001✖; (video @hot.damn)

[circumitus]

[The last thing Rey wants to do is show her face for all to see, but after meeting Peter, it feels bizarrely necessary.]

"Would seem some people here recognize each other from worlds different from their own -- this current one as well." [Pause.] "Just to put it out there: Am not that same person, even if we share the same face."

[She then makes a face when a croaky meow can be heard in the background. Rey adjusts the position of the device to reveal a three-legged cyclopean cat, sitting on a table at the bar, his spindly tail whipping happily back and forth while salivating some weird pale green drool out the corner of his mouth.]

"And this can't seem to get the memo. Can't seem to get rid of it, either."

[Maybe a part of her doesn't want to, but it is inconvenient.

[Lastly -- and she looks very uncomfortable saying this -- she adds:] "Some have asked what its name is. Ideas and information would be... appreciated."

Comments

[circumitus]

What? No.

Wasn't anything, really. Just came up in passing.

[Le audible shrug.]

[abheirrant]

Oh. Good. That's good.

[He wasn't worried. Did he sound worried? Because he wasn't.]

It has been odd, admittedly, to find I have a reputation of which I was unaware. I can only hope I was someone quite different when they met me.

[circumitus]

It happens. Am used to it.

[In a way. Rey's been recognized by people that she didn't remember before when her memories got wiped. She was also a battlefield boogeyman to many soldiers as the Salamander, so... that was always a thing. The last part she's significantly less inclined to share with the class, though.]

[abheirrant]

You are used to people knowing who you are well before you know them.

[That sounds crazy, but to be fair, a lot of people knew who he was before meeting him. He was the heir of Longinmouth, after all.]

[circumitus]

Have a... preceding reputation.

[One that she's grateful people here don't seem to know.]

[abheirrant]

You do? What for? Your pyromancy? Or your charming personality?

[circumitus]

My kill count.

[abheirrant]

Oh.

[He's silent for a moment, wishing he and Rey didn't have something so grisly in common.]

Well. Hopefully those who recognized you knew you for better qualities. They did for me.

[circumitus]

[She's more than fine with him not dignifying her quip with a proper response. She just shrugs and moves along.]

Didn't seem to have an opinion, really. Some just mentioned something about running a bar.

...

Have never run a bar.

[abheirrant]

I suppose this you from another time did, at one point, and it's not merely some shared delusion.

[circumitus]

Guess it doesn't sound too impossible... Have picked up on how to distill liquor here and there.

...

Not opening up a bar here, though.

[abheirrant]

I don't see why you would, given there's one already. I'm not sure anyone runs that one, now that I think about it.

[circumitus]

Unless you consider the useless Tequila Sunrise-throwing tin can behind the bartop to be running that place... it's more or less self-service, anyway.

[And there doesn't seem to be an outcry for bartenders. At any rate, Rey is fine with straight bourbon.]

[abheirrant]

[He might not know what a Tequila Sunrise is, but he gets what Rey is going for.]

I would not know. I have not had a drink since I arrived here.

[circumitus]

[Rey can go for several weeks to months without food and drink, so the notion doesn't seem too strange to her. She just snorts at Carlisle's comment.]

No shit, you'd have to take that damn mask off to do anything like that, first.

[abheirrant]

Yes, I am aware of that. Believe it or not, I have drunk before.

[But thanks for reminding him of things he really shouldn't do anymore.]

[circumitus]

Oh good, guess that answers whether or not you consume nutrients via photosynthesis. Glad to know you're not a freaky plant person.

[Not that Rey was wondering.]

[abheirrant]

You say that as if all my layers could hide such a dreadful secret.

[It's a worse one under there, as far as he's concerned.]

[circumitus]

That's usually the case. Most people don't dress up that much all the time unless they're hiding some horrible disfigurements -- or religious reasons.

[She pauses, realizing how probing and invasive that sounds.]

You don't need to confirm one or the other. Just telling you, it's pretty obvious.

[abheirrant]

I do work for a church.

[Which is technically true (or was, given his church is now in ruins), even if that's not the reason he's wearing so many layers.]

[circumitus]

Huh. That would explain some things.

[It doesn't negate all other possibilities, but needless to say she's not surprised to hear him say this.]

[abheirrant]

I assumed it would. Thankfully, few have questioned my attire. I assume that, given many of us come from entirely different worlds, there are far stranger appearances among us.

[circumitus]

[She clicks her tongue.]

Fair point. Have seen a lot of weird-looking motherfuckers around here.

[In the background, Tripod weeh's. You're talking about him, aren't you, Rey?! She makes a muffled "calm the hell down" at the cat.]

[abheirrant]

He heard you speaking ill of him.

[Is he smiling smugly on his end? Yeah, probably.]

[circumitus]

Oh shut up, you.

[Is she talking to Carlisle or the yelling cat? It's hard to say, but maybe it's a bit of both.]