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 Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:45 am
Clearly she had been a little too hasty in using sarcasm, and Lorna realized that mistake now. But she didn't mind having a conversation about the weather, especially when it was still raining. "I prefer being indoors too if its going to rain like this. Guess this time I wasn't so lucky."
Lorna noticed the towel that Bob had placed in front of her with delight. "'Thank you! Do you have...coffee here?" She began rubbing at the ends of her brown hair with the towel, hoping to wring some of the water out.
She couldn't help but smirk at the newest customer's request for a reality check, but hoped he didn't see. He looked like a tough customer indeed, and the sidearm he was carrying only confirmed that.
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:45 pm
Bob was pleased that Mortera found the dish acceptable and smiled contently. "You're welcome, if you'd like anything else feel free to ask."
Turning his attention to Lorna he gave a quick nod to confirm the order. Reaching under the bar he pulled out a tiny tray and set it down in front of the girl. Sugar, sweeter, creamer, and stir sticks could be found in various containers on the tray. "I'll be back right away with your coffee."
Turning away, he moved though the swinging door behind the bar again, returning instantly with an insulated pitcher and an empty mug. Setting the mug in front of Lorna, he filled it three quarters of the way to the top with coffee from the pitcher. Deciding to leave the pitcher on the bar near the tray, he felt she had everything she needed. "Enjoy the coffee, you're welcome to as much as you'd like."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:20 pm
Marcus was still confused. He had never been the smartest guy in a room nor did he ever expect to be. But he knew damn well that something beyond the ordinary was operating here. One side of his brain argued that he should run for the door and hope that he could get out. While the other reasoned that he didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger and he could plenty well defend himself if trouble did arise. Most likely. He glanced at the horned girl again and wondered what sort of trouble he might find here and if it too would differ from the norm.
The bartender had delivered her a plate of strange food that she dug into with zeal and Marcus took stock of the rest of the room. There was another woman at the barn and the couple playing pool. The horned girl made a remark about it ‘raining where she came from’ which made no sense to Marcus. It wasn’t raining outside. But slowly he gathered that somehow, someway he was not sitting in a bar in Pittsburgh now. When he stepped off of the sidewalk he had left the world he knew behind. This was a remarkable experience and he should take a moment to savor it.
Or he was having a MAJOR mental breakdown and was actually walking through the grocery store naked with a tub of Crisco looking for a good aisle to penguin slide down while this played out in his head. Either way, there was no good reason to waste the alcohol. The bottle of Budweiser was cold and he took a long swallow, pounding the shot right after it. With a satisfied ‘ah!’ as the Jager simmered its way down to his stomach and he flipped the shot glass up on the bar he took a deep breath and decided to just go with it.
Reaching in his pocket he pulled out his cell. Planning on calling Thatcher and Gid and having them stop in and reassure him that he wasn’t crazy. But surprise-surprise, he had no signal. Scowling at the useless electronic device he pocketed it and pulled out his notepad. He just had to treat this like nothing was weird and he would be fine. What better way than to focus on work. He had copied down the pertinent case information that morning from the file and had been in the process of doing a copy preliminary interviews when he had stumbled upon the bar.
He glanced up when he saw the bartender whipping back and forth supplying all kinds of goodies to the bar folk with ease. Shrugging one large shoulder and deciding to just go along with this experience he gave the bartender a one fingered wave to catch his attention, “Can I get a Reuben and fries?” His order was posed as a question only out of politeness like he ordered from any other restaurant, not with any doubt lingering in his tone. Something told him that he could have asked for a plate of his long dead grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies and this guy could get them. But all the same, he Reuben seemed safer.
His eyes turned to the other bar patron without horns, drying her hair. Her order of coffee reassured him that she might not have come from anywhere so strange as the pink haired girl. Deciding that the silence was almost awkward he cocked his head in her direction. “So where are you from?” In an ordinary situation this question would have implied asking for a hometown. But he was sure that everyone in this strange place would understand that he was asking what was waiting on the other side of the front door for them. At least he hoped Pittsburgh would still be waiting for him.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:18 pm
Lorna couldn't help but grin at the assortment of creamers in the tray in front of her, before proceeding to lace her coffee with as much sugar as she deemed safe. After that rain, a hot, sweet drink sounded wonderful. "Thank you," she said to Bob, still beaming.
She picked up the mug, cupping it in one hand as she turned to the man who had addressed her. "I'm from Carin, in what's left of Nebraska." She shrugged, sipped at her coffee, wincing as she succeeded in burning her tongue. It occurred that he had probably intended it in a more general term, since everyone here was from very different places. "In whatever dimension of it is still in one piece, anyway."
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:43 am
Marcus listened to her response. Nodded and turned to take a long drink of beer. No horns but a world where Nebraska was evidently not all there. Nebraska was fine when he left and seriously, it was Nebraska, that had to be the last place for atomic war to hit. Because there was much more than goats out there…for the most part. And what else could destroy nearly a whole state? Did he want to know? Was this a collection of people from parallel universes? Or figures from the past or future? If she was from future than he knew that he should find out what happened to the world so that he could prevent it. Though, looking over at the girl with horns again, he gave her a small smile and turned back taking another drink of beer.
I’m going with parallel universes.
Nodding to himself, he looked back to the woman that he had spoken to before. “I’m Marcus.” He reached out a big hand in greeting. Assuming that regardless of Nebraska being blown to smithereens or otherwise decimated in some way, people still surely shook hands. “What do you do?”
