THE MOMENT
"Who said that!?" The frightened woman stopped reaching for the rotting cabin door. The black and white woman waited for a moment then turned away from the cabin and faced the camera in black and white. She squinted as she looked forward; then, after a moment her eyes widened in complete terror and began to scream. Phoebe rolled her eyes at the T.V., then changed the channel.
She found a cartoon with colorful talking animals on the next channel; but, an animated version of the woman continued to scream in terror at her. Phoebe changed the channel again. An action movie reached its explosive climax on the next station along with the same woman. She was a real person again, though she remained black and white as orange fire swirled around.
"What do you want, Helios?" Phoebe asked. The woman stopped yelling, then glanced at the empty couch next to her.
"Where's Murphy?" he asked.
"Not here," Phoebe replied with a flat tone. "I'm trying to have some time alone; so, what do you want?" The woman's black and white body disintegrated to reveal a golden, faceless mannequin wearing a red suit. The ball of flames disappeared and the scene changed. Helios sat down at the edge of a long pier and his slacks disappeared from the knee down. He dipped his golden legs into the water.
"I wanted to hang out with my friends..," Helios replied.
"Sorry," Phoebe replied with a softer tone. "It's not really a great night."
"Murph's always here on Saturday nights... Did he have a game?"
"He's not here," Phoebe said again.
"Okay," Helios held up his golden palms out and shrugged.
"Haven't seen you in a few weeks either; where've you been?" she asked.
"I thought I was working for Mrs. Sharp," Helios shrugged. "Turns out I was imagining things. But, I joined a team!"
"Aww, that's great," Phoebe replied. "Why aren't you with them?" Her curiosity came through in her tone, and Helios knew her well enough to know it wasn't a dig.
"Can't find 'em," Helios chuckled. "They probably ghosted me."
"C'mon, I'm sure they didn't," Phoebe replied. She moved her legs off the couch and hunched forward towards the T.V.
"Hehe, 'Course they didn't," Helios stood upright. "I’m awesome; but, I'm glad you care," the indentation that represented his right eye squashed down to a solid black line for a moment as if he winked. "Speaking of things no one knows...," Helios raised a coffee cup to show Phoebe. "...I got some steaming hot gossip if you're interested." He tossed the cup into the lake when he was done using it as a prop.
"Sure," Phoebe nodded. She readjusted her position again now that she knew Helios was fine. "Gossip away," she said.
"Mrs. Sharp launched a major ad campaign,"
"Everyone knows that," Phoebe interrupted. "There was an ad for the Marcigeddon exhibition match right before you showed up. Though it wasn't much of an ad," she shrugged. "I don't even know who's playing. They just announced it as 'super important'."
"There's a reason for that," Helios said. "Also, I'm playing!" he said. "I'm on the Green Tornados and we're going up against an all-star team called the Skull Crushers."
"Oh, nice. Good luck!" she replied. Helios shook his head.
"Flutter's on the Skull Crushes; we're not winning."
"Oh, yeah. No way," she replied.
"BUT!" Helios held up a golden index finger. "That wasn't the point. The ad campaign is separated into a few phases. You just saw the first one: Build excitement. Are you going to the game?" he asked. Phoebe shrugged.
"I considered it when I saw the ad; but, I was going to wait to see who was playing. But, if Flutter's playing, I definitely want to go."
"That's phase two," Helios said. "The next set of commercials will reveal the teams. But, it's phase three that's the real kicker. Those ads will announce that a special guest will be attending the match. In-person," Helios said. When he finished, the pier and lake around him disintegrated and transformed into the original black and white movie. Helios once again became the black and white woman reaching for the cabin door.
"Who?" Phoebe asked. Helios held her finger up to her lips, then took a step forward and opened the door. She pulled it open to reveal a glowing white room. It wasn't the shadowy cabin interior the movie was supposed to show. Helios stood aside as the camera swept past her and entered the room. A tall, pale woman stood in the center of the room. She had dark hair, stern eyes, and a white suit.
"MS. SHARP'S ALIVE!???" Phoebe screeched in surprise.
"Don't I wish," Ms. Sharp replied with Helios' voice. The white suit shimmered and became red while Ms. Sharp's creamy complexion darkened into a gold color. Her elegant features smoothed into a featureless head with indentations for eyes.
"She's... going to lie?" Phoebe asked. Helios shook his head.
"She's going to gamble," he said. "Do you know anything about myths?"
"Santa is one?" Phoebe shrugged.
"That's a start," Helios said. "There are enough universes out there that believe in Santa Claus that the idea of a fat man in a red suit giving things away took on a real, solid, human form. The universe has a way of making things real if they're wanted badly enough," Helios said.
"If every universe believes Ms. Sharp will be at the match...," Phoebe mumbled to herself as she pieced it together. "...will that work?" Helios shrugged.
"No idea," he said. "But Melody knows she isn't Ms. Sharp. The company's been falling apart under her since the Pineapple Cup. She's going to be out even if she doesn't gamble. At least this way she has a chance of bringing back her wife."