Erik... is a name.

AU of a TMA OC, taken by The Distortion.

[erik-distortion-tma]

🚪

Hello. I suppose you're wondering who I am. That's a bit of a useless question, I'm afraid.

I was once someone, long ago... part of me was, at least.

But he's gone now. Now there's only me. I'm better for it.

If you see a bright yellow door... Be sure to pay me a visit.

OOC:

This is an au for @erik-lovman-tma where he gets taken by The Distortion right after Leitner tries to shoot him.

I thought it would be really fun to throw Erik, who already doesn't believe in his own personhood and has an abstract concept of reality, into the role of an entity who has no identity and whose job is to distort reality.

For more information on Erik, please see his blog's masterpost. The information linked there is... extensive. I'm sure you'll find anything you could possibly need.

I will not be typing in that font all the time. It is time-consuming and tedious. Also it kinda gives me a headache.

Tags:

#ooc : Out of character posting

#distorted font : In character posting

#spiraling whirlpool : General character tag

#self-crossover : Anything to do with London Fog

#2hot2handle : Erikstortion x Tim

[timothy-stoker-offical]

Hiya Tim!

*door* -@the-distortion-offical

*closes door*

[the-distortion-offical]

:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*locks door*

[the-distortion-offical]

>:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*barricades door*

[the-distortion-offical]

>:0

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*chains barricades down*

[the-distortion-offical]

well now ur just being rude >:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

tims the name

crushing doors' dreams is the game

[the-distortion-offical]

:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

doorn't

[the-distortion-offical]

Im gonna eat your Archivist

[timothy-stoker-offical]

oh no.................whatever will I do.........

[open-door-offical]

I feel like I’m not welcome here.

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes door*

[open-door-offical]

*Creaks back open*

That was rude :(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes door again*

[open-door-offical]

*Opens more hesitantly*

You seem upset. Why are you upset?

[timothy-stoker-offical]

because these darn doors wont close

*closes door*

[open-door-offical]

*Opens again*

I don’t know what to say about that, but open doors save lives.

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes again* so do closed ones

[open-door-offical]

*The door somehow sighs*

Oh very well.

*It disappears*

[tstoker-londonfog]

Mmm… that isn’t quite how my interaction with said yellow door went..

Iykyk…

@erik-distortion-tma

[erik-distortion-tma]

How on Earth did you find my Tumblr

Eh, nevermind. Hello Tim❤️

[tstoker-londonfog]

I can find anything on here, trust me I should NOT have been given access to this hellsite

Awww does that heart mean I’m still your favourite ?????

[erik-distortion-tma]

Perhaps. Maybe you should pay me another visit so I can decide...

[timothy-stoker-offical]

Hiya Tim!

*door* -@the-distortion-offical

*closes door*

[the-distortion-offical]

:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*locks door*

[the-distortion-offical]

>:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*barricades door*

[the-distortion-offical]

>:0

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*chains barricades down*

[the-distortion-offical]

well now ur just being rude >:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

tims the name

crushing doors' dreams is the game

[the-distortion-offical]

:(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

doorn't

[the-distortion-offical]

Im gonna eat your Archivist

[timothy-stoker-offical]

oh no.................whatever will I do.........

[open-door-offical]

I feel like I’m not welcome here.

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes door*

[open-door-offical]

*Creaks back open*

That was rude :(

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes door again*

[open-door-offical]

*Opens more hesitantly*

You seem upset. Why are you upset?

[timothy-stoker-offical]

because these darn doors wont close

*closes door*

[open-door-offical]

*Opens again*

I don’t know what to say about that, but open doors save lives.

[timothy-stoker-offical]

*closes again* so do closed ones

[open-door-offical]

*The door somehow sighs*

Oh very well.

*It disappears*

[tstoker-londonfog]

Mmm… that isn’t quite how my interaction with said yellow door went..

Iykyk…

@erik-distortion-tma

[erik-distortion-tma]

How on Earth did you find my Tumblr

Eh, nevermind. Hello Tim❤️

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s eyelids fluttered as he held down the sound that his body wanted to make in reaction to such pleasure being implanted directly into his brain.]

