Apr 27 01:32:03 108 PA - A Bad Way to Meet a New City
From Chronicles
Apr 27 01:32:03 108 PA.
MERCHANT'S PLAZA
After midnight with a light but steady drizzle. A combination the leads to nearly empty streets. Nearly, one of the few venturing about on such as night makes her way south in long even strides. She might go unnoticed in this if not for the softball sized glove of light following her as she traverses.
In from the north comes a large man clad in an entertaining combination of furs and waterproof leather. Despite the drizzle, his countenance seems pleased, and it doesn't look as if he's having any trouble at all dragging behind him a piece of sheet metal somewhat larger than a door piled with various somethings beneath a tied-down tarp. Still, his eyes show that everything is new to him, moment by moment.
Screeech! Scrape! What a racket in the middle of the night. Indeed the girl with the glow light thought she wasn’t going undetected by any means. But now that is under some speculation as her stride falters. Paused she looks to the source of such a clamor.
Yes, screech, scrap and chatter on Kingsdale's none-too-perfect streets, indeed. The large man seems to have no particular direction of travel save for perhaps, "in." So many interesting things to see. His eyes seem to take it all in. Beings of all kinds go past - in their lesser numbers of midnight - but the somewhat distant and tall woman with the glowing, traveling oil lamp are noticed. Scrape, screech goes the slab of steel, deeper into the city.
The light continues down the street before making a corner and for the moment things seem to continue. Not quietly or smoothly but what can one do? Well one could try picking up that sled. That might qualify. The black leather girl intends to do just that, using dark and distraction as perfect opportunities.
Midnight isn't a time for anyone to be complacent about anything, as mirrored even in the eyes of someone hauling a steel plate and sundry items. The man in the furs and leathers picks up his pace a bit, heading for the more properly lit areas of the city. Wherever they might be.
Scrape! thud Scrape! A rock perhaps? Leading to a brief difference in the sound of dragging. The what sounds like a foreign curse is said and the scraping stops. Silence at last. What a sound. But the daring woman is not fleeing with her prize. No she's patiently following as if the fellow leading would never even notice the difference.
The fellow is new to the city, but not daft. Even without the noise, the way that his neck muscles twitched probably indicated that he felt the subtle change in tension on his ropes. In order to protect his own possessions, he quickly turns on his heels - surprisingly quickly perhaps for a man of his size. As per his instantly furrowed brow, the sight of that tall woman standing behind his door is quickly associated with the change that he'd felt in his pulling. After only a few steps forward - not exactly threatening, just closer - his head rises and he speaks in a voice that sounds much like an earthquake, in tone, depth and tibre. A finger is pointed. "Yoo no touch. My.." he seeks his head for a word. "My... moi veshchi. No you."
Valeriya sighs and shakes her head slightly. Another phrase that sounds like some dark cursing and her voice seems to come across in perfect Russian. "Hey um champ, this is kinda heavy and my spell doesn’t really last long. So less with the hands off and more with the thanks for the help ok?" She asks with an impatient smirk as she pushes at bit for coercion.
The woman's speech is clearly less than inviting, yet the man does seem to make an attempt to be polite. In his own language, which is impeccable in all ways, "Thank you for your help; in making it clear that this city is no better than anywhere else I've been these past five years. Just a different look. I haven't made it this long by being stupid and gullible, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat me as such. Perhaps instead of 'helping' me next time, you could introduce yourself, and then ask if you could assist me?" A firm tone, but not angry.
Valeriya doesn’t seem to care about the lecture so long as progress continues. "Do people in those other places assume everyone else to be gullible idiots? Secondly do they lack wheels? Actually come to thing of it those two qualities would seem to go hand and hand so perhaps." She quips quickly, her wit undaunted. "And I'm Valeriya, if that was your culture's means of inviting an introduction."
"I am called Pavel Nikolayevich. I am... pleased to meet you, Valeriya. Wheels can get stuck in mud, wheels can go flat, wheels can fall off of their axles. Pulling a sled relieves me of those problems." Pavel smiles pleasantly, bypassing the first question.
"Charmed I'm sure." Valeriya remarks as they continue carting the slab down the road. "And I can't really fault any of those facts. But it's one hell of a racket you are making to save yourself a repair over a few hundred miles. So much so that I came to end it. I'm not normally so forward. But so much noise on a quiet night street, just seemed wrong."
