paradisa | Twenty Eight Truffula Trees

[Friends]

[He'd meant to do this yesterday, but the Lorax arriving had thrown him off. Still, the forest guardian had done him some good. It meant he had to try to piece himself together again, or at least start to. But there was something more important to attend to now. After losing Zelos and House (the memory of watching the latter die engraved on his brain and refusing to leave) he needs to know...]

Okay guys, if you could tell me if you got out of that mess now would be a really great time. Don't make me come looking for you, because I'm pretty sure someone in here will drag me back to bed before I can pathetically shuffle as far as the door. We'd be at it all day.

Just...check in.

[Mom]

[He didn't want to make this filter. He'd rather her not know where he is. Perhaps, even, he has the smallest hope her visit in the castle was brief. Enough to shake him up before she went home again. One last wonderful stab in the chest to remember her by.

...But she's still his mother. And he still needs to know if she's okay]

I asked after you. Where were you? Are you still here?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She does belong on this filter because, after all, the Once-ler knows only too well the sting of regret. The feeling of wronging the people you care about most.

But he still can't get the image of her killing House out of his head. House was his family, even if neither of them willingly admitted it most of the time. And it hurt. He speaks to her, but there is a distance in his tone]

...Yeah. I got off lucky.

[ It's the distance that hurts. She isn't callous enough to miss it, but this is a friend she doesn't want to lose over a fault that wasn't intended. She chooses who stays and goes and this one should stay. There is a long pause before she speaks again. ]

What was his name?

[It takes him a while to answer. He can't shut her out of his life, he knows it's something he'll ultimately regret. And in the end, it was the castle that did this to her]

Gregory House.

[ Then, what else do you say? Everyone not family is disposable, she would not mourn them. Should she ask for pardon? ]

I think, he read you the Inferno, did he not? He sounded similar.

He did.

[He takes a deep, steady breath] He was like a father to me.

[ Even her words fail her, so she is silent for the longest while. Her voice is barely a whisper when she speaks. ]

I would never harm anyone so dear to you.

[The sting is still there, but the Once-ler knows only too well...doing things that hurt others - the regret you feel afterwards. Lucrezia is still his friend, even if he's a touch distant when he speaks]

I know. You weren't in your right mind. It was that...gravity core thing. Same reason why that kid attacked me. It's not any of your faults.

The one who was my husband limps.

[ But that's as much as he'll get when it comes to a confession, or a plea for forgiveness. ]

Tell me what I can do to ease your sorrow.

[He doesn't respond to that, other than a soft noise of acknowledgement. He's filing that away, for now]

I think what I mostly need right now is time.

[ She tries to find other things to say. Even if she concedes, an apology does no good. ]

Then you have it.

[At least he can be fairly sure time will help him. Even a little bit]

...Thanks.