Scene #9817: Spaceport Encounters

Owner	Pose
Hy Izlan Reformers	There are SO many Warpgate hubs that double as spaceports. And so many of those that double as markets and trade hubs, because obviously. And it is in one such place we end up today, half a hour's walking away from the ship docking platforms proper. Slate gray metallic floors cover countless square miles around the docks, kiosks and small fronts sprouting like colorful trees from the bare steel. A deep blue-red sky, cloudless, sunless, yet bright as day, gives the place the slightest eerie look, and there's the constant smell of jet fuel on the back of the air, save near the food stalls. A pair of very young adults, a girl and a boy for all intents and purposes, wander from business to business. KARA, dressed in her pastel-pink short kimono and dark red shorts, with a black long-sleeved shirt underneath, is ahead of the two, more confident in her ability to wander lost than the other. ETHAN hangs back, wearing a white and blue tunic, scarf, beige pants, and the whole ensemble topped by a bright blue poncho. The both of them have the not-quite-the-same silver-gray and leather-bound long metal cylinder of a device hanging from belts, though Kara's is mostly concealed by her kimono. "We might be lost," Ethan says, eyes fixated on the large unfolded paper map he's had to turn over a couple of times already. "Aheh... maybe just a little bit? It's a little bit," Kara grins sheepishly, walking ahead without hesitation, or mind to where. "We should've taken Four-Nines with us. Why didn't we take Four-Nines with us? Four-Nines would be so useful right about now." "We didn't take Four-Nines," Kara begins, like it helps at all, "Because if we took Four-Nines with us, the margrave would've noticed we were gone. Look! It's fine. We're just looking around while they restock the ship. We'll find our way back to it. Okay? Okay!" "Okay," Ethan agrees, under pressure and not-quite-duress. "So what did you even want to look around for, anyway? This is just..." "Anything, really... this is only my third or fourth time in one of these big hubs, you know? It'd be such a waste to wait on the ship." Ethan smiles. "Really? I guess I didn't realize how lucky I've had it, wandering for a few years. ... I still think we should've taken Four-Nines." Kara sticks her tongue out with a nyeeeeh, and then laughs. "Let's look for food instead of worrying. The margrave gave me a few of those multiversal credits, I bet we can find something weird." "The local currency is called credits too? Won't that get confusing?" Ethan pulls a few out of his pockets, to compare. "I get a feeling it'll be the least of our worries."
Ru Li	There are so many beautiful things to see in the Multiverse. The Empire of Yinghua, an empire of billions, with theotechnology working on a miraculous level, has not yet gone into space. There are many reasons for this - a lack of interest, a preoccupation with the Empire itself, the threat of the Rust - but suffice to say that despite its massive edifices this is an achievement it has not made. These are Ru Li's favorite places to wander. Oh, yes, the taste of steel may be boring, but the feel of the crowds - of the lack of loneliness, of the movement of people - is so wonderful. The sight of the deep red sky, the tang of jet fuel on his lips, the smell of the stalls and their foods, the sound of pages on tawdry books sold cheaply at port stores flicking as people hold their breaths for the next page... It is alive, and Ru Li loves it, even though the steel is sterile. He is dressed as he almost always is - his Yinghuan casuals, which, to others, are finer than the tailoring in the fanciest shops. Of course they are - they are casuals made for a god. And yet there is no smugness, no self-assuredness, no gloriousness as he walks. Despite the quality of his black and white clothes, despite the beauty of his face made with perfect precision, he is...just...sort of... Well, he seems kind of awkward. Like he's an average tourist instead of some sort of weird very-rich self-important noble foreigner (he is not very rich. Someone has already tried to pick his pocket and become very disappointed when he opened it to them and offered them a tiny sum). He'd bought a ticket himself, to somewhere - anywhere, he did not know where. He just wanted to see things. Through the crowd, however, he does hear things. 'We're lost,' someone says in a group as they turn a map over and over, and Ru Li suddenly realizes something very, very important. In his haste to look around he forgot to buy a map. He, also. Is Very. Very. Lost. He hurries through the crowd with a host of "excuse me"s, "pardon me"s, "I am sorry!,"s, and all other forms of platitude. He's graceful as hell for a touristy-looking fellow in slippers. Eventually he reaches the three arguing. He's not out of breath at all. He's not sweating even remotely. He does, however, hold up a hand. "Ah..." "...pardon me, but...if you are also lost...might I share your map? I, ah." He looks a bit sheepish. "...forgot to buy mine." As he shifts on his heels, the sound of clockwork from nowhere intensifies. It was already there, very subtle, but now it's sped up, and it's more clearly coming from him. "I-it is just, there is so much wonder here to see and explore, a-and in my enthusiasm, I, erm." "Oh!" Ru Li places a fist against his palm and bows (about twenty degrees). "My apologies! I am Ru Li Cheng, ninth of nine Ru Cheng gods of the Empire of Yinghua. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance! 'Ru Li' is sufficiently formal - 'Cheng' is not my surname, and 'Mr.' is unnecessary, as 'Ru Li' already implies it." He's started giving this explanation up front now. People keep calling him 'Mr. Cheng' and 'Mr. Ru Li' and it's just weird now.
