Arms Hotel, Suite 618. Late Sunday Afternoon (Before Fight Club)
Sometimes, it was very nice to have a standing account with the pizza delivery people. It insured good service and excellent food, and they knew how to get to her suite in record time. It gave Ghanima time to unpack from Special Agent Cooper's wedding instead of trying to fuss in the kitchen, especially since cooking was not one of her favorite hobbies to begin with.
There was a notebook and poster-making materials spread out over her table, sodas in the fridge, and now Ghanima was contentedly perched on the couch with her dinner while she waited for her guest.
It was time to hammer out the new rules for fight club, and they had a lot of work to do.
Tyler Durden
"Things are all fancy here," Tyler announced as he opened the door without knocking. "What's the occasion?"
Ghanima Atreides
That was...odd, for Tyler, and Ghanima gave him a Look over her slice of pepperoni.
"If this is fancy, then I shudder to think of the state of your kitchen," she replied. "And I do not know about you, but I am not going to try and make childproof rules for fight club on an empty stomach."
Tyler Durden
"I meant the markers," Tyler explained. "You look ready to make enough posters for a rally."
He picked up a black one and untwisted the cap. "Hey, ever sniff these?"
Ghanima Atreides
Wrong. Wrongwrongwrongwrong... Her Truthsense was going off like a fire alarm, and Ghanima shrugged lightly as she set her pizza aside.
"I like options," she replied, letting herself slip into the simulflow so that that she could use her own talents in tandem with her Other Memory; observing, computing, and reaching a consensus even as she walked over to him. "I would think you'd agree with me that being limited is rather dull."
Tyler Durden
"Not a fan of limitation," Tyler smirked. "Though if we're trying to childproof Fight Club, we're limiting people right out."
"Safer, though," he added, because he remembered that was what Idiot Boy thought rather firmly.
Ghanima Atreides
Right. The tonal inflection and fractional hesitation before the last bit confirmed what the body language was already telling her, and Ghanima folded her arms, hands ready to slip inside her sleeves to pull the knives in her wrist sheathes if needed.
"You're wearing the wrong face," she said pleasantly, giving him a cold smile. "I almost didn't recognize you." Which wasn't true, but she could play nicely until she figured out how to get her Tyler back.
"What are you doing out of your hole?"
Tyler Durden
"I'm wearing the face I always wore," Tyler snapped. "What's your problem today? And can I have some of the pizza?"
Ghanima Atreides
"You can have pizza if you tell me why I have you gracing my doorstep and not your alter ego," she agreed, gesturing for him to help himself.
Tyler Durden
"The first rule of dissociative identity disorder is that you don't talk about dissociative identity disorder."
... okay, that was probably only funny to Tyler. He grabbed some pizza anyhow, eyes on the woman.
Ghanima Atreides
There was a blink, and then there was more than Ghanima looking out at him from behind her strange eyes.
"Cute," she said dryly, going over to grab some sodas from her fridge. "I hope you don't drink diet. If you do, I'm kicking you out without pizza."
Tyler Durden
"You're a cruel woman, Ghani," Tyler chuckled. "Regular's fine. Diet's only good as a solvent or spermicide."
He sniffed the marker again before screwing the cap back on and returning to his pizza. "So what rules were we going to work on?"
Ghanima Atreides
That earned him a soda can pitched at his head, launched with Ghanima's uncannily accurate aim. "You don't get to use that name," she called from her kitchenette. "I'm not related to you, and I don't like you enough to sleep with you."
"Point of fact, the last time I encountered a version of you, I do think I was sorely tempted to slit your pathetic little throat, so try to have some manners."
"But Tyler and I were planning on working out clarifying the rules for fight club, since we apparently weren't clear enough the first time."
Tyler Durden
"My name," Tyler said, mildly irritated (and in pain from the soda can to the side of the head). "He's the one who stole it. And ow, fuck, I'll be good if you don't fucking throw stuff at me."
Ghanima Atreides
"You're a shadow of a dream, dear one," she pointed out, coming over to sit at the table. "It's his name now, and you know it."
"Otherwise you wouldn't be here, pestering me. You'd be off trying to wreck his life, not eating my pizza." Ghanima tilted her head, watching him over her soda. "Now, are you going to help me with this project? Or try and make me play twenty questions figuring out what you want?"
Tyler Durden
"His family doesn't use it. My name."
This was mostly arguing for the sake of arguing, and Tyler settled in with his pizza and soda.
