maskormenace | text - absence makes the heart grow until it explodes

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text - absence makes the heart grow until it explodes

YO. I KNOW THERE'S ONE THING A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T REALLY WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE BECAUSE WE ALL GET IT: HOMESICKNESS. I KNOW EVERYONE IS MISSING THEIR HOME AND THEIR FRIENDS. I'D BE SURPRISED IF THERE'S PEOPLE HERE WHO AREN'T. NOT TO SAY IF YOU AREN'T THAT YOU'RE A WEIRDO, OF COURSE, I SUPPOSE YOU'RE JUST A BIT LUCKIER. NOW, I'M NOT GONNA ASK YOU TO TELL ME ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU MISS OR THE PLACES YOU MISS. THAT WON'T HELP, IT'LL PROBABLY JUST MAKE YOU FEEL EVEN WORSE. I AIN'T EVEN GONNA GIVE A BIG SPEECH ABOUT HOW WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER AND WE GOTTA TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT CRAP AIN'T GONNA HOLD UP. BACK HOME I HAD A LARGE TEAM OF PEOPLE WHO VARIED IN AGES. A LOT OF THEM GOT HOMESICK AND WHEN IT OVERWHELMED THEM THEY WENT ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. THING IS, IT'S REAL EASY TO LET IT OVERWHELM YOU. MAKE A LIST OF EVERYTHING YOU MISS. EVEN IF IT'S SOMETHING YOU THINK IS SILLY, LIKE THE TREE THAT WAS NEAR WHERE YOU LIVED, OR A CAFE THAT DID THE BEST VERSION OF A FLAT WHITE COFFEE YOU'VE EVER TASTED. ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF. EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT FROM EARTH. I GUARANTEE YOU THERE WILL BE SOMETHING HERE THAT IS SIMILAR ENOUGH IT'LL BE LIKE BEING AT HOME. EVEN IF IT'S JUST A GIANT ROCK THAT'S THE SAME SHAPE. NOT TO MENTION GETTING OUT AND GETTING FRESH AIR ALWAYS HELPS. DO STUFF YOU DID AT HOME. DON'T GET WRAPPED UP IN THE FACT THAT IT'S NOT THE SAME. YOU HAVE TO ADAPT TO HELP YOURSELF, THAT'S LIFE. BUT THAT THE SAME TIME... DON'T SINK INTO IT. DON'T THINK OF NOTHING BUT WHAT YOU MISS. IGNORING IT WON'T WORK, BUT NEITHER WILL DIVING INTO IT. FIND A BALANCE. DON'T LET IT OVERWHELM YOU.

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[this guy's dead? and his mystery girl friend is dead??? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DEAD?????]

Ey, at least that means you can literally sleep off any hurt! No waking up feelin' worse for ya. Physically, at least.

[he shrugs.]

Well, the houses here are pretty nice. I wouldn't be able to afford one on the job they gave me, for sure. You livin' in Heropa?

[Well, more like he came close to dying. Repeatedly. A coma was involved. As was a lot of internal bleeding. Somehow, though, Brendan's pretty sure an explanation might just make it all sound worse given that, like, at least a dozen people died the last night he was in San Clemente alone.]

I wonder if that'd be a good excuse to sleep through school. Since I got here in May I'll have to repeat my sophmore year; showing up is just a formality right now.

Heropa 001. Bland name, bland place, but there's air conditioning and that's all I was hoping for, honestly.

[for a moment, archie considers not telling him. he decides not to, given the circumstances.]

Well, I hope ya like me then, 'cause we're gonna be roomies.

Fine with me. So long as I get regular access to the dog. [Who he has been petting nonstop and is in the process of giving belly rubs to. Such a good puppo.]

Well, I let him wonder around the house. Might wanna close the door when you're in the kitchen, though.

[he snorts, leaning forward to ruffle mightyena's fur.]

And he won't do that chain thing or anything like it, don't worry. Only if I tell him to. He won't follow commands from anyone else but he's well trained. It's, uh. Crobat and Muk ya might wanna look out for.

Ah. Gotcha. [No feeding the doggo random things from the fridge. Right.]

...okay, I admit I'm not on my A-game today, but I'm still pretty sure those aren't things where I'm from.

I ain't gonna let them out now but... Muk's livin' poison. Don't touch it, you'll know it when ya see it. I don't let it out in the house, but, y'know. Just in case. If ya do end up with some of its gunk on ya, let me know and go to the hospital. I don't care if you got a healin' thing, go.

[said pointing a finger square at brendan's chest.]

Crobat is a bat. A real big one. Friendly, but might try and suck your blood. Just bap it on the nose and say no firmly.

[Brendan has no intention of ever setting foot in a hospital again in his life, but he nods seriously, as if he'd definitely do that in the event he got Muk's gunk on him.] Makes sense.

If I ask why you have a blood sucking bat, will the answer make me have more questions?

...

...

Would ya just take magic and be done with it?

Yes and no. I'd take it but I'd probably try'n go through your stuff or at least your trash to see what info I could get, because 'magic' means that bat is magic an' I wanna know what other magic you've got.

Fair enough. I can't say I wouldn't do the same.

[he returns mightyena to its ball, and releases crobat. crobat looks around sleepily, then... flops down on the grass. snoring.]

