[ Nen makes a small sound at that, just the way they did the first time. They look surprised to find themself in a hug again, but it's a brief thing now; Nen recovers faster this time and is quick to latch onto his front, even as they try and look up at him (and only succeed at staring at his chin). ]
...Oh. That was a metaphor. I get it.
[ Nen was about to tell Chipp that neither of them are peas but they got it. Nen feels just a little proud of that. ]
Yes. We are learning to "deal with" a lot of things.
[ Chipp is probably dealing with a great deal less on account of not having been, you know, a test subject, but. Nen appreciates the comparison that draws them together. ]
I think you are a fine formerly-human specimen, Chipp.
Aw, hun, lemme tell ya - I am a hell of a lot better now than I was back then, for sure. 'Less you meant a different kinda "fine".
[But he's gonna choose to believe it was a compliment of his looks, even if he still struggles with confidence in regards to them. It's somehow... not as difficult as a struggle when Nenonen is involved. Things to think about later.]
I'm thinkin' I should make me a list of stuff I haven't done that I know you ain't done neither. A list of stuff that's new to the both of us. Stuff that we could do here, together.
[He pulls back from that hug a bit, just enough that he can look down at them in his arms.]
How's that sound? I know there gotta be tons of shit like that - Could be somethin' fun.
[ Boy oh boy does Nen like the sound of that?? Like holy heck. Nen cannot nod fast enough, near-well sparkling up at him as they shake his shirt in their hands. ]
Awww, but I gotta be the one who makes it - there gonna be so much stuff you ain't even know exists out there! Stuff I heard of but just ain't got a chance to do yet! Stuff like, I dunno... Bobsleddin'. Or skiin'. You ever heard of shit like that? Me, I never been on the face of a mountain in my life, never got the chance.
[But at least he's heard of them and can thus list them!! (Not that he's going to... unless Nen is interested in skiing. Which they would be. So never mind, he's going to.)]
[Trampolines are absolutely going to be on the list. Do you think this man has ever been on a trampoline?? (Okay, maybe once as a little, little kid, but that's long ago enough that he won't even remember.)]
Ehh, I dunno, might be a ways out... but then again, the kinda hike we'd need to do to get there would make a good list entry on its lonesome. Done plenty of hikin', not much in the snow.
As for sleddin' and skiin', those just fun things you do in the snow. With a sled, you get a big, long, ehhhh... plastic chou-chout, 'bout as long as you tall. You take that up to the top of a hill or a safe part of a mountain, up in the snow. Climb on it, push off, and the sled slides down the snow fast-fast 'cause it ain't got enough friction to slow down! Skis are kinda the same... they're big, long planks of wood that ya wear on your feet. Use'm to glide down the mountain on your own. Lots faster than sleddin', too.
S'pposed to be tons of fun. Ain't ever done it, though. My memère ain't never let me do that kinda stuff when I was young - weren't safe for a crybaby with one arm.
[ Nen has never seen a real baby before, so they have no idea that babies, in fact, cry a Lot.
The rest of that sounds...dangerous, quite frankly. Sliding down a mountainside on a bunch of snow without any breaks? Using planks of wood and shoot-shout? Seems a little unsafe of you ask Nen.
Chipp seems ambivalent to it, but then again, he did gift Nen a giant knife. so. ]
no no, sweet & tender first time first, THEN the camping psl
[Yeah, he should have realized he'd need to define that.]
Okay, it - first, 's got nothin' to do with what happened earlier. That was a one-off. I do not cry that easy, don'tcha go gettin' it in your head that I do.
... But a "crybaby" is someone who cries a lot. Somethin' I did when I was a kid, just all the time. I was fuckin' weak about everything, ain't even funny.
Nothin' to do with bein' a baby, no. Someone as old as you could get called that, if they the type to cry a lot.
[He knows that Nen, themself, obviously isn't the type. But their age is still a good example, considering, y'know. 188 years. That's very, very old.]
... I was an ugly little one-armed kid with no friends that got pushed 'round 'n beat up all the time. Anyone that age would cry a lot if they went through that. Cryin' didn't help none of that, neither - No one wants to be friends with an ugly little one-armed kid that cries and gets beat up all the time.
But what about your augmented arm? Didn't you have that?
