[log] i'm contemplating thinking about thinking

[apostatised]

[18:21] * Martel is technically 'on holiday' - the educational sort - so it's a little odd to need a break from that. And yet: here he is, taking a break. His hair's neatly braided back and he...doesn't look /uncomfortable/, per se, just as though he doesn't quite belong in a suit (jacket abandoned). The wine is fine, though.
[18:39] * Jekyll emerges from a door to the ...somewhere and looks around with the keenly interested eye of a person who has just found something they considered too good to possibly be true. "So it does work." He looks exactly like he was meant for the clothes he's wearing; clean if faded jeans, a grey button-down with the sleeves rolled up. "What a fantastic, if not completely insane proposition."
[18:39] Jekyll: (The Nexus, apparently. Really, is he wrong? No.)
[18:41] * Martel glances up, openly (if moderately) amused. "Good evening," he drawls, "I take it you're new. Don't worry; there's always another novelty to replace the one that wears off."
[18:53] * Jekyll is too interested to be embarrassed by this, mostly. "It's patently obvious, isn't it? I won't worry about helping it, I guess." Hopefully you will not like, DIE or be turned into a cat or whatever as a result of this, Henry. "Is this jaded as the result of years of experience, or is it like being the senior most employee at MacDonald's?"
[18:58] * Martel is friendly rather than malicious, at least; the best times are when he can make a nuisance of himself and be actively helpful /at once/. "The one year," and if unfortunately the reference is lost on him, the sentiment of it isn't and he chuckles. "This place only encourages my bad habits. Martel; you are?"
[19:02] Jekyll: "God, I can see how - it's all still large and endless to me, I have to beg your tolerance - you could encourage anything here, couldn't you?" He's still staring around the room, only refraining from touching things because ...it has not occurred to him yet. Much like social skills. "And, ah--Henry. Henry Jekyll, pleased to meet you." Let them to handshake? Like MEN?
[19:05] * Martel will handshake! Observe the moment where he has to remind himself how they do it in the modern era, and not just clasp Henry's wrist in an excess of manliness. "And you. It's infinite, and - infinitely fascinating, I'm not bored of it yet myself."
[19:20] Jekyll: "I'd love to meet someone who's physiology has been significantly altered, now /that/ sounds fascinating. It isn't the kind of thing we can do where I'm from." For the record he would probably have tried to roll with the amplified manliness inherent in wrist claspery, but it would have been awkward.
[19:23] * Martel pauses over his wineglass, considering Jekyll. "I'd ask you to define 'significantly', but it might make for a more personal conversation than first encounters traditionally call for. You might be interested in the clinics, though I've never been and wouldn't swear to it."
[19:29] Jekyll: He totally wants gender-swapping stories, Martel, come on. Which ...in fairness seems mostly normal (...normal) for a guy studying duality in all its various fucked up forms! "I wonder if there's a way to arrange that that looks like anything other than 'inappropriate bastard hanging around your doctor's office.'" There probably isn't.
[19:35] Martel: Modern hospitals sort of unnerve Martel, but he elects not to mention this. Either because it's weird or because he's still too manly. Instead: "On the upside, I'm almost certain you can't be stranger than some of the staff."
[15:09] Jekyll: "Which is another temptation in and of itself," says Jekyll, UNKNOWINGLY carrying on a conversation from several hours ago with Martel. Hi.
[15:13] Martel: "While curiosity did kill the cat, here we have the option of resurrecting it and giving it an invulnerability to dogs." ...Martel.
[15:14] * Jekyll just ...stares for a second, until his humor parameters readjust to like .....Nexus. THEN he laughs. This man's IQ is like 190, by the way. "And eight legs."
[15:15] * Doul arrives. After all, what this room needs is another (quasi)-scientist, right? Right. "Always a good option."
[15:15] Martel: "If it didn't exist before, it probably does now. All things conceivable and otherwise - infinite - such a peculiar sort of place. I'm fond of it, honestly - ah, Doul."
[15:16] * Jekyll does a mock-salute and finds a place (a stool, presumably) to sit at the bar. "Henry, good to meet you. We're reinventing the cat."
