Quotha ( Dmitri and Papillon)
 

(Just a note, quotha is an archaic word which was used to express either surprise , which is what I'm going for, or contempt, which might happen between the characters .)

Avery sat alone by the piano, his forehead creased with a frown. For some reason he couldn't remember something, and yet he knew that it was something which he'd known. The dilemma with the sheet of music before him was a strange one. It seemed like his hands remembered the music, and could make it flow easily, while his mind was under another set of order completely. A sigh escaped the green eyed man as he regarded the black and white keys.

Whether or not his mind remembered at least part of him did. It was enough that something remained within. The doctors said it was caused by a car accident, but the young man who everyone else called Avery couldn't remember a thing. The only thing he did know, was that he knew nothing except things which didn't seem to matter. Math, yes of course, how to play music and drive a car? Certainly! But who he was? Nothing!

Lifting his head, the young man regarded this strange guest. Avery's emerald green eyes took in his appearance as his mind registered the words spoken. "Yes, the accident the one I can't recall." Speaking of such things brought a twinge to his head, as if the muscles remembered the injuries even if their owner didn't. The melody rang a bell, it was almost an echo of an earlier song played in that very room.

Turning, Avery faced the man and lifted his head so he could see the other's face. "You knew me? So I'm still the same?" That had been one of his worries, not being himself anymore.

Light filtered into the room from a window, a sharp contrast to the shadows in every corner. Even so, it felt like the only home Avery had ever known. Sometimes, the young man watched how the trees made patterns on the floors with their play of light and tried to imitate them without success in the journal given to him. There wasn't very much else to do in such a place.

Looking about the room for a moment, he lazily sighed. The room was so devoid of everything. The tall, thin boy wasn't used to it. The last time he and Avery had actually been together a lot was when Avery was a child, really. He melody still rang lightly in the air.

"You still look the same, really.. Your eyes haven't changed." Alec smiled softly, wishing he would just reach out and touch the boy. But of course, that wasn't physically possible. "But after the accident, you have this.. sadness to you."


ooc; -mind is dead, sorry, lovely.-

((It happens, no need to worry.))

Listening to the melody for a little while more, Avery tried to place it. Shaking his head slightly, he returned his green eyes to the man. "Who are you? I don't mean to be rude." Eyes slipping away the young man stared at the notes of music for a moment. Changing the page, he began to play something else. It was a Tchaikovsky piece from the Nutcracker. Even Avery could remember hearing it before.

As he played, he thought. It was easier to do so when music was flowing trough the room. The notes and movements to create them were a dance, small in scale but powerful in scope. "And, I suppose seeming sad is alright. But then again, being alive like this is a lot better then not being alive at all... Isn't it?" Sometimes Avery lay at night pondering the question. He always came back to the fact that someday he might remember, and that dead... There wouldn't have been that chance.

(sorry for the delay)

Looking at Avery, Alec was quiet for a moment. How could he possibly explain who he was. You see, he was not exactly a person. "I'm Alec, Avery.. Sad to think you don't remember me, even after all these years.." He shook his head, leaning his slender frame against the door post with a gentle laziness. Listening as the boy played the Nutcracker piece, he smiled. It was always one of Avery's favorites.

As his old friend spoke, Alec listened, thinking. "Being alive is better than being dead, in a way. But then you have to ask questions like that.." He frowned, shaking his head. "Don't be so morbid." The thought of Avery being dead was worrisome, especially since that meant that Alec would also cease to exist, though he never really existed at all.

(That's fine XD No trouble at all. Gave me a little more time to think of my character.)

The young man mulled over each word carefully. It was like they resonated with another meaning, a hint of something from the past. Trouble was, that knowledge trembled far away from where Avery could reach it. Pursing his lips, the brown haired man flexed his slender fingers for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders he went back to playing a different piece, but still from the same suite.

"Well then Alec," said Avery as he tilted his head to the side to regard the other man. "I'll definitely work on that. As for another topic of conversation... What's your favorite food?" That was always a safe thing to talk about. Mundane, yet informative at the same time. Though it did bring up the question of what Avery liked. The green eyed man had absolutely no idea.

As if in response to the mention of food, Avery's stomach growled loudly. Letting out an exasperated sigh, the young man stood with practiced ease from the bench. The sound of rustling leaves entered the room trough the open window, which also let light flood the space. It was towards there that Avery went as he tried to remember where he had met Alec.

