Unreal, Real, Surreal

Link to article: Unreal, Real, Surreal.

/* Only show the A/B test subject when the A/B test is active */
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.bottom-rating-module {
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[[include :scp-wiki:theme:black-highlighter-theme]]
[[include :scp-wiki:theme:midnight-rush]]
[[>]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/>]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:author-label-source start=--
|name=Anyar
|no-right-margin=*]]
A companion tale for [*https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-8403 SCP-8403].
[[include :scp-wiki:component:author-label-source end=--]]
[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-8403 A week after she left], Alfie tried reading his poems to lab rats. They skittered and squeaked and cheese-nibbled about the same, and a couple of them had fur that almost matched her particular shade of brown. In the end, though, they were just regular boring rats, and none of them ever decided to turn human.

In time, he got tired of their squeaking, tired of writing stupid poems nobody would ever care about, and so he returned to his old routine. The Foundation never ran out of busywork, and one quiet researcher disappeared easily among the bustle of the anomalous and those sworn to contain them. He clocked in on time, did the experiments, wrote the papers, and ended the day with nothing gained and another little part of him lost.

It was on one of those days, several months later, that he wrapped up the day's work and walked out the door. Snow crunched underfoot and a chilly breeze ruffled his hair, and he pulled his coat tighter around himself without thinking.

And that's when he saw her, waiting outside with her hands clasped to her chin.

She was so easy to miss, just the faintest wisp of a silhouette against a darkening sky. He squinted and rubbed his eyes, expecting her to disappear and shocked when she didn't. He slapped his palms against his temples, and when that didn't wake him up, he pinched himself until his skin turned crimson.

But it was her, alright. Noria and her bright hazel eyes, staring at him curiously through a tangle of cinnamon brown hair. Her mouth moved as though to speak, yet not a sound came out.

His eyes watered, and he reached his hand out to grasp at her. It went right through like she was a Noria-shaped cloud of mist with just the faintest hint of warmth. She tilted her head with a weak, disoriented smile, and for a moment, he stopped being able to breathe.

Then she looked away, and his mind started racing again.

It should've been impossible. She had been Neutralized, they'd tested it—not a single errant Hume left in her wake. Even now, she seemed barely real. All he heard was an indistinct whisper, and even that was probably just his imagination.

Voices from behind jolted him back to reality, and he hurriedly began walking, his breath puffing into little white clouds. Nobody else seemed to notice her, and by some miracle, Noria followed diligently after him despite her apparent confusion.

Well, for the most part. Every once in a while, she would startle and chase after a passing car or hopping bunny or drifting snowflake, and he'd have to chase //her// to lead her back. Other times she simply stopped in place and stared at him with such a strange expression and for so long that he felt as if he was going to burst.

Eventually, they reached his home. He watched with more than a little embarrassment as she hopped around his pigsty of an apartment, moving her hands along the dusty countertops and peeking at the crumpled blankets. Once, she tripped over a stack of clothes (which didn't budge an inch) and simply lay there dazed for a while.

It was admittedly cute, and Noria seemed to trust him, but he was almost cerain she didn't really recognize who he was. Not consciously, at least. That hurt him a little.

Still, having her home was… overwhelming. Desperate for a distraction, he snatched up a napkin and began wiping dust off the table; soon, he was staring blankly at the faded wood with his mind awhirl.

Was she real? Could he really trust his eyes? Thinking logically, he could be under the effects of a cognitohazard or who knows what other mind-affecting anomaly. Or maybe it was entirely mundane, and the stress and guilt and burning regret that had suffocated him all this time had finally congealed into this faint hallucination of his failures. Maybe he could take a pill and this damning vision of her would disappear for good.

Ice ran down his spine. He whirled around just in time to see her flop onto the couch. The sight brought him no relief as a roaring thunder echoed in his skull, for he was certain of it now—the next time he looked away, Noria would vanish completely. She would be replaced by nothing but the dismal, barren apartment and he'd finally break. He fell to his knees, straining to keep his eyes open though they burned and trembled and his nails dug into his palms until they bled, but anything, any pain would be worth seeing her for one moment more.

