p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;" align="center"span style="font-size: 18pt;"Chapter 1/span/p
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p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"A tall, faceless man sat on the ground, surrounded by countless books. He picked one up, and studied it. On the front, it said, Gilded Newport Mysteries, written by someone named Alyssa Maxwell. This wasn't one of his books- it must've been Ej's, or maybe Trendor's... but the author's name was quite pretty. He then set it on a shelf adjacent to him. Four hours of work and he still wasn't done... Jeff had decided to trash the library while he was out on some errands, and he had decided when Jeff returned home, he'd have to enforce some kind of punishment. Perhaps a week without his beloved knife, or maybe Ej would have to shadow him on his hunts...br /"Slender?" said troublemaker was now standing in the doorway, looking a little more worried than usual. After all, a smile was cut into his face./p
p style="text-indent: .5in; margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"A worried Jeff was more important than the mess he had made in the library, so Slender didn't get very angry. "Yes Jeff? What seems to be the problem?"br /"There's... there's a problem."br /"What sort of a problem?"br /"Well-" Jeff was interrupted by Toby running into the room as well. "Slendy! D-Did you see the-"br /"SHUT UP! I wanna tell him-"br /"But I saw it first! You just g-got up here faster b-because you tripped me!"br /"Quiet, both of you. I'll see whatever it is you're all so worried about myself. Where is it?"br /"On the front porch." Jeff quickly said, and Toby glowered at him. "On th-the front porch..." he muttered quietly./p
p style="text-indent: .5in; margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Slender moved between the two of them swiftly and quietly, sliding down the stairs where everyone seemed to be making a big commotion. It was indeed near the front porch- since everyone seemed to be gathered around there. He pushed past a few people (everyone else just moved out of the way), and looked down to see what everyone had been worrying /A tiny newborn human looked back up at him with blue eyes and gurgled appreciatively. It didn't seem to understand where it was, or who these people were, but otherwise was fine. Slender looked down on it in horror. A human? Here? And as he looked closer, he was able to identify whose baby it was. But why, after all these years..?br /He picked up the baby with a tendril and examined it. Of course it was hers- he could see it in the arches of the tiny eyes, and the shape of its face. It made a sound that was probably a laugh, and clapped its hands together. He felt the instinctive urge to kill it, but he knew he couldn't, like all those years ago... he just couldn't. He turned around, held the baby close, and went inside./p
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p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Are you nuts?! We can't keep that thing!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;""Clockwork, we're keeping her and that's all there is to it."br /Slender was now in the living room, where some of the most important 'pastas (not including Zalgo) were standing around. Clockwork was standing next to Toby, who was too nervous and too scared to even begin to try and calm her down. "Clocky-"br /"Toby, quiet! Listen here, you," she now addressed Slender again. "You cannot keep this... human here."br /"Aren't some of us part human?" Slender shot back. "Why can't she stay?"br /"Because we don't know where it came from! It could be here as a spy or something!"br /"Human children are not capable of being spies, especially as young as this. Besides, I already know where she came from."br /"What, can you just look at someone now and figure out who they are just by... what, fuckin' magic?"br /"That's enough," Ej murmured, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He already said she's staying; you can't argue with that..."br /"This is unfair!" She shouted. "I say we take it to a vote!"br /"What for?" asked Ben, who was sitting on the floor, smoking some sort of joint. "Nobody's against it."br /"But is anyone for it?" She /"I don't know. I'm all for a new recruit. What about you guys?" Ben turned to face the others, and they all nodded their heads in silent agreement. br /Clockwork was outraged. "I swear; this will be your undoing! You cannot let it stay!"br /"She's staying. Period," Slender added, when she looked ready to start arguing again. She shook her head in frustration and ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her footsteps could be heard marching down the hall until she reached her /"Boy, she's salty today, ain't she?" Jeff commented. br /"Yeah, she's got her panties in a twist. Toby, you okay? You're shaking like a leaf."br /Toby nodded nervously, even though he was shaking pretty badly. "I-I'm fine… she just sp-spooked me, that's all..."br /Ej looked over at Slender, who was now trying to quiet the baby. She seemed upset about something, perhaps his lack of a face, or lack of nourishment. The blue-masked 'pasta held his hands out. "Here, let me see her." Slender handed him the baby, and she quieted down, peering up at Ej, and trying to grasp his mask with her tiny hands. He smiled, though it was barely seeable, and looked back to Slender. "Does she have a name yet?"br /"I was thinking... maybe Alyssa."br /"Alyssa? Where'd you get that name?"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"A tall, faceless man sat on the ground, surrounded by countless books. He picked one up, and studied it. On the front, it said, Gilded Newport Mysteries, written by someone named Alyssa Maxwell. This wasn't one of his books- it must've been Ej's, or maybe Trendor's... but the author's name was quite pretty. He then set it on a shelf adjacent to him. Four hours of work and he still wasn't done... Jeff had decided to trash the library while he was out on some errands, and he had decided when Jeff returned home, he'd have to enforce some kind of punishment. Perhaps a week without his beloved knife, or maybe Ej would have to shadow him on his hunts...br /"Slender?" said troublemaker was now standing in the doorway, looking a little more worried than usual. After all, a smile was cut into his face./p
