Marbles.

[que_gi]

Who: Raul, Kyle, Juice, Becky, Dot, Jocelyn, Stephan, Lisa, Michael, Ming
Where: The Sunset
When: Wednesday

Kyle was in the Sunset, enjoying his evening off, and humming the Imperial March.

Raul was on break, and lurking in the back of the Sunset, rolling a marble along the floor.

Juice headed down the hall with Kyle, carrying some bags of souvenirs from their trip to the museum. He paused when he saw Raul. "Hey, Raul - you losing your marbles, man?"

Lisa was slaving away in the kitchen, while Raul played with marbles. She didn't seem to mind, though.

Raul laughed. "No, I keep good track."



Becky sat at the bar, and ate. She seemed to be pretty fond of eating.

Juice grinned. "Why you rolling them down the hall then? Is it a game? Can we play?"

"And are there points?" Kyle added.

"No ... is complicated," Raul said. He gathered up his marble. "Here, see ... floor no is flat, it curves." He rolled the marble and, sure enough, it seemed to arc toward the left side of the hall, then back towards the right. "But I measure, it is flat." Raul shrugged.

Juice scratched his head. "How can it be flat and curved at the same time? That's messed up. Maybe you measured wrong?"

"Non-Euclidean geometry? But I don't see any tentacles," Kyle commented.

Becky peeked in the back to see what was going on. She'd finished her food, and still had not seen Juice or Kyle.

"What's non-euclidean mean?" Juice asked.

"It's a catchall phrase for 'it doesn't make sense'," Kyle said. "It was invented by a guy named Lovecraft who was too lazy to explain why he kept screwing up details in his stories."

"You can do that? Sweet. Can I do that when I mess things up in school?" Juice found this concept pretty awesome.

"Juice! Kyle!" Becky greeted "Raul!"

"Becky!" Kyle added.

"Mees Becky!" Raul waved.

Juice hugged Becky. "We're helping Raul figure out why the hallway's weird." He had decided they were helping, anyhow.

"How is it weird?" asked Becky

Raul smiled and nodded.

"Because marbles roll oddly," Kyle explained.

"Floor is straight, but marbles say floor no straight," Raul added helpfully, and rolled a marble.

"They don't go in a straight line?"

"No. Something ... eh ... " Raul screwed up his face. " ... marble is pulled or floor no straight."

Becky looked at the floor.

Juice got a coin from his pocket, and tried spinning it on the floor.

Dot was keeping an eye on things out front. Luckily it was slow, so 'keeping an eye out' really meant 'hanging out near the bar'.

The coin spun normally, mostly, but definitely seemed to pull in the same direction as the marble had.

"Huh. I wonder what's pulling it thataway?" Juice said, and walked in that direction. "Kyle, grab me if I fall into some sort of weird hole."

Kyle followed, warily.

Becky followed Juice, because.. well, just because.

There was a door positioned at what would seem to be the peak of the curve. "Is door seven," Raul said. "Is prime and in sequence." He smiled. "Importante."

"Should we have ropes?" Kyle asked.

Raul thought. " ... maybe issa no bad idea."

"Yeah, I vote for ropes... and Dot. And permission from Michael maybe so we don't get our asses kicked," Juice said.

"Yeah..." Becky agreed

"When I say ropes, you think Dot?" Kyle asked, amused, and started heading back for the club proper.

"Well, yeah, 'cause you know.. she's got that whole outdoorsy thing going on," Juice said.

"I'll go put our packages away then meet you back in the club," Juice called, and raced for their room to do that.

"I can stay out in the club if you guys want." Becky said "Just because too many chiefs kinda sucks for the indians."

Eva sat in the club, sipping coffee.

Kyle poked his head out of the back, and headed over to pester the Dot. "Hey, Dot... is anyone else working out here tonight?"

Dot looked around. "Um, nope. I think it's just, well, me, right now. Where is everybody?"

Stephan sat with the Eva, also enjoying coffee.

"I am!" Lisa said, who was working the bar and kitchen, since it was slow

"In the back. Juice thinks you're good with ropes, and we're bored and poking room doors," Kyle expositioned.

"I do have a merit award for rope-tying, but that was aaaaaages ago," said Dot. "Why do ropes and doors go together, again?"

Jocelyn entered still dressed in her work attire, paid her cover, and searched the room for Eva.

Eva waved to her cousin.

"Because we need to tie up George and we thought of you," Kyle explained. "Is Katie around to take over for you?"

Dot peered around. "Nope, I don't see Gothydid around anywhere..."

Juice headed out of the room and back into the hall. He was wearing a safari hat, and carrying a flashlight (a teenage mutant ninja turtles flashlight, in fact), and a can opener.

