World Tree MUSH

 
 The more things change the more they stay the same. 
 
 That seems to be the theme of his journey through the Multiverse for one dwarf named Muradin Bronzebeard! 
 
 Having found a little bit of downtime during his investigation through the Darkened World, the adventuring dwarf set out to do as he usually did in his downtime during missions taken all across Azeorth. Going to the local tavern! Thank the Light that everywhere he has gone thus far has some kind of establishment where he can sit down, knock them back and relax for a bit. Muradin would frankly not know what to do with himself if a place didn't have some kind of bar. He figures he'll have to burn that bridge when and if he ever gets there, but he can consider himself fortunate that even this modern looking city, so different from his world of Azeroth, still has an inn that serves bar. That's ultimately what's most important to him. 
 
 Muradin may be a little bit out of place with his short stature, flowing bronze beard, and his plate armor that covers him from head to toe. He looks like he walked out of a fantasy tale. But currently the dwarf doesn't care who are what may be looking at him, he has his helmet on the table, feet up on another chair, and he's drinking a tall mug of ale as any proper dwarf ought to. 

It's arguable if the anthropomorphic blue vixen who walks in shortly after stands out more or less than the dwarf. Wearing a pastel pink dress tonight with a white coat, she hangs up her coat on the way in, the sleeveless top of her dress reveals the geometric chain-like tattoos that ring each of her arms about five inches below the shoulders. Recognizing Muradin from the other day, it'd be hard not to, she smiles and moves toward the seat next to his at the bar. "Mind if I join you?"

 
 Strangers in a strange land ought to stick together. It was fitting that the two most noticable outworlders would end up going to the same place and Muradin raised his mug of ale when he noticed his blue furred compatriot from the other day. "Oi! Alysia, was it? By all means, lass. Come on down and take a load off." Muradin grinned as he gestured for the chair in front of him for the vixen to take a seat. He then hailed over to the server towards his table. "Ey lad, wotever she's getting is on me, aye?" Muradin was very quick on the draw when it came to buying drinks and he made completely sure that Krystal would have no choice but to let him pay for whatever she was getting. The dwarf took another sip of his beer and lowered his feet down from the other chair, realizing that he probably ought to at least appear to have some manners in front of a lady. "Well, yer looking quite dolled up with that pink dress of yers, lass. It looks good on ya! If ye donna mind me saying such, heh!" 

Krystal nods and takes a seat before crossing her legs and smoothing down her dress briefly, a smile showing as he offers to pay for her tab, she wasn't about to argue with him. "You can just call me Krystal, no need to be so formal. Though, I do appreciate the compliment. When I'm not working I like to wear things that aren't as tight around the fur, just more comfortable that way. Though this time of year it can be a balancing act with also dressing to be warm as well. You look pretty nice yourself though. Clearly, you put time into keeping your beard and hair in excellent condition." She offers as a return compliment while looking over the menu and trying to decide what to order.

 
 "Oh, I uh.. I just that was yer name." Muradin said sounding a little embarassed. He wasn't aware that Alysia was a title or some such, or maybe he just got confused? Either way, he wouldn't put it past himself to run into yet another cultural missunderstanding, though thankfully this time it didn't seem to be such a big deal so he just kept going. "Krystal it is then. On than note, ye donna have ta call me Lord Bronzebeard as the other blokes are doing. Just call me Murading, or Mura, even." He leaned back and stroke his beard slightly. "Frankly, its a little embarassing when folks call me Lord anything but that's their call if they wanna." He was royalty after all so he should not deny his titles. "Aye, I hear ye." He said in regards to trying to look fashionable in winter- always a bit of a pain. "I ain't the type to suffer for fashion but I can respect those that do. Hmm?" He's caught a little off guard when Krystal compliments -him- though. "Uh.. ye think so? I'm just wearing me armor as usual." Ah, but then it becomes a little more clear when she says his beard and hair are nice. He might not have fur like Krystal but Muradin certainly takes good care of his hair. "Heh, well, I'd be a poor excuse fer a dwarf if I didn't." He explained before settling in and letting Krystal look over the menu. "So, Krystal, wot's yer story? I mean- if ye wanna talk about it, ye mentioned being last of yer own kind and all, I donna mean to have yer relieve unpleasent memories." 

