Twentieth PSI

[a_gentle_boy]

[action, multi-topic for everyone]
Lucas is a wreck.  By now, he has forsaken the hat and the mask, and his burn marks are very clearly visible to anyone who didn't guess before.  He doesn't particularly care.

1. He stumbles across town like a zombie, smashing into things wherever he goes, barely registering the pain.  He stops suddenly in random spots, staring at the floor or at a tree or at a shop window or at a drone.  This is where we had ice cream.  This is where I bought him the present.  This is the bench where he listened to my story . . . This is where . . . This is . . .

2. In school, he keeps his head down and buried and sits in a far corner.  His shoulders occasionally heave.

3. At home, he shuts himself in his room.  Family members or those who visit him will find drawing after drawing after drawing of a certain person strewn all across the floor, each one with slash marks through the face.  Is he already forgetting?  Is he losing the smile, the laugh, the voice?

[action, forward-dated, open to Taiwan, Saki, and Mindy]
A full day after his meeting with Taiwan, Lucas enters the house uninvited.  He doesn't care about not being selfish anymore.  He has remembered -- There is something very precious he needs to get back, the symbol and the memory that he absolutely needs.

He finds it in the basement.  True to his word, the Netherlands has framed the very first drawing that Lucas has ever made, of Miffy and Hello Kitty enjoying a picnic in a park.  Propped up beside it is the best piece of art that Lucas has ever produced: a drawing of the two of them, laughing and happy, so closely resembling each other in looks that they could've passed as a father and a son.

He is about to leave with his treasures when he catches a glimpse of something else out of the corner of his eye.  A shoebox.  For 'Lucas'.  His hands shake as he pops the lid; he stares at what's inside.

"Mr. Netherlands . . . . . . . I . . .  I . . . OK.  I'll keep going.  I'll keep fighting . . . "

((I have been informed that Lucas has been left notes of all the conversations the Netherlands has had with Jane Smith, the Westport notes, and Richard Grey's wallet.  Also, Nini, if you don't mind, I think I will forward-date that conversation they just had to after this.))

Comments

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Please . . . It's OK. You . . . You don't have to do anything.

[His voice has become slightly more animated as a wan smile flickers across his face. This one actually keeps for longer than a half-second.]

I am . . . glad to be able to help people.

[wybrows.livejournal.com]

... W-well... He'll be back. So stop actin' so sad. I mean, I painted his house for him for free and I won't allow him to just leave it.

[lotuslife.livejournal.com]

[for a moment, her eyes fill with tears; she blinks, and then they are gone. if there's anything in the world that is truly pure- full of light- Vietnam believes it to be children, which is why she hates to see them suffer.] Is that so? Then that is all you need in life. A desire to spread your light.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Lucas's head swivels up as he seeks the person who called to him. . . . This person was . . . Right.]

Oh. . . . Oh, I'm fine. Thanks.

[As in response to the others, Lucas's voice is curiously flat. His eyes are a little too empty.]

((I am going to bed now, sorry I can't keep tagging. =( Good night.))

[rapier-ex.livejournal.com]

Huh? Lucas?

... Are you okay?

[supersizedpower.livejournal.com]

What happened?

[He's not the most perceptive, but he can tell there's something very the matter with the kid.]

((That's fine!))

[action]

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

[Coming down to see who is in the basement. Here Lucas, have a sad little girl clutching a teddy bear.]

Lucas....?

2; placeholder

[stay-cool-bro.livejournal.com]

[he is concerned about this... angsting in a corner business, but he has no idea what could be wrong, making this awkward. He approaches uncertainly]

Uhhh...

Lucas?

2

[snackaholictank.livejournal.com]

[They don't have the same classes, but that's not going to stop her from chasing him down immediately after school.]

What is with you?

1

[sting-like-a.livejournal.com]

[Miakis is out for yet another walk, not looking too happy herself, but the sight of a sad kid makes her forget all about the bad week she's had. After watching him bump into a wall, she runs over to Lucas and gently grabs his shoulder, frowning.]

Whoa there, kiddo, watch where you're going! You feeling okay...?

2

[thelittlecanary.livejournal.com]

[Garnet approaches Lucas with caution, because she sees the way his tiny frame is trembling. A little voice is telling her to let him be, but he reminds her too much of a certain Black Mage, who filled her heart with sunny memories and then Stopped from one day to the next like an old pocket watch, to let him go unnoticed.

So she'll gently set a hand on a heaving shoulder and lean in, but not too close.] Lucas?...

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

What's hoo-doo . . . ?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Even if he comes back, it . . . it won't be him. And all that means is that he'll be stuck here again . . .

[The thought of a strange man who doesn't remember him in the place of the man he had grown to love is worse than anything else he can imagine.]

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Oh. That's right. He had never said.]

Netherlands . . .

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[All he needs in life . . . It was a nice thing to say, but the pressing need he feels at the moment reminds him otherwise. There were other things -- friendship. laughter. love. Lucas lowers his eyes and nods.]

It's . . . what I've lived for.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Sorry . . .

[It takes him a few seconds to begin to raise himself off the pavement.]

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[A few responses bounce around in Lucas's head before one emerges.]

You're . . . a country, too. Right?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Lucas glances up as the girl walks down the stairs, feeling guilty about being there. Although he'd done it so many times in the past, it didn't feel the same way without the Netherlands there -- Thankfully, the drone was at work. He would've melted on the spot if he had seen it.]

Mindy . . .

[He puts the things back into the shoebox -- There wasn't any point in Mindy seeing that stuff -- and turns around. If Taiwan could comfort him when she was devastated, he could do the same for this girl.]

Re: 2; placeholder

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

((Ah, sorry. I'm not sure what you mean by 'placeholder'.))

[Lucas glances up at the sound of his name. Through his unfocused eyes, he can only recognize Horohoro from his hair.]

Hi.

[He doesn't even try to smile this time.]

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[He has only just made it out the front gate of the school when she accosts him. There is a long pause.]

It's . . . nothing.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[He rubs absently at the spot on his shoulder that had banged into a wall while blankly staring at the woman speaking to him. He doesn't recognize her. Not even after thinking for a good five seconds. He wonders if his mind will ever stop feeling like sludgy porridge.]

I'm . . . fine. Sorry.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Garnet has caught him at a moment where he hasn't been able to keep the tears at bay. Why had he even come to school today? Stupid. There is a vague attempt at speaking from the head buried in the crossed arms.]

Sorry . . .

1

[motheringnation.livejournal.com]

[Sees you walk into something and hurries over worried.]

Oh dear, are you alright?!

1

[perfektsymmetry.livejournal.com]

[Ok, the assumed you were injured when he saw you last but he didn't think it was THIS bad]

Lucas...!

1

[bridgetroll.livejournal.com]

[Jesus Christ this kid. This kid. Parsee snarls and tries to shove him away; her bruise might have healed, but the memory hasn't.]

You again. What, did you get tired of using a bat?