[dkstories] Let's Do It, Chapter 2

[Altimexis]

Well, Chapter 2 is up - go read it and come back here!

 

My next post will contain spoilers. :2hands:

[Altimexis]

Wow! So much for making small changes! And here I thought Brian was on the wrong track. He's learning fast. Truth be told, Davey never made small changes. He nudged things in a different direction, but they were huge nudges. Betting on the Superbowl and using the money to get your family into a better house and to get your dad into politics is not a small change. Befriending Shawn and making him into a body builder is not a small change. The thing is that the longer you wait, the bigger the change needs to be to reach a given goal. Davey sure found that out in DOR - that time it was he that had to deal with a Brian who'd screwed things up, literally. It took him years to undo the damage already done, and by then it was too late.

 

So now we know that Davey is only moments away from dropping out of school. He's working at McDonalds during his lunch period and skipping gym to work more hours. He's as few as 3 days away from being expelled. Now Brian understands that there's no time to waste. But how to approach Davey? He's grounded and now he's managed to violate his grounding - how's he going to get out of that one? He's been a blatant homophobe. At least he was able to convince Brandon and Trevor that he's maybe bisexual and thinking of playing for the other team, but he had some leverage there, knowing about their sessions in the barn. But he barely knows Davey - how can he convince him to stay in school, let alone go out with a fag-hating bully? Wow!

 

Great writing, Dan, even if it did take major editing from Emoe.

[C James]

Wow! So much for making small changes! And here I thought Brian was on the wrong track. He's learning fast. Truth be told, Davey never made small changes. He nudged things in a different direction, but they were huge nudges. Betting on the Superbowl and using the money to get your family into a better house and to get your dad into politics is not a small change. Befriending Shawn and making him into a body builder is not a small change. The thing is that the longer you wait, the bigger the change needs to be to reach a given goal. Davey sure found that out in DOR - that time it was he that had to deal with a Brian who'd screwed things up, literally. It took him years to undo the damage already done, and by then it was too late.

 

I'm glad he made one big change: Dumped Marcie. I was also very sympathetic to Brandon when Brain criticized him for not warning about Marcie's plans: My Best friend in high school fell for someone just as bad (maybe worse) than Marcie. I did warn him, thus wrecking the friendship. He was over it in a week or so, but he'd told her, and she wouldn't let him talk to me anymore. So, I have a special hate for people like Marcie. (And I'm not overly-sympathetic to their victims, as a rule, either).

 

I LOVED the bit where Brian realizes that its FUN to drop tidbits about the future!!! LoL!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm highly perplexed as to why this timeline is different from the original one. Davey doing sports? Theoretically, shouldn't this timeline, right up until Brian's arrival, have been identical to Davey's original life?

 

I see one explanation: Another time traveler. My bet is that its Sean.

[Rad]

WOW! I was all smiles as I read how Brian put that bitch down & threw her back where she belong (the gutter). I cant believe such manipulation. Good body?? A lot of girls have good bods yet with almost none of the evil of Marcie!

But soemthing here made me stop & think...Trevor & Brandon had been on the receiving end of Davey's "skills" ???? That was really shocking. Especially since Im pretty sure that I never rerad about that in previous stories. Probably I miss it but what the hell....

Heeee are reading some kind of a "real-life" confession here from dear ol' dan? Did you do somehting with Brandon & Trevor?

 

Cheers!

 

Rad

capitalism, atheism, free beer

[Altimexis]

I'm highly perplexed as to why this timeline is different from the original one. Davey doing sports? Theoretically, shouldn't this timeline, right up until Brian's arrival, have been identical to Davey's original life? I see one explanation: Another time traveler. My bet is that its Sean.