Then she stretched her arms and rolled off the couch with an entirely silent thud. Noria shook her head, her hair falling wildly over her eyes, and looked up at him with a sheepish grin. He blinked, smiled back, and the world was good again.

----

Over time, her voice became clearer. Disjoint syllables pieced together into complete sentences, faint as they were.

"You look really familiar, you know?" She liked to wonder out loud. Then, every morning: "Huh? Why can't I come with you?"

Alfie hated leaving her alone, but he couldn't risk bringing her near the site. So, he tried to make her comfortable. He bought vivid paintings, the kind you could stare at for hours, and hooked up a TV to play drama shows all throughout the day. He set up an automatic answering machine so he could call her from on-site, huddled in the bathroom stall with his hand cupped over the phone, desperately praying that nobody overheard.

After work, he would sprint home with his whole body aflame and collapse in the doorway, gasping for air so she could fuss over him. Then after he could breathe again, they'd do exciting things like reading poems, watching movies, and dressing up. She had pleaded for the last one until he'd relented, even though it brought back terrible memories of whiskers peeking out of a bundle of clothes. They played around with all the colors of the rainbow and crafted crazy, impossible hairstyles, but in the end, the lilac braids were still her favorite.

Noria was still a ghost when she remembered his name. There had been a containment breach that day, and he had watched a coworker die before his eyes. He had returned home shaken, his lab coat still dripping ooze, and she'd popped her head out from behind the couch, looked him up and down, and asked, "Alf? Are you okay?"

And it was the first time he'd let himself cry.

----

The neighborhood was quiet after midnight. They walked along a glassy lake that reflected the few dim stars yet visible in the sky; blooming pink camellias lent a faintly sweet aroma to the otherwise still air. Hardly a mote of moonlight passed through her anymore, which was the only reason they dared to go outside.

She was humming to herself when all of a sudden she stopped and announced, too loudly, "I'm gonna go jump in the lake."

Hands in his pockets, Alfie replied, "You're joking, right?"

She shook her head, her hair flying about. They had cut it together, which meant the ends were terribly uneven, but she claimed it looked perfect. "It'll be fun! I wanna see how cold the water gets. Look here, I'm already getting goosebumps just thinking about it." She pointed at the little dots on her arm. "Wouldn't it be cool if I froze into a big, me-shaped block of ice? Oh wait, you should totally jump with me! We'll freeze together!"

"I'd rather keep my blood running, thanks." He rubbed his head. "Also, I don't know how to swim."

"Then I'll teach you, I mean, even babies can do it, Alf. You just put your hands in front of you like you're praying and push them to the sides and kick your feet hard. You'll put all the fishies to shame."

"That… doesn't really help. Why can't we just keep walking and talking about deep meaningful things instead of voluntarily turning into ice cubes?"

She pursed her lips. "Don't you ever get tired of talking?"

"Well, sure, but—"

"Because I don't," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Talking's fun. But it's even more fun to do fun things //while// you talk."

"I-I don't know, I—"

Noria lunged at him and he instinctively jumped to the side. Her hands went right by him, her eyes went wide and she windmilled her arms for a second before falling into the lake with a thunderous splash.

"Um, you okay?" He asked, leaning over the side.

Her head popped out of the water and she yelled, flailing around. "Help! I actually did—" she bobbed below the surface "—forget how to swim!"

In the next moment, Alfie was airborne. The cold hit him like a stone wall, and then his hands crashed into the actual wall of the lake floor. He surfaced with a gasp and climbed to his feet, heart pounding in his chest like dynamite.

The water rippled against his waist. Beside him, Noria laughed, floating on her back and kicking icy droplets into his face. "Come on, you can't forget how to swim, it's like, part of your human DNA."

"I don't know why I dived in," he said, shivering violently and shielding himself with his hands. "If you'd actually been in trouble, we would've both drowned."

"All the more reason to learn this valuable skill, huh?" She reoriented herself upright and grinned. "Come deeper in and clap your hands together. I'll work you through it."

To hell with it. His clothes were already soaked, he was slowly warming up, and she was just too excited and smiley to refuse.

