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As far as interesting weeks go, this has been one of them! Domino's having even more trouble than usual figuring what is real and what isn't so real, what actually did happen and what could have been another bad dream. Just in case this isn't enough of a problem for her, she also has business to tend to. Business which is spread out all over the place. Business which means doing a lot of driving.
Tonight she's -done.- The car's pulled into the yard and her sorry butt heads straight for the repurposed street car. There's a TV inside (already left on with the Three Stooges mucking about on the screen) and there's booze inside. She's definitely going to need the latter in order to deal with current events being offered by the former.
Seriously. Aliens. Some chucklehead calling himself 'Loki.' What next, a mob of angry koala bears marching down Times Square demanding equal rights? More alcohol is mandatory for living in this messed up world.
*
*thunk*
*shuffleshuffleshuffle*
*clunk*
Dark murmurs sound from inside a top cabinet; or maybe it's sound bouncing around from the television show on the beleagued black and white television set?
'Mmmemrmmmwrmmmmrrbamfmrrrbamf'
*thunk*clink*
*
Strange sounds, while not terribly uncommon around here, tend to happen around the garage where Duke's possessed Cadillac likes to hole up. Inside of the office, now that's out of place!
Which is exactly why Domino enters with a gun in her hand, moving slowly and quietly. It's not a problem to make sure the inside of the office car is clear, it's a straight shot from one end to the other. Nothing obvious. No one sitting around, no one -standing- around. Just..a noisy..cupboard…
The door to that cupboard slooooowly opens with the tiniest of creaks, shedding some light on the situation with an armed albino standing not far away. If it turns out to be a really big rat she might shoot it just out of spite.
*
*clink*
Silence. There is no noise that comes anywhere now that Domino is on the move. Maybe it's something, maybe nothing…
*clink*
The noise that calls to Domino to pick a certain cupboard over another has that 'glass on glass' sound. As the door opens slowly, within the dark of the back corner cabinet are a pair of glowing yellow beady eyes just 'hovering' there in the dark. In the next moment, a glass is thrown out of the cabinet with no little force, and then another one. And one more.
*
The eyes. She's seen eyes like that before. She knows—
"Jeezus Christ!"
Domino can't see in the dark like some creatures can. The first glass catches her completely by surprise! She stumbles away from the counter and trips over a piece of furniture, landing hard on her ass just in time for that pale stare to widen and her arms to come up in defense, shielding herself from another hit!
"DUDE, -cut it out!-"
A rat, a raccoon, a misplaced small child, she would have -happily- pulled the trigger on anything else. But those goddamn EYES, just like the angry red gremlin she shared donuts and drinks with just last week. Are there more than one? Because this one sure didn't seem to recognize her so far!"
"So help me, if the next thing you break is a bottle of booze I am sending your tiny ass -straight- back to Hell."
*
After that third glass, nothing else exits that little cupboard, though those beady glowing yellow eyes continue to stare out of the darkness. As Domino beings the tirade, or rather the dressing down of the potential perpetrator, a little red head pops out between cabinet and door. The little imp headtilts, and from it sounds, "Bamf?" A definite question.
The gremlin's head shifts so that it's fully straight and the door to the cupboard opens fully, and chubby arms cross before its chibbi chest, yellow eyes narrowing now. "Boooooooooze?"
*
"Yeah..that's right," Domino replies with a grimace as she twists about on the floor. It doesn't look very graceful at all, though it does look like it felt less than stellar when she landed. A quick motion is made toward the gremlin with a wave of her sidearm. "Why don't you come out of there before you break something more than my patience."
Whether he listens or not she gets back to her feet, hands hanging loose at her sides as she stares at the peculiar critter. "You understand me, right..? Are you the same one from the bakery a few days ago? Hot chocolate? Didn't expect to see your fuzzy ass again."
She breaks the stare with a rolling of her eyes, bringing the pistol up to cradle the side of her face with a weary sigh. Y'know what, she's not even going to stop and ask herself what the fuck she's doing here. -Nothing- makes sense, so why bother trying to make it make sense?
"Okay," she starts back in while looking at Moe from around her pistol faceplant. "Here's the sitrep. You can't live in the cupboards. This isn't even my place. But you strike me as something in need of a home. Am I close?"
