Riddle 030: Half-Life (50% Droning)

[puzzlerprince]

[A - ACTION: The Kitchen of 726 Anderson Lane.Eddie's in the middle of preparing a nice, hearty breakfast for his family. Question: How best to spend this Fourth of July? Take his beautiful wife and kids out for a picnic in John Doe Park? Maybe see if Jonathan and his family want to come along? Honestly? It's days like this that it feels pretty

Comments

C - 100% Droning

[thinkwportals]

[ Chell's walking with an unusual bounce in her step, dressed in bright oranges and just playing the part of the good wife and mother.

She bumps into Eddie on her way home from shopping, just in time to hear his riddle. ]

Afternoon, Eddie!

[ There's something very, very odd about the way she speaks, and that's not even counting the fact that she's speaking at all. It's a voice that doesn't seem to belong to her, and isn't quite able to keep up with the movement of her lips. ]

Thinking in riddles again, are we? [ For as long as she's know him, that's how it's been. And she's always been pretty good at figuring them out. It all makes perfect sense: her life here, these riddles. ] It's home, right?

[puzzlerprince]

[I's... the first time Edward's ever heard Chell speak.

No, it isn't. They've been friends since high school, you could never get her to shut up about anything, Ed---]

Wh-what did you just say...?

[thinkwportals]

[ She laughs as though nothing's wrong, and it's a tittering, almost eerie sound. ]

What's wrong Eddie, beeswax building up in your ears?

[ Always the jokes with this one. ]

I answered your riddle, mister. Home.

[puzzlerprince]

That's... right. Right as always.

[Just like this town. It's right as always, isn't it?]

[C-Action] [@75%Droning] Screw you LJ.

[notasidedick]

Nashton! [He's running up towards the other. He usually calls everyone by their first name, but this is different. Edward was his upperclassman. Someone he looked up to and respected wholeheartedly. But that isn't right is it...]

Nashton you aren't looking too good. [This conversation doesn't feel right.]

[puzzlerprince]

[Eddie whips around, caught off-guard. Someone else knows his name. And more importantly, Edward knows this voice. This is the man who dared to think he could replace Bruce. But instead of letting loose some snarky comment about the former Boy Wonder, he instead finds himself replying:]

I've felt better, Grayson.

[notasidedick]

Really? [He laughs nervously.] I guess I could say the same thing.

[It's like a flash. He almost didn't realize it, but he remembers just briefly a dark city. A man in green. They look like Edward...but Edward was his upperclassmen.] What's on your mind?

[puzzlerprince]

Too many... too many things, Grayson. Too many questions.

[Yes, questions. His life had always been dictated by questions. Questions that needed answers.]

"Never ahead, ever behind,
Yet flying swiftly past;
For a child I last forever,
For adults I'm gone too fast."

Question... what is it?

A and 75%

[tapshoetomove]

[Luke wakes up and makes his way towards the kitchen for his usual routine of breakfast and the early morning crossword puzzle (strangely enough, solving crossword puzzles these days was a breeze for him, almost like he's solved them before or something).

But ever since he woke up there's something on his mind, strange dreams of London, a man in a top hat, people he thinks he should know but doesn't. Heck, he's never even been to London before, so he can't figure out the reason behind the dreams and why it feels so vivid to him.

He slides into the nearest chair, yawning and looking drowsy.]

Morning, papa.

[puzzlerprince]

[Papa?! The tiny little voice instantly snags Edward's attention. Who else should it be but Luke? Already preparing himself for the early morning crossword, a prodigy and a genius-in-the-making, just like his old man.]

Morning, son. [Immediately, his mouth snaps shut. The word had slipped out before he could really stop himself. Luke isn't really his son. He can't be. Yet he still remembers teaching the boy how to play chess. The day he'd passed down the book of riddles that he'd received when he was Luke's age. These memories feel so vivid. What the hell is going on here?]

[tapshoetomove]

[If there's any kind of odd reaction from Edward, Luke doesn't notice. Today felt just like any other normal day in Mayfield except for the strange dreams and the occasional memories and with it being Independence Day he imagined he and the rest of his family would be spending time together. Lighting off fireworks, playing baseball with Slugger, the sort of things you'd expect a young boy to do on a hot summer day.

He looks through the daily crossword and solves the first two easily. And then he gets to the third one and can't bring himself to concentrate long enough to solve it. A brief memory of time machine in a clock shop flashes through his mind.

It's getting kind of uncomfortable, so he decides to distract himself by talking. Since Luke's obviously been born and raised as an American, he wouldn't have that silly British accent that he keeps thinking he should have.]

Oh um, papa, can we light off some fireworks today?

[puzzlerprince]

Perhaps later, Luke.

[When his mind isn't on the verge of tearing itself in two. Likewise looking for something to distract himself with, he returns to preparing breakfast.]

How many pancakes did you want to start off with?

Phone & 50%

[uranophobe]

So, this is one of those strange "events" everyone kept mentioning?

[He seems remarkably calm, considering the situation. But, really, he's already got the "stark raving mad" thing already.]

[puzzlerprince]

[Glad to see you're adjusting so well, Jonny-boy.]

It looks that way. [He thinks?] Can you... Do you remember anything unusual, Jonathan?

[uranophobe]

It's almost as if there are two separate realities in my mind, but it can't seem to decide which one is real-- But, that's just silly, isn't it, Nashton?

[He pauses. You best believe he's taking notes on this.] We never knew each other as children. We most likely grew up in entirely different areas of the country. [The inflections on the end of the sentences make them seem more like questions than statements, ones he's most likely asking himself.]

[puzzlerprince]

Yet... we did know each other as children, didn't we? We've been best friends since grade school. [His tone is matching Crane's right now.]

We pulled countless pranks on the other students nonstop. Always sat together at the lunch table. Remember Senior Prom? I had to leave Pam behind because Lex had stolen your class ring. [You're welcome for backing you up that night, by the way.]

C - 75%

[demonoaths]

[Mao's dealing with the same problem as well. He knows he's been here all his life, right? So why does he see things that aren't there?

As if by accident, he stumbles again and staggers to his feet, ignoring the aching wounds and focusing on the one that killed his dad and puts his hands to his head.]

What...?

[puzzlerprince]

[Edward's brought out of his mantra when he notices the young man's suffering. Marching over to him, a desperate look in his eyes.]

You're remembering things as well, aren't you?

[demonoaths]

[He recognizes that voice. Momentarily, the memory is forgotten in favor of him pointing at the poor guy.]

You're the ethics teacher at the local high school, aren't you?!

[A small part of him, the one that's trying to remember, wonders just how he knows this. Or perhaps he's heard him telling riddles over the phones--rather easy ones, really, which is an insult to his 1.8 million IQ. And again he wonders where that one came from.

Aloud, he says...]

1.8 million?

[puzzlerprince]

1.8 million... EQ. Not IQ. EQ. That was what you had said before, wasn't it?

What else do you remember?