The World Assembly Strangers' Bar

[Araraukar]

Trevanyika looks at Bell inquisitively. "What's that all about? Is it customary to inflict damage upon the headquarters nowadays?"

"Just blink and it'll be gone," Janis muttered into her cocoa.

[Glaeschland]

"Heh. Ain't that the truth." Jonathan pats his ARP, which lets out a satisfied trill.

[Wallenburg]

Trevanyika looks at Bell inquisitively. "What's that all about? Is it customary to inflict damage upon the headquarters nowadays?"

"Just blink and it'll be gone," Janis muttered into her cocoa.

Janis's words concern Helen, but since the weapons nullifiers guarantee that, at the very least, she won't die to an airborne collision with the bar, she returns to her drink.

"Helen, is that normal?" asks Kelvin, joining her with an accusatory finger pointing at the crashed vessel.

She flashes her eyebrows and shakes her head. "We left normal behind when we stepped foot on this soil. I have decided to follow Janis's lead and accept this interruption. How about you?"

"Well!" he scoffs, surprised. "I guess I'll try to pass off these strange things as well. I can't do much about them anyway, I suppose. So who's this? An old friend?" He gestures to Bell, gathering that he is another ambassador.

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

"Just blink and it'll be gone," Janis muttered into her cocoa.

(As Ari continues to try to goad the now silent Neville -- the States of Glory assistant, not the bartender -- Ahume notes Janis sitting by herself. He walks over and sits in an empty chair next to her, and speaks very quietly and morosely.)

AHUME: Long time no see.

[Imperium Anglorum]

AHUME: Long time no see.

Humphrey Peachby: Are you awaiting appointment to a bishopric?

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

AHUME: Long time no see.

Humphrey Peachby: Are you awaiting appointment to a bishopric?

AHUME: (mumbling) I have three wives and a husband, what do you think?

[Tinfect]

It had finally happened; the Diplomatic Overseer's supplies had run out, not the least because Seretis had apparently located them at some point. Perhaps Feren should have expected that, it was technically his office now, it was bound to happen at some point. Of course, he was not about to let such things as logic stop him from being upset about it. He could have avoided this place and it's absurd reputation for months had Seretis not discovered the cache. Alas, he entered the Stranger's Bar.

Feren makes his way to the bar, coming to a stop next to the collected Wallenburgians, "Yes, hello, Bartender, may I have a... I don't know, what do you have in wines, I suppose-" He stops, spotting a peculiarly labelled bottle, "Actually, is that from Hathien? That should not exist anymore, I think will be having a bit of that, thank you." With that resolved, he turns to Helen, "I apologize if I am interrupting something with the Ambassador Bell here, but I have been meaning to ask, I believe I have seen you in the Records, from the Diplomatic Overseer's tenure here?"

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

"I apologize if I am interrupting something with the Wad Ahume here..."

OOC: That's Bell with Helen, not Ahume. Ahume's over there (points).

[Tinfect]

"I apologize if I am interrupting something with the Wad Ahume here..."

OOC: That's Bell with Helen, not Ahume. Ahume's over there (points).

OOC:
Shh...
You saw nothing...

[Sierra Lyricalia]

A Large Futuristic Ship Rams itself into a Beach near the Bar. A man Hops out and Heads for the Bar.
"Ave. I am The Consul... I need me a Drink.
I Come from a Far Away Land. I am what remains of an Empire that Fell many centuries ago. You might know it as "Soviet France" or "The Cheeki Breeki Anarchists"

The debris from the impact sends Gerald's mug of coffee to the floor. It shatters, letting out a pool of warm drink at Gerald's feet. He stands up and throws his newspaper at the man. "I've had enough of you and your people. Barkeep, send my tab to the office." Incensed, he exits the bar...

Leo's head snaps around to follow the just barely visible blur of the shrapnel from where it pierced the bar window and fortunately exhausted itself with the destruction of Gerald's coffee mug. It might be clear to an observant witness that, if he put on an air of anger with his previous gun-related shenanigans, Leo is now truly enraged. His temporal veins visibly pulsing, Leo grabs and shoulders the shotgun and closes his non-sighting eye. He pauses for a moment, glancing side to side to see if Ikiti is still around to be injured by the loud blast of his impending Elmer Fudd impression. He does not see the lethally predatory ambassador, and is about to sight back in when his head is suddenly wrenched around by the earlobe.

