Trog's Tavern CLIII

[Chaotic Bob]

Ah well, yes. Xeni kinda figured there'd be a bit of variety. It was the continued level of quality that he was after!
Though, compared to trail rations, his standards are a bit low and possibly anything that wasn't pulled out of a garbage can would qualify as "good", let alone Zee's level of "great".

"Found this stuff on one of my trips called 'reaper powder'. That's some strong pepper seasoning you don't want to find yourself licking."
Though, with his look of amusement, he has either not experienced this himself or has watched someone else do it and though it was fantastic.
"But yeah, alright. If you're going to keep churning out the food here, I'll make sure to stop by and eat 'real food'."

He mulls over the topic Karaglen has presented for a moment, before offering his two cents.
"If you guys ever need a hand with something, feel free to ask. Looks like I owe you a pretty massive debt and...evidently we're family."
There is only the smallest hint of a dry, why-am-I-out-of-the-loop-about-this tone.
Xeni's in a vaguely similar position to Raril here. Whereas Raril comes attached with the Zee experience, he sort of comes attached with the Karaglen experience.

Although, for wildly different reasons. Obviously.
He wants an explanation but he'll ask about that later when Karaglen isn't listening so intently.

Meanwhile!
Taking Zee's new advice to heart, Karaglen glances over at the time-stopped Raril and compares some thoughts in her head.
Namely, an image of her favoritest, cuddliest wolfy friend ever (Viima) and her having fantastic foot-warming bonding time.
Then an image of her favoritest, cuddliest wolfy friend ever (still Viima) lightly gnawing on Raril's arm.

Somewhere in here she's not immediately sure how to connect the whole "some doggies are bad" train of thought.
Aren't they all supposed to be cuddly friends? Or at worst, hungry friends-to-be? Sometimes they're kind of unhappy, but she's found that hamburgers and milk-bones seem to correct that problem most of the time.
Clearly Raril forgot to bring those. Or something.
Maybe even something far, far worse.
"Is...is dad bad at petting wolfies?"

[Rebonack]

Zee has already filed basically anything called 'fill in the blank pepper' or 'threatening sounding thing powder' in her 'do not lick' file. But she does appreciate Xeni's advice none the less.

"I'll look forward to your visits. I know you helped out on That Day. Everything that went on then is still kind of fuzzy, my perspective was pretty warped," Zee admits. "And in my book, that means you're a pretty decent person. The Nexus needs plenty of people who are willing to go out of their way to makes things better. And if anything big happens, I think a team-up would be great! It's been a really long time since I've had a proper adventure."

Arguably her time in the Empyreum was sort of an adventure.

Just not one that she was terribly thrilled to be on. Okay, yeah, sure it was pretty neat. She learned a lot and grew a lot and sort of made some friends. Or more like... rivals with benefits. But being back here with the people she really cared about? Even if said people may or may not be actual people? She's pretty happy to be back in the Game.

Zee will totally explain what has gone down. In detail. To Raril and Xeni both. But probably when Karaglen is asleep. She was careful to scrub as much of the daemon as possible and she would rather not remind Kara of that abomination. At all.

And then gosh darn it Kara starts being adorable.

I mean, she didn't ever stop. But now she's gone and kicked it up a few degrees.

Zee gives a sigh, offering Karaglen a long-suffering smile. "No, sweetie, daddy isn't bad at petting wolves. He's fluffiest werewolf there is, so he knows how to pet wolves. But there are some dogs that are bad. Faerie dogs that have been all turned around and made terrible by the meanest hearted fae there are. Instead of wanting to be friends, these dogs only want to bite people. There are some normal dogs like that, too. Sometimes people mistreat dogs so much, that the dogs start acting violently and they aren't safe to pet. Sometimes dogs get scared and bite. That's why, if you meet someone with a dog, you always ask if it's okay to pet them first."

[Artemis97]

Raril snaps out of deadtime, looking confused. He was pleased, but..."Wait... what? They're...our kids? We made them. You birthed them. I...what?" He sits back on the floor and stretches his legs out in front of him, looking tired and dazed.

[Rebonack]

Zee will just sit down on the floor next to him for now.

That was...

Probably way too much information at once.

Totally way too much information at once.

But she felt like she needed to tell someone and it all just sort of came pouring out.

So...

