[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. ]
Dunno. Could be. With magic, it's possible - portals, y'know? Open up portals, walk through'em.
[And... now he's thinking deeper about it, even bringing a hand up to scratch his chin.]
Or we could hold hands once it's all time to go home, could drag you back with me. ... Could drag me back with you, too. Bein' immune to the toxins but outside'a the human lifespan, ain't hard to imagine I could keep ya company there even if time kept loopin'.
[And he means that. If that ended up the case, he'd do everything he can to keep them company throughout it all.]
I don't want you to see me stop working and dissolve. I want to go to your world instead.
[ That would be the one downside to having Chipp along--they wouldn't want to put Chipp through what they had to do for all the other Test Subjects. Watching someone slowly waste away and not being able to do anything for them is...rough. Beyond rough. So rough, that Nen decides to stop thinking about it the moment the feel a pang in their chest. ]
Then that gonna be what we do. If we get the chance, you comin' back to my world with me. But remember... the whole place don't work like this world does. Or your world, probably. Or anyone's world!
[Unsurprisingly, that's matched up with a wheezy laugh or two. The land of the dead is particularly strange - even after having spent a few years in it himself, he's still not completely used to it. Hell, his Boss still runs into something new at least once a week, and that guy's been there for nearly seventy years at this point.
Despite that, though... Chipp definitely sounds happy about the idea.]
A world where just 'bout anything can happen, and the laws of physics ain't always the same... You think you could handle that?
As long as time passes and you are there, it will be excellent.
[ Those are the only two conditions Nenonen needs. Magic might still be a bit of a cheat, but Nen would take that over having to go back to their world any day. Bullshit magic versus melting via time loop? Easy choice. Not even one when you add Chipp to the equation. ]
Can you tell me about it? Your world?
[ That Nen asks, one hand finally--finally coming up to cover their mouth and hide a yawn.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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. ]
no subject
Open up portals, walk through'em.
[And... now he's thinking deeper about it, even bringing a hand up to scratch his chin.]
Or we could hold hands once it's all time to go home, could drag you back with me. ... Could drag me back with you, too.
Bein' immune to the toxins but outside'a the human lifespan, ain't hard to imagine I could keep ya company there even if time kept loopin'.
[And he means that. If that ended up the case, he'd do everything he can to keep them company throughout it all.]
no subject
[ That would be the one downside to having Chipp along--they wouldn't want to put Chipp through what they had to do for all the other Test Subjects. Watching someone slowly waste away and not being able to do anything for them is...rough. Beyond rough. So rough, that Nen decides to stop thinking about it the moment the feel a pang in their chest. ]
I want to go with you.
no subject
But remember... the whole place don't work like this world does. Or your world, probably.
Or anyone's world!
[Unsurprisingly, that's matched up with a wheezy laugh or two. The land of the dead is particularly strange - even after having spent a few years in it himself, he's still not completely used to it.
Hell, his Boss still runs into something new at least once a week, and that guy's been there for nearly seventy years at this point.
Despite that, though... Chipp definitely sounds happy about the idea.]
A world where just 'bout anything can happen, and the laws of physics ain't always the same...
You think you could handle that?
no subject
[ Those are the only two conditions Nenonen needs. Magic might still be a bit of a cheat, but Nen would take that over having to go back to their world any day. Bullshit magic versus melting via time loop? Easy choice. Not even one when you add Chipp to the equation. ]
Can you tell me about it? Your world?
[ That Nen asks, one hand finally--finally coming up to cover their mouth and hide a yawn.
It is after midnight, now. ]