Trog's Tavern CLIV

[Rebonack]

Upon entering the tavern you find it to be rustic, dim, cramped, and smelling of spilled beer. Moving through the crowd, half of which seem to be deadtiming, you spot a fireplace with a banjowood carving on the mantle, you also make out through the haze the curving bar and private booths hidden behind ferns. A side door leading to a patio outside reveals a hungry looking dumpster mimic sneaking towards an unsuspecting customer.

Near the stairs to the second floor rooms is a floor length mirror. Stepping through will teleport someone to the Temple of Inari where healers are always standing by in case of bar-brawls.

Trog's can be found right around the corner from any place in the Nexus. Somehow. It's best not to question it.

Staff:
Owner and Proprietor: Trog
Bartenders: Zee

Trog's Tavern hires only the finest NPC servers:
((Since all are NPCs they are up for communal control. Feel free to say what they do or say to you or any other patron. To a point.))

Servers:
Nina - A fiesty and vivacious tiefling. Mean, self-centered and completely unavailable. Updated her appearance for 5e, everyone is into blue tieflings now.
Paige - A sweet, wholesome, flirty elf working her way through PC school.
Cosmo - A quick-witted and oppressed gnome scoundrel. Truly a monster. RAWR!

DRINK MENU:
Wines:
Catoblepas Sauvingnon
Chimera Cabernet - A hearty red with a hits of oak and black cherry.
Chuul Lounge - Bacardi Limon, Aberration , creme de bananes and juices into a Chuul shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into a highball glass half-filled with ice cubes, and serve.
Constitution Crushing Wine - Fort. DC 35 or pass out!
Cormyrian Fireamber - Imported and very good.
Eladrin Carbernet - Official Feywine of the Wild Hunt.
Feline's Fancy - A purplish, swirly mixture that any feline will adore.
Funky Llama - A rich fruity wine, available in white or red.
Iames Agonia - This tart, dark red wine will stun you and leave you feeling good for hours.
Kobold Chianti - Tart. Tangy. Shifty.
Merfolk Merlot - Full-bodied with a hint of rose.
Powerlust Pinot - For those corruptable humans.
Shadar-Kai Shadowine - Served in a jagged, broken glass.
Spoonake Chablis - Straight from the Underdark!
Warlock Wine - Best served cold.
Xorn Zinfandel - Sweet and fruity!

Mixed Drinks:
A Drink - Generic booze with ice that can be shaken, stirred, or you know, whatever. Try to be more imaginative next time.
Aboleth Absinthe - Far Realmilicious!
Black Shadow - A strong concoction guaranteed to send a chill down your spine at any temperature.
Brandy Yezekiel - Apple brandy, chocolate liqueur, cream, and garnished with a sprinkle of coco powder. Almost as good as her brownies.
Coffee Martini - Buzzzzz.
Djinn and Tonic - Whirling ice cubes, fizzy soda, and one drunk genie.
Dragon Liver Buster - Strongest drink in the house.
Dwarf Spirits
Fire Archon Asylum Rum - "FAAR!!!"
Haley's Liquer - Named for the redheaded rogue, a sweet creme liquer, excellent over ice.
Hemo Colada - 100% less coconut, 100% more ichor.
Ice Liquer - From the Plane of Ice: guaranteed to cool you down.
Ichor Liquor - Made from a fermented mix of various kinds of blood.
Jasphattan - El J's Secret Recipie, vermouth & bitters.
LEVEL UP LIQUER - Need a few extra XP? We gots XP in a bottle!
Long Island Iced Tea - Tastes better than it will make you feel in the morning.
Murderita - Wasted away again...
Piña CoLlama - If you're not into yoga and have half a brain.
Rampaging Rail Mixer - Mad strong!
Rust Monster - Scotch, drambuie shaken in a wooden mixer.
Sneak on the Beach - Peach vodka, cran-pineapple juice, a cat hair.
Swampwater - Phosphorescent lemon-lime.
White Russian Wukei - For bounty hunters who dig dairy.
Wizard Blizzard - Crushed ice and Bourbon. The effect depends on the spell stored in it.


