Fandom Awakening (private with SleepyBuddha)

[St. Boethius]

“ Just testing whatever this thing is.” Norman says as he pushes his mind outward finding himself next to Sierra. He’s begun to realize that while he’s over here with Sierra his body doesn’t move and he doesn’t actually say what he thinks.
“ Say, where are you right now?” Norman asks he starts doing a perimeter sweep out of habit.

 

[Eliasdagood]

“Um… Tucson AZ, Broadway boulevard, just by Park Place mall.” She says, watching him. She gets no small amount startled when a waitress walks right through him to give Sierra her meal of steak, eggs, and hash browns, as well as more tea. “Why do you ask?” She questions once the woman has left. She’s getting more and more irritated looks as their conversation continues, and she grimaces, looking down and starting to dig in to her food.

 

[St. Boethius]

“Because I have never been anywhere near Arizona. I was born and raised in Tennessee. Didn’t leave that state until I shipped out to basic. So how is it I can see a place I’ve never been to, taste things I’ve never tasted before. Something doesn’t seem right...” Norman said as he began scanning outside the diner. Taking special notice of parked cars and people outside.
Back at the FOB Norman actually had finished eating and was heading to formation to start PT.

 

[Eliasdagood]

“Weird… so is it more likely I’m imagining you, then? But that doesn’t make sense… this is absolutely ridiculous.” She mutters, her eyes narrowing in frustration as she tries to figure out what’s happening. She hates not understanding.

She jumps a bit as her phone dings, getting a text from Jade. “Well, my roommate is recommending a psychologist. Might check that out.”

 

[St. Boethius]

“Can’t say I’m surprised. If it wasn’t for the fact it had be 2 days since I last got more than 3 hours of sleep I’m fairly certain they would have called me a basket case.” As Norman surveyed the surrounding he found a suspicious person seeming to stare over at Sierra,
“ Guy, mid twenties, looks like his mom still picks his cloths. Brown hair, decent build.. sound like someone you know? He’s kinda staring at you. 10’ o clock.”
Norman said giving a short threat assessment on the male.
Meanwhile Norman had begun exercising: jumping jacks, burpies, push ups, etc. he vaguely hoped the exercise might keep the hallucinations at bay, but no luck yet.

 

[Eliasdagood]

Sierra freezes up a bit at his description. “No. Doesn’t sound like anyone.” She at least has the sense not to tip the man off by turning and looking. She’s not even so sure why she believes the probable hallucination that there’s a man in the first place. The waitress comes by again, and Sierra asks for a box and the check, now trying to get out as quick as is legal.

She takes a deep breath, telling herself that he’s probably just annoyed with having to listen to her one sided conversation. She gulps down her coffee, her heart beating harder in her chest. It wouldn’t be the first time a guy got creepy with her, but last time she had to move.

 

[St. Boethius]

“ Well, looks like you spooked him he’s heading over here.” Norman says as the man quickly fumbles through paying his meal in an attempt to not lose Sierra. Unbeknownst to Norman at least the man was actually someone who shared a class with her and was trying to work up the courage to talk to her. In the mean time he had following her.
As the heart rates of both Norman and Sierra continued to rise for completely different reasons the connection between them seemed to grow stronger.

 

[Eliasdagood]

“What?” When whispers, finally turning her head to look at the man. Ah… okay… I might know him from somewhere. Not sure.” She whispers, making sure he doesn’t see or hear her speaking. She’s still scared. Too much is happening at once, and there’s a strong potential of actual danger, something she’s not all that familiar with. As soon as the waitress gets back, she’ll put down cash for the order, and then she’s going to sprint.

 

[St. Boethius]

Sprinting is exactly what Norman was now doing. He was trying to get his one mild down from 5min 30 seconds. Even if it was just a few seconds better it would be an improvement. He was racing against his squad mates trying to beat the squad Stud who had always been at the top of PT scores. A bit of friendly competition helped a unity grow stronger together. Checking in Sierra Norman was sweating bullets as he kept a close eye on the guy. “ It doesn’t look like he’s got any concealed weapons. Hold on... there’s something he’s hiding under his coat. “

The young man seemed to be flustered as he began retreating the object from his coat.

 

[Eliasdagood]

The waitress seems occupied with another table, and Sierra grits her teeth. “No one wants to hurt me.” She whispers. She’s trying so hard to reassure herself, but she just can’t do it. She finally thinks of another out, and gets up, running for the bathroom. Her whole body is shaking when she locks herself in, trying very hard not to break down in fear. “Is he still out there?” She whispers, hugging herself as she tries to calm herself down.

 

[St. Boethius]

Norman appears beside her, “ It looked like it. I can’t separate too far from you to find out. It seems whatever this is has an effective range. “ Norman watches Sierra carefully. He’s still not sure if any of this is even real, and yet he knows that he’s not the type of man to just watch a woman cry.
“ Hey, Hey look at me.” Norman says trying to get her to focus on him. “ Your going to be alright. Deep breaths. It’s my fault. I’m trained to treat everything unknown as a threat. He’s probably just some guy who fell for your cute looks. Let’s just take a moment.. you’re safe.”

 

[Eliasdagood]

She looks up at him, and nods, taking slower, deeper breaths. “Right… right. I’m not sure anyone would have any reason to just shoot me in a cafe. I’m not that important.” She sighs. “Yeah… definitely gonna need to see that psychologist… for anxiety, at the very least. Think I’ve needed that for a while.”

She unlocks the door, and heads back out to her table, still a bit pale, but trying to act like she wasn’t just afraid for her life.

