ten_fwd | The Witching Hour ~ Ten Forward

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The Witching Hour ~ Ten Forward

A calm and peaceful evening in Ten Forward, it was mostly busy, a buzz of low chatter amongst the patrons, people eating dinner, talking with friends, all around socialising… One might be forgiven for thinking that Q wasn’t a constant issue.

That is until, out of thin air, a tall man seems to… shimmer into visibility. The second he realises he’s not where he supposed to be, he frowns, tensing up, his right hand clenching into a fist as he scans the bar area.

“What the hell…?” He mutters to himself, knowing for a certain fact that the place they’d scryed wasn’t in a bar. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but there’s no demon here… No demons anywhere. No bounty hunters, no Source… It’s a bit unreal.

Narrowing his eyes, he looks around again, before raising his voice. “Phoebe?”

Phoebe walks into the bar minutes after Cole, and she is calling a guy’s name, but it certainly isn’t Cole’s. “Chris! Chris, where are you? I thought we were due a break after the Valkyries and everything….Woah.” Her tirade is cut short as she spots Cole.

The peaceful evening is definitely interrupted. “You.” Phoebe closes the distance towards him, and she’s aiming to land a kick on his jaw. “What are you doing here? You can’t be here.” In fact he shouldn’t be anywhere. He is gone, out of her life. For good. Not standing there...looking for her.

Now Cole wasn’t expecting the kick for his jaw… Luckily, his reflexes as a half-demon were still pretty tight; he manages to catch her foot… Just like that time on the college campus. Back when he…

Nope. Not the time to think about that. He holds Phoebe’s foot right there.

“The hell are you talking about, I…” And he stops, frowning. “We were…” Something wasn’t right here.

Something really isn’t right. Phoebe is getting one too many emotions off him and she wishes it would go away. She freezes, with her foot in his hand. There is a second of dead silence as she remembers how to speak. “Let go of my foot Cole,” she says quietly. “What do you think we were doing?”

If this is some sort of new trick….

“Not until I’m certain you’re not going to try and kick me again.” He remarks, dourly. “And how do I know this isn’t a trick? The Source pulling the big guns out to try and find me? I’m not gonna tell you where we were going.”

“The Source?” Phoebe is looking at Cole, like he’s gone insane. “Have you banged your head?” The Source is long dead, and this is making his behaviour even more suspicious. She struggles and tries to pull her foot free herself. “This has absolutely nothing to do with the Source.”

“This has everything to do with the Source, and if you are who you say you are, you would know what I’m talking about.” He keeps ahold of her foot, before losing his grip as she twists free. He takes a few steps back, tensing up. “So, either tell me who you are, or what the hell’s going on here.”

((OOC: Cole and Phoebe are going to continue to argue, feel free to interject. If you want one or the other, specify, or we'll bounce around and threadjack each other. Specify if this isn't okay!))

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Chris had been in his room, the Book open as he actively flipped through it for what felt like the millionth time, trying to find something that would help Trever. Or say, help them get out of this mess. The problem he kept running up against? Power. Specifically, he didn't have enough. And he wasn't sure he could modify the Source Vanquishing spell without the Power of Three, especially given the distance between their two dimensions.

And then, more oddness. The Whitelighter-Witch could distinctly hear Phoebe's voice calling his name in his head. Either that was a hell of a long distance call or....Chris closed his eyes, focusing on her location and orbing.

Phoebe. And Cole.

"Okay, this is bad. But first, you guys need to stop trying to kill each other." Okay, so he's totally looking at his aunt. "Phoebe. Play nice."

"Why should I play nice?" Which is about as close as Chris is going to get to 'hey Chris', for now. She flicks a glance in his general direction, before she looks back at Cole with laser focus. "He doesn't think I am real, and I don't want an energy ball in my face right now." And it's quite clear from her tone, that she isn't sure that this isn't some shape shifter who has borrowed Cole's face, to lure her into a trap.

"You won't get an energy ball to the face if you tell me what the hell's going on, and what you've done to Phoebe."

Cole's voice is lowered. He lets her foot go, finally, taking a step back. And also ignoring the Whitelighter, because, hey, it's not like he can do anything, right?

"Right, okay no one is getting an energy ball to the face. Do you guys think you can stand down long enough for me to explain what's going on? Cause, believe me, this is creepy on so many levels. Also hi, I'm Chris." He turned to Cole. "Don't blow up my Charge. And while we're on that subject if Phoebe's a shape shifting demon how can she call for a Whitelighter?"

Chris folded his arms in front of his chest. "Simple question. What year is it?" And cue more staring at Cole. "Cause, you really, really can't be here." That was the only explanation really. Q was being a giant dick.