“Oh ffuckk..” [He slurred, his mouth still being held open by the Distortion’s very very sharp fingers. The words came out breathy and he leaned back against the chair to ground himself. Said chair seemed to be leaning towards him as well, which reminded him he was quite literally surrounded by the Distortion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

It took a certain pleasure in watching Tim go dumb from having his mind played with. The Distortion locked eyes with Tim so the dizziness would heighten the haze. With Tim melting into the chair, it would be so easy to devour him right then and there... But the Distortion restrained itself.

"You look beautiful like this..." it cooed, and sent another flood of euphoria into Tim's brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[His mind felt like it was melting from all that he was feeling at the same time. Wrapping his arms around the Distortion’s neck, he pulled it forward towards him as the next wave of euphoria passed over him. He trembled and his breathing was shaky at best.]

“At least come down to my level.. if you’re gonna be like that..” [He huffed, out of breath despite being leaned back against a chair. His breathing stuttered again when he processed just how much taller Erik was than him, which was emphasized by how dizzy looking it in the eyes made him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

With a soft chuckle, it knelt down to be closer to Tim's height. "Better?" it asked, though it was more of a taunt.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked, finally getting a moment of clarity where he wasn’t being mentally bombarded by pleasure chemicals very enjoyably forced into his brain.]

“Of course… but I will say you are stunning from up there..” [His hands moved to try and hold its face. He still couldn’t really focus on any of the features on it, but it didn’t really matter in the heat of the moment.]

“Am I giving you a good show?” [He drawled out, well aware of how much of a mess this made of him. His mind was still spinning trying to catch up with everything.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"A wonderful show, dear. It's nice to see an expression besides fear or discomfort on a human's face... I might even prefer it."

The mindfuck continued for a good, long while. Tim couldn't really tell how long exactly. Time had no meaning in this place, and it was hard to think when you're getting blasted with dopamine so hard it scrambles your brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[When it finally ended, Tim could feel his entire body buzzing, and his mind was full of spiralling feelings and scrambled thoughts. He exhaled slowly, trying to stand up but wobbling on his feet and ending up being supported by the furniture.]

“Christ.. I’ve never felt like that before.” [He noted, sitting back down as his head still span. Maybe even more than it did earlier. He couldn’t feel his extremities, his mind felt like it was blasted with pure overstimulation and his being sang from overexposure to the Spiral. If he wasn’t Marked from just a scratch earlier, he definitely was now.]

“Glad you enjoyed it as much as me then.. Fuck I feel like I was flipped upside down a million times over. How long have I..?” [Obviously there were no clocks in the hallways, as it would defeat the point, but he couldn’t even pinpoint how long he’d been there on his own.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm... that's a good question. Time is funny, isn't it? I was never good with... time."

With a wheezy chuckle, the Distortion stood, and wiped a bit of drool from Tim's chin. "I think I can send you straight back to your reality through my door, if you like. If it's the wrong one, just knock, and I'll let you back in to try again."

It plopped back down in its chair, which momentarily seemed to bend- or- melt- under its weight, like putty, before returning to its proper shape.

"That is, of course, if you're in a hurry to leave. I'm certainly not in a hurry to see you go, but I feared if I toyed with you much longer, you'd go insane..." It sighed longingly, like the opportunity to drive Tim to insanity was something it would mourn.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded, staring half-blankly up ahead from the effects of being in the Distortion’s hallways for so long.]

“I’m not.. exactly in a hurry to leave but- I think you’re right about me not being able to stay much a longer. I’d- appreciate not going crazy, thanks.” [He shoot his head a bit, trying to steady himself, though he was certain nothing could quite shake off the overexposure until he left.]

“You gonna miss me, then?” [He tried to shoot it a grin despite his general state of overwhelmed confusion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I might," it half-answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"If you end up missing me, just ask for a door... Or find one. But make sure it's my door by giving me a special greeting.~"

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s eyelids fluttered as he held down the sound that his body wanted to make in reaction to such pleasure being implanted directly into his brain.]

