#penpal!mitch

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2022 Day 5: Happily Ever After

I told Mitch everything last night. Well, not everything, but the gist-

“I don’t know if this is real or not. I know that, to you, I’ve been here the whole time, but to me, you died thousands of years ago. I’ve missed you so much, Mitchie. Ever since we parted, I’ve been trying to find you as I traveled through time and space. I promised you I would… I found you five times after this. You’ve been different each time, but I’ve loved you, each of you, all the same. I’ve been living with the sixth version of you I found for three years now. It’s not perfect, but that’s okay. We’re happy and living a pretty normal life together. We’re supposed to be celebrating our anniversary this month. I went to bed with them on the 30th, kissed them goodnight, and then I woke up here, next to you. I don’t know why, or how, or what’s going on with the door, or if this is a dream or the longest glitch I’ve ever had or what. I didn’t want to spoil the mood by telling you all of this until it became obvious something was off. I wanted to enjoy this time with you again while I could, even if it’s all in my head…. I’m so sorry it’s not going how we planned.”

After a few minutes of processing, she started choking up. She said it was the most romantic story she’d ever heard. She started gushing about destiny, soulmates, reincarnation, true love, the thread of fate that must tie us together across the cosmos… She could hardly believe it was all true, but was so, so happy that it was.

“I knew it had to be real… I knew I felt something when I saw you for the first time! I had faith that you were telling the truth when you told everybody about your situation in your interviews, and what you told me in your letters, but seeing a piece of it with my own eyes like this… I really believe now. I believe you. It’s all true! Sally, my sweet little pumpkin… there must be a reason you’ve come back to me now…. Maybe, it’s all been leading to this- It’s got to be destiny! It has to be! I mean, it's us...! I think we just need to figure out the last step together- one more little obstacle, and then we can really start living the life we’ve been dreaming of- the two of us, together forever…!”

I think that maybe, just maybe, shes onto something.... That would explain why this glitch isn't ending. Her guess is as good as any of the others I can come up with. After so many tries, maybe this is my shot at a happy ending with the original- a chance to do it right, really keep my promise to her, have an honest-to-god do-over…  if we can figure out how to get out of here together. That, or I’m going to wake up in the sixth Mitchies arms any second, tell them I just had the nicest dream, and then we’ll get our staycation started as planned and keep living our happy lives as usual. Maybe it's both?Either way sounds pretty sweet to me.

…

I don’t really want to consider any other possibilities right now. I don’t want to spoil the mood.

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2022 Day 4: No Exit

We were supposed to leave the motel and get back on the highway very early this morning. We woke up later than we had meant to because the alarm clock didn’t go off. I chalked it up to chance- it wasn’t much of a surprise, given the condition of everything else in this room. This was the first thing that was off from the original timeline. Last time, we woke up before the alarm even went off and were long gone by now. 

The sun was starting to come up. We peaked through the window to see if the coast was clear- there was nobody in the parking lot. We hadn’t seen anyone since the morning after we’d checked in, and it was as quiet as ever. That was the second thing that was off from the original timeline.

We got our bags to the door. It was a straight shot to the car. We were ready to shove everything in the back seat (me included) in one trip so that we could be out of sight and gone as quickly as possible. I put the hood up on the sweatshirt Mitch had given me to wear, and stooped behind her, hiding my face from view, ready to make the dash and get the hell out of this dump. We opened the door, and there was nothing there.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The light coming through the window was getting brighter, sending sunbeams through the thin curtains covering it, but through the doorway, there was no parking lot- no rusted up cars, no power lines or streetlights or trash on the cracked pavement. There was just blackness, completely absent of any kind of shape or depth or light. This was the third thing that was off from the original timeline. There was definitely a parking lot behind this door last time...

Mitch reached out her hand, wondering aloud if someone had put a curtain or sheet of plastic over the exit. Before I could stop her, she put her fingertips beyond the threshold- they vanished from sight, as if being dipped in ink. She sucked in a breath and snatched her hand back, shaking it out before clutching it to her chest.

“Fuck, that’s fucking cold!!”

I took her hand and looked it over. Her fingers had turned blue and stiff in the instant that they were in the darkness. I rubbed them between my palms to try and warm them back up, and slowly, they began to return to their usual pale pink hue.

“How did… what the hell just happened?” She was flexing her fingers, trying to regain feeling in them.

“...”

“...Sal…?”

“...”

I reached around her and closed the door, then opened it again. Still nothing. I did it a second time. Nothing.

“What is…?”

I looked through the window. Sunlight. Parking lot. Rusted cars. Power lines. Street lights. Trash.

I opened the door. Nothing. Blackness. I shut it again.

“....”

I went back to the window and tried to open it- I thought maybe we could crawl out and leave that way. It was sealed shut. I grabbed the lamp on the bedside table.

“Sal, what are you- stop-!”

I threw the lamp, shattering the glass, but it stopped short of falling outside. The shards of glass and plastic that fell inward were strewn about on the stained carpeting, but those that had fallen outward were propped up against the view beyond the window sill. I reached my hand through the hole I’d made in the glass and touched it- the parking lot, the cars, the power lines and street lights and trash. I pressed my palm flat against the scene- there was no give. It was like I was trying to push through a painting on a brick wall.

“But how… but…?”

“...”

“Sally, what the hell is going on…?”

It’s way past check-out time, and we’re still in the motel room. I keep opening and shutting and opening and shutting the door, hoping that the space outside the room we’re in will ‘load’ after enough ‘refreshes’. It hasn’t worked, but I don’t know what else I can do.

Mitch keeps asking what’s going on. I don’t know how to start answering her.

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2022 Day 1: 'Deja Vu'

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

The very first time we met, I’d been pacing around my cell all morning. Today was the day- 'Mitchie was coming to visit me!' I’d be seeing her, in person, at least for a few minutes... It was.. It was a big deal to me. I was trying to think of the right way to say all of the things I wanted to say to her, while also trying to keep myself calm and not have huge pit stains on my new uniform... When I’d first put it on, I felt, looked and smelled like a new man- I wanted to look, and smell, the same when she saw me in it, even though I knew she probably wouldn’t be able to get a whiff of me through the window… [laughing]

The guard came and put me in cuffs after what felt like ages of waiting. I was escorted from my cell and led into the visitation room- it was divided into these grubby little cubicles separated by glass… Mitch was already sitting there on the other side of the partition, waiting with her sketch book open in front of her and fidgeting with the eraser on her pencil…

Her eyes got really wide when she saw me. I sat down, and for a second, we just stared at each other…. She opened her mouth to speak before it dawned on her that I couldn’t hear her. She snatched the receiver from the wall and brought it to her ear, then pointed to mine to signal me to pick it up. I went to grab it and- uh, god, I still cringe thinking about it [laughing]-  I fumbled with it five or six times before it completely slipped from my hands and it dropped below the table. I gave this big, dramatic sigh- I’d played that moment out in my head so many times, and I couldn’t believe that the first thing I did was embarrass myself in front of her… I pulled the receiver up by the cord, brought it to my ear and I said something like,

“Well, I think that was a spectacular first-impression on my part…” 

She laughed- the tension was completely gone, and I saw her big, lop-sided grin for the first time…  I pretty much turned into putty on the spot. [laughing] She started sketching and scribbling notes while she talked. She was showering me with all these compliments and telling me how nice I looked in my new uniform and how excited she was to see me after all those months of writing back and forth... I don’t even remember what I said, but I had brought the first letter she’d sent to me, in this little strawberry-print envelope, and when I held it up to show it to her, her face got so pink, and I could have sworn there were little hearts reflected in her eyes… it must have been the weird lighting in the visitation room…. 

