Losing Track

"So, grandpa! Is this possible?!" Even though Alexander knew that it might be impossible, it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Alex, I don't know what to tell you but I know that I want to know what is going on in that head of yours." Sullivan had to commend his grandson's advanced train of thought.

Here he was, thinking that cannibalism through butcher separating techniques was already weird enough. Then, his little grandson took it further and turned it into a futuristic robot.

"I am not quite sure when it comes to the mechanics of this but it might take a while to develop." Sullivan's words were quite the reality of this decade and within expectations. "The Kid Psychic figurines are just a step ahead in detailing than other toy figurines. Making these drawings of yours human-sized and mechanically possible would take research and quite some time for the design team."

Toys from this period would be considered a vintage collectible in the future and only their tackiness and high value have a fighting chance compared to those of the next century.

"That's okay. Those cyborgs can wait and I wasn't even sure if that was viable in the first place." Alexander was essentially asking for his grandfather to make an advanced toy model for moviemaking. The Jaws model, R2D2, and ET had to go through the same process, so patience is needed for such things.

"Well, there are other toy designs down those pages, grandpa! Maybe with this, your design team finally has a chance to explore newer horizons." The boy suggested which made his grandfather sigh at the evident disparities when comparing people.

Sullivan was practically skimming through artworks that number ten times more than what his toymaking team had handed to him after their founding.

Robots, dragons, monsters, weapons, costumes, spaceships, and so much more stuff that even he found baffling. It was sci-fi and magical galore unlike any other.

It made him realize how far his grandson progressed in his art whilst juggling through all his other works. He was left to his own devices for a certain length and yet he has done an enormous amount of effort that would leave others befuddled. That was the part that gratified him.

What infuriated him is the ones who meant to do these works are practically doing nothing in comparison whilst his poor grandson is doing the grunt work.

The poor boy was even losing track of time!

"I'm paying them their money's worth and yet here you are, solving their insufficiencies for them. I'm starting to consider that they should be given a decrease in wages. Given these designs of yours, they aren't much of designers now but mere factory workers following a script."

Granted, his little junior was extraordinary and understandably caught up in his own world whilst the design team was the driving force behind his toy business. As such, he was only verbally venting a bit but wasn't truly going through with it.

"You do you, grandpa! Just keep in mind to keep most of those things in extreme secrecy as much as possible." Alexander had nothing else to comment about his grandfather's complaints.

Most of the toy designs and prop suggestions in his grandfather's hands are most of the groundwork for succeeding movie ideas.

Therefore, those papers are actually the toymaking equivalent of a storyboard. The template of the direction that Cosmic toys are going for. It wasn't his grand undertaking but it was close to it.

He was still wading through the mist of uncertainties in the movie universe plan! At the very least, he can put easter eggs in the movies to at least show that they connect.

Having a backup plan is better than having nothing in his books.

Whilst Sullivan was silently ruminating on the papers laid out at the table and glancing to the side from time to time, Alexander realized something he had missed while they were having dinner earlier.

With all those monumental tasks he had done along with recurring anxiety, he must have been too caught up in all of those things that he failed to notice things around him.

The most glaring object was still recording by the corner of the dining room and that made his misted train of thought somewhat clear.

It was a recording camera that his father usually set up for certain occasions. A surge of enlightenment suddenly assaulted his tiny mind and made him unconsciously blurt out a question.

"Is today my birthday?!"

He already had an answer in mind and he couldn't help but feel even more foolish with the realization.

Six months of filming, a week in India, and a month or so with extensive movie planning! He hadn't even noticed the important holidays such as Christmas and New Year go by. Did Christmas carols and fireworks even go by their neighborhood?

"I blame the workaholic implanted in our DNAs." Sullivan couldn't help but sigh again and tried to keep the positivity. "Surprise, Alex. This time around you are actually surprising yourself. What are the odds of that happening to someone?!"

Although he was joking around, the old man was really helpless on how to deal with his grandson's quirkiness and the ordeal of their family line. The boy was too much in zone that he wasn't even keeping track of the holidays.

"What the...!" Alexander was a bit lightheaded from processing all of these things. "Is something wrong with me grandpa?"

"Don't try to fixate much on this, Alexander. These just happen to people sometimes but you'll be a lot more surprised by its history with our family." Sullivan had to lay it out on the boy. They were bound to have this conversation, the old Creed just didn't think that it would happen when the kid was just five-years-old.

"People say that humans work well and become productively optimized in a stressed and constricting environment or scenario. It may just be coincidence or truly runs in the blood but us Creeds have a history of thriving in such environments or scenarios."

"Procrastination leads to the last-minute rush that empowers people to be able to do things that they normally wouldn't have done. For people in our family, the last-minute rush just happens for some reason even if we don't procrastinate." Old Sullivan finally mentioned a key aspect in their heritage that somewhat defined what made them have the workaholic attitudes they have today.

The young Alexander eventually digested the truth bomb and helplessly replied. "So you are saying that we have a work-centric version of adrenaline rush?!"

"It isn't technically proven..." Sullivan made a weighing gesture with his hands and draggingly admitted. "...but I am afraid so."