1440 Northhold
The bike tracks moved out along the dirt by the road and, eventually, onto the sidewalk. It might look like the trail went cold there, but a keen eye would notice a slight amount of mud continuing down the sidewalk. The question was whether either member of the Smith family had a keen enough eye.
The Slab
"She said it before he walked in!" said the counter guy, who was not going to drop it already. "He must have some kind of demonic possession going on that lets him see things he should not see!" he said overly dramatically.
Val, meanwhile, went over to the booth to answer Marilyn's question covertly. "...I was never really good at...um, having taste buds...jeez, I sound like a crazy person...you're the one I told about my thing, right?..."
"...wait...I said that before you came in...like, right before...do you actually have some way of..."
Smoothie Shop
"Alright, let's—" Elaine, who was turning to go to the seating area, suddenly stopped and winced for some reason, before shaking her head, apparently trying to dispel whatever thought she'd had. "Sorry, I just remembered something. It's no big deal, don't worry! Um, let's wait in here for the smoothies to finish and then drink them outside. Does that sound good?"
The Morgue
The strange girl nodded, then turned away and walked deeper into the morgue. She came back out carrying a head that was absolutely not the right one; it was a Hispanic adult male. "Will this work?" the girl said innocently.
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
THE SLORG!
Monday, Little Haven, arriving at Alex's house, after school - Alex Palencia the werewolf
"Alright, just another turn, and... There, that's the one," Sandra said, pointing out the little house as they approached it on the street. It was a small house with a little side garage, looking a little run down, with some weeds in the front lawn. It had one of those waist high chain link fences in the front, becoming a full height one around the back yard.
Once Sandra parked in the garage, she looked at Alex as she started getting out of the car. "Alex, get her thing out of the trunk and close up the garage," she told him, opening the rear door next to Coralie and rather promptly ushering the teenage girl into the house.
The garage was attached to the kitchen, which also doubled as the laundry room. An open doorwaynote connected that to the living room, along with a hallway with two doors on either side. Sandra kept Coralie going down that hall, to the second door on the right, while talking.
"Probably best I talk with your parents too, actually. I'll have to know if you have any allergies or such," Sandra said, opening the door to show the house's one and only, fairly small bathroom. It was clean at least, and there were some folded clothes on the counter, just next to the sink. Alex's mother paused for a moment, getting a slight sniff of Coralie, before thinking. "My advice? Get the shampoo set in your hair, get the scrub all soapy, then turn off the water and let your hair soak while you clean your body off. Then turn the water back on and rinse it all off... Then maybe do the whole process a second time," Sandra suggested, started to close the door, then paused and added, "unless of course, you're up to showering in cold water." With that, she then finally closed the door.
Meanwhile in the garage, Alex stared at the rocket scooter with an apprehensive expression. He started to reach towards it, but pulled his hand back. After another moment, he sighed. "It's okay Alex, she probably didn't set this thing up to explode if anyone other than her touched it," he quietly thought out loud, and started to reach his hands towards it again. He stopped short again, but didn't pull back just yet. "... Probably," he muttered, then finally started picking the scooter up to get it out of the trunk.
Monday, Little Haven, shopping center, The Slab, after school - Lynn Polyhymnia the quadruplets who are tired of explaining that they are 'not' special.
There was an irritation and anxiousness among the quadruplets, getting a feeling somewhat like that fateful day with the escape room, or rather the immediate aftermath.
Lindon pointed his arm back towards Carolyn without looking at her, and Marilyn pointed past Val at Carolyn as well. "My sister heard it," the blue and yellow dressed quadruplets said in unison, though directed at different people.
To the cashier, Lindon said, "we're identical siblings. You know, like in all the movies," as if that was supposed to explain the whole thing and be the end of it.
For Val however, since the person of alleged existence had already told the quadruplets that they didn't know about it, a little more explanation was given. "If one of us hears something, we all know it. That's just part of how identical siblings work," Marilyn said, her tone rather matter of fact and casual, as it was the understanding of the quadruplets that this was totally normal and common knowledge. Linton glanced over and nodded his head as well, to help affirm it.
