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What.

[The meowing gets louder. Octocat #1 says 'hi'.]

[God, cue his hand meeting his forehead.]

What's the deal with the cats, Psii.

I can't leave them alone, there'th only Bram to take care of them and Cumhat doethn't like him.

[Going to let 'Cumhat' go uncommented on, because it honestly doesn't surprise TJ at this point. Under normal circumstances, it might delight him, but for now things were a little too tense to make come jokes.

Which, really, was the greatest tragedy of them all.]

Okay, so you are coming over, right? [A sigh.] I'll... see if I can get Amal to unlock the door here.

[TJ lowered his voice to a whisper.]

Dude's kind of intense right now, just a heads up.

I am, I have everything almotht all packed up. And don't worry, I can get that. You're hith red- I'd be flipping out too.

[Not going to mention that he's already flipping out.]

Want me to bring anything over?

Nah, I mean... shit, if there's any place to get locked in against your will, it's here. [TJ made a sound as if someone hit him -- not hard, just. Yeah. TJ actually sounded pretty sorry about it, too.] I mean-- yeah, don't worry, we're good.

Just get over here.

I'll be there thoon.

[He doesn't hang up right away, so for a while there's just an awkward silence filled in by double meowing before a click.]

[Soon enough, however- fifteen minutes or so- something apparently lands in front of TSO. There's that familiar faint glow of red and blue before it fades away and someone is knocking on the door.]

[It's not TJ who answers. And by answers I mean yells through the door.]

Who's there?

[That's fine, he can yell too.]

Thome lithping douthebag who wantsth to make thure you're both alright.

Are you alone?

[Can't trust anybody. Not now. Not with this.]

My catsth are in the car. Beyond that, I'm on my own. And before you athk, I am armed but who the hell wouldn't be? Four kniveth and that'sth it.

Well... that makes two of us.

[The lock clicks and the door opens, just a crack. Amal in indeed holding his crossbow, standing back just far enough that Psii can get in.

He doesn't even ask. Concern is written on Psii's face and he's pretty sure he looks the same, if not worse.]

Is that Psii?

[TJ rounded the corner out of the bedroom, only to see the two men standing with their weapons out. TJ brought a hand to his face.]

Aw, c'mon, man... I ain't the fuckin' Queen of England.

[Once he's sure that crossbow isn't going to go off on him, he slips inside with some knives on a belt and a kid's backpack flung over one shoulder.]

I'd athk if you two were okay if that wathn't a fucking idiotic quethtion. Tho- how fucked up do you feel?

[Amal makes a face at TJ, but doesn't protest. It's just Psii. No reason to argue.]

Better than the first time it went up, if I'm being honest.

But not by much.

And I'm feelin' better than the first time, too. By a lot.

[Maybe a bad time for a joke, but TJ was already getting stir crazy and it had only been an hour. He needed some goddamn levity, already.]

I don't know, maybe Bram could thare you hith thecrets.

[Ha ha headless joke. Psii isn't smiling much as he says it, however, just sets his backpack down on the ground. Give him a second...]

[Voila, a snuggie. He is draping it over Amal's head. Hope you like them, buddy.]

Alright, we might be blurring quadrantsth a little here, but I think everyone here needth a feeling jam. What do we have an overabundance of?

[Amal protests, but he's got bigger problems to focus on, like the fact that the door needs to be shut and locked again. The snuggie stays draped over his shoulders for the time being.]

A feelings what? What are we blurring, what's going on?

Ain't enough in here to make a pile, Psii. [TJ explained, though he felt a little bad all the same. Amal was coming apart at the seams here, and he wasn't helping.] N' Amal, it's this... troll thing, when you're upset, you're supposed to make a pile and sit on it and talk about your feelings.

[For real.]

You're jutht not inventive enough.

[And he makes a move to prove this point clearly wrong... only to pause as Amal's confusion hits in.]

...TJ did you not talk to your matethprit about the moirail thing? [gdi TJ]

Okay, now you're just making things up! Knock it off, both of you, I'm not in the fucking mood.

Dude, now ain't the time. [He didn't feel too bad not mentioning it -- after all, he did mention it, in passing. Knowing Amal, it was the furthest thing from his mind and TJ felt that was probably for the best.]

Things are a little... tense, 'round here. Though. [And now, he's speaking to both of them.] I'm fine and nobody's gonna come swoopin' in to kill me if I take a leak unassisted, so maybe we can take it down a notch?

Alternian wordth, I'll explain later- [Mostly because TJ is saying so, really.]

And I'm not worried about you dying. [A lie, but he says it convincingly enough.] I'm worried about your emotional thtates, both of you. TJ, I'm hijacking all your clothing. And the furth I brought. And then we're getting on it and talking about our feelingth inthtead of freaking out.

Got it?

[Y'all don't think he's serious? Hell no, he's making for the clothing section, he is doing this.]

[Amal bristles at the insinuation -- he is NOT overreacting, god damn it, this is serious!]

I don't need to talk about my feelings, okay? I just need to... find this person. And remind them that their last target is dating someone who knows how to get rid of a body and leave no trace.

[Between Rambo over here and the growing pile of khaki Psii was accumulating, TJ wondered if maybe he was dreaming. Or going insane. Or both.

He crossed to Amal, breaking their usual avoidance of PDA. Nothing more than a handhold and a kiss on the forehead, but it was what he could give in the hopes of calming the other man down.]

Maybe, uh, maybe listenin' to Psii and laying down in a bunch of furs might not be so bad? [Unspoken, but: you are seriously tense, dude.]

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