paixaorpg | New Hope [Completed]

Entry tags:

New Hope [Completed]

Character(s): Urd, open!
Content: Urd opens up her temporary relief shop to all!
Setting: Across the street from The Cheap Prayer.
Time: Week 24, all day!
Warnings: None.
Note: This log will be done via "party style" threading! Come in and make your own thread to get Urd's attention, or join into someone else's thread. It's all good!

Praetoris was playing dirty. Though Urd put on a casual, unaffected mood on the network, she was just as annoyed and insulted by this new attitude toward the visitors as anyone else. When it came to dressing "inappropriately," the goddess took it to a new level in a way that even modern-minded individuals would deem a little too sexy. She never minded much; she enjoyed finding new and colorful ways to show off both her style and her body. She was a goddess! You had to instill a certain amount of awe in people!

Her favorite tea shop had been adamant in not serving her and as a result, she had broken most of their cups in a fit of frustration. Really, they'd been lucky she hadn't set fire to the whole place! But once her temper had cooled and she had a clear mind, Urd admitted that fighting back had to be done in a better way. A smarter way.

Thankfully, poorer natives of the city weren't so quick to judge them. She'd always had a good relationship with the gypsies, in part due to her continued business with them (she had to get her ingredients for her potions somewhere). It didn't take much to strike a deal with them for her new plan: they'd supply her what she needed and she, in turn, would make sure the majority of the money the visitors had would go to them. Urd didn't need money, of course. Even if she wasn't a divine being, she had a djinn on her side!

Now the goddess floated in a reclined position in the middle of her shop, hands held out in front of her. Rich cloth and strings of beads flew up to the walls and windows, rags wiped the tables and floors on their own and merchandise of nearly every kind arranged themselves onto shelves and tables. She could have done it all by hand, but manual labor did not sit well with Urd.

Out front, a large embroidered banner read, "New Hope."

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"Uaah!" Urd's magic trick caught Osaka quite off guard, making her jump (although even then it was a pretty weak-sauce jump). At first she just thought Urd had turned all little, but no, the full-size Urd was still right there, and now there were two of them, and that made no se...

A moment after the original Urd was back inside, Osaka poked experimentally at the mini-Urd. "... Magic ... that's really magic, huh?" she asked, regarding her with a look that was somewhere between wonderment and unwittingly impolite staring.

(The central task, finding an apartment, was still there, somewhere, but Osaka was of course very easily sidetracked.)

"Well, I am a goddess," Mini Urd replied, flipping her hair out with a giant sized amount of pride. "Something like this is easy for me." She flew around Osaka and landed on her shoulder, crossing her legs and perching like a queen on a regal mount.

"Let's head over to Iriela. On the way there, you can tell me about yourself." She smiled, looking up at the huge eye of Osaka. "You're Japanese, right?"

Osaka nodded with a smile, starting obligingly toward the apartments. Man, magic like that... a goddess! She wasn't really sure what the implications of that must be, but it gave Urd about a million cool points and put her in really high spirits.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm from Osaka. Well, I live in Tokyo now, but I'm from Osaka..." She paused a second. "So, what kind of goddess are ya?"

"Second Class, Administrative License." Urd held up one finger, winking slyly. "And the Goddess of Love! You won't find a better ally in that department." She looked ahead again, arms crossed behind her head. "You're probably too young to fully appreciate romance, but once you find someone you like, make sure to let me know, alright? I'll give you the Super Goddess Discount on my love potions."

"Oh, wow," said Osaka, genuinely awed. That 'Second Class' or whatever didn't mean anything to her, but the Goddess of Love, that was somethin' else. "Yeah, okay! Umm, I went on a date with this guy with a tail, a little while ago, but then he disappeared." At least, she assumed that was why she couldn't find him on the network anymore. Not that she'd been looking terribly hard, but it seemed like he just wasn't listed.

