The World Assembly Strangers' Bar

[Astrolinium]

Giovanni, clearly a dangerous combination of utterly oblivious to personal danger and really quite drunk, stood up and poked the ogre in the nipple tactlessly.

"Hey, you, big guy! Why can't I understand you! What're you doing to the translators?"

[Wallenburg]

The ogre grabbed Bell by the collar and lifted him to eye level. An eye level made ever more apparent by the decorative scars under the ogre's eyes, indicating his completion of very painful and dangerous rituals, and marking him as a very strong warrior in his own right. During this, the sack falls to the floor, spilling the grisly contents of the former Sergeant Lupinski's head, sans the ears.

"I kill, you pay! i'Fhan'i ny drach'ki, ke? i'fhan'i isrusk juj kavam shok'gran. Maybe kill you instead, yes?"

Helen screams in terror, then vomits again into the wastebin. Gerald looks over and cries out at the sight of the head. "Notch in Arabus! The sign specifically says NO KILL--wait. That came from outside the bar, didn't it?"

He thinks over it for a moment. "Well, that's highly unsanitary. You could have kept the blood off the floors."

[Separatist Peoples]

"I'm going to die. The idiots are going to get me killed by an enraged ogre. This is how Benjamin Bell ends," he keeps muttering as the ogre lifts him up.

"Look, I'm very sorry, but I don't have the authority, and killing me doesn't get you the bounty. Look, you need to take your sack and go to the nearest C.D.S.P. consulate. Bring it there, somebody will probably be too terrified to refuse payment. If you exit the WA campus, you can find it by turning left at..."

Bell details the directions to the consulate clearly and at relative ease. When the ogre still didn't put him down, he met the ogre's gaze with his own, staring the beast down through the horrific reek.

[Herby]

The ogre grabbed Bell by the collar and lifted him to eye level. An eye level made ever more apparent by the decorative scars under the ogre's eyes, indicating his completion of very painful and dangerous rituals, and marking him as a very strong warrior in his own right. During this, the sack falls to the floor, spilling the grisly contents of the former Sergeant Lupinski's head, sans the ears.

"I kill, you pay! i'Fhan'i ny drach'ki, ke? i'fhan'i isrusk juj kavam shok'gran. Maybe kill you instead, yes?"

Whoa whoa whoa wait. Eh. Wait. I'll pay. What's yer price, onion head?

[Araraukar]

"Oh, good lord, you, too? We apologized to the manager of the hotel and the wedding party in the ballroom below us. If they didn't want the chandelier to come loose, they should have used more than six screws. I don't know who called the fire department, but there was no reason to notify the press, too."

OOC:

"No, I'm just curious. Humanoids are usually treated by doctors who themselves are humanoids, but I'm having a hard time visualizing a car treating a car."

You think you got a tough time visualizing that, lemme tell you 'bout the sex life of Herbies. Heh heh. Eh. Or not.

"Well, actually I was going to ask if you guys had a factory that made you, or if you were all made ages ago as cars for the Drivers, and became sapient after. You make a lot of sexually-coloured comments, but they're always aimed at humanoids. I wonder if a car having the hots for a biological lifeform would count as zoofilia?"

Lotta robotics, lotta sensors, lotta probes at home.

OOC: Some jokes are set up too easily. I refuse to rise up to that one.

He genuinely cares 'bout the machinery, he ain't nothin' like a Slaver-Driver. Know what I'm sayin'?

"A good mechanic is as important as a good doctor, even to humanoid customers," Janis said with a nod, "but as I'm already asking people about sensitive stuff, I might as well go ahead and ask a bit about your world's history; the Slave-Drivers you keep mentioning, I take it they were humans, or at least humanoid, and your people were at one time used by them as regular, non-sapient cars? Or did they know you were sapient and suppressed you somehow?"

OOC: wut

IC: Gerald sizes up the ogre and decides that while he still stands taller than the creature, it could pound him to a bloody pulp if it wanted to. Meanwhile, Helen sits still, near-paralyzed by fear.

OOC: They were mentioned as possible weapons buyers.

He reads the document and, prompted by the low snarl of the ogre, looks into the sack.

"Yeah. No, that's definitely Lupinski. Um, that's definitely some of Lupinski, at least. Look, I'm really sorry, but I'm not the one who pays out on bounties. I'm only mentioned in case you found me with him. Wait, did you cut off his ears?"

"Ooh, sweet justice done, then," said Janis, seemingly unfazed by the stench of rotting flesh that was so badly affecting so many around her. "Hey, Bell, how much was the bounty? If I can afford it, I could use a new paperweight."