You are reading this.
What, me worry?
Mindy's House
Mindy shook right before Gill hugged her, which put her more at ease. You know, when Heidi told me I should start more fires, you had know idea how much that freaked me out. I know I get into fights, but I'm not one to cause trouble or bully anyone. You think Heidi's a shark?Morgue
Layla was taken aback over how this girl seemingly grabbed a head out of nowhere. Where did she get it, or did she want to know? Her gut told her the latter. Uh, no.... looking more for something like this. She pulled out a photo from her purse and showed the girl a picture of Layla herself, back when she was 12, back when she had a head. A light Caucassian female with long straight brown hair and a smile that complimented her light blue eyes. Anything that looks like this, except possibly having aged five years? Layla still wasn't sure what to make of this girl, but she might be her only hope.
For the Horde!
Gill pulled a little away from Mindy to look her in the eyes. Even though he couldn't see the colors, they were still beautiful.
"I can tell she's more complicated. Especially since she can turn into another girl," Gill said. "She's pretty abrasive. And she certainly has a strong force of will. But I don't think she's a shark, no. I don't think any of the students here are sharks..." He hugged her again. "The only one at the school I think is a shark is Ms. Hughes. And I'll make sure she doesn't take a bite out of us. Don't worry, angelfish." He blushed, remembering that was something his mother had called him. He cleared his throat. "Mindy, I mean."
Heidi raised an eyebrow as Elaine stopped herself from speaking before going to sit down.
"You okay? And what's wrong with drinking them in here?" she asked.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Toa of Anarchy
Alex's House and Home
The Palencia house might not have been much, but from how Coralie was hopping and dancing about, taking it all in with stars in her eyes, you'd think she was being given a private tour of the Taj Mahal. "Ooo, I love it, I love it, I love visiting places I've never been before. I never know how it's all laid out beforehand or what's inside that's why I loveit! tee hee"
Then once Sandra escorted her to the bathroom, Coralie heaved her heavy backpack inside and scampered in after it. After everything she'd been through over the weekend, a working bathroom was what she was most excited about. She stood still just long enough to hear Sandra's advice, following it with a dramatic salute and an "Aye-aye, ma'am!"
A second or two after the door was shut, the Palencias would hear the hum of the boiler, accompanied by the distant sound of running water and cheerful singing like something out of an operetta. Sure enough, the sound of the shower did pause twice to let it all heat up again- Coralie had had quite enough of bathing in cold water. That only left the Palencias hoisting the scooter out of the car. Thankfully, it did not explode or do anything out of the ordinary. Coralie had never gotten around to installing booby traps.
In between her stints with the shower, Coralie sat on the side of the bath and stared up at the ceiling, drinking it all in. She was still wrapping her head around actually being in a proper house again, let alone the house of someone who was virtually a stranger up until that point. The only impression she'd ever had of Alex before that point had been from watching him lock horns with Mindy. The fact that two conversations had been all it took for him to welcome into his home...it was enough to make a teen girl cry. Not that she planned on doing that, but still, who'd have guessed that tough nut had such a soft centre?
Eventually, her shower concluded, and Coralie got to relax, soak in warm steam, and know that for the first time in days she was clean and fresh as perfectly washed linen. Then, she wrapped her body and hair in towels, dried off her hands, and went fishing out her Parallelegram. A push of the button, a bit of a wait, and her folks were on-screen again. The signal was hazy, and their speech was a little more crackly than usual, but she still got through.
"Mom! Dad! You're not gonna believe it! I have so much to tell you both! How the day went, the new friend I made, a whole project where I learned more history- Mom, did you know that-"
"Coralie!" her mom quickly interrupted, "Coralie, slow down! Take a breath first...where are you right now?"
"Oh, that's the best part of the day! So, I ended up talking to a friend- well not a friend yet, or not at the time, he was more of a classmate- anyway! He and I talked a bit, (even though he totally tricked me into it which wasn't that cool) but then he got me some kind of spray that helped me cover up my scent- you know, 'cos the field and the dumpster-"
Her father interrupted next. "Grab the reigns, girl! Get to the point!"
