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[sub][@Surtr Inc][@Ciaran][/sub]
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[code]The Reid Farmhouse - Main House[/code]
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Penny cocked an eyebrow when Sharon mentioned that her father had told her about the strangeness surrounding Farmer’s Hill. It wasn’t normal dinner conversation, but at least her father had tried to be honest with Sharon about...something that would sound completely ridiculous if Penny hadn’t experienced any of it firsthand. A frown crossed her face when Penny put together the implication Sharon made about what Reid had done, and it crinkled into one of frustration when the girl mentioned that a lot of people in Farmer Hill knew what was going on yet they knew so very little. The thought pissed her off. Why wouldn’t anybody in the town warn them about its darkness? It wouldn’t be difficult to prove the existence of an Awakened at least; Penny herself could just walk into a store and blast all of the merch into the wall.

It was Rita who delivered the painting when Sharon called for someone to grab it. As she handed it over to the redhead, Rita could feel the tickle in her throat and the dryness in her mouth. She wanted to ask the girl so much. Her lips peeled apart with a crack as she tried to find a moment to jump into the conversation, her eyes trying to catch Sharon’s attention. Instead, she noticed Britney briefly throw a look her way. Rita froze up. Britney had scared her earlier with admitting her suspicions of the mousy girl. 

Besides, it was clear from the way Sharon was bargaining with everyone that a sudden change of mind would easily alert the others that an Abstraction had been used. Rita feared that if they knew what she could do, nobody would talk to her. As weird and messed up as things were, this was the first time in a long time that she had been so involved with a group of people. If not for the murdering maniac, the world-ending nightmare entity, the swarm of locusts, and the bickering siblings then things were, in the very least, interesting. Normal people joined an extracurricular activity to meet new people; Rita took part in a supernatural mystery. She backed away from Sharon without a word.

Good timing, too, since that was when Paige decided to throw more than a few words at the redhead. Penny was taken aback at the beginning of Paige’s tirade, shocked that the somewhat awkward yet nice girl that had thanked her had the balls to call Sharon out on her bullshit. It was, well, Penny thought it was awesome. Everything Paige said was right; if Penny hadn’t been so tired she would’ve said the same damn thing. When Sharon pushed at Paige, Penny felt a surge of energy swell up inside of her. She rushed forward, her hands clenched into fists, when she felt Billy invade her head again. Her eyelids felt heavy as she heard his voice, [i]“C’mon, it’s not worth it. Just calm down.”[/i]

Penny unclenched her hands and the drowsiness that had come over her faded. She put a hand on Paige’s shoulder and lightly tried to usher her away, “C’mon, keep me company for a cigarette. There’s too many bitches in this room anyway.”

[i]“Keep me in the loop,”[/i] she messaged to Billy.

Billy found himself nodding, and then he screwed up his face and shook his head at the absurdity of nodding to a telepathic message. He sent back an affirmative, and then folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t thrilled about going to the abandoned school. It wasn’t because he was worried about getting caught—he didn’t really. He was worried because it was an abandoned school, and those were always creepy as hell, full of their rusted hallways, ghosts of bullied children, and cats in lockers. However, what truly worried him was that it seemed like Sharon was trying to get them to leave her by herself for a moment. Billy had seen enough TV to know how that would go, and if they were able to break into her house than Scott Reese could blow the whole place down.

“Hey, listen, man, I’m sorry about that,” he said, in reference to Paige’s outburst. He stepped towards her, hand held up as if he had just been busted. “Pretty sure I saw her talking to my sister earlier today; she’s kind of a bad influence. And you’re right, we were totally in the wrong for breaking into your place. Really dick move. Not cool at all. We’ll go check this school out.”

“Buuuuut, we can only do this in one of two ways. Either you come to the school with all of us, or some of us stay here with you—wait, wait, wait!” He put one hand forward to stop any protest, yet with his other hand up it looked like he was practicing some kind of idiot martial arts. “You said you don’t care about what Scott Reese is doing, but you really should. That dickbag has been picking us off one by one, and like it or not, but the moment your turned into the reverse Orkin man you officially became an [i]us.[/i] Uh, welcome. Sorry being part of the group includes potentially being stabbed to death by an eight foot tall jabroni.” 

“Look, I get it, it doesn’t look like we can really do much to help, uh, because we can’t,” he smiled, realizing too late now wasn’t the time to joke, “but we are trying to do the right thing and keep you safe. So, uh, wanna tag along, or should I help myself to a pop, kick of my sneaks, and get cozy on that sofa?”