"But wouldn't it be nice?"

Marc stood outside the door of his mother's apartment, he shook his hands out like he was trying to will the anxiety out of him, he glanced over at Miriam, who was happily bouncing while holding the basket filled with little trinkets she’d found for Wendy.

She looked over at Marc and beamed at him, moving the basket down a little so she could speak. “I can't wait to meet your mother, I bet she's the most amazing woman ever. Like mine.” Miriam said so surely, if her mother was the best, then everyone else's had to be, right?

Right?

Marc blankly stared at the door for a moment before he turned towards Miriam, pushing a part of her bangs back so it wasn't hanging in front of her eye, exhaling slightly.

“Look, my mom. Well, she did the best she could but she's, uh, she's a little misinformed. I mean you’ve gotta think about it from her perspective, first time meeting her son’s girlfriend and all she’s heard about her is that she can't stay out of court and is apart of underwater royalty.” Marc stared at Miriam, she blinked back at him and then giggled in his face.

“But I don't really think those count as flaws right? I mean that just means I know how to have a fun time, I'll try to not get all 'you're evil because you eat fish’ with her if that helps, honey.” Miriam adjusted her grip on the wicker basket, using her free hand to knock on the door. Marc’s hands shoot up to his temples as he murmurs to himself, shaking his head.

Wendy opened the door, peering through the gap made between the chain still attached, Miriam pressed her face against the gap, causing Wendy to jump back.

“Hi Wendy! I’m Miriam, i’m dating your son! I got you a basket of stuff cause Marc says you like stuff, I wrapped it myself.” She proudly said, showing off the cling filmed basket, a haphazardly tied red bow on the front. Marc dragged his hands down his face and gently moved Miriam away from the door so he could speak to his mother.

“Look I know this on short notice, but Miriam's been dead set on meeting you for a while now. We’ll only be here for a few hours” He murmured to his mother, Wendy looked between Marc and Miriam, who was peeking over his shoulder and waving at her, Wendy nodding slightly in greeting.

“Oh Marc, you know you're always welcome here—”

“Am I?” Marc cut in, a little too brusquely.

“…of course you are, don't be silly, Marc.” Wendy warned slightly, unlatching the locks on the door and pushing it open. “Come inside, Miriam was it? That's a wonderful basket you brought, you can just place it on the coffee table, thank you.”

Miriam smiled brightly at Wendy, cuddling the basket a little. “Ohh, thank you, I don't really know what you like because I’ve never met you before so, hopefully I did a good job.” She walked off, placing the basket on the previously mentioned table and then walking around the apartment.

Wendy stiffened slightly at how brazenly Miriam had made herself at home, side glancing at Marc. “Is she always so…friendly?”

Marc barley looked up from untying his shoes. “Yeah. She is, that's why I love her. She's harmless, ma-” he was cut off by the sounds of Miriam undoing cabinets, he quickly kicked off his shoes and gently led Miriam out of the kitchen.

“Wow! Wendy, your spice rack is so well organised, I just shove mine all into one shelf and sort of guess which ones I use, not that I really cook but sometimes I like to play.” Miriam attempted to walk back into the kitchen to nose around before Marc stopped her, moving her to sit on the couch.

Wendy was stunned, awkwardly running her fingers over the Star of David necklace she was wearing before she smiled tightly. “Well, thank you, i’m not sure how exactly your…kind act around new guests but I'll take that as a compliment. Tea or coffee?”

“Do you have whiskey?” Marc grumbled, already feeling a headache forming.

“What was that, dear?”

“Nothing, ma, nothing. Just a black coffee for me, Miriam, you want anything?” Marc asked, glancing down at Miriam who was discreetly pushing the wicker basket closer to Wendy so she would open it.

Wendy looked between Marc, giving him the eye, before she looked at Miriam, letting out a false chuckle.

“I’ll open that in a minute, Marc? Can I just talk to you in the kitchen for a moment? Alone?”

Marc nodded, giving Miriam a kiss on the back of her head before he walked into the kitchen with Wendy, shutting the wooden divider to block out their conversation. “You can't seriously have a problem with her already, right?”

Wendy filled the stove-top kettle up, placing it on the hob as she glanced at Marc, holding her hands together. “She looked through my cabinets, I barely even know the women! I mean what’s next? She goes through my medicine drawer to see how I organise my medication? And don't you give me attitude, young man, you can't tell me this is normal for a first meeting, Marlene was practically shaking when we first met—”

“Don't say her name. Do not bring her up. Miriam is not Marlene. Don't even try it today, ma. I swear, if you say one thing to her, I swear I'll—” Marc pinned Wendy down with a glare, they both stood there in silence, the kettle slowly starting to hiss into a screech. She took it off the stove and quietly made a coffee.

“You said you wanted it black, right?”

Typical.

“…yes, I did. I mean it, be nice. And open the basket she got you for Christ’s sake.” Marc took the cup from his mother, opening the divider back up and sitting back on the couch.

Miriam looked at Marc and then blew on his coffee for him, taking the first sip. “I think your mother really likes me, I'm nailing this.” Marc nodded slightly at Miriam's words. “Yeah she definitely, uh, likes you.”

