milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Claudia woke up to the dulcet tones of Skype ringing at 5 AM (she hadn't even realised she'd left it open the night before); it turned out to be Joshua wishing her a happy birthday.
That in itself was awesome, but then Leena also had an idea, and tonight, with luck and planning - and being tall enough to see the inside of the pot, this time around - there will be spaghetti for dinner.
And so, she's calling over her shoulder as she opens the door, "We are not cooking with Artifacts, Pete! Haven't you ever read Strega Nona? Never-ending pasta would probably be the best-case scenario here, and I am not staying up all night to clean that."
She does her customary door-check before heading over to the Bar for a drink; she also gets a cupcake with a candle.
"Awww, thanks. You shouldn't have."
(Of course, whether it counts as a good day on the whole depends on whether she's still having those damn dreams about Joshua. But so far, she has nothing to complain about.)

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"Never-ending pasta?" asks a boy who caught only part of what Claudia said over her shoulder. He couldn't understand the dismay of the statement. Pasta may not be his favorite thing to eat but he likes it enough that a never-ending supply sounds pretty good.

Then Lucas turns around and recognizes her, his hands fiddling with a pair of sunglasses he was wearing earlier today.

"Hey, I know you. You ordered a pink cow from me when I was a bartender here."

"It probably sounds cooler than it would be, considering I doubt we'd have the instructions to make the pasta stop appearing sitting around anywhere." Artie probably knows, but she can easily see him saying, 'you started this mess, you figure it out.'
When he turns around, she grins. "That I did. It was a good pink cow, too."

"I'm just thinkin' about how it means I don't gotta cook as much," he says with a grin. "And thanks. Claudia, right?"

"Still, when the idea's that today's supposed to be a good dinner, there's no point in dragging in that kind of complication. Or any other complication we have sitting around." There are probably a lot of things in the Warehouse that sound like they'd make the job easier, but... well, she read Strega Nona when she was a kid. It left an impression.
"Right. And you're... Lucas?"

That is a good point, even though Lucas has never heard of Strega Nona.

"Yep!"

He then notices the cupcake with the candle.

"And happy birthday?"

"Thanks. That's why the dinner fuss, actually - we're taking on my mom's spaghetti recipe."
There's a slight catch to her voice when she mentions her mom, but it's not nearly as sharp as it was at Halloween.

He catches that and he can relate. Big time.

"Is she gone?" he asks as carefully as he can.

Claudia nods. "Yeah. She and Dad wrecked their car when I was little. It hurt more at the time when my brother disappeared, but I got him back. I didn't really start dealing with the stuff with Mom until a few months ago."
It sounds kinda weird, but she always was closer to Joshua, and she had him around longer.

Lucas nods in understanding.

"My mom is gone, too. And then Claus, my twin brother, he ran away. Dad spends all his time looking for Claus while I take care of the house. It's been like that for three years now."

"Ouch. I'm sorry." Family disintegrations are probably no fun at any age, but Claudia knows from experience that they kinda suck when you're a kid.
"Joshua didn't run away as such - he was trying to teleport. And it worked, but he didn't have the instructions he needed to bring himself back, so I thought he was gone for a long time."

(OOC: And I need to call slowtime, but I'm totally game for picking this up tomorrow.)

He nods in acceptance of her empathy.

"Well, Claus wanted to avenge Mom. We were all pretty angry, even though I'm not really sure why we felt so angry at the same time as feeling so sad. But Claus was always the more daring of the two of us while I was the crybaby."

Lucas rubs his neck a little, the sunglasses hanging in his other hand.

"But Dad has hope that he'll find him. And I know the Magypsies unlocked his PSI, so if it's anything like mine, he should be able to take care of himself. Heck, he's probably better at it'en me, seeing as he's had it for three more years than I have."

[ooc: Sounds good to me. I'll be here.]

"It's kinda part of grief, I think. Someone hurts your family, and you're sad that they're hurt and also really ticked off at anything or anyone you can blame for it... sorry, who unlocked his what now?"
She followed the rest of it all right, but that part kinda tripped her up.

