Trog's Tavern CLV

[Earl of Purple]

Jack slips the HotBox into her satchel so she only has to worry about the inebriated scientist as she leads Eun upstairs. She'll help Eun into a bed and make sure her boots or shoes are off, but not worry about anything else, except maybe a jacket or coat. Anything that's really not designed to be slept in and looks like it'd be uncomfortable. It's good that Eun isn't too heavy, because neither is Jack- in fact, she's lighter than a true human would be, because her bones are hollow like a bird's.

[Ironsmith]

Admittedly, Eun didn't really seem too comfortable with this arrangement, but she doesn't object to the loss of her shoes or lab coat. She lays on the bed for a moment before sitting up, her hands on the small of her back. "That... that's so weird." She mumbles. "People used to sleep in these things? My (hk) back feels like it's on fire... how did (hk) anyone ever get comfy?" She giggles a little. "No wonder every... everyone in history books look so cranky..."

[Earl of Purple]

"I've got a hammock in my satchel, if you'd rather have one of those. They're quite nice. I usually sleep on whatever I can find, beds like these tend to be a bit softer than what I'm used to." Jack's going to put the HotBox on the bedside cabinet, and pulls her shovel out too, unfolding the blade and pressing the button that causes it to freeze in place, near the window and far from the door. She then pulls out a nest and puts that on the blade of the shovel.

[Ironsmith]

Eun shrugs. "I (hk) guess it'd be a long shot that you'd have... have sleeping gel." She manages to say. "Maybe a hammock would... (hk) handle the heat problem." She glances over at the "stasis shovel" again and lets out a tiny laugh. Apparently, the sight of a shovel just floating there without any assistance was still funny to her. To drunk her, at least.

Just at that moment, there was a short-but-insistent knock at the door. Judging by the distinct lack of time between that and their arrival in the room in the first place, it probably wasn't room service.

[Zefir]

Spoiler

Show

Eun looks at Jack like she'd just told her where to find Atlantis. Then, with a wobbly grin, she presses her hands against her temples and makes a "mind blown" gesture, complete with a slurred explosion sound effect, courtesy of her lips.



Rose grimaces and mentally berates herself. She'd come off way too strong; that was a rookie mistake, the kind she wouldn't have made a year ago, much less now, even if she was a little tipsy at the moment. Easy, Verdoyant. You don't want to scare him off.

"At a guess, I'm going to say... pretty much anything?" Rose says. "I mean, I'm sure even rabbits are scary when they can breathe friggin' fire..."

"If someone's paying, MERC will do it. But we'll never work with slavers. The leadership are really firm on it. And some jobs can be turned down if they feel it'd damage MERC's reputation. But otherwise it's pretty free for all. A private investigator would fit right in," Olvisin explains. "You can get a MERC license, which gets you access to jobs and some services. Like a discount here. Or you can become a full member. But that means proving you're valuable first and you have to answer directly to the bosses."

Klaus frowns a bit at hearing about not working with slavers. ...That's a thing that they have here? "...So it's a contract service of sorts." Klaus says. "Interesting. Not... quite the sort of work any of us would be used to, but it should suit us just fine."

Admittedly, he wasn't wrong. The box he had on the table could easily provide food, water, medicine, and even convincing counterfeit for those things it couldn't produce. Getting involved in a job here in the first place was entirely an opt-in matter.

All the same, it sounded like a good time.

"All right. As soon as we're done here, I would like you to show me where to sign up."

Demion seems a bit scared by Rose, not in an intimidated way. It's hard to tell what the main problem is.

"That's right." he says. "What you said is just the tip of the iceberg. Near any animal has learned magic or was able to use it. Since they don't have a proper language or limbs they made everything wild. It only needed years untill the wildlife had organized itself, but for os humans it changed a lot. Flying predators, Giant Lizards in the woods or a swarm of bugs as big as a men. They didn't leave much room for imagination." he pauses for amoment.
"I'm not sure you can get me here. I guess you got tools to beat any danger. Just assume they won't work. That would be like living in my world in the first years."

[Ironsmith]

"Wait... 'organized itself'?" Rose had been to enough contingency briefings to know that wasn't a good sign. "You mean they formed, like, an army? Total Gaia's Vengeance situation?"

