Chapter 2: Negativity

"Many years ago," Paris began, legs crossed as he sat on the chair. "Krystal had met someone where she was working, in a library here in the city. Her name was Floof, a small sheep.

"They were friends for a couple of years, sharing a common interests and the like. This was long before I had met Krystal, just so you know."

Balan nodded in response, a yellow Tim sitting in his lap, happily dozing away.

"So, what happened?"

Paris' face darkened, as his sclera turned black. "It happened back in February of this year. Krystal, who was on Twitter, had retweeted something about a user they follow." He placed a hand on his chin. "Can't remember who it was, but that's besides the point.

"Krystal had asked Floof that they not comment, to which in the beginning, they actually agreed to. In hindsight, Krystal regrets this, everyone has a right to comment on whatever they like.

"Floof then had commented on the post, and Krystal had felt rather betrayed that she went against her. Then, Krystal blocked them on all their socials, as they kept arguing on and on, neither of them getting anywhere."

"A tad drastic to block someone over something that small," Balan mused.

"Believe me, this is only the start." Paris told him. "I should also tell you that when this happened, it was really late at night, about 1am, give or take, and she'd been staying with her friends, all of which were asleep, and had work in the morning.

"Floof, then began ringing the main phone in her apartment, trying to make it up with Krystal. But, Krystal wasn't in any mood to speak with them. Now, you'd think this is where it ends, but no, far from it.

"Floof would then consistently Krystal's apartment phone, meaning a lot of her friends had to take the calls instead, explaining to them in vain, that Krystal didn't want to speak. Krystal told her that she needed space, and time away from them, but that didn't help, Floof kept ringing and ringing ," He closed his eyes. "It got to the point where Krystal gets mini panic attacks whenever the phone in her apartment rings, it's truly a sad sight."

Balan just sat there, shocked. He never imagined something like that to happen. Imagine, being afraid whenever your phone rings. Tragic, he thought.

"I have a query, Paris. Did Floof suffer from any kind of thing?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering, is all."

"They suffered with panic attacks, and whenever they got them, Krystal would give her the space she needed. Keep this in mind for later."

"Duly noted, Paris."

"The next major event happened in April, not long after. Krystal had been in the hospital for a procedure. Nothing too serious, but still important. The day after, she was staying with some of her old friends, recovering from her time in the hospital. Then Floof rang."

He took out his phone, swiping through some photos Krystal and him had taken. He found one, and showed it to Balan.

"There's the friends she had been staying with." Paris explained, pointing at the individuals in the picture. He'd named out all of them; Shard, Jiminy, Will, Sparkster, Ristar and Zero. The picture was from a few years back, judging by the date.

"They seem nice."

Paris nodded. "Krystal was actually dating Zero before we met," he pointed at Zero, holding Krystal's hand in the photo. "She told me they broke up about 3 years ago, both agreeing they should see other people. That's when her and I met, about half a year later."

He put the phone away, and continued. "When Floof rang, Zero had been the one to answer the phone, and tried, once again in vain, to tell her Krystal didn't want to speak. All the while, Krystal was going into pure stress mode, begging him to cut the call.

"And then, something inside of Krystal snapped. Floof had been saying they felt suicidal, and Krystal screamed quote, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF YOU'RE SUICIDAL!" and no, I'm not joking."

Balan stared. He'd never been much for swearing, so he was kinda shocked to hear that. "I-" He stuttered, before composing himself. "I can't believe it."

Paris nodded. "Krystal told me recently that, she's truly sorry for what she said on that night." He looked up. "But at the same time, I think you can understand that Floof is not without sin here either."

Balan nodded in response. "Yes, both parties were guilty, but Krystal had told them they needed space, but they refused, and kept pushing and pushing them. It was no wonder that Krystal snapped. At least she was sorry for what she had said though."

The Tim in his lap chirped in agreement.

"After this ordeal, Krystal was shaking like a leaf after it. Truly a sad sight."

