Together // Narrator x Stanley

A Serious Talk (At a Serious Table)

[TW :: Implied suicidal thoughts, and past suicide (attempt?) is talked about,,]

Underlined italics that aren't inside of quotation marks are Stanley's thoughts that the Narrator can hear.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The Narrator brushed some eraser shavings off of his desk as he watched Stanley wander around in the lounge. Stanley and the Narrator had decided not to reset unless absolutely needed. The endings Stanley had gone through many times already had gotten boring for him, and now that the Narrator knew that Stanley remembered them, he didn't want to make him do them again (as upsetting as it was that he wouldn't be able to read through what he considered his best writing). The Narrator was editing the office building's layout a bit, trying to find ways to create new endings for Stanley. Planning and writing took time though, so Stanley was waiting. He was free to do as he pleased and he gave suggestions for the story every so often, but he slowly got less and less enthusiastic as time went on. His mood had definitely dropped over the hours (days?) that passed while the Narrator was drafting.

"Stanley," The Narrator said, noticing the way Stanley stared off into space as he walked into the warehouse, "you're going to hurt yourself. Pay attention." Stanley barely acknowledged the Narrator's words, but he definitely heard them. He blinked a few times and shook his head. The Narrator may not have known much about human emotions (despite experiencing more and more of them the longer he was forced to work with Stanley), but he did know that how Stanley was acting wasn't good. The Narrator was too caught up in his story and the zen room to even notice before, but now he wasn't caught up in those things. The signs were painfully clear. He wasn't sure how he didn't notice that Stanley was acting off last time. The Narrator's eyes were glued to the screen as Stanley hesitated before stepping onto the lift. The lift? Why is he getting onto the lift? The Narrator set his pencil down gently, turning it sideways so it didn't roll down the desk. Stanley sat on the very edge of the moving platform, looking over the side.

"Narrator, how far is this drop?" The question caught the Narrator off guard and made him a little anxious. It wasn't impossible for Stanley to jump off the lift. He had done it before, a long time ago.

"Stanley, that doesn't matter." The Narrator responded, moving so his hands were hovering over his keyboard full of buttons. Just in case he needed them. He really hoped he wouldn't, but you never know. Stanley's eyes widened when he realized the implications of his own words along with how he had been acting, and he frantically waved his hands in front of himself.

"No, no, no." He repeated a few times. The Narrator relaxed a bit, but he was still very much on edge. "That isn't-- I'm just wondering since it looks high up," Stanley explained. The Narrator took off his glasses and rested his head in his hands.

"Oh, 'it looks high up'. Of course it looks high up! Do you not recall the time you jumped off of it just to spite me?" The Narrator placed his hands on the desk and tried to remain calm. He wasn't going to get anywhere with anger and sarcasm. He never got anywhere with those things, he was slowly starting to realize. They had talked things out in the zen room, so they could talk things out about the zen room. Did that even make sense? The Narrator wasn't too sure. "I think we need to have a serious discussion."

"A discussion about what?" The Narrator didn't answer before hitting a button that caused his screens to start loading. He was getting used to this whole loading thing. When he was still just a disembodied voice, he was able to see whatever Stanley was doing without seeing him. He overlooked the whole building (unless the story prevented him from doing so). That was still the case, but now he had screens to go along with it. It was very odd, but he didn't mind being able to actually see what Stanley was doing. "What the hell?" That was another thing about the whole narrator job. Stanley didn't really have a voice, but he did have an inner voice... What he would sound like if he talked out loud. That's the one that the Narrator could hear whenever Stanley signed things.