// Itz time! Wish ah could use the 'z' in my writin' butz... makez it harder for peeps to read it. Sighz. //
(( sup? ))
[ A passing conversation on the street between two kids. ]
"Didn't you hear..?" "What- what- seriously- why do you always get to know everything before me?"
"Because I actually talk to people." "...okay, asshole. Seriously- what?"
"There's this... you know Jacyn, right?"
"The guy who got adopted by a billionare's son? Duh."
"...people have been saying he hurts people. Kids have been- they've been vanishing. Some people think it's him. There's been no correlation...but... Mandy said she saw him down the street the same day-"
"...that's ridiculous." "Yeah, maybe- but... I don't know. I know I haven't seen Sam in ages ever since those rumours started."
[ The conversation fades. ]
----
Those kinds of convos were repeated way too much in the past few weeks.
Bozz was the chill kinda guy. He didn't care much if his friends were all bloody insane or losin' it. Nah. He did his own thing, and as long as his peeps were safe? Anything was worth it. But Ash had been bloody odd the last few days. Always vanishin' into nowhere. Makin' Bozz think he was one of the missin' kids.
He knows what Ash is like. Alwayz sneakin' off. Investigatin'. And Boss had a feelin' about who Ash was lookin' into.
And he didn't like it one bit.
It was reckless, even by Bozz's standards. And when he found the note Ash had left him? Yeah. Bloody reckless.
----
[ The conversations had repeated. ]
[ When things repeat enough, they're not coincidences anymore. No. They're not. ]
[ Ash knows better. ]
[ They're patterns. Patterns are everywhere. On the walls. In the sky. Patterns, patterns, a million different patterns. ]
[ Not coincidences. ]
[ He'd seen patterns of creepy men with weird hats, once. Ran to his mama and told her about it. ]
"Don't worry, baby. It's alright. Mama's here. It's just a coincidence. You're going to be safe. No creepy men are gonna get you. Mama's here. She'll protect you." _"Okay, Mama."_
[ Then she was dead on the ground with a hatted man standing over her. ]
[ Then she was dead. ]
[ Coincidences weren't coincidences anymore. ]
[ People didn't understand. They never did. Said he was crazy. Mad. Conspiracy theorist. Jumping the gun. ]
[ He wasn't unstable. He wasn't weird. He just knew to see patterns. Was that so wrong? ]
[People were stupid. People didn't understand. ]
[ Until he met Boss. Boss was weird. Boss had the habit of replacing "s" with "z" and slurring his words when he got excited. But Boss supported him. The kids in Crime Alley- the ones in Boss's self-proclaimed "Dramaz Club!" -they weren't perfect. ]
[ But they were weird. But they liked Ash. They didn't mind he saw patterns nobody else did. They didn't mind that all his "i"s were written like "j". ]
[ They'd been a family. ]
[ And Mandy- sweet, giggly, Mandy- was gone. Sam too. Two kids. In Gotham? That's practically nothing. It's called Crime Alley for a reason. ]
[ Okay, maybe Mandy wasn't the sweetest. But he wasn't either. And then she'd insulted Jacyn. Then she'd followed Jacyn. Then she'd vanished. ]
[ That weird Mimsy kid had vanished too. He didn't get the kid- showed up one day in an oversized hoodie that perfectly matched Jacyn. Patterns. Patterns. A frayed thread there, a spot there. ]
[ The kid had run off. Spouted nonsense. Dressed up as this white haired kid. Argued with Jacyn- and vanished. ]
[ People kept disappearing after insulting Jacyn. Couldn't anybody else see the pattern? ]
"No proof," [ Boss had dared to say. Like he wasn't suspicious of that creep either. ]
[ Mandy was gone. Wasn't Boss supposed to get it? Supposed to understand? ]
[ Ash saw patterns. Not coincidences. ]
[ He didn't know how Jacyn was doing this. But he didn't know how the creepy man had gotten into his house and gotten his mama either. So it didn't matter. ]
[ So Ash snuck after Jacyn with a knife. It was fine. Ash needed to protect his family. Avenge Mandy. Sam. Everyone. ]
[ He already left Boss a note anyway. So it would be fine. ]
boss. jm gonna fjnally get that creep. too many. too many. j see jt. the pattern. jts rjght there. j just got to kjll hjm. don't worry. j can do thjs. and jf j cant we'll have evjdence agajnst hjm. just get my body.
love ya.
( @drama-club-for-roles )
It hungered.
It was not Jacyn.
It was very aware of that.
It was not Mimsy.
It was very aware of that.
Well, it supposed it could be Mimsy. Mimsy was something different. An amalgamation of different features tweaked into something 'new'.
'Mimsy' was an identity created for it, by it.
It mattered not, it supposed. Mimsy was still not it. Mimsy was an approximation of a human, something to use while it observed the people around it.
Humans got angry. Humans taunted. Mimsy was so very smug.
It was not Mimsy.
There was someone following it.
Ash. They knew that one. Mimsy had gotten close to it.
Ash was trying to kill 'Jacyn'. As expected.
Targetting Mandy meant that Ash would come, and Boss soon after.
They deemed themselves the 'Dramaz Club', but did not seem to have any particular importance in human society.
Young left alone to die of starvation in the streets.
Forgettable. The young would not be searched for by their elders.
It pauses in an alley. Turns around. Its vocal chords shift as Jacyn's voice comes out of its mouth.
"Who are ya. Ya- ya ain't stalkin' me. Ah know ya there!"
It does not take risks.
( @drama-club-for-roles )