How to break this down, then?

How can she do that in a way that's simple and... mostly not traumatizing?

"K'rax-Naggath birthed them. Not me I, ah, hehe, I would have been in bad shape if I had that many kids all at once. I'm not a frog, after all." It's true. Zee is distinctly not a frog. "You can tell because I lack water permeable skin and I doesn't respirate through my butt even a little bit. Those are both really important frog things."

Maybe not the MOST important frog things, but they rate pretty high on the list of frog priorities.

"Krax used me, Raril. She used you, too. She was using everyone in the Nexus to get what she wanted. But then Remnant planted a nuke in her brain and thwarted her plans by exploding the inside of her skull all over the place. That's a good thing. She meant well, but she was not nice."

[Artemis97]

The drow nods, frowning. "I think I understand, a little, anyways. I know what it is to be used, at least." Raril admits. "Right, okay, you're back. That's amazing!" He comes around to the important information, grinning. "Gods, I've missed you. I... we should... hah, I don't know where to start, Zee." He looked down at himself, now mostly whole again. "Maybe I should get cleaned up?"

[Rebonack]

"Hehe... I guess we can both say that we've been used as pawns by a goddess that's kind of a jerk?" Zee suggests.

It's something they have in common with each other!

Shared interests and hobbies are always very helpful for keeping a couple together.

Except when those hobbies are 'cog in the machinations of an evil deity.'

Usually that doesn't encourage a great deal of togetherness.

"I'm back," Zee agrees with a grin. "And that IS amazing. And I missed you a whole bunch, too, Raril. I was able to watch from up in the Empyreum but... it really made me feel helpless. I could look down at what the people I love were doing, but I couldn't help. I couldn't even let you know I was still alive. I felt... detached."

It wasn't much fun.

"You should probably get cleaned up," Zee agrees with a sagely nod. "Your clothing is wrecked and covered in blood and sweat. The distressed look is dashing, but the blood/sweat/tears combo is going to start to stink after a little while."

She wrinkles her nose playfully.

"It already kinda does. No offense."

[Artemis97]

"Right." Slowly, Raril pulls himself to his feet and picks up his fallen sword, replacing it in its sheath. "I'm going to rent a room, and get cleaned up, you... you don't go anywhere, ok?" He asks, a hint of fear in his red eyes. He didn't want to let Zee out of his sight, in case she disappeared again.

With that, he makes his way upstairs to get cleaned up. A warm bath would do him some good.

[Rebonack]

Zee gives a little nod and hops to her feet, scampering behind the counter and fetching a key for Raril from the key board and tossing it to him.

Hopefully Raril is coordinated enough to catch it. He's been a bit loopy since his return.

Getting mauled by barghests will do that to most people.

Once the drow is out of sight?

She makes shooing motions at the slightly out of temporal phase version of herself that was chatting with Kara. The other Zee quickly doffs her Trog's apron and hurries out the front door of the tavern. She still hasn't managed to get her grocery shopping done and since she's the one who's actually dressed (unlike PJs Zee) it makes sense that she'll take another shot at collecting baking, cooking, and deli supplies.

With a bunch of luck maybe she won't get waylaid.

Again.

All this done while everyone else is absent or dead timed.

Best to do all this out of sight of others. It's really disorienting to watch, otherwise.

"This is all going way better than expected," Zee comments to no one in particular, a wide smile on her face. "Though, being here at all was kinda unexpected, too," she adds thoughtfully, quirking her head and gazing absently into the rafters. "Kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop..."

THEN AN NPC SUDDENLY BURSTS THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR!

"Horrible baby monsters are popping up all over the City! They're murdering people indiscriminately and then killing each other!" they shriek, arms flailing. Several of the more heroic looking tavern patrons perk up at this.

"Okay, there it is," Zee mutters, glancing down at her attire. "I'm probably going to need to put on pants today if I'm going to help save the world."

[Chaotic Bob]

Looks like some things have shuffled around a bit in another little time hiccup.

Xeni was going to say something agreeable with being called a "pretty decent person" and the whole idea of a team-up adventure...
But then some combination of that Zee disappearing and the Doom Baby Harbinger NPC happens.

Karaglen was going to say something disagreeable with the very possibility of any dog/wolfy/puppy ever being really bad, rather than just needing some snacks and friendship...
But then all that other stuff happened.

