Title: Stay Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 1,200 Setting: The Wall Warnings: None Summary: Peter realizes he is unwilling to leave Sylar behind in the world of the Wall.
You have next to nothing going on (the beauty of the Wall world) but...
This was so subtle, I missed it the first few times I read it, consciously, at least. But the idea that Sylar only "occupies" or feels with part of his brain like the world shows...That's just killer! The rest of the world (his brain) is dead, without electricity, lacking up-keep and maintenance, sort of just fading to gray because its not being used...wow. I'd thought about his mind and the connection to the world in how it manifests like that, but I'd never thought about it like that before, the reason behind it, as I see it.
I like how you start at the end - with Peter already inside, already having made his decision (to go back, little do we know it), looking out at the crumbling world. Then you go back and tell the story up to that point then give the rest of the ending. I'm too linear so I appreciate reading that from other people.
I liked that Sylar is more susceptible to the cold for several reasons. The one you have listed is great - probably the number one reason. Peter thinks its fake, he is stronger than it, Sylar thinks its real, he lives by it. Interesting, too, that his mind kind of dictates to him, that he's not in control of things (the world, the conditions, himself to a degree). Another reason is more scientific - Taller people have more surface area to feel cold from. The taller you are, the further the blood has to pump, the longer the blood has time to cool down. Peter also has more muscle. In canon, Peter is pretty unbothered by cold even when his nose and cheeks are all cute and red from being windblown, you'll see Nathan's the one hunching into his coat more while Peter just stands there.
I love Peter's introspection or thought-process there. I enjoy when he pieces something together, you know? Its like a little mystery he's just solved every time. I like that about his...empathy (its not just his ability and its not just his personality, its more of HIM and his gift, if you will). Sylar's given probably little to no sign that he's following Peter just to follow Peter, but that Peter reads it anyway is cool.
"the nightmare world of Matt's creation" -- Interesting. Peter now labels it as Matt's creation, not something Sylar's mind cooked up. This leads me to think maybe he's starting to believe Sylar and that they've talked (argued) more about it. The blame has shifted from "this is Sylar's mind, Sylar's world, Sylar's fault" to "Well, Matt did put him here from a reading he got, a thought he saw in Sylar's head. Maybe this is Matt's doing".
"They showed increasing signs of decay and decrepitude, like there might indeed be an eventual end to the signs of civilization." -- See? This is beautiful! You even say it (Sylar's mind and by extension the world) is decaying and lacking civilization. That could mean that Sylar's base consciousness is animalistic (lacking manners and socialization) or it could mean that its just uninhabited, that Sylar's either been forced to abandon it or he's chosen to, maybe both. Either way, Sylar is not living in those parts of town as it were. It is so depressing and dark, just the implication that you (from Peter's POV) are about to walk off the edge of the world. Its scary!
First off I want to say you should thank DD3 for convincing me to write this one in the first place. I was sitting here writing or doing something one day and I got cold. So I laid on the couch and covered up, still cold for some reason and as I often do when trying to sleep, I tell myself stories. Or just describe scenes. "Stay" is the scene I laid out and then I went to sleep. I don't know if I described it well, but in my dreamy-semi-sleep state, the buildings had an unreal character, what little was left of them. It was really something of a wasteland.
Anyway, when I rose, I recounted the dream to DD3 and she told me, "Write that, woman! Write it now!" (well, not that direct). And so I did. There was something the other day she was telling me I should totally write ... oh yeah, that other dream of Peter and Sylar in the jail cells, in solitary, and the prison wardens thinking it was funny to allow them their one hour of "exercise" by opening their cells at the same time. At first they'd fight with each other. Then they'd argue. Then they'd debate and flirt. Then they were fucking. ... yeah. Not going to write that. But it was a nice dream.
So, Sylar's mind. This is not how I view MBU, but we're free to steal it if it works. For "Stay", I envisioned it a little differently than my other Wall-based settings. Here, Sylar is literally the center of the universe, or rather where he's settled and made his home is the center. He's surrounded himself with luxuries; all the good things in existence are there. Away from there is literally moving away from what he knows, what he's familiar with and what he's comfortable with. It's the great, scary, far away 'out there'. It's menacing, dangerous, rainy, cold, unpleasant, strange and there's no reason why anyone would ever want to go there. But of course Peter does, because in a way what Peter is doing is walking away from Sylar (or trying to). He's walking away from everything Sylar is, preferring the wasteland of nothingness to Sylar's world.