That was annoying enough to get Coralie to pause and take a breath. "...sooo, we got to talking, and I told him about how I've been living rough these past couple of days, and then my classmate- his name's Alex, by the way -straight up offered to let me stay at his house for the night!"
"What?!" cried the father.
"He did?!" went the mother.
"I know, right?!" squealed the daughter. "I barely even talked to him before today, but then he goes and does something this generous. His mom's been so nice and friendly to me so far, and just now? I had an actual, proper, warm soap-and-suds shower for the first time in AGES! eeeeeeeee SO, after that, I'm gonna have an actual proper meal and finally get to sleep in a nice comfy bed for once!"
"SLEEP-" blurted her dad. "Now, wait just a minute, Coralina Romero. You just said you'd barely spoken to this classmate until today. And now just like that you're going to crash at this boy's house, even though he's almost a stranger to you?!"
Coralie cocked a knowing eyebrow and smiled a cocky I've-got-you-now grin. "Why, Pèdre," she said coyly, "You never had a problem with me staying at a BOY'S house before. Has something changed, do you think?"
"Wh- That's- I- Bt- J-" spluttered her dad, "D-Don't put words in my mouth, I...!"
Coralie giggled, "Relax, Dad, nothing's gonna happen. Alex's a good guy- bit grouchy, but he's a total softy underneath. And don't worry, there won't be any hanky-panky neither. I don't see him that way, even if his mom keeps probing in that direction for some reason.
"Yes, you mentioned his mother," Coral's mom said. "Is she still around? Can we talk to her?"
"Oh, sure! She mentioned wanting to talk. I'll pass you over right now." Coralie rushed to the door while trying not to slip.
"Wait, Coralie, maybe you sh-"
"Put some clothes on first, girl!" went the father, but it was too late.
With a loud bang, Coralie threw the door open and leaned out, heedless of the fact she was dressed in nothing more than two towels. "Alex's mom!" she called, waving her device up and down, "Miss Palencia, yoo hoo! Mom and Dad wanna talk to you now, 's that okay?"
Fwomph
1440 Northhold
"Drat. They're long gone aren't they..."
"Uh... Mom? You're looking for whoever had the bike?"
"Well yes but—"
Blake pointed at the mud trail, letting his mother figure it out on her own.
"I'll go get the car, you follow that as far down the street as you can."
"Alright..."
"Don't leave the sidewalk without me though, okay?"
"... Okay."
Blake rolled his eyes and followed the tracked mud as his mom went back to the car.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
THE SLORG!
Monday, Little Haven, Alex's house, after school - Alex Palencia the werewolf with a barely functional shower.
"Coming!" Sandra replied from the kitchen, then walked through the open doorway and spotted Coralie down the hall. Once Sandra did, she raised an eyebrow slightly, looking a tad incredulous at the sight. "So could you just not wait to get dressed, or is it normal in your universe to go around in a towel?" Sandra wondered in a mostly joking fashion as she walked over.
"Wait hold that thought; where are your dirty clothes?" Sandra then said as she stepped into the bathroom, and scooped them up from the floor. Then she stepped back into the hall and yelled in Spanish, "<Alex! Come here!>"
After getting the scooter out of the car and closing the garage, Alex had gone to watch television in the meantime. "<Yeah, what is it?>" he replied as he got up from the couch and walked into view of the hallway. He stopped when he saw Coralie, his back straightening and a faint blush forming on his cheeks.
"<Put her clothes in the washer!>" Sandra told him loudly, and threw the smelly bundle down the hall and into his face. From the stench directly assaulting his lycanthrope nose, Alex had to fight the urge to vomit as he got the clothes gathered in his hands. He then ran quickly into the kitchen, to get the clothes in the washer. "<Use a little extra detergent!>"
With her last instruction yelled down the hall, Sandra then turned her attention back to Coralie. "Alright, why don't you get dressed while I talk to your parents?" Sandra suggested, taking the Parallelegram from the younger girl's hands. Sandra then looked at the screen and smiled.
