8: Then they Banged, pt 5 (Patreon)

(pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4)

“Can we—can we talk thematics?” Emily babbled, trotting alongside Stephanie as they traversed the nighttime city sidewalk. “I’m blue, you’re pink, and that Kelly girl is red. Chloe just got static, right? Totally disqualified, she doesn’t get to be a part of this. Maybe she goes crazy, or gets mind-broken, or something, yeah. Let’s hope for the best.”

Discovering that magic was fucking real, and was potentially going to be part of her life wasn’t something Emily could overlook. She didn’t care about the chilly air at this hour, and couldn’t be bothered to be self-conscious about the revealing state her disordered costume was in. Magic. The fact that it was some sort of harem charm magic that might be affecting her mind didn’t dissuade her enthusiasm at all.

Even if things take like, a DARK turn and he just wants to use me as a sex thing, Emily thought to herself gleefully, I can live with that! Was having those fantasies waaay before any of this went down. Not that Brian’d ever do that! Just, it’d even be okay if he did, a little.

“Traditionally, in sentai stuff, red is like, the leader of the little band,” Emily continued. “Is Kelly kind of like that? She seems really, I dunno, take charge. Or, does Brian count as our team captain sorta, since he’s, uh… this is all…?”

“I don’t know if it’s like that,” Stephanie admitted with a sheepish smile. “I feel like I’m definitely pink, but, there’s also a fire theme. Isn’t fire usually associated with red?”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Emily quirked her lip and then worked her jaw. It still hurt where Chloe had elbowed her back then. “Pink fire, huh. I woulda picked heart for you or something. Fits better with your empathy powers.”

“It’s… not powers, exactly,” Stephanie protested. “I don’t think.”

“Can we try that thing again, once we get there?” Emily asked. “It’s so fucking cool! Magic mental stuff, with psychedelic colors and sexy fuckin—uh, shit, I should probably ask about that, huh? Did you have the hots for me at all?”

Stephanie’s step faltered, looking over at her new friend in surprise.

“Uhhh, ‘cause I’m just sayin’,” Emily said, embarrassed. “There was… I was feeling weird stuff there, okay? That was—or was it just me?”

“I… um, no,” Stephanie blushed. “It wasn’t just you. That was…”

“So, yeah okay anyways!” Emily awkwardly cleared her throat. “I get blue, and probably water? Which always goes with blue! I’m satisfied. Good match-up. Primary color, and like, main, classical, element—water’s badass. What cool powers do I get?”

“I don’t think they’re powers,” Stephanie said weakly.

“Hey, don’t ruin this for me, Pink!” Emily huffed in frustration. “All I’ve ever wanted was cool powers. To be special. Is that so much to ask? I have to get something really awesome—I’m, like. I don’t know, I don’t really have much of anything else goin’ for me. So, please.”

“Um...” Stephanie looked like she was about to say something.

“Ugh, go on, then,” Emily grumbled, urging her on. “What?”

“I want to say that… you saved me, really saved me, twice already just today,” Stephanie told her in a quiet voice. “Without powers, or anything like that. You’re already amazing—and, you always will be, to me.”

“Err—that first time was all Rebecca, really,” Emily objected quickly. “Like, if not for her, I woulda just ran up and then... not even known what to do, at all. Panic? Scream and shout all fuckin’ crazy, I guess? I can be loud and all, but Rebecca’s the real… fuck, I wish she was with us on all this. Can we charm zap her, too?”

“I-I don’t think we should do things like that!” Stephanie shook her head, giving Emily a serious expression. “Not until we figure out more. What do we even do, once we—if we manage to find the charm? Try to... explain things to Brian?”

“Uhhh, fuck no,” Emily lurched to a sudden stop, eyes going wide. “I tried to kiss him, like way back during high school. But, I’d been drinking a little, or yeah maybe a lot, and he got real upset. Thought that it was, y’know, under the influence or whatever, I guess. So, if he thinks there’s a chance that we’re being affected by all this, mentally…”

“He won’t like it...” Stephanie realized, slowing to a halt as well and turning back to face Emily. “Um. Are we being affected?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know!” Emily threw her hands up. “Before, you were all like you didn’t even care either way, right? Why’re you asking that now?!”

“I care now if it’s going to bother him!” Stephanie let out an exasperated laugh. “Doesn’t that... just make it seem even more like I’m being influenced, though?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Emily pursed her lips. “This is actually really fuckin’ bad, right? We’re his brainwashed harem sex slaves? This is bad.”

“No, its—no!” Stephanie argued in a fluster. “It’s not bad! Before all of this, that was bad! I’m not going back to being like that. I’m so tired of, of being anxious about everything, and feeling alone, and… disconnected from everyone. I don’t care what—”

“Gonna interrupt—” Emily cut in with a stammer. “I just had like, this serious urge to kiss you just now. Not even kidding.”

“The urge to… kiss me?” Stephanie blinked in surprise.

No way am I gonna brush off things like that, Emily told herself, eyes shamefully darting away from Stephanie’s lips. They were pink, of course. Soft-looking, innocent, and oh-so inviting... Whenever a character ignores weird details—red flags, suspicious compulsions, they always turn out to be like, important clues that coulda saved them later, if only they’d spoken up. Right?

“Yeah, outta nowhere,” Emily reported. “Okay, not out of nowhere—it’s like, your expression and everything you’re saying, I just… wanted to, needed to kiss you, comfort you and be like… I dunno. It’s intimate, kinda.”