“Oh ffuckk..” [He slurred, his mouth still being held open by the Distortion’s very very sharp fingers. The words came out breathy and he leaned back against the chair to ground himself. Said chair seemed to be leaning towards him as well, which reminded him he was quite literally surrounded by the Distortion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

It took a certain pleasure in watching Tim go dumb from having his mind played with. The Distortion locked eyes with Tim so the dizziness would heighten the haze. With Tim melting into the chair, it would be so easy to devour him right then and there... But the Distortion restrained itself.

"You look beautiful like this..." it cooed, and sent another flood of euphoria into Tim's brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[His mind felt like it was melting from all that he was feeling at the same time. Wrapping his arms around the Distortion’s neck, he pulled it forward towards him as the next wave of euphoria passed over him. He trembled and his breathing was shaky at best.]

“At least come down to my level.. if you’re gonna be like that..” [He huffed, out of breath despite being leaned back against a chair. His breathing stuttered again when he processed just how much taller Erik was than him, which was emphasized by how dizzy looking it in the eyes made him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

With a soft chuckle, it knelt down to be closer to Tim's height. "Better?" it asked, though it was more of a taunt.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked, finally getting a moment of clarity where he wasn’t being mentally bombarded by pleasure chemicals very enjoyably forced into his brain.]

“Of course… but I will say you are stunning from up there..” [His hands moved to try and hold its face. He still couldn’t really focus on any of the features on it, but it didn’t really matter in the heat of the moment.]

“Am I giving you a good show?” [He drawled out, well aware of how much of a mess this made of him. His mind was still spinning trying to catch up with everything.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"A wonderful show, dear. It's nice to see an expression besides fear or discomfort on a human's face... I might even prefer it."

The mindfuck continued for a good, long while. Tim couldn't really tell how long exactly. Time had no meaning in this place, and it was hard to think when you're getting blasted with dopamine so hard it scrambles your brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[When it finally ended, Tim could feel his entire body buzzing, and his mind was full of spiralling feelings and scrambled thoughts. He exhaled slowly, trying to stand up but wobbling on his feet and ending up being supported by the furniture.]

“Christ.. I’ve never felt like that before.” [He noted, sitting back down as his head still span. Maybe even more than it did earlier. He couldn’t feel his extremities, his mind felt like it was blasted with pure overstimulation and his being sang from overexposure to the Spiral. If he wasn’t Marked from just a scratch earlier, he definitely was now.]

“Glad you enjoyed it as much as me then.. Fuck I feel like I was flipped upside down a million times over. How long have I..?” [Obviously there were no clocks in the hallways, as it would defeat the point, but he couldn’t even pinpoint how long he’d been there on his own.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm... that's a good question. Time is funny, isn't it? I was never good with... time."

With a wheezy chuckle, the Distortion stood, and wiped a bit of drool from Tim's chin. "I think I can send you straight back to your reality through my door, if you like. If it's the wrong one, just knock, and I'll let you back in to try again."

It plopped back down in its chair, which momentarily seemed to bend- or- melt- under its weight, like putty, before returning to its proper shape.

"That is, of course, if you're in a hurry to leave. I'm certainly not in a hurry to see you go, but I feared if I toyed with you much longer, you'd go insane..." It sighed longingly, like the opportunity to drive Tim to insanity was something it would mourn.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s eyelids fluttered as he held down the sound that his body wanted to make in reaction to such pleasure being implanted directly into his brain.]

“Oh ffuckk..” [He slurred, his mouth still being held open by the Distortion’s very very sharp fingers. The words came out breathy and he leaned back against the chair to ground himself. Said chair seemed to be leaning towards him as well, which reminded him he was quite literally surrounded by the Distortion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

It took a certain pleasure in watching Tim go dumb from having his mind played with. The Distortion locked eyes with Tim so the dizziness would heighten the haze. With Tim melting into the chair, it would be so easy to devour him right then and there... But the Distortion restrained itself.

"You look beautiful like this..." it cooed, and sent another flood of euphoria into Tim's brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[His mind felt like it was melting from all that he was feeling at the same time. Wrapping his arms around the Distortion’s neck, he pulled it forward towards him as the next wave of euphoria passed over him. He trembled and his breathing was shaky at best.]

