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[wendigoner]

[ She really should have just done voice - or text - but Hannah isn't exactly in her right mind today. There's a wildness in her eyes and in her tone that is more than obvious, her entire bearing just... bordering on panic. ]

Has anyone seen Beth? My sister - I can't find her.

[ It's not that it's unusual to find one of the twins out of their room before the other, but it is strange to have Beth... seem totally gone, not responding to calls or messages, having left no note of explanation... ]

She isn't here, she isn't - answering, and - God, if anything happens to her...!

[ "My little sister is dead. The fall killed her..." The first pieces of what Matt had found and showed to Hannah claw at her brain, unrelenting. ]

I've gotta go out there and find her. I won't leave her.

[ No one found them when they fell, apparently, but that doesn't mean she'll give up. Not on Beth. Not for anything. ]

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[unfollowing]

[NOPE NOPE NOPE. Not today. Emily's not letting Hannah run off into this often too dangerous shithole when she's by herself and freaking out. Not again.]

stay where you are, im heading to you with wolfie

[She already checked the network and confirmed Beth's gone like Matt and Sam and the others, but she'll let Hannah have some hope for a little longer.

In a few minutes, thanks to Confusion's GPS, she finds Hannah.]

Hey. Come on. Just breathe, okay?

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[wendigoner]

[ Hannah is itching to bolt out of the house, but she waits as per Emily's order. She paces, restless, bursting with manic energy, but doesn't leave. ]

I am breathing. [ Sort of. ] And if you think you can convince me to hang around here and - wait for her, then - you're wrong.

[unfollowing]

Right, because I brought Wolfie so we could just sit around and pet him.

[Sass isn't going to help, except in maybe giving Hannah a sense of normalcy or something more immediate to focus on. Beth is gone, end of story. That's a lot to process. If she can vent at something and someone who's actually here, maybe it'll help.]

We're going to go look for her. Find something with Beth's scent on it for Wolfie to smell.

[wendigoner]

[ Wolfie is still mostly just a reminder of Mike, and beyond that, the animal doesn't seem to love Hannah. As such, the teen is a little hesitant to get him involved, but... the logic is sound. ]

Okay. Her stuff's still in our room. [ She heads that way, heart clenching again at the thought that Beth might be gone. She snags one of her sister's sweaters and heads back out, holding it to Wolfie to sniff. ]

If she's gone... [ Hannah begins, voice tight with emotion. ]

[unfollowing]

[Maybe that's Emily's fault since hogging Wolfie ever since Matt disappeared. Wolfie must still remember the wendigo that used to be Hannah, the faint smell of her it still had. He's not afraid of Hannah, and he doesn't growl at her, but he's got a ways to go before he separates her scent from that of the monster that took her life.

He stays by Emily's side when Hannah comes back, but he does lean in to sniff the sweater. Then he pulls away and sniffs the air and starts to move towards the twins' room.]

You still have me and Chris. [Emily finishes the sentence quietly but firmly. It's not much, and it's not what Hannah wants, but it's all Emily can give her. If Beth is gone, she's dead. That's the one thing everyone's story agreed on, no matter what else they experienced that night.

But at least...]

If she's gone, then at least she was here for as long as she was.

[Emily watches Hannah for a moment. Her friend's sadness almost palpable.] Come on, Han. [Off to Hannah and Beth's room, where they both already know Beth isn't.]

[glacius]

[Oh... oh no. This is far, far too familiar to what Glacius just went through only a few weeks ago, to the awful loss that left him scattered for weeks. He's still picking up some of the pieces... but at least here, instead of incapacitating him, it fuels his desire and deepens his capacity to emphasize with the woman who has never been anything but kind to him.]

Do you still need help looking for her? [Or will she have figured out what's happened, one way or another, by the time she gets to this?]

[wendigoner]

[ She wants to say yes, to get all the help she can get... but while Hannah is fine putting herself at risk, she doesn't want to put her friends in danger because of this. So: ]

I'm okay. [ No, she isn't, and she won't be for as long as her twin is gone. ] I, um... I'll figure it out.

[ And she'll keep looking, too, no matter what Emily says. ]

[glacius]

I do not think that is true. [A pause, then the alien gives a heavy sigh, one tinged with sorrow and sympathy.] I recently lost someone that was very close to me--I cannot imagine what it must be like to fear that of someone who is not just close, but family. I would have wasted away if I had not had someone to pick me up back up from the brink of that despair. I would have pushed myself harder and harder trying to find them until I crumbled or was done in, had they not reeled me back in.

