The Nexus

The armored man looks at Gaul for a moment, then shrugs and spreads his arms. "Well. Who else to reap a Reaper, if not another of the same lot?"

Hoshiki looks grim. "... that's something I haven't been called for a while."

The armored man lowers his hands on the table. "Yet, that's what we are."

Hoshiki glances at the silver polaxe, then eyes the armor his conversation partner is wearing. "... you didn't come dressed like this to our fight against Magtok Prime."

"If I had, would you have kept your wits about?"

"If you had, we could've vanquished him then and there." Gaul can hear disappointment with a hint of anger in Hoshiki's voice.

"Don't make me laugh. It took all my concentration to not stab you in the back. Didn't you notice? That maggot was whispering evil thoughts in my ear non-stop. As if we needed a reason to get at each other's necks."

Hoshiki slams his hands on the table and stands up. The tension between the men is getting thick enough to cut with a knife. Indeed, Gaul can feel it as a tangible physical force, as if the presence of the men is making the air heavier and harder to breath. "And why would that be?"

"Because I'm also an evil spirit", the man says calmly, "and so are you."

Gaul scratches his chin while he processes this information. After a brief moment, the toon pulls a bayonet from his jacket and moves it through the air as if trying to cut a hole out of something in front of him. He makes a full circle, stops to put the blade away, breathes a sigh of relief and says "The tension here was thicker than canned dog food. Somebody had to cut it."

He looks back and forth between the two. "Wait. You guys are both Reapers and spirits? Shouldn't you be trying to- oh right, that's why you're always sniping at each other."

He blinks quickly. "Who's this Magtok Prime, by the way? Sounds like the name for a really powerful flashlight."

Somebody else enters! They're a young person, quite androgynous in appearance, with short black hair, suntanned skin, and grey eyes. A pair of stubby black-feathered wings emerge from their back, an eye looking around from the middle joint of the wings. They're wearing a black hoody and jeans, with hiking boots on their feet, and they carry a satchel and an adjustable shovel. The satchel is black canvas, marked with a stylised bird in flight upon it, and the shovel is surprisingly ornate for such a commonplace tool, with a sturdy handle and the possibility to be a shovel, a crowbar, or an axe.

Right by the door as Jack enters is an exceptionally large blond minotaur wearing a light jacket and light pants. She's sitting all by herself, sipping a drink, though she seems rather unsatisfied by it. There's a thick, ornate sai tucked into her belt.

Jack does notice the minotaur, and her eyes widen. She'll stretch a wing out, to get a look at any metaphysical or hidden things about Mina, before approaching. "Hey. I'm Jack. You want a nicer drink? I'd recommend their Applekick Farms cider; sweet but potent." Jack smiles at Mina, and pulls a chair out to sit at the same table- unless Mina glares or otherwise makes her displeasure at being disturbed obvious.

There is an unmistakable aura about Mina to those with the right senses. Like a silver mark on her head that radiates divine favor upon her.
"I'm Mina." the minotaur says with a smile. Her size means she has a deep voice, but Jack might still be able to tell that she's somewhat young. She's actually around 21.
"Well. I guess my issue is that I don't know if I love the really potent stuff. But I don't feel it at all if I drink something weaker. Not that I'm trying to get drunk but if I didn't want to feel it a little I'd just ask for water." Her constitution is simply too strong for usual ale unless she drinks a ton of it.

"Elf, elf, elf..." Rhaka almost sounds like she's testing the word in her mouth, before she nods. "Ah, yes. I've seen a few here - rather similar to Elezen from my own home. Rather haughty, if my memory serves." Her eye briefly follows Michalson's hand as it moves. "Not to heap disrespect on your mother, of course," she adds, more of an afterthought than any sort of genuine statement.

"How about I buy you a pint of it, and if you don't like it, I'll drink it? I try to avoid potent stuff as well, although in my case it's because I don't want to fly into a window again. One pint's about my limit, just to be on the safe side." One pint won't make her drunk, nor will two. However, only having one means it's easier to keep track and not get to the point her flight is seriously impaired.

Hoshiki is taken aback by Gaul's gesture. Both men stare at the living cartoon for a moment, wondering if he is for real. But Gaul did relieve the tension... for a moment.

"Magtok Prime? He's an evil spirit", Hoshiki answers.