[15:17] * Doul nods to Martel before slipping behind the bar. He is going to skip the tea tonight and see if there's anything resembling a decent red wine to be had. It will be a great and glorious hunt for JUSTICE (and vino). "Uther of the Deadhouse of Doul. Why? Do you need a better mousetrap?"
[15:18] * Martel will quietly draw Doul's attention to the cask of Arcian red. "Where better to find one?"
[15:19] * Doul will just help himself then. Anyone else for a glass? "The mice are better here, too." Someone is rather pleased with himself today.
[15:20] * Jekyll will be wined, thank you. Although probably not dined. "That seems a little unhelpful unless you want to challenge the cats."
[15:21] * Martel would certainly like a second glass, while he's there. "My cats are getting lazy," he notes, "they could do with it. I'd go bigger than mice, if that were my goal." ...don't troll your 'totally not pets', Martel.
[15:23] * Doul makes a face of 'fond remembrance' at the mention of the cats. "If they organized a little better, they could take a small nation."
[15:24] Martel: "Don't give them ideas."
[15:24] * Brody wanders in. ... oh, there's people. He should have worn pants. (Enjoy that.) (No, there's pants, they're just shorts.) His hair is in two teeny pigtails and he's holding something like a catalogue. "Oh, hello." Beeline for the bar now.
[15:25] * Martel is, belatedly for the new arrivals, dressed significantly more modern than he usually does. His suit jacket is over the back of his chair.
[15:26] * Doul is slightly less B| than usual, but that's not really saying much, now is it? "I wouldn't dream of it."
[15:30] Leander: The tall Chinese man who trudges in trails smoke from the cigarette in his mouth, tan trenchcoat pulled tight around a black suit with a black tie. He looks momentarily startled to see people here, but nods an amiable hello and somewhat warily skirts the room to get to the bar, giving Brody time to find what he wants as he goes.
[15:31] * Jekyll is so boring, okay, he's just wearing like 21st century Dude Clothing, which is a button down and jeans. A sudden influx of people! Crazy.
[15:31] Brody: "I see people I don't recognize." Introduce yourself. >:| He gets a 40, because he's classy, and also it weighs about as much as he does.
[15:36] Martel: "Hello, Brody," amiably.
[15:36] Brody: "Hello." He promptly hops up /on/ the bar and sits on it. That's not a chair.
[15:37] * Jekyll is kind of like ...is this person a child, which shows on his face as ....not much of anything, because he is king of smashing everything down into a tiny unnoticable ball. But no one is flipping out, sooo when in Rome, he guesses. "Henry. I don't think we've met."
[15:39] Brody: "I am positive you would remember. I'm Brody." He is not, however, positive HE would remember. Loldrugs.
[15:40] Martel: "Speaking of memorable," because Brody is, generally, "your insufferable pony is out of my office and on the refridgerator. Assuming it hasn't been mercifully removed in my absence."
[15:41] Leander: "You have a pony?" Leander takes a beer from the bar and commences attempting to open it with his teeth. Nn. Rrawr.
[15:41] Brody: "Insufferable nothin', you suffer that pony mighty well." Apparently something has brought all the Southern out of him today.
[15:41] Brody: "I have a pony and I gave him a beautiful illustration of one. As a gift, for I am generous."
[15:42] Martel: "It's obnoxious." ...and he stuck it on his fridge.
[15:42] * Brody looks pleased anyway.
[15:43] Jekyll: "It's entirely possible." That he would remember, not that the pony is obnoxious. That seems ...pretty much a given.
[15:45] * Leander finally manages to lever the top off the bottle with a satisfying hiss. (Of the bottle, not Leander.)
[15:45] Brody: "You will break your teef that way, good sir."
[15:46] Doul: "Since we're doing introductions, what do you gentlemen do?" That would be Leander and Jekyll.
[15:47] * Grif teleports in.
[15:47] * Martel salutes Grif with his glass. Enjoy his mellow mood and modern aesthetic while it lasts.
