maskormenacelogs | { 𝕒 } comorbidity

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{ 𝕒 } comorbidity

WHO: Abigail Hobbs + people
WHERE: In and around the Graham-Ludgate home; later Hook, Line & Tinker
WHEN: June 3rd and onward
WHAT: Prodigal daughter returns
WARNINGS: None

-

[ when abigail awakes in cape canaveral, she isn't incredibly upset. she's not home and home, bleeding out on the floor, would be deeply upsetting. she listens to the briefing this time, nodding and attempting to tuck her file in her back pocket before she realizes she was ported out and back in her pajamas. again. sigh. shoved outside into the real world, she smooths her hair down, tucking it behind her ear and adjusts her shorts and tee shirt. as much as she doesn't want to take public transportation when she is barefoot, she also doesn't want to walk so she catches the shuttle from the base to heropa.

if anyone stares at the pajama clad teenager on the bus, she doesn't notice, flipping through her communicator and sighing in relief and a little upset as she finds people she recognizes. will, april, mary, kate. dr chilton and john. teresa, grey. no freddie, which reminds abigail in a rush of one of her last memories, but no hannibal, no dr gideon. maybe that's her price.

she walks the rest of the way to the house, navigating mostly on muscle memory, before she pushes the door open without knocking, reaching up to pet the first raccoon who dangles down from his catwalk and tries to eat her hair. ]

Will? April? It's me.

[ baby's home.

later and the next day (and the day after, and the day after, and the day after, you see the pattern), a new feature can be found in the front yard of will and april's house, followed around by a fluffy cat and a couple of raccoons as she digs in the yard to finish the planting she promised to do months and months ago.

later still she winds up at the bait shop, nose wrinkled with how stuff has been moved around and sets about moving it back to where she had it. ]

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[ She's been back a day already by the time Grey sees her. In fairness, he has a good excuse; he's been unconscious for more than the last day, thanks to the Pestilence virus. Grey doesn't understand that, doesn't know what hurt him or why it made him see the things he did. But on waking up, all he wants to do is see Will and April. He makes his way to their house.

And finds someone unbelievable in the garden.

Given what he's just seen - or at least, all the things he thought he was seeing - he doesn't quite believe it at first. It's with little ceremony that he runs into the garden, and reaches for Abigail's arms. He needs to make sure she's real, that's the important thing. His eyes are a little wide, and his expression disbelieving. He's half expecting her to be another illusion. She's proof that he's still asleep, isn't she? She has to be. That's why she's here, standing in the garden that he and Will had spent so long working on in her absence. She's exactly where he kept imagining she would be.

She can't be real. ]

[ she flinches almost reflexively, caught off guard by grey since all her focus was on the flowers and mentally plotting out where the rest of them go. when she takes in the boy in front of her, a smile breaks across her face and she twists her arms so she can curl her fingers around his wrists. ]

Hey. Hi!

[ does grey hug? abigail doesn't often, but coming back from a few months away kind of puts that on hold and tugs him forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders. or tries to, he is bigger than her and also taller so he's going to have to help her out on the hug front. ]

[ He does hug. Grey tends to hold himself back from that sort of thing, because he feels he's more prone to do it than most. People here can be strange about touch and contact. It's not accepted so readily as it was on the Train.

Given that, it's fair to say that Grey's boundaries are a good deal looser than most. He pulls Abigail against his chest and bends down, curling into her hug. He rubs her back, and breathes the tiniest sigh of relief.

He hadn't honestly thought he would see her again. He's so, so glad to see her safe.

Provided that she is safe.

When it seems natural, he draws back, and finds the tattoos to show her. 'Safe. Pain.' He points to each in turn and then looks at her, hesitant. Is she all right? Was she hurt? What happened while she was gone? ]

[ the hug is so welcome and warm, grey will feel abigail genuinely relaxing against him, her normal tension easing away as she lets herself be welcomed home and comforted by her friend.

when he asks his questions she shakes her head, smiling softly. ] I'm fine. I just got ported out, I think. Nothing happened, I just... [ she shrugs. ] I went to sleep and then woke up at Cape Canaveral three months later. I'm okay though.

[ she reaches out to squeeze his hand briefly before releasing him so he can answer the question that follows. ] Are you okay? Has anything happened?

[ Grey's expression flickers, worry showing on his face while he nods. Yes, something happened. How does he explain it, though? He doesn't know what was wrong, himself.

