Near 12:00 PM at the Infiltrator Base
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Every passing second at the Infiltrator Base the more chaotic it became, and Red was having none of it as almost all of her colleagues were complaining about no signs of him. Although she figured out soon after getting back to the base, about 4 hours ago, that "Subject 1116" killed two infiltrators who were 0206 and 0327. Both of their respective partners were hiding their sadness in fear that they'll get hit or even worse punishments for showing extreme emotions and feelings. This hit home with her relationship with Blue... Red was unsure of what was going on between them.
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And Red truly hated how she subconsciously followed Hemlock's rules, only able to express most of her true feelings to Blue on paper. Then she remembered what she wrote in the note, her writing to Blue that she will try to be like him and she wanted to keep her word. And now Red wondered if she should go check if Blue found the box and left a note already. She was second guessing if he's even alive since Red saw them lying unconscious on the ground of the forest... she worried an excessive amount that this would be the case.
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The girl shoved her thoughts to the side and was going to leave before 1204 stopped Red in her tracks, giving her a cold stare before speaking.
"The general told us how that blue haired freak sliced his eye open... and that it took you, though we told him you were alive after we left you. How did you survive the creep??"
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Red hated this conversation the moment he came up to her. Looking up at the taller man she simply replied to his question.
"I'm good at self defence, that's about all it took to get away from him."
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1204 looked at her suspiciously after she called the fugitive a "him."
"Aren't you gonna eat lunch before you go out again...?"
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"Oh... yeah,"
The Red haired girl quickly thought she could bring Blue some more food of better quality while heading to her "patrol." Before she headed for the cafeteria she'd say one last thing to the man.
"I'll just eat the food while heading to patrol, it's no big deal."
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"Whatever..."
He sounded annoyed as he rolled his eyes, then headed to the cafeteria himself. Red sighed in relief with no more questions asked and followed behind him although not close to the other Infiltrator.
In the cafeteria it was more chill and quiet however the chaos seeped into here as well; Red was able to hear conversations about the general's eye and the runaway. It annoyed her with how they viewed him as a murderer, it was very hypocritical of everyone but she was not like that. She is not wondering who might be "its next kill."
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It seemed that Red had yet again got caught up in her mind so much that she didn't notice it was her turn to get the to-go lunch. The AI robot, who took the job of a server, was trying to get her attention.
"Um... ma'am, it's your turn to get your food."
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"Wha-... huh..."
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She didn't fully understand what the bot told her just now, therefore she stood there for a second before noticing it's her turn but was too late to move as the Infiltrator behind her decided to shove her forwards.
"Move it, you bitch! I don't have all day..."
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Red was naturally shocked by the person's sudden action, then abiding by moving forwards and picked what she felt Blue would enjoy the most before quickly heading to the exit. She didn't like to interact with many of her coworkers and especially the AI, she hated them as she saw them as false kindness, a ghost of what some humans were like before.
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It was ironic that Blue's opinion on these robots matched up with hers. She didn't know yet, but her and Blue's morals had a lot more in common. The only thing is that Red needs to figure hers out fully, and hopefully heal from the scars that came from being an Infiltrator. Red had lots to improve, and Blue would do their best to assist in that without getting too... full of himself.
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But of course before Red could get on the elevator to reach the bottom floor, an Infiltrator came up to her.
"The general said you can't go on patrol alone, so he has me going with ya now."
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Red was put off by 0401's laidback tone, yet she knew that voice well— it was her best friend. Sadly, over the two years of having names changed to one's birthday in numbers, Red could barely remember their actual name now. The red haired girl spoke in a tone that told the other Infiltrator she's quite glad but also a clear sign of her annoyance.
"Oh... he could have at least told me beforehand. I guess it's fine since it's you, let's get going already."
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0401 partially chuckled, following close behind Red as she trudged forwards. Red and 0401 had then entered the cramped elevator, staying in it for longer than she'd like while her friend was not bothered at all.
