, i can get into detail anytime. As long as I'm not at school, or I could at school if you attend."

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Thea raises an eyebrow. "... The 'real' answer, how about? It was a monster; I'm not gonna be sleeping tonight anyway."

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"You decided." She inhales a deep breath. "Things that show up during the Midnight Hour, besides people like us, generally we call Shadows. That one was a more major one. It was you, or atleast some part of you. Shows up, goes mad, and if we're not quick enough, a body shows up in the river. Or on a telephone pole. Depends."

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"Uh-huh. Right. Cool," she says, then mutters to herself: "I'm hallucinating a fantasy horror film. This is just brilliant."

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Giggles. "Not hallucinating though. I know I'm creepy, that's how everybody remembers me in school, but this is real. I'm Cynthia, by the way."

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"Of course I'm not hallucinating. It makes so much more sense that this is all real, and there was just a creepy mind-reading copy of me that tried to kill me," she says, cheerily. "I'm Thea, by the way."

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"Feel free to think that for awhile. But it'll happen again tomorrow. And tomorrow. So on. If you aren't going to sleep through it, can you atleast tell me ahead of time?"

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"It repeating that frequently doesn't make me think it's less likely to be a hallucination. ... Wait, I can just sleep through it?"

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"For awhile. An extra hour of sleep is nice... I mean, you're still here but nothing will really bother you if you stay asleep."

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"What do you mean 'for a while'? ... Do the creepy terrors get worse if I sleep through them more often?"

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"No, no. Full moons make them do weird stuff. Like tonight. It was too quiet and you showed up. I'm usually too paranoid on full moons to sleep."

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"Yeah, I'm still not seeing any reason to ever be awake at midnight again, whether this is a hallucination or not. It's gonna be inconvenient, but so what."

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"So, for the rest of your life, you'll be in bed by eleven, asleep before twelve. No matter if a telemarketer or nearby noise wakes you up at 11:59PM, you can be asleep? Nighttime flights or drives, romantic intents, sudden emergencies? Never awake, always sleeping. Never wondering what happens in this in between, never wondering if the next night might have something happen again? That nothing might come for you?"

As if on cue, Libby the hair-pile pokes her head from around the side of the alleyway, staring with a flat face towards Thea.

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"Sounds better than being attacked by monsters for an hour, each day, every day, for the rest of my life."

Meanwhile, Thea's thinking about some actual, important things, rather than bickering with the probably-imaginary character. She's not sure whether she wants to convince herself that it is or isn't a hallucination. Pros of being a hallucination: The world isn't literally out to get her. Cons of being a hallucination: She's crazy.

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"Attacked for an hour? Nah. There's ways to avoid them and spend the hour undisturbed. Issue is the full moons. I wouldn't put it past them to, I dunno, break open your window to get to you?"

She sighs. "Probably less than a minute left. Lib, go on back. I like not getting headaches." Libby fades out into non-existence. "Can we talk tomorrow? After you have a day to relax."

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Okay, well, things fading into non-existence is weird if this isn't a hallucination, so she's a little surprised at that, but she responds, "Yeah, I guess, if you get here before midnight."

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"I said anytime. I can show up whenever, get called on my cell, so on. Can't bring Libby along or anything, but that's not an issue. Hang on a second."

She looks back down at her pocketwatch, before pocketing it. A few seconds pass...

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And within another blink of an eye, everything turns back to normal. The moon and clouds return to white, streetlamps flick on along with any cellphones, and the coffins are replaced with normal people going about their night. The familiar sounds of cars and city resume as if never interrupted. The Midnight Hour ends, and everything turns back to normal.

Cynthia is still standing there.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it means that if she's hallucinating, it's not explicitly linked to the time (or what she thinks the time is).

... It'd actually be kinda weird if she went into fully-fledged hallucinations with no other symptoms. She doesn't think she's had other symptoms? Then again, that party was pretty bad, and she did tempt fate with the whole 'at least my drink wasn't spiked!' thing, so maybe she's on drugs or something; she wouldn't know, she's not got experience with them.

"Well, that's relieving. You might actually be telling the truth. ... No offense."

Thea pulls out her phone to check whether it's working.

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The phone works fine. It's showing the time from before, ticking up the seconds from 12:00:01 AM.

"Do you want my number? Or do you just want to meet up here again tomorrow?... Tonight. Uhm, in twenty-two hours?"

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"Yeah, about two hours before the... thing... should be fine. If I can get your number too, that'd be good."

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"Midnight Hour. So, 10PM. Sure. Number's the local, with 1-0-0-4." She pulls out her cellphone, turns it on, leaving it in the palm of her hand to play it's jingle. It's a crappy black rectangle touchscreen.

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Thea's phone is a not-so-crappy black rectangle-ish touchscreen. It is not quite her most prized possession. Probably.

"Alright," she says, then adds Cynthia's number to her phone. "I guess I will see you tomorrow."

She looks a bit drained.

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"Mmhm. Need me to walk you home or anything?" She has no idea they're across the road from her house.

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"Thanks, but that's my house right over there. Where the monster came from." She blinks a couple of times, then, feeling a bit like she should be offended, says "... I wasn't just in some random house."

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"Sorry. You might've run to a friend's house or something? I'll... Go somewhere else then. Goodnight." She shrugs.

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"See ya tomorrow," Thea responds, then walks over to her house.

And her dad is apparently fine, but was staying up to make sure she got home okay. Fortunately, he hasn't heard anything about the state of the party.

She goes to her room and has a further breakdown.


... Eventually, she falls asleep. Zzz.

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Cynthia stares, making sure she gets inside, before letting out a yawn and walking back to her house. Nobody would be there to note any absence.

Sleep proceeds uninterrupted, until the grand equalizer that is the alarm to get ready for school. Silly Thursday night parties or no, Friday demands its day of attention no matter how tired you might be.

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Yes, yes it does. Thea really shouldn't have gone to that party.

She manages to get out of bed on time, and she wakes up pretty quickly, then has a shower, eats breakfast, and grabs her bag and is out the door.

 

At lunchtime, Thea can be found in the cafeteria, speaking to some of her friends who didn't go to the nightmare party. She seems a bit subdued.

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As narrative causality demands, off to the side alone at a table sits Cynthia. She's eating and using a pencil within a notebook, using both hands on different tasks at the same time. She's atleast wearing a new day's set of clothes?

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Thea turns to the girl next to her and spots Cynthia at the edge of the room.

... Okay. Well. Uh. "Hey, Jessica, who's that?" she asks, pointing in Cynthia's direction.

"Hm? Oh. I don't know – she might be in my math class?"

Thea frowns a bit pensively. "Uh, I'll be right back, okay?" she says, then gets up and makes her way over.

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She isn't paying attention. It's atleast noticeable she's drawing something into the notebook from closer, but without leaning over her it's obscured enough by her hair. She isn't going to magically snap her head up when she walks over, she's focused.

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Noticing the lack of convenient response, Thea says, "Hi."

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It takes her a second to realize it was directed towards her, before she stops her actions and looks up confused. "Hi."

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She takes a seat. "I don't think I've actually noticed you around before."

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"Usual. People who do usually find me creepy or weird or something. Doesn't help i kinda talk to myself and my hobbies include... Well. That stuff."

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"Mm. What was 'that stuff'? I didn't get a proper explanation out of you."

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"The whole Midnight Hour? It's kinda there..." and then in a whisper volume, harder to hear over the cafeteria, "Call it a video-game during the day. Incase."

She returns to a normal volume. "Dunno really. Some people stumble on it. Not a clue why. Care to pick a topic first?"

>Shadows
>"Libby"
>Coffins
>Technology failing/Cars stopping
>Cynthia herself
>Others that see it

Cynthia giggles after somehow saying a video-game response list off the top of her head. She keeps eating. Not so say those are everything to talk about. The narrator finds it funny to list it as if it was such a list.

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"Shadows? Are those the weird twisted monster things? Yeah, what the hell are those."

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She doesn't look up, but stops drawing atleast. "The one you saw was more of a boss-monster. Special one. There's normally smaller ones running around but last night was a full moon, so... Yeah. They show up within the Midnight Hour, and if you don't annoy them they'll usually hang around. My favorite one is the fish-bones that float around and look like they're made of glitter."

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"Floating fish bones that look like they're made of glitter," she repeats, looking unamused. "Do you have any idea why there are floating fish bones that look like they're made of glitter? Or, you know, why any of this is happening?"

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The answer is a resounding "Noooooooooope."

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Of course it is. "Okay, well, who else is awake when it happens? I didn't see anyone."

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"Nobody else I know. All coffins." she pauses her eating for a moment, head still facing downward. "Everyone else left."

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"... What do you mean everyone else left? Were there other people?"

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"Well, yeah. Two dead, found in the morning at the river. Died during the Midnight Hour. One went legitimately missing, dunno what happened, but he had some crazy stalkers anyways. Probably dead. One left, lives somewhere else now. I still try to call sometimes, never answers or says much more than 'Hello, good, busy, bye.' Hurts, I'll keep trying." She lets her hair fall in front of her face. Not crying, but not happy.

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"Oh," she says. Wow, way to just ignore the signs.

"... Are you okay?"

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"Ah, sorry! I'm alright. Didn't mean to say that kinda stuff, I speak dumb when I don't pay attention to talking. Too many things to think about that I never learned." Her smile is likely genuine, but it isn't hard to tell she's exaggerating it a little.

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"Okay. Well, um," she looks at her watch. "I guess I'll see you tonight?"

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"See you tonight, then. I think you might want to grab a heavy stick along the way, or something. Keep it nearby. Not important though."

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"Uh. Right." Because normal people just have heavy sticks lying around.

She goes back over to her friends and reassures them that she's fine.

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"Hey, Thea? You're totally out of it and then you go talk to the weird chick instead of us? What happened after you left last night?"

Second girl, "Party sucked, yeah, but what's up Thea! Spill it!"

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"I'm just a bit tired, and I thought I recognized her from somewhere," she says, sounding like she wants that to be the end of the conversation.

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It's never that easy.

"Then you wouldn't have sat down! Come oooon! Tell us!"

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"I'm really not feeling too well, okay? Can you just drop it? Please."

She looks a bit pale. Sighing, she puts her head in her hands.

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Teasing occurs, but the conversation soon goes off in another direction. Schoolgirls be schoolgirls, and school is school.

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Thea doesn't contribute much to the rest of the conversation.

 

Eventually, the bell goes. She picks up her bag and goes to her afternoon lessons.

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Cynthia is the type to wait for the rush to pass out of the cafeteria and sneak out the side afterwards, so there isn't a chance to grab her in the hallway and she doesn't grab attention.

Afternoon classes proceed as classes, and the two don't share any of them. Final bell rings as it usually does.

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And so Thea goes home.


She doesn't really do much, up until 10pm. Listens to music and surfs the web, eats dinner. That's about it. She's out of the house by 21:55, waiting for Cynthia.

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Out the door at 21:55, Cynthia is just arriving down the street. One hand her phone, the other in pocket. She has her school backpack still on - an unlabeled black pouch basically. She'd barely look up from something on her phone before arriving to the alley they were in last night unless bothered beforehand.

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Nope, she's not bothered. Thea's looking around for signs of the impending apocalypse, and when she notices Cynthia, she just stands there, waiting.

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She leans against the wall of the alley, pocketing her phone and putting her bag next to her on the ground. Looking around, she spots Thea and waves.

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Thea walks over. "Hi."

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"Hi. Said I'd be here, I'm here. We can go wherever to talk if you want, but preferably a place we can be out of sight at 12. Doesn't matter much after that, nobody notices the disappearance if they can't see you."

Her face scrunches up. "Well, if you want to still be together at 12. Otherwise I can just leave you in your room then? Should be fine. I can hang around the area."

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"I don't know – maybe the park? It's a bit late to go to a café."

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"Park works. There are places open this late, learned them from being awake at this hour all the time if you want something. We have time beforehand, and I have an alarm for 11:50 always set."

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Thea starts walking. "How long's this been going on for?"

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Cynthia shrugs and walks after her. "I've been at this for... Between half a year and a year? Probably closer to half a year. Before me, maybe a year? That's as far as i know going backward. So a year and a half, maybe? Sounds right."

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"Oh, okay. I couldn't actually find a heavy stick, and I didn't really want to try breaking one off a tree – was it just for self-defense?"

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"Oh, I grabbed something for tha---- AH!" Cynthia turns around and runs back to the alley, returning with her backpack looking embarrassed. "Whoops. Uh, it's more like... Having something you can think of as a weapon? I can explain more during the Hour. Or you can borrow my pocketknife..." Her face asks for a quick change of subject.

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"Oh, um, maybe. So that thing last night was a 'boss'? ... What are the regular things like, then?"

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"Boss is more of a cover-word for public situations. It's just a different and stronger one. The usual ones are little black blobs that scurry around in their own puddle. Usually have a colorful theatre mask on. That's around half of them I think. The next 30 is probably the glitter-fishbone type. Weird things, a bit more dangerous. Course, those numbers can go up or down. Just what I can think of."

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"Oh, okay. It just seems a bit hopeless, all of it, since it just repeats over and over. If it's exactly the same each night, but with extra monsters, why even bother being awake for it? Especially if they don't attack you when you're asleep."

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"Stuff changes. The broad stuff stays the same, the little details feel different. Even then, an hour where nobody can do anything except you? It's peaceful, you can snoop around stuff, see a second world. Even then, they USUALLY don't attack if you asleep. I said they coooould."

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"... Totally not terrifying or anything. What do they even do? Is it just, like, claws and biting, or do they spit acid or some other creepy video game thing?"

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"The blobs have little hand things and usually smack you. The unique ones can usually have something they can hit you with that makes no sense if it wasn't a video game. Libby throws wind around."

"I mean... I like scary films? I know enough to keep myself safe. I want to make sure you can, too. At least that's the main reason."

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"Yeah, actually... what is Libby? I'd forgotten about... her."

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"She's kinda... Me. In a way. Like... Philosophy stuff. Kinda would be the result of my own creepy-evil-self. She's how I can hang around and be safe. You'll probably get something like her, too!"

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"... What do you mean I'll 'get something like her'?"

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"Well, a thing you can call out in the Midnight Hour. Probably will look like a less-silly version of that knife-thing, if you saw it?"

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"Yeah. I saw it," she says darkly. "But I don't get what you mean by me 'getting' one. Does it just appear one night, and tell me it's going to work with me or something?"

She doesn't seem pleased by the prospect.

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"Uh... No. There's a way to call it out to begin with - later of course. Is there a nice way to say that Libby kinda relaxes in my soul? She kinda is my soul anyways. As I said, philosophy stuff! It helps to go through that yourself... Am I atleast being helpful or should I stay quiet until midnight?"

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"I don't really want to be awake and attacked by monsters at midnight, but if none of them are as bad as that monster was, and since you took it out that easily, it would probably be okay? At least I'm learning things."

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"I'm sorry, do you not understand the concept of 'sometimes'? You've switched between saying 'I can sleep through it and never be attacked' and now you just said you'd always be attacked."

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"... I thought you were saying that if I'm awake, I'm basically guaranteed to be attacked, but if I'm asleep, it's only sometimes."

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A long, drawn out groan takes Cynthia a minute to get through.

"If you sleep, you normally won't be bothered. If you're awake, you can avoid them or whatever. Every so often, when a full moon comes along, like last night, all bets are off."

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"Okay. I was imagining the monsters to be pretty quick, like dogs or something, and that they'd actually chase us, rather than something that you can just avoid by... planning to avoid them."

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"A dog doesn't attack you unless you do something to it. It can still get rabid and attack anyways. Knowing that there's a doberman down the street means you can walk a different way. Does that idea atleast help?"

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"Yeah...? So, the monsters don't always want to kill you? Or they at least can't track you very far? I mean, last night I just walked home from a party, the sky went weird and then there were coffins and weird puddles, and then I got back to my house and some creepy copy of myself appeared, seemed to read my mind, and then turned into a monster when I left the house, after having just thrown knives at me. I know it was a full moon, but... that's pretty different from what you're describing."

