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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 14, 2007 14:02:07 GMT -5
"Yes I've been to Kahmden. Though my mom used to live in a more well traveled part of the Forest." Zane said with a smile. His mom had been on the route closet to the Diamond palace. He was used to the well traveled roads and constant bustle of people. Even if the bustle in the forest was a lot less, he couldn't imagine a tiny part of the forest.
Frankly, he would never be prepared for her questions. It didn't matter what she said or did, he couldn't understand how small of a town she came from. Even when he lived at the Lakes with Dad there were always tourists or sailors or something to prevent them from being completely secluded.
Small just boggled the sparrow's mind. However, he would answer the questions as best he could without laughing. He just had to remember his manners.
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Post by Greenie on Dec 14, 2007 14:54:16 GMT -5
Well traveled? There was such a thing in Kahmden? If there was, Vessie certainly hadn't been to it--though that much was probably obvious just by looking at her. "Well. Just so you know what I mean.. The town I.. lived in.. had three burrows--which are like small houses, by the way--a post office, and a tavern." She paused with a rueful smile. Her "town" 's tavern was hardly even that--it sold alcohol, but that was about it. "If you needed to buy something, you had to go to a nearby town. Most of those, at least, were bigger.
Now, what was there she wanted to understand.. other than everything? Vessie did her best to pick out a few specific questions. "Uh, okay, so, how many people actually live around here? And where do they all live? They can't all fit in these building thingies!"
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 14, 2007 15:06:35 GMT -5
Small? That was microscopic. Zane couldn't even imagine that few people on one general area. That was just mind boggling.
Did she really just ask that question? Rattling off the actual number of people who lived in Capital City was pointless. The number was even too big for Zane to really comprehend beyond just a number. "A lot of people live here. I don't know the exact number but it's not really that important. People do live in the buildings around us. There are these things called apartments. You separate one building into various living compartments and different people or families live in them. Some people live outside of Capital City and just stay in Inns for a while."
The sparrow really hoped that this made sense to Ves. He wasn't used to explaining everyday things to people. It was a completely new challenge. "This is making sense right?"
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Post by Greenie on Dec 16, 2007 16:28:48 GMT -5
Vessa almost burst out laughing at the horrified expression on his face. He thought she was weird for not understanding the city, but small towns were far too simple for that! Half a person and a fifth of a bander per square mile.. what was complicated about that? She imagined he'd probably not understand what to do with pillows at a table the same way she hadn't understood the chair.. which was kind of funny to think about, actually.
"Apart.. ments?" She carefully repeated the word. Apartments. It sounded like.. parting ments, whatever a ment was. Like mint? Why would you name a building after mint? This place was just weird, that's what it was. And they seperated the building? "Oh, like an hostel? A bunch of people living in the same building, just not temporarily?"
She was still confused, but brushed it off. It wasn't easy for the ferret to not understand things--she'd been living under the same conditions for so long that an abrupt change had left her quite disoriented. "Yeah, enough for now, at least."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 17, 2007 13:48:03 GMT -5
(( OOC: Make up whatever you want about what happened, I don't mind a bit <3 ))
Oh wow. That was just amazing. Zane was in complete and utter shock about this one. How could anyone be so sheltered? What that even the right word for it? "It's sort of like a hostel. Except you have your own room, running water, and all that. You pay for it monthly or yearly depending on what you work out with your landlord."
Did she actually understand a word he was saying? He had no idea what to use in a case like this. Oh god, did she even have money to stay in Capital City? The thought sent a chill down the sparrows spine. At least he was giving her a meal and helping her out to some degree?
"What else do you have questions about?" Zane asked as he fiddled with a salad fork in front of him. He had another question for her though,
"Where do you plan on staying the night?"
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Post by Greenie on Dec 17, 2007 15:54:06 GMT -5
"Wha?" Vessatha had no idea what a landlord was. Thankfully she did understand the concept of running water.. she wasn't sure she could utilize it, but she had seen it done! See, not everything was completely foreign! "Okay." She did her best to sound like she had any idea what he was talking about.. because it didn't really seem like he knew how to explain it if she didn't. It was best to just move on and have everyone fake their comprehension.