"I'm not actually sure if this took more or less time than I expected."
Xeni is unamused.

"Oh no, people are going to get hurt! We can't sit around eating breakfast while people are hurting!"
Karaglen is reverting swiftly back to her usual Junior Emergency Services demeanor.

[Artemis97]

Upstairs, Raril is completely unaware of the chaos of people eating babies. Probably for the best really, he's had a weird enough day as it is. The drow strips out of his clothes, noting that the shirt was a complete loss, and sinks into a warm tub to wash off the gore and to think.

Zee was back, that in itself was amazing. She was home and whole and wonderfully weird as she always was. She was separated from Krax now, though, which made for a difference. Zee would be more fragile now, there was no coming back from the next one, unless Raril somehow intervened by begging a deity or two for his wife back. Not that he hadn't already done that. Inari's, especially, was getting a big donation, this Thanksmas.

Zee, for her part, had apparently been keeping an eye on him from her side of the planar veil. Less for him to have to explain, Raril guessed. Still, he'd have to introduce her to, and explain, Aly'ithra. There was no indiscretion there, just his past coming to find him. And how in the nine hells was he going to explain he was on speaking terms with Sszinyon now?

And what was all this about their children not being hers? Sure they were weird, but so hadn't Zee been. Did they need to be rescued from the influence of the Far now too? Not to mention whatever sent those hounds... Barghests. They were trouble. Raril had to at least warn his children. Zee may have written them off, but he couldn't. Could he let her? Their children's childhood had been brief, but they had raised them together. Could she really just abandon them like this?

The drow leaned back in the bath and sighs. He didn't think she would act that way. He thought she was better than that, but maybe women were the same everywhere, Surface, Underdark, Far, whatever. Maybe they could just write off their kids. His mother certainly never had a problem with the idea. The kids were grown now, too, but Raril still wanted to look out for them. It was rare for a male to even have claim on his children. They were his legacy, and he owned them at least that much.


After a long and thoughtful bath, Raril returns downstairs in his 'adventuring' gear. Shades of black and grey, with a piwafwi cloak, and a bandana around his head. His weapons have been meticulously cleaned, and he's looking better than he had, if a bit worn.

[Rebonack]

They need to move quickly if they're going to help.

If cherub arenas are popping up, then it's only a matter of time before faerie groves begin manifesting, too. This is all progressing quickly and Zee still isn't sure what's precipitating it. Just the fact that she's here at all is a big deal. A Glory wandering around in the Game active without being tied to a summoner? And here in the middle of the City instead of in some desolate ruin half-asleep? Not that Zee particularly MINDS being in the City, but this is still all really strange.

She's not going to have time to change out of her pajamas, is she?

Zee gives a sigh, rubbing her temples. God have mercy... she's still so tired after putting Karaglen back together. But she can't just let this slide. They have to do something. She motions for anyone who looks like they're wanting to help to gather around right about the time Raril is coming down the stairs.

"Okay. Here's the situation. These are incursions from the Empyreum, cherub arenas. One hundred gross little toddler monsters get dumped into an area and they duke it out until only one can walk away. Any people in the area are a resource to them. If it's convenient they will probably try to kill you. They'll be focusing mostly on each other, though. In terms of raw power you could probably compare them to a particularly nasty imp or other weak fiend. They can temporarily scoot perpendicular to reality to avoid attacks and ambush, but only once in a while. Think of it like a sort range teleport with a delay on reappearance. They will have ranged weapons. At least some will be smart enough to use cover. They can devour the landscape around them to manifest material from the Empyreum to build defenses for themselves. They are completely without empathy. This is a game to them. To them, the people they're killing are just flavorful scenery."

She pauses there, slowly panning her gaze across the room to make eye contact with everyone. Zee gives that last set of statements a few seconds to sink in before she continues.

"I'm going to be crashing their party Unbound. Depending on how experienced they are, they'll probably either try ganging up on me, taking potshots at me, or taking potshots at the other cherubs distracted by me. Either way, I'll have their attention. Everyone else? Your job is going to be evacuating people out of the arena zone. You'll be able to tell where the edge of the arena is. Don't fight the cherubs if you can avoid it. If you fight, you'll be pinged as a creep instead of a critter and killing you will be a more valuable objective. Everyone got it? Questions?"