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"IT WAS A FULL MOON LAST NIGHT! IT MAKES STUFF DIFFERENT! THAT IS WHY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS!"

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Thea gives her a look, obviously unimpressed.

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"Look. Showing up for a holiday dinner and thinking that's always a normal dinner is wrong. There won't always be turkey served. What you saw was a turkey." Cynthia is getting more and more puzzled trying to explain things.

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"... The evil clone that turned into a monster was a 'turkey' that 'won't always be served'. Okay, well, weird analogy, but yeah – I get that. It was a full moon, like I said, but I'm expecting 'evil monsters that want to kill me', here, not 'weird species of thing that passively sit in an alley.'"

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"They don't. I haven't even gotten that far. You kept getting hung up on if you need to deal with any of this by sleeping it off."

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"I haven't mentioned sleep in a while! But now you mention it, if they're that easy to evade, it'll probably just be really boring, so I might as well try to sleep through it anyway, maybe get some stronger glass to stop them breaking in. I was trying to work out how bad they actually were, but you keep being surprised that I haven't lowered my expectations enough from the literal only monster I saw."

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"I'm surprised you formed such a strong expectation from the first one! You aren't waiting for me to get to explaining anything and you aren't understanding there are better and worse out there!"

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"... There's worse? Please tell me those only happen on the full moon."

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"There are ways to avoid them. Trick them. So on." Cynthia sighs.

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"Look, I'm sorry, okay? First I thought you were a hallucination, and I was a little busy being terrified, then we didn't speak much at school. Now I'm basically just guessing what the Hour is like, and then when I'm trying to get you to say yay or nay, you seem to be frustrated that I even guessed anything."

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"At school you left. The problem I'm having now is that you're making these guesses and the answer of 'it isn't the same for everything' is making you guess more before I can answer anything specific."

"Do you just want to meet up in an hour? I can show you whatever you want during the Midnight Hour and quit this." She looks annoyed.

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"Yeah, fine, whatever."

She stops, turns around, and starts walking in the direction of her house.

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"Sure. Bye." Cynthia walks off in another direction.

Where were we even headed? Atleast there should be a burger place nearby... As long as I'm back in the alley at 11:50. Not a problem... Argh, shoulda asked if she wanted something! Not like she was being reasonable anyways. I'll sort it out with Libby around.

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Thea gets back to her room and listens to some music for a bit. That conversation definitely didn't go as well as it could have.

... It was probably at least somewhat her fault, but she doesn't think it was totally so.

 

She's back at the alley by 23:45, trying to be a bit more cheerful. Stupid nightmare hour, or whatever it is.

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Cynthia shows back up at the far end of the alley at 11:50. She's good with keeping track of time, what with an hour every night without a good clock.

She still walks around staring at the ground ahead of her, but looks up a small distance away and stares, expecting Thea to be there later. At least I grabbed some chicken strips for her. Do I open with that?

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Thea's looking at her phone right now, so she's not actually going to respond to Cynthia until she's approached.

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Cynthia walks over and pokes Thea on the arm. "Hi. Grabbed some chicken strips if you want them." She stands just a bit too close to be comfortable.

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The poke was a little unnecessary – Thea had already noticed Cynthia – but that's fine. "Uh, thanks," she says. "So, look, I'm sorry about earlier. I think we were just misunderstanding each other – I wasn't trying to just ignore you, but I guess I wasn't being very helpful by continually changing the topic."

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"We? Oh, uhm, sure. Yeah. Weird stuff that doesn't make logical sense off the bat, complicated." Cynthia pulls off her backpack, and rummages past the contents.

>Dollar store plastic sword, tag still attached from this afternoon
>Pair of plastic water bottles, full
>Pack of paperclips, some already spilled into the bottom
>Two notebooks, one tattered and bigger, other more intact and from the cafeteria
>Sweater, a pair of socks rolled up in the pockets
>Hand towel, dollar store with a picture of a rainbow on it
>Change purse, mostly empty
>3 of 6 of a plastic tab of cheap beer
>Math homework, halfway done
>Chicken Strips from a local cheap burger joint, in a takeout bag

Cynthia pulls the chicken strips out and hands them over. She also has her pocketknife with an orange handle, pocket watch without the face/hands, and her cellphone in her pockets.

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Thea... puts them in her bag, smiling. Totally not weird to just put some takeout in her bag prior to potentially getting attacked by monsters. Everything's fine.

"So. Uh. You said I might be able to summon a thing like Libby? To help me?"

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"Sure. Just wait for the Midnight Hour to come on and I'll guide you through it. It sounds silly, but when it works, it works."

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"Right. So, at least yesterday on the full moon, the moon went yellow, the clouds went green, grass went weird, there were red puddles, and people got coffined. Is there anything other than that? Or is it just that and the occasional monster?"

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"That's the usual stuff, yeah. Monsters - Shadows, vary in amounts."

Beep beep. Her cellphone alarm goes off, and she takes a minute to silence it. Cynthia then pulls out her pocket watch and starts to wind it.

"Always coffins and the color-problems. Cars and trains stop working, electronics stop too. I think there's something that makes the people waking up ignore little changes in case you bump a table and spin a knife around, but that's just a guess."

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"When you say they stop working, do the cars and trains just gradually slow down, or do they instantly stop? And do they start back up again immediately after? ... I'd expect there to be more crashes if they just slowed down."

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"Blink at the start, stopped. Blink at the end, they start. It keeps the people back in the same spot they coffined. I jumped in front of a car once, walked away during the Midnight Hour. That guys expression afterward was hilarious."

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She makes a token effort at a laugh, not really finding it very funny. "What about, like, bikes and bicycles? And I'm guessing it's the same with planes? Do all vehicles just stop?"

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"Planes, I dunno. Never left the city. Bikes..."

She stares vacantly off into the sky, muttering "Have I seen a bike in the Midnight Hour..."

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"... Have you ever tried being in a vehicle when it happened?"

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"Who would have me in their car? I think we'd just be sitting in a now stopped car."

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... Surely she has parents who might drive her around?

"Well, I'm not planning on testing it, but you could end up still moving forward at the same speed, and then suddenly the car isn't. Or the cars only stop if they have people in them that get put into coffins. I don't know, but I guess it restricts when I can travel. ... Is there any point to being awake and attacking the monsters, or running away from them? Like, do they just respawn at the beginning of each night, or do they have limited numbers, or... don't you know?"

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"Well if unmanned cars in motion suddenly sprung forward at midnight I think someone would have noticed." Giggling.

"One at a time... They seem to show back up, but you can clear a patch for a bit of diligence. Doesn't mean they won't wander back... And the point to being awake? Shoot, I shoulda brought it, but, I used to have this leg-brace thing I needed to walk around... I meant bringing my little handicap card! My right leg was a little wobbly all the time. Now it's normal, and the rest of me can spring back better. Doesn't bother me unless I get really tired or beat up."

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"... What? You attacked some monsters and you no longer need a leg brace?"

Okay. Well. If it has magical benefits, she might just see where it leads.

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"Well it's tiring to keep Libby out, and even then, the Midnight Hour seems to tire you out quicker at the start. Once you get used to it, you kinda... Adapt? Like a bunch of training. I'm pretty sure my ankle is just partially sideways by default and I just don't notice walking on it anymore."

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"Oh. So... it's not a magical thing? It's just because you've practiced it a lot?"

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"Zuh. When you wake up without any pain in your leg that you've had from childhood you can make a guess if it was from being hit by a giant beetle making it unable to compare or something. My vote is magic. Blobs barely hurt anymore, depending."

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"Hm. Well, if it has benefits like that... I can see why you'd keep doing it? I mean, if last night was the worst that it really gets, because it was a full moon, and I have a thing that does all the fighting for for me... it's probably better to do that, rather than sleeping and hoping that nothing attacks me?"

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"Too many assumptions there. I'm all for being prepared instead of hoping and sleeping, but it is my weird hobby. I walk around, track some stuff. Figure out other things."

"Oh, yeah, and it hurts if you or it gets hit. It's you in a way after all."

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"Oh. Eugh."

Well, this is a bit of a rollercoaster. First, she thinks she's hallucinating a nightmare scene, then it turns out she's probably not hallucinating it, then she finds out that she can skip it, then that she can only probably skip it, and then that it might actually benefit her, except it's also painful.

Why can't she just find something nice for once?

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Cynthia atleast notices a bit of the reaction. "It goes away, even then I can turn some of it into just me being more tired. It can go away with you still being alive!"

A sigh. "Okay, few seconds now probably." Cynthia finishes her ambient winding of the pocket watch, double checks it. "It's here, like it or not."

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In the time it takes to blink, the world changes. The moon takes on a sickly yellow hue, while the clouds turn a poison green. Nearby people are replaced with looming jet-black coffins. Grass turns to burnt strands, puddles to splashes of blood, electronics to unworking pieces of plastic.

Welcome to the Midnight Hour. Cynthia is still standing there, pocketing the watch.

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Thea shudders a little. "Is there any chance that thing will come back again tonight?"

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"Nah. We dealt with it. So, what first?" Cynthia takes a peek into the road. "Nothing nearby. Feel free to scream wildly if you want, nobody else but us."

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"Ahh," she says jokingly. "Maybe I should try getting my Libby-equivalent? In case we get attacked."

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"You won't have to keep saying Libby-equivalent for much longer then. I atleast remembered it's easier if you -- oh, good target! Uhm, easier if you don't know the proper word. Come here, a stupid little one popped up down the street. Could beat it even without help! Look look look." Cynthia waves Thea over.

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Down the street, like pointed, is a blob like advertised. It's just making it's way across the sidewalk, slowly getting onto the road.

The Shadow is a moving black puddle, moving in the way a slime pile might. It protrudes two arms out of the same black material, they remain looking solid as they grip the edge of the pavement as if to pull itself forward. Sitting in the middle of it, upon a little hump, sits a blue neutral expressionless mask, like one of the old Greek Theatre masks. The mask is looking towards where it is headed, but is mostly tilted upward as if laying backward. (The icon is of a more advanced one; it lacks the knives and the raised mask, but the mask design and colors is the same.)

The night remains mostly silent, but focusing you can hear the Shadow slowly... Scraping its way across the ground.

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"Alright, here's the thing. Even if it sounds like crap, follow along and realize I'll pull you out if it goes wrong."

"You're going to have to call it out. Listen to your heart," snrk, "seriously though. You look inward to yourself, and listen. You tell it you want to hurt that little blob. Listen back for it. The words will come. I find it helps to have some sort of weapon to point at your target down there."

Cynthia pulls out her pocketknife, flicks out the knife, then turns passes it hilt-first to Thea (holding the blade in her hand) and smiles. "So yeah. Walk out there, get its attention, and feel."

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Okay, Cynthia's right. It sounds like crap. Thea looks at her incredulously, and asks, "Feel what exactly? Feel that I really hope my heart can kill it?"

She takes the knife anyway.

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"Did you expect that the weird, magical things would be straightforward? Try explaining how you move your arm. You just, DO. Try, and make sure I get that knife back later. Come on."

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"Um. Okay."

She tries focusing to see if there's anything obvious, just in case. She focuses on how the blob is almost certain to attack her if she gets its attention, and how it'd be best to just get it out of the way by attacking it before it attacks her back.

... It's not really working.

So, instead, she walks out there to get its attention, as Cynthia suggested. She said she'd bail Thea out if it went really wrong, right? So it should be fine for Thea to just... get the blob's attention. Then she can see if she can call out her... Libby-equivalent.

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The Shadow scrapes itself across the street. It does not care that Thea is out in the street looking at it.

At least Cynthia steps out onto the sidewalk and looks encouraging.

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Does it care if she gets a bit closer to it?

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Closing the distance towards it, sending echos of steps around, doesn't seem to bother it. When she walks close enough to it that there might be a little less than two or three house-lengths away, it stops. The mask turns upright and points towards Thea.

Cynthia, though about a house behind Thea, kept up. She's still walking on the sidewalk. Cynthia remembered to grab her backpack off the ground this time atleast.

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Oookay, That mask is just a little frightening. Is there anything inside of her that might like to go... stop it being frightening? Maybe? Please?


Of course not. She steps a bit closer – maybe she just needs to be a bit more frightened?

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Well, even a single step more looks like Thea pissed it off. It lurches forwards towards her, its arms scrabbling against the road. If it was 'walking' before, its speed is now 'running' at her.

It would only take a few moments to close the distance at this rate...

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Ok, ok, um. Uh. She turns to start running, still trying to get something, anything to just stop it because that is frightening. Aaaanything?


No – there's no apparition to help her, at least not one of her own. Good thing she turned around to start running.

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The Shadow continues its scramble after her, untiring. Noises vary between scraping against the pavement and burbling over top it.

Thea can atleast catch Cynthia giving a confused look as she jogs after them to keep up pace. She won't step in yet.

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Thea's actually running pretty quickly, because that is a very scary monster and why is nothing happening yet.

Actually, that's a good point: "Why is nothing happening yet?!"

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"Because you aren't MAKING IT HAPPEN! How do you feel, after all this?! Focus on that!"

Scraaaape. Burble.

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"I feel scared and I want it to go away!"

Still, nothing is happening, except Thea running away from the blob. She's probably getting a bit of distance on it by this point.

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After a few more seconds, the Shadow stops chasing. It turns around and heads back towards where it was earlier.

"Why are you telling me this? Think and feel, you aren't asking something like me to show up. You're asking a part of yourself."

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"Well I don't know how to ask a part of myself! Usually they all just understand what I want and do it! I was focusing on wanting it to be gone, what with the wanting it to be gone."

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"No clue. Take a minute to think? We have an hour." Cynthia is absolutely unphased by suddenly running a few blocks, still breathing normally.

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Thea's not out of breath either – she's kinda athletic – but she's shaking a little. She does as Cynthia suggests, and thinks for a minute. Brain, is there any way to ask you a question? Of course there is. But it didn't do anything last she tried.

She tries fumbling around a few different ways, focusing on her reaction to the blob to try to get something to appear. While it didn't actually pose a proper threat in the end, she'd still rather never be in a scenario like that again.


She'll try this for a few minutes unless Cynthia interrupts her, but nothing actually happens.

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Time passes. A few minutes pass, and besides taking a sip from one of the water bottles that is now tinted red, Cynthia doesn't do much.

Cynthia starts humming something for around five seconds, then stops abruptly. Libby phases in next to them, Cynthia looks tense and crinkles the water bottle as she grips it tighter.

"Did it work? Something just felt... Wrong."

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"I mean, I don't see anything that could be my Libby-equivalent," she says, slightly frustrated. "Do you?"

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"Nope. That's what has me worried. Feels like last night?"

The two start staring in one direction, down a street...

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Thea doesn't really know what Cynthia's talking about, but follows the looks – is there anything interesting down there?

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If, by interesting, you mean a non-monstrous Shadow Thea? Then yes. She walks out of a side-street and smiles. Again, it's a little predatory.

"Miss me?"

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"I'm pretty sure I hit you, you missed me with like three tries." Intended message missed.

... Intended message hit. "Wait, why are you back here? Thea?"

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Quiver. "I. Uh. I thought she was gone?"

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"That's how it should work..."

Libby moves in front of the humans defensively. "Hey, Shadow! Why are you still here?"

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"Why, I don't know what you mean. I'm just here to observe! It's lots of fun, y'see."

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"Right... What was it again... I was screaming, Harry was... Wait, damn. Right. Hugging part."

Cynthia turns towards the normal Thea, "What did she talk about before I was there? Before the whole knives part?" and then promptly hugs Thea from the side.

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Thea is a little bit shell-shocked, and doesn't respond to the hug as she usually would. "Uhm. She, uh—"

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"Ooh, that part was my favorite!" says the Shadow, clapping her hands in excitement.

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Thea starts at the clap. "Uh. Just that. My problems are my fault."

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"Well welcome to crash therapy, or something like that."

Cynthia detaches, but leaves her hand on Thea's arm. "She might say it. Or, like, you. Once again, philosophy stuff..."

Cynthia jumps backward. "Wait, do you have a crush on me? Is that what she meant?"

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"Wh- what."

