Aneirin's eyes divert from the conversation and spring wide at the sight of chocolate.
He emits an effusive "Whoah!" He has only ever tasted chocolate exactly once. And this item before him looks to be somewhat better than ration-chocolate.
The dwarf laughs heartily. "Take 'em. The old doctor says I need to cut down anyway. Consider that my warm welcome to Oldenburg."
Amara puts them in her pack for while leaving one out. She unwraps it and breaks it into enough pieces for everyone to have some. She then gives the group a piece.
Aneirin grabs one quickly, and wishes for more, but his own generosity makes him ensure there is enough for all. He does not eat his right away, but carefully, lovingly stows it in his pack...
"These will make a nice treat when we need something to liven our mood. In Lohne, when I went to the shop those chocolate bars smelled so good. I had a hard time resisting them." she remembers with a toothy smile.
"I saw you eyeing them more than once." she says while gently nudging Rosa playfully.
The dwarf smirks. "Alright, well, I expect you'd like to get settled in and see the sights. Yes, there are sights."
He draws out a pouch of coins. "Heiger wanted to give you this, since he couldn't before. A hundred coins and that should keep you for a couple days. The Paradies isn't too expensive and there are some cheap restaurants nearby, but good food. I'd suggest the Copper Kettle for starters. You've been eatin' that junk at Lohne for so long, you probably wouldn't know real food if'n it bit you...never mind. There's a good theater if you like jazz music or some plays. The...the...Schöner Traum, it was."
He grins at the halfling. "Let me call my boyo, Ratsome, he'll give you a lift to the Paradies."
Kaplan goes to a telephone and works the rotary dial. "Yep...it's me...ummm, six...uh huh, the Paradies. Be nice to 'em, they're new here. Alright...see you in fifteen."
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Rose smiles and nudges her back, "Yeah....but you should probably hold onto mine for an emergency. You know...in case you need to tame the savage beast in me and all that." She makes a funny voice when she says the part about taming the beast and then she laughs. A real laugh, like the kind she used to have when Alton would be telling one of his silly stories to cheer them up.
Reaching out to take the pouch from him, her eyes a wealth of emotion, she holds onto his rough and calloused hands just a minute or two longer before letting go. "Thank you....for everything you've done for us. Tell Heiger he has our thanks as well, I....I never really expected to get anything from him really.....So...I guess we'll see you tomorrow to start looking for some.....work?"
"That'd be fine," Kaplan says with a smile.
A few moments later, a yellow truck with a checkered stripe pulls up. There several seats bolted in the bed of the truck. A ratfolk with beady eyes hops out of the cab. "Kap'n, you owe me a tune up, she's belchin' more hot air than Magister Weiss. 'Allo, 'allo, what 'ave we 'ere? A buncha young'un's!"
The ratfolk walks up to Rosa. "Name's Ratsome, you've never met a mouse as 'andsome. You look like you're the bossy type. 'Ere's my card. Call me anytime."
You hear the dwarf clear his throat. "Ah, right. So, hop in."
Ratsome gestures to the truck and waits for you all to be seated before getting behind the wheel and driving off. "Like I said, call me anytime. I can get you anywhere around town."
He pulls around and heads up the ramp.
On being seated in the truck Nye begins to feel nervous again. He liked traveling - the autonomous zone of the here-and-now was fine - just the anxiety of the next destination and what he might have to do there got to him.
To think that before, in that terrible place I hated, I was actually accustomed to my life and… comfortable knowing what generally lay in store. Here? I know nothing.
At least Rosa was here. He was beginning to feel more comfortable around the others as well.
Amara jumps on the top of the truck. Holding on with her claws, she enjoys herself as the truck moves along. Even with the brightness of the sun.
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Alton nibbled at his chocolate as he listened to Kaplan and Ratsome talk. He followed the rest of the group into the back of the truck and took a seat towards the cab. "Hey Ratsome what do you know about the Schöner Traum?" Alton called out.
