Shocky was serious about wanting to play bebe Jeff.

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

Who: Jeff, or a Jeff anyway. And whoever wants first dibs on meeting him... but there will be ample opportunity to meet him later on.
What: TIME PARADOX
When: Evening of January 4th.
Where: IN THE BITTER COLD OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS.
Warnings: Depends on who shows up now doesn't it.



Present Day:

The New Year was supposed to be a time for bidding good riddance to the ills of the old year and looking forward to what excitement the new year would bring. A time for determination to meet one's goals. A time for celebration! ...Although perhaps it was a little late for that one now.

Still, the year so far had Jeff feeling down. The attacks on the non-humans were still fresh in his mind (while he hadn't been there for the discovery of the victims, the image of the blood-stained bat and the fact someone planted it for the sake of some game still haunted him); Ness had lost King, and seeing the boy Jeff looked up to for his optimism and upbeat attitude be so upset was jarring; Ionia had left for another school - another planet - and Falcon seemed to be using food to fill the gaping hole left in the family.

Jeff himself was going to graduate in a few short months. What would happen then?

He tried to keep his mind off brooding introspection by distracting himself with the spare parts he received for Christmas. He spent hours at a time working in his otherwise-empty room, sometimes forgetting even to eat, but that wasn't terribly unusual. What was a little abnormal was that Jeff didn't even have any plan in mind; he was just sticking parts together as long as they fit, connecting wires here and there, seeing if anything would happen.

At last, something did.

There was a flash of light, and Jeff was gone.

199X

Jeff Andonuts, son of the great Dr. Andonuts, was flying for the first time. He never thought he'd ever have a reason to fly anywhere, but if he had to, he imagined it would have been in a plane or some other perfectly normal means of aerial transportation. Instead, after the briefest of reunions with his father, Jeff was given what the older scientist had called The Skyrunner... It looked kind of like a UFO on the outside, and the inside wasn't much better; full of blinking lights and unlabeled buttons Jeff had to sit on his hands to keep from pushing.

He watched small tufts of cloud brush by the window as the Skyrunner flew over a strange place covered in rocks and sand, with not a single snowflake to be seen. Would it be just as snow-free at his destination? He didn't even know where his destination was, just that a boy and a girl would be waiting for him there. Friends he'd never met. Ness and Paula. Waiting for him to save them so they could save the world together.

Now that he thought about it, it sounded pretty crazy, didn't it? What kind of kid just ran away from school in the middle of the night because they had a weird dream? What kind of kid just fled the country in his father's rickety old machine that probably hadn't had maintenance work done on it in years? It must have been a long time, judging by the way it was shaking and creaking all of the sudden. At least the warning siren was still loud and clear.

...Wait.

Oh, fiddlesticks.

Jeff leapt from his seat (hitting his head on the low ceiling in the process) and waved his hand over the control panel, wishing he'd at least taken the time to ask Dr. Andonuts what to do in case of emergency. Did this thing even have parachutes? A quick look around revealed that there were no hidden compartments to keep such a thing in.

He could feel himself falling. Probably too fast to put a parachute on even if there were any. He threw his arms up in helpless frustration, slammed his hand down on a group of buttons, and pulled a lever.

"Up, up, pull up...!" A light flashed from somewhere, but that was the only answer to his desperate pleas.

Jeff Andonuts, age twelve, was crashing for the first time in his life.

Present Day

An object that resembled a more primitive version of the Skyrunner kept in the school's hangar was careening out of control in the skies over Final Destination City. Citizens who saw it either whipped out their cell phones to put it on the internet or rolled their eyes and wondered what those crazy Smash Academy students were doing this time.

The more cynical observers were right to make a connection to the school, for that is precisely where the machine was headed. It crashed right into the courtyard, destroying the edge of the fountain but somehow leaving the statue in the center intact. The statue continued to urinate recycled water on the smoking Skyrunner.

Comments

[thewunderkind]

Lash did enjoy working outdoors in the snow. The air was still pretty crisp and while it cased a lot more smoke to rise as she worked on her tank...she didn't have to wait as long to move on to the next part. Plus she had taken a liking to fresh air, a vast improvement over the Black Hole bay hangers where she used to do everything.

