Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

[Earl of Purple]

Zee will forget he is from Amsterdam, and remember that he is, instead, from Antwerp, and has always been from Antwerp, and never from Amsterdam. And if this works, he just paid and needs eleven silver in change.

"It's... not my fault. I was unfairly persecuted. Detective Answell had no right to arrest me and kill my children. Then he locked me up, but I escaped. I... don't really remember how. I fell, and woke up in a forest." That's a bit puzzling, to poor Adrie. "I wandered through the forest, met some delightfully unpleasant people, and then... I found this bar. It all seems a bit like a dream, although I am not naked, just barefoot. A mighty strange dream if I do be sleeping."

[Morty]

"Yeah, I get that, I think. Powerful beings can have trouble watching where they step. Exalted like me fought some really massive things... but that was a very long time ago. Not even Chejop Kejak or people as old as he is remember." She watches Zee deliver the buff by means of a bop on the nose. Weird, but she's more interested in other questions. "So did it work? Do you remember me now? And I feel like I've heard the name 'phyrexian' before but I can't remember where."

[Thursday Violist]

"Oh yeah, it might be. I have no idea. Those kind of requirements are always stupid, maybe you could freelance or something." As an inventor, Alice is very used to freelancing.

She listens attentively to Talah's dreams, sipping her drink silently. "That robot dream sounds like it would make a fun game, I like it! And the relationship one is amusing. Too bad you couldn't have told your dream self the importance of communication." Such a situation could turn out well for everyone, but only if all parties were made aware of what was going on.

Alice purses her lips thoughtfully at the mention of the recurring figure. "That's interesting. Multiple arms and horns and stuff makes me think demon more than anything else- I've met a few who could be described that way. I guess demons aren't too uncommon here, but I wonder if there's some deeper meaning behind it?"

"Met a dream demon long time ago. Nasty claws. Be careful with that," pipes in Kraujo.

"At the very least, dream-me should've just taken a moment to stop and think about what she was doing," Talah complains. She sighs and puts her chin in her palm. "That dream ended weird, too, with every single person I've ever met getting on social media together and talking about things that I wasn't able to see."

"Yeah, so I haven't actually met anybody who looked like that, No idea who or what it's supposed to be," she says. Talah makes a click noise with her mouth, and looks at Kraujo the arm, "but I have met a dream demon once, too. Seemed nice enough, but gave off vibes of being too dangerous to stay around for long."

She reaches for her drink.

.
.
.

It's empty.

[quillpleasant]

"I've heard about people who can consciously control what they do in their dreams, but I've never been able to." Alice grins cheekily. "If I were to put on my psychoanalyst hat, I'd say that dream is about a desire for connections that go beyond the surface level. Either that, or you have some secrets you want people to figure out." Or something like that. "But brains are a lot more complicated than machines, so who knows."

"I'll keep my eyes out for multi arm lady. I have been running into demons pretty frequently, so who knows," she continues thoughtfully.

"All demons dangerous to stay around. Only some worth it," says Kraujo smugly.

Then, a crisis! "Oh, we can't have that. Do you fancy another llamonade, or something new?" says Alice, already waving down the bartender.

[Thursday Violist]

Talah laughs: "You're just saying that because I told you I have a tail, but also I told you it's a secret that I won't let you see," she says. "And, nope, telling me my dreams disagree with me won't change my mind."

She thinks.
"Well, we don't know for sure she's a demon, might just be my subconscious brain picking up random things, but...yeah, just by appearances I suppose she probably is one," she says.

From Kraujo's statement...it definitely appears that he's one of the ones who's 'worth it'.

Talah looks at her empty drink, and ponders; "Hm. I...don't know," she says. "On the one hand, maybe two drinks in a bar is too much for me so I should be cut off, but on the other hand...I'm not feeling drunk yet, so maybe I should go for another round of llamonade." That's because she specifically and intentionally ordered something without alcohol.
It's a tough decision.
"I don't know, how tired are you feeling?" she asks, as Alice mentioned she was feeling tired really recently. "If you're worried you might fall asleep, then how about we stop and, since you have my number, we can get back together another day?"

