friends to share it with
Aug. 26th, 2019 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowdreamerSummary: After Zan gets out of the hospital and set up in the guest room at Cassie's place, they discover a new chat program on their phone- and learn that they have a larger support network than they thought.
Warnings: Aftermath of torture, discussion of child abuse, casual invasion of privacy. Current environment is supportive.
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The new icon sat on Zan's screen, unoffensive yet boggling. They knew they hadn't downloaded anything new- but that icon hadn't been there when they'd been taken by the Nursery. Was it a trap? A Nursery plot to grab them again? For a long time, Zan hesitated, staring at the innocuous looking spider symbol on the screen.
...If it was a trap- well, Charity was right in the other room. One shout from Zan, and he'd come running before anything could happen. Holding that knowledge in mind, the teen tapped the icon, sitting back against the wall as a loading screen popped up, a spinning orange hourglass with a jack-o-lantern face, a bit bemused as it opened up to reveal some sort of chatroom.
{User spidersshadow has logged in}
the_mighty_magpie: ZAN!
silentarachnid: Excellent, Spice did get it to install. Evening, Zan.
aconite: Huh. I honestly thought they'd have Charity check it first.
Zan blinked, their brow furrowing. What the fuck? Who the fuck? Why the fuck?
Just. The fuck.
The fuck was going on here?
...Well, they had one way to find out, didn't they?
spidersshadow: I have several queries.
silentarachnid: Shoot.
spidersshadow: What is this, how did it get on my phone, why is it on my phone, who are you people, and why is my handle 'spiders shadow'?
...several people are typing
the_mighty_magpie: i'm maggie! we met at charitys place, with bella and lu and del!
aconite: Bella here. Short for Belladona. I was the one with the plants.
silentarachnid: I'm Lain. You haven't met me yet, but Maggie and I are friends from school.
silentarachnid: This is our private chat program, I'm still working on getting it up and running fully. I had Pumpkin Spice put it on your phone when your phone was downloading software updates earlier.
silentarachnid: He's the one that set your handle, I have no clue why.
Zan stared at their phone for a moment, brow furrowed. On one hand, having a group of people clearly happy to see them was- well, a nice change, for certain. And now that they thought of it, they did remember meeting them, before things went to shit again, during the last few days at Charity's home. On the other hand- someone hacked into their phone and stuck a program on it, while they were in the hospital. That felt... Uncomfortable.
Warnings: Aftermath of torture, discussion of child abuse, casual invasion of privacy. Current environment is supportive.
-------------------------------------------
The new icon sat on Zan's screen, unoffensive yet boggling. They knew they hadn't downloaded anything new- but that icon hadn't been there when they'd been taken by the Nursery. Was it a trap? A Nursery plot to grab them again? For a long time, Zan hesitated, staring at the innocuous looking spider symbol on the screen.
...If it was a trap- well, Charity was right in the other room. One shout from Zan, and he'd come running before anything could happen. Holding that knowledge in mind, the teen tapped the icon, sitting back against the wall as a loading screen popped up, a spinning orange hourglass with a jack-o-lantern face, a bit bemused as it opened up to reveal some sort of chatroom.
{User spidersshadow has logged in}
the_mighty_magpie: ZAN!
silentarachnid: Excellent, Spice did get it to install. Evening, Zan.
aconite: Huh. I honestly thought they'd have Charity check it first.
Zan blinked, their brow furrowing. What the fuck? Who the fuck? Why the fuck?
Just. The fuck.
The fuck was going on here?
...Well, they had one way to find out, didn't they?
spidersshadow: I have several queries.
silentarachnid: Shoot.
spidersshadow: What is this, how did it get on my phone, why is it on my phone, who are you people, and why is my handle 'spiders shadow'?
...several people are typing
the_mighty_magpie: i'm maggie! we met at charitys place, with bella and lu and del!
aconite: Bella here. Short for Belladona. I was the one with the plants.
silentarachnid: I'm Lain. You haven't met me yet, but Maggie and I are friends from school.
silentarachnid: This is our private chat program, I'm still working on getting it up and running fully. I had Pumpkin Spice put it on your phone when your phone was downloading software updates earlier.
silentarachnid: He's the one that set your handle, I have no clue why.
Zan stared at their phone for a moment, brow furrowed. On one hand, having a group of people clearly happy to see them was- well, a nice change, for certain. And now that they thought of it, they did remember meeting them, before things went to shit again, during the last few days at Charity's home. On the other hand- someone hacked into their phone and stuck a program on it, while they were in the hospital. That felt... Uncomfortable.
spidersshadow: ...That's. Really fucking creepy, for one. For two, who is Pumpkin Spice?
spidersshadow: And you still haven't told me why you had him do it, in the first place.
the_might_magpie: pumpkin spice is her robot assistant! and because charitys our friend, which means youre our friend too.
aconite: Yeah, when Lain told us that you and Charity had popped back up in the city, in the hospital, we were really worried.
They what.
Zan had. Several. Problems with all of this. The invasion of privacy, for one. For another- just how long had they and Charity been out of commission, for people to be looking for them? Fuck, did anyone else even know that Charity had died? (no, don't think about it, don't think about it, it's fine, it's fine Charity's okay now, he's fine, he's back, it's fine-) Zan squeezed their eyes shut, inhaling sharply as they snapped themself out of it, pushing the bubbling panic back into it's box where it belonged. Clearly, that- wasn't something they were ready to think about, yet. That was okay. Charity could take care of it. They were his students, anyway.Still. There was something... strangely touching, about the fact that the three girls had been worried about them. It felt alien, and unfamiliar, like so much did these days- but. Kind of nice, at the same time.