Alfie proceeded to, despite his best efforts, do his best impression of an anchor. After ten or twenty minutes of his hopeless struggling, Noria stomped out of the lake, tossing her hair over her shoulder in a big wet clump, and declared him a lost cause.

----

She brought it up over dinner one day. They had worked together to make a big pot of soup with carrots and celery and cheese (yes, cheese), and it was the first time they'd managed to get the salt and seasonings just right. Gnawing on a loaf of sourdough, she said almost offhandedly, "Eventually, you know, I'm gonna have to go poof again."

Alfie froze, spoon halfway to his mouth. He took a deep breath, then slowly set it down. "...yeah, I know. They aren't going to let me take an SRA off-site either, so you'll have to go back at some point."

"That's okay." She idly stirred her soup. "This time you know I'll be back, so it won't be so bad, right? I just want to make sure you'll be fine."

"I'll survive. But what about you?" He put his hands in his lap and searched her eyes. "It must be scary even thinking about it."

She blinked and looked away. "Don't worry about me. It'll just be like a long nap and I won't remember any of it."

He leaned over the table. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She waved her hand in the air. "I'll be okay. It's not important. I was asking about you."

"Of course it's important. You don't have to hide it if you're—"

She stood up abruptly. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Wait, Noria—"

"I've been human for a while now," she interrupted, still refusing to make eye contact. "It won't be too long before I'll become more than human, and it's not something I have a choice in, but it's fine, and you should be, um, prepared for it. So we should decide now. When I should go back and turn myself in."

"Can't avoid this any longer, huh?" He closed his eyes and sighed. "Logically, and to be safe, we should return before you start getting any real abilities. That way we can show that you don't mean to be a threat, otherwise they might just try to kill you outright. So judging from last time, starting from now, it'll take… maybe a couple weeks? I don't know for sure."

[[size smaller]]"Okay."[[/size]] Her voice came out as a whisper, and she looked at her feet. "Three weeks, then."

"Maybe four."

"Five, you mean?"

She tried to smile, but her eyes were glassy. He picked up his bowl and sipped the soup, but it was too salty.

----

Two months later, they caught him smuggling an SRA through the very first security checkpoint. It was confiscated immediately and he was detained for questioning, but fortunately, he was a good researcher and it was only a minor infraction. They let him off with an understanding headshake and a warning not to do it again.

Then he returned holding hands with a high-level Type Green, and they were a little less lenient this time.

----

Heated discussions were held. SCP-8403's file was brought out from dusty archives and pored over by countless eyes, and MTF squads equipped with experimental paratech were once again called to action. All the while, terrain, structures, and animals nearby flickered intermittently between real and unreal.

Researcher Xiao was one voice in this debate that would normally be overlooked. Yet the unusual circumstances, his repeated vows that the anomaly would willingly neutralize itself like before, plus a certain senior researcher's unexpected support, eventually led to a single SRA being airdropped to their location. Even still, a wide array of esoteric weaponry locked onto the pair as they held the device between them, clothes swaying in the breeze.

He cradled her face in his hands, breathing shakily and trembling up a storm. Yet her smile held firm and her eyes twinkled like moonlight. His thumb touched her lips, he leaned in, and for a brief moment before she pulled away, their faces heated up hotter and brighter than the sun.

"I'll see you in a few," Noria grinned through her blush.

Then she was gone.

[!-- A/B testing whether rate module at the bottom of the page actually affects anything - see https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-17022412/should-your-article-have-a-2nd-rating-module --]
[[module css]]
/* Only show the A/B test subject when the A/B test is active */
:not(.ab-test--active) + .ab-test-subject { display: none; }

.bottom-rating-module {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
align-items: center;
margin-block: 1rem;
}
.bottom-rating-module .page-rate-widget-box {
margin: 0;
}
[[/module]]
[[module ListUsers users="."]]
[[div class="ab-test ab-test--[[#ifexpr %%number%% % 2 == 0 | active | inactive ]]"]]
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[[div class="ab-test-subject bottom-rating-module"]]
[[module Rate]]
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[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box-end]]

Unreal, Real, Surreal

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