Trog's Tavern: Roman Numerals Are Dumb

[Morty]

"Of course I do." Hiep nods, more solemnly than is usual for her. "It's a long story. But a long time ago, my predecessors needed to hide something they couldn't hide anywhere else. So they hid it between the stars. But the constellation they used broke in the process... and we've been hidden from the world ever since. Even long after most of those who did it passed away."

[Rebonack]

"That DOES sound like a long story," Zee replies, nodding sagely. This seems to be a good time for lots of sagely nods. "And definitely story. A mythy sort of story. The kind that's for explaining a thing that changed and why it's the way it is now."

She wrinkles her nose a bit.

"There's a word for that. What was it again...?"

Zee snaps her fingers a few times and then-!

"Ah! Right! An etymological myth! Good ol' origin myths. Breaking a constellation sounds pretty hard. Though I would imagine stars where you're from are probably different things from what I'm thinking of. See, when I think of stars I'm thinking other suns that are just reaaaaaaaaally far away. That's what they are physically anyway, but they're symbols more properly. But it sure sounds like you're talking about something else. Broken stuff!"

A beat.

Then a rather large grin!

"Oh, oh! Wait! The constellation was broken and now they're wandering stars instead? Instead of fixed ones? Is that right?"

That would be a guess on her part.

[Thursday Violist]

A hat rack made out of blood is pretty interesting to see.
Talah laughs. "He's a good judge of character. Funny, too."
She does start wondering, though: can Alice feel the arm like normal? How does it feel to have an arm turn into a coat rack? Only very important questions.

She thinks about the concept of purses. "If it takes an hour each, it really would be hard to mass produce them. At best, you'd either have to just do it on commission, or make a deal with a small store or for a limited run. . ."
She considers how the logistics and marketing would go, and what would have to be done, and what she would suggest if she were getting paid to join in this project, and then lightly slaps her own cheeks. "Aah, why is it every time I come to this tavern I end up thinking and talking about work. Is my life really so boring that's all I have going for me? If I'm going to take a day off, I should just take a day off."

She takes a few moments to clear her mind from thinking about fashion, marketing, sales, and advertisement.

Oh, right! Smartphones. That's something she can think more about. "Yeah! It's pretty cool." She shows some of the different app icons and mentions what they are. "I mean, compared to blowing up stars it's not that grand but at least I can look up basically whatever I want with it."

[quillpleasant]

Kraujo ripples at the compliment, which seems like a positive reaction, although of course it's hard to tell. And as for how much Alice can feel through him, she doesn't seem to react much to the arm's antics, but there's no real way of knowing without asking those important questions.

"I mean if I had a full workshop and assistants then they could be mass produced a lot faster, but if I had all that I could make a lot more than just purses." Alice chuckles at Talah's outburst. "Hey I get it, I can be a bit of a workaholic too sometimes. But you're absolutely right, no need to worry about business right now. We're both here to have fun and relax, right? Let's focus on that." She takes a large sip of her drink to drive the point home.

The smartphone is quite intriguing to Alice, who watches the demonstration attentively. "Knowledge is the second most powerful thing in the multiverse, so I'd say having access to that much in your pocket is worth a lot more than a few stars," she says, pulling out a small pocketbook and jotting down a couple quick notes.

"Kraujo, can you make a blueprint?" she asks, raising the blood arm. It stretches out towards the phone, wiggling its fingers, before the hand shifts and changes shape into a replica of the phone. Another moment and it changes back.

"I know I was just talking about relaxing, but now I can make my own later, which is like, fun. I like tinkering. Plus, this'll let me call you, if you're interested in keeping in touch."

[Earl of Purple]

Somebody walks into the tavern, barefoot and limping a little. He's apparently human, and quite attractive. He's got tanned skin and dark brown hair, and he's wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with some holes in it. He's got green eyes, and looks around as he stumbles to a table and sits down.

[Morty]

"That DOES sound like a long story," Zee replies, nodding sagely. This seems to be a good time for lots of sagely nods. "And definitely story. A mythy sort of story. The kind that's for explaining a thing that changed and why it's the way it is now."

She wrinkles her nose a bit.

"There's a word for that. What was it again...?"

Zee snaps her fingers a few times and then-!

"Ah! Right! An etymological myth! Good ol' origin myths. Breaking a constellation sounds pretty hard. Though I would imagine stars where you're from are probably different things from what I'm thinking of. See, when I think of stars I'm thinking other suns that are just reaaaaaaaaally far away. That's what they are physically anyway, but they're symbols more properly. But it sure sounds like you're talking about something else. Broken stuff!"

