Getting to Be Too Much

[ceasetoexist]

Characters: Pokey Minch [AU] and you!
Setting: Floor 2 and Floor 14
Format: Prose starting, but I'll match you
Summary: The voices he's been hearing are starting to get to Pokey, and he's desperate to find a solution to it.
Warnings: Possible violent imagery due to auditory hallucinations.

Floor 2 - The Infirmary
[It just won't end.

The initial begging for help Pokey could do. It had been so faint and far away that his callousness was still more than sufficient to ignore it. To be annoyed by it more than bothered or disturbed. But over the days it grew. And grew. And grew. Until he could hear the voices plain and clear.

And hear everything they were going through.

He'd tried to ignore it another few days or so, but this didn't work as well. When he could recognize the voices, tell who they were - he could no longer ignore it. And for more than once he'd wished he'd never come to understand others or learn empathy. The voices weren't real, they couldn't be. Just like in Mayfield it had to be a kind of trick. Pokey just needed to find a way to beat it.

So if you're stopping by the infirmary today you'll find a 13 year old boy sticking whatever cotton balls and cotton swabs he can find in his ears. He knows the voices aren't coming from outside but maybe if he can trick himself into thinking he can't hear them he won't. This may damage the hell out of his ears too but hey. That's the price he'll happily pay if this works and someone can stop him.]

Floor 14 - Media Room
[If he just gets his mind off it, it won't bother him.

Pokey is sitting down on a beanbag chair, mindlessly playing one of the video games in front of him. It appears to be a platformer of some kind, though he doesn't care. He's at that point where he's paying so much attention to the game he isn't playing it at all. It's all just response at the actions going on in the game, and even though he seems to be doing alright his mind still isn't on the game at all.

It's on nothing at all.

He can't hear the voices begging with him, pleading with him for help. He's too busy playing a game. One of them is crying for help, asking over and over again why it's happening, their screams only barely louder than the sound of a sledgehammer falling again. And again. And again.

Pokey's too busy playing.

One of them belittles him, asking why he isn't doing anything. If he never cared in the first place and each statement feels like it's just as cutting as the whip Pokey can hear alongside it.

He's playing the game. He's in the zone with this. Nothing else matters.

One of them is just screaming in grief and pain and unable to comprehend why this is happening. No understanding of why they could be in pain, just that they are, and a belief that crying out to Pokey will make things better. So they cry in a wet, sobbing voice while something hot and wet sizzles and burns flesh in the back ground.

The game controller goes flying at the TV screen. Pokey isn't in the game anymore.]

Shut up! Shuuuuut uuuuup! You aren't even real!

[Pokey's tearing the controller out of the game system, twirling it over his head by the cord like a lasso before flinging it across the room in a rage.]

You aren't real and even if you were I couldn't do anything!

[He tries to tear the game console away from the TV, and when that fails he resorts to kicking at it. Again and again and again.]

Even if you were I couldn't do anything!

Comments

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos let his arm fall to his side and nodded when Pokey shook his head. He would then try to remove one of the cotton swabs from his ear so that he could speak and be heard. Of course, if Pokey slapped his hand away, he would stop and go to other forms of communication, but if he didn't do anything, chaos would clear out one ear and speak again.]

[ceasetoexist]

[Pokey doesn't slap chaos' hand away, though the idea of doing so does cross his mind. He pulls away instead as chaos attempts to take the swabs out and begins to take the swaps and cotton balls out of his ears himself, dropping them to the ground in disgust.]

Stupid idea anyway.

[He looks up at chaos, frowning a little bit.]

You want something?

[lightofhumanity]

No..I was merely going to tell you that stuffing your ears would not make your auditory hallucinations go away. I am glad that you have realized that it was a bad idea. Perhaps you should go to the infirmary if you are suffering from them.

[ceasetoexist]

[Pokey goes quiet, as if listening to something. Whatever it is he hears, his face falls a little bit and he gives a half-hearted shrug before going back into a meaner look.]

Eh, I'm fine. It's just annoying is all. I don't need to see someone about it.

[Because he's afraid that at the end that would also involve talking to someone about it.]

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos smiles at the boy.]

There is nothing wrong with talking to people about your problems if it helps. If you want, I can lend you and ear for however long you want.

[ceasetoexist]

There's nothing to talk about and I don't have a problem. I'm fine.

[It's said just as snottily as possible. He does need help, but Pokey refuses to acknowledge this. Especially in a place as dangerous as the Tower has proven itself to be. It's still too new to him, and his paranoia has come back with a vengeance.]

It's just cold here. It's so cold I think I hear voices with all the thin layers of ice cracking. That's all.

[lightofhumanity]

I see..if you do not mind my asking, what do those voices say?

[chaos could find this out with his powers, but he didn't want to just yet.]