"<Hello from another universe!>" Sandra greeted them in Spanish with a joking tone and a little wave of the hand. "I'm Sandra. I'll be letting your daughter stay here with my son and I while she's stuck on this side of things," she explained, in a confident tone, meant to hopefully reassure any of their worries. "I just need to know if she's got any allergies or other special medical needs. <Gotta make sure she's safe and healthy, you know?> Oh, sorry- anyway, so is there anything like that you want to let me know about?"
You are reading this.
The Slab
Vivian just stares at the quadruplets, very confused.
"That is not how identical twins work in real life. Has no one told you otherwise?"
Edited by HilarityEnsues on Mar 3rd 2024 at 12:43:35 PM
Leaving 1440 Northhold
The trail of mud was faint, but it actually managed to go a fair distance into town before fading away completely.
When the trail went cold, Blake and his mother would find themselves in one of Little Haven's few shopping centers. There was no bike in sight, and indeed it was possible the bike had gone straight past the shopping center and further into town, but it was also possible that whoever or whatever it was they were looking for had decided they needed a new shirt or something.
The Slab
Counter
"Y—yo—what?"
The idea of something that was (in the mind of the counter guy) clearly demonic being passed off as so totally normal you're weird for not understanding it seemed to have broken the poor counter guy's brain. He tried and failed to form a complete sentence for a couple of seconds, blinked, and then blankly asked, "...What did you want again?"
Booth
"...that's a...thing?...that humans just...have sometimes?..." Val seemed surprised. It was hard to tell how much they believed it.
Val sat in silence for a bit, analyzing Marilyn's facial expression and occasionally looking over at the counter guy, seeming to consider something.
Eventually, they sat up and asked, "...do you mind if I borrow your phone for a second?..."
Smoothie Shop
"I'm fine! Everything's fine. It has nothing to do with you, it's just something that I have to deal with, later, that I, uh, just remembered, heh. I don't want to bring your day down with stuff about my life. And it's nothing to worry about, I can handle it. It's fine!" Elaine said very quickly, to the point where Heidi had some trouble hearing everything. After a brief pause, she followed that up with, "It's nice that you wanted to know if I was okay, though. Thanks for that," which was said at a much more normal pace.
"Oh, and, uh, I just...it's a nice day out, you know? You don't get these every day. We could sit in here, or we could step out and feel the fresh, cool air on our skin. You know what I mean?" She then muttered something to herself, too quiet for Heidi to catch.
The Morgue
The strange girl directed her thousand-yard stare toward the picture Layla showed her (or possibly to something a long distance behind the picture; that's sure what it looked like) before turning back to Layla. "I think all of the corpses we have that look like that still have their heads attached. I could cut one of them off for you?" she asked, in monotone, while doing this creepy head-tilt thing.
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
THE SLORG!
Monday, Little Haven, shopping center, The Slab, after school - Lynn Polyhymnia the quadruplets who just wanted to order some ice cream.
Carolyn turned her attention to Vivian. "What are you talking about? Of course it's how we work," the red dressed quadruplet said, a little confused, but certainly still confident in her position as well.
Lindon took a step closer to the counter, to let Carolyn deal with talking to Vivian. "Okay, so in total it's two strawberry, a cookies and cream, a daiquiri ice, and a caramel swirl," the blue dressed quadruplet reminded the cashier.
Meanwhile over at the table, both Linton and Marilyn nodded to Val when they asked for clarification on that being a normal thing for humans. When they then asked for a phone, Marilyn looked a little bit surprised, but then got her phone out of her pocket and handed it over. "Sure, you need to call someone?" the yellow dressed quadruplet wondered as she offered her phone.
You are reading this.
What, me worry?
