004. And then we'll understand -- we held gold dust in our hands.

[voluntaryapnea]

[Stiles is slowly but surely making his way back down to the seventh floor of the barge, a doll in his hand. There's also blood on his shirt, which he's very eager to shed. He's also pretty eager to shower. He's a bit paler than usual, a grimace on his face as he walks toward his room. Feel free to stop him at any point point along the way from the deck to his room.]



[Video]

[Stiles has cleaned up since being on the deck of the ship with Bucky and Morgana. So there's no blood on his clothes now as he appears on the screen. He holds up a doll that he found on the fourth floor. He looks kinda tense.]

So I found this. I have no idea whose it is, but I've got it and it's safe.

[The screen goes dark once more.]



[That all taken care of, he heads out of his room and back toward the stairs. He's nervous about seeing Lydia. It's an almost foreign feeling at this point. Somewhere along the way, she'd gone from untouchable girl of his dreams to closest friend after Scott McCall. And he worries now, that maybe that will have changed after everything from back home. The fallout. The nogitsune kidnapping and holding her hostage and mentally tormenting her for hours. Allison. Aiden.

She seemed to want to see him when he'd spoken with her earlier, but he's still nervous. He can't fault her if she wants nothing more to do with him after all of that happened. They've only been friends for a few months now. It's not like his friendship with Scott -- it's not a lifelong bond forged from having each other's backs over bullies and parental losses through death and divorce and all night video game and movie marathons on a nearly weekly basis for years. It's newer, fragile. And while he's had a couple of weeks now to try and process what went down in Beacon Hills, she is fresh from the battle still and he's not sure that he knows how to help her. He's not sure about much at the moment and he can still feel Bucky's blood on his hands even though he's washed thoroughly until his skin was rubbed red and raw under scalding hot water.

He stands outside her door for a long hesitant moment before he knocks and waits.]