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Post by Ciata on Jun 20, 2007 15:31:08 GMT -5
Pavilon had been leaning back in one of the odd chairs (to him) in the cafe for a while now with little "luck". Li had run off to avoid giving an impression of being together and thus defy the purpose of coming, but also so that Pavilon wouldn't scare off and potentionals or they scare him off. He had dropped by a while later and said something about "signals" and a bunch of other things that had mainly gone over the lion's head. He was content to go about it his way, which was largely showing off or promoting his status and self in a fairly dignified way in his mind, which Lee said came across as being a bit "stuffy".
In any case Li looked over from his table to see Pavilon actually talking with someone across his table, leaning in pretty close to talk with a smaller female panther. He watched for a while before the panther glanced at him, then apparently asked why Li was staring because Pavilon glanced over at him and then they continued talking for a while. Li got the impression that it was not a casual conversation to get to know each other however by the way their faces were, it was almost like they knew each other already, but that didn't seem possible in Li's mind as Pavilon was a newcomer and foreigner. There was something odd about the panther and the way she sat though, his body language virtually matched that of Pavilon's which was hardly typical.
Li got up and had to break off a ongoing conversation and as he began to walk across the cafe towards Pavilon's table the panther got up and quickly walked out the door, walking with an odd limp, basing most of the weight on her left leg, putting on her black overcoat and disappearing into the night. Looking at Pavilon's face he could tell something was wrong, Pavilon's face looked grim, almost snarling, deep in thought about something the panther said.
"I take it she didn't want to go out then? heh heh..." Li tried to lighten up the situation but Pavilon didn't even look at him.
"Sooo...friend of your's?" He pointed a thumb towards the door.
"Messenger." Was all the lion said, leaning on the table with his elbows, glaring into space.
"Bad news?" Li tried again.
Pavilon thought it over for a while before answering. "My oldest brother did something, something that might ruin the family."
"He like messed up something rough, get it on with his sister, piss off your dad...kill someone?" Li only tried the last due to how grave the lion's face was.
"Yeah...someone important."
"Ah, and he can't just turn himself in or something?" He got no response from Pavilon. "Want to talk about it?" He sat down at the table across from Pavilon and noticed an odd smell left from the panther in the seat, he couldn't place it.
Pavilon thought it over and started. "Like I said earlier, me and my family follows a different path, our culture is different, and split. There is the "followers of peace" and those who practice war and choose not to live according to their self righteous and conflicting codes. Though we have no part in this new government due to our practices, we are not truly above them, they will only tolerate so much and we are only so strong split as we are. My father is a warlord over the Maux Pride, something like a governor in our culture. However not everything he does is approved of by this upstart emperor. My family recently...acquired some lands, they didn't matter much and the owners didn't live there, but the government didn't approve." He took a breath and Li slowly kept nodding.
"That all happened before I left, it happens a lot and nothing much was felt in backlash from it, and no one really cared that wasn't involved. However the newly appointed governor of the state, who has his own history with my family and my father, wanted to use this as an example and sent his enforcer to demand the land returned." Pavilon's face almost made a grim cocky grim here.
"My oldest brother Akilon killed him, the best fighter in the governor's army when he came demanding." Now his muzzle turned into a grim frown.
"Now though there will be consequences, the governor's army will likely move against my father and try to at the very least, drive them from the state."
Li sat there for a few moments, trying to take all this that seemed like a plot from some epic ancient war film in. "Soooo...what do you do?"
"I stay here, part of the reason for so many descendants is to make sure the family doesn't die off, as long as I'm here I'll be guarded and safe."
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Post by Ciata on Jun 20, 2007 21:55:30 GMT -5
Chu tilted his head to the side and raised a brow quizzically, looking like a clueless questioning puppy with Oi having to stop herself from giving an audible "Awwww..."
"I am not so strong, so I must rely on others, if I were strong I would not need others to watch after me in my doings here. I do not see why my being first makes me any more brave, I would feel and be the same way if I were the hundredth coming here."
Traliano shook his robed head as though Chu was mistaken and Oi got through with her call and began to check her message she got.
"Hey you two, Quie and Talin Dra want us to meet up with them at some place to talk about housing, she sounded like she got a good deal about something, but I've seen her "good deals" before, so we should check it out. You two in, or do you want to wander about staring at street signs for the rest of the night?" Oi leaned over onto the table smiling at the two.
"We shall accompany." Traliano replied and Chu just nodded his head.
"Ok, so let's go check this place out then, she still has your stuff by the way Chu."
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Jun 23, 2007 19:04:31 GMT -5
Despite her apparent brashness Oi was not to unaware that something had got to Chu, but she reckoned it was best to leave it. She had to admit she was getting a thing for Chu, who she had picked him up like a stray puppy, but she was beginning to have annoying feelings towards him. His innocences and general helplessness struck a chord with her, she had seen too much perhaps. He was her omega and she hoped her alpha, though she was fighting that feeling.
“Right lets move people!” she said loudly before downing her pints, she had been loud as she was very nervous. She was never good with males, she had a sex life, but had failed when it came to a love life. Chu was bugging there was no chance, she could see for anything to happen.
He was so wound up.
But she was going to look after him, she had picked up enough to realized that he had no self confidence. But she would scare him off it she made a move. She sighed as they left the union then thought for a second.
“Walk on I'll catch up” Oi says as she turns to a shop in the union.
Traliano shrugs when Chu looks at him and says “you have won a big prize here, I don't know why or how but you have won the jackpot.”
Chu just looks utterly confused
“Oi likes you.”
He replies more than a little confused “She seems to be a good friend”
Traliano laughed and said “Not that way I mean....”
He was interrupted by Oi giving Chu a bunch of bananas and saying “I'm not having you pass out, on the way. You ain't eaten enough, eat, you eat this you, you ain't eaten at all.”
She handed Traliano a bag of fried locust tails.
Oi moved to walk into the uni but Traliano said “lets take the.....stairs...I don't like the lift and I doubt Chu does.” Chu wanted to say something until he saw the stairs, a steep eight flights worth leading up the narrow alleyway. He whimpered but Traliano started walking up. Oi just said “He has probably walked hundreds of miles don't worry. He's a tribes man, they are the are tough as nails.”
Chu asks “should we not help him” Oi replie was clear “No, he has his pride, your people are different. I know he wishes to be left. He is not a weak fur”
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Post by Ciata on Jul 2, 2007 10:15:45 GMT -5
Chu looked at the stairs, and then looked at the silver doors of the elevator, then back at the stairs and then back at the elevator. His foot paws were increadibly sore already from the long trip, but his stomach didn't like the moving about as in the plane, but he also didn't like the idea of hard stairs.
"I may have a different type of pride, but my paws are sore and my legs are weary and there's no shame in taking an easier way if the opportunity presents itself freely to you." And he stepped towards the elevator, then stood there at the doors, not sure what to do as there was no handle on them.
Oi shook her head "so clueless..." she murmured and stepped forward and pressed the up button. After a few seconds the doors opened and they stepped into the empty elevator.
"This is what we would take at home rather than stairs, in cities as well there are...carts? That you can sit in and be shaded while others pull you about for a little money." Chu braced himself by grabbing one of the side bars and widened his leg stance.
"Sounds like rather demeaning work, pulling other people around so they don't even have to walk." Oi commented, not pushing the button to go up yet.
"Well it's a simple example of economics, you trade services for currency. Those who have no other skills can still work and make a living through such work. Here your carts do not have someone pulling them, but someone must make them for you and supply what it needs to go, so you are still paying them for their labor that you don't have to walk everywhere. It may take more skill to do so, but surely there are other jobs that only require a strong back and legs." Chu waited to start moving and responded without really thinking as such economical matters were second nature in his family, even to him.
"That's not the point, whether it makes economical sense or not, it's a pride issue, paying someone to do something so simple as walk for you..."
Chu was going to comment on the fact that with everything that moves you pay someone to make it still, but he was more concerned with getting moving now. "Do you have to press another button to make it go?"
"Oh yeah, of course." She had only half forgotten. "So are you going to eat those or not?" She points at the bananas in his free paw, still untouched.
"I will, and thank you, but I'm waiting for this to get over with so I don't lose it again."
