closed; Up where the mountains meet the heavens above

[trashmouths]

Who: Richie Tozier and Lance Sweets
What: Richie's worried about his friends
Where: Lance's place
When: Backdated to before the sandstorm
Warnings: Richie's mouth, and most likely talks of abuse, bullying, murder, basically everything that comes with a stephen king movie

[ He supposes he should have actually told Lance he was going to come knocking, but that would have required some slight degree of impulse control and planning ahead. With Bill and Beverly gone, all of that is completely out the window - all that's left is Eddie's worrying, Stan's meticulous, and...Richie.

It makes him feel strange, not being with the rest of the Loser's, and he knows it makes the others feel weird, too--before he'd just had blind optimism that the rest would show up, but it's starting to dwindle and leave Richie with the very real fact that this place is just as bad as what they fought in Derry. And then there's how concerned he is with everyone else, and sure, Lance had helped, but Richie had backpedaled and did what he always did when faced with a problem: ignore it and look for something fun.

So it's a strange moment of lucidity as Richie realizes him distracting himself won't help his friends. It's just after dinner (courtesy of Ignis) that he finds himself knocking pretty loudly, fumbling with his glasses as he waits. ]

Fuck.

[ The last word is softly to himself, chewing on the inside of his lip. ]

Comments

[lifetothefullest]

I know. But unfortunately, as unfair as it is, that's the situation.

[He says it sympathetically but not pityingly; he wishes he could tell Richie something different, but he can't. Sometimes you don't get a choice in what situation you end up in, and just have to deal with it.

Lance listens to the whole explanation, and although he doesn't totally understand--he's missing context--he does get the general idea. He's pretty sure he does, anyway, because the feeling Richie is describing makes sense.]

And so with just a few of you being here, you feel the absence of the others.

[Although he says it as a statement, it's open to correction.]

[trashmouths]

[ He's getting antsy, mostly because he can't quite explain exactly what he wants to say--that's something Stan can do, not him, which hammers home the fact that he needs the others--but also because this is just a little too heavy. Even at the park, discussing what It was and figuring it out, he'd broken the tension with a stupid joke.

Time to fumble with his glasses again and shoot Lance a grin. ]

Yeah, I guess, sure. [ He's right on the money. ] Hey--you look into everyone's head and try to figure out what's wrong with them, right? Has anyone looked into yours?

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance wishes he had something he could offer Richie as a distraction, so he wouldn't be agitated, but he isn't even keeping Brennan's fennec fox at the moment. There really isn't a lot to do here, since Lance hasn't been doing much besides sleeping and stalking the network lately.

But for now, what he can do is allow the distraction briefly, and he gives a small shrug and nods.]

Not recently, but yes. It would be kind of hypocritical of me to suggest therapy to people and then never use it myself.

[Which is... An understatement, since he's seen someone off and on most of his life, but no need to mention that right now. And he suddenly has an idea, actually; remembering his time seeing a counselor in grad school makes him think of one of his causes of stress at the time, which gives him an idea--]

Have you tried the chess game, on the phones?

[It's an abrupt subject change, but he thinks having something for Richie to focus on while they talk might make things easier. Provided he's willing and knows how to play chess, anyway.]

[trashmouths]

Whuh? Smart, Richie. [ He blinks, fumbles around for the phone. ] Oh, yeah, old people stuff. Stan's dad likes to play, so I learned from Stan. Y'know I think that guy's secretly 80.

...Tell you the truth, I feel bad for him most outta everyone.

[lifetothefullest]

Let's play while we talk, then. I'm secretly 80 too, so don't expect me to go easy on you.

[It's a light challenge; Lance hasn't actually decided whether he'll play to win just yet, but that's less important than getting a distraction up and going so Richie will relax a little.

But he didn't miss that last part, so as he pulls out his own phone and starts loading up the program he asks--]

Why do you feel worst for him?