Kitty glances after Sera and Gracie with a hint of worry, then shifts
priorities just a little. Sera needs Ray, not friends, just now. "It's the
exceptions that prove the rule, right?" she offers to Ria as she picks up
her pace to follow Remy. "Not that he's much of an exception..." She's not
inclined to have any encounters with the police, either; she doesn't have
enough cash on her to manage an effective bribe.

Seishi leads the way down the sidewalk to the cafe that she and Kitty just
left, commenting dryly, "There are a lot of chain-smoking Englishmen in
this city. Most of them aren't so bad." She watches Remy sidelong, but
doesn't ask any questions. Not yet, anyhow. Poor guy.

Ria snorts quietly, but she has to nod at Kitty. "I suppose. And John
isn't /that/ awful. I suppose he could be worse. Anyhow.." Muttering
quietly to herself, she follows the others towards the cafe, tucking her
hands into her pockets. At least she'll get a new latte. YAY! More
caffeine!

Speaking of smoking. Remy's pulled one out as he's walking, and has lit
it...with his fingers? It's an unthinking thing. It's not likely that he
even realizes he's done it. Inhale, smoke trailing up. Uh...what was that?
He's Cajun, and he doesn't chainsmoke, but he does wear a trenchcoat and
have an accent. Ahem. He's holding the questions until they get inside.
This is /damn/ cold for someone from Louisiana. Once he sees where he's
going, he does do the gentlemanly thing and hold the door open for them,
taking a last drag of the cigarette before tossing it onto the sidewalk.

A habit Kitty notices largely because she's been systematically trying to
break Pete of it for months now. "No, John /is/ that awful. Occasionally
he has these little bursts of good behavior that fool people into thinking
he's not that bad." Sour tones? Her? When talking about Constantine?
Never. Ahem. Not too sour, though - all in all she's still riding the high
from Monday as she goes to corner a table. One chosen specifically for
lack of overhearing.

Seishi actually pauses and blinks at Remy. Not because of the cigarette,
which she didn't seem to notice - because he held the door. Wow. After
that very brief hesitation, she trails inside after Kitty, glancing back
to make sure they're not leaving anyone behind.

Ria steps through the door with a brief, grateful look given to Remy.
Glancing over at Kitty, her expression dims a bit. "He seemed alright to
me, though I guess I've only talked to him a couple times. He.. that lady
he was with.. he.." She stops, not so much because she's not certain what
to say as what she /should/ say. "She was hurt bad once. I helped him with
her."

Remy doesn't sit down when they make it to the table. Instead, he reaches
into his pocket. "What will you ladies have, den? On me, hm? Least I can
do if you going to tell me what de hell happen to me." Distracted, but
still a gentleman. And not being a flirt. Not right /now/. Even Remy
wouldn't try flirting right after he got thrown from another dimension.
"Dat is...if you take dis here?" He has a twenty dollar bill pinched
between two fingers. There's a little grin on the Cajun's face and the
very briefest hints of a twinkle in the clearly inhuman eyes.

And all Kitty says back to Ria is, "... thank you." Because she's not
getting into how she knows 'that lady he was with' just at the moment.
Newcomer! And then she shakes her head at Remy. "Nope. We're buying -
because you're gonna need that. It's hard enough to settle in /with/ cash
on you. Though -" She squints at the twenty, cocking her head to one side.
"Yeah, that's probably good enough to pass."

Seishi can't help but smile, shaking her head a little as she slides into
a seat. "You really ought to hold onto that," she echoes Kitty's advice.
"You can return the favor once you're sorted, if you like."

Ria doesn't say much of anything at this point, other than perking up at
the mention of fresh drinks. Money hasn't ever been much of a problem for
her. When she didn't have it, she didn't need it much.. and now that she
does need it, she's been able to get her hands on plenty of that stuff,
with a little help from her favorite nutcase. "Why don't you let me get
the drinks?" she offers quietly. "You.." she nods at Remy, "can save your
money. And Kitty can consider this my apology for missing her party the
other day.. I had a minor problem I had to attend to.." and then she turns
to smile at Seishi. "And it can be my way of saying hello to you. If
you're a friend of Kitty's you must be fairly cool."