A beat.

Then a rather large grin!

"Oh, oh! Wait! The constellation was broken and now they're wandering stars instead? Instead of fixed ones? Is that right?"

That would be a guess on her part.

"Don't know if I'd call it a myth. There are still some people who were there when it happened." Hiep shrugs, as if what she just said was normal. "I wouldn't know about the stars being suns, either. But the constellation of the Mask symbolizes stealth, mysteries and hiding. It was the right choice... just one with side-effects."

[Keeper]

"Magic items?" Zefir repeats. "The kind adventures need? It might sound wired but I can't imagine many other usage of this." Kinda strange if you think about it. Many DnD based worlds have near no magic in their common life. Only high level spellcasters tend to have amagical servant or cast their food rather then hunting/cooking it.

"Sometimes, but properly kitted out magic items for adventurers can get ludicrously expensive to make. Limited customer base. You'd be surprised how many pieces of jewelry I sell that just need a ward or a little extra pageantry. And starter wands for children." Jace shrugs.
It does mean that getting a commission from an adventurer pretty much pays all his bills for months.

[Zefir]

"Hmm" Zefir says as he stares past the mage. "Sounds like things are running well.
What kind of kitted out magic items do you make?"

[Rebonack]

"Not myth like a made up story, myth like a story with symbolic significance? I guess?" Zee replies, trying to think of how best to explain this.

"Anyway, a constellation got broken and that means you and people like you are all hidden now? Am I reading that right?"

She wants to be sure that she has the right idea here.

[Morty]

"That's about the size of it, yes." Hiep once again sounds resigned to it. "Some people manage to resist it. Others are entirely immune. Most forget us, sooner or later."

[Rebonack]

"Wow that's a pretty bum deal you got. No one should have their story forgotten," Zee replies a little glumly. "I don't think it'll bother me any. I can definitely feel what it's doing, that's for sure."

She looks thoughtful for a moment before perking up with a big grin.

"So you know, folks like me have certain spheres of influence where we can speak and reality listens. And twi of mine are Information and Will. I don't think I would be able to do anything about the curse on you specifically since that's a bit beyond my scope, but I bet I could give a specific person a strong enough bulwark against it that they would be able to will their way through it."

Zee then turns very theatrically towards the door.

"Now if only someone you've met that you would love to be able to have a real relationship with just happened to walk in..."

[Earl of Purple]

A carriage pulls up, driven by a dullahan. Inside, a child is shaking an adult to wake them up. The child is seven years old, with matted brown hair and green eyes, wearing a dirty yellow-white smock and bare feet. She's holding an old rag doll tight to her chest, and she's missing the little and ring fingers on her left hand. "Uh, Miss Tutor? We've stopped, I think we've arrived. Miss Tutor?" If this doesn't work, Samantha will try tickling Jubilee, instead of shaking her.

[Ironsmith]

"Mmmmnnnn..." The priestess moans in her sleep, irritably sliding an eye open to look at her new apprentice. "...Oh. Right." She mutters, her prior sanguinity nowhere to be seen. "...All right." She sighs, popping open the door and starting down the carriage steps. "Let's get you a room. And a bath. You need it."

[Earl of Purple]

"And a meal? Arthur didn't stop for breakfast after he woke me up. He thought he was going to get plenty of chocolate to breakfast on, and didn't worry about me." Samantha would also like to change out of her pyjamas, but frankly that can wait until after a bath. She's quite eager to go, now it's been offered- though she hadn't realised she was smelly.

[Ironsmith]

"Yeah, sure, whatev-"

It seems to take Jubilee a second to actually process what Samantha just said. Granted, she'd been in stasis (lowercase) that entire time, but she basically just claimed to have not eaten in years at least.

"...Yeah. Okay." She reiterates, a little more softly. "Food first, then a bath." She stops just outside the tavern, raising her hand and conjuring a small flame, staring at it intently, before apparently being satisfied and waving it away. The priestess pushes open the door and makes her way up to the bar, taking an empty seat and pushing an indignant-looking halfling out of the one next to her.

[Earl of Purple]

Samantha smiles and follows Jubilee, glancing at the halfling before clambering onto a stool next to her tutor.

[Thursday Violist]

Kraujo ripples at the compliment, which seems like a positive reaction, although of course it's hard to tell. And as for how much Alice can feel through him, she doesn't seem to react much to the arm's antics, but there's no real way of knowing without asking those important questions.

