⇨ 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

[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."