Hy Izlan Reformers	"...pardon me, but...if you are also lost...might we share your map?" It's Ethan who reacts first, on account of being the appointed map bearer (read: Kara did not even think she would need one!) and also on account of the fact that Kara has her whole head through the little stall curtains of what looks like a ramen stall but by smell and looks is probably less noodles and more... noodle-shaped monster appendages. Lovely! "Oh, sure? I, ah, I'm not quite sure where we even are, on it, at this point." It's not the worst map. It's accurate! It's got all the stalls and merchants and kiosks labeled by numbers. It's just a very packed and densely crowded place, so the map is a bit overwhelming. To Ethan. "Kara?" She's busy with the stall! "Kara?" Ethan deep sighs. Yeah. Okay. "I-it is just, there is so much wonder here to see and explore, a-and in my enthusiasm, I, erm." "It's bigger than most of the places I've been. Some of the city-planets can be just as bad, but people don't have nearly as much an incentive to cram into this kind of space there. Here it's like... everyone wants your attention." Yes, that's a market, Ethan! "Huh? What about attention now? Oh, hey there." Kara emerges from the stall with several grilled tentacles on sticks, like cursed corndogs. They've got some kind of nice sour cream on them, too. "My apologies! I am Ru Li Cheng," Kara looks at Ethan, who looks back at her like 'I dunno', until they both settle on how to reply: "Pleasure to meet you, Ru Li! I'm Lah Kara. Kara is fine." "And I'm Ethan. We travel together. Wasn't there something else though?" Kara taps her chin. Then snaps her fingers. "Chevaliers! I think that's what we're supposed to say?" "Oh yeah. We're Chevaliers, with the Paladins." Unhesitantly, Kara hands Ethan one of the grilled tentacles, and then offers one to Ru Li. "Want one? I've never had this, so hit or miss, it's a bonding activity! And I got extras, anyway." "It doesn't smell half bad."
Ru Li	Ru Li leans over the map. He's a little tall. He doesn't need to do that, but people tend to be happier when someone is actually moving around to inspect things. Makes them feel like they're talking to a person. Frankly, he prefers they be comfortable, too, so it works for everybody! And he likes moving around to inspect things even if it's sort of like 'playing' human. It makes him feel closer to the Multiverse. He peers at the map for a long moment. Then he looks up. He taps the side of his head (the ticking noise gets a little louder). "Were I to organize these stalls by number I would organize them according to what terminal they are closest to. It would be the most efficient, and the simplest, way to keep track of them in the event of handing in rent, collating performance paperwork, and so on. So if we are looking for terminal 1-9-5-9, we would want to look for stalls labeled with the 1-9-X-5-9, assuming that 1-9-19-5-9 would be a food stall close to that, and so on." "Oh! Hello, Kara! Hello, Ethan! I, also, am a Chevalier of the Paladins! I look forward to working with you!" Before she's even handed it to him, Ru Li has tasted it. It's fascinating. It doesn't smell great. "I have also never had this before!" He takes a bite to properly savor it, to focus on it instead of simply ambiently taste and feel it. "Ah. This is not dissimilar from something eaten in the Empire!"
