( It's weird, it's been a couple of years since all of this really came into the light... since Luna made her Pact with the demon. It's been enough time to process some things, and maybe some things have gotten easier to handle, but..... really, it's not like things have gotten better, per-say. It's a strange situation of all of them just kind of being stuck with it. Luna still struggles with how to handle all of this, and every day Peter thinks about the fact he knows that she didn't want this. She chose it, for him, but... no, if she had her way, she would not be tethered to some ancient demonic entity for possibly the rest of her life here. Growing with it. Changing with it.

Talking about it now.. sharing the story with someone new to it, looking back on these past few years and everything that's happened... is sobering. Maybe he needed this, in some way. To reflect on it, think about it from this perspective. The degrees of "hopeless" have varied over time — Peter's not thinking about disappearing into the ocean again, these days — but.... it does all have this weird big "hopeless" stamp on top of it. It's some looming thing, and it affects... everything. Every day of his life, and Luna's. It is his life, his whole life. A life that feels like it's slowly but surely eroding away from him.

And he doesn't know what to do but accept that fact.

But then Robby's saying that he can still do what helps — that he'll come over (every day if I have to), and it does remind Peter of what Daniel said to him just the other day. The conversation's still so fresh in his mind, what Daniel had said to him after he'd revealed the concept of... slowly losing himself, his mental state. The literal demons had been left out of it, but Daniel still said what mattered. 'Then let's keep doing the stuff that helps.' An offer to come back to the dojo, to work on the meditation, to meet Peter however Daniel could. A reiteration that there's ways to help, and maybe every once in awhile Peter needs to hear that.

'You have a place in this world.'

He looks up, surprised, eyes fluttering for a moment again.

Yeah. Maybe every once in awhile he needs to hear that. And so he's quiet, stunned, heart skipping an odd staggered beat but it's not because of anxiety, this time. It's always so.... surreal, almost, to hear someone else say things like this. Give a crap about him so much that they'd stick with him even through some kind of weird horrifying demon shit.

The fact that both Daniel and Robby used the same word. "We". We'll find a way.

Peter's gazing back down at his lap again, and he kind of looks like he's going to cry (again, that's sort of his default, but.... it's probably very clear that the other boy's words have affected him. A lot.) )

I, uh. Daniel said something pretty similar to that. When I talked to him. Didn't tell him about the demon part yet, not exactly, but.... he said the same kinda things. About trying to get help for it.

( His voice is soft, feels small, but there's a little smile there at the edges of it. And a sniffle, a little wet. He clears his throat, looks back up. )

Thanks. I um. I'm really glad he didn't scare you off.

( Glad that Robby's not.... running away from him. It'd be justified if he needed to, completely justified. But it's such a fucking relief that he hasn't lost a budding friendship over this.

And... being able to involve others in it. That means something too. )

I can tell you more about him, if you want. Things that might... help, if he shows up to you again. He uh. Probably will, since he likes you.