lucy pevensie, once a queen of narnia, (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} alwaysaqueen) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} dunwichgame,@ 2024-04-01 14:03:00 |
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| Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, ∙ plot: 014 from the deep, ◌ inactive: isaac lahey, ◌ inactive: lucy pevensie |
LUCY & ISAAC
Would it help if I made it a royal decree?
⚠ mention of storms, werewolves
complete
Lucy couldn't recall ever experiencing rain like this. She had seen the posts, heard on the news and the radio that people were trying to convince the residents of Dunwich to evacuate, but as far as she could tell, the MISTakes were unable to leave town, and thus had to make sure they had supplies to last through the storm. She'd also received notification that she was expected at a new job in Town Hall next week, so she hoped that the weather cleared up a bit by then. As it was only expected to get worse, she'd gone ahead and left the safety of Pickman, running out to Time and Again for a few work appropriate outfits and shoes, then over to Roxxcart and the hardware store for a few more things. And maybe lunch. Lucy ducked into the diner, pausing for a moment- it looked like most seats were taken, but there was a free one at the counter. She approached, hesitating for a moment. "Excuse me- is this seat open?"
Isaac had gotten officially paid. He had plans, most of them with Robbie, but he also had this… stuff, he had to work out. See, he was pretty sure he was good at camouflaging it behind the other stuff, the stuff he brought with him. He was always a little sad about certain things from home so he didn't think the other wolves could tell he was… blue. That's what they'd think if they knew. But if he was dwelling for longer than a minute or two, then he should be on his own. And maybe with a milkshake. He sat and sipped and thought about french fries when he heard a voice next to him. “Yeah, it's free,” he told her with a smile that was a little weak but trying, and he scooted over just slightly to give her a little more room. “Help yourself.”
"Thank you." Lucy couldn't help but notice that he felt a little..sad? Or perhaps just off. While most people were here with somebody, chatting and laughing and appearing generally at ease, he seemed to be by himself, quiet and alone. She set her things down beneath her feet and climbed up onto a stool, smiling with a nod as a waitress came by with the menu. She glanced down at the menu, then looked over at the young man beside her. "I'm sorry, but- are you alright? I can't help but notice that you seem a little..I'm not sure. Upset? Sad?"
Isaac made a little humming noise, and he shook his head at the question even as he took a big gulp of his milkshake to give him a second to work out what he was going to say. His excuse. “Yeah, I'm - just kind of lost in thought,” Isaac answered her. “Thanks, though. Just thinking.” Sure, his thoughts weren't necessarily rainbows and sunshine, that's why he was having them here instead of around anyone the pack.
Lucy watched his face for a moment. It still felt like he was hiding something, but she hardly knew him so she wouldn't pry. Not yet. Then her attention returned to the menu and she took a moment to decide. The waitress returned and she placed an order for a burger and fries, then a fountain coke- she had forgotten how good those could be. Handing the menu back, she looked back over. "I'm Lucy. You're one of the other MIST people, aren't you?" She thought she'd seen him around Pickman, usually with others. She didn't recall seeing him alone.
“Yeah,” he smiled, maybe a little subdued but it was warm. “Hey. I'm Isaac. I'm kind of new? Newish. It's been a little over a month. I think you're on the new side too?” It felt like he both was and wasn't new, like he’d just gotten there but there were people who were a lot newer. If he could remember giant lobsters, maybe he wasn't that new at all.
"I'm new as well," Lucy replied with a warm smile of her own. "I've been here..oh, about two weeks?" She glanced toward the window where the rain was still coming down. She'd never seen anything like it, and in a way, it reminded her of the neverending winter she had witnessed in Narnia when she'd first arrived. Lucy had heard of this Sea God that wanted one of the other MISTakes, but she hoped she never ran into him. If only Aslan were here to help. She shook her head, pulling herself from her thoughts. "This land is so different from the one I come from, but I'm enjoying it so far. There's so much to learn and to see! And it's nice to have a break from the responsibility of running a kingdom."
