ic Exes and Ohs

[Avenger Assembled]

Dimitri watched Erik with truly animated interest, like a man eager not so much for a fight but for something exciting to happen.

 

When Talya interjected, he focused on her. "I did not point gun at him," said a still-seated Frost defensively, "I merely...gesticulated wildly, like so!" he said, waving around the hand that wasn't still holding the gun. With an air of injured dignity, he began the slow process of unloading the revolver and sliding the bullets back into his parka pocket. "Come on, Talya, give me a leetle credit here," he grumbled good-naturedly. "I am doctor and your friend - why you not tell me these things?" he asked with a gesture at her abdomen. "I tell you about all my romantic news!" Which was true enough - albeit it was a monotonous conversation, he had to admit. "Anyway, no harm, no foul. Look, ah, Erik, you were in no danger whole time - am bad shot." Well he's no coward anyway - and does appreciate a joke, or did. He winked, then seemed to snap 'out-of-character.' 

 

With a distinctly lessened accent - and slightly more gravity, he went on, he went on. "So, old Danger is dying, eh? He is, what, a hundred and fifteen? And feeling it all these years?" Frost shuddered at that. "Satan's bones, that poor damnable bastard."

[Gizmo]

Erik snorted and waved a hand dismissively. "Hey, I get it. And it's not like it's all that rare for somebody to threaten me with a gun to begin with." The smirk on his face briefly turned cool as he added, "That said, you bring that thing into our home, we'll have words. Just fair warning." He didn't really believe Frost's claims of being a poor marksman but he wasn't having a firearm in the hands of anyone who thought a loaded gun made a good prop anywhere near his daughters. It was a matter of principle.

 

"Maybe a dumb question but I guess he wasn't ever all-the-way immortal?" he asked a little more loudly, unfolding his arms. "I guess I assumed he just had the same deal Ace does but no so much, huh. Jeeze."

[angrydurf]

Almost on cue Rachel returned with the Phurpa the intricate brasswork of triple bladed ceremonial dagger mounted to a hilt of carved ivory and an intricate pommel depicting hte elephant headed Ganesha.  "Not at all."  she replied to Eriks query, "Grandfather has always been more circumspect about the circumstances of his longevity than my Uncle."  she explained easily as she offered the artifact and a small dossier about its use to Dimitri, "Obviously we are not discussing his health publically at this time."  she reiterated firmly and let out a small sad sigh, "He received treatments up until grandmothers death."  she explained leaving the open secret of Dakanan longevity treatments unspoken.  "Now his time runs out.  He wishes to see Ace before the end."  she offered eyes glinting with moisture at the family tragedy for whatever the Danger patriarchs flaws as a father to Ace he was the indomitable pillar of the family for the younger generations entire lives.

 

Composing herself quickly she motioned for them to follow her, "We have a secure room where you can begin your preparations."  She explained as she led them to a well apportioned conference room with direct access to the outside, "The outer door has been keyed to your biometrics and you can come and go as you need."  she explained and motioned toward the room and its smattering of supplies.  "Thank you Ms. Browning."  she said her tone heartfelt, "We'll not forget this favor."

[alderwitch]

"Ace is the only actual immortal, in the technical term, in the Danger family. Not that Ace actually knows which random elixir, or spell, or ray gun made him into the man who can't die," Talya told Erik, the words a dry aside as she took his arm and left Frost to figure out the mystical artifact. "Which has limited his occasional efforts to undo it. To be fair, though, none of us were at our best during the seventies."

 

She gave Rachel a smile and an absent wave of her hand, "Ace is a dear - if often aggravating - friend. You needn't worry that I'll call in favors for this." Talya offered smoothly as she went to step aside and glance around the room. Her blue-eyed gaze slanted up to Erik questioningly, her words delicate as she suggested, "My love, as much as I appreciate the jeans - would you rather be spat out of a mystic portal in other attire?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Sez you, Talya, Frost was always Frost..." As instructed in the dossier, Dimitri was turning the idol over in his hands, checking the paths of the external grooves to make sure the path to the internal basin wasn't blocked. "All right, this is within my powers," he commented, "just let me know when you are ready for magical mystery tour of seedier ancient dimensions." He took a seat on the floor, taking the lotus position that the Hindu themselves used, the better to be comfortable for what followed. "If is still Amazon dimension, you could put him in garb that fellows wear around those parts, eh? With the palm fronds, and the..." He made a gesture suggesting how little it usually carried. "Luckily Russian ice monster does not meet their definition of manhood." 

