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  1. - Top - End - #211
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebonack View Post
    "Multi-tasking is easy! Mostly because time in the Nexus is kind of weird," Zee says as she heads toward one of the definitely not for smooching booths. She slides in and will pull the curtain (not that curtain you weirdo) for the booth shut. All the outside noise immediately dies away. "Right! So. What did you want to ask about?"

    It seems like Trog's has all these random features that hardly ever get noticed.

    Did they have the booths before? Yes! There they are in the opening post right behind the ferns. But how often do they get utilized?
    Zee is quite the multitasker. Though the scholar does seem to be looking around suspiciously as Zee is using her expanded senses of perception. "If you're sure it's alright..." Ambrosia takes a seat within the booth.

    "I do have one question I'd like to ask before we start properly. I have a strange feeling of being watched while in your presence and I suspect it has something to do with your nature. Would you mind explaning that?"

  2. - Top - End - #212
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    "Really? Huh," Zee replies in a completely uninformative fashion to the first question. "That's kind of odd. Usually people don't get the 'I'm being watched' feeling when I'm here here. Just when I'm elsewhen. Hold on a sec, let me try something. See if the feeling gets more intense."

    Then she quickly ducks out of sight under the booth's table and she's gone.

    But... not gone.

    Just elsewhen, like she said. A few steps sideways in time.

    It won't be quite so noticeable with the curtain drawn, but quite a few tavern-goers suddenly glance over their shoulders looking for... something. It's that weird sense of having someone hovering just behind you, peering over your shoulder. An electrified feeling of dread, of potential but as yet unseen danger.

    Comfortably perched outside reality, Yezekiel briefly observes Ambrosia's reaction.

    A half minute or so later the absolutely normal and not at all unusual human female pops back up in the booth.

    "Did that do it? Because if not it might just be how I... umm... see things? For lack of a better word? The world is like a book to me, sort of. I read it. I use what I read to build something I can interact with. That means I tend to pick up on details other people would miss," she explains. Then adds with a laugh. "And miss stuff other people would probably think is REALLY obvious. Just as an example? I know you're wearing armored gloves and I can infer that you're probably wearing more armor aside from gauntlets, but I don't know any details aside from that. It makes things tricky. Especially when I draw the wrong conclusions."
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  3. - Top - End - #213
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    After Zee has been gone for a moment, Ambrosia closes her eyes and seem to relax. Almost looking like she's fallen asleep right in her chair.

    Once Zee returns, it takes a moment before she opens them again. Zee's description makes her look quite puzzled though. "My gloves?" It sounds like she's going to come with a follow-up question as she looks at them. But suddenly it seems like she changed her mind. "Actually, just what did you do there? I could feel an increased sense of paranoia but little else." She makes a gesture at Zee. "How was it different from how you're perceiving me now? I had assumed that you have the basic human senses."

  4. - Top - End - #214
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    "I only just found out this establishment existed." Ashen was checking the menu while still keeping his focus on the newly arrived while always having been there server. Fairly blasé about people being in multiple places at once, though the barmaid was by far the most human looking person he had ever seen to do so. "Or any of this 'Nexus' I heard stories of."[/B]

    "The Ice Liquer will do for now." He said, unsure of just how literal the descriptions of each item were.
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  5. - Top - End - #215
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Okay what have we got going on here?

    First of all!

    "Your gloves," Zee confirms. "I stepped out of reality. I'm unbound by default out there since this stuff-"

    She pinches at her arm and pulls on her skin a bit.

    "-has trouble existing out there. I've noticed that people have sort of an innate sense when something is lurking around elsewhen. I'm pretty sure it's a natural defense of some kind, but I'm not totally sure how it works."

    It probably has absolutely nothing to do with Rebo wanting to provide characters with the ability to react to terrorhorrors without getting blindsided by them every single time. More like that spooky feeling of ill ease associated with ghosts or whatever.

    "Being out there expands my field of view a little bit. Since I'm not filtering everything through a human brain it's easier to parse what I'm reading. And I totally have normal human senses! Sort of. I just need to read my surroundings first before I can construct a reality that I can interact with using those normal human senses. Before I went through apotheosis, back when I was still human, I starting getting 'visions' of the worldlines that weave reality. It... umm... hehe. Kind of drove me a little crazy. But I'm mostly use to it now."

    Meanwhile!

    "Once iced liquor coming up!" Zee replies before tromping off behind the counter to mix the drink in question. "We source the ice in these things from the paraelemental plane of ice. It's probably the nicest ice you can find."

    She frowns a bit.

    "Though some of the ice there isn't very nice. Ice elementals can be jerks. Really cold."

    That is likely a pun.

    A few moments later, the drink is delivered! Fog wafts from the glass, flowing across the table.

    "So! What brings you to the Nexus if you don't mind me asking?" Zee inquires.
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  6. - Top - End - #216
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Ambrosia takes up her tome and spreads it out on the table between them. A feather pen laying between the opened pages animates and starts to write down notes.
    "A 'little' crazy? I wasn't even aware humans could turn into beings such as you, which I regretfully know very little about. Are you willing to tell me more about this process? Since I imagine it must have been a radical change of perspectives but perhaps you can at least attempt to explain? I am aware of what I think are beings similar to you. As in, beings which exist outside of traditional perception."

