lost as fast as was found

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie sits in the back of the car, staring out the window. The car isn't familiar - she should probably be in a car seat but it's not like the social worker in the driver's seat has one for her - and neither is the scenery outside. But the situation is, almost to a point where it's comforting. Meggie is so, so used to being taken away from one

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[ripsouthearts]

Ran likes Grant Park, and on the occasions when he's not stalking Molly, he hangs out there, watching the ducks and sitting on a bench. He especially likes relaxing there because Molly isn't there. He supposes he could be worse off, Molly at least doesn't care about his less than nice tendencies and his inability to socialize without biting someone's head off

[singsing_a_song]

Well that's not going to make a traumatized seven-year-old calm down, now is it?

But it might confuse her just a bit more.

Meggie unfurls from the little ball she's drawn herself into just a little and peeks over her arm. She's stopped screaming vocally, though small sobs still tear from her chest and tears still stream down her face. And the wails her mind is producing come to a momentary halt.

She stares for a moment. If his screaming doesn't stop momentarily, well, she'll start up again. The noises she can produces are significantly more powerful and painful than anything a person might be able to produce with his voice. And if he doesn't stop - well, she's going to throw a tantrum, and she won't hesitate to make this strange man's ears bleed like she's done to too many people before.

[ripsouthearts]

He stops as soon as she does, and steps back. He hadn't really expected that to work, but now that it has, he's quite proud of himself. He doesn't dislike children, they're actually the one subgroup of humans he does like. He finds their big heads endearing and the sounds of their voices soothing. He's not quite sure how that works, because he hates adult women, but children, children he likes.

He steps back a few more times to give her space, and knelt so he can talk to her at her level. If it works, he's going to try it. Not that he's had much experience with small children. He just knows he likes them.

"Are you lost?" he asks, smiling slightly at her.

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie stays where she is - despite the fact that yes, they're in the middle of the street - and gazes warily over her arm. She's still tensed to start screaming again, still crying a little, and there's a panicked, high-pitched trilling tune floating around them.

Honestly, she doesn't know if she's lost. She doesn't really know what's going on.

"I don't know," she chokes out, pressing her face back to her knees.

[tempered_scars]

Waugh, a tiny child Wes has absolutely no idea what to do with. A tiny child that is screaming and about to burst his ear drums, by the look of it.

"It's okay," he assures in a quiet voice, drawing nearer but very slowly. He's aware he's a big guy, and he'll seem gargantuan to a tiny blonde girl, but he hopes the soothing tone helps somewhat.

At least to convey he doesn't mean to hurt her.

He only picks up speed when the middle of the road is no longer deserted, and cars are about to shift gears after the red light. He picks her up and carries her to the sidewalk.

...He is expecting his ear drums to burst any minute now.

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie is confused, so confused, and terrified. She has literally no idea what is going on around her or where she is, but suddenly someone's picking her up and moving her.

She honestly can't remember the last time someone was this nice to her - and this person has barely done anything. She's so used to people just being afraid or nervous.

Somehow, Meggie manages to tone down the panic as she looks up at the man holding her. Her vocal screams have subdued to choking sobs as tears streak her face, and the wailing noise fades to a panicked, trilling little sound floating around them. It's too high-pitched to be pleasant, but it's bearable.

Th first thing she notices is that he is nice. He just seems nice. He's helping.

The second thing is that he is big. A glance down at the ground tells her that he's taller than anyone she's ever met, let alone been held by. She tells him so, in her own way.

"Why are you so big?" she asks between little sobs, genuine curiosity in her stuffy-nosed voice.

[tempered_scars]

Wes doesn't even know if the girl would have been aware of the honking with the screams. He breathes a sigh of relief when they subdue. The relief doesn't last long, and it doesn't flood into him because the waterworks start instead.

He's a damn grown man, but tears still manage to get to him, damn it.

"It's okay," he repeats, a large hand cradling the back of her head as he walks down the street. He's holding her as gently as he can. His hands are big and calloused, but they're capable of the gentility.

