@drumboi : ALEX SAID: i just wanted you to know that this is me trying. [ NO LONGER ACCEPTING. ]
PLAIN AND SIMPLE : LUKE IS A DOER. he doesn’t stop until he has no choice, an end point that used to be defined by the sudden creep - on of a day’s worth of fatigue or the ring of a school bell. death, in all its grim intricacies, is something he prefers to brush pass for the sake of his productivity. death has given him an entire afterlife’s worth of time to accomplish the ten million things cut short for him on the mortal plain they masquerade on through julie’s soaring vocals. it’s not what he anticipated, but if he sits around and dwells on the ghost contracts they never signed, he’ll never get anything accomplished ( a fear much heavier than these phantom chains ). with an intensity that grounds his unreal form to the floor of the garage, luke plucks incessantly at his six - string, a million melodies flowing through his head. julie’s gone to find reggie, who’s no doubt messing with the molina men, which leaves him sat halfway across the room from alex. by the sound of . . . well, the occasional short - lived drumbeat and the silence that follows, he’s having more trouble with the new material than luke.
he’d hoped DEATH and the little responsibility it came with would calm alex down. still, alex and his often - furrowed brow are as similar to him as the back of his hand. it’s nothing they can’t handle, luke thinks as he quiets his instrument, as long as they stick together. ❛ — yo, you doing alright over there, man ? we’re gonna have to phase reg in once he gets back. ❜ guitar is forgotten the second alex’s shoulders, stiff as usual, begin to sink. luke pays close attention to what he says as he crosses the room, throwing an arm around his best friend and squeezing his shoulders as they eye the still barely - teetering cymbal before them. ❛ hey, hey, alex . . . you’re fine. take a breather for a second, okay ? you’re doing great. ❜
the sincerity of his words is in the silence between them, as well as the way he kneads his knuckles gently into alex’s shoulder — something familiar to anchor him in this sea of undead questions with undead answers. ❛ i know this stuff is . . . damn, it’s wild, dude. there’s no other way to say it ! but, uh, i know you are. and it’s enough, promise. ❜