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Lacklan · (09-27-2020)

Sarah Grey-Lacklan scowls as she rushes through the upstairs halls of the Egg. Her hair is starting to frizz from being damp, and she STILL felt like she smelled of garbage. It had been over 90 degrees during the hottest point of the day, a temperature far higher than her albino condition preferred, and the smell from those dumb garbage cans...FULL for another WEEK...had wafted in and permeated every inch of the house. Both floors! How did that make sense?! They were OUTSIDE! After suffering with her for a little while, Kenzi had “conveniently” remembered a “very very VERY important meeting” at the studio and had run out of the house so fast that Sarah couldn’t even get her keys. Apparently, an Uber on a Friday night was perfectly fine for this super duper important meeting. Bah!

Through the family room with it’s couch and television, into the master bedroom, past the shoe vault, and into the adjoining office. Even late in the day, it was far too hot to work in her preferred place, the basement featuring her wrestling gear and library, and so into Kenzi’s office she must go. That office featured quite a bit of tech, with Kenzi’s “home” iPad, a desktop powerful enough to use her video editing software….and her dumb DC Universe Online game...and several reams of paper. Sarah’s eyes cast themselves over the papers, taking in hastily-written notes in Kenzi’s somewhat chaotic hand. Quick ideas for movie and television projects, potential headlines and covers for the Circle TV Magazine, and quite a few “date” ideas for Bad Date, perhaps their favorite show currently on the backburner. Sarah smiles, her mood softening, as she looks over all of Kenzi’s notes. This was the woman she met those years ago, a woman who was scrambling to find enough time in the day for all of her projects. Sarah has been able to impart some of her organizational skills to Kenzi, taught her how to create a mental schedule and calendar, and while all of it didn’t stick, her personal brand of chaos had been significantly lessened in their time together. These days, Kenzi was far more efficient at balancing her time.

Sarah reaches into the pocket of her shorts and pulls out a small watch attached to a chain. The watch, made of a dull platinum, was fashioned with the image of a soaring firebird being clutched by a wolf, the crest of the Grey-Lacklans. Flicking it open, she sees the time and gives a sharp nod. Putting the pocketwatch away, she sits down on the chair in front of Kenzi’s desk and turns on the desktop. After sitting through what felt like an endless array of ads and notifications for the latest update for DCUO...including quite a few DMs from thirsty fedora-wearers who wanted to get to know Kenzi’s Rogue character a bit too much...she finally has a clear screen in front of her. A few button presses later and and the camera flares to life and a Zoom meeting opens up.

Alone in the room at first, Sarah idly looks around the study again. Kenzi’s architectural tastes had never truly developed, as it was something Kenzi never really thought much of, and so Sarah’s had taken precedence when it came to filling the Egg. With straight lines and sharp contrast of monochrome black and white, the majority of the house was a Modernist’s Mecha, and that included the office. Now and again, Sarah had thoughts of radically changing the look, but she enjoyed how-

“VAUGHNEMOUS!”

Sarah starts in her seat as the voice of a choir comes out of the computer’s speaker.

“NO, I WON'T GIVE IN
I WON'T GIVE IN
'TIL I'M VICTORIOUS
AND I WILL DEFEND
I WILL DEFEND”

Sarah turns in her chair, faces the computer, and takes in the image of the person just entering the Zoom meeting. Pale and thin, with long blond hair which falls halfway to the waist of her blue overalls, Angelica Vaughn shines with a layer of sweat much akin to Sarah’s. The smile on her face is wide, showing a row of shining teeth, but there is a distinguishable tone of purple under her blue eyes that no amount of makeup can hide.

“Ang!”

“Sar!”

Sarah leans forward and presses her lips to the screen, while Angie does the same, with the two turning slightly away from one another to simulate kissing on the cheek. They then repeat the action, with their heads turning the opposite direction, to kiss the other cheek.

“How is the heat at the ranch? As bad as it is here?”

Angie takes a deep breath in and blows it out, a strand of golden hair flying away from her face.

“Abs! Well, probs. I bet it’s worse here. It wasn’t very hot, but the humidity, Sis! I can’t breathe!”

“Well, YOU’RE the one that became a hick!”

Angie scowls at yet another reminder by Sarah.

“I totes love it here, tee why vee em! The weather may not be perfect for me, but the animals love it. Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at my animals!”

