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Hush stiffened a bit as he brought up her past.  "People like to watch big personalities on GooTube.  If you don't have something to say and if you don't say it with passion then you're just going to be lost in an ocean of other streamers." She laughed nervously, tucking her hair behind an ear.  "I'm sure there's some cringy stuff archived out there.  Not that there isn't recent cringy stuff you could find clipped, like tonight for example..."

The mare relaxed at her place beside the table once the conversation circled back to snacks and she was quite pleased by his reaction to the chocolate.  "Yep.  It was a candy bar, it cost around $12 and it wasn't even very big.  The shrimp were little baby ones that were dehydrated.  It actually sort of complemented the chocolate with just a hint of umami and crunch."  She smiled and looked down at her hooves.  "I also have a chocolate bar with mushrooms in it back at my house, but I haven't tried that one yet."

Hush felt a light breeze and suddenly the stallion was standing so close they were practically touching. The creme colored phony let out a small gasp, heart suddenly racing and confidence wavering.  It'd been a long time since someone had been so close within reach to her, normally the bodyguards made other people keep their distance.  She hadn't even hugged anyone in years.  The most physical contact she'd had was handshakes during business deals. 

The mare stood there for a moment, frozen, before her eyes wandered over the stallion beside her.   The crystals in his hair lent him an ethereal air and his purple fur looked soft.  Up close he was even more handsome than he had been from across the table.

Then he said those words and she thought for a moment she was dying.  Emotional roller coaster indeed.

"Oh."  The small word barely squeaked out of her before Hush turned red from tip to toe.

"Y-yes, let me go get those...  Fries."  She slid past him, heading towards the bar to put in their order in almost a daze.

When she got to the bar she blurted out "Can I get some fries please!"  To no one in particular, cheeks still colored scarlet.

What was she doing?  She needed to recover her cool.  Think Hush think!


@Yasha @HopelesslyPretty ((hope you don't have to reply if don't want to   ))

"Oh...  That really is quite sad.  I'm happy to hear you try to reunite them with their owners though.  I can only imagine what situation would cause for gifts to be left unopened."  The carousel mare closed her eyes, while the stallion had suggested cancelled parties, she could certainly imagine some sadder stories that may of led to their being tossed.  "You're the heroes to those with lost gifts," she said with a sad smile. 

HB watched the stallion sip his drink with interest.  "Well now, you really can't just tell me you have grand ideas for this misfit toys and not tell me what they are?  At the morgue, when it's winter, we glue little loops on spare baubles like toys to use as Christmas ornaments for the tree in the viewing room." 

@Syrcaid

Synthesis had spent months planning and preparing.  He'd gotten the most elaborate ring he could find and had hired caterers, an event coordinator, and other help all for this one moment.

Now they were on a boat on a way to a tropical vacation Synth had told Regality would change her life, mere minutes from arriving.  The island, located off the coast of Phonyland, sported beautiful crystal clear waters.  The glittering sand was dotted with white peacocks strutting about and rose petals that had been scattered earlier in the day, as per his instructions.  Faintly one could see a lush red carpet leading from the dock up the hill towards a large white mansion.  The path upward was lined with Greek sculptures of men and women in varying states and palms trees covered the hillside.

As the boat docked, Synth hopped off, holding out a hoof to his lovely companion.   "What do you think?"

@Fealine

Telltale Heart mostly enjoyed school.  The colt had found that friend's were few and far between and his siblings had long since grown up, but he still enjoyed learning.  Sometimes he caught other students glancing his way and whispering, but the boy wasn't bothered.

They were probably just talking about his latest clever prank after all! 

The pastel pegasus already had plans for his next caper and had hung back at the beginning of class to linger by the backpack cubbies for awhile to wait for his classmates to filter over to their desks.

He was oblivious to the reason most of the other foals avoided him, why their parents pulled them in close when he and his parents walked by.  The colt was happy-go-lucky, family and lack of friends be damned.
He had stuff all the jars of peanut butter and whatever jellies he could scrounge up from his house into his backpack with glee.

@purpleroses

The carousel mare slowly walked down the hall, careful with every step, although she couldn't help but jolt when he spoke.  She'd already made a fool of herself once in front of this intimidating gentleman and she would prefer not to repeat the offence.

Hooves clopping against the cool tile, she brought the stallion to the small waiting area located by the front desk.  Behind the desk's counter sat several filing cabinets stuffed full of death certificates, bills, and the like.

"So, Mr. ?"  HB tilted her head, expectantly as she shuffled papers around.  "How can I help you? 

@Ruriska

Oh.  Error blinked.

"Well look at you all grown up," the mer couldn't help but snicker as she reached towards her sister's head to give her a noogie.  "You're talking about your purpose."  She nodded her head sagely, maybe kids weren't as hard to figure out as she thought.  It'd certainly be interesting to see what her sister would become.

"It suited me, doing those things, ya know?  It felt right to do them, like a second skin.  I enjoy the challenge of it too, like a puzzle.  What's the best way to approach this assignment?  I have to do quite a bit of research on the target you know.  Learn their schedule, their habits, who they talked to..."

