Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Terenia]

Dalik's smile is thin, and she shakes her head. "When I left Earth the most interesting thing I saw on television was Gargoyles," she says. "Cameron was nine. We weren't allowed to watch anything beyond cartoons."

She sighs and swipes away her various holoscreens. "It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that my brother has no interest in actually meeting me," she says flatly. "I should go."


William leans back in his stool, watching the conversation impassively. "I'm with you, Jeffrey," he says, suddenly piping up. "I'd love to see what one of these parasites makes of my mind." He grins. "Could be an interesting experiment, eh?" He gives Myitt a leer.

[Myitt]

Myitt sneers back at William.

"No," she says flatly. "Thank you."

She turns her attention to Dalik. "Wait, um. Dalik. Your brother...the way I know him, he thinks you're dead." She peers at Dalik the Prime. "How many undead people are there, floating around in space?"

[Shenmue654]

"Me, at least," says Jeffrey, snickering. "I was only a few steps away from The Walking Dead only a few, what, hours ago? Days?" Jeffrey scratches his head and looks around quizzically. "This place doesn't exactly keep to a strict timetable, does it?" There was something off about it, definitely. He'd have to worry about it later.

Mainly, his problem was that he was really bored. He'd been here for hours just chewing the fat, and nothing had happened! How could a room full of crazy rebels be so dull?! William's idea was sounding better all the time.

"Come on, infest me--- Or Willy Boy at least! We won't know what will happen unless one of you tries," says Jeffrey, smiling. "It'll be fun!" He hopes that bit of persuasion will help things along. 

[Terenia]

"Several, it would seem," Dalik says, rolling her eyes. "Don't you know better than to believe everything the Imperial feeds tell you?"

She tucks her computer cube into her pocket and stretches her arms over her head, standing at her full 5 feet, 2 inches. As she relaxes, she gives Jeffrey a perturbed glance. "You're right, I actually have no idea how long I've been here."

She blinks then, frowning. Suddenly the idea of staying didn't seem so bad. In fact, it seemed downright pleasant compared to her dreary, tattered ship. Pursing her lips, she looks between Jeffrey and William, then, more cautiously, at Myitt.

"Well, if they're so incredibly determined to see what it's like, I suppose we could shut them up," she says slowly.


"Excuse me," William says, lifting an eyebrow as he looks at Jeffrey. "Willy Boy?"

[Shenmue654]

"Cool!" says Jeffrey a bit giddily, a strange yet cheerful humming noise starting up around him at a faint but recognizable level. "I mean can a controller control another controller? I just really want to find that out--- If you're in my head, then who's going to brainwash who? Probably you'll brainwash me, but still-- A frame of reference for Oss' conversation would really help end my boredom right about now."

"So..." Jeffrey stood up. "...how's it work?"

[Myitt]

Myitt's eyebrows raise. "Excuse me?" she blurts.

Then, as if driven by some strange compulsion, she slides off her chair and rough arms her way in front of Dalik, giving her a smirk. "I get him first, jackass."

[Terenia]

Dalik steps back at Myitt's shove. "Hey!" she says, moving to shove her back. "No fair, I said yes first."

William hesitates, then slides off his stool. "Ladies," he says placatingly. "No need to fight over the silver tongue. We can share, hm?"

Dalik frowns, glancing at William. "Yeah, fine. Okay," she says, not too perturbed by the sudden shift in targets. "You're at least as annoying as he is." She jerks her thumb at Jeffrey. "It'll be just as satisfying quieting you down." She approaches him, head tilted back to take in his appearance. He stands a good eight inches taller than her, and his expression is utterly nonplussed.

"Come here," she says, gesturing with her hand, as if to tell him a secret. William's eyebrows furrow, but his smirk stays in place as he obliges, leaning in. "Are you controlling me yet?" he asks in a stage whisper.

"No, closer, you idiot," she says, grabbing the front of his old-fashioned shirt. The fabric is rough and homemade, easy for her to grip. She tugs him close, until she's awkwardly hugging him.

