"Scene Transition" and "End of an Era" (Dollhouse)
A couple Dollhouse fic snippets that didn't really make it into anything, and probably won't do anything beyond sit around my hard drive.
Title: Scene Transition
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Topher, Adelle, Boyd
Wordcount: 363
Summary: Readjustments will have to be made, as well as idle conversation.
Notes: Coda to A Spy in the House of Love. Therefore, spoilers.
After Travis and Echo leave together, Topher joins Adelle and Boyd on the balcony. He waves a hand, needing to say something but lacking the words ("Like the feeling when you can't think of a word - but with every thought you'll never think") with which to say it. Adelle spares him a brief glance, but Boyd isn't looking at anything right now. He's probably thinking about Echo. That would make sense. Of all the handlers, Boyd did always have the closest bond with his Active. But that has always been dangerous - for everyone. In the Dollhouse, you have to be certain about where your loyalties lie. There's no error margin.
Finally Adelle shakes her head a little, as if waking up, and smiles distractedly at Topher. "I'll be upstairs, gentlemen," she says, pushing back from the railing. She walks away, through the door, out of the Dollhouse entirely. The click-shut sound reverberates between Topher's ears with the white noise whine.
He looks back over at Boyd. Adelle's new head of security still hasn't returned from wherever he's wandered off to in his own head. Whatever he's thinking, it must be captivating. Or troubling. Probably troubling. He's probably contemplating the myriad ways in which Echo can be hurt, now that he won't be around to make sure everything's okay.
"You know, Travis does know what he's doing," Topher says. "It's not like we're sending her out unprotected into the wide world."
Boyd comes back to himself then, eyes flicking toward Topher and away. "Isn't that what we always do?"
"Not exactly. We send them out with the skills and mindset best suited for whatever they need to do. We're the ones in real danger - we don't come made to order. We're human."
But Boyd shakes his head, frowning, full attention of Topher instead of still halfway wrapped up in his thoughts. "They're human, too."
"But they're better," Topher says. "They're exactly what they need to be."
"What we need them to be, you mean." Boyd sighs. "You're not very reassuring, you know."
"And that's why you're our new head of security, and hey, I'm still the science guy. I don't have to be reassuring."
Title: End of an Era
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters:: Topher, Boyd
Wordcount: 300
Summary: In which everything goes up in flames.
Notes: I actually wrote this as the beginning of my lgbtfest entry, and then realised it had nothing to do with the rest of the story. It doesn't really end so much as stop.
When the end comes, it takes Topher completely by surprise. This itself does not surprise him, because he knows by then that he never sees anything coming, but he's too busy staring aghast at his life's work, falling apart in front of him. The computer system sparks and snaps in front of him, the air fills with smoke, and somewhere he swears he can hear music, playing softly over the intercom system.
Boyd comes for him, and that's surprising, too. Boyd finds Topher sitting in the middle of his combusting technology, staring at one of the personality chips, turning it over and over in his hands as if it holds all the answers. It does hold one, actually: the evidence of their reliance on the Actives' own brains to make this enterprise work. Topher had thought he'd perfected the balance between blank and overly perceptive. He placed too much faith in tabula rasa, and look where he is now.
Boyd takes the chip from his hands, tosses it to the side. "Come on," he says, low and urgent. "We've got to get out of here."
"It won't make a difference," Topher says, even as he stands up, even as he gives over executive power over his own actions. He's good at doing that, at least. In the records, he will probably be known as the guy who let it happen. Let the Actives be pushed in ways they weren't supposed to go. Let the business grow beyond its limits without arguing, as Dominic and Boyd and even Dr Saunders had argued. Let Boyd push him out of the treatment room, out into the hallway, through the door and to either freedom or certain death.
He wonders if this is shellshock, or if he's just that bad at adjusting to change.
Title: Scene Transition
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Topher, Adelle, Boyd
Wordcount: 363
Summary: Readjustments will have to be made, as well as idle conversation.
Notes: Coda to A Spy in the House of Love. Therefore, spoilers.
After Travis and Echo leave together, Topher joins Adelle and Boyd on the balcony. He waves a hand, needing to say something but lacking the words ("Like the feeling when you can't think of a word - but with every thought you'll never think") with which to say it. Adelle spares him a brief glance, but Boyd isn't looking at anything right now. He's probably thinking about Echo. That would make sense. Of all the handlers, Boyd did always have the closest bond with his Active. But that has always been dangerous - for everyone. In the Dollhouse, you have to be certain about where your loyalties lie. There's no error margin.
Finally Adelle shakes her head a little, as if waking up, and smiles distractedly at Topher. "I'll be upstairs, gentlemen," she says, pushing back from the railing. She walks away, through the door, out of the Dollhouse entirely. The click-shut sound reverberates between Topher's ears with the white noise whine.
He looks back over at Boyd. Adelle's new head of security still hasn't returned from wherever he's wandered off to in his own head. Whatever he's thinking, it must be captivating. Or troubling. Probably troubling. He's probably contemplating the myriad ways in which Echo can be hurt, now that he won't be around to make sure everything's okay.
"You know, Travis does know what he's doing," Topher says. "It's not like we're sending her out unprotected into the wide world."
Boyd comes back to himself then, eyes flicking toward Topher and away. "Isn't that what we always do?"
"Not exactly. We send them out with the skills and mindset best suited for whatever they need to do. We're the ones in real danger - we don't come made to order. We're human."
But Boyd shakes his head, frowning, full attention of Topher instead of still halfway wrapped up in his thoughts. "They're human, too."
"But they're better," Topher says. "They're exactly what they need to be."
"What we need them to be, you mean." Boyd sighs. "You're not very reassuring, you know."
"And that's why you're our new head of security, and hey, I'm still the science guy. I don't have to be reassuring."
Title: End of an Era
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters:: Topher, Boyd
Wordcount: 300
Summary: In which everything goes up in flames.
Notes: I actually wrote this as the beginning of my lgbtfest entry, and then realised it had nothing to do with the rest of the story. It doesn't really end so much as stop.
When the end comes, it takes Topher completely by surprise. This itself does not surprise him, because he knows by then that he never sees anything coming, but he's too busy staring aghast at his life's work, falling apart in front of him. The computer system sparks and snaps in front of him, the air fills with smoke, and somewhere he swears he can hear music, playing softly over the intercom system.
Boyd comes for him, and that's surprising, too. Boyd finds Topher sitting in the middle of his combusting technology, staring at one of the personality chips, turning it over and over in his hands as if it holds all the answers. It does hold one, actually: the evidence of their reliance on the Actives' own brains to make this enterprise work. Topher had thought he'd perfected the balance between blank and overly perceptive. He placed too much faith in tabula rasa, and look where he is now.
Boyd takes the chip from his hands, tosses it to the side. "Come on," he says, low and urgent. "We've got to get out of here."
"It won't make a difference," Topher says, even as he stands up, even as he gives over executive power over his own actions. He's good at doing that, at least. In the records, he will probably be known as the guy who let it happen. Let the Actives be pushed in ways they weren't supposed to go. Let the business grow beyond its limits without arguing, as Dominic and Boyd and even Dr Saunders had argued. Let Boyd push him out of the treatment room, out into the hallway, through the door and to either freedom or certain death.
He wonders if this is shellshock, or if he's just that bad at adjusting to change.