revenance_rpg | First Link

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First Link

Characters: Namine and Ienzo
Content: Looking for a suitable place for a tea house and Dream Eater painting service
Location (including world): First District, Traverse Town
Time of Day: Afternoon
Warnings: None

If there was one thing Namine was discovering as she tried to take in all the new experiences she'd been having lately, it was how little her life up to this to point had prepared for some things. Arranging a room at the hotel, making sure she paid on time every day, trying to find some source of munny...even choosing what she wanted to eat was new. Fortunately she'd had some help adjusting, but that didn't stop the parade of things she hadn't done before.

For instance, today she and Ienzo were going to look at possible places to settle in more permanently. They wanted enough room on the first floor for the tea house that he was planning to start, as well as a place for to possibly start trying to earn munny painting Dream Eaters. She'd managed to work out a deal with the moogles for the paint; all she needed was the space. Most of the shops seemed to have second floors where the owner lived, so they would need to make sure there was enough room for them there, too.

Frowning thoughtfully, she looked at the map she'd managed to sketch. "We might want to start looking in the First District. There's fewer Nightmares there."

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"It would have more competition as well, but I agree we should at least start in the First District," Ienzo replied. It wouldn't be competition for Namine, but definitely for him. On the other hand, neither of them were the best at combat, so perhaps the First District would be a better idea in general.

There seemed to be a goodly number of empty buildings, at any rate. Not many people had showed interest in setting up shop, it seemed, so there wouldn't be a terrible amount of competition for the buildings as of yet. Ienzo rather suspected that the moogles were also in charge of maintaining the buildings and collecting rent, but there was no help for that.

Namine hadn't really thought of things in terms of competition. Her main thought had been to avoid the Nightmares, since even with their Spirits' help, they weren't the strongest fighters when it came to that sort of thing.

"There's a few places we could look." There really weren't many occupied buildings, and most of the others who had arrived with them seemed content to stay at the hotel and earn munny fighting Dream Eaters for now.

No matter where they settled, they'd have to deal with the Moogles. Nami was glad she had some help when dealing with them; Ienzo for this, and Washington for helping her strike the bargain for paint. It wasn't that they were mean, it was just that they could be confusing.

Ienzo nodded. "There are some larger buildings in the Fourth District, I think. The second district has too much dream eater activity for my taste, and the back streets aren't particularly conducive to shops. If we don't find something here, we should check there next, I believe."

Relying on the Moogles wasn't ideal, but it seemed like that was just the way the economy worked here. There didn't seem to be any particular help for it, so there was no sense worrying over it. "I suppose we'll have to be ready for attack; are you familiar with any defensive or offensive magics at all?"

"Then that might be better, if there's more space." Considering that the both of them would be living and working and in a building, the more space, the better. "The Fifth District has too many Nightmares, too." That was really too bad, since the park was nice, but you had to go through the Fifth District to get there.

His question regarding magic gave her pause. "No, none of the others ever taught me."

None of those in Castle Oblivion would have put that kind of potential weapon in her hands, and Riku hadn't been very familiar with magic himself.

"I should like to teach you a bit, if you would be interested in learning. If you could master a basic reflect spell, you would already be much better situated should you come under attack." Neither of them would be the best for the front lines, but if you held back your allies they might leave you behind. That would do neither of them any good.

Ienzo eyed the building on the corner. It looked well enough, but the main cafe was right across the square. "We could head to the fourth district now."

"That would be nice." While they'd never be the sort that could hunt Nightmares regularly, knowing enough to defend herself would be useful. It would keep her from becoming a burden to the others; not that they complained, but it was awkward having to make sure she was always with someone when she left the hotel.

Namine followed his gaze and nodded. Having two of the same kind of shop so close might not be wise. She looked at her map again. "Maybe we should. We'll have to go through the back streets, right?"

"Yes. Hopefully we'll be able to make it through without too much trouble." There would be a good number of Nightmares on the way unless someone had been kind enough to clear them out, but with Lea and Namine's dream eater, it would likely be fine.

"If we see any Hebby Reps, we'll have to be careful. They can use fire." Which, aside from the general dangers associated with it, caused Meow Wows to panic to the point of being no help at all. Namine had seen that when Eraqus had fought some Nightmares. Lea and Batty would do their best to help, but they could only do so much.

"I should hope that I'll be able to handle any of the ordinary dangers here. I'm not a complete slouch regarding the use of offensive magic." It wouldn't be too bad if they were attacked, though obviously he would not prefer to run into trouble. It was pleasant to just walk through town with someone trustworthy.