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"Yeah, no, she's right. It was mainly just that her problems are her fault. Her family, her friends, her society as a whole... I can go into more detail if you want."

The shadow starts stalking closer.

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"Society as a whole?" Libby moves an arm in a 'stay at a distance please' motion to Shadow-Thea.

"Jeez. You're one person, you can't blame everything on you. Society had like, what, six-thousand or more years to mess itself up? I don't follow that whole debate... Either way. My friends are all dead and I'm sure I have worse family. Not like I did anything to deserve that stuff. Don't blame life on anyone."

"Sooooomehow I feel the details are about to be spouted... Just ignore the Shadow?"

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The Shadow rolls her eyes, but stops.

"Oh, yeah, no, she knows it's not really her fault. In a way. But she could be doing so much more to fix them. And she's not."

She tilts her head and gives Thea a look, as if daring her to contradict it.

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Can she just disappear again? Please?

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Not quite that easy, even if Cynthia thinks it will be. "Soooo welcome to the Midnight Hour? Here's your opportunity. The shake-up..."

"Or, ya know, you can just drop flowers and nice letters during the Hour. I can help."

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"But that wouldn't be as fun!" says the Shadow. "I mean, look at her!" she says, then nods in the direction of Thea.

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"Just get lost already! What the hell is wrong with you?"

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"It... What? You feel th--..." Puzzled few seconds. "You think doing good things isn't as fun as I am? I do good things. I have fun doing them..." Cynthia took the nod to mean herself, thinking it would only really talk to Thea.

She sighs, and looks at the regular-Thea. "It might be hard, but can I hear this stuff without the exaggeration? Listening to the negative parts of yourself sucks, for both of us, and I just lost my sense of what the hell it's trying to say."

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"Ugh," says the Shadow, but then it just folds its arms and taps one foot against the ground.

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"Apparently it likes to torture me. It convinced me that I am the problem, because, y'know, I kinda am, and then it started throwing knives at me. There was some weird stuff before that, but I was kinda busy thinking the whole thing was a hallucination."

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"Sooooo self-esteem issues? It's literally just... The ugly parts. Standing over there. Libby used to be this giant hairball thin--" Libby shifts in place. "Well less-defined. Shut up." Libby shrugs. "Sooooo. Yeah. That hit the point? You feeling bad lately?"

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"I mean, it's right, but it's not just a thing I've been feeling lately. It is literally... factual. It's just factual in the most annoying, horrible way."

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"And that's exactly what it is. Some annoying, horrible, part of you. Everybody has some self-doubt piece and it so happens that's the part of you over there."

Cynthia spares a glance towards Libby, who looks back, and you feel as if a thousand little thoughts passed between them before they look back at their respective Thea.

"I happen to be a creepy person. Say hi to Libby."

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Thea looks at Cynthia and Libby a bit witheringly. "It's not self-doubt, it's literally the truth. Like, I'm not just saying 'oh, boohoo, I'm not sure I'm good enough', I'm literally not good enough to solve the problems. I can't even get that stupid thing to stop."

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The Shadow squints a bit at that comment, then says, "Oh well, I guess you must be worthless."

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"So you think what your other self is saying, is the truth as to what you believe. Uh huh. Still, it'll still be harder to make it shut up until I make it."

"Name me a problem that can't be solved. Either I'll solve it, or I'll help you solve it." Cynthia turns to Shadow-Thea, "And you stay quiet for just a minute. Ruminate on what I just said for you both."

Cynthia turns back to Real-Thea, letting her hair sweep in front of her face, making her a little harder to judge.

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"How about society as a whole? The fact that everyone is a dick for no apparent reason, and everything is horribly broken? Or should we pick an easier one?"

Apparently Thea's not in a great mood.

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Understandable. "You just put seven-billion people against us. Start somewhere smaller. Preferably something you can put right in front of us. Something you can see change so no part of you can deny it."

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"If any of my problems were that easy to fix, I would've fixed them already."

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Even though Cynthia remains as she is, Libby seems to tense up, a weird dipstick for Cynthia's increasing frustration.

"Society is too big. Friends you won't believe me on when I say I think we're friends already. That leaves family. Do I take a look through your house, trying to find out what you think is wrong? Do I listen to the Shadow? Or do I need to check the school records tomorrow night, get a list of all the people you hang out with? Your grades?"

"You have a huge resource sitting here. If you won't direct me, I'll try on my own. I might not be that smart, but I feel obligated already. Please work with me."

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"Ugh, I'm sorry—"

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"But are you? Are you really?"

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"She said to shut up!"

Thea runs a hand through her hair, then continues, "My parents divorced. My mom was working too much to take care of a baby, and they disagreed over... things. Dad's sad, but thought it was for the best, and Mom was too busy being some corporate exec to dispute it. That's not something I can fix."

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A moments pause. Libby relaxes. Cynthia fixes her hair a little, to pass a few seconds.

"Say that last line again."

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"It's not something I can fix? I already know that, but it's still a problem."

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"Say it again."

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She rolls her eyes. "It's still a problem."

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"That it is," inputs the Shadow, helpful as always.

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Cynthia giggles. Her Shadow is being much more helpful then it thinks.

"So, what's the problem? You say there's a problem, and you can't fix it. What problem?"

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"My parents divorcing and being unhappy over it? ... What are you getting at?"

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All smiles. "So, your mother decided to divorce. The thing that happens when two people are unhappy with staying together. Apparently happened before you were even able to walk. So, you say it again, make your dad happy, or if the problem is you being unhappy with it, we can go have a visit with your mother. Or father. Talk about it."

"Or I could myself."

"Or ya know, sledgehammer therapy."

"Or... You already realize you happen to be standing over there? You can go listen to yourself, or make peace, try to get yourself a Libby..."

"I just lost what I was getting at I think. Any of that sound good?"

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"Well, sure, it'd be nice if I could get myself a Libby, but she doesn't look particularly willing, does she?"

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"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm perfectly willing!"

... Maybe perfectly willing to stab her, but still. 'Willing.'

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"I still suck at philosophy. You realize that's you and all. More or less important, but still you... It's your decision? I hope somewhere there is atleast the thought of 'I can do this and then work on other stuff'. I mean... Shadows aren't supposed to show up again? I guess I failed to deal with it yesterday. Sorry."

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"But she doesn't seem friendly! She attacked me with knives, and she's staring at me like I'm prey!"

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"You haven't even tried. C'mon, what's the worst that could happen?"

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"And if you had the ability to look at yourself with full knowledge of everything that you don't like, and a slightly aggressive bent? Hi, Thea."

"The knives were more the Midnight Hour anyways." Cynthia yawns and stretches. "Phil-o-so-phy."

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"I mean, I could be like that. I get that. But I wouldn't consider a version of myself that was like that to be friendly. I'm sure she could be friendly, but that's just like I could probably turn evil."

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"Do you listen to yourself talk? That's the point. It's some part of you, and that's really what it wants you to admit. Doesn't mean it's all of you, just a part."

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"It doesn't feel like a part so much as a potential deviation," she says, then shudders a bit.

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"Sure. Same thing. I'm sure without any sense of reality, throwing my bad parts into a pile, giving it free will and the sole purpose of murdering me, I'm su--" Libby casually smacks Cynthia on the back of the head, inciting giggles.

"Something like that could happen! Bad Libby. Everybody has that tiny voice saying 'what if I just hurt people', somewhere deep inside."

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"Yeah. You should listen to her. My voice is just a little louder."

Does she look innocent enough?

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Not... really?

Thea seems like she wants to try believing that the Shadow's not gonna kill her, but. Knives. They were a little traumatic.

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Cynthia is all Totally-Sure-Smiling on the outside...

YOU JUST HEARD YOURSELF SAY SOOOOOOOOOOO!

Libby shifts in place. This author notes that there is a distinct lack of knives in the middle of the street and a giant hair-monster in the off case that there would be. (Street-knives don't bloom until winter, sillies)

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Okay, well, she's decided that she'll do it, and if she gets murdered brutally and viciously, that's a shame.

... Remind her why she's doing this again? Oh yes, because otherwise the hair monster might traumatize her again.

She tentatively inches her way in the direction of her Shadow self, going around Cynthia and Libby.

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The Shadow self just waits there, seeming passive and at least somewhat innocent.

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Cynthia is more beside Thea and out of the way anyways. Libby steps out of the way during those tentative steps, but is still close to them.

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She does reaaaally not want to be doing this. But she is.


... Aaand she's eventually within a few metres of the Shadow.

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The Shadow has been very still, remaining in a similar pose and trying not to spook the poor, weak, defenseless human. This changes.


She lunges at Thea, cackling maniacally.

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Nopenope nope. Thea turns tail and runs to get away. She just knew this would happen, it is not okay, she does not want to die ohmygod.


She only manages to take a few steps before she collapses.

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And the Shadow stops lunging, gets a smile on her face, and then fades away.

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A moment to relax, and it becomes apparent Thea is partially caught by an 'arm' of Libby. It trails across the ground and then upward, supporting her on the way down. The feeling that Libby is smiling is somehow apparent past the wave of exhaustion that hits Thea.

The hair feels like hair atleast.

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Ugh. Well, at least she doesn't feel dead, sliced up, or mauled. She thinks she might just lie here for a bit.

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Lying against Libby harder makes her move closer and make a little half-hammock to cradle her against. Cynthia walks over into view.

"That's how it was supposed to go! Except the hugging was a little different. Oh well. What'd you tell your dad about where you were off to? I'll get you back in your bed if you want to doze off."

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"I d'no," she mumbles. "Hugging? Uh. He was 'sleep."

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"Ah, alright. Easy then, I'll just put you back. I'll hang around a little, but I won't get caught. No worries."

It's a carry by Libby back to Thea's place. Cynthia has nothing against a quick pocket-rifling to find the housekey. Inside, up the stairs, and tucking Thea into her bed.

Cynthia hums along the way.

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Thea's house isn't particularly interesting. She's probably on the 'well-off' side of average, but not by much. Her room is probably the one with the open door and the posters on the wall.

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Cynthia puts Thea to bed, and gazes around idly.

Posters of the new Justin Bieber and Kanye West boy band formation.

Fucking Midnight Hour. That isn't normal. That isn't even sane. Why tonight do you obscure posters?!

She lets Libby fade back into nonexistence, and spends some time at Thea's kitchen table. Math homework doesn't do itself. The Midnight Hour ends as usual, and after a quick check-in on sleeping Thea around 2AM (Too dark to see the posters! Argh!), Cynthia leaves. She'll grab some of her own sleep at her place. Saturday is here, sleeping in is good.

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Zzzz.


Eventually, Thea wakes up. She remembers most of what happened but wow is this a bad headache. Fortunately, she doesn't notice anything wrong with the posters on her wall – in the daylight, they're not anything to do with Justin Bieber or Kanye West. She does eventually get up and have breakfast, and she'll probably message Cynthia eventually. She's a bit tired, still.

... Are those chicken strips? Why does she— No, she remembers why. Sigh.

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Waking up? For breakfast? What is this. It's SATURDAY.

Zzz.

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She had breakfast at about 11am, but whatever.

After a few hours, she texts Cynthia to say, I'm not sure what happened last night.

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Cynthia would be awake after a few hours of course. Being awake from 7AM to get to and participate in school, and sleeping atleast no earlier than 12:30AM doesn't leave much time during the week to sleep. Catching up is the standard plan.

She lives in her own dingy apartment, basically a glorified hotel room (It atleast sections the bedroom and the kitchen/living room). Reasons for this aside for now, Cynthia easily looks away from meandering on her computer to read the text, and reply.

This is T right? Call if you want or text whatever its c [sic]

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Thea's usually okay on sleep, even if she's not been getting as much as she should, so while she does catch up on sleeping by sleeping in, it's usually not too long.

Yeah, it's 'T'. What did happen last night, then? Shadow didn't kill me?

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Check your pulse everything is fine tonight u libby

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I know I'm alive, or enough to make no difference. So... she's gone?

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She is libby now damn sure

Cynthia curses having to actually type things on a phone again.

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K, responds Thea. Turns out she doesn't have anything to add.

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Slight annoyance, but it turns out neither does Cynthia. It'd be fifteen minutes before she sends another text.

1050 meet dinner then hour?

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Sure.

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Hopefully one word responses mean good thoughts?

Either way, Cynthia will spend her time online. She trawls up conspiracy sites and local news for anything that would link to her or the Midnight Hour. She decides against trying to phone her estranged friend, leaving the line open in case of Thea.

Her arriving time in the alley remains impeccable when the time arrives.

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They mean 'I'm tired and have a headache and can't be bothered with pleasantries right now', but sure, you can believe there are good thoughts behind them.

Thea sleeps a bit more in the afternoon and doesn't message Cynthia again, but she can also be found in the alley at the appropriate time. "Hi."

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"Hi." Same direction, same wave, different clothes. Cynthia isn't wearing the plain white-shirt and jeans outfit that she does on schooldays.

She's wearing her template's default outfit. Tight fitting black long sleeve shirt, loose black skirt over a set of cargo shorts. A navy-blue corset is over top her shirt, but it hangs loosely. Her leg brace is on her right leg, blue with an out-of-place looking orange trim to it, currently not being used for actual support. Backpack rests on her shoulders, the same beat-up black one from before, carrying the same sort of stuff.

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Thea... is wearing a jeans, a blue top, a jacket, and a pair of sneakers.

"So. How are you?" she asks, a little bit awkwardly.

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Cynthia takes a moment of blank staring, as if searching her brain as to how she's supposed to react to being asked that again.

"Good. How are you?"

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"I'm fine. A little tired – last night was weird – but mostly good."

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Cynthia visibly relaxes, back to something she knows how to answer.

"Usually ends up that way. That's the hard part over with! At least I think so."

"Soooo food? Or something? I'm still fine with just showing up five minutes early if you want that."

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"Yeah, food sounds good."

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Right. Helpful.

"I... Don't know anything about what you'd want to eat?"

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"I'm okay with whatever really – fries? Chinese? Pasta or something?"

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"Uh... Want to just like, get takeout downtown or something? I have no idea what serves all of that."

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"... I mean any of it, so yeah, sure, we can go get takeout downtown."

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"Well I dunno. I usually just get whatever is nearby where I want to hang out at night. Usually means cheap burgers and stuff. I wouldn't know if you're a vegetarian or anything."

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"Oh, right, nah, I'm not a vegetarian; burgers are fine."

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Cynthia motions for her to walk, and begins to walk herself.

"Do you have money and stuff? Am I buying? Do you care if it's cheap? Do we need to hit one of the big names?"

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Thea follows alongside her. "Yeah, I've got some cash on me. Cheap-ish would be preferable, but I don't really care much."


... And eventually: food!

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Food definitely occurs. Takeout bags and so forth.

"So, anywhere you feel like starting tonight? Somewhere to look around, high up? Somewhere to snoop around with nobody there?"

A few fries get munched. "Or just feel like a park near your place?"

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Nom!

"I'm not really sure. Somewhere that I can run away from if there's a mysterious monster occurrence or my Libby-equivalent turns out to be unable to help? Meaning probably not high up unless it's on a hill instead of a building."

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"Well, I woulda said on top of a building. There's some ones I know every so often if I need a look up high. Uhm... I think the park fits better, sit on top of something there..." Munch.

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"Yeah, okay, I guess that'll be alright. It was just... I don't want to be trapped anywhere if we get attacked."

Munch.

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"It's fine! I'm just not taking it too seriously I think. Forgot about feeling safe without a good handle on things. I feel too... Adaptive. Handle everything anyways."

And back to the park.

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Thea doesn't have anything to say in response to that. There might not be much conversation on the way to the park.

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Likely not. Cynthia is fine with being in silence while walking, eating, or sitting around. There might be some ambient humming, but no conversation.

She's open to anything Thea would want to bring up sitting in the park, but otherwise, time ticks away...

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Thea doesn't want to be rude or anything, so she doesn't get out her phone and totally ignore Cynthia, but she doesn't seem to have much to say.

