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Noh-Varr hasn't been absent the past few days but he's definitely been scarce, explaining if asked that he's been exploring the city. When he does return, he finds it easiest to just climb up to the roof then come downstairs from there. No need for a key that way on those occasions it's not locked. And if it is, he can just hang out up there. Tonight, he wanders down the stairs. "Evening, Billy."
Billy is sitting in the center of the living room, cross-legged, wearing a pair of jeans and a fitted black t-shirt. He has his heands held out before him, and between them there are several golf balls spinning in the air. Currently, three. There's a bucket of more golf balls in front of him. He blinks up at Noh-Varr, squinting a moment, "Hey there." He keeps the balls spinning around eachother, "You hungry? I was thinking of going to go get Chinese." From China.
Noh-Varr looks at the balls a moment then flops down onto the couch. "I can always eat. I have a high metabolism and burn a lot of calories. I'm pretty sure that was a design choice so I'd always be lean and muscular. My parents were very smart. What are you doing and why are you doing it?"
Adding another, and then a fifth, Billy focuses his attention on the spinning dance, "Practicing. One of my several powers is a riff on telekinesis, its really my most practiced one, if not quite so powerful, but there's never too much when it comes to honing your skills. The balls aren't heavy but I'm practicing control not force."
"Practice with knives." Noh-Varr suggests. "Irregular shapes are harder. Plus you can practice throwing them with your mind. It's a useful skill to have. Sometimes, the only weak spot is a very small, very thin opening in armor." He's sprawled on the couch while Billy is sitting in the center of the room juggling golf balls telekinetically.
"Irregular shapes are harder if I'm involving normal physics, air flow, all that; but with my TK if I 'throw' something I'm not per se actually throwing it. I might still be holding it the whole way until it hits the target. Though I might throw something too, sometimes." Billy is focused on the spinning balls, and another floats up from the bucket to join in the dance. "It depends on the situation. This is my most reliably flexible ability. Do you have any special abilities? Then again I don't know what Kree in general are capable of."
"Besides being awesome and incredibly sexy?" Noh-Varr asks, locking his fingers behind his head and stretching his legs out in front of him. He does know how to make himself at home. "I was designed to surpass normal Kree warriors in every way. Stronger, better looking, faster, smarter, better looking… They also incorporated some non-Kree DNA into me so I can do things like climb up sheer surfaces. I can also eat just about anything organic. Which doesn't mean it tastes good, by the way."
Billy turns a skeptical look over at Noh-Varr, arching a brow, "If you have to tell people you're good looking and sexy, there's a really big chance that you're not. Even if you might have been otherwise." he remarks dryly, "'Cocky' in just the right dosage can be attractive, arrogance is seriously not." He pauses, and adds, "I've been thinking about your ship. Let me show you something." He rises, and walks over towards the wardrobe. He gestures, "Open it."
"It's not cocky if it's fact." Noh-Varr points out though he's grinning widely. "More presents?" Standing, he walks over to the wardrobe and puts his hand on the handle though without opening it yet. "First clothes then money. What could it be next that involves my ship? I should show it to you sometime." he adds. "I met some mutants the other day and took them to see it. Have I told you about the training room? It can recreate just about any environment or opponent you can think of."
"Huh, its like the Mirror Dimension then?" Pause, "Oh that won't mean anything to you. That's where wizards train and learn their spells. So your ship is down…somewhere, right? Below the sewer? So every time you go there you have to go through the sewer. I don't want you smelling up my apartment." Billy gestures for Noh, "Open it." he repeats the instruction.
Noh-Varr is about to ask when Billy explains. "Maybe. I can't say without seeing it. It's not a dimension though, just computer generated solid light holograms." At the question, he nods. "Below them, yes. In some tunnels that I'm told once belonged to subways. I did find a way through them so don't need to go through the sewers now." Turning a curious look on the wardrobe, he opens it.
And there's coats.
"Oh, I just mean its *purpose* is the same as the mirror dimension. Then again, I'm not clear the mirror dimension HAS a purpose because that implies creator-intent; it could just be some wizard found it a long time ago and figured it'd be useful for that." Billy reaches out and closes the wardrobe, then opens it again with his other hand, and… There is a passage to a place beyond. No obvious spell happened. "It's a standing spell, a portal that's locked and active only when opened a certain way. I can make these to…anywhere."
"Like a wormhole." Noh-Varr muses. "You fold space and create a passage between two points. I'm not sure how you conceal it though. That'll take some thinking. Impressive." Which is the first time he's actually seemed impressed by one of Billy's abilities.
"_Exactly_ like a wormhole." Billy sounds impressed that Noh-Varr knows the concept, "Its concealed because its not there." He closes the wardrobe, and opens it again— with his right hand. Coats. "There is a standing spell that, if its conditions are satisfied, opens the wormhole to meet up with a matching wardrobe in, uh, that secret base I shouldn't have shown you. The wormhole remains open until the wardrobe is closed again." Ahem. He grins though, "But I'd have to go there once, but after could get you some wardrobes to get you to your ship easier."
