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Blink.

Blink.

"What?"

Hello! Welcome to Milliways. Today, Milliways marks the Cybertronian holiday of Cubefall, the anniversary of the day upon which the Allspark first landed on the rocky world that would become Cybertron. Would you like to sample some possible reconfigurations? (y/n)

"I need more caffeine."

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"Weird, isn't it?" says the teenager in a t-shirt and jeans sitting at a half-disassembled table made of Legos (lo, the destruction of a toddler gamesprite is a terrible thing), sipping at a Coke. The vidwindows have popped back up and the image of the tubby, bearded guy has been replaced with the message "Error 404: File Not Found." Mark has found a scrollbar and found a fifth image below the picture of Robot. He looks at it for a minute, then shakes his head and dismisses it.

"Hi," he says, turning back to Artemis, "I'm Mark."

[OOC: I was considering this for Cubefall. Maybe next year.]

[OOC: There is always next year. And confusion.]

"Artemis. Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"Some sort of weird holiday, celebrated by robots. Evidently it involves experimenting with reconfigurations." He makes a slight expression of distaste. "It offered me a chance to look like my dad."

"There's Legos, at least, and some other building stuff. Not sure why, but I imagine one of these 'Cybertronians' could explain it."

"Man, just when you think this place is going to start having some kind of consistency."

Artemis really doesn't want to look like her Dad. That would be creepy.

Yes, I could see how that would be creepy. Sportsmaster's kind of a creepy guy.

"I know! I just started finding my way around the place. The Back Yard is huge! Still, it's only for a few days. Hopefully."

Also it's her Dad.

"If it keeps up I'm bringing in some real cushions. Lego is nice and all but I don't need to sit on it."

She and Mark are apparently on the same page. Teenagers are supposed to avoid being like their parents. It's a rule.

Mark shifts in the seat, as if realizing he's been sitting on Legos. "Yeah. Cushions would be nice, now that I think of it. Maybe the Bar can get you one?"

"I wouldn't be shocked if they were on someone's menu too."

"Cusion-eating aliens? Sounds like something out of Mystery Science Theater." He holds his hands up as if displaying a marquee. "Mars Needs Ottomans!" He grins.

"Mars needs cookies," corrects Artemis, "The Martian Manhunter has some sort of deal with the company that makes Oreos back home."

Mark's eyes go wide. "Martian Man... hunter? Let me guess: green, big forehead, flies, changes shape? Hangs out with a group of planet-protecting superheroes?"

"Sounds right," says Artemis, "Tell me you're not from one of those strange timelines with a dead Mars."

"No, I'm fairly certain there's life on Mars," says Mark. "Unless the Martian Man has fooled the all of us, including the rest of the Guardians of the Globe." He shakes his head. "Although I bet they're not called that where you come from. Man, this place is weird."

"Justice League of America, even if they have a UN mandate," confirms Artemis, "This is nothing. My first night here I met someone who said that my hometown was actually in Kansas for her world instead on Connecticut."

"If they have a UN mandate, why do they have 'of America' in their name? That seems ... I dunno, kinda insulting to the rest of the planet. To say nothing of insulting the non-Americans on the team." The Guardians have at least a Russian and an Atlantean on their team, to say nothing of an extradimensional Amazon and the Immortal, who sort of transcends sociopolitical boundaries all by himself.

Mark tries to imagine the Greater Los Angeles area transplanted to the Midwest, and fails. "I'm guessing you're not from someplace like Indianapolis or Memphis," he says, naming two flyover state capitals that he knows.

"Gotham. Home of the most consistently creepy architecture in the lower 48, and," here she shrugs, "The name is kind of a hold over from the last big team around World War 2."

"Well, historical precedent makes sense, but I can't think that places like Russia or the Middle East are happy about that reminder of Western society hanging over their heads every time that your heroes save their collective butts from that week's Doomsday device."

"Consistently creepy, huh? So, gargoyles and that sort of thing? Sounds like it would be kinda cool to me."

[OOC: Out of curiosity, where in canon is Artemis?]

[OOC: Artemis comes to the bar from just before her mother gets out of prison and things start rolling on the vigilante front.]

"That last bit gets dropped a lot," she admits, "And Gotham's home, right? I could do with a few less theme crocks though. They're awkward."

[OOC: "Theme Crocks"? I would think that all the Crocks had a theme to their costumed identities. :)]

"Theme crooks? Oh, yeah, we get some of those too. Doc Seismic, the Lizard League, a couple of others. I take it Gotham gets a lot of them? Is there a hero they go after, or does it have some sort of valuable resource in the city limits, like Fort Knox?"

Stop writing my tags Freud.

She rocks her hand back and forth.

"Mostly they're after Batman, but there's a StarLabs in town. "

Neither name rings any bells for Mark, but he nods. "I'm guessing there are plenty of banks and museums to rob as well," he says.

"So, is Gotham a decent place to live, theme crooks aside, or does it look like how they always show New York in the movies, grey and dirty?"

Mark is from LA. The ghettos are rundown, and he'd hate to be in Compton or East LA after dark (middle-class white boy that he is), but they're under the California sunshine, not perpetually shaded by the skyscrapers that he envisions East Coast cities are made up of.

Skyscrapers and rain clouds. Sunshine happens in Metropolis mostly.

"It's grey, but dirty so much anymore. There's been a lot of new trees going in over the last decade or so, stuff like that," she says.

"Well, that's good," says Mark. "I'm from California, so we get green grass and nice trees, under smog alerts. Still, it's not so bad. At least the beach is close."

[OOC: We can fade, unless Artemis wants to ask Mark something.]

[OOC: Assuming they trade some public info about the capes and tight sets of their respective worlds, and maybe a promise of some data on Mars (because she's trying to figure out why it keeps turning up dead in so many timelines) I think we're good to fade. Thanks for the thread!]

[OOC: No problem. There's not a lot of information on the Guardians of the Globe, because of plot complications that will be revealed soon, but they're essentially the Justice League with a few variations. There's no Superman, though Mark's father Omni-Man sort of fills that role, but he's not officially a member of the Guardians. Aside from him, there's Red Rush (Russian Speedster), War Woman (Extradimensional Amazon), Darkwing (Brooding Gadgeteer), Aquarius (King of the Fishmen), Martian Man, the Green Ghost (powered by a mystic artifact that projects green energy), and the Immortal (truth in advertising).

As for Mars, Mark will explain that Martian Man is essentially an ambassador, but that there's no regular contact, because the Martians are isolationists. Beyond that, there's not much common knowledge, except that they live underground for some unknown reason. Mark can probably find a book or scientific journal that talks about it at the library or online, but he's not really up on the details.]

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