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[Siiiiigh.] Oh good, we do now each other. [Nicknames were a good sign, right?]

Yes, full. I remember nothing from before I woke up a few days ago. From what we can tell, I seem to have died and it cost me my memories. Hopefully temporary.

Oh....

[ What is it with the people Gwen knows and dying? First Fern, now Vira-Lorr. And that's not to mention Miles... Gwen still feels super guilty for killing him. ]

Well, at least the death didn't stick? I'm sure your memories will come back eventually. Is there anything I can do to help?

[Blame Chloe, or don't? Vira-Lorr had already forgiven her (Even if she had no clue she'd forgiven her for killing her yet. It'd be a while before she remembered that little tidbit. Labor day was going to be 'fun!')]

If by didn't stick, you mean that I'm not still dead? Yes, at least not that. That would have been awful for obvious reasons. And yes, hopefully they'll come back, though I don't know how long it will be.

For help? We can maybe try to jog my memory, or at least catch me up on what I might not recall?

Yeah, that's what I meant.

[ She wouldn't be the first person Gwen's known that's died and come back, or else Gwen would be more surprised. ]

Yeah, sure I can tell you what we've talked about.

[ She starts holding up fingers as she lists off their previous topics of conversation. ]

First, we talked about this place possibly being a dream or not, and you warned me about the monsters and zombies and stuff in Creepsville that will try to kill and/or eat me.

Then later we argued about colors, because there was this thing going around making people co nutso for certain colors. I was team red, you were team purple.

After that, you apologized for acting all weird, and I did too. And we talked about the ability to travel between universes, and magic and superheroism and stuff.

...That about covers it.

My... we definitely have interesting conversations, don't we?

[She had absolutely no clue what to make of any of that. Especially the part about the colors. What in the world went on in this town sometimes?]

Is this town just a little bit insane, or is it just me? We were angry because of colors?

Oh, no, it's definitely insane. After the color thing happened, I turned into a bear.

[ It really was the thrill-packed introduction to the town, for Gwen. ]

You... turned into a bear?!? I shudder to imagine what that might have been like. Did everyone turn into one?

No, not everyone. I ran into a few other bear-people but I also saw people who were still people.

It certainly sounds like it would be disorienting. I can barely imagine what it would be like, to suddenly find myself as a bear.

Very disorienting. At first, I was still thinking like me. But as time went on, my thoughts got more and more... well, bear-y. All I wanted was to eat or sleep, or rub up against a tree or something.

That... ok, that sounds both very disturbing and at the same time very simple. I can't decide if I would have been horrified or mostly ok with it.

[She'd embraced it like Yogi off to raid a picnic basket.]

Not gonna lie, it was... kind of nice? To not have to worry about human shit for a while.

Of course, then it was over and back to Creepsville bullshit. I got trapped in an egg and when I came out I was my evil future self for like half a month.

[ She definitely killed... a lot of people. But that's not a good topic for polite conversation. ]

I... heard about the eggs, or read about them. The less said about those things, the better. I had a few bad experiences with them apparently.

[She'd definitely read about having been killed by something that came out of one of those things.]

Oh? You remember that, or someone told you?

Apparently... according to Moira and my notes, one of those multicolored eggs let out a monster that killed me by surprise. I'd rather not discuss that too deeply, though.

Oh, yeah, no, sure. That sounds like seriously triggering stuff.

Triggering triggering... nope, I have no...

What does triggering mean?

[It was definitely triggering. Don't worry, though. She wouldn't be sharing.]

Oh, triggering is like...

When you have a real bad experience with something, and just hearing the word or talking about that thing makes you super anxious and uncomfortable. That's being triggered.

...ahhhh, I learn something new every day. Even more than usual today. No, this is definitely triggering, heh. No sharing today. Good news is that they're gone so we're safe from them, right?

Yeah. No more eggs, no more lack-of-cats making everyone go crazy... Things have really quieted down around here... Except for the carnival stuff.

I'm definitely pleased with both being gone, even if I never want to see another clown in my life.

Yeah, that wasn't the best Stephen King novel that could've come to life. I'd much rather kill Cujo than go snooping around in sewers.

Uhhh... Wait, this is a novel we're talking about? What is a Cujo exactly?

Those shapeshifting clowns in the sewers were straight out of the Stephen King book It.

And Cujo is a big monster dog, from a different Stephen King story.

... somehow, I'm no longer surprised that something that is here might be in a book somewhere. This place almost seems like a work of fiction.

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