“A Kingdom?” Isaac was flabbergasted. “I can barely run my life. How do you run a kingdom?” She seemed optimistic, that was pretty good, he thought. He wasn't always, even if he tried. He ruffled the back of his hair with a hand as he thought about it. He'd definitely not done laundry in a few days longer than he should've and used paper towels as coffee filters when he forgot to pick some up. He was a disaster, and this girl was running a kingdom. It was kind of funny.
"Oh, I don't run it on my own! My siblings and I rule over Narnia together. But we're all here now instead of there, and I'm not sure why, but I'm certain there must be a reason." Lucy would need to think on that. But later. "But it isn't so hard. It isn't a very large kingdom, and we've been doing it for about fifteen years?" She shrugged, but smiled to the waitress who arrived with her coke. She thanked her, and then Lucy took a long, slow sip. "I miss it, but at least I have my siblings. That helps a lot." She knew that she was lucky to have them here- so many people arrived without knowing a single soul. She couldn't imagine how hard that must have been for Susan when she'd arrived first, but Susan was always the type to land on her feet, charming others with her beauty and kindness. "Have you ever seen rain like this?"
Isaac chuckled at that. At least it was a family thing and not all down to one person. His eyes squinted a little bit as though he was suspicious. “Are you immortal or something?” he asked her. She just seemed very young for a fifteen year reign! He shrugged at the question, looking toward the windows. It was definitely coming down out there. “Never. I'm from California, it doesn't really rain like this. Even when I was in France for a few years. Never,” he agreed. “This is a whole lot.”
"Immortal? No," Lucy replied with a laugh. "Very much a mortal woman, Daughter of Eve. I'm twenty-four now." She shook her head. "I was eight when we arrived in Narnia and we were named royalty. There was a prophecy that said four of us would come and usher in the Golden Age." Lucy lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I don't know if it was entirely 'Golden', but we did our best. And it was certainly better than the eternal winter we'd arrived to." "California? What is it like there? If you don't mind me asking- I remember hearing such wonderful stories about it as a child, with the entire movie industry there." Lucy didn't remember much more about it, though. "I've never seen rain like this, either. It doesn't seem natural."
“Wow,” Isaac’s voice was a little whisper. “Eight years old. I think when I was eight, I got a matchbox car stuck up my nose,” he mused but grinned over at her. Maybe he was joking. Maybe he wasn't. Only the staff at Beacon Hills General Hospital could truly say. “It sounds like you guys did a pretty good job. You ran it for fifteen years.” He figured the locals would kick them out if they weren't doing a good job. Besides, prophecies and all that stuff. “It's nice. I'm from more northern California, it's less beaches and Hollywood and more forest and parks. But it was good,” he told her with a little smile.
She laughed softly. Lucy had no idea what a matchbox car was, but she could imagine a child getting things stuck, and the strange things that children tended to get into. "Believe me. It wasn't all smooth sailing. We bickered and acted like children sometimes, too." "Do you enjoy the forests?" Lucy's cheeks flushed when she realized she was asking a lot of questions. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to interview you, I just- I really like learning about the places people come from. Narnia is full of forested areas, rolling hills. I miss it, and it's so beautiful. In Autumn, the trees all turn this incredible wave of oranges and yellows and reds." There was so much more about it that she loved and missed, but Lucy did her best to reel in any rambling. Her food arrived, and there was far more than she was sure she'd be able to finish herself. "If you'd like any fries, please- help yourself."
“It's okay,” Isaac told her, smiling an encouraging little smile. “I did. It was different after the bite, I started getting out in the woods a lot more. Narnia sounds really beautiful. I'd miss it too,” he assured her. He would never turn down a French fry. Isaac reached over to snag one. “Thanks,” he said with another little smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. “So do you go by Your Highness or what?” he asked her. “It feels rude to call a Queen by her name. Like, I think that's not allowed.”
"The bite?" Lucy asked curiously, then realized that might be prying again. "You don't have to answer that. I suppose I've spent half my life outdoors- I'm not used to weather like this keeping me inside. Even the winters weren't so terrible- we would get snow, but nothing that lasted for too long." Lucy picked up her burger, nudging the plate of fries a little more between them. "Oh goodness, no. Please- I'm not the queen here. Just Lucy is fine, I promise. Would it help if I made it a royal decree?"
