Ravi
You taught me to act like a miniature Aphrodite, but with zero social skills to back it up. Sure, I came out of a tank or something all skinny and cute... I remember being fat and gross, right? I was a little... fucking monster? Pudgy and scraggly and covered in pizza oil?

Garland
(Laughing under his breath.) Something like that.

Ravi
And that's STILL how I FEEL, about myself. ALL of the TIME. But now it's not even real, and all I have are my looks. I have nothing else to go off of, no anchor for my pain... I just walk through school looking like a weird little model, and when people try to talk to me, I have to chase them off so fast because I'm scared of them... scared of what they'll want from me. That every interaction I'll ever have is just a bunch of moths looking to taste my nectar, or whatever the fuck. I didn't learn how to be a person, I didn't learn how to be polite or to care about people.

Alice
...

Ravi
I just make myself into whatever I want, change hats, and try to make it through the day as best as I can. Whether that's classmate, accomplice, pseudo-girlfriend, shameless flirt, or just socially-awkward dumbass in the corner. And I make myself feel WORSE just to make sure I don't feel too much BETTER... or I'm ashamed of what I might do if I let myself. If I think I'm better than everyone, how I can take advantage of them and their feelings. And treat them like the fawning simps they are, and make them all brush their teeth and line the fuck up. Because that's what we're supposed to do, right? When we're girls? When we're beautiful? I think... you maybe overshot it, with me. And I was robbed of the chance to GET pretty, and learn to deal with it. It just happened, so fast, and I wasn't even-

Alice
(Unthrilled.) You're droning on right now. You can't just wallow in your own misery and talk in circles.

Ravi
How am I talking in circles right now?

Alice
Because... okay, look. Full disclosure: Garland has more of his memories, okay? He's like... his own actual age, right now. He's a fourteen-year-old. And you... well, most of your brain was literally a tumor.

Ravi
(Deeply upset.) That's fucking encouraging.

Alice
It's the truth. You have practically nothing left of what you had before – not only is your body pretty much brand new except for your genetics, but your brain is an entirely new one as well. You have like... the vaguest imprints we could recover. You don't even realize how much the other kids at school liked you before, even when you did eat nothing but garbage... it wasn't about your looks. They liked that you were real.

Ravi
Stop buttering me up and get to the bad part.

Alice
Okay, so you're like... maybe, technically... I wanna say... six years old, mentally. Right now. You only have about that many years of development, inside you. It's like starting from scratch, right? We salvaged what we could! But you just didn't have that much left, and I'm honestly not sure... that Perry and Polina gave you much to begin with. So you're kind of... fresh! Born Sexy Yesterday, they call it. That's the uh... trope name. For what you are.

Ravi
(Hurt, confused.) I am hurt and confused right now.

Alice
(Trying not to laugh.) Yeah, that's uh... that's one of your things. You just literally say whatever you're thinking. It's fucking adorable, to be honest. You're like a little... well, a little kid, kind of. Except crazy horny. By the way, we have to talk about you grinding on my couch-

Garland
We fucked.

A pause.

Alice
(Blinking.) Just now?

Ravi
(Upset.) NO!! Last year, before we died.

Alice
Well, technically, your past selves fucked. Not you guys. You're like... virgins again, so... congrats! Crisis averted.

Alice stands up to dust herself off, and grabs her groceries.

Alice
(Casually.) Anyway, I gotta get this stuff inside before it melts. Come inside in a few minutes, I'll make you guys something.

Alice walks inside through the patio door, and slides it shut after herself. Like she's the only around for miles.

Ravi
(Jaw open.) Wow, that was...

Garland
(Hurt.) Utterly careless? Yeah. You're starting to notice who your role model really is.

Garland sits on the grass, watching the clouds overhead. Ravi holds her head with both hands, and scratches her head. She can barely think straight.

Ravi
I, uhh...

Ravi wobbles, and starts to fall out of her tree.

Ravi
WHOAH!

Ravi grabs onto the bike locks, and hangs over the ground a good few feet. Garland stands up, and walks underneath her, arms outstretched.

Garland
I'll catch you, come on.

Ravi
(Distrustful.) You forced me, didn't you? Before?

Garland
(Scratching his head.) I thought I was a bit... insistent, yeah. But you seemed okay with it. Honestly, if you don't remember what we did, that's probably for the best – but you have to know. You're a ridiculously intuitive lover, Ravi. I mean-

Ravi
(Struggling to hold on.) Please shut the fuck uuuuup...