Namine hadn't meant to imply any lack of ability on Ienzo's part. "Ah, I know. I just thought I'd mention it."

That said, she wouldn't have minded a fire to keep warm by at the moment. It was cool here, and her clothing had never been chosen with the the idea that she might go outside in mind. She couldn't help shivering slightly.

"Ah, are you cold? Here." Ienzo took his coat off and settled it around Namine's shoulders. "Your clothing isn't really appropriate for this climate, is it? I don't recall if there's a clothing store here geared towards everyday wear; if not, you'll have to speak to the moogles about a change of wardrobe." Hopefully the coat would keep her warm enough for now; it would be a bit large, but that might be all to the good at this point.

"A little." Before Namine could say anymore, Ienzo had settled his coat around her shoulders. "Thank you."

She busied herself getting her arms through the sleeves, rolling them up, and making sure the hem didn't drag on the ground. It wasn't exactly an overcoat, but it provided some cover from the wind, and that helped a good deal. "I haven't seen any clothing stores, but maybe someone will open one."

Whether or not the Moogles could provide something was a question for later. Having adjusted what she could so she could move easily and make sure no damage came to the coat, she zipped it up. Ready to go, she nodded towards the door to the back streets. "Shall we?"

"You're quite welcome." Ienzo wasn't sure about a clothing store, though at the very least finding a laundry service would probably be a wise idea. It wasn't something he'd particularly thought about yet, though surely the hotel had to have something of the sort.

"Yes, let's get going."

The trip through the back streets was blessedly almost nightmare free, and Ienzo counted himself lucky that they didn't encounter fire. Lea just didn't seem mentally equipped to handle that, and while thinking about the irony of his name was amusing, it was less amusing to spend twenty minutes coaxing a Meow Wow out of a space it had no right to be capable of fitting into. It was still a relief to get into the fourth district and be able to take a breather.

A clothing store, a laundry service, a store that sold detergent so you could wash your clothes yourself; any and all of those would have been welcome. Especially when you liked to draw/color and sometimes found it difficult to keep your white clothes from getting smudged. Namine really had never thought white a practical color for anything that saw a lot of use.

She let Ienzo take the lead while walking, and breathed a sigh of relief as well when they got to the Fourth District without any major incident. Lea and Batty were quite a help against Nightmares, and she'd seen some of the magic Zexion had mentioned in practice. Which was all well and good, but a moment to rest was welcome. Taking a look around, she smiled. "It's a little more colorful than the First District, isn't it?"

"It looks as if the circus has come to town, yes," Ienzo agreed, looking around. He hadn't had to think of clothes colors for years either; darkness-resistant coats tended not to stain either. He headed over to sit on the half wall, and scritched behind Lea's ears when the Meow Wow tried to climb into his lap.

"I think our best chance is by the central plaza. It's free of nightmares, or at least it seemed to be when I passed through before."

"The circus?" Namine's tone made the phrase into a question. While there were some things that she knew thanks to glimpses of Sora's memories as she worked with them, or stories from Riku, this wasn't one of them. Batty's curiosity seemed more directed into actively investigating their surroundings; he did a quick surveillance flight before coming back to chitter at her excitedly and land on her shoulder.

Reaching up to pet him, she nodded. "I've only been here once, but there weren't any then."

"A circus is a sort of traveling show, usually with animals and clowns and people who walk on tightropes. I've never properly been to one, but they're supposed to be fun." It was a bit startling to realize what Namine had missed out on. Clearly it was time to resume studies in more than just magic.

"It sounds interesting." A circus definitely sounded like the sort of thing Sora would like; maybe he had been to one, but that hadn't been one of the major memories Namine had needed to repair. She was beginning to discover just how great the gaps in her knowledge were. It was definitely time to begin studying together again, even if it did some time away from drawing.

Thinking of learning reminded Ienzo of something else, as well. "I neglected to say earlier; the reflect spell is very useful, but it's also more difficult to learn than the basic elemental spells. When we start working on magic, would you prefer to work on reflect or on elemental magics first?"

He gently nudged Lea out of his lap and stood, stretching. It was time to get going again, he supposed.

The choice wasn't as difficult to make as one might think. From practicing drawing, Namine knew that it was best to start with something simple and go from there. "I think the elemental spells first, and healing."

The sooner they began, the sooner everything would be settled. She shifted so Batty got the hint to start flying again, and he did so.

