Application for Logan Echolls, "Veronica Mars"

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

Logan's flipping through old photos on his cell as he walks, trying to find a saved shot of Homecoming night, with Lilly and Duncan and Veronica and himself all together and laughing like idiots, and for a fraction of a second he doesn't notice he's stepped into new territory. Then the change in the light registers, and he looks around, surprised, alarmed and searching.

He's tall, and angular, with features that seem caught somehow between sharp handsomeness and little-boy softness of cheeks and lips. There are more shadows around his eyes and lines on his forehead than any boy his age should have. He rubs the back of his head with one hand, and adjusts the laptop he's carrying.

And then Mickey comes forward, and his mouth twists into a disbelieving smirk. He notices the 2-D effect, and shuffles from side to side trying to see it work.



Mickey coughs theatrically. "'What is your name?'"

He straightens, and looks solemn. "Arthur, King of the Britons."

"What is your quest?" asks the Cat. It's perched, suddenly, on the roof of one of the gate-stiles.

...Well, that just takes all of the fun out of it. "As of about forty-five seconds ago, to find out where I am and what the fuck is going on here." Noting the lack of helpful information-giving, he adds, "Yeah, I'm pretty used to waiting on that kind of thing. But I will find out! And on that day...I'll probably be the last to know and/or in mortal peril."

"'What is the average w..?'" Mickey frowns down at the notebook. "You know, I don't really see why that's important."

"Because it's a Python reference," he explains with exaggerated patience. "Nothing's more important."

He flips a page. "'If you could be granted three wishes, what would they be?'"

"I believe world peace is the accepted first answer. Preferably not because suddenly everyone on the planet is dead or lobotomized, but whatever. Does that make one or two? Let's say one. Then, let's see, an end to world hunger? Or disease? I suppose disease could be number three, but then where does the harem of lingerie-clad tequila-bearing sexbots fit in?"

"Or," the Cat says, examining its tail with interest, "if you were a genie and someone you were trying to give three wishes to was trying to trick you into giving him more, what would you say?"

"What's he wishing for and do I like him?"

Mickey looks rather nonplused at the next, but reads, "'When the revolution comes, what skills will you be able to barter for food?'"

"Well, I think most of the people back home are really looking forward to me being first against the wall - what can I say, I'm irresistible. I'd be banking on my charm to get me by." It's said with utter sincerity. A cheesy grin would just be over the top.

"Otherwise...uh, I can consume impressive amounts of alcohol and party drugs, so maybe I could be used as a guinea pig for dangerous substances? Or I suppose there's always kicking the shit out of people or selling my ass. Would you say this is more of an American Revolution, a French Revolution or a," dramatic mushroom-cloud hand gesturing, "full-scale The Stand or Left Behind-style apocalypse?"

The Cat rolls its eyes in a friendly (and rather disconcertingly out-of-sync) way, and asks, "Milk, dark, or white chocolate?"

"Milk or dark. Just not anything that's been left out in the open by persons unknown." He's starting to think maybe he ate a "special" chocolate or something himself. Because seriously, Disneyland? His bar for insanity is set pretty high these days, but 2-D Mickey Mouse? What the fuck?

"'Choose the two coolest: robots, pirates, fairies, bears, ninjas, monkeys, vampires, or humans,'" says Mickey, giggling a bit as he goes through the list. "'Explain.'"

"They should put you guys in charge of writing essay questions for AP Art History. The answer to everything could be 'What is Dada?'" Deciding nothing's currently about to jump out and kill him and he needs a drink to get through the rest of this, he pulls out a flask and takes a swig of bourbon. He rolls it around in his mouth for a minute before saying, "Pirates, for my beloved alma mater. And ninjas for the essential light-dark, yin-yang balance of the universe, and 'cause they're awesome."

"Great!" Mickey flips through the blank pages of the notebook at top, cartoon-y speed. "Well, I think that's just about it! Oh, and I'm supposed to ask, 'for your safety: are you carrying anything sharp?'"

"You're just asking? You're not actually going to ask me to turn out my pockets? Damn, security around here's getting lax."

He puts away the flask and smiles sweetly. "Nope, no sharp objects here."

((Logan Echolls, from Veronica Mars. Post hogwarts_hocus, where he was subjected to various emotional traumas and took various stupid risks. So, par for the canon course, pretty much.))

Comments

[caycep]

"Hah, well, I think half the populace here is from places where they don't even have VCRs." She chuckled. "There's a couple of people here from a flat planet, if you can believe that."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"I...can, actually. For a certain value of 'believe.' I know a girl who says she's from a flat planet." Awkward shrug. "I sort of...try not to think about it too much."

[caycep]

((Repost to avoid continuity interference with other conversations. ^_^))

"Sounds like you have the survival skills to fit in here, then," Cayce says wryly. "Not thinking about things too hard or too much is essential." She's come to see the humorous side of the whole fictional-character thing -- something about being revived from a faint by Aragorn son of Arathorn, maybe -- but she still tries not to concentrate on the matter for too long.

"So what's your story? How did you get here?"

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"My story?" Logan shrugs, bounces again, and summons up a falsely bright smile. "S'a tale told by an idiot, full of Faulkner titles, signifying nothing. And I have no freaking idea how I got here, I was just going for a walk out to the Hogwarts Lake to visit the giant squid. And what could be more normal than that."

