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[necessary_child]

Sam inna bar. He's got his dinner, but is currently ignoring it in favour of another very complicated game of cats-cradle with magic.

He certainly isn't preoccupied, and certainly isn't worried about a certain friend of his, or more accurately what said friend's reactions will be to an unfortunate incident the other day.

Someone really ought to tell him his food's getting cold.

Comments

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

"They say you're supposed to eat it." Gren nods over from where he's sitting. "Food, that is."

It's just a concept and it doesn't mean it's one that needs to be observed, though.

[necessary_child]

Sam doesn't look up. "Strange human concept. I don't believe in it."

He does grin, however.

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

"Humans are weird."

He can't help but let out a small laugh. "So, are you one? A human, that is?" It never hurts to ask, especially around this place. "I am. Or was."

[necessary_child]

"Not technically. Immortal, but I usually pass for human." He quirks a brow. "Was?"

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

Immortal? That's something to think about.

"Well, I guess I still am. I'm kind of dead, so I don't know what other people would call me now. And it really doesn't matter."

Not until the next stage of being or not being or whatever it is. "I think we're all a little bit immortal, though, just by virtue of being or having been."

[necessary_child]

Sam thinks about this. "You make a good point."

He reaches for his drink, then realises he's still got his hands entangled in the magic and bursts out laughing. "And some of us never, ever learn."

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

Gren watches as immortal fingers fumble; it makes him laugh, too.

"I'm Gren." Names, he figures, are always a decent place to start.

[necessary_child]

"Sam Linnfer. Pleased to meet you."

Magic unravels itself smoothly from his fingers, allowing him to reach for his drink. "That's better."

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

"Hi, Sam." He glances over, taking the man's face in for the first time. He's a hard one to quantify by looks alone.

"Not trying to be trite or anything, but what's an immortal doing in a place like this?" He really does wonder: is it a vacation or some sort of prison sentence?

[necessary_child]

Sam laughs. "Not much eating, as you've probably noticed."

He thinks about this. "Same thing most people are: eating, drinking, causing chaos, finding friends, possibly losing them, and making enemies." Beat. "And occasionally getting burnt to a crisp by a dragon and winding up in the infirmary, although I really hope that's just me. If you're asking how I came to be here, though: Bar dragged me in, the first time, same as it does most. I mostly choose when to come back, though."

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

There's a moment of silence as Gren ponders it all, wondering if this place is immortal like the man sitting there professes to be.

"Mind if I ask you a kind of a pointed question?" He's not sure what etiquette demands with immortals: he's never met one before.

[necessary_child]

He grins. "Feel free. I don't guarantee that I'll answer, of course, but that's the trouble with asking questions."

He's a friendly immortal, honest.

[bothbutneither.livejournal.com]

Well, that is the trouble with asking questions, but at least he's got clearance to do the asking.

Here goes.

"Do you ever get bored with it? Being immortal, I mean, knowing that you won't or can't die? Because I always looked at living as a finite thing, at least till I got here." Now, of course, he's not so sure about that.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Hey."

Probably not who he wants to see.

"You busy? I need a word."

[necessary_child]

No conversation that begins with those four words, Sam decides, has ever gone well. But there's not much he can do about that.

So he looks up from his cat's-cradle. "Hi, Guppy."

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy hesitates, then sits down.

"Sam, I need to ask you something important, and I need to know the truth."

He doesn't look angry, more just worried.

"I need to know what happened the other night."

[necessary_child]

A short pause whilst Sam works out how to put this best. He's not meeting Guppy's eyes, is still absorbed in his cat's-cradle, but it is the truth.

"Um. You weren't responding, so I decided, probably less-than-wisely, to pull you out of it. And the best method of doing so seemed to be to shut off your memories of what you were seeing."

He meets Guppy's eyes for the first time. "I didn't wipe any memories, Guppy. And I didn't go looking for them."

[guppy_sandhu]

"So it was a panic attack." he says, almost to himself.

Looking back up at Sam. "What did you see?"

[necessary_child]

"Looked like it, yeah."

Pause. "Lots of stuff. Just flashing images of memories, that mostly didn't last long. None of them good, though."

[guppy_sandhu]

He looks at the floor.

"I wish you'd talked me through this first." he says quietly after a moment.

"There is a lot in my mind that I am ashamed of."

[necessary_child]

"You weren't responding, damn it!" Sam immediately looks contrite, as well he might. "Sorry. Look, it wasn't exactly planned. But..."

'You scared me' is left unsaid, but it might as well be verbalised.

"I'm sorry, if it makes any difference."

[guppy_sandhu]

"Well how long did you give me? Thirty seconds?" he snaps. Then immediately subsides.

"Sorry, I know you meant well, and I certainly wouldn't say that it's a bad thing the nightmares are gone. But I've had panic attacks before and I would have come out of it in a few minutes, just so you know for the future. The alcohol wasn't helping. I could hear you... I'm sorry if you were frightened."

[necessary_child]

He just shrugs. "I don't think what I did was permanent, I have to admit. Since, as you pointed out, I didn't exactly have permission to be there, I went for speed over thoroughness. Whether or not that's a good thing."

The magic in his hands twists itself over. "For what it's worth, looks like you had me beat for sheer concentration."

[guppy_sandhu]

"What do you mean?"

[necessary_child]

"My bad memories? Are spread out over a few thousand years. Yours are mostly one-after-the other, in what? A couple of years? I wasn't looking hard, obviously, but they were clearly not exactly far apart."