“I'm moving faster than normal!” thought Georgia. “Shattered Dr-”

Suddenly, Salvador turned around and caught Georgia. Georgia dropped the dirty plate, and it shattered on the ground.

“Oh! Th- thank you, Salvador!” stammered Georgia.

“Hmm... tell me, Georgia,” said Salvador. “Do you believe in the red thread of fate?”

“F-fate?”

“There's nothing wrong with the carpet in this apartment, and there was nothing wrong with the way you were walking. So there's no reason you should have tripped. And there's no way I could have reacted quick enough to catch you, given how fast you were falling. No, this encounter was the work of fate, drawing us closer. Some way, somehow... the two of us are meant to be together!”

Georgia blushed. “Oh! Er, I suppose…”

Georgia's words tailed off as Dalia crawled out from under the table. She licked a bit of food off of Georgia's plate shards, before looking up at Georgia.

“Hey there! Quick question~ya for you, Geo~w,” purred Dalia. “Do you see anything strange near my head? Say, some sort of blue pin, mew~?”

Georgia looked over from Dalia's face. There were two red pins stuck into the carpet near Dalia's head.

“Uh, no, but I see two red pins,” said Georgia. “Does that count?”

“Look, cut me some slack, I can't see the damn things,” groaned Dalia. “N~yow, can you feel any pins stuck in your body? Maybe in your face or neck, mrow~?”

Georgia put her hand to her neck. Sure enough, there were two blue pins stuck in her clavicle. Georgia pulled the pins out, and felt the pulling force disappear. She stared angrily at Salvador as she stood up, moving out of his arms. Salvador turned away bashfully.

“Funny~a!” meowed Dalia. “Seems that “red thread of fate” is no me~ore!”

Dalia grabbed some of Georgia's plate shards, and pulled them back under the table while continuing to lick off of them. Harry walked out of the kitchen. He gestured towards a hallway, with his hand stuck in a pickle jar.

"Salvador!" bellowed Harry. "Show Georgia to the guest room!"

Salvador eagerly jumped to his feet.

“Right! Follow me, ma'am!”

Salvador marched down the hallway that Harry had motioned towards, and Georgia reluctantly followed. Salvador led the girl to a small room with a small bed. The bedsheets had pictures of dogs, bones, and paw-prints on them.

“Sorry if it's a little small…” said Salvador.

“It's perfect,” beamed Georgia. “Thank you, Salvador.”

Georgia hopped into the room and sat down on the bed, sighing. Salvador stared down towards her.

“You know... those bedsheets used to be Dalia's when she was little. They're one of the few things we brought over when we moved in with Harry…”

Georgia chuckled. “Funny, I can't exactly see her as a dog person.”

Salvador looked off wistfully.

“...Is something wrong?”

“It's just... Dalia wasn't always this way,” said Salvador. “Believe it or not... she used to be just a normal girl.”

“Well, what happened?”

Salvador shambled into the room, and sat on the bed next to Georgia.

“Have you ever heard of an MP named Dominique Harrison?”

“Yes. I was pretty young, but I remember being served at a kitchen by her campaign staff while she was running for office. She was at the event, but I wasn't served by her specifically. Also, I remember seeing her giving a speech on a store TV about bolstering welfare programs and lowering taxes on the poor, though I didn't understand what that meant at the time. And I... remember her being assassinated.”

Salvador’s eyebrow raised in bemusement. “That's... way more than I expected.”

Georgia shrugged.

“Well, anyway... Dominique Harrison was my mother. She was the kindest person I've ever known, and a champion for all the downtrodden citizens of the UK. But, unfortunately... her policies attracted some ire from the public. Wealthier people didn't want their taxes funneled towards benefits programs, and police officers didn't like how their salaries got lowered in her plan.

“One day, six years ago... two police officers knocked on my mother's door. She welcomed them inside, closed the door... and the pair murdered her in cold blood. I was away at a friend's house, so I didn't see anything. But Dalia... she was there. As soon as she heard the commotion, she hid in a closet and didn't come out until they were gone. I can't even imagine the horrors Dalia saw... but whatever happened, it completely broke her.

Georgia’s jaw dropped. “D... did they…”

“Catch them? Yeah, they did,” said Salvador. “The filth claimed they never even came near the house... but security footage showed otherwise. And of course, Dalia was able to point the two of them out of a lineup... not that the courts necessarily trusted her, given how messed up she was. The only account the lawyers were able to get out of Dalia was that when my mother died... it was as if she was blasted in half by an invisible force. But that was ignored because of how unreliable she was as a witness.”

“Oh man... that sounds terrible.”

“Yeah, it really was,” sighed Salvador. “It was rough for me too, y’know. I lost both my mum and my sister on the same day. And sure, Harry is fun and all... but he acts more like a boss than a parent. I have no shoulder to cry on when I'm sad! Nobody to hug when I feel lonely! Nobody I can crawl into bed and snuggle with when I'm scared! Nobody who will kiss me and pull me close to her breasts and tell me it will all be okay someday! For six years, that role in my life has been vacant, with no sign of anyone coming along to fill that hole.”

“Well, er... I'm sure you'll find someone... someday?”

The two’s ears perked up at a clunking sound. Georgia looked up to see Harry in the doorway to the guest room. He had an open pickle jar held under his arm, and a severed hand was floating near his head.

“Oy. Ready to get to work, Geo?” said Harry.

Georgia quickly jumped out of bed. ”Yes sir!”

Harry cocked his head to the side, then walked down the hallway. Georgia and Salvador both followed him.