Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Myitt]

Myitt blinks, staring at Gaf, momentarily incredulous.

<<The hell did you expect, man?>> says Tara. <<He's from a place where Yeerks and humans live together and hold hands and sing ****in' kumbaya.>>

She clears her throat. "Yeah, sure. Of course. Remind me of your name again, kid?"

[guitarhero01234]

Immediately after Myitt gives her approval, Guppy's shoulders slump down and he lets his legs dangle freely from the bar stool, instead of resting his feet on the support bar. Despite his more relaxed posture, though, his facial expression seems to become more intense, and his eyes, while still not truly focusing on anything in particular, narrow and seem to stare right at Myitt.

"Chris," he says. "You can call me that, 'cause I'm way more used to that than 'Guppy.'" Chris speaks with much less vigor than Gaf, and his Brooklyn accent becomes even more thick as he mumbles his words. "So, you got Gaf convinced you're some sort of miracle worker or somethin'. Not that what you're saying doesn't have me interested, but I'm just a little skeptical."

Chris runs a hand through his messy hair and continues. "Look, forgive me for being blunt, but I've saved Gaf's ass from making some pretty stupid decisions before. Sorta' the voice of reason, y'know? And when you're offering some miracle cure for my eyes, there are some red flags goin' off in my head. So how do I know you're not just ****in' with me here?"

[Shenmue654]

"I think I know what you mean better than anyone in this dive would give me credit for," says Jeffrey, giving Morgan a nod. "My daughter..." Jeffrey sighs long and hard. "...she grew up before my eyes. Before I really knew what the hell had happened. One moment she was practicing knife throws in my training hall, missing every time--- The next minute she's got a date and she's sworn vengeance against her own Dad!" Jeffrey laughs.

"But that's kids for you," Jeffrey says. "Maybe I took too long to let her go. Maybe it all would have turned out differently between us if I hadn't been so scared."
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"Lis'n, kid..." Joanne sighs, rubbing a hand through her hair with a sheepish look. "We really can't do this. How long have you been up here in the 'verse? Years? There's no way they're gonna still be in that house. They might be ****in' Controllers themselves, long since transferred or whatnot."

Joanne gives Cameron a firm, sad smile. "You can' get your old life back. I know that better than anyone. Dalik is outside. An' he really wants to see you. Like my Kess wants to be with me. This is all due to that...That ****in' weird guy, I think. That Myitt was in! That has got to be the connection. Probably."

<<You don't know that.>>

<<I'm making this **** up as I go along, Kess.>>

[Myitt]

Myitt watches Chris without pity, but with a dark sense of empathy.

<<If that really is his host speaking,>> Tara quips.

"Chris," Myitt repeats, nodding. "You're smart to recognize that I have no reason to help you, other than...well, interest in helping you. There's no catch. I mean, I don't exactly wander around with the tech you need in my back pocket, but it could be arranged. I could find what you'd need."

Shivering a little, she continues, "You're wondering what's in it for me." Her smile is evident in her voice. "Isn't a good deed frankly good enough? And maybe you deserve to see what kind of a **** hole of a bar you've wound up in, heh heh."

<<Nice,>> mutters Tara. <<Smooth.>>

Myitt pauses, then adds, "Are you from New York? My host...she's from Boston. But it's a'right if you're a Yankees fan."

[Terenia]

Cameron stares at Joanne, head tilted slightly as she takes in the woman's words. By the time Joanne has finished the pendulum of her moods have swiftly swung back around. Tears prick her eyes and begin to spill over as her cheeks redden.

"I wana go home!" she cries, sitting down right there on the floor. "I don't wanna....d-don't wanna...wanna..." Her words evaporate into a slew of heavy sobs.

Behind Joanne, the hatch finally slides open. "Dapsen thing," Dalik hisses, using William's strong arms to lift himself on board before the ramp fully extends. He looks between Cameron and Joanne.

"What did you do to her!?" he demands.

Cameron, spotting William, begins to wail even louder.