  7. - Top - End - #217
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Wouldn't a voice recorder be just as useful? Though that doesn't have quite a scholarly magic charm that an animated quill pen has.

    "Maybe a lot crazy. It didn't last very long," Zee admits.

    She taps her index fingers together, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Back before the Nexus, before all the crazy, I was taught that humans don't turn into empyreans. A human could get a seed planted in them that an empyrean could grow out of, but the person wouldn't survive the process. It's like an egg hatching, I guess. The thing coming out of the egg is related to, but different from, the egg. And the egg doesn't survive the process. When someone goes through apotheosis their soul gets incinerated. The new thing that's born is usually like them, but it gets less and less human as time goes on until the personality isn't recognizable anymore. After you've seen the Eternal Game from the outside it... you don't look at things the same way anymore. You can't."

    Zee flashes a chipper smile.

    "So! Story time. Short version: I got grabbed from my home reality by an entity known as K'rax-Naggath around the Nexus. She used me as a puppet. An intermediary. It went okay until I died."

    Whoops.

    That used to happen a whole bunch back in the day.

    "That me went through apotheosis in death and got dumped into the Empyrean. Not useful anymore, puppet broken. So K'rax grabbed another. She took someone else, warped their memories and appearance until they resembled me, and dumped that person into the Nexus to pick up where the first me had left off. That happened a bunch. Some of them were a bit different from others. She experimented. She had a ton of mes waiting in reserve. Then That Day happened and she got blown up by Mortal Coil. All the reserve mes got dumped into the Empyrean at once. THAT was when we... when I realized what K'rax had been doing. The sheer atrocity of it. So we joined forces. We hunted down the other mes that had gone before us. We worked together to climb the Tower. We joined together in a common purpose. We carved out who and what we are. And I guess it was impressive enough that I got sponsored to get a chance to jump back into the Game?"

    Zee scratches at her nose, thinking.

    "That was... what? About a year and a half ago? Being home again has been great! Wouldn't suggest the whole apotheosis thing, though. The existential doubt and terror that comes along with it sucks."
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  8. - Top - End - #218
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    The catgirl waves off Chidi: "Yeah," she says. "Good luck; hope to see you again."

    She smiles.

    She, of course, stays here, She just got here, after all!

    Marin is, of course, grateful that he didn't do that.
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  9. - Top - End - #219
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebonack View Post
    Meanwhile!

    "Once iced liquor coming up!" Zee replies before tromping off behind the counter to mix the drink in question. "We source the ice in these things from the paraelemental plane of ice. It's probably the nicest ice you can find."

    She frowns a bit.

    "Though some of the ice there isn't very nice. Ice elementals can be jerks. Really cold."

    That is likely a pun.

    A few moments later, the drink is delivered! Fog wafts from the glass, flowing across the table.

    "So! What brings you to the Nexus if you don't mind me asking?" Zee inquires.
    Ashen takes a long, slow first sip though his mouthful of fangs, radiating a silent sense of judgment over the ice liquor... and finds it to be more than acceptable. "This is worth whatever costs go into importing it." He says, leaving a slip of paper with detailed red embroidering on the table. He didn't know the exchange rate, or how many drinks he'd be going through, but a quian was usually enough for a hundred and twenty jars of common wine, and would still have a tip left over.

    "Heard there was a lot going on here, thought I could use the change of scenery, for a time. Try the local drinks, charm locals in bars, hunt the local beasts, maybe one of those ice elementals, if I can..." He sounds increasingly invested in each example before he trails off. "A break from the islands, more than anything."
    "Life before death, Strength before weakness, Journey before destination."

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  10. - Top - End - #220
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    Quote Originally Posted by Murkus View Post
    "Listen, guy, this isn't gonna fly. Even if you were 'forced' to help them in Riverside, and now you aren't. It's the Association of the Malicious, Evil, and Nefarious. Not really a bunch of people you wanna associate with. I don't fully understand what they're up to, or what the hell they want, but maybe you can enlighten me. More importantly, what's keeping you from leaving? Can I help?"
    C4 sights.
    "As I said AMEN isn't working with the demons anymore, they rather treat them as enemies. Thought they don't take actions." he says. It is a bit more complex since some members just do what they want and they could already talk with the demons for their own reasons.
    "They are up to NOTHING. And that is the point. Sure members do their own stuff but unless someone calls out a big plan nothing happens." he says then pause. With his hand he messages his forehead.
    "I don't know what is keeping me there. Maybe it is the urge to repay a dept, maybe it's just that I got nowhere to run, maybe it's some kind of magic keeping me there or maybe it's this blood outh thing. Whatever it is, there is allways a voice in my head telling me to return. I tried to deal with it, but you know the results."
    There is in fact a reason why he is there. One of the objects is rather fond of what AMEN was so it wants to stay around.
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  11. - Top - End - #221
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    The pen is actually writing down more than just what they're saying. Moving at a inhuman pace across the pages even when they aren't talking.