"So, besides art what else do you like to do?" Oi broke the unspoken rule of no talking in a moving elevator, but it was time with just the two to ask questions.
Chu took this as a, what else can you do? Type question. "Well, all my family is cultured in art, which is my favorite, music, singing, calligraphy, poetry, and the family's style of Tai Chi."
Oi was a tad surprised at it all, and a tad excited. "Music? What do you play?"
"Well I've been trained in guqin and morin khur, the morin khur is something like your violin, and the gugin is the ancient instrument of our culture that you play with just your paws while it rests on your lap or a stool or table depending on how big it is. I'm better with the morin khur of course, but I enjoy the gugin more, it's harder to master and bring out the finer sounds, but it speaks to the mind. I brought both with me, so I do not loose my skills in them."
"So are you pretty good at it then?" Oi watched the numbers go by with the floors.
"Yes, my family does not do something if you cannot do it well, but there are many who are better. Musicians in my country play in eating places or on the streets, it is not a very highly honored profession unless you are especially talented and play for someone in a high position, but is a hobby of the higher classes for enjoyment."
"Higher classes..." Oi murmured again as the elevator slowed to a stop. "Apparently there several others who are interested in the flat, so be prepared for more introductions and noise and less sleep for a while." Oi warned.
"But I like sleep..." Chu almost moaned.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Jul 3, 2007 16:20:25 GMT -5
"Shame." Oi said under her breath then stopped as she noticed Chu had herd her and look curiously at her "Why would him liking sleep be something that would be disappointing to her?" he thought to him self. Oi was mentally scolding herself, she didn't want to scare him off, and comments like that might just. More to the point she should not be having thoughts like that, she had told herself she was going to behave and not in the manner that teerie normally did. Even for a teerie she had a bit of a reputation back home for that kind of thing, no one knew of that here, the others only knew her for Tel or here. She had drunk quite a bit but was no where near drunk, well not by teerie standards (and well as a race they have and extremely large tolerance to alcohol, like most chemicals and metabolized them very quickly). But she had been obviously slightly more affect by the drink than she thought, she would have to guard what she said for a little. An awkward silence fell as they walked out of the building Oi sat down on the steps outside the collage and said "We had best wait for Traliano he won't be long." Chu thought for a second, it was not for some one of his position should, but he sat down next to her on the stairs, this was the kind of thing only some one of low status should be doing. Sitting on the steps out side a public building, but to add to his discomfort he had noticed the humidity and the steps were in the shade where there was a little of a breeze. Chu the asks, more to pass the time as out of curiosity as he peeled on of the bananas "What does your family do?", expecting them to perhaps be artisans. "It is a little complected." she said. "How?" Chu replied wonder how this could be, back home most families had a trade or profession or position. "Well currently I am pretty much my family, I have a grandaunt but that's about it now. But I would rather not talk about that, but before they were" she tilted her head thinking about how to put it "they were in finance, mostly, you know bankers, but had interests in many areas even some property and some part in the military and politics" "Oh the head of you family was a minor lord then?" replied surprised that anyone like Oi could come from even a minor family. Oi was very thankful for how Chu had put that, she was trying to avoid lying. "No she is not a minor lord, titles mean little here and certainly even less in peace time anyway." She looked back, the bananas were gone and he was holding the skins, he was about to ask something but Traliano saved Oi from any immediate questions as he walked up and said. "Come on, where is this place?" a little put out that he had caught the two, as he saw it slacking off. "Oh yes", said Oi "Tallies Land, according to my friends direction, ten minutes up the high street, on our left." "So shall we set off down to the bottom of the hight street looking on our right?" Traliano says with humor in his voice. Oi smiles "possibly" she says before turning to chu, "Shall we move?". ------ Quie and Talin Dra were standing at the top of a steep flight of stairs leading down venal Talin says "You sure this is the right place, this time?" Quie sighs "OK I was a little out last time, map reading is not my skill." Talins looks at the leefen annoyed and says "And you were right the other four times? My parents where fisherfurs, hell most of my family have been and you know that. Didn't it occur to you that perhaps I know how to read maps? Just give it here!" Traliano looks at the map, Quie was correct this time. "OK your right this time, but that's just the law of averages, Oi has the right directions right." Traliano says. "yes" "Give me your com I'm checking that." Quie muttered handing over the com, a couple of beeps later she got it back. "OK you got it right." Quie then said "OK now the friend you said might help us fill the place?" Traliano flipped open her comm and had it to her ear after a few beeps, covering the mouth peace she says "I hope she ain't changed her number I haven't spoken to her for a bit" Quie asks "how long is a bit?" "About five years but she should be coming here if she hasn't got done for something" Quie say "WHAT!!!" "shhh ..... Ah, long time no hear! ....... Fine ere you in Liye Andrac going to the The Acime Institute? ...... Well your my age and I figured if you hadn't got done yet you would be going there, I going to the uni there and me and some guys have scored a flat, but it's a bit big. ......... There is look see if there up for sharing and meet us, we're already outside." with that she shut her com. "Right sh....." She reopened the com "Oh hello again ..... Oh Tallies Land, you must be tiered you didn't just locate my com. ...... I reckon you will, I kinda need a yeah or nea on this quick. ...... OK hear from you soon, bye." "Right, we should hear back from her soon, she's a good laugh, even if she it a total geek....a bit of a lanky for a vulpine with a oddly long tail but, heck." ----- OC: the other half of the comms convo is over in A Flat Tail furfed.proboards36.com/index.cgi?board=events&action=display&thread=1182289372&page=2#1183499858
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Post by Ciata on Jul 9, 2007 22:35:52 GMT -5
Though Bin was thrilled to have his own copy of one of the sacred texts, he was taking great care carrying it around with him, walking, not really knowing where, with his new friend.
"That place there is incredible, in Ciata there are very, very few places that have that many documents and scrolls. Only priests, nobles, and a few lucky individuals are able to have whole copies of the holy letters and scriptures." Bin clutched the book with both paws.
"You mean there aren't any libraries there? I love libraries, I spend a lot of time in there studying because my pod is just soooo loud and they don't let me study when I go home, they are always trying to make me cook or clean up when they have all day to do that but they leave it to me when I get home so I just stay away as long as I can." The dolphin plodded along, not exactly the most graceful creature on land.
"Your family lives at the university too?" Bin was wondering because he hadn't seen many children or older creatures.
"Oh no, I commute, ride the bus, I love the bus, you get to meet all kinds of people on there." The dolphin also seemed to enjoy going on about one thing without stop Bin thought.
"Oh, I see. Huh, what's that over there on the wall?" Bin pointed out a patch of fresh graffiti.
"Huh? Oh that's ne..." BONG! She walked right into a light pole, stopping her dead in her tracks as she stumbled back a bit, holding her long nose.
"Oh! Are you alright? Are you ok?" Bin turned around quickly and tried to see past her hands to her nose which was starting to bleed. "You're bleeding!"
"Oh yeah, I am." She didn't seem that alarmed about it herself.
"Uh oh, uh oh...I don't know what to do with those really, I don't even know any of the plants around here..."
"Oh I'll be fine." She kept holding her nose as blood ran down her gray smooth arm, much to Bin's dismay as he led her over to a bench beside the sidewalk.
"But you're bleeding..." Bin sounded severely concerned as he helped her lay back and used his sleeve to wipe the blood from her arm.
"I'll be fine though, really."
They sat there for a minute or two, waiting for the blood to stop flowing and Bin remembered to ask.
"Oh, what is your name?"
"I'm Angelina, or some friends call me Angie."
