awashlogs | Event Eight.

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Event Eight.

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there.
No more from the cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

he Town is quiet this week. No sudden quests on the forum post, no roars of werewolves in the distance... just peaceful, peaceful quiet. Of course, it's hot as hell right now, but that aside, it's pretty pleasant. You probably don't want to wander around the Town right now, but...

Naturally, now's when the Town is going to start thoroughly encouraging you to do just that.

You do want to find your doorway back home, don't you?

Better get searching! And don't mind the other worlds you might end up stumbling into first.

Welcome to Awash's eighth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post.

You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

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[He stops and blinks for a moment but does move over when beckoned.]

Of course. What is it that you need?

[ As soon as she catches his attention, she starts speaking excitedly as she gestures to the door lightly while she explains. ]

Well, I don't know why it's here, but this door— Through it is something amazing. Well, not that amazing to me, since I've been there before, but it's definitely where I'm from.

[ She nods to it ]

Will you come with me? I want to test a theory I have. If I'm with someone else, something different might happen, I'd guess.

[He's really not used to people who talk this much back home but he's slowly getting used to them here.]

It would be my pleasure to help you. Though please give me a moment. [Then he whistles for Iskender, waiting for the golden eagle to land on his shoulder again before he nods at her. There's no telling what sort of mischief Iskender would get into if he left him here on his own.] Now we can go.

[ Elizabeth smiles warmly when he agrees, though it quickly turns to curiosity when he whistles. She didn't mind waiting at all, but she had expected his statement to mean that he was going to get something. So when an eagle swoops down, her eyes practically light up with amazement. ]

Oh my god— That's-- He's beautiful.

[ She'll get to her door in a moment. For now, she's nothing short of fascinated with the eagle. ]

I've never seen a bird like this before. An eagle of some kind, right?

[He's also huge. And preening a little at the attention. And well, Mahmut won't disagree. He's always found birds of prey to be majestic, had felt this way even as a child growing up in Tughril village.

...which was not a thought he intended to visit today but having seen his own little pocket dimension it was hard to shake it.

Still, he smiled.]

Iskender is a golden eagle. You find them often on the continent where I was born.

[ She brings her fingers together in front of her mouth in innocent delight, and a smile blooms behind them easily. ]

How wonderful... [ Elizabeth lowers her hands, then nods to Iskender ] Well, it's very nice to meet you, Mr. Iskender. I have a feeling you might like the bay more than most.

[ But then it's back to Mahmut, since she takes a backwards step towards the simple, unassuming door. Though before she opens it, she feels she has to ask. ]

You're... not afraid of heights, are you?

[He doesn't ask where the bay is, just follows along and assumes all will be revealed in due time.]

No. [But like, he grew up on the grasslands and deserts. So like. Who knows, really.]

Okay, good. You'll... see why.

[ Elizabeth turns and pushes open the door, since despite being rather unassuming looking, it's definitely heavy. But as soon as the door opens, the smell of water and sand drifts out, and they step through onto a sandy beach just at dusk, which casts a beautiful golden light over the sand and water. There are all sorts of things you'd expect to find on a beach: towels, chairs, umbrellas, and the beach is surrounded on all sides by a building with a high balcony. On the opposite side, the front of a ship makes another door, but the neon lights over it read the name of this place clearly: BATTLESHIP BAY.

Though far more than that, it's clear why Elizabeth asked about heights as you look up at the sky. Just in the distance are other buildings, all floating in the sky. There's an entire skyline of a city in the clouds, and with that realization, it's easy enough to feel the very light, gentle bobbing of the ground underneath their feet. This beach is floating too.

Elizabeth steps out into the sand, but she looks to her new friend curiously to see how he reacts. Well, they, now. ]

This is Battleship Bay in Columbia. It's— Well, I'd only just been here myself, but it's lovelier than a lot of other places.

[For all that the Turkish were a people who were practically raised on horseback, on solid ground Mahmut had been on ships. When he felt the gentle bobbing he had mistaken it, for a second, for being over water, though that didn't really connect with the fact that below his feet was sand not the wooden deck of a ship but when he looked up he sort of...got it.

His eyes, already wide with wonder only got wider and he could faintly remember the first time he stepped foot into Florence and its beautifully ornate architecture and graceful arches, the way Cyrus said, Mahmut Pasha, stop looking like that or people are going to think you're a bumpkin.

The feeling was much the same now because this--all this was..]

It's amazing. How is all this possible? Everything is...flying! How do you get something that big in the air?

[From his shoulder Iskender looked less intimidated and more restless because look at all that sky! Even the strange floating things couldn't dissuade his interest.]

