Market Street

"You...you've never heard of it?"

Roy sighed. Why had he ever chased this silly duck so far? How was he going to get home, if this kind lady had never even heard of Isra? At least she seemed nice enough, and hopefully she wouldn't try to kidnap him. She was right, though. He certainly did need a bath and some fresh clothes, he'd been inside a fish's stomach for an unreasonably long time. He was kind of hungry, too.

"It's nice to meet you, Hatsumomo. I'm Roy. Thank you for helping me, you're very kind. Um...one of my cousins is an actress, I think. Other than that, though, I don't think I've ever met any others."

He looked up at her parasol. It looked nice, much more finely made than his own soggy purple parasol.

Asger was slightly overwhelmed at the immediate culture shock. The city looked like no other he had seen. People were dressed differently and the language was completely different. Asger looked around, wondering if anyone else had made the journey from the mainland.

(Johannes Edelsberg)

Hatsumomo was out with two of her servants, gathering supplies for the girls back at the Peach Pavilion. She usually didn't enjoy running errands like this, but the day was beautiful and Hatsumomo was feeling just as lovely. In her kimono that she let slope off her naked, white shoulders, a little smile on her painted red lips, she slowly spun a sun umbrella over her shoulder, its silken outside painted with a collection of flowers.

Her thick lashes lifted over her almond-shaped eyes as she looked across a short distance and saw Asger and Johannes Edelsberg. She watched them, not so much staring as much as the other locals might have been, but studying them as if she liked what she saw...

Gleeful that someone could speak something vaguely familiar a smile went on Johan's red face, his red beard, and his red lips at the same time subsequently followed by him throwing up a hand on delight. "How glad I am to meet you, Southern-kin, I felt quite lonely here, nobody wanted to talk and all saw me as an alien. I come from Asgeir, hoping to spread the word of Divinity and perhaps add parts of Tawakoshi to the Saintly Choir. They have... interesting beliefs here, what with the Kami and all. I'm not a Priest, more of a semi-official and admittedly self-appointed agent of the Clergy, though I am not restricted by what Priests and Monks have I am neither as Holy. I am to evangelize those I can and report back on the status of the land with general knowledge, perhaps even a whole book including many matters secular; a sort of reference material for those wishing to learn of Tawakoshi." 

He had not noticed the stares of the lady because it seemed everyone was very interested in the foreign pair. "What are your impressions of the land? I know you are of interest for blond hair is rare hair and only appears amongst albinos. I reckon I am even more of an interesting because of my red hair!"

"Is it? Well, I suppose it is possible since Asgeir is the geographical name; the people are called the Varan." He said, and then laughed a little at Asger's second comment. "I'm not quite a missionary no, at least not exactly, I'm to pave the way for them. Call me a... yes, call me a Knight, though non-hereditary and without the title of 'Sir,' but to give a better idea I'll say I was temporarily married until she l-.... Anyway, I reckon because of what I need to record I'll have to travel to places that may be off-limits so yes, perilous indeed." 

He was a bit surprised to hear the change to common, which he was even less experienced in than the tongue of Tawakoshi. Perhaps he'd annoyed the man with his pronunciation? Still, if common would be the language of discourse so be it, though head have to replace a word here or there. His accent resembled the man's background, uneven and rough sounding with more changes in consonants and but little to no mistakes in vowels. "Oh? Well, you are not wrong, though it is very foreign and takes time to adjust to. The people are much more how you say... subservient. In the old world one serves because they know the necessity, here to kow-tow is much more ingrained and cultural." He said, instantly regretting saying the word that could be most likely understood by the majority of the locals Still, the damage was done so he pretended to be more interested in the items sold to perhaps ease the annoyance of the merchants and others. 

Johan's whiskers twitched a little as he spun to face the newcomer, and then two realizations vied for dominance in his head: one, that someone had understood a measurable portion of what was said just now and that two, he had not guessed the origins of the expression right and was now most likely wrong on quite a bit of his thoughts and ideas. He was naturally quite ruddy but these two things made him even more red with a single bead of sweat rolling down his left side. "It's means err... well it's to bow down or kneel or well to just comply with what is said and things of such sort...." he trailed off, thinking of what else it could mean so that in-case an inquiry was made it would not turn out that he had lied.

Shaking his head after realizing the uselessness of these thoughts he turned back to gaze at Asger and then at the lady. "Did you... understand the other tongue?" he asked timidly. 

The Northman's voice wavered a little, and the bead of sweat rolled to a side-burn which made him somewhat happy for it was now gone. The trouble was that he was far from skilled enough to explain what subservient meant without making it appear to have a derogatory connotation which it admittedly did have to some degree. "To be subservient, is to be one who nearly always does as is demanded of them by others, sometimes regardless of what that is." he said, just a hint proud of himself for thinking up that definition. "People have less desire to serve in the mainland, less bowing, less of all that - especially in the big countries." he finished, wording himself carefully and (probably unsuccessfully) trying to not sound as though he were checking each word for meaning before speaking it. 

Johan was however, still irked that she quickly changed the subject to avoid his question which repeated a little more meaningfully this time. "But, did you understand what was said in the other language?" he asked, pulling back his hood to hear better what was said; he didn't like word games so he was trying to give himself a better chance. 

(Sorry this was late. For some reason, the Dashboard only just now showed me that Asger had posted...)

Her gaze traveled from furred face to furred face. "I do not understand the other language you speak," she informed them. "Perhaps if I make myself subservient to you both, I will learn it?" Hatsumomo asked with a perk of a dark brow.

Yep. She was insulted. And she didn't care for their suddenly flowery words now that they understood that some of the Quy people might understand what they were saying. She twirled her umbrella as she looked between them, the sun never once kissing her white shoulders.

"If you want to insult a foreign people, perhaps continue speaking your ugly language so we don't understand it. You may find yourself with a difficult journey otherwise," she informed them both. Then, she bowed her head in a mock display of subservience, flashed them a smile, and the silken woman drifted around them like a blossom on the breeze, her two hand-maidens rushing to her side as she walked away from them both.

A sad frown touched Asger's face. It seems he had only made things worse. He clasped Johannes Edelsberg's shoulder as well and returned to their native tongue, "Ah well, you can't please them all. I know you meant no offense. To keep the honor of our people pure in this new land I will help you apologise."

Asger followed Johan through the crowd. He hoped the the women would not be frightened by the pursuing pair. They stook out in the crowd and would be easily spotted. A more cynical part of him hoped that some chaos would erupt from this first meeting of foreign cultures. However, such a thing would he ultimately undesirable.