cargojet | IC Contact

i'm not playing a game, what're you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Is it the amnesia thing again?

what amnesia thing?

You know full well what amnesia thing. Ireland, Pete.

I'm getting confused. You said you found my number?

why'd you name another dog izzie, nathan?

I never named another dog Izzie, Pete.

You really have forgotten, haven't you? How much have you lost? What's the last thing you remember?

Edited 2013-06-08 22:57 (UTC)

why?

can i just come talk to you?

Actually I was going to suggest exactly the same thing. You take Izzie for a walk yet?

Edited 2013-06-08 23:03 (UTC)

if following me around while i get lost counts, then yeah, sure. we've taken a walk.

Can you find your way back to the lifts? I'll tell you which floor to go to.

i can get back to the lifts. and you're on the sixth floor? right? or have i still got this all entirely wrong.

I've been here since the sixth jump, but I sleep on one now, to be closer to Comms. You really have no idea.

Go up to 20 and look for the kitchen. I'll meet you there.

you might have to wait for awhile but i'll find it.

It shouldn't be so hard. Say "Izzie, biscuits" and she'll lead you right.

[ Nathan is waiting for him in the kitchen shortly thereafter, with a box full of dog biscuits and a pot of coffee set out in front of him. He's still fiddling with his device, one ear bud in his ear so that he could listen without disturbing anyone else. The 20th level kitchen was the most recently occupied, and there was a lot of traffic so far.

No Peter yet, though.

Nathan wasn't sure what to expect. He had Peter's number, but he couldn't remember any of it. What did it mean? Obviously he was still Peter, his brother; he'd recognised Izzie. But what would he be faced with when his brother eventually showed up? ]

[ Yeah, great. So even Izzie knew this place well enough to figure out where the biscuits would go. Sighing quietly, Peter set to following her and hoping that Nathan knew what he was talking about. Which apparently proved to be pretty darn accurate when he got right down to it.

That didn't make him any less apprehensive about all of this. It didn't help when what he'd just come out of had left him in emotional shambles, no matter how badly he wanted to pretend that wasn't true. Suck it up and move on, there were other things to worry about-- like being here, for instance. That really didn't do much for his guilt, however, and as Izzie finally bounded into the kitchen she had been on a quest for, Peter followed, trying to pretend he wasn't worried about what would happen next.

But there was Nathan, along with a number of other people doing their own thing, and all Peter could do was stare for a few seconds. Watching. How had Nathan gotten here? Why was Izzie here? Why did it feel like he'd never be able to catch up. Izzie had already made herself known at Nathan's feet, nosing excitedly for treats and hardly able to contain herself. But Peter made his way over slower, like a kid waiting to be punished, following at an invisible man's heels. ]

So you've been here for awhile, huh.

[ Nathan knew the question wasn't about how long he'd been in the kitchen, and he stalled for a moment, petting Izzie on the head and digging a treat out of her box to throw it to her. She snapped it into her mouth and barked at him for another a moment later. When he threw another, he pointedly screwed the lid back on and gave Peter a look and a smile. ]

I've been here... Much more than a year now.

[ Peter didn't remember a thing. He could see it looking into his face. His younger, softer face; the face that didn't bear a scar. The face with a hardness in his eyes, yes, but nothing mean and cold at all. This wasn't the Peter that belonged to that number. ]

Take off that mask. You're not fooling anyone, least of all me.

What mask?

[ Peter was starting to get uncomfortable -- alright, so he'd been uncomfortable since he'd arrived, but this wasn't just the tip of the iceberg anymore. It was descending deeper into the mess of where he was and the fact that something worse was going on that he couldn't understand. All over again, Peter was stuck in a world where he knew nothing and everyone else was twenty steps ahead of him. Yeah, sure, he knew his name-- but that didn't seem like an impressive feat anymore.

Brow furrowing, Peter wasn't about to go crying on Nathan's shoulder if that's what he meant. Besides, Nathan had been the one to tell him that the virus hadn't been released and he needed to hurry up and get over it. There wasn't time to sulk anymore.

