Who: Ariadne, Zak Rashid, and Amaar Rashid What: More Morning Kids When: Saturday Morning Where: Ariadne's place and onto Mercy Mosque Warnings: None Status: Closed/Complete gdoc
It had been an incredibly long time since Zak had woken up in an apartment. Since he’d had sleepovers as a kid, probably. He definitely hadn’t gone to sleep at anyone else’s place, was confused at first to wake up and be in an unfamiliar room. Getting up, scratching the back of his head as he moved toward the sounds in the kitchen, the morning puttering around that was sure to be his mom, Zak realized that of course something weird. This was Madison Valley. Something was always weird.
But it was a relief to see his mom, though from behind she looked different, but he wasn’t thinking about that just yet.
“Morning,” he greeted through a yawn. “Are you making tea?”
***
Ariadne liked living by herself, though she did have a two bedroom because she wanted to make sure she had a spare room that could double as an office if necessary. The Dome liked to throw a lot of things their way and having another room would eventually come in handy. Most of the time though, she forgot about why she'd gotten it that way in the first place and just worked out of the living room.
This particular morning, she was having a bit of a lazy start having snoozed more than she should've. She'd showered though and got dressed before heading into the kitchen and busied herself with making tea and finding something for breakfast. Pancakes were always straightforward so she set about making herself a bit of the mix. As she was getting everything together, she heard someone behind her and she spun around, dropping the thankfully closed box mix to the floor in surprise.
"Who the hell are you?" Ariadne hadn't had anyone over last night and certainly not a teenager. And then the penny dropped for her, the message from the night before making much more sense.
"Oh. Wow. Okay. That's what they were talking about." That part was mostly to herself as she picked up the box from the floor. "So...you're my son?" she guessed. "With who exactly?" She had her suspicions but since that was wildly unlikely Ariadne was going to have to hear him say it to believe it.
***
The penny did not so much drop for Zak.
“Ha ha. You’re hilarious. So he’s at the mosque already?” He yawned again. “I didn’t miss morning prayers did I? I don’t want to make them up later.” Praying five times a day could be a real pain but it was better that than spending even longer doing it to make up for missed prayers.
And nothing was worse than his dad going all imam on him and lecturing about how important prayers were and how doing it at the right times was a tenant of their faith and blah blah blah. Zak believed, absolutely he did, but he was a teenager and he wanted a life that didn’t revolve around Islam too.
***
Well that answered it for her. Ariadne wasn’t really sure what to make of the idea that she and Amaar would have a son at some point, but she could focus on the improbability of that later. At least it wasn’t freaking triplets again.
“I...don’t know where your dad is, but the Mosque or the law offices would be a safe bet,” she replied as she set the pancake mix on the counter. The kettle went off and she busied herself with getting two mugs down for them. “We can go find him or we can have some tea first.” Because she had been making tea. Apparently that didn’t change in the future. Hopefully very far into the future.
“How old are you exactly?” And she wanted to know what year he was from, too. There wasn’t any guarantee that this was even real, though. These were just possibilities, of which there could be any number. Ariadne really hoped the triplets weren’t going to pop up again. She couldn’t handle them by herself.
***
“I turned sixteen two months ago and you know that,” Zak pointed out. “The real question is what are we doing here and not at home?”
He really should be able to figure it out on his own. He was a child of Madison Valley, after all. He’d lived through this kind of thing hundreds of times. There were always weird things going on, for his entire life and if he stopped to think for half a second he’d realize exactly what it was.
Zak had even seen a few kid invasions over his years.
***
Ariadne had a feeling she was going to have to spell this out for him more plainly. "Considering you turned sixteen two months ago in the future? Not really something I know," she replied mildly as she poured the hot water into a mug. She brought it over to him and set it down in front of him.
"It's December 2018, and I live here." And she definitely was not dating Amaar. Nor was she even sleeping with him, but they did spend time together when she peppered him with questions or they ran into one another somewhere else. "I'm guessing you're used to a house that neither Amaar nor myself have ever even seen yet." She was curious, very curious, but this kid needed to give her some more info before she would give Amaar the heads up that he existed.
