Here and Now and Then

by Mike Chen

Penny’s bravado disappeared once they were alone, as if her furious confidence only surfaced when powered by the bubbling cauldron of sibling rivalry. But with Markus gone, the new reality of their lives settled in, seemingly stealing all of her words. In the morning, they’d dropped the kittens at the rescue and bought supplies, including stops at antiques stores to purchase whatever twenty-one-A era cash they could find. In the afternoon, they reviewed time-travel logistics and the massive amount of noninterference guidelines provided by Markus. In between, Kin cracked open the topic of Heather, just so Penny might be able to release whatever pressure built up in her mind. Per her family style, she gave a stoic tight-lipped smile and said, “I’m fine,” when she was clearly not.

In many movies, you see the heroes get to this point and they're very "LET'S GET EM!" without any thought of the emotional trauma that came right before. That always bugs me, and I wanted this scene to play out very differently. Penny is coming off a very big, very emotional choice and a nice little speech but here is the moment reality hits her. It was very important to ground it in a realistic reaction when the adrenaline subsides and the "WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING" sets in.