2/Home for Waldians

Home for Waldians
Date of Scene:	19 May 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Juuban Avenue - North
Synopsis:	Runealy and Gaofele look for shelter, and find some... sort of.
Cast of Characters:	Runealy Waldia, Gaofele Doiru

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Runealy Waldia has posed:
Plans to investigate Tokyo's festival have been delayed as a storm approaches it. Rune had said she wanted to 'outrun' it, but even she knows you don't do that; you get shelter before it's upon you, and any movement forward is simply buying time to help with that.

And so the pair made their way into another part of the massive city, stopping only briefly to retrieve backpacks they hid at various places; carrying all of their supplies at once would have been impossible, but stowing them atop bus stops, in trees (what few were found, in such contrast to home), and other odd spots kept things safe for now.

Rune trudges along with her fair share of them, but her movements are beginning to get sluggish. It was a hot day in the city until just now, and they've been walking a /lot/ today... getting here from the forest portal was a huge trek in and of itself. Now, with thunder in the distance, she looks aside to Gaofele with a worried question: "Where are we going to go? I figured we'd find an inn somewhere by now, but... didn't see one. We'll have to get inside soon, right?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao nods grimly. The signage was significantly different than back in Waldia, but there's nothing like an inn in this area. "I'd settle for just a place with shelter," he admits. "Most of these structures don't seem to be open to the public, and the ones that are don't seem to be inns. They do seem to be strangely lit, though."

Even at this hour, there are the occasional lights from the various residential buildings, plus the brightly lit corner gast station or convenience store. The few retail shops they happen to pass are mostly dark, with just their signs providing light outside. So many lights, in so many shapes and colors...

But in a sea of light, darkness stands out. Gao slows down as he spots an unlit building, with even the outside lights off. "I think I see something," he calls to Rune. "Doesn't seem to be an inn, but I think we can use it to take shelter in for now!"

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"I know..." Runealy stares up at one of the light posts they're about to pass under. "Glass candles everywhere. The Unknown World... no, Japan," they do have a name for it now after all, "Makes no sense. At least it has people, so we didn't just step into somewhere deserted. And... huh?"

He saw something? She's interested. "Where?" Rune begins looking around, trying to figure out what it might be, then faces him to see if that's a better way of finding out. Shelter sounds good right about now. Shelter that, hopefully, won't involve going into those weird tunnels they found earlier where there were /tons/ of people.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Over here!" Gao takes the lead, walking brisky towards a boarded-up convenience store. He cautiously circles around the building, sizing it up and looking it over. Stepping closer, he kneels and peers through the corner of a window, partially uncovered by a mis-aligned sheet of plywood.

Inside is dark, but a few streaks of light poke through other gaps in the boarded-up windows. No signs of people; nothing but rows of empty shelves and bare counters. "It seems to be empty," Gao announces as he stands back up. "I'd have to take a closer look, but I don't think anyone's been in there in quite some time."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
His taking the lead gives Rune some energy back... she had been just kind of dragging her feet along, but now that he has something to show she's a little more lively, and follows after Gaofele. He's... circling it. She walks along with him, not sure what he sees in this.

Then he says something very fortunate. "You mean it's probably abandoned? Okay... let's try it?" She's trying to lean in to check out what he is, but quickly realizes this might crowd him and backs off as well.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao tests the doors, finding them locked, and without handles. "Hmm, this might be a bit of a trick," he mutters to himself. The boards cover glass, but that's a large amount of glass (at least, to a Waldian). A closer examination reveals that the doors are set in grooved paths, both top and bottom. "Very strange -- how do they open, without handles to pull with?" he muses, examining the gaps around the door.

The gaps between the doors doesn't seem to be wide enough to wedge the end of a quarterstaff into, but he might be able to drive a wedge into it. Rummaging in the pack he has with him, Gao takes a tent stake and carefully drives it into the gap, trying to widen it enough to get better leverage in there. The door groans at the strain, both from the lock at the bottom and the panel near the top.

In fact, the panel near the top bulges slightly as the door presses against it. Gao blinks, then extends his collapsible staff and carefully uses it to pry at the panel. The extra leverage causes the panel to pop off, and the wedged door slowly topples towards him, dislodged from its upper track.

"Whoa!" he yelps, catching the door, dropping his staff in the process. He looks around the door, then back at Rune. "Looks like it's open now," he says sheepishly, moving the door to the side so the two of them can enter.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"What do you mean?" Rune is confused at first, then she too sees the problem. "...Wait. Is that even a door? You're right, there's nothing to open it with!" One more thing that doesn't make sense on Planet Japan.

She's wrong, there is something to open it with. Gaofele pulls out a stake. "What are you doing?" It's not an accusation or angry comment, she's legitimately confused. Then... metal working against metal makes things a lot more clear. "Oh!" He almost has it!