[15:48] Leander: "Hey, Grif." Leander greets, raising the beer. "And I will not. I'm Leander and I have a pawn shop." You know, just floating around. "But no ponies."
[15:48] Brody: "You do ponies?!"
[15:48] Jekyll: "Horrendeously boring research science, although around here every time I determine it boring someone inevitably makes me look presumptuous." Then he gets to talk about it, which ....look, he kind of loves. "And I too am sadly ponyless." Poniless?
[15:49] * Doul perks up. "What do you research?" Ooooh, ~science~.
[15:49] Grif: "Hey, 'sup?" He waves and takes his helmet off. "Looking sharp, Martel."
[15:50] * Ayel comes in the door. The lack of tattooed elf-looking guys has just been corrected.
[15:50] Martel: "I can confidently inform you that I'll probably find it interesting - must you, Grif."
[15:50] * Martel says, as though he MINDS.
[15:50] * Brody waves at Ayel. Hello, space elf frand.
[15:51] * Ayel sees Uther Doul. Well, THAT is fortuitous, as they've been trying to hail the man for days. Oh, and Brody. Have a nod, Brody.
[15:51] Martel: "We're in France. I felt I ought to fit in." ...because at 6'3", with his build and his /hair/, he fits in anywhere.
[15:52] Jekyll: "Ah--bioinformatics? It's using information technology - which is just a fancy way of saying ...charts, graphs, anything that involves data - to make biological processes easier to undestand." Breathe, Dr. Jekyll.
[15:53] * Martel ... /is/ interested, certainly more than enough to be sidetracked from his fashion choices. "You're working on something currently?"
[15:53] Doul: "Streamlining knowledge, if I understand correctly?"
[15:53] Leander: Hey, it's the guy who makes decent stew. Leander doesn't greet him other than to just kind of acknowledge his presence with a look, because that's manly. Or something.
[15:53] * Brody has no idea what any of these people are talking about and zones out, drinking.
[15:54] * Ayel hopes you people have not thrown out all the good ale. He will be cross otherwise. (And heavens know you would not want THAT.)
[15:55] * Grif shrugs -- he actually wasn't joking, but whatever -- and goes and gets himself a beer from the bar.
[15:56] Jekyll: "Essentially. It makes it a lot easier to analyse genes - for instance which are the most likely candidates in the case of certain--disorders." He looks mildly uncomfortable for a second, because this is a little personal, but it is also work! "That's my focus."
[15:57] * Ayel takes a bottle from behind the bar and a glass and goes to sit in a corner and observe aliens. The conversation seems interesting, at least.
[16:00] Doul: "Not a field I've any knowledge in, but I can see how it would be useful." Doul knows full well that his study is considerably more esoteric than most.
[16:01] Martel: "I'm not familiar with it, either, but the field itself is probably worth looking into for the sake of my own ongoing study. Are you looking at physical or mental illness?" Nerd convention.
[16:02] Jekyll: "Well--yes, considering that right now the state of mental health care in the place I'm from is pitiful. Anything would be an improvement." He's not bitter.
[16:03] * Brody looks awkward. Takes a drink.
[16:04] * Leander will sit somewhere between Brody and wherever Grif chooses to sit. SO DON'T MAKE IT PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE, OKAY.
[16:04] Martel: "Identifying and treating is what you're looking at?" Martel elaborates for the sake of his own tendency to like having everything neatly laid out, eyebrow raised.
[16:05] * Brody leans back and digs around behind the bar. Tiny umbrellas? Anything?
[16:06] * Grif makes some room, knowing that he tends to take up quite a bit with his huge armored self.
[16:07] * Jekyll is so thrilled to be discussing this in a bar, like ...seriously. He is never going to leave the Nexus, it's full of nerds. "A better drug is the goal, basically." Also: GRIF IS HUGE, he notices belatedly, after SCIENCE. "Eventually a cure, then prevention, but for now...well, we move in millimeters, not leaps and bounds." Thanks, Jack Benjamin. :D
[16:08] * Grif offers Jekyll a friendly smile, hopefully to offset any potential AAA HUGE GUYness.