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After about 3 minutes, the two reached the main floor with multiple other Infiltrators getting off to go to their respective patrol routes with a partner. The girl didn't wait around for 0401 and was out of the entrance door in mere seconds, desperately wanting to figure out if Blue is alive or not. Only a note left by him would show a sign of life and... a care for their budding relationship. 0401 caught up to Red, giving a small chuckle to her hurry to get to the "patrol route" out to the Carolinas and within it. Getting the general to allow her to go on this route was hard since she'd gotten back from "breaking protocols," trying her best to get no questions of her whereabouts.
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On their way to the Carolinas Capitol, both of the unusual Infiltrators chatted about what's happened lately in the workplace like friends would do.
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It was casual talk, but then 0401 asked why she was so stubborn on getting this route.
"Yo, so like... why'd you wanna go on this route so bad? It's in a whole different city, unfamiliar and shi."
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Red held back a nervous laugh before turning back swiftly, both of them stopping in their tracks as she spoke sharply.
"Just so I can know Conium better, stuff like that."
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They didn't buy it, yet had accepted their friend's answer and both returned to reaching Conium.
"Aight. Fine by me."
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In Conium, around 12:30 P.M. to 1:00 P.M.
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Reaching the Conium once again, Red's nerves started to rise as she worried to see if Blue replied back or not... surely he would have written back by now. She hated the thoughts flowing through her head- Red didn't understand them, they didn't feel right but did at the same time. These back and forth thoughts caused her to enter a state of disassociation with sweat running down her face at an alarming rate.
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0401 noticed Reds behaviour and didn't refrain from asking what's going on with her. After catching up enough to stand in front of her, they placed a hand on her shoulder so she'd stop walking. The bright green haired Infiltrator spoke with a slightly slurred tone.
"Hey... is there something wrong, what's got you all worried? I ain't the one to go on telling it to anyone."
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Her mind— it was jumping all over the place as she'd been questioned by her best friend, replying quickly with no prior thinking to her answer.
"Well- uh... no, no there is nothing wrong. Let's just look for Blue."
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Red continued on her way, not realising what she just said to her friend, but 0401 quickly questioned her about that... again.
"Isn't its name 1116,"
They lightly chuckled once again, looking back over at Red with a lighthearted expression that would suggest they're messing with her.
"Man, you and that guy must have something goin on... did you too do something after running away from the general yesterday?"
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She was taken back by what her friend was assuming about the incident yesterday, taking some offense from their words.
"What—no??? Dude, just... stop, please."
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"Alrightttt, I get it, I get itt. So... what are we gonna do if we find this "Blue," let them go?"
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"Well I doubt he'll be where I'm heading. But yeah, we'd let him go. I just need to do something by the Capitol and then we can go back to pretending to be on patrol."
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"That's fine by me; it ain't matter what we do, as long as we don't get caught."
They were happy to get a small laugh out of Red from their comment, although 0401 wanted to know some more about this Blue guy. From what they knew of this subject through the long lectures of the "havoc" they've caused among the Infiltrators and Deceivers alike, they're "bad news" to Hemlock. But the Infiltrator with green locks started to see through the demonization of the subject. Now it seemed that the man had a strong spirit for rebellion against Hemlock's government ever since it was established. And just now it was becoming more apparent to the public's eyes as his rebellious actions became more defying.
"I wanna know more about this guy, give me some reasons to vibe with him more. But only if ya want to, obviously."
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Red thought for a moment, unsure, and soon agreed to their respective request for knowing more about Blue.
"Hmm, sureee... I can tell you what I know about him. But we should stray away from any crowd; I'd hate to cause someone to find and... hurt him."
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The taller one eagerly nodded in acceptance and both Infiltrators continued their stroll to the Capitol, although both now in search of a secluded area. No one could hear her talking good about the wanted vigilante, Red feared to love this "criminal" yet oh so did extremely at the same time.
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Now at the Capitol, time nearing 1:10 P.M.
