Strangeness at the Beach!

===> COH <===> 4/7/2020, 1:01:07 PM <===

Lana is out walking, keeping her red leather jacket slung over her shoulder and a slight limp or akwardness to her steps. Each step is rewarded with a little gritting of her teeth.

The bright flash and thunder sounds does indeed earn her attention as the Chinese Dragon Mage looks in that direction and wipes a few white bangs out of her face.

	It's not bikini weather today, but it's always beach weather. Bobbi is relaxing on a beach blanket, with a gunmetal grey parka over a black dress. She's watching the oceans oscillations as the waves crash on the beach. She's relaxed, her troubles of the past weeks given way to serenity, just like always eventually happens. A nice quiet and relaxed day, and then ...

	Having grown up near the Oregon coast, Bobbi has spent her whole life being warned of tsunamis and training for evacuation. She's quickly on her feet, before she even realizes that this is something else. Something else that gives her a brief pause as she looks for the source of the flash. This is not something she trained for, but it might end up being something she wished she had.

	One of the agreements that Mo had with his Guide, was to show him the world of Man. As such, Mr. Fu would accompany Mo on most casual outings, napping in the youth's messenger bag until they reached their destination. Today's destination? BEACH DAY! Except the forecast hadn't called for thunder?

	The unexpected sight and sound causes the azure dragon to stir in the bag - "Thomas, is that thunder I hear?" muttered the small dragon from within the confines of the bar before sticking his snout out the side.
There a few more snaps, crackles, and pops, the bright lights flashing, then giving way. In place of the lights, is an A-11 Checker cab, painted yellow, skidding and sliding to a stop. It is covered in frost.

	Mo looks down at his bag and the small dragon it held. "Well, it wasn't s'posed to thunder and lightning today, but, yeah, yeah, I guess it was. C'mon, let's go and check it out!" And with that the youth rushes off in the direction of the commotion, skidding to a stop at the appearance of the cab! "Holy smokes!"

	Bobbi raises an eyebrow at the checkered cabs, something that had disappeared from NYC before she was ever there. She looks to her beach blanket, but figures it won't get stolen if she leaves it alone for a bit. Picking up her Swedish Military Geographer's bag, she puts it over her shoulders and begins to walk towards the cab. Not directly towards it, but walking almost a semi-circle that will eventually curve around to the side of the cab -- if she decides to get that close.

Lana tilts her head and something inside her pulls at her spirit and she just needs to make her way over. <<It's like Doctor Brown switched cars.>> she murmurs in chinese as she spots Mogui and nods her head, clearly she knows the man and then Bobbi nearby and offers a soft smile before she proceeds to the car proper. "Are you ok?" she calls once she gets close enough, in a very chinese accented english

It becomes clear that there's a man inside. He methodically moves out. Every move a little slow, and unsteady.

The man is about 6'1" with a lanky build. His hair is dark, but puffed out like he had an electric shock. He's badly in need of a shave, with sunken eyes. A light blue denim jacket, jeans, and a brown belt.

Once out, he shakes his head, and bug eyed gasps "That was some good stuff!"

	Pulling out a pen and a sheet of thing paper, Bobbi writes down the license plate of the cab. While working to memorize it, she also begins doing mathematical operations involving the letters and numbers, making the piece of paper look like something straight out of the Bible Code. Once the piece of paper is full, she lights it on fire and it quickly goes up like flash paper -- mostly because it is flash paper. She continues to get closer to the car, but stays behind the others. You don't need to run faster than the bear, just faster than someone else.

	Mo blinks as someone exist the vehicle. He'll give the air a sniff, then makes his way over to Lana, whom he knew from chinatown. "Hey," he offers with a small smile before looking over a shoulder at the sound of flash paper going up in flame and smoke.

Lana studies the man, and her eyes seemingly flash like silver as she starts to circle him and the cab. <<Mo..>> she trails off as she realises Bobbi is present and smiles softly. "Mo, why is there never a dull moment when you are around. Is this also on behalf of the same quest you are upon?"

	Bobbi steps a little closer to Lana and MoGui, but still keeps them between her and the traveller. "This guy's high as a kite," she whispers to them. After that she looks up to the man and gives him a friendly little smile.

The cab driver looks at Mo, pauses an unnatural amount of time, and replies with a laconic "Hey." He then slowly walks around the cab, staring at it like he's never seen it before. Stopping at one patch of frost, he reaches out and drags his finger through it. Bringing the finger to his face, he stares, then pops the tip of his finger into is mouth to eat it.

Having ingested the frost, he squints, tilts his head, swishes it in his mouth, and shrugs. "Ehh."