I wanted to say all the stuff I’d thought to say to her back in my cell, but I was completely blanking- my brain had pretty much turned into mush and was leaking out of my ears at that point. I could hardly string together a full sentence with her looking at me and talking all sweet like that…

The time flew by. Mitchies paper filled up with drawings of me, and when it was almost full, she paused and went quiet for a second. I asked if she was alright, and she started… she was rubbing her fingertips together and her eyes were darting between me and my hands and the guards and corners of the room. It dawned on me that she wanted to ask for… 

You know that thing they do in movies and on TV? When a convict's girlfriend or whatever comes to visit them in jail, and they [puts his hands together] …?

I said, “....you want to do the thing, don’t you,” and her chubby little cheeks went from pink to bright red- I don’t think she understood that I was just teasing her until I pressed my palm to the glass. She did the same, and we stayed like that for a minute or two. The glass between us warmed up with our body heat, and for a second, I almost felt like I could have… 

[laces his fingers]

…

… Uh, sorry- eventually the guards said that my visitation time was up. Mitch started saying goodbye, and everything I’d been wanting to say to her came out of my mouth all at once. I don’t know if she even caught half of it because I was talking so fast [laughing]- 

“Oh, crap, shit, Mitch- Mitch, thank you, I’m so happy you came to see me and that you wrote to me, it was so good to see you-  thanks again for the uniform- I like your hair and your smile and your voice and your eyes are really pretty, you’re really cute and nice and your drawings look great, I’m excited to see how your painting turns out- I’m so sorry I was so awkward, I- I’ll start writing you as soon as I get back-”

I got yanked out of my chair mid-ramble by the guards- They corralled me toward the exit, and Mitch stood up and was almost pressing her little button nose to the glass so she could watch me leave. I leaned back against the guard pushing me to buy a few extra seconds of eye contact with her, and we waved goodbye to each other until I was through the door… As soon as I got back to my cell, I started writing my next letter to her.....

[END TRANSCRIPT]

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2022 Day 6: Ghosts

I woke up this morning to a scream- or rather, a loud gurgle- coming from the bathroom. I tried to sit up to see what was going on, but found I couldn’t. My neck was limp, and my head rolled backward onto the sticky pillow I’d been lying on when I propped myself up on my elbows. My line of sight fell to the wall behind the bed, at the painting of the sunrise over the mountains. 

I heard shuffling and crying. I leaned my shoulders to the side to turn my head in the direction of the noise.

Mitch came through the door, clutching at her head and her chest, wet hisses and sobs coming from her throat. I felt like I was seeing a ghost. She looked just like she did the last time I saw her, only this time it was worse, because she was somehow very much alive:

Half of her crown was caved in, her scalp and skull and brain exposed to the musty air of the motel room. Her jaw was hanging on one hinge, flapping loosely as she tried and failed to speak. The front of her body and that side of her face were roadrashed, the layers of skin worn away to reveal fat and muscle and bone. The flesh left attached was dotted with shards of broken glass. It looked like she was trying to rub away her wounds, but it only caused the fluids leaking from them to spread. There was blood everywhere. 

“Mitchie? What… what happened to you?!”

She shuffled forward, leaving a trail of droplets behind her. She tried to say something, but it came out garbled, saliva and blood dribbling out of her wide-open mouth. She grimaced at the noise and tried to fit her jaw back onto the hinge. It flopped back down when she let it go. 

She grabbed her sketch book from the night stand beside me and started scribbling.

She wrote, ‘What’s going on? Whats happening to us?’

“‘Us’?” 

She lifted my head for me, and I looked down at myself. My ribcage was misshapen, a few ribs poking through, my spine kinked in a sharp curve, and my legs and arms were twisted at odd angles. Bits of bone stuck out of the flesh, and shards of glass were stuck in. I didn’t need to see my face to recall how much worse it looked than before. It wasn’t hard, considering my broken neck and the blood that had pooled around me on the bedding. There was a matching one beside me, where Mitch had laid down next to me the night before, after we had exhausted ourselves trying to find an exit. We had decided to get some rest and start fresh in the ‘morning,’ see if we could think of anything else to try after a full nights sleep. I’d kissed them goodnight before I turned out the lights.

‘How did we get like this?’

“...”

She underlined what she’d written, desperate for some kind of explanation. The answer was stuck in my throat. 

She wrote again, ‘WHAT’S HAPPENING? HOW DID WE GET LIKE THIS?’ 

When I didn’t reply, she pointed at her writing to repeat the questions. I chewed on my lip before I finally spat it out.

“...it was you, Mitchie.”

‘What?’

“It was you. You did this to us. I pushed you to it, but you… you’re the one that was at the wheel. You did it.”

‘I don’t understand. I didn’t do this!’ She underlined ‘didn’t’.

“You did. Thousands of years ago, when you died- when we died, together… when you killed us.”

‘No! No! No! I didn’t do this!!!’

“I didn’t want to give you the details, in case we were able to do it differently and avoid it this time. I didn’t want to make you feel guilty for something you hadn’t technically done yet, but… I guess there's no avoiding you knowing now…”

I told her the story of our first parting, with every grisly detail and regret- the reason I’d been searching for her all this time, how I’d never forgiven myself for what happened and how I’d been trying to make up for it and keep my promise to her, every time I found another version of her. 

‘No! That can’t be true! I would never do that to us! I swear’

“It’s the truth, Mitchie. You may not think you could, but you’re capable of doing some crazy shit when you’re backed into a corner. I’ve seen it happen a few times…”

She took a minute to respond. She wrote slowly,

‘I thought that was just a bad dream.’

“.... No. I… I think it was a memory….”

She didn’t write anything.

“...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t honest with you. Maybe if I would have told you from the start, all this wouldn’t have happened… again…”

She looked away from me, down at herself, to the painting on the wall, and then back down to my broken body on the bed. She put her sketchbook back on the nightstand, gathered the corner of the blanket beneath me in her little fists, and began to pull. I slowly slid along little-by-little, crumpling when I fell off the mattress and onto the carpeting. 

“Wait… wait, Mitch, what are you-”

She was dragging me toward the door, gurgling with the effort of each heave. 

“Stop! Stop! We can’t go through, we’ll freeze…!” It dawned on me how silly it was to say that, given our current conditions. Both of us should be dead already. Maybe we were dead. Maybe we were ghosts. Maybe this was a dream, and it didn’t really matter what we were. Maybe soon, I’d wake up… Please, let me wake up...

Her body dipped beyond the threshold, disappearing a little more with each tug until she was completely out of sight. The corner of the blanket followed, and slowly, so did I. 

I expected cold- freezing, bitter cold- and darkness. That’s what it was, for a second, until I found myself looking at the ceiling. Stains, rough sheets, the smell of mildew and cigarette butts, now mingling with the stench of blood and burnt rubber, the top of the painting of the sunrise over the mountains…

We were lying in bed in the motel room, positioned perfectly in the pools of blood we’d left there minutes before. Mitch sat up and looked around for a minute, down at herself, at me, at the painting on the wall, then at me again. She got out of bed, gathered the corner of the blanket in her little fists, and started to pull.

She repeated the process over, and over, and over again, until she was completely spent, her sweat and tears mingling with the fluids we’d already left on the sheets. After the last attempt she could manage, she simply laid in her puddle and wept, choking out noises that were meant to be words. I handed her her sketch book. She wrote, ‘Are we going to die?’

