Clockwork, Steam, and Flux Capacitors

Where’s your happy place?

I assume you mean the mental construct, as opposed to a physical location. For me, it’s always been my old family mansion. I actually didn’t like the place all that much while I was living there – living alone in a large house made me feel like I didn’t quite belong in there – but now that I’m stuck here in Chicago, I miss it a little. I always picture it back in its heyday – furniture all brand new, a fire crackling in the fireplace, everything spic and span. And, unlike the real version, I have company – I generally picture at least Marty staying in the house with me. A lot of my other friends make it in too. And my old dog Copernicus, of course. It – it honestly helps a little. Just having some other place in my head where everything’s calm, quiet, and happy gives me the strength I need to deal with the worst of Chicago.

Do you have a pet?

Not here, but I did back home. A little mutt named Copernicus. Don’t know what breed he was exactly, I picked him up from the pound. He was a fluffy dog, prone to shedding. He was named after Nicholas Copernicus, the first European astronomer to formulate and publish the theory that our solar system was heliocentric – that is, that the Earth and other planets revolved around the sun, instead of the sun and other planets revolving around the Earth. Copernicus’s work was a key part in starting the Scientific Revolution and advancing the knowledge of astronomy. I’ve always named my pets after famous scientists, and when I got my puppy I was rather interested in studying the stars, so. . . . He was a good dog – loved to chew on everything, though. Smart as his namesake too. I’d taught him quite a number of tricks before –

I left him at home the night I left. I expected to be back in just a few hours. . . . (Damn it, why do half of these prompts have to remind me of everything I left behind?!)

Posting two today -- I've got a bunch of these clogging up my computer and I figured I ought to start sharing them.

( JustPrompts: Dance In The Rain )

( JustPrompts: Breathe )

“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.” – Sarah (The Crow)

Even after seven months, there was still an ache deep in his heart. It had lessened with the passage of time, but it was still there. Still occasionally hitting him late at night, when there was no one and nothing else around to distract him. Marty’s gone.

Doc doubted it would ever fully go away. So many little things reminded him of the teen. Huey Lewis coming on the radio. A kid playing guitar on a street corner. Somebody saying the name as he passed by. And now, with this mysterious, impossible scrapbook here. . . . Much as he liked having something solid to remind him of the kid, rather than just memories, he couldn’t deny the gift had made the ache that much worse all during Christmas.

But in the end, Doc wasn’t sure he wanted the ache to go away. Because if it ever did go away – it would mean he’d forgotten Marty. Forgotten the kid who had become his best friend.

Forgotten the person who’d saved him.

So he let his heart ache a little. Because he wasn’t going to let those memories die. Because he wasn’t going to stop caring about – wasn’t going to stop loving – Marty, even with an entire reality between them.

Ten Thank You Notes

( Thank You All )

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

What do you look for in a friend?

Most of my friends were random encounters or family members. I don’t think I’ve ever actively gone looking. Nevertheless, most of them do have some things in common.

Loyalty: This is a big one for me. I’d be willing to do just about anything for the ones I care about, but I’d like to know they’d do roughly the same for me. Staying loyal to someone is important. I’d never sell out a friend. Ever.

A Good Sense of Humor: No, I’m not one of those dry, emotionless scientists. I love inventing, and I love to have a good time. My friends tend to be the kind of people I can joke around with. And I can tell some terrible jokes, so being able to put up with those is a must.

Shared Interests: The obvious one is a shared interest in science, especially physics and inventing, but that’s not always the case. Two of my closest friends back home shared different things with me. Holly was more interested in trying to study magic than science, but she and I enjoyed the same type of books. And Marty and I both shared an interest in music. If I can talk to you about something that interests me, friendship is very possible. (Addendum: It doesn’t have to initially BE something that interested me. Get me intrigued about part of your life, and things should work out fine. That was the way it was for Holly and me – her focus on magic led to many fascinating arguments and experiments.)

A Shoulder to Cry On: This goes both ways. I’m usually the one comforting others – if you need someone to hold onto, I’ll be there for you. But I like having someone I can pour my heart out to if needed too. That was mostly Emily’s role when I was a kid, and Gladys’s role here in Chicago. Marty I usually protected, but considering he helped me get some of my life back. . . . Be there for me, let me be there for you, and we’ll be fine.

Ten things you do to comfort yourself or others.

1. I give out hugs. I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly tactile person, but I suppose I am. I just feel compelled to try to comfort with touch. It’s like Gladys and her cookies, in a way.
2. I invent. Yes, odd thing to do to comfort yourself, but it works for me. There’s just something about losing yourself in a project that makes things better.
3. I read a favorite book. Jules Verne always manages to cheer me up. I’m glad I managed to find a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea here.
4. I tell jokes. I’m probably not very good at it – most of my efforts elicted groans from Holly – but it always seemed to cheer Emily up. It’s hard to feel bad when you’re laughing.
5. I – does listening count? I would say it does, Marty always said he felt better after he talked (more like monologued) to me about his problems and life. Listening to someone is more powerful than some people realize.
6. I nap. Might be a little strange to some people, but some days there’s not much you can do except curl up on your bed and hope your dreams are better than reality. (Which wasn’t/isn’t often in my case.
7. I played with my dog. Pets never allow you to stay sad for long. A good game of fetch with Copernicus tended to cheer me right up. Great Scott, I miss having a dog. . . .
8. I give presents, primarily homemade ones. This was mostly a technique for Emily and Holly – I’d feel bad for them and try to make something to cheer them up. I also sometimes made things for Marty back in Arcadia. And lately now I’ve been passing out cookies to my friends, a la Gladys. . . .
9. I played an instrument. Nothing like a saxophone for belting out the blues, in my opinion. Though I haven’t had the chance to play in years now. I’ve probably lost what talent I had. Rather depressing, honestly – I would have liked to jam with Marty at some point.
10. I watch TV. Like a good book, a good TV show provides you with something to escape the real world for a while. Hell, even a bad one provides a distraction. (Farley could back me up on this.)

Passion

Doc sits in his room, hunched over his desk, a pile of parts to his left, a sheaf of drawing paper to his right. Anyone who took a better look at the drawings would see that they’re blueprints of the flux capacitor, meticulously worked out with dozens of notations that probably only the author would understand. Doc’s got a rectangular casing in front of him, and he’s starting to build the actual capacitor itself. He’s working steadily, carefully, picking pieces out of his pile, then consulting his drawings before attaching them to the main structure. Such care belies his mad-scientist looks, but this is important. This is his vision, his dream, his life’s work. He is not going to mess this up. No matter how long it takes.

This is his passion. This – this is what he lives for.

Which is more true for you: Blood is thicker than water or My friends are the family I choose?

The latter. Without a doubt. That’s not to say that I didn’t love my family. My mother and my sister were important parts of my life. (My father – well, he was too, but not in the same way.) I loved them deeply. But now. . .my parents are dead, and my sister’s gone off to live her own life. (And given the time frame – no, I’m not thinking about that.) And I’ve – I’ve been stuck in worlds that aren’t my own for a good portion of my adult life. I didn’t even really remember my family until I came through the Rift. So, in all honesty, Marty in Arcadia, Farley, Aubrey, JD, Gladys, and Revan in the Rift, and perhaps Daimon and Metody in the Nexus – they’re the closest thing I have to family.

And I’d protect them with my life because of it.