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azetidine_playsReally what it comes down to is Serphy has been hanging around *-journal RP and fic communities and I come from a forum/tabletop background. Although we both lean more or less narrativist, as opposed to the simulationist/"crunchy" aspects that a lot of tabletop gamers like.
Also I want Serphy's babies. Or their first novel. Whichever, really. Although come to think of it the novel has a higher chance of making money and supporting us in our old age. >_>
Anyway.
Part one here.
(06:15:19 PM) SilverSerpher: okay so you said you had some things in mind -- what were they? :)
(06:15:52 PM) me: I was just gonna show ya
(06:16:27 PM) SilverSerpher: mm?
(06:17:50 PM) me: )) She moves to the east side of the building's roof, leaning over it alarmingly far. The gravel pebbles go crunch crunch under her feet.
(06:18:07 PM) SilverSerpher: ((haha, fair enough.))
(06:19:05 PM) SilverSerpher: He glances over and follows to where she's at, just in case. Apparently he's a lot more caution-minded than she is; he doesn't want to risk anything happening to her. Definitely not this high up. "What do you see?"
(06:20:11 PM) me: She points, leaning out even farther. "I saw someone... jumping down onto the museum's roof."
(06:20:26 PM) me: She shades her eyes from a fitful ray of sunlight, squinting that direction.
(06:23:08 PM) SilverSerpher: He eyes the museum's roof -- anyone he can see there now?
(06:24:47 PM) me: Uh... hm... maybe... that dark shadow--yup, that's definitely a black-clad figure. Kinda stupid, in daylight, to wear all black.
(06:25:23 PM) me: It's running across the spiral, segmented roof of the museum like a professional athlete.
(06:26:12 PM) SilverSerpher: "What in the world....?" He frowns, reaches into a pocket -- fishes for his cell phone, wanting to see if he can take a picture. A brief fiddle with it, and he aims it up to get a picture of that, zooming in. It won't be the best pic if he manages, but would he, perhaps? It's not like it's a professional digital camera, it's just a phone cam....
(06:26:47 PM) me: it'll be grainy and not at all clear, and probably not able to zoom in far enough. Across the river is... half a mile to a mile away, you think.
(06:27:18 PM) me: Meanwhile there are more /crunch crunch/ noises as she backs up to near the stairwell.
(06:27:24 PM) SilverSerpher: ((some reason, I was thinking it'd be further away.))
(06:27:40 PM) me: She's got a goofy look on her face, a half-grin half-grimace
(06:27:51 PM) me: ((oh? it can be.))
(06:28:56 PM) SilverSerpher: ((haha. my sense of what constitutes normal distances is prolly a lil off. nearest bus stop to my house is a mile away -- 20-min walk. "that's not much" kind of distance here. :/ mall's 2 miles, about a 45 min walk or 20-ish mins to bike. So... skewed.))
(06:29:21 PM) SilverSerpher: ((and anyone wonders why I don't go out much, gee, let's see.))
(06:31:46 PM) me: ((Well, then let's say 2 miles away))
(06:31:59 PM) SilverSerpher: ((wouldn't be able to see it. ;) ))
(06:32:10 PM) me: ((Make up your mind :P))
(06:32:37 PM) me: ((original distance, then?))
(06:33:02 PM) SilverSerpher: ((yeah, works.))
(06:33:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He takes a few pics anyway -- maybe it'll come out okay? Half a mile's not the furthest away, though the shadows and lighting might make the pic too hard to really make out. Stupid cameras and their stupid light sensitivities....
(06:35:01 PM) me: She puts her back against the stairwell wall, takes a few deep breaths, then crouches down into a runner's stance.
(06:35:17 PM) me: The pebbles make a light crunch under her fingers.
(06:36:41 PM) SilverSerpher: He's still taking pics, for the moment, distracted with his camera and its finicky behavior.
(06:37:35 PM) me: A light "crunch crunch crunch" starts up, then gets heavier and faster. She's running for the edge.
(06:38:02 PM) SilverSerpher: He's still trying to adjust for lighting, intent on that. Oh dear.
(06:40:55 PM) me: The black-clad figure jumped off the museum a while ago. Towards this building, maybe. Except that that side of the museum is next to the river.
(06:41:21 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, seeing if he can adjust the pictures he'd taken, then.
(06:42:27 PM) me: She's running full-tilt, and launches herself over the low ledge, right next to him.
(06:43:34 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, -that- definitely startled him out of his intentness on the camera. He quickly turns to see what the heck she's doing, eyes very wide, an "oh my god" look on his face there, not quite making a sound.
(06:45:15 PM) me: She has enough forward momentum to get 10 or 15 feet away from the building before she starts really arcing down.
(06:45:41 PM) SilverSerpher: ((want him to try grabbing her or something?))
(06:48:10 PM) me: ((go for whatever, this is purely collaborative))
(06:48:20 PM) me: ((just no retcons))
(06:48:32 PM) SilverSerpher: ((well, if you had something in mind....?))
(06:48:49 PM) me: ((One or two things, whether he stops her or not doesn't matter))
(06:49:06 PM) SilverSerpher: ((mkay.))
(06:51:46 PM) SilverSerpher: The phone gets dropped, fumbled again as it's suddenly forgotten about in favor of reaching over to grab at her. Whether he manages or not is anyone's guess, but he's going to try, because that looks like pretty clear suicide to him. Reality might not always be what it seems, but gravity seems to be a very constant law, no matter the color of the bridge, and jumping from that high up is not
(06:51:46 PM) SilverSerpher: something he'd advise anyone to do.
(07:01:29 PM) me: She's going too fast.
(07:01:50 PM) me: The fumbling took too long; maybe if he'd been paying attention earlier ((like I should be >_>))
(07:02:11 PM) SilverSerpher: ((lol))
(07:02:45 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll still try, at least. The "oh my god" reaction put him on high alert, not that it'll do him any good now. Or her, perhaps.
(07:03:34 PM) me: His pawing at her catches her bag, which comes off her arm, and slows her down a bit but not enough. She still falls over the side of the building.
(07:06:48 PM) SilverSerpher: He's not letting go of whatever he grabbed, and reaching for her with his other hand too -- until he feels himself leaning too far out. He's going to end up against the low bit of wall, watching her in horror, bag in his hand, isn't he.
(07:07:26 PM) me: He does precisely that.
(07:07:43 PM) me: A small "thwp" sound may or may not distract him.
(07:08:57 PM) SilverSerpher: He'd note it, but for the moment it might take, he's torn between watching her fall, and closing his eyes so he doesn't have to see it. He'll likely be doing the latter. A small sound's not enough to distract him from this yet, sorry.
(07:10:30 PM) me: Then, while his eyes are closed, he wouldn't see the pad of a clear sticky substance that had attached itself to the ledge next to him, with a terribly thin string descending at an oblique angle from it.
(07:11:29 PM) SilverSerpher: Nope, he wouldn't. Not yet. Eyes closed, putting a hand up to his mouth for a moment, trying to pull himself together here... give him a sec before he does anything.
(07:11:43 PM) me: Nor would he see that a black-clad figure, similar enough to be twin to the one running across the museum roof, is at the other end of the string.
(07:12:45 PM) SilverSerpher: Again, he's oblivious. At least for a couple seconds, time-wise. He's still caught between wanting to look down in the insane hope she's somehow okay, and not wanting to see the mess she's prolly become.
(07:13:06 PM) me: But he might hear the slight "Ughf" that comes from her abdomen as the black-clad figure catches her. And the notable lack of splat.
(07:14:03 PM) SilverSerpher: It takes a brief pause for it to register, but he takes another bit of a breath and peeks down, hoping.
(07:15:12 PM) me: The black-clad figure is ascending slowly as the clear fiber thickens and shortens.
(07:15:31 PM) me: The figure has her caught over one shoulder. She looks to have fainted.
(07:17:55 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh god." Cue a sigh of relief. He's shaken by the whole thing, but he has at least enough thought in him to get up and back away a bit, so he's not in the way of them getting up onto the roof. Oh, right-- grab the cell phone, don't want them tripping on that. He sets the bag and phone aside, and crouches back down again, reaching to offer them a hand up, once they get a bit closer.
(07:21:15 PM) me: The ascent is fairly quick. The figure starts rappelling up, then the last few steps, the shoes tap on the side of the building then push off to swing the figure and the girl up and over. The figure lands in a crouch, with her in both arms.
(07:21:26 PM) me: The figure lays her gently down on the gravel roofing.
(07:23:47 PM) SilverSerpher: "Thank you," he manages, moving to crouch down next to her, apparently needing to reassure himself she's really there, and not down on the street, beyond the evidence of having seen her be brought back up. "I don't--" a mental fumble this time, still a bit in shock. "Thank you."
(07:25:20 PM) SilverSerpher: (("Oh my god why did you do that do you know how badly you scared me don't you -ever- do that again you could've died and--!"))
(07:25:45 PM) me: The figure nods, putting a loose finger or two to its forehead in a laconic salute.
(07:26:35 PM) me: Whoever it is, they're not breathing heavily at all.
(07:27:33 PM) me: She makes a small noise, then comes to with a gasp, her eyes flying open.
(07:29:36 PM) SilverSerpher: He tries taking a deeper breath. Maybe if he tries calming down, he'll be able to handle this situation better.... as though he'd be able to handle it all that well if he -were- more calm. And then she stirs, and his attention is on her again, immediately. He reaches down to brush a little of her hair away from her face -- her beret's most likely on the street by now, isn't it? -- just to
(07:29:37 PM) SilverSerpher: make some sort of contact with her, to get her attention. "Are you all right?"
(07:32:39 PM) me: The beret is indeed missing.
(07:33:49 PM) me: She makes a growling noise, then fling a stream of invective at him. "What were you thinking I HAD that you wrecked my plan you--OOOOOOOH!" She makes a fist and pounds the gravel with it.
(07:33:58 PM) me: Then her expression breaks, she cradles her hand, and says "Ow, that hurts."
(07:37:02 PM) SilverSerpher: "What -plan-? You scared the crap out of me!" The figure's been forgotten, for the moment, in favor of this.
(07:40:52 PM) me: "Well wasn't it -obvious?!" she says. The black-clad figure snickers at this.
(07:41:29 PM) me: "I was going to figure out if this was real or not!"
(07:42:14 PM) SilverSerpher: He pauses a little, glancing up at the figure. Oh, -now- it's sinking in. She was going to try drawing the attention of-- wait, what? He blinks and looks back down to her. "You mean, if you died, it was real, and if you didn't, it wasn't? What sort of plan is -that-?"
(07:44:24 PM) me: She blinks back at him, petulant expression softening. "You have a point." She tries to sit up, fails, and pushes herself up again.
(07:45:21 PM) SilverSerpher: "I'm sure there's a better way of figuring that out. No more suicide attempts, all right?" He offers her a hand up.
(07:46:57 PM) me: She takes it, swaying on her feet at first.
(07:47:13 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll put a hand on her back, hoping to steady her.
(07:47:26 PM) me: She is steadied. She looks around on the gravel. "Did you at least catch my purse?"
(07:48:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Um--" He looks down, then crouches to pick it back up, snagging his phone as he does. "Right here, yes."
(07:49:59 PM) me: She takes it and loops it over her head on her shoulder quickly, then pulls her hair out from under the strap.
(07:51:51 PM) me: The black-clad figure has taken to doing backflips around the top of the building.
(07:59:37 PM) SilverSerpher: He looks over at her rescuer briefly, and back to her. "Any rate, you see who saved you?" He gestures to them, attempting to smile for her. At least some sort of good came of this? Maybe?
(08:03:32 PM) me: The figure comes full circle and does a final backflip, sticking the landing. The figure shrugs at the young man.
(08:03:43 PM) me: "You tell me what you think I am."
(08:06:15 PM) me: "The Dread Pirate Roberts!" she says. Come to think of it, the face mask does look almost exactly like that. But the rest of the clothes are too form-fitting.
(08:09:08 PM) SilverSerpher: He paused again. Maybe if he weren't still off a bit from the adrenaline -- he'd just have to try to work past that. "-What- we think you are?" Not who, but what? Maybe it was just him, and he was willing to accept that, but he could've sworn they'd just said.... er....
(08:10:04 PM) me: The figure gives him an enigmatic smile and waits for an answer.
(08:19:32 PM) SilverSerpher: He let out another breath, slowly. Calm. Gotta calm down and get his head back together. "Did you just happen to be there at the time to catch her...?"
(08:20:03 PM) SilverSerpher: ((nothing like a moment of panic to rattle someone, right?))
(08:21:29 PM) me: ((right))
(08:21:56 PM) me: "That is correct, but only a minor detail."
(08:22:35 PM) me: She makes a puzzled face at the figure. "Were you on the museum roof?"
(08:22:49 PM) SilverSerpher: "You're damned lucky," he mumbled to her, quietly.
(08:22:55 PM) me: The figure sweeps a slow, flourished bow.
(08:23:31 PM) me: She gasps, then grabs the young man's shoulder and shakes him side to side. "No don't you get it if I hadn't seen him I wouldn't have gotten the idea to jump and then he wouldn't have had to grab me!"
(08:24:35 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll put up with the shaking. Who knows, maybe it'll knock something back into place. "And what if he'd been going the other way, or was too far away?"
(08:25:13 PM) me: The figure watches the two argue, bemusedly.
(08:25:56 PM) me: She stomps her foot on the gravel, kicking up a stone, and huffs at the young man. "But he -wouldn't- have been. I know it."
(08:28:06 PM) SilverSerpher: "And if you'd done that a minute before? Or after? What if he'd already moved on? You'd be a stain on the ground, and where would that leave me?" Er. "And-- and your family and-- hell, that wouldn't leave -you- anywhere good, now would it?" He folded his arms. Hah, a sensible argument! ....well, better than no argument at all, anyway.
(08:31:43 PM) me: She blinks. "My... Oh. Family." Like this is a foreign concept.
(08:31:55 PM) me: She waves a hand dismissively. "Haven't seen them in years.