Wendy sat down in the arm chair, placing her tea on the coffee table and resting her hands on her lap. “So what do you do for work, Miriam? I did see you on The Morning Show a few weeks back, they cut your appearance quite short..”

Miriam thought for a moment and then nodded, pushing some hair back. “Oh you know, I do a little this, I do a little that. On the tax papers, i’m just a vigilante, but I've done it all. I’m thinking of getting a law degree next, I was gonna apply when I was on house arrest but my parole officer said it’d be better if I waited.” She shrugged, fixing one of her bangles.

Wendy took a sip of her tea to bite back the snarky comment on the tip of her tongue when she noticed her son’s look. “That's wonderful, dear. I’m sure that's quite the, uh, fun life you live.”

“I mean if i’m not having fun; why even do it? That's why I don't cook because it just takes so long, and you're just standing there stirring listening to nothingness.” Miriam quickly backtracked. “But obviously, everyone has a different definition of fun!” She nodded, taking another sip of Marc's coffee and then handed it over to him.

Wendy shot a look at Marc, she really hadn't considered Marc being involved with a hedonist, but she tried to not judge, sipping her tea and then unwrapping the gift basket. “Oh this is wonderful thank you, Miriam. But I am a little confused about…a certain gift.” She held up the photo frame with Miriam's picture already inside it. “Was this an accident?”

“Of course not, Wen-Wen! You don't have any pictures of me here and I want to be a big part of your life, so I gave you one of my favourites, you can put it on the mantel.” Miriam stood and then took the frame from her, placing it next to a small picture of a baby Marc, wearing a sailor outfit. She stopped and then gasped, looking back at Marc with a big smile.

Marc visibly froze up, quickly turning his head to Wendy. “I thought you took down all the baby photos..”

“Oh Marc, it's not that serious, you was a cute baby, your girlfriend seems to agree with me as well.” Wendy rose from her chair, looking at the photo in Miriam's hands. “I used to show that photo off to all the women at Temple, isn't he just the sweetest little thing?”

“Marc I didn't know you was a sailor! That's so impressive to have that skill set as a baby, you must've been so proud, Wendy.” Miriam said as she pressed a few kisses on the frame.

“Oh, no, no sweetheart, it was just the trend back in the day to dress your baby up like a little sailor. To my knowledge, he doesn't have any qualifications. I have more photos if you liked to see.” Wendy offered, Miriam nodded rapidly.

“I never even considered that Marc could’ve been a baby, he's very serious all the time.” Miriam said as she sat back down on the couch, resting her head against Marc's shoulder. He looked like he wanted the world to swallow him whole, meanwhile Wendy was flicking through a photo album she’d found under the coffee table.

“I don't have many of Marc as a baby, it was so expensive to have a camera back in the day, of course now you can just use your phone, but I think a photo album is much more personal. Oh! Here we are, these are the photos the hospital took of him when he was first born.” Wendy placed the album on Miriam's lap, moving to stand by the arm of the couch to look for herself.

“Oh. My. God. Marc, you was so tiny! You had a big head, but you was so small. I’ve never seen a newborn human baby before, are they all this cute?" Miriam asked Wendy, she just shrugged as she traced the photo of Marc.

“Well, my Marc was always very cute. The amount of nurses that stopped by to come see him must’ve been a world record.” Wendy smiled as she flipped to the next page.

“That’s an exaggeration, mom.” Marc crossed his arms as he looked at the page.

“You're going to tell a woman who was living it forty years ago what was an exaggeration? You wasn't even conscious, dear.” Wendy said as she looked at Miriam with a smile. “Does he argue back with you as well?”

“No he usually just lets me do whatever I want and then makes excuses for me.” She nodded as she spoke, taking Marc’s coffee cup and taking another sip. Wendy blinked a few times, nodding slightly. “Alright then.”

“It’s true, she's a menace. Did I tell you about how I had to pay a fine to the aquarium in Boston over her? I mean I'd pay it again four times over but that's not the point. She was carrying the fish one by one, she made it to the shark section before she got escorted out.” Marc took a sip from his coffee, shrugging like that was just a normal occurrence for them.

“Oh that was very dangerous, Miriam, what would your mother have said?” Wendy asked in concern.

“She would’ve told me to bash the security guards’ heads together and then free everyone, actually that's what she said in the letter she sent me a few weeks ago. Word travels slow under water, I don't even think she knows I’ve been on house arrest yet.” Miriam smiled brightly, twirling a curl around her finger.

Silence fell through the room, Wendy pretended she hadn't heard Miriam and flicked to a random page of the photo album. “Well it was very nice of you two to visit but I'll have to start dinner in a moment—”

“I can help! Let me? Please? Please? Please? Pleaseeee?” Miriam begged as she held her hands together. “I won't even burn it! I did that one time because I was mad at Marc but I wouldn't even dream of burning your food.”

Marc coughed when he took a sip from his coffee, biting back a laugh as he closed his eyes to recover.

