OFFSCREEN POST
THE END OF THE MYSTERY NEIGHBOR ARC & UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES
Occurred On: 7/31/2024
Never before had anyone seen the young girl so very visibly furious, with fists clenched at her sides and lips curled into a sharp frown. If looks could kill, then she would have made a wasteland of Mesagoza by now.
Twelve hours. That’s how long they held her there. Twelve hours of her time wasted on diagnostic tests that yielded no results and only served to stump the doctors more. Nothing was gained in the twelve hours under hospital care. But you know what was lost?
Time. Precious time.
The blue-haired girl scowled as she turned the knob. What the doctors and nurses would never find was that there were no underlying medical issues behind the event. There was no disease, there were no conditions, there was no head trauma or anything of the sort.
This was not a medical anomaly.
This was the result of a psychic attack.
Someone in this school tried to kill her.
She flung her door open. The most obvious suspect here would have been her idiotic brother. After all, the two of them had been arguing at that moment. But both she and her mother were quick to dismiss the theory. He was too weak for a psychic attack of that caliber, and a quick glimpse into his mind showed that he was innocent as can be. Barcelona, her Hatterene, was immediately placed under Mother’s scrutiny, but she too had nothing to do with the incident.
Which leads to the most terrifying realization of all:
Someone else in this school was psychic. Perhaps one as powerful as herself. And they’ve been hiding themselves amongst the student body, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
The girl cracked her knuckles. She closed her eyes and let the cacophony of voices filter into her mind.
She loved a good hunt.
The click of a cane echoed down the hall as another girl rounded the end of the otherwise empty corridor of the dorm wing-- being accompanied by a Maschiff in a service vest.
Esper had left the nurses office not too long ago, still feeling weak and somewhat sickly but it was at least somewhat better than what it was before where she felt as if her skull was going to rip itself in two and that her eyes were going to melt out of their sockets.
She rubbed her face as she traveled down the hall, cursing the fluorescent lights under her breath before the sound of a door opening down at the end of the corridor caught her attention.
A girl with dark blue hair was exiting the final dorm on the left side of the hall. The same side her own dorm was on. Her "mystery neighbor."
Esper blinked as her steps slowed down, getting closer and closer to her own dorm's door, unsure on whether to greet the other girl or not... Especially since the neighbor looked familiar yet she couldn't quite place why. And the girl seemed quite... angry.
Was it really hunting if the prey came to you?
At first, the blue-haired girl hadn’t noticed the other girl approaching her. At least, not in the traditional way one would notice her. It wasn’t the clicking of the cane or the echoing footsteps that had caught her attention, no.
It was the nagging at her mind— a sudden chill creeping up every bone in her spine, like a horde of snakes slithering to her head.
Rubbing her temples, she turned to look down the hall, only to lock eyes with the stranger down the hall.
The feeling only intensified the closer she approached. Ekans rattles hissed in her brain, a warning of impending danger to come. Every fiber of her being screamed out in alarm over this one insignificant little girl.
She’d recognized this feeling. But never before had she felt it so strongly.
Her lips curled into a snarl.
How nice of her assailant to present herself so easily. Like a gift at her doorstep.
“You!” Without warning, the young girl snatched the other by the hair and pulled her into her room in a blur as Esper yelped— reaching her other hand to grip at her roots and slamming her head against the wall.
The door slammed closed behind them seemingly on its own.
"FUCK—” If Esper’s head wasn't pounding before it certainly was now as tears began to build at the corners of her eyes, the strain of the other girl's hand in her hair felt as if she were about to be scalped. Her cane clattered to the floor, having fallen out of her grip as she had been yanked into the dorm room.
"WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING ISSUE??" Esper shouted, her hands shooting up to make a grab at the wrists of the girl who currently had her pinned to a wall.
(There was a quiet, little scratching at the door. A polite little knock if you will. The Maschiff was left outside.)
“Don’t play dumb with me!” she spat, seizing Esper’s hands and pushing her harder into the wall. The girl’s nails dug into her skin like the claws of a wretched beast. Bared teeth and wild eyes, she hissed out, “Projecting your insipid little Espurr into our brains— I should have known it was more than just a coincidence.”
"OW OW OW–" Esper winced, letting out a hiss of pain, "What are you fucking talking about????"
Is this other girl having a psychotic break????? What??????
“Enough pretending!” The girl in question pulled Esper’s head back slightly just to slam it back again. “I can sense your psionic energy, Psychic.”
"FUCKING. OW." The white haired girl grunted, taking note that her face is absolutely going to be bruised tomorrow as a dull throbbing made itself known beneath her skin.
This blue chick has got to have lost it. What the actual fuck.
"I'm not psychic–!" Esper argued with a snarl, "What the fuck makes you think I'm psychic–?!"
The girl in question let out a dark chuckle, bordering on the laugh of a villain. “Oh, Esper Hargrove, don’t you know?”
She pulled the girl by the roots of her hair and tossed her into the other wall, allowing her to be face to face with her attempted murderer. With a snap of her fingers, the girl’s limbs flew to the wall, pinned against the surface by absolutely nothing.
