[Abandonment issues are the worst. The rational part of his brain knows Will would never want to leave him willingly, they were family and he was never the kind of person to ditch family he cared about. He was there for him through all the worst parts of Deerington. He cared about him.
The irrational part of his brain is pushing that abandonment complex into overdrive. Will is gone, and he's never coming back. He's alone again. Once the shock has worn off and he's no longer numb he knows he's going to be a mess of anxiety and panic.
Fern fully expects Varian to keep working on the robot while they talk, so when he stops and walks over and hops onto the table with him he looks shocked. None of this is what he wants to hear, of course, but it's better than being fed a blatant lie. It's... sadly, it's bonding over mutual abandonment issues, and it helps to be able to talk to someone else who understands.
When Varian's arm settles around his shoulder Fern instinctively stiffens. The shock from before is nothing compared to what he's feeling now - the awkward shoulder part from earlier had pretty much cemented in his mind that that was the most physical contact that was going to happen between them.
He doesn't pull away. He slumps against Varian, incredibly grateful for the contact.]
It's really hard. This place is bad enough to us, I don't get why it has to get one more dig in with this. Why can't we keep on knowing each other when we wake up? Why do we all have to be from different universes -
[... Oh.
Hold on.
Fern suddenly sits up, as if he was electrocuted.]
no subject
The irrational part of his brain is pushing that abandonment complex into overdrive. Will is gone, and he's never coming back. He's alone again. Once the shock has worn off and he's no longer numb he knows he's going to be a mess of anxiety and panic.
Fern fully expects Varian to keep working on the robot while they talk, so when he stops and walks over and hops onto the table with him he looks shocked. None of this is what he wants to hear, of course, but it's better than being fed a blatant lie. It's... sadly, it's bonding over mutual abandonment issues, and it helps to be able to talk to someone else who understands.
When Varian's arm settles around his shoulder Fern instinctively stiffens. The shock from before is nothing compared to what he's feeling now - the awkward shoulder part from earlier had pretty much cemented in his mind that that was the most physical contact that was going to happen between them.
He doesn't pull away. He slumps against Varian, incredibly grateful for the contact.]
It's really hard. This place is bad enough to us, I don't get why it has to get one more dig in with this. Why can't we keep on knowing each other when we wake up? Why do we all have to be from different universes -
[... Oh.
Hold on.
Fern suddenly sits up, as if he was electrocuted.]
Wait.