November 24, 2022

Lock is sitting on the floor in the living room and looking at the floor seemingly in serious thought. Cole is in the living room leaned on the wall relaxing. Lock hesitates before standing up and walking over to cole. Her hands are stuffed in her pockets "Hey uh...Cole?"

Before he could respond Oleander walks through the front door holding a turkey he hunted and killed, "Happy Thanksgiving! Anyone wanna help me cook this?"

Lock looks over at Oleander, "Thanksgiving?"

Dakota sprints in from the kitchen, smelling a dead animal, "WOOOOHEEEEEE! That's my boy!" That is not your boy. You barely know him, "I didn't know you knew how to hunt!" He grinned, walking over to Oleander.

Cole looks over at Lock, "What is it?"

"Uh" Lock looks between him and Oleander, "It can wait."

"...does anyone know how to actually cook a turkey..."

Oleander blushes, grinning back. "I do- used to do it back at the commune. And yeah, I was taught." He explains with a smile. "Anyone wanna help?"

Lock looks confused.

"Me! Me! Me!" Dakota jumped up and down. "I don't know how to do it with your new fancy kitchen contraptions, but I sure know how to cook up a bird!"

"...I definitely know how to cook a turkey" Cole is looking it up online as he speaks.

Oleander chuckles, "Wanna join us Lock? I can show you how-"

"Uhm...yeah but I thought..." Lock squints in thought.

"Thought what?" Oleander asks gently.

"Isn't it Christmas?" Lock replies.

"Today??"

"Yeah"

"Is today Christmas in your world?" Oleander asks.

"Well yeah?"

"November 24?"

"..." Cole starts pretending to type on a keyboard

"Yeah," Lock nods.

"Huh, weird. In our world it's December 25," Oleander mentions.

"Yeah that's Christmas day," Lock agrees.

Cole grumbles as he groans, "Blair you make my job so much harder."

Lock looks over at Cole, "What? What now?"

"Every day in your calendar is set to Christmas," Cole explains.

"What?" Spider who is leaning on a wall nearby comments.

"Yeah...because it's Christmas" Lock nods.

"Gimme a second," Cole groans.

"...oh...it's not Christmas." Lock looks down.

"And this is why I hate Blair." Cole sighs as he stops typing and folds his arms.

"Yeah cause that's the only terrible hate worthy thing she's done,” Spider snarks but more jokingly than mean-spirited.

"So how do we cook a turkey?" Lock asks.

Luna wakes up after a good rest, "Good morning."

"You shove it in the oven Lock," Spider responds.

"No, no there's like a temperature or whatever," Cole adds.

"Put it on an open fire, stuff some freshly foraged herbs in there, and let it cook! Grab some nice corn, squash, potatoes...All that good stuff from a garden... Best dinner ever." Dakota sounds a bit outdated.

"Erm. I don't think we have a garden. I could run to the store and grab some things for stuffing though?" Luna mentions.

Oleander nods, "Basically the same but instead of a fire you just put it in the oven."

"You don't have a garden...?" Dakota is upset now, he's frowning. "What has this world come to..."

"What's a garden?" Lock adds insult to injury

"Oh my goodness... The Americans never change..." Dakota mumbles.

Oleander chuckles. Cole slowly plugs his ears to block out the propaganda about thanksgiving.

"Why do they call it an oven when you ov-in the cold food out hot eat the food?!" Dakota frowned, "What happened to fires.."

Cole's head twitches slightly while trying to compute the sentence.

"Electricity was invented, or discovered whatever," Spider chuckles lightly, "And then it all went out the window."

Oleander shrugs, "Yeah. Anyways, food time!” He goes to the kitchen. Lock and Dakota follow.

Later that evening…

Cole hugs chris tightly as he gently bites chris's neck and slowly starts taking blood

Chris winces slightly as he feels the bite, but is otherwise silent. Cole shifts his hug slightly as he continues slowly taking blood.

Lock suddenly opens the door into Cole’s workshop, "Hey Col-" She freezes at the sight of Cole taking blood from Chris like that of a vampire.

Cole's eyes go wide slightly as he stops biting chris and looks over, there's blood on his teeth, "hey..."

"..." Lock stares.

"..." Cole licks his teeth as he awkwardly glances around the room. Lock slowly closes the door without a word.

Chris looks slightly dazed. He whispers, "Did something happen?"

Lock briskly walks back into the kitchen and is slightly pale. Oleander and Dakota have been preparing a turkey while chatting.

"Fuck... I'm sorry. I won't let him hurt you- I swear." Oleander says to Dakota as he looks over to Lock. His face turns to concern. Dakota stays quiet. Lock is stiff as a board.

Oleander walks over to Lock, "Lock are you okay?"

