Note: Oh look, it's another ficlet in the Untimely Ripped AU! Contains mention of suicide and a friendship that fractured under the weight of untreated depression. I think the best description would be emotional hurt/comfort?
Also! Have some background notes! It's implicitly stated in "Untimely Ripped" that this version of North America contains more countries than ours does. One of those fictional countries is Ganonsyoni, which contains most of what in our world is western and upstate New York, plus a chunk of northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. (I haven't mapped it exactly, but I'd estimate Pittsburgh and Cleveland as the far corners, roughly speaking.) Part of the international border runs along the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers, which has the knock-on effect of erasing Binghamton. (People do still live there, but in small and distinct towns on opposite sides of the rivers rather than a single city/metro area.) The Megidos and their friends live in an as-yet-unnamed town approximately where Conklin is in our world, a few miles upriver/southeast of not!Binghamton and right near the NY-PA border. The fictional reservoir in this fic has flooded out what would otherwise be the village of Conklin Forks. (2,100 words)
[ETA: The slightly revised final version is now up on AO3!]
( Almost at Odds with Morning )
I'll probably do another editing pass before sticking this on AO3 -- maybe add some more description, maybe clarify a few emotional beats, that sort of thing -- but I have been fighting it for four days in a row and right now I just want to post and be DONE. *falls gratefully into bed*
(Title is, as always for this series, a quote from Macbeth.)