[OPEN] The Wayfarer's First Steps..

[rinwell]

WHO: Rinwell and YOU!
WHAT: Exploration and education in a new world..
WHEN: October
WHERE: The Free Cities -- Cadens proper, and Cadens Outpost 003
NOTES: Bracket text or prose welcome, will adapt to what you do!

---

I. CADENS OUTPOST 003

[ Since that magical message encounter, Rinwell has been even more suspicious lately of her hosts, and a reluctant participant in conversations with anyone native to the region who works at the Outpost. Small and suspicious, she's likely made a name for herself by hiding behind the pages of any books she can get her hands on: all extremely dry and extremely boring, even the one she bought in the city.

Other times, she finds herself making a hike up one of the towers, so she can take advantage of the view of the terrain stretching out all around the outpost. The city lies in the distance behind them, and the dunes stretch out and ripple with heat. Since she's quiet, and tends to perch out of the way with her book, the on duty guards leave her be, occasionally stopping to check she's had enough water when it's particularly hot. She can even sometimes be found there a few hours before curfew, gazing at the stars.

If approached, her book is open on her lap but unread, eyes firmly on the sky above. Then, a frown, before she turns to acknowledge your arrival with a question: ]

Is the sky here weird to you?


II. INNER CITY LIVING

a) [ There are regular wagons that head back and forth into town, and the latest outlanders have at least shown they're not opposed to work. Rinwell sometimes assists with loading, but for the most part, she'll board in the morning and not return to the Outpost until the latest time possible. Whether or not it's for her own good.

The Free Cities are amazing in their own right, at least to someone who's world has been under the thumb of another for centuries. In the short time she's been here, Rinwell has made herself known to several book sellers, as well local sweet merchants in the marketplace, and has started getting to know the local routes around town. Even here, old habits die hard, and she keeps her head down - most won't glance your way if you look like you know where you're going, after all.

That usually works, save for when you turn a corner and collide with someone coming the other way. ]

Oh! [surprise, as she stumbles back, before balance is lost and she lands on her rear with a wince] Ow..! Hey! Watch where you're going!


b) [ Now, with the rumblings of an approaching holiday, she can't help but linger near where the tailors peddle their wares, admiring the local fashions. She's no Shionne, the Renan was no slouch as the group's resident fashionista, but the gifted garb from the outpost is simply practical, not pretty.

One seller in particular catches her eye; though there are many pretty hair ornaments and trinkets, one particular gilded butterfly pin has her attention. ]

Oh, that's so pretty..


III. PAGE TURNING

[ The first time she was shown the first of several public libraries, she'd almost overstayed her welcome. Fortunately, at least one of the librarians has a soft spot for eager young learners, and Rinwell is not above using that to get access to books!

There's too much she doesn't know that she doesn't know. So she starts digging into things, at least, as best she can without drawing too much attention with her reading choices. History, of course, starting with the Free Cities; Magic is a little harder to get her hands on - they don't need it here, don't care for it here, or so the sales pitch goes (and the looks she gets imply she's a little too interested for their comfort when she asks). And of course, local myths and legends, old stories - all the better to get an idea on the difference between historical fact and historical fiction.

She's engrossed in making her newest set of notes, so much so that anyone approaching won't be noticed. It may take slamming a book on her table to get her attention! ]


IV. WILDCARD
[ OOC: PM me here or discord/plurk if you want to discuss anything in particular. Otherwise, drop me a top level and we can roll from there! :) ]

Comments

I

[priestified]

[ A restless old man like Maxwell can't stay cooped up in a dire place like Outpost 003 for too long without getting a little wanderlust, insomuch as he is "allowed" after dark. Boredom enevitably gets the better of him, even if it isn't the guards so much as his own curiousity that keeps him from slipping into the throng of the Free Cities at earliest opportunity.

He's about to warn the young girl that the desert gets cold at night, before she speaks up herself. Is the sky here weird?

His jaw snaps back shut. ]

I beg your pardon?

[ What an incredibly vague way to ask such an oddly specific question. ]

[rinwell]

[ She points up. As though the question weren't entirely obvious.

