Accidental Video / Action

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[When the video comes on, it shows the interior of Meyer's office at the casino. Nothing a fair amount of people haven't seen before, and nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until Meyer himself comes into view, looking irritated, and...

Looking decidedly older. He's aged well, but he must be in his late thirties or early forties, and he's not in a good mood.]

I thought I told you to stop running indoors!

[It's not immediately obvious who he's addressing in that quintessentially parental voice, until a child of about seven or so dashes through the frame, practically knocking the network device off of his desk.]

I'm going to count to three...

[Sighing, he stands up from his desk, looks down at the device, realizes it's recording, and rolls his eyes. It's the same eye-roll he's always had, but in an older, sharper, even more guarded face.]

If anyone has any remarkable advice for getting children to stop running, now that they've witnessed this, I'd appreciate it.

[And with that, he switches off the device, and makes his way out of his office, back into the casino.]

Comments

[glamorsongstress]

[As soon as Ruby steps through the door, she finds that she's dodging children.]

Hey! Watch out, will you?

[She has to do a doubletake when she sees Meyer, not recognising him immediately.]

What the hell happened to you?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

What do you mean what the hell happened to me? I'm...

[Time to dodge the small child again, as he comes running back through the casino, trying to get Meyer to look at something or another. Meyer looks down at him and shakes his head.]

Not now, I'm busy.

[And turning his attention back to Ruby...]

I'm wrangling children, apparently.

[glamorsongstress]

I thought everyone who'd come at the weekend had left already. [Because this is the second time in recent days there have been children in the casino, and that's the only answer that makes sense to her.

She crosses the room to him, avoiding the child again as he's about to into her, squinting a little as she regards him, face filled with concern.]

Seriously Meyer, you don't look so good.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

They have.

[He looks at her like she's crazy, shaking his head.]

These ones are mine.

[He gestures to the small, wild little boy, then over to the corner where a slightly older boy sits with a book, then over near the bar, where a tiny toddler girl is perched on a barstool.]

And while I appreciate your concern, you're hardly being flattering about it. I think I look fine, considering.

[glamorsongstress]

Since when? I wasn't gone that long, was I?

[She looks a little hurt that she's been back in the City nearly three weeks and Meyer apparently neglected to tell her that he had children now.]

You don't look fine, you look ... old. Are you sick? I warned you about sleeping enough, and not sleeping in the office.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

For the last ten and a half years...

[He looks just as confused as she is, and there's certainly exhaustion and something like sadness written all over his face, even as he maintains a neutral expression.]

I'm thirty nine, Ruby. How young do you expect me to look?

[glamorsongstress]

Twenty-two. You're... [The pieces seem to fall into place.] You were gone ten years?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

If you expect me to look twenty two, I suppose I've been "gone" seventeen years, but as far as I know, I've been here all along. I saw you just yesterday.

[This is one of those curses where he's got utterly no idea what's going on.]

[glamorsongstress]

Wait, so you've been here all along but you're suddenly two decades older? And you remember everything that happened in that time?

[Yeah, she's just getting more confused here.]

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I...

[It's a good question.]

I remember everything that happened in my life, certainly, in the last few decades...

[And he doesn't look particularly pleased about it.]

Although I'm not sure why you don't remember it. We've been consistently close for the last seventeen years, Ruby, ever since we left the City and...

[Oh, this is just growing more confusing by the moment. It's like he's remembering things that haven't happened yet.]

[glamorsongstress]

[For a second Ruby still looks dumbfounded, but then she turns pale and her face twists into an expression of pure horror.]

Please tell me these aren't my children.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[He looks stupefied for a moment, and then a smile breaks across his face, older and more weary, but a smile she'll recognize all the same.]

Do they look like your children? Of course they're not.

[glamorsongstress]

Oh, thank goodness. [She covers her mouth with her hand when she realises just how relieved she looks, trying to compose herself.] I'm sure you're a swell dad, I just ... I'd be a terrible mother. [Yes, it's that she's protesting about, not the idea that they might be doing the sort of things that make children in the future. On the one hand she found it difficult to imagine him doing that with anyone; on the other he's the only person she feels entirely comfortable around. She hops up onto a bar stool, folding her arms and looking him over.] So you're telling me you and me escaped from this place together? What year is it for you?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I'm sure you'd be just fine at...

[His attention is diverted when the small girl manages to topple off the barstool and begins wailing loudly. Sighing, he walks over to her, inspects her closely, and sets her on her feet again.]

Is anything bleeding? Is it life threatening?

[The little girl shakes her head.]

Then there's no need to cry about it. Go play with your brothers, and let Ruby and me talk.

[Well, he's not exactly the most involved father. It really couldn't have been any other way. He returns his attention to Ruby, joining her at the bar.]

It's 1941. And yes, we did.

[glamorsongstress]

[Her face falls a little.]

1941.

[In all of her hypothetical daydreaming about returning to his time with him, it had never occurred to her that she would have to live through the war again.]

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Yeah.

[He can see the look on her face. He even understands it.]

It's not exactly a pleasant time for any of us. It's been... Trying, to say the least.

[glamorsongstress]

You can say that again. [The worry on her face only grows.] You're okay though, right? I mean, they-- Heck, we're not even in the war yet in 1941, they could still draft you.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

They won't draft anyone as old as me. I'm okay.

[But the dark circles under his eyes indicate otherwise. It's been a rough few years. From somewhere across the casino, there's the sound of two children squabbling. He ignores it.]

[glamorsongstress]

[She takes a long, hard look at him.]

You've got a funny idea of 'okay'.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[He sighs. What does he have to lose by telling her? It's all things she'll know in what she claims is the future anyway -- he's still confused by this curse.]

It's Charlie. He's in prison.

[glamorsongstress]

[She sighs softly, lays a hand on his arm.]

Yeah, I ... I was never sure whether to tell you that or not.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[Of course she knows. This shouldn't be a surprise. He very deliberately avoids eye contact with her, but he doesn't brush her hand aside. He's too tired for all of this. Nothing makes sense anymore.]

They won't let me visit. Because we might be in collusion. Collusion to do what, I don't know.

[He does know, and he's not sure why he plays at innocence, except for the sake of his children, who always seem to be listening and hearing more than they should.]

[glamorsongstress]

[She flushes, feeling deeply ashamed that he's deliberately not looking at her.]

I'm sorry. I should have said something. I just didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to know too much about their own future.

[She can just imagine the potential disaster that would unfold if she told Al about his fate.]

I could visit. I could get messages between you. I don't care what you might be colluding on, I want to help you.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

[He's quiet for a long time. He's begun to work out that this must be a curse of some kind, but he can't quite tell whether it's him or Ruby that's cursed. He remembers the last seventeen years, and he has the children to prove that they've happened, but the City can do odd things, and Ruby had acted like the last time she'd seen him he'd really been twenty two. Maybe none of this is real. Maybe...]

I wouldn't have wanted to know.

[It would have torn him apart, in fact. If it is, indeed, real. If he's real. The City's fucking with his head, and he knows it.]

I don't know if they'd let you visit, either. They'd assume you were just another disreputable girlfriend, no offense intended.

[deadmanbusiness]

[The casino's small child population suddenly ups by two as a pair of very white blonde kids go running past. They're about eight. And they're heading right for the bar.]