First EP

[curlytop]

[Before Milliways: "Ave atque vale, George Lovelace, child of the Nephilim. Forever and ever, my brother, hail and farewell."]


There is a blinding flash of darkness and something like a scream that may or may not be only in your mind, and then there's a young, Scottish man--tall, fit, brown curly hair, brown eyes, wearing a rugby shirt and jeans--kneeling on the floor in the middle of the bar, his face twisted in agony for just a moment before he realizes that he's no longer in pain.

"Sweet baby Raziel," he says, eyes wide.

And then, "Aw, crap. I'm dead, aren't I?"



[ooc: Link contains death and spoilers for Tales from the Shadowhunters Academy, but no more than you'd get just interacting with George.]

Comments

[holdingacat]

"We may all be." A deep voice intones, his cadence one used for poetry.

Or radio announcing.

"Or none of us are." There's a pause, and then Cecil adds, after taking a sip of his coffee, "Or some of us are, and some of us aren't."

Another pause, and then he continues, his tone lightening.

"Yeah, those are the options. Hello."

[curlytop]

George glances around the room before his gaze finally settles on Cecil. "I really thought that kind of thing would be more straightforward in the afterlife."

He pulls himself to his feet (a lot of feet...in height, just the two actual feet). "This is the afterlife, right? Not some kind of...test thing I have to complete before Ascending?" He looks hopeful. Please, let this be a test.

[holdingacat]

"Weeeeeeell." Cecil draws out the word as he considers, "I'm not dead. I don't think I am dead, anyway. I certainly don't remember dying, though I suppose if it was quick enough, I wouldn't."

He pauses, frowning.

"I mean, I suppose it is a possibility. I shouldn't be so quick to judge."

[curlytop]

"Ooooookay."

So this guy's not dead, but he's also not a Shadowhunter....

"How'd you get here if you're not dead. You didn't get tricked into drinking from an enormous golden chalice, did you?"

[holdingacat]

"No." Cecil sounds more sure about that. "I would think I'd remember something like that. And I'm pretty sure about the whole not being dead thing." He adds, shifting his weight slightly.

"Why, were you tricked into drinking from a chalice?"

[curlytop]

"Not tricked, no. I did it on purpose, but I'm pretty sure I died when I did."

Not entirely sure. But pretty sure.

Hands on his hips, George turns to survey the room. "Is...is this a pub?"

[holdingacat]

"Local colloquialisms aside, yes. Yes it is." Cecil confirms, leaning against the bar. "And not a bad one, all told."

[curlytop]

"Any chance of a drink, then?" George asks, though as he puts his hands into his pockets, he realizes he has no money.

"Er...a really cheap drink?"

[holdingacat]

"Oh, she'll start a tab for you, but in honor of your potential death, the first one is on me. What do you want?" Cecil offers, casually. "The coffee is very good."

[imthepilot]

"I'd say you get use to it but I still haven't." Bodhi comes over, offering the newcomer a hand up. "Would you like a drink? It might help."

[curlytop]

George takes the hand gratefully and stands. He feels a little unsteady on his feet. That was a lot of adrenaline to have rush through his system only to find no release.

(If he has adrenaline now. He's going to have to do some thinking about this being dead business.)

"Cheers," he says, once he's gotten his legs firmly beneath him. "Is the afterlife really a pub? Not that I'm complaining, mind, just...wow, everybody's got it really wrong back home."

[imthepilot]

"Not for everyone." he steadies George and guides him to the bar. "Just for some people. I'd say we're the lucky ones but it took me a while to believe it. And not everyone here is dead, just some of us."

[curlytop]

George eyes him warily, like he's not sure he's not being messed with. "How's that work, then? People live in the afterlife?"

[imthepilot]

"Pretty much. There are rooms upstairs for anyone who wants them and anything you need, you just ask the bar." He orders a mug of caf from the bar, which appears from nowhere.

"Other people, not dead people, come and go. Sometimes they stay for a while. Sometimes they get stuck. And you can visit other worlds if someone opens their door for you. But you can only stay three day or so, then you have to come back."

[curlytop]

George listens carefully, with the air of someone who's listened to a lot of things that sound utterly mad but are, in fact, true.

He still has questions.

"Ah," he says. "Okay. Er...hang on. I'm trying to figure out where to start."

He holds up a hand. "Right, so. First, can I go back to my world for three days? Second, where is 'here', exactly?" He makes quotation marks in the air with his fingers around 'here.' "And third...."

