Issue 1 Downtime

Will was relaxing in the sauna, a little wibbly-wobbly due to the heat, but comfortable.

"That's my spot." a voice points out to him and a moment later Will suddenly finds himself a rung lower and a couple feet off to the side and Aria is now sitting in his place, a towel wrapped around her.

"Oh hey, it's you."

"It's polite to knock," Will said, pointedly. "And you are?"

"And it's impolite to stare." she says, despite the fact that Will probably is doing no such thing. "I'm... Aria - and since it's apparently becoming common knowledge around here - McManus-Weaver. You don't remember me from when I dismantled the Danger Room?"

"Oh, shit!" Will said, leaping back into a defensive position.

"Oh calm down, I'm not here to fight or steal anything else. Mom knows I'm here."

"Alright," WIll said, narrowing his eyes. "I've got my eye on you."

"You steal one thing and you're marked for life." she laments. "And that from you of all people."

"What's THAT supposed to mean? I haven't stolen anything!"

"No, but Future You knows how to pay some respect."

"I beg your pardon?" Will said, hopelessly confused.

"Oh right, Mom's probably not even anywhere close to being comfortable with having followers yet."

"...follow her where?"

"Followers? As in people who worship the Morrigan? Man, how muddled up is this timeline?"

"Yeaaaah, no, you've got me confused with someone else, I think..."

"Are you sure? Green haired guy with a... flexible physique isn't exactly super common. You are Will, right?"

"That's me."

"Well there you go then. Trying to tell me I wouldn't recognize my favourite boots. Pffsh!"

"I don't know what the morals are in the future, but here, we don't value all this 'mysterious air of mystery' thing." Will said, his ears perking up. His body language had him intrigued, even if his voice was all angry and stuff.

"Pshyeah right." she chuckles. "If you're curios just ask." she smirks.

"Alright, I'm asking. What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're Uncle Will, you were always around cause Robin and I were friends and also cause you kinda worship my Mom. Not, like, falling to your knees kinda shit, your one of her champions, leading the X-Teams into battle. And when there's no fighting you like being useful. I've worn you to prom."

"What do you mean, I 'kinda worship your Mom'?" Will said, as if that was the most outrageous thing she had said.

"Well, you do." she says as if it's no big deal. "She's the Morrigan. That's like asking how you can eat scrambled eggs for breakfast."

"Uh, I'm not sure if you realize this, but I'm Anglican. You know, CoE?"

"And Mom's Catholic. It's 'You shall have no other gods before me' not 'none at all'."

"Who the hell told you that?"

"You."

"I KNEW you were going to say that," Will said, rolling his eyes. "That seems like some semantic bullshit."

"Hey, it's the truth. If you don't like it then take it up with your future self but that's what I learned growing up."

"Aren't you, like, from a billion years from now?"

"Do I look like I'm a billion years old?"

"No, but looks can be deceiving," Will said, rapidly aging in front of her.

"I'm not a billion years old." she rolls her eyes.

"If you say so..." Will paused.


"So."

Will paused again.

"What am I like?"

"Less uptight, I guess? I dunno, I've known this you for, like, a minute. But I remember that going over to Robin's place to play was always the best cause she had all the toys. Or rather she had you being whatever we wanted. Except the stuff she wanted to animate, you were pretty strict about her only doing that to regular toys, but still, we had the most epic doll-house tea-parties being crashed by dinosaurs from space. You came up with the goofiest toys too. Like a giant eyeball wearing battle armor."

"Wait, Robin does what?"

'Play with her toys?" she says slowly as she realizes she might have said too much.

"Nuh-uh. Go back. Try again." Will said, crossing his arms and standing up.

"You'll find out soon enough, right?"