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"Damn," you mutter. You chomp on a couple orbs to distract from your swing-and-miss.
"I-I-It's okay, though! Because I-I— I've been trying to say— I know Richard sounded normal, usually, but there was that time he was sloshed? Do you remember? You were helping me sledgehammer, and we found him— and you tried to talk, and he was all fucked-up? Like, he couldn't put two words together?"
Sledgehammering. Swinging a sledgehammer and finding Richard behind the wall. Yes. Your mouth is fully orbed, but you nod.
"But then he did... I-I-I-I don't know what, but he did something to you, and you started speaking <span class="mu-i">that.</span> Gibberish."
What? You shake your head.
"You did! I-I-I don't know how to... he must've made you not think it was... i-it sounded like Casey, okay? That's all I-I-I was trying to say."
Casey sounded like drunk Richard? You really don't like this. "So it's a code? Or it's a... it's not a... why would snakes have their own language? Can't they read minds and copy ours? Like Teddy? Also, are snakes... social in the wild?"
"I-is Richard from the wild?"
"He's from a box." How did he <span class="mu-i">get</span> in a box? Don't snakes live underwater? Could he even breathe in there? "In my attic. Uh... but Casey isn't from a box in my attic, so that doesn't matter! It didn't sound very snake-y, did it?"
"Not really," Gil admits.
"Yeah! It should be all hisses, if it was a snake language." But you don't have any actual reason to disbelieve Gil, meaning they were still the same. "Maybe it is a code? Or a... a language for un-people? You said Casey didn't seem real, didn't you?"
"I-I-I didn't mean <span class="mu-i">literally.</span> Doesn't he leave Headspace?"
"Don't you leave your manse?" (Gil makes a face.) "Maybe he's really advanced! Like, instead of being a Friend, he's a— a super-Friend. Omega-Friend. Or he's only half-Friend? Like Ellery! Ellery's half-fake too."
"...He doesn't leave his place, though."
"Okay, but he's a weird shut-in, so I don't— maybe he can?" But what happened to his actual body? "Whatever. Forget Ellery. Casey's either a super-Friend, like I said, or he has <span class="mu-i">something</span> in there— right? He sat down and fell asleep and... got possessed!"
"By a Richard?" Gil's sucking on a crisp. "Or a by you?"
"Or by a Teddy," you say.
"Um, yeah, or by a— geez, there's a lot of types. That's fucked. I-I-If he had the same thing going as Richard, do you think... does he have a..."
Oh!! "Management!"
"...snake... what? Management?"
"Maybe he's their— their— their puppet? Or they use him to spy around! I <span class="mu-i">bet</span> they can possess people. They totally seem like creepy possessors, and the one I ran into— you weren't there— she tried to invade my mind, right? Um, I guess you were there, but you were— you know. Just trust me! It makes perfect sense!"
"Um, I-I don't know about... it makes sense, um, but does that make Richard Management? Or how else would he know the same..."
(2/4)
