2020-01-09: It Is In Our Nature

• Log: It Is In Our Nature
• Cast: Citan Uzuki, Leah Sadalbari
• Where: Damzen City
• Date: January 09, 2020
• Summary: Citan crosses paths with Leah; a suitably cryptic conversation ensues.

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<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Now, that is interesting," Citan remarks, lifting the mechanical object to take a closer look at the gearwork. "You do not see this every day. Unless I am incorrect, this is, hmm..."

    Aquvy is more free when it comes to the matter of ARMs as a rule -- but even in Aquvy there is a bit of restraint. No, you won't get suspicious looks or mutterings (it had been different in Lahan, perhaps because of rather than instead of the isolation of the small town) but people tend to be discreet.
    Unless you're in the Thames, but the Thames is the exception rather than the rule.
    Damzen City is perhaps the Badlands of the region -- with admittedly more general sense of order/ It's said that you can find just about anything in Damzen City. Particularly if what you are looking for is an ARM. Particularly if that ARM is not of type with a firearm.

    ...And that includes things that are not supposed to be in circulation with the general populace.

    For instance: the device that the doctor from Lahan now holds is a piece of a machine that was developed for aggressive terraforming.
    It also happens to be fairly effective as a weapon, since it is effectively made to shatter rock. But who would use it for something like that?

    Particularly since one would need to know what they had, first.

    He'd come here ostensibly to look for machine parts. The Thames had been more than forthcoming with supplies, particularly for a Gear, but sometimes what you needed was a little more...

    Specialized.

    And what he needs are industrial machine components.

    It just so happens that he may have gotten distracted when he spotted this.

    "...What did you say that the rate was for this one?"

    "One tho-- no, make it two. Take it or leave it."

    "Ah. Hmm. I believe you had said it had been a hundred...?"

    "Changed my mind," the vendor says, simple and to the point.

    "Hmm..." Citan creases his forehead and frowns, setting the item back down again.

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

Ste-step. Ste-step. The uneven gait of the person approaching is audible, to those who listen; another at the markets, another looking over what's here... And maybe someone who spotted what was lifted up in the first place. If Citan turns to look, or views a reflection, it is a woman with blue hair (dyed) and a single blue eye, the other covered; in ordinary clothing, a short dress and leather armoring, her hair worn loose. There's a holster at her side, a spear at her back...

And an intrigued look in that single blue eye.

"My," Leah Sadalbari says as she steps up to the vendor. "That much, for one of these? Considering the wear on the components, the missing piece... That's quite the charge. Unless of course they've suddenly become rarer than I knew."

She looks it over, and smiles at Citan, before regarding the vendor. "I'll give you one thousand for it. Because it is awfully slow business today, isn't it? As those days go. Damzen's traffic comes and goes..."

"Though if you'd rather hang onto it for yourself I'm sure you'd find some use. Perhaps some paper that needs weighing down."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    It isn't her that he sees but her reflection, blurry and distorted against a piece of brass that, unless Citan has missed the mark, was once an excavator blade. Once being of course the most applicable terms given that a good part of it is missing, as if it had been snapped clean off.

    But he sees her. Even muted and distorted, even with her hair a different color, even in very different attire...

    He recognizes her.

    He doesn't look. Ever so slightly that frown on his face evens out, but other than that--

    "Indeed," he says, gesturing at the piece. "They are rare, but as she says, without the rest of the mechanism... I am afraid it would only be of interest to an academic." He pauses a moment, before glancing (as if for the first time) at his sudden partner here at the stall. He readjusts his glasses. "A rather wealthy academic at that. I am only a country doctor..."

    The stall manager pulls a face that hints at that inner state of a man who has just overplayed an attempt at negotiations to his chagrin.

    "One thousand... for that. Hmph." He looks away, as if to think this over. "You're robbing me blind, miss. How's I supposed to put food on the table at a price like that? Twelve hundred..."

    He glances over at the two of them.

    Citan has already turned his attention elsewhere, inspecting another aged component in poor shape, the allegedly interesting device completely abandoned.

    "..."

    "...One thousand it is," the stallkeeper relents, shaking his head in naked disgust.

    But surely a thousand-percent increase is better than nothing at all?

