fandomtownies | Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

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Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

Halloween season brought with it many scary things. At the moment perhaps the most terrifying was that the winter holidays would be here soon. (Where had the year gone? Where???)

As such, Steven was in his usual spot behind the Welcome Desk working on ideas for winter themed displays. There were the usual things such as pointing out the bugs and fish which thrived in colder weather. But perhaps this year they could include a special exhibition about winter events? Perhaps something about how the random happenstances in December had changed over the years?

Of course that would involve research, but that wasn't an insurmountable problem. Right now Steven was attacking it by making notes on what sorts of things could be included. He'd narrow down specifics later.

In the meanwhile, he was interruptible for any visitors who wished to talk.

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Gregorith had fallen down a Galaxy Quest rabbit hole, including a podcast called "Grapthar's Divas".

"Ding on the 'The Props Department Hopes We Don't Notice That The Alien Thing Is Actually A Perfectly Ordinary Thing' counter!"

But he'd arrived at his destination for the day, so he hit pause, took out the earbuds and entered the museum.

Let the learning commence.

(ooc: pinging in in the morning but will have to go to work soon)

Steven looked up - and up - as he saw the newcomer arrive.

He gave a friendly wave. "Hello! Welcome! What can I do for you?"

Gregorith was starting to wonder if the "resting stab face" thing had more to do with people in his universe knowing what his main job was, than any actual aura thing.

"Hello, thank you. I'm new to this universe...or, the island I guess and I'm hoping to learn more about the place."

Gregorith wasn't attempting to stab Steven in this moment, which meant regardless of his appearance Steven was assuming Gregorith was a perfectly nice person since Steven's default was to assume the best of everyone until overwhelming evidence proved otherwise.

It might also help when/if Gregorith ever saw Marc's resting face and thus another reason why Steven was not put off by what others might consider a less than friendly appearance.

"Well you've come to the right place then!" Steven said, brightly. He set his work and glasses aside. "Welcome! I'm Steven, with a V."

Steven tapped the name tag pinned to his lapel which did, in fact, say "Steven."

"Was there anything in particular you were interested in to start?" Steven asked. "Happy to help with universe and island both, much as I'm able."

All very good points. It also might be relevant to his thinking, that no one here seemed at all bothered that he was a demon, and while most Afterlife Denizens had similar attitudes, Gregorith knew that the mortal souls often had a knee jerk fear reaction to seeing a demon.

He'd ruminate on that later.

"Pleased to meet you Steven, I'm Gregorith."

Where to start? "I guess the first thing I was wondering about is, I'm told that this island is a kind of dimensional nexus?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Gregorith," Steven said, giving a little bow of his head in greeting. He then warmed up to the topic, "And yes! It is. Those who live here come from all sorts of places. Some call them universes, some dimensions, some planes, but it seems the same general idea all the same. Different points in history, different versions of Earth - that's the planet we're on now - different planets entirely. Can do your head in if you're not used to it already. Do you have anything like that back where you're from?"

In Steven's experience it helped to try to get a baseline of what newcomers were used to. "Normal" meant different things to different people after all.

Out of all of that, it was the 'different planets' part that might do his brain in. Other than Cthulhu, neither he, nor anyone he knew (well maybe Lucifer) had had any contact with the afterlives of other planets.

"Something like that." he said thoughtfully. "I'm a demon, so I live in the afterlife. I haven't been to all of them, but there are many different realms there, some similar to each other, some very different." And possibly even just calling it 'the Afterlife' was too simplistic. "And we exist outside of time and space so people from different time periods aren't unusual.

"We also know about other universes, though we try not to pry in that regard. As for other planets, outside of science fiction and knowing that other sentient lifeforms exist in the universe I've no experience."

Gregorith mentioning he was a demon didn't get much of a reaction from Steven since, well, Gregorith wasn't his first. However, Steven's face lit up - not literally, emotionally - at the mention of the afterlife.

"Are you familiar with the Duat?" he asked. "The Egyptian afterworld? I've been there, you see."

"I am, yes. I've been to a few conferences there." Denizens who ran various realms of 'punishment/justice' had occasional get togethers to commiserate, or exchange ideas. Gregorith had even met one or two ambassadors from other universes there.

Ammut had invited him to join their bowling team.

Steven looked even more thrilled. "Have you met Tawaret? She's sort of a friend of ours."

Most of the deities that Gregorith dealt with were those more related to death or judgement. Hades, Anubis, Hela, folks like that.

"I met her once, briefly. We didn't chat long but she was very kind." As he recalled she'd been busy doing the mom friend thing, making sure everyone at the party had gotten to the buffet. "And I've heard good things.

"Have you spent a lot of time in the afterlife?" That was better than flat out asking if someone was alive, right?

