underlondon_npc | Outside of Muses: Camden Market, Christmas 2032

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Outside of Muses: Camden Market, Christmas 2032

At first glance, the busy street Nix ushers Reid out to looks like something out of a Charles Dickens book, although slightly more sanitised than that. The street is narrow and jammed with stalls selling a massive variety of food, clothing, small animals, tools, odd-looking electronics and virtually anything (and everything) else. Few people in the street look particularly well-off - or particularly clean - although there's a wild variation in outfits, ages, genders and races. There are even horses and carts, although the occasional electric flicker betrays the fact that the horses, at least, are some kind of hologram, and in the sky are pigeons, and odd flying shapes that look as if they might be some kind of motorcycle or quadbike. Far off, and high up, an odd-looking machine like a train or perhaps a tram whirrs and rattles along elevated rails into the distance as it snakes through the tallest buildings.

The overall impression is that of noise and ragged colour and smoky late-afternoon air, all highlighted by the rather incongruous-looking strands of fairylights and the lightly falling snow. London smells odd: not entirely unpleasant, but smoky and damp, with an odd note of petrol and oils, maybe even gunpowder, behind the smells of dozens of cultures' worth of cooking food.

Nix turns to Reid with a laughing, red-lipped grin, gesturing with her furled umbrella. The door she's holding open for him is now that of a pub, the George Cross, with people laughing, shouting and drinking behind them as they had been in Milliways, but unlike Milliways it's far pokier, darker and overheated: it's no surprise that she preferred to drink at the end of the universe, when the opportunity presented itself.

"Welcome to London!"

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Nix resists the urge to do it herself, instead resettling her bag on her shoulders.

"All right, kids, time to act like adults again. Stairs!"

Threnody flicks her dreadlocks out, but heads for the steps. "You spoil all my fun, you do."

"She's a bitch," agrees Gryff, swinging himself down after her. "But we love her. Well, sometimes."

The iron fire escape is old and battered-looking, but it's solid enough, leading down six storeys to a tiny alley just off a main thoroughfare. Jack is waiting for them at the bottom, standing next to an open grill in the ground.

Reid has to admit, if only to himself, just how relieved he is to be back on the ground again. He doesn't so much have to worry about one wrong foot sending him plummeting to his death, for instance.

Nix whistles before she hits the stairs, and by the time she leaps the final four steps to the ground, the dogs have caught up from where they had to leave them on the ground.

Jack grins when she sees Reid. "Nice goin', newbie. Drop through - it's near seven feet down, but it's onto solid ground and Ariel and Carmody'll catch you. Then it's pretty much straight down through the Underground and we're home and dry soon as this hatch slams shut."

"Right."

His voice isn't as shaky as it could be, but he's still nervous. But he trusts these people, he thinks - they haven't done him wrong yet.

Threnody drops through without a second thought, whereas Gryff, being shorter, lowers himself down more carefully before swinging to the floor.

When it's Reid's turn, Ariel and Carmody are both waiting as promised, calm and capable. The passageway they are waiting in has the unmistakable curved walls of the old London Underground, dimly lit and dirty but at least the air smells clear enough, just a little musty. There's a strip of dim lights on the ceiling, illuminating just enough to find your way without too much difficulty. If the signs are anything to go by, they're on the Northern Line.

"...Wow. This really is the Underground. It's... hard to imagine, London without the Underground running."

"Well, yeah. We got the name for a reason," Gryff says as Nix swings herself down after Reid, landing lightly in a crouch before straightening.

"I don't remember it ever running," says Threnody, pushing her hair away from her face. "The bombings were before I was born. I remember when they opened the Overground, though." She looks at Reid curiously. "When're you from, then?"

Nix whistles, and the dogs make elegant leaps down one after the other and sit waiting for Jack, though the big Boxer looks at Reid.

"Vegas," Reid replies. "Born and raised."

He's pretty sure saying 'Quantico' wouldn't be the best idea.

Smart boy.

Carmody blinks. "Did you say when?"

"We'll explain later, Car," Nix cuts in hastily. She slides an impish look at Reid. "Maybe over a drink, if we get chance."

Jack's own method of getting down to the tunnel is a little less orthodox: she picks up the hatch cover by the handles on its underside and simply jumps. The cover locks neatly into place, leaving her hanging for a moment before she lets go and drops the remaining foot or so to the floor.

"All present and correct?" she asks. "Good. Ariel, gimme a hand with this."

Turning a massive, heavy handle covers the entrance with another thick layer of metal, but it takes both of them to do it. Nix hits a tiny red button in the wall, and it electrifies with a sizzle.

"That'll fry anyone who tries to follow us without callin' Communications first," she explains to Reid. "Come on, you lot, our chariot awaits."

"A chariot would be nice," Threnody says, sighing, but she smiles at Reid. "C'mon, we'll show you the other reason we're the London Underground."

