1965-04-14 - Advice Columnist Josh
Summary: Noh-Varr seeks Josh's advice on where to … place his door?
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noh-varr josh 


Since Billy said he didn't know the different areas of the city that well, and Josh volunteered his help, Noh-Varr decided to take him up on it. It took him a little bit to decipher the address and figure out just where to find it but he eventually got there. Navigating Manhattan is much easier than navigating the multiverse. After checking the number on the door, he knocks.


As Josh opens the door, the most obvious thing about him is that he's not gold. Tanned, blond hair, blue eyes, looking the epitome of human fitness but not looking at all like an obvious mutant. He's wearing a pair of jeans and a white tank top. "Oh, Noh-Varr." He greets with a flash of a smile as he pulls open the door more and gesturing the man through, "Care for a drink? What brings you over?"


"You're not gold." Noh-Varr is a master at pointing out the obvious. "What drink are you offering?" he asks as he steps into the apartment and looks around. "This is where you live? I am looking for a place to do so as well and you seem to know where things are."


"The gold is temporary; it wears off after awhile when I use my power to heal. If I resurrect someone it stays significantly longer." explains Josh as he heads over toward the refrigerator, pulling it open and grabbing a beer, "A beer, or if you prefer, a coke. And yeah, this is where Daire and I live. Its not much, but since I don't really make much in the way of money, it's about all we can afford. What sort of budget do you have? That's the biggest driving force for most people picking places to live."


"I don't like the flavor of beer." So Coke it is. "I'll make as much as I need." Noh-Varr answers. "Physical currency is easy to reproduce. Most civilizations move away from it as soon as possible. I Just need a door though since I intend to live on my ship."


Josh pauses, eyeing Noh-Varr for a moment, then pulls out a bottle of coke, popping the top of it and his beer and handing the coke over, "Do you know how incredibly illegal what you just said is? You're not 'making' money, you're not 'reproducing' currency, you're counterfeiting. That's _very_ illegal. Sooner or later you'll get the Secret Service on you, even if— especially if— your counterfeits are perfect."


Noh-Varr takes the bottle and easily pulls the cap off. "What's the Secret Service? Some sort of law enforcement agency? And of course they're perfect. Paper is very easy to reproduce. I won't be making a lot of it, just what I need as I have none and no way to get some."


"You could get a job." Josh points out, "That's how this usually works. You work, someone pays you money. The Secret Service is a law enforcement agency in the Department of the Treasury, tasked with protecting the monetary system and protecting the President and a few other people. They're basically the elite law enforcement agency in the world. Can you 'reproduce' other things? Metals?"


Noh-Varr shakes his head. "Paper is made. Even damaged, my ship has the resources for such a simple task. Metals are not made. Well, not easily. Why? Is there a need for metals? Earth isn't metal poor that I've seen." Flopping down on the couch, he takes a swig from the bottle. "And what work should I be doing? I am a Kree warrior. Do you have enemies that need killing?"


"Paper is made from *wood*. If you can just spontaneously generate wood, it seems reasonable you might be able to spontaneously generate other materials." Josh shrugs, and goes to sit down too, sipping his beer, "We're not metal-poor, no, but metal is valuable. Some a lot. You can't legally own gold bullion anymore, but silver is. Silver's worth about five bucks an ounce, I think. That's sixty bucks a pound. That's quite a lot of money. That's about what my rent is here every month." Then he has to snort, "You could be a bodyguard, security, heck, Daire's a bouncer at the local bar. He keeps people out who belong out and breaks up trouble."


"It's not spontaneously generate." Noh-Varr corrects. "It's turning material into paper, adding color and other features to reproduce the design. Ships need to have some ability to produce parts that might be damaged in battle. Paper is simple." After a moment's thought, he shakes his head. "Silver and gold aren't used a lot in ship parts. Some in computer circuitry but not things like armor plating. A… bouncer. At a bar. Do they serve froofy? I like froofy a lot."


"Platinum is worth even more then gold." Josh idly points out before commenting, "Is paper commonly used in ship parts?" He then blinks a moment, "What's froofy?" He's baffled for a moment, "Wait, drinks? That's… no, the Eight Ball doesn't really do froofy. Well I suppose it depends. 'Froofy' is a not entirely kind way to say a drink that's girly instead of manly. It usually involves some juice or sweet things instead of straight up hard alcohol."