"I mean if I had a full workshop and assistants then they could be mass produced a lot faster, but if I had all that I could make a lot more than just purses." Alice chuckles at Talah's outburst. "Hey I get it, I can be a bit of a workaholic too sometimes. But you're absolutely right, no need to worry about business right now. We're both here to have fun and relax, right? Let's focus on that." She takes a large sip of her drink to drive the point home.

The smartphone is quite intriguing to Alice, who watches the demonstration attentively. "Knowledge is the second most powerful thing in the multiverse, so I'd say having access to that much in your pocket is worth a lot more than a few stars," she says, pulling out a small pocketbook and jotting down a couple quick notes.

"Kraujo, can you make a blueprint?" she asks, raising the blood arm. It stretches out towards the phone, wiggling its fingers, before the hand shifts and changes shape into a replica of the phone. Another moment and it changes back.

"I know I was just talking about relaxing, but now I can make my own later, which is like, fun. I like tinkering. Plus, this'll let me call you, if you're interested in keeping in touch."

Talah would argue how important putting tiny pocket dimensions into purses and pockets would be, and how it would revolutionize not just fashion but also would make things really convenient for everybody. However, determined not to steer the conversation back into work, she assents and chooses to say nothing more on the topic.

She watches as the demonic blood arm turns into a copy of her phone.
Wow, that's actually really interesting.
"If knowledge is the second-most powerful thing, what would you say is the most powerful thing?" she asks. Probably love or friendship or heart is Talah's guess. That's always how it works out in stories. And, besides, Talah can't do any kind of magic or whatever but she imagines that magic is fueled by heart or love or things like that, so it'd make sense.

"Whew, that's the smoothest line asking for someone's number that I've ever heard," she says. Admittedly, she hasn't heard that many outside of work, so she may not be the best judge. Talah reaches into her purse to fetch a pen and a slip of paper to write out her phone number. "Actually, do you need my number or did making the blueprint copy already give it to you?" she asks.

[quillpleasant]

As right as Talah is about the myriad uses of dimensional pockets in fashion, Alice seems to be one of those inventors who is more focused on the process than the end result. Both mindsets are necessary in different areas.

"Well, me and my compatriot disagree on what's number one. I maintain that it's hope, and he says it's-"

"Me. I say it's me," says Kraujo, eliciting a patronizing smile from Alice before she turns her attention back to Talah. The blood arm chuckles softly to itself.

"Well, I try," she says, looking just a bit flustered at being called smooth. "The blueprint just copies the base schematics, not the memory or storage. Plus, call me old fashioned, but there's something cute about having someone's number written down, right?"

[Thursday Violist]

Talah laughs. Her laugh sounds...somewhat cute.
"Yeah, that's very appropriate," she says. She drinks from her llamonade. "I would've probably gone with 'friendship'. I mean, do you know how often someone suddenly powers up because of the power of friendship or whatever?"

It happens a lot, apparently.
"Well, at least it happens a lot in stories," she justifies.

She writes down her number, and passes the slip of paper to Alice.
"You're right," she says. She crosses her legs, and spins a little on her stool. And she decides that she likes making someone get flustered, just a little. "Actually getting or giving a physical number is pretty exciting." Talah leans on the bar, and then adds, "But, that's a relief. I actually have some really cringe selfies and random embarrassing pictures on my phone. Would be pretty awkward if you got them."

[Ironsmith]

Samantha smiles and follows Jubilee, glancing at the halfling before clambering onto a stool next to her tutor.

For her part, Jubilee seems quite content to simply stare at the menu and ignore her young charge. It could be that she's simply too busy deciding what to get for herself to pay much attention to Samantha; Trog's does have a healthy-sized menu, and whereas Jubilee is well past drinking age (even in appearance), she has many more total combinations available to her than simply perusing the brunch dishes.

...Or it might be that she's trying to prompt Samantha into placing an order herself. Not waiting for Jubilee's permission or endorsement. She's hungry, and she should eat. That's just the natural progression of events.

Jubilee says nothing, but occasionally Samantha will hear a sharp inhale coming from her direction, and see her mouth open slightly before clamping shut again.

[Earl of Purple]

Samantha's going to order a bacon and cheese panini and a glass of milk. The waitress offers to make it chocolate milk, which results in the child wincing and shaking her head vigorously. "I've never had a panini before. It sounds nice, though."

