1069/In Which Soan Bothers Aqua

In Which Soan Bothers Aqua
Date of Scene:	03 December 2014
Location:	Galianda
Synopsis:	Soan introduces Aqua to technology and idle chatter.
Cast of Characters:	624, 633

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Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     If anything you can say about the student of Alexander Academy, is that many of them are opportunist. Most of all, however, are the Merchant Students. Upon reciving the news of Extraversal visitors, many young entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to establish a small Student-Run franchise by the entrances of the Academy, very close in the courtyard. While kiosques already clearly exists and are in plain sight, the far more adventurous ones wanders the courtyard and the various areas of the City where a Tourist might find himself in, ready to provide information, tours, refreshments and maps, for a fee of course.

     It is a nice, ripe area for Soan to wander around in. Keeping tabs on people is important, particularly if they are strangers! Thus, the young thief is hiding in plain sight in the massive natural courtyard of the Academy, leaned against a rock as he watch people pass by, keeping notes, drawing things. He's done his part in pickpocket quota today.

     Any more would be greedy.

Aqua (624) has posed:
    Aqua washes dishes at an inn for her stay.
    It's not exactly high-tier work but it gives a lot of free time, and the pay's good enough. She's happy enough to have a roof over her head, food, and spare change!

    Today her wandering takes her through Alexander Academy again; it's hard not to, because it's basically the hub of life here. If the Great Span is where people go to travel, Alexander Academy is where people would go to see the whole world in one single location. That makes it great to play tourist!

    And great for Aqua to, by accident, bump into Soan-- even as he's laying against a rock. The blue-eyed, blue-haired girl seemed distracted by a large paper map of the Academy, which she drops when she bumps into the Thief (unless he wants to be smoooooth and catch it, anyway!).

    "A-Ah, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was goi-- oh, hi Soan!"

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     It's funny just how things can work out, sometimes. While his observation, he completely missed someone just walking up to him distracted by a map. At least, he 'saw' her, just didn't think too much of it at the time. He was thinking back on the Dungeon Run match, with the apperance of that weird girl in the portal. He still wonder what was that about.

     He'll admit it takes talent to bump against someone that is leaning against a rock. Soan will admire this later.

     "Woah!" Soan lets out, surprised, reflexes kicking in as he reaches an arm out for the clumsy girl bumping into him to catch the impact a bit... and he does go for the smooth move, his other hand scooping down in mid-fall for the map, rolling it up deftly into a roll as he pulls it up, holding the girl steady.

     "Hahaha, it's alright! Here, that's yours I think--Oh! Hello, Aqua!" The Thief replies happily, handing the rolled up map back to her. "Looking for something in particular today?"

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "T-Thanks," Aqua says, grabbing the map and... well, folding it back into a neat rectangle. Or she would, if maps weren't hell to fold back up properly. Map 1, Keyblade Master 0. It looks pretty awful.

    She still stuffs it in a pocket.

    "N-Nothing in particular, no. I'm still a bit overwhelmed at the size of everything, but I'm getting used to it slowly. I haven't felt too much Heartless activity in the last few days so I haven't had to go out and handle it. It's odd to have so much downtime."

    She looks around the square, then back at Soan. "What about you? Are you between classes right now, or are you in the middle of that?" The idea of thieving classes still weirds her out, but this is a weird world in general.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan tries to not look offended at how she folds up a map. He succeeds, remaining with a smile.

     "It /is/ pretty big, I'll admit." Soan replies, looking around and about. Lots of people. Big buildings. It's pretty intimidating to a newcomer. "Well, whatever Heartless are, it's good to have a break now and then. You're holding up at the Inn, right?"

     At her question, the thief follows her gaze, then match her's. "Nah, I'm just sitting around, observing the other students walk about. Lots of Merchants, I've noticed. That's where you must have gotten that map. Matches a few I've seen about."

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "Mhm. They were kind enough to let me work in their kitchen and help clean up the rooms for my stay. I don't really have a home, so it's as good as any other place," Aqua answers, although she'd admit she wouldn't mind finding a slightly better place to crash sometime in the future. It's not urgent, though, not in the slightest.

    "Ah, yes. I purchased the map from a booth near the inn. It wasn't expensive and I think it was students selling it, so..." She shrugs. Even if she could have gotten one for free, no harm encouraging a student in his job (or Job?).

    "Say, what do you do around here when you're bored? I mean, besides the violent sports. I could see how those might be a bit fun to get involved in, but I'm... a worrier, I guess? The idea of violence being people's entertainment just makes me worry about those getting injured."