 

As much as I'd like to see Shawn make an appearance as a time traveler in this timeline and have postulated as much that he might, there are any one of a number of explanations for Davey being in Sports PE. First of all, Brian and Davey weren't friends at this point in their lives in the original timeline and Davey probably didn't tell Brian everything about what was an unhappy timeline for him. Davey may have started out in sports and dropped out, but was still in Sports PE. There could have also been a scheduling conflict that left Sports PE as the only option. Now if Shawn did come back, why aren't things better? There supposedly wasn't enough power to send a second person back that far in time, but I've hypothesized that Shawn could have gone back just far enough to build another time machine, found a way to counteract the jamming signal that he and Brandon developed, and gone back to an even earlier point in time. If he's come back, why aren't things better - or maybe he's spent time in a sexual rehabilitation center - a scary thought.

 

But soemthing here made me stop & think...Trevor & Brandon had been on the receiving end of Davey's "skills" ???? That was really shocking. Especially since Im pretty sure that I never rerad about that in previous stories. Probably I miss it but what the hell....Cheers!

 

This one I do remember - in the first Do Over, Davey was surprised when Brian put the moves on him - it was Brandon he'd had sex with, and that was in highschool. I think that at some point he might have mentioned having sex with Trevor as well - he certainly was aware of Brandon and Trevor's escapades in the barn.

[Rigel]

I'm finding "Let's Do IT" fascinating, and wonder if Dan had to write "The Bully" to figure out how to write this tale, and to work out the emotional path that Brian must take.

 

Remember that our first exposure to Brian in the original "Do Over" painted him as someone with Bullyish qualities:

 

"f**K off, Breckenridge." I shouted out, loud enough that heads turned all over. We were in sight of the school and I think half the school must have heard that shout, because they were looking. Brian Breckenridge stopped, and turned with a look of incredulous anger on his face.

 

"What did you say?" He demanded in a voice that tried to ooze danger, and I could barely suppress my laughter. He was tall, and among the most well built kids in the school. In seventh-grade, he'd give a high school sophomore a run for his money. He wasn't quite a bully, but fairly close to it....

(From Do Over, Chapter 2)

 

Long before any changing of the future can begin in "Let's Do It," the returned Brian faces the very real problem of repairing a very bad reputation. He must convince people he's matured overnight and is no longer a bully before he has any leverage to convince others to change their ways. (As Arlo Guthrie once was asked, "Have you rehabilitated yourself, kid?")

 

I sort of imagine him explaining to friends and family that he's had a "vision of the future," maybe as a vision of the spirit of Uncle Rich, that's convinced him to change his ways. Blaming his change on a visitation from the ghost of Uncle Rich would probably be easier to pull off as more realistic than trying to convince people he's returned from the future.

 

My prediction for the story (and I'll probably be embarrassed in a few weeks for posting anything this inaccurate): Brian will eventually woo Davey, and they'll eventually set about affecting the future of the world by setting up a political consultancy firm based in some city in California's Central Valley. Brian's experience with repairing his reputation as a high school student will be a lesson of invaluable worth, as he later advises potential politicians who have rehabilitated themselves on how to overcome their own bad reputations and remake their images. And those politicians will make a better world.

 

--Rigel

[EMoe57]

... (As Arlo Guthrie once was asked, "Have you rehabilitated yourself, kid?") ...

I'm not touching the prediction, but I couldn't let this reference pass. I have the MP3 of "Alice's Resturant" stuffed away in a folder and came across it just before New Years. I've listened to that 3 times already. At 25 minutes, it takes a commitment but it is just about the funniest piece of music going for me right now. I'm off to listen to it again!

[Demetz]

Blaming his change on a visitation from the ghost of Uncle Rich would probably be easier to pull off as more realistic than trying to convince people he's returned from the future.

 

Better still, he's from the future... of a completely different universe.

[Altimexis]

I'm finding "Let's Do IT" fascinating, and wonder if Dan had to write "The Bully" to figure out how to write this tale, and to work out the emotional path that Brian must take.

 

I sort of imagine him explaining to friends and family that he's had a "vision of the future," maybe as a vision of the spirit of Uncle Rich, that's convinced him to change his ways. Blaming his change on a visitation from the ghost of Uncle Rich would probably be easier to pull off as more realistic than trying to convince people he's returned from the future.

