Entry #004 | Video

[quaerit]

[ Here is Gansey, looking a little strange. He’s wearing a navy-blue sweater emblazoned with a raven – an Aglionby school sweater, over what appears to be ordinary clothes. His shoulders and hair are damp, like he’s been rained on, and he looks strangely pale. Despite that, he’s displaying a welcoming smile, and his hazel eyes are bright and vital with some emotion he’s holding back. ]

Apparently, I vanished yesterday.

I say apparently because it feels more like several weeks ago, but according to this – [ he holds up one of De Chima’s daily newspapers – a tabloid, headlined with speculation about the upcoming import elections ] – it’s only been a day.

A lot can happen in a day. Sometimes things that give you perspective.

Can I ask – the school year is almost over. Some of you will be graduating. I will. Which is odd, because I was here for eight months, and then I went home and it was Fall again, and Senior year was just beginning. I’m not completely sure what age I am now. I turned eighteen a couple of months ago.

[ Which, he actually never mentioned. It had seemed like there were more important things to be getting along with, and the thought of getting older in the wrong world had annoyed Gansey anyway. He’d kept quiet. Now, if he could do that over again, he thinks he’d celebrate it more – even though he’s only mentioning it now because it’s relevant to this. ]

Then I go home, and I’m seventeen again, so now I don’t even know what counts. Graduation will, though, I know that much.

So: to everyone else who’s graduating. Or even if you’re not, even if it’s just that you see change coming for you. What are your plans? Will you work, will you travel? What would you like to do, ideally? I think I’m ready for it to be summer again.

Private to: Billy Kaplan, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Matthew Lynch

[ This part goes to everyone’s private inboxes. Gansey’s smile is less presidential here, but his eyes are even sharper. He seems energized, like he’s on the edge of something. His voice is trying not to sound like it. ]

Hey, everyone. I very much hope I didn’t worry you. I think I was mid-conversation with you, Billy. I’ll have to blame my rudeness on the Porter.

Listen, I’m on my way home. Could someone bring the car and pick me up? I’m getting pizza from that Italian place near the porter in De Chima. I’m absolutely famished.

I’d…like to know if anyone else vanished, too. Ronan, Adam?

Comments

( video. )

[aberth]

[ The whole thing is so wholly Gansey that Adam has to pause a minute and gently thump his head against the wall he's leaning on. Trust his friend to start talking about graduation the minute he gets back. It's a short lived reaction, eventually Adam's face appears on the feed - more tired than usual, he didn't exactly sleep last night -, the Blotter office his only backdrop, relief mingling with his still worried frown. ]

Lynch has the car. He'll come get you.

[ And Adam will get his ass home as quick as he can. He needs to make sure this isn't a mirage. ]

You okay?

( video. )

[quaerit]

[ 'Are you okay'. No, Gansey is not remotely okay. His (still agitated) mind runs through a selection of possible responses to that.

He discards them, and keeps focusing on the practical. He has to get home, he has to see his friends. Ronan has the car - so Ronan is okay, then, presumably. That makes one point of tension in his chest unknot, but there are others.

Among them, that Adam does not look at all the way he looked when Gansey last saw him. He needs to know where they stand, quickly. ]

I'm okay. I had a busy night, that's all. And day. Time was...strange.

I take it you don't remember any of that.

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[rathercommon]

[ Kitty's expression is little startled, and not very happily so - she didn't realize he was gone. Still. She straightens her shirt and says, firmly: ]

I suppose you ought to just pick the age you feel suits you.

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[quaerit]

[ Kitty Jones. The light in Gansey's eyes brightens. She is among the people he had forgotten, and has now regained. Memories piling on top of memories - how do you squeeze eight months into a week, in your mind? ]

I feel both, in a way. And neither. Turning eighteen doesn't feel overly real anymore.

How are you, Kathleen?

[inmyothertights]

Oh my god.

Oh, my god you're back. Dude. You gave me a heart attack. I am too young to die that way.

[quaerit]

[ Unbelievably, that makes Gansey smile. ]

Yes you are. And actually, so am I.

Sorry for scaring you. Did that book ever arrive? I hope it did, or I'll be calling them later.

text;

[pillz]

wb ti/tyfuck :)

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[quaerit]

[ Oh.

Right. This guy.

Gansey's mood is in too high a key for this. Also he's not even going to try and decipher that second word. ]

Joseph. Keeping out of trouble?

[video]

[admemoriam]

[Noah's eyes look tired. Backlit by his bedroom windows, he somehow seems smaller, less solid. He knows what Gansey went home to. It's written all over the broadcast, all over Gansey's smile.]

We're all here.

[That's all he has to offer.]

[video]

[quaerit]

[ He is not wrong.

Noah's face appears, and something in Gansey's changes. An oddness, like a fracture, which he shutters quickly away. The last time he'd seen him had been in the car, when... ]

Noah.

We should talk.

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[dreamkid]

[ Matthew instantly appears with a warm, eager smile, leaning in close to the screen. ]

Gansey! I knew you'd come back. [ Oh, he is so relieved, though. ] Everyone else is still here.

[ They lost it while you were gone, Gansey. You are maybe not allowed to vanish like that again. ]

You really went home for weeks?

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[quaerit]

[ Matthew makes it easier to keep that smile in place.

Christ, it's good to see him. He only hopes the Matthew in his world is just as happy. ]

I did. I saw a few people. Saw Declan, actually. He's looking well.

Is Ronan all right?

