| Who's On First |
| Summary: | Cable, Domino and Nocturne meet up in the War Room beneath Xavier's mansion, and try to figure out who each other is, as Cable seems to remember Domino, but not the other way around… |
| Date: | 2016-06-20 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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Fade in…
There is something not quite right with the War Room. For one, all the screens are flashing the message, "WARNING: HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTOR OFFLINE. Please check connection." For two, as the message says, the holographic projector gives no signs of life. For three, only one person is present in the room: Nocturne, who is not sitting, but standing, next to a chair. There is a damp towel folded approximately on the table, and she is brushing and drying her hair using an impromptu portable mirror, a brush she must have borrowed from someone, and a X-men styled hair dryer (the X-technology branding is so pervasive even hair driers have the X-logo). The power cord of the drier barely manages to reach the socket in the wall, one among a bunch of other plugs which completely fill the available set of power outlets. In fact, it's so full that one lone plug, whose cord leads up to the holographic projector, lies alone on the floor, unconnected. For four, gone the costume from last time, Nocturne has changed into a T-shirt that says "NON-EXISTENCE IS NOT A CRIME", along with a pair of black pants. She is humming an upbeat punk rock song, oblivious to what is going on around her.
There's a comment somewhere around here involving Alice and 'through the looking glass.' One day Domino was in an underground facility, then it was in the highest penthouse in all of New York City, and now..this. The unholy spawn of a nuclear missile silo and a state of the art bank vault. There's something about this place which puts her on edge, a feeling which is anything but comfortable. On top of this she really doesn't know -where- she is. Or where she's going.
Maybe it's for the best that most of the doors simply fail to open when she approaches them.
It's the sound of that lone hair dryer which draws her in the right direction. The look on her face tells all, calm and composed she is certainly not. It's sort of a perpetual 'Bwuh?' expression.
"Is this the War Room-slash-salon? Oh..yeah, it's you again." Teej is easy enough to recognize. Dom helps herself to a chair, flopping down heavily into it then leaning forward and resting her forehead upon crossed forearms. Long week, yo… Long week.
Nathan Dayspring stalks through the mansion, minus most of his guns, and dressed in a turtleneck shirt (with the sleeves rolled up) and jeans, boots on his feet. Poking his head inside the War Room, his left eye flashes and he gives the room a quick scan (mainly just visually, but with a hint of telepathy). Hearing Nocturne's choice of music, the older mutant frowns.
"Don't think they 'llow torture in here, kid," says he a bit gruffly. "What in hell's wrong with the computers?" That's when he glances at Domino, and the grizzled man's expression softens just a little (like… from steel to gold).
"Dom…" he says to her. "You a victim or a perp in… whatever this is?" and he gestures about the room with his metallic left hand.
"I've already gathered that she's special," Domino grunts while lifting a heavy hand to point at Nocturne from across the table, leaving her head right where it lies.
Then that new voice calls her by name again. Codename, in fact… Not -name- name. The albino lifts her head..then a little further, almost squinting as she stares back at Cable. "Still trying to determine that, myself. Guessing you knew me from before or watched the news, but..who -are- you?"
There's just something that seems too 'familiar' in the way the Timelord greets her. As in, maybe he didn't know her previous ego from watching CNN.
Cable frowns.
"Ya gotta be kiddin' me…" the burly man with silver hair murmurs, putting a hand to the back of his neck and giving it a rub. "Belle," he tells his onboard A.I. "Gimme a reading on the timeline right now — anything."
Unable to comply, says a feminine voice, audible to the rest of the room. Intelfeed corrupted. Insufficient data.
Cable sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb. "Fine… fine," he laments with a sigh. "I'll deal." Looking up, he glances at Nocturne firstly before giving Domino his full attention.
"Yer Domino — or Neena Thurman. Ya like bein' called Domino. …or ya did…aw, damn. It's me: Cable — Nate. It's Nate. We're… friends. Or were — or will be. It's complicated. C'mon, ya gotta remember me!"
Nocturne exclaims, "Excellent, done!" She finally turns away from the wall to face the rest of the party "Oh, hey! You're here! Sorry!", she says, and removes her earbuds from her pointy ears, just in time to catch Cable's last sentence. "Let me tell you, thirty minutes are just barely enough to design a new T-shirt, find a pair of pants that fit, shower, change, and show up in the war room!" She exclaims, while scrambling to put everything away into the satchel at her feet. "But I still managed! Go me!" She suddenly goes serious. "Talia Josephine Wagner, codename Nocturne, hailing from a different timeline and officially not existing here. Status report: somewhat confused, luckily unexploded, grateful for invitation." She raises one finger, and finally seems to realize something. "…wait, looks like I'm interrupting something important. Please go ahead."
-THUD.- Full name dropped. Familiar contact. Something about this puts the albino's sarcasm in check. By the time he says she has to remember him Neena's sitting fully upright in her chair, suddenly uncertain of how to proceed. There isn't a whole lot of intel to share, but any intel could be critical… Best to err on the side of caution.
"Things are pretty messed up these days, huh," she flatly states with a teeny hint of a smirk. When Nocturne jumps in there's a sudden spike of positive energy, something Dom's not familiar with, though when the blue gal introduces herself Spot passes a mock-salute across the table back at her.
"So I get the feeling that none of us are from around these parts. Back where I'm from I didn't exactly have a lot of pals, either."
On the upside introductions have been going a lot faster on average!
Neena gives a helpless roll of her shoulders, palms held up across the table. "I've really got nothin,' big guy. I don't know where we are, who we are, what we're doing, or where any of this is going. All I know is that we're going into this op blind. Wagner here summed it up, 'somewhat confused' goes a long way."
