[open: tw for blood, mind fuckery, suicidal ideation] I guess it's over now

[dr_awesome]

Before:

He just needed something fun. That's what he's been telling himself. After nights of various unpleasant dreams being hijacked by his friends, and then being forcibly shoved into everyone else's weird nightmares like a far less fun version of the Matrix, Watts needs a break. He's not helping Sans with his science. He's not trying to wander the castle and have conversations with people that more than likely are annoyed by him. He just... needs some stupid harmless fun.

And when there's no gaming consoles or wifi in the castle, you have to get a little creative.

Apparently, Neil's codes aren't completely useless in the castle. Sure, he can't reset memories, disable speech or taste, turn off his visibility, or even lure out mementos, but he still has some skill with manipulating data.

He's found a nice little private space in the lounge, and passersby may find him focusing very hard on a patch of air in front of him. Literally a patch, it seems to jut out from the rest of the air, shimmering and shuddering in front of Neil's hand. Eventually, it grows and morphs, changing colours... and in another instant, there's a tabby cat letting out a loud meow as it's suddenly dropped from the air back down to the ground.

"Haha, yes!" Neil gets down to his knees, scratching behind one of the cat's ears. The cat surveys him and lets out another mew.

"Hm... not exactly up to my usual standards, but I'll have to make do. Now, what else can I try..."

After:

Neil's still in the lounge... it's just that now there are more of them.

There seem to be a literal crowd of scientists slouching around the lounge, leaned back on couches, staring out windows, walking in place. They're all mumbling to each other, some of them more clear than others. One of them smiles at a double of himself as you walk past.

"Well, I suppose I had a good run."

The other stares back at him. "Not good enough, it seems."

There's one that has cornered another Neil against the wall, constantly slamming his fist into the doppleganger's gut. "It's how people blew off steam before FPS were invented," he reassures you with a grin.

Still more snippets can be heard if you push through the crowd. "We always succeed, because we're awesome." "The geezers just keep getting crazier..." "I'd be screwed either way."

In the center of the group is Neil. The real one, not buzzing in and out of existence in bursts of static, but... he still doesn't look good. He's curled up on himself, nails digging into the floor, feebly coughing and hacking as blood dribbles down his jaw and onto the collar of his shirt. A few copies of the same woman stand around him, looking down at him with the same mixture of annoyance and apathy.

"Tell me what you see." One says, holding out a pill bottle. She takes off the cap and holds it upside down. Nothing falls out.

"Shut... just shut up." Neil mutters hoarsely, and another one laughs, answering in his own voice.

"'Shut up' isn't my name, you know."

He tries to pull himself away from them, crawling along the floor.

"Why are you working so hard for this? 'All this trouble, just for some girl.' That's what I thought you'd say."

One of them finally turns to look at you, and moves so she can block Neil from view. "Get out. This ain't a movie and you're no hero. You're just being a moron."

There's more coughing from behind her, but Neil doesn't seem to be trying to move anymore. There's no point, is there? He's fucked up enough here already. And he didn't want to be here anyways...

"Why would you waste time like that?"

Yes, why would he? Being here isn't doing himself any good. He's not going to fix his machine, he's not going to make any advances... all he's doing is running out his clock.

Might as well let the batteries die a little early.

Comments

[dr_awesome]

"Yeah. Ten years. Which isn't much for an elf, I'm sure, but for a human... it's a long time to stick with one person. Though I guess it's weird. We're... not exactly super close."

...Tauriel may be able to call him out on that lie.

[lightofthestars]

"Indeed? She seemed very troubled by your sickness."

More than one who is not close would be. Maybe she cares more for him than he does for her?

[dr_awesome]

"...Yeah, well, maybe that's just wishful thinking. The images you saw of her were created from my own memories, and they aren't always completely reliable."

He shrugs. "I actually knew her a lot longer. Add an extra five years onto that ten of me just wishing I could stop shoving my foot in my mouth and actually talk to her, and you get the idea."

[lightofthestars]

Fifteen years, when most humans live but eighty--if that.

"You love her, do you not?" she asks. It is not much of a guess.

[dr_awesome]

“...I do. But like hell I’m going to tell her that. I don’t want her to have to deal with confessions like that from a dead man.”

[lightofthestars]

"You are not dead," she tells him anew. "You are ill, but hope yet endures."

[dr_awesome]

"I'm terminally ill, Tauriel. It's incurable. I'm pretty much dead anyways."

[lightofthestars]

"It is incurable by the knowledge of humans," she counters, "but the Elves have always been the greater healers. It may be that your cure rests among my people."

[dr_awesome]

"...Great. Then the cure is somewhere I'll never get to be. That's almost worse than it being incurable, don't you think?"

[lightofthestars]

Were he well, she would lightly hit him. "Foolish man. You speak as if to another human. Are these so easy to forget?"

She points at her ears.

[dr_awesome]

“So you’ll be there. And what are you going to do, bring it back to my world? That’s probably breaking some unwritten law of the universes.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry, Tauriel. I just don’t know how to get it to work.”