Sarah stops her eyeroll in mid-roll, and then slowly finishes the roll, making her younger-but-not-smaller sister scowl.

“Animals are dumb, Ang.”

“You have, like, a menagerie.”

“I have pets! Like Baby Lael. And the feral cats...wherever they are. You have farm animals.”

Sarah shivers in her seat over the thought of cows and chickens and bees.

“How’s the ranch? Get all of your…farm chores done this week.”

Angie shakes her head at the derision in Sarah’s voice over farm chores.

“Yes. And chores are good for you, Sis! They totes build character.”

Sarah rolls her eyes again.

“Yeah, like I need more character.”

“You could use some discipline!”

“And you could use some culture.”

“Hey! We have culture in Texas.”

“Ang, Old Mrs Henderson’s Hay Rides down to the Watering Hole isn’t culture, okay? It’s literally just a rickety old wagon with a busted wheel being pulled by a hag that makes Gary look like Fireheart.”

Angie looks away from the camera and mumbles to herself, likely about how Gary was a fine horse, thank you very much, and not everyone can be a purebred Fresian like Sarah’s Sweet 16 birthday present.

“DAY AFTER DAY
LONG FOR AN ANGEL OF SALVATION”

Both of the Lacklan Sisters jump back in their chairs as their respective computers are filled with a clear voice and screaming guitars.

“ORERU HODO NI DAKISHIMETE YO
WHEN WILL YOU COME?”

After recovering, the two girls throw their hands up into the air and bang their heads, blonde and platinum hair waving around. Before them, an Asian man with bright white hair comes onto the screen. With a face seemingly chiseled from stone, the man’s dark eyes stand in contrast to the odd hair coloring.

“Shinji!”

“What are you doing here, Brother?”

On the screen, Shinjiro Nakama simply sits there, his features as solid as the mountain of his nickname, until he gives a small nod.

“I received a Digital Pigeon.”

Sarah’s breath catches in her throat for a second, as it often did when her big brother spoke. His voice was booming, a deep baritone, but whereas both hers and Angies were clear, his was gnarled, as if his throat was a rocky cavern within a mountain. He sounded so much like their father, though with a distinct Japanese accent, that her mind wanted to race and place a mask over his face. Not for the first time, her thoughts go to the past year, to the whirlwind few months where she learned, beyond all reasoning, that while she grew up an only child, she was not the only person with Lacklan blood. Years before her father met her mother, Shinjiro had been gifted to a miko. And a year after she herself was born, Angelica had been gifted to some servant whore.

“...Sar…”

Sarah turns her eyes to the left and sees Angie’s face filled with disapproval. Sarah doesn’t understand how Angie always seemed to know whenever Sarah was thinking of Mary Hightower as some sort of manipulative whore, but she did. Sarah lets out a sigh and whispers “...sorry…” before turning back to the older Japanese sibling.

“Well, welcome! What have you been up to?”

Again, silence greets Sarah’s question until he eventually speaks a few words.

“Decent enough. The matches are beginning again.”

Sarah nods, knowing that was likely all she was getting from him. Being the lead trainer for Xpress Fighting Systems, a fighting club and gym in Tokyo, took up most of Shinji’s time.

“What of you, Taller Sister?”

Sarah’s face turns down into a scowl while Angie’s bends up into a smirk. There were several points of annoyance that Sarah held with her siblings, and height was certainly one of them. Shinjiro had their father’s size, standing at 6’3” and possessing a thick body built for throws and slams, and Angelica’s height was a mixture of their father’s and her mothers, with the blonde close to six feet. Sarah was, as everyone knew from her tag team name alongside with Kenzi, 5’2”, so much shorter than the other two to seem a joke.

“Welllllll”...

Sarah raises an eyebrow at the hesitation in Angie’s voice, but she doesn’t have to wait long.

“...nabs the BEST I’ve ever been.”

Once again, Sarah takes note of the small line of purple under her sister’s eyes, a telltale sign of stress which both of them were known to exhibit.

“Your streak?”

Angie nods her head at Sarah’s prompt.

“How many?”

Shinjiro’s voice booms through the speakers and Angie looks away for a moment.

“Dunno. Six. Seven. FIFTEEN IT’S ALL THE SAME STOP ASKING ME!”