[16:09] * Brody comes up with a bowl of maraschino cherries and a parcel of tiny umbrellas, which he's going to use to spear all the cherries individually. And also garnish Leander and Grif with them, because why not.
[16:09] Martel: "The theory as is, it's far more advanced than anything I'd have been familiar with before, but I'm - educating myself here. Better treatment versus prevention is a goal versus an ideal, I think."
[16:10] Ayel: "A cure and then a prevention for what, exactly?"
[16:10] * Ayel can talk! Wow! ...He even sounds like an elf.
[16:11] Jekyll: "Schizophrenia." This is not ...even remotely possible by the way, currently. But Jekyll lives in this optimistic place where the future is better, even if he has to beat it with a hammer to get it into the correct shape.
[16:12] Martel: "I don't have an equivalent for the name in my language as I know of it," Martel prompts further explanation, out of genuine interest.
[16:12] * Leander resists being garnished initially, but eventually submits to it. Umbrella'd and cherried.
[16:13] * Martel is originally from crazy magical medieval land, where you can just imagine how schizophrenics are treated. There probably isn't a name for it.
[16:13] Brody: "Now you are beautiful." Also, he's going to eat the rest of them, which is disgusting, tiny child.
[16:14] * Grif accepts the umbrella mock-grudgingly.
[16:14] * Ayel also waits for further clarification, now that Martel has saved him having to ask.
[16:14] * Doul isn't entirely sure what Jekyll is talking about either, but he'll roll with it. That's right. Roll. B|
[16:14] Jekyll: "It's --dissasocation with reality." It's NOT dissociative identity disorder.
[16:15] Ayel: "A mental disorder."
[16:15] Doul: "And a disassociation that's not appropriate, like a mystic or something, correct?"
[16:17] * Jekyll nods at Ayel, then has to mentally readjust at Doul a little, because his universe is boring! -- well, it's actually not, but he has no idea. "It's ...it makes it difficult to function in the world, let's put it that way." His father, woe.
[16:17] Martel: "Madness without method," Martel says, dryly, and takes a drink.
[16:18] Ayel: "Hm." Ayel sits back and takes a drink, his face blank. "Would your cure reach a genetic level?"
[16:18] Ayel: "Or do you speak of simply easing symptoms?"
[16:18] * Doul nods, "I wish you luck. If there's a way to treat them, rather than just lock them away or Remake them into something useful, I'd be in favour of it."
[16:19] Jekyll: "Oh, no," he doesn't even bother not to sound bitter, "there's frequently a method to it. It just isn't the kind of method that allows a person to maintain a steady existence. You might decide your hands belong to someone else, and you'd better break them to protect yourself, for instance." YAY. "--I'm sorry, Remake?"
[16:20] * Ayel looks at Doul, filing that sentiment away.
[16:21] * Jekyll will totally answer Ayel's question shortly, his typist just can't read
[16:22] * Leander eventually gives in and eats the cherry, even though he finds it loathsome. "I kind of love that this is the conversation level on the busiest night I've ever seen at this bar," he remarks to Grif.
[16:22] Doul: "Yes, it's not a pleasant thing, but it's common enough on Bas-Lag, especially with the humans from New Crobuzon. They alter a person's body -- usually as punishment, but sometimes just to make them more useful, when they're unable to provide for themselves." He takes a break and motions that he needs to rest before speaking further.
[16:22] * Grif shrugs. "It's better than the conversation the *last* time we were both here."
[16:23] Brody: "That's gross," he contributes to the conversation. Like a helper.
[16:24] Jekyll: "That's /fascinating/," says Dr. Jekyll, proving that Brody is less creepy than he is.
[16:24] Leander: "Hey, I wasn't complaining." The beer tastes terrible after the cherry, but he persists.
[16:25] * Doul continues, "There are special hexes and thaumaturgic rites that let them graft the tissue or steam-engine, or what-have-you. It's rarely done well."
[16:26] Martel: "Quality of work is not, I take it, the highest priority." Martel is a snob about magic and shoddy craftsmanship, but no one should be surprised by that.