He definitely has it, and she rushes in to try to help catch the door! "Are you okay? That... wow. I guess we can go in now, but that can't have been how they expect you to do that? That almost fell on you!"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Or they weren't expecting this to be opened," Gao agrees, slowly lowering the door down. He looks towards the bottom of the door, where he remebers some of the metal groaning coming from. There's a small bolt of metal, sticking out from the frame, plus a small knob nearby on the frame. He tests the knob; turning it one way doesn't seem to yield any results, but turning it the other way causes the metal bolt to retract into the frame.

"Is /that/ how it's locked?" he marvels. A quick check of the other door reveals that, yes, there's another knob there, too. But that can wait for a moment; there's a building to investigate.

Picking up his staff, Gao carefully enters the building. A thin layer of dust covers everything, with no footprints visible. "What a strange building," he whispers. Thinking about some of the lit businesses they passed along the way, Gao realizes what this structure reminds him of. "I think... this is an abandoned store," he remarks, still on alert for trouble.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Runealy peers over Gaofele's shoulder as he figures all this out. "That's so weird... at least the lock kind of acts like you'd expect." She's calming down now that the door isn't about to crush her friend to the floor, and follows behind him as he goes inside. It's probably just as well, with the storm still a factor to worry about.

It's hard to see things in here, but he has a good guess. "Really? A store? Like... with merchants and... huh." She paces around a little, checking out the shelves. "You're probably right. A store, or it would be really easy to use it as one if they built it for something else. So... nobody's here but us, you think?" She's quick to stay close to him, once the mystery of the building's purpose seems solved.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
In response, Gao runs a finger along one of the shelves, giving a clear demonstration of the level of dust: noticeable, but not particularly thick. "We'll have to finish checking the doors, but I think we're the only ones here," he agrees.

A quick search of the other rooms reveals only more dust, with no footprints or other indications of usage. "It appears to be safe, at least for tonight," Gao nods. He heads back to the doors, both to examine the second door and to see about replacing the first one.

As Gao fumbles with the knob on the standing door, there's a quiet clack, and then the door sildes sideways when he pushes and pulls on it. "Well, that's progress," he smiles, taking a closer look at the tracks of the door. "Still not sure what they use for handles, though."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune has no idea why he's checking dust and just stares in confusion; surely Gaofele isn't planning to go cleaning this place? Well, he seems to abandon whatever he's doing it for quickly enough. As he continues his search, she stays close... ready to help catch any more falling doors. It's a relief that this doesn't seem to happen again!

And then he seems to have this place basically figured out. "Safe... I don't know about that. Protected, I'll agree with. Four walls, a roof, a door. It's protected. Doesn't look like a very happy place, though." The other component of 'safe', as they culturally consider it. Protection and happiness.

Then something dawns on her. "Wait. You said 'tonight.' Are you thinking of staying here? Even after the storm passes?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao nods. "Maybe not as a permanent location, but at least an interim one. It's protected, and it can serve as a base of operations until we find something better," he points out. /If/ they can find something better.

"At the very least, it gives us a secure place to cache our supplies," he continues. "We should at least keep this place in mind as a location that we can use, either as a place to hide or a place to store things."

He carefully lifts up the fallen door, and with a bit of experimentation gets it back into its grooves. He looks at the dislodged panel, then at the location it came from, then manages to wedge it back into place (more or less). "There -- I think this will hide the fact that we're here."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
A chill, an emotional one rather than truly physical, lances through Rune. "A base, you say." She says it as half question, half horrified acknowledgement. "Hiding and storing... no, no no no..." Even as Gaofele works on getting the door back into place, her gaze lowers to the dusty floor.

"That's not fair. We haven't even been here a day, and now we're seriously looking at staying in an abandoned wreck of a store like... what, like we're homeless or staying out of sight like a bunch of...?" She can't even finish the sentence.

Instead, she begins crying. It's a quiet thing, but not hidden at all. "I'm sorry. That's what I've dragged you in to, isn't it? We're breaking into places, nearly having doors fall on you, and we're really talking about staying somewhere that there aren't even any beds or anything!" Now she's starting to pick up volume, complaining: "It's humiliating, it's wrong! That's not fair to you at all!"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao walks over and hugs Rune. "When out in the wilds, you take shelter where you can find it," he remarks soothingly. "If you find better shelter, you use it, but /a/ shelter is better than none at all."

He nods towards the doors. "There's several things we have to learn about this planet of Japan, like metal carriages and glass candles and doors with no handles. But we'll get through it. Together."