A few nods of assent from the few adventurers in the tavern.

[Chaotic Bob]

Bunch of aggressive, stupid, magical alien teenagers. Got it.
More complex details than that don't particularly matter to Xeni at the moment given the apparent level of danger to innocent civilians here, so he'll go with that.
Maybe has some issues with that last part of the instructions though.
"If there's so many of the things running around, wouldn't it be better served to have more than one point of distraction? If they're no more than some piddly little demons in threat, I can help you sweep them out of the city from a different angle."

There is the pending issue of what to do about the kid in the room though.
"Kiddo-"
"I know how to stay out of the way. I'm going to help."
Karaglen's scaly little face can still manage to put on a fairly impressive stubborn pout.
"If people are hurt, I can help fix them, and that's useful to everyone. And won't I be safer closer to you and mom than here by myself?"

Xeni has no immediate response to this beyond wondering why a small child can manage halfway decent arguments in this day and age.

[Artemis97]

"Cherubs?" Raril has images of fat, winged babies floating through his head. Then he put an evil bent on them. The thought made him shudder.
"Right, order of the day is evacuation. I can do my best to guide folks, and to keep them safe. Mark the trail with some faerie fire or something." He decides.

[Rebonack]

"You need to stick close to Karaglen," Zee replies to Xeni, her tone firm. "She's going to need someone watching out for her, and I'm going to be up to my neck in cherubs."

That seems like a pretty solid way to do this.

She doesn't want to leave Kara alone, that's for sure. Neither here nor anywhere else.

"If any of the nasty little things start looking in her direction, make them regret it. But if they leave you alone, just screen for her so she can heal the wounded."

Then she gives Raril a nod. "That's a good idea. People will be confused and panicked. The inside of the arena space is going to be twisted around. People taking charge and giving directions will help keep the casualties down."

Sounds like they have a plan!

Zee takes a deep breath, then slowly lets it out.

"Alright, let's go."

And then she's out the door. In her pajamas and fuzzy slipper socks. A pair of adventurers who were hanging around Trog's follow. A warrior, from the looks of things, decked out in a breastplate wielding a shield and spear. And a cleric of Pelor if the sun motif is any indication. They'll probably be handy to have around.

[5a Violista]

Harley Zorzo, the notorious largely ignored Evil Shapeshifter (click if you want to read something somewhat amusing) enters the Tavern, glad to be taking a break from all the srs stuff happening in Riverside.

For those of you who don't know her, she looks like a pretty average and normal woman - and that's by NPC standards, not PC standards. No 7-foot tall amazon warrior or demigodess of death or whatever. Just a regular latina woman. Not even any scars on her face! (But that's because of the expertly-placed makeup makeup that she literally spent half a day doing over and over trying to make it look like her face doesn't look like a 3-year old kid did it.

Looking at her face, you'd expect her to be wearing a mask...but, nope. Not wearing a mask today. Just make-up.

It makes her feel very uncomfortable. Visibly uncomfortable. Like, imagine someone removed half the skin from your face and then you realized you forgot to put pants (or even a skirt!) on this morning, and then you realized that this isn't a dream.

That's how uncomfortable she feels. And she suspects she also looks almost that uncomfortable. Sitting on a stool, she rubs her ankles together and readjusts her skirt to make the nervousness go away.

"H-hello," she says to the barmaid. (Or, barbutler, if you will.) "I'll just have whatever the special of the day is."

"Thanks."

[Rebonack]

The barmaid in question has just emerged from the kitchen, as a matter of fact, with a tray of fresh out of the oven apple-cinnamon chocolate brownies.

They smell absolutely heavenly.

Zee immediately notices the Evil Shapeshifter sitting at the bar (and doesn't kill her on sight, that would be rude). Instead she shoots Cosmo a look. Why didn't he help her while she was in the kitchen? Probably because that would require that he do things. Wouldn't that be a travesty? Oh well. Looks like it's up to her to save the day again. For the record, Zee is a bit on the unremarkable side herself. She's a bit tall, a little under six feet with slightly wavy black hair, steel blue eyes, and a tan complexion. She looks like she might be some flavor of middle-eastern? Unremarkable clothing, Trog's Tavern apron. No tails or horns or wings or glowing eyes or weird ears or anything like that. She could blend in with any NPC crowd, no problem.