Hy Izlan Reformers	Kara is kind of short! She's barely reaching 5'3". Ethan has a whole inch on her. Maybe and a half, if you're being nice. While the boy chews idly on the tentacledog, like he's had much worse before and won't complain, Kara takes an exaggeratedly big bite with all of the guts she can manage. "Were I to organize these stalls by number..." Ethan is doing his best to follow along. He's not doing very well, but he understands one of them needs to be able to read this map and it won't be Kara. If they'd taken Four-Nines... or even Juro... "You sound like you're used to this," he observes in the most boy who is there and trying to strike up conversation way. "Are you used to this?" Vaguely and without indication this could mean 'this' the environment or 'this' the map. "I, also, am a Chevalier of the Paladins!" Ethan snaps to attention, suddenly. "Oh! I'm sorry, is there... is there a proper greeting? Like a handshake or a formal way of address or..." He doesn't remember that being the case? Ethan turns to Kara, to ask. "Hey, Kara?" Her face is red. She is holding back tears. "H-Huh?! Hey! Are you alright?" "S-Spicy..." Oh she's fine, she's just dying eating spicy food for the first time. At least, hers was. She's doing her best. "Ah. This is not dissimilar from something eaten in the Empire!" While Kara recovers from her hubris, Ethan, scratching the back of his head, looks for the conversation again. "An empire?" Capital E, Ethan! "The kind that spans countries, or planets? Sorry, we're not really familiar with the layout of... erm..." 'Outside his galaxy'. He chews on those words awkwardly because that's so unhelpful as a descriptor. "We're kind of new and haven't been to a whole lot of places," Kara manages between coughs and deep inhales.
Ru Li	Cheerily, Ru Li says to Ethan, "Well, not reading maps nor navigating spaceports, but I handle one ninth of the bureaucracy for an Empire of several billion. A god of bureaucracy ought to be good at thinking about how to organize things." Ethan asks a question. Ru Li pauses. "...we should ask," he says, entirely seriously. Entirely. "Yinghua is an Empire of several provinces, each of which is as large as a country. It is quite large." He doesn't seem especially put off by people being new or having trouble grasping this. It's weird. He knows it's weird. Most places don't have custom-made gods to handle their problems. "Well, then! Where are you going now? I have a ticket but I could very easily change it to join you on your adventure. I was going nowhere in particular, after all!"
Ru Li	Ru Li pauses. "...you can hear the radio, yes? Do you, erm. Do you have your ID? I think that is our handshake."
Hy Izlan Reformers	"...an Empire of several billion." "B-Billions? So a whole planet, at least..." Several provinces is like saying several countries, probably? Or like, kingdoms, or... "I'm glad we found someone who can help us then." "T-Thank you!" Kara continues dying of scorching hot food. "Well, then! Where are you going now?" "Back to our ship, hopefully. We weren't supposed to wander this far, the rest of the crew was handling resupplying but we... got lost." "Only a little bit!" Kara manages. "Only a little bit. As for after... well, I'm not sure? I think we had somewhere to go to..." Ethan crosses his arms, trying to think. "...you can hear the radio, yes?" "That's where we were going! To get those. The, um, Paladins ones. Access codes? We did get IDs already." Kara, no longer dying and merely suffering, shuffles into her kimono and pulls out her (practically freshly printed) ID, and Ethan picks up on the cue to do the same. They check out. "Honestly the last few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind... I wish I could say it's all been the good kind." "But we're managing, ahah..."
Ru Li	"Oh, no," Ru Li says cheerily, "There are plenty of barbarian countries beyond us. We are separated from most of them, be it by mountain ranges, long stretches of desert, the ocean...and we do not much care to go to them. They are, after all, barbarians." He pauses. "I am sorry. The word for 'foreigner' in Yinghuan only currently exists to apply to the Multiverse. It has not entered broader use. It is best to think of barbarian as 'not like us, not our vassal,' and vassal as...'not like us, our vassal.'" He shifts, uncomfortably, remembering that people have issues with the word that translates roughly to 'barbarian' as a result. "Oh, um. Well then! I...suppose if you are not going on a passenger ship then I shall have to break from you when we find yours. Do you remember the hangar number?" Truthfully he didn't need to see their IDs, but they show him, and he pulls out his own. His own has his signature, and it's gorgeous - perfect, in fact, on a mathematical level. "Ahhh...I, I understand. The Multiverse is still a whirlwind to me, and I have been here for some time. Although I had to be...away," Ru Li says with a sour face, "For two years. It was...I missed it very much." He brightens up. "But it is a wonderful whirlwind, is it not? Even the worst of things are sights you would never seen in your home. Things you can take away and be enlightened by."