Gao adds a brief extra squeeze to the hug. "In a way, we're in a civilized wilderness," he points out. "While it might not be as forested as the wilds I grew up in, we can still use some of the same skills to get by while we get ourselves oriented to this world." He gives her an encouraging smile. "I'm sure things will get better, and as long as I can be alongside you, helping you out, I'll be fine."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
This is at least the second time in last week that Rune has had a near meltdown in front of Gaofele - there was also the time at the Shrine when they were gathering the rest of what they would need for this journey. And like before, his quick movements to interrupt that before it can be fully realized do help. She's still rattled and crying, but no longer verging on shouting as she stands almost limp in his supporting hold.

"Yeah... it's just... it's still terrible. I think about how any of this happened and just...!" Several headshakes follow as she forces herself to change the topic. "What do you think? We've found this place, we've found there are a lot of people here. So now what? The festival will still be going tomorrow and maybe we can figure something out from it, but what do you think? It sounds like you've got this place figured out better than I do." That might be true, but she might be overstating it; they've both been here less than twenty-four hours, after all. Still, thinking and talking about what's at hand rather than how this situation came to be is a welcome distraction. And an important one.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao maintains the hug, for at least as long as Rune needs it for physical support. "For now, what we need is information," he admits. "Information, and some way to blend in. If we keep up with the out-of-town approach, we might be able to find out more about what non-festival life is like, and then figure thingsout from there."

He hasn't forgotten about examining the Ferris wheel, but that can wait for a night when they've had more rest. Hopefully one with fewer people around, but definitely one where they're better rested.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
It's weird talking to someone you're just inches away from, but Rune stays like this for a while; she's in no hurry to get away from this sort of much-welcomed support from Gaofele. "Yeah... you're right. So we keep looking. What did those people say, that we're from 'Eur... E...'" She fumbles for the word. "Europe. I'm going with that, even if I look dumb asking about things this way."

She lowers some of the 'luggage' she's carrying, letting it settle to the ground. "So this world has people on it. I wonder who their queen is?" She blatantly assumes 'Planet Japan' has one, since that's how it is back home. "Or if they have any demons to deal with, like we do?"

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
"Better to feign ignorance than to actually have it," Gao shrugs with his shoulders. "And if they think we're from far away, it wouldn't be out of place for us to ask what the local customs are like." Other things might be harder to ask about discreetly, but customs should be easy enough.

He thinks for a moment. "We might want to ask about foes in general," he suggests. "There might be other factions that they worry about, or demons by other names. If we learn about what they consider to be threats, then we will know what to look out for." Or avoid, or hunt.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Doesn't that sound a little weird, though?" Rune finally slips away, moving to start putting things on shelves... and start building an improvised bed on the floor nearby, of various cloth and backpacks. "I mean, if someone came up to me and asked about demons, I'd get a little suspicious. Well... maybe we can just focus on the other things for now?" Her thoughts are somewhat rambling.

"Whatever we end up doing though... thanks." A nod over to Gaofele. "I'd still be looking around for an inn right now if this had been left up to me. This," a gesture around the whole area, "is something. It's the 'a shelter' you talked about, while I'd be stuck on looking for 'better shelter.' And when it started raining on us... I don't know. Maybe we'd be in one of those tunnels with a million people in them." She exaggerates as to just how crowded the subway areas were. "That wouldn't work."

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gaofele shudders slightly at the thought of those crowded tunnels. "A quiet space with a good friend is a much better shelter than that, dismal though the space might be," he agrees, setting down his backpack and unrolling a blanket. "With the doors closed, I doubt that we'll be bothered, and tomorrow we can finish retrieving our cached supplies."

As a precaution, he fastens a bell-line to the doors, so that any movement will cause the noisemakers to clatter. It might not be much in terms of security, but at least it should give them some warning in case of intruders.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
"Yeah..." It's a distant response on her part, but Rune agrees as she moves to lie down and rest. She does raise an eye as Gaofele continues his work, wondering: "What's that f..."

No, she gets it. Bells would have to move if the door does. In some ways it might be better than someone standing guard.

So she nods, and sinks in to the improvised bedding. It's not a good bed, but she's too tired to care. "You really know your stuff." It's quiet, but sincere praise. His skills always seemed /interesting/ to her back home but always kind of alien; she just didn't 'get' the outdoors like Gaofele.

Now in an entirely alien society, it occurs to her they're not just 'interesting.' They may well be vital.

Gaofele Doiru has posed:
Gao smiles. "Thanks," he whispers, walking back over to his blanket and backpack. With a bit more adjusting, he gets his bedding into a comfortable enough form, then lays down to rest.

He doesn't mention it, but even he is feeling somewhat out of place. His reliance on his wilderness skills is partially because they're useful, but also because they're /familiar/. But a family lesson is firm in his mind: 'When you are unsure, rely on what you know, and take confidence in that. With that confidence, you can remain calm; by remaining calm, you can see your way through the forest of troubles.'

So he will trust in his woodscraft, and he will strive to remain calm. For his survival, for the mission, for Waldia, and most importantly...

For Runealy.