#306. Help Chapter 9. Date Night
Ch 9.21 *
#306 *
Jul. 22, 2026
- Chloe in bed, sobbing and wailing into her hands.
- Camera pulls back to show Zia beside Chloe's bed, and a wallet on Chloe's bedstand next to the alarm clock. Zia: "I'm thinking I should just pick up some bagels for breakfast instead." "Blueberry bagels?" "Chocolate?" Chloe (still wailing).
- Zia (sighs): "Chloe —" " — do you like him?" Chloe (sobbing and snuffling): "I —" " — he was nice" "and he was cute" "and he was tall" "and I — "
- Zia: "Do you LIKE HIM?" Chloe (cringing pathetically): "I mean —" "I think I do, but —"
- Zia (sips coffee sagely): "Then the right thing to do —" "— is to go apologize."
- Chloe (irritable, still crying): "Zia, I don't even —" "How am I supposed to do that?" "I don't have his number —" "I don't know where he lives —" "I —" "I don't even know his full name!"
- Zia (picks up wallet off the bedstand, flips it open): "Hmm, you might want to return this wallet to someone who lost it." "It says 'Mark Reed, of 513 Los Robles, number 27.'"
- Chloe (fuming angry): "You SERIOUSLY didn't PICKPOCKET —" Zia (sipping her coffee again, shrugging, holding out the wallet to Chloe): "Would've if he hadn't left it, horsegirl, but you didn't need my help on this one."
Characters: Chloe, Zia
Zia, we really need to talk about your moral framework again. Crime equals bad, remember?
— Inker