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Jul 10, 2007 17:10:29 GMT -5
As Oi, Traliano and Chu walked up the high street Chu looked about himself. The street had got more narrow and had become almost winding. The buildings had changed to they were large gaunt buildings with out doors, it appeared. Many of the buildings had strange scars, chu was not to know what bullet and shell scars looked like, but he had noticed that most of the windows facing out over the high street looked like arrow slits. The buildings seemed to looks more like little forts than homes, this would have put him at unease if the bustle of the street vendors and stalls that filled this part of the old city had not kept him distracted. Oi dived over to a fruit stall and returned with another bunch of bananas. She handed them to him. He thanks her. In all honesty Oi had done so more out of curiosity as she was having trouble believing some one of Chu's size could eat so much. "I swear he must hollow" she thought to herself. "Is it much further" chu almost whined. "No just round the corner" Oi replied kindly, chu was definitely flagging. "Hmm he needs a pick me up, but nothing too strong, I don't want him bouncing off the walls and then falling to sleep" she , noticing a small booth. Traliano had also noticed the booth and was making for it. Traliano says "I'll get this, a .....large one for you?" Oi replies "Naw a small one, I haven't drunk that stuff in ages, and well you know what it does to my kind." Traliano replies "No...I don't" Oi smiles "You think I loud and over active now....a large one of those and you would be scrapping me off the ceiling" "Ah so a.... bad idea." Oi nods. "Chu?" Chu looks over wearily and Oi blinks, the newly bought bananas were gone "Right he is some kind of secret eating machine" she thought to her self. Oi says quietly "get him a small one, considering the amount he's eaten and I don't think he's slept much" A few seconds later Oi hands chu a small paper cup of a strange purple juice, she had a similar one. Traliano on the other hand had a some what larger cup. Chu asks "Pardon me but what is this?" "Lag fruit juice, it settles the... stomach and reinvigorates the mind and body. It will do you no harm provided you do not drink it too often" Traliano says. Oi looks at Traliano as they walk off "you know you should probably cut down?" she says. Chu took a small sip, it tasted almost chewy, but not unpleasant as he took another sip he began to feel himself wake up a little and his tiredness fade. This was not surprising considering it contained allot of sugar and long lasting caffeine like stimulants, though they were had few of the psychological effects of caffeine, if taken in small amounts even for those not used to them. Traliano replies "This from the person who has just had six strong beers?" "Look I'm a teerie it takes a lot for al....Hey theres Talin!" --- Continues over the A flat tail here furfed.proboards36.com/index.cgi?board=events&action=display&thread=1182289372&page=3#1184191638
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Post by miokalia on Jul 11, 2007 12:14:45 GMT -5
"Guarded and safe yes. Unless the Emporer, who sent you here, decides to bring you back.
What we need to do is get you some kind of protection. I don't know exactly what kind but I know someone who can figure it out.", said Li.
They walked over to Occa's dorm, the door was slightly open but Li knocked anyway. Observing that he had reasons to be concerned about his privacy. "Pavilion is here too", said Li.
There was some noises and mild thrashing on the other side of the door, then Occa stuck only his nose through and said, "Please call ahead next time."
"Pavilion's family apparently is on the war path with the Imperial government back home and he needs protection against being pulled out of here by the emporer. His best chance of survival is likely to stay here. I don't know how this works.", said Li.
"I don't know all the rules", said Occa.
"Well you have the capacity to find them, and understand their subtleties a lot faster than I can. And I'm thinking this ought to happen fast. You know, because he just found out today. And there is likely not all that much time.", said Li.
"I have school work.", said Occa.
"Pavilon and I are going straight up to Zye to the Refugee Office and we're going to go in there without the slightest idea how to do this. Something has to be done or else. Or else Pavilon could be pulled out of here, pulled into the war at home and likely die", said Li.
Occa was quiet for a moment and then there was some more scuffling noises and finally, he said, "Come in"
"If you're going to be taking political asylum here, we are going to the Refugee Office. I must come along, though I don't have to, if you want to be taken seriously and if you want to get through it quickly, which you need to do, than my being there will greatly increase the speed at which your appeal is processed and accepted. Its absurd, and it's preferential, but I can't really fully describe to you why. Frankly I don't think now is the time.", said Occa.
"You must have family in the government then?", said Pavilon.
"For the sake of simplicity: sort-of", said Occa, "We need to go down there, do a bunch of stuff, you're going to have to talk to some people, they're going to probably freak you out a lot, but that's just part of the process. It's actually a lot faster now than it used to be."
----
It was a school holiday for the latter part of the week, so the three took a train up to Zye. The trip made Pavilon nauseous and he had to go to the bathroom several times. It didn't help that the railway seemed to be designed by a madman. Taking steep climbs and steep drops and hard banked turns, almost unnecessarily at times it seemed.
Zye didn't look like Hokyldaryon and Meikkleth where they lived. Much of the prominant structures seemed to look like components in some kind of clock. Many of them refferenced flowers and other plant-like geometry. Pavilon had never seen anything like it before. This aside from the people. The sheer number of them, and how strange they all were. There were some cats, many had totally random coloration and such. A great deal of feathered and non-feathered raptors, many other bipedal lizards as well. A few birds here and there. What was quite striking was the presence of a great many lizards wearing many different kinds and styles of metal plate armour which seemed to cover their entire bodies. Despite being covered in armor, they seemed to move unrestricted and didn't have with them any weapons. It reminded him of the elite Imperial Guards back home. And this made him slightly apprehensive. Nevermind that they didn't seem to be acting as though they were guarding anything.
Occa seemed to know where the building was, inexplicably. He lead them through the streets where the pedestrian lanes were as wide as those for cars. The building itself was all concrete, it was boxy and full of weird cellular windows and overhangs. Pavilon found it a bit unpleasent actually, it felt too cold.
The interior was better. The walls were lined with thin diagonal strips of wood, the floor had red tiles and the ceiling had these concrete coffered insets which each held a white lamp. Li took a ticket from a red reel on one side of the room, then Occa went over and slapped it out of his paw and said, "What are you doing? Do you want to be here for 2 hours doing nothing?"
"Well I have to take a ticket.", said Li.
"No we don't, this is important and it needs to be done as soon as we can. Rowan could order him back home any minute and even if he doesn't he could get the Fed to revoke his student via and then he'd be stuck in limbo.", said Occa, "This is an emergency."
Occa went up to the desk, where a receptionist, a feathered raptor was sitting, reading a book waiting for an appointment to finish so she could call the next person back. He said, "Excuse me. I have an urgent situation. A political asylum situation."
She didn't say a word and simply pointed at the take-a-number ticket reel.
"No I already know the laws, I don't need to go through that, we need to see an officer.", said Occa.
She continued pointing to the reel.
"It's not for me. It for that cat... no the lion over there", he said.
"I don't care who you are, unless you have some kind of precedent, your friend is just another refugee who washed ashore in a raft. Take a number and wait", she said eventually.
"He has a student visa and he's from Ciata.", said Occa
"My ass he's from Ciata, he may be a cat but he isn't from Ciata.", she said.
"Listen, I am his liason en residance. Under section 402R of the Zagckza-NCR-II 2053 treaty an O-class unit can act as an immigration liason to individuals who face political persecution and are permitted to bring the refugee into consideration for the awarding of Politican Asylum as an act of goodwill. This guy is sane and considering the situation of his family at this time he is at risk for being pulled back to Ciata where his life would be endangered by being pulled into his family's conflict with the Emporer. I am trying to save his life, missus.", said Occa very flatly.
The Raptor put down her book and said, "Well that is right". She looked on the computer and then back at Occa and said, "What's up with the... you know?"
"Suggestion from the dean at Hokyldaryon-East campus", said Occa.
"Oh.", she said while she tacked at the 12-key keyboard, "You're going to need to produce a port. It will make things faster then just calling out numbers and having me type them"
Occa looked behind him at Pavilon, then back and removed the glove over his claw. From beneath the claw extended another box which had some kind of induction device on it, he set it on the blank outlined box above the finger-print reader for a moment, then withdrew it.
"I apologize Dal Occa. You are indeed cleared to speak with an officer immediately.", she said, "Its not everyday some one comes in here like you did."
Occa bobbed slightly and walked back to the cats. li had taken a number anyway and Occa snatched it out of his paw again and said, "We have an appointment with an officer now."
"What did you do?", asked Pavilon.
"I talked to the guy in charge of this whole bolalos, directly.", said Occa.
"She is the one in charge?", he asked.
"No, it was.. it's hard to explain.", he replied.
The officer's office was small and had a tall ceiling and a windowsill so large, one could comfortably make it into a bed. In fact, it looked like someone probably had, seeing as it had several pillows on it. The officer, much to Pavilon's surprize was wearing the fullbody metal-panel armor like some of the people he had seen on the street were. But why here? behind a desk in an office? Pavilon thought that perhaps it was a cultural thing, maybe in this culture, warriors and those who engage in combat never remove their armor. He hesitated to enter the room. Back home those elite Imperial guards wore this armor constantly because of their unusual appearence. He was sure that the armored people here were similar. A parallel to those Imperial guards back home. So he very slowly and cautiously stepped into the room and took a seat, though he prepared himself for leaping out of his chair at the first sign of a fight.
