Nathan Summers (alter_nate_ive) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-05-25 22:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, nathan summers (cable), obi-wan kenobi |
Do you have more neon colored cars for me?
Who: Nathan Summers and Obi-Wan
Where: A cafe, then some woods.
What: A conversation, a warning, a fear, a shake.
When: Recently.
Warnings/Rating: PG-13
Status complete
Though he’d kicked smoking and self-loathing, Obi-Wan still had one seriously bad habit: stress-eating. And he walked head-first into stressful situations like a moth drawn to flame.
On the worst days, it was as if his stomach truly was a pit with no end, especially for sugar. The only reason he was able to maintain his weight was due to his other habit of stress-building. He was always adding extra hours to his construction jobs, finding ways to make hammering meditative.
But lunch today was a chocolate milkshake.
Nearby, Nathan... Nathan was working on a chocolate milkshake himself, pondering Dreams, life, and wars. He knew he had an odd life coming, as witness to what had already happened to him. With his recent aging up, then shooting, then participating in the little war at the wedding, and the new Dreams, oh the dreams, he had already had a lot of oddness.
And that didn’t even go into earlier things like his 7mom going crazy, his town burning down and oh, his mind spending 20-odd years in an alterNathan future... There were days when Nathan wondered if maybe he wasn’t crazy somewhere, and all of this a delusion. And thus, chocolate milkshake.
He smiled at the gentleman near him, then snapped his fingers. “Obi-Wan, yes? From Valarnet?” He extended his hand. “Nathan, Nathan Summers.”
Obi-Wan looked up from his spoon, which he’d been absentmindedly stirring in circles, making furrows in his shake. The ice cream shifted back into place.
The face before him was not exactly familiar, but he knew who the boy was before the introduction. Nathan had found Obi-Wan’s old pink Camry and returned it to him. They’d chatted here and there on the Valar Network. He was Scott Summers’s boy. And yet, something seemed ever so slightly off. The boy’s age. Wasn’t he supposed to be much younger...?
“Hello there,” he said, taking Nathan’s hand and shaking it. “How are you? Do you have more neon colored cars for me?”
Shaking the man’s hand, he smiled. “I’m good. And no, just the one.” Nathan smiled. That had been fun. Settling down again, he nodded. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“Oh, I have a carpentry job not far from here.” Obi-Wan glancing out the window, as if to point out the general direction of the building, even though it couldn’t be seen from here.
Then he turned back to his shake and gave the straw a turn. “Just eating a healthy lunch. What about you?” According to things seen on the Network, Nathan was really a much older man trapped in a boy’s body, but he still looked like someone who ought to be in school on a weekday.
“Wandering. I have a few weeks before I start Summer College, and so I’m wandering a lot, seeing friends around working. I do research and business interning at Frost Enterprises.” He was learning a lot. Sometimes working with Winston Frost, sometimes with one of the underlings, and so far, successfully hiding his relationship with the older man from most. He found himself drawn to learning business, and to finding the best ways to research things. So far, it was fun.
But it was still a job, and still more stress. Wheee.
Ah, so he was on the path to college. Still, Obi-Wan had pegged him for younger. It puzzled him, but he shook it off and gestured to the seat across the table for Nathan to take. He wasn’t always the sort to welcome spontaneous company, but frankly Obi-Wan needed a distraction. “Where are you going to school?” he asked.
Nathan sat there and smiled a little. “University of California, Irvine. Or at least I will be, soon. I’m not in school right now.” He bounced. “I tested out of middle and high school early and into college.” He nodded, enjoying this.
Obi-Wan felt this was an opportunity to ask if ever there was one. “I do recall you mentioning something about there being a discrepancy about your real age. Am I right?” Something about Nathan being an old man trapped in a young man’s body. Obi-Wan frequently felt the same way.
“I was born here in this world about ten and a half years ago. About two months ago now. I dreamed of living to age seventeen, and then fell into a coma, and my mind was drawn into an alterNathan future of this world, where I lived to be some thirty odd years of age. Coming back in time, I was dropped back into my tennish year old body. A real shock, you might imagine.”
