Bakersfield, Old Town
5 Bakemes, 333
Fate
5 Bakemes, 333
Turns out six hours is a long time to spend on a moving cart-like vehicle filled with people and livestock, noise and smell, a cacophony of conversations and laughter and wailing or fussing babies and sneezing and yawning and bleating or braying or growling or clucking or barking (usually from an animal, but occasionally from a person).
(This Go-Go has several Templar milita recruitment posters pasted along them. Three of the strapping youths have mustaches, beards, unibrows, armpit hair, leg hair, and/or stray pubic hair painted on them. Clearly it was intended to be vulgar, but mostly people seem to ignore it. Another has been completely covered in bright colors that aren't at all true to life. All this is, of course, in addition to the other artistic flourishes that cover the Go-Go from wheel to rooftop.)
Kelly can barely stand it for two. It's not long after he meets up with Aaren, Daina, Slavina, and Krissie at the designated stop and boards the Go-Go that he folds nearly in half, his elbows resting on his knees as he pushes the heels of his hands in his eyes, even with Aaren expertly weaves his calm song and learning song together. (He stubbornly refuses any other help, herb-based or otherwise.) After an hour he moves to the Go-Go driver and offers to help with something, anything—an offer which is met with a firm, repeated, "Please go back to your seat, sir," regardless of what he says. Frustrated at not even being listened to, he then moves to the roof and spends maybe fifteen minutes up there before coming back down to sit beside the main group again, returning to his original plan.
Outside, all manner of buildings pass, each done up with different murals, each with different colors and styles and subjects. It's almost as if the entire story of Bakersfield has been painted upon its buildings. The murals on the buildings get considerably fresher once the inner gates pass, and certainly more lavish and exquisite, some featuring metal, wood, stone, glass, or clay sculptures, some featuring intricate carvings. For the shops encased in glass on the lower floor, some are painted with a strange, translucent paint, so that one might see the insides through different color filters; and one has an entire wall of paneled stained glass murals.
Krissie, who is enrapt at the sight of Old Town (never has she seen it in her life, but she knows the landmarks and their histories very well), gently urges Kelly out of his shell to look out the window every so often, which luckily tends to prove awe-inspiring and pleasantly educational for the poor guy.
It's late afternoon when the Go-Go reaches the stop. Kelly's eyes are red and watering from the pressure. Krissie, on the other hand, can hardly keep her own eyes on the path at hand. It's not too terrible a distraction for her, though, as she's able to navigate the streets well enough to lead everyone to what was historically known as Regency Hall.
The lobby is huge, with a massive mosaic tile floor, an undertaking that took several lifetimes judging by the differing styles and materials used. There's so much activity around and so little guidance that it takes a good half-hour of exploring before the group finds a map of the facility posted in a completely unintuitive corner of the place.
At the entrance to the basement, there are several booths which somewhat resemble Chlovak customs. Luckily the entry process isn't as extensive as it is in Domochlovek.
"Ah, here you are," says the agent at the desk after Krissie gives her credentials, his finger pausing somewhere down a page of a massive catalog. "Kristiina Laukkanen." He lifts his brows in a quarter-hearted effort of sarcastic surprise. "Mother of the Lost." The word 'shocker' doesn't leave him, but it can practically be heard anyway. He looks up. "And four guests." He makes a little mark somewhere in his booth, then returns, giving Krissie a periwinkle ribbon pin. "To be returned on your departure," he says.
She looks at it, puzzled, but merely says, "Thanks," and takes it.
The fellow pulls up a stamp pad and stamp, the same color as the ribbon, then looks up, his eyes falling on the one currently closest to Krissie.
Daina
Daina glances with some concern to Kelly and offers "I could take a little of the warmth from your cheeks and neck, maybe even out your temperature a bit, help with the .. " she runs her hand lightly up and down her own face.
Aaren
Aaren, on the Go-Go, sung her sitting-still song for herself, even as she sings calm songs and learning songs and healing songs and whatever else.
She's delighted when they finally get off, and blown away by the massive mosaic on the floor. Her songs duck and weave, rising with exitment. The walls are lined with velvet. She has to listen to it for a few moments before helping in the map search.
