Enter: Karrl Garm (12:00am, Biograph Theater)

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As Karrl opened his eyes he felt wrong, a sudden bout of nausea was running through him, however, with a pinch of his nose, and a shake of his head he shook it off, along with a rining sound running through his ear, which sounded a bit like tinatus. Realising this he hoped he had not lost a key, since, well, he needed them all if he wanted to be a half decent singer songwriter. As he looked up, pushing past the sensations running through him he realised that he was in a cinema, watch what looked like a subtitled anime, which he didn’t know. 

He was not a big fan of anime, but he often escorted his little sister, Ibbie, to these showings. Had he come to this place with her and dozed off. Looking around he could not see her, maybe she had gone to the toilet, it was not like her to leave a showing of anime, but, maybe she had drunk a little too much sprite, which sounded like her. So, if she had decided to take a little break, so would he. However, he suddenly felt a warm sensation in his right hand. He looked down and saw a card in it.

Brining the card a bit closer to him so he could see it properly in the dimmed down lighting of the room he read it. At closer inspection with was a rainbow coloured card. He wondered if a gay guy had slipped it into his hand in an attempt to subvertedly pick him up, it would not have been the first time someone of the homosexual persuasion that tried to pull Karrl, he did not know why, he did not exactly scream gay, or did he, maybe he would try and figure that out one day. He was always flattered by the attention, but, he’d prefer not to go through the awkwardness of telling someone the obvious that he was not gay.

However, pushing that aside he saw it had white writing on it, 751 N. State Street, not exactly a road he was familiar with, but then he saw, Chicago. He chuckled thinking it was a joke, but, something prevented him from simply throwing the card away. He did not know why someone would pull such a silly joke on Karrl, but, then again, he had seen worse jokes in his time. However, he could not figure out why he was not able to bring himself to simply throw the card away. He sighed, and figured, maybe a bout of fresh air would do him good. So, with that, he went back to his previous idea of taking a little smoke break.

On his way out he looked around and saw a man selling merchandise. He thought about it, his little sister would want one, so, he would, as a little treat, grab one for her. He went over to the stand and obtained one of the bags of merchandise. Out of curiosity, he looked inside, and saw it was a model of one of the machine thingies he had seen on the screen, with the name MSN-04-2 Nightingale on it. Whether or not he liked anime, he had to admit, he was impressed, if the model looked anything like it did on the box cover. So, with the gift bag obtained he slipped out of the cinema and rested against the wall. However, as he retrieved one of his Superking Blacks and lit up, he looked up and saw where he was, well, where he wasn’t, and all he could saw was, “What the Fuck?”

He looked down and saw he was holding the card in his hand once more. He looked at the address on the card, and thought, he had no idea where he was, how the hell he got there, and why he was there. So, after, placing his smoke on the floor, he popped back into the cinema, he asked the counter guy to tell his sister, after, giving a description of her and her name, that he had to pop out for a second and he would be back to pick her up. With that he rushed out the door, picking up his smoke once again and rushed away, stopping to ask for directions. He had no idea what was going on, but, maybe, he could find some answers, hell, it was the only place he could start.

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It was mostly luck that had Karrl finding a train station that had clear to follow maps to get to state street and the various connecting trains to get there. Indeed, the city itself spread out before him like a snow covered maze. When he finally reached his destination he was meet with the type of outlaying building that blossomed from the sidewalk and up into the heavens- a cathedral. Warm light emulated from the interior as if calling those who were lost to it's side... ( edenreborn.proboards.com/thread/28/location-st-francis-xavier-academy)

Inside, should he choose to go in, he'd find a single man sitting in the pews. Oh, perhaps there would be more to come, but Karrl was the first to boot scoot to the location on the card visually. The man was fair skinned and bald. He was immaculate in his robes as he sat there in a pew. His eyes were closed, but they opened when the front doors open and he turned in the seat to look at him. His eyes were a stormy blue-gray. "Ah... Another traveler?" He stood, slowly, as is his bones hurt him- though his apparent age would of been no more than in his forties. "Welcome to Holy Name Cathedral..." The man spoke as he moved his way to the end of the row and stood, a fair six foot something with long limbs and a slightly stooped posture, probably dating him a bit closer to his fifties instead of forties.

