Disclaimer: I don't own Jak. (Haha...)
Vacation or War- Return
Chapter Four- Pulling Strings
"Tomorrow?"
"If you can. I'm kinda on a deadline here."
"What kinda deadline? You mean you're actually gonna do something with this one?"
"Fuck you."
Loor found herself growling at her friend. Damian was one of her oldest buddies, having known him for three to four years where Fury and Alex were relativity new friends. The two had been considered boyfriend and girlfriend all the way through elementary school, but that really had more to do with the fact that they were a boy and a girl willing to deal with each other at a young age, not any actual romantic feelings. Their 'breakup' had been right before summer vacation, but the honest truth was Loor just went and set the rumor mill straight. There'd never been that much there.
Damian was also the one who gave Lauren her nickname. Loor wasn't short for anything, it was the name of a character in a book they both liked. Loor came from the Pendragon series; a warrior girl who solved all of her problems with violence. Since it was fairly true in her case, the name stuck.
But Damian, being one of her oldest friends, also knew how to piss her off. The kid asked too many questions when she expected people to just listen to her because she was, generally, smarter than them.
"Testy." He chuckled over the phone, entertained that he'd gotten a rise out of her. "You alright? Your voice sounds a little different... At first I thought it was your mom."
"I'm just tired as fuck, man." She answered, momentarily shutting her eyes. The contacts were bothering her a lot since she wasn't used to wearing them. She was still sprawled out on her bed. It was now a Thursday, Dad away at work and Mom working a later shift, taking a nap while she still had the chance. That left Loor alone in her room for an ample amount of time to do whatever she pleased. "I think I've been awake for thirty hours... maybe more."
"Shit... why the hell don't you get some sleep?"
"Figure I'll have some fucked up dreams... life's been weird."
"Don't even talk about weird dreams, I had one the other night that's still bothering me. Actually, you might be interested in it."
"Dude, dream theory is Fury's thing."
"Yeah, but you were in it. Well... kinda anyway. Chelsea too."
Suddenly, he had her attention. She sat up, feeling a jolt of excitement go up her spine. It was the feeling she got whenever she was piecing something together and the puzzle was coming together. "Really?" She asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Chelsea had reported a nightmare of magnitude; for another friend to speak of an odd night episode had her attention.
"Really. It was like..." He paused, thinking of how to phrase it. "It was like I was living yesterday over again, only we got a phone call from your mom. She talked to my mom for a little bit, and she starts freakin' out, right? And I'm wondering what the hell is going on, when she hands the phone to me and says your mom wants to talk to me. It was really screwed up..."
"What did my mom say?" Loor asked, managing a calm voice when she wanted to demand answers.
"She said you and Chelsea had disappeared."
"What? Did she explain at all?"
"Yeah, apparently there was some kind of fire up in Chelsea's room while you guys were hanging out, and Chels's mom was almost killed cause she was takin' a nap when it started burning. I thought it was pretty screwy cause you were over at her house last night, weren't you?"
She blinked, staring at the wall. It was too much to be a coincidence.
Fire. The people in contact with the device disappearing, assumed dead.
Lauren now had a pretty damn good guess of what Fury's dream the other night had been.
"Hello?" Damian asked the silence on the other side of the phone.
"Sorry!" Loor shook her head, cursing quietly. "That is pretty fucked up. Hey, dude... could you make two of those platforms for me?"
"Two? By tomorrow?"
"No, I'll only need one tomorrow, but I'll need another pretty soon after. I'll explain everything at the demonstration tomorrow. Make sure to include the wiring I asked for. I'm not doing this shit in the house."
"Am I getting paid for this one? Dad's only willing to let me have so many parts for your little projects without getting something back."
"Dude, you can have every penny to my name if it makes you happy. I don't really care right now. Just get it done. I'll talk to you later, I got some other phone calls to make."
"Alright, alright, take it easy. Get some sleep, before you work yourself to death."
She didn't reply to the joke, hanging up and getting up from her bed, pacing in what little walking space was left in her cluttered and messy room. Her brain was putting things together, making her chew her lip as she considered what these odd dreams her friends were having meant.
Damian had a dream of what would have likely happened if she and Fury had gone through with using the VC-M1, triggering the converter and taking their little trip through time. Fury had also awoken from a terrible nightmare the night before, and though she shared no details Loor was beginning to wonder if she had undergone a similar attack of residual memory.
The other path, so to speak, bleeding through. Both events had technically happened, with people experiencing the difference. It sounded too much like quantum physics with the theory of variable outcomes, and the idea that the different results that could have occurred 'bumping' in the heads of those who lived them.
If she dared to lay down and sleep, would she experience the same thing?
Unlikely. She was the instigator, coming back and creating the second variation of events. She didn't lack the memory; her memory was the only true record... and she honestly wished she could destroy that. There wasn't any point in the memory, only torture.
She wished she'd never used the device in the first place. Where would she be if she hadn't built the VC-M1? If she had never figured it out, successfully used it? She'd be another kid, trying and failing to change the world. She'd turn into an angry teenager with a resentment for the world that never discovered her, eventually give up her pursuits of recognition and settle with being just another human being.
She'd known that before she'd finished the device... but before Haven city, that fate sounded like hell. To be unnoticed, normal, average, was a fate worse than death. She was convinced she had to have something going for her, just with how smart she was without really trying that hard. Now that she'd proven it, she'd give anything to have it the other way.
She stopped pacing, looking at the blank wall again. After a moment she began to laugh, but the sound was bitter. Now that she thought about it, she realized she didn't just want her old life back. After living the adventure and going through more pain and suffering than she wanted to talk about, she wanted to be something less than what she had been. She wasn't after her old life, she was after an average life. As if she had something to be ashamed of.
