auroraexpress | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: anyone
When: day 57, afternoon
Where: anywhere it's a mingle

[This is a mingle but there is a comment in a Chain Chat to the whole train!]

Rean: A while ago some of us were discussing a festival where every team puts on a production, game, booth, whatever, maybe based around team bonds or interests.

What do people think? Maybe it's a good time to to talk about it again?

[Feel free to discuss with each other! Or just mingle as usual.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dusk? No, no, that's not....whose....I don't know who....

[Hard to say if he feels safe, but that grip isn't going away anytime soon.]

[Epsilon can't touch. He's not Epsilon. He knows that. Who is he?]

[He's sturdy, thankfully. A bruising grip doesn't bother him much. He strokes his thumb over Dusk's knuckles.]

Take your time. Look around. You're on the Aurora. All that happened a while ago, that stuff. Right now you're a sweet guy with some issues who belongs to the team Clover. Your cute sister is my teammate.

The...the....I don't...sister, I don't...do I?

There was...Cindy...? Was that mine?

I don't know if you're actually related, but you're important to each other. Don't worry about that so much though. Try to focus on now, you can sort out "then" when you're back in the present.

Breathe, and feel your body. If thinking's too much just start there.

Body-

Touch-he can't touch...can't be him. [His grip shifts, but it's still not loosening. His breathing is still far too close to hyperventilating.]

Body is-is-

Breathe in. Hold it. Breathe out. Breathe in. Slowly. You have a body. You're touching me with it.

[He had a body.]

[Leonard Church has a body.]

[Agent Washington has a body.]

[Who who who]

[He's trying to breathe in and hold it, but just ends up coughing.[

[Oh no. Reaching to pat his back.]

Okay, nothing fancy, just keep breathing.

[Easier said than done. He is trying though. Breathing in. Trying to hold it. Coughs and then tries again, managing a few breathes before it happens again.]

[Why is this so hard, why is everything muddled, why is there screaming, why does it-]

[His free hand is scratching at the back of his neck, idle, but there.]

Don't hurt yourself.

[Stepping a little closer.]

Lean on me a little. Feel that I'm here and so are you.

[He's still scratching.]

[He hesitates, but then he starts to lean against him. This...this is different. New.]

[Much as he wants to he doesn't wrap his arms around Dusk, but he does return to the lean a bit.]

You can lean more than that. I know you're heavy but trust me, you won't knock me over.
Okay, can you try to hear my heartbeat?

Are you calling me fat...? [That]

[That is not Dusk's usual cadence. Actually sounds more like when he was calling himself Church???]

[Hm!]

Not exactly.

Not fat. Totally strong enough to carry me and piggyback rides are awesome.

[Dazed declaration.]

That's true.

Who am I talking to?

Church.

[Frowns.]

No, that's not...who....?

Okay. Don't hurt yourself. Right now it's okay whoever you are. I just want to know if I end up talking to anyone else, does that sound fair?

There isn't supposed to be anyone else. It's not-I'm not-

[Breathing is getting erratic again, far too quick.]

Shh, shh, breathe. Keep breathing. Breathe in time with me okay?

You're okay.

I'm not-I can't-I'm just-

I'm only me, can only be me-

A pretty good sentiment. Do you think you can talk it out without panicking too much? After all, you can still feel me right? I'm real.

Are you?

Am I?

Just stuck in another cell with memories always memories the memories that never go away-

We're both real enough to count.

Here, look, you can reach out and touch the things around us. You're not imagining anything.

Could be a simulation...

[And that's the Epsilon cadence.]