"Nope. No more of this shit. Not the first ambassador I've had to ear-haul outta here, and the way things are going you're likely not the last," Steph announces. "If you can't play nice with others, you can't play at all. Why the Secretary thought you would be a good fit where gunplay has no lethal consquences is beyond me." She tightens her grip on Leo's ear as the latter squeezes her wrist, trying to get her to let go without doing himself any further damage; Steph simply pulls harder and gets them to the door that much faster.

"Now - get the hell out," she says menacingly as they reach the door, "Do not come back until further notice; and take your stupid-lookin' hat with you." She claps it on his head, not softly. "The weapon is mine." Steph points it directly at his face. "Unless you wanna learn what comes out of this thing at point blank range. Might be paint balloons for all I know. I'd hate to ruin your suit..."

As Leo finally leaves, Steph thumbs the break-open lever and removes the shells from the weapon, sticking them in a coat pocket; then clicks the weapon closed. Moseying back to her seat with the shotgun slung behind her shoulder, she takes stock of the room. Sit with Bell and Trevanyika? 'Nah, I've done enough damage there as is,' she thinks. Grabbing the still nearly-full clay jug, she sits down on the other side of Janis from where Ahume has just plopped his cheeks, and claps the jug heavily on the table in front of her.

"You two look like you could use some cheering up. I got two kinds of joy today, the 'I just tossed a guy out of a bar' kind, and the liquid kind. Any takers?"

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

"You two look like you could use some cheering up. I got two kinds of joy today, the 'I just tossed a guy out of a bar' kind, and the liquid kind. Any takers?"

AHUME: (smiles, nods) And long time no see to you, too. (motions to his half-empty glass) I could use a refill, my friend.

[Araraukar]

"You two look like you could use some cheering up. I got two kinds of joy today, the 'I just tossed a guy out of a bar' kind, and the liquid kind. Any takers?"

AHUME: (smiles, nods) And long time no see to you, too. (motions to his half-empty glass) I could use a refill, my friend.

"None for me, thanks," Janis said, lifting her cocoa mug, "but thank you for the offer. So, what was up with your... aide? Co-ambassador? Whatever he was. And Ahume, where did you and Ari vanish to for so long?"

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

And Ahume, where did you and Ari vanish to for so long?"

AHUME: Well, first I was on family leave for the Luna holidays, then there was karaoke league, then some sort of time travel mishap... never mind all that, not nearly as interesting as it sounds. (looks around) I noticed Parsons and Markhov have been replaced, and it's good to see Helen back. Anything else happen in the months we've been gone?

[Glaeschland]

Jonathan takes out his Gauss pistol and idly examines it, getting a bit bored.

[The Order Of Archangel Saint Michael]

Jonathan takes out his Gauss pistol and idly examines it, getting a bit bored.

The Consul Sips his Wine and notices a small shine from the corner of his eye. He looks over and Sees... something he hasn't seen in a long time.

"Why Sir! Is that a EM Coil Pistol? H-h-how did you Power that!? My Ancestors Spent lifetimes attempting to find a powerful enough Power source! Please! Tell me your secrets!"

[Wallenburg]

It had finally happened; the Diplomatic Overseer's supplies had run out, not the least because Seretis had apparently located them at some point. Perhaps Feren should have expected that, it was technically his office now, it was bound to happen at some point. Of course, he was not about to let such things as logic stop him from being upset about it. He could have avoided this place and it's absurd reputation for months had Seretis not discovered the cache. Alas, he entered the Stranger's Bar.

Feren makes his way to the bar, coming to a stop next to the collected Wallenburgians, "Yes, hello, Bartender, may I have a... I don't know, what do you have in wines, I suppose-" He stops, spotting a peculiarly labelled bottle, "Actually, is that from Hathien? That should not exist anymore, I think will be having a bit of that, thank you." With that resolved, he turns to Helen, "I apologize if I am interrupting something with the Ambassador Bell here, but I have been meaning to ask, I believe I have seen you in the Records, from the Diplomatic Overseer's tenure here?"