He sipped some water and went on. “Then, a month ago now or so, I dreamed a particularly powerful dream, and aged up almost eight years in one night. God only knows what will happen next.”
Obi-Wan took a long pull from his milkshake, as though there was something far stronger inside. He’d dreamed about being around sixty, but he’d never woken up so much as a day out of sync. But what if he did? Well, that would certainly put a damper on his plans to marry Faiza. “God... I’m sorry. How did you explain it to your friends?” He assumed the boy had ten-year-old chums he was forced to leave behind.
Nathan favored him with a lopsided smile. “I never had many my own age. I was the genius loner in this life before I was ever a Dreamer. All of my friends are Dreamers or pre-Dreamers. So I just had to explain the ways of the OC to them.” He rubbed his chin as he sipped more shake. Mmmm, shake. That he would always like.
He hoped.”Most people have adapted well.”
Obi-Wan nodded, but there was a flicker of sadness behind it. Nathan suddenly reminded him very much of himself, when he was a lad. He would never make the claim that he was a genius, but he’d always traveled a different path, going at a different speed. Loner certainly fit the bill. Frankly, Nathan seemed far more well-adjusted than Obi-Wan could remember being at any time in his youth.
“What are you, may I ask, when you dream?”
“An apocalyptically-raised, superhero and genetically-engineered person birthed, classically and intensely trained, superhuman mutant cybernetic terrorist, world-saver, superhero, and politician. You?” Nathan rattled it off between swallows.
“That’s some resume,” Obi-Wan said, chuckling lightly. He rubbed his forehead for a moment. “I think my story pales in comparison, which is not small feat, considering... I’m a... Jedi.”
Nathan nodded. “It’s a bit boring, and a bit overwhelming. I’ve dreamed all of it now, and it’s pretty crazysauce.” Nathan grinned wider. “Pales? Really? NO, I don’t think so. You exude a grooviness and peace that is awesome to behold.” He was talking to freaking Obi-Wan! Dude!
Grooviness? Even Obi-Wan wasn’t old enough to use that word. He chuckled, but his eyes were wide and curious. “So you... realize who I am, then?” Not everyone did. A lot of people still had blinders on about their dreams and the dreams of others, unable to make realizations as if there was literally a wall in the way.
“Yes, I do. I’ve seen your movies dozens of times. I like all of them.” Nathan nodded. “Red a few of the books, too.” He grinned at Obi-Wan and opened up his sidepack, revealing a small Star Wars themed notebook with a picture of Obi-Wan on the front, as he appeared even now.
Without missing a beat, Obi-Wan adopted what many thought of as his trademark pose: his arm folded over his chest and his hand on his beard. It was, however, completely spontaneous. “Oh my...” He held out his hand. “May I?”
Nathan grinned, watching him, then nodded. “Surely.” And he handed over the notebook. If opened, it had sketches and notes on inventions and ideas for the future. A lot of ideas had come to him since he had dreamed so much.
Obi-Wan looked at the cover for a few moments. His expression was pleasant, but otherwise unreadable. Popular opinion of him seemed divided into two camps: those who saw him as brave and well-intentioned, and ultimately righteous, and those who considered him a liar and a fool. Obi-Wan tried not to align himself with either side.
He flipped through the pages, trying to be brief and respectful of the delicate content. He hummed approvingly. "I think you just might be a genius..."
Nathan chuckled, eyeing the other man. “It’s entirely possible. Check out the last page?” It held specs for a prototype lightsaber, using modern Earth tech plus his dream future tech, smooches with Martian tech. “Still in the early stages.”
The Jedi cocked an eyebrow and massaged his beard. He was quite intrigued and sighed audibly. “But how would you...? Ah-ha. I see. Hmm. Have you attempted construction at all?” His own lightsaber was in his pocket. He owned many pairs of cargo pants, because wearing his robes out in public wasn’t really an option.
“Not of that, yet. I work on a lot of other sensitive electronics, stuff with Kitty, and a few others.” He nodded. “It’s fun.” He enjoyed the figuring out and the making.
