Reconnected with mundanity

"That's a good question… Not really sure how much I should tell you but I might have to disappear for a few days again," John started, his tone immediately somber. As much as he was concerned about the expedition, it also held some level of excitement to it.

"Should? John, you should tell me everything. I understand that you might not be able to, though, " Alice said, more softly than John expected.

"Can, then. What I will say is that in two days I will have to be gone for I'm not sure yet how long. I only learned about this today, as well," John rubbed the back of his neck, even with her just on the other side of the phone it still felt wrong.

"Fine, then you're coming here today, and tomorrow. And I'm not going to take a no for an answer," Alice demanded.

"Clearly I have **** then, who would I be to refuse to spend time with you," John laughed in response, and the sound of Alice chuckling came through his phone.

“Alright then, I’ll see you back at my house. But I’d like to know where exactly you’re even going?” Alice was once again serious.

“Let’s just say it’s not somewhere anyone has been before… It’s not like I’ll disappear, I might be able to get in contact with you sometimes but I’ll be pretty busy with,” the Gamer paused for a moment, he knew he might be fighting for his survival but telling Alice that would only make her worry further, “with some research work there. But I’ll be safe and sound, and I’ll come back to you. I promise you my safety is the last thing you have to worry about,” he said, trying to sound confident and comforting.

“If I believed you this would be a lot easier. On that, however, I refuse,” Alice commented.

“I wish you did, but I can’t stop you from feeling that way. The only way I could would be to risk you further, but maybe it will help if I at least tell you what I can,” John thought for a moment after speaking. There wasn’t much he could say, but it was definitely more than the information she already had, “maybe over dinner sometime? And how have you been, irregardless of me?” John asked, hoping to switch the subject as well.

“Tomorrow then, we’re going on a real date again,” Alice stated, her tone clearly excited again, “and I’ve been fine, school is as mundane as ever.”

“Sure, tomorrow sounds good,” John smiled to himself, knowing Alice couldn’t see him.

It didn’t take John long to get back to Springfield, once again crossing the same portal he had several times before. His mind racing as he was once again walking the mundane streets, he was reminded of a skill he had forgotten.

’Ingress! I can use that to make the trip back to the first Plane a lot quicker,’ the Gamer was surprised he hadn’t thought of it before, but now it seemed entirely obvious, ’I’ll at least try it later tonight,’ he decided.

Ten minutes later he finally reached the residential area of Springfield. A crossroads stood before him, with no one around. Suburban streets ran to the right and left and the setting sun lit the trees, fences and houses with an orange glow. It reminded John of the times before he had gone into this insane world of the Abyss, where his everyday life included fighting for his own survival and being responsible for the protection of others.

’Isn’t that strange, how I already forgot what normality feels like?’ John chuckled out loud and made a decision to turn right, away from Alice’s house. He had made up his mind to go back home for the first time in almost a week. The house came into view only a moment later, still the same building as it always had been. But the Gamer had almost expected it to change, ’everything else has…’

Knocking on the door, the sounds of rustling kitchenware and speech could be heard from inside. Clearly his parents had already gotten back. The door opened with a quick movement and from behind it appeared his father.

“John! We were so worried about you! If we hadn’t heard from Alice you’ve been visiting her we would have come looking for you already,” he greeted John scoldingly.

“Sorry, I’ve just been busy with school and all, barely made it to visit Alice…” for the first time in days, John felt flustered.

“Make some time then, you can’t have us worry about you if you should be working hard in college,” Benjamin said, his tone now much more positive. He also moved to let John into the house.

When the Gamer entered he saw what he had expected, Brenda was cooking in the same old kitchen, just as usual.

"JOHN! I'm furious with you, but also very happy you're here," Brenda shouted across the room, her tone excited but not angry.

“I’m glad to see you too, mom…” John said, walking further into the house.

“Clearly, just make sure you stay for dinner, I’m making some right now!” she walked out of the kitchen to hug him lovingly. John hugged her back for a minute before quickly rushing up the stairs.

“Fine, I’m going to my room now! Need to look at and grab some stuff. I’ll come back down for dinner, promise,” he said, preempting a response. The wooden stairs felt the same again his feet as he ran, and a few moments later his door was closed behind him. Vague voices could be heard from downstairs, but John was more interested in the room around him.

It had been far too long since he’d been there, and he now missed his old room. Everything about it was filled with a sense of mundanity, from his bed and computer to the few plushies and figurines hidden on top of his wardrobe. Thinking about them, it was now obvious what he needed to do.

