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“Taggy.” A voice startles Price Tag out of their conversation with Book, Ruby, and Winner.
“Hiya, Fanny!” Ruby cheers, waving at her
“Hey,” she says, just as Price Tag twists around to look at the object who called out their name. A small smile graces the normally grumpy object’s face, but she frowns again when she faces Price Tag. “Taggy, can I talk to you?”
“Sure!” they say, standing up, following the other object.
Fanny leads them to a lone tree in the middle of the clearing, far enough away from the other contestants but close enough for everyone else to hear if either of them needed help.
“Why’d you lead me out here?” a confused look on their face.
“I…” she starts, but a strange wave of emotion washes over her face; Price Tag can’t really tell what Fanny is feeling at the moment.
“Why did you reveal the plan to One?” Price Tag shudders at the amount of venom lacing the other object’s voice at the mention of the Algebralian. “Why did you try to save me?” Fanny asks, looking away from them.
“I told you, I couldn’t let her take you.”
“But you don’t even know me; I was going to get erased anyway!” she protested.
Price Tag is silent for a moment, not knowing how to navigate this conversation.
“Well… uh… I spent some time with Marker in space, and he really, really cares about you and the rest of your pact.” They say with a genuine smile, “Yeah, we barely know each other, but that also doesn’t mean I wanted you to be gone.” Price Tag adds.
At the mention of Marker, the others’ expressions soften considerably. “Of course he would talk about me.”
“Well, it was mostly about Black Hole…” they laugh awkwardly, “but, yeah, I didn't want her to take you. You didn't deserve to go.”
“I- yeah, but you don’t understand. I signed the contract; I signed it without a second thought to get my mouth back. I was desperate and I- I deserved it.”
“But you didn't deserve it!” Price Tag argues, “You didn't deserve to be erased! Especially not after what she did to you!”
At the mention of the torture that everyone saw her go through, Fanny curls in on herself, and Price Tag notices for the first time that Fanny has a scar running through the neck of her base. A constant, painful reminder of One’s actions.
“I’m- I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have-”
“No, it’s okay,” Fanny says, the two falling silent.
Price tag stares at the grass, using their string to rip some out of the ground.
“I- I'm not very good with my words,” Fanny mumbles, her cord tail resting near their leg. “I don’t like- I hate feeling vulnerable.”
Price tag blinks; Fanny is trying to open up to them? “That’s fine,” they say quietly.
“Not when I'm trying to tell someone how I feel.” She rolls her eyes and sighs frustratedly. “It’s easier with the rest of The Pact.”
“Oh, you guys are together, right? That’s what I gathered from how Marker talked about you.”
Fanny nods, “but that’s different. They at least know what I'm trying to get at; we’re basically strangers.”
“We don’t have to be strangers; we can be friends, if you want?” they offer. “Come on, try to say what you were going to tell me!”
“I just said I hate feeling vulnerable, and I'm not good with my words.” She raises an eyebrow.
“Well, I'm sure you can figure it out!”
Fanny groans, “You sound just like Tree. He’s always trying to get me to open up.”
Price Tag doesn’t say anything. “I don’t mind sitting here, but I think Book will get worried for me…”
She scoffs, “Do you know how hard it was to get the rest of the pact off my back just to talk to you? Impossible.”
Price Tag looks around and, sure enough, Black Hole was lingering far enough away to not make it too obvious that he was lurking, but as soon as he noticed that he was spotted, he moved closer back to the hotel.
“I still don’t understand why you decided I was worth protecting,” Fanny grumbled. “I- I don’t hate that you did that, but- air, I'm bad at this.”
“Hey, you’re doing fine! We’re not friends, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care, y’know?”
“I hate that you care about me; you barely even know me.”
“Do I really have to know you to care about you? You were the one who wanted to talk anyway,” Taggy shrugs.
“Dug myself into that one,” she grumbles again, Price Tag feels like Fanny is resisting letting them become her friend. Which is most likely true. “Did you think revealing the plan to One would save me? Like actually?”
“A little, but I mean I had to try something, yeah?”
“I hate that you did that. I hate that you care about me,” she repeats. “I don’t… I guess I don’t hate that you tried. You did more than Snowball in that aspect.”
“Hey! He’s an okay guy once you get to know him!”
Fanny rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I hate you.”
