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I PROBABLY SHOULD'VE EXPECTED THAT
"Also—" Teddy hefts Gil's skin. "He'll feel better in the water."
TEDDY THE WATER IS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE
YOU CAN JUST LIKE. LOOK DOWN. AND SEE IT?
"No, I don't think so. There."
There! The end of the pier! It's nothing special— a sudden drop-off, unadorned. The water underneath looks the same as the water everywhere else. Teddy walks up to it, nevertheless, and whistles sharply. The milling beetles cease to mill, suddenly, and stream in an orderly fashion into Gil's empty skin. Teddy's holding it out like a bag. When they're all inside, he bundles it up, trapping them inside.
YOU'RE JUST UH
YOU'RE GOING TO THROW THOSE IN THE OCEAN?
"Do you think he'll drown?"
You consider the facts. .......NO? BUT THERE'S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY TO—
"There isn't," Teddy says, and knots the top of the Gil-bundle, and drops it into the lapping water below. It doesn't even splash.
OH
YOU JUST
YOU JUST DROPPED HIM?
"Should I have done something else?" Teddy looks over the top of his glasses at you. "It was what there was to do. Aren't you itchy in there, by the way?"
IN WHERE?
"In there."
God! As soon as you send one smug cryptic bastard to the snake hospital, another one crawls right out of the woodwork. In there, your ass. Itchy? Itchy why? Is it about your clothes? Because you... you... uh... your clothes... that you are wearing... those clothes. That you are wearing. On your arms and legs, which you have.
You hate manses so, so much. You clear your throat: LOOK UH I DIDN'T MEAN TO—
"I didn't think you did."
I'M NOT NORMALLY A UH... A... I'M NOT NORMALLY ANYWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF ANY TYPE OF REPTILE. I NEED YOU TO KNOW THAT. I AM NORMALLY A CHARMING AND ATTRACTIVE YOUNG HUMAN LADY. ALSO I WEAR CLOTHING!
"I wasn't worried. It's partially his fault. If some part of him wasn't frightened, his mind wouldn't make you frightening." Teddy smiles enigmatically. "I can strip you of it, if you'd prefer?"
>[1] Write-in. (Optional.) Real choices in ~8 hours, you know the drill folks
