(Untitled)

[notamagician]

"What is wrong with you?"

Two men wearing identical business suits walk through the door. The bigger one seems to be raging a little bit at the smaller man.

"Who the hell falls asleep in a box?" Penn demands, shoving Teller slightly. "You trying to screw this up for us

Comments

[visible_sariel]

There's a girl down Teller's end of the bar - black, mid-twenties, curly hair. Decided lack of yelling at anyone.

She's keeping out of the way of the argument, but once Penn's a short distance off, she can't help a glance up and over. At Teller, not Penn. There's a tiny frown on her face, but it's not the quiet half of the duo she's frowning at.

[doesntsaymuch]

Teller sees the frown, and just sort of shrugs.

This is normal behaviour for them, really. And, in a way, it's a little more safe, since neither of them are throwing knives at the other (which is also perfectly normal behaviour for the two of them).

[visible_sariel]

It's a very, very good thing nobody's chucking knives around. Normal behavior or not. Somebody might take it as a true attempt to do harm, and that'd lead to security getting involved, and... yes, mess.

"Are you alright, though?" Sariel looks as though she's got a fair idea of the answer, given that shrug, but it's still better to ask.

[doesntsaymuch]

Oddly, every time it happens, it goes totally ignored (well, except for the time Penn threw a knife at a Womble).

Teller taps out a string of Morse code on the Bar, ordering himself a chocolate Yoo-hoo, and nods easily.

[visible_sariel]

Who knows what the future holds? ... That's totally not a hint, nopenope.

Aha. Sariel thought so, but still. "Only that didn't sound very pleasant a moment ago," she answers. The code gets a moment's curious turn of the head, but she doesn't ask. "My name is Sariel, by the way."

She doesn't quite expect a verbal answer, not after the way Teller ordered his drink, but there's still courtesy to think of.

[doesntsaymuch]

Teller is ready for any situation, and he produces a business card from absolutely nowhere, which he hands to Sariel with a smile.

[visible_sariel]

Blink. Pardon the look of faint surprise. Sariel accepts the offered card just the same.

"Teller," she tries, a little hesitantly. Her pronunciation of his name is English, but he might notice the odd hint of... something on a syllable here and there elsewhere. "Pleased to meet you, Teller. You're a magician?"

[doesntsaymuch]

He nods. And then pulls an entire deck of playing cards, one at a time, just to drive home the point.

Cheesy and stupid, he knows, but he's actually been barred from performing a lot of his "usual" tricks in the bar.

[visible_sariel]

That gets a smile out of her, small and bright, and it lingers. "You're better at that than I would be if I ever tried, I expect."

No appearing playing cards for her. She just offers a hand instead. Her right one, for the record.

[doesntsaymuch]

He shakes her hand. Nice to meet you, Sariel.

The playing cards? He just leaves those. Someone else who gets paid to clean up around here can get those.

He pulls lightly at her uniform sleeve. Now, what on earth is up with this?

[visible_sariel]

Second blink. Sariel's quick enough on the uptake that she doesn't need him to clarify what he's asking. "I serve in an organization called Starfleet," she explains. "I'm one of the helmsmen aboard my ship."

The name 'Starfleet' should make things rather plain, but one can never be too careful. "Does your world have any type of space travel, Teller?"

[doesntsaymuch]

He thinks about this a bit, and then gives a sort of wishy-washy shrug.

No, people on Earth have not travelled to outer space, but they have made contact.

[visible_sariel]

If Sariel knew... but she doesn't. Cue a minor misinterpretation. "A developing space program?" she guesses. "I ask because the ship I serve aboard travels the stars."

Bombs away...! Well, sort of.

[doesntsaymuch]

He shakes his head, and then pulls a pen out of his pocket and writes NASA, 1987

- Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969, Moon on a napkin.

[visible_sariel]

Aha. "Oh. That's rather similar to the state of my own world's 1987," is Sariel's answer after reading the napkin. "Including the lunar landing in 1969. But the year is 2369, for me."

[doesntsaymuch]

Teller whistles. That's rather impressive. He's met people from the way ancient past, but he's not sure that he's come across anyone from that far in the future yet.