Multi-Pup // Young Wizards/High School Musical/Labyrinth // That Bar-Type Place

[mm_afterlight]

Ronan Nolan // Young WizardsIt had been a while, but Ronan smiled when he stepped through a doorway in the Crossings and ended up in an entirely different bar. "Hello, again," he said to the bar-at-large, smiling softly to himself before making his way over to Bar and ordering a pint of Guinness and a plate of curry chips with mushy peas

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[we_be_life]

We're sort of curious at the familiar-smelling food. I admit; I'm a people watcher. It's the hazard of a sorcerer, if you want to call it that; the world around us is what we eat and breathe and love down to the tips of our over-worked shoes.

And that curry smells good. Familiar. Delicious. Our stomach always seems to rumble worst for curry and if not that, then fish and chips, the greasier the better.

[not_in_the_book]

It's not Ronan if he's not noticing the hot guys. (And hot girls. And hot... what were the catboys called again?) The rumble is a little audible, too, so Ronan has to laugh as he pushes his plate a little towards the first-person-speaking man.

"Care to join me?" he asks. "I'm sure Bar would be kind enough to pull you a pint, as well, or something else if you'd prefer. My treat."

[we_be_life]

"We won't say no to that," because we wouldn't. Free food is never something to scoff at, and with a pint involved?

You'd be amazed at how badly my position pays when it comes to little things like pints and food, even if that's the only thing we really enjoy.

"I go by Swift."

Among other things. It all depended on how many people were trying to kill me, who they were, and just how many cranky answers we thought they'd be willing to tolerate before hurting us.

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan gave a friendly knock on the Bar. "Another pint, love," he asked her, "and, hey, another plate of chips while you're at it? My tab, I had a good run on that last planet."

It's just a matter of moments before Bar serves up the drink and the plate. "All yours, Swift. I'm Ronan, myself. Ronan Nolan."

[we_be_life]

When it pops up, I give him a nod of respect before we start eating like we haven't been fed for days. Granted, that's happened before, especially when my so-called 'employees' get it in their heads I have work to do, but things have actually been rather quiet at home. It's one of the reasons I felt all right coming here.

Penny and the Aldermen could watch the shop for a few minutes now. Especially considering the current lack of troublemakers; while the vacuum would no doubt produce another set of trouble makers that would make the threats we'd had to deal with pale in comparison, these things do, thankfully, take time.

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan couldn't help but grin -- he'd been close to that a few times himself, it felt like, if what he was seeing from Swift was any indication of his last meal. Wizards did, for the most part, have a more-or-less free ride out in the wider universe, even when not on Errantry, but a lot of planets did still require itinerant wizards to work for their supper -- and they'd not always had much of that available.

"So where're you from, Swift?" Ronan asked, after taking another swallow of Guinness. "End up here often?"

[we_be_life]

"London," was the answer in between bites, "and we end up here often enough. You?"

The chips were perfect; the smell of the grease would slip into my clothes and remind us of the good meal for hours to come.

[not_in_the_book]

"Ireland -- County Wicklow, more precisely." He shrugged. "Although by now I've been all over."

The universe.

"Haven't been home in quite a while, actually."

[we_be_life]

"I did that. And we've been all over, everywhere," before we decided to finish chewing.

"I'm a one-city man, though. I'm happiest in London."

No matter what.

[not_in_the_book]

"Everywhere?" Ronan asked, his smile turning a little sly. "How about the Horsehead Nebula?"

[we_be_life]

I wasn't sure, but we were.

"Everywhere there are words, everywhere they sing and dance and play across the air like a string, like a flame, burning brightly."

[not_in_the_book]

Beat.

"Dai stihó, cousin," Ronan said. "In the One's name, I greet you."

[we_be_life]

They were words, familiar and unfamiliar. We were me and I was us but there were places where I muddled our bright blue electric flames and where we didn't understand what I had never seen.

We heard the words and the blue fire knew them, but I was learning them. Like a word at the tip of the tongue, something you know but can't remember, something not there but you know the shape of the puzzle piece because it can't be any other.

"'lo. Dai stihó."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan gave him a bit of an odd look, and pinged him in the Knowledge. "You're... not a wizard, exactly, are you?" he asked. "At least, not like I know them."

And he'd known a few. And some witches. And a half-witch-half-angel-all-chosen-one.

"Are you... You're not just you, are you?" That would be easier in the speech, dammit.

[we_be_life]

"I am me, and me are we," was the best we could answer on that one. We've been questioned enough to the point where pronouns are more an irritation than a help.

Finally, I looked over at him.

"Not for a while. And I'm certainly no wizard. Sorcerer. Urban sorcerer."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan reaches into the empty space inside where the Champion lives, let's His essence -- what he still can touch -- flare just lightly around him, a hint of flaming wings that fades in seconds. "I've been there myself, although... I don't think quite so deeply as you," he explained. "I think we were a little more separate, still, than you are."