They'd sat me down in the cafeteria styled kitchen, downstairs. I sat between Nina and Helen - a small, pale blue towel wrapped around me; draped around my shoulders and tucked the material under itself over my chest. In front of me was a small, white mug - filled to the brim with a dark, rich, brown liquid - bubbles and light foam swirling on the surface. "So - uh - you and Helen, eh?" I asked, glancing to my left with a slight chuckle, "The rumours about you getting an upgrade were true."

Nina only let out a bashful giggle - their paled cheeks growing a soft red as their eyes glanced behind me and to the artist. "Helen isn't an upgrade, he's an actual boyfriend. Treats me well." They mumbled, resting their chin in the palm of their hand as their eyes fell back onto me.

"Well I'm glad to hear the two of you are happy." I mumbled, glancing to Helen as well - though my expression faltered seeing his cold glare again.

"Well I'm sure we'll be just as happy as you and your boyfriend-" Nina began, causing my head to snap to them with widened eyes.

"Oh - no, no, we're not like that-" I rambled, "Well, we are like that, just not with each other." I explained, a hand reaching out to grasp the mug, and quickly putting it to my lips - sipping it (so it wouldn't fall out of my gash). Hopefully using the chocolatey liquid as an abrupt stop to the uncomfortable turn of topic would work.

Nina's face dropped, almost into an apologetic expression mixed with awkwardness - probably embarrassed by their mistake. "Oh gosh - I'm sorry, it's just you and X are..."

"Close." Helen interjected, with a monotone voice.

"Yes, close!" Nina exclaimed, their expression falling into one of ease. "You have been since high school - everyone thought the three of you were dating." They elaborated, obviously the third person they mentioned referring to Bronwyn.

I put the mug down, an awkward smile-like-grimace tugging at my lips as I swallowed the drink. I shook my head, still grasping the object. "Nope. Apparently not." I replied.

"Well - uh - sorry." They mumbled, averting their gaze as they began to play with their fingers. Wait - how did they know we were close in high school?

"Did - did you know us before all of this?" I hesitantly asked, tilting my head ever so slightly to the side.

Their eyes widened as they eagerly nodded. "Yes - well, kind of. We went to the same school!" They explained with a slight shrug, "We never really hung out but we knew each other existed. I mean - I was pretty hard to miss." They rambled with a small giggle.

"Scene queen - monarch? Scene monarch?-"

They giggled shaking their head, almost reassuringly. "Yes. Scene queen - everyone can be a scene queen, it's a state of mind. Just like how daddy is just a state of mind." Nina teasingly replied, tilting their head to the side. "I'm sorry I never really told you about this before - Jeff didn't like it when I spoke to other men." They mumbled, before their mood had perked up again, "And plus we didn't really talk to each other much, so I probably wouldn't be able to help a big deal." The ravenette sighed, hesitantly reaching up to play with the ends of their ponytail, that was tied up by a red, sequin-covered bow. Honestly, it looked like a random teenager's closet from the 2000's threw up on them. But, in a way it suited them.

I glanced to Helen, who seemed to look uncomfortable at the mention of Jeff and his attitude - his blue hues having averted elsewhere. It did confuse me as to why Jeff allowed Nina to hang around Helen but not me, or Tim and Brian - when they clearly had interest in the painter. But, alas it wasn't my business so I wouldn't pry.

I looked back to my mug, giving the pair a small shrug, "Either way, improvement from Jeff." I mumbled. I didn't know every detail - and I wouldn't ask for it. All I'd gotten is from sources like Brian, mostly Brian. But I knew enough to feel uncomfortable at the thought of Jeff and him getting into relationships. From my understanding, Jeff had been convincing Nina since high school to run away and join him after they helped him with his injuries, not aware that he was a serial killer on the run. They were, for a lack of a better term, niave and fell for whatever bullshit he spewed at them. They were a victim of his manipulation - probably promising them a good life, forcing a "fix me" mindset onto them as they got dragged down towards his level. I'm grateful they didn't hit that same level, though. It made me sad to think I could've intervened.

I paused, glancing between the two with a small smile, "So, uh, how did you guys find me? Know I was in trouble?" I asked, trying to lighten the conversation, though it wasn't too much better.

"We heard you thrashing around. Thought it was strange and checked it out." Helen answered, playing with his hands - his nails looked bitten or picked, and the skin consequently around it looked damaged, as well as the staining from paints.