    As it writes the scholar starts to slowly tap her finger against the table and occasionally nod while Zee is telling her story. She stops tapping as soon as Zee starts talking about herself dying however and gives her a sad smile. "I apologize if it might seem insensetive but would you mind backing up a bit? Back to the 'empyreans'. Just what exactly are they? Since you have been described as 'dragon-like'. Hence I figured there might be similarities between the two. My speciality is dragons you see and judging from your description there might be some similar elements. But perhaps that's just me forcing categories into one another. How much do you know about dragons? And I realize that's a open question as there are many different kinds, but I'm wondering about the ones of your world, if any."

  12. - Top - End - #222
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    "So just doing the tourist thing, huh? That's pretty neat! Most people don't really come here intentionally so it's nice every once in a while to hear that a newcomer didn't get ripped away from their home," Zee replies with a sagely nod. "There are definitely lots of interesting people to meet and good drinks to try and nasty monsters to hunt. I think there's this place called Huntside that gets used for that last one. Never been there myself, though. Not really my thing."

    Typically when Zee is hunting it's for things that are threatening the integrity of the Nexus rather than for sport. Though she certainly isn't the sort to fault someone for sport hunting.

    The slip is picked up and stuffed away into the money box under the counter along with a collection of gold coins, bottle caps, paper money, some sea shells, and several chocolate beans.

    Given the variety of customers, Trog's gets a ton of different types of currency.

    No doubt the money changers of the Nexus make a killing.

    "You aren't from 'Creation' are you?" she asks curiously. "I can't decide whether I've met people like you before or if your nature is just a bit tangentially related."


    Meanwhile!

    Zee gives a 'hmm' as she tries to decide how best to explain this. Eventually she settles on her old standby!

    "Okay, so-" she withdraws a little bottle of bubble solution from somewhere and blows a single shimmering soap bubble. It lazily drifts through the air. "Imagine this bubble is the universe. The inside surface of the bubble is the Waking World, where we are now. The outside surface is the Dreamlands, where mortal souls go when they dream. The space outside the bubble? That's the Dreamheart. Absolute primordial unreality. Undefined and incomprehensible. The space inside the bubble? That's the Empyrean. Hyper-reality. A place that's more real than real. All the stuff down here are shadows cast by things up there."

    The bubble pops in a little shower of suds.

    "Empyreans are the beings that inhabit the Empyrean. And those of us who have begun to climb the Tower come in four basic sorts. Seraphim, Ophanim, Cherubim, and Malakim. We're tied up to the concepts of matter, space, information, and mind, respectively. That's... kind of a broad generalization I guess but close enough? Seraphim, that's what I am, cast 'dragon' as a shadow, among other things. So when people see me they interpret what they comprehend as 'dragon'. Dragon-ness is part of what I am in a very fundamental sense."

    Then she gives a shrug. "But you're right, though. Dragons are one of those things with a thousand different reflections, a thousand different shadows. But just about anyone would still recognize those dragons as dragons, because they're all shadows cast by the same form. Seraphim don't look like dragons. Dragons look like us."

    As for the ones from her home world?

    "Heh... Well, I know every single culture has stories about dragons back on Earth. The details are wildly divergent. Some are big grumpy animals. Some are divine messengers or throne guardians. Some are gods. Some of the stories might be the result of bumping into people like me. There might have been animals that fit the dragon description at one point, but they were probably all hunted to extinction."

    Zee wrinkles her nose a bit.

    "Y'know I could probably find the answer to that in the Tower's library. But that would mean logging out of the Game and that's kind of a pain in the tail."
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  13. - Top - End - #223
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebonack View Post
    "So just doing the tourist thing, huh? That's pretty neat! Most people don't really come here intentionally so it's nice every once in a while to hear that a newcomer didn't get ripped away from their home," Zee replies with a sagely nod. "There are definitely lots of interesting people to meet and good drinks to try and nasty monsters to hunt. I think there's this place called Huntside that gets used for that last one. Never been there myself, though. Not really my thing."

    Typically when Zee is hunting it's for things that are threatening the integrity of the Nexus rather than for sport. Though she certainly isn't the sort to fault someone for sport hunting.

    The slip is picked up and stuffed away into the money box under the counter along with a collection of gold coins, bottle caps, paper money, some sea shells, and several chocolate beans.

    Given the variety of customers, Trog's gets a ton of different types of currency.

    No doubt the money changers of the Nexus make a killing.

    "You aren't from 'Creation' are you?" she asks curiously. "I can't decide whether I've met people like you before or if your nature is just a bit tangentially related."
    "I am, deep west of it." Ashen wouldn't have called it 'tourism', but nodded in agreement anyway. That's pretty much what it was, tourism, with a side of sacred hunting. Which meant he was having a business and pleasure trip, given how he both enjoyed and directly benefited as long as he was successful. The sport, the chase... "Others have made a lasting impression, have they not?" He may have traveled through the Wyld to find the Nexus, but even so, the changing moon had hoped to open things on good terms.

    He took another sip of his drink, casual as ever. "Be not afraid, as long as the Road Lion I left outside is still there, this has been the most pleasant alehouse I've visited in years." It probably said something of his default assumptions of other chosen that he would jump to that defense first. Or maybe it didn't? What really mattered was that he intended no harm to the tavern.
    "Life before death, Strength before weakness, Journey before destination."