Her laugh grew somewhat hysterical. Some of the rage she knew so well wormed it's way into her mood. She was not one to wish for yesterdays; regret was for people who didn't know what they were doing and did something wrong. She may not have known what the VC-M1 would do to it's fullest extent, but she had run head-long into the brick wall herself. Wishing she was someone else? What the hell happened to her pride? No. She rather liked herself on the good days, and it was no fair to curse herself on the bad ones.
She would dig her way out of this hole. She had a plan, and nothing of the past was going to hold her down to the floor. She had nothing to be sad about.
You know, it's kinda funny to listen to you think yourself into circles.
Lauren suddenly jolted, both hands coming up to her head to block her ears but forgetting the fact that she was holding the phone still. The result? She smacked herself in the face as she realized there was one very big piece of this mess that she hadn't been able to get away from.
It had just been very quiet for the past thirty hours.
Lyra... good fucking Christ...
These thoughts came from shock and pain; she was nursing her sore nose from thwacking herself with the cordless phone.
Lovely mood, really. So, this is what you've been pining after for all this time? I can't say I'm impressed... You move at such a leisurely pace compared to before.
I'm waiting on the others. She defended. I'm ready whenever they are... aside from asking some permissions.
Permissions? From who? This is your house, isn't it?
I'm still a kid. I live with my parents, like most kids. And I respect them, therefor I ask before I have a whole bunch of people over. Tomorrow's Friday, so it should be no problem...
Tedious... what is a fry-day? And what does it have to do with guests?
Loor felt like shaking water out of her ears. Hearing Lyra's melodic and seductive tones ask about days of the week disturbed her just a little bit. Dig through my memories. You'll get it eventually. It'll also save me from having to explain who's who when it comes to my friends. I don't want you... influencing my actions when it comes to some of them.
Oh? I may not know your spoken words, but I do know you were talking to a boy you used to be close friends with just now. Let us see... There was a pause where Loor felt that strange itch inside her skull; what felt like a hand ticking through a file cabinet, only the files were bits of her brain. Oh my... very cute. Very young, still, but very cute.
They're all young, just like me! Loor felt herself getting angry at the animal. I don't know if you got that news flash, but the eco did a lot more than birth you into my brain. I got older; it aged me a good three years... something else I'm going to have to deal with as this body grows into what the eco did to me.
That explains why I'm feeling so... new. Your mind was easy to manipulate before, now it feels like when I first became aware of myself... it's quite annoying.
Well... go wiggle your fingers for a while. I have shit I need to be doing.
Do you now? Lyra began to giggle. Oh yes, I've seen your plans as they've come out of your mind, though I don't understand most of it. You're going to show your friends your little... invention. Do you think it will convince them of what you've done? Where you've been?
How else would you have me convince them?
Show me to them.
Are you kidding? We don't have the eco to spare right now, and once we do...
What? The animal now sounded irritated.
I don't trust you not to kill them. I agreed to release you regularly... in some lonely place where no one will see. A wooded thicket, with animal life, but no people. Abandoned places.
You plan to hide me to the best of your ability. You don't want them to see.
There was no understanding. No, the animal accused.
No. I don't.
The beast snorted, but had no answer. Instead, she took to the task Loor suggested; picking through her memories to better understand Loor's home.
Lauren, on the other hand, lifted the phone in her hand to dial up another one of her friends, once again falling back on her bed.
It only rang once this time.
"Alex." Loor took a small smile. "Have any strange dreams last night?"
She'd been right.
After calling and confirming that Alex had a similar dream to Damian's she began to dig up the numbers of other close friends. Other people her family would have called in the case of such a strange and terrible event. Steven, Adam, and Sigourney all reported similarly. Dad had come home by the time she was done with everyone, coming down to call dinner through her door.
As always she reported for family dinner, sitting down and not taking much part in conversation as her parents discussed her father's day over what were always delicious smells of appetizing food. She served herself, but barely had the attention-span to eat. It was only the fact that she knew she needed it that forced her hand to work with a fork and knife.
It was only once she'd started that she cleared her plate faster than she'd ever give herself credit for. She was lucky her father always cooked for an army, because she was soon quite happily stuffing her face, questioning on where her elder sister, Ann, was.
"Working late." Was Mom's answer. "Tomorrow night too. She keeps picking up the shifts no one wants."
"Would it be okay if I had a few friends over tomorrow night?" Lauren was reminded of her obligation to ask permission. "Alex, Chelsea, and Damian."
"Damian won't be spending the night, will he?" Mom asked sternly, giving her daughter a look. Not 'the look' but certainly a look.
"Actually... I was thinking we could set up the guest room for him. If that's okay. If not, I'll try and convince Ann to drive him home when she gets home from work."
"Let him stay the night." Dad said with a cheery tone. "They gonna be early enough for dinner?"
"Should be." Loor looked between the two adults. She'd need Mom's blessing before Damian was cool for the whole night. "Please? We've had him stay the night before."
Mom sighed at being outnumbered, finally nodding and giving in. "Oh, alright." She said with an over-dramatic flourish of her hand. "But you kids had better not be up when I get home at two in the morning, or I'll bring out the cattle prod."
"Mom!" She couldn't help complaining. "Have we ever screwed it up before?"
"No." Mom shrugged. "But it's never too late for the other shoe to drop. I'm still waiting for it to happen with Ann."
The Author's Corner
MEOW. I feel like I'm kinda building tension... you guys all know something's gonna happen, but I'm trying to lay down all the framework so when it does happen it has the proper effect.
Next time, punks.
-Loor
