One way of coping [28/??? artefacts collected]
The event was over. Philip was back. Well. Back to life at any rate, but... that was about where the good news stopped. Running outside as soon as he could he made it to the beach before breaking down.
It was just an event. It wasn't their fault. They forgot about it for you. Just forget about it for them. JUST FORGET ABOUT IT.
But he couldn't. There was knowing that they had no part in this, knowing that this was just as hard on them, if not worse... and then there was feeling it.
The pain in his chest, the tightness in his throat, the nausea... all the things that couldn't, shouldn't be there anymore but were, along with flashes of Dean's grin, Santana's sweet smile, the whistling, the nursery rhymes and running, running, running,...
...And then the sun rose and it was the second day and Philip had no idea how long he'd been standing in the same spot outside with the same torn clothes that were still left over from the event.
And then he vaguely noticed that this wasn't becoming him, that he needed to rest, needed food and most of all water, but then... but then he sat down in the sand and the previously pressing concern passed along with hour after hour and when the ocean turned red he didn't bother to think about whether it was another hallucination or just the sunset.
He did hear one voice he was fairly sure was real. Unpleasant and yet... concerned. Something about monkey, in your sadly under-developed body you're not gonna keep this up much longer and since we're usin' the same death score I'm not sure it's worth the fun of seein' you fall apart.
...Something like that at any rate.
(Did he sleep? He must have, that night. Otherwise he wouldn't have seen his death. Not again. And again. And again.)
And then the third day came around the same voice, Clarence's voice, asked if he should just take the wheel for a while before they both crash.
And... and it wasn't that he said yes, exactly, it was just that... that at that point there wasn't really enough of him left to explicitly say no.
---------
[ ...And then it's four days later and Philip seems perfectly fine. Well. "Philip" does at any rate. He still looks a bit gaunt, but that's nothing another night's sleep, a healthy meal and some more water won't fix. ]
[ LOCKED FROM EVELYN ]
[ Right now he's enjoying a good book and a cup of tea in the library, but most of all he's really, really enjoying himself right now. ]
So which side won, anyway? [ He laughs. ] Because I'd, er... really hate to have died if nobody even kept score.
[ He raises his cup and toasts into the camera. ]
[ PRIVATE TO EVELYN ]
[ And now? Time to turn that smile upside down. He ends the transmission and takes a deep breath, making sure to leave no trace of cheer when he makes the next call: ]
Evie, um... remember the next- the dinner and the movie we talked about? And then we didn't get to it, because-- Anyway, I... I thought if you're... if you've got time this evening, I'd... I'd love to catch up.
[[OOC: Oh look, it's an early Christmas present: A Clarence! Long story short, Philip felt miserable and the virus took over. Feel free to talk to him or even approach him, he won't actually bite or stab or otherwise maim. This time. Probably.]]