Saturday, May 24, 2014

Chapter: Breakfast, Lunch, and Brews


Yeah, so we ended up at her place, but like, we didn't get there until really early in the morning and then we fell asleep. Well, me.  So we didn't uh, you know.



And then when I wake up, she's already out of bed and like, hey, breakfast.  And I'm hungry, so yeah, breakfast.  I ask her if afterwards she wants to, uh, you know.



But she has to go to a mascot thing "with Skip".  Skip.  Skip is that like, frat dude.  And also like, the quarterback.  And the centerfielder.  Count Jockula.  Whatever.

We don't say anything for awhile, and then she asks me about art lab.

"You're in Maddie's class, aren't you?", she says. "I model for her, sometimes. I was supposed to model for her a couple of weeks ago, but she was sick and we had to reschedule."

Oh, man. We could have had Bree model for us instead of those old dudes. SHIT. "I hope it's soon", I say. “We got another assignment.” 

She laughs. "Well, I can model for my special customers by appointment."


I think of Bree modeling for us and I have another bite.

"Tarik", she says. I look up. "If you need help with your assignment, I'll model for you", she says. "We can even do it outside of class", she says. "Come on, I've gotta go", and we clean up.  She gives me a kiss on the cheek.  As I go out the door she says, "Call me."

So I go out to the street.  And then I call her. 


"I need help with my assignment. Will you model for me?", I say.

I can hear her without the phone, she's right behind me. "Tarik, sweetie. I meant call me LATER", she says.

"Will you model for me, Later?", I say.



"Ohhhhhhh, Tarik.  Call me.  After dinner", she says, and then like rides away.

Jed texts me before I get home.  I think he's gonna be upset cause I didn't come home last night.  But it turns out HE didn't come home last night.  WHAT.  We meet for lunch.




"All nighter at the library", he says.  He's like all excited, which, is just wrong. "How about you, how was the club?"   I told him I was going to a club...I left out the part about the dancing girls.  And now I definitely leave out the part about Ally and Jules and Bree, cause he looks kind of happy.

"It was okay", I say.  "How was your study thing?  Did you work on your pair of ducks?"



"Paradox", he says. "Anti-paradox circuit. It's coming along...Tair! You need to come out to the laboratory next time you're at the quad. It's AWESOME. Really! They set the demonstration time engine out for us to study. Usually they don't let the students use it on their own. But Professor Morlock is letting me use it to test my anti-paradox circuit."

"Whoa, dude", I say. "You're studying a time machine? Like for real?"



"I KNOW!" he says. "It's just the demonstration model...and it's not fully functional right now - you can just monitor the time stream. But once my anti-paradox circuit works, they'll let me send a rock! INTO THE FUTURE!...well, just an hour. BUT! I'm gonna send a rock...an hour...INTO THE FUTURE! It's so cool, Tair!"

"That sounds awesome", I say. "How far can you go back? Like, can you go back to before lunch time? Cause that Quadruple Bacon Explosion Burger was really bacon-y, and I would like to do it again."   Or wait, maybe go back to before Bree dumped me. Like, the last time we used the evil bed. Yeahhh....



"You can't go back", says Jed. "That's what the anti-paradox circuit does. You can't go back...I wouldn't go back anyway. Going back is very dangerous." He gets like all quiet.
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Yeah, and I know why now, cause, like Ally told me about his grandmother when we were 'breaking in the living room', man. I mean, yeah, the living room, it was there before, but it was like, Jed's study crib.  It was even too boring to take a nap in there, man.



But now Jed's moved into the garage - like no shit, he's moved one of the beds in there, like he has to be in there ALL THE TIME - but it's kind of cool, cause he wants me and Ally to come over and watch Trio with him, and he let us keep the brew fridge for when we visit.  

Of course, we can't smoke in there any more.  And Ally and me had to put some brew in the big fridge, for when Jed's like "conducting an experiment which is very temperamental so you guys can't drink in here!!!"  Yeah. And since Jed's in the garage now, we moved the big-ass bong to the living room, and it's like, next to the herb planter, which has actual herb in it, HA!...our very own herb, man. We call it "Tarik Rarik"...okay, I call it that, shit. Ally calls it "better not kill that fucking plant" and Jed calls it "TAIR! Whatever that is, don't smoke it in the garage".

ANYWAY. The herb's still kind of little, so me and Ally were having some brews, and I like, asked her about Jed's grandma. Like, I've been wondering, since after we had dinner with Morlock-dude? Why Jed like, never talks about her, and shit.



"You don't know...? You really don't know. History class, dude. Seriously?"

I'm like, what. History class was right after lunch, man, primo nap time.

She's like, pfft. "Jed's Grandma's gone.  Poof."  



Whoa.  "Poof, like, dead?"

"Poof like ... no-one knows", she says. "She went out in their time machine. The one Boyd keeps in the basement. Just took off.  Didn't tell anyone.  Not even Jed's Mom...which makes sense, actually, cause, she like, broke the law and shit."  Jed's Mom is, like, a cop. "She went back into the past without permission, which is like, serious jail time."

"Where'd she go?", I say.

