milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Ray wanders into the Bar in his Green Lantern shirt and cargo pants, yawning hugely and flicking bits of dried ectoplasm out of his hair. Lucky thing the stuff turns to dust on impact once it's dry, or his life would be a lot nastier. "Bar," he says, "I need something that'll make the fact I have to go to South freaking Dakota for the Federal Bureau of Prisons worthwhile. Slimer ate all the Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs when I wasn't looking. Could you..."

And lo, there is cereal.

"Thank you, Bar. I appreciate it."

Yawning some more he trundles over to a table with a good view of the Window. Caffeine works better when taken in conjunction with the ongoing Apocalypse.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sooraya's just come inside from a day spent outside to train. The Window draws her gaze too, but she takes a seat at another table, nearby to Ray's, where she won't be facing it.
"...it doesn't bother you?" she wonders aloud.

Ray does his best not to yawn, because hey, other person. "Not really," he says, looking up from his cereal. "I used to want to be a cosmologist. I spent my first week or so here taking notes on everything I saw out there until I realized that I was seeing every single theory about the end of physical existence happen, not just the ones that were mutually compatible. It's still kind of fascinating to watch even though I know that I can't rely on any given version being the real thing from my point of view."

Pause.

"Hi there. Have we met? I haven't had my morning coffee yet and my brain's all gunky today."

"Ai, excuse me. No, I'm sure not." The yawning's not a problem. She's used to school- and teammates who pull frequent allnighters, and has had a few herself. "I'm Sooraya Qadir. Bar...invited me here? you might say, a week ago. Or this 'Landlord'. I'm from Earth, of 2003."

"Pleased to meet you, miss," says Ray. "My name's Ray Stantz. I'm from New York City, Earth, 2007. The Earth where-" He thinks for a moment, sorting the years out. "-Colin Powell was president in 2003. I find identifying my world that way seems to settle questions pretty quickly."

She shakes her head. "Not on my Earth. I live in the U.S.; New York, but Westchester rather than New York City. Colin Powell never made it to the White House. Politics there tend to be...interesting, we keep track"

"Pleased to meet you, too, Mr.Stantz."

Ray nods. "I can imagine. I don't get along with politics very well for the most part. Never have." He rubs at his face with one hand. "I've been coming here for a couple of years now off and on myself, since you did mention you'd only been here about a week. How're you finding the place?"

"Confusing, but good," she replies, sounding a little nervous. "Though the door apparently decided to stay behind."

"Oog. Being Bound's no fun, from what I hear," Ray says sympathetically. "The door generally comes back for people after a while, though. I hope it's not interfering too much with your religious practice. I've never been able to figure out exactly how to count local time and space in comparison with Earth- and I've been trying, although it's been for scientific reasons more than anything else."

She shrugs gracefully. "I've dealt with worse, though I'll admit, a bar isn't the sort of place most Muslims would expect to find themselves. Still...If there's some reason I need to be here, I trust Him to let me know when I should," calmly matter-of-fact.
"It was rather a relief not to see Sentinels outside the door, for once. Or villains."

"Yeah, no, I would imagine not," says Ray. "As it stands this is more of a small community with a bar in the middle than it is just a bar."

He scratches his chin a moment, thinking.

"Sentinels. I'm pretty sure I've heard that word before- hey, you wouldn't happen to know a woman named Kitty Pryde, would you? Or a blue guy named Henry McCoy?"

Surprise shows in her face and tone, as she answers,
"I know of them. Dr. McCoy is one of the staff at the Xavier Institute, on my Earth."

"Okay. I ask because I met them here- or versions of them, anyway, I don't know how fractured their timelines might be." Ray grins. "Just wondering. The only school named Xavier Anything in my world's a college up in Ontario, and it's as normal as they come. Columbia kicks their butts in College Bowl trivia competitions on a regular basis."

She chuckles, relieved as well as amused.
"Timelines are like a bowl of spaghetti for X-Men at the best of times...Uh. Do you know Rachel Grey? One of the Security officers here?"

"I've met her a couple of times, yeah," says Ray. "Nice lady. Friend of yours?"

"In my world, we both belonged to a team based out of the Institute; different units, but the same organization. I don't
think this Rachel is the one from then and there. But yes, and sorry for sounding evasive. She is a good person; that seems to have not changed."

April's sitting nearby. And she looks up and smiles fondly at Ray as he sits. "G'morning, sleepyhead."

Ray waves. "Yo, April," he says. "Guess who's going to South Dakota to visit a prison."

"I'll take a wild guess and say... you?" She flips her notebook closed and turns around in her chair so she's facing him. "What're they calling you in for?"

"Somebody escaped from Yankton Federal Penitentiary and the FBI swears up and down that they're not equipped to handle investigating what they found." Ray shrugs. "Maybe one day, but for now, no. So they want us to come have a look instead. I don't like working for los Federales, but they've been doing their best to make up for what happened with Foliage Census, so..."

"I'll take your word for it," April laughs. "How's the City?" Asked a bit wistfully, and obviously referencing New York City.

"Doing okay, although we get a lot of business these days in Queens," says Ray. "We're finally getting some decent spring weather. You should see Central Park."

"Wish I could." April sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "I miss the City a lot right now."

"I don't have to leave for South Dakota until tomorrow," says Ray. "Do you want to come visit Manhattan tonight? It's not much, but it's something."

April brightens up a considerable amount. "Yeah! I mean, yeah, that'd be... that'd be really nice, honestly." Beat. "You're sure it's not too much trouble?"

"Not at all," says Ray. "heck, it's still mid-morning at home. Once I've finished my cereal we can go back to the city. No trouble at all."

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" April pretty much pounces Ray and hugs him tightly.

Someone's been homesick.

Ray grins and hugs April back. "You're welcome," he says. "The calendar's fairly clear for today job-wise. Anywhere in particular you wanna go?"

"Strawberry Fields," April says instantly. "And the Life Cafe. I miss their sweet potato fries." She grins. "Thank you. I mean... I've missed home. A lot."

"Considering how much I missed New York City when I was away from it for three weeks against my will, I kind of understand," says Ray. "No worries. It'll be good."

"Okay. God, sorry, finish your cereal!" April gets off of him and sits in her chair, practically bouncing, she's so excited.

Yes, Ray, she is just gonna watch you eat.

Ray laughs. "There's not much left," he says. "Anyway. How've you been otherwise?"

"Pretty good," she says with a grin. "Trying to keep my brother out of trouble, drawing, trying to write, having good sex... the usual. Yourself?"

"I found out we had nonhuman intelligent fish-men living underwater off the coast of Massachusetts. Some of them married into the local human population about a hundred years ago. They've got descendants on the swim tea at one of the colleges up there."

That gets a laugh. "Well, that's not one you hear every day. Bet they've got the best swim team in the district."

"I didn't get to ask about their record," Ray admits. "They said it was exam week at college. Even half-fishman athletes have to keep up an academic record."

"Can't pass without doing the work, unless you're a hacker."

The food is almost gone. Yay. April is bouncing even more.

"They didn't really seem like the computer types," says Ray. "Hang on a second."

He's one of those guys who drinks the milk out of the bowl.

"Okay. I think we're good now. You ready?"

"Yeah!" She scribbles a quick note along the lines of 'visiting Ray's world, be back tonight' to drop with Bar for anyone who might want to know where she is. "Off we go!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only