milliways_bar | (no subject)

There is absolutely no recognition of either the name or the world in the bright green eyes of the pale young man, but there is somewhat wry good cheer. "Good to meet you, Khadgar of Azeroth. I am called Yrael, of... well, of Milliways, mostly. I made my home here some years ago."

"The Bar does take very good care of her patrons," Yrael nods, smiling. "Though she can be quite pushy when she is feeling maternal."

On cue, a plate of fresh leafy greens and vegetables appear on the counter in front of Yrael, who puts a mock-horrified hand lightly to his chest. "You wound me, madam."

He kinda figured neither would be recognized but that's par for traveling to dimensional convergences, he's sure.

"Well met, Yrael and Lady Bar," he replies with an amused smile at their antics. He takes another thoughtful sip of his wine. A place at the end of time would be a most useful use of time if he can figure out how to return. He's not concerned with the Bronze Flight coming and flaming the place down, either, if Yrael has lived here for some years. If the Bronzes took issue with it he likely wouldn't arrived here now. Perhaps a hearthstone...

"Am I to understand that Lady Bar acts as the innkeeper here?"

In answer a key to a room upstairs appears and Khadgar grins again.

"That would be a 'yes,'" Yrael replies, chuckling into his wine.

"Milliways is a good place, for the most part. Most patrons who come here treat it as a kind of neutral territory, or a refuge in time of need. The kitchens are open to all who might wish to use them, though food and drink can just as easily be ordered from the bar, or from one of the waitstaff. They may be rats but even I would consider them faithful and polite and clean."

And that's saying something.

"There is an infirmary for any who may come in injured or needing care," he gestures in the direction of the infirmary door. "There is also a gym, and a library upstairs. One may find the gardens, the greenhouse, the forge and stable outside, as well as the lake and forest." In turn, he gestures in the general direction of the pertinent stairway or door.

"As I say, most view this place as neutral territory, a peaceful place. It does have a few rules, however, and a security force to help the bar remain a refuge. Rule one, there is to be no violence in the bar proper. Secondly, no outside business such as grudges, vendettas, or struggles against arch-nemeses allowed in the bar. People are generally asked to leave such matters for their own world. Thirdly, there is to be no nudity or overtly sexual behavior in the bar proper."

They are not complicated rules, and the loopholes in them are miles wide for those who know how to look.

Khadgar suspects that this is a speech Yrael has had to give often. He's quite good at it. The mage listens intently. The waitrats do not phase him (he's been served by kobolds and they are worse), his brows quirk at 'gym', he perks at library and outside (knowledge and the stone he'll need), and listens interestedly to the rules. That they have them and a security force to impose them implies they each have been a problem in the past.

Of course, being a mage, getting around such rules is a simple matter.

"What a fascinating place," Khadgar says happily. "And no regulations on the use of magic here? Outside those rules, of course." If he focuses too long the feel of the multitude of ley lines coming together here is enough to make his fingers numb and there's the feel of...whatever Yrael himself is. There is so much power here.

Quite a lot of power, indeed. There is a lot of different magic at work in the place. Three or four different kinds of magic were used in the development of the outside areas alone.

Yrael's magic is... not the constructive sort.

"A very fascinating place," Yrael affirms, in the tone of one who is proud of their chosen home, and knows they made the right choice. "They say you can encounter six impossible things before breakfast here, and it has certainly been done. More than once."

"There isn't really much regulation on the use of magic, here, no," he adds after a moment of thought. "What is regulated - or rather, what is of concern - is what one uses that magic for, and any effects or side-effects it has on the place or its people. If the magic could harm patrons, or affect the workings of the bar, or affect drastic changes... it is generally best to consult one of the barmen."

Edited 2018-01-14 05:04 (UTC)

"While I have no plans as such," he's only just arrived after all, "who would the barmen be should the need arise?"

He's a little surprised that there are no regulations but he suspects there are plenty of abjurations to guard against attracting demons.

Yrael would think it difficult to set across-the-board regulations when there are magic-users from so many different worlds where magic works differently.

In any case, demons can sometimes be enjoyable entertainment, even if Yrael has found their blood - though quite powerful - to taste disgusting.

"You'll want to ask after Michelangelo, or Sallie Reynolds. They are mind-linked to the Bar itself, so simply inquire with Bar and she will let them know you would like to confer with one of them."

Perhaps Yrael would prefer Azerothian demons? As a demon from Khadgar's world is simply any creature that has been infused with enough fel magic to become one.

"Michelangelo or Sallie Reynolds," Khadgar repeats, committing the names to memory. Again he's struck by the cleverness of the setup here; someone clearly knew what they were doing. "Thank you for the explanation, though it seems you've given it quite often. I had rather thought my teleportation had gone awry."

Edited 2018-01-14 06:31 (UTC)

To Yrael, those demons would sound delicious.

"Most people who find this place, for relatively few people do, arrive unexpectedly their first time. Some may eventually be able to secure a stable and reliable way to this place, but not all are able."

Yrael grins. "One does get to know the look of a newcomer, after a while, and introducing new arrivals to what they've stumbled upon is part of a Milliways' patron's duty, in remembrance of the time one's own face had that lost and bewildered look," he says, his tone suggesting he is (at least partly) kidding. "You may find yourself giving the same introduction, some day."

