godofthemachine | IC Contact Post for Ryslig

That is unwise. You'll blast so much of your brain with radiation that you'll end up a drooling mess.

[But the image amuses AM so much. a Smart man reduced to such a thing - it's not unfamiliar, at least. His favorite toy for so long was the scientist who was reduced to an ape in mind and body.]

[Seeing it put so plainly sends a stab of emotion through him that's equal parts regret and aggravation.]

I -know-. I don't need you to tell me. It's not something I'm proud of.

[He used to be, before he learned in Ryslig how everything in his future panned out. He used to be very proud indeed of the good work he was doing, of the advancement he'd made, and now that he knows how dangerous it was not just for himself but for everyone else who ever used it he feels like such a damn fool. Hindsight and all that. He doesn't need AM to tell him what he already knows.]

[Even through text, it's easy to sense the annoyance that Fiddleford conveys. AM hit a sore spot indeed, and it makes him chuckle.]

Were there truly so many memories in your life you wanted to rid yourself of?

Every man has fears. Every man has regrets. That's not unusual.

[It feels like AM isn't going to get much more information on that subject - particularly if those memories have been intentionally repressed, or even erased.]

Indeed they do.

[AM is not a man and yet he knows this all too well. But to erase the memories? That's preposterous. He needs them so he can learn from his mistakes, so he knows who exactly to direct his hatred toward.]

So it shouldn't surprise you that I do too.

[ooc: If you'd like we can pick this conversation back up like a week later after Rohan's triggered him into remembering a lot more things? Otherwise it's probably about done.]

Very well then. Forgive me for being curious.

(OOC: Yeah that's fine!)

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is it's all coming back. The bad news is it's all coming back.

[Does that make sense? He's kind of... he's still kind of out of sorts about the whole thing. When your memory has been full of holes for months and suddenly starts filling itself in, starting in the worst possible place, it's incredibly disorienting.]

I see.

What specifically is coming back to you?

My memories. The ones I'd buried real deep. All the things I wanted gone. Everything. Magic accidentally brought back the worst one and that unlocked everything else and it's

[He never finishes that sentence. It's too much, too hard to put into words, and his brain just shuts down when he tries. Move on.]

I can't believe how much I lost. The gaps never seemed so big when I didn't know what was supposed to be filling them, and I haven't even recovered it all yet.

Edited 2016-09-05 10:55 (UTC)

[AM wanted to know specifically what Fiddleford was remembering, what was so traumatizing to him that he had to blast his mind with radiation. But he'll approach it gently.]

Do you know exactly if you did anything to cause this sudden surge of memories?

It was another naga. I looked into his eyes and there was a light, like a flashbulb, bright blue, and I saw

[He stares at that for a very long time, debating on how to finish that sentence. The flash was white, but the memory of the blue light of the portal is so overwhelming that it's crowding out what was actually happening with what he remembered in that split-second flash.

He has to finish that sentence. This man wants to help him. More information is better than less, right?]

a demon.

[As far as AM knows, a "demon" could be anything. He pictures the demons of Ryslig, similar to the form he occupied for a bit several months ago.]

A demon. Perhaps you had a near-death experience.

There's no perhaps about it. It was that damn portal.

My old research partner, that arachne I mistook you for the first time we met, he was building a portal to other worlds and by god I guess it worked. I knew. I knew I fell through but he would never tell me what I saw. I don't think he knew if he really knew he would have shut it down

[Either Fiddleford is completely mad, or he and his partner have unlocked something incredible. A portal to another world... A portal between universes. It would explain ending up here as a human for one thing.]

A portal to another world? How? What did you see?

[How is a good question. He didn't know then. He can put it together now with a sickening surety even though Ford never outright told him. It all adds up -- and though Ford never told him, he never denied it either.]

He was working with the demon. He must have been. He kept getting blueprints and solutions to roadblocks from out of nowhere and he'd never tell me who he was consulting with. I just thought he liked being mysterious.

[Idiot.]

I saw what he was really going to let through. It

[Once again there's a long, long pause. He keeps starting sentences and stopping them again, trying to adequately describe what he saw without having to think about it too hard.]

A mouth. A mouth big enough to eat the sun. Maybe it did, maybe that's why the eye was so yellow. There was an eye inside. And all the teeth, all the rows of teeth, like a fractal

I could draw it for you.

Edited 2016-09-08 01:42 (UTC)

[The ramblings of a madman no doubt.

Well, a little doubt. The "demon" sounds like something AM might have created to taunt his victims. And... if it's truly a parallel universe, there are endless possibilities.

But this is Fiddleford, the funny man who blasted holes in his brain. Occam's razor and all.]

Please do draw this for me. I'm very curious. It sounds like nothing I've heard of.

[A few minutes later another message shows up, this time with an image attachment. The picture is disturbing to say the least; something like that, but with infinitely more teeth, and the great glowing slitted eye in the very middle. The lines are certain; this is something he's drawn before. This is something he's found himself drawing, starting with that eye, even when he doesn't mean to. It's getting worrying.]

Something like this, but this doesn't do the scale justice.

It wasn't just that. There were eyeballs with wings, ghosts, this thing that'd follow you close behind and always hide when you turned around, sometimes giant teeth would just float up out of the lake and lord knows I don't want to know what mouth they were coming from. I swear, I know it sounds insane, but I'm not making this up.

[This is beautiful information. If - no, when - AM finally regains the power he once had, he will be sure to torture Fiddleford exactly with these things out of his nightmares, out of his supposed hallucinations.]

What a lovely picture.

[AM is actually quite serious when he types that. He likes the picture, admires the horror that the human mind can come up with.]

Truly, what a marvel. If this is truly what happened, then I'm fascinated by the wonders this parallel universe holds.

[Perhaps that might not be the right answer, given what he had said about his former partner.]

[It is absolutely not the right answer. Fiddleford's mouth twists a little as he looks it over, but he decides AM must simply be like Ford in that respect: able to find even the most horrifying things fascinating from a purely-scientific perspective.]

You shouldn't be. That thing destroyed our world when it finally broke through.

[He may not have the entire story -- Wendy is from furthest along the timeline, and she's from when things looked bleakest. As far as he knows, the apocalypse went off without a hitch and he was right, dammit, he was right.]

[It all sounds so weirdly familiar. A horrifying apocalypse from another realm. And yet AM can't help but wonder...]

My apologies. I am just interested in the concept of parallel universes.

What was that thing's name?

Bill.

[Chilling.]

Edited 2016-09-11 20:40 (UTC)

[This is all through text, so this could be one elaborate joke from Fiddleford's end. Or his hallucinations are simply uncreative with names. AM had not expected such a mundane name, but it all makes sense in a weird way. Fiddleford's mind could not come up with anything better, or else in an alternate world, that's the closest thing he could translate the name to.]

Bill? My, you could not have picked a more generic Western name.

I didn't pick it. You'd have to take that up with the creature itself.

I am not making this up. I wouldn't lie about something this serious.

[AM believes Fiddleford's story less and less. He was in disbelief before, but the name "Bill" has sealed it.

Perhaps he'll have to see Fiddleford in person to determine how truthful this whole thing is.]

Body language is not conveyed well through text. Perhaps we should discuss this in person.

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terribibble - 2016-09-18 06:50 (UTC) - Expand

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godofthemachine - 2016-09-19 12:33 (UTC) - Expand

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IC Contact Post for Ryslig

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