Trog's Tavern CLIV

[Zefir]

"Guess I can't."
"Everybody else - normal's what this place isn't."
"Guess you got real lucky." Honeysuckle muses. Escape from an awful, magic-filled world.

"It was extremly annoying." he says. "Everything was magic in a way. Spoons and forks lectured you how to use them in the right way in some restaurants, The plastes reminded you when you left something on it. The glasses allways tell you when you should have enougth or try to smalltalk to you all the time. You would never have any moment of silence , unless you can use magic and make it shut up."
And there is more, but he assumes this get's the point of having an umcomfortable homeworld.

[Rebonack]

[Two Angels]

Zee's physical form is... well.

Flexible.

She looks like an archetypal fantasy barmaid. And what that looks like is going to vary pretty widely from one person to another. She finds it easier to provide people with a prompt and let them fill in their own details. Thus, she looks exactly like what they expect she should look like and they don't try scrutinizing her too closely. To someone like Uriel who can likely see right through such duplicity Zee's physical form is weirdly nondescript, like a person wandering the background in a dream or a distant face in the crowd. In truth, the reason she doesn't have a wholly defined appearance is that she doesn't remember what she actually looked like when she was human. Or even if there WAS a specific 'her' to look like.

It's easier this way.

She doesn't have to confront existential doubts.

Her actual shape, by contrast, isn't something else existing on the purely spiritual plane. She doesn't exist on any spiritual planes. She's all right here, impossibly folded in on herself. There are impressions and inklings of what she might be, motifs that still show through when one looks past her human facade. Dragon, tree, deer, eye, shrouded in starlight... but any details are impossible to make out.

"Well... the Nexus is constantly gaining new locations Outside. I kind of count on that. There are so many impossibly remote, wild places that I don't have to worry much about running out of them," Zee reasons. "I... uh... I don't think they 'regenerate' though. They get turned into little Empyrean gardens. Splinters of home. I thiiink the Watchers might have a way to purify them? I honestly have no idea how their stuff works."

She frowns at that statement, crossing her arms.

"Now that I think about it that's really weird. They're all aligned with the seven churches back home. I'm... I had to have been involved with the churches before Shadiel took me and dumped me in the Nexus. But I don't remember anything."

That is kind of concerning. Memory loss?


[NO ANTI LIZARD FLUID]

Sure enough, a 1015 is exactly what it is. Twenty four glorious records loaded into it, all inscribed with the freshest of tunes.

"It's pretty nice," Zee agrees amiably. "I think Plot popped it into existence as a gag and it has just sort of existed here ever since. We get live music in here every now and again but the jukebox is pretty great, too."

Records are swapped out pretty regularly. Nina usually does that, grabbing random selections from the basement every week or so.

"Umm... Fourteen?" Zee ventures. She isn't sure what songs are loaded this week (only that someone keeps playing What's New Pussycat over and over again). The jukebox really isn't her responsibility.

[Recaiden]

"Smalltalk? From cups? Nightmare." Things reminding you how to use them doesn't sound so bad, but casually chatting? No thanks.
Yes, the guy got his point across.
"So, not magic, what do you do?"

[5a Violista]

Apparently, it's been long enough since Marin has last been in a tavern and she's spent the day in Inside so. . .

the catgirl returns to Trog's Tavern.

She sits.

[Purple Eagle]

[Two Angels]

Uriel indeed can see right through such duplicity, but finds it curious and fascinating that Yezekiel's form in the physical and spiritual is so nondescript. She 'scans the worldlines' to try and ascertain why, and gleans the fact that Zee has memory loss issues before the empyrean says it out loud.

Memory loss? That is concerning. She would offer to help, but if Zee doesn't want to confront existential doubts... but if that were to happen, Uri would be all too willing to help ease those issues.

Then there's the fact that all of her seems more physical than spiritual. Another notable difference between them. Zee also appears to actually be female rather than a genderless being posing as a female, in the case of Uri.