"Hey, you're looking pretty down," she comments, setting a fresh brownie on a plate and placing it in front of Harley. "Special's grilled king salmon with a red-wine honey sauce. Do you want that with chries, rice pilaf, or some fruit salad?"

Chries are, of course, simultaneously chips and fries.

Because what else would they be?

Zee fetches some salmon steak from the fridge and begins preparing meat for grillin'.

[5a Violista]

The woman is appreciative that she's not killed on sight.

"Thanks," Harley says, to the brownie and the description of the special, and not the 'you're looking pretty down' statement.

How long has it been since she has had a brownie? Too long. Too long.

Harley is torn between the rice pilaf and the fruit salad. Chries doesn't really sound so good, especially compared to the other two. Really, the important question is what kind of fruits are in the fruit salad? So she asks exactly that: "What kind of fruit salad?"

If it's just normal boring fruit, then she'll go with "Rice pilaf, then." If it's the kind of fruit salad that has tropical fruit and is drizzled with condensed milk or dried-and-crushed peppers, then obviously she'll go with the "Fruit salad, please," instead.

While waiting for the salmon steak, Harley tries out the brownie.

Hey!

This is actually pretty good.

She takes another bite and, unfortunately, it's gone rather quickly.

[Rebonack]

Most people aren't keen on being murdered out of hand, Zee has noticed.

"You're welcome!" Zee replies brightly. She's always happy to rectify brownie deficiencies. And then, sadly, Zee describes a pretty unremarkable fruit salad. So rice pilaf it is! Zee works at getting everything ready. The sauce appears to be made of some honey, a dash of red wine, and a bit of soy sauce with some other spices. All assembled on the grill while Harley watches. Zee has a bit of flair to the preparation, and it's a little entertaining to watch. The salmon gets grilled directly atop the sauce, then flipped over to cook the other side so the caramelized flavor is cooked directly into the fish. At the same time, she's seeing to the rice pilaf.

Once everything is ready, Zee gathers it onto a place and sets it before Harley. "There you go, enjoy!"

The fish is a bit crispy on the outside thanks to the sauce, giving it a flavor that's at once tangy, sweet, and savory.

It's pretty good!

"Do you come to Trog's often?" Zee asks as she begins cleaning off her grill in preparation for the next order. "I've been out of the Nexus for a really long time, so I'm trying to catch up on new faces. Or new to me, anyway!"

But seriously.

The fish is amazing.

[5a Violista]

Just going by how the fish was made, it has to taste amazing. Fish is literally one of the best kinds of meals to... I mean...

...Harley actually doesn't like the taste of fish. Major plot point from way back when she became leader of AMEN. It's just that the brownie smelled so good that she didn't even register that the special was actually fish.

She only notices as it starts cooking. On the one hand, it looks like it should taste great. On the other hand...

Harley mentally prepares to eat it. It would be incredibly rude to immediately throw it away or even not eat it, especially after complimenting the other cooking. She steels herself, looking down at the fish now in front of her.

She cuts off a bit and piles as much rice and sauce on it as is reasonable, in an attempt to make it more palatable, so that she can continue to eat it without grimacing or vomiting. She starts to desperately wish another starving orphan would come up behind her asking for food...because that actually happens to her surprisingly often when she comes in Trog's to eat.

I dunno. It's like orphans seem to seek her out, or something.

Talking! Talking probably helps distract from the aftertaste. "This is also pretty good," she lies, but then follows up with the truth to make it seem more honest: "not as good as the brownie, though."

After taking another bite, she answers: "I've been here a couple of times over the past several years," she says. Every time she's come before, however, she's worn a mask. Kinda makes it hard to be recognized, wearing a mask. "I probably wouldn't be considered a regular, though."

She came here most often during that period of time when she was homeless, after being supplanted in AMEN.

On the bright side, she no longer feels uncomfortable and nervous for being in public without a mask, since all her concentration is focused on trying to eat the meal and not look like she's dying.
...
because that's what she feels like is happening inside. The sauce and rice are enjoyable, however. If she had gotten the fruit salad, it would be a lot harder to use it to mask the fish, so she thanks her god that there was only boring fruit salad.

