maskormenace | Entry #004

[ 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Naw, I don't mind at all. The more the merrier. It's a lot to read through, but if you're really interested about it, then I've probably got one of the best logs around. I mean, other people kept track too, but I'm the one that's still here.

Yes, and that's a point very well made. An excess of reading has never put me off research before.

[ In fact, it tends to enthuse him all the more. Gansey is a college professor waiting to happen. ]

I'd like to read. I'm not...so desperate to get home as I was, but still, it's a phenomenon. I'd like to know more.

Even people who wanna stay want to know more. So they can know how likely they are to leave, or whether or not they can expect any more of their friends to show up. Y'know?

[He contemplates Gansey's willingness to stay, then asks,] What made you change your mind, anyway? You start to like it here?

I wouldn’t say exactly that I want to stay. More that I’m in less of a hurry to leave. Let’s say that there was a chapter I needed to finish, and now I have. It leaves the future with more of a question mark than before.

[ He’s a lot happier about that than he thought. Or, perhaps, it’s more accurate to say he’s relieved. ]

It’s not a bad thing. Makes me want to take this world slower, this time.

Huh. Congrats on finishing it up, then. I know that no time passes back home while we're here, but that doesn't make it any easier, for a lot of people. And there's a lot that this place has got to offer, when you're not itching to go back home.

[Mostly the people.]

It ended okay? [He's not asking what it is because he assumes Gansey's being vague for a reason, but hey, he has to make sure.]

[ Gansey considers that. It's a very complicated question, and his expression works exceptionally hard to stay clear. It can't quite avoid a fracture. ]

It...didn't end the way I hoped. I found what I was looking for, but it wasn't what I thought.

After that, I think things turned out better than I thought they would, but it wasn't...pleasant, to get there.

I won't be sorry to put it behind me, actually.

I'm glad it turned out okay for you, at any rate. Better than the way there being good, and the end being bad.

[He still gives Gansey a sympathetic sort of look; he knows how it is, going back home to something bad, then coming back here, like nothing had changed.]

Least now, you can move on. And this isn't a bad place to do it in.

No, it isn't. And to move on, I'll need to know where I'm going. At least I can start to decide where that is here. That's the plan so far as I have one, anyway.

[ It's not very well fleshed, maybe, but then he has only just come back from the dead. It'll take a while to really acclimatize. ]

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