Twenty-Ninth PSI

[a_gentle_boy]

[action]
[The days of January have passed relatively uneventfully for Lucas.  He's had a lot to think about, and a lot to consider.  For now, though, each time passes much like the rest, and he will take happiness in whatever peace he can get.  His routine is fairly straightforward.

1: Every morning, early morning, Lucas gets on his tea table and delivers his paper. He's still getting used to the hang of it, though. Maybe he'll accidentally smash it into your door, at which point, he'll hurriedly get off to check to see if he damaged anything. Most of the time, he hasn't.
2: After school, he practices piano alone in the music room. By this point, he can be eavesdropped upon without anyone wanting to forbid him from ever touching an instrument again. The songs he plays are strangely melancholy.
3: In his free time, he sits in the park or in his house and practices his sketching.  Most of the time, he's drawing his friends, so perhaps you'll run across him drawing you.]

[voice]
[A phone call is broadcast to everyone later that night.]

Hello?  A-Ah.  This is Lucas.

I've been thinking a lot lately, and there's something that's been on my mind.  I guess I want to ask . . . How long has this town been here?  How long have people come in and out?  Does anyone really know?  But what's more important is . . . does anyone really remember everyone who's been here? 

When people get droned, we think they've gone home, right?  It's the hope we have, and a lot of the times it's true, but can we really be sure that it's everyone? Sergei -- the Russian man.  He, um.  Didn't he say that they were in a lot of pain?  That some people who were droned . . . that they were still inside.  If that's so, then . . . then we can't just forget about them, right?  Even if one person is still here as a drone, we can't forget about them.  And either way, it's terrible to forget the people you've become friends with at all.  To forget about the people who've come to Mayfield and who've gone.

............. I know I've already started to.

Does anyone think we should maybe start keeping track?  Just . . . something so that the people who come here won't ever be forgotten.  Maybe even signatures.  So if you do start to forget, then you can look back and see everyone's name and remember.  Small things like . . . Miss Margot, and how she was always caring for her sister.  Fuuko and how much she loved starfish.  Mr. Zero, and how fun his gym classes were.

It might be a bad idea.  Or too much work.  But . . . Well.  I guess if you don't want to talk about that, maybe we can just share stories of people who've been here and how important they were to us.  I'd love to hear that kind of thing.

[Please specify 1, 2, 3, or voice.  Although the actions are really just default Lucas interactions if your character has no interest in this topic.]

Comments

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Hopefully the hug is too quick for Kay to notice Lucas stiffen. As she sits down beside him, he tries to shift the paper subtly away a little so she can't see it as well.]

Bad sides only show up when I try and draw the good sides.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Do you want me to pose for you?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

A-Aha. I wouldn't want to make you stand that long. You'd probably be pretty stiff by the time I was done.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Well, if you say so!

So, how have you been lately?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Um. I . . . I've been OK.

[He can be more honest with Kay.]

Christmas was pretty hard on everyone, I think. And now another holiday's coming up soon . . . And there's still a lot to think about.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Valentine's Day, huh? I wasn't around for that one last year... do you know what kind of stuff happened before?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

It was right after I came here. Everyone got bags of candy hearts that did funny things to you depending on the color.

I, um. Was very good at writing poetry for a while.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Huh... guess I'd better watch out for that, then. Man, what is with this town and weird candy, anyway?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

I never even thought of that. Maybe it's because everyone's so easily tempted . . .

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

I just threw that weird Halloween candy away.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

You had more self-control than I did, then. I should've known better, just from what happened on Valentine's Day.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Well, this town does weird stuff to people. Sometimes you can't help it.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Like Christmas. I wasn't even going to ask for anything at all. It's not something I would've done, but it just . . . happened.

You know, if they can influence us like that, you'd think they'd just do that kind of thing constantly. All the time.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're not powerful enough to keep it up constantly.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . That might be it. I wish I knew why, too. If they want us to like living here, these kinds of things shouldn't happen.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Yeah. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, right?

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Uh-huh.

[pause.]

Is that really true? I never tried it.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no idea, it's just a saying.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Oh. OK.

[pause again.]

Anyway. It would be nice if we could actually have something to celebrate once without the town messing it up.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Well, we can still celebrate peoples' birthdays most of the time, at least.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . Most people haven't mentioned when theirs are. Do you mind if I ask about yours, Kay?

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

[And now, time to make her birthday up since they never actually tell you anywhere! Based on the dates in the games, it's between March and September, so let's split the difference~.]

"Mine? It's in June. I kinda forgot to celebrate it last year, since Mayfield is always so busy."

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

We'll definitely have to change that this year. If we're still here, I mean.

[thief-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Hopefully we'll figure out a way to go home before then, but if we're both still around, that sounds like a great idea!

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . I'll write it down right away so I don't forget.

[Despite his cheerful smile, Lucas suddenly seems a little more melancholy than he had a few seconds ago. ... If he was honest with himself, he hadn't even thought about making it home in a really long time. This, in his head, was calculated in years now, not weeks or months.]