To the Sunset

Narrator: Sèance

Halcyon City was interesting. The city had a more expansive rail network than anywhere I’d been in a while, though I guess I’d been staying away from cities which might be more likely to have that kind of thing. Cargo rail dominated the continent, with most people, like Edict and her gang, getting around by car. Weird. Highways were scary and loud, and dangerous 9in a way that trains just weren’t. Seeing Daniel dangling with his car hadn’t helped. What if he hadn’t gained power? He’d just die? Yeah, no way I’m trusting that method of transit.

Trains, through and through. That’s me. So here I am , on a train. A nice one. There were a lot of trains headed to Halcyon, apparently, but I’d managed to snag onto a clean, silver one with no apparent engine or trainmen. Nothing like the rusted hulks I was used to dealing with in the country. (That’s what the people who drive trains were called, one of their ghosts chastised me over it once.)

I was hiding on a shelf in between two of the cars, which I couldn’t actually get into because of their slick exteriors, the doors didn’t have a manual locking mechanism that I could use my ghost to pry open. The wind whipped in my hair, and I had quickly decided to put on my costume over my clothes. It was still simple but I’d spent the last couple days working on it, ever since I helped Daniel on the bridge. The money helped with some materials. And I’d managed to find a seamstress ghost in a local graveyard- I entered like a normal person instead of breaking in at midnight. Not doing that ever again.

The costume was made up of crow and raven’s feathers adorning a bird-ask I found. I enjoyed the symbolism, I was the head of a flock just like the death-omen birds. I also liked how warm it kept me. Halcyon City was in Washington and apparently Washington was cold and wet. My chains were also there, wrapping my body such that I could make them corporeal and whip them out at a moment’s notice.I was using my chains right now, to keep myself securely connected to the train mid-passage.

I had seen my family a couple more times since I decided to attend Hyperion High. They didn’t bother me like they used to. I still ignored them, but I marched in determination, instead of running away. I would make it there. And I had. 

As I said, Halcyon was interesting. Also, beautiful. I saw the skyline as the train curved round a hill. Building on the hill as if they crawled up from the lake - bay, I corrected myself, remembering my map. The shining white and gold towns downtown piqued my interest, as did the strange square of green right where the tallest building should be. They rose and they rose up to the top of the hill that the center of the building was built on. Except that they stopped. Almost as if the city was a jawbone missing a center tooth. 

Before I could get a solid look at whatever the gap was, the train lurched. The rail line forked in two, and the train took a hard left turn towards… wherever it was going. The center of the city?

Good.

More and more of Halcyon sprawled out in front of me. It was….how do you describe it? There were more buildings than I’d ever seen in my life. How did people live like this? I guess I never understood how people lived in the normal towns I was used to. But still. There must be what - thousands, hundreds of thousands of people here? And the noise. Mostly cars, but also talking and shouting and music. It was like being next to a train engine! All the time! Maybe it got quiet at night. I thought somewhere it would stop. I saw the mountains in the background. They didn’t have buildings on them, so it had to stop somewhere, but by the time I got into the city the train was low enough that most of the buildings obscured the view. The buildings were tall. All at least three stories, if not five or more. What?

Soon the train was sliding to a stop. I considered using the chain-pulling trick to get out, but then it stopped. There were people on the platform. People in costumes. Capes. 

I was leaning against the left side of the smooth train car, peeking at the station. It didn’t look too dissimilar to the train depots I had visited before, but this one seemed to have a certain sheen to it, just like the train cars themselves. Slick, advanced, minimalist. Futuristic. Much like the costume of one of the capes. It was enormous, he must have been eight feet tall, and larger than any normal person I’d ever seen. The outfit was all metal, like he was wearing a car. I could only see his back, but it didn’t reveal any of his actual body. Next to him was someone in a more normal costume, a jumpsuit that also covered his whole body. He was considerably smaller than the walking car, and I guessed he’d be shorter than me if I was standing next to him. This costume was white, covered in bright red patterns and markings. He was also facing away from me. On the other side of the two was about 20 feet of empty space, and then another cape.She faced me. Her face was covered by a white porcelain mask, and she had brown hair that was tied behind it. Below the mask she was wearing normal clothing. Normal enough that I’d seen a lot of people wearing black outfits just like hers on the news. What were they called….suitsnties? I think that’s what Dad called them. Shit, don’t think about him-distraction! The capes!