“At least come down to my level.. if you’re gonna be like that..” [He huffed, out of breath despite being leaned back against a chair. His breathing stuttered again when he processed just how much taller Erik was than him, which was emphasized by how dizzy looking it in the eyes made him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

With a soft chuckle, it knelt down to be closer to Tim's height. "Better?" it asked, though it was more of a taunt.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked, finally getting a moment of clarity where he wasn’t being mentally bombarded by pleasure chemicals very enjoyably forced into his brain.]

“Of course… but I will say you are stunning from up there..” [His hands moved to try and hold its face. He still couldn’t really focus on any of the features on it, but it didn’t really matter in the heat of the moment.]

“Am I giving you a good show?” [He drawled out, well aware of how much of a mess this made of him. His mind was still spinning trying to catch up with everything.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"A wonderful show, dear. It's nice to see an expression besides fear or discomfort on a human's face... I might even prefer it."

The mindfuck continued for a good, long while. Tim couldn't really tell how long exactly. Time had no meaning in this place, and it was hard to think when you're getting blasted with dopamine so hard it scrambles your brain.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s eyelids fluttered as he held down the sound that his body wanted to make in reaction to such pleasure being implanted directly into his brain.]

“Oh ffuckk..” [He slurred, his mouth still being held open by the Distortion’s very very sharp fingers. The words came out breathy and he leaned back against the chair to ground himself. Said chair seemed to be leaning towards him as well, which reminded him he was quite literally surrounded by the Distortion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

It took a certain pleasure in watching Tim go dumb from having his mind played with. The Distortion locked eyes with Tim so the dizziness would heighten the haze. With Tim melting into the chair, it would be so easy to devour him right then and there... But the Distortion restrained itself.

"You look beautiful like this..." it cooed, and sent another flood of euphoria into Tim's brain.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[His mind felt like it was melting from all that he was feeling at the same time. Wrapping his arms around the Distortion’s neck, he pulled it forward towards him as the next wave of euphoria passed over him. He trembled and his breathing was shaky at best.]

“At least come down to my level.. if you’re gonna be like that..” [He huffed, out of breath despite being leaned back against a chair. His breathing stuttered again when he processed just how much taller Erik was than him, which was emphasized by how dizzy looking it in the eyes made him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

With a soft chuckle, it knelt down to be closer to Tim's height. "Better?" it asked, though it was more of a taunt.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s eyelids fluttered as he held down the sound that his body wanted to make in reaction to such pleasure being implanted directly into his brain.]

“Oh ffuckk..” [He slurred, his mouth still being held open by the Distortion’s very very sharp fingers. The words came out breathy and he leaned back against the chair to ground himself. Said chair seemed to be leaning towards him as well, which reminded him he was quite literally surrounded by the Distortion.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

It took a certain pleasure in watching Tim go dumb from having his mind played with. The Distortion locked eyes with Tim so the dizziness would heighten the haze. With Tim melting into the chair, it would be so easy to devour him right then and there... But the Distortion restrained itself.

"You look beautiful like this..." it cooed, and sent another flood of euphoria into Tim's brain.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim looked up at it with a dizzy smile, still partially forced by the close contact with the Spiral but also growing genuine and making his heart beat faster.]

“Just keep the actual stimulation off limits for now, I don’t think I can handle that just yet..” [And it could certainly see why, with how messed up regular-ish contact had him. Overstimulating him too much wouldn’t do any good.]

“Other than that… do as you wish~ I’m expecting you to deliver on your promises”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion's thumb slid up to hold Tim's mouth open, getting a good look at his tongue. Endorphins rushed to Tim's brain. Pleasure chemicals swirled around in his head, directly implanted by the Distortion.

Having control over the human mind had its perks.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a small gasp as the Distortion’s finger left a scratch over his neck, the pain blooming in odd forms that he could almost see if he tried to look close enough. He could feel Erik’s skin singing from the proximity, and that combined with the minor cut made him feel like he was fraying at the edges where he’d been touched.]

