ten_fwd | [Ten Forward:] Guinan at the bar

Current Location: Deck 10, Forward: Lounge

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[Ten Forward:] Guinan at the bar | OTA

There are more people on the Enterprise tonight.

How and when Q chooses to bring them aboard still remains something of a mystery. Sometimes there is only one new face out in the crowd, and sometimes there are dozens. Guinan takes note of them all, from behind the bar, waiting tables, offering words of comfort and explanation.

And, most importantly, she listens.

They all have their own stories, their own fears, discomforts, and needs. In a strange new place, sometimes the best form of solace is a friendly listening ear and something warm to drink.

[ooc: feel free to walk up to Guinan at the bar or handwave that she passes by your table! For new folks, Guinan is the head bartender here, and happy to answer questions if you've got 'em. ^__^]

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The flash of light faded, and Harry shivered, eyes wide, as he was... back in the bar again. "Oh Come on!" What, was he going to keep blinking and reappearing here at, and he glanced at the chronometer, and sighed, earlier and earlier times?

Eying the bar, and the woman near it, he spoke. "Excuse me, miss. I could use a few answers, and a Coke, if you have one, please."

Well, that was unusual.

The man who appears in Ten Forward doesn't seem surprised. Guinan has this strange feeling he's been here before, and at the same time ... that he shouldn't be here at all.

She watches him carefully, eyebrows drawn together.

"I'll do my best. The Coke may be a little difficult, but I think I can manage."

Harry felt nausea rumble through him, then fade a little, and he swallowed, slowly, before looking over at her.

"Thanks. Involuntary time travel is never fun." His whole system seemed to be swimming around right now.

"Tell me about it."

She eyes him for a second longer, and nods to an empty stool.

"Have a seat."

He doesn't look too good.

She moves off to grab his drink, probably one of the few here who remembers what the original Coca-cola tasted like. It's hard to say how much the soft drink has changed since Harry's time, but what she sets before him should be close enough to fit the bill.

"Now that that's out of the way, what answers can I give you?"

Harry took the drink, and sipped it, and then grinned. "That's pretty good! Thanks."

He sighed as she asked for his questions. "Is this actually the Enterprise? What year is it? Why am I being slung around though time like a bean bag that has Mexican Jumping Beans in it? have you ever heard of Fae Flu?"

Her smile reaches all the way to her dark eyes, putting a sparkle there like stars in a bottomless universe.

"You're welcome."

She inclines her head politely, and listens as he goes on. She could tell there was something different about this one, and it isn't just because he seems to already know where he is. No, it's a feeling. Something like ... this isn't where he belongs.

Or, rather, when he belongs.

"Yes. The year is twenty-three-sixty-seven. I wish I could tell you. No, but I bet you can tell me all about it."

That smile? Only grows.

Harry smiled to her, glad to have met someone who seemed to be taking this all in stride. Not that he expected most to do so, but still. It was nice. So he nodded to her, and his spirit rose a little bit. maybe he could figure this out after all.

"So I'm jumping across at least a year, and things are weird enough for that, and i have fae flu so that has probably interfered with things, as does magic." He dropped his head into his hands.

"Fae flu is a virus of magical kind. It can only be passed from Fae to Fae, or from Fae to magical human and back again, but not from human to human." He sighed. "But it causes magical human's magic to be stronger, if less predictable, while they have it." Cut the lights in the area growing dim for a moment, then coming back to full brightness. "Sorry." . Harry took several long breaths, closing his eyes, and drew in his center as much as he could.

"This is going to get old, fast."

Guinan looks up, gaze shifting from light to light, and then returns her focus to Harry.

Her brow wrinkles with sympathy.

"A year. That would make sense."

At least some sense.

"So then this isn't your first time bouncing from place to place?"

"This stop? No, but this whole trip, yes. Ever since I got splashed with bright light the first time, I've been appearing and disappearing across the ship, and time." Harry sighed.

"Wouldn't be so bad if I knew it would end somewhere, somewhen."

Harry's had a strange couple of years and he would really rather it be a quieter one, now, thanks. Even if that means a quiet one stuck on the Enterprise.

There are worse places to be. Guinan could tell him that firsthand.

"I imagine it will. The being who brought you here likes to be in control of such things."

There's a little flatness in her voice, but her expression stays open and friendly.

"What have you heard on your other stops?"

Harry knew. He'd ~~watched and seen~~heard that.

"Great. Another superpowerful being messing in my life." Harry had about had enough of such people. He was wondering if he had just pissed off the wrong god on his birthing day.

"That this is the Enterprise, that there is some guy named Q who might be responsible, but maybe not, and that there is some sort of sickbay or quarantine thing that happens when we first show up."

She nods once.

"All the tent poles, then."

The levity is meant to put him at ease. She chuckles, but it's soft enough that it sounds like a sigh.

"If there's any treatment for your flu, the doctors here will know what it is. I have every faith in the CMO."

She pauses.

"'Another' super-powerful being?"

Harry chuckled. "I haven't heard that phrase in a long time." With his dad being a performer, it had been one of his favorite sayings at first.

"I'll try to look them up, then. I hope they've got magic ailments under their belt."

He sighed when she asked that last question. "Yeah. Back home, I generally have to deal with Mab, the Queen of the Winter Fae, Odin, who thinks he is funny, the Summer Queens, who lost all sense of humor before they were even born, and the Outsiders, who are just plain creepy." Put all-together like that, it was kind of depressing. He took another drink of the soda.

Guinan has a store of colloquialisms she's picked up over hundreds of worlds and hundreds of civilizations.

She smiles.

"Magic is something they're getting used to, but I know of a few people on board who know a thing or two."

She listens quietly to his explanation. It sounds practically Shakespearean, but stranger true stories have been told before.

"So you're used to egomaniacs turning your world on its head?"

Harry chuckled. "I'm a private investigator back home, and as crazy as it seems, sometimes powerful egomaniacs do not like having the people and things they have carefully stolen and hidden be found." His grin was warm.

She looks amused.

"That is crazy."

Her voice is rich enough that even when she's speaking sarcastically, it comes out husky and sweet.

"Maybe you're here for a reason, then."

Harry chuckled, glad she was one with that sort of humor as well, or at least willing to humor someone who was.

"Maybe so. If so, I'm still waiting to find out. " He flashed her a smile, even if it was a nervous one.

"Sooner or later, I imagine I'll end up involved in something crazy. I always do." That was what came from being someone who ran toward danger when others ran away from it.

"Give it some time. If you settle on a time to be, maybe you'll do more good."

He's definitely not meant to be in this time, that much Guinan can sense.

"And if you do, don't forget about me."

Her eyes glint with mischievousness.

"A little craziness now and then never hurts."

"You may be right." He stuck out a hand. "I guess only time will tell." He grinned, not sorry for his pun and opened his mouth to speak.

"Forget you, I could ne-" and then he sneezed, there was a flash of light, and he was gone.

She was about to make a comment on that pun, but in the blink of an eye he's not there anymore.

She draws her hand back towards herself, and smiles serenely.

"And good luck."

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[Ten Forward:] Guinan at the bar | OTA

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