Remy won't admit that the twenty is all he has to his name. But, as
Constantine knows, he's a thief. He's not worried about getting extra
cash. Perhaps that's why Kitty gets an almost-knowing little half-smirk.
But he shrugs for now, sliding the money back into the pocket. Suit
yourselves. He settles into a seat and shrugs off the trenchcoat. "I'm
Remy, by de way. Forgive me. My manners are usually better." And he
usually flirts a lot more. Give him time.

Kitty points out reasonably, "You just got dropped ten feet into a pile of
garbage, not on the same planet you started out of. You get a /bunch/ of
leeway." She flicks a grin, quick. "Kitty Pryde." Who remains well aware
of where all her jewelry is at any given moment, thank you. But then,
there are reasons she glared at Constantine at his 'annoying thief'
comment that she's not about to go into. "I hope everything turned out
okay with the problem, Ria?" she adds. Nonspecifically.

Seishi grins a little self-deprecatingly at Ria's compliment, and inclines
her head politely to Remy. "And I'm Seishi, in case you missed that
earlier." She wouldn't blame him if he had. "I'd say it's nice to meet
you, but under the circumstances..." Little shrug.

"And I'm Ria," the redhead offers. "And..well.. what she said." Looking
around at the little group, she smiles again. "So.. what does everyone
want? I'm suspecting Remy could use something hot to warm him up... and.."
She offers this a little more hesitantly. "If you think we're far enough
in the back nobody would notice, Kitty.. I could maybe do something about
the muck.."

Remy is a smart thief. He isn't about to steal from people who have helped
him out. Not...at the moment anyway. "So anyone want to get started on
what exactly happen to me?" he folds his hands on the table, gripping them
together. He glances around at the three women, and then resting the gaze
on Ria. "Anythin' warm would be fine, cher. You got some damn cold weather
'round here." New Orleans born and bred. he isn't used to the cold. Brr.

Kitty's answer to Ria is a helplessly grateful look - after the quick
flick of her eyes to check whether anyone /is/ looking. "If it wouldn't be
too much of a strain?" Kitty asks tentatively. Please? Pretty please?
Ahem. "New England," she adds to Remy. "Beacon Harbor's 'way up in the
northeast. What happened to you is - well - an example of science gone
weird. There was an experiment a few years ago that kind of blew up; the
aftereffects are that every so often, people get pulled into the city from
... all over the place, really. Usually something at least analogous to
Earth, but not always. You're even kinda lucky. The last one I was around
for landed in the harbor. There's no reliable way to go back; sometimes
immigrants /do/ vanish, but there's no known way to encourage or
discourage it, and though the highest probability is that they go back
home, nobody knows for sure."

Seishi nods at Kitty's explanation. "To really sum up," she puts in, "some
people messed around with forces beyond their understanding, and now
you're here. So far as we know, the effect is centered completely on this
city. Which means, of course, that the whole place is very, very
screwed-up."

Ria listens curiously, especially as nobody has ever really explained this
clearly to her. Well, 'Pool tried, but then again.. 'Pool and clear
explanations rarely ever come together. Glancing at Kitty, she smiles.
"It's no trouble. This is the easy stuff. Remy.. you hold still for just a
few minutes, if you don't mind. I promise, I'm not going to do anything to
hurt you.. just get you cleaned up a bit and make sure you don't have any
problems from your fall. Okay?"

There's a little smirk from the Cajun at Seishi, and a glance to Kitty.
"You folk sound like you said dis to lots of people before. You meet many
people dropped here by de big blue light?" Give him credit. He can make
jokes already. Probably because he's making himself not think about what
he left in New Orleans. Denial. Remy looks a little wary at Ria. "You a
doctor or somethin'? I don' tink dis is a good place to examine me."
Cheeky grin.

Kitty glances at Seishi. "This is the ... sixth or seventh, I think? ...
time giving this talk for me. Seishi, I think you've had more? I tell you,
I'm /going/ to write up that 'Welcome to Beacon Harbor, leave your sanity
at the portal' pamphlet one of these days."

Seishi drawls good-naturedly, "You're talking to at least one of them."
Well, three, but Sei doesn't know for sure about Ria, and it's not her
place to spill Kitty's origins. So instead she merely raises a hand and
quips dryly, "First-hand experience and all."

Ria chuckles quietly. "Not quite, but that's close. And yeah, I was
dropped here too, but it was so long ago that this place is just as much
home now as the old one was.. more in some ways." Since Remy didn't
actually protest, Ria props her chin in her hand, eyeing him
contemplatively. "And don't worry, I don't have to actually touch you for
this.. and it will just take a couple minutes. All I need from you is to
sit -still-."

