exsilium | text; transport service announcement

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text; transport service announcement

For those of you who may have noticed the petting zoo that's shown up in the courtyard overnight, a word of caution:

In a city which is not overflowing in pet stores, when something claims to be offering animals for adoption with no one checking for owner suitability, and all of the animals offered coming from local wildlife, you should probably think three times before even touching what's penned up out there.

Wild animals are meant to be wild. Acting as tame as they are with no keepers in evidence is suspicious when any keeper who spends the time necessary to properly socialize an animal to be okay with the loud, strange ways people move should be putting potential adopters through the grinder.

- H. Sakura

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Where are you now?

( Setting off with strange men into strange lands?

It's one way to get a feeling for things without taking it all in as a single, silent observer. )

Marketplace. [ He shrugs a little, lifting the video until Sakura can see the streets around him. ]

What 'bout you?

About five minutes out.

( She shoots the camera a sort of grin. )

I'll find you.

( It's a simple statement. Sakura knows she can do it; and given her mode of transport along the fairly open rooftops, no matter the difference in size from building to building, she also knows that where-ever she is relative to him right now, five minutes isn't a bad guess.

Four minutes thirty-nine seconds later, Sakura drops down to a crouch in an alley near the marketplace. Four minutes fifty-two seconds later, she's jogging up to Sharpe with a pack slung over her shoulder.

She hasn't been staying in her apartment much. With her raincoat (black) and the extra tarp over her pack (blue, not her first choice, but the cheapest for now), she gives a fairly convincing idea of knowing what she's doing. )

Need anything, or are you good to go?

[ He's stared at the blank screen for a few seconds when the girl disappear. He chuckles to himself for a moment and settles down to wait- and she doesn't make him wait very long. He sees her coming (a smart girl, he thinks, to not have surprised him from the back) and he stands up. Sharpe has his own cloak with him over his shoulders, covering the rifle so that the metal and powder will not be wet.

If there's nothing else that annoys him about this place, it's the damned rain. It doesn't stop at all. ]

I'm good. [ She says she carries knives, and Sharpe gives her a look over. Doesn't seem to have any around, and he grins a little. ]

Why, you going barehanded?

( A good ninja doesn't need to be obvious. Besides, her jacket hides the ones tied around her thigh.

She smiles at his offhand comment, holding up both gloved hands. )

Oh, no. Though I suppose I could.

( She tugs off one glove with her teeth, stretching out her fingers -- all natural, all flesh and bone -- then pulling them back in as a tight fist. Relieving her mouth of the added burden with her still gloved hand, she cants her head to the side as if this takes consideration. )

Cold out to go truly barehanded. I might need to stick with gloves.

( Bare hands for her was more than weapon enough for most things she could stop. Guns? Snipers? Well... shinobi had limits, just like everything else in the worlds.

She nods her head toward the pathways out and away. )

The mainland lies a few hours walk to the East of where we are now. Most the land between here and there is inhabited. The places where people aren't found are mostly to the North-West.

Edited (whoops where did the glove go) 2012-12-19 08:45 (UTC)

[ Sharpe snorts quietly when he sees her hands. It's a lame joke, that's what he is, but he figures that a woman who can find her way through these streets to him so easily and can manage metal legs don't need him to fuss over her. He knows enough that to fuss over someone like that is just asking to be smacked - Teresa has taught him that, at least.

He looks out East before he chuckles. ]

There ain't invasions from the East so far, aye? [ He glances at Sakura. ] Then let's go North-West. See what this place can throw at us.

( She finds herself smiling, giving her head a small shake. )

The bulk of the continent is to the East, but they can fly. North-West sounds like a more interesting option than the obvious.

[ He stops. Double takes. ]

What d'ya mean, fly?

From what I understand, they're capable of flying great ships through the sky. With advanced cameoflauge if accounts from months back are to be believed.

Ships, huh. [ He blinks, and throws his rifle further up his shoulder. ] They'd be the kind with wood masts and sails, or something else?

Something else. I've seen pictures before, haven't been in one myself. They look like really stiff, bloated birds in most the images I've seen, if they're flying in these skies. They're different if they're trying to get up to the stars.

( Said completely seriously, with a hint of a smile at the end. Space travel sounded interesting; space experimentation was decidedly less so. )

Stiff, bloated birds, eh? [ He chuckles. ] And next you'd be telling me that men sit on their backs, or in their stomaches and they've carved out a hole through the skin ta see through.

[ He thinks about it... and shrugs. ] It's as believable as anything 'round here.

[ Pause... ]

A man once told me that the stars are just balls of fire in a place where there's no air, only ether. [ Nineteenth century science, shh. ] And the sun has spots in it like a young boy.

You know if that's true?

( She chuckles, amused that he's managed to say exactly the truth when presenting it initially as an absurdity. Nonetheless, as she navigates the streets, she answers his own question instead of acknowledging the unexpected truth in his response. )

Burning gases and planets and all sorts of things in a va-- in someplace where there's no air, yes. It's true. Worlds like this are out there too, places where life exists. Even more worlds where there's no life as we recognize life to be. It's a trick of light that we see them at night, and the reason they twinkle has to do with the fact we have air we can breathe on this planet.

( Simplifying again, but it's easiest to keep it simple. )

Not that it seems we see many stars at night on Exsilium, but it's interesting to know. I read all about stars and things like that in the last few years. Before that, I used to think all sorts of odd things.

( She glances toward him, amused now. )

Such as the moon being made by a legendary man to contain a great power of destruction.

[ A laugh bursts out of him unexpectedly. ]

Sounds like one of those fairy tales we'll tell children. Still, it sounds more likely than the moon being a rock in the sky. What's it held up by? What's it all held up by? [ Beat. ] Anything you throw into the air eventually comes downwards, and even when you shoot you have ta aim a little bit above the head if you want to blow someone's head off. It's just how things work.

[ Long pause, then he shrugs slightly, curves his lips to the side. ]

I ain't looking fer answers, ma'am. That I leave fer scientists and people with no wars ta fight.

Gravity.

( She says, as he says he wants no answers. )

If you're interested in the theories behind it all, there's probably decent reading around here. If you read.

( Capability meaning slightly less than will in this case. Many people she's met can't read - many more can, but choose not to. )

Did you know the city is divided into two major population zones?

[ He takes note of the word. He's heard it before, but it's always good - just in case he runs out of places to explore. His lips quirk upwards. ]

I can read, aye. Learned it from a good man in prison some years ago. [ Ten years? Or less than that. God, it feels so long. So many battles it's been since then, so many betrayals. Christ, thinking of Lawford still hurts.

Sharpe rubs at his nose for a bit. ]

Why'd they divided themselves up like that?

( Prison would be a good time, she surmises. Sakura isn't sure if she's supposed to look shocked. )

What landed you in prison?

( But the only curiosity there is cause. As for the division? Sakura purses her lips, one hand rubbing the side of her neck. )

Everyone I've spoken with isn't sure. I think it has more to do with what areas of the island were least damaged over time, and one part trying to further separate from the Initiative itself. They're not as fervent as some radical groups, but this is an exile island, and they're the organized rebel force. Not everyone wants to stay close to the primary interest of the world dominating opposition.

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