First entrance

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"--gut you like a fish and feed you to the cats," Gaia is saying as she steps through the door, wiping her hands off on what there is of her leather skirt with her usual post-customer-bouncing swagger.

With only one small problem. This? Is not her street. That man she had thrown through the door only seconds before is not here either, but that's no loss, though she wouldn't have minded more of a fight out in the street. He was drunk. She could've finished him easily.

She falls silent as she glances around, features settling into the usual vaguely surly look that is the wary Gaia.

It's certainly a lot cleaner here. Quieter, too. And smells better than the brothel.

There is potential. For what, she doesn't know.

[tiny tag: gaia (rome)]

Comments

[bloody-awful.livejournal.com]

It's a bar. A bar's a bar in any century. And at the bar is a blonde bloke in a trenchcoat, smoking a cigarette. He's giving Gaia a once-over that she might be familiar with.

"Hallo, crumpet. Welcome to Milliways."

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

Some bars are cleaner than others. This one looks like it must be some sort of patrician place, though she'd always thought they just went to each other's houses or something. But being around money never hurts... and neither does acting casual. Casually wary. Not afraid. Best not to show weakness.

So she gives him a once-over in return, stepping closer. "What's the story?"

[bloody-awful.livejournal.com]

"Why don't you sit down? First drink's on me." The man nods at the bar stool next to him and stubs out his smoke. He grins at her like he's in on some kind of joke, and not a joke you'd tell in polite company. "Tell me, sweetheart. Can you see the door behind you? Is it open or closed?"

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"Big spender, eh?" she asks, eyeing the bar stool before taking a seat. "They got decent wine here, not too much water in it?"

At least she isn't unarmed. Always a plus when in strange situations, even if it is only a small knife. She glances back toward the entrance.

"Someone must've closed it," she says. "I didn't."

[bloody-awful.livejournal.com]

"Brilliant." He grins. "I bet you'd like... " he cocks his head and says, "Falernian wine. Watch this."

He pats the Bar and says, "Sweetheart, some of your finest Falernian wine on my tab if you please."

And that's exactly what appears on the Bar before them, in a fine red cup.

The blonde man hands it to her and says, "Welcome to heaven, honey." He lights a cigarette with a smile. But the smile is absolutely wicked.

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

She's never even been in the same room as Falernian--they certainly don't have it at the brothel, or even at the collegium. She isn't sure why, but the expense of the wine unnerves her somehow more than its sudden appearance, or his unfamiliar and un-Roman appearance.

There are things she doesn't know at all, and there are things she knows of but knows are very far out of her league. That may be it.

She picks up the cup, looking into the wine before taking a cautious sip. "Say that to all the girls, eh?"

[bloody-awful.livejournal.com]

The man winks. He's in his fifties and looks like fifty miles of bad road, but when he says, "As many as I can," it's not as if he's bragging. "You just got lucky. You've come to a place you can't even imagine, and there's a tradition that the first person who meets you through the door buys you a drink and tells you what you've gone and got yourself into. And pure luck of the draw, you drew me."

He throws back a shot of whiskey and chuckles. "This is Milliways, the Bar at the End of the Universe. Look over there." He points toward the Observation Window, where the Universe is always ending, always beginning.

[notanarc.livejournal.com]

Byers only intended to stop by Milliways to see if Niki had been back, but now, he's a little distracted.

Whoever that woman is, she looks just like Yves.

It's sort of freaking him out.

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"Not for sale, chief," she says, out of habit. Veteran of a thousand awkward social situations, is Gaia.

They don't all end in violence, either.

[notanarc.livejournal.com]

... same attitude, too.

Byers' cheeks darken and he immediately takes a small step back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," he says, clearing his throat. "You just... uh. You look a lot like someone I know."

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

She gestures dismissively. "No worries. Met a man once who looked like someone I used to know, and... well, he wasn't him. Lucky for me he was understanding. A lot of people look alike, especially on the street at night."

[notanarc.livejournal.com]

Slowly, he tilts his head at her.

His glance is a studying one, oh yes.

"Are you a new arrival?"

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"Just now," she says. "I was going outside, and here I am. Is that how it works here?"

It occurs to her that she should probably be more startled or afraid by the change in surroundings, but it's better to figure it out first and then, if she's got the time and the inclination, let herself be upset.

[alertcommando]

Oh, newcomer. Tanya tilts head at the woman, and lets out a small sigh.

Ah well.

"First time here, I am guessing."

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"That a problem?" she asks, eyeing Tanya.

Nothing like the women she knows at home. Interesting, though. Clean, strange clothing, her hair... maybe she has been sick? She keeps her distance, all the same.

[alertcommando]

Pants, boots, black tank top. A nice athletic build. "Not for me, not for the other patrons. Guess you don't want to know why there is a Bar like this here." Tanya shrugs, she will not impose help on anyone.

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

Looking a bit like a soldier. She knows the look of a soldier, she's met so many in her time.

"As good a place as any for a bar to be," she says. "Don't recognize the people, though--you're not Roman."

[alertcommando]

"No, German, further up North." Tanya has coffee, not alcohol. Coffee is good keeps sleep away.

She knows she should not expect people to be friendly, but... tonight, putting an effort seems to not be worth it. She is dead. Just a matter of time.

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"Gaul?" she asks, brow furrowed. "I hear they eat their dead, there. That true?"

She's always wanted to know. No sense in asking any of the slaves; they don't talk about home much, not around native-born slaves, and not in proper Latin anyway.

[friend_of_lucy]

She looks dangerous but catches his eye as she comes through the door so he stands up and bows,

"Are you well?"

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"There a reason I shouldn't be?" she asks, watching him warily.

Well... hallucinations might be a clue. She's never had them before, though, and it always seemed to her that people who hallucinate have fevers or chills, and she has neither. She feels perfectly marvelous, in fact.

[friend_of_lucy]

"Oh, that's good. This place is called Milli Ways. I'm Tumnus."

Her watching is a bit frightening, she could be one of the Queen's spies.

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"Gaia," she says with a nod just polite enough. Showier manners are for more bootlicking slaves. She's got no need for that. "What is this place? Did it move, or did I?"

[friend_of_lucy]

"You did I'm afraid to say. Its a strange sort of magic, but its not the White Witch's."

[aventine-gaia.livejournal.com]

"White Witch?" she asks.

She doesn't really believe in magic. The power of the gods, yes, but that's different. That's gods. They're supposed to be able to do things people can't.

"God-magic, then? Or something else?"