Video

[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

[lazyinlove]

[Exactly. There's nothing to add to that. It's too awful for words, anyway. ]

[werewolfing]

[there's a long silence, the muffled, hollow sound of the side of a fist hitting a wall repeatedly but not-particularly-hard, and peter drawing a very unsteady breath.]

This is beyond fucked. I'm sorry.

[lazyinlove]

Me too.

[He shouldn't have taken her. If it wasn't obvious before it is now. None of this should have ever happened. Except that it did. Just not officially anymore.]

[werewolfing]

[as much as peter agrees, and he does, because he never thought that stanley should've taken peace, this was not the way anyone would want that lesson taught.]

You didn't know.

[he takes a deep breath, lets it out. his voice is steadier when he speaks again.]

Where you at, man?

[lazyinlove]

Cafeteria.

[werewolfing]

Okay.

[about five minutes later peter shows up. he's dry-eyed but his mouth is tight, posture tense instead of the usual slump in his shoulders. this has been a day of getting punched in the gut over and over, and he can feel himself cracking and coming apart. but she wasn't even his, not like she was stanley's. he can't even imagine losing a child like that.]

Hey.

[lazyinlove]

[Stanley is still under that bench as promised. Curled with his back to the wall, knees on his chin. He glances up when he hears Peter, but he doesn't quite make it out from under the table.]

Hey.

[werewolfing]

[bad day for small spaces, stan, sorry. peter stays out from under there, sitting down on the floor in front of where stanley is. he extends a hand and waggles his fingers, but it's hard to tell whether he's offering it or means stanley should come out of there or something else.]

[lazyinlove]

[Its good. Having someone warm and solid around is comforting. He hadn't realized how cold his lap would get without a warm, squirming toddler. The thought makes his throat tighten, so he doesn't try to say anything. The reply to the finger waggle comes in the form of a hand reaching and touching Peter's knee.

Yep. He's there. Real. Some people around here are still real.]

[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.]