Completing the cycle around the car, he staggers up to Bobbi. "Excuse me, how do I get to the Brooklyn Bridge?" he asks in a slightly raspy voice.

	Bobbi steps a little closer to Lana and MoGui, but still keeps them between her and the traveller. "This guy's high as a kite," she whispers to them. After that she looks up to the man and gives him a friendly little smile. Then the man gets closer to her and she points east and notes, "It's a few thousand miles that way. What'd you take, and when did you take it?"

	Mo gives Lana a shake of his head, "This bit of strangeness, is not my doing, at least I don't think." He pats his messenger bag reassuringly, then looks to the Stranger. "You're in California. Prospect. That's the pacific ocean," he says as he points. "Opposite end of the country as New York."

Lana studies Bobbi, then MoGui for a moment longer and then smiles as she taps a finger on her lips as she studies the man instead. First test to see if the man is what she thinks, or seems to be, is to pull up her smartphone, she swipes and then brings up the camera and takes a picture of him. Basically she'll act the basic asian tourist in New York 2019
The cab driver looks to each of the people who answers him. He takes a step back. "Whoa." he says, raspy, but short and to the point.

He looks at the car, then back to Mo and to Bobbi. "You know, back in '68, me and a few buddies drove to California once. But we went to Frisco. Never been to Prospect."

Then finally to Bobbi, he adjusts his collar, and looks at her, face dull. "Yeah, I did some drugs, though probably not as many as you think."

To be clear the man looks to be in his 30s. Though his life has been.... clearly taxing enough it's hard to be sure.

	Bobbi looks to the car with her hands on her hips. She's trying to decide for herself if it's best to fix the cab, break the cab, or just keep these options to herself. For now she's choosing to keep quiet about this. Bobbi looks between Lana and MoGui trying to guess at their reads on this situation. Finally she turns back to the man and with a shrug says, "Well, welcome to Prospect I guess."

	Mo smiles, "I love San Francisco. It's where I was spending my time before relocating south. Warmer weather."

Having taken the picture, Lana takes a moment to look into the cab. Taking note of various things such as the taxameter and whatever items may be in the seats, she is a curious one and then she finally looks back at Mo, Bobbi and the Taxi Driver and smiles. "I prefer Hong Kong, but San Fran is as close as it gets." she mutters and then moves over and extends a hand towards the Taxi Driver. "Lana."

The taxi driver looks at Lana's hand, then takes it gently in his, bends over, and plants a kiss on his hand. "Jim. A pleasure," he rasps. STanding up again. "I'm gonna need to refill my tank. I wonder if I can get a fare. Do any of you need a ride midtown? I have a few leftover brownies."

	"I got my tow truck here," Bobbi tells Jim, "But I appreciate the offer of a ride, even if it's also a way to ask me for money." She thinks for a second and then notes, "prices are going to be a bit higher than you'd expect." She looks to MoGui and Lana and says, "Sorry, but we don't want him getting stuck, do we?" Bobbi then clasps her hands behin her back to avoid such a kiss as she rocks up and down on the balls of her feet.

	Mo offers a shrug, "I'm Mo. I got my motorcycle here, but I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to scare up a fare - " But then Bobbi's talking and Mo looks to her, "Oh, yeah, for sure, getting stuck is usually a bad thing."

Lana studies the cab for a moment, the urge to find out what would happen if she gets in the car is still there as she curls her lips into a soft smile and nods her head slowly. <<Fuck it>> she offers in chinese. "I could use a ride, I stretched my hamstring during kata last night, and I can barely walk straight." she looks towards the Driver and nods her head slowly. "I can guide you to the closest gas station too."

This is a parking lot at the beach. In the middle of the parking lot is a frost-covered Checker Cab, right out of 1970s New York City, right down to the license plate. The driver is standing with MoGui, Lana, and Bobbi, talking with them. The man with frazzled hair, looking in his 30s, and high as a kite, nods to Lana, but then looks to Bobbi. "You think my cab needs work?"

	Merek steps along the path to where the cab looks to be with the Magi. He himself looks like he has on black attire, from the bondage pants to the shirt which he wears, ruffled all up with the scarf which he wears upon that. He is smoking from a nice cigarette, black in tone.

	Bobbi looks to the license plate and then to Lana. "I'm not sure it's a good idea to be driving around in a car with a 50 year old license plate." She hmmmms, as she looks to the ground. "I know where we could probably get a new one." As Merek arrives Bobbi looks to him and asks, "You know this guy? Or just noticed this guy, like us?" She gives him a warm smile and adds, "been awhile."

	Mo startles a little as another new person happens on the scene. Merek will get a quick once over, and then Mo will draw closer to Lana.

