HUNGRY MEDIC (TF2)

Day 3

Hungry had been nervous about going in unprepared, so he decided not to.

Instead of wondering if he could get there, now he needed to wonder whether or not he could socialize. And there was definitely a lack of socializing going on in his base besides talking to Heavy. Just about everyone else was out of the question. They didn't talk much anymore and it dampened his spirits.

Two days after Hungry opened the portal, he began to brainstorm things to do or say to the other people he would find over there. His mind wandered and wondered.

It wondered how they would react. It thought they might come to like him; he could be quite friendly after all. It worried that they would find him terrifying. But not as much as it hoped that they would help him. And maybe he would help in return if he felt like it.

Too many possible outcomes; he felt incredibly nervous and tired. Hungry didn't remember how it went the last time he met a new person. He didn't remember much at all. He remembered that smiling did improve his mood but it could never fix everything. It showed through his eyes. Nothing he did with his mouth would change the look in his eyes.

The people on the other side of that portal would have irises and nearly all of them would be intact. Like aliens. The way that their eyes actually reflected light unsettled Hungry, and he thought about what it would be like if it was the other way around; if they were scared of his matte, blank eyes. Or his dozens upon dozens of, in his opinion, beautifully functional teeth. At one point the number of teeth changed after he used to know the real amount, and that was when he decided to stop counting altogether.

What he did keep track of was the amount of years he'd been here. Nearly fifty. Most would refer to it as their birthday, but he couldn't remember if he'd been birthed or not. But he didn't care because he was here now, trying to find the right way to do this...

Hungry laid himself back on the table he used to perform surgeries on. The temperature was almost enough to make him sweat but it sat right near the edge, keeping him from ever shivering. As he thought about it, he tried to think of a time when it was too much for him to handle. Then he couldn't remember if he had the ability to sweat.

Suddenly, he got up and looked for a blanket to test his theory. The only place he knew that for sure had blankets was his room. He marched there and shut himself in the little room as he lay down in his bed. After staying up for so long trying to form a plan, he dozed off in the soft bed.

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Hungry was ashamed of himself and how easily he got distracted. After an hour of sleeping, he woke up startled from a red dream he couldn't remember.

He didn't need to shut his eyes in his sleep, and yet he had. His gray face twisted back into the comfortable grin he wore. The first thing on his conscious mind was food as his stomach hurt and begged like a little kid yanking on his arm.

When Hungry was hungry, the kitchen felt miles away. He had invested in a smaller fridge to rescue himself. The fridge was a luxury to him. If the heat and flies managed to spoil the meat he needed to function, so be it. He could fight the flies and maggots and win every time; they were just bugs. There would inevitably be one time he wouldn't be able to win but he didn't want to think about that yet.

The room he resided in was less than a hundred square feet not including his bed, barely enough room for a person like him to privately pace around. For now, he knelt by this little fridge to eat. His hunger only faded when he ate. That was how it was done. But eating took him down to 1%; what he wanted was none.

With a mouthful of raw beef, he froze. What he wanted now from the other side of that portal was incredibly clear, clearer than it'd ever been to him. Bridges built themselves in his brain and he had a wonderful, hopeful idea that wiped the meaningless smile off his face to replace it with a real one.

He kept eating.

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For once, he was scared of someone.

Hungry stared at himself in the mirror. His skin was gray, his irises black, his hair graying, and his many teeth straight. He was not afraid of this person because this was the most familiar he would ever get with someone. So why was he afraid of meeting the other him? It would still be him. Just kind of different.

He'd figured out what he wanted and where to find the other him because this was not something he could do by himself. 

His finger wouldn't go through the mirror when he tried. He fantasized about it going through and clipping through his own hand as another hand reached back out toward him. That wasn't going to happen but something similar would.

Hungry stepped away from this mirror to prepare himself. Then he set off to the hallway where he would do it; he would step all the way through this time and try to find himself.

The halls were barren as if no one knew or cared about what he was going to do. He imagined a line of people pressed against the walls, grinning and clapping and happy for him, like the floor was a city street all closed off for his little parade to the edge of his dimension. He was the entire parade in one person; everyone could have the honor of touching his red glove as he cheerfully proceeded past them. The day would be sunny because even the sun and the sky and the clouds all wanted to catch a glimpse of his march across the stars. They smiled too; they lit the way, and the dim red hallway returned to his eyes as he arrived at his spot. The people left him.

The wall was met with his two hands again as he began to murmur his way into this other world. He almost forgot some of the words, and he got nervous that it wasn't going to work, but he was reassured as the portal took its time opening itself after he finished speaking.

He periodically hummed without a melody to try and soothe himself as he stared through. Once again he started having second thoughts when he heard footsteps and saw movement from the corner of his eye. His head turned and saw Heavy pause at the end of the red hallway. For whatever reason this compelled Hungry to step all the way through and slip into the other side of the portal.

His fingers fidgeted faster as he froze in the new, mirrored hallway. It was colder. It was more blue. And he heard those same voices again. He had that feeling of being somewhere he wasn't supposed to be.

So he wanted to find Medic first. He did not want any other person to see him first other than himself.

The only difficulty he was having so far was the fact that everything was mirrored but he still knew the way to the med bay nonetheless. He would eventually be stopped by the other fact that the mercenaries were still very much occupying the base.

He had one turn left to make before the hall that took him there. But as he did he yanked himself back after seeing two men coming his way. He began to panic and look around for a spot to hide himself but there was nothing but room to be seen. Without enough time to run back the way he came, he pressed himself as close as he could to the wall.

Their conversation was heard but not listened to as he was all too focused on not breathing to care. It sounded meaningless anyway like they were talking just to say words.

Hungry stood perfectly still and terrified as they turned away from him and kept walking. Now he sped down the hallway with light steps as he arrived at the familiar double doors.

It was him; it was Medic with his back turned.

How was he supposed to do this? "Hello, I'm you from a different planet, please help me"? Hungry didn't like that one. But he remembered, this was still him he was looking at. So he thought that if their personalities were similar enough then Medic would understand. This was his thought process. And now this was it.

Hungry knocked gently to be more polite. He heard Medic yell in response.

"Yes?"

The door squeaked as it was pushed open by Hungry, who began to softly speak. "Uh, hallo..."

Medic turned towards him at the sound of his voice, and Hungry watched his expression shift from mild annoyance to terror.