The Stumble Inn

Taban sat there looking somewhat bewildered. "I. . . girly boy?. . . Well, excuse me for lacking a gender." He muttered to himself before Kasei-La launched herself at him. "Child, relax. You can't really upset Mel. She stood there and watched the inn burn once and only sighed before working to build a new one."

Melanie finally stopped singing. "Would you mind not ruining this for me? This is the only thing I have. Thank you."

Kasei-La sniffled, and looked up at him with big eyes. "A-are you su-ure?" She tried to force a smile, and had a hopeful gleam in her eyes, wanting to believe Taban but still obviously scared.

"My humblest apologies, ma-dam! Just used to everyone being loud and noisy. Used to get in singing contests with the ladies in the showers back on New Troy." He sighed, and went back to lathering quietly. He didn't feel ashamed of himself one bit. He made a mistake, so what?

Melanie stood there in the shower for a while, but the moment of happiness was gone. "It doesn't matter." She sighed, turning off the water. She began dressing quickly. There was work to be done, after all. Shouldn't be wasting time enjoying herself and thinking of the past anyway.


"Eh, yes, Kasei-La. She's not the emotional type." Taban detached himself from Kasei-La and lounged back in the sunlight, trying to concentrate. Feeding himself in this foggy land was hard.

"Nan." R'ioth responded, still weary of the figure before him. "S da nanar ya ish nukz. Qual ra ish?"

R'ioth decided that summoning a beast would do him no harm, only add to the stranger's confusion. The more he could play on that, the better chance he would have in a fight if one happened to break out. Who knew what witchcraft the stranger could pull on him?

The canteen was opened and a small stream of blood poured out onto the floor. R'ioth stared into the pile and imagined it taking shape, forming into the beast imprinted on his mind. Soon a badger-like creature took form, about knee high, and rose out of the blood. It snarled at the stranger and waited for R'ioth to command it.

"Nice... Badger? I guess. I mean, that's pretty amazing, but I saw a man pilot himself from Hell and I talked to an embodiment of a distant planet's moon... So, you know. Amazing, but to be expected here. Kinda like miracles in the maternity ward."

Denton blinked, and walked out, wrapping a towel around his waste as he went to grab her arm. "I'd say it mat--HNNG" The pigment in his hair changed, and it became black. "...I would say it matters." Realizing he had already made one faux-pas, he pulled his arm away. "Look, didn't mean to ruin your groove. You can have me thrown out a window, if you like." He smiled innocently at her. "I'll only scream for a few minutes, promise."

Kasei-La smiled to herself, and went back to the kitchen, seeing Mel. Quickly, she darted in, and started cleaning some more. Now that she had Taban's assurance Mel wouldn't be mad at her, she felt safer, and took her time as she cleaned, even singing to herself a little bit. "Oooh say, can you seeee by the dawn's early liiiight..." To her, it was merely a fun folk tune from a long time ago, but it seemed important to Hal. No clue why, though.

Molodi pulled on some new clothes; a pair of ratty brown trousers with suspenders and a white blouse. It looked awkward on her, but she never really cared about her appearance much these days.

Mel stared at him expressionlessly for a beat, and then continued on her way. "Work to do." She quickly pulled back her still-wet hair and went to feth the broom.

"Ich bein Ravz'gar." R'ioth said, grinning. "Ich var espt cin!"

R'ioth reached down and stroked the hair atop the beast's head, still thinking he might have a chance at intimidating this stranger. He had no idea what this 'Hell' was, nor what a 'pilot' was or did. This new place was so strange that R'ioth responded the way his people did in times of confusion, with ever-increasing hostility. Until R'ioth could understand the situation, it would most likely remain this way.

Denton wrinkled his nose. "Oh, come on, that was funny!" He rolled his eyes, and shrugged. "Oh well. Not everyone likes my jokes." He blinked "...Wait. All I have is my jumpsuit, and that's soaked in grime and blood and stuff." He looked around, and thought for a moment. "...Do you know where I can get some pants?" He looked down "Unless you want me to walk around in a towel all day, which I'm fine with too." His casualness was not rooted in arrogance, but living in a world where everyone was expected to treat you as a friend, thanks to living so close together and needing cooperating to survive. He waited by the door, so Mel could answer.

Molodi went back downstairs, ringing out her hair. "Ugh. That annoying asss..."

"You have no idea what I'm talking to, do you? Essentially, I have met a warrior who soars through the air and kills demigods, and there is a moon goddess here. Do you understand? As for spitting fire, I can do so too, with my pistol. Think a crossbow, except really small and it shoots fire, like I said."

