lesterzeppelin | mask or menace

[M's lounging on his couch, Dragprawn draped around his shoulders as usual. Pancho's sitting next to him, eating a raisin. He doesn't look surprised at Lester's entrance, as the key pings him before opening a Door.]

Merry Christmas, kid.

Before you hand over the second part of my gift, uh - [ he holds out his present, a rectangular box wrapped in neat green and gold wrapping paper. The packaging is crisp; the bow is tied with flair; and the note simply says 'from Apollo.' ] Here.

[ Inside, M will find two things of note: a flash drive and/or CD that is magically tuned to play calming music for any animal that listens to it, along with a whistle with one colored button and an on-off switch. when pressed on, the colored button lights up - and like the CD, it's tuned to play a frequency to summon any animal.

Lester must've bribed some tech person a ton of money, but he doesn't think about that now. ]

[M stares at the note for a few seconds, fighting back the wince he feels coming. He knows the kid also goes by Apollo, but M can't help but see it as another reminder that Andrew's gone and any progress they made towards repairing their relationship went with it.

He forces the thought away as he opens the gift, and smiles at what's inside.]

I can make Aquaman pretty jealous with this. Thanks, Lester.

[He glances down at the lazy chinchilla beside him.]

Pancho, go get that other gift for Lester, will you?

[The chinchilla makes a face, clearly not wanting to move.]

Or else you'll never see another raisin again.

[Fake threat suitably received, the chinchilla hops off the couch (with assistance from a little pet staircase and disappears around a corner.]

No problem, and uh - My name's - [ He sighs, resisting the urge to finish that sentence. Lester's the name on all of his legal paperwork, and M did give him a gift, so. In the spirit of Christmas, he's going to ignore it as he grabs a seat across from M. ] Nevermind.

[ he pauses, turning his head towards where Pancho's disappeared off to - ]

You sure Pancho's gonna be okay carrying it by himself?

...Apollo. So you keep saying.

[It's... just not a name he feels like saying for a while. It's still raw, even all these months later.]

You underestimate a hyper-intelligent chinchilla.

[After another minute, Pancho reappears pushing a jewelry box across the floor, stopping in front of Lester.]

[ He sure did underestimate that critter, and so he kneels down, picking up the box and unwrapping it. ]

Again, you really didn't –

[Inside the box is a bracelet made out of a series of guitar strings. Attached to the front of it is a nameplate that reads "JASON".

M says nothing, staring over at his bookshelves.]

[ oh.

Oh Gods. Lester fights back a sob as he ties it around, instantly, ] Thank you.

[ He rushes over, barely tripping over empty air for another hug. It's Christmas. M can get all the hugs in the universe. ]

[M stiffly hugs back. One day he'll understand how to do it without feeling like a fraud.]

That way he can always be with you.

[To an extent, he understands. M keeps his friends alive in the form of stuffed animals. It started as a joke, but once they started to leave... it became all too real.]

Yeah.

[ He's going to need a lot of friendship bracelets, given how much this place likes to take people away, but... Apollo gets the meaning, and he loves it. So he squeezes M in this hug, resting his head on his shoulder. ]

Also a way to keep me accountable, [ and here, his voice gets light, yet self-deprecating: ] just in case I forget about this 'being human' thing.

If you ever figure out how that works, let me know, will you?

Sure. [ He relaxes, only to curl up beside M, careful not to disturb the Impocreat or any other animals. ] We're in this for the long haul.

[M looks away.]

Don't... make promises you can't keep.

That's life, though. [ He glances up at M - ] Mortals don't know when they're going to die, just like we don't know when we'll be ported out.

[ he tugs his bracelet, subconsciously, strumming those strings, ]

So it's like... the same kind of promise I would've made back home. No one knows what the future holds. Not even me, and that used to be my bread and butter.

I dunno... I come pretty close.

[A joke.

Still, he appreciates the sentiment. He just... needs to keep reminding himself of that.]

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