fandomtownies | Near the post office, Thursday

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Near the post office, Thursday

Tip stood right where she had for the last . . . while. Maybe a foot or two closer to the post office. It was hard to tell, the shifting fog made distances a little iffy.

Not that Tip noticed or cared what the fog did. Or where she was going. Or how almost glacially slowly she was going there.

To anyone passing by, Tip looked just like an enormous, ruined statue. It was best not to stop and look closely at her, though. If you did she might notice you. And if she noticed you --

She moved faster attacking than she did just walking. Just fast enough to catch you with an enormous, crushing foot. Even if her foot only caught the trailing edge of your clothing, that was alright. It wasn't as though you'd be able to push her off of it. She had another foot. And a hand. She didn't care how the crushing happened, just so long as it happened at all.

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Hanna had been going to mail several application envelopes to jobs. And, maybe, internship programs. Because graduation was only five months away now.

...okay, this was. New. She stared upward, trying to figure out why that face looked familiar from this angle.

Someone was looking.

There was a deep, rumbling creak as though from far off. It was the sound of Tip turning her head, just enough to look down.

Oh. Look. A bug.

Hanna gaped, and took a step backward. She looked like--

NOT THE POINT! Another fast step backward, and Hanna asked, "Is the Post Office closed?"

And another, and another, and maybe she should start running?

I mean. Probably.

Another creaking groan, and now an enormous foot was coming down at Hanna. It wore no shoe, and one of its toes was missing. The bottom was smeared with -- well. It was best not to think about it.

RUNNING. RUNNING RUNNING RUNNING.

"Tip!" That's who she looked like! You know, enormous and stone and adult, but still. "...WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"

Silly bug. Statues didn't talk.

Hmph. This bug was fast. Tip didn't quite catch it with her foot. She reached out her hand instead. She only had the one, her left arm cutting off above the elbow.

That was from the last bug to escape.

Oh wow. Okay. Not talking, definitely smashing, just-- Hanna ducked between the Tip-Statue's feet, and took a swing at her ankle.

Owwwwwwwwwwwww. OKAY. That only worked in the movies, apparently.

Sneaky bug. Tip swiped her other foot at her ankle. The way one might if one got bit by a tiny bug.

If she had rope, if she had a weapons, if she had help-- well, Hanna didn't have any of those things. But she had speed, and now she had balance. So she hopped up on the foot on the ground, jumping up and down for a moment, hoping that hurt a tiny bit more, then prepared to run.

Ugh. This bug was so irritating. Tip took another swipe with her foot.

And Hanna leapt onto that big Tip's foot, and clung on as tight as she could, hoping, hoping Tip would try to kick her off. Because if she could get some momentum here....

Sorry, Hanna. Tip lifted her foot and went for a slap with her hand.

Aaaaaah! Bad plan, unworkable-- Hanna wasn't about to try to leap for that hand, because Statue-Tip would probably just close her fist and squish.

Nothing for it but to jump from the lifted foot, and hope she landed okay.

Stupid bug kept getting away. It was a fast little bastard.

Well. She'd get it if it got close to her again.

"Owwwwww." Not. Happening. Hanna had managed to roll as she landed, and was out of the Statue's immediate radius. Ignoring the pain in her foot, she ran like hell up the street, one part of her going Tip Tip Tip is that Tip? and the rest of her just focused on getting Away. Far. Away.

Tip, on the other hand, was just arriving. She was still on edge from her conversation with Peridot. And, you know, everything else. So seeing her roommate running pell-mell away from her place of work?

Little bit distressing.

"Hanna?"

"Ahh!"

Hanna startled, badly, coming around in a kata position, then stopped to stare. "Tip? You're here?"

"Um." Why did that keep surprising people? "Yeah. I work just down the street." You know, over by that giant creepy one armed statue Tip didn't remember ever seeing before.

"Don't go over there she'll try to smash you- nein--" Yeah, you knew Hanna was upset when she started slipping into German. "/She looks like you!/"

Tip wondered if whatever had gotten to Peridot got Hanna, too. She turned around, back to the giant statue. Bill continued his litany of NOs above her. "Who'll try to smash me? Did you see a --" What had Peridot called them? "A hollow?"

No, wait, hollows tried to eat people. Maybe Hanna got the word wrong?

"Nein. Nyet. No." Hello, welcome back, English. Hanna drew a shuddering breath. "The statue. I was going to mail, some applications, and it-- moved." A full-body shudder at that memory. "She looks like you! If you were twenty years older, maybe. And just-- wrong."

Very beautiful, yes. But clearly not interested in making friends.

"She does?" Tip looked back at the statue again. "She's all skinny," she pointed out. Judging by her mom, Tip was destined for some booty. "And she only has one arm."

Hanna was getting her breath back, and feeling like Tip was focusing on the wrong thing.

"Look at her face. It's-- not perfect. But. She's right there, at the Post Office." Having expected her roommate to be there had probably done half the work of helping Hanna recognize the resemblance. "Not important! No. She has blood on her feet." And other things besides blood.

Tip was too far away -- and too outside her own context for self-recongition -- to see the resemblance. She was willing to take Hanna's word for it, though. "The statue's bleeding?"

No, Tip. That was not what Hanna meant.

"Noooo." Hanna gulped and straightened, and then said, "It looks like she has -- bits. Of people. Stuck between her toes." Didn't she ever get a pedicure? "And, she tried to step on me, and slapped at me, and... she's slow, but I punched her and I think I cracked my knuckles."

"And she's . . . me?" Tip stared at the statue again, trying to get a look at her face. It was all cracked, and made of stone and bronze or steel or something, but she could almost see it. "That's what Peridot was saying. When she said I was gone. I went -- hollow or whatever and turned into a giant stone -- thing."

This was fucked up. Tip groaned.

"Alright, Fandom! I get it! I have trust issues!"

Hanna was recovered now, and blinking at Tip. "Hollow? You're not hollow. And-- I don't get it."

Forgive her, the metaphor was not immediately clear to her.

"Nevermind," Tip said, sighing. "I ran into Peridot before. But she was kind of -- broken. She said that people turned into something she called hollows and went bad and that I was -- but, you know, clearly I'm not so she must've meant this thing."

This thing, which was taunting her with her own known faults. Stupid Fandom.

"Is that going to happen to us?" That was horrifying. "How did Peridot know about it?" Wait. "Is she, was she, a different Peridot? Like the statue isn't you?"

"I guess? She was all . . . glitchy."

Peridot had been in improv class yesterday; that would've a very short time to become 'glitchy'. Maybe. Or maybe not. Hanna didn't know anything for sure.

"Let's go back to the dorm," she said abruptly. "Maybe the statue will leave. Or, maybe there will be news about what's going on."

Bill spelled an extremely large YES over Hanna's head at the dorms suggestion. "Alright," Tip said, giving one last look towards the statue. "I miss the squirrels."

"Me too," Hanna had to agree. She smiled up at Bill. "But maybe the school knows something by now."

After all, Mr. Peanutbutter had cancelled classes. Maybe he'd known something they didn't.

(Aside from dogs recognizing danger.)

"Did they make any announcements in your class or anything?" Tip didn't have classes on Thursdays.

"Mr. Peanutbutter just had a note on his classroom door that said 'something bad is happening. Dogs can sense these things. Run away while you still have time!'" Hanna had never gotten the hang of speaking in All Caps, so that probably didn't sound as urgent as Mr. Peanutbutter's note had been. "So. Sort of?"

"'Something bad', huh?" Tip shook her head. "Yeah. That's useful."

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Near the post office, Thursday

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