First entrance in Milliways chronology

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It isn't every day that one of the doors in the Mansion leads to a bar at the end of the universe. However, X-23, sometimes known as Laura Kinney, appears to take it in stride.

Her step half-hitches as she crosses the threshold, nostrils flaring as she scents the air, getting her bearings. But after that initial hiccup the tension in her shoulders eases fractionally, and she makes her way over to Bar, booted feet surprisingly soundless on the wooden floor.

She has had a lot of practice, after all. It's what she was created for.

It takes her a while to decide what to order, body still and wary as she goes over her options. Eventually she decides on a coffee, black, and props herself up on a barstool to watch the people around her.

That's another thing she's good at.

Some people find that stare disturbing. She never seems to notice.

This explains a lot, actually.

Comments

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Despite being absorbed in her work (not literally, that'd be just a little too Cyberman-ish for her), she does cotton on to the fact that an unknown someone is sitting nearby staring at her work.

Eventually.

"Um, hullo? Can I help you?"

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X-23 gives this some thought.

"No."

There's another couple minutes of silence.

"What are you doing?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Startin' a new line of table decorations - I call them 'theoretical scribble', an' I'll sell'm for a thousand pounds a pop."

This is the typical smartassed Ace answer to a question from someone she doesn't know. This is also an obvious lie.

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X-23 seems to take this at face value.

"Oh."

She's still watching, though.

"Do people pay for them?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

That throws Ace for a second. No one (except one very paranoid Army surgeon and one somewhat deranged witch hunter) has ever believed her stories up front.

"Oh yeah, through the nose. They're all the rage in New York an' such." Still, she is rather incorrigible.

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X doesn't frown, though at the moment she's paying more attention to Ace than to her work.

"I haven't seen them."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace does roll her eyes then. How literal can a person get, anyway?
"That's 'cause I'm talkin' out m'arse, obviously. Gordon Bennet..."

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This also seems to require some thought.

"Is that a joke?"

She can rarely tell.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"If it isn't, I've had some very interestin' surgery done at some point or other." Ace points out dryly, adding in a missing square root.

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"Oh."

X-23 does not look embarrassed.

"Should I laugh?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"... If you want to?" She's not sure she wants to see this gal's idea of laughing.

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"Okay."

She doesn't laugh.

She also returns her attention to Ace's equations.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace is a little lost now.

Make that a lot lost.

Can someone please give her a map?

"An... you are...?" What? The other girl started it.

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This time X-23 almost manages to look startled.

"X-23. Or Laura."

She seems to think Ace should know that.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Right. I'm Ace, or... yeah, just Ace." Introductions are important, even ifsomeone seems to think they're unnecessary.

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X-23 just nods, still a little startled.

"I remember."

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace blinks. A lot. Then she groans. Not this again.

"Look, if I blew up y'fortress or depot or whatever I'm very sorry, though I'm really not 'cause if I blew it up then it needed blowin' up an y'should consider a different career path." She hates it when the future catches up with her. It's very hard to come up with the proper witticisms.

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"No."

X-23 does frown this time, just a little.

"You did not hurt me."

She appreciates that. A lot.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

There's pause. That's a new answer, anyway.

"What did I... no, nevermind. I'll find out when I get to it, I guess." Though, honestly?

Curiosity and cats. She's dying to know what's going on.

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X nods, just once.

"Yes."

Laura has no idea when, though.

Time-travel is not her area of expertise.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"Oh, don't let me interrupt you, chatty Cathy." Great, another Roland. Ace wonders if throwing candy at this girl will work better than it did on the gunslinger.

...

Probably.

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X-23 tilts her head, regarding Ace curiously.

"Who is Cathy?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

"It's... it's a sayin'. Look, nevermind. G'on an be as taciturn as y'want. It's a fad 'round here that repeats occasionally." Knows New York but doesn't know Chatty Cathy, dressed in what Ace assumes to be late twentieth/early twenty-first century clothing?

So weird.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Okay."

X-23 is still sitting there, though, watching Ace.

It's hard to learn how to be human.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

... Perhaps she shouldn't be learning from Ace, really.
"Though I'll still ramble on, 'cause I do, an' it doesn't seem like you're the type t'stop me. Don't suppose you've heard the one 'bout the Dalek an' the Monution, have you?"