"... so, the landscapes you consume become empyrean gardens, but these Watchers can rectify that?" Uri asks, thinking about it. "You remember nothing, nothing at all? Is there any way I can help?" Though Uri muses that it might be possible that Zee doesn't want to remember, but would it be wise to bring that up at this point in time?

Also, more questions related to how different they are as celestials. "Do your kind fall from grace, and do your kind have genders?"

[Four-Eared Ladies]

Dr Svetlana H. Tanaka's here, nursing a drink of hard alcohol. This time she's not on patrol, just thinking about her past with a rather sad expression. Oh, how she misses her sweet Daisuke. She dreamt he came to her and said to live her life, move on... but she can't. She won't. No man can ever come close, not even Wenomir. And her siblings and parents! How she misses them so. It's lonelier without them aroun-

Svetlana's shaken out of her thoughts when Marin sits beside her. She turns to see a woman with cat ears and tail, and smiles, sprouting her own fox ears and tail in response to the sight. "Greetings, you wear those ears well, nekomimi-chan." She says, giving her a once-over and nodding. She's only slightly drunk.

[5a Violista]

Marin blinks.
And blinks again.
And again.
This woman just grew ears and a tail right in front of Marin.
Marin hasn't really been drinking yet, though, so.
She feels her own forehead to make sure she's not hallucinating or something.
Nope.
Nothing.

Marin leans against the bar table, on her elbow with her arm at her turtleneck collar. "You're Japanese?" she guesses, hoping it isn't just another case of 'Japanese but from a world where Japanese doesn't exist'.

[Purple Eagle]

[Four-Eared Ladies] (to differentiate it from the other scenes going on)

"Hai. Japanese-Polish, to be precise. And you are American?" Svetlana asks in turn, her fingers tracing one of the cyber seams on her cheek. "Do not be alarmed, I have the power to be a kitsune-girl. Arctic fox." She noticed Marin's successive blinks upon seeing those ears and tail manifest themselves.

Her ears and tail are so fluffy too, and white-furred.

[5a Violista]

Marin's are purple.

She shakes her head. "No. Grew up in Mozambique," she initially says. Doesn't look like it, though. Then..."Well...my parents were American, so I guess I technically am too." Plus, she served in the American military, but that was against her will and she'd rather just forget that time.

"Well. I have the power to be a catgirl." Like, 24/7. Always a catgirl, never not one.

[Purple Eagle]

[Four-Eared Ladies]

"Interesting..." Svetlana nods and sips out of her drink. "So, a catgirl and a foxgirl meet in a bar. That sounds quite like the beginning statements of a joke." She offers a friendly smile. "Dr. Svetlana Himesaki Tanaka, though you may call me Svetlana. I am with VIGIL. And you are?"

[5a Violista]

Marin laughs, a little. "Yeah, you're right, it does sound like it could be."

"Marin Ixchel," she responds. "I'm...technically a member of MERC." Even though she's not a mercenary; she was just a member of NO and so her membership carried over.

[Rebonack]

[Two Angels]

Maybe wholly physical isn't the best way to describe it. She's both material and immaterial, but she isn't spiritual. Quite pointedly so. An incomprehensibly alien machine. She thinks, clearly. And she feels. She's quite good at both. But she lacks all the things that would normally be associated with mortal spirituality. She simply is. A brute fact of the cosmos. And it isn't like people from her home world are all soulless, either. It should be quite clear to Uriel, given the functional human body that Zee wears, that the spiritual capacity to have a soul is there. There's a place in the spiritual plane where a soul should be.

It's just...

Empty.

And seared. Glassy, as if partly melted by incomprehensible heat. A fire that could burn the sky and consume the world.

"I think so," Zee replies a bit hesitantly. "That sounds right, anyway. And not nothing. It's just disjointed. There are memories, but they're like someone threw half of eight different jigsaw puzzles together. I remember everything I've done in the Nexus, though. That's easy. But everything from before is a mess."

Zee purses her lips at those last questions.

