milliways_bar | (no subject)

Tommy picks up his card, reads it, and grins. Then he goes off to find the sender. It's been a long time since he's been in, what with business keeping him away, and it's as good a time as any to catch up before Christmas brings its usual dose of chaos. He crouches down and sets his helmet on the floor when he finds them, careful to keep his booted feet off of the blanket.

'Hey, Dot. Long time, no see.' He grins. 'This is Mairi, I take it?'

"BllroooooooooOOH!" Yes, the little turquoise baby who is now giving Tommy the most attentive look ever, because he scans all different kinds of shiny, kind of like dad but more!

"Yes, this is Mairi." Dot grins as the baby starts crawling towards him. "Say hi to Tommy, Mairi"

"Heee!"

If she thinks he's all sorts of shiny now, she should see him in Mainframe. After all, she's too young to comment upon the fact that all of his attempts at energy manipulation end up decidedly purple. Tommy laughs and holds out his gloved hands, encouraging Mairi to keep moving toward him.

'Hey there, Mairi!' He glances up at Dot with a smile. 'Congratulations, by the way! Man, I've been gone for longer than I thought...'

He should probably say something to Bob, if he sees him around.

Yes, congratulations are well within order.

Eee! Hands! Hands mean fingers that can be nommed upon, and thus Mairi does manage to crawl over to grab at the offered hand with a tiny one, only bearing a little smudge of paint on it.

Fortunately, Ranger uniforms can stand up to all sorts of horrible substances, gloves included. Baby drool should be well within their range of tolerance. Tommy laughs as Mairi grabs at his hand and sits down at the edge of the blanket; Mairi can take an experimental flight when he stands up to go.

'Grabby little thing, aren't you? Good job I don't have a beard...'

Well, there's the soul patch, but you can't get a good hold on that.

"She's at the stage where she wants to grab and feel everything..."

Like right now she's gumming the heck out of Tommy's index finger and giggling before ejecting the digit to feely-grab at his face.

Vexen doesn't necessarily fall into the friend or well-meaning company categories, what with being a heartless, emotionless, self-centred shell of a man. He's what might be considered neutral-meaning company at this point, however.

He's working on the PDA that Dot gave him a couple days back when he shows up, followed by a pair of Replicas and one or two Shields carrying loads of books as well as scientific apparatus, and somehow managing to type, walk, and focus on his research without walking into anyone or anything. It would seem that someone has made a brief trip back 'home' to collect a few necessities, and as nice as the PDA is, it can't carry physical objects.

'Dot Matrix,' he says by way of polite greeting when he comes to a stop by the blanket, nodding his head in acknowledgment of her presence. 'I wished to express my appreciation for this.' He gestures to the PDA with its numerous open windows. 'I am finding it to be extremely useful and efficient, and have already taken the liberty of updating its language functionality to include my mother tongue and several lesser known dialects.'

Vexen rarely thanks anyone for anything, so he must be pretty damn impressed.

"That is wonderful news, I'm gla th-" Dot starts to say before Mairi starts looking up Vexen, really looking at him with a half-terrified, half-confused expression and making the beginning whimpers of what will be a truly loud wail.

Vexen looks down at Mairi with a blank, emotionless expression, one slender eyebrow quirked upwards.

The whimpering sounds like the beginning of a loud noise. Vexen does not enjoy loud noises.

'Is something the matter?'

"She and her father can sense instabilities and errors in data, as well as various forms of magic..." Dot is really, really praying that Mairi isn't reacting to the Replicas, altering a deal after the fact is just bad form for a business woman.

"EnneeeaaaaAAAAAH!" Aaaaand there's the wail folks, complete with a little energy sheild forming up around the baby.

Oh, very bad form. Plus, there's no guarantee that Vexen would take well to any attempts; after all, they reached an agreement that both were able to accept, one that the Academic probably wouldn't have taken had something less been offered in exchange.

'I would hardly call them unstable, or errors,' he says, having to raise his voice to be heard properly over the wailing. He's wincing, the noise unpleasantly loud, and it's not long before he forms a shield of his own around himself and his small party.

It's made of ice, and it's a good two feet thick all around. And it's going to stay there until Dot can do something about the noise. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so shrill; even sobbing would be preferable to this.

