So, a polar bear in black metal armor walks into a Bar...

[panser_bjorn]

(OOM: Of how Iorek Byrnison took a wrong turn to the End of the Universe. Warning: Very mild spoilers for Northern Lights. No, really, I kept the post small so the spoilers are minimal. )

He just stepped through what looked like a stone arch, half of it natural and the other half made from carefully-hewn masonry. For a moment a corridor of the same

Comments

[ltmuldoon]

Muldoon's a werewolf with a burgeoning headache. It's a bit much being in a crowded airport with a bunch of people who are...much smellier then they should be. He's trying to wrap his mind around that when there's-

Bear.

He automatically freezes, doing his best not to stare directly at it, or provoke it, all the while quashing thoughts about just where his gun was at this very moment...

Instead there will be coughing! Intense coughing. Getting up to get a drink of water, Muldoon sighs finally. Could I take a bear?

The bear was wearing armor. Probably meant it was intelligent, "...Are you all right?"

This from the weatherbeaten looking man with a glass of water trying to ignore all the warning signals in his brain.

[panser_bjorn]

He turns towards the voice, his movements deceivingly smooth, and surprisingly quick for his size. He's even bigger than an average polar bear, and the armor adds to his bulk. The bullet-shaped head leans down towards Muldoon as the paws replace the armored headplate onto it.

"I think I am. This... Doesn't feel like I had my skull cracked open and am seeing things."

There isn't the barest hint of emotion in his deep, bellowing rumble of a voice, nor a smidgen of expression in those dark eyes, but he doesn't seem hostile, at least. Which is good, considering those claws.

[ltmuldoon]

Muldoon watches him carefully just the same, "....I'd say something creative and fuckin' witty about this place but there's not a whole lot to be said. You're new right? To the bar?"

He sweeps a hand over the bar at large, expression careful, "...Nice Armor."

He's a soldier, he can appreciate armor. Believe us.

[panser_bjorn]

The expression, or lack of it, doesn't change. His posture is relaxed, and even though a polar bear standing on his hind legs should be a very big warning sign, there is no hint of threat from him at the moment

[ltmuldoon]

"...No." Matt says, "...This is-This is going to sound fucking nuts but-"
But you're talking to a talking bear.

"...This place's the bar at the end of the Universe. Refuge for the damned and pristine and-fuck. It's a bar where people from a bunch of different places hang out. S'magic, which alot of worlds don't truck with so be a little wary."

He rubs the back of his neck, "...Most people'll point you out the window-" He points to the observation window "But I say, look outback. I was in the middle of a fucking airport and outside there's trees and grass and shit. Crazy."

[panser_bjorn]

Trees. Grass. That sounds so much better than this place. Than any human place, in fact. Later he will start to worry about his people and the lack of a way back to them, but for now, he's still coming to grips with what has happened to think of what -will- happen.

"I think I would... Like to go out back. Sounds more like a place I would enjoy than this." He doesn't invite Muldoon to join him outside, because human common manners aren't something he's very acquainted with, but he looks at the man questioningly. Then he remembers.

"I am Iorek Byrnison, by the way. Thank you for your concern."

[ltmuldoon]

"Lieutenant Muldoon, US Army." Muldoon can work with that, "I hear you about that though. People-I'm coming to realize I don't do well around crowds of people either."

They smell but Muldoon's not going to go into that.

"...First drink's on the house-there're rules too but they're pretty standard. You say you've been to places like this before?"

[panser_bjorn]

"Ah, a soldier." He seems satisfied with that. He knows soldiers. He -is- one, kind of. "Though I don't know of that army, but you said people from many places meet here."

"Yes, I have been to places like this. Drinking-places. Taverns, alehouses. And if there is water outside, I will rather drink from it." The Bar and the drinks behind her get a mildly displeased look. The spirits in those bottles made a fool of him once. Not again.

[ltmuldoon]

"Bad form to get drunk in a-"

He stops short when the bear doesn't recognize US Army, "...You're from a world without the United States of America? Damn. And here I thought we were a usual constant of assholery."

He grins, "...There's a lake out back. But be careful man, it's got a squid in it."

[panser_bjorn]

"I have a friend who is an American. An Aëronaut called Lee Scoresby. But I hadn't heard that name for the country before."

The bear gazes at Muldoon with the same neutral look and tone in his voice "Only one squid? That's barely a meal." And of course, if it's a -giant- squid, it's full of ammonia and thus not edible either. But neither will prevent him from drinking. And maybe a swim. "Could you lead me to the door that leads to this lake?"

[ltmuldoon]

"S'right this way." Muldoon nods, "...Just goes to show you. Aeronaut sounds like a Ruskie astronaut, but that's even before my time, old as my guys'd make me."

The door to the bar's a quick walk forward. By the time they get outside Muldoon's arms are spread wide and he's grinning like an idiot, "...Damn I needed this."

[panser_bjorn]

He turns his head to one side, then the other, sniffing the air. Then he pulls back and up, standing on his hind legs to get a good look around before dropping back to all fours.

"Yes, it feels so much better..." A hint of satisfaction in his deep rumbling voice, but not much else. "In my own time and place, an Aëronaut is a man who helms a flying vehicle." He knows enough Russian to know that 'Russkye' is the way the Russians refer to themselves. "Whether a Russian or not."

He starts to walk towards the lake's shore at a calm pace, waiting for Muldoon to follow.

[ltmuldoon]

Muldoon follows, "..See we'd call those guys pilots. Or seat jockeys if I was bein'...well..comraderie-like. Everybody's got their own nickname for each part of the armed forces."

He nods, satisfied with this explanation, "Guess you guys don't have the same kinda political system we do. Where're you from?"

[panser_bjorn]

"Svalbard." He looks at Muldoon, then back to the water. This place is warmer than his home, but unlike regular polar bears, the Panserbjorne can take warmer weather than that of their arctic home. "It's a group of islands, in the North."

[ltmuldoon]

"...North. Artic North?" Hey, different worlds, could be different norths, "...My kid-my son-loved that stuff. He'd have gone nuts to know that somewhere polarbears could talk. Can the penguins talk too?"

[panser_bjorn]

"Arctic? I don't know. In my world" A wonderful thing, the mind. How quickly it can come to terms with the fact that it's in another world. "it's just called The North"

Though, since he -does- look like a polar bear, doesn't he? So it's quite an easy guess that it must be quite the cold kind of North, right? The mention of penguins draws a blank gaze from Iorek. Maybe it's the name of the cliff-ghasts in Muldoon's world?