[NPC] public

[forgediron]

Characters: Zanru, possibly Xuiyu, and others.
Date: Month of February, ‘2016’.
Location: Stark Industries, the tram-line construction outside the city, potentially console construction-sites
Situation: Catch-all post for Metalworker NPCs.
Warnings/Rating: None thus far.
NOTE: Please don’t tag in unless we’ve planned it beforehand or your character plans to approach one of the Metalworker NPCs for something plot-related (metaplot, player-plots and NPC backstory-plots all count, but if you're unsure, PM me). Due to tag loads I won’t be able to thread out spontaneous slice-of-life type CR with the NPCs.

Zanru was irritable. Zanru was irritable above and beyond her usual blunt aggression, to the point that only those kedan oblivious to things such as ‘emotion’ and ‘personal issues’ went near her with anything other than company-related items. There were whispers going and Zanru knew it, but she seemed to have no desire to confirm or deny any of them, even the ones that contradicted each other.

Mostly, what she did was throw herself into new projects, and as such she could frequently be seen inspecting the tram-line site looping the city. Fortunately for the employees at Stark Industries she seemed to be aware of her mood and spent more time elsewhere than she ordinarily would have—though where, precisely, remained to be seen.

As a happy side-effect, everyone was working efficiently and to their utmost, and in spite of the worsening weather work on all fronts was proceeding briskly. For the beginning of the month, at least--the extended surveyors would begin having trouble as mid-month approached and the flash-freezes begin.

Comments

[highprofilerichkid]

After talking with Gene and telling him he needed some time alone to think stuff over, the first thing Tony does is head to Stark Industries.

The lab has always been the best place for him to clear his head and get his thoughts in order. But since he doesn't have a lab of his own, anymore...

"Can I make an appointment with Zanru?" he asks the receptionist. It isn't odd for him to want to see Zanru, since he's technically still on contract, but he is careful to keep his tone respectful and polite.

[forgediron]

Of all the people Ayin expected to see, Tony Stark wasn't one of them. "Um ..." Ayin blinked at him for a moment and then consulted her ledger. "Well--she has a few hours this afternoon, but she's, um." She lowered her voice a little. "You might not want to see her. She, er, she's having a bad month."

Ayin didn't have the details. Some people said it was the gambling at the race. Some people said it wasn't. Whatever the case, Zanru was avoiding Xuiyu, who was usually the person to talk her down.

Adding to the mix the Foreigner who'd been such a pain? Probably not a good idea. Even though Tony was on contract, Ayin knew he hadn't made a private appointment with Zanru since before the contract had been made. She'd been relieved by that.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony smiles wryly. "Is there ever a good time for me to see her?"

Zanru doesn't like him, and she's never happy to see him. It doesn't matter if she's in a good or bad mood before he shows up: she'll be in a bad mood as soon as he walks into her office. "Now is fine - if she'll see me."

She might refuse, in which case Tony will just... vibrate into a new dimension with all the nervous energy wound up inside him, probably.

[forgediron]

"Um." Ayin blinked at him. "Well, maybe not a good time, but there's better times and ... worse times, and this is a worse time, and ..." She sighed and picked up the phone. "Your funeral. Just don't--don't get all het up at her like you do. Just don't."

Zanru was aggressive but she was usually pretty even-handed when it came down to it. This was ... really strange, and worrying.

"Is it to do with the contract?" Ayin asked as an aside. Just for clarification.

[highprofilerichkid]

"I won't," Tony promises solemnly. The receptionist is obviously uneasy, but Tony doesn't let that shake his resolve. The worst Zanru can do to him is yell a him some more.

He hesitates at Ayin's question, but truthfully answers, "Not exactly. More of a proposal for a new contract."

[forgediron]

"Oh ..." At that Ayin looked even more nervous. Would that be bad, or would that be an excellent distraction that might pull some of Zanru's focus in the right direction? Ayin wasn't sure, but since Tony was insistent ... better his hide than hers.

Though Tony wouldn't be able to hear Zanru on the other end, her voice is curt enough that he might catch the tone as Ayin winces. "Yes--ma'am." She put down the phone. "In her office," Ayin told him, and then added, "please don't let anything blow up."

Whether she meant Zanru, Tony or some gadget in-between was left unsaid.

~2 days after the delivery of The Package

[akito]

Akito knows he shouldn't ask questions. He has promised confidentiality, and even if Zanru hasn't told him specifically not to ask or discuss this particular delivery, Akito takes his job seriously. But he also knows that Zanru is intelligent enough not to give him any information that she wouldn't trust him with, and also knows that she knows that he is curious. Whenever he gets the chance he loves to explore the new Stark Industries, ever careful to stay away from sections he isn't permitted entrance to. The employees are much more accustomed to his presence now and don't seem to mind it, though sometimes Akito wonders if that's because they genuinely don't mind him or solely because they respect Zanru.

