The village in the park, Friday morning

[intotheout]

Tip had headed for the park by the time the sun was setting yesterday. The dorms did not look secure, so she was relieved when Peridot's tip had turned out to pan out. Sure, the place was ramshackle as all get out, and kind of stank, besides, but Tip had spent a summer living in a car with an alien while driving across the southern US. She could deal with ramshackle and stinky.

She took pictures of everything. She wasn't sure why, it just felt worthwhile to document it all.

Plus, you know, it distracted her a bit from thinking about the giant, creepy, busted up Tip statue out by the Post Office. She was pretty sure she could just see the top of her own head out over the remains of trees and buildings.

Yeee.

[Villagers and refugees ahoy!]

Comments

[intotheout]

"Gratuity." Tip shook his hand a little gingerly. He didn't look like he'd bathed in awhile. "What happened here?"

[gettingoldernow]

Peter blinked at her name, then connected the dots. "Oh. Sorry; I didn't recognize you." She was younger and a lot cleaner than any Tip he'd known. He gave her the best smile he could.

Then he spread his hands. "This happened. Not sure what it was, really. You start losing your memories, your self, everything. Eventually, you're hollow. Then you become...something else. There's not a lot of us left these days."

[intotheout]

"You know me?" That was disconcerting. "You mean -- you knew the woman who turned into a statue, right?"

The creepy statue Hanna said tried to kill her. Awesome.

[gettingoldernow]

"Yeah. Not very well." Peter shrugged. "I don't think. You should stay away from her, and all the others. They're dangerous."

[intotheout]

"Yeah, I got that part. She tried to smoosh my roommate." Rude. "So that's what you guys do? Just . . . hide here and avoid the nasty things and wait to turn into one?"

That seemed like a terrible plan.

[gettingoldernow]

Peter scowled at her. "We try to keep each other safe and alive one more day. Maybe it's not glamorous, but we're all we've got."

[intotheout]

"But fighting bad stuff is what Fandom does," Tip pointed out.

Sorry, Peter, she was 14. She might have a little more experience with not being generally immortal than some of her peers, but she'd also managed to almost single-handedly defeat an alien invasion, so.

[gettingoldernow]

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "And these days, so is dying. We've managed what we can. Killed as many of our friends and family as we could before they outnumbered us," he said bluntly. "You know how much time and work it takes just to manage enough food and shelter to keep us alive?"

[intotheout]

"Are you sure?" Tip grumbled. "You can't even remember what actually happened."

[gettingoldernow]

"I remember enough." Peter crossed his arms. "I remember what happened after. I remember friends losing their memories. Losing pieces of themselves, one at a time or all at once. Their bodies and minds twisting. That version of you out there, you think she's imaginary? You think you want to try talking her back to herself?"

He gestured around the village. "Or maybe you want to try finding a way to grow more food that's not toxic, filter more water without the beasts on the coastline killing you, build better homes and stitch together clothing, all of it using just what we can scavenge?"

[intotheout]

Tip scowled. "I think that statue out there is a version of me with all my worst bits exaggerated into a giant anvil. I don't want to talk to her. I want to tear her down."

That was healthy.

"You think things are that bad, why haven't you given up, huh? Gone off and let all your worst bits turn into physical reality?"

[gettingoldernow]

"Because people depend on me," Peter said. "No matter how bad it is, we stick together. We help each other. We remind each other of the important things. We work together to keep things working. That's what Fandom is. Until you've lived it, don't try and tell us we should be doing better."

[intotheout]

Tip rolled her eyes. "I've lived through nastiness. Maybe not this exact kind, but -- if I hadn't tried being proactive then, I'd be an alien slave or food by now. My entire planet would have been eaten." She stood up, swinging her backpack back on. "You're just lucky that you all landed on my Fandom. You'll see. Or you won't. Don't really care either way."

[gettingoldernow]

"Be proactive all you like," Peter said. "I'll be trying to keep the weaker folks alive with makeshift shelter, home-made filtration systems, substandard plumbing and gardening, no antibiotics, hostiles all around, and something eating away at all our minds. You know - stupid stuff."

Must be nice to be a tourist here.

[intotheout]

Peter, honey, you are not going to talk sense into the teenager. That is a fool's errand.

Tip waved her hand at him over her shoulder. She had . . . no idea where she was going. Other than to go stew in irritation by some other campfire, maybe.

[gettingoldernow]

Peter had a thing for lost causes.

But whatever. She'd figure it out if she stayed long enough. Let her keep her illusions if she insisted.

He'd be over here doing the boring things.