Mindy's House
Mindy liked Gill's take charge attitude on Ms. Hughes. She was always used to having to protect herself. No one else was going to, after all. But to hear Gill speak like that, helped her gain a bit of reassurance. But then she froze up. Angelfish? Mindy said, as if she got shot. She certainly didn't expect that. She couldn't help but look into those gray eyes of his and smile. She grasped both of his shoulders. He was making her feel more safer. It was a new feeling. One she liked.Morgue
No, that's not going to work, Layla told the girl in a curt manner. Some of it coming from her frustration that the morgue may not have what she's looking for. Rest of it coming from how non-chalant the girl is about cutting into people. Any other time, she would probably run away screaming. But seeing as she has no other choice... The head I'm looking for has been disemobied for years. I can't wear the head of a corpse. It doesn't work like that. She doesn't want to show this girl the truth about her. Sharing it once was enough for her. She pulled off her veil and revealed the nothingness above her neck. I am a Dullahan. My head has been stolen when I was 12. I've been looking for it for years. And I had heard it was in this town. I can't wear another head. It has to be my own. Please, if you know something, help me, Layla pleaded. She couldn't believe she was begging this girl who clearly has some kind of issues. But she has nowhere else to turn.
For the Horde!
"Yeah, angelfish," Gill told her with a wide smile. He frowned a little when Mindy grabbed his shoulders. A blush crept onto his cheeks. "Is something the matter with that?"
Heidi blinked, shaking her head.
"Okay, hold on, hold on, hold the fuck on, slow the fuck down," Heidi stammered. "What the fuck's going on here?"
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
The Slab
"Have you met any other identical twins?" Vivian asked. "Cause I've never heard of another case like yours."
...
Well, this would explain why these 'normal' students go to our school.
"But uh... either way, that's pretty cool, honestly."
Fwomph
1440 Northhold -> The Mall
"Mom, what are we even doing? Like, following some random bike..?"
"Yes, basically."
"Okay but why?"
Blake's mom gave an apologetic look but said nothing as she headed into the shopping center.
"Kind of a... Wellness check? Government thing."
"Oh I thought you... I thought you quit when we moved?"
"No, working remotely. The antiques thing is a side job."
"Huh..."
Obviously, Blake could tell something was up, but he didn't really have anything to do about it besides help his mom look for some unknown person who looks like they rode a bike through the mud to get here.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Toa of Anarchy
Alex's House
"The former," said Coralie gleefully. Whatever the universe, she took pride in not being normal. Once Alex responded to his mother's call, Coralie did duck behind the doorframe a bit, but not before giving him a wave and a cheeky grin.
"Coralina..." groaned her mother wearily from the device.
"Whaaat? I told you, nothing's gonna happen. Dude's just so easy to mess with."
"You're the boss, ma'am!" with a merry salute, Coralie ducked inside and slammed the door shut.
Once alone again, she felt free to loosen her towels and turn her attention to the folded set of clothes. As she picked them up, she took to pondering the fact that these were Sandra's clothes, in Sandra's usual size. She checked the labels...glanced back to her backpack...and let a devious grin spread over her face.
Was that a zapping sound at the edge of hearing? Sandra and Alex wouldn't quite be able to tell, through closed doors, on the other side of the house, over the sound of Sandra introducing herself to Coralie's parents.
The middle-aged couple on the screen- one a balding moustachioed man, the other a plump middle-eastern woman -couldn't help staring when Sandra rattled off some casual Spanish. The woman kept a slightly-strained friendly smile, while the man looked openly confused by the second sentence and just murmured "Qué diables eslabe diceinto àn ese moment-lo?"
The woman cleared her throat. "First of all, madame, it's lovely to meet you. My name is Noor, and this is my husband, Dalma."
"Thank you for taking our child in," said Dalma, a little curtly but not unkindly. "We're glad to know that there's someone out there- wherever 'there' is -who took her in of their own free will."
"What he means to say, Mrs Sandra, is that it's such a relief that you and your son would take Coralie at such short notice. Things were desperate for a while. Coralie was in such a terrible place, emotionally and otherwise..." Noor paused, sniffling slightly.
Dalma nodded somberly and glanced at the ground. It seemed that heartfelt emotional expression didn't come naturally to this man. "It's a hard thing..." he murmured, "When your child is so far away, in an unsafe place, and there's nothing you can do to help them..."
Noor wiped her eyes and smiled back at Sandra. "Which is why we can't thank you enough for opening your doors to our little girl. Don't worry, she doesn't have any allergies that we know of, and isn't at all fussy about what she eats."
