(Two simple things had happened that really shouldn't be so extraordinary and yet. They were.
Eddie went to sleep.
Eddie woke up.
And now he was in this town. The dream on the way there had been realistic. He still felt like there had been hands wrapped around his ankles even by the time he startled awake alone in bed. Finding the basket had been one thing, sure. Everything inside it was weird too. The first thing he did was take a hit from his inhaler. Two, if he was being honest. He even checked the letter three times over to see if this was somehow an extensive prank.
Eddie felt. Terribly.
Horribly.
Awfully alone. The fear began to swallow him up. This had to be fake- and he didn't eat the food right away. He didn't until his finger tips started to go and then Eddie had screamed his lungs out and downed the entire jar of strawberries that had been left for him. After that? Well. After that Eddie had lugged his basket out, sat promptly on the porch and wrapped his skinny arms around his knees. His cast scrapped his knee and he dropped his head into his arms and let it go. He let himself start crying because why was this happening? Where were his friends? His mom was going to kill him-. What if his body back home just never woke up and he had to be hooked up to some complicated machine? If he ever woke up again...God! His mom would never, ever let him leave her ever again. Did he get some brain tumor and this was it eating away at him? Was he sick? Oh, Christ!)
[Beverly had been awake for a few hours. She'd immediately set to exploring the new place, finding her basket and her letter. Gingerly, she'd had one of the berries, and when she was sure she wasn't going to die from them, she continued her exploration.
In the largest bedroom, she'd found someone she hadn't expected to see ever again. Eddie Kaspbrak. Having read her letter, she let him sleep, confident he'd wake up on his own. In the meanwhile, Beverly grabbed her bike to check out the area around them. If anything, this was a weird adventure, like something she'd read in a book. She'd hash more of it out later, one Eddie woke up.
It was a few hours later that she pulled back up in front of the house only to see Eddie very much awake and very much upset. Without breaking, Bev jumped off her bike and ran up the front steps on to the porch.]
Eddie! Eddie! [She dropped to her knees in front of him and immediately pulled him into a tight hug.] I didn't think you'd be awake yet. Hey, it's okay. I'm here with you.
(There's the familiar clicking of an approaching bike, but Eddie is so used to the noise that he doesn't look up. Not until he hears her voice anyway. Then his head all but whips up, his face streaked with fresh tears.)
Bev! Oh, thank fucking God! (He squeaks out, instantly going to her and crushing himself against her. His eyes pinch shut tightly, a few more tears leaking out. But this time they were tears of honest relief. He holds on hard, burrowing his face into her shoulder. They might not be the closest of the Losers, but they were still both Losers and lord knows he wanted them more than ever in a strange place like this. Enough to make him ache.)
I woke up and was alone and I thought-. Fuck. (His voice is a little muffled in her shoulder, but finally he yanks his head up and gives her a wet smile, laughing weakly.)
I started- panicking. Jesus. (Realizing his state, he's quick to yank his good hand away so he could scrub at his face.)
[She holds him tightly for as log as he wants and needs.]
I'm so sorry! I didn't think you'd be awake before I got back- I went to look around the neighborhood, I should've written a note. [she wasn't thinking. But how was she to know he'd wake up?
She echoes his laugh, not caring about his tears in the least.] Me, too. And it looks like we got a cool house.
(How would she know? It isn't like there's a guide book on how to deal with this kind of stuff anyway. Though notes in the future? A definite must. Especially with their luck. God only knows what could happen that would separate them.
He smirks a tiny bit, looking back up at the house.)
Yeah. And there don't seem to be adults anywhere in it. At all. Not my momma. Not your daddy. (Which...might be the best part.)
Let's hope we can do cool dream things, then. Like flying.
[Seriously, how cool would that be?
Beverly rises as Eddie does, and moves to open the door, leading him back into their home.] Here, I'll show ya. It's pretty cool, I saw some stores in the area I figure we can check out. Decorate our new clubhouse.
[This one wasn't even subterranean!]