"I'm ready for exploration!" Juice said, grinning.

Jocelyn smiled and headed over. "Hey."

"Did you ask Michael?" Becky asked "And where's the rope?"

"Oh. Well, damn." Kyle frowned, disappointed.

"Hi! THis is Stephan." Eva pointed to the guy beside her. He was pale, and had longish red hair. "I'm so happy that we all get to meet"

"Not yet," Juice said. "I gotta go get Kyle and do that." He headed out towards the club.

"Hi," Stephan said, and offered a hand to be shaken.

"Ah ha," Jocelyn said and shook the hand with a strong grip considering her size. "Nice to finally meet ya."

"Likewise,' Stephan said with a grin. He flexed his hand after the shake, and something audibly clicked. "And dang, you're pretty hardcore."

"She's a wonderful sparring partner." Eva smiled

Jocelyn's smile turned to a grin, "She's right, and I did just hear rope?" she wondered, glancing around.

"I don't doubt it. What style of fighting?" he asked Jocelyn.

"Dot! You need to come face certain danger with us," Juice said.

"There's nobody else on shift," Kyle explained.

"But I'm the ..tallent one standing between the forces of light and the creeping black tide of moping!" Dot called back.

*tallest

Becky was actually taller than Dot, but she didn't say anything.

"Dude, where the fuck is Katie?" Juice asked.

Katie was not here. Damn her and her inconvenient absence!

"Judo, mostly," Jocelyn explained and pulled up a chair.

Dot shrugged. "I dunno, it's not my night to watch her!"\

"I'll just do stuff." Becky said, quietly "It's waiting tables and stuff, right?"

Stephan nodded. "Cool."

"Yea, you should come by the gym sometime. It'll be fun," Jocelyn winked. "So who do I get a cup of coffee from before I fall over?"

"Uh, let's go talk to Mike and make sure we have permission to check out the back," Juice said. "And maybe he'll release Dot from duty so she can come with us if Becky doesn't mind replacing her - it's not that hard, Beck. Though... don't you want to see what's back there again?"

"Yeah, I do." Becky frowned

"But it's not fair if we all can't go."

"Stephan.

" Eva smiled "He'll get us more coffe"

"Ooh, coffee. I can get you some of that," chimed in Dot.

Juice headed towards the red table, looking a bit nervous about things.

Ming glanced up at Juice "Why are you wearing that helmet?"

"Uh.. hey, um.. hey guys," Juice waved.

Stephan sighed and got up. "Yes ... more coffee," he said, gathering cups.

Michael looked up. "..."

"Raul's leading us on an expedition. We need rope, Dot, and permission to go explore," Juice said.

"Did someone touch you in naughty places while you were out at the museum?" Ming asked.

"Only Kyle," Juice said. "But totally unrelated to this."

Michael shook his head. "Don't want to hear about your sexual pursuits."

"Yeah, it's not about that. Besides, this involves Raul - it's his thing. We're just along for the ride," Juice said. "Erm, walk. Through the back rooms. We need rope. And Dot."

"....what?" Ming said, shaking her head.

"And this isn't sexual," Michael said flatly.

"No - Raul's kinda hot but I'm in a committed relationship and Dot doesnt' swing that way at least not as much as we know. I mean, she might really but - what was I saying again?" Juice asked.

"You were saying why giving you days off is a very bad idea," Ming suggested.

"No.. oh yeah, the doors," Juice said. "Raul's figured out something about them. Kyle says it's some non-eskimoian geometry like in those books by the guy with the tentacle fettish."

"Oh my god I cannot talk to you anymore, I think my brain is suffering. Kyle!" Ming called, waving him over. "Tell me what your cute-but-dumb-blonde boyfriend is trying to say here."

Kyle headed over.

"We want to explore the back rooms," Kyle explained, "and we need Dot to help us tie knots so that people won't get sucked into alternate dimensions."

"And do you have someone to deal with the bloodthirsty flying demons and their razor-sharp tongues?" Michael asked.

Ming blinked.

"Why do you guys want to do that? That's dangerous," Ming said.

" 'Cause Raul said he figured something out about the doors, like I explained, duh," Juice said.

"Because the floor there is odd, and marbles rolled on the floor keep ending up at a particular door," Kyle added.

`"He can't even make a burger successfully," Ming said.

"... if you get killed, it's not my fault. At all," Michael said.

Ming fished in her purse. "Take my camera," she said. "If you make it out, I want to see what you did in there." She handed it to Kyle since he was responsible. "I can take over for Dot."

"Do you know where there's rope?" Juice asked Michael.

