Welcome Committee

[sumarusfinest]

There's been so many fresh faces to the Nexus recently, and more than a few of them have been children. Questions about finding a way home, about trying to decide if they want to go home. People wondering what to do now...

There are a few tables set out this morning in the Plaza in front of a small cafe loaded with several caraffes of coffee, breakfast pastries from more than a few different worlds and cultures, and a large pan of eggs and sausage kept warm over a chafing dish. On either end of the table are disposable plates, cups, and cutlery as well as a few welcome pamphlets in a small container. Along the front of the tables is a hand made banner.

"Meet and Greet"

Manning the tables is Katsuya Suou, red apron on and a cup of coffee in hand. He looks far too cheerful for how early in the morning it is.

"Right then, is anyone hungry? Have any questions about the nexus?"


((OOC: Feel free to mingle and threadjump in this thread. I'm trying to get people who have yet to meet to interact, so do not feel obligated to only reply to me!))

Comments

[morbidmausoleum]

The guildsmen of the Mausoleum are free to spend the daylight hours however they please; for Dinah, that means visiting the Nexus now that she has a reliable route there and back.

The smell of coffee and pastries hits her nose the moment she enters the Plaza, and she wastes no time following it to its apparent point of origin. She may not need to eat or drink anymore, but that doesn't mean she can't, or that she doesn't like to when she gets a chance.

Upon entering the cafe, she makes an immediate beeline for the coffee. She'll get to the food (and the mingling) in just a minute.

[auspex_caelo]

There's someone else at the coffee already: what looks rather like a helmetless Roman soldier pouring himself a cup in one of those anachronistic moments the Nexus seems to love. On the other hand, he's measuring that stuff out with what looks like far more care (even a hint of trepidation, perhaps) than it deserves, so probably he isn't used to doing this.

He is quick to step back when he realized he's holding up a more avid caffeine enthusiast, and picks up a cup from the pile to offer her. "Ah. Pardon me."

[morbidmausoleum]

She's seen plenty of strange things in her line of work (not even counting her previous adventures in the multiverse) but that is... definitely a new one on her, yeah. For a few moments she just watches the apparent Roman pour out his coffee with extreme care, equal parts curious and confused.

Then he's stepping back and offering her a cup, and she blinks but takes it, the movement close to instinctual. "No worries. And, ah... thanks." She gestures with the cup before stepping up to fill it.

[auspex_caelo]

He's never tried the coffee, before, that's the thing. He's taking a risk with it, and while she's pouring hers he'll fill the rest of his cup with milk. (The Nexus is blessedly free of Nords to make fun of the tribune when he's being careful.)

"You're quite welcome." He gives her a thoughtful, sidelong look as he puts the milk back. "I don't believe we've met - Stratos Caelus, tribune of the Imperial Legion."

[morbidmausoleum]

Depending on how strong it is and how long ago it was made, that might be an entirely justifiable safety measure on his part. (Lord knows she's had coffee before where the only way to save it was to smother the actual coffee in milk and sugar.)

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember if we had," she agrees with a small smile. And, since a handshake might be a bit problematic while they're both still trying to make their coffee, she dips into a brief curtsy. "Dinah Wherever. Nice to meet you, Tribune."

[auspex_caelo]

"Dinah... Wherever?" he echoes with surprised amusement (even though he has no business being amused when he takes a place called Elsweyr seriously). Regardless, he bows his head politely. "The pleasure is mine. Are you a regular visitor to the Nexus, or one of the newer arrivals?"

Or, perhaps, an unwilling resident. He thinks he'll find out either way.

[morbidmausoleum]

Honestly, she's used to it; most people back home consider her name pretty odd too. He's not even the first one to be amused.

"One of the newer arrivals," she answers. "I first stumbled onto a door leading here a couple months ago, but I haven't been able to get back and actually explore much until today."

[auspex_caelo]

"Fortunate timing, then," he says, nodding toward the buffet. "The Legion has a small checkpoint beside our doorway - little more than a desk and a banner, but it's sufficient to offer assistance to citizens in the plaza. And guard the border, of course."

He gestures toward a quiet table. "May I ask what sort of world you hail from? Many people here seem to come from a version of Earth, though I know little about the place myself."

[morbidmausoleum]

"I know, right?" She can't help but grin. In this case, at least, her timing was flawless.

"I'm from a version of Earth myself - Massachusetts, United States, to be specific, in the year 2015." She has no problem heading toward the table he indicated, coffee in hand. There seems to be plenty of food, so she's not fussed about potentially missing out.

[auspex_caelo]

Since he's in the lead anyway, he pulls out a chair to offer her before sitting down himself. The United States is a country he's heard of before: hopefully that means he can assume her culture is close to that of other Earth people he's met. (One of whom is Jim Kirk, of course...)

"Massachusetts," he echoes, careful with his pronunciation. Never mind that it comes out sounding a little funny in his accent anyway. "A city, I take it? For myself, I'm originally from a city called Bruma in the Empire of Tamriel."

[morbidmausoleum]

She murmurs her thanks as she takes the offered seat. Given that plenty of Americans can't pronounce it either, or spell it for that matter, she's not about to give him any grief for his attempt.