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  14. - Top - End - #224
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CLIV

    As Zee is explaining the pen pauses its feverish scribbeling for a moment and writes in big letters WAKING WORLD - THE SAME?
    Then it ressumes as normal.

    Once Zee is finished the scholar slowly nods and raises her finger. "So if my finger would be this tower you mentioned and there's a candle behind it, the 'waking world' would be the table it would cast a shadow on. Am I understanding that right? People of the waking world would just be pictures drawn on the table while these empyreans would be like insects climbing on my finger."

    "It's a bit of a forced metaphor but the idea isn't alien to me. I know of a similar world that have similar beings. They don't cast shadows the way you do however. It sounds to me like they are in a way shaped by the consciousness of these unreal people. Does that mean that there is some power to what is unreal in your world? It doesn't sound like these shadows are just twisted reflections of you after all.If there is some mention of these 'real dragons' in this library of yours it doesn't actually matter that much. Words and concepts are based off belief after all. Even if your shadows are just based off the 'real' dragons, which may not even be that, I'd say you are considerably more real than they are at this point, correct?"

  15. - Top - End - #225
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    "West," Zee repeats. "That's the ocean direction, right? When I visited Creation I came up through the fire desert in the south."

    It was pretty nice, if a bit warm. But the again the scorching heat never bothered her anyway.

    "It was a pretty neat place, I thought! I met some monks that thought I was a 'Lunar Anathema' and punched me a whole bunch. They seemed pretty nice," she recounts fondly. Apparently she has a rather flexible definition of 'nice'. "There was a big battle! It was like fighting a super senti team, just with fewer motorcycles and giant robots. Eventually one of them noticed that I didn't have a 'banner' and I had no idea what that was so I said I had left all my flags at home. That's when they started punching me less and asking more questions. I guess they eventually decided that I must be some kind of weird elemental and asked me politely but firmly to leave."

    She did not, in fact, go home.

    But she made a pretty good show of looking like she went home.

    "I've met two umm... dragon blooded, I think they call themselves? Here in the Nexus. One of 'em's a monk and the other isn't. They seemed pretty nice, too. But my tentative understanding of how their religion works means they think people like you are the bad guys," the totally normal barmaid says. "But if I've learned anything about the Nexus it's that you should never assume anything about anyone here. Exceptions are the norm. I mean, if people judged me by the worst examples of empyreans then they would assume I'm a giant jerk."

    Emphasis on the giant part. Also the jerk part.

    The barmaid wrinkles her nose a bit. "I don't think we've had any horses rustled from outside the tavern any time recently... Does your road lion get stolen often?"

    Stealing a lion strikes Zee as a pretty dangerous crime. Assuming it is, in fact, an actual lion. As opposed to... something that isn't a lion? She really has no idea.

    Meanwhile!

    "Kind of? Any analogy isn't going to be perfect but I guess that's passable enough. Most people are pretty sure the Waking World and the Dreamlands are the result of the Empyrean and the Dreamheart bumping up against each other. I haven't... y'know... studied it or anything. By empyrean standards I'm still pretty young and up until recently I was mostly focused on putting myself back together. But the simplest bit I understand is that forms are shadows from us while souls are fragments of the unreal. Some folks down here get pretty weirded out when I explain that people like me are soulless. They assume that not having an impossible homunculus living in your head brain pulling levers means you can't be a person. I know that's what I was taught when I was still human."

    Zee gives a shrug.

    "But having actually lived it? I don't feel that different."

    Not different enough to matter to her, anyway.

    "But! Dragons! Seraphim like me are aligned primarily with what people would think of as material stuff. Matter, energy, shape, quantum chaos, that sort of thing. Secondarily we can be aligned with any of the other Spheres, but the material ones are always the most emphasized. Like for me? I'm aligned with matter, shape, information, and will. Taken together, I'm essentially the determination of living things to adapt, overcome, and survive. All empyreans are like that. Ideas and ideals and forms."
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  16. - Top - End - #226
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    Outside, where vehicles are parked occasionally, is a male tiefling with a black beard braided into a single rope of hair from his chin, with deep purple skin and pale yellow eyes. He wears a pair of thick leather trousers, heavy boots and a black leather jacket with a horned skull over a pair of crossed tyre irons patched on the back, with Road Pirates in a crescent at the bottom. On his head is a morion-style black helmet, buckled under his chin. It's made of modern materials despite its archaic design.

    The currently bike-less biker walks up to the fanciest bike he can see- in this case, a Road Lion- and climbs onto it. He's got a bit of technopathy, and once he's mounted he'll try coaxing it to life.
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  17. - Top - End - #227
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    Ambrosia nods in agreement as Zee shrugs. Seemingly being onboard with her dismissal of this 'impossible homoculus'. "Mm, I see what you mean as I personally don't put much importance in souls. Where I'm from they're simply reflections of the mind and hold no more special importance than that." She waves her raised finger in Zee's direction. "Though... your lack of one does raise a good question. What exactly is the need of one where you're from? If you represent life's will to evolve and thrive then what kind of special quality does the other side of the table provide exactly? Since as far as I can tell you're not lacking in anything I associate with a 'full' person. Just what is it that makes the people of your waking world so dependent on them? You could take my soul and I'd be fine as I would simply generate a new one. Indeed, the dragons of my world had souls as a part of their diet and they didn't need to kill people to get them."
    Last edited by Shadowcaller; 2020-03-18 at 04:36 AM.