A few moments later, a yellow truck with a checkered stripe pulls up. There several seats bolted in the bed of the truck. A ratfolk with beady eyes hops out of the cab. "Kap'n, you owe me a tune up, she's belchin' more hot air than Magister Weiss. 'Allo, 'allo, what 'ave we 'ere? A buncha young'un's!" The ratfolk walks up to Rosa. "Name's Ratsome, you've never met a mouse as 'andsome. You look like you're the bossy type. 'Ere's my card. Call me anytime." You hear the dwarf clear his throat. "Ah, right. So, hop in." Ratsome gestures to the truck and waits for you all to be seated before getting behind the wheel and driving off. "Like I said, call me anytime. I can get you anywhere around town." He pulls around and heads up the ramp. More to follow in a bit.
Taking the card from him she smiles, her fangs slightly showing gives an impish look to her. "Bossy...me? Nahhh....just slightly "spirited" maybe, but not bossy." She looks over at her friends as if for confirmation of this. Looking back at Ratsom she continues, "My name is Rosalina, but most everyone just calls me Rosa. These are my closest friends," She points them out as she names them off, "Starting here next to me is Mara, then we have Al, Nyy, Vi, and Elle. She's good with machines, our Elle is. Thanks for the ride by the way." She gives him another toothy grin as she saunters outside.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ratsome zips through traffic as he makes his way up the ramp. To your left, you see the wasteland lying in wait, arid and foreboding. The heat from the wasteland can be felt even this far from it. Various shops line the avenue, clockwork men sweeping the sidewalks and lighting the gas lamps as the afternoon comes to a close. Various well-lit shops show off various wares, fancier than you had ever seen in Lohne. Many people walk along the street, some hand in hand. You catch sight of two clockwork horses pulling a gleaming hansom cab near what appears to be a park.
The ratfolk shares various gestures and rude words that you'd never heard before as he zig-zags through traffic, his truck belching steam like a fabled dragon. The engine chugs as he keeps the accelerator flush against the floor of the cab. After a thrilling (or frightening, depending on your point of view) ride, he pulls up to a modest looking single-story hotel. A quaint wooden sign identifies it as 'The Paradies'. "'Ere's your stop. Don't be strangers."
Stunned into silence at all the amazing things she's seen so far, she almost doesn't realize that they've stopped. It takes Nye shaking her shoulder to snap her out of it. Shaking her head for a second to clear it, she holds out her hand to Ratsom. "Thanks again for the ride. We'll be sure to call if we need another ride."
-Posted with Wayfinder
The ratfolk gives Rosa a firm handshake before speeding off. Several people walk past you but pay you no heed.
The adjustment from fantasy to reality was not being easy for Vivian. Everywhere she looked she saw wonders, and with every turn a dismal reality that took the polish off the stories and journals. 300,000 scambling to survive? How were they ever going to make it here.
She quietly tags along in a bit of a haze.
Eleanor nudges Vi out of her daze. "Not all it's was cracked up to be huh?" she asks solemnly.
Nye disembarks the rude conveyance, checking that every bone and joint really is sore. He looks at the building in front of them, then around at the street scene. So quiet and moderate compared to the sweat and bustle of the owed tier, or the grim institution they all recently left.
"So. Here we are. The Paradies? Sounds foreign. But then, here, to me everything is.
Nye turns to Alton, having overheard the halfling's question to Ratsome.
"As for the Schoner Traum, sounds like a Bad Dream to me, if "Traum" means "dream". Not sure what Schoner means...[/b]" Nye smiles, but the effect is somewhat muted.
"Oh, that place..." Ratsome muses, avoiding another car. "It's a pretty nice place, if you're more artsy than fartsy. The name means 'Beautiful Dream'. Ha! Like watching shows'll help!"
Rosa stands next to Nye. Touching a couple fingers to his hand for some measure of comfort. "Let's go on in huh? See what these rooms are like?" She sounds excited but nervous at the same time.
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As you enter the doors of the Paradies, you see a clockwork man in a red vest and a small hat. "Willkommen-im-Paradies. Who-do-I-have-the-pleasure-of-serving-this-fine-day?"
Eleanor nudges Vi out of her daze. "Not all it's was cracked up to be huh?" she asks solemnly.
"Not even close" she replies forlornly.
"My name is Rosalina Luri, Heigel told us that he had made some reservations on our behalf?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
The clockwork man whirs for a moment. "Party-of-six. Reservation-by-Kommandant-Heiger-for-one-night."
