(no subject)

[no_sanity_clause]

"Ever have someone really surprise you?" This brightly dressed person just grins as they lean against the Sign and look around to see if anyone's here today.

Comments

[museicalmarty]

"Yeah -- I mean, me and Doc and Dee started out in California, and obviously Victor and Alice are from England, but we're all in Chicago right now," Marty confirms. "You see -- okay, this is complicated, but Doc and Victor both ended up in a weird alternate Chicago with 'angels' and 'demons' and stuff when something called the 'Rift' opened up and sucked 'em in. They found the Nexus and each other, then I found the Nexus from Hill Valley, Alice found it from -- um, Wonderland, technically -- and we all sort of formed a little family. And then another Rift opened and dropped Doc and Victor into what Doc calls a 'pocket universe' -- it's a world that looks like the Chicago they were living in, but it doesn't have any of the people. They can't get back to the first Chicago, so we've just all kinda moved into a house in the pocket one and called it home. A third Rift dumped Dee into the pocket verse when Doc tried out a time travel experiment for the first time." Pause. "You were around to hear Dee's actually a car, right?"

[no_sanity_clause]

"I might've heard something about that," Jokester replies, though with his memories as they usually are he's not exactly certain when or where. He's just not in the habit of bothering to remember little details unless they seem important... which might factor into why the remaining amnesia gaps don't bother him half so much as it might someone else. "I'm half suprised this place hasn't spawned some kind of racetrack for the kid to play on yet."

[museicalmarty]

"Yeah -- Dee's short for 'DeLorean,'" Marty says with a little nod. "And huh, that's a point. . ." He looks around, as if one might have popped into existence just now. "Then again, Dee doesn't like to spend too long here when she visits. She likes the people, but all the different timelines crashing up against each other -- it can make her kinda sick, sometimes. Downside of being a time machine and sensitive to all of that."

[no_sanity_clause]

"Like putting someone with inner ear problems on a roller coaster. Duela's said time near the Sign here even goes in loops so that all the conversations don't happen all at once... and do happen all at once at the same time." Duela was sensitive to that kind of thing too, just in a different way.

[museicalmarty]

"Huh -- I'll have to tell that one to Dee," Marty comments. "Sounds like a good way to explain it to people. . .and yeah, I think she mentioned something like that to me too. I mean, makes sense with what I remember from asking my own questions here. . ." He scratches his head. "Guess it's better than the alternative -- five people answering your question at the same time, and not being able to really talk to any of them."

[no_sanity_clause]

"Hey, if nothing else, just asking questions here will help everyone get used to any multiple-memory issues!" He laughs at this, because it is something like the same thing, just not alternates and for much much shorter periods of time.

[museicalmarty]

Marty chuckles along. "Yeah, true enough! The Nexus is handy like that. I certainly think I get the whole 'fourth-dimensional' thing better than the movie me thanks to coming here." Maybe not MUCH better, but -- some improvement.

[no_sanity_clause]

"I think this place is going to be handy for a lot of things... especially while we're still getting something approximating civilization up and running back home." After all, they couldn't just keep pestering Jeannie to pull things out of nowhere. Ok, they could, technically... but she had a lot of other things to do. "Have you seen the glow in the dark ice cream place yet?"

[museicalmarty]

"I bet," Marty agrees. "Just gotta make sure the place doesn't get in a LOL-y mood." It's been behaving itself for a while, but -- well. A few early incidents means Marty's not going to let down his guard anytime soon. "And no, I haven't! Sounds awesome, though. Though, is it the shop that glows, or the ice cream? Or both?"

[no_sanity_clause]

"Parts of the shop, but mostly the ice cream. And sherbet," Jokester replies. "And Ed had his daughter's dog check it out after he got worried it might be radioactive, so we know it's not. I think someone said it was magic."

[museicalmarty]

"Okay, that's good to know," Marty says, who hadn't even considered that possibility. Would have been a rather unpleasant trip to the shop otherwise! "Magic is okay with me -- so long as it doesn't twist me around so my organs are on the outside." He grimaces -- he saw a few things in Arcadia.

[no_sanity_clause]

"Haven't seen anything in the Nexus do that yet," he says. "Though I haven't really been here that long."

[museicalmarty]

"Neither have I -- probably goes against the anti-violence field," Marty admits. "And I'm perfectly happy with things staying that way. So where's this ice cream shop then? It got a fixed location, or. . . ?"

