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 Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:36 pm
When Rosie was gone, Ana let out a long breath and hit the log in button on the social media account.
Quietly, she rested her fingers on the keyboard and closed her eyes, trying to will some kind of memory into her mind. Some way to let her know that…Evan wasn’t lying and that this was actually her.
Her fingers moved along the keys, typing what felt natural to them, and when Ana pressed the button to enter the credentials, she opened one eye and sucked in a sharp breath.
There she was. There it was. Proof that Evan had been right. She was logged in to Cambria Dempsey’s social media account.
Quietly she began to root through more of the pictures, hoping that seeing something would trigger a memory, or a feeling…anything.
Nothing did, but…
She scrolled to the messaging system that was imbedded into the webpage and saw that Malcolm had a green dot next to him, and she messaged him without really thinking about it.
Quote: Who was I to you, Malcolm?
…After a moment she realized just how ominous that must seem, and sent another message.
Quote: I missed you at the picnic. I hope you’re feeling better
There…at least…that would…let him know just who was typing.
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 6:02 pm
What.
Malcolm was tucked in bed, curled up under a few blankets; he’d taken medicine already and was just waiting for it to kick in. He’d been scrolling through social media–not that he got any messages on his private account, but–
Cambria was online. Or she’d been hacked. Or–
Lysithea had gotten in?
His mouth suddenly went dry and he was dizzy with worry; how many times had they messaged each other to ask if they wanted to go out. He wondered how easy it would be to assume and–had he ever said anything? There weren’t pictures on there, he’d been more careful than that, but–
Oh, he felt sick.
Sicker.
His fingers were trembling when he typed back, but his mind when blank.
Evan had texted him that he was back and that it hadn’t gone well but hadn’t expanded on that.
…And now she knew who he was. Would she be able to connect that to everyone else? Was he going to have to worry about the Negaverse showing up?
Oh, he was going to throw up.
But that wasn’t it, that wasn’t enough. He couldn't say best friend, ever if she was. Couldn’t say only friend because then he sounded pathetic. She had been his only friend for a while, though.
Quote: I missed you too. I’m really sorry I couldn’t make it. I took some medicine.
Briefly, he scrolled up to look at their past few messages–a few of him saying ‘I miss you’, a few asking if she wanted to go do something, most just saying ‘I hope you’re doing well’. Some pictures he’d taken. Cambria had sent some pictures of Evan’s food truck, given him updates on things in her life. Nothing so suspicious that he thought she might immediately figure things out.
Quote: You still are my friend. I know it’s different now. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to scare you away. I know all of this is really weird. I’m not very brave. I didn’t want to lose you again.
Oh god, he could just keep typing. He could have typed a thousand stupid things. He had to force his hands to stop moving before he could ruin this.
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 6:15 pm
Ana was glad that he was quick to respond, and even managed to smile slightly at the amount that he was responding…it was kind of cute.
She found a sticker with a unicorn with large eyes laying on a cloud and sent it to him, chuckling slightly.
Quote: I’m glad that you took medicine. You push yourself so hard, Malcolm. I’m glad that you’re my friend. Evan told me who I was, and I guess my fingers remembered how to log in here…and I guess that pretty much confirms that he wasn’t lying.
Toying with her pigtail for a moment, she sighed and hit the button that would allow her to voice chat with Malcolm.
…The idea of having things in writing just…seemed a little uncomfortable.
Especially if Faustite had access to her account too, somehow.
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 6:27 pm
Oh, his heart stopped. Voice chat. That was scary. Was she powered up right now? Was she powered down? What if–
He accepted it before he could worry about it too much, but it took him a few seconds before he could think to say anything.
“Hi,” he said; he sounded stuffy and congested but hopeful. He didn’t know what she meant by pushing himself too hard, and he was afraid to ask
“I was worried you got hacked when I saw you online. Are you okay? Evan didn’t say much about what happened.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 7:02 pm
“Well I mean, I’m not Cambria anymore, so I did kind of hack my past self, if you think about it that way. You sound yucky, Malcolm. I really hope you feel better soon.”
Ana nestled into the chair, letting her eyes half close. “It’s been…a really long night…and I’m really happy I get a chance to talk to you. It’s been three huge bombs dropped on me…first my subordiante left me…he went to the other side…and he didn’t even warn me…I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye…and then all the conversation with Evan and I was already overly emotional…”
She swallowed, rubbing her eyes. “...and then my girlfriend comes over and says she’s been lying to me and Faustite is lying so I’m…kind of a mess right now…thank you for picking up…I needed this…”
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 8:17 pm
Oh. Yeah, she did sort of hack into it, didn’t she?
He didn’t comment on that; he was too distracted by the rest of what she said.
And–she’d said it all so bluntly, so honestly.
