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?

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[And just like that, the anger simmers and goes out of him. He's aware of it, and hates himself for it. He should be angry, he shouldn't back down. But he knows what it's like, to be dropped here without having any idea what is going on. It's difficult.

...And a big part of him still pathetically wants her to just love him. Just be there for him, so, he sighs]

I'm sorry. It's been a really hard week.

Were you okay? Were you safe?

Mmm. So I heard. [Spaceships. She's not even going to broach the topic.]

I'm fine, Oncie - just feelin' a little disoriented, is all. I ain't used to this place yet. The whole thing just don't seem right.

[Should she bring it up? She's hesitant - really hesitant - but as much as she's loath to admit anything but total independence, she is too far out of her comfort zone.]

People keep sayin' I'm supposed to have lost somethin'. So far I ain't seein' any truth in it.

It isn't right, Mom. This place is...it's pretty crazy.

[And that admittance makes him pause, for a moment. Was that his mother admitting to some sort of weakness? It was...wasn't it?]

Yeah, you always lose something. Usually it's a memory or an ability or an item. I can't escape...that word. But everyone gets one.

[He makes a thoughtful noise] I can help you figure it out, if you like?

Well, I ain't missin' anythin' I can think of.

[It has already occurred to her that this probably means she's missing a memory. After all, it's the only thing she wouldn't know. And that worries her more than it should.]

What word, sweetie? [She doesn't... sound like she's that interested. Which is a lot more like her, really.]

If you got any ideas...

Unless. It happens after your time. The Lorax left it.

[And casually breezing past that because he knows the Lorax is not a welcome topic]

Hmm. Maybe you forgot someone in the family. Do you remember Brett and Chet? Aunt Grizelda? Uncle Ubb?

[She narrows her eyes a bit at the mention of the Lorax, but otherwise lets it go. She doesn't feel like dwelling on the hairball right now, as satisfying as it would be to complain about him.]

Of course I remember them! [She says that like it's obvious, but secretly she's relieved that she recognises all of those names.] I remember everythin' up to finishing a meeting, Oncie, and then... I went back to my desk...

[She trails off. And then, distantly-] It feels like so long ago.

For me, it was. It took five years...and then there's another added onto it here. Long time.

[Not as long as he'll have back home. Not by half. Not by a quarter. He's quiet, thinking]

Maybe you can't drive any more. [There's the tiniest sliver of amusement in his tone]

You've been here a year? [Dismayed:] Oncie, I don't wanna be stuck here that long.

[...]

That can't be it, Oncie, don't be silly. My drivin' skill is second to none. [8|]

That't nothing. I have a friend who's been here for nearly six years now.

[Mother you take out city blocks. Mother you are frightening behind the wheel. Mother no]

I guess it could be a memory then, if it's not obvious.

Twenty Eight Truffula Trees

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