Cupid stood in his living room, frantically scrolling up in the chat to try and get any context as to what went on during the meeting. Elizabeth walks in, she's shaking and looks to be on the verge of tears.
"A-are you okay" She asks him. Cupid walked over to Elizabeth, wrapping her in his arms.
"I'm okay, what happened?" He asked, gently playing with her hair to try and calm her down.
"I-I don't know- A few people took these tic tacs and seemed to be in pain and then Lucy was just wrong and there were tendrils and then eyes and-" She's starting to cry, clearly panicking.
"There, there. Slow down, you're getting ahead of yourself." He gently rested her head on his chest. "Do you need to lay down? Maybe a distraction?"
Elizabeth nods. "B-both? All-" She says, clinging to him.
Cupid nodded, leading her to the couch and helping her lay down on it before sitting on the floor next to her. "What do you want to talk about? We can talk about anything right now."
"U-um... whats something you like to talk about?" She asks, reaching for his hand
He gently grabbed onto her hand. "Have you read any good books lately?" Cupid asked, his masked head tilting slightly.
"Well- um- I did I read Circe by Madeline Miller-"
"I actually love that book."
---
A little less than halfway through the trip to An's house, An decided to stop running. They also encouraged Margaret to stop running. They need to conserve their stamina, right? So the duo walked the rest of the way.
Thankfully it didn't take long, no more than 10 minutes.
An's house was located very close to the woods they first met in. In fact, they basically lived in them, just on the edge of the forest. It was rather small, but An didn't usually invite people over and was content living on her own. Now she didn't care what anyone thought of it, only that Margaret was safe in their home, and they were safe in her own home.
"So, uh. Welcome. My home sweet home, I guess." Having said that, they unlock the door and hold it open to Margaret.
Margaret steps in and looks around, “Um thank you, it looks lovely!” Margaret takes the time to breathe in that fresh home smell. Her house smells sweet, but in fairness she had just blown out a candle before leaving. It was scented like hot chocolate. Those candles were their favorite part of the winter season. They followed Margaret in, locking the door behind them, and this is when they noticed all the blinds had been left open.
"Make yourself at home!" they said to her, now quickly closing the blinds and windows. She's not risking anyone finding them here. Margaret finds a couch to sit on and takes a seat as she looks around and holds her hands in her face. "...I wonder who else made it out of that alright.." they said aloud once she finished closing the windows. "I wish I knew everyone better. Then I could figure out who's safe now, who isn't... who we can trust..." They sit down on another couch, close enough to still have a coherent conversation.
“Yea…” Margaret is too in her mind at the moment to come up with a better answer. What the heck just happened.
"What's on your mind? Oh- can I get you anything? Water, tea, snacks, a blanket or something-?" Way to go An, worst host in the server. At least offer your friend comfort.
“No… no I’m good… just… what the world just happened?!”
Fuck it, they're getting her water anyways. "I dunno... wish I did though." There's a brief silence as she fills up two cups of ice water, and comes back into the room. An places a water in front of Margaret on a coaster on the coffee table, and places the other one nearby their couch. "My best guess is the tic tacs were like, brainwashing everyone...? I thought everyone was just acting for the LARP story and forgot to tell me what to do... y'know, cause I just joined-"
“Yea no. That was not normal… like what… happened to them… it’s like they… changed. The vibe was just… different…” Margaret starts to shake as she closes her eyes and breathes, trying to calm herself down.
"She knows what she's doing to calm herself, just... trust her, An." An looked off to the side in thought, trying to figure out what to say. Before they remembered what she was thinking in the room when everything happened. "I don't think I would've made it out the same without you... so uh, thanks for basically saving my life."
“Um yea…. No problem…” Margaret looks to An with a sad look, “Is… everything going to be ok? I… don’t want… whatever is going on…”
An looks back with an undescribable expression, but it basically reflects how she feels. Lost, scared, conflicted, uncertain, worried... "I... don't think I'm in a position to lie. I don't know." An sat crosslegged on their couch and rested their head on their hand, propped up by their leg. They were frustrated, on top of everything else. "I wish I knew what was in that goddamn tictac. What could've possibly made this happen...?"
“I have no doubt in my mind it was that stupid tictac.” Margaret says with frustration “I just hope… this can be sorted out… I hope…” Sigh “Do you have spare room? It’s ok if you don’t I can sleep on the couch that is totally fine”
"I do have a spare room, it's probably a little dusty because no one's been in there, but..." An was still deep in thought. Until something clearly crossed their mind. Her eyes sparked with hope, but just for a second. "Margaret... I think I still have the tictac."
“What?! Why do you- never mind. What are we going to do with the stupid tictac. I’m not a scientist I can like figure out the dang thing.”
She reached into her pocket, praying the tiny little fucker didn't fall out while they were running. For a bit they felt nothing, until... Ta-da! Tictac!!! They pulled it out and showed it to them. "I rolled a 9, remember? So I should have eaten this, but I spat it out when no one was looking. And while I'd love to say its because I was suspicious, I just hated the taste." An got up and decided to make sure it was somewhere secure. Aka, in a plastic bag. She put it in the bag and set it on the table. "Its... definitely a little gross. I don't care- my point is; we aren't scientists, but we can hold onto this until we find someone who can figure it out."
“I… I guess your right. Hopefully we can… figure this all out” Margaret looks scared for the future but determined “You mind if you show me the spare room you were talking about?”
"Yeah. You seem exhausted. Of course." She stands up and motions for Margaret to follow. "I'm only telling you I have this because I trust you. Just in case you were wondering..." Its only a short walk down the hallway before they open a door leading to the spare room. They simply gesture to show it off. Its clean and tidy, which is strange compared to the organized chaos of the rest of the home.
“Thank you so much” Margaret steps inside and make herself comfortable “Thank you… I don’t know what I would do without you.”
"Same here. Seriously. Had you not been there I would've looked at the... things, that I definitely was not supposed to see. I don't really know what that was-" They shook their head with a smile, still standing close to the door. "Ah, whatever. We don't need to think about it tonight."
“Yea… I’m gonna… probably rest. You should do the same” Margaret gives them a smile
They smile in return. "I'm right across the hall if you need anything. Don't hesitate to wake me up if something's wrong, okay?"
“All right!” Margaret waves at them a farewell for the night
An waves back, their smile not changing. "See you tomorrow." They close the door behind them, just leaving it slightly cracked open, heading off to her own room.
An left her door in the same position as Margaret's and climbed into her own bed. And now, they lied awake just thinking. "What the fuck just happened...? I could've died back there- wait, no. Everyone's alive, but they're not... them. I don't think. I don't know..." They looked at the door, thinking about Margaret. "She's so... composed. Even while worried out of her mind, she still saved me. Saved us. And what about me, huh? I wasn't smart back there at all, I just got lucky and made a right decision because of a wrong assumption."
...
"I'm... so grateful to her. I'll do my best to make sure nothing happens to her because of this." An yawned, exhaustion catching up with them. "Its the... least I can do..." That being her final thought, An drifted off to sleep.