[guitarhero01234]

"Yankees?" Chris says with a laugh. "Nah, c'mon, man, Mariners all the way!" Despite his apparent distrust of Myitt, Chris lets a smile creep across his face. "Haven't listened to a game in forever, though. But yeah, Brooklyn born and raised. Moved to Seattle when I was . . . ****, twenty-two, I think?" He sighs and takes a brief moment to reflect. "Yeah, twenty-two."

<<Chris, you're actually making small talk?>> Gaf comments.

<<Just feeling her out. Seeing if she's really as cool as she wants us to think.>>

"But Myitt, you get where I'm coming from, right?" Chris taps his empty glass, signaling the Bartender for another Mojito. "Like, I just met you a few minutes ago, and here you are saying you can maybe cure my blindness? You gotta admit, that sounds a little too good to be true. Hell, for all you've said about your place in time -and by the way, none of that time-travel **** is making a lick of sense to me. Gaf seems to get it, but I'm a little in the dark. But anyway, even though you've said a lot about this 'Empire' or whatever, I don't know anything about you."

[Myitt]

"Fair enough," Myitt agrees. "Clearly we're from different places. Different timelines. This bar, it exists in a sort of linchpin in space-time. A crossroads, where different dimensions coexist, and the fabric of space is thin enough to tear." She snorts a laugh. "It's enough of a mental mind**** to make anyone start drinking, huh?"

She narrows her eyes. "In fact, we might not even be able to make something for you that you'd be able to use in your universe. In your timeline. Bringing additional extradimensional matter into your dimension could **** things up. But what the hell do I know? Heh!" She takes a healthy swig of her drink. "I'm not an astrophysicist. I just like math."

Myitt nods at the human out of habit. "There's fact number one. I like math. What else do you wanna know? Twenty questions?"

[guitarhero01234]

"Well, good to know," Chris mumbles sarcastically. "So you're saying this could **** with the space-time continuum or something." He hears the glass being set down on the bar and almost instantly locates it with his hand. "Doesn't sound like a great idea to me."

Suddenly, a blast of radio static comes through Chris's headset. He jumps and vocalizes a small yell before instinctively tearing off the earpiece. "What the ****?" He turns the device in his pocket off and pockets the earpiece, not wanting to hear that again.

<<Why the hell did you crank that thing up so loud!?>>

<<Sorry.>>

"****in' . . . God. Sorry," Chris says to Myitt. He takes a sip of his drink and tries to regain his composure. "Where were we? Right, twenty questions? If you don't mind, I only have one at the moment." He chuckles softly at his failed attempt at a joke before continuing. "You got me curious, why'd you be hanging out in a place you say is a ****hole? Gotta be some reason you're here, right?"

[Myitt]

Myitt gestures with her drink. "Apparently I came here to get high and head hop," she mutters bitterly. She shakes her head. "But really, I'm a regular. Like you guessed. And this is the place I come to when I can't take life anymore."

She hesitates, then reluctantly adds, "My husband is dead." A fresh wave of sick grief hits her. She shrugs and swallows more liquor.

[Shenmue654]

"Thank god," says Joanne, as soon as Dalik shows up. She immediately backs away from Cameron and tries to stand closer to Dalik. She sighs and facepalms as Cameron wails even louder. "I didn' do nothin'! I jus' told her I wasn' gonna take the chick back to her hometown! For God's sake, it's been years since Kess and I came back to Earth! Why didn't you tell me your freaking host was stir-crazy and doesn't like you?!"

<That does tend to be the norm among hosts, Joanne.>

<You stay outta this.>

<I can't.> Keshin's tone was deadpan, even for a Yeerk.
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Jeffrey sits idly at his table, drinking. He only makes a sideways glance over at Myitt as she states her reason for coming to the Bar. "It seems like the wrong place to go if you're trying to get away from life, doesn't it? You'll just run into other people's lives instead, broken beyond repair. Or even things you don't wanna remember, since half the people here know each other."

[Myitt]

Myitt glances at Jeffrey in surprise, turning to face him.

Then her eyes narrow.

"Don't talk to me about things I don't want to remember, jackass," she seethes, before turning back to her drink, glaring down at it, jaw set.

