[Nexus] Temperance Teahouse

[Morty]

That depends, I suppose. How long ago did you depart from here?

[Rebonack]

"Goodness... how long ago was it..." Refuge repeats as he picks up a piece of stir-fried broccoli in his lil' paws and begins nomming it.

Nom nom nom!

"I have been locked in the timeless expanse of Deadspace since then. It makes it hard to say," the wyrmling reasons. "But if I had to guess... Five years at least. It feels like it should be more than that, however. The temple of Inari is in complete disarray. Aesa's tower on the Astral plane is gone. I sense little of the overwhelming divine presence that once permeated the Nexus."

He shakes his head.

"Even the Gentlemen is nowhere to be found. The only beings I have encountered that I recognize are the waiters at Trog's Tavern and Magtok."

[Morty]

Hm, I see. I've only been here for about two years, myself. I've never heard of Aesa and Inari, I'm afraid. And what do you mean when you say that divine presence once "permeated" the Nexus? Dorota asks, somewhat confused.

[Rebonack]

The wyrmling wrinkles his nose a bit at that question.

"It is... difficult to describe if you never experienced it," he explains. "The Nexus was once filled with divine beings. So much so that it was a task to simply avoid them. The gods commonly walked among the mortals, interfering with their affairs. I suppose it is a change for the better than common folk have been left to solve their own problems without godlings putting their meddling fingers into everything."

It doesn't sound like Refuge is very keen on gods...

"Inari was a goddess of foxes and rice. It always struck me as... a peculiar combination. But I do not pretend to understand the minds of gods. Aesa was a norn of significant power, a weaver of fate and master of Seid. She was one of the most powerful beings in the Nexus. Next of course, to the Gentlemen himself."

Refuge takes a sip of his tea.

"He was omnipotent."

[Morty]

Dorota scowls a little. That does sound like a less than desirable situation... with omnipotent beings walking freely and meddling.

[Rebonack]

"The Gentlemen never meddled," Refuge corrects. "He was a watcher more so than anything else. To my knowledge he only used his power directly once. And only when the Nexus itself was in jeopardy."

A pause.

"My siblings and I expected that he would. Counted on it, in fact."

The wyrmling gives a slight sigh.

"I suppose I may as well tell you why we were locked in Deadspace for so long. Though..."

Refuge bites his lil' lip, looking up to meet Dorota's gaze.

"Have you ever been in a position to save someone's life? Or further, have you ever been in a position to save someone's life, but failed?"

[Morty]

Dorotha shakes her head slowly. No... I haven't.

[Rebonack]

"...it is a horrible thing. To know you have failed someone in such a profound way," Refuge replies, his voice heavy with great sadness. "My siblings and I have done all we can to protect all we can. But... we are by no means omnipotent. Nor can we be everywhere. So we devised a plan."

Dun dun dun!

"We would modify the laws that govern Free Will such that one sapient being would be physically incapable of violating the Free Will of another through violence. Murder, rape, theft, they would all become impossible."

The wyrmling grits his teeth slightly.

"There was opposition to it. As there always will be. We were unable to fully finish our work in the Nexus before we were thwarted. We were sealed away. The Nexus cracked and splintered. Though in time it seems to have healed. Undone the changes we made. Though... one still remains."

Refuge gives a small, contented sigh. "We did our best to bar divine beings from manifesting directly in the Nexus. While not fully successful it appears to have stuck."

[Morty]

Dorota frowns. While I do agree keeping the godlings away is a good thing, you do realize that by preventing people from imposing on others' free will, you essentially impose on their free will?

[Rebonack]

Refuge laughs.

It isn't a crazy malevolent bad guy laugh. More of a small, sad sort of laugh. The laugh of someone who has had their spirit broken.

"I am aware."

From his tone one can probably guess that this isn't something he takes lightly nor flippantly.

"If a man finds another man raping a woman and stops him, would you lament over this violation of the rapist's free will?" Refuge asks. Asks the same question his has no doubt asked countless times before. "Or would you laud the one who saved the woman as a hero? That is all we hope to do. Simply... on a grander scale."

His gaze falls back to his plate of food again.

"...because a hero is, sadly, not always available..."

[Morty]

Dorota bites her lip. She's never been big on philosophy.
That may be, but what constitutes as "imposing on the free will of another". Sure, you would stop murder, rape and theft, but I imagine it would cripple human interaction as they'd become incapable of doing anything that limits others in any way.

[Rebonack]

A teahouse where one can't use violence is a great place to discuss it though!

Less likely that the person you're talking with will back up their argument by stabbing you.

"Imposing on the free will of another sapient being through the use of violence specifically," Refuge clarifies. "It still allows for other less deadly abuses, but the most grievous of offenders are eliminated."

He shakes his head slightly.

"Your reaction is not at all uncommon. There has yet to be a realm where we have attempted this where we have not been violently opposed. And not just by the evil beings of the realm, either. Even the self-styled good gods oppose us."

Rawr! Stupid godlings!

"Though this is all simply philosophical with regard to the Nexus. I do not believe we can alter it any more than a mad-man could destroy it."

[Morty]

I can't say I'm surprised. Your plan sounds like something that can spiral out of control very easily and very violently. As large-scale well-intentioned plans tend to, Dorota responds.

