InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hagane no chibi-san!"

Samuel Jessop (newprometheus) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-01-18 12:07:00

Entry tags:

ichabod crane

Who: Cole and Sam
What: "Hanging out." Or Sam is desperate and Cole is upset and memories suck, okay, alrigt.
Where: 802
When: The day after the memory goings-on.
Warnings: TBA

Sam was at his wits end when Cole called and asked if he wanted to hang out. He agreed without thinking, his mind completely on the memory of Cole's he'd seen, on Jude.

He'd been doing pretty well these last few weeks. The further time had distanced him from what had happened in his lab that day, the easier it had been to pretend everything was fine. But now all that was shattered.

He was starting to really hate knowledge, to treasure ignorance like a special, golden thing. He hadn't wanted to know where Jude was, really, he had to admit that to himself. He'd liked the not-knowing, the mental place where he could pretend she'd gone back to her fiance and everything had turned out just fine.

And now that he did know, he had to know more, even though the logical side of his brain was screaming at him that knowledge was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Cole was his only link, and even if he couldn't tell him what had happened, he could try to steer him in a direction where he could glean more information from him.

God, what if something happened? What if he'd inadvertently gotten Cole mixed up in this mess, and now he got hurt by it?

It was with a sick feeling in his stomach that he went to Cole's apartment. He knocked on the door. He looked a bit disheveled since he hadn't slept or eaten, subsisting on endless coffees as he tried to find something to occupy himself all night long. He was wearing a clean shirt, at least, and his panic was buried far beneath the surface, but there was no hiding the fact that he didn't look well.

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blackcatsrbad
2010-01-18 06:34 pm UTC (link)

Cole needed some kind of human contact after what he'd seen. He wasn't used to getting flashes of other people's memories, complete with the emotions and sounds that came along with them. He didn't know who any of them belonged to - well, except Aaron's - and he was still trying to figure out whether he was supposed to do something with what he'd learned or not.

Maybe Sam had seen things, too. He hoped he wasn't the only one, because this was not something he wanted to happen on a daily basis.

There was also the tiny fact that he hadn't spoken to Jude since she left him on the boat. Who knew if she was ever going to talk to him again, and he wasn't feeling particularly inclined to initiate anything at the moment. The knock on the door was a relief, and he opened it a touch too eagerly, noticing that Sam looked about as tired as he felt himself.

"Hey."

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	newprometheus 2010-01-18 06:38 pm UTC (link)
	"Hey," he said. Good, it looked like he wasn't the only one who'd been knocked flat recently. That was encouraging. Maybe it hadn't just been him. Then again, maybe Cole would say nothing and Sam could try to ascribe his visions to dreams...or something. But they'd been much too real for that, as much as he wanted to believe it. "Can I come in?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blackcatsrbad 2010-01-18 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh... yeah, of course." His laugh sounded a little too forced as he stepped back, giving Sam room to enter. "Do you want coffee or something?" He shrugged a bit sheepishly, since it was the third pot of coffee he'd made in at least eight hours. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

newprometheus
2010-01-18 06:54 pm UTC (link)

"Coffee sounds like a really good idea," he said, as he walked into the apartment. He'd been drinking it all night, but he was going to need more if he wanted to stay awake a while longer.

"You look like I feel," he said, glancing over at him. "What happened?" He tried not to look like he was waiting with as much anticipation of the answer as he was, but he was too tired and sick at heart to tell how successful it was.

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blackcatsrbad
2010-01-18 07:06 pm UTC (link)

Cole shut the door behind him and made his way to the kitchen, pouring two cups of coffee and setting the cream, milk and sugar on the table. "Help yourself."

He hesitated - this was his chance. Either he could say something offhand about bad dreams, or he could tell Sam what had actually happened. The worst that would happen was that he would laugh and call him crazy. Which had happened before, so really, it wouldn't be that bad.

"I guess I might be going crazy, but... yesterday was pretty weird. More so than usual." He looked away for a moment before glancing back at him, searching for any sort of recognition. "I saw... things."

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newprometheus
2010-01-18 07:13 pm UTC (link)

Sam put cream and a little sugar in his, holding it close to his chest as he listened to Cole.

His eyes went to him when he mentioned seeing things. He cleared his throat, sipping at the coffee, trying to act casual. "Yeah. I saw some things too. What...did you see?" He really, really hoped they were talking about the same thing. Though he still wasn't sure if he would rather be a touch crazy or have those visions turn out to be true. Both seemed equally bad, right about now.

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blackcatsrbad
2010-01-18 07:26 pm UTC (link)

That was a good sign, wasn't it? It would have been far too much of a coincidence if it turned out they had seen two entirely different things. Besides, Cole wanted to talk to someone about it. He couldn't keep it inside, pretending it never happened.