Besides, she's so tiny. If he holds her wrong, Wes feels he'll break her.

Because he's an angel, he immediately is able to tell she's a Wanderer.

He laughs quietly. "My father was big. I got it from him. What's your name?"

[singsing_a_song]

"I'm Meggie Lila," she tells him. It sounds rehearsed. It's not her birth name, but it's all she remembers anymore.

She rests her arms along either shoulder as he walks. It feels... safe with him. He heard her screaming and yet he's being nice to her.

"Is this Chicago?" Meggie asks. She doesn't mean exactly what it might sound like. "We were driving to Chicago so I could stay with a new family, but..."

Yeah, the crying start again. She doesn't know how to explain what happened.

"The car broke apart and I don't know where she went and I was falling - "

Each sharp, high-pitched note sounds with each sob that wracks her body. She fists the nice man's shirt at the shoulders and stares up at him through her tears.

*has the perfect icon for this*

[sophicsulphur]

Iris has been wary of cars, ever since she came here. And especially since she apparently broke several different traffic laws in this city in one pleasant afternoon of running (hers), cursing (other people's), and screaming (everyone's) not terribly long ago. Right now, she's being very careful to only cross at the crossing places, with the nice, illuminated walking signs powered by that strange lightning-y stuff. Even then, she's skittish.

As such, about to cross the street, she almost jumps out of her skin when something starts up an infernal wailing that seems to pierce through to her very bones. She drops and clamps her hands over her ears, trying to block the sound, but it's no use: it's everywhere, inside and outside and all around, and there's no dampening it, not even a little

you really do!

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie flinches when she feels a hand on her arm and the wailing comes to a screeching halt. She stops screaming, too, sobs still shaking her body when she looks up at the girl above her.

please stop it really hurts please

Meggie is hurting people who don't deserve to be hurt. She bites back the urge to start screaming again.

we need to go

They're in the middle of the street - how did they get in the middle of the street - where is the car that Meggie had been riding in? Where is the social worker?

Meggie lets out a loud sob and a high-pitched trilling sound hovers about them, threatening to elevate once more.

[sophicsulphur]

The brief break from the screaming allows her head to clear enough to think, but she can tell the girl's about to begin again. There's a sound in the air like vibrating glass, waiting to shatter at any moment.

She's curious as to what's going on here, but more importantly, she needs to distract the child. With her free hand, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small, sparkling crystal: the ruby prism she's been working with, the eventual vessel for the Philosopher's Stone. She carries it with her when she goes out, so she can empower it as she walks. To a child, it's just a pretty trinket, but maybe it'll catch her attention.

She holds it up to the light, turning it this way and that, catching the sun's rays just right so that rainbows will dance across the little girl's skin. "Hey, pretty, isn't it? I can show you more pretty stuff, but we'd better come out of the street first," she says, glancing back at the waiting traffic with a wary eye. After being screamed at by this child, she's really not up to being screamed at by

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie catches her breath a little when the crystal paints rainbows in the light. She thinks it's one of the prettiest things she's ever seen.

So she allows herself to be pulled onto the sidewalk. Yes, she's been properly distracted from what's going on around her for a few moments, tears still wet on her face but vanished from her eyes.

She hiccups a little, sniffling, and promptly makes grabby hands at the crystal dangling in front of her. She doesn't necessarily expect it to be handed to her. But she doesn't know if she likes this girl yet, and it's not like it would be the first time she screamed at someone until they gave her what she wanted.

[physics_magic]

Spencer was walking down the street when it happens and he watches for just a moment in shocked awe. Chicago can still surprise him, despite the fact that he's been here for a while yet.

THe sound the child makes causes him to wince but he rushes forward nonetheless, scooping her up into his arms, assuming she[ll let him and getting her out of the road.

"It's all right," he tries to assure her. "Everything's all right. You're safe here. Everything's okay."

