Another Great City [Active/Open]

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Kida and anyone who bumps into her.
Content: An odd but exotic woman in minor armor enters Paixao.
Setting: Muspelheim Gate
Time: Dawn, Week 20
Warnings: None


Kida laid her head on her arm. It was very late, and she and Milo had been working hard. It had been two months since her father had died, but she could only hope his spirit was smiling with all they had done. Though still an unexperienced reader, Kida had achieved literacy in her language, though she still had plenty to learn. However, she could speak many languages, and she yearned to be literate in as many as she could. Milo was aiding her on this quest, working with her tonight on memorizing the alphabet and learning English pronunciation.

She felt a jacket being placed over her shoulders and she raised her head. “I can continue, I simply need rest.”

Milo stretched and yawned after a chuckle. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, but I’ll give it a shot. I’m going to get some coffee, though.”

“Very well. I will wait here.” Kida put her head back down on the table, laying so she could see the papers in front of her. “Ae. Bee. See. Dee. Ea. Eff...” With a sigh she closed her eyes. She suspected she’d drift off, but the queen began to stop caring. Sleep embraced her and time faded from one hour to another. She inhaled deeply as she stirred, getting a lungful of dust.

Kida awoke with a start, coughing violently to expel what she’d inhaled. Disoriented, she looked around. A morning sun was rising from the horizon as she rose from the ground, looking in awe up at a great building. “...How can this be?” she whispered. “Why am I here? What culture could create a building grander than that of Atlantis?” But as she looked around the building, she soon found it stretched beyond the scope of a single building. Nothing that large could be anything short of a city. And ahead laid the doors of one of the greatest gates she had ever seen, embellished with great golden flames that stood out from the doors in high relief.

“...There are people. There shall be answers.”

Comments

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Xion was walking past the gate, not doing much of anything (which, really, was something extremely different for her) when she saw someone outside the gate. Ok, so that wasn't new, people were arriving all the time. And Kida's appearance wasn't that off to her. She'd seen people with light hair and dark skin before, namely in her Superior. What got Xion was the tattoos- Axel had some, sure, but these were different. And kind of interesting looking.

That didn't mean she approached right away, obviously- she knew better and was still too shy anyway. So the hooded girl merely slowed her pace, trying not to look as though she was intentionally stopping and trying to get a better look at the markings.

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Wrinkling her nose at the guard who shoved her through, Kida paused briefly to examine the strange device in her hands. The guard had called it a "journal," yet she could not understand how one wrote in something with no paper. Still, she opened it and marveled as it lit up. "YAHD-lu-goh-nikh..." The glowing page was covered in symbols and the same characters Milo taught her belonged to many Romantic languages. The other "page" was filled with buttons, each labeled with a character. Kida cocked her head at the device, almost tempted enough to wander to a corner simply to experiment with it. Had the need to know what was happening been any less, she would have done so.

Instead, she closed the strange journal and looked around, wondering who would have the answers she needed. People bustled back and forth amongst the ornate architecture. It was truly a thriving city. Most went on without a thought to anything else. Some stared as they walked past not just at Kida, but anyone coming through the gate. A few looked as confused as she was. And yet the crowd was speckled with people who were dressed slightly different who seemed to know what they were doing; they must be assimilated newcomers who had gone through exactly what she had just experienced.

Not far Kida caught sight of a youth wearing a hood up. While most might assume it was someone who did not care to be bothered, Kida had no equivalent thought process in her culture, and not many people in the crowd had hoods to wear, let alone wore them up.

With a hold firm enough only to to catch the girl's attention, Kida took her by the shoulder. "You are from elsewhere, too, are you not? Why have I been brought here? What took me?" Leave it to Kida to be blunt and to the point.

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Xion started a little when the women grabbed her, staring up even though her eyes weren't seen. Ok, maybe she needed to be a little more subtle when she was watching people.

"I don't know why you're here, and... I really don't know how you got here either." She still didn't understand how it all worked, after all. "I'm sorry. Lots of people end up here like that."

