“Mr. Jurick. Come in, come in. I imagine you have quite a few questions for me.” The Old Man waves you into his room, clapping his hands.

“I imagine I do.” You stand outside the door. The room is bare save for the necessities and a system of glass tubes and containers on top of a desk, and a suitcase beneath. A pair of fold-out chairs are stashed to the side. He seemed to hold no other personal possessions. You feel your muscles tense as you look in. Calm down, Noble. You’re here for business before anything else. You need to know how he’s awake as an adult. You need to know what he’s done to Nicky. After that…

“You seem a little tense. Come in, please. I implore you. I have no tea,” he chuckles. A strange sound to your ears. ”But perhaps you’d rather have something else to drink? Come, come, Mr. Jurick! I believe I’ve had some measure of success with my distillery. Let us taste the fruits of this labor.” He stands, folding out the chairs and drawing amber fluid from the system on his desk into a pair of Erlenmeyer flasks. He raises one to you, and waves you in again.

“Alcohol, Mr. Jurick. We both have much to say to each other, I think. Let man’s oldest friend allay your unease and loosen your tongue.”

What do you do? What do you say?

>>29973842
Drink with him and then ask him for help. How can you survive the Bliss?

>>29973842
Drink a bit, but not too much.

Ask him how he managed to stay awake in a direct way.

>>29975205
Second

>>29974050

You sit down, taking the glass from him. Strong stuff, from the smell of it.

“Not properly aged, I’m afraid, but it eases the. Pain of day-to-day living.”

You nod, taking a sip. It burns all the way down, and you grimace. “I don’t understand how you can drink this stuff. Tastes like gasoline.”

“Admittedly, it’s something of an acquired taste.” The Old Man shrugs. “I’m afraid it’s just another piece of our legacy, fading away.”

“The Bliss.”

“Yes, Mr. Jurick, the Bliss. The fate that awaits us all, yes?”

“Except for you, apparently…?”

“Yes.” The Old Man sips from his flask. “Except for me. Me and few others. Those like myself are not so rare in this world, Jurick. Perhaps one in one hundred, one in one thousand? We handle things… differently. Some ignore the Bliss entirely – a miracle for them, a built-in immunity. Some will take all manner of drugs to stave off sleep, though sleep remains inevitable for them. Some are afflicted with an incurable insomnia, such that not even the Bliss may wear down. And then there are those who, through sheer force of will, might stave off the Bliss. For weeks, for months? Few of them remain. Of we still-waking, I pity them the most. They stay awake for as long as they can. They break before they Bliss, Mr. Jurick. It’s a very sad thing to see. One of my…”

His eyes darken as he stares down into his drink.

“… My wife, was one such. She… but we needn’t speak of her any longer.”

“And how do you handle the Bliss? How are you still awake?”

“If it is a cure to your own ailment you seek, I have no answers for you. The Bliss passed over me as the Angel of Death over the Pharoah’s land. I am untouched, immune.” He folds his strong arms across his chest.

“I… see.” You stare at your own drink.

What do you do? What do you say?

>>29975542
Stop drinking the stuff.
Ask him if it's the truth. Sounds like there is more to it.

>>29975650

“But there’s gotta be more to it than that? I turn, what, 18? 19? 20, if I’m really lucky, and then that’s it?”

“Mr. Jurick, if we knew more, we might have cured it by now. Those of us who are still alive number in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions. Perhaps we are no longer rats but men… yet rats are tenacious, fertile, vicious when pushed to the brink, masters of survival. All we need is a little more. Just a little more. I have been maintaining contact with our East Coast sister organizations, and we are so very close to a breakthrough.”

“So then, it’s just a matter of time?”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Jurick. Or perhaps you would prefer I call you by your first name?”

What do you do? What do you say?

>>29975870
What's next then?

Is there any hope left for us?

>>29975974

“Last name is fine by me. But then, there’s no hope for us left?”

“I see… Mr. Jurick. Yes, we are so close, so… so far away. It is a bird that rests in the palm of our hand and we have but to close our fingers around it. We are paralyzed. Our fingers will never grasp that knowledge, until…” He takes another drink from his flask, and moves back to the desk to refill it. “How about you, Mr. Jurick?”

“I’m alright, thanks. I don’t think this is for me.”

He chuckles. “I can hardly blame you. Truth be told, this is not to my taste, either. Still, as I said, the pain of day-to-day living, and so forth.”