(08:31:56 PM) me: "
(08:45:55 PM) SilverSerpher: ((sorry -- rl reared up there.))
(08:47:19 PM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe you should say hi again." He turns his attention back to her rescuer. "So how -did- you happen to be there just in time?"
(08:50:49 PM) me: The figure does a standing backflip. "I was required."
(08:52:04 PM) SilverSerpher: "Required by...?"
(08:52:51 PM) me: "Circumstance." An eloquent shrug.
(08:53:29 PM) SilverSerpher: Couldn't argue with that, really. "So what is it you've been doing, going about the rooftops like this?"
(08:53:43 PM) me: She's ruffling around in her purse, and brings out something. A business card. She tries to hand it to the figure.
(08:55:48 PM) me: The figure accepts the business card, looks at both sides. One is white, with gold and purple printing on it. The other has an abstract drawing on it.
(08:56:51 PM) SilverSerpher: He glances at the card too, what of it he can see from where he is. It's finally ocurring to him that he doesn't even know her name, nor she his.
(08:57:46 PM) SilverSerpher: ((s/ocurring/occurring))
(08:57:55 PM) me: Her name is Vanessa Fong.
(08:57:55 PM) me: The figure flips it over again, and now that side is black. They hand it back to her. She looks at the the other side, which is black now too.
(08:59:10 PM) SilverSerpher: "How did you...?"
(08:59:21 PM) SilverSerpher: He's not even sure how to finish the question.
(09:02:18 PM) me: Ness grins and hands the boy the business card to look at. It's printed with a matte black ink that barely contrasts with the glossy background. The reverse is printed with a grey chevron.
(09:05:13 PM) me: "Your intuitions are correct, in essence if not detail," the figure says. "Everything is not always as it seems." The figure turns around once, and when they face front again the appearance of mask and clothes are gone.
(09:06:04 PM) me: They are sheathed in a seamless black substance that seems to absolutely refuse to reflect light; indeed it's almost a window into a fathomless depth. Their eyes glow an eerie white. "I am one who has simply... applied that realization."
(09:24:31 PM) SilverSerpher: ((well, that's interesting. my sister and her two lil kidlets left to go get a couple feeder fish or something, to put into the 10-gallon tank they set up... and came home with a guinea pig.))
(09:29:20 PM) SilverSerpher: He looks over the card, and then at the other person again. "-How-?" He's really curious at this point. There's definitely some sort of reality-twisting going on here, and... he'd very much like to know what it's all about. That feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on, before, that his new friend had helped identify for him was being pointed out further by their newest acquaintance,
(09:29:21 PM) SilverSerpher: and damned if he was going to back off of figuring it out now.
(09:44:40 PM) me: ((deeeeeerp hi))
(09:44:54 PM) me: ((I really need to put an alert on this channel but I don't know how))
(09:44:59 PM) SilverSerpher: ((hiiii. :3 ))
(09:45:28 PM) SilverSerpher: ((hm. in mIRC, I just set Flashing to ON, when I'm wanting to pay attention to it. Someone says something, the window flashes in the taskbar.))
(09:45:54 PM) me: ((I'm playing WoW fullscreen, and my taskbar auto-minimizes anyway))
(09:46:01 PM) SilverSerpher: ((ah. :S))
(09:46:15 PM) SilverSerpher: ((maybe if the taskbar didn't auto-minimize? Or would that be hidden in WoW anyhow?))
(09:46:31 PM) me: ((You could just preface everything with "azetidine:" so it pings me >_>))
(09:48:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((or ping you if you don't write back in a couple mins? hehe. Can do.))
(09:48:38 PM) me: ((<3))
(09:49:04 PM) me: The figure does another backflip and just... folds up. Into nothing.
(09:50:39 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, that didn't answer his question. He was hoping for more of an... instructive reply. He frowned a bit, looking back to the card. Was there any sort of contact info on it?
(09:54:20 PM) SilverSerpher: ((azetidine. :) ))
(09:55:08 PM) me: There is a bit of text. A website, or email address, or something.
(09:55:31 PM) SilverSerpher: He reaches over to take the card -- if she'll hand it to him. He's not going to just grab it out of her hand or anything.
(09:55:32 PM) me: ((weeble weeble weeble -_-))
(09:55:46 PM) me: He has it already Has had it for a minute or two.
(09:56:09 PM) me: The side with the chevron has new text now.
(09:56:54 PM) me: "You must discover your own path."
(09:59:48 PM) me: ((my brains are braining))
(10:00:37 PM) SilverSerpher: "Well." He turns the card over again, looking at whatever there is to see -- perhaps it's altered itself yet again? He looks up at Vanessa. "If we're going to be finding our own path, you want to try taking a walk somewhere less... high up, with me? Get your hat back, maybe?"
(10:02:09 PM) me: She pats her head. "Oh. Uh... sure."
(10:02:58 PM) SilverSerpher: He finally smiles a little more, sincerely, and turns to head back to the stairwell door.
(10:03:12 PM) me: She looks at him funny. "Did you... did you see my name? On the business card? Before it... changed?"
(10:05:35 PM) SilverSerpher: "Vanessa?" He looks back to her again. "Or did I read it wrong?"
(10:07:07 PM) me: She bridles a little bit, though seemingly not at him. "Call me Ness."
(10:11:21 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, sorry. Uh... Ryan." He puts his smile back on. "Maybe we can get something to drink, too. Something... not just hot chocolate? Or at least, I know I'd like one...."
(10:11:51 PM) me: She gives him a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't drink alcohol."
(10:13:32 PM) SilverSerpher: "I don't usually either. I could go for a triple mocha or something, though." He carefully opens the door, as though half expecting it to be locked, though he'd checked it when they went up, and holds it for her.
(10:16:36 PM) me: She goes through the door, and down to the top floor elevator.
(10:20:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He follows her right down the stairs, carefully putting his phone back into his pocket, not sure yet where to put the card. In his bag? In his wallet? Hmm....
(10:29:11 PM) SilverSerpher: ((ping azetidine. :)))
(10:29:53 PM) me: ((my brains, they have no more cycles ._.))
(10:31:14 PM) SilverSerpher: ((done with this for the night, you mean?))
(10:31:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((or for now, at least?))
(10:38:01 PM) me: ((for now, probably for the night. sorry))
(10:38:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((s'all right.))
(10:38:29 PM) SilverSerpher: ((I'm getting the impression that Ryan here's a bit awkward. haha.))
(10:43:01 PM) me: ((teehee))
(10:44:31 PM) SilverSerpher: (("I knew this day was going to be surreal.... definitely should've worn a better shirt for it."))
(10:46:54 PM) me: (("Look at me... now look at your shirt. I'm on a rocket.'))
(10:47:02 PM) SilverSerpher: ((lol))
(10:47:16 PM) me: ((I logged out of wow for now))
(10:47:30 PM) me: She punches the button for the elevator.
(10:47:57 PM) SilverSerpher: ((more cycles added by the lack of WoW?))
(10:48:23 PM) me: ((apparently?
(10:48:29 PM) me: ))
(10:48:33 PM) me: ((you drive for now))
(10:50:30 PM) SilverSerpher: He finally opts to pull out his little notepad, and tries noting down what was on the now-black card, before it changes again. If there's a website address or email address or whatnot on it, he doesn't want to forget it -- and hey, maybe it'll be another interesting clue as to the card's changes? When the elevator doors open, he waits for Ness to step in before he does. "Might've had deja
(10:50:30 PM) SilverSerpher: vu about us in the cafe," he says quietly, "but I don't know that I've been -this- route before. The rooftop meeting... that was new. That was very new."
(10:51:02 PM) me: She looks at him oddly again. "What... what happened the last times?"
(10:53:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He shook his head. "I remember we took a walk... we went to the museum, or somewhere, to find things to compare, and... I'm not sure. I think something happened, but..." He frowned at the notepad for a moment, waiting for the elevator to bring them back down to the ground floor. "You know how it is, when there's a memory you can't -quite- bring up? You know it's -there-, but it's not
(10:53:11 PM) SilverSerpher: solid enough to hold onto?"
(10:55:44 PM) me: She nods, contemplatively. The elevator dings softly as it descends.
(10:58:20 PM) SilverSerpher: "It's usually like that. Wake up in the morning, sure I know what happened the day before -- except I find out that it wasn't. What was yesterday is what feels like the day before it, and what I thought was yesterday never actually happened. Or maybe it has -yet- to happen. Like us, talking in the cafe. I think that must've been one of those missing times or something... I mean, I knew
(10:58:21 PM) SilverSerpher: you'd stop and come in and draw on my pad; that's why I was watching you. Didn't mean it wrong if it came off that way," he shrugged a little as he finally put the pad back into his pocket, and the card into his wallet. "I was just wanting to see if it'd happen again like I remembered. And it did, mostly."
(10:59:26 PM) SilverSerpher: "But it's funny. I don't always remember what's going to happen, until it starts again."
(10:59:43 PM) me: She cocks her head to the side. "That's... different. Than what I feel."
(11:01:12 PM) me: "Sometimes," she says, slowly, thinking it through, "I daydream. And I know I'm daydreaming. But then something that I did in my daydream turns out to be true. And then I go outside, on the sidewalk where I was fantasizing about... I don't know, running super fast, and in my limbs I feel... just... frustration."
(11:01:22 PM) me: "Like my muscles want to be doing those impossible things but they -can't-."
(11:01:49 PM) me: She looks up at him. "That's what I felt on the roof when I saw that guy jump onto the museum. Except... stronger than ever."
(11:02:26 PM) me: She gives a little half-shrug. "I thought maybe if I jumped I could... be free of it. The frustration would go away."
(11:04:14 PM) SilverSerpher: "Hmm." He's quiet a second again. "I'm not sure I've felt -that- part, about being able to do things like that. But there's the bit about things not being what they are anyway, with me, too. I mean, that kind of goes hand in hand with the... the deja vu, I don't know what else to call it. When we went for a walk to the museum, there was a red bike chained to the sign in front, outside
(11:04:14 PM) SilverSerpher: the cafe. I remember that, since I almost tripped over it. But it wasn't there this time, did you notice? ....mm, what'm I saying, you wouldn't have noticed something like that, would you. You weren't the one walking into it, and it wasn't there to see...." He glances at her -- it's a question, more than an assertation. Did she remember seeing a bike there?
(11:05:35 PM) me: She pauses. "... I don't remember us going for a walk to the museum." the elevator is nearing the bottom. "But maybe you were remembering what's about to happen."
(11:08:43 PM) SilverSerpher: "No, no. I mean--" He pauses yet again, trying to collect his thoughts. "Maybe if I started over. I was at the table. You were walking down the sidewalk. And you came in, wrote on my pad... we talked a bit, I left with you, I walked into the bike. We laughed about how it shouldn't have been there, and then we took a walk to the museum. That's from the first time." He stepped forward
(11:08:44 PM) SilverSerpher: as the elevator's doors opened, glancing back at her. "So when I saw you coming down the sidewalk earlier, I was watching... I mean, you were going to come in and mark my pad a bit, and you did. You notice, I wasn't surprised at that? And I said it was because I remembered it? I meant that."
(11:09:28 PM) me: She blinks at him, and steps forward uncertainly. "You're sure it was me?"
(11:12:38 PM) me: She starts walking through the lobby. It's the same tan marble and ancient steel fixtures.
(11:16:33 PM) SilverSerpher: "I don't know that I'd have been watching to see if you came in and did it, if it wasn't you. Same hat, same hair, same face, same voice. The way you moved and talked, the things you said. I mean-- I don't rememebr what you'd said, but the way you said it, yes." He's following her again, looking out to the doors. The cafe wasn't far away -- he wanted to be sure the bike wasn't there at
(11:16:33 PM) SilverSerpher: all.
(11:17:19 PM) me: She reaches the doors first, opens them, and nearly trips over a bike wheel parked right outside the skyscraper.
(11:17:24 PM) me: "Ow. Fuck."
(11:17:45 PM) me: She rubs her knee and glares at the bike in question. Red.
(11:18:01 PM) SilverSerpher: "Are you all--" He stops mid-sentence, staring at the bike as directed. "....Huh."
(11:18:32 PM) me: "I'll be fine." she straightens up, and adjusts her bag.
(11:19:17 PM) SilverSerpher: "I swear that was outside the cafe, not here. Because we didn't come -here- last time." He sighed. "Maybe... maybe we shouldn't go to the museum, then."
(11:20:07 PM) me: She looks at him. "Why not? I like it."
(11:21:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Just... not this time. Or at least, not yet. Please? I don't know what's the matter, and I don't remember what happened last time, but I remember that I -ought- to remember, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to go through it again."
(11:22:01 PM) me: She huffs at him. "What if it's the path, or way, or whatever? Don't you even want to walk to the bridge, and see what color it is?"
(11:23:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, the bridge is fine. Let's go to the bridge! I just-- something about the -museum- right now isn't right, that's all."
(11:23:32 PM) me: She rolls her eyes. "Okay." She starts off east down the street.
(11:24:36 PM) SilverSerpher: "Let's see to your hat first?" He steps after her again.
(11:25:31 PM) me: "That's this way anyway," she says over her shoulder. Indeed, the doors onto the street are on the south side of the building, and the hat fell in the next street to the east.
(11:27:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He nods. Just making sure they were on the same page about this, that's all.
(11:27:25 PM) me: She probably would have forgotten it if Ryan hadn't said something.
(11:28:41 PM) me: She gets to the corner, and stops dead in her tracks. She's looking up.
(11:29:06 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, anything to stall. He just about walks into her, but manages to stop at the last moment, and looks to follow her gaze. What caught her attention?
(11:30:34 PM) me: Her hat is caught on top of a streetlight.
(11:30:40 PM) me: "Pfeh. Figures."
(11:32:30 PM) SilverSerpher: "What if," he muses, not taking his eyes off of it, "there were a way to get it down?"
