Cue one very baffled angel...

[ashes_ascended]

Who: Phoenix Kaelen
What: He's just got here.
Where: Corridor outside a holodeck. (Locked to Alec Troven in Ten Forward.)
OOC info: OC. Here's a direct link to his tenfwd-specific profile. (Which is now unlocked)
Permissions: Here:
Warnings: This character cusses like a sailor, and his narrative is in the style of his inner voice, so it too will contain cussing.

Open to all:

One minute he's in mid-gate (teleport) to pick up his daughter, the next he's in some kind of odd room. Black walls, criss-crossed with yellow lines give Phoenix the impression that this is one of his uncle's dream-vaults; but after only a few seconds, he realises there was something completely wrong about that last gate-hop.

The angel can feel the soft hum of something in his surroundings. The tech - although a little dated, is recognisable to him as a holodeck. Terran in origin, if he's not mistaken, this is a spacegoing vessel; well past the 21^st century from where he's just come.

Nervous as hell, Phoenix tries speaking to the holodeck computer,

“I need privacy.” Is his first vocalised thought, as his nature kicks in and he needs to asses his weaponry. Just in case. Demons have lured him to similar scenes in his long past. His request is rewarded by a stone cell appearing around him. It's old-world, but the door is solid oak and feels stable enough.

Phoenix hunches down, pulling his quantum disruptor from its holster under his black wool coat. He's not stupid enough to go shooting the thing off on what may be some kind of military vessel, but he can quickly assess it by stripping it down and inspecting the modular components.

Something is really not right. He tugs out the simple-looking cellphone from another pocket, and inspects the temporal functionality of his vortex manipulator. Nothing is working as it should be.

Now he just has to figure out if he's been sent here by 'The Office', for some reason they haven't bothered explaining. Which happens. Or if he's been diverted by a more sinister power. Which also happens.

This is an Earth ship. He reasons, silently. Probably post-contact. This is possibly a warp-drive vessel. Keldra has made diplomatic contact with Earth at around this time. The angel is fairly positive about that, although the Knowledge he usually reaches for seems muffled and foggy. After grappling around in the ether for a few moments, The Knowing slips away from his mind like a heavy gold chain pouring itself off a dressing table.

It's taken him a scant couple of minutes to gather himself, and shove his possessions back into his pockets. Having weighed up the options, Phoenix doesn't seem to have any. He can't get out. He can't call anyone. All he can do is a quick reconnoitre of the habitat. If there's shit - he'll deal with that when it arises. But if it's an Earth ship, chances are the natives will be friendly. If it's military, they’ll probably be officious. Gods. He fucking hates officious mortals. Come to think of it, if this was a military ship, surely he'd have been detected and surrounded by armed guards by now.

“Uh. Yeah.” He says to the computer, standing. “I'm done here.”

“Do you wish to end the programme?” Asks a really rather sexy female voice.

“Yeah. That thing. End the programme.” He agrees, and the room is restored into it's former state. The doors swish open as Phoenix cautiously approaches them, and he steps out into the corridor.

Locked to Alec Troven (element_wizard ):
(Subject to change according to events before Phoenix and Alec meet.)

Circles of thought have been rattling around Phoenix's mind.

If Q brought him here and is more powerful than Heaven, he's on his own.

If Q brought him here and isn't more powerful than heaven, then chances are Heaven is okay with that or they'd have taken him home, and he's stuffed.

If Q didn't bring him here, and Heaven sent him here. Then Heaven is definitely okay with it, and he's stuffed.

Of course, whenever his people have dealt with the Q, the angel has always been paranoid that his Boss might actually turn out to be a Q. He hates it. It makes him question his Boss, Heaven, all of it. It's easier just to fall and have done with it. But no, he won't go there. Having almost fallen twice, the angel is in no frame of mind to consider that the third time is a charm. So yes, Q.

If Q is not his Boss, and is merely more powerful, Phoenix is still stuffed.

if Q is not more powerful than his Boss, then his Boss wants him here, and Phoenix is stuffed - because Heaven knows full well an angel with his security clearance is no match for Q.