Galvin walks through the market place with a bag hanging from his wrist. He looks over a lot of the people selling things with a critical eye. Occasionally he picks up a circuit board or a couple resistors that the various merchants are selling. He comes over to the slab that Pavel is hauling and looks up at the large man before speaking in Techno-Can "Selling any materials of a technological nature? I am also in the business of molecular bonded plating."
<<Of course, and I appreciate your assistance. I apologize for.. misinterpreting your actions. But I can pull my own sled, thank you. I'm sure that you mean well, but it throws the balance off of my shoulders.>> True or not, Pavel readjusts the ropes over his shoulders like a plow horse, and continues deeper into the city. <<"You seem to be familiar with the city, Valeriya. Are there places that I should avoid until I find a place of my own? You know, somewhere that someone might not misinterpret those kinds of actions, because they were real.">> The other man's language does garner more attention though. A second person near his sled. In battered and broken English he looks to him and offers, "Yoo vit Valeria? I Englaysh no good."
Valeriya glances to Galvin with a shake of her head. "Um I don’t thing he's selling anything. I definitely doubt he speaks that dialect. English was troublesome for him." She notes to him before shrugging to Pavel. "Well if you mean instead of clearly assisting you clearly robbing you that would be the dregs. South west quarter of the city. Though I seriously doubt they would try just picking it up and running. More likely to shoot you full of holes or confiscate it for security measures and never return it."
Galvin frowns slightly as he adjusts his glasses with a finger. He takes out a piece of MDC plating from his bag and knocks on it with one hand. "Plating. Armor plating?" He asks as he looks over the sled that Pavel is hauling. He turns briefly to look at Valeriya. "Then why is he in the market area?" He asks with a little confusion.
Pavel halts in his tracks - slowing appropriately, not hitting a solid wall, his ropes going slack. He nods at Valeriya's words, eyebrow raised at the helpful and genuinely important information. Then to Galvin, he obviously struggles to get out - finger pointed at the plate - "Ees good. Strong -" the 'r' rolls as with Spanish "- Make many theengs, da. Yoo make theengs.. weet.. weet.." he frowns largely and blurts out simpley, ".. weet sil'nyi' metallov?" A shrug is offered, probably for the lack of communication.
Thud! Valeriya unceremoniously drops her end. "It's heavy enough to be armor plating." She notes more of complain than assistance. "And I imagine Pavel was just moving through the market area because the city planners put it right in front of everything else. But anyway I'm gonna take off since Pavel is content to drag this racket to the ends of the earth. Helping him is turning out to be more drawn out than I anticipated." Valeriya explains before walking off to continue south. You paged Galvin with 'He doesn't build anything technical at all.'
Galvin frowns slightly as he looks over Pavel. "Yes. Strong. Make many things from it. Buy strong material. You have?" He asks speaking slowly to hopefully try to help Pavel understand what he is saying. As Valeriya drops her end of the the slab he shrugs his shoulders and closes his eyes for a moment. Soon enough the slab starts floating in the air making it much easier to haul. "I wish plating."
"Nyet. Strong, da. No... plate? That ees word?" Pavel waves back at his sled, which is little more than a solid piece of steel shaped like an outsized door, with various sundry items stacked on it, concealed by a tied-down tarp and attached to his shoulders by two lengths of sturdy rope that he doesn't seem to mind pulling on. "I need place to hjammar... my theeks. I am.. I am make theegs." He seems happy to leave it at that for now, but perhaps only for his own lack of skills with the English language.
Galvin adjusts his glasses again with a finger. "Hmm no plate... What do you make? Do you make plate? I have space to hammer things." He says after a moment thinking. "Come this way." He says as he waves his hand over to where his large ATV his parked. "Place to work." He calls out over his shoulder as he walks over to where the large three wheeled vehicle is parked.
"Yoo have name? I am called Pavel Nikolayevich, from Krazny Kut. Many far." Pavel waves his hand in a generally eastern direction to indicate it. He furrows his brow in thought, then grunts and says, "Ty vor? Blagodaryu vas za vashu pomoshch?" Pause. "Yoo are.. yoo are..." Grumble. For some reason, he slips in to another language, <<Thank you for helping me, but I don't want to keep you.>> It would be beautifully clear - to anyone who can speak Euro.
