Paranoid [Leiz]

[hoffman]

Leiz's arm strained a little under the stress of Zephyrus's grip, causing his face to blush slightly. Even still, his lithe frame was ample to support the atha'an miere's weight. Soon enough, Zephyrus had managed to bring himself up to the boy's side, albeit slowly.

"... nothing to it," Leiz said somewhat coldly, putting on a false display of bravado. He honestly didn't want Zephyrus to start thinking he had the slightest problem in lifting him. Lifting was a man's work. He was a man. Sixteen, true, but a man by Belevadia's standards. He could do this. "So, yeah. First District's thataway. You're going to get used to this place."

Leaving the atha'an miere's side, Leiz walked over to the large double doors that lead into the First District - which, of course, were slightly agape. Putting two and two together, Leiz narrowed his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at Zephyrus. "Oh, so you were fortunate enough to end up in the First District to start with. You should have taken it easy."

His eyes rolled themselves to the side slightly as he had the bitter realization that, truthfully, he never really took his own advice.

[13ulbasaur]

Zephyrus stared nervously at the door as Leiz walked up to it, feeling a bit hesitant again now. But mustering up his courage, he walked back up to Leiz as he opened the door. "Yeah.. I got frightened. That's all." Zephyrus replied, eyeing at the gap between the doors. He could just hear a crowd of people talking to each other past the door and he almost let out a sigh as it seemed the place was still crawling with people.

"So does this Traverse Town provide free accommodation of sorts? Assuming that people arrive here often with no idea of the place... Just curious." Zephyrus asked Leiz, truly out of curiosity as he was thinking about the stuff that Leiz had told him earlier.

((Sorry for shortness. :X))

[hoffman]

With both hands, Leiz pushed the double doors back far enough to allow them to pass through. Still surprised at the size of the doors, he couldn't quite help but mull over possible reasons why Traverse Town's development committee insisted on having such large doors. Maybe it was that Traverse Town used to be part of a castle town, or something of that sort. With no actual basis or facts to work off of, however, such theories were totally speculative.

The green-haired boy walked through the newfound gap, looking over at Zephyrus as he passed through. Somewhat amused at his question concerning whether or not Traverse Town provided free housing and nourishment, he shook his head. "Nah. As nice as this place looks, they're not really that selfless. If I were you, I'd start looking for jobs immediately. But, gotta be straight with you - there's always the occasional shmuck who's gonna try to rip you off. Someone in your position is valuable to them."

Coming to a stop outside the back door of the district's synthesis shop, Leiz leaned back up against the wall as he eyed his acquaintance. "People aren't the most conscientious when they get here for the first time. I've heard too many bar stories about it. One newcomer ran an errand from the First District to the Third and back - and only really got five munny out of it. That's not worth much here. Worse enough, he found himself doing the same thing again. Only, this time ... he didn't come back."

[13ulbasaur]

Zephyrus watched as Leiz opened the doors, he couldn't help but notice how large they were too. He hadn't really noticed it earlier when he was fleeing, but now that he was somewhat calmer did the sheer size of the doors register in his brain. It seemed almost intimidating, somehow, the doors almost looking like they are looming over him. But what was a bit more intimidating was the large amount of humans and some other creatures seen when Leiz opened up the door to go through.

Zephyrus at first was a bit slow to his step, but seeing Leiz starting to get further away he quickened. Of course, closing the doors behind him. His eyes darted around as various humanoids and creatures passed by, "I thought so," Zephyryus said, replying to Leiz's answer once he caught back up to him, "Though it was kind of a silly question on my part, since the answer was almost obvious." Zephyrus nearly grunted as he quickly moved his shoulder aside just in time for a human to pass by without touching him. Even with all what Leiz said, Zephyrus can't help but want to avoid these people. He was starting to get a bit anxious, paranoid again, but he stayed close to Leiz, the only person he knew here. "I suppose that people who don't know anything about these places would be quite valuable. You could easily talk them into doing things--" He just avoided bumping into another person.

As Leiz stopped near a shop of sorts, Zephyrus chose not to lean against the wall and just stand next to him. "Ehh, really? If Second District is already dangerous I can imagine that Third would be even more so... I'll be sure to be careful, if I ever do an errand or job for someone.."

[hoffman]

Leiz nodded as Zephyrus spoke, looking over at him with a notably amused expression. He perceived a bit of that fear and uncertainty that the atha'an miere began to exude, noting how the culture clash of the First District made him even more nervous than before. But, just like everyone else before him, Zephyrus would soon learn of the many distinct and unique kinds of people surrounding him.

If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to survive. The universe was a dangerous place.

"Tell you what. I think I might know someone around here that you could probably defer to. Couriering is a pretty common job around here, given how disconnected the Second and Third districts are," he explained, searching about his person for a valuable belonging that he tended to carry around with him everywhere ... his traveler's journal. He pulled it out for the briefest of moments, flipping it open and scribbling something onto an empty page.