*’Now that I know the HQ is my new home, I guess decorating my room with some of these is appropriate,” he thought to himself, looking over some of his favorites. Immediately grabbed were the Cyndaquill plushie and a few figurines. Among them some of his favorite video game characters, Samus, Zelda, Link, Solid Snake and Cloud. Checking his phone as well he saw a notification from the Abyssal Auction. It asked him to approve a transaction into his account. Once he did, he saw a popup appear before him.

50,000$ have been added to your account from COUNCIL ACCOUNT

’Jesus… So Ingrid was serious. What the hell do I do with that much money?’ John was completely out of his element, ’there’s one thing I can think of though. A laptop, one is going to be extremely useful anyways with having to be mobile all the time… I wonder if the Council even uses those, or if there’s some Abyssal equivalent,’ the Gamer decided to look into that on the Auction sometime soon. The stuff he took already safely stowed in his inventory, John heard more shouting from downstairs and took that as a sign he should go there.

At first it was just the same as any normal dinner, but they ate mostly in silence. John saw both his parents try to speak up, but they both swallowed their words, maybe unsure how to start.

“I know I haven’t kept in touch enough, but I’ve been ok. School is going alright, but it’s definitely a lot of work,” John said instead, hoping to assuage his parents fears if possible.

“And it’s great that you’re working that hard! But don’t let that make you think you can neglect letting us know you’re ok,” Brenda responded, her tone kind, and his father nodded in agreement, “now tell me, have you made any friends there?”

“Yeah… A few, but I can’t really stay for too long, I promised Alice I’d get over there as soon as I could,” he said, his mouth stuffed with food as he tried to hurry.

“Fine, but you’re not going to avoid that question next time we talk, young man! And don’t talk with your mouth full,” she laughed.

“Ok, I won’t,” John swallowed then responded, a smile across his face.

He was standing before Alice’s house about thirty minutes later, and knocked on the door. It didn’t take long before it was opened by Alice herself, she was by now wearing a grey two piece pyjama with a colorful print John didn’t recognize.

“Took you long enough!” Alice said before rushing to kiss him, just as she did the last time they met. For a few long moments they just kissed each other passionately, without any other concerns. There was no reason for them to stop, but eventually they did anyway, as John tried to enter the house. Only about a minute later John found himself once again in Alice's room, having passed through Hanna's gaze as they went up the stairs.

“So what did you want to tell me?” Alice asked, sliding onto the bed as usual.

“Well, like I said I’m going to be gone for sometime, to somewhere even more rural than where I'm usually at, and I won't be able to get back at all…” he paused for a minute and thought of what to say next, “it’ll be three days but I should still be able to get in touch with you. Not sure I’ll have the time, but you knowing I’m ok matters a lot to me, and I wouldn’t be going if I didn’t have to,” John shifted around nervously, not sure how to settle Alice’s possible worry.

"I hate that you can barely tell me anything, there are so many questions I want to ask, that I need to ask… If you weren't who you are I'm not sure I could have dealt with it, and I'm still not sure now. But if it's something you have to do then that's what it is. Nothing I say will change that," Alice responded, her voice stable but more somber than he expected. Her gaze was locked into John’s eyes, "that doesn't mean I'm ok with that being the case though. One of us should be able to change this," she continued more confidently.

"Yeah, and hopefully soon," silence settled over the room for a while after he spoke.

"No use dwelling on it, you came so we could see each other, so let's do that," she spoke up again.

"How about we keep watching that show then? I need something a little mundane to connect to,"

"Mundane…" Alice seemed a bit dumbfounded, but spoke anyways, "sure, let's do that."

“Did they really call sending messages back to the past Delorean-Mail?” John laughed. In the three more episodes they watched the show had further delved into its characters and the mechanics of the time travel presented in it.

Alice chuckled in response, “yeah, they did. It gives it exactly the right sense of levity, don’t you think?” she looked at him, almost expectantly.

“Absolutely, though it’s almost strange how much I can relate to that…” John trailed off, “it doesn’t matter though, I’m glad you introduced me to this show.”

“I’m happy as well then, I thought it might be fitting,” both of them went silent for a second before Alice continued, “so what do you think is gonna happen next?”

“Well, they pretty much understand the mechanics of time travel now, so they’re probably gonna experiment with it-”

“I meant… with us,” Alice cut him off, “where do we go from here, together?”

“There’s one thing I need to tell you Alice,” he paused for a moment, unsure how to phrase the words that came to his mind, “your father, he was involved with what I am. I want to understand how, and why, and I think your mother has information on what actually happened to him,” Alice’s surprise was obvious on her face, and she took a big long breath.