"Name is Galvin." He says as he gets closer to his ATV. "You are not keeping me." He says in Euro clear enough to be understood. He walks up to the back of his ATV and unlocks the cargo area of the sizable vehicle. He keys in the unlocking code and opens up the cargo area to reveal a portable workspace. "What do you need?" He asks.
"You need a forge huh? That is pretty old school." Galvin says with a chuckle in his voice. "I am sure there are a few places with smaller forges. I know there are a few big drop forges around. I would try out by the stables. I am sure there would be a forge there for shoeing all the animals. I am a technician. I build modern machinery and repair and maintain it."
Pavel replies in the same Euro, but beautifully if not having some pieces of colloquialisms to it. "Yes, I need a forge, but nothing large. I have all of my tools. Just a place to put wood and coal, a roof to keep it dry. I don't need bellows or anything. Just somewhere to keep fire, somewhere to put my anvil, a shelf for tools..." he draws off for a moment in thought. "I don't usually need as much as others."
Galvin nods his head slightly. "Well might find a place like that in the Dregs. You could find a place pretty quickly there. You'll just have to keep an eye on your tools, so that nothing gets stolen. Dregs are more dangerous then the rest of the city. If you want I can haul quite a bit of wood and coal in this sucker." He says while tapping the side of the giant three wheeled ATV.
"Thanks, I appreciate that. But I don't actually need much wood or coal, either. Only enough wood to make charcoal, and coal lasts for a very long time." Pavel narrows his eyes and answers a statement. "The big woman, Valeriya, the one who pretended that she wasn't trying to steal my things, she said that these 'Dregs are very dangerous places to go. I am strong, but I prefer not to put it to the test, yes? I'll look up at the.. Landing Strip. I guess I passed it on my way in?" He stops pulling - something that seems very easy to him, like a child with a sled on snow, despite the sparks and screeching noises of metal on paved streets - and stops. "Right now I just need a place out of the elements. Well, not need, but like. And somewhere to keep my things where they won't be stolen until I can find a better place for them."
Galvin opens up the back of his ATV and takes out a soda from the cargo area. He offers one to Pavel before opening his own soda and taking a sip from it. "The landing strip is a good place. I work up there. Lots of good garages and what not up there. I wish I could afford a nice place up there. Takes time to save up credits though. Can't really use my apartment. I get enough complaints from the work I do in my apartment."
The very large man grins, and very toothily. "Yes, my work is very noisy - and I like it that way! You know that you're doing good work, yes?" He then asks two questions rapid fire: "I only speak Russian and Euro well. My American is very, very poor. Do people here speak other languages like this?" Then, "You make noise, too. Do you also bang metal between hammers and an anvil?"
Galvin laughs and nods his head in agreement. "Yes work can be very loud. I often have to wear ear protection at work and whenever I am making repairs." He pauses for a moment to sip on his soda. "Mostly people speak American around town. Techno-can is pretty common at the landing strip. I use Techno-can mostly. No but welding can be loud. I make repairs on the giant robots at work a lot of times. Some very noisy machinery is needed to fix those suckers."
"I don't know Techno-Can. I think I have heard of it a few times, but never heard it spoken. It's for technical things, right? I really haven't been anywhere technical at any time in my life. Besides, the only letters that I can read are those in Russian, and in Cyrillic Russian, at that." Pavel smiles and looks at the soda bottle with a curious eye. "Probably won't make anyone drunk, no?" He seems very interested by the mention of giant robots. Interested as if he may never have seen one.
"Well Techno-Can is pretty worth learning. It is what people mostly use up in areas like the landing strip." Galvin says while taking the occasional sip of his soda. "No it is just a cola. Yah the robots take pretty big crews taking them apart and maintaining them. The city has a slew of the robots to defend themselves. Taken most of them apart and repairing them and then putting them back together."
Pavel dips his head a few times, interestedly listening. "Do you ride a robot, or do you make it go somewhere? Is it like a horse to take you places?" Wow, maybe he really hasn't been anywhere with much tech. He smiles then, and says, "You are being polite and open with me, a little bit. Perhaps we'll be friends, but my life is probably boring to you. But here, this will not be secret for long, so since you're being the first one in this city who's nice to me, it will be my first trick." He then moves a little an unties some knots to partially pull back the tarp, exposing hammers, tongs, various things of that ilk that remain somewhat shadowed in this area of the city at night. There is one thing though that can't be missed. A huge, huge hammer with a six-foot long haft. "Please, pick it up. This is my tool. One of them."