That's... his mighty highness, Crobat.

...huh. [Well, that's. Very purple, very graceless. Not harmless, but not actively attacking him, at least.] Didn't know bats were that big. Maybe that's a your world thing.

...

Crobat's nocturnal. We woke him up.

[archie nudges crobat with his foot. it lazily swipes at his leg with one of its big wings.]

He's a third stage evolution, so of course he's big. He started off pretty small!

Yep. Your world thing. 'Cause I may skip school more than's healthy but I did get into AP Biology, evolution doesn't work like that back home.

For sure. Remind me one day to show ya somethin' cool with a shark.

[he stretches slightly, then watches crobat snoring on the ground.]

Uh, I was gonna head back. If ya wanna come with, go ahead. If not then... don't. We got three rooms to choose from at the moment. Though there might be a blonde kid hanging around. Just don't scare her, alright?

I'm not big on water, sorry. [It ties into too many corpse-related memories as is. No need to bring sharks into it.

He shrugs, raising his right foot and cracking his ankle the way other people might crack their knuckles. Well, that hasn't healed fully yet, apparently. But it doesn't hurt, at least.]

Sure. I got nothin' else to do around here and I stand a better chance of not getting lost if I tag along with you. But what's the deal with the blonde kid? [So many protective instincts as his brow furrows.] Someone do something to her I oughta know about? [Does he have to throw someone's ass in prison because it may take some doing but young, blonde and female hits all his buttons.]

Fair enough.

[he returns crobat and gestures for brendan to follow.]

She's, uh. She's goin' through some things at the moment. Doesn't like talkin' about 'em, but I told her if she wants a place to stay, food to eat or to play around wi' Crobat or Mightyena she's welcome to come by. She might not be around. Her name's Tara.

[he rubs the back of his neck a bit awkwardly.]

I ain't sure what. Didn't really press, ya know?

[Brendan follows, frowning.]

Damn. Can't help if I don't have details, but I guess I'm too new right now t' help either way. I've... sorta been in this position before. Reachin' out to someone who might not talk the hand you're offering. I don't expect her to trust me and I ain't looking for that, but you keep an eye on her, make sure she knows you're there for her. Cornered girls get desperate and desperate leads to bad decisions and the next thing you know you're at their funeral.

[He hadn't gotten to go to the funeral before he got here. He'd gotten as far as getting confirmation the right person was charged with murder before collapsing into bed and staring at nothing, coughing up blood and bile until he passed out on his stained sheets, too weak to even grab for the phone and ask for help - not that he'd tried. He didn't want to be helped.

He didn't want to live in a world where he kept failing people. And yet here he was. Damn it.] ...how old is she? [Please, don't let her be Emily's age. If she is, he's hitting the bottle hard.]

Cornered anyone does that.

[it's clipped; he doesn't like thinking about this. his shoulders hunch slightly.]

Dunno exactly, but young. Probably barely into her teens. She has other friends, though, so don't expect her to be there. Just-- you sure it's a good idea for you to be around that kinda situation right now? I know she's got other places she can go, and I trust the people she'd stay with.

Don't worry, I'll keep out of it if she doesn't want me in on it. [Shit, she's so young, just like Emily was - he can practically feel the weight of this bad idea wrap its' hands around his neck, but maybe he can change things here. He's got power, now. Other people involved. It doesn't have to end with a body in a drain pipe-] Look, I'm just gonna worry more if I can't lay eyes on her and offer up whatever help I can. Besides, I got school and I'm trying to learn what's what around here. I'll be busy and outta your way.

I don't want ya out my way. [he says immediately.] I just wanna make sure you're not gonna get into a spiral by gettin' involved in something that'll hurt you.

[he turns, forcing a grin.]

She can take care of herself, believe me. She can throw rocks and shit around with no effort at all. Ain't no-one gonna be able to hurt her. She just needs some stability, ya know?

I'll be fine. Can't hurt any worse than I can deal with. [Even if something happens to Tara, it can't be as bad as Emily, because Brendan's not romantically involved with Tara. And given how his last relationship went he has zero desire to get involved with Tara romantically. That didn't end well. He's starting to learn you can protect someone or you can love them, but both never works out.

Brendan raises an eyebrow, not voicing the thought that around here, rocks were probably not enough to promise safety.] I can do stability. Clean, cook, all that jazz. I'm not totally useless.

Ya don't have to hurt, ya know.

[he snorts.]

Good enough, kid. I believe ya can take care of yourself well enough, you don't gotta prove anythin'. The other guy in the house is called Hunk, he's about your age and is real nice. Real smart, too. Engineer, I think.

[Brendan shrugs at that, like the idea of not hurting isn't worth discussing. Life always hurts. Even the good parts. The key thing is to be stronger than what it throws at you.]

'Hunk'? Someone actually named their kid that? 'm not scientifically talented, not really. AP Biology and college level Literature, average everything else. Below average math, actually.

Ey, don't be shitty. A name's a name and he's a nice guy.

[the letters AP mean nothing to archie, because kids go on adventures at ten where he comes from, but whatever.]

I hate math too. My best friend got a PHd in math stuff so she does it all for me. Ain't here, before ya ask, so you gotta do all your homework yaself.

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