@perfectionreached and Van are leaving the compound for a place to spend the night
It was going to be a long fucking drive back home one way or another. Van didn't even know which way they were going yet, but it wasn't like either they or Taissa were going to end up in their own beds tonight. But the car ride to wherever the hell they were doing was going to be bumpy, in more ways than one. What could you even say after all of that?
Lottie's words, her wide eyes and promise of everything making sense, were stuck in the back of Van's throat like dust. She cleared her throat, trying to dislodge the feeling, the discomfort that settled there. How easily they'd all slipped back into those masks and those roles, because maybe they never really left the past at all. But Van was the only one who could admit it to herself. And now the future was wrapped up in all of this too? What little future Van could imagine.
They looked over at Tai for just a moment, but couldn't get a read on her features. After all this time, they felt like strangers and yet... old habits died hard, huh? Van's gaze returned forward, prepared with the old "eyes on the road" defense just in case. It was easier to break the silence when you didn't have to look at the one you broke it over.
"So, are you really going to visit Lottie, or did you just say that to make yourself feel better?" It wasn't exactly like any of them were ever good at staying in touch. If Van didn't know they were a soccer team, she'd say they were fucking Hide and Seek champions 25 years running.
"Because from what I hear, sending postcards isn't really the fashion these days."