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There's a distinct smell of ozone gathering several feet in the air over the Nexus forum. When a low rumbling starts, that smell grows sharper, more electric. Something grinding, tearing, burning...

A sudden, massive white flash appears, along with it an unnerving and immediate lack of sound. Where one would normally expect something a little more thunderous- a bang, a pop, possibly a crack -there is just white noise that leaves anyone for several yards around with ringing ears. (Assuming they are in possession of ears, of course.) And as immediate as it had been there, the flash it gone, snapping shut like a hastily done-up zipper.

Left suspended in the air by this event is a bizarre, bearded gargoyle-like figure who is now left to gravity's devices. He plummets, clearly startled, but gathers his wits quick enough to avoid an undignified landing. There is a cold swirl of wind, his cape snaps outward into the distinct shape of bat wings, and allows him to settle gently onto his feet.

The man (person? creature?) jerkily looks about, taking brief stock of his surroundings; upon finding them unfamiliar, he wastes no time pointing his gem-tipped staff menacingly at any general gathering nearby, sharp teeth gritted.

"Who is the master of this realm? Speak, fools!" He looks around again, increasingly agitated, adjusting his grip on his staff, before shaking it again and additionally snapping, "Where is the Doctor? The Quickster!? Why did he contain all of YOU to this realm as well as me?! SPEAK!!"

Ixis Naugus has arrived and he demands to speak to a manager.

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"You desperately underestimate the scope of what my anger can do."

The air immediately around Naugus suddenly goes hot and dry, flames gathering around that extended claw and leaping for the sharp-dressed man. For all the heat and rage of those flames, however, imagine Naugus' confusion when they fail to do any harm whatsoever.

For his part, Schön manages an expression of haughty ennui. He doesn't quite yawn, but the implication is there in his hooded eyes that he neglects to do so only because such a display is beneath even that expression of disdain. When the fire subsides, he drawls a simple, "do I?"

"And perhaps I underestimate the physics of this zone...?" Because there's no way someone's powerful enough to so effortlessly deflect his magic, right? Right? He will not accept that being a reality. Because he's just that amazing.

He looks at his own claw, puzzled, as if the answer to why that attack was fruitless lies there.

"Anything is possible, I suppose," the thin man drawls. "The matter at hand is what you're willing to exchange for knowledge."

"Are you insinuating I must barter with you to gain information?" He sounds disgusted and annoyed at the prospect, but the wizard eventually sighs, his broad shoulders slumping. The sigh sounds more like a hiss, though, the noise coming through closed teeth.

"Hhhhhhhh...fine. Seeing that I have arrived with very little upon my person, however, we may find our exchange short-lived. Unless you have alternative ideas for currency." The second the man suggests anything sounding remotely like servitude or favours, Naugus is going to flip out.

"I accept many forms of currency," the thin man replies, sweeping off his hat and hanging it on the head of his cane (which seems inclined to stand unsupported while he does so). "I might find value even in things you do not think to cherish. Knowledge, trinkets, the occasional favor. Other things, sometimes."

Ixis Naugus hisses again.

"Hhhhhsss...I am strongly opposed to the notion of being beholden at any given time to any given individual. And you've assured me in no way whatsoever you even hold any information I would consider valuable! I'll not be made a fool of for daft observations or useless facts."

Show me yours and I'll show you mine, man.

Schön tsks softly. "Everyone wants a free sample. Very well, a tidbit to show my years in this place have not been wasted: it was no power of my own that protected me from you, but the nature of this place. All who walk here are protected, even from the wrath of gods--unless they cast off that ward by striving to do harm unto another." His thin lips spread in a thin smile as he lets that thought sink in for the underground mage-king.

This information is taken at first with a skeptical, grumpy expression, but it gradually gives way to one more receptive and guileless.

"An innate warding that fends off all harm? Even that as great as my own?" Forget what Schön said about gods, he's the biggest deal Naugus can fathom. "This...is impressive. I am impressed."

The wizard soon frowns again, however.

"Something of this scale and might must imply a maker. I suppose I must conjure something of worth to pick your brain on these matters. Hnn."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to part with your staff..." Schön drawls, raising a brow. From a pocket, he draws a crystal, and with a touch coaxes a soft glow from it. "I shall offer you a bargain: tell me who you are, and where you are from, in as much detail as you like. Everything before the first lie, I shall count as payment, and tell you of this place in turn." The crystal is magic; at the first lie told in its vicinity, the glow will go out.

"I would sooner eat glass." The mage tightens his hold on his staff, using both hand and claw now and moving it subtly away from the thin man. He bares his teeth threateningly.