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[helpline]

I've always thought that the best philosophy in circumstances like this is you're whatever age you want to be. [ the Doctor simply shrugs, as if that's the most obvious thing in the world. ]

Course, legally you're bound to run into a few problems with things like that, but you can deal with those problems when you get to it.

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[quaerit]

[ Gansey is fairly sure every authority on Earth would disagree with that, but okay. It makes him smile a bit anyway. ]

Within reason, I suppose. I never expected to double back on my own timeline, but I suppose that's the risk everyone takes in this place.

I don't think I mind, though. I want the next step. I think I've been in one place for too long, if that makes sense.

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[brushoff]

[ Oh christ, it's this asshole.

Dorian's behaving though, as he responds solely with a small nod and a simple ] Welcome back.

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[quaerit]

[ ...Dorian Gray.

Of course, this couldn't just be simple. ]

Thank you.

Keeping well, Dorian?

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[khajidont]

It's weird, isn't it? One time, I was gone for, like, a week, but for me it was months. I think you just gotta go with the age that you wanna be, unless you want to screw around with all that math. I say celebrate your birthday when it happens here anyway, and you'll be solid.

[That's the way Jaime's been doing it, anyway... not that he actually celebrated his last birthday.]

I graduated last year, and just went straight to work. Been doing some school on the side, but that's just to up my paygrade. What're you planning on doing?

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[quaerit]

I don't know yet. At home, I hadn't made plans.

[ This is very true, despite him being in Senior year. It hadn't been a lack of foresight; it had just been that he didn't know what time he had left, and planning for time he didn't have had seemed foolish.

Now it's different. It's still difficult to get his head around the fact that it's different, but it is. ]

I think I can't discount the time I spent here. I think that makes me eighteen, and I think I have time to make plans. My girlfriend wanted to travel. She isn't here, of course, but...

It's a possibility.

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[doubleblind]

[Cosima wants to ask what happened to him back home, make sure he's okay, but first, a congratulations are in order.]

Graduation, huh? Congrats.

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[quaerit]

[ Gansey's smile turns a little more personal at the sight of Cosima. ]

Thanks. You know, I've barely thought about it until now. There was something unreal about school here, like it wouldn't matter once I went home anyway.

Which it still won't, but I think it might be better to enjoy the moment. How are you, Cosima?

video ; ATTACKED BY TWO CHARACTERS OF MINE

[burnseternal]

Welcome back, brother! I'm afraid that if high school were ever a reality in my life - which it was not - it would have been many, many years ago. So instead of telling you of my own plans, I would like to inquire into yours instead. What do you intend to be the next step on your journey?

video ; please do!

[quaerit]

Saint Walker.

[ Gansey says that name like it's a breath of relief - because, honestly, it is. Walker had helped him a great deal, and remembering that now helps him even more. ]

Hello. It's good to hear from you.

I'm not sure, really. I just know that it goes forward. There's a lot I want to do, and I don't think I've really taken stock of that before. I was somewhat single-minded.

[ For reasons that he now cannot be. That's not a thought that comes without pain. Gansey won't focus on that now. He can't focus on that now, this isn't the time for grief. This is the time to think of life. ]

I think I want something new. To travel, maybe. I've traveled before, but I mean for the sake of it. I don't think I've thought it through, yet.

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[hollowly]

( hi, gansey. it's been a while.

and while the sort of time shenanigans he's referring to sound like something out of a sci-fi novel, with everything he's seen and had happen over the last few years, it doesn't seem all that odd to him. still, it's pretty specific. )

Age is just a number, anyway. ( he smiles, just a little. ) At least you'll be finished with high school. What do you want to do once it's over?

( this one, he went to college. wanted to be a lawyer. that seems like so far in the past, now, that it shouldn't even qualify. )

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[quaerit]

Hey, Sam.

[ It's been a while, but Gansey remembers. Sam had been nice. Lots of people here had been nice. Gansey had been so focused on leaving...

For good reason, of course. But it's as though he was rushing his way through life. Now, he doesn't want to anymore. ]

I used to have vague plans to go to college, study history, and then...

I don't know. Do something with that, maybe. It's been a while since I've thought about it. I wasn't thinking much beyond this year. Now it's all ending quite suddenly. It's probably too late to even consider college now, isn't it? For this year, anyway.

[ He doesn't sound overly disappointed by that. ]

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[huntergames]

[ A young girl of eighteen, looking pensive as she contemplates Gansey's question. She's been thinking a lot about her future plans, yet still hasn't come up with anything concrete. ]

... I think I would like to travel. Maybe California? [ A beat. ] Big Sur.

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[quaerit]

[ Gansey's lips tick up in a smile. He'd begun to think of something similar, but... ]

That's quite specific. Why there, in particular? Though, I'm sure it's lovely, of course.

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[hisheartsdesire]

Luckily for you, seems summer is just around the bend.

[A pause.] Welcome back, Gansey. We haven't spoken all that much, and I can't say your time away was long enough to really catch any attention, but. I'm thinking we should take that museum trip you suggested. You know, in case you disappear again.

[Because that would suck, and Toby's seen how some people come and go... and never return.]

voice;

[quaerit]

Hello, Toby.

[ If things with Dorian are tense, things with Toby certainly aren't. Gansey likes him. thus far, he's had no reason not to. ]

Thank you. I'd still like to show you around. I mean, presuming they haven't cancelled my employment on the grounds of disappearing without a word. I probably ought to look into that.