This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 27

Amnestica was a distant second when it came to physical ability, but she excelled in her own ways. She was certainly the fastest of them all, able to outrun any of them even on her worst day. Aside from this, she had the gift of quick wit and a silver tongue. She spoke more frequently than the rest of them combined, always going on about something or another even when no one was paying attention, and had the uncanny ability to get most everyone to like her. She was an excessively skilled talker, able to bend most people to her will with her bright personality and honey-coated words. Unfortunately for her, overexposure meant these tactics had lost their effectiveness on the other three over the years, though it remained largely useful on the strangers she was often tasked with targeting. Amnestica undoubtedly had the most distinguished personality of the bunch, to say the least.

Unknown was neither a skilled talker nor physically strong. She wasn't fast, nor was she particularly dedicated to training. She wasn't particularly notable when it came to most things, yet she was undeniably the most dangerous of the four. Her quirk was naturally strong, and it was magnified by her incredible control over it, apparently having mastered it at a very young age. She had trained her quirk to be wildly versatile, able to manipulate pressures so precisely that she could pick up a pencil from clear across the room and write with it. Some people were gifted in many areas, able to demonstrate a wide variety of skills; Unknown excelled in only one, and it, by itself, was more than enough.

Traceback was not as strong as Horus, nor as quick as Amnestica, nor as gifted as Unknown. She was always the runt of the group, the youngest, newest, most thoroughly worthless one. She worked hard to improve wherever she could, hoping she might soon develop her own notable ability, but it never seemed to be enough. She was getting better, yes, but the kind of distinguished skill the other three possessed was too far out of reach.

"You're overthinking again, aren't you?"

Traceback blinked in surprise as Unknown's voice pulled her from her clouded thoughts. She glanced up at the older girl who was already staring back at her.

"Sorry," she apologized quietly as she averted her gaze.

Unknown's stare had always been... unsettling to her. She couldn't explain why, and she knew it wasn't logical, but there was something behind her passive, stony eyes that always seemed... off. That wasn't to say she mistrusted the older girl, of course; Unknown had always been kind enough, if not a bit distant. She was strong and reliable, having been here the longest out of the four, and Traceback often suspected she was the Manager's favorite. It was for that very reason that Horus was always rather hostile towards her; he was a hard worker, dedicated in a way she wasn't, and he believed he deserved the Manager's approval more than she did. He would never admit it aloud, not in so many words, anyway, but Traceback had long noted his dislike for the older girl. He hadn't always been like that- in fact, there had been a time when he spoke quite positively of her- but somewhere along the way, that had begun to change.

Among the group, Traceback had always been closest to Horus. He had been the first to speak to her on the day she arrived, and since had consistently gone out of his way to help her adjust as best he could, even going so far as to stand up for her whenever the Manager became upset. She wasn't sure if she would have survived so long were it not for him.

"We should go inside," Unknown breathed a shallow sigh, watching her breath fog the air for a moment before pushing off from the tree behind her.

Traceback rose to her feet and quickly followed as the other girl started back towards the house in the distance.

"Thank you for training with me, and sorry about your shirt," she apologized quietly, glancing at the small gash in the stomach of her top.