[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLV

[Deathkeeper]

Cal smiles.
That's better. I don't get your magic stuff, but I'm pretty sure that's a good sign.
He leans back in the nearest chair. He's also going to not wonder about Kullervo which is presumably still near the fireplace.

[Jsaur]

Alusien wakes up from a long deadtime and immediately notices that the large black sphere has gotten even larger. He shouts a word of power and points his finger to drain all of the remaining green goo.

He then removes the barrier he built earlier, shoves the sphere in his pocket, and runs out of Trog's. He mutters to himself:

"And I still wasn't able to buy a drink."

[Recaiden]

Cal smiles.
That's better. I don't get your magic stuff, but I'm pretty sure that's a good sign.
He leans back in the nearest chair. He's also going to not wonder about Kullervo which is presumably still near the fireplace.

The barmaid nods. "Thank you. Half the time I don't get it either." She sits by the fire, drinking in the heat for a good number of minutes, as the fire around her slowly changes back from black to orange, though the fearblaze doesn't completely leave.

[Deathkeeper]

The barmaid nods. "Thank you. Half the time I don't get it either." She sits by the fire, drinking in the heat for a good number of minutes, as the fire around her slowly changes back from black to orange, though the fearblaze doesn't completely leave.

Cal lets her have her space. And unfortunately, starts to nod off. He hasn't actually slept since he got here, and will probably be doing so now if no one stops him.

[Zefir]

"Well, just what result are you looking for?"

Mika shrugs.

"Don't know. Maybe find some friends."

[Beans]

"Why her? Not that it's too surprising; religions rarely are."

The weird lady seems to think it over a while.
Um.
Ees not reezon hwee khan theenk of. Hwee theenk hwee haff fohr-gotted.

[Recaiden]

The man nods to Mika. "Should be easy enough. Looks like you already have one or two here if you want them. And can understand them."

"I'd see if you can remember. If nothing else, you'd probably appreciate the destruction and the hot sauce a lot more. Could do a lot more too; there a lot of people you could listen to in addition to Drana. Mostly yourself. Say, have you got a name? You can call me Atorre."

[Beans]

Hwee are naymed Kheptuur. Ees nayme Drana gave to us.
Also gave beeg chakram theeng. Ees good for dee-struck-shonn.

[Zefir]

"It's not so easy, I think. And I can't understand her."

The last part is whispered.

[Recaiden]

"Kheptuur? That's a neat one. Did you have one before Drana gave it to you? Why do you say 'we'? Are there more than one of you in there?" No comment about the chakram.

"Sure it is. It takes work, but the start is the easiest thing. And I'm still here."

[Diva De]

A young woman with raven locks comes into the tavern, leading a nervous-looking man by the elbow. She stops at the doorway, eyes like grey steel flashing as she looks around the room. Lighting upon a thin, pale man near the hearth, the corners of her mouth turn up ever-so-slightly. Half leading, half dragging the man behind her, she crosses the room in long, confident strides.

Planting herself in front of the pale man, she releases her hold on the other, larger man. Smiling coldly at him, she puts her hands on her hips and nods towards the man seated before them. The big man clears his throat noisily and removes his hat, wringing it nervously between his meaty hands. "I, ah, I'm sorry fer how I dun ya when we was kids. I shouldna picked on ya and I'm real sorry I dun it and scared ya." He half turns to leave, but the lady stomps her foot and crosses her arms. Swallowing hard, he nods and pulls a small pouch from his waist. "Oh, and, uh, here is to make up fer the milk money I took from ya and, ah, some extra...fer pain and sufferin." He shifts his gaze from the floor to the woman as the pale man, looking confused, slowly reaches up and takes the pouch. She nods once, quickly, and the large man scuttles out the door. The pale man glances into the bag, quickly cinches it shut, and hurries out not far behind.