Obi-Wan returned Nathan’s notebook. A rather sly smile had appeared on his face. “Would you care to see a real one and compare it to your model?”
Nathan took it back and slipped it into his bag, then grinned wider, eyes wide. “Yes, sir! Could I?” He was eager. He wanted to see and not touch, even if he would examine it.
Returning to his milkshake, Obi-Wan sucked up what remained of the ice cream. It was just melted enough that he didn’t risk getting brain freeze. “I just offered, did I not? Only... not here, of course.” He scooted out of the booth and waved for Nathan to follow. “Come on.”
“Of course. Where’re we headed?” Nathan rose and dropped a fiver at the table, then followed along, padding along quietly. Now he was curious and wondering. This was going to be so cool!
The door open and closed behind them with a jingle. Obi-Wan looked over his shoulder. “There is a wooded area not far from Lake Forest that I and the other Jedi go to spar. It’s safe there. It’s not far, if you don’t mind a quick drive.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and smirked. “I’m driving the Pink Nightmare today.”
“There’s a cafe where a park sits next to it, people from Valarnet use it to show off to each other sometimes, too.” Nate nodded and followed. “I am curious about this place.” He laughed at the name of it.
Obi-Wan got into the lipstick colored Camry and popped open Nathan’s door on the other side. The locks weren’t power locks unless he decided to use the Force. “The Jedi do not show off,” he said, though the gentle smirk remained. “They kindly educate one another on the finer points of combat.”
He pulled away from the soda shop.
Nate hopped in and grinned. “Of course. Sorry. What was I thinking. This kindly education, sometimes it comes with smirking?”
His grin was warm.
“Only when you are an exceptionally good instructor.” He paused for effect. “Such as myself.”
As promised, it was a short car ride, not hindered by the fact that the old man drove like an old man. For someone behind the wheel of a pink car with flame pinstripes, he liked to keep to the printed speed limit.
Once they arrived at the forest, the rest of the journey would be made on foot. Obi-Wan unzipped a pocket on his pants and pulled out the lightsaber. The lock was on, so unless he changed the settings, the blade could only ignite in his own hand. He felt safe passing it to Nathan.
Nate examined it and let his mind’s power play over it, reading it’s every circuit and form. “Impressive. I wondered how that worked...” He would copy the circuits down when he got home.
He handed the saber back. “Thank you.”
With a nod, Obi-Wan took his weapon back. They were far enough into the trees now. His fingers made a quick movement over a few small buttons and the blade ignited with a familiar sound. The sapphire glow caught the sharp blue of the Jedi’s eyes, and for a moment, it was clear how much he and the weapon were one.
Nate watched and nodded. thinking how like his psimitar this was, and wondering if maybe the creator of it had seen these and known what a cool idea that was. “Cool!”
Obi-Wan disengaged the saber and continued to walk until they arrived at a clearing in the woods. The trees bore the marks of laser and plasma combat, there were furrows in the ground. The Jedi had been training here for months and it was also here that bounty hunter who’d been carrying the blue shadow virus first appeared. It was like a small-scale battlefield.
“Cool place! We should have played paintball out here...” He paused, thinking. “I wonder if it would be possible to create modified ‘training’ sabers and use them for fun...”
The Jedi nodded, his eyes lighting up. “They’re very possible. Yes, we used to use them for students at the Temple. They stung, but they couldn’t cut through anything.” He smiled at Nathan. “And since you’ve found a way to work with what we have here...”
“I’ll add it to the projects Kitty and I are working on. Should make something usable within a month, two outside.” Nate’s eyes already turned inward as he imagined it. and he lifted a hand. Dirt, sticks and pebbles came to his call, assembling slowly into the shape of the lightsaber as he stared at them contemplatively.
“Yeah... I think with her brains, we could do it.” He refocused on Obi-Wan and smiled. “Mind consulting for us when we need you?”
“Absolutely.” Though Obi-Wan felt that with Kitty’s brains, they might end up with a combination lightsaber and sexual aid, which was... a horrifying thought, really... All the more reason to supervise. He shook his head to clear it.