[ Chipp could have used that to do two-armed things, Nen thinks, not realizing that smol child Chipp did not, perhaps, have access to his Grim Reaper powers or robotic limbs. ]
Made this thing after I died. Spent my whole life without it. Somethin' like this, you can't get anything similar back where I was when I was livin'. 'Specially when I was a broke li'l kid livin' down on the Louisiana coast. Not much money there for makin' anything even kinda close. I was a normal human. And I just had to deal.
[And yes, he means his whole life when he says he just "had to deal".]
Yes! I think your story is fascinating. You have done so many things I want to hear about.
[ Just going to be entirely upfront about that. Nen wants to hear everything, if he's willing to give it. It'll be the first time someone explained their life to them. ]
Ahh... well. If you can believe it, I, uhh... Actually gotta book in there 'bout that, too.
[He was actually teasing them with that, of course - but unsurprisingly, Nenonen took that teasing literally and now he's gotta think about them reading about everything he's done. As if he hadn't been thinking about that all night already. Damn.
In a somewhat nervous gesture, he lets go of them for the moment and reaches up to smooth his hair back the way he usually wears it - all this rolling around on the sofa's gone and undone it all. Congrats on being the only person to ever see him with his hair down, Nenonen. Literally, since I need to draw that still.]
Most of my life's pretty borin', though. Just to be real upfront 'bout that. Spent a lotta time just walkin' the streets or hoppin' trains, sneakin' onto buses... that kinda thing. Lotta time just spent alone.
I spent my whole life in a lab and never went outside.
[ By comparison, Chipp has done a lot. They've never snuck into a bus (never even seen one before Ellipsa), never 'hopped a train' (never even ridden one)... So no matter how much he tries to downplay it, Nenonen? Looks keen.
They also like his hair like that. It's a little weird not to see it sticking up all over the place, but. It's good. ]
Naw, I... I know it won't. It ain't a happy story, though. Just... Just gonna warn ya that now. Don't want ya to wander in blind, thinkin' I was well-loved 'n lived happy.
Maybe... we can read that book together.
[The very idea of reading that book with Nenonen shoots a block of ice down into his stomach at terminal velocity, of course. But at the same time... maybe it won't be so bad??
He finishes tucking hair behind his ears, slicking it back as best he can, and returns his hands to Nenonen's frame. It's sort of a half-hearted, loose wrap around their middle, a casual kind of hold one might do for someone sitting in their lap.]
... When you say you spent all that time alone, uh... Whaddaya mean? You was all up in that lab the whole time, weren't you? Goin' through the loops?
[ Nen nods, both their arms sort of wrapped around his. It's steadying in a lot of ways beyond the immediately physical, especially when it comes to the topic at hand. They stare at their lap, then the floor, they decide to settle on the analog clock across the room. An ever-present reminder that another day has come. ]
Yes, I was.
[ a pause ]
The time loops killed everyone. Not right away. They eroded, slowly. The researchers and doctors and technicians were first. Nothing happened for a while. Then it started to affect us.
[ Or rather, it affected all the other Test Subjects. Not Nenonen. ]
[Oh. Oh, that is. Hmm. That has so many implications to it, Chipp's not even sure where to begin. How long did it take for the researchers to erode? How long were the Subjects all left by themselves? How long did it take for them to erode? Was Nenonen ever affected?
These are a lot of questions flying through his mind. A lot of very heavy questions. Ones that he's... not... entirely sure he's comfortable asking. Not right now. Not this deep. It DOES make a little lightbulb ping somewhere in his mind, though.]
... If we... get a way to go back to our own worlds again. Are you gonna wanna go back to yours?
cw: mention of euthanasia/suicide...of a sort? choosing death over going home basically
[ That's right out of Nenonen's mouth without hesitation, not even a second needed to think that one through. Nen made up their mind about that a long time ago. ]
If I have to go back, I will choose to die instead.
[ Nen's seen the kind of fate that awaits them if they go back, whether it's survival in solitude or a slow, wasting death.
If you get the choice... wouldja choose someone else's world, instead?
[It's something he's been thinking about. The idea of them going back just to be locked into those time loops again, seemingly infinitely. That on its own bothered him enough to give him this idea in the first place. But hearing that it's killed everyone else, and that Nenonen - by inference - is likely next on the list? It drags that idea out from the depths of "what if"s into something a little more tangible.]
[ Nen hasn't even considered the possibility. Everyone came here from their own worlds, and presumably...that's where they thought they would be returned. The potential for other solutions never occurred to them. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jdkf ;u;/// also **nod, not now gd hamhands
...Oh. That was a metaphor. I get it.
