reality_crossroads | (no subject)

"Right -- not fair on her," Marty says, then looks over at the Void Hound. "Or him either. At the very least, I can guarantee you there's a grocery store not far from where we're living right now, and it definitely has more than lobster and veggies."

"Doc doesn't think so -- he and Dee have done some poking around, and according to Dee, everything feels like it flows one way. She's got this talent for sensing different timelines and multiple reality stuff," he explains. "Comes with being a time machine, I guess. . . We can't really be sure, though. The entrance to the main reality vanished a while back. We're not sure what happened." He chews a piece of cone. "I mean, given our home hasn't gone kaput, it's gotta still be around somewhere, but either it lost its grip on the Nexus or the Nexus lost its grip on it." He's not really mourning -- from what Doc and Victor told him, Chicago in the main reality verged a little too much on "potential war zone" for his tastes -- but yeah, questions like this make him wish he could check.

"Probably depends on the timeline," Marty says. "I dunno all the worlds you're gonna be yanking into this new 'verse. But yeah, somebody's gotta have some farmers. And architects. And -- sanitation guys." Don't forget someone needs to make sure the toilets all work too.

"That sounds great," Stephie admits. "One of the reasons I'm here is that it doesn't take long to start getting sick of the seafood and salad diet."

There's a slight nod at the mention of Dee's senses before Duela comments, almost offhand, "It's still weird to me other people don't do that. I mean, would you even know you walked into the wrong timeline? Or would you have to see a lot of things that proved it. And maybe the Nexus just doesn't think holding on to the main one is important any more, since all the people that visit it are living where you do. I dunno about that, though, because there seem to be a lot more portals than regular visitors, so they can't all be because of that."

Jokester nods. "I know Batman's idea of 'taking out the trash' is to beat it unconscious and drag it to jail, and all I know about plumbing comes from that video game with the mushrooms and turtles... As for architecture, I do know what a bearing wall is, but usually more for demolition reasons. And the only way I know a two-by-four from a four-by-four is that the second one has tires. ... Pretty sure I've been hit with both, before, though."

Edited 2018-12-22 09:26 (UTC)

"Yeah, don't blame you," Marty says. "My cousin grew up the heir to some fish-canning empire back in his own world, and now he won't touch seafood at all. Well, except for lobster -- didn't have that quite so much."

"I think that's more a question for Doc than me," he confesses, licking a stray drip as it runs toward his hand. "He's the one who's studied how multiverses work and time travel and all that. But judging by the movies that we were supposedly supposed to star in, no, you gotta see the differences first. I mean, it would be handy to just know, but--" He shrugs. "Maybe you gotta be attuned to the multiverse or something?" He takes another bite of cone. "And maybe. . .I'm not even gonna try to guess at how the Nexus works." That way lies only madness.

"Yeah, I'm familiar with the Mario and Luigi brand of plumbing too," Marty says with a smile. "The real stuff? Not so much. And Doc can fix a leak, but I don't think he could plumb a house from scratch. Maybe you guys oughta make a list of all the different kinds of people you think you might need?" Be a pretty long list, sure, but it would be a place to start.

"If you ever want lobster and want to arrange a trade, I can pick some up for you," Stephie says. "Literally. Those things swarm the beach like some ocean version of cockroaches in a cheap motel."

"I think the Nexus works however the Nexus wants to work," Duela says, going back to her ice cream. She's already mad, at least in her own opinion, so maybe that helps.

"I'm pretty sure if you suddenly had a fire-breathing carnivorous plant pop up in the bathroom, it'd take more than a call to the local plumber and a couple hundred bucks to deal with... ... though Poison Ivy might know that one better than me!" Jokester nods. "We'll have to, sooner or later. Like I said before, we might already have to track down someone in the timesoup who's qualified to conduct a marriage. And it really wouldn't hurt to have someone around who's used to cooking for large groups. Start with what comes up, and then kind of work backwards down the supply chain until we're not having to cover for infrastructure holes."

"Makes 'em sound really appetizing," Marty deadpans, though he can't help a grin. "I'll talk with the rest of the family -- see what they're up for. But seriously, whatever groceries you need, go for it."