"Creating wormholes is not easy." Noh-Varr says, turning to study Billy. "Creating permanent wormholes…" Is pretty much impossible, at least as far as Kree science is concerned. And Skrulls. And Shi'ar. And everyone else he knows about because none of them have that ability and if they did, they'd surely use it. "I don't mind if you see the ship. Though I warn you, once you get close enough, Plex will be able to scan your mind and tell whether you can be trusted or not." Pause. "He's an AI."
"Oh, you guys have AI's and they didn't try to overthrow their biological slavers?" Billy sounds interested in this, but he waves his hand at the wardrobe as if the wormholes were inconsequential, "Oh no, wormholes are easy. They're what I'm best at— and don't worry, I showed this to my Dad and he's okay with it so its not against any rules. I was worried about turning reality into swiss-cheese, which is why I worked up the standing spell: they're not actually permanent, the standing spell makes the wormhole on demand. Though they could be permanent. Dad says what I do isn't really magic, it's reality manipulation or warping."
At Billy's comment, Noh-Varr can't help but laugh. "The ruler of the Kree Empire is an AI. The Supreme Intelligence. Does that count?" He didn't seem concerned at all about whether wormholes broke any rules. In fact, it didn't even occur to him. "Do you want to go there now?"
Billy blinks a moment, his brow furrowing, "Well that's one way for the Singularity to end up; I suppose its not at all a worst-case scenario, since the Kree seem to not be used as batteries." He pauses a moment, and then nods, "Might as well." He pauses, thoughtful for a moment, "Do you have something on you that is from the ship? Or something that is like something on the ship?"
"He's ruled the Empire well for over a million years." Noh-Varr points out. "And we've never been used as batteries." Whatever that means. The question gets a shake of his head but then he pauses. "Well, maybe." Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a pink cube that's about an inch on each side. Tapping two of the sides, it expands till it's about six inches on a side. "This is the pocket battlefield. It's like a weaker, portable version of the training room. Will that work?"
"Perfect, we can skip the whole sewer thing. I'll teleport us there." Billy reaches out to lay a hand on the pink cube, and concentrates. "Like to like. Like to like. LiketolikeliketolikeLIKETOLIKE." As he chants the words, the space around them blurs and becomes indistinct, color and shapes starting to spin around them in a chaos of color with shapeless, formless lines. The spinning slows and colors become different, and the space they find themselves resolves itself into the training room on the Marvel. The AI might not appreciate that.
If Plex minds, he doesn't make it known to Billy. The room they find themselves in is large and completely empty, with lots of circuitry built into the walls, ceiling and floor. Noh-Varr definitely looks surprised at the experience. "You're like a Kirby engine." he tells Billy then looks thoughtful. "That could explain a lot, actually."
"A what? And what does it explain?" Billy looks around the room curiously, and looks slightly disappointed. It doesn't look all super cool spaceship-y like he was hoping, "Okay, pick a door somewhere on the ship, and I'll cast the spell, then we go through and I bind it to the bathroom door in the apartment. How this works is that the spell is keyed to specific hands: open either door with your dominant hand, and it opens as normal. USe your non-dominant hand, and it the standing spell activates and makes the wormhole. If uh your doors don't have knobs then whatever means you do to open it will work."
"A Kirby engine. It's what lets a ship travel among the realities." Noh-Varr explains. "It's powered by imagination and belief. The science is very complicated." Considering what Billy said, he nods then leads the way out into the corridor. About thirty feet toward the bow then up a spiral ramp to another deck. Down another corridor though in place of metal where the ceiling should be is solid rock which also blocks off some corridors. It's not too long before he turns into a doorway which opens up onto what's clearly crew quarters. There's another door inside. "That one."
"What would that explain?" asks Billy curiously, and when the door is selected, he reaches out to gesture to Noh-Varr's hand, "Put your non-dominant hand on it, but don't open it." Once Noh's hand is on it, he puts his hand over Noh's, and murmurs, "To ship and back again. To ship and back again. Toshipandbackagaintoshipandbackagaintoshipandbackagain." He takes a long, deep breath and lets out a sigh. Nothing is obviously done, "It'll be keyed only to your hand. Even mine won't open it. Then again I could teleport myself in directly, but still."
"You're powered by imagination and belief." Noh-Varr points out, which is certainly one way of looking at it. He follows Billy's instructions then nods. "That'll save some time. Thanks. And I'd be very careful about doing that unless it was an emergency. Plex wouldn't like it and would initiate the defenses." Of which he is the primary one.
Billy pauses, giving this some thought, and runs a hand through his hair, "I suppose I am." he nods to the door, "Okay, open it and I'll bind the other side back." Then he shakes his head, "Oh, I wouldn't actually _do_ it, just being honest that I could so that the lack of my ability to unlock the spell doesn't …anyways." He waves a hand at the door.
