oo2 ∞ video

[thoughts]

No. No, no, no.

[ the video is sideways, giving a slanted view of river nearby on the floor of her room. there are scraps of paper all over the floor; colourful, bright. childish drawings torn apart.

she wraps around her knees, hands covering her head. river hasn't slept in three years and this week alone, she slept for three days. three days of silence, three days of bliss. she wanted the dreams and they came to her. it was so easy to let go, wasn't it? ]

Wake up. Please wake up. They can't - they tell you to lay down and you do. You stay because they said it, it's in you and -

[ she shakes her head, rocks back and forth, muttering 'oh God, no' under her breath. she told derek. told and tried to stay awake, but sometimes she just gets so tired of holding on. the sun goes dark and chaos is come again. ]

They don't get up again. The skeletons stay and they don't lie down. It's the Pa - no - it's her. It's in the air and it won't stop. It wants to keep you, it wants to keep you, she wants you and you're hers.

[ she screams 'please wake up' one last time just as she grabs her device and throws it as far away from her as she can.

not very far. there's nowhere to run. ]

Comments

[leaps]

[ oh shit. ]

River, don't--

[ don't what? her words twist up something in his get and sulu doesn't know what to do about it. ]

[voice; private; encrypted 100%; forever]

[ryuuzaki]

[He sounds sedate and reasonable; he wants her to become as calm as she can be, although that's not necessarily something that will happen. Here, at this moment, there are things that may be interesting, but nothing to be upset about--that's the message he tries to convey with his measured tones.]

River, please pick up the device. I can't talk to you if you don't.

[If he weren't curious, he wouldn't try to engage with her at all right now.]

[majestyofthethrone]

What happened? What happened?

[thoughts]

[ oh no. no, no, not hikaru with k that likes to remain silent, 'don't call me that.' ]

No.

[ it's a whine, something small and desperate and curled away from the device. ]

Don't take him too. You have to wake up. Yuàn shàngdì bāngzhù wǒ, wake up.

[voice; private; encrypted 100%;]

[thoughts]

[ river knows what his eyes are like, the ones that watch and wait and wonder. they are critical of the world and she tries to remember that, tries to grasp for to constant in his name, but everything moving too fast. ]

Can't. I - did you think it was a gift? A nice neat package to start you off new. It's still theirs, oh God, why didn't I see?

let's guess like, an hour later to find coherency!

[thoughts]

He told us to sleep well.

[majestyofthethrone]

Have you tried?

[thoughts]

I didn't try. I didn't. I kept my eyes open and my mind shut and it took me anyway.

[majestyofthethrone]

I've been sleeping, it's been good. Are you sure it's bad?

[thoughts]

Don't lay down when they tell you to. Don't sit and don't stay. They're going to make you all better.

[majestyofthethrone]

But I need to sleep. While I can.

[thoughts]

Doesn't that tell you something? It's not a gift.

[majestyofthethrone]

I need to be able to control it. It may not be a gift, but I have to take advantage anyway.

[ryuuzaki]

No, very little here is a gift. [He's been here for almost a year, not counting the jumps: would he have had a year left if he hadn't been brought here? He thought he had been close to his goal, but it had shifted out of his grasp, and not for the first time. The danger of observing Yagami so closely was that he could be observed in return, and the major changes in the case had mostly been abrupt... there was no reason to think that future changes wouldn't have been as sudden. There's no way of knowing whether he's been given more time, or whether his life has been destroyed. He leans towards the latter.] Still, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. If you can be more specific--[that might be possible, if she concentrates]--then I'll know.

[thoughts]

You're not the one in control. Don't go. Please don't go.

[majestyofthethrone]

Are you sure?

[became]

River?

[ plenty of urgency, there.

( also yo, cryptic shit they should start a union. ) ]

video.

[throwsdown]

River...? What's wrong?

Everything's okay; I'll make sure it is, me and Hoi Hoi. What's wrong?

[thoughts]

Nothing is sure. Everything is dreaming and I don't know which way is up. They'll take you if you let them.

[majestyofthethrone]

Are they taking you?

[thoughts]

It's everything. The lockers open and they spill you out, feed you oxygen from a tube. Didn't you think there might be something inside? The doors open both ways.

[thoughts]

Neal.

[ they will be makes no sense anonymous. there will be cookies and tea. ]

I didn't look. I promise I didn't look, it found me instead. They found me.

[thoughts]

I'm trying to wake up. I just want to wake up.

[ because she wants to sleep forever. ]

[majestyofthethrone]

You're awake now.

[ryuuzaki]

[That makes a kind of sense, if he keeps his perspective open. He finds that most of what she says does, eventually, although it's colored by anxiety and often so vague that he wonders if he's not just finding patterns on his own.]

Yes, but that means you can open them. You can put things there or take them out. Do you feel completely powerless here?

[He does, but he won't volunteer that just now.]