032 - action/audio

[tapestodiane]

Sometimes, being right isn't all that gratifying. In actuality, it can be devastating, especially if there's bad thing coming. Cooper wouldn't claim to have foreseen what would happen during those days; in fact, won't claim to be able to foresee anything. But he'd had a feeling, had been bracing himself, and yet he'd been completely unprepared for what happened and the things he saw.

"I don't know what to do", he tells his audio recorder (not Diane) later in the day, voice uncharacteristically choked. It's the simple truth in light of everything he can recall - actually recall, not just piece together, and that alone is worrying in a whole new way.

He's trying not to think about all that, not yet. And for the next few days he's still trying to clear his mind, even if his motions are distracted and his focus is shaky and his thoughts are stubborn and loud. Whatever is happening, it's escalating, but he feels powerless when it comes to stopping it or even figuring it out.

He wouldn't even assume he had the right question to ask, were he given the chance for an answer.

[Action for Justice Farm: When he wakes up the day he'd normally have been (mostly) mind-wiped, he's still exhausted. Most days will find him in the kitchen with his hands around a coffee cup and none of the usual enthusiasm for the beverage inside, staring distantly out the window with the look of someone who hasn't slept at all. It's a change from his usual demeanor, but whatever is going on in his mind, he doesn't seem all that inclined to share.]

[Audio, for the network, backdated to the 29th:] I'll keep it brief: who else can recall this weekend with a lot more clarity than the previous ones of its kind?

[Action for Saffron: He's around, so feel free to bump into him. He's been on quite a few walks lately. Walks are good.]


(KIND OF BACKDATED and spans all days from 4th wall end til like yesterday, so feel free to bump in with whatever, whenever!)

Comments

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[He may or may not ask outright for clarification, but for now, Coop can indulge in all the dodging he wants. Reid tends to be careful about demanding answers from people--that doesn't usually go too well.]

What have they shown you before?

[tapestodiane]

Life and death. Pasts and futures.

_{[And a whole lot he doesn't understand but yet makes a strange amount of sense.]}

Things you might not believe under normal circumstances. But like you say, this world has quite an effect on one's perspective.

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't have believed it before. [He leaves the filling alone for now. Let it cool down a bit.] But... you know, after even half the things I've seen here, I'm not surprised at all.

[No, seriously. He is curiously unfazed by this. He's going to be briefly impressed by how far he's come from having a panic attack every time something physically impossible happened.]

So you've always had them?

[tapestodiane]

_{[Coop decides to award that apparent unfazedness with a momentary grin - strangely void of warmth but still far from dishonest.]}

No one goes through life without dreaming.

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Herodotus said that a group of people in North Africa settled near Mt. Atlas. He wrote that “the natives call this mountain "the Pillar of Heaven"; and they themselves take their name from it, being called Atlantes or the Atlanteans. They are reported not to eat any living thing, and never to have any dreams.” Of course, it's possible that the Atlantes and anyone else who claims to not have dreams simply don't remember them, but it's hard to prove or disprove.

[When in doubt, trivia.

Also, pouring that filling into the pie now.] I'm guessing that Carmen, Albert, and Gordon know about the dreams?

[tapestodiane]

They are the only group of people described to not have dreams. And if speculations are true and they were refugees from Atlantis, their culture perished.

<sub>[That might not be a causal relationship, but it's a thing Cooper will point out anyway for the sake of discussion. Dreaming is the norm. If you take away a person's dreams, what then?]

[As for Reid's question, it's not one Coop feels inclined to answer right away, and instead he volleys it back with some idle curiosity in his tone. He eats more cherries as he speaks. Lines up more seeds.]</sub>

Based on what?

[leftinbasketforfbi]

True. And it's not like there's a lot of information on them in general that isn't based in myth.

[Reid glances back at Coop with an arched eyebrow, cutting dough he has already rolled out into thin slices. Then he looks back at his work, unconsciously slipping into 'profiler' mode.] Well, your history with each of them. You're closest to Albert, and despite the fact he is generally dismissive of things that shouldn't--or at least he believes shouldn't--exist, he trusts you and he's practical about behaving according to the information at hand regardless of what should and shouldn't be. Therefore, if your dreams have a track record of accuracy, his faith in you and his own perceptions make it safe for you to tell him.

Gordon, while largely keeping his relationships friendly but professional, also puts a lot of faith in you, and he doesn't have Albert's desire to understand everything put in front of him. Because of his faith in you--which I'm guessing has been accumulated by a very good track record in your professional life--I highly doubt the idea of your dreams would faze him for long. That combined with his clear caring for all people who work under him make him safe to tell as well.

And Carmen cares a lot about you, clearly, and puts a lot of faith in you, which says something coming from her. Because--

[Wait.

...

Okay, he might be blushing a little bit.] Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to give you a profile. The point is that you have more reason to feel secure in telling any one of them than you do in telling me.

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[... Reid, you are special.]

[But you know what, that's okay, because so is Coop, and with every word he seems almost pleased. Whether he tossed that question back just to see Reid's profiling in action or not is difficult to say, but now when he has, there's a small smile (however subdued) in his features as he lets that analysis hang in the air for a moment.]

[Good job, Reid. Nailed it.]

[But he points something else out, instead.]</sub>

I didn't tell you anything, Spencer. You did your job and came to a conclusion.

<sub>[If it sounds like praise, it just might be. Because as much as the conversation is just that, it's also carried shades of an interrogation, hasn't it? In the way any person working with the law enforcement can't quite let things lie.]

[The whole world is an investigation, to some more than others.]</sub>