"Of course I'll help. See, you're assuming I have an agenda. I just like making shit happen." This was, actually, fairly true for the moment. "He's taking a little vacation from reality. The coma thing fucked him up."
He gave a smile that was almost too pretty to be real, and yet wasn't very nice at all.
"I just happen to be waiting in the wings."
Ghanima Atreides
"I use it." It was quiet, but firm, and she wasn't going to waver on this point.
"So your idea of 'making shit happen' is keeping his pizza dates?" Ghanima asked, bemused as she reached for her notebook. "I'll put you to work then, until Tyler feels like joining the party."
She was not familiar with Tyler's triggers or his treatment for his disorder, so she'd provide pizza and familiarity. If that didn't bring him back around, well, she might consider knocking him out and dragging him to the clinic or using the Voice on him.
There was only so much she was willing to tolerate the Evil Twin.
Tyler Durden
"Yeah, see, if I blow anything up, Veronica will unleash the hounds on me, and then I'll get him kicked off the island and we'll end up back with Marla and he'll really go crazy." Evil Twin, it seemed, was not especially concerned with coherence, but he sounded halfway flirtatious.
"Besides, I can't complain about pizza with you. You a hundred percent sure on that not sleeping with me thing?"
Ghanima Atreides
"As charming as you seem, I am rather sure, yes." He was very much going to owe her after this. "I make it a point not to sleep with the alternate personalities of my coworkers, as I find it undermines professionalism. I'm sure you understand."
Tyler Durden
"I'm better than he is." What, it was true. "Not that he wants anyone but Tony, but that's ... their deal. Anyhow, gracious refusal noted, subject dropped."
He would so owe her.
"How did you want to change the rules?"
Ghanima Atreides
"How much are you aware of what goes on when Tyler the First is driving?" she asked. "There have been incidents where people either did not understand, or did not properly follow the rules."
"We need to make it clearer what is and is not allowed. I do not want people getting hurt who are busy with their own fights, or the children who are there to learn how to fight in the first place."
Tyler Durden
Tyler shrugged and decided not to squabble over the the first designation. "Depends how strong he is. He'll tell you he knows what I know, but it gets complicated. I'm not always there enough to pay attention, and sometimes he just shuts down completely. But yeah, I know what you're talking about on the 'incidents'."
He quirked his head to what seemed to be the bathroom door. "Mind if I take a little break before we get to work?"
Ghanima Atreides
"Not at all. But if all the pizza is missing by the time you get back, it wasn't me," she quipped, waving him off.
"Although if I catch you making explosives with my perfumes, we will Have Words."
Tyler Durden
"Now perfume," Tyler pronounced, "is just useless."
A few moments later in the bathroom, he splashed water on his face --
... and saw himself.
"Hi," he said, when he emerged, head bowed and much more somber. "Sorry."
Ghanima Atreides
"I thought you liked a challenge!" she called after him, laughing, before turning to her work. The first rule of Fight Club...
When he re-emerged, she blinked a few times, taking in the changes in his bearing and tone. "Hi yourself," she replied calmly, setting down her notebook. "Do you want a glass of water, or need me to call anyone?"
Maker-alone knew what he'd been up to before showing up on her threshold.
Tyler Durden
"Not really," Tyler said, fidgeting with the band of his watch. "I'm fine. He's -- by his standards, he's taking care of me."
Yeah, he had no clue how to cope with any of this, really.
Ghanima Atreides
She got up from the table, moving to steer him towards the couch. "You are not 'fine,'" she chided gently. "According to Tyler the Other, you are the exact opposite of 'fine', and I have no reason to doubt his word in this matter."
He'd been (mostly) well-behaved, and rather forthright. If there were metaphorical cookies, he could have one.
Tyler Durden
Tyler let himself be steered, collapsing with his long legs splayed in front of him. "I don't know what to do, Ghanima," he admitted quietly. "I haven't lost time like this in years. The other place screwed me up."
"He's behaving himself, but that's not gonna last through Fight Club."
Ghanima Atreides
"It screwed everyone up. There are children in my classroom with broken eyes and shattered hearts, and this is not a threat I can protect them from."
She settled down next to him. Near, but not touching. "I know something of the danger of Abomination, letting the voices within win out over your Self," she replied, matching his quiet tone. "If you think he poses a threat, you cannot be around the students until he's back on his leash."
Tyler Durden
"He's not that kind of a threat. If he were going to do anything, he'd just ... take over for me for a while, and then ..."
Tyler knew the 'and then.' It was bad.
