| Worthless Travel Agency | ||
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Lee makes their way though the crowds with a cheerful air and perches on the edge of a bench there. Lee reaches into a pocket of the splatter-painted technical vest to pull out a Jew's harp, but first looks around a bit at the collection of humanity (and others) present. Zelan continues muttering to herself as she walks down the sidewalk, suitcase being pulled behind her. She's well dressed, though her clothes look like they've been worn for a while. That, combined with the suitcase, easily would suggest that she's just gotten off a flight. "I can't believe that travel agency was a scam the whole time!" she mutters. "Nothing they booked me on seems to exist at all outside of the flight. I am so going to sue the pants off of them when I get back..." Lee's eyes are drawn to the angry muttering approaching. Lee regards Zelan with concern for a moment, then flashes her a quick wave of the hand and an encouraging smile that shows of some slightly pointy canines. Lee then puts the instrument to their lips and starts twanging a rhythm. Zelan blinks in surprise at the wave and flits her eyes about briefly. She frowns slightly at something before focusing her eyes on Lee. "Uh, can..." She then twitches an eyebrow as Lee starts playing the instrument. She lets out a frustrated sound again before glancing about the area. Lee lowers the instrument as Zelan looks away. "Heya!" Lee calls to her with a still cheery tone. "You looking for somebody, maybe?" Lee asks. "Only sign I saw someone holding up was for a 'Marvin Jones'. Guessing that's not you, huh?" Zelan lets out an exasperated sigh. "No. No I am not. Zelan Darkflower." She glances at Lee, gauging to see if they recognize that at all. "I was apparently absolutely had by a travel agency who only booked my flight and made up everything else they claimed to book me with." Lee doesn't seem to recognize the name. "Lee Mavwoin," Lee offers in reply. "Sorry 'bout that. Dunno how the air traffic controllers here even manage the airplanes, with all the flying superheroes and spaceships from who-knows-where flying around. But no excuse for the agency t' just make stuff up." Lee adds, "You need t' borrow a phone, call somebody where you were headed?" Zelan raises an eyebrow again. "Superheroes?" She then groans and sits down on a nearby bench. "That's the problem! Where I was headed doesn't seem to exist! I thought I had a wonderful place to go to where I was going to live with a family for a few months, but no, they don't exsist, their building doesn't exist, I don't even think the street exists!" Lee scoots over to the end of their bench closer to Zelan's and tucks away the instrument. "Uh, gotta ask," Lee says with an uncertain frown, "Are you maybe on the wrong Earth here? 'Cause that'd be a real good explanation for why you're not finding stuff and why it looks like there's a city-wide anime convention going on." Lee looks around and explains, "Dunno any official labeling system for Earths, but this's the one where Edo... or Tokyo, I guess, got replaced by NeoTokyo and a mess of connections to other worlds." Zelan definitely looks a bit shocked at Lee's revelation. "Earth? I wasn't supposed to go to Earth for another year! I was supposed to be on Mars! What the hell!" She then frowns, more of what Lee said clicking with her. "Wait, Tokyo is... connections to other worlds? What?" Lee winces at Zelan's explanation. "Yeeeah, there's not really a good way to say it. Think your travel plans got interrupted in a really serious way by some freaky interdimensional stuff that goes on here." Lee rubs the back of their neck. "Some folks I know'd probably have a nervous breakdown or something. Took me a while t' even believe what I was seeing. But I'm just kind of going with the flow and hoping everything'll work out eventually." It's a good thing Zelan is already seated, because she looks like she might have fallen over at all this revelation. "Interdimensional? You mean like... different planes of existence? Different universes? How is that-" She then blinks. "Wait. Wait wait wait. This actually sounds familiar. I think this happened to my brother once." She sighs and brings up a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose under her glasses. "Oh, for the love of... Well, I guess my sabbatical just was made of indefinite length..." Lee looks a little surprised by Zelan's reaction. "Your brother?" Lee says. Lee is sitting on the edge of a bench, next to the one occupied by Zelan and her suitcase. "You've got a better context for understanding that than I did. Only one place for interdimensional travel where I'm from, and that's a permanent gate between two worlds that's really well