Lucas Swallows. He Wants To Read Between The Lines, Search Past The Casual Tone.

"Oh yeah. The tractors, the irrigation system, the heating, the A/C, the oven, the TV."

He straightens up, holding a metal panel. He examines it, wondering what it could be used for.

"I also worked at a T-Mobile store for a summer, so I learned a lot about cell phones, tablets, and smart watches."

He purses his lips, then shrugs and drops the panel back into the pile. He looks over at Muz and smiles again.

So the quote on quote joke didn't seem to land. Muz narrowly avoids disappointment, thinking he had been making good attempts at friendliness there. 'A farm?' he asks, tone a little more enthusiastic. He watches Adrien fiddle through that pile. 'You worked on the tractors and that there?'

Adrien hums, listening to her. Seems like she's still spiraling after arriving in town recently. He moves to sit against the wall across from her, their shoes inches apart.

"Sorta? I came in a few days ago with the huge storm. But I'm guessing you're even more recent than that? And to be honest? If having a party is delusional, I'd rather be that than dead."

He shrugs. He knows he's an outlier amongst the people of Oblitus, but he's used to that feeling. And he's happy to share it with others when he can.

"I didn't catch your name," he adds with a friendly smile.

Catie’s eyes narrow as Adrien slides to a stop in front of her, his enthusiasm jarring compared to everything she’s felt since arriving. She folds her arms, glancing around with disbelief.

'Company?' she echoes, almost laughing despite herself. 'Yeah. Sure. Not like I was having a ton of fun hanging out on the floor. By myself. In this creep fucking house.' She shakes her head, almost hesitating but not quite catching herself. 'Just, are we seriously doing this? Having a party while there's all that actual shit out there?' She glances at Adrien, her tone sharper than she intended but held back by a thread. 'I can’t decide if everyone here’s delusional or if I’m just the only one who thinks this whole thing is completely insane.' Her voice drops, anger simmering just below the surface as she forces a smile. "But you—you look like you’re actually having fun. Guess you’re not new here?"

Lucas had just sat down to catch his breath, and now Adam is begging him to be a distraction.

"Okay," he says, quickly thinking so Adam doesn't start a fight. "You wanna dance or play some beer pong or something?"

open to all. colony house party.

Adam was neither high nor drunk enough to process the conversation in his right ear, so he nodded politely, sipping on cheap booze and scooting away inch by inch trying not to be noticed. As. a last resort he turned to the person to his left, adamant not to lose his hard-earned seat at the couch (secured by arriving entirely too early) and pleased. "Please talk about something, anything at fucking all before I knock this dude out --"

RAFAEL SILVA — via Instagram (2024)

Lucas approaches cautiously, trying not to spook her like she's a deer that could leap into action at any second. His hands up to show he means no ill will.

"You can't really blame us for being cautious now, can you? We don't want you to get hurt. Or worse."

He winces at the memories of bodies. Especially those of newcomers who didn't know better or tried to deny the reality before them.

where : the edge of the forest / town with : open

— RAYS from the afternoon sun shine through the trees , melting away the remaining frost on the yellowing leaves and warming greer's near windburnt cheeks . though a chilly autumn was no irregularity for the detroit native , there was something sinister in the air , something she tries desperately to ignore , that makes the cold air seem to seep into her weary bones , inescapable no matter how many layers she may wear . despite this , her glove - less right hand remains outside of her coat pocket , a nearly finished cigarette held tightly between two pinkened fingers , orange lighter clutched in the palm of her hand . the unease only worsens the longer she stares into the woods , the shadows among the trees looking all the more ominous . she takes a deep inhale , the harshness of the cold air stinging her nose and throat as she does so , refreshing and punishing at the same time . as she exhales , she closes her eyes , cutting herself off from staring into the forest , and the dark , irrational thoughts that seem to cluster in her mind whenever she was near it . footsteps approach , the sound of gravel crunching taking away from the otherwise eerie silence , and successfully pulling the young woman from her reverie . greer's eyes remain closed for a moment longer , this time to contain an eye roll . “ i'm not running off again , you guys don't have to keep threatening to ‘ restrain me ’ . ” forever assuming rather than asking , disinterest and annoyance cloud greer's voice . her eyes open only to fall into a scowl as she turns to look at the one who interrupts her moping . “ what do you want ? ”

Lucas feels a slight ache in his chest as they walk hand in hand. He didn't realize how much he missed this. Walking with Rae. Being with Rae.

"Hey," he says, soft but firm. "You are important."

They turn a corner, and they can see their houses. Only a couple of other residents between them. It had been a little awkward at first after the breakup, but then they eased into comfortable. Being close was comforting.

"I know you can. I just want to help like I used to. Moving bodies around. I saw how many you still had to do. That will definitely take forever on your own."

for most of the walk he couldn't stop looking down at his hands, constantly making sure the blood hadn't returned. that it was just a figment of his imagination. sometimes rae wondered if it was the town or his own sanity slipping.

it's ok. it wasn't, but having lucas' hand in his helped quiet the constant urge to check. he spent the rest of the walk relatively fine.

“luc, i don’t want to keep you from more important things,” he protested. "and don't say what i know you're going to say. i can handle it on my own, today was just...tough."

Simple but effective, Lucas spends Halloween as Ron Stoppable to Anastasia's Kim Possible.

Though he's probably showing more midriff than Ana is.

Happy Halloween, Oblitus!

Don't open the door.

@hcartcorruptcd

RAFAEL SILVA at the Epic Cons Chicago 2 convention - September 15, 2024

Lucas shuts the book so Cherry can't read his notes.

"Can anyone vouch for your whereabouts then? It would've been between 10:30–11."

Honestly, Lucas does have bigger fish to fry, but it's his job to help everyone feel safe. If someone is burglarizing other people, that will just make a bad situation worse.

He's not sure if Cherry is the actual culprit. She just has the most priors involving theft, and they did accuse her, so he has to be thorough.

CHERRY SIGHS AS SHE LEANS A HIP AGAINST THE DOORFRAME . her expression scrunches with it . " i mean, yeah, you prolly definitely got bigger fish to fry than me ." charlie would imagine so at least but what the hell does she know about being a cop ? all she's sure about is that someone will probably try to rope her into helping in some way today, and as reluctant as she usually was she knew she'd probably give in for at least a little bit . after all, they all got royally fucked by the storm . so when lucas shoots her an unimpressed look her expression only twists . " who the fuck said that ?" she moves as if to peer at his notebook . " i was workin' yesterday morning !"

LORD HAVE MERCY