Dalma cleared his throat and looked to the screen with a sterner expression. "With all that, however, it does bear saying- that girl can be quite the terror when she wants to be, and she always does. Her reckless escapades got her trapped there, after all, and her sense of mischief goes beyond the possible, beyond the physically possible! I don't say this to put her down, but just to know- are you quite sure you're up to the task of handling her?"
Edited by LizardOfAus on Mar 12th 2024 at 12:35:07 PM
THE SLORG!
Monday, Little Haven, shopping center, The Slab, after school - Lynn Polyhymnia the quadruplets who have (limited) exposure to other identical siblings.
"Once, for a while. Our parents took us to some meetup thing for identical siblings. We got a lot of attention- and some doubters- for there being four of us and us being both boys and girls," Carolyn answered Vivian, with a nod. "We shared stories about swapping clothes and school assignments and stuff, so I can be fairly confident that they were just like us. Only thing that confused us was why so many of them dressed identically too; we don't get how they don't get the outfits mixed up and stuff."
Monday, Little Haven, Alex's house, after school - Alex Palencia the werewolf who is a known troublemaker.
Sandra couldn't help the slightest smirk as she faintly heard Coralie's father mutter in what seemed to be pretty fluent Spanish. Coralie could only understand about half of what they said, huh? Well, good to know; now Sandra could continue with the parental teasing, as long as she kept up the ruse.
Before that however, there were more important and serious matters to attend to. Dalma's caution given at the end got a raised eyebrow from Sandra. "I'm guessing Coralie hasn't told you much about Alex; well, not that I'm sure how much she really knows him," Sandra started in a more serious, adult to adult tone as she walked to her own room for more privacy. "Alex has a good heart, wouldn't hurt a fly... Sorry, I'm not sure if that metaphor translates to your universe. I mean that the boy is not one to choose violence. That said, he's rebellious, hates authority, and at the very least he used to have no respect for the concepts of property and ownership. I have lost count of the number of times the police have come knocking at my door because of him taking something that belonged to another kid. I'm pretty sure some of the local officers have our address memorized at this point."
Sandra paused to let out the beleaguered sigh of a mother that had been driven to her wit's end on at least one occasion, but felt no choice but to keep caring for her child regardless. "... What I mean is, I do in fact already have experience in dealing with a child causing problems. Sure, a girl inventing things working beyond my understanding will probably present its own unique difficulties, you can rest assured that this is not... Sorry, almost went for a metaphor again- I am probably more prepared than most other parents in this town would be," Sandra then explained, in a subdued and realistic tone of confidence.
Sandra then put on her smile again, and started on a tone of reassurance. "And speaking of that, I think you should have a little more confidence in her. She figured out how to get from your universe to ours in the first place; I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she can get back, and you'll be feeling frustrated to have to deal with her mischief before you know it." With that, she then took on a more curious expression as she inspected not the image of Coralie's parents on the screen, but rather the device itself. "Now, how often do you want Coralie to get back in touch? Every day? And how do you hang up with this thing?"
Meanwhile, at the other side of the small house, Alex got the washing machine going, then walked back through the open doorway to the living room. "Alright mom, the laundry's going!" Alex hollered down the hallway, before returning himself to the couch to resume watching television.
Edited by FirockFinion on Mar 12th 2024 at 6:57:22 AM
You are reading this.
Shopping Center
As Ms. Smith headed towards the outdoor shopping center, she'd see a variety of buildings, including, but not limited to, a bookstore, a clothing store, a sporting goods store, a handful of restaurants...and an ice cream shop and a smoothie shop. Yes, it was the same one. Little Haven really didn't have that many shopping centers.
The Slab
Counter
The counter guy just nodded, and, after asking for a name for the order and shooting one final glance at Vivian, got to work making ice cream.
Booth
"...y-yeah, I just...want to check something..." Val somewhat nervously took Marilyn's phone and held it up to where their ear would be. (They never actually dialed a number, strangely, but the phone seemed to make a call just fine anyway.) And then something interesting happened.