[quillpleasant]

Alice looks a little bemused. "No, I was just speculating, not trying to pry. I've got some pretty tightly wrapped secrets of my own, so you'll get no pressure from me in that regard."

Her lips purse as she thinks on the dream lady. "Well, regardless of what she is she sounds pretty distinct, so if she's real you'll certainly recognize her."

Looking down at her own llamonade, Alice raises an eyebrow. "I didn't even consider if these have alcohol or not. Stuff like that doesn't really effect me because Kraujo cycles my blood so efficiently."

"Get drunk for her," clarifies the arm.

"But yeah, that's not a bad idea. It has been a long day and there's some research I need to do tomorrow." Alice smiles sleepily. "But I will say that it has been a delight talking to you, and I very much look forward to seeing you again sometime."

[Thursday Violist]

Alice looks a little bemused. "No, I was just speculating, not trying to pry. I've got some pretty tightly wrapped secrets of my own, so you'll get no pressure from me in that regard."

Her lips purse as she thinks on the dream lady. "Well, regardless of what she is she sounds pretty distinct, so if she's real you'll certainly recognize her."

Looking down at her own llamonade, Alice raises an eyebrow. "I didn't even consider if these have alcohol or not. Stuff like that doesn't really effect me because Kraujo cycles my blood so efficiently."

"Get drunk for her," clarifies the arm.

"But yeah, that's not a bad idea. It has been a long day and there's some research I need to do tomorrow." Alice smiles sleepily. "But I will say that it has been a delight talking to you, and I very much look forward to seeing you again sometime."

Talah shrugs, and clarifies: "Yeah, these drinks don't have any. Part of why I picked it in the first place," she says.

"Yeah," she asys, giving a wave, "it really was fun talking to you, too, Alice and Kraujo, and I hope to see you later. Have fun with your research."

Talah, with her drink gone, gets up. She smiles, and heads towards the exit.

[quillpleasant]

"I certainly will. Goodnight, til we meet again," says Alice with a grin, removing her bowler hat in a bow.

"Bye pretty girl," says Kraujo, waving.

Then Alice lifts her hat back on her head, and pulls it lowers and lower over her until she disappears entirely and the hat is left sitting by itself on the floor of the inn.

[Shadowcaller]

"Yeah, I get that, I think. Powerful beings can have trouble watching where they step. Exalted like me fought some really massive things... but that was a very long time ago. Not even Chejop Kejak or people as old as he is remember." She watches Zee deliver the buff by means of a bop on the nose. Weird, but she's more interested in other questions. "So did it work? Do you remember me now? And I feel like I've heard the name 'phyrexian' before but I can't remember where."

"Box shaped people fit in boxes," Zee helpfully points out. "Like modrons! Mordons? Whatever they're called. The little robotic platonic solids people. They're basically the very incarnation of people fitting in boxes."

This is, of course, vital information.

"And I don't mind much! I get called lots of things. Being big is about a matter of perspective. Even someone who's so big that they can smoosh bugs when they're walking can still be careful to avoid it. It just means you have to be mindful of what you're doing. It takes effort! And it takes valuing the lives of others. And unfortunately some people don't really care about either of those things but I sure do."

Zee is just nice like that.

"So anyway! Quest buff!" Zee declares before reaching out to quest buff Anika by booping her on the nose with a finger. This might not be exactly the most the orthodox way of conferring quest buffs but Zee is anything but orthodox. "There! Buffed! And now the quest. So there are some creeps called phyrexians that have been making some trouble around town recently. They tried to infect some people with a gross robot mind control disease thing! I've even been told by some patrons that they're some kind of infectious demon but I'm not sure if that's right. Could you two check it out for me? Try getting some information on them? It sounds like they might not be a united front and that would be great to know more about."

But then!

More requests!

Zee considers the request of the guy from Amsterdam.

"Hmm... I'm not much of a cobbler," Zee admits. This is true. She makes few, if any, shoes. Apparently they didn't offer shoes in extra-dimensional prisons? That doesn't seem very nice. "And getting started from nothing is definitely tricky. How did you lose your shop and end up here?"

"That's caskets, Zee. You're thinking of caskets. They always say you end up in one of those if you act like a mod-ron." Anika shakes her head.
"But I never realized they were an actual people before now though. Now that saying seems super-rude." People just throwing out casual slurs. Extremely rude.