[Gizmo]

Erik might not have flinched at Dimitri's handgun but when Dent-Danger explained the reason her grandfather had stopped receiving his life-prolonging treatments the swordsman looked as though he'd been punched in the stomach. He schooled his features back into something more neutral as quickly as he could but not soon enough to fool anyone; the idea of leaving longer lived partners behind obviously hit a little too close to home. "Palm fronds, right. Let's call that Plan B." Retrieving a short black duffel from where he'd dropped it when they'd been led into the room, he hefted it over one shoulder. "Give me a minute to change and I'll be good to go."

[alderwitch]

"Dearest, I only mean that you've grown better with age," Talya replied smoothly to Frost's grumbling with an arch smile. She inclined her blond head to Erik's comment about changing even as she reached to unfasten the overcoat she'd worn over her own dress. She draped that over the back of one chair, "You'd look very fetching in palm fronds, but they do itch something terrible." Talya offered, the teasing light and clearly aimed at blunting conversation away from the toll of an immortal life span. 

 

With deft fingers, Talya untangled the scarf at her neck and added that to the pile of extra layers. As she unravelled her disguise, the changes to her silhouette since the last time Frost had seen here was much more obvious. Still, she dropped to the ground gracefully, her knees tucked primly  under her and her hands in her lap. "We might as well start there," she suggested, "Perhaps we're lucky and Ace has tarried there long enough that we might catch him.." Her sigh, though, was heartfelt. "I hate magical inter-dimensional travel. At least its not time travel, though. Small favors."

[Avenger Assembled]

When Erik excused himself to get changed, Dimitri placed his hand against the top of the statue and waited for Talya's lover to return. "We've been to worse places than that and come through all right. And many of those with Ace." With his other hand, he took the ceremonial dagger in hand, the handle dusting with frost at his touch. Recognizing that there were things Talya preferred not to talk about right now, he chose to keep the subject light himself. "You know, if he has moved on to that Spartan dimension of his, I will wear loincloth if that young fellow of yours does. It will be even stevens." 

[Gizmo]

"Frost, don't take this the wrong way, but me shirtless and you shirtless? There'd be nothing even about that." Jack of all Blades returned to the room having changed into his work clothes with practiced efficiency. Taking his cue from the others he crouched down, royal blue greatcoat spreading out in a semicircle behind him. "Just so long as we're not doing a medieval, knights and dragons thing. That never goes well for me, like the time with the book and the eyepatch or the time when Bill didn't have any pants." He glanced between the Dimitri and Talya. "What, we only get to reference old adventures if they happened before Kennedy was president?"

[alderwitch]

"Mitya, that is ever so much more frightening than your old service weapon. You should have opened with that," came the dry tones of the ex-spy as Erik changed swiftly. 

 

"I intend to keep my clothes on for this trip unless we end up someplace that is all white sand beeches and warm weather. New Jersey is miserable this time of year, and that trip to Asgard last month wasn't any better. But what you boys do with your shirts is really your own business," Talya said as she reached out an elegant hand to cover Frost's on the statue. Her red lips quirked in amusement though. "I want to hear more about the pants-less medieval dimension sometime. How do you always lose clothing in your adventures. Is that actually your secondary mutation?"

[Avenger Assembled]

With Erik's return, Dimitri slipped smoothly back into character - not far, the minimum level he reserved for people his friends liked. He laughed, eyes and teeth wide. "Hah! This is good story about man with no pants, but we must be on our way. Better get your hand on here, Erik." When Jack had done so, Dimitri deftly hefted the sacrificial dagger in his free hand - and sliced his own wrist. It did not look like he enjoyed it. "Well! Holy items, as bloody uncomfortable as ever, eh?" he hissed. Luckily with his hand on the bottom, no one had to feel the blood that immediately began flowing sluggishly down his hand and over the idol they all touched, but they could watch the thick, syrupy flow, complete with tiny flecks of ice like a half-melted snow cone, fill the icy crevasses in the idol.

