devoutish | IC contact for snowblindrpg

[ That actually gets a chuckle out of him. ]

It's tougher to understand that you're not, when your world has been saying the exact opposite all this time. I bet that's what Peter's had going on.

I sure don't blame you for not having much sympathy, though. He has to learn this world doesn't care about him, and he's got to learn it quick. Have you run into other people that reacted like that?

[ He knows Al was, just recently- blaming himself for something none of them could stop. ]

Superhoes and their ilk.

[His tone is disparaging.]

Zidane - I lit into him for it, once. But he's gone now.

[ Alfie can probably hear the smile in his voice. ]

It's so refreshing to hear someone talk about superheroes like that. For once. I was mostly trying to avoid 'em when I first got here- figured they'd all do more harm than good and probably try to lock me up besides, somehow. But after the...what was it? The Avengers were all gone, I didn't see too much of the grandstanding.

But yeah, we don't exactly need people swooping in and thinking they'll fix the problem, or be above it. We need people working together. It's not exactly my forte, but even I'm trying in that area.

[Alfie exhales.]

Yeah. You've got a good view of it, killer or not.

Yeah, well.

[ Can someone sound more self-satisfied right now? Sylar doubts it. ]

As it turns out, so-called 'heroes' ruined my life before I even had a chance to ruin theirs. So I've got a unique perspective on the whole thing. Comes in handy, in a place like this.

Al doesn't get entirely stuck in that sort of useless loop, thankfully. He can be reasoned with.

Yeah, he's all right. I've had a few run-ins with him, but less than with some others.

[ And now they've come full circle back to Al again. ]

Exactly. After that- [ He sputters for a second, as his mouth is moving a little too fast for his brain and he has no idea how to refer to the event. ] - the convert-purge thing. It was the worst I've seen him. But even then, when he heard enough evidence that it really wasn't him, and that expecting himself to be able to fight it 'somehow' wasn't fair to anyone- he figured out how to move on. He can be reached scientifically, and look at the larger picture. It's all still raw now- of course it is- but he'll be okay.

And the fact that he can stand having me around when I'm trying to help out? That makes him generally more reasonable than some people.

I can respect it if they admit that it's pure emotion. Hard to help that.

I got angry with him when he offered his help - emotionally, as someone to talk to, you know. Wanted me to open up. He wouldn't let it go. I've got others to talk to, and I told him as much, but no, it had to be him.

Ah. Yeah, I can see that happening. He has a harder time with people who keep entirely to themselves. Figures they're not talking things out. He was right with me- I mean, at the time. I'm not having a hard time talking now, obviously. Maybe that made him feel bolder about it.

[ Because it all has to do with Gabriel somehow, right? ]

He likes helping people, but it's not his job or even helpful for him to try and help everyone. Think he gets tripped up on that sometimes.

But I was not keeping entirely to myself; that's my point, yeah? It still wouldn't've been any business of his if I was, but he's got a nasty habit of assuming that if someone's not talking with him, opening up to him, accepting help from him, then they're not doing it at all. As if he's the only person in the fucking world.

Or the only one that can help with something. [ He's nodding, not that Alfie can see it. ] Or the only one who shouldn't fall prey to the crap that goes on here, just like Peter was thinking. Yeah. He's working on it, I think. If he does it again, let me know and I'll see if I can get him to lay off.

[ As if most of their friendship hasn't been Al telling Sylar how to properly behave. ]

He learns, though. Usually.

Mm. He'd better; this is an awful place not to. Even more than most.

Yeah, it's not very forgiving, especially if you're putting the fate of everyone on your own shoulders. But his world didn't exactly push him any other way. Him and his brother had to do everything themselves.

Anyway, let's cross our fingers for more practical people to arrive, and less superheroes. We could use some more puzzle-solvers too. If House ever bites it for good, we're pretty screwed.

House-- more Houses would be good, yeah. I don't even mind if they're fucking insufferable.

[ He chuckles at that. ]

I'd really prefer easier-to-work-with, but we'll see what we end up with. We really only need one person as hard to get along with as House, and we've got two. Sherlock's even worse, honestly- he just stays out of the way of most people because they don't interest him.

I used to be good at this sort of thing, myself, but this place- [ The amount of emphasis and drama on that word was way more than he intended, and he stops for a moment. ] Well, you understand how it takes bits of you, I'm sure. Don't have my ability, always in the wrong place, and now I can't keep my mind on what I want most of the time. It's infuriating.

[And that Alfie gets, too.]

Always was good at keeping my head, at home. Even in the war. You point a gun at my face and I don't even blink; I was proud of that.

But here, it's different.

Yeah. It gets in your head, here. Literally. Messes around with things that should be untouchable. It's a different kind of horror.

At least, I assume. I've never been in a war. But I don't think anyone's been actively altering brain chemestries during one.

Yeah, it's different. Worse in some ways, better than others. The scale was greater.

Yeah. There were a lot more people involved. Here, it feels like we're the only ones left on the planet. Might be true, might not. It's not our planet, so I guess it doesn't matter. But it feels awfully lonely, for someone from New York City. There's not even enough people here to make a crowd, even if we could all stick together.

Maybe that's a relief for some people, that less of us have to go through this.

It can be both, can't it. More lonely, but a relief all the same.

I guess. If there were more people, then maybe we'd be further along. Or someone would've noticed what happened. There's enough 'magic' universes for someone to be versed in trans-universal teleportation.

[ There's a short pause, and then he sort of chuckles at himself. ]

Eh, I'm just looking for some other way, something that'd give us an advantage. But we still don't know enough about what's even going on to know what we'd need. Wouldn't mind more programmers, though, too. Makes me wish I actually picked up that talking-to-computers ability I heard about awhile back, just in case.

What was the man like, that you would have had to kill to do that?

Ah-

[ That actually brings him up short for a moment, a difficult task at this stage. But he realizes he let his mouth run a little too wild. ]

Micah Sanders. He was just a kid. Eleven years old, smart. Probably smarter than his parents, after everything I heard about them. I wouldn't have- I don't think I would've gone after him, even without what I've learned here.

You don't kill kids, or have you got another reason?

I've always avoided it, even when that might've been the kinder thing.

[ Everything at the Walker home had gone picture-perfect, and he even found out that James' daughter had an ability, too. It was a bonus, but he hesitated as he pointed at her and she managed to hide. The whole thing had unsettled him, for reasons he didn't understand. Not then. ]

I think I've got an idea why that is, now. The whole- everything that happened in that tower, with the converts...while I was all messed up, I remembered something new. John thought it was a delusion, but it hasn't gone away this whole time. It's just gotten stronger.

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