behaved." Zelan sighs and shakes her head. "Frankly, I thought Tris was delusional when he talked about it... Maybe a few too many Gs in the old fighter cockpit, but... I guess it's a real phenomena..." She frowns, clearly unhappy with this situation, even if she's accepting the reality of it. A bus pulls up along side if the curb and brings its self to a complete stop... After only a moment, and oddly dressed woman steps from the buss, and then faces the driver... After a polite bow, you hear the driver speak, "Thanks again, Porom. The wife sure is better now." The young lady smiles as she watches the doors of the buss close. As the buss drives away, the young woman looks about the sidewalk, getting a good idea of where she is... Using her left hand as a visor, she holds it above her eyes and pans her head left and right to survey the area. She doesn't seem to be looking for one place specifically...no. Rather, she is allowing her eyes time to marvel at the tall buildings that, to her, seem to touch the very sky its self. .o O ( I still think they are taller than the Tower of Babel... ) she thinks to herself. "Could be we're all delusional," Lee says with a grin before continuing more seriously, "But I don't have any way of knowing that, so just gonna go with the theory that I'm not. But if ya need any more convincing, Frey's magic shop downtown is the place t' go," Lee waves a hand down the street. "Folks in there can show ya half a dozen different ways magic isn't supposed to work." Lee glances up as a new bus arrives before looking back to Zelan. Zelan doesn't really pay this next bus's arrival any mind. "Well, it certainly explains why none of the places I booked for my vacation seem to exist. 'Frey's magic shop,' huh?" She looks down in that direction. "I dunno. Magic works in a lot of strange ways. I doubt they could really surprise me that much." The young lady soon turns her eyes off of the buildings, and begins to walk slowly about. Magic?! Strange?! Never!! "Magic is always surprising." comments the young appearing lady as she looks upon the two. "It can do anything from heal, to destroy, to alter the very time and space around you. It can create works of wonder, or devastate an entire world." Well, a white mage will always find both good and bad in magic. Porom offers the two a warm smile as she rests her hands at her side, and examines them both curiously. "If you need some magical help, maybe I can be of assistance. I am Porom Rendant, White Mage of Mysidia." she says in kind notation as she offers a polite bow. For now, the buildings do not capture her attention... ...She heard magic, help, and surprise. ...and being a priestess...helping is what she enjoys. "Maybe some high-tech stuff'd work in ways that'd surprise ya? And if not, all the better. Means you'll be least freaked out by stuff that goes on here," Lee says to Zelan, then looks up again as Porom speaks. Lee looks a little taken aback by the dramatic language, but then grins and motions toward Porom. "See, they musta heard me yesterday talking to ya." Lee dips their head to Porom. "Heya. I'm Lee, re-trainer of spare parts and painter of walls." Lee glances back to Zelan, "And possible vacation planner, depending on your tastes." Zelan blinks and looks up at Porom. "Uhhh... Zelan Darkflower... Lead of the Petal design team of Magus Spaceworks... not that that means anything here, I'm sure, even if I wasn't on a sabbatical." She lets out a sigh, then raises an eyebrow at Lee. "Yesterday? Uh, no, if this is another universe entirely, that would mean I don't have access to my bank account, which means I'm going to need to find a job instead of going on a real vacation like I'd planned." Porom keeps her smile in place, and lowers her head, in place of a formal bow. There are a good number of people moving about, after all. After the polite gesture, her baby-blues blink a few times as she gives in to thought for just a moment. .o O ( Space? John is always mentioning things about space... It is all more than I understand. I had never thought any of that was possible until... ) While her mind travels various ideas of the matter mentioned, she keeps up a warm smile, and wonders if she can help them as she had offered. But, she knows the answer will come in time. For now, she will keep with her thoughts....and battle the on going fight of pushing hair from her features as the wind lightly blows through her soft brown hair. "Well, guess ya will," Lee admits to Zelan. "But ya don't need to let that stop ya from doing some sightseeing and fun stuff, too, after you get all that settled." Lee glances to Porom at that. Lee then opens up one of the pouches on the splatter-painted tactical vest. "Oh! Speaking of settling, picked up some spare housing