Self-doubt spoke the loudest, which was very much not her style. Hidden in a hoodie that's 4x too large, she tended to be a creature of whispers. "We can't write, we've never actually known how."

Ego scoffed at this, yet strangely had nothing to say. It was Innocence who answered, she still appeared as the persona of youth. Because of this, her words were often held with the most regard. Each aspect recognized their origin in her rosey face.

"Let's just try, alright everyone?" She smiles, and many found their heads nodding themselves.
"Try? All we do is try. Does it ever end?" Pain speaks up, appearing as their person on the bleakest of days. Her face is red and puffy, she fakes a smile that cuts into Innocence. "Well— maybe if we..." Innocence stammers, her attempt to brighten things up lost in the despair of Pain.

"I think," Pain said, staring daggers at a silent member of their group, "Ever since she showed up, things have been much worse. Write? What are we, school children?". Pain paces along the mind they all inhabit, oppressing them with the truth.

"No one reads anymore, let's just give it a rest. There's no point in any of this frivolous nonsense."

^{Photo by susan-lu4esm}
Each set of eyes rests on Creativity, she had abandoned them many years ago. It was true, ever since she'd shown back up in the middle of the night, everything had changed. There was a lot of merit to the argument that things would be better, had she just stayed gone...

"Pain, we are sisters. Perhaps the closest two here, if you would only let it be!" Creativity chirps in her stupidly upbeat voice. "Yes, we should write! Pain wants you to wallow with her, but the idea that this will make things better is folly!" Creativity is the oldest among the group.

Sweet Innocence had asked about this once, confused. "Oh dearest one, someday you will see." Creativity had cooed, "The maiden teaches us to explore, the mother teaches us to nurture, but the crone..." she had trailed off with mischief in her eyes.

"The crone teaches us to really live, my dear Innocence." That was all Creativity would say on the topic. Watching her now, Innocence was equally confused. Didn't she see how angry everyone was with her? No one wanted to write, it was stupid!



"It seems to me," Sarcasm said, "You're all a bunch of spare parts. We're properly screwed no matter what we do. Who has beer?" great here it comes. Rage is in love with sarcasm, but the feeling isn't mutual. Her face is red with frustration, even as she smiles at Sarcasm.

Passing over some tallboy of corner store well water, Rage thinks she's done good. "These dingles don't know our rear from our mouth, and they talk like it, eh?" Rage nudges Sarcasm.

"You! You're the real problem!" Pain screeches out of nowhere, appearing quite possessed. "You come out at the worst times, I have no idea why we even keep you around." She foams at the mouth, pointing a finger at Rage's chest.

"I can answer that for you." Trauma breathes, barely audible in the far corner of the room. She hasn't had much to say to the group in awhile, seeing as how Anxiety is her closest confidant. "Rage is here to protect us, and I for one am glad she's here."

Suddenly everyone has a very interesting navel, as they all look anywhere but at each other.

^{Photo by Yuri_B}
Trauma had a habit of saying things that made people uncomfortable, sadly it was her attempt at connection. Anxiety always knew how to liven things up, thankfully. Her hair is 50 different colors, and she has make-up on only one side of her face. Anxiety is a damn mess.

"We are a disappointment! A monstrosity! Not only should we never write again, but I vote that we evacuate! We must go into hiding!" She rambles, each word stacking like a precarious Jenga tower.

"ENOUGH!" The voice cracks like a whip. Striding into the control room briskly, Confidence appears. She clutches a stack of papers, which she throws at Pain's feet. "Explain these, Pain. Is this not writing? " She basks in the glory of her question.

"Well, I— Look, we have to work, that hardly counts." She squints her already puffy eyes at Confidence. They hate each other, constantly at odds with what they think the body should do.

"Who got us these jobs, Pain? I may have forgotten..." Confidence smirks, she didn't forget a thing. Pain squirms under her gaze, eventually muttering a response. "Creativity did." Pain says under her breath. Confidence swelled with pride, but she was just getting started.



"I'm sorry Pain, could you speak up?" Confidence jabs.

It is clear things are getting tense, it was never good to see Confidence and Pain have it out. Desperately, Innocence squeaks "Can't we all just get along?!"

That is when Rage appears with a sledgehammer, she drags it along the ground, grinning wildly at Pain. "No!" Pain shouts, cowering in anticipation, and all hell breaks loose.

Several things happen all at once. Greed sneaks into the room, she's never invited to these chats, yet cannot be abolished fully. With everyone distracted in the heat of the moment, she takes her shot to steal Innocence away once and for all. Anxiety notices this, flying to action.

Trauma hates noise, she covers her ears, rocking slowly at first. Rage swings the hammer, missing Pain by a mere inch. Now Trauma is humming, swinging back and forth like she's in a rocking chair. Ego recognizes extreme danger, yet does not reach Trauma in time.

The light flickers briefly, and then everything goes black.
^{Photo by ColiN00B}
Each member of the conscious mind stood frozen, as Trauma rose to walk amongst them. Ego has her arms out, she had intended to hug Trauma, yuck. Greed's eyes were wild, mid-bite, her jaws latched onto Anxiety's thigh. Innocence clings to Anxiety, clearly not helping, but too scared to do anything else. Rage is poised in the arc of the next swing, Pain holds her hands up pleadingly.

These aren't the faces Trauma needs. Rage was no one's agent, a wild card that was needed for flight or fight. Anxiety was a great listener, but lacked critical thinking skills. Innocence... it was a miracle she was even still around. No, Trauma knew only one person who could fix this.

She had been watching everything quietly, Creativity is the sole aspect who looks peaceful here. Even as the darkness had set in around her, her expression had been frozen in curiosity. Trauma touches her wrinkled cheek, reanimating her. "Don't you ever get sick of keeping us all together?" Creativity asks, but she does not need an answer.



She paces over to Rage, prying the sledgehammer from her hands. Remorsefully, she sizes Rage up, and then Creativity's head expands. Her jaws become horrific, stretching over Rage's head in the most monstrous way! She distorts, taking on the appearance of one big mouth to nowhere, as she slides Rage's shoulders past her lips.

With a gulp, Creativity returns to her normal form briefly, clutching her stomach. Looking at Pain with annoyance, she sighs deeply, repeating the process. A moment later she is standing alone, no trace of Rage or Pain. Glancing back at Trauma, she nods. Crisis adverted once again.

"You never miss anything Trauma, where did they build the block this time?" Creativity sighs. Dessert was always the worst when things went sideways. Trauma shares a rare smile, pulling a small grey cube from her pocket.

"I found it in the bedroom of Madness, tucked into her sheets." She shares sheepishly. "Maybe you should just keep it this time, look how small it is." Trauma cocks her head sideways, waiting for the wisdom of the crone. Inspiration takes root in Creativity's pupils!

"That's not a bad idea Trauma..." she says, "Sometimes we can use things like this for perspective." and with that, she walks over towards Anxiety. Pulling small Innocence off of the larger aspect, Creativity cradles her like a baby as she walks from the room. Trauma waits several moments, soaking up the silence, and then she releases her fellows back into motion.