Chris, still on the back patio, takes out his phone, and opens Twitter.
"What the..." he mutters.
"Hey," Spider says, appearing.
"Hello," Chris sighs again, and puts his phone back into the pocket, "What's up?"
"A lot, what's up with you?"
"Just thinking, really. Termi's back, and we can kinda guess where Knight is, so that's the good news, I guess."
"Are we sure he's back though?" Spider sighs.
"Oh, he's back back."
"No, I mean are we sure it's Terminal?"
"He just confided in me that he's scared of talking to you, because he thinks he knows how you will react."
"And it could be King playing the long game."
"On one hand, I cannot say I blame him. On the other hand, jouska."
"One, what the fuck is jouska?" Spider asks, "Two, don't you find it odd? He sacrifices himself then rocks up in the woods a day later."
"One, jouska is like a conversation in your head. Can be before or after, but the main theme is usually nervousness, if it's before, and regret, if after," Chris explains, "Two, while I do find it odd, I haven't seen anything to the contrary of what he's displaying."
"Because she could be playing the long game to fuck with us."
"His words and his actions are, to what we know, matching up. Not the state before, where he just goes yeah with no dearie (someone else's words, not mine), but the state right now."
"Oh uh, sorry to butt in, but um, apparently Terminal was snapped to the forest immediately. Like not even a sec later, he was lost in the forest," Luna says.
"So this really was to fuck with us," Spider sighs.
"Yep."
"Pretty much," Luna says, "He didn't even go to the church of god. Just snapped directly into the forest."
"I regret wasting that bullet on Lucille," Spider growls.
"Which... doesn't make much sense. Why go through all the trouble of lying to us, creating three days of protection, getting us riled up over a deal when all Blossom had to do was snap her fingers?" Luna wonders.
"You don't know much about psychological torture do you?" Spider asks.
"Unfortunately, it's not my strong suit, Spider," Luna replies.
"Either way... Termi's back, and we know where Knight is, so that's a plus. On the downside, Astro dropped by today," Chris says, "Dolos is busy with, and I quote, 'man in cloak', so he's thankfully willing to work with us."
"On the subject of man in cloak," Luna says, "Apparently 'man in cloak' is called The Narrator."
"Well, he's, to what I gathered, omnipresent," Chris replies, "He seems to know everything in the past, present and future. Upside, we're not working against him, at least not for the time being."
"Great. Another omnipotent force on top of all of the other fuckin omnipotent forces," Luna drawls.
"Downside, he writes many things in his book, and I do want to take a peek in that, but that might be unwise, considering how I don't want to make an omnipresent one mad," Chris says.
"Yes. That would be a wise decision. No need to make more enemies than we already have," Luna says.
"'sides, Dolos is working himself up in a tizzy over him, so that's a plus," Chris laughs.
"Is it bad that I kinda feel bad for him? Like... knowing how shitty it is to lose control over something, I have a little bit of empathy for him." Luna says, "Only a little though. Solitary confinement destroyed most of it, along with my sanity"
"There's sympathy, but there's also a bit of schadenfreude," Chris replies. Spider sighs, pulling out their switchblade and messing with it.
"Also, what the hell was Maiden talking about with Dolos, uhhhh, getting impaled on a spike???? That fuckin happened??" Luna asks.
"Yeah, last night." Chris says.
"...well uh thank Nammu I went to bed when I did?" Luna says.
"I'm sorry?" Spider raises an eyebrow.
"You went to sleep, Dolos shows up, he's like 'I'm not supposed to be here, wtf?', and then he got impaled on a spike. Which, can I just say, is not something I want to go to sleep after. Bloody awful stuff," Chris explains.
"Literally, apparently," Luna says.
"Huh I'm sad I missed that," Spider yawns.
"Honestly, I probably would've felt some schadenfreude from it," Luna says.
"While I definitely feel some schadenfreude, I also feel quite a bit of sympathy," Chris sighs, "But the schadenfreude is on the surface."
"Right. Well uh, I'm going to go back to bed," Luna yawns, "Sorry for butting in."
"It's fine, you didn't really interrupt much," Spider replies.
"Not much there to interrupt," Chris says.
"So what are we going to about our little stalker?" Spider asks.
"You mean the spaceship?"
"I mean the kid inside it, I don't appreciate being watched, especially when I'm...coping, shall we say," Spider flicks the blade out, then flicks it back in as she twirls the knife.