Ally shakes her head.  "Like I said.  No-one knows.  She just didn't come home one night.  And then Boyd found the time machine was missing.  The next day, Jed's Mom got a letter in the mail, from Jed's Grandma.  All it said was, 'Goodbye'.   But it was like, postmarked before Jed's Mom was even born."

"Whoa", I say.

"Right? Then like, a few days later, the time machine was back without her and she'd like, erased all the data, you know, covered her tracks.  And she did something to the time machine, so it didn't work the same any more, and no one could follow her."

"Maybe she went to the future", I say. "Like, flying cars, and shit."

"Maybe", she says.

I'm like, whoa. Jed's Grandma sounds kind of bad-ass. "Why'd she go?"

"No-one knows...except maybe Boyd. Boyd doesn't like to talk about it...", she smiles, "so of course I ask him, every Snowflake Day.  Never get an answer, though."

Losing bad-ass Grandma, that must have been hard for Jed.  No wonder he doesn't want to talk about it.  "How old was Jed?", I ask.

She shakes her head.  "Nah, he never knew her. It was before any of us were born. The same year the meteor hit", she says.

Meteor?  "What meteor?"

"What do you mean, 'what meteor'?  How many meteors have there been?  The one that took out the old cop house", she says.

Meteor? Cop house? That explains a lot. "So that's why the cops were always like, at the diner", I say.


"No, the cops hang out at the diner cause that's where the donuts are, cause the meteor took out the bakery, too", she says. "Please tell me you're joking, yeah?...it's not that you really don't know about....DUB. How do you not know this stuff, man?"

"Well how do you know so much about cops?", I say.


She glares at me.  "Not by choice", she says.  "I'm related to one, thanks to that fucking rock.  That meteor's how we all got screwed", and then she chugs like, a lot.

"How?", I say, and I chug like, a lot, cause I have to keep up. HA!

"When Jed's Grandma disappeared, Jed's Mom got kinda messed up", she says. "I mean, she's a cop, yeah, and now her Mom's like a big criminal, right? And also missing. And then, boom, meteor." She goes to the brew fridge and grabs us each a cold one. "Jed's Mom lost her partner in that", she says. "To hear Boyd tell it - and we always do, every year on Snowflake Day - that's when she really went nuts. Like, 'disgrace to the family' nuts." She takes a long drink. "And that's when she ended up with the asshole, and...", she chugs like the rest of the bottle, "...also when Boyd ended up with Mom", she says finally.

Whoa. Like, I never thought about Jed's grandma before, but... "So if Jed's grandma hadn't, like, gone out in her time machine, then his grandpa would never have married your Mom, and like...NO FUCKING PRECIOUS", I say.



"Yeah", Ally says.  She takes another drink and we don't say anything for a while.  "But there's always something, man.  Jed's Grandma coulda stayed home, and then maybe Boyd wouldn't be with Mom...but then there's still the meteor, right?  I mean, if that hadn't happened, Jed's Mom would still be with her partner, and the asshole would have ended up with someone else...who knows, maybe the asshole would have ended up with Mom again..."  She kinda looks bummed.

Wait.  "But if Jed's Mom doesn't hook up with the asshole..."

"...Jed's Mom wouldn't have had any of her evil spawn..."

No. Wrong. "Jed, man..."

"Shit", she says, and chugs some more.  "Jed."

"The asshole has to end up with Jed's Mom", I say.  And then I look around to make sure Ma isn't like, hiding behind the couch, waiting to get me.

"Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying", says Ally. "Always something. No meteor, no Jed.  And of course, he's one of the only fuckin' people in my fuckin' huge family that I actually fuckin' like. So...  I guess this is what's supposed to fuckin' happen." She holds out her bottle and I clink it.

16 comments:

  1. Pair-of-ducks? Methinks Tarik's been spending some time with Moth ;) (From Cali's Brannon Legacy. If not, it is creepily coincidental...)

    Jed's family history is awesome yet complicated. So, Blair Wainwright is Jed's mom, and Susan disappeared with the time machine, and Boyd is Ally's father so technically, Ally is Jed's aunt. (Give or take a few halfs).
    You've got yourself a very complex past there. Kudos :)

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    1. Creepy coincidence, that's the thing :)

      I never really connected the dots on that one, but yes, Ally is Jed's step-Aunt, in addition to being his half-sister. Whoa (as Tarik would say)! No wonder Ally needed an extra brew! Thanks for the kudos :)...I must share the credit/blame for the Kimura/Wainwright connection with SP.

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  2. Aw Tair. Must've been really shaken up to fall asleep with Bree without, you know. But hey, at least he didn't leave emptyhanded. A modeling agreement may prove interesting.

    I'm with Tarik, Jed's grandma sounds badass. And what a mystery! I suppose he's right, she could've gone to the future. Maybe the letter postdated from the past was just another way of covering her tracks. But WHY?

    So this anti pair of ducks circuit, that's what prevents them from going to the past when they use the time machine?

