poly_chromatic | [ 102nd consult | voice / open action ]

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house m.d. - james wilson

[ 102nd consult | voice / open action ]

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I've been convinced for a pretty long time that these weekends have a positive side, that the opportunity to see some familiar faces, even if it's just for a couple of days, is worth all the chaos. Which isn't to say that having someone here and then having them taken away so soon, a reminder of what we're missing here, isn't a cruelty... but knowing that something will end, even soon, can never negate the time that we are given.

[ Hey, he gets to see his future dead girlfriend. It's complicated, but it makes him happy in a bizarre, bittersweet, temporal-distortion kind of way. ]

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[ During the weekend, you may run into Wilson at a few places in the City. It's been a difficult couple of months, and even though their new "regime" seemed eager to celebrate, the effects of the entire ordeal are still weighing on him. But there's no shortage of things to be done, attempts at routine to be made as he tries to reclaim the impossible existence that's slowly and alarmingly become his new baseline for normal.

During the day on Friday, you may find him in or around the hospital, where he's still putting in his hours as they continue to work on getting things running back at their usual pace after the recent battles in the City.

Early on Saturday, he makes a trip to the square in spite of the crowds, perusing some of the shops in the immediate area, including a small cafe he's taken a liking to over the years here.

And if you just so happen to be a certain future dead girlfriend, then of course you can just show up when you please - whenever you do, he's making a stab at best date night that can be managed with the current state of some of the City. ]

[ooc: Wilson is from late season three, but over the course of his stay has been exposed to lots of vague and not-so-vague information from his canon future. Still, please don't be too explicit or direct with spoilers - especially not regarding his own fate. No duplicates of in-game House cast without player permission please, and backdating is in effect forever. HIT HIM ♥ (Sorry for network and action here, just trying to keep things consolidated!) ]

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[What about the future daughter of someone you already know? Because this ginger witch knows her way around Muggle technology. She's not going to say anything that would implicate anything.

She just wants to say hi.]

Positive outlook! I so approve.

Edited 2013-07-07 19:05 (UTC)

Why, thank you. It takes a little bit of effort to keep it up, but I think it's worth it.

[ And he gives a small smile, even as he wonders if he knows her. Something oddly familiar about her, even if he doesn't recognize her. ]

Got to find a reason to get up each morning, right? Things could always be worse but that just makes us appreciate the things that're better. Yeah?

[Because her parents' war stories are splashed across textbooks and the looks on their faces at memorial ceremonies. She beams.]

Sorry, hi. I'm Lily.

Edited 2013-07-09 02:33 (UTC)

Hi, Lily. I'm James Wilson.

[ Who is still smiling because gosh this girl has a great perspective there. ]

And you're certainly right... it's important to make sure that we always recognize the things we're lucky to have every now and again, to not lose perspective so much that we can't see the bright side.

Hello, Mr Wilson!

[She claps once, pleased as she leans in close.]

Exactly. That's what Mum and Dad say. Things were so much harder back then and they sacrificed a lot to give us the lives we've got. And that's not to say our problems're petty but that sometimes you've got to step back and take a breath, you know? And remember. It's hard, though, remembering, because we're only human and we get stupid and emotional but it's okay. Learning and all.

[ Aw, he likes her. So much so, he won't even correct his title. ]

It sounds like your parents have passed on a lot of wisdom. But of course, nobody's going to manage it all the time - it's easy to get bogged down in our own problems when things are going badly. It's really just about not getting too discouraged, to keep trying as much as we can.

Do they remember being here, once they leave?

That's... a little complicated. There are a number who do, some repeat visitors who definitely recall their previous stays, and a lot more who don't. Whether they recall when they go back to their homes is another matter entirely, but it seems as if the conditions that apply to most of us don't always carry over on these days.

Someone I know says she remembers being here before, it's ... disconcerting for me to hear that. Now we're all missing, I guess.

Understandably so. Did she arrive in the influx this weekend, or is she one of our... "regulars"?

[ For lack of a better euphemism. ]

I think she's a regular, since we're putting it that way. Do these influxes happen very often?

They come around now and again, usually every few months or so.

[ He's done the home-and-back trick himself. ]

As for your friend, that's actually not too uncommon. There are quite a few of us who have gone home only to find ourselves dumped back here eventually.

Sorry about all the questions, this must feel like an inquisition; people really do remember being here once they've gone and come back?

It's all right, really. I've been here for long enough, I might as well put that to some kind of use.

[ And he means that - if there's any good that can come of his stay, it's being able to help in some small way. ]

It does vary, though. Sometimes people who come back remember their previous stays, sometimes they don't. I've done it - left and come back. I didn't remember any of it while I was at home, but once I was back in the City, things started coming back to me... months that I'd had no idea I had even lived.