"Listen to Chris, Cole," Phoebe says, and takes a step back herself. She shifts on her feet, finding it hard to resist the urge to rub at the spot on her ankle where Cole's has touched. "He's talking sense, about me, anyway." About the year thing, she isn't so sure, until she looks behind her ex-boyfriend to the window. Wow. Okay so going forward in time is new. Because that is what is happening right?

"The year was 2002 the last time I checked."

"2002?" Cole asks, incredulously. It wasn't in disbelief, because, come on, time travel was entirely likely. He folds his arms.

"It was 2000 when I last looked." He remarks, just glancing at Chris. "Alright. Fine. Say I believe all this..." He points at Phoebe. "Tell me something that only you know. That'll convince me this isn't some sort of elaborate trap set by the Source."

"And it was 2004 for me. " Cause he's not likely to forget the year of his birth. "Kind of." Which is also all he's saying on the matter, since he's totally not telling them he's really from 2026. At least until they completely and utterly bust him.

"You mean something other than how she wrote in the Book that you have great stamina?" Chris made a crack, because really, it was Cole. And that in itself was kind of awesome, as long as he didn't go evil and try and kill them all.

Phoebe runs a hand through her hair. Okay, this is definitely the type of time travel she doesn't like. She would rather go back a couple of centuries and be stuck in a stupid costume, rather than deal with this. She's got the fight or flight feeling, and flight is definitely the stronger of the two.

"Or how I know you like long walks on the beach?" Phoebe locks eyes with Cole. She doesn't want to drag up some of the more personal memories, they are a source of pain. Her fingers clench. "Or going on picnics with you in France."

And Cole's just staring back at her, Chris' comment lost on him for a bit. "Phoebe..." He mutters, raising a hand to touch, before stopping. Something... still wasn't right. He lowers his hand.

"Alright. I believe you."

"Alright. Good. I'll leave you two alone then, now that you're not going to hurt my charge." Glancing at his aunt, Chris murmured. "Just call if you need me." He gave them a big smile. "Play nice you two. Try a coffee from the replicator." And Chris orbed out, to leave the two very complicated love birds to work things out. Or not.

Chris! Phoebe is less than impressed with his quick exit, she isn't sure she is ready to deal with Cole alone. It takes a fair amount of will power to stop her calling him back straight away.

Slowly she turns back to Cole. She can't go back and go through all of the pain again. It hurts too much. It hurts worse because she can feel his love and his confusion. "Cole...." She puts a hand on his arm before she can stop herself.

"Time travel sucks."

He wants to leave the hand there. He really does... The familiar warmth, the feel of her hand against his arm was too familiar. And, for him, something like this had happened barely half an hour ago.

He pulls back a bit, though, breaking the contact. He takes a deep breath.

"So... Who broke it off?" He asks, trying to affect a joking tone, but... There's hurt, there.

"It's a little more complicated than that Cole," Phoebe says quietly. She can feel his pain as though it was her own. "Trust me, you are only going to hurt worse, if I tell you what happens." All she needs to do is to make sure that Chris doesn't go and spill the beans. She doesn't have the heart to hurt him, not when he's....when he's just Cole.

"It's always a little bit complicated." Cole remarks, a tad bitterly, before shaking his head. "Alright... Fine. I guess I... I can't really fight this, can I?"

As much as he wants to. As much as it burns to admit it... As much as he's searching for any possible way to win Phoebe's heart back. He just... can't see one. Not right now.

"What do we do now?"

Phoebe's fingers are trembling and her face is tense. This is, really, really, difficult for her. She can't separate his emotions from her own, and has to resist the overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him, and tell him it's going to be okay, that she want him to win it back.

"We," She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. "We, try to be friends Cole."

"Friends." He tries that word. Sure. He can try. But... "Why do I get the feeling that's easier said than done on your side?"

Phoebe's eyes are downcast. Even know, when she's managed to separate herself from a lot of her feelings surrounding Cole, it's still hard to lie to him. "There is a lot of water under the bridge for me. Please don't ask me to tell you the future, ignorance is very much bliss in this case."

"Alright." He shrugs. "Fine, that's... fine."

Well, it's not, but there's not a lot he can do in this instance other than just agree.

"So... What do we do now?"

There's something very attractive about watching a girl kick someone in the face like that. At least in Trever's opinion. He's got a bit of a skewed perspective (according to some people) though.

And Chris - the annoying piece of crow bait - knows them.

Interesting.

