v5 Formatting Testing thread

Holding her face to the phone might be effortless if only she could refrain from bouncing nervously on her heels — her ear tappa-tap-tapping against the black plastic — or if she were able to, you know, hold the receiver herself. Instead Tallulah tries her best to assist, but struggles with matching Denali's erratic fidgeting, gaping at her sister's panic over something that just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. "But what if he answers, Ginny?"

"Well then you say hi." Peregrine rolls her eyes, openly judging the ridiculous premise of the question. "Why are you calling if you don't want him to answer? Do you want me to hang up?"

"No!" Denali chews at her bottom lip, turning her focus to Tallulah in hopes of finding some emotional support that's a little more... supportive. "Lulu? Help. What do I say?"

"Hi is good! Ginny's right, you should start with that. It's casual, but not too casual." ...what??? She doesn't bother to look up from the notepad that the majority of her attention is fixated on, only pausing to thoughtfully press the tip of a pencil to her lips before suddenly hunching over to continue scribbling. Flapping her other hand around blindly, it's as if she's trying to shoo Denali's worries out of the room. "Never underestimate the mood-setting power of a cheery greeting!"

Denali and Peregrine groan in two part harmony at the overly-chipper advice. "Don't you think cheery is maybe the wrong tone for murder apologies? Shouldn't I —"

'Hello?'

Denali yelps in surprise, thwacking her head against the phone so hard that Peregrine sympathy-grimaces almost as hard as she does. "That's gonna leave a bruise," Peregrine mutters, leaning forward to blatantly ogle the bright red spot on her sister's forehead as she switches the phone into her other hand, shaking her own fingers out after the collision.

"Um... hi!" Denali panic-responds, sounding as if a teacher has just called on her mid-daydream to answer a question on the blackboard and she was so out of it that she doesn't even know what class she's in. Peregrine unhelpfully mouths the words good job and gives her a thumbs up. All of it feels blatantly like lies. Denali scowls at her before remembering that she's supposed to be saying things. "Mac-kenzieee." It's as if his name is an unfamiliar word in her mouth, her tongue slowly sounding out the syllables and giving it her best guess. Onomatopoeia. Syzygy. Cantankerous. "Uhhh. It's Denali." There's yet another moment of desperate stalling. "Lyons?" The girl who killed Lex after implying that she definitely would not do this thing as a favor to you for being a good human. "I... um... well..."

Kicking Tallulah's foot to get her attention, Denali takes a face journey that attempts to convey exactly how much she is actively dying inside. Helppppppp. I don't know what I'm doinggggg. It's about the only thing she's successfully communicating at the moment. Tallulah finally gives Denali her full attention, holding up the notepad that she's been writing on and tapping her pencil at the first word. I'm —

Taking a deep breath, Denali nods with feigned confidence and attempts to read the script she should have written down for herself instead of babbling incoherently at the twins until they agreed to help without fully understanding what they were getting roped into. I'm calling to offer my most sincere apologies in regards to the terms of our broken agreement and my part in violating the trust you placed in me. "I'm..." Tallulah emphatically taps at the next word, circling it for emphasis. Call-inggggg. Everything blurs together into a pretty pattern of nonsensical loop-de-loops. "I'm sorry." Peregrine attempts to mime slow clapping despite only having one free hand and somehow it still works out to be more coherent than anything Denali is attempting at the moment. (I'm sorry I'm not more like my brother.) "About Lex and stuff. I... know she's — uh — not dead anymore? But I... Ripred. I don't know. Urghhh. Isoundsostupid." Breathe, Tallulah mouths with concern, patting her shoulder. "I'm sorry for that too? I don't know... what to... words and stuff? You know? I just... um... thought I should try. Or... yeah. Something. That. Like that, I mean. Mhm."

Honestly, maybe she should have told Peregrine to hang up.