I tried eyeing the girl, looking to see if any of them had weapons or obvious signs of powers. Then the girl disappeared. I narrowed my eyes. Was she invisible?

Then, she re-appeared behind the guy, wrapping her arms round their shoulders.

“Boo!” she exclaimed, and the two screamed

The one in red and white went limp and flopped to the ground, while the large one spun at the girl and raised a hand at her. As he turned, I could see the face of his helmet, a large glass screen. 

“Our agreement was no powers.” His voice was odd, as if it came from broken speakers, but that also wasn’t right. It sounded wrong, not a human voice, but an imitation of one. Like a ghost I hadn’t made corporeal. 

“C’mon, man!” she shouted. “I’m not here to fight you. If I was, though…” She trailed off. 

“Admittedly funny, but not cool,” the red and white one said, standing up. “Osmium, meet Karma,” he gestured from the metal one to the suitnties one, and back again “and Karma meet Osmium. Now, let’s review the rules, because someone is getting testy. One, no fighting, we’re here on a truce to talk it out. Two, no powers. At all. From now on. Three, I’m the mediator. I’m not on anyone’s side.”

“How is that a rule?” the one called Karma snapped.

“It’s part of the agreement. Also, nice to see you again! How’s it hangin?” The red-and-white one responded.

“Oh-ho-ho, it’s been great! So much information gained from stealing just a little tinkertech,” she gloated. “Thanks, Ragdoll.”

So that was his name.

“You’re welcome. But, speaking of which, that’s kind of why we’re here. You probably know that Osmium is all connected with V-Tek and shit and I kinda screwed him over by letting ya go. So. Sorry?” His voice got higher as he ended the sentence.

“Nah, we cool,” said Karma. “As long as this truce isn’t some trick, I’d actually be happy to talk to a V-Tek cape. So much to rub in their faces. So little to do.” She stared at Osmium. His blank mask didn’t respond.

“So, watcha wanna know?” she added. Osmium stiffened, or at least as much as he could with his metal suit.

“It’s pointless. Any information you gave me would be compromised by the fact that you want me to know it. You could give us false leads, bad intel, say… say things just to confuse us.”

“Oh, there’s an us now?” Karma snarked.

“This was a bad idea. I…” He turned to Ragdoll and paused. “Sorry, should have thought it through. Dragged you out here for no reason.” Then he turned and took a step away from them both.

Towards me.

 I had been drawing in information, content to stay unseen on the train. Shit, what happens if they notice me? I scrambled for a solution, but Ragdoll bought me time.

“Hey man, don’t be so down on yourself. Besides, the meetup was my idea. Just…I want you to get along. I know you kinda got beef but together? Maybe we can cook it out?”

“Cook it out, what does that mean?” Karma said, mocking the expression more than Ragdoll himself.

“Y’know, like when you let someone cook?” he responded. What?

“Sorry Ragdoll, but I don’t want to be friends with a supervillain.” Osmium said, taking another step. 

Karma cocked her head. “Oh, really that much of a pussy huh.” 

Osmium snapped around, pointing at her forcefully. He stood for a second in silence, as if he was going to say something. He didn’t. Karma and Ragdoll glanced at each other.

I was sneaking my chain to the other side of the depot, having a set of three or four ghosts slowly walk it so that they made no noise. My plan was to get a ghost to attach the chain to one of the rafters and then get them to pull me up. This train wouldn’t be here forever. I think, It stopped at the depot and hadn’t moved since. No one came to operate it either. Weird.

The capes continued arguing, and it struck me that they were teenagers like me, Symbiosis, Scanner, and Daniel. They didn’t feel like Breeze or even like the cape lady on tv. Maybe these capes weren’t so bad, Still didn’t want to talk to them. Listening is better.

Osmium spoke louder, suddenly. Shouting wasn’t the right word, because Osmium’s ‘voice’ didn’t project any emotion. “It’s fine. I won’t hurt you. I won’t say anything. It’s just a failed mission. Let me go.”

“No,” Karma said. 

My ghosts began pulling me up and I peeked out from below the roof of the train car this time.

“That’s bullshit and cowardly,” She continued. “Don’t want to be my friend? Get it. Want to be my enemy? Get it. Want to help me steal more shit from your sponsors cause you realize I’m cooler than you? Get that. But walking away? What the fuck?”