She hoped she was wrong. The thought of magically-empowered super-critters (that probably collectively outnumbered humanity at least ten thousand to one) getting together and going after humans was a daunting prospect. She remembered seeing a movie where just the birds did that, without any magic, and still caused a nightmare scenario. This would be almost literal hell on earth.

[Morty]

Klaus frowns a bit at hearing about not working with slavers. ...That's a thing that they have here? "...So it's a contract service of sorts." Klaus says. "Interesting. Not... quite the sort of work any of us would be used to, but it should suit us just fine."

Admittedly, he wasn't wrong. The box he had on the table could easily provide food, water, medicine, and even convincing counterfeit for those things it couldn't produce. Getting involved in a job here in the first place was entirely an opt-in matter.

All the same, it sounded like a good time.

"All right. As soon as we're done here, I would like you to show me where to sign up."

Demion seems a bit scared by Rose, not in an intimidated way. It's hard to tell what the main problem is.

"That's right." he says. "What you said is just the tip of the iceberg. Near any animal has learned magic or was able to use it. Since they don't have a proper language or limbs they made everything wild. It only needed years untill the wildlife had organized itself, but for os humans it changed a lot. Flying predators, Giant Lizards in the woods or a swarm of bugs as big as a men. They didn't leave much room for imagination." he pauses for amoment.
"I'm not sure you can get me here. I guess you got tools to beat any danger. Just assume they won't work. That would be like living in my world in the first years."

"Wait... 'organized itself'?" Rose had been to enough contingency briefings to know that wasn't a good sign. "You mean they formed, like, an army? Total Gaia's Vengeance situation?"

She hoped she was wrong. The thought of magically-empowered super-critters (that probably collectively outnumbered humanity at least ten thousand to one) getting together and going after humans was a daunting prospect. She remembered seeing a movie where just the birds did that, without any magic, and still caused a nightmare scenario. This would be almost literal hell on earth.

Olvisin nods.

"Oh yeah. There's some slave-taking groups operating on the fringes. And in a place called Skyside. It's... a city floating above the ground, completely lawless. Not sure what happened to its government, but there isn't any anymore. Law is administered by those with enough money or guns, so slavers thrive. It's a dangerous place, especially for anyone affilicated with MERC."

[Ironsmith]

Klaus smirks and nods. "No government, no rule of law, total anarchy..."

"...Klaus, no."

"Klaus, yes." Olvisin might as well have offered Klaus a ticket to Valhalla. Skyside, as described, offered something he hadn't had in a long time; the capacity to operate freely. Which would be to say, as ruthlessly as he wanted. No going soft because "people have rights" or any nonsense like that.

"And how does one get to this... Skyside, was it?" Klaus asks, that joyful gleam still in his eye.

[Earl of Purple]

"You could probably find some somewhere." Jack pulls a hammock out of her bag and strings one end to the shovel when the door is knocked. She frowns because she wasn't expecting anyone, so she reaches into her satchel and withdraws her hand. Eun might notice she's wearing an actual brass knuckle, made of actual brass. She goes to the door and opens it slightly, keeping it latched so it's hard to open. "Yes?"

[Ironsmith]

[Five Minutes Ago]

"...wasting your time, miss. You're not the first group to miss the door, an' you probably won't be the last."

Miranda let out a sigh of relief. Not having to worry so much about the expenses associated with their entrance solved a major ethical dilemma; she couldn't just walk away from that hole in the wall without offering to fix it, but she didn't have any hard cash on her and whatever her Hotbox produced would be, by definition, counterfeit. In theory, she could've laid the bricks herself as payment, and even provided her own materials, but she had a responsibility to her team, too, and there was no way of telling for sure how long the repair job would take. Being told she didn't have to worry about it was a lucky break.

"Now, are you gonna order somethin' or not?"

"Oh, right. I'll just have a water, please."

Miranda heard the bartender mumble something about her being a cheapskate, which she supposed was technically true. Again, she didn't have any money to speak of, which sort of limited her spending options.

With the question of how to handle the hole in the wall resolved, Miranda turned to check on her team. Rose and Klaus were still talking to the goblin and her friend, but it didn't look like they really needed her help. Animosity aside, the two of them could handle themselves if any trouble came up. Vlad was still working on the shuttle, and seemed to have made enough progress to get it physically out of the bar; all was well there. That just left-

Where was Eun?