He sat up to try and drain himself out a little bit and not sound so pathetic. “She said she’s been lying to you? So you know he’s not your brother? Wait–” he faltered and then made a miserable groaning. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to make your night longer. You can talk, I’ll listen. Or I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear. I’d invite you over if you wanted, but if I’m contagious–well I mean, you could come over anyway, I wouldn’t say no. Are you okay? Do you have a plan, or…?”
Was she going to stay with them even though they were lying? Was she going to leave? Was she going to come back?
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2022 8:31 pm
“I just wanted to talk to you. She’s gone to pack her things…Evan says he knows people…um. I’m going to bring her by his truck sometime tomorrow I think. Get her out before I talk to my brother.”
Ana sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I want to see you again soon though…I missed you. I need a hug, so please get better quickly. And then you can give me a really big one. And we can get ice cream or…or something. I saw a picture of um. Us…with pastries? They looked good. Will you take me there someday?”
She should let him say something…but there were so many questions, and perhaps…an important one. “...Hey, Mal? Um. Who is Zac? I swear to god I thought I was a lesbian…”
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Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:50 am
It would have been so much easier if he could have just said yes, he’d take her to get pastries, and he could give her a hug, and he wanted to be able to tell her everything was going to be okay, but then she asked about Zac, and his stomach twisted.
“What?” he blurted, but tried to catch himself. “What do you mean–I mean, if you fell in love with a girl like, that’s obviously okay, but Zac–you were–”
How much could he say about Zac? Before someone pieced together that maybe he was powered too, and probably not being the most sane about all of this?
“You were dating,” he said, because that was the truth. “He’s been real messed up about how just disappearing. I mean, we’ve all been, but I think he blames himself. You told him everything, so it’s not like he was in the dark about the whole Senshi thing. Please don’t tell the Negaverse. I trust you. But please just be really careful with that information. If they knew that we knew anything about Senshi, they might try to hurt us or get information out of us, and–I don’t want them to get hurt. I don’t want to get hurt. It’s just–it’s scary. I don’t want to scare you, too. You had a life here, and…when you got taken, I know that things changed. But it’s okay, if she wants out, I know Evan can get her help. But please be safe. Are you going to get out too?”
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Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 12:46 pm
“Dating…” Ana wrinkled her nose and clicked back to look at his picture, squinting and willing herself to remember something. Anything.
“...I like his little freckles? What’s he like? Is he nice? I thought about sending him a message on here too…do you think he’ll answer it? His account is pretty sparse.”
She relaxed into the chair and sighed softly. “...I don’t know. I have to figure some things out…but um. If I do, I hope that you’ll still be my friend?”
It seemed almost silly to ask, since he seemed so eager for her to leave everything she knew but…she had to know. And his answer was important to her.
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Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:13 pm
Oh god, no. Zac was not nice. He was mean, he was a bully, he seemed to resent Malcolm for absolutely no reason–
No, that was the old Zac–Zack.
He’d changed since Cambria came into the picture. He’d been a better person recently, not that he’d seen much of him since then, but…
She said he was a good person. She loved him.
“He doesn’t do the social media thing so much, but um–yeah, he was really good to you. He cares a lot. I don’t know if he’d see the message, I mean–I could tell him to log on, but he’d just want to see you, and–”
His mind was rolling. “I’m glad you messaged me, though. Thank you for that. I’ll still be your friend, no matter what. I’ll be here if you want help figuring anything out, or if you just need someone to support you afterwards. Just tell me before you do anything. I can be there with you, if you want. We could all be there. We’d want to be, to make sure you’re okay.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 4:36 pm
“Well, it might be best not to rip open old wounds then, not until I’ve got my thoughts settled…but I appreciate you so much, Malcolm…you’re my best friend, and I’m sure that you were back then too. Meeting you has been so wonderful, and I’m glad that I got to do it twice in my life.”
Ana paused and glanced towards the door, sighing. “I think she’s coming back now, I’ll talk to you again soon, okay? Love you.”
The words slipped out so naturally that she didn’t really even notice, but it felt nice to say regardless. “Feel better soon, and drink some nice hot soup, for me!”
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Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 6:06 pm
Malcolm’s face turned red and he felt his heart throb from his chest, up his neck, right through his head.
He didn’t think he was her best friend. She’d probably reconsider once she got in touch with all of the others. But, it was nice to think about for now.
She said she loved him. Her voice wasn’t quite like Cambria’s, but the tone was the same, and he felt it. There were tears in his eyes and he felt silly and foolish and happy. Hopeful.
“Yeah, thank you. You too. Call again if you need anything. I’ll keep checking, just in case. Take care of yourself. Keep me updated, if you can. Talk to you soon.”
He didn’t want to say goodbye; the promise of talking to her again soon sounded much better.
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2022 7:19 am
Ana nodded and ended the call, signing when it was over and leaning back in her chair again, hugging the laptop close to herself.
This was going to be fine. They’d work it all out and…everything would turn out well, she was sure of it.
And if not…well.
At least Rosie would end up safe and happy with these guys. That much was easy to figure out.
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