knewaguy | (no subject)

Define 'all right'

Alive? yeah.
How're you doing, kid

Oh, I don't know. A giant squid didn't make off with you? The dream mojo was able to bring you back without you sinking to the bottom of the ocean with all that metal weighing you down? The townies haven't killed you with kindness yet?

_{[He's answering, so clearly he hasn't disappeared again, either.]}

Same. I'm alive.

I'm alive and there are more cigars now, so that's working for me.

Not sure I'm loving the city more than the fishbowl but I'm adjusting.

Is this your first time in town?

_{[It dates him, and requires her to reexamine her conflicting sets of memories--when she last remembers being at home, and when she last remembers being in Deerington herself.]}

Do yourself a favor and don't listen to anything the townies say. They're acting weirder than I remember them beig. That usually means someone's about to die.

_{[The underlying message: don't let it be you.]}

Yeah. Last place I was in before all this shit was North Dakota. Big change.

But that doesn't sound ominous at all. Speaking from experience, huh.

Oh yeah, North Dakota have good retirement spots?

_{[If she can't get over how old he is now, neither can he.]}

After almost 2 years, yeah, I guess. Most of the time they're walking talking robots that don't acknowledge the rest of us exist, but when they start paying attention and acting like they're living out a movie script, it's always a bad sign.

You ever relive the plot of the Purge? That was a fun month. Knowing younger you, you probably have.

Stock up on what you need and don't be surprised if the flowers start turning the neighbors into a pod person, is what I'm saying. Laura will probably try and get involved. That's another given.

Very end of the road, don't recommend it.

I'll keep that in mind. I don't really plan on getting to know anyone I don't have to. She really gonna be that much of a handful, you think?

[He has his own experiences but - you know, others are appreciated.]

Give it time. You haven't been here long enough to jack Maine up to the top of your list of shittiest places to be.

Let's just say I had no clue how to stitch up human flesh until I met the pair of you. Seems like she inherited the dumb idea that just because she can take a beating she should, along with the powers.

Edited 2020-04-28 06:40 (UTC)

Guess some types of bad decisions really are all genetic.

Thanks though. For looking out for her. Lot more people are doing that here than I would've imagined.

_{[That's a sad trombone joke if she's ever read one. Maybe so.]}

Don't give me too much credit. I'm not really anyone who can do anything for her.

That's why I'm telling you. So you can.

_{[She probably wasn't even that great of a roommate at the time, and would be the first to agree Laura's better off at the farmhouse with actual safety and actual stability.]}

You've done more than I have by now, I'm sure.

That said, if you need any looking out done for you, it only seems fair to pay it back.

Well, the baton's officially passed off to you, dad.

You don't know me. You don't have to pretend you do.

_{[It lets him off the hook nicely, she thinks, even as she tries to hook him onto Laura's trail. She isn't attached to Laura by a string, but she doesn't need one to know what the girl needs and wants. They're family.

She is attached to him, and yes, maybe combatting an urge to keep him near that influenced her check-in text, but the difference is, they're only connected by a string and one-sided memories. She imagines what he needs is fewer burdens, not more.

And she'd rather this than be anyone's obligation. It's possible she inherited stubbornness to go along with her own powers.]}

Save the superheroing for other people who need it more.

If that's what you say, kid.

[Remains to be seen if that's what'll happen, however.]

I'm saying don't fuck things up for yourself and your actual kid.

[Probably too late for that.]

Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll try not to.

_{[Ffs, dad, you had one job. One.]}

Like I said, it's not hard.

Besides, you two are like some of the hardest to kill people around. You've got that going for you.

You'd be surprised how little that matters to the people who like to keep trying.

That actually doesn't surprise me at all.

_{[The party doesn't stop for psychos until someone loses an arm.]}

Still.