Trog's Tavern CLV

[5a Violista]

Did that girl just ask if someone wanted to be-

Oh. Duck buddies. Gotcha.

Well, sure. Vlad was hungry and June was pretty. He wasn't going to turn down free food and pleasant company when it was offered.

With that, he waves her down, offering her the seat next to him.

June moves her plate and drink down on the table, next to Vlad.
After telling Zee she'll get that duck special, in the end, and that hopefully it's a small duck because honestly enough for four people is obviously too much (Actually she doesn't mention that part, but she thinks it.), she sits down next to him.

"Hi. Nice to meet you," the redhead says, as they wait for the duck to arrive. "I'm June. Actually kinda new here."

[Ironsmith]

"Vlad. And same." Vlad replies, offering his hand. A four-serving duck plate didn't seem like that big a deal to him; he could probably finish that on his own if he didn't have anything else. He's built like a fridge and has about as much internal storage space. "Although, it's still always nice to see a fresh face. Especially one that pretty."

[5a Violista]

June holds her hand out, too, and shakes.
Maybe if she was really hungry, she could eat a third of it, but she's not that hungry at the moment.

"Um, thanks," June says. She tries to smooth her hair back, since it's short enough that it sticks up sometimes. "I've heard that before, but I don't really see it." She does look pretty androgynous, though. Pretty, sure, but maybe not that pretty. She already knows (thinks?) that he's just trying to flatter her, but it's okay. It's nice to get flattered sometimes.

Anyway, duck arrives.
While looking at it and trying to decide where to actually start, June decides that more talking is probably the best way to start. "So, where are you from? Or, how did you get here?" she asks, before answering for herself: "I actually woke up in some prison cart, and then some dragon attacked. Not actually sure how I got there, though. Some people helped me out."

[Ironsmith]

"It's your eyes." Vlad replies with a shrug. Hard to go wrong with that one, he was sure. "Anyway... you see that gigantic hole in the wall over there?" He says, pointing to it. "That shuttle behind it is how I... along with the rest of the crew... got here. I'm from Earth, 23rd century. Saint Petersburg, more specifically." He grins. "Funny story, we actually were trying to get to another dimension... just not this one. Got knocked off-course somehow. Whoops."

[FireFox]

There's still technically enough wine for two! Well either way, Rein's definitely not going to be anxious at this meeting. Not that he was particularly anxious to begin with. More... curious perhaps?

He takes a moment to look Rhapsodia over, before realizing he was staring at the beautiful redhead. He glances away from the tails and the curves as he motions at the seat across from him. "Please, sit." There was no reason for her to remain standing.

"I've been well. Surprisingly busy lately, considering I retired." No one even believes that line anymore, definitely not Reinholdt. He glances at the two glass bottles, briefly wondering if the poison is in front of him and if Rhapsodia is immune to it. "I'm actually really surprised to hear from you if I'm honest." Of the goddesses he's interacted with, Rhapsodia may be the one he's spent the least time with... oh, it kinda makes sense in that way huh? Wow, yikes.

"What about you? Doing well I hope?"

"For the most part, yes. I've been traveling around in a more mortal guise, making art with different people. It was quite fun. But then the most recent family drama came to my attention like... like the delayed sound of a bomb. So here I am, playing mediator for my sisters." Rhapsodia settles into the chair with a small smile at Rein's staring, but it soon fades away. Alas, a serious conversation. She gestures to the two bottles. "A peace offering. Rum made from something called Moon Sugar, which I am given to understand is very popular among the catpeople of Elsweyr. One for the Reinholdt in HALO, who tried to tell Kynegetis about his new family and got. Um. Treated poorly. And the other for the Reinholdt who has a family with our... hitherto unknown aunt? I would be very grateful if you could deliver these on my behalf. I thought it best to start with you, an unattached Rein, until I had determined the extent of their--very legitimate I hasten to add--grievances."

If this all seems confusing, it's probably because she's dancing around a very distasteful subject. Conspiracy to commit murder is a terrible thing to confess to, even if her only involvement was to help talk it out of happening. "We, my sisters and I, recognize that we reacted wholly inappropriately to surprising news and... ugh, oh I hate this. These words are awful, I'm sorry Rein. The point is, Kyne knows what she did with our father was an extremely disproportionate response and I'm here to keep any more blood from spilling." The foxy Goddess really needs a drink after this speech and drains her wineglass in a single morose motion. Hopefully there's enough left in the bottle for her to refill it, otherwise she'll be making sad eyes at his own glass.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt would never leave a lady without a refill. He'd have ordered a second bottle if it was needed.