"Of a sad old man with delusion of grandeur left unfulfilled in life, which he has now returned from the grave to accomplish", the armored man adds.

"We fought him some time ago. Well, I fought. He goofed around." Hoshiki glares at the other man.

The other man points a finger at Hoshiki. "Hey, you wouldn't have done much fighting if I hadn't given you a ride! And I did fight! Got dogpiled by brainwashed masses! Shot at, too!"

Hoshiki gestures at the other man's armor. "If you'd worn that, would they have even slowed you down?"

The other man snorts. "If I had worn this, they would still be counting bodies."

"Imagine all the bodies they will count because we didn't stop Prime when we had the chance", Hoshiki says plainly.

The other man laughs. "Ooh, is that the card you want to play? Faulting me for trying to not kill everyone on my way?"

Hoshiki shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Depends. Are you going to pretend you have morals now?"

Ember wrote: ↑Nov 20, 2022 10:04 pm "Elf, elf, elf..." Rhaka almost sounds like she's testing the word in her mouth, before she nods. "Ah, yes. I've seen a few here - rather similar to Elezen from my own home. Rather haughty, if my memory serves." Her eye briefly follows Michalson's hand as it moves. "Not to heap disrespect on your mother, of course," she adds, more of an afterthought than any sort of genuine statement.

"Can't take offence on behalf of someone I never met." Michalson gives a small smile. "Never heard of Elezen, but elves are a common shape. Sometimes under other names. My eyes and ears didn't stand out much in Sigil. The other street rats had all kinds of other bits. And I had two human dads, so I just thought of myself as a human with some extras."

Earl of Purple wrote: ↑Nov 21, 2022 11:50 am "How about I buy you a pint of it, and if you don't like it, I'll drink it? I try to avoid potent stuff as well, although in my case it's because I don't want to fly into a window again. One pint's about my limit, just to be on the safe side." One pint won't make her drunk, nor will two. However, only having one means it's easier to keep track and not get to the point her flight is seriously impaired.

"Well...if you want. I usually buy my own drinks. But if you insist I won't say no." Mina has a decent amount of money so she feels awkward having people buy her things.

"Interesting people should never buy their own drinks, and you're pretty interesting." Jack smiles, trying to meet Mina's eyes as she says it.

"No, I suppose not." The lemon muffin's wrapper has disappeared - curious, for someone who had pnly been observed taking one bite. "In such a... diverse land, I imagine such shortcuts would be quite useful, yes? Even if it makes me wonder why you left your home in the first place."

Earl of Purple wrote: ↑Nov 21, 2022 5:52 pm "Interesting people should never buy their own drinks, and you're pretty interesting." Jack smiles, trying to meet Mina's eyes as she says it.

Meeting Mina's eyes isn't overly difficult unless you dislike looking up.
"Interesting?" Mina asks. "What do you find interesting about me in such little time?"
Maybe Jack's just into tall people?

"Everyone's interesting, if you dig deep enough. On the surface, minotaurs aren't all that common. I mean, there's a few about, but they don't come here too often. One's a barman at a really fancy place, ah... Bloodsong's, it's called. And there's a couple others I've seen about and met, but... mostly they're guys. You aren't, and to my wings, it looks like you've got somebody's favour. They can see stuff like that." Jack stretches out one of her wings, the eye mounted in the central joint visible and staring. "Why, would you disagree about how interesting you are?" Earl does not remember if Jack's met Krayger or Koshal, though she has at least met Sam Bacon.

Mina gives a small sigh.
"Yeah, tell me about it. It makes looking for a date hard, believe me." It doesn't help that Mina is bigger than most minotaurs in the city. Only Tauren are generally her size and she's never met any of those.
"I wouldn't disagree really. Just wasn't sure what your angle was." Mina finds the eyes slightly creepy but she isn't going to judge.

Sam is of course, much too round and porcine to be usually compared to Krayger.

"Well, my angle was initially flirting and seeing what happened, but I don't think you're interested. I'm not a minotaur, after all." Nor is Jack especially big, being about average height. "But I'm still up for buying you a drink, that's not part of the flirty thing." Sometimes it is, Jack didn't mean it for that, however. Just an excuse to chat. Which may have involved flirting.

