Yawning a little as she heads home, Giichi walks with the massive bags of groceries hanging over her shoulders. The bags of soda crates and "TV Dinners", those microwavable frozen packaged tray meals shaped like television screens, being lifted with ease despite being two inches from the ground. She was almost home, walking the way she came from and ready to eat what she considers a proper breakfast.

Caspian, alongside her, having volunteered to carry the tacos and drinks that the two picked up. Both hands holding the cup holder with four drink cups, the bag of tacos hanging from his arm. He is contently just walking along as he takes sips from his cup every so often. "... before I forget, thank you for paying for me, Giichi," he says, expressing his gratitude as he takes a sip of his 12th refill that he left the store with.

"Well, what are friends for, y'know?" Giichi responds, grinning widely. "... since you waited in line with me and Rosemary and all."

Speaking of Rosemary, as the two were walking along, Caspian could see the entity just floating alongside Giichi. A cloud of red gas idly floating along, her shape about a few inches shorter than Giichi. The brown haired girl is physically incapable of noticing her own breath, while almost everyone else around her could see, hear, and smell the gaseous breath floating about five inches off of the ground. "Yeah, Caspian. Good job waiting with us. Glad to see you finally contributing for once," she mockingly commends him, making use of her invisibility to Giichi in order to be sarcastically rude to him.

"..." Caspian looks off to the side, just ignoring Rosemary for now while he was walking with Giichi. He stares out at the street, seeing in the far distance one block away- the intersection of the car's crashed halves, at the connection of Orchid Boulevard and Cotton Valley Avenue. Firetrucks on scene, with police officers currently routing traffic. They were fortunate to not be walking past that intersection this time, as they walked along Chestnut Street instead- just three to four buildings away. Giichi's apartment building was a couple of minutes away, and they just needed to cross the street and they were golden.

Before they could, however, Caspian suddenly stops once at the corner of the sidewalk. Taking a moment to listen over the distant, blaring sirens as he turns his head a few times. "... Giichi, do you- do you hear that? I- I hear something strange."

"Strange...?" Giichi tilts her head in confusion. Stopping next to him, trying to listen- and failing to hear over the firetrucks and police cars. "Do you mean the- the firetrucks over there?"

"No, nonono, this is- something else," Caspian responds, walking along and trying to pinpoint the direction. "Something- not car like. Rosemary, can you hear that?"

The gaseous entity would float for a bit, before it visibly shifts itself to turn in a direction. "... actually, you're right for once. I do kind of hear something..." Starting to float ahead, turning into an alleyway.

"Huh. Alright, c'mon, Giichi-" Caspian says, going down Cotton Valley Avenue as he follows after Rosemary.

"... not... car like?" Giichi asks, following along in confusion. Now that Caspian brought her attention to it and was leading her to the alleyway, Giichi now definitely hears a weird non-carlike sound: the loud pounding of hands against glass sounds out nearby.

The mysterious sound came from a vending machine set up in the alleyway, right next to an apartment. To those unfamiliar, a vending machine is a large machine box storing shelves of soda, chips, candy, so on. Reinforced walls around it, with some glass screen to separate the goods from the person in front.

Giichi stares at the side of the vending machine, wondering what exactly could be attacking the glass, if something got into it and was just stuck. She begins constructing a narrative of what it could be. Something lured by the deliciousness of chocolate bars, something that managed to get in... something was probably some wild animal. A racoon. Racoons like rummaging through garbage, why not vending machines? It's small enough and could fit into the machine, what if a racoon got inside?

"... Caspian, do you think a racoon got into the vending machine?"

"A racoon?" Caspian asks, looking at Giichi with a bewildered look on his face. "Giichi, I... don't think a raccoon's strong enough to make a sound against vending machine glass."

"... ominous," Rosemary comments in response to that, floating a bit closer to the machine and hovering right in front of it.

Caspian looks to Rosemary. "Rosemary, do you know what it is?"

"No, I don't have eyes, idiot," Rosemary responds, prompting Caspian to glare at her as she continues to speak. "But I can hear. And if this is actually a racoon, then we face a racoon that has attained the strength of a living person, and such should address this with caution and-"

"A-Ah! R-Rosemary?!" the voice of a little girl exclaims, interrupting Rosemary. It was not a what, but a who. Acknowledging the gaseous entity as a familiar "face", the voice in the vending machine is calling out for Giichi now. "G-Giichi! Giichi, are you there?! I- I need help!"

Giichi gasps as she whips her head to the machine. "Caspian, it's a talking racoon! It knows my name...!"

Caspian stares at Giichi for a few moments in judgmental silence, before running up to the vending machine. He feels a sense of urgency now, as there was a little girl inside the vending machine. Furthermore, the girl knew Rosemary and Giichi, narrowing the possibilities. "T... the only little girl that we know is..."