[no_sanity_clause]

"Well, the last time I was here I think it was over," he starts to point, and then abruptly switches the direction he's pointing in, "that way." And he'll start heading that way to see if he's right.

[museicalmarty]

Marty snorts at the cartoon-esque sight gag and follows along. He's got nowhere he has to be, and learning where the ice cream is is always a good thing.

[no_sanity_clause]

Jokester has the habit of poking at random things they pass, or occasionally doing a little soft-shoe while he looks around to make sure he's going the right way.

It doesn't take long to wander into a place that seems perpetually twilight. Not too dark to find one's way around without stumbling, but dark enough to show off the Glowcones ice cream parlor with its outdoor seating tables with umbrellas and luminescent and tasty product.

[museicalmarty]

Marty smiles and lets him get on with it -- kind of reminds him of when they take Dee out someplace. She takes full advantage of her little kid human form to go wild with the poking and running around. He doesn't mind, though -- whatever makes her happy. And Jokester happy, come to think of it.

The twilight chunk of the Nexus is interesting in and of itself -- but the shop is definitely a high point. Marty grins, taking it all in. "Oh, that is pretty damn cool."

[no_sanity_clause]

"I thought so too!" Jokester says with the sort of big grin only he can really manage. "Now, Eddie... he panicked a bit. Had to make sure it was safe before the kids got into it. I told him it didn't taste radioactive, but he still had the dog check it... So it's all in the clear now."

"... Can't really blame him for being cautious, what with the kids and all," he adds, almost as if it's an afterthought.

[museicalmarty]

"Yeah, me either," Marty says, trying not to give Jokester a bit of the side-eye for his casual approach to danger. "I mean, I'm pretty sure radioactive ice cream would fall under that whole 'can't hurt anybody here unless you both really really mean it' field the Nexus has got going on, but. . .never heard of a dog checking for radiation though. Unless it had a Geiger counter tied to it."

[no_sanity_clause]

Jokester nods. That was about what he'd figured too... it couldn't really be harmful if it was here. "It's actually some kind of shape-shifting nanotech AI space alien weapon thing that looks like a dog more than half of the time and followed his daughter home, but thatś a bit longer to say than 'dog'. And they've also shot down any nicknames I've come up with for Erdammeru, which is a tongue twister on its own."

[museicalmarty]

Marty blinks a few times. He knows comics are weird, but. . . ". . .Sounds like they've adopted a T-1000 to me. And Erdammeru?? Really?" Okay, Nigma, he knows showing off how smart you are is kind of your shtick, but come on.

[no_sanity_clause]

"If it were silver instead of mostly black, I'd wonder about that myself," Jokester says, as he tries to decide which flavors to get. He knows he wants sherbet, though - because, let's face it, the colors are just better. "It came with that name. Some kind of Qwardian weapon... thing..." He waves a hand, not knowing all the details. And then pauses for a moment and shrugs. "I might have been dead in that timeline by the time that stuff happened. The Crime Syndicate did an even better job at picking us off than average there. Pretty sure Ed and his daughter were the only ones left."

[museicalmarty]

Marty's an ice cream guy through and through himself -- though he's checking out more colorful flavors. What's the point of getting glow in the dark ice cream if you're just going to pick boring old chocolate or vanilla? "Oh," he says as Jokester explains. "I guess if it was already answering to that. . ." He winces at the last bit. "Seriously? Shit, that's horrible."

[no_sanity_clause]

"Hey, I guess we could ask... about the dog, I mean," Jokester says, as he's just spotted Duela having some mint-chocolate-chip not far away. And she's accompanied by a younger girl whose twin-tail hairstyle gives her a slight resemblance to Harley Quinn, despite that her hair's more strawberry blond and her eyes are a calculating grey. And she's apparently gone for a 'dreamsicle' blend of vanilla with orange sherbet swirls. There doesn't seem to be a dog present, but the younger girl is wearing an odd-looking dark-colored bracelet, like some sort of tube made of metal snakescale.

Jokester's decided on a three-scoop bowl of lime, orange, and lemon, himself.

[museicalmarty]

"Hmm?" Marty follows Jokester's gaze to see one familiar face, and one unfamiliar one. "Oh! Is that Nigma's kid then? Guess we should at least say hello. . ." Only polite, after all. And he wants to see how Duela's doing too.

His order, when they get to the counter, is going to be a two-scoop cone of a blue confetti birthday cake flavor -- nice and bright and should taste good.