⇨ The Tourist Trap: PROLOGUE

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: Any time before the start of the event.
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Once you've submitted your AU summary, you can use this post to do some CLOSED THREADING to play out some character interactions that happened before the event start. This means that memory regains will not be in play yet. Open top levels are not allowed - these threads are intended to sort out closed interactions between planned backstory connections, during the week leading up to the actual event start.
Warnings: Could be anything.

PORTLAND, AS YOU KNEW IT↴ The shift went unseen and unfelt. One moment you were one person, and the next, another. This before all that, though, in the new life that you remember living here in Portland. No memories of your true self have arisen yet, and at the time this was the only life you knew. Did these events truly happen at all? Or do they only exist in memory?

Comments

[starseedling]

He senses that moment of hesitation, even if she is otherwise reserved about it. He understands why. He misses it every day - and the idea that she's been here her entire life chills him.

He feels really bad for her, but he doesn't dare say so. What place does he have to be expressing sympathies over that, right now?

"Is... the Lord of Conflagration your dad?" he asks, hesitantly. His understanding of changelings is based mostly on his own.

[anti_nonsense]

That catches her off guard. "What? No."

Her eyes widen for a moment, but she forces herself to keep her voice low enough to be unobtrusive. "My parents were human. They abandoned me, so he took me in." At least, that's the version of events Rita was told. She's not sure it's entirely true, but voicing skepticism on the subject won't do her any good.

But for him to ask a weird question like that... "Wait, don't tell me you're..." Her gaze drifts back to where they came from. Where the Rose Queen is.

[starseedling]

He looks at her, and then glances away, flushing. It's a moment or two before he speaks, though he starts with a small nod.

"The Rose Queen is my mom..." he says. There are a lot of complicated feelings behind that statement, none of which he dares express.

[anti_nonsense]

It's just as she thought. But that's... well, Steven probably knows how messed up it is.

Then there's that 'dad' of his back in the human world... Was Steven taken away from him? Or did he just give up on his kid, like Rita's parents did? It's not something Rita can ask about.

"... I see." That's all she can say to that. Her gaze falls distant again, and an uncomfortable silence starts to fill the space between them.

[starseedling]

It's probably pretty messed up. Silly him, thinking that his mom would actually treat him like her son for most of his life. Though... maybe this just is how a fae treats their son. It doesn't feel right to him at all.

But it doesn't really matter how he feels, does it? He wraps his arms around himself, and he feels himself tearing up. Seeing Rita here has suddenly become more scary than anything else.

"Am I really going to have to stay here forever?" he asks, his voice shaking and frail. "I want my dad..."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita doesn't know how to respond to his crying. She's never really seen anyone cry before, and it's not like anyone was ever around to comfort her when she cried... which she hasn't, in a long time now.

What's clear is Steven doesn't want to stay here any more than Rita does. If Rita were a kinder person, she might offer him words of hope, or perhaps even share some of what she learned in preparing her own escape plan. But she isn't that kind. She's not willing to put her plan in jeopardy just to make someone else feel better.

"Maybe," she answers without looking him in the eyes. "That, or however long the fae want you to stay."

[starseedling]

Steven sinks down into a crouch, his arms wrapped tightly around himself. It's not the first time he's cried since arriving here, either. He's always been quick to tears, and this has been no exception.

He devolves into soft little sobs, partially ashamed at doing this in front of someone who obviously doesn't care and partially unable to care about anything that isn't the fact that he'll probably never see his dad again. He wants to be angry, to hate his mom for what she's doing to him, but he can't manage that either.

All of it is just so terrible. All this time, he never knew what had been waiting for him. He'd always believed that his mother would love him.

Provided Rita doesn't interrupt him, he'll be at this for a little while, until he eventually looks up to her pleadingly - like he's looking for anything he can connect to.

"Don't you ever want to leave?" he asks, shaking.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita just stands and looks away while the kid sobs. What else is she going to do? She does feel kind of bad for him, but at the same time, she's just... emotionally numb. Even though they're in the same, terrible situation, Rita can't fully relate to the kind of loss he's feeling. And even she could, there isn't much she could say about it.

When he lifts his head, she meets his eyes for a moment, then resumes looking away. "Leave and go where? It's not like I have a family waiting for me or anything." It's not an honest answer... but it's not a lie, either.

[starseedling]

Steven rubs his eyes with his arm, trying to calm himself down, but he can't. It's so horrible. All of this is so horrible, and it's even worse that Rita doesn't feel like she has anywhere better. She has to. Doesn't she?

"You could live with us," he says, knowing how meaningless that is here, but still... maybe he just wants her to know that this isn't all there is to life. "My dad... my dad would look after you, too. People look out for each other."

Not like here.

[anti_nonsense]

Live... with them? With a real family, with people who care about each other?

The thought of it makes her feel... weird. This is the kindest anyone's ever been to her, and living with someone like that every day... might actually be nice. But at the same time, the thought fills her with dread. She doesn't dare acknowledge her desire to leave, to find a better place, when they could be overheard out here. And even though she will leave, she doesn't dare hope that things will end as neatly and happily as Steven's saying.

"What are you, an idiot?" she says through gritted teeth. "Don't be ridiculous. That's never going to happen."