When that kerfuffle dies down, Trever wandered over to introduce himself to the two newcomers, Veena relaxed around his shoulder like a scarf, her tail flicking idly into his nose.

"Hi, I'm Trever," he said when he got close enough. "I see you know Chris?"

Following the blow up, Phoebe is a little away from Cole, trying to clear her mind. Her powers are tied to her emotions, and being upset, she is picking up on way too many emotions around the room. A new person, is exactly the kind of distraction that she needs.

"Chris is a family friend," Phoebe says, and the lie slips easily from her lips. "I'm Phoebe." She smiles easily at him, like nothing has been going on.

"How good of a family friend?" Trever asked, hopefully in that maybe she could talk to Chris about the whole following him around thing.

Because it's really damn annoying.

"I'm Trever and this lady here is Veena," he said, smiling back. Oh, he knows something was going on, but he's not going to ask about it just yet.

Veena yawned and then stood up on Trever's shoulder, digging her claws into it so she could lean over and sniff Phoebe.

The Halliwell's are notoriously cautious about revealing how close they are to people. Phoebe never knows when she might be giving the information to a demon. She rubs a finger against the back of her neck as she answers, "We're sort of close."

And then that hand is coming out to scratch Veena under the chin. "She's super cute. Does she have the run of the ship?"

Trever would understand that, though he's never been too concerned about that thing mostly on the belief that he could deal with anything that comes his way. McCallum blind confidence. "Ah, so possibly close enough to tell him to leave me alone?"

He can be hopeful.

Oh. Yes. Happy cat here. She purrs motorboat purr. "She's trying to turn everyone into her own personal minion. She's doing a pretty good job, though she's a bit iffy on Chris. She wants him as a minion, since he seems like a nice guy and all, but she also doesn't like the fact he keeps on bothering us."

The way he's talking it's as if she's been actually telling him these things in conversation and there's absolutely nothing weird with this at all.

Phoebe raises an eyebrow. Wow, this guy is kind of forward. "You must be getting into a lot of trouble if he is bothering to keep an eye on you. If you don't like it, you should tell him yourself."

It sounds like she may need to remind Chris to take a more subtle hand with his charges. They weren't all like her, Paige and Piper who were used to having things thrown at them.

Tact and Trever are still tenuous friends. And he's never been one to dance around stuff like this.

"I have told him. We spent about a half hour the other night with me telling him to go back to bed and him saying he couldn't go back to bed until he figured out to help me with my once in a month bout of insomnia which possibly linked to a moon god back home." He shrugged.

"He's a nice kid and all. And it's great that he wants to help protect people - I mean, I get that. It's what I do. But... he's just too forward and demanding that people let him help them. If he keeps this up he's going to get hurt..."

"Chris can take care of himself," Phoebe says firmly. He may be a bit of a slave driver, but he does know what he is doing. "If you really don't want his help I'll tell him to back off." And watch from a distance, because a white lighter can never truly back away from someone they are trying to protect.

There is such a thing as tact Chris.

"I believe you, I do. He does seem to know mostly what he's doing... but if he could back off a bit, that would be wonderful. I think he also might end up running himself ragged. It sounds like might have a few more charges than he normally would have and trying to keep up with them all might end up poorly if he's not careful."

Veena decides that she wants to get to know Phoebe and so teleports off of Trever's shoulder and onto the ground next to Phoebe where she can rub against the woman's legs.

"He won't get poorly from helping charges," Phoebe says, she's seen Leo juggle over thirty charges at one time. He only risks stretching himself a little to thin and missing a potential problem with a charge.

She reaches down automatically to stroke the cat. "You've been given to him for a reason, there must be something you do need help with, besides sleepwalking."

Yes. Good human. Goooood human.

Trever scratched his head. "If there is, for the life of me, I don't know what it is." At least he's willing to possibly admit it? "But if you think he can handle it, I guess you'd know better than I do."

She ends the stroking session, and picks the cat up instead, so she can keep talking to Trever easily.

"That's usually the way it goes," she says honestly. "Chris is there to sort out the problems that you can't handle on your own. Don't worry, I'm going to give him a hand."

Ohmigawd... yes... happy cat. Such a happy cat.... she rubs her head under Phoebe's chin, purring loudly.

Grinning a bit he said, "So you're going to help Chris help handle the problems he's having helping other people handling their problems?"

"Yup," Phoebe says easily as she strikes the contented cat under the chin. "I'm in a unique position to help him, especially with problems." And that can sound a little weird. "I'm an advice columnist, I've got a column called 'Ask Phoebe'."

"Really? That's pretty cool. Is it good advice or just weird kind of advice?

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The Witching Hour ~ Ten Forward

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