"Overseer?" asks Trevanyika. She looks over the man's clothing and gathers that he is from the same Imperium that Ambassador Markhov is from. "Ah, yes. I remember now. Ambassador Markhov and I were colleagues. I am Helen Trevanyika, the past, present, and not-so-future Chief Representative of Wallenburg. I have come to fill in for Rep. Ogenbond as he takes a vacation. He won't tell me where, so I imagine it's illegal or scandalous. Or both. His personal affairs are none of my business, though, I'm just here to do my job."

[Sierra Lyricalia]

"You two look like you could use some cheering up. I got two kinds of joy today, the 'I just tossed a guy out of a bar' kind, and the liquid kind. Any takers?"

AHUME: (smiles, nods) And long time no see to you, too. (motions to his half-empty glass) I could use a refill, my friend.

Steph nods brightly and waits for Ahume to drain his glass before pouring from the jug. "It has indeed been a while! Hope all's well w' the family?"

"None for me, thanks," Janis said, lifting her cocoa mug, "but thank you for the offer. So, what was up with your... aide? Co-ambassador? Whatever he was. And Ahume, where did you and Ari vanish to for so long?"

Steph grimaces briefly. She pours herself another drink from the jug and takes a sip before responding.

"Leo is... Hmm. Leo is a highly decorated career foreign office guy who worked his way up through the ranks of the House of Diplomats, based - near as I can tell - completely on his damn near psychic ability to negotiate favorable terms outta the Holy Republic. They being our dearest, dearest enemies. Gods only know how long he's been at it - he woulda got his start no more than a decade or so after independence, I think."

She takes another sip.

"He was publicly declared persona non grata by the Republic last year, but no reason given, which is odd. Either it's all silent, or there's a media scandal - like when the Lilliputian naval attaché got caught in the hotel room with the West Lebatuckese prime minister's husband a few years back, if you remember. So that's a huge deal, and I'm not surprised he's behaving a little... off-kilter lately, after all those years as the go-to guy. I think the Secretary is hoping he'll be able to relax a little, ease back into some slightly less unilateral work, and pick himself back up."

Steph sighs. "So I guess I don't feel great about tossing him anymore, but dude needs some tough love. I never seen anyone abuse the weapons nullifiers as much as Leo did, or tried to anyway. Not that I'm blameless there," she blushes, glancing at Ahume and remembering a certain agreement regarding a national bar tab, "But you just can't be cavalier about it, is all."

"Ah, well... 'Course, I never said a word of any o' this to either of you."

[Glaeschland]

Jonathan takes out his Gauss pistol and idly examines it, getting a bit bored.

The Consul Sips his Wine and notices a small shine from the corner of his eye. He looks over and Sees... something he hasn't seen in a long time.

"Why Sir! Is that a EM Coil Pistol? H-h-how did you Power that!? My Ancestors Spent lifetimes attempting to find a powerful enough Power source! Please! Tell me your secrets!"

"Sorry, no can do. That's highly classified information." Jonathan gives the man a somewhat sympathetic look before returning his attention to the gun. The ARP idly chirps near him.

[Araraukar]

AHUME: Anything else happen in the months we've been gone?

"Well, we've of course had some interesting new people here - that guy with that dog of a turret over there for example, the very large bat-like things, one of which talked to you before, and the marsupalian ambassador from Essu Beti, for example. And then the various riff-raff mixture of humans from various places. Oh, and the greenery has come up with some new things for Benjamin to run away from, as well as an improved version of the speaker plants."

"Ah, well... 'Course, I never said a word of any o' this to either of you."

"I for one never heard you say anything," Janis said with a grin.

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

"Well, we've of course had some interesting new people here - that guy with that dog of a turret over there for example, the very large bat-like things, one of which talked to you before, and the marsupalian ambassador from Essu Beti, for example. And then the various riff-raff mixture of humans from various places. Oh, and the greenery has come up with some new things for Benjamin to run away from, as well as an improved version of the speaker plants."

AHUME: I suppose, as the Tau'ri say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Steph sighs. "So I guess I don't feel great about tossing him anymore, but dude needs some tough love. I never seen anyone abuse the weapons nullifiers as much as Leo did, or tried to anyway. Not that I'm blameless there," she blushes, glancing at Ahume....

(Ahume nods for a bit, but as he watches Steph pour from a jug and talk about the weapons nullfiers, he's reminded of an old debt, and smirks for a moment. He takes out his tablet and rapidly taps a few on-screen prompts.)