"H-Hello?"
Val spoke with a voice. Their weird lack-of-voice-that-somehow-still-conveys-meaning may have passed reasonably well before, but hearing them talk with an actual voice made the difference blatantly obvious. (In fact, given the Lynn's lack of familiarity with Val, this may have made them realize that Val hadn't been speaking normally in the first place.) The voice itself was female-sounding, but relatively low for a female voice, and it had this strange buzzing quality to it.
"...oh, sorry, are you busy? I can call back later if—"
"...a shed in a field? What's so interesting about that?"
"Well, maybe they just decided to build a shed while you weren't—oh, the ground around it? Okay, that makes sense."
"Look, I'm open to talk mmore about this later, but I'm borrowing someone else's phone, and I don't want to use up all their data, so, um..."
"You know stuff about how humans work, right?"
"No, not like that, just the basic stuff any regular human would know..."
"...Do, uh, if an identical sibling hears something, do the rest of their siblings immedately know about it?"
"...Why are you laughing?"
Smoothie Shop
"There—There's—I just—You—I—" Elaine stammered, almost looking like she was about to cry, before she took a deep breath and collected her thoughts.
"...I'm sorry. I'm just—I'm sorta going through some stuff right now. It's...kinda private, and even if it wasn't, I don't want to bring your day down with all the details. I just...Let's just enjoy our smoothies. In here or outside. Whatever you want to do."
The Morgue
"Oh." The girl did look shocked, but it didn't come through in her voice. "We'll look into it. Can I have your address? Or some other means of contact?"
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
What, me worry?
Mindy's House
No, no, no. I'm just not used to someone talkin' that way to me, Mindy said, trying to reassure Gill after sensing his doubt over his name for her. It just feels weird, is all. But... it's a good kinda weird. She slid her hands down to his hands and wrapped around them, still smiling and looking into his face.The Morgue
Here. Please don't be alarmed by this card, Layla said before giving the girl a business card reading "Charles Gardner, Attorney at Law" alongside his e-mail and phone number. He's my father, he just wants to help my find what's mine. And maybe bring those who stole it to justice, if we knew who they were. He wants to try and keep things as discreet as possible. She put her veil back on. Twice. Twice today she had to take it off to show people who she really is. Her mind spun and tumbled like a washer-dryer.
For the Horde!
Gill smiled, gripping her hands tightly.
"You deserve it, Mindy. You're a good person." He stroked her hands gently with his fingers. "Blake and his mother are working on bringing me into their family. I was going to go visit them at their house later today," he explained.
Heidi blinked a little in confusion, then huffed a bit, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever. We can drink 'em outside. I don't really give a shit. You know when they're gonna be ready? The smoothies I mean. I'm fuckin' parched."
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
The Slab
"I see," Vivian nodded. "Well, what you've got going on is definitely pretty unique, I can tell you that."
Then she whispers.
"It would certainly explain why we're going to school together..."
THE SLORG!
Monday, Little Haven, shopping center, The Slab, after school - Lynn Polyhymnia the quadruplets who still (don't) get it.
The new voice from Val got a confused but brief look from all four of the quadruplets, but the others aside from Marilyn turned their attention elsewhere. "You can change your voice, Val?" the yellow dressed quadruplet asked.
Not quite fully catching the whisper, Carolyn returned her attention towards Vivian with a quick, "hm?" The red dressed quadruplet then seemed to consider the statement the vampire made at normal volume. "Well, unique yes, but it's still not like we're that special for our school. We're not even telepathic like our parents think we are," Carolyn said, clearly unaware of the humorous mistake in that statement.
"I think that might be Blake?" Linton mentioned as he was looking out the window to the outside. None of his siblings turned to look though.
You are reading this.
Fwomph
The Mall
"Okay if I were... Alright, they should be somewhere around here..."
Blake let out a little 'I still don't know what's happening' sigh and looks around at the various storefronts.
"Oh hey a bunch of the guys from school are here!"
"That's great but— actually, you can go catch with them, I'll continue looking."
