Eleven Bells: [Action/Written] Oddly Introverted Today

[simplestgift]

[Tonight, Archie is out in the woods, walking along the river instead of the path toward the southern lake. Something about being away from the village, in the solitude of the woods, with the sky going on for miles above him, is closer than anything else to the openness of the sea. The strange thing is that Archie was never too poetic about the sea itself--it was the ships he loved, not the water they sailed on. But now that the sea is far away and there is no ship to sail upon it, he finds himself very homesick for that endless expanse. So he walks by moonlight, gathering his thoughts and finding as much tranquility as he can in the woods.

When he returns home through the village, it will be past midnight. He'll stare at the furnished, unlived-in bedroom in his apartment, set up for someone who never comes. In the morning, he'll wake up on the couch, beneath the mural of the Indefatigable. Eventually, he'll write an unsigned message on the journal network.]

When the wind embraces all the world between the sky and sea,
It speaks in my ear of the left-behind, dear friend, it speaks of thee.
I wish you a journey far and long and spirits high and free,
And hope that the wind still speaks to you, dear friend, and speaks of me.

[A few minutes later, he'll scribble the whole thing out.

In the morning, anyone will be able to find him about, grocery shopping mostly, but also just browsing the shelves idly.  He'll hit Good Spirits a little earlier than usual and drink a little more than normal.]

Comments

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

I shall have to do the same, then. I've a room already f

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Or get a microwave.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

I have one of those. They can't do all the work.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

But they can certainly do a lot of it.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

They can't put things on a plate that taste well with each other.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...Okay, you have a point. You win.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

How very gracious of you.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Of course. I'm a graceful kind of gal.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

Were you affected by the experiment?

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Oh, absolutely. It was like the Brady Bunch. A mom, brothers. A sister. A daughter.

[ not a husband. she won't mention him. ]

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

[...He's pretty sure this is Buffy. He'll keep on the down-low.]

You were very lucky.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

As far as non-real Shift families go, it certainly was a windfall. Mostly.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

[He underlines the word "Mostly" and puts a question mark beside it.]

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Doesn't feel so good on the other side to go nearly two weeks forgetting your actual family. [ she still feels bad about dawn being on her own for that time. ] Or when you end up in a marriage you never asked for.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

[Now he's positive this is Buffy.]

That's terrible.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

About you? Affected?

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

[A long pause. He almost lies.]

Yes.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...How was it for you?

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

A bit disconcerting, after. I wasn't quite the same person.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

I'm not so sure that many of us were. Alterna-versions have a bad habit of doing that.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

[A slight hesitation.]

It was good to have family again.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Not so good to have it taken away?

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

I haven't decided.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

I guess it hasn't exactly been long.

[ written ]

[simplestgift]

I imagine everyone wonders what it would be like to forget everything that hurt them. Now that you know, what do you think of that?