Lana looks at Bobbi and shrugs her shoulders as she in chinese speaks up once more. <<If it turns an issue, I can just explain I can't be liable for not being aware of every license plate in the US. A Cab is a Cab is a cab>> she offers in a casual tone of voice as she then puts on her red leather jacket and nods her head as she stands there near the driver and the cab.

Jim looks a little agitated, as he looks to the three in front of him. "Whoa, new plates? I've gotta get back at the end of my shift! Or I'll get fired!" He walks back to the car, running his finger on another spot of frost, and licking the fingertip. "Can I just... get back through the same tunnel?"

	"I think," Bobbi begins to say, "that it would be wise to tow him to Monster Joe's. I can get it a new license plate, make sure it's running well, and fill-up the gas tank there. It'll also give us time to figure out what to do here." She looks to Jim and asks, "What do you think? Got the time for a free tune-up and top-off?" She looks to Jim and says, "I'll explain things to your boss for you, you won't be in any trouble."

Lana keeps one hand over it, and rubs along her arm with her other as she nods her head slowly. "It is not the work of the communists" she murmurs as she then glances over towards Bobbi and Merek once more, considering him to be involved with Bobbi on some level. "It still holds to the tradition of old."

Jim isn't exactly catatonic, but he's finding the flickering of a leaf on a tree in front of him to be so intensely interesting, that he's not paying any attention to anyone or anything around him, here at the shop.

The... apparent time machine is a gorgeous piece of 60s equipment. Gray exterior. Opening a cover reveals a faceplace of blue. Various dials and knobs have unclear legends painted in white.

Well, there's one row that's pretty clear. CENTURY. DECADE. YEAR. WEEK. DAY. HOUR.

And a red button. A shiny, candy-like button.

"It's a date! Yes!" the older Joe calls out. "If you need me I'll be in my office buying the tickets."

	Bobbi gives a nod to Joe as she switches the license plates for valid ones, and puts the old ones in the glove box. Bobbi looks from the time machine to Lana and Merek and asks, "Any ideas here before we all end up having to explain ourselves to Wrinkle?"

	This was all waaaaaaaay out of Mo's wheelhouse. He traveled through /dimensions/ not through /time/. As such? his eyes were wide, his tail bushy, and his head on a swivel. Mr. Fu would remain safely hidden away in Mo's messenger bag.

Lana watches the others and then fixes her attention back to the device at hand, she thinks for a moment and then starts to fiddle some with it. All in an innocent fashion, yet with some degree of concern that it may be dangerous. Just for fun she types in the date for the communist revolt in China and her finger hoovers over the button but in the end she decides against it.

Joe's inside, on his phone, ordering tickets to a lecture at the museum. On Trends in the role of women in art, 1540-1600.

Jim is... blissfully oblivious, as he finishes brownies one by one. Just...in a cloud in his head.

The dials move freely. They're clearly period, but not aged. The clicks are SATISFYING if you're into that sort of thing. Of course, before Lana turned them, they were set to April 7, 2020. 1:00pm. Eastern time, you see.

"Bobbi you going to be able to get him out of here? I have a 3 o clock." Joe calls out from the office.

	Bobbi gives a slight nod to Joe. "Yeah, I think so," she says, "took care of everything I need to with the car." Bobbi wanders back towards the time machine. "Why don't we get this thing into the trunk? I'm assuming it works, and if it does, here is not the place to have it activated. Joe looks the other way for certain things, but not /that./"

<<There are so many possibilities.>> Lana murmurs in chinese as she then looks over towards Bobbi and the others as she offers a gentle smile. "Bobbi is it?" she looks towards Bobbi "What time should I set it too?" she arches an eyebrow as she picks up the device and moves towards the back of the taxi. Some ideas appears in her mind, like skipping ahead nearly a year would do wonders for her life. Or to go back and warn her past self.

	Mo was still out of his depth - hop across the Wall to some hell kingdom? That was another day that ended in "Y" but skipping along the Time Continuum? That was just foreign to the youth.

	"I would ask you don't mess with that," Merek mentions, with a nod between all of them, thinking about it.

The piece of equipment is heavy. But not excessively so. It's mostly that it's just a really, really sturdy case. The case's back is attached with four thumb screws. The handle is built like a tank.

From his haze, Jim asks "Am I... gonna be able to make it across the bridge before rush hour? It's hell at rush hour."

	"I don't think rush hour is something you'll ever need to worry about again," Bobbi tells Jim. "Let's just get this thing back in the trunk, though, ok?" She looks to the others and notes, "We can always take this to my farm, if need be. Honestly, though, this is all sketching me out a lil bit. I was happy to help get the car in shape to drive, but I'm not sure about this." She gestures with her head back to Monster Joe, "Plus, Joe needs us to get out of here soon, and he does me favors, so it's the least I can do for him to get this trouble out of here."