*
The little red dude disappears from his perch up in the cabinet and reappears on the back of a chair with a rapid succession of two *bamfs*, his feet gripping like a bird on a perch, his tail dangling lazily behind him as the smell of sulfur dissipates into the room. "Bamf." As if that should suffice as acknowledgment!
His head cocks again and he lifts his chin, watching her now, perhaps a little dubiously. Twisting around, he looks back at the cupboard, back at Dom.. and back and forth a couple of times before,
"Bamf." If it helps, there's a slight nod that accompanies the agreement.
*
It should come as no surprise when Dom wrinkles her nose at the stench within the closed-up car, though she manages to keep herself from coughing. This is the first time she's seen him teleport out in the open, which causes her to hesitate while giving Moe a peculiar look complete with a canted head. She's gotten his attention! Now what?
The pistol is lowered then brought around behind her, getting tucked back beneath her jacket while she looks at the Bamf and considers the peculiar predicament. She saw him successfully teleport a cat before, and a load of donuts. She -knows- he could be useful there.
Being mindful of her own movement now she takes a nearby seat, never turning her back on Moe. She sits, leans forward with elbows on knees, and smirks.
"You're a little hellion, aren't you. Like causing trouble, getting places where you don't belong? And you have a sweet tooth. What if..I gave you somewhere safe to stay. Shelter, warmth. Plenty of booze. Opportunities to cause more trouble. I have some pals who would really enjoy your brand of mischief. If..you felt like being part of a weird, dysfunctional, but 'protective of their own' team."
*
'Hellion'
That about covers it, in a nutshell. There are other names for his 'kind'. Gremlins.. those that used to cook off bombs as they sit in the magazine racks waiting to be loaded onto aircraft. Those that used to cause havoc with engines, with near anything and everything.
Those beady yellow pupilless eyes watch Domino; she's got his attention as well, and every move she makes, he's watching, his tail twitching behind him.
With the offer made, if one were to give thought and emotion to a creature such as the bamf, one might say that he was well considering the offer. Soft murmurings come from the creature as he seems to weigh the pros and cons of such an arrangement. The offer seems legit enough, and the little guy rises in his perch and looks to offer his pudgy three-fingered hand for a handshake.
"Bamf?"
*
Domino could almost laugh. The situation itself is absured, but when the little guy actually holds his hand out to her it goes many steps further! She breathes out a quick puff of air, smirks anew, and leans forward to shake that tiny red hand.
"Alright, little guy. As fun as it is to keep coming up with names for you we should get you something a bit more official before we move forward on this. I'm Domino. I like drinking, shooting, going stupid fast and blowing shit up, though in a pinch I can work a stealth op like a pro. I know you can hang from the ceiling and teleport. Got any other tricks up your sleeves? And I..uh..don't speak 'bamf,' so if you're any good at visual aids those would really go a long way for me."
*
Not more than 2' tall. If he comes up to Domino's knee, that'd be tall, but the little guy does like to be a little higher than the ground. The back of the seat works wonders for him. Once he gets his little three-fingered hand back, he looks as if he again considers the words from the albino. He shakes his head slowly in response to the question, teleporting quickly from the car to the hood, peering in from the windshield.
He sticks his face against it even as the Three Stooges comes back from commercial, showing the trio driving down a road. "Bamf."
*
Without any warning the critter's suddenly perched on the dash of Domino's car. In any other situation she would take that as a sign to hit the road..eeeexcept that he -teleports- so why would they bother -driving- somewhere? Well, Cable drove along with her the one time. With a blank shrug she turns around and reaches for the TV that someone had left on.
Then she hesitates.
With a frown she looks to the screen then back to the Bamf. Is he telling her something? Is she actually reading this right or is she so completely off of the mark?
She points back at the screen, looking at the gremlin with a quizzical expression. "This?" she asks once as if seeking confirmation. He needs a name and there's three characters right there on the screen, so…
"Larry."
Nnnope.
"Curly."
Go fish.
"Moe..?"
*
The tail smacks at the side of the television in confirmation of the question. As Domino begins the list down, the bamf crawls onto the top of the television and looks down and upside down at the characters of the screen.
*stare*
The next suggestion gains a baleful look and a soft hrmf from the bamf before that third name
'Moe'
Bingo!
"Bamf!" In the next moment, the little red imp is striking a pose very much like the 'Stooge leader', ready and looking to smack someone on the head. "Bamf."
