[ Somehow it’s this, embarrassing himself with a public panic attack, that’s the most Human Simon he’s felt since he last was — last remembers — human Simon. Maybe because it was one of the most recent and most colorful additions to his daily routine. Or because in PATHOS-II, with a brain that took heroic measures to keep him from thinking about breathing, he never quite got to this point no matter how many great reasons he would have had. Not in this particular meatspacey way.
Underneath the out-of-body experience, it’s like picking up exactly where he left off as The Guy With Brain Damage, making people uncomfortable with his existence. The voice comes to him as if from underwater, familiar but distant, and his face burns. It occurs to like five of his neurons that that’s a rude thing to say to somebody, but Simon just answers reflexively, voice tight and breathless. ] Yeah.
[ He grabs the doorframe white-knuckled, already planning a route to the storage room, and here’s to hoping there’s no one there. And he turns, and stops, struck dumb, wild hope surging in his chest.
no subject
Underneath the out-of-body experience, it’s like picking up exactly where he left off as The Guy With Brain Damage, making people uncomfortable with his existence. The voice comes to him as if from underwater, familiar but distant, and his face burns. It occurs to like five of his neurons that that’s a rude thing to say to somebody, but Simon just answers reflexively, voice tight and breathless. ] Yeah.
[ He grabs the doorframe white-knuckled, already planning a route to the storage room, and here’s to hoping there’s no one there. And he turns, and stops, struck dumb, wild hope surging in his chest.
He blinks. Still looks like her. But— ]
Ca— Catherine?