The Deco Lounge: A club for dieselpunk aficionados and personas

[MWBailey]

*Brantley enters from behind the cigarette machine in the corner*

What's this I hear about a zeppelin?

[J. Wilhelm]

- "I see" *Della responds staring at the photos*

-"Brantley!!" exclaimed Will, "You're back.  What are you doing here?"
"I thought I saw you a while ago in the joint, but then you were gone"
*He cracks an asymmetric smile and continues*
"We were just talking about the Dohar coast and my plane... versus Sir Lawrence's Zep in Oman.  You know about that expedition right?"

*Nathan stares at Brantley and Will disappointingly*

-"C'mon loosen up, Nathan, it's not that much of a secret. Not in the oil industry anyway."

*The music gets a bit louder, bit by bit*

Tuxedo Junction - Glenn Miller

[MWBailey]

*Brantley answers as he approaches the bar*

I was just passing through earlier, had to get to Purgatory in New Mexico.

*lays a silver dollar on the bar, gestures at the barkeep, and thanks him for the milk stout that is set in front of him, then walks over and looks at the photos*

Yeah, I heard about that bit with Lawrence. It's all the buzz back at the Warehouse. The Intertemporal Committee ain't  too happy about it, seems they think Lawrence shoulda been ridin' a camel when he attacked Beersheba, and it was too late in the century, or so they said. Typical bureaucrat--! Uh.  Er, you didn't hear that from me...

*picks up a picture of a dashing young man and a strikingly gorgeous young woman in uniform*

What're these two doin' there?

[MWBailey]

*A figure in a black trenchcoat and fedora, nondescript save for what appears to be just the tip of a besuckered tentacle hanging below the hem of said trenchcoat, deposits three coins in the jukebox and presses a series of buttons.*
http://youtu.be/GK72A_eV8Lg

[J. Wilhelm]

*Will grins and chuckles*
"That fella is going to give himself away.  He ain't foolin' no one!  I guess he didn't notice the presence of the live band! They might even tell him to skiddale outta here!  Ha, ha!

"That picture," exclaims Will
*Nathan looks over Will's shoulder*
"I see you remember my cousin Matthew.  The dame is Megan Hallford.  You saw her at the corporate New Year's party last year.  She's part of the newly formed US Natural Resources Dept.  They were the ones who got me the connection with the Sultanate Oman and the Iraq Petroleum Co."

Will continues,

"I thought you had heard.  Brantley, the cat's out of the bag. There's definitely more than oil in that green coast of Dhofar.  Sir Lawrence is on expedition and he's not looking for oil, if you get my drift.  We already found all there is.  This is the only green patch in all of Arabia, and they're all over it like flies.  I think they found something important.  Our friend, Nathan, here, thinks it may the lost city of Iram.  Iram of The Pillars in the Rub' al Khali. [1]  I don't know - what do you think?

[1] The City of Iram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars

[MWBailey]

It's not the oil that I was thinking of, but the causality.

Never mind, my perspective's somewhat... specialized... compared to most. It likely won't make the multiverse any noticeably different. It's just different from what I've come to expect for this milieu; makes me wonder what else is off, if maybe it's a whole new spur to be mapped, or just an aberrant anomaly. But as I said, it's probably no big deal.

Now, as to Iram...

The Cartesian position seems about right, but the coastline's changed a bit, if it's true. There's a sandbar in front of what might've been the ancient river mouth... columns and ruined walls're all very nice, but I'd rather see some inscriptions of some kind to see what kind of public lingo and calligraphy the denizens used, that's usually a good telltale of a city's identity. Be warned, though, so many 'ancient lost cities' keep turning out to be ruined Roman wayforts and forae ...

About the only way to be really sure would be to go and stand there and actuate a time machine to go backwards timewise...

[J. Wilhelm]

"I' knew you'd say something like that.  If you want to travel in time, I'll leave that to you pal"  I'm planning to take the slow way down there." *Will exclaims*  "But I definitely won't join Sir Lawrence. I have to return and fly to the cost, as always. I'd like to see what is down there now. and look at what's got them so rowled up."

Maybe our friend Nathan can fill us in on the inscrip...  Nathan! ...Nathan !?

*Will looks all around him. Nathan is gone.  So is Della*

"What the... Oh well" *Will says* It looks like it's just you an me now... sit down.  I've had people leave me before, but not when I was being so charming" * Will pushes a chair to  Brantley and takes another gulp of scotch*  "What about your non-human friend over there?  What's the story with him?  I'm assuming it's a him"
*Will stares at the mysterious creature in the black trench coat arguing with the club management."

[MWBailey]

'She,' actually. I didn't bring her here, she followed me; she seems to have a thing for me, no matter how Sally tries to put her off.

*rattles off a string of apparently cthuloid syllables, which causes the being in the trenchcoat to turn toward him and purr coquettishly in a similar fashion.*

Yep, that's her. Chthugha of the fires of heaven, or at least that's as near as I can get in human terms; cousin to Great Cthulhu. Says she wants to mate with me. She can't understand why I persist in keeping a human form, she says. It's a long story, all that bit about the Martian transplants after the Chronojammer travelling device experiment went wrong...