Insert "Welcome to Night Vale" joke here

[zetabeamguy]

[ Doctor Impossible knows all about alternate timelines, parallel dimensions, and the existence of other worlds. Even before he was trapped in the multi-demensional crossroads from hell so ironically called Haven for who knows how long.

A lot of things happened in Haven. A lot of terrible things, a lot of strange things, and... maybe some good things.

One good thing in particular- named Cecil.

The universe where Cecil's Night Vale lay had taken some finding- he'd run across a few mentions of it in other continuities, as an idea, or a series of books, or, in one instance, a podcast. He was used to sifting through the mire to find what he really wanted, and when he did, when all the tests were done and he was 100% sure, he fired up his trans-dimensional gateway and took a walk.

He was still somewhat surprised when no one was panicking at the hole in reality that had just appeared in the middle of town.

Well then. ]

Comments

[zetabeamguy]

I guess that really remains to be seen.

[weirdatlast]

[ You're a big tease, Doctor Impossible. You're lucky you have a beautiful smile. ]

Oh? [ Cecil answers in a quiet question he doesn't really expect the answer to, isn't entirely sure he wants answered right now, anyway. ] ...Alright. [ It's a nice feeling. To hope, to have the luxury of hope, of time that isn't real or finite, of universes that are numerous and mostly impossible. His hand slips from Jonathan's arm to take his hand, and they're only a half a block from the diner by then, anyway.

The Moonlite All-Nite Diner is cold and dark inside, and not actually a diner. It's more like a crypt, if you had to compare it to anything, with stone seats and mossy hills, and moonlight painting white stripes across everything through dusty open stone windows. Which is strange. The moonlight. Considering it was a hot desert sun outside until just a moment ago.

But it is a diner in some ways. You can tell by the jukebox playing in the corner, and the straw dispensers on the stone tables that pull up in a spiral - you know the ones? You never even use a straw in your drink, but they have them in chrome dispensers on the tables anyway.

Cecil leads Jonathan to a corner booth and sits down, and he opens a menu even though he doesn't need it. Just for show. He gets the same thing every time, and the waitresses all know his order, anyway. ]

[zetabeamguy]

[ He's vaguely wondering if they should be doing that- the hand holding- because if he got his universes correct, there should still be a Carlos in this Night Vale.

But all that is quickly put out of his head because what the fuck even is this diner. ]

... What do you even get to eat here?

[weirdatlast]

[ Jonathan this is Night Vale. This is Cecil post-Haven, in Night Vale. If you don't think you're as much of a public celebrity as Carlos... If you think what's happening right now isn't literally going to be the second half of his show when he gets back... What are you thinking? ]

There is a menu, you know. It's typical diner fare, but it's not bad for the price. [ Cecil says looking over his own menu. ...It's that stone tablet on the table. Sorry. Maybe Cecil should have mentioned that. And he's pushing it towards Jonathan now, anyway. And Jonathan speaks Japanese and probably a hundred other languages so. Modified Sumerian's one of them, right? ]

[zetabeamguy]

[ He really, literally has no idea. ]

I'm beginning to realize that I haven't even scratched the surface of this town of yours.

[ Let's be real here... he probably does know the language. Or at least enough of it. He's just trying to figure out who the hell chisels a menu into stone tablets in Sumerian of all things, and why.

He's also a little dubious on Cecil's definition of "typical diner fare", so he'll order the most innocuous-looking thing on the menu. ]

Is every place in town like this?