Voicemail (IC Contact Post) OLD - at capcha

[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[inlieuofadad]

“Not intentionally. Went to investigate with an ADI local, they waited at the stop while I stood back to keep watch on them, and then it…”

He shifts in his seat, describing the bus’s appearance as clinically as possible. Gil rubs his face. “The other guy started boarding, yelling for help, and I tried to run in and pull him off. My muscles locked up and I got forced on board too. It was full of spiders. Webbing. Egg sacks. I sat down. Couldn’t do anything else.”

Gil stops. The sensation of being cocooned is a little too horrifying for him to willingly recount it. “Lost consciousness and woke up at the stop the next morning, with the other guy.”

[abrightboy]

“…And the nightmares started after that?” Malcolm clarifies.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil sighs heavily, nodding. "Always ending with me waking up somewhere doing... something."

Even if it was just Yoga in his room at Bonnie's.

[abrightboy]

“It’s unlikely they’re just nightmares, then, isn’t it?” Malcolm points out.

[inlieuofadad]

“I hoped it was…” A broad “I dunno” gesture with one hand, not defensive so much ass aggressively annoyed. “Some weird psychology thing.”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nods. “Yeah. It is. We call it ‘magic crap messing with your head’,” he says flatly.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil grumbles noncommittally at that, rubbing his temples.

[abrightboy]

“Has anything else weird happened since then?” Malcolm presses.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil presses his lips into a tight line for a moment before he shrugs out of his jacket, turning to drape it over the back of his chair. Then, awkwardly, he pulls down the collar of his turtleneck until the fabric stops giving, showing the edge of an ornate tattoo in the shape of a spiderweb over his collarbone.

"Woke up with that, too."

He lets his shirt go, uncomfortable.

[abrightboy]

“You woke up with a tattoo of spiders from the spider bus and a parasomnia?” Malcolm clarifies. “And you haven’t said anything to anyone?”

[inlieuofadad]

"I clearly just did," Gil grumbles, forcefully unaware of his own reliance on the kinds of technicalities Malcolm usually exploits.

[abrightboy]

“After you tried to take care of it by asking weird questions on the public network,” Malcolm points out. “Where have you been staying? You should stay here. I have spare restraints; I can attach them to your bed.”

[inlieuofadad]

"I'm at Bonnie's," he says. "I've been keeping an eye on things there. I'll take the restraints, but I can't just..."

Gil sighs. "I'm all right, Malcolm. I'm okay."

Alarmingly so.

[abrightboy]

“No!” Malcolm insists in a fit of childish temper. “Why is staying there so much better than staying here?”

[inlieuofadad]

Gil closes his eyes tight for a moment, mostly so he doesn’t have to see that helpless anger. “It’s not better, Malcolm, it’s not that it’s better.”

He rubs his face. “I’m making sure Jeff doesn’t hurt anyone. Or himself.”

[abrightboy]

“Jeff? Jeff’s never been better. He’s not suicidal anymore. Something is hurting you, though,” Malcolm stubbornly points out.

[inlieuofadad]

He can’t bring himself to tell Malcolm right now what he knows but can’t and won’t try to unequivocally prove. Instead he does what he always does where Malcolm is concerned: he folds.

“All right, okay. I’ll stay here.”

[abrightboy]

“Just until the spider thing gets figured out. Is anyone else having this problem?” Malcolm of the investigation department puts on his rarely used hat these days: investigator.

[inlieuofadad]

"That's part of the reason I made the post. I know at least one other person is. Same kinds of dreams."

He drums his nails on the table. "It feels like it's waiting for something. Getting us ready for something. I don't know what."

[abrightboy]

“You need to stay with us until we find out. You need to check in with us though the day, too,” Malcolm tells him.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil scowls at that. "It only happens when I go to sleep, Malcolm. I don't need to be nannied."

[abrightboy]

“We don’t know what it’s going to become.” He pauses. “You disappeared already and we don’t know why.”

[inlieuofadad]

For once--for one of the very few times in the years they've known each other--Gil is the one to look away, and it's not to protect Malcolm's feelings. It's to try and hide his own.

He doesn't want to think about his disappearance. What it means, where he went, where he didn't go. Where Tim did, or might have. He doesn't want to think about any of it. He can't change it. He can't get that time back. Was it carved out of his life, did he use up those months even though he didn't feel them passing?

He doesn't want to think about it.

"I told the doctor, John Carter, that I'd come in for an exam. I'll go for multiple exams if you want me to. And if I need help, I'll call for backup. I'll call you. I promise."

[abrightboy]

“You didn’t,” Malcolm points out bluntly.

[inlieuofadad]

Gil blinks. "What?"