The druid wasn't really paying attention to what Hiep was saying. Mostly since she was naming dropping dudes she was clueless about.

"But yeah, quest buff!" Anika repeats as she looks at Zee expectingly.
She sure hoped this wasn't one of those weird buffs-

BOOP

Huh.

Didn't feel weird.

"Phy-rex-ians? Sounds familiar somehow." Anika scratches the side of her head. "Oh yeah, that one little dude kept using that word, didn't he? Or was that someone else? Either way, if they're demons they deserve some smacking." The druid makes a punching motion to the flat of her other hand.

[Morty]

Does Anika remember her now? Hiep chooses to assume she does, for now.

"Yeah, that's where I heard the word. But no one I talked to at the Bureau knew the first thing about those guys. So we still don't know if they're demons. We need to find someone who knows more."

[Rebonack]

"That really sounds like quite the streak of bad luck, I think-"

There's a jitter.

A continuity snap?

Just a little one. The sort that happens when the Game gets something wrong and has to apply some retro causality to smooth things out. It's all terribly weird but easy to notice when you're reading worldlines.

So what changed?

Just the city he's from?

Now Zee's suspicious. She looks a little deeper at this jailed and familicided alleged jeweler. Is he actually a regular humanoid made of person meat or is there something else going on here?

"That DOES sound a bit like a dream. Lots of people stumble in here. It's kind of the nature of the place."

Meanwhile!

Quests.

"I haven't seen that many modrons around the Nexus. It's probably a bit too chaotic for their liking. Anywho! The only thing I could find on phyrexians was pretty old! And it sounded like they were... demony undead robot things? Maybe they've been updated since the things running around the Nexus that I've been told about only really fit the robot part. Either way! See what you can find and let me know."

[Earl of Purple]

Adrie is not made of people-meat. He is, however, made of meat. His skeleton is primarily chitin, and his muscles are denser than they should be, and he can change how his bones articulate to alter how he moves. His organs aren't in the right place to be human, or any other humanoid Zee might be familiar with. He doesn't have a brain, exactly; his head is mostly decorative, though it does possess a telson, an ovipositor, a venom gland, testes and an egg sac which is mostly empty. He has a redundant neural network which he uses to think, though it's entwined with several hormone glands driving instinctive behaviours, notably regarding reproduction. His liver and kidneys are very efficient, and his venom gland also provides a number of protective enzymes to defend against inebriation, drugging and most common toxins and venoms- and his own mix of venomous compounds, as well.

Adrie smiles in response to Zee's comment, unaware of the increased scrutiny she's giving him. "I am glad I am not alone in that, though I hope not everyone meets people like the ones I met. They were quite impolite, and I suspect they may have been cannibals." Adrie is not a cannibal, which is fortunate for everyone involved.

[Shadowcaller]

"Demon robots, I've fought plenty of those. It's not that weird." Anika remarks with certainty. "And undead team up with demons all the time. They're probably just normal demons that uses weird armors. All we need to do is find where they're coming from..." Now she's sounding less certain and strokes her chin thoughtfully while turning to Hiep.

"I know someone we could take to about someone we could take to. Unless you had any ideas, Hiep?"

[Morty]

Hiep shrugs.

"Not really. I haven't been here long and I don't know many people yet." There is one person she's met who might know about demons... but Sekhmet wouldn't be happy to see her and something tells her she'd be only slightly more happy to see Anika. Let's avoid her. "And the people I already knew before coming here are drawing a blank. So let's go with your thing."

[Shadowcaller]

Sekhmet and Anika have met!
It went... okay.

"Okay, cool! Off to VIGIL we go. Just try not to curse any more people, okay?" Anika gestures for Hiep to come but stops as she's about to walk past Zee. "Oh, anything you want me to tell Lapis before I go? Like, maybe you got some socks or a ready-made meal for her?"

[Morty]

"I wish I could turn this curse off, believe me." Hiep sighs as she picks up her hat. "But sure, let's go."

