perfectsymmetry | 81

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81 - Stage 3

[Crowe pulled out the phone from the wall to keep him from spilling his secrets like the rest of the town. He was *full* of them, and he doesn't want them getting out, thanks.

And yet, he wanted to tell someone. He needed to talk to someone. So many people have told him he keeps things too bottled up, that he should talk about his problems...

No! He can't. He just can't. Something weird was going on. Hol got on the phone and told everyone he was a communist. It didn't make sense.

Housemates will find Crowe pacing about his room, a familiar worried expression on his face. He'll get stir-crazy after a bit, and head outside. But instead if usual warm greetings, Crowe will be trying to avoid everyone. Of curse, that won't stop people from trying to approach him, and he's too polite to turn anyone away harshly...

For the rest of the day, he'll be hiding high up in a tree at the park. And there he will stay for as long as he can.]

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[The bug will eventually end up on his head if he allows it and begin to squeak. If Crowe could speak bug, he would hear the sordid affairs of many years of terrifying young girls, driving people away with his repulsive stench, taking pleasure in crawling around in the middle of food, and other such misdeeds.

In the meantime, there is the somewhat distant and muffled sound of]

Stinkbuuuuuug! Where are you? I have to get home...!

[...This is all very strange. But this is apparently Lucas's pet? He'll call out to him.]

Ah, Lucas? He's over here.

[There is the sound of rustling as Lucas approaches. He's got on a hospital mask that serves to make his already quite voice even more indistinct. Sort of the point.]

...Crowe...? Where -- ... oh!

What are you doing up there?

I could ask the same. I tend to climb up here to, ah, get away with things.

Um. What's with the mask, if I may ask?

...Um. I stuff it in my mouth if I start saying stupid things. It was better than taping it shut...

Are you just going to hide up there until this is all over?

That might not actually be a bad idea for me, too.

I-I don't know. I don't know what else to do. E-Except tell people everything about me, God I really do want to--[He shakes his head to get rid of his thoughts]

...Have you tried talking to a teddy bear or something? Um. It helped a little, for me, when I was saying all these things about how I miss the way my mom s --

[Lucas proceeds to bite on his mask and mumble his way through the rest of what turns out to be an extraordinarily long sentence.]

...

Um. A little like that.

Ah. M-Maybe I should. Maybe I-I could tell my cat or something.

You can tell my bug if you'd like. He's been going on to me about his family at home nonstop for the last day or so. That's probably why he found you, too...

Ha... he was certainly going off on a tangent, earlier.

I hope he didn't bother you too much... Can you send him down if you don't want to listen to him talk anymore?

Um. Actually, I don't think I ever introduced you. That's the Stinkbug...

N-No, it's fine, I figured he wasn't your average bug, the way he was acting.

He's... a friend of mine from my world. Something like that. He's something like my secretary, to tell the truth.

He does seem to have a lot on his mind, like the rest of us. Who knew stinkbugs would have so much to say, eh?

...Usually, the only thing I hear is apologies about spraying me by accident.

Anyway... if it's too much to handle, you should probably say something to someone so you don't blurt it all out to everyone. It sounds like an awful lot of people have an awful lot of deep secrets.

I-I'd really rather not say a-anything, i-it's not like I want to pick a-and choose what to say...

Y-Yeah. But, well...

I don't think I'd ever leave the house again if I just blurted everything out. I don't know how much longer I can fight it off...

Same here. I-I'll just try to stay up here a-as long as I can, though Wilhelm thinks I'm being cowardly a-and maybe he's-- [Bites his lip]

-- ...right?

He might be. That's not what I would usually say, but. It is, a little. We... We all have secrets we want to hide badly from the people we like, because we're afraid of what they would think. That... Well. It's not brave.

But it's not wrong, either. And... if you're cowardly, so am I. And everyone else.

[He sighs.] I-I don't get why I can do things like through myself i-into danger here, but I'm too scared to tell people things about myself.

...I think I can answer that. It's a lot easier to heal from injuries to your body than it is... to here.

[He places a hand on his heart.]

[He smiles a little. You can be so adorable sometimes, Lucas.] I-I guess. As silly as it seems that judgement m-might hurt worse than e-everything else I've been through here.

The thing is, no matter how terrible you think your secrets are... Well, your friends are people you should trust not to judge you, right? Friendship shouldn't be such an easy thing to lose...

...I say that, but I'm not any better, I know.