It wouldn't hurt to just accept it, just this once, would it?
Zan looked back to the screen, scrolling through the text that had appeared while they were lost in thought.
the_mighty_magpie: are you two okay?
the_mighty_magpie: i mean. that's a stupid question, sorry.
the_mighty_magpie: you obviously arent okay, you were in the hospital.
aconite: I think what Mags is asking is, do you need us to come kick someone's ass for you?
aconite: Because we totally will. We're a bunch of fucking badasses up in this bitch.
Touching. And- faintly terrifying. The thought of That Woman getting her hands on the two teenagers they'd met, of her making their skin peel back the way Zan's had, made Zan's stomach roil threateningly, and they typed a rapid response.
spidersshadow: Somehow, I don't think our mutual friend would like that very much.
spidersshadow: Besides, aren't you two still learning that aura stuff?
aconite: Charity's not the boss of us!
aconite: ...You may have a point, though.
silentarachnid: Still. Anything we can do to help?
silentarachnid: I've got... personal experience with what you're dealing with, I suspect.
...Also disturbing. If this 'Lain' was the same age as the other two- that meant she was what, fifteen? Still a kid.
All of them were kids.
(So was Zan, arguably- but they'd never acknowledge it. The law said they were an adult, and that was what mattered.)
spidersshadow: ...Thanks for the offer. I think I want to just... Not think about it for a bit, you know?
silentarachnid: Yeah, I get that.
silentarachnid: You want a distraction? I think I figured out how to make this thing stream movies.
spidersshadow: ...That does sound kinda nice, actually.
spidersshadow: Jekyll and Hyde? I haven't seen that one in ages.
silentarachnid: Pulling it up now!
As the chat window shrunk down into the bottom of the screen, the title screen for the movie filling the new space, Zan settled back onto their mattress, a small smile spreading across their lips. Maybe a distraction was exactly what they needed- along with friends to share it with.
[[Author's Note: I don't know why the preview is doing the thing it is, and I've given up on figuring it out, honestly.]]
spidersshadow: And you still haven't told me why you had him do it, in the first place.
the_might_magpie: pumpkin spice is her robot assistant! and because charitys our friend, which means youre our friend too.
aconite: Yeah, when Lain told us that you and Charity had popped back up in the city, in the hospital, we were really worried.
They what.
Zan had. Several. Problems with all of this. The invasion of privacy, for one. For another- just how long had they and Charity been out of commission, for people to be looking for them? Fuck, did anyone else even know that Charity had died? (no, don't think about it, don't think about it, it's fine, it's fine Charity's okay now, he's fine, he's back, it's fine-) Zan squeezed their eyes shut, inhaling sharply as they snapped themself out of it, pushing the bubbling panic back into it's box where it belonged. Clearly, that- wasn't something they were ready to think about, yet. That was okay. Charity could take care of it. They were his students, anyway.Still. There was something... strangely touching, about the fact that the three girls had been worried about them. It felt alien, and unfamiliar, like so much did these days- but. Kind of nice, at the same time.
It wouldn't hurt to just accept it, just this once, would it?
Zan looked back to the screen, scrolling through the text that had appeared while they were lost in thought.
the_mighty_magpie: are you two okay?
the_mighty_magpie: i mean. that's a stupid question, sorry.
the_mighty_magpie: you obviously arent okay, you were in the hospital.
aconite: I think what Mags is asking is, do you need us to come kick someone's ass for you?
aconite: Because we totally will. We're a bunch of fucking badasses up in this bitch.
Touching. And- faintly terrifying. The thought of That Woman getting her hands on the two teenagers they'd met, of her making their skin peel back the way Zan's had, made Zan's stomach roil threateningly, and they typed a rapid response.
spidersshadow: Somehow, I don't think our mutual friend would like that very much.
spidersshadow: Besides, aren't you two still learning that aura stuff?
aconite: Charity's not the boss of us!
aconite: ...You may have a point, though.
silentarachnid: Still. Anything we can do to help?
silentarachnid: I've got... personal experience with what you're dealing with, I suspect.
...Also disturbing. If this 'Lain' was the same age as the other two- that meant she was what, fifteen? Still a kid.
All of them were kids.
(So was Zan, arguably- but they'd never acknowledge it. The law said they were an adult, and that was what mattered.)
spidersshadow: ...Thanks for the offer. I think I want to just... Not think about it for a bit, you know?
silentarachnid: Yeah, I get that.
silentarachnid: You want a distraction? I think I figured out how to make this thing stream movies.
spidersshadow: ...That does sound kinda nice, actually.
spidersshadow: Jekyll and Hyde? I haven't seen that one in ages.
silentarachnid: Pulling it up now!
As the chat window shrunk down into the bottom of the screen, the title screen for the movie filling the new space, Zan settled back onto their mattress, a small smile spreading across their lips. Maybe a distraction was exactly what they needed- along with friends to share it with.
[[Author's Note: I don't know why the preview is doing the thing it is, and I've given up on figuring it out, honestly.]]