[Aurora Alchemi]

Tap. Tap. Tap. The steps are quiet, with a hint of authority. The lithe gazelle of a person that they belong to seems content, however, not to take up the entirety of the bar with their presence, at least not today. A heavy velvet dress swishes with each step, a black veil giving the witch of faces almost an air of mourning, and she settles at the bar easily enough. After ordering something much stiffer than usual, and resting their head in their hand, they take to pondering, and flipping a mask over and over in their hand. On one side, there is a wide deaths head butterfly. On the other, an eerie visage of a well known cat. As they flip the mask, there is a gentle drum of her fingers on the bar, each tap sending out a tiny magic butterfly. They look like little stained glass deaths heads, flittering into the air for a few moments, and then shattering into a thousand little pieces, leaving a sense of loss in their place.

[Reinholdt]

It is not unusual to find a handsome man with blue hair and pink eyes in Trog's. In fact, it's more unusual to not find Reinholdt in some corner, drinking and chatting up a supple woman or two only to see them head upstairs later. But it's usually regulated as background noise, filler to make someone else's moment seem less empty.

Today it seems like he comes into focus, Reinholdt helping the process along by walking towards the bar for once and sitting down next to darkened gazelle. "Two please," Reinholdt says, ordering the same as her and glancing at the witch beside him, eyes drawn to a butterfly as it shatters into a flurry of colors. "Well, you act like your pet just died. Did something happen?"

Only after asking the question does he catch a hint of one side of the mask and his face pales a bit. That's the kind of face that greets him in the mirror every morning.

[Keeper]

Someone else comes in too. He was on a rare outside-Skyside outing running a lab delivery and thought he would visit the vaunted Trog's for a moment.
Aran Lerouge was an unassuming man once, but from Ukry's gift is wearing his favorite form: a muscular gnoll with a fluffy white coat. And a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt since it's still hot this time of year. He definitely seems surprised to see the witch from the corner of his eye. He walks up, surprised and perhaps a little angry.
"Ukry? Where the heck have you been? I thought you..." he isn't sure how to finish that sentence as his eyes drift to the other guy. He had been told pretty point-blank that Ukry was not going to settle for just him and that he should accept that.

[Aurora Alchemi]

"Not something. Someone. And you ought to know from the look on your face enough not to repeat mistakes." The tone is less irate, and more exhausted and at a distance. They lift the shot to their lips, downing whatever foul gasoline was called a drink and ordered, before setting the glass upside down and ordering another. The astute eye might notice that the witch is spiking their own shots when they come, and whatever they are putting in doesn't look safe for average consumption. There is a pause, however, and a twitch of their ear, before a look to Aran.

The gazelle witch's nose crinkles somewhat, before they spin the mask, slapping it on the counter rein side up, and then snap their fingers, a thread of magic severing between the nails as Aran is catapulted back into human mode by his patron. "Wear it with dignity, not because you like that it makes you look big. Female hyenas are the dominant ones anyways." The voice is a low hiss of rising aggravation before the witch's eyes drop back to the mask, and there is a flicker of genuine pain in their face for a moment, before there is another downing of a shot.

"What do you want, Reinholdt number howevermanythousand? We'd expect you to know better than to make us play 'guess if this is the right rein's weave'. Again. Pissed away enough of our time the last time." Angry, veiled words, but not as good a mask as the witch usually wore; whatever had happened had deeply hurt the witch.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt glances at Aran as he arrives and almost instinctively scoots away a little on the stool. Not very far, but that is a big dog... hyena... thing man. It'd probably be fine, but he sounds a little angry and... huh? Just a guy? What was that? Reinholdt glances between Aran and Ukry, not really sure what was going on between them. A dispelled illusion?

Either way, it was exceptionally clear that Ukry was hurting and Reinholdt clears his throat. "Sorry if I, uh, can't learn my lesson. We Reins don't share information that way. I... whatever happened between him and you... well that's between you now." Reinholdt rubs his neck awkwardly. "I was just concerned for you is all when you came in looking so depressed. Ah... but I'm not the right Rein, I think? You can check my butt for that if you must, there's no butterfly tattoo down there." Reinholdt glances at the mask. Was he making things worse? Can they even get any worse? Rein looks back up and catches Aran's eye for a moment and realizes at least part of what he admitted and looks away from the former gnoll with a blush.