"My name is Father George. I am one of the priests who maintain this Cathedral and the school... Do you have a card?" He took a few steps toward Karrl, but would stop if he showed any signs of fear or anger.

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As Karrl travelled to the location on the card he realised something, all the transport, vehicles, and even the technology, it was ancient, it looked like something out of a documentary on post twenty first centenary life. He knew America was not as advanced as the rest of the world after they closed off their boarders to the rest of the world due to the massive terrorist attack in 2256 but still, this is ridiculous, he would say it strange, if it was not for the fact the whole situation would weird. He must be the first non American to step onto this soil in over one hundred years. Never the less he kept his thoughts to himself and just travelled onwards. 

When he finally reached the location when he saw what it was an eyebrow quirked up to a large height. He was standing in front of a Cathedral, “I thought all of the old Cathedrals were destroyed in the religious war of 2290, wow, never thought I would see one out of the vids.” Karrl looked at it for a moment or two before he decided to walk up to the door. However, instead of opening it, he just stood there. He looked at the door and frowned. He looked around for a moment before clicking his fingers, but still, he stood there. He looked down and saw the door handle, “What the hell, manual doors, wow, this is old school.” With that he opened the door and walked in. 

After he entered the Cathedral he looked around and whistled. He had heard of the beauty of these buildings, even seen a couple of pictures and vids of the insides, however, he could not have prepared himself for what it was really like. However, his time to admire was short lived when he heard a voice coming from within. It was an old guy, well, he looked old, and he was talking to Karrl. He introduced himself as Father George, and he said he kept the cathedral running. He then asked if Karrl had a card, and suddenly realised he still had the card he woke up with in his hand. He showed the Father the card and said, “Look George, got a couple of questions, like, how the hell did I get here, I thought transcontinental teleportation was on the theoretical stages, and, why the US, thought you Yanks didn’t want to have anything to do with the rest of us since the bombings of 2256.” 

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Father George studied the card a moment then nodded to himself. "Your just like the other one. I'm not sure what your talking about, young man. The Year is Nineteen hundred and eight nine years of our lord, or as the children these days say, 1989. Christmas eve, to be presise. The events you speak of have simply not occured, nor do we have the technology you mention."

He tucked his hands in his robes. "Another young person like yourself showed up about an hour ago, and... requested rather firmly our services. As we, the Church, are in a habit of doing... There is room in our manager, however, my son, for another Traveler. If you would like a place to stay as it sounds like you are far away from your home."

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Karrl stood there, the other one, what is he on about? However, what he said next sent him through a loop, and then some. Nineteen eighty nine, did he just say it was nineteen eighty nine. This just did not compute with Karrl. He took a step back and looked him dead in the eyes, “You’re ‘aving a giraffe right, you expect me to believe that not only did I travel to the US, against my will no less, but I travelled three hundred and sixty one years into the past.” Karrl did not want to believe, he was having a tough time believing he was in the united states, let along travelled back in time. 

He took a step forward and looked into his eyes, “If you’re pissing with me, we’re gonna have problems, you get me? I'll turn those pearl drops you have in your mouth to jagged little shards. Now, can you direct me to someone who not a complete Looney Toon?” Karrl was not best pleased, if this other guy he spoke of, this other traveller, would tell him the same, and actually have solid proof, then they could move on, but, until then he would not hesitate in knocking some teeth down thoughts, after all, he grew up away from Catholic Dogma, so, he never learnt the so called respect of the cloth. 

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Father George seemed to follow the other man's gist pretty well, and didnt' even smile. "Looney Toon indeed..." He shrugged a shoulder."Not to further upset you, young man, but you have no doubt also hopped a dimension or two. The other traveler mentioned that this wasn't her reality. Regardless." Father George turned and started walking toward a small side door. "She is this way. As a fellow Traveler perhaps she can give you answers I am simply not privvy too."

