Potions

I've been stalling because I have no answers, so how's your lives going?

Honestly, I know that there's nothing more to it than going to go check out Paperclip's father, Matchbook. I can't solve a problem without knowing what it is, and nothing that I've come across so far is a sure sign of problem. I sat down Paperclip and gave him the deal before anything else.

"Alright, man, first off, you have to understand that I don't have a lot of answers, I only have *some* answers." He leaned forward towards me, his expression somber and his face a bit ruddy due to the way his forehead was tilted towards me.  "Okay." He nodded after a moment's hesitation. He didn't want to hear that. Paperclip wanted to hear 'I can make everything better'. I pressed him before he could build up expectations again. "Not going to lie. A lot of people who end up proxied, or whatever it is we call it, they end up not coming back. That means they either end up having severe psychological issues, or just dead. We could go talk to him, and he or either of us could end up dead. You need to understand that too." That thought was a bit much for him, he rubbed his hands on his slacks, and nodded again. "Okay..." He drew out the word a bit, and then followed up before I could continue. "but he's in a coma, so that shouldn't happen, right?"

I shrugged in agreement, "Yeah, well, a lot of things happen that shouldn't, but I just want you to be aware that right now, there's a really high chance that your father, Matchbook..."  I wanted to phrase this better, but I couldn't sugarcoat it. "He's probably already gone, in one form or another. I think ideally, that you might want to let this sleeping dog lie. If he spends the rest of his life in a coma...well, that's probably for the better." I added as the thought hit me, "if he has good insurance."

I folded my hands together, "Now, I do not want to get your hopes up, but there has been some....marginal luck in, well I guess I can call it 'transferring a connection', from one person to another. Its one of those 'damn yourself to save another' things, I advise against it." He looked up at me then started shaking his finger at me, "You mean like that thing you did way back when? Listen, my father is a damn good soul, he needs better than this. You don't understand, Tim." He stood up and gestured with passion, "They think he killed his daughter."

I took to my feet as well, "He may have, PC, this won't change anything in that regard, it just means he might end up aware enough to realize what he did, isn't that worse?"

Paperclip fumed and said very clearly, "I brought you here to clear this up, Tim."  "And do what? Tell the police about the Hollow Man? You know that's not how this shit works! When we spread knowledge, it only gets worse. People get stupid, and curious, and things go bad. Do you really want me to go to a court with this? Tell a newspaper?  They'd laugh at me, and you KNOW what the headlines will do to your dad."

I said it slowly, "Older man found complicit in Hollow Man stabbings." I shook my head at him, and his fevor died. "They'd put him in the news. He'd hit the 24 hour news cycle, and we'd get to hear all these people who don't know the situation, talk about him about how he got suckered into a fad. Don't let that happen."

He sagged to the cushion and nodded again, a glum look in his eyes. We sat there for a moment before I wordlessly got up, we had gotten together to go to the hospital, he picked up on that. I let him process his thoughts on the road in that same silence.

About fifteen minutes out, he said, "So I could drink some sort of solution and turn the Hollow Man's gaze towards me? That was your idea?" I shook my head, "I dunno if its really some stupid tonic of ice water and...stuff. I think it might've been more the intent, the belief to go with it. Maybe that's something we've all been dancing around all this time. Maybe it really IS intent that puts things in motion, just like with everything else in reality."

He parked the car at the hospital. I didn't tell him the other part of that backup plan. I wasn't going to have him drink some silly 'potion'.

I was going to.