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[ She doesn't catch it, so Laurie gets a confused look. ]

Sleeping Beauty?

[ But she says she was trying to help her... ]

I made you worry then, didn't I? I'm sorry for that.

It's a fairy tale. There's this princess that gets put into a magical sleep.

[ And now it's Laurie's turn to wave her hand in dismissal. Don't worry about it, Sasha. The worry is done with. Laurie pushes up a little smile, even. ]

No, it's fine. This part of the conversation already happened, right? I just... I wanted to try to clear the air of the rest.

[ She smiles back at her, shaking her head. ]

Don't worry, I'm not mad about anything. You were just trying to help back then.

[ Who knows what would have happened if Laurie hadn't been around? What if Sasha had been by herself when she fell asleep? ]

[ She almost feels like she's unfairly ducking out of a confession with an actual degree of meaning, but that hypothetical total truth is way scarier than letting it go at this. ]

Yeah. Good. I'd hate it if I totally wrecked everything between us in one week.

I mean, I'd hate it if I accomplished that over any period of time, but a week would basically beat my standing record for ruined relationships. [ Ha... ha. Anyhow! ] So what now? Do you need anything?

I don't think that's even possible!

[ She shakes her head adamantly. There's only a couple of ways Laurie could do that, but she's not a titan shifter, a cannibal nor has she tried to kill any of Sasha's friends so she's in the clear. ]

Hm... [ Sasha has to think about her response. ] I'm kind of still settling back in. Maybe a movie? Summer is when all the cool new movies come out, yes?

[ She isn't in the mood for a heavy meal or doing much outside of sitting around. ]

That's true. It's blockbuster season.

[ Laurie sinks back into smiling easily. It's not so difficult with Sasha around, asking about nice, normal things. This place can be deceptively simple sometimes, and she doesn't mind falling for the act. ]

Did you want to go to the theater, then? Or, like... Rent something?

Let's rent something.

[ The movie theaters do have amazing air conditioning and popcorn is sort of tempting, but they're also loud and can vibrate the seats. For once Sasha isn't keen on sitting through that. ]

Your choice!

Alright. [ She perks up and hops down from the counter. ] Let me go change, and we can run to the supermarket. There's that rental machine, and we can get some snacks and stuff.

Okay! I'll go find my wallet.

[ She looks around for a moment, half-expecting someone else to be there. ]

I guess Tobias is sleeping... but if he wakes up he can join us. Maybe we should rent two movies in case?

Oh. Sure. I... [ Renting two movies? Why not! As for Tobias and his whereabouts or goings-on? ] I don't know what he's doing, or if he's asleep or whatever. I'm not convinced I want to know. But yeah. He can join us if he's up. Definitely.

[ She lowers her voice as she's talking, in case he is asleep, and the discussion trails off as she make her way into the bedroom to change out of her Wallflower ensemble and grab her own wallet. She returns to the common area wearing the pedal pushers and sleeveless button-up she'd been wearing this afternoon. Hair still up, way more innocuous. ]

Ready?

[ Sasha disappears in search of her wallet she's left somewhere in room, but it isn't a long search before she finds it tucked into her jacket pocket. She doesn't need the jacket or anything else, so she slips her wallet into the back pocket of her shorts and heads back out.

When Laurie reemerges, she nods. ]

Yep!

Don't tell me Tobias still sleeps all day. Are we sure we shouldn't check on him to make sure he's alright then?

I'm pretty sure. [ He's an adult, after all, and-- Well. She slips her hand under Sasha's elbow to tug her gently towards the front door. When she's closing and locking it behind them, she starts speaking again, in a soft tone as if she's afraid of being overheard. ]

So... A little while ago, we came out to do our laundry and the same time, right? And he had all these clothes, like, covered in blood. Not just his, either. He also had ladies' clothes.

I mean, I guess they could still be his. Maybe he cross-dresses. Whatever. But he said it was an accident with a dinner guest or something?

He's been totally normal since then, or... You know, normal for him. I get weirded out if I think too hard about it, though.

[ Like, are they going to die? Is she going on her third round of being murdered? ]

[ Sasha knows when she's being ushered out because of a secret. She leans her head in to listen closely to what Laurie has to tell her, her stomach lurching when she discovers what it is. ]

Blood?!

[ She almost yells, but manages to keep her voice down despite them being outside now. ]

Why would he have someone else's clothes? Has he had women over? [ That wouldn't be an issue except for the fact there's reports of blood. Blood doesn't find its way onto clothes unless something has happened. Something unpleasant. ] Was it fresh...?

[ Even if the volume's suitably low, Sasha still carries an air of exclamation, and Laurie winces (for no real reason) and moves to catch Sasha by the arm again. She then proceeds to walk as if getting away from the house is actually a great plan, and not just for snacks and movies. ]

I don't know. It had dried, I think. Or close to it. He had to pre-treat it and everything.

I haven't seen any women that he's had over, or heard them, or anything like that. So I don't know what's up.

[ There's no protest from Sasha. She peeks over her shoulder, looking back at the house as if expecting Tobias to be peering out the window suspiciously and keeps going. ]

Do you think he got into a fight? How much blood was it?

[ Laurie shrugs. She doesn't know the answer to either of those questions, so far as specifics go. ] I don't think it was a fight, unless it was a really bad one. I don't think a split lip would bleed that much.

I thought maybe it was a nosebleed, at first. Like, and epically gushing sort of nosebleed.

No way a nosebleed does that...

[ She gulps a little nervously. ]

If there was so much blood someone must have cut something major or was cut and not treated for a very long.

He just said it was an accident, so... Maybe somebody should've gone to the doctor and they didn't?

Either way... I doubt it was at our house, right? So why did he bother taking their clothes to be washed?

That's still weird... blood is never good...

Tobias is very mysterious.

[ And not in a good way, apparently. ]

Yeah, well, I don't know if it's a mystery I want to solve. [ But she already said something like that, right? Might not fly, though. ] Still, if we don't figure him out... Do you think it's unsafe?

[ Sasha isn't sure she wants to live under a roof with someone who gets into bizarre accidents and isn't forthright about the details. ]

I don't know...

[ A beat. ]

I wonder if I could sneak into his room when he's not home. We could look around and make sure he's not hiding anything.

Maybe. [ This sounds potentially terrifying, but it might be better than not knowing at all. ] Do you think he'd do anything bad if he found out, though?

[ It grows into a more and more tempting idea. Is Tobias hiding something after all? Sasha doesn't want to get caught up in something when she could have done something about it in the first place. ]

He might get mad... but if there's nothing then there's no reason to, right?

Well. Intruding on somebody's personal space is kind of a thing for some people. He might get mad about that.

And if he is hiding stuff, he might get really mad.

[ Like, it's hard to imagine Tobias as anything beyond reasonably annoyed, judging by what she knows so far, but she's well aware that people are capable of some unexpected extremes. ]

Though... Maybe that doesn't matter. If he tries anything, we'll stop him.

[ Her eyebrows tug toward one another. ]

I could teleport us away. I've gotten better at directing myself to places I want to go to. We could run away if it got dangerous...

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