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Patricia didn’t need to be told twice. As soon as Pandora uttered the words, the girl skittered to the door and up the stairs. She was the first to make into the house above and held the door open for everyone else, waiting until everybody was inside before closing it. Still trembling and blinking tears out of her eyes, she observed the room, focusing on the new environment to calm her down. 

It was… kooky. That was the first word that came to Patricia’s mind. Although Pandora appeared to be around Christina’s age, her home reminded her of Patrica’s grandma’s- without the old person smell, of course. Patricia paced around the room under the guise of exploration, running her hands along the walls. Everything here seemed… old. The carpets seemed as if they were from another century, and, when Patricia paused in the kitchen, she noticed that it was empty. There was no microwave, no dishes piled up, no dishwasher running. Pandora was one odd person. Remembering the cake in her hands, she swung open the refrigerator and put it in. She blinked as soon as she noticed it, surprised- there was nothing in the fridge. No food, no drinks, no nothing.

Patricia shook off the skeeved-out feeling she had and headed back into the living room. She sat down on the rug against the couch, setting her bag down. When Grace came up to her, asking for her laptop, she nodded silently and unzipped the bag for her. The news played on in the background of her thoughts, making her despondency rise by the second. Finally, while Grace was still unlocking her laptop, she found the remote and pressed mute. She didn’t want to watch that shit anyways. 

[color=MediumOrchid]“HE-”[/color] she began to protest, loudly, before realizing that she [i]needed to be quiet, goddamnit[/i] and clapped a hand over her mouth. [color=MediumOrchid]“Hey!”[/color] she whispered this time. [color=MediumOrchid]“Am not.”[/color] She shoved Grace and then peered over her shoulder, watching her browse the Internet. 

Nodding along when Grace spoke, Patricia itched for her phone to browse through. She wanted to talk to her mom, or somebody else that could help. [color=MediumOrchid]“Mmm,”[/color] she responded to Grace’s plan. [color=MediumOrchid]“I don’t know. Maybe we should-”[/color] but before Patricia knew it, Grace was gone, heading to the “bathroom”. Patricia just sighed. Wasn’t [i]she[/i] the one who was supposed to be upset?

When Chad spoke, Patricia glanced up to him, eyes flicking to his face. [color=MediumOrchid]“Who are you again?”[/color] she asked, a tired expression on her face. He looked familiar, but… she couldn’t place him. Then, realizing that what she’d just said might put him off protecting them, she hurriedly added, [color=MediumOrchid]“O-oh. Sorry. Long day, you know?”[/color] She laughed insincerely. [color=MediumOrchid]“Y-you look familiar. ...Chase, maybe? Anyways, Chase… it’s… don’t bother. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m gonna go see if Grace is puking up her guts or just crying. You can browse around on my laptop if you want, I don’t mind. But if I catch you snooping, I will [i]end you[/i].”[/color] 

With that, Patricia headed to the bathroom, bursting in without knocking. She wasn’t expecting Grace to be naked anyways. Just like she had been expecting, Grace was on the floor, sobbing her eyes out. Patricia sighed, and plopped onto the floor along with her. In a very much not Patricia-like move, she wrapped her friend-one of the only people she could trust- in a massive hug. 

Patricia sniffled, barely holding back tears herself. [color=MediumOrchid]“Maybe we should leave the city,”[/color] she proposed, voice cracking. [color=MediumOrchid]“We can hide out somewhere in- in Chainstown, or something, until this whole thing blows over and everything is fine and normal again. I couldn’t- I can’t go to Coldwater, Grace. I can’t. And I know, like, Tom betrayed us and everything-”[/color] she sniffled again, [color=MediumOrchid]“but I know you’ll always be on my side. That makes you better than [i]him[/i].”[/color] She spat the word out with contempt, and then buried her face into Grace’s arm, trying not to cry again.

[center][@Hitman][@Amethyst][@Duoya][/center]

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Jamie scowled at Nero, stalking forward to his broken body. She stood over him for a moment, examining. For a moment, she had thought she would need some bungee cord to tie him up, but it seemed that she had broken a little more leg than she had intended. Glancing over to the troll dude, it seemed that he was the same way as well. Shrugging, Jamie grabbed the plastic Target bag from her cart. [color=Goldenrod]“Don’t worry,”[/color] she reassured Nero, [color=Goldenrod]“I’m not going to kill you. At least, not [i]today[/i].”[/color] She smiled wolfishly at him. [color=Goldenrod] “Stay out of me and my friends’ ways and it’ll stay that way. Okay? Okay! Bye!”[/color] With that, Jamie walked off, heading out the doors and back to her car. She popped the groceries into the passenger seat as she got into the driver’s seat, turned the ignition on, and drove.

She drove aimlessly for a bit, not sure where to go. Obviously, even to Jamie, her house was out of the equation. They would be looking there, especially now that she had defeated the first reinforcements. She needed somewhere safe to go. Her first thought, as it always was, was her parents’ house- but she ruled that one out as quickly as it came. They hadn’t wanted to see her in six years- why would that start when she became a fugitive? HERO One, of course, but HERO was apparently done for. The idea was shocking, but she had faith that it would come back. Maybe… she was friends with some of the Destiny Knights. They might let her crash for a few.

Then, as she was thinking, Jamie saw something on the side of the road that surprised her. Her mouth formed a little ‘o’, and she slammed on the brakes and parked messily, scrambling out of the car.

[color=Goldenrod]“Joseph?! Oh, thank God! These two dudes attacked me at Target…”[/color] Jamie went over to him and started yammering on about Nero and Dungeon Troll. [color=Goldenrod]“Anyways, we should probably get out of here before somebody else finds us. Hop in. I got ice cream! It might melt soon, though…”[/color]

[center][@Hitman][@Rabidporcupine][/center]