She flails a bit for a conversation topic, then returns to the obvious topic. "Um, so. Is there anything else I should know about the midnight hour? Random monsters, worse on the full moon, attacking them potentially gives you weird benefits such as fixing defects... Anything else?"

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Cynthia's face contorts for a split second at 'fixing defects'.

"Full moons just make unusual stuff happen, but, seriously, I need better ways to explain this stuff..."

Sigh. "My leg is still the same. It just... Doesn't bother me enough anymore? My pain tolerance is higher and it hurts less to walk on it normally, so I don't really care for the brace? I wore it tonight to show you, really."

Cynthia pulls at her hair. "Like, there ARE benefits. Exercising but without limits? Uh..." Puzzled look.

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Oops.

"Oh, okay. Um. What do you mean exercising but without limits?"

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"Like, you'd expect to never really get strong just... Walking around for an hour each night. But, yeah. Beating up Shadows with your soul removes much sense."

"Like... I'm pretty sure I can beat our school's sprinting record. Somehow. I don't practice or anything. Rather not remind them I'm technically disabled."

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"Oh. So it gives other benefits like... improved athleticism? What about intelligence and reflexes and things? I don't know, have you done an IQ test? Or... measured your reflexes somehow?"

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Head shakes respond to any sort of testing.

"I don't study?" Shrug. "My grades are pretty good I guess. Could go check'em."

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"Nah, don't worry. I'm not sure we really have much time before midnight anyway."

She's probably going to research ways to measure these sorts of things. If possible. It would be interesting to see what sorts of progress she makes.

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"It's not like I'd break into the school during the day..."

Cynthia takes out her pocket watch and winds it. The two are left in thought for a few minutes, until the clock strikes [ERROR]...

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In the time it takes to blink, the world changes. The moon takes on a sickly yellow hue, while the clouds turn a poison green. Nearby people are replaced with looming jet-black coffins. Grass turns to burnt strands, puddles to splashes of blood, electronics to unworking pieces of plastic.

Cynthia pockets her watch and stretches a little.

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Well, Thea thought Cynthia would go home and check a recent grade report or something, which is why she didn't object based on breaking into a school, but okay.

Woo! Midnight hour. "So. Do I have to run away terrified from a blob again? That does not sound particularly fun."

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"Nah. Same kinda deal, but you should be able to do it now, Promise. I'll nuke it if it gets too close this time."

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"Okaaay. What was it again? Asking a part of me to appear and get rid of the blob?"

Eugh. The user interface isn't intuitive and it's terrible. She is still not happy about things.

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Not like the customer support line is any better.

"Pretty much?"

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"Okay."

Well, time to go a-blob-huntin', it would seem.


Blobs? Blobs anywhere?

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They are not hard to find. Common little blobs. Even if Cynthia couldn't point to the closest one. Doing its blob crawl across a sidewalk.

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Yay. A blob. Look at how cheery Thea seems about this fact. (Not. Not at all. That's exactly how cheery Thea seems.)

She walks up to it and starts focusing on a thing to come out and eat the blob. Or smoosh it. Or catapult it away. Just get rid of It.

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Blob blob blob. It persists.

But it does look towards her. Staring. Giving off the feeling that it might just lunge again...

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Aaand that's a bit scary. Is it scary enough? Can she feel something inside?

... Mmmaybe. There might be something. But if there is, it doesn't have an obvious on switch.

She walks a bit closer.

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You caught it's eyes, and kept moving towards it. It does NOT like that.

It 'turns', and scrabbles full speed towards Thea, just like last time...

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But it's fine. This time she has a thing to look after her, and it'll show up, because that's what it does. Right?

... Rrright?

She tries looking for an on switch again. She doesn't care that she might be imagining the whole thing, she wants to have a thing to protect her, and apparently this is how.

Nnope, no on switch—

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— But despite the lack of on switch, it would appear something's happening anyway.

She gets surrounded in a sort of translucent haze, an approximate copy of her, which then steps forwards and away from her, solidifying into... a copy of herself? A pretty-much-perfect copy this time, not a weird misshapen one.

It steps forwards and raises an arm, a knife appearing in its fist from nowhere, and then brings it down in time to slice at the blob.

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The shadow gets cleaved nearly in half, and it 'stumbles' backward. It promptly gets turned to dead-mist by Libby finishing the dissection with a blade of wind. The Shadow is dead.

Cynthia stands in combat-mode, Libby in front of her. "You still don't make any sense."

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The copy turns around to face Cynthia, arms crossed.

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Thea looks at the copy, sees that it's not likely to respond, then asks, "I'm sorry?"

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"I hate it. I really do. First you show up on a full moon, and now it LOOKS NORMAL. Did you even do anything to bring it out?"

Cynthia is holding the plastic sword from her bag, holding it like an actual weapon.

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"I mean, I tried looking for its on-button, and there wasn't one. Then it just appeared, all... stabby."

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It­... changes, then says, "He."

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... Um. "Excuse me?"

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"Eeeeeverything in me is saying to RUN. You are still making NO SENSE."

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It – he – rolls his eyes.

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"Um," continues Thea eloquently. "I have no idea." She shakes her head, then says, "It—"

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"He."

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"– He doesn't look dangerous?"

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"Is that a look or a feeling?... Can you send him away, like you should be able to?"

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"I mean, I don't know? I haven't tried, and it seems kinda rude when he's right here and not doing anything bad?"

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"It's you. It isn't rude. Better to know if you can control it now."

"Other option is that I attack you both, and see if you're linked properly. That instinct works." Cynthia wants none of this.

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"Uh, okay," she says, then tries to get him to leave.

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"Seriously?" he asks. "Ugh, fine, whatever, I'll go then."

He walks towards her, getting translucent just before he touches her, and disappears.

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"Happy now?"

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A few moments pass. Libby relaxes a few seconds before Cynthia does.

"Probably. Still doesn't feel right to me, though. I'll keep it to myself for now..."

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"Okay..." she responds tentatively. "So what are we doing now? Not having me attack other weird monsters?"

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"Can if you want. Along as you stick to the blob-likes you should be fine. Just... Nevermind."

"Never had anything planned for afterward for that matter."

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"You mean, I should be fine to what? Stab them with my non-existent knife? Or you'll be okay if I get out my Libby-equivalent again? Whatever his name is."

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"That's the point! You didn't figure out his name, let alone the proper word. Usual stuff didn't happen! Again!"

Sigh. "You can call him out. As long as you don't charge into battle exhausted you should be able to beat them. If they drop any money, it's normal stuff. They slide over the change people drop and carry it around."

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"... I'm supposed to figure out the proper word? I mean, he's sorta me, so... alter-ego? Besides, he didn't really have a chance to tell me what he wants to be called, just that he's a he. But thanks anyway."

She doesn't call him out just yet.

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"The word comes out. I named Libby, but the others kinda felt a name that made sense."

One moments pause. "Can i just... Scream loudly for a moment? I really need to."

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"Um. So you didn't feel a name for Libby, but the others did, and so it's weird that I didn't? I dunno, I guess he could be a Theo to my Thea? But sure, go ahead and scream."

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Cynthia walks a few feet away, and screams incredibly loudly. Libby fake covers her ears.

She then walks back. "I did feel it. The name is still there, I just don't feel like using it... Shi-... Something. You can't... Tell. And that's weird."

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Thea winces at the scream, but otherwise continues normally. "Okay. But it still seems like it's my alter-ego, at least, doesn't it? I mean he. He seems like he is. Or, you know, whatever the word is instead of alter-ego."

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Cynthia atleast feels better after a quick expelling of frustration. "Well, yes, but look at Libby. She's me, but she isn't like, physically me. She's my - er, that word. Still not going to say it! Even then, I can kinda... Talk to her? Even if she isn't standing two feet from me."

Libby pats Cynthia's head. Cynthia looks off in thought, mouthing syllables to remember what Libby's name was.

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"Okay, but Theo isn't physically me, at least not any more. But, do you mean you can talk to her even while she's not out and about?"

She tries seeing if there's an on-switch, again, but isn't aiming to actually bring him out, just seeing if there's any way to interact with him while he's not... manifested.

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"Can I just... Slap you square across the face? Hard? Sure, you can push your soul out to stab things, doesn't mean it isn't you. Yes, I can talk to her."

Cynthia is very serious about wanting to slap Thea.

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"Yes, I know it's still me, you made that clear, but I mean he's not physically identical to me any more. I thought you meant he was, with the whole 'she isn't physically me' thing."

Ugh, whatever. This doesn't seem to be getting anywhere, so she tries to summon him again.

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"Why is it so hard to just... Stop making assumptions... Magic and philosophy... Ugh."

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"That's just—" she starts...

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... And then she's interrupted by the appearance of the him. Instead of appearing as a translucent silhouette around her, this time he appears in a swirl of translucent smoke next to her.

He makes a 'go on' motion.

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... Well, in that case, sure, she will. "That's just stupid – I wasn't just making assumptions about the magic, I was misinterpreting what you said."

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"Well that's annoying. Both parts, the misinterpreting and calling him out without a target or telling me. I can't tell if everything went okay! Even then, you still have a bad habit of asking three questions every time you talk..."

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"Okay, well, sorry about that."

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The he looks between the two of them and says, "Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but no, I'm not a Theo."

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Thea gives him a bit of a withering look. "Got any better ideas, then?"

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"Nnnot really, but not Theo."

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Thea rolls her eyes. "How about Brad?"

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He shrugs. Apparently it's Brad for now, then.

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Cynthia.exe has stopped working. Please contact your worshiped deity and pray for further instructions.

Libby just shrugs.

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Brad indicates Cynthia with a nod of his head, then looks at Thea questioningly.

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Thea shrugs. "Why should I know?"

She turns to face Cynthia. "Uh. Are you okay?"

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Libby gives a little dismissive wave towards them, in tune of 'she's fine no worries' and then proceeds to stare at 'Brad'.

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Brad looks back, seemingly unfazed.

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Rebooting... Done!

"What the fuck? Brad? Let's just... Move on. Do something instead of making my brain hurt further."

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Brad shrugs again.

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"Okay, so Brad isn't the best name, but it's not like he came up with any alternatives! Just 'not Theo' isn't very helpful!"

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"Like, I'm not going to make fun of 'Brad' by itself. Not like, uh, Libby's was much better? Probably remembering it wrong. Libby is easier, stories abound. EITHER WAY. What do you want to do? We still have a lot of tonight. A town empty of people and full of the usual stuff."

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Brad smile viciously.

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Thea looks over at him, sees his expression, and says, "Apparently he wants to go attack something?"

Wow, because that wasn't obvious from looking at him.

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"... You say he wants to go attack something. That's the part I find worrying. Regardless, there's plenty of Shadows around. No worries on that front. Got any stones to conveniently throw to hit one? Or you can try to feel them out... Nah, I'd probably mess that up. Nearest one is just over there. Another bloblike. " Point. "Most common ones. Usually the stronger ones chill out near downtown."

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"... I mean, I sorta want to attack something, because I now have... him? But he's the one that's smiling like that. ... Or is that the problem? That I'm saying 'he' when he's me?" She rolls her eyes. "And no, I don't have any stones."

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Meanwhile: Brad frowns, gets out a mirror and tries smiling into it again, then shrugs and puts it away. Somewhere.

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The plan of rambling past the issue has failed. "Both are problems. The he/me thing is just personal annoyance, but shoving off your emotions onto him and saying they belong to him is a little... Scary of a thought? He's just put me into a defensive mood and I might be overthinking it all but I'll still mention whatever when I think about it so just probably be careful and keep listening to everything and," pause for a breath, "keep safe and stuff."

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"Okay, well, I'm not trying to fakely push my thoughts onto him. I really don't know what he's thinking, but I can guess from how he acts. I'm still not really sure what put you in a defensive mood, but okay."

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Brad grins. Somewhat at randomly.

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Cynthia and Libby groan in unison. "Just making less sense than normal. It's hard to grasp how this place works, but once you get that, it stays the same. Except for full moons. Where you showed up."

Cynthia sighs yet again. "He should be thinking whatever you feel. Or something. I really miss my old friends. They made this seem so simple and I can't remember it all, and my own attempts suck."

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"Okay, well, unless I'm thinking 'how can I best act weirdly?' which I don't think I am, we seem to be thinking different things. Or I guess I could be feeling 'spontaneous', but again: I don't think I am."

Sigh. "Should we just go attack some things?"

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"Yeah, go attack something. Closest one is still over there." Point.

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"Okay," she says, then starts walking in that direction.

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Brad, who has definitely been paying attention because he's a good alter-ego, rushes to get in front of her. He makes sure to stay out of her way, and seems alert for danger.

Is the blob nice and obvious? Can he go stab it? Or do they need to walk for a bit before they see it?

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It's as obvious as it was. It's just blobbing about its day until you just close enough to annoy it. Like a non-aggressive animal that will still attack if you get close enough and look like a threat.

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Of course the blob is blobbing about obviously! And Brad is Bradding about obviously. Because that's what Brads do.

Watch the sharp knife, watch as Thea and Brad get close to the blob, and watch as Brad pounces upon the blob and slices it, grinning.

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Okay, well, that's slightly unnerving, but to be fair, Thea can imagine herself grinning a little while slicing up a blob. She's stopped a few metres away from where Brad pounced from.

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It thrashes about, smacking Brad on the leg in its flailing. Thea would feel a bit of pain on her leg in response.

Stab, stab stab, the Shadow puffs into mist, defeated. It really isn't hard to take these things out.

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Yyyyup. She feels the pain. Ow.

She turns to look for Cynthia.

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Brad makes a face when he gets hit in the leg. After the Shadow is done for, he jumps up, grinning again.

... It's a little bit unnerving. Almost like he's not supposed to grin. Eugh.

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Cynthia is walking behind her. She seems relieved somehow that Thea was just in pain. She promptly turns and nods towards Libby.

Libby raises an arm, and releases pretty little healing sparkles. They quickly fly over and flit around Thea, fixing the pain problem.

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"Thanks," Thea says gratefully. "Should we attack a few more of these, then? What's... the... um." She stumbles over her words. "What's the not-time...? How long do we have left?"

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"Shadows... Are you alright? Tiredness usually can set in pretty fast, but..."

Cynthia pulls out her pocket watch and glances into the gears. "Still plenty... Do you want to sleep the rest?"

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She seems a bit surprised. "Nah, I—" Yawn. "– I should be okay. Maybe... attack one more? Then we can stop?"

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Brad looks at Thea a little worriedly.

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"Probably better to take it slower. I mean, first time usually makes people nearly pass out, even if this is your third time being awake it's the first time you've called him out. Grab the wild change it might've left behind with Brad and take a minute. No rushing."

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Brad crouches down and looks for coins, instead of waiting for Thea to do it. Assuming he finds some, he gets up and hands it to Thea.

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Dragging it's blobbiness around apparently picked up a nickel and two pennies, left cleaned but slightly scraped against the pavement.

Somehow the thought of Cynthia paying for her earlier takeout with quite a few coins is now relevant information.

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Well, that's fine. Might as well profit from this since it's available and they're not actively harming anyone through doing it, as far as Thea knows. She takes the coins, puts them in her pocket (which, while being a pocket on a pair of girls' pants, still actually has enough room for a few coins), and then tries to unsummon Brad because she's getting tired.

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He takes a step towards her and then turns into the translucent smoke, quickly disappearing.

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"So? Feel like waking up tomorrow at all, or want to go sleep? Could always relax and snoop somewhere. Not going to stop you if you feel like another Shadow needs to be punished for making you run around last night."

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Yawn. "Yeah, uh, I think I might just head back and go to sleep."

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"No worries. I'll walk you back." A hand motion, to start walking back. Libby stays out, trotting behind them.

"What did you say to your father again? Or was he asleep. I don't live with anyone so I don't have to worry about popping up where I shouldn't be. On that note, you can feel free to crash at my place if you want."

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Thea starts walking too. "He wasn't asleep, but he wasn't particularly curious – I just told him I was going out with a friend. He'll probably worry if I'm not there in the morning, though, so I should probably get back. He should be asleep by now."

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Friend. It's been awhile! Well, hopefully it wasn't lying.

