(Untitled)

[psychicjohnny]

What: Brian meets Wesley
Where: In town
When: Today
Who: Brian and Wesley
Rating: PG
Status: Closed and incomplete

Comments

[drhorriblesblog]

The piped music playing over the Teaspoons' sound system was suddenly replaced with a jazzy piano number. A man in a shiny cream-colored suit, a bow tie made of shoelaces, and small white membranous wings appeared sitting on the counter, clicking his heels together to the beat. He smiled broadly at the startled patrons, and broke into song.

Cold days, they get you down
My friends, no need to frown
You need some heat
Look to your feet!
Have I got a shoe for you!

He bounced lightly off the counter, spinning into a softshoe number that took him between the tables. Whirling around, he pointed at one man, transforming his shoes into a pair of fluffy puppy slippers.

Shoes that wag their tails and bark...
Shoes that light up in the dark...

A woman this time, who with a wiggle of his fingers found herself wearing glow-in-the-dark sneakers with small flashlights mounted on the sides.

The Fairy Shoeperson vanished in a burst of white-and-gold sparkles, and reappeared lounging on the floor beside the table Wesley and Brian shared. Before either young man could react, he grinned and snapped his fingers. Brian was suddenly wearing bright orange hiking cleats, and Wesley's shoes sported giant digital clock faces built into the toes.

Shoes to climb
Shoes that tell time
My shoes, they leave their mark!

Vanishing again, he appeared atop one of the tables, tap-dancing away as invisible backup singers chorused, "Shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes-shoes..." After a few seconds of this, he struck a pose and glanced over at a pair of women having coffee together.

I've got shoes to help you skate...

His teeth sparkled in a grin, and one woman was suddenly wearing ice skates. With pom-poms, of course.

Shoes that look good on a date...

He winked at the other woman, whose feet were suddenly clad in strappy gold high heels. Blowing her a kiss, he jumped down from the table and danced through the crowd again, slapping a hand down on the counter in front of Ianto. The counter disappeared, letting everyone see that Ianto's stylish shoes were now topped with multicolored Christmas ribbon.

Shoes with bows
And shoes in rows
That you'll appreciate!

A twirl, a flourish, and the counter was back, but in place of all the muffins and other edibles in the cases, there were rows upon rows of shoes. Shoes in every color and style - shoes in styles from every century and styles never before imagined. Ugly shoes, gorgeous shoes, ridiculous shoes... mostly ridiculous shoes.

My song is almost through
The time is overdue
So get a clue
This is your cue!
Come on now, pick a shoe!
'Cause I've! Got! Shoes! For! Yooooouuuu!

Spinning around, the Fairy Shoeperson snapped his fingers once more and vanished, leaving only a few sparkles and the impression of his grin behind him. And several dozen pairs of shoes.

[psychicjohnny]

Brian was a creature of logic and reason. And his logic and reason told him that some winged fairy had just appeared, given everyone new shoes, and left.

"That was unexpected," he said. "Does that guy come here often?"

[shut_up_wesley]

If Wesley were anyone else--if he had served on any ship other than the Enterprise-- a fairy that bestowed shoes would have seemed downright bizzarre.

As it was, Wesley shook his head, and considered ordering a pot of tea.

"No, he probably has something to do with what brought you here. I think, as strange as this sounds, you've actually switched places with a version of yourself in an alternate dimension." It made more sense than everyone being randomly assigned a different personality, anyway. "And there's no way a quantum singularity or a wormhole would be responsible for that. A singularity is a fixed event in space-time, and a wormhole is a stable spacial anomaly that allows travel from one distant point in space to another." Wesley explained in a bit of a rush before realizing that he'd probably spoken right over the head of the other young man.

"Oh, sorry, I'm from the future, 24th century, so a lot of science fiction has been proven. Anyway, John Smith isn't too suspicious, there was a John Smith in British colonial history, wasn't there?"

[psychicjohnny]

"An alternate dimension? You mean this is a parallel universe to mine?" Honestly, that was a little disappointing to Brian. He'd been hoping this was his universe, just the future of it. He listened carefully to Wesley's words, thinking carefully before he responded. "But since alternate dimensions aren't located in the same space, strictly speaking, couldn't there be a wormhole between them?"

"You're from the future?" Now this was excellent. Brian loved this. "The twenty-fourth century? So is this kind of thing taught in elementary schools there?"

Brian nodded. "Oh, yeah. John Smith and Pocahontas. But in my time, at least, it's used as a pseudonym a lot. When someone doesn't want you to know his real name, he says he's John Smith. Pretty common."

[shut_up_wesley]

Perhaps if Wes shared the Captain's love of pulp mystery novels, he would have remembered that.

"Well, that's just a theory, I'm not really sure, to be honest. But even parallel universes can have a lot in common with each other, I mean, I honestly couldn't tell if this is a parallel universe to mine, so much is the same, down to Star Wars existing as a science fiction story."

Wesley laughed a little at Brian next question. "Not exactly elementary school, but it is taught. At least the theory, some of it still hasn't been proven, if you can believe that." With a smile, he looked down to admire his new shoes. He was vaguely suspicious that this could be Q's doing. Now that he thought about it, the entity did like to lounge on the floor of the bridge when he was tormenting Captain Picard.

[psychicjohnny]

Brian nodded, forehead wrinkled in concentration. This was all utterly fascinating to him. Honestly, it was a fun puzzle to try to figure out how it worked, but it would've been okay even if he never figured out how it worked. He was basically living in a science-fiction story, and suddenly all the pressure was off. He could be smart or not smart. He didn't have to get into a good school or study hard or get all As. No one here cared. It was amazing.

Brian smiled and shrugged. "Well, you guys probably know all kinds of things that I don't know about, but I'm always happy to learn." That was true. He might not like the pressure associated with school, but he loved learning.

[shut_up_wesley]

Wes nodded. "So, what's your era like? I'm afraid I really never...paid that much attention in 20th Century history." It was something his mother and The Captain had chided him for--Wes had always been too interested in what was ahead than what was behind, a lot like his father. "I'm...not sure if I'll get home myself, but if I do, I want to learn as much as I can. And, I can tell you anything about mine that you want to know." Brian seemed nice, and a part of Wes was hoping that he stayed, but if this anomaly was anything like the others, he probably wouldn't...just another thing to be annoyed at Aternaville for.

[psychicjohnny]

"Depending on the social structure in this time, which I'm not entirely sure about, my era might not be too different," Brian answered. "We don't have the Internet yet, and they're just coming out with home computers. When I was a kid, they used to be the size of a room! Um, the school system is...you go to school from 6 to 18. Once you graduate from high school, you can go to college or you can go to work. I'm going to college. My parents want me to go somewhere really prestigious, but uh, we'll see. Then, after college, you get a job. Was, was there something else you wanted to know?"

Brian leaned forward over the table, excited to learn about the future. "I'd really like to know what life is like for you. What kind of technology do you have? You look like you're about my age. What's it like growing up in the twenty-fourth century?"