"Briefly," Steven said. Then amended, "Well - back home sort of brief? Not sure how long it was there. We died, you see. But then we were able to come back so, well, here we are."

He looked at Gregorith with curiosity. "Do you deal entirely with afterlives?"

"Primarily, though it may depend on what you mean by dealing with. I'm on leave at the moment but I'm in charge of Level Nine in Hell. That's a punishment level, and most of the deities I'm in contact with work-wise have similar jobs. Outside of that, there are realms that are not exactly afterlives, but have afterlives associated with them, like Asgard and Faerie. Which I've spent a bit of time in."

"I'm familiar with Asgard!" Steven said. "Never been, personally. Sort of thing you always mean to get around to, you know? I've heard it's a fun holiday.

"We've people - well, gods," Steven amended, "from Asgard here. Thor? Have you met them? Er - any version of them I suppose. Apparently there's loads."

When Gregorith didn't opt for a staycation, Asgard was one of his favorite holiday destinations. He like the fjords. (he also liked saying fjord) Party-wise he used to like Faerie until he partied too hard there and now he chose more sedate outings there.

"I haven't met Thor actually. He runs with a slightly wilder crowd than I tend towards." He was pretty sure Asmodeus used to hang out with him when they were younger. "Have you met alternate versions of people? I've heard of the concept but I've never actually met anyone like that."

"Oh yes," Steven said. "It's rather common here. Couldn't even tell you how many people I've met on this island who come from versions of my world. Each one different as well. No single universe the same."

"That's fascinating." And maybe a little frightening? Another thing to ruminate on later. "You said we're on Earth, right? But at the same time Fandom is its own pocket realm?" He hoped that it only connected to his universe via the afterlife. He had no desire to get on the wrong side of territorial cryptids.

"Correct," Steven said. "Earth, just off the coast of the United States, and the current date is 16th October, 2025. But though you'll end up in Baltimore if you cross the causeway, we are our own little pocket of existence, I suppose you could say. We're not part of the United States proper, the weather isn't always what it is on the mainland - those sorts of things just for a start."

The "for a start" was doing some heavy lifting there but Steven figured it was best to start small for someone new, even if they were familiar with different afterlifes.

"Oh - speaking of the causeway - " Steven pointed to the brochure rack by the desk. "Do you need a map of the island? Free to take. Found that dead helpful myself when I arrived."

"I have a map, but thank you. It was included in the materials we received about the island, along with brochures for the University and 'touristy' flyers for Fandom itself."

He knew of October. They did holidays differently back home but many people (himself included) enjoyed the concept of "the spooky season". He wasn't certain he'd be able to point to Baltimore on a map though.

"What would you say is the most interesting thing about Fandom? Aside from what we already talked about I mean. Sorry if that's prying."

"Not prying at all," Steven assured him. "Though thank you for checking."

Steven gave the question some consideration. "I would say meeting people you'd never have met otherwise? I've made loads of friends of all different sorts. I met my husband here. He's from over a hundred years ago in Toronto. Wouldn't have known him at all if not for us both coming to this place."

"Yeah I'm starting to gain an appreciation for that myself." He smiled slightly. His extrovert friends would be so proud of him. "Did you..." he trailed off, thinking he should rephrase his next question, or preface it.

"Again, I apologize if I come across as nosy. Our contact with other universes can be kind of hit or miss sometimes and it's never been as informal as this. Like I said when I came in, I'm hoping to learn more about the island, that's part of why I'm here on the island.

All of that is to bring me to this question, are you a student at the University? Or were you?"

"No, no," Steven said. He waved the question off to show no offense was taken. "Only been here about three years? I think? I've worked here since the start. I worked at a museum back home, you see. Sort of a natural place to end up when we moved here.

"You?" Steven asked. "Likewise if it's not too personal."

Sure Gregorith didn't look like a teenager but that didn't mean he might not wish to enroll in a university.

"No, the timing didn't quite work out." And they weren't sure about making a commitment like that. Having him come to just live there had seemed more conducive to a quick retreat if necessary.

"So, what can you tell me about the museum?" And if that was an abrupt change of topic, chalk it up being out of practice in the art of converasation.

That was all right. Steven's job was to talk about the museum, so it wasn't as much of a non-sequitur in his eyes. Or to his ears, depending on the point of view.

"It's entirely about the island," Steven said. He started to point in the various directions, to his right (Gregorith's left), left, up, then down. "Over that way we've got the various insects. That way is local fish and other aquatic creatures. Upstairs is art about the island, and downstairs is items and displays about the island's history. Is there anything in particular you've an interest in?"

"Well a second ago I would have said island history but I'm curious about the insects. That's something we don't have in the afterlife." Unless entomologists had them in their paradises.

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