//------------------------------// // Afterthoughts // Story: Perspective // by nikolai60 //------------------------------// In a cozy apartment in the city, three twenty-somethings were settling down for the evening. "So Rosey, interesting day." "Interesting day is Right! I mean those girls just came outta nowhere with that stuff. But imagine! An alternate Sunny, this is gonna be so cool!" Blue just rolled his eyes, "Come on, you don't really believe that gunk. I don't care if they seemed harmless, there's somthin going on that they didn't wanna say. That stuff about another world is just an excuse to get us out to the school. I don't think they're up to trouble, just can't talk about whatever this is really going on." "They sure put a lot of work into that Sunset costume." The third member of the trio walked out of her bedroom, making a beeline for a coffee table near the couch. "Pizza's here!" Blue shot over to the window, checking the street side parking and smirked, "Sorry Sunny, no pizza car there, 'bout time you were wro-" Before he could finish Sunset had already pulled the door open, revealing a startled delivery guy with his hand up about to knock. "Uh....Ms. Shimmer....HOW did you do that this time!? I parked out back!" The poor guy had been their regular delivery guy for over a year now, and did his level best to avoid the blind girl’s mysterious radar. "Trade secret." Sunset cheerfully took the pizzas while handing him the pay from the table before spinning around and heading for the couch with her prize. "Pay the kind sir Mr. Blue~" Blue grumpily came forward, paying his loss of the bet once again, mouthing to his co-conspirator his intention to find out how. As he closed the door, he turned to see the offending 'Daredevil' cheerfully chowing down on her first piece, a smug look on her face. "Alright baconhead, answers, now." Blue crossed his arms and glared at his friend. It would do no good in intimidating her, but it made him feel better to do so. After tilting her head side to side in a mock 'considering' motion, Sunset shrugged and swallowed her mouthful. "He parked out back, so he had to drive over the loose storm drain at the entrance. And at this time of night it's either him or Mrs. O'Leary getting chow for the cats going in or out, and Mrs. O'Leary took her herd to go visit family for the holidays." With that she took another bite, while Blue shot into Sunsets bedroom, followed by a laughing Rose. "THAT'S WHY YOU WERE IN HERE SO LONG!!!" Blue stormed back out furious, while Rosey could be heard falling on the bed unable to contain her mirth at the latest antics of her friends. All he got in return was a cheeky grin, followed by Rosey patting him on the shoulder. "You just gotta admit you're beat, she's too good for any of us mere mortals." "No I don't." With that he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, only to be hit in the chest with a stray straw. "No telling Speedy." Both Blue and Rosey stared at the grinning Sunset. "He texted him when he found out about hearing someone out front, remember?" "You are seriously no fun." In spite of the words, he couldn't completely stop the grin from tugging at the corner of his mouth. "So, same question as before, what're you thinking?" After a few moments of thought, Sunset tilted her head to the side, mostly pointed at Blue this time. "Well, I'm kinda with you. Something's going on, and that story's just to get us, or me, moving. The 'mini-me' didn't seem to have it planned out too well though. Whatever she was thinking, running into me today, or at least then, wasn't part of it." Rosey crossed her arms, as little as that signaled to her friend, "but why dress like you then? I mean, she REALLY looks like you from back in high school, different fashion sense excluded." "No idea, that's probably why she panicked and jumped without looking." Sunset ignored the faces she knew her friends were making at her for that statement, "She was caught, and whatever reason she was dressed up like that, she had to bring it up, not just make an excuse or call it a coincidence," Blue sighed and went to sit down with his first slice. "Maybe, but it's still a pretty wild story, they had to have /something/ planned out ahead of time." "Either that or they saw those holiday movies they always play where there's just slightly different worlds all at Christmas but with something going wrong because someone wishes they didn't do something but it turns out to have been super important and now they have to find a way to fix it." As usual, Rosey managed to leave the room staring at her, quite the achievement considering the present company. After processing what had just been said, Sunny raised an eyebrow, "wait, I thought you believed their story?" "Can't it be both?" Two faces palmed at the same time. "Rose, they can't be telling the truth and make up the story at the same time, you have to pick one," Blue's tone bore the frustration of having had similar discussions on a very regular basis. "Aww, you're no fun." Rosey snapped up a slice for herself then hopped back onto the stray ottoman in the room, crossing her legs in the process. "I wanna inter-dimensional adventure." Sunset grinned, starting her second piece. "Sorry Rosebud, you'll have to live with the more realistic adventure of finding out what those kids were really getting at." ------- Across town, a younger Sunset sat curled up on her bed, desperately trying to convince herself she had done the right thing. She had panicked, coming face to face with a reality she couldn't even have imagined. A Sunset here, and one that was everything she should have been, except...her double had been punished, while Sunset had gotten a second chance at a life of happiness. Sunset shook her head, trying to drive away those thoughts. She had nearly lied again today, after everything she had done she had had to force down the impulse that had become almost second nature to her. Just lie, get out of it and don't actually face what was in front of you. But she wasn't that person anymore, and she couldn't let herself slip back even a little. She had to find a way to do what was right and commit, and while she had opened the door in a panic, she was indeed committed to now walking through after that discussion, no backing down now. Shivering from the thought, she finally laid down to try to get some sleep, her friends reservations and questions still ringing in her ears. She had managed to put on a show of confidence, to convince them this was the right thing. Now if only she actually felt the way she had acted...