"Shh...shh Mairi its okay...shh...shh....he's not going to hurt you." Dot is doing her best to calm Mairi back down to an acceptible level. Which normally would involve patting Mairi, but with that sheild up...

"Mairi...shh...shh..it's okay...Mairi...boooook..."

"Eeennnh..."

...Well it's gone down to a slightly softer yell...but a ways from being calm or quiet.

The reaction makes perfect sense, of course. Vexen, after all, does not technically exist even though he's standing right there, and like all of the Organization he has extremely strong magical abilities. Indeed, his are stronger than most, between his ability to harness two distinct and separate elements and the fact that he relies on his ice magic for the majority of his fighting.

Of course, that does not excuse the noise in his mind. He is not as forgiving as some.

And he's more than willing to wait a while longer for Dot to quiet the child down. Even had never aspired to fatherhood, though it would not have come as an entirely unwelcome state of affairs, and he had always tolerated children well. Vexen, on the other hand, is not only incapable of liking them, he comes as close as possible to disliking them as he can.

Well, at least with his current lack of heart.

It's another minute before Mairi's down to a tired sob....she's got a good pair of lungs on her. That and she's managed to wear out her energy reserves just making that sheild, so when it finally drops, she's grabbing for her mom and the little cloth booklet.

"Sorry, it's in her function to repair errors, but right now they just scare her to bits."

Vexen finally lowers the shield when the wailing stops, though he sends the Replicas and Shields along to Kida's quarters rather than signaling for them to linger. He'll head up afterward to store his belongings properly; she went through a lot of trouble getting things to look like home, meaning that he tries to keep his obviously un-Atlantean things out of the way as much as possible.

'I suppose that it was a logical reaction,' he admits grudgingly. 'After all, I don't exist.'

That may sound odd, unless Dot has brushed up on her Nobody research in the past two days.

"...you don't exist?" Call her skeptical but he's RIGHT THERE. In the past two days she's been rather busy with Christmas and her duties at the COMMAND.COM of Mainframe. That and no other Nobodies aside from Vexen have appeared in Bar.

Ah. This would be unfamiliar territory, then.

'Exactly so. I am what is known as a Nobody, a being composed of a physical body and a soul, but lacking a heart. We exist, or rather don't exist, within a realm of nothingness, rejected by both light and dark.'

This is Milliways, you generally encounter unfamiliar territory on such a regular basis that there's a reason that the phrase most uttered here is 'F***ing Milliways!'.

"Short version...to her you scanned like the biggest error and TEAR she had ever seen..." Dot sighes. "If it's any consolation, once she figures out you don't mean her any harm, she won't react that way again."

Vexen shrugs. 'I am not offended by her interpretation of me.'

Mostly because he can't be offended. He can't feel anything, which is convenient sometimes but at others just reminds him of the the only thing he can feel, which is the feeling of loss and emptiness that his lack of a heart brings. A sense of being incomplete.

'It is the vocal reaction, that I find the most distressing.'

"The most she can do is scream for help and sheild herself.." So, those were the things that were done. ...That and throughly soil the diaper. "She did the same thing around Mouse for a while, eventually though Mairi learned she wasn't a threat, eventually."

...It would probably be prudent to get to know the child or have something scout in advance to avoid future wailing events.

How fortunate that Vexen does not have Zexion's olfactory sensitivity, though he's by no means numb to smells.

'I am not particularly worried about being attacked, only the headaches.'

He looks down at Mairi, a somewhat wary expression on his face. 'Would you be able to advise me on how to avoid such episodes in the future? Until I find a way to obtain a heart, I cannot alter my nature.'

And a modification of Mairi's ability to sense the dangers that she can probably would not go over very well.

"I'll try to leave a vidwindow warning if I'm bringing Mairi into the bar, it'll signal through your PDA as an early warning." Dot replies after some very quick thinking. "And this search for your heart..."

'That would be much appreciated. I can find something to occupy myself at that point, though it would also be convenient if she were to learn to tolerate my presence.' After all, sometimes he may need to be downstairs, or wherever 'within range' is for Mairi.

He pauses at Dot's unvoiced inquiry.

'Not necessarily mine, though if possible that would be the best solution. A replacement heart would also be acceptable.'

Mia has offered to help him, but if Dot is willing to offer aid, he will accept that as well. While he would prefer to prove himself by doing everything on his own, he also realises that he has the best chance of success if he utilizes the available resources.

