The Park, Saturday Afternoon

[dollpocalypse]

Clad in his finest suit, Topher was halfway through a Mountain Dew and trying to decide whether or not he knew the way out of the park when his phone rang.

"Go for Brink." The person on the other end of the line sounded urgent, so Topher took a sip of soda. No, more like a slurp. "No, I'm not at my -- I'm not at my desk, Boyd." He waved a hand,

Comments

[selfhelphero]

There were a lot of things in Fandom that were unfamiliar to Billy, even though it hadn't been that long since his last visit, so spotting a familiar face as he made his way through the park definitely made him grin. "Topher! Are you actually away from work? Is that even allowed?"

[dollpocalypse]

"I apparently can take days off!" Topher reported, sounding like the concept mystified him. "What about you? Aren't you busy with your whole magic thing?"

[selfhelphero]

"If the world starts to fall apart, someone will text me," Billy said. "It's more constant vigilance than actual work. We have a lot of good scientists keeping things going." Hint hint, Topher.

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, don't mention it," Topher smirked. "Or do. I'm awesome."

He had not become less obnoxious since graduation. Not even a little bit.

"And how's whatshisname?" he asked in more of a sing-songy voice.

[selfhelphero]

"Teddy's good," Billy said, grinning in an instant because he had not become less dorky since graduation either. "You should definitely take more time off at some point and come visit. It might be good for you."

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah, but then I'd have to get all competitive and explain to him how awesome I am, et cetera, et cetera," Topher teased. "I know, two cool guys fighting over you would be like a dream, but..."

[selfhelphero]

"Oh yes, it's a dream I have regularly," Billy deadpanned. "I'm more worried that you don't get out enough, and believe me, when someone who never gets a day off tells you you're not relaxing enough, I think it means something."

[dollpocalypse]

"I'll think about it," Topher... probably lied, waving him off. "I guess I do have a better excuse than most people to take a day off, since--" he tapped the side of his head and lowered his voice-- "I'm backed up."

And then he grinned. Because how cool was it that there was a backup imprint of his brain?

[selfhelphero]

"You're... what?" Billy asked, not certain that whatever Topher was talking about was cool at all. "Do you have something in your head?"

NFB

[dollpocalypse]

No, it was totally awesome!

"No, the opposite," Topher said, before pausing and realizing that that wasn't quite right. "I mean, wait, no. I do have something in my head, which is my brain, but there's a backup too. So if I'm not in the office, I can still be in the office as long as someone else gets loaded up with my imprint!"

...Well. He thought it was awesome. It had practical real-world implications!

Re: NFB

[selfhelphero]

"Like, one of your residents?" He couldn't call them dolls, he just couldn't. "They can do that?"

Re: NFB

[dollpocalypse]

"They can now that the technology's there," Topher replied. "Which is thanks to me, obviously."

'Resident' was a good word, actually. Maybe he'd use that. It made them sound like doctors.

Re: NFB

[selfhelphero]

"Can they do that if you're there? Like, have two of you?"

Billy, why would you give Topher ideas like that?

Re: NFB

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, yeah, absolutely," Topher said. "It'd be a little redundant, though. Why, can you think of a reason?"

Re: NFB

[selfhelphero]

"Nope," Billy said quickly, because he was a married man. "I was just, you know, wondering. I'm still trying to understand how it all works."

Re: NFB

[dollpocalypse]

"It's like... copying and pasting my brain into a hard drive," Topher explained, very hush-hush now. Billy was the only person who got to be in on this stuff! Lucky, lucky Billy. "The original is still preserved--" he tapped his temple-- "but there can be a copy in the LA office, either on the drive or in one of our 'residents.'" Seriously, that was a neat word. "And then, yeah, I can be in the same room as whoever gets me in their head, sure, but." He smirked. "Kind of a waste of my genius to imprint someone with my skills only to have us in the same place. It's mostly a contingency in case I never need to go on a trip. Such as today."

He paused. "So for example, if you ever wanted an Active printed with, say, some superhero to spice things up with you and Theo..." Teddy, Topher. Teddy. "We could theoretically copy an actual scan and the real person's brain would be totally intact."