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One moment, Izzy was holding the donut, and the next the child had hurried just out of her reach with it in hand. She gripped her wrist and moved her fingers as if making sure they were all still there, watching the child ravenously wolf down the donut and wondering if he just had that extreme of a sweet tooth now, or needed more than her blood to sate his hunger.
Either way, he looked more like a caged creature than even a being as simple as a child. The hope that something of Cerasus still remained dwindled, Izzy incapable of imagining him ever acting like this over a donut. But at least the fried dough had made him move from his corner. Maybe there was some way she could use this.
She closed her eyes for a moment and snorted at the thought. She would not treat him like a disobedient pet in need of training. He had to be in there somewhere, suppressed by whatever power had put both of them in their current states. She opened her eyes again as the child reached for another.
“Okay,” she breathed. She reached behind her, glancing away only once as she gripped another. “Can... you even understand me?” she tried as she slowly handed him a second.

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Izzy sighed in frustration when the child again showed no response besides coming after the donut, leaving her to wonder whether he was choosing to ignore her, or was incapable of comprehending her words.
Raising the donut out of his reach, she watched him for a short moment with a contemplative expression as he stood on tiptoe in his desperation for the sugary confection.
Bribery isn’t training, she thought, the powder sugar coating the donut sticking to her fingers. Right?
“If you want another one,” she began, enunciating each word to avoid any misunderstanding, “then stop, look me in the eye, and ask for it.”
She held her breath, waiting, hoping for any kind of reaction hinting at even the smallest amount of remaining comprehension.

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Izzy inhaled in anticipation when the child stopped trying to get the donut, not daring to hope it was more than a reaction to the tone of her voice. But then, he complied to her demand. When he held out his hand in a wordless request, she felt like she could have laughed in relief despite the malice in his gaze. Instead, the emotion manifested in an exhale and quirk of her lips.
Though he did not speak, something, at least, still remained of him. He may have been filled with hatred and anger, but at least he apparently retained part of himself, and a sense of comprehension.
Realizing she still held the donut, she placed it in his waiting hand. “Well, what do you know. Interaction didn’t kill you, now, did it?”

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Izzy watched the child hurry off, once more very much like an animal. But that did little to dampen the sense of alleviation that had settled lightly over her.
She shouted in surprise when a laugh sounded from the doorway, and she turned and jumped away from it. Realizing it was only Riley, she tilted her head back with an exasperated moan, and placed a hand over her heart.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” She exhaled heavily.
Izzy shifted her weight awkwardly at being accused of bullying the child, but still rolled her eyes at his pun. “I wasn’t bullying him. Just pointing out that it didn’t do any harm.” She took a deep breath, and glanced toward the child, her voice slightly softer as she continued. “And I had to know, Riley. It’s been two months, and he hasn’t so much as acknowledged a word I’ve said.” She sighed, and looked to the box of remaining donuts. She picked it up, and held it out toward Riley. “Donut?”

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Izzy returned Riley’s smile halfheartedly, though she had to debate whether it was supposed to be a friendly gesture or not as he took his time choosing his sugary poison.
“It doesn’t get much more old fashioned than donuts.” When he turned to sit, she returned the box to the desk, then picked up the part of her scarf still hanging over the edge. “Oh, I don’t know what you do all day, but I also brought a box of playing cards if you’d like them.” She sat on another of the desks shoved together beside her pack, and reached over to pull out a pack of playing cards from a side pocket. She tossed them beside the donut box.
She looked to the child, who had since returned to his corner, and sighed. Noticing Riley’s gaze shifting between him and her, Izzy cocked her head.
“What’s up?” she asked slowly, leaning her hands back on the desk.
“Uh huh,” she said to his apology. “Wait, what?” Her brows furrowed at him as she tried to think of what there was to ‘clean up after’ that would take longer than two months. “What is there to do for that after all this time?”

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“Really?” Izzy had seen some of how Cerasus had influenced the weather itself, but she had thought it was simply because it was, well, Cerasus. Which came to show, once more, how little she knew about the thing she was--rather, that she was somewhere between "being" and "had been."
“That reminds me,” she added as her conversation with Trevor earlier that day came to mind. “I meant to ask what you know about vampires. I mean, Trevor knows more than me, and he’s a hundred-percent human. So...” she reached behind her to grab the box and offer it once more to Riley, “what kind of ‘loose ends’ were there, and are left from us being here? And it’s stopped now, right, with us...” she glanced toward the child, “like this?”

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((Dx I feel your pain with double posts...))

((Only, you know. My computer managed a triple...))

As Riley began his answer, Izzy took a donut for herself, then returned the box to the desk. She tore off a piece of the frosted bread, and used her leg near her knee as a plate. She popped the torn piece in her mouth, and looked to Riley, brows furrowed, just before he gestured to the child, making her glance to him.
“So, if we all started to think of him less as that child, and more like who he was, his behavior would change to adapt to that?” she asked as Riley finished his second donut, her own still only with a small chunk missing. “But, if everyone in the world of aberrations still thinks he’s a powerful vampire, why would he be acting like that? Because we’re the only ones who know about his current condition? And does that mean our weaknesses and strengths shift, too, depending on what the majority of people believe, or just when it comes to interacting with individuals?”
She picked off another piece of her donut as Riley continued, licking his fingers.
“Aberrations are formed by belief mixed with ‘spiritual pressure,’” she echoed slowly. “Anything can pop up here randomly? Oh boy,” she drew out the last. “This is a small town. People get bored. It’s chock-full of all of those, and then some.” She took a deep breath, and looked Riley in the eye. “What can I do to help?”
She glanced distantly to the door when he asked about Trevor. “You and me both.” She sighed. “I saw him earlier today. He’s as much like himself as usual, as far as I could tell.”

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Izzy looked at Riley in surprise at the revelation about this side of the world believing Cerasus dead. She inhaled, and nodded. Avoiding hunters sounded like a fantastic idea. She listened to his further explanations, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she tried to put it all together. She sighed at it being all hypothetical, but nodded again, all the same.
“Just let me know. You know how to find me.” That her help would eliminate some of her debt was just an added bonus.
She exhaled in irritation at herself for commenting about being worried. “It’s a different kind of worry,” she grumbled, picking once more at the remainder of her donut, crumbs dusting the knee of her pants. She shook her head as he chuckled. “Nothing, really. Well, we buried a random dog that got ran over. I have to admit, that was a bit odd. But what in my life hasn’t fallen under that description lately? And at least he has a heart for animals.” She smiled lightly.

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