"You mean like are there fallen empyreans? No. We don't work like that. We aren't beholden to anyone's standard. As far as I can tell there isn't anyone to be beholden to. There's debate about whether or not the Ideal Forms are even aware, let alone whether or not something could exist above them. There are empyreans who are colossal jerks but they aren't fallen. Just jerks."

The question of gender gets a laugh, though.

"Hehe. Maybe not in the traditional sense? More powerful empyreans, ones on par with myself or higher, can reproduce. But there isn't celestial banging if that's what you're asking. We just sort of fracture ourselves. We're fractal. All pieces of us are also us in our entirety. But when I make a child like Lapis I just include a little piece of the Empyrean itself. That results in something that's like me but not me. Not all of us are born like Lapis is, though. Some of us are mortals that have undergone apotheosis. And the putti are just kind of... spontaneously generated at the base of the Tower. Maybe other places, too. Honestly I haven't explored that far from the Tower. It hasn't been necessary yet."

She pauses there to think for a moment.

"I think the idea of gender mostly carried over from former mortals like me. Some of the really big, really old empyreans don't really do the guy/gal dichotomy. They just are."

[Purple Eagle]

[Four-Eared Ladies]

"Marin-chan, huh? What a lovely name." Svetlana pronounces it a few more times, almost as if savouring the sound of the name. "Technically? It sounds like there is a story there. Can I inquire about it?" She's interested in hearing this story. It's been months since she made her way here, but it's always good to make some friends, and Marin doesn't seem like a bad person. Doesn't seem like a mercenary either, but looks can be deceiving.

She has ears and a tail, though, and Svetlana finds herself reacting positively to people with ears and a tail... a combination of her powers and her love for catgirl manga.

[Two Angels]

(post later, when I figure out what to post)

[5a Violista]

"Th-there's not really a story," she insists. Well, there kind-of is, but it's not the kind of story she tell to somebody, since it involves painful memories and things she'd rather not share and so on.

"It's just. I joined before it became a mercenary organization. But my membership is still on the books. So. That's basically it." Speaking of tails, there's a swish behind Marin.

[Purple Eagle]

[Four-Eared Ladies]

That stutter, just like Awen. So cute! Svetlana listens, sensing that there's probably more to the story, but doesn't pry any further. She herself has her own stories she wouldn't just tell anyone, so far only Wenomir's gotten to know the full truth of her past. "I see." She cradles her wine glass in one hand, swishing the liquid contained in it around a bit. Her ears droop for a bit as she remembers her past, but she shakes the thought off.

"So, you have been in the Nexus for years, then? I am a newcomer, having only been here for a number of months. I am sure you have a lot of interesting stories and useful pieces of advice to share, Marin-chan." She turns a bit so that more of her body is facing Marin, her electronic eyes seemingly sparkling with interest.

She doesn't quite notice the tail swish, though.

[Two Angels]

From all that Uriel gleans, Yezekiel shouldn't exist. Were this her world, her next reaction would be to do some smiting... but this is the Nexus, not her world, and Zee doesn't seem any different from her kind. Besides, she seems to be trying her hardest to do the right things... at least, what she sees as the right things. "Huh." It's the only thing she can say.

It is very difficult to shock Uri, but that shock she actually does feel soon gives way to fascination. How interesting! One of the eyes on her eye-wheel starts studying all of Zee like a scientist studies a fascinating specimen on a petri dish.

"I could help sort through those jumbled memories, if you wished." She offers some help. "Or, we could do it together." If Zee wants it, that is.

Uri frowns a little when Zee talks about 'not being beholden to anyone's standard'. Almost like it's a good thing, but to Uri it explains why not all empyreans are good, according to Zee's words. "Another difference, then. A demon is a fallen celestial, and the word 'jerk' is not sufficient to describe how evil they are." She simply responds, and moves on to the next subject.

Empyreans that can reproduce? Well, Zee made Lapis and Eao, and was made by one Shadiel. "I ask because I am genderless, I just present this form as a woman. Millennia ago, I spawned from the Tree of Life, and 8 years ago, Zabbaiel spawned as well. I care for him. So, I am not a woman, and Zabb is not a boy. We just are."