"Well, this is cozy. Are you--" he begins, then grimaces as she maneuvers their ears together. "Ow, careful there. Mind being careful? I don't want to--"

He cuts off for a second time, for no apparent reason. In fact, he seems to have frozen entirely, his body rigidly embracing the young brunette, eyes unfocused and staring.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin watches the strange exchange and this time actually notices when Jeffry "turns it on."  He doesn't appreciate his friend and newfound potential ally being compelled in such a manner, but he can't really see what harm could come of it.  Myitt was getting in Jeffry's head...and he trusted her far more than he trusted the strange human.  The other human that swore he wasn't really human...well...he seems innocuous enough for infestation.

[Shenmue654]

"Ooooh, you're a little bit of an eager beaver," says Jeffrey, standing up and walking towards Myitt. He clasps his hands together. "Didn't know it sounded like that much fun, but I suppose getting me to stop talking is a privilege in and of itself!"

He wasn't normally so targeted and good at encouraging the thought most likely to get him what he wanted. Or at least he hadn't been for almost ten or fifteen years now. He wonders dimly if his brain is less damaged in this Bar somehow. He wouldn't put it past the creepy Bartender.

Jeffrey watches William and Dalik, nods, and then gets very close to Myitt, grasping her arm. "I admit, I've always wanted to get so up close and personal with a beautiful anarchist."

[Terenia]

About halfway through burrowing into William's skull, Dalik begins to rethink the idea. What was she doing, leaving Cameron alone and vulnerable? Infesting another human -- or whatever this creature called himself? It was a betrayal, an impossibility. And yet here she was, spanning the breadth of two humans, slowly oozing from Cameron's mind and into William's.

Unfortunately, there was no reverse button in Yeerk biology. Dalik could stop, or she could plow ahead. She wasn't positioned correctly to abort the effort entirely and return safely to the comfort of Cameron's head. Steeling herself, she forces herself forward, feeling the sudden, jarring disconnect as Cameron's thoughts drop away from her awareness.

Dalik isn't left alone for long, though. Her palps sense a new electromagnetic field and she lets instincts guide her around a new brain, slipping into each and every crevice. From a biological standpoint William certainly seems human. He even possesses that maddeningly odd rift that separates the right and left brain from one another.

Then, as he settles more firmly around William's mind, he hits memories.

"Woah," he breathes aloud with an exhaling laugh of disbelief as he straightens to William's full height. His eyes are still distant, tracking as Dalik absorbs an onslaught of information.

<<Hello, Danel,>> Dalik murmurs, noting the thrill of fascination that runs through his new host at the use of the name.


As soon as she is able, Cameron half steps, half stumbles back, releasing her grip on William's shirt and watching with dark eyes that grow wider by the moment. When William -- Dalik -- straightens she makes a small sound that is too soft to be a whimper. More of a squeak, really. Her eyes fill with tears and she starts to shake.

[Myitt]

Myitt hesitates before she even begins.

<<Myitt, what the hell are you even thinking?>> her host protests silently.

"I don't..." Myitt says faintly, but she trails off, blinking at Jeffrey. She looks down at his hand on her arm. Then back up at him.

She smiles shyly. "Just come here," she says, drawing Jeffrey into an arm's length embrace. When they are close enough she plants one hand on his head and presses their ears together.

<<Myitt! What-->>

Her host's thoughts are cut off as Myitt herself disengages from the tissue of the human brain. Only faint snippets of thought, random and disorganized, reach her as she begins to worm her way into Jeffrey's head.

[Shenmue654]

Jeffrey smiles widely and with glee as Myitt grabs his head, and he feels something slithering and slimy edge through his ear. He winces as a sharp pain hits his head, and the ringing in his mind gets even louder. But the change in circumstances doesn't last, and he suddenly finds himself...drifting away from the world. Out of focus. Jeffrey laughs a bit lightly, like he's tipsy, and then stumbles back into the bar. His hands find a place to prop himself up onto it, but he can barely seem to get a handle on them. Eventually...Jeffre y can't find his body at all.