“What do you want?” Osmium shot back. “Why did you agree to this? I shouldn’t have!”

“Because it’s fun, duh. Besides, I don't get to see a lot of capes my age. When fucking SafeZone is your dad you don’t get a lot of chances to socialize with other kids.”

There was another silence.

“Your dad…” Osmium asked, “Is SafeZone?”

“Yeah.” Karma replied, suddenly wistful and quiet.  Damn it , I don’t know how to read people. People bullshit, that’s this whole thing and I can’t capitalize on it. Maybe if I could get a closer look? See if I could find her eyes moving behind the mask? None of these people’s mass let me see their faces or eyes.That was the one part of people that I could get some information from most of the time. 

Then I fell off the top of the train.

All three turned directly towards me, and the cacophony noise I made when my chains hit the floor. The good news was that the ghosts in the rafters caught one of my chains. The bad news was that it left me dangling in the air upside down. There was an odd moment of silence, the capes heads all darting between one another, no one making a move. My heart was pounding as I tried to glance at each of them. The last time ‘d gotten into an actual fight was in Nestlegrass, and I don’t think I wanted to hurt these people. Did they want to hurt me? Had I just fucked up and gotten myself arrested again? Why weren’t any of them doing anything?

“Oooooh. I see how it is.” Karma’s head snapped and her gaze bred into Ragdoll, glaring at him under her mask. 

“Get me to come all the way here and then have the goth girl jump me.” She pulled a switchblade from her suitnties. 

The shining metal blade  opened with a click as she finished her thought. “Cool.”

Ragdoll started to speak but before he could get a word out Karma vanished into thin air. Osmium quickly jabbed his arm out at me and shouted at the same time as Ragdoll.

“Who do you work for! Identify!” yelled Osmium.

“Hey, what the hell girl!” yelled Ragdoll. “You broke the rules!”

I panicked, waving at the ghost to let me go. He dropped me and I slammed to the floor on my back. It was at least a 6 foot drop and my body did not like it. I struggled to get up as both capes turned my direction. Shit, where do I go? A metallic clatter filled the room as Osmium began to move towards me. Ragdoll sprinted at me, outpacing the larger guy.

“What the hell, y’all!”

I tried to push myself up with my arms, but the pain of the drop had barely faded and I was out of time. Before I could think to run - or even summon my ghosts - he was right in front of me. He took an odd running jump and his body…went limp midair. For a split second I was bemusedly confused.

Then he hit me.

His body felt oddly cold and slippers as if the boy’s suit was a seal’s pelt. It hit way harder than it reasonably should have. His limp body entangled with mine and we both tumbled about ten feet back. I rolled around on the ground before hitting my head against one of the train cars with an echoing thunk. I needed a second to clear my eyes, then I saw Osmium reaching on the step towards me. I could hear his suit rumbling and fizzing like a machine I’d seen once. Generator?

Shit, what do I do? Running might be nice but now that me and my chains were tangled up with Ragdoll, that didn’t seem possible. Could I fight them? It was two on one with me and the boys, but Karma was also in the mix, presuming she ever reappeared. Could I ally with her? Either way, there was no room and no point in backing down now. I channeled my ghosts, pulling as many as I could. In less than a second, I had four. I was getting better. I made Ragdoll corporeal to the ghosts, then barked, “Keep him down!” I pointed to Osmium.

“You! Stop or your guy’s in trouble!” I did my best Edict impression. It seemed like it might’ve worked, my ghosts putting their limbs and ethereal weight on Ragdoll before he could stumble to his feet. Another one began picking up one of my chains while Osmium stopped walking. My ignorance was short-lived though. Osmium raised one of his hands, and all along his wrist and forearm his armor…extended? As if he was a beetle, his shell making way for wings. Tons of small tubes emerged from the gaps and just as fast, blue energy plumed out of them. A barrage of lasers screamed through the train depot at me. In a split second, I made one of my ghosts corporeal and hid behind him. 

The ghost screamed and thrashed as the lasers hit him. But I was safe. He protected me. The barrage ended at the same time as an awful metal on metal scratching sound filled the depot. Osmium had turned around. Karma was back.

