2014.02.04 - Thanks, Jackass

Oblivion Bar
The Oblivion Bar is located somewhere in another dimension, and is accessible only by those with magical powers or natures. The main room resembles an old-fashioned English pub, with leaded glass windows, lamps which glow with a magical light, round wooden tables and chairs, and a long bar which never seems to run out of booze. The back room is more like a lounge, with comfortable sofas and chairs.
----
Not difficult to get hold of, generally, is Pete. So long as he's awake in the right dimension and not up to his neck in trouble. Appearances aside, that is actually frequently the case! When Shift showed up and just wanted to go drinking, Pete was... surprised. Surprised and pleased, clearly, but the idea's clearly a foreign one.
"Sure," he'd said, then paused, then checked the time on his phone. "Can't get pissed, though, shit to do tonight."
Five minutes and one boarded-up door and something stupid and quick and complicated later, and Wisdom's letting Odame into Oblivion ahead of him. As soon as he's inside, himself, he lights up a cigarette and leads the way to the bar, where a golem's tending. "Two pints of Newcastle," he tells the big clay thing.
"Can't get pissed?" Kwabena was familiar with the British term, but he can't help but be a bit put off. "One of your friends doesn't have some kind of detox spell?" A beat later. "No, no. It's alright. Let's go."
Little did he know then, what he'd be getting himself into later.
Walking into the Oblivion Bar, Kwabena has no idea that they are in some other dimension or what have you. He's not exactly totally familiar with such things, at least not yet. When Pete lights up, he doesn't miss a beat in going for his own smokes, and is already smirking before the cigarette comes out of its pack between his teeth. "Reminds me of Harry's," he admits, considering the smoking.
Then? He regards the golem. ".... doesn't remind me of Harry's." He turns to look at Pete suspiciously. "Where de hell are we?"
"Girlfriend'll look all sad at me if she has to magically sober me up to go on /her/ quest," Pete explains totally reasonably once he's seated himself at the bar; he smokes contemplatively until the golem brings the beers, ignoring Shift's questions until he's good and ready to answer them. Because given the opportunity to be something of a dick to someone who sort of has it coming, Pete will go for it without fail.
"Cheers," he tells the golem, then lifts his glass in salute before draining about a third of it, cigarette held in the same hand. Then, and only then, "We're in a pub, Einstein."
Speaking of detox spells, here comes Rain. She seems blissfully unaware of the conversation at hand. Though, she seems quietly tired in her own way. The tea and hot cocoa here are divine, and really, she would like to read in peace. Her critters are asleep and that means it's the perfect time. Rain enters in through the doorway, is greeted politely and - spots Pete and Kwabena. She doubletakes and manages to catch a chairleg with a foot. Fwump!
Then she peeks up over the chair. That's them. "Oh. Wow."
"De fact dat you're calling it a quest explains why you should be drinking." Once the beers arrive, he lifts it in a toast as well, eyeing the golem speculatively. "Cheers." He drinks in much the same way, like a person who's hungry for it to get on and kick in. Then, he just stares at Wisdom for a few moments. "Thanks, jackass."
More beer goes down his gullet before he sets the beer down and takes a deep drag from his smoke. "So, you're familiar with time travel, other realities, quantum mechanics and all dat." Kwabena assumes a lot here, considering that Pete's been at it a whole hell of a lot longer than him, not to mention his association with S.H.I.E.L.D. "You know dat mutant inhibitor that was running around? African, like me?" He glances back toward Pete, nearly scowling. "It's me. You know, not me, but, anodah me from anodah time."
He seems so caught up in the revelation that he hash t even noticed Rain coming in.
It's kind of a sour look on Pete's face for a second when Kwabena starts talking about time travel, other realities, and quantum mechanics. Despite where they are. Despite what he does for a living, and what he does as kind of an unpaid 'needs doing' hobby, he gets that Look. And he drains his beer and pushes it across the bar for another, nevermind it's right on the heels of the last. "Yeah," he says, first grudging, and then again with sympathy, "yeah. Met one of me a few months ago. Always fucking unsettling to see what could have been you--"
And then there is the 'Oh. Wow.' and Pete glances fwump-wards-- and his eyebrows go straight up. He grins crookedly. "Rain. What, 'wow'? Come have a seat."
