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[stilljustandrew]

Mere seconds after his unexpected encounter with a strangely articulate yet enigmatic little snake, says the narration, a young man steps through the elevator door to head back down to Vi's apartment -- and finds himself stepping in the door of the fabled nexus of all possible worlds and times. More omnichronistic than Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, more pan-dimensional than the Inn Between, and far, far more alive than Terminus ... this is Milliways, the Bar at the End of the Multiverse. The place where -- apparently -- everybody knows your name.

It's a good place to relax when you've got trouble on your mind. Because you've got time here to work things out. All the time in the worlds.



Andrew looks around and heads toward the bar, vaguely wishing he had his camcorder.

Comments

[q_in_training]

Mac's starting to think that it might be time to trade out the purple streaks for another color. She's had them -- what, four years now? That's got to be some kind of new record, especially when she used to change them every year max.

Maybe she's actually, horror of horrors, getting tired of all this stability crap.

But for now, purple they remain, as she fiddles with her phone near one of the fireplace chairs. "Pigs -- why -- won't -- you -- die!" can be heard floating from her general direction.

Angry Birds fever. It infects us all.

[stilljustandrew]

The vehemence of it startles Andrew, and he pauses midway to the bar to investigate its source.

And blinks when he sees who it is.

[q_in_training]

"No no no, go up, don't go to the -- HAH!"

Airpunch of victory!

...And prompt sheepishness when she catches sight of Andrew, though she's still grinning when she waves hello.

[stilljustandrew]

"...hi," he says, brightly.

OMG it's Neptune's very own answer to Willow Rosenberg. Only without the wicca mojo.

[q_in_training]

"Hey," she says, the sheepish grin persisting. "If I said the words 'angry' and 'birds' to you in combination, would that mean anything?"

Probably not, she figures. Andrew was from the pre-Rovio-owns-all era last she checked.

[stilljustandrew]

"Uh ... not immediately?"

Oh god. Maybe she knows the other him too. Maybe this is a password.

[q_in_training]

Of course it is, Andrew. A password to amazingness.

And hours of your life that you will never see again.

Mac holds up her iPhone so he can get a look at the screen. Currently, it shows a giant slingshot loaded with a bright red spherical bird. "This," she declares, "is what you have to look forward to in a couple years. Unless you've hit 2010 already. Did you hit 2010?"

It has been a while since they've seen each other.

[stilljustandrew]

"Uh," he says, "no, not for a while yet -- listen can I ask you a potentially really weird question?"

Weird enough that he isn't distracted by the shiny, shiny awesome that is the iPhone.

[q_in_training]

Sacrilege, Wells.

She flips the phone back around, eyebrows lifted. "Yeah, sure. Shoot."

[stilljustandrew]

"See the thing is -- you know the Many Worlds hypothesis? How there's effectively an infinite number of timelines and a slightly different version of any given person on any given line?"

This may not be the fastest way to explain, but -- well. Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie is enough of a geek that she might get this approach better than most.

[q_in_training]

And indeed, Andrew's guess is spot-on.

Her forehead knots up a little. "Yeah, what about it?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Well ... I only came to Milliways for the first time about a week or two ago, only a lot of people here recognized me, and they said a different version of me has been here for ages and knows a lot of people, so um I guess what I'm trying to ask is --"

A hopeful smile.

"-- have we met?"

[q_in_training]

"This might be the weirdest thing I've ever seen here." Fervent, as Mac stuffs her phone back into her pocket and stares. "Or at least in like the top three."

He definitely still looks like Andrew. Okay, maybe a little younger, now that she's paying attention and not plotting the deaths of a bunch of hapless green pigs, but --

"Yeah. I've known you since high school. You're seriously -- ?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Since high school?" A touch of alarm at that. "Uh, mine or yours?"

[q_in_training]

"Mine," she clarifies hastily. "Sorry. Yeah, we met my senior year, so like five years ago."

[stilljustandrew]

"Oh." Beat. "Wait, that's ... is the other me older than me?"

[q_in_training]

"I think so?"

She gives him another critical once-over. "How old are you?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Twenty-three? I'm only about five years out of high school myself, and, uh."

The prospect of discussing what his first few years out of high school were like is beyond awkward.

[q_in_training]

"...Dude, you're a lot younger."

She's starting to grin a little, but the disbelief hasn't gone anywhere -- if anything, it's multiplying like little bewildered rabbits. "The other Andrew's pushing thirty or somewhere around there."

[stilljustandrew]

"Weird," he says, blinking. "I guess I'm just ... here from earlier in the timeline?"

[q_in_training]

"Yeah, could be," she says.

The disbelief rabbits are starting to scatter. The way Mac's looking at him now is...actually verging into amazement, and maybe just a little bit of glee.

"This is kind of cool. I mean, you know, still weird" -- because dude, is it ever -- "but...cool. You're an actual Alternate Universe Guy."

It's like something straight out of Fringe!

[md_donighal]

At some point, his path crosses that of a red-haired man in a gray suit and smoked glasses. "Oh, hello Andrew. Has it been a while for you?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Uh ... hi!" Uncertainly. "Possibly? Although there's a very good chance I'm not the same Andrew you know, so, um, can't really be sure."

[md_donighal]

"Oh, for Heaven's sake..." the man mutters, just enough under his breath that Andrew might be able to hear it. He looks more closely; Andrew may notice that his already green eyes glow slightly, as if lit from within. The stranger continues to think out loud. "Quantum oscillation's off, but by less than a millicurtiss... temporal valence is a little lower, maybe; I've gotten out of practice reading that..."

He realizes his interior monologue has become exterior and shakes himself. "You're not quite the same Andrew I know, but that's not as important as you being an Andrew who doesn't know me. So let me correct that." He bows from the waist, right hand over heart, left hand sweeping out behind him. "Michael Donighal, once and future pulp hero. Pleased to remake your acquaintance."

[stilljustandrew]

"Oh! Hi. Likewise."

He beams, and returns the bow, a good bit more awkwardly.

"And I take it you're acquainted with Andrew Prime, who preceded me here?"