Urd had been nodding in self-satisfaction when Osaka's words took a turn for the weird. She froze, blinking a few times as she slowly turned her head to stare at the girl. "...what? A tail?" What boys had tails here? Or was it where she came from? She raised an eyebrow. "And who was this? Are tails your thing?"

"Huh? Not really," Osaka replied, blithely oblivious as usual. "His name's Zidane, I met him on the internet." She meant the journals, of course. There weren't any people with tails on Earth. (Well - not that she knew of, anyway. There could be.)

"He's pretty cool. A real fantasy hero, y'know? So I figure that explains the tail," she explained. By her tone alone, it was the same as if she was describing someone with a cool hat or something.

Well, this was definitely a first. Osaka was the first human she'd met who so easily accepted things beyond their own usual reality. Urd opened her mouth and closed it again after a few seconds. Chuckling softly, she shook her head. "Yeah. Probably. You're really something, Osaka."

The apartment building loomed ahead. It wasn't the most opulent of living quarters in the city, but it was certainly good enough. Urd had lived there herself only just recently. "So this is Iriela," she told the girl as they entered into the lobby. "It's run by the gypsies. Did you collect any more money before you started looking for this place?"

Osaka was beaming, both from the compliment (it sounded like a compliment!) and the novelty of the whole thing, as she looked around the Iriela lobby. She nodded to Mini-Urd's question. "Yeah, I stole a whole bunch of stuff!" Almost as an afterthought, she pulled her tote bag around the front of her and reached into it, pulling out a handful of gilded leaves. "I got the biggest ones I could find," she explained.

But that wasn't all. She then put it back and rummaged around some more until she found a big ruby strawberry with diamond seeds. "I found this too. You wouldn't think strawberries grew on trees, but it turns out that's a myth!"

Then the strawberry went back in, and she searched happily for the next cool thing she wanted to show off...

"Okay, okay, you don't have to show the whole world everything!" Urd said quickly, glancing to the lobby counter where a man watched Osaka's display with a shrewd eye. "Just go up to the counter there and tell him you want to rent an apartment." She floated off Osaka's shoulder and hovered behind her head as they headed over.

The man, blonde and blue-eyed as every native of the city was, looked up with a pleasant smile. "Welcome to Iriela Apartments. What can I do for you?"

Osaka nodded and stepped up to the counter. If there was one thing she was good at, it was following directions!

She stared at the man for a moment, smiling, then reached into her bag again and produced a fistful of leaves, which she held straight-armed toward his face. "I want to buy an apartment," she said, almost as an afterthought.

... Well, maybe she was a little iffy on the whole directions thing, but her heart was in it.

The gypsy man was quick to gather the proffered leaves without even a bat of his eye. "Of course. There's one available on the fourth floor." He turned and searched through a drawer for the necessary key.

"...that was way too much," Urd sighed behind Osaka, placing her head in her hands. "Next time, just haggle a bit, okay? Don't just give it all out there right away! Make them work for it."

"Here you are," the man said, giving Osaka a weathered key. "No refunds."

Osaka looked back at Urd, a little perplexed. She hadn't done it right? Well, next time she would get it. She nodded, then turned back and took the key, smiling blithely. "Thank you."

... Oh, right, haggling! "But, um, I want two, please!" she piped up.

Both Urd and the gypsy man froze, staring at Osaka blankly. Urd was the first to finally react, flying straight in front of Osaka. "She's just kidding! Just one. Thanks!" If the man thought it odd that a miniature flying woman was talking to him, he didn't show it. He simply nodded, eyebrow raised as he gave Osaka a bemused look.

"Come on, before you offer to buy the whole place," she said under her breath to Osaka, nudging her towards the stairwell that would lead to the fourth floor.

Osaka followed Urd's prodding, still a little confused about what she was meant to be doing, but enjoying herself nonetheless. She'd never had her own apartment before, and she was already imagining what it might be like. "D'you think they have a swimming pool?" she asked Urd as they started up the stairs.