He lead Karrl, assuming there were no farther outbursts, or perhaps, more interestingly, swings, down a walkway and into a covered corridor leading into another building. The faint sound of an alto singing greeted them as they entered. The voice was singing Christmas carols, Jingle bells from the sound of it. Father George walked wordlessly forward past the "office" (it was labeled.. conveniently "office" and toward the singing voice. It took them a while to cross the building, passing classroom after classroom of some kind of school. The hallway was lit up with dull, flickering hallway lights and the classrooms themselves were dark and somewhat ominous in the light.

The room they entered however, half entertainment room and half cafeteria, was none of those things. It was bright and lit up. A baby lay on his tummy on the floor wearing a dark red onisey with feet and hands muffled in fabric. His little head wore a cheery red cap with a little fuzzy white ball. The voice came from the young woman, covered in flour from head to foot as she made.. cookies? Gingerbread from the smell and the dark cookie dough on the counter. A wall separated them, broken by a large "window" that let her watch the little one while she made cookies. He(?) played on a rug and didn't seem to want to touch the cooler floor. The heat was blasting, but it didn't do much then up the temperature of the room to a crisp 15.5 C(60 F). The woman, 5'6", long pink hair (yup pink) hair wearing jeans and a shirt and a jean jacket far to thin for the weather outside gave them a smile.

"Father George! I told you another ten minutes for ... cook...ies." She patted her hands together, expelling a cloud of white dust. "Ah.. Another one of us hmm? So we were correct in our guesses, hmm Charles?" She tilted her head to one side, as if listening to a voice. "Of course.... Do you .. No... Hmmm.. Well, you leave us at an unknown. I'm Maeve, the little one on the rug is Charles Xavier Stewart." She said the name like the Xavier couldn't of been left out, like Charles Xavier Stewart was the name shouted.. hopefully that'd shorten by the time the sweet boy had grown a bit more.

She turned to toss a pan of cookies out of the oven and slide it onto the stove and another pan to take it's place. "Sorry about that. I cook when I'm stressed." She gave Karrl a sideways smile. "Just give me a second." She vanished from the window only to reappear on the corner to the left,walking out of a hallway. "There we go."

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Karrl’s eyebrow arched up high when the father mentioned that there was a good chance that he had also hopped a dimension or two. This was getting, if it had not already gotten, ridiculous. How the hell did this happen, and why to him, was there something special about him? Of course, Karrl, due to the extreme and sudden nature of it, had not remembered the events previous to this, where his powers awoke and what happened when they did. Whether or not he remembered was, at the point in time, inconsequential, and so, he just watch the father walk towards the side door as the holy man mentioned there was another traveller, who might be able to shed some more light on the subject.  

As he watched the father go to and through the side door, Karrl decided it would be best to just follow him, and, for the time being, try and keep his emotions in check. So, just before Karrl followed the priest through the side door he pulled out one of his cigarettes and lit up. As he followed George he could not help but hear the faint sound of singing. It seemed that the voice was vocalising the Christmas song Jingle Bells. However, it was not the time to be admiring the music around the cathedral and so just followed the holy man, taking the odd puff of his smoke as he did. As he followed he saw a couple of room, one labelled office, and passed some classrooms. Wait, was this a school as well as a place of worship? This intrigued Karrl to no end. 

When they entered a room, it seemed to be some kind of entertainment room, but at the same time a cafeteria, however, at the same time, it was neither of these things. He was still smoking, however, when he saw the kid that soon changed. He reached inside of his pocket and pulled out what looked like a glass vial, however, it was not glass, it was in fact a transparent metal. He opened it up and placed the half finished smoke inside of it, and, after closing it up, pressed a button near the top. There was a humming sound, and, then, the cigarette seemed to disappear. However, when he opened it again there was a vapour that escaped the device before he closed it up once more. 