[Ironsmith]

"It is." Jubilee agrees. "Particularly the way they make it here. Imagine the best grilled cheese sandwich you've ever had, only it's warm all the way through and the bread is still nice and soft. And, of course, they add bacon." The priestess pauses for a moment, before adding as an aside to the server, "make that two."

As the food's being prepared, Jubilee finally turns to her apprentice and sets her menu aside. "...So." She begins, folding her hands. "...Did your... are you used to talking much, over meals?" She asks, trying to not make the question sound at all awkward.

[Earl of Purple]

"It was the only time we were really all together. My father sometimes took the opportunity to teach us something. Well, mostly my brother. He... didn't really think much of me." Samantha scratches at her missing fingers at that, and looks away. "He didn't think much of Mum, either. I think... I think he bought her. As a slave. She was kind, though. She gave me a longer life for my last birthday, nobody else remembered. When Dad saw my hand and figured out what'd happened, he took a finger for himself. At least I'm not left-handed. Can you... Is it possible to regrow fingers? I'd like this one back." She prods at the scar where her left ring finger was. Returning her little finger would also be possible, but it'd break the bargain and she'd at best lose the extra five years of natural life.

[DeBunny]

► CATHERINE

Indecisiveness is rough. It's extra rough when you have so many choices!

And all of them sound so cool!

Strictly speaking, the system less slammed Kara into Digger and more Kara tried taking an action only a Digger would be able to do and so it was nice enough to scoot her down that path. Technically she could still swap it out but her focus on manipulating materia really fits well with Digger.

So, Cat's nodding here. "I decided to go with the Husks so we can compare notes on them!" she finally concludes. "You know, find out what's good for what. Looking at a few of the talent branches down the road it sounds like Husks are more Invocation focused? Oh and you can have more of them! With just the one talent I can already do FOUR at once."

A beat.

"Though I've only done one so far. He's like a big kitty made of vines! With cool cat sunglasses!" Catherine says proudly. "I would show him to you but I think I'm about to get into a fight with a mutant cow?"

Life can be confusing like that sometimes.

Okay, enough distractions! Time for notes!

"I was thinking the same thing!" Catherine replies, raising one hand for a HIGH FIVE because obviously that's what you do when you and your new pal think of the same thing. "And this is the Nexus, right? There must be SOMEONE who knows something about him? Oh, or we could check that spooky library! I need to... go there? Still? To pick up that map that I already will follow a couple days from now?"

She wrinkles her nose here, trying to make sense of the situation and utterly failing.

"What you were saying sure SOUNDED like the sort of thing that would have books about it in the spooky library. Hmm. OH! I know I'll got check him out too. Beearebee!" Catherine says as she slips out of existence in that familiar way to go poke her head out of the tavern.

Zee, meanwhile, answers a question!

"I set up a baffle around the tavern sort of like I do with myself against long-distance-looky magic. It can pick up details that are dangerous and I don't want anyone to get hurt ogling me from magical directions," Zee explains as she collects some empty dishes from a table. "But instead of around me it's just around the tavern! All sorts of fancy snoopery would just pick up garbled nonsense instead. But people here inside the tavern are just fine."

She heads back behind the counter and sets the dishes in the sink.

"That might not work great for what I think you're thinking. This Kyubey would still be able to tell about where you are even if he couldn't tell exactly what you're doing or saying."

This is about the time when Catherine pops back in, looking slightly shellshocked for lack of a better word.

"WOW OKAY THEN! That was sure something. Now I get why he makes his puppets cute. Who would want to cut deals with a face...es...? like that?"

Catherine, of course, gets her HIGH FIVE. Karaglen is all about these little moments of excited joy.
They make for pleasing breakwaters in the sea of terrible things always going on, particularly in their current context of trying to stop a weird eldritch thing from ruining the lives of a bunch of girls further.

The current bullet points on her notepad are
-don't break plant cats on accident
-find spooky eldritch scholar? (uncle xeni?)
-go to spooky eldritch library
-baffling!

While her friend pops out to get spooped a bit, Karaglen will ask for clarification on the baffling anyway.
"Actually Mom, that might still be pretty useful. Part of the problem we're having is with the idea of Kyubey learning about the specifics of our plans and stuff. So if it still can't hear us, that's helpful.
I mean, still won't be able to just go to the girls and fix their little soul rocks...but we could at least talk to each other all sneakyish.

Is this something I can learn to do?"