"A state," she corrects gently. "So more like a province than a city." She half-wonders if they even have those in the Empire of Tamriel. You'd think, given how big empires tend to be, but who even knows? "I've never heard of Tamriel before; what's it like?"

[auspex_caelo]

Well then. He should have guessed, but it's difficult for him to really appreciate how large anything outside his own country is.

"Ah, I see." There's a brief hint of a smile. This much he'll acknowledge consciously: "I'm still quite unused to speaking of other nations large enough to be so divided." The Dominion doesn't count, of course. "You'll understand that it's difficult to sum up the known world, but on the whole I think it's a beautiful place, home to all manner of different races and their traditions. All of whom are welcome as Imperial citizens, of course."

He strokes his chin thoughtfully - what on Nirn is worth pointing out as different? "Hmm. From what I understand, we have far less emphasis on electrical gadgetry than Earth. Whereas, of course, magic is relatively commonplace on Tamriel."

[morbidmausoleum]

She's not about to judge; people from her own world have that problem sometimes too. (The example that comes to mind involves someone from England finding it mind-boggling how huge the US is.)

"Ah, yeah, magic's not too common - least not on my version of Earth." Actually, aside from Edaniel casting a spell every now and again, she isn't sure she'd ever seen real magic before she started hopping around the multiverse. But something else about his description caught her attention.

"You mentioned other races. Do you mean like... elves, dwarves, halflings, that kind of thing?"

[auspex_caelo]

"I haven't heard of halflings, and the dwarves vanished centuries ago, but yes, of course. We have several races of elf - including orcs, though they dislike acknowledging that. To say nothing of the Khajiit and Argonians - cat and lizard folk." He'd call them by their proper names if any were present, but he can get away with it here and more to the point, she wouldn't understand otherwise.

[morbidmausoleum]

The specifics would be lost on her for sure, but she gets the gist. Even the idea of orcs also being elves doesn't throw her for too much of a loop - neither exist outside fantasy stories in her world, but in those stories the idea that orcs somehow or other came from elves, or were elves, isn't entirely unheard of.

"Oh, halflings are-" She gestures, indicating a height somewhere near her own elbow. "Little people, hairy-footed, shy of humans. But they only exist in stories, where I'm from." But she doesn't give him long to digest that, because she has questions of her own. "You said they vanished- how'd that happen?"

[red_room]

Thanks to a bit of information from a certain dragonbord Natasha is making a return back to the food and coffee tables.

She'll just be here watching while Stratos busies himself with helping ever damsel that passes by and others with an unreadable expression on her face. Only once the line has gone will she step forward, deliberately in his line of sight while she gets herself a cup of coffee.

"Volunteering to hand out food, are you?"

[auspex_caelo]

He does tend to linger near the food in between talking to people, even though he's already eaten the small amount he intends to have. And even that was partly out of politeness and partly because Katsuya's baking is just that good.

"When it seems the courteous thing to do." He raises his eyebrows just a little when Natasha deliberately strolls into his surveillance area field of view. Still, they've spoken before, and he recalls her positively enough to smile faintly. "Miss Romanov, correct? I hope you've been well since we met."

[red_room]

"Indeed, Mr. Caelus."

Natasha doesn't say anything while she fixes her coffee just the way she likes it. Stratos is one of the familiar faces around the Nexus, and has been making quite a name for himself with this whole Nexus-police push he seems to be masterminding.

"Between the good officer and Ice Bear I'd say it's pretty well managed. What's gotten you so curious today, I wonder?"

[auspex_caelo]

"Tribune," he corrects automatically, though as soon as he does he's wondering whether she was watching for just such a ruffling of his feathers. He knows enough to believe she isn't a careless sort of woman.

"Meeting new acquaintances is the purpose of this event, I believe. I consider it important to establish good relations with the local inhabitants of a region... particularly when it seems likely we will only become more involved with this place."

[red_room]

The fact that she's smirking may just have tipped her hand a bit. Although Natasha rarely does anything without a reason. She's very clearly letting him know she is teasing him. Just a little bit. He is rather fun to ruffle.

His type always are.

"And here I thought being social was your brother's job. Guess it helps that most of the faces here are easy on the eyes."

It's rather difficult to tell exactly what Stratos's job is, aside from supervising the people he leaves to watch that desk all day. It's been a rather interesting ball of yarn to prod at and try to unravel. not that she'd ever give him the benefit of knowing he's an unsolved puzzle as of yet. He hasn't ever needed to be solved.

[auspex_caelo]

"I'm more interested in the fact that most of them are unfamiliar," he says loftily. Looks like that ruffling isn't over yet. "Felix is currently indisposed, unfortunately. But regardless it does no harm for me to make an appearance at such events. It's an opportunity to gauge the new arrivals... and to ensure the Legion is represented properly."

Stratos would be quite happy to remain unsolved - and perhaps he favors it when nobody troubles to ask about him.

"I'd wager your reasons for being here aren't dissimilar."

[red_room]

"....Indisposed. Victim to that plague priest?"

She hopes it's nothing too terrible or severe. Natasha's lucky the people she's been watching over didn't get involved with that. She's not sure Steve would have lived through it if he had.

"I'm...mostly here to keep an eye on a few people." The humor drains from her face as she glances out across the tables. "Whether for concern for them or concern of them. It makes sense for me to keep close during situations such as these."