𝓥alerie

(She's struggling to get a breath in. But she's trying. Following his instruction.)

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is... I don't know what this is.

Can we... can we sit down, maybe?

Ooh! This seems like a fun game!

She walks over, practically skipping. She then sat down, immediately curling up to be as small as possible, take up as little space as she could.

Gestures towards the piano. As if to say 'go ahead, impress me.'

She seems to understand, though.

"Well, you could try, but my blood is... How did they put it?" Pauses. "... Weird."

Tilting her head. Considering... considering...

Yeah, sure! That sounds nice!

Blood isn't interesting! It's just blood!

... She likes music.

Silently offers a water bottle?

Scrunches up her nose. Shakes her head.

Before you knew better?

... Prove it.

Be interesting.

(She's shaking. Badly. Taking a few slow, deep breaths to try and calm down.)

I... I think so.

We... I... I'm pretty sure we've met.

Her head tilted to the other side. A confused puppy.

Also not blinking.

"Don't break the skin, sir." She warned, breaking the silence. Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper.

No. She's just observing.

She doesn't blink either. Nor does she pull her finger away.

She does say a very deadpan: "Ouch."

Yes. Staring, staring...

Eventually, she reaches out and pokes his face. Just to see if she can force him to blink first.

Perfect! That's what she was going for!

So he won't be creeped out if she keeps it up for a while?

I don't understand... I don't understand why it's upsetting. It shouldn't be! It shouldn't! It should be fine. It should...

... Sorry. I think I was talking to myself a little there. Um. Did you say something?

//put Val and Armand together and their creepy doll tendencies/their combined trauma will just go in circles until they become too powerful ☠️

At first, she doesn't notice. When she does, well...

She doesn't blink. Just tilts her head and continues to stare.

Oh.

Blinks a few times. Widens her eyes until they're huge, puppy dog eyes.

... That better?

<- Thousand yard staring.

Watch and learn, sir!

(And then she smiles, eyes going wide and innocent.)

Right! Of course! You're right.

But there are some paranoid people out there, so maybe try to look extra trustworthy? To balance it out?

Uh... sir, maybe if you...

You could definitely look more trustworthy if you really put your mind to it! I believe in you!

Okay, fine. Serial killers have reasons too, I guess.

It's... they would still be *a serial killer* by definition, even if it's not humans they're killing.

... Feels like home.

I know we're not —

That's not the point. Killing us for no reason is... that's *still* bad.

Why would killing an alien be any different from killing a pers...

Human?

Well, I mean...

Okay, I wouldn't want *you* to get medical aid from them. But they did well by me, I think.

... Hey, wait a minute!