[16:26] * Jekyll 's eyebrows are a frenzy of rapt confusion. "Thaumaturgy is - something to do with magic?"
[16:26] * Martel refrains from showing off just to see what sort of face Jekyll will make next.
[16:27] * Jekyll 's typist suspects this is a temporary state of affairs.
[16:27] Doul: "No, Martel, it is very much not." From his tone, it's clear that the poor work is as much of an offense as the actual Remaking. "And, yes, it's the study and application of certain types of magic."
[16:27] * Grif gives Doul this utterly horrified look, that starts to shade into anger before he manages to pull himself back to merely being pissy because it's not like anyone who's done that kind of thing's actually here to vent that anger at.
[16:28] * Martel is a terrible person, etc, etc. "Pathetic. And morally disgusting, but - forgive me my professional integrity." He's aware his priorities are skewed.
[16:29] Jekyll: "But - why does it serve such a purpose? It seems like there's so much that could be done, on a level less--reprehensible." So, someone here is morally uh...something.
[16:31] Doul: "Because that is what they do in New Crobuzon. They're not my people, but I've grown accustomed to their ways and those of the fReemade -- former criminals who were freed when they came to Armada, the city I lived in for many years."
[16:34] Brody: "Could be worse," he mumbles.
[16:34] Martel: "It can always be worse."
[16:34] Jekyll: "Is it entirely physical? Or is it possible to alter mental states as well?" That has such frightening implications for everything in the world. By the way.
[16:35] Martel: "I can't speak for New Crobuzon, but mental state can be altered." The voice of personal experience. Unpleasant, from his tone.
[16:35] Grif: "Worse than what, being fucking *altered* with engines and magic, presumably not by their own choice? I don't fucking think so."
[16:36] * Ayel leans back and looks at the ceiling, contemplating how he's going to tell his captain that his favorite contact believes in magic.
[16:36] Martel: "Let's not get into a pissing contest about suffering, shall we? We'd have no time to talk about anything else."
[16:36] * Brody shifts, uncomfortably. No, he's not going to break the Masquerade, even in Stigmata.
[16:38] Doul: "It is, but that is less common." Doul does not sound particularly enthused about any of this.
[16:38] * Jekyll is dry, "I'm an academic, my suffering is at the bottom of the ladder." Really, his life is pretty stable, sans ....Hasi. But his career is mostly born of growing up with a schizophrenic parent, so there that is.
[16:40] Grif: "Yeah, well, I'll readily admit that my hate-on for the thing Doul's talking about stems from what sounds like fairly similar personal experience."
[16:43] * Leander silently decides just not to sleep tonight. Thanks, Stigmata.
[16:44] Doul: "I've been told that I always bring a little bit of mirth of joy to any gathering."
[16:44] Martel: "I believe Ewar said something very like that while navigating the library," with a straight face.
[16:47] Brody: "...so..." >_> Awkward?
[16:47] Jekyll: "My attorney says that in situations like this you're supposed to burst out with some like --platitude about a sports team. But I'm from Boston, so that's sort of verboten." Boston sports teams. Fff.
[16:49] Brody: "Okay, look, I've been hearing about sports for like seventeen years and I still don't fucking understand them."
[16:50] Ayel: "May I speak to you for a moment, Uther Doul?"
[16:51] Doul: "Of course, but then I must be going. Goodnight everyone."
[16:51] Martel: "Goodnight, Master Doul."
[16:51] Grif: "Later."
[16:52] * Leander quietly exercises his knack on Martel and Jekyll, looking for hidden weapons. He's just curious.
[16:52] Brody: "Bye!"
[16:52] * Ayel stands and, perhaps, they can walk out together?
[16:52] * Doul thinks that's brilliant and so they go!
[16:52] * Jekyll mimes tipping a hat, and is not carrying at all, for Leander's edification.
[16:53] * Martel is carrying a number of knives, and not the easily acquired (or modern) sort. They're glamoured to hide them from things like 'metal detectors' and 'security guards', but not magic.
[16:54] Leander: As if the conversation weren't proof enough, he must really be an academic. Martel, on the other hand, is alarming. He contains any shift of expression in his beer. Glug.
