Stranger in a Strange Land [Open]

[voght]

((Moved to First District.))

“Okay, damn, why did I have to end up here of all places? Is this my own personal nightmare or what?” Roger whispered as he took a stroll down the street.

"Boy that angst sure does smell nice.” A voice said from a nearby window. Roger was taken aback. He peered through the open window at the verbal assailant. It was a large man sitting at a dinner table, of course, the rudest type! "For the last time honey, it’s ANGUS. For the love of god you’re lucky you’re cute." Someone said from a distant room.

Roger ‘s eyebrow could have lifted the ceiling at that point. Angst he knew, but Angus? That sounds like… no… they wouldn’t be eating that. That’s nasty. He didn't care to know any more. Roger left the window and continued down the road, the night nipping at him once more. When the distraction of the couple was out of ear shot his mind wandered back to the only thing that previously occupied it: how dang cold it was.

Of course I get stuck in a town where there’s no sun. He made sure to keep his thoughts safe from passers-by this time. Not even his quarterstaff-turned-walking-stick could have heard that, but he still glanced around as if someone unseen was watching him from the shadows. Convinced that nobody was going to intervene in some unrealistic fashion again he rounded the corner to a busier part of the district.

He passed by several shops on this stretch, most open, and didn’t give any a second glance before a tingling sensation attacked his senses outside of one. Heat! To be honest he didn’t give this shop a second glance either he just ducked in through the open doorway.

Roger only had to take a few strides in before being bathed in total warmth. It was one of the best feelings in the world, and almost instinctively he closed his eyes and outstretched his arms as if embracing the temperature. He stayed that way for several seconds.

Then it hit him.

Uh… I hope nobody is in here with me. He peeked through one eye and didn’t see anyone. Satisfied that he was alone for the moment he returned to enjoying himself.

[Bluebird]

“See, we move the forge to the center, here, and it’ll be big enough so that there’ll be a side for my smithing and a side for your synthesizing,” Zephyr was saying to the moogles in their Synthesis Shop. She and the white critters were gathered around a large sheet of paper, the Arderian pointing, and the rest looking on with what she perceived as interest.

They all looked up at the sound of bells and saw a cloaked man wander in, but he didn’t seem to know exactly where he was or what was going on. A moogle left the table to greet him, while Zephyr and the others turned back to the paper.

“You know this is blank, right, kupo?” said one with a raised eyebrow.

“Umm, yes,” Zephyr said, pulling the sheet from the table and rolling it up into a tube. “I had drawn something up to show to a moderator, but I might have lost it.”

“Oh?” the moogle said.

“Well, you see, I tried e-mailing it to myself, but then my room mate…”

“I think it might be better to discuss this at a later time,” the moogle said, jumping down from his chair and leading Zephyr towards the exit.

“But, but,” Zephyr tried, “just hear me out!”

“I think we’ve heard enough today, kupo. If you come back with an actual diagram, we’ll be more willing to listen.”

Meanwhile, the other moogle that had left to meet the customer was currently reciting her opening lines.

“Hello, kupo! Welcome to the Moogle Synthesis Shop! How can we help you, today?”

Amidst it all, Zephyr was still trying to talk her way back into the moogles’ good graces, but it seemed as though the one leading her out would have none of it. So distracted was the winged girl that she collided right into the cloaked man, causing her to drop her tube which promptly unrolled itself on the floor.

Zephyr squeaked and muttered an apology as she tried to retrieve her blueprint, while the moogle beside her tapped his foot impatiently.

“Well, I can see I’ve worn out my welcome,” she said, still struggling with the sheet. “Good day.”