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

[twoforce]

"Then if you don't mind my asking," Warlock asks, "why fight? What are you fighting for?"

[52_dropoff]

He pauses to think of a good answer.

"I have a thing about solving mysteries. Answering questions. Unraveling conspiracies. It wasn't why I started being a crimefighter, but I tried to stop doing it and the need to get to the truth kept gnawing at me. So I quit trying to quit. I would be happier if I could get to the answers without ending up in a cage match, but such is my fate."

[twoforce]

"Mysteries can be dangerous to follow," Warlock muses. "Not that you don't know this, of course."

But more dangerous than a man with no natural fighting advantage should face.

[52_dropoff]

"Mysteries are less dangerous than fighting with armed men, fighting with insane martial artists who think that killing is an art, and cancer. I will take a chance with mysteries." Under the mask he smiles slyly.

[twoforce]

"I've experience with two of those, not the third," Warlock confesses. "At least I know what to expect with Sith warriors."

For a given value of 'expect.'

[52_dropoff]

"You're a fighter? A martial artist?" It fits, given the way the man holds his body.

[twoforce]

'Martial artist' only translates literally into its Basic equivalent. But it still absolutely makes sense.

"I used to be," he says, with a sly look away from the window. "Now I'm more of a wandering monk."

And maybe, if he hadn't followed that mystery that one time, he'd be dead, or worse.

[52_dropoff]

"Honestly? I think a lot of martial artists end up doing that at some point. Not all, of course. But most of the most serious ones I know wander, even if they don't find any allegiance to a specific faith or way of life. I sort of do that even now." Though not like in the years he was an itinerant gambler. He really did have a good poker face.

[twoforce]

"Between the mysteries?" Warlock asks, "or are the mysteries part of the wandering?"

[52_dropoff]

"The mysteries lead to the specific location. But I think if I wanted to, I could pick a large enough city and stay and find mystery. I could even try to be a private investigator. So the wandering and the mysteries kind of feed each other." Him as a PI? He finds that insane.

[twoforce]

"You could probably find a satisfying mystery if you walked into a random bar on a random planet," Warlock muses. "You seem like you've got a good ear for them."

[52_dropoff]

"I never found one here. It's the strangest thing." And so disappointing.

[twoforce]

"Maybe that's your mystery?"

He's mostly joking, though it's an interesting thought.

"Why so few secrets in here, and so many out there?"

[52_dropoff]

"The bar itself is an endless mystery. How can it possibly exist? How does it interact with the endless realities? Who made it? And who is the Landlord?" His voice rises a bit on that last one, for dramatic effect.

[twoforce]

"Questions like that are where being a religious practitioner comes in handy."

He waves his hand, in the Galaxy-wide hand gesture for these are not the droids you're looking for.

"The Force moves in mysterious ways."

[52_dropoff]

"The Force? Is that your faith?" It of course sounds familiar, but being here has always had a way of dulling our hero's mind just a bit.

[twoforce]

Warlock doesn't answer for a second or two.

"It's probably more accurate to say it's what I have faith in," he says.

[52_dropoff]

"Care to explain, or it is something you can't share with outsiders." He's met the occasional martial artist who treats the practice like a state secret.

[twoforce]

"Remember I said I could feel your thoughts?"

He smiles, happy to talk about it in a place it's not actually a death sentence to do so.

"That's the Force. It flows through all things, connects us, binds the universe together.

"And some people are more senstive to that connection than others."

[52_dropoff]

"We sometimes call that the chi. Though some scientists on occasion call it the quantum force." It's a bit odd that he actually read a paper on the subject, but it goes with his curiosity. "The best martial artists say they can sense it, but I can't say I have."

[twoforce]

"It definitely helps on a battlefield," Warlock admits.

"Which is one of the reasons it's illegal to practice these days. Can't have anyone using it against the Emperor."

[52_dropoff]

He shakes his head sadly at this news.

"But I suspect you still use it. And that you can't just turn it off."

[twoforce]

"Right on both counts," he says ruefully. "Not that he has much to fear from me."

There's not point in joining a rebellion that just wants to restore the Republic.

[52_dropoff]

"You just stay out of the way, doing bits of good here and there, trying to stay off the radar...hidden, that is." Does everyone know what radar is? "That almost counts as a super-hero."

[twoforce]

His rueful tone is matched with a rueful grin. "I suppose so. But maybe less of the heroing than you imagine. And no gaudy costume."