[NPC] public

[forgediron]

Characters: [NPC] Zanru, OPEN
Date: December 8-15 2015
Location: Stark Industries
Situation: Studying the returning Foreigners.
Warnings/Rating: N/A

It was impossible to miss that the Foreigners had returned. Thus far it seemed they had only given Yunxu trouble--of course, Yunxu was troubled by anything he couldn't control--but Zanru was aware of her current position. She was aware that most of what the Foreigners had once owned was hers. Though too many of the Foreigners had left over the years for Zanru to know any of the current ones personally, it was nevertheless the bulk of her family who staffed their offices. Soon after they'd disappeared no one had wanted to touch the Foreigners' technology. No one had dared, except Zanru.

For all they had been her allies in the past, Zanru had no intention of simply handing over everything for which her family had worked. If the Foreigners couldn't even be obliged to stay after building such large companies, then Zanru was damned if she'd let them have them back after a year's disappearance. It would be the height of irresponsibility to let some of Keeliai's largest industries be run by people who couldn't even guarantee they'd be there to run them.

That being said, the returning Foreigners provided an ... opportunity. That was why Zanru had asked her assistants at Stark Industries to tell her if any of them came to the building to ask for information. Sometimes, she wasn't there and the Foreigners were turned away. She wasn't going to make things easy for them.

But, when they were fortunate or had managed to arrange an actual appointment, there were times when Zanru was in Stark Industries office, diligently overseeing the paperwork and the research under her care.

Comments

january!

[akito]

Hello, friend. Akito has come to visit you at work because this is important business. He skitters over to the desk and stands on his tip toes so he can see everything like a normal human being.

"Hi! I have a question for you!" He says by way of greeting, much more cheerful than his disheveled appearance would suggest. "When you have a free minute, I mean!"

[forgediron]

It's policy in Stark Industries that work was work and it oughtn't be interrupted. Ayin had heard that was a policy from the family's days mostly owning blacksmiths, which made sense really, since one didn't want to distract a blacksmith while swinging that heavy hammer at heated objects. So Ayin was very much not used to having an enthusiastic bundle of bones and skin bounce in just to ask a question.

"Um ..." Ayin blinked at Akito and then glanced nervously around, and up at the clock. "Unless it's to make another appointment, I can't talk until I stop for second-lunch in half an hour." Being properly fed and watered and rested were very important parts of performing work to the utmost, after all. Besides, of course he was there to make another appointment; Zanru was the important one in the building, and the researchers, and the engineers. Ayin was just a receptionist. She was important only to help keep things running, not to talk.

[akito]

Akito nods in understanding. "Is it okay if I wait for you here, or is the waiting area only for people waiting to see Miss Zanru?"

[forgediron]

"No, you can wait here," Ayin assured him with a slightly uncertain smile. "Family-members do that all the time, if they're not authorised to come into the staff areas." She watched him covertly while he waited, just to make sure no one gave him trouble, but most seemed to assume that a Foreigner wouldn't linger and that he was kedan.

After half-an-hour, when her lunch-alarm went and one of the secretaries from a different part of the building came to take over, Ayin rose and collected her things and went to Akito, smiling self-consciously. "Alright. Would you like to stay here, or find a food-stall?"

[akito]

Akito waits patiently, entertaining himself with the notebook he had luckily taken with him before his trip to the Dreaming. There are his precious notes keeping track of his Air Trecks' Tuning parameters, and schematics for the radio communicators he and Tony had built.

Now, however, he spends his thirty minute wait practicing kedanese letters. Even if he doesn't understand what the words mean, he can try to mimic the flow of their writing. Akito makes sure to keep everything very small, so as to save precious space.

When Ayin comes over he stands to meet her, offering a less self-conscious smile. At her question his smile falters fractionally.

"Whatever Ayin-san prefers is okay with me."

[forgediron]

"Food-stall," Ayin said promptly. She hadn't brought lunch today and having it meant going into the kitchen, and most of the kedan here would know Akito was a Foreigner. It would draw some attention. People on the street were more likely to think he was kedan, especially if he was in the company of a kedan.

But then she added self-consciously, "If that's okay with you ...?" She hadn't missed that slightly flicker, though she didn't know what was behind it."

[akito]

He nods quickly, giving a more reassuring smile. "Un! It's okay! I just don't want Ayin-san to get in trouble if they notice I'm a Foreigner."

[forgediron]

Oh! Well, it was considerate of him, but there were still a few kedan around who didn't mind. At least in Metal Sector it was more that people preferred thinking they didn't exist, than hating them.