And perhaps it is, from her point of view. ]

I know we're really far from home, but.. I don't know any of these stars. There's nothing familiar.

[ there's also no planet hanging ominously in the sky far above them. But she knows that part is a Dahna-specific difference, and probably not common on most worlds. ]

III-ish - study buddies!

[adventageous]

[Alice isn't quite the same sort of intrepid researcher that Rinwell has shown herself to be, but she has no problems keeping with the spirit of it. Information is their best asset right now, after all, and with the two of them working together they are able to tackle... well, not quite twice as much as Rinwell could do alone, she suspects, but at least more of it.

She finds herself drawn to books on Thorne, which are clearly written with a certain negative slant but at least give her an idea of what the kingdom might be like. They summoned outsiders first, after all, and she hasn't forgotten her conversations with the likes of Jaskier and Geralt. There's something much, much larger going on here, and without someone to explain things to her she needs to figure it out for herself.

Every now and then, she leans over to check on Rinwell's progress.]

How is it going over there?

[priestified]

[ For some reason, the stars are not the first thing he is expecting her to point out when she directs his attention upwards. What is she, like... 12? What 12 year old who isn't a godforsaken Gundam pilot has their star charts memorized?

(Well, maybe one who was really into astrology, for example - but Maxwell's never spent much time around people with that kind of free time or luxury, child or no.) ]

Of course there ain't, kiddo.

[ He sighs, like this should be obvious... but it's more paternalistic than scathing. ]

Stars don't look the same even when you're standing in another part of the solar system. What makes you think you'd recognize anything all the way... well, wherever this is.

[ He gestures widely enough at the desert horizon to suggest the universal degree to which they are lost. ]

library.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri wasn't actually trying to get her attention, at least not intentionally. The slamming of books is a side effect of having a whole armful and setting it down at once, earning her a few dirty looks from others in the library.

Frazzled and distracted. Ciri hasn't noticed the vaguely familiar girl yet but she settles at the table across from her, starting to sift through her piles of books with a furrowed brow of concentration. Books on magic are not impossible to find in Cadens, as there are all sorts here, but it's easier to buy them from merchants coming in from other parts of the world rather than looking for them in the library, which carries a bias toward completely industrialized technology, and perhaps a few theorems on magitech -- as Ciri has learned after asking around quite a lot the last few days. These are the only books she's managed to scrounge up that might be even remotely helpful, and most of them have to do with harnessing magical properties toward practical uses in machinery. What she's really looking for is advice on suppressing magic altogether, but--

Well. This is a decent enough distraction, and she can't just keep distracting herself with liquor until she passes out, so books will have to do. ]

Excuse me. Mind pushing the lantern closer between us?

[ Ciri looks up, nodding at the oil lamp providing extra reading light as the sky outside starts fading closer into dusk. ]

IIa

[productid4]

[However hard the impact hits Rimwell, it hits Louis harder. Humans, Louis has found, are quite heavier than deer and a fair bit more clumsy. If he were any lesser animal, he'd have fallen down too, but instead he catches himself on his bad leg and balances on his heel for a moment before he settles to the soles of his feet again, looking mostly unaffected by the hit.

The little maneuver was excruciatingly painful on his new prosthetic, but one would never guess by looking at his face or gait.]

I would say you're the one who missed the bigger spectacle of the two of us. Perhaps it's time to visit an optometrist?

[His tone is cool and a little condescending, but he's speaking truthfully when he says that he sticks out the most of both of them. He is the only deer in the Free Cities, after all, and he has a rather hard to miss rack if he does say so himself.]

[rinwell]

[ She's fourteen, thank you very much. And she has Dahna's stars charted -- back home, in her clan's book. One she learned cover to cover. But as he's so graciously taken the time to point out, they're not even in the same solar system. Why would there be anything familiar?

Her eyes narrow slightly anyway, evidently not really appreciating his tone. But she must concede that he does have a point. ]

That.. I guess that's true. [she looks up again] But, if this really is a nexus point between all worlds, then why wouldn't it have something familiar? Or in the very least, a North star that can easily be identified.