And on a certain level, both of them know it.
I have noticed in canon that Peter shrugs off weather effects. Including getting rained on. Most people in real life react kind of badly to getting rained on. Milo (or Peter) just takes it like it's no big deal.
You have next to nothing going on (the beauty of the Wall world) but...
This was so subtle, I missed it the first few times I read it, consciously, at least. But the idea that Sylar only "occupies" or feels with part of his brain like the world shows...That's just killer! The rest of the world (his brain) is dead, without electricity, lacking up-keep and maintenance, sort of just fading to gray because its not being used...wow. I'd thought about his mind and the connection to the world in how it manifests like that, but I'd never thought about it like that before, the reason behind it, as I see it.
I like how you start at the end - with Peter already inside, already having made his decision (to go back, little do we know it), looking out at the crumbling world. Then you go back and tell the story up to that point then give the rest of the ending. I'm too linear so I appreciate reading that from other people.
I liked that Sylar is more susceptible to the cold for several reasons. The one you have listed is great - probably the number one reason. Peter thinks its fake, he is stronger than it, Sylar thinks its real, he lives by it. Interesting, too, that his mind kind of dictates to him, that he's not in control of things (the world, the conditions, himself to a degree). Another reason is more scientific - Taller people have more surface area to feel cold from. The taller you are, the further the blood has to pump, the longer the blood has time to cool down. Peter also has more muscle. In canon, Peter is pretty unbothered by cold even when his nose and cheeks are all cute and red from being windblown, you'll see Nathan's the one hunching into his coat more while Peter just stands there.
I love Peter's introspection or thought-process there. I enjoy when he pieces something together, you know? Its like a little mystery he's just solved every time. I like that about his...empathy (its not just his ability and its not just his personality, its more of HIM and his gift, if you will). Sylar's given probably little to no sign that he's following Peter just to follow Peter, but that Peter reads it anyway is cool.
"the nightmare world of Matt's creation" -- Interesting. Peter now labels it as Matt's creation, not something Sylar's mind cooked up. This leads me to think maybe he's starting to believe Sylar and that they've talked (argued) more about it. The blame has shifted from "this is Sylar's mind, Sylar's world, Sylar's fault" to "Well, Matt did put him here from a reading he got, a thought he saw in Sylar's head. Maybe this is Matt's doing".
"They showed increasing signs of decay and decrepitude, like there might indeed be an eventual end to the signs of civilization." -- See? This is beautiful! You even say it (Sylar's mind and by extension the world) is decaying and lacking civilization. That could mean that Sylar's base consciousness is animalistic (lacking manners and socialization) or it could mean that its just uninhabited, that Sylar's either been forced to abandon it or he's chosen to, maybe both. Either way, Sylar is not living in those parts of town as it were. It is so depressing and dark, just the implication that you (from Peter's POV) are about to walk off the edge of the world. Its scary!
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Anyway, when I rose, I recounted the dream to DD3 and she told me, "Write that, woman! Write it now!" (well, not that direct). And so I did. There was something the other day she was telling me I should totally write ... oh yeah, that other dream of Peter and Sylar in the jail cells, in solitary, and the prison wardens thinking it was funny to allow them their one hour of "exercise" by opening their cells at the same time. At first they'd fight with each other. Then they'd argue. Then they'd debate and flirt. Then they were fucking. ... yeah. Not going to write that. But it was a nice dream.
So, Sylar's mind. This is not how I view MBU, but we're free to steal it if it works. For "Stay", I envisioned it a little differently than my other Wall-based settings. Here, Sylar is literally the center of the universe, or rather where he's settled and made his home is the center. He's surrounded himself with luxuries; all the good things in existence are there. Away from there is literally moving away from what he knows, what he's familiar with and what he's comfortable with. It's the great, scary, far away 'out there'. It's menacing, dangerous, rainy, cold, unpleasant, strange and there's no reason why anyone would ever want to go there. But of course Peter does, because in a way what Peter is doing is walking away from Sylar (or trying to). He's walking away from everything Sylar is, preferring the wasteland of nothingness to Sylar's world.
And on a certain level, both of them know it.
I have noticed in canon that Peter shrugs off weather effects. Including getting rained on. Most people in real life react kind of badly to getting rained on. Milo (or Peter) just takes it like it's no big deal.
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