"Mkay. Did you remember to get dinner?"
"... I'll look for that too."
"Mkay. Seeya mom."
Blake peels off from being dragged around and wanders over to the Slab's front window to give a wave inside.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Toa of Anarchy
Alex's House
Dalma stared in stunned amazement at Sandra relaying her son's delinquent behaviour. After a second of silence, he puffed his cheeks and blew out, like giving a soundless whistle of astoundment. "Apologies, Ms Palencia. It sounds like you understand better than I thought. Glad there is someone in whatever-world that knows our trouble, and give our girl a good place to stay. Actually, I was worried that if it went another day, she'd break into someone's house and say she was invited to live there!"
"Dalma!" Noor swatted her husband on the arm admonishingly.
"Dis-me que jestai tortecado!" he protested.
"Yes, that's very true," said Noor. "Our girl is very talented. It's just that she's had such bad luck trying to fix her way home so far."
"She gets into these messes so confidently. But now...I actually haven't seen h- her so hard on herself in years. Maybe ever!"
"Coralina's a passionate girl," Noor said, as much to her husband as to Sandra, "It's her best quality and her worst, because passion can swing both ways. If you can, you should just to make sure all her energy goes into making things, rather than breaking them."
"I think it's the red button," Dalma said, pointing to the bottom corner of the screen. "Yellow dial's the brightness, and the black one on the side shuts it all off- I learn that the hard way."
"If we could check in on her every evening, that would be wonderful. Maybe in the mornings sometimes- oh, but not so it makes her late for school!"
"Thank you again, and good luck!"
After a moment of watching TV by himself, Alex heard the footfalls of someone entering the room, then the flumph of the cushions beside him as someone dropped herself onto the couch. "Anything good on?" said a not-quite familiar voice.
Lounging beside Alex, as if nothing out-of-the-ordinary had happened, was a woman around the same age as his mom, who was wearing the clothes Sandra had left folded in the washroom and fitting them perfectly. A close enough look at her hair and face would let him know who she was. The goggles dangling from her right-hand fingertips were also a clue.
The Slab
"I don't know, I have this friend and she said that—oh, hang on."
Val switched back to their normal voice (or lack thereof). "...yeah...I, uh..." They took a second to find the right words.
"...so, I don't exist, but I can sort of...pretend to exist?...if that makes sense?...that's how I can wear clothes..." Val pulled on their hoodie, to demonstrate. "...I can also sort of pretend to have an appearance and a voice...but I'm really bad at coming up with details and I have no idea what I want to look and sound like, so I just..." Val gestured at themself.
"...like, the 'voice' I'm speaking in right now isn't actually...a voice...it's like, silence that you can understand...but that doesn't really work with phones, so I just...borrow the voice of whoever I'm talking to...which is usually this person..."
"Oh, sorry, I was talking to her—really? You want me to put it on speaker? Okay..."
Val, again, didn't actually touch the screen of the phone, but when they pulled it out from under their hood, it was on speaker. "Hey! So you're an identical twin, huh?" The voice was the same as the one Val had been using, but the intonation was very different, being snappier and more confident.
Smoothie Shop
"Alright! I think they should be ready right about—"
"They're ready!" came the voice of the woman at the counter, cutting Elaine off. "Right about now." she finished.
Immediately it made sense why they had been so expensive: these things were almost as tall as Heidi's head. Elaine, without turning around, grabbed both and handed Heidi her mango-and-pineapple, then headed for the door. She suddenly seemed a bit nervous about going outside and froze before reaching it.
The Morgue
The weird girl took the card, listened to Layla's explanation, then wordlessly retreated deeper into the morgue.
Man, what a weird day.
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Palencia Car
"Oh, for sure, for sure. It's my 'parallelegram'. You know, 'cause parallel earth, and telegram, 'cause you message with a tele- okay. But yeah, I've been using it to keep in touch with my folks, and lately it's...well, kinda been my emotional anchor, y'know?" She chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh! Yeah, that does make sense." Coralie laid the device flat in her lap and drummed her fingers, trying to make it seem like she was patiently waiting to arrive at the house.