Caspian stands right next to Rosemary and looks Inside the vending machine, currently face to face with Verness.

One of the Vernesses, to be specific. The eight parts of Verness, each girl defined and differentiated by eight different colors in their dresses and eyes. The one inside the machine was Cyan, sandwiched between the glass and the food behind her.

Verness Cyan was the "anxious, cautious planner" that had exaggerated the panicking part of Verness, and is often the one who focuses heavily on responsibility and carefulness. She thinks things through before any of the Vernesses could do something wrong. The fact that it was this Verness somehow stuck in the vending machine is peculiar and strange.

"W... What in the-" Caspian speaks, absolutely shocked by this sight.

Giichi stands next to Caspian and looks at the little girl in the vending machine. "Oh! Hey, Verness!" Dropping one of her grocery bags accidentally, as she used her hand to wave to Verness.

Rosemary swoops in to catch the bag, and is now carrying the bag. Acknowledging who it was, now, upon Giichi having eyes on her. "... oh, Verness. How's it going?"

"Giichi! Caspian! Rosemary-! I'm stuck! I'm stuck in here!" Cyan calls out, crying as she keeps weakly trying to punch the machine's insides with her small hands. "H-Help!"

Caspian stares in disbelief. "C-Cyan, how did you get in there?! M-More importantly, did- did someone do this to you?"

Cyan takes a moment to pick up a candy bar, holding it against the glass to show the two. "G-Grandpa gave Green and me some money for candy, and we w-went to this one because it had the really good chocolate bar! I-It ended up getting stuck, so I tried to get it out and get it unstuck myself!"

Giichi blinks for a moment, staring at the vent cover of the vending machine. She attempts to push it open, but the door remains stuck as Cyan's legs were in the way of it. "O-oh, wow, it is stuck...! Well, we- we'll get you out of there, Cyan! Somehow!"

Caspian, hands against the vending machine, pulling on it to no avail. Completely locked shut. Looking down at the cover Giichi was pushing against, absolutely dumbfounded at this situation. "Wait, okay, so you just managed to squeeze yourself in through this small, small opening?! You couldn't have gotten through this, that's physically impossible for you to do!"

"W-Well! I was with G-Green, and Green pushed me in!" Cyan exclaims. "A-And Green was heading off to go get help! She's been g-gone for TWO HOURS, though...!"

"That doesn't explain how you managed to fit through the- ... wait, two hours?!" Caspian shouts, immediately tense and glossing over the impossibility of this. "Y-You've been here for two hours?! What?!"

"W-Where exactly did Green go?!" Rosemary exclaims, sharing Caspian's disbelief and bewilderment.

Elsewhere, unbeknownst to the three, the green-colored Verness was actively walking up and down Starveil City's commercial street, holding a white coffee mug with a badly drawn doodle of a vending machine with Cyan in it. Scribbled entirely in black, permanent marker.

Every Verness had something unique about their personalities and behaviors, and often relied on each other to cover for what they lacked. Green's, in this unfortunate case, was her forced way of speaking that made it impossible for her to say any sentences longer than one word. For the time she's been gone, she's been exclaiming: "Help!" and "Assistance!" to whoever passes, waving her coffee mug doodle around to try and get attention.

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People have been misinterpreting her cry for help as a child "begging for money". The way Green looked, people saw a poor and young girl rendered homeless and uneducated by this cruel, cruel society. Not even able to coherently speak anything else except those two words, which she probably only learned from living on the street for months- maybe years. Thus, many either paid her no attention or sympathetically filled her mug itself with spare change.

Green has been shaking the mug to generate noise, and has been doing this for about two entire hours. She has obtained twenty four dollars in change, total, and has no idea what to do with it.

Back to the vending machine.

"I- I have no idea...!" Cyan answers. "I-It's getting- really uncomfortable in here, the tight space is uncomfortable, and- I- I don't know if I have enough air in here...!"

"Oh g-!" Caspian tensely shouts, gritting his teeth as he puts the bag of tacos and the tray of cups down. Leaving it to the side, as he begins taking several steps away from the machine. "Stay still, Cyan, I'll break you out of there!" Taking a deep breath as he focuses, lifting up one leg as the sizzling of fire in his foot could be heard. It should be as easy as kicking the lock of the vending machine, aiming his foot at the key-slot and melting the metal...

Verness Cyan looks to Caspian and shakes her head. "C-Caspian, no! If you kick the machine open, we'll be in really big trouble...!"

Giichi, looking between the two, nods. "That's right, it's illegal to break open and/or set fire to vending machines, and- it's probably loud enough to alert the police...!"

"I mean, you totally should try, at least," Rosemary immediately chimes in, finding it really funny if Caspian gets arrested by the police. "Go for it, Caspian, you got this!"