"Oh. Well. Yeah." Mina isn't purely into minotaurs but she is into men who are at least approaching her size. Jack is none of those things sadly. It's just Mina's luck that the first person who wants to actually flirt with her isn't someone she finds cute. "I'll take the drink if you're offering. I'm sure we can find something else to talk about." Mina would have suggested that Jack might have made a nice minotaur, but it might make her a cowbird. But then, would that joke be offensive?

"Sure." Jack grins, motions for a server, and orders a pint of Applekick Farms cider and a pint of pineapple juice. "What were you drinking, before I came along? The stuff that wasn't strong enough to have any effect?" Not that Jack drinks a lot of alcohol, but stuff that isn't very strong is often what she prefers.

Ember wrote: ↑Nov 21, 2022 8:58 pm "No, I suppose not." The lemon muffin's wrapper has disappeared - curious, for someone who had pnly been observed taking one bite. "In such a... diverse land, I imagine such shortcuts would be quite useful, yes? Even if it makes me wonder why you left your home in the first place."

Michalson sighs. This question always comes up and he's never happy to consider it.

"To tell you the truth, I wonder if myself and I don't feel like I like my answers. I was young and I wanted to make a name for myself. Be more than just a Hive gutter-trash. Aspire to more than fixin' wagon wheels like my fathers. Sigil is a city of opportunity, but some people seize more of 'em than others. I decided to try my luck elsewhere... and from Sigil you can get to a lot of 'elsewhere'."

“Just a normal beer. They sell the stuff everywhere so I figure I should see if I like it but eh.” Mina has been unimpressed by the taste and the alcohol content.
”The applejack here was better.”

"Ah, if I had a gil for every adventurer I'd met who was unsure of their path..." Rhaka chuckles, gesturing vaguely with her full-again glass. "You're young yet. Opportunities present themselves."

"Just because it's everywhere doesn't make it 'normal'. Every brand is different, even if only slightly. Though I'm not really a fan of beer, either. I like a nice cider." Something many of my characters share with their player, though I have met someone who is very into his beer.

Ember wrote: ↑Nov 25, 2022 4:45 pm "Ah, if I had a gil for every adventurer I'd met who was unsure of their path..." Rhaka chuckles, gesturing vaguely with her full-again glass. "You're young yet. Opportunities present themselves."

Michalson assumes the expression of someone who isn't sure if he's being made fun of.

"I'm over forty, ma'am. The time for opportunities has come and gone for me. This 'ere is what I chose to do after my adventuring ruined my arm and leg and bein' a revolutionary accomplished a big pile of nothin'."

At that, Rhaka laughs a little. "Do pardon me, does your kind only live to the age of fifty? Some mixing of bloods, perhaps? In my old age, I've found that opportunities only stop appearing when you stop finding them." She turns her words over in her head. "Though I will confess, I can see how it must seem that the windows have closed for you."

Michalson seems to be thrown somewhat off-balance by Rhaka's cavalier approach to his regrets and doubts.

"No, by all accounts I'll live longer than a human," he admits. "But the choices I've made in the time I've lived have been questionable. I've sustained permanent injuries, wrote people in the dead-book... a body has to stop and think if it was worth it, you know."

Gaul glances at Hoshiki. "Hey, what's wrong with goofing around?" he muses.

He furrows his brow as if having seen something out of place. "I can't help but notice that fighting this Magtok guy seems quite un-nasty. Are you guys evil evil spirits, or does it mean something else?"

Rhaka waves her hand in a very dismissive manner. "In lives like ours, we make many a choice. We plunder tombs, topple empires, and leave trails of bodies in our wake. The more we question them, the madder we become. I stopped questioning my choices a long time ago.

Earl of Purple wrote: ↑Nov 25, 2022 5:50 pm "Just because it's everywhere doesn't make it 'normal'. Every brand is different, even if only slightly. Though I'm not really a fan of beer, either. I like a nice cider." Something many of my characters share with their player, though I have met someone who is very into his beer.

"Yeah, I think that I like the fruity stuff more than the other stuff. But I thought I should at least try my options." Mina might be an herbivore which restricts her diet, but at least she's still able to taste sweet things.

"Me too. I'm not really a fan of most cereal-based foods, either. Bread and stuff, y'know? The stuff people leave out for birds can be foul." Jack really shouldn't eat that, because she's a person, but... Well, she has in the past. Also eaten roadkill.