I think the same thing's happened to me and a different friend. It's the weirdest thing to have people insist they've known you before. [ Or not really, but Spock Prime doesn't count; he's Spock. Jim raises his brows. ] Jim Kirk, by the way, thanks for the help.

[ Oh, he knows who you are, Jim. ]

I can only imagine. That - fortunately, I suppose - I've only been on the other end of. It's still a little disconcerting to have memories of a friendship you developed and then to have those people come back and they're the same person you knew, only... they're not.

[ That happens too often after you're here for a while. ]

James Wilson. Nice to meet you - and really, it's no problem.

[ His reputation precedes him again! ]

It sounds like a mindfuck, to be honest. How do you handle it?

[ See, that he snickers at. ]

Honestly? It is. At some point, though, you just adapt as you need to in order to get by. When it comes to a question of coping and surviving in an environment that forces you to regularly confront impossibilities... a lot of people start to find themselves a little more flexible. After a few years of it, you'd be surprised what you can come to accept.

Which isn't to say it doesn't wear on you, but... if there's one thing that can be said for the City, it certainly proves its citizenship's resilience.

You definitely have more patience for this thing than I do.

Edited 2013-07-08 19:08 (UTC)

That did take a while to develop, admittedly. And, honestly, more of these than I think I care to recall.

Suppose you're lucky if your visitors are people you like seeing. Ever met a few you weren't too happy with?

More than a few, really, though... I've actually been fairly lucky with these recently, which I suppose is probably tempting fate now that I've drawn attention to it.

[ Hm. ]

Wind up with some difficult guests?

Define difficult. [ yes. ] Although if you mean, unwanted, then thankfully no. I don't think I can handle that much of a headache. Just being here and stuck with backwards technology is already a pain in the ass.

[ did you miss this bitching, wilson? ]

[ Is it weird that he kind of did? Wilson, what exactly is it you are drawn to about grumpy people? ]

Difficult is a bit of a broad term, isn't it? I'd say not having anybody unwanted here is a good start, though - we're not always so lucky. Sometimes we have to chase them out with torches and pitchforks. You know, as we do in my time.

[ While that might work as a passive-aggressive dig, the lightness of his tone makes its intent clear as a somewhat smirking joke at the expense of his own relative primitiveness up against the City's growing number of Starfleet officers. ]

[ well, bones appreciates the levity, in any case. ]

You'd be surprised how many civilizations actually still do that in the 23rd century.

Well, once you start factoring in other planets... I can't say I would expect every civilization to be exactly at the same point of progress, or even to wind up in the same place.

It does make the future sound promising, though.

For natural-born adventurers and science lovers, it's practically heaven on earth. [ a beat. ] So to speak.

For medicine? It's the same old story. You discover new cures, get affected by unknown alien diseases in turn. As far as work goes for us, it is pretty damn promising. [ got more cynicism in you, bones? i don't think you've driven the point home at all. ]

[Fortunately, Wilson has built up a super high tolerance for cynicism over many years of dealing extensively with House. It's good for something.]

Somehow that isn't surprising. Life develops and adapts, diseases develop and adapt. Not that I envy you the selection of alien diseases. The ones that have made the dimensional jump into the City were far more than enough for me, honestly.

And let's not forget the goddamn curses that I'm told I should be looking forward to.

[He'll have been in that cafe for a while before he notices her sitting beside him. That's because she wasn't, when he got there.

Dead people would make fantastic ninjas, really.]

I got an invitation, this time. On a little card. [She's holding the invite in question, flicking it lightly with the edge of her nail.] It's wild how they do the whole tangibility thing.

Edited 2013-07-15 06:41 (UTC)

[Her dramatic entrances still do take him by surprise, no matter how many of them he's been on the receiving end of by now. And tangibility - straight for the vaguely bittersweet. He does still manages a smile, though, small.]

Things have been... different lately, around here. [ Understatement. ] I'm glad you accepted it, though.

I was glad that you thought of me. [Oh, no, she doesn't take that for granted. Feeling wanted rather than being the one to force her way in - it's a sensation she only knew for a short time. Not long enough to quite get used to.]

Different is such a diplomatic term.

It would be difficult for me to not think of you.

[He does, often, even when these days are far from his mind. Part of him will always want to go home, to know her and what they have, and part of him dreads it, knowing it will end too soon. For now, at least, they have the City - these days. It's some comfort he can hang onto as long as he's here. Sometimes you need to hang onto something. Times like these, certainly.]

Right now it's a little hard to tell if things are changing for the better. Our self-appointed champions would certainly like for us to think so.

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