November 21, 2022

Oleander steps into Lock's room. The toys and glowing stars are still strewn out on the floor. Lock is laying on her back in the middle of the room. Lock’s hair has started to grow out quite a bit over the past week. Anywhere orange is turning white. Her messy hair covers her face some. It’s soft like a fox’s Winter coat. "Lock?" Oleander fully steps in the room.

Lock glances at him but doesn't get up. "What? What do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk- are you okay?" He's covered in dried black and gray blood.

"Killed hundreds of innocent people on a whim. Could be better."

Oleander blinks, "You... what?"

"Doesn't matter."

He sits next to her, "Yes it does. What happened?" They say, voice soft.

"I got in an argument with this annoying nonferal named Madelyn and...lit an old building on fire and it collapsed on hundreds of people."

"Did you mean to kill the people?" He asks. Honestly he just didn't see Lock as someone who'd kill hundreds on purpose.

Lock stares at the ceiling a moment. She currently can't lie, "Not all of them."

"Why did you do it?"His voice is level, gentle. Just wanting to understand.

Lock closes her eyes to take a deep breath, "It's a long story."

"I don't know about you but I don't have anything planned soon."

"You know what? Fine. Not like this timeline is gonna last forever anyways," Lock sits up with her legs crossed "So you know what nonferals are right?"

"Anthropomorphic animals?"

"Yeah. And Everyone is a hybrid of whatever their mom is, hybrid one, and whatever their dad is, hybrid two," Lock makes hand motions while trying to explain. Oleander nods.

"I'm a red panda and a red fox hybrid. My mom's hybrid one was a red panda, my dad's hybrid one was a red fox," Lock continues.

"Alright."

"The Moores are like this cult back on Nonferal Earth full of silver foxes. That's the old building I burned down, Moore Manor"

"I see," He nods.

"My dad was a red fox at the manor. Everyone hated him. Eventually I got chosen to be part of some experiment in the basement of the manor when the experiment went wrong, police stepped in and I moved in with my mom Blair who wasn't in the cult. Unless he had gotten away, my dad should have still been in there when it all got burnt down. I was just waiting for a good enough excuse to get rid of him."

Oleander nods. "That makes sense... I'm assuming you tried to get the innocents out?" He asks.

"...it wasn't my best moment."

Oleander sighs. "I'm not saying what you did was right but I'm still here for you. I have other friends who have done horrible things and honestly you don't seem like the type to do it again so..." He looks down at her and offers a smile "I'm not going anywhere Lock. Even if you mess up."

Lock shakes her head looks down.

"I'm serious, okay? You're not getting rid of me." They said, in a more serious voice, "You're not going to be alone again."

"No, you don't get it. I just can't," She shakes her head. She nervously fidgets her hands.

"You can't what?"

Lock shakes her head again. She gets up and heads to the door.

Oleander gets up. "Lock please- Just talk to me I want to help you-"

"It's not right, I c-can't," For a second there's a sparking sound as she flinches and walks out of the room.

Oleander follows her i to the hallway, "Lock are you being hurt? Is someone hurting you?"

"Leave me be- I'll be ok," Lock winces some again. They both walk out through the kitchen to the backyard.

"Lock- don't do this please Let me help you. Whatever it is, we can fix it! We can stop the game. Please." Oleander's voice breaks.

Lock winces again as she keeps trying to walk forward with a bit of difficulty, "I-I can't do this, I- can't" Her breathing is quickening.

Oleander sets his jaw. "I'm sorry, Lock," he catches up to Lock and hits her neck, right where the vagus nerve is.

Lock tenses a second before passing out. Oleander catches her and carries her inside the house, running to Cole. 

Lock stirs with a grumble. She finds herself laying in the living room. Oleander, Luna, and Cole are all talking. Oleander looks panicked and leans down, looking around Lock's neck for anything that could have shocked her but with no luck. Lock puts a hand to her head and sits up as she blinks, "What the?"

Oleander is panicking, "Lock I'm sorry but I need to figure out what's going on- You can't leave you can't-" The tears begin streaming down their face.

Cole watches like he's watching a shitty soap opera.