[ Nen was about to tell Chipp that neither of them are peas but they got it. Nen feels just a little proud of that. ]
Yes. We are learning to "deal with" a lot of things.
[ Chipp is probably dealing with a great deal less on account of not having been, you know, a test subject, but. Nen appreciates the comparison that draws them together. ]
I think you are a fine formerly-human specimen, Chipp.
[ YOU GOOD PEOPLE ]
no subject
'Less you meant a different kinda "fine".
[But he's gonna choose to believe it was a compliment of his looks, even if he still struggles with confidence in regards to them.
It's somehow... not as difficult as a struggle when Nenonen is involved. Things to think about later.]
This gives me an idea, though. Wanna hear it?
no subject
[ LAY IT ON THEM, CHIPP.
(and yes, Nen was 100% talking about his looks. They are working on their Aesthetic SenseTM) ]
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A list of stuff that's new to the both of us. Stuff that we could do here, together.
[He pulls back from that hug a bit, just enough that he can look down at them in his arms.]
How's that sound? I know there gotta be tons of shit like that -
Could be somethin' fun.
no subject
[ Boy oh boy does Nen like the sound of that?? Like holy heck. Nen cannot nod fast enough, near-well sparkling up at him as they shake his shirt in their hands. ]
I want to make that list!
no subject
Stuff I heard of but just ain't got a chance to do yet! Stuff like, I dunno...
Bobsleddin'. Or skiin'. You ever heard of shit like that? Me, I never been on the face of a mountain in my life, never got the chance.
[But at least he's heard of them and can thus list them!! (Not that he's going to... unless Nen is interested in skiing.
Which they would be. So never mind, he's going to.)]
no subject
[ Also: trampolines. The fact that Nen does not know of them/has never tried one is criminal. They need more trampolines in their life. ]
I saw a mountain from the big tree. I climbed it with Knives. [ the person, not the object ] Can we go see it? It looked very far away.
no subject
(Okay, maybe once as a little, little kid, but that's long ago enough that he won't even remember.)]
Ehh, I dunno, might be a ways out... but then again, the kinda hike we'd need to do to get there would make a good list entry on its lonesome.
Done plenty of hikin', not much in the snow.
As for sleddin' and skiin', those just fun things you do in the snow. With a sled, you get a big, long, ehhhh... plastic chou-chout, 'bout as long as you tall.
You take that up to the top of a hill or a safe part of a mountain, up in the snow. Climb on it, push off, and the sled slides down the snow fast-fast 'cause it ain't got enough friction to slow down!
Skis are kinda the same... they're big, long planks of wood that ya wear on your feet. Use'm to glide down the mountain on your own. Lots faster than sleddin', too.
S'pposed to be tons of fun. Ain't ever done it, though. My memère ain't never let me do that kinda stuff when I was young - weren't safe for a crybaby with one arm.
eyyy camping psl becomes canon B)
[ Nen has never seen a real baby before, so they have no idea that babies, in fact, cry a Lot.
The rest of that sounds...dangerous, quite frankly. Sliding down a mountainside on a bunch of snow without any breaks? Using planks of wood and shoot-shout? Seems a little unsafe of you ask Nen.
Chipp seems ambivalent to it, but then again, he did gift Nen a giant knife. so. ]
no no, sweet & tender first time first, THEN the camping psl
[Yeah, he should have realized he'd need to define that.]
Okay, it - first, 's got nothin' to do with what happened earlier. That was a one-off.
I do not cry that easy, don'tcha go gettin' it in your head that I do.
... But a "crybaby" is someone who cries a lot.
Somethin' I did when I was a kid, just all the time. I was fuckin' weak about everything, ain't even funny.
oh weh....precious
It has nothing to do with being a baby?
[ Seems odd but alright. Nen tilts their head a little. ]
Why did you cry a lot when you were a child?
no subject
[He knows that Nen, themself, obviously isn't the type. But their age is still a good example, considering, y'know.
188 years. That's very, very old.]
... I was an ugly little one-armed kid with no friends that got pushed 'round 'n beat up all the time.
Anyone that age would cry a lot if they went through that. Cryin' didn't help none of that, neither -
No one wants to be friends with an ugly little one-armed kid that cries and gets beat up all the time.
no subject
[ Chipp could have used that to do two-armed things, Nen thinks, not realizing that smol child Chipp did not, perhaps, have access to his Grim Reaper powers or robotic limbs. ]
no subject
Made this thing after I died. Spent my whole life without it.
