But you're bound to stay, for you've lost your way in the twists of Babylon Wood...

[best_is_past]

There is an angry woman stalking through the Organization headquarters, looking for a certain sociopath in a sweatervest. She just woke up. Or... woke up isn't exactly the right term. She was already awake, standing and fully dressed and all, she just suddenly had no idea what just happened or how she got there. And after a little investigation,

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[invitedthemin]

Topher is in what is trying to pretend to be his imprint room. It's pretending, because he hasn't really had the chance to do anything with it other than get the chair and the computer systems set up. Eventually, he is getting his office fixed up the way he likes it, but when you've had the week from hell, all you really want to do is nest in brain scans.

Right now, there's a scan of an archangel's brain up on his screen and he's been staring at it for a little over an hour, comparing it side-by-side to another archangel's brain scan, noting all the weird differentiations and... Trying to piece together some sort of logic to it. He's dealing in a world that has way more complicated science than he's used to and he is determined to figure out how everything ticks.

...And he has no idea that his week is about to get worse. Better in some ways, since he's been... Deeply concerned in his own way about the Whiskey situation, but... mostly worse.

[best_is_past]

Claire picks up a book off a table as she passes it - large, fairly thick, but luckily for Topher, not a hardback - stalks up behind him, and whacks him over the head with the book. It's not gentle, but it won't knock him out or anything.

If she knocks him out, she'll have to wait to get explanations.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Hi, Topher. This is definitely not a Whiskey, unless Whiskey has the weirdest composite events ever.

[invitedthemin]

To hear Topher carry on though, you'd think it gave him brain damage. He lets out a rather pathetic whine of pain and turns slowly, holding his head like he's expecting whoever did that to DO IT AGAIN.

....

And now he's just going to stare.

"....Dr. Saunders?" Duh, idiot. Who else would beat him and unleash the fires of judgment upon him? He doesn't wait for her to affirm that before he forgets the savage (not really) throbbing in his head to flail. "That... That's not even possible. I didn't... You... What?"

She is so going to hit him again. IT'S NOT HIS FAULT COHERENCY IS FOR OTHER PEOPLE WHEN HE'S SHOCKED.

[best_is_past]

"Why isn't it possible, Topher? What. Did you do. To my brain? Why can't I remember the last week?"

Claire raises the book again, mostly just to watch him flinch. It's satisfying, somehow, and fear is a pretty good motivator with Topher. You would have thought Topher would have programmed her to not be a bit of a sadist, but apparently he overlooked that.

[invitedthemin]

FLINCHING. HE IS FLINCHING.

...Up until he figures out that she isn't going to hit him again. He exhales in an attempt to compose himself and swallows, "I didn't do anything," he says, his voice rising in pitch. "That's the point. One minute you were you and then... You were Whiskey. I thought you glitched or..." Or Alpha had remote wiped her, but some things needn't be said.

He runs a hand through his hair, not quite looking at her. "But neither of those options make any sense anymore, because... You're you. Her. Dr. Saunders. Again. And I didn't do anything. I don't even have that imprint here, so if I didn't do it... Who did?"

He kinda wants to sit down. The only place to sit down is the chair... He'll pass on that while Dr. Saunders is in a Mood. He's pretty sure she won't try to implode his brain in a fit of anger, but he'd rather not risk it.

[best_is_past]

That answer startles Claire enough that she actually lowers the book, and sets it down with an uneasy, faintly sick expression. She wishes she could believe he's lying, but he's a little too genuinely surprised for that to be the case.

"I was wiped?" she asks softly. At least she doesn't sound like she wants to kill him anymore. "Someone... here triggered a remote wipe?" Yeah, her mind's going to the same place Topher's did with the question of who could be responsible for that.

But then she was imprinted again. With the same imprint, and she's still her, so... That doesn't make any sense at all.

[invitedthemin]

"I don't know," Topher says, the tone verging on being a whine. It's not something he wants to admit willingly. Problems with answers that he can't just come up with on a dime have a tendency to stress him out and maybe this wouldn't bug him so much if he wasn't standing right in front of (the scans, not Dr. Saunders) how much this world is different.

He rubs his chin and bolts to his computer to turn off the screens, so he can have room to flail about without worrying about screwing up the touchscreens accidentally.

"That was my theory," he says, throwing his hands up. "That or... Something here- something we didn't have at the Dollhouse- triggered it. For all I know, you could have been wiped by the pulse from a microwave oven, but that doesn't explain how we're having this conversation. It would have to be some sort of really, really warped composite event or..."

Or the RiftHe makes a strangled noise. "That's it," he gasps, wandering over to the chair and flopping down on the very edge of it. "You came through the Rift. I've

[best_is_past]

She'd consider hitting him again, but she's still trying to wrap her head around what Topher's saying. She usually understands him pretty well, as much as anyone... ever does, but when it starts swinging toward comic book superpowers, Claire gets a little lost. On top of which... she was apparently wiped for a week without Topher even doing anything, and that thought's enough to make her hands shake, her heart speed up a little...

She takes a deep breath. She might like to sit down, but Topher's sitting on the edge of the only chair in the room and... like hell is she sitting in that chair. Ever.

"Superpowers, Topher?" When in doubt, fall back on skepticism and a hint of condescension. It's usually the safest way to go. She fell into another universe, so it's not... entirely out of the realm of possibility, but... "Explain, please. What happened to you?"