Beers & Such:
Ales - Archon, Guilders, Balthor's Best.
Grim Brewery Ginger Beer - Death-o-licious!
Mind Flayer Mead - Mmm... brains.

Other Fine Beverages:
Celestial Soda Pop - Soda specially brewed in Celestia. Tastes divine.
Darknight Coffee - Cream has no effect.
Dragon's Fire Breath (Cherry Kool-Aid) - For the kids!
Fox Cola - The choice of the furry generation.
Llamonade - That cool, refreshing drink for quadrupeds.
Oni Tea - From the far east.
Red Minotaur Energy Drink - a-MAZE-ing energy!
Root Beer
Save vs. Slow Slurpees™ - C-c-c-cold...
Hot Chocolate - Mmmmmmarshmallows.

MUNCHIES MENU:
AbyssalNuts - Damned and spicy.
Baked Goods - Scones and Muffins and Croissants oh my! We have no cake - the cake is a lie!
Bamhacon - Where the ham meets the bacon. Served with eggs.
Brownies - Made fresh by Zee. The taste of chocolate fills you with Determination.
Court of Stars Salad - Fresh fey greens.
Hero Sandwiches - What else? Served with Villain vinegrette.
Velvet Elfish - Trogtilla chips and hot meat and cheese dip.
Yuan-ti Gyros - Lamb. Or halfling. We're not sure.
Trog's Floor Chili - Don't ask Trog where it came from and Trog won't tell you, "the floor".

SMOKABLES:
Dwarven Cigars - From our axe-hewn humidor.
Coffin Nail™ Cigarettes - Get Nailed!
Halfling Pipeweed - Bogart™ brand.

Don't forget to ask Zee about the special of the day!

[Deathkeeper]

After several minutes, some Intersection officers will arrive to take away fox lady.
This will leave one very large hippo officer looking very uncomfortable as he tries to find a seat that will hold him.

[bc56]

"Haha! I was right all along!" Wilhelm shouts with glee. "An explanation would require a bit of a history lesson. And did you know your disguise is unraveling?" He seems rather unconcerned with Zee's transformation. He's seen stranger things, really. He is curious what caused her seemingly perfect disguise to collapse though.

[Hattish Thing]

The wizard grows deeply concerned before rising up and off of his stool, stepping backwards. "What in the world?!"

[Meowmai]

The Flower Wizard
Pania returned the woman's smile, ""Thanks. And it is quite fortunate you figured out how to stop the... grass thing, then." The robed woman's response to her questions on her powers gave the psion some relief, knowing that she likely wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing anymore. Now apparently all she had to worry about was accidentally throwing things with her mind. And finding a new life in this Nexus place. And avoiding getting hit by rocket-powered chainsaws apparently, whatever they were. "That is good to hear, thank you for your counsel."


The Hooded Figure Insecty-Thing
She turns to find the hooded figure now had moved closer, and was extending out it's arm. She eyed it warily, but then noticed the paper, curiosity getting the better of her. She read the message, brow furrowing as she tried to read the last word. She wasn't quite the best at English still, and the mangled spelling of "squeamish" eluded her understanding. She did manage to figure out the rest of it however.

Yes, I do. She was still not entirely trusting of the figure, especially with the way she had yet to see any of it behind the robes. Oh, and the weird rattling and clicking didn't help put her at ease. Yet, she decided that it might be worth a shot. From what she had seen, if something bad was to happen the other patrons at the tavern would be willing to lend aid. "Can you understand when I speak? How do you think you could help?


The Scary Thing That Was Zee But Is Now Yezekiel
A strange voice rung out, grabbing the psion's attention. She turned to face the new sound, and found that... something had apparently replaced Zee. Something that was somehow the weirdest thing of the day so far. Antlers, scales, wings covered in eyes, and a blinding glorious light. What had just happened? And why was it still talking like Zee had been? Not the same sounds, no, it's voice was like nothing Pania had ever heard, but it was just carrying on their conversation?