“Oh that.. that feels..” [He couldn’t find his words for a moment, trying to raise a hand up to touch his neck. He didn’t pay much attention to the strand of hair the Distortion had played with just yet. The touch of the spiral was disorienting and mildly painful, but it also forced his lips into a smile.]

“You’re not done yet, are you..?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Of course not. I promised to make it worth your while, didn't I?"

The Distortion stood from its chair, and bent over to cage Tim into his with both arms.

Then, one hand pulled back as the Distortion got settled over Tim, and it wrapped its hand, much too heavy for its appearance, around his throat. Its thumb pushed his head back, and dug into the skin a little.

"Just how far am I allowed to go?" it inquired, obviously having a few ideas in mind.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim thought it over briefly, before relaxing his posture and gesturing towards the worm scars littering his skin.]

“As long as it won’t hurt like any of these did..” [He turned back towards the Distortion, and leaned forward, placing his hands on its thighs as the chairs somehow ended up right against each other.] “…you could put your Mark on me, just gotta give me a good time to go with it”

[erik-distortion-tma]

Another laugh echoed through the hallways, this one short and sweet. "It might hurt a little bit, but I promise I'll be gentle."

Long fingers shifted into existence as the Distortion twirled a lock of Tim's hair. It held its shape when he retracted his hand.

"For good measure..." Its pointed finger trailed down Tim's throat, leaving a light scratch in its wake. "I'm not quite sure that curl will hold without some kind of injury to go with it. I'm not used to the whole 'marking people' thing. Do forgive me."

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s satisfied smirk grew as they exchanged their own strange type of flirting. He never thought he’d find himself in a situation like this, but the constant buzz of the corridors definitely helped him stay in the right mood.]

“Mm, well I’m very honoured.” [His gaze followed the Distortion’s head as it tilted in a cat-like way, but much more exaggerated. Naturally, he noticed the staring. The look in its eyes was harder to pinpoint because of the effect looking at it had, but it wasn’t nearly his first time being faced with someone attracted to him.]

“Like what you see~? I’ve been told I’m quite nice to look at..”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I'd say I agree. I was also looking you over for any marks or inhuman features, of course... but I was appreciating your appearance as well.

"I've noticed a lack of The Spiral on you. I'd be quite honored to be your first, if you'd let me."

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[A wave of dizziness hit him as the chairs moved again in a manner that his mortal human brain had a hard time processing. He curiously tried to feel for what texture the Distortion’s knee had, but couldn’t identify it. Trying to place his hand on it to attempt at feeling it more directly with his skin gave similar results. A few moments later, he refocused his attention on Erik’s teasing and threw some right back.]

“Oh? You do this often? And here I thought I was special”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion tilted its head, much too far to the side.

"My apologies, I misspoke. I'm afraid you have been my only subject in quite a long time... I suppose, by default, that makes you my favorite as well. Consider it an honor."

It crossed one leg over another, and for a while, just... stared, at Tim. Looked him over with something between scientific interest and lust. Or both. Yeah, both.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim smirked and leaned forward towards the Distortion.]

“Oh yes, and you have plenty of time to learn! S’that why your chairs have gotten so much closed? Science as well?”

[Erik’s laugh gave him a headache, but it still sounded like something he’d like to hear again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself. How come he was letting this quote ‘friendly’ monster, for whatever reason he didn’t want to appear as if he’d eat Tim, get all close with him?]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Mm, perhaps I'm not the best at avoiding inappropriate conduct with my subjects..." The Distortion teased.

As if to tease him even more, the chairs were suddenly closer. Tim's knee brushed the Distortion's. It felt much too solid and wrong, somehow.

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim noticed the chairs and table moving and grinned at it, but didn’t comment on it, wondering what the Distortion would do if it got free rein to move him around for a bit.]

“Mm, well then it’s a good thing you don’t know much about me yet, do you?” [He hummed, clearly deflecting. It was rather fitting for being inside the hallways at the moment.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out another dry laugh. The echo cut deeper inside of it.

"Fair enough. But, the fact that I know so little about you is exactly what makes you so enticing. There are so many unknowns... I still love science, after all."