Once Osaka started walking, Urd sighed in relief. This girl was pretty slow, but she seemed to have a good heart. Bemused, she took her position on her shoulder once more with a smirk. "No, no pool, I'm afraid. Paixao isn't like our modern worlds. There's no electricity except the journals, you probably noticed." She grinned, leaning forward a bit. "But I once had a great pool party at the park! Next time, you have to come. It'll be fun!"

A pool party? Man that sounded so cool. Osaka nodded enthusiastically. "Okay! I'll definitely come!" She'd never really done a pool party exactly but they'd had a number of beach parties at Chiyo-chan's summer home. "We better save the watermelon for Tomo, though. She's gotta split something..."

Then she stopped in mid-step, remembering, and her smile dimmed a little. "... Oh, wait. She's not here."

Urd watched Osaka, her face a little pensive as the girl seemed to droop. She patted the shoulder she was sitting on. "It's okay. It's better she's not, really. And you'll make new friends here, of course." She tilted her head and smiled gently.

"You've already made one right here."

That did the trick. Almost right away, Osaka's face lit back up, and she smiled over at Urd. "Yeah?" she said. "... Yeah. I'm really glad!"

And she was. It was kind of the same feeling as she got each time she'd moved, saying goodbye to old friends and hello to new ones. You were kind of lonely for a little bit, but that went away pretty soon.

The new friend seemed to kickstart her motor, too, and she started up the stairs again. But she barely made it to the second landing before she stopped again, a little out of breath. "Oh man, four stories? I'm gonna die like this."

Urd chuckled, pushing off the girl's shoulder and floating ahead. "You'll get used to it, really. And the view is really amazing! It'll be worth it." She gestured for the girl to keep moving as she grinned. "Come on, come on! Dig deep! Use your Osaka Power!"

... Hey, yeah, that was right. Osaka took a second or two more to catch her breath, then straightened up, inhaling deeply. If she was gonna be a fantasy hero, then she couldn't let something like a flight of stairs get her down! "Osaka Power! VWEEN~!" she repeated. Then she was off like a rocket, flying up the stairs to-

Well, it was really more of a brisk jog-

No, actually, kind of a walk, to be honest-

She made it about five more steps, then slumped over on the handrail. "Ahh, it's no good."

Sighing, Urd placed her head in her hands. This wasn't any good at all. "You'll have to do better than that, Osaka. Keep trying! The view is amazing on the fourth floor, trust me. And I'll be sure to come over and give you a great housewarming gift! Whatever you'd like." She pointed at Osaka, a hand on her hip as she floated in front of her.

"But you have to make it to the top! Do your best!"

"Okay, okay! Just gimme a second..."

And this was basically how it went the remaining floor and a half. Eventually, though, without much more complaining, Osaka made it up to the fourth floor and let out a sigh as long as her lung capacity would allow... which was about three-quarters of a second.

"Phew... made it!" She straightened up and cast Urd a tired smile. This was actually quite an accomplishment! It had to be all the conditioning from walking up three flights of stairs at school, or else she'd never have made it.

A puff of smoke, and Mini-Urd was dressed in a cheerleading outfit. "Good job! You're awesome!" she cried out, shaking the tiny purple and gold pompoms. She then floated to Osaka's arm and tugged on her sleeve down the hall. "Look, there it is!" She pointed to the door some feet away. "It should have some furniture in it..."

Osaka let herself be tugged, and once at the door, checked her key to make sure the number was right, which it was. This was the place, all right. Her new apartment! So without further ado, she stuck the key in the lock, turned it, and swung the door open.

Her face, already bright, took on a look of wonder as she stepped in and looked around. It was a lot bigger than she'd expected, on the inside, and the sofa looked darn comfy. With a little noise of happiness, she ran over and plopped down right in the middle of it. "Uahhh... it's so soft!" she exclaimed.

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