p style="text-indent: .5in; margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"A worried Jeff was more important than the mess he had made in the library, so Slender didn't get very angry. "Yes Jeff? What seems to be the problem?"br /"There's... there's a problem."br /"What sort of a problem?"br /"Well-" Jeff was interrupted by Toby running into the room as well. "Slendy! D-Did you see the-"br /"SHUT UP! I wanna tell him-"br /"But I saw it first! You just g-got up here faster b-because you tripped me!"br /"Quiet, both of you. I'll see whatever it is you're all so worried about myself. Where is it?"br /"On the front porch." Jeff quickly said, and Toby glowered at him. "On th-the front porch..." he muttered quietly./p
p style="text-indent: .5in; margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"Slender moved between the two of them swiftly and quietly, sliding down the stairs where everyone seemed to be making a big commotion. It was indeed near the front porch- since everyone seemed to be gathered around there. He pushed past a few people (everyone else just moved out of the way), and looked down to see what everyone had been worrying /A tiny newborn human looked back up at him with blue eyes and gurgled appreciatively. It didn't seem to understand where it was, or who these people were, but otherwise was fine. Slender looked down on it in horror. A human? Here? And as he looked closer, he was able to identify whose baby it was. But why, after all these years..?br /He picked up the baby with a tendril and examined it. Of course it was hers- he could see it in the arches of the tiny eyes, and the shape of its face. It made a sound that was probably a laugh, and clapped its hands together. He felt the instinctive urge to kill it, but he knew he couldn't, like all those years ago... he just couldn't. He turned around, held the baby close, and went inside./p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;"br /br /p
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p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;" align="center"br /br /p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; line-height: 108%;""Are you nuts?! We can't keep that thing!"/p
p style="margin-bottom: .11in; border-top: none; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid #00000a; border-left: none; border-right: none; line-height: 108%; padding: 0in 0in .01in 0in;""Clockwork, we're keeping her and that's all there is to it."br /Slender was now in the living room, where some of the most important 'pastas (not including Zalgo) were standing around. Clockwork was standing next to Toby, who was too nervous and too scared to even begin to try and calm her down. "Clocky-"br /"Toby, quiet! Listen here, you," she now addressed Slender again. "You cannot keep this... human here."br /"Aren't some of us part human?" Slender shot back. "Why can't she stay?"br /"Because we don't know where it came from! It could be here as a spy or something!"br /"Human children are not capable of being spies, especially as young as this. Besides, I already know where she came from."br /"What, can you just look at someone now and figure out who they are just by... what, fuckin' magic?"br /"That's enough," Ej murmured, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He already said she's staying; you can't argue with that..."br /"This is unfair!" She shouted. "I say we take it to a vote!"br /"What for?" asked Ben, who was sitting on the floor, smoking some sort of joint. "Nobody's against it."br /"But is anyone for it?" She /"I don't know. I'm all for a new recruit. What about you guys?" Ben turned to face the others, and they all nodded their heads in silent agreement. br /Clockwork was outraged. "I swear; this will be your undoing! You cannot let it stay!"br /"She's staying. Period," Slender added, when she looked ready to start arguing again. She shook her head in frustration and ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Her footsteps could be heard marching down the hall until she reached her /"Boy, she's salty today, ain't she?" Jeff commented. br /"Yeah, she's got her panties in a twist. Toby, you okay? You're shaking like a leaf."br /Toby nodded nervously, even though he was shaking pretty badly. "I-I'm fine… she just sp-spooked me, that's all..."br /Ej looked over at Slender, who was now trying to quiet the baby. She seemed upset about something, perhaps his lack of a face, or lack of nourishment. The blue-masked 'pasta held his hands out. "Here, let me see her." Slender handed him the baby, and she quieted down, peering up at Ej, and trying to grasp his mask with her tiny hands. He smiled, though it was barely seeable, and looked back to Slender. "Does she have a name yet?"br /"I was thinking... maybe Alyssa."br /"Alyssa? Where'd you get that name?"/p