that one time travel psl

[eyediot]

sad bad end s5 jon and tim on a monster road trip



[Algric had given the trio a fair warning of what was happening. Not the specific details of what he was coming from, but he was from a little further along Algric's timeline, and came through Hilltop Road. Never pleasant, but he's here now. IT took a few days of settling, readjusting, and putting some firm self-imposed boundaries on himself before Jon felt comfortable enough to see the others.

After a few minutes of surprise and staring, Jon ends up sitting alone with Tim for a few minutes; the others having some things to take care of themselves. He sits there, fiddling a bit with his fingers, trying not to be self conscious. He can't do anything about the myriad of different, newer scars, nor about his black sclera or so many other things about himself now.

But god... Tim. Alive and not shouting at him right this second. How novel.]

Tim... I.. [Where does he even start.]

Comments

[kayakking]

I'm not sure there's anything about me you don't know yet, though.

[Aside from the general fear of being Seen. It's why he's always been evasive and reticent. He shift, uncomfortable.]

I can try, though.

[curriculum_fictae]

I'll try too. I've - I've done it before.

[eyediot]

[He listens to them both, then shifts to try and run a hand down his face but not being able to see and the shifting letting in the fresh cold made that miserable.]

Sure, I.. I'll listen. But could I... also get a blanket? It's um.

[Everywhere Algric did touch is still a little frosted.]

[kayakking]

Right.

[The couch shifts under Jonah again as Tim pushes himself up. There's the sound of a wooden door (cabinet or a chest?) opening... and not long after there's a wash of warm, as Tim wraps the fleece blanket around Jonah's shoulder. Then oddly, it ebbs, as Tim sits back down a little ways away.]

[Tim glances at Algric, thinking.] What it's like to work in the Institute? That could fly.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Oh. Oh. Algric withdraws a little then, trying to keep the cold away from Jon. He's ... not entirely successful, but at least he has a blanket. ]

I - I mean - I feel like it has to be something Jon doesn't know yet?

[ A pause. ]

... I could talk about working for Lukas.

[eyediot]

[Bless, he huddles under the blanket and tugs it closer.]

... Are you sure that's what you.. want to talk about?

[Does Algric still have to worry about the nightmares? Does his being bound to Jonah now negate that and protect him? He isn't sure. And Lukas isn't what he wants to test that with.]

[curriculum_fictae]

[ He's been very quiet about whether that initial feeding had caused him nightmares. (He had, though they hadn't been ... too bad? So far.) ]

I - I think it's the easiest topic. Yes.

[eyediot]

... All right.

[He takes a deep breath, the green in his eyes flickering like a radio signal sputtering in and out under the angry red.]

Tell me about when you were working for Peter Lukas.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Algric takes in a deep breath, steeling himself. ]

Most days, I didn't see him. I mean, nobody saw him, but. That doesn't mean he wasn't there. Every time I'd relaxed just enough to think that maybe he wasn't hovering invisibly behind me, he'd just. Appear. And whatever mistake I'd just made, or. Or had made in the last week, he'd just rattle them off condescendingly, or. Just imply that he'd known, and my mind did the rest. I swear he's got some Eye in him too, I just -

[ DEEP BREATHS. ]

I couldn't talk to anyone. There - there weren't many I could talk to anyway, just. You know, Rosie? My old library pals? I did try with them, but. It had been a couple years since I'd moved to Archives, and strange things had happened, and ... you know how it is. Archives had always been kind of untouchable to begin with, and. Well. After the Flesh attack ate Tobias Fisher, they blamed us.

[ His voice falters a little. ]

Melanie hated me. Basira thought I was useless. They were both right. And my mother had just died, and ...

[ Now his voice is a whisper. ]

It got to be that Peter was the only one I talked to at all. That work was the anything that had any spark in my life. On the weekends, I just didn't get out of bed. Didn't clean, didn't ... take care of anything. I just shoved aside whatever trash had built up on my bed and. And slept in it.

I was miserable and there was no one there that could do anything about it. Least of all me.

[kayakking]

[Where there would be a Statement Ends, is Tim's voice, low and rough.]

