EP It's been a long time gone...

[aleister_author]

Tyler has been productive in a sideways sort of way.

This means that he has:
Cleaned his apartment
Washed everything machine washable in that apartment
Shined every pair of shoes he owns
Researched several new book ideas
Checked for new pirate radio stations in his neighbourhood and
Written several chapters - none of which fit into the book that is due next to his publisher.

So now he's just going to step out of the linear flow of time, get a beer, and check if he has a check from a parallel timeline available. It's iffy to sell your soul do the devil for money, but selling book rights has worked out alright so far.

If anyone wants an author he'll be at Bar going through royalty checks.

Comments

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato's been -- well, drawn over here by the smell of beer, which he sniffs in the general direction of, looking more or less like a puppy who's just smelled food. A lot like a puppy, really, given his weirdly lupine, not-quite-standard-human facial features.

He doesn't go for the beer, at least, that would be rude, instead turning his attention to the checks.

"Looks like a good payday."

[aleister_author]

Basically all of Tyler's friends are not quite human standard. Many of them aren't quite anything standard to be honest.

"I think I let it pile up," he says, "Not sure. Maybe the other universe moved faster than here or home?"

"I'm Tyler. I don't suppose you know how much a -" he pauses to squint at a payment slip "- ComStar letter of credit buys? I think this is in kilobytes."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Can't say I've ever heard of ComStar letters of credits," Yamato admits. "But if you give it to Bar, she can probably convert it into something you can use. Like a miniature currency exchange."

[aleister_author]

"Probably," agrees Tyler, "I'm just trying to figure out how you end up pricing things in data instead of something traditionally weird. Like silver weights."

Tyler sets that particular payment on Bar with a degree of deliberation. Based on the shift in tabs, C-Bills have a fairly large degree of purchasing power as these sorts of things go.

"So, what should I call you?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Well, if data storage is finite and valuable, then there's no reason not to. I mean, for some worlds, gold and silver might've lost their value while data storage is at a premium."

But then, Yamato's not an economist, something he's very grateful for.

"Oh, er -- Yamato. Yamato Ishida. You?"

[aleister_author]

Tyler isn't one either, and that's also probably for the best.

"Tyler Darrow."

Then, because Tyler has a TV show based on his work and there's not going to be any sign of recognition between different universes, different years and different parts of (probably) the planet.

"I write horror stories. You?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

The question catches Yamato off guard for a moment, before he supplies: "Mercenary. Sort of."

He see-saws his hand in the universal gesture of 'kind of,' because it probably depends a lot on how a person defines 'mercenary.'

On the one hand, no money changing hands. On the other hand, the Chosen are not shy about calling in favours from the leaders of territories under their protection, and sometimes those favours are food or other resources.

"And student, formerly, but the school year's technically over now."

[aleister_author]

"Huh. I know the US military is all about having extra training courses, but that's the first I've heard for a mercenary setup going for extra training."

Forgive him, his girlfriend the vampire has skewed his sense of how old people should look.

"Is it livable at least?" Or should he spot you a round. Tyler is flush with extra dimensional royalties, after all.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"They're -- separate things, usually," Yamato says, a little wryly.

He hesitates at the next question, because if being a Chosen was his source of income, it definitely wouldn't be livable, not when their payment is always in favours and travelling supplies.

But he's got a roof over his head, food, spending money, everything a person needs either way, so he answers: "It's livable. I'm not suffering through any kind of poverty."

[aleister_author]

"That's usually better than the other options," says Tyler. Dating a former French peasant has, uh, not moved his political viewpoints in an 'up by your own bootstraps' sort of direction let's say.

Knowing vampires is weird sometimes.

"Don't suppose you can recommend something good for snacking? I need to refuel before I start putting my words into order."

And Tyler will just order two whatevers. It can't be much weirder than the time he got a sampler of dwarven alcohols from a universe he'd never heard of before.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Fried paradoxes are always a classic," Yamato says. He taps the Bar, giving a quick smile when a bowl of them appears, and slides it towards Tyler. "You just dealing with financial stuff, or ... ?"

[aleister_author]

"Two bowls, please," says Tyler to Bar before turning and sliding one Yamato's way.

"Nothing big at home," he continues, "Or nothing big that I know about. There could be something huge going down in LA and I'd know about it the same time it hits CNN."

At this point Tyler pops one of the paradoxes in his mouth which has the bonus that it helps him stop talking.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Does that happen a lot? Massive events that you're not involved in? I mean, I guess that's the norm for most people, but in Milliways at least, everyone seems to be at the epicentre of everything, all of the time."

It's just how this place works.

[aleister_author]

"I'm interested in things," says Tyler, "I keep an ear out and all, but I'm on the edge of things rather than the center. It's..."

He makes a face.

"I'm good at what I do, but when things get loud and busy? I'd be a weight, not a help and that would probably still be true if we were all equally breakable."

And, usually, they are far from equally breakable.

"Also, people get far less willing to accept regular humans into their social circles some time after their second century for some reason."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm guessing you're at least from a world with more than just regular humans, then," Yamato surmises. "And that your world has immortals of some kind, who I guess are going to be the first choice for dealing with any world-ending problems."

[aleister_author]

"A couple of different types that are, at least, long lived," agrees Tyler, "and generally more than that. Plus the people who figure they can keep up with them in a fight. But I'm a writer, not a fighter."

He's got a pistol, but given that he's from a horror game version of New York that's just good sense.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm guessing you're just baseline human, then?" Yamato asks, cocking his head.

[aleister_author]

"Oh yeah," agrees Tyler, "I mean, I'd try my hardest if it came down to it, but once you've met someone who was apparently at the crucifixion you know that they aren't even playing the same game let alone in the same league."

Nice guy! Vampire too, but you have to expect something to get you and eye witness two millennia after the fact.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Yeah, probably better to try staying out of trouble's way, in that case," Yamato laughs, ducking his head. "Most people here seem to be neck deep in trouble all of the time, though."

[aleister_author]

"Oh yeah, but that's just living isn't it?"

Tyler makes a small spread with with his hands that indicates most of the bar. It's in the wrists.

"Any kind of life worth living anyway. Keep at that long enough and you're going to have some thing that you can't back down on and look at yourself in the mirror. Keep that up long enough and you'll end up with the ones that can't be solved with words or tricks and falls back on force. And I've been in a lot of different bars and I've talked to people who've been in more. Milliways is a lively sort of place."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Wryly: "More than the usual, I mean. Most people here are at the centre of every world-ending crisis that comes along, or well on their way to it. Half the time they come in thinking they're just a normal person in a normal world, and then two weeks later they've got superpowers and there's a black hole trying to swallow their planet or something."