[bc56]

A youngish man, in his mid 20s, enters the tavern, an easel, canvas and other painting supplies slung over his back. He finds a quiet edge of the room, with a good view of the bar, some tables, and the door, sets the easel up, adds the canvas, and begins mixing paints onto his pallette. It looks like he's about to start painting. Maybe someone would like to pose for him, subtly or unsubtly?

[Rebonack]

[Two Angels]

Zee is pretty happy about the not-smiting happening.

A throwdown would be fun for exactly no one, especially anyone who happens to be anywhere nearby at the moment. Like that guy with the painting supplies! He probably would have gotten annihilated before he even got a chance to do anything neat.

There isn't much else to be seen, honestly. At least not folded in on herself as she is. But the curiosity is noted. After all, Uriel just needs to Ask and I shall answer. if she wishes to know more.

"I'm not sure how much good it would do," Zee sighs. "I've got the feeling that it was intentional. Or maybe just a side effect of what Shadiel did to me. Or, uh, mes. I guess?"

Lots of her. That's kind of weird, isn't it? That she's some sort of composite entity?

Zee purses her lips a bit, her forehead wrinkling in slight consternation. "I don't think it's good. That's the problem. There is no good. No evil. No ought with respect to actions. No justice. No fairness. Only blind, pitiless indifference," Zee says, a tremor of emotion in her voice. "I can't point at another empyrean and say that what they're doing is bad. That it's evil and vile and they need to stop. It would be so much easier if I could. If I want them to stop I have to make them stop. I have to be bigger and stronger and more clever than they are to bend them to my purpose. In the end there's only power. Different kinds of power, but power none the less. I think my Path up the Tower is best. Everyone does. Otherwise they would choose another Path."

She heaves an exhausted sigh.

"Ascend the Tower. Reach heaven through violence."


[Oh No Newcomer!]

Zee waves exuberantly at the painter!

"Hiya! Welcome to Trog's Tavern! If you need anything you just let me know, okay?"

[5a Violista]

"I really don't," she insists again.

Marin rests an elbow on the table, putting more of her weight on it; she raises a leg up to her chair, too.

"I mean, sure, I was here during that catgirl invasion war," Marin admits, "but I've pretty much stayed out of the way of everything and just worked. I'm not really as interesting as you think I am."

[Zefir]

"Smalltalk? From cups? Nightmare." Things reminding you how to use them doesn't sound so bad, but casually chatting? No thanks.
Yes, the guy got his point across.
"So, not magic, what do you do?"

The man hesitates to anser the question.
"In fact," he starts befor making another pause. "Nothing. Yeah sure not all nothing, but I currently don't do work or otherwise follow a personal goal. I just seem t let day come and deal with whatever comes up. What about you? other then hunting"

[Purple Eagle]

[4-eared ladies]

"Catgirl invasion, you say? I am curious about that subject." Svetlana suddenly perks up, her tail swishing. The word 'invasion' implies something bad, so her excitement is mixed in with worry.

When Marin implies she's not an interesting person, Svetlana's quick to respond. "Let me be the judge of that, Marin-san." She smiles to let her know she doesn't mean it in any bad way. There are those who claim not to be interesting, who turn out to be very interesting people, after all!

[Two Angels]

"Perhaps." Uri's willing to try anyway, but won't force the issue. "At least, you have good memories of the present, I suppose?" Having young ones to care for can be fun, an interesting experience.

She listens to Zee speak, empathizing with the other celestial. Her facial expression is one of deep compassion, Zee obviously doesn't like the state of things, but can do nothing to stop it. She herself thinks the state of things is flawed, and Zee outlines why. No justice or fairness, only power? That sounds like the worst of the mortal world. No wonder they treat the humans under them as some sort of lab specimens!

By the end of it all, Uri's shedding tears. She's crying for the people under the other empyreans, for the pursuit of power taking precedence over everything else. Most of all, she's crying for Zee. She doesn't sob or sniffle, but the tears keep flowing.

