Promised Land

[22] Note To Self; Don't Trust Phil's Ideas

Everything in Ranboo's life has gotten strange since he first met Tommy when--

Well, he doesn't know what to count as meeting them. They technically interacted before, at the grocery store-- and maybe even before that, at the park or something, they could have seen each other before, but Ranboo wouldn't remember that, and they didn't know of each other's existence at that point, but he first got their names, and repeated them in his head after that, so he wouldn't forget.

Tommy. Tubbo. Tommy and Tubbo. Tubbo and Tommy.

Whatever that meeting was-- His plan, maybe, or just some twist of fate-- everything has become much stranger in his life at an exponential rate. Most of it was things that he tried to brush off. Magic, well, yes, that was definitely interesting and world-view-changing, but he's getting used to it.

...Somewhat.

Finding Tommy floating a few feet off the ground in the kitchen to get something from the top shelf that he can obviously reach if he stretches, but doesn't cause he's lazy-- that's always a shock. Wilbur doesn't use his magic that much, but Ranboo notices that the strange chest-freezer they have nestled in the corner of the kitchen is filled with ice and ice cream and what looks like meat and fish, is never plugged in but always cold. Any drinks Wilbur serves usually have ice in it that doesn't melt, even if it's left out in the sun.

Techno's magic works differently. No one's really explained it to him past, well. Healing. He assumes it heals Techno too, because Techno comes home from hunts and the search party that is organized for that missing guy-- Dream?-- without any big wounds.

And then there was Phil. The mysterious father, the man who saw that Ranboo needed a home, and took him in as soon as he could. Who forged legal documents in order to do so, when the orphanage threatened his family with a restraining order. Who fought for not just Ranboo, but his entire family.

Who first extended the zoo trip to him, all those months ago. It was months-- it was in the summer, wasn't it?

Halloween is in two weeks.

Time has passed weirdly. Quickly. But also, agonizingly slow.

Despite all the time he's been in this new world, which always has constant surprises to him, he hasn't learned about Phil's magic.

It feels too awkward to bring it up. Like, hey, what kind of magic do you do? What's your gift? He doesn't know why, but Tommy has been the only one who has outwardly said what his magic (and Tubbo's) was. Ranboo found out through seeing it, for the most part. Seeing Wilbur's ice, seeing Techno heal.

So sitting down outside on one of the last warm days they'll be getting a while across from Phil is....

... Definitely not what Ranboo was expecting. He should know better now.

Phil takes a deep breath and smiles. "Alright, mate."

There wasn't a search party organized for that day-- or one that Phil would be on, at least. They were still searching, with the hope that the guy Dream was still alive somewhere, but it's been-- Ranboo can't remember, time feels weird, but it was barely more than a week, he thinks at least-- an uncomfortably long time to find someone alive.

Ranboo has heard the hushed conversations, when he walked downstairs to the pantry to get a snack in the middle of his classes. We've looked there, here, and everywhere, no sight of him, don't know where he could be, we could go further out, where-- but nothing that he can remember well.

Curse his poor memory.

"Your magic... Well, it's not like anything I've ever seen." Phil glances over to the orchard. It's technically a school day, but Ranboo didn't have too much work to go through, and Phil grabbed him the moment he could. "And I've seen quite a bit-- not just because I'm old, either." He gives Ranboo a sideways smirk.