——'build it up with sticks and stones'

EVI HAD ONLY WALKED DOWN THE STREET for about three minutes when she reached the little ice cream shop.

behind the counter a nice looking man send her an hello and smiled at her.

"hey, agnes told me to get one on her" she tried, unsure if it would work.

"sure!" the guy answered "what would you like?"

"strawberry please" evi pointed her finger at the glass, behind which the ice cream was kept.

"sure thing" he handed her the cone and nodded at her "off you go"

evi send him a grateful smile, before she bid her goodbye and continued to walk down the street. like she had guessed before, the place was not really exciting. most people seemed to be at home or somewhere else, there were only a few walking around town.

evi stopped at the little playground, which was right behind her house. she sat down on one of the swings.

"where are all the children?" she wondered, looking around. they had summer holidays, so why weren't they playing outside?

she shrugged her shoulders, she hadn't been around for too long, maybe there was something she was missing. like a place where all the kids met to play.

overall the town seemed friendly. evi wasn't an expert on little small towns, but it seemed to fit right in that category.

she threw her hair over her shoulder as she finished her ice cream and stood up from the swing.

as evi turned around and walked away from the playground, her eyes faced a window across the street. through the curtains she could see a boy, maybe about twelve years old, laying in his bed loudly crying.

she turned her head and saw a similar scene happening in another children's room. this time it was a girl, maybe six years old, widely opening her mouth. the longer evi looked at them, the louder she could hear their crying.

the sound grew louder in her head, until she finally snapped, raising her hand and pulling both curtains shut with her powers, just so that the screaming would finally stop. then she took off, running down the street.

"me? no, i'm as round as they come" vision smiled to the accompanying men around him

evi threw open the library doors and all eyes turned to her. vision, noticing her panicked gaze, stood up from his seat. "evi?" he asked confused "gentlemen, this is evi, my sister-in-law"

evi gripped at visions forearm, finding his eyes. vision caught her gaze "are you alright? what happened?" he guided her to his now empty chair. "would you like to have something to drink?" visions gaze grew concerned, when evi's face darkened even more, and she couldn't even answer his question.

suddenly, she threw up her head and smiled. "i'm fine" she laughed "i can't even remember what i was worried about, i just missed you probably" the men around them laughed, humored by the girl, while vision let out an uneasy laugh.

"well, i'm happy that you're alright" he replied slowly, grabbing another chair and sitting down next to her. "do you mind if she stays?" he asked the men around them

"of course not" norm smiled "we could use some company"

"indeed" jones agreed and the rest of them nodded, falling back into dialogue as if nothing happened

"are you sure, you're alright, sweetheart?" vision leaned over at evi and whispered

"obviously, vis" evi smiled back "what could be wrong?"

"hey, care for a stick of big red?" herm directed the question at both evi and vision, bringing their attention back to the table in front of them, holding out the gum packet towards them.

"sure" evi smiled, while throwing a puzzled look over at vision, who took a piece as well "thank you"

"well hold on there a second" norm interrupted confused "didn't you hear the man? he doesn't eat food"

evi couldn't really tell if it was meant as a joke, or if vision had really — for whatever reason, told them that he didn't eat. she plopped the gum into her mouth and watched the exchange

"is gum food?" jones speculated

"well, in my understanding is that it's purely for mastication"

"oh no, i don't do that" herb shook his head

"ah, well" vision chuckled "when in westview, cheers!" he threw the gum into his mouth and evi's eyes grew wide

"who knew you were such a funny guy?" norm laughed

"and to think you came here all hot and bothered about protocols and nonsense. we actually thought you were serious!" herb raised his hand and patted visions back in a friendly manner, vision jolted forward at the sudden hit and his face grew fearful. evi could only guess that he had probably just swallowed the gum.

"he's funny, alright! so, back to this barbeque!"

———WE'LL RETURN TO THE PROGRAM SHORTLY AFTER ———

"they say a man is never fully dressed without two important accessories" a man stands in front of a mirror, wearing a tuxedo. a woman comes up behind the man

"his special lady"

the camera zooms in, revealing a precious watch on his arm

"and his strücker"

they both leave the frame, the shot fading to a close—up of the watch

"strücker— he'll make time for you"

——WE'LL BE RETURNING TO THE REGULAR PROGRAM NOW——

"we really have to hurry, vis" instructed evi, while throwing a glance at the petite watch on her arm. "we're already too late"

she tried moving visions form forward, but his eyes had caught sight of the ice cream shop.

ever since he had swallowed that gum, he was not functioning normally. evi had guessed that it had somewhat do to with his mechanic utensils, but she really couldn't be dared to search for the piece of gum inside of him. she would leave that part to wanda and wanda only.

finally, evi caught sight of the little gazebo behind the stage, she had been able to distract vision by giving him a flower and was now moving him up the stairs.

they both nearly fell over

"wanda, my little cabbage, you look smashing!"

"vis! evi! where have you been?"

before evi could answer, vision began to speak, sounding like he was drunk "oh, uh well, me and the boys were playing a rather thrilling game of horses with shoes. no that's not it. shoe horses! no.. ah! horse's shoes!"

"listen" wanda replied, not really caring what vision just told her, something more important clouding her mind "something strange happened with dottie. well, something strange happened before that, too. it's hard to explain."

vision, too, ignored her and turned to the horse costume that crossed the street. "i was just playing with his shoes!"

"what is going on?" wanda asked helplessly, turning to her sister

before evi could answer, a woman with a clipboard stopped next to them. "you are!" she concluded "oh hello" she exclaimed upon seeing evi "i'm geraldine, you must be evi!"

"hello" smiled evi, shaking geraldine's outstretched hand

"maybe i can get you another minute" geraldine said turning back to wanda

"thank you!" wanda smiled gratefully, she waited until geraldine was out of earshot "evi! what the hell is going in with him?" vision was jumping on one leg, moving his arms in circular motions

"i think he swallowed some gum on accident" evi shrugged "maybe you can get it out of his system before the show"

wanda turned around to help her husband, following evi's advice, but vision was nowhere to be seen

"oh no" exclaimed the sisters at the same time, and as if to proof their initial theory, where vision went, his voice rang out from out the stage "hello, westview! good afternoon! it's so lovely to be here!"

"i think i should—" wanda pointed at the curtain

"you should definitely" evi nodded and with that the two split up. wanda heading out on the stage and evi taking a seat in the audience.

what could go wrong?

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