His arm turns over, and he points to a tattoo that says 'trouble' - which barely even begins to touch it. A second tattoo tells her that there were 'nightmares'. Awful nightmares. Grey looks down, and then touches Abigail's arm. He's so glad to see her.

He holds out his hand, and makes fresh words appear.

'You were there. And April. And Mary.'

All of whom had actually just been Mary, shapeshifting while she was asleep. But Grey had been confused by that. Everything had been confusing. ]

[ ooh, new words, that's exciting. her blue eyes trace over the words, forehead wrinkling before her face falls a little in distress. grey had had nightmares about her. (and april and mary.) abigail is used to nightmares, even ones with the people from heropa tucked into them, she doesn't want other people to be plague by them either. ]

I'm sorry. Are you alright...?

[ They hadn't been normal nightmares. He's used enough to those, as well - there's enough bad in his past that's hard to forget. This had been something else, something more.

His shoulders lift in a helpless shrug, and he shakes his head. He doesn't know if he's all right. He doesn't know if it's over. He also isn't sure who else was affected, which is why he came here. He wanted to check on April and Will.

So with that in mind, he points to the house, and shows her the 'trouble' tattoo again. Are they okay? Does she know, has she seen them? Grey will go and find them, if she hasn't. ]

I saw them this morning, I don't think they're in trouble? [ she saw them yesterday as well, but she knows better than most people what can change in a few hours. she's worried about grey though so for now, and surprisingly, april and will are afterthoughts as she reaches out to take grey's hand and pull him inside. ]

Come on. We can finish off the rest of the ice cream while we wait for them to get back.

[ So they aren’t around to check on, but they’re together. That’s something. They can look after each other. The last time there had been bad dreams, April had ended up in Grey’s, and that had been terrible. He’d seen her in this dream, too, although he’s fairly sure that wasn’t real. Abigail doesn’t seem to remember it, anyway.

He settles when she takes his hand. She’s solid and real, and that probably means she won’t disappear again. At least not right now. He nods, and goes with her. Ice cream is okay, and if they’re having that, then he can make sure nothing happens to her until Will gets back.

And then, of course, he won’t be alone. That settles him too, more than he would like to admit. He gives her hand a little squeeze, and heads inside with her. He knows this house well enough to turn automatically towards the kitchen, and once they’re there he points towards the drawer with the spoons. He’ll get those, okay? ]

Cool. I'll get the ice cream. [ which she does, pulling the rocky road out of the freezer gingerly. it's really cold and reflexively she drops it with a clatter on the counter, pulling her hands back to curl them into little fists. she closes the freezer with her shoulder. ]

[ Grey grabs the spoons. A glance at the tub in her hands makes him narrows his eyes, and he roots through the cupboards until he finds bowls as well. In short order he's back at the counter, and eyeing the ice around that tub.

Sometimes, Grey thinks he is used to being here. Other times, he finds that old habits die very hard. He doesn’t touch the tub, and instead flicks the lid off with one of the spoons. He taps the surface, finds that the spoon won’t break through it yet, and he beckons Abigail away, towards the living room. They’ll need to leave it for a while, there’s no way he’s trying to eat it like that. Maybe they can watch a movie while they wait. ]

Yeah, you're right. [ it's just natural to answer him even when he doesn't speak himself. it's like she wants him to know that she understands what he's getting at, especially in case she's wrong and he needs to correct her. but she thinks they're usually on the same wavelength.

she follows after him easily, curling up on the couch and tucking her feet underneath her, looking up at him expectantly. ] Do you wanna watch TV or a movie or play a game?

[ Grey follows her. Instead of trying to mime an answer, he goes to where the DVDs are kept and picks a selection, mostly at random since he hasn't seen all that many of them. He brings them over to the couch and holds them out in a fan, before nodding at Abigail to pick whatever she'd like.

He prefers these. Games involve him using that controller thing and he still thinks that's weird. ]

[ she closes her eyes and picks one randomly, opening her eyes once she's decided and looking up at grey like did i do good, ma? april has good taste, she doesn't think it'll be crap.

but it's also april.

so. ]

That one?

[ Grey lowers the others and turns around the one she picked. There's a couple on the front; a girl with a vacant expression, and a chiseled boy with strange eyes. Grey shrugs and goes to put it on, not really taking account of the title. He puts the other boxes away and returns to the couch.