Tearing the page out from the journal and handing it over to the atha'an miere, he continued to talk about his contact. "His name's Davis. He ... orders stuff from my company on a regular basis. His address is on the sheet, and - when he interviews you, and he will, because he's pretty serious about his line of work - use these answers. He's picky about who he likes."

[13ulbasaur]

Accepting the piece of paper handed to him, he quickly skimmed through the writing, "Couriering? Is that like, delivering stuff?" Zephyrus asked, not completely sure about this word. He could guess it was delivering since Leiz had talked about 'orders stuff' and how 'disconnected the second and third districts are'. "If it is, it shouldn't be too hard, right? Just run, whilst being careful as to not destroy what you are supposed to deliver. Doesn't sound too bad, I think."

"But..." Zephyrus pointed at the address that was on the piece of paper, "How do I read this? I mean, I can read it, but I'm not sure how these 'addresses' work. I'm sorry, could you explain it to me?" Atha'an Miere generally lived in a single towns or cities most their lives, thus they actually learn by heart who lives where. Even if one did go somewhere else, they could just ask the other inhabitants of the place where is where. So addresses weren't very needed. But now up here, where he'd probably have to live on land for a long while, he's gonna have to get some tutoring from somewhere.

[hoffman]

"Is this guy for real?" he thought, his mouth agape. Shaking his head confusedly, Leiz couldn't quite believe what he had heard. Despite the coinciding nature of how civilizations across the universe had developed, societal norms like addresses or street names apparently hadn't existed on Zephyrus's planet.

Trying not to give him too much flak for something that was quite obviously out of his hands, Leiz meandered about mentally as he searched for an appropriate answer to the atha'an miere's question. Eventually, he formulated a logical response, though there was a noted delay between the opening of his mouth and the flowing of words. Quite honestly, he never in his life expected that he'd have to explain the simple concept of addresses to anyone.

Leiz had to wonder if his natural skill with couriering and his understanding of addresses was some bitter, unshakable reflection of his own psyche. He wasn't really meant for delivering, was he?

"... okay, well. You're going to want to get this down quickly. The number on that sheet matches the number of the house you're going to. If you want to know where you're supposed to go, you have to look around for the number that matches the one you're given."

[13ulbasaur]

((asjhaksdjashdkjh sorry Leiz D:" ))

But yes! This guy was for real. Though it wasn't his entire world that didn't use addresses, it was mainly just the atha'an miere--the humans had addresses of course since they had busy towns and cities. Though the ocean-dwelling race had never found that they needed to learn and adapt these addresses, even when scouting up on land in the towns.

Zephyrus stared oddly at Leiz, wondering why he was looking at him like that. Was what he said that weird? Zephyrus' face felt flushed with embarrassment, though it didn't outwardly show, he wasn't even sure why he felt embarassed. Not knowing how these address things work? Things worked so differently here, he'd have to get used to everything...

Zephyrus listened as Leiz explained briefly how it worked. So all he had to do was find a house with the same number on it? That's it? "Sounds easy enough to me." Zephyrus said, boldly. Well it should be easy enough provided the numbers of the houses would be in order, which they probably should be. He looked at the sheet again, identifying the number, then back at Leiz. "...So should I go to this place... now?" He asked, eyeing the area momentarily, suddenly realizing that this might probably mean he'd have to explore the place on his own.

[hoffman]

"I'd say you should. He generally doesn't keep his doors open for long. Without a sun here, it's kind of difficult to keep a track of time, but ... I think he's on a twenty-four hour cycle just like most people here - he would be awake right now," Leiz replied, leaving the wall that he was leaning on and heading over to the right. He didn't gesture for the atha'an miere to follow, though he expected him to still keep on tagging along. After all, they had a few things to talk about before going their separate ways.

... so he thought. He wasn't sure about that. Surely, whatever he had left to say wasn't important enough to worry about right now.

Stopping at another lamppost a few feet away and checking around the corner to see what kind of activities were taking place in the First District, Leiz was greeted with the usual sight of crowds of people wandering about, their destinations and goals unknown ... but likely pertaining to the proliferation and maintenance of Traverse Town's economy. He sighed and turned back around to face Zephyrus, giving him a slight pat on the shoulder.

"If that's all, all I can say is ... good luck. You're gonna be sick of this town in a couple of weeks, though, so ... if you ever want a ride to another place, I'll be around. For the right price, I guess."

[13ulbasaur]

Without a Sun? Zephyrus looked up at the sky right when Leiz mentioned that, as if to check if there was a Sun. So this place never sees daylight? He wondered how the citizens here could survive that, or how plants could survive that. Then again he didn't see any plants here...

Pushing the thoughts of the lack of daylight aside, he followed after Leiz as the boy started walking, then stopped as he stopped. As Leiz finished talking, Zephyrus replied. "Alright... I guess I'll go to the place now. Thanks so much for helping me, I'll be sure to be cautious here and to find you if I want a ride..." Zephyrus said with a smile, not that he knew where he could ride to. "I'll be off then, bye, thanks Leiz." He finished as he turned around, gave a small wave, then walked off, staring at the piece of paper as he turned into the first corner he saw, time to explore the area and find where this house was.

-exit