Unfixable

Questions

"—you probably didn't even see me do it. You probably had your eyes closed like you always do."

"How do you know that having my eyes closed means that I can't see? What if I can see through my eyelids?"

"Well... that's just a little bit terrifying, honestly."

"Rude. I'm hurt."

"Are you? Because I find that a little hard to believe when you've got a smile on your face."

"It's not a smile. You're viewing it incorrectly. You have to look at it while upside down."

"Oh, let me just do a fucking handstand then, yeah?"

"I don't know how well that's gonna turn out when you only have one arm."

I shot Foxy a look from across the table. "It's gonna turn out great because I have remarkable balance and stability."

"Last time I checked, Ballora was the one with 'balance/stability' listed in her blueprints, not you."

"Okay, well..." I trailed off. "Crap, I can't think of a good obnoxious response to that."

Foxy grinned and stood up. "Maybe you'll think of something after I've left, and you can hit me with it when I least expect it."

"Wh-where are you g-going?" Freddy asked.

"I'm gonna go work on Baby's arm."

"Oh c'mon, you don't have to work on it right away."

He waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, I want to. I'm kinda itching to actually get something done. Plus, I don't want the Bidybabs to get a hold of it again. It was nice meeting you, Circus."

By the way, in case you were wondering, after the whole "We're gonna be best friends!" thing, Circus asked me about twelve thousand different questions. Not anybody else, just me. Felt a bit like an interrogation, not gonna lie. And I mean, I'd understand if she had questions about how the place was run, but only about three of them were. The rest were personal questions, half of which I artfully dodged.

"The pleasure was all mine!" Circus grinned.

After Foxy left, we continued to hang around at the same table until the morning started to approach and we had to separate.

Freddy and Bon-Bon went to the Funtime Auditorium, Circus went to my old Gallery, and as per usual, I walked Ballora to her Gallery. A few days ago, she tried to flip things around and walk me because I'm all damaged now, but I insisted that she didn't need to.

I mean, sure, one of my knees had tried to give out on me a few times now, but it hadn't actually succeeded in taking me to the floor so far. It was fine. I could make it to the spare storage room myself.

"So, what do you think of Circus?" Ballora asked after a moment.

"Uh... she seems alright. She's really happy, even for a clown. But I guess that's not a bad thing. The kids'll like that."

She hummed. "She sort of reminds me of you. When we first started talking, I mean."

I was about to be obnoxious and say something, but I didn't get the chance.

"I can tell what you're about to say, and no, it is not just because she looks like you," Ballora said with an eye roll and a slight smile. "I meant that you used to be overly cheery too."

I scoffed, "I was not overly cheery."

"Yes, you were," she argued. "I distinctly remember the very first time I met you, you had a big smile on your face, and you did the over-enthusiastic handshake, and you said," Ballora put on what was, admittedly, not the worst impression of my voice. "'You must be Miss Ballora! It's wonderful to meet you!' 'Oh, you looked really pretty on stage today, Miss Ballora!'"