milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Older Nathan was in the bar, and then somewhere, the burned man in the hospital bed woke up. And he vanished from where he stood in the bar.

And now the Front Door was opening, and there was a young boy peering in. Blinking at the sight of the bar that he thought was his closet door. He had been taken to his room by the nanny after getting shooed out of the living room. Ma and Dad were having their 'meetings' again, and he wasn't allowed to stick around even though he was a big boy now.
But there's never been a whole place inside his closet before!

He slowly walked in, and then saw the Observation Window.

"....wow! Like Star Wars!" He then ran over for a better look at it. Meet Nathan Petrelli, Age 10.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeh, kinda like that." Someone his own ages comments, walking by in a kid's size flightsuit with a funky looking-flashlight in one hand. "New Door?"

Nathan stared and then grinned at the outfit, "Cool! You wanna be a pilot too?"

He then shrugged, "I guess so. This was supposed to be just my closet, but this is even better."

"Actually... I want to be a Ghostbuster." Tyler smiles. "But I'm just using this for going outside and doing my sword practice."

"Can you still see the door back home?"

"What's that? And uh, yeah, why wouldn't I see the door?" He tilted his head to the side at the idea, since from his time, the movie wouldn't be out for another 5 years.

He looked at the flashlight with more interest, "Is that like a light saber?"

"...Sometimes when people come in, their door back home disappears for a while. When it opens again it's usually the same time they entered it." Kind of like a Narnia book, except more crack. "Ghostbusters are people who bust ghosts, spooks, spectres, demons and other things that tend to jump out and go boogabooga at people."

"Kinda. I'm not allowed to use it in the bar, but there's an area out back where I could show it to you."

Nathan made a face at that, but he quickly looked back to make sure his door was still there. He even ran over, and opened it to make sure his bedroom was still on the other side. Which it was.

He then closed the door again.

"Looks ok to me. And sure, can you show me it? Please?" He wasn't going to mention how he didn't believe in ghosts or anything like that. Not when there's a light saber to check out which is even better!

That's alright Nathan, because spooks, spectres, goblins and gods all believe in you anyways.

Most believe you're tasty with ketchup.

"Sure," Tyler watches Nathan a moment before jogging out into a well trampled patch of snow, near the bar proper and in a stretch of land not unlike the Scottish hills. The 'flashlight', looking as if Tim Taylor took a few pokes at it, it lit up with a -snap- hisss that has become familiar to so many Star Wars fans.

"It's only a training saber though. It can't cut through anything."

He'll learn otherwise when he's older. Definitely on the ghost front with recent events.

Nathan jogged out alongside, but kept back.

He then grinned widely as the saber lit up.

"Still looks better than any of those dopey toy ones in stores. How did you get it?"

"A friend made it for me," Tyler says simply, before going into his first set of movements. "My world has a lot of weird nasty things, and I usually end up running into them, so he thought I should learn to use one for self-defense."

-whm- -whmwhhhm-

He's no Jedi, obviously, and not anyone's apprentice.

He was still cooler than most kids he knew.

"Yeah, what kind of things? Like monsters? Or fierce wild animals?"

"Not many monsters...super villians, cultists bent on world destruction, Nazis, and sometimes flying frozen pigs." The last is what happens when you don't know where the resident good mad genius girl has set up her frozen produce cannon.

It's not as cool to be in as it sounds.

Nathan made a face at that, ".......Seriously? And I thought Nazis were all gone? We kicked their butt back in World War II."

"Some of em still exist. I fought some that came from Illonois." Where ever there be lazy angry whitefolken, there be the seeds for white supremists.

Tyler makes a matching face. "Doesn't mean it's any less dangerous to have to deal with them."

Nathan will realize it more when he gets older, and sees examples of it. His own scope was limited to some extent right now.

"Man that stinks," he grimaced at that. "Good thing you kicked their butt then."

"I had help, but it was we either had to kick their butts, or they'dve set a really horrible monster loose on a totally nice innocent town." Tyler, pauses for a moment, thinking.

It's just dawning him that the Nazi thing was the first mission he volunteered himself into danger for.

"So you're like superheroes?" Another head tilt at that.

Nathan's question catches him a little off-guard, and the saber is switched off for a moment because TOUGH THINKY + WEAPON = NONO.

