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[13thcommander]

"Hello, this is Erwin Smith. I'm unavailable at the moment; please leave a message and I will contact you as soon as I'm able."


ACCEPTED: WALKIE TALKIE
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ACCEPTED: 323 MIDWICH STREET
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323 Midwich Street, lateish January morning

[ribticklers]

[Sans knocks on Erwin's door one morning casual as he always is.]

Hey, figured I'd pay you back for carryin' my tree with somethin' weird I saw.

[Information in exchange for tree-carrying?]

[13thcommander]

Good morning, Sans.

[Erwin smiles, pleased to see his visitor.]

Would you like to come inside? I'm afraid we're finished with breakfast but I can offer you some coffee, if you like.

[ribticklers]

I'm not gonna turn it down. [Free coffee is quite similar to free food, and Sans appreciates free food. Also, it'll be safer to talk inside, anyway.

So, once the door is closed behind him:]

I found somethin' in the police chief's wallet. Or a wallet he had, anyway.

[13thcommander]

Oh?

[Consider Erwin interested! He looks back over his shoulder as he leads Sans to the kitchen.]

When were you spending time with the police chief? The man isn't particularly friendly.

[ribticklers]

Only if "caught him sleeping in his car" counts as hanging out. [Sans will sit himself down at the table once they're in the kitchen.] The wallet was sittin' on the floor of the car.

[13thcommander]

... you're a bold man, Sans.

[Which Erwin can appreciate! He pours them both a cup of coffee and sets them on the table, along with the milk and sugar to turn them into delicious sludge.]

What did he have?

[ribticklers]

[Sans puts only a little sugar and milk in his. He's gotten used to his human body enough to know what it seems to prefer, at least. As far as being bold, he waves a dismissive hand at that.]

I was just in the right place at the right time. I found this old photo--like, real old--of these kids in Halloween costumes. So I go and look up how the costumes here work, and those are modern costumes. Like, should be from this year or last year, right? But that photo was way older than that.

[Who knows how long it's been 1961?]

[13thcommander]

[Erwin has had a human body his entire life, and his demands sugar. After a lifetime without it, he's discovered the joys of real coffee with real sugar, and has been on a bit of a hedonistic streak with both.]

Interesting.

[Erwin taps on his chin thoughtfully. Photography is still a new technology to him, so he's going to need more clarification.]

I assume you're more familiar with photographs than myself. How old would you say the photo was?

[undiagnosed]

[erwin might come across a Problem in the department store one day near one of the technology stores. archer randy's stood outside, apparently unhappy with the poor guy who works at the door.]

You don't have-- how do you not know what a microwa- [he cuts himself off, putting his hands on his face and leaning back with a loud groan.] Oh my god. Oh my godddd, they weren't invented until '67! This decade is so shitty!

[poor guy. he doesn't really know how to respond to what archer's saying. he tries to offer any other assistance to whit archer snaps back:] I don't know, Glenn, why don't you get a degree in engineering and invent it right now?!

[13thcommander]

[Sigh. And here Erwin thought he was going to have a nice, quiet day downtown, going to the department store and buying more film for his new camera. He hears Randy before he sees him, and as luck would have it, he's parked himself right in front of the store Erwin wants to go into, hassling the poor guy who works there. Glenn might be a Robbie, but he doesn't deserve this.]

Randy.

[Erwin is... not excited to be talking to Randy, exactly, but at least he's in his right mind this time.]

Randy, you're making a scene.

[undiagnosed]

Oh, for-- [archer, naturally, thinks that erwin is going to be the same as he was before.] MY NAME'S NOT RANDY, IDIOT!

[he throws his hands up, cane included, and turns away from the two men. how is his first reaction to want to give them a bad review online? god, he's getting old.]

Whatever!

[13thcommander]

Your name isn't Ray, and not it's not Randy either? Do you even remember what your real name is?

[Because Erwin is getting pretty close to just giving him a nickname and calling them that forever.]

[But at least Not-Randy has turned away in a huff, and Erwin looks over to Glenn the shop keeper, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. Yeah, he knows, that guy is a mess.]

[undiagnosed]

I never told you it was Ray! You just assumed that! [he shoots back, genuine confusion in his tone for a moment.] It's Archer, okay? Jesus Christ. How stupid are you?

[glenn, fortunately, doesn't seem very shaken by this experience. guess being a robbie makes working in retail that bit easier.]

[13thcommander]

[Speaking from personal experience, being a Robbie does make Ray/Randy/apparently Archer easier to deal with. Glenn is back to a typical Robbie grin, and tries to offer Erwin a blender.]

No, thank you. But stay close, I'm here for some film. 35 mm, please.

[Glenn is only too happy to hustle off to find Erwin's film, and Erwin can turn his attention back to Archer.]

You're the one giving false names out and then failing to keep track of who you told which name.

[For the time being, Erwin is going to assume that Archer is another alias.]