(11:32:56 PM) me: She turns to look at him. "What did you have in mind? Or did you -remember- something?"
(11:36:22 PM) SilverSerpher: "I'm not sure." He steps around her, walking to the streetlight, and stops under it, to look up. "What if this light weren't here?" He closes his eyes, as though deep in thought. "What if it were a little to the side? Then the hat would've hit the ground.... Would've fallen about right... there, I think?" Eyes still closed, he turns his head down, as though looking over the area in his
(11:36:22 PM) SilverSerpher: imagination, and indicates a spot nearby. Maybe belief in which reality they were in had something to do with this?
(11:36:38 PM) SilverSerpher: ((brb, getting water.))
(11:36:43 PM) me: ((kk))
(11:37:43 PM) me: She stares at that spot on the ground. Nothing happens. Her attention wanders to the striped green awning of a shop across the street.
(11:41:16 PM) SilverSerpher: "Or... mm." He looks up again, at the top of the building they'd been on, trying to gauge just where they'd been.
(11:41:51 PM) me: She steps back. "Oh, hang on. I think there's going to be a..." she keeps backpedalling. A wind kicks up. Will it be enough to dislodge the hat?
(11:42:55 PM) SilverSerpher: "A what?" He turns to look at her, and then his attention goes up to the hat on the streetlamp. Maybe it can be? He's hoping it will be, at any rate.
(11:44:16 PM) me: She pouts. It didn't work. "A breeze."
(11:44:43 PM) me: Wait.
(11:44:48 PM) me: "Wait." she says.
(11:45:18 PM) me: "Ryan." she taps her finger on her chin.
(11:45:28 PM) SilverSerpher: "Yes?" He looks back to her again.
(11:46:02 PM) me: "When you proposed where the hat would land I was looking there. And when I said the breeze was coming where were you looking?"
(11:47:09 PM) SilverSerpher: "I--" He has to think about that, though only briefly. "I was looking that way." He points up, trying to be precise about it.
(11:47:51 PM) me: She gives him a funny look. "That's about where the breeze came from." then she puts her hand on her forehead, groans, and then shakes her head, making a loose-lipped "eblehlebleh" sound.
(11:48:12 PM) me: "Ugggh I don't get it."
(11:49:08 PM) me: "He vanished -right- in front of our eyes. It can't have anything to do with looking."
(11:49:42 PM) SilverSerpher: "....let's try it again, then. You look back to where you were looking before, and I'll try thinking about the wind and where the hat was falling from." He gives her a grin, only half joking. It's a silly notion, he thinks, in the sense that normal people wouldn't believe it had a chance. But the day wasn't normal, and he was sure that neither of them were any more normal themselves, so
(11:49:43 PM) SilverSerpher: maybe the idea had a chance.
(11:51:01 PM) me: She looks at the spot on the sidewalk. "This is silly, you know," she says, staring, not daring to blink. "I mean, did you ever read about Schrodinger's Cat? It was superpositioned only so long as you -weren't- looking."
(11:53:04 PM) SilverSerpher: "You said it yourself, he disappeared right in front of us." He focused up there on the building's top, playing with the thought in his mind. The hat would fall down, would be blown, would land a few feet some other direction. Wind would blow....
(11:54:00 PM) me: She thought about the wind. It would have to come from south and hit the inside of the beret just right, and then it would loft off the top of the streetlight like a kite.
(11:55:30 PM) me: She looks up and pats her head. The beret is on it. "Ryan..." she keeps her hand on her head and rotates on her heel to look at him.
(11:56:33 PM) SilverSerpher: "Mm?" He turns to look, and blinks. That wasn't the result he'd been expecting, but he couldn't say he disagreed with it one bit. He grinned again. "Did you do that?"
(11:57:28 PM) me: "I didn't do anything! I was just thinking!" She takes the beret off her head and looks at it. Yup, her initials on the inside, same scuff mark on the top as before.
(11:57:35 PM) me: She looks up at the streetlight.
(11:57:43 PM) SilverSerpher: "Thinking what?"
(11:57:57 PM) me: "Ugh! About the wind! What were you thinking about?"
(11:59:28 PM) SilverSerpher: "About where it should've fallen instead. That if the wind had blown it just a -little- bit more this way--" He gestured, and then paused. He was pointing more or less in her direction, wasn't he.
(12:00:25 AM) me: She blinks. "Wasn't the streetlight between you and me?"
(12:02:05 AM) SilverSerpher: He turns again, to look at it. "It--" It wasn't where it last was, was it. Or had he moved? "This is about the point where I usually decide it's all in my head, and not to worry about it," he admitted. "But... I think it might've been."
(12:04:34 AM) me: "So -neither- of us was thinking about the streetlight, but we -were- thinking about the hat and the wind and wanting it to be somewhere else. Right?" She looks hard at him.
(12:05:02 AM) SilverSerpher: "Right." He nods.
(12:05:29 AM) me: She pulls her hands out of her elbows, tosses them up, and says, "Well, there you go."
(12:05:57 AM) SilverSerpher: "....so... we think about the end result, and not how it comes about?"
(12:06:52 AM) me: "Well... no... we -were- thinking about how to make it come about, but the one factor we weren't thinking about changed -while we weren't thinking about it-. So... it's like... reality falls through a hole."
(12:07:02 AM) me: She walks forward and puts a hand on the streetlight.
(12:07:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "Focus on what we want to have remain constant, and let the rest be variables by omission?" He put an errant bit of his hair back behind an ear.
(12:08:06 AM) me: She shrugs. "That's my best guess."
(12:09:36 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe it's worth another go." He looks around. Any likely things to experiment on?
(12:09:41 AM) SilverSerpher: ((I can come up with one, but.))
(12:10:13 AM) me: She makes a weirded-out face. "Maybe we'd better go to another street. This streetlight is weirding me out."
(12:11:32 AM) SilverSerpher: "Not a problem." He nods a little, and starts walking again -- heading back to the cafe where they'd met. There'd surely be something worth experimenting on there, right?
(12:14:29 AM) me: she follows him, holding her arms. She's silent for a bit, but then about halfway back to the cafe she blurts out, "But then why doesn't this happen whenever we're not thinking about something? Why do things -mostly- stay the same instead of changing -all the time-?"
(12:15:02 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe because we don't have a want in mind for them to be some way other than they are?"
(12:15:33 AM) me: She blinks. "But people do wishful thinking all the time. Are we just believing harder?" she sounds skeptical.
(12:16:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "Or believing it more specifically, maybe. It's one thing to say, I wish I had a million dollars, and it's another to be -certain- that the next time you open your wallet to pay for a drink, you'll find a handful in there, even if you don't remember putting it in there." He gave her a bit of a smile. Three guesses what he was going to attempt to change this time.
(12:19:17 AM) me: She splutters. "But I wasn't thinking about making it land -on my head-! Were you?"
(12:20:49 AM) SilverSerpher: "I was thinking it being on your head would be the end result," he admitted, pausing at the cafe door to look back at her. "I mean, that was the whole point of this, wasn't it? Get your hat back, so you could wear it again? I-- oh. Oh! I see what you mean."
(12:21:42 AM) me: She walks in past him, torn between huffing angrily and being hopelessly confused.
(12:23:48 AM) SilverSerpher: He sighs, not sure what to make of it. "Any rate... I'm -sure- I can afford it if you'd want anything after all." He looks up at the menu, reading it over, as though he hadn't done so earlier that day.
(12:26:06 AM) me: She seems nervous. She's rubbing her arms where she's holding them. "Just, um, juice." She looks at the cooler full of different bottles.
(12:27:56 AM) SilverSerpher: "Pick one?" He steps up to the counter, pulling out his wallet, not looking into it yet as he places his order... triple shot mocha, a shot of rawpberry, please.
(12:28:37 AM) me: She picks out a kiwi strawberry drink in a bottle, and puts it on the counter, then looks away from Ryan's wallet, out a side window or something.
(12:35:28 AM) SilverSerpher: He doesn't look to the wallet either, intent on giving the barista a smile while she marks his order on a cup. He points out the bottle to her as well, and then reaches into his wallet to pull something out, handing it over without a glance.
(12:36:02 AM) SilverSerpher: He had at least enough money to cover this earlier, too, but if this worked....
(12:36:14 AM) me: Ness chooses now to look at the barista, and squints at the bill.
(12:37:48 AM) SilverSerpher: It's... well, he's going to be getting back a lot more in change than the drinks cost. He closes his eyes a second, apparently relaxed, to just take in the aroma of the baked goods nearby.
(12:39:19 AM) me: She looks at the table they were sitting at earlier. Is Ryan's pencil still there?
(12:40:04 AM) SilverSerpher: Seems it is. But didn't he take it with him, when they got up?
(12:40:16 AM) me: She sighs and rubs the back of her neck.
(12:43:54 AM) SilverSerpher: "Thanks." He doesn't look at what's in his hands, as he takes one of the bills he's handed back, and puts it into the tip jar. He turns to Ness again, and offers her her drink. "Here's yours."
(12:44:52 AM) me: She takes it, and opens the lid with a snak. "So, what, the goal was to--" the barista gasps.
(12:45:58 AM) SilverSerpher: "Mmhm," he says, smiling, not looking back at the barista yet. "Yes. Yes it was." -Now- he looks down at what he's putting back into his wallet, unable to quite fend off his curiosity any longer.
(12:47:06 AM) me: She chugs about half the bottle of juice, then starts heading towards their original table, then veers off and picks one in the opposite corner.
(12:48:38 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan waits by the counter, content to do so while he waits for his drink, so long as he can keep an eye on Ness. It isn't as though he's likely to take his mind off her, but all the same....
(12:51:23 AM) me: Ness catches Ryan looking at her and snorts once, smiling.
(12:53:30 AM) SilverSerpher: He waves back to her, returning the smile, a little goofily. He peeks back to the barista, who's doubtless scrambling to make his drink for him, and tries not to smile too much more widely as he turns back to Ness again, pointing discreetly. "Do you see that?" doesn't even need to be said, so he keeps his mouth shut, too amused with the situation here now.
(12:54:41 AM) me: She shakes her head, then props her chin in her hands, then a moment later decides to put her head down on her arms, flopping over the table.
(12:58:47 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan joins her shortly after that, keeping his new drink in his hands. He slides into the seat and leans back a little, then taps the pencil's side against the table. "Well, that's fun, don't you think?"
(12:59:54 AM) me: "Yes, but what's in your wallet?" She pops her head up and leans over the entire table to try to look at it.
(01:01:07 AM) SilverSerpher: He puts his drink down to fish the wallet back out for her to see. Quiet, "More than I had in it this morning. -Far- more. Just like I hoped." There, wallet spread, set down on the table. He nudged it to her.
(01:02:04 AM) me: She looked inside. Was it all a confidence game? She got out the entire sheaf of bills and riffled through them.
(01:04:10 AM) SilverSerpher: "Could play holy hell with the money supply, and make some people's day, you know that?" He grinned, clearly enjoying the idea.
(01:05:56 AM) me: "What if it comes from somewhere else?" She looks disturbed.
(01:06:19 AM) SilverSerpher: "Like where?" That makes him pause.
(01:07:38 AM) me: "Like, I dunno--" she drops her voice. "Some bank vault?"
(01:08:46 AM) SilverSerpher: He dropped his tone to match hers. "Would it be a bad joke to say I'm sure that their investors have been doing it to me for years?"
(01:10:33 AM) me: She looks at Ryan funny. "What, with fees and stuff? Why, do you have loans? Or are you referring to that thing, where they lost a bunch of money, and now you're bringing it back with the superpower of not paying attention?"
(01:12:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe it's the tellers," he said, shrugging. "I don't have loans, and I -should- have more in my account than I do, but I can't explain where it goes. I keep track of what I spend, and yet..." He shakes his head. "Maybe I'm just using backwards logic, I don't know."
(01:14:51 AM) me: "Well couldn't this all just be backward logic? This is, like two thousand dollars. You probably tipped her a $100. Have you ever had more than two thousand dollars in your account?" She catches herself speeding up, then looks embarrassed and claps her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I don't mean to pry."
(01:16:25 AM) SilverSerpher: He just laughs, keeping his own voice down well enough. "Yeah, that's the funny part. I -should've-, just yesterday, but I don't now. And there's no record of that sort of withdrawl. In fact, there's no record of me putting -in- that much. It's like my last deposit didn't exist. ....Maybe that's my memory playing games on me again, remembering making a deposit I haven't yet?"
(01:18:50 AM) SilverSerpher: "I'll stop, though. I'll stop. I just wanted to see that I -could- do it."
(01:19:21 AM) me: She looks at him. "Will you?"
(01:19:42 AM) me: "Does it all even out in the end? Who else would've benefited from my hat? Does it matter?" She holds her head in her hands again.
(01:22:14 AM) SilverSerpher: "I was going to buy a few groceries tonight, that's all. Bread, cheese, pickles... now I've got grocery money for a few months, if it doesn't wink out of existence while I'm not looking. Doesn't mean I'll quit looking for gigs." A little pause, and he looked back up at her again. "What is it you do, can I ask?"
(01:23:54 AM) me: She blinks at him. "I'm a student."
(01:25:48 AM) me: "What do you mean, gigs? Are you, like, in a band?"
(01:27:46 AM) SilverSerpher: He took a drink from his cup. "When they'll have me. I play piano. Sometimes I get taken on solo, sometimes some friends and I go in together. It gets very interesting, when I start playing something I just -know- is a classic, only it seems no one's ever heard of it before, or the piece that's by the title I thought it was is actually completely different."
(01:32:07 AM) me: She stares at him, blinking. "Like what?"
(01:34:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Like-- like one of Chopin's Nocturnes. I -know- it goes one way, but now the book disagrees."
(01:35:42 AM) me: "So you play it from memory, and you look at the page, and--" she thinks for a moment. "Have you looked in other people's copies?"
(01:37:31 AM) SilverSerpher: "Yeah, when I can find them. And they agree with my book, whenever I have them side by side. And then my book says something different again later, and -again- another copy agrees with it. It's a little maddening."
