postictal | ic inbox; entranceway

yeah.
tough to figure what was going on.

[A moment passes before he adds, belatedly:]

glad you made it.

[...oh. Was he worried?

Of course not. Why would he be? He's just a stranger in this world, nobody knows who he is. Kind of rude to say that all at once, though.

His own response comes a little belatedly.]

would've come back either way. would've also been shittier that way too, i think.

uh so

thanks.

no one could talk right after they came back.
like their words got all scrambled.

for the best you didn't.

[Diverting is easier than outright acknowledgment, huh?]

...there were kids talking like that.

yeah.
i know.

[That hadn't been easy to deal with either, the repercussions of that. The repercussions of - of how they got to be like that.]

no.

[It'd completely slipped his mind, that there were kids here. One of them was really young. Marlene's age, perhaps. He'd...

Fuck.]

they're kids. they shouldnt

terrible.

i know

best we can do is make sure it doesn't happen again.

[He's not any good with kids, he knows that much. But he knows enough to know that being a kid - sucks. It sucks, and things that happen when you're young can fuck you up for the rest of your life.

He learned that lesson a little too well.]

[He never had a good childhood, himself. Never actually got to be a kid. But that doesn't mean it should happen to other kids. They shouldn't have to suffer, to die. All those kids in Edge dealing with the stigma. Losing siblings.

Kids like Denzel.]

what can we do?

[How? How can he help prevent it?]

see how many there are here for starters.
there's a lot.

[And it's not like he'll be able to help unless there's a way to...take inventory, or something along those lines.]

just... keep track of the ones that show up on the network, then?

[Far be it from him to just start going around all of Wonderland and counting every individual child there is.]

pretty much.
not like we could've done much this time around

[Funny how that doesn't make him feel any better.]

Those kids didn't have to die. shoulda focused more on them than some rabbit.

i didn't even realize

sorry.

i mean it's not like either of us were thinking real straight at the time

should've been better, though. should've saved those kids.

...but 'should'ves' don't help this much.

no. they dont.

[Sorry to say.]

can't do much about it now

[Eugh. He didn't mean for it to turn into this. It's a minute before Cloud finally decides to change the subject. Try not to think about drowning children for awhile.]

listen, back there. i don't handle being trapped well. i didn't mean for you to get wrapped up in that.

to be fair i don't know anyone who handles being trapped very well.
not fond of it either.

[Not like he was having several consecutive panic attacks one after the other or anything though. Course not.]

[Maybe one day he'll be ready to talk about why. To be more... open about all of that. His business. But as it stands, he had to sugarcoat it around his own friends. It's not an easy thing to talk about.]

were you hurt?

no.

[He is a liar.]

just panicked most of the time

It's okay to panic. it's okay to not be okay.

but you still helped me anyway.

yeah
just not very convenient

[But since when has any part of him been "convenient" huh?]

your rabbit ok?

[It's enough, even though Cloud doesn't really think he's worth saving. That Tim might've just wasted time for himself reaching out to someone like him.]

yeah. the water stopped so she's back in her cage now.

good
nice of wonderland to make sure that worked out at least

don't know how many times i actually carried her out

but

never really had a pet before. don't wanna screw it up.

how'd you end up with something like that

[Because talking about rabbits is infinitely preferable to talking about drowning kids.]

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