"Yeah! Me and Helen were going up to his art room! He says he's making me a gift and I'm not allowed to see it until he's finished." Nina chirped, though sent Helen a playful pout, reaching across the table (and passed me) to take his hand. Really rubbing the whole single-but-it's-complicated stuff in.

"Huh." I mumbled, bringing my shoulders closer together and cupping my mug. "Well, thanks. Both of you - uh, it means a lot." I continued, trailing off as I brought the ceramic to my lips again.

"Did you see anything else?" Nina hesitantly inquired, reluctantly pulling their hand away from Helen's. They titled their head to the side as their eyebrows furrowed.

I quickly swallowed the 'mouthful' of cocoa I'd taken, nodding as I eagerly placed the mug down. I was itching to talk about it. It was such a strange - no, unsettling experience. "Mhm, so the TV had like text on it, and it was threatening, in a way that you'd see as really silly if it weren't for the fact that it was playing music without speakers." I rambled, using my hands to talk with widened eyes - Nina only watching and listening intently. "And it sounded like music from a video game, just reversed. And it was really weird and then it felt like chains were weighing me down and I could hear them too! And after the TV smashed I saw a hand reaching out and it looked like a corpse!" I explained, glancing from Nina to Helen - who only looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"The Legend of Zelda."

I felt my eyebrows knit together at what the man had to say - I knew he didn't talk a lot, something about being uncomfortable with his voice - but a man of this few words wasn't helping. My mouth fell agape as I tried to think of a politer answer. "I'm sorry, what does that have to do with anything?" I asked. It'd do.

The man's eyes seemed to roll underneath his mask as if what he had to say was obvious. "Did it sound like it came from the Legend of Zelda?" He asked.

"What, the music?" I asked, before knitting my eyes together. On the Nintendo 64, maybe. But it did sound like it could've. "I mean, yeah, I guess." I mumbled, "Why?"

Helen sighed, cocking his head to the side before glancing to the doorway, as if expecting something to be stood there. Maybe it. Nina, however, decided to fill in Helen's silence. "Kate brought in a game cartridge. Majora's Mask. Placed it upstairs with the rest of the haunted stuff."

"I'm sorry, rest of the haunted stuff?" I repeated, looking to them with an angry looking expression - though it was clearly a mix of shock and confusion.

"Yep! Slender likes to collect things that are either haunted or tied to demons that he thinks are lower than him. Keeps 'em all stashed up on the top floor. Well, not the top floor. Attic is off limits for everyone." Nina cheerily explained, though ended their sentence with a small grimace. For some reason they were still so bubbly despite the fact they they'd clearly been through a lot. They were always making the silver lining of the storms bigger than they were and it was so bizarre to me. How did they do it? Constantly, too.

"Why? What's the point to that?" I asked, peeved. The faceless thing only got more and more annoying. "Why wasn't I told about this?!"

"Because only his precious little obedient lapdogs get to know things from him. Get words directly from him." Helen rambled, glancing back to me and Nina. "And they were put in the same cage as one of them, so they got all this classified info since Jeff's tight with information and Kate's practically silent. Don't know who else is classed as his favourites."

I snorted at the mention of Jeff. "Tell me about it." I mumbled.

"Well," Nina leaned in, speaking in a hushed tone, "Slender isn't the only one around. There are three other Operators to what we know of. Apparently they're his brothers. Then there's Zalgo, a demon who isn't an Operator but has been acting like one for years. All collecting proxies. Or workers. People like us. Willing and unwilling." They explained, their blue hues flicking anxiously between mine. "We're not just servants that bring him food and power, we're an army for whenever one of the others declares war and tries to take his power." They rambled, their voice cracking. They hesitantly rolled up their right sleeve, just so their wrist was visible, as well as the beginning of their proxy mark. "Each one of those things have us marked with their own symbol. God knows how many of them there are!" They continued, an almost fearful look on their eyes.

"And he collects those things, objects, because they're the equivalent to secret soldiers that he can pull out and unleash, surprise the enemy." Helen elaborated, just as quietly as Nina. He sighed, looking to his hands, "But he doesn't bother training them, so they're just loose canons. None of us know what the expect."

I scoffed, sighing, "I don't wanna know what's in the attic then." I grumbled.