[for Tony] Meeeeemories.

[learnfromthem]

It’s a totally normal day. I wake up (after sleeping in). I feed Lucky. I make a half-assed breakfast of mango and dry cereal with what’s left in my pantry. I curse the fact that I don’t have a coffee maker in my cottage and trudge to the Compound for my first cup of the day. I stop in on Wren, make sure she’s exercised, watered, and fed. I think about going to the beach after I pull in my shift at the Boutique.

Totally normal.

Except for the part where I get smacked with a splitting migraine as I’m meandering down the boardwalk. Wincing, I press the heel of my hand to my forehead, almost doubled-over in pain. I see flashes of memory, the images skipping in my mind’s eye like a scratched up DVD — stuff I don’t remember. Correction: stuff I didn’t remember. There’s this whole other life unraveling in my head. People I’ve never even met suddenly seem as familiar as old friends, as family. Twin versions of the Skrull invasion fight for a place in my own personal timeline, and I’m sure only one of them is even real. I remember a petite brunette girl snacking on a bunny — Alice. Meeting Felix, the first time. Long nights spent with— Spent with—

“Nate.”

A blush creeps over my cheeks as more memories fill in, and it’s too much. It’s too much. I swallow back bile and try to breathe, try to control the rush, slow it down. I gulp down air and focus on my hands, focus on what’s right in front of me, and it helps. It helps. I start breathing easier. Deeper. The pain subsides.

“What.”

I should see a doctor. I should see a shrink, because whatever the futz that was, that wasn’t normal. But it’s not the Clinic my feet carry me towards at full speed. It’s the Scrapyard.

“Hey!” I shout, breathless and woozy. My voice sounds raw. God, I hope he’s here. “Hey! Christian Bale!”

Comments

[notawastedlife]

The being shouted at thing was fairly usual. A lot of people showed up yelling "Hey!" at him from time to time, and he reflexively tried to work out what he was about to deny having done this time, looking from Jarvis in the Iron Man helmet to Dope to see if they had any answers.

But then it turned out to be Kate, yelling- well, she shouldn't know that reference. He was sometimes scattered about things, but Kate not getting the in-jokes, that he remembered.

"...who told you about that? Did Pete tell you about that? That was- I wish he hadn't."