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A marker swiped back and forth across a whiteboard, leaving behind a clear black trail. It painted out a figure, meant to represent someone that nobody, at the moment, liked in the slightest.
Another marker came in shortly after, and swiped in between those black lines- filling in the empty space with a purplish-blue. Then, Fanny took a step back, stepping on the marker firmly to “hold” it, and stared at the depiction.
“Two, tell us more about what she does.” She asked, but mostly stated. She continued writing on the whiteboard, constantly glancing at the drawing of the algebralien.
Two had finished crying a couple hours ago. With the help of Fanny and Icy, they were able to recover enough mentally to put recognizable strings of words together.
They stared blankly at the board for a moment or two, but inhaled deeply to spill their thoughts.
“Admittedly, it’s been a while… I don’t really remember much about her, but she…” –Two sniffed mid-sentence– “Was kind of rude, to all of us.”
Fanny paused her writing.
“Wait, us? ” She asked.
“Well, uh–”
“There’s other numbers?” Icy said, almost marveling at Two’s implications.
“–Yes, but they’re not here. Well, except for her …”
Fanny continued writing.
“Are you friends with them?”
Two seemed to scrunch up, appearing uncomfortable. They remained silent.
“Two, it’s okay if you are, we’re just trying to get everything right!” Ice Cube reassured, giving a passive smile to them.
“The last time I talked to her was… oh gosh, it’s been forever…” The number said while placing two fingers to their forehead, rubbing their temple in deep thought, “I don’t even remember when it was. I’m sorry, but it’s all just a blur–”
“Two, that’s okay, we don’t need solid evidence. Were you or were you not friends with her?”
“Friends with her. I think. We were on dubious terms, though.”
Fanny wrote some more notes on the whiteboard, standing on one leg for support. Icy leaned against the bed and watched as she covered the white space in notes and scribbles. For someone who only has legs, she surely has a knack for artistic endeavors.
“Dubious terms? Explain.” Fanny probed.
“Um. She wasn’t… exactly the kindest of friends, I’ll tell you that much.” Two looked off to the side, eyebrows angled in such a way that made Icy think they were heavily sugarcoating it.
“Ah… got it.”
Two used a finger to wipe something out of their right eye, which might’ve been a forming tear. They didn’t need to expose any more information to Fanny– it’s probably best not to reveal too much about their past with One. Two closed their eyes and remembered some distinctive emotional punches thrown by her that still had scars, even though they’ve tried their best to heal them.
It was the reason they were so willing to get rid of their power– it was the reason they subconsciously apologised to everything, she was the reason for most of their problems. Two didn’t want to open that can of worms, so they only resorted to answering Fanny’s questions.
The marker squeaked on the surface of the whiteboard, and Two cringed at the sound. Fanny quickly scribbled a small section of the board off to the side, and the squeaks subsided almost instantly.
To Fanny, she was intrigued by Two’s amnesia-like memory, especially recalling how One had told her that she was an “old friend” of Two. Either Two’s mind had blocked out a large portion of One’s existence due to trauma, or they just genuinely had a horrible memory.
“And… what was her personality like?” She asked Two again.
Fanny wanted to get a good idea of the villain they were dealing with before she even began to think of any other plans.
Two fiddled with their hands, appearing somber.
“Two?”
“I don’t… want to keep talking. Sorry.” They said. Two sounded like they were on the verge of tears, so Fanny had to make a decision.
Fanny could keep pressing Two to get more answers out of them, but was that really the most helpful thing she could do right now? As much as it bugged her to have to wait, she accepted that this would be a fairly long process.
“Alright.” She sighed, finished up a few notes and, shortly after, placed the marker down on the whiteboard’s tray. Two sniffed in the background.
“I wonder if Tennis Ball or Golf Ball could help us?” Ice Cube suggested. She stood on her two legs in an assertive kind of way, eyeing the board as well.
“Maybe…”
Two had laid back down on their bed, and continued staring at the board in thought. Fanny noticed this and pensively leaned against a nearby wall, thinking about possible solutions to this conundrum.
They knew currently that One was not to be trusted with anything, and that she clearly had ulterior motives. Additionally, she was scheming to take Two’s power for what seemed to be purely greedy reasons, which is untrustworthy in of itself.
Ice Cube had personal experience with One’s antics, being given new legs when she signed that number’s “deal”. Say, Icy wonders, what even were these deals of One’s? What did she agree to…?
“Two, we will leave you alone for a while, but we need to continue this at some point. We’ll come back in a few hours.”
“Whuh- FEW HOURS?!?!” Icy exclaimed, concerned about continuing the data.
“It’s okay, Ice Cube, the board won’t go anywhere.”
She nodded and glanced at Two, feeling guilty for contributing to their misery.
After a quick, confirming glance at Fanny, she walked out of the room to go talk to some others- or simply wait until they could come back and ask Two some more questions.
Fanny felt a looming determination– but also a sadness. A great, heavy sadness. She never liked forcing others to do what she wanted, but if they were incompetent, then it was justified. As an individual in this game show, she’s made it clear to both herself and the other contestants that she isn’t messing around when it comes to what she believes.
However… Two just wasn’t in the mental state right now to understand how Fanny felt. She felt angry, frustrated, irritated– and all of the other dictionary-bound words that were used to describe “mad”, but she couldn’t help the situation.
She’d never felt so stuck before.
It pained her to feel this way, but from the beginning of this plan, she swore internally up and down that she was going to follow this through from start to finish. Thread all the holes, find all the loops, etc.
Two let out a quiet hiccup of sorts. Or, Fanny started to realize, it was the beginning of restrained crying. She sighed and got up on her feet, furrowing her brows as she always did.
“I’m going to come back later.” Fanny said. She got no response from the integer on the bed.
Before walking out of their room, she took a glance back and saw that Two was holding a photograph of them and Gaty– happily sitting together on the iconic pink couch.
The number suddenly, without warning, ripped the photo into two. They burned the half that included Gaty, throwing the one that included them to the side with a shaking hand.
Then, they proceeded to sob, and Fanny knew it was her time to leave.
She wished she could do more. She eyed an empty bag on the ground, and used a foot to pick it up; she dragged it along with her and silently shut the door with her other foot, making sure it was locked into place.
If she’s unable to help them emotionally, then she can at least help them physically.
The bag had Four and X printed on them in their duo-like nature– complimenting colors and all. Well, they were complimentary, except for the angry One staring back at Fanny on the paper bag.
Admittedly, the fan jumped back a bit and stared with a startled expression.
One rolled her eyes, visibly exasperated, and “popped” out of existence. The regular Four print had been replaced, and the bag was back to normal.
Had she just saved Two from having an unfortunate encounter? How long had she been there watching them? Nevermind, she cautiously scanned the walls for any signs of her , and dropped the bag in a nearby disposal bin.
Now, the hardest part would be to keep this routine up. Interrogate Two, let them rest, wait, look around for any dangers of One, rinse, and repeat.
She just hoped that Ice Cube stayed in the game long enough to gather more valuable information… but Fanny had a dying feeling that Icy wasn't going to stay for much longer.