His tone is calm and that's the kind of attitude that comes off of him. She should feel it coming in small waves. A warmth, a comfort seeping into her.

Of course, considering how upset she is, it may not make that much of a difference.

[singsing_a_song]

The volume lowers somewhat as the waves reach her, though it doesn't help that she doesn't understand why she's feeling calmer when she doesn't understand what's going on in the first place.

The constant screeching becomes more of a painfully high-pitched note which strikes with each sobs that wracks Meggie's body. It's almost bearable now, but still highly unpleasant.

She leans back, looking up at the man holding her, confusion plain on her face as the tears continue to fall. But she fists her hands in his shirt.

[physics_magic]

He's....not really that great with kids, nor is he grand at comforting anyone so if he was going to be honest with himself, he would say that getting involved was a really stupid idea.

But she's clearly upset and in the middle of the road and....well, he was doomed to get involved.

He keeps her close, rubbing her back and letting her cling as tightly as she wants. "It really is all right," he assures her. You're okay now. Everything's okay now."

Except for the part where it's really, really not. Why the Rift would do this to a child just seems wrong to him but he doesn't say that. The comfort though, might start being tinged with agitation.

"What's your name," he asks, because that seems like a good thing to know.

[singsing_a_song]

"Meggie Lila," she chokes out. It isn't actually her name, just the one she remembers.

She looks over her shoulder, back at the road.

"Where's Miss Harper? Where's the car? What hit us?" She throws the questions at him quickly, almost incomprehensibly.

The high-pitched wailing gets just a little more unbearable.

[rushtobereal]

Where there is screaming on the streets, there will inevitably be a Lilly Rush.

And so, very soon, Meggie will have a tall blond woman running towards her, arms outstretched to any oncoming traffic in a universal stop gesture - and they had better fucking stop - and then immediately crouching down to what would be eye level with the little girl if she'd sit up.

Holy fuck, it's a kid. Not that from the ... decibel levels it wasn't almost expected. But it is most definitely disheartening. And that sound. Lilly winces, quickly. But she won't let the kid see her do it.

Lilly keeps a good amount of distance - close enough so she can reach out and touch the kid if she seems open to it, but far enough away that, hopefully, the kid won't run when she sees her.

"Hey!" Her voice is loud, and commanding; it has to be, to get through at all, not to mention actually getting the kid's attention. "Hey! Are you hurt? Can you move?"

[singsing_a_song]

Meggie flinches when Lilly speaks, and the wailing comes to a screeching halt. She peers over her arm at Lilly, little sobs still wracking her chest. After a moment the noise picks up again, though not quite as loudly, in time with her sobs.

"I don't think I'm hurt," she chokes out after a moment of staring. But she doesn't move, even though she can.

[rushtobereal]

Lilly sees the flinch from the little girl, and she'd almost regret it if that sound hadn't let up a little bit. That's a good thing, and no way in hell is Lilly gonna regret that.

"Okay, honey," she says, in as soothing a voice as possible, still keeping her distance and one eye on traffic. "That's good, you're doing really good, okay?" A horrible thought strikes Lilly. This kid could be a wanderer. She doesn't care if the CLF finds her - but an innocent kid getting involved is a whole story altogether.

The sounds are starting up again. Not. Good. Lilly looks around again, a little frantically.

"Are those sounds from you, sweetheart? Do you think you could be just a little quieter?" Lilly swallows, and speaks more to herself. "'Cause that would be great."

Then another horrible thought hits her. The kid could be bait. Scooping her up and running her to the Kashtta? Maybe not the best idea.

Lilly looks at the sobbing little girl. And decides that that particular thought can stay on the back shelf for now.

For now.

[singsing_a_song]

"I make sounds," Meggie replies, and the shrieks lose a bit of their ferocity. "Sometimes I hurt people."

She says it in an eerily matter-of-fact way.

"Where am I?"

She's just breathing heavily now, sitting but still curled up, and the shrieks are just a painfully high-pitched wavering tune. But it's an improvement.