wtfox | [seasonality] catchall for rupert

Taichi found him first. He got the closest look... he and Luxanna didn't really want to let me near him, though.

They said to leave it to the adults...

...I'm glad you didn't have to look.

[he pauses, though, taking a breath.]

I wanted to think it might not be true. [but if she was there when they found the body...] How could this have happened?

It feels sort of wrong to just leave it to everyone else because of my age, though...

[she should!! be pulling!! her weight!! or something.]

I'm not sure. He was in the dorm with us when we got locked in, so I don't understand how he even got outside...

Well - if they minded, they would have said something, right?

[with a small sigh:]

Even beyond how he got aside... What could have happened to him? The most dangerous thing I've seen here are birds.

I guess, but...

[she fidgets, looking like it still feels weird to her!]

There were a bunch of arrows on the ground nearby. [she pulls out her phone to show the picture she took from the investigation!] Some of them were embedded in the ground, but some weren't.

[he looks at the picture for a long moment, narrowing his eyes in confusion, before it sinks in and they widen.]

Wait, you don't think... [aaaaa] But - why would somebody do this? That doesn't make any sense.

I really don't know.

[...]

It definitely wasn't what I was expecting to find when I ran out of the dorm 'cause of the fire alarm...

Oh - is that what that was?

[ye olde strikes again. but, after a moment:]

Are you alright? Or - going to be alright?

I'm alright. And I will be.

[she's not the one who died, after all!]

...are you?

[after a moment:]

I don't know. I mean - I knew there was something bad up with this place, obviously, but I didn't think something like that would ever happen.

Yeah... this definitely wasn't something we could predict.

[kidnapping is one thing, but after a more or less peaceful week, how could any of them make the leap to assume that someone was going to die?

...maybe they let their guards down.]

...It really does feel like we just got blindsided, doesn't it?

...yeah... I really don't like it.

[...he gives her shoulder a little squeeze.]

I bet we can get through it together, though.

[she manages a small, grateful-looking smile]

Yeah... I bet we can.

You seem pretty tough to me, so... Ah, not to say that you always have to be if you're even not feeling it.

I am pretty tough! Or at least, I can be. I think. Especially when there's people like you to back me up.

[...]

But you don't have to pretend like you're okay, either.

...I don't think I'd be very good at pretending even if I tried. I'm not okay. This is - horrible.

It really is. But... luckily we've got people to support us.

We can be not okay together.

Maybe we could make a club.

[it's a joke, though it's halfhearted given the circumstances.]

Like a support group? That's not a bad idea...

[she is not joking]

...What's a support group?

A group of people who are dealing with the same unpleasant thing and help each other through it.

Oh.

[...]

You mean, like, friends...? Are friends called a support group where you're from?

Oh! No, friends are friends... it's just, um, how should I put this... sometimes your friends haven't been through the exact same things you have? So it's easier to talk to people who have.

That's where the support group comes in - it's all people who know exactly what you're going through because they lived it.

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heartlands - 2021-06-15 05:36 (UTC) - Expand

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wtfox - 2021-06-15 14:53 (UTC) - Expand