The sound was deafening and hard to miss. Explosions in Smash were pretty normal (hell she was probably responsible for 50% of them) but right into the fountain? Someone was in trouble. Of course Lash would want to go see who she's get to make fun off.

It seemed to be the work of Jeff, of all people. Haha! This was rich. She stood at the smoldering vehicle, grinning, arms crossed.

"What are you doing dumbass, working with old technology?"

[raced_god]

Okay shut up he was trying to work it off, Jeff. That was why he was jogging obsessively around the lake.

Or he was jogging obsessively around the lake, until the Skyrunner fell out of the air. The Skyrunner that he paid LIKE THIRTY-THOUSAND CREDITS FOR. He watched it streak towards the ground in disbelief for a few moments before taking off in the general direction of what was sure to be an epic crash. Scenarios flashed through his mind, none of them any good. What if Jeff was inside it? What if someone had stolen it and crashed it? What in the world was going on?

At least they'd installed airbags or did they.

It was not a terribly far sprint from the lake to the center of the main quad, where the ruined Skyrunner had done a number on the fountain. He would inspect the damage later--right now there was someone inside that needed to be extracted before the whole damn thing exploded. "Jeff!" He called, reaching the wreckage, completely ignoring Lash (who was standing there laughing what the fuck) and beginning to search it for any sign of a pilot.

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

Despite the ringing in his ears and the smoke in his lungs, Jeff was sure he could make out voices, the only clear word being something very inappropriate (was it directed at him?! What did he do?!). He was also aware of a human hand reaching through the smoke. For a split-second he felt his head stop as he checked both his arms to make sure he was all in one piece. Oh. Phew. Nothing even seemed to be broken.

"That was..." He coughed and grabbed the hand, using it to pull himself out of the wreckage. "That was scary...!" So scary he might have peed himself. Actually, it was the water from the fountain, but he had no idea said fountain existed at this time.

[thewunderkind]

Oh and there was fattymcfatcon bursting next to her, love handles and everything, denying Lash the pleasure of saving Jeff's life before this prototype exploded. Oh well, maybe next time there would be time to make fun of him. Yet something seemed wrong when he stepped out, and it wasn't just that godawful bowlcut he seemed to have done to himself.

"What's with the accent? Did you hit yourself on the balls?" His voice sounded much lighter. Did he look younger? "What were you doing?" She inched close to him and looked at him in the eyes. By gazing downward WHAT THE HELL.

"What...Whaaaaat?!"

[raced_god]

He hauled Jeff out of the smoking wreck and dragged him a few feet away, lest the whole thing catch on fire. But upon closer inspection, the fountain was figuratively peeing all over the craft anyway, so maybe they'd get lucky and nothing would explode. Still, it was best to keep a safe distance.

Lash was babbling something or other, but Falcon was too preoccupied with making sure everyone was safe and not bleeding or dying or something equally horrible. Trying to understand how and why Jeff crashed the thing was another matter entirely--it would have been a lie to say that once he realized Jeff was okay, he was not at all concerned with the well-being of the ship. The ship that he spent lots of money on and was now half-buried in its own crash site. So basically he was kind of peeved.

He looked from the Skyrunner and back to Jeff before he realized that something was very, very wrong. "Jeff?"

[safetyglasses.livejournal.com]

Yes, ok, it got pocketed pretty quick.

Maxwell met Lash's gaze for a moment before he wrapped up this little Jeff in a hug. "Goodness, this is a sight!" He held Jeff out at arm's length for a moment, taken in the surprising sight. Just as Lash's rushed message had said, his baby cheeks and sudden change in height were definitely reminiscent of a Jeff since passed. What on Earth had happened?

And there was Tony. Maxwell nodded to him. "He's, ah... Well we've got a bit of a surprise going on."

Well, no matter, he was going to stay positive for Jeff's sake and smiled a bit at him. Whether this was just an odd accident or a different Jeff or whatever was going on, this must have been alarming. "When was the last time you called? Oh, uh... Well I'm an RA here, and Tony and you transferred here and... Here, let's all sit down somewhere and try to figure this all out," he said with a nod to Samus and Falcon.