He has only a quizzical look as Rhapsodia talks about a peace offering. And grievances. And responses. What in the ninety-nine hells was Rho on about?

"Thanks. I'll get these to them," Reinholdt says politely, taking the two bottles and shifting them under his jacket where they disappear entirely. "But at the same time I was completely unaware of any animosity. I know Rein told Kyne that we'd be better off just being friends, but by my understanding it went well."

As well as such things can go anyways. It wasn't exactly streamers and cake.

He works to unravel Rho's words a little more and something alarming does seem worth exploring deeper. "Are you saying Kynegetis killed Tobias? No... tortured him? Did she do the four horses thing with the ropes?" Rein winces a little. That was... unpleasant.

[Vahnavoi]

Demion shakes his head.

"Normally not, but there are some things you should do by yourself." he answers. "Not that this means you can't ask for help. It's more like not becoming a burden to others. As for the name, I only know that your parents give you one. Other ways are rare. Mostly involve amnesia or alike."

Demion (and his player) are a bit confused at the last part. Did he call Demion Sandels? He takes the hand to shake.

"Demion is my name."

"Demion... Demion..." Sandels rolls the name on his tongue. "So, your parents named you that? What does it mean?"

[5a Violista]

"Huh, okay," she says. Eyes do look kinda good, she has to admit.
June looks over at the wall. "Oh. Really? You crashed into the wall? Are you alright?"

She looks over Vlad, trying to see if he has any obvious injuries. Probably not, if he did then he wouldn't still be here? "Car crashes can be pretty dangerous."

June then thinks about what he said: "Oh! So, if you kinda-not-really came here on purpose, then do you think it's possible to get back? I would like to get back to my place but because I don't know anything about interdimensional travel, I don't even know what's possible or not using it. You know a lot about it?"

[Ironsmith]

Vlad looks a little bruised up, but fine for the most part. He chuckles a little to himself when she asks him if he knows a lot about interdimensional travel. Knowingly or not, she just made his day; he wasn't known for his brains and he relished the opportunity to tell her what he knew about such an advanced subject.

"I know a thing or two about quad-space mechanics, yeah." Vlad replies, tearing one of the legs off the duck. "Minored in it back at the academy. I needed it to get my certification to work on the shuttle. Would you like to hear about it?"

[Rebonack]

Oh hey now that's an idea!

Zee immediately responds to the question with FINGER GUNS!

"Ey, now that's an idea! I HAVE been looking for a new bouncer. It's pretty disruptive when I have to stop whatever I'm doing to toss some goons out. If you wanted to fill the position I would be all for it."

A place to stay.

Drinks on the house.

Income.

Interesting company.

What isn't to like about this solution?

"You can consider it a temporary position if you like. Until you figure something else out. Or you might decide to stick with Trog's for the duration of your stay here in the Nexus! That's up to you. But I would LOVE to have a new face on the team. Our last bouncer was Baby and that was YEARS ago."

[5a Violista]

June, who knows absolutely nothing about interdimensional travel except 'it happened to me, apparently', nods.
She starts cutting off some of the duck and placing it on her plate next to her salad.
"Yeah! Of course. I'd love to hear about it," she says.

She then adds, since it seems important, "Just so you know, I actually do know nothing about it so I'm not sure how basic or fundamental you're going to have to start at. I mean, I know some regular physics and stuff, like, statics and dynamics and some material sciences and those kinds of things, but...yeah." She just doesn't want the whole conversation to just fly over her head because she doesn't even understand the foundation.

[Ironsmith]

Oh hey now that's an idea!

Zee immediately responds to the question with FINGER GUNS!

"Ey, now that's an idea! I HAVE been looking for a new bouncer. It's pretty disruptive when I have to stop whatever I'm doing to toss some goons out. If you wanted to fill the position I would be all for it."

A place to stay.

Drinks on the house.

Income.

Interesting company.

What isn't to like about this solution?

"You can consider it a temporary position if you like. Until you figure something else out. Or you might decide to stick with Trog's for the duration of your stay here in the Nexus! That's up to you. But I would LOVE to have a new face on the team. Our last bouncer was Baby and that was YEARS ago."

