Independence Day! Now 50% off!

[ooeeooahah]

1490 Kramden, Early Morning: [ Ilsa wakes in her room, like any normal day. Sitting up, she stretches and reaches for her cigarettes... ]

[ wait, she doesn't smoke... ]

[ yes, she has, ever since senior year in high school. No, the sisters would have had kittens. ]

[ Sisters? What sisters? Mayfield High is a public school... ]

Mid-morning: [

Comments

Mid-Morning, 100% droned "sister"

[glowing_science]

[Knock knock on your back door. Ema lets herself in.]

Hey there, how's it coming?

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[ooeeooahah]

Hi, sis!

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[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa fumbles the potato she's peeling into the sink, and stares, shocked at Ema. ]

I... Ema?

[glowing_science]

...Yeah, that's me. What other sister do you have?

John Doe Park

[velesdonnersen]

[Tarvek Sturmvoraus has come to the park with his fine children. He sees his neighbor, Ilsa, and something rattles frantically in the cage that is his brain. A hand lifts, and terrified eyes stare, desperately.]

Ilsa? Ilsa!

[Then Mayfield overrides...]

Hello, Mrs. Cho. Children, say hello to Mrs. Cho.

[He nods to Mr. Cho and the family, before returning to Mrs. Cho, eyes flickering with confused fear.]

Mrs. Cho, have you changed your hairstyle? You look... different. You look...

[Breaks for a moment, and the Real Tarvek rises]

Ilsa, it's got me. The town...

[Back.]

The fireworks are going to be something, aren't they? And it's good to see all the kids here. It's important for them to understand their heritage, the history of American Freedom!

...in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July...

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa smiles fixedly, until she hears Tarvek break through. ]

Oh, the kids are near the duck pond for now...

[ Freedom? Freedom. ]

[ As the children wander off, she jerkily grabs Tarvek's lapel. Her next words are in the most horrible French, learned while not entirely sober in New Orleans. ]

Parlez-moi du bûcheron!

[velesdonnersen]

[Confused, but replies,]

What loggers, Ilsa? I have no idea what you're talking about...

[Mayfield Tarvek]

I'm so happy you and Mr. Cho are bringing your children up to maintain our high American ideals and patriotic traditions. It's all about the freedom --

[FREEDOM, dammnit!]

Arg, Ilsa, Yes. I am here. I think... try again. Repete, comprends-tu?

[ooeeooahah]

[ She's shaking, and desperately hanging on to his lapel still. ]

Tarvek, bibi - I got a short fuse for this. But I think it's only a few more hours. If I'm right, we reset at midnight, If I'm wrong,

[ The look of abject horror fades, and the sunny smile reasserts itself. She lets go of his lapel and pats it back into place. ]

Just a few hours until the fireworks, would you like to join us for the picnic?

no i'm not a million years late what are you talking about

[threelimiters]

[Hakkai studies the kitchen curiously and begins to carefully pick things up and rearrange them as he goes. The house is full of crazies, what else is new?]

Speak into the potato.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa smiles weakly at him, before going back to carefully concentrating on quartering the red-skinned potatoes and putting them in the pot on the stove. ]

Hakkai? Did you want ham sandwiches or... ng.

[ She stops and shakes her head a moment, and goes back to focusing on the potatoes. ]

Sorry, I'm... skipping tracks.

o_o what

[threelimiters]

Ah... skipping... tracks?

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[ooeeooahah]

Something's wrong...

[ Ilsa puts down the knife and looks at her hands. ]

I've got two sets of memories... things like being a pack-a-day smoker, when I've never smoked, memories of being pregnant with the kids that are too old to be mine...