Video / Console

[consultingbishop]

So, hey...

[Hey, Keelial. Remember him? He looks a lot more tired than before, his hair is ruffled and his shirt looks partly undone. It looks like he's sat in the College.]

Anyone noticed the pattern on the Turtle's shell? It's... pulsing. It started like... three? Four days ago? The time between the pulses is getting shorter.

I'm not sure what this means, but... hey. It sounds important, right? I've done some math and, well... I think... [Yawn.] ...I think the pulses are gonna stop in a week or so. If the period between them keeps getting shorter.

Assuming that's what this is.

Comments

[consultingbishop]

I'm into lots of things, but I'm trying to actively avoid patterns. Bad things tend to happen.

[lasergrenades]

Depends on the pattern. I mean, the phases of the moon are a pattern and that just kind of happens. [Pepper shrugs.] But I get what you're saying. The glow is supposed to be a good thing, though. It'd be a nice surprise, at least, if you're so used to bad things happening.

I'm Pepper, by the way. Pepper Potts.

[consultingbishop]

I await with bated breath. We should know by... the 16th?

Peter Bishop.

[lasergrenades]

Never a dull moment at least.

How are you liking Keeliai? You said you'd been here a few weeks, right? Find a place to stay or are you at the Hotel?

[consultingbishop]

The streets are glowing with anticipation.

[Because he saw that pun even if you didn't, Pepper.]

It's a nice city. Ain't seen much of it, been too busy working. I'm at the hotel, got a job as a handyman. Only problem is it's pretty well-run, so not much needs fixing.

[lasergrenades]

Ooh, nice one.

[She can appreciate puns.]

Have you checked out the College at all? If you're into a lot of different things that's not a bad place to end up, if you run out of things to fix.

[consultingbishop]

[A smile.]

Who said I was working at the hotel? [A pause.] I found the college. I'm renting a lab. I need to get home, so, lab rental was the best thing.

[And he raises a hand.]

And before you go on the whole "Keelial is great and awesome" spiel, I understand that time has stopped in my home universe. That doesn't change the need I have to get back. Temporal glitch or not.

[lasergrenades]

Most of us have to get back for one reason or another. [She tilts her head to the side a bit, studying him.] Keeliai is great, but that doesn't change that we all came from somewhere, and that most Foreigners want to get home. I mean, I am totally not looking forward to the exact moment I'll go back to, but my dad is there. You might want to ask around; there's been a bunch of Foreigners that have tried to figure out how to get home and maybe that way you don't go back over the same ground.

Also you pretty much made it sound like you were working at the Hotel as a job.

[consultingbishop]

Well, I'm going to start with the most obvious of my own methods, and if they fail, ask around.

Don't worry, I'm not some mad scientist... That was my dad.

[He's only half-joking.]

[lasergrenades]

Sounds like you've got a plan worked out. You should meet my friend Tony if you haven't already; he's a total genius. His dad is, too, although not so much with the mad part.

Good luck, though, seriously. If you figure out a way home let the rest of us know before you vanish. Please.

[consultingbishop]

That's the plan. At least, if I can find a way home without shattering the universe into pieces. Had enough of that.

[lasergrenades]

[Pepper looks a little startled.]

...That does not seem like it would be good. Is that why you need to get home, to keep that from happening?

[consultingbishop]

Nah, home's more or less fixed in terms of dimensional problems.

[It's just temporal fascism he's worried about now.]

But me being inserted into other worlds tends to go... badly.

[lasergrenades]

Enough Foreigners have ended up here that you're probably not going to break anything just by being here, if that's what you're worried about.

[Probably.]

So... this kind of thing has happened to you before?

[consultingbishop]

Yeah, and in my experience, the barrier between dimensions is a lot more fragile than people realise.

[lasergrenades]

Oh, I'd believe it. [She's seen it, even.] We're probably pretty capable of affecting the Dreaming, at least. But after all the crazy things that have happened here, I'm gonna go ahead and keep hoping you're not the thing that makes it all come tumbling down.

[consultingbishop]

Yeah. Me, too.

[He doesn't need the destruction of another universe on his conscience.]