The door opens again, and a creature reminiscent of a giant lobster wanders in: it's about four feet tall and perhaps twelve long, with a bright sky-blue shell mottled with brown and rather more appendages than even a lobster usually has, both in terms of legs and in terms of eyestalks, feelers, bushy antennae, and other less identifiable protrusions - no claws, though, instead its forelimbs end in a complicated grasping arrangement. A smaller, lighter-colored version of the same sort of creature with stubbier sensory accessories peeks out of a niche on top of its carapace, and about half a dozen coppery snakelike creatures are draped across its various extensions.

It seems distracted at first, then startles and lets out a loud whistle: "Somebody get an elder, something really weird is going on!"

Oh! That's certainly a thing. It's kind of cool-looking- maybe that's an offensive way to think about a person's body, it's not like she's talking about a fashion choice. Now that she thinks of it, it's weird that all of the seating here is designed to accommodate a humanoid shape. Maybe there's a section of the restaurant that would work better?

"Um, hi! This is Milliways. It's a bar located at the end of all universes. Most universes? I don't know how it works, sorry."

"On it!" comes a whistled reply, before the door swings shut behind the creature.

"The what at the... what? How are you even speaking my home language?"

"What I know is that Milliways is weird about time, you can get rooms, there's an infirmary, there's rules against fighting, it translates everything we say automatically, it can serve any food or drink in the multiverse, and you can store things behind the bar if they're not dangerous. What, um, do you want to know more about?"

"Uh." That is too many things, put some back. The creature's feelers wave in mildly-agitated thought. "What do you mean it's weird about time."

"Okay so first things first- when the door is closed, time is usually paused in your universe. Time moves differently between different parts of the bar, and you can pay for your food after going home as long as you invest it right. I wouldn't think too hard about that, it always works out."

Her expression conveys that she is so curious about how it works out but has sadly resigned herself to never knowing.

"What language are you speaking? Mine is called-"

Kira pauses, and checks to make sure she hasn't slipped into Japanese again. Nope!

"-English."

Oh no, more things. At least there's a question to answer? Even if it's not going to be a very good answer. "It's just my home language, we don't do enough radio transmission to have named it I don't think. The elder will know when they get here - uh, do I just need to keep the door open while they're getting them, or-?"

"Yeah, that should work great! As long as the door is open, everything on the other side will work just how you're used to. Um, what do you mean when you say elder, is that like a leader, or one of your parents?"

The creature shifts to open the door with a pair of rearward limbs and prop it there. "A leader, yeah. I don't - know why you'd think that other thing would work at all."

"Well, they're not the same thing, obviously, but parents are usually good sources of advice? Sorry, maybe that's not true for...um. My species calls ourselves humans, what are you called?"

"Tagmata. That's sort of true, I guess? They can't help with things they never learned about, though, obviously."

"No, you're right. Parents can't help with everything. Most things, really, because they always think they know better. Um, do tagmata eat or drink? The bar serves food and beverages as long as you can pay in the future somehow- money or shifts as a nurse, janitor, or security."

"Your parents must work very differently than ours. And - that didn't translate well at all, but we do eat, and I'm a rancher? I'm, uh, spoken for, though."

"You, um, can't pick up part-time work? I guess maybe some other tagmata," oh no, she doesn't know the singular, "could pay for it? Um, the plural is humans and the singular is human, for us. What are they for tagmata?"

"Tagmata and tagma. It's best for us to specialize, it lets us do more complicated things together later - I would have expected it to work like that for any learning species, it's different for you?"

"Oh no, we do specialize, it's just- if you were in a bar where time was frozen, a lot of humans would do something else in the meantime if it meant paying for things. I would probably help with cleaning up, I'd be no good in the infirmary or as security. Um, what do you ranch, as a rancher? Humans have cows, mostly, I think."

"Klasata - these," it bobs an antler hosting one of the coppery snakes indicatively. "That's the female phase, I don't have a male with me."

"Oh, cool! What do you mean by phase? Does the species undergo metamorphosis?"

This gets a mildly startled gesture. "Yes; you don't?"

"No, we just grow up without any intermediary cocoon phase. Um, what kind of animals do you have on your planet? Do you have mammals? Warm-blooded animals that bear live young?"

"Tagmata fit that description. I don't know much about outside animals, but I think every species we know about has phases - the elder will know a little more if it's important for some reason."

"I guess not, I'm just curious. Um, so about eating- did you mean you won't need any food from the bar because you have klasata?"

"These are breeding stock, I shouldn't eat them; I think I just won't stay long enough to need to. Unless the elder tells me to, but I don't expect that - I suppose it's not impossible, my band has enough redundancy to lose me even if it's a little late for me to start re-training."

"Oh no! I'm sure you'll be fine, it's just that it's a useful place, Milliways. Not perfect, you can't really take too much home with you, but it's a good place to take a break if your universe needs one. Maybe we can just talk about work until the elder gets here. What were you doing carrying them around? Were you taking them somewhere?"

"Not in particular, it's mostly just a good habit to be in for when I get outside - the more parts of my job are habitual the better I'll be at it when the time comes. And it is convenient for work."