#tqchloe

Chloe tilted her head this way and that for a moment, then responded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose a bit, a faint embarrassed blush on her face as she answered:

“No lying? Junk food. My family has some background in culinary arts and my mom is SUPERRRRRR against anything ‘unhealthy’ or ‘flavorless,’ by which she means, like, fast food and that kind of thing. I can’t blame her, it was how she was raised, but...”

The young lady turned her head this way and that, as if worried she’d be overheard, then quickly concluded:

“I’d kill someone for a baconator any day of the week. Just saying.”

~~~

Lewis was quiet for a moment after the question was asked, gently poking a few of his fingers together in a sheepish, embarrassed expression before saying:

“I’ll admit it: alcohol. I swore off drinking years ago after an...incident at the state fair, namely one that involved an alpaca in the petting zoo area, grand theft, and a brief jail sentence. I can’t deny I miss it a bit, and I do like cooking with it from time to time, but, um...”

He trailed off, blush deepening as he requested, quietly:

Lucky for the anon, it was just about closing time, which meant that there was a chance for the cake to be enjoyed right away.

Making sure the doors were locked behind the last customer of the night and that the closed sign was up, Vivi quickly got to cutting and chomping down a slice of the cake, setting two more slices aside for Lewis and Arthur back home. Chloe quickly came to join her, the two workers enjoying a small moment of peace and sweets before getting back to their closing duties, Vivi moving the rest of the cake to the communal fridge...

“Yea yea,” she says dismissively, “I’ll be saving the other two for later. Thank you…”

The teenager’s focus is elsewhere, turned away from the anon now as she runs her hand over the old, thick volume’s cover. She had very limited experience with magic, but even she could feel the sheer power contained in this tome’s pages, and she hadn’t even cast anything yet!

She flipped it open to the index, finding a page with a spell that was to her liking, placed the book down on a nearby table and began the incantation, craning her neck and little to accurately read the spell while she performed the incantation’s required hand-motions for casting…

Much to her suprise, the tome floated up to her eye level as she wove the spell, feeling the power rush through her as she spoke ancient phrases, the words coming out of her at a speed and clarity that she didn’t think she could manage, almost like…

The book was filling in the gaps, the mistakes she made for her.

Before long, it was over, and she shook her head, shaking off whatever the heck that weird feeling in her head had been while she was casting the spell. That was weird.

Anyway, time to test it out: she lifted her hand, and, sure enough…

Her desk went flying across the room, hitting the wall with a resounding thud, the creak of stressed wood reverberating through her small room.

“Ha!” she cried out, it works! Who knew getting telekinesis could be this easy, with no side effects at all, except for a slight headache…

She floated the book over to herself, flipping through it to Chapter 2, Summoning Spells.

The girl snaps up the lamp quickly, staring from it to the grey creature and back again, her emerald eyes bright and curious and excited behind the glint of her glasses…

But first thing’s first.

“…thank you.”

Chloe stares at the CD with a concerned expression, looking up at the anon.

The moment Duet heard the voice and saw something come rolling in towards them, they moved QUICKLY.

Before Vivi or Chloe could even react they were being picked up and dropped out the front door, Duet darting back in…only to realize, after finding and kicking the wheel around a bit, that it was fake.

They scowled, picking it up and tearing it apart, angry that someone would have scared them like that…but also happy it had just been them, Vivi, and Chloe in the store at the time…

They always hated this part.

Vivi and Chloe came running in the moment Duet opened the door and motioned for them to come in, making it clear to their employees that everything was safe as they quietly closed and locked the door…

They grabbed Vivi first, pulling her over by her arm, gently but with a steady grip, and as she began to protest, they locked eyes with her…

The space side of their face flared as they removed their cowl, neon geometric lines streaking across its surface as they rolled Vivi’s memory back, swept it out, erased it. They couldn’t have her remembering how fast they had moved, how they had lifted two women over their shoulder like they had weighed nothing…

Vivi’s eyes glazed over, in a daze for a few moments more…enough time to take care of Chloe. 

She tried to back up, run, as she always did when she caught a glimpse of Duet’s true self. They knew Chloe feared them, and as they clutched her arm and swept her memory too, they saw the fear in her eyes…

Fear that cut them like a knife.

As Chloe entered the same, temporary daze as Vivi had, Duet picked up the torn up wheel and dropped the pieces into the trash can in their office, stepping back out and unlocking the door just in time for Vivi to return to reality, closely followed by Chloe, both them looking over at their boss as if nothing had happened.

“What’re you doing by the door, boss?” Vivi inquired, Chloe returning to the box of new books she was putting out on a shelf nearby.

“Eh,” Duet shrugged, fighting the fatigue that was creeping up from their seal and into their body as their powers retreated back, draining their energy along with it, “I was checking how hot it is outside…we might have to put the AC on today.”

Well, consider them quite happy: Duet casually nibbles on their veggie sub (and puts a few chilies into their smoothie), Chloe puts her chicken bacon ranch melt and smoothie into the staff mini-fridge for lunch and thanks the anon…

And Vivi downs her ENTIRE meatball marinara in about half a minute flat. Seems that she didn’t get a chance to grab breakfast before going to work this morning..