It was true that he was familiar. Though from where, the green eyed man had no idea. "It... Does seem like I know you. No one else has seemed like someone I once knew, except you. Even my parents didn't ring a bell." The thought sent his mind whirling a little bit. A frown crossed the young man's face as he tried once more to remember if those nice people had indeed been his parents. They had been wonderful when seeing him, and so Avery hoped they were truly his family.

((Sorry for the delay, I'm in university and homework is already piling on.))

The young man frowned and rubbed his forehead at Alec's action. In his head, in his mind ... Or rather in the thoughts that remained locked away lay all the answers he wanted to desperately to know. It did no good to try and force them, no matter what Avery attempted. "It's not that simple. There's something stopping me from remembering, and I wish there was a way to make it disappear, but there isn't." A flickering moment of frustration slipped trough his green eyes as he slipped past Alec to sit near the window.

Automatically Avery picked up his well worn journal and began to scribble absentmindedly. Lines, both harsh and soft, clashed together on the creamy white page, much like his thoughts did all too often. "I'm sorry, this mood haunts me more often then not." It was nice though, being able to speak so freely with someone he might have known once.

A small smile flitted across the young man's features at the mention of stories. The thought of one lifted his mood, though he couldn't remember any. Avery tilted his head to the side, and shifted until he could peer at the other man with hope. "Would you tell me a story?" It never crossed his mind that Alec might have been nothing more then a figment of his imagination.

He didn't want to think about his memories never returning. The thought was far too frightening to contemplate, so it was shoved aside for a later time when things did not go so well. Sometimes a sound would make Avery cringe for no reason, as if he knew that something bad would happen if it ever came around again. Though of course, time and again the thought was proven false. It was one of those strange little conundrums in his life he'd begun to accept without questions because it was the only way to survive.

Wry laughter escaped the young man before he could stop it. "Oh, what an appropriate choice. I was trying to forget that my memory's gone." He knew that Alec was probably trying to help, but it fell somewhat flat. Avery put aside his journal to lean against the window sill with a sigh. In a few hours he would be able to go out for a walk on the institute's grounds. It was a rather large place very much like an old fashioned mansion with all the modern amenities.

No, it was exactly that. Avery didn't mind the fact that the care facility was filled with others like him who suffered from memory loss, it was comforting in a way to know he wasn't the only one. Still, if his supposed parents had cared so much, why had they brought him there? "Nothing's distracting me today. Alec, tell me how we met." It would be better to listen to the other man talk, then lapsing into melancholy again.

Silently the chocolate haired man watched as Alec moved away. A look of intense concentration plastered itself on his features in a comical way as he listened to the story. If he couldn't remember, maybe hearing about his life was the next best thing. This was after all the only way he could find anything out. "But how did we meet?"

A smile did lift Avery's lips at the question. Nodding, he leaned forward and ended up standing to settle down beside Alec upon the bed. It was after all so much easier to listen like this. For some reason, he made sure that there was a large amount of space between them. Avery tried to figure out why, but let it slide by as something his body memory remembered, even if his mind didn't.

It made sense, they'd met when they were quite young it seemed. Missing a toy and being sad about it didn't seem like such a strange thing to him, when the loss of his memory had him so very melancholic. Avery laughed a little at the thought that he was comparing a toy to his memory, though it really did seem like an apt comparison all of a sudden.

"Thank you for that. Now, won't you tell me more about yourself? Remember, I don't know a thing." No matter how well he'd known Alec before, he was now drawing a blank. At least the other man was familiar. He seemed familiar to him, and he knew he'd known him. That was more then Avery could say about anyone else.

The young man smiled as his friend spoke. He could imagine that all too easily, or perhaps it was the shadows of his memories? Avery didn't dare think about it all too much. Just as he opened his mouth to answer Alec was slipping away, leaving him quite perplexed as to his sudden departure. People didn't just walk off like that in the middle of a conversation, not unless they wanted to be rude.

As the nurse entered it dawned on Avery that it probably wasn't visiting hours. Of course, that explained why Alec had left so quickly! "Yes, everything's fine. I was playing the piano, would you like to hear something?" Avery always tried to be polite to the nurses and the doctors. They were doing their jobs and trying their best to help him. It wasn't their fault he couldn't remember anything.

With a shake of his head he plastered a polite smile upon his lips as he walked to the nurse. Soon enough the pills and water were disappearing down his throat, leaving not a trace behind which was more then obvious when Avery stuck his mouth open to show the nurse almost playfully. He was in a rather good mood, knowing that he finally felt some kind of familiarity with someone.