(no subject)
It happens between one step and the next, as he turns his head to look for oncoming traffic, and it's disorienting enough to make him stop where he is and stare stupidly at the buildings across the street; he stands there blinking while the traffic shifts and other pedestrians step around him.
Just where is he? Or no, that's not even it -- when is he? 2522, oh, surely not, that's not possible, is it? Because here he is, standing on a corner of a city he's known all his adult life, just out of class, and it's hard to shake the conviction that he's back in MedAcad and that the past five years have been a hallucination. A very odd, very vivid dream, the kind that persists well into the waking day but does eventually fade. He's on his way back to his dorm room after class, obviously, or possibly to the library, and maybe by the time he gets there he'll have forgotten it --
Or else, like the conundrum of the philosopher and the butterfly, this is the dream, and he'll wake up any minute now in his bunk on Serenity --
The traffic shifts again, and the moment passes, leaving behind a lingering sense of ... it takes him a while to find the right word, because unease and discomfort aren't specific enough. The word is dislocation.
It's going to be so strange, he remembers saying to Kaylee.
By the time he gets home, he's no longer thinking about it. Not consciously, at any rate.
But it may have something to do with his decision to sit down and send a textwave. Or maybe he would have done that anyway; he did promise, after all.
-----
Jordie,
I hope this finds you well.
I don't know if you recall that when we last spoke, I told you that there was a chance I would be back in the Core early this year. As matters fell out, my wife and I are currently staying in Capital City on Osiris, not very far from the Gage MedAcad campus. I'm taking a few courses there this semester.
As I remember, you said you weren't sure where you were going to be at this point. I'd be interested to know where, and how, you are.
Hoping to hear from you,
Simon
Just where is he? Or no, that's not even it -- when is he? 2522, oh, surely not, that's not possible, is it? Because here he is, standing on a corner of a city he's known all his adult life, just out of class, and it's hard to shake the conviction that he's back in MedAcad and that the past five years have been a hallucination. A very odd, very vivid dream, the kind that persists well into the waking day but does eventually fade. He's on his way back to his dorm room after class, obviously, or possibly to the library, and maybe by the time he gets there he'll have forgotten it --
Or else, like the conundrum of the philosopher and the butterfly, this is the dream, and he'll wake up any minute now in his bunk on Serenity --
The traffic shifts again, and the moment passes, leaving behind a lingering sense of ... it takes him a while to find the right word, because unease and discomfort aren't specific enough. The word is dislocation.
It's going to be so strange, he remembers saying to Kaylee.
By the time he gets home, he's no longer thinking about it. Not consciously, at any rate.
But it may have something to do with his decision to sit down and send a textwave. Or maybe he would have done that anyway; he did promise, after all.
-----
Jordie,
I hope this finds you well.
I don't know if you recall that when we last spoke, I told you that there was a chance I would be back in the Core early this year. As matters fell out, my wife and I are currently staying in Capital City on Osiris, not very far from the Gage MedAcad campus. I'm taking a few courses there this semester.
As I remember, you said you weren't sure where you were going to be at this point. I'd be interested to know where, and how, you are.
Hoping to hear from you,
Simon