And then Catherine's back. There's a very understanding and somewhat pitying look from Kara.
"Not everyone is the same kind of pretty, but Kyubey sure is a surprise to see like that anyway...hopefully we can make it go away and no one else will have to see it anyway, cute-mini-ones or not."
A glance back down at her notepad.
"I think the library might be our quickest option here, but I might know someone who can help if it's got nothing. He's kinda far away though."

[Rebonack]

Zee's gesturing dramatically toward the door and then-!

Some lady and a little girl show up?

"Is that her?" Zee whispers to Hiep as the newcomers approach the bar. Whoop! Apparently not. That really ruined the dramatic timing on Zee's silly nonsense! Ah well. She smiles at the two newcomers. "I'll get right on that for you two."

Which she does!

Though she continues chatting with Karaglen whilst doing so.

"It's an Information sphere thing, so no. But I could place one on you and your new friend. And like most of these tricks it only lasts until a new layer-set," Zee explains, waving in an eye-watering direction indicating the location tag at the top of posts. "Trog's doesn't usually HAVE a layer-set, so you could leave here fine enough. And you could probably keep it going through the first place you visit. But as soon as you get off on the next leg of your journey it'll probably fade unless you manage to get REALLY creative."

Stupid weird Game abstractions.

Zee provides the gals at the counter with their paninis along with a warm smile. "If there's anything else you need just let me know, okay?"

Anywho! Back to Catherine! Who gives a little hiss and rubs her shoulder. "Wow they weren't kidding about the getting hurt thing. That crazy cow was pretty crazy."

Thankfully she didn't get banged up TOO badly.

"So we've got some options, right? Since I'm PRETTY SURE continuity will get mad at me otherwise we had better check the library first. And if this weirdness expert you know is really far away then-"

A beat!

"OH! Hey! Even if he's far away we could use one of those obelisk things! Hey Zee? Do you know about any of those nearby?" Catherine asks excitedly.

"There's one in Black Goat Park near the library. And there's one that isn't too far away from Xeni's lab, too. You have to have visited one of the obelisks already to use them, though. Did you find it on any of your visits to your Uncle, Kara? It would have been on a little island in front of a big waterfall."

It sounds pretty!

And also maybe somewhere Kara didn't visit if she didn't bother exploring near her Uncle's lab.

[Ironsmith]

"Well, it may be possible, but I don't know how to do it." Jubilee replies sadly, looking at her apprentice's marred hand with a little frown. "Healing magic would almost certainly be under the domain of Fortune or Prosperity, depending on the circumstances. If you wanted me to make your other hand match, I could, but restoring the fingers you lost is... beyond me."

Jubilee's gaze slides over to the paninis and she absently scoots her plate closer, before scooping the whole thing off the plate and giving it a plaintive nibble. "Your dad sounds like a real charmer." Jubilee notes, an acidic undertone to her voice. "Is he still around? I think it might be productive to pay him a visit at some point. That seems like a good opportunity for you to learn transfiguration, for instance."

[quillpleasant]

Talah laughs. Her laugh sounds...somewhat cute.
"Yeah, that's very appropriate," she says. She drinks from her llamonade. "I would've probably gone with 'friendship'. I mean, do you know how often someone suddenly powers up because of the power of friendship or whatever?"

It happens a lot, apparently.
"Well, at least it happens a lot in stories," she justifies.

She writes down her number, and passes the slip of paper to Alice.
"You're right," she says. She crosses her legs, and spins a little on her stool. And she decides that she likes making someone get flustered, just a little. "Actually getting or giving a physical number is pretty exciting." Talah leans on the bar, and then adds, "But, that's a relief. I actually have some really cringe selfies and random embarrassing pictures on my phone. Would be pretty awkward if you got them."

"Oh yeah, friendship is a good one. Easily top five at least. That's how those little guys were able to get up the mountain in that one story." Alice taps her nose knowingly. "And based on certain theories I'm working on, the difference between stories and real life may not be as distinct as most people think it is."

Taking the number, Alice gives it a glance before lifting her hat and tucking it inside. "You'll be the first person I call once I make a phone," she says with a grin. At the mention of the selfies she waves a hand dismissively. "Even if it did copy your stuff I'd never dream of invading your privacy like that, although I doubt any pictures of you could be cringey. Me on the other hand- well, try getting this guy to sit still for a photo. He messes them up on purpose."

Kraujo wiggles his fingers. "Don't trust it. Harms soul."

"I am about one hundred percent sure that's not a thing," replies Alice firmly.