Remy is still apprehensive. "Magic?" Someone hasn't had contact with many
metahumans. Hardly any, actually, except in passing. The other two get a
glance. Is it okay to trust the redhead? Not that he knows Seishi or Kitty
any more than he knows Ria. But if they don't go shaking their heads, then
perhaps it's okay. He doesn't have much to lose.

Kitty's already indicated approval, on her part. And she says reasonably,
"Probably not any more magic than your lighting that cigarette was. Ria's
just going to help you clean up from that fall some." She glances at
Seishi, and lets out a quick breath. "And... um, yeah. That goes for all
of us here. I got dropped, too, about eight months back. Without a
convenient reasonably soft thing to land on; nearly broke an ankle."

"Like I said," Seishi grouses, without any real rancor, "these things
always seem to involve falling down. I really don't know why that is." The
byplay, particularly Kitty's last comments, have her brows raising a bit;
she looks to Remy with mild interest. Clearly, she missed the trick with
the cigarette.

Ria nods. "Magic, in a way.. though most of the folks here call it
something else, that's what it's always been to me." And with that she
lets the rest of the world drop away. As the others continue their
conversation, she's watching Remy across the table. to anyone looking in,
she's just a girl who must have a crush or something, from the wide-eyed
way she's staring. Then again, they can't see what she's seeing.

A little throatclear at Kitty's mention of the cigarette-lighting. Ahem.
Must learn to curb habits. Though the fact that Remy's here at all and his
eyes is a likely giveaway that he's something other than human. He's about
to say something, when he feels Ria's eyes upon him. Remembering her
words, he stays still and returns the look for lack of knowing what else
to do, red eyes staring almost as intently, though he looks more
bewildered than anything.

Kitty gives Remy an amused look at the throat-clearing. "Most people will
happily not-notice, but - well, there are better reasons than usual to
stay clear of the cops." Now that was a less-than-obvious connection,
there. To Seishi, she adds, "Well ... I guess it's better to come through
in the air than underground. So if it has to make mistakes in one
direction or the other..."

"True," Seishi admits. "And, yeah. Low profile, generally wise. The
Establishment is Not Your Friend. All that stuff." Her attention shifts
interestedly to Ria as the redhead apparently begins to do her thing. Huh.

There's no response at all from Ria. She's too deep into the pattern in
front of her to even notice the others at the table. Gradually, dirt and
muck shifts off of Remy, sifting in almost invisible motes from him to the
floor. The waitresses may be a bit surprised when they do their sweeping,
but most of the dirt is being broken into it's base components, and isn't
very noticeable, at least not as it sloughs off of him.

Any injuries that Ria finds are minor, bruises and cuts and maybe a muscle
strain in Remy's legs, but nothing overly serious. There are quite a few
old and healed injuries in his body, marked with scars or
imperfectly-healed fractures. Someone who has seen combat, but other than
that, he's healthy. He dares not move, just in case something might happen
if he does. It feels strange, to be clean like that, and there's a
bewildered look on his face.

Kitty's grin resurfaces slowly as Ria's working; she's never seen this
from the /outside/, and it's fascinating to watch. Particularly Remy's
expression, which might be considered priceless, eyes and all.

"Well," Seishi murmurs, no little bit impressed. "That's just... *neat.*"

The minor stuff fades away easily, cuts, bruises and scrapes disappearing
quickly as the girl finishes up her work. Blinking to clear the pattern
from her sight, Ria droops slightly, shaking her head. "Caffeine?" she
murmurs. "If somebody could order some coffee that would rock.."

Priceless, because it's not a look that he's given often before. Though,
being in a new dimension, more people may be treated to that shell-shocked
look from Remy. He shakes his head and murmurs something in french, then
pushes a loose strand out of his face. "Mon dieu..." A look of
bewilderment and a touch of wonder for Ria. "I'll get dat." Seems he
forgot their lecture of not spending money. He gets up from the table
rather quickly, forgetting that, hey...he should probably figure out what
they want.

Coffee. Coffee would work just fine. Kitty's leaning to prop Ria up a
little. "You okay?" she asks quickly. "Need anything to eat with that?"
And that grin's flashed past her at Remy.