Glancing at Izzie, Peter buckled to a small extent, sliding into the seat across from his brother, leaning in closer. He didn't look any more content, soothed, comfortable, but he wasn't trying to put on a show. Distressed was an understatement and having Nathan try to get him to fall apart was really just kind of annoying. ]

Nathan, what's going on? And before you tell me that i'm in space, yeah- I read that part already. But a handbook doesn't exactly fill in the rest of the gaps, like why Izzie's here. She died, Nathan, and I couldn't find anything about that in the frequently asked questions.

[ Nathan scowled at him. This was odd. No, it was more than odd; but Nathan had to feel sorry for being so hard on him when Peter slumped into the chair. He's been hard on Peter during his most difficult moments before, and it hadn't done him any good at all, only distanced him from Peter and made life that much harder. He needed his brother, and Peter needed him.

With a sigh, Nathan poured Peter a coffee and pushed it across to Peter's knuckles, letting him feel the warmth of it against his hand. ]

You were here before. You--your future self. You remember him at all? With the scar?

[ He angled his hand across his face. ]

He had your number, Pete. And numbers... They just don't get recycled like that. Once you're gone, you lost it forever. So all I can think is you've lost your memory somehow, and you're stuck in that face or... Or, I don't know. This ship does messed up things, like amnesia, like Izzie, like... I don't know, making people think that they've lived a hundred years in a couple of weeks.

But knowing you you probably think it's insane that you're on a ship at all. The first time you were here, you were convinced I was the one who did it, that it was all a trick or something. But she's not a trick, is she, Pete? You remember the trick you taught her? Try it.

[ Peter was pretty sure that he'd fucked something up. He didn't know what, but the universe was obviously mad at him about something. Nathan wasn't making that much sense, and despite Peter's best efforts, he was starting to no longer look quite so pissed off. His expression had gone tense with something closer to terror -- all those times he'd been confronted with the horror of a future he hadn't wanted to see. When Adam had found him, when none of it had made sense and all he'd wanted was answers.

Well, now he was getting them and Peter felt himself shrinking despite it being anything but visible. His shoulders went stiffer, his expression deepening; realization sinking in.

Adam was going to destroy the world, he'd gone back in time and lost his memories, he was in space, there was a future version of himself with a scar. All things he'd heard as of recently, and none of which that made sense. Peter finally shook his head and stared at Izzie for a few seconds - Izzie with her contently swishing tail, staring at Peter as if he was fourteen again - before looking back at Nathan. ]

I never met anyone from the future. Hiro did, but that was almost a year ago, Nathan. I don't-- do you think i'm stuck in this face?

[ He'd get to the trick later, he mentally promised himself he would, but right now that wasn't a top priority. Reassurance from Nathan was; his big brother telling him that he hadn't screwed it all up. Even if he had, even if he knew it was a lie. ]

[ Nathan knew one good way to check whether Peter was who he said he was. He looked at him hard, while Peter looked at Izzie and tried to decide whether or not she was real, tried to work out if her wagging tail made him feel any better or not.

This exact scene echoed back to a scene that Nathan had lived through years ago, although that time it wasn't on a spaceship. Peter was sitting there all innocent and afraid and hopeful, like he was fourteen years old again. Izzie was at his feet; Izzie with her tail making little wags and her chin practically in Peter's lap while he sat still, trying too hard to think, looking up at Nathan and waiting desperately to be told how it could all be alright, reassured.

Nathan looked down at Izzie one last time, then slid out of his seat, moving around the table. It was a simple test. If Peter was wearing this face, if he was from the future, then a hug would be far from what he wanted. And if this was absolutely his little brother, desperate for guidance, for help... If Peter needed him, then a hug would tell Nathan everything he needed to know.

He wrapped his arms around his brother, pushed his nose into Peter's neck, uncaring of the people around them, and waited to see what Peter would do. ]

You're my brother, Pete. Nothing changes that.

[ Izzie had been there through all of it -- all the years of just waiting for his brother to come back home. During the war, hoping that Nathan wouldn't be killed, and patiently waiting for Peter to figure out that he was allowed to not quite know what he was meant to be yet. She had seemingly died only after Peter realized he could make it on his own, only it meant he fell the rest of the way onto Nathan's shoulders. She had been there where Nathan wasn't, so of course she'd be here now. It made sense. Sort of. Peter was just a little bit older, and Izzie's happy lack of suspicion could only fix so much.