"You said you like beating up others, but you feel incomplete.  Have you considered that you can combine causing pain with something else that makes you feel good inside?  Like I said, I like the challenge, the puzzle.  I like to use my brain and my hooves.  What do you like?"

@Fealine

"Well, I sort of started out in a niche with the ASMR.  That is definitely my bread and butter.  But, doing the same thing all the time is exhausting and really sucks the fun out of it.  Plus coming up with new stories to whisper or items to rub on the microphone everyday...  Well at some point you start running out of stuff."  Hush grinned, becoming a bit more animated.  This was her thing and she did it well.  "The researched segments are really my passion project.  I get to talk about what i'm interested in and learn about new stuff.  I have a small team that I pay to help me too.  They help with research and stuff like moderating the chat.  When I have guests on we usually are more focused on specific topics that we all know about.  For example, I love to eat food and you like to talk or write about it.  So, if I were to have you on stream that would be the obvious choice of topic." 

Damn, food.  All that arguing had really sucked the energy out of her, she could use a recharge.

"You know what," she glanced towards the bar.  "I'm gonna order something.  Do you want something?  My treat, since you got me the water bottle and all," she blushed.  That had been nice of him and totally unexpected.  She would never of imagined he would come over and talk to her after all that.  If he had been a chatter in her stream she would of blocked him and she imagined he would of blocked her.  How totally, utterly bizarre.

"Ohh, Century Egg.  I saw a GooTube video about them once.  I think I've got you beat though," she winked.  "I've had chocolate covered shrimp on stream and no it was not a concoction I made myself on a dare, i bought it in an actual chocolate shop.  They were prepackaged and everything.  Also way too expensive for something no one but me would buy."  Surprisingly, it wasn't even half bad.

"Of course I'd want you on my stream," the mare cooed.  "You're evidently not completely terrible" she teased.  "And the viewers love drama.  You just have to know how to keep a healthy balance.  Too much negative drama attracts the wrong kind of viewer."

Hush was all smiles for moment, confident he'd be disgusted by her food choice and hopeful he'd accept her offer.  Then he suggested she talk to Shrill X instead of him and brought up some of her less kind words from earlier and the alicorn made a face like she'd sucked on a lemon.

"Ah, well..."  She tucked her wings against her sides and fidgeted with her hair, her confidence collapsing inwards.  "I did also say you were pretty attractive."  She gave a small cough and cleared her throat then quickly pushed herself up from her seat, "But since you'd rather I leave you alone, even though you were the one who came over here, I guess I have no choice but to abandon you to get a basket of fries, which are way too big for just one person, and share them with Shrill X.  Whom, might I add, is already preoccupied with a dance partner and likely not interested in eating at this time.  She probably won't believe me either when i say it was just a stunt.  I saw what faces she was making."

There was a small pout on Hush's face as she lingered a moment beside the table to see if he'd stop her.

"If she was the person I wanted to be talking to right then I wouldn't be here right now," she said quietly.


@Yasha

"I do have a couple assistants, but yes, mostly myself," she said, head bobbing along.  "We of course allow cremation services, but the standard burial usually does involve embalming.  In terms of transportation into Phonyland it depends on where they come from.  Some counties require that the body already be embalmed before travel, but not all."

Heavenly gave a dreamy smile as she listened to him.  "Reduce, reuse, recycle!  Your family is really into it.  That's very admirable.  I admire all your resourcefulness." 

"Do they ever have stories?"  She asked, gazing at the handsome stallion.  "The stuff you find I mean.  Like...  A battered old doll that looks like it's seen lots of love, with initials embroidered on the dress.
I bet you see lots of old items with interesting stories.  Old treasures that were forgotten and got tossed with the trash."

@Syrcaid

"Well you are a little young to getting into this kind of stuff..."

How did it make her feel?  Well that was a loaded question.  She did enjoy the violence like her father, but her work went a little farther into the darkness than her father's did.

"Depends," the mer gave a shrug.  "The adrenaline rush feels really good and so does the power, but there's guilt too.  I try to remain detached you know, better for the job, and it's easier if you think of it as like a game.  All jobs have something to make you feel like shit about them though.  With customer service it's rude customers, with art it's making a costly mistake that wastes valuable materials." 

She twisted in her seat to look at her little sister.  "Why?  What were you thinking?"

@Fealine

Paws looked over the chicken like phony with a tilt of her head, he seemed a bit shocked to see her.  He was alright though, which meant she didn't need to go tell someone off about being mean.  With that pressure off her the mare relaxed instantly. 

Play knight in shining armor?  Well she did that all the time!  Just not in the way this stallion likely imagined it.

"Well of course!"  She huffed, places her hooves on her hips.  "Who would want to play as dirty wimpy serf?"  The mare cracked a grin.  "I dress up like a hero at least monthly, but if I can squeeze in another con or two in I jump on it!"

With a laugh the mare pulled out her cell phone to show off some of the pictures of her different get ups.  "This one is me as wonder woman, this one is when I dressed as half of Kindred (my friend went as the other half), and this one is me when I went as Huntress!" 

"Oh, but where are my manners!  Do you like to dress up?"