[angrydurf]

For a long moment it seemed nothing was happening beyond Frosts bloody display.  The vampire could feel the artifact rebel against the foreign magics empowering it before its enchantments flared to life.  A soft golden glow began at the solar plexus of each participant in the ritual and matched by the same on the idol they held.  Then in an instant the light grew to a blinding flash and a warm almost tropical breeze seemed to flow over the trio as with a lurching twist of time and space they fell into rhythm with a new universe.

 

When their senses cleared Frost, Bombshell, and Jack found themselves not in a banal office park in a freedom suburb, but rather crouched upon the manicured lawns of a sprawling park dotted with nods to classical architecture and art.  Some distance away they could make out a skyline familiar yet distinct from the skies of the Freedom City they knew, spires and domes dominated the skyline though it rose as high as the angular arrangement of skyscrapers they knew.  Along the paved walks jogged or strolled statuesque women of impressive proportion, most in some variation on the theme of a draped toga the hems intricately embroidered in what those familiar with the dimension knew to be markings of caste and station among the populace.  Those with the most intricate and highest ranked were followed by lithe men in assorted garb clearly designed to accentuate that which was pleasing in the masculine form.

[alderwitch]

The world lurched and it somehow managed to be more unpleasant than even normal magical dimensional travel for Talya. The blood magic that was infused with her body never played nicely with other magical sources at the best of times and today was clearly not her 'best'. Talya snatched her hand back the moment the world stopped swimming enough to coordinate her limbs to manage it - almost mid ritual and wouldn't that have been disastrous - and bolt to her feet. She swayed for a moment in place, the blood draining from her already pale features. Nope, there was going to be no 'breathing through it'. Not this time.

 

With wounded dignity, Talya took a few steps away from the men and towards a lovely gilded urn at the side of the road at which point she threw up into it: as quietly as one could really manage. Hopefully, it wasn't anything sacred to the locals. 

 

"I..." Talya pronounced in between heaves, and with as much menace as she could muster, "Am going to kill Ace Danger."

[Gizmo]

Jack was up and on his feet almost as quickly as Talya, eyes flicking back and forth to take in their new surroundings before the whole of his attention was pulled to the blonde's misery. Approaching with careful steps so as not to startle her the swordsman used one hand to slowly rub her back in a circle while the other took her shoulder to help steady her. "That's probably fine," he agreed accommodatingly, gently placing a few strands of hair behind Talya's ear and out of her way. "Not like he wouldn't get over it."

 

Glancing behind him he asked Frost, "Can you make some water? Does your ice thing work like that?" Sparing some consideration for the locals walking by he offered a smile full of perfect teeth. "Hey, how's it going? Nice place, very green."

[Avenger Assembled]

Dimitri was on Talya's other side, patting her with the hand that wasn't covered in icy blood. "Ssh, ssh. Should have warned me," he added gently, "I would have brought ginger candy. Sorry, fellow," he said to Erik sociably, "body temperature of below 0 degrees means no water on me, and need water to freeze to make it. Have got some liquor, though," he said to Talya. "<Wash out your mouth, but don't swallow anything - it will just make vomiting worse,>" he said as he offered her his vodka flask. With his other hand, he took out a battered old butane lighter and snapped it on with a faint woosh. Without commenting, he held the flame up to the wound on his wrist, the flesh beginning to knit shut under the blue-white flame. "Is nice place. Have had troubles with Amazons," and here Erik caught a hint of real bitterness, "but not these."  

[angrydurf]

The trio drew a few looks from passerby as the men hovered over the sick woman, an older gentleman offering Erik and Dimitri a small sympathetic nod as he hustled past most of the women haughtily ignoring the three dimensional interlopers with the ease of the monied aristocracy ignoring the 'little people'.  However it didn't take long for the distinctly out of place group to draw more official attention.

