multiversallogs | She is touring the facilitiy

Entry tags:

She is touring the facilitiy

Who: Nazca and YOU!

What: A random day of temple visits, shopping, and job hunting.

Where: Around, probably mainly in the Aspic-Griss Twist vicinity

When: All day Coardi (say time of day if it matters in your tag)

Notes: Open to new or old acquaintances.

Warnings: None so far

It's now been long enough that Nazca has decided, however she got to Baedal, she's unlikely to be leaving it any time soon. As such, she is going to need a source of income, possibly a patron deity, and definitely some allies. She's been more or less shopping for all three.

She's never had to do anything like a job application before, so she's mainly wandering about and keeping her ears open. But she learns fast, and she's willing to take either honest or dishonest work as it finds her. She will also pay a respectful visit to the temple - she's kept up the practice of small offerings to all the gods for now, until she chooses one - and will likely end the day buying some food for supper.

It's a strange life, and she's restless in it, but it isn't all bad. Considering how she came, it could be much, much worse.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I always respected good clockwork. Order made useful." Verrari heritage will out, evidently. "Maybe if I find a job, I can commission something from you."

He nods, his face lighting up a bit. She gets it. "Yes, exactly. Order made useful. I always..." Another half a shrug. "Took comfort in the order. I'd be happy to make something for you."

She really does smile, then. "I'd like that. I always thought, in another life, I could have enjoyed working with clockwork."

"If you wanted..."

More than ever now, hints of the man he used to be, a handful of years ago before he lost his way, show through. He's choosing his words carefully, lest he give the wrong impression. Smiling--genuine but at the same time, like a man who doesn't have a lot of practice at it.

"You said you know where the shop is. If you ever wanted to come by and see what we do--or try your hand at something--you're welcome to."

"I'd like that." She doesn't see herself taking it up professionally, but it would amuse her - a nod to her heritage, or just a whim. "I always appreciated things that require discipline."

"Then come by sometime. It's not like we get so busy that I couldn't show you something."

It's still a new experience for him, finding common ground with someone, a shared interest or passion. He stood alone for so long, first by accident of personality and circumstance, then on purpose because he wanted to be better than everyone else, be more, be special. He's not going to let this opportunity go.

"I'm there pretty much every weekday, until five, six o'clock."

"I may take you up on that, somewhere in my busy schedule." She really does need some occupation, she thinks; Nazca's not at her best, idle. But it's a good offer, well-meant, and she won't bat it away.

After all, it's not only soldiers who are useful to know.

"I'd like that."

And then he gestures at the street. "I was about to start heading back home. Can I walk you somewhere? I don't ask because I think you shouldn't or can't walk yourself," he's hasty to add, "but I wouldn't mind the company."

She smiles at the quick correction, but said, "I was just out for a walk - no destination. I'd enjoy the company, if you'd like me to walk you home."

A corner of his mouth twitches, faint amusement. "I live over in Flyside, if that's not out of your way. Please."

"If I'd minded, I wouldn't have offered," Nazca says, simply. She lets him lead the way.

"So you did clockworks and things before here as well? Or are you a second-generation resident?" She's recently learned that there are such people, but hasn't met many willing to chat at length yet.

"I did," he explains, nodding. "Family business. My father was a watchmaker and I learned the trade from him. I inherited his shop after he... was gone."

Left. But this isn't the time or place to get into family melodramas.

"But I'm new here. Not from here."

"Nor me." She's quieter; Nazca lost her mother, and she knows what a raw subject that can be. (She's afraid her father didn't long survive her departure, either.)

"I haven't yet found any other Camorri, either."

He nods, noting the change in her tone. If he'd known what she was thinking she'd be glad no mention was made aloud of anyone's mother--that's a subject that's beyond raw for Gabriel, even a handful of years on from what he did.

"Camorri. Those are... your countrymen? Your race?"

"Adopted countrymen. It's a city-state. I'm Verrari by birth, but I was too small when we left to remember ever living there. The ex-Thyrin empire, though I don't expect you've heard of that, either."

Gabriel shakes his head, a smile there and gone in a moment. "No. I haven't heard of any of those places. What are they like?"

She considers how to answer the occasion. "Technology is about like here, generally, if not in all the details. Camorr is probably a slightly smaller city in population, but not by much."

Nazca smiles, considering her former home for a moment. "It was a harbor city. Mostly canals, not streets. And we had Elderglass of course - I suppose that's another thing you've never heard of?" It's not something she's had the time or inclination to talk about in much detail, since arriving.

"No." He smiles again--it holds this time, pleasant, curious. "I don't know what Elderglass is. But a canal city sounds beautiful. I lived in a harbor city too--New York--but we had paved streets, not canals."

Nazca returns the smile - the fact she seldom bothers with charm doesn't mean she's devoid of it, and she really does have genuine affection for Camorr.

"It's left over from...whoever had the world before we did. Not humans, we don't think. Humans can't do anything with elderglass - we can't make it, destroy it, we can't even really shape it effectively. But they're these elaborate structures all over the world." Quieter, she says, "In Camorr, they catch the sunlight, even after the sun's over the horizon. We called it Falselight - it was like twilight a second time."

"That sounds beautiful." He's fascinated by the idea that there was someone else there before humans, where she's from, but this doesn't seem like the right time to ask.

"You must miss it."

"It was. And I do." The fact that she's calculated the decision to be honest doesn't mean her answer isn't genuinely true. "It's strange to me to think no one else here has ever seen it; all our major cities have Elderglass of some sort."

He nods, thoughtful. "It's my understanding that this city has been bringing people in from many different worlds and places." He smiles again, trying to be encouraging. "Maybe you're the only one from yours, so far?"

"It seems likely. At least in our cohort - it's a large city." There could be another person from her world somewhere, but she had no easy way to find out.

"I've met a few people from Earth, like me. But no one else, so far, seems to have come from my specific world. The same time, the same place. I think it draws from multiple universes too."

Which means the city could pull from an infinite number of places. So much power being wielded with no explanation. He didn't like it.

"And I haven't noticed any pattern yet for what people were doing just before they arrived. It doesn't seem to matter." It sounds as if she's been looking.

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