Time. Personal.
SST: September 25, Aurelio's Sun: Moonlight Jubilee
[WP] Someone has trapped you in a time loop, or at least tried to. You have time control powers yourself, so breaking out of the loop would be easy for you, but in order to find out who would try to trap you you decide to play along.
After playing along for a few days, Taylor, the TimeKeeper, was confident he knew who trapped him in a time loop. However, he expected that answer to be a self-explanatory scheme by one of his nemeses. Instead, he was trying not to stare at a blonde 10-year-old girl and wondering what she could possibly have against him.
Taylor had years of experience with his time control powers, so he noticed the loop as soon as it took effect on the first day. He played it cool and started keeping mental notes as he waited for his captor to reveal themselves. It was a beautiful day that happened to be looping, and he decided to start his days at the park. He was sure to arrive at the same time every day and kept a meticulous mental map of all the timings happening around him. On this particular day, there was someone new.
He’d never seen the girl during the loop before, which was enough to raise his suspicions. As he watched her, he realized she was there at the park alone. It was another notable oddity about the situation.
He was fortunate that she was facing away from him, because he was staring hard, trying to figure something out about her. Anything. He watched her climb on top of the picnic table and cross her legs. Then, time sped up around him. The sun vanished, rose again, then disappeared all in quick succession. After a few moments, the sun emerged again, this time from the West as Taylor sensed time being rewound. She was obviously trying to draw him out.
Time went forward and back a few more times at different speeds until it returned to the exact moment she began playing with it. Then, things returned to normal. She hopped off the table, and Taylor was on his feet. He didn’t have a plan, but he had to do something.
“Excuse me,” he ran up after her as she started walking away. She stopped and looked at him.
“Uhuh?” she asked. It was strange that she didn’t recognize him, considering what she did. Maybe she was just playing dumb.
“I don’t know you. What did I ever do to you?” he asked.
“Uhhh...,” she looked away from him to survey the park. Then, she focused on him with a shrug. “You stopped me from walking away?” she asked. “Did I get it right?”
“What?” Taylor shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know, you came up to me with a weird question. Are you okay?” she asked. “I don’t know who you are either. Why do you think I did anything to you?”
“You put me in a timeloop!” he said. If she was going to play dumb, he was going to make it clear.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” she giggled with a nod. “And?”
“Why?!” Taylor asked. “If we’ve never met before, why me?”
“Wait, are you serious?” the girl asked with apparent concern.
“YES!” he said. “I’ve been in a time loop for days! And, I just saw you playing with time, I know it was you.”
“It was,” the girl nodded. “But, I don’t understand the conversation we’re having. Are you mad at me... or what?” she asked.
“YOU PUT ME IN A TIME LOOP AND YOU’RE NOT EVEN ONE OF MY NEMESES!” he raised his voice first, then lowered it to a controlled rage. “So, all I’m trying to understand is why you’ve targeted me,” he said.
“Ohhhhhh,” the girl nodded with a smirk. “I see what the problem is. Don’t worry,” she said. “I can pretty much promise you’ll never see me again, so we can both pretend this didn’t happen.” She waved and started walking away, but Taylor stopped her.
“Hey!” he said. “You still haven’t answered my question!”
“It’s not a valid question,” the girl replied. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
“You targeted me!” he didn’t want to manhandle such a young girl, but he ran around to try and block her path. She obviously wasn’t normal, but he wasn’t going to use any force unless he had to.
“You keep saying that,” she giggled. “I didn’t even know you existed. I was practicing with my powers. Now that I know it bothers you, I’ll just do it somewhere else.”
“Wait... so I wasn’t targeted because I’m a hero?”
“I’ll bet you’re an amazing hero,” the girl replied as she kept walking. “The whole world, everyone was caught in a timeloop and your very first thought was, ‘This is about me’.”
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Server
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Cast