With a sickening grin and her hands clasped behind her back, she leaned forwards and sneered. “Psychics can’t hide from other psychics.”
Okay. Okay. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS HAPPENING.
Everything ached now as she was pinned to the wall much like a Butterfree in an Ariados' web, her eyes rapidly darting across the other girl's face. She recognized that face from the school group chat. From the argument yesterday.
Victoria.
Her assailant.
Who was psychic.
"O– Okay??" She stared at Victoria, her heart rate picking up, "So you're psychic... I'm not though–"
(There was another soft scratch at the door.)
“You literally tried to kill me with a targeted psychic attack,” Victoria deadpanned.
Esper blurted out before she could stop herself, "Oh you've actually lost it."
Victoria slammed her hand right beside the girl’s head, jabbing a finger at her chest with the other. “You’re the one who’s lost it!” she shouted back. “Did you really think you would have gotten away with such a sloppy job? Ha! You couldn’t even kill me right!”
The white haired girl just stared at her incredulously, unable to even begin to understand what the hell Victoria was talking about, "I did not try and fucking kill you?! Why would I even want to fucking kill you?!"
“That’s what I’d like to know,” she hissed. “Perhaps you’d gotten so angry over our little argument that you decided to put me in a comatose state? That’d solve your little issue, wouldn’t it?”
"Wha– Huh– Why–" Esper sputtered for a moment, a million thoughts running through her pounding head. Why would she try to kill someone over an argument? She'd like to think she's more sound of mind than that of all things. And she wouldn't even be capable of that so why does Victoria think she–?
She was tired of this.
Taking a moment to collect herself, she commanded with a sharp glare, "Put. Me. Down."
Surprisingly, Esper was dropped in an instant.
Victoria looked at her hands as if they had betrayed her. Her wide eyes darted between herself and the girl.
“Compulsion…” she uttered quietly, furrowing her brow at her.
Esper found herself on the ground, leaning slightly against the wall and uttering a quiet, "Thank you.”
"Now, if we're done with your stupid damn accusations–" She rubbed a hand on the sore spot of her face with a grumble, glancing around the dorm as if looking for something, "Where is my cane."
Victoria slowly eyed the girl up and down, inspecting every subtle movement and reading her expression.
After a long, silent moment, she simply lifted her arm and pointed to the corner of the entryway just by the door, where the cane lay. “Pick it up.”
"Yeah. That was the fucking plan." She scathed, moving to drag herself up into a standing position.
The other girl rushed forwards and slammed her hand against the wall directly in front of Esper’s path, blocking her from moving any closer. "Don’t move,” she barked at her. “Pick it up from right where you are.”
Esper’s head snapped to stare Victoria in the eyes with furrowed brows, "And how the fuck do you expect me to do that? Stare at it hard enough that it'll sprout legs and come running on over?"
“Close.”
Victoria thrust her other hand out towards her kitchen. Suddenly, an empty mug burst from one of the cupboards and flew directly into the palm of her hand, which she caught without so much as a glance in its direction.
“Want it so badly that you will it in your direction.”
Okay that was cool I fucking guess.
Esper glanced from the mug in Victoria's hand and then to her cane before making eye contact with Victoria once more, "But I'm not psychic. I very clearly can't do that." She deadpanned.
“Then humor me,” Victoria scathed.
With a roll of her eyes, Esper muttered under her breath as she turned to stare at the cane.
A moment passes. The cane does not move.
"Nothing is happening."
“You need to reach with your mind,” the other girl stated. “It is an extension of yourself.”
"You are just saying words at this point." She grumbled, staring at her mobility aide as it laid at the door. 'Reach with your mind', what the fuck does that even mean?
A moment passes. And then another. And then another. Until suddenly-- the cane twitched.
With a squint, she began to speak, "Wh–" Only to swiftly be cut off by her cane suddenly rocketing towards her, slamming directly into her face with a metallic thud that rang out through the dorm and sending her tumbling to the ground. She gripped her face, painful tears welling up in her eyes as her cane clattered to the ground next to her.
"Did–" She sputtered, her face aching too much for her to formulate her thoughts properly outside of, "Did you just– fu– fucking throw my cane at me???"
Victoria hadn’t even flinched. “No. You threw it at yourself. Good job, by the way.”
"And I'm just--" Esper slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, squinting at Victoria as she held her head, "Meant to take that at face value? I'm– I'm just meant to trust your word?? How do I know you're not trying to gaslight me so you don't have to admit you were wrong–?"
The other girl rubbed the bridge of her nose with a deeply annoyed sigh. “Have there ever been… any occurrences in your life of the inexplicable variety? Events of which you could not explain by any logical means?”
The girl on the floor didn’t speak for a moment. "...Possibly."
“Items moving of their own will, objects appearing exactly when you need them, knowing information you realistically should not know?”
Esper sat there quietly for a moment, clearly in thought, before quietly muttering, "Sometimes."
No. No. This is all bullshit. It has to be.
Victoria shook her head, “I’m afraid it’s not, Hargrove.”
