milliways_bar | (no subject)

"I'm glad that you're able to help your nephews and that they are handling their new powers well."

She laughs at Ray's enthusiasm over Michael, "I'm glad you've met, and I'm not surprised he was willing to lend a hand. I'm not familiar with the Great Old Ones, however."

"You're probably better off," Ray says. "Incomprehensible powers of what amounts to madness in our world from beyond the bounds of space and time as we know them, with a hankering for a big old chunk of Earth and human sanity. Nasty bunch. My world's got problems with them every few hundred years or so and we're heading into an active cycle now."

Normal, perhaps saner, people who heard things like 'incomprehensible powers,' and 'from beyond the bounds of space and time' would be either questioning the teller's sanity or fleeing in terror.

This, however, is Milliways: The Bar at the End of the Universe. More specifically, the listener is Annabelle Newfield, who is at least partly responsible for inspiring the use of the term "Daredevil" for her type of Inspiration.

Annabelle looks seriously at Ray and informs him, "If they can be killed by conventional or unconventional weapons and you need a hand, just let me know. Max didn't call me AEon's aiming system for nothing."

"I appreciate the offer," Ray says, "but I have to admit that it can't be done. They can't actually die, they're that different from ordinary beings of any kind of matter and most kinds of spirit energy. Their physical forms might be temporarily dispelled under precisely the right circumstances, but they can't genuinely be killed."

"That being said, if we need help with a materialization and the arcane means aren't available, I intend to come here and scream like a schoolgirl for help."

Annabelle frowns at the explanation that they can't be killed. "Well, damn, so much for that solution then."

"Coming in here for help sounds like a perfectly sensible solution to me. As strange as this place is you're likely to run into several someones who could lend a hand.

"It's amazing how often it works out that way," Ray says. "Purely out of curiosity, now, what is it that brought you here?"

Annabelle's smile turns a little sad. "My luck ran out. It's a long story, of love and blood and betrayal but when I took out the Earthquake generator it caused the cavern it was in to collapse on top of me."

Annabelle gives Ray a wry smile,"You can't exactly dodge that many tons of scaffolding. This is apparently what lies between life and the afterlife for me."

"I'm sorry," Ray says. "I mean, I'm glad you found this place, but I'm sorry about the dead thing. It can't have been fun."

Annabelle gives Ray a genuine smile, "I'm glad I found this place myself. I don't know that a traditional afterlife would be a good fit for me."

"You said something about being an ambassador?"

"It wasn't my idea," Ray says. "My world... well, it turns out that for the past four hundred thousand years there've been a species of fish-men called the Deep Ones living in the Atlantic Ocean. They've been interacting with humanity in a few isolated communities in secret for a hundred and fifty years now, but they officially came out in public to the whole world last year. The first three or four people the State Department appointed as America's ambassadors to the Deep Ones quit after maybe a week each. I have a reputation for dealing with all kinds of weird creatures on a daily basis, including some of the beings I've brought from Milliways to help out with this or that crisis, and my older daughter's a sentient machine, so they finally wound up coming to me and saying they were running out of actual diplomatic possibilities and would I consider accepting a post for dealing with non-humans in general. I wouldn't've said yes, but they offered to make Ecto a citizen if I took the job, so..."

"Your daughter is a sentient machine? I'd ask how that happened, but I'm almost certain that I wouldn't understand it."

"I'm glad that you managed to get citizenship for her though, even if you did have to take on that position to get it. I'm glad no one ever made me an ambassador. I've never been very good at dealing with problems I can't shoot, " she admits sheepishly.

"Long story short? Someone here built a lot of upgrades into the company car. When it achieved consciousness its first act was to call me 'daddy'," Ray says. "That was in 2005. It's 2008 in my world now. Ecto's about on par with a human teenager old enough to join the Army now."

Then he laughs. "I have to be honest. I'm really not all that good with people. Non-human beings, sure, I can deal with those any day of the week, but I'm terrible at reading all the subtle signs and indicators that accompany human politicking. Give me fish-guys and sentient octopi any day of the week."

Annabelle grins, "I'm glad I'm not the only one whose untalented at that sort of thing. I haven't the patience or the inclination for politicking."

"I'm glad that you have better luck with non-humans, it sounds as if your world needs it!"

"That would be putting it mildly," Ray says. "Let me put it like this: a while ago, I was asked by a friend here at Milliways if I didn't come to the Bar for something approaching normalcy, since it was obviously in short supply at home. Said friend is a giant space alien robot, several million years old, who can turn into a truck without batting an optic. My world needs pretty much all the shoring-up it can get."

"It certainly seems that way. You have my sympathy Mr. Stantz. If that 'shoring-up' is anything that I can help with, please let me know.

"Will do," says Ray. "You're welcome to come and visit any time, by the way. As long as you don't mind the potential for getting slimed- we've got a ghost living with us who hasn't quite worked out how not to slobber all over guests yet."

"So it is true that the dead can visit other patron's worlds? I'd heard that, but I wasn't sure if it was fact or legend."

"It's true," Ray says, "although you lose your coherency and start turning into an actual ghost if you stay anywhere outside the Bar for more than a day or two. Back when the Armageddon Clock manifested here and it looked as if the Bar stood a chance of being destroyed, I offered to bring anybody here who was dead and who didn't want to take their chances on the actual Afterlife just yet over to my own universe, because even if they went ghostly they'd still have a chance to continue existing. Some worlds don't take kindly to ghosts at all. Mine? My grandfather manifests at his favorite delicatessen once a week for an hour of lunchtime conversation, and he's been dead for twenty years."

"I'll have to remember that. Thank you Mr. Stantz."

She grins at Ray's mention of his grandfather,"Your world does sound interesting. I'd love to visit whenever it is convenient for you."

"I'm in the middle of Nevada at the moment, but when I get back to New York City I"ll let you know," Ray says. "Egon's going to the Bahamas for the investigation we were planning instead of me, so I've got some time once I get back."

"That would be lovely. Thank you again Mr. Stantz."

OOC: Fade here?

[OOC: Works for me!]