I did- [she holds up her keychain.] And the weird bracelet TV? [she's got hers on and it's really weird.]
(Eddie says this with a bit of a dramatic sigh, looking up at Bev as if she were the ideal height. She might as well be. Dream small, Eddie Kaspbrak. Dream small.)
Really? We can do that?
(He has no idea why that hadn't occurred to him. He was so used to his mom that the idea of decorating the house how he wanted it....How they wanted it? That was...Exhilarating, honestly.)
We can decorate it however we want. (That was. Empowering, he thinks the word, not for the first time in his life but once again, he thought it in conjunction with his friends. He nods and digs said weird bracelet TV. His was currently flat.) Yeah I played around on it a little. It's kind of cool. I don't get how it bends like that though.
(He reaches out to tap Bev's own wrist phone, frowning.) It feels like normal metal. But...I don't know. It's bizzaro.
Maybe. (Her optimism made him feel a little better though. At least he did know that girls seemed to grow a lot faster than boys. But Eddie was definitely on the slow side, and he sulkily wondered how much his momma had to do with it.
The reality of no parents and what that means sinks in fully, and Eddie grins broadly at her.)
Well hot shit then. It's too bad that-- that um. (His gray eyes go a little dark, and he struggles. Shit. What the hell was his name....They just spent an entire summer together...Hadn't they?)
He- he's real good with building stuff. What the hell is his name- (Fat....He was real fat. He stares hard at Bev, like her face might hold the answer. In a way, it did, because the only other Big Fact about that kid was--)
Ben! Ben....I can't believe I just forgot his name. Jesus.
[Beverly's brow furrows as Eddie stares at her. She knew who he was talking about- vaguely. She thought she knew, but the more she concentrated, the more worried she got.
Things from Summer were already fuzzy.]
Ben! [She smiled at the memory. She'd kept his postcard, and to her surprise it had been here when she woke up. Ben. That's who wrote it. Who was good at building things.]
Yeah- I wish everyone were here. [How many had it been?]
Ben. (He says again, the name feeling steadier on his tongue this time around. Ben...Something. Hancock? No. He supposed the last name didn't matter too much.
He grins again when she says that much.)
I do too. Bill and...(And...Steady dark eyes. Hands that always grabbed him and pulled him away from danger or pulled at his face and called him--) Richie.
(For a moment, Eddie had to absently touch his chest, frowning. How on earth could he forget Richie? Or Bill? Even for a second?)
There was also uh...
(Christ. Who else had been there? Eddie quirks his mouth to the side. He doesn't know the name, but some small little something occurs to him. He raises his hands to his mouth but then realizes with his cast, he can't do it. Can't do the call. His hands hover awkwardly.)
Birds? He liked birds right. What the hell. He was like...I can see him. Kind of.
[Beverly nods with each name mentioned, repeating it softly. It hadn't been long since she'd left Derry. How could she be forgetting all of this? They'd been together all summer, gone through things she didn't think she could ever forget.
And yet...]
There were others- Richie, Ben, you, me, Bill-- [She doesn't like this. No way, no how. She bites down on her lower lip, wracking her brain.] Stan.
Someone else, too. I think he was... [He was soft and warm.] Black?
(Eddie hadn't left Derry at all. Not until Deerington, anyway. It had been just....just yesterday, hadn't it? Since he had seen all of them. He bobs his head along with every name she says too, like each nod would help clear the fog from his head.)
Stan. Christ! How could I forget- (Stan had been one of his best buds forever. Someone else though.
Bev was right. Soft, warm. Kind. Kinder than any of them, maybe even, and someone who probably suffered all kinds of shit they couldn't begin to understand.)
Mike. (The name falls from his mouth with a soft whisper. His eyes were beginning to sting again.)
How the hell could we forget them, Bev? (There was a crackle of fear in his voice. That wasn't normal, was it? Was it because of this town?)
Stan. [She repeats the name firmly, adding it to her list: Stan, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie.] Mike.