  18. - Top - End - #228
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    "Okay, I can tell you what I think, but you should know that I'm pretty biased since souls are faerie nonsense," Zee admits from the outset. "Souls are what link mortals back to the Dreamheart just like the real aspects of the universe link them back to us. Souls travel to the Dreamlands whenever mortals dream. If mortals go without dreaming for too long, they eventually start to go insane and then die. Something as impossible as a soul can't stay bottled up inside a meat-computer forever since it'll start climbing the walls and smashing stuff eventually."

    There are diseases that stop people from being able to sleep and they're pretty horrible.

    "The soul is just this... I dunno. An impossible thing that's like a summary of the person. The 'essence' of who they are. But it's completely redundant since the information encoded in the brain covers all the same stuff. Maybe it's a backup? I can say though, that it allows mortals to dream. We don't, they do. And dreaming gives mortals the capacity to grow and change as people in a way that's really hard for empyreans to do. We're mostly changeless, normally. The things, if you can even call them things, from the Dreamheart have the opposite problem. They're so ever changing and mercurial that their existence is incoherent. Mortals kind of get the best of both worlds."

    They also have the capacity to use their creativity to make cool hats.

    Zee adjusts her hat, always quite pleased with it.

    "You mentioned dragons were you come from eat souls? I... ummm..." she glances around the tavern and lowers her voice. "Sort of do that. Part of the reason why empyreans come to the Waking World is because feeding on hopes and dreams lets us grow and change. I don't like calling it 'eating souls' because that has really negative connotations to some people and like your dragons, it doesn't kill anyone. I usually make a point of feeding in really remote, isolated places so I don't munch the souls of any sapient people unintentionally. Anything alive will do. It doesn't die, it just becomes part of me in a really abstract sort of way. I eat their hopes and dreams and those get replaced with my purpose."
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  19. - Top - End - #229
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    "Sounds like something I'd need their perspective on to understand better then." Ambrosia comments in regards to the faerie nonsense as her pen makes a BOLD note of that. "But it does sound odd. Not that everything have to adhere to our standard form of logic considering that of such a conceptual nature likely would have a very different way of seeing things."

    She continues listening, nodding as Zee explains the differences between faries and empyreans. "And perhaps also a mortal from your world..." She adds, sounding like she's talking more to herself than Zee.

    But as Zee suddenly starts to glance around the table, Ambrosia tilts her head. Unsure what revelation to expect next. She does not seem disappointed, leaning closer as the barmaid whispers. Soon nodding in understanding.
    "It's the 'feeding' part that usually gets them going. Mortals, ah, people in general I mean. They eat a lot of things themselves and know all too well what they do to their own food." She makes a point by making a subtle gesture to the tavern around them. Did the people here really think about what the meat they consumed had suffered through before ending up on their plate?

    "I'm going to guess that you don't even really feed off their soul at all but more of their purpose though the two are not easy to separate for your average person, am I right? The dragons of my own world they... feed more off the excess energy people give off. Like the heat the body give off, so does the soul. Especially when people are engaged in some satisfying activity." The scholar glances to the sides. "This tavern for instance would be the perfect feeding ground for them. People come here to enjoy themselves and socialize do they not? That pleasure and the exchange between people makes them give off a lot of excess energy. Feeding off animals like you is possible though not nearly as satisfying."

  20. - Top - End - #230
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    "Making sense is something fae are pretty terrible at," Zee points out.

    After all, what fun is there in making sense?

    "Yeah, probably. People think of souls as their 'themness' I guess. And eating as involving lots of chomping and violence. It still isn't something I want to inflict on people if I can avoid it, though," Zee admits. "There was a mobile village that shouldn't have been out in the middle of a freezing tundra a while back. They saw me when I was feeding and got chewed on. They're all still alive just... way more gung-ho about me than I really want people being. I did my best to try to make sure they aren't going to do anything awful dedicated to me."

    Now Zee's glancing toward the closed curtain.

    "That must make things easy for dragons where you're from. They get a free lunch," Zee laughs mirthlessly. "Honestly they sound way more immaterial than most dragons you find around the Nexus. Usually they're just... animals. Sometimes people. Often elementally aligned. I guess maybe I shouldn't be surprised how similar they are to people like me."

    Zee ponders a moment or two further, considering anything else that might be useful knowledge.