"They'll think you're kedanese," Ayin explained, taking him out of the building toward the row of stalls that had sprung up to cater to the company's needs. She wasn't sure how to explain that the kedan in this area pretended the Foreigners didn't exist, so she didn't. "Is there a reason you're here?" she asked curiously. "I mean, you didn't come just to talk to me ... did you?"

[akito]

Akito gives a small shake of his head. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your work, ne? But if it's okay I think it would be nice to visit just to chat sometimes! I could help you with any homework you're having trouble with," he offers easily. So far Ayin has won more of his favor at the moment than almost any of the Foreigners, which likely isn't saying a lot. "But, um... I need to get in contact with Heojin-san. I know I can wait for the Court of Public Opinion and try to talk to him if he's there, but I thought that, ah... A letter of greeting with a request to meet him when he's available might be a better option. It's polite, and shows good initiative, if that's the sort of thing he cares about."

Which brings him to why he's come to see Ayin. "I, um... Since I don't know how to write in kedanese, I would need someone to help me translate my letter and was wondering if you would be able to help me?"

Before Akito can let his nerves get the best of him, he whistles a short, loud note for seemingly no reason - at least until a small, brightly coloured bird flies over to perch itself on his head (after giving his cheek a quick nuzzle). Its chirps an inquisitive greeting at Ayin, then begins preening Akito's hair for him.

"This is Bird," he says brightly. "Bird-chan this is Ayin-san!"

[forgediron]

Ayin jumped at the bird's sudden appearance. Although Keeliai was full of beautiful birds, and some of them were even tamed for things like messenger or homing services, most were simply wildlife or used for food. Ayin had never personally seen one that responded to commands like that.

"Hello," she said nervously. She wasn't entirely fond of birds, and for a moment Bird's presence distracted her from Akito's question. "Oh--um." Would that be against company policy? It wasn't that they were barred from interacting from people outside the family, but addressing the head of another major family seemed like a delve into politics Ayin wasn't prepared to take.

Then again, she wasn't the one who would be writing the letter--just translating it. And she wasn't the one making contact. Surely it would be alright, she reasoned, as long as she told Zanru. There wasn't much chance Akito would even make contact, after all. No one even knew what Heojin looked like, and some were even wondering if he was real or if he'd been made up to take the backlash for leading the Woodsmen away from the city when it had been attacked.

"It should be alright," she offered. "I can't do it today, but maybe on my day off, when we have the proper time. It's tomorrow, so you don't have to wait long."

[akito]

Relieved, he lets out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Tomorrow would be fine! What time should I meet you?"

[forgediron]

"How about lunch-time?" Ayin suggested as they reached one of the stalls. "We can meet in one of the cafes in Water Sector." She reached for the necklace of juulan she wore, pleasingly interspersed with bits of coral so it looked like a genuine piece of jewellery--if a heavy one. "Are you hungry?"

[akito]

"Lunch-time works!" He answers brightly, then shakes his head at her second question. He's a little bit hungry, but he's meticulously saving his juulan for more seasonally appropriate clothes. With the premium Foreigners have to pay, every little bit counts.

[forgediron]

Ayin paid for a tub of thick noodles, meat and vegetables, and she moved them away to give others behind them room to approach the stall. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" she asked.

[akito]

He hums thoughtfully, inadvertently prompting Bird to sing a simple melody. It makes Akito stifle a laugh and give his friend a scratch behind the neck, causing the bird to puff its feathers out in delight.

"I don't have much to talk about," he admits. "But I was wondering how you've been doing with your studies!"

[forgediron]

"Oh, well ..." Ayin drew her gaze away from watching Bird nervously to smile sheepishly, and reached into her bag to pull out a notebook full of equations. ... Staggeringly incorrect equations. "I'm still having trouble with the arithmetic."

[akito]

"Math?" It wasn't his best subject, but Akito is still no slouch when it comes to arithmetic. It's an integral part of physics and engineering, after all.

"I know lots of people at home found math super difficult. I could solve a few questions showing my work, and explaining it to you," he offers.

Meanwhile Bird, realizing he won't be getting much attention right now, squirms his way into the folds of Akito's shirt to nap, giving a sleepy peep to let his 'mama' know.

[forgediron]

"Oh!" Ayin brightened up, and took a seat on the wall of a garden flanking Stark Industries' side. "Well, okay. We can say it's a favour for a favour, maybe." And she gave Akito the notebook for him to look at while she finished her lunch.


[ooc: if that's all the major-plot-related stuff done, I'd rather end the thread here. We can handwave mutual help on the language/math front.]