He glanced over Ghanima's head. "So, uh, I think it's time for me to take a nice little vacation in a padded cell, let them tinker with my meds, all of that."
Pills wouldn't cure what he had, but they could help -- help him sleep, make him remember how to breathe. He had to try.
Ghanima Atreides
"A vacation and the doctor might not be a bad idea," Ghanima agreed, and the urge to hit something coiled under her skin for a moment before she stomped it down. Spannungsbogen, Ghanima. "Although I shall be most put out if they give you a padded cell."
Tyler Durden
"Probably it'll be a bad dorm room with a fat roommate who farts a lot." A flicker of humor passed over Tyler's face. "When you show up with my history and say you're losing time, they don't hand you a prescription and send you home. Kind of bites. But I'll get lots of time to catch up on Price is Right."
Ghanima Atreides
"So you'll be able to do amusing impressions of your fellow inmates when you get back, complete with hand-puppets you made in arts and crafts?" she asked sweetly, mischief dancing in her eyes. "How quaint."
"Do you need anything from your place? I can always go get it, while you take care of any other errands you need." She assumed he had calls to make, and other things to organize, and it might be safer if he stayed here and did things by phone rather than go out and about.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Tyler, it was simply, well, she didn't trust Tyler. "I've got some time before club."
Tyler Durden
"Please, not hand puppets. Self-portraits showing how I feel about my parents."
Tyler considered the rest of what she said.
"If you could grab a couple of my white shirts and some jeans, and my big red robe --- it's in the bathroom -- I'll make the calls I have to make." He reached for her hand. "You're a good friend, Ghanima. I mean it."
Ghanima Atreides
Ghanima gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before leaning over to press a completely chaste kiss against his temple.
"I'll be in and out before your housemates even realize I was there," she promised, favoring him with a quiet smile. "I'll even leave a note in your handwriting, 'Gone on walkabout, back later.'"
She stood then, moving to grab the cell phone she rarely used, slipping it into a pocket of her outer robe. Just in case. Shoes next, then keys. "And you would do the same for me, you know," she informed him, pausing by the door. "Don't worry about it."
Tyler Durden
He thanked her again and feebly smiled as he watched her go, then settled back with his eyes closed as he dug in his pocket for his phone.
Tony had to know. Ino. Anemone. But for that moment, he wanted to try to feel whole in his skin.
[OOC: Preplayed with the beyond-awesomesauce tyler_back, and up early so that I don't forget. NFI, OOC = Love.]
There was a notebook and poster-making materials spread out over her table, sodas in the fridge, and now Ghanima was contentedly perched on the couch with her dinner while she waited for her guest.
It was time to hammer out the new rules for fight club, and they had a lot of work to do.
Tyler Durden
"Things are all fancy here," Tyler announced as he opened the door without knocking. "What's the occasion?"
Ghanima Atreides
That was...odd, for Tyler, and Ghanima gave him a Look over her slice of pepperoni.
"If this is fancy, then I shudder to think of the state of your kitchen," she replied. "And I do not know about you, but I am not going to try and make childproof rules for fight club on an empty stomach."
Tyler Durden
"I meant the markers," Tyler explained. "You look ready to make enough posters for a rally."
He picked up a black one and untwisted the cap. "Hey, ever sniff these?"
Ghanima Atreides
Wrong. Wrongwrongwrongwrong... Her Truthsense was going off like a fire alarm, and Ghanima shrugged lightly as she set her pizza aside.
"I like options," she replied, letting herself slip into the simulflow so that that she could use her own talents in tandem with her Other Memory; observing, computing, and reaching a consensus even as she walked over to him. "I would think you'd agree with me that being limited is rather dull."
Tyler Durden
"Not a fan of limitation," Tyler smirked. "Though if we're trying to childproof Fight Club, we're limiting people right out."
"Safer, though," he added, because he remembered that was what Idiot Boy thought rather firmly.
Ghanima Atreides
Right. The tonal inflection and fractional hesitation before the last bit confirmed what the body language was already telling her, and Ghanima folded her arms, hands ready to slip inside her sleeves to pull the knives in her wrist sheathes if needed.
"You're wearing the wrong face," she said pleasantly, giving him a cold smile. "I almost didn't recognize you." Which wasn't true, but she could play nicely until she figured out how to get her Tyler back.
"What are you doing out of your hole?"
Tyler Durden
"I'm wearing the face I always wore," Tyler snapped. "What's your problem today? And can I have some of the pizza?"
