Trog's Tavern CLV

[Demon Prince]

"It's okay," Carmen says. "I've...well, I've edited out most of the time in there....long story." She pauses, trying to decide if she should say that long story or not. "Well, long-story-short, normally can't easily do it to myself but this time it worked because my only way out of there was copy my memories over to someone else and then died and got cloned and, well...anyway. Long story."

So in addition to being trapped there, she didn't have her own body anymore? Well, she said she was cloned, so at least it was like hers...

"It sounds like it..." Valentina responds "I'm glad you got out, uh..."

Valentina realizes she never got the elf's name. "...sorry, I didn't ask your name! Probably should've asked by now. I'm Valentina."

She shrugs, and sets down the fork. "Pretty sure who did it. But haven't seen her in so long and honestly would be pretty happy if I never saw her again." Setting down her fork was necessary to avoid waving leaves and things around again.

"Oh! That's reasonable, honestly." Valentina replies, nibbling a bit on her bamhacon--the taste was...a bit odd, but good. "You definitely have the right to cut ties--I mean, if you had any ties, but...you know." Valentina cursed inwardly at the assumption she made, but it was probably for the best anyway.

With her hands free, she runs her hand back through her hair and tosses it to the side. She was trying to convey some sort of emotion, but realizes it didn't really give off the intended feeling. Ugh! She's so out of practice at social interactions that don't involve pushing herself onto someone, that it's pretty frustrating! How is she supposed to be coy and everything else? She can't remember! So, she sighs. "Sure," she finally says, "but, like...are they willing to pay? What if they decide they didn't like it afterwards and come after me? Or what if someone else doesn't like it? Besides, I'm not really sure I'm one that's good at advertising for a business or anything. Would have to come up with lots of fine-print or rules or something, too, and that seems like a huge hassle for something they might regret and/or hate me for afterwards." And, believe her, some of the last couple people whose memory she altered got mad at her.
...
Granted, that's probably because she didn't ask for permission.

As Valentina listens to this, she starts to eat more of her bamhacon, watching the elf closely nonetheless. Though Valentina didn't really swing that way, she was very pretty, and Valentina did appreciate it.

"That's true. I hadn't really thought about the business side of it." Valentina considers. The only place she could think of that might sell something like that...wasn't the kind of place she'd recommend someone work at. "Maybe if you mentioned it to someone you worked for?"

Valentina thought a little further, and asked "How'd you learn how to do it? If you don't mind me asking. It seems like a really unique skill."

[Morty]

By sheer coincidence, Rose decided to pick the goblin out of the crowd as a point of focus. She made her way over to the table and kicked away a few scattered bricks, clearing a space to sit down. "Sorry about that." She says with a small smile. "We usually don't crash places like this so literally." Rose sets her Hotbox on the table and pretends to read over the interface. "I'm here with a delivery for a mister Jonson. Extra large pepperoni and sausage. I don't suppose either of you know him?"

The name and what she was doing there were both total fabrications, of course, but she figured even a place like this (wherever it was) still had enough in common with her home that "pizza delivery" would not be a foreign concept. At worst, walking in and acting like she was here on purpose would go a long way toward making herself and her comrades look much less suspicious. An accident in the parking lot would be noteworthy, but not entirely out of the ordinary, at least not when compared to the alternatives.

Demion nods to the Goblin, having the feeling he was a bit to bold, but there is no time thinking futher about it, because at the same moment as she faces the hole he looks at it too. His hands hold up to protect his face. He needs a moment to get them down again.
"Is that normal here?" he says, but won't get an answer now as Rose comes over. His expression is much confused at her request.
"You are a five person delivery service for pizza?" he asks. Obviously not buying it.

"You know, I'm glad you asked." Rose nods toward Demion, her fingers tapping on her Hotbox. "If we were just a pizza delivery service, you're right, five people would be a little excessive. But our boss has this idea that, as much as the actual pizza, people will pay top dollar for the experience of getting a pizza, and most delivery services are a little lacking in that department. You call the store, and a dude shows up half an hour or so later to give you a cardboard box with your pie in it. Guy's there for, what, fifteen seconds?" She makes a faux-disgusted expression, sticking her tongue out a little and scruching up her eyebrows. "That's not exactly top-quality customer service. So we make it a lot more personal; instead of some random delivery driver just dropping off a pizza, your good friend Rose-" she taps her chest, indicating that she's talking about herself, "comes over and makes it for you, and maybe brings a few friends of her own along. Fresh food and friendly company, all rolled into one." She pauses a moment to let that information sink in. "This is the first time we've ever been called to a public place, though. Our usual demographic is homebound seniors."