For a few seconds, the Jedi was quiet, admiring Nathan’s handiwork. Using the Force, he moved the handle of his own weapon to float beside the one made of stones and sticks. “Is it just your love of Star Wars that brought about this interest in the saber, or is it something else? Another connection? A similar weapon, from your dreams, perhaps.”
“I have another in my dreamlife.” Beside the sabre, another form appeared, glittering circuitry forming inside a longer staff, with a energy eye at one end like that of a lightsaber. “My psimitar, a device meant to enhance the mental abilities of a mutant and channel them into a point.”
“And it functions the same way?” asked Obi-Wan.
“Not exactly. It’s the focus of telepathic and telekinetic power, so it affects the mind as much as the body. It’s like if the lightsaber could be used to cut people’s thoughts, as well as their hands.”
Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow. “Fascinating.” He looked exactly like Spock, but he would have denied it. “And a little frightening. Although I daresay I’ve used more than a few mind tricks in my day.” He recalled his lightsaber back into his open palm.
Nate grinned, then sighed. “I’ve had to do a few, when I aged up. And in situations to save lives, I’ve always been willing to bend normal morality.” He shrugged, not concerned about it.
“Hmm,” Obi-Wan hummed thoughtfully. He had mixed feelings on the subject, but not to the point of challenging someone he’d just met. He’d leave that to Anakin. Well, he would have. In the past.
There his brain went again, apparently on the fritz. Obi-Wan shook his head. He looked down and sighed. He could only distract himself for so long. “Nathan, you’re a smart lad. May I ask your opinion on something? What would you do.... if you realized you had memories of someone no one had ever seen before? I mean, how... at what point would you... Well, I don’t know. I just...” At last, his voice trailed away.
Nathan glanced at him, curious. “Well, if I thought I remembered someone that no one else did, I would immediately know someone had altered either time or memory for those around me. And I would go looking for that person and for the person erased, both. And I would go armed and ready for trouble. People generally don’t do things like that without a reason and a great deal of passion.” Nate reached out for his makeshift psimitar and as he reached it shimmered and smoothed and he was holding a long wooden staff.
“And I’d be ready to cause some trouble.”
Obi-Wan rubbed his forehead. “I’ve been assuming I have a brain tumor, honestly. The girl’s father doesn’t even remember her. Faiza doesn’t either.” He always assumed he was the one with the problem.
Nate hmmed. “Who?” Because now he was curious. Was it someone he knew? Knew of? Was related to? All three?
“A young girl by the name of Alma,” he replied. Obi-Wan almost didn’t want to say the name anymore. He was disturbed by the blank stares.
Nate recoiled. “Someone erased Alma Wade from people’s memories?” He stared, open mouthed. “OH shit. We need to get on this, now.” Horror coiled in his gut. This couldn’t happen, and it was happening, now. Fuck.
“Didn’t she have a love? Beth? And a father? All of them don’t remember her?”
Obi-Wan’s eye bulged. “Then you remember her! Your memory wasn’t erased?” He swallowed. “Then Alma really is missing.”
Nate eyed Obi-Wan and nodded. “Did anything bad happen recently to her?” Maybe there was still time...
"I don't know," Obi-Wan replied, rubbing his temple again. "I woke up one morning with a terrible headache and when I talked to Faiza, the memory had already been wiped."
Nate nodded. “This is bad and worse than bad. We’ve got to find her and help her, and as soon as possible. “ He hesitated then nodded to Obi-Wan. “She has enormous power, and the potential to do great good and good great evil. If things are going bad...” He let it hang.
Obi-Wan hardly had to say anything to show his agreement. He’d had more encounters with Alma and her powers than most. And the thought of the poor, wounded girl in any sort of trouble was enough to make him very scared.
“Then we should go... Now.”
Nate nodded. “We can make plans and then split up. And let’s hope one of us finds her before one of the more dark elements do.” Because of that happened. things could get ugly.
With that, he started toward Obi-Wan’s car. There were things to do.
fin.