Dana had been walking the streets of Subreality for what seemed like days. Even with a number of writers now working on story lines for her, things had been really slow. Being a somewhat new fictive made navigating the tangle of shops, delis and bars next to impossible. There were no road maps to Subreality because it was constantly changing. Buildings would appear and disappear at random, but never when you were looking. Aside from the lack of permanent land marks, the streets always in an ever present, mysterious mist that enveloped everything. Everyday was a state of post dusk, pre-twilight regardless of the hour. On top of everything, the streets were always deserted so you couldn't ask for directions.
Dana was longing for someplace, anyplace where she could relax and pass some time while she waited for some new work. Being a fictive was action packed on the good days but horribly boring inbetween stories. She knew she couldn't complain though. Her fictive star was on the rise and she knew she was bound to get work sooner or later.
Being lost in her thoughts Dana didn't notice a figure darting about in the mist just as lost as she was. This figure was bent over a piece of rolled parchment and was trying desperately to read it in the pale street light. The two of them walked directly into one another, knocking themselves to the ground.
Dana squinted through the mist to examine the individual who she just knocked over. If it had not been Subreality Dana might have been shocked at the girl's appearance, but she wasn't. The girl was a skinny teenager, about her age and wearing normal street clothes. The most striking thing about the girl's appearance though were her pale rainbow colored eyes, gracefully pointed ears and delicate pixie wings coming out of her back. The girl got up while helping Dana to her feet and brushed herself off.
"Sorry about that," the girl apologized as she retrieved her parchment from the ground, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Maybe you can help me though. My name is Danae and I'm lost."
"I'm Dana. I would help you but I have no clue where I am going myself. At this point I'm just wandering the streets looking for a stable place to hang out until a writer needs me again." Dana explained as she offered her hand in a handshake.
Danae shrugged, "Well would you like to walk with me then? I'm looking for the Subreality Cafe. That's where most fictives pass the time between stories."
"I've never heard of it but I'll try and help you find it. I have nothing better to do." Dana agreed as she began to walk with Danae, "What is the parchment for?"
"The Oracle wrote me directions. She was the one who told me about the Subreality Cafe."
"The Oracle?"
"Yeah. She's a big fictive fashioed after my writer. Supposedly she is the one who controls the time lines in my writer's stories. The Oracle is not someone you want to mess with."
No sooner had the pair started walking together when they saw a glowing fluorescent sign come into view that said SUBREALITY CAFE. Getting closer they could see a small set of stairs rising from the pavement and leading to a pair of glass doors with fancy cast-iron handles. There was a street light just outside of the building by the street. A tall, elegant looking woman was leaning against it. She wore a heavy, black velvet robe with a matching mask concealing her face arround her eyes. Aside from her, there was a heavy set man sitting on the stoop and reading a newspaper. The woman saw the two girls approach and immediately waved them over to her.
"I was wondering what had happened to you two. I've been waiting here for ages." the woman said as Dana and Danae stopped infront of her.
"What was with the directions you gave me. They didn't help me at all." Danae demanded of the woman as she crinkled the parchment for emphasis.
"First of all, there is no use for directions to the cafe. It's simply a matter of walking until you get here. Directions will only get you lost here in Subreality. Secondly, as far as thhe directions not helping you, you would not have found one another without them."
"What do you mean `you would not have found one another without them'? Is there something you're not telling me?"
"There are alot of things that I don't tell you Danae, but that's because I am the Oracle. The two of you are new comers to the Subreality Cafe. This is a dangerous place if you don't watch your backs. Nothing a writer can put you through would ever prepare a fictive for the things you are likely to face in there. You, Danae, have the instincts to protect yourself but you are prone to injury and over all bad luck. Dana, on the other hand, has the power to heal injuries but is still inexperienced in protecting herself from the dangers of Subreality. Writers can not protect you here. My suggestion would be that the two of you watch one anothers' backs."
Danae looked at the Oracle incredulously, "Dangerous?!"
"Don't question me Danae, you know better."
Dana, who was just barely following the conversation, started to ask, "How....?"
"Like she said, she's `the Oracle' and she knows everything. That's how she knew about who you were." Danae explained, cutting off a bewildered Dana.
"Now let's go inside." the Oracle called back over her shoulder to the girls as she made her way to the door, "I need a drink!"
"Dana and Danae exchanged a doubtful look for a moment. The Subreality Cafe looked like any other restaurant or bar. Sure the Oracle said it was dangerous, but couldn't that be slightly exagerated? In the end they followed the Oracle to the door.
The gentlman, who they assumed was the bouncer, got up off the stoop and blocked the pair while asking suspiciously "Okay, and what do the two of you want?!"
"We're here to see the cafe." Dana answered simply as she tried to manuever around him.
"And who are you guys?" the bouncer persisted while continuing to block their path.
"I'm Dana and this is Danae."
"What are you guys supposed to be? Some kind of singing duo?"
"Look," Danae started through gritted teeth, losing patience "We're fictives and we're here to hang out for a little while."
"Right Tinkerbell! How come I've never heard of you?"
"I'm Sabertooth's foster daughter."
"Do you know how many Sabertooths come through here? How am I supposed to know if you're related to one of them? I've heard some pretty interesting stories from people trying to get in here."
Dana tried to reason with him, "If we aren't fictives, then what are we doing in Subreality?"
"You'd be surprised." the bouncer answered and crossed his arms. It was obvious that he wasn't budging.
The Oracle placed her hand upon the bouncer's shoulder. He turned to meet her stone cold glare, "If you don't want to end up a twitching puddle on the pavement I would suggest that you quit harassing them and let them pass. They're with me."