“I… I don’t know…”

‘Why is this happening? What do we do? I’m scared. I don’t want to die. We can’t die yet. I want to see the mountains with you, too.’

 I wanted to give her an answer, some words of comfort, but everything I could think of sounded so hollow… Instead, I gently took her hand. She turned to face me and scooted closer, laying her head on my sunken chest, gray matter and fluid leaking from the hole in her skull and the hole in her cheek, soaking into my shirt. I held her as tightly as I could manage, wiped away some of her tears, and pushed the bangs from her damp forehead in an attempt to soothe the nightmare away.

 It’s been hours, and it hasn’t gone away. We’re still in bed. We’re still in the motel room. Right back where we started… and right back where we ended. We don’t know what else we can do. I don't know why I'm still here...

[killemwithkawaii]

Mitch(1): [barely audible] Wait, that thing has a camera in it, too?!

L.S.S.: [barely audible] Hehe, yup! Pretty cool right? Lets see, let me just... there we go. Okay, say 'hi' to everyone!

Mitch(1): 'Everyone?'

L.S.S.: Me and the sixth Mitch made a lot of friends in their universe. They have a lot of fans because of their art, too. I wanted to formally introduce all of you, since I've been talking to them about you and this whole... situation... You might actually know some of them- er, versions of them, at least.

Mitch(1): Oh, neat! Um... hi, everybody! I'm Mitch-

L.S.S.: [barely audible] Mitch classic~

Mitch(1): 'Original Flavor~' [laughing] It, ah... nice to meet you?

....

....

[barely audible] Are they gonna say anything back? Can they hear us...?

L.S.S.: They're gonna send us some asks- I mean... emails? After we post this for them to see. We already have a few to answer, actually.

Mitch(1): Oh, really? Okay! Do you think any of them could help us figure out the deal with the door and the window and stuff?

L.S.S.: Hopefully... but I wanted them to get to know you a little while we're at it. I know you'll get along great with Mitchies kouhai- you kind of already do. Sorta.

Mitch(1): 'Kouhai?' What's that mean?

L.S.S.: 'Underclassmen,' I think...? They call them 'senpai,' which means, 'upperclassmen,' pretty much.

Mitch(1): Oh. Do they all go to school with me- the other me?

L.S.S.: No, you're not in school in that universe.

Mitch(1): Then why...? [looking confused]

L.S.S.: Um... Okay, uh, let me explain-...

[killemwithkawaii]

When I woke up this morning, it was quiet, and there was sunlight piercing through the curtains.

We had slept in- The ideal start to our relaxing staycation/ third honeymoon attempt.

I rolled over and blindly reached for Mitchie, not wanting to open my eye and fully wake up yet. The sheets beneath us smelled stale and felt rough, despite them being laundered a couple days before. I made a note for us to pick up a different brand of fabric softener the next time we went shopping.

I found them across the bed and pulled them close to me, nuzzling my nose into the short hairs at the base of their skull. They let out a sleepy hum and placed their little hands over mine, positioning themselves so I could lie more snuggly against their back. They felt so soft, so comforting and familiar, I hardly noticed the lingering smell of cigarette butts and mildew surrounding us….  I snoozed against them for a while, until the warm wave of nostalgia I’d been enjoying slowly subsided into a skin-crawling bout of deja vu.

I opened my eye and saw them, or rather, her. Their wild mane was reduced to a few neat inches, the moles along their sloped shoulders in incorrect patterns. Their muscle tone had been replaced with a layer of pudge. They stirred and rolled over to face me, greeting me with their signature lop-sided smile- their snaggle tooth was at the wrong angle, and their lip had one more stud through it than it had the night before.

“Mornin’...” she said in a too-high voice, stretching her too-soft arms before throwing one over my too-broad chest, playing with the blue curls that had not been growing there when I went to sleep. 

I mentally kicked myself. Again? Right now? Come on, give me a break…

“...are you okay, Sally? Did you have another bad dream?” She brushed my bangs from my damp forehead, unruly and long despite the recent trim they’d given me, in an attempt to soothe the nightmare away. Her wrist was smooth and bare. I reached out to touch her face, cupping the too-thick padding of her cheek. My own wrist was absent of scarring and ink, but thick with new layers of muscle and fat. 

I looked her over, soaking up this momentary reunion while it would last- it had been a while since I’d ‘seen’ the first version of Mitch… it was nice of her to ‘visit’, and part of me looked forward to when it would happen again, but right now wasn’t the time. I needed to be in the present, with the sixth.

I sat up and shook the cobwebs out of my head, trying to blink away the motel room that surrounded us and return to our apartment bedroom where we had fallen asleep. I expected the glitch to end like it always did: After a few seconds of confusion, some static and vertigo, I would find my bony hand on their cheekbone or laced in their thick, long hair, my arm dotted with nearly-faded bite marks and black pinpricks in the shape of their name. I’d tell them I was here, they’d give me a kiss and welcome me back, and we’d lay back down to spoon some more, then talk about maybe starting breakfast…

I closed my eye, breathed in deeply, counted to ten, and opened it again. 

I looked around. Nothing had changed.

“...where are we?” I thought that maybe some reality checks would help snap me out of it. They usually did the trick once I realized I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.

“In our motel room, silly,” they chuckled and clung to me, almost unable to wrap their arms around the girth of my torso. I’d almost forgotten how small they were compared to me the first time…

“The last few days have kind of been a blur, huh? I forgot we were here for a second, too…” they rubbed their cheek against the side of my face, not meeting rows of teeth, but the patchwork of numb scar tissue that covered them. 

“But I’m really, really happy that we are, Sally,” they took my hand and sighed dreamily, kissing my knuckles, then smiling wide, their big eyes wet with a naïve glint of happiness and unspoiled hope. 

“Ya’know, I know it’s not exactly the ideal setting for it, but… it almost feels like we’re on vacation together... or, like we're on our honeymoon or something! Right…?” 

It took me a second to respond. That statement felt so weighted now….

“...Yeah,” I replied. “It… kind of does, doesn’t it…?”

[killemwithkawaii]

'Meet the Fishers' S/I Ask Roundup 🎤✨

[CW: Spoilers for 'Meet the Fishers' and 'The Staycation', NS/FW lime, unreality, mental illness, unsanitary, vomit, delusion, drug use, yandere, violence, weapons, death, suicide, corpses, cannibalism]

In this post... @meadow-hearthfire @danuflowlove @thegracelessfaceless

(Okay, not an s/i ask, but I wanted to answer it anyway!)

This was an absolutely fascinating question that I unfortunately did not have the time to dig into during the event, so I posed the question to our resident nurse and fellow Sally-Simp @thegracelessfaceless! Here's what she had to say about L.S.S. and her own Sals blood labs:

"...It would make sense to me for him to of course be anemic like mine, those boys stay so cold except in summer. But also we have to factor in the electrocution. In people who have been electrocuted it's important to check their complete blood count, which is a little low in my Sal, serum electrolyte levels (fine now but right after the chair they were super high), liver function tests (low due to capillaries being fried) and BUN (blood urea nitrogen) which would be super low since the electrolytes were super high....

The levels have probably evened out by now, but they're are small abnormalities in those tests that will follow him for the rest of his life. Now Larry? His blood tests are the weirdest thing I've ever seen"

So yes, Danu, I'd say there is a strong possibility of some weird results in L.S.S.! It's very interesting that there's some evidence of electrocution in Gracies Sals blood, even after hopping realities...