"Well, we can definitely ask that of them. And maybe something else as well. I mean, if they have eyes on all of us, that means they have eyes on the Church as well, and that's something I'm planning to exploit the hell out of."
"That is a very good point"
"So we can ask them to focus on that, probably. Like, full 24/7 coverage of the Church. I mean... hell yeah."
"Quite, what I wanna know is why they're obsessed with us," Spider says.
"Oh, I can take a gander, but I hate the answer anyway. Oh, the idea of the fourth wall crashing inwards is not something I want to deal with."
"I'm sorry?"
"OK, so... like, this is back when sitcoms are still filmed on set with audience. So you will have three walls, and then one wall is retracted so the audience can see them. So if you look directly at the audience, or saying something to the audience, you're essentially breaking the fourth wall."
"Except, this is real life," Spider replies.
"Yeah, but they're looking at us as if we're fictional," Chris explains, "So the idea is very much in play there."
"I'll show them how fucking fictional I am," Spider growls.
"No need to get physical. But back to the subject, they're nice, although apparently they write fanfiction about Cole and Maiden, so..."
"I have no words.."
"They have fanart of all of us. I'm quite flattered."
"I didn't see that," Spider sighs, "I'm gonna have to pay em another visit ain't I?"
"Sooner or later."
"What I don't get is why they fucking watch me... I mean what kinda kid wants to see that?"
"Edgy ones. Or goth ones, I don't know, I never really cared about pop culture."
"That still doesn't answer my question"
"To be quite honest, I don't know why as well. Like, I'm not... how do you say it... special, or something," Chris says, "It's not like I have powers like everyone else in the house do."
"I wouldn't say that deems someone as special.."
"What would you say that makes someone special?"
"Your experiences. The things someone has seen and how they deal with them, the information they might have," Spider explains.
"That... is most interesting."
"Not the answer you were expecting?" Spider smiles, raising an eyebrow,
"Oh, most definitely not, I was expecting something like 'the amount of years you've spent living in an apocalypse', or 'the amount and range of powers you have', something along that line."
"Hm. Yeah definitely not. What I've seen and had to do? I wouldn't say that makes me special."
"I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but the answer you gave was definitely not what I would expect."
"Well it's nice to know I'm not entirely predictable"
"People are inherently unpredictable."
"I disagree."
"How so?"
"While there's always that chance there, most people are pretty easy to figure out. It's just about finding what makes them tick."
"A single person, sure. But what about a group of people? Sure, they maybe working in tandem, but surely there are differences in how they would approach a situation, and the difference in approaches, I would say, makes them unpredictable."
"For a while, yes. But observe them long enough and well, everyone has patterns."
"Such as?"
"Well the second Cole feels a negative emotion he's off to burry his pickaxe in some poor sods skull, he's a hot head and that's easy to exploit. I'd egg him on, tire him out, make him sloppy then I'd strike."
"Fair. Another example, then?"
"Well you like to let James handle the fights yes? And from what I've seen he's experienced, a mix of strategist and bruteforcer, so I'd outwit him and failing that, I'd provoke him"
"Hmm... now that's interesting."
"How so? I mean it's possible I'm off with that as I've only seen him twice I believe"
"You're slightly off, but not that far off."
"Oh?"
"How would you 'provoke' him, exactly?"
"Now that I'm yet to figure out"
"Like, aside from that, you just about get it. Though, there's one thing wrong there. You say he's a strategist, but it's not him. It's more... 'we', let's put it that way."
"Hm, interesting. So if it's both of you... I have an idea of how I'd provoke you"
"Pray tell."
"I'd use Cole. You also clearly have self doubts about your place and usefulness in the group so I'd use that too"
"I mean, Cole's a dum-dum, we all know that. But how does that correlate to provoking me?"
"Break someone down enough and eventually they start thinking with their fists. Or they just break down and become an emotional wreck, but in my experience it tends to be the former"
"I mean, you're not wrong there." Chris shrugs, "Though, knowing your weakness, while it does help, doesn't give a clear sign exactly on how to, you know, improve it."
"Well that depends, what do you think your weakness is? Nothing I've pointed out here is necessarily a weakness"
"Well, I am... very much not a fighter, for starters."
"So train"
"With?"
"Whatever you wanna use, there's hundreds of weapons out there"
"That does bring up a conversation from a few days back."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, so... what was it... me and Cole and someone else, think it's Knight, or Alice, or Cinnamon, or something like that, I never quite remember, we were talking about that. And we were just narrowing the list of weapons that I can theoretically be comfortable with, 'cause I cannot borrow Cole's gun every time we go into battle."
