This branches into two storylines, with the alternate one marked with an A
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The Tall and Short Problems of a Cute Gamer Girl

[14]
For the Alt Branch [14A]

Giselle and Finn gazed at each other with concern, neither quite sure how to parse that but fearing the worst. They both desperately hoped it wasn’t their fault. Finn asked, “What happened?"

Hanako brushed her skinny arms across the toilet seat plastic and answered, “I’m not sure. Either she’s in hiding somewhere far more dangerous or it took her. No matter what, I have great doubt that I will ever see my sister again.” She laid her head against the seat, with her eyes shut, then gently placed it back down in the box. Her eyes rolled upwards a few times as she turned.

“It is still safe, but we should go.”

They lead Hanako out of the master and over to the side hallway that joined the guest room with the loft area. On the other side of the stairs was Giselle‘s studio. Since Finn hadn’t completely abandoned his creative and artistic side, several areas were split for use between them. Giselle could still make those stop motion projects and little shorts that tickled plenty of things inside her filmmaker head. And they actually worked together with designing outfits for Giselle since that stuff actually had the lowest expense to high return of any of their projects.

Giselle wasn’t keen on princess outfits. She only managed to survive one of them, mostly through jokes. But she actually really dug the Kumatora look (since it was rather casual) and even flaunted it for a handful of JRPG streams.

Role-playing as the character was especially trippy, since she wasn’t used to gender-bending and whatever other terms she saw wielded by chat. She still hadn’t quite gotten around the mind melter that when she played male characters, it was actually a flip. She had a lot of fun designing the robes for the Travelers in Journey, setting up a playful Dixie Kong with an overzealous Dolly Parton-like accent, and imagining what a good next one would be. The biggest problem was looking through all the great ideas that she’d done previously, but not really, according to this version of reality and feeling bummed that those were off the table. An Inkling sounded neat but would require an equipment build.

Miriam, a new female friend she had somehow acquired through this version of life and everything, was like the leveled-up version of what she was trying to do but with more connections to props and the gaming promotion industry. As well there was Jessica, her photographer friend with a wide swath of wedding experience and preproduction credit for several National Geographic programs. They sometimes borrowed her studio for special setups in connection with Miriam.

On top of all that, Giselle continued making daily videos. Neither she nor Jeremy were anywhere close to a record yet, but she still enjoyed it after all these years.

By the time they got to the stairs, Finn and Giselle both kindled the same concern: They had no idea where they were supposed to go. And they still wanted to have breakfast. Unfortunately, Hanako didn’t have a lot of ideas to offer either, as she noted the monsters always managed to grab her kind no matter what they did to protect themselves. So far as driving, it at least didn’t seem like a bad idea. And Finn had a thought.

He reminded Giselle that Gwen knew someone who worked at a New Age store. It wounded their scientific rationale and good sense, but it felt like the only possible lead. Even if it were nothing, Finn resolved that it might be a decent placebo.

They called ahead to Gwen and actually found she had plans for an early lunch with a good number of their friends. Felicity was certain and she was going to invite Dale and Finley. Their call was actually coming in minutes, so the timing was spot on. The meetup was to be somewhere around the state border so that everyone drove equidistantly.

Gwen agreed to follow up with them after lunch about the New Age friend, although she was a little unclear as to why. Getting ready took a decent amount of time with project completions they wanted finished before the later stream, which they desperately hoped they wouldn’t have to delay. Snacks and coffee would have to suffice for the moment. They found Hanako didn’t have the biology to eat. One less thing.

To herself, Giselle quipped that nothing much could get her to put off a routine, even if it were her toilet seat coming to life, monsters breaching the walls, or reality breaking down.

The prep before they left existed like stepping on a bed of nails across the normal surface of the floor. It was perfectly fine if they didn’t put too much pressure on any particular point. The problem was they had no idea what might happen if they messed things up or what might trigger that monster to come back.

Giselle chatted when she could with Hanako, not sure what exactly to say. Hanako made clear that she didn’t want any of them to be left unhappy, because that poisoned the emotions she needed. She also noted that leaving someone in an unfamiliar state did her no benefit as well. And she resolved that the goal of the monster was that they forget anything changed, while feeling their emotions muted and suppressed against the world. Blank sorrow.

“That is why we are conditioned and grow up not expressing our full emotions. It is like warmth to a predator. We must camouflage ourselves.” Hanako was too small for their clothing options, so a trip to the Goodwill store had to be included to make sure no one thought she was an escaped patient in her weird toga or a lost Roman from the past. An accidentally shrunk top and some spandex pants would have to do until then. Tycho and Herschel got plenty of scratches of love and food set up for the afternoon until they returned.

Leaving the house felt like a quiet relief. Giselle ascended and settled into the driver’s seat with natural ease. Hanako peered out the window as though she didn’t trust the metal and glass to protect her from unseen dangers. When they eventually pulled out, Giselle thought for a moment that she glimpsed a figure moving through the dining room window, like a shift of light. She assured herself that it was just one of the extra chairs they still had stashed in there and nothing more. She gripped the wheel tightly and try not to even think of the idea that a monster was in their house with their boys.

At the Goodwill, Hanako obediently accepted a gray top bearing a cartoon star trailing a rainbow behind. Matching jeans and simple sneakers completed the ensemble as Giselle took her over to a changing room to see. It was good enough. She started to lead Hanako out of the little room when it felt like something in the wall mirror had changed. The room was darker with fewer reflections. Hanako squeezed her hand so tightly and made a frail whimper that refused to sound like words.

It was here. She could see the half-glimpsed features of darkness which invaded her sleep that night. The claws, the brutality, the vicious strength. She didn’t waiver. She had had enough of being afraid of this evil thing.