"So this really is a different time-stream," Cable muses aloud, stroking the stubble on his chin with his forefinger and thumb. The big man strides further into the room, pulls out a chair at the War Table, and sits down heavily in it. He sticks one leg out all the way, and hooks his ankle up over his other leg at the knee.
"What I'd give fer a cigar right now…" he mutters mostly to himself. Looking at Domino and Nocturne, he gives a shrug and motions around him vaguely with one hand.
"Yer in the X-men mansion or school… in Westchester, New York, United State of blah-blah-blah… planet-Earth, Sol Star System…" Cable pauses to lay his techno-organic hand upon the table, and starts drumming his fingertips idly upon it.
"Yer from another time-stream — either that, or I am. One man's home is another man's alternate, fu — unky reality. Yeah." He glances back at Nocturne and lifts his chin. "Don't fully recognise you, kid. Nocturne, huh? You related to the Elf at all? Wagner?"
Nocturne was about to politely points out, at Domino's comment about nobody knowing who they are, "…actually, I do know who I am.", but all she manages to get out is almost the weak beginning of an "I", when Cable start talking at the same time. She hurries to shut up, so quick it seems like she never even started talking. Good thing, it's always awkward when people start apologizing for interrupting each other. She looks between Cable and Domino. A question she's been meaning to suppress. A question she tried hard, HARD not to ask, but eventually erupted, against her better judgement, against what shreds of common sense are left in her, a question which probably is not going to win her any friends, but she just had to ask.
"…they don't have cigars in this reality?"
Way to go, Teej. You went and did it again. Quick, save! Save!
She abruptly turns to Domino, and says, "So, you're out of your timeline, too? It's okay! If you want, I can be your pal? I mean, nobody technically knows me her-" And then it hits her, and she turns to Cable again, abruptly, "…Wagner… Elf? Kurt Wagner?" she says, suddenly beaming. "My dad exists in this dimension?" She leans forward and slams her hands on the table in excitement. "Where is he?"
"Time-stream?" Domino echoes, back to looking puzzled. "So you know a thing or three about this sorta mess?" Because that would make Cable useful. (Time to pay attention, girl.)
"The only things I've got aren't anything you'd want to smoke," she suggests while reaching under her large black leather trench, plucking a single green shotgun shell from hiding, then lightly setting it on the table in front of herself.
Upon hearing 'school' mentioned she slooowly and nonchalantly picks the shell back up and hides it away again, though when Teej asks about the cigars what starts as a dumbstruck expression quickly evolves into quiet chuckling. "You're an interesting one."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Strangest damn school I've ever seen, too. Glad to have that out of the way." (And glad they didn't have metal detectors on the way in.) "I — " Friend? Like..pals? Buddies? Really? "Wait. There's TWO of them?" she suddenly asks, motioning to Talia.
"God help us all."
Cable holds up a metallic hand and waves away thoughts, questions, assumptions… at least that is the intention. "Don't… spend too much time thinkin' about it, kids," he tells both Domino and Nocturne. "Yer'll end up with an exploded head. Ain' nobody I know of wants an exploded head… well. I know some who got it comin'…"
He trails off and itches the stubble on the right side of his face.
To Nocturne he explains: "I only got stuck here a few days ago, Blue. Ain' hardly seen anyone — but I remember yer dad… wait. Elf's yer dad? When did he ever find time fer…" and the burly man involuntarily places one finger inside the loose grip of his other hand.
The moment he realises what he is doing, he sticks both hands underneath the table. Clearing his throat, he remarks: "Guess he can teleport… Jeez. Look, don' go 'round tellin' folks that Time has pulled a fast one, a'right? People're idiots — they don' need a push."
Nocturne smirks a little. "Interesting doesn't even begin to fall short of describing me.", she says at Domino, and then she continues, "…but sure! I mean, I know nobody, might as well start somewhere!" And then she looks a bit incredulous. Talia laughs and shakes her head. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm an adult, I know where the birds and the bees come from. And if what I know is right, slightly above a couple decades ago plus nine months in my personal timeline." She beams even more widely. "Yes! He can teleport! It's him!"
When Nate mentions some having an exploded head coming Neena simply holds a single thumb up over her head. 'Hear ya, there.'
Then she's back to smirking, this time at Nate's confusion. "Tiiime-stream," she almost merrily repeats.
"This might be a problem. The three of us aren't alone. I've already seen two schools of thought regarding it. Keeping it quiet as it should be, and blatantly talking about it as if the first person to overhear them will have all of the answers they're after. I don't know about 'Blue' here but my business, reality-hopping time-stream-what-nots, is my own."
Looking back to TJ, she adds "Something tells me that somehow you're no stranger to this. You seem way too damn comfortable over there."
Once Nocturne mentions her dad, Neena thinks aloud "So some people know other people, of which may or may not be the -same- person that they knew, while others don't know other people, and.. god I need a drink," she suddenly announces while rising out of her seat and going for the door. "Just down the hall, or..? Nevermind, I'll find it."
Cable stops drumming his fingers on the table and lets out a sigh from between his lips. After Domino leaves, he gives Nocturne an encouraging nod — or at least that is his intention — and pushes away from the table.
"I need a cigar," says he after cracking his neck from side to side. "And a beer — yeah, even this early. It's happy hour somewhere in the world right now… Take care o' yerself, Blue." Taking a few steps toward the door, the big man lifts his left, metallic hand to his temple and mutters a single line:
"Bodyslide by one."
Blue rings of energy surround him for an instant, and then the former time-traveller is gone — likely to a place in the world that sells good beer.
END LOG.