"I just don't understand why Lock would even leave," Luna sighs.

Lock rubs the side of her neck, "You knocked me out?"

"I did because I thought Cole could help but he's being fucking weird-" Oleander takes a shakey breath in. "You promised you wouldn't throw me out. Don't do it. Please."

"Uhm..." Lock is nervous again.

"Lock? What's gotten you nervous?" Luna asks from the couch.

Oleander sighs and looks down. "I won't stop you if you leave this time. I'm sorry for knocking you out. I just.." A couple tears drip onto the floor, "I want you to stay."

Cole takes a long drag from his cigar and mutters, "fuck." Cole puts the but in his coat pocket and continues to watch.

Luna grumbles as she goes right over to Cole and looks him in the eyes before stating, "Protocol one."

Cole promptly partially collapses for a second then stands back up as he looks down, "fuck what am I? I know i'm gay but like holy fuck I look like a-" Cole is cut off suddenly as he snaps and his usual outfit appears on him.

Lock stays quiet while fidgeting

"Anyway, glad you're back. Oleander, your turn!" Luna says quickly.

Cole shrugs as he coughs.

Oleander looks up at Cole, "Y-you're back? do you remember what I said?"

"No? Was it important or something?" Cole looks over at Oleander.

"Yes-" He takes a deep breath. "I think Lock's being controlled or hurt by someone- The rabbit lady talked to me the other day and said that Lock was going to distance herself and leave but that I might be able to stop it. Today me and Lock were talking until she started trying to leave and it sounded like she was being shocked- I knocked her out before she could leave and brought her to you but you said you weren't ordered to help so you wouldn't and and-" Oleander continues crying.

"And to add onto that, if Lock seems to be getting shocked or controlled externally, it might be something in her files?" Luna adds.

Lock keeps her eyes down.

"...that's bullshit, anyways it's time to do my fucking job and help," Cole takes a breath as he stifles a cough and starts pretending to type on a keyboard.

"Thank you..." Oleander mutters.

Cole - (Accessing files. Searching for files that mention Control.)

Wick - (Only parental controls, motor control, and hadal controls are mentioned)

Cole - (Accessing motor control.)

Wick - (Motor control settings are all stable.)

Cole - (Accessing Parental controls.)

Wick - (They are set the same as before 

No yelling indoors ON

No cursing OFF

Bring tissues to anyone crying OFF

No crying in front of company ON

No showing attitude ON

No talking back OFF

Do as told OFF

Don't ask for things OFF

Don't sit on the floor OFF

Only sit on the floor when eating OFF

No feet on the sofa OFF

No lying ON

Be surprised by happy birthdays OFF

No chewing with your mouth open ON)

Cole - (Editing.

No yelling indoors ON

No cursing OFF

Bring tissues to anyone crying OFF

No crying in front of company OFF

No showing attitude ON

No talking back OFF

Do as told OFF

Don't ask for things OFF

Don't sit on the floor OFF

Only sit on the floor when eating OFF

No feet on the sofa OFF

No lying ON

Be surprised by happy birthdays OFF

No chewing with your mouth open ON)

"Find anything?" Lun asks.

"Still looking for anything that might be conflicting,” Cole continues typing.

Lock twitches some as she looks over at the door. Her eyes start to water.

"...oh boy," Luna looks over at the door as well. Lock gets up and makes a break for the door.

"Cole- what do I do-" Oleander panics.

Luna locks the door telepathically. Cole glances up, "thank you Luna, just try and keep her here while I look through the files, if she runs out of range then that's gonna be an issue."

"You got it," Luna nods.

Lock slams into the door and she shakes the door knob "Come on-come on-comeon."

"It's locked. And as long as my focus is on it, you're not gonna be able to open it," Luna explains.

"Lock what did you even do? I'm sure it can't be too terrible," Cole continues typing

Wick - (Cole receives a visual from Lock. Everything is 3d rendered but with way less detail, seems the levels of adrenaline has triggered a setting to ignore unimportant details for faster processing. The tagging system is glitching out, some tags flickering in and out.)

Cole - (Checking tag system integrity.)

