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It was an early summer afternoon, fluffy white clouds drifting through an azure sky as a light breeze wafted across the land. Casey and Ross were taking advantage of the fine weather to do some...gardening in the forest that surrounded their friend Joseph’s mansion. Thin pine trees and thick shrubs grew rebelliously around them, but Casey was focused on shovelling dirt into a long rectangular hole he had just dug. Ross wasn’t exactly admiring the local flora either, staring back through to the mansion as he spoke into a walkie-talkie, tapping his foot impatiently against the emerald green grass.
"Yeah? Okay. We'll be back there soon, Joseph, Casey's just making sure it's hidden. Over." Ross turned to look back at Casey, shovel still in hand. He was looking out somewhere between the trees, clearly having lost interest in hiding the evidence of their earlier work.
"Uh- Ross. There's someone here."
"What?" Ross lifted the walkie-talkie away from his ear, walking over to stand next to Casey, looking in the same direction as him. "Oh shit."
Just as he had said, someone could be seen sitting not too far from their position. They were in a small clearing, sitting on a fallen log and facing the other way. They didn't seem to have spotted the pair, instead staring down at the ground with their head held in their hands. It was hard to make out what they were doing through the leaves and from behind, but if Ross had to guess, they were crying, but maybe they were just lost in thought.
"D'you think they saw us?" Ross asked in a hushed whisper, noticing that Casey had an expression of shock.
"No, don't think so. But- But I recognise them."
"Were they at a party or something? Are they a relative of yours?"
"No. I had a dream like this. I was here with you and someone was sitting not too far away, like now. I think this is important, might’ve been [//////]’s doing."
The walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life, making Ross lift it back up to his ear.
"Is something wrong? You went quiet. Over." Joe stated matter-of-factly, and Ross swallowed nervously.
"Casey's seen someone. They're quite close to our position. He says he's seen this before, but like, in a dream. You know anything about this? Over."
The line went quiet for a minute. "It's not saying anything, but they might be useful. Bring them back here for now, they're a liability either way. We'll meet in the basement. Over."
"Got it. We'll be back soon. Over." Ross shut off the walkie-talkie and turned to Casey. “Joseph said to bring them back. You got your stuff?"
"Always. Want me to do it?" He gestured to the other person with one hand, using the other to open a black leather satchel he had been wearing. Ross nodded in reply, also digging around in his own bag full of supplies before handing him a thin glass bottle filled with a cloudy white liquid.
"Just make sure you don't mess it up. They can't know what's happening. I'll finish burying this for you." Ross took the shovel off of Casey and walked over to a mound of dirt close by while Casey started slinking towards the clearing.
Ross focused on the task at hand, patting down the pile until it was level with the rest of the ground. He then put the shovel down and slowly but surely rolled a nearby log over to cover up the spot. He replanted some flowers and weeds that had been growing on the patch beforehand. When he was done it looked like an untouched bit of nature. By the time he had stood up and brushed the dirt off his expensive grey pants Casey was standing behind him carrying the person he had spotted, who was now lying limply in his arms like a puppet. "Got them. I think they were starting to doze off since they didn't really put up a fight. Let's get back to Joseph and the others before it wears off and they start screaming."
The two started walking back, chatting calmly as they went. Eventually they arrived back at the main house, going directly down to the basement where Joseph and the other members of the Solipsistic Clan were waiting. Rob and Zubin were standing off to the side together, Bora was chatting to Andrew about something, Francesca was leaning against the door frame, and Joseph stood imposingly in the back of the room, Ryan lingering behind him. All of them turned to focus on the two returning members, waving to or greeting them with varying levels of warmth.
“Ross. Casey. Thank you for handling the disposal as always. May we see who you’ve brought in?” Joe stepped forwards, nodding to the person Casey was carrying. He dumped the body in the middle of the floor, pushing them onto their back with his foot and backing up.
“They were sitting on a log, might’ve been sleeping. I don’t think they saw us, they went down easily.”
“Hm. And you said that you dreamed of something similar, no?”
“Yeah. Pretty much exactly the same, it just stopped before I could approach them. Couldn’t tell if it was specifically from [/////] but I feel like that’s the more likely option.”
“Then it seems they were there for a reason.” Joe looked from the person lying limply on the floor to Casey and then to the person again.
“So…” Bora chimed in, tilting his head to get a better look as well. “Should we just sacrifice them now? I mean, we’re all here, we’ve already got everything we might need. It’s not like we can keep them around too long anyways.”
“We already did one yesterday, it might not be as effective if we do them so close together.” Andrew replied, a skeptical look on his face. “It gets particular about when or how we should do things.” The group continued deliberating on the person’s fate while Joe stared off into the shadows, mumbling something under his breath.
“-and the sedatives only last for so long. I don’t see why we couldn’t just deal with them now and use the body if It asks for a ritual we’d need one for.” Zubin had been saying when Joe cleared his throat, making each member turn to look at him in sudden and reverent silence.
“It has spoken. It does not desire another ritual at the moment. It did not say whether this was intentional, however.” At the word ‘this’ he gestured to the body. “We will keep them around for the foreseeable future. It would be good to have something prepared in advance for when It next requests an offering. It would be less of a hassle. That is my final decision. Is this understood?” Joe looked around at his fellow followers, seeing even the ones that objected at first nodding in reply.
“Good. Are any of you able to keep an eye on them in the meantime?”
Francesca moved from her position leaning against the door frame, raising her hand to volunteer herself. “I’m free. Plus I’ve done this plenty of times, it’ll be fine.” She strolled over to the body, picking them up by the arm and manoeuvring them around to carry them bridal-style. “Any bedrooms free?”
“I think the one on the second floor is free. Near the mezzanine.” Rob answered, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt as he spoke.
“Thanks. I’ll go drop them off there.” Francesca nodded at Rob, then the others, and turned around, her heels clicking against the wooden floors as she walked up the stairs and out of the basement. The others slowly followed suit, talking in hushed voices to one another as they left the room and returned to whatever they had been doing beforehand. Casey and Ross both went to their own rooms and washed the lingering stench of dirt and blood off, Zubin Rob and Andrew went out into the gardens to have a discussion, Bora decided to get some reading done, and Ryan went to the mansion’s library, sorting through a box full of letters that had been left unorganised. Joe simply locked himself away in his study, communing with [//////] far away from any potential interference.
Francesca, meanwhile, had arrived at the free guest bedroom, putting the unconscious person on a king-sized bed that took up a fair chunk of the space in the room. Now that she was alone and up close, she could better examine the person she’d be watching over. They had long brown hair that reached past their shoulders in loosely-curled waves and framed their face. Their skin was a sun-tanned shade with freckles scattered across their cheeks and nose bridge. They were dressed relatively casually, just a plain white shirt, long black pants, and matching shoes. When Francesca’s gaze wandered over to the person’s wrist she saw faint, pale, scar-like marks. A feeling of sympathy bubbled up in her, but she quickly pushed it back down. Francesca sighed and stood up, smoothing out her dress and adjusting her gloves. She promptly walked back to the main door, turning to look back before shaking her head.
“Goodness what is wrong with me today?” She muttered as she closed the door behind her, locking it from the outside. “[/////] help me, I cannot be acting like this. Not now.” Quickly, she made her way to her room, stepping out onto the balcony attached to it. The breeze was pleasant enough, and the fresh air definitely seemed to help clear her head. But she still felt the thoughts of the person lingering in the back of her mind.
Come on Francesca, just don’t get attached to this one. How hard can that be?