[undiagnosed]

I told you Randy! I know how to keep track of false identities! You're the one that thought I was Ray, dumbass! [he pokes erwin in the ankle with his cane like a truly cantankerous old man, then stops for a moment, frowning.] You don't--

[he narrows his eyes.]

So, hey, total tangent. When you were doing my shoveling for me, did you talk to someone native to this shithole first?

[13thcommander]

I must have heard you incorrectly.

[That, or Archer riled up Erwin enough at the gala that he didn't get his name completely.]

[Erwin is eyeing that cane, and idly wondering who would win in a fight between a one-armed man and a man with a bad leg, but Archer's question arrests that little fantasy in a hurry. He swallows, and a look of pure embarrassment crosses his face.]

Ah. That. No, I hadn't spoken to a local, but I had fallen in the lake. I wasn't myself, and I apologize if I said or did anything upsetting.

[undiagnosed]

[he'd say it would put them on the same level, if archer didn't think himself better than everyone else. who'd win a fight: a pissy superspy or a renowned army commander? probably best not to find out in the middle of the store.]

Yeah? Well, I feel in the lake and it didn't make me weird. [that's a lie; his drowning PTSD didn't... match up well with it.] So, like, would you care about corpses falling out of snowmen now?

[13thcommander]

[They could find out.]

So did many other people, it seems. I went into the building that had lights, and it... made me not myself.

[To put it mildly.]

Yes. Yes, I would find that rather concerning now.

1/2 here we go

[undiagnosed]

The building that had lights, all the buildings have lights, jackass! [that's interesting, though. he'll have to ask if ray did the same, if he can get which building erwin wandered into.] Well... great. Congratulations.

[he pinches his brow, then turns to leave.]

[undiagnosed]

[in the span of the three seconds erwin looks away, archer goes through... something interesting. back home, he sees his daughter for the first time since he woke up, finally, and helps save her from a kidnapping. he finds out she doesn't really know of his role in her life-- too young to remember the times they had when she was a baby. then he goes to antarctica and attempts to solve a murder mystery that wasn't at all what it seemed and saves the world from the machinations of an evil billionaire.

espionage is like that.

the thing is, he had to strip down and dive into the freezing artic. when he's back, he's soaked, half frozen and delirious from almost drowning again along with the possible acceptance of the fact he actually is, finally, awake.

he drops his cane with a clatter (not sure how he still has that, he's certain he wrecked it in the artic to stop a snowmobile) and takes this sudden update very well.

that's a lie.

he shrieks.]

[13thcommander]

There was only one building that had lights, that's why I went into it!

[How does Archer manage it? How? How can he possibly be this... like this? Erwin is about to retort when Glenn comes back, cheerfully announcing that he has Erwin's film, and Erwin is going to leave it at that, is going to just buy his film and go home, when Archer starts screaming.]

[Erwin whirls back around, instinctively raising his arm defensively, and things have changed in those few seconds he was paying attention to Glenn. Archer has somehow managed to strip down, get soaking wet, and get wild-eyed and shrieking in the space of time that shouldn't allow for any of that. Erwin takes a step back, and even from this distance, he can feel the cold billowing off Archer, a deep artic bite that's worse than the cold currently blanketing Santa Rosita.]

Archer?

[Without even thinking about it, Erwin is starting to take his scarf off, and approach.]

Archer, what happened?

[undiagnosed]

I don't know! I don't fucking know! [he is, mercifully, not completely nude; he still has his boxers on. archer scrabbles forward, grabbing the scarf out of erwin's hands and wraps his hands up in it. he's freezing, moreso than when he got shoved into the lake.] Fucking-- coat! Give me your coat!

[people are starting to stare. he would like to cover up and leave, thank you! being mostly naked and screaming in a mall has never ended well for him.]

[13thcommander]

[Erwin has never been mostly naked and screaming in a mall before, but he can't imagine it's a good time. He quickly sheds his coat and tries to awkwardly get it around Archer's shoulders, but he only has one hand to keep it in place while he gets the second shoulder, and Archer is shivering so hard it keeps sliding off.]

Come with me, you're going to catch your death if we stay here.

[Glenn is watching all this with a vaguely puzzled expression.]

Glenn! Where are the heaters?

[He points in one direction, and Erwin starts trying to hustle Archer that way.]

[undiagnosed]

Oh my god, it's just like Terminator! [he groans out as he pulls the coat around his shoulders-- he's able to bring himself under control. it's fine. he's fine. shit. is he going to die from that dive right now? how did the shockwave from the explosion not liquefy-- you know what? he's not going to think about it. never has, never will.] You're a bitch, Glenn.

[despite being helped, he still shoots that out as he's motioned past.]

Hey, I think I'm gonna stress-black out. Or die. I'm actually not sure which.

[ribticklers]

It felt like it might fall apart when I took it out of the wallet--I was checkin' for writing on the back--so it's gotta be years old. [Admittedly, Sans isn't entirely sure about the photograph tech here, since it's more old-fashioned than what he's used to, but he has a general idea.]