Lunamor

“I don’t understand why he hates himself. He thinks he’s bad at fighting, although that’s not really true. He kept saying that he was gonna hurt me if he stayed, but I don’t know what that means.” Jenny had quit crying, but tears still brimmed in her eyes. ”This all makes me feel trapped. Stuck. I need to get out.” How cryptic. She winced slightly.

Jenny nodded, eyes still watering. It was hard to feign sadness about Edgar’s decision, so the girl was allowed to bleed through slightly to sell the illusion. This finally sent tears running down her cheeks. Despite literally being trapped inside of her own mind, she somehow still worried about that boy. Jenny was weak. “I wish I could help him. Help. Help is needed. H-“ She choked up, no longer able to speak.

“He said I’d be better off without him. I’m not really sure if that’s actually why he broke up with me, but he just hates himself so much, and I don’t know how to help him, and now I might’ve lost him forever, and-“ Jenny cut off. Tears sprang to her eyes unprompted. It’s too late. ”I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about that.”

“He, um…” Jenny trailed off and paused for a moment. It was a rather long moment, her face blank the entire time. Shut up. ”He broke up with me.” She looked absolutely devastated. The breakup was a very convenient excuse for acting strangely.

An easy question. It had taken quite a bit of insisting to get her to acknowledge the true answer, so the name was familiar. Jenny attempted to look wistful, staring off into the distance with a sad smile. "His name was Johnathan. He was really old and mangy, but was also the sweetest thing. He was a really good cat, I miss him a lot."

Jenny immediately pulled away from his touch, then realized how suspicious that looked. She grit her teeth and let out a hiss of air, pretending that Lucid had touched one of her bruises. It wasn't hard to make that believable- they genuinely stung. It was a wonder nothing had been broken. "Ow."

"Oh, well, I just wanted to see if you were having fun..." Guilt-tripping was always an effective strategy. Jenny made sure to sadden her expression and wilt slightly. The girl was never as good at ignoring hurtful things as she had claimed, particularly when she had gotten her hopes up. She could be easy to pity.

"We really do need to get going." She glanced at Aaron anxiously. "I'm not sure what to do in the meantime..." Jenny's love of asking person questions was rather frustrating. Wait. Books. Lucid loved books. That was a good topic of conversation. "How's your book?"

"Same! The double decker ones are pretty great." That was a guess; burger preferences weren't exactly worth paying attention to. Lucid hardly knew Jenny, though. There was little chance he'd notice mistakes like that.

Jenny couldn't see where Gift had gone. The thing hiding wasn't a good sign. She masked that concern by maintaining her smile. "What's your favorite kind of burger?" A very in-character question. The delivery was a bit off, her voice slightly higher pitched than normal, but it was sufficient. Variances in someone's vocal range weren't uncommon.

Jenny cheerfully waved at Lucid with a smile. That seemed like something she would do. She needed to avoid as much suspicion as possible, and that meant acting like herself. Even if it felt… degrading. Putting up with the girl’s behavior was one thing, but actually acting like her was something entirely different.

Beautiful yellow piranhas swim.

Here’s a Star Wars meme that cracked me up:

Uncertain

Granted. An annoying know-it-all is summoned every time you say something minorly incorrect to correct you, starting each sentence with “Actually…”, a la Oscar from The Office. I wish for a lava lamp.

Roy looked confused. That was annoying, but also a good sign. The full extent of Jenny’s condition was apparently not noticeable. Her general, customary oddness must’ve concealed this different type of oddness. She then noticed that Gift had slithered over to Lucid. That would be a problem. She couldn’t drag Gift away from Lucid or restrain it without drawing too much attention. Lucid would have to be convinced that he was seeing reality incorrectly. That task wasn’t too difficult when you had plenty of practice already, although it was unclear how strong the boy’s mind was. Jenny glanced over at Edgar. The boy had put up far less of a fight than had been expected. He hadn’t even tried to help. That made things easy. The girl hadn’t expected him to abandon her, either. It had left her with old wounds reopened and an opportunity that arrived early. @Wierdo @Weaver of Lies

We must distract them and feign weakness. I have a solution:

Here’s a rusty nail. I have 21 pilots.

Taln. What's the best strategy for dealing with angry hornets?

I haven’t heard of it before. TPBM has watched Community.

Claim it as my own creation and try to get it to catch on. WWYDIYF a crumpled soda can in your pocket?

A small child entered the court and declared that it was time for a recess.

Who’s that guy that loves chicken? Eenie meenie miniee mo.

I’m not a botanist, but what the heck, sure! Don’t let your dreams be dreams! What’s the best submarine color?

I happily accept the deal.