[invitedthemin]

That breaks the wandering thoughts up pretty quickly. Topher starts to say I don't know again, but stops before the words ever actually form, so all that comes out is a half-articulated vowel sound. He runs a hand over the back of his neck and winces, trying to think of a way to explain in English... The English that isn't the Language of Nerd.

"Like... You know how there's that stupid theory that if you're exposed to radiation, you'll mutate and start glowing or wind up with psychic powers, instead of getting terminal cancer? It's like that, but it's different for everyone. I scanned almost every person like us that I've been able to and there's nothing consistent about it... And I went over every one of those scans with a fine tooth comb." The last bit he adds almost as an afterthought, as if he suspects she doubts his attention to detail. "Some people develop abilities they didn't have before, some get random physical alterations... There's a guy back in LA who can command stuffed animals to do his bidding- it's so crazy that

[best_is_past]

This isn't happening. This is not her life now. It just... can't be. Except that's how she felt when she was first recruited by the Dollhouse, when she first found out about what they did... and she'd feel more reassured by that if she weren't aware that memory never happened.

Her jaw tightens a little. "Of course you can." Because that's the scariest possible thing she could imagine in Topher's hands - brain - so why shouldn't he have it? And she's not going to ask how he found it out, or if he's used it, because when Topher finds something new and shiny, expecting him not to poke at it is foolishness at best.

The question she does ask makes her feel more than a little sick. "Do you think you could fix this? Make my..." She closes her eyes and grimaces a little, forcing the word through a throat that wants to choke on it. "Imprint stop glitching?"

She's not saying she wants him to. She's not sure she could let him, assuming he gave her a choice. But if she just found out if he could...

[invitedthemin]

Topher has an intense desire to protest how much he does not like having that kind of power, except that the reason he doesn't like it are the side effects and not the ability, itself, and that would be the worst self-justification speech ever. And he doesn't need to justify anything. It's not his fault.

It says something that he doesn't even have to think about the answer to that question before he answers it, although he's still pacing, "Probably? I'd need your ori- your imprint." The distinction between the two almost makes him wince. "Theoretically, I could probably isolate the problem, figure out what's triggering it, and shut off the trigger, but without the original scan to compare it to, I'd be fumbling around in the dark. And the only way to get that imprint is for it to fall through the Rift and... Then the wedge could get corrupted and either the imprint has the same problem you have now or... Worse problems

[best_is_past]

So her options are letting Topher Brink poke around in her brain, or... just wait. Wait for her imprint to glitch so hard she doesn't come back, wait for Topher to get fed up and imprint her with someone else... wait to die. Claire closes her eyes for a moment, and takes a breath. She's not panicking. This isn't panic, just the reminder that her whole life's been shrunk down to a computer program, a wedge, and a flash of light.

"Don't bother," she says quietly, more than a hint of bitterness creeping into her tone, shakes her head a little and turns toward the door. "I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. It's not as if you really need a doctor around here."

[invitedthemin]

Topher debates between the merits of talking and not talking, but when it comes down to it, he never knows when to shut up. "This... isn't about needing a doctor," he says quietly, like that was actually the point from the get-go.

He flails a hand vaguely, cringing slightly, because he... Doesn't do this. He doesn't know how to deal with anyone else's piddly little emotional struggles, but he also doesn't like the idea that the only person here who is familiar is more bitter towards him than usual, especially when he doesn't feel like she has a reason to be. Well, maybe she has a reason, but the glitch isn't his fault and he could fix it. ....Topher needs to work on that whole empathy thing, because his lack of it is never going to win him points.

The quiet, desperate tone becomes something a bit more frustrated and slightly bitchy when he finally gives up and just says the first thing in his head, "I didn't imprint you when you were wiped. I could have. I considered it. I didn't. Does that not account for anything?...Because that's

[best_is_past]

Claire stops, and just looks at him for a moment. As defences go, that's... not much of one. It's actually kind of sad, as a justification, and she might feel bad for it if it weren't... well. Topher Brink, and her brain that they're talking about.

"Why didn't you? What stopped you?" Her voice comes out sharp-edged, though it wobbles a bit, fear overlapped by suspicion and anger. None of this is Topher's fault, exactly, but he's all she has to blame. He's the God of her whole world, Creator, lord and master, so why shouldn't he be the one to blame?

[invitedthemin]

"Because it was more familiar than anything else I could have come up with," he admits in a strained way that suggests that he'd rather not be forced to admit that, resuming pacing. "I've been here a a year by myself. If I had imprinted you, that would be like... Admitting I'd given up on the one familiar thing I've had since I've been here

[best_is_past]

"Right," she says dryly, wrapping her arms around herself, one hand balled into a fist around her shirt. She realizes she's not wearing her labcoat. Of course. Whiskey wouldn't have been... "So I'll just stay here. Be your little piece of home. Why not?"

She looks down and away from him, and her voice drops a little, barely audible. "You're the boss."

The worst part is that she almost understands. That she can't help but feel like maybe she needs him around, because he's the only thing she knows here. And that she doesn't even know if that's because of her, or because she's supposed to need him, because he wanted... God knows what. But of course it's because of him. What about her isn't, after all?