I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were also true for L.S.S., but since he was technically a non-person in this reality, we were never able to take him to a doctor, and it might be, uh.... difficult to get labs run on what's left of him now.... 😬😬😬

Side note: I'm picturing a doc seeing Larrys results and being like "... this has to be an error. Uh... he's probably fine no aliens here :)" sdlfkjdslkf

Yes! Once the cat was out of the bag about both of their yandere tendencies and they officially became a yanXyan couple, L.S.S. and Neighbor!Mitch exchanged and took A LOT of photos together 📸💘

While we're talking about Mitch(5) and her interesting taste in décor, I wanted to point out an easter egg readers might not have noticed:

In her intro selfie, you can see a portion of her plushie collection in the background, including a strawberry and a rabbit. When Sal moves in the death day selfie...

... it's revealed that there's a wolf that admittedly looks like a cat but i was in a time crunch sshhh about to nom on the rabbits arm (mmm, foreshadowing~) 🍴

Well, since the number of alternate universes Sal could come across is supposedly infinite, there must be one of those out there... somewhere.... (right?) 🤔

Yes, all the time! He's a huge stickler for safety and following protocol, and wouldn't hesitate to say something if someone is endangering themselves or others. Half the reason he's called 'Mitch the Bitch' is because he's always bitching and nagging about this and that, but it's always for a good reason! He just can't stand the thought of someone getting hurt because of a careless mistake (especially if he could have done something to prevent it.... or god forbid, he caused it)... 😰

You make a very good point, Meadow.

>Had Sal treated videogame!Mitch more like the virtual pet everyone else perceived them to be, rather than his serious romantic partner, and prioritized his 'real' relationships over them most of the time, it's likely he could have spent the rest of his natural life within that universe with them in his pocket, chirping away~ (Aww, that sounds cute..! 🥺🎶💖)

>In his defense, L.S.S. was starting to have serious issues with his perception of time at that point, was becoming increasingly bored with the monotony of immortality while at the same time trying to avoid the temptations he gave into in previous lifetimes (*cough*Mitch(3)*cough*), and was struggling with making connections to the real people in his lives. The longer he's 'alive', the less he can relate to regular, mortal people, you know? All that repetition made it difficult for him to see much of a difference between Mitch(4) and Family and Friends (~4000), until they confronted him and brought him to his senses.

>It also didn't help that videogame!Mitch really fed into Sals addictive tendencies, punched him in the guilt complex (He promised Mitch(3) he'd be 'more in control... wouldn't let them do whatever they wanted' and Mitch(4) is a literal toy he has complete control over oop-) and also demanded constant attention! (You gotta wonder why they ended up in the box he found them in in the first place...)

>[Spoiler: That s/i is supposed to embody my endless thirst for praise/attention/validation, my constant people pleasing, my repetitive stims, tendency to mirror personalities, and my need for routine/sameness.... its like the part of me that's a very clingy pastel parrot with separation anxiety that you want to shove in a box sometimes because its Annoying lmao]

While we're on the topic, I think it could be argued that all of L.S.S.s relationships he'd had with the Mitchs hes encountered are irresponsible on Sals part (the most excusable being Coworker!Mitch). Ultimately, they're all sidequests that have been a major disruption to his real mission: Find the 'original' Larry, do everything he can to stop the D.O.G. wherever he encounters them, and generally fight for the greater good however he can (a cause far more important that his own personal fulfilment or happiness). Consider:

>There was no 'Mitch' in his original timeline, so they shouldn't really be considered a priority on his main quest (no matter how important they've become to him over time).

>Mitch(1) got waaaay more than she bargained for by getting involved with Sally. She expected him to be executed, not show up at her window in the middle of the night to take her on the run! He could have easily cut off the relationship for her sake at any time, knowing it could never realistically work out, but he chose to pursue it in favor of the lofty short-term reward. This decision ultimately resulted in both of their deaths (hers being completely unnecessary), and further contributed to the cycle of guilt that he was already trapped in in (only this time, the angst had a sexy, romantic edge! Juicyyy~)

>The versions of Mitch that Sal found later on had absolutely nothing to do with what happened between him and Mitch(1), so there was no real reason to get them involved in his guilt trip/ attempt at redemption.

>I mean, sure, they all provided a temporary, comforting distraction from the torture of immortality, but in the end, those relationships did nothing to help his ultimate cause or ease his guilt. All they did was leave Sal a little more twisted than he was before....

>But, can you really blame him for wanting something more sometimes, despite the inevitable consequences? A guy gets lonely, universe hopping for literally forever.... 🥺👉👈💘

Before, during, and after, baby 😎👌💨💙💦

The answer: "All the babes and booze money can buy? Sounds like heaven on earth to me.! Buuut I think I'd rather get a free private show from Sally-cat over here...~"

The Actual answer: He'd go and have fun for an hour or two, then either get kicked out for inappropriate behavior/ not having money, or he'd get cranky because he's overstimulated, get mad about something small, and retreat to the safety of his trailer in a huff.

Side note: Something I didn't really get to cover as much as I'd like to during The Staycation is Dealer!Mitchs sensory issues. It's one of the reasons he numbs himself with substances, loves living in the middle of the woods (very little noise and light pollution), and prefers to go into town at night (less crowded). He's just absolutely riddled with ADHD and chooses bad ways to cope with it 🤷‍♂️

Gotta admit, I was flip-flopping on the details for his death the entire time (and didn't have enough time to write it out, anyway) so I ended up leaving it pretty vague on purpose 🤡

The rough idea was that:

>Larry came to Mitch(4)s trailer to check up on Sal because he hadn't heard from him for a while and got worried.

>Larry barged in and found Sal dead [either pretty fresh, so Mitch(3) is still crying hysterically while trying (poorly) to resuscitate him, or like a couple days post-mortem, so Mitch(3) is in a drunken stupor and the smell is starting to seep under the closed bedroom door... couldn't decide which would be more gross/scary/pathetic and fun to write tbh🤔].

>Larry didn't want anybody to know that Sal died that way. He believed it would be better if they thought he'd just gone missing, like so many others in Nockfell had.

>Larry and Mitch(3) cut up Sals body in the bathtub and kept the pieces in Mitch(3)s fridge to be disposed of in sections (the whole body would be hard to transport and look super sus), probably by Larry putting them down the '''trash chute''' in Mrs. Packertons apartment. [or something?? I just know that Mitch(3) would be too freaked out/intoxicated to come up with a plan besides 'ignore it', and Larry makes grand schemes without thinking the details through, so it seems like something he'd suggest.] That way, Sals body would never be found and his reputation would remain intact.

>Larry bailed half-way through disposal because he couldn't stomach it, leaving Mitch(3) with a fridge full of rotting man meat and nobody to turn to because he's an asshole who pushed everyone who cares about him away.

>Ultimately, I had two main options for Mitch(3)s death, but couldn't quite decide:

Him being him, his solution is to avoid the problem until it goes away and take whatever substance is necessary to achieve that, so he does that until he ODs and dies in his trailer ['rots in a box' with Sal].