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Red and 0401 reached closer to the X marked box, finally finding a secluded area to inform her friend about what she knows of Blue.
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And once more, before she talked, Red looked side to side sceptically with a bit of anxiety that someone would happen to be watching the two. Luckily the two of them seemed to be in the clear of any people nearby who could sabotage Red and find information about the runaway.
"So like... one thing about him is that he's definitely the one to think for himself, like not abiding to Hemlock's rules. But he also mentioned to me a tree that... helps him? I don't know much about that either, but I'm glad there's something out there helping him... evening if it sounds all in his head."
Red paused for a bit, hesitant to say the last thing she could think of to tell 0401, her dearest friend. But she got past that fear as she knew how trustworthy they could be.
"I- I don't know what to do though... I'm scared to feel something towards him, like love. The possibility of someone reporting me to the Deceivers- I can't imagine what they'd do to me. Blue... he looks so hurt the few times I was able to look at him long enough to take in all the scars and wounds I could see on him. I don't want that to happen to me, I- I don't want him to die either-"
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0401 watched remorsefully as their friend started to break down after dumping her thoughts on them and they knew they had to intervene. They pulled the sobbing girl into a tight embrace, only muffled sobs, the sound of the wind blowing the trees, and the faint sound of the city were the only sounds to be heard
"Hey- it's gonna be alright... Don't worry about the future, ya gotta worry about what you do right now so you can get the future you truly want. And it doesn't help if you don't stick to your morals, girl; you gotta stand for what is right, just like that Blue guy does. And I get it's gonna be hard to escape these fucking shitty ass rules—believe me, I want to do the same. But I know the real you before the world went to shit, and it's clear Hemlock took that spark away from you."
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The moment encouraged Red and she pushed back out of the hugging, ready to find the X marked box and see if Blue wrote back.
"Ha... thanks a lot... I mean it. You really do just know what to say when I need it the most... you always have. Let's get going though, we can't have the general getting on our tails."
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0401 laughingly agreed before the both of them returned to finding the box at the side of the Capitol, the sound of friendly banter now filling the once quiet area. Soon the two Infiltrators came to find the box, which now only contained the note with the other side now written down on by Blue. Red crouched down to grab ahold of it and stood back up before opening it to see new writing and the things she left gone, a rush of relief flowing through her.
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Her friend noticed this and teased her once again, it was a habit for 0401 to do that to their only remaining friend in Hemlock.
"Ha- it seems like Blue isn't dead after all... what are the chances that he's undead? Ahhh I'm just messing with ya, dude. What'd he write to you, or wait- can I see what you wrote to him first?"
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Red playfully groaned and rolled her eyes at 0401's out of pocket joke.
"Veryyy funny. But to be real, that would be impossible to happen. And sure, you can look at it before we both see what he wrote back."
She turned the paper over, yet to actually look at what Blue wrote, and handed it to her friend.
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"I guess that's what makes it funny, am I right?"
They gave Red an extremely goofy grin and expression in general before reading what she had written yesterday to Blue.
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Hi again, or really not I guess since this is a note. While I was looking for a shirt I found matching necklaces that form a heart. It made me think of what could be, so I wanted to give you kind of... a piece of my heart in a way, and you can wear it while I have a piece of yours always with me too...! And I hope the food satisfies you too, it's not the best out there... but I had to hurry or I would have gotten in trouble. This stuff will be really risky for me to do—but don't worry it's not your fault, it's mine. I should be more like you, confident in standing your ground... I think I'll try to do that now. I would write so much more but I feel you would want me to prioritise my safety. There are words I want to say but I can't bear to speak of them nor write them out, just so you're aware of that... I'm sorry.
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P.S. please... leave a note here so we can communicate, and so I know if you're alive and actually seen this. Also, best of luck with destroying Hemlock, I wish to help out more but... I'm not sure if that's possible with the tracking device I'm forced to wear that I wrote to you earlier about.
