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He was walking through an abandoned, dilapidated apartment. The wooden boards were wet from leaks or just the very ceiling being gone.
The Eyes had wanted him to search for children. They would help strengthen its power. Or give it its power. He wasn’t really sure, but he had to do his mission.
Creating Static Children was like eating souls. But he found it to be gentler. It didn’t seem so bad if he thought of it that way. He only had to split the child and their essence of innocence, or whatever children had that monsters didn’t. He wondered if The Eyes ever did that to him. But he found no Static Children that looked like him. He was long gone. If he was ever truly here. Maybe it was always The Thin Man. The time between the two was long, but Mono and The Thin Man were the only ones to meet. Or realize.. something. He wasn’t completely sure of what. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows he knows everything. But despite all this time he has, he never thinks about it to know. His head seems fuzzy, if the transmission jokes could be taken seriously. The Eyes kept him sedated, he knew that. But he also knew that he could fight back. Think about what was wedged in the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure who wedged it there, The Eyes or himself. Mono, or him.
He continued walking through the rooms, finding nothing interesting. He went through another door and heard static. A very light, somewhat far away static. He turned to the left of the door he had just walked through.
Static Six was there.
That was the name he had taken to calling her. He was fairly certain she wasn’t a figment of his imagination. She was real.
He wasn’t sure what triggered her to arrive. Whether he was thinking about Six, or her betrayal, The Eyes, Pale City, or even Static Six herself. Or if he was outside, in a monorail, apartment, kitchen. None of it seemed to matter.
She would make herself at home immediately. But she never let him get close. She must know that if he touches her, she dies. Technically, really, she’d be transferred into the transmission.
He felt as though on some level he should be saddened by that. But he wasn’t. He was perfectly fine with it. He had no desire to make her disappear and would keep to himself. He would interact with her if she interacted first. Like her pointing at something so he could open it. She couldn’t actually touch anything.
It felt like she was a ghost almost.
…
She might be.
She ran to the chair facing the TV and glitched on top of it to jump on it. It was surprisingly springy, and he could hear each jump while he was facing the windows.
The rain fell normally when she was here. He thought that she might be special enough to strengthen or weaken it, he guessed. As if they could be enough to stop it. Nothing could stop the rain. He wondered where it came from, if all the clouds in this world just knew to come here, or if the sea surrounding this place was the perfect temperature for rain. He always wondered this, but he was perfectly fine with not knowing. He was perfectly fine with not knowing.
He never actually knew what happened to her now that he thought about it. But she was self-reliant. And that might be what you need to survive in this world.
Well, not necessarily he supposed. He might just be a special case. Him and The Eyes had some type of agreement, or truce. He wasn’t sure what it was. Could a truce be made if one party didn’t agree or even know about it? He wasn’t sure.
It didn’t matter much now though.
Static Six had stopped jumping on the cushion and motioned towards the door. She was ready to leave this room now. He opened it and saw her glitch through. She could not actually be stopped by a door, so it was nice that she still wanted to wait for him.
She still liked music boxes.
There was no reason for her not to, but it was still something of note to him.
She’d follow him around for a bit, then want him to take her to the room with the music box. It truly was just a random room with scattered objects, one of which just so happened to be a music box. She could very well do this by herself, but it was nice how she wanted him to be there for it. Though he did need to be there to turn it to get it to play. He’d entertain her, and stand or sit patiently while he’d play it himself. She’d sit or lay down. She didn’t need to sleep, but the illusion was enough for her. Eventually he’d stop, getting out of his own head with music notes fading away into the static. She’d get up too, following him out. She’d stick around for a bit, then leave. They both liked the company. He didn’t know where she went off to, but she always came back. And the routine followed, with each one following the other.
But this time she did a hat-tipping motion.
She wanted a hat-ride.
He took off his hat and rested it on the table she had gotten onto. She had climbed in. While they both couldn’t touch specific things, they found a way to make it work.
He carried her out of the room, Static Six liking the feeling of being high and mighty.
She especially liked it whenever they’d run into Viewers. He found it a bit morbid, but he supposed he’d meet them all again. Whenever a Viewer got too aggressively close to him they’d simply disappear. Their flesh would be used by The Eyes, leaving their clothes behind.
He continued walking, nothing of note. Nothing of note.
Until he heard a group of Viewers screeching. They must have caught something.
A child, preferably. And undoubtedly. There was nothing else they’d catch, to be fair.
Sure enough, the handful of viewers were hovering over a child in a white sheet. He seemed to be holding onto something. A rat, perhaps?
The Viewers’ screeching sounded even more awful up close, but it was one of the only noises he could hear clearly. It reminded him of the Eyes, even if when they gave him instructions it sounded like the exact opposite.
Static Six was jumping and pointing in his hat, clearly wanting to stop The Viewers.
He started walking, getting closer until The Viewers turned around, running to them as if he were a TV then disappearing.
The child was still shaking. So it wasn’t dead? A shame, really.
Static Six glitched onto the ledge. If she had a stick she would certainly be poking them both right now. She seemed interested in the rat he was holding. Oh, it was bleeding too.
He tried shooing Static Six away, but she just shooed back. Did she know this child?
The child slowly relaxed from his tense, curled pose. He was too exhausted to react properly when he saw Static Six and him, but he clutched the rat closer to him.
Static Six got up and looked at The Thin Man. What did she want? For the child to be dead or alive? Or was she more interested in the rat?
He decided to spare the child. They were right next to the hospital, after all. The kid didn’t seem to be the stealthiest, but he could probably manage to get some bandages and leave. Was there still a doctor there..?
He wasn’t sure.
He scooped the child and his rat into his hat. The Eyes would scold him for this, but The Viewers had already gotten something out of the child. Not everything, but enough for him to make an excuse. Unless the amount of Viewers killed would make his excuse invalid..
Static Six had tolerated glitching onto tables or shelves to keep up with them. She was oftentimes trying to get onto higher ground to look inside the hat. Once they were outside however, she resorted to teleporting ahead of them to stay underneath boxes or awnings that would keep her “dry”.
He stopped when he saw a cracked window. He opened it fully and poured the little child and rat inside. He seemed to be more responsive, but still dazed. They’d make it.
He began to put his hat back on when he heard loud, screeching, shrill static. She still wanted to be carried in his hat. He knelt down, and she waited impatiently.
When he finally got back up, he saw that the little child and rat were already gone. There was a blood trail however. That’d be a concern, but if they only look for bandages they should be fine.
Static Six looked back, then immediately began pointing back into the apartments.
He was already disobeying The Eyes’ instructions, he’d hoped that she didn’t want him to take her back to the music box room.
She had wanted him to take him back to the music box room. He sighed, setting her down. There had to be some way that she could do this herself.
He wanted to tell her no, but she was already sitting.
Fine, just for a bit.