Standing in shock, Pania just very slowly and very carefully took the room keys, staring with alarm at Yezekiel who gave her an extremely unsettling smile. She watched in awe as the glowing being casually set about making the meal she had requested, and listening to the entities booming advice. Despite the horrible yet fantastic manner in which it was delivered, it seemed to be pretty good advice and information. Likely no need to worry about angry mobs. Probably. And this adventuring thing sounded like a decent place to start. Pania had had more questions to ask, as well as a need to dig into her meal, but at the moment the dragon-angel-Zee thing was too distracting for any of those thoughts to remain in her mind. "Err... w-well... thanks?"



Oh, something just flew through the window. It was very loud.

[Recaiden]

The Flower Wizard

"You're welcome. What sort of powers do you have, that you're worried about?" The wizard asks. "It's rea-"
She cuts herself off and turns to Zee.
"Do you think you could stop shouting?"
Turning into a dragon with too many eyes is completely understandable, but one should take care with their new form.

[Tao]

The murderhobo with the antlers steps up to get his drink from Nina, since he still hadn't sat down.
"That's weirdly understanding of you."

Thus, the flying chainsaw just misses him when it breaks into the room, going past to saw-in-half the table he was at and then carry on through the smoking section, engine and rocket roaring.

"You had to-"
Oh Zee is giant and speaking some Troubling words now and it's gotten very loud.

"You missed? At this distance?!" calls somebody outside the broken window.
That cyborg who climbed in through the window is stalking determinedly across the tavern floor.

[Rebonack]

Okay.

So.

Reactions are piling up here. Was she missing something?

Dragon dragon dragon what's with the big glowing dragon?

She reaches up with her balled up claws and rubs here face about where eyes ought to be. When she pulls them away there are two more of those celestial-darkness-ringed-in-starlight things that seem to be acting like eyes. She blinks owlishly. The seraphim seems puzzled. She pulls at pure-white tabard she's wearing. Then peers at the gold sash tied around her waste. She wasn't wearing this before, right?

What in the world!?
And did you know your disguise is unraveling?
Err... w-well... thanks

Yezekiel finally turns her attention inwards and notices.

"Oh floof my meat pajamas immolated," she sort-of swears, finally noticing a small heap of ashes around her hoof-like clawed feet. Why did it have to be so hard to tell what form she was in? Why couldn't it just be like Skyrim where you pop into the third person view the second your turned into a werewolf? That would make things easy!

Do you think you could stop shouting?

"Sorry!"

Very loud.

"Eep, sorry! Is this better?" she asks.

"I'll just. Nng."

She strains a bit.

"Just have to, HHHHNNNNNG!"

She strains again, stretching her neck and tail out straight as she clenches her teeth, wings flaring fully open. Why isn't it working? Did she break something?

"This is fine. Everything is fine. I'll just need a few minutes of peace to figure out what went wrong."

Which she doesn't get.

Because a rocket powered chainsaw just blasted in through the tavern's window, chewed its way through the table, and is now motoring its way along the ground ripping up the hardwood flooring.

"Hey! What gives!" the now clearly cross seraphim growls at the incoming cyborg. "We aim for 'rustic chic' here at Trog's but ripping up the place does not count."

What is with all the bar-fights going on lately? It's madness!

[bc56]

"I think you need to sit down and have a drink, miss." Wilhelm says. "You seem awfully high-strung right now." Except a rocket chainsaw noisily destroying the floorboards interrupts him. He thought she was kidding about those! He's in no shape to fight, though. He whistles for his gun, which comes skittering back, and watches to see what happens.

[Earl of Purple]

The hooded figure doesn't react to Zee's change, for various reasons. It reaches out and hands out another piece of paper. We heer we cant speek. We have mind powers to. We speek mind-to-mind and can amplyfie mind powers. How we hellp? we not now. We not tryd beefor. We mybee try speek two yur mind? wiv permmison? Pania still probably can't see anything of the figure, which probably doesn't help her suspicion.