Sarah fights back the urge to laugh over Angie’s sudden burst of excitement. Her sister had been known for outbursts on the verge of comedy, though not in the way she herself was. While Sarah felt that much of her reputation as being somewhat hard to handle was overstated...the result of weak bitches being weak bitches...she understood that her own outbursts were often full of anger. Angie’s were comparatively good natured.

“...sorry…”

Angie takes a deep breath and looks back at the camera.

“...it’s been a rough month.”

Sarah reaches out and lays a hand on the screen, and Angie returns the gesture.

“Been there before, Sis. Remember last year? Seven in a row!’

Angie scowls again.

“Yeah...but you ALSO won twelve in a row right before that! I feel like I haven’t won ANYTHING in ages!”

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure that-”

“DON'T CRY TO ME, IF YOU LOVED ME
YOU WOULD BE HERE WITH ME”

The Lacklan sisters again find themselves recoiling from a sudden blast of music, this time in the form of Amy Lee, though Shinjiro remains as stoic as always.

YOU WANT ME, COME FIND ME
MAKE UP YOUR MIIIIIIIND!

”Elle a une si jolie voix, n’est-ce pas?”

“Mumsie!”

“Ava!”

Angie’s jubulience is markedly less than Sarah’s, but the albino doesn’t notice as she takes in the form now appearing on the Zoom meeting. Wearing a concervative black scarf over her head and obscuring everything but her pale face, Aveline Lacklan seems as sickly as the last time Sarah saw her. With cheekbones so sharp as to seem a skeleton barely covered by skin, and striking green eyes sunken deep into her head, she makes Angie seem fresh as a doe waking on a crisp spring morning.

”Bonjour, mes enfants. Comment allez-vous?”

The Mad Frenchwoman’s thin voice makes her accent seem particularly thick, but neither of the Lacklan Sisters have difficulty understanding her. Sarah was fluent in French, an insistence by her father that, by “grand design,” would prove to be quite fortunate, and Angie’s Canadian heritage offered her enough skill. If Shinjiro understood a word, though, his stoic face did not say either way.

”Comme ci comme ça.”

”Très bien!”

Shinjiro merely grunts.

“What brings you here, Mumsie?”

The woman in the scarf smiles wide, her mouth pulling tight in a rictus fashion to seem a jack-o-lantern.

“Your brother, oui? He told me about zee computer meeting.”

“And he found out from me!”

“Mayhaps we should make this a regular thing?”

“That would be totes coolio, Sar-Sar!”

Shinjiro merely grunts.

“Tell me, children! What are we speaking of? Allez, allez!”

Sarah offers a small smile at Ava’s excitement. She was having one of her “good” days, apparently, which meant she was taking her medication. Great thing to see!

“How our weeks have gone. Angie’s on a losing streak-”

“SIGH”

“...we have all been zere before, Angelica, oui?”

“-Shinji’s students are about to get back to work-”

Shinjiro merely grunts.

“-and I’ve been getting my BUTT kicked on a media blitz for the XWF.”

“I know! I saw you on Jeopardy!”

“What is zis?”

Sarah nods at Ava while she smiles at Angie.

“Yeah! First I was on Ellen...it was a super duper show-”

”...les lesbiennes sont les pires…”

“-which included me getting to sing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers-”

“...you were a little pitchy…”

“-and then I got the girls together and we all went on the Price is Right-”

Shinjiro merely grunts.

“...sorry we didn’t fly you in, Shinji! It was short notice.”

“-and then BLAM! Jeopardy! It’s been a long week, and I have more booked for next week, which includes-”

“Oh EM GEE, SPOILER ALERT! LALALALALA THEY CAN’T HEAR YOU”

“-and I’ve got a spot open for you, too!”

“Zat sounds wonderful, ma fille. I will be zere! Now tell me, what is zis match of yours? Do you fight a strapping young man? Do you fight a warrior of ze Light? Do you fight an infidel?”

In response, Sarah rolls her eyes hard enough for them to a hurt on the inside of her skull.

“Just some jobber that lucked into the match, that's all.”

“Sar-Sar, that's not very nice!”

Sarah turns her eyes to Angie and sees a face full of indignation and she fights the desire to again roll her eyes.

“Just calling it like it is, Sis”

Angie lets out a loud “TSK!” and wags her finger at the screen.

“It's not very smart to call someone a jobber, Sar, or any other mean word you like to use. You don't call people losers! Everyone in this business wants to win, and wanting to win is just important as actually winning!”