He sits back down, sloshing the spirit in his flask, watching it swirl. “Hope… there is always hope, Mr. Jurick. Even now. Especially now. It had taken me some time to confirm it with my colleagues. I have not spoken of this until now, but Mr. Jurick, you may very well be the key to this, the final breakthrough to curing the Bliss.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You have two peculiarities. The first is your Bliss attacks. Your description of them is consistent enough… but you describe them as attacks. The Bliss does not settle in, all at once, not for you. In those like my wife, it is a constant presence, always bearing down on their minds. You can well imagine the effort needed to function under such circumstances, but you are under no such hindrances, I presume.”

“And the second?”

“The fact that you crossed the threshold of the Bliss stage… and returned.”

The room seems to spin around you. You find your voice, even so.

“… And what about Serena? What about Su, what about Nicky?”

“It will take some time to analyze the data we received from the creche during your incident, but this may very well be the information we needed.”

What do you do? What do you say?

>>29976528
Lets talk about the others members of our team.

>>29976760

The Old Man grins down at you. “Be proud, Mr. Jurick! What you’ve given us may be the salvation of mankind!”

“That’s fine and all, but what about my friends? Is there anything I can do for them right now? I mean, Su’ll be hitting 18 pretty soon, and Serena’s not far behind…”

“I’m confident we’ll have a cure well before they succumb. Come on, lad, drink with me! This is cause for celebration!”

“And Old Man.”

“Yes? Here, hand me your flask, I’ll touch-“

“What did you do to Nicky?”

You can barely suppress the ice in your voice. The Old Man stops in his tracks, his face growing pale.

What do you do?

>>29977053
Look at him unphased and and repeat your question.

>>29977136
Second

>>29977136
>>29977369

Roll a 1d100 to see if you can control yourself.

Rolled 57

>>29977669

Rolled 92

>>29977669

>>29977686
No need for more rolls.

>>29977683
>>29977686
>>29977892

You keep your hands at your side, fists curled into tight balls, long fingernails digging into your palms. The Old Man sets down his flask and sits in his chair.

“I’ll ask again. What did you do to Nicky?”

He remains silent.

“Do you know what you’ve done to her? Have any idea what she’s been like?”

“Mr. Jurick, I-“

“Answer my questions, Old Man. You said it yourself. ‘We both have much to say to each other.’ So, out with it.”

He opens and closes his mouth several times, like a fish.

“What did you do to her, you sick fuck?” You raise your voice.

“Noble? Noble, are you there?” Su’s voice.

You look behind you, through the open door. She has Nicky in tow.

“… We. All have. Needs, Mr. Jurick.” The Old Man hangs his head.

What do you do?

>>29977938
I... I am not sure what to say.

Rolled 59

>>29977938
>What do you do?
Drop it for now and give him the coldest stare.

>>29977973
>>29977984

You stare at him for a while longer, then turn your back.

“Noble, you didn’t have to…” Nicky’s small voice behind Su. She acted so meekly, though she matched the other girl’s height.

“Yes, I did. I wasn’t going to stand around and not do anything.”

“That’s our Noble, all right.” Su’s voice, uncharacteristically soft and warm.

“Ms. Friedman.”

“You don’t say another word to her, you sonuva-“

“No, Noble, it’s okay, he… Let him talk.”

You look back at the Old Man. He looks at the three of you now, with tears in his eyes.

“I… never meant for this to happen. I offer my apologies, hollow as they may be.”

Nicky clings to Su tighter. She nods. You leave the room, closing the door shut behind you. It’s not until you leave the trailer, that you realize you still have the flask of alcohol with you. You stare at it, swirl the amber liquid around, then set it down on the steps. Serena’s waiting outside. She cups your hand in hers.

You rest your chin on her head as she snuggles close.

The sunset burns your eyes as the four of you watch it fall below the horizon. You sit, in a row, beside the trailer, hand in hand. These peaceful days, you think. How short they really are.

---

You reposition a log, watching the fire as it crackles in front of you. Sparks fly up, drop down, fade into the night. How short your lives were. How long you used to live. How close you are to reclaiming those years. The thought wears you down, sends a tiredness deep into your bones.

You close your eyes. These heavy thoughts can wait another day. For now… for now, you’ll sleep, with your friends at your side.

The trailer door opens with a slam. The Old Man bursts out. Su stands up.

“Mr. Jurick, Ms. Holt, I have received-“

“Out with it, Old Man.”

“Enemy drones are en route to our position. We have fifteen minutes.”

---

END.

Sorry for the early stopping point tonight. Doesn't look like I have many participants. I'll continue... sometime. My schedule coming up is a little wonky.