Kyle snagged the camera. "Thanks!"

"Yes. There's a set in the training room next to the axes," Michael said.

"What do you want me to do?" asked BEcky, quietly

"Can we take the axes too?" Juice said. "Beck could have one of those, 'cause she's tall."

"Sure. Why not." Michael shook his head.

"In fact, maybe you should check the storage room for chainsaws," Michael added.

Stephan headed up to the bar with coffee cups.

"YES!" Juice bounded off to snag Dot. "Come on, we've got chainsaw permissions!"

Michael didn't actually have any chainsaws in the storage room, but figured a shiny object would distract Juice before he realized that.

"Okay so... betting pool," Ming said. "Death, dismemberment, perminant injury.... when did we get chainsaws?"

"Gas powered or electric?" Becky asked "Because we'd have to make sure they're fully powered, and you have to be careful with them..." she followed the Juice, hoping that he meant for her to go with them

"Wait, what? What fluffy-headed thing am I getting dragged into now? Am I getting hazard pay for this?" Dot looked around for Ming. "What are you letting them get ....why are you letting them have chainsaws?"

"If they're electric, we're better off with the axes," Juice said to Becky.

Ming waved to Dot. "Have fun!"

"Because you deserve them," Michael said unhelpfully.

Kyle patted Dot on the rear. "Relax, it'll be fun. Now let's go get dangerous weaponry."

"I haven't used an axe in like two months." Becky said

"Dude, did you just touch Dot's ass?" Juice made a face at Kyle. "That's like, not cool."

Ming settled in to take over Dot's job.

Dot shook her head. "I am so going to kill you boys." She waved cheerfully back at Ming, though.

"I ignore what they say." Eva said "Because it's usually something weird"

"If any ass touching is to be done, it should be my ass," Juice said, kind of sulky. Then he remembered there were chainsaws, and bounded towards the storage room.

Kyle swatted Juice on the ass. "Relax, she's gay now."

Raul shuffled his feet, and eyed the door. It was a big slab of mahogany, carved with a pattern of circles and swirls around the edge.

Dot followed along, shaking her head.

"Should we stop them?" Michael asked, vaguely rhetorically.

"No, but I hope they get good pictures," Ming said.

"Heyyyyyy, there's no chainsaws in here!" Juice called, grumbling. "Oh well- at least there's axes for sure." He bounded off to the training room, and came back in short order with rope and weaponry.

"The chainsaws were a lie?" Kyle said, pretending to be shocked.

Rope and weaponry wasn't glamarous at all, and Becky knew they made her look like a country girl, but Juice and Kyle didn't really mind.. right?

"I am so glad there aren't any chainsaws," sighed Dot, relieved.

"A dirty, dirty lie," Juice said. "Instead, we have axes." He gave one to Becky, and the rope to Dot.

"Who wants the other axe? I could only carry two," Juice explained. "They're heavy."

Jocelyn blinked. She turned to Eva, "Should I ask? Not zombies, right?"

"Not zombies." Eva confirmed

"Not that I know of, anyway." Eva added

"I definately hope not." Jocelyn frowned.

Stephan returned with coffee and resettled.

"We're ready for the expedition," Juice said.

Becky tested the sharpness of the axe. It seemed to be pretty sharp, and now she wished she didn't do that.

Kyle eyed Becky. "Did you manage to cut yourself before we even left the building?"

"Yeah... but just a little." Becky replied

Dot frowned. "Beck, go fetch a band-aid, would you? And, bring back a bunch. Isn't there a first-aid kit under the bar, Kyle?"

"I'm ok...

"Becky said, but she went ahead and did what Dot said

"Yeah, there's two -- one for goths and one for staff members," Kyle said.

Dot laughed. "How do you see the gothy one? All that black..."

"The goth one's the one that has nothing but peroxide and scraps of old dishrags," Kyle added.

"And some iodine from a pharmacy clearance sale, I think."

Juice nodded. "Yeah, they like bleeding."

Dot laughed. "Silly goths." Looking after the vanishing Becky, she added, "I was hoping to try out my death glare, too! The goths just do what I ask, so I never get to use it on them."

Becky returned with the bandaids, and handed them to Dot.

"Thanks, Beck! Lemme see your hand." Dot opened a bandaid, and waited, patiently.

"It's fine..." Becky held out her hand,though, which probably didn't need a bandaid.

Dot peered at Becy's hand. "Hm, sure enough. It looked worse than it was, I guess. here, take this anyway." Dot handed over the band-aid, which really just needed to be put back in the open wrapper. "Just in case, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Becky shoved it in her pocket

"Are we ready now?" Juice asked.

Dot nodded. "I think so."