[16:54] * Jekyll is totally boring. Wait til Hyde shows up, that'll be more fun in terms of 'carrying horrible shit.'
[16:54] * Grif doesn't bother concealing any of the several various weapons on his person. He does, however, finish his beer, then fetch that bottle that Ayel's now done with to have himself a glass of that Romulan ale.
[16:55] * Martel is charming and trustworthy. He's also getting another glass of wine.
[16:56] * Grif is also not really looking all that particularly less cranky. Hence, the upgrade in BOOZECON.
[16:56] Jekyll: "Could I--" gestures Jekyll, if you would please Martel. He is incredibly keyed up from SCIENCE.
[16:56] Martel: "Certainly." A refill for Dr Jekyll, and himself.
[16:56] Leander: "The bar isn't full of little girls. It feels strange. I guess Brody will have to do." He reaches over to pat Brody on the head.
[16:57] Brody: "...hey." He looks so saddened by this.
[16:58] Jekyll: "Is it usually?" Well...at least at that he manages to sound mortified and not just clinically interested.
[16:58] Jekyll: Also he /thanks Martel/ because he is considerably politer than his typist. Ftlog.
[16:58] Martel: "On occasion," in a resigned tone. Some of the little girls passing through the bar have called him 'Daddy' and that was...special.
[16:59] Leander: "You're not a substitute, you're added flavoring," Lee tells Brody reassuringly. To Jekyll he says, "Well, just two. They're very well behaved." Except when they aren't.
[16:59] Brody: "I am a manly man." :(
[17:00] Jekyll: "Ah. So--are there /actually/ no rules here? Or are they just specialized?" You're so new, sweetie.
[17:00] Martel: "There are a few, but by and large it's difficult to enforce many."
[17:01] Jekyll: "What happens if you break them?"
[17:02] Brody: "Someone breaks you."
[17:02] Grif: "It does get a bit grade school that way, sometimes, yeah."
[17:02] Martel: "Violence in the bar gets people locked in the cells downstairs, but at the base of it the nexus is mob rule, yes."
[17:03] Leander: "All the free alcohol is going to ruin me," he comments, because that's totally relevant.
[17:04] Martel: "My wine cellar is fantastic since I found this place," blandly. 'Found', haha.
[17:04] Jekyll: "That's comforting," murmurs Jekyll, who ...has never broken a rule in his life, so shut up. Although this week is about to change that. /FORESHADOWING
[17:04] Brody: "I will make you a Shirley Temple."
[17:05] Grif: "Yeah, I've got a huge booze stash, taken from the abandoned liquor stores of a couple hundred zombie-ravaged Earths. It's great."
[17:05] Leander: "So basically we're all burgeoning alcoholics?"
[17:06] Martel: "When we were rebuilding the castle, it was a nice sweetener for the men working on it. I supplied the alcohol in the evenings - none of which I had to pay for."
[17:06] * Martel is not above using the nexus to cut the occasional corner, although he's not indiscriminate.
[17:08] Jekyll: "I haven't been here long enough, I feel," Jekyll considers the swirling wine in his glass. "But it's nice to know there's a bright future ahead of me."
[17:08] Grif: "I dunno, can you really be an alcoholic if you hardly ever get drunk off all the booze you drink?"
[17:09] Leander: "Oh, it's fantastic," Leander says immediately. "The other day Grif and I went vampire hunting on a rescue mission. I don't remember the rest of that day. ... you don't, Grif? That's kind of tragic."
[17:10] Martel: "Well, I'm sure you can give it a good try."
[17:11] Grif: "Not much. Even this Romulan stuff only barely scratches the surface. Augmented organs to go with all the rest."
[17:12] Martel: "I ought to take advantage of mine and take up tobacco," Martel considers, not remotely meaning it. He's never smoked in his life.
[17:13] Brody: "Try pot." :>?
[17:13] Martel: "My mind has been sufficiently altered in the past."
[17:14] * Leander coughs a laugh. He doesn't even /know/ Martel and he thinks it's funny.