The last Miranda had seen of her, she had run outside in a panic. Looking around now, she could see the good doctor a little further down the bar, talking with a strange bird-person, looking a little more at ease.

thunk

Make that wasted. Eun was definitely wasted. Before Miranda could respond to this, the bird-person had scooped her friend up in her arms and gone upstairs.

Miranda did not take that as a good sign. She had no idea who this stranger was, and Eun had left herself in a very vulnerable position. That wasn't the sort of thing she should turn a blind eye to.

Without any further delay, Miranda set her Hotbox to print off a weapon for herself and made her way toward the stairs, as quickly as she could. If anything happened to her friend because she was a moment too slow, she was never going to forgive herself.

[Now]

Miranda sighs quietly as the door opens a crack. There was a reasonable chance this was all a misunderstanding, and the stranger had no ill intentions regarding Eun. For now, the diplomatic route would be the better option.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for my scientist, Doctor Bu?" She begins, as politely as she can muster.

[Earl of Purple]

"And this Doctor Bu's first name?" Knowing the name would make Jack feel a bit happier about leaving Miranda with Eun, but she doesn't know Eun didn't arrive alone. She was planning on spending the night in a nest on the shovel so in the morning Eun has a friendly face and hopefully won't freak out again.

[Ironsmith]

"Eun-Jung. Or just Eun." Miranda says calmly. "She's about yea tall, black ponytail, kinda gangly, wears glasses and a lab coat? You can't have missed her." She cranes her neck a little, trying to look past the door for any sign of Eun as her Hotbox gave a little chirp, letting her know the stun gun she'd asked for was ready. "I just want to make sure she's okay."

[Earl of Purple]

"She's in here. What's your name? So I can see if she wants to see you." Jack will let Eun know Matilda's outside, and let her in if Eun says she knows her. If not, perhaps because Eun's passed out on the bed, then Matilda has to do more convincing.

[Ironsmith]

"ZZZzzz..."

"...Cortez. Miranda Cortez. I'm her boss." Miranda offers. Jack was being reasonable enough; maybe she didn't really have anything to worry about. All the same, Miranda wanted to be prepared for either outcome, so she discretely reaches into her Hotbox and grabs the stun gun, holding it ready to use at a moment's notice.

Then she thinks better of it and lets it go. Jack was at least admitting Eun was in the room with her. If she wanted to hurt either of them, it would've been easy to turn her away while pleading a case of mistaken identity. It would be better not to escalate a situation that looked like it was going to end peacefully.

"...May I come in?"

[Earl of Purple]

"Surprised she has a boss, said she's just got here. Oh, did you two arrive together? Most people enter the Nexus alone. Has someone told you about the Nexus yet? Come in, she's sleeping." Jack slips the brass knuckles into her pocket, hopefully so Miranda doesn't see them. "Eun's drunk and fell asleep, I was going to put up a hammock for her, but... Well, she's asleep now. I was going to sleep in that nest there so she's not alone in a strange place when she wakes up." Jack gestures at the nest resting on the blade of the shovel, which hangs in the air, suspended from nothing.

The door is opened and Miranda is invited in.

[Ironsmith]

Miranda enters the room, pulls up a chair, and promptly proceeds to sit in it exactly the wrong way. "Got drunk and fell asleep... in a strange bar, surrounded by people she doesn't know, after getting separated from the group..." She sighs and shakes her head. "How can someone who supposedly has an IQ pushing 200 do something so stupid?!"

Despite the frustration in her voice, Miranda was mostly relieved at how this had turned out. Mostly. Neither she nor Eun were necessarily out of the woods yet, though she did find it reassuring that Eun had been discovered by someone honest.

"...Sorry. I know this probably looks bad, barging into your room like this."

[Zefir]

Spoiler

Show

"Wait... 'organized itself'?" Rose had been to enough contingency briefings to know that wasn't a good sign. "You mean they formed, like, an army? Total Gaia's Vengeance situation?"

She hoped she was wrong. The thought of magically-empowered super-critters (that probably collectively outnumbered humanity at least ten thousand to one) getting together and going after humans was a daunting prospect. She remembered seeing a movie where just the birds did that, without any magic, and still caused a nightmare scenario. This would be almost literal hell on earth.

Olvisin nods.