Poor Pete and Kwabena. If only Kwabena knew about Rain's quantum toaster. She looks confused. "I like quantum mechanics. I'm working on a toaster that reads neural circuits, but that would probably bore you to tears." Despite being one of the meekest, most cowardly sorts around, Rain must seem positively terrifying to Kwabena. Because despite her moments of cognitive dissonance, she operates on her own frequency.
"Hi Pete and - Kwabena, right? Was it?" She asks. She picks herself up off the floor, book under arm and moves to sit with them. "How are you two?" She offers a little smile.
First beer's always the best, and damn if Newcastle isn't a good choice. He's drinking all the while, only stopping until his attention is drawn towards Rain. "Oh hey," he says, and beckons her over. "C'mon, more de merrier!"
Back to Pete, he smirks. "Oh, so it's happened to you too?" He shakes his head. "Gotta be honest, boss. It's kind of a fuckstacle." Beat. "Oh, and dey're keeping him dere, in de base! Locked up and sedated, but... really?" He grumbles. "I'm half of mind to drag his ass to Muir myself."
As soon as Rain has joined them, however, he brightens. "Aye, Kwabena. You got it. Neural... circuits?" He asks, knowing what the two are, but not sure how they might work together. "Wait. Are you building a mind-reading toastah?" He glances to Pete. "She's building a mind-reading toastah, isn't she?" He shoves the rest of his beer down, then pushes the empty glass toward the golem for another round.
"I... guess?" Pete says slowly as the golem refills their glasses and then looks, silently and loomingly, down at Rain in expectation. What, it seems to be waiting for, does the young witch want to drink?
Pete looks at her too, because he's really not sure what they're talking about. "I have no idea how that would even work. I let you geniuses worry about that."
Then the Englishman slides his glass back over, takes a drag off his cigarette, blows the smoke away from Rain and Kwa, toward the dark wood-beamed ceiling. "Of course they're keeping him locked up and sedated. No idea what he can do, no idea what his reactions, his motivations, his sanity level are, or even could be. Don't know his history. If you need people who're equipped to deal with the potential problems without hurting him, or who can possibly find out where he's actually from and get him home, you'll want the Celestial Oversight Committee. I can probably get you in touch with them."
Rain smiles as he brightens. "Sort of. People all have chemically similar brains. But what makes them different? A soul is something I'd rather not mess with, and - um. You know what, I am getting some hot chocolate." Yes indeey, one hot cocoa please from the golem. She smiles to Kwabena and Pete. "Thank you both. How are you? I appreciate it... and may I ask who?" Unfortunately, Rain is probably the fellow's friend, knowing their luck.
"I don't drink a whole lot. I suspect if I did, I'd end up on the side of a building or in the pants dimension or something." Headshake.
"Celestial Oversight Committee." Kwabena blink-blinks for a moment, for that sounds a lot stranger to him than 'neural circuits'. "Right. Maybe." He reaches for his fresh beer without hesitation, taking the last drag of his menthol before nonchalantly turning the cigarette-wielding hand into thick smoke, which snuffs out the cancer stick. Hand reformed, his eyes seek out a waste bin behind the bar, and flicks the cigarette butt into it like a pro. "I'll have to let dem run dere tests, see if DNA matches and all dat shit."
The fresh beer is brought up and guzzled, this time a little bit slower than last. He seems momentarily diffused by the strange music playing in this place, and his eyes roam toward the jukebox, which currently displays it's playlist in an alien language. He gives Pete a suspicious look again. A pub. A pub somewhere... else.
"Who?" he asks, turning back to Rain. "Oh. Well, it seems dat I, or well, anodah version of me from anodah timeline, has somehow ended up here. Bit of a mind fuck, right?" He glances toward Pete, asking, "So, how do you like your toast, Wisdom?" Back to Rain he advises, "Well, you just have to know your limits. Like, you wouldn't want to try and pace us if it's your first time. You'd end up on thinking you're on de side of a building when your head is really hovering ovah a toilet."