Ghanima Atreides
"You can have pizza if you tell me why I have you gracing my doorstep and not your alter ego," she agreed, gesturing for him to help himself.
Tyler Durden
"The first rule of dissociative identity disorder is that you don't talk about dissociative identity disorder."
... okay, that was probably only funny to Tyler. He grabbed some pizza anyhow, eyes on the woman.
Ghanima Atreides
There was a blink, and then there was more than Ghanima looking out at him from behind her strange eyes.
"Cute," she said dryly, going over to grab some sodas from her fridge. "I hope you don't drink diet. If you do, I'm kicking you out without pizza."
Tyler Durden
"You're a cruel woman, Ghani," Tyler chuckled. "Regular's fine. Diet's only good as a solvent or spermicide."
He sniffed the marker again before screwing the cap back on and returning to his pizza. "So what rules were we going to work on?"
Ghanima Atreides
That earned him a soda can pitched at his head, launched with Ghanima's uncannily accurate aim. "You don't get to use that name," she called from her kitchenette. "I'm not related to you, and I don't like you enough to sleep with you."
"Point of fact, the last time I encountered a version of you, I do think I was sorely tempted to slit your pathetic little throat, so try to have some manners."
"But Tyler and I were planning on working out clarifying the rules for fight club, since we apparently weren't clear enough the first time."
Tyler Durden
"My name," Tyler said, mildly irritated (and in pain from the soda can to the side of the head). "He's the one who stole it. And ow, fuck, I'll be good if you don't fucking throw stuff at me."
Ghanima Atreides
"You're a shadow of a dream, dear one," she pointed out, coming over to sit at the table. "It's his name now, and you know it."
"Otherwise you wouldn't be here, pestering me. You'd be off trying to wreck his life, not eating my pizza." Ghanima tilted her head, watching him over her soda. "Now, are you going to help me with this project? Or try and make me play twenty questions figuring out what you want?"
Tyler Durden
"His family doesn't use it. My name."
This was mostly arguing for the sake of arguing, and Tyler settled in with his pizza and soda.
"Of course I'll help. See, you're assuming I have an agenda. I just like making shit happen." This was, actually, fairly true for the moment. "He's taking a little vacation from reality. The coma thing fucked him up."
He gave a smile that was almost too pretty to be real, and yet wasn't very nice at all.
"I just happen to be waiting in the wings."
Ghanima Atreides
"I use it." It was quiet, but firm, and she wasn't going to waver on this point.
"So your idea of 'making shit happen' is keeping his pizza dates?" Ghanima asked, bemused as she reached for her notebook. "I'll put you to work then, until Tyler feels like joining the party."
She was not familiar with Tyler's triggers or his treatment for his disorder, so she'd provide pizza and familiarity. If that didn't bring him back around, well, she might consider knocking him out and dragging him to the clinic or using the Voice on him.
There was only so much she was willing to tolerate the Evil Twin.
Tyler Durden
"Yeah, see, if I blow anything up, Veronica will unleash the hounds on me, and then I'll get him kicked off the island and we'll end up back with Marla and he'll really go crazy." Evil Twin, it seemed, was not especially concerned with coherence, but he sounded halfway flirtatious.
"Besides, I can't complain about pizza with you. You a hundred percent sure on that not sleeping with me thing?"
Ghanima Atreides
"As charming as you seem, I am rather sure, yes." He was very much going to owe her after this. "I make it a point not to sleep with the alternate personalities of my coworkers, as I find it undermines professionalism. I'm sure you understand."
Tyler Durden
"I'm better than he is." What, it was true. "Not that he wants anyone but Tony, but that's ... their deal. Anyhow, gracious refusal noted, subject dropped."
He would so owe her.
"How did you want to change the rules?"
Ghanima Atreides
"How much are you aware of what goes on when Tyler the First is driving?" she asked. "There have been incidents where people either did not understand, or did not properly follow the rules."
"We need to make it clearer what is and is not allowed. I do not want people getting hurt who are busy with their own fights, or the children who are there to learn how to fight in the first place."
Tyler Durden
Tyler shrugged and decided not to squabble over the the first designation. "Depends how strong he is. He'll tell you he knows what I know, but it gets complicated. I'm not always there enough to pay attention, and sometimes he just shuts down completely. But yeah, I know what you're talking about on the 'incidents'."
He quirked his head to what seemed to be the bathroom door. "Mind if I take a little break before we get to work?"
Ghanima Atreides
"Not at all. But if all the pizza is missing by the time you get back, it wasn't me," she quipped, waving him off.