Because Mitch(3) he hadn't been pushing any 'Addison Special' lately, members of the cult come to check on him. They find him mid-suicidal binge, he asks them for help with getting rid of Sals body, keeps saying hes sorry and didn't mean to hurt anyone, he wants to get out of the game, yada yada... the cult decides hes no longer useful to them. They either... >go through the song and dance of charging him with murder and throwing him in jail for the rest of his life [again, he 'rots in a box,' but is all alone] >or, they just kill him, and his body either ends up in the same pile of remains as (half of) Sals did [in the temple, right under the apartments, which is where Sal would later find Mitch(4) in the lost-and-found box] OR they would just kill him and leave him to rot with the rest of Sals body in his trailer and kind of forget about it bc the D.O.G. runs the government and they can do that 🤷‍♂️

Whatever route tickles your fancy, Mitch(3) died alone, miserable, and completely out of control because of his own actions. (No wonder the next Mitch in line was so needy, attention hungry, and desperate to be told what to do... 🥺)

------------------------------- That's it for this roundup! Thanks for asking all these questions about my s/is, they were a lot of fun to answer (and if anyone has any more, I'd love to do another of these some time)! :D 💖💖💖

[killemwithkawaii]

Hey Mitch, what made LSS essentially choose your S/I's over Ashley? I mean, aside from the fact that LSS and your character are soulmates?

What caused LSS to fall out of love with Ashley?

[CW: Unreality, general spoilers for the 'Meet the Fishers' AU]

Three main reasons L.S.S. chose to be with my s/is instead of Ash:

Sals feelings for Ashley in his original timeline were based on a love-at-first-sight teenage crush. It's clear that those feelings lingered throughout high school and that Sal and Ash became closer as the years went by, but it's up for debate as to whether Ash returned his romantic feelings or simply had a strong platonic bond with him. I think Sal still had some hope that they would get together during the first half of CH4, but still very much cherished his friendship with her and was okay if that was how their relationship would stay. After the murders and subsequent events in chapter 5, I don't think a romantic relationship would have been an realistic option for them because A. Ash had taken so long to accept the truth about what had happened, believing Sal was mentally ill and delusional until it was much too late to do anything to save him despite all the crazy shit she'd seen going on beforehand (which probably felt like a betrayal, even if Sal understood why she didn't believe his reasoning before proof was staring her in the face), and B. Sal was dead and could only interact with the original Ashley through a telepathic link and inhabiting her own arm. I could see him feeling uncomfortable with basically being a parasite in Ashs body and not really wanting to overstay his welcome any time he popped back into his original universe (not that it absolutely couldn't work! I've seen some very creative and cute AUs exploring that dynamic 👍)

Even if L.S.S. got the chance to get together with alternate versions of Ash, I think he'd feel strange about going through with it, given his current relationship with the original Ash. It might be different if she had died, but just imagine him popping back to the original timeline for a check-in and saying 'oh yeah btw Ash I totally dated and made sweet, sweet love with you in a different timeline just so you know.' It would probably be really awkward for both of them (if not a total violation of their friendship), and he'd probably feel even worse if he did that and kept it a secret, so he just doesn't.

On the flip side, Penpal!Mitch believed Sals story (which was somehow way more insane-sounding than the original) right off the bat, accepted him for everything he was (good and bad), and showed him kindness and mercy despite being a complete stranger to him at the time. It could easily be argued that she was just a gullible true-crime fanatic with a passion for prison reform that ended up biting off way more than she could chew, but it still really touched Sal for someone to believe him and be unafraid of him, even affectionate with him, while knowing all the horrible things he'd been forced to do. Plus, she showed up at the right time- L.S.S. was experiencing his first big immortal rut (feeling isolated, misunderstood, that he was a failure and that there wasn't really a point in doing all this) when he got her first letter, and it gave him something more to keep 'living' for (besides the endless search for the original Larry and trying to take down all the different versions of the D.O.G. he comes across while universe hopping. It's a pretty thankless, fruitless job- can you really blame him for picking up what he thinks will be a nice little side quest to lighten things up a bit..?).

[killemwithkawaii]

L.S.S.: No progress on leaving, but the inbox has some new stuff… I guess we can see if anybody has any more ideas before we try and figure out our sleeping situation?

Mitch(1): [typed] Yeah, okay. And we thought the sheets were dirty when we got here…

L.S.S.: Good to hear from you, MJ. Yeah, the last few days have been… not ideal. 

Mitch(1): [indecipherable]

L.S.S.: What? I know that’s putting it too lightly. Sarcasm is my defense mechanism of choice, you know that.

So, fae are real, huh? And you got spirited away by some fairy king creep while you were walking alone in the woods at night? Wow. Shocker. Why am I not surprised…

Mitch(1): [typed] MJ! You’re okay!! I’m so relieved…! 

L.S.S.: Oh my god, you actually punched him over that? Ha! Serves him right! 

Mitch(1): [typed] I usually don’t think violence is the answer, but when the chips are down and you have no other choice, it can be necessary. Hopefully, that punch will be enough of a warning. Just try to talk it out with from now on him, okay? 

L.S.S.: And if that doesn’t work, go for the balls. Fae have balls, right? Keep us updated, I’m actually kind of curious.

Mitch(1): [typed] keep us updated so we know you’re okay!

L.S.S.: Oh yeah, that too. I thought that went without saying…?

Mitch (1): ….

L.S.S.: WOAH, AWESOME!! It's the medical supply motherload!! Damn Meadow, way to come through...! I guess we can start patching ourselves up, huh Mitchie? If we're still alive somehow, maybe we can heal, too...? It's a stretch, but it's not like anything else here makes any sense, so it's worth a try... oh, hey, I bet I could learn to pop some wheelies in this thing [the wheelchair], once we reset my arms and fingers! Nice...

Mitch(1): ......

[typed] Thank you very much, Meadow. It's really thoughtful of you to give us all this. We'll be sure to put it to good use.

L.S.S.: ...are you okay?

Mitch(1): .....

[typed] Yes, I'm fine. I think I just need some more water in my skull hole. And I want to start picking this glass out of me, since we have tweezers now.

L.S.S.: ...

Okay, yeah, of course, we can do that... er, I mean, you can do that... I'd help, but I can't really do fine motor functions right now.

Mitch(1): [typed] Okay.

L.S.S.: ....

L.S.S.: It is really weird, but so is everything else about this situation, sooo...

Mitch(1): ...

[typed] We looked behind it, but I don't think we looked closely at the back. I'll take a look.

......

[typed] What does 'K.E.W.K.' stand for?

L.S.S.: It says that on the back?

Mitch(1): [typed] It has 'K.E.W.K. x L.S.S.' scratched into the wood in a little heart. L.S.S. is what you go by with your friends, right?

L.S.S.: ... shit, that... probably isn't good...

Mitch(1): [typed] This painting seems like nothing but trouble. Should we try to throw it away? Should we destroy it?

L.S.S.: No! That might make things worse! Besides, I... if we are stuck here forever, I... kind of want to keep it...

Mitch(1): [indecipherable, angry]

L.S.S.: What? It's theirs. I don't know if I'll ever see them again... I can't keep something to remember them by?

Mitch(1): ....

L.S.S.: ...?

Mitch(1): [typed]Sal, I'M MITCH! The only reason you were ever with the others is because you couldn't have me, remember? Why do you want to keep something from my copy when I'm right here?!

L.S.S.: They're not your copy. They're you.... just different. And I was supposed to be with them this month... I'm supposed to be with them right now.... I may be here, but I still I miss them, just like I missed you. What's wrong with that...?

Mitch(1): ........

[text deleted]

.......

L.S.S.: ........

Listen, it's been a fucking crazy day and we're both exhausted. We'll talk more about this in the morning, okay?

Mitch(1): ..........