[Rebonack]

For what it's worth, salmon is probably one of the least fishy tasting fishes. If that makes any sense. Compared to a white fish like cod or snapper, the flavor is drastically different. As is the aftertaste. It's also a dryer fish, like tuna but again without that really strong 'fishy' flavor tuna has. The fact that it's fresh should help, too, since it hasn't had time for too much trimethylamine to build up. And as any biomechanicist knows, it's trimethylamine that lends to that distinct 'fishy' smell and taste. So maybe it won't be quite as bad as it could have been? Flavors and textures in fish ranges pretty widely, after all. They're pretty diverse critters.

The red wine sauce should help with the fishy flavor, too. Especially since the meat was cooked in it. Acidic sauces are great for exactly that purpose.

Unless it's just the fishness that Harley dislikes. Sadly there isn't much to be done about that. Zee can't really make fish into not-fish.

Or... well. She could.

But that would require being warned ahead of time and she had no idea Harley didn't like fish. Maybe she wasn't aware salmon was a type of fish?

Anywho!

Zee can tell Harley isn't very happy, and that makes her sad. But! There are ways to address problems! "I'm glad you liked the brownies. Let me grab you another." And Zee will do just that! Another brownie AND a tall glass of milk. Because brownies go well with milk! And more importantly, because proteins in milk bind with trimethylamine to cut the fishy aftertaste.

Being intimately familiar with biochemistry really helps with cooking.

"I'm glad you came to visit, too," she replies brightly. "I'm Jezekiel, by the way. Most of my friends call me Zee."

Wait.

Zee?

Isn't she supposed to be dead? Isn't she the abomination that kicked the Thing in the Walls upside the head on at least one occasion? She's was pretty vocally anti-AMEN. Does she know Harley was the leader? Is this going to end really badly? If Zee is aware of Harley's connections, she isn't showing any signs of it.

[5a Violista]

It's unfortunate that Harley doesn't like fish.

If it was before the hazing process she had to go through to become the leader way back when, then she probably would've been alright with all these things counterbalancing the fishy taste. Unfortunately, eating and digesting a still-screaming piece of meat turns most people off of that kind of meat forever.

Thanks, ObMagtok.

Harley, who actually likes the Thing in the Walls a lot and considers him (it?) to be one of her three closest friends, doesn't seem to recognize Zee's name. Even if she did, Jezekiel probably isn't a rare enough name to positively identify her. So, for now at least, things seem to continue amicably with no obvious revenge plots happening.

...And, for that matter, even in the case that Harley recognized Zee enough to know how much she was against AMEN, she probably wouldn't be worried, anyway: it was only rarely that even people she was actively fighting against would remember her afterwards. Not really sure how that happened, but Harley's used to it enough that she's pretty confident everybody's completely forgotten all about her by now.

When the brownie comes out, she immediately reaches towards it to take a bite. Either she just likes it that much, or just wants something else in her mouth that much. Fortunately, however, this time she manages to space out eating all of it to save its delicious flavor for later.

She swallows.

"I'm Harley."
...
"Most my friends just call me Harley." Sure, she's been called a couple of other things before, but Harley is the most common one.

It should be noted that Harley does have a distinguishable accent. It sounds like she'd fit in somewhere south of Central America. Sometimes, it actually helps her disguise, actually, when she's in disguise: by making the accent less obvious then everyone assumes it's not her because of course she doesn't speak [insert language here] all that clearly.

Taking a brief break from chewing, she pushes the conversation forward: "So, you like working here? It seems like it's a pretty exciting job."

[Rebonack]

"Harley Harley makes things simple," Zee replies with a sage nod as she pours some water on her grill and begins scraping it around to remove remaining gunk. This results in a rather dramatic cloud of steam.

"I love working here. You meet lots of new people," Zee explains. "And it isn't uncommon for new castaways to get dumped into Trog's, so I can greet them right away."

She really likes greeting new people.

"This is where I showed up, actually. Right over there," she points at an empty patch of floor about ten feet away. "On top of a reclining chair. It poofed in with me. Still not sure why."

The Nexus works in mysterious ways, sometimes.

"Honestly, I have no idea what happened to that chair."

Trog probably stole it for his personal lounge in the back.

Then Zee flashes a smile! "What about you? Did you get dumped here? Or born in the Nexus?"

