[right][h2][color=lavender]Teresa’s Catharsis[/color][/h2][@Tlazolteotl][@silver21][@JJ Doe][@BaronOBeefDip][/right]

[color=lavender]Someone new had entered the booth. A well-dressed gentleman, fitted in a coffee-coloured vest and a shiny wristwatch. He’d entered the bar, swept his gaze across the room and, just like that, decided that their booth was the one that he simply [i]had[/i] to go to.

[i]A new visitor?[/i] wondered Teresa as she scooted over to make room. [i]Or is he another manifestation of this strange place?[/i]

Either way, the addition of another stranger in this oddball group wasn’t doing much to settle her strung nerves. She’d barely said anything about Caden, but already it felt like she’d said too much. Her mask sat on her face like a judge, accusing her of being too unprofessional, too mouthy, too [i]out of line[/i].

Then it wasn’t quite so metaphorical anymore.[/color] 

[hr]
[center][sub][i]tick[/i][/sub][/center]
[color=lavender]White walls. White uniform. The Council seemed fond of the colour. Something about the purity and safety it signalled to the people who saw it. Teresa wasn’t so sure; the colour did nothing to assuage her growing doubt right now. She was seated in her supervisor’s office, across the woman herself. Her supervisor held a petite frame. Round face. Gold headband. Her lips were thin as she moved her stylus across her desk’s glass surface.

‘[/color][color=#f7ff6f][b]You are [i]out of line[/i].[/b][/color][color=lavender]’

‘[b]They were going to hurt people–[/b]’

‘[/color][color=#f7ff6f][b]They’re [i]always[/i] hurting people. That doesn’t mean you get to disobey orders, Silver Blade.[/b][/color][color=lavender]’

Recrimination in a simply said statement. And still, her supervisor hadn't looked up once since she spoke. Her stylus tapped once. Something blipped in the corner of Teresa’s vision. A new received attachment.

‘[/color][color=#f7ff6f][b]You’re benched[/b][/color][color=lavender],’ said her supervisor, curtly. ‘[/color][color=#f7ff6f][b]Until you can convince us that you’ll listen when we tell you to cease pursuit.[/b][/color][color=lavender]’

‘[b]Sidra–[/b]’

‘[/color][color=#f7ff6f][b]Is that clear, Silver Blade?[/b][/color][color=lavender]’

Teresa’s skin itched. 

‘[b]Crystal.[/b]’[/color] 

[hr]
[center][sub][i]tick[/i][/sub][/center]
[color=lavender]Another day, another battle. The sputtering squeals of the dying monster in front of her grated on her ears. This one, for all intents and purposes, looked like a massive hedgehog. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the fact that it could spray spikes out of its back like no one’s business. Those spikes wouldn’t harm anyone now, blackened and charred into crumbling ashes. The hero stood next to her, dressed in gaudy red and yellow, was two years her senior. He snuffed the blue flames flickering in his palm.

‘[/color][b]Well[/b][color=lavender],’ said Crisp. ‘[/color][b]That was messy.[/b][color=lavender]’

Teresa's glaive was light in her hands, and grew lighter with every bead of red that dripped from its blade. The monster had quietened down. Its form shrunk, slow and grotesque, until they were no longer looking at a giant hedgehog, but the unmistakeable shape of a limp body. A gloved hand clapped against Teresa’s shoulder. A thin cloud of ash followed.

‘[/color][b]Didn’t take you for the squeamish type, Silver[/b][color=lavender],’ he said. A joke, derisive and light-hearted in a way that didn’t warrant a reaction. ‘[/color][b]Why the long face?[/b][color=lavender]’

She turned to him. Perhaps she’d done something with her expression that the mask couldn’t hide; Crisp’s smile fell.

‘[b]If you had been less [i]messy[/i][/b],’ she said, ‘[b]we would have killed him faster.[/b]’[/color] 

[hr]
[center][sub][i]tick[/i][/sub][/center]
[color=lavender]Laughter, chatter, the clinking of glasses. People milled about Tipsy Chambers, from individuals who kept to themselves to rowdy groups who yammered on about everything and nothing. There was the occasional couple seated at the bar counter, in the booths, their conversations swallowed up by the racket.

Teresa herself was seated in one of the booths in the back of the bar. Across her sat Caden, wearing an easygoing smile. On the table, two neat whiskeys. Or rather, one neat whiskey and the few remaining drops that were left in Caden’s glass. 

She remembered this moment. She doubted Caden did. Unmasked and unarmed, Teresa felt laid bare as Caden leaned back in his seat. Amusement coloured his expression.

‘[/color][color=#9aeaf0][b]Well, now[/b][/color][color=lavender],’ he said. ‘[/color][color=#9aeaf0][b]Look who’s thinking like a villain.[/b][/color][color=lavender]’

[hr]
And on it went. Bits and pieces of past mistakes and old wounds raking their remnant selves across the surface of her memory. They nipped at her skin beneath the fabric of her costume.

Why was she thinking of this – [i]all[/i] of this – now? Was this her Catharsis? Was she meant to review every little moment that had gone wrong in her life to, what, repent? 

[i]I’m a hero.[/i] The thought clung to her like a parasite, repeating itself like it could change anything. [i]I’m a hero. I’m a–[/i] 

The booth was empty. The bar was empty. Sirpa, Jay, Floriano – they had all disappeared. Her mistakes lingered somewhere in the wallpaper. And in that moment of stillness, that dull, grey orb she’d seen before floated above the table.

[i][b]Then control yourself.[/b][/i] 

[hr]
The doctor sat next to her. The staff member and Sirpa asked Jay their questions. Teresa was back where she’d been, like she’d never left. She... [i]hadn’t[/i] left. She remembered Jay opening up about her... story-telling group, was it? Floriano leaving. And Dr. Everson’s arrival. But she also remembered being lost in incessant memory...

Her head hurt. Would she look crazy if she said anything? Probably. The next best thing, then.

She leaned forward, picked up her glass and downed the rest of her whiskey in one go.[/color]

[center][color=808080]━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━[/color][/center]
[right][@Tlazolteotl][@silver21][@JJ Doe][@BaronOBeefDip][/right]
[hider=In This Catharsis][color=lavender]
[list][*]Everyone’s basically been seeing Silver Blade as zoned out this entire time LOL. So nothing different from what’s already been established. 
[*] Only Teresa sees the grey orb.[/list]
[/color][/hider]