Lock says a bit quietly with fear, “You and Dakota need to get out of here before it's too late." 

"What?" Oleander looks confused, "What are you talking about??"

"Yeah, the hell are you on about?" Dakota is concerned now, looking over at Lock.

"I just Cole killin Chris. He saw me but he doesn't know that any of you know. You need to leave while you still have the chance," Lock says quickly.

"What?" Oleander's eyes widen, "He killed Chris??""

"Who the hell is Chris?" Dakota asks.

"His husband, now hurry before he comes out here looking for me, I'll try to stall him while you guys run, as soon as he makes a move I'm high tailin it out of here faster than a moose in an ice rink," Lock explains.

"Why do we have to leave exactly?" Dakota raised an eyebrow, "I don't have much of a place to go, considering there is someone trying to kill me out there."

"Cole is powerful. I think lurking around some trees is safer than being in the same house as a killing machine," Lock adds.

Oleander nods, "Well yeah but you have to come with us. No way I'm leaving you with him."

"He has a connection to my arm. If he found out I left with you he could put in some killing code and none of you would be safe around me"

"Wait, wait, how do you know he was killing this... Chris...fellow...?" Dakota is very confused, "What happened?"

"I walked in on him ripping Chris's neck open with his teeth," Lock says in a hushed tone.

"Maybe hes a vampire or something?" Oleander whispers back, "Or it's a kink?"

Both Dakota and Lock look at Oleander in curiosity "What's a kink?" "A what now?"

"uh... like. a thing. like a sex thing."

Lock tilts her head "...how?"

"A what?!?" Dakota exclaims.

"I know thats a curse word but like what does that have to do with murder?" Lock scratches her head.

"Well uh- I'm proposing that maybe he wasn't killing Chris? Just drinking his blood?" Oleander shrugs.

"That's worse???" Lock looks more confused.

"I mean maybe it was consensual???" Oleander sounds unsure, "I dunno!!"

"Okay, okay, so are we actually in danger or is it just some intercourse related thing?" Dakota asks.

"Thats what im trying to figure out! Im gonna text Cole," Oleander says.

"NO?" Lock sounds scared.

"I don't think he would let Cole kill me. You two hide and I’ll find out what's going on, okay?" Oleander explains.

"Okay.. Where can we hide?" Dakota whispered to Lock.

"Hmm...I know the one place he will never look" Lock motions for Dakota to follow as she walks to the hallway. Lock starts tiptoeing as she quietly opens the closet door and gestures for him to enter. Dakota joins her in the closet, being as quiet as he could but his metal is clucky. Lock is pressed against the wall to avoid even her fur touching him. Dakota is also trying to take up as little space as possible. Lock scares him a little. Lock stays dead quiet and avoiding any eye contact as well.

Dakota looked over at Lock, despite really not wanting to, "Hey, did I make a bad impression on you or somethin?" He whispered.

Her ear flicks as she looks over, "What? Why do you ask?"

Dakota shrugged, or at least tried to. "Dunno, I don't think you like me very much.. Especially not on our first meeting."

Lock recoils in disgust "Why would you think that?"

"Well you weren't very nice to me when we first met.. Seemed like you were tryin' to make me angry or something…"

"Pfff, no, I admire you for your knowledge of how things work and how you are keen to befriending unknown strangers rather than turning your nose to them. You have good characteristics that would make anyone lucky to see you as a friend" She looks ahead trying to keep an ear out for danger again with a serious look on her face.

"Oh.. Thank you? Wasn't expecting that. " He smiled, chuckling quietly.

Lock keeps her eyes locked on the crack of the door, "You're welcome."

"Sorry for assumin' things.. Sometimes you have to do that in the world to.. stay safe, y'know?"

"And I'm sorry if i'm not easy to understand," Lock says a bit quieter.

Chris walks out of Cole’s workshop and into the hallway as he takes a bow "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Cole steps out with him and sighs "Chris go to the kitchen, Oleander wants to make sure your alive."

"Alright," Chris says before walking to the kitchen. Cole follows him.

Lock sighs as she stops holding her breath.

"Do you think it's safe to leave now? It's very…cramped in here…" Dakota asks.

"Cole is also a master of disguise, that could be a shadow clone."

"What?! You know, I'm not even gonna ask... All this weird shit I gotta learn about is gonna make me have a system overload."

Oleander walks into the hallway, "Lock? Dakota? Its safe, it's just Chris."

Lock opens the closet as Dakota spills out. He stands up, stretching. His metal sounds clunky. Lock steps out, "So he's not dead?"

Oleander nods, "Nope. He's alive. Everythings okay," He reassures them.

Lock sighs again "Sorry about all that."

