The Gig, Saturday

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

Juno found xenobiology fascinating, which was why having the opportunity to work with animals she didn't really know was great in her mind. If she was going to be stranded here, might as well do something she was interested in. The problem there was also that she didn't know entirely what she was doing in the day to day stuff.

So she was checking over the things she's done last week as directed by her tiny bear thing boss, figuring that was a good place to start.

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[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

Rosie hadn't shown up on Wednesday, which, for all intents and purposes, was fine, really, and her prerogative and what have you, but it did have Minsc curious, if not downright worried. Maybe (hopefully), she'd simply gotten caught up in her work. He didn't want to be a nuisance (especially since maybe it was just spending so long with him as a panda was quite enough for anyone for a while, thank you very much), so he'd kept his distance, but it seemed that, today, he just happened to have some particularly persistent dents in one of his swords. Really, having seen the dents get there earlier that day was a fairly impressive thing to behold.

Unfortunately, Minsc hadn't exactly realized that there was someone else working the Gig on Saturday now. If he had known this factoid, it seemed to have went right into the part of his brain that had been hit so often that anything that came there was instantaneously (and sometimes conveniently) lost.

He lifted a hand to the woman, the one that wasn't carrying the busted up sword. "Hullo, there, lady!"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

Anyone walking up with a sword was going to set Juno a little on edge, but at the same time she had no idea what to make of the greeting. "Hello," she replied, sounding slightly less cautious than she felt, "can I help you?"

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"My sword," Minsc explained, holding it up, "went through a bit of a rough patch." This rough patch, it appeared, seemed to have included something to the tune of a million steel-mangling blenders. There was a little bit of pride in his voice for the handiwork that couldn't be eradicated. "I was hoping Rosie might be in so she could hammer it out a bit for me."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

All right, she could relax about the sword now. "I'm the only one here," she said, a bit apologetically. "And Rosie is..."

She'd sort of missed out on introductions while being bossed around by an animal.

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Owner of the place?" Minsc offered, eying this potentially unlawful usurper of Rosie's place with a spark of suspicion. "Tall, striking blonde, easily pestered by birds? Running around recently as a small red bear thingy?"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Juno said, understanding. "I'm sorry, I thought she was always a small red bear... thingy. I thought she hadn't gotten around to telling me her name yet."

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no," Minsc shook his head. "Just temporary." He then waved his hand. "You know how these things can be."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"I don't, actually," she admitted. "I've never heard of that outside of Changelings."

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Minsc looked momentarily crestfallen.

"Well," he shrugged, "it does around here. Happen. Even without being a Changeling or without a spell or potion or special cloak."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Everyone turns into small bears?" she asked. "The more I hear about this place, the more I wonder."

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, animals in general," Minsc corrected. "I haven't yet myself, but I don't expect it will be too long before something strikes! I am not sure if it works the other way, for animals to turn into people. Boo has remained almost entirely a hamster this whole time."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Almost entirely? Do I want to know?"

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Well, you see," Minsc elaborated, "he was never really just a hamster in the first place. Would you like to meet my hamster?"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Sure. As long as that's not a euphemism," she said slowly.

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"What would it be a euphemism for?" Minsc asked, with sincere confusion, before taking a moment to reach for one of the pouches on the belt around his waist. He opened it up, reaching for the hamster and holding him out in his large hand.

"This is Boo," he said, "a rare giant miniature space hamster. Boo, this is..."

He trailed off, realizing he didn't know the lady's name.

"...a very nice lady who I think works for Rosie here," he provided.

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Juno," she supplied, studying the hamster. "What part of space does he come from?"

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"The far reaches?" Minsc guessed. "A galaxy far, far away? I am not certain; Boo does not speak of his home very often."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"So he's sentient? Does he speak to you in Basic, or another language?" she wondered.

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Very sentient," Minsc confirmed with a nod. "Though he doesn't really speak, per se. It is much more of a...strong, communitive bond that surpasses all words."

Yes. He rather liked the sound of that a lot.

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

Juno had spent enough time with a Sith/Jedi to know that sounded familiar. Which would explain her eyeing Boo with a little, "Interesting..."

Yes, she now had to wonder if the giant space hamster maybe had the Force. This place was messing with her head.

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"My name is Minsc, by the way," he offered, his finger nudging between Boo's ears to pet the small critter. "I got so caught up in showing you my hamster that I forgot to introduce myself!"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"A pleasure," she told him. "Even if I'm not sure I myself can help with the reason you came by..."

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"...I could fix it on the forge myself," Minsc admitted, "but I wouldn't want to put you out. And I've got more."

Lots more.

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"If Rosie would allow you to do it, I won't turn you away," she told him. "It's up to you."

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

Minsc considered it for a moment, considered stepping on any toes or past any boundaries, and lightly shook his head. "No, no," he said. "Quite alright, Lady Juno; the old thing's got a ticket to the scrapyard written all over it at this point, but I thank you for the offer."

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

Rosie (who was still human, thankfully) wandered into the Gig. She thought it would be a good idea to meet her new employee as a human.

She smiled when she saw her, and called a greeting.

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

Thanks to previous description, Juno had to wonder if this was actually her boss. "You talk now?" she asked. If this wasn't Rosie, well, she had an icebreaker for the conversation.

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"I talk now," she said with a grin, pleased that her new employee was taking the whole bear thing in stride. "I'm Rosie. Thanks for your help last week."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Juno," she said, "and it wasn't a problem. Thank you for being so... communicative." That was probably the right word for it.

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"It's easy when the person actually listens." She looked around the Gig before letting her gaze return to Juno. "Are you still willing to work here now that I'm not a panda?"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"I am, if you still need me," she said. "I'm sure performance reviews would be much easier with speech, for one." Yeah, she was military.

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

Rosie's eyebrows shot up. "There won't be performance reviews," she promised. "But to be fair, I should let you know that the animals will tell me if something goes wrong. I'm sure it won't," she added quickly.

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"They'll tell you?" Right about now Juno was seriously wondering what was wrong with this place. Or maybe it was possible she'd just snapped.

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"I can talk to animals. It's all right," she said, trying for reassuring. "You'll get used to this place. Someone who talks to animals is downright ordinary compared to some things. It took me weeks to get used to lights that work when you press a switch, and water that comes out of a tap."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"That much I'm used to. Though I miss my doors," she admitted. "Where are you from?"

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"A village called Foggy Bottom. It's a long way from here, and very different." Understatement of the century, that. "What of you?"

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"Corulag. Which no one has ever heard of, so I'm assuming it's nowhere nearby, unfortunately."

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"I haven't heard of it." She smiled. "Not that that's much to go by. This isn't a bad place to be, though. Once you get used to it, and that will happen faster than you think."

[istoomyrealname.livejournal.com]

"I've heard a bit about it, from several people, and it just seems more and more strange," Juno admitted.

[waytoomanynames.livejournal.com]

"I know what you mean," she said. "It took me awhile to leave the Gig. A," she smiled slightly, "friend of mine talked me into it. It's a lot easier to deal with the strangeness when it's out there, and I'm in here." She hesitated, then added, "If it gets to be too much, you're welcome here whenever you want."