This time, it had to be Nathan, and he stared at his brother, waiting to be told what he'd done wrong this time. Because the only way this had worked before was when Nathan had told him that he was listening to the wrong guy, and it was Nathan that told him it'd be all okay. So sue him if he needed to hear it again.

Precariously, Peter watched as Nathan got up and slid around to his side of the table. He wasn't sure if Nathan was coming to whisper some dreaded secret to him, or if Nathan was just messing around in one way or another. There were probably few ways this could get any worse, and trying to figure out if he was even himself, complicated things. How exactly was this not his face? How had his life gotten that bad? A hug, however, could only make things better. Swallowing hard, it was only when Nathan hugged him in close that Peter's shoulders dropped and he seemingly lost the past twenty years of his life, going all small and worried all over again.

As long as he didn't catch shit for it later-- or maybe he didn't really care. ]

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what you said before I showed up here. [ And maybe he just hadn't stuck around long enough for Nathan to call him an idiot for everything he'd done. ]

[ Exactly what you said before I showed up here.

That wasn't an accident, not at all. Peter said he'd seen Hiro on the train a year ago, which meant that, well, he was probably from after that fiasco with Adam. They'd stood in the corridor outside the vault and Nathan had told him that Adam was using him to get to Peter. They'd lived through that, but if he'd been a moment too late...

If he'd been a moment too late, they'd both be dead, and so would 7 billion other people. Peter had been to that future.

Nathan squeezed him a little tighter, then gradually released the pressure, leaning back so that he could look his brother in the face. ]

You're not going to believe me, but I'm from your future, Pete. Six months, or thereabouts. A lot happened since we last saw each others, things I'll get round to telling you, but right now, you gotta have questions. Other questions.

[ It's not that Peter would've wanted Nathan to keep up with the hugging - there's always a certain point where it just needs to fade away - but at least it kept the conversation from heading back into the territory of things Peter didn't want to discuss. He was already getting a headache of massive proportions and was busy enough struggling with the concept of space. Amnesia and time travel and losing himself only added to that mix in a way he didn't want to face.

To top it all off, Adam was still a constant, deeply rooted sensation and when Nathan pulled back to look at him, Peter could only stand it for so long before he looked back at Izzie. She didn't expect anything from him; wasn't looking for him to be anyone he didn't know how to be, or for apologies he didn't know how to give. He could look at her without pathetically falling apart.

He didn't need to be pathetic to top the day off. Move on, get over it; it didn't happen. But that was only part of it. ]

Like what, why the hell we're in space? Why you think i'm from the future, why I ended up with amnesia all over again? Why I had to be the one that Adam used? [ He looked back to his brother miserably, wanting to hit the pause button. To just make it all stop. ] Don't tell me that they're questions you've actually got answers to. And you know what, I think i've lost track of anything I wanted to ask. They're all... blurred together and I just- I don't understand what's happening. But that's nothing new anymore.

I was left in the dark for months. [ He wasn't upset with Nathan, not at all. He was just.. upset. Frustrated that this was where he'd ended up. Pulling his coffee mug closer, at least it was still pleasantly warm, and instead of distraught, Peter tries for sardonic. ] If I could handle Ireland, then I can cope with space.

[ Okay, so it was a lot more questions than he really expected from Peter at once. He knew he'd have them, but the number caught Nathan off guard, and he pulled his chair a little closer so that he could edge aside into the seat without actually letting Peter go. His hand stayed on his brother's side, just under his arm, the other dropping to Peter's knee.

Beside them, Izzie lay down, clearly bored with their reunion already, but knowing full well she couldn't get between the two brothers when they were talking like this. She'd learned that early; as cute as she could be - and she could be cute, especially back when she'd been a pup - she didn't stand a chance when Peter's attention was on Nathan, and Nathan was giving affection and attention right back. ]

Ireland is rough, but it's nothing like space, Pete.

[ Surely that much was obvious? Nathan had been put under a lot of pressure before, but nothing had been able to prepare him for what he'd gone through up here. He'd probably never explain most of it to Peter. There wasn't much of a point in even telling him about their father, but... Well, he'd see where it went. He'd say what he needed to when he needed to. Right now, he just had to make Peter comfortable. ]

Drink up that coffee. It'll take the last of the edge off from the Jump. Best thing for it.

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text!

text! > action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action