[She pushes her hair out of her eyes, taking a seat on what was going to be her bed.] Fuck- I don't know. I could never forget any of it, no matter how much I tried, but... [She shakes her head.]
We'll just have to remind ourselves if we start to forget: Stan, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie, Mike.
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Deerington Arrival cw: disease mention (action)
Date: 2018-05-11 12:29 am (UTC)Eddie went to sleep.
Eddie woke up.
And now he was in this town. The dream on the way there had been realistic. He still felt like there had been hands wrapped around his ankles even by the time he startled awake alone in bed. Finding the basket had been one thing, sure. Everything inside it was weird too. The first thing he did was take a hit from his inhaler. Two, if he was being honest. He even checked the letter three times over to see if this was somehow an extensive prank.
Eddie felt. Terribly.
Horribly.
Awfully alone. The fear began to swallow him up. This had to be fake- and he didn't eat the food right away. He didn't until his finger tips started to go and then Eddie had screamed his lungs out and downed the entire jar of strawberries that had been left for him. After that? Well. After that Eddie had lugged his basket out, sat promptly on the porch and wrapped his skinny arms around his knees. His cast scrapped his knee and he dropped his head into his arms and let it go. He let himself start crying because why was this happening? Where were his friends? His mom was going to kill him-. What if his body back home just never woke up and he had to be hooked up to some complicated machine? If he ever woke up again...God! His mom would never, ever let him leave her ever again. Did he get some brain tumor and this was it eating away at him? Was he sick? Oh, Christ!)
no subject
Date: 2018-05-11 01:13 am (UTC)In the largest bedroom, she'd found someone she hadn't expected to see ever again. Eddie Kaspbrak. Having read her letter, she let him sleep, confident he'd wake up on his own. In the meanwhile, Beverly grabbed her bike to check out the area around them. If anything, this was a weird adventure, like something she'd read in a book. She'd hash more of it out later, one Eddie woke up.
It was a few hours later that she pulled back up in front of the house only to see Eddie very much awake and very much upset. Without breaking, Bev jumped off her bike and ran up the front steps on to the porch.]
Eddie! Eddie! [She dropped to her knees in front of him and immediately pulled him into a tight hug.] I didn't think you'd be awake yet. Hey, it's okay. I'm here with you.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-11 01:18 am (UTC)Bev! Oh, thank fucking God! (He squeaks out, instantly going to her and crushing himself against her. His eyes pinch shut tightly, a few more tears leaking out. But this time they were tears of honest relief. He holds on hard, burrowing his face into her shoulder. They might not be the closest of the Losers, but they were still both Losers and lord knows he wanted them more than ever in a strange place like this. Enough to make him ache.)
I woke up and was alone and I thought-. Fuck. (His voice is a little muffled in her shoulder, but finally he yanks his head up and gives her a wet smile, laughing weakly.)
I started- panicking. Jesus. (Realizing his state, he's quick to yank his good hand away so he could scrub at his face.)
I'm glad you're here. Really, really glad.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-11 02:11 am (UTC)I'm so sorry! I didn't think you'd be awake before I got back- I went to look around the neighborhood, I should've written a note. [she wasn't thinking. But how was she to know he'd wake up?
She echoes his laugh, not caring about his tears in the least.] Me, too. And it looks like we got a cool house.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-12 08:17 am (UTC)(How would she know? It isn't like there's a guide book on how to deal with this kind of stuff anyway. Though notes in the future? A definite must. Especially with their luck. God only knows what could happen that would separate them.
He smirks a tiny bit, looking back up at the house.)
Yeah. And there don't seem to be adults anywhere in it. At all. Not my momma. Not your daddy. (Which...might be the best part.)
no subject
Date: 2018-05-13 03:22 am (UTC)Let's hope they don't fall into this place, too.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-14 05:23 am (UTC)(And not a nightmare. Only Eddie wasn't so naive to think that they would be so lucky.)
Which room is yours inside? (He pushes himself to his feet.) Did you get the weird basket thing too?
no subject
Date: 2018-05-14 02:45 pm (UTC)[Seriously, how cool would that be?