Krystal ponders what to order for a bit, for food she decides on nachos which seemed to be a pretty standard bar-food from what she's seen, and though certainly not something she experienced before leaving Lylat to explore other worlds through the Tree, she found she quite liked them, and these are topped with chorizo sausage, which sounded interesting. For a drink, she spots a cocktail that had a name that seemed to fit the theme of what they've been doing pretty well, 'Dark and Stormy' 

 Krystal waves over a server and places her order, then turns back to Muradin. "My story? Well, there isn't really much to tell, unfortunately. It happened three or four years ago. I was away, traveling in my ship on a diplomatic mission. When I returned, Cerinia was just... not there anymore. It seemed like something had caused the entire planet to explode." She pauses, taking a breath. Shortly after that, not sure if it was a coincidence, or related, I responded to a distress call, from a planet inhabited by sentient dinosaurs. At first, it just seemed like a situation of one group trying to dominate the rest of the groups on the planet, but soon this planet also showed signs that it was going to break apart if something wasn't done to stop it."

 
 Muradin arches an eyebrow at Krystal's order. Nachos with chorizo sounded amazing and he was quite hungry. Wow, there he was sticking to solely beer when he could have ordered some food himself! Honestly, Muradin tended to be a little too hype focused on things and sometimes forgot that he could treat himself to other ventures, it was why it paid having a large friend circle that reminded him that there were other options out there aside from what he usually did. "Aye, make that two plates of nachos with chorizo sausage actually." Muradin grinned and stroke his beard a little as he winked at Krystal, hoping she didn't mind too much that he copied her. Slow and steady with most things, Muradin usually watched and saw what other people did before making decisions himself. 
 
 As the blue vixen related her tale, Muradin was frankly quite taken back. "Oddsblood!! Yer whole planet disappeared just like that?? Sounds like a mystery and a half." He said and took another big gulp of his beer. "Ye know, I never been to space myself." He said suddenly. "I've heard of it though, back in me own planet, there was a group of refugees called the Draenai who traveled through space in big ol' ships and crash landed in Azeroth. I reckon they did it the old fashioned way since most other folk just used magic portals to move through planets." He gave a thoughtful hmm and a shrug. "So! Yer a space traveler and a peace keeper already, huh? I bet ye know a lot more 'bout this Multiversal business than I do, that's fer sure." 
 
 "Say, I know we've just met and all but, ye know? I'd love to see space for meself one of these days. Ye think I could tag along on some of yer space adventures one day? After we're done helping that Ray lass that is. I ain't one fer leaving missions unfinished." 

Krystal nods grimly, taking a sip of her drink as it is brought out. "I'm still looking for answers as to who or what caused it, though I'm starting to lose hope that I'll ever really find out. I still think the fact that Sauria nearly suffered a similar fate so soon after my own world is too convenient to be a coincidence though, so it's my biggest lead I guess. Problem is to really learn more I'm probably going to need to talk to some decidedly sketchy folk from the wrong side of the galaxy. The Cornerian Government might know something, but if they do, it's probably classified. In any case, yes, I am a space traveler, and if you'd like to go to space sometime I do have a ship still. As for the multiverse, I have been through my share of the vines and I even come from an alternate reality of the Lylat System from the one that is accessible on the Tree, so that has been a layer of extra weirdness also."

