Joy and Other Things Also

[robotdick]

[Nick had never really thought of himself as a guy who liked drama, but damned it he wasn't getting used to it. Even without their various catastrophes the missions and errands they went on with the Vaultie weren't exactly walks in the park. He'd gotten up to more nonsense with those two than in the preceeding 80 years. Couldn't complain, though, he's also been happier than he's been in that whole span.

The last foray they took into the virtual space had been a rough one for a variety of reasons. (Not the least of which being how close they both came to being overwritten like a spare USB drive.

In truth, Nick felt he ought to be a little more hesitant to load himself back in, but he wasn't really. He was a little hesitant to load Hancock in with him, but once the ghoul had demanded to come along, Nick couldn't tell him no. Nick needed the interface to debug his emotional capacitance (Joy) and check the registry changes that program had written into him. The moment he'd casually mentioned that was what he had on the schedule, Hancock insisted, and so here they were. Nick had put it off for a week or two, just to give him time to convalesce, but he couldn't exactly put it off forever.

When he was finally starting to get buffering problems, Nick bit the bullet and hauled his paramour along with him to the seventh floor. Having those pods installed in Neon Flats was useful, if a little...tangentially traumatic. Without the drama, the VI turning things into a haunted maze, and the Vaultie dressed up in Hancock's skin with his rabid Id behind the wheel...well, it wasn't so forboding. It was just...a little dusty.

Nick loaded in first (after double checking the locks on the doors) and then Hancock did at his liesure, and despite all the strange errors, the environment seemed stable. The representation of his CPU, that great, big dark, domed room with a consetallation of thoughts and templates above, loaded in crisp and clean as anything. That was a good sign, even if the plinths and the walls failed to load in around them. ]

Don't say I didn't warn you: this is going to be one boring date.

[Nick stops at the podium and pulls up the menus and an array of windows. His processes are all running as intended, the only odd man out is Joy, so the only one who will load outside of him will be her...unless his thoughts start really wandering.]

Just doing diagnostics today, not a daring heroic to speak of.

Comments

[chem_break]

[ He nods along, confirming his genuine understanding as Nick brings it all together, explains so much that is so personal to the very mechanics of his mind, that Hancock cannot help but feel inspired to try and offer the same. Not because he feels like he must, or because it is owed, but because he truly wishes for Nick to understand, why he asked in the first place, if he wanted to forget, why Hancock had (still has) no real answer (or rather, an answer split across an impossible dichotomy). ]

Yeah, alright, I... I really didn't grasp what it would mean for ya, givin that memory up. I didn't... I wasn't tryin' to take anything important away from ya, I just didn't want ya hurtin' -or uh, only hurtin?- on account'a me

But I feel ya when ya say it's more than that. I didn't mean to give it to ya... but its yours, it's you, now. I wouldn't wanna take it back, either.

[ It's an odd conclusion to hold, but he'll keep it, since Nick took so much care in crafting it; a thing needn't be pretty to be precious, they each understand that very well. ]

Crash ya, huh? Heh...[ that tiny scrap of something that's supposed to be laughter is so somber and heavy; they've circled around to the crux of his cowardice again, and Hancock is no longer clutching tight the comfortable desire to keep it hidden.

But it's still not easy to hammer into words he can bear to speak. ]

That's... pretty damn accurate, yeah

[robotdick]

[That heavy scrap of laughter has Nick pausing. What they just went through wasn't exactly gentle. Both Joy manifesting and Nick absorbing and sharing, it was a rollarcoaster of ups and downs. Hancock listened and heard what Nick was driving at, but he's been tying himself in knots about it. He knows that look on the ghoul's face, that pensive flavor of pause.]

I'm sorry.

[Nick swallows his pride--clearly his reflexive question had struck a nerve. At the time he hadn't been coherent enough to realize how much of a nerve, but moving through all his emotions with Hancock in tow has helped him settle onto the new bedrock beneath him.]

I know. [That he isn't trying to take it back. That he's trying to protect Nick because he loves him. That he can't just talk about something that heavy.]

Makes sense you'd be conflicted in ways I'm not. You don't owe me an explination how or why, though, I just...don't want you beating yourself up over something I came up with, something I don't regret.

Joy's bugged out, but I can fix her up. Make sure she doesn't jumpscare either of us with new faces any time soon.

[chem_break]

Hey, it's alright, you don't gotta-- you didn't do anything wrong. I didn't know what I was askin ya, and you... you get a different experience outta it than I do. Ya just showed me that.

[ Hancock's not sure he can exactly accept that apology-- not because Nick mishandled it, but because the ghoul isn't quite sure his own truth has fully translated here. Nick doesn't entirely understand what he's apologizing for, and that isn't his fault because no one gave him that context. ]

I know I don't owe ya... But I... [ He draws a steady breath, lets it out like he's extinguishing candles. It's a delicate balance, wanting to explain himself and validate Nick's experience at the same time, almost in the same breath. He doesn't want to take away too drastically from the treasures he's been entrusted here... but he wants Nick to understand, too.

He has to look away before the words cross his tongue. ]

I just can't say the same as you. I can't say I don't wanna forget. And I wish I could. I wish I had that same certainty about it... and I feel ashamed that I don't, when you took it on for me, and you do

[robotdick]

That's not--[Nick pauses--he's missed the mark a bit, but that's his fault. He'd aimed for one point and bypassed another with that show and tell.]--I get it. Nick got it.

You got years of memories that hurt less, that aren't about losing someone. You want to keep it because it's them, but you want to forget it because it's tragic.

You don't need to feel any sort of way about how I took it. I got nothing else like it rattling around in here, it's a scene out of time for me.