“You don’t really mean that, do you?” Price Tag prods carefully.
She glares at them. “You’re making it really hard, you know.”
Taggy sputters, “You’re the one who wanted to talk! Why are you blaming me?”
“I know, I know. I hate being vulnerable. I hate talking about my feelings!”
“This is a hard conversation to have, then, huh? We don’t have to continue talking about this if you don’t want to.”
Fanny glares at the grass, Price Tag thinks if Fanny stares hard enough, it’ll die before her eyes. There’s something that’s left unsaid between them. Taggy can tell it’s on the tip of her tongue, but she just can’t bring herself to say it.
“I’m a different person than who I was back in BFB, I don't know why this is so hard for me, but I hate it! I hate not being able to say how I feel.”
Price tag hums; they weren’t around in BFB, but they know how awful it was for Book.
“From what Book told me, BFB wasn’t a good time for her.”
Fanny scoffs, “At least she got out of that stupid alliance. It hurt Bubble, and she forgives Match? And goes back to it? I don’t get it.”
“You care about her, huh?”
Fanny blinks, a light dusting of blush on her face, her blades whir to life to cool herself off. “So what? Why do you care? It’s not like I had a chance with her, anyway. Wh- why am I telling you this!?”
“I want to be your friend,” Price Tag smiles.
Fanny glares at them again, but only really half-heartedly. “I hate you. You’re not my friend.”
“I know you don’t mean that, that you hate me.” They prod again. Just in this short conversation, Price Tag can tell that she doesn’t always mean what she says.
The other object scoffs, “I'm not nice to people I don't know or like, if you couldn’t tell.” She says gruffly.
“It’s like talking to a brick wall with you,” Price Tag teases.
“And you’re like a wrecking ball,” she retorts.
“Does that mean you don’t hate me?”
“Don't try to push it.”
It’s quiet between both objects again. Fanny's cord tail thumps at the ground in mild irritation, but she speaks up again, “I deserved whatever fate I had with One. I was stupid enough to make a deal; she had that control over me.” She says, and it looks like Fanny wants to say more, but she can’t make herself do it. Like she’s trying to push through a mental barrier.
Price Tag says nothing this time, only listening as she continues to talk.
“And I don't know, I knew it was going to happen, but I expected her to do it in front of everyone, make it quick. Instead, she wanted to mess with me a bit more. I’d say I deserved it too.”
Taggy frowns, but doesn’t interrupt. Fanny didn’t deserve to be torn apart and ripped in half repeatedly.
“Black Hole told me what she told him, if he ever dared to cross her, then I was gone. He did what he had to do to get Marker out of there safely, but…” She inhales sharply, cutting herself off.
“Hey… you can let it out.” They reassure her, “I don’t think you deserved any of that, not the torture, not getting erased. If I had a say in the matter, I would’ve let her do that to me instead.”
“Wh- what? Taggy, you can’t just say that.”
“Then you can’t say you deserved whatever one did to you.” Price Tag stands up, giving her a stern look. “I’m not going to sit here and let you talk about yourself like that!” They point their string at her for emphasis. “I know you care, Fanny. That’s why you wanted to talk to me.”
Fanny has an unreadable look on her face; it devolves into anger, sadness, and then something else they can’t detect entirely.
“I care about you, too, you know. As you said, we’re not friends, but we can be?”
“I hate that you said that.” She says plainly, voice cracking.
“I know.” They grin
Fanny is glaring at the grass again, and Price Tag thinks they might’ve gone a bit too far, but soon she stands up. Giving them a sad look, “I- listen. I need time, I think. For friendship.”
“That’s fine. Take all the time you need; we don’t have to be friends right away. Or at all!”
Fanny takes a deep breath. “Th-thank you. For… ugh.” She squeezes her eyes shut and then leans into them in some semblance of a hug. “I hate that you were able to read me so quickly.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal. You’re welcome, by the way. For the whole delaying your erasing from existence thing.”
“Whatever. I think Black Hole is getting worried about me,” Fanny squints, and sure enough, the cosmic entity has gone back to pretending he wasn’t slowly making his way over. “He’s an idiot if he was trying to be subtle. "
Price tag laughs, “Yeah, I better get back to Book. See you later?”
Fanny rolls her eyes, but has a small smile on her face. “Sure, see you later.”