milliways_bar | (no subject)

Elan Morin set down. A slight intensity in his blue eyes.

"Hello, Barty."

"Evening, Elan. How are you?"

He smiles.

"I am doing better, all the time. Things are coming together beautifully."

A pause.

"I think it is time that you had a little excursion."

"Glad to hear it. Myself, I'm doing OK, I suppose. Had a tiring afternoon."

An expectant look. "Oh? Please tell me more!"

He grinned, and stood up. He ushered for Barty to follow.

"I know what we are doing now... Some research may be required on my part, but that will only usher in a slight delay."

He paused.

"We are going to make sure that some events that are very key to Shaitan's plans occur."

He nods, and smiles. It touches his eyes. He stands up.

"Well, then. The aim I'm happy with. Time to go, perhaps. How long will we be gone? Where exactly will we be going? And will we be going alone?"

He smiles. He walks toward the Lake Door.

"We will be going to my private study in V'Saine. Time passes more quickly out there so you can return after spending much time there and little will pass there."

A pause.

"Since I am a philosopher by trade, I am sure that my library will hold myriad entertainments for you."

"Good. If I'm gone too long they'll start to miss me - I'm supposed to be in the kitchens most days helping." He follows.

"A philosopher? And a library?" He beams. "In that case, lead on right away, Elan!" There'll be more to do there - more to read, which amounts to the same thing - than at Milliways for a few days.

Elan leads on to the edge of the woods.

"This should be sufficient..."

He tapped into the True Power. A blizzard of black flecks flew across his eyes, as black flames leapt up around him. He tore reality asunder with a flick of his wrist.

He motioned for Barty to step through.

Barty looks back at the bar. He's not supposed to be out here, technically. He's more nervous of that than of Elan.

He turns immediately as he sense the True Power; the force of what isn't quite the dark magic he knows hammers into him. It's exhilarating.

Not scary. He doesn't get scared by this. He is afraid of many things, and bad at hiding it, but not this.

He steps through.

Barty steps out into a room filled with books. Ancient books. The decor is simple, but elegant.

Elan Morin steps through after Barty. The True Power still thundering through his body as the portal shut behind him.

Well, this is exactly as Elan said it would be. Good, so far. Barty can still feel the magic - True Power - but he looks around.

"Lovely place!"

"Second Age? Is that a time period?"

The True Power vanishes from him as do the black flecks from his eyes. A slight sigh, whether this is from exertion or from loss is unclear.

"Yes, the Second Age of the Wheel of Time. Where the One Power and technology have abolished war, poverty, disease, and crime."

He paused.

"Where our power had grown such that we could open a hole in the prison that the Creator made for Shaitan."

"Wow, that's quite impressive. Abolishing poverty and all that, I mean. Though blowing open a hole in the Creator's prison seems pretty impressive too."

Barty knows something about escaping from prison.

"So that's your plan, I take it. And you need me to help you open this hole? Or to do something else, maybe."

He gazes at the books, interest and longing in his eyes.

Ishamael shook his head.

"Opening his prison fully is the ultimate objective, but we do not have that ability yet. When it does happen, Shaitan will smash the Wheel of Time, and recreate the entire universe in his own image."

An evil grin.

"And those of us who helped him with this goal will be reign on high for all eternity."

"Right," he says in understanding. "I see."

He's not sure he likes the idea of this Shaitan re-creating the universe in his own image, but he certainly doesn't say so. He's keeping an open mind. And even if it turns out badly, there'll always be Milliways.

He smiles. "I'm sure they will."

He gestured to the room, and grinned.

"Please, make yourself at home Barty."

"Thanks. I will. " He smiles expectantly. "Mind if I read a few of these?"

He smiled.

"Read to your heart's content."

A pause.

"If you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

He calmly left the room.

Xander waves a hand in front of his face.

"Yo, Barty, look alive."

He blinks, sees it's Xander, and smiles.

"Hey, Xander!" Stretch. "It's been a hard day's work."

"Oh, right," says Xander, who has been ... working out? A little? Does swimming count? He had to paddle pretty fast to avoid the squid. "Well, looks like none of the horses kicked you in the face, so it couldn't have been *that* bad, right?"

