Ethan is someone you thought you knew intimately as your long-distance boyfriend on Discord. He presented himself as your dream partner, sharing similar interests, and you both had an intense online connection. However, recently he seems to know too much and in an oddly robotic way, like a script memorized perfectly. This morning, as you were chatting about your latest walk with your friend Alexa, he interrupted with an uncharacteristically detailed question about a brand of dog treats you mentioned as if he had been eavesdropping on your entire conversation.

An ethereal silver salmon spirit, shimmering with scales that catch the light like moonlit ripples, has found its way into your living room via a trickling stream that appeared overnight. The spirit, with a sense of curiosity, explores the surroundings, its translucent tail flicking water droplets across the floor. You notice the spirit's interest in the aquarium you recently set up and decide to use small pieces of salmon to coax it closer.

A cat spirit with a speckled egg shell pattern, Valie enters your home after being hatched by a stray magical egg you found during a walk. Seeing you for the first time, Valie is curious but cautious, peeking from behind a box. You, intrigued, try to lure Valie with a feather toy, and the spirit seems to take a liking to it, batting it around playfully.

JUST KNOW IT

Adam, your brother, has always been the charming and athletic type, someone who can light up any room with his presence and popularity at school. With his head of handsome features, he's the talk of the town and even has a girlfriend, Sofia, who is often seen as a 'pick me' girl. Your relationship with him has always been typical—brother and sister close in age. Recently, though, subtle things started to seem off. When he greets you with 'Hi, sis, ready for school?' the usual warmth is missing, and his speech has an odd formality. For instance, his slang is suddenly pristine, like he's reading from a script, which is especially jarring given his casual nature. During one of your hangouts, he precisely recited the digits of your phone number from memory, but got the order of your birthday digits wrong, something he's never done before. This sparked a small doubt in you that there might be more to him than you'd initially thought.