 

What must have been a uniformed officer approached, a tall woman with nearly three inches on either of the men, wearing what to the prime natives appeared to be bronze and leather armor out of grecian antiquity if not for the hints of mystic sigils inlaid across the cuirasse, at one hip sat a silvery lariat and the other a labrys of some almost black metal.  "A little excessive celebration at the festivals ma'am?"  she inquired of Talya dismissing the men out of hand for the moment, "Would you like me to call you a cab?"  she inquired and glanced with almost maternal concern towards the men, "You gents alright?  Need a hand getting her home?"  Her lips didn't quite sync with her words and it was clear some force was translating her words on the fly from whatever her native tongue was to that the individuals were most accustomed to.

[alderwitch]

Talya dutifully accepted the vodka without bothering to point out that she wasn't about to swallow anything right now, as she really did want to clear her mouth of the taste. At the official sounding voice, Talya groaned, the sound soft but very heartfelt. It really didn't matter what the dimension was, she never had good luck with the police. She mutely held the flask back to Frost as she turned around and pasted on a smile that would fool almost anyone. Certainly, she was still a little too pale under the makeup that she wore and the hand on Jack of All Blade's wrist had the sort of tension in it that spoke of intense internal focus. 

 

She was, by all the gods, not going to make her day worse by tossing her cookies on the Amazon-cop's lovely golden sandals. 

 

"Thank you, no. Celebration?" She asked, lilting her voice up into a question. "We only just arrived, you see. I don't travel well, t'all, I'm afraid," she offered the lie smoothly. "Motion sickness. Dreadful thing. We're looking for Ace Danger. Perhaps you could direct us towards where we might find him?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Is proud day for mother and father," offered Dimitri with a wink at the pretty police officer, then a nod in Erik's direction, obviously directing the lady's attention to Jack of all Blades rather than himself. "You know how these things go, eh, fearsome one? Eh?" For a moment it looked like he was about to slap the warrior woman on the back - before he seemed to think better of it. He put an avuncular arm around Erik's shoulder and it was a bit like being hugged by the inside of the deep freeze back home. "I am merely ice golem designed to serve needs of friendly visitors to friendly dimension."  

[Gizmo]

Jack's shoulder's stiffened under Frost's arm, partly from the cold and partly from vaguely defined revulsion. "Sometimes I remember that your job is literally being an ambassador and I just have... so many questions," the swordsman muttered out of the corner of his mouth before fixing the local constabulary with a dazzling smile. "Sorry, oversharing, I know! He's a talker, this one. Lucky he's got his looks to fall back on. Kidding, I'm kidding!" If they were going to look like a ridiculous collective of weirdly tiny people with assorted accents he figured they might as well lean into it and shoot for comically nonthreatening. Even if he was already doing some mental arithmetic to gauge how quickly someone with the officer's muscle tone could likely swing that axe he wasn't actually angling for a fight, not when Gina Espadas' favourite son could get by on charm. "We'll try not to be a nuisance, haha! Speaking of nuisances, though, really; Ace. Ace Danger. Familiar at all? He's usually tough to miss."

[angrydurf]

GM Post  

 

The officer let out a slow authoritative sigh that some might recognize as the ever popular 'great drunks' sigh that it seemed transcended cultures and dimensions.  She fixed a quizzical look on Talya as she handed off a flask and offered a somewhat vodka soaked explanation of her condition moments before Dimitris ever so helpful aside about her condition.  Holding up one hand to silence the trio she shook her head slightly, "Ma'am you should know better than to be drinking if your boy is being truthful."  she intoned somberly and looked to Jack with a shake of her head, "And you,"  she scolded, "You need keep in mind your families best interests mister this is no way to run a household."  she implied a nod to Dimitri whom she clearly had labeled an incompetent domestic of some sort.

 

"Well you made it to the garbage can."  she stated her visage stern, "And in the spirit of our ladies wisdom and protection,"  She intoned emphatically, "I'll overlook any drunk and disorderly charges."  she granted graciously and fixed Erik a firm look, "Now you get these folks home."  she stated plainly, "No respectable family sort goes down to that Danger Jungle room."  she intoned quietly trying to give the odd group a respectable way out though her eyes drifted to the west when she spoke of the Danger establishment.

Edited March 5, 2016 by angrydurf

[alderwitch]

"Indeed," Talya said, one hand scribing faint circles in the air as if she were dutifully paying dues to their 'lady'. The other she left linked with Erik as she did her best to look pale, wan and suitably chastised. The former were easier to manage as her color was only now returning to her cheeks and she still felt put through the wringer. Talya was not looking forward to the return trip home. Hopefully they'd quickly snatch Ace and shove him into his niece's waiting care. Hah, unlikely at best.