"Okay, so it WAS an intercourse related thing!" Dakota exclaims.

"What's that?" Lock looks at him.

"Well, y'know, Oleander said if he wasn't getting killed, it was probably a.. somethierother, some intercourse related thing!"

Oleander shakes his head, “I don't know. Apparently Cole drinks blood. For food.”

Lock’s eyebrows raise, "Well that's something."

Dakota is so confused, "Oh god, every day here gets more and more confusing."

"Also uh, Oleander could I ask you something real quick?" Lock tilts her head some.

“Yeah, what's up?” Oleander replies.

"If I was suddenly different one day...not like a bad or evil different...would you still see me as a friend?"

Oleander nods. “Of course. You’re my friend no matter what, okay?”

"Ok" Lock smiles some as she looks away "Well uh I gotta go ask Cole something," Lock rushes to the kitchen. Oleander follows to finish cooking the turkey.

Lock walks in looking for Cole. Cole had just leaned on the counter. She walks up to him "Cole?"

Cole looks away from Lock slightly and nods, "yeah?"

"I'm sorry I assumed and uhhh...I have a favor to ask"

"...you're not gonna ask me for my blood right?" 

"What? No," Lock shakes her head, "This unrelated to any of that."

"Right, uh continue?" Cole nods

"You have access to my files and you've seen the chaos it's been causing. I was wondering if you could delete all of it or make something where I can switch it all off, except for the hadal stuff?"

"..." Cole stares.

"Is that too much to ask? I don't know programing all that well."

"I'm not doing that," Cole crosses his arms.

"Why not? You've seen how much those files mess me up. The longer I'm relying on it all the longer I can't be normal like all the others around here."

Oleander finishes prepping the turkey and looks over at the conversation, “Lock? What are you talking about?”

Luna, who is sitting at the table nearby, looks over silently.

"Lock," Cole blinks, "none of us are normal..."

"Indeed. We all have quirks and whatnot. To call us normal is incorrect."

Lock scoffs, "So I'm not allowed to even try? You want Blair still affecting me all the time? And for what? So I don't be myself for one day of my life?"

Luna closes her eyes and chimes in, "When you say normal, what do you mean? I'm not aware of your files."

Cole sighs, "Lock, I have already edited the majority of your files to remove Blair's control."

Lock puts her hands on her hips, "Ok what about the attention span controls? What about the assertiveness scale? What about the adrenaline filters?"

"The what?" Cole narrows his eyes, "Are you sure those are real files?"

"Wait what? Are there files you haven't found?" Luna asks.

"Those are real. They're all under the Lock.exe" Lock explains.

Oleander blinks, listening but not sure what to say.

"...hold the fuck on," Cole starts pretending to type on a keyboard.

Cole - (Searching for attention span controls, assertiveness scale, adrenaline filters)

Wick - (It only shows Lock.exe for the result)

Cole - (Opening Lock.exe)

Wick - (Cole finds monstrous files all cramped with settings and code)

Lock folds her arms as she waits.

"I'm gonna get sensory overload, Jesus Christ," Cole mutters as he continues to type.

"How many files are under the lock.exe?" Luna asks.

"There's so much code..." Cole mutters.

"Holy shit,” Luna watches and wishes she could see the code herself. Lock waits with a 'I told you so' face. Dakota finally returns from the hallway.

Cole - (Searching for attention span controls, assertiveness scale, adrenaline filters)

Wick - (There are entire files of code dedicated to each individual one)

Cole - (Attempting removal of Lock.exe)

Wick - [Deleting files]

Lock's ear flicks, "Thank you."

"Oh you deleted the files. Okay, that makes sense." Luna says while checking her phone.

"Fair warning though. I might be a bit tired when it's done due to a lack of slee-'' Lock blinks some as her eyes close half way "-yup there goes that setting,'' Lock yawns. Her entire demeanor changes to being absolutely exhausted.

Wick - [784 files deleted]

Oleander looks over. "Go get some rest Lock-"

Cole stops typing as he sighs, "Go to sleep Lock," Cole twiddles his thumbs as he looks at the floor.

"Go to bed Lock," Luna smiles.

Her head tilts forward for a moment as she almost dozed off "Ok yeah I will. But seriously, thank you. It never let me delete those on my own" She sleepily smiles before slowly walking to the hall.

"Sleep well, and I'm really happy for you,” Luna turns to the others after glancing at her phone, "Holy shit 784 files!?!"

"It was a lot of code," Cole sighs.

Oleander looks at Cole, "What did you delete? im confused-"

"An exe that had a lot of controlling shit that blair installed…” Cole explains.

"The fucking huh?" Dakota was listening but is still confused, "What is going on with you people..."

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