"There might be some platinum on board, if it's not fused with rock. Plex will find out. Probably not a lot even if there is." As Josh explains, Noh-Varr starts looking puzzled. "Is it? Billy said 'and there's beer if anyone wants something to drink that's not froofy'. I thought that was the name of the drink."


Josh shakes his head slowly, "Yeah, apparently the other drink he was serving was froofy, but that's descriptive of the style of the drink. There's lots of say, froofy drinks. A froofy drink is often colorful. I don't mind froofy drinks, but I prefer things like a Manhatten. Two parts whiskey, one part sweet red vermouth, with a dash of Angostura bitters. But really, you need to go somewhere a bit classier to get things like that and martini's, then Eight Ball."


The names of the alcohols mean little so Noh-Varr just shrugs. "Whatever it was, he made it. We weren't in a bar. I'll have to ask him what the real name of it is. I should also ask him how he can work and study and also have time to defend the planet."


"Okay, if you want to have a conversation with this Billy person you can go talk to him, you don't need to tell me what your conversation with him is going to be." remarks Josh in a dry tone of voice, "We were talking about you getting a job and where you should live. Though you said something about a door that I don't really understand."


"It's a wormhole between my ship and somewhere else." Noh-Varr explains. "It'll open when I open a door. I just have to find a good door to use. One in a place to live would be safest so no one can see the ship on the other side when it should be leading somewhere else."


Josh blinks slowly, "A …wormhole." He shakes his head at that, "Well, then location seems to be all that matters. Pick a door near to somewhere where you want to visit regularly. Someplace without a lot of traffic. Frankly, pick an alley and walk down it and pick a door at random. What's it matter?"


"Doors usually lead somewhere." Noh-Varr points out. "And they usually belong to someone. And they're usually locked when they're outside. I could easily break it every time but that would start getting someone suspicious, I think. Or are things different here?"


"I'm not the right person to talk to about this. I don't know how 'wormholes' work." Josh shakes his head, bewildered, "I don't know the rules of whatever it is you're talking about."


"That's why I asked you about a place to live instead." Noh-Varr points out. "Some place inexpensive." After a moment, he says "There's another reason too. I might want to take someone to bed but not want them to know I have a spaceship."


"Well, this place isn't very expensive, if there's any rooms available in the Tenement. But, really, you go get a copy of the Times and look in the ads section and there will be listings for apartments for rent." Josh tilts his beer back and has a long swig of it, "You can look for a job at the same time, there's ads for that, too."


"I'll do that." Noh-Varr agrees, standing back up. "Thank you for the Coke. I'll tell you if I find somewhere or a door. Let me know if you or Daire would like to make use of the training room and we can go back to the ship."


Josh hesitates for a long moment, considering, "Hm. Actually, hey. You might run into a problem with each because you don't have an ID." He rises, pulls his wallet out and then his ID out to show it to Noh-Varr, "Can your ship replicate something like this, only with your information and picture instead of mine?"


Noh-Varr takes the card and looks it over. "Yes, it shouldn't be a problem. You're required to carry identification? Won't they think I'm you then? Won't that cause problems?"


"That's why I said 'only with your information and picture instead of mine'; there's various times and places you may need to show an ID. If your ship can make one then it'll likely be better then a fake I could get for you." Josh considers for a long moment, "You need a human-sounding name for the fake ID. Noah Varrin, perhaps. Make your age at least 18— the age of majority in this country. I know you said you don't intend on hiding but without an ID with a convincing identity on it there's some stuff you might not be able to do at all. Like, rent an apartment."


"If I change the number on this, won't they notice? They don't look at numbers of the money so I just changed them to be different but if you need identification with a number on it and I make one at random…."


"They never really look." Josh explains, shaking his head, "Sure there's a computer down in city hall that probably has everyone's number in there but its not like anyone checks closely. Is it possible someone might check, yes, but very, very slim. Chances are someone will just look at it then hand it back or write out your information and assume its valid."


"You have computers?" Noh-Varr asks as soon as he hears that. "I thought you didn't. Plex didn't detect the transmission of any signals, though that could be because of the damage and how far underground we are. But nothing about the technology I've seen so far led me to think you did."


"What? Transmissions? That's probably because they don't transmit, really. If you're looking for transmissions you won't find them. They don't talk to eachother, really. But almost every big business and all universities have computers, sure. We had one at the hospital I worked in during my residency." Josh is sitting on the couch with a beer in hand talking to Noh-Varr, "The mainframe's are each independant, and they have terminals to share access."


