[63] there will always be some kind of crisis for me

[buildstherobots]

(50%!)

[This is wrong.

Saphir can't pin down what's wrong, exactly, but something is creeping up on him. For one, he isn't mentally referring to himself with his alias any more. For another, he's... comfortable, almost. He eats the food provided by his droned wife happily, leans in for a kiss just before he leaves for work, punctual as always...

Comments

B

[ooeeooahah]

[ There seem to be a number of dazed and confused people in town today. One of them nearly runs into Dist, juggling a bag of groceries. ]

Oh! Saphir! Sorry, I wasn't watching... wait, no - that's wrong.

Dist the Rose.

[ There's quite a few emotional cues in her face, but they don't seem to match up right now. ]

I-I'm sorry, not quite tracking today.

Re: B

[buildstherobots]

[Dist starts, then sighs, rubbing his face.]

...Neither am I. Something's wrong.

How do you know that name?

[ooeeooahah]

It's... slippery. The part that says I've always been here knows it.

[ Her face twists in a pained smile. ]

It's the name of my senior prom date at Mayfield High... except I went to senior prom with Duc Tranh at Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow.

[ Ilsa's expression reflects a fear that she might be losing her mind. ]

C

[puzzlerprince]

[Wouldn't you know it? The guy who hasn't touched a lick of liquor since prom night is back at the bar. Except nothing really bad had happened that night, right? Because that night hadn't happened. Right? In any case, there's an aching pain in his head that hasn't quite gone away. Best way to get rid of it? Blunt head trauma. Alcohol. Eddie gestures to the stool next to Dist.]

This seat taken, Saphir?

[...somehow he feels as though he's just spoken a name that he shouldn't have known.]

Re: C

[buildstherobots]

[And here comes another flood of memories that he's not sure about. In any case, he shakes his head.]

Not at all. Maybe you can help figure this out.

[He hasn't touched either drink. He doesn't know which to take.]

[puzzlerprince]

[Eddie sidles on in next to him, taking a look at the two drinks laid out in front of him.]

Who's the beer for?

[As far as the Riddler's concerned, Dist always did love his fruity cocktails.]

[buildstherobots]

I wanted it. I think. I don't know.

[Dist... Saphir... Dist runs his hand through his hair, staring at the drinks like they can tell him what's going on.]

...Edward Nashton. Right? We went to school together.

C

[riastrad_ridire]

[How he had gotten to the bar in the state he was in was a question Lancer didn't have an answer to. His body was running on autopilot, while his mind was tearing itself in half.]

[He stood behind the bar with a clearly confused expression on his face, flipping through a pair of notebooks. Whatever language this was written in, he knew he couldn't read it--and yet he knew he should have been able to. This was obviously something important, so why couldn't he figure out what it was?]

Re: C

[buildstherobots]

What are you looking at?

[The man looks as confused as Dist feels. This is a citywide phenomenon, apparently, and both sides of him want to get to the bottom of it.]

[riastrad_ridire]

...Actually, I'm not sure.

[He set the open notebook down on the bar--whatever was written on its pages, it had been done so in a form of Irish Gaelic not used for at least two thousand years. Lancer should have known that, knew he should have understood how to read it, and yet...nothing. Barely a word of it made sense to him.]

I wrote this, I know I did. But I can't read it. I have no idea what it was I wrote down, either.

Phone

[glowing_science]

What do you mean, 'which reality'? There's only one reality, scientifically speaking.

Isn't there?

Re: Phone

[buildstherobots]

That's what I thought. At the moment I'm not sure what to believe.

Phone

[glowing_science]

...

What is there not to believe? You're not losing it too, are you?

Re: Phone

[buildstherobots]

Losing it?! How dare you!

...Well, I might be. I... I think I might have grown up here.