"Jack, Carmody, take the dogs on ahead?" Nix asks as she takes his hand again. "I don't think they're too happy."

The two obey, taking Ariel with them to leave just the four of them to navigate the tunnels. It's cold down here, colder even than outside, so no-one hangs around as they head down a disused escalator (the old posters are still on the walls, grimy and torn; the electric screens flicker periodically with nonsense), along another passageway (Northern Line heading South) and down another motionless escalator.

Reid follows them, looking around, and... It's strange, but he gets a feeling of profound sadness as he looks around the ruins of something that he knows full well is just fine back home, and yet...

"I'm sorry this happened to your city," he says quietly.

Nix shrugs, looking awkward. "Ancient history. I don't even remember it being much different." She looks away. "I'd sooner have my parents back than trains, anyway."

"Co-fucking-signed," says Gryff; Threnody isn't saying anything.

"Yeah, I understand that," he replies. "I'm still sorry; losing your parents is part of this, too, isn't it?"

Nix nods, still not looking up. "Last big protest against all this bollocks, back when I was eight or so. They were organising it, and no-one's seen them since."

Threnody links her arm through Nix's, still quiet. "My dad, too. Mamma had to babysit at the last minute. When they started rounding everyone up, she ran for it with us. I don't really remember him, though."

Gryff shrugs, his jaw tight. "I just got caught being a naughty boy ... with another boy. No idea what happened to him. My parents are still alive, but I don't think they'll stay that way if I go back."

"That's... messed up," he replies. "Well... I may not be able to do much for you here, but I promise you, I'll do everything I can to make sure nothing like this happens back home."

"Yeah, well, it happens."

Nix slides her arm around her sister's shoulders. "Hey, Firefly, c'mon. Got you out of it, didn't I?"

Threnody manages a smile. "Wait, is that meant to be a good thing?"

Reid gives a faint smile, but... this London is still troubling. He'll... He'll have to ask Garcia to look in to some things when he gets back, he thinks.

Gryff's hands are shoved in his pockets, and his expression is even more closed-up than usual.

"Cheeky brat," Nix says fondly. "Hey, Bright Spark, what's Vegas like, then? No fair you just getting all our history."

"Full of people who picked on me in school," he replies. "I graduated when I was twelve. High school... was kind of really bad for me. I did learn to play cards though." He pauses a moment to think before continuing,

"It's big, and bright and noisy, but that's all the tourist stuff. Underneath... It's a city in the middle of the desert. It's easy to forget that, when you're... downtown, but in the suburbs? Hard to forget."

"Aww," Nix says, and squeezes his hand. (This may be interpreted as Nix Code for 'I'm sorry'.) "More people who apparently weren't payin' enough attention."

"I wanna go," Threnody says unexpectedly. "I wonder what all that space is like!"

"Lumpy and boring-like, if North Wales is anything to go by," says Gryff. "But probably not as rainy, I suspect."

"Outside the city, it's all flat," Reid replies. "And brown. And it... pretty much stays like that, until you hit the Rockies or the Cascades-" he gestures to either side, indicating East and West "-Canada-" up, for North "-or another state, like California, or Arizona." And down for South.

"The mountains are something I do miss," Gryff admits, as they round a corner and clatter down another flight of stares. "But not bein' miles from damn near anything that wasn't Wrexham. And the surfing was good, where I came from. I've not even seen the sea in years."

"Hey, at least you get out of the tunnels more'n once in a blue moon," Threnody argues. "Last time I really went outside properly was October, before this! And Mamma's goin' to play hell now, and I didn't even get properly shot at or anythin'."

"Cheer up, baby," says Nix, laughing. "Serves you right for making Head of Tech so young - we daren't lose you."

"Pfft." Threnody sticks her tongue out, but only makes Nix giggle more. "Quit it with the logic, that's my job."

"And playin' peace-maker is mine, apparently," puts in Gryff, who rolls his eyes at Reid. "Girls, huh?"

"Yeah," he has to agree, thinking of the many times Garcia and JJ have confounded him.

This gets both sisters pulling faces at the guys.

"Mean!" they chorus, laughing, and although they might be adopted sisters, there's definitely some family likeness going on there.

That gets Reid laughing again.

Nix grins, swinging his hand. "That's better. And now, boys and girls, we have a train to catch!"

The stairs round a corner, finally leading out onto a platform... with two carriages' worth of rather old-looking train waiting for them. A tall, beautiful woman with dark skin and black corkscrew curls is waiting for them, too, looking impatient and carrying yet another gun - a semiautomatic.

"There you are!" she exclaims, her English perfect but her accent unmistakably French. "Did you take the scenic route or something?"

"Just dawdled, Dominique," chirps Threnody cheerfully, hopping onto the train. "Did you miss us, children?"

"Nearly went without," says Jack - the rest are already on. "Come on, lazybones, there's beer waiting for us!"

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