The device he had just used was created by the tobacco companies, after the government declared a state of emergency when it came to the large amount of waste cigarettes were leaving. It was in fact a micro vaporiser, and, dealt with fag butts by turning them into a vapour which harmlessly dispersed into the air. After that had happened he placed the device back into his pocket. Karrl, being the oldest of five children, grew up learning to keep his toxic fumes away from children, and, he also loved kids, actually, more often than not getting along with them, since, he had, through his four little sisters, learned how to take care of them. So, to cut to the chase, he cared about kids more than he did when it came to other kinds of humans. 

Karrl suddenly noticed that source of the singing was a young woman who seemed to be baking cookies. This was a bit of a surprise to Karrl, and noticed the pink hair, however, he had seen stranger things, but, the hair colour seemed to be natural, but, that also did not really phase him much. The room seemed to be a nice temperature, since, after all, fifteen point five degrees was actually a mild summer’s day where he came from. However, he did not take much notice of the temperature of the room, and just stood there watching the girl in the jeans and jeans jacket. She then seemed to look at them and gave a warm smile, which seemed, to warm the heart of Karrl. It was not because she was cute, well, there was that, but, there was something about her than gave of a warm, motherly vibe, this was what warmed Karrl’s heart. 

She seemed to address the father, telling him it would still be ten minutes for the cookies to be ready. She then patted herself down the white dust of the flour rising away from her clothing. She then seemed to realise Karrl. She seemed to address someone called Charles, which, he assumed was the kid, but, what Karrl raised an eyebrow about was the fact she called Karrl another one of us. He assumed that she meant a traveller, or whatever the father called them. However, that left his mind when she introduced herself as Maeve, and the child as Charles Xavier Stewart. He nodded to her, and, since, she introduced the child by his full name, he thought he would do the same of his own, “I am Karrl Draven Francis Garm. It is a pleasure to meet you Maeve.” He looked down and smiled at the child, “You too Charley.” 

With the introductions out of the way she seemed to go back to the cookies. He did not mind, since, they smelled amazing. She also announced that she was sorry and that she cooked when she was stressed. There was something about Maeve that Karrl could not, no matter how much he tried, be angry at, “It’s quite alright Maeve, take your time.” She then seemed to vanish out of the sight of the window. Karrl stood there, waiting before she reappeared, and, Karrl simply moved his head to follow her movement. When she had finished moving Karrl finally spoke once more, “Well Maeve, can I ask you a lil summin, like, how did I actually get here, I’ve heard of jumping before, but, if the holy man is not talking out of his ass, nothing like this.” 

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(Maeve will have her own handle soon.. until then.. woot npc time..)

Maeve gave a glance to Father George... then looked back fully to Karrl. "I'm not sure what you mean by... "jumping", Karrl. I can tell you that neither the good Father or I know exactly what's going on. He was told a week ago to move their school during the winter break to another location- giving them free room. The last thing I remember is sitting in my office at my school working on paperwork for Our School." She crinkled her nose. "That is, Xavier's school. When I woke up, Charles was in my arms and Father George was trying to wake me up with some foul smelling... something..."

Father George smiled warily. "A strange creature wearing all black carried the two of them in to the church and set them down. The creature gave the majority of my brothers and sisters a fright and ended our mass quite suddenly. It said "Safe Haven." And vanished. When Maeve awoke we compared notes. She is from the year 1983. Judging by your very different style, I'm assuming your from a much different era."

Maeve smiled toward Father George, and gave Karrl a small shrug. "So I decided that there was no point rushing out in the snow and cold with Baby Charles in tow. Father George very kindly pointed out the facilities were empty and since we weren't sure what was going on. I figured a home base and cookies were two of the first things on my priority list." She gave Karrl a wide grin. "Honest. Girl scout's honor. The closes I can figure, and Xavier can figure is that we've been transported across dimensions or some kind of alternate dimension. The best we can do is calmly try to figure out what's going on and who's here.... of course.. Xavier was hoping for some of his Students to be here." She knitted her brow. "Unless of course.. Does the name Charles Xavier mean anything to you?"