[Nick finally exerts the effort to step back just enough that he doesn't have to crane his neck to look down at the ghoul.]

That old blank file? The one without the timecode--I wanted to wipe it after I found it. Don't need reminders that I'm not really alive and that's a pretty big one...but you probably feel different about it?

You want to tell me about it, paint the rest of the picture for me? I'd like that. But you don't gotta, and you certainly don't gotta right this moment.

[chem_break]

[ And extremely important distinction gets etched out right here; just because Nick wouldn't control-alt-delete and shut down that memory, doesn't mean he faults Hancock for that same partial impulse. ]

So you're sayin... I don't gotta be sorry about you takin on that pain for me, and I don't gotta feel bad that I still feel like runnin' away from it?

[ It feels like a forgiveness he didn't know he needed when Nick shares his thoughts on that almost blank memory with no time-- he does feel differently about it, because it allowed him to understand how ViMa (how Nick) processed and experienced the world, which is exactly what Hancock's memory did for Joy, for Nick, isn't it? ]

You're damn smart and you're also right. I do feel different about it, and even though it was pretty freaky, I'm still glad you showed me. Glad for the chance to know ya better. Guess that's the same both ways, huh?

[ He chances looking back at Nick now; some of that somber shame has evaporated. He had been so certain that Nick's vice-grip on that memory meant he wouldn't understand Hancock's fickle urge to let it go, his inclination to drown it out. But he did, and he's willing to collect the details, too. ]

... Yeah, guess I could fill in the blanks for ya, bit by bit. Probably easier than downloading the whole file all at once.

It just... it's a lot. Kinda like... emotional dominos. That memory you got, for me, watching it, thinkin about it... it triggers another one further back, and one before it, and one before that, goin' back damn near nineteen years'a film.

But it's not just that. The dominos go forward, too. Every single time I failed that last request from the moment she died, until right now. And it all happens at once.

[robotdick]

Well, good thing I don't plan on going anywhere.

[Watching that realization resonate with him and seeing that guilt lift off Hancock's shoulders, watching that shame bleed away, pulls Nick's mouth up in a lopsided smile.]

We can go slow, try to keep from toppling them. If they fall, well, I'll be there to help set them back up too.

[He looks like a total sap, his expression soft and adoring. When he says it this time, it has so many more shades than Nick had ever thought possible:]

On account of how I love you and all.

[chem_break]

Aw hell... how'd I end up such a sweet guy? [ It's meant to be complementary rhetoric, but considering everything he just witnessed, Hancock has the good grace to flash half a wince. ] Just covered that didn't we? Gotta check my cheat sheet

[ That soft and adoring expression is absolutely cherished; Hancock recognizes the gamble Nick took here, it was the same one he just endured. Hancock might not have tried to understand what Nick was telling him with all these bedrock memories; Nick might not have empathized with Hancock's explanation of his fickle urge to abandon the memory of his mother's death; they might not have tried to understand each other.

But they did. They constantly do. ]

Yeah? Well good, makes me lovin' you much less awkward [ He doesn't always pass the phrase back like a reciprocal trade, because it's not; this time he makes a point to return the sentiment readily, and with his entire heart. ]

Guess I don't talk about her too much, but... yeah. Suppose I could fill in the better parts of the story for ya, if ya wanna know 'em. Maybe later. We still got boxes to tick off in here, don't we?

[ Those half-finished installations from his evil duplicate have been politely waiting all this time. ]

[robotdick]

[Nick recognizes the leap in Hancock agreeing to tell him things. Up until now the ghoul has always seemed to think Nick would be bothered hearing stories. This is a pretty huge leap for him so Nick doesn't push it, in joke or otherwise. Hancock's the one that brings him back to task which speaks volumes about how desperately he needed some mundane activity.]

Gotta go snag the tape from the lobby if I wanna finish that.

[They haven't gotten either of the things Nick wanted to complete done, but he's not going to suggest loading joy back in just yet. That feels like a bridge too far, frankly.]

I think this might be enough virtual reality for one day.

[chem_break]

[ Some Mundane Activity is exactly what Hancock needs, so if Nick wants to ditch the digi-scape without checking any boxes, the ghoul is all for it. That whole experience twisted his brain up like a pretzel; it wasn't really bad, and he's glad they both grappled thier way to this understanding. It's... gratifying, but now he's drained, and hankering for that two boat-loads he promised himself. ]

I ain't gunna argue that. Feel like smokin' somethin' that'll knock me on my ass after that experience. Can't believe ya just... walk around with all that bouncin' around inside your skull.

Pretty sure the feeling's mutual at this point

[ It's an odd shift in his own perspective to settle with the idea that Nick would enjoy hearing about his memories of mother-- it would have been a hard bottom line to swallow even without all the accompanying math that drove the conclusion. Sure Hancock has stories, and damn interesting adventures worth sharing... but memories of his family are not those; they're coded different, valued different. ]

Ya wanna hit the roof and split a spliff with me? Feel like I could use some fresh air

[robotdick]

[Nick chuckles at the disbelief in Hancock's comment--it carries through as he transitions back into himself and off the virtual landscape. Opening his eyes again, existing in the real world and not inside memories of memories feels like finally regaining his footing. He waits as Hancock steps back out here, regaining the real world with him, and offers the ghoul a hand getting out of the pod.]

I'd love to split one. Let's go.

[The world is a sea of stars, of new and vibrant experiences, but none of them really compare to this one. To staring at the face of the ghoul that he adores and seeing that adoration reflected back. It warms the very center of his core, the cold and lonely place where he only existed as ViMA. Now he knows who he is because he can see his reflection in those black beryl eyes.]