    "Oh! Seraphim are all star-like. Exactly how that manifests from one seraphim to another isn't really consistent. We're all wildly diverse. That might have to do with why stars are the most common form of matter in the universe. Planets are less common. Planets with life WAY less common. But they're precious. Living worlds have interesting stories. Dead rocks are pretty boring."
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  21. - Top - End - #231
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rebonack View Post
    "West," Zee repeats. "That's the ocean direction, right? When I visited Creation I came up through the fire desert in the south." It was pretty nice, if a bit warm. But the again the scorching heat never bothered her anyway. "It was a pretty neat place, I thought! I met some monks that thought I was a 'Lunar Anathema' and punched me a whole bunch. They seemed pretty nice," she recounts fondly. Apparently she has a rather flexible definition of 'nice'. "There was a big battle! It was like fighting a super sentai team, just with fewer motorcycles and giant robots. Eventually one of them noticed that I didn't have a 'banner' and I had no idea what that was so I said I had left all my flags at home. That's when they started punching me less and asking more questions. I guess they eventually decided that I must be some kind of weird elemental and asked me politely but firmly to leave." She did not, in fact, go home. But she made a pretty good show of looking like she went home. "I've met two umm... dragon blooded, I think they call themselves? Here in the Nexus. One of 'em's a monk and the other isn't. They seemed pretty nice, too. But my tentative understanding of how their religion works means they think people like you are the bad guys," the totally normal barmaid says. "But if I've learned anything about the Nexus it's that you should never assume anything about anyone here. Exceptions are the norm. I mean, if people judged me by the worst examples of empyreans then they would assume I'm a giant jerk." Emphasis on the giant part. Also the jerk part. The barmaid wrinkles her nose a bit. "I don't think we've had any horses rustled from outside the tavern any time recently... Does your road lion get stolen often?" Stealing a lion strikes Zee as a pretty dangerous crime. Assuming it is, in fact, an actual lion. As opposed to... something that isn't a lion? She really has no idea.
    "The only ocean there is." Ashen replied, slowly processing what he'd just heard. "To be mistaken for one of Luna's chosen, I would assume you do not always look as you do now. Or at the very least, you are much stronger than you appear." He certainly couldn't imagine just what an empyrean was, but for the story to be true, he's underestimated the locals by a bit. And this one in particular had spiked his interest even more.
    Quote Originally Posted by Earl of Purple View Post
    Outside, where vehicles are parked occasionally, is a male tiefling with a black beard braided into a single rope of hair from his chin, with deep purple skin and pale yellow eyes. He wears a pair of thick leather trousers, heavy boots and a black leather jacket with a horned skull over a pair of crossed tyre irons patched on the back, with Road Pirates in a crescent at the bottom. On his head is a morion-style black helmet, buckled under his chin. It's made of modern materials despite its archaic design. The currently bike-less biker walks up to the fanciest bike he can see- in this case, a Road Lion- and climbs onto it. He's got a bit of technopathy, and once he's mounted he'll try coaxing it to life.
    The road lion was best described as a cruising motorcycle, tough one with a a sculpture of a lion's head in place of a gas tank, or streamers of white jade for handlebars and footrests. For all the majestic nature of it, it's still a vehicle, just one where the engine is a miniature temple to god of swift transportation, the wheels are mandalas, and the whole thing is powered by essence supplied from its rider, rather than burning more physical things as fuel. Sadly, such fine magitech could not defend itself from thieves on its own, roaring to life underneath the technopathic tiefling. Quite literally roaring in a chorus of mechanical whirs and rumbles, as the prayer engine attempted to start up. It would be up to the would-be road pirate's ability to provide the necessary spiritual energies if it would do more than that.

    And then, back indoors, Ashen stood up "I'll be right back." He directed to Zee, while walking towards the door. "Does not happen often, but it attracts more attention than I would like." He growled softly as he straightened out his coat, and headed outside to see just what was going on out there...
    "Life before death, Strength before weakness, Journey before destination."

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  22. - Top - End - #232
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    "Feeding off them made them more devouted to you? Fascinating." She observes at Zee's admission with a curt nod. "Though perhaps 'sharing their soul for a moment' would be a better description? 'Feeding' might be more accurate but sharing is a lot less of a loaded term and it the end that could save you a whole lot of trouble. 'Tasting' would be somewhere in-between those two and might also be an option." That one might be a bit creepy though.

    Ambrosia smiles even if Zee's laugh is mirthless. "Sort of, yes. Though the process have consequenses beyond getting your proper fill so not as easy as you might think."
    The scholar dismisses that line of thought with a wave however. "That's actually a rather common trait among dragons. Not the association with starts I mean, but the diversity. Though as you mention that specifically I assume you mean even more diverse than the multitude of dragons that can be found within the nexus? Since even in my own world dragons are far more diverse than any other species. Though using biological terms like species is probably problematic while talking about these sort of beings, yeah?"
    Last edited by Shadowcaller; 2020-03-19 at 09:08 AM.

  23. - Top - End - #233
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    "That must be weird, only having one ocean... But Creation is flat, isn't it? You can get away with some pretty unusual geography if you've got a flat world. I read about one flat world where the mountains are actually giant nails fastening it to the back of a HUGE fish named Bahamut," Zee recounts. She hasn't been tot hat one. Or at least she's pretty sure that she hasn't been to that one. Maybe one of the hers was from there? She's pretty sure that they weren't all from the same world originally but that's a whole different can of worms. "And yeah, appearances are pretty variable for me. I stick mostly with this one since it's what I looked like before I went underwent apotheosis. 'Normal human' is easier for most people to relate to. You've probably noticed the same thing!"

    She points at the gem in Ashen's chest.

    "Anything unusual can attract attention. Especially in places where it's mostly just normal folk. You can run into villages like that Outside the City, but as long as you're Inside I doubt most people would look twice at you. The population here is fantastically varied."