"Oh yeah. There's some slave-taking groups operating on the fringes. And in a place called Skyside. It's... a city floating above the ground, completely lawless. Not sure what happened to its government, but there isn't any anymore. Law is administered by those with enough money or guns, so slavers thrive. It's a dangerous place, especially for anyone affilicated with MERC."

Klaus smirks and nods. "No government, no rule of law, total anarchy..."

"...Klaus, no."

"Klaus, yes." Olvisin might as well have offered Klaus a ticket to Valhalla. Skyside, as described, offered something he hadn't had in a long time; the capacity to operate freely. Which would be to say, as ruthlessly as he wanted. No going soft because "people have rights" or any nonsense like that.

"And how does one get to this... Skyside, was it?" Klaus asks, that joyful gleam still in his eye.

"No, not like that." Demion replies. " They organized themself by changing their habiat. Getting magic doesn't mean you get intelligent. I don't even think we go any hybrid people like human/dog or such. Firebreathing rabits went to hot places and icebees to the cold ones."

Then he turns to the others.

"It sounds like Klaus will be an enemy of MERC in the near future." he speaks out loud. There is no irony in his voice so this sounds really seriouse. "I would be glad to avoid that place. Dont really want to end up as a slave, but with my luck I end up there anyway. Maybe I should visit it and challange my luck. Didn't heared of anything better to do for now."

What really wonders Demion is Klaus himself. Is he a human? I mean a bt befor Olvisin lift him nearly up so he is light. How will he stand in a bad place like this skyside without getting thrown around like a ball.

[Ironsmith]

Klaus elected not to insult the intelligence of anyone at the table by denying what Demion had said. What he had in mind probably would get him branded an enemy, or at least someone who couldn't be trusted. Still, there wasn't any sense in confirming it, either; if he did end up doing something MERC didn't approve of, telegraphing the fact or potentially annoying one of their enforcers would be a bad idea.

Rose was quick to change the subject. "So! Um, that magic you mentioned... you said the animals couldn't control it because they didn't have a proper language. But humans do. And if that's the case, you guys would study it and try to figure out how to use it properly, yeah? So, I guess what I'm asking is... how was school for you?"

[Earl of Purple]

"That sounds like a big number." But Jack's not aware of what an IQ is, so nods and smiles. "Dunno. She went outside and was panicking, so I brought her in and calmed her down with water and she made ice cream with her magic box, so I showed her my magic, my shovel" she gestures "and my wand. Then I got my phone out to show and let her hold my wand, but she accidentally shot my phone out of my hand and she bought the rum after helping me pick it up." Eun did not, at any point, ask why Jack doesn't have a shadow, so Jack hasn't realised the connection. "With the rum, I showed her how my clothes are magic by pulling out my jackdaw side and showing her the feathers, but that's not really magic, so I hadn't shown her before." Because Jack uses 'magic' to explain anything she can't understand, but she knows how she shapeshifts. Also, technically her shapeshifting is an innate, 'natural' thing for her to do, and is as supernatural as a homing pigeon's ability to read the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Like the homing pigeon, it relies on natural energy fields and doesn't work on a world lacking those energy fields- and that energy could be described as magic.

[Morty]

Olvisin quirks an eyebrow at Klaus' enthusiasm. The ear on the same side of her face also perks up as she does so; it seems they're as emotive as any part of a goblin's face.

"There's a city below it named Groundtown. The mother of all slums. You can hitch a ride from there. Or use another flying vehicle. I've never had a good reason to go there so I wouldn't know. You realize, though, that you're not the first person to hear about Skyside and hear a cash register. There's people stronger and meaner than you there, around every corner."

[Ironsmith]

"That sounds like a big number." But Jack's not aware of what an IQ is, so nods and smiles. "Dunno. She went outside and was panicking, so I brought her in and calmed her down with water and she made ice cream with her magic box, so I showed her my magic, my shovel" she gestures "and my wand. Then I got my phone out to show and let her hold my wand, but she accidentally shot my phone out of my hand and she bought the rum after helping me pick it up." Eun did not, at any point, ask why Jack doesn't have a shadow, so Jack hasn't realised the connection. "With the rum, I showed her how my clothes are magic by pulling out my jackdaw side and showing her the feathers, but that's not really magic, so I hadn't shown her before." Because Jack uses 'magic' to explain anything she can't understand, but she knows how she shapeshifts. Also, technically her shapeshifting is an innate, 'natural' thing for her to do, and is as supernatural as a homing pigeon's ability to read the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Like the homing pigeon, it relies on natural energy fields and doesn't work on a world lacking those energy fields- and that energy could be described as magic.

