Meggan & Mel | What's up with eXcal?

[xp_aero]

Mel pops by the chapel to make an inquiry.



Stepping through the doorway of the chapel, Mel looked around the building curiously. It was certainly different on the inside than what she expected. The religious side of her was somewhat scandalized at the building's new purpose, but holy remnants still filled the space. A sort of energy. It was exciting and comforting at the same time.

She noticed as a blond figure entered the room. "Hiya Meggan, how're ya doin'?"

Meggan grinned upon seeing her; she had just returned from a sampling of one of the stranger cookies in the vending machine, and then jotting down the extent of the strangeness for paperwork, which was just bursts of paprika and garlic flavor when it looked chocolate. And a bit of music like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was a tamer feature than usual.

“Oh, I’m doing good,” she assured her. “I was just about to head on over to do a round of checking in with the portal in a little while. You?”

"I'm alright, thanks." Mel flashed a smile back. While she didn't know the other mutant that well, Jay only had good things to say. "I was wonderin' actually, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, if ya might be willin' t'show me around some? I'd like to learn a bit about what y'all do 'round here."

“That’s no trouble at all,” Meggan immediately assured her. It really wasn’t, since it just felt like it would be nice to have even more potential trainees around. “The big one’s monitoring the wormhole in the basement for anomalies, handling stuff that crops up when the sensors get insistent.”

Mel nodded, glancing towards where she assumed the portal lay. "Yeah, do y'all often get things croppin' up? I know you were in England fer it at the beginning of the year."

“Sometimes it can be slow with just observing, or just the vending machine playing up—and then sometimes you might get something like someone falling through and causing surprises,” Meggan confirmed. “Through the wormhole, that is. Not the vending machine.” A real live person hadn’t popped out of that just yet.

“We picked up a dimensional flux over here, which was the fae coming and going from Otherworld over there, at the Isle of Man,” she confirmed.

“Wow, yeah.” It all sounded very scientific, not quite her forte. “Could I see it, maybe? If that's allowed. I've heard it's beautiful."

“Oh, it can be,” Meggan agreed. She wasn’t sure if it would be okay to just call it up right now and she really wanted to check, so that nothing would go horribly wrong, when all she wanted was a look; she also wasn’t about to make her wait forever.

“I think it’d be allowed, but I’m going to be completely positive on that," she began. "How about we say that you come back tomorrow evening for the portal, and we can look at everything else now? Whatever part you want,” she offered. She wasn't going to leave her disappointed.

"That'd be swell. I figured y'all have it under security and such." Mel assured her. "I'd like to see it all, I think. And maybe ya could tell me some about what y'all like.. do, er- study?

“Sure, that’d be fine,” Meggan smiled as they went. “If we pick up readings from different wormhole signatures, we investigate on either side of it. I like doing the whole multiversal anthropological side of things, so it’s not all just observing the hiccups and blips of detection, or popping over to another place.”

She wasn’t sure if she ought to explain to her about the rarity of negotiating a treaty with a nature spirit that might crop up, but she could easily check out the files on that aspect of the whole ‘crabs trying to invade Baltimore’ thing if she hadn’t already heard of it.

Mel nodded along. The flier took in everything with a curious eye, attention shifting throughout the space. There was a lot going on. "That's really cool. I ain't so much a science type, but that aspect sounds real interestin'."

As they went, Meggan waved to another door. She didn’t want to inundate Melody with a heap of technical things all at once. “The portal influenced snack machine is through there, with all the unexpected treats you—really, definitely might not think to ever ask for. Being so close to the wormhole connected it to something, so—earlier, it decided it was paprika seasoning day.” Even if that last one was milder.

If a bran muffin let loose a cloud of paprika, something would not be amiss at all. “One Wednesday was a tuba sound with every bite,” she grinned. She gestured to a stack of papers. “And over here, we keep track of what it’s done, and if it’s stranger than usual.”

"Wow, yeah." All the snacks on offer looked weird and wonderful. She would definitely be back, if only to see what else it could produce. And the workspace looked very.. high tech. The hum and beeps of monitors. "So there's always someone monitorin' down here?"

Meggan nodded. “Yes. Someone just picks certain days or times when they're ready and willing, so that person can sign up for a few hours at a time for shifts. I volunteered for a three hour block for today, and three hours on Wednesday, unless something really, really big comes up and stuff gets altered for everybody. The computers will kick up a fuss to let you know if something’s been noticed, but it’s not loud clanging alarm bells.”

And she was still grateful those computers weren't actually damaged last year when they had that Jello mold illusion replacing them briefly.

Mel knew that Jay was down here sometimes, and it was nice to see where he spent his watch. Did seem like it would get a bit boring though. She took a closer look at the computers, trying to figure out what in particular they might be tracking. “Huh, that makes sense. It’s good that y’all are on top of it. Seems a mite… scary that anything could come through it.” A rip in the universe was something Mel could only just wrap her head around. Not something to dwell on, until it really affected her.

“There can be surprises sometimes. Your brother might’ve mentioned a visitor popping in last year, who made it look like the equipment was totaled by a transformation at first, since we cleaned up some stuff together before that part went back to normal,,” Meggan acknowledged.

“But most of the time, portal watching’s really, really not scary at all, and there’s security precautions and a quarantine chamber to keep things safe.”

"That's good then. I suppose it's a blessin' that it popped up here where y'all could watch it an' not somewhere else."

“There was originally a pocket dimension, but then something sort of just...blew itself a big old hole through time and space right there, and made a portal happen,” Meggan explained with a hopefully reassuring look.

She had only hesitated a moment before answering because it was difficult to put into words given all the stuff that happened around that. And maybe, just maybe she’d blown her case on the whole ‘not scary’ bit. She hoped not.

Honestly, that wasn't something Mel was going to worry about either. She has bigger anxieties at the moment, and alternate dimensions exploding weren't nearly as pressing as what she was going to make for dinner. "Huh, well. That'll happen I guess."

Meggan was relieved, deciding that was a very good reaction to have for the very idea of that happening. “Yeah, but at least it’s not all that often.”

"Yeah, 'course." Mel glanced down at her watch at that moment, noting the time. "I really 'ppreciate you takin' the time t'show me 'round some."

“Happy to help,” Meggan assured her. She definitely didn’t want to keep her too long, if she had other places she needed to be.