[PSL] time travel, time travel

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Martin had always known that Lukas would kill him in the end. If not along the way, then surely at the end, once he'd gotten what he wanted out of Martin, whatever that turned out to be. When the Lonely rose up to swallow him, he'd accepted his impending death with ... what?

What did he have left, really? Numbness, mostly. A hallucination of Jon in the Lonely, looking for him, but - but that was impossible, ridiculous. His mind playing cruel tricks. He settled himself down in the frigid surf, knees drawn up close to his chest, unshed tears frozen to his cheeks and lashes.

And then. A door. A door that shouldn't exist, that couldn't exist. That he shouldn't take at all. The Lonely was terrible, yes, but it was quiet, and it was peaceful. Martin was aligned enough with it by now to very nearly enjoy it, in a strange and terrible way. The Spiral would be infinitely worse than this quiet beach.

But ... it was hope, too. In a strange way. Hope enough that Martin found himself turning the door handle and stepping through, leaving the false comfort of the Lonely behind him.

The transition was unpleasant. Long. But Martin couldn't remember it after; he only remembered stumbling out through the door of a supply closet somewhere deep in the Archives, blinking up at the dim bulbs that pretended to be sufficient. What time was it? Had he escaped? Where were Lukas and Elias now?

And where was Jon? ]

Comments

[kayakking]

Shit, I'm now done with the line work. Time to dedicate solely to niche projects.

But we can't leave it there. Where does Jon end up after he emerges from the Diggly and Blackwood cloud of fussing?

[DON'T THINK WE'RE NOT COMING BACK TO THE IMPRESSION CONFESSION.]

[eyediot]

...Don't know. I... Never gave it much thought, really.

[kayakking]

[There's a squeeze of Jon's hand there.]

I mean, you'll have the rest of your life to work it out. Who knows, nice cushy government job? Teaching? Wait, comprehensive treatise on the paranormal and why no one should mess with any of them anymore.

[eyediot]

[Jon huffs out half a laugh at that.]

Yes, I'll just give it in my official Ted Talk.

[Teaching though.......Hm. Maybe only college. The thought of teaching anyone under the legal drinking age is an exhausting thought.]

[kayakking]

I will get that talk on as many media as possible. There will be no way to destroy the all evidence.

1/2

[eyediot]

If it's to warn people to stay away from this kind of mess, by all means. Show it in every university, it should be known.

[eyediot]

[He's. Still holding onto Tim's hand, but the smile does go a bit more reflective.]

Do you regret it, Tim? That I asked you to... Come see if you could see Algric?

[kayakking]

No.

[It's so immediate it's nearly out before he'd had even much time to examine it. Though it didn't take much consideration to settle a bit further. Even with twisted memories, lack of sleep and that ever present throb below the stitches... ]

No... Good lord. But since Prentiss, god, all I've wanted was someone I could bloody talk to about all of this.

I'm... whatever this is going to be- [He shakes his head.] It's better like this, yeah?

[eyediot]

[Jon watches him, then smiles a little lopsided and squeezes his hand.]

...I think I needed that too. S-someone to. Talk to about all this.

I mean, it's not good. All of this is bad, but. Better to. Be in it together, I think.

[kayakking]

Right? It'd be so much better if we were just working the nice, weird but not fatal job we thought we were in.

...

But it's- We can do this.

[eyediot]

[He takes a deep, steadying breath. Idly thumbing at Tim's hand, not even realizing he's doing it. It's just something keeping his hand busy.]

I agree. We will do this. And we'll all make it out. I won't let you die, Tim.

[kayakking]

[Tim feels his face and ears warm before he even processes the one-two hit of that. The man's a menace. An absolute menace. The only good thing is how absolutely oblivious he is.

Fine, he's just going to enjoy it. And rallies a bit.]

Keep that in mind yourself. Apparently, we were a two for one special.

Lets just... be smarter about this time, if we can.

[eyediot]

[Yeah, sorry, Tim. He has literally no idea what he's unconsciously doing. It doesn't help when he looks up at Tim and his eyes are clear, and. Pretty intense, given the subject matter.]

...Yes. Let's. Don't, uh. Don't much like the idea of me dying either.

[kayakking]

[That is... a look.

Fuck.

... Tim would like to go back to like, ten minutes ago when he was blissfully unaware of literally anything that could make this trainwreck of a person attractive.

But at least the topic gives him an excuse to pull his hand back (though he can still feel the idle path of that thumb) and run his own hand through his hair.]

There's at least months to plan. But at the rate he actually talks about it, might need all of that time to get the details as to why we die.

[And if there IS a better way.]

[eyediot]

[Ah. Physical comfort action completed, that's... Over. He does sort of feel at a loss of what to do with his hands now, though. So he settles for just. thumbing along the seam of the armrest.]

Yes, he's... It was easy to get him to talk about things when he didn't realize where he was when he first showed up. But I think... Now he's more afraid of maybe messing things up worse. So we just... Need to carefully plan and ...I-i dunno. Reassure him we definitely won't do anything stupid.

[Jon.]

[kayakking]

I'm sitting here with you on the very same page as you and hearing that just shot an INSTANT sense of alarm that you're going to do something stupid.

[DEAD ASS SAID OUTRIGHT.]

No. Nope. What we have to do is convince him that without the information we are definitely going to be even MORE stupid than previously thought.

[eyediot]

[Jon just. Stares at him.]

As always, you are the pinnacle of understanding.

[Yeah, Tim has the right of it. But Jon kinda motions for the papers he gave him earlier.]

Something that might help, some, in the future. He has a mobile now, I'll-- Write the number.

[Jon your phone is literally still on your lap just text to him like a fucking mid-30-year old millennial you old man.]

[kayakking]

[He gets the paper out or risk not ever receiving it from his proto-boomer boss. God.]

That... Yeah. About time actually.

I can't believe you still have a land line. I mean, I'm thankful you did. But still absolutely amazed.

[eyediot]

[He stops mid-writing to raise his free hand in exasperation.]

Why does everyone keep saying that? The flat came with one, so I use it!

[But back to writing the number.]

[kayakking]

Because it's nearly as much of an antique as you are.

[It's a light and easy retort.]

[eyediot]

[That just gets a derisive sort of snort through his nose before he hands the paper back over.]

We're nearly the same age, you realize that.

[kayakking]

Younger. Which means you have way less of an excuse.

[eyediot]

Pretty sure this is where someone is supposed to say something about 'young at heart' to justify your behavior.

[kayakking]

If I have no shame, I don't need to justify anything at all.

[eyediot]

God, and there is nothing truer than the fact you really have no shame. [Like it's just. The fucking worst.

And yet if Jon didn't like him so damned much, he would've fired Tim ages ago for his inappropriateness. How dare he have that much charisma.]

Thank you, Tim. [There's a deep exhaustion behind those words. Someone who hasn't been emotionally open in years finally getting a lot of it out in such a short time and the energy that it drained out of him.]