(01:37:45 AM) me: She gives him the funny stare again. "So it keeps changing."
(01:37:57 AM) me: "Do you remember the first Nocturne you learned?"
(01:38:21 AM) SilverSerpher: (("Op." is Opus, right?))
(01:38:25 AM) me: ((yes))
(01:38:34 AM) SilverSerpher: ((I love music, i'm just horrible with notatoins, lol.))
(01:40:00 AM) me: ((:D))
(01:40:26 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods, to both her questions. "Opus sixty two. B Major. But it's not how I remember it now. Never is."
(01:40:26 AM) SilverSerpher: ((notations, too.))
(01:41:23 AM) SilverSerpher: ((and not as familiar with as much classical as I'd like, but that's why I can look back at my files. <3))
(01:41:38 AM) me: ((*queues up that one on youtube*))
(01:42:44 AM) me: She cocks her head. "I don't know that one. But I guess I shouldn't be expected; music's not my field. I'm studying--" she cocks her head to the side. "no. I'll let you guess."
(01:44:03 AM) SilverSerpher: "Quantum theory? Philosophy?" He gives her a little grin again, both guesses more jokes than serious -- though he wouldn't be surprised if one of them were right. "I don't think I asked you about what you studied, the other time we talked."
(01:44:53 AM) me: She seems a little disappointed. "Neither, actually. Art history."
(01:45:07 AM) me: "Anyway," she says. "Does it still sound like Chopin? The new versions?"
(01:45:55 AM) SilverSerpher: "The museum. Should've known." He took another sip. "It does, but it's not the same song. The style's right, but the song itself...." He shook his head again. "It's not the same one."
(01:47:14 AM) me: She blinks. "The museum's not just art. Have you -actually- been there? On your own? Like... not with one of..." she's about to say 'me,' but decides against it. "My dopplegangers?"
(01:47:18 AM) me: ((omg this is beautiful))
(01:47:25 AM) SilverSerpher: ((innit nice? <3))
(01:47:31 AM) me: ((is it okay that I'm crushing on Ryan?))
(01:47:36 AM) SilverSerpher: ((haha, sure.))
(01:48:05 AM) SilverSerpher: ((iirc, I think I said he had kinda-longish hair, enough that he's got it in a ponytail, right? trying to keep his details straight here...))
(01:49:24 AM) me: ((yes.))
(01:50:56 AM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, lots, but it depends on how you look at it. I mean, you can look at old skeletons and see old skeletons... or you can look at them and see something made up of many, -many- bits, that all worked together as a whole, to do something beautiful, like--" He cut himself off there, and looked back down to his cup. That might've been either a faint blush, or the light playing tricks with his
(01:50:56 AM) SilverSerpher: skin tone. "Well, it depends on how you look at things."
(01:51:46 AM) me: She nods. "I like the aquatic exhibits."
(01:52:32 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods a little too. "The whale display they had last year was incredible. Made me want to go board a ship to see some myself."
(01:53:20 AM) me: "For me it's the little cases with the ferns and amphibious animals. Like, did you see the one where they had the perma-tadpoles? That was kind of amazing."
(01:54:24 AM) me: Apparently she didn't catch that he was about to compliment her.
(01:55:43 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods. "I still have a seashell, from when I was a kid. I went out with my mum one weekend, and...." His smile fades slightly for a moment, but it comes back, a little softer, a little warmer, after whatever thought it was to cross his mind there. "I think that's when I started looking at things a little differently."
(01:58:04 AM) me: She's about to say something, but she stops and really looks at him. She looks like she wants to press the issue, but then she looks at the floor, and finishes the rest of her juice, and then looks back up at him.
(01:58:21 AM) me: "Have you remembered what you were supposed to remember about the museum?"
(02:00:50 AM) SilverSerpher: "Mm?" He looks back up again from his drink, as though he'd completely forgotten all about it somehow. "Oh, ah... no... but...." He's quiet a moment, considering. "I'm not sure that it wouldn't be all right now, to go past there. Did you still want to?" He slid the extra pencil into his bag.
(02:02:27 AM) me: She blinks. "I guess."
(02:03:55 AM) SilverSerpher: ((augh I'm getting so many brainworms on him right now. <3))
(02:04:28 AM) me: ((brainworms? Explain :3))
(02:04:44 AM) SilverSerpher: ((well, about his mom and the shell and what kind of a life he's had... haha.))
(02:05:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "Let's go, then?" He eyed her, keeping his drink in hand. He wasn't in any sort of a hurry to finish it yet; he'd be taking it with him, if she agreed she wanted to go now.
(02:06:27 AM) me: she nodded, and got up, stalking over to a recycling bin and popping the bottle in.
(02:07:27 AM) SilverSerpher: He adjusted his bag's strap on his shoulder as he got up too, and held the door for her. A glance back to the counter, and he gave the baristas a nod before he looked back to Ness again. After her...?
(02:08:07 AM) me: She already has the door open and is waiting for him to go through.
(02:09:34 AM) SilverSerpher: Ah, well, he'll give her a lil smile and step out -- glancing down to make sure there's no bike there, this time. There's still not, so he makes it out to the sidewalk all right. "Museum it is, then. ....and if I get that feeling again, can we... go a street over, and try another way, you think?"
(02:09:55 AM) me: She pauses, then says, "Sure. Why not."
(02:10:04 AM) me: She starts walking.
(02:11:52 AM) SilverSerpher: He follows again, letting out a breath slowly as he does, looking around. He pulls out his little pad, the first pencil -- pen? -- tucked into it, and writes another note down, never pausing.
(02:12:38 AM) me: She slows down abruptly. "This... feeling. Does it have anything to do with the shell and your mom? Like did you have the same feeling then?"
(02:16:26 AM) SilverSerpher: He was silent a moment, considering it. "It's... possible. I'd -hope- not, though. I...." He seemed to reconsider what he was going to say, and looked down again. "Like I said, I'm not too clear anything but that I don't want to go through it again."
(02:16:57 AM) me: She looks at him shrewdly. "Did you wake up the next day only to find out she didn't exist?" she says quietly.
(02:18:25 AM) SilverSerpher: He paused there, looking back up at her. He didn't say anything for a moment, considering... and then smiled softly. "No. I woke up to find out she was right there with me still."
(02:19:26 AM) me: She looks at him, puzzled, then she takes a little gasp. "She was supposed to -- she died that day, didn't she? But then she didn't die."
(02:19:56 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods. "I think it must've gone something like that."
(02:20:21 AM) me: "But you don't... remember?" she frowns a little, and picks up the walking pace again.
(02:23:25 AM) me: ((I should probably go to bed soon))
(02:23:40 AM) SilverSerpher: He kept pace. "....something like what happens happens? None of it seems real. I went downstairs the next morning because she was making breakfast. Waffles. I could smell the compote. She -never- made breakfast like that, unless it was something special. My dad never did make it right; he always burns it. And I remember just going right up to her and giving her a hug...." He's silent
(02:23:40 AM) SilverSerpher: for a second again, having to take a breath to keep his voice level. Clearly, time wasn't fading some things for him. "I told myself it'd -all- been a bad dream, but... if it wasn't... then I guess a five-year-old saved her life, in an after-the-fact sort of way?"
(02:24:42 AM) SilverSerpher: ((acknowledged. >_>))
(02:24:46 AM) me: "And you still had the shell." She looks up at him as much as she can while still keeping an eye out for the next red bike.
(02:25:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Yeah. I still had the shell. Never let go of it." He was looking down, watching the sidewalk, fidgeting with his pencil a bit.
(02:27:03 AM) me: "I... I don't really have a story like that." She ducks her head, embarrassed. "I mean, there was the time I jumped out the window from my room and I was -fine- but dad wouldn't believe me... I don't know."
(02:27:39 AM) SilverSerpher: He snorted, softly. "I'm glad you -don't- have something like that. You probably got a lot more sleep at night than I did."
(02:30:19 AM) me: She nods. "I really don't know. I think I've had this sense that... things are different underneath... for a while. Like, when I heard that sometimes paintings would be painted on top of other paintings, I became obsessed with it. I had to learn how it was done, how they could -tell-. So I learned about ultraviolet and x-rays and conservation stuff. I was eight." She looks at him.
(02:35:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "Huh..." He taps his pencil against his chest a little again. "So you connected that with the idea of layers of -reality-? The world painting different versions of itself over what -was- there, so to speak?"
(02:36:01 AM) SilverSerpher: ((bRb))
(02:40:55 AM) me: She shrugs. "I dunno. I haven't really sat down and thought about it a whole lot. I guess. Maybe it's just that I feel like the problem is out there--" she spreads her hands-- "while you always felt the problem was in here." she taps his head, a little mischievously.
(02:49:18 AM) SilverSerpher: "Heh. I think it was that 'nightmare' that got me turned around a bit," he admitted, managing more of a smile for her. "Thought it was -me- going loony. I mean, how else would a kid explain that? Doctors said I had some sort of stress disorder, is why I was always mixing things up."
(02:50:40 AM) me: She nods. "I'm not surprised."
(02:51:29 AM) SilverSerpher: He was silent a moment again, before he looked up at her -- right at her. "You know... I think that's the first time I've ever told anyone what really happened, too."
(02:52:07 AM) me: She looks right back at him, then back down to the sidewalk. "Oh." She takes another couple of steps. "Well, I believe you."
(02:52:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "....Yeah. I think maybe that's -why- I told." He looked back down again too.
(02:53:19 AM) SilverSerpher: ((these two are oddly cute together.))
(02:53:20 AM) me: She nods, mostly to herself.
(02:53:31 AM) me: ((Well, when you think you're crazy, and then someone else -believes- you...))
(02:54:01 AM) SilverSerpher: ((yeeeeah.))
(02:55:19 AM) SilverSerpher: "Do you think," he started, hesitant, "maybe we were supposed to meet? I mean-- to figure this out, maybe?"
(02:57:05 AM) me: She shrugs. "Maybe when we met before, we didn't figure it out, we just fought, and that's why you only half remember it. They were the versions that the universe didn't like. Got painted over."
(02:57:25 AM) me: "Like," she says, head tilted in her thinking posture, "What if something at the museum made us disagree?"
(02:58:01 AM) SilverSerpher: "I... I'm not sure it was an argument," he said softly. "It... I don't know. It doesn't seem like it'd fit, somehow."
(02:58:53 AM) me: She turns to look at him. "Or maybe I just didn't believe you."
(03:00:04 AM) me: "And then you finally wanted me to believe you hard enough..."
(03:01:02 AM) SilverSerpher: He looked back at her, steps pausing again. He stared, like he was trying to figure it out... and then snorted, part laugh, part something less identifiable. "That I started the day over without knowing it? No... you were the one that started on about it all first, back in the cafe, when you wrote on my pad, remember? Or was it when-- Oh, I don't know. I'm not sure that I'm sure about
(03:01:02 AM) SilverSerpher: much of anything. My whole -life's- been uncertain."
(03:01:51 AM) me: She sighs.
(03:02:03 AM) SilverSerpher: "I'd add it to the list of things I'm not sure about, but I don't keep one of those. Just lists of things I -do- know for sure."
(03:02:21 AM) me: She looks up at him. "Oh? Like what?"
(03:03:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "What do you think this is for?" He held up his little pad again. "If I only needed something for appointments, I'd have a date book, now wouldn't I?" He stuck the pencil in it again, and flipped through to the start, then offered it over to her to look at, this time from the beginning. "I've a box full of those, in my bedroom."
(03:04:51 AM) me: She takes it, and looks at the list.
(03:10:55 AM) SilverSerpher: The first page was simply written, the first thing on it written in precise lettering. "My mom's alive." Next line, "And my dad, my grandmother, and grandfather." The next lines were nothing more than names, no explanation given. The second page had more -- Phone call from Gellia. She's back from France. Bought pencils for her b-day present. $20. Gold paper bag. The next page continued
(03:10:56 AM) SilverSerpher: on similarly -- "M&M spent the night, argued about girls. Had stew. Matthew left his sketchbook."
(03:12:26 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan didn't look at her while she inspected the little book; he looked lost in thought, idly playing with the hem of his sweater while they walked, eyes on the sidewalk.
(03:13:49 AM) me: She makes a "Hm." noise, and hands him back the notebook, flipping the cover closed, as though prying eyes shouldn't see.
(03:14:05 AM) me: "What if the notebooks change?"
(03:15:20 AM) SilverSerpher: He took it back, his thumb smoothing over the cover absently. "They're one of the few things I'm reasonably sure haven't."
(03:16:04 AM) me: She looks at the notebook fiercely, narrowing her eyes, then looks away.
(03:18:31 AM) me: ((shit it's past 3am. >_<))
(03:18:34 AM) SilverSerpher: "But I haven't written down everything. Just... highlights, I suppose you could say. Random notes, if I want to. To Dos, shopping lists. Things I don't really want to have change. I've had enough uncertainty, I think I -need- to know that -some- things stay real."
(03:18:43 AM) SilverSerpher: ((ah... whoops? >_>; *hugs?*))
(03:19:08 AM) me: ((oh this is entertaining, don't blame yourself :P))
(03:19:15 AM) me: She nods.
(03:20:53 AM) me: "We're going to have to cross the street to get to the ped bridge," she says.
(03:20:57 AM) me: ((Pause here?))
(03:21:52 AM) SilverSerpher: He flipped through it to the latest pages and pulled out the pencil again. "Ness," he wrote, and doodled a little beside it -- a blobby, somewhat triangular oval, for her beret, a line to show where her hair went, and a curve for her chin and cheek. He was leaving the little sketch faceless for the moment -- it would surely be better to draw while they weren't walking, anyway. "It should be
(03:21:52 AM) SilverSerpher: all right," he said, softly, peeking up to look at the intersection.
(03:22:02 AM) SilverSerpher: ((yeah, sounds good. :) ))
(03:22:20 AM) me: (( :D ))
Also I want Serphy's babies. Or their first novel. Whichever, really. Although come to think of it the novel has a higher chance of making money and supporting us in our old age. >_>
Anyway.
