May 12th

The airship finally announces across its sound system that they are arriving and will begin debarking shortly. They mention that everyone needs to ensure they have all their belongings, as the ship will be heading out shortly to pick up more Human refugees by the end of the day, after resupply and cleaning.

If asked where they are, the response given by any staff will be that they are now in the Yaraq State, south of the main Naverre Desert and in the otherwise unsettled grassy plains near Qadu.

Higaide remembers they better not leave without their food crate. Very important.

[Should also mention that I did show this book to Sethos, possibly with him in the room with me and Higaide when I was ranting on, for what good that did.]

Rory will look through his stuff to ensure nothing has been stolen. Further proof for his antsy burun ally!

Yes, that crate of food that is totally ours! Won't be leaving without that. Isn't that right, fellow hyoo-man? We, or I, shove that crate around, probably get it onto a rolly/hover-thing, and lie our(my) butts off about helping take it where it needs to go.

Hmm...the book stays. Rory just leaves it in the room where it will eventually be found on the staffs' routines.

Sethos, for reference, is back at the Sho territories, having never stepped foot on the airship. Even if he was asked to, he wouldn't be inclined to, and if he was convinced, he wouldn't be allowed. Humans only.

[A-ha, how long have you been working with them Sethos? If they're so well-meaning, why can't you come? They obviously have something to hide, something bad, else why would they say "no one but humans allowed"? And they're not human-centric, because some of those guards were sclavi...I'm almost positive that the giant construct we encountered was a lugian with no head...]

That airship is taking off soon, we don't have a whole lot of time to figure out what's going on here.

I get the food crate off the airship and in addition to finding out what's expected of the refugees and learning of a few key persons of interest (who's speech I along with the refugees expected to hear, and who the people in charge are), I will ask where I can take the crate. Higaide will come with me, as we're kinda like glue right now.

Expecting directions to said speech location and to the place where we're taking our crate.

Same as Rory, pretty much. Until we're processed or... processed, all we can do is be good little sheep and keep our guard up as much as possible.

The two are shuffled off ship and led into a fairly large open square that seems to lack any aesthetic design in its structure, built purely to serve the function it is now employed in. There are, of course, quite a few Humans alongside Higaide and Rory here.

After a few minutes of head counting and ensuring no one got lost or hurt, a Human neither recognize stands up on a small box and begins speaking, his voice projected over the crowd.

"Welcome, welcome. Yes, everyone can hear me?" A few nods. "Excellent, good. So, yes, um, welcome to the beginnings of your new home. I know this is, um, a bit new and difficult for you all, especially after that business with the, um, with the enslavement. But don't worry!" His tone lifts a bit. "We're going to take good care of you. You're with your own kind here." A small bit of applause breaks out, but dies fairly quickly. "Yes, well, um. So we want to get you to your new situation as quickly as possible, so we'll start with the basics." He gestures to his right. "Here, to your left, I'd like you to line up if you'd like to work. Doesn't matter at what; if you are one of those industrious types who wants to work, please don't be shy, we have jobs all around." He gestures then to his left. "Here, to your right, please file in if you would rather take it easy for a while and just subsist off the state. No shame in it! We've all been through hell." He then grabs something off the ground neither can quite see, lifts it up, and it is apparently a flag with a strange symbol on it. He plants it into the ground before him. "And those who would like to pursue new opportunities of augmentation, please gather around this flag here, with me."

With that the crowd starts talking amongst themselves, debating and deliberating, while some have already started mulling towards one choice or another.

Deception vs speaker
That human speaker looks uncomfortable. Could be that speaking to a crowd of people makes him nervous, but does it seem like he's hiding something?

"I don't think we want to subsist off the state yet. Let's sign up to work and...see what sort of 'work' they have for us."

Before joining a line, he'll ask one of the staff for a brief description of these opportunities in "augmentation", though he's sure he has a good guess.

"Well, anything but the Augment thing. They'll probably stick a thing on your spine if you do the Augment thing. I mean, the guy is literally planting a flag! No way i ever want to get anywhere near the Augment thing."

He says nothing for a few seconds, then lets out a sigh.