"...That just got more and more awkward the longer you went." Miranda says, clearly trying to hold back a smile and only barely succeeding. Her eyebrow shot up about halfway through Jack's retelling of events and had yet to come back down; clearly, she was hearing a lot of innuendo in there. "Well, I have to give you credit for calming her down so fast, at least. She's normally quite skittish around strangers, and that's just when said strangers are human. I guess she really likes you."

Olvisin quirks an eyebrow at Klaus' enthusiasm. The ear on the same side of her face also perks up as she does so; it seems they're as emotive as any part of a goblin's face.

"There's a city below it named Groundtown. The mother of all slums. You can hitch a ride from there. Or use another flying vehicle. I've never had a good reason to go there so I wouldn't know. You realize, though, that you're not the first person to hear about Skyside and hear a cash register. There's people stronger and meaner than you there, around every corner."

Stronger? Maybe.
Meaner? Doubtful.
"Olvisin..." Klaus begins with a smile. "You've just described the past forty years of my life, and let me tell you, I've loved every minute of it." He takes a swig of his root beer, regaining what he'd lost of his composure by the time he set the glass back down, returning to an expression of professional stoicism. "That aside, we'd both be fools to ignore that kind of serendipity. By the sounds of things, MERC has a lot of enemies there. I'm sure you have no objections to a volunteer thinning the herd."

[Earl of Purple]

"She said no funny business, but then asked to see my eggs. It was quite awkward, but...She's nice, and I like her. And she gave me ice cream. Also, I wasn't going to leave her drunk down stairs. Most people are nice, but there's exceptions." Which is why Jack is still resting a hand near the pocket with her brass knuckles in. She doesn't have any actual confirmation from Eun that she knows Miranda, so the newcomer could be a creepy transdimensional stalker or something.

[Ironsmith]

"That was decent of you." Miranda replies. "And I hope you understand my having similar concerns." She reaches into her jacket pocket and produces a pack of cigarettes, shaking one loose for herself. "You smoke?" She asks, offering Jack one.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Maybe it does." Michalson nods glumly. "I'm not sure if I was tryin' to do what's right or just tryin' to prove something. Find an outlet. Feel like I matter. We fought the good fight for a while, but eventually people grew tired. There's only so much war a body can take. The people... decided to make a deal with the spell-slingers. Reform things. Come to an accord. As you can imagine, that did not go over well with many of us spell-breakers."

"War tires a body out, but if the right terms aren't there for peace-" Ithuriel gives an awkward shrug, "I can see why that'd be hard to accept. Doesn't feel good to fight for something and feel like you've fallen short of making any major difference to it all."

[Earl of Purple]

"I do not, no. I can't imagine how anyone can cope with the smell." Jack grimaces at the sight of the cigarettes. "And I don't drink alcohol often because I can take a much smaller shape and get super drunk if I'm a jackdaw even if I'd not drunk a lot to feel it as a human. I hear that clogs lungs up, and my lungs can be quite small." She gets smaller and has less blood, but the amount of alcohol in that blood doesn't change so the concentration goes up.

[Ironsmith]

"I suppose that makes... sense." Miranda pops the cigarette in her mouth and, curiously, doesn't light it. "...Heh. Truth be told, until a year ago, I didn't really care for them either. Suppose I still don't, really." She sighs and takes a draft from the seemingly-unlit cigarette and sighs, a puff of smoke dropping out of her mouth. "But enough about my bad habits. I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name?"

[Zefir]

Spoiler

Show

Klaus elected not to insult the intelligence of anyone at the table by denying what Demion had said. What he had in mind probably would get him branded an enemy, or at least someone who couldn't be trusted. Still, there wasn't any sense in confirming it, either; if he did end up doing something MERC didn't approve of, telegraphing the fact or potentially annoying one of their enforcers would be a bad idea.

Rose was quick to change the subject. "So! Um, that magic you mentioned... you said the animals couldn't control it because they didn't have a proper language. But humans do. And if that's the case, you guys would study it and try to figure out how to use it properly, yeah? So, I guess what I'm asking is... how was school for you?"

