milliways_bar | (no subject)

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(no subject)

[OOM: There'll always be an England. It's just that eventually, it's REALLY going to suck.]

The door opens, and for a moment the ruddy-gold light of candles and lamps can be seen on the other side. Not for long, though. The blue-clad, bearded fellow who trudges through closes the door behind him.

And then stops, two paces in, and stares.

Quinn Abercromby hasn't got any words at all for this.

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Raven studies him carefully.

"I would like to know as well, I think. Though I am fairly certain you are not."

Blink.

"Unless you are seeing elephants in clown suits."

He looks around.

"Though I suppose they might be invisible to me. It has happened before."

Quinn snorts. "No. No elephants, no clown suits, no- look, no offense, but that-" He points to the window. "-does not generally happen back at the castle. And there's no way this could be in the castle, 'cos no matter what work anyone might've done while we were out, I don't recognise anyone here. So what's going on?"

Raven frowns, considering.

"This is Milliways--it is a bar at the end of the universe. Though I think it is more all universes, in that respect."

Blink.

"It is why there is such a view. And the door is unpredictable, so."

Raven is helpful. Really.

Quinn nods. "I see," he says. "Thank you for telling me. Can I have those smelling salts anyway?"

Raven nods, fishing around in his pockets before giving up and fetching them from Bar.

He is not gone long.

"These will do, I think."

An elaborate glass container is very solemnly held out to Quinn.

"Thanks," says Quinn, and goes about uncapping the bottle if he can just figure out how. You never really know, when you're dealing with bottles from someone like Raven.

Not that Quinn knows that.

There is a stoppered glass top.

Though it may be cunningly disgused.

Or covered by an elaborate network of fine glass strands.

"You are welcome, I think."

Quinn squints at the top for a while. Eventually, he shakes his head. "Sod this," he mutters, and goes for the simpler route-

"OW!"

Apparently pinching himself is insufficient to the task of making Milliways go away.

Raven just looks at him.

"I could pinch harder."

It is amazing how obliging Bird can be.

"No, thanks," says Quinn. "I think that'll do. Bloody hellfire- how?"

That's going to be a big question with him.

Raven is kind enough not to laugh.

Or at least he makes the effort to stifle it.

"Chance is, I have found, a very fine thing."

"Well, yeah, no arguments there or I'd be dead, but..." Quinn's head flops backwards and he stares up at the ceiling. "It'd be bloody stupid of me to ask why if all I can get for 'how' is 'chance', eh?"

"It is never stupid to ask questions, perhaps."

Raven's grin is sharp.

"Only to ignore the answers."

"Okay, then," says Quinn, not moving from his ceiling-stare. "Why?"

Raven shrugs.

"It is not a thing people know."

Blink.

"There are theories, perhaps. Some of them might even be correct. It is often so."

Quinn snorts, amused, and gauges whether or not it'd be worth it to lift his head again. (Answer: not yet.) "All right," he says. "I'll figure it out if I can."

A thought occurs to him.

"You've got indoor heat here. And electricity. Jesus, you've got electric lights."

"Is that what they are?"

Raven looks around, curious.

"It is a thing I had not known."

Possibly he is putting on a show.

Possibly it is genuine.

It is difficult to guess.

Quinn's only partly listening. He's staring at the light fixture as if he expects it to sprout wings and fly away.

"Not that we don't have electricity at the castle, but we've got to run the generator for that and it's hardly worth it for the lighting- Ajay needs it for the radio rig-" He straightens himself up. "Jesus. What else have you got here?"

"There are cookies."

Raven sounds very pleased with this state of affairs.

"Also showers. The water is very warm."

"...."

This is the face of Quinn Abercromby torn between two different OH MY GOD YOU HAVE WHAT options.

Raven just blinks at him.

"It is like rain. But better, I think. Except for watering plants. It is not a good place for gardens."

"Anywhere the dragons can't burn 'em is a good place for gardens," Quinn murmurs. And then a thought strikes him. "Oh, God- you know what I haven't seen in a dog's age? Chocolate. Does this place have any?"

He won't CARE if it's a hallucination if they've got chocolate.

Raven looks shocked.

And perhaps a little appalled.

No chocolate?

"It is easily obtained here, yes."

And he flags down a waitrat in order to prove it.

Quinn doesn't even NOTICE the rat. He's staring at Raven as if he expects the man to vanish in a puff of Large Ugly (But Deeply Concerned) British Medic Saying "Wake Up, Quinn, You're Scaring The Kiddies".

"Real chocolate?" he says at last, and he's more than a little wibbly as he says it. "The- the actual stuff?"

Raven considers.

"Possibly you might also obtain the fake kind. Many things are available for asking."

His tone says I do not know why anyone would bother, perhaps.

Only with more eye-rolling.