Sarah gives in and rolls her eyes this time.

“I've been listening to your ‘everything and everyone has worth!’ nonsense for three years now. Just because you think something is true doesn't actually make it true!”

Angie turns her eyes away from the screen for a second before looking back.

“I’m the last person to second guess your promo style, or how you approach your matches, but I tabs wish you didn't treat people that way. Anyone can win any match at any time! We both have seen it happen. All four of us have seen it! All five, if you count Kenzi. We've seen people who have never won a match do better than they ever have and get their first win! No one expected them to, but everyone gets their first. And I imagine this guy you’re facing has won plenty of matches and is totes going to win plenty more afterward. And if you underestimate him, that next win may be for your championship.”

She looks down at her hands off screen for a second.

“It wouldn't be the first time that you lost a championship because you underestimated somebody, now would it?”

Angie looks back up and her eyes are full of fire. Tired they may be, but the “Lacklanlander Blue” eyes of Angie Vaughn had as much fire and intensity as Sarah’s own. Sarah had, indeed, lost two championships to her sister, and while the second was full of love and pride, the first had been exactly because of what she was warning her about now: She had underestimated Angie and suffered the consequences.

“I know, I know. But this is a little different, okay? The way this guy has prepared for this match over the last week is completely opposite to how I have. While I’ve been aggressive, edgy, creative, and determined, he’s spent the majority of his time either doing nothing or only reaching half mast, as it were. Like, the other day? He’s all over the place bragging about how he couldn’t wait for me to show my face, right? Because he had this killshot in the chamber, right? So, he fires it, right? And...well...I bet he wishes he could have his little sermon back! It was BAD, Sis. Just a giant flop to the ground, face-first, with nothing to show for it but a mouthful of dirt. The way he was going off, I was expecting the BEST he had to offer, and if that WAS the best, then he’s definitely better off getting into arguments with unemployed hobos or getting clowned online by Kenzi and James Raven than actually contesting against me.”

Angie gives her a flat look.

“Well, to be fair, what you think is ‘bad’ may actually be totes good to someone else. You have some pretty impossible to reach standards.”

Sarah begrudgingly nods in agreement.

“And I bet Shinji agrees with me. Huh, Bro?”

The sisters look over to their older brother and wait. And wait. And wait. And eventually the mountainous man gives a shrug of his large shoulders.

”Yes and no.”

They patiently wait for him to eventually explain himself.

“You should never underestimate a fighter. You never know when their punch or kick may catch you. You never know when your balance may be off and they throw you. The fighting arts are full of times when a knockout occurs from a counter. I once threw out a head kick in retreat to give me room while my opponent advanced. And down they went as if by avalanche.”

“Boom!”

Angie's face and voice are full of excitement as she turns back to Sarah.

“Shinji agrees with me. You never know when-”

“However.”

They turn their eyes back to the stern face of the elder Lacklan sibling.

“A fighter must have confidence. He must walk into every battle knowing that he will be victorious. If he is not victorious in his head, then he will not be victorious with his body. If you consider this person to be so below your level, and it be true, then you should express it.”

Sarah’s face is a smug smile when Angie’s eyes turn back to her. Angie responds by sticking out her tongue.”

“...ze Rydells of ze world, oui?”

Their eyes find the sickly-thin woman in the scarf.

“Zis man you fight. If he iz a Rydell, zen you should say so, n’est-ce pas?”

Sarah turns a side eye to Angie and gives her a big wink.

“Oh, you’d think this guy was a Rydell, alright. Or a Bonecrusher.”

She looks back at Ava with a small roll of her eyes.

“He’s bouncing back and forth between believing he’s my next spouse AND father.”

Ava raises one of her eyebrows sharply and Sarah lets out a small laugh.

“Oh...you’d kill this guy, Mumsie.”

Sarah leans back in her chair and chews on her bottom lip.

“Six weeks ago, Charlie Nickles popped into the XWF scene. Initially, his story was that of a man who had been broken by numerous bad decisions across his adult life, decisions that many within our profession find themselves screwing up on. Drugs, alcohol, living to excess, not to mention his predilection for garbage wrestling. Oh, he’ll be the first to complain about a lack of research when it comes to some of the things I’ve had to say about him, but the fact remains that his history within the business has been wrought by a disregard for the rule of law and order. And not in a way that you have, Mumsie, mind you. You embraced something more akin to Daddy, with the understanding that you used the tools of the Enemy to thwart his plans. Charlie, however, has not embraced those tools and sins to destroy them, but has instead been fooled into accepting them. And in the wake of those decisions, he has infected his family and loved ones with the malady of the Liar’s tools.

