interstellar5555 | (open) do you know how far this has gone?

Who:Terry and YOU
What: Someone regained the ability to sense fears and is furiously trying to ignore it
When:Feb 22nd
Where:Pride HQ/out and about
Warnings: None yet, will update as needed.

PRIDE HQ

[It's a lot to wake up to-- Terry can't decipher it at first, but it feels familiar and uncomfortable all the same. This deafening noise in his head it's a struggle to think through.]

[Eventually he drags himself to the café, thinking maybe he's just going stir crazy from staying in the penthouse all the time. He brings a notebook and his loudest headphones, sitting with his soup and the loudest music he has to hand. Maybe he can work through it. Maybe he just needs something to focus on.]

[Or maybe not.]

[It fucking hurts. Like something's screaming for his attention and he can't pick it out of the noise.]

[He kinda just ends up spending more time with his head in his hands then he does writing or eating.]

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

It's gotta be the building right. Enough weird shit goes on in there that it's not so out there he'd be hearing things. All he knows is he has to get away from it.

But it just follows.

Terry's walking aimlessly when he catches something he's absolutely not in the mood to deal with right now. ”Hey, isn't that the guy from Cosmic Indulgence?” “Yeah, Trauma. Hey! Trauma! We love your band!!!”

Why do these things happen to good people?

He's more than happy to entertain fans most days, but right now? His skull feels like it's splitting and he kinda hates everyone in the world right now. But he puts on his game face anyway.

It's somewhere in the sudden onslaught of selfies and autographs that there's this… Moment of clarity. One of them is being particularly obnoxious and it's like he zeroes in on them, totally blanks out until they're yelling about ‘how cool it is’ and asking how he knew. Apparently like an idiot he drew a bee with his autograph and a dumb comment about nightmares.

At least he didn't freak anyone out? But they're all clamouring for his attention and backing up with stuff about how he needs to go isn't doing much.

Someone help?

[Prose or brackets welcome! HMU over PM or @

FiremanSam if you have something else you'd like to do!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You want to trade? Pyrotechnics for fear-ESP? I should warn you, mine comes with a side of Wondering If You're Satan," she smirks and shifts both of them to a closer and more comfortable cuddling position.

"I don't want mine either, if you want the truth. I want to make music and inspire people, I don't need to be able to light my own cigarettes and scorch profanity into bar counters when I'm pissed at their lack of service. But as much as I try not to think about it, it's happening.

"And it sucks, believe me, I understand how much this sucks and how nothing makes sense or seems even remotely possible. But the worst thing either of us can do is pretend it's not happening. Whatever it is, the fact that it has almost nothing to do with our careers makes it weird and important, probably."

It's important to think about, but right now isn't the time. Not for Terry. His head is pounding and he has yet to figure out how to drown out the noise. He can't even begin conceptualising how to move forward with this screaming sound blaring constantly. It hasn't even been an entire day and he's already losing his damn mind.

He lets out a small breath, tucking his head against Luci's neck and murmuring softly, "I can't believe you just threw me around like a ragdoll."

"Believe it," she says with a snort, putting her hand at the back of Terry's head to encourage him to stay right there. It's warm and tactile, she likes it. "And there's more where that come from, emo kid, if I hear you say 'sorry to bother you with this' and it's not a baby or a Tinder mistake."

He doesn't need the encouragement to stay put, but it's nice to have. It's comforting, all of this is comforting. Short of a cure for this shit, it's exactly what he needs. Something to reassure him he's not toxic or frightful or whatever other words come to mind more and more lately whenever he's alone.

"So... Now would be a bad time to mention the baby, huh?" His voice is kinda muffled on account of where his face is, and she probably can't see that tiny hint of a smirk for the same reason, but he's clearly joking nonetheless.

Luci makes a fist and gently pushes it right into Terry's stomach.

"If you think Auntie Lucifer is a good idea, you're crazier than I believed you were."

Terry laughs, "you'd be pretty good. It's all the fun of shaping young minds with none of the accountability for when they start fights at preschool."

"Yeah, that's what everyone says, but if I'm teaching the kid to not take shit when somebody takes their bucket, abandoning them in their hour of principal-scolding is just cold. What does that teach them? Not even that adults lie, but that saving your own hide is the most important thing. It might encourage them not to get caught next time, but let's be real, there's only so many places to hide on a playground."

"You'd be surprised." One gets pretty good at finding hiding places when one's an easy target. But still, that's... Quite the answer. Terry raises his head just enough that Luci can see his raised eyebrow, "you've given this some thought, huh?"

"Oh yeah, all the time. I think about kids all the time," Luci says, completely deadpan. Then she cracks a smile and shrugs.

"Kids are just miniature people. I wouldn't leave you high and dry, it's a shitty thing to do."

Terry laughs softly, a little tired, "I guess."

He lays his head back down, other things coming to mind as he gets comfortable again. "I know I got in a lot of shit for my brother," he says absently. It's probably why Billy trusted him, came to Terry instead of their parents when he had bad dreams and--

... So that's what that weird dream at the Gala was about.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Luci raises her eyebrows. Huh. Terry always seemed like an only child-- like she was. But maybe that's what he'd thought. "Sounds like you were a good brother, though, if the two of you were getting into shit together."

She might've liked that. Maybe. If it had been an option. But she has Yuffie-- her punk rock sister. That's... just as good, right?

"Most people don't." It's one of the things he's most reticent to talk about, his family. "Haven't seen him in a few years, but I guess that's what Yuffie's for."

The implied sentiment being that he likely won't see his brother again any time soon, though calling it years feels like a lie. He remembers leaving home when he was 16, but another part of him feels certain it hasn't even been a year since he last saw Billy and his dad and-- Well, his mom must've been there too.

Whatever. Terry shakes his head, "I tried to be." A good brother, that is. Fuck knows if he succeeded.

"Mm," Luci nods faintly. "I haven't seen my parents in ages either, but I don't think they much care if they see me or not," she says, dispassionately. Luci was their only child, their only 'accident' as she remembered it. Now she's a superstar and she's left that whole mess behind.

"Siblings though," she smiles, thinking of Yuffie and, to some extent, Terry. Luci threatens to pull him up on top of her again. "Those are pretty amazing."

"Sometimes. Royal pains in the ass the rest of the time." Terry laughs softly, an expression on his face that's both sad and fond. Inwardly he's a little glad Luci can't see it right now - in some ways it's kind of a relief to talk about his family in any capacity, but it's also deeply unpleasant too. It's... Murky when he tries to think about his parents, painful in ways that don't make sense, but Billy at least is clear as day.

"I guess you're the expert here, so I won't argue, but you and Yuffie haven't been a pain in my ass-- yet," she clarifies, digging her fingers into Terry's side in an attempt to make him squirm a little. "I'll let you know when my ass starts hurting."

(open) do you know how far this has gone?

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