There's the sound of the key turning in the lock and then the door opening as Daire comes in with a brown paper shopping bag in one arm and his guitar slung over his shoulder, probably getting back from doing an early shift at the Eight Ball. He smiles when he sees Josh and Noh-Varr and gives them a jingly wave, keys still in that hand before dropping them off, setting the guitar down, and heading toward the fridge to put some things away. "Heya," he says to them. "How's it going?"


Noh-Varr nods at the explanation. "I see. You've just invented them." Maybe not just just but close enough. "Maybe I should invent things to get money. There's lots of things you don't seem to have that aren't really complicated." Even before the door opens, he's looking toward it then smiles at Daire once he walks in. "Hello Daire. It's going well."


Josh considers Noh-Varr for a long moment, nodding his head, "Inventing is a valid business. Patents are very complicated to get and enforce, though. You need lawyers. You might consider making an invention then selling it to something like the Future Foundation, and let them handle the patents and monetization." He looks up as Daire enters, flashing him a warm smile, "Hey, Dai. How was work? Any trouble? I was telling Noh about what sort of jobs a kree warrior might get to, to get money. Bouncer came up."


Daire takes some things out of the bag and begins loading them into the fridge, "Oh yeah? Inventing sounds more interesting than bouncing." He chuckles a little bit and then says, "No, not too much trouble — couple of rowdies who needed to cool down a little, but it was a relatively quiet early evening. I'm sure it will get more lively as the night goes on, but I don't have to work tonight." He stows the milk and eggs, and various other things then closes the fridge, checking the drink levels to see if he needs to bring more out with him before grabbing his own beer and joining them in the living area.


"I could sell it to Stark and let him take credit for it." Noh-Varr says, his tone oh so very dry. "But that sounds like a good idea, Josh. I could make small improvements in your computers that you'd probably come up with on your own anyway, in the next few years. Though bouncing people sounds like it's more fun. I might accidentally hurt someone though if they escalate to violence."


"Well, good they didn't cause you too much trouble." Josh has a tiny amount of worry over Daire's job, but its minor. He lifts up his beer to get Dai's attention to silently ask for another, but he nods over to Noh-Varr, "I don't know Stark except by reputation. I suggested the Future Foundation because Reed Richards' business model is, as far as I know, basically inventing and then licensing stuff instead of making things— and so they'd naturally know how to take an inventation and get it out there."


Daire brings another over for Josh, handing it to him and then giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, letting his fingers brush against Josh's neck just lightly. The touch lets Josh feel and confirm that Daire is indeed, hale and hearty and no worse for wear from his evening's adventures. He then plops himself down wherever there's free space, stretching out his legs and relaxing. "Yeah, it's a little tricky. Some of the people that you're bouncing are superhumanly strong and some aren't. Gotta be careful to be firm and get them out, but not to seriously injure folks." He takes a swallow from his bottle and says, "Making improvements to the computers sounds cool, though."


"Oh, that's Richards'?" Noh-Varr asks. "I've not heard if it but I met him once or twice on the other Earth. He seemed like a reasonable man." Unlike his opinion of Stark, if you compare his tone when speaking of the two. "I like that idea. I'd need to actually see one of these computers though so I know just how primitive they are. There's no point in inventing something that can't be used till four other things are invented first."


Accepting the beer, Josh tilts it back to take a swig, indeed reading Daire's bioscan in the moment of contact. He does scoot to make room, though. "But yeah a bouncer at a mutant bar has unique job requirements that the regular sort of bars don't have to deal with as much of." He nods to Noh-Varr, "He has a reputation as reasonable, yeah. Well, a reputation as being less egotistical." He purses his lips thoughtfully, "The only computer I have access to these days would require you to submit to a telepathic scan to get near." He gives a meaningful look over to Dai.


Daire settles down into the spot where room is made and listens with interest to the talk of computers. He's only ever seen them, but never used one — there's not a lot of call for their use in bouncing or guitar playing, but that doesn't mean he isn't interested. He glances over to Josh at that meaningful look and nods, knowing which one he's referring to. Then he looks back over toward Noh-Varr and says, "It' can't be much worse than being scanned by the floating green head, anyway." He grins.


"Like the one you did when you came in range of Plex?" Noh-Varr reminds Josh. "Plus I'm telepathically linked to Plex so I'm not afraid of telepaths. I'm not sure if he could defend me against an attack or not or shield my thoughts. Telepathy isn't a common trait among the Kree. Just in some AIs."


