paradisa | twenty-fourth snare

Entry tags:

gale hawthorne

twenty-fourth snare

[after a decent sojourn in Fairfield, helping the Wanderers repair their new home and teaching them how to set traps against the Collectors, Gale returns to Paradisa Town, carrying his backpack and a burlap bag. he's brought presents for people, things he's made out of resources from around the town, and he's eager to see his friends again and catch up on what he's missed. as he hauls it all across the front yard of Casa de Guts and into the kitchen, he's whistling to himself, and swings his bag up onto the table with a thud.

his journal falls out, so that the following is completely open to anyone and everyone]

Hey, guys, I'm home! I would've been back sooner, but I wanted to cure some meat so it'd keep on the trip back, and --

[he frowns. usually there's at least one person who'll poke their head in when he arrives ... Tsuna, Allen, South...]

Okay, where is everyone?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[ AHAHAHA OH GALE YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA.

you know, she should be glad to hear that he's back, and go to greet him cheerfully, but nope. right now, he's just a reminder of how there's yet another person in her life that could completely and totally crush her if he disappeared.

welp she'll just keep on sitting by the window, staring out at nothing. also the door to their room is locked, good luck with your gf gale lmfao ]

Edited 2013-09-20 16:26 (UTC)

[A young voice, probably no older than 9, replies. She sounds worried and upset, but she's felt that way for so long now that there's a tired quality to it.]

I don't know. People keep disappearing and I can't find them.

...I'm guessing you didn't get the update, huh? [Sighs] Let's just say that the castle decided to do some spring cleaning, only instead of taking out the trash, it decided to clear out the residents.

Hawthorne? You back?

[Oh, thank God. He wasn't one of the ones who had disappeared in the middle of the night.]

Hello??

[he's starting to really worry, now. usually someone answers. and they can't ALL be off doing something else. Crowley, at least, can usually be counted on to snipe at him, unless he's off with that weird guy in the suit that he and Ino know.

he's trying to keep his heart from leaping up into his throat as he abandons his bags on the table and runs up the stairs]

INO? Tsuna? Allen? Crowley? South? GUYS?!

... Disappearing?

[shit]

You mean ... gone home?

Katniss.

[there's so much relief in his voice that it almost hurts]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm back.

Oh, no.

[he winces. given what he's heard from Dr. Brewer, and from reading that one kid's report, he knows a bad omen when he sees one] How many? Do you know?

[Sniffle]

I guess. That's what the letter says.

[ ... okay, that does make her feel a little bad. she knows how much it sucks to feel that sick feeling in your stomach when you're not sure if paradisa's just pulled a big one on you.

so, after a moment of hesitation, after he yells for everyone, she'll reply ]

Tsuna and Allen are gone.

[She touched the journal, because she can almost feel the pain radiating from those words.]

I'm here. I'm not gone.

[Crowley is sitting in the living room when Gale enters the house, empty bottle surrounding him like a glass fortress. He doesn't look up when Gale shouts, his gaze still on the glass of whiskey in his hands]

Wherever it is that they call home.

To be honest? I'm not sure. Zelos...

[Hesitates and takes a deep breath]

Zelos is gone for sure, I know that, and... a girl named Jane Crocker, if you know her. A few other people were taken, too, but that happened while we were both gone, so I can't tell you anything about them.

[that would be the sound of his heart dropping into his toes. he runs up the stairs, even as his stomach does barrel rolls. he'd never completely known how horrible relief could actually feel, sometimes. he pushes open their door and just stands there, in the doorway, hands holding on to the top of the door frame, looking at her.

as if he's expecting her to shimmer out of sight, any moment]

Who did you get a letter from?

I'd just barely met Jane, before our trip out to Fairfield. [he sighs] I knew Zelos a little, too ...

[he frowns. he didn't know Zelos well, no, but he knows Ino did, and how much this is going to hurt her]

Good. Good. Where are you...?

[hearing Crowley's voice, Gale abandons his bags in the kitchen and moves out across the lobby into the living room.

okay wow. that's sure a tower of bottles. he's seen the snake have it bad, before, but never this bad. he moves for one of the bottles that looks like it might have a little left, and when he speaks, his voice is small, but still together somehow, as if he could only keep his composure by turning the volume down]

Who's left?

[Crowley finishes heaves out a sigh]

In the house? You, me, Ino and South.

[ she looks away from the window to look at him, but ... what is there to say? this sucks. and she's sure he knows it, too. many of the people who left, gale had known them too, even if it was just in passing. and tsuna had been like the little brother of the house ... it would be sad, waking up every morning from now on without that giant, crazy mop of hair wandering down to the kitchen for breakfast.

but ... allen. of all people, allen is gone. the one person that was never supposed to leave.

so she just looks at him hopelessly. what does she do now?]

At home, in my cabin. You need me to come to you?

It's hard to believe that they're gone now. I mean, I know you didn't know them too well, but they've been around for so long that it just felt like they'd be around for... well, forever. But that's kind of silly, isn't it?

[he hesitates for a moment longer, lost for words himself, before crossing the room to her and holding out his arms in a silent invitation for a hug that he probably needs just as much as she does. it's a lot to process, and his head is still spinning. he knew them, sure, but he doesn't know what they go back to, and that almost feels worse than knowing they'd concretely go back to die, like he knows Rue did. almost.]

No, it's not silly at all. I know exactly what you mean.

[he sighs]

They were my family, here. Some of the people who're gone. It's like ...coming here and being without my real family, all over again.

D'you mind? I ... I need to see you. [he needs proof that she really is still here, that he's not just imagining it, that the castle isn't jacking him somehow]

Damn it.

[he sinks onto the arm of the couch, frowning, and finishes off the bottle]

Did that guy find her? South, I mean. He was looking for her over the journal while I was out there ...

Absolutely not a problem.

[She had done this for Peeta, in their games of, 'Real, Not Real'. She could do no less for Gale. She was up and moving, heading towards the Casa as quickly as possible.]

[In about fifteen minutes, she was knocking on the door, and waiting.]

Church? Yeah, I think so. She's been...well, in avoiding mode, really.

Mr. Bunny.

[ her chest tightens when he holds out his arms, and she hesitates, staring up at him. not because she doesn't want or need the hug, not because of him -- but because she knows that inevitably, this boy is going to go home, and it's going to break her heart even more than the last time.

and that thought makes her feel so horribly, awfully alone. like in the nightmares. is that where paradisa is headed to, now? was that a prediction for the future, instead of a worst fear come impossibly to life? eventually, would she be here all alone, with no one to touch her, no one to hold her?

maybe, then, she should get it all in while she can. although she only hesitated for a moment, it's still a long, painful moment before she gives in and wraps her arms around him, burying her face in his chest as she fights back tears ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

twenty-fourth snare

no subject

Dictated

dictated

Dictated

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Later than late

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: Later than late

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject