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MICHAEL’S HANDS ARE TWITCHING AROUND HIS CIGARETTE AS SHE SPEAKS, and her words are nowhere near as comforting as he wishes they could be. Fucked, yeah, it is: their whole situation, their whole family, has been fucked from day one, and he’d give anything to change that […] but despite everything he’s just said, he can’t help but think of the crisp little note that had appeared on his doorstep. His father’s words (orders). The way he’d dropped everything to follow them (trained too well), pausing only when he caught word his sister had been living close by to the town he’d stopped in overnight.

‘Cause his question lies deeper than that. Could you kill him?—He knows Ollie could. But could she kill the dog? Michael, if he gets sucked into yet another of their father’s schemes; would she put him out of his misery, kill him before he had the chance to do more damage? His time after Ollie’s escape had brought pain and death to so many: Michael suffocates in his dreams under the intensity of their hatred for him. Ollie can kill her father. Could she kill her brother?

Lucky it won’t come down to that, yeah? Michael isn’t stepping out of his father’s plan alive: or, at least, not as himself.

The cigarette flares to life, finally, and Michael shoves it into his mouth, offering her a lopsided sad little grin and a cig in his free hand. “Thought you’d say that. Hoped you’d say that. ‘S gotta be one of us that can do it.” Keeps his mouth very carefully shut about his own feelings on the matter. Instead, he pinches the cigarette between his teeth and reaches into his pocket, pulling out the note from his doorstep less than forty eight hours ago. Hands it over to her, sharp blue eyes scanning her face. A request to go to the Circus Baby location, work a week’s shift until ‘further instruction’. It reads like a trap, but he wants to know her thoughts. Misses having her to bounce ideas off of.

“What do you think about this? Creepy as hell, by the way, that he delivered this to me.” In an attempt to lighten the mood, Michael laughs weakly. “I moved two states out and changed my name without telling him. He really is always watching, huh.”

@runeians: " if you have to kill him - could you ? " [ from my multimuse @runeians - from MICHAEL ! ]

fear street pt 2 starters / accepting

"Shit," she says immediately in response to the question, caught a bit off guard. Sitting up a bit more, Ollie leans forward a little. Brow furrowed a little bit as she considers it. She...had some suspicions, before she left, about what was really going on. But hearing it laid out like this, it is a lot, each piece of new information stacking on top one another.

She had cared for her father, at some point. Maybe some part of her still does. But as she had gotten older, things had become more strained, and then when she left...well, she knew something was wrong, but now she realizes how deeply fucked everything was.

"I don't know," she admits before considering it some more. She thinks she can set aside any personal connection to her father. It's more about if she thinks she could kill someone. But she's been in some pretty messy and dangerous situations, and she thinks about how she's felt in those situations. When things really come down to it what she would do. Her voice is a little quieter when she continues, "I think so, probably."

IS IT ANY WONDER HE’D TAKEN ONE LOOK AT HIS SISTER AND DECIDED IMMEDIATELY THAT SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING ? There’s really no other option: other than binge - watching whatever shitty shows he can find on TV, the only person he has is Ollie, and staring at her now, it seems he barely even has her either. She’s not who he remembers. Maybe he’s remembering wrong ?

But he doesn’t think so. He’s certain something isn’t right; certain something has changed, and not for the better. He’s gazing at her now, an unusually hard look in his eye though it’s aimed at anyone but her. “ Oh yeah ? ” he says, though it comes out more abrasive than he means it. Wincing at his own idiocy, Michael starts over: “ I mean, that’s good. Obviously. But Jesus, Ollie, you look like death warmed up. And coming from me, that’s saying something. ” Decaying appearance hidden under layers of clothing, he doesn’t feel the need to cover up what little of him is visible when it’s only Ollie here. It serves as reminder of what their father is willing to sacrifice for his plans, beyond their shitty childhoods, beyond the horrendous upbringing. Serves as a promise neither of them will ever get mixed up in their dad’s shit again, right? It doesn’t even cross his mind that she would be forced into exactly that.

He’s tackling this all wrong. She’s always been stubborn, and clashing with her over this isn’t going to help anything. Mike sighs, shoulders slouching a little mulishly. He’s never been great at putting thoughts and feelings into words, and though the urge to snap at and fuss over her until she told him what was bothering her is strong, it’ll get him nowhere. So he switches gears, tries to go for a less confrontational approach:

“ How’s the band doing anyway? I feel like it’s been months since you spoke about them. Anything fun happening ? ” A quiet pry into her life as subtly as he can. Hey, at least he has a solid alibi for his questioning — other than heading out for essentials, Mike can’t remember the last time he’d left his apartment. Easier to be a living corpse when you don’t go outside. “ Give me something new. ”

@bitterborne: “You look like you haven’t slept in days.” [for glitchtrap verse 👀?!] protective prompts / accepting

Of course she hasn't told him what happened. How she's now been split in half between who she is and the loyal daughter. It seems the one united front between both sides is not wanting him to know. He wouldn't understand, he'd just try to stop it. Her and their father need time to show their work to Michael first. She doesn't want him to get caught in this, doesn't want him to end up like her. Is what's happening to her really so bad?

At least she has her old habits and reputations to use as excuses for her more strange behavior. Easy to claim she'd been out partying all night when she'd really been working. Easy to dismiss any strange behavior as just her typical strange behavior or the sort of erratic decisions she used to make before. If anything, sometimes she seems better than ever. Other times...well she seemed like a wreck. Right now she's somewhere between the two.

"What? Like that's rare for me?" She tries to seem casual about it, letting out a chuckle. "Been a string of cool shows recently, some of those bands were crazy good." She doesn't remember the last time she got to see or play at a show. She's past that now, time to grow up.