***
“2018,” Zak repeated, clearly surprised by it. He’d gone back a long way. Too long for his mom to know anything about him. “Uh, yeah. I guess you wouldn’t if it’s only… wow. Okay. So you guys aren’t even married yet.”
He knew when his parents had gotten married and it was definitely after 2018.
“Oh so! That means you don’t even know my name. I’m Zak. Zakariya because...you guys and dad wanted a really Islamic name or something, but Zak.” What else was he supposed to tell his own mother about himself? This was so weird.
***
Ariadne nodded when he repeated back the year. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him that she and Amaar were barely even friends, but she supposed they were sort of friends. More friendly than she was with most other people. Zak didn't need to have his family life picked apart by her belief that it was impossible. Clearly, it wasn't in some world.
"Zak, okay. It's nice to meet you," she replied as she took a seat across from him. "And you're sixteen, devout like your dad." Ariadne was listing off the things she now knew about him, no judgement at all in her tone. She would never judge someone for their religious beliefs. "We live in a house together, and you're...a sophomore in high school?" Given his age, that sounded about right.
"Is Layla still in town when you're from? Zari?" Those were Amaar's followers at the moment, and it would give her an interesting baseline to work off of.
***
“I wouldn’t say anyone’s as devout as dad,” Zak laughed softly before shaking his head. “But yeah. I am. And I’m in high school. And yeah, Layla and Zari are still around.” There were a few others who had joined the mosque over the years too but Zak knew that Layla and Zari had always attenended.
Even long before his mom had, they’d been there. Honestly, it surprised him a little that his dad had never tried to have at thing with Zari.
“And I know you well enough to know you’re going to be trying to get information out of me so you can just forget about that,” he added teasingly. “I’m not going to give you anything. This is my own past! I’m not going to screw it up.” He didn’t really know enough about time travel but he’d seen enough movies to know he needed to be careful.
***
Ariadne grinned at that. It was true that Amaar was incredibly devout in ways that she honestly didn't anticipate anyone ever being as devout as he was. She wasn't surprised that Zak was devout but she was a little surprised that Zari and Layla were still around. She was honestly surprised she was still around, and long enough to convert, get married and have a sixteen year old kid. That had to be at least 20 years in the future.
"Alright, alright. You caught me. Doesn't mean I won't try to get a few answers out of you." Ariadne wasn't going to point out that it was possible he would never exist for her, since that just seemed cruel. "You can consider it your Christmas gift for me. Which...now that I say that, I'm guessing we don't celebrate." It was a subtle way of getting confirmation that his version of her converted, but that really was the only thing that made sense.
***
“We’re not allowed to celebrate Christian holidays,” Zak reminded her, more or less completely fooled and missing that she was trying to fool him. He didn’t have it in him to suspect his own mother in that way. “It’s in the rule book. And I know you’ve heard that from Dad already.”
So whether or not she still celebrated, she didn’t because that was in the rules too and his dad followed them pretty strictly, he definitely hadn’t. Ever. At all. Even when everyone around him was celebrating, having Christmas parties that he couldn’t really attend, even growing up and hearing other kids talk about Santa Claus. It just wasn’t their thing.
***
So she had converted. That was interesting. She didn't consider herself to be religious in any way, although occasionally sleeping with a Preacher probably counted only in some circle of Hell. That little tidbit wasn't going to be spoken out loud anytime soon and she fervently hoped that an aged up Aiden or a child between herself and Jesse wouldn't pop up.
"I have a feeling I've debated a lot of those rules with your Dad," Ariadne replied with a faint smirk. She often poked and prodded at the rules that Amaar held fast to because she wanted to understand it better, not because she wanted to change his mind or undermine his faith. She was just curious. "Do you feel left out though? Not celebrating with your friends?"
It wasn't something she'd ever thought might pertain to her, but this was a good opportunity to ask. If he had a good life, a good childhood, then maybe it was worth digging into a little more. If he felt trapped or pressured or left out, then maybe she could do something to make it better for him. Or just avoid the whole future as it goes.
***
Zak shrugged. “Not anymore,” he answered. “I get it more now and it’s not really that strict. Dad helped to figure out ways around the don’t celebrate things that are still being a good Muslim.”
