2007-08-22: Out of Town, Out of Time

Starring:

Cass_icon.gif Niki_icon.gif

Summary: Niki makes an overdue phone call wondering where a certain person disappeared to. She calls the right person for answers.

Date It Happened: August 22nd, 2007

Out of Town, Out of Time


Enlightenment Books and Niki's Place

In the residence in Queens that Niki shares with Micah and Monica, and used to share with D.L., Niki paces around the living room with a cordless phone in her hand. The bustling sounds of activity — clamoring of dishes, shuffling — can be heard from the kitchen, along with voices, casual and laughing. She taps her thumb against the side of the phone a few times before dialing a number and putting it to her ear.

PHONE: The other end answers, "Hello?"

PHONE: Niki says, "Hi, Cass?"

PHONE: Cass pauses before she answers. Not because there's an trepidation in her voice, but because she's balancing the phone and a stack of books. "Hi—" It's too much for her to handle and both the phone and the books go crashing to the floor. Then, there's scrambling and the phone is picked up again. "Hi! Okay. Sorry. Yes. Hi."

PHONE: Niki says, "Hey. This's kinda out of nowhere, but—" She pauses, listening closer. The lack of more crashing sounds is a good sign, but with a touch of concern (not too serious, at this point), she interrupts herself by asking, "… are you alright?""

PHONE: Cass's pause this time has nothing to do with crashing books. Now it's just confusion. As she picks up her books, she talks. "I'm…as far as I know. Yeah." Another pause and then she asks her own question. "Why? Am I not supposed to be?"

PHONE: Niki says, "No, of course you are." There's a good-natured laugh from the other end. "You just sounded like… I heard things falling." The sounds of Cass being Cass. Adopting a more serious tone, she says, "Listen, have you… um… have you heard anything from Peter, lately? It's been a few weeks and…"

PHONE: Cass says, "Oh! Okay. Because so many things keep coming up, I'm starting to think everyone is just wondering how I'm going to hurt myself next." The confusion is gone and she's back to being good-natured, the smile almost audible. Until she pauses again. Serious again. "I…actually, no. I haven't. I think he, uh, went out of town."

PHONE: Niki's turn to be confused. "Out of… town? He said— " Cutting herself off, there's a transient pause before she adds, "He just kind of disappeared."

PHONE: Cass frowns and takes a poignant pause as she tries to explain what happened to Peter to Niki. "Yeah." Sighing. "He's…one second, okay?" Picking up her books, she walks a little while and then shuts a door. Now she's alone and can talk properly. "You know how Peter has a lot of different abilities? That he picks up from other people?"

PHONE: Niki slowly urges Cass on, "… Yeah, sure. Uh hunh?" This has to do with his disappearance how? Similar sounds can be heard, just barely, from her end; footsteps, the closing of a door as she gets some privacy in her bedroom.

PHONE: Cass sighs. This may sound a little less insane to Niki, but it's still hard to just come out and say. "Well, one of those was time travel." Was that too hard? Yes. Maybe. "He went to the future. To try and fix it."

PHONE: Niki is, as could be expected, quiet for a few seconds. Whatever she was anticipating hearing from Cass, that wasn't an outcome she thought of. "He went… to the future." She sounds unintentionally skeptical. A little less insane to Niki? Not exactly! But a few seconds later, she sighs, processing. "Um. O-okay. The future. That's… great. Do you know when he'll be back?" Like he's just out-of-state and dropped off a travel itinerary before he left.

PHONE: Cass knows that it sounds crazy. It's why she winced as she said it. "Yeah. I know. It's insane." The woman sighs. "But…he had a good reason to." She swears he did. "I…no. I didn't even know if he was actually going to do it until he didn't show up to work for a few days. If something bad had happened, we would know by now. But…it's, yeah, it's like he just vanished. So."

PHONE: Niki says, "I hope he doesn't get stuck there. That could happen, right?…" Suddenly, she can't help but chuckle incredulously. "If Micah knew I have time-travelling friend…"

PHONE: Cass says, "I hope not." The implication is there, though. "He didn't go alone. There's someone else there that's…more practiced at it." Laughing, at the last statement, she shakes her head, even if it can't be seen. "I'm sure it's actually boring. Same old stuff, just different point in time." Not that she actually believes that for a moment."

PHONE: Niki says, "Yeah. Except, those paintings. Everything goes to hell, right? Tornado in Times Square?"

PHONE: Cass says, "Except for those paintings." Which she has her own vested interest in stopping. "Yeah. Tornado in Times Square. So, I'm sure he's not so much bored as…I don't know. Possibly mentally scarred."

PHONE: Niki says, "… Sounds like fun. Uhm." This is all just too weird. In the silence that follows, she's holding her head. "Okay, well thanks, Cass. I had a feeling you'd know what was going on."

PHONE: Cass can't blame Niki for finding this whole thing weird. It is. If she hadn't have talked to Peter before he went off, she's pretty sure she'd be taking it a lot like Niki is. "Yeaaaaah. I'm not so sure about fun. But…something." Awkward conversation? Why yes. Yes this is. "You're welcome, Niki. You've been okay?"

PHONE: Cass doesn't quite believe Niki's reassuring answer, but she also doesn't have enough time to call her on it. "Alright. Take care, Niki. We should…meet up sometime. It's been awhile." Then, quickly, "Right. Call. I'll talk to you soon."

PHONE: Niki says, "Deal. Bye, Cass."

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