Aaren is extreamly surprised, and very happy, when it turns out to be so easy to get in. She holds out her hand gleefully for a stamp.
Slavina
As they travel through Old Town, Slavina periodically pulls Krissie over to one side or the other of the GoGo to point out some particularly cool landmark and tell her the story behind it, or some cool fact she thinks Krissie will particularly like.
Once they're standing in the lobby, she cools down a little from the vibrating excitement of the GoGo. She sticks her hand out for stamping. "Thanks, man! I am so excited, I've wanted to see the repository ever since I was a kid....." She glances over her shoulder at the group and says in a conspiratorial stage whisper, "He doesn't think unattended children are qualified to look at relics."
Daina
Diana presents herself for stamping but tugs her shirt slightly to one side to expose part of her clavicle shoulder area instead of her hand. She gives a beaming smile to the clerk.
Fate
"I'm too hot?" Kelly asks, a little bleary, a little dubious, as Daina gives her offer. Again he moves to rub at his presently nonexistent goatee.
The attendant at the booth eyes Slavina, slightly wary, but doesn't say anything as he moves to stamp everyone. He hardly seems surprised by Daina's wordless request, granting it boredly.
Kelly, the last one to be processed, looks between Aaren, Slavina, and Daina, hesitant and clearly uncertain about the workings of this mysterious ritual.
The attendant begins to recite, "Hand, please," in twelve different languages, spilling through them so quickly and methodically and with that it almost sounds like a single, slightly irritated word. Kelly's expression goes blank, as if he doesn't understand, and then he offers his cheek, completely straight-faced. The clerk doesn't bat an eyelash as he stamps Kelly's cheek. Close enough, apparently.
Daina
Daina sort of gives the clerk a -look- when he gets short with Kelly but dismisses it as minor. She smiles to Kelly "Yeah you look like.. ya know too much blood in the big head at the moment"
Fate
He shrugs a shoulder. "If you think it'll help."
Aaren
Aaren leads the way through the large, shadowed door way, singing her thanks to the clerk as she passes.
Slavina
"Krissie, thank you so much!" Slavina hovers near the door until Krissie goes through, and then follows right behind her.
Daina
Daina attempts to take away just the heat in his face and eyes. but stops immediately if it seems to be doing something horrid, or if she's tried something like this before and failed she might ask Aarren to sing him less face flushed?
Fate
Krissie, her children-herding instincts strong, ushers the group through the doorway. "Well, sure." She lets out a little breath of a laugh. "Kind of hard to deny the Tsarbog." (It does not escape her just how outrageous that sounds out of context. To that, she offers a little shake of her head, as if telling herself she'll deal with it later.)
Upon entry, the stairs descend downward to a large, elaborately carved archway. There's a long, long, long desk with sections labeled "Requests", "Registration", "Pickup", "Dropoff", and "Help Desk" just inside the archway. Around the room are many stairwells, and the floor is occupied by glass-encased displays of various artifacts, with handy little multi-lingual labels to describe what they are.
In the midst of the process of his face being de-flushed, Kelly's eyes go wide and the blood drains from his cheeks in one great rush. He beelines for the nearest display, examining it with his mouth unabashedly open like a little kid. His gaze flicks about, watching some unseen thing or other about it. And then, after hardly settling, he moves to the next one.
Krissie glances as he does this, and looks mightily tempted to take a page from his book, but instead she motions the remaining people in the group to the "Pickup" desk. The clerk there looks up, considerably brighter and friendlier than the fellow outside. (Which, granted, isn't saying very much.)
"Do you have anything in your records for pickup under the name..." She glances over the group briefly. "Arechavaleta? Aaren, maybe?"
"Let me take a look..." The clerk sifts through the records swiftly. "Yes! Authorized by one..." The clerk looks up at them again, clearly startled. "Tsarbog." He clears his throat and looks back down. "You want Floor 4, Wing... AX?" He shakes his head. "That has to be a clerical error. We don't have a Wing AX on Floor 4." Then he pauses again. "Oh." He laughs uneasily, then looks up, his finger planted on the page. "It says here under 'Comments', 'This is not a clerical error.'" Then he takes some kind of card, writes something down on it, and hands it to Krissie. "There you go, Miss Aaren. Just take that stairwell," he points, "to Floor 4 and give this card to one of the curators there. They'll show you to where your package is being held."