 
 It doesn't take much for the waiter to come with two steaming plates of nachos and chorizo sausage, plus Krystal's drink. Muradin grins up at him and pulls up his plate, rubbing his palms in delight. He has to admit, possibly the best part of this dimensional travel thus far has been the food. The combat and the new friends has been very interesting, but the food has been up there as well. He takes a polite moment for Krystal to dig in before he goes in for the kill, chomping on nachos and meat whilst downing it with beer. "Hmm! This stuff is good. So much more different than the food I was used to having in Azeroth. Bollocks, I shoulda become a dimensional traveler a long time ago if I knew such fine food and company awaited me." He chuckled, voicing his thoughts. 
 
 As he ate, he continued listening to Krystal's story and as he thought the plot thickened the more she talked about it. "Sounds like some shady business indeed. Wellp! If ye ever need some muscle in yer travels, I'm yer dwarf! Helping ye out would be the least I can do for giving me the opportunity to visit the stars. Man! That sounds exciting! I canna wait to space travel! I'll probably the first dwarf ever to do that!" So thought the Mountain King, and he might be right.. at least regarding Azeroth. "It does be sounding pretty weird, me lass. But hey, I bet ya plenty of blokes would think that we're the weird ones." He mused. "Ye know, one of these days I'll figure out how to return to Azeroth and I'd be glad if ye could accompany me. There's some folk that look a lot like ye called the Worgen. Uh.. except they're wolves instead of foxes." 

Krystal happily digs into the nachos when they arrive, though she is slower and more methodical, can't be getting food stains on her dress. "Corneria has some good food, though I still miss some of the dishes that were common on Cerinia, I have to agree though, there is a lot of really good food when you start traveling the vines. I try my best not to go crazy and end up needing a new wardrobe to accommodate my increased girth." She says with a light chuckle. "Maybe we can go to Corneria together after we're done with our business here, and if I need some muscle for something you'll be the first one I call." She says with a grin. He IS the biggest and burliest guy she knows at this point.

 
 Muradin had no trouble tearing into his nachos, he was wearing his plate armor after all, and frankly, he might have more problems with crumbs of food getting stuck in his beard rather than getting his armor stained. Thankfully he has a lot of practice and being royalty he wasn't not a total slob, so he wasn't walking around with bits and pieces of his lunch stuck to his beard like less refined dwarves might do. 
 
 "Hah! Come on, donna tell me yer one of those ladies that's worried about their weight. I bet ye burn plenty o' that with all the adventuring and fightin' ye must do traveling the vines." Said the dwarf as he chuckled when Krystal mentioned not going too crazy on the new foods. "Eh, I guess it's worth not going full on excess with these things, but lemme tell ye, this is some good stuff, and all these fightin' gets me hungry! Hmm! Canna get into a good scrap with an empty stomach, ye know??" Said the dwarf as he tore into more of his meat and nachos. 
 
 "Sure! I'd love to accompany ye!" He cackled. "And ye can count on me to not let any daft gift lay a hand on ye. I'll hammer 'em flat 'fore they can even think about touching yer fur! Hah!" He reached for his mug of ale and raised it up towards Krystal for a cheer. "To future travels together, aye? Ooh just wait 'till ye see me in action- I think I'm gonna impress ya!" 

Krystal grins a bit and shakes her head. "Thankfully I have a pretty healthy metabolism, and the adventuring certainly helps, though I still think if I went around having a plate of everything that looks tasty on every world I went to, I'd be a blimp with fur. But there's no rush to experience everything all at once, that's what return visits are for. Speaking of which, I'd love to see what your world is like and meet these worgen you speak of, I assume they are friends of your people? Sounds like your world has a lot of variety when it comes to people." She comments before speaking of where she's from. 

 "In the galaxy where I come from, there are other races like frogs and birds and such, but they are vastly outnumbered by canines so get ready to see a lot of different kinds of dogs if we visit Corneria." She offers, then grins a bit at the dwarf talking up how it'll be when she sees him in action. 

 "I look forward to it, and am glad we're on the same side after seeing your hammer. I hope I don't disappoint when you see me in action as well. I may not be as mighty as a dwarf, but I'm quick and precise, and my staff has more than a few tricks."