He trails off, and shakes his head. "Nope. I've lost third. We'll come back to it."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi shakes his head. "Stars! Sorry, I'm not explaining this very well. Milliways is a bar on an asteroid in a pocket universe. It seems to be on a cross-route between a bunch of different universes and planets and times and places. People come here from all over but lots of people are from Earth, or different versions of it."

"I don't think we can go back to the place we came from once we're dead without some kind of special magic. Teja can but I'm not quite sure how that happened. You could ask him. He's very helping. I've never tried but then I have nothing to go back to."

[curlytop]

George squints as he listens this time like it might help things make more sense. He nods. Then shakes his head. Then frowns, his eyes wide. "Okay. So it's called Milliways. And we're in space somewhere?"

All of the rest of that went right over his curly head.

"Sorry about that," he says. "About not having anything to go back to, I mean. Not really sure I do either."

He doesn't know how Shadowhunters feel about ghosts. And would he have to haunt the Silent City? That sounds dreadful. Maybe he could haunt the Academy....

[iprotectyou]

"You, too?" a giant of a man seated at the bar says, while noshing on a chudde and orxtle sandwich, as well as a Knobblypear. He leans back and beams at the new kid.

"Don't worry, there are a lot of us here, but not everyone's dead. Gets confusing, but it's just how it goes. Welcome to Milliways! First drink's free! I'm Baze Malbus, and may the Force of others be with you!"

[curlytop]

"You too," George says because that seems like the sort of greeting that can just be returned.

"I guess it's good to know I'm not the only one? Did you say not everyone is dead?" That is not what he'd been led to believe about the afterlife.

[iprotectyou]

"Nope! Most people aren't," Baze says, gesturing for the young man to take a seat at the counter.

"This is Milliways, the bar at the end of the universe. This--" He pats the countertop. "--Is Bar. She's sentient, she's a lady, and she can provide most anything you need, with the exception of magic items, live things, and ammunition."

[curlytop]

George follows easily enough. It's not hard to get him to go along with things.

There are any number of things that a healthy, athletic, intelligent young man of George's age might think to ask of a magic bar. George's eyes light up like he immediately knows exactly what to ask for.

"Do you think," he says, with the plaintive air of someone about to ask for the very deepest desire of his heart, hoping desperately that it will not be denied, "that she could do me just a beautifully cooked cheeseburger with a load of chips and, say, the biggest glass of Coke she's allowed to serve me? Though honestly, I would be ecstatic if she had a packet of crisps to spare."

Baze. Baze, his face. It is so earnest. His eyes. They are so hopeful.

[iprotectyou]

Baze grins. The guy is so very earnest, and that's endearing. The Jedhan pats the counter, his own eyes glittering with amusement.

"Why don't you ask her?"

[curlytop]

"All right."

He turns to face the bar, not at all sure how you're supposed to go about addressing a magic piece of furniture...

He clears his throat. "Erm, Bar? Madame Bar. Or Miss Bar, if you prefer, I guess. Anyway, I was wondering--"

Bar seems to take pity on him, and a plate loaded with an enormous cheeseburger, a huge pile of chips, and a sickeningly large glass of Coke appear.

Also a bag of prawn crisps.

George stares. In awe. His eyes close briefly, and he lifts his chin, sniffing the air. "Baze," he says. "You have no idea what this means to me."

He picks up a thick chip and then realizes he's about to make it impossible to speak for...possibly several minutes, so he says, "I'm George, by the way," before biting into the chip with a look of ecstasy on his face.

That way Baze can take his time responding while George savors the first bite of anything resembling actual food that he's had since the start of school.

[iprotectyou]

"I might have an idea," Baze says honestly. He chuckles, taking a bite of his own chudde sandwich. He chews for a few moments and swallows, giving George time to dig into his cheeseburger and chips, whatever he wants to eat.

After a couple bites of Knobblypear, Baze smiles at the young man again. "Good to meet you, George. You're from an Earth?"

[curlytop]

He doesn't eat like he's starving. Oh, no. George savors every single bite. He's healthy, well-fed. It's just that he's spent the last several months subsisting on soups made of root vegetables, cloudy tea, and a never-ending stream of horrifying kitchen experiments like stir-fried pizza.

Even the prawn crisps are tasted almost reverently.

He's halfway to another bite of burger when Baze speaks, and he pauses, eyebrows raised. "I...am, yes. Are you not?"