Olvisin (who does not have cyber-arms just yet) looks sceptical and unconvinced. She could easily believe that such a service exists. This is the Nexus, where it's hardly the oddest thing people will pay for. But it also sounds like a story someone would make up after crashing their flying vehicle through a wall. She's been there and done that. Not literally, but close enough.

"Can't say I've ever met a mister Johnson," she says. "He must have some money to throw around to have people come cook for him specially in a tavern, though."

[Ironsmith]

"That's the idea." Rose replies. "I mean, who in their right mind would set up a business where the money isn't, am I right?" She lets out a little laugh, apparently finding that concept a little ridiculous herself. "Ah... too bad, I don't see him, either. Not that I'd know it if I did; this is a first-time order for him." She shrugs and starts fiddling with her Hotbox's display. "...Preeeeetty sure we're not getting a tip on this one." She quips. "But, since we're here anyway, would either of you care for a slice? I mean, technically, I'm not supposed to give out samples, but I'm probably as good as fired anyway, so eh."

[Zefir]

The man named Demion is a standard human around 1,8 meter. He has some common clothes you would likly see today.

After Rose offers the slices he looks even more confused. He's not from the nexus so this whole thing seems off for him and the more he hears the less sense does it make.
"What?" he says , taking a short moment befor he speaks up again. "You immediatly drop your job, without even trying? No, thanks." He migth not know it is a cover story, but either that or a poor attemp to poison people with something in the slices.

[Morty]

Olvisin blinks, then breaks into a sudden giggle. She can't help it. She's torn between amusement and a sense of admiration for sticking to the story.

"Alright, but why are you really here? That pizza delivery service was a fun cover story but I can't play along with a straight face."

[Ironsmith]

There was a quiet *ding* as the Hotbox finished its work, which Rose popped open to reveal (what else?) a small, square, thin-crust pepperoni pizza, already neatly divided into quarters. "What cover?" She asks, casually retrieving one of the pizza slices and taking a quick bite out of it.

By now, it was clear neither of them were really buying her story, though she wasn't entirely sure why. That was probably a matter of personal bias on her part; such services were a thing where she came from, though she'd neglected to mention that nine out of ten of them failed in the first year, and the tenth devolved into an escort service. Had she been in her intended locale, she could have used this to her advantage, playing the part of a down-on-her-luck young hopeful at imminent risk of destitution. As it was, all she'd given them was a weird way of getting an Italian entreé from A to B. It was just too odd; she had to explain herself way too much, and couldn't rely on their assumptions to fill in any gaps in her story.

Fortunately, it wasn't totally for nothing. Even if they thought she was lying, Demion and Olvisin would both already have their own ideas about who she was, what she was doing there, and why she felt the need to decieve them and everyone else in the room. It was unlikely they had accurately guessed any of those, so all she really had to do was lean into their perceptions of her and let confirmation bias handle the rest.

How hard could that be, really?

And here to make that slightly more difficult was Klaus. "Pardon me." He says, taking a seat next to Rose.

Rose sighed and scooched over. It was hard enough keeping a straight story on her own. Now he was here, and he was probably going to make her look stupid. Joy.

[Zefir]

"I don't know what you need to cover." Demion says and points at their vehicle. "But even for me it's clear you didn't come here by choice.."

In Demions world there are pizza delivery's. Maybe even some simular to hers, but those are either so expensiv you can't afford them or don't make it past the first year. It's safe to assume he never heared of them or even looked out for them. He's not sure what to do with them. He is new here as well so it's hard to tell if they are new or just a troup of any local organisation. At least Olivsons reaction suggest they aren't known around here.

When the other man comes demion turns to him. He recognizes that he was also from the shuttle. "Hello. Can we help you?" he asks. His intentions obviously to let him speak up just to see if there are more conflicts in the story.