[Thursday Violist]

"I'd believe it," Talah says. Stories and real life being pretty much the same? Makes sense: "Where I came from - before the Nexus - wavy-hand magic and superheroes were just in stories but turns out they're both all over here. Wouldn't be surprised if a superhero walked into the tavern while we were having a conversation." However, it probably should be mentioned that some things Talah considers to not be magic would be called magic by lots of people.

Talah lifts one of her legs up to rest between her other leg and the stool she's on. She also flicks through something on her phone, checking out a couple different pictures. "You might say you can't imagine any pictures of me be cringe," she says, "but I've actually seen my own pictures so I'm confident that I'm right," she says.

She then turns her phone and shows a handful of them to Alice: all pictures of her knee at different angles and while wearing various lengths of jeans and skirts. "See? I hope this is enough to prove my point, so I don't actually have to pull out the selfies."

She glances down at Kraujo. "Does he ever do that thing where he puts bunny ears up behind your head during a picture?" she asks. "If I were an arm, that's what I would do all the time."

[Earl of Purple]

"No! No, thank you. Having my fingers bitten off hurt. and... I can't hold things as easily with that hand any more." The little finger and the ring finger don't seem like they do much most of the time, but they do make it far easier to hold things. "He was, when my brother died. But... I don't know how long I was in the box. I can maybe take us where we lived, though? He should still be there, if it wasn't too long." Samantha takes quite a large bite from her panini before her eyes widen and she takes another.

[Shadowcaller]

"Wow that's a pretty bum deal you got. No one should have their story forgotten," Zee replies a little glumly. "I don't think it'll bother me any. I can definitely feel what it's doing, that's for sure."

She looks thoughtful for a moment before perking up with a big grin.

"So you know, folks like me have certain spheres of influence where we can speak and reality listens. And twi of mine are Information and Will. I don't think I would be able to do anything about the curse on you specifically since that's a bit beyond my scope, but I bet I could give a specific person a strong enough bulwark against it that they would be able to will their way through it."

Zee then turns very theatrically towards the door.

"Now if only someone you've met that you would love to be able to have a real relationship with just happened to walk in..."

Anika does not in fact enter the tavern the moment Zee gestures at the door.

Weird.

However, one of the patrons, a green goblin, happens to turn up the volume on their portable electronic device to a inconsiderate level.

"-ME BACK TO WTW! Djinnus here with a HOT update! Since we got a new adventure on the bracket and you can never guess with who."

As the presenter briefly pauses the goblin viewer mutters something to himself.

"The druid and the Saint! Yeah, you heard that right the saint is BACK! I know some of you guys even thought she had left. Well, I hope those listeners are slapping themselves right now since the Saint might have just saved their sorry asses! The mission was preventing an artifact of immense destructive power falling into the hands of some real monsters."

Another pause, the goblin now more audibly muttering 'no way'.

"So how does everyone feel about the Saint, huh? I know she's a preeeety controversial figure in the fandom. Figure she will make it to the reboot? I think I will take that as today's question in fact. Though remember, stay civil. You know my rules. One strike and you're out." There's a humorous sound effect of what sounds like someone falling.

"Speaking of which, we... uh, got a caller." There sounds like the host is having a quiet exchange with someone. "What?!"

There's a audible pause, the goblin listener seemingly holding his breath.

"You're not gonna believe this folks but the Druid, Anika, is giving us a call. I, uh, just gonna patch her through. What an amazing occasion for our station. Miz would be proud."

There's a click and then the host descends into a rapid-fire of words. "Welcometowatchingthewatchtower, it'ssuchanhonortohaveyouhere-"

However he's cut off by a familiar voice shouting back at him. "HELLO! I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I THINK LAZ IS AWESOME AND THAT EVERYONE THAT THINKS OTHERWISE COULD TAKE IT UP WITH ME PERSONALLY!"

"I, uh, where-"

There's an audible gasp for breath at the other line before Anika continues. "MY NUMBER IS-"

And then the call goes dead.

"...it looks like she disconnected the call." The host remarks after a moment of silence.
"Probably, probably, misunderstood how these things work." He let's out a small, hollow, chuckle. "But since she wanted to share her number... um... it's 075 77 88 92 20. But hopefully she'll call back. But while we wait for that, here's a song she might appreciate. Sweet Nature by the Rolling Waves."

The goblin who seems to have been holding his breath this entire time finally turns down the sound as he mumbles "sweet mercy" to some booping tunes.