@Gl!tch~

Huh...  That was weird.

The mer stepped to the side, wordlessly gesturing the younger phony in.

Once the filly was safely inside she shut the door, locking the deadbolt, before heading back to the space that served as both her living room and office.  Error flopped down on the couch, fully expecting her sister to follow her without explicit instruction to do so.  She played with her hair as she waited for the carousel to catch up.

"So, do mama and papa know you're interested in my line of work?"  She yelled over her shoulder towards the hall.

@Fealine

System Error was curled up in the gaming chair at her desk, hooves comfortably clacking away at the keys.  She'd been working on a small coding project to impress a particular feisty mare in a stained hoodie that she liked to wear on her off days.  A mostly eaten bowl of popcorn sat on her desk, the contents now primarily consisting of the partially popped kernels.  The mer took a pause in her typing to carefully pick what remaining edible pieces she could find out of the bowl, when suddenly she heard a knock at the door.

For a moment Error tensed.  You never knew when a rival or someone else wanted to take you out.  But then she heard a familiar small voice at the door. 

One of her parents' kids.  The mer pushed herself away from the desk and up from her seat, popping the few pieces of popcorn she'd scavenged into her mouth.  She wasn't the greatest with children, but she did hold her parents in high esteem and the feelings she had for her siblings she thought might of been sort of akin to love.  Sort of.  Error often found it hard to pinpoint quite what her positive feelings were when she had them after all the negative sludge she had to drudge through.

Pulling open the door, she stood back to examine her sister.  She didn't look hurt, at least not more than usual given how scrappy she was.  Error liked that about her, a trait she shared with her sister and her father.

"Yo.  What'cha need?"

@Fealine

>u> I'm excited to watch this illegal baby wrestling ring and intrigued by the gambling aspect of it.

All these phony getting together, chatting and having fun.  Fatal's mood had rapidly started to plummet as she watched people pair off while she still stood to the side alone.  She always had been a big fan of watching, but she'd had a little hope that maybe she wouldn't of had to work so hard for once to catch somephony''s attention.  Of course, once she got home she would gobble up whatever info she could find online about her favorites, but...

The brown unicorn scanned the crowd with a small pout, even the ones who were fighting before were having a pleasant conversation now.  Fatal tapped her hoof, lost in thought when movement caught her eye.  The pretty pink pegasus from earlier was heading toward her.

Wait!  The pretty pink pegasus from earlier was heading toward her?!

Fatal was practically vibrating from sheer giddiness.  Ohh she would definitely have to look into this one, find out where she lived, where she worked, who she'd dated before...

And the pegasus was talking and she wasn't telling her to go away!

"You certainly stood out from the crowd," she purred.  She knew at least not to mention that she'd been interested in multiple phony tonight, especially not to her potential one true love.  "Now that you're talking to me I think I can say it's gone exceedingly well for me."  Her eyes glittered in the half light as she looked the other mare over. 

"So, where do you-" Fatal bit her tongue, it was far too early to ask her where she lived (plus she could just find that out on her own anyway). "Work?  I don't think I caught that earlier."

@Nym

Hush Money was on an emotional rollercoaster and suddenly she felt so awkward she was worried she might throw up.  The feeling was not all that dissimilar from the nerves when she had first started streaming and Hush found herself sucking in more air than was necessary.

He liked ASMR though?  The alicorn glanced towards him shyly wondering if she should take advantage of her talents.  What would he do, she wondered, if she just leaned over and whispered something in his ear?

"Well, mostly..."  The cream colored mare cleared her throat, shaking that thought out of her head.  "I also do some gaming, though I mostly try to keep the same vibes during that, and I like to have segments on researched topics or things that I feel strongly about.  Like, current world events for example.  Sometimes I have guests on too if I can get them." 

At that she gave a glance towards a certain radio personality.  "I had been hoping to maybe try and work out a deal with Shrill X tonight to have her come on, but-" She raised her hooves to her cheeks to cover how red they were suddenly turning and squished them.  "That's definitely out the window.  She was totally watching us and I doubt she's going to want to work with me after that little scene..."

Hush gave a sigh before turning back to the stallion beside her.  Guarded?  She almost laughed at that.  She was guarded both literally and figuratively.  The only reason she hadn't brought one along tonight was she was worried it would of ruined the atmosphere, though evidently she was very capable of doing that without a bodyguard in tow.

"I'll have you know," she said, waving a hoof accusatorily.  "That I am very good at coming up with insults on the fly and I could certainly come up with more if needed."  She couldn't help but snorting a laugh at her own words.  On the internet the insults didn't even need to make sense, people loved it when they watched someone spew complete and utter nonsense in a video.  She could of called him a walking bird feeder and chat would of eaten it up. 

But, he was being nice now, so...  Hush felt tempted to relax her shoulders just a tiny bit, it was time to play nice after all.  "You said you're a food critic?  We sometimes talk about food on my stream.  It would be interesting to have an expert opinion..."  Maybe they could go out to a nice restaurant together, eat some nice food, then he could tell chat about what they ate from a professional standpoint.  Definitely not a date, purely for work purposes, she thought with a blush.

"What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?"


@Yasha