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Kida looked at the girl a moment after hearing that tiny bit of information. "There are many people...?" She let go, her face growing uncertain. "What do those people do, then? How am I to return home?" She thought of her people that as queen she had to protect. She thought of Milo. "...I am needed there."

Her voice grew somewhere between pleading and commanding, the product of royalty in need. "Please. Tell me. I am a stranger here."

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Xion felt kind of bad, just standing there. Because really, she didn't have any answers. (Honestly, she probably have more questions than this woman did.) "You... can't," she said, weakly, "We'll all stuck here, somehow. I don't know anyone who's managed to leave." An awkward pause, and then: "I'm sorry." That was the right thing to say, right?

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Blinking, Kida looked away slightly. It was clear to Kida this girl had the same plight. She shook her head. "How can this be?" she whispered.

But then her brows furrowed and she gave the girl an inquisitive look. "You need not be sorry. You did not bring me here, did you?" It was a hypothetical question. "Then tell me about this place. It's people and..." She gestured with the journal she held. "The technology is unknown to me. Or at least tell me where to go to find these answers."

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

"Well, um." She could at least explain the journal. "You use this to talk to people over a network. You can write to them, or talk, or, um, show a video." She really hoped she wouldn't have to explain the how, because she really didn't know. "The natives here don't really talk much, and they all kind of look the same... so anyone who looks different is probably someone who came through the gates too."

100 volts of culture shock. XD

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

At Xion’s last comment Kida gave her a half-grin, a raised brow and a cocked head. “Like you,” she replied with a sly tone. “You carry yourself differently as well. Most of the others I see seem strange.”

As she finished glancing in bafflement at the blonde haired people, she turned her attention back to what she assumed to be a fellow outsider. “I still do not understand how this works,” Kida said about the journal. She took Xion’s had and led her to an ornate planter where she sat down on the ledge. “How would I write to them with no paper or ink? And what is a VIH-dee-oh?” The entire concept of the journal would have been unusual even to the surface-dwellers of the 1910’s, let alone another culture.

poor kids. XD also this is how i /think/ the journals work. could easily be wrong.

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Xion nodded at her observation- really, it was kind of hard to mistake anyone who didn't belong her for the natives. It could be kind of creepy, really.

The being dragged off was a more than slight invasion of Xion's personal space, but it ended soon enough and then there were more questions. Oh dear. "I guess it might be easier to show you." She pulled out her own journal, and when she selected 'text' a mini keyboard appeared on the screen. "You push these to, um, use the letters you'd want."

Kids? Xion's teaching an ADULT. XD And close enough for me.

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Atlanteans were never known for personal space in their culture.

Kida peered over as the girl selected a button with English writing on it. She flipped her own journal open and looked for a button with the same symbols, selecting it in the same way the other had. The woman cocked her head at the keyboard and selected a letter. Her eyes lit up like a child's and she looked over the keys. Narrowing her eyes, she very softly read "D-deeeeh... Delet-deleet. Delete." She pushed the button and smiled as the letter vanished. Very slowly she typed something out, occasionally deleting as she corrected her spelling:

thank you

She showed the girl with a smile and then asked, "What comes next?"

...ffff that was supposed to read 'kida.' orz

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Xion smiled at the written thanks, looking back at her journal. "Do you see this button?" she asked, pushing one that looked like a microphone (though Kida probably wouldn't know what that was). "If you talk into it, it'll record what you're saying." She pushed the button again, and then pushed the triangle shaped button underneath it, which replayed her voice.

...Oh. XD No prob, I often type "Kida" in place of "kids." And congrats, she's excited. :"D

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

The symbol looked like a triangle-circle combination. It looked vaguely reminiscent of a shooting star, but it was greatly stylized if so. Kida cocked her head as she watched, but her eyes grew wide as the device parroted the girl. Shocked, she looked back and forth between the girl and the machine before a truly astonished smile appeared on her face. In her excitement, she quickly sat Indian-style and pressed the button on her own journal.