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     "Oh! That's a pretty good deal, actually." Soan comments. Not a perfect deal, sure, but still. As if he was reading her mind, he continues. "I can look for a place for you sometime, if you'd want. Plenty of vacancy, just need to find them." He says. Not really a problem for Soan to find a place to live. He's got contact. That's his Job.

     "Always important to support the budding entrepreneur, I say. Hmmmm, lots of stuff, really." Soan says as he leans back against the rock again, crossing his arms causally. "Play videogames, read, write, talk with people. There's sports that aren't Dungeon Run, so. There's arcades around town. What sort of things you like doing?"

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "I... don't really know. That's the problem. Everything before a few months ago is pretty much pitch black, and I never really had time to stop and try to enjoy myself. Just having downtime like this, it's kind of new. Normally my downtime would just be... travelling from world to world where there's Heartless. But ever since the Warp Gates showed up, that's... made it a lot easier for me."

    Not perfect, but easier.

    Aqua continues, "I wouldn't mind reading, I'm sure your world has some very interesting stories and legends to immerse myself in. I've never tried video games or arcades. Talking with people... I guess that's what we're doing right now, that's easy enough."

    "Say, um... don't people think of you badly? Since you're a Thief? Wouldn't... well, wouldn't merchants be nervous around you, and people keep a hand on their wallets?"

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan remains clueless about what a 'Heartless' is still. He can guess by the name that it's something that is not very kind to thoses that have beating hearts, enjoys living and eating refreshing meals. That's the true value of naming attrocities properly: a good proper imagery is important. "Huh... so you're amnesiac, in a way. No, it's worse than that, a total blackout is something else." Soan muses, rubbing his chin on the information. Troubling. "Is... this Xion girl the same way, too? She seemed to be a little... well, in a mess, honestly. You two met around the same time?"

     At the question, Soan's grin turns faintly proud, waving a hand around demonstratively. "Oh, no, if they see me, that means they're safe. I've hit my quota for today, anyway. When I'm doing pickpockets for the classes, I have to keep track of who I stole from and what I took. Half the time, anyway. Besides, Merchants have guards of their own to defend them. Lots of Fighting Jobs get hired for protection. It's good practice."

     He pushes off his rock, motioning to her to follow him as he starts to move on along. "Heh, yeah, that's what we're doing right now. For books, getting you a tablet will solve a lot of problems in general. There's a lot to do in them. As for an /arcade/, I know a place."

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "A tablet? I'm not sure how a piece of rock would help me read books...?" You're going to have to explain that one better! She barely got her radio working as it is.

    "It's amnesia, yeah. Well, something like it. Maybe I just don't want to remember. I must have wandered the Realm of Darkness too long, it does... it does bad things to people when they're not protected. And I wasn't, when I came to. A-Ah... Xion? I only just met her a week or two ago. I'm not really sure what her deal is. She says she has a lot of skills and memories, but none of them are her own. It must be pretty hard, having a lot of things you appropriated but none that are truly yours. She seems to really want to find her own place in life... but I don't think anyone but her can give her that," Aqua says, a bit darkly, mostly because it's true. There's only so much she feels she can do to help, even if she wants to help a lot.

    "And oh... I see. So the school gives money or goods back to those they use for pickpocketing practice?" Please say yes, she will think so much better of all this.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     "Oh, no, a tablet. Like... an electronic tablet. It's a sort of tiny computer." Soan replies, fishing into his pocket as he figures that showing would be a lot better than trying to describle it when she think of stone tablets. The young thief fishes out a rectangular long metal pice, about 10 inches diagonally, pressing a button on the side of the very thin object. It makes an adorable digitalized 'Kweh!', the screen lighting up. An adorable, yet badass-looking Chocobo wearing a Thief's cowl appears, covered by a numeric grid and a lock. "You can hold a lot of things on that. Take photos, that sort of things."

     He hands it to her to give it a look. Even if she drops it, it'll be fine. It's a ChocoTablet. It's sturdy. "Hm, I'm sorry to hear that, honestly. It must be stressful to not know anything about yourself until a few months ago... but you seem to be going along well enough, anyway." He adds, walking along, his brows furrowing at the description of Xion. "I don't think anyone can do that but herself. It's weird, if that's true. Hm. Too bad. I hoped you knew more than I did about her, she was... really perplexing. I'll have to look into it."

     At her question, Soan downright grins, somewhat like a shark. "Ah, ah, ah!" He says, waggling a finger. "I can't give away /all/ of our Job secrets, but, yes. They get their stuff back, they're compensated for it. In fact, it's an Opt-in thing when you sign up, it's for more grades. I know who I can steal from, fill the paper then submit with the proof. Sometimes I get to keep what I steal, but if it's personal stuff, well, it's given back."