The bellhop bows toward Rosa. "Miss-Luri-may-I-take-any-of-your-belongings-to-your-room?"
"Umm...no thank you. If you'll just show us up to our rooms please, we can take our own things. We don't have much anyways."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Nye declines the offer also, shouldering his pack and holding his unwieldy longspear lengthwise in his gauntlet.
The bellhop nods, its mechanical joints creaking a bit. It walks to a nearby elevator and opens it, holding the door open for everyone.
Rosa steps in and waits for the others.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Aneirin takes more than a few moments to somehow get his longspear in the elevator, all the while juggling his pack, smiling and acting as nonchalant as possible for the benefit of the mechanical - as if their fully armed and armored party routinely gamboled about such exalted environments as the carpeted interior of the Paradies, no matter how grand, or not, it might be...
The elevator stops on the next floor and the bellhop waits for you to disembark before showing you to your rooms. "We-have-many-amenities. City-guides-a-library-and-complimentary-meals-among-them."
He stops before a door. "Miss-Luri-you-and-your-group-have-rooms-two-oh-six-through-two-eleven. You-may-call-us-by-dialing-zero-on-your-telephone-in-the-room. Enjoy-your-stay."
The mechanical man tips his hat at the group and returns to the elevator.
Just as the mechanical leaves Nye asks it for directions to the library…
"First-floor-to-your-right-as-you-leave-the-elevators-sir."
Aneirin first finds his room. Sumptuous privacy and space!!! He throws his pack down and carefully sets his longspear behind the door, at the ready. Then closes the door, and takes in the expanse of luxury. A bed. Polished wooden floor. Rugs. A telephone!!!
He hardly knows where to begin, but then the bed beckons. He lies down spreadeagled on it feeling the plushness of the springs in the mattress, the welcome weave of soft fabric. He wonders what Rosa makes of all this material….
Then, assured his own space is really his own, he leaves, carefully locks his door, pockets the well wrought key and heads to the library, stopping momentarily to alert Rosa where he will be…
Researching the rise of the mechanicals and their place as replacement for the teeming thousands in Oldenburg, and any other information gleaned along the way:
They can't be cheaper to run than biologicals, so why are they so prevalent? Is it a free-will/control thing?…
A young woman with pale skin with delicate purple tattoos along her arms and rich brown hair approaches Nye. "Can I help you find something?"
Vivan takes in the suit with a bit more animation than previously displayed. Though still disoriented, the beauty of the amenities softens the blow somewhat, tempered by the knowledge that they only have it for a night and could never afford it on their own.
"I need to get out of these clothes and into a hot bath." she exclaims, looking around the suite.
Aneirin is momentarily stunned, both for having dropped the book and stepped on the spine with an audible *crack* and for suddenly being surprised by this apparition. He tries valiantly to keep his composure, but the tattoos on her arms are most diverting.
"Hi, uh, my na-, Uh…." he manages before finally blurting out "Yes. I appear to have a facility for creating a wreckage of the printed form. [smiles weakly, holds up Exhibit "A"] I was trying to find out a little bit of the history of the mechanicals in Oldenburg - there seem to be a rather lot of them, doing a varied cross section of mundane tasks - and well, there are also teeming mobs of unemployed - down below, you know, the tiers and all that - and, well, [scratches ear nervously] I sort of, y'see wanted to know just why that was, if possible, do you think…." He trails off uselessly, hoping the woman saves him...
"Ah," the woman says, raising her eyebrows slightly. She takes the book from him gingerly. "Then you'd like to read Herr Faust's 'Treatise on the Man-Machine'."
She replaces the book Nye dropped and pulls another from the shelf. "Here you are."
Aneirin takes the book carefully, as if it were a holy relic.
"F-faust. Of course. Many thanks. And - sorry." he offers a shrug in recompense.
Finding a suitable chair near good light, Nye settles in to read...
"Don't worry. I see the newness in your eyes, young man," the woman says. "Enjoy your book."
She departs from the library, quietly. After a good hour of reading, Nye determines the crux of Faust's dissertation: "The mind is the strongest part of all organic races, thus that is what must be honed and cultivated. The mechanical man is the stepping stone to an intellectual utopia, where the sweat of a person's brow in not sweat of toil, but the sweat of countless ideas being conjured into existence."