"Well if somehow you teleport past him to bed or something? Just trying to help. If he's asleep it's all for nothing anyways."

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"It should be fine if I just go to bed, unless he's literally been standing by the door all night – hardly likely – but thanks. Ugh. I'm guessing it gets better? I'm feeling pretty wiped right now."

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"Yeah. Want Libby to carry you? Or somehow is a bad guess of you being a lesbian sadist correct?"

And the ball goes soaring into left field! Even Libby finds that completely out of nowhere.

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"... Lesbian... sadist? Um, nah, I'm okay walking. I'm not that bad."

Not quite. Plus she's a little bit scared by the idea of being carried by Cynthia's tendrilled soul. Uh, no thanks.

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"Sure, whatever." She didn't outright deny it!

Libby smacks Cynthia on the back of the head, making her giggle.

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Thea looks at the interaction warily, but not being privy to the narration nor having suddenly acquired the ability to read minds, she doesn't actually know what Cynthia's thinking. She also doesn't happen to guess.

Walk walk. "How long until the midnight hour's over?"

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Cynthia hums idly until talked to again. "We've been out like... Maybe fifteen to twenty minutes?"

Hum hum hum.

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"Oh. Huh. Is that all? Oh well."

Walk walk.

Eventually, they'll presumably get back to her house.

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Walk walk through the streets, coffins and noises abound. Nothing bothers them along the way, the one Shadow they do spot keeps to itself. Or maybe Libby stared at it. Who knows.

The layout of the town is the same as it always is, and arriving home is as usual. Even if the street signs may look a little rusted, the words are still readable.

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"So, yeah... Do you want to do more tomorrow? Or do you have stuff to do, like homework or whatever?"

Libby walks off. Cynthia doesn't react to it.

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Thea glances at Libby, but that's it. "Uh, yeah, I think I might be busy, actually. Monday night should be okay though?"

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"No worries. I don't do much other than the Midnight Hour. Speaking of such, I'll be probably around if you scream loud enough. I've had no chance to really look around since the full moon at certain places, though everything seems fine."

Cynthia waves and starts to walk off after Libby.

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"See ya," she says, then walks inside. Luckily, her dad seems to have already gone to bed, so there won't be any weird confusion over the fact she's teleported to bed. She brushes her teeth, gets changed, and then flops. Zzz.

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At least the faucets work, even if the water is a little tinged red.

Sleeping or not, the Midnight Hour passes. Everything turns back to normal, and nobody has to look at the Justin Bieber and Kanye West boy band poster anymore.

Time marches on, awake or not.

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Thea's too asleep to notice or care. The red water wasn't particularly noticeable in the darkness, what with the lack of electricity and therefore lighting.

Zzz.


Not much happens the next day; she does some homework and tries poking at the possibly-a-thing in her head that links to Brad at least coincidentally. She thinks it's a thing, what with the fact that prodding it last night resulted in a Brad, but she's not totally sure. It still doesn't seem like it has any buttons, or... anything.

Will Cynthia text her in the day? Or any time before midnight?

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Any attempt at calling out Brad results in only a headache. It doesn't seem to work during the day.

Speaking of calling out, Cynthia does not contact her. She understands 'I'm busy' and has no real reason to bother Thea during the day.

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Well, okay then.

... It nears midnight, she's already had dinner, and guess what! She's actually decided to go out after all. Only she's not going to tell Cynthia except perhaps by screaming if she gets in over her head.

What a good idea.

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In the time it takes to blink, the world changes. The moon takes on a sickly yellow hue, while the clouds turn a poison green. Nearby people are replaced with looming jet-black coffins. Grass turns to burnt strands, puddles to splashes of blood, electronics to unworking pieces of plastic.

Good ideas or not, it arrives on time.

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Well, she only has to survive for an hour, and she's also got Brad, and she can scream if it gets too bad. Plus, it's not a full moon, and the Shadows she encountered last night were just the small blobs, so she should be fine.

Really though, why is she doing this? She's not even totally sure, but she sorta just wants to spend time with Brad without Cynthia. It's a bit of her, after all. Apparently.

She goes looking for a blob, and sees if there's any more information coming from the probably-a-thing in her head. Here, blobby blobby. Thea's not gonna hurt you!

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Her cry of "Give me info!" wildly into her head doesn't seem to be working.

At least her ears do. Sameish location, another blob. Gaze at its patheticness.

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Well, that's fine. She wasn't really expecting much of a response, though she was hoping for one.

She sees the blob, stops, and pokes at the thing in her head with the intent for Brad to appear. This worked the last two times, so it should work now, right?

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Right! Brad appears next to her in a weird transparent glow, which disappears shortly thereafter.

He gives her a look. It's a look that says: 'Really? Are you suuuure this was a good idea? Hint: it wasn't'.

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Thea looks at him, sees the look, squints a bit, and then says, "What? You're me, don't judge."

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He sighs and stalks off in the direction of the blob. Stab.

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Thea follows a bit closer, watching him.

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It reacts the normal way. Too close, it'll lunge into an attempt at it's own survival. Though utterly futile, its death already a forgone conclusion, it does manage to land a hit onto Brad's arm.

The pain flares up in Thea in response. Oh, didn't Cynthia deal with that problem last time? Fun.

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Oh, eugh. She'd forgotten about that. Stupid pain.

... Does it disappear after a minute? Or does it stick around?

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Brad folds his arms and taps his foot.

Sigh. The things he has to put up with.

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Time passes. It gets a bit better. It will stick around for awhile...

At least it was a dime that dropped this time! Big money.

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... Brad notices the shininess after a minute and picks it up. He should really pay more careful attention to this sort of thing.

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Thea notices that the pain gets only slightly better and makes a noise of frustration.

Deciding to focus on something else, she asks Brad, "So. Do you have any other wisdom about me left to impart?"

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He shrugs. "We've already done this, haven't we?"

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She gives him a look, thinks for a second, then starts to walk around, looking for another blob.

Here, blobby blobby.

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Brad follows, keeping watch for any unforeseen danger.

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A little bit of more walking later... Blob.

Oddly, it has a red mask instead of a blue one. Still a generic blob.

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Huh, weird.

Thea moves nearer to it, but stops far enough away that it probably won't move to attack her.

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Noticing Brad's lack of movement, she motions for him to attack.

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He looks at her disbelievingly, then shakes his head.

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She rolls her eyes and again motions for him to attack.


Seeing no movement, she starts walking towards it herself.

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Because as if this wasn't a bad enough idea yet...

The Shadow turns towards her, as usual, but it stretches it's arms towards her without moving. It jiggles ominously.

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Aaand that's kinda terrifying can Brad please do something already.

She looks back at him. And might be preparing to bolt.

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He looks at her like she's absolutely mental but starts running towards the Shadow. With another knife. Because knives are things that he quite naturally makes appear spontaneously. Apparently.

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When the approximation of your soul acts like this thing is dangerous and refuses to openly engage it, Thea probably shoulda listened. A little late now.

Agi.

The Shadow's hands burst into flames, and it promptly throws the fireball straight toward Thea. It stands its ground regardless if Brad would divert or continue his charge.

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Yyyeah-no. He changes course to get in the way of the fireball. That does nnnot look like it should touch a poor, squishy human.

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Isn't the hardest to intercept. Still hurts a lot. Thea feels the burning pain too. Still likely a better outcome than Thea taking it.

The Shadow quivers in place, waiting for the burst of fire to dissipate, actually seeming like it might have some sort of intelligence...

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So. The 'preparing' to bolt managed to migrate to 'actually bolting', then to 'temporarily debilitating pain', and now to 'I should really get out of here even if I'm in pain'.

She is trying not to scream. Or make any noise at all, really. She doesn't want more Shadows.

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Brad manages to continue despite the flames and runs towards Mr Blob v2.0 again.

Weapon? Ooh, he has a lovely knife. Method of attack? How about slice and dice.

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Wibble wobble. Its hand rears back and swipes at him. It isn't much faster than the 1.0 version, but let's try not to get hit again, you know?

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He attempts to dodge around the hand, and probably succeeds, unless it suddenly speeds up.

Right, so. Agi. ... Fire?

Maybe instead of charging with a knife, he should charge with... an icicle? That's a thing he can do. He summons a sharp and pointy icicle in place of the knife.

Stab.

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The shadow reels HARD from being stabbed with an icicle. Another stab and it ceases to be.

Cue the victory fanfare.

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The icicle disappears in a puff of smoke once it's outlived its utility.

Brad looks around for coins.

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Thea looks back, sees that it's been handled, and slows down. Then tentatively walks back.

She's kinda tired. Oops.

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More coins. Two nickels six pennies. Moving up in the world!

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Brad hands the coins over to Thea. The dime from earlier is also included.

Then he folds his arms, taps his foot, and continues to look very unamused.

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She takes the coins, and then continues trying to ignore the pain. The slight pain in her arm, and the ffffudging burning sensation. She either doesn't notice the look or decides to ignore it, and instead starts to walk back in the direction of her house.

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Brad does follow, but he's still giving her the look.

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Walking, coffins, moonlight, the ominous sound of Cynthia humming getting louder the closer they get home, blood patches...

...The dawning realization Cynthia may be sitting outside of Thea's house right now...

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Of course she might be.

Oh well. Thea got bored and decided not to text Cynthia. Or something. Or she can just, y'know, tell the truth that she wanted to go walk around with Brad alone. Who knows.

Walk walk walk.

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Yep. Cynthia is leaning against the side of Thea's house. One hand holding a notebook (the one from Friday at lunch) and the other the plastic sword (being twirled). She seems happy enough.

Libby isn't out and around. Cynthia isn't going to make the first move here (she can tell Thea is nearby but is trying to be nice).

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Well, in that case, Thea will just walk up to the house and say, "Hi there!"

Ugh, she hates feeling tired.

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Brad walks up behind Thea, slightly to the right of her, and stands there with a neutral expression on his face.

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"Hi hi. You still have my pocketknife! Thought I'd come grab it, that's all. Don't really mind wanting a night alone." Easy to get the feeling Libby may have been upstairs looking for it, somehow.

A few seconds later Libby materializes in front of Cynthia. Dia. Libby raises her arm, releasing the lovely healing sparkles onto Thea.

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"Heal," whispers Brad.

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Thea looks at him, a bit confused, then turns back to Cynthia and says, "Thanks!" That pain was getting annoying.

She rummages in her bag and comes out with the knife. "Yeah, here you are," she says, then walks over to Cynthia and holds it out.

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Cynthia throws the plastic sword into the air, takes the knife and pockets it, then catches the sword by it's blade.

"Don't suppose you want this thing? Well, whatever." Back to aimlessly spinning it, juggling it, so forth.

"Either way, also forgot to give you this. A little jot book of some simple stuff. My own notes don't make any sense without knowing the system we set up and all of the words, so I put some of it in here." Cynthia holds the notebook out to Thea.

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"Oh, cool, thanks," she says, taking the notebook and putting it in her bag.

She yawns. Then stands there, blinking tiredly.

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Yes, yes she does. Well done, Thea. Really, well done. Brad is totally not judging you for your stupid behaviour tonight. Nope, no judging whatsoever over here.

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"Alright... That's all I got? You can head in." Cynthia opens the front door for her.

Takes Cynthia a moment to realize what she just did, showing that she unlocked the door earlier, but keeps a decent poker face. She doesn't see it as that bad of a thing to do anyways.

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Thea blinks a few times at that, then walks inside. "Goodnight," she says.

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Brad follows her in, looking at Cynthia a bit suspiciously.

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"Goodnight." Shrugs.

And in a lower voice to Brad, "She might've been sleeping and Libby is quiet. Need my knife for tonight."

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He shrugs and waves, then shuts the door behind them.

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And Thea goes upstairs to get ready for bed.

... She might forget about Brad.

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Brad would just disappear when she either falls asleep or the Midnight Hour ends, if Thea doesn't pull him back. If he 'times out' due to the Midnight Hour ending, it usually means a headache until the next night.

Cynthia outside starts off walking and humming, twirling the sword and adding in her pocket knife. Well atleast she doesn't hate me. Went better than I thought. Alright, let's go Lib... Rent's due soon, and I don't feel much like waking up tomorrow.

The two run off into the night, smiles on both of their faces...

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Thea gets into bed and tries to get to sleep. It probably won't take her long.

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Brad hops onto the couch in her room and lies down, seemingly content to do nothing.

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And eventually, Thea will fall asleep.


Zzz.

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After a few minutes of this, Brad starts to glow, then fades away.

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Time passes as usual, sleeping or awake. Monday arrives as it should.

Hey, atleast Cynthia manages to arrive to school! It turned into her falling asleep in the cafeteria in the morning, but she's there! If that matters.

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Thea is also at school! A little bit tired, but not to the point of falling asleep. Brad is, hardly surprisingly, not there.

She probably won't speak to Cynthia at lunch unless Cynthia approaches her.

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Cynthia has around zero intentions of doing anything during the school day. Thea would get a wave at the end of the day, but no real attempt to interact.

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Thea will wave back and then disappear home-wards.


If she doesn't get a text from Cynthia in the hours before midnight, she'll be outside her house with Brad and will wait about 5 minutes to see if Cynthia shows up.

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Cynthia is hanging out in the alley at 11:50. Thea said to meet up tonight on Saturday after all. When the hour starts Cynthia would knock on Thea's door.

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Oh. Right. Good point.

She opens the door and says, "Hi! I was just about to come out and wait for you."

(Brad's not yet in evidence.)

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"Hi, no worries." (Neither is Libby for that matter)

"Feeling like anything specific?"

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She thinks a bit, then decides, "Not really? I'll probably just summon Brad and then we can go knife some more blobs. Oh, did I tell you? We saw a Blob mark-two last night. It threw a fireball at me."

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Beat.

"Right. Sure. Mark two blob. No wonder you were beat up yesterday. Sure that's all you want to do?"

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"I mean, we could look for another Shadow and get rid of one of them, too? I'm not really sure of the diversity of things that are available."

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"...Sure? If all you want to do is fight things, pretty sure Brad would be able to steer you away from anything too strong. I don't think I'm needed..."

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Okay. Ugh. No. She is not going to take offense at that. She is going to realize the error of her actions and actually pay attention to Brad next time.

Maybe.

"Oh. Uh. I don't know, in that case? What sort of thing were you imagining?"

... She should probably read that notebook at some point. Maybe while Brad stabs some things.

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"Whole town is empty of people. Nothing that could record you works... Ice cream?"

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"... I don't really want to steal anything? Plus I had dinner like two or three hours ago. But I'm up for the company?"

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"Sure, why not." Cynthia motions for them to start walking, presumably in the general direction of the nearest Shadow. She'll stay quiet unless talked to, off in thought.

It isn't really stealing if you leave the money nearby... Oh well. I'll just hang around. Take it easy for a little bit. Even if I'm thinking of poking around her things, she'll fall asleep earlier! Might have to wait until tomorrow to check the school records...

I really need to just... Try to talk to her first? Stupid me, of course I need to.. I'll... Later. Walking. Get us comfortable, then try to awkwardly bring stuff up. Or maybe tomorrow, I'm still kinda drained from yesterday... That's worse thinking! Just... Wait until I can try to talk about it? I guess...

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Thea walks along in silence for a few seconds, then when she realizes it's going to continue, she decides to summon Brad.

So she looks at that probably-a-thing in her head (which still isn't well defined nor very tangible) and tries to poke it awake.

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After a few seconds, there's a "thoom" sound, and Brad pops out of nowhere, mid-stride, walking alongside her. He continues gracefully, not breaking stride.

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"That's like... The third different way Brad has shown up... Still makes me nervous thinking about it."

Cynthia turns to Brad. "No offense. Pretty sure you're fine."

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"Fourth," he says, grinning.

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"Why does that make you nervous? ... Is it one of those things that 'isn't done' again?"

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"I dunno what you mean by that statement, but when everyone else did it the same as me and yet you just... Don't."

Sigh. "I should probably talk about them at some point, huh..."

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"You don't have to if you don't want to," Thea hastens to reassure her. "I was just asking if Brad's appearance was different and didn't fit in with the weirdness of the Midnight Hour, and you answered that, so it's fine."