Sometimes Isaac forgot that not everyone knew about werewolves, here. It not being a secret and it being ubiquitous, they were different things. “Yeah, werewolf, sorry,” he flashed a little smile. He chuckled at that. “You know, a royal decree might help,” he agreed, reaching out to snag a French fry. “Civilian Queen Lucy,” he added, a little joking glint in his eye.
Lucy laughed, turning in her seat. She picked up a fry of her own, holding it up. "I, Queen Lucy of Narnia, do declare that you, Isaac of the Diner, needn't call me Queen or Your Highness for the duration of our friendship here in Dunwich." She tapped it to his french fry before popping hers into her mouth. "Feel better?"
That one got a real laugh from him, one that finally reached his eyes. “Isaac of the Diner. I like that. I've never had an official title before.” He did something that looked like a fancy little half-bow in his seat and ate his French fry too. “Way better,” he assured her. “About that,” he added.
Lucy grinned, glad to see a real smile from him. She laughed at the bow. "Well, I wasn't sure if you were ready to be knighted. Perhaps later, once we've known each other a little longer- at least after finishing these fries." Her smile faded a little bit. "Is something else bothering you? Would you rather have a distraction, or do you want to talk about it?"
Isaac sighed a little at the question, looking down at his food. He knew what was bothering him. “Every time I talk about it, someone says I shouldn't worry about it. It isn't going to happen, or we're here now so we should make the best of it and not make up problems to be worried about.” He shrugged a shoulder, slouching a little in his seat. “I'm falling for someone here and we're together, here, but where he's from he's with someone. And it's this werewolf mate destiny thing.” Everything was good, here, but what about when one of them was gone or when Kelly showed up here? He reached for another French fry. “It's just kind of hard to enjoy here and now when I feel like I'm just borrowing it. Him. He's not supposed to be mine.”
"Oh." Lucy was quiet as he spoke, letting him speak his mind and say what he needed. "That sounds really difficult." She took a sip of her soda and set it down, trying to pick out her words. "I'm not sure that anyone can tell you to not worry about it- it seems like it's just..nature for anyone to worry. Is he worried about it? Is that something you two have spoken about?"
“We've talked about it,” Isaac said, still looking down at the fries like they were personally doing something to make him upset. “He says I don't have to worry, too, but how am I supposed to know? If the other guy just showed up, he can't know what that would feel like. No one could. I just,” He sighed, shaking his head. “It was different when we weren't serious but I'm… having strong feelings and it's just going to hurt when I have to give him back.”
Lucy was quiet for a long moment. "I suppose you'll have to trust him. And your feelings. Maybe there's a way it'll all work out. That's not- I don't mean that you can't still wonder. Or feel however you feel about it. But it does seem a little tiring, doesn't it? All that worry and nothing you can do about it?" She reached over, placing a hand gently on his upper arm. "Does he have strong feelings for you in return? I would imagine that might change what would happen if this other person arrives. But there's no real way of knowing here, is there.." Lucy was sure she wasn't being helpful at all- she knew she couldn't fix it, and very much doubted that he would want her to fix things. "I think you have two options, Isaac of the Diner. Either you find a way to accept what might or might not happen, or you suffer like this until one of you tires of it and things end anyway. And I don't think anybody really enjoys suffering."
Isaac swallowed hard, and he thought he'd had it all worked out in his head until she said that. Nobody really enjoys suffering. Did he? Was it just that he was used to it? He sniffled a little and ran his hand over his forehead. “No, but maybe you get used to it.” Maybe he was used to things just being that bad, that now he was looking for reasons to worry about this. Reasons this wasn't going to work. How did you tell the difference between that and being cautious? “Anyway, I should go,” he said, a little overwhelmed. “Thanks for talking, not-Queen Lucy.”
Lucy turned as he sniffled. "Perhaps. But perhaps you can find happiness, too, if you let go of the suffering." She sounded like a fortune teller. She didn't mean to, and her cheeks flushed. "I- I'm sorry if I overstepped. But if you ever need a listening ear, or want to share fries again, let me know?" A moment of hesitation. "But you're welcome, Isaac. I hope it's- I hope you find whatever happiness you want."