[5a Violista]

after leaving GLoG by way of the Riftline,
Zophiel, a paladin, enters Trog's Tavern.

To imagine what he looks like, all you have to do is imagine a knight in shining armor. Except, remove the armor because he worked out too much and now it doesn't fit anymore. Also, he doesn't have any weapons with him because he was planning on visiting GLoG.

He steps through the door and then steps to the side so he's not blocking the door.

And...he's looking around the tavern, searching for something. Not someone like most people do, but something. Specifically, the portal to the Temple of Inari.

Of course, having never taken the portal before, he has no idea what it looks like. Like, is it a glowing purpley light surrounded by obsidian? Just a doorway? A green rift in spacetime? A blue or orange circle on a white wall? Something else? Seriously, he doesn't know so he looks around the room for anything that could possibly be portal-like.

[Recaiden]

The portal is a full-length mirror beside the stairs up to the second floor.
You can tell it's special because it wasn't shattered into a zillion pieces when that wizard arrived so explosively earlier.

And depending on when this paladin is arriving, he might recognize that woman in pink. It's been quite some time, and it's another costume entirely, but Cleosepha doesn't look that different.

[5a Violista]

Of course, the paladin isn't looking for a lady in pink. So it's completely understandable that, at first, he doesn't even notice her.

Instead, he spots the mirror. Mirrors are sometimes portals, right? he thinks to himself. Especially because everything else looks broken, so it really stands out. He crosses the room until he's near the stairs, and...

Wait.

He stops.
Something in this room registered as familiar. Which is saying something, because recently very little about the Nexus has seemed familiar. At most, there's only one or two things every so often.
He turns around and scans over the room, trying to find what was so familiar.

The chainsaw? an antlered dragon? a hippo? a wounded wolf? a...

He steps away from the mirror-portal, and towards the woman in pink. "Cleo? Is that you?"

[Recaiden]

"Yes, that's me, I-" Cleo says, answering as she turns to see who it is that's recognized her. She can't place that voice right away.
When she sees the paladin, the rest of the sentence gets lost, and her eyes get as wide as they can go.
Cleo looks older (which is appropriate as it's been years, but unnecessary since this appearance is a magical transformation), there's a pink gem set in her forehead, and she's got a different sword, with a black grip and a wider blade. And of course she's wearing that ridiculous pink robe and hat. But yes, that's definitely her.

"How are you here? I didn't think you were ever coming back!"
She'd spring to her feet, but she'd probably have to sit back down again in surprise right away.
Should she be overjoyed? Worried? Ashamed of all the mistakes of the past years? She's shocked and conflicted for just a moment before she settles on a smile.

[5a Violista]

Zophiel starts to answer: "I..." Then, he bites his lip and looks away. "I figured something out. It should work for now." Not really solved anything, but instead he found a way to put everything off to later.
"But I'm so glad to see you! And that you're alright!"

Actually, while his thought process is on that subject: did Zophiel ever explain to her exactly what it was? No, he wasn't entirely sure himself at the time and only suspected it, and stupidly didn't want her to try to get involved or stop him or anything else. She definitely deserves an explanation, he decides, but...he doesn't exactly feel comfortable explaining it in a public place like this. And it looks like she's busy with something else right now and it would be incredibly inconsiderate to drag her off now, especially for something she deserves to have known years ago.
"It's...a long story. I'll have to explain it later when there's not so many people around."

Oh!
"But! I saw our daughter! She's strong and seems to be doing well. With everything going on, I didn't have time to catch up, so I was actually just now looking for her and heard she might be at the Temple of Inari."

Silly Zophiel, still thinking their daughter is only one person.

[Recaiden]

Cleo's eyes remain wide. "That doesn't sound good, Zophiel. Don't put off explaining for too long."