Things like he could attend parties with his friends if he was explicitly invited he just couldn’t partake in any religious elements. No Christmas Carols for them, no exchanging gifts, not even a Secret Santa, but as long as it was just like a secular get together that just so happened to be decorated up like Christmas, they’d debated it out to being okay.
“It sucked as a kid, though. Being five or six and not understanding why Santa doesn’t come to Muslim kids? I don’t think those were good times for anyone.” He didn’t really remember, though; it was a long time ago.
***
She felt better that he was alright with things now. It spoke volumes for her that Amaar had found a way to allow them to retain their faith without excluding them too much from the town around them. Ariadne wasn't likely to just do something because everyone else was, but she didn't want her kid to miss out on stuff with his friends. Except that veered a little too much into identifying with Zak being her kid as opposed to being a kid she had in some possible future.
"Well, it's a good thing you're able to and I'll keep the Christmas references to a minimum," she promised. With their tea finished, she rubbed her hands together. "Alright, let's head over to the Mosque so you can see your dad." It was probably mean to not give Amaar the heads up, but it would be more fun for her this way. Plus, she hadn't gotten any warnings.
Ariadne got up and went to grab her keys, wallet and phone. She had a jacket he could borrow and she could use a sweatshirt or something since it was definitely full on winter right now. Winter in Indiana sucked.
***
He hadn’t worried at all about his mom mentioning Christmas or anything, even in Zak’s time she did now and then. It was hard not to surrounded by it like they were and he knew that she’d celebrated in the past. It was no big deal. So he just went along with her as she got ready, borrowed her jacket and lamented about how small he was. Still growing, his parents always told him, but seriously he should not be able to share jackets with his mom at sixteen. What kind of guy did that?
It wasn’t until they were just about to walk out the door that it struck him that something really wasn’t right.
“...You’re not going to put on your hijab?”
***
Ariadne just stared at him blankly for a moment. She understood what each of the words meant individually, but as a whole, strung together in that context? That wasn't something she would have expected anyone to say to her.
"I don't-" She stopped herself and evaluated the situation. She didn't wear a hijab, but his mother did. He was a devout Muslim and a child of Madison Valley so he should have understood that being in the past, before she and Amaar ever might've gotten together, meant that she hadn't converted yet and therefore didn't wear a hijab. That had apparently been overlooked though.
"-have one right now that I can wear. I wasn't planning on doing anything today but laundry." It was a flimsy excuse, but as she cast her eyes about the entryway, she landed on a floral scarf she used sometimes. Ariadne's eyes lit up and she pulled it off the hook, awkwardly wrapping it around her head in an approximation of what she thought it was supposed to look like.
"There. Is that alright?" A few bits of hair still showed that he would have to right if he wanted to, but it was an effort she could easily make if it would make him feel more comfortable.
***
There was knowing where and when he was and knowing what that meant, and then there was seeing his mom ready to step outside the house without covering her hair, and Zak was taken aback by that. He’d never known his mother not to and even if she was long before she was his mother, it didn’t sit right, going out uncovered.
He did laugh a little as she draped a scarf around her head awkwardly. “You’re a lot better at that in the future,” he pointed out, just reached to adjust it for her. It wasn’t perfect, but at least her hair wasn’t on display. “There. Better than nothing.”
It probably wasn’t fair of him to not backtrack and not assure her that it was okay, she didn’t need to. If she wasn’t devout too, if she wasn’t making the conscious choice to wear the hijab, she shouldn’t have to. It was a choice. But Zak really just didn’t feel right about her going out without something.
“So the mosque?” Since he’d definitely have to make up his morning prayers, he figured he could just knock them out while they were there.
***
Ariadne rolled her eyes, but she was definitely growing more fond of the kid. That was probably not that great, but it was what it was. "Glad I have your approval," she teased as she took a look at herself in the mirror. Definitely not the worst thing in the world, so she didn't mind so much as she led the way out of her apartment. "To the mosque."
She locked up behind them and then they made their way over to the Mosque. It wasn't a very long walk at all, and they talked a little bit about who was in Madison Valley. She snuck in a few questions that got shut down, but she couldn't be blamed for trying.
Once they got to the Mosque, Ariadne let Zak go first to greet his dad.
***
The young man knew exactly where he was headed. Dad was always in his office, a room that hadn’t always been his office, he knew, had been something else entirely before the mosque had first arrived, but it had been his dad’s office his entire life and Zak didn’t shy away from barging right in.
