Room 317, Friday Afternoon

[multiplez]

When Z reached room 317 very very late Thursday night, she'd changed into her unfortunate PJs (quietly, so as not to wake Luke) and wrapped up in her blanket to sleep for a very very long time. Then she'd woken up, seen snow out her window, and thought for a brief, horrified moment she was still in Alberta. But no, this was her room. This was her stuff, and Luke's stuff. This was...home.

So she got up, got some food from the Synthetron, and got dressed. And then sat down at her computer, trying to figure out what to do next.

((Open! May go to slowplay!))

Comments

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke wandered back into the room, dripping wet, and grinned from ear to ear to see her. "It is soo good to see you," he said.

[multiplez]

"Hey," said Z. "There's snow."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"The white stuff outside, right?" Luke said, grinning harder.

[multiplez]

"I just got away from the snow," Z said mournfully. Then she glanced warily toward the window and asked, "You think it's following me?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so," Luke said, stripping off his wet shirt and reaching for a dry one. "You're not going to leave again if it is, right?"

[multiplez]

Z shrugged. "Got nowhere to go."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke's eyes searched her face. "It didn't stop you before," he said softly. "I was worried."

[multiplez]

"Yeah, I uh...we found something out." Z took a deep breath. Luke had told her about his dad; surely she could tell Luke about this. "Did I tell you about that thing we found last year? About Bridge's parents and mine?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"A little," Luke said, nodding, as he dragged his desk chair closer.

[multiplez]

"They made it sound like there'd been some kind of accident on the project our parents were working on," she reminded him, "and that was why all their kids were turning up with weird powers." She looked down at her hands. "That wasn't what happened. They, uh. They did it on purpose. They wanted...weapons, for when Gruumm came." She looked up at him, her eyes flickering gold for a moment, though she managed to tamp down on that feeling that she was flying apart at the seams before a replicate actually formed. "So that's what I am. I'm a weapon."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke reached a hand towards her. "You're Z," he said softly. "Whatever they intended you to be, who you are matters more."

[multiplez]

"I'm not sure who I am," she told him. "They keep changing it on me."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke remembered that feeling rather acutely. "You'll figure it out," he promised softly, moving closer. "It'll just take some time."

[multiplez]

"I hope so. I have to save the world," she said mournfully, leaning a little toward Luke.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke gave her a hug. "Not until you're ready," he said. "And not necessarily alone."

[multiplez]

Yay, hugs. "I don't think I get a say in when Gruumm shows up," she reminded him, though. "But maybe it won't be for a really long time."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Or at least not this week," Luke said, not letting go until she wanted him to. "You'll have time to get your head wrapped around things."

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Oh, look. There went a dripping wet Time Force officer, wandering past the doorway completely unaware of the fangirl terror who lived within.

[multiplez]

Z blinked at the doorway after Jen had walked past, then surged out of her desk chair and leaned out into the hallway, grabbing at the doorframe. "Hey!"

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Jen stopped at the sound of the shout, and turned around.

And stared.

"Aren't you -- ?"

[multiplez]

"Oh, wow," said Z, who was also staring. "You're you."

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"And you're you," Jen replied, in a conversation that made sense to nobody but them, most likely. "How many of -- you know -- are there around here?"

[multiplez]

Z started counting on her fingers. Andros, Adam, her, Bridge, Jen...that was all, wasn't it? "Five. Plus two who graduated last May. Oh, and that one guy, Xander, Xander Bly, was here for a little while. And Tommy Oliver." Yes, that was a tiny squee. "But one of them doesn't know he's going to be...you know," she added. "And one's still undercover." Yes, she had to be this oblique. There could be squirrels.

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

Tommy Oliver? "No way," Jen said a little breathlessly. With a tiny squee of her own, even. She'd heard the last couple of radio broadcasts, which was enough for her to realize she should be discreet. "You know, considering the number of multiple timelines and . . . the colors in the light spectrum . . . I'm surprised there aren't more."

[multiplez]

"He taught Driver's Ed," Z told her. "Oh, the...er, the red one. With the stripes. He's the one that doesn't know about...you know. So don't tell him. And it's a small school, I guess."

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

'Red one with the stripes' could only be one person, and Jen nodded. "Don't tell him, got it."

Beat.

". . . Tommy Oliver taught Driver's Ed?"

[multiplez]

"He totally did," Z said. "I know."

[time-flyer-5.livejournal.com]

"I still can't believe he ever became a teacher," Jen said, boggling visibly at the thought.

[multiplez]

"He was a pretty good teacher, though," Z said. "Go figure."