[Keeper]

Hyenas are closer to cats than dogs, Rein. Absolutely nothing to worry about.
Aran lets out a yelp and has to hold up his shorts that are now too big for him. He is smart enough not to just reach for his Weave again but not quite smart enough to shut up.

”That’s it? You disappear for a year and I get a lecture before I get a hello?” and not even a sensical one! He isn’t doing anything different from the last time they met!
”This guy at least got that and you said you don’t even know him. Uh, specifically.”
Rein is famous enough for Aran to recognize him. Though not which one any better than anyone else.
”I took you for…never mind. Are you okay?” Even Aran is smart enough not to finish that sentence.

[Aurora Alchemi]

Another shot down, and then a slow look past Rein to consider Aran's words first. "And how exactly would you even know if we were gone for a year? By knowing each of our masks?" The witch pauses, and looks to their rings, rolling the objects of bone softly back and forth with a thumb before a shrug. "But hello, we guess. And no, no we are not ok, but we are sure that if you continue to let fly with your lips it will go very well for you." There is a hint of cool menace there, like an adder warning that it can and will strike, at least right now. It seems that whatever happened was serious enough that they weren't even joking around with their favorite bear toy.

Then the gaze returns to rein, and the witch mulls over his words. And reaches for another shot, though they stop short. "We.... our rein had a lovely little cottage by the sea, and made us feel wonderful to be there. Comfortable to be us again, something that few have done." There is a pause and a tap to the mask, no friendliness there. "This one lied, used, and tried to steal from us... among... other things. You can touch the mask and talk to yourself if you really need details, provided he's got enough sanity left to tell you." The gazelle's voice dips, and they raise the next shot, eyes drifting to look at booze bottles and others in the bar. It was obvious there was much hidden, but also that information likely wouldn't come from the witch.

[Reinholdt]

"Umm... excuse me?" Reinholdt directs at Aran with a frown. Who was he to say whether Ukry knew him or not? "I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire." It's clear Aran requires an introduction to the best Treasure Hunter the galaxies have ever known. Giving the mood though, Rein forgoes his usual flourish.

Rein glances at the mask with a mark of disapproval. "Is... that right?" Well it would be unusual for a Rein to go rogue on one of the other Rein's lovers, but... not without precedent. There was that one Rein the others had to put down for trying to sleep with... well, that's for Rein to know. And sometimes a Rein comes across important information that justifies their seemingly irrational actions. But usually they share that first. So what was going on here? Tentatively, slowly, Rein reaches for the mask. His fingers barely touch the surface before sharply recoiling as Rein's face pales. "I... I didn't screaming could sound like that... haha..." He poorly tries to laugh the experience off.

[Keeper]

”Well yeah but your masks are…” Aran drifts off again, taking the hint.
Ukry is opening a can of worms here. Aran isn’t a complete idiot. He knows to teach him Masks Ukry has some. And it is suspicious of Ukry and their servants never being in the same room. But he’s always just played along and didn’t ask questions about that.

”Well I meant like. You specifically. Aren’t there a bunch?” he asks of Rein, pretty confused at the very idea.
Heavy stuff is being discussed so he just tries to pull up a chair and leave them to-
”Shit.” Aran swears as a nearby chair being moved runs over his toe. As a gnoll he doesn’t wear shoes so he doesn’t have any on right now.

[Aurora Alchemi]

"If you don't believe us on that, then we won't attempt to correct you, however.... There is no reason for us to lie about such, merely to have another... *you* attempt it again." The witch comments quietly, before downing yet another shot. As the shots begin to stack up, it's clear they are hardly affecting the witch, and they are trying their best to counteract that annoyance of their form by just imbibing in excess. Then there is a sniff and a slight sigh, and a look to the cringing of the Reinholdt with a soft frown. "If they screamed for an eon it would not be enough.." There's no joy at the misery, or the playful cruelty one might expect from the witch... just the empty sadness of something deeply wrong having transpired, and a vain effort on the witch's part to make the playing field even once more.