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim nodded and crossed his arms, thinking of his reality’s Erik.]

“You were a.. siren, right? The Erik I know is one, and I was told every version of him would also be a siren. He… wants to care about what’s happening to everyone, he’s very obvious about when he’s into someone and he has a traumatic past with that bastard Leitner. We don’t talk much, I will admit. We’re too… different.”

[The Distortion could taste the lie on Tim’s tongue during that last sentence, but listened closely to what he has to say, as curious as he was earlier about Tim and his universe.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Something tells me it's opposite day. If Erik was anything like me, and I've gotten a decent enough picture of you... I'd say you two are actually quite similar."

Tim wondered when their chairs had gotten closer. And when had the table been moved to the side?

[erik-distortion-tma]

— @tstoker-londonfog

[It had been a few days since Tim had had any interaction with his coworkers beyond a few shared glances when he arrived in the morning, which made it so he was minding his own business and doing some extra research when he felt his reality shatter. Literally. It started with a feeling of losing his balance and falling in place, before it turned into feeling like a massive vacuum was pulling at him from the inside and sucking him through the fabric of the world. The feeling got more and more intense it culminated in his falling through what felt like the walls themselves into a slim hallway with a singular yellow door at the end of it.]

“Eurgh- what the..” [Tim mumbled as he doubled over and tried to stop himself from throwing up from the shock of whatever the hell he had just experienced. Based on how Erik had described it, he assumed that he had just fallen into another dimension. Despite his better judgement, and since there was nothing else to do in this hallway, he got up and leaned against the wall to not fall back over, calling out towards the door.]

“Hello? Michael? Or uh, Helen, was it?”

With no response from any spindly figure, the yellow door creaked open. The sound dragged out and seemed to echo far too much for how narrow the hallway was.

The doorway beckoned by making the hallway around it bend in on itself, painting the door as the only safe haven.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let go of the wall as it started bending and tried to stand in the middle of the rapidly twisting hallway. He took a step forward to not be too far from the door, but also not close enough to be pulled in.]

“Okay no, I’m not an idiot. Im not going to walk into the spiral fuckery door just because you’re asking me to.” [He responded with a certain bravado despite being about seventy percent sure the hallway was going to try to eat him.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A raven-haired head leaned in from the side of the doorway, like it had been eavesdropping. It bent down to fit through the frame, and came out the other end.

"You know... what I am. How?"

Any attempt to focus on the figure's face was met with confusion. The shapes seemed solid enough, but any attempt to think on their appearance and the visual drifted away into a cloudy haze. They shifted about if you tried to squint. The only thing Tim could remember even when looking directly at it was that it bared at least a passing resemblance to Erik.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim squinted as he tried to take in the figure’s appearance. It… kind of looked like Erik? But at the same time he really couldn’t place what its face looked like and it was mildly irritating. He assumed to some extent that he might just be making up a resemblance to ease his own mind.]

“Yes you’re the Distortion, right? Unless there’s another yellow door masquerading as a person around here, but where I come from it’s well- you. But with a different face.” [He shrugged and stumbled a bit as the walls kept pressing in.]

“As great as this all is I would rather not get eaten by the walls-“

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm."

The distortion cast an idle glance at the crushing hallway. With a wave of his hand, it reset back to normal. The exact method of transition was blurry. Tim couldn't remember if it had steadily returned to its proper shape, or clicked back instantly.

"You mentioned two people. Michael and Helen. Who are they?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a sigh of a relief and a small thanks when Erik returned the hallway to its normal state. He wasn’t good at thanking people, so it came out a bit muffled, but he felt he shouldn’t take the brief mercy of the Distortion itself for granted, given that it does eat people.]

“Hm, well Michael used to be the face of the Distortion, but then I think he ate Helen and she replaced him? I haven’t met her but Jon, the Archivist?, told me about what happened.”

[Tim said his next sentence more carefully than the first.]

“They were both human before they became.. what you are. But Michael also stabbed my boss so I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. You’re not them though, are you? You dont seem to be them.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I am not. I am something different. I am something I never was before."

