#dark-duo

A month ago, Dale would have been dead where he stood.

No hesitation, no squeamishness, no accounting for her aching hand- dead. Within seconds.

But Susie hesitates.

Susie hesitates, turning just far enough to look at him and his outstretched hand just out of the corner of her eye. She stares at him for a good long while, greenish-yellow gaze completely unblinking, and then Susie does something more terrifying than anything she'd ever threatened to do.

Susie laughs.

It's by no means a nice laugh. There's no part of it that in any way implies what's happened is a friendly joke- more that she was going to singlehandedly cause his funeral and find it absolutely and utterly hilarious.

One out-of-office meeting later, and Mayor Holiday came back to this: half-dried egg yolk splattered on the walls of Town Hall. Broken shells were everywhere. Even the windows were smudged.

All without a trace of the culprit in sight.

Carol grabbed a water hose to spray down the front of the building. The scent reeked. How old were those eggs?

DAMN that slip-up. If only Mrs. Holiday kept her cool in front of Susie. The adrenaline rush of chasing after and -- finally! -- catching the punk teenager brought her frustration boiling to the surface! Carol broke her own rule about maintaining her icy ‘mayor face’: appear impenetrable, and nobody would attempt to exploit any perceived weaknesses.

Her reaction must have emboldened whoever did this, she deduced. ...she’ll have better control over her emotions next time.

@dark-duo

Asriel nods understandingly, pressing 'save' on his latest project and lowering the lid of his laptop long enough to meet Will's eyes, giving the younger boy a warm smile.

"Sounds as if your folks really let you know what they weren't happy with, then."

There's no questioning to the statement, but nothing particularly harsh either-- it's as if he's remarking on something as innocuous as the sky being blue.