Quoted By:
YEAH
...A LOT OF PEOPLE DID. UM. I THINK PROBABLY ALMOST EVERYBODY ALIVE
"There you have it. I don't think I was ever especially lucky, but nevertheless. There were no boundaries between the others and I. We were fully porous; no secrets could exist, no private thoughts; if one knew we all did. From what I understand, this extreme mingling produced a... gestalt, a higher mind, of some kind, that spoke on our behalf. I can't attest to that."
I CAN DON'T WORRY
SO YOU CAN'T REMEMBER ACTUALLY BEING US?
"He remembers it from the outside. I have impressions." Teddy stops briefly to re-adjust Gil's skin. "I told you, though, I was diffused out across... I was a part of the world. I was impressionistic myself."
AND YOU'RE NOT NOW?
"Less."
HOW?
"The gods determined that I could serve a use."
THEY'RE DEAD TEDDY.
"I don't believe that." Teddy makes glancing eye contact. "My relative in blood is adrift in the world. He needs guidance. The gods have placed me back into the world, as a spirit, to provide this guidance."
YOU'RE NOT A SPIRIT TEDDY.
Without breaking his stride, Teddy gestures, and the pier whips left, whips right, zigzags, grows hills, then flattens and straightens like nothing ever happened. "What would you call it?"
I... LOOK I'LL HAVE TO ASK RICHARD OKAY. HE'D KNOW! BUT NOT A SPIRIT! SOME SORT OF STOWAWAY... MIND... THING. I GUESS. HOW DID YOU DO THAT?
"I made it happen."
OKAY BUT HOW?
"I wanted it. It happened. The gods put me here, and now I belong to it, from what I can surmise."
TEDDY YOU TALK WEIRDLY FANCY FOR SOME GUY WHO FISHES ALL DAY. IT'S KIND OF DISTRACTING? I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT
"I don't see how those things are related, Miss Fawkins. I could have been well-read. Or other people's speech was mingled with mine, and this is how I've come away. I couldn't tell you."
MISS FAWKINS?
"Yes?"
WHICH MISS FAWKINS?
"Charlotte? Or Lottie, if you prefer it. He seems to think you prefer it. Miss Lottie Fawkins."
OH. I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE MIXING UP...
HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME? IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER US?
"He knows it."
...YOU KNOW WHAT GIL KNOWS?
"I am him," Teddy says nonchalantly. "He's me. The boundaries are porous. To answer your question, yes."
Oh, <span class="mu-i">God.</span> BUT YOU'RE NOT... I MEAN, YOU'RE HOLDING HIM.
"His skin. Yes. I don't want you to get this wrong. I haven't replaced him. He's not dead. He's not some hideous amalgam. I know what you were thinking. No, I mean, we make one world between us. He is in it, I am in it. We can reach out and touch one another. Are you following?"
Err. You'll believe it when you see it— or see Gil, alive and well. How is Teddy still walking? Is this how piers normally are? You don't think you've ever seen one in real life:
MAYBE? PERHAPS? UH TEDDY CHANGING THE SUBJECT WHY ARE YOU ON A PIER. I MEAN IT'S A NICE PIER I GUESS BUT. THIS IS STILL GIL'S MIND RIGHT? DOES HE HAVE A SECRET PIER LOVE?
"I like piers," Teddy says.
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