[IC: Forward dated to Saturday 19 May]

[julienned]

[YEAH I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU GUYS ARE IN HERE. it's a comatose teenager hooked up to a bunch of machines.

it's really boring.] 

Comments

[mind_over_metal]

No, I meant- what do you want your first legal drink to be?

[julienned]

[shrugs]

I figured I'd find out if I got there. Five years is forever.

[mind_over_metal]

*agreeing*

It can be.

So: a year?

[julienned]

Know what's going on with Sofia and I.

[mind_over_metal]

*can't help a bit of that "...girls are tough, bro 8(" face. but it's fleeting and barely even a conscious thing.*

And right now?

[julienned]

To never get guidance counselling while I'm in a coma and can't leave.

[mind_over_metal]

If someone had wanted guidance counseling to happen, they should have sent someone else. So, done and done. Anything else?

[julienned]

What do you want?

[mind_over_metal]

Well, at some point, I'd like for you to wake up from this coma. It seems like it could actually be a possibility this time, since I haven't been tossed out on my arse. Of course, it's not something that should be rushed, either. You need time to heal. But that does happen to be work that I can help with, if you'll let me.

[julienned]

Don't blame me for that. Up until ...

What day is it?

[mind_over_metal]

I'm just stating what happened and what's changed. It's now Saturday, the nineteenth.

[julienned]

Right. Three days ago I barely knew my name.

[mind_over_metal]

Do you know where you are right now?

[julienned]

Yeah.

[a silence]

Most of the time.

[mind_over_metal]

*nods*

You asked about Miss Frost when I first got in here.

[julienned]

She was our teacher when we were at school the first time.

I was her favourite. We all knew it. That's why it was so frustrating when everything went so wrong.

[mind_over_metal]

What happened with her?

[julienned]

Betrayed us. Like everyone else. You think it's funny, that we rely on each other over everyone else. It's not. We know how messed up it is. We just don't have a choice.

[mind_over_metal]

Because there's no one else.

[julienned]

Now he's getting it.

[mind_over_metal]

*surprise and genuine uncertainty with sincere hope*

Am I?

[julienned]

And then he lost it again.

[mind_over_metal]

I'm giving you the truth. Because you'll have to trust me.

*lifts up his hand to touch the bubble surrounding him again*

Enough to stop protecting me.

[julienned]

I said no!

[mind_over_metal]

*calmly*

How come?