[17:15] * Martel is totally hilarious when actually drunk, for the record.
[17:17] Brody: "Pbbbt."
[17:18] * Leander 's cellphone rings. It's a boring generic ringtone. He immediately scoops it out of his pocket and heads for the hallway without saying anything to anyone. Polite!
[17:23] * Brody finally gets his ass off the bar and sits on a proper stool, paging through the catalogue. It appears to be for... coffins, yay.
[17:54] * Isbell comes in, cautiously.
[17:55] * Brody -- recognizes her, after a moment. "Hello!" He waves.
[17:56] * Isbell is a young woman wearing unkempt clothing, what looks like the remains of what a washerwoman might wear, only gone through the wash enough times that things had forgotten their original color and texture. One gets the sense that she's not really used to dressing this way. She doesn't move like someone who wears rags.
[17:57] * Grif gives a little 'sup nod from the depths of his mildly surly Romulan ale drinkin'.
[17:57] Isbell: "Oh, hello." Brody makes her perk up a bit, and then look kindof nervous. And then just come over.
[17:58] Isbell: "So. This is the nexus?" :D
[17:59] * Isbell is totally proud of herself. LOOK WHAT SHE FOUND!
[18:00] Brody: "Yep. This is the free-food-and-boozey part of it, anyway."
[18:03] Isbell: "Wonderful. You're feeling better, I see. And your friend is absolutely enormous!"
[18:04] Brody: "Umm. Yep." He's faking it better, anyway. Also, significant look at the rest of the room. It is time to be polite and introduce yoselfs. B|
[18:05] Grif: "heh." Okay, that's enough to lighten the mood a little. "Hi, my name is Grif, and yeah, I'm huge."
[18:08] * Martel laaaaughs quietly. "Hello, little sister. Martel." Lord of Valdis or Professor Lefevre, but mostly just 'Martel'.
[18:10] Isbell: The 'sister' thing gets a headtilt, but she'll run with it. "Isbell. Myrmex, if people are allowed more than one name around here." Now that we're all friends, she decides to perch at the bar. Hmm, how many of you are friends with her boss? Aside from Brody.
[18:13] Isbell: "And all of you are from different worlds?"
[18:13] * Martel has old habits, many of which die hard. "I have a collection." Of worlds? He's dry, but not entirely kidding.
[18:13] Grif: "Yyyyep."
[18:14] Brody: "...well, I just had the greatest mental image."
[18:15] Isbell: "I believe it. ...Of him with a bunch of globes on a shelf?"
[18:15] Brody: "Basically. Also a little crown."
[18:15] Brody: "And a cape!" This is important.
[18:15] Martel: "That's a little further into the eccentric sorcerer realm than I'm willing to get - yet, I suppose."
[18:15] Isbell: "Ah." She takes a moment to add these things. "There we are, yes."
[18:16] * Martel is an eccentric sorcerer, all of these things could conceivably come to pass.
[18:16] * Grif makes a mental note to get Martel a robe and a wizard hat for the next gift-giving holiday of choice.
[18:17] Isbell: "A sorceror?" Mental NOTE. "Perhaps I should ask Mr. Grif, then. Do you know where I might get a PINpoint?" :)?
[18:17] * Brody makes a face, because robe and wizard hat + Martel = places he does not want to go. Sorry, Martel, you are a neuter in Brody's mind, which is better than "potential john". Distressingly.
[18:17] Martel: "Among other things." He could answer that, in fairness, but he leaves it to Grif.
[18:18] * Martel has no desire for Brody to see him sexually, tysm.
[18:19] * Grif reaches over and slides a basket full of little electronic gizmos across the bar towards Isbell.
[18:19] Grif: "It's that easy." :D
[18:20] Isbell: "Jabber, truly?" Just all over the bar? SHE WILL TAKE ONLY ONE. ....Tonight.
[18:22] * Isbell fiddles with it. IT TURNS ON! Amazing. Poke poke poke. "How do I make it teleport?"
[18:23] Brody: "I think it has a manual built-in?" Brody has been using one for so long that he doesn't remember how to access it, whoops.