Aqua (624) has posed:
    Aqua takes, and carefully handles, the tablet. It takes her a few moments to figure out how it works, even with Soan guiding her. Touchscreens are weird. Fortunately she's from a fairly magical world, so it isn't TOO odd. She's not about to accuse Soan of trapping things in a tiny object or anything like that.

    "I see... so then your society doesn't need real books anymore? Everything is on these... tablets?" She has to admit this seems convenient. This can carry ten, a hundred books? You'd be hard-pressed to carry more than five or six without it being annoying, physically!

    As she experiments with it, she continues answering Soan at least. "It's okay. I'm... I think I'm one of those keep walking and don't worry people. It's alright not to know where I came from, as long as I know where I'm going. I can figure it out later. Xion worries me a bit, but I don't really know her, so..." Well, she can't judge! "I just hope I can help her find what she's looking for. And that those portals she uses are safe. They seem to pass through the Darkness, and they're the same kind of portals the Heartless use to get around. She says they ignore her when she uses them but they can probably still follow."

    Hard to say without asking Xion or Roxas to show her, though.

    "So people opt-in to give Thieves the practice they need...? That makes sense. I'm glad that's how it is, that makes everything a lot cleaner to me. I know your world is different, it was just odd for me to think stealing could be... well, acceptable."

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     It's not much to mess with, it's just the numeric lock screen. Still, the tablet makes faintly different-sounding 'Kweh!' sounds when numbers are pressed. It's quite soothing, really. After she's messed with it for a few moments, Soan causally reaches over, punches in a few numbers to unlock the tablet. There's a lot of icons that reveals themselves when the screen unfolds, the Chocobo in the background entering into an idle, repeated walking animation.

     "Oh, they still exist. I like the smell of a good book, turning pages, but it's just a lot more convenient to have them digitalized. Lot less heavy! Plus, you can download them from the Networks, which is very useful."

     Soan stops his explanation to rummage what she says about Xion in his head. Hm. So, the omnious crackling dark portal is, in fact, quite dangerous potentially, for thoses 'Heartless' to follow through if they wanted. Lovely. Maybe he was wrong about his initial opinion about it. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You seem like a pretty bright girl. In the end... you live like how you want to live. It's what I learned really young when I got adopted, I never... really worried about where I came from. No real point to. I offered to talk to her next time I see her. Didn't promise anything, but talking usually helps, I've found."

     Still, this all points to a confusing prospect in the future for him. The Multiverse is bizzare.

     "Oh, yeah. You wouldn't believe the amount of paper work they make us do to keep tract of everything. Some departments are a bit less clean about it, but this is a school, not a... well, Thieve's Den. I suppose the paperwork's good practice for later, a lot of us becomes police Investigators, among other things."

Aqua (624) has posed:
    Hey even a numeric screen that makes noise is impressive for someone who's technodumb. Aqua's just as impressed as if he'd shown her something more interactive.

    She nods at the mention of a network-- THAT much she knows what it is. Or rather she knows the work, and has the basic mental ability to extrapolate there is something connecting all these tablets together.

    "I'm sure she'll appreciate it. She sounds like she's confused right now, so having people to talk to can do her a lot of good. I have... well, it's not her radio frequency, it's her friend's. His name is Roxas, you can talk to him to talk to Xion too. He's... he confused me, too, but for different reasons. I feel like I've seen his face before, but I can't remember it."

    Aqua grins and waves a hand in the air. "Sorry, nevermind that. I'm rambling. So Thieves become cops? That's backwards, but it makes sense. Is that what you want to do later?"

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan files that new name away in his mind. Roxas, friend of Xion. Okay, that's another lead to follow. She didn't... smelled like anything at all. It was perplexing. Usualy there IS at least some sort of spiritual scent in people.

     "Maybe we can figure it out, I'll try to find her friend too, then. We ain't gonna do that by not talking or investigating with them what is going on." Soan replies, shoving his hands into his pockets, letting her mess with the tablet still. It's interesting to see the effect of technology on someone that's not used to it. How fast is she going to want to mess around with funny videos on the network and share them all with everyone she knows?

     "I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking probably, but," Soan says, shrugging his shoulders non-commitably, grinning back at her. "Takes a thief to know a thief, that's part of the reasoning. I'm... really not too sure where to go from where I am. University's a thing, or I go straight for some adventuring jobs. I never really thought about it much."