L.S.S.: ... c'mon. Let's change the sheets and get in bed. We'll talk and keep trying to figure out how to get out of this 'box' tomorrow. Who knows, maybe we'll wake up and be back to normal again...

Mitch(1): .... [nodding]

L.S.S.: Okay. Here, I'll... hold down a corner of the sheets, I guess....

Mitch(1): .......

[killemwithkawaii]

L.S.S.: Well... We're still here, and still looking like roadkill... I guess we can answer some of these asks and try and take our minds off of all this for a little while...?

Mitch(1): [indecipherable, shrugging]

Mitch(1): [indecipherable, surprised]

L.S.S.: Well, I guess that’s still working… Thank you meadow, that’s really nice of you to send all this. I think the pot pie will be easy to mash up for Mitchie to swallow, too!

Mitch(1): [typed] Where did all this stuff come from?!

L.S.S.: It’s a thing. Sometimes the kouhai send us stuff. It’s really come in handy when we’re in a pinch.

Mitch(1): [typed] Wow, the future is crazy!

L.S.S.: I think it’s more an interdimensional space-time thing, but that is also true.

Since you guys asked, as bad as we look right now, we’re not in any pain. Scared shitless and a little uncomfortable, yes, but it doesn’t hurt… We’ll save the morphine in case that changes.

Mitch(1): [indecipherable]

L.S.S.: Mitch… Mitch, quit doing that. You’re going to turn your brains into soup. Er- more like soup than they already are…

Mitch(1): [typed] It itches!! 

L.S.S.: On the inside…?

Mitch(1): [typed] YES!! 

L.S.S.: Huh… maybe we should be keeping it wet, or something…? Here, um, try the water bottle…

[Pours a little water into Mitch(1)s skull hole]

[A little leaks out her ears, nose and mouth]

Mitch(1): [typed] That’s much better! It cleared out my ears, too! Thank you Meadow! The water in the motel is gross…

L.S.S.: Yeah, it’s gotten kinda… sludgy… so yeah, we appreciate it. 

L.S.S.: We checked a little after you guys pointed it out. It's just a wall. I was disappointed but a little relieved? I would have felt really stupid if the exit had been behind it the entire time…

Mitch(1): [typed] Micki?! Theres a version of you there, too?! Wow… whatever version you are, it’s really good to hear from you. I’ve never bleached my hair, but yes, we go out for lunch all the time together. Or at least we used to…

L.S.S.: …

…Uh, Micki, have you heard from (your) Mitch at all while I’ve been ‘gone’? … will you please fill them in on the situation, if they don’t already know? I’m doing my best here, I don’t want them to be too mad at me when- uh… 

Just… tell them what’s going on, okay?

Mitch(1): …..

L.S.S.: Ha, c’mon, you’re making me blush… I just have a different body type in this universe than I did in the sixth Mitchies. It’s a combination of chance, age, and the prison lifestyle, which means yes, I’ve been squatting like no tomorrow. There’s not much to do in solitary. Sooner or later, you start doing squats and push-ups out of boredom…

Mitch(1): [typed] You must have been REALLY bored in prison, pumpkin!

L.S.S.: Is it that obvious?

Mitch(1): [typed] Yes. Yes it is….

Mitch(1): [indecipherable, shaking head]

L.S.S.: Yeahhh, it might be a little too soon for this joke, anon, but I’ll try not to get too bent out of shape about it…  Bu-dum-tss.

Mitch(1): [indecipherable, shaking head]

L.S.S.: Okay, okay, I'll stop...

Mitch(1): [typed] Are they talking about that Dumb Shit guy?

L.S.S.: Yup. He plucked out Mitchs eyelashes and pulled out my nails… and made Mitch pull one, too, just to get a few extra kicks.

Mitch(1): [typed] Wow, no wonder your friends were suspicious of me. They just wanted to protect you from that happening again…

L.S.S.: Yeah, so don’t take it personally. I think they can tell you’re legit now, what with the… [gestures vaguely]

Mitch(1): [typed] Okay, good… why were they suspicious of you, though?

L.S.S.: It’s… a little complicated. Basically, the sixth Mitch and company didn’t believe I was who I said I was at first either. They took some convincing, and yes, Danu got a little snippy with me at first, but we’re way past that and we’re all pals now. 

Mitch(1): [typed] Oh, okay… well, I’m happy to hear you’re all friends now!

L.S.S.(1): Yeah, me too.

[killemwithkawaii]

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

…The first time we parted, we had just gathered up everything we were going to need to wait out the winter. We’d made one last stop before we would finally start climbing the foothills of the mountains. A little gas to get us there, a few snacks to eat on the way…. It was a quick, and very costly detour.

I don’t know how or why, exactly… Maybe the cashier had seen Mitch slip a few sticks of jerky into her sleeve, or maybe the tags on the old  junker we’d stolen were expired. Maybe we’d finally been recognized, after our pictures had been circulating on the news for over a month, and the rumors of my escape had gained traction, and maybe it was so stupid of me to think I could sit in the front seat with her for a change… I don’t know, but it doesn’t really matter why. The result was the same in the end.

We were driving along a stretch of the highway through the woods, when out of nowhere there were sirens and flashing lights behind us. I felt my blood run so cold, and I was just frozen there for a second…

Mitch was in the drivers seat. She asked what we should do.

Obviously, this wasn’t going to be a routine traffic stop, but a chase wasn’t a great alternative, either. In my experience, they never ended well. 

I told her to pull over

She asked, “Is there a side road or something on the map where I can try and lose him?”

I said,  ‘no.’

She kept her pace steady. The cop car edged closer to us. I tried to tell her to pull over again.

“Sally, I’m not pulling over, we can’t let them see you…!”

I looked ahead and saw all these pinpricks of light on the road- it was a blockade. They had us surrounded.

She eased up on the gas as the walls started closing in on us. She was looking around frantically for an out, like an animal in a cage. I had never seen her look so afraid.

I said, “Mitch, please, pull over and let me out.”

It had been a good run, but I knew that this was the end. I knew by now when it was time to cut your losses and do damage control. At the very least, I wanted her to make it out of it alive.

I told her, “Stay here. I’ll make a run for it through the trees and draw their fire. I’m the one they’re after. There’s no reason for you to go down with me. Keep your hands up and stay in the car until they come for you. You can say that I made you do it- I took you hostage and threatened to hurt you unless you helped me run. They’ll believe you. You can go back to your life like none of this ever happened.”

She tried to say, “No, there has to be another way,” and I told her that, “There’s nothing else we can do. You have to let me out. I’m sorry, Mitchie. It’s over…”

“How can you just say that?”

Her little hands were white knuckled on the steering wheel, and tears were welling up in her eyes. The bags under them had gotten so dark in those few weeks. She looked so tired….

She sniffed and wiped their nose on her sweater sleeve. She said,

“Sally when I first wrote to you, I already knew that you were going to die. I didn’t want you to- I tried to stop it, but I knew it would probably still happen... I had accepted it from the beginning. I was going to treasure those letters you wrote to me and miss you so much, but I’d made peace with our time together being what it was. I thought that I’d never get to touch you or hold you or spend time with you without a piece of glass between us, and I was okay with that…”

Her voice started cracking, like she was choking. 

“But then you showed up out of nowhere in the middle of the night. You whisked me away and you gave me a taste of what it would be like to be with you- tp have fun with you, do normal things, like a real couple- and now you want me to give it all up, just like that?”

They looked at me incredulously. She asked,

“Do you think you mean that little to me? After all we’ve done, how the hell can I just go back to my life now, Sal? How the fuck could you do this to me…?!”