If it transpires that Q is actually his Boss; Phoenix is well and truly stuffed, and he can totally see why Lucifer got so pissed about it.

He can't think of any other permutations right now. So heads off for a drink. Basically he's on his own, and stuffed.
 

Phoenix is pretty bloody relieved there's a bar. A bar with real alcohol. A real bar with real alcohol and a nice quiet corner where he can sit and pound his head on a table. That'll be good.

Then maybe he'll wake up.

He orders something strong, and slopes off to a corner, tucked away behind a group of standing, chattering, people. The less he's noticed, the more he'll like it.

Comments

[student_lighter]

Chris was sitting on his bed, trying to clear his mind and focus on his charges. He wasn't used to this. At all. Having Charges. Okay, well, not precisely. He was used to having Charges. They were just his aunts and his mother before. Now? Now he had a ton of Charges and half of them wouldn't even listen to him and he had never had this many charges before.

He took a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts and focus, checking in with each of his charges. Just in case they were doing something stupid. Like Trever.

Well, that was odd. Was that supposed to be there? Not a Charge......just....weirdness.

Rolling his eyes, Chris orbed to the weirdness, materializing in a glow of white and blue lights.

[ashes_ascended]

The weirdness is currently padding silently down the corridor, despite the 21st century German paratrooper boots. Phoenix's fingers flex and tense, ready to summon anything he might need at any moment.

He's made only one or two forays into the ghost dimension. This place is making him feel like that's where he's ended up. The most likely explanation for this sensation is that all his senses are muffled, cut off. He can't even tell if someone is going to leap out at him around the next corner.

When he does finally make a turn to the left, and a blue-white glow appears in front of him, the dark angel's fingers twist as he summons a baseball bat directly into his hands.

"Shit!" His eyes flash jet-black, something they only do when he's under stress or preparing to make a kill. He has drawn the bat right back, ready to strike at whatever is materialising in front of him...

[student_lighter]

Oooooh that was never good. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Chris put his hands up,in a gesture to shield himself, and tried to jerk the bat away with telekinesis.

"Fuck! Do you always hit people with bats when they orb in? What's wrong with you? Trigger happy much?"

Sure, that will teach him to orb to weirdness without vanquishing potions. Or at least stunning potions. One Whitelighter-Witch does not the Power of Three make. And sure, it wasn't the first time he'd startled someone by orbing in, but really. At least Piper would blow up objects instead of him.

[ashes_ascended]

The bat judders in his hands, but Phoenix has already made the decision not to strike. What kind of kid is this? It can gate almost like a Kayori god, except the light effects are a little off putting.

"Trigger ready." He corrects, shaking his head a little to re-focus and lose the inner demon. "Big fucking difference."

His eyes become their usual grey-blue, and Phoenix straightens up. What the fuck is this place...? Not the vessel, the dimension. It's like the fucking ghost realm."

[student_lighter]

Chris narrowed his eyes. Black eyes was never a good sign. Usually, it was demonic. Not always though. He really should go back and look through the book first....try to ID this guy. If he could. If they were even from the same dimension.

"Not the ghostly realm. Trust me, I was conceived there. This is some sort of alternate universe, separate from our own. Oh, and if you haven't figured it out already, you've been kidnapped by an asshole who thinks he's omnipotent. Congrats."

And because Chris was kind of a compulsive liar who didn't tell the truth unless you had completely and utterly busted him, he lied. Well a partial lie. Those were the best. The words just came out of his mouth.

"And don't even try to kill me. I'm a Whitelighter. I can't die." Totally a Whitelighter. Totally can die.

[ashes_ascended]

The blackness hardly inspires trust. Phoenix hates it, but there's nothing he can do about it.

The fact the lad was conceived in the ghost realm is not lost on Phoenix; although at the moment this dark angel can't tell if his little friend is anything from a fellow angel to a Kelde human with a fancy teleport implant. He has no choice but to believe him.

"I don't particularly want to kill anyone. I'm half-blind, okay? I can't sense anything and it's driving me just a little screwy... This omnipotent fuckwit's fault, I assume?" He's not entirely certain he believes that part. Although it happens.