"So tell me about what happened. Back home with your family, the Maux.", it said in a surprizingly non-aggressive, clear and clean voice. Pavilon couldn't tell if it was a male or a female by the voice.
Pavilon told the same story he had told Li. The officer seemed to remain still while listening.
When he finished, the officer paused a moment and then said, "You will have to undergo a psychological profiling. I will be able to at least give you a preliminary word as to if you will be approved soon."
Pavilon started to get up, assuming the meeting was likely over and that the officer would have to leave and confer with his superiors, but Li put out a paw to indicate for him to sit again.
"Ah right, telephones", said Pavilon expecting the officer to pick up a device. But he did not. He simply stared out the window for a minute and then turned back to them and said, "You are approved at this time. Though you're final approval hinges on a psychological assesment."
Occa realized that the officer, and the apparateur of the department had made an exception for Pavilon, to expedite his political asylum status. He looked at the officer a moment and silently expressed his gratitude, then the officer said, "As a political refugee, you cannot be extradited or pulled back to your nation of origin against your will. Your student visa is upgraded to an indefinate visa which means you can stay here as long as you want. So you're basically done here. In a short time you will need to complete a psychological assesment. The purpose of the assesment is to verify that you are of sound mind and not someone interested in causing harm to the public. It is required by all immigrants as according to Amendment 20 of the Primary Constitution. As per Amendment 18 of the Primary Constitution you are permitted the right to public health and emergency services and as a political refugee with political asylum status: you are entitled to free use of the university system just as regular citizens are. Any other questions you have can be answered by visiting the website or going through this folder full of information I have just given you" The officer handed Pavilon a folder at some point during the speech.
The three exited the office, and walked toward a youth hostel in an old 8-story art-deco style building, since it was a long weekend, they figured they might as well stay for a while.
---
The Orange Sixty Hostel had only sheets for dividers. The three shared a room with bunks. Well a "room" kinda. it was merely a partitionment. There were several pillars throughout the room because of the art-deco style of the building. Through the sheets, they could hear conversations. A lot of weird ones. young couples sitting on the bunks talking about relationships, news, things they had read. Occa sat alone with Pavilon while Li went to fetch a bowl full of dumplings and fish sauce which he had seen in the kitchen. This Hostel provided food, which made it actually very convenient. Occa read aloud a description of some other hostels in the local area. "The Duubor, on 32-12-2 Dashater Street is renowned for its spectacularly empty rooms. Literally, it is an empty room, with a tall window looking out into the street, and a single, hideously disgusting used mattress in the center of the floor which appears to have been dipped in a vat or blood or excrement, probably both. You likely wouldn't want to sleep on it. This is a single room, they actually advertise it as an "ecclectic spartan experience"." He laughed toward the end of it and said, "I'm glad we didn't stay there"
Li came in with the bowl of dumplings a bottle of pungeant fish sauce sitting on top. "I took the bottle, because if I didn't, someone else would have", he said, "Eat and be merry." The smell of the fish sauce hit Pavilon with a wave of slight familiarity and he put several of the dumplings onto a square-shaped metal platter. Next door, the fish sauce had apparently wafted through the sheets and somebody asked "Who shat the bed!", mistaking the pungent odor for something else. "You did", called out somewhere else. This began a volley of strange things shouted back and forth between partitions. "Yorgen put your pants back on, I don't need to see that", called out someone else. "Good god what is that smell?", asked a female voice, "Whoever it is that is apparently airing-out their cloaca, tape your bunny shut!" "It's fish sauce.", proclaimed Pavilon finally. "So you are the one who took the fish sauce", accused someone in a room nearby. "How are we supposed to sleep tonight?", asked Pavilon quietly, "With all this activity."
"It quiets down. It's part of the experience. Even if we were in a real hotel, the non-stop prank-calls between rooms would eventually reach us and keep us up.", said Li, he then said more loudly, "Dinosaurs are highly immature"
This began another volley of discussion through the partitions, even though Li had chosen to drop out of it. Pavilon noticed that Occa hadn't eaten a single dumpling. "You ever eat anything?", he asked.
"No...", said Occa at first absent-mindedly, then he suddenly corrected and said, "I mean yes. Yes I do."
That moment Li grabbed a dumpling and shoved it into the t-rex's mouth. Occa didn't know what to do about it. He just sat there, his mouth agape with a dumpling stuck in it. Li giggled a little and said, "come on, you have to have somewhere you put things like that".
Occa closed his mouth and swallowed the dumpling whole. He looked shocked for a moment and then made a slight sound.
"yeah okay", he said nervously.
"Occa has a thing about eating in the presence of others.", said Li.
"Yes, I do", said Occa.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Jul 12, 2007 17:17:39 GMT -5
While they waited for the bleeding to stop, they got a better view at the graffiti. It was a well done spray painting of a wolf pointing down the street, with the standard incomprehensible signature to the side, and the words 'Bring it Down!' under it all. Posted to the side of it was several flyers, some which seemed to have appeared after the initial painting despite its freshness. Street art attracts eyes, so people figure they can get some attention by putting postings near it.
One of the flyers had in big letters 'IZIXS TO SPEAK TODAY'. Angie got up after coming to an acceptable level of recovery and wandered over.
"Well look at this. The First Speaker is speaking today at the planetarium. Philosophy and religion majors only. Plus guests. You should go to this."
"You mean Izixs is coming to town?" asked Bin a little surprised. "I thought he was busy most of the time doing government things."
Angie laughed. "He does do government things but he sometimes pops in to schools to give talks. Usually about politics though, this one's a little unusual."
"Yeah, lets go. You can be my guest if you like."
Angie smiled, "Thanks, much appreciated."
------
The planetarium was an odd place to give a speech for sure. A small stage did exist around the central projection system that could allow someone to stand and talk but never to see the entire room at once. A number of people had already filled in and had taken seats. Bin was a little confused by the set up as despite the stage type appearance of the central structure, even with the column of devices in the center, most of the seats were arranged to look towards one of the walls and were tilted at an extreme angle.
"You ever been in here before?" Angie asked.
"No, this place is odd."
"It is, but for a purpose. You see they project images of space on the ceiling."
"Seems kind of silly. Why not just wait until night time."
"Well here you can look at not just your sky, but any sky in the world, or even the sky on a different planet."
They took a seat and it wasn't long before the room filled and the lights were dimmed. And then the lights went out entirely, revealing projected stars above.
"Thank you everyone," said a voice familiar to most in the room who had grown up in Tinis. "This evening I would like to share with you a vision of the cosmos. I would like to thank the administrators of the school for letting me borrowing the planetarium and to thank you for coming."
The stars began to move. Bin was glad the dragon spoke slower than most of the Tinisians he had met so far. Almost excessively drawn out and pronounced.
"The creation of the cosmos is a thing much debated over the eons. Some say a divine being sprung the stars and the Earth into existence via their almighty whim. Some say the world has always been here. Some say it was built of a collection of dust and gas that was in a nebula billions of years ago. And still others claim that the universe was created just this instant and the ever present now is the only reality that ever was or ever will be.
"I'm not here to speak on what I believe started the universe, though I do have my biases on the subject. I've come to you today to discuss a different aspect of my world view. But all the same, these differences in the view of the beginning are also important to that. I am here to speak about the application of Glorvanism to the expansion of one's understanding."
The false sky began to pan and a world, this world, came into view.
"This is our world. Billions of beings living and working everyday to survive and to build a better world for everyone. Most seek a good future for themselves and their posterity. Glorvanism at its heart, is about that quest. Note that I say quest, as the goal, the goal of what is better, what is right, is often hard to see when one starts. Goals can change, can morph, can become something almost alien at times. But still week seek to fulfill them.
"A man of weak character once said, the ends justify the means. That human failed to realize the variability of goal. If you find out half way through that your process will create a monster..."
The image of the world changed, gone were the white clouds and blue oceans. They were replaced by black waters and gray smog.