"Well, here's to hoping I can keep up with Baby." Kyrie smiles and holds up his glass in what would be a toast if Zee had her own, then gulps it down. "Normally, I'd offer ro start immediately, but it's been a long trip and I'll need some rest. So... how does this time tomorrow sound?"

June, who knows absolutely nothing about interdimensional travel except 'it happened to me, apparently', nods.
She starts cutting off some of the duck and placing it on her plate next to her salad.
"Yeah! Of course. I'd love to hear about it," she says.

She then adds, since it seems important, "Just so you know, I actually do know nothing about it so I'm not sure how basic or fundamental you're going to have to start at. I mean, I know some regular physics and stuff, like, statics and dynamics and some material sciences and those kinds of things, but...yeah." She just doesn't want the whole conversation to just fly over her head because she doesn't even understand the foundation.

"Not to worry. I had to get a couple tutors when I was learning the subject, so I can relay it in simple terms." Vlad begins. "You're already familiar with tri-space mechanics; that's what we're experiencing now. Well, that or something similar. Quad-space mechanics includes another direction we normally can't see or move in." He takes a minute to get a bite out of the duck before continuing. "This new direction... it lines up neatly with our concept of time, so most of us just refer to it like that to keep things simple. Travelling 'ten minutes forward', 'twelve seconds back', and so on. Now, like the other three directions, this fourth one stetches on forever in both directions; an infinite number of pasts and futures. And each and every one of them is different, because of desynchronization." He considers elaborating on that for a second, before determining that was probably too much for June right this moment. "So, what we tried to do is move forward about five hundred years in our shuttle, but something went wrong and we overshot it. Or possibly undershot. Either way, we're not where we're trying to be and we don't know how to get back there."

[5a Violista]

June eats as she listens.

She nods.
Wait, tri-space mechanics? "Um, no, I..." before he explains that it just means what they're experiencing now. "Oh I see. Okay."

She listens more. Duck is pretty good, but it's also more...muscular? Red? Whatever? than other things she's had recently.

"Okay, makes sense, I guess. But, sorry if it's obvious or something, but what's stopping it from there being, like, a fourth spatial direction or a second time dimension or something?" There's probably some weird technobabble explanation for why but it'll go way over her head if he tries to explain it, she thinks. Actually, it probably has to do with the 'desynchronization' thing he skipped over, and there's probably a reason he skipped over it.

She eats some salad now.
"Well, I hope you figure out what happened."

[Ironsmith]

"Honestly? Nothing." Vlad replies. "We may very well have been operating in quin- or sex-space this whole time. There might be two or three temporal dimensions. Heck, there could be any number of dimensions between zero and infinity." He sighs and takes a nibble of duck leg. "So, we have to work with what we've got. If there's a fifth dimension in play here, we're as lost as anyone else."

He smiles. "But, on the plus side, if we're right, it's not just us we could get home. Imagine if we could run a shuttle service from the Nexus to any of these other worlds. We'd be able to help so many people." He taps his chin in thought. "And given material differences between those worlds, we could probably make bank selling one world's trash to another while we're at it."

[Zefir]

"Demion... Demion..." Sandels rolls the name on his tongue. "So, your parents named you that? What does it mean?"

"I guess they did." Demion replies. "I don't know. At least they didn't choose it for a meaning. It has the word Demi in it, but I can't think what the rest stands for or how this connects. It migth have meant something in our history, but the documentation got lost. How about your name? Any meaning?"

[Vahnavoi]

"Well it could've come from a name for sandalwood. Or be one of many corruptions of the name Alexander - Xander, Sander, Sandels, you see? Or it could've come from a place called Sandel, which might've gotten its name from the sandalwood." The man shrugs. "In any case, a man with that name became general who took part in war that lead to one kingdom being split in two. Though technically on the losing side, he fought with honor, and the locals named a beer after him. Cheers!" Somewhere amidst his story, the man acquired another drink.

[Zefir]

Demion listens but his expression appears a bit confused and at the end his view is fixed on the beer.

"You just came up with that Story by the beers brand?" he asks. "You don't have to do that. I don't think a name allways has a meaning. Especially if it describes a characteristic. If so the name would be given at an older age and not at birth."