"I'm guessing you didn't get very far?"
"Well, we get a shortlist of things, I think. But that's about it."
"What was on the list?"
"Something like... uh... a pair of kamas, which is like a short scythe, a sickle, and a... what is it... dirk, which is basically a dagger with a longer blade."
"Hm. So out of pure curiosity, how would you fight me?" Spider asks.
"Me? Fighting you?"
"Yeah, what strategy would you use?"
"Well, hmm... let you tire yourself out. I'm very willing to play the comedy until you're tired."
"Bold of you to assume you wouldn't get tired before me"
"Oh, I'm not bold at all. If we're talking a specific night, that will change drastically."
"I think I know what you're referring to but go on.." Spider raises an eyebrow at Chris.
"On that specific night, you will be... how do I put this without sounding inconsiderate... Uh... bereft of rationality."
"Yeah that's one way to put it" Spider chuckles.
"And when that happens, I don't think you can use your powers, though I should check with someone who's had more experience than me."
"No, as far as I know I can't"
"Then it's just a matter of climbing a tree, and wait you out. If we're talking indoors, like Harmonia's house, things might very well change. Because there's... not exactly a place that I can hide that you cannot teleport in."
"Ok so no powers, how would you fight me? Cause I know what I would do if I was you"
"No powers..." Chris closes his eyes in concentration. "Well, hmm... that's maybe a good idea, but that wouldn't go too well. That's gonna be enraging."
"What ya thinking?"
"No, no, no. OK, Peter, please, stop suggesting 'climbing trees'. That's not how it works," Chris muttters to himself as Spider grins in amusement, "OK, scrap all that. Open field. Really? Doesn't last for long. Definitely no. We're not having a repeat. According to Cole, 'highly distressing'. Well, that's still..."
"What was highly distressing?" Spider asks. Chris does a downward cut, accompanied by a wind-whistling noise. "Ah."
"So... OK, so you're all suggesting... OK, but then that's not quite a fair fight, now is it? We are not going Home Alone. Nope. Nope. We don't talk about that. Fine, I hate the multiple ways you're suggesting, just so we know," Chris says.
"I'm intrigued," Spider replies.
"Lots of talk about blindingm" Chris opens his eyes, and shakes his head.
"Interesting strategy but I'd still be able to hear and smell you"
"Hearing can be remedied by a prolonged loud noise. And smell... no. While there's way to hide it, the inherent human smell is... Well, no. Wolves have a stronger sense of smell, so..." Chris says. Spider watches him curiously. "No, there's just not a good way to hide your smell, now is there?"
"Actually there's a few ways.." Spider says.
"It's not like using a stronger smell to mask it."
"Yeah but if you're fighting dirty peppercorns work, so do most strong spices"
"Ah, now that's just blinding."
"It works though"
"I didn't say it doesn't. Just that it's blinding."
"Alright, so any other ideas?"
"Lots and lots of blinding you using various things, for some reason. Why do you even... no, stop, stop, stop. We're not using acid. That's not how it works."
"Really? You're not even gonna go down the fun route? There's another method I would use that isn't blinding"
"Well, no. We're not trying to kill you."
"It's not that"
"Pray tell?"
"I would go for more psychological, I would trigger me then attack"
"Feels too much like torturing."
"That's life, people don't play fair. You just do what you have to do to survive"
"Rarely. But fair enough."
"Besides how is psychological damage torture and taking out my senses isn't?" Spider chuckles.
"Taking out your senses is physical."
"It's still distressing"
"Doesn't leave as deep a scar."
"True. Though, do you want my advice on how to be a good fighter?" Spider asks.
"I'm listening..." Chris replies.
"Learning to read people and keeping yourself calm is a life saver. Angry fighters think with their fists and get sloppy, whereas calm fighters can read their opponent, predict their next moves and quickly gain the upper hand. I guess it's like chess in a way, always think a few steps ahead," she explains.
"A bit, I guess," Chris says, "Smart doesn't quite translate to actions."
"No true, but you gain the knowledge for actions over time, if you see someone throwing a punch you know to block or dodge for example, at the start most of the actions are common sense then you work your way up"
"Fair enough."
"Think fast," Spider grins. She throws a punch at him aiming for his shoulder. Chris ducks. Spider says, "There ya go!"
"What?"