"....then you need to change course. The process itself is the key to our salvation. The process of trying to find good goals. The process itself is variable, but only through time. What part of you do now is what you do now and is unchanged by the future events that one may encounter."
The world once again changed, this time returning to its pristine glory.
"So yes, Glorvanism is about the selection of the right process, the right path, a carefully moderated path, to find a good goal, a goal that may change, but one that is beneficial for yourself and for all."
The false sky changed once more. Now it showed trajectories of planets.
"How one finds the moderate path, the one where the most ideal situation is create is not easy. But yet all the same is possible. As one sees, the planets of the cosmos almost all have ideal paths. They may wiggle and slide a little, but after billions of cycles they maintain their basic zones. One pulls one way, another pulls another way, and a third pulls a different way.
"The same dynamics can appear with ideas. To find the ideal path, sometimes it takes interactions with paths that don't work for you to figure out where you should be. Sometimes you use the momentum of your fellow beings to push you down a way of thought or action that is similar to theirs, or down a path that diverges.
"That is why I started with the origins of the cosmos and the different ideas on it. When one strips away the institutions and fleshy parts of one's beliefs and comes down to the minimalist ideas and ideals, there is often a great deal of overlap between people who would otherwise prefer to go to war or ignore each other.
"A couple thousand years ago, a figure who is often refereed to as Glorvan spoke of these things. He told people that he didn't wish to act as a profit, but as someone who could hear the words of profits and figure out which ones are false and which are right. Of course he also pointed out that he wouldn't not tell others which were right and which were wrong. People were perplexed by this. He then explained that his view of it could be wrong. That he knew he was not divine and thus not infallible. He said a lot of other things, but those stories on this subject passed down through the ages made great impressions on me."
[as I could go on for quite some time I'll cut to the end, though if people request I can work on this more]
Finally the sky was once more filled with stars. They were moving very quickly now, but not all together. They twirled and twisted about. Occasionally one would appear to pop and fade.
"As the cosmos winds down, we may find ourselves asking, will we reach the ultimate goal? The end all be all of our efforts? We may not. We could all die alone in an empty cosmos afraid of the entropy that consumes us. But personally I'd prefer to avoid such a sad death. If I were to stand at the end of time, I'd love to end the universe with a smile. A pleasant thank you to what ever mechanism, being, or idea the brought it all together in the first place."
There were very few stars in the false sky. Ten, then five.
"Because really, the journey last a lot longer than the goal that comes at the end. And really, what is a goal, but the start a of a new journey? Thank you."
The last star vanished. Everyone was in darkness for almost a minute before the lights came up again.
The First Speaker of Tinis was sitting on the stage near where Bin and Angie had taken a seat, eating a slice of pizza. Some people rushed up and asked for an autograph. He would take their paper and punch a whole through it with a claw and chuckle. "Sorry, I'm sticking around for philosophical questions and the like, not to be famous. Learning and all that, that's why I came."
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Post by Ciata on Jul 12, 2007 22:20:16 GMT -5
Bin and Angie sat for a while, letting the first wave go through the pipeline past the First Speaker. The dolphin turned over to Bin who was sitting to her left, having changed after getting blood all over his sleeve. He was now wearing a light blue robe that had bits of white trim and symbols. "So what was that your wearing again?" She asked, rather nervous about the first speaker being there. "It's a temple robe." Bin had been watching the first speaker intently the entire time they had been there. Angie noticed something was different about his face after he had gotten in this room. He seemed almost older, or at least more mature or serious looking, but that might have been a psychological side effect of wearing the holy robes. "What do those symbols on there mean?" She had been meaning to ask, but before they were rushed to get to the place on time as the busses had all been full going to the place. "They're holy symbols, within each one there is a truth." The snow leopard had his paws within the sleeves of the robe for some time now, looking like he was fumbling with his fingers or something. "What's that one mean?" She asked, pointing to one on his right shoulder." Bin paused, trying to think of how to translate it in a good way for her. "It is not just your day." Angie was still puzzled. "It means that this day is not yours alone. You do not exist by yourself on this world, and others share this day with you, so you should be considerate of other people's day." "Ooooooh...I get it, I think so at least." Bin looked up, another group had made its way past the First Speaker sitting there and Bin finally felt alright with going up, as most of the place had emptied by now. He rose and began to walk towards the stairs to head down when he noticed that Angie wasn't following. "You're not coming?" He asked her. "No, I'm afraid to, I'm not a student of that stuff and wouldn't have anything to say, just make myself look silly, I'm ok here." "Alright, I'll meet you outside." Bin began to descend the steps, paws in his robe sleeves still. As he approached a large reptile in a suit stopped him, part of The First Speaker's security. He scanned him over with some type of device over his left eye. In truth using a type of advanced x-ray machine that emitted very little radiation and was not as powerful, just enough to see through clothing. and such. "You're alright." He let the snow leopard pass who slowly walked over to infront of the First Speaker who had turned around for a sip of water, turning back around he almost spit it out. Bin hardly noticed though, as he greeted him with a pair of paws in a prayer pose infront of him and a low bow. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting a Ciatan here, much less a....well." Izixis wanted to say *You look just like someone I knew* but he thought it might come across as a racial insult to cats who were mainly plain white and a bit of black spots and he had been trained against such. He also wasn't sure what to call him with the robes he was wearing, which he also didn't remember too many Ciatan wearing. He was sure it was something spiritual though. "Honored First Speaker, it is my esteem pleasure to meet you." The snow leopard kept his paws together, following some bit of procedure "The honor's mine. So tell me, I'm sure you must have a good question to stump me with." "No questions honored one. I come with but a word of great thanks and this..." He opened up his paws and bowed, presenting...a rock. "A rock? Well, that's interesting and probably philosophical in itself, heh..." He reached down and took it from the outstretched paws and turned it over in his claws. It was a decent size stone, but with some kind of deep scratch in it he felt. Before he had a good chance to look it over though because he noticed that the Ciatan had backed away and was beginning to walk off. "Hold on, what's you're name?" Izixs called after him. He didn't stop walking, just turned around and answered... "My name is Opalance." As he turned around his eyes flashed, almost like light through a prism. "Opalance...?" Izixs turned the rock over in his hand and noticed some deep indentions, almost like it had been hit with a hammer or... at that moment the large lizard came up to him, inspecting the rock. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't detect it on him. Do you want me to check it out?" The white dragon started to say no, but then got an idea. "Yes, go ahead, and do me a favor and check the geology samples and check for metal traces in these nicks. I just have a crazy idea of where this came from, and why he thanked me." "Yes sir." The guard took the rock and handed it off with instructions.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Jul 14, 2007 0:45:06 GMT -5
A short time later at the airport Izixs said to Ashley while holding the rock, "Good karma? Possibly. A little unexpected though. Hmm..."
"Sir?" asked his body guard. "I don't think I understand."
"A peculiar alloy along the lines of Iron-chromium-tungstenate. Very rare that anyone is able to produce it let alone apply it. In fact I have known only five whom have ever done such, three of them dead, and another a close personal friend of mine who rarely leaves his shop."
Izixs the dragon gripped the stone tightly. "I think that young kitty made my day today. But I wonder if it was by proxy or by reality that I once made his."
This got an even more confused look from Ashley.
-----
Xef saw Bin and Angie walking down the street a short time later and waved. "Come on! You'll miss dinner if you don't hurry your tails up!"
Bin and Angie shrugged and followed the raccoon whom had switched his shirt for pants. The two followed him into the dorm and into the lower level where they were greeted by the smells of dormitory food. The art deco decore was a bit unexpected considering the architecture of the rest of the building. Already there were lines of hundres of furs collecting food and tables were filling up fast.
They first encountered another feline with an expression of total boredom when they passed through the door. She took their id cards and swiped them, not saying a word. Bin followed the lead of Xef in this instance hesitantly unsure of what was going on.
"There we go," said Xef. "Enjoy some semi-fine dining. Meats and main courses are over there, insects are over there, breads and vegetables are over there, and of course the waffle stand if in the middle there. Don't use the middle one. I'm off to grab food. Meet you at the table when you got something. Just take what you want and its all good."
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Post by Ciata on Jul 27, 2007 0:19:56 GMT -5
"Humph" Pavilon wasn't at all happy with the day's events, this latest place being no change for the better to him.