"I think you hit the nail on the head there," he agrees. "We're just all along for the ride." Fortunately, for him at least, it's been a good one so far. Hoping it stays that way!

Marty chuckles. "Probably! Mostly because she'd likely be the one who stuck it in there. . ." He nods back. "Right -- gotta get that covered. And yeah, definitely -- how many of you guys are out now? Like, got any idea of a total headcount?"

"They're getting there," Stephie grumbles.

"Aww, it's only been a week for you," Duela counters with a snicker.

And then it gets into the total population.

"Total total, or just displaced Gothamites?" Jokester asks. "And total as in wandering around living, or... well, there are some other cases too, and I don't just mean dead people."

"A hundred and fifty-nine," Stephie says, almost absently - the answer relayed from Erdammeru. "If you count everyone that technically exists in some way."

"But ten of those are off in the quiet place with all the fog where dead people go now," Duela says. "Because six of the Pokémon were ghosty kinds that went there, so they could be something other than ghosts later. And mom's got four patients that were really messed up..." She bites her lip briefly and quickly changes topic. "And two more are... um... you'd have to fall asleep to meet them. It be rude to say they're imaginary, because they're real too... just maybe not the same kind of real." She likes the Nightmaren, really. "I wonder if they could visit the Nexus..."

"So that makes a hundred and forty-seven people on the island." Stephie nods as she updates her count.

"That's counting all the ones that came out of those carnival balls, including the spiders," Jack says.

Edited 2019-01-04 09:31 (UTC)

"Hey, if I was chowing down on the exact same thing for a week, I'd start getting sick of it too," Marty replies, finishing off his cone.

Marty looks between Jokester, Duela, and Stephie as they give him the totals. "I was thinking mostly the guys from DC, but that's just because I didn't know if anybody else from another reality had already gotten out. Almost forgot about the Pokemon -- which is kinda stupid, given that's how Victor got Nibbles," he adds, rolling his eyes at himself. "So you've technically got dead people hanging around? And imaginary but real? Sounds kinda like Alice's Wonderland friends, though she and Victor would know a lot more about that. . ."

He grins playfully at Jokester's comment. "Okay, but does it include Selina's cats?"

"I thought we were just talking about 'mostly sure they're people', because none of Selina's cats have tried talking to me," Jokester replies. "Though given some of the others, I wouldn't be that surprised if they did."

"Um, we don't have dead people hanging around, because they're dead," Duela points out. "It's just that there's a lot of difference between dead and still-in-the-timesoup."

"Fourty-eight," Stephie updates in between bites of her glowing vanilla-and-orange treat.

Duela nods. "Because Wonderland is kind of like a dream place, even if she might have gone there while awake sometimes, am I right? Yeah, they be kind of like that. Or maybe like that and like non-evil Freddy Krueger, because they aren't just in one person's dreams."

"Fair enough," Marty says with a nod. "Bet if you tried counting all the animals -- well, us organics would be here for a while," he says, with a glance at Erdammeru. "Dunno about him."

Marty tilts his head. "Hang on -- okay, I can get that being the timesoup and being dead are two different things. But you just said they were in some foggy area. Where's that then, if it's not part of the island? Separate, uh, 'waiting room' for the ghosts?" He's doing his best to wrap his mind around this.

"Sort of?" Marty answers Duela's question. "Here's the weird thing about Alice and Wonderland -- she first got to the Nexus through Wonderland. But the reason she was in Wonderland was because she was fighting through it to kill the Queen of Hearts so she could get her sanity back. Cause she was catatonic in an asylum at the time. So she was kind of going to Wonderland in her head. . .but she could also show up in the Nexus? And when she woke up in Rutledge, she could get to the Nexus from there -- or, well, from London, she ended up living with her aunt and uncle for a while. . .and then she figured out a way to get to Wonderland through mirrors? That was how she got Victor there. . ." He shakes his head. "I dunno -- I barely understand it, and I get the feeling Alice doesn't really either."

He chuckles. "Non-evil Krueger living in dreams. Okay, that I get."