Beverly rises as Eddie does, and moves to open the door, leading him back into their home.] Here, I'll show ya. It's pretty cool, I saw some stores in the area I figure we can check out. Decorate our new clubhouse.
[This one wasn't even subterranean!]
I did- [she holds up her keychain.] And the weird bracelet TV? [she's got hers on and it's really weird.]
no subject
Date: 2018-05-14 07:42 pm (UTC)(Eddie says this with a bit of a dramatic sigh, looking up at Bev as if she were the ideal height. She might as well be. Dream small, Eddie Kaspbrak. Dream small.)
Really? We can do that?
(He has no idea why that hadn't occurred to him. He was so used to his mom that the idea of decorating the house how he wanted it....How they wanted it? That was...Exhilarating, honestly.)
We can decorate it however we want. (That was. Empowering, he thinks the word, not for the first time in his life but once again, he thought it in conjunction with his friends. He nods and digs said weird bracelet TV. His was currently flat.) Yeah I played around on it a little. It's kind of cool. I don't get how it bends like that though.
(He reaches out to tap Bev's own wrist phone, frowning.) It feels like normal metal. But...I don't know. It's bizzaro.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-15 02:32 pm (UTC)I don't see why not. No parents. [She grins as they walk up the stairs.]
Really bizarro. I think I like it, though.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-15 07:12 pm (UTC)The reality of no parents and what that means sinks in fully, and Eddie grins broadly at her.)
Well hot shit then. It's too bad that-- that um. (His gray eyes go a little dark, and he struggles. Shit. What the hell was his name....They just spent an entire summer together...Hadn't they?)
He- he's real good with building stuff. What the hell is his name- (Fat....He was real fat. He stares hard at Bev, like her face might hold the answer. In a way, it did, because the only other Big Fact about that kid was--)
Ben! Ben....I can't believe I just forgot his name. Jesus.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-17 02:22 am (UTC)Things from Summer were already fuzzy.]
Ben! [She smiled at the memory. She'd kept his postcard, and to her surprise it had been here when she woke up. Ben. That's who wrote it. Who was good at building things.]
Yeah- I wish everyone were here. [How many had it been?]
no subject
Date: 2018-05-17 08:24 am (UTC)He grins again when she says that much.)
I do too. Bill and...(And...Steady dark eyes. Hands that always grabbed him and pulled him away from danger or pulled at his face and called him--) Richie.
(For a moment, Eddie had to absently touch his chest, frowning. How on earth could he forget Richie? Or Bill? Even for a second?)
There was also uh...
(Christ. Who else had been there? Eddie quirks his mouth to the side. He doesn't know the name, but some small little something occurs to him. He raises his hands to his mouth but then realizes with his cast, he can't do it. Can't do the call. His hands hover awkwardly.)
Birds? He liked birds right. What the hell. He was like...I can see him. Kind of.
no subject
Date: 2018-05-18 04:12 am (UTC)And yet...]
There were others- Richie, Ben, you, me, Bill-- [She doesn't like this. No way, no how. She bites down on her lower lip, wracking her brain.] Stan.
Someone else, too. I think he was... [He was soft and warm.] Black?
no subject
Date: 2018-05-18 07:53 am (UTC)Stan. Christ! How could I forget- (Stan had been one of his best buds forever. Someone else though.
Bev was right. Soft, warm. Kind. Kinder than any of them, maybe even, and someone who probably suffered all kinds of shit they couldn't begin to understand.)
Mike. (The name falls from his mouth with a soft whisper. His eyes were beginning to sting again.)
How the hell could we forget them, Bev? (There was a crackle of fear in his voice. That wasn't normal, was it? Was it because of this town?)
no subject
Date: 2018-05-20 12:53 am (UTC)[She pushes her hair out of her eyes, taking a seat on what was going to be her bed.] Fuck- I don't know. I could never forget any of it, no matter how much I tried, but... [She shakes her head.]
We'll just have to remind ourselves if we start to forget: Stan, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie, Mike.