(Untitled)

[favoredfire]

It's earliest of hours on Hoth -- that's why the young woman who just entered the bar is still in her Alliance-issued pajamas. Her gaze is fixed to a datapad she juggles in one hand, along with a cup of caf, as she closes the door behind her

Comments

[prob_japanese]

If it helps at all, there's an interestingly-constructed droid of roughly human size at one of the tables nearby? Bumblebee looks up at the sound of the closing door and comes to his feet. "I could be wrong," he says, his voice a little rusty and crackly, "but you look new here."

[favoredfire]

Leia turns toward the voice. She hasn't seen a droid like this before, but really, droids aren't her strong suit.

She flashes a quick smile and walks toward him, still looking around at the rest of her surroundings. "I guess so," she sighs. "I'm Leia."

[prob_japanese]

"I'm Bumblebee," says the droid (well, to Leia's POV, anyway; in his own mind, the word is 'mech'). "It's a pleasure to meet you, Leia. Welcome to Milliways. Please, sit down. You look as if you could use it."

He's seen soldiers with that look of overworked confusion on their faces before. Most of the time they solve it with beer, but that's them.

[favoredfire]

Yeah. She could.

"Thank you, Bumblebee. I appreciate it." Leia takes a seat next to him. "Milliways? Is this..." she trails off. She wants to find out if the Alliance has made a grave mistake by setting up on a populated planet. But that's a little risky. "... your home?"

[prob_japanese]

"No, ma'am," Bumblebee says politely, and then the music starts playing and the twangy recorded voice starts:

We come from a blue planet light years away
Where everything multiplies at an amazing rate-

"I'm sorry. An old habit of mine," he says when his voice returns. "This is a location at the end of the universe. You came through a sort of portal or dimensional warp to get here."

[favoredfire]

And Leia's actually not too surprised to hear this. Weirder things have happened.

"I see," she answers, finally.

Wait a minute.

"How can I travel back? I'm heading a--" no, not 'debriefing', she doesn't want anyone to know her military ties, "--a meeting at sunrise."

[prob_japanese]

"There should be a functioning door behind you," says Bumblebee. "There is also an exit from the garage underneath the premises, although I don't know if it would return you as easily. I think you'll find that you return to the same moment you left. It's usually a characteristic of the warp that brings people here."

[favoredfire]

Hearing about the time situation makes Leia relax.

"That's good to know. Thank you."

She shakes her head. "Sounds like there's a lot to explore."

[prob_japanese]

"The Bar's premises are relatively extensive," says Bumblebee. "There are rooms for overnight stays upstairs, along with laundry facilities and a small reference library. The territory out the back door is mostly open and green, except for a small forest and the lake. I wouldn't get too close to anything red and long-eared out back if I were you. They breathe fire."

[favoredfire]

Oooooh.

"Dragons?"

[prob_japanese]

"No, smaller," says Bumblebee, indicating an object about the size of a loaf of bread or a large cheese. "They call them demon rabbits. I don't know how true that is."

[favoredfire]

Leia tilts her head.

"Yes, I'll do my best to avoid those."

[prob_japanese]

Bumblebee nods. "In the meantime," he says, "the management here enforces three rules, for the sake of everyone who visits. The first is no violence in the Bar; if you have to fight someone, a fistfight out back is acceptable. The second rule is that there is no business from home allowed here, which is their way of saying that no old grudges or issues of jurisdiction apply here. The Bar is neutral territory, no matter who comes in. And the third is no public indecency. Beyond that, they don't generally interfere with the patrons."

[favoredfire]

This is even better news than the time deal.

"Old grudges are exactly what I was concerned about. This takes a load off my mind."

[prob_japanese]

"Good," says Bumblebee. "The security team is competent, but nobody wants to have to do extra work. Especially since people come here from many, many different worlds and universes."