*
It's like having a bossy teleporting cat. Dom watches as he sits there looking upside down at the screen from a very close distance, as if he's not trying to watch the show so much as stare into the television's very soul.
As for the name-guessing, the third time's the charm. When he mimicks the same pose as the character on the screen her puzzlement gives way to a sudden laugh! Any doubts she may have had as to the creature's intelligence disappear in this instant. Maybe no one else can understand him to save themselves but he understands everyone else just fine!
"Alright," she says with a chuckle and a shrug. "'Moe' it is. Now then, any chance that you could get us both to Mutant Town?"
*
'Moe' is slow to come off the mugging that is more than a little close to that of the Stooge, but when he does, he looks a touch put out. Chubby arms cross one over the other in front of his chest again and he tips his head sideways, his tail swaying to some unfelt breeze. He looks as if he considers the request, really considers as he settles on his 'haunches', staring at Domino for a long moment.
"Bamf bamf bamf bamf bamf bamf bamf.." follows in a light cadence. In case the exact meaning is lost, the gesture with a palms up shrug should give a better indication of intent, anyway. That, of course, doesn't stop the little guy as he *bamf* disappears from his spot and *bamf* appears on Domino's shoulder.
"Bamf baaaaaamf…" comes as a distinct echo of 'Hold oooooooooon…' and the pair-
*bamf*
*bamf*
Disappearing from that car, the pair reappear in Mutant Town, but not necessarily in one of those 'good' areas. Another shrug is given in a 'whatta ya gonna do?' gesture and he looks around, blinking yellow beady, glowing eyes.
Pff.
*
"Hey, if you want that place to crash then that's where we need to go," Domino clarifies. As far as she can tell he's debating whether to make the trip at all, like 'what's in it for me?'
Whatever he's saying about it goes clear over her head, a detail which her expression is more than happy to convey in full. "I have no idea what the hell you just said," she flatly replies.
When he reappears on her shoulder she jumps a little, and coughs a -lot.- "Guess I'm gonna have to get used to—"
…
It's Mutant Town, alright! She even recognizes this area (and what part of M-Town could be considered a good area?) The first few seconds leaves her standing there, just slightly unsteady on her own two feet as she stares forward at the crumbling brick wall of a building. She swallows once, no easy feat on its own, then quietly says "This way…" in a weak sounding voice.
It isn't a far walk to 6A (and thank the divines for that!) The albino opens the door and steps right on in, on total autopilot while she distractedly motions about the place with a hand. "Living room. Kitchen's over there. This is the bathroom. And here's the toilet."
*HURK!*
*
Teleporting Domino wasn't the easiest of things for Moe to do either, and when they land, the little guy holds on a little more weakly, and his tail wraps about her shoulder in order to make sure he doesn't lose his balance. As she walks through Mutant Town, then, he's holding on, keeping an eye on everything, moving from shoulder to shoulder.
The moment they get in, the bamf teleports up and sits upon one of the curtain rods that is above a window, resting now. The 'tour' gains a glance around; he's identified the kitchen, so that should be fine! "Bamf," he nods. "Bamf- bleh.."
*
Teleporting. Through Hell. Twice! With the smell. It was all Dom could do to hang onto her stomach until retreating to familiar territory. The rest of the team will really appreciate it, no doubt.
The sound of flushing water announces her return to the apartment proper, still looking rather green and not walking as upright as she should be. "Assuming everyone else accepts you being here..welcome home."
Couch.
*Fwump*
"Here's the short of it, Shorty. Most of us here are mutants. We're fighting for other mutants. The general population sees us as criminals and a growing menace but that's because they're narrow-minded bigots. I—eugh..feel like crap," she grumbles and gently massages her forehead.
"Try not to lead any trouble back here. Try not to -cause- any trouble here." Which she's absolutely guilty of, already. "This is our haven, we look out for it. ..Sorta. For the moment it's what we have to work with. If you're interested in donuts I'd suggest 'Rayna's Pastries' two blocks south of here."
*
The time it's taken for Domino to return from the bathroom, Moe's teleported around the little apartment, passing his particular brand of post 'port'um stench. He lands in the kitchen, and he's sitting on top of the icebox, considering his next move, his tail wrapped about him. Leeeeeeaning, he catches the speech given by the albino now that she's reappeared, and with a narrowing of the eyes, he wiggles his three-fingers before…
*bamf*
Two blocks south. PASTRIES!