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Ishirou The City of Shades

Called this because of who inhabits the sprawling megatropolis.  Honestly, megatropolis undersells how massive the city is.  At ground level, the city rises so far into the sky that it's impossible to see the tops. From the air, the city seems to sprawl out forever.  Its streets spread from the ground along buildings and various different heights.  There are no elevators in the buildings, but rather magitech devices that teleport you to each level.  

In its streets, the shades of people walk, much as if they still lived.  The difference is that they seem...indistinct.  They're solid enough, but their faces are masked by shades, and their clothing all seems to be the same; hooded robes.  They are also easily taller than most people, standing at about twelve feet tall on average.  Children vary in size, but younger ones are about as tall as normal humans.  

The other thing to note is that there aren't any vehicles.  People walk, use magical transportation spells, or magitech transporters to go where they need to.  The air is clean, impossibly clean for a city this size.  Plants grow in various places.  Small birds can be seen, as well as various small animals, but there is one noticeable thing.  Life is very much engineered.  These creatures were all selected for, and the environment was made so that they and the people could live in harmony.  

Where Ishirou is right now is a plaza.  Surrounding the plaza are various centers of learning.  A college is at the very end of the plaza and is a grand building that stretches up like most other buildings.  There is a hall of records to one side, and dorms to another.  A library sits along the path as well, as tall as the others.  There are even various labs dedicated to various magic, tech, and magitech researches.  

Ishirou himself stands at the center of the plaza, sitting on a bench that is far too tall for him kicking his legs back and forth.  It's awe-inspiring, and Ishirou is in fact in awe right now.  It's, relaxing somehow.  This society seems to be a perfect utopia, but...

Why did it end?
Taelveras Taelveras has never been to Secundus, nor does she honestly know all that much about it, but given how invested people seemed to be getting in it she figured it was probably time to learn. And Ishirou *was* asking for assistance.

Which is why she is now here. Taelveras is on foot and dressed as she often is: all dark clothes, with a long coat that swirls around her and mostly hides her sword. No hat, today. She didn't think she was going to burn in a city. It's not like it was a desert. There's a lot of shade.

She actually steps out of a shadow with little warning, striding out from the darkness of the side of a flight of stairs. She took a somewhat zig-zagging path to get here, hopping from shadow to shadow where the light wasn't too bright.

"The scale of it is impressive," she says, quietly, from near Ishirou. She's so quiet that he might not have heard her come up, if he wasn't looking for her. She does kind of stand out, between her height (she's taller than him but shorter than anyone else here) and everything else.
Staren     Staren promised to help Ishirou -- and truthfully, he finds fascinating zones that she wants to investigate and help the people of anyway. A stop to senseless fighting has gotten her what she wants in so many ways, maybe she *is* learning how to negotiatie properly...

    Hooded robes everywhere. "Was their culture not big on fashion? Or perhaps it's a symbol, the stereotypical way ghosts were depicted... like many humans might do with a pale and translucent figure." She comments, once she's close enough to Ishirou to have someone to comment *to*.

    The scale of it all... "I'd call it an ecumenopolis, but we've only seen this little piece... maybe it repeats or ends if you go far enough." Speaking of scale, Ishirou isn't the only one shorter than Taelveras around.

    Staren looks around. "Ooh, is that a library?! ...Ooh, are those research labs???" Her eyes almost shine as she wonders what wonders might be found within and what she could learn from them... but, she did promise to help with the specific mission. She calms herself and looks to Ishirou. "Well, if the library has news archives, we could try looking at the most recent news. It doesn't feel like it could be that simple, but we'd feel really silly if we checked everywhere *else*, failed to solve that mystery, and it turned out that there was 'Doomsday comet impacts tomorrow' or 'Strangelet due to absorb reality' right there on microfiche."
Ishirou Ishirou nods and gives Taelveras a smile.  He jumps off the bench and hits the ground with a three-point stance because it was a drop.  Standing back up, though, it's easy to see that Ishirou is a bit different than the last time Taelveras has seen him.  It's not something easy to notice, but there is in the way he carries himself.  He's not pensive or acts small, he's confident but not overbearing.  The snark has died down a bit too and genuinely seems happier.  "Yeah, it's massive..."

Staren gets a look, but the smile doesn't slip from his face.  Nor is he being antagonistic or condescending.  "Mmm...it'd be an ecumenopolis if it covered the entire planet, yes?  We don't know if it went that far because the projection just seems to be centered on one city.  Though nobody can tell me the name of said city.  I think that it doesn't matter little...it is a memorial, after all."

Ishirou does nod, "That seems like a good idea actually.  Starting there and then moving to the hall of records.  Assuming they'll let us access said records...they may not?  You see..."

