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Gabriel was reading pivotal scene taking place on Monet's Berm in Call My By Your Name on the sidewalk outside a cafe when a figure took the seat in from of him. He took a drag from his spliff, finishing his paragraph, "You're twelve minutes late. Elio and Oliver already kissed."
"We came up with a plan," he heard his own voice say, but it wasn't entirely him. His eyes were still blue, his jawline could still cut glass but his hair ... and the amount of timidness in his posture.
"What year did you tell her you were from?" He asked, closing the book shut.
"2019," he heard.
"Fuck," he drew out, looking at the 2019 version of himself. "Does she think that's our current self?"
2019 nodded, running his hands through his hair.
Gabriel shook his head, taking another drag, "What's this plan?
"2014 suggested playing the game in real time — you play the game," 2019 explained. "Since we can use abilities, we can manipulate time to find her faster."
"Okay but time is manipulated from reality into the game already. The amount of trial and errors I'd have to do — "
"You have all the time in the world." 2019 interrupted.
"I'll think about it," Gabriel stood up, flicking his spliff out into the street.
2019 grabbed his arm, "Don't think, just do it or — "
"Or you'll what?" Gabriel shoved his arm off of him. "You can't go where you haven't been before, you still can't Jump without darkness so spare me the idle threats to your future self because it in no way makes sense."
2019's eyes widened, "You learned how to — "
"Yeah, you figure it out," Gabriel rolled his eyes, grabbing his book from the table, clenching his fists. "See you around ... but probably not"
Not even within the blink of an eye he went from the sidewalk next to a cafe to looking at his apartment door, hearing a knock on the other side. He tossed his book on the coffee table before unlocking the door. "Hello — oh, shit."
Her hair was white and she was barely five foot, very short for her age. "Hey, you're Gabe right?"
He nodded slowly, remembering her face from all of Star's Instagram posts and photos in her camera roll. "Yeah, um, you must be Val."
"I have something for you, Leo?" She looked into the hallway of the building where Gabriel heard wheels make their way closer toward him. The man was rolling a gurney into the apartment. He could see the shape of a body lying underneath a white sheet. There was a silver briefcase on the side of the slim person's stomach, an IV linked to their arm.
"Hey, how ya'doin'?" He said shortly. Gabriel assumed he was of Middle Eastern descent but right as he pulled the white sheet off the person's face, he didn't care about anything else.
