[network] @ADMIN; Arrival

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[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will shook his head again, more emphatically this time.

But rather than looking like a stern adult, glaring at a child for being impudent, his lips down turned in a pout of his own.

Not gonna! ]

[fuckingwolverine]

[Lilly collapses into giggles, and suddenly, she feels a little like Victoria. Victoria does stuff with other people, and has people make funny faces at her to make her laugh. Lilly doesn't need that, or at least, she never has before - she only needed Mama and her sister. She still only needs them, even if she can't find them right now. Even if this is the first time in as long as she can remember that she hasn't known where at least one of them was.

She falters, smile fading.]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Watching her smile fade, Will also sobered.

He couldn't know the details, though he had his suspicions given what he'd been able to pick up from the available conversations. Finally he broke his rule about speaking. His voice was naturally soft-spoken, calm and also heart-felt; as if words were something he used sparingly and only when he believed necessary. ]

I'm not going to try to tell you it's going to be alright. This place is not easy and you're right to be on your guard.

But there are people willing to help you here, when you're ready to let them.

[fuckingwolverine]

Mama.

[She says plaintively.]

Victoria.

[They're the ones she wants help from, and it will be all right, if only she can find them.]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will feels a tug at the heart-strings from the tone of the child's voice. He was never a father of a child her age, Walter had been older when he'd married Molly, but some instincts are just there.

But he's seen how it's gone with people who have tried to push it. The child has plenty of potential protectors, but she also appears to desire honesty. Even if it's unpleasant. ]

I haven't seen or heard from anyone answering to those names. [ He said, still in those soft tones but also direct. ] This place, doesn't have much respect for friends or family. It grabs who it grabs. I was embracing my dear friend when it took me, but he didn't follow until weeks later.

[fuckingwolverine]

[Weeks, months, days - all words that Lilly is familiar with, but that she has no real conception of. They hadn't had calendars in the woods. Plaintively, she asks:]

Long time?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ The plaintive tone in her voice tugs at him, and shuts down his knee jerk response, which was to say that it had felt like a long time.

Instead, he focused on the positive side of the story. ]

Finding friends here, helped pass the time.

[fuckingwolverine]

No.

[Friends are lame, Will.]