"I'll see what we can do in our own fields of research in regards to hearts." Dot pauses. "If you stay nearby, while I take care of Mairi she will eventually catch on that you are not a threat."

Short version: Stick around while Mom or Dad are around and calm, to teach Mairi through her parents that you are no threat.

Vexen nods his head. 'If you are willing to assist me, then I would be most appreciative. Mia offered to aid, having had experience with finding hearts for those like me, but she is nearly the birth of her child and is thus unable to help with as much enthusiasm as earlier. You may, however, find her to be a valuable source of information.'

He watches Mairi cautiously for a moment, then inclines his head in agreement. 'Is there anyone else I should watch for, accompanying her?'

"Bob would be the other person to bring her in, he's my husband." And that ofcourse. "He has blue skin and generally comes in wearing his armor from work."

'Bob.' Vexen has a good memory, that at least can be said about him, and with the description, he'll be certain to recognise Bob when he sees him.

He pauses a moment and gives Dot a level look. 'What do you wish in recompense, for your assistance? I do not like to leave debts outstanding.'

It's several moments with a fussy, dirty and increasingly hungry baby that Dot thinks about this. "Should the research bear any fruit towards your cause, I would like any assistance you might be able to provide in protective sheilding and defense for my home system."

The Academic considers this for a moment and then nods.

'Agreed,' he says. 'In that event, however, I will either need specifications for your world, or to see it myself.'

Otherwise, he's building blind and possibly useless.

"There is a scanning laser in one of the rooms upstairs that allows non-digital lifeforms to become digital, so if it comes to it...you'll have a way to visit." And wet and hungry needs some assistance right now. "Excuse me, I have to take care of Mairi's diaper."

He might not smell it, but Dot's certainly had enough of it.

Oh, Vexen smelled it some time ago.

So, he stopped breathing. It's one of the perks of not actually being alive.

'Of course.' He sketches a shallow bow of acknowledgment. 'Thank you again, for the device.'

Dani grins as she reads her card, and after a quick visual sweep of the room locates the sender.

"Thanks, Dot!" Dani greets her as she walks up, holding up the card. Looking down at Mairi she can't help commenting, "Wow, she's gotten big since the last time I saw her!"

"Dani!" Watch out girl, you're about to get a hug from Dot. "You've grown too since the last time I saw you."

Don't worry; Dani's prepared. "Yeah, but Enzo's still taller than me," she pretends to complain as she accepts and returns the hug.

"So, how've you been? Everything quiet in Mainframe?"

"Mostly quiet, we've got a lot of small businesses starting up, and always more people moving in...enough to keep me busy."

Mairi wants in on the hug too and starts to float up towards Dani's eyelevel.

"Whoop...but she tends to keep me on my toes..."

Dani giggles, waving at the floating baby. "I can see that. Hi there, Mairi."

"Eee!" Have a baby coming up to grab your hat and hood kiddo. Hi there Dani!

Grinning, Dani tips her head so that Mairi can easily pull the hat off of her head.

"You probably don't remember me, do you Kiddo?"

Aaand once it's off Dani's head the hat is straight to being chewed upon.

NOMNOMCOTTONKNITNOMNOM.

"Mhmmnnrbblrll!"

Dani looks over at Dot, amused. "So...is that a yes, a no or is she complimenting me on my taste in hats?"

Oh don't mind Dot, she's just using her PDA to capture this Photoshop moment.

"I think it's a compliment on your hats...."

Dani doesn't mind, so long as she gets a copy.

"Maybe I'll have to get her a hat for Christmas, or her next birthday," she suggests, grinning.

"Oh, I knit enough hats while I was pregnant with her that she'll be your age before she needs new ones."

Dani chuckles as she catches a glint of gold out of the corner of her eye. 'Eep'-ing to herself, she quickly removes the pin from her cap before Mairi noms on it. That would not be good.

"Darn. Guess I'll have to think up something else, then."

K's 'to do' list has been just a bit too long for socializing lately, but he still ducks in now-and-then for a pull of Bar's best bourbons. Which is how he comes upon his card and reads it silently with a smile.

Then makes an equally silent toast, wishing the best for Dot and the family in the new year, before draining the glass and slipping back out the Door.