“Hey dad. Apparently you don’t know me yet but I time travelled so don’t ask me any questions.”
Amaar couldn’t have asked a question if he’d wanted to. He’d come for morning prayers and a bit of study before heading to the office and hadn’t been expecting anyone, definitely hadn’t been expecting a young man to burst in calling him dad.
Luckily, behind the young man and his bright smile, Amaar spotted Ariadne. And hoped so very hard that she’d have some answers. “Uh...Morning?”
“So I’m Zak,” the boy went on without giving them a chance to greet each other properly. “You’re my dad, she’s my mom, I’m from the future, and no, I didn’t say my prayers this morning, I’ll make them up. This whole travelling back in time thing might be more important. I don’t think the Quran says anything about it.”
“Uh, no,” Amaar had to agree. “I don’t think it does. It’s not exactly something the prophets dealt with.”
***
Ariadne felt a little badly about springing a teenager on Amaar with no warning after seeing his reaction to their kid. It was convenient that Zak needed to say his morning prayers though because it would give her time to at least assure her friend that she was just as completely unprepared for this as he was.
"It's unique to Madison Valley, I guess. Anyway, why don't you get started on your morning prayers and your dad and I can talk." If memory served, this was Amaar's first time dealing with the phenomenon that was future children, so she had slightly more experience with that side of things.
She waited until Zak had left before she took a seat across from his father. "So, this isn't the first time this has happened. The kids, I mean. Last time, I had triplets with my boyfriend." Ariadne didn't want to give him the impression that Zak had shown up before. "The good news is, he's a teenager so he's reasonably self sufficient. I have the room at my place for him to stay with me, but I think I'm going to need a crash course." Ariadne gestured to the headscarf. "He's not really grasping the whole not converted yet thing."
***
It took that prompting for Amaar to fully realize that his friend had covered her hair. It hadn’t really struck him, a lot of people wore scarves in various ways in the winter to ward off the cold and it wasn’t the first time he’d have seen someone with one wrapped around their head. He hadn’t thought anything of it and it was for a second the safer thing to concentrate on.
“Is that what that is?” he wondered, couldn’t help laughing. “I thought you were just cold. He got you to fake it?” That didn’t seem right to Amaar, especially since Ariadne had never shown any indication she had belief so much as she had interest and curiosity. He gestured vaguely to indicate that she could take it off; it was only necessary for prayer and she wasn’t doing that any time soon. Or ever.
“This is so nuts….”
***
"It was the best I could do," she defended, a little upset even though she didn't have any reason to be. "Not fake it. It just...made him feel better for me to have my hair covered." Ariadne hadn't been trying to be rude or disrespectful, which she had a feeling Amaar knew. She did, at least, loosen the scarf and pulled it off her head, leaving her hair a bit of a mess. She smoothed it down as best she could so she wouldn't look terrible.
"It's...one of the weirder things Madison Valley has ever done. Just because he's here though doesn't mean that he's...that we'll...ever get to a point where we'll have him." That was probably the most reassuring part of anything she could tell him. "He's pretty adamant about not telling us about his version of us, but Zari and Layla are still around in his world." Ariadne was convinced that Zak's point of origin was different from the trajectory of their lives right now.
***
“Remind me to tell you some time why modesty is important to the faith.” Amaar was still mostly amused by the attempt to conform to what the teenager seemingly wanted her to be though. It didn’t really mean anything, and obviously he was far from offended, but it really wasn’t necessary and he’d have to talk to the boy about it.
Which was something they should probably talk about.
“Of course it doesn’t mean anything like we’re…” he gestured vaguely. “Even if we were interested it’s not that easy.” And Amaar has a complicated relationship with those sorts of feelings anyway. That and all the rules that made almost no one but his good friend an option. “But what are we supposed to do with him?”
***
Ariadne was actually a little surprised that he felt the need to clarify that even if they were interested in one another, it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing was ever simple, but it just didn’t seem like the outright refusal she’d been expecting. “I wouldn’t have thought conversion was an easy process,” she replied almost slowly. She was curious now if he did find himself attracted to her. It wouldn’t necessarily change things, other than to say she might have a type, but there wasn’t anything wrong with that. That’s what she told Scarlett regularly, anyway.