[ceasetoexist]

Nothing important. They're just....

[Screaming in pain. In terror. Begging and begging Pokey to do something. Pokey's voice breaks a little as he speaks again, though he tries to push it back.]

They're just babbling, is all.

[lightofhumanity]

Are you sure they're not causing you pain or screaming for help?

[ceasetoexist]

....

[Pokey looks at chaos for a beat, and frowns a bit deeper. Psychic powers were something he was familiar with, but he hadn't been thinking someone might be trying to read his mind at the moment.]

What they are or aren't doing isn't important. It doesn't matter. They aren't even real.

[lightofhumanity]

[Actually, that was just a lucky guess by chaos. He hadn't used any psychic powers at all yet. Living six thousand years helped you perceive things a bit better.]

They may not be real, but since you do hear them, they are affecting you in some way. The fact that you tried to shove cotton balls in your ears to quiet them is proof of that.

[ceasetoexist]

Yeah man, thanks for the advice I'll remember it!

[Just snapping now because he hates being talked to like this or told to take care of himself and god the voices just won't shut up.]

It's none of your business so why don't you stay out of it?

[lightofhumanity]

It is true that it is none of my business, but I would still like to help you. I imagine that auditory hallucinations screaming and begging for help cannot be good for you or painless.

[ceasetoexist]

And what do you think you could even do about it? You a doctor?

[lightofhumanity]

[The thing of it is, chaos's healing powers used to be much better than they are now, so that accusation does sting a little.]

...No, I am not. But I could take you to someone who is, and I am a good listener, if you wanted to talk. I enjoy helping people. You would not be a bother.

[ceasetoexist]

...My problems aren't your problems.

[And deep down, he doesn't feel he's worth anyone's worry or help at this point. It's better to just bear it alone here.]

It isn't something I want to talk about. Seriously.

I'll be fine.

[lightofhumanity]

[And chaos sighed upon hearing that.]

I see. If that is how you wish to exercise your free will, I shan't stop you. However, if you change your mind, I will always be happy to listen, and if you need a doctor, seek out a young boy named Shion.

[ceasetoexist]

...Thanks.

[He tries to soften a little bit, but it's hard. It's so hard with them still shouting, screaming. Pleading.

Maybe it'd be best to try and talk about it. It'd be the smarter thing to do. But at the moment the smartest thing isn't what Pokey is thinking about.]

...I dunno if a doctor will help. There's no pain you know. Not...

[Not physical pain.]

It doesn't hurt. ...It's just annoying.

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos smiled and nodded.]

Don't mention it. We all need a little help sometimes. If I can help you out, then I would enjoy that.

[chaos nodded again as the boy spoke.]

Not physical pain..but it is causing you emotional pain, and doctors are used to dealing with auditory hallucinations. They shall know what to do. As for the emotional pain..I may not be able to help with all of it, but when you want, I shall try to help with what I can.

[ceasetoexist]

[Pokey opens his mouth slightly. It'd be nice, so nice, to try and talk about it. But at the same time he'd feel like a weeny doing it. And he doesn't even know this guy, not really.

So he closes his mouth and shakes his head.]

Thanks but. I'll be fine.

It's nothing I haven't dealt with before.

[Which is sort of true. Not entirely, but it's not a complete lie.]

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos nodded.]

I see. Well then, how did you deal with it last time, if you don't mind my asking? Did you deal with it all alone? And, if so, did you like dealing with it in that way?

[ceasetoexist]

What are you, a therapist? I mean are you going to start charging me for advice because this is getting creepy?

[Feeling threatened was something that happened quite easily to Pokey in conversation, even when there was no reason for it. And when he does, Pokey does his best to try and subvert the conversation.]

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos sighed and shook his head.]

No, I am not. I simply enjoy helping people any way I can. If that means talking to them, then I will happily do that. I am not a therapist, and I will not charge money. I have no use for it anyway. If I have creeped you out, I do apologize.

[Perhaps it was his speech patterns that creeped out the boy. However, chaos was so used to his manner of speaking that he hadn't changed it much in awhile. It was one of the few ways he could show his true age without being caught, as people usually thought he was just being polite.]

[ceasetoexist]

Well yeah you kinda creeped me out a little but. You're not creepy, if that makes sense.

[He scratches at his arm, nervous and unsure what to do or say. Social situations, in so many ways, were still so bizarre and uncertain to him.]

...Why do you do it? Help people out for no pay, I mean?

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos smiled and nodded.]

Don't worry. I understand what you mean. As for why I help people without expecting anything in return, there are two reasons. The first is that I do not need anything in return. Money, food, water..I do not need people to pay me those things, and thus, I do not ask or require them.

The second reason is because I enjoy it. I love humanity. I do not wish to see a member of it suffer needlessly. If I can help, even just a little bit, then that is reward enough.