Locks ears fold back as she sprints for the kitchen.

"Oleander!" Luna alerts him. Oleander quickly tackles Lock to the ground. Lock knees him in the gut but he holds on. He hopes that something is actually wrong and that he's not holding her hostage for wanting to leave without any influence. Lock struggles.

He tries to keep her down, grumbling a bit. "Cole, is something wrong? Can you tell?"

"Somethings wrong with the tag system, gimme a second more," Cole stays focused.

"Okay-" Oleander mutters.

"The tagging system? Interesting," Luna's focus is still deadlocked on keeping the door locked.

Cole's typing picks up as he takes a deep breath and stifles a cough.

"Are you okay? Seems like you keep stopping yourself from coughing," Luna mentions.

"I'm not used to smoking, really fucks with my lungs for a hot moment,” Cole waves his hand dismissively then quickly returns to typing.

Wick - (The tag system is noting several contradictions in the coding)

Cole - (Attempting to correct contradictions.)

Wick - (It fails. It flags two people with glitching tags in the trust list. It's flagging Lock and Mr.Whim)

Cole - (Attempting removal of Lock and Mr.Whim from the trust list.)

Wick - (As soon as it's removed it regenerates with the same tags and glitches again)

Cole - (Checking for a list of tags.)

"Yeah, no doubt. I tried smoking once and it made me feel like I was gonna die," Luna mutters.

Lock bites into Oleander’s arm. Oleanders grits his teeth, quietly screaming in pain. "FUCK-" Lock is struggling with all her might trying to get free. "CAN SOMEONE HELP-" Oleander asks, struggling to keep her down.

"Shit, one sec." Luna swaps her telekinetic focus away from the window to put Lock into a psychic hold. "Didn't think I'd have to use this ability for this, but it is what it is. Cole, I need you to hurry."

Wick - (Locks tags flickers between dislike, revenge, undeserving and loved, forgiven, deserves the world. Mr.whims is the same)

Cole - (Checking for anything blocking deletion.)

Wick - (There is nothing blocking deletion. Suddenly there are smaller systems being put on pause as the hadal.exe is taking up more cpu)

"Uhmmmmmmmmmm," Cole looks up in fear, "UHMMMMMMMM."

"Oh for fucks sake Cole, what's going on?" Luna is struggling to keep the hold in place.

"you might wanna let Lock go outside...like now," Cole sounds panicked.

"...wait what?" Luna releases the hold asap. There's a growing feeling of good luck, "uh oh…"

"you might wanna hurry!" Cole continues.

Oleander lets go of her as well. Luna unlocks the doors telepathically as well and summons her weapons. Lock instantly sprints outside, the hatchet on her back is faintly glowing different colors along the handle. Luna follows right behind having a horrible feeling about what's to come. Oleander gets up and looks out the window.

Wick - (Slowly all of the other systems are shutting down as hadal.exe is struggling yet taking up 100% of the cpu…All of it cuts off)

Cole looks back down as his eyes go wide, "That's not good."

Lock and Luna run outside. The sky is blue and there's a pine forest around them out of nowhere.

"...what. How? Lock!?!" Luna exclaims as she sees the surroundings. Lock is hyperventilating as she runs out into the trees. Luna rushes after her,"Lock wait!"

Lock screeches to a halt as she grabs the hatchet from her back and readies it for attack. Luna stops as well. She knows she's fucking powerless against a hadal, but maybe she can calm her down somehow? She readies her ichor claymore. "Lock, I don't want to fight you!"

"Can you just leave me alone!" Lock is still hyperventilating some. She waits and is ready to strike.

Luna backs off and resheathes her sword, "Lock, I need you to try and control your breathing. Close your eyes and imagine you're somewhere you like. Then try to take deep breaths."

"That's not going to solve anything- go away-" Lock runs at Luna and swings the hatchet at her diagonally with great force. There's a slight glint of embers when she swings.

Luna barely rolls out of the way of the slash. "Lock, seriously. I'll leave you be. Look, let's just get closer to the house."

There's yellow butterflies amongst the trees, "Leave me ALONE" Lock growls. She puts the hatchet over her head and slams it down with immense force aimed at Luna. There's a burst of fire with the swing.