Melanie paused what she was doing to look at him in silence for a bit before speaking. "Try the laundry room. Downstairs. Or go to the General Store. It doesn't matter to me." She looked away and continued sweeping.


Taban sat up and looked over at Hal. "Are you talking about ealn-boro? Because please, don't be dragging my other half into this. She's sleeping right now anyway."

"Nan. S nadanast comlier." R'ioth responded, guessing that the stranger was denouncing the strength of his beast. He grinned and snapped his fingers, sending the Ravz'gar back to blood form. He then swirled his finger once and the blood retreated back into the canteen. However foreign this stranger was, R'ioth was sure he could impress him. The real question was whether or not it would be worth it. "Vact, S errn wi wizan anavyz."

"S ivn harth na anav dsa." Announcing a defeat, simply out of confusion, R'ioth turned and headed out of the door. This place confused and infuriated him, it was simply better to try and find a way out.

Hal shrugged "Suit yourself. I've been told there's no way to leave this town, though." He turned to Taban. "Now, sorry about that. Say, check out this!" He pointed to the little device, and looked down at it. "...Hmmm... It's fixed... I'm gonna see what it does. It's not a bomb or a weapon, I know that, so there's no danger." He grinned, and pressed down on the button. It chimed Insecurity System Activated. Have a Nice Day. A bright blue flash filled the air, and soon, everyone found themselves with a physical representations of their insecurities.

Hal's head was suddenly covered with meat, bacon and other sorts sticking tightly to him.

Kasei-La blinked, looking down at her new clothes. It was a little's girls party dress, reading "Daddy's Girl". She blushed, absolutely confused "What just happened?"

Molodi disappeared with a thud under a huge pile of various baubles, such as a broken glass bottle, a communist ID pass, a condom, many cigarettes and various other things "FUCK!"

Denton, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. "Huh. What was that? Ergh, stung my eyes."

Taban found himself surrounded by candles. He jumped to his feet in a panic and started shrieking obscenities in Aylem. "WESAAAAAAAAAAAA! HELP!"

Mel was suddenly naked, scars clearly visible on her porcelain skin. "Ah. . . !" She dropped the broom with a loud clatter and ran towards the bathroom.

Denton blinked, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Hello? Are you okay?" His voice was filled with concern. "There was this big flash, and you seemed panicked... What's wrong?"

Yanking herself from the pile, Molodi looked down at herself. She was wearing the outfit from her showgirl days on the boat. Slowly, her hands moved up to feel the rabbit ears on her head, and she started to cry, looking down and seeing stickers all over her, reading "He hit me here" "and here" "and here". She tore them off herself, shrieking incomprehensibly in Ukrainian.

Hal peeled the bacon off his face, and looked at Taban. "...Candles? Well, alright." One by one, he started to blow them out, trying not to let his embarassment or the chaos around him get the better of him.

Kasei-La growled, and stomped her foot. "I'm not a daddy's girl! HAAAAL! What did oyu do?"

As soon as enough of the candles were out, Taban ran out the door of the hotel in a panic. "GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


Melanie sat in the shower stall and pull her knees to her chest. There had to be an explanation. She didn't think anyone saw anything. They were too distracted by their own problems. Good.

Denton lowered his voice slightly. "...Did I see scars? 'Cause, if that's what you were upset about, I have a lot too. They're no biggie, really. Just skin that kinda looks funny, in my opinion."

Hal sighed, and plucked the meat off his face. He wanted to check up on Wesa, to see if she was affected, but decided Taban should do it. He rushed outside. "Taban! Pull yourself together, man! You need to check if your friend is alright! Don't just abandon her because of a little fire! Come on!" He looked back at the Inn, with all the shrieking.

Molodi fell into a fetal position, and curled up against the wall. She sobbed deeply, horrified at what just happened. Everything she had ever bottled up was right there in front of her, in solid form. Everything.

Taban twisted catlike in his hands, trying to escape and never ceasing his panicked stream of obscenities.

Melanie said nothing, staying where she was. She stared at the wall, shivering.

Denton sighed, and walked in, covering his eyes. "Alright, I'm coming in. You can pummel me, scream curse words at me, or whatever. I just wanna know you're alright, miss. Tell me if I'm allowed to look, by the way, since it's hard to navigate a slippery bathroom with your eyes closed."

"TABAN! WESA. MIGHT. BE. IN. DANGER." Hal facepalmed, and kept chasing after him. "Come on!"

Molodi huffed and puffed, trying to regain herself, but to no avail at all. She curled further in on herself, her mind racing.