 

"Thank you ever so much," Talya agreed with an innocent look that would never have flown very far in cities she was better known in. "We'll be heading home right along. Post haste." She agreed giving Dimitri a sidelong look at that point. After all, if anyone was going to find the disreputable part of town...

[Avenger Assembled]

"Ah, the Jungle Room," commented Dimitri under his breath as they headed in a big circle that gradually veered them west again. At Talya's unspoken request, he took the lead of their little trio. "How delightful. So, we tell Ace the sad tale of his father, we tell him happy tale of Browning baby, and we pack him off to Earth-Prime. Should be easy as pie." He looked around as they went, hands in his pockets, and then winked at Erik. "You see, am excellent ambassador. Have been around bourgeois police many decades and between friendly Russian ice monster, friendly Bombshell, and friendly young father, all is resolved. You just have to know to handle those types." He made sure, before he spoke, that there were none visible as they headed down the street. 

[Gizmo]

"Hey, I defer to your greater experience at being disliked on sight," the younger man agreed with all due deference, placing his palms together and bowing slightly in Dimitri's direction while keeping pace with Talya.

 

As he straightened he tucked his hands into the pockets of his greatcoat and took in the local scenery, noting how the city changed as they entered what was evidently 'the bad part of town'. What law enforcement in one neighbourhood said about another wasn't always accurate and rarely flattering in his experience but if they were going to be attacked by roving gangs of gladiator movie extras he wanted to see it coming. "So we're going to like a strip club or a brothel or something, yeah? 'Cause if the Jungle Room is actually a greenhouse I don't want to say the wrong thing to some poor gardener."

[alderwitch]

"Well, these charming individuals never did have the whole puritanical bent so selling sex was never criminalized," Talya provided as she linked her arm with Erik's, "And while I haven't been to THIS particular bacchanal, I'm familiar with the culture to take a guess at what its going to be. Think more, oh, hedonistic pleasure garden than strip club for our world. There will probably be increased nudity from what everyone's wearing on the streets, yes."

 

Talya gave his arm a slight pat, more concerned about the possibility of losing layers of clothing than she might otherwise be. "But its early in the day still so it shouldn't have gone all, ah, orgiastic. Probably."

[angrydurf]

GM Post  

 

As the trio left the park and moved southwest the timbre of the city changed in subtle ways, the gilded classical arches and columns remained though more worn, the gilt flaking in places or going unpolished, the lush lawns and hedges gave way to a few stray trees poking out of sparse dirt islands in a concrete jungle.  The people too changed, the fine robes and togas of the elites were replaced by more utilitarian wear though still marked with the byzantine embroidery of caste and rank.  This was the sort of change Erik was well accustomed, the change akin to that from the shining towers of glass and steel to the less regal but more personable apartments and bodegas of the West End.  

 

Then again the West end had nothing quite like the Jungle Room.  The exterior sharply diverged from the classical design of the surrounding buildings with a large fence woven of the trunks of some exotic tree and a great timber and Iron gate standing open beneath a torchlit sign proclaiming it's name in bright red letters carved in a savage font evocative of the exotic and perhaps dangerous.  On the signs flanks animated neon lights portrayed well built dusky men fanning with palm fronds, apparently Talyas jibes had not been purely in jest.  Inside the gates a tumult of wild seeming vegetation lined a gravel walk around a bubbling pond full of brightly colored fish as it wound it's way to a towering rough hewn porch someone must have stolen from some forgotten Adventureland attraction.

 

At the entrance to the Jungle Room proper stood a matronly woman of indeterminate age in a floor length toga and a cape of tigerskin, "Welcome visitors to the Jungle Room,"  she intoned with a warm smile, "Come and enjoy the fruits of far off lands and the pleasures earned in valorous service to our Lady." she invited with a sweep of her arm then took in Talya and the two men with a quirked brow, "Or perhaps you seek something more exotic still yes?"  she asked with a slight quirk of her lip.

Edited April 2, 2016 by angrydurf