[Morty]

Perhaps fortunately, Olvisin's attention seems drawn to the Hotbox, enough to make her ignore everything else for a moment.

"Is this a portable oven of some kind? Or does it just keep the food warm?"

She does still take a slice of pizza. Free pizza is free pizza, after all. She bites into it with teeth that seem to match her two visible tusks in length and sharpness.

[Ironsmith]

Klaus and Rose exchange a look, taking this new information in. Olvisin had no idea what a Hotbox was; by extension, she'd probably never heard of Terah, the Earth they knew, or the ongoing conflict between them. And since Demion had already picked up on their lack of intention to be here, it was time to probe them for a little more information on that front.

"Yes. We were on our way to Terah, and our shuttle appears to have gone radically off-course." Klaus began, with the untarnished, but incomplete, truth. "You'll have to forgive Rose. She's something of an entrepreneur; her business doesn't exist yet, but clearly, she was looking forward to it. I expect she wanted to kick-start operations with some free publicity."

Rose shoots him a nasty look, but says nothing.

Klaus sets his own Hotbox on the table, popping it open briefly to remove a thick stack of small bills. He flags down a passing waitress and orders a few drinks, for himself, Rose, and Demion and Olvisin, as a courtesy. They were going to be there a little while.

[Aurora Alchemi]

The way Raeh danced between emotions, going from anger to disappointment, to even a bit of teasing interested Reuma, but the faun didn't show much outwardly about it. What held her attention instead was the last few words to leave the half-elf's tongue. "Something else?" The healer considered that maybe Raeh was talking about some person that she didn't think highly of, or perhaps even one of the great war wolf's folk, but this didn't sound quite like that. The hazel eyes blink gently. "A creature, then? Or even a wandering spirit? I've heard of such things before..."

Reuma pauses a moment, moving the great journal closer, and opening it. One hand flipped through pages of handwritten notes, here and there dotted with ornate illustrations, in some places of plants, others of cadavers and anatomy, even a few of the great troll horrors of the blood forest. Settling on a page of notes accompanied by recipes, the faun's other hand shovels a bit of stew into her mouth, as the bright hazel colors of her eyes follow the page. "I'd need to learn more about how everything in this.... nexus... place seems to work, but I might still be able to help with a beast or monster." The fingers of the hand that wrote the words in the journal glide along the elegant words, and glittering blue sparks that feel of curiosity fall like snow from the pronghorns on the healer.

Here, again, the healer was lost in a new problem, a new challenge, and when a drink is brought by for her, Reuma absentmindedly takes a few drinks. "You say you are trying to get something back... Is that like a person or an item? A body, perhaps?" The way that the healer states the question is matter of fact, as if it were normal that bodies might be stolen. War had left it's mark on the healer, and most anything was free game in that environment. With her intellect distracted, the pronghorn's dissecting gaze had fallen away from Raeh, offering a better chance to observe the healer, now maskless. "And while I may not understand, that doesn't mean I can't be an asset."

Some fresh color of flush brushes the scarred features of the satyrlyrri. It's clear that even with the little amount of alcohol that she had accidently drunk, Reuma both had low tolerance, and whatever her species was, the drink went very quickly through her system. There was also an air of intelligent caution about the healer; even as enraptured by the problem as she was, there were small glances up and around the room now and then, a habit of those used to living in danger to check for various threats. Of course, in as busy and complex a place as the nexus, it also made for a lot of information coming in, and it was clear why the healer had been so overwhelmed on arrival to the new land. Somehow Raeh's quick drinking seems to evade her attentions, though, as if Reuma were used to being around a lush of a companion.

[Zefir]

Demion just shrugs.
"Can t say I know that place." He replies. He is from some kind of earth and assumes Terah is a name for it.
"I was told some organisations around can help you out, but i haven t speak to any of them, yet.'

[Ironsmith]

Rose frowns. Demion knew of organizations that could help wayward interdimensional travelers, but not about the first such world to make contact with them? How far off-course had they gone?

"That would certainly be helpful." Klaus gives the man a small smile. "Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Quire. Niklaus Quire. It's a pleasure to meet you." He extends his hand over the table, for whichever to them gets to it first.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Michalson pauses, unsure of what to say. Sincere emotion isn't something he's good with. He's used to keeping people at an arm's length. Ever since then.