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Karrl noticed the glance between the woman and the holy man, and, he got the feeling it was not a good one, of course that could just be a bit of paranoia setting in. However, Maeve soon looked back at Karrl, and he focused his attentions completely on her. When she said she was not sure what he meant about the term jumping he was about to answer her, however, she continued to speak, so, he just stood there and listened to her story. It seemed that she, as well as the father did not know what was going on, which was not all to reassuring in Karrl’s opinion. He did not like this, he had no idea what was happening, and he did not like that, not one bit. 

When Maeve continued her story she said she had “jumped” a week before hand and mentioning the last thing she remembered before the events that got her to this place was the fact she was sitting in her office at her school working on paperwork. He was not surprised that she was a school teacher, there was something about her that gave off that vibe, of course, not all school teachers were caring, he could contest to that. She then, all of a sudden corrected herself and said it was Xavier’s School, which, for some reason, rang a bell in Karrl head, but, he soon pushed it off and continued to her speaking about when she woke up she had Charles in her arms and the father trying to wake her up. It was an interesting story, but, it seemed not to be over just yet. 

It seemed to the best the father’s turn to speak, and, as his eyes shifted towards the holy man he caught the wearied smile that was on the old guy’s face. It seemed that a strange creature in black carried to the two of them, Maeve and Charles that is, into the cathedral claiming safe haven for the two of them, scaring most of the other holy men and women in the process before disappearing. However, when he mentioned she was from 1983, that surprised him a little, but, not that much, it was not exactly a day for normality. When the father commented on his style and being from a different era, Karrl nodded, “You’re right, the year in my world, before I shipped to this dimension was 2350, July 28^th to be exact. What I was doing, I can’t seem to remember.” 

Then Maeve began to speak once more, it seemed that the next events would lead her to making a home base at the cathedral, and making cookies to the two main things on her proirty list. He could understand the home base, just in case, as it did happen, anymore people came from other dimension. However, he did not quite get why cookies would be the next thing on her priority list. Don’t get him wrong, he enjoyed a good cookie as much as the next guy, but, he did not get why it would be more important than, establishing an understanding on why they ended up there. Never the less, they have been kind enough to tell him what they knew, so, he kept that little opinion to himself, he may not show it sometimes, but Karrl can be tactful when he needs to be. 

She then went on to saying that it was the honest truth and the best they could figure out was that they have been transported to another dimension, and, from what he had seen and heard that would be a safe assumption to make, since, after all, it was his own as well. Then she went onto mentioning that Charles was hoping to find some of his students, which surprised him, he doubted that she was talking about the kid in her arms, but, it would not be the strangest thing that happened that day. Maeve then asked if the name Charles Xavier rang any bell. He thought about it, he had heard the name before, but, could not remember where from. It suddenly struck him, “Wasn’t he a mutant freedom fighter just before the first great specie war between humans and mutants. Hmmm, of course, that happened in 2015, so, that would not have happened in your timeline yet, if it was ever going to happen, so, pay no mind to me.” 

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Father George gave Maeve a calm look as he walked to the window seperating kitchen and cafeteria. He stretched out one long arm and nimbly took three cookies. "Well, I can see my services aren't needed here. I will go back to the cathedral and send any more travelers who come back that way to you back here, Maeve. You seem to have things well in hand."

"I hope you stay with us, at least the night, my son. Tomorrow's morning light will surely shed some answers on your questions. Now if you'll pardon me?" Father George nodded to both with them and with all the glee of a small child stealing cookies, left the room before he could be summoned back.

Maeve shook her head and moved to take a seat next to Charles, playing with a wiggly set of toes. "Well... you lived far after his era, so .. that answered that question." She gave him a smile. "Curiosity of course, often ends up with wounded pride. So. What are you going to do? We have the run of this side of the classrooms. Apparently someone had the foresight of our coming to prepare the classrooms and emptited them out. The third floor has furniture... Though to be honest I have no idea who's going to end up here or how many... You may get your own room or have to share. I don't think Father George would be happy if we turned someone out onto the street."

