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]

[Jonah only hears a rustle of clothing, but Algric watches Tim fold, elbows on his knees, head in his hands. His fingers, white tipped, press hard into his face. The pain is grounding, at least.]

I was becoming a monster. Is what you were saying.

[eyediot]

[His voice is so quiet but so shaky with the trembling from Algric's cold.]

That is not what I said. I said-- Th-the Unknowing. It literally... You literally no longer know anything. You didn't even remember your brother.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Sorry, Jon. He doesn't mean it, but the chill is just unrelenting. ]

Let's - let's not get off topic. Fine, you saved Tim and - now something's wrong with your eyes?

[eyediot]

[The tension in his shoulders drops. He's still feeling the temperature extremes - now he just feels feverish altogether.]

I-i can't see. I can't See either.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ And Algric's heart plummets to the bottom of his stomach, taking the temperature with it. ]

W-what?

[eyediot]

[He swallows, huddling up a little tighter with his shivering.]

I. Can't see. I can't see anything. And it-- [God, he's been battling between focusing and trying to ignore it and he can't ignore it now.] It burns.

[Oh, Jude would be living for this right now if she knew.]

[kayakking]

[That's the problem isn't it? The misery, pain and devastation in Jonah's voice feels so delicious. It settles in his mind, bright and boiling, the further it curls the more he can feel the details of it, his frustration with not being understood, the hunger, the use-

Wait.

Tim's head snaps up.]

... You're hungry.

[Something in him twisted, furious at himself. Spite and contrariness was more than enough to push forward.]

Jonah, you couldn't see when I pulled you out either.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Algric fights back a strangled noise of panic. Jon can't see, he can't See, he -

Thank god for Tim. ]

We'll feed you then. We've both got - got plenty of misery.

[eyediot]

[Jonah tilts his head Tim's direction. Thinking for a moment, trying to remember. He'd been so worried about Tim at that moment...]

No. Nnnno that- [It can't be that simple.

Then again most things like this were that simple. But it is true he hadnt had a proper statement since that night. And... well. He could see after it.]

God this is stupid. Worth a try, I guess.

[Worse comes to worst, one or both of them have nightmares for a while.]

[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?