Krissie opens her mouth to correct him, then decides to let it stand. She turns back to the group, looks to the displays, and asks, "How much of a rush are you in?"
Daina
Daina eeks and thinks it's he doing but no.. he's seeing something. She follows over and questions "What's up?" her gaze darting over the two displays he admired. Carefully feeling for the warmth of the areas and if they're just normal or if anything is cooooool
Slavina
"Not so much of a rush we can't do some looking." Slavina grins at Krissie. "What did you want to see?"
Fate
(To Aaren)
Each of these artifacts has elaborate melodies and even their own little cacophonies. There's a lot of history behind them, some more than others. One—a coat—is even verging on a big song.
Aaren
Aaren rushes over with Kelly to read the information, since hearing it alone doesn't tell her very much. But she is pulled back into the orbit of the counter when Krissie heads for it looking offical.
At the Tsarbog's name, Aaren breaks into a grin.
Fate
Kelly quickly flits to another display. "They're all so... Colorful," he says, almost breathless, to Daina.
"Everything," Krissie admits, no longer holding back an expression of longing.
(This gets a private little gratified smile from the clerk.)
Daina
Daina hmmms softly and looks around for anyone that might stop her from a few tokes... she wants to see if she can see all these colors too~!
Fate
There's a sign which says, "NO SMOKING".
Slavina
Slavina leans over Kelly's shoulder to take a closer look at the thing he's looking at. Since Kelly tends to look at very interesting things.
Daina
Ignores the sign and slowly starts easing towards a corner away from other people. Sneak
Aaren
Aaren swings herself over to a peice of armour, pinned with a helmet and a belt in a glass display case. The armor is made of thick, black fur, and there is some kind of rune on the front. She turns her voices to copying the complex, almost big, nature of the song.
Fate
Roll for sneaking.
Slavina
Slavina "ooooohs" over the petrified beetle Kelly's looking at, then grabs Krissie's hand and pulls her over to the same case that caught Aaren's interest. She leans in so close her nose almost touches the glass, right next to the yellowed fangs of the helmet. "Krissie, what's this?" She whispers.
Daina
Daina can't help the slight.. curl of her lips as she evades everyone. She'd take a moment to pick out a half sized joint and do her best to quick toke that biz. Being careful -af- about sparks
Fate
"The wolfskin armor of what was once known as the Bakersfield militia," says Krissie, awed. The next part she reads off the info-card, as much to edify herself as Slavina. "'Originally worn by the founder, Captain Maria Jiminez. It's said that she singlehandedly killed a dire wolf during the Great Siege of Bakersfield. Ken himself witnessed this and was impressed, so he commissioned Star-Bringer to craft armor for Captain Jiminez with the dire wolf's skin. It later became the symbol of the Captain of what was once the Bakersfield militia, before it was disbanded in 197.'"
Not a single soul seems to notice Daina's covert toking.
Aaren
Aaren nods. "I can hear them both, and someone else too." She's singing the song with all of her voices now.
Slavina
"Whoa." Slavina breaths. "I've heard that story so many times.... but the wolf is so big and the captain was so small." She eyes the length of the garment - figuring whoever it was made for must have been an inch or two shorter than herself. Her expression goes a little distant as she gets caught up in alterations to the poems she already knows, but she drags herself back to reality and takes a closer look at the stitchwork and design. This was literally sewn by a god, after all.
Aaren
"Listen," Aaren says, "It even sounds like Star-Bringer's drying lines!" And Aaren changes her song, to sing the peices of the armor that sound the most like Star-Bringer in a duet with the song of the winter arora.
Daina
Daina still wears that smirk and her features have become at least a touch wolfish around the edges as she rubs her finger over her lower lip and tries to just peek through the veil here.