Hy Izlan Reformers	"There are plenty of barbarian countries beyond us." It takes the explanation of a language barrier issue for Ethan and Kara to stop staring, though Ethan much moreso than Kara. They don't completely get the vassal distinction, but 'foreigner' does the job well enough. "It sounds like the kind of thing that results in bad politics," she says aloud, with zero filter, and not much experience for how the world works. "Kara! It's... different places, and cultures, and worlds..." Is he so sure of that? "... right?" "Do you remember the hangar number?" "Oh, um... it was..." Kara tries very, very hard. Ethan, bless him, took a photo, and pulling his sleeve up, reveals a nice, sleek watch from which a blue-hued hologram projects, showing a hangar door with the sign 'S-820' above it. "S-820! That was it!" She looked. She cheated. Ethan just smiles. "But it is a wonderful whirlwind, is it not?" "It's..." Kara, suddenly stung, pipes down a bit. "She... had someone close to her kidnapped. We're looking. But we've got basically no lead, so... the whirlwind kind of started there." Ethan reveals, unprompted, but it doesn't seem to bother Kara. "I'd love to enjoy the whirlwind without that hanging over my head all the time. But we know he's safe, for now. It's better than nothing. It's made it a bit easier to relax." And get lost, apparently. "Ah, sorry! We don't mean to straddle you with our... you know. Even though, we'll probably need all the help we can." "Yeah... a-anyway, we should..." "We weren't lost, if anyone asks, by the way!" "But we..." Kara gently bops Ethan's forehead. "Exploring! Tourisming!"
Ru Li	"Ahaha...it probably would, were we concerned with diplomacy with them." Oh. Isolationists. "N-not that I do not think it would be wise, but I am merely a god, not the Emperor. Only mortals make decisions on behalf of the Empire." Ru Li leans over the map again. He glances through the stalls in the blink of an eye, then points at a specific spot. "Here. This stall is labeled S-8-2-2-0. So it is presumably there." He tilts his head to the side. "That does not seem so very far away. I am happy to walk with you, if you do not mind me taking your map when you are at your ship so I can find my own bay." "I am going to..." He takes out his ticket and attempts to pronounce the name carefully. He fails to do so. He gives up. "Somewhere!" He says cheerily. Ru Li waves his hand in front of his face. "Think nothing of it. I apologize. I am not so foolish as to think people are only tourists. I, myself, am not. 'Always a mountain casts a shadow no matter how bright the field is now.'" "Do not worry. I am happy to help with that sort of thing. It is so very straightforward, it is refreshing. I have been in a chamber for two years debating far more complex topics lately, so something as simple as 'rescue someone important' is not a problem." He smiles brightly at them. "Ah, and, of course you were not lost. You were following a map, yes? That you followed it wrong...well, that does not need to come up, does it!" He beams.
Hy Izlan Reformers	"N-not that I do not think it would be wise, but I am merely a god, not the Emperor. Only mortals make decisions on behalf of the Empire." Kara blinks, at the word 'god'. Ethan seems a bit less taken aback, traveled as he is, but to have one in front of them, allegedly? "Are you sure we didn't use the wrong method of addressing you?" "He did say..." "Maybe he was being humble!" Kara looks from Ethan to Ru Li. "Were you just being humble? Is it something like 'your majesty' or 'your divineness' or..." She needs to know! "I am happy to walk with you, if you do not mind me taking your map when you are at your ship so I can find my own bay." "Oh, sure. I don't mind. I picked this up on our way out the hangar, and we won't need it once we take off anyway."" "What if we come back?" "I'll get a new one? Or... uh... we'll go exploring again? Kara grins in response. "Think nothing of it. I apologize." "It's okay. You couldn't have known. And it was nice to meet you, either way. If we learn anything, the margrave said we should tell the Paladins right away, anyway." "And we'll have better transmitters soon, so we can keep in touch." "Mhm!" Victoriously, Kara takes another bite of her... food. "K-Kara! Why!" "But it'sh sho good..." she says, inbetween the tears of a woman inflicted with a status effect.
Ru Li	"Ahahah!" Ru Li waves his hand in front of his face. "Yes, I am a god, but no, you do not need to refer to me by any such title. The gods of Yinghua do not do that anyhow. 'Ru Li' is perfectly acceptable and contains the implicit statement of divinity. 'Honored god' if you wish to be overly formal, but that is exclusively for attendants interacting with me." He walks them to their shuttle. "It was wonderful to meet you! I look forward to speaking with you more in the future. Good luck, if you wind up not needing my help, and of course, if you do, I am on the Paladins radios!" He takes the map as they leave and folds it up into his robe pocket, then looks at his ticket. Alright...now where is this ship going...?