"Rory, we gotta go for the Augment thing."

Rory ponders for a moment, then says, "Alright. Keep on your toes."

[The line for augmentation, please. And I'm assuming I've been able to drag my crate around unmolested.]

Rory's bead on the gentleman is that he's just not a good public speaker, and there's no deliberate deception in his tone.

As you might imagine, the line for the Augmentation is pretty small. Though there's a large gap in it behind Rory as he's continuing to lug Javan's poor coffin with him. There is another person handling the front of the line, far more accustomed to speaking with others and more composed. He politely shakes people's hands and asks them if they're certain, and answers questions as he goes. The two get the gist that this is signing up for either military or work-related duty, and the gentleman keeps insisting the person is sure before they head forwards. More than a few people bow out of the line.

Whomever is in front is reached first and the gentleman looks at whomever it is, politely nodding and introducing himself as Jonathan from the old House Redoran, and asking their name.

Confirm for Higaide, I think his reaction would launch us into a discussion about recognizing Johnathan and about his circumstances, if he is the Johnathan.

Meanwhile, what do I know about Redoran?

Rory and Higaide both don't roll overly well to remember much about House politics. They know there were the three Houses of course; Hlaalu, Redoran, and Telvanni. They know Hlaalu was fairly mercantile driven, Telvanni pursued research, and Redoran was more of a catch all. Redoran had a reputation for caring about people who were temporarily Redorans more than the other two.

OOC: So, the man named Jonathan is the one i know from Holtburg?

He does indeed appear to be thusly.

As Higaide approaches Jonathan - "You're a hard man to find."

Jonathan nods at Higaide vaguely, no real recognition on his sight. Although, he barely is looking at Higaide at all. He starts going through some of the basics of 'are you sure? are you sure you're sure?' as if from rote.

Isn't that a little too mechanical for the guy in charge of by far the smallest line? It's not like he's been doing this for years, either. Does he seem off, somehow?

"Well, i really need to know what to be sure of. You guys just say "Augmentation" like that explains everything, but i still don't know if you're gonna sprinkle some fairy dust on me or drill a hole through my skull."

"A hole in your skull? Don't be absurd." He chuckles faintly at your joke. "No, we'll just replace your body with a sentinel's of course. There's some detriments, but the benefits are significant." He pauses in his note taking. "It's pretty standard really. Any questions?"

"Replace my bo--- of course!" - he replies with a silly me chuckle. - "Yeah, i have one more question: You really don't recognize me? We met a little over a week ago (April 28th ~ May 3rd). You told me to come here."

Surprised to actually hear his suspicion confirmed than just to think it, Rory blinks several times, and voices his dismay as he asks more about it.

"Do What? Is this common? Is this kind of thing widely done here on Dereth? Why would anyone agree to that? Just what makes this a worthwhile practice?"

He looks up at Higaide, squinting faintly. "Actually now that you mention it, you do look vaguely familiar. You sort of have one of those everyman faces, didn't really recognize you." He pauses, and turns to Rory. "To my knowledge no one else does body replacements, no. As for why worthwhile?" He starts ticking off his finger, as if he's memorized this speech. "Longer lifespan, no longer needing to eat, breathe, sleep, or drink, higher durability, greater strength. And of course, possibilities for career advancement which would bring further augmentation down the line."

OOC: It's been like. less than two weeks, and this guy was part of the group i was in charge of, and specifically came to me to ask for help. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume he's remembering me far too vaguely. Also, i never used Knowledge Elements before (and i know that's now been replaced), but can i possibly feel if any kind of elemental energy is pulsing through here?

Higaide glances at Rory, as if saying to keep cool. Then to Jonathan again.

"Eat, breathe, drink... do they at least have a mouth? Eyes?"

Rory is repulsed. But, replacing a person's whole body? I can barely believe this is real. It is clear what people would have to give up when choosing to have this done to them. He can scarcely believe even less that these people are being open about it. But they are not forcing this on anyone or hiding anything about the practice.

He shakes his head "no" at Higaide. They both found out everything there is to learn about the augmentation option without having to pretend to want to do it.