She couldn’t help but chuckle when he asked what to do with Zak, though. “Well, your congregation is going to have one more while he’s here. And like I said, he can stay with me. I think with all that, he’ll get a decent amount of time between the two of us. But he’s a teenager, Amaar. There isn’t really much ‘to do’ with him,” she teased. “I was going to head over to the Rogers-Mars-Barnes house for Christmas, but I can skip it if I need to.”
Even if they’d figured out a way around attending Christmas parties in the future, she didn’t want to press her luck right now. She was already pressing it quite a bit.
***
She’d probably be surprised to know that the actual converting part of becoming and marrying Muslim was the easy part. As far as the process went, there wasn’t much to it. But there were other factors and they didn’t really matter anyway. Because it wasn’t happening, and he had no intention of wanting it to. He sincerely doubted her feelings about it were any different.
Unless they were? Amaar didn’t want to risk making their friendship weird by asking about it.
With a slightly embarrassed laugh, he glanced over his shoulder, as if he could see through the wall and see the young man saying his prayers. Hopefully making amends for not doing them on time, though the fault clearly wasn’t his own. “I guess you’re right. I don’t really...I’m not very good with the youth.”
Maybe he’d be able to enlist Layla’s help, though.
“But there’s no reason you have to cancel your Christmas plans. Just because we don’t celebrate doesn't mean you shouldn’t.” The beliefs of the woman who was Zak’s mother weren’t hers and Amaar didn’t want to hold her to that expectation.
***
Ariadne outright laughed at ‘the youth’. “You might be overthinking things a little,” she replied with a slight shake of her head. “No doubt he’ll fit right in with the other teenagers, which’ll keep him busy.” She wasn’t worried at all about what to do with Zak. She was more worried about what it might mean for her and Amaar, although at least he wasn’t being weird or distant toward her.
“I appreciate that. I can stop by after or something. It’s not a huge deal. I was only going to spend time with my friends.” Ariadne wasn’t an overly religious person, though from an academic point she was curious about how the histories intertwined. Plus, the architect in her was curious about the cultural significance of things, but she wasn’t as devoted as Amaar was to his faith.
“I feel like I should warn you that there might be other kids showing up, with different parents. It just...happens. It’s weird, but it’s nothing to be worried about. They’ll be gone in like a week or so.” Ariadne was trying to reassure him but she wasn’t so sure how it was going.
***
“Well. I guess it’s not the strangest thing to happen here.” Amaar was definitely trying to look at the bright side of things. He’d been thrown back into the past and married to his friend so why shouldn’t there also be alternate universe kids? “And I guess I’ll get used to it eventually, right?”
He wasn’t yet. He really wasn’t. But he was lucky to have friends who could help him through this one and keep him from completely losing his head.
No small feat. He knew that about himself. One wrong step and he’d be spiraling into flailing and spazzing and acting like an idiot. It happened sometimes.
***
"There's a fifty-fifty chance on getting used to it. I was here for a year and I don't think I'm used to it just yet. You'd have to talk to Rogers or Darcy or someone else who's been here longer than five years." It was still so insane to think she might be here for five years or longer. A lifetime. She could literally live a life here to the fullest, maybe even die of old age, and then return back to her world none the wiser.
Cobb would go insane if he were here.
"So, is there anything else he's likely to spring on me? I know I don't have to wear the hijab but I don't mind covering up if it makes him feel better." At least her clothing was usually fairly modest, if only because she preferred a more classic look in terms of her personal style.
***
Amaar wasn’t sure he wanted to know what being in Madison Valley for five years was like. He chose not to say so. He wouldn’t want to be rude, and he wouldn’t want Zak to overhear anything about not wanting to be there long enough to have him. That seemed unnecessarily cruel.
There was a lot about this place that seemed to need getting used to. He was working on it.
“I really hope not,” he answered her question with a laugh. “I’d say just stick to the big rules and tell him to mind his own business for the rest. So that’s...modest dress, which I think you’ve got down, no pork, no alcohol. You should be okay.”
Anything else that came up, he’d answer for her as it did.
“For now, he’s probably about done in there.” Which meant they should move on and talk to the boy.