The Port Club!

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Jeimu watched with mild interest as Jav and Vic duelled it out on air hockey. So far the score was 11-3 for Vic, and Jav was growing more and more irate as the game went on, loudly declaring that Vic was cheating and asking for the rules to be changed.

And Vic kept looking back at Jeimu as though he wanted her to do something about it.

She just sat there in the semi-darkness and smiled, sipping away at a rum and Coke. Getting out of the house had been nice; there'd been so much to do at the Bluff that she'd been working herself into the ground for the past week. She hadn't even gotten back to talk to that nice pilot about learning how to fly the F-14...

"You just need to try harder!" Jeimu called out to Jav, who attempted a spectacular flailing move in an attempt to score a point. She laughed heartily and leaned back.

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[random_xtras]

Kurt walked through the door and paused to let his eyes adjust, though he didn't really need to. Ella White had said he'd find Jeimu here, and he could see the diminutive woman sitting at a table near the games area.

He really didn't want to tell her what he was going to.

One of Sal's neighbors called a greeting to him and offered him a seat, and he refused with absent politeness and headed for Jeimu.

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Jeimu knew it wasn't good news the moment she saw him.

"Okay," she said. "I'm gonna get you a beer."

She spent a bit of time at the bar explaining how she'd like a beer that hadn't been chilled, but returned in due time with two bottles of Grolsch.

"It's the only European beer they've got," she said apologetically. "So... what's up?"

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"Danke," he said, taking it and sipping it absently before he set it on the table and took a deep breath. "I spoke to Shasta today."

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Jeimu just stared.

"What."

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"She vas at the Cafe, und felt it her duty to inform me of her plans for meine family."

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Jeimu pursed her lips.

"How many? And when?"

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"Vhat?" He stared at her.

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"Have you forgotten what I can do?" She sighed. "I saw it ages ago. Sentinels are going to come here, and Shasta is connected to them somehow." She took a long pull of her bottle. "And that's all I know."

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".... You knew."

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"Yep." Another swig. "It's gonna be me who dies in the end, so I figured I'd spare everyone the sheer panic."

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"You knew." His usually gentle voice shook with anger. "You let me move meine kinder here, thinking it vas safe...."

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"It will be." She stared directly into his eyes. "Mark my words it'll be safe."

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"How could you keep something like this from a voman who loves you like a sister?"

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Jeimu stared. "I really don't need to explain this to you," she said, "because you'll just give me the same crap that everyone else does. And don't ever bring mine and Sal's relationship into this. By not telling her, I'm actually keeping her safe, believe it or not."

Her eyes were watering; she was clearly upset. "And besides, you only just confirmed it for me now."

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"Vhat?" He frowned, his tail lashing in his agitation.

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"Up until we started talking, I had no idea that what I was seeing was real." She rolled her eyes. "And like I said, the only person who's gonna die in all of this is me. It's my job. It's what I was put here for."

Then a scowl splits her face. "And if I told Sal that it was all gonna go down you know damn well she'd insist on following me to... kill these things, or whatever. And she'd die needlessly. Same thing if I told Jav or Vic. I know they're loyal to a fault where I'm concerned and I just don't want them to get hurt."

She looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "But it's beyond me why I have to justify myself to you. So I was right. Now it's time to move on to the second phase."

She drank from her bottle a little viciously.

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"There are thirty five of them." His voice is flat.

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She nods, suddenly looking like she wants to hug him. "Alright. Do you know the most efficent way to off them? I've heard that blowing them up from the inside-out works, but..."

She leans back. "#*%&#. I don't even know where they're coming from."

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He sighed and rested his chin on his hand, then lowered his mental shields and started thinking the information she wanted, adding the name of the place that had originally created the giant robots in his own reality.

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She picked up on it immediately, absorbing it like a sponge.

After a few minutes, she sighed. "Damn it," she whispered. "I shouldn't have..."

Jeimu just shakes her head and folds her arms on the tabletop, putting her face down on them. "This sucks."

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"Those are not very reassuring vords."

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"Would you just shut up?" Jeimu slammed her hand down on the table. "I was just thinking that it would have been a better idea to go and see if the same thing isn't happening here. But apart from that damn Cafe there's not a place I can go anymore. I'm stuck here because I opened my trap to the Elders about my visions. I could probably go back and tell them that investigating that place would be prudent..."

Clearly agitated she drummed her fingers on the table. "But those old codgers won't believe me when I say that actually doing something preemptively is a good idea..." A groan. "I hate politics. These guys are so wrapped up in 'the way it's always been done' and it's frankly disgusting."

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"Are they holding you here by magic?" His tail was tying itself in knots by now.

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"Yep." She scowled. "I could try to leave but then my head would explode."

It sounded like a joke, but it wasn't.

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"I'm immune to magic. Und vhen I jaunt I go through another reality."

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"Good for you."

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That devil-may-care smile flashed. "Do you vant ride off this rock or not?"

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She shook her head. "It's not going to work," she said. "I can't leave. Period."

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He sighed, the weariness returning to his sculpted features as he set the still mostly-full bottle down. "Danke for the drink."

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She rested her cheek on her own hand and sighed as well, smiling slightly. "No problem. Guess it's the least I could do all things considered."

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Kurt reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. Then bamfed away.

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Jeimu just sighed and put her head down again.