"The Magypsies unlocked his PSI. I guess it's kinda hard to understand without knowing the stories from home. It's a type of magical creature and a type of magic, in that order. Or that's what Grandpa told me, anyway."

He shrugs.

"I had been kinda using it before to talk to animals. I didn't realize it was PSI 'cause I had just always been talking to animals. But I met a Magypsy called Ionia and she helped me realize my PSI. It's mostly healing powers but I do have one attack."

"Huh. So... nothing I really have a frame of reference for, sounds like."
There's Pete's vibes, there's Leena's... whatever it is she does, and then there's Artifacts that do stuff. (Mrs. F is in a whole other category.)

"Hey, I know how that feels. My world is odd compared to a lot of people's. Before I came here, I didn't know what money was."

"Your world doesn't have money?"
The obvious question is 'then how do you buy stuff?' but... apparently they don't?

"We didn't. We do now. Before, we would just share with each other."

Yes, Lucas used to live in a working model of communism.

Clearly, the wheels fell off somewhere along the way. "What changed their minds?"

"Someone introduced money to us."

"And greed introduced itself not long afterward?"

"I guess so. It happened at around the same time Mom died and Dad went looking for Claus, so I had to start making money on my own quick so I could buy food. Some good friends, the yarn we had from our sheep, and Milliways was enough to tide me over 'til people started paying me to get rid of pests that bug their animals. I still spin yarn for money, though, 'cause I grew up watching Mom do it."

"I fixed people's computers for a few years, when I was on my own. It's always good to have something you can fall back on."
She likes her current job a hell of a lot more, but the computer-fixing gig had its moments.

Lucas pauses for a moment in thought before he finally asks, "What's a computer?"

"It's..." Claudia tries to think of the best way to describe a computer to a kid who barely knows what money is.
"It's probably easier to show than tell - next time I have mine with me, I'll keep an eye out for you. They started as a way to do a lot of math really fast, and now they do a lot more than that."
Of course, she's never tried to pull up the Internet in here, so who knows if she could show off the cool stuff.

"Oh yeah? That is kinda neat."

He's heard about computers before. And he knows Enzo is from inside computers. But that conversation happened three years ago for him, so he can't quite remember what they're supposed to do and if they are like Happy Boxes at all.

Thinking of that, he asks, "I won't have to take one home with me if I don't wanna, will I?"

"...No. Why would you have to?"
Among other things, his world might not have the resources you need to keep one working, once the battery dies down.

"I dunno but some people get really pushy about things like that at home."

And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

"They sure picked up on aggressive sales tactics fast. Makes sense if they're trying to get as much money as possible, though."
That doesn't make it a good thing by any means, but it does make sense.

"I guess it does. But as long as I'm gettin' by, I guess it's not so bad. And Milliways is a lot nicer about it since there's a fund for kids like me. And I work out in the garden, too, so I'm doing something back for Milliways."

Artie looks up from his paperwork long enough to quirk an eyebrow at Claudia. "Hard at work, I see."

"Yes, actually. Trying to keep Pete from making this a far more interesting cooking experience than it has to be is thirsty work. Guess the cupcake's just a bonus."
Chocolate frosting and Mountain Dew: Two great tastes that taste great together! (To Claudia, anyway.)

"...you're working on the spaghetti supper. In the Warehouse."

Skeptical Artie is skeptical.

Claudia rolls her eyes. "No, Pete's trying to, but mostly getting himself kicked out for being a helper. I, on the other hand, read Strega Nona as an impressionable youth, and I don't want to find out what's worse than the Pasta That Doesn't End."
...At least she's exercising caution somewhere in her life?

Artie huffs a faint laugh. "Try pasta that actively tries to strangle you."

...
"...Yeah, I knew there was a reason I didn't want to find out the hard way. If Pete has any more bright ideas, can I cuff him to the balcony and come back for him when Leena and I are done actually cooking?"

"Or you could just dangle something shiny in front of him. I mean, it's Pete."

He's only half-joking.

Thaaat's a snickerfit right there.
"Yeah, he is nearly as bad as me. But still, I don't want him eating half the sauce before it's done, either. Cuffing him to something might be the best tactic."
Don't worry, Artie, she won't zap him.

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