[Timed to 8 March] Debut - For Effy

[well_yeah_but]

The phone chirrups, its signal lost, and Tony curses under his breath as he pulls it from his ear to peer at the pale glow of the display.

Call ended shines back at him in the darkness, and isn't that just brilliant? Tony can appreciate the sheer nihilism inherent to Murphy's Law, but could really do without its application in this particular

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[backward]

This wouldn't be the first time that Effy hears Tony's voice ringing in her ears despite the distance between them. Without knowing, he's talked her through a lot. In Bristol, he commented on their parents constantly, on how fucked they'd let things get and how pathetic they'd become. Then, he spoke to her from across dimensions, the bond between then too strong to be broken even by island magic. Oftentimes, this is the sole thing making her life bearable, the Tony in her head telling her that although everything won't necessarily be okay, what fun would that be anyway

[well_yeah_but]

There's hardly time to react to the loud staccato vibrating the boards beneath his feet before Tony's got an armful of girl-An armful of Effy, to be precise, and he doesn't have to see her face to instantly know it's her clinging to him like a lifeline. Being reminded that she loves him is always nice, of course, but the desperate way she's holding him is doing absolutely nothing to put him at ease with whatever the hell he's just stumbled into. His arms instinctively wrap around her slender shoulders, tugging her closer into a protective embrace, but he's frowning with worry when he peers down at the familiar mess of her hair.

"Eff, what…" he begins, and one hand pushes back the weight of her hair so that he can peer down at the pale face turned in against his chest. "Hey. I probably ought to be saying something comforting right now, and I promise I'll get around to it, but I've no idea what the fuck's going on. Are you alright?"

[backward]

That Tony should arrive and be required immediately to console her seems a given to Effy, and although she feels a tinge of guilt at being unhelpful, the feeling is quickly overcome. Despite her best efforts, she has been caught in the role of welcome wagon before and has, until this moment, never been very enthusiastic about it. She intends to explain, truly, but she needs a moment to gather herself and her thoughts. That moment soon turns into minutes, longer than anyone should have to wait, but Effy has been here for months and they have a lot of time to make up for.

Reluctantly, she edges away at last, refusing to release his grip on him for fear that he might evaporate into the breeze, nothing more than a painfully vivid hallucination. She holds onto his hand tightly, nodding an answer to his question while considering the many more he's bound to have. "I can explain, just... tell me where to start."

[well_yeah_but]

"Where the hell I am would be a good place," Tony says, the corner of his mouth instinctively quirking up despite how unsettling the situation still is. Bravado definitely has its uses.

The light here's poor, thin moonlight filtering through the thick canopy of trees, but now that Effy's stepped back Tony can see well enough that the scenery isn't the only thing that's changed. "Are you…older?" It seems a ridiculous question to ask, but this is his little sister, light of his life, and he can tell, the last of her youthful round cheeks given way to the face of a beautiful young woman.