“Leave us alone or I will destroy you…” She had no idea where that voice came from, but it had to come from her. It was tense, tight, and ruthless in a way she didn’t even think that Jeremy could manage. Some edge of it existed in Rachel at the rarest, most serious moments. But this sounded like a feral beast ready to rip anything to shreds, though it may be several times bigger. A mama bear.

Silence followed and the implication that whatever was listening only felt vague amusement while considering whether to laugh or taunt. Giselle curled her fingers and immediately felt a tempest of heat course along her legs, across her arms, and over to her hands. It was a fireball inside her soul. If it was the darkness and the cold forever, then she would burn the fucker straight to Hell.

Even her eyes felt like they flared in fury. She could see a glimmer of light that strangely felt blue, like Hanako‘s spark. She had no idea what this meant but didn’t shy from her resolve.

Instantly, the darkness shot out of there, as though someone turned on an additional light. In the aftermath, Giselle felt absolutely sick to her stomach but swallowed it down and made sure Hanako was all right. Hanako stared at her with focused, still curiosity before wrapping her arms around her. She did her best not to dwell on all that and get going to eat.

It was at a farmers market, which had a fantastic dining hall with specials that offered so much to make up for skipping breakfast. Jeremy, big appetite and all, would get one, maybe two, of the more grandiose entrées and pack most of it in for the day. Giselle didn’t even stand a chance against one of them, even with Finn’s immense help. At least they would have plenty of leftovers, so long as they didn’t spoil in the trunk.

Gwen had a funny South Park shirt on and so many deliriously giddy ideas for things to do, create, and collaborate on. Her understated look with a trim, almost boyish, figure and ambiguously soft face made Giselle vaguely jealous that she didn’t draw such an understated version of girlhood. Her smile also fondly reminded her of Rachel’s smiles as it finally clicked in her brain that she had no idea how they were going to trigger hour-long restorations now.

Giselle wasn’t quite as jealous of Felicity. She had clearly blonde hair styled better than Giselle could ever think of managing, a curvy but understated shape, and boobs that Giselle would never wish on anyone. Despite being eminently happy in her own skin, she was the kind of girl Giselle silently prayed she would never turn into. Too much, too soft, too past any frame of reference she might be able to cling to for self-identity. But she could immediately tell why Giselle was friends with them. They were persistently upbeat, jokey, energetic, and encouraging while not leaving behind the playful teasing. Even though she had only met them a few times and stressed out about having to play things by ear rather than memory, she always welcomed the next time.

At least when it came to Hanako, the quick and easy answer that it was basically babysitting for someone they couldn’t discuss sufficed for the group. Hanako provided the secondary defense as everyone asked what her favorite books were and a plethora of other random curious little questions as she smiled and gave shy, silly vague answers like, “The ones with covers.”

Finley adored that one and relayed later to Giselle that he might be able to get her a rare Super Nintendo, childhood puzzle game she had been wishing for. This was a couple years ago from Finley‘s perspective and the sentiment didn’t extend to current Giselle, but she played along and figured it could be a useful collectible. Dale was caught up on what editing they commissioned him for to take the load off of Finn and herself. His eyes still wandered to hints of her cleavage and the shape of her chest, but he often looked nervously, quietly apologetic. He hadn’t visited their new house yet, but Giselle had previously kept it at the back of her mind for him to use the master toilet seat.

On their way to the New Age store, guided by Gwen’s car and followed by Dale out of curiosity, Giselle put this concern to Hanako and asked her if they might still be able to temporarily transform.

“Yes. I can help. I can still do that. It would still just be briefly, but I’ll try to keep it longer. I was just afraid of the emotions with the monster lingering. Although… Something is different.“

Hanako elaborated that she had powers to transform people usually released by the seat with a given trigger but, since freeing herself, it had a wider latitude of use. It wasn’t lost on Giselle that how Hanako described her powers seemed a lot like the weird moment in the changing room. Neither of them opted to partake in Hanako‘s blue light blast of electricity at the moment because it would be difficult to explain.

The actual store was fantastically fragrant inside. The wild warmth of summer faded over the last three months with August passing then September gave way to October and now November with Thanksgiving looming not that far away. The craziness and the move meant that everything melted together into one slide of time that receded too quickly. It was perfect inside despite a fair chill in the breeze.

Giselle didn’t usually visit these kinds of stores and felt immense skepticism about bothering with them. But she hoped this might help. The front area had all sorts of decorations and glittering jewels and precious metals and necklaces and pendants and papers and books and dreamcatchers and paints. Her and Finn’s eyes especially locked on the little display with natural radiant shades of nail polish. Finn still eagerly wore the one that Giselle could never remember but had to do with tacos.

One particular weekend and then for the sake of occasional cosplay, Giselle allowed Finn to apply polish to her nails but generally behaved like a cat ordered to soak in a cold bath. She could tolerate it, but she wasn’t at all pleased.

An older woman covered in bracelets, necklaces, and several layers of earrings emerged from a high checkout desk, shifted her gown in sea-like layers, and warmly greeted each of them. She recognized Gwen and celebrated her energy as she arrived. Then she winked at Dale before remarking that Finn had an interesting blend of yin and yang. Finally, she delighted by announcing, “Oh my dear! Well, I can tell right away why you’re here. Your presence, your energy, and that glow. How far along are you?

Giselle was immediately and immensely confused as she frowned. The woman touched her shoulder softly and resolved, “I’m sure of it, sweetie. You’re pregnant.”

[Since this is meant to be interactive, feel free to suggest ideas and prompts for future/alternate branch storylines. Some branches are already written but this will allow me to best pick new/alternate ones. I'm currently just rolling dice.]

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