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"I can sense one Extra-Normal. And only one. We should handle it first. It's almost like this place wants us to do this, walk down this path."

Penny gave Odessa a mildly confused looked as she joined the girl at the bottom of the stairs. Then her eyes widened as realization as her lips drew in. She nodded. It was what she had planned on doing. Plus, she doubted that the missing others would just snap back into existence if they waited around for them anyway, so perhaps they’d come upon them out in Paradise. Penny checked the glyph cards in her pocket. The lines were as crisp as when she had drawn them. She was prepared for whatever was to come.

[color=goldenrod]“Well then, let’s get to walking,”[/color] said Penny, moving ahead of Odessa before suddenly stopping. She had no clue which way was the right way. She crossed her arms and turned to Odessa. [color=goldenrod]“So maybe you should lead the way for now.”[/color]

"Gladly," Odessa said with a smile. Given how Penny was... taking all of this, Odessa would rather be the one to lead the way herself. Just until Penny calms down just a little bit. Perhaps once they close this thread of theirs, they would be able to find the others... and that was just Odessa being [i]hopeful.[/i] Deep down, Odessa knew that she would be watching Penny die sooner or later. Or hoped that they wouldn't find Mao's body or anything.

Odessa took a step towards that one little blip on her radar and just kept walking with Penny behind her… hopefully. However, the environment began to change, subtly at first but Odessa picked up on it almost immediately. It turned from this city - Paradise - to Farmer Hill… except a visage that Odessa was somewhat more familiar with. The ruins of Farmer Hill after that “earthquake” destroyed the place.

Odessa sighed as Penny drew in her breath. No matter how negative her feelings to her hometown had been, it always hurt to see it in this state. Seeing the broken windows and fallen rooftops of buildings she had walked by her entire life reminded her of all the people that were still missing after the town was reset. It always felt wrong, thinking of this version as her hometown. What had happened to her home had been much worse. 

“... This place again?” Odessa said as she stopped as her attention landed on a particular sight. Sucre… the cafe that many yuppies and kids from Farmer Hill used to meet up at. She sighed as it was a mere destroyed replica(?) of the place, caved in at the roof and barely recognizable. “This place… it had it coming.” Odessa regretfully said.

[color=goldenrod][b][i]“What?”[/i][/b][/color] said Penny, letting out a flash of the anger she was trying to hold in. Farmer Hill was a shit town, for sure, but it wasn’t that shitty of a town. No town was shitty enough to deserve what had happened to her town. Penny gave Odessa a glare, and then something clicked. She uncrossed her arms and buried her hands in the pockets of her cardigan. 

[color=goldenrod]“Why’d you say again?”[/color] asked Penny. [color=goldenrod]“How do you even know this place?”[/color]

Odessa put her hands together at her waist and then shrugged.

“... I been through here a few times,” Odessa started. “Before and after it’s been destroyed.”

[color=goldenrod]“Wait I thought you said you came from an African village in a whole other fucking universe,”[/color] said Penny, trying to keep the accusation in her voice from leaking all over her words. [color=goldenrod]“This is Farmer Hill. Like why would you even bother coming out to Montana? Did...did you, like, go to Grand Ridge?”[/color] Penny would’ve known her then, so she couldn’t have. [color=goldenrod]“Seriously, are you just fucking with me?”[/color]

Odessa started chuckling as she held a finger to her lips… except it stretched out a bit longer than it should have.

“I was born there but...” Odessa started off as she started walking around Penny, “... Is it wrong to want to go stretch your legs? See the world? Or the [i]other[/i] ones?” She started laughing as she twirled one of her dreads.

[color=goldenrod]“Odessa, please, stop…”[/color] Penny tilted her head as a dark thought crossed her mind that was accompanied with a pained expression. She hadn’t considered before that Odessa could possibly be tied to why they were stuck in Paradise. A lonely human-apparition hybrid with a broken memory that somehow manages to know too much regardless? No, she was just being paranoid. Penny tried to relax her strained face.

[color=goldenrod]“Odessa, I’m fucking warning you, I swear. Stop. Screwing. Around.”[/color] Penny’s hand whipped out of her pocket and snapped at Odessa’s wrist to stop her from prancing around like an asshole. [color=goldenrod]“This isn’t cute. I’m trying to find a good reason not to hit you, and I’d fucking love it if you could help me out in that regard. Why did you come to my town? When, even?”[/color]

Odessa froze, that grin of hers was completely removed from her face as she felt Penny’s hand on hers. For a moment, Odessa wondered if fighting Penny was even ideal. They were the only people here… other than that Extra-Normal that Odessa was more than certain it was that Apparition. Would Penny really take time to really ask this line of questions? When that thing was using their friend as a skin suit?

Odessa started laughing again.

Tears streamed down her face as she laughed.

“... You can hit me all you want, Lawson,” Odessa tilted her head. “And I would deserve [i]every. Single. Hit.[/i] So… wack away. Whatever makes you happy….”

She stopped laughing.

“... Lawson.”

[color=goldenrod][b]“Get the fuck away from me!”[/b][/color] The hand that had grabbed Odessa’s wrist let go as it curled into a fist and flew at Odessa’s face and sent her stumbling backwards. Penny used the distraction of the king hit to back away from the mad girl, coins spilling out of her pocket as she pulled out her other hand. She appeared panicked, all wild-eyed and hunched like a cat ready to bolt, but she got a few yards away from Odessa and held her ground. Penny activated her abstraction, praying that the headaches would stay away, in anticipation for some kind of retaliation as she pointed a finger at Odessa.

[color=goldenrod]“How the fuck do you know my last name? Who the fuck are you!?”[/color]

Odessa regained her composure and graced her face with her fingertips… her jaw was slack as she merely stood there in shock at Penny’s question. It was… Odessa didn’t know anymore. Everything was crumbling. Odessa dropped to her hands and knees, she started crying as tears began to stain the cold ground. 

“... You know, that’s the only thing I can feel,” Odessa said in between sobs, “At least, that’s the only thing that the Hound left me. Does that make me more human or less..?”

Odessa shook her head.

“I… I just can’t keep up with these lies anymore, Penny,” Odessa said, “I just can’t stand looking at you, Zoey, Hagan and Caelea… and seeing a reminder of everything I ever failed. That I ever did wrong. And a reminder of everything I can’t be anymore.”

Odessa sobbed some more before she screamed.

“You want to know who I am, huh?!” Odessa shouted as she hopped up to her knees… and just decided to say it. 

“... I am...”

She sighed.

“... Britney Williams.”

Penny trembled with rage at the mention of her dead friend’s name. Her initial reaction was to deny it completely, and she was going to demand the girl to prove it—accept Odessa already had. She had control of plants like Britney, she came from Glint like Britney, and she was a vague, cryptic know-it-all like Britney. That wasn’t what convinced Penny. Rather, it was the thing Odessa had said to her just before she had yelled at Stacey. It had sounded familiar then. Now she knew why.

[color=goldenrod]“I got what I wanted…”[/color] muttered Penny, wiping her eye as she looked down at the girl. [color=goldenrod]“You’re—”[/color] Her voice broke into a relieved laugh as she wiped her eyes again. Penny walked forward until she was standing over the other girl and crossed her arms as she looked down at her. 

[color=goldenrod]“You’re always such a bitch,”[/color] said Penny, smiling, as she offered Britney her hand.