"I appreciate it. I really do. But... all of it already happened. There's nothing to be done. That's the bastard of it. All I can do is wonder if I was wrong, or if everyone else was wrong or... something else."

"Well, if all I can do to help is to listen, then I'll stop chomping at the bit to get out and do something helpful, when I'm doing the helpful thing right now." Ithuriel settles back down on her seat and lets the glow fade away. "Sometimes it's not so simple as wrong or right. I think- sometimes we can look back and wonder if what we did was right, but I think you can at least recognise that you were trying to do what's right. And that does count for something."

[Morty]

"My name's Olvisin Zuulit-Obleck. But just Olvisin is fine." The goblin shakes the offered hand vigorously. "Going off-course and winding up here is a common story. You're in the Nexus. It's a place where worlds intersect. Chaotic, but full of opportunity."

[Ironsmith]

As it turns out, Olvisin is a fair bit stronger than Klaus expects, so what ends up happening is less her shaking his hand and more her shaking him. To his credit, he adapts quickly and only ends up momentarily off-balance, but it's enough of a crack of the "in control" facade to get a small giggle out of Rose.

"Yes. Well." Klaus replies, pulling his hand free. "That would explain quite a bit." He wipes his hand on his suit jacket off-handedly, apparently not entirely satisfied with how clean Olvisin's hands were. "Our scientist will be very interested in hearing the details. Is there an expert we could talk to about this?"

-------

Said scientist was still outside on the patio, finally coming down enough to be aware of her surroundings. Not that it was doing her any favors; her surroundings were a bizarre mishmash of people and things that made no sense to her: blue men with horns, ladies with some sort of bizarre ear mutation, and did that dumpster just eat a guy?

And with that, Eun was right back to panicking.

[Earl of Purple]

On the patio, someone else has just landed. An androgynous, human-looking individual, with short black hair and grey eyes. They're wearing a red chequered shirt and a pair of jeans, with a leather satchel tossed over one shoulder, a stylised bird branded into the flap. Their one inhuman trait is the pair of wings growing from their back, large black auk wings with eyes in the central joint; it is those that allowed them to fly and why they have just landed. "Hey there, miss. Calm down, please, look at me and breathe, OK? I'm Jack, this is... quite a weird place, and there's strange people about, but I'm here and it's safe. Right?" Jack's voice is also quite androgynous, but they're trying their best to calm Eun down and reassure her.

[Ironsmith]

Eun looked up at the newcomer, still a little bleary-eyed. A fresh face was still a nightmare scenario for her, but even that would be better than... whatever the hell was going on here. Jack would still be bizarre to her, but familiar enough that she could calm down for half a second before the realized those weird black blobs were attached to them. Eun lets out a little shriek and presses herself against the door, feeling around furiously for the knob. Being surrounded by weirdos was one thing; having one of them come up and talk to her was just too much.

[Earl of Purple]

"Hey, now. Calm down, look at my face, OK? It's not too pretty, but it's like yours. You're new, right? You gotta be, if I'm making you this upset. Calm down, please. I won't hurt you. Let's go inside and have a glass of water, or something. On me, OK?" Of course, if Eun gets the door open and runs away then Jack won't follow, just sigh and hope the scientist is able to acclimatise faster inside the building... which is very unlikely, given that Trog's is a very popular bar with people far stranger than Jack is.

[Ironsmith]

Water. Water was good, right? Now that Jack mentioned it, she did feel a bit parched. If nothing else, it was a constant; something she could grab onto around here that actually made sense.

Eun takes a deep breath and steadies herself, fumbling a bit with the doorknob. "Yeah. Yeah, ok." She says shakily, opening the door to let the two of them in.

[Earl of Purple]

((If they're going to the same table as Olvisin and Demion, we should wait for Morty and Zefir before our next post, so they have a chance to react.))

Jack's going to try and get Eun to the closest table, rather than the one with her friends, because Jack doesn't know Eun knows those people and Jack hasn't met Olvisin or Demion before either. Jack's going to sit down and order a jug of water and a glass from Paige the waitress, and also orders a llamanade for herself. "So, I'm Jack. You're new, right? Do you know where you are?"

[Ironsmith]

(It's cool. Six characters controlled by four people might get a little clunky; I'm okay with keeping the two groups separate for the time being.