Caspian ignores the audacity of the breath as he lowers his foot, the sizzling fading. "No, no... I won't risk kicking the machine open... a-also, wait, Cyan, real quick-" Looking straight at the child, realizing that she was still conscious. "Clearly you've been breathing in there for the last two hours. It seems like air can get in perfectly fine."

"... oh," Cyan noises, visibly embarrassed as she realizes this herself. "I- I mean, the stress of being trapped by a vending machine was-"

"No, no, I'm just reassuring you that you can breathe," Caspian responds, politely smiling to Verness for a brief moment. "... but anyway, if we're not breaking this machine open, we need to come up with a different plan to open this machine up. How are we going to find the key to this...?"

Giichi snaps her fingers, coming up with an idea. Pounding her fist into her hand. "I got it! Maybe we could call the guy who owns the vending machine and get them to open it! I remember there being this one guy at my apartment who handles it. If we find him and ask for his help, we can get Cyan out!"

Cyan nods, smiling. "Y-Yes! We just have to... wait, no, Giichi, are you talking about that guy that owns the vending machine at the apartment...?"

"Yeah, he should be able to help!" Giichi answers, smiling at Cyan. "He's just a phone call away! He had a key, and fit it into the keyhole JUST like this one! It can't be too different, we'll have you out of there in no time!"

"G... Giichi, he- he isn't the only person to own vending machines in Starveil," Cyan explains. "V-Vending machines aren't managed by one single guy, Giichi..."

Giichi's eyes widen as she was astonished by this information. "R-Really?!"

"Y... Yes," Cyan responds, sniffling. "I- I think it would take ages to actually properly find the person who owns this specific one, s-so... uhm..."

"Ah..." Giichi looks down, saddened by this information.

Caspian moves to pat her on the shoulder. "... you're trying, and that's what matters."

Giichi smiles at Caspian.

"... actually, that is a plan, getting the key for this," Rosemary responds, starting to cover herself over the keyhole. "If I squeeze into this and mold myself into the shape of what's needed for this lock, then maybe I could turn it and open this machine up."

Caspian stares at Rosemary as she does this. "... Rosemary. I know you can- carry bags if it's your entire mass, but squeezing a small part of yourself to open locks is out of your capabilities."

Giichi, blinking at Caspian, looks back to the lock... and her eyes go wide, coming up with a new plan. She walks past Caspian and Rosemary, heading deeper into the alleyway as she leaves the two to handle the lock.

"Yeah, I know, I'm not strong enough for that. So that's your job, now, dork," Rosemary tells Caspian, shifting herself to expose the gas-filled lock. "Instead of fire, use your ice magic and freeze me. I'd be solid and we can just turn the solidified key."

"..." Caspian takes a deep sigh, and - out of spite - doesn't give Rosemary the credit for this. "Good idea, Giichi, that sounds like a good plan!" Looking in her direction, only to realize she wasn't standing there.

"B-But Rosemary came up with the plan..." Cyan immediately speaks up.

"Yeah, Caspian, you imbecilic moron," Rosemary berates, remaining temporarily in tact while separated from Giichi. "Give me some credit."

Caspian turns his attention back over to Rosemary, ignoring her. "Anyway!" Reaching his hand out and concentrating. The air around his hand starting to freeze, ice magic building up in his hand. "Alright... one, two-!" Moving in closer and holding his hand to the lock, starting to freeze Rosemary.

This does not go well. "G-GAH, FRICKING-!" Rosemary loudly shouts, feeling excessive amounts of pain as the frozen part of her body is forcefully shot out of the lock and smacks Caspian in the face. The bits of solidified red smash to pieces against his face, a loud shattering sound ringing out as it knocks him over onto the ground with a thud.

Cyan, witnessing this, lets out a gasp as she slaps her hands against the vending machine glass. "C-Caspian! Caspian, are you okay?!" she exclaims in concern, starting to sob as she was really worried about him.

"Hggg..." Caspian sits up and looks to Verness, smiling at her. "I'm- alright, could be better. Don't worry..."

"T... That's good..." Cyan responds, smiling.

Caspian gives the spider girl a nod, before looking to Rosemary and glaring at her. "Okay, what the he- heck was that?!" Interrupting himself to say heck instead, in front of Cyan.

"Well, excuse me for feeling PAIN, numbskull!" Rosemary shouts. "Apparently, being frozen hurts like crazy! Not my fault that I'm just NOW discovering that!"

"Guess your idea didn't work, huh?!" Caspian shouts at Rosemary, scoffing at her. "Too weak to move locks, and too weak to handle my ice? Pathetic!"