Garland
(Annoyed.) What I'm trying to say, IS, even if I hadn't forced you a little bit, you would've still thought about it. And you would've pined over it for YEARS. That's your problem – you never go after what you want. But once you have it? You go NUTS. I've never met ANYONE as intense as you are – it was fucking scary for me, the first time. I thought I broke your mind or something, but it turns out you're just... like that, inside. Sometimes it comes out, sometimes it doesn't. Haven't you noticed? How like... out of control you can get?

Ravi
(Confused.) I- augh!

Ravi falls, and Garland catches her. She looks up at him, with his big grey eyes. He looks back at hers, greenish-blue. He smiles with his sharp, jagged, awkward teeth. They blush, but only a little bit. Then he sets her down.

Ravi
I'm not... aware of what you're talking about, with me.

Garland
Okay, I'm uhh... I'm surprised you didn't kiss Aurion, honestly. That first night. Because YOU? You've done things I can't find on the internet.

Ravi
(Frowning.) Yeah, that's uhh... great to know. About myself, when I was full of cancer, and dying. Thank you for that.

Garland
I'm just saying. Like... why are you so resistant to those guys? You hit on practically everyone. Then they show up and suddenly you're Saint Maria.

Ravi
(Stern.) Garland, those guys once had a conversation in front of me about whether or not they should kill their own wives for cheating on them.

Garland
That's just, uh... man's talk! Right? Locker room stuff?

Ravi
We were in the middle of class, they wrote their essays about it in Social Studies. They got a bee-minus, for fuck's sake – the whole school is exactly the same as they are.

Garland
...okay, that's pretty bad.

Ravi
At least with you, I can trust you not to like... treat me like an object. You just see me more like a rowdy pet, I guess.

Garland
(Arms crossed.) I don't have much of a choice with you.

Ravi
And I'm definitely weird, sometimes. And I have a hard time keeping it inside. It feels like I turn into an entirely separate person, or something.

Alice
(From the sliding door, to Ravi.) Oh, by the way! I almost forgot to tell you: we used some of my memory backups to make up the rest of your consciousness. I mean, when I say you were fresh, I mean you were FRESH. You had less data in your cortex than the average kitten.

Garland
(Eyes half-lidded.) Yeah, that explains everything.

Ravi
(Freaking out.) So am I just a copy of you?!

Alice
(Thoughtful.) No, not at all.

Ravi smiles, feeling her heart warmed just a little bit.

Alice
(Utterly toneless.) You're also a copy of your father, we used some of his stuff too.

Ravi's smile turns to a grimace, and her heart sinks. Alice closes the patio door again. Garland looks at her, and walks over to give her a hug.

Garland
...you're your own person, with your own thoughts and feelings. And if you wanna put what happened behind us, I'm cool with that. Let's take our individual shows on the road, perform for someone else from now on.

Ravi hugs back.

Ravi
(Ashamed.) I don't actually give that much of a shit. I just don't like the thought of everyone else finding out.

Garland
Yeah, I kind of figured.

Ravi
(Letting go.) The only family I'd rather die than share a bed with are the ones I grew up with, in that awful house. They're obese, selfish, and disgusting.

Garland
Murphy and Aurion are fat, too, dude.

Ravi
I don't just mean their bodies, I mean... like, their freaking SOULS. It's like standing next to a black hole, I just... fucking hate it. And I've seen the way they look at me, now. That's why I can't go back.

Garland
So in your right mind, blood is not so much of a turn-on.

Ravi
That, and like... someone who's way older than me. That shit's just gross, honestly. And I don't think using our mom as like... a convenient fantasy is really helping either of us, to be honest. Even if she's barely older than us. Especially not if I like... literally am her. It'd just be sweating in an echo chamber. But I don't think I care if you and I-

Garland
(Shaking his head.) You're just saying that because nobody's ever given you a better option. I'm not taking that from you, because I know you now – you don't have any way of controlling yourself. If you don't learn it now, you'll be fucked going forward. Someone's gonna take advantage.

Ravi
(Holding her arm.) ...yeah.

Garland
So from now on, I'm gonna do the opposite of what the last me did to the last you. I'm gonna stop you, even if I have to kick your ass!!

Garland noogies her and punches her in the shoulder, and runs to climb up the tree.

Ravi
(Valiant.) Not if I kick yours first!

Ravi and Garland chase each other around for a while, hopping in and out of the tree, swinging on the locks hanging from it. Each hoping to forget, for just a brief moment, how messed up everything is. And then how messed up it was, a few seconds ago. And then a minute. Garland jumps out of the tree, and grabs a chain. One of the locks comes apart, snapping from rust, and Garland falls flat on his ass, and rubs his butt. He catches his breath, and looks up at it... swinging above him, free and loose.

Garland
(Wistful.) Huh.