“Oh,” Stephanie said, simply giving Emily a flabbergasted look.

On unspoken agreement they both started walking again, meandering at a leisurely place down the final block between Stephanie’s hotel room and the convention center. Emily struggled not to stare, because she didn’t want to encourage any more complications... but Stephanie was eye candy. The sugary aesthetic of her fluffy pink hair perfectly suited that feminine cuteness to her features, giving her a shy but honest vibe, pure and without guile.

Emily wasn’t jealous, exactly—just interested. Her own style was such a different flavor of cute; cheeky and mischievous, tomboyish punk with more than a little geek influence. What’ll I look like if I go all… full blue?

“Hey, listen. I don’t get random impulses to kiss girls, not ever,” Emily explained. “Just wanted to put it out there, be on the level so that we both know. Since, um, all this weird narrative is happening. Are we still like, connected? Like, are our emotions hooked up together still, or something?”

“I… don’t know?” Stephanie said, frowning. “Can you feel me in your mind?”

“Can I feel you in my mind?” Emily repeated incredulously. “How the hell should I know? My mind’s like, a junkheap of buried shit and repressed… everything. I don’t go lookin’ around or anything, I try to just… get through stuff, y’know?”

“Let’s… not kiss again, for now,” Stephanie proposed, giving Emily a meek look as if to add if that’s okay? “‘Till we know more about all this.”

“Uh, I wasn’t gonna anyways!” Emily blurted out quickly. “I’m not gay. Never ever kissed a girl, or even really thought about it, before.”

“Emily…” Stephanie showed her a hesitant smile. “You kissed me back there in the stairwell. Just a few minutes ago.”

“Uhhhh well yeah I meant besides that!” Emily retorted loudly, feeling blood rush to her face. “Obviously! That doesn’t even count, you like—you know what you did! It was like, just a stimulated reaction, when you were all pokin’ around inside my brain. My lips were innocent! You did that to me!”

“Okay, okay!” Stephanie smiled bashfully. “Sorry.”

“It’s not funny,” Emily put on a scowling pout. “What, are you gay? I mean—I don’t judge, or anything, but I think if we’re all caught up in all this stuff together…”

“I think... I was asexual, before this weekend,” Stephanie said slowly. “Or maybe not even that—I was just, I was nothing. I didn’t feel connected to people in that way, in any way, or, ever even like I was a part of things. Now… I don’t know? Maybe?”

“That doesn’t scare the living shit out of you?” Emily said, eyes going wide. “We’re like— this isn’t chemicals in the water turning the frogs gay conspiracy stuff, Stephie. This is like, real deal mind fuckery, and it’s like, it’s changing you.”

Changing US, maybe...

“I-I’m new to associating attraction with people,” Stephanie admitted, looking down at her feet. “I’m very attracted to Brian. I think I feel… indifferent to most everyone else, except for Kelly, and you.”

“You’re… what, are you attracted to me?” Emily exclaimed. The girl’s sudden admission, the idea of it was somewhere between a punch to the gut and a comforting caress that softly stroked down her abdomen. Uh no no no, NOT comforting. Weird caress, um, weird… touch to the tummy. Thing.

“I don’t know,” Stephanie gave her a helpless shrug. “Really. I’m not unattracted to you, there’s nothing… mentally deterring me, from girls. If it was you or Kelly... I feel like I could kiss you, and it would have meaning.”

“Uh. Okay, cool,” Emily nodded, feeling relief and… other strange things she wasn’t inclined to pin down right now. “Cool. What about Rebecca? Or, Chloe?”

“I don’t know how I feel about Rebecca,” Stephanie said. “But, Chloe frightens me.”

“She should,” Emily muttered. “She’s a total fucking psycho.”

“It didn’t go like I expected at all,” Stephanie eventually sighed. “Even after seeing her lash out at everything when you all... walked in on us. I guess I thought… that she could be reasoned with, once she calmed down? That—no, I don’t know what I thought. Kelly was right.”

They fell silent after reaching the convention center plaza, Emily punching the crosswalk button repeatedly in irritation. Why the harem charm, why NOW? Passed that thing around to show everyone back in high school—it was like, just this novelty. An inside joke. What changed?

An errant few droplets of blue sparkled down through Emily’s mind, and she wet her lips in agitation. But, wasn’t this everything she wanted? She’d had a real kiss with Brian, they were embarking on some sort of adventure full of supernatural hijinks together. They’d kissed. He admitted to always having feelings for her, they’d actually fucking kissed, and she’d tackled Chloe to the ground. Even started smacking the shit out of her.

“Wait, is this all a dream?!” Emily wondered in alarm, taking Stephanie by the arm. “This is all really happening, right?”

“I-I think so,” Stephanie nodded bravely. “If it is a dream... don’t ever wake me up.”

Right?! Emily couldn’t help but share a secret grin with her new friend.

She recognized the breathless excitement in Stephanie’s expression, the lovestruck pangs tinged with just a little bitter bit of desperation. Fear, anticipation, and longing. The city traffic in front of them reluctantly rumbled to a stop, their crosswalk symbol flashed, and Emily grabbed Stephanie’s hand. They scampered across the street together, hurrying to begin their search for answers.

(pt 6)

/// This section grew out of control exploring dialogue directions and got cut way down. I think the final cut will get pruned even more, I just want some bare-bones interaction as Emily comes to grips with things and gets to know Steph a bit more.

The fleshed out sections of this chapter shouldn't be when they're walking around downtown, I don't think.