Verity: You remember what happened last time you split up a group of eight or more, right? You still haven't fixed it, and you've had years to. The only excuse is that fact that you're rewriting the earlier chapters of the story, and that continuing would bring up things that wouldn't make sense.
Daichi: I get it. But I have a system for this. I won't actually try to include everyone. Just the ones that are doing something important, and I'll try to focus on Ib when possible. Less hassle that way.
BlackGatomon: If they owned anything besides certain characters, they would have worked out a system long ago.
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"Seriously, though, Ib, how did you get a lighter? And why do you have it here, of all places?" Ib turned the object in question over in her hand, and thought about a way to properly answer Trixie.
"I… I'd hoped never to come back here. But, well, it's good to have, just in case." Misdirection. She was good at misdirection. She'd had to be, to pass off as someone with little to no personal issues. Sure, some things she could tell people, but most of the time, it was better to lie.
"That doesn't explain how you have it in the first place," Trixie pointed out. "And, until about five minutes ago, it was empty. Why would it even matter?"
Ib decided that one of the things she liked about Trixie was that she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. Of course, that didn't make the current line of questioning any more uncomfortable, what with the fact that it made her think on what had happened six years ago just for the sake of answering.
But… well… it wasn't like it was all bad memories. Her first taste of lemon candy had come about because of what happened six years ago, hadn't it? If, at least until she could change the subject, she focused mainly on the happier bits, perhaps she'd be able to keep herself together.
"I got it… from a friend." True, if the technicalities behind how exactly she'd come to possess it were left out. "It was here more for luck than anything." And, well, keeping her from having a panic attack, but she was dangerously close to it as it was. "As for why it'd be a good idea to bring a lighter to an art gallery, well, I'm not the person you should be asking that." She slipped the lighter- her lighter, she had to keep reminding herself, it was hers now - into her pocket, where she could access it more easily.
At least Trixie seemed to have stopped asking questions. For now. Ib knew she couldn't dodge the topic forever, but she'd take what time she could. Which would likely be until Trixie remembered that Ib supposedly hadn't had any friends before Lavender, but with any luck, she'd figure something out by then.
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Lavender wasn't sure how long they'd been locked in there. Not quite an hour, certainly. Nobody had found them, no one had even come for them, as far as she was aware. And she hoped that was the case. That they weren't looking, or were looking in all of the wrong places, rather than in the right places, and getting caught before they could reach safety.
Still, she heard the approach before either of the others had, the book Jade found in her hands. It did provide a good deal of information, but there was a lot left out. It told her the titles of pieces and when they had come to the Gallery. It said nothing else, not even in the case of the former visitors.
This, more than anything, didn't sit right with her. Those pieces, those people, had names. They'd had lives, before those were taken away. And the one thing that proved they had ever existed outside of this place was a small book that held none of that.
Her thoughts were interrupted by sounds, just outside of the room. "You know, with the Lady in Blue gone, this area's pretty quiet."
"Well, that's what you get for ticking off the wrong people. Now, let's see if they found the library. I mean, if she thinks it's a good hiding place, than they might, too."
Lavender turned to the others. "I can hear something. I think someone's coming, but I don't recognize the voices." Well, there was a small hint of familiarity, but to her, those two voices were something she didn't need to think on. Maybe later, in a less dangerous situation.
Still, when the door opened, she most definitely recognized the faces. She'd painted them herself, after all.
The yellow Faded Girl turned to the blue one. "Well, that was easy. I mean, I know Lavender wouldn't likely split off, but Ib didn't seem the wandering type, either, and she certainly isn't here. Now we just need to find her, and we'll have all the roses we need."
"But there's nine of them," The blue Faded Girl pointed out. "So couldn't we get a fifth? For… well…"
"Yeah, I guess, but Regrets will likely handle that on her own. You know how she'll is. She's just gonna show up at wherever she's keeping him with a red rose and one of another color in her hand and drag him along with us, whether he likes it or not." They seemed comfortable with what was happening, talking with each other instead of paying attention to the ones that, by all means, were their captives.
It was the blue one that spoke to them first. "So, well… I kind of hate to say this, but… you know those flowers you carry? We need them for something, so if you'd give them up nicely…"
"You know, someone who was here before told us how this works, and we got a note confirming it. Why would we listen?" Jade replied. "We don't even know who you are."
"The note! That's what we forgot about!" The yellow Faded Girl realized. "See, I told you we were forgetting something!"
"...As for who we are," The blue one finally stated, once it seemed her friend was done, "I believe at least one of you knows the answer to that." She levelled her gaze on Lavender, who resisted the urge to look away.
"You're the Faded Girls. The ones I painted." She didn't say it very loudly, just enough to be heard. That was all she needed to say.
"Our names. Tell them our names, Lav," the blue girl clarified.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about." She had been afraid before, but the hateful look that the girl wearing blue threw at her left her terrified. She shoved the girl aside, and bolted through the open door, noticing that the others were following her, and running as fast as she possibly could.
She didn't care where she ended up. Anywhere else would be better.
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"A friend, huh?" Trixie finally asked. Ib was almost relieved. Nothing was happening, there wasn't anything in the corridor they walked, and talking about anything, even that, was better than just nothing. "Given that it probably wasn't Lavender… who was it?"
"Nobody you know," she responded, quietly. "You wouldn't have met him." And, even if she did, she wouldn't remember. "I haven't really seen him in a while, either."
"What's he like?" Ib allowed herself a small, pained smile at this.
"My friend? He… well, my first impression was that he startles easily. He's not all that good at lying, either, although he can if he has to. He has a sweet tooth, and I first realized we'd become friends when he offered me candy. But more than that… he's just a good person. Even when things looked bleak… he'd always come through for me, in the end." Until he couldn't anymore.
Of course it figured that even the best memories she called up ended up depressing her. Just another sign of how bad things had gotten, she supposed. So long as her leg didn't get ripped apart down to the bone again, and her lungs weren't full of smoke, and she wasn't hallucinating, she could live with it.
Well, she hoped she wasn't hallucinating. She could never really be sure, but Trixie was reacting to all the same things she did. So, at least if she was hallucinating again, she was in good company.
So she continued through the realm of her nightmares.
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Daichi: As you can see, if the subject of Garry is brought up in a way that doesn't directly relate to what happened to him, Ib is more than willing to talk about it, as she remembers him fondly. It's just… good luck bringing up the subject without also welling up a lot of trauma.
Verity: Being the only person who even remembers that he used to be a real person probably doesn't help that.
Daichi: Probably not. Also, yes, what Gretchen suggested was exactly what Regrets planned to do with Garry.