Raul was still eyeing the door, and waiting for the troupe of intrepid, axe-and-rope-wielding explorers.

Kyle was amused by the whole process.

"Let's go!" Juice said, adjusting his helmet.

Dot sighed, following Juice.

Becky followed quietly

Raul looked around at the odd group. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Kyle said.

Dot nodded. "I'm ready."

Raul smiled and reached for the dorknob.

Juice grabbed Kyle's hand, suddenly nervous.

"Relax, if it has Cthulhu, we close the door," Kyle assured Juice.

Raul gave the doorknob a turn, and it opened inwards ... fast. Taking Raul with it.

"Uhoh" Becky said. She tried to peer in.

It was dark, beyond the door, so whatever just happened was cloaked in shadow.

Raul's hand was still tightly gripping the knob. Both hands, actually.

How close does Becky get to the door?

Becky was near the threshold, trying to peer in and see what happened

Becky stepped back. "Someone with a rope needs to go in, unless you want me to fall."

"I think I'm okay," Raul said, his voice sounding farther away than it should have.

Dot carefully fastened the rope around Becky's waist. "Now you have a rope."

"What happened?" Juice asked. "Is it gonna eat us?"

"Tie the other end to one of the other doorknobs," Kyle recommended.

"That way if a giant beast bites through her chest and starts carrying her off it can't pull us all in."

"Ok..." Becky started to head that way again "It's just dark, and feels like a light black hole."

Dot nodded, moving down the hallway and looking for a suitably doorknob.

"Like those places in space where they cant' hear you scream?" Juice said.

Becky nodded "But we can hear Raul, so it can't be bad, right?"

"Rope?" Raul said. His grip wasn't looking terribly steady.

Dot found a doorknob that looked sturdy, and tied the end of the rope around the doorknob.

Becky headed in to get the Raul, and to see where he ended up

Gravity got ahold of Becky and she was hanging feet-down in the doorway. The rope went taut, and the doorknob held her securely. Raul was still hanging on, and gave Becky a wide-eyed look. Presumably, there was a floor somewhere below them, but it wasn't visible from here.

"Uh... guys. We're okay,but, um... It's just a really big hole." Becky called. She wondered if she could swing the rope, and catch Raul.

"Uhh... should we like, pull you guys out?" Juice said, heading cautiously a little closer to see.

"I have to get Raul." Called becky, trying to swing the rope towards him

"Do you have a flashlight?" Kyle called.

Juice felt dizzy, like he was in two places at once. And suddenly "down" was in the direction of the door ...

"...No." Becky replied

"Juice, do you have a flashlight?" Kyle asked.

"I've got a little one...I think," called Dot. "let me check my pocket."

Dot felt around in her pocket and hauled out a tiny pocket flashlight. "Here's this one, someone.."

Juice offered over his teenage mutant ninja turtles light.

And Dot's.

"Guys, uhhh..." Juice stopped as he kinda felt weird standing there.

"What is it, Juice?" Dot frowned.

Raul's grip slipped, and suddenly Becky had a 120 pound Costa Rican hanging from her left foot.

"Eeek!" Becky screeched, her foot being dragged down. "Uh.. um,.. try to climb up me."

Raul fought for a grip on the leg of her jeans.

"Oh my god, don't fall Raul! I love your wings, I can't live without them!" Juice tried to grab on to the rope and help Becky to pull him up.

Dot also pulled on the rope, trying to pull everyone back "up" through the door.

"... maybe we better get another rope," Kyle said observantly.

"Ahhh,fuckkkkk..." Juice said, feeling the pull of gravity. Fuck Raul and his wings- they'd find another chef. He held on to the rope with his end dangling towards the door. "Hellllllp."

Dot squeaked, clinging to the rope. "Um. Guys. Um. Ack."

Kyle moved along to the doorknob the rope was tied to, avoiding the door, and tried to help tug.

With difficulty, Kyle was able to push in the door to which the rope was tied (it was a broom closet). And pull the hangers-on up two feet, within arm's length of the doorway.

Becky reached, and pulled herself up.

Dot was still close to the door she'd tied the rope to, luckily. She hung on to the rope and pulled herself up, just a little.

"You guys okay?" Kyle called.

Becky reached to help Raul up. "Yeah. Extra weight hurts" She then went to help Dot up

Raul climbed out and gave the doorway a dirty look, and said something in Spanish that probably wasn't a prayer.

Dot whewed. "Thanks, Beck. Guys. Let's go back now, kay? This was fun and all, but not well-planned."

Becky untied the rope from her waist, and glanced at the doorway.

"Not what I expect," Raul admitted. "Everybody okay?"