"Of course I'm alright." She says with joking brightness. "Nowadays, anyway. It's been, it's been a while."

She finally gets up from her seat and tries to give the big paladin a hug.
"I'm glad you're okay."

And then the conversation turns to their daughter! Who...hasn't mentioned to her that Zophiel has been back. Of course, that's due to the vagaries of scene timing; surely it's just that she hasn't seen Anchor since then. Still, even though she knows that Anchor is strong and well, it warms one's heart to hear it. Cleo can be- be proud of her.
"Mmm, she should be there tonight, and definitely at the full moon celebration at the end of the week."
"Which one of her did you meet?"

[5a Violista]

The problem with 'explaining' is that it means putting things into words, when you've been trying to avoid thinking about its implications this whole time. And if you put it in words, you have no choice but to consider what it means.

The hug is successful. Zophiel is hugged, and he returns the hug. Hugging is definitely the best thing ever, he thinks.

To be honest, it probably just is a matter of scene timing, and maybe Anchor was busy with other things as well. Like, when does her date take place in relation to the other scenes? Is she doing important things off-screen?
Regardless, it's good know where she'll be.

"Which one...?" he asks, a little confused. Unless Cleo got pregnant when he was leaving, then there's only one. "What do you mean? I only remember one: I was there when she was born."

[Recaiden]

There are lots of things better than hugging.
But it's pretty good.

The date is well before Marlick Bay, whole different season. And yes, like most people she's very busy offscreen.

"No, not daughters plural. Didn't she mention? She's three or four people now." Cleo explains. "Has been for a couple of years now. It's a long story; I'll have to explain it later when there's not so many people around." she manages to say with a straight face.

"'Anchor' studies magic and wears a cape, 'Leah' runs a village out by the Dancing Fox - oh, which has relocated twice, let me get you a map - and has a tail, and 'Hunter', uh, she'd have lots of animals with her and be kinda scary." Cleo explains, trying to figure out how to distinguish them quickly while also getting a not-terribly-out-of-date map from her pocket.

[5a Violista]

Zophiel should've realized that line would be used against him.
Somehow, he wasn't expecting it back so soon, which is why he can't keep as straight of a face as she did.

"Oh, that's..." He tries to come up with a word to describe it. "That's nothing like what I was expecting. She was pretty good at magic," he says, not really being a magician himself so he's probably not the best judge, "so...Anchor. That's the one."

The map is actually pretty helpful. He's got a relatively 'new' map that shows the train stops since that's how he got over here, and he's been to the Dancing Fox Inn earlier but has no idea where it is in relation to everything else except maybe the beach. He looks over the one she brings out. "But, really? Three?" Or four. "How...They..." He has a lot of questions, but she did just say she'll explain it later. "What do they think about it? Or should he have said 'she' instead of 'they'? He wonders if this has to do with the 'purging' by that angel-person in GLoG or...if it's completely unrelated. But, seriously, probably the most important question he feels is if they should be treated as separate - probably, right? They are different and that's probably why they all adopted different names, so...Zophiel kind-of answered his own question just by thinking about it.

[Recaiden]

Then Cleo breaks into a smile.
"Really. Magic."
It's completely unrelated; it happened well before that time Anchor was murdered by an angel-person.
"Anchor and Leah used to be at each others' throats, but they get along really well now; as much as any normal sisters."

"It was a pretty big shock to find out that I had more children, in a sense." In a looser sense, it keeps happening to her.
"So what were you expecting?"

[5a Violista]

"Well," he says, "I'm not really sure what I was expecting, actually. Definitely not suddenly having three times as many kids."

. . .

Oh!

There's an important question he needs to ask.

Zophiel puts his hand on a chair's back and leans against it a little.
"Um...by the way, do you know how I can get a phone?" He was just thinking about this on the train ride, how much easier everything would be with one. Never really got one, and being from a probably-generic fantasy world he only really saw them while he was here/in the Nexus. But they seemed so much less...useful? back then.

