RP:Your Queen Friend Bit it Pretty Hard...

Part of the The End's Not Near Arc

Summary: Regi (in disguise) and Muzo run into Xzavior in a secluded nook between Larket and Kelay, reviewing the book Callum and company procured for her. They discuss a group of rebel nagas and Xzavior's plans to confer with Hildegarde on a plan to re-take Alithrya before the men decide to grab a bite to eat.

The Golden Sa'vre

Reginae had been slinking around Kelay and Larket in her new, very impressive and masculine rendition of a male rogue with no facial hair (because who wants to deal with that) and slicked back jet black hair. She’s had to disguise herself because most of the world thought she was still very - very dead and she’s prefer to keep it that way. She’s seating in a both in her disguise, one Muzo should uncomfortably recognize though today at least she’d found a shirt to drape over her shoulders. Some black button down that covers the dagger harness around her waist. Her arms are spread wide across the back of the booth in the corner she’d snagged for privacy, a leather bound book with gold lettering lays on the table in front of her. Beside it is a glass of tomato juice accompanied by a small pile of celery and a couple glasses of water. Her disguise’s hazel eyes are fixed on the door, a cocky smirk pressed into her lips.

Muzo absentmindedly twirls a half-eaten celery stick, flipping back and forth through Formulae's pages, humming a tuneless ditty. "Hmm, ah dummm, dah tah tah. Hah. Ha-Naga, no." With a gentle sigh of defeat, the researcher shakes his head and glances over to Reginae. "Not even a footnote." A small, apologetic laugh shakes out of him. "Aha, well. Trust there will be ample time to learn." Compared to his shifted companion, Muzo is rather cramped in his booth, taking up his whole bench and spilling into the aisle, much to the inconvenience of the serving staff. Muzo looks tired, and he could probably use a bit of whatever cocky confidence it is that Regi seems to have found.

Xzavior soon entered the tavern and smiled just a bit from entering the familiar place. It's been quite a time since he's last been here but he liked it. Looking around quickly to see who was all here, he noticed right away that another naga was in the building. Tilting his head as he came over he glanced over at the disguised woman and back to Muzo, not realizing right away that it was indeed Reginae, "Well what are you doing here Muzo. I thought you spent your time in Larket." Choosing to stand instead of taking a seat, he looked quickly to the papers before them and asked, "And may I ask what I've stumbled upon here?

Reginae isn’t too worried about Muzo’s occupancy in the booth. She should withdraw but she’s afraid it’ll look to suspicious if she’s anything less than annoyingly present. She owed Muzo a couple favors by now for her wild remarks and behavior. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to act like an upstanding member of some royal family. “Well, it’s all there-” She starts in a gruff male voice, interrupted by Xzavior’s advance on the table and questions. The male gives Xzavior that same confident grin with the tilt of her bronzed chin. “You’re just in time.” It wasn’t planned that Xzavior would show up but here he was! By Aramoth’s design! “We’re just discussing the fate of you snake guys over some important reading material. Know much about the Ha-naga brother?” That’s a key indicator of her personality. She had a bad habit of calling Xzavior with the endearing term of blood relation. “I’m just telling our resident scientist all about the special training these cats have to go through. Rigorous, from a very young age.” His slender finger points to the beginning of a chapter outlining each of the specific rituals and how progress is marked through the program. “Fascinating history, isn’t it?”

Muzo looks up as he is addressed. "Xzavior," he hesitates before deciding to flash a grin, "pleasant surprise. Yes, nearly all my time. Larket keeps me busy. Stumbled upon-" Regi, much to his relief, bounces in, playing her shifted role well. "Quite, yes," following the finger, as indicated, he nods, mouthing a silent "aha" as the chapter's significance becomes quickly apparent. He picks it up in his hands and begins greedily devouring the text therein. "Entertain some, ah," he explains, offering this as a distracted side remark to Xzavior as he reads, "offhand projects when I can."

Xzavior didn't miss the 'Brother' bit but brushed it off as being apart of the man's strange personality. When he started talking about the Ha-Naga, Xzavior raised a brow and watched him for a moment before giving a nod, "Indeed it is. Curious though, where did you get all of this. I've not known many people who knew or held information about naga history." Twisting to glance at the book himself, he shook his head thinking he could have been doing some of these things himself had things gone differently. "Well, what would this offhand project be. I'd be glad to help where I can." He offered before looking back to the disguised Reginae, "By the way. The name's Xzavior," Offering a bow he asked, "Who may you be?"

Reginae watches Muzo read, trying to keep affection out of her eyes. It’s difficult but Xzavior offers a pleasant distraction with his name and questioning hers. A name? She hadn’t invented a name for her new persona, so the man grins and says “Let’s just say I’m a friend of the late Queen’s and leave it there huh pal? You can trust me. After all, Muzo here trusts me right?” Her disguise will meet Xzavior’s gaze and for a moment, his hazel eyes will flash a familiar icy Azurite before the man winks at Xzavior and leans back into the booth after offering to shake his hand. “And you’d be pleased to know some rogue friends of mine snuck this stuff out under that she beast Jaize’s nose.” He grins proudly, like he’d single handed accomplished the task instead of hiring outsiders to do it for him. “I’ve got a vested interest in you naga.” The azurite shifts back to hazel and his now empty hand gestures to the space beside her, “Feel free to join us. Friendly crowd all around. What have you been up to? Last I heard you were at the coronation where your queen friend bit it pretty hard. ”

Muzo munches down the celery stick he'd forgotten he was holding and chases it with a welcome gulp of tomato juice, affording this "friend of the naga" enough time to explain a few things. "Precisely," Muzo corroborates with a nod, "welcoming all the help we can get. Any enemy of Jaize is friend of the naga people in these dark days." He clears his throat. "Very unfortunate about the queen, yes. But please, do, join us." Pressing his nose back to the page, the researcher resumes doing what he does best. "Very grateful for the material, sir friend."