"Yeah... but what the fuck was that?" Juice asked. "I felt like I was in two places at once."

"Is, umm ... " Raul motioned with his hands. "Crossroads."

"Heh... I think this is why Mike tells us not to mess with the doors," Kyle said.

"Yeah, I think that might be why. A crossroads to where?" Juice asked. "It looked like space."

"Between dimensions?" Becky asked "So, if we kept falling, we would have ended up somewhere else?"

"Is seven, is prime and in sequence ... Big change from here," Raul said quietly. "Maybe good, maybe bad, but very different."

"...that's math talk," Juice said accusingly.

"Sounds like," Kyle agreed. "The doors rape us with math."

Raul nodded.

"So like, if we go into door number six, or number three... does it have less of the want to suck us into space going on?" Juice asked.

"Three like here, but older. Six like here, and like Three, but not so good. Less sharp angle, just walk through."

"Can you mark them?" asked Becky

Raul smiled. "They already marked." Raul reached out to the door everyone had nearly fallen through and traced a V and two straight lines within the woodwork. "Is hard to find pattern, sometimes. Might be scratch, or rust, or even shadow."

Juice scratched his head. "Have you told Michael this? You totally need to. "

"I still figuring out how it fit together," Raul said. "I not know all the rules, yet."

"Yeah, but... maybe with what he knows and with what you know, you can know... more stuff?" Juice offered.

"Maybe," Raul said. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay," Juice said. " I think tonight we need to like... lay down on something solid and try not to freak."
* jasonbeast is now known as sleepinbeast

"Aw," Kyle said. "What about something squishy?"

"I miss my Papa." Becky frowned "I wish I could just go home."

"Well, someone's got to tell Mike we're not dead," said Dot. "I'm volunteering myself for that." She untied the rope and coiled it up.

"Squishy is good too,"Juice said. He hung on to Kyle. "I think hot sex should be in the equation, too."

"Woohoo!" Kyle grinned.

Dot half-heartedly rolled her eyes. "Lalala."

"I'm glad everyone is okay." Becky said

"You guys are pretty much my family." Becky gave everyone a hug, and slunk off barwards

Kyle nodded. "Likewise." He hugged.

Dot hugged too. "Yes." The she sighed. "I sure hope they let Satsu go home soon. They've been teasing her with it for days now."

"So is that vampire dead yet?" Kyle inquired.

Dot shook her head. "I don't know. I met my defense instructor, though! She even came by here the other night."

"Is she cool?" Juice asked.

Dot nodded. "She threw things at me and then let me keep them!"

"Was any of it cool things?" Juice asked.

"It's a bottle opener. I have it in my pack, but not in my uniform, because where the hell would I hide it?" Dot grimaced and tugged on the hem of the dress again.

"You could wear a belt," Kyle suggested.

Dot pondered that for a moment. "Ooh. Nica is always nagging me to accessorize this."

"Then you could have a belt pouch, or you could hang things from it like lethal weapons. Or you could wear an apron, if you really needed the pocketspace," Kyle added.

"Ooh, apron." Dot thought about that. "I like it." Grinning, she added, "I'm actually pretty disappointed in our goths. they do what I ask them to do and they haven't written any poems about the their 'tall dark goddess of Death' yet."

"You should work on open mic night," Kyle suggested.

Becky was at the bar, chatting with Lisa, and writing very, very, very bad poetry.

Dot nodded. "I think I will. Who's gonna tell Mike what Raul found out?"

"Not me," Kyle said. "I don't want him to laugh."

"No, about that system Raul mentioned. I bet Mike'd find that interesting," corrected Dot.

"Yeah- I think we should let Raul tell him tomorrow though," Juice said. "I don't want to steal his thunder."

Kyle nodded. "Plus, if he's wrong, why should we look silly?"

Dot nodded. "Oh, you're right. Anyway, think anyone would mind if I tottered off to bed? I'm pretty wiped out lately, and we're back here already.."

"Well, the club's closed by now anyhow, so sure," Kyle said, shrugging.

Dot held out her arms. "Okay. Goodnight hugs and then I will go."

Kyle hugged and grinned.

Juice hugged

Dot hugged. "Good night, boys. I love you. And don't make me come knocking on your door in the middle of the night again.."

"Okay, we'll leave the door unlocked," Kyle said, amused.

Dot smirked. "Yes, because an unlocked door won't allow for my sleepy rage to go away before I get inside! Are you guys sure you've thought this through?"

Kyle just chuckled.

"Okay! I'm going to bed! Really!" Dot hugged again and went off to her own little space.

Kyle grinned and snagged Juice. "Okay, you..."

Juice grinned. "To bed!"