[student_lighter]

"Hey, you're catching on. Maybe you've got something between your ears after all." Sorry Phoenix, this half-angel's kind of an asshole. Blame his mother. "And what do you mean you're half blind?" He didnt look half blind. Maybe he meant magically? Which meant this guy was probably powerful enough to be viewed as a threat by Q. Interesting....

"I get it. Not having powers sucks. But you can't go around bashing peoples head in with baseball bats because they startle you. It's rude for one. If you want another reason security here will probably lock you up if you try it."

What was this guy? And what was up with the black eyes? Was that like his demonic form, like Cole and Belthazor? If it was, well, it left something to be imagined. Not as scary as it could be.

[ashes_ascended]

Phoenix can be an asshole too; and to be fair, he did threaten the Whitelighter with a large wooden bat.

"No. No. Okay." He draws breath and dismisses the bat. "The fact there is security makes me feel marginally less freaked out. So -- what's a Whitelighter? You some kind of acolyte to this omnipotent kidnapper?"

[student_lighter]

"Seriously? Nice one. Wow. Um, no. I'm a guardian angel for witches and....generally good people. So, you could say that I'm not the acolyte of this omnipotent asshole who kidnapped us."

Okay, so he got rid of the bat. Maybe Chris will cut the guy a break. Or maybe not. "Look, I've never even seen this guy. This ship is run by mortals--errr--humans. Their a bunch of explorers from what I've worked out and this isn't their fault. They're just stuck in the middle. Kind of like us."

[engineermage]

"Thooop!"

The sound is followed by a finger's length orange dart flinging itself through the air heading right for Phoenix's forehead. It's coming from a small hand sized little drone that looks somewhat insectile hovering up in the air near by.

A few feet beyond that is Kale staring at a control device and apparently not paying much attention to things around him.

[ashes_ascended]

Fortunately, Phoenix is in work-mode and expecting all manner of horrible things to transpire. At the very sound, he de-manifests... surprised that he actually can; thus the dart only just misses.

"Fuck!" Unfortunately, the angel reappears two feet to the left of where he was standing, but also two feet off the ground. Shocked at this, he lands badly on his arse. Instinctively, he pulls his totally non-functioning gun and points it in the direction of where the dart came from.

[engineermage]

Kale looked up the cursing and had the drone scoot around Phoenix's head.

"Teleporter. Crow's claws you guys are fucking annoying," Kale grumbled. "At least you're not in the jam."

[ashes_ascended]

"Not as annoying as fuckwits with stupid dart-toys!" Phoenix is pissed. He's been spirited away, nothing works, especially his head, and he's having a bad day. "I could have fucking killed you!"

With his totally non-working gun.

"And I'd say I'm in the motherfucking jam. Only in my world it's called shit. Neck-deep."

[engineermage]

"Well, stupid dart toys are the only fucking way they're going to be letting me use guns on this fucking stupid ship," Kale grumbled briefly, thumbing the drone around with his control pad. It continued to hover around Phoenix like the paparazzi.

"I mean literal jam. My brother's familiar has teleporting kittens that like appearing in open jam jars."

He's completely unconcerned that Phoenix just said he could have killed him.

"That's a nice gun by the way."

[ashes_ascended]

"So it is a ship." He mutters, stashing his gun back in his holster. "Thought it was some kind of floating prison." Teleporting kittens are lost on him at the moment. There must be dozens of worlds that have them. Doesn't mean anything. Later he might kick himself for not picking up on it.

"Hnh. Thanks." He does look sheepish at this point. There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger.. Phoenix bats at the drone, annoyed by the stupid thing. "Doesn't even fucking work," he confesses, scowling at the drone so hard he nearly goes cross-eyed.

[engineermage]

The drone zips out of the way to hover back around Kale and he tucks the control device back into his pouch.

"Yeah, it is a ship. Though I don't think that doesn't mean it's not a prison. We can't leave after all. A pretty cell is still a cell."

Grumpy Kale is annoyed. His County Cork accent gets a wee bit thicker as he grumbled.