[Meowmai]

The Flower Wizard
Having to talk while a weird scaly thing with wings covered in eyes was shouting over you was somewhat tricky, but Pania felt it might be rude to ignore the friendly person she had just struck up a conversation with. "Well, I don't really understand it myself. I have heard my abilities labelled as 'enmetic psionics' before. I'm not really sure what it means but... well, my emotions and desires have an effect on the world around me. I can create energy with my will and move things without touching them. I can overpower the minds of others. Not control them, but I can make them think or feel things. But I myself cannot keep these in check. If I let my emotions get the best of me... bad things happen."

Huh. Why did she just say all of that. Since when was she a trusting kind of person? Also should she really be talking right now? It seems like another fight is wanting to start. Then again, the weird dragon thing that she's slowly becoming pretty sure is, err, was Zee has probably got this. Probably. Plus she is really hungry and she has food right here. Really good food, to her at least. Pania's upbringing had had a tragic lack of seasoning.


The Hooded Figure
The psion took a while to decipher the scratchy message she had been handed, having to sound it out loud under her breath. Eventually she finished, and turned to look at the hooded figure... well, not in the face, but towards it's hood. It was as close as she could get to a face. "Okay. You have my permission to try."

She checked back over her shoulder, keeping an eye on the cyborg. Just to be sure in case he started another fight.

[Recaiden]

[Paladin Reunion]

"A phone? You can buy one in Mallside, and then you pay a business to connect the calls and data correctly." Or something. The details of the Nexus telecom industry elude her.

"Oh, the map."
It shows Inside, Riverside, Skyside, of course, but also lots of smaller locations. Arrows at the edge point you to the Stormy Isles, Pirate Isles, and goblin lands. There's the Dancing Fox, the North Forest, South Forest, Frozen Forest, Wode, Weald, etc. There's the Bronze Keep, the Silver Keep, (the Gold Keep remains elusive), the Skullfort (that's where you want to go to find Leah), the Great Northern desert, Icehome, Akarthi Home, the thread 'Home 25', the Hunting Grounds and its Huntside (that's where you go to find Hunter), and various other places.
"And if you want to visit me, go north-northwest from Meadowgreen, here, and turn right at the river, and then south at the star-leaf tree."


[Pania]

The friendly flower wizard pouts at Zee. She should really pay better attention to these things. One's guise oughtn't just suddenly disintegrate normally, you know? Maybe it was hastily made.
"Okay. That isn't terribly uncommon around here, radiating feelings out into the world. I know when I was young, my magic would just do things when I was emotional, on purpose or not. I guess you have some way to keep a handle on it, though?" Pania seems nice. Maybe a little explanation-heavy, but that's not bad.

The cyborg looks to Zee with a sort of helpless shrug.
"Sorry about that, Mr. deer-star-bird. We'll be on our way just as soon as we collect her, chainsawed or not." He points at Tao with his normal hand. "Really, did you think disguising yourself as a man was going to help? You're still terribly distinctive."

Tao looks at the man in confusion.
"Is this about those elves? Because I promise, I had nothing to do with it. Never even saw them in person, and- oh, oh of course, you're with the robots!"
He goes for his gun, just as the cyborg lunges forward to grab him with his pincer. This is no time to listen to Tao's weird lies.

Another cyborg strolls in. He's got a rocket-propelled-chainsaw-launcher over one shoulder, a wide-mouthed bag of holding in the other hand, a spray bottle of green liquid in the third hand, and with the fourth, he just grabs a nice NPC jellyfish who was enjoying a cup of tea near the entrance and stuffs them into the bag.

[Rebonack]

"I know, I know, sorry," Yezekiel apologizes to... probably everyone. "I'm honestly kind of new to this stuff and I've been stress-testing how much I can do at once. Relaxing is exactly what I need but someone launched a rocket-powered chainsaw through my window."

She seems pretty hung up on the whole chainsaw thing.