In any case, Akito deliberates over the matter for two whole days before deciding on the best course of action: asking Ayin. If it's something he shouldn't be prying into and she's aware of it, she would let him know. It is both her and Meisheng's kindness that have helped him earn his own place in Keeliai on his own terms over the past months, and he trusts them as much as he can trust anyone in this world.

He has Ayin's schedule memorized which, if he bothered to think about it, might seem kind of creepy. But it's been habit to memorize those sorts of things and so it never occurs to him - Akito just likes making sure he doesn't pop by to visit Ayin at a time that's inconvenient for her. Like right now he knows she'll be allowed a break in another ten minutes, which gives him enough time to greet her and wait, giving her time to decide if she would like to speak with him or not.

The path to the reception desk isn't the least bit daunting to him anymore (and looking back on how nervous he was the first time he visited Akito could almost laugh); he knows he's allowed to do this, and Ayin doesn't begrudge him his visits.

"Ayin-san! I have a question to ask, and an important thing to tell you!" His tone is upbeat; cheerful. It's easy to be genuinely happy with kedan who accept him - even moreso than with other foreigners, he finds. "Do you want me to get you anything before you have your break?"

[forgediron]

"I have biscuits," Ayin assured him with a smile, pointing to the box on her desk. "Hello, Akito. Have you had a good week?"

It was a little bit creepy that he always seemed to know when her breaks were, at first, but it was considerate too, the effort not to interrupt her at work. After a while the first sense had faded. "What's happened? Something good, I hope?"

[akito]

"Un! Since everything is frozen I've been able to skate a lot every day," he hums, perching on his tip-toes so he can lean onto the desk properly with his elbows. "How has yours been? I know the cold hasn't been very good for production..."

Akito pulls a face at that, torn between enjoying the cold for the fun it's been providing him, and loathing it for how uncomfortable it is. He quickly redirects his thoughts to something more upbeat - like what news he had to share with Ayin. "I got an apartment! It's in the Metal Sector, but close to the Fire Sector."

[forgediron]

"Well, we've had to put the infrastructure construction on hold, and the tram-line has been difficult, and of course we have to be careful with the palace," Ayin admitted. "Some of the gardens have iced over, so there's a safety issue, and the ground is so hard that the foundations will be difficult--but I suppose we can't exactly stop for the weather."

The number of requisitions, reports and safety actions she'd helped field to their various supervisors had increased substantially lately.

"Oh, have you?" Ayin beamed at him. "Have you received a--" The word she uses is a little mangled, owing to the lessened translation magic and the fact the translation is a difficult one to begin with. It came out something along the lines of 'blessed house guardian'.

[akito]

"The people who can Firebend could probably help," Akito suggests after a moment of thought. He doesn't know if Zuko and Wan are already helping or not, nor does he know if Aang or Iroh are either, but it doesn't hurt to mention it. "There are four Foreigners that I know of here who can manipulate fire."

Scrunching his nose in thought, Akito does his best to understand what Ayin is asking him. Something about a guardian, at the very least. "Ah, no? It's just me and Bird! I don't have a guardian, since Papa was never brought here." He pauses, worrying his bottom lip. "Unless that isn't what you were asking?"

[forgediron]

"They'd need a lot of fire," Ayin said doubtfully. The biggest problem was the construction sites icing over. "And there's a lot more places than four people can service at once." She shrugged. "We're managing. Xuiyu had brought out the flamejets. It just makes things difficult."

His response made her pause, confusion everywhere until she realised something hadn't translated right. "I mean a protector of the homestead," she explained awkwardly. "It's to bless a new home so nothing goes wrong, or things will turn out okay if something does. Usually it's a gift. Most of the time it's a puppet or a doll, but sometimes it's a painting or a piece of furniture set in a place to guard the door. Do Foreigners not do that?"

If not, then that meant Akito won't have had anyone to bless his new home for him. That could be bad luck.

[akito]

"It could still help, and save on cost for fuel. At least a little bit," he offers, though doesn't push the idea further. Akito hasn't been keeping up with how the construction has been going, and would rather not make assumptions.

House blessing though - that's more familiar to him. While he hasn't seen one himself he knows there are cultures at home, including his own, that have similar ideas.

"Some places where I come from do that sort of thing," he says thoughtfully. "The Foreigners are from so many different places though, I don't think any of us have thought of doing that before."

It would be a good idea. Maybe he could get something for Anton's hotel, and another for whatever goes up in place of the palace. Akito isn't the most superstitious, but he is in another world where spells and magic all exist.

"Do you have to get the item blessed by someone before giving it to a home?"

[forgediron]

"No, no," Ayin said, shaking her head. "But it has to be hand-made by the person giving it. If you give me a couple of weeks, I'll make one for you. Just be careful, okay? Your apartment won't be properly safe until you have a house-guardian."

Her desk-bell chimed and Ayin reached over to shut it off, and rose, picking up her snack. She nodded toward the plush reception chairs. "You said you had a question to ask? Want to ask it over in a comfortable chair?"