"What do all these people do? There can't possibly be enough jobs for everyone here.. can there?" Vessie was used to there being roughly five jobs in a town--a baker, a crier, a postalworker, the professional mom/dad and the travelling salesperson, so seeing five billion (or so..) people had her mystified. She knew there were other jobs, of course, but just how many were there?
"Sleep? Oh, I can just sleep in a--" Vessatha abruptly broke off, her eyes going wide. Her original thought had been 'tree', but there weren't trees worth sleeping in here. She'd snap the twigs in two if she leaned against them, let alone tried to climb up one. None of them had any kind of privacy, either.. what was she going to do? "I guess I don't know.." She had no money to pay for a hostel (or an apartment, whatever one of those was) and wouldn't know where to find one, anyways.
What a lovely situation she was in.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 17, 2007 18:02:30 GMT -5
He stared blankly for a long moment as the waitress returned with their food and drinks smiling. She grinned and scurried off to serve the next people who had sat down. Zane glanced down at his soup and water. He wasn't sure if he could stomach them now.
"Most people in Capital City have work. There's obviously a frightening percentage of people without work but more often than not a person can find at least one job." He shrugged, "There's a lot of variables but most of the people in the Capital have some steady source of income."
Now, for her other problem. No place to sleep? What should he do. Taking a strange girl to his apartment was a bad idea, and he didn't have the money to pay for a hotel. That would only be a temporary solution anyway. Wasn't there a place where travelers could stay for free? It was pretty sketchy though. No wait!
"There's a charity in part of the town that would let you stay for free. I volunteered there during the holidays once. It was a pretty nice place." It was an offer at least. That was all he could really do. "Anything else?" he asked before taking a sip of his soup.
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Post by Greenie on Dec 18, 2007 19:26:35 GMT -5
Vessatha had no such qualms about eating. As soon as the food was placed down she eagerly snatched it and began eating--albeit calmly. She wasn't going to make a mess and look like a gross fool. She was pleasantly surprised--it had more taste than she was expecting, but she'd gotten used to eating things that didn't taste too much. This, at least, was one bonus of coming to the city.. real food!
"Really?" She commented after swallowing. "Sorry if this is redundant, but what do they do?" Hopefully she wasn't bothering him--these types of questions had to be awkward to answer, on top of being weird in the first place. "Hopefully I'll be able to find something.." She muttered, mostly to herself. If she was going to be stuck here as it appeared she was--even if she wanted to go somewhere, how would she know where to go?--she was going to need to find something to do for money.
At the word charity Vessatha froze mid-bite. She didn't want charity, or anyone's pity--well, beyond sympathy, as Zane was giving her. Sympathy and company were fine, but pity was not, and that's all charity was to her. "No, thank you. I'll find something." She stated politely, though rather stiffly. Vessie forced herself to relax and keep eating--hopefully he'd get the hint and move on.
"I don't know. Is there something obvious I'm missing?"
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 18, 2007 20:06:25 GMT -5
Well, at least she was eating properly. That was a small comfort. "They do a lot of things. Some are accountants, some are waitresses, some are mages, some are laborers, some have less than perfect jobs, and so on. Any job you can think of is possible here in Capital City. Even ones you can't think of."
Zane caught her hint rather quickly. Apparently she didn't want to accept charity, even if it was just in good spirit. He couldn't judge her though, if he were in the same position he would probably say the same. Charity was one thing, pity was another, but at times like this they were pretty much the same thing.
"Well, food and shelter are the most important staples for living. However, I don't know what you could ask, since I've never been to a small town and the big city is completely normal to me." He shrugged and ate a bit more of his meal.
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Post by Greenie on Dec 20, 2007 22:44:49 GMT -5
Vessatha continued eating at a steady pace, forcing herself not to simply shove it all into her mouth like she wanted to. She was hungry, as she hadn't eaten in nearly a day.. which meant that dirt would taste good at this point, though what she had was obviously much better. "Really now." She commented drolly. The things she couldn't think of were possible.. but if she couldn't think of them, how would she know they were possible? He did name a few things she might be able to do.. or learn to do, at least. Well, okay, the only plausible one was waitress, and that almost sounded like it required bipedal, which she didn't have.. so maybe she could wash dishes for pennies. That could work.
"I know they are," She said with a sigh. The ferret had no where to go, but she would have to find somewhere relatively quickly. It would likely be outside simply because she'd be the most comfortable, but she would have to stretch her definition of a "bed" considerably.
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