Part one here.
(06:15:19 PM) SilverSerpher: okay so you said you had some things in mind -- what were they? :)
(06:15:52 PM) me: I was just gonna show ya
(06:16:27 PM) SilverSerpher: mm?
(06:17:50 PM) me: )) She moves to the east side of the building's roof, leaning over it alarmingly far. The gravel pebbles go crunch crunch under her feet.
(06:18:07 PM) SilverSerpher: ((haha, fair enough.))
(06:19:05 PM) SilverSerpher: He glances over and follows to where she's at, just in case. Apparently he's a lot more caution-minded than she is; he doesn't want to risk anything happening to her. Definitely not this high up. "What do you see?"
(06:20:11 PM) me: She points, leaning out even farther. "I saw someone... jumping down onto the museum's roof."
(06:20:26 PM) me: She shades her eyes from a fitful ray of sunlight, squinting that direction.
(06:23:08 PM) SilverSerpher: He eyes the museum's roof -- anyone he can see there now?
(06:24:47 PM) me: Uh... hm... maybe... that dark shadow--yup, that's definitely a black-clad figure. Kinda stupid, in daylight, to wear all black.
(06:25:23 PM) me: It's running across the spiral, segmented roof of the museum like a professional athlete.
(06:26:12 PM) SilverSerpher: "What in the world....?" He frowns, reaches into a pocket -- fishes for his cell phone, wanting to see if he can take a picture. A brief fiddle with it, and he aims it up to get a picture of that, zooming in. It won't be the best pic if he manages, but would he, perhaps? It's not like it's a professional digital camera, it's just a phone cam....
(06:26:47 PM) me: it'll be grainy and not at all clear, and probably not able to zoom in far enough. Across the river is... half a mile to a mile away, you think.
(06:27:18 PM) me: Meanwhile there are more /crunch crunch/ noises as she backs up to near the stairwell.
(06:27:24 PM) SilverSerpher: ((some reason, I was thinking it'd be further away.))
(06:27:40 PM) me: She's got a goofy look on her face, a half-grin half-grimace
(06:27:51 PM) me: ((oh? it can be.))
(06:28:56 PM) SilverSerpher: ((haha. my sense of what constitutes normal distances is prolly a lil off. nearest bus stop to my house is a mile away -- 20-min walk. "that's not much" kind of distance here. :/ mall's 2 miles, about a 45 min walk or 20-ish mins to bike. So... skewed.))
(06:29:21 PM) SilverSerpher: ((and anyone wonders why I don't go out much, gee, let's see.))
(06:31:46 PM) me: ((Well, then let's say 2 miles away))
(06:31:59 PM) SilverSerpher: ((wouldn't be able to see it. ;) ))
(06:32:10 PM) me: ((Make up your mind :P))
(06:32:37 PM) me: ((original distance, then?))
(06:33:02 PM) SilverSerpher: ((yeah, works.))
(06:33:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He takes a few pics anyway -- maybe it'll come out okay? Half a mile's not the furthest away, though the shadows and lighting might make the pic too hard to really make out. Stupid cameras and their stupid light sensitivities....
(06:35:01 PM) me: She puts her back against the stairwell wall, takes a few deep breaths, then crouches down into a runner's stance.
(06:35:17 PM) me: The pebbles make a light crunch under her fingers.
(06:36:41 PM) SilverSerpher: He's still taking pics, for the moment, distracted with his camera and its finicky behavior.
(06:37:35 PM) me: A light "crunch crunch crunch" starts up, then gets heavier and faster. She's running for the edge.
(06:38:02 PM) SilverSerpher: He's still trying to adjust for lighting, intent on that. Oh dear.
(06:40:55 PM) me: The black-clad figure jumped off the museum a while ago. Towards this building, maybe. Except that that side of the museum is next to the river.
(06:41:21 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, seeing if he can adjust the pictures he'd taken, then.
(06:42:27 PM) me: She's running full-tilt, and launches herself over the low ledge, right next to him.
(06:43:34 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, -that- definitely startled him out of his intentness on the camera. He quickly turns to see what the heck she's doing, eyes very wide, an "oh my god" look on his face there, not quite making a sound.
(06:45:15 PM) me: She has enough forward momentum to get 10 or 15 feet away from the building before she starts really arcing down.
(06:45:41 PM) SilverSerpher: ((want him to try grabbing her or something?))
(06:48:10 PM) me: ((go for whatever, this is purely collaborative))
(06:48:20 PM) me: ((just no retcons))
(06:48:32 PM) SilverSerpher: ((well, if you had something in mind....?))
(06:48:49 PM) me: ((One or two things, whether he stops her or not doesn't matter))
(06:49:06 PM) SilverSerpher: ((mkay.))
(06:51:46 PM) SilverSerpher: The phone gets dropped, fumbled again as it's suddenly forgotten about in favor of reaching over to grab at her. Whether he manages or not is anyone's guess, but he's going to try, because that looks like pretty clear suicide to him. Reality might not always be what it seems, but gravity seems to be a very constant law, no matter the color of the bridge, and jumping from that high up is not
(06:51:46 PM) SilverSerpher: something he'd advise anyone to do.
(07:01:29 PM) me: She's going too fast.
(07:01:50 PM) me: The fumbling took too long; maybe if he'd been paying attention earlier ((like I should be >_>))
(07:02:11 PM) SilverSerpher: ((lol))
(07:02:45 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll still try, at least. The "oh my god" reaction put him on high alert, not that it'll do him any good now. Or her, perhaps.
(07:03:34 PM) me: His pawing at her catches her bag, which comes off her arm, and slows her down a bit but not enough. She still falls over the side of the building.
(07:06:48 PM) SilverSerpher: He's not letting go of whatever he grabbed, and reaching for her with his other hand too -- until he feels himself leaning too far out. He's going to end up against the low bit of wall, watching her in horror, bag in his hand, isn't he.
(07:07:26 PM) me: He does precisely that.
(07:07:43 PM) me: A small "thwp" sound may or may not distract him.
(07:08:57 PM) SilverSerpher: He'd note it, but for the moment it might take, he's torn between watching her fall, and closing his eyes so he doesn't have to see it. He'll likely be doing the latter. A small sound's not enough to distract him from this yet, sorry.
(07:10:30 PM) me: Then, while his eyes are closed, he wouldn't see the pad of a clear sticky substance that had attached itself to the ledge next to him, with a terribly thin string descending at an oblique angle from it.
(07:11:29 PM) SilverSerpher: Nope, he wouldn't. Not yet. Eyes closed, putting a hand up to his mouth for a moment, trying to pull himself together here... give him a sec before he does anything.
(07:11:43 PM) me: Nor would he see that a black-clad figure, similar enough to be twin to the one running across the museum roof, is at the other end of the string.
(07:12:45 PM) SilverSerpher: Again, he's oblivious. At least for a couple seconds, time-wise. He's still caught between wanting to look down in the insane hope she's somehow okay, and not wanting to see the mess she's prolly become.
(07:13:06 PM) me: But he might hear the slight "Ughf" that comes from her abdomen as the black-clad figure catches her. And the notable lack of splat.
(07:14:03 PM) SilverSerpher: It takes a brief pause for it to register, but he takes another bit of a breath and peeks down, hoping.
(07:15:12 PM) me: The black-clad figure is ascending slowly as the clear fiber thickens and shortens.
(07:15:31 PM) me: The figure has her caught over one shoulder. She looks to have fainted.
(07:17:55 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh god." Cue a sigh of relief. He's shaken by the whole thing, but he has at least enough thought in him to get up and back away a bit, so he's not in the way of them getting up onto the roof. Oh, right-- grab the cell phone, don't want them tripping on that. He sets the bag and phone aside, and crouches back down again, reaching to offer them a hand up, once they get a bit closer.
(07:21:15 PM) me: The ascent is fairly quick. The figure starts rappelling up, then the last few steps, the shoes tap on the side of the building then push off to swing the figure and the girl up and over. The figure lands in a crouch, with her in both arms.
(07:21:26 PM) me: The figure lays her gently down on the gravel roofing.
(07:23:47 PM) SilverSerpher: "Thank you," he manages, moving to crouch down next to her, apparently needing to reassure himself she's really there, and not down on the street, beyond the evidence of having seen her be brought back up. "I don't--" a mental fumble this time, still a bit in shock. "Thank you."
(07:25:20 PM) SilverSerpher: (("Oh my god why did you do that do you know how badly you scared me don't you -ever- do that again you could've died and--!"))
(07:25:45 PM) me: The figure nods, putting a loose finger or two to its forehead in a laconic salute.
(07:26:35 PM) me: Whoever it is, they're not breathing heavily at all.
(07:27:33 PM) me: She makes a small noise, then comes to with a gasp, her eyes flying open.
(07:29:36 PM) SilverSerpher: He tries taking a deeper breath. Maybe if he tries calming down, he'll be able to handle this situation better.... as though he'd be able to handle it all that well if he -were- more calm. And then she stirs, and his attention is on her again, immediately. He reaches down to brush a little of her hair away from her face -- her beret's most likely on the street by now, isn't it? -- just to
(07:29:37 PM) SilverSerpher: make some sort of contact with her, to get her attention. "Are you all right?"
(07:32:39 PM) me: The beret is indeed missing.
(07:33:49 PM) me: She makes a growling noise, then fling a stream of invective at him. "What were you thinking I HAD that you wrecked my plan you--OOOOOOOH!" She makes a fist and pounds the gravel with it.
(07:33:58 PM) me: Then her expression breaks, she cradles her hand, and says "Ow, that hurts."
(07:37:02 PM) SilverSerpher: "What -plan-? You scared the crap out of me!" The figure's been forgotten, for the moment, in favor of this.
(07:40:52 PM) me: "Well wasn't it -obvious?!" she says. The black-clad figure snickers at this.
(07:41:29 PM) me: "I was going to figure out if this was real or not!"
(07:42:14 PM) SilverSerpher: He pauses a little, glancing up at the figure. Oh, -now- it's sinking in. She was going to try drawing the attention of-- wait, what? He blinks and looks back down to her. "You mean, if you died, it was real, and if you didn't, it wasn't? What sort of plan is -that-?"
(07:44:24 PM) me: She blinks back at him, petulant expression softening. "You have a point." She tries to sit up, fails, and pushes herself up again.
(07:45:21 PM) SilverSerpher: "I'm sure there's a better way of figuring that out. No more suicide attempts, all right?" He offers her a hand up.
(07:46:57 PM) me: She takes it, swaying on her feet at first.
(07:47:13 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll put a hand on her back, hoping to steady her.
(07:47:26 PM) me: She is steadied. She looks around on the gravel. "Did you at least catch my purse?"
(07:48:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Um--" He looks down, then crouches to pick it back up, snagging his phone as he does. "Right here, yes."
(07:49:59 PM) me: She takes it and loops it over her head on her shoulder quickly, then pulls her hair out from under the strap.
(07:51:51 PM) me: The black-clad figure has taken to doing backflips around the top of the building.
(07:59:37 PM) SilverSerpher: He looks over at her rescuer briefly, and back to her. "Any rate, you see who saved you?" He gestures to them, attempting to smile for her. At least some sort of good came of this? Maybe?
(08:03:32 PM) me: The figure comes full circle and does a final backflip, sticking the landing. The figure shrugs at the young man.
(08:03:43 PM) me: "You tell me what you think I am."
(08:06:15 PM) me: "The Dread Pirate Roberts!" she says. Come to think of it, the face mask does look almost exactly like that. But the rest of the clothes are too form-fitting.
(08:09:08 PM) SilverSerpher: He paused again. Maybe if he weren't still off a bit from the adrenaline -- he'd just have to try to work past that. "-What- we think you are?" Not who, but what? Maybe it was just him, and he was willing to accept that, but he could've sworn they'd just said.... er....
(08:10:04 PM) me: The figure gives him an enigmatic smile and waits for an answer.
(08:19:32 PM) SilverSerpher: He let out another breath, slowly. Calm. Gotta calm down and get his head back together. "Did you just happen to be there at the time to catch her...?"
(08:20:03 PM) SilverSerpher: ((nothing like a moment of panic to rattle someone, right?))
(08:21:29 PM) me: ((right))
(08:21:56 PM) me: "That is correct, but only a minor detail."
(08:22:35 PM) me: She makes a puzzled face at the figure. "Were you on the museum roof?"
(08:22:49 PM) SilverSerpher: "You're damned lucky," he mumbled to her, quietly.
(08:22:55 PM) me: The figure sweeps a slow, flourished bow.
(08:23:31 PM) me: She gasps, then grabs the young man's shoulder and shakes him side to side. "No don't you get it if I hadn't seen him I wouldn't have gotten the idea to jump and then he wouldn't have had to grab me!"
(08:24:35 PM) SilverSerpher: He'll put up with the shaking. Who knows, maybe it'll knock something back into place. "And what if he'd been going the other way, or was too far away?"
(08:25:13 PM) me: The figure watches the two argue, bemusedly.
(08:25:56 PM) me: She stomps her foot on the gravel, kicking up a stone, and huffs at the young man. "But he -wouldn't- have been. I know it."
(08:28:06 PM) SilverSerpher: "And if you'd done that a minute before? Or after? What if he'd already moved on? You'd be a stain on the ground, and where would that leave me?" Er. "And-- and your family and-- hell, that wouldn't leave -you- anywhere good, now would it?" He folded his arms. Hah, a sensible argument! ....well, better than no argument at all, anyway.
(08:31:43 PM) me: She blinks. "My... Oh. Family." Like this is a foreign concept.
(08:31:55 PM) me: She waves a hand dismissively. "Haven't seen them in years.
(08:31:56 PM) me: "
(08:45:55 PM) SilverSerpher: ((sorry -- rl reared up there.))
(08:47:19 PM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe you should say hi again." He turns his attention back to her rescuer. "So how -did- you happen to be there just in time?"