<<Jesus, man, you're gonna grind my teeth outta my head,>> says her host.

Her fingers twitch in the glass, and she fills it with more liquor, setting the black bottle down with a heavy thunk.

"Can't believe him," she mutters under her breath. "'Wrong place to go', yeah, wrong place if you force someone to head hop and then ****in' slice someone's neck open, sonuva--"

<<Myitt.>>

The Yeerk forces herself to relax, just a little, and she sucks in a breath. She looks down with a blank look, realized she's squeezing the glass tumbler so hard that her knuckles have gone white.

[guitarhero01234]

Chris holds a hand up and sighs. He considers trying to put his hand on Myitt's shoulder, but thinks better of it. "Myitt, you okay?" He misses a good chunk of what she's muttering into her drink, but it doesn't sound good. "Hey, forget that dude over there, right?"

<<What the **** did I tell you!?>> Chris says privately. <<She's mental, man! The **** is she talkin' about, "slice someone's head open?" Gaf, we need to get the ****->>

<<Chris,>> Gaf interrupts, his internal voice much more calm than his host's. <<Chill, alright? I'm gonna take over.>>

<<Good ****in' luck!>>

Guppy's expression slowly softens. "Gaf here. Look, I'm sorry to hear about your husband, Myitt." The enthusiasm that usually characterizes his voice is all but gone, replaced by somber calmness. "I'll admit, I don't even have an inkling as to what you must be going through, but I know it's gotta be tough. How recent was this?"

[Myitt]

Myitt starts, looking over at Gaf and Chris.

After a few seconds of blank stare, she says, "Two days ago." She lifts a shoulder, looking back at her drink.

In another beat, she murmurs, "Thanks. I...thank you."

[guitarhero01234]

"Wow . . . Just two days?" Guppy shakes his head and takes a small sip of his drink. "I'm surprised you're dealing with someone like me if it was that soon." He lets out a small, warm chuckle. "I'll admit, I've never lost anyone like that before. But Chris lost his mother before he left for Seattle, and I know that really tore him apart." Overriding his host's apprehension, Guppy reaches forward and rests his hand gently on Myitt's shoulder - at least, he was pretty sure it was her shoulder.

<<Dude, you got some balls of steel. I keep telling you, she's going ape****.>>

<<Chris, she needs a friend right now. And I think we're the closest thing she has at the moment.>>

<<No, I mean you probably shouldn't have touched her. She would have killed us if you messed up and grabbed her->>

"But hey," Guppy says, cutting off his host from finishing his sentence. "No need to thank me. We're friends here, right?"


Nepek finally looks up from his book and turns to Jeffrey. "I believe it would be best to leave her alone right now," he says. "I doubt you're someone she would like to talk to at the moment." Nepek means this to sound lighthearted and jovial, but the words come out with maybe a little more acid than he intends.

[Terenia]

Dalik gives Joanne a dark look. "She hasn't been to Earth since she was nine years old," he says, his tone accusatory -- as if she were the one to put the idea in Cameron's head. He steps towards the teenaged girl, but she skitters back, pressing her back against the wall, her sobs turning into something that is half wail, half scream.

"Oh, by the Kandrona," Dalik sighs, pulling up short and closing his eyes. He presses his fingers to his forehead.

<<By God, do you listen to that every day?>> William wonders. <<She is behaving as if you torture her.>>

<<She's irrational,>> Dalik responds irritably. <<She doesn't know how to act when she has control over her own body.>>

"Cam--" Dalik starts, but her screeching is loud enough that it is barely audible. Exhaling in a slight growl he abruptly raises his voice.

"Enough!"

The strong, angry tones abruptly quiets Cameron.

The silence that follows is almost as loud as her screams. She stares wide-eyed at the bare-chested man, streaked with drying blood, who is glaring down at her. Tremors run down her body, making her shake violently.

Sucking in a breath, Dalik looks over at Joanne. "You can go," he says. His irritation with her seems to have been forgotten and his voice is soft now, apologetic. "I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble. I'll take it from here."

He takes a step closer to the girl. She doesn't scream this time, but she does shrink back, eyes wide in terror.