maskormenace | video;

[Zoom in on one teenage boy, sitting on a park bench. He looks kind of shitty—pale, a piece of gauze taped to his left cheek, and a barely-healed split lip. He’s hunched over, watching something out-of-frame.]

So there’s like—a community of kidnapped people with their own social network, huh. That’s pretty fucked up. [He leans down, wincing slightly, and picks up a dirty tennis ball from the ground before throwing it.] And everyone gets super powers, which would be the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life if I wasn’t also half-convinced this is all some weird coma dream.

[There he goes after the tennis ball again. Before he can pick it up, there’s the sound of excited yipping and then a stray that looks like it might have an ancestor somewhere in the Bijon Frise family jumps into his lap, presses its little paws against his chest, and does its damnedest to lick his face.]

Okay, I appreciate the thought, buddy, but dog slobber is not a proven cure for what ails you. Let’s go back to the ball, okay? We were doing good with the ball.

[The dog whines and gives him a final lick before jumping back out of the frame, and Stiles throws the ball again.]

Also, like, my superpower is talking to dogs. And getting them to understand me, not just—my superpower is not just being a crazy guy who talks to dogs. If you have a dog and you need someone to explain to them that shoes are not acceptable chew toys, I will give it a shot in exchange for Ibuprofen. Or money to buy Ibuprofen with, that's probably smarter.

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[ She's slowing down to meet that pace, because it would be rude to run off ahead, and she wants to be sure she doesn't lose him by accident, or push him too hard, too fast. Aside from startling the crap out of everyone with her fire summoning she's actually trying hard to be proactively considerate. It's not difficult, really, the worry is genuine. ]

So... Did this happen here...? Someone here didn't do this to you, did they?

[ Shouldn't take too long to get there, even with the slow pace. The housing rings the city, so once they get past the native housing they should find his designated place. ]

No. No, this [he waves a hand vaguely at the visible injuries on his face as the dog trots along at his heels,] happened before I got here.

[He should - probably figure out what to say about that, too: tell the truth or improvise a believable lie.]

[ Somehow that's more disquieting than comforting. Suppose it's good that he was brought here when he was, but it's unsettling to think about what kind of possible situations could have led to his current state. ]

... Do you want to talk about it...?

[ Rapunzel understands the desire for privacy, so she has to give him that out. It's up to him if he wants to take it. ]

I don't - [If it comes down to it, he's barely even processed this. When he asked for painkillers, he was focusing on the practical end of things. And back home, he'd only kind of started to sort through his feelings before Lydia showed up and he had to drive his long-term crush to go save her boyfriend with the power of true love.

His shoulders and expression are both tightening up, and he doesn't realize he'd just stopped talking until the dog following him starts to whine.] Things weren't... going great at home before I was ported in.

[ Aside from the fact that his response confirms her fears- Oh, she recognizes that look. She's felt it enough times to see the signs even on a stranger. Without actually touching him she holds out a hand placatingly in his general direction. ]

Hey, it's okay. You're safe here, now.

[ She's not sure if he means to elaborate, though, and to avoid shutting him down she adds- ]

We don't have to talk about it if you don't want, but it helps to tell someone about it I can be a pretty good listener...? No expiration date on that offer, either.

[ Sure, she just met him, but she definitely does not like seeing all that tension in his frame. ]

[It's really nice of her, and he feels bad about the idea of spewing shitty feelings at her, even if she is offering. But it also kind of feels like an offer he might want to take? He'd been doing pretty well at shoving things toward the back of his mind with the novelty of everything until she brought it up.

At home, there was nothing to do with those feelings because he'd decided that the best fuck you he could give Gerard Argent was to refuse to deliver the fucked-up message he was trying to send to Scott through the medium of Stiles's beaten body. But she's not Scott, she barely knows him, she has nothing to do with that mess.]

Someone... took me. [His body language shifts further when he starts talking, hunches in on himself.] Not even for me, he just wanted to send a message to my best friend by hurting me.

[ That answer is telling that there's more going on in the story than a simple attack, but there's no point in rushing ahead. Instead she tries to parse what he's just told her already. He'd been kidnapped and beaten, and Rapunzel is at once furious and horrified, even if she IS in "listening mode". ]

That's horrible...

[ A vast understatement, honestly. She almost asks why someone would do something like that, but thinks better of it. ]

I'm so sorry. Will you and your friend be alright?

[He shrugs up a shoulder awkwardly, then winces again because actually that wasn't the best action to take.] Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine, and my friend - I figured the best way to say 'fuck you' to the guy who took me was to just not tell him. I mean, I'm not the postal service.

[ Ignoring the fact that her face colors a bit at that choice of phrasing, she nods, looking a bit indignant on his behalf. ]

Of course! There's so much wrong with that I don't even know where to start.

[ ... No, that's not true. She can start with getting him patched up. ]

Well, I mean- obviously we'll get you healed. Anyway...

[He does feel a little bad when he sees her face after he says fuck, but like - sensitive language was not high on his priority list right then.]

Yeah. Anyway.

[Hopefully they don't have much further to walk cause - yeah. He's ready for that healing ASAP.]

[ WELL LOOK AT THAT, they're here! Or at least at the general area. She's just going to concentrate on finding the right place, though, because wow this silence is suddenly awkward. And tense.

Finally, they come by number six. ]

It looks like this is it. Let's head inside, then.

[ Even as she says it she's already heading up the steps to the front door. ]

Yeah, just gimme a sec.

[He goes digging through his stuff for the house key, has a brief moment of panic that it won't work, and then successfully opens the door. A quick little exploration later and he finds a bedroom that seems pretty much unoccupied.]

So, uh. I guess this is it.

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thread content warning: likely discussion of kidnapping & violence against a minor

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I'm assuming he'd have been given a key, feel free to handwave them finding the room that'll be his?

makes sense!