othersdie | [Action/Video]

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Near the Fountain

Entry tags:

[Action/Video]

[Justin, unaffected by the cold induced by sitting near the fountain that the City had seen fit to drop him into during winter, finally tires of waiting for what he’s convinced what must be a trick of the mind to dissipate and resolve itself into the nothingness of death. For a lack of any other distractions, he fumbles with the device he had found in his pocket earlier.

He doesn’t fully understand why he would bother hallucinating what resembles a camcorder. The brain is truly a strange and unfathomable thing.]

Am I dead yet?

[It’s a ridiculous question. He still exists enough to imagine things; the answer is clearly no.]

If not--if not, I hope this doesn't last long.

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A bookstore?

[That seems like a very normal thing for an abnormal place to have.]

That's... convenient. The bookstore. You have forty-four years of reading to catch up on. [His tone becomes vaguely worried.] What's the cost of living here?

It doesn't translate very well into anything you'd remember...

[He digs in a pocket, comes up with a handful of coins-- a couple of reds, a yellow.]

Our apartment is two Indigo a month... Counting it takes a while to get used to. But, well, mostly everyone gets by.

[He's visibly unimpressed with the colorful monetary system, but doesn't comment.]

What would a third of two Indigos be?

You'll need to find some sort of job, but it shouldn't be too tough to manage.

[He makes a sound that's somewhere between a 'hm' and a self-deprecating laugh.] I don't know. I don't have any marketable skills.

I'll pay you, though. For rent. [haltingly] Thank you for... everything, I guess. I'm just--I'm still spinning out, and I still don't know if this is real, but it... I know it would worse. Alone, I mean.

That's one good thing about the City-- even if you don't know anyone here, someone's always willing to help out. Everyone remembers what it's like to end up stuck here.

[He smiles very slightly.]

So in some ways, it's better than most places.

...What happened to you when you arrived here?

[It's a question that, once upon a time, might have brought up nothing but regret. His smile widens a bit.]

I met a man who looks exactly like me, a super hero bought me a burger, and I ended up living in King Arthur's apartment for a while.

[He waits for Neil to laugh and admit that he was just joking. Then again, is that so difficult to believe?]

Really? The King Arthur?

As far as I could tell. He wasn't what I expected, really-- I have to admit I didn't know him as well as I did some of the others. It's-- well, in the City you get used to it, eventually.

[Mostly. He still looks amused.]

Nothing must surprise you.

[He shoves his hands into the borrowed coat's pockets.]

How long did you say you've been here?

Well-- you get used to being surprised, that doesn't mean the surprises don't happen. It's been... well, it's December now; April will make three years.

Three years. What happens to those three years if--if you leave? They disappear?

...I don't know.

[That's not much of an answer. This is careful territory, though; the thought of being an occasional visitor to the City might be worse than that of being a resident, so it's a conversation he'd rather avoid.]

They say people who go home don't remember the City at home... sometimes people remember, when they come back. Sometimes they don't. Time stops in their own world, while people are here, so-- they say-- no one ever notices.

No one ever notices. That would be novel.

[The words are bitter enough, but he's uncomfortable--and aware that Neil doesn't seem eager to stay on this subject.]

I must have been dead when I was here before. Where was I? If I wasn't where I came from?

I don't know.

[It's not exactly a lie; he's never quite understood it, from the things Justin has said. Of course he's never tried to understand it. And this doesn't seem like the right time to mention that he's met several... incarnations... of death.]

I arrived here-- right after, [He pauses, avoiding the unpleasantness of directly referencing his own death,] and I've never left.

After...? Oh.

[Perhaps this is one of those things that shouldn't be thought about too much so soon, especially not out loud with someone else who's not entirely alive.]

Are you cold?

Not just yet, I have a pretty good coat.

[Which he draws a little closer on the thought. Another mark of maturity; a year or two ago he'd likely have run out without even thinking to grab a coat himself.]

Are... you?

No, but I couldn't think of any other way to end that conversation. [wryly] Unless you'd like to talk about death.

I think that one can wait.

[A sad quirk of his lips, and he glances away briefly.]

Did you want to see more of the Park?

Indefinitely, maybe.

Not right now. [He looks like he's considering saying something else, but opts to stop there.] It's a nice park.

It's enormous, too.

[The change of topic brightens him a little.]

We can go home, if you'd like?

How big is it compared to the rest of the City?

If you're still willing to let me stay with you. [in all seriousness] You don't need to feel obligated just because you knew me before.

It's bigger inside than out. I know, that doesn't make sense, but it is.

[He shrugs.]

As far as I'm concerned, unless you'd rather not, you're welcome to stay with us as long as you like.

That's no stranger than anything else; I'll take your word for it.

No, I'd like to. Thank you. [He looks at anywhere but at Neil, equal parts pleased and confused.] It's just unexpected.

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had_not_lived - 2012-01-02 05:57 (UTC) - Expand

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