	Mo had enough common sense to know that Bobbi? She spoke truth. "That sounds like a good idea. I have an abandoned hangar, but it's prolly too far out to be useful. "

The crew doesn't find it difficult to move the thing to the trunk. But they need Jim. He apparently is aware enough to go over and unlock it for them. "What is this thing anyway? A bomb? I'm not licensed to carry bombs. Just passengers."

Lana places the item in the trunk and for a moment considers pressing that button one final time, that itch to figure out what it would do doesn win and she nods her head slowly as she steps back and looks at Mo and Boddi primarily. "So what's the plan, Jim here is slightly out of his time."

	Mo relaxes when the wiser path is taken. (YAY, WISDOM NOM!) "A wise choice," mutters the youth. "If a difficult one."

	Merek nods a bit to people, "That looks like a plan," he says.

	"Thanks again Joe," Bobbi calls out as she looks to the others. "My farm is a little over an hour away, and isn't ideal. If you got a hangar, we might want to consider that." Bobbi goes around to get in her tow truck, "Just let me know if I'm leading or following."

	Mo nods, "Lead, probably. My hangars out towards the mojave. But if we wanna make the long trek, I'm happy to offer up the space."

Lana nods her head slowly. "As good as any." she mutters as she sticks her hands into the pockets of her pants and offers a soft smile.

The trip is fairly uneventful. Nobody would think to stop a tow truck taking a car, even if it's an unusually historical relic in very good condition. So people look, but they don't think it amiss. Jim finishes off his brownies riding in his cab on the way over.

Joe texts Bobbi the confirmation of the tickets for the lecture. Doom!

	Bobbi goes to get into the tow truck and then pauses. "Actually," she says, "let's go to the hangar. There's a small chance the Armenian Mafia will be waiting for me at my farm, and that could be a bit messy."

	Mo grins and nods, "Fair enough." The youth makes the way to his motorcycle, offering Lana a ride if she wants to hop behind, before he'll lead the way to the abandoned hangar and airfield out in literal middle of nowhere.

Time time, Lana doesn't ride in the time machine cab, instead she wraps her arms around MoGui's stomach as she hops on on the saddle behind him.

	It's a looooong boring ride out to the mojave desert. Lots and lots of nothing. Up until they reach an area fenced off as "Property of the Gam Saan Historical Society". Past the gate to the fenced off property, it consists of an abandoned precious metals mine, and an abandoned airfield and hangar.

	"My, ah, biker gang sometimes crashes out here, but they're not s'posed to roll back through for a week or two. Other'n that, no one bothers things out here," offered Mo once Lana and he had dismounted the motorcycle.

	If anyone peeks into the hangar? They'd see ... a zeppelin?! The airship is in a state of being repaired.

After that long ride on the motorcycle, Lana is in massive pain and stumbles off in search of a place to lie down as she fights to keep the tears at bay. One hand resting on her hip and nether regions as she limps over towards the hangar proper

	Merek seems to be a little bit content to get away from the vehicle while he nods a bit to Bobbi, "You call me if you need me, I am going to look into things." Then he's finding a nice place to settle in.

	Bobbi follows along in her tow truck and gets out once they arrive. She goes to the cab and switches it back to the old license plates. "Well," she says as she looks around to the others. "I think I'm pretty ok with this current timestream. Don't let me stop you if any of you want to join ol' Jim here. Studio 54? Plato's Retreat? Not exactly in my plans for the decade."

Jim gets out of the car. He wanders a bit. TAking his bag, crumpling it up. Looking around, then shrugging and putting it in his pocket. After Merek sets up the device to scan it, Jim stumbles up. "Hey, this clock is set wrong." he complains. Before anyone can stop him, he steps up to it. "It's March 21, 1979." he says, turning the dials... hitting the button... and then disappearing in a crack of lightning, along with the car.

Lana curls up into a fetal position on the nearest patch of grass as she curses herself for choosing a motorcycle to ride to Nevada. She watches the car vanish in a flash but that hamstring is way more painful then Jim was interesting.

	Merek looks up from the device as Jim just begins working those dials then disappears. The man takes a moment to slide on his mirrorshades, while he stands up. "Jim was wondering if the next leap, would be that leap back to his own time," he says. There's a look between people, this can wait, this can be fixed.

	"That's one far-out cab driver," Bobbi notes to the others. "I'm heading back now, who needs a lift?"

===> Log ended by user <===> 4/7/2020, 5:04:56 PM <===