voucher applications from Immigrations, just in case, after I saw somebody appear and run into a tree the other day." Lee leans over to offer Zelan a folded and somewhat abused sheaf of paperwork. Zelan carefully looks at the sheet of paper, her left eyebrow twitching slightly. "...I'd... really rather not have to rely on charity just to get by at all..." She straightens herself up, attempting to look proud but not quite succeeding. "I am one of the galaxy's foremost experts on melding technology with magic, after all! I'm certain I can manage to get a job in almost no time!" She then deflates a bit with a sigh. "Of course, that assumes there's a job opening around..." She flicks her eyes about, not seeming to be looking at anything in particular. She then looks up at Porom. "Unless you have any leads on the subject, I may look into this 'Frey' person to see if there's any leads." ACK! Well, that caught the white mage off guard. With a look of mild confusion, Porom manages to hold her smile as she slips her hands behind herself, and lightly shuffles them about nervously. .o O ( Drats! I am starting to act like Palom! Jumping in head first, and not really thinking everything through. ...What matter? ) "I'm....sorry. All I managed to hear was 'magic', and 'help'. I thought that, as a white mage, I would offer to see if I could help." she mentions, her embarrassment is easily heard in the tones of her voice... ...though a bit more so as she adds, "...I'm not sure what the subject is. But, I wanted to offer help, if it is something you needed." Working to keep her composure, and smile, she closes her eyes for a second then thinks to herself, .o O ( ...maybe this one time, I need the whack to the head. ) "Galaxy's?" Lee repeats uncertainly, putting away the paperwork. "Sounds like pretty impressive credentials to me." Folding their legs to sit crosslegged, Lee curls their tail around and leans back a little on their hands. Porom's admission gets a grin. "Dunno much 'bout magic but what I was born with, but I get the impression that Frey's shop's an important spot for mages' networking and job leads." Lee looks to Porom on that, then adds, "Could give ya contact info for a friend of mine, too. Seen her working on some pretty high-tech stuff, and she's in a relationship with a couple mages. Might know a thing or two about melding tech and magic." Zelan sighs and shakes her head. "No, no, no, I don't think a spell exists that can magically conjure a way of keeping yourself alive. You need money to do that." She notices Lee's uncertain look. "Uhhh... would you believe one of the Sidra Arm's foremost experts? The Tyrians actually do have some impressive stuff, now that I think about it..." She laughs a bit nervously, then sounds slightly interested. "Oh, really? If they're hiring, I'm sure I could prove quite useful!" Listening to what is stated, Porom straightens herself up. Letting go of her thoughts about her twin, and relaxing her hands once more, she looks between the two, and then at the ground. She has heard of some strong magic, but nothing to keep a person alive. ...Even with the spells in her arsenal, she knows of nothing that will help with this. But, it seems like the two are working things out on their own. For now, she sees no reason to pursue further. Her inquisitive look fades, and she takes a cautious step back, so as not to bump in to any of the people who are moving about. "..." While she keeps her ears on the topic, in case any one of the two should call for her, her eyes look about the streets, almost as if taking a quick glance for something....or, perhaps, someone. Lee grins at Zelan. "My kind have some pretty good magic for staying alive, but never heard've anybody who was right in the head trying t' use it to avoid eating or doing useful stuff in life. No such thing as magic without a cost, far as I know," Lee offers. "Anyway, gonna have 't ask the magic shop folks 'bout hiring. I'm just an an occasional visitor there." Lee looks briefly to Porom and offers, "Maybe we could take ya over there? Just a short walk, actually." It takes a second for her to catch on that Lee is offering to show her the magic shop. It is then that she smiles, and shakes her head softly. "I run a potion shop, myself." she comments with a small smile. "I just wanted to see if I could help the two of you in some way..." she then adds as she looks between the two. Again the wind blows, and again she pushes the soft wisps of her brown hair back behind her ears. Bringing her hands from behind herself, she uses the right one to reach into a leather bag at her side. From there, she pulls out a rather long staff, with a golden phoenix on the head of it, and rings looped within the feathers. Resting the staff at her side, she