Seishi makes as if to stop Remy, leaning forward and lifting a hand, mouth
opening to call him back. But, nope, there he goes. With a lopsided grin
she settles back in her seat. They'll figure out how to handle the tab
later. For now, hey, coffee's fine.

Ria glances over at Kitty and smiles wearily. "I'm fine, Kitty. Honest.
Told ya before, it's a bit tiring, but get me some caffeine.. and yeah, a
little food would be good.. and I'll be right as rain. Promise."

Either Remy's hungry too, or he's thoughtful enough to thing that the
three women might be, because he returns with a plate full of goodies with
a call of, "Coffee is coming. Dey jus' put on a new pot." Look at him,
playing waiter. He sets the tray of goodies down in the middle of the
table and awkwardly re-takes his seat. He may seem fairly confident, but
this Remy LeBeau isn't that old. He does well to hide his youth most of
the time.

Since the oldest one at the table is twenty-seven, it's not /that/ hard.
Kitty waves a hand toward the food and its provider, straightening up.
"Maybe the wrong order, but it's something." Kitty glances up. "What, uh,
we didn't say, is that those portals that snagged you? They go for people
with unusual abilities. Usually ones normal people around here don't have
at all; occasionally people who're just incredibly highly skilled."

Seishi blinks at the arrival of, heeeeey, junk food! She's the oldest
person at the table, but she's not *that* old. "Remember how we said you
probably ought to hold on to your money?" she drawls lightly at Remy,
grinning. She likes this guy already. Kitty's comments sober her a little,
though. "Uh, yeah. Part of the reason the place is so messed up. There are
all *kinds* of people running around."

Ria reaches for a cookie, grinning her thanks at Remy. "Sugar. Perfect..."
she says gleefully as she sits back in her chair to munch. Seishi gains a
glance and a nod. "Yeah, I've seen the weirdest shit since I showed up
here. And it's gettin' worse all the time. Not that../you're/ bad.." she
says quickly to Remy. "But gah.. some of what comes through those portals
is just plain scary."

What? Him? Unusual abilities? Just ignore the black-and-red eyes and the
fact that he can light a cigarette with his finger - really! His eyes dart
around as he reaches for the least sugar-filled thing on the tray, which
happens to be an oat bar. He takes a little bite and makes a face. Ugh.
Sandpapery. Thankfully, the coffee arrives and is sat in front of each of
them. "You mean the portal not snag me for my dashing good looks?" Quips
Remy wryly, playfully. His hands fold eagerly around the mug. Mmm. Warm.
Though...technically he can make his own heat, he doesn't want to risk
setting his clothes on fire. "What /kind/ of stuff?" He asks, giving the
oat bar another curious nibble. Nope. Still bad. Yech.

"Vampires are pretty much a usual problem around here, for one thing,"
Kitty says amiably. "Demons. Occasional monsters of other types. There are
dragon incidents every few months, those tend to do a lot of property
damage. There used to be a guy called the Hulk around who did almost as
much, but the news claims he's under control for the moment. Weird alien
parasites. Angels, about one in five of which is actually not the fallen
kind." She's keeping an eye on the waitress's movements. "Add that to the
random wackos and the various organized-crime factions in the city, and
it's kind of a mess."

"I met a guy who went around dressed as a bat," Seishi adds helpfully.
"Plus we get people from the past, an android or two... A lot of stuff
straight out of bad sci-fi, really."

Ria nods, ticking them off on her fingers. "Us three and you, at least a
couple angels that I've met. I'm pretty sure that dragon wasn't from
around here either.." she muses thoughtfully, nibbling on her cookie
before continuing. "Scott, but he's gone now.. " Making a face, Ria
mutters. "And took his angsty constant brood with him, thank goodness.
-That- got a wee bit old. Hmm.. who else? My.. the guy I'm seeing was
brought that way too. Oh! And the gargoyle chick, but I haven't seen her
in a while."

Remy tries to take it all in. He rubs his hand over his cheek. "Man...I
tought Nawlins was strange..." The cheek-rub goes to the back of his neck.
There's nothing put in the coffee as he sips it. "So..." He looks around
at the three and leans back on the chair. "What'm I supposed to do with
myself? I don't got any ID that work for here, I got no money, nowhere to
stay..." These things he ticks off on his fingers in a mirror of Ria.