Olvisin quirks an eyebrow at Klaus' enthusiasm. The ear on the same side of her face also perks up as she does so; it seems they're as emotive as any part of a goblin's face.

"There's a city below it named Groundtown. The mother of all slums. You can hitch a ride from there. Or use another flying vehicle. I've never had a good reason to go there so I wouldn't know. You realize, though, that you're not the first person to hear about Skyside and hear a cash register. There's people stronger and meaner than you there, around every corner."

"...That just got more and more awkward the longer you went." Miranda says, clearly trying to hold back a smile and only barely succeeding. Her eyebrow shot up about halfway through Jack's retelling of events and had yet to come back down; clearly, she was hearing a lot of innuendo in there. "Well, I have to give you credit for calming her down so fast, at least. She's normally quite skittish around strangers, and that's just when said strangers are human. I guess she really likes you."



Stronger? Maybe.
Meaner? Doubtful.
"Olvisin..." Klaus begins with a smile. "You've just described the past forty years of my life, and let me tell you, I've loved every minute of it." He takes a swig of his root beer, regaining what he'd lost of his composure by the time he set the glass back down, returning to an expression of professional stoicism. "That aside, we'd both be fools to ignore that kind of serendipity. By the sounds of things, MERC has a lot of enemies there. I'm sure you have no objections to a volunteer thinning the herd."

Klaus migth assume that Demion just acts stupid, but wouldn't it be more stupid if he speaks out he will be undercover? On top the way Klaus reacted to skyside was very suspicious and his futher explanations also point at the worst possible thing.

"I wouldn't be so naive. Just think about this. Where I am from you don't get this," he points at their shuttle "crushing at a taverns wall."

At Rose question he rose an eyebrow. He'd have expected a question to describe magic and all, but not about his education. That hit him a bit off guard and leaves him thinking for a moment.

"School was unexpected." he finally says. "You would think we sit in class writing symbols on scrolls and such. In reality we had like class for language, math, economics, history and only like four lessons about magic a week. Mostly theory. If you wanted to do magic you either did it at your free time or joined a special class. Only if you wanted a job in a magical area you got some proper training. I started as a 'Toolformer' but it didn't work out."

[Ironsmith]

Rose nods, listening intently. What Demion said made sense; the basics of a well-rounded education probably weren't going to just disappear with the advent of magic. Of course, Demion had raised a couple of other questions with his explanation, as well.

"What's a Toolformer?" Rose asks. "Some kind of engineering thing, but with magic?" That would be neat. She wasn't particularly invested in the field, but she was sure there were a lot of engineering problems that could be trivialized with the use of magic.

[Morty]

Stronger? Maybe.
Meaner? Doubtful.
"Olvisin..." Klaus begins with a smile. "You've just described the past forty years of my life, and let me tell you, I've loved every minute of it." He takes a swig of his root beer, regaining what he'd lost of his composure by the time he set the glass back down, returning to an expression of professional stoicism. "That aside, we'd both be fools to ignore that kind of serendipity. By the sounds of things, MERC has a lot of enemies there. I'm sure you have no objections to a volunteer thinning the herd."

"I guess they won't mind if you shoot a bunch of slavers." Olvisin doesn't seem convinced. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

"War tires a body out, but if the right terms aren't there for peace-" Ithuriel gives an awkward shrug, "I can see why that'd be hard to accept. Doesn't feel good to fight for something and feel like you've fallen short of making any major difference to it all."

"Aye. That's about the size of it." Michalson sighs. It's a deep sigh, from the bottom of his soul. All of this has been bubbling in him for a long time. "Maybe a revolution was the wrong way to go about it in the first place. They always seem to end up just shuffling around who is on top. They don't change the fact that there is a top. Barrikin' and wavin' weapons around makes bashers feel good but doesn't solve anything."

[Earl of Purple]

Jack flares her wings when Miranda asks her name, and stares at her briefly with the eyes in her wings, closing her actual head-eyes. The eyes are good at seeing hidden things, especially when she's focusing through them. When she's sure Miranda is human, she closes her wings and opens her head-eyes again. "I'm Jack. Jack Door, yeah, I know. Mum thought it was funny." Although Miranda hasn't seen Jack transform yet, and the wings she just displayed are the short, rounded wings of an auk.