Fate
There's definitely a lot to look at. You can almost see all the history etched into each of the artifacts, the impressions flickering like firelight at night on the wall of your home.
Daina
(To Fate)
Can I feel out .. what is older.. kind of wander the library and search out the oldest place. ... actually do that if needed . Can Frankie giude her to the place he was talkin about before she does any of htat
Fate
(To Daina)
You could wander the Repository, but it's a huge place. Taking a stairwell that isn't the one you were instructed to go down will lead you to a completely different floor, out of sight of everyone else.
And... um... which place was Frankie talking about?
Daina
(To Fate)
am I wrong that there are places that should go somewhere but don't...
Fate
(To Daina)
No... which one did Daina want to go to? Just, all of them?
Daina
(To Fate)
right now, just the closest ven diagrammed with the one that has the least traffic around it
Fate
(To Daina)
Okay.
Daina
(To Fate)
sneaky woof needs to roll again?
Fate
(To Daina)
Is she trying to sneakily have Frankie do the things?
Daina
(To Fate)
yah well to see what place has the least traffic and then to lead her to it
Fate
(To Daina)
Okay. Go ahead and roll Per + Stealth again.
Daina
(To Fate)
4
Slavina
Slavina's eyes get wider and wider as she studies the seams on the cuirasse. "Krissie!" She tugs at Krissie's sleeve. "Look! The stitches are so small, you can't even see them! And look at that embroidery!" Slavina spends another moment circling the display, before flittering off to the next thing that catches her attention.
Daina
Talking quietly to Frankie Daina asks him to stake out the least heavily trafficked and closest mystery wall, and then lead her to it.
Fate
Okay folks, roll to notice Daina sneaking off on her own, vs 4.
Aaren
3
Slavina
3
Fate
Aaand Kelly got a 4. Rolling a dice for a tie. Odds notice, even not notice.
It's 1. He notices.
Kelly distractedly does a double take when he sees Frankie come out. Then he glances over everyone else's way. When they don't seem to notice, he moves over to them and asks, "Hey, is Daina just gonna go and pick up the thing while we wait here? Is that the plan?"
Aaren
"No." Aaren sings, her eyes closed and her mind on the sound of the gods. "We're all going together to the fourth floor. Krissie has a note she'll give to the Vir who is in charge of that floor."
Then she twitches a frown. "Why?"
Slavina
"Whoa, they have a piece of amber that came from the old world... it's blue!" Slavina's voice drifts in from around the corner of a distant display case.
Aaren
Aaren blinks. "That's not amber!" Aaren sings to Slavina. "I don't know what it is, but it's not amber!"
Daina
Feels a tail twitch into place and as she walks the halls, stairs, into small isle and once right around a corner for some reason. All the while she keeps a faintly... smug, thanks to sneaking and happy thanks to drugs expression.
Slavina
Slavina makes a surprised sound. "This material, known as 'el plastico,' was a common building material in the old world. While its properties are most similar to resin, it was distilled from an unknown mineral." She reads off the card, just loud enough to carry to where Krissie and Aaren are standing. "You're right as always, Renina!"
Fate
"Because she's..." Kelly motions over to where she was, only to notice that she already slipped away. He briefly sings his 'Oh.' song. "She left."
Krissie tears herself free from the display to look where Kelly motioned. Then she blanches. Her mouth opens to speak, but, not clear on what she should even say, the best she can manage is a little noise.
Kelly notices the mini-singularity forming in Krissie's gut and offers, in a deceptively chill fashion, "I can go find her. You can all go get the thing." Briefly he checks: "Meet you on the... Fourth Floor?" Upon the last two words, his tune matches one of Aaren's voices, his question one of confirmation.
Meanwhile, Frankie slides from stair-step shadow to stair-step shadow as Daina quickly makes her descent to Floor 2.
Slavina
Slavina is about to blithely agree when she sees Krissie's expression. "Why not all go together?" She asks, brightly. "We can pick up the box after, right?"
Aaren
Aaren stifles a sigh. Krissie is clearly in distress here. And, to be fair, Daina just might like, break some glass to get mystic seeds, or decide some ancient and vulnerable whatsamihuset needed more color. Those were defeintly things that would get Krissie in trouble.