"My father's...servants have better places to stay than this, at least they have real walls..."
"Well, you know things are different here. Well, at least for the average person, I'm sure that if I worked for a top dog I'd live decently too." Li was trying to make the best of the bizarre situation they had been thrust into.
"Also all these things around here...you said this was a main city correct? There must be important officials everywhere here, like the one we were at earlier, their spies are everywhere, though they do not act like such here, this must be their base home..." Pavilon shifted his eyes about and crouched closer to his bowl of dumplings.
"Spies? What are you talking about?" Li couldn't help but wonder what misconceptions he had been making again and Occa just ignored him and sat there, seemingly doing nothing, though he was never doing "nothing".
"All the armored ones, they swarm here. They are not natural, otherwise they would at least show their species."
"What in hades?! How am I supposed to get to sleep with that?!" Someone was yelling again in a low voice.
"Well, at least he has something right, they aren't natural." Occa threw in an odd comment, not really happy with it all.
Li had to pick up from there. "They aren't spies either, there are just a lot of them in this area, they are just normal creatures...I guess, and they have their reasons for looking like they do."
"Who's eating that crap!" The yelling was closer now, but the same voice.
"What reason could you have for wearing that all the time but if you were either a guard, which they did not even appear to be a lazy guard and there are too many, or if they are some sort of spy or someone under threat of being attacked?" Pavilon kept on with it, ignoring the raised voices around him.
"Well...it's kinda complicated, but they do have their reasons like I said."
At that moment a very large white polar bear practically ripped the curtain from the entrance and looked in, half sniffed and saw what they were eating.
"It's you! Do you have any idea how sensitive my nose is, and how bad that crap stinks?!" He stormed in their place and stood right above Li, who was still sitting there, now almost trembling. Occa looked over and assessed the situation and Pavilon just kept eating, now with his back straight and his head up and eyes glancing down at his food as he continued to eat.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I didn't realize someone so sensitive, er, I mean, so sensing was staying here and it annoyed you. I'll just put that cap back on there and finish up quick, ok?" He gulped down a couple dumplings and reached over to put the cap back on the bottle of fish sauce when Pavilon picked it up and began to add drop after drop to his bowl. With each drop the bears eye twitched.
"If you can't enjoy fine things you can at least be civilized enough to tolerate them." He kept adding drop after drop slowly and if he had the capacity the bear was likely getting redder and redder with each one.
"I'm about to get civilized more than you can handle!" The large polar bear, at least seven and a half feet tall and pushing 400 pounds took a stomp over towards Pavilon and grabbed the bottle, intending to rip it away from him, but he got as extending the lion's arm halfway from where it was parallel to his body to straight out where it jerked to a halt. He yanked again but it went no further. Pavilon had been slowly repositioning his foot paws out in a broad stance to brace himself and was still holding his bowl with his other paw while holding a vice grip on the bottle.
Pavilon looked up, his mane beginning to bristle. "It's not polite to take things from others." The bear, not wanting to lose more face, stood there and jerked again to no avail, though he almost made Pavilon spill his meal.
Pavilon frowned and sat it down on the bed beside him and slowly stood up straight, still holding onto the bottle, now the other paw behind him on the small of his back. The bear growled and turned half away from him and yelled "Give me the damn bottle!" yanking on it again.
"Well since you asked..." Pavilon replied, as the white bear pulled with his legs and whole body this time, and let go causing the bear to crash through the sheets and poles, stumbling to the ground, also spilling the repugnant fish sauce all over his fur.
A trace of a grin showed on Pavion's face, which was quickly replaced with a serious and concentrated look at the bear rose quickly and roared while barreling down at him. Pavilon stood there then took one leaping step forward at him, planting a paw on the springy bed and leaped over the polar bears charge while planting a back kick with his left leg against the rear of his skull, though it didn't carry as much force as he was already moving in that direction. It still was enough to knock him down again, barely missing the wall that Occa had taken refuge against. Li meanwhile was pressed against the right wall of sheets that had not gotten knocked down, still holding his bowl.
Pavilon turned around after landing and watched the bear get to his paws and knees, shaking his head and getting back up. "You fight like a dumb beast. It seems you need to be civilized in many areas. Please is a simple manner when speaking with someone. This however.." He offered the paw-and-claw greeting. "is the Maux fist." He dropped back with his right leg, lowering his body, and held his left paw in a fist out level with his shoulder, slightly bent, while the other was lower and stretched, down to his waist also in a fist. "Balance and power must go paw and paw.
It was all likely lost on the mind already swimming in a blood rage and the bear charged him again, lowering a shoulder to try to tackle the lion down. Pavilon just waited for it, and as he was upon him, unleashed a spinning backfist with his right paw to the side of the bears open face as he maneuvered out of the way.
"Pavilon, stop, the police are already on their way, it will only be worse if you keep him going." Occa had seen to the fetching of the police himself and wasn't too worried the guilt of Pavilon, as he had records of what had gone on, but he didn't want it to get nastier in the meantime.
"Oh you want him to stop?" Pavilon answered without turning to look.
"Not like that..." Occa mouthed as Pavilon swept the bears legs out from under him as he went to get up.
Pavilon cracked his knuckles in his paws, squeezing them by themselves as the bear got up again and came at him with with his paw back, about to swing. Pavilon was in the process of ducking and delivering an arching upper cut when his paw was halted, like it had struck a metal shield. In between the two, grasping both their fists in his scallie palms, Occa had somehow moved fast enough and with enough power to stop both their blows.
"I said to stop, or else there will be a police report." And he stood up between them, letting their paws go.
The polar bear snarled and then looked at Occa for a few seconds and walked off, rubbing his jaw. Pavilon however had taken a few steps back, things clicking in his head. "So fast...things at the office...and..." He looked at his throbbing paw that had just been stopped.
Occa called in to cancel the police call and send the records he had taken then registered what conclusions Pavilon might have reached.
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Post by miokalia on Jul 27, 2007 17:07:32 GMT -5
"Sidart-tapdancing-Buddha what kind of Boh-lalos is going on in here?", yelled the front end manager, Running into the room. A brown little raptor wearing thin glasses and no pants. The cook came runnning in after her, wielding a pan in his tiny arms, he was an orange t-rex.
"The bear started it", said Occa. The raptor stared at him with suspicion for a moment, then looked at Pavilon and decided, of the group, Pavilion looked to be the most likely to beat someone bigger than him up.
"You make with fight in hostel, you make fucking leave!", said the raptor in accented english.
"I pay you to give me a bed to sleep in, now leave me alone", said Pavilon.
"You go fuck off, get out of my hoshtal", said the raptor again.
Pavilon stood up quickly and prepared to punch the short manager, but Occa pushed him back down into the chair and said, "Pardon him, he is not famliar with our laws and customs"
"Get the hell out", said the raptor gestruing to the door.
"I'm sorry, and we will leave at once.", he said glaring at Pavilon, who was once again, slightly surprized at the force Occa was able to exert with his forearms. Though mostly angry that he was not letting him get up and at the manager, whom he didn't know was actually female.
----
Walking on the steet with their bags, the three searched for another cheap hostel with room. The problem was, all the nice and decently inexpensive places were usually full by 7pm.
"I could have convinced her", said Pavilon, "Why didn't you let me defend my honor"
"Don't", said Occa sternly, "Drag that word through the mud by saying you were acting so improper in there in it's name.
Honor isn't getting in brawls in hostels. Any drunken moron can do that.
Do not. do it again", Occa gained about 5" of height when he was pissed as he rolled onto his claws. He had just enough teeth, which were actually kinda stained-looking, that Pavilon decided that it would be best not to get into a fight with his travel partners in this different place.
"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do", he replied
"DON'T get us kicked out of another business.", said Occa, "No matter how skilled a fighter you are, public space is not the place to use it."
The two didn't say a word for a while Realizing that he would have to break the silence, Pavilon decided to start up the conversation again,
"I do have to say, I had no idea you had such a firm palm. I was under the impression lizards had weak forarms.", said Pavilon, "You never seemed to have the skill and grace of a fighter? What form?"