"Must be a pretty nice gun then. My handgun still works. But it just shoots ordinary bullets. Apparently people with the more exotic weapons end up with them not working."

[ashes_ascended]

"Thanks for that." Bloody annoying thing. "So.. Earth ship?" He might as well get as much information as he can. Phoenix has been stuck in places before, and escape doesn't always come within the first few days. Weeks, even. He won't think about months just yet.

"It's a quantum disruptor.. tears demons apart. I need to strip it down and screw around with it."

The angel's accent is strangely soft-Scottish, for someone not of Terra. He pauses for a moment, taking in the young irish-sounding man. He doesn't seem to fit into the surroundings. "You were brought here too?"

[element_wizard]

After some time Alec comes wandering into the bar with his head down, nose in a book. He gets himself some code with its usual ungodly amount of sugar and cream before heading over to a window seat. He sits with his feet on another chair with his coffee in one hand, book in his lap and finger tracing its way down the page.

[ashes_ascended]

Phoenix is currently ensconced in a corner with a half-decent bourbon. The angel hasn't resorted to beating his head against the table after all. He'd probably be dragged off to the ships medbay in a straitjacket.

Eventually, he starts people-watching, but it's not until the young man with the book has taken his seat and gotten comfortable that Phoenix gets around to glancing in his direction. His heart lurches and plasters itself to his ribs.

"What fresh hell is this?" He mutters. It could be Alec, but what if it's not? A beautiful, young Alec, who doesn't look too much different from that time they had their first date. If it's an alternate - and Phoenix has encountered those - things could have just gotten lonelier, and far worse.

If he had his Knowing. He'd, well, Know.

As if to mock him, Phoenix receives a burst of information inside his mind, that makes him grab at his hair and close his eyes. When he opens them, 'Alec' is still there. Maybe the appearance of the young man is partly what is releasing the Knowing back to the angel. Phoenix has no way of telling.

Whatever the reason, he's almost sure now... and the information shuts down again just as abruptly as it started. Phoenix sits and watches the newcomer for a while, enjoying what-might-be before it's snatched away again. Then after a good ten minutes, he gets up and makes his way over to 'Alec's' table.

...Only to stand there for a few seconds, tongue-tied and feeling like a twat. Where are all the smartarse comments when you really need them?

[element_wizard]

"The seat's not taken if you want it," Alec said tilting backwards. And then he sees who was hovering behind him and he keeps on tilting back, the chair now falling backwards as he just gapess in shock.

[ashes_ascended]

"I, uh." For a nanosecond, Pheonix continues being tongue-tied, until he can clearly see this Alec is going to end up on the floor.

"Hey! Steady." The angel moves to try and grab the chair and stop it crashing back.

[element_wizard]

The chair thumps into Phoenix's hands and stops its wayward tumble backwards. Alec keeps his head tilted back and just staring up at the angel's face for a long, long, moment.

"Well, fuck."

Exactly what he's saying that about is hard to know. He doesn't even know himself. It just seemed like the right thing to say.

[ashes_ascended]

That's nice. Phoenix takes Alec's full weight and for now, doesn't make any attempt to restore Alec to his more dignified position. He returns the gaze. It's Alec, for sure. It couldn't be anyone else.

"If you like. But I thought maybe dinner, a few drinks, before we get to that." It seems like Phoenix has recovered his former smartarse status.

[element_wizard]

It's hard to say if Alec ever had a dignified position.

This one is pretty undignified though. He's just hanging there at Phoenix's pleasure, whatever that might be. The lack of dignity continues as he lets out a giggle snort, reaching up to touch Phoenix's chin.

"You're old."

Because that's what you're supposed to say when you meet your lover after not having seen him for ages.

Alec's feeling a bit giddy and light headed.

[ashes_ascended]

At Phoenix's pleasure. He would very much like that idea if it was put to him.

"And you're still wet behind the years. Insolent whelp." He grins, and being the gentleman, eases up Alec's chair so it's not quite pulling his arm out of it's socket. Phoenix moves and takes a seat facing Alec.

"Can I join you?" He asks, managing to make it sound dirty.