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After 0401 finished reading the letter they turned their head to Red and gave her a look that told her they know that she's totally in love with Blue.
"You def mad in love with him— there ain't nothing wrong with that though, remember that."
Then they noticed the dragon wing necklace around her neck, pointing it out kindly.
"That's a nice necklace too, you guys sharing each half just proves my point! But aye- this mess isn't your fault, and I bet you Blue thinks the exact same."
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"Okay- you... you don't gotta rub it in on me, dude."
She started to tear up again and hated how vulnerable she was at this moment in time, especially by another person. This was unusual to her, being used to holding back herself for the past two years. But the thing was that she's always held her power, strength, and passion back—as well as her love for whoever and whatever she may feel that way towards.
"I'm lucky enough that the Dictator hasn't utilised microphones to the trackers yet. The constant recording of what I've said over only a day or so would have them hunting me down already... I'd be dead."
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"Hey, don't worry about that; let's just read what he wrote, it'll probably cheer you up."
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She couldn't deny that seeing what Blue wrote would cheer her up at this moment in time."
"Yeah... you're right, we should get to reading it now."
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Both of the two Infiltrators began to read through the letter fully together without a single second of skimming through it.
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Yes, I highly appreciate your support for me and my endeavours and it is true, I'd rather you put your safety first. Anyways... I'll definitely be wearing the necklace all the time, it makes me endear you even more than I already do. And to show how much I do... I was thinking where we could spend the one night together and I thought going to a rave would be nice! There's one happening at night a day before my, well, birthday... I guess. The rave is on the 15th of November and people like us will be there, so we could have the time of our lives! Also I believe that you can remove the tracking device and be free of being an Infiltrator. And if it makes you feel better, I can be there with you so you're not alone ◡̈
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This is all the shitty Dictator's fault, not yours. Just wanted to make sure you know that...♡
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0401 spoke first after they finished reading through it.
"0822, that rave sounds sick as fuck, I really think you should go! And I'm actually apart of the group that's working to make sure it happens—"
Her friend silenced themself, noticing Red's horribly lost look on her face after she'd finished reading the letter.
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Red spoke, her voice only proving more that she was in a bad state due to Blue's writing back to her.
"I- seeing it actually written down is... creating too many feelings for me to handle. But I'll try to push through and write... something, then we'll leave right away; we've been here long enough."
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"Aight, it's good you're pushing through though, girl. I'm happy to see some progress in ya."
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But then Red's brain clicked on what her friend called her before she spoken her feelings verbally.
"Wait- did you, er, call me 0822...?"
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"Yeahh...? Shit, do you go by something different now... I'm so fucking sorry, what's your new name? I swear I didn't mean to."
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"It's fine, it's fine... I go by Red now, y'know... Blue and Red?"
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"Ohhhh I see what you guys did there. I like it; the name fits you perfectly!"
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The both of them laughed with Red replying back to their compliment on her fairly new name.
"Yeah, Blue came up with it... of course he would. Thank you so much for helping me get through this, I don't know what I'd do without you."
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"Ahhh shut up and get to writing that letter to Blue, would ya? And you gotta listen since I self establish myself into your lil niche group as Green, cuz I can do what I fucking want!"
0401 playfully shoved Red with their elbow while giving her another friendly smile.
She chuckled, the other Infiltrator had the personality of an immature teen—but it's what gave them that spark of theirs which always brightened Red's day.
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"Fine you can be in the group, Green. You deserve to be in it."
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"Of course I do, you better tell Blue about me in that letter of yours. Gotta let him know you've got a great friend!"
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"Yeah. I could tell him about you and also your pronouns, just so he's aware to use they them when talking about you."
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Green was pumped by this, silently having a victory "yes." As Red grabbed a new paper out of her bag, putting the old paper back into the box before beginning to write on the new one.
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Time written: October 20th, Sunday, 1:30 P.M.