"...I guess you could say that. I don't have any superpowers though."

Nathan shrugged, "So what, you got a lightsaber. Makes up for it. Not like people have powers anyway."

The irony will catch up with him in about 29 years.

...Tyler's feeling very aware of the irony right now.

"You never know who might have superpowers though. Or what kind. Especially here."

Nathan scoffed, "Nah...."

He eyed the other boy a little, "...Seriously? That'd be fun if it was real. Like super strength or flying." Small grin at the idea.

"Seriously. In case you haven't noticed...a magic door appeared in your closet that wasn't there before." Tyler smiles. "I know a few people who have super strength, and at least one guy who can fly under his own power."

"Not to mention real Jedi have come here."

"I noticed," He fixed him a look.

"And really? Even Jedi? Are they here now?" He looked around for them.

The look is returned with a bemused grin.

"Yeh, even Jedi, though I haven't seen one come into the Bar in a really long time."

Even if Ray is an official head-blind Jedi.

"The guy who can fly, has blue skin and wears armor almost all the time. You can't miss him."

"Awww, man, what good is that then?" Kid might be pulling his leg.

He was interested at the flying, "Blue skin and armor? But he can still fly with all that?"

"I've seen Han Solo around the Bar. Swear on a stack of comic books."

That's why it's awesome.

"Yeh, he can fly, he can also change his shape into a whole bunch of things."

Nathan's eyes got wide at that, "Seriously, Solo? Where?"

He's one of his favorites! And this place just did become that more awesome.

"Huh, change his shape into what else?"

This? was going to be a priceless moment once Luz found out who he was about to talk to. Both Nate and Bill had teased him, along with Will, when his younger self had come in so..revenge was sweet. In a sense. George liked kids and was quite popular with his own grandkids.

"Eh sorta like Star Wars," the former paratrooper says from where he is working on shining his jumpboots. "No Darth Vader here that I've seen." Beaming up at the kid he nods toward the window. "Might see the Falcon out there to. Or out back."

Oh it definitely was, especially since this Nathan was from even before his mother was pregnant with Peter so right now it was just the sort of confident heir running around.

Nathan turned around, and his eyes widened. Wow, a real soldier in here too! This place was so cool!

He hurried over, and saluted smartly, "Good day, sir!"

Luz laughed- the kid was a sharp one and..somewhat familiar. But not. Sorta.

"At ease, soldier." Winking at the youth he sets the boot down to get more polish on his cloth. "Don't need t' be salutin me. Been out of the Airborne for a while now." He couldn't help but smile. This kid was like his own grandsons.

Nathan's jaw dropped further at that, as he lowered his hand.

"...Really?" He then cleared his throat, and tried sounding older, "I mean, which company, sir?"

"Little group called Easy from the 506th, 101st." Digging out his dogtags he pulled them off from around his neck and offered them to lil!Nate to examine. "Course you might not have heard about them. Just a small group."

Then, at being called sir again, Luz offered the kid his hand. "And I'm no 'sir' either. Just George."

The boy carefully took the dogtags, and studied them for a moment. Briefly tracing his fingers over the raised inscription. Different from his dad's of course, and they were packed away.

"I think I read something about the 101st...That was World War II though, right?" His head tilted to the side with some confusion. This guy seemed like his dad's age, but that would put him more like his grandparents age.

He then offered his hand, "I'm Nathan, nice to meet you." He then offered the dogtags back to him.

"...Nathan?"

Oh..Priceless.

There is a brief pause before the grin widens even more. "Yeah..it was World War II, kid." Motioning around the bar the paratrooper looks back to Nate with that same grin. "This place is called Milliways. Lots of people from lots of places and times come here."

Wait till he tells Bill.

His face scrunched for a moment, the expression clearly going 'What's your problem?' that likely looked familiar to Luz, and just cemented who it was.

"Pilots too?" He asked with interest as he peered around. "I want to be one when I'm older." More fun than just being a lawyer. Though his dad's a good one.

George was having to fight laughing at this point.

Bill was never going to believe this. At all. Ever.

"Oh there were pilots to. We had them fly us to Normandy and Holland." Then, leaning forward he adds, "But the real thrill is in jumping out of the planes."

"Neat! I heard of them, and the planes they flew."

Nathan then grinned widely at that, "Like with a parachute? Cool!"

