Many of the
Larries, which is to say most of them who are not basking in an afterglow, bid the party goodbye and begins to wish himself back to sweet old Earth. His bodies feel odd as his many beings begins to transcend, or perhaps descend, first to the surface of a stormy plain of violently shifting gas, then to a place of red dust, then to the rather thoroughly trashed surface of the moon, and finally down to Earth, in familiar or less familiar places!
Firstly, some of them are in the vicinity of the spot where Klein's pawn shop no longer is. Some are at the nunnery in the woods. Some are at home, some outside the Golden Noon Mountain downtown, a few outside of somewhere called Chez Ronardo's, some at one convenience store or another, and a precious few back at home, sitting on a bed. One or two Larries seem to have found themselves outside the factory on Import Avenue. It is late as shit, all Larries conclude as one.
* * * * *
Halesey, as he falls through the vortex, begins to seek the man he sent within, tentatively dubbed Derek. He plunges through the potato stream, seeking any signs of the filthy man. His first thought, rather fortuitously, is to check right behind him, and that seems to be where the fellow happens to be, seemingly having found himself right behind the vortex. Though judging by the way he seems to be poking at the area of space right behind it, Halesey gets the idea that the fellow may have gone there on purpose. He approaches, but the man makes no indication of having noticed this.
* * * * *
Dave stalls the God of Dentures for a moment while he can figure out an escape plan of some kind.
"Um... just give me a sec to open an exit, just in case.""Very well."[Dave's affinity roll: 4]
And with surprisingly few problems or difficulty, Dave's mind, which has been woefully inflexible for these tasks beforehand, calls into being a vortex! Although he supposes it's more of a portal on this side - outside of it he can see quite a few things - a street, for one. He thinks, at least. It's been some time.
"Are you ready now? It is a tad claustrophobic being here underneath this mantle, although I do appreciate the slight booze reserves, on a positive note."The fungal shadows begin to gibber at the god incomprehensibly to Dave, presumably begging for it not to escape from the planet it is imprisoned in.
* * * * *
THE DUNKER tries to reassure the bartender.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm just trying to entertain myself. I'll put the booze back in the bottles once I'm done."The bartender does not seem reassured, perhaps out of a skepticism for the continued well-being of the bottles. But he'll see - that's for certain! THE DUNKER begins to try and figure out how to make the bottles of booze unscrew themselves to let the contents out, but it seems a more complicated task than surmised, and the orbit is maintained, the booze within the bottles sloshing around dangerously.
And after a few minutes of that, two women arrive - one's the donut shop lady, the other one looks like an art teacher with quite possibly the stupidest scarf THE DUNKER's ever seen. He seems to have been the first to notice this among his group - the rest appear to be far more concerned with one another. Hungry Pete's evidently noticed them as well, judging from the suspicious look he's giving them. And before he can do anything, Pete's already walked up to them, seemingly intent on giving them the same spiel as to you.
* * * * *
John decides to trust Menkau - after all, not like he's had experience with the fellow having ill-considered plans with unforeseen consequences.
"You know what, I think I'm just going to trust you on this. I've seen you do pretty impressive stuff before. Alright James, all aboard the cow train," he says, and ducks as Menkau raises his robe, hiding beneath it - James follows suit, and both find themselves in Menkau's rather warm and fuzzy embrace, though the sudden feeling of safety they would experience is slightly marred by the way there is no way to properly ignore the way Menkau seems to have a rather large udder in there as well, uncomfortably hairless and warm to the touch. Menkau also smells rather cowlike, though this is not that much of an issue.
So John and James synchronize their steps with Menkau, and walk onward, the structure of the mancow shifting a little along the way inexplicably. They then need to collectively duck at one point, followed by another two minutes of walking while under the robe, at which point Menkau lets them out. They seem to be within the closed-off area right now, the police line left some distance behind them, complete with rather unfazed policemen who don't even seem to be looking their way.
"See! No questions asked whatsoever!" Menkau says.
* * * * *
Eta, after her surprisingly uneventful confession to, um, Ivette, follows her toward Jew Street.
Jew Street, it should be noted, used to be part of an urban neighborhood - there's a few short, stumpy apartment buildings still hanging on from that time, looking rather dilapidated and unsightly with their late-60s no-nonsense design. Most have been torn down, however, making way for smaller, though much better maintained houses, and a few more seemingly in the process of being built. Such as the one they're currently passing, which seems to be host to a party of some sort. After walking up and down the rather short street, Eta and Ivette return back to it.
"Well, seems like this is the place."As they head inside, passing an adolescent boy passed out on the porch next to a giggling girl currently drawing elaborate swastikas amidst flowers on his face, they see an altogether more lively atmosphere, for a given definition of lively - a colorful crowd is inside the Malloy-McCoy, including a few yuppies, some military-looking guys, a few women in their thirties, a couple of street thugs having fun, a lot of teenagers and a couple more - the place is pretty packed. And right at the bar, there's a host of people. A shaggy bartender in a welder's mask. The fat man from the donut shop, wearing a dusty suit and currently with a bunch of bottles freely orbiting around him. Two girls, one short in a flowery dress, the other tall and wearing a tracksuit. One ginger man quietly drinking some issue away. And Joan, being rather boisterous toward the previous three, and more than a little drunk.
Before the two can approach, however, they are approached in turn - by a man, skinny and wild-eyed, probably in his forties, and very much excited. He speaks to Eta immediately, arms open in a welcoming gesture, seemingly paying no mind at all to Ivette.
"Welcome, pilgrim! I see you travel in the company of an unenlightened one. You have the power, do you not?" he says rather quietly, his voice carrying an undertone of mild delirium.
"Excuse me?" Ivette asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I refer to the lady you walk with," the man says.
"Hungry Pete, at your service," he bows respectfully.
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 271124 times)