A shade moves by.  It stops to look at them and crouches down as one might do if addressing a child.  "Hello there," its voice is strange.  The language is unfamiliar, but it is perfectly understandable.  The voice is harmonic, and pleasant to the ears but it could also just be this particular person's voice.  "Are you children lost?"

A moment later, "Or perhaps you are exploring the University..?" it says more bemused than condensending.  Much like it finds it cute, assuming they are children of their species, as opposed to aliens.
Taelveras Taelveras gives Staren a long look, as if trying to figure her out. She gives a very slight nod after a few moments of that, having recognized her (eventually).

"Do you honestly thinkthat the archives would be accessible to a random visitor?" she asks instead, because it was her assumption that it wouldn't be. "But even if it is not, I suppose a scholar's guild or similar might be a good place to search, if you want information on this place. Or I can get inside, if it is locked and sealed."

A pause. "You would think a memorial would be the *most* likely to have a name," Tael says. "Even if it is a city of ghosts." A memorial implies you want to remember it, after all. She had been about to say something else, but a shade arrives, suddenly enough that Tael tenses. Her hand flicks to her sword, then away from it without quite ever touching it.

Tael looks up at it. She has to look well up, which she isn't used to. Her first instinct is - well, it doesn't matter, because it's not the right one. "Yes," she says, after a few moments. "We would like to see the University."

That counts as an archive, right?
Staren > You see... Hello there!
    Staren turns and looks up at the shade, blinking owlishly for a second and then bursting out laughing when she realizes what misunderstanding has occured and why.

    But... she's *been* a child in a library, after all. A moment to think back... She smiles, trying to affect a little naïvete on top of her real enthusiasm for knowledge. Then reels it back in, smile fading; real child geniuses don't go all Oh Golly Gosh Mister, after all. And they don't like to be talked down to.

    "We're not lost. We're here to see the Hall of Records. I wanna know what happened. An' maybe tour the research labs later. I promise I know expensive scientific equipment isn't a toy, I wanna /learn/." She affects the manner of a child who is tired of adults assuming she doesn't understand STEM topics and just wants to get on with her self-directed study with minimal adult interference. It's a bit brusque, but she's gambling on the shade having encountered actual child prodigies and desiring to help them quench their thirst for knowledge.
Ishirou Ishirou holds a hand out towards Taelveras as if to indicate being calm.  These things are no threat, in fact, the whole city seems excessively peaceful.  "They aren't ghosts in the sense you're aware of...they appear to be projections.  Solid enough, but more memories of a bygone age."

The shade standing over them chuckles a little bit, "Ah I see, avid learners," Though when Staren mentions they want to know what happened, it turns to stare at her a bit longer.  "Ah I see, I see..." The tone changes from bemused to somber.  "You're not shades like myself, you know something happened..."

"Forgive me, when you are at this as long as most of us have been...like this, things fade from the memory.  I confused you for a group of our children.." a pause.  "The rest of these people do not understand what they are, but...I appear to.  Interesting...though it only came to me when you mentioned it...also curious."

"Ah, my manners.  You can call me Raphiel.  Hmm...but to get you into the hall of records...that is typically for those who are older, and are students here.  What to do...what to do!" he says, seemingly mischievous in his tone.  "Ah, right...now I know, a friend owes me a favor, I wonder if they remember it!  Alright, come along.  Also..." he says, leaning down and snapping his fingers to produce three cloaks similar in style to his own, but made for their own sizes.

"I can explain a bit about us as we go, and these will help you fit in.  You will find they will probably only exist in this area, so if you leave they will likely fade until you reenter.  If you could do me this favor so as to not cause a stir...after all, I do not know what caused this to happen, or if anyone is watching."
Taelveras Tael makes allowances for ghosts, because ghosts are stupid and don't always notice new things very well. From an ordinary person, she'd bristle at being called a kid, too. But, well... this is different.

"Forgive me. I was startled," Taelveras says to Ishirou. She's keeping her hand away from her sword now, at least; she doesn't seem like she's preparing to draw it. Though, 'a memory of a death' is a kind of ghost I am familiar with. As is 'the memory of a person'. Less so the memory of a place..."

Is the entire city a haunt? It's not, but it's close enough that Taelveras can make sense of it until she gets the real details.

"I am over a hundred and forty years." Taelvaras sounds slightly less even, this time. "Old enough to remember before the death of Aroden. I daresay I am old enough to study." Still, she doesn't press the point too much, since the haunt/projection/memory/whatever is helping more than he (?) needs to.

She supposes it won't kill her to wear the cloak, even though she does not like its design over her longcoat. "Where did they come from?" she asks, suspicious, as she shakes out the cloak. It doesn't look trapped to her and she can always teleport out of it. Taelveras does fuss with things long enough to get her sword on top of it, so it doesn't cause more awkward lumps than what she's already wearing does. Blending in is all to the good even if she's not wild about the design.

