Kyna Hanson-Malcolm-Waugh + Ian Malcolm
PG | COMPLETE
It’d been an incredibly eventful few weeks, what with all of the new arrivals. The fact that one of those arrivals was a future child of his, and with Eliot and Margo no less, was definitely a point of delighted amusement for Ian. It made a degree of sense, though -- he definitely knew that Eliot valued family and was a good father. Margo was a bit more of a wildcard, but he knew she had a streak of responsibility and protectiveness that had flared up even more with the kingdom in Fillory.
For his own sake, Ian was fairly old hat at parenthood. And, while he had a history of being a little less than stellar at being a husband, he was a lovely father. He loved his children, and supported them wholly. Kyna was no different.
He’d finished his last class just moments before, and had settled into his office to do a bit of grading. It was the end of the semester, and that meant that getting the work done quickly was imperative if he didn’t want anxious emails from his students. It meant a few extra nights at the office, too, but he could deal with that. A professional, that Ian Malcolm.
Kyna had made a point to hang out with all her family, and she had done so at the vodka thing, but she wanted more one-on-one time. She’d had fun with dad Eliot doing magic, and she might stop by for lunch with mom at some point. It was a little more dicey when she had another new kid with Cool Ass Thor. Not that Kyna was jealous, but she tried to be respectful of Margo’s time, which wasn’t infinite.
She also needed to find a way to hang out with Fray that wouldn’t scare her away, but that required...finesse. For now, she couldn’t wait to nerd out with her other dad and what better place to do so than the University?
An exception was made for her due to her “special status” (as temporary future possibility maybe) and so she had been allowed to actually come knocking on dad’s office door. She knocked and called out with a sing-song voice: “Da-a-ad! Want help grading some term papers?”
Ian wasn’t expecting company in his office, but it wasn’t unlike Eliot unexpectedly to take advantage of him (and to avoid doing his own work). As a result, he wasn’t particularly startled when the knock sounded. The sing-songy voice was instantly recognizable, though, and he grinned, looking up.
“That is horribly academically dishonest, and I love it,” he said. “How about you just come in and distract me instead? Wouldn’t want to immediately put you to work.”
“Oh good ‘cause I brought us a little snack.” Kyna confessed as she let herself in carrying a small bag with a box of cupcakes and coffee just how he liked it. How they liked it. She set the bag unobtrusively on his desk and went around it to give her dad a quick hug. “How was your day?”
Coming back around, Kyna took the coffees and condiments out of the bag, setting them down still on their protective guards, and did the same with the cupcakes. Only when everything was ready to be enjoyed did she sit down across from her dad. “I didn’t come with any distractions ready. What if we talk about how you’re all dealing with my existence? And, well, this whole possible timelines thing. Determinism sort-of proven but not really because everything that changes now changes the future…? How’s that going?”
“Atta girl,” he said, pleased by her thoughtfulness. He capped his pen, setting the stack of papers aside so that she could set down what she’d brought with more ease. His desk was usually fairly organized chaos, but the end of the semester meant a bit more emphasis on the chaotic part so it was a miracle that he had enough desk space to offer. Offering a grateful grin and nod at the coffee, he took a sip of it, sitting back. “At this point, I’ve just assumed that Atlantis exists outside of the scope of normal linear time,” he laughed. “But more specifically, I’m not sure anything that happens now really will impact the future. These moments exist in a bubble -- I suspect they offer a version of the future, and I suspect that there’s always a moment like this in our timelines. I’ve sketched out some mapping a few times, but it always ends up very cyclical.” He shrugged. “The short answer: fucking madness!”
“Yeah but at the same time, there are three distinct outcomes to this war which mark three distinctly different timelines. Some of us don’t exist in all of them, even. And we have no way of knowing if stuff that happens now has any bearing on the definite events of the war - where we either win, lose or...tie? I’m not clear on that one.” Kyna replied as she took her coffee and warmed her hands with it. “It’s confusing. I don’t actually think time is linear, ever. I think it’s… wavy. Full of loops and loopty-loops. And intersections and roundabouts. Holy shit, time’s a complicated road system. And a rollercoaster!”