The seraphim kind of... walks slash slithers over the counter, moving to place herself between the cyborg and Tao. She moves pretty quick, like how a sunned up lizard can just take off like a rocket all of a sudden when it needs to. It might be surprising that something that looks so big can move like that. Either way, she's aiming to impede the forward progress of the cyborg's stalking.

Then another cyborg abducts a jellyfish.

Oh no.

No no no.

They did NOT just kidnap Squishy!

Yezekiel brings one of her wings down at the first cyborg's grabby arm like a battle axe. The edges of those feathers are quite abruptly rather sharp and may be able to cleave through the mechanical limb, if not damage it and throw it off course. At the same time she lashes out with her tail, aiming to wrap it around the leg of the other cyborg and drag him closer to herself. Incidentally she's still wearing that nice scarf she got for Thanksmas from Lilith. It's just tied around her tail like a great big green bow now.

"Why are there so many creeps making trouble in my bar today, huh?" she shouts at the cyborgs. "What is WRONG with you jerks?"

[bc56]

Wilhelm raises his gun and fires on the jellyfish-stealing cyborg. The weapon kicks back in his hand with a bang and a puff of greenish smoke, launching its second bullet at the crook. Only three shots left now. Make them count. This gun is earning its keep tonight.

[5a Violista]

If that masked fox-woman were still here, she would feel pleased in herself for contributing to Zee's frustration and stress.

[Paladin Reunion]

Zophiel, of course, tries to commit all this into a checklist in his memory. Get a phone from Mallside. Anchor can be at GLoG but is at the Temple of Inari for holidays and presumably evenings. Leah who runs a village is at Skullfort near the Dancing Fox Inn. Hunter's at the Hunting Grounds - that's easy to remember. And, of course, Cleo's got the hardest directions: Okay, Meadowgreen. North by north-west...then turn right, right? Then right again at the startree. And visiting Cleo there is probably the biggest priority, so that he can finally talk with her about what's already overdue.

Thinking back to his train map, Skullfort and the Hunting Grounds should be easy with the right train. Meadowgreen...he didn't have a reason to look if a train went by it, but if not then a bus definitely should. Or one of those mototaxis. Or a horse could do it, at the very least.

"Alright. I think I got that all," he says. "I've joined the ACRO called VIGIL, so...if you need me, there's a good chance I'll be there."

The paladin stands up straight.
"So...um," he says. He's about to say something, but...he's been gone for, what, like a decade? And there was no hint he was ever coming back? What he wants to say, given the time and how much other stuff has to be said first, would probably not be the best thing to say.

Instead, he takes a step back towards the portal and says, "I should probably stop keeping you from what you were doing, and head there." He wants to linger a bit longer, but they've already hugged and he can't think of anything else that would be appropriate to say here, and they haven't seen each other in so long...

Unless she says something like 'wait', he'll head into the mirror-portal to the Temple of Inari with a "See you" and a wave.

[Earl of Purple]

The hooded figure reaches out to put its- well, I'd say 'hand', but that's not right. More like the end of its sleeve, really- on Pania's shoulder. There, she'll feel some small insects scuttling around trying to find a way through her clothing to reach her bare skin.

Once they do, the smell of vinegar may become very strong, nearly overpowering, and Pania might get strange images in her mind, of her face divided into lots of smaller parts, less detail than she's used to but a wider angle of vision and movements are easier to track. Can you hear us, single-minded one? There's several voices speaking, none of them remotely human; in fact, she might not have heard it, but smelt it, with her mind. Somehow, Pania knows the entity(s) attempting to communicate with her is female.

It's also possible, and maybe even likely, that the hooded figure's swarm-based decentralised 'brain' is too alien to allow such easy integration with Pania's mind, and all that she receives is a confusing mess of scents, sights and sounds.