     That's because he's busy moonlighting as a Superhero and didn't think much of his Thief carreer's future, but, hey.

Aqua (624) has posed:
    Oh, right, the frequency.

    Aqua stuffs her hand in one of her pockets and then produces a business card. It is not her own, the name clearly says Roxas. It just has that name and a frequency on it. Someone evidently taught the boy to carry business cards for contact purposes. Pretty smart idea, she thinks, but she hasn't looked into getting her own yet.

    She hands it to Soan, naturally.

    "I'm sure we'll figure something out, but you're right. Inaction never produces results." Or sometimes it does when you're insanely lucky or have minions? But that's completely besides the point.

    As for his future, she nods. "You'll figure it out. You seem like a bright boy," she parrots with a smile, not maliciously. It's just the truth. "Planning a future sounds like a pretty difficult thing. Too many things can happen along the way, right?"

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan grabs the card, gives it a good read before carefully pocketing it. That solves a problem of finding this guy. Then again, he has a feeling he wouldn't have too much trouble, he doubt there's a lot of 'Roxas' hanging around. He could be mistaken, mind you.

     The Thief laughs a bit at the parroting, shaking his head. "Yeah. This place's been a major part of my life, you know? Lived a long part of it here." Strictly true, just not... completly. He came here pretty early from the Monasteries. "Before that, it's pretty much was a blurr. So... I know the feeling." Also not a lie Just... the truth goes further back.

     He gives a look over the tablet. "Fun just to mess around with, eh?"

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "You mean in Chocobo? Or did you come from another continent?" She learned the terminology! Though she could have said plate, too. She doesn't harp him about the blurry past, mostly because that'd be rude.

    A look at the tablet mostly reveals Aqua has managed to open a web browser and put 'Chocobo' in the Moogle search engine. She is browsing the images, especially those from perspectives you can't get on the ground.

    "Yes. This is an incredible piece of technology. It must make your lives much easier if everything is always at your fingertips like this. Where I'm from we don't really have technology. Well... most worlds don't. Some worlds are a bit more modern, and there was one where everything was complex, futuristic and made with neon lights, but I didn't stay there long."

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
"Chocobo, yes." Soan confirms. She learned the terms pretty fast, which helps when you live in the area! He feel bad to lie to her, but in a way it's not complete lies. Just... some details are not fully accurate. "I'm Ifriti, but I think I was born here. Good thing, I think."

     She's learning really fast, in fact, he muses as she's already searching for something on the Moogle search engine. Images are a good start. Soan ponders something about this, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, it's almost a requirement when you're a student. It's some pretty good things you can do with theses, it's just... convenient." His face turns into a smile at the description of other worlds. That's what he's talking about! He want to see thoses places! "That's cool! I mean, just how different things are. We've just been out there for a few weeks and already we see tons of things. That much neon must kinda hurt in the long term. What do you remember of your home?"

     An idea goes through his mind, furrowing his brow. "Tell you what." Soan says, lifting a finger to interrupt his previous question's answer. "I've got an old Tablet at home, I can let you borrow it, if you want. You can get used to them that way without having to worry to break a brand new device you bought. You're interested?"

Aqua (624) has posed:
    "S-Sure! I mean, if it won't inconvenience you, of course. I might... need a bit of help, but I think I understand the gist of this." Finer things, like making images bigger, are a bit less intuitive than putting a word in a blank space and seeing what happens.

    As for her home, she shakes her head. "Nothing. I mean, I don't remember where I was born or grew up. With my luck, it's probably a dead world because of the Heartless. If you mean the world at large, it's hard to describe briefly. It's a big sky filled with stars, and each star is a world. Not two are alike, besides in size. Most are pretty small, and there's more of them than you can count by looking up. I never really had time to enjoy them for what they were though, not while chasing monsters. Maybe now that they've calmed down I could do that." Calmed down is relative, but she'll take any break she can get.

Soan Sagittarius (633) has posed:
     Soan's smile saddens. Even if she don't remember where she came from beyond fleeting images, the dread of such 'Heartless' devouring worlds does put into perspective why she hunt them, as well as the urgency of how dangerous theses things are if they would spill out. "I... guess we can't miss what we don't remember." He says, lifting a hand to gently pat on her shoulder. He knows what he's talking about, even if it's not quite an entire world in his case. "I think you should, if they've calmed down. I want to do that, myself. Just see things, outside. It's exciting, inspiring, you know?"

     His smile perks right back up. "Nah, it's no incovenience. I can set up the Beginner Tutorial for you when I'll hand it to you. It should tell you the basics of what you need to know on sing it."