Still, when they walk she keeps to the shadows anyway. She's not *really* trying to hide herself; it's more preference than anything else.

"Do you think there will be information there we can make use of?" she murmurs to the group. "If nobody understands what they are, or that 'something happened', it doesn't sound like they would have recorded it."
Staren     Staren blinks. "I figured you'd take it in the sense of 'I want to read about history', but it seems you're onto us. Nice to meet you Raphiel," she extends a hand to shake, "I'm Staren Wiremu." If his culture doesn't recognize the handshake, she explains it, and its alleged origins as a way of demonstrating lack of a hidden dagger up the sleeve.

    "We're not actually children, if it helps. Although... I was that sort of child, once." She looks at Taelveras. "Where we come from, most adults are between these two heights," she looks back to the shade, "although there are certainly some smaller and some larger, even as tall as you or taller still."

    She puts on the cloak. "So what's the significance of the cloaks, anyway? And... if you're becoming aware... and you understand the significance of us knowing something happened... do *you* know what happened? Can you tell us?"
Ishirou Ishirou gives Taelveras an easy enough smile, "It's alright, I know it's sort of old habit from where you come from...and well, I do remember your people..." Ishirou remembers the Drow raid, and boy did that leave an impression on his developing mind.  Though unlike some, Ishirou isn't one to hold grudges against an entire group, but rather more about the individual.  That's also because of what he was once.

"How interesting," Raphiel says at the handshake, and takes it gently into their hands.  Ishirou offers the same, and if Taelveras does she gets a shake too.  It's gentle, very much attempting not to hurt those smaller than itself.  "I see, so your society stems from one that was wilder in its heyday?  I think ours was too, but it was so long ago that it's barely mentioned in texts."

On the cloak, they speaks, "Ah yes...so in our society, we learned that division is often brought on by disparity.  Not only are all people considered equal, but to show we are we all dress in similar outfits.  In official meetings, we also often ware masks that cover the upper parts of our faces...again a symbol of unity.  Outside of these official meetings it's usually only done in symbolic gestures."

"Each of us works for the betterment of the world, society, and each other.  We store knowledge to better learn from the past so that the future can be even brighter.  Now, I will not say that our society does not have its faults...after all, every utopia has its shadows, correct?  Though I do find it hard to remember...I think whoever constructed this has done so with rose-tinted glasses."

It's obvious that they did not /say/ rose-tinted glasses, but that the words translated to an equivalent approximation of that, it appears their language...or perhaps magic can help consolidate idioms.  When Taelvaras reveals her age, they nod.  "Yes, that certainly would not make you a child.  Again, forgive me for my presumption," it says with a humble apology.

As they continue on, the building looms above them.  "As for what happened, my memory is clouded.  I know something terrible happened, but it is like something is blocking it...a haze.  I think whatever created this tried their best to forget the tragedy...but somehow also knew that I would still somehow know.." a pause.  "Sorry, I digress.  Let us continue in..."

The entryway for the records is large, massive even.  It's large by /their/ standards.  The room itself is built in an interesting way, despite the lack of personal fashion, the architecture is magnificent.  The floor is a perfect marble with black marble interlaced.  It is designed in such a way to bring attention to the front desk as if to say 'here is where you start.'  In fact, the design also seems to indicate where you would stand...the eyes are just attracted in that direction.  There are large gilded doors all around, but they remain locked for now.  

At the desk, Raphiel is already talking with the person there.  
Staren     Staren's expression betrays her mixed feelings on a society so focused on equality and taking care of eachother that it eschews individuality.

> I think whatever created this tried their best to forget the tragedy...
    Staren nods. "I guess this memorial-builder wants future xenoarchaeologists to remember you as you were, without focusing on the tragedy that brought you to an end."

    She looks to Ishirou. "If we continue to find evidence that that's the builder's wish... are you sure you want to find out how it ended?"

    The Library. Staren stops, for a moment, looking at the desk. She can't help being reminded of Njorun's Infinite Library. She can so easily picture the Archivist's past self puttering about, keeping everything organized. Here and now she can picture it so clearly she can almost *hear* the exact worried noise he would make as he looks up from his desk and sees a friend in the company of three visitors who trouble will *clearly* follow.

    She smiles a little and tears come to her eyes, which she wipes on the cloak's sleeve.

    After a moment, she returns to the present and strides up to the desk, listening to the conversation to determine how best to insert herself into it.
Taelveras "I haven't seen any that large," Taelveras adds, tilting her head toward Staren. "Except for giants, of course, but no elves, no humans, no..." She blanks for a moment on the correct term for cat-people.

Taelveras doesn't respond to Ishirou out loud, but she does give him a slight nod. She remembers that raid too, and she wasn't even there. She doesn't have to have been; she's been on enough (albeit different) ones to make an impression.