[thewunderkind]

Maxwell was a lot calmer than her on this situation. Lash was still sporting a horrified on the entire event (and maybe just feeling a little bit guilty for her initial actions, not that she'd tell anyone) throwing herself in a seat near the group, one hand supporting her head.

In a strange way it kinda made sense. This Jeff still knew Tony and Maxwell. Maybe there were some memories gone, but he still had memories of them, not suddenly becoming a total stranger. Or maybe Maxwell was just that calm. This was a guy who had survived her kicking him in the balls and still willing to talk to her, after all.

Hrrrgh she just. Couldn't stand there and do nothing. Not even a minute after she had sat down, Lash stood up again. Samus and Falcon were almost like his family, remembered or not. Tony and Maxwell were people he still knew and his best friends. Best friends. She was the odd woman out, no matter how she looked at it. Maybe she should...

"I'll get him some food," she offered meekly, moving towards the cafeteria's counters, away from them. Hopefully Jeff hadn't changed his eating habits too much since he had grown. There. Now she'd be out of their stupid way for a while. But admittedly still within hearing distance.

[pkloveomega.livejournal.com]

No matter how long he'd been living in the city, Lucas had never really depended that heavily on technology. It was only serendipity that he happened to glance at the computer and spot Lash's urgent message at all.

Unfortunately, he'd been too late; when he'd arrived at the fountain, there was nothing there but the wreckage of the Skyrunner. Fearing the worst, he'd jumped to telepathy, desperately leaping to any mind he could reach in hopes of finding some sign of Jeff.

First, he found Lash. He barely lingered long enough to register that she was thinking of Jeff at all -- a vague impression of uneasiness, sorrow, something almost like loss -- before he found the mind he was looking for. Or... something like it? Confusion, nervousness. It was like Jeff, but... it was like a shoe on the wrong foot. Something was jarringly different.

Still, it was enough to point him in the right direction. Lucas ran into the cafeteria, half-expecting to be greeted by something heart-breakingly horrible. "J-Jeff! Are you okay?"

[raced_god]

He'd figured it would turn into a regular party. Falcon did not do parties. Best to let Jeff catch up with Maxwell and Tony--people he actually remembered--while he went off to do something productive. Get clothes. Find Ness and Paula. Keep denying that the Jeff he knew was possibly gone forever. Thinking about a Jeff that didn't know him or Samus or the school so soon after Ionia's departure was difficult, and he wasn't sure he could even stand to be there.

It was one big headache. This Jeff was wet and cold and confused and Falcon was certain that the more people arrived, the more confused he would get. He glanced at Samus, who was perhaps the only person he felt comfortable leaving Jeff with while the student was in such a state.

"I'm going to go grab you some fresh clothes and see if I can't track down Ness and Paula. I'll be back."

And off he went.

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

"I'm okay! I..." Wait, who was this new guy?

One big headache, indeed. On the way to the cafeteria, Jeff pinched himself more than once to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He really wished he was. What if he'd actually fallen into a coma after the crash? Or... worse? It was the most logical explanation for all this he could think of.

Jeff took a seat at the nearest table, convinced he'd faint or something if he had to handle much more of this. He took his glasses off and covered his eyes with one hand, trying to forget just how many people were crowded around him.

"...Um... You already know me, but the only people I know are Maxwell and Tony. Who are the rest of you? So I know what to call you."

SOME DAY LATER WHEN IT IS MOST CONVENIENT....

[raced_god]

Somewhere in between dropping off a fresh pair of clothes, hightailing it out of there again, and retreating to the Falconcave firehouse/his office for copious amounts of brooding, Falcon realized he had overlooked a Very Important Thing.

If this Jeff had no memories of him or the school, he subsequently had no disappointment or disillusionment when it came to the Captain, something admittedly rife in their relationship. In his mire of "I completely and totally fucked up with Ionia", the prospect of a second chance with Jeff was a bittersweet one. Mostly he didn't know how to feel, but he did know that he couldn't avoid the student forever.

So he would seek him out. Maybe see how he was doing--hopefully he hadn't been completely overwhelmed by all these people saying they knew him. The obvious solution was to add one more.

Re: SOME DAY LATER WHEN IT IS MOST CONVENIENT....

