29 Chimera Court, Wednesday morning

[what_the_shock]

Miguel needed a break. The Timebreakers could whine all they wanted, being brainwashed into fighting your friends and nearly destroying the world earned you a break as far as he was concerned. And since he was on this schtick of his own free will, there wasn't much they could threaten him with.

Well, they could fire him again. So giving them a heads-up by hanging out in a place that was likely to break a few timelines seemed like a fair compromise.

He checked what street signs there were, found the place the bugs had set up for him, and dug out the key. "Hey, Heather," he said into the comm he'd rigged up, "I'm here. Looks pretty mild as dimension-breaking things go. Yeah, I'll be fine. Tell the bugs thanks."

He unlocked the door.



[Open to the roomies he doesn't know he has, and anyone else who might be there!]

Comments

[shiroi_tiger]

Sitting in the living room, reading a newspaper brought over from the mainland (and silently yelling at America the whole time), and occasionally sipping at his tea, Nathan had settled in for a quiet morning.

Or at least a quiet morning by Fandom's standards. He'd chased a gremlin out of his bedroom with a broom first thing in the morning, and he'd let himself hope, stupidly, that it wouldn't be a sign of what the rest of his day would look like. Of course at first he'd assumed that it was Magnus or Liam making their way in from... whatever they were up to. He wasn't their keeper, after all. If they wanted to be out all night, that was their prerogative.

When the door opened, of course, the situation changed somewhat.

"Who the hell are you?"

Welcome to Fandom, Miguel.

[what_the_shock]

"Me?" Miguel asked, looking around. "Who the shock are you?"

[shiroi_tiger]

"I would be Captain Nathan Algren," came the faintly bemused reply. "The owner of this house."

And he had the papers to prove it.

"So I'll ask you one more time. Who the hell are you?"

[what_the_shock]

Well, if it was going to be that way...

"I would be Doctor Miguel O'Hara, the renter of this house." And he had the old-fashioned keys to prove it, and lifted them to demonstrate. "Didn't the..." Well, had the bugs used the hologram or themselves or... "well, whoever, tell you?"

[shiroi_tiger]

"'The whoever' isn't exactly the most convincing argument I've heard all day," Nathan pointed out, mildly. He sighed, set down his paper, and then stood and made his way over to take a look at those keys. "But no, nobody told me anything."

He sighed. Really, he supposed he ought to be more concerned, but...

"New here, Doctor?"

[what_the_shock]

"Hey, I don't know which one called you," Miguel said. Technically true.

He sighed. "Okay, please at least tell me the place is still for rent?" Otherwise he and his duffel bag were heading back to beat up some bugs.

...okay, probably just to yell at them. But still.

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan sighed too, and then shook his head a little.

"Not the entire place," he replied. "People live here already. But we do have a room, if you don't mind sharing."

He paused, and then added, "Your housemates are all fairly well-behaved."

Having lived with Minsc before, Nathan was perhaps immune to Magnus' little eccentricities.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel wrinkled his nose. "Well, I wasn't planning on it, but as long as none of them are dog-sized roaches with attitude, it's still a step up."

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan smiled wryly at that.

"None so far as I'm aware of," he noted, not entirely certain if Miguel was joking or not, "but we do get the occasional gremlin. And Magnus has a goldfish."

[firstofitskind]

While Liam had had a couple of pints last night, he had, in fact, come back to the house at a reasonable hour.

And was thus awake at what could also be deemed a reasonable hour the following morning.

"Morning," he greeted Nathan. And then squinted at the other person in the living room who wasn't the other person who lived in this house (so far as he knew). "Morning, uh..." Someone he'd never met before!

[what_the_shock]

"Morning," Miguel said, waving briefly. "Miguel," he introduced himself. "Miguel O'Hara. I guess I'm your new housemate?"

[firstofitskind]

"Liam," he replied in kind. "You guess, huh?"

[what_the_shock]

"Well, I wasn't expecting to have any," Miguel said. "But it seems a bit rude to kick you all out because the rental place screwed up, and I'm really not in the mood to fight, anyway."

Besides, they were here first.

[firstofitskind]

"Me neither, so I guess that works well enough for me," Liam said lightly. Besides, it wasn't his name on the deed to the house, in any case.

[what_the_shock]

"Glad to hear it," Miguel said. "I'm supposed to be taking it easy around here."

[firstofitskind]

"Well," Liam said after a moment. "If your idea of 'taking it easy' is 'long periods of boredom interspersed with bouts of the bizarre', then you'll fit right in."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged. "It beats 'long periods of bizarre and being attacked interspersed with finding the next place to be attacked'."

[firstofitskind]

"You're not wrong," Liam had to admit.

[shiroi_tiger]

"Not my fault," Nathan said, almost immediately, the moment there was a break in the conversation. "He had a key."

Which on the island was about all it took, really.

[firstofitskind]

"Oh, good," Liam said lightly. "Otherwise I might have wondered if you were making a habit of picking up strays."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I've had far worse habits anyway," Nathan replied, grinning faintly and reaching for his tea. "Besides, I don't think the strays are complaining."

Well, there had been that thing where Magnus had taken Liam for a thief, but besides that...

[firstofitskind]

"Not unless he's a 'plays loud music at 3am' type," Liam deadpanned. "Then I might complain a bit."

[shiroi_tiger]

"If he's that type, he'll wake up the next morning with a gremlin in his bed," Nathan replied, raising his eyebrows a little. "For some reason. Can't imagine why."

Because he would put it there himself. Personally. Spitefully.

[firstofitskind]

"Because they have very sensitive ears," Liam said solemnly. "And thus would feel the need to make their displeasure known in person."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Gremlins are known for going out of their way to make their displeasure known," Nathan agreed. "So, let's hope for Dr. O'Hara's sake that he's not the loud music late at night type."