Tael does not shake the hand unless actually prompted to. She's not very touchy. She does introduce herself, though: "Taelveras." She doesn't say anything else for a time - she's listening. The way they have (had) their city set up...

She doesn't have a good word for it. Her expression is hard to read. Mostly she seems a little distant.

Taelveras runs one of her booted feet along the marble floor. Not enough to scuff it, and she's quiet about it. "Smooth," she says. "Someone cared enough to build it properly and maintain it. The inlay seams can shift over time if you don't; some parts rise and others fall." She lived in an underground empire and lived long enough to see the difference between decades of neglect or attention - of course she's seen complex marble flooring before. "So they know to do that much, at least."

The doors are obvious go-to points. Tael figures she can just get inside if she needs to, but there's not really any need to force it while Raphiel is talking. She listens in without bothering to get much closer, just off-handedly. She has sharp ears. Unless it becomes worrying or goes over things that Ishirou probably wants to know, she doesn't really comment on it.
Ishirou There is though, one design feature that is now noticeable to the room.  A blue orb sits on the top of the roof, looking down.  One might think it's a light at first, but it's clearly not.  Ishirou in fact looks up at it oddly.  "We're being watched..?" He says nodding upwards.  Though in reality, it's watching the entire room.

The Keeper and Raphiel converse, and it's an innocuous enough conversation.  The normal pleasantries, Raphiel asking about their fiance, that sort of small talk.  Though it's obvious the Keeper knows that Raphiel is up to something, and sounds more...exasperated, but not in a negative way.  They are obviously /friends/ but it doesn't stop Raphiel from being a wind of trouble sometimes.  

Apparently, he keeps good company with you.

"Ah yes, so I would like to call in my favor.  I need you to let these three...children into the library," they say, giving the Keeper a smile.  The Keeper, in turn, sighs.  "Omega as my witness...if they do anything it will be on your head," They return in exasperated tones.  "Very well...have them come here."

If you in fact 'come there' the Keeper looks over his desk down at you.  "Your names, please?" and assuming you give them to him, he will produce three cards.  One for each of you (and Ishirou.)  "This will grant you entry to everything BUT the top levels.  That is for students or professors only."

Ishirou's eyes might be infact very large and stars right now.  He does whisper to Staren, "Why wouldn't we..?  Knowing how something end is important as it began or lived..."

Taelveras, during all of this, will also spot small (comparatively) magitech machines slowly moving across the floor.  They appear to be cleaning and upkeeping the floor.  
Staren     Staren shrugs at Ishirou's reply. Seems she guessed wrong that that was something that might concern him.

    She comes forward when indicated. "Staren." Raphiel only gave one name, so that's what she gives as well. She smiles as she takes the card. A child *would* be happy to get a library card... she's pretty sure. Her own first library card was granted so long ago she honestly doesn't remember the experience.

    Only after staring at the card for a moment, does Staren remember to look back up and say "Thank you." She *can* remember the feeling of being a child entrusted with a symbol of responsibility. Imitating appropriate seriousness, she adds, "We won't do anything untoward! We're just here to learn! Thank you so much Keeper!"
Taelveras Lit things inside buildings are another thing Taelveras is used to. "I am not sure if it's watching or serves some other purpose," she says. The blue orb could be a lot of things. For all she knows it maintains the shades, or memories, or whatever you would like to call them.

Still, she's suspicious, so yes, she's keeping half an eye on it. But not so suspicious she stands completely out of its field of vision. She's pretty sure she can't do that anyway, short of not being in the building.

She does crouch down to investigate one of the machines. Tael doesn't touch it, only watches it at its job for a few moments. It still shows attention to set them up - though she supposes they could be a memory too. They seem like part of the intended environment, anyway.

Tael rises, following Staren. "Taelveras," she introduces herself again, also giving only one name. She is picky enough about the spelling to ensure it is correct - assuming she can read the language, which is not a given, if it's dead enough.

She gives a slight nod. "Thank you." It interests her too, even if she is not so expressive about it as the other two. They seem mad for libraries in a way that she really isn't, but there is likely to be something of interest.
Ishirou The orb continues to watch, looming above them.  The machines on the floor continue their work, cleaning.  Raphiel and the keeper seem to give them no mind, though Raphiel /DOES/ move around them...so they are obviously there for the shades as well.

The Keeper of Tomes, who seems to be now overworked because Raphiel is within arm's distance and now in their space nods to each thank you and promises of being good.  "See that you do, children.  You will be absolved of responsibility, but it would look quite bad on the Keeper of Records who has vouched for you.

Raphiel smiles in response, but says nothing.

For now, the giant looming orb-eye does not do anything but watch.  

"Ah, now my friends...shall we?" it says, guiding them towards the room in the back.  Towards the entrance to the library.  

Which we'll get to next time, on Multiverse Crisis Mush Z.