The bouncer knew that the Oracle could do no permanent damage to him as he was a staple employee of the Cafe. Still, he knew that she had some power and could make him look really bad infront of the other patrons. She was not someone to cross. He ended up grunting and moving out of the girls' way. The two followed the Oracle through the door and into the smokey atmosphere of the bar. Looking around Dana was able to pick out three Gambits playing cards at a small corner table, two Beasts arguing scientific law over beers and...oh no...five Cyclopses.
*One Cyclops is bad enough!* Dana inwardly groaned.
Dana carefully absorbed the sights of the interior. There was a fireplace at one end of the cafe, scattered tables and booths and a bar crowded with all sorts of fictives trying to get drinks. There was plenty of voices talking, laughing and arguing. Above all of the smoke and voices Dana was barely able to make out some music that she assumed was from a jukebox somewhere within the room.
The three of them were finally able to snag an empty booth and sat down. The two girls sat across from one another while the Oracle sat on the aisle. After a moment or two the Oracle got up saying, "I'm going to the bar to get a drink. Have fun and be careful."
"So, was what you said about being Sabertooth's foster daughter true?" Dana asked as soon as the Oracle had left.
"Yup."
"What kind of fiction are you involved with?"
"Mainly I've appeared with Generation X. It's nothing serious. My writer mostly does parody. What about you?"
"I appear with the X-Men as a new member. At this point I'm going out with Sam Gutherie. There are mainly two writers who work on story lines that include me in them so I am clueless usually as to what will happen next."
"Two writers?!"
"You won't believe how hectic it gets when afew people are writing about you at once."
They eventually ordered something to drink. Dana got a large diet soda and Danae ordered a mammoth sized chocolate shake. Dana had started to think that the Oracle had been extremely wrong about the cafe being dangerous. It didn't take Danae long to finish off half of her shake. She was starting to feel hyper and was ready for something to happen. Unfortunately it did...
Suddenly a gentleman in a trench coat and a fadora tripped over somthing and was sent sprawling across the table. Both of the girls' beverages of choice were knocked over. Dana didn't get drenched too badly but Danae's jeans were covered with what was left from her shake. Danae was none too happy considering how cold the shake was and the fact that chocolate can stain.
"What the #$%@..." she cursed jumping up from her seat.
The gentlman just got up, brushed himself off and proceeded to walk away as if nothing had happened at all. Dana got up and grabbed his arm before he had gotten two steps away saying, "You know pal, the phrase `I'm sorry.' would be very appropriate right about now."
"A man who has shot Wolverine doesn't need to apologize." he stated in a tone of annoyance before turning his back on them again and walking away.
A sympathetic Gambit went and brought the girls some napkins so they could mop themselves off. He explained as the girls cleaned up, "Petites, you just met Artur Kastanek. He is a small fictive who act big. His writer had him shoot Wolverine in de head. It not have been a problem `cept he t'inks dat it give him a license or somet'in ta' do as he please."
Gambit went off to start another card game and they reordered their drinks and sat in silent thought while they dried out. Dana was still trying to figure out what had happened that caused the accident. It was possible that someone in the crowded bar could have banged into him, causing him to lose his balance. Then again, he also could have tripped over a chair or something on the floor.
With that last thought she looked down and heard a small "Chkkrkt". On the floor next to the booth she saw an odd looking bunny slipper. It was a safe assumption that it was alive since it was hopping around in circles. It was slightly shabby with wear but the black glass eyes looked up at her in such an appealing matter that made them irresistable.
"Hello little guy." she cooed, "Did that jerk trip over you? Did he hurt you?"
Dana reached down to pet the slipper until she heard Danae shout, "Don't touch that thing." and grabbed her hand. Just at that moment another slipper jumped out of nowhere and bit Danae's hand. Both of the girls started from the suddenly vicious attack of the bunny slippers. The slippers scurried away through the crowd of feet.
"You #$^* rats. I'm going to shred you scruffy little dust collectors." Danae shrieked after them while clutching her bledding hand.
Dana stopped Danae saying, "Before you do anything let's fix your hand." With that Dana's hands started to glow. Her irridescent fingers cupped themselves over the injured hand for a couple of minutes. When the hand was released there wasn't even a bruise left behind from the bite.
"Thanks." Danae smiled slightly sitting back down, "You're a handy person to have around sometimes."
Kitty Pryde walked over to them saying, "You can't make sudden moves around those things. They are dangerously unpredictable when they're startled. I have seen very few things that are that vicious. They even killed their owner once."
"Did anyone do anything about it?" Dana asked.
"There isn't much you can do. Only writers can pass judgement on a fictive and here death is rarely permanent."
Kitty walked back to join some of her friends at another booth and Dana turned to Danae, "I'm sorry about that. I didn't think they could be dangerous. They looked so cute."
"That should be your first clue." Danae explained, "When something looks harmless it is usually anything but."
"I'll keep that in mind next time."
"There isn't going to be a next time for those slippers. I say we get those pastel little rats and turn them into pillow stuffing."
"Do you have a plan?" Dana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just watch and learn." Danae answered before getting up and making her way to the bar. She came back carrying a red cooler with a white top. Smiling triumphantly she presented the cooler on the table infront of Dana. "All we have to do is herd them into the cooler, shut the lid and latch it."
"I just have one question...who's going to herd them into the cooler and who's going to latch it?"
"Well..."
*The two of you can worry about latching the lid. Just leave the herding to me.*
"Who?" Dana started, looking confused at the telepathic voice. She was interupted when a big, beautiful cat jumped up next to her, momentarily rubbed against her shoulder, jumped down and walked away in search of the `pastel rats' as Danae referred to them.
End of Part One