She started sobbing, and the car was slowing as the blockade came into clearer view. Sirens were echoing on all sides of us. It hurt to admit, but I knew that what she said was right. This was my fault, just like it always is.

“Mitchie, I...I’m sorry. I should have never gotten you mixed up in all this. I should have just said ‘thank you’ and left it at that-”

“No!! That’s not what I… I just… Fuck!!”

She hung her head and kept crying. I put a hand on her shoulder in a sorry attempt to comfort her. She got quiet for a moment.

“Sally… All that stuff you said…the cult, the demons, the universe hopping, alternate timelines…  the reason you had to kill all those people… how you’d fallen in love with me… that was all true, right? You weren’t lying and making it all up just to try and get away…?”

“No! No, of course not! All of it was true. Every word, I wouldn’t lie to you…”

“Then… Is there… Do you think there are other timelines where we both exist, too?”

“I… well, I don’t know. But, there must be at least a few, if this one exists…”

I could see the gears turning in their head. The car had slowed to a stop.

She turned and said, “Sally… before we do this, will you please promise me something?”

I listened closely, ignoring the barking of the cop behind us.

“Promise me you’ll give it another shot. Give us another shot. Find me again, so that we can have another chance at having a happy, normal life together. Will you do that for me, Sal?” 

After all she’d done for me- lifted my spirits and shown me love, made all these stupid bets and completely twisted her morals, faced her fears, faught like hell, and put her blind faith in me, all for a tiny chance at happiness with a version of me that was already ruined… after all that, how could I possibly deny her? At the very least, I owed her a few words of comfort to carry with her after I left.

“Yes…,” I said,  “I’ll do it. I promise, Mitchie, I’ll find you again, and we’ll have a happy, normal life together… I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it happen this time.”

She lifted their head and smiled at me. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks. 

She held out her pinky, and I hooked my own around it to seal the deal. 

I took what I thought was one last long look at her before I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the handle. The lock was activated before I could pull it.

“...Mitch?”

She unbuckled their own seatbelt. Her gaze was set on the red and blue lights ahead of us.

“Mitch, what are you-”

She floored it. 

I screamed for her to stop.

She didn’t take another look at me. 

Shots rang through the sirens as we gathered speed. With my final breath, I was begging Mitch to hit the breaks. 

We came to a sudden stop when our vehicle collided with the police blockade.

Both of us were ejected through the windshield, Mitch hitting the pavement head first, while my spine was jackknifed in half on the frame of one of the cop cars we’d hit. 

I heard one of the officers call for an ambulance and a clean-up crew before my souls connection to that body was severed.

 I sat up from the meat I’d been puppeting for the past decade, and I watched. I couldn’t bring myself to jump from that universe without being witness to the aftermath. I waited with Mitch as her blood pooled around her, her unseeing eyes still open, what was left of her face still stained with tears.

Almost twenty minutes later, an ambulance came for our corpses. My body was untangled from the windshield frame and placed into a black plastic bag. They peeled Mitch off of the tar, the contents of her skull spilling out as the paramedics lifted her limp body onto a stretcher, one of them following along to scoop up the puddles of brains and bone fragments she’d left trailing behind her.

What had once been my lover had been reduced to common roadkill in an instant. I’d watched it happen, I’d made it happen, but I couldn’t stop it. Mitchie may have been at the wheel, but I was the one who drove her to that. She would have never done it otherwise…. It was yet another gruesome, senseless death- another debt I could never repay, another layer of blood I was unable to wash from my hands, another promise I had to keep, no matter what it costed me.

I took one last look up the road before I jumped from that universe. The sun was starting to peak over the horizon, bathing the mountains, just a few miles away, in a warm, golden glow. It was beautiful. My god, I wished with everything I had in me in that moment  that she could have seen it, too…

 I decided then that, some day, in some timeline I hadn’t fucked up yet, I would find her, and she would see it. I’d make it happen, and when it did, I would be right there with her, taking in the view, with her hand in mine….

[END TRANSCRIPT]

[killemwithkawaii]

If all else fails, then perhaps it would be best to fight the biting cold beyond the door with everything you've got. Just a suggestion.

L.S.S.: It's an option, but not one that looks very promising.

Mitch(1): I usually love the cold, but that was.... [shudders]

L.S.S.: Even wearing all the clothes we have and all the blankets from the bed, I think we'd probably freeze to death if we stepped through. I've been there a couple times- it's not the worst, but definitely not the best.... Better than starving, though.

Mitch(1): ...Yeah, I guess it would be...

L.S.S.: Are you okay? ...I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about it casually like that...

Mitch(!): It's okay, I'm just getting a little freaked out, is all....

L.S.S.: It's gonna be okay. We'll figure this out together. It might take a while, but we'll get it eventually.

Mitch(1): Yeah. Yeah, okay, alright, you and me- we've got this! Push comes to shove, at least we'll be together, right?

L.S.S.: Um- Yeah, of course we'll be together! You and me, Mitch and Sally-y- Everything we need, we've got right here...!

Mitch(1): [laughing] You are so fuckin' cheesy. I love you.

L.S.S.: I love you too, Mitchie...

[killemwithkawaii]

Hey! I recognize that painting in the bg of the second digital piece! That’s from the first Gotetober! When Mitch found out she was stuck in the woods… that’s… that’s weird, right? Like. That their stuff is there…

Mitch(1): This painting? Of the sunrise over the mountains?

L.S.S.: ....

Mitch(1): ...?

L.S.S.: Mitch, has that painting been there since we checked in? As in the moment we came in this room, before we went to sleep on the 30th?

Mitch(1): I mean, yeah, I think so...? I don't know if I noticed it right when we got here, but I remember thinking it was kind of weirdly appropriate, since that's where we're heading.

L.S.S.: ...

Mitch(1): So, these two are saying that the Mitch they know was the one who painted it? They definitely don't just look similar?

L.S.S.: Nope, that's the one...that's me in back, and that's them up front. I took them to the mountains and we stayed in a cabin in the forest for our anniversary, and they drew that drawing with this laptop while we were there. I do not know how the hell I missed that...

Mitch(1): ......

... what does that mean then? How is that even possible?

L.S.S.: I don't know exactly, but past experience says that 'paintings doing weird shit is not a good sign' and 'I don't know, and I probably won't find out'.

Mitch(1): Wow, that's reassuring.

L.S.S.: Yup.... Okay! Back to trying get the hell out of here...

[killemwithkawaii]

I don’t like this Mitch’s reaction to how you told them. They just. Accepted. It? And the knives in the bg of the piece she made when she did… and the way the string attached to you in it too…Not to mention the October pattern. I don’t like this…

Mitch(1): ...What’s that supposed to mean…? 

L.S.S.: I think they expected you to be a little more… skeptical? When I told you about your other selves and stuff?

Mitch(1): Well, it does sound pretty unbelievable… If you were anybody else, I would have said you were nuts, but I trust you. From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you were telling the truth. It was this weird gut feeling… I know you wouldn’t lie to me, Sally. I mean, you’ve already told me that you’re a universe-hopping immortal who fights demons and cults and cleanses the souls of the damned by ending their lives... I believed that, so I don’t understand how the soulmate reincarnation thing is much of a stretch? Plus, with the stuff happening with the door and the window, and this crazy laptop appearing out of nowhere, and all these people talking like what you’re saying is fact… I’m seeing some of the weird stuff you’ve been talking about with my own eyes! Why wouldn’t I believe you?