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

Similarly--she shows no signs of recognition, but she recognizes him the same way. That smile is perhaps the clue, though it could be any greeting from a friendly person. THe frown evens out a little... But here--

Of course, "True as charged," Leah answers simply as to the matter of her aceamedia and apparent wealth. But the stall manager... Hmmm. Robbing him blind, is it?

"I knew we could come to some agreement," Leah says pleasantly to the stallkeeper, her gloved hands passing over one thousand Gella in entirely standard currency. It is not recommended, however, to linger on her hands too long and wonder.

Surely, better than nothing at all.

"Though as it's a piece of curiousity... I'm sure a doctor's hands won't break it before I can get to work studying its origins," Leah mentions, and offers the piece forward. "Even in the country doctors must have sure and steady hands to perform their tasks."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    The exhange is made.

    It is more than monetary, in a sense.

    The stallkeeper's gaze does linger, but only for a moment. Something about her hands (even gloved) makes him accept the payment in a hurry -- and make the exchange of the device all the more quickly.

    ARMs are not a rarity or a point of secrecy in Damzen. But certain types of ARMs do make some -- perhaps those who have had certain types of contact before -- cease asking further questions altogether.

    He may be relieved the see them go.

    Though before they do, Leah offers that piece towards him. In response, he lifts a black eyebrow.
    But he accepts the component, then shakes his head, his smile one of avuncular amusement. "You flatter me, miss. But if you would not mind it, I believe I would have time to investigate this today." He pauses, as if to study her more closely.

    "I believe you are on a journey elsewhere, correct? As for me, I intend to stay here for a while. I suppose you could say that I have my own work to attend."

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

Leah smiles at the stallkeeper as he quickly finishes the transaction and avoids looking at her too much further. It is entirely pleasant, though it might not be completely sincere. More in the standard societal way than cruel deception, really. But this?

"I find a little flattery well applied makes for a more pleasant journey. Your thought there is correct; I'm just passing through here for the moment. ...And I wouldn't mind a bit. Indeed, it saves me storing it until I can return..."

She considers him, to all accounts the same way one might a stranger. "Yes, there's a great deal of work to be done these days, isn't there? It would seem there always has been, but the feeling nevertheless is always that this moment, this ordeal, is the most vital yet. Don't you find?"

"...Or perhaps people have just always lacked patience."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Until she can return, is it.

    He regards the component in his hands a moment more before lifting his gaze and glancing over at her again.

    "Hm, yes, as I have heard it said, one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar." He laughs, briefly, only to shake his head. "Well, then, it is certainly no trouble. I will keep my investigations of it to a minimum in that case."

    Until she returns.

    "Might I ask when you would return? I expect to be here a time, but I dare say my own obligations will eventually take me from here once more. It would be a shame if you were not to receive it after purchasing it."

    Indeed, once a certain young man heads off, he will follow.

    "...Yes." He glances from her briefly, off down this particular avenue as if he were just checking, absently, for a familiar but expected face. "Yes, I do think that is the case, these days. Though perhaps that is the fault of memory? I can recall events years ago that at the time felt as if they were direly important, but now when I look back, all I can think about how much simpler things were." Citan smiles, a touch ruefully. "In time perhaps I may reflect on even now as being more leisurely than whatever my future 'now' may be. What do you think?"

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

"Quite," Leah answers him, and inclines her head. Until she returns, naturally. Which he asks and she says, "I expect to be gone about a day, maybe two. Certainly within the time you suggested if I don't miss my guess, or I'd have to avoid offering." She's a little wry there. "But if things should take you sooner, a local barkeep and I have an understanding." She doesn't look away for the moment, either; just over him, as if studying a new person mildly... or maybe looking for changes, if there were some indication she knew him. Which, surely not.

No one else arrives after her, or at least, no one especially connected to her by any accounts. Just the light that catches on her blue hair, choosing a point to shine on before the sun passes behind another cloud. "Just so, I think. The 'now' couldn't have come about without building on the work of 'back then'. All of the pieces are important, however small they might seem to us... Or however rosy our memory makes them."

Her voice is calm, and even, and rather at odds with the sort of person one might 'expect' to be carrying the weapons she is. "Though it will have to be some future to top the events that have occured lately."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "A local barkeep... hmm. Which bar, in that case? I am new in town, and so I am unfamiliar with the local, ah, highlights," he replies, regarding her for a moment and a moment alone. "I believe a day or two would be sufficient to complete any investigations of the device. Still, in the event anything arises, I will keep it in mind."

