vatheon | First Adaptation (Open)

Who: Ashraf al-Mansur and anyone
Where: A café in the middle district
When: Sunday afternoon
Style: I'm starting in prose but am fine switching to action
Status: Completely open

Raf had found himself sopping wet at a quiet moment at the fountain. Finding a town, an apartment, food to eat, had all been easy, and now he considered it not immediately apparent that he'd just arrived. He'd set up in a café on his own, SFC sitting in front of him although his attention was at the moment on a seemingly blank space near where people walked by.

How's the coffee? Tiri asked. No one but Raf could hear the arctic fox, but no one but him could see it either, and Raf was used to both facts. Looking like he was talking to someone who wasn't there was something he'd grown used to because of Tiri, who was entirely a product of his own head. It was the sort of thing he hadn't been self-conscious about for over ten years. It looks alarmingly like coffee for something that can't really be coming from the actual plant.

Raf shrugged. He'd grown used to El Iskandriya's coffee, and while this was certainly coffee it lacked both the smell and taste of El Isk's. He suspected he would get used to this too in time, however.

What are you going to do now? Tiri asked.

"What do people do here anyway?" It was vocal because it had to be to talk to Tiri, and while Raf wasn't unaware that there was someone passing by, he also didn't care if they overheard. And a rhetorical question was a rhetorical question, them not being able to see Tiri or have heard what prompted it didn't really matter.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And the person passing by was one who doesn't think anything of stopping to answer a stranger's question.

"All kinds of things," Cielo answered back. For him, though, he found many things more interesting than others would. Having been in Vatheon for a while and one of the things he does is travel it and travel it often, Cielo had seen many people, even if he did not know all their names. However, he hadn't seen this person. "You new here?"

Raf hesitated for a moment over the question. Harmless enough, but having it known that he was new here could provide a future difficulty. On the other hand, outright lying didn't seem to serve much advantage. If he was obviously new here then he was obviously new, and he'd have to roll with it. "New enough to not have a routine of things to do yet," he answered, the pause before he did so nothing noticeable.

"Perhaps you have some suggestions." It had, after all, been a while since Raf had the kind of freedom he seemed to have stumbled into in this city. He didn't really trust it, but he didn't have to in order to see where it lead.

New enough was a good enough answer for Cielo. After all, he didn't particularly mind if this guy was new or had been here for a while and somehow escaped his notice. He took a moment of his own before answering. He's aware by now that what he finds fun and fascinating is mundane and boring to someone else.

"There's an amusement park," he said. "It's in the northwest of the bubble."

Which reminds him that he wants, no needs to take the Tribe there. Or at least just Gale.

An amusement park? That might be a decent place to take his niece, other than the fact that she wouldn't actually be comfortable there and would likely much prefer to stay home. Raf hoped that Zara was taking care of her, he hadn't seen any clear way to leave this place.

"Thanks for the suggestion," he said, although he had no plans to follow through on it. The information might still be useful at some point, and he gained absolutely nothing by simply refusing it.

"I suppose I was thinking more along the lines of day to say occupation, however."

"That depends on what you like and what you're good at, ja?" Cielo knew better than to give occupational advice when he didn't know the first thing about the person. When he first came to Vatheon, he didn't even know what a job was in the first place. It's kind of amazing when he thinks about himself eight months ago and before that.

He'd been missing out.

"Or if you don't know, you try lots of things. Plenty of people are looking for help."

What he was good at... Raf did what he was thrust into. He'd been working on a PhD dissertation on alternative histories while in prison, but in El Iskandriya he'd stumbled into being chief of detectives. It wasn't so much in his mind a matter of interest or doing what he was good at. He could do almost anything. His skillset was being flexible, fitting in the space he was given. It didn't apply when he had an open range of choices. But little in his life provided a precedent for believing things were as open as they looked.

"It sounds like something I'll have to sort for myself, then. Unless you're one of the people who could use help?"

"Ah, no not me. I do helping." Cielo wasn't a business owner. He didn't even know the first thing about running a business. He's not that smart and his content enough right where he is. Someone tells him what they need done and he does it. Very satisfying. "You'll find something."

"Yes, I don't imagine that it will be an issue." It was the matter of finding the right kind of something that was of some concern. That and the fact that he had people he cared about now and there was nothing to be done for them, since they weren't here.

"How did you find yourself here?" Raf asked, since he might as well. It seemed clear that the man, while he certainly wasn't a native of El Isk, also wasn't a native of whatever this underwater land was called. He adjusted his sunglasses: while they would serve to hide emotion he didn't need them to. The question was something he felt as casual about as he portrayed.

First Adaptation (Open)

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