OOC: PPU might actually be interested, unless you had other plans.

[Kernen]

Bell details the directions to the consulate clearly and at relative ease. When the ogre still didn't put him down, he met the ogre's gaze with his own, staring the beast down through the horrific reek.

The ogre, losing the battle of wills to the call of gold, sets Bell down. Growling in his own language a bit, he turns around to address another annoyance.

Giovanni, clearly a dangerous combination of utterly oblivious to personal danger and really quite drunk, stood up and poked the ogre in the nipple tactlessly.

"Hey, you, big guy! Why can't I understand you! What're you doing to the translators?"

The ogre reaches out and picks up Giovanni by his collar, scooping up his legs in the other. With exaggerated care, since the ogre had no clue how this human related to Bell, and didn't want to risk his reward, the ogre tucks Giovanni into the rafters over the bar.

Turning back to Bell, he nods once and grunts in approval. Few humans can deal with an ogre without panicking. Scooping the severed head off the ground, he reaches into the mouth and pulls out one of Lupinski's incisors, then shoves his grisly prize back into the sack. Weapons rattling, he hands Bell the tooth, then leaves the bar.

[Herby]

"Ooh, sweet justice done, then," said Janis, seemingly unfazed by the stench of rotting flesh that was so badly affecting so many around her. "Hey, Bell, how much was the bounty? If I can afford it, I could use a new paperweight."

What? No no no no, I got dibs, I called it first. That thing would look awesome hangin' from my rear view.

[Astrolinium]

Giovanni was silent for a moment and then quietly said, "Does anyone have a ladder, or maybe some twine with good tensile strength?"

[Herby]

Turning back to Bell, he nods once and grunts in approval. Few humans can deal with an ogre without panicking. Scooping the severed head off the ground, he reaches into the mouth and pulls out one of Lupinski's incisors, then shoves his grisly prize back into the sack. Weapons rattling, he hands Bell the tooth, then leaves the bar.

WHAT? No no no no come back, Janis and I, we'll pay you more! Bell, you ass, how could you just let him go like that?

[Separatist Peoples]

Turning back to Bell, he nods once and grunts in approval. Few humans can deal with an ogre without panicking. Scooping the severed head off the ground, he reaches into the mouth and pulls out one of Lupinski's incisors, then shoves his grisly prize back into the sack. Weapons rattling, he hands Bell the tooth, then leaves the bar.

WHAT? No no no no come back, Janis and I, we'll pay you more!

"Herby, you're gonna want to let it go. You, too, Janice. They're not to be trusted, even freelancers like that. They're famous for mercurial dealings and betrayals. There's actually an old ogre parable about one of their greatest ancient Khans and his closest friend and adviser. The Khan Jarat unifies the clans, spends years building an empire, and relies on his friend and adviser Kursk through it all. One day, during practice, Jarat is wounded. He hands his axe to loyal Kursk to bind his wound, and Kursk immediately beheads his friend and Khan. All that was Jarat's was now Kursk's. It really isn't worth it."

He looks down at his own trophy and stares.

[Wallenburg]

Helen, shuddering violently, grabs the nearest table and tries to haul herself to her feet. Then the table tips over and everything on it falls on top of her. "Ohh, why..."

She pulls herself upright and stands, wiping her mouth with a napkin from the table. "Okay then. That's over. Ben, I believe we were talking?"

[Separatist Peoples]

Giovanni was silent for a moment and then quietly said, "Does anyone have a ladder, or maybe some twine with good tensile strength?"

Bell stacks a few chairs to give Giovanni something to hop down onto.

"So...uh...sorry about all that, folks. Everybody ok?"

[Araraukar]

"They're famous for mercurial dealings and betrayals."

"Show me a politician that isn't," Janis said with a snort.

He looks down at his own trophy and stares.

"Oh, hey, how much you want for that?"

[Wrapper]

Giovanni was silent for a moment and then quietly said, "Does anyone have a ladder, or maybe some twine with good tensile strength?"

Bell stacks a few chairs to give Giovanni something to hop down onto.

"So...uh...sorry about all that, folks. Everybody ok?"

ARI: Erm, actually, no, Helen just spilled my drink. Oh, Wad Ahume, there you are, did you drop something under the table?

[Araraukar]

ARI: Erm, actually, no, Helen just spilled my drink. Oh, Wad Ahume, there you are, did you drop something under the table?

Janis peers under the table. "Is he conscious and not vomiting?"

[Astrolinium]

Giovanni was silent for a moment and then quietly said, "Does anyone have a ladder, or maybe some twine with good tensile strength?"

