[right][h2][color=8882be]Sirpa's Catharsis[/color][/h2][@Tlazolteotl][/right]

[color=8882be]Sirpa looked up when the being's hand touched hers. It wasn't the tiger thing anymore, but some other odd-looking creature that was just as frightening and comforting at the same time. She held its--their?--gaze as it stared at her uncomfortably. Then it spoke, and the coffee shop around her started to fade as if someone turned the brightness down on her surroundings. The other people in the room slowed. Sirpa couldn't tell if they had stopped or were just moving [i]verrry[/i] slowly. 

[b]"What the fuck?"[/b] Sirpa's eyes searched the room, then looked back at the creature. Could it read her mind??? What was happening? What- [b]"No, I-"[/b]

Then she saw Jay again, like a hologram. She watched as they spoke. How was this happening? Or really, how was she still surprised that something like this was happening after Wesley?

She looked back at the being when it spoke with her voice in a mixture of fear and, yes, still surprise. Mostly fear. This was creepy. Sirpa instinctively gripped the armchair more firmly.[/color]

[color=808080][i]"They had already told you. You asked anyway. Was it not the answer you were looking for? Or did you think they were lying?"[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]Again, her voice was small. [b][i]"No,[/i] I-"[/b] She faltered. [b]"No offense, but this place is scary, kind of. Why would someone want to come [i]here[/i] to talk about their issues? Why not somewhere less...creepy?"[/b]

Jay disappeared. And the coffee shop...changed? The vision was sharper than the fireplace. It was like someone tore her visual field like a sheet of paper and put two other pictures on each side of her view. [i]How?[/i]

Then everything went back to normal. Well, mostly normal. The room was still dark. The people were still frozen.[/color]

[color=808080][i]"Did you not believe us when we said you were always able to leave? Is that why you are willing to use Jay to test it?"[/i][/color]

[color=8882be][b]"I..."[/b] Sirpa's voice trailed off. 

Truth be told, with all the commotion, she had forgotten that someone had said that they could leave. She [i]could[/i] leave, so why hadn't she yet?

Sirpa looked around the armchair again toward the door of the coffee shop. It looked like a house door, wooden with a round, metallic doorknob. It felt blocked. Locked. Fake, or otherwise off-limits. Was that why she had assumed she couldn't leave? Why did she assume that? She imagined herself standing up and leaving herself. She could just go, right? But it [i]felt[/i] like she couldn't.

She thought about what the being had said to Silver Blade.[/color] [color=808080][i]"So if you're stuck here? That's 'cause deep down you don't wanna leave."[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]But she [i]did.[/i] Didn't she? Right? Was this another thing she just couldn't perceive in herself? No, she [i]did[/i] want to leave. She wanted to be at home, comfortable in front of the TV with a warm cat on each side. She wanted the stillness of her home. She wanted to be in bed, asleep and cozy. She wanted to be home.

[i]She wanted to be home.[/i]

Again, there was that rushing feeling. Was it anxiety? She didn't know anymore. It didn't matter, anyway. The creature was speaking again.[/color]

[color=808080][i]"Is that what makes someone a Normie? Expecting the worst of others?"[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]Painfully aware again that they--it?--could apparently read her mind, Sirpa looked back at the creature. Her face flushed. [b]"No, um,"[/b] she said, embarrassed, [b]"I'm sorry. I know it sounds like it's mean. It's not."[/b] Sirpa looked down and away. She fiddled with the ridge in the fabric of the armchair and pulled her legs in closer. She spoke again, just loud enough to be heard. [b]"It's just someone who's normal. Someone who's not...[i]different."[/i][/b] [i]Different.[/i] Like the snarl on her mother's face when Sirpa pleaded innocence throughout childhood. Responding was not the same as talking back, Sirpa was sure of it. How come she had to understand adults but she wasn't allowed to [i]be[/i] understood herself?

[i]"I don't know what's wrong with her. She's just[/i] different."

[i]Different[/i] like the top of her class. [i]Different[/i] like getting abandoned at her middle school lunch table. [i]Different[/i] like the sound of a word that was spoken so often that it became alien.

Sirpa felt a shudder move across her chest. She pushed her thoughts aside. [color=808080][i]"Expecting the worst of others?"[/i][/color] She spoke in a near mumble, [b]"Sometimes they do, I guess."[/b] She made herself smaller in the armchair. She wished the being would leave.[/color]