I drink; therefore I am. (OPEN)

[code_obsidian]

WHO: Garak and whoever shows up (Feel free to threadjack and ignore posting order, ya drunks.)
WHAT: Getting drunk, self medication, and a stunning display of healthy coping mechanisms.
WHERE: The bar.
WHEN: Early evening until.

Comments

[raised_fromhell]

Dean started to educate Julian in the fine art of subtly and lying when Jack Harkness swooped in and fed Owen an knuckle sandwich. On reflex the hunter braced himself for an attack, drink coming down on the surface of the bar and angling himself for a fight.

He frowned at Jack's scolding of the Starfleet doctor and waited until the man had carried out his own drunk medic before clapping a hand on Julian's shoulder, a comforting gesture and to also keep the other man from rushing off after the two of them.

"Subtly." Dean said. "They don't teach that at the fancy space military school you went to?" He reached around and motioned to the bartender. "Scotch for the Doc."

He picked up his drink while he waited for Julian's to come and grimaced as he took a sip. "Alright," The hunter raised his voice so he could be heard over the music and across the bar when Ford and Garak had taken refuge from the humans. "When I said put on some rock, I meant rock and roll. From Earth. Or something as close to what you aliens will find acceptable."

[got_his_towel]

Ford gave Julian a bit of an odd look. "To Jack? Didn't he punch that frood in the face?" he pointed out.

[only_human]

Julian nodded as he swallowed the scotch and winced. It was smooth but boy did it burn going down!

"Actually, I was going to toast to Owen next! So ... to Owen! May he survive Jack's attempt at keeping him alive! Cheers!"

He downed the rest of his glass, grabbed another, and propped his head on his hand, pouting. "Honestly, though. It's nothing to make light of. I wish Owen all the best in getting these memories back with the least amount of suffering. He's really having a rough go."

[code_obsidian]

Garak said nothing, content to accept a fresh bottle of kanar. He poured the blue drink and sipped at it, seemingly content to listen, at least until he felt there was a good reason to comment. He also reached for another handful of pretzels and munched on them quietly.

[raised_fromhell]

Dean found the Stones, selecting a whole collection of their greatest hits amid many other songs to start playing next. As he did, he worked his way through the drink still dangling in one hand. He was feeling pleasantly warm...but far from buzzed. And the events thus far this evening had been a distraction to all the ghosts still lingering through his mind

[only_human]

Julian froze and looked sideways to each of the people sitting next to him without turning his head, considering the idea of poltergeists and disappearing bodies.

"Experiment? Salt?"

[raised_fromhell]

Dean glanced up at Julian. "Did it slip your notice that there hasn't been any animal sightings? No coyotes howling at night, no birds in the sky, no bugs?" He sighed a little and toyed with his half full glass. "Dukat wanted to take the body back out into the desert and see what happened to it. We were out there for nearly two hours at high effing noon and nothing turned up for a snack. The body didn't even decompose, bloat in the heat, nothing."

He popped a few pretzels into his mouth and chewed on them for a moment before answering the other question. "Best way to stop a spirit from coming back and kicking your ass is to salt and burn the body. Any trace of DNA left is enough to keep the soul tied to this plain. Salt purifies the body and fire turns it to ashes."

[code_obsidian]

Garak was reluctant to admit, even to himself, that Dukat's idea was sensible, or it would have been had they been trapped somewhere natural. He probably would've done the same thing presented the opportunity. That was Cardassian pragmatism. In some ways, his entire race had basic similarities.

The rest of the information had him leaning more toward holographic projections or possibly even some sort of mental link like the Dominion used when researching enemy targets. "We don't have ghosts or supernatural entities in our world," Garak said. "I haven't seen any indications that there are such things here, either." He continued to mull over the rest of the information, chewing thoughtfully on a pretzel.

[only_human]

"It's as if we are all from parallel universes that have converged here at this hotel, Garak. Like how our universe runs parallel to the mirror universe that Major Kira and I encountered."

That memory disturbed Julian. He took a large gulp of his drink recalling what it was like to run into Garak's mirror counterpart. Gul Garak had been a vile and ruthless man that Julian would like to forget.

"According to Dean and Jack, the aliens and supernatural beings that exist in their world are very real."

[raised_fromhell]

"This whole place is reason enough that the supernatural exists." Dean pointed out. "It blew out my EMF the night it made off with a whole bunch of people. And unfortunately I didn't have it on me when I got whammied in the garage."

He crunched loudly on a pretzel. "What's a mirror universe?" He asked.

[only_human]

"It's a parallel universe that coexists with our universe on another dimensional plane. It became known as the "mirror universe" by Starfleet and The Federation because many people and places are exact opposites of how they exist in "our" universe. Many good and bad aspects of each universe are opposites as well."

[code_obsidian]

"I'm aware of that, Doctor," Garak said, not liking the man's lecturing tone. "Which is why I specifically said our world." His enunciation was more precise, largely because it was getting harder to do so clearly.

He then looked past the doctor at Dean. "High pulses of electromagnetic energy could easily blow out a detector. There are machines and technologies capable of producing every effect we've observed in this hotel to date. I wouldn't be quick to latch onto any one explanation too soon. We don't have nearly enough information."

[raised_fromhell]

"I've swept this hotel for months." Dean replied. "Nothing short of the fridge in my room sets off my readers. The electrical system in the walls of this place doesn't even register and I have yet to find any form of on sight generators or an external feed coming to the hotel." He sipped at his beer and sat back a little, arm pulled back to rest over the back support of his chair.

"We shouldn't have lights or running water right now." The hunter pointed out.

[got_his_towel]

Ford listened to the conversation with a vague disinterest, and to the music with mild interest. He did seem to recall hearing this on Earth, now that they mentioned it, but he didn't know it was called 'rock'. He wondered why. It didn't sound made from rocks.

[only_human]

Julian looked down at his drink and thought about pacing himself. He was starting to sound as if he were giving a lecture. On the other hand, if he didn't continue to drink, he would feel less removed from reality and that just wouldn't work at all. Tonight he was going to drink enough to thoroughly enjoy himself and pretend he were somewhere else but trapped in this damned hotel.

"The readings I took with my tricorder when I first arrived are suspect in that the hotel does not seem to obey the laws of physics. The hotel registers as a spatial anomaly or a kind of disruption in the space-time continuum. Maybe the hotel is in a graviton ellipse that travels through subspace, emerging into normal space and extra-dimensional realms only when it is in proximity of objects that emit electromagnetic energy. Taking some readings with my tricorder outside the hotel might help shed some light on the theory."

[raised_fromhell]

Dean looked at Julian, then around the table, and then had enough drink. Whatever the doctor had just said was way beyond his pay-grade.

He drained the glass and cleared his throat as the drink burned on the way down. "I think I'm going to need more of these before anything you said make sense." The hunter said.