Dialogue practice for my Minor Paironormal Carnival story that I’ve been working on!
For context, this scene takes place a few days after a fight Gurdy had with Owlesque, where she completely tore into him and said that he only tries to help the other monsters out because he’s guilty about being happy.
He was standing at the ledge of one of the carnival’s wooden walkways, facing the endless expanse of murky beyond. He was staring at the menagerie of strange objects that orbited around the carnival.
It had been days now since she fought with Owlesque. She remembered the days after that, the piercing, scathing glare he gave her every time they walked past one another. Sure, Owlesque’s eye has always been a bit creepy, but his kindness made it a lot easier to see past that.
But all she saw in his eye now was hatred. And she couldn’t deny that it was terrifying.
He turned around, his surprised expression immediately dropping into the glare she had become accustomed to. He didn’t answer her. Simply turning back around and continuing to stare at the beyond.
Gurdy slowly walked up to him, taking a seat next to him. She looked at him. He still didn’t return her gaze.
Upon hearing this, Owlesque finally turned towards her.
“You have to stop doing this.”
“Doing what?” Gurdy immediately regretted saying that. She could see the frustration on Owlesque’s face.
“You know exactly what you’re doing. You hurt people and apologize like all the shit you did suddenly doesn’t matter. And then you do it again! Your apologies are empty. They’re just an excuse to make you feel better about yourself before you lash out all over again.”
Gurdy was silent. Owlesque paused, his gaze returning to the expanse in front of him.
“And you managed to find the one thing that I hide from others! It’s like you want to dig up all of our deepest insecurities and drive a stake into our self-esteem.”
His piercing gaze returned to Gurdy once again.
“And the worst part is that you’re right! I do feel guilty about being happy! How am I not supposed to be guilty when so many of my friends are struggling?”
Owlesque paused. “And I know you’re struggling, but there has to be a better way than this. Does making everyone miserable truly make you feel better about yourself?
Out of everyone in the carnival, Gurdy never would’ve expected such scathing words to come from Owlesque.
“No.” She responded quietly.
“Then why do you keep doing it?”
Gurdy tried to think of a reply. She couldn’t tell Owlesque the complete truth, yet nothing else came to her mind.
“I know why.” He continued before she had a chance to truly think. “You’re guilty. You’re deeply guilty about trapping the bugs, but you’re too afraid of blindness to let them go. You realized that lashing out at others is easier than learning to cope with your guilt. You’ve built so many walls around yourself that you’ve become a new monster entirely. That’s why you keep doing this.”
“I-“ Gurdy was shocked. Owlesque just said everything she had been hiding from everyone all this time.
“H-how did you know that?”
“I’m the Hoax Paironormal. I know a hoax when I see one.”
Owlesque turned away once again, simply staring back into the beyond. Gurdy was silent, simply staring at her shaking claws.
He was right. He was completely right about everything.
Somehow, she had managed to completely obliterate the kindness and patience of the most caring Paironormal of them all.
God, she really was awful.
