The bulky man took Jean and Leah to what seemed to be a tavern, where they were met with curious eyes and welcoming smiles.
"Aye, aye, lady. Bring us three poch ribs and mead", the kind man ordered the meal.
"Excuse me, Sir. But we do not have any… currency to pay for this meal. We are just grateful that you brought us to the village", Leah spoke, worried how things might turn out.
"Ha! Didn't I tell you about Muski hospitality? It is our custom to treat our guests, especially if they are travelers from such remote places that we've never heard of. You ladies must be exhausted"
"We are truly grateful, Sir", Leah bowed her head.
"Ah, make nothing of it. The only thing you owe us is some good stories from your journey"
'Shit', what was Leah going to say? That they were on their way to the National History Museum and somehow ended up in this world?
"Aye, aye, Sir. We have quite a few stories to tell like you wouldn't believe! Hehe"
Leah prodded Jean's ribs with her elbow as the clueless girl cluelessly promised. Leah was cautious. If they were truly in another world, which she had every reason to believe after seeing this man - Ivar, as they were told on the way - and his 'pet'. There could be customs, traditions, and more importantly, rules and taboos here that they were not aware of, which could be dangerous - even fatal.
"Oh, ho? Spit it out then, young lady!"
"You know, we were like riding a bus to a museum, and then-, OUCH!"
Jean let out a yelp as the cautious girl stomped on her toes under the table.
"Please don't mind my f…friend. She tends to talk nonsense. Quite an imaginative girl, I would say"
"What is a 'bus'?", Ivar caught on to something.
"It… it's like a carriage. That's what we call them in our town", Leah quickly made something up.
"I see. And you say you are from this place called 'Germany'?"
"Yes, Sir", since Jean said it already, there was no way to get out of this one.
"Tell me about your place. I've never heard of such a place before. Hey! Everyone, we've got guests and they have a story to tell!"
With that, he shouted to the room, addressing everyone at once, and quite a few people came over to listen to the story of Germany, a town so remote that nobody in this world has ever heard of.
'Thanks, Jean. Now what the hell are we supposed to do?'
"Right, listen guys. Germany - where we come from. You can buy beer there from the age of 12!"
Leah was curious whether people here knew what 'beer' was, but their indifferent expressions told her that it was no big deal.
"Er… and then?"
"You can go clubbing from the age of 16!", Jean excitedly showed off.
Yeah, this delinquent. She probably slept through the classes because she went clubbing the night before. That explained a lot.
"Where do you go clubbing?", Ivar asked.
"In the city, of course. At night. I know a few places that absolutely rock"
"Are these places, and clubbing activity… are popular in your 'city'? I thought you said you were from a village?", Ivar probed further.
"Ah, we kinda live in a village because that's where the school is. But I go to the city on the weekends"
"School?"
"Well yeah, I know. School sucks"
Ivar closed his eyes, stroked his beard, and summarized.
"Incredible indeed. For such a remote village to have schools - neither of you look filthy rich so it must be normal over there. But this clubbing you speak of sounds fascinating. Clubbing in the city. That can't end well?"
"But so many people do it"
A man in the small crowd gathered around them whistled and said,
"That's mad. People gathering around clubbing each other. Is that some sort of a local ritual?"
Leah closed her eyes and winced in her mind. It didn't help this time.
'So these people thought Jean was literally going around clubbing people'
"You ladies must be pretty good at it then. Our town could use people like you", another man, somewhat older, spoke from the front of the crowd.
"Heh, I know a move or two", Jean showed off.
"Show us!", Ivar invited someone from the back of the crowd and he handed Jean a literal club.
Jean was confused, but took the club anyway and got up from her seat.
"Could I have some music please?"
"Ah pity, we got no musicians here tonight. But we could sing a song for you"
As a kind-looking old man among the group of listeners suggested, Ivar cleared his throat and starred to sing something that sounded very much like country music from Leah and Jean's world.
"No, no, no, no. Not THIS kind of music", Jean stopped the crowd.
'Don't offend them!', just as Leah was about to stop Jean and apologize to everyone, Jean started to give out instructions.
"OK, we'll have to improvise. You guys over here, yes, go boom, boom, boom, boom"
Jean made the boom boom sound and pounded her chest in beat. The growing crowd of men, women, and even some children looked amused and followed her lead - pounding their chests and going boom-boom.
"And you guys here, go tsi, tsi, tsi, tsi. But not on beat"
"What do you mean 'not on beat'?", a child raised his hand and asked.
"You know, like between the boom boom. So it will become Boom-Tsi-Boom-Tsi"
"Ah~, I got it", Ivar caught on quickly and started to help the beat going. In a matter of seconds, we were getting Boom-Tsi-Boom-Tsi.
"Great! These are the basics. Now-, those of you over there, clap your hands on every second boom"
The beat continued and some people were already starting to sway their body, getting into the rhythm.
"Now, the rest of you, at the start of every four boom, you go woop-woop"
Amazingly, these people were very quick to learn.
"Finally, when I raise this wooden thingy - everybody stops except the boom boom guys. When I start jumping, bring everything back"
Now that everything was ready, the madness started. The tavern was filled with heart-pounding boom-boom sounds as Jean started to rhythmically shake her body. The crowd burst into laughter but they followed. Jean raised her club for the breakdown, which was orchestrated surprisingly well, and when she started to jump it all came back with the crowd of people going woop woop, spreading infectious joy among people.
And this was how German Techno was introduced to another world.