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Tweak says, "...Then you mean it."

Richie Trashmouth Tozier (trashmouthloser) wrote in dunwichgame,
@ 2023-03-02 11:07:00

Entry tags:

!log/thread/narrative, stephen king: richie tozier, ∙ plot: 002 the hedge maze, ◌ inactive: beverly marsh

Backdated; Saturday Evening: Feb. 25th

Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier
"The other day, I forgot my old address."

Todash Tavern | R | ⚠ Possible conversations about character death, anxiety, horror clowns, domestic abuse

Richie was still just kind of reeling. Maybe that'd never change -- he felt like it wouldn't anyway, although he supposed deep down he was clever enough to know that most people got used to anything with enough time. But he didn't see how that was possible, not with Eddie Kaspbrak running around an alternate dimension New England town yelling about germs and lobster cosplayers when he was meant to be dead under a pile of rocks somewhere.

It was fucking weird.

It clearly had something to do with time, he figured. Since Eddie was one unfortunate day behind him. But Beverly? She was years behind. She was still in what one might assume were the good years in her life -- early thirties, high on success and far away from Derry. Richie knew better, because he wasn't a complete idiot and he paid attention but -- maybe they'd focus on that seven year gap thing first. Before all the rest.

The bar wasn't hard to find, not even with his busted and slightly headache inducing glasses situation -- there were plenty of folks who just seemed happy to help with pointing and giving proper directions involving hanging lefts and everything.

And when he stepped into the bar, Beverly was even easier to find. She'd always stood out in a room, and this time was no different. Richie would be embarrassed about how much she'd gone through a glow up when he'd become a cave troll if that hadn't always kind of been the case. "Hey," he greeted, and it was weird to feel anxious and comforted by the sight of Beverly all at the same time.

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bevmarsh
2023-03-03 01:53 am UTC (link)

"What happened to your glasses?"

It shouldn't have been the first thing out of her mouth, but those glasses — or some variation of them — were one of the things she had truly remembered about Richie. Someone calling him Four Eyes, and trying to get the drop on him. Richie was always a step ahead of most people, probably owning to wearing thick glasses in a small town (and the bullying that came along with it) and undiagnosed ADHD. Despite his own thoughts on his looks, Beverly's fondness for him would not allow her to believe he was anything less than handsome.

She stood up to get a better look at his face. He hadn't mentioned being in a fight, but it was her first instinct for some reason. Hank? Harvey? Henry. Bowers. The kid who always tormented them and told people Beverly had sex with him. She'd like to say it didn't bother her, but she got the distinct feeling that it was a source of torment for her as a young girl, before Portland.

"You look like you've been swimming in the sewers, Richie."

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-03 12:44 pm UTC (link)

"I got my ass kicked," Richie said with a half of a smile, because it felt right to do -- like when they were kids; Richie grinning through a stream of blood, his glasses smashed yet again. Never mind that his ass kicking had come from Pennywise instead of just any old bully. Never mind the fact that he'd had to wash Eddie's blood out of the cracks of the lenses in the quarry water.

"Thanks," he said, running his hand through his hair, "I was." A few days ago, mind, and he'd showered since, but Richie couldn't say he was taking great care of himself so it wasn't like ... wrong, really. "You, on the other hand, look as hot as ever. What's shaking, Red? I screw any memories loose just by gracing you with my presence?"

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bevmarsh
2023-03-03 01:11 pm UTC (link)

Beverly assumed there was more to the story. She didn't have any hope that it wouldn't be a horror story. There was something about Derry and remembering what little she could about it gave her a feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her want to hurl. She couldn't really explain it, because Derry wasn't here and it couldn't hurt her.

But a whole town couldn't hurt you, could it?

"I remember the quarry. I remember I jumped before the rest of you did."

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-05 12:24 am UTC (link)

By Richie's estimates, a whole town very much could hurt a person -- Derry had turned its' back on a whole slew of children, and not all of them had been so lucky to have a whole Loser's Club full of friends to help them out.

And if one town could do that, could be impressed upon by an entity like IT ... surely there were more out there.

"You're the bravest of all of us, of course you did." Or maybe the wildest when it came to leaping before looking? Richie had never been sure.

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tw: allusions to sexual assault + child abuse

bevmarsh
2023-03-05 12:45 am UTC (link)

Beverly could remember one very specific time that the town's fondness for having adults turn away from the fears of their children had hurt her. Henry Bowers and his gang held her down in the grass right outside her house. If she'd only made it a dozen more feet, she would have been safe inside. One of the neighbors was cutting his lawn and completely ignored her cries for help. That had been the only time she'd been happy to see her father, short-lived as it was.

"I wasn't braver than anyone. More restless, maybe."

The Losers knew her father wasn't the greatest, but Beverly had never told anyone the full extent of what he'd done to her over the years. Thinking about it now, the memories began to come back of that tiny apartment in Derry. Beverly started to feel a little light headed.

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Re: tw: allusions to sexual assault + child abuse

trashmouthloser
2023-03-06 03:27 am UTC (link)

"I don't know about that," Richie said with a smile that was somewhere between wistful and self deprecating. They'd all been -- well. Losers. It felt like they'd all been running from something, even before Pennywise came alone. Richie remembered now how he'd always felt a little bit like he might vibrate out of his own skin, like he simply couldn't stop himself.