(08:50:49 PM) me: The figure does a standing backflip. "I was required."
(08:52:04 PM) SilverSerpher: "Required by...?"
(08:52:51 PM) me: "Circumstance." An eloquent shrug.
(08:53:29 PM) SilverSerpher: Couldn't argue with that, really. "So what is it you've been doing, going about the rooftops like this?"
(08:53:43 PM) me: She's ruffling around in her purse, and brings out something. A business card. She tries to hand it to the figure.
(08:55:48 PM) me: The figure accepts the business card, looks at both sides. One is white, with gold and purple printing on it. The other has an abstract drawing on it.
(08:56:51 PM) SilverSerpher: He glances at the card too, what of it he can see from where he is. It's finally ocurring to him that he doesn't even know her name, nor she his.
(08:57:46 PM) SilverSerpher: ((s/ocurring/occurring))
(08:57:55 PM) me: Her name is Vanessa Fong.
(08:57:55 PM) me: The figure flips it over again, and now that side is black. They hand it back to her. She looks at the the other side, which is black now too.
(08:59:10 PM) SilverSerpher: "How did you...?"
(08:59:21 PM) SilverSerpher: He's not even sure how to finish the question.
(09:02:18 PM) me: Ness grins and hands the boy the business card to look at. It's printed with a matte black ink that barely contrasts with the glossy background. The reverse is printed with a grey chevron.
(09:05:13 PM) me: "Your intuitions are correct, in essence if not detail," the figure says. "Everything is not always as it seems." The figure turns around once, and when they face front again the appearance of mask and clothes are gone.
(09:06:04 PM) me: They are sheathed in a seamless black substance that seems to absolutely refuse to reflect light; indeed it's almost a window into a fathomless depth. Their eyes glow an eerie white. "I am one who has simply... applied that realization."
(09:24:31 PM) SilverSerpher: ((well, that's interesting. my sister and her two lil kidlets left to go get a couple feeder fish or something, to put into the 10-gallon tank they set up... and came home with a guinea pig.))
(09:29:20 PM) SilverSerpher: He looks over the card, and then at the other person again. "-How-?" He's really curious at this point. There's definitely some sort of reality-twisting going on here, and... he'd very much like to know what it's all about. That feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on, before, that his new friend had helped identify for him was being pointed out further by their newest acquaintance,
(09:29:21 PM) SilverSerpher: and damned if he was going to back off of figuring it out now.
(09:44:40 PM) me: ((deeeeeerp hi))
(09:44:54 PM) me: ((I really need to put an alert on this channel but I don't know how))
(09:44:59 PM) SilverSerpher: ((hiiii. :3 ))
(09:45:28 PM) SilverSerpher: ((hm. in mIRC, I just set Flashing to ON, when I'm wanting to pay attention to it. Someone says something, the window flashes in the taskbar.))
(09:45:54 PM) me: ((I'm playing WoW fullscreen, and my taskbar auto-minimizes anyway))
(09:46:01 PM) SilverSerpher: ((ah. :S))
(09:46:15 PM) SilverSerpher: ((maybe if the taskbar didn't auto-minimize? Or would that be hidden in WoW anyhow?))
(09:46:31 PM) me: ((You could just preface everything with "azetidine:" so it pings me >_>))
(09:48:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((or ping you if you don't write back in a couple mins? hehe. Can do.))
(09:48:38 PM) me: ((<3))
(09:49:04 PM) me: The figure does another backflip and just... folds up. Into nothing.
(09:50:39 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, that didn't answer his question. He was hoping for more of an... instructive reply. He frowned a bit, looking back to the card. Was there any sort of contact info on it?
(09:54:20 PM) SilverSerpher: ((azetidine. :) ))
(09:55:08 PM) me: There is a bit of text. A website, or email address, or something.
(09:55:31 PM) SilverSerpher: He reaches over to take the card -- if she'll hand it to him. He's not going to just grab it out of her hand or anything.
(09:55:32 PM) me: ((weeble weeble weeble -_-))
(09:55:46 PM) me: He has it already Has had it for a minute or two.
(09:56:09 PM) me: The side with the chevron has new text now.
(09:56:54 PM) me: "You must discover your own path."
(09:59:48 PM) me: ((my brains are braining))
(10:00:37 PM) SilverSerpher: "Well." He turns the card over again, looking at whatever there is to see -- perhaps it's altered itself yet again? He looks up at Vanessa. "If we're going to be finding our own path, you want to try taking a walk somewhere less... high up, with me? Get your hat back, maybe?"
(10:02:09 PM) me: She pats her head. "Oh. Uh... sure."
(10:02:58 PM) SilverSerpher: He finally smiles a little more, sincerely, and turns to head back to the stairwell door.
(10:03:12 PM) me: She looks at him funny. "Did you... did you see my name? On the business card? Before it... changed?"
(10:05:35 PM) SilverSerpher: "Vanessa?" He looks back to her again. "Or did I read it wrong?"
(10:07:07 PM) me: She bridles a little bit, though seemingly not at him. "Call me Ness."
(10:11:21 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, sorry. Uh... Ryan." He puts his smile back on. "Maybe we can get something to drink, too. Something... not just hot chocolate? Or at least, I know I'd like one...."
(10:11:51 PM) me: She gives him a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't drink alcohol."
(10:13:32 PM) SilverSerpher: "I don't usually either. I could go for a triple mocha or something, though." He carefully opens the door, as though half expecting it to be locked, though he'd checked it when they went up, and holds it for her.
(10:16:36 PM) me: She goes through the door, and down to the top floor elevator.
(10:20:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He follows her right down the stairs, carefully putting his phone back into his pocket, not sure yet where to put the card. In his bag? In his wallet? Hmm....
(10:29:11 PM) SilverSerpher: ((ping azetidine. :)))
(10:29:53 PM) me: ((my brains, they have no more cycles ._.))
(10:31:14 PM) SilverSerpher: ((done with this for the night, you mean?))
(10:31:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((or for now, at least?))
(10:38:01 PM) me: ((for now, probably for the night. sorry))
(10:38:18 PM) SilverSerpher: ((s'all right.))
(10:38:29 PM) SilverSerpher: ((I'm getting the impression that Ryan here's a bit awkward. haha.))
(10:43:01 PM) me: ((teehee))
(10:44:31 PM) SilverSerpher: (("I knew this day was going to be surreal.... definitely should've worn a better shirt for it."))
(10:46:54 PM) me: (("Look at me... now look at your shirt. I'm on a rocket.'))
(10:47:02 PM) SilverSerpher: ((lol))
(10:47:16 PM) me: ((I logged out of wow for now))
(10:47:30 PM) me: She punches the button for the elevator.
(10:47:57 PM) SilverSerpher: ((more cycles added by the lack of WoW?))
(10:48:23 PM) me: ((apparently?
(10:48:29 PM) me: ))
(10:48:33 PM) me: ((you drive for now))
(10:50:30 PM) SilverSerpher: He finally opts to pull out his little notepad, and tries noting down what was on the now-black card, before it changes again. If there's a website address or email address or whatnot on it, he doesn't want to forget it -- and hey, maybe it'll be another interesting clue as to the card's changes? When the elevator doors open, he waits for Ness to step in before he does. "Might've had deja
(10:50:30 PM) SilverSerpher: vu about us in the cafe," he says quietly, "but I don't know that I've been -this- route before. The rooftop meeting... that was new. That was very new."
(10:51:02 PM) me: She looks at him oddly again. "What... what happened the last times?"
(10:53:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He shook his head. "I remember we took a walk... we went to the museum, or somewhere, to find things to compare, and... I'm not sure. I think something happened, but..." He frowned at the notepad for a moment, waiting for the elevator to bring them back down to the ground floor. "You know how it is, when there's a memory you can't -quite- bring up? You know it's -there-, but it's not
(10:53:11 PM) SilverSerpher: solid enough to hold onto?"
(10:55:44 PM) me: She nods, contemplatively. The elevator dings softly as it descends.
(10:58:20 PM) SilverSerpher: "It's usually like that. Wake up in the morning, sure I know what happened the day before -- except I find out that it wasn't. What was yesterday is what feels like the day before it, and what I thought was yesterday never actually happened. Or maybe it has -yet- to happen. Like us, talking in the cafe. I think that must've been one of those missing times or something... I mean, I knew
(10:58:21 PM) SilverSerpher: you'd stop and come in and draw on my pad; that's why I was watching you. Didn't mean it wrong if it came off that way," he shrugged a little as he finally put the pad back into his pocket, and the card into his wallet. "I was just wanting to see if it'd happen again like I remembered. And it did, mostly."
(10:59:26 PM) SilverSerpher: "But it's funny. I don't always remember what's going to happen, until it starts again."
(10:59:43 PM) me: She cocks her head to the side. "That's... different. Than what I feel."
(11:01:12 PM) me: "Sometimes," she says, slowly, thinking it through, "I daydream. And I know I'm daydreaming. But then something that I did in my daydream turns out to be true. And then I go outside, on the sidewalk where I was fantasizing about... I don't know, running super fast, and in my limbs I feel... just... frustration."
(11:01:22 PM) me: "Like my muscles want to be doing those impossible things but they -can't-."
(11:01:49 PM) me: She looks up at him. "That's what I felt on the roof when I saw that guy jump onto the museum. Except... stronger than ever."
(11:02:26 PM) me: She gives a little half-shrug. "I thought maybe if I jumped I could... be free of it. The frustration would go away."
(11:04:14 PM) SilverSerpher: "Hmm." He's quiet a second again. "I'm not sure I've felt -that- part, about being able to do things like that. But there's the bit about things not being what they are anyway, with me, too. I mean, that kind of goes hand in hand with the... the deja vu, I don't know what else to call it. When we went for a walk to the museum, there was a red bike chained to the sign in front, outside
(11:04:14 PM) SilverSerpher: the cafe. I remember that, since I almost tripped over it. But it wasn't there this time, did you notice? ....mm, what'm I saying, you wouldn't have noticed something like that, would you. You weren't the one walking into it, and it wasn't there to see...." He glances at her -- it's a question, more than an assertation. Did she remember seeing a bike there?
(11:05:35 PM) me: She pauses. "... I don't remember us going for a walk to the museum." the elevator is nearing the bottom. "But maybe you were remembering what's about to happen."
(11:08:43 PM) SilverSerpher: "No, no. I mean--" He pauses yet again, trying to collect his thoughts. "Maybe if I started over. I was at the table. You were walking down the sidewalk. And you came in, wrote on my pad... we talked a bit, I left with you, I walked into the bike. We laughed about how it shouldn't have been there, and then we took a walk to the museum. That's from the first time." He stepped forward
(11:08:44 PM) SilverSerpher: as the elevator's doors opened, glancing back at her. "So when I saw you coming down the sidewalk earlier, I was watching... I mean, you were going to come in and mark my pad a bit, and you did. You notice, I wasn't surprised at that? And I said it was because I remembered it? I meant that."
(11:09:28 PM) me: She blinks at him, and steps forward uncertainly. "You're sure it was me?"
(11:12:38 PM) me: She starts walking through the lobby. It's the same tan marble and ancient steel fixtures.
(11:16:33 PM) SilverSerpher: "I don't know that I'd have been watching to see if you came in and did it, if it wasn't you. Same hat, same hair, same face, same voice. The way you moved and talked, the things you said. I mean-- I don't rememebr what you'd said, but the way you said it, yes." He's following her again, looking out to the doors. The cafe wasn't far away -- he wanted to be sure the bike wasn't there at
(11:16:33 PM) SilverSerpher: all.
(11:17:19 PM) me: She reaches the doors first, opens them, and nearly trips over a bike wheel parked right outside the skyscraper.
(11:17:24 PM) me: "Ow. Fuck."
(11:17:45 PM) me: She rubs her knee and glares at the bike in question. Red.
(11:18:01 PM) SilverSerpher: "Are you all--" He stops mid-sentence, staring at the bike as directed. "....Huh."
(11:18:32 PM) me: "I'll be fine." she straightens up, and adjusts her bag.
(11:19:17 PM) SilverSerpher: "I swear that was outside the cafe, not here. Because we didn't come -here- last time." He sighed. "Maybe... maybe we shouldn't go to the museum, then."
(11:20:07 PM) me: She looks at him. "Why not? I like it."
(11:21:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Just... not this time. Or at least, not yet. Please? I don't know what's the matter, and I don't remember what happened last time, but I remember that I -ought- to remember, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to go through it again."
(11:22:01 PM) me: She huffs at him. "What if it's the path, or way, or whatever? Don't you even want to walk to the bridge, and see what color it is?"
(11:23:07 PM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, the bridge is fine. Let's go to the bridge! I just-- something about the -museum- right now isn't right, that's all."
(11:23:32 PM) me: She rolls her eyes. "Okay." She starts off east down the street.
(11:24:36 PM) SilverSerpher: "Let's see to your hat first?" He steps after her again.
(11:25:31 PM) me: "That's this way anyway," she says over her shoulder. Indeed, the doors onto the street are on the south side of the building, and the hat fell in the next street to the east.
(11:27:10 PM) SilverSerpher: He nods. Just making sure they were on the same page about this, that's all.
(11:27:25 PM) me: She probably would have forgotten it if Ryan hadn't said something.
(11:28:41 PM) me: She gets to the corner, and stops dead in her tracks. She's looking up.
(11:29:06 PM) SilverSerpher: Well, anything to stall. He just about walks into her, but manages to stop at the last moment, and looks to follow her gaze. What caught her attention?
(11:30:34 PM) me: Her hat is caught on top of a streetlight.
(11:30:40 PM) me: "Pfeh. Figures."
(11:32:30 PM) SilverSerpher: "What if," he muses, not taking his eyes off of it, "there were a way to get it down?"
(11:32:56 PM) me: She turns to look at him. "What did you have in mind? Or did you -remember- something?"