“I would not disparage this woman, this Connie, for finding love in Charlie. After all, love is an odd thing, and something very personal, which perhaps can only be seen and understood, at least at first, by the people involved. You yourself did not initially understand the love between Kenzi and I-”

...the slight twinge, almost uncontrolled, from Ava’s right eye is, thankfully, not noticed by Sarah.

“-and so I understand why someone looking in at the Nickles family from the outside might not find understanding. Perhaps Charlie is a different man when around Connie. Perhaps much of his gruffness, many of the edges, are smoothed away when she is with him. Perhaps Cooper was right when he told us that beauty tamed the beast. But Charlie’s decisions across his career have pushed away that family, damaged their relationships, and left him in a place of pain and anguish. THAT is the Charlie we met six weeks ago. A man trying hard to rectify his life, to make due on his past failings. After toiling away in parking lots and carnivals, after fighting in shoddy rings not meant for even the greenest of rookies in someone’s backyard, he had a chance to make real money and gain real acclaim. He had a chance to prove to his Beloved that the trials were worth it, that his failings were surmountable, that he could provide for his family and be the pillar of manhood and fatherhood his family needed.”

She gives a shake of her head.

“He did well at first...but soon became a victim of the malady which infects so much of this business. He strove to be different, strove to be impactful, and was somewhat of a breath of fresh air both for our peers and our fans, but that didn’t last long. In but a few weeks, he found himself mired in the quagmire of unnecessary distractions which plague so many of the new XWF wrestlers, from getting into fights out of the ring with others, to not adjusting to newfound fame among the fans, and to trying to prove himself too much. I’m sure there would be those who appreciate his burst of energy, who applaud his desires to make himself an impactful person within the company so soon after debuting, but like so many others, it was quickly discovered that he was nowhere near the level of those he pursued. And in the last couple of weeks, he has exposed himself to be little more than the trash that resides in the darker corners of the company. And if he’s not careful, he’ll find himself moved to the dank recesses of the business where only the most vile are kept, the corners where one must cover their windows and put their room into total darkness to view or else be bathed in shame by any passersby, the world of urine-filled condoms.”

“...ew…”

Sarah turns her eyes to Angie.

“...some of your preferred companies feature things like talking penguins who drop the N Word and rapists who win championships by tickling…”

“...fair…”

Sarah turns back to Ava and again gives a shake of her head.

“But when it comes to him exposing himself, the worst has been in the last few days. I recognized his true placement in the world of wrestling, that being on the bottom for everyone else to walk across, right away, but since our match became official, he has found himself abandoning what little morals he had left. Gone is his desire for reconciliation. Gone is his expressed love and care for his children. Gone is the man we met but six weeks ago. Ya know, I have made several comparisons between him and a few others I have faced on the roster, from the ‘start strong and then fall into your role’ similarity to Gage Gannon, to the lack of originality like Chris Page, and even the desperate need to win something, no matter how unappealing, of Kid Kool, but it occurs to me that there is yet another.

“Last year, I had a row with a woman named Vita Valenteen. When she and I first met, she had an issue with a girl named Dolly Waters, who had taken a liking to Kenzi and I. At first, Vita was a young woman who was doing her best to show that kindness and positivity were the way of the world, not unlike Angie-”

“I like her already!”

“-but after dispatching Dolly and being paired against me, she found herself quickly outmatched and easily defeated. When she was given a second opportunity, I faced a wholly different Vita, a Vita who had abandoned her previously espoused morals and beliefs and tried to be more like...well...me. She changed her entire concept of her identity on the proverbial stop of the dime. And still, she was defeated. Before long, she changed her entire personality again, quickly earning a reputation for being not just an inconsistent fighter, but an inconsistent person among her peers. Still, she failed. And madness set it with her claim of being the ‘Real’ Anarchy Champion, despite never once finding victory. And in the last few days, Charlie has walked that same path.

“Gone! Gone is the Charlie we knew but a few weeks ago. And in his place is a man who, at least for these next few days...or at least for just this one match...wishes to be accepted by those who would have followed my father when we were but children.”

