(no subject)

[runningred]

Jay’s come up from the garage looking tired. He’s not sleeping again and when he does, he has weird dreams of his childhood. Someone must have slipped him something at the beach party.

He finds a couch by the fire and puts his feet up, nursing a strong coffee. He really should go back home but he’s procrastinating. Maybe someone can offer him a distraction, an adventure, a project, something, anything!

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

They should start a club!

The I Should Be Going Home Because There's Things I Gotta Do But I Don't Wanna Right Now club.



It's a wretched acronym.

"Hey," says the baker, as she wanders over. Over the back of the couch, she offers him a fork and a plate with a big, fluffy slab of Hell's Angelfood on it, smothered in strawberries.

[runningred]

"Hey." He leans up to kiss her cheek absently, taking the plate. "Looks like you've been busy."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Pretty busy, yeah," she agrees with a wry smile, leaning down to accept the kiss. "Both busier than I expected, and not as busy as I'd like."

She has fewer and fewer reasons not to just... hook up the audio recording device, and plunge back into the lion's den that is the Goddess of Pain's office.

"How have you been?"

[runningred]

He rubs his forehead. "I think I got slipped something at the beach party. Having fucked up dreams. Maybe I should see Guppy."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae's eyebrows rise as she listens. She had been going to ask Jay about these last couple of weeks.

"About that... uh, what sort of dreams were these?"

[runningred]

"My childhood. But not stuff I remember happening when I was a kid. Fireworks and dragons, swimming with a mermaid." He shakes his head and looks up at her. "Your baking."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae smiles down at him, fond. "I had figured Milliways was playing with timelines again. I met you at the lake party, and you were quite small. A toddler, really. We watched the fireworks together. Then I met you a week or so later, as a young boy, and taught you some things about baking."

[runningred]

He raises a slow eyebrow, his expression incredulous. "Oh fuck! You're shitting me right?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Nope," she says, shaking her head and chuckling. "All true. Those weren't dreams. They were last week."

"You think something at the lake party caused this?"

[not_his_pa]

William spots Jay and grins when he sees he's the right age, "Jay, hello."

[runningred]

"Hey William." Jay looks up with a sigh, looking tired. "What's news?"

[not_his_pa]

"Not too much, you're the right age again. Are you feelin' alright?"

[runningred]

"Right age? Oh fuck! I hoped I was dreaming all that."

[not_his_pa]

"No, that's just Milliways bein' Milliways. Eat the wrong thing or somethin' an get changed about."

[runningred]

"Apparently." He hides his face in his hands. "Please tell me I didn't make an ass of myself? I was a cocky little brat as a kid."

[not_his_pa]

"No, not really. I thought you were nice but hungry."

[runningred]

Jay shrugs. "Life in the streets wasn't easy. Hunger was... a fact of life."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Hey, man," says Invincible, recognizing a former bartender. The teen superhero is in his usual outfit, but somebody's kitted him out with a harness that must be for outer space, because he's got a bubble helmet sitting next to him. He also looks a little dusty, with stains of reddish-brown dust on his boots. "No offense, but you look beat."

(He's one to talk. He looks like he's been awake all night and been working outside all day.)

[runningred]

"No offence taken, mate. I feel like I haven't slept for a week, which I may not have." He shoots Mark a careless smile. "Let this be a lesson for everyone, be careful of random food at the beach-party. The outcome's not fun."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Hey, that makes two of us," replies Invincible, in the voice of someone who doesn't sound like he's been awake for more than a week (catnaps notwithstanding). "I had to stay awake all the way to Mars." He pauses, then adds, "After the first 36 hours or so, it got easier."

"Random food at a beach party? That's a problem here?"

(Poor Mark. One of these days, he's going to be around when it happens. The sheer amount of Rule 63 fan art of Invincible demands it.)

[runningred]

"How's the Mars thing going?" Jay asks, knowing how messy these things can get. "At least you're here. You can sleep for days and no-one'll ever know the difference."

"Yeah," Jay sighs. "I snagged a packet of Junior Mints and spent the week in the Bar as the kid version of myself. Damn embarrassing!"

{ooc: do it! Do it, do it, do it!}

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Yeah," nods Invincible. "I may need it. The Martians made off with the astronauts for some reason. They're taking me to see their 'Monarch Prime,' whatever that is, when the Bar pulled me out of mid-teleport." He pauses, remembering the weird energy curtain on the other side of the Door. "Which was weird, even for here."

"Note to self: Avoid free candy in the Bar." He's smiling sympathetically when he says it.

[runningred]

"That sounds like like it's gotten complicated? Do you need anything?"

"Oh yeah! Avoid it like the plague. It leads to bad and embarrassment! Rae's been teasing me about what a cute toddler I was."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Rest," replies Invincible. "This Monarch Prime might be a reasonable person, who just wants to extend Martian courtesy and hospitality to the first Earth visitors. Or, he have some wacky scheme to invade Earth by doing unspeakable things to its astronauts, like laying eggs in their abdominal cavities."

(Someone may have watched too many movies.)

"Either way, I should be as sharp as I can be before dealing with him." He sighs. "I just hope that it doesn't result in tripods walking down Broadway."

(And read too much science fiction. If there is such a thing.)

At mention of being a toddler, Invincible grimaces. "At least it wasn't permanent, right? I'd hate to have to go through the pre-teen years again."

[runningred]

Jay pulls a face. That's not a pretty thought. "Have you got a room here? Won't hurt to get a good night's sleep or two before you go back and find out. Not like your astronaut are going anywhere while you're here. That temporal shift thing's useful like that."

"As far as I can tell it took a week for it to wear off. A couple of people mentioned meeting me as a pre-teen street kid but I still had this," He tugs on the white streak in his head, "So I know it was just a bar thing and not actual time travel."