"What is your friend like?"
Daniel shifted nervously. "Can I excuse myself for a minute? I need to talk to him first," Daniel said, biting his lip hard. He had spiral down, down, down the past week. He just wanted to talk with Roddy for a moment, clear some things up.
"Why don't you give him a call?" The therapist suggested, not moving.
Daniel began shaking his head. "I can't," He voice came out weaker than he intended. Maybe it was because he hadn't been eating, or maybe it was because of the incident at the party, or maybe it was because there were some wounds that had never healed, Dan found himself ready to say something he hadn't dared confront before. He looked to Roddy. Pain, real genuine pain for something so fake, raked his chest as he said, "Roddy is imaginary."
It took a second for the words to sink in but when they did, Roddy's entire world shattered. Imaginary? Him? No. No way. It wasn't possible. I mean, sure, people never talked to him and acted like he didn't exist but that was just people being people, right? The never getting anything when it came to school, never getting any attention from anyone, the only ever talking to Dan and even his ignoring of Roddy in public, that was all just people not liking or not caring about who he was, right? He couldn't be fake, right?
He blinked a few times. He wasn't processing this properly. "Danny…what are you saying?" His voice was soft, heartbroken and confused. "I'm real, right? I-I mean, you talk to me so I must be real, right?"
"Is your imaginary friend with us right now?"
Daniel slowly nodded, shame dragging down the movement. "I'm sorry Roddy," He whispered softly. He had never wanted Roddy to know. He never knew how he'd react. What if Roddy disappeared after he learned he was imaginary?
The other woman was quiet for a moment. "Why do you apologize to him?"
Daniel looked up at her. "He's my friend, and I lied to him."
Roddy had to blink away tears, swiping at loose ones that escaped. "Danny…I-I thought I was your friend. Why would you lie to me? How could you do this to me?" He whispered, absolutely broken. His entire life was a lie. It's not that he didn't remember his childhood, it didn't exist. The blackout from the party was because of Daniel. "You're all I've ever had…"
"I'm sorry Roddy," Daniel repeated softly, wrapping his arms around himself. He didn't want to be here, he just wanted to talk to Roddy. "I just can't…" Daniel bit his lip again and rested his head in his hands
"Can't what?" The woman prompted.
"I can't do anything without Roddy. He's my only friend. He's the only one I can talk to." Daniel said quietly, shaking his head. The therapist was silent for a moment.
"Can I ask Roddy if he remembers how you two met?"
Roddy pulled himself together and thought for a minute. "Sure, I remember. It's a little fuzzy, like everything is from back then, but I remember. It was at the park. We were maybe six? Give or take a year, I think it was six. Danny had crawled into the tunnel to hide from his dad and found me there. We started to talk and the rest is history."
The therapist waiting expectantly for Daniel to relay the information. "I was hiding from my dad and I found- I made him up," Dan said quietly, shifting from side to side.
"Why were you hiding from your dad? Hide and seek?" The woman offered gently.
"No," Daniel said softly, glancing at Roddy uneasily. Dan never told him about what actually happened.
"Does your dad ever hurt you, Daniel?" The therapist asked gently.
"Not anymore."
Roddy squeezed his hands together. He knew about what happened when they first met but his understanding was vague. He remembered the rest though. The rest of what they went through together. He was there through it all. Not like he had a choice in it.
"Do you think you use Roddy as a coping mechanism, to deal with feeling isolated?" The therapist asked softly, and Daniel shrugged. Probably. But now… Daniel didn't want to have Roddy stuck to him anymore. Dan messed up, and he didn't think it was fixable.
"But…we're friends. He's all I've got, I have no one else. I don't even exist without him!" Roddy broke down in tears, curling up into a ball, scared for his life. "Please don't make him get rid of me…I can be better, I don't wanna go."
Daniel looked to Roddy with confusion. "What do you mean, Roddy?" The therapist waited patiently.