Then their eyes return to Aran, as the boy continues to banter on. "You'd have known if we had left this land, because your own magic, poorly as you support it yourself, would collapse without us bearing it's structure. Until you learn to accept parts of yourself other than what you think is right, you will continue to maintain that instability." The witch purses their lips as the foot is rolled over, and closes their eyes for a moment in annoyance. There is a lift of the fingers, and a snap, leaving the boy much more impervious to harm.... by returning him to the bear necessities. "Bear with us, Aran... we just need some time to work through this thing. Maybe. Maybe we'll reduce a village of sycophants to bone dust. We don't know. It's been a long, long time since anyone has dared hurt us in this way."

There is a look down, and their voice lowers to a hoarse whisper. "It's been a long time since we allowed anyone close enough to hurt us in this way."

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt sniffs at Aran. "What of it? I'm a very important Rein among Reins, I'll have you know." Yeah, languishing away in the background of Trog's. Super important. This Rein knows other Reins got it better then him... and some have it worse, based on the mask. But he'll play up his own importance in the face of this- oh god he's a... what a stuffed teddy bear now? Emphasis on the stuffed. Maybe not exactly, but then it's been three forms in three minutes, the poor shapeshifting cat is getting whiplash. Rein glances between Aran and Ukry. Some sort of... apprentice then? A warlock to scrub the floors while the witch does the real work? How do magic apprenticeships work?
...
Rein'll ask another Rein to ask another time. So far the answer just seems to be 'Poorly'.

"Oh I don't doubt you in the least," Reinholdt clarifies to Ukry. He just believes... or rather wants to believe, that any hurt was either necessary or unintentional. But he can't prove it. Certainly not with Rein in this state. And he'd be daft to argue it. "For what little consolation I can offer, I'm sorry on behalf of the Reins. Maybe not decimate a village? Do you want me to call Seaside Rein and have him come over?"

[Keeper]

If it helps, Aran can already feel that he’s quite unable to show Rein any of his other forms. The invisible hand of Ukry’s will stifles his connection to his power as assuredly as it slaps him into the tremendous form of the storm-bear. The roughly humanoid one at least. Which may actually be an issue since if Ukry continued to not think about clothes he may be a very naked bear-man. The chair Aran was trying to get into immediately buckles under the weight of the ursine demigod with a thundering crash. It was simply not designed for a bear of such size.

”Ukry I- I’ll just be here if you want me.” mumbles the bear in a deep bass voice, doing his best stay out of the others’ discussion and order himself a drink.
A mug of what is at least 90% honey is presented to him before he can even decide. He obeys his rumbling stomach and accepts it anyway.

[Aurora Alchemi]

The witch, fortunately, can tell that Aran is at least trying. And so he has been given a little dapper suit, complete with oversized monocle and undersized... well everything else. The tiny top hat is cute though. There is a look from the veiled witch as the boy learns to clam up, and they give a soft nod of appreciation, before the bear begins to chow into the overhoneyed mead. There is a pause, and the witch then looks to the small pyramid of shot glasses, and gives a quiet sigh.

Then they look to the trogrein. There is a pause, and a blink of surprise. It's almost as if the witch *expects* to be hurt by the Rein, and is... kind of surprised they haven't been yet. Then there is a look away, and a cloud of what looks to be shame on their face. "Would he even want to talk to us? After we.... allowed another rein to... manipulate us and make us believe he intended things he didn't so they could get what they wanted from us?" The question is plainly stated, but very quiet. Almost afraid of the answer that might come. "We.... believe he deserves better than that." It's strange, hearing the clearly very amoral witch talk in such a... actually caring manner?

There is then a look over to Aran. "You too, deserved better, but... it's words blinded us." The witch motions in a disgusted matter to the mask.

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt drops a few coins on the counter and makes a quick motion to pay for Aran's drink. And maybe some of Ukry's too. And one for him. Can't forget a good old glass of rum.

"Hey." Reinholdt tentatively puts a hand on Ukry's arm, trying to be reassuring without being overly familiar. "You are not responsible for anything he tricked you into, ok? Your Rein... even been asking around about you honestly. Other Reins were supposed to contact him if they saw you. That's probably why this one thought he could pull something in the first place." Rein nods at the mask.

"And I'm not him, again just rip our pants off to see, but if I were, I imagine he'd be furious. And not at you." It's a little infuriating. Stupid Rein with his stupid impulses ruining all the hard work Rein was putting in because he just can't help his stupid self. Damn him.