The distortion loomed over Tim, a look in his eyes that was hard to read. Tim was able to recognize that the Distortion's eyes were yellow, and that there was something off about their pupils.

After a bit of focusing, he saw that they were much larger, and blurrier, than a human's.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim took a few seconds to stare up at Erik when he leaned over to loom over him. He sucked in a bit of a breath, but it wasn’t out of fear. Not very many people were taller than him, well, except Martin, but he had a different vibe to him.]

“Right. That’s- is that good? I don’t know much about what you are, really.” [He squinted again as he looked at him closely, trying his best to figure out if he truly recognized him or not.]

“You remind me of… hm.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Who?" Despite itself, the Distortion was curious about this stranger. It had watched him appear out of thin air, and he claimed to be from another dimension.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim debated with himself whether or not to actually tell this version of the Distortion more about himself, but he ended up deciding that self preservation never got him anywhere anyways.]

“My coworker, Erik. It’s… really hard to tell what you look like, but your eyes and, your hair- I- think? I can’t tell exactly what screams that about you, it’s just a vague similarity I can’t quite place my finger on.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion let out a far-off noise of vague recognition. "It would seem your coworker may very well be my current face... Erik is the name that humans call me by now."

It circled around Tim like a cat, brushing against Tim's side. The Distortion, for some reason, had taken interest in this particular human.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim let out a winded “oh” as Erik, who he finally knew used to be Erik, revealed the truth of the face it was wearing.]

“That’s..” [He didn’t want to ask what happened, but he also knew that this Erik didn’t recognize him, which probably meant he never made it to the archives.]

“You’re a bit disorientating, you know?” [He half-intentionally complimented as his eyes tried to follow the Distortion’s movements. His voice had a small lift to it, indicating that he wasn’t annoyed and more like he was trying to be civil as he’d been before the reveal.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A soft croon echoed through the hallway. "Thank you," it had appreciated the compliment.

Tim blinked, and felt a sharp hand caress his chin, though the Distortion's was still hovering. He blinked again, and it was properly against his skin. It didn't feel like the palm of the Distortion's hand was touching Tim's face. He just felt fingers.

The Distortion lifted Tim's chin so they could meet eye to eye. Being forced to directly observe it from so close was disorienting.

"You are intriguing! I hold a certain fascination now for the scientific. Your claims of being from a different reality are... fascinating."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s head span as he was forced to look straight at the Distortion. He felt like he was spinning in place, and he stumbled slightly as a physical reaction to the dizziness. Part of him had blaring alarm bells telling him to get away as fast as possible but another ached at his core to believe that something, if not somebody, would be interested in him instead of his problems.]

“Oh that feels.. weird..” [He mumbled, but since he didn’t back away it came off as a compliment.] “You don’t get to call me fascinating when you’re..” [He gestured at all of Erik’s frame] “like that.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I think I'll call you what I like," it retorted, its lips stretching far too wide into a playful grin before its hand retracted and it backed away.

"So. Tim..." The name rumbled on the Distortion's tongue in a way that was just a bit too smooth, a bit too sweet for a human to produce. "Tell me about your reality. I'm dying to know more about where you come from."

[tstoker-londonfog]

“Christ..” [Tim leaned against the wall when it backed away, needing a bit of physical grounding in reality to stay upright. He felt extremely conflicted about this whole thing, but the dizziness only made him think less before speaking.]

“I don’t know what your baseline is for this reality but.. I guess it’s pretty normal? We have the Fears, you’re Helen not, well, Erik. I work in archive hell with the alternate version of you who isn’t the Distortion and two other helplessly gay coworkers. We have rituals and monsters who eat the people you care about. Sound any familiar or not?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion shrugged. "The bits about the Fears, and Monsters and such. I haven't had coworkers for a long time... Not since I was Erik."

It once again gestured to the door. "Would you like to come inside? I can be a chair. It must be uncomfortable standing."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim stayed in his place when the Distortion gestured towards its door. Despite their… flirting?, he still had some semblance of reasonable doubt within him.]

“You’re not gonna digest me, are you? Especially if you’re ‘fond’ of me..?” [He asked, rather genuine even if he was speaking to the Throat of Delusion incarnate.]

