Bat’s breath!

The closest you can come to relating what you’re seeing to anything in your past is the old television show Voyagers. You watch as history does the exact opposite of unfold around you starting slowly, then rapidly rewinding like a VHS tape until everything becomes a blur.

When things finally normalize again you’re still in the bathroom of a bar, but not the same one. You’ve thrown up in this bathroom. Someone else is throwing up in this bathroom right now. What’s more you can smell cigarette smoke. It’s been 9 years since it was legal to smoke in a bar in Wisconsin. 12 in Duluth. You can hear what sound like a party going on just a few feet away.

Trying to get your bearings and feeling more intoxicated than the three brews you’ve put down should have made you, you turn to look in the bathroom mirror. Yep, still you. And...Eris?

“Jimmy, just trust me on this. Go along with what’s happening or your entire reality is going to collapse.”

“What the actual fuck?”

“Look, you don’t have much time. If you’re not with her before the ball drops the whole fucking time stream is going to start doing loop-the-loops.”

“First, what in the hell are you talking about? And second why the fuck should I trust you after what you did?”

She heaves a sigh and shakes her head. “Really? There’s no reason you should. But I really do have your best interest at heart here. I’ve slowed things down a bit so we can talk for a minute, but since this has already happened I can’t keep things going slow.”

“What do you mean ‘already happened’?”

“I swear by Nyx that I didn’t know the Multiplier was going to do this.”

“Do what?” You’re starting to get frustrated. “I was just in another bar in the middle of having some fun and suddenly I’m here with you instead. Give me a straight fucking answer.”

“That’s the problem. I’m... not able to. I don’t even think we should be having this conversation because it might change how you act. And since what you have to do has already been done by you then any outside influence could totally fuck up the timeline.”

“There you go again talking about timelines. What does that have to do with...” Things start to fall into place. The smoking. The familiar restroom. This is R. T. Quinlan’s Saloon on Michigan St. in Downtown Duluth. “I’ve fucking time traveled?”

You briefly consider throwing up. Your mind starts whirring along worrying about paradox.

“Yes. And you have to do what you did before or everything goes sideways.”

You take a deep breath. “Ok. When am I.”

“New Year’s Eve, 2000.”

Something is very wrong with that. “I was in Madrid on New Year’s. Stealing a diamond.”

Eris suddenly looks relieved, “So then I really don’t have to worry because whatever you do now you’ve already done, because the you that does things here is the you from the future already. You’re not looped on yourself. That makes this easier.”

“So what the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Well... out there in the bar your mother has just been roofied and is about to get date ****...”

You’re out the door before she finishes speaking.