"It caught the words you spoke!" The device repeated her when she pressed the second button. "This is to your ears what writing is to your eyes! How is this done?" She looked over the device like it would have something written on it. ...Not that she could read English well.

awww. :D

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

Kida's excitement was kind of infectious- even though she'd seen this many times before, Xion couldn't help but smile. "I'm not really sure how it works, actually." But she could probably find out.

Now, one more thing. "This is the video," she said, pushing another button, and a small screen popped up, recording the picture from the little camera, "So people can see you."

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Kida's smile faded ever so slightly when Xion said she didn't know. But to Kida, it simply meant to ask someone else later.

The look of amazement reinstated itself in full, however, when an moving picture appeared on the tiny panel. However, she shrunk away ever so slightly after peering over Xion's shoulder. She stuck her hand in front of the camera briefly before pulling it away and looking back at her hand. "It is not that it caught my words, is it? Or else now it would have taken me." She pointed her own camera at herself and tried it. "It shows us what it remembers? It seems like a moving mural or photograph." Though even the concept of a photograph was only a few months old for her.

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

"Sort of," Xion said, tried to figure out how to explain this, "I guess it kind of copies what we've said or done? And then we can show it to other people." Or something similar to that anyway.

"When you want to show people what you've written or whatever, you post this button," she continued, pointing to the button that would post an entry. "Then it will show up on a network, where people can see it and respond to it."

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

"Then perhaps it is more like an artisan depicting what he sees?" she guessed.

Kida's expression turned somber again. "If it is not so simple to leave, then perhaps I should see if others I know were sent here." She closed the journal and fell silent a moment. "When we get to a quieter place, would you mind making sure I am doing this correctly? And whom is it I should be thanking?" She gave the girl a smile.

short tag is short

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

"Um... sure. I guess that works." Sort of. Close enough, anyway.

"Oh. I'm Xion." She nodded her head a little, "And sure, I'll help. What's your name?"

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

Kida looked over her journal for a moment again before closing it.

"I am Kidagakash. Perhaps you would prefer to call me simply 'Kida.' Many do." The woman looked around, gazing briefly at the ornate dome above them. "This place. Paixao. It is unlike any I have ever seen." She caught a glance of a few onlookers who'd been staring up until they noticed they'd been spotted. "It would seem I am unlike what others have seen as well..."

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

...Yea, Xion would definitely be calling her Kida. She'd already forgotten how to pronounce her full name.

"It's... very different," she said, nodding in agreement. She hadn't seen a world like this one before, even if she knew where they actually were. "And most of the natives think anyone from outside look different."

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

"I wonder how they created domes this great." Kida looked back at Xion. "This would make sense. Though judging by the long line of newcomers, I would think they would be somewhat used to it?"

After a pause, Kida furrowed her eyebrows. "If I cannot get home, where am I to live? Does this place have homes available as well?"

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

[ooc: 'kay so i kind of lied about the video function, it doesn't exist. XD; I keep mixing up my games. Sorry!]

"I guess they do," Xion said. She'd rather tried to avoid the natives, so it didn't really bother her.

As for the housing... "There are a lot of places for people to live, I think. I don't know where, exactly, at least not right now, but if you ask I'm sure someone else knows." She'd been living with the Organization, obviously- it wasn't like she had a choice there- but the only other apartment she'd seen belonged to Vyers.

*Fail*

[crystalchamber.livejournal.com]

[OOC: LOL, no prob!]

Kida cocked her head at Xion. "You are not sure? What of the area you live in? Are there no places to live in your district?" Despite her forwardness, Kida was not looking for hospitality so much as only the information she requested.

And suddenly her brows furrowed. "Or... Do you not have a home?"

[whodoyou-see.livejournal.com]

"No, I do. It's just... it wouldn't be a good place for you to go." And, deciding to end that conversation before it began, Xion quickly changed subjects, "I know of some apartments in one area, but if you wanted to live somewhere else there are different places around."