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Your words mean so much to me, and I feel like mine are the same for you... that I hope. And we can possibly meet 2 weeks from now, November 3rd, to remove my tracking device. We'd have to meet up near the underground tunnel, not close to the Conium Capitol so our spot for communication stays under the radar from any potential threats to us. I need 2 weeks because I have to make sure everything will go right, they'd probably guess I died by you while on patrol when we deactivate it by the tunnel and then we can finally spend time together.
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Also there's someone else that wants to join in with us, it's my friend 0401 who now goes by Green to fit with our names from our hair colour, and so you're aware they use they/them pronouns. Green's a great friend so don't worry; I've been friends with them for as long as I can remember. They're even a part of the group working to put that rave together! So I'll definitely go with you when the day comes.
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I would suggest for you to take the old paper since there's the chance an infiltrator, or even worse- the general could find it in my bag. Either way it'd be a nice memory for you to have and look back at whenever you feel like. And you'd take the future letters we write to each other and leave in this box in the near future.
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Finishing the note, Red placed the new paper into the box with the old piece of paper slightly peeking out from the side as it laid under it.
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She was about to place the food she'd grab as takeout from the Infiltrator Base's Cefeteria but Green stopped her from doing so.
"Hey- you haven't eaten at all today, and you're gonna give all your food to him? You gotta care for yourself girl, he'd want you to do the same like I've been saying!"
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Red was somewhat startled by her friend suddenly speaking up while she was focused on doing something else than what Green was doing at the moment.
"I-... you're right, he probably still has a lot left of the canned food I gave him yesterday."
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"So youuu thought he already ate all the food you gave him? Damn, that's some crazy high expectations you got there. Just ask him if he needs any more food in each letter you write to him in the future, alright?"
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"Yea... I wasn't thinking, I just really wanted to help him as much as I can and give him some better food. But I'll do that, and we can get going now; I'll just eat the food while we "patrol" the area."
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The box was hidden again by Red before the two gave each other a friendly glance that told she was thankful for Green's advice. Throughout all these hardships, and just in general... Red's best friend helped her out a lot.
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Now on their designated patrol route, set to be on it for 2 hours which means the two will get done at 3:30 P.M., the two friends periodically talked to each other. Green more so spoke on how they manage being stuck as an Infiltrator meanwhile being in an underground group that goes against Hemlock's policies as a whole. The two hours of patrolling were obviously uneventful as Blue was still in his hideout creating whatever his heart desires that he had the resources to do so. There were some major limitations to his imagination and what he could make; Blue wanted to create music of some sort, songs with deep lyrics about his journey through disobeying Hemlock and standing for what he believes is right.
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Near 4:00 P.M. with Blue at his Hideout.
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Some thirty minutes after Green and Red finished their patrol, making their way back to the Infiltrator Base, Blue had finished his drawing of him and Red by now and moved on to other artistic things which anyone outside of his moss covered shack could not hear. In order to maintain his safety, he didn't sing as loud and raw as he wanted—only high enough to hear his voice—inside of his hideout away from the public eye and any one out to kill him. It was a fun and calming thing for him to do as all they needed was his voice, but Blue had no way to record it as of now. This was a major downer on his side, so he began to ponder a solution to this road block so maybe, just maybe, one day people will hear his voice.
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Something else that he longed to explore in the art of music again was guitar—especially the electric kind—as Blue still remembered a few melody's, riffs, and so on, that he was able to play before the law prohibiting music among the residents was established. Another problem was that he had no guitar in their possession, so for now song writing is what he would have to settle with doing as another way to pass time.
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And then the idea of creating an album came back to his mind, free of any thoughts in his mind saying his creativity is an act of offence. In these circumstances it would be incredibly hard to do so which meant he would only be able to create lyrics like so, and yet again maybe one day they'll be able to bring his music into reality. Time never waited for Blue to take a breather, causing him to devote the rest of the day to writing lyrics in his journal- this being yet another way for him to pour out his thoughts onto paper.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.