"I can imagine,"

"The night after that happened, things seemed to go smoothly for Krystal, she started to feel much better about the situation. She said it was liberating being away from Floof."

His face darkened once again.

"Krystal had been just browsing Twitter back in August so, pretty recently. We found out that Floof had made a new acc on Twitter, and started tagging Krystal in every post. This sent Krystal into another spiral, and she immediately blocked her. We had also found out that at some point, Floof had said Krystal condones suicide!"

Balan's eyes widened. "That's horrible."

"Floof had been saying this kind of defamatory things about Krystal for months on their Twitter, ever since Krystal blocked them. She even invaded threads that Krystal was in, just to say how terrible she was.

"But it gets worse, when Floof found out about Krystal blocking their new acc, she threw a hissy fit and said they'd come to their place of work. Worst part is, they actually said the name of the library Krystal works at. Basically, they doxxed Krystal."

Balan tilted his head. "Doxxing?"

"Doxxing is the act of putting someone's personal information online in a place where it's not wanted, like, a public Twitter account that anyone could find. Krystal never said where they worked online, at all, they prefer to keep that private. Doxxing is actually illegal here."

Balan went completely silent. He'd never heard anyone do something that bad before. Not even Lance had done anything like that, and he literally trapped people in their negative emotions like a prison. It sickened him someone could be this cruel and petty.

"So, what happened today?"

Paris looked at him. "Krystal was in the city today, on her day off, just running a few errands around the city. I was with her while she did this. She'd been looking so forward to this day, and then she appeared.

"We'd been at a café, Krystal was enjoying a nice cup of tea when Floof walked past, barging into where we were sitting, and she had a look on her face that she wanted to beat Krystal up.

"The owner of the café tried to get her out of the shop, which worked. But as we left, Floof was waiting for us outside, practically stalking us. Then, Krystal ran."

The Tim made a sad chirping noise, as Balan pet it.

"Krystal ran and tried to hide for hours, but Floof was still hot on our tails." Paris continued. "She was determined to give Krystal a piece of her mind, and probably a black eye as well."

He sighed. "Then, around 6pm, we lost her, at long last, hiding in a florists shop." His gaze met the floor. "She cried and cried for a solid forty-five minutes before leaving. Then, a little after 7pm, we spotted that Tim and it lead us here."

He sighed. "And that's the whole story." He finished.

"I had no idea it was this severe," Balan replied. "No wonder the theatre appeared to her, she desperately needs it."

They looked at the clock, it had been two hours since Paris and Krystal came in here.

Balan stood up from his seat, towering over Paris. "It's getting late." He told him. "You and Krystal are more than welcome to stay the night here."

Paris smiled. "Thank you for the offer."

"Believe me, I wouldn't dare put you two back outside after hearing about your ordeal. Perish the thought."

A disturbing thought entered Paris' mind. "You said the theatre appears to those that need it, right?"

"Yes, that's how it works."

"Well, do you think Floof would be able to find the theatre? They're claiming to be the victim throughout all of this."

Balan closed his eyes in deep thought. "It's hard to say," he reasoned. "But, I shall, try and make it so the theatre won't appear to her."

Suddenly, a shadowy patch on the ground appeared, causing Balan to flinch a bit. As he and Paris stared, a tall figure similar to Balan appeared. Whereas Balan's suit was a pristine white, the newcomers outfit was dark purple with gold accents. His skin was almost completely black, with markings all over his face, mainly a heart symbol on his forehead. The last thing of note was the tentacles that were coming out of his back and head, bearing the same markings as his face.

"Evening, Lance," Balan said to them.

Lance didn't respond right away, turning his gaze to Paris. His gaze turned back to Balan. "Same to you, Balan."

"How much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Enough."

Paris glared in Lance's direction. "Eavesdropping on a conversation is rather rude of you." He told him.

"I'll have you know I live in this theatre," Lance replied calmly.

"Still rude though."

Balan stepped between them. "You know helping visitors is my area of expertise, Lance. This poor girl is troubled beyond belief."