Luna is able to move backwards out of the way just in time, "Lock, if you want to hit me, then you're gonna have to catch me first!" She plans to lure her back to the house.

Lock runs away from the house.

"...god damnit."

There's a fire slowly spreading in the trees from the embers. "...oh good," Luna starts running back to the house before the whole forest catches on fire.

Cole - (Power on)

(Power on)

Wick - (Rebooting.)

Cole - (Power on)

(Power on)

(Power on)

(Power on)

(Power on)

(Power on)

(POWER ON)

Wick - (Rebooted.)

Cole - (Turning Lock.exe off.)

Wick - (Off.)

Lock while running suddenly collapses with a tumble. The forest and sky data mosh back to normal.

"What the fuck is this?" No more fire? Right, now to finish my job." Luna goes over to Lock and teleports the two of them back to the living room. Luna and Lock appear in the living room, "Sorry Lock."

The hatchet is no longer glowing and Lock is limp.

Cole - (removing loved/ forgiven/ deserves the world from Mr.Whim.)

Wick - (removed, the tags for Mr.Whim are no longer glitching.)

Cole - (Removing dislike/revenge/undeserving from Lock.)

Wick - (removed, the tags for Lock are no longer glitching.)

Cole - (Turning Lock.exe on.)

Wick - (On.)

Cole breathes slowly while staring at the wall, "Well then."

Luna quickly checks her phone, "Wha- what the hell?"

Oleander looks at Cole, "Did we help???"

"I don't know, I don't know Oleander," Cole shakes his head.

"Right. But at least the sky isn't blue anymore..." She's trying to be lighthearted at the worst time. Oleander puts his head in his hands and sits there.

Lock takes a sharp breath in and she opens her eyes. Cole slowly looks over at Lock, "Did I fix it?"

Lock blinks some and sits up "huh?"

Oleander looks over. "Lock?"

"What?" Lock looks over.

"I think I fixed it-" Cole sighs in relief then collapses.

"Cole?" Lock is startled by him falling.

Cole stands back up, his eyes now mint green and his voice is slightly robotic, "Cole's taking a break."

"Ah…" Lock looks more confused.

"Thank you Max," Luna nods at Cole.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Oleander asks Lock curiously.

Lock stares at the floor a moment "uhhh...oh right...I bit you?...WAIT I BIT YOU-" Lock panics as she scrambles up and runs to Oleander and grabs his arm to check for the bite "How bad is it are you ok!?!"

It's bleeding slightly but doesn't look horrible. "I-its okay!!" He smiles, blushing a bit at being cared for, "Im okay- Im just glad you're okay…" He says softly.

Lock's ears fold back as she hunts in her pockets for extra wrapping. She starts wrapping Oleander's arm.

"Honestly Lock, I'm glad you're alright too," Luna adds.

Oleander watches, tilting his head. "You don't have to wrap it, its okay..." He still has some tears in his eyes that he's trying to blink way.

Lock finishes wrapping it and steps back "I'm not letting a bite I made get infected. I shouldn't have bit you to begin with, I'm sorry" Lock looks over at Luna "And sorry for all the chaos."

Luna smiles, "it's okay Lock. I'm used to chaos at this point. Just glad you're safe."

"It's alright," Oleander looks at Max. "What happened?"

"Hmm?" Max looks over at Oleander "like what happened to Cole or what happened to Lock?"

"Both” 

"Cole got overwhelmed due to the amount of stress that he is already under plus this situations stress,” Max takes a breath, "Lock's tag system was tagging two people with conflicting tags so Cole removed the conflicting tags from both people."

Oleander nods. "Oh okay, thank you."

"I don't know about you all but I'm starving now and do not wish to explain what had occurred," Lock smiles and abruptly heads to the kitchen.

"And there she goes. At least she's good now," Luna sighs and curls up in her blanket.

Oleander nods and follows her, "Me too."

Wick - [[[GCAwr OyFairBnobgw_ n0s Uo mn cg

>https://youtu.be/GwOaBb_0Umc Crying song A Frown

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