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A shrug to respond about talking about things.

"In the place of Glitter Fish-bones and Blobs, of course I'm nervous of the thing that looks like us. You've seen Libby."

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... That is true, she has.

She looks at Brad a bit warily.

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He rolls his eyes, then says, "Except that I look male. So I look like you just in that I'm human."

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"Which is also weird! I mean..." Deep breath. "We had a kinda sumo-superhero thing. Didn't have a proper face. We also had a, like, animated robe-thing... I still suck at this." Sigh. "Others aside, my point is they may be human-like, but none of them talked or were just A REGULAR GUY. We all had the same kinda fade-in and feelings on stuff too! Nobody showed up during a full moon either."

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Brad does a fist-pump and says, "Yeah! I'm regular!"

Then he parses the rest of the sentence, and amends: "Ish."

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Cynthia walks close to Thea. "Have you checked if his clothes come off, and if everything is there?"

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She looks at Cynthia like she's crazy, then starts, "Wh—"

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And here's Brad! Leaning over! Near Cynthia!

He whispers, "No, she hasn't," then skips away. "Not yet!" he trills.

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Cynthia stops leaning into Thea's personal space. "Okay, even to me that seemed just, wrong on quite a few levels."

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Thea eyes Brad warily. "No shit. Can I be psycho without being psycho? Because he seems psycho."

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Cynthia throws her arms into the air in exasperation. "You see what I mean now? Jeez! Even I wasn't that bad!"

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She turns to face Cynthia. "But he seemed... so normal!"

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Ooh, skipping is fun.

Know what? It's even better with knives! Knife! Another knife! Kniiiives!

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Hands come back down, Cynthia proceeds to stare at Brad. "Uh... Do you happen to have an excessive love of knives? Enjoy skipping but feel like you can't? I'm not a shrink... I also don't really care if that's how you wanna act."

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"She doesn't!" he shouts, still skipping.

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She turns to face him. "What the fuck are you doing? Skipping with knives? Who does that!?"

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He starts humming.

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"... Do you mind if I hurt him? I think he might be trying to hum my song."

Cynthia pulls out and grips her pocket knife. She does not sound like she's joking.

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Hum hum hum.

Hummm.

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"Um. Doesn't it hurt me if you hurt him? I mean, otherwise I might be totally up for it, but. Ummm."

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Flick, the blade slides out. "I can always deal with that. Did before." Cynthia's eyes stay on Brad.

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"I mean. Um. Okay?"

She doesn't sound very sure of that.

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Skip, hum, skip. Hum, skip, hum hum.

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Right now, an 'okay' will do. "No wounds show up on you, and Libby will keep the pain off. Simple." Libby appears next to Thea, sitting down.

Cynthia walks forwards, brandishing her knife. Libby can heal me too, no worries there. I just have to figure this thing out... What does it bleed? Does it bleed? It atleast should be connected to Thea but... Argh! I freaking miss you James! Why can't you still be here to figure this out?!

"Brad, get over here. You're listening, no doubt about it."

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She still doesn't look particularly happy.


... Then again, Brad can probably handle himself.

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Brad keeps skipping, but he does in fact make his way over to her. The knives are all disappearing.

He won't be the first to attack, unless the humming counts. Because that's continuing. A bit quieter than before, but still there.

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Cynthia is actually good at melee fighting. Even if she doesn't have any supernatural strength, she's still remarkably quick.

Cynthia waits for Brad to get closer and to start the up-motion of the skip, leaving his feet off the ground. Cynthia then darts forward, switching her knife to her left hand. She'll go to slice Brad's left side, using her right arm to try to keep his right arm from grabbing her, then to momentum away from him. Cynthia wants more for him to bleed than to be stabbed, and to see with Libby if Thea reacts.

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He whirls around, somehow spinning in mid-air, and kicks her away. If she wants to stab him, she'll have to try harder than that.

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Wasn't expecting easy.

Cynthia fixes herself back to a standing position, holding the knife back in both hands. She holds it so that either hand can pull it away to hit something. The kick doesn't phase her so far. Libby remains seated, unmoving. Cynthia then starts walking towards Brad. I'll close the distance, knick him with whatever he uses to push me away? If he won't hurt me, there's no point to being a little 'risky'. Maybe this'll even help Thea somehow! Wait...

"Ah, hey Thea? Do you know any sort of martial art? Just wondering." Cynthia sounds casual and unworried, as she feels.

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"... No? Why?"

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Brad keeps his distance from Cynthia. Again, if she wants to get close and fight, that's up to her.

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"Nothing! Just would like a heads up if I might get like, suplexed or something!"

With all said, Cynthia then proceeds to pick up the pace forwards. She's going to get close, right-hand her knife, then keep up quick, tight slashes towards whatever part of Brad leaves closest.

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Brad keeps dancing back, trying to keep out of range of her slashes. If she keeps it up, she'll eventually nick his arm as he tries to deflect an attack, causing him to bleed onto the blade – the blood looks very much like regular blood, but he doesn't seem to bleed much. Afterwards, he'll smash his hand into the blade, presumably knocking it out of her hand, then he'll claw her arm, leaving a mark.

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Thea winces when the blade cuts Brad, but otherwise just watches the fight.

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Cynthia keeps a death-grip on her pocket knife, which would make clawing her arm not the hardest. She goes with the stumble and clears some distance away. Libby tenses up and sits forwards, but doesn't 'move' from the spot.

Cynthia turns towards Brad again, but more looks at the blood on her knife. "That was fun, up until THIS. I have less of an idea what the hell is up with you now!" Cynthia flicks a little bit of the blood back towards Brad to clarify what she meant. "Seriously. What the hell?"

Cynthia isn't currently bothered by her arm starting to bleed her own blood, or her shirt being slightly torn around it.

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Thea looks on, not making any move to join, but seeming confused by Cynthia.

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Brad squints at the blood, then at his arm, then returns his gaze to Cynthia in a glare.

He runs at her, flicks his arm out to catch a knife, and starts to slash in her direction.

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Thea notices his expression and decides that this was a bad idea. She runs at him, dodging past any obstacles in the way.

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Thea isn't stopped by Libby, but she sure as hell can't outrun Libby flinging herself the distance.

Cynthia takes the fight in reverse, dodging backward and not making attacks. This time however, Libby wraps an arm around Cynthia and yanks her away, placing her behind Libby. Libby shrieks towards Brad, but wouldn't attack right away.

Cynthia says from her new position, "Knock it off. I learned what I needed to!"

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Brad changes direction to continue following Cynthia, then squints and starts to think how to get around—

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– Which is approximately when Thea collides with him, knocking them both to the floor. She recovers and kneels astride him, then slaps him. "Stop it!"

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Brad blinks a couple of times. He starts to sit upright and disappears, making another 'thoom' sound.

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Cynthia pokes her head around the side of Libby. "Hopefully his disappearance was your doing?" She waves her pocket knife to the side, Brad's blood still atop. "Didn't mean to piss you off."

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"He just..." She shakes her head. No, it wasn't her doing, but oh well. "Yeah, don't worry."

She gets up and brushes herself off.

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"I'd help you up, but I don't think that's a good idea."

Libby relaxes, and moves to the side so they can talk. "Seriously. Sorry. You can feel angry at me if you want, but I just wanted to see something... I still like you?"

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Thea looks at Cynthia, confused. "Huh?"

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"Uh... What exactly is confusing?" Mild confusion due to her confusion. Cynthia would also check over her shoulder, just in case.

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"I don't get why you feel the need to say that you still like me – it was Brad who was being creepy and then decided to go psycho on you. I mean, I'm not really happy that you two fought, but... I don't really get it."

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"Well, the whole same-person philosophy junk... Even without the whole weird parts, is it not okay to say that I still like you?"

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"I just... it suggests there's a specific reason that you wouldn't continue to like me, yet you're doing it anyway, but oh well. I have no idea what the hell was up with all that. He was acting crazy, you decided you wanted to gut him because of his humming, and then I could see that he went psycho when you cut him."

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"I didn't want to gut him! I just wanted to hurt him a little, I suck at explaining things! Turned into cutting him to see if--- Huh?"

The pocket knife is clean, no traces of Brad's blood anywhere. Cynthia is dumbfounded.

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"Yeah, you wanted to hurt him, I get that," she says, then looks at the knife. "... Didn't that have blood on it just a minute ago?"

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"Yup! Because when it comes to Brad, FUCK LOGIC!"

Libby quietly heals Cynthia's wound, speaking of blood...

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"I mean... If it had disappeared exactly when he disappeared, I think it'd make sense? Since it's his blood? But... I don't think it did?"

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 "And that's the problem... Things here generally follow a kind of logic, and he isn't following that either."

Libby quietly brushes off Cynthia's arm of dried blood. Her shirt may be still torn and stained, but her flesh is now unmarked and fairly clean.

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Thea really doesn't have anything to say to that. It'd be nice that she's different, or rather that Brad is, except for the fact that it makes everything even more confusing and therefore difficult to get things done.

Ugh.

She sighs. Oh well.

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"Even if it might be a little wrong to say... I still like you? I won't mess with Brad anymore. I'm sorry. Up to stuff tonight or should we call it?"

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"I'm fine to continue, but I don't know how Brad will react, since he was being a little bit... crazy when he disappeared. Even though he's, y'know, me."

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 "No worries for me here. I'll be safe regardless. I'll just hang back when he first comes out."

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She shrugs. "If you're sure. Should we go find a blob, then, or are we gonna try attacking something harder?"

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"Up to you. More blobs around here." Cynthia pulls out her pocket watch. "Still plenty of time."

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"Eh," she says, then debates it a bit. "Maybe a blob first, then if that goes fine we can go find something a bit harder?"

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"Works. I mean, getting a good handle on blobs is like... Knowing the basics." Cynthia motions off in a direction.

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Thea starts walking in that direction, looking for a blob.

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Footsteps echo into the night...

Once again, it isn't hard to find blobs. They show up every few blocks it seems.

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Yay, a blob!

She pokes at the thing in her head, expecting a Brad. Does she get one?

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Yes! Yes she does. He comes in the form of sparkles coalescing into a Brad.

He doesn't look very happy, though.

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Well, that's hardly her fault, so she just looks at him expectantly.

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Cynthia hangs a few steps back, Libby standing directly behind her. Isn't much for her to do while everything is going alright.

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Brad looks at Thea a bit more.

Then he summons a knife, still looking at Thea.

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Thea: very unimpressed.

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Brad taps the blade a couple of times, then finally decides to go attack the blob.

Does it do anything special as he approaches, or does he just get to stab it like all the other times?

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It reacts exactly like the others have before it. Get close, it stares. Keep getting close, it enters attack mode and scrabbles towards Brad.

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He gets to stab it! Yay.

Stab. Stabbity stab.


Such fun.

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It dies. Such fun out of the most easiest of Shadows. Its life is already down to two and a half posts! It barely needed mentioning the fact that it dies, it is such an inevitability! Consider how much Thea has grown. Or, how bad this thing is. It's pretty pathetic. Atleast Brad takes some joy in murdering it. 

It drops a singular penny. How pitiful. Its existence is merely a footnote, already becoming a number in the kill tally... I think we're up to 4? Sure, why not. These things might as well turn into being slain by the thousands soon enough. They might actually go back to being dangerous if there was a thousand of them! They should start at least trying to group up, maybe. Such idiots. 

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Brad's knife disappears and he picks up the penny. Then he looks at Thea. Then he decides to pocket the penny.

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Well fine. Thea's not hurting that badly for money anyway.

She turns to Cynthia. "I think we should attack something harder this time."

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"Sure. Do uh, keep in mind, harder things can usually strike back or cast stuff. I'll keep you informed."

Cynthia looks around for a few seconds. "Something... Faster with magic? Or a different one that's just tougher but not really... Hitting harder."

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"Maybe we should go for the tougher thing first, then if we're still okay after that, the faster one?"

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"Sure then. Shouldn't be anything besides 'don't get hit' to be worried about then." Arm motions to walk. "If anything is different, it isn't strong enough to worry about. I'd be able to notice before you fight it either way."

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She walks. "Okay, cool."

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Brad follows.

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Walking walking walking... Soon, the target gently floats out of an open doorway... TargetS that is. A pair of them. Seems they already took notice.

Two floating, zebra-striped spheres appear. In the middle sits the familliar blue mask, upsidedown. Well, presumably upsidedown. They roll forwards to reveal a large set of lips, with a grotestely large tongue hanging out of them (much longer than could fit inside). They start slowly bobbing towards our party...

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Okay, that's not freaky at all.

Thea motions for Brad to attack.

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Brad doesn't seem too worried, and he starts walking towards the two things.

Before getting too near, he throws a knife, aiming first for the surface of one of the spheres.

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The first one gets a knife imbedded in it, taking the hit and getting pushed back. It's still going.

The second floats forward to swing at Brad with its extendable tongue! (There isn't any saliva, it's just a very large tongue.)

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He dodges out of the way – saliva or not, he doesn't want to be hit by the tongue – and throws a knife at the second one.

Then he runs at the first one, knife in hand, and starts slicing at it instead.

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Second Shadow flails its tongue infront of it where Brad was. It takes some time to rethink...

The first has caught itself from the first strike, but another hit will repeat the wild tongue flailing. With both near each other, it becomes the choice between waiting until one stops, trying to duck in, or strike from afar...

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Well, he's already up close, so he decides to duck in and run past it, slicing. He turns around and throws another two knives at them.

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Pop pop. They break up into the same black mist that quickly dissapates. About as much damage needed as the blobs. Unfortunately, no coins. Once dealt with, the fatigue starts to set in. Cleaving through monsters with a projection of your soul isn't easy work, the more Brad has to work stacks up with the fatigue from earlier and doesn't seem to get better by taking a short breather. Atleast you start to feel stronger. Blobs were easier to cut through tonight.

"Why don't you just... Keep throwing knives?" Such tact, Cynthia.

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He turns to face her, giving her a look and tilting his head.

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Thea then gives him a look, snapping her fingers and pointing to her feet.

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So he walks over to her and pokes her, then dissipates into sparkles.


Sheesh, Thea, he's not a dog. There's no need to be rude.

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The sparkles were nice, but Cynthia remains staring at Thea, expecting her question to get answered.

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She shrugs. "I think he enjoys stabbing them up close?" Then she rolls her eyes. "Oh, sorry, I mean I enjoy stabbing them up close."

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Any potential sarcasm is lost. "That's fine, just wondering."

"Soo next set? Or what's the plan."

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Of course it is.

"I'm feeling pretty tired actually," she says, and she is.

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"Meaning you want to walk home?" Shrug. "Sure. No problem. Been longer today, even if I did kinda waste some of that time." Motion to walk.

"Monday hour so... Tuesday coming up. Right... Just call me around like... Eleven or something if you want to head out for an hour. It's like a week or so before any more shenanigan nights so don't worry, I'll remind you on that."

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She walks.

She also yawns. "Okay, thanks. Sounds good. Y'know, this is probably gonna get tiring, always being awake during the midnight hour."

She blinks a few times. "Maybe I should start taking naps or something."

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"I don't have anything to do during the afternoon, so I usually half sleep then, and half after the hour... It'll get easier and it'll work out."

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"Yeah, hopefully," she says.


She'll yawn another couple of times on their way back, but eventually they get to her house, and so she bids Cynthia farewell and goes into the house to sleep.

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Another start of the night done. Cynthia waits until Thea is settled, and then walks off with Libby.

Well she's doing fine here. Probably. Shouldn't have to worry much about her during a normal Hour... So, what else was she worried about? Parents, friends... Did she mention schooling? I forget. School is probably a good place to start anyways, it'd give me something to do during the day... Well I guess I'll just start there. Her records might have her parents on it? Don't really think I can just look at her house. Oh well, it's a place to start. Come on, Libby. I guess we gotta go cut that plant thing up again. Watch for the stupid thorns...

Slow pan of Cynthia humming her way down the street as the credits start scrolling by, then tilts upwards to the Midnight Moon...

