(Untitled)

[gammagammahey]

Normally, Jennifer Walters always has a somewhat stable portal to Milliways from a certain infamous restaurant in New York City. It's a gamble; half the time when she opens the door to Pascha's she gets Milliways, and the other half she gets five star and five alarm tandoori chicken, pakoras, and naan. Either way, she usually has an interesting

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[maxwellsdemon02]

A couple of bar stools over, (and through the crowd) is Duo Maxwell. He's currently frowning at a bottle of beer himself.

It's green. Why is it green? It takes him a few minutes to connect 'green beer' and some sort of Irish heritage festival. But still, he's not sure if he appreciates the Irish co-opting his beer.

After peering at it suspiciously for a little longer, he tries it. Well. Still tastes good!

[gammagammahey]

Jen's never actually spoken to Bar before directly, but she was told how by her cousin the first time she ventured through the door. But hey, she's spoken to plenty of AIs before, and this can't be much different, right?

"Hi there, Bar entity. I'd like something exotic, something otherworldly, something unexpected....a Michelob, please."

Then she notices a long braid two stools away, attached to a person that she recognizes and is quite happy to see. Cue a somewhat stealthy Shulkie sneaking up on Duo, then looming.

"Hey, kiddo."

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Weeeell, if it isn't my favorite green lady!" He doesn't know any others, but he's sure Jen would still be his favorite. Because she is pretty awesome.

Duo grins up at her. "You match my drink. Funny, you don't look Irish."

[gammagammahey]

Jen grins right back, and leans down to plant a light kiss on his forehead before he can protest with teenage indignation.

"If you pinch me, you're going down, Duo. Are you even old enough to drink?"

[maxwellsdemon02]

He makes a face at her and rubs his forehead, but is secretly pleased.

"Close enough for government work! Are you?" She dodged the question last time, after all. The grin he gives her attempts to be rakish, and he toasts her, clinking their two bottles.

[gammagammahey]

She sticks her tongue out at him, then retracts it quickly, in case there is grabbbing.

"Thirtyish, kiddo, and legal where I live is eighteen," she answers, after their bottles clink.

"Bottoms up. I haven't seen you since we got down and dirty with slime. And there's Irish in my genome somewhere. There must be."

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Same here. About the age, I mean. And the people who were actually in charge of setting up my citizenship were kind enough to bump my age up to twentysomething. So I'm legal wherever I go."

He takes a pull from the bottle.

"Took a while to get clean, but I managed. Seems like you've got a tendency to get yourself into trouble. Either that, or demolition work. With your bare hands instead of toys like mine."

[gammagammahey]

Aha!

There is perjury!

"Are you telling me that you have a fake ID? You are sooo busted!"

She'll get to the dust and dirt.

[maxwellsdemon02]

"It's a legal fake ID. There are no records to prove how old I actually am. And the government gave it to me." Duo looks smug. "I'd have to arrest myself if it was fake!"

Duo fishes in a pocket and waves the card at her.

[gammagammahey]

"Give me that."

She holds out a hand with an even bigger grin, because this she has to see.

"Wow. You really do work for a shadowy organization, don't you? How many secret identities do you have? Me, I've just got the...none."

She takes a draw on her beer.

"Just a little trouble in Reno today. They have a Reno where you're from?"

[maxwellsdemon02]

He slaps it into her hand, proud to show off. "We're pretty public, actually. The organization, anyway. We wouldn't be very frickin' effective if we put out a press release every time we launched an operation. And I've only got one that I don't use anyone, 'cause it no longer applies."

Duo shrugs. "Dunno. Where is it?"

[gammagammahey]

"Nevada. The big state to the right of California, with all the gangsters, glitz, and gambling. Doesn't ring a bell?"

Jen looks at the ID card. It's rather impressive, and contains no mention of any governmental agency, covert or otherwise, that she's ever heard of.

"Preventers? You sound like exterminators."

She's ready to leap out of reach, if necessary.

[maxwellsdemon02]

"Ehh, I guess. I've never been, though. I guess they must not be big time gangsters aiming to overthrow the government if I don't know about them." He grins.

"And we are exterminators, sorta. I prefer preventative medicine, though. Involves less me shooting people."

[gammagammahey]

"Duo? Las Vegas was founded by big time gangsters trying to undercut the Feds. Haven't you ever heard of Bugsy Siegel, Evil Overlord and Would Be Autarch?"

She drains her bottle of beer, and sets it down on the Bar.

"You better catch up with me. I'm ordering another round."

[maxwellsdemon02]

He tosses back the rest of his drink as well, setting the bottle down on the bar with a thump.

"I'm a little sketchy on my pre-colony history, Jen. When are y'from, exactly? You might be ancient history, for all I know. If we're even from the same version of Earth. Which I doubt, 'cause I ain't ever met someone like you before!"

[gammagammahey]

"Bar? Two more, please."

When two bottles appear - she will never get used to that, unless Jean-Luc Picard is standing behind her saying 'Michelob, draft, cold' - she offers one to Duo, and takes a long, refreshing drink from her own.

"Listen. I'm from New York City, the Big Apple, 2007 AD. I grew up in Los Angeles, though. Is L.A. gone? L.A. must be gone. I'm not surprised."