L.S.S.: You- er, the sixth Mitch- didn’t believe me when I told them. Or, they wouldn’t let themselves believe it, and I didn’t really go about it the right way that time, anyway…

Mitch(1): But they did believe you eventually, right? Because you were telling them the truth?

L.S.S.: Yes… 

Mitch(1): See? Maybe some of us are a little more willing to see the light, but it could be that all Mitchies just know with you, you know? Maybe it’s a soulmate thing…~

L.S.S.: Heh, I guess it could be…

Mitch(1): As for the drawing I did today, I don’t understand what’s wrong with it…

L.S.S.: Well… I mentioned that you call me, ‘pumpkin,’ and you included some pumpkins getting stabbed in your drawing, so…

Mitch(1): WHAT?! I- They think I’m going to stab you?! That’s awful! I’d never do that!! The drawing is supposed to be a homage to the classic painting, ‘Summertime,’ and knives and masks are supposed to be a reference to the drawing of our couples costume I did… I wanted it to look  like we stopped and took them off to have a nice, romantic moment together on the swing after we carved our initials in the tree, and then when we were done, we were going to make jill-o-lanterns that looked like us… That’s why one’s big and ones small… and the string is a ‘red string of fate!’ It’s a thing! Go look it up if you don’t believe me!

L.S.S.: Aw, Mitchie, that’s really, really sweet… it sounds like a perfect day together. 

Mitch(1): It would be! I want to do sweet, sappy stuff like that with you, so I drew it... Besides, I don’t call you ‘pumpkin,’ because I want to carve you up, I call you pumpkin because-....

L.S.S.: ‘Because…?’

Mitch(1): ….

L.S.S.: [laughing] C’mon, you can say it…

Mitch(1): [barely audible] In front of them? It’s embarrassing…

L.S.S.: Trust me, we are waaay past that with these guys.

Mitch(1): You and the sixth Mitch talk about stuff like that with them...?!

L.S.S.: It’s kind of the whole reason I was able to find them in the first place. Go on, tell them…

Mitch(1): Erm, well…. He… Um…

.....

L.S.S.: Heh, I almost forgot how shy you are in this universe…

Mitch(1): I’m not- I just-! 

……

L.S.S.: …Iiit’s my butt. I look good in orange, I’ve got an ass that won’t quit, she got one look at it and she started calling me, ‘pumpkin,’ and now she makes jokes about being a ‘peter-peter pumpkin-eater.’ Nothing nefarious about it, people. Mitchie eats ass in every universe, they just don’t always talk about it directly.

Mitch(1): SAL-

L.S.S.: What? It’s true.

Mitch(1): [indecipherable]

L.S.S.: So yeah Danu, I appreciate your concern, but I wouldn’t read into it too much….

Mitch(1): … what do they mean by ‘the October pattern,’ though…?

L.S.S.: Oh, well... we always fall in love and have a ‘honeymoon’ around October!

Mitch(1): Awww! See, the drawing works even better, then! And they thought it meant something bad. As if…

L.S.S.: Don’t let it bother you, Mitchie, they’re just looking out for me.

Mitch(1): Okay… I guess I understand…

[killemwithkawaii]

My my, my English Rose keeps odd friends with who fall into just as odd situations as she does. Checking this cause her phone had a reminder to check in on a “mitchie and Sal” and had to see if you two were a potential challenge. Clearly not so I’ll keep her updated on this. So, while you deal with this they’ll be taken care of.

- C

L.S.S.: Wait- who the hell is C? Fuck, did MJ get scooped up by another creep? I knew they shouldn't have been going on those walks in the woods at night...!

Mitch(1): MJ? Like MJ, MJ?

L.S.S.: It's a different version than the one you know, but-

Mitch(1): She's been kidnapped?!

L.S.S.: That's what it looks like-

Mitch(1): LET HER GO, YOU CREEP!! MJ, KICK HIM IN THE NADS LIKE WE LEARNED AT THE SELF-DEFENCE SEMINAR!! SHOW NO MERCY!!

L.S.S.: Mitch, it's not-

Mitch(1): Sal, we need to get out of here so we can help her! Who knows what this guys got planned-

L.S.S.: Even if we did get out of here, the MJ we're talking about isn't in this universe. There's not really anything we can do...

Mitch(1): But...

L.S.S.: I know, and if it wasn't for this time-space fuckery, I'd be out there killing this guy with you, but trust me- this MJ can hold her own through some crazy shit. I wouldn't be surprised if this 'C' dude already had a handprint across his face for calling them 'English'....

Mitch(1): Yup, that sounds like MJ... But still, other-MJ, please be okay...!

[killemwithkawaii]

Hello, Mitch the First! It's nice to meet you.

I'm Meadow.

I'm an artist like you. Although I haven't touched a pencil and paper since I was a teen. I use a drawing tablet like Mitch the Sixth.

Mitch(1): Hi, Meadow, it's nice to meet you, too! Hmm, Meadow the artist... I wonder if you're the same Meadow that's in my figure drawing class...?

L.S.S.: Could be! Meadow has been one of Mitchies kouhai for a while now and is pretty active on their blog- she gave us a lot of emotional support through the whole D.S. fiasco (like, A LOT), which really helped us both get through it, and she gave us a bunch of really thoughtful gifts for our anniversary.

Mitch(1): Yup, that sounds like Meadow! She's always so sweet, and she sometimes brings treats to class to share with everyone.

L.S.S.: Yup, Meadow. She's sent in some questions for us:

L.S.S.: Stephen Universe? Yeah, I watched that with the sixth Mitchie when we first met, and I've seen a few variations of it. It was kind of funny- the Stephen Universe in your universe had an almost all-female cast, and the Serpent Orb X in your universe had an almost all-male cast! It was so weird!

Mitch(1): I've heard of Serpent Orb X, but what's Stephen Universe?

L.S.S.: It's about this kid who has a bunch of adoptive dads that belong to an alien race who are all 'if elements were guys', kind of? The first season kind of drags, but it gets really juicy once you get into it. You're usually a fan, if you and it exist.

Mitch(1): Okay! I'll have to catch it on TV, then!

L.S.S.: You'll have to wait about 15 years, but yeah, keep an eye out.

Mitch(1): Aw, really? Lame...

L.S.S.: I've seen a few ghost cats like that. There was also a universe where transparent stuff was all-the-rage and a bunch of animals (including cats) with see-through skin got bred? Not quite a skeleton, but close enough.

Mitch(1): Thats kind of neat, but it's also horrible!

L.S.S.: Yeah. The poor things couldn't even be in bright light because their eyelids were see-through...

Mitch(1): EWW!!! Cool, but EWW!!!

L.S.S.: There are some universes where the earths gravity isn't as strong, so it's easier to achieve some crazy hairstyles. There's also universes where 'hair' grows on your head in layers instead of strands, so you could kind of sculpt it like a hedge or a block of clay. Those were probably the universes with the most authentic 'anime hair'.

Mitch(1): Ugh, my scalp is itchy just thinking about it... But, there IS a lot of artistic potential with that...

L.S.S.: Oh yeah, people got super abstract and intricate with it. I usually stuck with my pigtails, but I definitely played around with it- I did some crazy huge spikes and loop-de-loops when I had the time.

Mitch(1): Ha, I bet that was a good look for you!

L.S.S.: Oh yeah, that shit would blow your mind.

L.S.S.: She sent this one in right after I told them about the door.

Mitch(1): I feel the same way, Meadow... But, we're going to keep trying!

L.S.S.: Okay, back to it...