"I think they were memories. Other people's memories." He shook his head, sighing. "It sounds insane, right? But... they weren't events and things that were familiar to me."

He wasn't sure if he should mention that Sam was in one of them.

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newprometheus
2010-01-18 08:20 pm UTC (link)

Sam deflated a little, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

"Yeah. It was just like that." He took a swallow of his coffee, not tasting it, trying to think of what else he should say. "What did you see?"

It had only occurred to him just now that if he had seen one of Cole's memories, Cole might have seen one of his.

But even if he had, it couldn't have been anything...significant, right? Otherwise, Sam was quite convinced, Cole either wouldn't have invited him in or would have flipped out as soon as he did.

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blackcatsrbad
2010-01-18 08:36 pm UTC (link)

Cole felt his previous tension disappear slightly, and he was finally able to relax. At least he wasn't crazy, and it wasn't something that had only happened to him.

"Um..." He frowned, trying to remember. "Someone - a cop, I think - was asking a guy about when someone named Tommy came in for his coffee. He... well, kind of forced it out of him. Then there was a kid, hiding under the bed from something... I think I saw one of my student's memories, too. It was about me." He paused to laugh. "It's weird, seeing yourself through someone else's eyes. Anyway, then there was another one from someone I don't know. Um, there was a guy named Charles, and... you. I think it was from college."

Maybe he shouldn't have said that, but he figured Sam might know who it belonged to. "Oh-- I almost forgot. There was one about a machine... I don't know what it was, or what it did. I've never seen anything like it - but the person whose memory it was couldn't bring themself to destroy it." Another pause as he recalled the emotions. "There was guilt. And regret. I think the machine might've been used to do something. What about you? What did you see?"

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newprometheus
2010-01-19 04:59 am UTC (link)

Sam choked on his coffee. It took him a few seconds to cough out the coffee that had made him choke, and he waved a hand before Cole had an opportunity to freak--because he knew Cole, and Cole would freak if he did not immediately reassure him he was not going to die. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

He swallowed a little more coffee to try and clear out his throat. "I don't know a Charles," he said. "Um--there was a kid in the hospital. And someone talking to a woman I don't know."

He wasn't going to even bring up the one he'd gotten from Jude, fresh off the bed of his machine, waking up in Central Park. "I saw one I think was yours," he said. "You were talking to a woman. Reading her Edgar Allen Poe."

He waited with bated breath for details on Jude. He wanted, and he didn't want.

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blackcatsrbad
2010-01-19 05:06 am UTC (link)

Sam clearly knew him too well, since he barely had a chance to suck in his breath before his friend was telling him he was fine. "Talk about something going down the wrong way." Cole still watched apprehensively, though, just in case he started choking again.

"Oh." His face fell slightly, and he nodded. "Yeah, that was mine. No point in trying to hide it." A sip of coffee bought him some time to explain.

"Her name is Jude. She's... a mystery. We were out on her boat, and everything seemed to be going fine, until something happened. It spooked me, actually - she looked like she didn't have any idea who I was or even who she was." A shrug. "Then she got us back to shore and left. I haven't talked to her since, but then again, that seems to be a common trend with me."

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	newprometheus 2010-01-19 05:10 am UTC (link)
	Sam felt cold dread settle even deeper in him. "Oh." He looked pale. "I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she's just had a rough time lately or something." The excuse was half-hearted. Sam didn't know what to do, now. He stabbed, hoping against hope, at the one thing that might make this a little better. "Where does she live?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blackcatsrbad 2010-01-19 05:13 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, maybe." Cole tilted his head to the side. "You really didn't sleep much last night, did you?" He thought for a moment, trying to remember the forum posts. "Uh... I'm pretty sure she lives in P2. Here, I mean-- sorry. I forgot you wouldn't have known." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	newprometheus 2010-01-20 06:21 am UTC (link)
	"No," he said, smiling wanly. "Not after yesterday. I'll sleep better tonight." He nodded, trying not to let it show how that just completed his misery, brought it full circle. He was too exhausted to even really be upset about it. "Well if you want to try to see her again, at least she's close." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

blackcatsrbad
2010-01-20 08:24 pm UTC (link)

"That's just the thing. Do I want to try to see her again?" He'd planned on bringing it up in a far more tactful, casual manner, but lack of sleep combined with his anxiety threw that out the window. "She's the one who left me on a boat, and in the dark, too. Shouldn't I wait until she initiates some sort of contact?"

Cole managed to cut himself off before he rambled on any longer, sucking in his breath and letting it out in a long sigh. "On a slightly more pressing manner, why did we see other people's memories in the first place? I know the building is kind of... strange, but this takes it to a whole new level."

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