Galvin looks over the tools examining them as he does so. He doesn't touch them though. "They look like pretty nice tools. Robots you go inside and control them from inside." He opens up the large cargo area of his ATV and points at the insides. "These are my tools." He says while gesturing to the portable shop that is inside the ATV. I can do most any field work with this thing."
Pavel quickly wraps the tarp back over all of his worldly possessions, then peeks into the open area of the ATV. "Interesting. Very interesting. I don't know how to use any of it. Or even what it does!. HA!" His earthquake-like voice rumbles out a boisterous laugh that echoes through the walls of even this large area.
Galvin climbs up and walks in the cargo area of his ATV. He shrugs his shoulders once he is inside. "Well this is designed to serve a field crew of mercs. Can to field repairs on vehicles and robots." He climbs back down out of the ATV. "Did you want to store your stuff with me? I can keep it secure. The locks on this thing are very secure."
Pavil eyes Galvin a little curiously. "Not many people are so friendly unless they want or expect something in return. I have nothing except what is on this piece of steel, and I need all of it. I would be not only taking your friendship, but your.. repair vehicle as well, and I don't know when I will find a new place for it." He eyes the other, smaller man. "I appreciate the offer but I don't want to tie up your own life. I'm sure it would be difficult to work around this heap." He waves back toward the tarp.
Galvin shrugs his shoulders again. "Hey no problem, but the offer is there if you have any problems. I'm just trying to help out as best I can. Sometimes the people that come into town need a little help. I don't mind offering assistance when I can. Heck when I first came to Kingsdale I lived in my ATV. It can be hard to get your bearings right off when you come into a new place."
"I would like to think that I could trust a man who did not try to fool me into thinking that he was not stealing my things, then even tried to turn it back on me for being rude," Pavel says with a dip of his head. "If you freely offer, I happily accept. Please, hold my..." he eyes the bottle again. "Drink." Then moves to begin lifting the huge piled plate into the waiting cargo area.
Galvin reaches out to take the soda bottle from Pavel. He moves to the side so that Pavel can lift the sled into the cargo area. "I can help if you want. There is a crane inside there to help lift heavy things like engines. I can help you use it if you want. Or you can just lift it in I guess." He says with a chuckle in his voice.
"Bah," Pavel says with a happy wave of his hand. "No crane necessary. At least not now, this is faster. Thank you, though." The big man seems to take no real effort in lifting the mass in his arms and depositing it in the hold. Sure, it was awkward, but it's there. "Thank you, Galvin. You seem to be a good man. I hope that in time, we may be friends. I'm in need of friends here, and I do very much enjoy having friends." He laughs loud and boisterously, again echoing around the walls. He sighs quickly and his head swivels. "Is there somewhere that I could stay tonight? I've never been anywhere more than a wooden inn. No, wait, there was one that also had concrete that I stayed at a few times. Anyway, when I came up out of the Federation's caravan, they talked about some kind of inn here, like a famous one? I could stay there."
"Sure. I hope we can be friends as well. Lots of times I don't get to meet a lot of people, or make lots of friends." Galvin says as he watches Pavel put his sled inside the cargo hold. "If you want you can stay in my spare bedroom. It is made up so should be comfortable enough. That way you are not far from your possessions." He says while putting his hands inside pockets on his overalls. "The Happy Days Inn is alright. Has some very nice rooms. Can stay there as well."
Pavel smiles. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not going to fill up two of your home's open places. I'll find this 'Happy Days Inn' and stay there. It sounds like something comfortable for me. I stayed in wooden buildings, but that doesn't mean that they can't be nice!" He whips his head sideways to clear some of that hair out of his eyes. "Which way to the Inn? Do I need to look out for more thieving and extraordinarily tall women?"
Galvin shrugs his shoulders again as he nods his head. "Well it is a nice place. It is just south of here a few blocks. I don't know there are some pretty crazy people about. I would just keep an eye out for yourself. Be careful you know." He says as he closes up the cargo area of his ATV. "Want me to give you a ride?"
Pavel happily accepts a ride, looking for his first night's sleep in a new city.
