interstellar5555 | the hope of morning

Who: Tiger, Pinkie, and Kido. Maybe others??
What: Tiger is scared and sad on Halloween night and so he sneaks into other people's rooms.
When: Morning of the 1st.
Where: Around the System Crash penthouse.
Warnings: Maybe discussion of child abuse but idk.

If it was even possible, Tiger gets more reclusive and emotionally frayed after his apparent exploits downtown. Jin doesn't go into details, but she comes back mad, and implies that he's run off into down in the middle of a press event. From the way that Tiger has been acting, it seems pretty likely he didn't really want to come back.

Trying to talk to him about it has been impossible recently - trying to talk to him in general has been impossible. Whatever spiral Tiger has gotten himself onto seems like it's only getting worse and worse.

Tiger is trying and failing to sleep for the 8th hour in a row when he starts having those weird thoughts again. It's impossible to describe, just like one moment life is one way, and the next, it's different. Dozing listlessly, he remembers the sound of thunder.

He was younger, then. By five years, at least. He remembers shivering in the back of a van, spooked by the sounds outside, and only composing himself as well as he is due to the presence of his dad next to him. He remembers him explaining why rain falls and why thunder cracks, and how in understanding something that scares you, you can find peace.

Before the absurdity of that idea can even set in, another flash of memory comes back to him, of staring out of that same van's window at a dark and sickly green sky. Something is chasing them, he thinks. But he is finding reasons to not be afraid.

Maybe when Peridot gets to Earth, she'll see how nice all the people are...and she won't wanna hurt anyone.

Just like his mother, he tells him.

Realizing it isn't real causes his entire body to seize. No nightmare could make him feel worse than he does right then, as that feeling of warmth and pride drains away from him. He starts crying right then and there, and just wishes that this would stop - that he could be sane again, like he was before. He's rather be angry than sad.

When he can't stand the silence anymore (or imagining the rain) he steps out into the hall for the first time in a while. When he arrives, he arrives completely unannounced.

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She should sit up. Awkwardly, Pinkie thrashes around to a vaguely upright position. Okay, there, that's better. LOADS more normal and human and stuff!

"What?" She seems genuinely puzzled by the question. "No, I don't hate you!" And really, she doesn't. Tiger can be pretty tough to deal with sometimes, but it takes a lot to really bother her. He's only done it every now and then. Either way, she doesn't hate him. She doesn't hate anyone! "Why do you ask that?"

He falls quiet for a little while longer, unsure of how to voice what he's attempting to get at. Staring off into the dark, he tries to get his thoughts in order.

"Because..."

He trails off. He can't do this.

"A lot of people do."

"Awwwwww, Tiger." Pinkie puts an arm around his shoulder, scooting closer. "People don't hate you!"

Wow, that's totally not at all true, is it? She's not sure if she knows anybody who hate-hates him, but she knows a lot of people who don't like him. It's kinda just because of the way he acts. If he were anyone else, and this were something else, she might say as much...but he's just a little kid. Show business kinda screws kids up.

"Did somebody say something to you?"

"They tried to kill me, Pinkie!" he says miserably. He's pretty sure that people do. "They didn't even care, they just laughed."

He knows that both of them screwed up during that whole hazing thing - they'd both been in the loser bin more or less. Tiger is perhaps taking that as more of a truthful representation of his worth than is healthy.

"Wait, who did?"

Pinkie knew Tiger hadn't done any better than she did in that, of course. But he hadn't really been forthcoming with details, and she didn't want to pry into it.

Tiger curls up into a tighter ball, his gaze dropping. He suddenly regrets admitting that in the first place.

"Those...those guys from Junkyard Carnival," he says, his voice becoming more and more quiet as he speaks. "...One of them said I wasn't worth saving."

Well, Tiger being curled up in a ball makes it easier for Pinkie to hug him! She's got the feeling back in her arms now, so it's easy!

"Awwww, Tiger, I'm so sorry! You know those guys are like, total assholes, right?" Pinkie is rarely one for profanity. She doesn't even get angry much. But oh - she'd kinda like to know who said that. Who talks like that to anybody?

But being mad is secondary to hugging Tiger.

And he...lets her? Weird. He's so upset, he can't really resist the need for some comfort, even if his pride usually wouldn't allow it. It feels nice having someone's arms around him, even if he feels stupid and useless at the same time.

"I know," he mumbles, starting to shake. "I...I thought I was going to die and they were...they were going to be the only people who...they didn't even look at me and I couldn't breathe, and..."

She's not really sure what happened on Tiger's end of things, but she did wake up in the cages wit him. He was soaked. Were they really just going to stand around and let a kid drown? Like, her group didn't really do a great job at saving Trucy either, but at least they all tried.

Pinkie pats him on the head lightly. "We wouldn't have left that place without you."

He looks up at her, and while it doesn't seem like he's sure he believes it, he clearly appreciates that she's making the effort. Just thinking about it has gotten him shaking though, in the clutches of his memories of that traumatic event.

Eye shining with tears, he looks down a moment later, and falls quiet, trying to ride out the terror that's running through him. He doesn't feel like he can explain what's going on in his head, but she doesn't seem to care either way.

Hey, some mornings Pinkie can't describe how her own hands work.

"Do you wanna stay the night here?" she asks, after another quiet moment of hugging. "I kinda miss the whole tour bus thing - this place is so big." And empty, and not really how she'd have decorated...it's not very homey, is all.

Tiger feels the exact same way. He has since the day they moved in. The rooms are huge and don't look like anything any of them would set up themselves. It's weird.

"...Yeah. Okay." He's quiet for a few moments more. "I don't like my room, either."

Hey, she never said she didn't like it!

...oh, who is she kidding. She doesn't really. "I wanted to redecorate, and maybe replace these." Pinkie picks idly at the sheets surrounding them. They're nice and silky and all, but kinda bland by her standards. "But I was too nervous. Maybe it'd be better if we all did it together?"

"Yeah, ha ha." The laugh is weak, but it's present. "It's harder for them to get mad at everybody at the same time! Though...they'll probably just change them back in the wash or something."

So rude.

"Ehhhhhh, I guess so." That's the thing about not doing their own laundry, isn't it? Pinkie would offer to do it herself, except that she's not sure where the washing machines even are and also she doesn't know how. It's not worth it anyway except to protect their potential Actual Real-People Sheets.

"But I mean, what're they gonna do if we put some posters up or something? Take them down?" That...probably that. "We could hang like, old-timey beads from the doors!"

He smiles a little bit, thinking about that. He knows exactly what he would do with those hangy bead things if it was his decision.

"Maybe if we got them in a red tone they'd allow it because it matches," he says. "I think it would totally fit the...the thing they have going on here."

"The whole like...lion pride-y thing?" Yeah, that did not escape Pinkie's notice. "I guess Lesedi just really likes that stuff. I wonder if she picked it all out herself or what."

She sounds a little ambivalent on the subject of Lesedi. She tried to make friends with her when they met that one time! She just...wasn't super friendly. And that's okay! Just, how is she supposed to pick out all this stuff for them if she doesn't even really know them?

the hope of morning

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