It's pretty tonight.

!!!

I see you!... Are you hurt? . . . Can you speak any louder? I can barely hear you! . . . The air is so cold around you...! Aren't you cold too?...

AH!...

Hello! Who are you? . . . That is a nice name. My name is

My new friend! And Mister Sheep.

New crayons! I'm going to draw my new friend.

The white snakes were in my dream again. I thought they were gone forever... I don't want to see them anymore...

It's been harder to sleep lately...

I love sugar I love sugar I love sugar I love sugar I love sugar

OKAY SO IT DID WORK. I COULD SEE YOU PERFECTLY CLEAR. ONLY I BELIEVE THE CHIP HAS SOMEHOW HINDERED MY ABILITY TO PLACE MY THOUGHTS ON PAPER. IN OTHER WORDS IM SHIT AT DRAWING NOW. I HAVE TO GET THIS OUT OF MY HEAD PRONTO. I NEED TO BE ABLE TO DRAW PLANS.

What's going on? Is everyone okay...?

Theo and Papa's kite! That's what I want to name it.

I think I'm getting a little better now. Papa says it's not contagious. My head still hurts sometimes, but that's okay! I wonder if Papa feels like flying a kite. I like kites. Maybe if I draw him a kite he'd see how fun they are.

papa won't be quiet.

Oh! I call Mama 'Mama' now... I just wasn't... I wasn't sure if I should...! Mama and Papa love me though. And I love them...! I know that now. I know that's what they are to me.

What is a wanker?

Help! Papa, Mama, Miss Brenda...!? Randall's hurt! Really bad...! He says he's with a creature...

I feel like I'm forgetting something... Something's missing!... Oh, it hurts to turn my head too fast... I should stay in bed...

It's a puppy!... I feel like I've seen you before... Are you lost?

I miss you, too. ... ...What...? I just got really dizzy all of a sudden... I think I... I think I need to lay down... O-or take a nap... I feel sick.

Is that me?! It's such a good drawing! And Mister Sheep...! I love it so much, thank you! I want to keep it forever.

I love cake! Thank you, Miss Linka! Is Groove Coaster a town...? Is it far from London?

You got me? Am I it? You better run! I'm gonna get you back!

Greg! This reminds me that I have to go see him! I always read to him when I'm at Randall's... I think it looks just like him!

Oh, it's so fluffy...! Is it a sheep...? It has a funny-looking tail. Mah-reep? Is that their name...?

Dimitri made me a 'straw page'...! It sounds fun! He let me draw my orange sheep...! theodorebronev.straw.page

Mrrrp…

//yeeees!! the reply says that if you don't want your character/account to be included for whatever reason, just dm one of us and we'll work around it. grins! i can't wait to do this!!

Big mean birdman just invited me to a special kind of playdate...! I'll get you. Punk. @maskedgentleman.bsky.social see you at nine.

wa.ter

Dimitri made me a piece of toast with... Mar... M... Marm-ite...? On it...! He said it's really salty and I might not like it. I really wanted to try it though...! ...

Good morning...! The bed is soft here... I don't want to get up. I had a dream last night... Dimitri was in it...! You, too, Hershel. ... I remember Dimitri... I remember that I'm with him... ... I'll try to make him a sandwich... A cucumber sandwich...!

The snakes aren't biting me anymore... I can't wait to get home.

Hershel? Hershel! @hershelbronev.bsky.social! ... Hershel...? Are you there? (Theodore trips once. He gets back up.) Hershel...?

(I can see you. I can't lift you. I'm much too small for that. I can hold your hand. I can feel your warmth against my fingers. Promises were made to be kept.)

(I'll lay down with you. The snow isn't so bad. Not with you.)

(You comforted me once. I remember it. It feels so far away now, but in my mind, it's with me. It is me. It never left. You are the stars that I seek. I like the stars. I love the stars.)

(I'll stay with you.)

(I can feel you wanting to stay. You want to stay. It's okay. I'll let you stay. I want you to stay. I want to stay with you.)

(I still love you.)

(Wounds scar and become numb with time. Nerves are severed there by a cold and caring hand. I see you. I don't see the scars. I see your love like a man on a cliff might see his energy. I see you. I'm with you.)

(There is much to be made from rot. There comes growth. There is the silver lining. That which still loves after one thing is gone. I never put you at fault. It wasn't that I was oblivious. I saw you. You didn't see me. Yet you still stayed close to the silhouette cast by the candle.)

(There is a voice which echoes among all things animate or not. It is to be. It will always be so. To be together is a gift. I want to give that to you. I can see the planes. I know who I could have been. But I'm not him. I'm here. With you, now. And we are love. We are warmth. We are together.)

(Age is universal, yet nothing separates those which are elder or younger. There is no line drawn. There never was. They hold and cradle one another in different ways. There is one thing that stays the same between them, and it is love. I won't leave. I'll walk with you. I love you. I promise.)

(There is an incarnation that hugs me close. I know it's you. I'll never forget. It's as though I had been blind and I finally, at last, get a glimpse of the stars. Of all that makes us. You're hurt. Do you remember me? We can feel the warmth of the sun again. I know it's you. I'll never forget.)

(I hang onto you. You've reached across oblivion to hoist me up from the dark. It's not lonely. It's warm. You are a balm for the pain. It rips through my being like fabric, and I can hear it tearing, but it's okay. I remember you. I remember you. I won't let go. I remember you. I love you.)

(Theodore's grip tightened on Claire's hand. He hadn't noticed that he was crying. The feeling left him quickly, like the flow of a tide, but the memory remained.)

(Distant voices flowed through him like a river, its arms branching out to reach his furthest synapse. He knew something was wrong, then. He'd always known since he arrived, in an innocent, childish sense. But he could feel the planes splitting within him, sieving his being from the waste of body.)

It feels like I'm seeing two things... I think I'm seeing two things... There's two things here. I can't see...!