Xzavior watched the color shift in her eyes but kept quiet about it till he was positive he wasn't just trying to give himself some false hope. The lack of a name didn't really help his situation, but he would admit, if Muzo trusted the man, he'd be willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Taking the seat offered, he leaned into the booth and sighed, "What have I been up to? Not long after the whole incident I went to talk to Hildegarde to discuss what would be happening next." Reminding himself that he still needed to speak to her about his plans of becoming king himself. "Speaking of help, I have been trying to keep an eye on a group of naga outside of Alithrya. I've seen them before and they weren't so nice. But if they are outside the city then perhaps they don't support the usurper queen"

The male rogue, for the first time since he’d arrived, scrunches his mouth up in a thoughtful almost pout when Xzavior mentions speaking to Hildegarde and then this outlying group of possible allies. It only takes a minute for his good humor to return, a sip of his water and it’s all fun and games again. I mean, after all, he’s wearing a shirt now so it must be serious. “Anytime, Naga guy.” Comes his reply to Muzo before he turns to face Xzavior. “Is there any way to check? Fancy pants Murder McGee won’t let any humans sneak into Alithrya after we stole her precious artifacts so I’m afraid me and my friends are out of the question. Maybe we can hire a newbie, someone we haven’t sent before. Do you think you might be able to chum up to them Xz?” The man winks, pointing one of his index fingers in a ‘gun like’ fashion at him. “You seem like a dude with lots of connections and a level head. Maybe they could use a guy like you in their fold.” He leans back again, elbow pulled back from the tabletop to run his hand through his short hair. “Damn, we should talk to the Dragon Queen and see if she’s into this biz. That Battle Axe knows a thing or two about war, I wager. Heard all about her Balgruf situation. I’d never fight a dragon like that - but I digress. Whadda ya think guy? We can topple this crazy woman and get the naga back on track for bigger and better snake things. Maybe a snake olympics? That’d be pretty cool.” He looks up at the ceiling as if imagining nagas tossing other nagas like horse shoes into metal poles or some other sport of interest.

Muzo can feel his head spinning with all this talk of allies and intrigue, and it becomes too mighty a distraction. Carefully marking his page, the naga closes the book and takes another celery stick to much. It was very doubtful that Muzo himself would be allowed back into the city, especially since he'd been in the company of humans for so long now. "Current crisis, ans with any, is twofold in nature; presents both danger and opportunity." The notion of not-so-nice company makes his nose wrinkle, though. "Would sooner make a covert attempt than enlist the help of ruffians."

Xzavior thought about it himself. Perhaps he could try to get into the group and find some stuff out. Problem there, was he also had an obligation here. He couldn't spend all his time trying to work his way around in that group while still organizing things on the main front. "I do believe we can get back our city with the right help for sure. Even the help of the rougher sort can be better than nothing, you have to admit." he added, looking over to Muzo with a smile. "Trust me, as soon as we get the city back we can deal with them however. Make them more civil. The Snake Olympics however, may have to wait a bit. Don't have a stadium." he joked.

Reginae’s disguise laughed from his core, a deep and echoing sound. He wiped at his eye for dramatic effect. “That’s right, book worm. We can train them to be civilized! The snake Olympics will reform their wild brains and domesticate them to the naga standards of tossing and fighting and…” He pauses, trying to invent a third, ridiculous sport to continue the joke far past it’s ends. “What if, you rolled up into little wheels, like that crest on your robe -” He gestures to Muzo’s attire, “ And see who can spin the fastest. Like a carriage without a horse. Damn, I’d pay good money to see speedy spinning snake -ssss -racing aw, I couldn’t think of anything better.” He shrugs; easy come, easy go. “Well I’ll see if I can’t find someone to go place nice with those Alithryian guys. Just keep us in the loop about your progress with the Dragon Queen and we’ll avenge that Reginae lady yet.” A small silence seeps in between the ‘men’ so Reginae stretches those muscular male arms overhead and sighs loudly. “Sneaky planning makes me hungry.” She announced, with no need to do so. “Wanna call it an evening and grab something to eat?” He turns his hazel gaze to Muzo. “You’re clearly wasting away with all those vegetables man. You’re making me regret all my life choices. Eat a steak so I can feel better about myself, why don’t you?” His smile falls back to Xzavior. “Care to join us? A couple beers, some steaks - a grand old time. I think this place has like this new thing where magic words appear and you can sing them in tune with some background music? It’s a hoot, you have to try it…”

Muzo smiles politely, eyes scrunching to slits at the thought of being rolled up and spun, like he was the central intrafuge of an arcanogenic alternator. "A, ha, yes. Sounds like an adequate remonstrant. Doubt they'll be feeling very rough after that." The talk of real food pulls him out of the absurd reverie and back to the moment. "Haven't had a bite in few days," Muzo remarks, scratching the underside of his chin thoughtfully. "You, Xzavior, hungry at all?" His black eyes widen curiously, looking up to Xz with hopeful eagerness. "Know you're a busy fellow. When was the last time you had a chance to sit down for a bite?"

Xzavior went to wave the offer off but when Muzo made the comment about having not eaten for a few days, he thought about it himself and chuckled a bit. "More then a few days. I'll admit only that." Didn't want to worry any of them. Ever since the business with Jaize started, he's been making himself busy. Quite the opposite of how he usually act. "I suppose I should join you huh."