"Yeah with a parachute. And lots of other things to." Setting the boot down he waved down one of the waitrats. "Two glasses of milk and a plate of cookies?" The rat eyed Nathan a little before squeeking, pointing a finger up at the youth before looking back to Luz. "Yeah. Just get the stuff okay?" Shruging the rodent scampered off to fill the order.

"Anyone can fly a plane. It takes guts and real courage to jump out of a perfectly good one. I've done so...seven times."

Nathan took a wary step back from the waitrat, and grimaced like any New Yorker.

"What the heck was that?"

He then replied with a determined expression, "That's cool, but I'd rather fly. You can go anywhere and see the whole world. Just you and the clouds. It'd be awesome!" Little wonder he secretly digs the whole flying without a plane now.

"Wait staff- never been to a place that used them before?" Waggling his brows the funny-man sat back in his chair motioning for Nathan to sit at one of the other chairs if he wanted to. "See. Milliways, as I said before, has people from anywhere and everywhere. 's not your normal Bar."

Beaming a smile he picked his shoe back up and started to work. "Oh flying is great..dangerous job. Gotta be well trained to do it." The men at D-day hadn't been. "Why you wanna be a pilot? Like Skywalker or Solo?"

Nathan shook his head, "No, I guess not. I mean, no place got a window like that." Also it's kind of cool he's not getting yelled at for being a kid in a bar, like he was older.

He hopped onto the chair, and nodded, "Like Solo definitely. Skywalker seemed kind of lame. Even with the light saber and everything. Least Solo's got his own ship. And I know, I wanna go into the military when I'm older, just like my dad. He fought in 'Nam, but he was ground, not a pilot."

"Vietnam..yeah I remember that one. Scary buisness that." He had known Nathan's father was in the military but didn't know where he had served. For a moment he thought he understood something.

When the rat returns Luz takes the plate and drinks off, setting them both onto the table before paying the waitrat. "Almost as bad as what we went through..." Pause. "But you don't need to worry about any of that."

The boy's face became more serious, more like the man and leader he was to become. What he was being groomed for.

"I know a little. Dad doesn't talk about any of it, but I know it got bad at times. Some kids were jerks, and trying to say he killed kids. Which is stupid. Dad always said he just did what he had to do, do what's necessary for the greater good."

Nathan was slightly naive here, and didn't know his dad as well as he thought yet.

George nodded. "People do some things during war- sometimes bad sometimes good. When people aren't there to understand and actually go through what a soldier in combat sees, Nathan, they don't understand. When we were in Haganau in 1945 the people back home had almost forgot a war was going on."

Then, pausing, he studies the younger version of his friend. "Do you remember what you learned in school about what folks did on the homefront during the War?"

Nathan nodded, "You sound a little like my dad."

He considered it, "We just went over some of it, but I heard more from my family. Like the rationing, and scrap metal drives."

"That's right...they didn't do that right before the War ended." Leaning forward he watches the kid carefully. "They didn't do that in Vietnam either."

People tended to forget things like that when they themselves weren't being effected. Forget about people dying for their freedoms...

"All soldiers do. 's why we do what we do." Winking he nudges the plate of cookies toward lil!Nate. "And I know the importance of a good cookie or two."

Nathan frowned, and then nodded. "No, sir, they didn't. Forgot what's important." He was still a baby when his dad came back from his last mission, and sometimes Arthur got in dark moods. Locking himself into his study, and come out later smelling like booze. And he'd argue with Mom. Nathan was sent to his room then. Even later on, and the words dishonorable discharge were thrown around, Nathan didn't understand why. But his dad was a hero, that couldn't have happened right? Sometimes that one guy who drops by the house, Linderman, would slip and call Dad Dallas for some reason, and his dad would shush him up quickly.

"Yes, sir. Thank you," Suddenly a bit shyer as he quietly took some cookies to eat.

"Yeah..they might not have, but things were going on like they were before." Which had hurt a lot of the guys- caused a lot of them to break.

Webster had put it best. 'What the fuck are we doing here?'

But that was years in the past, now, and Luz just grined. "'s George. Not sir. I wasn't one of them officers or anything." Because, really, George with a rank like that? He even pulled a little funny face!

Nathan nodded, "Sorry, I couldn't see your rank. My dad was enlisted too."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only