Smiling, self-satisfied, the woman takes the seat the pale man recently occupied and slides in. Twisting a satchel around that she is wearing, she hefts a thick, worn-looking book onto the table with a thump. Pulling out a quill and a small fountain of ink, she unstoppers it with one hand as the other flips through the pages of the book before her. About a third of the way through the book, she stops and flips back a page. Nodding and smiling again, she dips her quill and draws a slow, steady line through something written there. Leaning back, she orders an apple ale from the barmaid as she lets the page before her dry.

[Morty]

Far be it from Dipsnig to miss such an entrance. The mysterious woman will find herself carefully studied by a small-brown skinned goblin sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, feet resting on a large wolf with dark grey fur.

[Diva De]

The woman notices the goblin watching and tilts her mug towards him, inviting him to come and sit at her table, if he likes. She leans forward and purses her lips to blow gently at the page, then tests the ink with the tip of her pinkie. It is a dainty motion, very different from the way she lugged the man into the bar a moment ago. Her nose crinkles and she pushes the book away, wiping the smudge of ink onto her breeches.

[Morty]

Dipsnig gets off his chair and walks over to the newcomer in a confident stride. "Can't say I've ever seen you around here before. And you made quite the entrance."

[Diva De]

The lady smiles, then furrows her brow in thought. She squeezes her eyes closed and speaks in broken Goblin. I not be here before. New place is to me. She opens her eyes and shrugs. The name's Serenla. Hope the Goblin wasn't too bad. I'm still learning. And that, she nods her head towards the door. That was just a little business I needed to finish up. She sips at her drink and leans forward to check the book again. Who're you? She speaks quickly, her voice bright. Her accent is...odd. Like a blending of lots of different accents at once. It is...unplaceable.

[Morty]

Dipsng - who, for the record, looks like the goblin in his player's avatar - chuckles.

"Not bad. Better than most humans can manage. And I am Dipsnig Razortooth. The leader of the Neutralist Organization and the best mercenary Nexus has ever seen."

[Diva De]

My work requires me to read and understand several languages, so...I do the best I can. Serenla smiles brightly and nods as she takes another swallow of her ale. Oh, great! I'm sure I could use your help one of these days. I'm, hmm, I stay pretty busy. But knowing a mercenary, AND someone who leads an organization of like-minded neutralists - THAT could come in handy. She closes the book before her and pats it affectionately. This is my calling. A Book of Grudges - ever heard of one?

[Morty]

Dipsnig peers at the book with interest.

"Can't say I have. Is it a book that contains grudges that you then go around righting?"

[Diva De]

Serenla gives a sort of nod/shrug. More or less. I don't know if "righting" is the proper word...more like...balancing? Her fingers trace the edges of the tome as her gaze settles upon it. I've avenged slain loved ones, recovered lost items, reunited people. But I've also retrieved things stolen from necromancers, sabotaged projects to fail. What I do isn't as simple as right or wrong. She looks up and smiles again. But I am certainly never bored. Or without purpose.

[Morty]

Dipsnig's ears twitch slightly. Peculiar, but not that unusual. "I see. And who gave you that mission? Or provides you with information about things that need balancing?"

[Diva De]

Serenla becomes serious, her smile fading. Someone I trust implicitly gave it to me. When they...when it was time. She nods once, seeming to sit up straighter. And the Book gives me all the information I need. Well, mostly. Here - look. She opens the cover and flips to the page she was on before, pointing out the entry she has just crossed out. Apparently Viktor - the pale guy? - was bullied by that other guy when they were small children in the same village. Viktor spent many days hungry for lack of coin. And he has since spent years buckling to others' demands and looking over his shoulder. So - I fixed it. She leans back, knitting her fingers together behind her head. Now the big guy realizes there are consequences to the things he does, and Viktor knows he isn't going to find him waiting around the corner for him. She grins and spreads her hands. Balance.

[Beans]

"Kheptuur? That's a neat one. Did you have one before Drana gave it to you? Why do you say 'we'? Are there more than one of you in there?" No comment about the chakram.