That being said, if either if them wants to merge, it shouldn't be too hard to pull off.)

Eun shook her head. No, she had no idea where she was. Well, sort of. She was in a bar, she knew that much. A weird bar, but a bar nonetheless. She obviously wasn't on Earth or any version of it she was familiar with, which made the question a little more complicated. But on the whole, she was going to have to go with "no".

Wait, this bird-person just introduced himself, didn't she? Crap. Now Eun was going to have to do the same, and she didn't have an alias ready, she didn't have time to come up with one, and her reply was late already.

"I'm Eun." She said abruptly, a few seconds too late. "Eun Bu. Eun-Jung Bu. Doctor Eun-Jung Bu." She rambled, before finally settling on her full name and profession.

Well, that was mortifying. Hopefully she could get through the rest of this conversation without embarrassing herself.

[Earl of Purple]

"Well, doc, this is Trog's Tavern. It's probably the best bar around, as far as people go. Certainly the most popular. Anyway, not too helpful. This is the city of Inside, in the Nexus. A place where everyone and everything imaginable is. You, uh, familiar with the idea of different worlds and realities? Because the Nexus is... kinda in the middle and kinda underneath all of them, so all kinds of stuff that falls out of other worlds lands here. So get used to people with wings. Or horns. Or who sneeze spiders when they see the colour yellow. That guy insisted it was worse to experience than see, and... I believe him there. Inside's close to the middle of the Nexus, too. Things calm down a little further away, because the stuff that can drop into the Nexus- mostly figuratively, rather than literally- tends to land in Inside first, or else somewhere Outside the city where it'd make sense for it. No random rains of sharks in the desert, but you could stumble on a ruined temple or wrecked vehicle or something." Jack's not sure if this is very useful information, as they haven't been a newcomer's introduction for a while. "You're actually kinda lucky you bumped into me, actually. I do a bit of work as a tour guide in Inside, when I'm lonely or bored. If there's anything you really need, I might be able to help you find it. And I can show you some of the weirder stuff most people never see, too." Jack grins at the last bit, but stops themselves winking at Eun- the poor doctor's got a lot to take in, she doesn't want Jack flirting on top of that. Probably.

[Ironsmith]

Eun nodded slowly, taking in what she assumed was the layman's version of the mechanics of the Nexus. She was familiar with the mechanics of alternate universes; she helped write the equations that described them. Jack's explanation left a lot to be desired, as it still didn't tell her where she was relative to Earth or Terah, why they had suddenly turned up here on this particular trip, or if there was a way back where she came from. But answers, even incomplete answers, still gave her a more solid footing than she'd had before. For the moment, the panic and confusion that marked her first hour here were kept at bay.

Which meant she could let her mind wander a little bit, and as the first thing she saw in front of her, Jack would be the subject on her mental dissection table. She looked him over, taking in her features. There's no way a creature like this evolved naturally, she thought. She looked human enough, but his wings looked like they had been grafted on from a totally different creature. He must have been modified somehow. Genetic engineering? Experimental surgery?

It didn't matter. Eun had friends that were products of one, the other, or both. She could handle dealing with a modified human. Looking around the tavern, she saw more examples everywhere. The elf behind the bar? Ear mutation, but otherwise normal. The tiefling? Some kind of skin condition. Why, even that goblin and her friends-

Eun hastily turned back toward Jack, cheeks flushing. She had a handle on the situation now, but she must have looked absolutely insane to everyone else. Even her coworkers were probably as- no, more perturbed by her outburst than everyone else. Nervously, she picked up her water and took a shaky sip, trying to force herself to calm down.

Needless to say, she wasn't succeeding.

[Earl of Purple]

"Do you... have any questions? About me, about Trog's, the city, or the Nexus? My wings, my bag? Your homeworld, see if I've heard of it? Any magic you might carry, to see if it's compatible or comparable with anything I'm familiar with?" Jack's using the term 'magic' to cover anything they don't understand; as far as Jack's concerned, the only difference between a crystal ball and a telephone is that the telephone needs to be rooted to something sometimes, and likewise there's no difference- to Jack- between a blacksmith, a wizard and a computer programmer. They all do things Jack can't understand, obeying rules Jack doesn't know.