Bell stacks a few chairs to give Giovanni something to hop down onto.

"So...uh...sorry about all that, folks. Everybody ok?"

"Gràchie molte," Giovanni intoned in Aelian. He had one leg onto a chair before he suddenly stopped and said, "Wait a minute, how did I just do that?"

At which point the chairs collapsed underneath him. With a shout, he fell and landed in a pile amongst the chairs very near (and, possibly, on top of) one or more of the Wrapperians.

[Wrapper]

ARI: Erm, actually, no, Helen just spilled my drink. Oh, Wad Ahume, there you are, did you drop something under the table?

Janis peers under the table. "Is he conscious and not vomiting?"

AHUME: Conscious, yes. Vomiting, not anymore.

ARI: Ah, very good. So, Benjamin, you know you could turn that tooth into a marvellous piece of jewelry. A pendant, perhaps. That squeeze of yours, I'm sure she'd appreciate a gift like that, hmmm?

[Herby]

Helen, shuddering violently, grabs the nearest table and tries to haul herself to her feet. Then the table tips over and everything on it falls on top of her. "Ohh, why..."

She pulls herself upright and stands, wiping her mouth with a napkin from the table. "Okay then. That's over. Ben, I believe we were talking?"

So ehhh I'm thinkin' that Tollan paradise with Kay is lookin' better and better every second, right? Right?

[Araraukar]

AHUME: Conscious, yes. Vomiting, not anymore.

"Why does everyone react so badly to that smell? I mean, you two I could understand; I don't think you've ever come across putrefying corpses in the wilderness, or been to the scene of a grisly accident or anything like that, but I thought Elena was a military person?"

OOC: In Araraukar "getting lost in the wilderness" is a valid cause of death, and anyone who's worked as a wilderness guide, is used to finding the missing persons (often) too late, and usually by smell. Guess what was Janis's summer job when she was a uni student?

[Wrapper]

AHUME: Conscious, yes. Vomiting, not anymore.

"Why does everyone react so badly to that smell? I mean, you two I could understand; I don't think you've ever come across putrefying corpses in the wilderness, or been to the scene of a grisly accident or anything like that, but I thought Elena was a military person?"

ARI: Actually I don't find it that bad, reminds me of the swamplands on P3X-454.

AHUME: Umm. I think it was something I ate.

ARI: Oh, you're not fooling anyone but yourself, you know. So anyway, Benjamin, if not a pendant then perhaps you could have it turned into a fine decorative brooch....

[Wallenburg]

"Why does everyone react so badly to that smell? I mean, you two I could understand; I don't think you've ever come across putrefying corpses in the wilderness, or been to the scene of a grisly accident or anything like that, but I thought Elena was a military person?"

"Well, yes, I'm a lieutenant, but I've never fought in battle, really. I wasn't a damned foot soldier," Helen says, still queasy.

[Araraukar]

"Well, yes, I'm a lieutenant, but I've never fought in battle, really. I wasn't a damned foot soldier," Helen says, still queasy.

"And the Tollans don't eat meat? Agrarian society, slaughterhouses, all that?"

[Wallenburg]

"Well, yes, I'm a lieutenant, but I've never fought in battle, really. I wasn't a damned foot soldier," Helen says, still queasy.

"And the Tollans don't eat meat? Agrarian society, slaughterhouses, all that?"

"You know, there's a difference between skinning a chicken and decapitating a living person. One's murder, the other's putting food on the table."

[Herby]

"And the Tollans don't eat meat? Agrarian society, slaughterhouses, all that?"

"You know, there's a difference between skinning a chicken and decapitating a living person. One's murder, the other's putting food on the table."

Well said. Though ehhhh I do have to say, I have seen my fair share of roadkill of course.

[Tinfect]

OOC:
Chroist, go off on a job and suddenly there's an Ogre in the bar.
Can't leave you people alone for even a few Hours, I swear...

IC:

"I thought so," Janis said with a decidedly evil grin. "Do you have some device on you that's advanced enough to receive and view a video file sent to you via the information network in this place?" She pulled out her mobile phone and started typing a text message. "I can have them send it to you..."

He gestures to the Helmet still sitting on the Bar,
"You'd need access codes for the local Relay, though. And the ones for Civil Oversight. And, uh, the ones for- actually, I don't think it's legal for me to give these out... Unless... hold on."

He pulls another sheet of paper from the case embedded in the armour system, and then a few more, sets them on the bar, and begins filling them out. Managing to completely miss the entire exchange with the Ogre, before turning back to Janis,
"Hey, I need your name, and uh, country of Origin, I guess."