[18:25] * Grif points out the menu option for the manual, resists the urge to suggest the hotkey for it is 'up up down down left right left right b a start.'
[18:25] * Isbell has DISCOVERED IT. Because it just popped up automatically upon first activation. Technology! "Clever, clever. He's only shown us his once." Isbell, when your brain is not paying attention, your mouth should not be moving.
[18:26] * Brody .... idly wonders if they'll get in trouble for letting her have one.
[18:26] * Brody is okay with this.
[18:26] Martel: "He?" Martel inquires, mild.
[18:26] * Isbell does not plan on sharing her clandestine discovery anytime soon. (ever)
[18:26] Isbell: "The Brucolac," she says, looking up with a sly smile.
[18:33] Grif: "Oh, hey. Haven't heard from him in a while. How's he doing?"
[18:34] * Martel ... laughs again, the same way he did before; quiet and amiable, maybe a little wry.
[18:36] Isbell: "Rebuilding, as always. I'm a lieutenant and oh, what a better lieutenant I will be, with this."
[18:36] Brody: "--oh really?" :D?
[18:38] Isbell: "Mmmhmm! I understand he spent a lot of time here, when he was away."
[18:41] Brody: "Mm. It's a good resource."
[18:49] Isbell: "So. I understand that I'm not to antagonize the locals or touch anything unless absolutely necessary. Which is why I'm sitting here with my elbows on a bar, bothering you all with questions, obviously. Is there aught else I should know?"
[18:51] Grif: "More than bugging people or touching things, be *especially* careful about what you eat and/or drink. If it looks out of place, it probably is, and not for any good reason."
[18:51] Brody: "Stigmata is safe. ... unless Mr. Rayne is here, but I don't think he does stuff unless people ask for it."
[18:51] Brody: "...except make frogs."{
[18:54] Martel: "He gets stroppy when people borrow the supplies he keeps behind the bar," Martel notes, absently.
[18:55] Isbell: "Make... there are a lot of sorcerors around, then?"
[19:03] Brody: "Lots." Unfortunately. "...lots of everything, really."
[19:05] Martel: "An overabundance, you might say."
[19:05] Brody: "I'm waiting for the influx of werewolves. Bound to happen, I give it three weeks."
[19:06] Grif: "Oh, there've been some around, from time to time."
[19:06] Martel: "I'm unsurprised."
[19:06] Brody: "Werewolves? Yeah, but not in the same number as vampires." He looks slightly disconcerted.
[19:09] Isbell: "I wasn't aware that vampires usually came with werewolves."
[19:10] Brody: "It's like the holy trinity of wacky shenanigans. Vampires, werewolves, and witches." Pause. Don't say it. DON'T SAY IT. "...oh my." He said it.
[19:11] * Grif laughs.
[19:11] Martel: "They don't like the word 'witches' in Elenia," Martel reflects, "in a display of magnificent hypocrisy." That is one way of putting it.
[19:12] Brody: "What's the PC term for it? 'Person of magical means'?"
[19:13] Martel: "There isn't one. You stand accused of witchcraft, someone wants you dead." Martel smiles faintly and takes a drink.
[19:14] * Brody cocks his head to the side.
[19:16] Martel: "My homeland is a fascinating place."
[19:16] Brody: "Clearly."
[19:17] Isbell: "If it wasn't 'witchcraft' it would probably be something else."
[19:17] Martel: "Always. It's an excuse, too - Styric prejudice more than anything else. The same thing I was taught as a knight is what Styric women are burned for as witches." He shrugs. ...he feels strongly about that, actually, but.
[19:20] Brody: "It's always about prejudice. Because people are assholes, in general." That's very Jesusly of you, tiny child.
[19:21] Martel:: "Essentially."
[19:21] * Isbell shakes her head. "You lads are depressing me. I'd better take my prize and get back to work."
[19:22] Brody: "Okay. Bye!"
[19:22] * Martel chuckles. "Be well, Isbell."
[19:22] Grif: "Later."
[19:25] Isbell: "Evening!" And off she goes.