lowers her head towards the two, offering the gesture as a polite bow, "Perhaps I should go. It doesn't seem that I can be of much help." she says hesitantly. "But, I felt that it was worth offering." she then adds a bit nervously. Zelan nods to Lee. "My point exactly." She stands up as discussion turns towards going to the magic shop. "I've never heard of a lay-line strong enough to keep someone alive on its own." She flicks her eyes about for a moment before adding, "Though they are pretty strong around here. Maybe that actually could work here, but I'd rather stay alive the old fashioned way... by making a living." She frowns as Porom talks of leaving. "If you insist. I suppose it was worth the try, but... I think my needs right now are a bit more mundane than magical at the moment." She offers the white mage a smile. Lee stares a little at Porom pulling a whole staff out of a bag, glancing to Zelan afterwards. "Oh, I was advertising the competition, huh?" Lee says to Porom with a smile. "Maybe I could get the address of your potion shop and pester your people some, too?" Lee offers. Porom slips her right hand into the bag again. This time, she pulls out a simple card reading, 'Temple of Life' in bold red lettering. It mentions that there is a 'potion shope' built into the complex, and lists an address. Porom offers it over towards Lee, and shakes her head. "I don't see it as competition. Just people seeking to help the people of the city in different ways, and make a living doing what they love." That warm smile returns to her features, and then she glances about the city street one more time. "...so, please, speak well of all the shops that do well for the area." She looks back towards the bus stop, and then at the staff. .o O ( ...maybe later. ) she thinks to herself. "May you always stay safe..." she bids the two. Zelan nods a bit slowly. "All right, then, take care, Miss Porom. Good luck in your ventures." She takes the handle of her suitcase into hand. "I think I'd like to get moving, myself, though. I studied the maps for my universe's Tokyo, not this... What'd you call it again? But I don't know what the city holds..." She then looks down at the suitcase again with a frown. "And I don't really have a place to put this if I were to explore..." Lee leans forward to take the card from Porom. "Gotcha," Lee replies cheerfully as she explains. "Was good to meet ya." Lee glances down at the card before tucking it into one of the pouches. "I'll try t' catch ya there sometime soon." Lee pulls out one of their own 'business cards' as Zelan mentions that she needs to go. "Maybe leave the suitcase with staff at the Usual while you're job hunting in NeoTokyo?" Lee suggests, offering Zelan a large steel hex nut with inscribed with contact information and decorative patterns of marker-filled scratches. "Hope I'll run into ya again. Hopefully under better circumstances!" The young lady steps back, and closes her eyes. Despite the winds being light, her hair and robes seem affected by...something... Softly, they start to ripple about as she draws in a slow and deep breath. She mutters softly under her breath, the echoed muttering seem almost impossible to understand...But after only a few statements, bright white light emits from Porom as she clearly says, "Exit." her voice echoed with the force of magic she is channeling. Her image distorts, and after an enclosing circle of light envelopes her... ...WOOSH! Nothing is left where she once stood. Zelan makes a face at the thought of leaving her suitcase at a restaurant. "Um... I'll... take it with me..." She pauses a moment, but that pause is completely broken by Porom's rather flashy, well, exit. "Woah!" she calls out into the breif moment of silence after. "Teleportation? Just like that? I mean... it's possible in my universe, but it's not to be taken lightly!" Lee shrugs a shoulder at Zelan's reluctance, then looks over to see that Porom is up to. Lee blinks at the sudden absence of Porom, staring for a few moments after. "Uh, yeah. We don't have that where I come from," Lee mentions, eventually looking back to Zelan. "Haven't seen that kinda thing too much here, either. Maybe they usually do it in private?" Zelan twitches her eyes slightly, staring off for a moment before shaking her head. "Well, I've never seen anything quite like that." She then starts to grin. "I think things are going to be pretty interesting around here... Now where was this magic shop?" Lee hops off the bench with a bounce on the toes of the sandals and a bounce of the feathers on their head. "Frey's is just a block over that way," Lee says, pointing down the intersection to the west. "Maybe I'll run into ya there later on?" | |
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