“That we know about,” he said. “There may be a thousand variants. We’ve just seen the products of three. As we know from history, there are more possible outcomes to war than win, lose, or fight forever.” At her words, he nodded, continuing to sip at his coffee thoughtfully. “I view it as a linear thing that’s been so irreparably fucked that it now has peaks and valleys and split ends. That’s those variants on the line are the chaos theory in action.”
“Like a… peace accord? Temporary cease-fire? You think we can reach compromise? Their end goal is pretty absolute, it’s not winning parcels of land, it’s to eradicate a whole...concept. Whole worlds. It’s pretty transcendental.” Kyna also sipped on her coffee between phrases, and as she voiced her skepticism she stood up to take a cupcake from the box. “There's no earthly way of knowing... which direction they are going...”
Kyna quieted down to munch thoughtfully on her cupcake. If on one hand she liked how chaotic and wild reality was, on the other the fact that she both existed and didn’t was a little strange, even for her. She had called herself Schrodinger’s Daughter in conversation with Henry Mills, and maybe that’s exactly what she was. She laughed at this. “Schrodinger’s Daughter. I both exist and don’t. But we all do and don’t, right?”
“It’s true,” he agreed, rocking a bit in his chair as he observed her and let her words roll around in his mind. She was clearly as smart as he might’ve expected, and that was a point of pride. At her nickname, he laughed as well, nodding. “That’s incredibly apt. But really, you’re right. We are all, technically, fictional here in Atlantis. In more worlds than not, we only exist as entertainment to be consumed. By coming to Atlantis in the first place, I think we mostly set time itself into a vortex. I suspect that’s part of the explanation for the wild magic that happens here, but that’s just a guess.” He shrugged. “At any rate, surely there’s more on your mind than this!”
“I’m not. I’m one hundred percent original. Outside of Atlantis I don’t exist.” Kyna smiled, eyes widening. “Or maybe I do… hmmm…”
Kyna sighed, shrugging, and sipped on her coffee. She really didn’t have much except that it was weird to be here and knowing she could stay, it would be like walking into a room where everything was only slightly wrong enough to be noticeable, but nothing was missing or added in. “I went on a date with a prince. He’s pretty cool. Rewrote his entire family’s stories to have happy endings, I can get with that. Um, did some magic with dad Eliot, it was fun. Not much else on my mind, I guess it’s time to start worrying about presents? What would you like?”
“You may! Who really knows,” he responded, laughing.
“Oooh, look at you. Keeping up with the royalty, I like that,” he said, nodding a bit. “I’m flexible. A book, something to keep in the office, that sort of thing. I’m letting Eliot handle wardrobe related things, so you may want to ask him.”
What a bright smile to have directed at you at any age. Kyna was immediately filled with endearment. She put her coffee down and dragged her chair all the way around her dad’s desk to sit closer to him and hug him sideways. “Ooooh I know you don’t know this yet but you make me so happy.”
After a little squeeze, Kyna pulled away, raising an eyebrow. “This is okay, right?”
Ian was quick to extend his arm, hugging her close to him when she snuggled up to his side, rubbing at her arm affectionately in response to it. “Is that so? Well, good on me then, I do strive to bring joy to others, one way or another.”
“Which part?”
“The part where I’m hugging you. I don’t know, you might feel weird about all this affection all of a sudden. I don’t think you would, but one should always ask before going around hugging people left and right!” Kyna replied, taking a cupcake and Ian’s hand and putting the cupcake into his hand. “Eat, my pretty. Brain food.”
“Oh! Well, I’m a very physically affectionate person, so I’m on board,” he responded, grinning. He laughed at her gesture, nodding and setting the mug down so that he could pull away the cupcake wrapper. “Yes ma’am, as the lady wishes!”
Kyna sighed in relief and smiled. “Oh good, okay.”
She finally finished her cupcake and picked up her coffee again, smiling up at dad. “So! Can I help you with any work in an ethical way, or do we just hang out? It’s the end of the semester, right, maybe you have some info to organize?”
“By all means, put that superior mind-power to work on my filing cabinets. They are desperate for some organization here at semester’s end,” he said, laughing and gesturing to the side where the cabinets stood, hiding away their mess within drawers. “And in the meantime, you can tell me everything else there is to know about you!”