Somethin' like this, you can't get anything similar back where I was when I was livin'. 'Specially when I was a broke li'l kid livin' down on the Louisiana coast.
Not much money there for makin' anything even kinda close.
I was a normal human. And I just had to deal.
[And yes, he means his whole life when he says he just "had to deal".]
no subject
[ That sounds...inconvenient. Very inconvenient. ]
How did you lose it?
no subject
[Because he's, y'know. Dead.
But it's followed with a little wheezy laugh, the kind they've likely grown to expect from him.]
Man, you gotta lotta questions tonight. You just wantin' to hear my life story?
no subject
[ Just going to be entirely upfront about that. Nen wants to hear everything, if he's willing to give it. It'll be the first time someone explained their life to them. ]
no subject
Actually gotta book in there 'bout that, too.
[He was actually teasing them with that, of course - but unsurprisingly, Nenonen took that teasing literally and now he's gotta think about them reading about everything he's done.
As if he hadn't been thinking about that all night already. Damn.
In a somewhat nervous gesture, he lets go of them for the moment and reaches up to smooth his hair back the way he usually wears it - all this rolling around on the sofa's gone and undone it all.
Congrats on being the only person to ever see him with his hair down, Nenonen.
Literally, since I need to draw that still.]Most of my life's pretty borin', though. Just to be real upfront 'bout that.
Spent a lotta time just walkin' the streets or hoppin' trains, sneakin' onto buses... that kinda thing.
Lotta time just spent alone.
no subject
[ By comparison, Chipp has done a lot. They've never snuck into a bus (never even seen one before Ellipsa), never 'hopped a train' (never even ridden one)... So no matter how much he tries to downplay it, Nenonen? Looks keen.
They also like his hair like that. It's a little weird not to see it sticking up all over the place, but. It's good. ]
I spent 128.5 years alone.
Your story will not be boring.
no subject
Just gonna warn ya that now. Don't want ya to wander in blind, thinkin' I was well-loved 'n lived happy.
Maybe... we can read that book together.
[The very idea of reading that book with Nenonen shoots a block of ice down into his stomach at terminal velocity, of course.
But at the same time... maybe it won't be so bad??
He finishes tucking hair behind his ears, slicking it back as best he can, and returns his hands to Nenonen's frame. It's sort of a half-hearted, loose wrap around their middle, a casual kind of hold one might do for someone sitting in their lap.]
... When you say you spent all that time alone, uh...
Whaddaya mean? You was all up in that lab the whole time, weren't you?
Goin' through the loops?
no subject
Yes, I was.
[ a pause ]
The time loops killed everyone. Not right away. They eroded, slowly. The researchers and doctors and technicians were first. Nothing happened for a while. Then it started to affect us.
[ Or rather, it affected all the other Test Subjects. Not Nenonen. ]
no subject
[Oh.
Oh, that is. Hmm. That has so many implications to it, Chipp's not even sure where to begin.
How long did it take for the researchers to erode? How long were the Subjects all left by themselves? How long did it take for them to erode?
Was Nenonen ever affected?
These are a lot of questions flying through his mind. A lot of very heavy questions.
Ones that he's... not... entirely sure he's comfortable asking. Not right now.
Not this deep.
It DOES make a little lightbulb ping somewhere in his mind, though.]
... If we... get a way to go back to our own worlds again.
Are you gonna wanna go back to yours?
cw: mention of euthanasia/suicide...of a sort? choosing death over going home basically
[ That's right out of Nenonen's mouth without hesitation, not even a second needed to think that one through. Nen made up their mind about that a long time ago. ]
If I have to go back, I will choose to die instead.
[ Nen's seen the kind of fate that awaits them if they go back, whether it's survival in solitude or a slow, wasting death.
There is no life for them in their world. ]
no subject
If you get the choice... wouldja choose someone else's world, instead?
[It's something he's been thinking about. The idea of them going back just to be locked into those time loops again, seemingly infinitely.
That on its own bothered him enough to give him this idea in the first place.
But hearing that it's killed everyone else, and that Nenonen - by inference - is likely next on the list?
It drags that idea out from the depths of "what if"s into something a little more tangible.]
no subject
[ Nen hasn't even considered the possibility. Everyone came here from their own worlds, and presumably...that's where they thought they would be returned. The potential for other solutions never occurred to them. ]
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