She canted her head to one side. "Your welcome to explore. So far it's just you and me here- until others show up... And I'm assuming there will be others in which to show up."

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Karrl noted the calm look that the holy man gave Maeve. He did not know why he had given such a look, but, never the less, he did not really care the motives of a man who follows such an archaic notion as religion. Sure, they still had it there, but, unlike what he had read about in the past, religion was not a major thing, in fact, it was almost a dead practice, and, if anything, the only true, strong religion left was that of the scientist. He guessed, that was why he did not take to the holy man, since, he had read about the barbaric acts that had been committed in the name of one god or another. However, he knew, he did not know the guy, so, maybe, he would give the guy a break, and judge him after he had really got to know him. He thought on this when the father went over and grabbed some cookies. 

When George spoke Karrl looked up and looked towards him. So, the guy admitted to knowing his services were not needed, which actually got him a point in Karrl’s book, since, it was a good trait knowing when someone was not needed. He then went onto saying he would go back to the cathedral, and welcome any more traveller. This got him thinking, how many more would arrive, and would any of them come from as far in the future as he was, maybe even more so. It was an interesting prospect, meeting people, not only from different walks of life, but different times and even different dimensions. It was someone any scientist or historian would kill to have a chance to do. It was with that that Karrl made a mental note to open a new file in his computer and work on not only a journal, but information he picked up from the different era and dimensions. 

However, his train of thought was interrupted when it seemed the holy man seemed to address him. He looked up and looked over at George, but frowned when he called Karrl “his son”. He had a father and he did not need another. However, they had been kind enough to give him shelter, so, he would, for the time being, hold his tongue, he did not like doing it, but, his father always told him that, if someone was kind to him, the least he could do was hold his tongue, not matter what he thought of them. However, the prospect of the next day being able to shed some light on some question was something he could accept. So, with that George left, with a spring in his step, as he ran away with the cookies. Karrl sighed, “Are all holy men this childish, or is it just him.”   

When Maeve spoke Karrl moved his head to look at her so he could make eye contact when she actually talked. The first thing she said was something that annoyed him slightly, she stated the obvious and it was actually one of Karrl’s pet peeves. However, he held his tongue yet again. However, the frown went when she smiled, there was something about her that he could not stay annoyed at, which was interesting. When she commented in curiosity often ended up with wound pride, Karrl simply replied, “But it is the curious mind that makes the world move forward.” Karrl rarely showed it, but it was quite insightful when he needed to be. He blurted things like that out every now and again, when it was needed, or, in some cases, when it wasn’t needed, which might be the case that time. However, it seemed that his retort was unheard, since, Maeve continued to speak. 

She then started to talk about where everything was and he nodded. He was not use to furniture of this time, but, he was pretty sure it could not be that much different than what he was use to in his time. However, as long as he had enough room to set up his computer he would be fine. He pulled back his sleeve and revealed a bracer on his arm. On it was a watch, a mobile phone, and several compartments; one of them was where he kept his computer. He looked up and listened to Maeve continue to speak, saying she was uncertain about what was going to happen, which he could understand, he may be from the future, he had no idea either, since, what had happened in his time could actually be different from what will happen in this dimension. When she mentioned he might have to share a room he nodded. He was the oldest of five, so, even though he had his own room, he pretty much shared it since his little sisters were in and out of it all the time. 

When she canted her head to one side Karrl quirked an eyebrow, but, she then mentioned that he was welcome to explore, which was something he was planning to do anyways. Karrl wanted to know his surrounding area, it was just the way he was. Karrl had found out, a good knowledge of the area would help him if he needed to get to one point to another quickly, or, if it even came to it, make a quick escape. She then mentioned it was just Karrl and herself, but, she assumed that there would be others to come, which, in all fairness, was a safe assumption to make. When Maeve finished speaking Karrl nodded. He pulled out a smoke and placed it in his mouth, “Thank you for your hospitality, if you need a hand with anything, don’t be afraid to ask, until then Maeve.” With that he turned on his heels and lit up as he left the room, it was time for a little exploration.