[Vahnavoi]

Sandels smirks. "Haha, no. Johan August Sandels was a real dude. I'd say, look it up, but I don't even know where you would look something like that up 'round here. But it's a true story. Better believe it!" He empties the rest of his mug in one.

[5a Violista]

"Oh, wow," says the gal who is already getting close to full. "Sounds like it could get really complex, quickly." Not to mention, there's still half a duck left.

June drinks her llamonade. "If you manage to get that to work, that could be really big." She thinks a bit more, then adds, "Even if it's too hard to find a specific place, you can still do that profit-thing so long as it's reproducible."

[Ironsmith]

"Basically, yeah." Vlad replies, tearing off a chunk of duck. "But that's assuming our shuttle and science are both up to the task. It'll probably come to nothing." He chuckles. "Guy can dream, though, can't he?"

He takes a minute to devour the duck in his hands before continuing. "How about you? Any plans for the future? Ambitions, maybe?"

[5a Violista]

"Yeah, it's good to have goals like that," June says.

Speaking of.
She sighs and, after moving her plate out of the way, moves her head down to the table. "I guess I have plans. Maybe. Not sure," she says, her voice getting a little muffled against the table.
She then turns her head to the right. "I had a whole bunch of plans. Finishing and getting my doctorate, having like at least five of the most adorable babies ever with the cutest names, including three girls and two boys and one of those was a set of twins, maybe even two sets if I'm lucky, working at a really cool design company and doing medical stuff on the side..." June sighs again, and starts counting on her fingers as she lists out things: "But now I have no idea where I am," (1) "or what's going on," (2) "or how to get back," (3), "why even is magic?" (4), "or any of the other whomst-what-wherefore-when-whatever question words." (5).

She quickly sits up. "Oh! But!" She sounds a little more excited instead of resigned. "I met a dragon and rode him! Well, met a couple but ended up having to kill one of them. Riding a dragon is so fun. It's always been my dream to ride one, and not only do they exist but some of them are actually nice! And it's so fun! It's basically like flying, except...dragons!"

[Ironsmith]

Well, someone certainly had mixed feelings about her situation, Vlad thought. It took him a moment to parse through all of that and try to formulate an appropriate response.

"You know, that baby thing isn't out of the question, either." Oh god no. That would get him slapped for sure.

"As it happens, I have a friend that could help with that doctorate thing..." That would probably also get him slapped; later, by Eun, who hated being volunteered for these things. No-go there.

"I know, right? Friggin' dragons, man!" True. Friggin' dragons. No real downside to that one.

"Hell yeah. Dragons are awesome." Vlad finally says with a grin. "I think that's gotta be some kind of universal constant."

[Zefir]

Sandels smirks. "Haha, no. Johan August Sandels was a real dude. I'd say, look it up, but I don't even know where you would look something like that up 'round here. But it's a true story. Better believe it!" He empties the rest of his mug in one.

"I don't know either, but this place has a lot of worlds and maybe one has a way to look things up." he says but doesn't make anymore attemps to find out now.
"So, what are you gonna do now with that name?"

[5a Violista]

Talking about dragons, it turns out, is a really good way to avoid getting slapped.

"Yeah! I know," June says. "So cool."

She pauses, thinks, then asks, "Hey, you seen a dragon yet? Or...are there some where you're from? I can imagine there being, like, space dragons or time dragons that you might run into with time travel and stuff."

[Ironsmith]

"Ah... well, actually... no." Vlad admits sheepishly. "Not in person, at any rate. Our world doesn't have dragons; not real ones, at least." He doubted she'd think of komodo dragons as having the same kind of grandeur as a real dragon. "But you have, right? Are they as awesome as they sound like they'd be?"

He nibbles on the other duck leg as he waits for an answer. He hadn't been expecting to hear about dragons today, but now that she'd mentioned it, he was definitely keen to know more.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"I... hope so too. I joined Intersection for stability and to find something new. A... proper order of things, instead of tryin' to make my own way. It's been working so far." Michalson sighs. "And thank you. Having someone watching my back... it means a lot. It's been a long time since I had someone like that. Someone I trusted."

"Hey, it's what partners are for, right? Wouldn't be much good to each other if we couldn't trust each other." Ithuriel seems determined to stick to this cheering Michalson up plan. A little positivity can help at times, and if that's the best help she can provide right now, she'll gladly do so. "And it feels like it's worked out pretty well so far. Honestly, working with you has been an absolute delight. Especially compared to the shifts I've had with some of the other guys in T division. Buncha guys not used to being werewolves, wereyaks, were-anything. Gets a little awkward at times."

