THE CITY INBOX.

[vecna]

USERNAME: VECNA HENRY CREEL STRANGER THINGS TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO • ACTION • OVERFLOW

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[fanstheflames]

[ It's difficult not to hear it, not because Tsuruno is particularly looking for it, but because she's someone who takes notice of everything she can. Uses it. Learns from it. Either way, she hears it, and she wonders at it. ]

What a lot of people want to hear... isn't that. I think you do want to hear it, though. To see it from me.

I'm not sure why.

[vecna]

[He doesn't respond immediately, judging precisely how he wishes to reply in the first place.]

I like to know what people are hiding. Whether it's on purpose or otherwise.

I think that's the closest thing to seeing someone's true self.

[fanstheflames]

That's not wrong, but what if they don't want to share it?

[vecna]

Then it's disappointing, but not particularly surprising.

[Then it's just the default. Everyone hiding their real selves beneath.]

[fanstheflames]

And what about you? Are you honest with people here?

[vecna]

[No. Henry Creel is a walking, talking hypocrite in many ways. This is perhaps the biggest one.

So, of course:]

I keep a little anger to myself sometimes. But nothing that hides what I am.

[fanstheflames]

... Mm. I guess I still need to work on myself.

[vecna]

[That sounds like an acquiesce, so Henry consider that quietly.]

Don't you think it'll make you feel better to be more like... you? Not whatever you present yourself as?

[fanstheflames]

... [ She smiles up at him. ]

Do you think this "me" is a lie?

[vecna]

[He raises a brow.]

Not entirely. I just don't think I'm seeing all there is to you, that's all.

[fanstheflames]

I kind of feel the same way about you. Though I do think I've seen more of you than I did when we first met.

[vecna]

[There will come a time, maybe, when Tsuruno gets to see unhinged Henry. She missed the mall opportunity, but more will come. Then she'll definitely get to see the real him.

Hopefully that'll be fine.

But for now-]

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, some things take time. Maybe that's just the case with you and I.

audio; un: mightiest

[fanstheflames]

Hey, Henry...

... Just wanted to check in. Were you okay around Halloween?

[ it's your favorite teenager!!!!

(Citation needed.) ]

[vecna]

[She is, in fact, his favorite teenager. At least in comparison to the ones he knows thus far.

Take that as you will.]

Hi, Tsuruno. I made it though just fine, though I heard that wasn't the case for everyone.

Guess I was due a break after everything else.

[(He's not sure how to feel about her checking on him in the first place, though.)]

[fanstheflames]

Yeah, I'm glad you avoided it... It was definitely pretty crazy.

[ Wow, he should feel happy! Obviously? ]

[vecna]

[Happy? That's funny.]

What about you? Did you come out of it unscathed? That was the whole point of your party, right, to avoid anything the city might throw at us?

[fanstheflames]

Oh no, I got... super punished for it.

And then I got... into a few fights in that one haunted house.

[vecna]

[Punished? Hold on. Let's start with that, first.]

What do you mean "punished"? For drawing attention away from the city's "main event"?

[Oh, that adds a sense of coercion to the fact that they're here, doesn't it? Subtle and insidious. They might not be told outright to attend any given event, but there's clearly a reason for them existing; reason enough to punish someone who purposeful pulls them away from it.]

[fanstheflames]

Yeah, I really think that's it. For going against what they wanted and trying to draw people away from it...

A lot of people who tried to avoid it got hit harder with the impulse to go, and that was probably the lightest part of it.

[ Paranoia, weirdly paranormal activity... ]

[vecna]

[His tone wavers with irritation, though not directed at her. At the very gall of this place, instead.]

So. We are being tested for some purpose.

[A pause.]

What did you experience, exactly, when you fought others in the haunted house? Was it like they couldn't recognize you?

[fanstheflames]

It was different, both times. One time he didn't say anything at all, he just did his best to kill me, no matter what I said to him. And the other time, she thought... well, she didn't recognize me. I think she was seeing me as something else, but she could hear what I was saying to her.

I could only snap 'em out of it by knocking them out, unfortunately.

[ And taking on some dents and dings for her trouble. ]

[vecna]

Then there's a theme. Or there seems to be. This city likes to play with our perception of reality.

[Which he would greatly admire, were he not also possibly going to be a victim of this further, someday. Hypocrite and all.]

But if it's trying to drive us mad, it's going about it in a strange way.

[He's not sure this is how he'd do it, anyway.]

[fanstheflames]

Well, if they did anything straightforwardly, I'd have a lot easier time dealing with it...

[ She doesn't approve. ]

[vecna]

[They can agree on that.]

And yet I get the feeling that we're going to get fewer and fewer breaks as they try to achieve their goal.

[Whatever that is!]

How are you coping?

[fanstheflames]

I'm okay. I just don't like being messed with, you know? Especially when I can't do anything about it except put up with it for now.

[ And that's incredibly frustrating. ]