... You have never done anything but help me, Hannah. Let me do the same for you here. Your sister would not want you putting yourself at risk--in the very least let me escort you in your search.

[wendigoner]

[ Hannah listens, at least, to Glacius, her dark eyes filled with tears. It's bad enough that she'd lost Beth, but to hear that this is happening to multiple people? ]

Why? [ She asks in a breaking voice. ] Why - are they taking them from us?

[ That is, why are the gods - or the Door - taking their loved ones away? ]

I know it's stupid to go out looking when everyone says she's gone. [ Hannah sniffles. ] I just - I have to try. She'd do the same for me.

[glacius]

It's not stupid. I did the same thing for Kate. We cared about them--of course we'd want to do whatever we could. As for the why... I do not know. I wish I could tell you. Some of the gods claim they have no control over the patterns of the Door, but no matter what the cause is, it never makes this any less of a tragedy.

Now... may I reiterate my request to escort you in your search?

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[skelebro]

[She's not answering. Her sister, and she's not pickin' up. He takes the time, at least, to toss up a filter. Staring at the racecar bed he still ain't done anything about, the room with an entire half that's meticulously packed away, not a stitch outta place. Thick dust carpeting the sheets and the floor.

His tone is steady. No video today.]

If she's outta the system, then she's gone.

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[wendigoner]

You don't know that! [ Hannah responds sharply, even though she knows, by now, that it's true. ] Crazy stuff happens here a-all the time, right? So... she could just be... gone, for now, and she'll come back...

[ Jesus, she has to hope. She can't bear the thought of never seeing Beth again in this or any other world. ]

Don't say that. [ She whispers, pleading. ]

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[skelebro]

[If he were the sort to get incensed over it, doubtless he'd be able to relate to the firm denial, the insistence that he's wrong, that she can't possibly accept that something like that could'a happened. But he's long since learned that tehre ain't a damn thing he can do to change what goes down.

Including what goes down where his brother's concerned.]

Wish that weren't how it worked. But that's just how it is, 'round here.

[He simply sounds...tired. Resigned.]

Sometimes the people you know disappear, and there's no knowin' if they'll come back.

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[wendigoner]

But - [ It isn't fair, like so much else in her life, she thinks. ] Yeah, I don't know if she'll come back, but she could! People have, right? Our friend Chris did!

[ But not the others. Not Mike, or Ashley, or Matt. Her heart seizes with fear and pain. ]

There's a chance. [ Hannah insists. ] You - You can't take that from me.

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[skelebro]

'Course there's a chance.

[And 'course he ain't gonna take that from her. There's always a chance, no matter how infinitesimal it might seem, and to rip that asunder would be a cruelty, he knows full well. No matter how realistic it might be.

Seems she's still got enough of a sense of optimism to hold onto that.

Who's he to grind that into the dirt?]

You were close. Yeah?

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[knifecollecting]

[Jo takes a moment to flip through the contact list on the phone before she responds. Of course, Beth's name isn't on it. She frowns.]

Have you found her? When did you last see her?

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[wendigoner]

No. [ Hannah mutters, still broken up, clearly. ] I saw her... God. Just yesterday. She can't be gone.

[ But she is, no matter how little Hannah wants to hear about it. ]

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[knifecollecting]

[She sighs quietly.]

I'm sorry. I'll miss her too.

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[wendigoner]

You knew her? [ Hannah asks, eyes widening slightly. ] I, um... I don't think we've met. I'm her sister: Hannah.

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[knifecollecting]

[Jo nods, looking away from the camera.]

I was kind of teaching her to fight. I'm Jo.

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[quacked]

[ Oh, no... This is definitely the Beth he knows. Her sister looks just like her. ]

I haven't seen her since that pillow fight a while back. But I 'll tell you if I see her.

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[wendigoner]

thank you ): she's the most important person in the world to me

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[quacked]

[ Duck knows exactly how it feels to lose someone like that. ]

Don't worry, she's probably ok. I'll look for her.

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[wendigoner]

are you sure?? be careful!! it's really dangerous out there like, all the time...

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[quacked]

I'll be ok! I have a gun and I wanna help

I know how it feels to have someone important disappear