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... Which promptly fades back to blue, since Thea is the viewpoint anyways. More fun this way and requires less revealing of my devious plans! Mwhaha.

Tuesday arrives as it should. School arrives as it should, no matter how despised. Classes proceed as they should- wait, they don't. Thea gets pulled out of class just before lunch to go to the administrative rooms.

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Waiting upon arrival, after being directed to a small side meeting room, is a very generic state police officer.

"Hello Thea. I'm officer Del. Do you mind if us two a little talk together? You aren't in trouble, I just have a few questions to ask you." The office aide is still standing behind Thea. Likely just a liability question.

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Why hello there, generic state police officer. Of course, Thea would be just overjoyed to help you.

Eh, not particularly, but she's not actively against speaking to him.


"Uh, sure. That'd be... fine," she says a bit tentatively.

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With that said and done, the aide leaves, the door is shut, and the two sit down. Presumably.

"Alright. Now, I'm here right now to ask you about another student, one Cynthia Morra. She's in your grade and I've heard that you've been spending time with her. What can you tell me about her?"

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They in fact do both sit down.

Thea tilts her head. "Cynthia?" She furrows her brow a bit, then continues, "I don't really know her that well?"

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"Ah, well then let me tell you why I'm here. Cynthia has been... Breaking into places. Last night she broke into the school here and browsed some files in administration here. In particular, files related to you, Thea. Can you shine any light on a reason as to why?"

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She looks surprised. "Files on me?"

... Cynthia definitely seems like she'd break into places. And they were talking about looking at Thea's grades, and she made it sound like she meant breaking into the school to get them.

"I don't know why she'd do that. I don't think the school even really has anything about me except grades and contact details, does it?"

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"You're correct. Still, she broke in to look at them. Additionally..." Thea receives the look of 'don't go repeating this' before he continues, "There isn't much evidence that she did. The filing cabinet has a hidden system to note when it has been accessed overnight, which it had, and the only files that had been touched were yours and hers. We know it was Cynthia, due to her having broken into places before, but touching your files now?" He pauses a moment to look at Thea.

"Regardless, as I said, there is little evidence. Locks are left locked, and security cameras have nothing that would show her on tape. What I am here to ask, is if you have any idea on how she is pulling this off?"

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Any idea? Why, no, Thea has no idea about any mysterious way that Cynthia might be getting in to the school without being spotted by cameras or anything running on electricity, and somehow doing it all in a really short span of time, as if she somehow had an hour compressed into a single second at midnight.

No idea whatsoever.


"I really don't know her that well? I mean, maybe she just knows how to pick a lock really well?"

She looks a bit confused as to why the officer would expect her to know anything about Cynthia's behavior.

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"Well, you seem to know her better than anyone else, could you ask her? She doesn't socialize with anyone, and then all of a sudden you two seem to be hanging around each other just before midnight." He definitely put emphasis on midnight and stared straight at Thea.

"There's a few other things, of course, but assisting us with this will solve any other crimes she may have committed. You won't be held as an accomplice or anything, could even get a reward for anything major you could find out."

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Of course he emphasized midnight. Just... of course.

She's a bit more suspicious than she was before, now, and it might be obvious.

"I don't know. I can probably ask her about it, but I'm not sure she'll answer. Anyway, if she's involved in any crimes, I don't want to be a part of it."

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He's all smiles. "Of course you shouldn't be involved with any crimes. All I'm asking for you to do is to ask her. She should be at school today, you could talk to her at lunch and come right back if that's all you want to do."

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She could...

"Uh, yeah, okay? I'm not sure she'll tell me anything, though."

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"That's quite alright. Asking is all I want you to do. There may be other things you could have helped with that aren't as direct, but it would be more involved and you said you didn't want to be."

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"Okay," she says, not seeming like she wants to commit to anything else.

She tilts her head and asks, "Was that all? ... How do I find you later?"

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He writes his number down on a sticky note and passes it to Thea.

"I'll also be here for potentially the rest of the day. That is all, unless you want to bring something up?"

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"Mm, nope? I don't think so."

She's pretty sure that's sincere, actually. Even though he seems like he does know about the Midnight Hour, she doesn't want to be associated with that, really.

Nor does she necessarily want to be associated with Cynthia. Thea has a thing about rules.

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"Alright then. You can sit in here until the bell goes, should only be a minute or two." He's correct.

Cynthia is indeed at school and in the cafeteria for relevancy.

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And off Thea goes to the cafeteria, because it's now lunch.

She could just blank her friends and go confront Cynthia immediately, but she doesn't actually want to, so at first she doesn't go over to speak to Cynthia. Eventually, though, she does decide to go over to Cynthia.

"So," she says, standing beside her and therefore looming over her a bit. "Do you want to know what just happened?"

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Cynthia is just... Eating. Not paying attention until Thea actually talks to her.

What just happened? Uh...
>She came from her friends.
>Looks angry. Probably is.
>Immediate attention required.
>Standing closer than usual...

"They dared you to ask me out?" No clues here.

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She laughs flatly and takes a seat.

"Mmnope. I found out that someone has been breaking into buildings to look at people's records. And presumably also committing various other crimes."

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"Oh. Usually people talking to me in the latter half of lunch have a dare or something." Munch munch. "Dunno your friends' names, can you point?"

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She raises an eyebrow and asks, "Why exactly?"

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"Because I'm not popular? I don't know anybody." Munch munch.

Cynthia has no idea Thea means her.

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Thea sighs. Pointing to the named individuals, she says, "Siobhan, Jean, Chris, Sophie and Jessica."

Shaking her head, she continues, "Anyway. Why? And why did you break into the school for my records?"

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"You just said you just found out someone was committing crimes and you just came from there. So, which one?"

Second question answer not forthcoming.

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...

She squints, leans in, and says quite clearly, "The someone is you."

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>Leaning in way too close
>Not sitting with her friends
>Sudden seriousness
>Emphasis on 'someone'
>Confrontation of Cynthia doing things for Thea
>LEANING IN WAY TOO CLOSE

Cynthia flings herself backward after a moment, crashing onto the floor amidst a bunch of chairs and quite loudly exclaims "Aren't we suppose to DATE FIRST?! I mean, I'm still eating! It'd be even worse than having like, no practice or anything!"

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Thea gets up and asks, "What the fuck?"

Can you really be that obtuse?

She shakes her head and walks off, scowling angrily.

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The responses of the people around them vary from approximately Thea's to confusion and slight bemusement.

Thea's friends notice the event and start murmuring about what to do, but then notice Thea moving away from the situation and decide that it's probably not for them to do anything. Chris – one of Thea's friends – seems to want to follow her, but decides to give her some space after seeing her expression.

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... What? Uh... What did I do? Mighta been looking at her records, but... Then she... What?

Yes, Cynthia is that obtuse. She atleast finds no real problem with that issue. Cynthia tries to stand back up, then crumples back down. OW ow leg. Ow. Stupid leg.

She grabs her backpack, tosses the bits of her lunch remaining, then hobbles off to try and find Thea after a few minutes.

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She might find her eventually, but only if she's good at locating people. Thea isn't really in the mood to be found, and there isn't much of the lunch break left.

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Cynthia may be good at hearing Shadows... But finding a person in a noisy building full of people she is not.

Cynthia atleast is persistent. She knows Thea's next class (and locker number, so the direction she'll likely come from) and will try to catch her after lunch ends. With hands folded in prayer and mouthing 'sorry' as she tries to approach.

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Thea can indeed be caught if you wait outside her next lesson for her to appear.

Doesn't mean she's in a good mood.


She walks to her class, sees Cynthia, and asks rather scathingly, "What?"

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Okay. Keep it short then.

"Just sorry. Sorry sorry. Won't keep you." And I still don't know what I did wrong! Figure out later.

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She sighs, runs a hand through her hair, and then decides she can't be bothered to deal with this right now.

"Yeah, see ya," she responds, then walks into class.

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Nodding. Cynthia isn't going to stop her.

Cynthia then decides [w]ell screw it I'm just going to go home. Don't feel like standing around today after hitting my leg... and will proceed to leave.

Guess who didn't leave and will call down Thea at the end of class? The Officer!

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Of course he will.

Thea goes wherever she's been directed to go and tries to seem less like she's been fuming for the past twenty minutes. She actually manages to succeed rather well.

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Thea is sent to the small meeting room in the guidance area again. The aide doesn't hang around this time.

Officer Del is sitting there, writing something that looks official. He looks up when she arrives. He seems a little less smiles and a little more business. "Hey there, sit. Explain what happened to me?"

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She does indeed sit.

She also tries to seem generally less like the bitchy self that she's feeling.

"She didn't really tell me much. I tried asking her about it, and at first she just ignored me and then she flipped out."

Which isn't quite how it happened, but she's not gonna tell him about how Cynthia seems to think she's a lesbian with some weird kinks.

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"From what I've heard, you went to talk to her and leaned in too close. She then fell backward exclaiming that you tried to kiss her. Is there something more here, Thea?"

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Thea is not going to snap, because this officer has done nothing wrong and she is also better than that.

She settles for folding her arms and simply responding with a "No."

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"Now now Thea, I'm trying to help. You pointed back towards each of your friends in turn while talking to her. What were you saying?"

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"I was naming them for her. She didn't know them."

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"Did she ask you about them? Is there a chance she might go after them? She likely isn't the type to be violent as far as I know. What does she think of them?"

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She frowns at him and says, "She didn't tell me anything. She thought I was calling one of them a criminal."

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"So she doesn't see herself as having done something wrong..." He scribbles that thought down onto a sticky note. "Anything else you wish to say? You won't be named in anything I say."

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"No? Nothing that would help you, I don't think."

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"It all helps in the end. Even if it's just something strange she might have said, an odd writing, anything. It might not mean much to you, but investigators can pull links together out of anything, trust me."

Perhaps a roundabout way of asking about the Midnight Hour? Who knows.

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She thinks for a moment, then says, "I can't think of anything obvious. I really haven't known her very long."

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"Well, that's right, how did you two meet?"

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"I saw her after school one day in the park, recognized her from school, and decided to say hi. She seemed kinda lonely."

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"At the park. Sure."

"Is she following you around, or is one of you inviting the other to do things?"

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"What do you mean 'is she following me around'? I got her number, she got mine, and we sometimes plan to meet up for food."

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"You plan to meet up for food. I was asking if she just shows up when you're out getting your own food."

"Shouldn't be long until next period, if you're wondering."

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"I wasn't really," she says. "But it's not like she just mysteriously appears when I'm out for food. We've only met up a few times anyway."

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"I didn't know how you were deciding to meet up. I do have to make sure you're safe."

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"What, because I'm a minor? Oh wait, I'm not, I turned eighteen like three weeks ago."

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He looks a little confused. "I'm an officer of the law. It's part of the job, I didn't mean to upset you."

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"Mm, okay," she says, rolling her eyes. "So, am I free to go?"

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"You aren't 'being detained'. You can--" Briiiiiing. Period over. "You can go."

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"See ya," she says, picking up her bag and going to her last lesson of the day.

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Nothing in particular happens for the rest of the day... Or afternoon...

Beep beep. Text from Cynthia at 11PM: 'Hey what tonight? Still sorry'

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She thinks on it for a few minutes, then decides that nah, she doesn't want to speak to Cynthia tonight. She'll probably just walk around with Brad for a bit and maybe kill some blobs.

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Cynthia decides not to send a second text in case Thea is sleeping... Doesn't mean Cynthia won't be out, it's kinda her thing. Perhaps she'll walk by, who knows...

Time passes as it should, this documented fact remains true.

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In the time it takes to blink, the world changes. The moon takes on a sickly yellow hue, while the clouds turn a poison green. Nearby people are replaced with looming jet-black coffins. Grass turns to burnt strands, puddles to splashes of blood, electronics to unworking pieces of plastic.

The Midnight Hour has arrived. This undocumented fact remains true.

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Thea is already outside by midnight – she left her house about ten minutes before the hour – and takes in the change of appearance without much outward reaction.

She decides to summon Brad and maybe go attack some blobs.

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And when she looks up, lo, there is a Brad!

... It's not really clear how he appeared. One moment he wasn't there, the next he was.

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Of course there is. This is... what? The sixth different way?

He can be special if he wants, she supposes, and off she goes for a little walk. She talks to him every so often, but it doesn't seem to be anything of importance.

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Coffins. Puddles of blood. Creepy ambience. Occasional noises of scraping, slopping, walking... Things move around. The wind also carries occasional bits of humming, easy to tell it's Cynthia's. She's out and about somewhere. Other moments leave dead silence, leaving footsteps to echo.

Everything remains in its place, merely filtered by the Midnight Hour. If Thea is walking somewhere, she can reach it eventually.

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She's not walking anywhere in particular, but after about ten minutes she does in fact decide to attack a blob. Brad's not making particularly interesting conversation, and nor is she, plus it feels a little like talking to herself after how much Cynthia's stressed the fact that they're the same.

Go, Brad! Make like you're a pokémon and attack!

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Brad in fact does make like a rather human-shaped pokémon and in fact attacks the less human-shaped blob.

With a knife.

Because that's all he ever does.


Woo. He is just so overjoyed.

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>A wild Merciless Maya appears!
>Go, Brad! Persona!
>Brad uses [Stab that blob thing a bunch]!
>The Merciless Maya Takes 63 damage!
>The Merciless Maya is defeated!
*Dun dun da da-DA da duuuun*
>Brad gains 5exp!
>Thea obtains [Empty M&M Wrapper]
>The enemy drops 7c!

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Brad picks up the coins, then returns to Thea.

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Thea doesn't really want an empty M&M wrapper, thanks, but she takes the coins from Brad, and then off they walk for a bit more.

She doesn't seek Cynthia out.

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Left right left. Footsteps echo. Besides the decision to avoid Cynthia and on where to walk, Thea is merely left alone with her thoughts and soul in this silent, tainted version of her city.

Left right left.

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Left right left indeed.

She and Brad do, in fact, talk a bit, but unfortunately he's not got much to input into the conversation.

After another quarter of an hour, they go to attack another blob.

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>A wild... Screw it.

Stabbing low level Shadows continues to be rather easy. It seems it was probably more tiring to keep walking around than to take them down tonight. Hur-hah. 1d8 cents.

Promptly afterwards a purposeful rustling noise to Thea's right reveals Libby, poking her head out from behind a house. Cynthia isn't in view.

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Thea smiles but then walks away.

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Brad follows Thea, waving at Libby.

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Libby walks after them, holding up hands in the T shape of 'time out' to try to get them to stop for a moment. Cynthia is trying to catch up, Libby can go faster but can't quite talk.

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Do they stop?

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They... don't! They keep walking.

Cynthia and Libby might catch up to them, since they're only walking, but no, they don't stop.

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Well, they walk with Libby walking after them, staying a few paces behind and remaining silent.

Cynthia would eventually catch up. She's already walking with her brace after today's incident, and now she's somewhere between 'sleepy' and 'tired from tonight as she walks over.

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Well, when Cynthia catches up, Thea might decide to stop.

Or alternatively, she might not, because she realizes she's more pissed off than she'd thought.

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Well, keeping up is atleast easier than closing the distance. Libby fades away, as is usual.

"Ah, hey! You're still up, are you alright? I thought you'd be asleep by now."

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"Apparently not."

Not that she isn't feeling tired, but she just isn't asleep yet.


This whole midnight hour is probably playing havoc on her emotions with its sleep deprivation.

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"Well, yeah... Just, uh, checking?"

Awkward walking behind them ensues for a few moments, as Cynthia tries to figure out how to not fail horribly at talking.

"Uhm... I'm sorry? I'm not a criminal or anything..."

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Thea rolls her eyes – presumably Cynthia can't see, on account of being behind her – then turns around, stopping suddenly, and confronts her with, "Then why did you break into school to look at my records?"

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"Because when we met, when your Shadow was out, I said I'd help you. I always screw up talking, so I thought I'd just... Start by looking there. I don't know how anyone would find out..."

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"I dunno either!" she says in response. "But somehow someone did, and then they told me about it and asked me about you! Apparently you've been committing other crimes too?"