 

[St. Boethius]

Norman continues to watch the man who seems to have disappeared from the diner. Sierra can now see that Norman is covered in sweat from head to toe, though he doesn’t seem the least bit winded to her at the moment.
“ He’s gone.. I don’t see him anywhere in the room. Your stunt probably spooked him.“

actual Norman had spent that running as hard as he could only to get third place. Again. Not that the ranking really matter but still. Norman was heaving trying to steady his breaths. He still had a long day ahead of him.

 

[Eliasdagood]

Sierra nods, sitting back at her table. “At least now I can relax… are you good? You look like your weather is even worse than mine.” She says with a grin, relieved to feel safe again. She pulls her phone out of her pocket, looking over the information Jade sent about the psychologist. “Hey… generally speaking, is it suspicious to not find any social media for a doctor? His name isn’t getting anything.” She says, looking at her screen in confusion.

 

[St. Boethius]

“ Yeah that’s usually not a good sign. Even a decent con artist knows to set up a fake website these days. Let me tell ya, Hernando, guy from my squad, almost got one of his kidneys stolen because he didn’t do a through check on the local dentist when he was stationed in Korea.” Norman laughed to himself as he remembered the story.
“ yeah I’m fine, just got done running a mile and now we’re stretching out.”

 

[Eliasdagood]

When nods. “Right then. I’m gonna see if I can find my own. Jade’s cool, but this is kind of sketchy.” She says, pausing for a moment. “So, how long have you been deployed?” She asks curiously. “And where?” She suddenly finds herself next to his body, her curiosity having pulled her over. “Oh. I’m here again.” She says, looking around curiously.

 

[St. Boethius]

“ 7 months, 25 days, 15 hours, and 6 seconds.” Norman breaths out as he’s struggling to hold the planking position. Around his are 10 men doing the same exercises in a small corner area of the base. High winds whip sand about and every structure seems to have some camouflage draped over it.
after a few moments there was a call by the leader of the group which called all of them to the position of attention.
“ Specalist Stewart, get Your shit. Your leaving us. Fallout.”
Norman looked confused but did as instructed apparently his transport to leave for the airfield was already ready. “ Looks like I’m heading home. “ Norman said with a smile.

 

[Eliasdagood]

Sierra tilts her head. “That… wouldn’t happen to be about me, would it?” She asks. She slowly starts to move in her body, seeming confused by her ability to do so. “Huh… this is weird. I’m… kind of in both places at once.” She mumbles, as she continues to walk with Norman. She looks around, very curious about what this place is like. “Where do you live? I’m kind of curious what happens if both of us end up in the same place.”

 

[St. Boethius]

“ I can’t figure why it would be. Probably they got a tip that a route needs to be swept and my comrades in EOD are all busy. So I’ll go clear the route and since it’s on the way I’ll be dropped off at the airstrip.”
Norman explained as he quickly changed cloths briefly revealing extensive burns on his chest.
“Well if we both happen to actually exist and end up at the same point in space then it would probably be the same as now wouldn’t it?”
Once he got his gear in order he hopped into the convoy and waited for the section of road they needed to clear.

 

[Eliasdagood]

“That’s the thing. I’d really like to know if both of us exist. I want to know what’s happening here.” She says, paying her bill, boxing up her food, and going to wait for the bus again. “Because either we’re both real, or one of us isn’t, and I can’t handle the possibility of that person being me. The idea that I’m literally a symptom scares the hell out of me.” She looks away while he changes, too polite to do otherwise. “I haven’t heard of this happening before… I mean, some stories about twins have similar aspects, but I highly doubt we’re twins.”

 

[St. Boethius]

“Nope, I’m an only child.” Norman says as his perspective changes to hers. “ If you are a symptom then you’re a pretty self-consciousness one. “ Norman says as he starts watching the area around her again. He thinks for a moment he sees that young man again, but there’s too many people he can’t get a clear look.
“ I for one can’t wrap my head around such a self defeating symptom, but I also know I’m real because well. My life sucks too much for it to be fake.” Norman said putting on an over exaggerated Smile.

 

[Eliasdagood]

“Right? It’s so strange… I hope we figure out what’s up soon, it’s going to be really hard to think about anything else. And this ability to multitask is weird as well, because I’m pretty sure the human brain can’t do this. It just switches back and forth very rapidly. But I’m here with you, and I’m also here getting on the bus. I’m gonna go nuts if I’m not already.”

 

[St. Boethius]

“ Eh.. it just taking some getting used to. It’s kinda like.. dividing your attention. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but it’s like I’ve got an application running in the background or something.”
Norman was having just as difficult a time adjusting to this as Sierra was, but thankfully he had the benefit of training which helped him remain calm and think clearly no matter how high stress the situation may be.
Norman’s convoy continues without a hitch until Norman spots movement on a ridge. He thought was just his mind playing tricks on him until he heard the sound of an RPG firing and saw the car in front of his explode. The force of the blast and the need to avoid the wreck caused Norman’s vehicle to fall on its side. Dazed and ears ringing, Norman’s full attention was back on his reality. Fight or Die.

 

[Eliasdagood]

Sierra was mostly focused on his reality, so when the explosion goes off, she cries out in fear, startled back to her own life, where everyone on the bus is staring at her. She gets off at the next stop, sitting on the bench. “Norman! Are you okay?” She asks frantically, appearing at his side once again. The dreams… she remembers this from the dreams. The fear, the noise… she certainly doesn’t envy him when this is how he lives.

 

[St. Boethius]

It was quite a strange feeling: being able to hear Sierra so clearly despite the fact all he could actually hear was the ringing in his ears. Thankfully the vehicle took most of the abuse. All he would have to worry about was bruises from the seat belt. Norman groaned he he cut himself free and started to crawl his way out of the vehicle from its gunner stand. Once he was out he took cover and checked the status of his weapon and began returning fire with the rest of the convoy. He had no time to spare answering Sierra as he drove off the insurgents.