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event } you're never gonna fit in much, kid.
WHO: Open to all passengers.
WHAT: Teen time!
WHERE: Anywhere on Navi.
WHEN: The next two weeks (Sept. 11-25).
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! And if your teen angst includes a body count, please report it on the death page.
When Navi wanders through this particular nebular cloud, you may find yourself feeling sleepy. Wouldn’t a nap be fantastic right now? Of course it would be. Treat yourself - you deserve it.
When you wake, however … that’s perhaps less of a treat. Where are you? (Or maybe who are you?) How did you get here? And why, when you look in the mirror, do you look so much older than you remember?
WHAT: Teen time!
WHERE: Anywhere on Navi.
WHEN: The next two weeks (Sept. 11-25).
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! And if your teen angst includes a body count, please report it on the death page.
When Navi wanders through this particular nebular cloud, you may find yourself feeling sleepy. Wouldn’t a nap be fantastic right now? Of course it would be. Treat yourself - you deserve it.
When you wake, however … that’s perhaps less of a treat. Where are you? (Or maybe who are you?) How did you get here? And why, when you look in the mirror, do you look so much older than you remember?
no subject
"No you don't," Don't lie to him, Richard. He knows better, he's seen you drinking and this isn't anything out of the ordinary. The staring might be the worst part. The unblinking, calculating stare of both the panther and Simon. Two monsters in the dark that had the power to crush a skull in one bite. Waiting. Patient.
A faint smirk. "Yes." Look at you, Richard, not being a giant pain in the ass about it.
no subject
Get it.
Not even Cheryl gets it and Richard sits up and winces.
"...Okay. I know I probably look like a giant sack of shit but I-Ugh." Damn it, "You're the first person I've met who I know is like me. I have to talk to you. Can we talk? I'll do whatever you want."
The mental cat yawns and stretches and continues to stare, this time with interest.
"...As soon as the room stops spinning. I had to drink a lot to get drunk."
Richard is not an alcoholic, but he does drink regularly. Just. Not to excess.
no subject
"You do," Simon's very helpful like this, pointing out how bad Richard looks right now. What a little asshole. Still... he might as well try to get across what little he can through that stubborn thick skull before Strand fills it with rocks. Maybe this is an opportunity disguised in annoyance. Still, the panther bares its teeth. A warning not to get too cocky. "Water first."
Drink some water, Richard, he's not putting up with you puking at him all night.
"Why are you drinking like this?" Usually it was depression, this just didn't make sense.
no subject
"Cut me a little slack. I didn't plan to end up like this. I went to bed totally normal and then woke up here and I'm stuck here." He shrugs then starts looking around for water, "I mean...I was having trouble sleeping but I don't think it has anything to do with that."
The cat lowers it's ears and tucks it's tail between it's legs.
"...It seemed like something to do." Never mind that seeing himself trapped by all the same things that his father gave him as an adult, as an old man, was so self defeating he wanted to cry, "I haven't been sleeping well. Whatever got me stuck here in this body-my mom's not doing well."
Jacqueline Strand had gotten delicate in his father's absence and her worry about Bobby Mames...
He groans, head in his hands, "I should be home taking care of her and my sister."
no subject
Good. The panther settles. Time to focus on something more interesting than a prodding house cat.
"You do." It's flat, it's matter of fact, and yet it's not even irritated this time. Is Simon trying to be... comforting? Maybe. "This you, right now, is temporary. The body you're in has already been through all of that. Watched over your mother, your sister..." A long pause as he turns his gaze back to Richard, then points him at the water machine. A cooler, but more high tech and without obvious water bottles. Easier to get a drink. "And your friends." Yes, he means Bobby Mames.
no subject
One hand curls into a fist and he just leaves it on the table, staring down at nothing.
Bobby. Poor little Bobby. He was responsible. He could save all of them if he just...if he just...
"...We don't find Bobby alive do we?" It was a stupid hope, a foolish thought he should have guessed he should have known, "...Damn it." He was too late. Always too late. If I had been smarter, stronger, I could have helped him.
no subject
"No." Simon isn't one who minces words or beats around the bush, he also doesn't like to lie. He might omit, when it's appropriate, but he doesn't typically lie. Not unless he really has to. Simon's gaze snaps back up to him. "No you couldn't." He snaps it, almost harsh. "You found him. That's more than anyone else could say."
no subject
Bobby loved dogs though. He wanted a big one more than anything and Richard was happy to take him to the dog park - laughing at his own private little joke, and join the kid as he walked up to various people - standing by the little boy's side to remind him. Ask to pet the dogs. Always ask if you can pet them.
He would read him dog facts. Bobby wanted to be a vet. To help animals. He'd never get a chance to and Richard would spend the rest of his life wondering if it was the dog park trips that had shown the boy off to predators.
The tone makes him stop and frown. Abrupt. Pained. His heart isn't hardened quite yet, so he nods mutely.
"...Doesn't make it any less hard. Nobody should be left behind like that. Nobody. Nobody deserves to die like that. To be left alone like that in the darkness where..."
In his mind the cat twists and whines, yowling.
He rises. The shadow men. They are always an enemy - even when the enemies are humans. Every day he tries to convince himself they aren't real even though he knows, suspects, believes they are.
"Nobody deserves to be left alone like that. Not anyone. You or me or anyone."
He feels every year as he starts to rise to his feet, "...I'm sorry. I need a glass of water before I keep talking. I..."
Ow.
"Christ. How old am I? A hundred?" Sixty is not a hundred Richard. No matter what you might think.
no subject
They really have a lot of work to do.
"Didn't say it would." Simon is only a man of many words when he wants to monologue at Alex's voicemail. Beyond that he keeps it curt, concise. "You have to stop dwelling on it." Guilt wasn't constructive. It wasn't going to get them anywhere and it sure as hell wasn't going to get Richard anywhere right now. Other than more drunk, and judging by the look of him he was doing a fine job of that on his own.
"Close enough." He smirks. Get your water already, Richard. Stop stalling.
no subject
"My father said I was a liar. He-"No. Despite his father's abuse and blatant disdain for every part of his son except the part he was trying to mold into the so-called "mantle of the dragon" he was raised right. Respectfully. You did not and do not say that to people, "He was full of shit wasn't he? I knew it. I knew it was all possible. Even if there's mysticism that doesn't mean it's bad. It might just be science we don't understand yet. Lingering parts of energy we just don't ...don't comprehend yet. Like a song you're learning the words to in school."
Funny that.
He sips at the water, struggling not to be animated, "I mean there are some things that have to be ridiculous. The church for instance, a sop and a blanket for fools and the manipulated, but the rest? The shadow men..."
He pauses, "Please. Please sit. You have to tell me, you know, I need to know."
no subject
"You've always known," A beat or two. "Too bad you spend most of your life following his footsteps." Elusive as ever. Simon is not and has not claimed to be nice. He's someone you absolutely want in your corner lest you find him in the corner against you, but he's not nice. At the comment about the song he freezes, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Yes... like a song."
Exactly like a song.
After several long moments where Simon seriously weighs just... noping out of this conversation entirely he eventually drags over a stool to perch on like the weird staring gargoyle he is. He'll entertain this... for a little while.
"What do you want to know?