 

I'm not going to touch your future prediction with a 10 foot pole. Now as to his changing his ways, at least as far as friends and family are concerned, there's a much more reasonable way for him to explain his past behavior and his change of heart. It's really quite simple: "Mom, Dad, I know I've been an asshole for the past few years and it took the events of last week to make me realized how I've really messed up my life. You see, ever since I was 12, I've been dealing with feelings I didn't understand. I'm a jock and jocks are supposed to be macho men with a girl on each arm. But that's not who I am, and it's taken me a while to finally come to terms with it. There's no easy way for me to say this, and I hope you're OK with it, but I'm gay." Of course Brian knows his parents will be OK with it and there's a good chance they'll end his being grounded and give him some breathing room as he tries to fix his life. He's already laid the ground work with Trevor and Brandon, but he'll have to approach Davey very carefully since he may still be wrestling with his sexuality himself. If Shawn is around and not off in some sexual reeducation camp in Utah, Brian can approach him and apologize: "Gee, man, I'm so sorry I treated you the way I did. I know I was a total asshole. The reason I was so hateful to you was that I was trying to deal with my own sexuality. It wasn't you I was dumping into a dumpster - it was what you represented to me. I just couldn't be gay and I thought that bullying you would put that behind me. But now I know beyond a doubt that I really am gay, and I'd like to start my new life by apologizing to you and making it up to you. I know I can't undo what's already done, but I think the best thing I can do from now on is to be your friend. I'm not ready to come out to the rest of the school just yet and I hope you'll respect that, but if not and you want to out me, I can't say I don't deserve it. Friends?" Of course there will be no need to make up with Shawn if he managed to come back, too.

[Mizu]

hmmm.... i like the story... i kinda feel bad that he can't encourage Davey's dad into politic, which kinda demolish any chance of the the golden age of President Jones.....

 

i love that there is a sequel, but i hate how this basically annul everything that happened before... especially since all the other time travelers are gone...

[Philistine]

crap, now i'm going to be spending every second of every day waiting for a new chapter...*sigh* curse you, dk. curse you for being awesome.

[EMoe57]

*sigh* curse you, dk. curse you for being awesome.

AMEN!

[C James]

*sigh* curse you, dk. curse you for being awesome.

AMEN!

Totally agreed!

 

Brian definitely has some work cut out for him on this one. Just a hunch, but I'll bet I know who has the hardest time believing him when he decided to 'fess up about being a time traveler: Davey!

[Myk]

OMG...I agree with Philistine, I am so adicted to this series I will be forever distracted now that you started it again!!!! Bloody hell

 

Greg

 

ps-thanks

[Altimexis]

Well, while we are in this interminable wait for chapter 3 (yeah, I know, first he got started on TRP, then he got sick with GBS, then he decided to finish off DOH and now he's off for the weekend, leaving us high and dry) , I had another thought about where this story might be going.

 

Up to now, my conjecture has centered on how to prevent whatever it was that happened because David Jones Sr. was never elected president. My assumption was that the continued leadership of W Bush will lead to a continuing downward spiral that ultimately will lead to a nuclear Iran having America at its knees. :nuke: While that might still be the case and while getting Gore elected in 2000 would solve this, I've been looking at it from a logical standpoint rather than seeing it for what it is - a story. The one fault with DIR - and it's a big one - is that it clashes with our reality. It might have had a perfect ending, but it erased our timeline - the one we're in now. Our timeline ended in 2004, when Davey Jones went back the first time in DO. Although DIR was a very enjoyable story, the moment David Jones entered politics and started changing history for real, it precluded any kind of reconciliation with our timeline.

 

LDI changes all of that. By erasing all previous instances of time travel, Dan has managed in this sequel to give us a new hope in a crazy kind of way. Instead of being in a failed timeline that shouldn't have even existed after 2004, there is now the possibility that we are not in the first timeline, but the one of LDI. Perhaps Brian has already come back in our past and the story that is unfolding is our story - not some sort of alternate history. :2hands: Perhaps the changes that Brian made in our past to fix the future are not yet visible to us, or maybe the fixes are yet to come - after all, he'd still be a fairly young man in 2007. So here's to our future.