"Y-You-!" Rosemary noises, offended. "Well, I wonder how it would have gone if we followed YOUR plan! Kicking a lock with fire, heating the machine up and burning Verness alive in there! Huh?!"

"If you think that would have happened, why did you ENCOURAGE me to do it?!" Caspian shouts. "I have enough self control that the fire would have been contained only to the lock!"

"Well- clearly I didn't-" Rosemary speaks, before interrupting herself. "Cyan, cover your ears, I'm going to be saying bad words."

Cyan- nods, and covers her ears, watching Caspian and the mist shout at each other. Both of them in violent argument, now, the spider girl incapable of doing anything to break them up. Caspian and Rosemary were quite considerate to not cuss and swear in front of Cyan, the former attempting to avoid directly hostile language while Giichi was around. However, upon Rosemary instructing the girl to cover her ears, the two proceed to use some of the most vulgar language to address each other. Their typical petty argument escalating to a full on shouting match, one that had neither of them cautious about volume.

Their argument eventually attracts unwanted attention, and Cyan just watches Caspian turn away for a brief moment before running to hide somewhere. The gas following after him, and hiding with him. Cyan tilts her head in confusion, slowly pulling her hands away from her ears.

"-shouting over here. No one has been spotted, investigating now."

Cyan blinks as a manly voice says this, and was actively curious about who this was until she sees a police officer walk in front of the machine, looking around the alleyway. Her eyes widening at the sight, Cyan staring back at the officer when he eventually looks at the vending machine.

"..." The officer was staring at Verness, seemingly unfazed for a few seconds before realizing. "W-What in the world?! Little girl, how did you get in there?!" he shouts, in as much disbelief of this as a normal person would.

Cyan tenses up, finding it hard to answer. She knows it's illegal to steal things, and thus could not answer the officer honestly as to why she was in the vending machine. So she froze up in fear, and started to cry.

Caspian and Rosemary were hiding at a building's corner, peeking to see the officer speaking to the vending machine. They had reacted in time to hide, hopefully- even though Caspian was the only one with a tangible physical form to recognize.

"... crap..." Rosemary mutters to herself. "I sensed him approaching in time..."

"Well... the police already found her, maybe it's best we let them handle it," Caspian whispers to Rosemary. Both of them seemed to have let off some steam after that whole... incident, the police officer's presence taking priority over their own petty disdain of each other.

The officer was watching Verness cry, actively unsure how to calm her down. He could make his own assumptions about what happened, and was now prioritizing the girl's safety. "I-It's okay, it's okay, little girl... we'll- get you out of there, okay? Hold on."

Starting to move away from the vending machine, the officer heads deeper into the alley and gets noticeably closer to where Caspian and Rosemary were. "Calling all officers to Cotton Valley Avenue, we have a child stuck in an alley vending machine between the intersections of Chestnut Street and Orchid Boulevard. Repeat, Cotton Valley Avenue between Chestnut Street and Orchid Boulevard. I am now currently in pursuit of the perpetrators potentially responsible."

Cyan blinks at the officer saying this, smiling with relief for a few moments... before processing that last part. Perpetrators? Criminals? ... and she realizes the officer heard Caspian and Rosemary arguing, and was now under the belief they were responsible. "... w-wait! Officer, no-!" Cyan calls out to the officer to try and correct him, to no avail. The officer was too far away, already heading down the alley in search.

Caspian's eyes widen as he hears the officer saying this. "Pursuing the..." Realizing he was now being incriminated for putting Verness in the vending machine, he tries to quietly sneak away in order to avoid the trouble of this.

However, he underestimates how close the officer was when he started sneaking. The officer turns the corner and immediately spots Caspian in clear daylight, recognizing him as a suspicious man trying to sneak away from a police officer. Seeing the potential sicko that was putting girls in vending machines, he shouts in an aggressively hostile tone. "You! Stop, in the name of the law!" Drawing his taser and aiming it at Caspian.

Caspian would tense up as he hears the officer, hearing the sparks of the taser. All reasoning eludes him as he immediately assumes the officer just pulled a gun on him, intent on shooting first and asking questions later. This was an incorrect assumption, but one that sent tension through his body as he hastily reacts by kicking off of the ground and running away at an alarmingly fast speed. A burst of electricity sparking from his feet as he zooms away.

The officer is astonished by this, seeing Caspian run away faster than he could use the taser. He immediately speaks into his radio. "All officers! Suspect is found, resisting arrest and fleeing on foot at an alarming superhuman speed! White haired, Caucasian male, wearing some kind of rainbow crown! Currently heading to vehicle to pursue!" Starting to run to his car, rushing past Verness and ignoring her calls for attention.

Rosemary just blinks at the fact that an officer was now actually chasing Caspian. "... ohhhhhh crap. He's screwed-" Promptly floating off to search for Giichi, immediately.