as_damaged | ☤ seventeen

[On screen she shakes her head, amused, and glances up; turning to look up the block, she spots-- at least, thinks she spots-- what might be her mysterious benefactor, and gives a hesitant little wave, forgetting the camera entirely for the moment.]

[While he watches the wave on the screen before looking up to track the source. And it's not like she's tiny, but she's definitely not actual size. And he's stopping there before his mind equates size with anything like 'fun' or 'treat'. God, how old is she?]

[He quickens his pace towards her, but stops at one of the carts lining the square, holding up a finger before joining the queue. Two minutes later he's headed her way again. With coffee.]

[For once in her life, Chase, she'll meet you halfway. Up the block, smiling, if a little bit cautious. Somehow his explanations don't quite fit together, but she gets the sense he means well. Probably. She'll give him a chance, though she's not letting her guard down much.]

[He's got two of the paper cups: plain black with stacks of sugar, and one with less sweetener and a shot of one of their weirder flavoured syrups. This is the one he holds out to her.]

Should help you after that long night. I'm Doctor Chase.

[He nods to the PDA in his pocket because, well, obviously. And after the coffee, he holds out his hand.]

I'd guessed. Thanks.

[She smiles, bright as ever, and accepts the coffee, taking a moment to breathe in the sugary scent before she takes a sip. Only a small sip, but it tastes all right-- under the circumstances she's a tad wary, but she did at least see it poured.]

[Given that she woke up in a strange apartment in a strange city, a little paranoia seems healthy. She takes the offered hand.]

I'm supposed to tell you to take me to see the dinosaurs.

[She's not sure if she's kidding. Dinosaurs? Really? Honestly, she's curious to see what he'll say to that.]

[Dinosaurs. Well, that skews his 'unfeasibly sleepy college town that might have a circus troupe passing through' cover story somewhat. He hasn't even been to see the dinosaurs himself yet.]

[Gradually giving up the game, he ducks his head, rubbing at the back of his neck.]

They're a little out of our way, but yeah, if you want. Do you think we could talk first? As public as you'd like.

[Coffee hand gestures towards the fountain.]

Maybe a bench?

[Her eyes widen at that. Apparently that stranger on the network-- she didn't catch his name, which might be all for the best, really-- was serious. Well, taken aback or not, she nods.]

Sure...

[She'll follow his lead to that bench, fidgeting a little with the cup as they walk.]

[He's sheepish again at how startled she looks. Well, he could just be teasing, after all. The bench isn't a long walk - it's one of the good ones, nice view but out of the way of the fountain's spray, and he lets her sit down before picking the opposite corner. His coffee cup balances precariously on a curved wooden slat.]

I've never had to tell anyone this.

[He admits, first. Your baby died; fine. You're not in Kansas anymore? Harder, and more cliche.]

Everything else I say to you will be the truth. But I lied about showing you the way home. You get out the same way that you came.

[She nods a little at that, expression going rather serious.]

I... was kind of getting the idea, that this isn't what you said at first.

[So she confesses, looking down into her coffee cup. She won't hold it against him; almost everyone wanted to soften the blow a little bit. She suspects (correctly) that she'd try to do the same, were the situation incomprehensibly reversed. Allison glances up, takes a sip of her coffee.]

[He shakes his head, almost grateful that she's picked up dinosaurs from somebody else. It should make him sound a little less insane.]

Would you have agreed to meet me if I'd told you this is a bad science-fiction story given life? I bet you didn't meet the dinosaur guy.

No. Though I had agreed to meet you, first.

[She teases, tilting her head a bit as she watches him.]

It's... [A little sigh, and her glance flicks away.] I don't see many options. Either this is real, or I've lost my mind completely.

I can't tell you what this place is, exactly. I don't know. It's something like what you'd get if you coupled the many worlds theory with Narnia and a few really hard drugs. If you want to believe the guide, people are brought here from all imaginable possibilities. Most of the people who know your name here aren't even from our world.

['Our' being key to that. He stretches out his legs, looking down at the slightly scuffed converse trainers lurking under his otherwise neatly turned out appearance. The tie isn't even clashing today.]

I am.

So you've met me, even if I haven't met you. Yet.

[That's a thought that takes a little getting used to. Allison is a fairly practical person, if slightly less of a cynic than she will be, someday. This stretches credibility past the breaking point-- and yet, it explains a day that's otherwise totally inexplicable. And, after a moment, she laughs. Partly because there's no better way to react, partly because something has occurred to her.]

I guess I can panic a little less about med school, then.

Top of your class, I'm told.

[And he's been told a lot, from around about the time Foreman was brought in with the most prestigious fellowship. Trying to brag right back at her would never have worked - she knows about the nepotism.]

[He can't help looking at her, even if it's only stolen sideways glances. It's nice to hear her laugh, though he's aware the situation is ridiculous enough to demand it.]

We work together. Three years so far at the Princeton-Plainsboro teaching hospital. You're an immunologist. A bloody good one.

Yeah?

[She smiles, looks a little sheepish at that flattery, privately doubting him somewhat. She's smart; and she knows she's smart, but she's never been the top of her class, although she's consistently near it.]

[Allison mulls this over for a minute, swinging crossed ankles underneath the bench as she drinks her coffee. Consciously not looking at him looking at her. She smiles, when she does look back at him.]

I appreciate your looking out for me.

I couldn't let the dinosaurs get you.