Pete reaches over to shove Shift lightly, making a face at the toast question. The suspicious look only makes him look totally blank. Like, what? Whaaat? He starts his second beer and puts his own cigarette out in the ashtray he neglected to share with the African. "S'pose it does remain to be seen if he's a paraform or, I don't know, some kind of clone or magical construct or something. Only warn you if you do take him to Muir, you might get the attention of the committee anyhow; last I checked, Braddock's still a Corps member. Could ask Meggan. Actually, asking Meggan may be your best bet."
"Please, Rain. Please don't tell me there's a pants dimension. Bad enough the lot of you are going to see me in renfaire gear, I don't need to also have to live with the knowledge of a /pants dimension/."
Rain listens more than speaks for a moment while she waits for her hot cocoa. She will take a sip from it. "That sounds really tough," She seems sympathetic towards Kwabena. "But it does happen. This Earth, seems to be simultaneously in flux and a fixed point. It's a very unique situation. I've made so many friends from other worlds but ..." She furrows her brows. "And other times. Still, I wonder if it's very healthy." She shakes her head. "And that's probably true. But those witch on the side of a wall Halloween ornaments worry me." Rain doesn't want to end like that
She seems amused by the toast question. She - doesn't answer. That could be alarming. At Pete's worry about a pants dimension, Rain opens her mouth. Then closes it. A shrug. "I haven't found it." Helpful. "Speaking of things I haven't found, that reminds me. I wanted to check in on you two after the garage sale. I was worried."
Kwabena breaks out into laughter at Pete's reaction to said toast inquiry. "To hell with dat, let de chips fall. Whethah he was modified or not, his X-Gene inhibits -- more like reverses -- oddah X-Genes, and dey were using him to fabricate a cure. At dis point?" He raises his hands into the air. "It's above my pay grade. I just don't like him being around." Beat. "Sorta distracts from de awesomeness dat is 'Shift'." For the record, that was sarcasm.
Now, the African goes silent when Rain offers her advise. He may be fixing to light up another smoke while working on Beer #2, but he's extremely interested in what she has to say. "Yeah," he remarks. "Rachel's from anodah timeline, not to mention her siblings. Or cousins. It's kind of confusing how it works. Used to think it was bullshit, but." But that's changed.
"Oh, dat was a nice get togedah," he says regarding her garage sale. "I just get a bit put off by things I don't undahstand. I'm not a control freak or anything, but I've always lived by a certain motto -- what you undahstand probably won't kill you."
Now, that renfaire remark gets Pete a look. "Things are going dat well with Amaya den?" He fights really hard to bite back any remark about them being into kinky cosplay, and though he's successful, the effort really shows.
"Worried about what? I was just allergic to something, dunno what, but it cleared up after I took a shower. Probably some kind of spore ingredient," Pete says, waving a 'don't worry' hand around. "You worry too much."
Then he GLARES at Kwabena. "It's a thing. Quest. Thing. I'm *not* the only one going. We're probably going to have to--"
Pause. Thoughtful look, first at Rain and then at Shift, and Pete finishes his beer, holding a finger up until he sets the glass done. "I know you don't want to think about him, but he's a distinct person, separate from you. Whatever his whys and wherefores, there's someplace he should be, and that's got nothing to do with you. You want me to, I'll talk to him. Not without magic to keep his inhibitor off me, but I'll talk to him. Word of advice, though, either way: don't let him wake up restrained."
Then he takes out his cigarettes, taps the pack a couple times, watches his hands as they go about their task instead of watching his compatriots' faces. "But I'm thinking-- if you're looking for something completely and utterly different to do, tonight, I could use your help in this thing we're going on. Have to run it by Amy first, it's her show, but I could use another paranoid pair of eyes."
"Yeah, I had some people clean the vents and stuff out - in case it was mold or spores," Rain admits. "I don't want either of those lingering around," Rain admits. Then a pause. "A cure for what?" She seems confused. Don't most folks with X-genes get by okay? Rain seems to make a lot of mutant friends. This puzles her. "I see. And I understand. It does get kind of strange. Some cultures don't even really perceive time." That must really throw someone through a loop. But Rain in turn seems to listen and think in turn.