[Rebonack]

"Sadly so. One's ability to chose their own actions is understandably a concept that people are attached to. There is a great deal of emotion bound up in one's concept of self. Even if most people have little to lose and everything to gain even the idea of having their free will imposed upon strikes them as violating."

But that doesn't seem to dissuade Refuge at all from his belief that this is still the right thing to do.

"Tell me. Has anyone else attempted to impose such wide-reaching changes in the Nexus? Whether of the ill or for the good?"

Like, say, an evil lich trying to blow the whole place up?

"I am curious to know who if anyone has tried. And no doubt failed."

He's got a hunch about this...

[Morty]

There has been a few insane people who tried to destroy the whole Nexus. My personal theory is that every single one of them was hounded by deep-seated insecurities and inferiority complexes made worse by their great powers. And obviously, they failed.

[Rebonack]

"Hopefully none of them used the nihilistic justification that no one would suffer if they are all dead. I find such people dreadful to deal with."

And for understandable reasons.

Getting compared to someone who thinks omnicide is a good idea really sucks.

"And of course they failed. If they had not then we would not be here to speak of it. Though... I suspect that even if such a person did 'win' the Nexus would simply rebuild itself as though nothing had happened. It seems a marvelously resilient entity..."

...

Wait.

Entity?

Did he just imply that the Nexus is alive?

[Morty]

One of them did, actually. And wait, "entity"? Nexus is a world, not a being.

[Rebonack]

Refuge makes an irritated growl at the revelation that there was, in fact, an omnicidal nihilist poking around at some point in the past.

Hopefully they're now thoroughly dead and never coming back.

At the alchemst's question the wyrmling quirks his head off to the side a bit.

"...you did not know?"

A pause as he considers how best to describe this...

"The Nexus is not so much a world as it is a crossing point between worlds. It exists on no single planet, but rather it overlaps countless planets. And... being is perhaps not the best word. It is more of..."

Refuge pauses again as he searches for the right term.

"A collective? A sort of collective will. It is difficult to describe."

[Morty]

Oh, I knew it is a meeting place between worlds. I just had no idea it was... sentient. That's strange, but I suppose you know more about it than I do.

[Rebonack]

"Even sentient might not be proper. I am uncertain if it is self-aware as a whole. But it does seem to have motives. As clashing and conflicting as they might be at any given time," Refuge replies slowly. "It absorbs people and places that it finds fascinating. Often times it modifies them to make them more interesting. It seems almost like..."

The wyrmling laughs, shaking his head.

"As strange as it might sound it seems like a group of children playing make-believe with their toys."

Nah!

That's too crazy to be true!

...

Isn't it?

[Morty]

Dorota sips her tea. I think this is a little too deep for me. I tend to direct my mind towards more down-to-earth problems.

[Rebonack]

"Oh?"

Refuge quirks his lil' head off to the side slightly.

"What kinds of problems do you devote your time and effort toward solving?"

He sounds honestly curious.

But then...

Teeny little adorable dragon things are always curious.

It sort of comes with the territory.

"I suppose I have rambled about my own interests long enough. I have not even bother to ask your name, my lady," he does his best to flourish a teeny bow. "I am Refuge of the Key."

[Morty]

I'm Dorota Brońska, an alchemist. I work in Erin's Emporium. She does her best not to giggle at the teeny flourishing dragonling.

[FireFox]

"That'd be a no then." Saul sips his tea. He's not horribly surprised. It was usually the case after all.

So... have you been in the Nexus long? Tony asks Saul while curiously staring at the wyrmling

[Reinholdt]

"A couple of months. You?" Saul replies.

Posting will be extra slow today.

[Rebonack]

Time for a...

Belated reply!

"It is my pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Lady Brońska," the teeny dragon replies, offering another teeny bow.

Resisting the giggles may prove rather difficult.

"Who is this Erin you speak of? A merchant I suspect. Her name is unfamiliar to me."

He wouldn't be at all surprised if she's another new person who showed up after he was banished.

Why?

'cuz there seem to be lots of those.

[Morty]

She owns a store in Inside, yes. I supply it with alchemical supplies. She does manage to keep a straight face with a great effort of will.

[Rebonack]

Refuge probably wouldn't be offended if she laughed at him. He understands just how ridiculous his demeanor and personality are when contrasted with his body and voice. But darn it he isn't about to give up on his politeness!

"I see. It is good to know that other businesses have been able to establish themselves here. When last I was in the Nexus the only store was the OmniShop. Most merchants found it difficult to compete with a man who gave away anything at no charge."

Yes.

Anything.

Provided that the Gent wasn't morally opposed to it, that is.

Pretty sure slaves couldn't be acquired there.

[Morty]

Dorotha blinks. Everything? At no charge? This is wrong on so many levels. Sounds like working in retail for two years has affected her sensibilities.

[Rebonack]

"Technically one could pay whatever they pleased. But the result was more or less the same," Refuge clarifies.

It was like mom and pop stores trying to compete with Walmart. And then multiplied to become a zillion times worse.

"But the place is gone now. There is really little reason to dwell on it. Tell me Lady Brońska, how is it that you happened upon the Nexus? It seems everyone has their own curious story about stumbling on this odd place."

Sometimes quite literally.

Like that one guy who tripped and fell into a river while taking a walk.

By the time he hauled himself sputtering to the shore there was Inside looming before him!

Weird place.