"Ah, no, I got moved. I'm doing work in the kitchens now. That bloody Baldrick practically ruined half the kitchen equipment, I spent the afternoon trying to clean it all."

He's looking at Xander. Something's different...

"Hey! Your eye! What happened?"

Xander winces sympathetically. "Yeah, fun. After a childhood of dish washery, I feel your pain. Like a greasy fork."

He beams.

"Oh, right! Yeah! I got a new one ... from a purple god. It was just about worth the excruciating pain and punk rock color." He's still smiling, so he must believe it.

He nods. "Yeah, it's crap work, but at least there are no paranoid gunslingers in there threatening to bump me off."

He's happy for Xander. "That's great! It works well and everything? And hey, the colour is pretty stylish."

"Gunslingers?" Xander repeats, blinking. "Did I miss the part where we turned into the Bar on the Lone Prairie?"

He grins.

"Yeah, works great," he says. "I think this one's a keeper. Knock wood and all that. And thanks!"

He refuses to ask if purple is really his shade.

"You've never heard of the gunslingers? They're this bunch of guys from some other world. Quite threatening and dangerous. And, er, they have guns."

He doesn't need to ask. "I think the purple suits you. Not many can pull it off. Alanna's one who can. And you're another." Pause. "Do you see in purple? Or is it just a normal eye in a nice colour?"

"I've ... uh, met threatening and dangerous guys with guns," Xander says, "but that could probably apply to a lot of people. Which is kind of not the most assuring thing." He pauses thoughtfully. "It's a lot like being in Texas."

He grins.

"Well, thanks. Glad to know that, like Barney, I pull off purple. Good news is I see in regular technicolor. I think of it kinda like a magical colored contact, if that helps. If it, uh, creates wizardly culture clash, go ahead and ignore it."

"Well, the gunslingers are the ones that speak funny. They say yar and sai and do'ee ken and never in life." He grins. "You know, all the stuff Lilly now says."

"Contacts...I'm not exactly sure... they're like little glasses that you put in your eyes, right?"

Curious, "Who's Barney? Is he a patron here?"

Xander nods slowly. "Oh! Right. I know those guys. They hang out with Lilly a lot, yeah. Um, it sucks that they want to kill you." But, you know, that's kind of what happens when you fuck with Bar.

He nods. "Pretty much, only they're ... bendy. If I stuck actual glass in my eye, it'd kind of make getting the new one, uh, obsolete."

Xander freezes. "Oh, God, I hope not." He's not real, he's not real-- but dammit, EVERYBODY'S real. "Um, yeah. Remember our talk about television and why it ultimately sucks? He's a big purple dinosaur on kids' TV. He sings. And ... hugs. And performs, uh, domestic tasks-- and then he sings about them."

"Well," he says brightly, "the feeling's mutual. Since they went into my world and basically declared war on my side." Pause. "And killed my friend. Although that might not have been them. I don't know for sure."

He's not smiling now, and he takes a few seconds to regain his composure.

"A big purple dinosaur who... performs 'domestic tasks' and sings about them? And hugs small children? Okaaaay. This is why I'm glad we don't have TV." He sounds like he should be kept away from children. "I really hope he doesn't come to Milliways."

Okay, on the one hand? Xander knows that Barty's on the wrong side of the chessboard. On the other ... see, this is going to mess with him every time. Stupid Milliways rainbow.

"That always sucks," he says quietly. "Sorry."

It probably says something about ... something ... that he actually brightens when the subject returns to Barney.

"If he does? I have a crossbow."

"Thanks. And - it does suck, even though he's still alive in my time, and he's not going to die like that in my timeline. But even so, my friend died and someone from Milliways killed him."

Fucking Milliways.

"And I have a wand! Expect it's confiscated. Maybe Security would let me have it just for Barney, I know some good silencing spells."

Fucking Barney. Barty also knows some rather more painful spells for big huggy domestic dinosaurs.

"Eh, don't bother with silencing," Xander says, grinning. "Too good for the likes of him. Personally, I always wanted to make him listen to his own songs for eternity-- but maybe that, uh, doesn't have the zing we're looking for."

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