Jesus Christ.

[eyediot]

[Jonah, for his part, listens. He listens intently, that anguish and paranoia instilled from the start by Peter and knowing, after enough routine, Algric had started turning it and doing it to himself. That's the problem with the Lonely; you almost don't even have to have anyone do it to you.

Tobias is a name he only remembers in office gossip whispering, Martin's library days. But it had been so much worse at the time, hadn't it? Had really hurt him. Being blamed for things not entirely his own fault by people who didn't understand what was really going on.

Melanie hated almost everyone. Basira didn't trust anyone. Daisy was Buried...

By the time Algric finishes, the red recedes to just the edges of his iris, leaving room for the deep, vibrant, laughably ironic safe green. His vision is steady and looking at Algric, aware and focused.]

...And. And all those times I. I tried to talk to you? Did... Did I only make it worse?

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Sorry, Tim. He'd rather not have told you, but. Here they are.

When that green returns, he'll see Algric hovering nearby, wringing his hands, staring at Jon for any sign that he's recovering. That green is ... hopeful? He lets himself brighten just a little, despite the awful chill of that statement. ]

I - yes. In. In a way. By the time you came back to life, I was so numb that any kind of personal contact hurt.

... But at the same time, you gave me a reason to keep trying.

[kayakking]

[Jonah can now see Tim sitting, slumped a bit. Just digesting that bleak, terrible scene. (It's ... good in a different way though, isn't it? Not the right kind of ruination. A little too purposeful. But it IS sweet all the same.)

He doesn't say anything to interrupt, but catching sight of Jonah's direct, reactive stare is-

His expression brightens. There's THAT at least, in all of this.]

[eyediot]

[Jonah stays fixed on him. And then a look of mild, worried horror slowly pulls at his face.]

You were planning to die.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Leave it to Jon to pull out the horror at the core of it. Algric ... nods. ]

Yes. I thought - I thought I could make my death useful, since my life clearly wasn't.

[kayakking]

[Wow guys is it hot in here?]

What the SHIT. Are you kidding?

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Algric winces at that, his own temperature dropping to match Tim's rise. ]

What else could I do? There was nothing left! I couldn't even quit! And - and Peter was eating people!

[eyediot]

[IT SURE IS.

Jonah looks directly at Tim, sliding the blanket off and leaning a little more to Algric. Then his eyes go back to Algric.

He can see, yes yes, he'll deal with that in a minute.]

You-- You have to know that isn't true. I-i know. I know Peter had way of.. Picking at your worst thought, and pulling at it to make it worse.

[Christ he's not cut out for this. He hesitates one hand out to him, resting it on his arm.]

And if you both don't- don't calm down, we'll wake up the other two and have to explain why half the room's on fire and the other half is frozen.

[kayakking]

[YOU KNOW, someone didn't realize he was doing it. He jolts, and- well, the surprise at least cuts it a bit.]

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Algric, too, seems surprised and chagrined. The cold radiating from him dies down a little. ]

S-sorry, I just. I'm having a day.

[ DEEP BREATHS, ALGRIC. ]

I-it might not have been true, but. I didn't have anyone else to tell me otherwise.

[eyediot]

[Slow. Deep inhale. God, he can take a full breath now. It feels like some pressure's been relieved.]

...I-i know. [God, he desperately wants to talk to Algric further about that. About how desperately he had wanted to talk to him during those months, how... hurt he was when his attempts were shrugged off or, worse, shoved back at him. This isn't the time, not in front of Tim.]

At the very least now we. Know that worked. [He smiles nervously at Algric, eyes properly focused and clear.]

[kayakking]

[Gosh, Tim still is here though. So that hurt just has to curdle a bit more.]

... Right.

We're going to run out of stories real quickly though.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Sorry, Tim. With the chill blunted, he reaches out for Jon. ]

Yeah. I mean, I've probably got ... four or five more, I think?

[eyediot]

[Well. He lets Algric take his hand, but. He doesn't look pleased by the reality.]

I just... have to be okay with. Going out and... asking.

[curriculum_fictae]

... Yes. Yes, I. I think so.