    A quick survey of the tavern confirms this assertion.

    And then roaring from outside!

    Zee heaves a sign. "Y'know I feel like the 'road lion' probably would have been left alone if you hadn't mentioned it."

    She's heading outside as well, reaching into her pocket for her phone so she can call intersection and inform them of a case of grand theft magical motorbike.


    Meanwhile!

    Zee nods.

    "Yep. Hopes and dreams replaced with my purpose. At least in part. I don't really have any control over them any more than the average person can tell their liver what to do. What that devotion looks like is mostly up to them. I made a more controlled appearance to them and tried to impress on them some wholesome devotional principles and the last time I checked they're doing okay," she explains, looking uneasy about the whole thing. "They're spreading the word. Telling people about me. Empyreans are fractal, y'know? Every piece of me is a reflection of all of me. And that includes intimate knowledge of me. Someone accepts the devotions I taught to Wrattleham and now I'm in their head, too. I can feel little tugs coming from all directions. Hopes and dreams traded for bits of my Glory."

    She adjusts herself in her seat, still working at trying to come to terms with the fact that she's being treated as an object of veneration. She knows that is almost inevitably the relationship between mortals and empyreans, but she's worked pretty hard to curtail it. All it took was one slip-up on her part.

    "Well... what do dragons have in common?" Zee asks. "If you go to the very bottom of the word you basically find a snake. Sometimes with wings, sometimes with legs, sometimes not. But long slinky reptile is the core idea there. And that certainly describes me when I'm not all folded in on myself and wearing meat-pajamas. Seraphim do have a few things in common. We cast the shadow 'dragon'. Along with 'star', 'glass', and 'tree'. We've all got six 'wings'. Though exactly what that means is going to differ from one to another."

    A pause as she considers for a moment. She's been trying to get a little more comfortable with not totally masking herself. Aside from being BRIGHT and LOUD people took it pretty well.

    "If you want I can shuck off the human disguise. I'll still be mostly folded in on myself since I'm obnoxiously huge and I don't want to smash the tavern. But it would give you a good idea of what I look like."
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  24. - Top - End - #234
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    The Road Pirate has some excess spiritual energy, of a sort. He's entered into a bargain with an entity that provides him with power... But figuring out how to use that energy to power the device is trickier. "Come on! I can feel you wanting to move, so let's hit the road!" If the profane energies residing in the hollow where his soul was carved out are compatible with the essence-driven mechanisms, this is probably the point where the Road Lion starts to move.

    They haven't noticed Ashen or Zee approaching yet, either.
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    "Glory? That's a curious name. Certainly lends to better things than 'feeding' even if I feel it might actually be more... complicated in nature." She proposes though only nods in agreement to Zee's dragon theories. "Is that so? So all those that stand under 'dragon' prescribe to those features? Since... yes, I'd like to see your true nature very much." A beat. "Let me just make sure the curtains are properly closed first."

    Yes, Zee of anyone should know that people should not see curtainious activities. Who knows what she and Ambrosia could be doing behind there?

    The scholar stands up and makes sure the drapery is properly closed before turning around to nod to Zee. "Now you may."

  26. - Top - End - #236
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devixer View Post
    Aimi barely managed to suppress a small laugh at the apparent student hard at work, in a noisy bar filled with adventurers and at least one used car salesman. But it took all kinds, she knew that as well as anyone. She stood up, and approached the only other quiet table in the tavern, loosening her shoulder bag a little. "You know there are much quieter places to work on your dissertation, right? Assuming there is a med school around here..."

    She was dressed in her normal clothing - tight brown pants and a light jacket over a plain shirt, an outfit that emphasized the small curves that she does have. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "What brings someone like you around here?"
    Studybun

    The woman's creamy ears perk up as Aimi approaches. She glances up inquisitively behind clear-rimmed spectacles, mug cradled in both hands. "Hm? Oh, it's not a dissertation, it's actually just some field notes that needed transcribing." Her voice is bright and chipper, with the lightest trace of an accent. She's a fair bit more voluptuous than the taller woman before her, although the knee-length skirt above her tights doesn't show it off quite as well as the low-cut half sleeve she's wearing beneath a varsity-style jacket. "Oh, nothing in particular. Just happened to be on the way home, so."
    "Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
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  27. - Top - End - #237
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    Studybun

    "That's even weirder!" Aimi laughs a little, but not to make fun of her. She sits down across from the woman, smiling right at her. "Field notes, hm? So you're a scientist?" She looks at the woman's outfit. "I'd say you don't look the part, but I guess people can look however they want! Especially here in the Nexus." She shrugs. "I mean, I could say I'm a wizard any anyone would believe me! Not that I am, but, well, you get it." She laughs again. "I've never stopped by Trog's before, I've always preferred other places. But this isn't so bad."

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    Parking Area!

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebonack View Post
    "That must be weird, only having one ocean... But Creation is flat, isn't it? You can get away with some pretty unusual geography if you've got a flat world. I read about one flat world where the mountains are actually giant nails fastening it to the back of a HUGE fish named Bahamut," Zee recounts. She hasn't been tot hat one. Or at least she's pretty sure that she hasn't been to that one. Maybe one of the hers was from there? She's pretty sure that they weren't all from the same world originally but that's a whole different can of worms. "And yeah, appearances are pretty variable for me. I stick mostly with this one since it's what I looked like before I went underwent apotheosis. 'Normal human' is easier for most people to relate to. You've probably noticed the same thing!"

