This is not the pantry and it should not contain a dog taller than he is, with--

--is its tail on fire? He squints at the dog. It seems pretty happy, and dogs are usually obvious about their emotions. Maybe it's magical fire. 

"Hello," he says in a talking-to-dogs voice, reaching up to pet Rex tentatively. "What are you doing here?"

Rex pants happily, wagging his tail, and very gently butting his head into the hand. He drops down so that he's shorter than the new friend (this person is very small).

"Intruding in other people's spaces apparently," Joss says as she catches up. "I hope he isn't bothering you?" She shoots Rex a slight glare. "Put your tail out before you set fire to something."

Rex looks back as though to confirm his tail is indeed on fire, he looks briefly startled, and the flame flickers and dies.

Oh, good. "Uh, it's alright," he says, scritching Rex under the chin. "I like dogs. It's just that I was expecting this to be the pantry."

He thinks for a moment, looking around, and peering back through the door he's still propping open with one bare foot.

"I think my sister might have been messing around with Mother's spellbooks. Oh! I'm Mikala, by the way," he adds. Now what are the formal words? "Mikala Hale Parata, at your service."

He smiles up at the very tall lady who apparently owns the very big dog. Something about that smile might look familiar, although this version is leaning more on childish cuteness. 

"Joss," Joss responds with a smile, crouching down and running her own hand along Rex's back. "This big oaf is Rex. And he could do with remembering that not everyone does like dogs."

That smile is familiar, and Joss' gut is going off but she can't identify why exactly. As for the other comment...

"Oh. No. I got here through my bedroom door. I think Isabella came through what should've been her library door, and... I don't actually know where the others came here from. But apparently no magic of our own variety is required."

Rex gives a low, guttural attempt at a purr (which is mostly a growl that manages to be more cute than intimidating), closing his eyes contentedly. Mikala gives good scritches.

Yes he does.

"So, the door is magic?" he asks. "I should get Io in here, she'd know what questions to ask."

He makes to go back through the door. This means he has to stop petting Rex. 

Rex makes a low, slightly displeased sound, and starts to his feet to follow, getting as far as the door before Joss wraps herself around his neck - their shoulders are bracing it open though.

"Probably should've warned you about the perils of petting this one," she says with a slight grin. "He does occasionally get very attached to people willing to spare him strokes."

He laughs, and runs his fingers through the fur on Rex's neck with the hand not holding the door. 

"I can probably just call her from here..."

Sticking out his foot again so the door won't hit him in the back, he turns towards his house - keeping one hand on Rex - and shouts.

"Io! I found a magic thing!"

Rex is making pleased noises and is now wagging his tail hard enough that his entire body is moving with it. (Joss is laughing slightly at that, and settles back on her haunches, scritching at Rex's back.)

A brown-skinned girl, several inches taller than Mikala and looking maybe a year or so older - although it's hard to tell when they're half the size of human children their apparent age - appears round a corner a few seconds after her name is called, beaming like the sun. 

"You did!" she exclaims, crowding up next to her brother to peer through into the magically-appearing bar.

"What have you got already--"

He starts explaining what he's found out so far, smiling fondly.

As he talks, Mikala shifts around Rex so he doesn't have to crane his neck to see the rest of the room. Having achieved this, and caught Iolana up to speed, he finally notices that Joss and Rex aren't the only ones in the bar. Deciding to leave Raven alone, since she looks busy reading, he bounces up to 'Sidora and his siblings instead.

"Hi!"

Rex's first instinct is to strain towards the new female, but follows Mikala when he moves.

Joss shakes her head and rolls her eyes, nodding to the new girl. "Joss," she introduces herself, turning to follow Rex and Mikala back towards the bar.

'Sidora looks down at the small male, "uh, hi?" he greets, a little confused.

"Hello," Prometheus says enthusiastically. "Is it impolite to inquire as to your...hm. Race? Is that the correct term? I am unsure. I apologise if I have offended."

(Epimetheus shakes her head slightly, in apparent resignation.)

"I don't think it's impolite, if you've never seen one of us before?" Mikala reassures Prometheus.

"I can tell you're not trying to be rude,and that's the important part. Iolana and I are motu. It means 'islanders' in our language, but everyone says motu not islanders," he explains. "Um...Io would know how to explain it better, but..we're half the height of humans at the same stage of growth - everyone here looks human, are you human? - and we grow slower, so I won't be adult height until I'm about twenty-eight! And then I'll be about as tall as a four- or five-year-old human."

"Fascinating," Prometheus says. "We get to meet so many fascinating people coming through here." He considers the question, looking over at his siblings. Epime is watching him, something robotic about her facial expressions. "Myself and Epimetheus are certainly modelled after humans yes, Anesidora is human."

"I continue to be the most boring person in this bar," 'Sidora says with a self-depreciating grin.

Meanwhile, Iolana, having introduced herself laconically to Joss and finished squinting out the window at the supernovas, wanders over to the bar and asks Raven what she's reading. 

"Wow," she says when Raven explains. "That doesn't sound like any of the types of magic I know about."

That gets Raven's attention. She sets her book aside, marking her place with a napkin out of pure muscle memory. 

"Your world has more than one type of magic? Tell me about all of them!"

If no-one interrupts them, they'll be nerding at each other for a while. 

Mikala looks steadily between 'Sidora and his siblings, trying to spot differences. 

After staring at Prometheus for a while, then at Epime, he takes a guess. He noticed that they don't seem to blink, and Epime isn't breathing either. 

"Um, are you constructs or undead? Or something else?"

Joss chuckles quietly at Iolana and Isabella and returns to her own book, listening in to the conversation, but not really contributing.