"That makes sense." Aaren sings. Then she raises her voice. "Daina!" She sings Daina's name to carry as far as possible, while not being loud enough to actually hurt ears. "Daina wait up!"
Daina
do I hear that?
Fate
Ayup.
Daina
Daina comes up short and the whiskers on her cheeks that just appeared vanished as did the tail. She looks guilty and waits patiently for the others. She smiles in an apologetic and yet still a little prideful salute to the others when they are in sight.
Aaren
Aaren waves when they are close enough. "Sorry," she sings, "But Krissie might get in trouble if we get too far apart."
Slavina
Slavina sprints over to Daina once she's in view. "Did you find something cool?!" She grins and pops her eyebrows up like a kid who just spotted a candy stall.
Daina
Daina pffs "no.. well not yet.. " frowns "you guys wanted to look around I can wait .. I just got the idea and then it go me, ya know how that goes right?" smiling to the others as she scratches lightly at one cheek.
Fate
Kelly offers no protest. There was no reason not to go together, after all. In short order, everyone catches up with Daina.
Krissie, visibly relieved, offers an apologetic smile Daina's way. "I can sympathize, but I don't really know what the procedures are here. So... let's please stick together." She pauses, glancing around the stairwell. "That being said, I'm beginning to think I should've scheduled more than two days away."
Daina
Daina relaxes faintly as the others don't seem angry with her she pauses "well I've got some spots and the one I was headin' towards isn't really busy right now?" offering as a possible direction to go in.
Slavina
"Daina!" Slavina grabs Daina by the shoulders. "Can you send Frankie to give a note to Krissie's boss?" She looks back at Krissie. "You can stay with me for the extra days! How much time do you want to spend?"
Daina
Daina startles a little at the grab. "Wooooah buy me a churro first" she jests quietly before giving an affirmative nod to the frankie post request. Providing they give him proper payment soon.
Fate
Consternation and longing war within Krissie. "I..." She looks between Slavina and Daina. "I don't —" She takes a moment to gather herself. "I'd rather not spring a last-minute extended stay on Toni and Stevie." She considers, rubbing her neck, mouth twisted to one side as the internal struggle complexifies.
Slavina
Slavina lets Daina go, unfazed by the joke. She grins at Daina's affirmation, but the grin fades when Krissie responds.
"Oh." Slavina lets out a deep breath. Responsibilities. Those are important. "Right. Well.... maybe we can figure out a way for you to make another trip later?"
Fate
"Now that's just extravagant," Krissie half-jokes. Then she shakes her head. "I don't know how much money you make, Slavina, but lodging here is not cheap." Then she offers Slavina a smile. "Once I tell Toni everything about this place we can probably put together a budget to all come together in a few years."
Aaren
"Wow." Aaren sings, at the amount of time. "How much is lodging?"
To Daina, "Where were you headed?"
Fate
Krissie thinks for a moment and ballparks a range which would pay for several months' rent in her apartment, just to stay for as many days. (This was secondhand from another priest, though, a young man who was unmarried, without children, and worked a second job—which is to say, someone with the disposable income and time to spare. He apparently claimed they were budget prices.)
Daina
Daina smiles a little and explains the spot they were headed to, second floor. "Frankie was helping me sneak super well."
Aaren
"Does it have to be that one? I think we'll be going through one on the forth floor." Aaren responds to Daina
At Krissie's explination, Aaren gives a small frown. "Well," She sings, "You can have some of our money if you want. We have lots."
Daina
Daina shrugs a little and questions if Frankie thinks they can get to the fourth floor as a group and not be.. like the show
Slavina
Slavina whistles. "That's a lot of money. I think. Hm." She taps a finger on her bottom lip. "I bet I can find someone who'd let you stay for less. Lots of people up here like to hire private tutors, you could probably swap lessons for rent. Anyways, we'll figure something out!" She is unperturbed by the supposed obstacle.
Fate
Krissie finds herself caught between the two offers. "I couldn't—you don't—that's a lot—I mean..." She looks between Aaren and Slavina, overwhelmed and not entirely certain which one she's actually trying to address at any given time.