..I suppose I'm also just used to having another planet overhead. So for me, that's the most strange part.

[rinwell]

If I have to read one more page about the boundless potential of technology over the ways people did things in the past one more time, I think my eyes will roll out of my skull.

[ She's. Grumpy. Or possibly in desperate need of a cookie to pick her up. Much as Rinwell enjoys researching, this particular rabbit hole hasn't done much except impress upon her how much the Cadens and Free Cities folk eschew magic.

Rinwell sits back in her chair with a sigh, and closes the book, her pen having long since been abandoned.]

The images are neat, though. I don't think they really appreciate how important that kind of record is for what came before.

How about you?

[rinwell]

[ The books dropping definitely bring Rinwell out of her study daze, and the ink whips off to one side as her pen flicks away. Whoops! Oh well. It's not as though the drought of whenever it was that lasted however long in a desert was particularly relevant to what she was trying to learn, anyway.

Rinwell hadn't realised it was so late, however, and she raises a hand to rub her eyes while someone else takes a seat opposite. ]

The lamp..? Oh, sure. One moment.

[ It's only as she stands, reaching to pull it across so the light spills more evenly between herself and her new tablemate that the gleam of silvery hair gets a double take. Then a smile. ]

Hey! You're-- Ciri, wasn't it?

[rinwell]

[ Given the nearest thing to a deer on Dahna would be a particular type of giant zeugle and not any sort of native beast (any longer), to say Rinwell doesn't recognise his species would not be inaccurate. But she does take a moment to scoot back on instinct from so unfamiliar a silhouette.

But Zeugles don't talk. And whatever else she was expecting, it's certainly not anyone who talks like Louis does. Brown eyes go wide, before, very slowly, she picks herself up. ]

I.. I'm afraid I don't know what that is. [Or what you are, as it happens] ..And sorry.

[productid4]

[Louis is used to people looking at him like that, like they're not sure what they're even looking at. Were he charitable, he'd gently explain what he is and that it's normal to not know what she's looking at. He's not charitable.]

An optometrist is an eye doctor. [He crosses his arms and cocks his head. It's just a normal head motion, but it looks much more dramatic with all the antlers moving with him.] And I take it you're not from this world, if you don't know that?

[rinwell]

[ Zeugles, as a rule, cannot talk. Ergo, whatever he is...Well, Louis is still going to get some wary side-eye, and not much in the way of steps closer to hIm.

She does go still, however, at how direct his question is. Was it really that obvious? He is so much more out of place than she is, after all... She may be young, but her reply is careful:]

I haven't had a reason to go to any healers recently. But if there is such a doctor back home, I can assure you, they're not someone I'd have access to.

[productid4]

I'll take that as confirmation, then. [He says it dismissively, like what she said just makes it so obvious she's not from around here. And it does, if one pays close attention: were she from this world, she'd either say that they only have healers where she comes were she from a more magical settlement, or she would say that she couldn't afford the doctors in the Free cities if she were from this settlement. She'd also likely be confused at the suggestion she's from another world, considering how few of them there are in comparison to everyone else who is from this world.]

A word of advice: if you want to blend in, you ought to learn what the locals consider common knowledge.

[He has absolutely no hope of blending in, but she looks close enough to the humans around here to do so.]

[rinwell]

[ Rinwell's a fast learner. And she does at least make a small show of cleaning dust off her pants, even as she glances back behind her. As though expecting someone to be watching. An ordinary conversation, nothing to see here, etcetera, etcetera.. ]

They haven't exactly been keen to let us stay out too long since I got here. And common knowledge tends to be things they already expect you to know. [her voice is lowered some; not all that long ago, she was on the opposite side of things. Funny how the worlds work.] But I will keep that in mind. Thank you.

[ That part, at least, is said somewhat earnestly. ]

[productid4]

[His brow creases, the first hint of anything other than haughty confidence on his face so far.] They haven't been 'letting' you stay out?

[The thank you was unnecessary, but it does speak well to her manners. Okay. Maybe Louis doesn't have to be a complete jerk to her.]

