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[lazyinlove]

['Sup fellow moon people. Here's a face you've never seen on the network before, though some of you have seen the kid around by now.

Stanley is a teenager, about 16, with blond hair hanging in his face because he hasn't had it cut since at least June. In spite of that, a bit of his startled eyes still show through. His voice catches a little, and he's out of breath. There's an unusual urgency to his tone, for those who are familiar with him.

And while he's kept his mouth shut through the mutiny, now he seems to have something to say. In spite of how insignificant the question seems when he poses it, there's a barely restrained edge of panic to his entire being. Something is most likely up here.]

I-uh. I'm looking for the lost and found. But it's not-it's not on the map. Little help?

(OoC: That recently announced world change came with a few significant other changes. Namely, to the former Exsiles. Including smuggled children. For those that knew about Peace this will be an easy puzzle to solve. She's gone, guys. Never existed at all, officially.)

Comments

[werewolfing]

[peter catches stanley's hand when it reaches out and touches his knee, keeping it pressed between the patched fabric of his jeans and his own hand, which is warm and dry. it's not a hard hold, stan could pull out of it easily, but peter doesn't know what else to do. that's been the theme of the past few days, not knowing what to do. it's not getting any easier or more fun.]

[lazyinlove]

[There's no effort to pull away, though. The contact is reassuring. Not long ago he'd asked Peter how they could be sure things were real. Now, the question seems impossible to answer. Reality can be changed at the drop of a hat. People can be wiped right out of existence. Like they'd never even been there at all.

Stan's fingers tighten until he has a loose fistful of Peter's jeans. Lest he fade away too. His chest aches. The words are difficult to get out . But they feel important, so he coughs them up like spoiled food. They taste just as bitter.]

She deserves a funeral.

[werewolfing]

[peter holds his breath for a long moment, swallows against the rising tightening in his chest and throat that wants to choke him. a funeral. because she did exist, and now she's gone. and maybe that only matters to half a dozen people, but it matters.]

Yeah. She does.

[lazyinlove]

[Words aren't easy. In fact, they rarely are. Right now they're particularly hard. But it's good that Peter agrees. Stan nods. Yeah. It's important. Really important.]

[werewolfing]

We'll--

[his voice breaks, so he takes another breath, swallows, tries again.]

We'll figure something out.

[he keeps saying that to people. we'll figure something out. like he's somehow going to come up with answers. like he's supposed to.

funny thing is, he kind of has been figuring something out in the end. and right now, those things that were so important an hour ago don't feel like they mean anything real, because they're erasing people from existence. somehow they erased a beautiful little girl, and how many other people with her? he wants to be sick.]

Tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow.

[lazyinlove]

Tomorrow.

[It's just an echo. A hollow sound that barely registers. Time...for so long he's been ignoring time. But you can't ignore time. It finds you in ugly ways. No dark, cozy corners can save you from time.]

[werewolfing]

[peter's not really expecting much in the way of reaction. nobody could accuse stanley of being fit for parenting, but it was never anything less than painfully obvious how important peace was to him. so he keeps sitting there, absently patting stanley's hand and shoving down his own rising hysteria. it's not the time.]

[lazyinlove]

[Unfortunately, Stanley doesn't plan to move anytime soon. It's a childish response, literally hiding from the things that hurt. But it's all he can handle at the moment. Peter feels link an anchor sitting there, breathing. There's something reassuring about hearing the other boy just breathing. For a long time, Stanley says nothing. Eventually, he falls into a fitful sleep. However long Peter sticks around is a comfort. He'll have to return the favor one day. Just as soon as he feels like he can breathe again.]

[werewolfing]

[it's terrible, but it's comforting, in a way, that stanley doesn't ask anything of him. because there's nothing to do, and peter's not sure what he could've said if asked. he sits there until stanley falls asleep, because he understands that someone being there, just alive there next to you, is the only kind of reassurance there is that you aren't entirely alone.]