[akito]

He nods, wanting to ask so much more about the house-guardians but also not wanting to forget what he came to ask her in the first place. Instead he'll settle for the one that's niggling at him the most: "What do they protect homes from?"

The bell catches him by surprise, having lost track of time, and he lets out a small, startled squeak. "A comfortable chair would be nice!" Much better than standing on his toes to lean across a reception desk, at the very least.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Thanks. I'll do my best," Tony says, with a touch of humor. Normally he might laugh, or smirk, or make some joke, but he's not feeling very chipper right now, so that's the best he can manage.

Wary but determined, he enters Zanru's office and nods respectfully at the kedan woman. "Thanks for making some time for me. I know you're busy."

[forgediron]

"Come on then," Ayin said with a laugh, shooing him toward the reception chairs in the corner, where there was a fern to hide them if they wished to be hidden and the sound was dulled somewhat. "They protect homes from bad spirits," she explained. "Monsters in the darkness, and nightmares of all kinds."

She sat, and then paused. "I suppose it's not as necessary now, after--after everything, but there's no harm in being careful."

[forgediron]

"Yes, I am," Zanru said, snappy instead of brisk as she normally would be. At first she didn't look up from where she was signing her paperwork, as if she could push Tony out by sheer force of will; then she looked up anyway, and her gaze was cutting, as if she was expecting something and had already decided how to respond to it. "So make it quick. What do you want?"

If he so much as mentioned her daughter ...

[akito]

"From nightmares?" Akito is a bit too keenly interested to be able to pass it off as idle curiosity, but he doesn't care if Ayin guesses that he still suffers from bad dreams. If a house guardian can help with them at all, he'll eagerly wait for one. "There will always be bad dreams and monsters hiding in the dark. Just maybe not as bad as there used to be, ne?"

He makes himself comfortable in the chair he's been shooed to, drawing his knees up to his chest and huddling around himself. "Um, do you know what 'daseng' means, Ayin-san?"

[forgediron]

"Well, the big one in particular," Ayin admitted. "But usually the guardian has a fragrance to help stave off the usual ones too."

She unpacked the biscuits and put the box within Akito's reach so he could have some too. "That depends on which one you mean," she said dubiously. "It means a lot of things depending on the dialect." Did someone call him that? It could, in a roundabout way, be an insult in some of the languages, and there were a number of ways to write it.

[akito]

"Like aromatherapy?" Considering how strong his sense of smell is, Akito is surprised he hasn't thought of trying to use scent to help him sleep before.

He eyes the biscuits for a moment before taking one and nibbling on it, frowning slightly in confusion at her answer. He doesn't know much about different dialects... "The context would be addressing someone or something on a letter. Is it an adjective, or a verb?"

[highprofilerichkid]

As promised, Zanru is in A Mood. Tony braces himself, and gets right to it.

"A couple of consoles for the Welcome Center. Jack's finished the major construction, but he wants some consoles for the new arrivals to use. Foreigners are still coming. We don't know how to stop it, and as long as they keep showing up, we want the Welcome Center running."

[forgediron]

Oh. Ohhh. Alright. "It might be a name," Ayin admitted. "It is in some dialects. There's one where it could be an address to an individual, but I don't know much of that dialect. It would depend on who sent the letter."

It wasn't a question. Ayin knew that Akito took the privacy of his patrons very seriously, so she wasn't going to ask who it might have been. She added, "And yes--aromatherapy. Lavender is a good one. So is sweetgrass, for warding against the darkness."

[forgediron]

Short and to the point. It was vindicating and irritating at once, as if he'd pulled the rug out from under Zanru's feet by not providing the opposition she'd expected. She demanded, "What do we get out of it?"

[akito]

Akito nods in understanding. His curiosity is still unsatisfied and he wonders how much more he can share without giving away any identities. "The packages I work with are almost all affiliated with the Metalworkers or the Snakes. I don't know how much the dialect differs there, but..." Frowning to himself, he lets out a small huff of irritation. "I shouldn't be trying to figure it out, but it was very strange. And there's no harm in trying to understand a word, is there? I still probably shouldn't indulge my curiosity in these kinds of situations though..."

This would be where Akito acts very much his age - wanting something and trying to bend the rules to get it, then getting frustrated enough with himself for it to sulk. But he just wants to learn, and every piece of information he can learn about Keeliai and its people is something precious he hoards away. He feels like Ayin is someone who understands this desire, if her dedication to her own part-time studies is any indication. He can confide in her and believe she would be understanding, not judgmental.

"Sometimes I wish I could just go to school like a regular kedan child could, and learn all about your society and people and history that way." Akito picks at his boot laces, feeling awkward. Absently wishing that he had more people he could talk to about this - about wanting to fit in and be kedan, too. "Then house guardians and stuff like that wouldn't be so surprising to me, ne?"