[rinwell]

It's generally not advised to stay out after dark. For our safety.

[ There's a flat tone for that last part, though Rinwell doesn't roll her eyes. There's enough legitimacy behind the request that, well...

The girl's face then forms a frown of its own. ]

..I take it you don't reside at one of the other outposts.

[productid4]

For your... safety.

[If it's not clear from Louis' skeptical tone, he thinks that's BS.]

No, I don't reside in the outposts. I came here originally in Thorne, and then I left Thorne to live in the Free Cities. The leadership here hasn't sought to exercise control over us... so far.

[rinwell]

[ The slow nod indicates that, yes, Rinwell thinks so too.

Her eyes do widen at the mention of Thorne, however. ]

Someone mentioned that place to me. They were confused that I wasn't in a dungeon? At least I can say that isn't something that's happened to me here.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri blinks, vaguely surprised, brows furrowing for a moment as she filters through her memory to place the face. A lot has happened over the last few days. She'd almost completely forgotten about the newcomers.

But when she remembers, the tension in her face eases a bit, and Ciri smiles slightly with a nod of her head. ]

Yes, that's right. Rin...well, I believe? I should have known I'd bump into you again in a place like this.

Enjoying the books?

[priestified]

[ He's about to open his big mouth and point out that there's nothing remarkable about the North star except where it's at relative to someone standing on Earth - to a space pilot? Polaris is just another flickering dot in the inky black expanse.

Then she mentions the next thing - a planet in the sky - which is interesting, to say the least. One brow rises as he gives the girl a sidelong glance, appraising. ]

No kidding? You from a space colony?

[rinwell]

That's me! It's good to see a friendly face here.

[ Not that the city locals have been unfriendly, but the last couple of weeks have been rather...trying. But Ciri is definitely preferred company compared to, oh, certain scary six armed warriors with delusions of grandeur. ]

They're okay. [the books, that is!] These were what the librarians thought would be appropriate for a newcomer to read about the Free Cities' history. [she looks down, rueful] Though apparently the dryness extends to a lot of Caden's academic written work and not just the desert outside.

What about you? [even with the lamp now between them, she can't make out the titles] Those look pretty old.

[rinwell]

No. [the answer is immediate, and her lips purse a moment] Only--

[ She seems to change her mind about finishing that sentance, and the book on her lap is pulled up to her chest, before she shifts to face Duo directly.]

Where I'm from, Dahna, we have a close neighboring world. Rena. It's visible in the sky from everywhere.

[priestified]

Hm. Double planetary system, that's a rare set-up.

[ His hum may sound mildly interested, but a million questions immediately run through his mind - about tidal forces and gravitational interactions, launch windows and escape velocities. Is she really describing binary planets, or is it more like an inhabited Europa to Jupiter?

Of course... he recognizes that none of these questions are relevant to their situation, and probably not to this girl, either. She's homesick because the sky looks different.

He can understand that, even if he can't relate. Maxwell has always chased after a different sky. ]

Well. I think we're all pretty far from home. But you get used to it, y'know?

ii.b.

[falcony]

[ the way the town has transformed for the holiday is something of a marvel, and while sam has work to be doing and actually on his way to drop something off across town, he can't help but hover around the stores and shops that have been set up.

( there's also a strange sort of melancholy associated with it - that he's been here long enough to see seasons change, that he's now feeling a kind of attachment to festivals. it's been months, months, and yet here they all are. )

but the items, the gifts, the work being shown off - and that is how he comes across another girl, bent over the table of a craftsman. sam sees the sign, embroidered into her clothes, first - and then his gut turns. oh no, oh no-

he steps in - not too close, but friendly. he has to know... ]

They're something, aren't they?

[rinwell]

Is it? [her head tilts to one side a moment, thoughtful] It's all I've ever known. Not that anyone can go to Rena.

I suppose we have to get used to it, don't we? [after all, it isn't as though they were given a choice to come here] Though it sounds like you do a lot of traveling? Or did, before..

[ you know. getting stuck here. ]