Noh-Varr puts his hand on the door to slide it to the side. It's more symbolic than anything since the door would normally be automatic. "If you need to, safer would be just outside the ship."
Stepping through to his apartment, he waits for Noh to follow, then repeats the spell on the door the closet. "There. Once you get your own place to live I'll redo the spell to bind the door, since ah, I don't want you to have permanent back door access to my apartment." He laughs softly at that.
Noh-Varr follows Billy back to his apartment then flops down onto the couch again. "I'm crushed that you don't want me around." And he sounds it too. Totally. Well, maybe not. "And you two being such nice scenery too. But with fast access to my ship, I don't really need another place to live. Just a… door, I guess. Will any door do?"
"Any door will do, though ideally one out of sight." Billy heads over to settle on the couch himself, "Hey, visiting is fine, come visit, but like… moving in not so much." He pauses to consider something for a long moment, "Hey, have you thought about what you're going to *do* with yourself since you're stuck in this reality? Try to get back to the empire?"
"My empire is in another reality." Noh-Varr points out. "And since from what I'm told, the Skrulls and Kree are fighting, here, directly or otherwise, it's obviously different from my own where we have a peace treaty. That's one of the duties of the Diplomatic Gestalt, too. Keep the peace between everyone. It was different from the last Earth I was on too. There was open war between them. Some people convinced me to protect the planet and I did, before I left. Should I do the same here?"
"We have certain organizations that are set up trying to save the world from threats. One is the Avengers, led by Captain America and Iron Man— you'd like Captain Rogers, at least aesthetically." Billy hesitates a moment, "Then there's a team for the mutants but I don't know what its called or how they're organized. My dad handles certain planetary defenses as the Sorcerer Supreme. Then…" He shrugs, "My team is a little different. We're more low profile and just starting up, we're the Contingency Plan."
"The Avengers. I know of them from another reality. And Tony Stark. I don't like him." Not that they met under the best of circumstances. "Is your team made up of the ones I've met here? Did you collect pretty boys with special abilities to form a team or did the team come first and you went looking for the boys?"
"Yes, you've met us all. I'm Wiccan, Teddy's Hulkling, Vic's Serendipity, then Kellan is Reflection and Kaleb is Echo. That we're all 'pretty boys' is a coincidence. When Tommy gets back— my twin brother— he'll be in. We've had girls in the past, just not right now." Billy explains, "When need be I assume my mom and dad and uncle might help us out too; Uncle Pietro is a speedster like Tommy, mom is a witch, and dad… the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. Not a codename."
"I don't need to decide right now. The Marvel isn't going anyway any time soon. As you saw, it's fused with the rock. Lucky something didn't blow up and that there was actual empty space down there. Though that luck might be a factor of the Kirby drive." Noh-Varr muses. "Belief that it would be safe to use making sure we arrived in one piece." Hard to say exactly how the drive works, really. Shaking his head, he changes the subject. "So, since you don't want me here, where would you say I should be?"
"Oh, its not like such a decision is permanent, anywys." Billy then blinks and shakes his head, "I didn't say you couldn't stay for awhile, you living here long-term is just not viable. This is a two bedroom apartment and most importantly, its Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman's. Not Wiccan and Hulklings. Its legit, boring, normal. There's nothing supernatural here, there's no aliens, there's no homosexuals. Its a safe haven. You're welcome to the couch for awhile its just not long-term."
"I have the captain's quarters now. I don't need the couch." Noh-Varr motions to the wardrobe. "It's much more comfortable and now accessible. You two can go back to doing whatever it is you do when someone can't hear you."
"That's just temporary." Billy says this firmly, "We need to get you another door for this side of the wormhole-gate. Our apartment isn't meant as a nexus where all the wormholes converge on. Most people come in through the front door and knock." He snorts, "Which is an earth tradition you should learn." At that he grins.
Noh-Varr shrugs. "You and Teddy are often out. It's easier to just come from the roof. So, to ask again, where should I be? I don't know this city and you do."
"Yes, its fine to just come in from the roof while you're a guest." Billy then shrugs, "I don't know. Where do you want to be? I don't especially know this city as well as you seem to think. More importantly, I don't know what your needs are, what you would want to be near or far away from. Does it matter where your door is? Just … pick one out of the way, unobtrusive."
"I'll look around." Noh-Varr decides. "I met some mutants the other day who seem to know where things are. I'll ask them for some suggestion. Maybe in what they call Mutant Town. Or maybe one of the doors nearby." He shrugs again, not having any real idea yet.
"Just be careful around the mutants. Most can be said to probably be at least friendly, but not all, and I don't know how the Brotherhood would react to an alien. The Brotherhood are a sort of mutant supremicist organization that might see aliens as … problematic." cautions Billy, "And while I doubt you have to worry about anything from the Friends of Humanity, the Brotherhood is something else. Also I really do need to introduce you to my dad."