[FireFox]

Reinholdt would never leave a lady without a refill. He'd have ordered a second bottle if it was needed.

He has only a quizzical look as Rhapsodia talks about a peace offering. And grievances. And responses. What in the ninety-nine hells was Rho on about?

"Thanks. I'll get these to them," Reinholdt says politely, taking the two bottles and shifting them under his jacket where they disappear entirely. "But at the same time I was completely unaware of any animosity. I know Rein told Kyne that we'd be better off just being friends, but by my understanding it went well."

As well as such things can go anyways. It wasn't exactly streamers and cake.

He works to unravel Rho's words a little more and something alarming does seem worth exploring deeper. "Are you saying Kynegetis killed Tobias? No... tortured him? Did she do the four horses thing with the ropes?" Rein winces a little. That was... unpleasant.

The Poetess leans forward, holding her glass out for the Treasure Hunter to pour her more wine. A troubling thought occurs to her: if the Reinclones don't communicate clearly, don't share friends and enemies the way the Goddess Sisters do, is she going to have to deal with each of them? Getting drinks with every single Reinholdt wouldn't be the worst way to spend her time, but there's only going to be so many times she can talk about this ugly mess without wanting to throw herself into the ocean. On the other hand, he accepted the peace offering on behalf of the others. Rho feels a metaphysical weight settle over her. The laws that govern deities are bronzeclad on this point: once such a symbol has been offered and accepted they are bound to see it through. The Huntress can't scythe through Reinholdt's family like a lioness culling the youngest of the herd.

"I was told she melted down. I don't know what threats she may have made after he told her about his family and the other one, but we all know what she's capable of." She shakes her head and makes a face like the wine she just drank is sour, but it's the next part that tastes bad. "Then she went to Dadd- ahem, our father, and demanded he reveal the location of this female clone. He refused, she tried to kill him with a quick-draw, and he cast on her. Apparently they each only got off a single attack before our mother shut them down, but he lost a hand and she got burned. Rein, that's really extreme, even by Vulpan family standards. Kyne... we didn't realize how..."

Rho takes off her glasses and rubs a hand at her eyes before putting them back on and staring through them at Rein's pink eyes. "Look, don't worry about her. Soteira got her to realize she can't keep continuing like this and she needs to change. Kore made her swear to try and make up with you, although I'm like 90% certain the Maiden doesn't fully understand and just wants to play with your kids. And I'm here to try and make things right with you... although I see you had no idea Kyne was that upset and wow this is a lot to dump on you all at once I'm sorry."

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt politely pours her another glass, watching her closely for a moment.

"That certainly sounds like Kyne," Rein says. His tone is more of disappointment than surprise. He can't be shocked by behavior he's seen time and again. But he had personally thought she had started to move past that. It was probably all wishful thinking. It is clearly evident as such.

He glances down at his wine and swirls it a bit before taking another swallow. "Hadn't heard about the hand thing from Reina. Though she's at MERC now? So maybe she hasn't heard either. Or it's the other Tobias and not Toby. Or he fixed his hand quick. I can't imagine he wouldn't have taken the opportunity to make a hundred hand puns and use a pirate hook first. How recent was this?" He pauses for a moment and more quietly asks in a somber tone. "How badly was Kyne burned?"

Reinholdt ends up shaking his head sadly. "No, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to be mediating like this for your sister. It must be hard on you."

[5a Violista]

"Yeah! So, it's as big as a house." June pauses, then says, "Well, a small house. But! The scales feel really cool. Snake scales are already cool, but just imagine that but ten times better. And flying! It's so fun. Kind-of cold, but really exciting seeing everything going so far away and so fast. Plus, it all feels like muscle so that's even better." Honestly, she can't think of the perfect way to describe it.

"The dragon I rode could speak, too, and it was so hard not embarassing myself in front of him." June's face even goes a little red, thinking back on it.

[Ironsmith]

Now, Vlad had never ridden on the back of a dragon before. He'd also never flown in an open-air vehicle, not counting the few times the shuttle had gotten holes blasted in it. But he'd carried enough passengers to make an educated guess about what June was talking about.

"So... no polite way to tell the guy you're getting airsick, huh?" Vlad asks, coming close to finishing the duck.