[The witch snaps at her to reject Sayo's offer, to laugh in her face because neither of them deserve it. The furniture yearns both ways, seeing fragments of the ones they love in Kainé's eyes. The demons cackle and guffaw, bringing the twisted argument to a mental cacophony, five seconds ahead and five seconds behind and five seconds to the left and-

Sayo bites down. Hard. They cough, darkblood glimmering from the wound their canine carved into their tongue and out into the air.]

...needed something to anchor. For a few moments. Too... abstract otherwise. Don't fear for me. [They're already gone, but they can at least pretend they're here to hear.]

I think... better. I've always had a problem with, um... seeing people as ideas. Not people. You too.

And... being stuck in someone else's story might keep me from losing myself in my own, even if it's just for a moment.