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    1. In addition to everything else, Tarik may have had a few too many brews at the club :)

      Jed's grandma is bad-ass. What happened was *SPOILERS*. Which we'll find out about when *SPOILERS* :D

      At Uni, Jed is learning the 'conventional wisdom' about anti-paradox circuits.* Which is this: The anti-paradox circuit prevents the time machine (and anything/anyone in the time machine) from traveling to a point in time in the timestream earlier than the time at which the trip started in that time machine. So, by using the demonstration machine with the anti-paradox circuit in place, Jed can send his rock an hour into the future, but he can't send it even a fraction of a second backwards in time.

      *Of course, usually, in time travel stories, 'conventional wisdom' overlooks one or more loopholes...

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  3. Those family connections makes my brain hurt... so does the pair- of- ducks. No wonder Tarik likes his herbs.
    Really Jed, don't invite Tarik to the lab. Something bad will probably happen then.
    But now that Jeds grandma has been mentioned, I worry that either Jed or Tarik is going to dissapear in the time machine to. And will they ever learn what actually happened to her? Or does that have something to do with Morlock? Or maybe they'll screw something up, and Jed will never have been born!
    Okay, now I need some of Tariks herbs... so many possible conspiracies...

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    1. It is a very complicated family, sorry for making your brain hurt :(

      Actually, in game, Tarik has already been to the lab...Jed didn't exactly invite him...and the visit didn't go as planned....

      We'll be hearing a little more about Jed's grandma in upcoming chapters. it may be "a while" before we find out what actually happened to her...

      Morlock has never met Jed's grandma (she left in the Wainwright time machine before Morlock arrived in his time machine). But when we find out what happened to Jed's grandma, there will be a kind of relationship between what happens to Morlock (and some other people) and what happened to Jed's grandma . Great speculation!

      So many possible conspiracies...it's kind of like nachos, it's hard to stop at just one ;0

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  4. I think my brain just went cross eyed. Whoa. Alternate timelines and all the what could've should've shouldn'tve might've maybe might not would have beens. Phew!

    Oh Bree. Oh Jed! Losing his opportunity because he couldn't stay awake. I'm going to go ahead and say that it's probably for the best since she's not interested in being exclusive right now, and Tarik? Really seems like he'd want to be. Despite the time with the fellow Art major.

    Go Jed! A rock! 1 hour! I'd be too impatient to wait the hour and would have set it for 5 minutes. Or like Doc from Back to the Future when he tested his time machine on Einstein. 1 Minute! That's pretty smart to make a safeguard on the time machine though. No going back into the past so you don't accidentally do something stupid. Though I can tell Jed would love to go back. But is it really to find his grandmother? Or is there something else Jed wants from his past?

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    1. Sorry about inducing cross-eyed brain :O

      Right now you understand more about Tarik than Tarik understands about Tarik :)

      Good point, Jed is probably so excited that he would set the time machine with a shorter limit! I'll blame the professor and/or the Watcher for making him wait so long. Jed has always been curious about his grandmother but doesn't really know enough about her to be thinking about meeting her. Yet.

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  5. Hmm, I really want to find out more about Jed's grandma not! I would love it if they were to somehow meet her at some point :)

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    1. Jed will find out more about his Grandma as he continues his work. At some point in the story, Jed's Grandma will return..may not be for awhile, though :)

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  6. All this talk about herbs and now my neighbour is smoking pot on his balcony. WHOA DUDE, it's like someone scented this story for me! I'm with everyone else, the family ties make my brain ache. Not sure I understood all of that. I'm very happy I'm caught up again though! And soon more wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff I hope! Like, time travel and stuff.

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    1. Wow, way to get the full sensory experience!

      Sorry about your brain :( and I am also happy you are caught up!

      There may be some wibbly wobbly timey-wimey queued up, yes :)

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  7. Ugh I don't like Bree all that much. It seems like she's just messing with Tarik, but then again she probably doesn't realize that he actually has feelings for her.

    So if someone were to travel into the future, they would have no way to get back? Or are they allowed a round trip? Did Jed's grandmother travelling to the past cause this rule against it?

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    1. I can understand that. I will say that 1) Bree would never intentionally hurt Tarik, and 2) she doesn't realize a lot of things about feelings.

      The anti-paradox circuit prevents going back to a time before the trip started. The anti-paradox circuit does not prevent returning to a time just after the trip started, so it would not prevent a round trip.

      You might remember that Jed's professor Eli Morlock is a time traveler from the past. He told Tarik and Jed that he was not able to make a round trip, he is stuck here in the present. In his case, his time machine was damaged, which prevented his return in that machine.

      Jed's grandparents were together when they developed the Wainwright time machines, and both had travelled in time multiple times before the "no unauthorized travel to the past" law was put into effect. Jed's grandmother's most recent trip was not the reason the law was passed ;)

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  8. Wow, Jed's grandma sounds pretty badass. I can't wait to read more about her. And Jed's going to send a rock into the future! I hope it works because I like happy Jed. :)

    Do you watch Futurama? Jed's time machine makes me think about the episode where the Professor makes a one-way time machine.

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    1. Oh, hey, missed one :( Well you know how Jed's experiment turned out.

      I have seen Futurama but not that episode. I'll have to look for it, sounds like a good one.

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