A deep sense of dread seeped into her bones as she felt her blood pumping in her veins, "Okay. Okay. Fine. I'll humor you. If this isn't bullshit then why would it've taken me so long to learn about this? None of my family are psychic, isn't that meant to be genetic or something?"
There was a long pause as the young girl standing above her quietly scanned her face, searching for something in her eyes.
Her hardened expression seemed to relax ever so slightly. Just for a moment.
“You really are all alone in this, aren’t you?”
"I–" The girl’s voice faltered for a moment, glancing away as she continued, "I guess I am. If this is all real. Then yeah. Yeah I am."
Victoria squeezed her eyes shut with another deep sigh. “How do you feel your parents would react if you told them?”
A spike of anxiety shot through Esper, "I... I don't... know about my Mum. She never talks about any of this stuff or her opinions on it... But my Da..."
She trailed off, fiddling with the end of her braid in her hands before slowly continuing, "My Da has voiced his... displeasure... about Psychics and such things in that vein.... I don't think it'd go well...."
The other girl rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers, displeased. “So essentially, your options for safe council on the matter are extremely limited.”
"...I'd say so, yeah." Esper mumbled.
(There was yet another scratch at the door.)
Esper glanced towards it, "Uh. Can you let my service Pokemon in...? She was just kinda left... out there...."
Victoria glanced at the door for a moment, which then gently opened on its own to reveal the most polite looking Maschiff standing outside.
The Maschiff did not wait to be beckoned in, instead immediately stepping inside and trotting over to her handler with utmost haste and gently placing her head upon Esper's leg. The girl seemed to relax ever so slightly, taking to quietly petting the Pokemon for a moment.
The blue-haired girl turned back to Esper on the floor. “So you… genuinely had no clue you were psychic.” She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “For fourteen years.”
Esper turned her gaze up towards the heiress, "If I had known we wouldn't be in this situation now would w–WAIT I PUT YOU INTO A COMA????"
The canine Pokemon simply blinked at her handler's sudden uptick in anxiety, shoving her nose under the girl's hand to prompt her to keep petting.
“You shut off all non-vital neural functionality in my brain,” Victoria responded matter-of-factly. “Which is why I am questioning you over it, because that is an incredibly difficult and highly advanced thing to do.”
She stared at Victoria in silent horror for several seconds before sputtering out, "I'm sorry??? Both– Both in the sense of WHAT and also in the sense of I am so sorry I did that..."
She did that?? How did she do that??? What???? How?????
Esper felt sick. Not the same kind of sick as yesterday after the argument when she had suddenly gotten the bloody nose like she always does when she's highly stressed like when her window shattered and apparently so did Victoria's from what she heard–
Something clicked.
"The nosebleeds."
The other girl blanked. “What about them?”
"I– I get nosebleeds when I'm really stressed and I typically feel really tired and sick after– I felt like that yesterday shortly after the argument in the group chat," Esper rambled, waving her free hand around as she spoke, "I felt like that after the storm that knocked out the power– well not as sick as yesterday or today– but the nosebleed I got that time was shortly after my window shattered... I... don't think the storm shattered my window."
“Hm.” Victoria tapped her foot and raised an eyebrow. Her tone of voice was ever so slightly lighter than before. “So you’re the one I should demand financial compensation from for my shattered window.”
"I don't think I can– uh–," Esper gave a nervous smile as she spoke, "Do you take food as compensation...?"
“I believe that would be culinary compensation, not financial.” With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the topic and continued, “That aside, this is clearly indicative of a much larger issue at hand: ticking time bomb that you are at the moment, you cannot be left running around without some degree of psychic training.”
Ticking... time bomb....?
"Training?" She blinked, tilting her head as she thought it over. She supposed it made sense seeing as what she's done so far by accident. Getting it under control would be important...
"That makes sense, yeah..."
“It may also be in our best interest to notify my brother, since he can also assist you in my absence. Though regardless, I will have to tell my family about you, seeing as you did put me into a coma.” Seeing Esper’s expression, she quickly added, “I will explain your situation to them and they will sympathize. They can assist with your training and provide mentorship where I cannot. So, in truth, it’s a matter of whether you want to be the one to tell my brother, or shall I?”
Esper let out a breath as she thought it over, steadily petting her Maschiff as she thought it over.
"Can… can you tell him..." She muttered, "I don't think I can really do it myself yet. I don't think I'm ready."
“Of course,” Victoria nodded. With a tilt of her head, she noted, “You seem to be taking all of this remarkably well.”
"It's either I pretend to be okay right now and cry in my dorm later or cry right now in front of you and I don't think either of us are comfortable about that second option."
“Good call. Please do so quietly when you get to your dorm.”
"Am I going to get another note if I cry too loud?"
Victoria hummed in response. “I’ll do you one better.” Hargrove’s phone levitated into her hand, which she swiftly unlocked and input something into it. She handed it back to her and said, “I’ll send you a message.”
Esper blinked down at her phone, "Oh. Yeah, I think that'll work a bit better than you having to send something via messenger Pidove."
Scene End.
Victoria belongs to @jaimemes !