Marcus tried to keep everything casual but his mind kept circling around the peculiar situation that he found himself in. Was time moving the same way in Pittsburgh? Was he going to spend an hour here and step back into Pittsburgh at the second that he left? Or weeks later? Would he be getting back at all? Or could he be sucked into some porthole to a strange universe were everyone had flippers or feathers or…horns.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:45 am
"You're welcome miss, if you'd like anything else just ask." Turning his attention away from Lorna he accepted the order from Marcus with a nod. "Sure thing." Bob made his way though the swinging door behind the bar again, returning with the sandwich and fries after just a few seconds, and setting the plate in front of Marcus. "Here you go, enjoy your meal."
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:17 pm
Lorna shook his hand firmly before returning to her coffee for a moment where she tried to think of the best way to word what she did. It was more like what she didn't do, with her finances being as bad as they were. “Mainly free-lance work.” she said, cupping her hands back around her mug. “For anyone who wants the monsters out of their yard without the government’s vamp hunters getting involved.” Even as shady as that sounded, she wasn’t about to change it. The last ten year of her life had been spent living alongside the strangest things to the point where gatherings like this bar were relatively normal. It was a minor loophole in space and time, or something she wasn’t going to think too hard about. It simply was, and that was good enough for her to accept, especially when she was there herself. “With limitations,” she added after a moment before the man said anything else. “I’m a mere human.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:06 am
The horned girl, happily dining and enjoying herself, was content with being able to listen to others beside her having a conversation. She decided that now was a good time to make herself feel more comfortable. Unhooking the two satchels she carried around her research materials in from her thick belt, Mortera propped them up beside her stool on the floor for safe keeping. It was nice to not have them weighing her down for once, even if now she felt just the slightest bit exposed.
This was more how she normally was: quiet, out of the way, and attentive.
Besides, even if she wasn't contributing, it was interesting to hear what these people from other worlds had to say. Her ears flicked when it was said that the woman from the place known as Nebraska fought monsters for people. That sounded like such a dangerous occupation!
Her thoughts removed themselves from that conversation as they instead turned to the growing tingling in her thought. Mortera had gotten so distracted by everything going on around her that she'd forgotten proirell tends to make one thirsty.
"Um, excuse me..." Her voice fumbled when she realized she hadn't caught the bartender's name, but she raised her hand to try and get eye contact. " Could I get a glass of water?" The words translated so smoothly that water must be one of the more constant things in all worlds. She thought she remembered reading something about that being one of the "truths of travel"...
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The Feeling After Surgery
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:41 pm
Marcus’ eyebrow arched but otherwise he listened quietly to what she said about her life. Monsters, vampires, freelance mercenary of the undead. He took another drink of beer. His eyes flicked over as the horned girl ordered a water. Wasn’t life just a total contradiction? He chuckled to himself and shook his head. Since his food had arrived he belayed his answer with a big bite of corned beef.
“Oh damn.” He half moaned as he chewed. “If this place wasn’t making me think I should commit myself to a psych ward as soon as I find one, I’d come here for this every day.” He said to the bartender with a chuckle. Not even Primanti’s Brothers could match this. It was perfect. The beer was just the right temperature and didn’t seem to be getting any warmer. This would definitely be the place to come if it weren’t for the interdimensional rift aura that it radiated.
Turning back to the vampire hunter he smiled, “I’m afraid my story is boring by comparison. I’m from Pittsburgh in the year 2012. I work for a detective and securities company and spend my average day trailing cheating husbands or tracking corporate espionage. I’m a widower with two kids.” He stretched his mind for anything truly exceptional about his life. “My youngest brother-in-law is rather irregular. But hardly qualifies as a monster.”
“So tell me,” he went on as he gathered up a few fries, “was it the vampire menace that did away with the rest of Nebraska that you implied was no longer there?”
It was all so very surreal, but Marcus focused on just going with it and enjoying the experience. He certainly hoped that she wasn’t from the definite future and he had to worry about Matty and Hildy getting attacked by vampires. But the horned girl’s presence assured him that this was some sort of strange meeting ground of worlds and places.
At least he hoped so.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:30 pm
Lorna took a sip of her coffee, savoring for a moment the taste. It had been quite a while since she had had time to sit down and simply enjoy a drink.
The man next to her was apparently a little surprised - if she could say that - about what she had said. His relatively normal life in comparison to hers made her a little envious. She looked into her coffee for a moment.
"Your job sounds like it's a bit more stable than mine. But, ah, well. As far as family goes, my mother and aunt are happily settled in one of the more normal regions. Circumstances make it difficult to see them since I've been currently living and working in the ruined areas."
She eyed his food, realizing that the sight was actually making her hungry. "Is it possible," she asked to the bartender, "for me to get what he has?"
Lorna turned back to the man. "It wasn't the vampires....they were a side effect. Most of the country was ruined by the magic waves started by the meddling magi. Once parts of the earth were changed, the creatures just started showing up."
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The Feeling After Surgery
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:37 pm
Quiet listening turned to hurt when she heard what magic had done to a seemingly peaceful place. Staying silent wasn't going to happen now that this topic had risen.
"That's terrible." Her voice rose with a little quiver and full of distress. "Any self-respecting magi should know better than to do anything with magic that could potentially get out of hand and affect a mass of people like that."
Mortera shook her head. "I hope that all people who use magic there aren't like that. It's supposed to be a respected, fine art; I would hate to think that the only exposure some have had to magic is that it is a force of chaos and corruption."
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:31 pm
Bob quickly grabbed a glass and filled it with ice and water before setting the drink in front of Mortera with a smile. "Here you go. Let me know if you'd like a refill."
With The drink request filled he turned towards Lorna and gave her a nod. "Sure thing, it's no problem at all." Bob moved though the door behind the bar, returning with a plate of food identical to Marcus's in just a few seconds, setting the sandwich and fries in front of her. "If you'd like anything else just ask."
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:13 pm
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