"I'm glad! And no, it's okay. Most people would freak at a biting book or that d20..." She offers. "Magic can be kind of mysterious," She smiles wryly. "I simply wanted it to be a more positive experience. But people came, and that made me happy."
At the renfaire remark, Rain's expression looks a little puzzled. was that a naughty joke? She tries not to think too much about it. Because then she thinks about the logistics of ancient underpants and really, seems less kinky than more when one has to wrangle undergarments. "I - what? Er."
For a long moment, Kwabena remains silent. He spends a fair bit of that time looking at nothing, only breaking the thoughts that are his alone with smoke and drink. He hadn't even thought about how he might feel if he woke up in restraints. Probably pretty damn similar to how Shift Beta would feel.
Rain's question serves as a good distraction. "Most of us do, yeah. But dere are plenty of people who would much rathah live without genetic mutations. More dan a handful of people who's want to see all of us made 'normal' again." He even holds his hands up to create quote signs. "I suppose if I was around it more, undahstood it more, it wouldn't creep me out." Beat. "And that's exactly why some people still don't like mutants."
Back to Pete, Kwabena considers the option of going on a... ahem. 'Quest thing'. Being further away from the Xavier Institute does sound nice right about now, and thanks to the Newcastle, he's not connecting that saying yes would probably equal renfaire for him as well.
"Only if it means we get into dat bottle of Scotch we left behind," he says. "Also? I'm not paranoid. I'm cautious."
Beat.
"Sometimes."
"Well crank the paranoia up to eleven if you're coming, mate," Pete says, maybe a trifle short, then puts the cigarette he was about to light away. "Because shit gets Game of Thrones there in a hurry. Remember? Wasn't a joke." He slides off his barstool and reaches over to ruffle Rain's hair all out of whack. "Just figuring Odame here'll do us some good in Nilaa tonight. And we can get into that Scotch," he tells Shift, "when we're done."
Rain is quiet. She looks puzzled. But that simply means she needs to listen more than speak. Her dark purple eyes reflect that her brain is turning circuits. "I see. I can understand wanting a normal life," She replies. "But ... the people who would force someone to be 'normal'..." Headshake. She's not quite right with that. She hms. "Well. If there's anything you're curious about, you're welcome to visit. Just knock, otherwise you'll -" Pause. "Set off the alarms." That's probably code for something far, far worse. And in this case, it is! Hooray labyrinth wards!
"I think Pete has dibs on any and all old scotch I have or had," She smiles wryly. The Game of Thrones remark makes Rain looks - kind of concerned? But being Darwin's lil' winner, she's that really wall-eyed kinda antelope who somehow donks into a crocodile, makes it back for water and resumes antelopin'. Because that's how you do when you work on the theory that natural selection is for silly people. She grins as Pete ruffles her hair all out of whack. It's an amused, fond look. Clearly, Pete is one of Rain's oldest and dearest friends (That's not oldest chronologically mind you - things get wiggity whack - and that's wiggity, not regular, whack when you get chronological). "Yeah." But even Darwin's lil' winner seems to have SOME reservations when things get all Game of Thrones on something. "I won't keep you two, then. I'm probably going to check a few things," Like letting anyone lost out of the labyrinth - Rain's a kind soul, "And get ready, I guess."
Beer: gone. Kwabena pushes the glass over toward the golem, then tosses some bills on the bar. "I'll bring my conspiracy goggles," he quips, then glances Rain's way.
Now, when Winter Moontree recommends that you don't set off any alarms, you listen. You listen well. His eyebrows rise, but he grins. "Knock. I gotcha. Just remembah, old Scotch is good Scotch, even if it's not exactly my favorite blend of whiskey. If you want to keep Wisdom's hands off it, make sure it's brand new. Like, vintage 2013 new. 14 as soon as you get it. Oddahwise, you're on your own, kid."
Kwabena slides up from the seat. "And we walk out without staggering," he says, before pausing for a moment to try and remember what it was Kitty and Rachel were talking about. Something from Star Trek.
"Qua'pla!"
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