(11:36:22 PM) SilverSerpher: "I'm not sure." He steps around her, walking to the streetlight, and stops under it, to look up. "What if this light weren't here?" He closes his eyes, as though deep in thought. "What if it were a little to the side? Then the hat would've hit the ground.... Would've fallen about right... there, I think?" Eyes still closed, he turns his head down, as though looking over the area in his
(11:36:22 PM) SilverSerpher: imagination, and indicates a spot nearby. Maybe belief in which reality they were in had something to do with this?
(11:36:38 PM) SilverSerpher: ((brb, getting water.))
(11:36:43 PM) me: ((kk))
(11:37:43 PM) me: She stares at that spot on the ground. Nothing happens. Her attention wanders to the striped green awning of a shop across the street.
(11:41:16 PM) SilverSerpher: "Or... mm." He looks up again, at the top of the building they'd been on, trying to gauge just where they'd been.
(11:41:51 PM) me: She steps back. "Oh, hang on. I think there's going to be a..." she keeps backpedalling. A wind kicks up. Will it be enough to dislodge the hat?
(11:42:55 PM) SilverSerpher: "A what?" He turns to look at her, and then his attention goes up to the hat on the streetlamp. Maybe it can be? He's hoping it will be, at any rate.
(11:44:16 PM) me: She pouts. It didn't work. "A breeze."
(11:44:43 PM) me: Wait.
(11:44:48 PM) me: "Wait." she says.
(11:45:18 PM) me: "Ryan." she taps her finger on her chin.
(11:45:28 PM) SilverSerpher: "Yes?" He looks back to her again.
(11:46:02 PM) me: "When you proposed where the hat would land I was looking there. And when I said the breeze was coming where were you looking?"
(11:47:09 PM) SilverSerpher: "I--" He has to think about that, though only briefly. "I was looking that way." He points up, trying to be precise about it.
(11:47:51 PM) me: She gives him a funny look. "That's about where the breeze came from." then she puts her hand on her forehead, groans, and then shakes her head, making a loose-lipped "eblehlebleh" sound.
(11:48:12 PM) me: "Ugggh I don't get it."
(11:49:08 PM) me: "He vanished -right- in front of our eyes. It can't have anything to do with looking."
(11:49:42 PM) SilverSerpher: "....let's try it again, then. You look back to where you were looking before, and I'll try thinking about the wind and where the hat was falling from." He gives her a grin, only half joking. It's a silly notion, he thinks, in the sense that normal people wouldn't believe it had a chance. But the day wasn't normal, and he was sure that neither of them were any more normal themselves, so
(11:49:43 PM) SilverSerpher: maybe the idea had a chance.
(11:51:01 PM) me: She looks at the spot on the sidewalk. "This is silly, you know," she says, staring, not daring to blink. "I mean, did you ever read about Schrodinger's Cat? It was superpositioned only so long as you -weren't- looking."
(11:53:04 PM) SilverSerpher: "You said it yourself, he disappeared right in front of us." He focused up there on the building's top, playing with the thought in his mind. The hat would fall down, would be blown, would land a few feet some other direction. Wind would blow....
(11:54:00 PM) me: She thought about the wind. It would have to come from south and hit the inside of the beret just right, and then it would loft off the top of the streetlight like a kite.
(11:55:30 PM) me: She looks up and pats her head. The beret is on it. "Ryan..." she keeps her hand on her head and rotates on her heel to look at him.
(11:56:33 PM) SilverSerpher: "Mm?" He turns to look, and blinks. That wasn't the result he'd been expecting, but he couldn't say he disagreed with it one bit. He grinned again. "Did you do that?"
(11:57:28 PM) me: "I didn't do anything! I was just thinking!" She takes the beret off her head and looks at it. Yup, her initials on the inside, same scuff mark on the top as before.
(11:57:35 PM) me: She looks up at the streetlight.
(11:57:43 PM) SilverSerpher: "Thinking what?"
(11:57:57 PM) me: "Ugh! About the wind! What were you thinking about?"
(11:59:28 PM) SilverSerpher: "About where it should've fallen instead. That if the wind had blown it just a -little- bit more this way--" He gestured, and then paused. He was pointing more or less in her direction, wasn't he.
(12:00:25 AM) me: She blinks. "Wasn't the streetlight between you and me?"
(12:02:05 AM) SilverSerpher: He turns again, to look at it. "It--" It wasn't where it last was, was it. Or had he moved? "This is about the point where I usually decide it's all in my head, and not to worry about it," he admitted. "But... I think it might've been."
(12:04:34 AM) me: "So -neither- of us was thinking about the streetlight, but we -were- thinking about the hat and the wind and wanting it to be somewhere else. Right?" She looks hard at him.
(12:05:02 AM) SilverSerpher: "Right." He nods.
(12:05:29 AM) me: She pulls her hands out of her elbows, tosses them up, and says, "Well, there you go."
(12:05:57 AM) SilverSerpher: "....so... we think about the end result, and not how it comes about?"
(12:06:52 AM) me: "Well... no... we -were- thinking about how to make it come about, but the one factor we weren't thinking about changed -while we weren't thinking about it-. So... it's like... reality falls through a hole."
(12:07:02 AM) me: She walks forward and puts a hand on the streetlight.
(12:07:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "Focus on what we want to have remain constant, and let the rest be variables by omission?" He put an errant bit of his hair back behind an ear.
(12:08:06 AM) me: She shrugs. "That's my best guess."
(12:09:36 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe it's worth another go." He looks around. Any likely things to experiment on?
(12:09:41 AM) SilverSerpher: ((I can come up with one, but.))
(12:10:13 AM) me: She makes a weirded-out face. "Maybe we'd better go to another street. This streetlight is weirding me out."
(12:11:32 AM) SilverSerpher: "Not a problem." He nods a little, and starts walking again -- heading back to the cafe where they'd met. There'd surely be something worth experimenting on there, right?
(12:14:29 AM) me: she follows him, holding her arms. She's silent for a bit, but then about halfway back to the cafe she blurts out, "But then why doesn't this happen whenever we're not thinking about something? Why do things -mostly- stay the same instead of changing -all the time-?"
(12:15:02 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe because we don't have a want in mind for them to be some way other than they are?"
(12:15:33 AM) me: She blinks. "But people do wishful thinking all the time. Are we just believing harder?" she sounds skeptical.
(12:16:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "Or believing it more specifically, maybe. It's one thing to say, I wish I had a million dollars, and it's another to be -certain- that the next time you open your wallet to pay for a drink, you'll find a handful in there, even if you don't remember putting it in there." He gave her a bit of a smile. Three guesses what he was going to attempt to change this time.
(12:19:17 AM) me: She splutters. "But I wasn't thinking about making it land -on my head-! Were you?"
(12:20:49 AM) SilverSerpher: "I was thinking it being on your head would be the end result," he admitted, pausing at the cafe door to look back at her. "I mean, that was the whole point of this, wasn't it? Get your hat back, so you could wear it again? I-- oh. Oh! I see what you mean."
(12:21:42 AM) me: She walks in past him, torn between huffing angrily and being hopelessly confused.
(12:23:48 AM) SilverSerpher: He sighs, not sure what to make of it. "Any rate... I'm -sure- I can afford it if you'd want anything after all." He looks up at the menu, reading it over, as though he hadn't done so earlier that day.
(12:26:06 AM) me: She seems nervous. She's rubbing her arms where she's holding them. "Just, um, juice." She looks at the cooler full of different bottles.
(12:27:56 AM) SilverSerpher: "Pick one?" He steps up to the counter, pulling out his wallet, not looking into it yet as he places his order... triple shot mocha, a shot of rawpberry, please.
(12:28:37 AM) me: She picks out a kiwi strawberry drink in a bottle, and puts it on the counter, then looks away from Ryan's wallet, out a side window or something.
(12:35:28 AM) SilverSerpher: He doesn't look to the wallet either, intent on giving the barista a smile while she marks his order on a cup. He points out the bottle to her as well, and then reaches into his wallet to pull something out, handing it over without a glance.
(12:36:02 AM) SilverSerpher: He had at least enough money to cover this earlier, too, but if this worked....
(12:36:14 AM) me: Ness chooses now to look at the barista, and squints at the bill.
(12:37:48 AM) SilverSerpher: It's... well, he's going to be getting back a lot more in change than the drinks cost. He closes his eyes a second, apparently relaxed, to just take in the aroma of the baked goods nearby.
(12:39:19 AM) me: She looks at the table they were sitting at earlier. Is Ryan's pencil still there?
(12:40:04 AM) SilverSerpher: Seems it is. But didn't he take it with him, when they got up?
(12:40:16 AM) me: She sighs and rubs the back of her neck.
(12:43:54 AM) SilverSerpher: "Thanks." He doesn't look at what's in his hands, as he takes one of the bills he's handed back, and puts it into the tip jar. He turns to Ness again, and offers her her drink. "Here's yours."
(12:44:52 AM) me: She takes it, and opens the lid with a snak. "So, what, the goal was to--" the barista gasps.
(12:45:58 AM) SilverSerpher: "Mmhm," he says, smiling, not looking back at the barista yet. "Yes. Yes it was." -Now- he looks down at what he's putting back into his wallet, unable to quite fend off his curiosity any longer.
(12:47:06 AM) me: She chugs about half the bottle of juice, then starts heading towards their original table, then veers off and picks one in the opposite corner.
(12:48:38 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan waits by the counter, content to do so while he waits for his drink, so long as he can keep an eye on Ness. It isn't as though he's likely to take his mind off her, but all the same....
(12:51:23 AM) me: Ness catches Ryan looking at her and snorts once, smiling.
(12:53:30 AM) SilverSerpher: He waves back to her, returning the smile, a little goofily. He peeks back to the barista, who's doubtless scrambling to make his drink for him, and tries not to smile too much more widely as he turns back to Ness again, pointing discreetly. "Do you see that?" doesn't even need to be said, so he keeps his mouth shut, too amused with the situation here now.
(12:54:41 AM) me: She shakes her head, then props her chin in her hands, then a moment later decides to put her head down on her arms, flopping over the table.
(12:58:47 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan joins her shortly after that, keeping his new drink in his hands. He slides into the seat and leans back a little, then taps the pencil's side against the table. "Well, that's fun, don't you think?"
(12:59:54 AM) me: "Yes, but what's in your wallet?" She pops her head up and leans over the entire table to try to look at it.
(01:01:07 AM) SilverSerpher: He puts his drink down to fish the wallet back out for her to see. Quiet, "More than I had in it this morning. -Far- more. Just like I hoped." There, wallet spread, set down on the table. He nudged it to her.
(01:02:04 AM) me: She looked inside. Was it all a confidence game? She got out the entire sheaf of bills and riffled through them.
(01:04:10 AM) SilverSerpher: "Could play holy hell with the money supply, and make some people's day, you know that?" He grinned, clearly enjoying the idea.
(01:05:56 AM) me: "What if it comes from somewhere else?" She looks disturbed.
(01:06:19 AM) SilverSerpher: "Like where?" That makes him pause.
(01:07:38 AM) me: "Like, I dunno--" she drops her voice. "Some bank vault?"
(01:08:46 AM) SilverSerpher: He dropped his tone to match hers. "Would it be a bad joke to say I'm sure that their investors have been doing it to me for years?"
(01:10:33 AM) me: She looks at Ryan funny. "What, with fees and stuff? Why, do you have loans? Or are you referring to that thing, where they lost a bunch of money, and now you're bringing it back with the superpower of not paying attention?"
(01:12:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Maybe it's the tellers," he said, shrugging. "I don't have loans, and I -should- have more in my account than I do, but I can't explain where it goes. I keep track of what I spend, and yet..." He shakes his head. "Maybe I'm just using backwards logic, I don't know."
(01:14:51 AM) me: "Well couldn't this all just be backward logic? This is, like two thousand dollars. You probably tipped her a $100. Have you ever had more than two thousand dollars in your account?" She catches herself speeding up, then looks embarrassed and claps her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. I don't mean to pry."
(01:16:25 AM) SilverSerpher: He just laughs, keeping his own voice down well enough. "Yeah, that's the funny part. I -should've-, just yesterday, but I don't now. And there's no record of that sort of withdrawl. In fact, there's no record of me putting -in- that much. It's like my last deposit didn't exist. ....Maybe that's my memory playing games on me again, remembering making a deposit I haven't yet?"
(01:18:50 AM) SilverSerpher: "I'll stop, though. I'll stop. I just wanted to see that I -could- do it."
(01:19:21 AM) me: She looks at him. "Will you?"
(01:19:42 AM) me: "Does it all even out in the end? Who else would've benefited from my hat? Does it matter?" She holds her head in her hands again.
(01:22:14 AM) SilverSerpher: "I was going to buy a few groceries tonight, that's all. Bread, cheese, pickles... now I've got grocery money for a few months, if it doesn't wink out of existence while I'm not looking. Doesn't mean I'll quit looking for gigs." A little pause, and he looked back up at her again. "What is it you do, can I ask?"
(01:23:54 AM) me: She blinks at him. "I'm a student."
(01:25:48 AM) me: "What do you mean, gigs? Are you, like, in a band?"
(01:27:46 AM) SilverSerpher: He took a drink from his cup. "When they'll have me. I play piano. Sometimes I get taken on solo, sometimes some friends and I go in together. It gets very interesting, when I start playing something I just -know- is a classic, only it seems no one's ever heard of it before, or the piece that's by the title I thought it was is actually completely different."
(01:32:07 AM) me: She stares at him, blinking. "Like what?"
(01:34:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Like-- like one of Chopin's Nocturnes. I -know- it goes one way, but now the book disagrees."
(01:35:42 AM) me: "So you play it from memory, and you look at the page, and--" she thinks for a moment. "Have you looked in other people's copies?"
(01:37:31 AM) SilverSerpher: "Yeah, when I can find them. And they agree with my book, whenever I have them side by side. And then my book says something different again later, and -again- another copy agrees with it. It's a little maddening."
(01:37:45 AM) me: She gives him the funny stare again. "So it keeps changing."
