Time Shock

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

So.

Here she is.

She's slightly dazed, and thoroughly confused about what's just happened. She's not sure she isn't dreaming. Or maybe she crashed her bird and didn't even realize it. Either way, it's... unsettling.

It was December 1945 just a minute or two ago. She was flying, and then, after the briefest and strangest of explanations, she's been left at the door of a tavern. The passersby are dressed oddly, the vehicles that pack the roads are decidely not of her time, and the language she's overhearing... Lord, she wouldn't talk to her momma with a mouth like that!

Lady Blackhawk is most decidely out of her element -- and, she thinks, there's a distinct possibility she's out of her mind, too.

Nothing for it but to see if anyone's home.

She cautiously slips inside, taking off her hat as she enters.

Comments

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia is a waitress this year. She's on her way back to the bar as the woman comes into the bar. There is a smile for her, "Hi!"

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

The door's barely swung closed behind her. Her returned attempt at a smile is somewhat tainted by uncertainty. "Hi."

Her eyes drift to the large-screen TV's. And get rather big. "Holy smokes."

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia blinks a few times and then comes closer, "Do you need some help?"

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

It falls from her mouth before she can really stop it. Her mind is going a mile a minute. She can't tear her eyes away from the moving people on the screens. "Yeah, sug... can ya pinch me so's I can wake up?"

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

"I really don't think you want me to pinch you... but if you really want..." Arisia smiles as she comes closer to the other woman. "Do you want a drink of water, maybe?"

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

"Water, my ass. I need a gallon of whiskey, neat." She finally pulls her gaze from the TV's, looking at the other woman as if seeing her for the first time. She frowns, suddenly. She isn't waking up, apparently. "Where - no, wait. When am I?"

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

"Come with me. We'll get you some whiskey." Arisia smiles and starts walking further into the bar. "You're in New York City. And the year is 199-"

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

"Wait ... don't tell me." Zinda hesitates. "Now I really could use that pinch, if you're still offerin'." She looks down, and realizes she's holding her hat in a white-knuckle grip. "I don't think ... "

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Turning around, Arisia offers the other blonde her arm.

"Woah, woah."

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

She hadn't even registered that she was swaying. Zinda stares blankly at her hat for a moment. "I am dreamin', right?"

She's not sure she can handle the alternative.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so."

Arisia moves over and wraps her arm around the other woman and starts to usher her into one of the rooms that isn't open to the public today.

"I'll help you as much as I can."

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

She allows herself to be escorted - with a brief glance back at the TV's once more - into a back room, where she sags uncharacteristically into a chair. She folds her hands into her lap, still clutching her uniform's hat. She hasn't woken up yet, and this is starting to weigh heavily on her.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

This is the Lantern room, with the statues to the departed. Arisia crouches in front of Zinda for a moment before she seems to concentrate....

And nothing happens. Her eyes narrow and she stands up, "I'll be right back." Dashing out of the room, she gets a bottle of whiskey, two glasses and comes back quickly.

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

Well, it'd be rude to turn down an invitation like that. So she does.

The fire in her belly fights the numbness that threatens.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia grins at Zinda a bit and finishes pulling back a bit.

"I'm not even from this planet, Zinda." Reaching up, she pulls her hair back a bit.

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

She blinks up at her. And laughs. "Well hell, darlin'. You get your head stuck in some kinda mechanical rice picker?"

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia blinks at Zinda, "Oh no. I was born this way. Like I said.. I'm not from here. Like not from the planet, no from here."

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head, pouring another shot. "Now you're just messin' with me."

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

"I'm not. I'm not messing with you at all." Arisia grins toward the other woman. "You can ask the Guy who runs this place. He could probably even show you some of it."

Not that he ahs his ring right now either but he has other powers.

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

That gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach isn't going away. In fact, it's choosing this moment to take a firmer grip. Her smile falters, doubt flickering in her blue eyes.

"I ... do you have today's newspaper, hun?"

She needs something tangible to hold onto - and good old-fashioned newsprint seems like the best thing to prove what's happening to her.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia grps the other woman's shoulder and nods. "I'll be back." Standing up, she goes in search of a paper.

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

She toys with the empty shot glass while she waits, staring through its crystal sides and idly noting how it distorts her reflection. She realizes, dimly, that she has very little change in her uniform pocket to even pay for the whiskey she's downing. Reaching a hand into her left breats pocket, she pulls out some steel cents, a few nickels and a couple of dollar bills that have seen better days. The paper holds the faint scent of cigarette smoke.

Blackhawk's cigarette smoke.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia comes back with today's paper and offers it to Zinda, silently.

[zinda-blackhawk.livejournal.com]

Her eyes automatically flick to the top of the broadsheet, searching for the date. And there it is, in stark black and white, refusing to be anything else.

April 24th, 1994

"Fifty years ... " is all she can manage.

[elfinlantern.livejournal.com]

Arisia stays near by, not at all sure what to do for Zinda. What... What can she do? It isn't like she can take her back, is it?