"I know," Lance replied. "I passed their room not that long ago. They were sobbing about something and then I heard you two discussing it."

"I hope you don't plan on trapping her in her own negativity, Lance. She's suffered enough!"

"No. For once, Balan, I agree, she has suffered enough as is."

Thinking back to what Paris had asked earlier, Balan decided to ask Lance about the theatre appearing to Floof.

"Lance?"

"Yes?"

"You probably heard Paris here ask about the theatre appearing to Floof, since he says they try and claim to be the victim in this situation. Can you make it so the theatre won't appear to her?"

Lance thought for a moment. While yes, the theatre appears to those that need it's help the most, he was unsure about it appearing to those that cause negativity in of themselves.

"I'll see what I can do. This Floof, sounds terrible. Not even the Negati would want her. As for myself, you know as well as anyone, Balan that I trap visitors in cocoons of their own negativity. Floof, is far beyond that." He started turning around, walking away, leaving Balan and Paris in silence.

"Who was that?"

"Lance, my negative counterpart. He traps those that come here in their own negativity, basically the opposite of what I aim to achieve."

"So, he's the bad guy then?"

"No, he's just misguided is all. For you see, all maestros here look like me when first created. Lance's appearance was altered due to all the negative emotions visitors would bring from time to time. As a result, I was created to balance it out."

"When did that happen?"

Balan put a hand under his chin. "Hm, three thousand years ago, give or take."

Paris stared in shock. "You're three thousand years old?!"

Balan nodded. "Lance is as old as I am, if not older."

"Well that's certainly interesting," Paris said. "And I thought I was old, being built in 1932."

They started heading back to Krystal's room, knocking on the door gently once they reached it. Paris opened it, revealing Krystal sitting on the bed, surrounded by Tims with a book in her hands.

"Hey Paris," she greeted.

"Hey Krystal." He replied. "Feeling better?"

Her ears flattened. "A little bit," she mumbled.

Balan walked over to her, sitting on the bed next to her. "Don't worry dear, you're safe here." He put a hand on her back. "Paris told me what happened, and I'll make doubly sure that " friend " of yours won't find this theatre. You have my word."

"You told him about her?"

"I didn't want you to be stressed out telling him. He practically insisted I tell him what was wrong." Paris explained.

"Well, thanks anyway for telling him in place of me, Paris." Krystal smiled.

"Anytime, Krystal."

"It's getting late," Balan said, snapping his fingers, making a pair of pyjamas appear in Krystal's lap. "You should get some sleep."

Krystal nodded, pulling herself off the bed.

"You and Paris are also welcome to stay here as long as you wish," Balan continued.

"We'll probably leave tomorrow," Krystal said.

"Stay as long as you need, dear."

Krystal nodded, turning around to face the mirror in the room, leaving Paris and Balan to step outside while she got ready for bed. After a minute, she opened the door again, revealing her in the pyjamas; a tank top with a teardrop shaped gem on it, and a pair of shorts that reached her knees.

Paris walked into the room, sitting onto the chest of drawers next to the bed.

"You're not sleeping with Krystal?" Balan asked.

"Well, no." Paris said. "I'm not human, I'm a puppet so, I don't need sleep."

"Plus," Krystal added. "We're both Asexual, meaning we don't experience attraction towards each other. We do experience it but, we show our love by hugging."

"I see," Balan said, a bit confused but understood nonetheless.

At this time, the Tims were still on the bed, chirping at Krystal.

"You don't mind them staying here, do you?" Balan asked.

"Not at all." Krystal smiled.

"Ah, wonderful." Balan headed for the door, stepping out into the hallway as he closed it. "If there's any problems, my room is just up the hallway. That's the door with a top hat on it."

"We'll keep that in mind," Paris said, changing into his doll form, as he watched Krystal under the covers as she got comfortable.

Balan nodded, smiling at both of them. "Good night Krystal, Paris."

"Good night, Balan." Krystal mumbled as she fell asleep, just as the door closed with a click.