Happy New All Skate!

[raptorcanaria]

"You know what, let's have a party."

Dinah threw her platinum card (thanks, Oracle) on the Bar and as a result there is free flowing champagne for everyone whose culture, age and religion permits champagne - and top quality soft alternatives for the rest. There are bar snacks doing the rounds around the tables, and delicate winter flower arrangements on each surface.

And most importantly, on the TV screen is a lot of dancing, a giant countdown, and a big ball ready to drop.

...and when the ball drops, something happens.



Welcome to another Milliways All-Skate!
All welcome - yes, that means all. Whether they're retired, deleted, AU, original or already being played by someone else, bring 'em along.

Usual all-skate rules apply:
1. Everyone's stressed out of their mind right now, so have fun!
2. Communication is key.
3. Gratuitous behaviour (either of a violent or sexual nature) will not be tolerated in the bar proper. Take that to an OOM, and then Content Warning the hell out of it before you link it.
4. Much like Vegas, what happens in All Skates, stays in All Skates (in most cases)
5. Please don't be a dick.

Comments

[element_wizard]

Alec is having one hell of a headache as a part of him is getting 'stripped off' to become a visible alternate of his. Not a potential one, but an actual one. It's normally not so bad except that half his thoughts are swirling around in Russian. Which is making his dyslexia worse than usual. Which is making reading pretty much impossible. He's trying to get through 'the Lords of Chaos' from the Wheel of Time series and it's not happening.

"Oh for fuck's sake why do you have to have such awful timing?" he growls at the multiverse at large. In Russian. Which makes him curse in something not from Earth (but not Eldritch either). The Bar translates, of course, but the words are Russian and that other language in his head.

Looking up to see a Charles who might have been close enough to think Alec was muttering about him, he said/thinking back in that other language, "Sorry. Not you. It's the... multiverse."

There's Alec's surface thoughts, which aren't really shielded, but there's something highly locked up just underneath, lurking. It's like there's an entire iceberg of Something Else in his head that's not having language issues. A telepath of Charles' ability would be able to sense it, but it's well underneath the surface and Charles is smart enough to not Titanic his way into it.

[balancingminds]

Charles frowns at the different languages and the cursing, "I didn't think it was me."

[element_wizard]

"Oh good. You'd be surprised how often that happens. Though a lot of alcohol is usually involved on the offended party's part." He gives Charles a bit of a tired smiled.

Focusing on conversation seems to have sorted out the language difficulties in his head. (The alien language is definitely alien as it's the one Alec speaks on his own home planet.) Having to deal with people requires speaking in a single language.

[balancingminds]

"Yes, drinking makes people angry sometimes and some people like fighting,"

Charles doesn't but anger at least is easy to redirect or avoid if he has to.

[element_wizard]

He's lucky that way. Alec could avoid fights but people get upset when you turn someone into say a penguin to avoid a fight.

For some reason.

"Never been much for physical fighting myself, but I can understand it." He gives Charles a look over, noting the fancy suit and then considering the Bar's current state says, "You look like you've come a party. Is it better or worse than this one?"

[balancingminds]

That thought of turning someone into a penguin seems extreme, and Charles shrugs, "Fancier but I like this better. I don't like fights, my sister enjoys the excitement of them."

[element_wizard]

In Alec's opinion they should be happy they only got turned into a penguin. There's a lot worse he could do to them. And it's only temporary.

"I never liked the fancy parties. Having to act like you like everyone and everyone is sizing you up, waiting for you to make a mistake to pounce on later. And you doing the same." Unconsciously he's slipped into speaking with a Russian accent. "I hope your sister doesn't start them."

[balancingminds]

"You just have to learn what's expected and play along. Sometimes, she thinks a lot of the rules need to be changed,"

The change in accent is odd. Raven's braver than Charles and he worries about her.

[element_wizard]

"So I've long learned." There's a pause as he's about to say something and then a confused look. He holds up a finger and his mind goes completely blank. Not that Charles would realize this, but he's sort of 'rebooting'. He then blinked a few times and shook his head. "Sorry. I've been having a day." The Russian accent is gone.

That seemingly sorted, he continued, "Your sister isn't exactly wrong."

[balancingminds]

That was a weird moment, but Charles is learning this man is odd, "No, she's not but she's also not good at planning."

[element_wizard]

Odd is putting it lightly. But he's cycling to 'normal' right now so weirdness should be at a minimum.

"Planning? Yeah, that can be difficult," Alec agreed. "Especially when you feel the need to change the world before it's too late."

[balancingminds]

"I don't think her thoughts are on that big a scale,"

Charles' can be at times but he needs to learn more before he can strategize.

[element_wizard]

"Worlds can be different sizes and don't actually have to mean the entire planet," he said wryly. "A child's world is fairly small, but they still wish to change it. Get more cookies and less nap time. Give it time."

He speaks from a father's experience here.

[balancingminds]

That gets a raised eyebrow from Charles because that wasn't what he meant and assumes he doesn't know anything about the relative differences of life.

Raven tends to live in the moment and not think big picture or long term, "Since she's my age, no, that's not it. She'd rather deal with the person hurting her now than figure out how to fix the system."