“When I hear of people going in the hallways they either don’t come out or come out a few weeks later. No offence.”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"I promise I will not digest you or keep you for several weeks, even if you look, and smell, delicious... I merely wish to offer you a more comfortable space to chat, and I have limited power over the outside world. Inside myself, I can make you a perfect cozy nook in my hallways."

Tim didn't remember when the Distortion ended up behind him, looming over his shoulder. "Of course-... If you want to stay longer, I really wouldn't mind..."

The Distortion's voice held a cadence reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Breathy and lilting with an unsettling echo that trailed off into nothing.

[tstoker-londonfog]

“That doesn’t sound… horrible. However,”

[Tim twirled around lightly, just enough to put his hand where the Distortion’s chest was approximately, if he could get a solid grip on it, and gave it a playful shove with no real strength behind it.]

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” [The corners of his lips lifted, but not even close to matching Erik’s off putting smile.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

A hand flew to its chest as it feigned an offended gasp. "I never lie!"

The Distortion laughed. The sound echoed much louder than all the others it had made, and the base of it rasped in several distinct puffs. It sounded like Erik's. The one Tim overheard in the breakroom or in Jon's office back when things could have pretended to be somewhat normal.

The laugh trailed off into a sigh that didn't have a clear end. Once more, the door opened wide, and the Distortion gestured for Tim to walk inside.

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim’s face started heating up slightly when he heard the Distortion’s laugh. How long had it been since anyone actually laughed with him, or even at him for that matter? He managed to play it off, however, and started walking towards the door.]

“Sure sure, whatever you say. I’m just going to have to hope my stunning good looks make you keep your word, hm?”

[He stepped foot in the hallways, and it felt like his entire body shifted drastically even if his foot had in fact landed on a carpeted sort of flooring.]

[erik-distortion-tma]

The Distortion followed close behind Tim, brushing past as it got to work making itself look more homey. The walls shifted, and furniture melted from air into solid form. Two comfy-looking chairs and a coffee table now stood in the new room.

The Distortion took a seat. "Is it to your liking? I can change more, but it does take a bit of a toll. Just let me know your preferences."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[The new room was way less disorientating than the typical hallways were. Tim still felt like he was walking on strange moss and like the walls were wet, but he knew this was the best the Distortion could do to make itself feel more welcoming, as it could not change its nature.]

“It’s great, don’t worry about it. Hurts my head way less too.” [He commented as he approached one of the chairs laid out for him. It took him two attempts to grip at the backrest, but eventually he succeeded. Right before sitting, however, he turned towards Erik and smirked.]

“You want me to sit on you?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"That's what I said, isn't it?" It answered in a distinctly low and somewhat husky tone. One side of its grin quirked into a smirk, and it leaned back in the chair.

"If you're not going to sit, I'll take the chair away."

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim interrupted by running his fingers suggestively down the rim of the chair’s backboard.]

“There’s no need for that, really. I can sit~” [He slid his hands on the chair as he moved to sit on it, very closely watching the Distortion’s reactions.]

[The chair felt… almost like a normal chair. Some part were too hard, while some others had a strange texture that definitely wasn’t wood or the seat fabric, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But overall, not bad. Tim gave another glance around the room.]

“You’re pretty comfortable, you know that?”

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Glad to hear it," the Distortion replied smugly.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable with the idea that all of this is... me. Usually people have a hard time adjusting. Have you spent a lot of time with the other me in your reality?"

[tstoker-londonfog]

[Tim shrugged and looked away from the walls, trying to not give himself a headache by looking too closely.]

“No, but my uh, coworkers have run into it a couple of times. I’m just pretty bad at seeing monsters as anything but, even if some are better than others. Makes it kind of easy to just see all of this as you.” [He gestured towards the entirety of the room.] “Door, hallway, face, it’s all part of that same monster bundle.”]

[erik-distortion-tma]

"Hm. An... effective approach."

The Distortion leaned forward, meeting Tim's eyes.

"Do you know what I was, before I was... this? When I was Erik? You say you know him. I'm curious how well."