    She points at the gem in Ashen's chest.

    "Anything unusual can attract attention. Especially in places where it's mostly just normal folk. You can run into villages like that Outside the City, but as long as you're Inside I doubt most people would look twice at you. The population here is fantastically varied."

    A quick survey of the tavern confirms this assertion.

    And then roaring from outside!

    Zee heaves a sign. "Y'know I feel like the 'road lion' probably would have been left alone if you hadn't mentioned it."

    She's heading outside as well, reaching into her pocket for her phone so she can call intersection and inform them of a case of grand theft magical motorbike.
    On one hand, the law of narrative causality implies that yes, only mentioning it made the risk real. On the other, that's exactly what a Raksha would say, and Ashen isn't about to believe any of that.

    "I have not collected many shapes to wear, but people respond best to human, or what gets mistaken for a local god." He nodded, still walking for the door as he tried to keep the conversation going. "I can hide the stone, the tattoos as well. Teeth are the problem, nothing I can do about those." Normally he would have, but after crossing the Wyld, he wasn't willing to take the restrictions of going without an absorbed hearthstone. His tell was much harder to conceal, but normal humans overlooked that more often than not... Which probably meant nobody he was going to speak to here.

    Quote Originally Posted by Earl of Purple View Post
    The Road Pirate has some excess spiritual energy, of a sort. He's entered into a bargain with an entity that provides him with power... But figuring out how to use that energy to power the device is trickier. "Come on! I can feel you wanting to move, so let's hit the road!" If the profane energies residing in the hollow where his soul was carved out are compatible with the essence-driven mechanisms, this is probably the point where the Road Lion starts to move.

    They haven't noticed Ashen or Zee approaching yet, either.
    The Road Lion was starting up, though with some difficulty that comes to be expected with mixing profane energies with holy machinery. With timing well-aligned to Ashen stepping outside proper, essence flowing through him as he tilted his head down and continued his walk towards the Road Pirate, glittering silver crescent flickering into view on his brow as the changing moon's carnivorous teeth lose their easily-overlooked quality. Channeling the force of his spirit into patterns of charisma that sharpened his disapproval into a tangible edge.

    "Are you sure you want to do that?" He called over to the Tiefling, more expecting a chase to begin than any form of reply.
    "Life before death, Strength before weakness, Journey before destination."

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  29. - Top - End - #239
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    [Curtained Dragons]

    "The different orders of seraphim get different titles as the climb the Tower. I'm a Glory, incidentally. They're all themed! I dunno who came up with them, though. And you might want to cover your eyes for this first part since it's pretty bright," Zee warns a moment before she's immolated in a flash of brilliant light.

    All of a sudden there's a single, crystalline tone and Zee has been replaced by Yezekiel in her partially unveiled form. Humanoid at the moment, a vaguely cervine draconic entity, tall and slender. Two huge feathered wings stretch from her shoulders, two from her hips, and a smaller pair where her ears (or a cobra's hood) might be. The scales on her belly are glossy black, those on the rest of her body deep amber. The wings shimmer with green pinions glittering gold. A pair of antlers stretch back from her head, forming an interwoven ring with an orb of cosmic darkness hovering in the center, ringed in white starlight. She has no eyes in her head. But that's okay. Her wings are full of them. Glory radiates from her, filling the booth with golden orange light that spills out under the curtain. It feel likes the sun shining in its strength after a heavy rain. Clean and bright.

    "Okay, come on Yezzee, inside voice,"
    the seraphim mutters to herself, resisting to the urge to blast BE NOT AFRAID at everyone in the tavern.

    Her mouth splits into a toothy smile that somehow manages to be simultaneously comforting and deeply unsettling.

    "Okay, this is pretty close to what I actually look like. Not exactly the same, but close," she explains. With each breath, each rise and fall of her chest, light pours out from between her scales. She's almost painfully bright to look at.

    A dragon, shining like a star, scales of molten glass. And with her leafy wings spread like that she does in fact evoke the image of a tree.

    Meanwhile!

    "Collected shapes?" Zee inquires cursorily. "Is there something specific you have to do to get new ones?"

    She honestly has no idea how any of this 'moon champion' stuff works. She isn't one, after all. But like most things she's more than happy to learn. Part of the reason she loves the Nexus so much is just how many interesting stories there are to hear.

    And then guy trying to steal a motorbike is confronted!

    "You probably won't get away and I'll have to call Intersection once you get caught," Zee points out. "I'm pretty sure stealing... magical motorcycles? Is a pretty significant crime. Grand-theft road lion."

    It's a VERY serious crime.
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    Car Park

    The Road Pirate turns and sees the Exalt and Zee approach. He turns and mimes a pistol at them, eyes turning black and a blast of black energy is fired from his 'gun' towards the Exalt's feet. "You can't stop me, mate. I got yer bike." He pours more of his profane energy into the Road Lion, getting it to move and accelerate away. It's risky, though, and he doesn't realise just how dangerous it could be.
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