Ienzo nodded. "Once we're settled, we can begin work on lessons." He turned towards the stairs; either way would take them down to the plaza and yet. "I seem to recall being attacked by dream eaters on the right-hand stairs." Best to go left and not risk it.

Namine followed him toward the left-hand stairs. It was definitely best not to risk an attack, especially when there wasn't reallly any detour involved. "Maybe we can work on reading some more, too.

"Absolutely, if you'd like. I, ah." Ienzo paused, flushing slightly. "I actually have a similar book of fairy tales with me here." At least there was no one - especially Even - around to hear that admission. "It looks as if there's a space that opens onto the square that's empty," he added quickly.

It seemed to go fairly far back into the block, as well. Even if they only had two floors, that would be fine, but there might be a third for storage. Or to rent to others who needed living space.

"That would be good." The sudden change of subject came as a surprise, as did the flush, but she let it pass. "Let's take a closer look, then."

It definitely looked big, though sometimes you had to actually look inside to know how much space there really was. Having enough space for someone else to stay with them would be good. The others would get tired of the hotel eventually.

"We can try the door, though I would hope it would be locked. It looks as if it should be a good space." Central location, good amount of space, and no dream eaters immediately outside. It would be very nice indeed if it was as large inside as it looked.

"Or I suppose we could find a moogle and have them walk us through."

"Ah, right, it probably is." It did look like a good building. While she liked the First District, the Fourth District looked more likely to attract people when they arrived; better lit, and fewer Nightmares.

"If we asked one to show us, they might be able to tell us how much it costs, too."

"Quite probably something terribly high. I suppose that's what happens when they run the market." Ienzo sighed to himself. "I think there are some moogles further down; let's go find one and see what we can do about getting a look at the building."

"Houses and things like that are usually expensive, right?" That much Namine had a vague idea of. The idea that things might be more expensive because the Moogles were in charge of all the commerce hadn't occurred to her.

She followed him in the direction of the Moogles he'd seen.

Ienzo was just as glad, after they'd talked to the moogle, that he'd assumed it would be quite expensive. It hadn't actually been as high as he'd thought, and negotiations had been acceptable. He stood in the space, looking around. It wasn't too dirty, for all that it had been unoccupied.

"This looks quite acceptable."

Even at the price eventually agreed upon, the place seemed to cost a small fortune to Namine. Ienzo seemed satisfied, though, so she was willing to accept it. It was roomy inside, though, and compared to the mansion in Twilight Town it was immaculate.

"It's nice. We'll need to get furniture, and maybe paint the walls."

"I think I'll leave that to you...though if you wanted to see how things might look before doing them, I can create illusions on the walls so we can consider different colors." It wasn't how he was used to using his abilities, not since he was small, but it was much more useful in the everyday sense. Ienzo couldn't complain.

"That would be helpful." It would be good to not have to waste time, and supplies, in trial and error. If they could actually see how a color or style of furniture would look before actually buying anything, that would save munny, wouldn't it?

"We should probably contact everyone and see if they're still willing to give us a hand cleaning this place up. I don't think it will be as difficult as I expected." They'd have to agree on how to decorate their living space as well, though Ienzo suspected that that wouldn't be too difficult either.

"It probably won't be--if everyone helps, it won't take long." As far as their living space went, the only areas they really had to agree on decorating were the common areas. Though, with so many choices to make, Namine just hoped they made the right ones.

"Yes, let's call everyone and see who's willing to come by. I'm sure at least a few people will also be willing to help with the apartment." Ienzo wasn't worried about making the wrong decisions, though if he'd known what Namine was thinking, he'd have assured her that personal taste didn't include wrong decisions. Within limits.

"We'll need a communicator for that. I think some of the others already said they'd help--like Sora and Agent Washington." In the abstract, Namine knew that personal taste was an opinion, and therefore couldn't really be wrong. Having not had that much time to devote to exploring her own personal likes and dislikes, though, she was concerned about trying one style, discovering she didn't like it, and then having to redo everything.

"Let's find something to set it on and get everything up. I'm sure Sora and Agent Washington will be willing to give us a hand; Ziva also said she'd come help when I floated the idea." It would be good to have people willing to help them out, though Ienzo supposed it meant owing them.

Owing a favor could be a bad thing, depending on the person, but Namine didn't think owing Sora or Washington could bring any trouble. Ziva seemed kind, too. "Okay. They'll probably be glad to know the idea is working out."

Fortunately, there was a counter at one end of the room that was a good height for what they needed. Namine went over to set up her communicator.

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Wrap-up here?