[ It makes Elizabeth smile as she sees the surprise and wonder bloom on his face, since that look represents the best parts of Columbia. The only good parts, she'd been starting to think, but for now? It doesn't matter. This Columbia is mostly free of its bad parts, since there are no people here, save for the two of them. ]

Oh, quantum physics— Rosalind Lutece discovered a particle that allows objects to be-- [ She starts to go into a passionate, interested explanation, but considering how everyone but Bruce has reacted to her technical explanations, she laughs with a shake of her head. ] Well, it lets them float. The propellers and things like that is how they move in the sky, but that particle keeps them aloft.

[ Elizabeth looks to Iskender next, then nods ]

It should be fine for him to fly, by the way. No one is here, so there's no one to get in trouble with.

[Quantum physics...?

As much as he wanted to try to understand this sort of stuff was really too much. So it's just as well she went with a simpler explanation.] To think, that such a thing could be possible. I can't imagine what good such technology has done for your world.

[And Iskender was clearly delighted at the mere suggestion of flight (can he even understand more than simple commands? Who even knows). His restlessness makes Mahmut smile as he lifts his arm, barely having to do much to coax Iskender off his shoulder.] I'm sure he'll enjoy it.

[Then he lifts his arm and watches Iskender spread his wings and take off.]

[ Before she answers, Elizabeth pauses to watch as Iskender takes off into the sky. It's nothing short of majestic to her eyes, since she's never seen anything like it before. Or, well. Technically there was someone close, but she doesn't want to taint this sight by thinking of Songbird.

She grins easily as she watches him fly around, since she thinks of anyone, a bird would love Columbia. They're far better for the sky than people. ]

Well, some good.

[ Though cynically, her experience is all with Columbia, so there's also a lot that's bad... But she thinks like a scientist, or hopes to, so she tries to remove that human element from the wonders while she talks about them. ]

It's amazing that there can be an entire city in the sky at all, and it's a lot more efficient than it seems. Like there— [ She points to one of the far off buildings in the clouds ] You could get over there by using a sort of train in the sky. They're called gondolas. But the buildings also have a schedule when they connect to each other so that people can get around the city easily.

["Some good." He smiled a bit wryly.]

I suppose people are nothing if not predictable.

[But, hey. He may fail in science but guess what his passion is? City planning and domestic affairs. So he's listening with rapt attention.]

A gondola. That is the same word used in Venedik for the small boats they use to travel the waterways in the city. [Which would be interesting if her were a linguist but like...you know what he really wants to know?]

How are the schedules determined? I assume it would open up during the times when it would be busiest...

And being able to extend a city into the sky...it would open up so many possibilities. The Kingdom of Urado in the north is in the mountains and that limits their resources as they have less available farmland. With technology like this, it would be possible to create plateaus. But I suppose irrigation would be a problem, wouldn't it?

[He wishes Zeki Pasha were here! He'd probably tell Mahmut off for being too stupid to figure out a solution himself but he'd surely have some idea.]

[ She's a little surprised at what he latches onto, but it's definitely not a negative. The only thing she's disappointed by is her own knowledge, since for a lot of his questions (and goodness, there's quite a few!), her answer is a simple: ]

I don't know, actually.

[ She gives him an apologetic glance and a shrug. ]

I know gondolas get their name from the boats in-- Well, I know it as Venice, but the rest I can only really guess on. It's kind of a long story, but the short version is that I'd never really seen Columbia until just before I came to Chroma.

[ She starts to look in the sky for something, but since she can't see it right now, she'll just have to explain as best she can, she guesses. ]

My whole life I lived in a, um, tower. So that's why I don't know very much about how things really work for the logistics of the city.

Venice. [The word fell from his lips and it sounded...odd, because of its similarity to the name of another city he knew. Could they be the same...? But that was a question he'll hold back on since his previous ones seems to have made things awkward.]

...that makes sense if you have not interacted with the city much. [He was curious as to why but was it really his place to ask?] It is a pity, that you haven't had the chance to see more of this city. It looks splendid.

[ She's a bit grateful that he doesn't pry into the tower itself, since that topic is always a sour one. Considering the wonder that he (and his eagle!) have for Columbia, she doesn't really want to ruin it. There's a lot to dislike about the city, she's found, but as it is now? It's harmless. Mostly. ]

I had been seeing more of it before I came to Chroma. But very quickly.

[ She admits that with a little laugh, since running through the city trying to escape definitely isn't tourist conditions. ]

It's nice to be able to take my time and see even just here. Plus, I get to show other people. Even some of the more fantastic places I've heard of don't have a city in the sky.

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Event Eight.

welcome (I assume this starts in the town and that they've met if that's not the case I can edit!)

sounds good to me!!

awesome!

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