[Meowmai]

The Flower Wizard
Well, kind of. More so recently since..." Pania trailed off, not wanting to dwell on the events that had led her to getting better control of her powers. It was hard to forget. The memories of the agonising tests and surgery had been inescapable at times. But this was not the time or place to remember that pain. Seeking a distraction, she instead went to change the topic, "I never caught your name! And I don't know if I introduced myself properly either, I'm called Pania." She leaned in to press her nose against the woman's, a greeting her people called the Hongi. It probably should've occurred to Pania that this wizard who was raised in an entirely different culture may have never experienced such a greeting before, but old habits die hard.


The Hooded Figure
Oh okay. So there was a fight breaking out. Might as well join it right?

She opened her mouth to tell the hooded figure to just wait for a moment when it brushed her on her shoulder, and she noticed that insects poured out of the sleeve. Unsure of how to react, she watched as they slipped through gaps in her armour, mostly at the neck, and all of a sudden she suddenly loses all focus on the present as her mind is thrown into confusion. There's a mess of images she can't make sense of, at times for almost a moment thinking she's seeing segments of her face but unable to comprehend it, the new thing in her head so alien to her. There's a strong smell too- one that she can't identify - mixed in with the scent of beer that permeated the tavern. A headache threatens to overwhelm her as she tries to understand what's going on, all of these senses presented to her in a way she's never once encountered before. She fights to push down her mind's natural barriers that resulted thanks to the nature of her psionics, in an attempt to perhaps allow the swarm better access to her mind and maybe help her comprehend. Wait, could she hear... a voice? Yes, there it was. A voice. A voice she couldn't understand, but a voice nonetheless. It had to be. And for a reason she couldn't put her finger on she knew the voice came from a female. But how did she know that, that didn't make any sense! She could barely even hear the voice, she just knew it was there.

Everything else was still the same swirling, confusing mess of senses.

[Recaiden]

[The Flower Wizard]

It seems Pania is leaving the fighting to Zee. That's probably wise.
So something complicated happened to her, related to her powers. No need to pry.
The wizard considers for a second how many names to use. "I'm Alucleosepha. You can call me 'Cleo'." Oh, what's Pania doing? IS she falling over drunk suddenly? Does she want a kiss? Cleo readies herself for a fight-
Oh, it's just a harmless brush of noses.
"Does that greeting mean something back home for you?" she asks, clearly finding it pretty peculiar. The correct way to greet someone is to bow slightly. From a distance. She had thought she was used to the strange familiarity of people here, but that was new.

[Fight in a Bar]
Zee zooms out and strikes the first cyborg's robotic arm, throwing it off course. Tao doesn't grabbed. Zee doesn't get grabbed. Nobody else is getting grabbed.
But he's quick on his feet, trying to make some sideways progress by dance-dodging around Zee.
"No trouble, just some justice to deliver, maybe a spot of light abduction on the way, nothing worth getting worked up over."

Tao has a Zee between him and the cyborgs now, and does nothing more than take a few guarded steps back, away from the nonsense.

The other guy, he lowers the launcher and sends a rocket-propelled-chainsaw roaring right at Zee.
What, did you think the launcher was empty? That he would come in here without his spare chainsaw?
Of course not.
But then he's shot in the side, and before he can even fully acknowledge that, something wraps around his leg and drags him off his feet. He isn't even composed enough to spritz anyone with the bottle as he goes.

[Earl of Purple]

Sensing her confusion, the ants retreat back the way they came, disappearing into the sleeve and rejoining the mass of the swarm under the hood. The smell of vinegar retreats, and the voices- such that they were- cease. A scrap of paper is produced, tightly rolled and bearing a message in the same glowing green ink. Apoljees that diddunt wurk lik we xpekted it too. Felt sumthing thow, lik it neerlie wurkd. As before, the ink is traced and smeared by whatever was used to write it- and it was written and rolled very quickly, and without the hooded figure seeming to do anything.

[Hattish Thing]

After spending a minute or so recovering from the shock and horror brought on by the transformed barkeep, Sterling wanders up towards the bar once again. He blinks his eyes a few times before glancing towards Zee.

"Hrch... o-on a related note, might I advertise? I require traveling companions."