The violet-haired girl starts to stand up, putting down coins for her terrifying hot-sauce-pocalypse of a drink.
Hwee all kall ourselfs 'hwee'. Ees just how hwee haff done eet seence hwee can remember... and hwee do not know eef hwee had nayme beforr.
Hwee would love to stay, but hwee haff hwork to do.
Hopefully she's about to be replaced with a character who's not so weird!

[Zefir]

"Well then. Tell me about yourself a bit. Friends do know each other right?"

It's a bit of an easy thought, but still a possible interprtation of friendship.

[Morty]

Serenla becomes serious, her smile fading. Someone I trust implicitly gave it to me. When they...when it was time. She nods once, seeming to sit up straighter. And the Book gives me all the information I need. Well, mostly. Here - look. She opens the cover and flips to the page she was on before, pointing out the entry she has just crossed out. Apparently Viktor - the pale guy? - was bullied by that other guy when they were small children in the same village. Viktor spent many days hungry for lack of coin. And he has since spent years buckling to others' demands and looking over his shoulder. So - I fixed it. She leans back, knitting her fingers together behind her head. Now the big guy realizes there are consequences to the things he does, and Viktor knows he isn't going to find him waiting around the corner for him. She grins and spreads her hands. Balance.

Dipsnig rubs the back of his head. "This... feels rather small. You'd need to do this to a lot of bullies and their victims for it to make a difference on any larger scale."

[Diva De]

Serenla smiles. I have seen enough to know that one person cannot change the world. Sometimes all one can do is nudge it gently and see how it plays out. She shrugs and finishes her mug. That being said, time travel has its advantages. I totally went all "Ghost of Christmas Future" on this one guy and showed him how his actions would cause things to spiral out of control and hurt a lot of people. So he didn't do it.

[Morty]

Dipsnig chuckles again.

"Ah. Time travel. Never had anything to do with it, and I'm rather thankful. It sounds like a headache. That said, changing the world by pushing one key event... I can imagine it. It's like clockwork this way."

[Recaiden]

The violet-haired girl starts to stand up, putting down coins for her terrifying hot-sauce-pocalypse of a drink.
Hwee all kall ourselfs 'hwee'. Ees just how hwee haff done eet seence hwee can remember... and hwee do not know eef hwee had nayme beforr.
Hwee would love to stay, but hwee haff hwork to do.
Hopefully she's about to be replaced with a character who's not so weird!

That's kind of frightening. Well, it would be if the hot-sauce fan were less ridiculous.
"Farewell."
Hopefully, but knowing her player...

"Well then. Tell me about yourself a bit. Friends do know each other right?"

It's a bit of an easy thought, but still a possible interprtation of friendship.

((I have no idea what you mean by it being an easy thought.))
"Sure, that they do."
"I'm not from the Nexus originally; came here I think to see the multiverse; this was the first world besides our own we could reach, but honestly it was so long ago and so confusing that I don't quite remember. Now I live on an island just out past the bay, making machines and occasionally fighting pirates."
"Oh, and probably worth mentioning, I'm not really a normal person anymore. Used to be, before I came over, a guy called Derrik. Now me and a handful of others are one transhuman, named ourselves Atorre. Most of me is back at our home."
"How about you?"

[Beans]

Thankfully, the character that comes in after the weird lady is... a gal with a metal spider-like lower body with four legs ending in human hands. Also sporting a baby bump.
...
That's a Beans character alright.

[Deathkeeper]

Krayger is in Trog's again. The brown-furred minotaur is at his own table enjoying a drink, and although he's not paying all that much attention to his surroundings, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd be against some company.

[Zefir]

Hmm I meant her way to think about friendship is rather simple.
Mika waves as the other woman leaves. After all she didn't catch a word of what she was saying.

"So you are some kind of hive mind sharing several bodies? I wonder if everyone of you keeps his own mind after all."

Then she waves at the newcomer in a friendly way, before returning to Atorre.

"I'm born in the Nexus. I assume my grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand parents moved here in some way. I live a few streets away from here, but after the last apocalypse the street is abondend."