"Yes. Take the stairs."
At Frankie's voice, Krissie starts.
Kelly, clearly not needed in this conversation, begins to pace up and down the stairwell.
Slavina
Slavina glances at Daina and Frankie, then at Krissie, then she tugs lightly on Krissie's sleeve and tilts her head toward the corner, giving Krissie a 'follow me?' look.
Daina
Daina smiles happily and gives Frankie scritches that likely mean little to him but that she needs to do. "Thanks m' sgàil "
Aaren
Aaren looks around, singing happily, still trying to find a good way to combine the song of the wolf-armor with the song of the aruora to bring out Star-Bringer's song without actually bringing out Star-Bringer's song.
A moment later she finds the stairs to floor four and calls the group to follow her in the correct direction. She's not really trying to hurry them along, but if Daina wants to go see the thing and no one else objects, they may as well get moving. (Before Daina decides to wander off again.)
Fate
Still overwhelmed and a little flustered, Krissie follows Slavina.
Slavina
Slavina takes her just a bit off to the side, and proceeds to have a conversation so dull no one would possibly care to even listen. Well... Slavina's not putting herself asleep. But goodness knows how.
"Um, Krissie.... I didn't really think about it before but have you given Daina any ground rules?" She bites her lip a little and glances at the goddess.
Fate
Krissie gives Slavina a puzzled look. "She's not a ch..." She doesn't finish that statement. Then slightly alarmed concern presses at her brow, and she looks at Slavina all but asking her if that is, in fact, necessary.
Slavina
Slavina laughs a little and grimaces. "She doesn't really go by the same rules as human people, you know? So... um... you might want to let her know to be on good behaviour. And what behavior counts as good." Slavina shifts back and forth a little. "And also maybe that your reputation hinges on it, since you vouched for her. I think she'd take that pretty seriously."
Fate
Dread grips Krissie. "But I don't even know how to begin telling her what behavior counts as good. I don't..." Krissie takes a moment to take a deep breath breath to quell her growing anxiety. "I have no idea which of my assumptions aren't hers. And which of hers aren't mine." She glances Daina's way, worry stringing her taut, even if it's under control right now. Then she swallows and looks back to Slavina. "What do you mean by my reputation?"
Slavina
"Well, if she causes too much of a fuss they might take away your master-priest privilages." Slavina says, as gently as she can. "Do you want me to try and tell her?"
Fate
This almost physically hits her. The cadence of her pace falters in a way that isn't quite stumbling. "You think it would come to that, with Daina?" Her voice is low, level, controlled.
Slavina
"Probably not." Slavina shrugs her shoulders up, but leaves her hands by her sides. "But... well, the first time she came to bakersfeild, she nearly killed me by accident, and maybe brought horrible misfortune on my family. And then later she said something that got me in huge trouble with my grandfather. But she was only eight then. She's probably less unpredictable now?"
Fate
Krissie is silent for a moment, gaze fixed on the floor, as she shores herself up. "I should tell her." She looks to Slavina. "But if you would like to be my backup, I'd welcome the help."
Slavina
"Of course. Lead on, Maestra!" Slavina bows and sweeps a hand toward the hallway.
Slavina ends the conversation with a bow and a flourish, and then they rejoin the group. In short order, they proceed to the "Floor 4" stairwell, passing many interesting exhibits on the way (and only stopping at a few of them).
Fate
With a drastically changed demeanor, Krissie makes use of her longer stride to draw up apace with Daina. "Daina." She takes a breath. "Please forgive the lack of preamble, here, but before you... go off to follow another idea... I think you should be aware that if something happens to anything or anyone here due to someone I'm responsible for," she brings a hand up to the periwinkle ribbon pin, pointing it towards Daina's be-stamped clavicle, "I could lose my privileges and entitlements as a master priest." She opens the floor a little to address everyone. "Please check in with me first before..." She trails off a moment, searching for a good term. "... doing something that isn't strictly looking."
Aaren
Aaren's song faulters, skips, and then turns to singing her happy song. "Wait, does singing count as looking?"