THE TEARS WERE GOOD, PRINCE. REALLY BELIEVABLE. SOMEONE WAS WATCHING ME GROWING UP, WEREN'T THEY?
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There the sisters were, staring each other down for the third time that night, now accompanied by Tangerine who had no clue who he was in the presence of. And Kliment wasn't itching to tell him, not wanting to claim her as a family member.
"Oi," Tangerine called, causing Gedeon to freeze. "You. We know you. You're that girl, aren't ya?"
Gedeon glanced back at the door she came from before whispering, "Oh, my god."
With his revolver in hand, Tangerine walked closer, keeping himself between the two sisters. "Yeah, I never forget a face, me."
"I'm so happy to see you. Please help me," Gedeon said, beginning to tremble as she spoke. Kliment rolled her eyes at her dramatics. "Um, there's this man, and he was holding me hostage. He was wearing glasses, and he killed my uncle. And he also killed this other man who, I don't know, he just kept talking about, uh, uh, uh, T - Thomas the trains and—"
"Tank Engine," he corrected, still studying her curiously.
"Uh, yeah, right. Exactly. But he killed both of them, and then he said he was going to get away with some sort of money," she cried, willing actual tears to fall. Kliment was almost proud. "I don't know."
Tangerine stopped in front of her, raising his hand to silence her. "I'm sorry, darling. I - I beg your pardon," he told her, looking quite confused by her sudden appearance. "I don't know who the fuck you are."
Gedeon threw her hands up and cried. "I'm just a girl who was supposed to get off at Nagoya, and then this man, he—"
"That was fucking ages ago," Tangerine told her.
"I know!" she exclaimed, getting choked up. "But this man, he just said that I could be a good backup plan and that a pretty girl makes a good hostage."
"Yeah, well, he ain't wrong there, but, hey, look. Keep your fucking knickers on, all right?" he said, wanting her to calm down.
"Please just help me," she begged.
"All right, all right. Calm down. Get off or do what the fuck you like. You're free to go," he said with a shrug. Then he grabbed Kliment's hand and pulled her past.
"Thank you. Thank you," she said, sounding so relieved.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, patting her shoulder as they passed, not even looking at her. "It's all right. Go on. Take care — yeah, I don't know what you're doing here anyway."
Tangerine would've walked off, but his hand was tugged when Kliment came to a stop. Her eyes were on her sister's shoulder which was sporting a very familiar sticker. She picked it off and looked at it on her finger. Tangerine looked at it over her shoulder before seeking out Gedeon, dread washing over him.