Roddy looked over at him. "If you get better, you won't need me anymore. And if you don't need me, you'll forget about me. You'll stop making me exist. I-I don't wanna die, Danny. I can be better. Just…please don't get rid of me."
"If I… get better?" He repeated, then rubbed at his face. "Roddy, I don't want you gone, but are you keeping me from getting better? What does that even mean?"
"I don't…I don't know. But if you get more friends, if you solve the issues that made you create me in the first place, then why would you need me around anymore? The therapist just said it, I'm a coping mechanism. What's the point of my existence if you don't need to cope anymore?"
((tbh I don't really know where to go from here, I feel like it's kind of winding down. Any plot points you have ideas to move towards? Or should we conclude this roleplay?))
Daniel glanced at the therapist to see she was writing some things down on a clipboard. He turned back towards Roddy. "You're my best friend Roddy. I don't know what I'd do without you. But… I don't want to just cope with life anymore. I want to live life."
(I'd hate to conclude it so soon! See my being involved in the longest running rp on this entire site But maybe we could skip between appointments? Show how Daniel is slowly gaining control over Roddy? Make him appear and disappear more at will?)
"And I get that. I want you to live your life. I always have. But…I don't want to be forgotten. We've been everything to each other for so long, I don't want to go."
(Wow that's dedication haha, what's the rp called? I wouldn't want to drag this one out. How exactly should we orchestrate him gaining control over Roddy? Would they not be friends anymore or would they just make peace?)
"Roddy, I'll never forget you. I'll always need you," Daniel said immediately, shrinking in on himself slightly.
"Now Daniel, let's talk about that. You are having a conversation with Roddy right now, right? Do you really think you'll always need to hide behind an imaginary friend?" The therapist asked, and Daniel just stared at her for moment. He wasn't sure if he should respond to that.
(It's just called School RP. We had to move it to a new thread because the original is over 2000 pages and the site couldn't handle us posting on it anymore 😅
And I say he'd make peace rather than them not being friends anymore)
Roddy went quiet at that too. He wanted to protect Daniel, sure. But was Dan really hiding behind him? Was he that dependent and Roddy hadn't even realized? Well, it would be hard to considering how dependent he was on Daniel.
(We could also just have a session where it's the therapist asking about Roddy. Y'know, see how far this rabbit hole goes, see how much thought and development Dan has put into Roddy)
(alrightio, want to skip to another session? What kind of questions are you thinking, backstory probing ones or more so descriptors of their life together?)
(One, yes. Two, both?? I was thinking basic questions to start. What does he look like, what does he usually wear, favorites, etc. Only when Dan and Roddy are more comfortable answering would I dive more into the background and things of that nature)
(Alrightio!)
Daniel sat down in his usual chair, the therapist smiling sweetly at him. "Alright Daniel, I hope you don't mind if I ask Roddy some questions today and you can relay me the information?" Daniel nodded, and she continued, "Hi Roddy. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
Roddy jolted a little in surprise, not expecting the questions to turn on him after so long in complacency. "Well, um, my name is Rodney James. I go by Roddy. I'm 17 although I don't remember anything before the age of about six. Everything from ages six to eight is kinda fuzzy." He petered off, twisting his fingers together. "I don't really know what else to say."
Daniel repeated the information. The therapist hummed before asking, "Well what are your dreams? Your hopes for the future?"
"Oh, I want to be a graphic designer!" He brightened at the question, relaxing at the more familiar atmosphere. "That or an animator. Anything to do with drawing or art, really. Danny calls me an art geek for it." He laughed.
Daniel once again repeated the information. She hummed once more. "What got you into graphic designing?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Okay, that's a lie. I saw Danny doodling in his notebook one day during class and something about it just sparked something in me. So I'd love to do something with digital art."
"Hmm, okay. Do you share a lot in common with Dan? At least in favorite activities to do?"
"I mean, I think I do. Not like I've ever had much of a choice since I can't do anything without him but I've never minded much. I'm more than happy to do anything if it's with Danny."
"Does that bother you? That you can't do anything without him?"