She obviously wants to hug Zee again, but restrains herself. "I'm so sorry." She whispers, stretching forth her hand to hold Zee's.

[5a Violista]

"Oh...um, lots of the newcomers don't really know about it," Marin says, "but some lich or something like that raised a catgirl army to attack most of the place and even destroyed GLoG's old building. Not wanting to get mixed up in it, I just stayed out of the way, but it's why some people are still scared of catgirls sometimes." Mostly NPCs, to be honest.

And that's it.
See?
Boring.

By the way, did you know that Marin reads manuals for fun?

[Purple Eagle]

[4-eared ladies]

"That is horrible!" Svetlana's appalled by the news. To take advantage of the typical cuteness of a catgirl and use that to destroy a good-aligned organization... and he probably used mind-control, too! "Those poor girls probably were forced into doing his bidding! I am glad to hear he has been dealt with. I hate those who would use others as puppets for their own ends."

People are still scared of catgirls due to that? That explains some funny looks she gets when she has her ears and tail out. Obviously, she's a fox-girl rather than a cat-girl, but all some NPCs see are the ears and tail.

And Marin just stayed out of the way? That reminds her of her little sister, and she smiles at the thought. "So, Marin-san. What is it you do for a living?" She asks, sipping out of her drink. "Are you not going to purchase something to drink, as well?"

[Rebonack]

[Two Angels]

A smile quirks at the edge of Zee's mouth. "Yeah. I've enjoyed my time here. I consider this place my home. Even if I've spent more time in the Empyrean putting myself back together. It was mostly out of the hope that I could get back here."

Oh no crying.

Zee gives a sniff herself, wiping a tear away.

"Yeah, you get it now. A world of power for the sake of control isn't exactly great. But how else do rules get laid down?" she asks, making a gesture at Uriel. "Like your Architect guy. I'm guessing he's the standard suite of omnis? He's the biggest and the oldest and the most powerful and the most wise so he sets down the rules. If he's actually good. Like, if he defines goodness the way empyreans define a WHOLE bunch of things that aren't goodness then arguably the rules he sets down are going to be good, too. My world doesn't have anyone like that. Probably the closest are the Twenty Four Elders but they've all got their own ridiculous Game of Thrones machinations going on."

Oh no literary references!

"None of them are really interested in setting up rules save for those that allow them to continue to grow and maintain their own power and position. I don't think anyone has ever broken into the Gold Host since... geeze... Like seven hundred cycles ago?"

[Recaiden]

The man hesitates to anser the question.
"In fact," he starts befor making another pause. "Nothing. Yeah sure not all nothing, but I currently don't do work or otherwise follow a personal goal. I just seem t let day come and deal with whatever comes up. What about you? other then hunting"

"Work in a power plant. Half pretty boring, but you know..." Honeysuckle pantomimes money. It's not so bad as a job.
"'n study gadgets and diseases and stuff at HALO."

She puts on a skeptical smile.
"Just let the days come, huh?"

[Zefir]

"Yeah." he replies short. "I got a job, too, but it has no real work time sso I mostly just sit around and do nothing while I get paid.
He just speaks about his AMEN leader job latly. He barly haas to be present in AMEN at all.
"I sure have some plans, but you now the drill, some stuff can't be done alone."

[Recaiden]

"Not a bad deal. How get a job like that?" Honeysuckle asks jokingly.
No, normal people don't end up with positions like that, for sure.
"Dunno. Think people can a lot more than they think they can."

[5a Violista]

Marin doesn't comment on the horribleness and the assumptions.
After all, she wasn't really involved; in fact, she specifically said she avoided it all.

Don't worry, though. The funny looks Svetlana would get has nothing to do with that, and is for an entirely different reason. Probably.

"Oh, I already ordered," she says, waving off that question. "I work at a franchise supermarket, as a repairwoman. Walls, pipes, merchandise, robots, and so on. Things like that." Currently paid minimum wage. Looking for another job.

