And Maybe That's Alright

Meet

It seemed a reoccurring, and frankly infuriating, trend for the group; pushing away or ignoring their problems.

You see, pushing away or ignoring your problems may make them seem as if they have gone away or been solved, when in reality they are actually just getting bigger or worse while unattended.

Luckily for them, there wasn't really any way in which Damien could get any bigger or any worse than he already was. What he could get, though, was closer. And that was exactly what he was doing.

In fact, he must have been around ten minutes away when George finally decided that they really ought to figure out what they planned to do. There was always the option of running away and spending the day elsewhere. There was no clear way in which Damien would be able to figure out their whereabouts other than from posted photos, from what they could tell, after all.

But this could also be another chance to gather more evidence against him, if they play their cards right.

Clay wasn't keen on the idea at all, for obvious reasons. The largest and most prominent of all being George's safety. George, for lack of a nicer phrase, could not give less of a shit.

"There are four of us, Clay, we'll be fine." George reassured for possibly the thousandth time. Clay pulled a skeptical face, letting out another high pitched, non-convinced hum.

"Seriously, dude, chill. The worst he'll do is try and smooth talk George into believing he wants what Damien wants. You guys know what manipulation and gaslighting sound like, right?" Clark's voice crackled in and out of the speaker of Jethro's phone.

"Aren't you driving?" Geo piped up before the others had the chance to respond.

"Speakerphone, honey-pie, it's just like singing along to music." Clark reassured easily and Geo could almost picture the way he shrugged and waved his hand nonchalantly. He changed subjects quickly just to be certain. "You do know the big phrases to look out for, right? You can think quicker and smarter if you have an idea of what he'll try on you."

"Gaslighting is like... 'you're over reacting' and stuff, right?" Ophelia asked, the others nodding and waiting for confirmation.

"Bingo." There was a click that they could only assume had been Clark's fingers. "He's gonna use a lot of 'you's and 'we's and almost never 'I'." He continued. "There's a chance he'll use some backhanded compliments. Inflate your ego a bit, get on your good side and make it seem like he's your best bud."

"He'll invalidate your feelings, make you think you're overreacting or being too sensitive. He'll try and flip the blame onto you, if there is any. Anything to twist your world around and make you think he's your big ticket, your hero, your everything. Whatever he needs to be to have you under his control."

"Your job, Mr Georgie Worgie," George grimaced at the nickname "is to give him exactly what he wants."

There was a chorus of 'what's before Clay interrupted largely.

"No."

"Clay-" Clark started, working to explain his reasoning, but Clay interrupted once more.

"No, Clark! We've trusted you so far, even though we knew nothing about you, but you can't just tell George to let himself be manipulated by the very guy that has been ruining our lives for months now." Clark stayed painfully silent but it seemed as though Clay wasn't finished anyways.