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

Indeed, this Jeff had no idea about all the disappointments coming from irresponsibility, insensitivity, and drunk adventures. Some of them his. Not yet, anyway.

Currently he was out by the fountain, trying in vain to salvage what he could of the Skyrunner. It wasn't much use; even if he could repair the engine and all the wiring, he couldn't weld the ship back together on his own. He still wouldn't have any idea how to get back to his own time. Maybe he was stranded here.

He sighed and plonked his butt down on the part of the fountain wall that didn't seem to be in danger of crumbling, took his glasses off to defog them, and when he put them back on noticed Mr. Hero from the other day. He was still too much of a stranger for Jeff to feel bold enough to greet first, so he just watched him from the corner of his eye and quietly hoped he would just pass on.

[raced_god]

After checking the cafeteria, the common rooms, and OldJeff's dorm, Falcon figured the kid might be back with the Skyrunner, and sure enough, a walk to the fountain proved successful.

For a few moments, the Captain looked about as awkward as Jeff did, slowly approaching the crash site but wavering, or taking a step backward, or stuffing his hands in his pockets and nudging at the dirt with his sneaker...eventually he figured he should man up and stop acting like a creep.

He didn't want to sit there and tell the student about the Jeff he knew, or reminisce about days gone by, because upsetting him was the last thing Falcon wanted to do. After making up his mind to not pass over the Skyrunner without so much as a greeting, he walked up to the wreck and idly rubbed some dirt off the damaged hull with the edge of his sleeve. "Need any help?"

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

"Um..." Yes. But he didn't want to trouble Falcon any more than he already had the other day. He rolled a piece of rubble around under the toe of his shoe. "I-it's okay. I don't know what I'm trying to do anyway. If it is some kind of time machine, I should find Dr. Andonuts in this time and see if..."

Ha ha, fat chance.

also on a day of convenience

[swordofkings.livejournal.com]

Poo was a little slow to arrive and had admittedly not gotten here by means of informative digital messages. The Skyrunner was a familiar sight and one that was difficult to miss with it falling out of the sky, as well as the commotion that quickly surrounded it.

Poo kept to the shadows and observed from a distance, overhearing the voices, piecing together what had happened. It was quite a strange predicament, and the prince was not certain if he could add to it any further. He was certain that his friend would be fine, however. He had plenty of good company to keep him safe and Poo deemed his presence not necessary.

But this particular company was going to go meditate on this. Poo was very deliberate in his meditation spots of choosing for the next few days, however; spots that he assumed Jeff would pass by at some point or another for however long he would be here, in the event Jeff did decide to bridge a connection with a friend he had yet to meet.

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

After a bit of skimming through the files on his (older self's) computer, Jeff had a very basic idea of who key people in his future were. One of them being the enigmatic Prince, although he only knew him as the older boy who looked like he belonged in some kind of kung-fu movie.

So when he saw the very good-looking older boy sitting in the snow, Jeff felt compelled to say hello and learn more about him. Like why he was sitting out in the snow.

"Aren't you cold...?"

[swordofkings.livejournal.com]

"No." The boy responded. "Are you?"

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

"Well, no... It's not as cold here as it is back home." Even so, Jeff was still dressed appropriately. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at the ground for a moment.

"I... I haven't met you yet. But I think I'm supposed to, in my future." But then, this boy didn't seem surprised that he was so young. Maybe he was wrong. How embarrassing.

SOMETIME SHORTLY AFTER THAT THREAD UP THERE, STILL CAFETERIA.

[pkrockin]

Ness had come when he was called! He just... didn't know where everyone had went and was stuck staring at a slightly burning crash site. Oh god what was even going on where was Jeff where was everyone WHAT WAS... He was quite possibly about to start eating his hat when he was found by the good Captain and pointed in the right direction. They were in the cafeteria, OK. The capped hero ran off in pursuit, though not before he noticed that Falcon was just slightly off. That and Lash's message... well, they didn't bode entirely well and he wasn't entirely sure what to expect.

So he entered the cafeteria a bit warily, easily sniffing out the burger picking the boy out and making his approach to his table. "... Hey."

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

Jeff stared. Just an endless parade of people. He really was popular, what the heck?

"...Hello."