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"No? Just like... Looking in places. I don't take anything. What am I being charged for?"

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"I don't know – why don't you ask the state trooper who pulled me out of lessons today to ask me about you. He's not here right now, but I'm sure he'd be willing to hear from you."

Thea turns around and starts walking again, then mutters, "Maybe you can ask the school where to find him."

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Brad just… sorta… watches and follows Thea.

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Mutters of "Is that actually a good idea... Probably not."

Cynthia keeps walking after Thea. "Do you want me to just, stop talking to you at all? I only have to talk with you on Full Moons. I'll literally ask for that trooper if you want!"

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"Yeah, you go do that," she says, continuing to be dismissive.

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Error 404: Sarcasm not gotten. "Sure, tomorrow morning. First thing."

She stops walking and mutters "Well, I'll go sleep to do that... Uh... Bye."

And then Cynthia walks away. How do I even explain this stuff? Always thought I'd be just like... Locked away for good. Sorry, Thea...

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Bye, Cynthia. Thea will see you eventually, maybe when she's forgiven you.

Thea spends the rest of the hour walking around – not killing any more blobs – and then walks home and goes to sleep, remembering to dismiss Brad.

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Time passes. The Midnight Hour passes, the night passes, and Wednesday morning arrives.

Our camera floats over the entrance to the high school in the morning, but today it's following Cynthia walking in, and then to the Main Office.

She walks straight up to the office aides. "Hi, I heard yesterday some state trooper was asking about me? Can I, like, get his number or something?"

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The aide looks briefly confused. "State… trooper?" Then they remember, reach into a drawer to grab some information, and ask, "Are you Cynthia?"

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"Yup. Year 12, Cynthia Morra."

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The aide reads out the number to reach the department of the trooper, and then directs her on how to get through to him.

Basically, it's to ask for him and tell him she's Cynthia.

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Mmmkay. Write it down, walk outside and stand by the door, go through the steps. Give basically the same reasoning when whoever picks up afterward.

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Someone picks up the phone! In response to hearing the name 'Cynthia Morra', they put her through to the applicable person.

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Our audio gets us half the conversation...

"Yeah, Cynthia, that's me... Just Cynthia. Don't start the 'Ms' thing."

"Heard you were asking for me, yeah. How'd I get in? Secret Midnight Hour... No, I'm not making fun of you. Can I explain?"

"Look- If I can ju-- Let me talk! Ugh... La-la-la. I'll stop when you let me ta--."

"Alright, alright! I'll head over to you and we'll figure out what you want to do, okay? You can't just anger my friends and then- SURE. Okay."

Click. Cynthia walks off, and the screen fades to black...

...Time passes. Cynthia does not show back up for school...

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Thea notices Cynthia's conspicuous absence.

She's not really sure where Cynthia disappeared, nor why, but it's not like she can really get much more information very easily, and currently she's still kinda pissed.

The Midnight Hours continue. Brad continues being weird, though he's subdued from how he was previously acting, with less emphasis on the crazy.

They don't attack anything major. It's just a few blobs, and then she goes back to her house, stays up until the end of the hour, dismisses Brad, and then goes to sleep.


This could go on for a while.

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That it does go on for awhile. Until a time just after Friday's Midnight Hour. (Technically Saturday morning.)

Ring ring, Thea. Ring ring.

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Thea has no idea who would be calling her, let alone just after midnight. She gets up out of bed, squinting – ugh – and fumbles for her phone.

"Hello?" she asks, mumbling a bit.

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Lo and behold, Cynthia is.

"Hi, uh, it's me. Cynthia. Don't mean to bother you, but, I kinda need something found out and... Payphones don't really have internet. Well, they might, but not like that... Sorry..."

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Thea sighs a bit, but gets up out of bed and walks over to her laptop. "Where the hell have you been?" she asks, seeming like she doubts she'll get an acceptable response.

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"Uh, somewhere... Kinda hard on that one. Ex-explain after..." A pause for a quick cough.

"Just, uh... How do you..." Audible swallow. "Pull a bullet out of yourself? Or like... Deal with that."

And now the camera switches our view over. Cynthia is sitting in a payphone, left arm holding the phone and her right bloody. There's a bullet wound in her upper-right-arm. She's shaking slightly, and doesn't look good.

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"It… it probably depends on where it is? Like, if it's in your hand, you probably get tweezers and pull it out? I mean, you probably do that anyway, but it depends on where as to whether you seriously need to get to a hospital first." She frowns. "If you have a bullet wound, why are you not at the hospital?"

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"A-arm. I, uh, don't think I should. And... I'm kinda falling asleep? I can't really... Walk to it. Where do you even buy tweezers? I'm kinda at the gas station near the edge of town."

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Thea sounds a bit incredulous when she next speaks. "What do you mean you're kinda at the gas station? Is anybody around? Because you realize you should probably, like, get someone to make sure you don't die, right?" Then she realizes that's not exactly the best thing to say to the gunshot victim and appends, "Not that that'll happen, of course."

She starts looking around online for some more information.

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"I'm outside it? Payphone... Is that still 'at' the gas station? I dunno..." Followed by a loud yawn. "I can look inside I guess?"

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"Are you… are you going into shock or something? Do you even know what going into shock looks like?" she asks, a bit shrilly. "I have no idea what shock is like, but it is bad! It is super super bad and apparently a risk of being shot, and uh, you can probably get tweezers from a pharmacy or something, but really you should be applying pressure and dialing 911!"

The internet is not helping her much with this, other than 'try to avoid shock by keeping them warm with a blanket and making sure they know you're there' and also 'wait for the ambulance'.

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... "Are you going into shock?" Let's not make a stupid joke about being near electronics. "I uh, could probably get back to my place? I'm not... Really carrying any money right now."

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"I am not going into shock, no, I'm not the one with a fucking gunshot wound." She sighs. "How the fuck did you even get a gunshot wound? Wait, no, actually I don't want to know. I just… It's probably not safe for you to be doing anything other than dialing 911 and waiting for an ambulance, okay?"

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"I said that wasn't a good idea! I'll uh... Walk back to my place anyways. I can at least give decent directions there if I call, and if you're concerned you can... I dunno, come over? Or bring me a phone that doesn't charge two dollars."

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"Okay but why is going to the hospital a bad idea, like, you got shot, that should be literally the first place you think of going?" She shakes her head and mutters a bit. "Okay, whatever, yeah, directions to your place?" So she can call the ambulance and have them pick you up anyway, how about? Ugh.

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"Oh, yeah. Sure." Cynthia gives the address and some needless directions. If looked up, it's not in the 'nice' part of town.

[Location Added: Cynthia's Apartment]

"Okay?... I'll head over. Sorry about... This. Calling. Whatever."

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"I just, could you please phone the hospital? Like, a gunshot is super serious."

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"Uhm. I'm missing something here... I suck at talking. Just, I don't have two dollars! I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'll try to explain it better later, just remind me. I'm going to head over..," Cough cough. "Alright? Bye."

Click.

Cynthia staggers to her feet, and shambles off.

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Thea… Thea is a bit stunned. What the hell, who gets shot and then doesn't call an ambulance, what.

She puts her phone down and sits there for a few moments, debating what to do, then turns off her laptop.

She doesn't think she can really… help? Like, other than being a literal other person, but Cynthia doesn't seem to want help, what with refusing the ambulanceugh.

She just… you know, it's not her fault? And it's not her problem? This is nothing to do with her, and Cynthia just disappeared, and she was just… totally out of line before, and. And Thea feels like she's making excuses not to have to go, so she doesn't know whether it's valid that she doesn't want to go, or if she's being silly, or what.


Ultimately, she decides that she was not called upon to help, not more than to talk about how to deal with a stupid bullet wound, and she gave her answer, and her answer was to call an ambulance.

So she'll go back to bed. And feel super guilty about it.

She might not get much sleep.

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Tick.

Tock.

Time passes.

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Thea does get some sleep. She's pretty tired, and once she gets to sleep she can stay asleep mostly fine.

But then she wakes up.

And the guilt does not literally eat her up, but oh my god, what if. What if. She does not know, she could be doing something, but she does not know what nor how nor whether to nor if she actually wants to nor if she should and it is so, totally, superbly, horribly wrong.


At about midday, she tries calling Cynthia's cell, hoping she'll pick up and the payphone thing was just a temporary thing.

And that Cynthia is not dead from shock or something.

Because that would be pretty terrible.

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Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Answering machine.

The message is Cynthia talking, sounding quite happy. "Hi, Cynthia's cell. Couldn't pick up, leave a message!"

Then in a hushed voice, "That's it right?" and murmurs of someone else in the background, male. Some general giggling occurs (a few people?) before the beep signals the end, and to speak.

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Thea doesn't really know what to say, so she settles on, "Uh, it's Thea. I was kinda wondering if you were okay, you know, after last night."

Then she hangs up.

And then she gets back to the worrying and the guilt.


Eventually, she decides that she should just stop being stupid, so she tells her dad that she's going out for a bit and then leaves with her phone and bag and jacket in the direction of Cynthia's house.

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Walk walk walk. Not too far of a walk, let alone it's not walking during the Midnight Hour so it's easier. That stuff pays off!

Thea arrives at an apartment building. Small single apartments vertically arranged and with vacancies. Seems alright of a place, though Thea might be a little too well off to consider living here.

Not many people around, no lock to walk inside, and she has the unit number of Cynthia's place.

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Well, it's a bit surprising that the Midnight Hour is already paying off, but she's not gonna complain.

She goes up to Cynthia's apartment and knocks on the door.

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Knocking gets a response that sounds like someone waking up to a jackhammer going off outside and having to get up hungover from just inside the door.

Shortly the door opens, to a Cynthia rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Her right sleeve is stained red, leading from a rag on her shoulder. She looks pale, but is atleast alive, although the floor just behind her looks like a murder scene. Dried blood leading from the bathroom to a rollmat near the door, which has a nice dried blood puddle next to it. The sheets are also messy and are half-clinging to Cynthia's foot.

Cynthia mutters something that could be translated into a 'hello' but probably is still waking up.

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Thea looks at Cynthia, and doesn't really know what to say other than, "You look like shit."

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"Sowwy..." Yawn. "Woo woke me up."

Meaning missed.

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Thea frowns. "Are you…" She hesitates. "Do you…" Then she winces a bit. "I don't think you ever actually explained why you didn't want to go to the hospital?"

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"Uh... Shhexpensive? What did I do?... Can I get slapped please? I haven't woken."

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"I am not going to slap you. And yes, it probably is expensive, but you got shot, or do you not understand this?"

Unless she's planning on just waiting until the hour and using Libby, which… is actually somewhat less stupid, even if it's not actually much less stupid.

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"I got shot?" Selfcheck, tap arm, groan. "Ow. Okay. Right. I did."

Thea's probably giving Cynthia more credit than she deserves.

Cynthia's eyes go wide. "Aaaaaah-right! Are you okay?! Did anything happen to you?" A quick look behind her, "Ah, come in! Mind the uh, puddle. I'll get to that." She steps inside, leaving the door open.

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Thea follows Cynthia in, sighing at her apparent incompetence, and makes very sure to avoid as much of the puddle and assorted blood specks as possible.

Eugh.

"I'm fine. Literally nothing has happened since I last saw you."

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"Ah, great! Assholes with needles got me."

Cynthia heads into her bedroom before offering any sort of explanation of that, slightly limping. She returns in a moment with her brace on her right leg again, holding a fresh shirt.

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Thea raises an eyebrow and follows Cynthia, looking somewhat disturbed.

"Care to explain that a bit further?" she asks.

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Well following her into her room, Cynthia would sit on her bed and push her desk chair over for Thea. She puts on the brace as she talks, one handed.

"Well, I called the officer. He's an asshole. Went down to talk to him, he's still an asshole, and after a little out came the assholes with needles. Couldn't really do much."

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"… With needles?" She frowns. "Like, injection thingies that can take blood or put stuff into your system? I'm not just misunderstanding you here, am I?"

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"Uh, yeah? Needles. Full of like, blue stuff. Stabbed me with it. Passed out and woke up in a little room. Pretty annoying."

Click click. Brace attached.

"Labcoats in and out. Big ass doors. Took awhile to pull apart."

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She squints at Cynthia. "And… they did this despite it being, like, super super against the law?"

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"Uh, yeah? They're assholes. They already bothered you too."

Click click, brace in place. Cynthia then grabs the bottom of her shirt and then freezes.

"... Do you mind if I change my shirt real quick? I don't want to... Do all that again. Still sorry, by the way."

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She doesn't seem particularly satisfied with that explanation, but doesn't fuss over it, nor does she complain about being asked for some privacy. "Yeah, sure, I can just go stand outside."

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"I don't actually mind you sitting there, just, trying to be somewhat normal. I mean, I can wait until I take a shower in a little." A half-hearted smile.

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"Nah, it's fine," she says, then steps out of the room quickly to allow Cynthia to get changed.

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Shuffle shuffle shuffle. "Ow." Shuffle. "Looks... Okay? Yeah. Okay." Shuffle fump. Shuffle shuffle.

"Done!" Bloody shirt is on ground, new shirt is on. Cynthia flops backward onto her bed. "What time is it...?"

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"Like one pm? Something like that?"

She gets out her phone to check.

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"Waaait, what is today even? I think it's been like... Two days? I dunno."

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"Uh, it's Saturday. And it's quarter past one, yeah."

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"AAARGH. Can I go back to bed?"

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"I mean, I'd rather you didn't? What with the bullet wound and things?" She looks down at her feet, even though Cynthia can't see her. "You should probably, like, treat that rather than just hoping you don't die."

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"Right... Baka-baka-baka. So, uh... Sure." Cynthia sits back upward. "Do I need to look up how?"

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"Probably?" she says, since she's not really sure what's involved in treating a wound other than 'probably some sort of disinfectant'. "… Aaare you done changing tops yet?"

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"I said I was done a bit ago, sorry!"

Cynthia gets up and hits the power button on her computer.

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"… Oh." She walks back into the room and frowns. She didn't think she was that tired.

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Insert Windows boot-up noises here.

"Let's see... Bullet wound." Tap tap tap.

"Oh, I've done enough of this last night. I'll be fine. No worries there."

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Thea rolls her eyes. "What, like, sterilize the wound, don't remove the bullet, go to the hospital? That sort of thing?"

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"Yeah, bullet is in the sink, and I still don't think a hospital is the right decision here. Too many questions, needles, and bills and stuff."

Cynthia moves the desk chair sideways so she can view the computer and Thea.

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"… I said don't remove the bullet, on account of it possibly blocking an artery and preventing you from bleeding out, but okay, I guess I don't know what goes into bullets so perhaps they're super poisonous if left near your blood supply?"

She sighs. "Ugh. I have no idea what people's problem is with socialist healthcare. But anyway. How did you get shot? Like, seriously, this isn't a ridiculously crime-ridden town or anything, and this was outside the Midnight Hour – how?"

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"Not actually sure if guns are off during the Hour, kinda hazy on when I actually got hit... Focusing, I said I woke up in a tiny room with labcoats coming in and out. I broke out of this, like, government base thing. Outskirts of town, concealable entrance, mostly underground as far as I saw."

And as a side anecdote, "Shadows in government areas are fucking difficult."

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She frowns disbelievingly. "Oookay, coming back to that later but that still doesn't explain how or when you got shot. Like, did you just go unconscious and forget when you got hit or what? I… I just don't get how you can be hazy on when you got shot."

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Don't make a stupid joke about how firearms work, don't make a stupid joke on how firearms work...

"Well, when I was on the way out. Adrenaline kinda muddles that stuff."

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"… So you tried to get out of a compound thing during the Midnight Hour, and you don't think you got out before the Hour ended, and you got shot somewhere on your way out?"

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Awkward smile. "Yeah? I'm alright, you don't need to worry about it."

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Thea looks down and puts her hand to her forehead. "Do you have any idea who these people are? Like, presumably they might come back for you, not that I'm trying to worry you or anything."

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"I'm good, alright? You aren't worrying me. I dunno who they are, but I'll be fine."

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She looks at her a bit suspiciously. "If you say so."