"Hyd...", said Occa who was trying to think of a poetic martial arts name on the spot, realizing 'hydraulic palm' probably wouldn't cut it. "Iron Palm... technique".
"uh huh.", Pavilon expected a more detailed explanation, and probably wanted to know how to do it. He figured that there was something going on since he knew that was no conventional impact. He had observed that Occa was heavier than average for his species and size, though lighter than the bear, and still he stopped the punches from both at the same time as though he had locked his arms into a single metal rod. And when he hit, there was no soft impact followed by the firmness of bone. It was immediate, like punching a brick wall. The way it gave in, was different, as it pushed back, it pushed back just slightly into the arm, as if there was a space beneath it.
Perhaps all that extra weight wasn't because he was slightly overweight, was it muscle? But muscle doesn't lock like that. It must be some kind of training. But even then, Occa didn't seem skilled. Pavilon couldn't tell why, he just knew it was something else.
"When did you call the police on the teleophone?", asked Pavilon who was beginning to pick up the names of the modern foreign devices.
"Telephone", said Li.
"I didn't", said Occa.
Occa noticed that these things were making Pavilon uncomfortable around him so he had to do something to change the subject.
Occa then said really fast, "Zye has a Shanghri-La Hotel, if we stay for just one night it won't be too cripplingly expensive and I can pay for most of it, and it's really nice. Probably something you would consider fit for an emporer, Pavilon so what do you think?"
Li's mouth hung open for a minute, "WTF", he said.
----
Occa wasn't kidding, the Zye Shanghri-La was a 30-story tower next to some other pair of buildings which looked like two piles of cogs. According to Li, that hotel was one which only people with a lot of money from very far away who want to see something exotic go to, it's also where all the dignitaries stay. Pavilon asked, "Then why don't we go there, if we're going somewhere nice and expensive. Why not?
I mean, why go to this second-rate place. You already dragged me through that hole of a hostel."
Li was quiet and then Occa said, "Because every single individual who works there is armored like those people you thought were spies. Except they wear a rubber suit over it which makes them look normal and I know it would freak you out to no end."
Pavilon paused a moment, they were now in the lavish lobby of the Zye City Shangri-La hotel, adorned with a collision of far-eastern and Kohtohkhan aesthetic which united harmoniously into some kind of sino-dino reimagining of feng-shui. Red highlights, light-colored wood, circular doorways and lots of plants and gurgling moving water throughout the room, but not a single glint of gold. If it was shiney, it was silver or bronze. Pavilon, familiar with many elements of this style noticed the lack of gold first, and wondered why it was missing. He initially assumed it was the design of the place awknowledging it's inferiority to the place across the street, strange as it was. But he was also suspicious of Occa once again, as Occa described the Armored people as sometimes wearing disguises which included a rubber material, and Occa always did smell of rubber.
"It has better service though. The problem is dinosaurs as a whole are mediocre at customer service. Its a cultural thing. They won't spit in your coffee or throw your food at you, but they will get offended if you are too pushy or want too much attention.", said Li.
The clerk at the front desk was a t-rex and indeed Li was right. He wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but rather very mellow. He didn't seem to care if they were getting a room or hanging out in the lobby.
Occa went to the desk to order the room, while Pavilon and Li sat on the large pillow-chair things nearby.
"Occa is very modest about his strength.", said Pavilon, now having Li's exclusive audience, "As a trained martial artist of my pride's technique, I know it takes quite the power to stop not just one, but two fists as he did. I was under the impression from what I have read that dinosaurs had naturally diminitive forearms.", said Pavilon.
"Well he is not a typical individual for his species, I suppose.", said Li.
"Under whom did he train?", asked Pavilon, "I would indeed like to meet him".
"Its kind of... It's a family thing I think.", said Li, trying to find the right way to put it.
"Like the Maux paw, I had no idea such clans and martial-arts secrets existed here.", said Pavilon with some interest.
"Well it's not really a martial-arts thing. I mean, if you were to fight him, you would likely win very quickly at a martial arts contest. He's just strong. I mean, there are villages in the mountains where you will find more academic martial arts experts, but there aren't really any clan-controlled secrets, and if there are, they keep it to themselves. I don't doubt that it is possible they exist in some of the Ghitavist settlements.
Occa's family, I suppose, isn't from any of those. They just.... Lift weights maybe?", said Li.
"Is that all.", said Pavilon pushing the subject harder.
"He's very shy about that. It's complicated.
Don't try to fight him, or spar... He's not a gracefull martial artist, he's a big gentle solid piece of metal...", Li stopped abruptly and then said, "Like a piece of metal. He can just take a lot of impact."
"I have a question, don't tell him I asked.", said Pavilon, "Between us cats."
Li scooted in closer, "uh huh..."
"Is he one of those armored spies in a disguise? I mean to suddenly do all these nice things. It seems every time I mention them he acts nervous. I suspect he may be. I may be from a far away, weird place which seems like another era to you, but the wool can't get pulled over my eyes quite so easily, Li", he asked.
Li paused for a moment, then looked around a bit.
Occa approached them and said, "Belhops got our luggage going up, we have quite a view I think."
Pavilon left Li with an accusing, lion's stare which caused him to pause for a moment as if in territorial concession..
The three boarded the elevator, which Pavilon wasn't sure of, but wouldn't let Li and Occa, whatever he was, know that.
He felt himself get heavier for a second. The strange sensations in changing of weight distracted him from his suspicion of Occa. Then he got lighter for a moment, then his weight returned to normal. The door opened and indeed, they were on a different floor, as evident that everything had changed around them.
"A trick?", he thought as he peeked out the door of the elevator, then he thought, "sorcery!" as he walked out of it, realizing indeed, they had arrived at another location then before. This was actually one of the most radically unusual things he had seen here. He had seen carriages move on their own, books which consist of a single page which can show many different texts, lights which produce little heat and turn on with a switch, pieces of plastic which can carry a voice across a great distance just to name a few modern things which he was introduced to. But to enter a room, experience strange sensations of movement and then suddenly appear in a different part of the building... without any visible thing which is carrying them... was initially very aesthetically unusual. Though realizing that since they were now very high up, he now assumed it had to be some kind of room which travels up a vertical staircase of some kind, and that the means to which this was accomplished were just hidden behind the wainscoting. He continued confidently into the hallway.
Pavilon peered out the window opposite the elevator, surprized that the city was much larger than it seemed. Occa was nearby and he remembered his suspicion. He poised himself carefully. What if Occa was indeed a spy sent by the emporer, one of those unnatural beings in an armor wearing a suit to make him look like someone from around here. It would be a long fall from this window, and Pavilon was sure the glass could be broken with enough force... force which he had observed Occa capable of doing. Pavilon whipped around and Occa, rather then expecting an attack, was just standing there and said, "8.2 million people total. 5.0 million Dinosaurs and dragons, 1.2 million ethnic Nimiyapo cats, 100,000 other mammalian furs, 1.7 million ... armored people."
Pavilon looked down and saw those statistics were printed on a plaquard on the bottom of the window next to a "Welcome to Zye City, Tokyo of the South".
"What are you?", said Pavilon accusingly, his stare not really making an impact on Occa's facial expression, "Are you one of those armored people? Are you one of the emporer's spies?", he asked, still with his feet planted firmly. Ready to toss Occa out that window were he to try to do the same to him.
"He is not a spy. But he is armored, Since you figured it out. He's one of those armored people but he only intends to protect you", said Li.
"SO he is.", Pavilon backed away from the window and got ready to defend himself. "Very plebian, Li. I trusted you as my guide in this strange land, and you never told me this honestly."
"What the hell did you want me to do? Tell you that we'd be living around these things which are so foreign?", yelled Li, for the first time, he was visibly frustrated, "There's enough you have to adjust to already, something like this which just tears previous conceptions of what 'life' and 'living' is asunder don't make it easier.
Occa is your guardian, damn it! Asked by the University to make sure you have a good safety-net of friends in case you have a difficult time adjusting. Like now!"
Pavilon was about to yell back at Li, almost hit him even for speaking so aggressively. This was a randombred cat speaking against an heir to a Pride. A lion, quite literally. But Li didn't throw a single a punch, and Pavilon knew, while he moved to face Li, that Li in fact, wouldn't dare. He had to hand it to him, Li did have at least that much respect.