[caycep]

"Heh. Well, join the club. The 'no freaking idea how I got here' club, I mean. Which is ... well, most of us, except for the kid with the toy tiger, maybe. And I think the 'I was at Hogwarts too' club is still accepting members."

A thought strikes her. "Say -- this is kind of a weird question, but bear with me -- what year are you from? And do you have an iPod, by any chance?"

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"The kid...this isn't Calvin and Hobbes we're talking about? Were you at Hogwarts? You don't look familiar but I might've missed you."

He pulls an 80 GB iPod from his jacket pocket, and shows it to her. "2006."

[caycep]

"Well, the kid's name is Calvin, but --" And after all these weeks, the penny finally drops for Cayce; she goes a little pale, and then she snorts with laughter. "How did I not figure that out? Hah." She shakes her head. "Anyway, no, I wasn't at Hogwarts -- I came here by way of Japan."

Her eyes widen at the sight of the iPod. "That's great. I'm from 2004, you see, and while I've got a lot of music on my own iPod and laptop, more is always good. Especially where it doesn't overlap with my own taste. Because the eventual plan is to start playing music over the park speakers -- we really need some real music around here."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah?" Logan grins. "I'm a great DJ. What do you need to set it up? How do you get connected to the speakers - anybody stopping you?" Visions of broadcasting No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom (http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=2973) dance through his head. He's wanted to do that since middle school...

He starts scrolling through his playlist. "I've got mostly rock, pop, and indie. Lot of LA bands. Some electronic. Several musicals." He looks up again, and smiles. "Any favorite bands you want to hear the latest album from?"

[caycep]

"We managed to hack into the audio system at the Honey I Shrunk the Audience theatre," Cayce explains, "and I think I've figured out how to wire it into the main park PA. Haven't tested it yet. And so far, no one has stopped us."

She tries not to look too eagerly at the iPod. "Geez. So many ... I'm sure I could think of something. Maybe I could look through it later?"

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"Sure," he says, and waggles it playfully in front of her. "Gorillaz. Beck. Momus. Was that Beach Boys album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_%28Brian_Wilson_album%29#Smile_Resurrected) out yet?"

"You've hooked into the God Voice? How cool! So, is there no security, or what?"

[caycep]

"You've got Momus! And new Beck!" Cayce almost squees; she's definitely beaming. "You mean Smile? It had just been released about a month before I ... got here. Oh, I'd like to hear it."

She nodded at a nearby speaker. "I think we're hooked into the God Voice. Still need to test it. There's ... well, there's no security guards, not that you can see. But the park has a weird way of fixing itself when you're not looking, and stuff in the stores and restaurants gets restocked when you turn your back." She shrugged. "It was creepy at first, but we're all starting to get used to it, I guess."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"It...fixes itself? Okeydokey. Well, I guess I'll...work on not finding that insanely creepy, then. Hate to be left behind. So, Honey I Shrunk the Audience theater? Should I owl...or, sorry, call ahead? Does getting in require stealthiness? Hey, where's everybody sleeping, anyway?"

[caycep]

"Just send me a note -- we all have postboxes here, and the system's extremely reliable. Specifying a time is a challenge, because none of the clocks work right, but "around midday" or "at sunset" seems to work. And no stealthiness required. Kira and his friend Setsuna live there, and as long as they get a heads-up in advance, they're fine. Which -- as to your other question, we're all sleeping where we can. I found an office at the Starcade, and other people seem to be camped out wherever they can find a space." She smiled ruefully. "Unfortunately for you, a lot of the good spaces have already been taken, but there's probably more that no one's found yet. But if you find a shower, I'd love to hear about it."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"Oh great. No bathtubs either, I'm guessing." He sighed. "I'm trying to remember what the various security stations looked like...I've gotten taken back into a few of them in my time. I don't suppose there's a place to buy sleeping bags or anything, suddenly?"

[caycep]

"Try the gift shops." Cayce tries to remember if there's anyplace that definitely stocked sleeping bags; she's been making do with beach towels and Disney Princess bedsheets. "But you don't have to buy them -- it's weird, but I'm not kidding -- stuff automagically restocks itself, money or no money."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"Well that's definitely not the usual Disney strategy. Hmm. Maybe that's why they ask about the revolution, huh? Sucks for us aristos." He rubs the side of his head and looks wry. "Anything major I should be watching out for?"

[caycep]

"Not ... yet," Cayce says slowly. "Although random crap does have a way of happening from time to time, so if you wake up one morning and find yourself talking like a character from "Pirates of the Caribbean", try not to be too shocked."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

He laughs. "Compulsory Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, huh? As long as I'm not turning cursed and skeletal, I think I'll manage. I wonder if there'll be a Haunted Mansion thing..."

[caycep]

Cayce laughs. "I'm not sure if that would be cool or horrible. Anyway, good luck here. Look me up in Tomorrowland if you want. There's an air hockey table at the Starcade if you want to play sometime."

[thebadboyfriend.livejournal.com]

"Sure thing. Although I should warn you, I'm awesome at air hockey. And pretty much all arcade games, too, with the exception of Dance Dance Revolution."

[caycep]

"Heh. All right, we'll have to see about that sometime. See you around."