and in the end if i don't make it on the list [ open ]

[postictal]

Who: Tim Wright and YOU! ...and guest
Where: It's a Wonderful Wonderlandland
When: January 19th - January 23rd
Rating: PG-13 probable
Summary: Tim's ideal world is simple. Incredibly simple. Except for the part where it's impossible.
The Story:

19th - 20th ; fantasy ; give me a boost over heaven's gate

Once he gets over how he has to shade his eyes against the diamond reflection of a too-bright sun, of the pumping lights and blinding colors of what looks like what might've been the end result if Lisa Frank took a couple tabs of acid and decided to start her very own apocalypse, he figures, correctly, that there's probably more to it than this. He prowls the edges of the bubble of increasingly absurd imagery, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It does.

He turns a corner, and there they are.

Sarah's hair falls back in a dark curtain as she laughs at something Seth just said. A little further - he can swear that's Jay there too, squirrely as ever, and the broad shoulders of a silhouette that couldn't belong to anyone but Brian.

But most startling, terrifying, unnatural than anything else, than the fact that they're there at all, is the way they all laugh and grin and joke freely and without abandon.

It's in the way they all look happy.

He doesn't breach that perfect world just yet. If this is his chance to watch what the world might have been without him, then why would he spoil it a second time? He can see them all like this, like they were meant to be, and no matter how thickly the nostalgia might build in his chest, how blindingly the ache of longing might tighten its stranglehold around his throat, he doesn't draw any nearer.

He simply settles down on the grass, draws his knees up beneath his chin, folds his arms around them and...watches.

21st - 23rd ; but i'm a missile that's guided to you;

Of course it wasn't real.

Apparently music is how you're supposed to destroy the things, but he's kind of lacking the instrumentation and an additional pair of willing voices for the sake of the three-part harmony that's supposed to be the kicker here. And, frankly, in his adrenaline-soaked, survivalist state, he doesn't have much of an instinct for memorization of lyrics from the Top Ten Hits From the Nineties listings in an off-brand version of a world not unlike his own.

It's kind of hard to be scared of zombies at this point, though. He'll give Wonderland that much; it sure knows how to desensitize.

He's not doing too badly, all things considered. You'll find him perched just alongside a sluggish river of viscous, rainbow-tinted water, having deftly dug a trench out from the sparkling earth and filled the bottom of the ditch with knitting needles, points up, to catch any one of the slavering horde that decides he looks interesting enough.

It's not a permanent measure by any means, but it's only until he can figure out how to get the busted karaoke machine he's been tinkering worth to start working again.

wildcard ; you're the one habit i just can't kick

[If you want a closed prompt with either Frisk or Tim, let me know here or at arrpee! Just because this is initially a Tim log doesn't mean I can't toss Frisk in if you wanna do something with them! I will match prose or brackets!]

Comments

[rosswood]

I'm still looking, okay? [Something of his good cheer wavers.] Seriously, why are you so fixated on this? Part's uncast. Not my fault that no one made the cut.

[More like no one showed up to the audition but Brian because Brian is nice to everyone, but there's no way in hell Alex is about to admit that to anyone, even Jay.]

[burntvideocassette]

I'm fixated on it because--

[He doesn't know who Tim is. The part's uncast. He's feeling fine. No coughing. No nothing.]

[What was that Tim called this? A "wish-come-true"?]

[Goddamnit.]

[Even if Alex can't see Tim, Jay can, and right now Jay's staring him down. What the hell was he thinking? Is this him fixing things?]

[rosswood]

[And Jay just...trails off, prompting Alex to snap his fingers a couple times, waving a hand in front of Jay's face for emphasis, like a dick.]

Uh, hello? Earth to Jay? You still with us, buddy?

[Tim looks away.]

[A wish-come-true, and Jay's staring at him like he's just killed a man.]

[Maybe, in some ways, he has.]

[burntvideocassette]

[Tim looks away.]

[Coward.]

[Jay jumps back when Alex's hand crosses into his field of view. Right. Here's Alex Kralie, but he's not the right Alex Kralie, because the right Alex Kralie would know Tim. He'd probably know him as a bit of a jackass, and vice-versa, but he'd know him. He wouldn't still be casting. Tim would be there in the living room, at Brian's side, and everything would be the way it's supposed to be.]

[Jay swipes a hand across his eyes. There's nothing there but the crusty whatever left over from the last time he attempted sleep, but he still does it.]

[This is bullshit.]

Yeah. Sorry, I guess I didn't--didn't sleep well last night or something.

[rosswood]

Jesus, man. Well, sleep in the car on the ride home or something. You didn't drive here, did you? Actually, have Brian drive you. He'd probably do it, too. He'd probably consider it a genuine pleasure, even if you're...

[He trails off meaningfully, searching for a word whose meaning either escapes him or feels inappropriately rude to launch in Jay's direction just now. Probably the former; Alex Kralie isn't known for mincing words, even to those who he actually likes.]

Well, even if you're tired.

[burntvideocassette]

BRIAN:
Are you high right now?

STONER JOE:
Absolutely! But, you know, sometimes you need to be in a different state of mind to see things clearly!

[Jay blinks. Maybe he actually is tired.]

Yeah, I'll...I'll ask Brian.

[He'll ask Brian if he knows a guy called Tim, but he thinks he knows the answer.]

What's...going on today, anyway?

[rosswood]

Right now? Whatever the hell we want to.

[Paired with a lazy grin that implies that this will be something related to the pride and joy and focus of Alex Kralie's every waking moment, the labor of love that has consumed him and will happily consume him for months more, unimpeded and unshelved and unabandoned.]

[Like he was always meant to.]

Pretty good, huh? Could get some real work done.

[burntvideocassette]

Whatever we want to, huh?

[It's quietly teasing, no vitriol behind it. Alex always was the guy with the motivation. Jay just...well, when the idea's a good one, why argue? No harm in going along for the ride.]

[No harm at all.]

[Still he can't--he won't let himself be totally sucked in. It's fake. And worse, it only exists because Tim thought it would be a grand idea to take himself out of the picture. And he's still--]

[Jay looks over.]

[He's still watching. Hi, asshole.]

[If this is the last time they're going to see everyone, it's not fair that he's the only one they'll acknowledge. It's not fair, and it's not how it's supposed to go.]

[Hell if he knows how to fix it, though.]

You tell anyone else we're not just here to hang out, or is that gonna be a surprise?

[rosswood]

What do you think?

[Appropriately teasing, as befits the Alex Kralie of 2006, innocent and smirking and untainted by things beyond his conception.]

C'mon. [He jerks his chin with every intent to lead Jay to the cluster of grinning college friends, equally untouched, equally pleased, equally free of any and all horrors in the night.] Let's show 'em what we're made of.

[burntvideocassette]

[There's that tightness in his chest again.]

[This isn't fucking fair.]

[Still, he follows fake Alex's line of sight, to the small crowd of fake people having a fake good time and chatting and hanging out just like they're supposed to, except not really, because of that empty space next to fake Brian.]

[When he replies, his voice is strained.]

Okay.