"Solace House is, technically, an option," Kitty admits. "It's a place set
up for new arrivals, to help them get local ID legitimately and their feet
under them. Unfortunately, there's a strong possibility that it's still
being watched - the problem with places like that is that, since everyone
/knows/ the people that come through the portals have nifty skills and
powers, everyone wants to get their hands on 'em." Thus the dragging Remy
away from the immediate vicinity of the rink. Ahem. She reaches for
coffee, adding sugar.

Seishi smiles sympathetically. "The first of those, at least, I can help
with. My roommate's pretty good with fake IDs; illegal, of course, but it
can't be helped. We get your vital information, a Polaroid of you looking
vaguely stoned, we can fix you up. The rest..." She flicks a look aside at
Kitty and nods. "I've been warned off Solace House. Frankly, the powers
that be in this city aren't people I'd want to trust my life to. But there
are a bunch of shelters on Southland Drive; they come and go. It's not a
particularly pleasant option, but it's a reasonably safe place to stay
until you can get something better. I spent the best part of a month that
way when I first got here."

Ria frowns down at the table. Kitty's explanation made some amount of
sense, but Seishi's.. "People at Solace have been good to me," she finally
says quietly. "But.. maybe you need to do whatever seems right to you. And
if you run into real trouble, well, head to the Badlands. I'm there most
days, and I'm always willing to lend a hand. I'd offer a place to stay
too, but.." she shakes her head. No. Not good idea.

Remy is getting a little overwhelmed. He slumps forward on the table and
stares into the inky blackness of his coffee, then up at the three women.
"Dis also sound like somethin' you've said before. A lot of people in de
same situation, huh?" A heavy sigh, and the mutant eyes squeeze closed.
His shoulders hunch too. He's thinking...thinking about the situation he
was blipped out of. "And no one ever find a way to talk to people back
home?"

Kitty gestures a little, to herself, Ria, Seishi. "All three of us have
been there. And - no. Nobody's found anything that even looks like a way."
She grimaces. "I'm a science geek - I've spent the last eight months
reading every physics journal I can find, every article that has anything
to do with what people know about the effect. Nobody's found a way to do
/anything/ with it yet. Except guessing that, someplace around five
hundred years from now, it might go away on its own. Sorry." And there's a
faint little muffled electronic sound, and Kitty digs hastily for her
cellphone. "Whoop! And sorry again." She slides out past Ria to step a
little away from the table as she answers it. Little slim black model.
"Pryde."

( Cellphone: "The kitten's trying to eat Lockheed. This is depressing. It
keeps failing. Where are you?" )

( Kitty: "I take it the failure is the depressing part. Same cafe on West
Main as last time? Seishi and I were heading out, but the latest resident
of Beacon Harbor dropped in in front of the ice rink, and we're giving him
an introduction. Ria's here, too." )

( Cellphone: "Brilliant. I'll be along. In front of the ice rink? Poor
bastard." )

Seishi inclines her head apologetically. "I've never heard of anyone
managing it, either," she says quietly. "I've known some people who've
looked into trying, but nothing ever came of it."

( Kitty: "In the /trash/ in front of the ice rink, no less. Keep an eye
out, Raven was around to see it. Love you." )

Ria shrugs silently, watching Kitty curiously as she gets up to answer her
phone. "I never tried. I don't want to go home, and I haven't got anyone
there to worry about me. This is my home now, and hopefully I'll never
leave."

( Cellphone: "Elgh. Undignified entrance, that. We should start ranking
them." There's a pause, some background noise, a really pathetically
disappointed mew and a triumphant pfui, and the door shutting. "Will do.
Love you too!" Look there's a ! these days. *click* )

Remy looks...like he's trying not to look distraught. "There was
someone..." he starts off, but in a low mumble. He stops himself and
shakes his head. "It do me no good to dwell on it if I can't talk to folks
back home...I guess I just figure out what I do now..."

Kitty's got an intent look on her face, and words are traded fairly
quickly after the initial stifled snicker - Seishi's and Ria's names might
get caught, and the words 'ice rink' and 'raven.' Three guesses what's
being discussed. Then the cellphone's folded and she comes to retake her
seat. "Pete's on his way over," she comments quietly, glancing to the
other three to try to work out what she missed. Remy is given something of
a concerned look.

Seishi looks at Kitty kind of blankly. Then at Remy. then at Kitty again.
"...Are you sure that's a good idea?" she wonders cautiously. Not that she
doesn't love Pete and all. But, well...