(01:37:57 AM) me: "Do you remember the first Nocturne you learned?"
(01:38:21 AM) SilverSerpher: (("Op." is Opus, right?))
(01:38:25 AM) me: ((yes))
(01:38:34 AM) SilverSerpher: ((I love music, i'm just horrible with notatoins, lol.))
(01:40:00 AM) me: ((:D))
(01:40:26 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods, to both her questions. "Opus sixty two. B Major. But it's not how I remember it now. Never is."
(01:40:26 AM) SilverSerpher: ((notations, too.))
(01:41:23 AM) SilverSerpher: ((and not as familiar with as much classical as I'd like, but that's why I can look back at my files. <3))
(01:41:38 AM) me: ((*queues up that one on youtube*))
(01:42:44 AM) me: She cocks her head. "I don't know that one. But I guess I shouldn't be expected; music's not my field. I'm studying--" she cocks her head to the side. "no. I'll let you guess."
(01:44:03 AM) SilverSerpher: "Quantum theory? Philosophy?" He gives her a little grin again, both guesses more jokes than serious -- though he wouldn't be surprised if one of them were right. "I don't think I asked you about what you studied, the other time we talked."
(01:44:53 AM) me: She seems a little disappointed. "Neither, actually. Art history."
(01:45:07 AM) me: "Anyway," she says. "Does it still sound like Chopin? The new versions?"
(01:45:55 AM) SilverSerpher: "The museum. Should've known." He took another sip. "It does, but it's not the same song. The style's right, but the song itself...." He shook his head again. "It's not the same one."
(01:47:14 AM) me: She blinks. "The museum's not just art. Have you -actually- been there? On your own? Like... not with one of..." she's about to say 'me,' but decides against it. "My dopplegangers?"
(01:47:18 AM) me: ((omg this is beautiful))
(01:47:25 AM) SilverSerpher: ((innit nice? <3))
(01:47:31 AM) me: ((is it okay that I'm crushing on Ryan?))
(01:47:36 AM) SilverSerpher: ((haha, sure.))
(01:48:05 AM) SilverSerpher: ((iirc, I think I said he had kinda-longish hair, enough that he's got it in a ponytail, right? trying to keep his details straight here...))
(01:49:24 AM) me: ((yes.))
(01:50:56 AM) SilverSerpher: "Oh, lots, but it depends on how you look at it. I mean, you can look at old skeletons and see old skeletons... or you can look at them and see something made up of many, -many- bits, that all worked together as a whole, to do something beautiful, like--" He cut himself off there, and looked back down to his cup. That might've been either a faint blush, or the light playing tricks with his
(01:50:56 AM) SilverSerpher: skin tone. "Well, it depends on how you look at things."
(01:51:46 AM) me: She nods. "I like the aquatic exhibits."
(01:52:32 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods a little too. "The whale display they had last year was incredible. Made me want to go board a ship to see some myself."
(01:53:20 AM) me: "For me it's the little cases with the ferns and amphibious animals. Like, did you see the one where they had the perma-tadpoles? That was kind of amazing."
(01:54:24 AM) me: Apparently she didn't catch that he was about to compliment her.
(01:55:43 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods. "I still have a seashell, from when I was a kid. I went out with my mum one weekend, and...." His smile fades slightly for a moment, but it comes back, a little softer, a little warmer, after whatever thought it was to cross his mind there. "I think that's when I started looking at things a little differently."
(01:58:04 AM) me: She's about to say something, but she stops and really looks at him. She looks like she wants to press the issue, but then she looks at the floor, and finishes the rest of her juice, and then looks back up at him.
(01:58:21 AM) me: "Have you remembered what you were supposed to remember about the museum?"
(02:00:50 AM) SilverSerpher: "Mm?" He looks back up again from his drink, as though he'd completely forgotten all about it somehow. "Oh, ah... no... but...." He's quiet a moment, considering. "I'm not sure that it wouldn't be all right now, to go past there. Did you still want to?" He slid the extra pencil into his bag.
(02:02:27 AM) me: She blinks. "I guess."
(02:03:55 AM) SilverSerpher: ((augh I'm getting so many brainworms on him right now. <3))
(02:04:28 AM) me: ((brainworms? Explain :3))
(02:04:44 AM) SilverSerpher: ((well, about his mom and the shell and what kind of a life he's had... haha.))
(02:05:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "Let's go, then?" He eyed her, keeping his drink in hand. He wasn't in any sort of a hurry to finish it yet; he'd be taking it with him, if she agreed she wanted to go now.
(02:06:27 AM) me: she nodded, and got up, stalking over to a recycling bin and popping the bottle in.
(02:07:27 AM) SilverSerpher: He adjusted his bag's strap on his shoulder as he got up too, and held the door for her. A glance back to the counter, and he gave the baristas a nod before he looked back to Ness again. After her...?
(02:08:07 AM) me: She already has the door open and is waiting for him to go through.
(02:09:34 AM) SilverSerpher: Ah, well, he'll give her a lil smile and step out -- glancing down to make sure there's no bike there, this time. There's still not, so he makes it out to the sidewalk all right. "Museum it is, then. ....and if I get that feeling again, can we... go a street over, and try another way, you think?"
(02:09:55 AM) me: She pauses, then says, "Sure. Why not."
(02:10:04 AM) me: She starts walking.
(02:11:52 AM) SilverSerpher: He follows again, letting out a breath slowly as he does, looking around. He pulls out his little pad, the first pencil -- pen? -- tucked into it, and writes another note down, never pausing.
(02:12:38 AM) me: She slows down abruptly. "This... feeling. Does it have anything to do with the shell and your mom? Like did you have the same feeling then?"
(02:16:26 AM) SilverSerpher: He was silent a moment, considering it. "It's... possible. I'd -hope- not, though. I...." He seemed to reconsider what he was going to say, and looked down again. "Like I said, I'm not too clear anything but that I don't want to go through it again."
(02:16:57 AM) me: She looks at him shrewdly. "Did you wake up the next day only to find out she didn't exist?" she says quietly.
(02:18:25 AM) SilverSerpher: He paused there, looking back up at her. He didn't say anything for a moment, considering... and then smiled softly. "No. I woke up to find out she was right there with me still."
(02:19:26 AM) me: She looks at him, puzzled, then she takes a little gasp. "She was supposed to -- she died that day, didn't she? But then she didn't die."
(02:19:56 AM) SilverSerpher: He nods. "I think it must've gone something like that."
(02:20:21 AM) me: "But you don't... remember?" she frowns a little, and picks up the walking pace again.
(02:23:25 AM) me: ((I should probably go to bed soon))
(02:23:40 AM) SilverSerpher: He kept pace. "....something like what happens happens? None of it seems real. I went downstairs the next morning because she was making breakfast. Waffles. I could smell the compote. She -never- made breakfast like that, unless it was something special. My dad never did make it right; he always burns it. And I remember just going right up to her and giving her a hug...." He's silent
(02:23:40 AM) SilverSerpher: for a second again, having to take a breath to keep his voice level. Clearly, time wasn't fading some things for him. "I told myself it'd -all- been a bad dream, but... if it wasn't... then I guess a five-year-old saved her life, in an after-the-fact sort of way?"
(02:24:42 AM) SilverSerpher: ((acknowledged. >_>))
(02:24:46 AM) me: "And you still had the shell." She looks up at him as much as she can while still keeping an eye out for the next red bike.
(02:25:46 AM) SilverSerpher: "Yeah. I still had the shell. Never let go of it." He was looking down, watching the sidewalk, fidgeting with his pencil a bit.
(02:27:03 AM) me: "I... I don't really have a story like that." She ducks her head, embarrassed. "I mean, there was the time I jumped out the window from my room and I was -fine- but dad wouldn't believe me... I don't know."
(02:27:39 AM) SilverSerpher: He snorted, softly. "I'm glad you -don't- have something like that. You probably got a lot more sleep at night than I did."
(02:30:19 AM) me: She nods. "I really don't know. I think I've had this sense that... things are different underneath... for a while. Like, when I heard that sometimes paintings would be painted on top of other paintings, I became obsessed with it. I had to learn how it was done, how they could -tell-. So I learned about ultraviolet and x-rays and conservation stuff. I was eight." She looks at him.
(02:35:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "Huh..." He taps his pencil against his chest a little again. "So you connected that with the idea of layers of -reality-? The world painting different versions of itself over what -was- there, so to speak?"
(02:36:01 AM) SilverSerpher: ((bRb))
(02:40:55 AM) me: She shrugs. "I dunno. I haven't really sat down and thought about it a whole lot. I guess. Maybe it's just that I feel like the problem is out there--" she spreads her hands-- "while you always felt the problem was in here." she taps his head, a little mischievously.
(02:49:18 AM) SilverSerpher: "Heh. I think it was that 'nightmare' that got me turned around a bit," he admitted, managing more of a smile for her. "Thought it was -me- going loony. I mean, how else would a kid explain that? Doctors said I had some sort of stress disorder, is why I was always mixing things up."
(02:50:40 AM) me: She nods. "I'm not surprised."
(02:51:29 AM) SilverSerpher: He was silent a moment again, before he looked up at her -- right at her. "You know... I think that's the first time I've ever told anyone what really happened, too."
(02:52:07 AM) me: She looks right back at him, then back down to the sidewalk. "Oh." She takes another couple of steps. "Well, I believe you."
(02:52:44 AM) SilverSerpher: "....Yeah. I think maybe that's -why- I told." He looked back down again too.
(02:53:19 AM) SilverSerpher: ((these two are oddly cute together.))
(02:53:20 AM) me: She nods, mostly to herself.
(02:53:31 AM) me: ((Well, when you think you're crazy, and then someone else -believes- you...))
(02:54:01 AM) SilverSerpher: ((yeeeeah.))
(02:55:19 AM) SilverSerpher: "Do you think," he started, hesitant, "maybe we were supposed to meet? I mean-- to figure this out, maybe?"
(02:57:05 AM) me: She shrugs. "Maybe when we met before, we didn't figure it out, we just fought, and that's why you only half remember it. They were the versions that the universe didn't like. Got painted over."
(02:57:25 AM) me: "Like," she says, head tilted in her thinking posture, "What if something at the museum made us disagree?"
(02:58:01 AM) SilverSerpher: "I... I'm not sure it was an argument," he said softly. "It... I don't know. It doesn't seem like it'd fit, somehow."
(02:58:53 AM) me: She turns to look at him. "Or maybe I just didn't believe you."
(03:00:04 AM) me: "And then you finally wanted me to believe you hard enough..."
(03:01:02 AM) SilverSerpher: He looked back at her, steps pausing again. He stared, like he was trying to figure it out... and then snorted, part laugh, part something less identifiable. "That I started the day over without knowing it? No... you were the one that started on about it all first, back in the cafe, when you wrote on my pad, remember? Or was it when-- Oh, I don't know. I'm not sure that I'm sure about
(03:01:02 AM) SilverSerpher: much of anything. My whole -life's- been uncertain."
(03:01:51 AM) me: She sighs.
(03:02:03 AM) SilverSerpher: "I'd add it to the list of things I'm not sure about, but I don't keep one of those. Just lists of things I -do- know for sure."
(03:02:21 AM) me: She looks up at him. "Oh? Like what?"
(03:03:59 AM) SilverSerpher: "What do you think this is for?" He held up his little pad again. "If I only needed something for appointments, I'd have a date book, now wouldn't I?" He stuck the pencil in it again, and flipped through to the start, then offered it over to her to look at, this time from the beginning. "I've a box full of those, in my bedroom."
(03:04:51 AM) me: She takes it, and looks at the list.
(03:10:55 AM) SilverSerpher: The first page was simply written, the first thing on it written in precise lettering. "My mom's alive." Next line, "And my dad, my grandmother, and grandfather." The next lines were nothing more than names, no explanation given. The second page had more -- Phone call from Gellia. She's back from France. Bought pencils for her b-day present. $20. Gold paper bag. The next page continued
(03:10:56 AM) SilverSerpher: on similarly -- "M&M spent the night, argued about girls. Had stew. Matthew left his sketchbook."
(03:12:26 AM) SilverSerpher: Ryan didn't look at her while she inspected the little book; he looked lost in thought, idly playing with the hem of his sweater while they walked, eyes on the sidewalk.
(03:13:49 AM) me: She makes a "Hm." noise, and hands him back the notebook, flipping the cover closed, as though prying eyes shouldn't see.
(03:14:05 AM) me: "What if the notebooks change?"
(03:15:20 AM) SilverSerpher: He took it back, his thumb smoothing over the cover absently. "They're one of the few things I'm reasonably sure haven't."
(03:16:04 AM) me: She looks at the notebook fiercely, narrowing her eyes, then looks away.
(03:18:31 AM) me: ((shit it's past 3am. >_<))
(03:18:34 AM) SilverSerpher: "But I haven't written down everything. Just... highlights, I suppose you could say. Random notes, if I want to. To Dos, shopping lists. Things I don't really want to have change. I've had enough uncertainty, I think I -need- to know that -some- things stay real."
(03:18:43 AM) SilverSerpher: ((ah... whoops? >_>; *hugs?*))
(03:19:08 AM) me: ((oh this is entertaining, don't blame yourself :P))
(03:19:15 AM) me: She nods.
(03:20:53 AM) me: "We're going to have to cross the street to get to the ped bridge," she says.
(03:20:57 AM) me: ((Pause here?))
(03:21:52 AM) SilverSerpher: He flipped through it to the latest pages and pulled out the pencil again. "Ness," he wrote, and doodled a little beside it -- a blobby, somewhat triangular oval, for her beret, a line to show where her hair went, and a curve for her chin and cheek. He was leaving the little sketch faceless for the moment -- it would surely be better to draw while they weren't walking, anyway. "It should be
(03:21:52 AM) SilverSerpher: all right," he said, softly, peeking up to look at the intersection.
(03:22:02 AM) SilverSerpher: ((yeah, sounds good. :) ))
(03:22:20 AM) me: (( :D ))
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