Her knife glanced uselessly off his armor. Osmium spun again, searching for her. I took the opportunity to dash down beside Ragdoll, hopefully close enough to make Osmium think twice before firing again. Even so, I ordered some new arrivals to go after him as I pointed to Osmium. 

“Hold the chain!” I commanded, so that I could use them as shields again, if I needed them.He was struggling against my ghosts, neither group really getting anywhere.

“Hey, what the fuck’s going on? I’m not here to hurt anyone.” I whisper-yelled at Ragdoll, who was still in the midst of a ridiculous looking ghost brawl. 

“Stop fighting me, and maybe we’ll find out,” he said, almost nonchalantly as he face planted, kicking a ghost in the teeth and sending him sprawling in the same motion.

“I don’t want to fight you!” Ugh. He was exasperating. 

“Don’t fight me, then.” 

“What about these two?” I quickly glanced back at the others. Osmium’s hands were flaring with that same blue energy he shot at me before. It was almost flame-like, the way it crackled and danced around his metal fists. Meanwhile, Karma was either dodging all of his hits, or disappearing right as he made them.

“Ehhhhhh. They’re a little more opinionated. You don’t work for Safe Zone, to be clear?”

“Who the fuck is Safe Zone?”

“Yeah, thought so.”

“So. We gonna co-operate or do you want to keep flopping around?”

“Not sure. I kinda like it down here.” One of my ghosts planted a kick to his face and he somehow springboarded up to float in the air right above me, then straightened his legs and arms to land beside me, resting an elbow on my shoulder.

“Hey.”

I scampered away from him, grabbing one of my chains to try and do…something? He just shrugged.

“I get it. Not a fan of the touchy-feely. Y'know, feels a little cold after your little friends gave me so many little hugs and kisses, but oh well.”

As he continued his train of thought - a talker, it seemed like this guy was. Unfortunately - Osmium released a terrifying plane of energy off to the side, singeing the brick walls and almost annihilating a window. Ragdoll was so strangely uninhibited by all of this. Weird. Weird. Weird. Weird. Maybe the city and the buildings make these people all insane. Maybe it’s getting me, because I want to keep talking and keep fighting instead of running.

Karma re-appeared, but this time she was right in front of me. She appeared with a slight flicker that I hadn’t noticed when she used her power before. As she appeared, she smacked Ragdoll upside the head and he hit the floor like a bowling pin, effortlessly bouncing back an instant later.

“Heya stranger. So, you wanna kill me or what?” She swung her knife at me and I dodged, heaving a chain at her as my ghosts rallied to my defense. As soon as she appeared I pushed my corporeal area around Karma. One, a middle aged woman in a hardhat, hit Karma in the back of the head with a crowbar. Just like I’d seen with Osmium, Karma disappeared right as the impact happened. This time though, her strategy was different. 

I flared my power’s aura around her and collected my ghosts, about ten in total now. They surrounded me. Ragdoll was shouting at Osmium, who was barrelling towards me again. I crouched behind the ghosts, bracing for impact. It came in the opposite direction from where I’d anticipated.

A sharp pain cut across my thigh and I instinctively recoiled at the pain, falling to the floor. In almost the same moment, I saw that flash again. Karma flickered into existence before me, except this time it shone over my entire field of vision. I blinked, and suddenly the world felt wrong. I looked at my surroundings, my ghosts, Ragdoll, Osmium, the train as if they were behind stained glass. They were muted, distorted. Suddenly, the room smelled damp and my body felt hollow. Ragdoll said something, but it was like he was muffled, in a different room even though he was less than ten feet from me. 

“Hey. Let me try again. Take two.” Karma said. She was still perfectly in focus.

“What did you do to me?” I spat.

“Just a little use of my power. I got you and me alone.”

Ragdoll and Osmium were looking around. Osmium ran into my ghosts, phasing through them. My power had disappeared? I tried to dodge but he slammed-

Wait. He didn’t. He passed right through me, as if I wasn’t there. He spun, wildly swinging his fists in the air and one went straight through Karma, just like it did for me. 

“This is your power, isn’t it?” I realized. “They can’t see us.”

“Nope!” she said. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“Wha… Oh. No, I’m not here to kill you.” I sputtered.

“Likely story,” she still had her knife in her hand, red with blood. My blood. My wound still hurt. Great.

“It’s the truth. I… I’m not supposed to be here. Just let me go ahead and settle your issues yourself.”

