Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory [OPEN]

[solvethepuzzle]

Who: Nathan, and OPEN
Where: Shepherd's Haven
What: Nathan relives a really bad memory
When: September 22
Warnings: Possible mentions of suicide.


Even amidst all that is happening, at least a semblance of a normal life goes on. It has to. Nathan's day revolves more around tending the plants than the animals. It's soothing work, in its own way, if messier than what he'd been used to before the invasion. There is a predictable pattern to it all that he finds comforting.

He is already kneeling when the feeling hits him, fortunately. Like everything around him has suddenly changed. Instinctively, he curls inward, wishing to make himself smaller. This isn't right. Isn't right at all. What is he doing in this room that he knows is from another life?

Anyone who passes by will notice him hunched there, almost eerily still, except for his quiet speech, uncaring in tone . . . that seems to be directed at no one. Any attempt to shake him out of it will result in no reaction. And then a pause, for a couple of moments, a stricken look passing over his face. More quiet talking, but more subdued in nature this time.

And then suddenly he's back. Back in Shepherd's Haven, not in that room. That room where . . . where . . . No no no no no no . . .

He lets out a gasp, but it doesn't stop there. His eyes are wide, terrified. He's shaking, breathing hard, trying desperately to get himself under control. All in an open field where anyone could see him.


[[OOC: If anyone might be in position close enough to hear Nathan's end of this, the recurrence starts halfway through page 7 to the end of page 12. (Content warning for suicide.)]]

Comments

[numberedshepherd]

Lazarus wasn't expecting Nathan to disagree about the outfit he's currently dressed in, but his shoulders still slope slightly more at the confirmation that they seem out of place on his body. The story of his life is sort of not belonging, no matter what environment he finds himself in. The closest he ever came was Willow Ridge, perhaps, but that almost feels like a lifetime ago now.

He pushes open his door when they arrive at the house, immediately putting a pot of milk to warm on the stove and heading back to the bathroom (where the mirror is still foggy from his shower) to get dressed the way he originally intended to.

"I'll be just a moment," he informs, leaving Nathan to wait in his very clean, strangely spartan cottage's kitchenette.

[solvethepuzzle]

It's only a slight motion, that sloping of the shoulders, but it does not escape Nathan's notice.

"Though you're not alone in getting something so unsuitable. I hardly think that riot gear suits me or my Other."

A vague joke, perhaps? Even Nathan isn't quite sure; he simply wants to mitigate that reaction somehow. That story of not belonging is something they share, what had made Nathan instinctively approach Lazarus what is now a decade ago. They were different, strange in many of the same ways. He'd wanted to know what it was like to have that, back then, even if it only could have been brief. And it had turned out not to be brief after all.

The spartan quality to the kitchenette is nothing strange to him. His own is similar, which would surely surprise no one who knows the both of them. He takes a seat while he waits, watching the pot warm on the stove, using the moment to try and calm what agitation remains.

[numberedshepherd]

Lazarus has no delusions about being an attractive man, the type of person who would look good in that type of uniform, but it doesn't mean he's wholly happy with his appearance. Even though he does little to change it and has bizarrely good luck with attracting romantic partners, some days he would absolutely prefer to be the kind of strong, upright, healthy man who could lead a movement and reassuringly look the part.

It's actually highly impressive that he's earned so much faith and trust looking like he does, but he tends to overlook that.

"Riot gear?" he asks absently. "No, I... fully admit that was very strange to see..."

Near looks like he's made of glass. Riot gear could protect him, Lazarus supposes, if he could move while wearing it. And he can, of course, he's witnessed it, but that doesn't really make it easier to accept.

He returns shortly, hair still damp from the shower that his pulse had interrupted, wearing looser and more comfortable clothing than the dark, close-fitting pieces he usually steps out in. He will probably not leave his home again today, and his feet remain bare as he returns to the warming milk and arranges his ingredients. Most of them are close at hand; not surprisingly, this is pretty much the only thing Lazarus knows how to cook.

"It's a big deal that I'm good at this, you know. I don't think you'd remember Belle... she was before your time, but back when I lived with her, I tried to cook occasionally. I ruined a lot of food and appliances and still never really got the hang of it."

[solvethepuzzle]

There are times when Nathan wishes he could be different than what he is. Someone with more normal coloration so that he does not get wary glances or hear whispers from strangers. Someone taller and healthier-looking that does not get mistaken for thirteen when he's twenty. Usually, he doesn't think about it. But there is the occasional day.

Even stranger that the riot gear had fit him. It surely would have had to have been custom-made, as he cannot imagine that such a thing would be regularly made for someone his size. Near had apparently thought that he might need it at some point.

"No, her name is unfamiliar to me." He'd only checked backlogs up to a point. There is a line between being thorough and falling behind. "It can be a difficult thing to get the hang of, yes."

Nathan never quite ruined appliances, but he certainly has had his share of cooking failures. He can make a few things, but he is not what anyone would call a skilled cook.

[numberedshepherd]

Lazarus nods, having expected as much. "Belle Goldman. She was my therapist, and then we lived together, and then..." he coughs, trailing off. "She had endless patience. Back then I really needed it. Far more than lately, though maybe not as much as recently. She lost her Number and reconnected with an old flame, to the last of my knowledge, and I've stopped keeping tabs on her. It feels inappropriate, somehow."

For Lazarus to recognize that might actually be profound. He stirs the milk, scooping the wrinkled skin developing of the surface.

"It doesn't mean I don't ever wonder how things might have gone under different circumstances."