[pkrockin]

This happens when capslocked text messages got around. They all came in droves.

Gosh, he did look pretty tiny. Ness pointed at the seat closest to him. "Mind if I take a seat for a bit?"

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah... Go ahead." He did mind a little in the oh man today will just never end kind of way, but it would be rude to turn him down and he was kind of curious as to who this person was to him.

"You... know what's going on, I guess...?"

After the crash and the cafeteria

[ohjeffums.livejournal.com]

Dealing with all of that just now had certainly been something of a doozy. Even after the commotion, it was hard to believe anything had actually taken place. It was scary, and he constantly wondered how long this problem would last? Would the old Jeff ever return with his memories intact?

But no, it had! Here Jeff was, being guided to his room by watch of Tony for a nice, quiet, safe place to stay while this issue could be further picked at by all who cared about Jeff, small, shy and confused, from a different time space all together. That in itself made Tony feel surreal, like he too had been detached from the regular flow of time somehow. He wanted to help his best friend remain as comfortable as possible no matter what, and to do that he hoped he could keep himself from freaking out too much. Sometimes, it was hard. He needed to do what was best for him.

Swallowing before he spoke, he gestured to the door of BE-03. "This is your room, Jeff. Let's have a look inside, shall we? It should be to your liking, considering, well... it was YOU who stayed here before... haha." He reached for the door and twisted it open, then waited for it to budge into a feasible walkway. "Um, after you!"

Re: After the crash and the cafeteria

[blondprodigy.livejournal.com]

Jeff had left the night before Tony's 13th birthday. Back then, they were both two small boys who had barely reached puberty, without too much height difference between them. The next time he saw Tony, Jeff expected they'd still be on the same page. But this Tony towered over him, his features stuck in that awkward transition from boyhood to manhood that was all too common in the older students at Snow Wood.

Jeff wondered how much he was supposed to have grown by now.

But despite the physical changes, this was unmistakably still Tony, and Jeff was glad for any sort of familiarity. It was even more comforting when, upon stepping into his dorm, he saw tools and spare parts littering every available surface.

"Wow, I haven't changed that much, huh?" He laughed in relief, picking up a smashed alarm clock and turning it over in his hands. "Still a mess... Oh. D-do I have, um... Is someone else sharing the room? So I know before they just show up. That would be a little weird."

Re: After the crash and the cafeteria

[ohjeffums.livejournal.com]

Standing at the doorway, Tony shook his head and smiled, finding Jeff's reaction to his discovery completely endearing. "No, not at the moment, no. You lucked out, didn't you! The room has been all yours for a while now." He led his eyes across the comfortably familiar landscape of unfinished projects and stuff Jeff was always too busy being engrossed in his work to pick up and put away.

He thought back fondly on their dorm in Snow Wood, recovered every detail from memory and compared the past to the present. Jeff's habits never truly died, and while he remembered having to clean up after the other boy (he never minded at all) and occasionally prodding him to do it himself once in a while, he was grateful to be reminded that some things never do change. Jeff being so young again only solidified that effect. Was it bad that he had fallen in love with him all over again? Oh wait, that wasn't unusual.

Well, time to shut the door behind him. "It must be the strangest thing, sorting through things you haven't invented yet. I wish I could tell you all about them and how they worked, but I could never do it any justice."

Looking back, a nagging feeling crept up on him that warned if he made Jeff too curious, suppose he created some kind of terrible hole in the fabric of time that could practically undo pieces of his existence- or worse, his very existence itself! If Jeff knew too much about the future, he could bring it with him to the past and goodness knows what might happen if one tiny fraction of a moment was changed forever- it only took one lapsed moment to invite death, after all. And Jeff had many, many moments to risk during his adventure, he imagined. If all those moments had changed all over again... ....

But suppose this past version of Jeff... was never going home. Tony wasn't sure which sequence of events would be best, but he had a hunch that returning Jeff to his normal position in time would be the better end of the two. The more he dwelled on the potential outcomes, the scarier this paradox got... He'd better stop and save it for a time when he wouldn't alarm Jeff with his fears. Unfortunately for Tony, he wasn't doing such a stellar job of veiling those worries. His smile had sunken slowly.