AHUME: No, of course not. So, did this Leo fellow happen to run into any... golems? (He slides the tablet to Steph and smiles.) Thumb print there, please. Quickly. Before Fairburn's proposal reaches quorum. You'll thank me later.

[Essu Beti]

"We farm some things, but the creatures are same ones you can find in the wild, and most Tikrr prefer hunting the wild ones, because the farmed ones are not as good at evading and hunting them is not as satisfactory," Ikiti explained.

"What is milk?" Ikiti asked. "Or cheese?"

Her translator had explained milk to her as "protein-rich water excreted by certain warm-blooded hairy species to feed their young". It sounded like a messy process, and Ikiti couldn't see any advantage in it. As for cheese, "solid, coagulated edible foodstuff made of the protein-rich water, often with the help of micro-organisms already present in it" didn't sound very tasty.

"Does your great-grandparent live with your family?" she added as a last question, before waiting for answers.

Both of the elves nodded at Ikiti's assertion. There was something deeply satisfying about hunting your food, though there was definitely something to be said about the sheer reliability of keeping herds or flocks instead. For the most part, reliability won. Better good meals routinely than a great one at an unknown time. Ikiti's question, on the other hand, was more confusing. "How do you not know what-"

"Milk is a rich, tasty liquid that you squeeze out of a goat's tits," Iksana explains, interrupting Mohan. "Or a cow's tits, or a sheep's tits, or a horse's tits. Cheese is a way of preserving it. Makes it last a long time without spoiling and turns it solid so you can carry it in nice pretty little waxed wheels instead of dedicating a bottle or waterskin to it."

"No, my great-grandfather doesn't live with us, seeing as how he died long before I was born," Mohan says, having apparently decided that letting Iksana monopolize a topic was easier than trying to wrestle it from him. "Old age and a bad heart, from what grandfather said. Well, I say he doesn't live with 'us' but really the only 'us' there is is my mother and me."

[Lexicor]

Remy Junket, having returned from a hard day's work in the drafting room and having nothing better to do, strolls casually into the Bar, having been guided by it's artificial neon glare from two hallways distance away.
He sits down at one of the many seats in this establishment of seemingly infinite size and orders a drink from the bar. He then put's his head down and tries to ignore the tingling sensation in his toes urging him ever closer to the dance floor.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Steph sighs. "So I guess I don't feel great about tossing him anymore, but dude needs some tough love. I never seen anyone abuse the weapons nullifiers as much as Leo did, or tried to anyway. Not that I'm blameless there," she blushes, glancing at Ahume....

(Ahume nods for a bit, but as he watches Steph pour from a jug and talk about the weapons nullfiers, he's reminded of an old debt, and smirks for a moment. He takes out his tablet and rapidly taps a few on-screen prompts.)

AHUME: No, of course not. So, did this Leo fellow happen to run into any... golems? (He slides the tablet to Steph and smiles.) Thumb print there, please. Quickly. Before Fairburn's proposal reaches quorum. You'll thank me later.

Steph grimaces again, before doing a quick double-take. "Thank you??? Fairbu-- Oh. Right. Okay, I suppose so," she sighs, and quickly thumbs the indicated spot before glancing up at the bar's proposal queue display. "And now I can wish good luck with that without bein' a goddamn liar."

She scowls into her glass, but soon shakes her head and adopts a slightly amused expression.

[The Puddle Jumping Wads of Wrapper]

ARI: (re-entering the bar, holding a sheet of paper) Ahh, what a lovely day this is! Nevi-- ermm... Jimmy! A round for my friends, the delegation from States of Glory, and for these 90-ish delegates who were wise to spot such worthwhile legislation. (He grabs a half-full, unattended, clear sparkling drink from the bar and raises it in the direction of Ahume and Steph and winks.) Cheers! (He takes a swig, then spits it out.) Oh, that's horrid. Who the hell drinks this crap when there's such fine alcohol available?

[Imperium Anglorum]

Who the hell drinks this crap when there's such fine alcohol available?

Catching a bit of the exclamation from the Wad, Elsie, drinking her morning cup of tea, mutters, 'Who the hell orders it? And what is it, Victory Beer?'