"Though your talk of teleportation intrigues me." Those grinning teeth are very white. "What is it you do, in the world from which you come?"

"I'm a mage with more experience with portals than most," Khadgar explains, "which makes it my current responsibility to stop an incursion by an alternate reality Horde from invading Azeroth through the Dark Portal.

"...it is, perhaps, complicated. But we've had some success so far!"

Those white eyebrows rise in piqued curiosity. "I may be speaking with only limited experience, but invasions through things called 'dark portals' are rarely good things."

"Azeroth is... the name of your world? Kingdom? What sort of horde is seeking to invade?"

Edited 2018-01-15 04:59 (UTC)

"My world, yes. It's been invaded before from a planet called Draenor nearly twenty years ago through this same Portal. That Draenor was destroyed and the invaders settled on Azeroth; we have an uneasy truce with them now. They've kept the name 'Horde'.

"Their last warchief was a bit of a bastard, however. Garrosh broke the truce and turned on the Alliance, and then people in his own faction if they weren't orcs like him. My understanding is that both sides united to take him down. He escaped with the help of a bronze dragon, they're specialists in time magic, and we only recently learned where when the Dark Portal opened to this alternate Draenor.

"And now we face a second invasion by an orcish Iron Horde. I was summoned because my mentor was the one to create the Portal originally and I've been the one to seal it shut in the past."

He thinks that was clear enough, but as he said, the matter is complicated.

It is certainly a lot to follow, and offers any number of points to inquire further about - dragons, time magic, orcish hordes - but one point of inquiry that draws Yrael's curiosity in particular.

"If a mage could construct such a troublesome portal, could a mage not destroy or deconstruct it, so as to stop the current threat and prevent future threats to the world?"

"Medivh was killed, the original creator." And Khadgar does not care to explain how he was the one to do it just now. "He was very, very powerful. And while we were able to destroy the physical gateway of the Portal, it took us some years to reach it. The dimensional rift that had been created couldn't easily be destroyed by then; in fact it's been impossible so far. We've been able to seal it twice but it just takes an artifact of great power to give it the energy it needs to reopen. Or souls."

Lots and lots of souls.

The idea of trading life force or spirit for the power to work of powerful magic does not seem like a new concept to the man-shaped creature. Much the opposite.

"So long as the souls do not have to be willingly donated to the cause, that is likely less daunting a task than obtaining an artifact of sufficient power. Those, at least, are a finite resource."

"Exactly. It was being powered by a Soul Engine this time, on Draenor's side. We've gone through and destroyed it, but the Iron Horde can just rebuild it, given the chance."

He lets out a sigh. It has been a long day.

"A soul engine..." Yrael echoes, curiosity-laden green gaze fast on Khadgar.

It is with reluctance that he relents, leaning back and draining the wine from his glass. "But you are tired. You should rest."

Though there will absolutely be more questions at a later time. Yrael's curiosity is a deep well, never filled.

"The Bar has ways of finding rooms that best fit the particular patron's requirements for practicality and comfort, but one can always ask if something needs to be changed."

Khadgar can understand the curiosity, it's part and parcel of being a magic user, but he's a tiny bit leery of Yrael being intrigued by that. Between the magic he senses and the nasty piece of work a Soul Engine is, well, it's not knowledge he would share readily.

Just as well they're changing the subject.

He laughs a bit. "People have been telling me that all day. Rest would be nice," he admits, "and I suppose I can afford to take the time here."

Yrael smiles easily, as though the previous conversation topic never was. "That leads me to one of the simultaneously better and more frustrating features of this place. While a patron is here, generally they can trust that time will not continue moving forward in their world until they return to it. When they leave this place, they will return to the moment from which they arrived, as though they had spent no time here at all."

"Time... moves differently between worlds and this place, you see. Though it is generally reliable that time will pause in one's world while one is here, there is no assurance that time will move here and there at the same rate, while one is in their world. A patron may return to their world and spend a week there before finding this place again, only to learn that months have passed here. Or they may leave the bar and, as time is reckoned in the bar, immediately return, having passed years in their world."

"I got some sense of that, yes," Khadgar muses, his eyes unfocusing as he feels out the magic here again. "Thank you for confirming. I should be able to return now that I've come once, but there are quite a few energies here I haven't felt before."

He may be looking at Yrael a little pointedly.

"Oh, you will find many new things here," says the Free Magic creature, his cheerful eyes the bright green of new spring leaves, bisected by vertical pupils of black. "New concepts and technologies. Strange new beings and life forms. Magic that works differently from world to world, and some worlds existing entirely without it, where magic is no more than a myth. Alternate versions of the same world, and they too may work entirely differently."

"There will always be something new to find out."

Why yes, he is ignoring the unanswered question. And not even trying to hide it.

Edited 2018-01-15 16:20 (UTC)

That's alright, Khadgar won't press it for now even though he is very curious. Yrael has been very helpful and he has no need to be rude. The eyes don't phase him either, dragons in human form often have vertical pupils.

He raises his wine glass to Yrael. "To finding out new things."

Yrael laughs, inclining his head in agreement. "Always."

He gets to his feet, moving back from the bar. His empty glass disappears from the counter top.

"Be well, Khadgar of Azeroth. We will likely run into each other again. I hope you enjoy your visit here."

"Thank you, Yrael of Milliways. I shall look forward to it!"