[Zefir]

"Not a bad deal. How get a job like that?" Honeysuckle asks jokingly.
No, normal people don't end up with positions like that, for sure.
"Dunno. Think people can a lot more than they think they can."

"It's a job of responsibility." he says. "Properbly kill the one who got it and take his place." he says in a joking manner. It's funny because it is basicly true.

"Yeah, but for example if I want to build something, I need a lot more time and maybe some tools others made to get it done. With help it goes even faster."

He pauses and then suddendly shrugs.

"Or maybe I am just lonely."

[Purple Eagle]

[4-eared ladies]

Probably!

Svetlana listens, her interest growing. She repairs robots? If she has that level of expertise, her talents are wasted as a mere repairwoman. "If you have the skills to repair robots, if your skills are so multifaceted, why work as a mere repairwoman for a supermarket?" Svetlana asks, bluntly. "With such skills, you could be so much more, you could work for one of the organizations and have your skills better appreciated. The pay will be better, too."

If Marin does reveal she's looking for another job, Svetlana might have something not VIGIL-related.

She stretches out her hand to show Marin. "As for me, I am a cyberneticist, working for VIGIL. I helped my father build this elegant body of mine. Cybernetics, from head to toe." She wiggles her fingers a little, then makes a fist as the smile drops and her ears droop. "Dire circumstances forced me to use this body, but it is mine all the same."

She won't reveal what those 'dire circumstances' are, though.

[Two Angels]

"This is an interesting place, yes." Uriel smiles, nodding in agreement. She has her home, but for as long as Raptor Island exists in the Nexus, she and the other celestials (angels, cherubim and a seraphim) put in charge of watching over the place will have to stay here. Thus, the Nexus has become sort of a 'home away from home'.

And then the crying!

Uri nods again when Zee describes The Architect. "I can assure you he's actually good. If he were not, I wouldn't be, nor would Zabb. We both follow his standard as best as we can." It is sad that the Empyrean has no one like that, and if the Elders all have such machinations, then it'll only be a matter of time before something bad happens.

"I suppose you aim to change things? Grow in power enough, hoping that you do not lose yourself in the pursuit of power, until you get to a point where you can be that world's deity figure?" She asks, wiping her eyes. Since she has no such problem in her world, Uri's content with her lot. However, she aims to help Zee in any way she can, even if that help is limited to being supportive.

[5a Violista]

'that level of expertise'

ha

Marin finds the question a little patronizing. Well, a bit more patronizing than that: in the first place, Svetlana is vastly overestimating Marin's skills for - as far as Marin can tell - no good reason. In the second place, Svetlana's question has the implication that Marin hasn't tried to get another job. "Because I'm just some dumb blue-collar catgirl with no education, no training, not enough experience, and not enough skill." If Marin says it that way, in such a flippant manner, then it doesn't hurt as much to admit it. Plus, she has turned down better-paying jobs because they require little minor things that most people would be alright with but that she would avoid at all costs.

This is probably irrelevant, but Marin is wearing an ugly orange turtleneck, not a blue-collared short-sleeve shirt, so I don't even know why she called herself 'blue-collar'.

Marin has to admit, as she looks at Svetlana's hand, that Svetlana is incredibly attractive and really cool and probably really smart too, but she's been trying to not let herself get carried away recently so she doesn't let her thoughts linger on that.

[Recaiden]

"It's a job of responsibility." he says. "Properbly kill the one who got it and take his place." he says in a joking manner. It's funny because it is basicly true.

"Yeah, but for example if I want to build something, I need a lot more time and maybe some tools others made to get it done. With help it goes even faster."

He pauses and then suddendly shrugs.

"Or maybe I am just lonely."

"The old six-foot retirement plan." Honeysuckle agrees jovially. That's pretty serious. No wonder people are careful. Ugh, it would probably be really obvious who this guy is if she could see him, huh?

For a moment, she considers the option of killing him and taking his job...but no. There are so many reasons that's a bad idea.

"What're ya trying to build?"