“Or what?” Smugness crept into her voice.

What could I do? And then it came to me. Now that I was here, she’d have to choose between being here with me and being out there with the boys. We weren’t corporeal to them, but…

I jumped, swinging my chains and trying to gain distance. She’d need to get close to use the knife, no disappearing and reappearing tricks now. The chin collided with her head, but she didn’t take the bait. She rolled with the impact and lunged towards me with the knife. Our weapons clattered together. My chains weren’t meant for this. Too blunt, too heavy, too unwieldy.  I needed ghosts to use them. Could I summon any here? I pulled, and it was like I pumped a dry well. No ghosts to find. Shit. I rearranged the hains i my hands, holding one like a lasso and swinging it in the space between me and Karma.

We dodged this way and that, each time Karma trying to find a way into my defenses, each time I barely repelled her and got pushed back-towards the train and the fuzzy mirrors of the boys. Soon I’d run out of space and hit the train. Would I phase through it just like I had with Osmium? I didn’t particularly want to risk getting pinned and stabbed enough to find out.

“Will you fucking leave me alone!” I snapped, addressed to the world as much as it was to Karma. 

“I dunno. Let your chains down and let’s find out.” Karma whipped back. Fucking impossible to talk to these capes. No getting to her with words. I needed actions. What did she say ‘let down my chains?’ That gave me an idea, and the idea gave me a smile.

I waited defensively, and sure enough, Karma struck. I let her take ground this time, feigning resistance while I backed up. I got her right where I wanted her , signing heavily as I dashed backwards to sell the effect. I was right in front of the gap between two of the train cars, where empty space and a three foot drop led to the rails. I swung one chain at her head. She handily dodged, but I used the opportunity to let another chain fall to the floor. I backed myself into a hole, a perfect target. 

She lunged. Her knife was pointed at my arm. Her foot planted in the same practiced stance she’d used in the last dozen strikes. Her leg caught in my chain. 

She practically face planted, falling over the lip and into the void between the train cars. For a second she flickered, beginning to use her power, before she realized that there would be no difference hitting the floor in whatever dimension. She stayed in here with me and hit the floor.Her helmet clanged against one of the rails, and her body was draped over the connect-y bit between train cars. She struggled to her feet and I clicked one of the handcuffs at the ends of my chains around her ankle. I pulled on the chain and made her slip again. She broke her fall with her knife carrying arm. The knife skidded across the floor. She turned to face me, and she took the bait.  She disappeared.

I suddenly realized the folly of my plan. She could leave and strand me here. If she was back in reality with Osmium and Ragdoll my chain would just phase through her. I needed to keep her connected. I couldn’t summon ghosts here. Then I thought a thought I hadn’t considered before. I could make areas corporeal to my ghosts. Could I make areas incorporeal? I had a split second to act. So I did. I surged my power onto the chain that connected us and then onto Karma’s body. Usually when I used my power it felt like I was pushing my energy onto a space. This time I tried to pull. Light flickered all around me and Karma jerked up in surprise. The sheen of Karma’s power covered my body and everything flashed pink.

We re-appeared and the world was back to normal. Almost immediately, Osmium drew his arm up again and Karma fished another knife from her suitnties. She was still caught in my chain, but she didn’t use her power again. Maybe it had a limitation if she was touching stuff?

What do I do now? I’m not a wanderer anymore. I’m not normal anymore. What am I now? I could be a hero, like on the bridge with Daniel. What could I do to help? I had an idea, maybe there was something I could do.

Before anyone could do anything else I spread my arms, gathered my ghosts and raised my voice. “I’m not against either of you. I’m here by complete coincidence. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Everyone glanced at each other. Tension filled the room. 

“Please.” I added

Osmium looked at Karma and she glared back. She turned to me and I met her gaze, or at least tried to. What was she thinking under that mask? There was one more excruciating moment of silence as Karma held the second switchblade. I held my breath until she retracted the blade. 

“You mean it? You don’t want to hurt me even after…” She gestured to my leg. I was still bleeding. Shit. I’d squirreled away the pan for later but later might be now.

“Shit. Yeah it hurts. But no. I don’t want to fight.” my voice came out breathier, more tired than I thought now that there was hope of things calming down.

“That good with you, too?” I gestured at Osmium and Ragdoll.