The DVD starts with a lot of strangely morose music, which Grey supposes is why the girl looks vacant. Maybe Abigail likes this sort of thing, though. With an uncertain little smile at her, he settles down to watch. ]

[ it only takes about ten minutes for abigail looks of calm to morph into something like horrified disgust. omg she fucked up, she fucked up so badly. she glances at grey, shaking her head, ]

This is not a good movie, I did not... I... no.

[ Grey is not a person who knows movies. He really doesn't know anything about genres, or pop culture in general.

He likes films with fighting and action. He's seen a few of them.

This is not that.

He's watching it with some skepticism; it's focusing on a girl with questionable taste in boys. Grey already isn't totally on her side, and apparently Abigail isn't. He looks up at her distaste and nods agreement, pointing at the love interest and making a face. No. Not for him. Not for Abigail either?

Good. Maybe there's hope for her yet. ]

Yeah, no, not at all. This wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I'm gonna pick another movie.

[ unfolding herself from the couch, she hops up and pokes through the movies until she finds one of her own dvds and shoves it in, scrambling back on the couch with grey. now they get to watch the animated misadventures of a porcupine just looking for love and a hug.

it's precious as fuck.

still no action, but it's funny and there are not wereunicorns and horrible "romantic" plot lines that read more like emotional abuse and manipulation. ]

Better?

[ Her reaction has Grey actually laughing, even though there's still no sound from him. Poor Abigail. Not hers, then.

So why does April even have that movie? They're going to have to interrogate her about that one later.

The DVD is switched, and Grey nods - even though they're now watching a talking animal, which he lifts his eyebrow at. Suddenly, though, he holds up a finger, and disappears off into the kitchen.

When he comes back, he has two bowls of (much softer) ice cream, and he offers one to Abigail before curling back onto the sofa with her. Now, this is better.

April is in so much trouble when she gets home. ]

Thanks. [ mmm ice cream. she s l o w l y eats it as the movie plays. it's so dumb and adorable that it's soothing. like watching cartoons when you're home sick from school. there's something just calming about it, grounding, and hanging out on the couch with grey is definitely making her feel at home again.

but it's not an intellectually stimulating movie so midway through it she turns to look at him. ]

So how's it been? Aside from the weird stuff that's been happening this week.

[ Ice cream is a strange experience. Iced anything has a negative meaning for Grey, but he tends to forget about that when he remembers how good this stuff tastes.

He eats it slowly too, and watches the cartoon. After a while, he starts trying to copy the pictures as tattoos on his hand, and reaches over to show Abigail with a little smile. Her question makes that smile falter, and the picture clears away to leave an empty space for words. ]

thomas left

[ And it had been awful. A lot of people had left. Up until now, Grey had thought Abigail to be among them. The words clear again. ]

will asked me to stay

[ Then he looks at her, very carefully, because he knows this is her house too. He's worried she might not allow him - or might prefer it if he didn't, more accurately. Abigail is a nice girl, but that doesn't mean she wants him around all the time. ]

[ the smile that she'd formed looking at the tiny tattoo cartoon turns to a frown, thinking of thomas. it immediately makes her think of stiles and by default derek, but she manages to push through, idly wondering about thomas' friends and teresa.

but then grey mentions moving in and she softens, smile edging the frown away again. ]

Oh, cool. [ will and april had never asked her to stay specifically, she'd just come back like IM HERE AND IM NOT LEAVING, DEAL WITH IT. ] So I have someone to hang out with when they start making out.

[ :D ]

[ The first time Grey ever met Will, he’d been locked in…let’s call it a compromising position, with April, so that pleasure gets a tiny, knowing smile out of him, and a glance upwards in the general direction of the main bedroom.

She seems happy, though. That’s good. He had thought maybe she wouldn’t be. This is Abigail’s house, after all, and he’d moved in when she was away. ]

so you don’t mind ?

Of course I don't mind. [ she reaches over to squeeze his arm with a small, earnest smile. there seems to be something unspoken, like "we're family", but abigail can't get it out because family is hard for her. family is dangerous. ]

[ That's okay. It's reassuring enough, and Grey gives her a tiny smile in response. Family is not a thing he had before he came here. That's how he feels too, though. This is a family. Will and April and Abigail and Grey.

'Thank you', he tells her through his tattoos, and then settles back to watch the film. ]

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{ 𝕒 } comorbidity

4 June

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