Sarah pauses as Ava’s head snaps sharply, her attention suddenly rapt. Sarah nods and chews on her lips more.

“Delving into the history books...likely because he was so embarrassed by his previous performance against Robert Main and his assertion that the dominant champion was but the hanger-on of other men...Charlie has spent significant time finding old clips of Daddy. But like one of the fedora-tippers out there who watch small snatches of matches without understanding what came before or after...and much like those who take a single passage from the Bible without doing the same...he gets a few things technically right yet misses the entire premise of the whole. He has taken a few words that Daddy said, selectively cut away the details which don’t suit his narrative, and presented it without context so that the world can see a distorted version of the truth.

“From a wrestling perspective, I supposed that would be like learning how to do a bunch of moves but not understand why you do those moves. For instance, when you shoot someone into the ropes hard enough that they rebound off them and are forced to fly back at you, a common tactic is to drop to the ground in front of them, so that they will trip over your body and fall on their face, yes? In the modern world, this maneuver is quickly countered by having the wherewithal to see your opponent and jump over them, continuing your momentum to hit the opposite ropes and come back with some sort of running strike. But what if you didn’t know that the reason we fall to the floor is to try to trip them? What if you just did it, not understanding the point? I imagine that, when the modern day opponent jumped over you, you would stay on the mat, face down and unaware, and suffer an elbow or knee jammed into your kidney. Thus technically, he did what he was supposed to...in this case, drop to the ground...but since he stripped away the reason why, he not only failed in the purpose...tripping up the opponent...but suffered damage in the process.

“In his desperate attempts to convince the world that he deserves to be in this match...he doesn’t, since he didn’t actually ‘win’ the right to be here, but that’s another story...he has shone a spotlight on his own inability to understand what he has seen. Yes, Father’s message was for the superiority of wrestlers and wrestling. Yes, his message was, for quite some time, about destroying much of the world to save the world. But that changed over the years. Across my lifetime...and you saw some important parts of it, Mumsie...his message went from ‘destroy everything,’ to ‘destroy most things’ to ‘influence the world by staying resolute’ to ‘we are all God’s creatures and can all live in the Light.’ Much of what Charlie has put out to the world in this fictitious message of my Father’s is but one section of time, without the before or the after. It would be like picking up a book, reading the chapter right in the middle, and not caring how it started or ended.

“For instance, instead of actually focusing on me and our upcoming match, he has recently squandered his time trying to convince my Beloved that Daddy would have hated our marriage. And he would be correct...if he bothered to care about what happened in the final chapter of Daddy’s story. His views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage were quite vile, but when I came out to him, he accepted it. I know that was hard for you to accept-”

Ava nearly grumbles but is able to keep it in check.

“-but the Path of the Light DOES accept it. As I explained to Daddy, and as he understood, there is no way that God could not have ordained a love as beautiful and complete as that of the Grey-Lacklans.”

“You two are SO cute!”

Sarah shoots Angie a thankful wink.

“I will not ignore that much of Daddy’s message...and much of yours, for that matter...was born of hate. It was vile. But the Path of the Light changed over the years, as has the congregation. And Charlie perverting that message, perverting the reality of what actually happened, with distorted snapshots, has exposed him for who he truly is: A man far out of his element, a veteran gifted an opportunity far above his station, who is desperately trying to find some sort of relevance in a situation out of his control. While I knew who he was immediately, as a man who had a broken heart and needed healing...I literally offered him a chance to heal which was ignored, but I’ll get to that another time...he has now shown the world that truth. So as I said, you would eat him alive, Mumsie. You, the matriarch of the House of Lacklan, would-”

“Babe?”

Sarah turns in her chair and sees Kenzi walking into the room. Her face bursts into a wide smile and she opens her arms.

“Beloved, you’re home! Come join us!”

Kenzi walks over and lays a hand on Sarah’s shoulder then looks at the screen. Her face is bright when she sees Angie...falls a little when she sees Shinjiro...and then flattens fully when she sees Ava.

“Nope.”

She turns around and walks out of the office and into the bedroom. Sarah rolls her eyes and sighs as she turns back to the computer.

“I better go. Same time next week?”

“Abs!”

”Oui!”

Shinji merely grunts.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Relentless Media, Part IX: Zoom
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