Kasei-La blinked at the confusion, and shrugged to herself, deciding to go upstairs. She knocked on Wesa's door. "Hey, Wesaaaa? Sorry to bug you, but something really strange is going on. Just wanted to know if anything weird happened to you."

R'ioth passed the strange man from before, who was now chasing another stranger through the open and was covered in meat. He shook his head and went into the Inn again. This building seemed to be the only place where the townspeople congregated and if he wanted to know things, the witchcraft was the only way.

R'ioth became instantly distracted as he passed through the door. He noticed a girl sitting against the far wall, shivering and curling up. He knew he could never get married, as he had for a long time, so dealing with females was simply caring for him. The fact that no one had taken care of this female, buried in items as she was, astonished R'ioth. He approached her and cocked his head to the left. "Kierva? S a R'ioth. Se falaro rana?" He asked the girl, wondering if there was any chance she could understand his speech under normal circumstances. "A var S asist?"

Molodi looked up at the man, sniffling. She couldn't understand him, but understood the concerned tone in his voice. "Just go away... Please, just leave me alone. I don't want any of your kind around me right now. Not now."

R'ioth couldn't understand her words, but she clearly wanted him to leave. However, with past experience, R'ioth tended to believe that a female who was shaking and possibly in tears wanted any comfort she could get. He simple bent down and poured a few drops from his canteen. A small kitten-like animal soon emerged from the blood, nuzzling against the girl and meowing.

R'ioth stood again and used his magic to see through the kitten's eyes. He told the kitten to crawl up onto the woman, and the kitten obliged. It was purring and nuzzling, attempting to worm its way past the woman's fake defenses.

Molodi sighed, and started to pet the cat's fur, looking down at it. She was a sucker for cats. She smiled slightly as it purred, and picked it up, holding it close to her. She looked up at the man, and sighed. "Fine, you can stay if I get to keep the cat. Deal?" She sniffled.

R'ioth snapped out of the cat's mind and into his own. "Itcka faro sete mis...." R'ioth said, trying to inform the woman that the kitten could only hold for seven minutes unless he reapplied blood at certain intervals. When he realized that she wouldn't understand him, much as he never understood her, R'ioth simply resigned to hoping that the cat would do its work in that amount of time.

Lacking knowledge critical to a real response, R'ioth simply nodded and sat on the floor before the woman, folding his legs. He had to admit, a sapphire cat could cheer him up too. Nz'qals were incredibly furry, friendly, and beautiful creatures.

Taban scrambled up the side of a building and sat on the roof, his tail thrashing furiously. Almostdiedalmostdiedalmostdiedalmostdiedalmostdiedalmostdiedalmostdied! He muttered to himself in Aylem, hugging himself.

Melanie shrieked and shoved Dent out of the shower stall. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Wesa was sleeping peacefully in bed. What has the moon the feel insecure about?

Hal sighed, and turned back, before wheeling around. "...You gonna be alright, up there?" He noticed the alien was repeating himself. "Pyrophobia, right... alright, I'm coming up." He tried to climb up the building, but kept sliding down the wall. "...Right." He noticed that there was a fire escape staircase, and decided to take that instead. "Uh, Taban? I understand you're scared, but I need you to come down from the building, veerrrry slowly now. Come on, it's alright. The fires have been put out."

Molodi stared at the man. "I suppose you want thank you sex, or something?" Her voice was still weepy, and it sounded pitiful rather than aggressive. "That's what you all want..." She kept stroking the cat.

Denton blinked, and fell backward, hitting his head. The brief moment of contact transferred some of Mel's scars onto his own body, though he didn't notice them. "OUCH!" He still kept his eyes closed. "Alright, I said you could do that, but list--" He sat up, and grabbed another towel, a long one, and tossed it to her, though it went further from her than he intended. "There. You can cover yourself up with that. I haven't seen anything yet." He smiled softly, and realized he got new scars to his already large collection. "Heh, looks like I'm now getting things by touch rather than just being near people. Wonder if I'll be able to control it if this goes on long enough..." He redirected his attention to her, looking in the mirror at himself. "...If you feel bad about your scars, the people in New Troy scar themselves to match their friends. I've done it lotsa times. Could do it for you if it made you feel better."

Kasei-La shrugged, and went back downstairs, before realizing she was still wearing the dress... And she didn't have anything else to wear. She sighed in frustrating, realizing she would have to grin and bear it.

"Sex?" R'ioth repeated, hearing the emphasis and disdain expressed in the woman's tone at this word. "Nan. S na pemit. Var'n ahn."

R'ioth simply shook his head and remained seated, staring at the floor now. He sunk his mind back into the cat's, seeking a more carefree world that was less confusing.