At the explanation of the bargain, however, Naugus squints first at the gem, then the man. He suspects (incorrectly) the small bauble to be something made to capture. What will his truths be rendered into when stated in its presence? Well, given that he has plenty he's already forthcoming with, he can play it safe and gain the knowledge he craves in return. Naugus clears his throat as he straightens his back and his tail.

"I am Ixis Naugus, sorcerer supreme and master of the elements. I hail from the land of Mobius. I am...nearly the last of my order. I am the former ruler of the Zone of Silence and rightful king to the Kingdom of Acorn. My powers allow me perfect harmony and mastery of all four elements; air, fire, water and earth. I also am the sole practitioner of another element of my own making." He doesn't elaborate just yet on that; gotta keep some aces in the sleeve.

He frowns and his ears perk forward expectantly. Sufficient? None of these statements appeared to be an untruth either, the glowing of the gem remaining steady.

Schön watches him closely, eyes flicking occasionally to the crystal as if seeking confirmation. Perfect harmony, really? That's not empty bluster? Hmm. And created an element of his own. A power to consider carefully, then, but one who could be of great use. He gives a slight nod, then, accepting the deal as done.

"You are in a place called the Nexus. It has no ruler, and as far as any know, no creator. At least, none who could credibly claim the credit. It is the between-place, that touches all places and yet is part of none. If all the world you know were written on a single page of some vast book, you would stand now in its spine. From here, you might go anywhere--if you can find the proper path, the proper door."

Another little smile implies that he knows many paths, and many doors, and for a price could offer guidance.

The answer that was given is...moderately daunting? Enough that even a mage of such supposed grandeur and might (and bluster) as Ixis Naugus is given pause. His ears do a series of twitches and flips as he digests this explanation and begins to understand the ramifications.

"...A place that is no place? That is sufficiently impressive. A place divorced entirely from the hub that is my Prime Zone, from the spokes that are the alternative and pocket Zones, to land square between ALL other potential worlds?"

He needs to have a seat to ponder on this further. The mage swoops out his cape and lowers himself to a sitting position, the tiled floor under him cracking and reshaping to meet him halfway, forming a little stone stool for him to rest on. This is done seemingly with little effort or thought. Probably some of this elemental control he was talking about in the form of earth manipulation?

"And how long have you found yourself here, sirrah?"

The Nexus is existentially terrifying to people with the magical training to wrap their minds around the concept. And Schön hasn't even mentioned that it's also the place between all times yet.

The stool-making is an interesting trick, and one watched with a raised brow.

"A long time, or short--but that is a matter of perspective. I come and go as the urge takes me." The non-answer comes with a bit of an unspoken hint: if Ixis would like to know more, he first must offer more of his own.

"Come and go where precisely?"

When he isn't met with any manner of an immediate answer, his ears flatten. Right. We're still bartering with truths and information. But perhaps we can tease things out with insinuations of his own.

"Finding doors is all well and good, but has anyone attempted to...create a door?"

Schön gives Ixis a long, quiet look. He's no fool, to be tricked into giving things away. He's been generous, already, by his reckoning.

The mage hisses in irritation. Fine.

"I've possibly dabbled in the creation and discovery of zones in the past. Finding and taming realms wild and raw, ones originally separated and sealed by reality's fabric itself. I have, shall we say, an academic interest in how this place may have such similarities."

A maybe-possibly deserves a maybe-possibly. "There may have been some attempts to create new doors," he answers, "and I imagine your interest in them might not be merely academic."

"You wound me. I am nothing if not a gentleman and a scholar." He's a LOT of things, but those two aren't lies. Well, maybe gentleman is stretching it.

"I said 'merely,'" Schön points out. "You could easily be academically interested as well."

"Easily! You're the mincing type when it comes to words; how charming."

Although things are starting to click from an earlier conversation he'd had with a red-haired girl. Skinny, hat, Overlander...

"I suspect you're the one named Schön? You've been mentioned to me. I did not realize I was speaking with the man himself until just this moment. How fortuitous! I've been told you do indeed know your way around portals and similiar."

His lips draw back in a grin. "My reputation precedes me," he purrs, taking a little bow. "And surely, men of learning such as ourselves cannot be faulted for appreciating a certain precision of speech, hmm?"

"Oh, certainly not. If nothing else, it will make me think all the more carefully of my own selection in words." At least until he's having tantrums again. They're usually inevitable with him.

"She said you managed to locate a way back to her home; is this a guaranteed outcome were your services requested? Or purchased, I imagine."

"Oh, no doubt," he agrees, holding back the wry edge that wants to creep into his voice. He has every confidence that more tantrums are coming.

"My methods are very reliable, and my reputation sterling: you will always receive what you ask for."

"I can't imagine the price is frugal, however. Truths are cheap when one considers the previous point of precise language, after all.

"Perhaps I will return to this after I've mounted my own investigation of a way home. You may state your terms regardless, of course."