[The least of his worries, really. The number of lost, alone teenage girls announcing over the network that they were lost and alone, the city should have had higher crime rates.]

We can go and check them out if you want. I've been avoiding the place, myself.

[She grins at that, because... okay, it's kind of cool. And she's a little bit flattered by his attention.]

I'd like that.

[Flattered is so much better than the usual eyerolling that Chase finds himself smiling ear to ear as he gets up to lead the way - although to the world outside it probably looks like he's team leader on a college field trip.]

[By the time they've reached the zoo gates he's managed to fill her in on a few of the theories about what the city really is - neatly leaving out the option that it's the death throes of a wasting mind - as well as talking about the way they've worked together for three years and how at this point they practically hold the Diagnostics department together in the face of their limping ogre of a boss. Neatly leaving out the boring black guy (well, he's not around to complain).]

[A few coloured coins grant them access to the animals, and Chase hesitates at the first crossroads inside.]

Right. I guess the dinosaurs would be... [And there, right on cue, a deafening roar shakes the foundations of the place. He coughs lightly against the back of his hand and manages not to look freaked out when he looks back at her.] That way. You sure you're ready for the full Jurassic Park experience?

[Spared a certain amount of history, really, they get along much better. And lucky for him she's more likely to be amused than anything by his omissions, when she comes to her senses. At any rate it's a pleasant enough way to pass the time, stuck in an alternate dimension, and Allison's smile mirrors his by the time they pause.]

Absolutely!

[She's not, not really. But god forbid she let him think that, even for a second. And it's a zoo, they've probably got it under control, right? Right? She's seen this movie, though, screeching velociraptors and all. But fake confidence is as good as the real thing.]

[He nods, reaching out to tug lightly on her elbow as they get moving again, past cages full of who-knows-whats and what-the-hells. He's never really liked this kind of zoo, preferring the ones with naturalised enclosures where the animals don't wind up pacing past the bars. In a few instances here, though, it's probably for the best.]

[And they do get on better like this. Easier, at least. Before work put them in daily competition, before any other tensions cropped up to make life awkward. The way she smiles is lighter, a reminder of what she hasn't yet lived through that makes him almost wistful.]

I didn't know those came in purple. [He blinks in the direction of a paddock of what looks like zebra, the animals only keeping his attention away from her for a moment.] So what do people call you, at college? Allison? [Sounds weird.] Ally?

Edited 2009-07-13 03:46 (UTC)

[Much of what's to come, she couldn't even conceive of; no whirlwind romance and death do us part. She hasn't even met him, not just yet-- the man she's going to marry, knowing she'll outlive him. Allison isn't vain enough to think Chase might like her, and too aware of how just young she is and how young he isn't for the thought to cross her mind for more than a whimsical moment-- but she wouldn't mind it if he did; that's a weight she doesn't carry, yet. She can enjoy this for today.]

Allison, mostly. Ally's fine if you like-- oh, but not all of them are purple. Maybe it's what they eat, like flamingos.

[And indeed, a few of the smaller ones are a lighter shade of pink. He must call her Cameron, she decides, when she knows him. A few others did, and he sounds funny saying her first name. Somehow she can't imagine calling him Robert, either.]

Allison. [He works it round in his mouth and it still seems to come out either mocking or confused. She only ever reverts to first name terms after a read through of the latest assertiveness self-help guide.]

[Pause, for a moment, to consider the zebra.] Big beetroot eaters then. And eggplant, but only the outside. [Yes he's teasing now, moving on past other unidentified exhibits.] Maybe they'll eat anything red and blue.

[But where are those dinosaurs? The roar comes again with the answer: close. Look up, and up, and up, and you'll see exactly where the noisy one is. Big teeth match the big sound.]

[She laughs a bit at how awkward that sounds. Maybe it's just the accent? No, more than that-- funny, he seems as though he knows her well enough to be on a first name basis.]

Maybe someone was trying to breed patriotic zebras, and they--

[The roar comes mid-joke, and she jumps, grabbing reflexively for Chase's arm. Which she regrets immediately (so much for putting up a brave facade.)]

[Those are very big teeth.]

[Yes, yes they are big teeth. Chase had been avoiding this particular offering on the City's tourist trail out of sheer stubborn preservation of his disbelief. Yes, he'd spoken to aliens, treated mutants, and had a regulr trail of people with cat ears and multicoloured skin tones through his clinic. Dinosaurs, he worried, might be the proverbial straw to break his back. And now that he's face to, well, kneecap with one of them it's...]

[It's actually not so bad. Slightly daunting, yes, but he figures something must be keeping them in there safe enough so long as no one sticks their hand through the bars. And as mindfucks go- he's had worse.]

[And she's holding his arm. There's something equally instinctive in the way he gathers her closer, lowering his voice.] Hey, I've got you. Think this guy just got out of his lair on the wrong side this morning; don't worry about him.

[You could give a girl ideas, Dr. Chase. She tries to laugh it off, though, looking up more intently now that she's not so startled. If she had any doubts about the reality of the situation-- that this wasn't all some elaborate prank, or some more elaborate kidnapping scenario-- well, this does a fair amount to settle them. That thing doesn't look animatronic.]

I didn't expect it to be so--

[Close? Loud? Big? She didn't expect it to be real. So much for that. She doesn't take the initiative to move away, partly because it's a little daunting to be in the shadow of something that might not even notice eating you, and partly because she's too distracted to be proper.]

☤ seventeen

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