Mission Incompleted?

A Lesson in Time & Relationships

We walked to the bar and saw Reginald staring.

R: "why is the girl here? I specifically asked for you alone."

F: "she insisted."

Y: "listen, you owe me. I saved your ass one to many times in the past week and five days alone. Not to mention on our mission. We are sticking together partner."

F: "what she said."

R: "well regardless you two seem to be the sensible ones of the bunch."

F: "we are the oldest after all. Technically we're older than you right now."

R: "cognac?"

F: "just a smidge."

Y: "ooooh me too!"

F: "you've already had too much."

Y: "whatt I've only had like...half the bottle of vodka..ok I see your point pretty boy."

R: "the other night you quoted Homer at me. Why?"

F: "you forced us to learn it as kids. In the original Greek no less."

The two of them raised their glass and seemed to do some weird tip thing before taking a drink.

F: "mhm, this world ends if we don't get out of the timeline."

R: "worlds end. Paleozoic, Jurassic, an so on."

F: "we can do something about this one."

R: "man's greatest flaw: the illusion of control."

F: "I need your help. Alright you're my last sane option. Otherwise me and her gotta make a deal that I really don't want to have us make, much less get her involved. What do you know about time travel?"

R: "in theory?"

F: "in practice."

R: "I know it's akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters andreappering-"

F: "as an acorn, yeah."

R: "what transpired when you tried traveling before?"

F: "I botched it."

R: "how?"

F: "I jumped too far forward. Got stuck in the future for 45 years in an apocalypse. Then I jumped too far backwards..except this time I brought my entire family with me."

R: "maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities. Start small. Seconds, not decades."

F: "seconds... Look no offense but I need more time time for what I'm trying to accomplish."

R: "so much can change in a matter of seconds. One could overthrow an empire. [He glanced at me] one could fall in love. An acorn doesn't become an oak overnight."

F: "I was really hoping you had more than that."

R: "I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

F: "I'm sorry too. I gave you such a hard time as a kid. I didn't know any better."

R: "no skin off my teeth old man." they finish their drinks. Reginald gets up to leave but I need to have a word with him.

Y: "five I need a minute with him, can you wait?"

F: "fine."

Y: "hey Reginald!"

R: "what troubles you?"

Y: "a word?"

R: "I see no reason not too."

Y: "listen, as much as this family is full of assholes, and trust me they are assholes. I've almost been killed by two of them and outcasted by the others. They...care."