“Yep. Yeah Uh huh.” Ragdoll quickly raised his hands and nodded his head.

Osmium turned  to him, and even I managed to catch his confusion and hesitation. Eventually though, he lowered his arm and stood up straight.

“Acceptable, as long as the terms of the truce are still in effect. I don’t want any trouble to come from this, for V-Tek or for the White Masks. Can we agree on that, Karma?” Osmium said. I could almost hear relief in his unreal voice.

“Geez, Ragdoll is right. Chill out man.” Karma commented, her casual tone returning. “I’m not going to start slicing. I won’t hurt anyone. Fine. You did, by the way. Not too proud to say it.” There was still venom in her voice, but it was fading. She turned away from us to look out of one of the windows on the opposite side of the building. The golden glow of sunlight fell over her silhouette.

As soon as the tension was released I beelined for a crate to sit on so I could stop putting weight on my leg. I pulled some ghosts to help tend to my wounds and pull supplies out of my bag.

“If you aren’t with the White Masks, why are you here? This is supposed to be a secure location.” Osmium asked me.

“Don’t you ever let up man?” Ragdoll interrupted. “We just got out of a fight and now you’re going to investigate the girl who just saved our asses? Unless,” his posture perked up. “You’ve got a crush.”

“No,” Osmium practically shouted. “Firstly, we were winning that fight. Secondly, I don’t have crushes. And for the record, whoever you are, I’m not trying to be harsh. Just asking so I can help keep the campus safe. I owe you for de-escalating the situation. Do you…need help by the way?” 

Normally I wouldn’t want to speak up. Talking is hard and it sucks. But now I felt like I really had something to say. These people were at least interested in me, if not exactly caring about me. Thankfully, I’d just gotten a chance.

“Thanks, yeah. If you can help. Do you have uh, stuff? Like for wounds? I have a bag.”

Osmium nodded, and took a knee next to me and my bag. I was on a box and he was on the floor but he was still taller than me in his costume. 

I continued, “Thank you too, Ragdoll. That’s your name right? I just got here on the train. I kinda do that.”

“This isn’t a passenger train. How?” Osmium scanned the room.

“Like I said I kinda do this, Freight trains are reliable. Point is I’m not here to fight you, or spy on you , or whatever. I took the closest train to Halcyon City.”

“Huh.” Osmium said, continuing on my leg. Ragdoll shrugged. He was wrapping it with bandages and pressing it tightly. He actually seemed to know what he was doing, unlike the ghosts who I’d otherwise have to rely on.

Karma, finally done climbing back up to the platform, burst out laughing. “Ah, that’s good. I beat Crimson and Arc with the help of some no-name Hyperion students and then I get caught by some rando who doesn’t even know who I am.”

I didn’t really see what was funny about that . But I also didn’t like Seinfeld and according to the waitress in Edgar, Oregon that was the funniest show ever made. What did she say Hyperion?

“Did you say Hyperion High?”

Before Karma could answer, Ragdoll did. “Yeah, me and Ozzy go there. Highschool for capes right? You a fan? Want a jersey? I’ve got like ten! Oh, nice costume by the way.”

“Uh. I…don't know what a jersey is but I guess I’m a fan? I want to go to Hyperion. I know someone that’s going there. It’s why I came to Halcyon.”

“Ah.” Ragdoll suddenly changed his tone. “So you have a crush.”

“What?” I said.

“What do you mean what?” he responded.

“What’s a crush?” I asked. Karma burst out laughing again, accompanied by some exclamations that I was ‘so weird.’

Ragdoll took a second, fiddling with his hands before saying, “A crush is when you like someone romantically, or like, when you like someone but you haven’t told them yet and your feelings are bubbling inside, and uhhh.”

“Oh. I get it. I don’t have a crush on Daniel though.” I said bluntly.

Osmium responded before Ragdoll could. “Ragdoll, will you stop asking people if they have crushes? If they do, they won’t say so. If they don’t you just harassing them for no reason.”

“Alright, Alright” He flinched, apologetic. “I’m just joking around. It’s where my mind goes. Don’t worry about it, either of you.” He elbowed Osmium and nodded towards me. 

I had another thought. A thought I hadn’t ever had before. A stupid thought, I shouldn’t say it. Too late.

“Hey, want to talk?”