It wasn't too long ago that people being born here was practically unheard of. Or was it? Chronology in the Nexus is weird.

[5a Violista]

Harley looks over at that empty patch of floor, half-expecting someone else to just show up there. It would be pretty timely, right?

It should be noted that she has stopped eating and is just listening and talking now. Maybe she'll finish later? Yeah. Might get a take-out box if necessary.

But.

Oof. Harley really has to think back exactly how she got here. To be honest, she doesn't exactly know. Besides, how she got here isn't really such an interesting question for her: why she came here is more relevant and interesting.

Since nobody else appeared in that particular spot, Harley turns back towards Zee.

"Neither of those," she responds. "Long story, but basically I just...walked. Eventually, sometime between home and the edge of the world, I discovered that I had left Earth so I just kept walking until I wound up in the Nexus."

Simple enough backstory, right?
Seems like it was pretty much entirely by choice, completely contrasting with Zee.

[Rebonack]

There's a small 'POP!' from the otherwise unoccupied patch of floor as a stuffed teddy bear wearing a little hat and sunglasses suddenly appears.

Zee eyes it suspiciously.

The bear slumps over sideways, since it is a floppy inanimate object and there's nothing to support it.

"Hold on a sec," Zee says as she arms herself with a pair of long tongs. "I'll be right back."

She clacks the tongs a few times to make sure they clack properly, then grabs the bear with them and heads out back to toss the stuffed animal into the dumpster mimic. She isn't sure if the mimic can eat stuffed animals, but you'll never know unless you try! Sure enough, she's back pretty quickly.

"Sorry about that, stuffed animals in here are usually a bad sign."

She doesn't elaborate on that further.

"So you walked in? I always forget that's an option. But quite a few people did it! My husband Raril, for one. He was getting away from his abusive family," Zee recounts. "Do you mind me asking why you decided to come here?"

[5a Violista]

...
Figures that something would show up as soon as Harley turns away.
"Huh."
She wants Zee to elaborate more about the stuffed animals, but doesn't particularly care enough to ask more. Oh, well.

I seem to remember Harley meeting Raril once here in Trog's Tavern during the period that Zee was gone, but after searching back through a few old threads I can't find any evidence of it.

"Oh, you're married? Congratulations," she says.
Harley was married once.

The full story isn't something you just tell random people you just met, especially because part of it involves why she ultimately joined AMEN, but Harley tries to give an abbreviated version of the events: "I wasn't fleeing anyone or anything in particular," she says, even though her two living relatives are literalfigurative garbage human beingsEvil Shapeshifters who don't care about anyone, so it's understandable she would rather go to the Nexus than go to their place.

Anyway, back on topic: "and I guess it's pretty generic, actually? Life falls apart, dreams shattered, etc, etc," Harley waves her hands to emphasize the et cetera part, "and so I just left in search of a better life."

In case Zee was wondering, "It's much better now, by the way."
Well. That's good.

[Rebonack]

It's probably best not to know.

Nothing good ever comes of randomly existing plushies.

"I am! And thank you," Zee replies brightly. "I'm glad the Nexus has been kinder than where you came from. Don't give up on your dreams, though. This is a place of second chances and making the impossible possible!"

A beat.

"Unless your dream is the annihilation of all sapient life. You should probably give up on that one if it is. A few people have tried and it never works out very well."

At least one of them got turned into a koi and dumped in Inari's pond.

Given how much Harley dislikes fish, that would probably be a pretty terrible fate for her.

"I'm really curious, though, did you come here intentionally? Or wandered in? I guess there are some places that are fully aware that the Nexus is a thing. Somehow that just feels weird to me. Oh yeah, that one crazy place with all the stuff? Boy is it ever crazy! Don't go there during a full moon or you might get were-glomped."

That's a serious hazard, Zee, you shouldn't make light of it.

[5a Violista]

As Harley decides to hazard another bite of the meal - followed up quickly by brownie - she thinks that sometimes it's better to just let it stay impossible. Or, at least, to think that it's impossible. If you stop thinking it's possible, then you get your hopes up, only to realize that you were wrong. In fact, she says something along those lines, but under her breath and with food in her mouth (how rude!): "Smmh mtns hhn mhnhm lnfff nmphsshpl." (Or however it is you write something that's said under your breath with your mouth chewing on brownie.)