That hadn't really changed but he was -- different now, he supposed. Older, if not wiser and a little more in control of his own faculties. Usually.

Beverly had been his partner in crime for plenty of things, back then, and it was so weird remeeting again -- the second time this week, for Richie. "You really are from a different time, huh," he said, and was so unsure of how to feel about that that it was nearly overwhelming.

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tw: allusions to sexual assault + child abuse

bevmarsh
2023-03-06 02:00 pm UTC (link)

Beverly nodded. Then she held up her hand. Across the palm was the scare from their promise. Richie's would be gone, but hers was not. Eddie's was not. They still had things to deal with, she supposed.

"I guess I am. Did you — did it come back? Is that why you were all in Derry?"

The scariest thing in her life had always been her father until that summer. That summer, it was like everything had come to a head. Bowers, her father, it. But there were so many good feelings that she could feel bubbling to the surface. Seeing Richie's face, hearing his voice... She felt like she was a teenager again, finally finding a place she belonged.

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-07 04:10 pm UTC (link)

That was the weird part of it, wasn't it? Even now, after everything, Richie felt weirdly relieved to be in Bev's presence. Nothing should have felt relieving after the week he'd had. "Shit," Richie said, taking Beverly's hand in his own, swiping his thumb across that scar. Yeah. His was gone. He wished it wasn't, if he was being honest but this was -- as good as proof as it got, really.

His mouth twitched to the side, like Bev had brought up a conversation he very much hadn't wanted to get into. He'd need a stiff drink for this -- and it was a good thing they were in the bar and he could raise his hand, point to a bottle of whiskey and motion for a double. Good thing. Yeah.

"I think IT's the only thing that'd get us all back into town in the first place." Well. Not all of them.

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bevmarsh
2023-03-08 11:33 pm UTC (link)

Beverly stared at the scar on her hand a little too long, zoning out. She remembered cutting it, holding hands with the other Losers, promising to come back if It came. She remembered what everyone looked like in the future. Except for Stan, because she already knew what happened to Stan. She didn't want to believe it at the time, because no one could see the future. It was just trying to scare her.

"Stan..." she finally said, swallowing hard. "Stan's dead. Or going to be."

There had to be a way to stop that here, right? Stan could show up here, and he'd be okay. There would be no need for him to do anything drastic.

"There has to be a way to stop it. If I'm from the past, and you're from the future, than everything here is in flux."

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-08 11:44 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah," Richie said, feeling hollow as he said it. "Yeah. He's gone." Because Stan was dead, bled out in the bathtub. And Beverly had known it from the beginning, because she'd looked into those lights. Same as him, if not twenty seven years later.

What else has she dreamt in those years, he wondered? Did Beverly know about Eddie?

In the end, Richie didn't have it in him to ask.

"Do you think so?" He asked, about the future being in flux -- as if he hadn't been thinking about it since the second he'd believed Eddie to be himself when he'd picked up him at the gazebo.

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bevmarsh
2023-03-08 11:52 pm UTC (link)

Richie was here, though, and his scar was gone which meant they had to have stopped It. Which meant that all the deaths she saw, those were in flux too. They couldn't be dead if they'd killed It, because she'd seen every single one of them die in her dreams. Those horrible nightmares that she thought was just her brain being overly dramatic. They were possible futures and all the possible ways they all died at the hands of It.

"Eddie's here. You're here. I'm here. We're all from different points in time so Stan could — come here too. And be okay."

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-09 03:20 am UTC (link)

"Yeah," Richie agreed, biting at the inside of his cheek, enough to taste a bit of copper. Enough to keep him from blurting out anything too stupid. Too telling. Too much in a way where no beep beep might really do the trick.

"Maybe," he finished, a little lamely. "Maybe when we get out of here, we you can change shit." Was it already too late for him? Probably. "Hey, do you still smoke right now?"

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bevmarsh
2023-03-09 06:05 am UTC (link)

"I only smoke if you don't tell my husband."

But she pulled her pack from her pocket. The bar was non-smoking, so they'd have to go outside to smoke. She swallowed the last of her drink and stood up, indicating they head toward the door. She pulled out some cash that she'd had in her pocket before she got here and set it down, well more than the drinks would have cost.

"But you gotta tell me what you're not telling me. I know that look, Richie Tozier, and there's something you're not telling me."

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trashmouthloser
2023-03-09 09:35 pm UTC (link)

"I'd never," Richie said, which was true. Tom Rogan wouldn't get anything from Richie, even if they were in a world where he could. He downed the rest of his drink too, one quick swallow that warmed him all the way down his throat before he followed Bev out of the bar, already digging through his pockets for the pack of cigarettes he'd bought recently. Not a wise use of limited cash, but his nerves were thanking him for it regardless.

He paused, lighter lit and fire dancing with the wind. Of course she could sniff the truth off of him. "Bev," he said after a second and then lit his smoke, offering her the fire to do the same. "It's a shitty story."

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	bevmarsh 2023-03-21 03:17 am UTC (link)
	"No shit? I had no idea," she replied sarcastically, bluntly. She knew it wouldn't be a great story, even if they all survived, but knowing Stan died, that Richie lived. "Our lives are perfect and wonderful." And then she took that first drag off her cigarette and hunkered down for the rest of the story. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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