He is drifting, almost floating, within the confines of his own mind. <<Haha. ...She's probably going to see the brain lesions in there, no doubt about that. Jeffrey is not right in the head, no he isn't! Heehee!!>> Jeffrey's thought vision of himself appears to grin nastily. <<...finally. Someone's trying to hypnotize me. Maybe I can get free of the nightmare, for just a blessed moment!>>

But he can't, of course, and it would be nearly the very first thing she'd find. The lingering, haunting images that plague him every time he uses his powers. The image of the tiny child, his own sister, putting a gun to her own head and blowing her own brains out. Her horrible, muffled screams from his parents' bedroom. He tries to redirect his own thoughts from this, while he can, if he still has any control. To bring forth better images. Better times.

His thoughts skip briefly between the nightmares he himself had caused--- The bloodshed, the violence, the careful planning and showmanship of each major event--- A thrill runs right up his spine, as if experiencing them for the first time. The distance so sharpened his thoughts! But better subjects, better subjects! He could share later.

He then focuses on himself, on the man wearing the purple and gold jacket and the grinning masquerade mask. On the Master Dome, and the gleaming silver-white view of it that can be seen from his own penthouse. A vast, sprawling metropolis, with human beings darting quickly across the ground and floating past his window or glowing with light. Rosie, his red-haired teenage daughter, laying her head on his shoulder for a brief moment.

<<Hello in there! Do you like what you see? My name is Void Valmont. Mind Melter. Jeffrey Barnes sometimes, but I've never had a love affair with the moniker my rotten father gave me! You should hear a humming sound. Yeah, it's annoying, but try it out! Sing.>>

[Myitt]

For a long moment Myitt is paralyzed by the strangeness of it. The onslaught of information.

The strange shape and grooves of his brain aside, the biggest thought she aims towards him - am I aiming my thoughts towards him? - is simply...

<<What are you? How are you even alive?>> Her voice, something like a human voice, is utterly mystified. <<That sound. It isn't...it isn't right.>>

--

Tara steps back from Jeffrey, wiping a thin snot-like substance from her ear with the absence of someone for whom the action is second nature.

"Jesus Christ," she whispers, staring at Jeffrey. "You really are a ****ing idiot, do you know that?"

[Shenmue654]

<<Aw, nah, it's totally normal! It's the sound that I hear all day, every day, whether awake or asleep! It's an Esper's Lullaby!> Jeffrey's thought voice cackles with delight. He seemed utterly filled with mirth, like his boredom had been instantly relieved by this development. <<Go on, try it out. When you talk to anybody, you can hear the pitch of their song--- The cut of their jib, the measure of their soul if you will. And you can change yours to match theirs! And when you do, they'll do, well...>> A flash of an image of him doing something rather intimate came forward. <<...whatever you want, sweetcakes. Within limits.>>

<<Or, you know, get a look around! I've had quite a life and there's a good lot in here! I'm a Supervillain, a bad guy, and my name is on the lips of a fair number of people back home! ...if I wasn't dead, that is. To answer your question, I don't know why my telltale heart's kept right on pumping. I'm human, more or less.>> He was-- He just had that unnatural ability to make people more likely to do what he said.

[Myitt]

Jeffrey's Adam's apple bobs as Myitt swallows. She blinks.

"It's okay," Myitt says in Jeffrey's voice. "I...I think it's okay." She gives no one in particular a shaky smile.

<<Their song?>> she echoes weakly. <<Like...like this?>>

She clears her throat and addresses Tara. "Hey, kid, it's alright. It's just a little weird in here, that's all. It's totally alright, you should just sit back down and relax, alright? [/u] "

"Like hell it's all--" Tara pauses. "All..." Her shoulders slump. The tension eases in the lines of her face. "****. I don't know why I was so worked up. Just don't...you know, shoot anyone or anything. I'll be over here watching you make mistakes." She gives Jeffrey and Myitt a wavering smile, before woodenly climbing back onto the bar stool and pouring herself another glass of water.

<<Wow,>> Myitt observes breathlessly. A sudden uncomfortable tremor runs through her. <<Uh. Jeffrey, I should tell you that I may have made this decision to infest you under shaky mental circumstances. I...I shouldn't have had that oatmeal. It ****s me up. Stupid...stupid of me.>>