“It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it's most often rather wearing on the nerves."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

Claude was a company man. All about the paper, yes indeed. Paper was his life.

That being said, working at the "paper company" he worked at was certainly an Experience, one that led a man to believe he'd seen a bit of everything and that nothing could surprise him.

He was wrong.

Claude was visible as he walked through the door, into what he believed was his office, and stopped, right in the bar doorway, looking into the strange room that wasn't supposed to be there.

He saw the odd and amazing array of different people, he saw the window, he saw the lovely, swirling vortex of a decaying, exploding universe outside...

"Well isn't this perfectly awe-inspiring and fascinating," he said in a distinct Northern accent, eyes raised to the ceiling. "I suppose I should get nice and comfy in my sudden psychosis and have a look around."

...and because he was a smart man, he just turned right back around, walked out, and slammed the door shut.

No hallucinations for him, thanks! Especially since Primatech wouldn't exactly take well to one of their employees going insane, and fire him. (Meaning that they'd probably take him somewhere and fire at him).

However, the bar had designs of its own, so a few seconds later, the door opened again. It had been a few days for him, and he'd been ducking into one of the bathrooms. Upon finding that the door led to a strange place that wasn't supposed to be there, he said, "Nice try," to the ceiling with a grin, turned right on his heel and walked out again.

The last time the door opened, only seconds later, it had been a solid week for him, and had been a rather busy day. He'd been introduced to a new partner in the company, one Mr. Bennet, two potential new cases had cropped up, there was a problem with one that they'd tagged and let go, and he was reading over a folder of files (that really oughtn't ever leave the company) and therefore hadn't been paying attention to where he was going.

Claude walked through and the bar door slammed behind him. Immediately, he looked up, turned right on his heel again, and went back for the door.

Which wouldn't open.

After a minute of fruitless struggle, made more difficult by the file folder he had tucked under his armpit, he kicked it viciously, and when it wouldn't budge, he directed his gaze upwards again, quickly and nervously tucking that very secret file folder in the inner pocket of his coat.

Maybe he was addressing God, but it was likely he was simply addressing his own brain and/or sanity: "Look, I appreciate the not-so-subtle recommendation that I take a vacation, but there's got to be some way to do that other than vivid hallucinations. Have me fall asleep at my desk, collapse at a meeting--complete psychosis is a little much, you understand."

Comments

[teh-data-fork.livejournal.com]

[OOC: *gasp* You rock so damn hard OMG. *fangirls!*]

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

[just_the_doctor]

The Doctor looks up from his table each time the door opens and frowns.

The last time, he sighs heavily and walks over to the new arrival.

"You're here a bit late, aren't you?" he says.

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

Claude looked up at the stranger.

"Well, I suppose it's safe to say I've been due for this for a good while now--" Every since he'd developed his powers and his life had gone strange, ever since being picked up by Primatech "--but I was hoping a total mental breakdown wouldn't hit until I was at least fifty or sixty," he waved a hand vaguely, "side-by-side with dementia and such."

He clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

"I must be wandering around the office flinging my own feces at the walls at the moment."

Looking around again, he said, "But you're the hallucination--you tell me. Am I late?"

[just_the_doctor]

Definitely sounds like him. Looks like him, too, apart from the clothes. The 'fifty or sixty' bit is the clincher, though. So unless he had a major disassociative episode he doesn't remember, the Doctor's apparently found another doppleganger.

He shakes off his previous train of thought and smiles.

"Well, I suppose not, then. You know what I find works in a fugue state? Hot cup of tea. Would you care to join me?"

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"I may as well. If I cooperate, do you suppose I'll go sane again?" he said, "I've got a stack of work to do."

And an errant telekinetic to go take down.

[just_the_doctor]

"That's what usually happens. People tend to only find this place when they need it, and when they've resolved that reason, they're allowed to leave again."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"That's all very nice and enigmatic."

He held out a hand. If he was going to go mad for a bit and have tea with the Hatter, he may as well be polite. After all, he wasn't quite a rude, bitter misanthrope yet.

"Claude--" Some quick thinking "--Rains." Haha, just a little joke. He wasn't dropping his real last name until he knew for sure what was going on. "And I suppose even figments of my imagination can have names, too, so you are...?"

[evryinchbut1.livejournal.com]

"It's not a psychosis," comments Valerie from a table nearby. "Anyway, don't take it out on the door."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"Of course you'd say it isn't," Claude remarked, turning his head to briefly look at her. "You're a hallucination."

He kicked the door again.

[evryinchbut1.livejournal.com]

She rolls her eyes.

"You're the second person to accuse me of that," she tells him, tolerant. "It gets dull remarkably quickly."

At the kick -- "No, really, don't take it out on the door. It won't help."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"It's--" Kick. "--making me--" Kick. "--feel better." Kick.

"I'd say that's helping."

Damn it all, he wasn't allowed to go insane, with his job.

[evryinchbut1.livejournal.com]

"Until you break something. Like your foot."

With a sigh, she stands up and comes closer.

"Come on, come have a drink and I'll try to convince you you're not crazy."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"Yes, that's true enough, but as I'm hallucinating, if I hallucinate that I've broken my foot, I won't really have broken it, will I," he said cheekily, but he stopped.

"I'll have that drink, though. And you can try to convince me I haven't gone mad. Even if most of the emphasis is on 'try.'"

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Make a lot more sense if this was a massive hallucination," a voice remarked nearby. Coming from the man in the suit sitting at a table with some newspapers around him. "Be easier to explain at least."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"Let's see, a suit and an authoritarian demeanor--are you supposed to represent unresolved issues with my father or something to do with my sense of individuality versus conformity?" Claude asked, pointing at the man.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Hardly, considering I don't even know you are."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"You mean you're pretending you don't know who I am. As a figment of my imagination, you know perfectly well who I am," he corrected. "But if we're going to pretend all this--" He spread his arms out "--is real, all right then. I can do that."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan snorted, "Fine, you pretend that, and I'll sit here pretending you're crazy."

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"You don't have to pretend that is my point," Claude said. "That's the part I know is true, because I'm hallucinating you."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but the view's better, an' if y'go with the psychosis theory, somewhere along the line there's some nice reality-bendin' drugs." Points out a small woman in a highly patched coat, eying the stranger curiously.

It's not him.

It just sounds a whole hell of a lot like him.

Weird, says she. Just not out loud.

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"Aha, yes," he said. "Yes, plenty of nice drugs, but I'm in a position that doesn't lend itself towards allowing time for sick leave."

He kicked the door one last time, just for good measure, then turned to her.

"What are you supposed to be, my inner child? Aren't you a bit old for that?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Rather. B'sides, m'brother does the whole kid thing better than I did, even when I was as kid." She tilts her head, curiously. "D'y'have a terribly destructive side, perhaps?"

What?

He's clearly not ready to hear the truth, so she might as well go with the fantasy.

[invisanthrope.livejournal.com]

"Not so much." He looked out the window, entranced. "But why are you asking me questions? You're the hallucination. You tell me what is and what isn't."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Are y'sayin' y'want y'hallucinations t'be conventional then? Rather borin'. A'right, y'lookin' for sommat more like the Ghost of Christmas Future, or maybe sommat more difficult t'decipher, like Harvey?"

Don't ask me how she plans on imitating a seven foot invisible white rabbit. I haven't the faintest.