Fortunately, though, she swallows so that the rest of the conversation doesn't have to be like that.

And she takes a drink of the milk to rinse out her mouth so that Zee doesn't have to look at brownie bits.

Fortunately, she manages to swallow the milk just before Zee finishes talking about were-glomps. Because milk shooting out of your nose because you laughed too hard isn't a fun experience. Better than soda, but...still. Not fun. "Hey, if you're going to make me laugh, at least wait for me to swallow first."

Fact: Harley has never been were-glomped. At least, not yet.

"No, at least not at first. I was trying to get to Antartica. Eventually, I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore, when I heard some people talking about a certain organization in the Nexus -" AMEN, but if you asked her she'd probably say GLoG - "and eventually found my way here."

[Rebonack]

"Drinking stuff in my presence is a known hazard," Zee replies with a nod. "I think we used to have a sign about it..." she mutters as she ducks down behind the counter and begins rummaging about.

"Oh hey! Here's Hoseki's old crowbar! Or... maybe it's Hoseki lost in endless deadtime? She was a pretty weird shapeshiftery person, so it's hard to tell..."

The rummaging continues.

She's practically climbed into the counter by now. Should Harley peek over the counter top she'll be able to see Zee's boots sticking out. The bar is most certainly not wide enough for her to fit in there. But given the somewhat dubious dimensions of the tavern this might not be the biggest shock.

"Why is there a compartment completely filled with rubber chickens?"

That's an excellent question and likely a mystery that will never be solved.

"If Antarctica is the same Antarctica I'm thinking of, then traveling there isn't something that's easy to do. Especially if you're traveling there from Kansas. Unless you're making a reference to The Wizard of Oz and the surreal nature of the Nexus, then I guess that makes a little more sense?" Zee rambles from under the counter. "But seriously. By ship or by air. And they really only allow you there if you're a scientist. Or a penguin. But not a husky, I guess? Apparently they were spreading diseases to the local seal population."

This is all very important information, Zee.

"Continuity's Grave? Huh... I thought that got moved to the Misspelled Cemetary," Zee pops her head back out. "Hey Harley? Do you know if having the grave of an abstract concept in a bar is considered a health code violation?"

[5a Violista]

Harley does, in fact, peer over the countertop.

Then, she gets back in her seat and tries to look at the countertop from her own side...then back over the countertop again.

"I don't know," she responds, regarding the rubber chickens.

"Possibly," she responds, to the question regarding health code violations. "I've never run a restaurant, and the actual laws vary by jurisdiction, but...it probably depends on whether or not there's any decay or chance of contamination."
She gave a serious answer.

Now that Zee has popped back up, Harley gets around to talking more about Antartica. "Antartica, as in far-south cold wasteland? That's the one I'm talking about."

"Kansas isn't real, though," she says. "I've only ever read about it and it doesn't sound real."

...

Harley corrects herself. "Then again, it exists in enough books that something like it might've been real at one point, and it probably exists in a lot of the other worlds that have Kansases."

"But where I'm from, it only ever shows up in fiction and legends."

[Rebonack]

"It's a real mystery," Zee agrees, with regards to the rubber chicks. "If you ever meet four humans and a talking great Dane, let me know. They might be able to solve this one."

It would probably turn out that Magtok had been the masked chicken hoarder all along.

"I don't think there's any decay technically? It's just the big rock part," Zee replies as she hauls a headstone out from under the counter and sets it atop the bar with a thump. It's one of those fancy granite headstones and probably weighs, like, four hundred pounds easily. Zee must be pretty strong. Etched upon its surface are the words-

Here lies Continuity, slain by the impatience and hubris of man.

"I remember the grave used to be visited all the time," Zee recalls. "But I think it got forgotten somewhere between Sneak vanishing forever and the transition from Town to Acronymia. Wonder who brought it in here..?"

She's pretty sure it wasn't her.

Maybe she could find somewhere new to put it?

Talk of geography manages to pull Zee from her contemplation of monuments to abstract concepts. "Why were you wanting to go to Antarctica? Also: Kansas is totally a real place. It was a really flat savanna land until all the savanna got dug up and now it's a really flat farmland. It's about as exciting as Antarctica is. Unless your version of Antarctica has shoggoths living in it still, in which case Antarctica is probably more exciting."