    Things can always happen. Sometimes with barely a moment's notice given.

    Such is the nature of the Drifter's life.

    No one else crosses their paths -- at least for now. They have a privacy (as such) here in the midst of the market.

    "Too true, I am afraid. I suppose that is the nature of reminiscence... we remember sometimes more of the good and less of the bad. I have often wondered," he muses further, tilting his head slightly to the left as he mulls aloud, "if it might be a matter of familiarity. What has been is the more familiar, and such holds preferable to the vagaries of 'now' and that of a future that might not be. Perhaps it might be a way of escaping uncertainity...?"

    Only for him to laugh, lightly, after speaking of such weightier matters. "After what has happened lately, I admit I am at a loss to imagine what may yet come."

    This is perhaps not entirely true. Oh, he can, in a manner of speaking.

    His Majesty has spoken of such things to him.

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

Leah gives the name of one run by a brother/sister duo, a popular enough place in Damzen though it is one of a number, obviously. But then, "Good. It's important to further the cause of knowledge not just for ourselves, but for those around us, don't you think? We can all benefit from a more enlightened perspective."

"I'm always told that that's true of what we remember, and I can confirm it in many people I've known. ...But I don't find it to be entirely true for me, myself. Some things are just etched into your memory, for better or for worse."

"But that is true--it's difficult, for people to let go of the familiar. But then, Drifters are those who embrace the unknown, yes? Maybe it is these people who can help us adjust."

"Or maybe the future is not for man to know, and it is that lack of control that scares us, rather than simply the fact of it being unknown."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    That information he files away for later, in the event he needs it. In fact, he does indeed think he's heard the name of the place -- perhaps he overheard it earlier.

    "Indeed," comes Citan's response, coupled with a short nod. "In the event I uncover anything interesting, I will let you know. Of course," he adds with a vaguely apologetic smile, "I admit most of it may be only, ah, academic. That is, assuming you are interested in machinery, miss."

    In a sense, she may well be.

    Some things are just etched into your memory.

    He glances over at her, studying her expression a touch more closely now.

    "...Yes. Some things are," he says. He looks from her, away, off down the plaza where they both stand, the look in his eyes for the moment more distant.

    "Perhaps so. Those who seek the unknown... and those who seek the familiar. I wonder which it is that may win out in the end?"

    At this, he can only shake his head. "Perhaps not. Perhaps that is the purview of 'God' alone." He smiles, though it does not in the slightest reach his eyes. "What was that saying again? 'Man plans, and God laughs.'" Again, he shakes his head. "Perhaps to even try to guess what may come is a delusion."

<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.

"I'm interested," she says. "It's not my primary field, but one has to pick a few things up, now and then." She waves a hand; it moves not entirely naturally, a little too smoothly at the fingers.

She has to be, in a way. But in others, maybe not. However...

She watches his expression for a little longer when he looks away, looking into that distance especially, before glancing down the plaza as well, letting her single eye stay there. It would be obvious to an onlooker what she meant, of course; they might assume whatever happened to her eye is related. But, maybe...

"We'll have to see." She laughs, faintly, when Citan says that. "But I can't help it entirely; I'm the planning type. For all that we cannot predict the future..."

"Perhaps it's hubris, to plan anyway, knowing that." A beat, "But what is a dream, but a pleasant delusion that carries you through the dark night?"

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan glances over at her hand just the once, his gaze lingering on her fingers in particular. But not for very long.
    His placid facade doesn't so much as crack.

    "Indeed, it can be fruitful to diversify one's skills," he remarks, as if the movement of her hands -- and the implication therein -- were but an everyday matter.

    An onlooker would assume, indeed, and likely thusly.
    Similarly, one who knew of the doctor's more recent past might make their own assumptions.

    Little remains of Lahan, after all.

    "I must confess that I, too, am the sort to plan." He sighs, shaking his head once more. "I suppose it is in our nature, then. Even if we know it may be futile, we continue to think of what may happen next..."

    He glances up at a sky already coloring by the sun that descends slowly for the horizon.

    He glances back at Leah, regarding her again, and smiles tiredly. "Through the dark night... Indeed, and there are far too few of those left in this world. Perhaps even a false dawn is preferable to the darkness."