"Although if I catch you making explosives with my perfumes, we will Have Words."
Tyler Durden
"Now perfume," Tyler pronounced, "is just useless."
A few moments later in the bathroom, he splashed water on his face --
... and saw himself.
"Hi," he said, when he emerged, head bowed and much more somber. "Sorry."
Ghanima Atreides
"I thought you liked a challenge!" she called after him, laughing, before turning to her work. The first rule of Fight Club...
When he re-emerged, she blinked a few times, taking in the changes in his bearing and tone. "Hi yourself," she replied calmly, setting down her notebook. "Do you want a glass of water, or need me to call anyone?"
Maker-alone knew what he'd been up to before showing up on her threshold.
Tyler Durden
"Not really," Tyler said, fidgeting with the band of his watch. "I'm fine. He's -- by his standards, he's taking care of me."
Yeah, he had no clue how to cope with any of this, really.
Ghanima Atreides
She got up from the table, moving to steer him towards the couch. "You are not 'fine,'" she chided gently. "According to Tyler the Other, you are the exact opposite of 'fine', and I have no reason to doubt his word in this matter."
He'd been (mostly) well-behaved, and rather forthright. If there were metaphorical cookies, he could have one.
Tyler Durden
Tyler let himself be steered, collapsing with his long legs splayed in front of him. "I don't know what to do, Ghanima," he admitted quietly. "I haven't lost time like this in years. The other place screwed me up."
"He's behaving himself, but that's not gonna last through Fight Club."
Ghanima Atreides
"It screwed everyone up. There are children in my classroom with broken eyes and shattered hearts, and this is not a threat I can protect them from."
She settled down next to him. Near, but not touching. "I know something of the danger of Abomination, letting the voices within win out over your Self," she replied, matching his quiet tone. "If you think he poses a threat, you cannot be around the students until he's back on his leash."
Tyler Durden
"He's not that kind of a threat. If he were going to do anything, he'd just ... take over for me for a while, and then ..."
Tyler knew the 'and then.' It was bad.
He glanced over Ghanima's head. "So, uh, I think it's time for me to take a nice little vacation in a padded cell, let them tinker with my meds, all of that."
Pills wouldn't cure what he had, but they could help -- help him sleep, make him remember how to breathe. He had to try.
Ghanima Atreides
"A vacation and the doctor might not be a bad idea," Ghanima agreed, and the urge to hit something coiled under her skin for a moment before she stomped it down. Spannungsbogen, Ghanima. "Although I shall be most put out if they give you a padded cell."
Tyler Durden
"Probably it'll be a bad dorm room with a fat roommate who farts a lot." A flicker of humor passed over Tyler's face. "When you show up with my history and say you're losing time, they don't hand you a prescription and send you home. Kind of bites. But I'll get lots of time to catch up on Price is Right."
Ghanima Atreides
"So you'll be able to do amusing impressions of your fellow inmates when you get back, complete with hand-puppets you made in arts and crafts?" she asked sweetly, mischief dancing in her eyes. "How quaint."
"Do you need anything from your place? I can always go get it, while you take care of any other errands you need." She assumed he had calls to make, and other things to organize, and it might be safer if he stayed here and did things by phone rather than go out and about.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Tyler, it was simply, well, she didn't trust Tyler. "I've got some time before club."
Tyler Durden
"Please, not hand puppets. Self-portraits showing how I feel about my parents."
Tyler considered the rest of what she said.
"If you could grab a couple of my white shirts and some jeans, and my big red robe --- it's in the bathroom -- I'll make the calls I have to make." He reached for her hand. "You're a good friend, Ghanima. I mean it."
Ghanima Atreides
Ghanima gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before leaning over to press a completely chaste kiss against his temple.
"I'll be in and out before your housemates even realize I was there," she promised, favoring him with a quiet smile. "I'll even leave a note in your handwriting, 'Gone on walkabout, back later.'"
She stood then, moving to grab the cell phone she rarely used, slipping it into a pocket of her outer robe. Just in case. Shoes next, then keys. "And you would do the same for me, you know," she informed him, pausing by the door. "Don't worry about it."
Tyler Durden
He thanked her again and feebly smiled as he watched her go, then settled back with his eyes closed as he dug in his pocket for his phone.
Tony had to know. Ino. Anemone. But for that moment, he wanted to try to feel whole in his skin.
[OOC: Preplayed with the beyond-awesomesauce tyler_back, and up early so that I don't forget. NFI, OOC = Love.]