Pavilon calmed a little bit, seeing as arguing with Li would be pointless, but he was still expecting Occa to come lashing out towards him. But then he saw that Occa's tail was on the floor, and his mouth completely closed, his arms totally relaxed and in fact, he appeared to be embarassed and very ashamed.
"This was bound to happen", said Li, "We put him in the suit because we thought it would make adjustment easier. Occa's people are often shunned even in countries with the same modern things as us. So we usually have to stuff them into suits for just about any exchange students because they are kind of weird."
"The emporer's armored elite", said Pavilon, now more relaxed, but still eyeing Occa, "back home they were terrifying unnatural creatures, because of their breeding, they are hideous and thus they wear the armor to hide that. So what you're saying is that there are similar things here which wear armor for probably the same reason?"
Li looked at Occa for a moment, and then said, "Close enough, I guess. It's more complex than that, but you would never beleive me if I told you how it really was. They're not hideous, it's just...", Li thought for a moment, and then struck a brilliant explanation. "They have no skin."
"No skin?", asked Pavilon puzzled.
"The armor is their skin. Under that armor is their entrails.", said Li, "They aren't the same as the dinosaurs, and they came from another world and landed here a long time ago, so they are very strange, even to us. It's just we've been around them so long, we're used to them now."
"So there are 1.7 million of them... Here.", said Pavilon.
"The armored elite you had back in Ciata were trained and bred to be efficient guards, as you said. These creatures aren't though. You will find that Occa is probably one of the least aggressive people you will see here... and it seems you are good at finding the most aggressive ones..", said Li ending with a little chuckle, referrencing the polar bear.
"Remove your disguise. I want to see.", said Pavilon.
Occa removed the head portion of the disguise, he unwrapped it a bit, then pulled it up and off. Revealing what looked like to Pavilon, a black metal-armored, dragon-like head with glass-eye covers, with a yellow and red light in each eye. His teeth which hung over on his overbite were bronze-colored, and his mouth, even with the disguise remove, was still closed.
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Post by Ciata on Jul 31, 2007 12:08:49 GMT -5
Bin and Angie went through the line of food, Bin looking about and collecting all sorts of meat and treats and Angie picking out small bit of fruits and nearly everything else. Sitting down at the table Angie asked Bin again, this time getting more of a response.
"So what did you say to the First Speaker?"
Bin shrugged again and replied, "I just thanked him and gave him something he dropped."
"Huh, no questions about philosophy and deep stuff?"
"No, I didn't need to." Bin began to nibble away it the best parts of the meats, something he wasn't used to having at home.
"Well I would have thought of something to ask, I don't know what because I'm not really that type, I don't really think too much, hahahaa." She laughed and spoke in an odd way, adding noises or sound to it when she was saying something she thought funny or was upset.
"uh huh, well I feel I did what I needed to do." He said while munching down on some chicken.
They ate for a bit until Angie's curiosity got the better of her. "So your from Ciata? Like from where there and what did you do?"
Opalance gulped and answered, "Well, I'm from the far southern region, lived all around there, moving about. My father is a priest but he used to tend to holy sites, we lived there at the place and did the upkeep of them. I lived at four of them and my father has moved on to a fairly small temple while I studied at another temple further south."
"Oh so your a priest?" Angie responded, knocking over a salt shaker while reaching for her glass.
"Not really, I'm in the training to be one, but I'm not sure what I'll do exactly."
"Uh huh, so how big is your family?"
"Well, I've got an older sister who sings in the temples and is quite good, and two younger brothers."
"I'm the oldest of 10, I've got 7 sisters." Angie said with no small amount of pride.
"Wow, that's pretty big." Bin didn't sound too impressed though, as large families were fairly common where he was from.
They ate for a while, Angie finishing far earlier than Bin, and sat there for a bit, as it was a social place, though fairly empty as it was late now.
"So what do you plan on doing?" Bin asked.
"Well I'm in the nursing program, just got in really, and I want to be a nurse, help people at crazy places where there's a disaster or something like that. You?"
"I'm not really sure, I know there's something I'm destined to do, something important, but I need to discover something first before I begin, I'm not ready yet."
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Post by Ciata on Aug 13, 2007 1:43:15 GMT -5
Pavilon, despite himself and being prepared, took half a step back as Occa removed the disguise. "Xue xing di yu..."
"Quite." Occa replied, have already had the translating program for Ciatan dialect dialed up and ready when around the lion.
"What? What is it?" Li asked as Pavilon continued to stare out of the corned of his eye and Occa stood there.
"He said, "bloody hell" I believe." Occa answered.
Pavilon stood there, then sniffed a couple times and glanced around, as if he was looking for something.
"What now?" Li asked, wondering if it was somehow related to Occa.
"mmmm...nothing, where's our room?" Pavilon seemed anxious to get moving, but Li couldn't tell why exactly, as it seemed to be not entirely related to Occa.
"It should just be right down the hall, 607." He points a paw down the hallway, lined with glass over look on one side and faux lanters on the other.
"So many rooms here?" Pavilon wondered out loud.
"No, not really, they just number then by the floor, the sixth floor is all sexes and the second all twos and so on, so you know what floor your on." Li answered while Occa put back on his "face".
"Huh..." Pavilon then set right off down the hall without another look back, searching for the room.
"Well, that went better than expected, I guess..." Li said as he watched Pavilon walk down the hallway briskly, tail swaying a bit with his steps.
"Perhaps..." Occa echoed him.
After they had found the room, and their luggage already there, they spent a few minutes looking about at all the decorations and internal architecture, massive mirrors and ornate trim and beams.
After checking his few things that he threw into a bag to bring along to make sure they were still all there, they relaxed for a bit, Pavilon washing his paws and examining them closely after his combat while Li and Occa discussed the cost of the place and then other small talk.
After almost an hour and Li suggested sleep, Pavilon turned tail and walked back out the door, leaving Occa and Li there alone for a couple minutes before Li decided to go out and look for him to make sure he hadn't run off or gotten lost or something.
Walking outside and looking around, he walked over to the elevator and stepped inside, looking at the buttons, asking himself, "If I was a lonely lion late at night with a lot on my mind, where would I go?" He scanned them and one titled "Upper Terrace" which was one of the few that wasn't just numbers. Pressing it, he was soon there, and walked out into an inner, glassed in walkway that led to large balcony type juttings on each side. About 25 stories up, it didn't even compare to the other true sky scrapers, but was non the less plenty high.
He walked along 3 of the glass walkways, looking out onto each terrace with no lion and head just about given up when he came to the last one, the one to the right of the elevator he used, and looked out and saw a lone figure leaning against the railing. The lion's tail and blowing mane gave it away to be Pavilon. Stepping out onto the terrace and walking towards him Li caught an odd sent on the wind, just a whiff of it and then it was gone, but it was oddly familiar, though mixed with the city air.
Getting closer to Pavilon he noticed a small, almost shaking motion in his body as he leaned with his head almost down on the rail. It wasn't until after he spoke that he realized that he was sobbing. "Hey, what'cha running off for? It's late..."
"That's a good question...why am I running? Why am I hiding here like this?" Pavilon looked out across this alien and bright city with buildings rising like the mountains of his home and metal creatures walking the streets.
"It's to keep you safe." Li stated the obvious they had been going over all day.
"Safe...my Pride isn't safe, my brothers...they weren't safe." Pavilon sniffed, his voice sounding angry and remorseful at the same time.
Li stood there for a moment, in a position no one ever really wants to be in. "Did something happen?" He asked, noticing the tense of the second to last word.
Pavilon nodded and paused before repeating it. "Yes...my two brothers, my little brothers were killed." He hardly finished the last word.
Li wanted to escape the whole situation, he half wanted to know what happened, but he also really didn't want to know what happened at the same time, or at least have him tell him what had. He thought for some way to do something, say something. After a few long minutes he finally gathered up the courage to lean against the rail to Pavilon's right and asked him, "So...what were they like?"
Pavilon turned to look at the tabby, trails of wet fur running down his light brown fur from his eyes. "They...they were my two younger brothers...they were just 17, born so close to each other, they were like twins, always together...always..."
Pavilon spent the next couple hours telling stories about his two younger brothers, fond memories and their life's short story. Shuvon and Feilon.
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