"If you shield your thoughts, you won't be allowed to the sanctuary. You have to willingly submit to the scan." Josh hesitates a long moment, then nods slowly, "It is a sanctuary for mutants, primarily mutant children, who have nowhere else to go. There are a few powerful telepaths in residence, and for anyone to be allowed to know where it is, how to get there, and who is there, they have to have their intentions read. Its a security precaution to protect the children. I understand you may not wish to submit, and if so that's fine. But their computer is the only one I have access to."


Daire nods in agreement with what Josh says regarding the sanctuary, not having anything else to add other than to say, "I'm not sure where else it would be easy to access a computer. Maybe one of the universities, but it would probably be a bit complicated to explain why. Though.. that could work, too."


Noh-Varr shrugs lightly. "Like I said, I'm not bothered by telepaths and I have no intention of attacking your school or planet." This time. "It would be interesting to see more of the end results of the Celestial's experiments on your species. So I'm willing. You both are part of it?"


"Oh, I believe you. The telepathic vetting is only a precaution. If I didn't trust you I wouldn't even take you to get vetted. Yeah, I'm a member of the team that operates out of the sanctuary." Josh inclines his head, then takes a swig of his beer, "I'll make contact and take you to one of our safehouses, and we'll have a telepath come scan you. When you pass we can take you to the sanctuary itself." He nods to Daire, "A university's a good idea, but I don't know if they'd let someone poke about inside. Computers are seriously expensive."


"Sure, but I'm sure that there are those who just come through to see them and do research and whatnot. But that's more complicated. Just going to see the one that we have access to is definitely the easier option," Daire agrees. He nods to Noh-Varr and says, "Yeah. I went there for a while when I was a kid, when my own powers were a little out of control. They helped me out a bit. They're good people."


"It's smart of you to set up such a place. You can build a highly trained force that way from a very young age." Noh-Varr clearly approves. "You having computers is promising. Without them, it would be extremely unlikely I could fix my ship. With them, it becomes just very unlikely. Though I might be able to cannibalize it to make a smaller one."


"That's true." agrees Josh with Daire, glancing then over to Noh-Varr, "I'm more recently involved. I was… originally… recruited into a very different sort of mutant organization. They turned me into a weapon. With the sanctuary, I heal." He nods his head then, "Well, if you could upgrade their computer, even if its not about inventing new things to make money… but any tech you can help them with would be appreciated. In return I'm sure they would let you use the computer."


Daire reaches over and gives Josh's forearm a little squeeze when he mentions the earlier organization that he was a part of. "That's true.. if you can't get the ship out of the rock could you possibly use all the parts to make another ship? That seems like it would be complicated.. and take a while.. but easier than unmelding it.."


"I'm certain it's impossible to remove the ship from the rock and Plex agrees." Noh-Varr tells Daire. "There's just too much that's completely inaccessible now. Salvaging what I can do make a smaller version is possible. Not easy and not quick but possible. And depending on what the computer's capabilities are, I could maybe upgrade it a bit."


Resting a hand on Daire's own briefly, he flashes a slight smile for the horned young man. He then nods to Noh-Varr, "That'd be a good reason for me to get you there, since you're not a mutant. Shared interests."


Daire nods his head and says, "Sounds like we have a plan for that, then." He smiles a bit and then asks Noh-Varr "Are you staying for dinner? I was going to cook tonight. Just some pasta with grilled chicken and tomato sauce. Nothing really fancy, but you're more than welcome to stay." HE glances over toward Josh, not expecting him to disagree with the invitation.


"Should I assume this school has a lot of money? Upgrading the computer won't be cheap." Noh-Varr points out. "It might need things not invented yet but are able to be made. And since I'm guessing nothing in miniaturized, they'd have to be large." Looking from one to the other, he nods. "Sure, I can do that.:


"The man who operates it is quite wealthy." is all that Josh will say on the matter of the school's resources, but he gives a quick smile to Daire and nods, agreeing with his invitation, "Anyone with a computer at all is pretty well off to say the least, they're quite expensive." He then looks to Dai again, "Do you need help?"


Daire pulls himself up off of the couch then and shakes his head. "Nope, it's my turn. You keep entertaining," he grins and he makes his way into the kitchen, which is very very close to the living area — so it isn't even as though he's going to miss any of the conversation as he goes about getting things going. It's a small kitchen so he cleans up ater himself as he cooks.


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