“Well...alright then, Marc’s never brought home someone so eager to please. It's refreshing, I suppose I won't even need to tell you where the pots are, considering your little snoop earlier?” Wendy stood from the couch, picking up the empty tea cup. Miriam nodded, taking Marc’s coffee from him before he’d even finished. “Yeah! I liked looking through your cabinets, it can tell a lot about a person.” She then continued to chatter Wendy’s ear off as they made their way into the kitchen.

Kalina gave herself two days to finish things and perfect the plan before she confronted Rhys. She waited for late afternoon, when Rhys was generally by themself and writing. Then, she manifested herself, staring at Rhys while they wrote, until finally, they looked up and sucked in a breath. Kalina smiled.

“Hey, kid.”

Rhys snapped their notebook closed and scrambled to their feet. “What—how—?”

She allowed them to fumble in confusion for another few seconds before she said, “I’ve been thinking.”

Rhys closed their mouth.

“I’ve been thinking that you know who I am, but I don’t know who you are. And personally, I think that’s a little unfair.”

“I don’t know who you are,” Rhys said, just slightly too quickly. They had their notebook held tightly, their knuckles white.

“Well, that cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it?” she said, and a faint smile twitched over Rhys’s face. Kalina tilted her head.

Rhys inhaled, and said, “How long have you been watching me, then?”

Kalina’s smile widened. “You can’t expect me to give that one away. All you need to worry about is that it’s been long enough that I know everything I need to.” A bluff, perhaps, but necessary. She switched to Sylvan and said, “And you’re in the wrong time, aren’t you?”

“How did you know that?” Rhys said, eyes wide. “I didn’t—what the fuck, I don’t know this language.”

“Well,” Kalina scoffed, “that’s a bad lie. You’re speaking it.”

“Obviously. I meant—I don’t know how I’m—what the Hell? What is this?”

Their confusion seemed genuine, their hands shaky. Kalina lost her smile. “Sylvan.”

“Oh.” A pause. “That… makes sense.” They shook their head as if to discard the thought, and then pointed at Kalina. “How did you know I’m early? I didn’t write that down.”

Early?

…Maybe they had misspoken. Kalina kept her composure. She idly, briefly went over the points she had — their language, their disconnect… their knowledge on Kalina herself. Halfway through, Rhys lifted a hand over their mouth and began to laugh, quietly. Kalina halted.

“Sorry,” Rhys said, laughter petering out. “You’re just, uh, further off than I thought.”

Kalina paused, for a moment, and reconsidered. Early. She clicked her tongue and returned to speaking Middle Solcom. “Of course. My bad, right? You’re from the future.” She glanced back at their expression and smiled. “Closer. Alright. Look, I can keep guessing, or you can just tell me.”

“Why would I—” Rhys cut themselves off, and then slowly frowned. “You’re speaking… what did she call it…”

“Middle Solesian Common.”

“Right. Not Modern. How do you…?”

Amused, Kalina said, “how old do you think I am?”

Rhys hesitated, and then glanced up and started counting something on their fingers. Kalina laughed once and stopped them. “It doesn’t matter. Kid, do you know what’s happening here?” A flicker of hesitation, of Rhys avoiding her gaze, and Kalina continued. “Well, let’s simplify it, then. Why are you taking all of those notes?”

They ran their hand down the spine of their notebook, almost unconsciously. Then, quietly, they said, “I can’t forget anything.”

“But you know things that haven’t happened yet.” Riz finding the photo of her. A puppet named Baron. “So I know that’s not the full story.” She softened her voice. “Rhys, I want to help you out, here. You seem like a good kid. We can work something out to help both of us.”

Rhys’s expression had fallen into an almost annoyed look, their eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. “And what do you want?”

“Come on, you already know I’m working with the Nightmare King. I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out what I want.”

“Let me rephrase,” Rhys said. “Why would I help you? I don’t want the Nightmare King to return.”

“Everyone has something they want,” Kalina said. “And the Nightmare King can help you. If I were to take another stab at guessing how you know what you know, let’s see, you’re from another timeline? Another world, maybe?”

The irritation in their face vanished, a short breath inhaled. Then their mask reappeared, though now the cracks were more visible. Kalina’s eyes narrowed into slits. Got you.

She took a step forward. “A whole other world? Wouldn’t you want to go back home?”

And with that last word, Rhys’s entire expression shuttered closed. They scowled and turned away, adjusted their glasses and put their notebook into their bag. Kalina realized that she had made a mistake, and this was the end of the conversation. There was no more useful information to glean from Rhys until they were open again, so she needed to back off. If she pushed too hard, they would cease being useful, and Kalina would have to figure out how to eliminate them in… other ways.

“Rhys,” she said, and Rhys halted and looked at her.

“I don’t want to go back,” they said. They had gone a little pale. “I made my choice a long time ago.”

“Okay,” Kalina said. She watched them continue to pack their things, though she wasn’t sure where they planned to go. “You know, I really do want to help you.”

“You want to trick me into giving you more information,” they said in a monotone voice. “I’m a little tired of… of everything. Can you just, just, stop?”

“Okay. I know you don’t believe me right now. I’m gonna give you some time to think about what I said. About what side you want to be on. Alright?”

Rhys covered their face with their hands. By the time they could see again, Kalina was gone.