"Instinct, common sense whatever you want to call it, you just proved my point"
"Well, it's not common sense, but instinct... yeah, OK, it's that. A better one would have duck, and punch as well, I reckon."
"Yes, but you can build on that"
"So it's a matter of practice and stuff?"
"Practice and knowledge, yes. You take one move and practice it a thousand times until it becomes as natural as breathing, and you fight against people who won't hold back"
"Oh, a case that I worked on before this. Like, before the Hotel case."
"Hm, so why was that brought up?"
"Fighting. And random memories about blood."
"Ah, so what else is in the notes?"
"Oh, lots," Chris says, "Nope, we're not talking about that. I've moved past that, Mat. No, I promise. I mean... I was in a heightened emotional state, that's not my fault."
"Ya gonna tell me what that's about?" Spider asks.
"Building. All you need to know." Chris slightly curls his right hand into a fist.
"Ok.."
"Oh, yeah, I remember that. He was a cute one, and very fluffy," Chris says, and looks to Spider, "I'm sorry, this must be slightly weird to you."
"Nah it's fine, I'm used to people talking to emselves"
"Context for cute and fluffy is that I had a cat."
"Hm cool"
"Erm... no. No, let's not talk about that, that was rubbish. I was mad enough, yeah. But not to a wall. Not to a brick wall."
"You alright mate?" Spider sighs.
"I'm fine, thanks Spider."
"Riiight"
"Oh no. Oh no no no no no. We are not talking about that. The last time that happened, it was ten minutes of Peter panicking over the controls. Context: Flying cockroaches."
"Tell me more, that sounds interesting"
"Oh, no, it's... rubbish. So usually, I just smack it. This one was on the wall, I smack it, and it took flight. Cue panic." Chris explains. Spider laughs quietly. Chris rolls his eyes, annoyed at being reminded.
"Heh, sorry it's just.. god I would kill to have a fear like that," Spider sighs.
"Eh, can be holes. Could have been way worse with that."
"Hm. It sounds nice though. Just a normal irrational fear that doesn't bring back terrible memories"
"Huh."
"Didn't expect that?" Spider chuckles raising an eyebrow.
"No, just sad that every fear you have is traumatizing."
"...right," Spider's eyes go hard as a shadow passes across her face.
"I'm sorry if I've accidentally offended you there."
"No I just.. Don't like pity"
"Oh, fair enough."
"Anyways, anything else interesting in the notes?"
"Oh. Oh. oh. I was really obsessed with buildings and stairs, wasn't I?" Chris asks, as Spider tilts her head curiously. Chris says, "And that's it. That's it, really. Simultaneously more and less notes than I imagine."
"Hm interesting"
"OH GOD NO. How did you find this? HOW? How, Mat?" Chris yells.
"Can you not shout?" Spider flinches.
"I'm sorry. No, we talk about this, Mat, I've moved on from it. I'm not telling Spider about it, Mat. That's my business, and mine alone. OK, thank you about that."
"Do I want to know?.." Spider raises an eyebrow at him.
"... No, probably better that you don't."
"If you're comfortable telling me I am highly curious"
"Eh, it's about that, and I don't want to talk about that much. Matilda, on the other hand..."
"That?" Spider flicks the blade out of the switchblade and looks at it, then looks back at Chris. Chris nods.
"I don't like talking about it, but Mat... very very interested in that."
"So we have another Nex, brilliant," Spider sighs.
"No, no, no. Nothing to do with knives. Or you, for that matter."
"Right, well I won't push it"
"I would rather not talk about it."
"Yeah I get it"
"Like, we all have a niche category that we prefer, it just so happens that hers isn't a category that is acceptable to talk about in polite company."
"Ok... I'll admit I'm curious cause I thought I knew what you were on about but now I'm not sure"
"Well, four names from her list. I'll leave you to figure it out why it's not something I particularly like. Osamu Dazai, the Japanese author. Marilyn Monroe, the American actress. Chester Bennington, the American singer. And Virginia Woolf, the English author," Chris sits down, and closes his eyes in waiting.
"Ugh" Spider shudders.
"Yep."
"So your notes, was there anything about me in there? I don't trust blue eyes to not be psycho analyzing me as we speak"
"Nothing of concern much."
"Now I'm concerned"
"Really nothing to be concerned about. Just name, powers and the stuff with La Lune up there."
"Riight"
"No, that's it."
"Good"
"After all that, I need to get myself lost in music a bit." Chris takes out his phone and earphones. Blood Moon Waltz starts playing not long after.