[Ironsmith]

Eun takes a steadying breath. Now wasn't the time for this; she could be embarrassed later. She was a member of the Allied Reconnaissance Coalition, and she had a repository of information sitting right there, asking if she had any questions. Reconnaissance did not get any easier than this. If she didn't take advantage of that, she might as well leave her badge at the bar.

She decided to start with the obvious.

"Well... you mentioned my home world. Does this sound familiar? Earth, 23rd century, in the midst of a cold war with an alien race. Just picked up matter replication technology but still working on interplanetary travel. Other people from there might have mentioned something called the Dive that links our world with the aliens'." She pauses, letting that sink in for a moment. "How far away are we?"

[Jon talks a lot]

(Hey Earl of Purple, genuienly sorry, life caught up with me)

Andirion sighs, and, not really knowing what to do with this mysterious child, pulls 15 gold coins out of a purse, and a dagger, which he puts down next to the child. Then he walks up to to Paige, and asks her Hey, can you do me a favor, make sure that kid, *points to the kid under the table* is kept safe and well, then he hands over around 100 gold coins to her, and, paying no mind to her reaction, walks back to a table, and promptly falls back asleep.

[Holy-hunter]

Raeh looks over the satyrlyrri once again, a new soft expression filling her face. Her eyes drift from her scarred face, to the magical emotional display of her pronghorns and slowly down the length of her arm to the delicate hand in tracing through the journal. It’s only when Reuma looks up at her does she look away, quickly gazing out over the happenings of the tavern.
Raeh’s face showed true contemplation on Reuma’s words, her breath stifled as she looked at the floor and held a hesitant pause, one she was about to break with speech when the bartender brought two new drinks.
The previous momentary lapse of Raeh’s armour and the subsequent glimpse of an emotional and contemplative side to her was suddenly gone.
Her arrogant and sardonic smile appeared again briefly before disappearing behind her mug of ale.

She gave a disapproving, pressuring glare to Reuma’s not yet empty mug lined up beside the new full one.

“A few more rounds and then we can head out. You’ll see it when we get there. If you can stay alive. I’m no babysitter.”
Raeh punctuated her statement by chugging the last of her ale in multiple large gulps and then slamming the mug down on the table with a heavy thud.

”Oh, by the way...” she adds, a mischievous glare growing in her eyes as she wriggles a little closer to whisper.
“I got no money for these drinks.”

Shrugging it off she leans back and calls for another drink.
“So, how does your kind fair in the desert?” she asks with a nonchalant curiosity.

[Earl of Purple]

(No worries, Jon- happens to everyone.)

The child ignores the coins, but tucks the knife away... somewhere. It just disappears under their clothing. Paige fetches the child some paper and a pen, as well as a jigsaw. It ignores the puzzle, instead drawing more images like the one Andirion has already seen, the crude maps with no writing on them.

--

"Earth does. Lots of people from Earth, or variants thereof. I guess there's a lot of them about. No idea about the rest of it, though. I don't know anything about magic, or, uh... matter replica tech biology. I've never been to Earth, so I can't tell you how far away you are. It's, uh, usually harder to leave than to arrive. I said we're below most other worlds, right? So getting here is a matter of falling. Leaving requires trying to fly, which- believe me, I'm a bird- is harder than it looks. I haven't heard of anyone who's managed it, though if they did they might not want to come back." Jack doesn't look like a bird, but they do have wings so that might play into the statement. Then again, it might not.

[Ironsmith]

Eun takes the figurative language in stride and pulls one of the bar napkins toward her. Jack said a lot of Earthlings ended up here; that was consistent with the theories she'd picked up about the multiverse, at least.

"Okay... I suppose that makes our being lost official. So, with that in mind..." Eun sets her Hotbox on the table, setting to work on the display. "...You like ice cream?" She asks abruptly. She was still freaking out, internally, but Jack had shown her some hospitality and it would only be fair if she did the same. Plus, comfort food.

[Earl of Purple]

Jack looks curiously at the box placed upon the table, and grins when asked if they like ice cream. "Yes, I do like ice cream. Can I ask for chocolate chip?" Jack has no idea how this device works or even what it does. For all Jack knows, the HotBox will open up and reveal nothing but molten cheese and chocolate.