trans_9 | This cannot be healthy

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This cannot be healthy

There was something Cassie Lang had been curious about since she first found out about the Sensorium. She was pretty sure that if anyone knew what she’d had in mind they’d call her crazy and keep her from doing it. But right now she didn’t really care.

She just wanted to talk to him. Or even seeing him would be enough.

“Stacy? Can you uhm, can you make a version of my dad?”

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||Yes.||

And there he was. Scott Lang glanced around the room for a moment, looking a little surprised, and then spotted Cassie. His face broke into a smile and he held his arms out to her.

"There's my baby girl."

Cassie could have sworn she felt her heart break.

"Dad?" Her voice was soft and she sounded much younger, like the little girl she used to be. She needed no further encouragement. The moment after she spoke she ran into her father's arms.

He certainly felt solid when he hugged her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He even smelled like her dad.

Stacy was very, very good at what she did.

"Oh my God." Cassie started crying, holding onto her "father" even tighter. "I miss you so much."

"I missed you too, sweetie," he said, stroking her hair. "And I'm very, very proud of you."

She knew this wasn't her father. She knew this man standing in front of her wasn't really anything more than and illusion created by technology so advanced she couldn't hope to understand it.

But he was so real. And she'd never gotten to say goodbye to her father.

"Oh no, Daddy, you'd be so disappointed." She held back a sob. "I've been so stupid."

"Cassie." He reached out and cradled her face in his hands, lifting her chin up so he could look her in the eyes. "There is nothing you could do that would make me love you any less. "I'm proud of you even when you make mistakes, because I know that you're learning from them."

Cassie could tell "him" exactly what all had happened since "he" died.

She could tell about the Registration Act and how she had rebelled then registered, then wondered if there was any real "right" side at all.

She could tell him she'd been kidnapped by the Puppetmaster who'd forced her to do all kinds of things.

She could tell him that during a fight with the Growing Man she'd nearly paralyzed her Step-Father.

She could tell him that she'd fallen in love with a young version of Kang and that now she was in love with a pair of armor with a young Kang's brain patterns.

...On second thought no, she really shouldn't tell him that.

"I hope so." Cassie stared at her father. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie."

The Sensorium around the "two" of them had transformed into the place where Scott Lang had been living when he'd died. It looked exactly the same as Cassie remembered it. The same furniture, the same smells, the same clutter.

There was no sign at all, absolutely nothing to indicate that she was anywhere but home with her dad.

There was a knock at the door to the Sensorium, now masquerading as the door to Scott Lang's home. Jonas opened the door and promptly froze half-way through.

"[Cassie?]"

Ohhhhh #$*@.

Cassie let go of her "dad" and turned to her ~~boy~~friend.

"Jonas I was uh, well it's," She waved a hand to the fake Scott Lang. "It's my dad."

The simulacrum of Cassie's father also said something in greeting, but Jonas was a bit too concerned by the situation to pay attention to it. How could he have been so stupid? Of course Cassie would be tempted to do something like this. He should have thought of it sooner.

"[Is it, Cassie?]" he asked quietly.

"I know he's not." Cassie said quickly. "But he's- it's- I mean I never got to say goodbye I thought maybe it would help."

At least she was aware of how this looked.

"[Of course,]" he demurred. "[And are you going to be all right?]"

Maybe it was completely innocent. This could be exactly what she said it was, a tool to help her process her grief. There was nothing wrong with that. He just wished he had more information on which to judge the situation.

"I guess? He's..." She looked at her "father" and then back at Jonas. "He's just. I didn't expect it'd be so real." She really should have not said that.

No, she shouldn't have. Jonas stepped forward and reached for her, to pull her away from the image of her father.

"[But it is not real,]" he said. "[We both know that.]" And now he also knows that this might be something he needs to watch. "[But you do not need me to tell you that.]"

"But-" Cassie let Jonas pull her away but not without taking a long look at her dad. "Do you think, if there are people from all sorts of universes and times, maybe my dad is here in one of those pods?"

(no subject)

vision-ya.livejournal.com - 2009-06-15 04:35 (UTC) - Expand

Kate was walking past, but then heard voices. Familiar ones, and she started to open the door to peer in.

Her face fell at the scene with some realization, "Oh Cassie honey, no."

"Great, now you're both going to think I'm crazy."

"[We do not think you are crazy,]" Jonas said. Although they were going to need to talk about whether or not Cassie was dealing well with her grief.

"Not crazy, just worried. Really, really worried, and this isn't going to help." Not that she hasn't considered it very briefly to see her mother again. But Kate knew it would be wrong because she's gone, and it wouldn't be real. It won't be her.

Next time? Next time Cassie was going to make sure she wasn't going to be interrupted.

"Yeah, I know." She mumbled.

There wasn't going to be an unsupervised next time, if Jonas had anything to say about it. He loosened his grip on Cassie's arm enough that he could slide his hand down to squeeze her's.

"[You have been through a great deal in the past few months,]" he said. "[Even aside from being abducted by this ship. We do not want to see you hurt any further.]"

As supportive as they were trying to be Cassie just felt like even more of a moron. But she did tighten her hold on Jonas's hand briefly in response.

"Yeah, I know." She was perhaps turning into a broken record like Stacy.

Kate tilted her head to the side as she studied her friend, still concerned, "You sure about that? Seriously Cassie, it doesn't work that way. Why do you think I've never had this thing try to duplicate my mom? Because I know it won't be her."