mental link, day 32

[headinjuries]

[ Sam crashed hard after the vigil, because between all the lies making him feel like he was going to puke and trying to pick them apart giving him one mother of a headache, staying awake felt like something you only do if you really hate yourself.

Do all newfound psychic powers suck this bad? He was fine with just flying and blowing things up, thanks. ]

( By the way, just figured everybody should know: Seong-Hye Ngazi is full of crap, the Public Safety Commission isn't half as gung-ho about bringing the bomber to justice as she makes it sound, and I'm like ninety percent she actually knows who did it, but that part I'm not quite positive about.

So, you know. In case anybody wanted to break into her office or stalk her or something. I hear some of you guys are actually good at the cloak and dagger stuff.

You're welcome. )

[ He can be found in the common area of the Bearings, scrolling through news reports and radiating pure frustration, if anyone would rather comment to his face instead of over the link. ]

Comments

[headinjuries]

[ That's an easy question, at least. ]

Yes.

[ He doesn't even have to stop to think about it. He'd regret everything. If it were only about finding his father, that would be easy.

But he's pretty sure his mother is starting to rethink her support of him trying, after one too many nights she never got to sleep worrying about what he was doing. His sister has cried all over him that she doesn't want him to go and not come back like their dad. They need him around to do his part to keep the household together, with their never-great income taking a hit from his father's disappearance. There are too many places he's needed and not enough of him to be in all of them.

And he's had enough close calls that he knows they're justified in worrying about it. ]

[batmotif]

[The "yes" might be an easy answer, but the uncertainty that follows is poignant enough to not be ignored.

(Sam, if you keep projecting family feelings, you're going to make the rest of the evening Very Difficult and mentally compromised for Bruce.)

He tries to edge him forward; he refuses to fully rummage around in his head to pick at the details.]

But...?

[headinjuries]

Right before last time I took off. Like, the time that everything went messed up and I wound up here. My little sister was having nightmares about me going into space after Dad and never coming back. Like Dad.

[ And wouldn't you know it, right after he promised her that wasn't gonna happen, he...went into space and has no idea how he's going to get back.

Great job, Sam! Make the kindergartener cry. ]

[batmotif]

[Ah, the ever prevalent problem of not being able to return home. Beyond merely saying that Bruce plans on finding a way back if it kills him, he doesn't have much comfort to offer concerning that. They're all in the same boat, they're all displaced. Some take to it better than others, but some, like Sam (and like himself) have very important things waiting for them back home.

Bruce doesn't have any alleged siblings in his universe, but he can understand Sam's dismay, being caught between two very difficult choices.]

The ones you care about might not always understand, but you'll just have to do your best to ensure you return home to them every time. [That's the best he can offer.] That, or you learn to live with the fact that you stopped looking. There's no easy answer.

[headinjuries]

Awesome.

[ Deadpan, sarcastic...but also resigned. He gets what Bruce is saying.

He sure as hell doesn't like it, but he gets it. And anyway, nothing else has ever had an easy out in his life, so why would this? ]

[batmotif]

[Probably not the uplifting piece of advice he could have used, but Bruce thinks being grounded in reality is better than telling him that everything will be alright, that everything will work its way out in the end. He isn't exactly a proponent of ignorance.]

They're waiting for you back home. Consider that motivation to improve yourself today.

[headinjuries]

[ That's one thing working in Sam's favor, at least - he always wants to be better than he is, even if he sometimes struggles to actually make progress in that direction. ]

Right.

[batmotif]

[At least there's that. If nothing else, Bruce can do his best to guide Sam in improving himself, so that he's ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead when he does return to his universe. (And yes, Bruce is determined to make sure it's a when, and not an if.)]

Then let's continue. We're not done yet.

[headinjuries]

[ His only response is to get back into that stance (the corrected one, of course). More hitting things? Sure let's go. ]

[batmotif]

[It's response enough for Bruce, and so the two of them will settle into the rest of their lesson with little else to interrupt them, until either Sam is too tired or Bruce is satisfied. (You guess which one happens first.)]