happy hour!

[claudiometer]

The elevator to the garage opens, and Claudia walks into the bar proper, looking... pretty content, under the circumstances. The door's still gone, but the El Camino is done, and that's worth being pleased about

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Um."

Ellen's still in her power armor, but she's at least managed to wash up a bit from the scorpion fight.

"I think maybe we have different definitions of 'troll'. What does that mean, 'troll in your order'?"

[claudiometer]

"...I take it you missed the T-Minus memo, then."
Claudia hands over her T-Minus phone for inspection. "Organic technology that lets you talk to people across dimensions. The person who set it up called open beta, so I grabbed one. And 'trolling' on the Internet is being an ass on purpose, so I guess the name came from that? Even though it's not just for annoying people."
While she's talked to Karkat, that hasn't been in person yet, so while she knows he's not human she's missed the 'no, actual trolls' bit so far.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen eyes the T-Minus device in roughly the same way a chimpanzee might be expected to examine a screwdriver, though without the inevitable part where the chimp tries to determine whether it's edible or not. Just a lot of mystified poking. "Huh," she says. "Okay, I guess. That's... I'd ask how it works, but I don't think I'd understand it. At all."

[claudiometer]

"I don't know the exact details, but it's pretty neat. Got better reception in the Warehouse than my actual phone did."
If her voice seems to falter on the second sentence, well, Ellen's probably not imagining it.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh," says Ellen. "Huh. Okay."

She's... really not quite able to wrap her mind around the idea that a telephone would have some kind of reception capability. Every phone she's ever seen in the Capital Wasteland was nonfunctioning, but had a good solid spiral cord connecting it to its base- and a dial, to boot. It just doesn't register.

On the other hand, she knows about things that affect radio signals, so she can at least understand that part. And tilt her head a little as she says, "Is something wrong? It sounds like maybe you lost your original."

[claudiometer]

Claudia sighs. "No, not that. It's... something came up at home. I had to leave."
And she doesn't know if she'll be able to go back. It sucks.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh," says Ellen. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry."

I had to leave, to her, means I was chased out under very bad circumstances.

"How bad was it?"

[claudiometer]

"I may or may not have been stooging for a guy who wants to kill my boss and sell our stuff on the black market. Oh, and he indirectly got my brother stuck in an interdimensional space when I was ten." She never thought that'd be the best possible outcome.
"So I tried to cut my losses and leave, but I got stuck here instead."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

".... good Lord," Ellen finally says. "That's... wow. That's nasty."

[claudiometer]

"yeeeeeeah. And considering we've got a direct door that stays put and I bet the guy knows about it, I didn't even want to be here."
But she's acquired backup, and a shot at finding out if she's really been stooging, so.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I wish I could help," Ellen says, "but I wouldn't even know where to start...."

[claudiometer]

"Well, I left a note for Ray and he said he's probably got something or other that can tell if I've actually been stooged or just framed for it, so that's a start. Otherwise... I've been trying to keep myself occupied, which means I've finished the car I was working on and I'm mostly done with your Christmas present."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Well, that's- wait," Ellen says. "Christmas present? It's happening again?"

[claudiometer]

"Well, yeah, it happens every year. Next week, I think. It's about that time at home, too."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I meant it's happening again this quickly," Ellen says. "It's still spring back home."

[claudiometer]

"Ah. From a weird time-flow sense. Got it." Claudia shrugs. "By the bar's calendar, it's that time. And it is at home, and I had an idea, so I'm running with it."