acautionarytale: (Default)
acautionarytale ([personal profile] acautionarytale) wrote2014-01-20 12:13 am

2168

Things have gone rather well with the assembly of this device. Michael has proven the most interesting companion--half instruction manual, half lab assistant. But there are rather a lot of things that his small hands can't quite work with.

So it's rather fortuitous, isn't it, when Dr Trygstad looks in on them. Another lab assistant walks right in! Splendid!

Of course, she had come with news.

"Doktor Bishop," she says, "Something very strange has been happening since yesterday. I thought you might want to take a look...."
because_its_cool: (I've got a blue microscope)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-01-20 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
Walter is elbow deep in a haphazardly bolted together looking machine, wires and circuity streaming out and pooling on the floor. Tools are everywhere, and there are the remnants of several milkshakes in a small space off to the side. There are notes and schematics and formulae scribbled on the three tablet-boards scattered around the room. An unmarked beaker rests beside a cold bunsen burner, a third filled with a pale pinkish substance. The music system is kicking out Holst, though not so loud as to hear Trygstad.

He gives Michael a nod and a small smile. They're coming along rather well, if not a wee bit ahead of schedule. Sleeping for about forty-five minutes, in fifteen minute bits, helps.

"Doctor. What's happened?" Walter doesn't like 'very strange'. He doesn't have time for distractions.
because_its_cool: (lineface)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-01-25 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
Walter watches it through three times, finally pausing right where the section of reality has partially phased. It looks all too familiar, and not just because it's Harvard. He's seen it happen before.

Before.

He slowly walks past Trygstad, fingers playing over the tablet's surface, backing the video up and replaying it again. That ripple. It's nothing you forget twice. He stops and turns, fixing her with a manic gaze she's only come to recognize in the last few weeks.

"Do we know where this is coming from? Specifically?" He flips the tablet around so she can see it. "And is it happening anywhere else, or is it contained in this area only?"
because_its_cool: (i posit)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-02-24 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's very odd. We're miles away from Boston. That's Harvard University; at least, it's the campus where the Kresge building resides. It shouldn't be here. A chunk of Boston shouldn't be in Oslo." But there it is, wavering in and out.

"Has anyone taken a closer look?" There's a note to his voice that could easily be read as, 'because if anyone hasn't, I will.'
because_its_cool: (i posit)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-03-03 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter looks at Michael, and he understands, somehow.

"I've seen something like this before, only I've never seen such displacement. If I'm correct, that area what keeps shifting back and forth, should be in Massachussettes. It's where I used to live." Walter rubs his jaw, then starts to pace, full of energy. It's hard to tell if he's excited, agitated, or both.

"Can I see what you've found so far in your readings?"
because_its_cool: (i posit)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-03-27 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
Walter studies the tablet further, brows drawing together and the lines in his forehead growing deeper.

"I don't understand how this is happening. Boston is a ridiculous amount of miles away. Places should only overlap. But I've never had as much experience with time," he says, chagrin peeking through the sound of Walter's mental gears.

He pokes and prods the pad, looking for something. He wants to know if there is a way to pinpoint the exact date.

"I'm afraid this isn't something I was able to forsee. Time doesn't like to be manipulated. I know. It'll always try to return to center."

He looks worriedly at Michael.

"While what we did wasn't a mistake, not to us, I think we've swung our pendulum far, far from center. This," he says, pointing to the anomaly, "is gravity trying to draw us back."
because_its_cool: (i posit)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-04-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not sure, but if we," he indicates Michael, "are the reason for it, which I am hypothesizing we are, then it may very well do so. But why Harvard, I wonder? The lab? I wonder if I left the kettle on." He's joking, but he does wonder if he's left something there that has caused this sort of thing, a beacon perhaps. Did they keep an observer beacon there? He can't remember, damnit.

He wishes he could just ask for Michael's opinion. While the boy let him know when things were important, it would have been good to hear his traveling companion's side.

Walter thought for a moment.

"Do you have anyone here who I might be able to consult? Someone close, perhaps?" He needed more to go on than his gut. Belly would have told him to just go for it.

Belly wasn't always right.
because_its_cool: (rock and roll)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-04-17 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"I would be delighted," Walter says, a smile spreading over his face. Finally, some help! He hesitates for a moment, then grabs the tablet he's been using to keep notes as he's building his machine.

"Lead the way!"
because_its_cool: (too far)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-07-15 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter gasps, stumbling as he follows the doctor. He manages to catch himself before faceplanting, but doesn't seem to have noticed. His attention is fixed on the phone.

"I'm not familiar with this place. Harvard, yes, but..." He squints, making sure he's seeing things correctly. Most of the figures there make him smile, but his gaze is drawn to one that pulls his expression taut.

Breathless, "No, no no no no no."

An Observer. They had failed, after all.
because_its_cool: (i may have really screwed up this time)

i am SO SORRY for being late, i will do better next time

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-07-30 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"I... I don't know. They shouldn't exist." And neither should Donald. And where is Olivia? "Maybe it's..."

Walter goes quiet, peering at the video feed as Peter stares into it. His stomach drops through the floor, extremities going cold and tingly, threatening to buckle. He touches the screen, just as he might his son's cheek.

"Peter, forgive me," he whispers to the image.
because_its_cool: (do you have any gum?)

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-08-05 07:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"I... yes, of course. Lead on." Walter lets her take the phone and follows along, preoccupied with his thoughts and distant. He gives Michael a brief look. It's ok, this is all simply very overwhelming, on top of having practically no sleep in at least three days straight. He's feeling the latter more as they leave the room and head away from the project he's thrown so much of himself into.

"Have I met Samuelssen?" He honestly doesn't remember.
because_its_cool: (pleased)

it's been six weeks...?!? I should be shot...

[personal profile] because_its_cool 2014-09-25 03:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter understands reclusive. In one timeline, he spent three years in his lab, unless absolutely necessary. It was strange how the memories of that time were still fading, but there were things he knew he'd never forget, like the absolute uninterest terror of even thinking about setting foot outside the safety of his makeshift home. Yes, he knew reclusive. He wonders, as he walks, if this man has gone to such extremes.

The man's laboratory instantly makes Walter feel more relaxed, because it's familiar territory, even if he knows through the feel of the floor under his feet, the smell of particular levels of ozone, the taste of violet on the tip of his tongue, that it is not his own space. He'd never find that again.

He's impressed by the man's smooth English, and with only a slight pause of hesitation--one held over from the other self, the part of him that is fading--he reaches out and shakes the scientist's hand.

"Good to meet you. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your work, Doctor." He's already forgotten the man's name... pity.