Concerns Itensify

After the escape from Mac Anu, Tian had retreated away from what seemed to be the heart of the Crowned's current military assault. Their previous agreement to train one of the Yamato Adventurers in Dun Loireag is also reason enough to seek refuge in Ninetails. All of this, alone, explains their presence.

There is a person sitting next to the masked Cait Sith who claps them on the shoulder, then reaches out to clasp their forearm and nod before turning to depart. No words are exchanged between the two, and the departing individual inspects as an Adventurer.

Tian, however, lingers in the garden. It's quiet, without the bustle of the restaurant, and the Uncrowned takes any moment of peace with a measure of appreciation. Taking off their mask, the face underneath is marked with a black stripe across the eyes, the mouth and jaw colored to match the mask. It's obviously makeup. Their features are androgenous, golden eyes seeming a bit tired in the dim light of the garden.

The Cait Sith lets out a sigh, blowing a few strands of ombre hair out of their eyes, thoughtful, it seems.

There is another presence here, however, seated at the edge of koi pool and fountain. Sprawled across her lap is a hand-drawn map of the Palace Lands, a map of her own explorations of the invading powers home.

There she sits, totally absorbed in making a very, very small adustment to an elaborate border that she's drawn on the edges of the page in front of her, quill and ink at the ready. It's an attractive looking thing, that map, and clearly something she's taken great pains to do.

But why does she look so unhappy?

Don't answer that, acvtually. It's Jazz.

Yeowang has been in Ninetails conducting business, or attempting to conduct business, and is /not/ looking pleased and carefree at the moment as she enters the Isekai Roukan's garden. So, pleased and carefree isn't her normal expression in any event, and it'd be an odd expression for pretty much anyone given the geopolitical situation. Part of it is frustration in trying to learn about this world, there's so many bits and pieces that don't seem logical, or at least she doesn't know the backstory that would make the logic flow. Part of it is not getting her way, which she's still not entirely used to. The life of a spoiled rich girl is not this one, alas.

She's gone to the Roukan for lunch, after her frustrating morning, and is surprised to see visitors here so early. "Ah, hello," she says to Tian, and the previous expression falls away to a much more neutral expression, almost a poker face now. For when she's not sure who she's dealing with. Polite, but maybe a bit distant.

Tian has learned how to keep an eye out for unusual things, and Jazuhanzu... well it's more the map than the person that draws their attention. Familiar features of the Palace Lands is enough to to pull that golden gaze, ears perking upwards in an instinctive look of canine interest.

The Cait Sith leans over slightly, then taps on the nearby floor with a finger a couple of times, trying to get Jazuhanzu's attention. Though Tian might be deaf, they have navigated the world long enough to understand that sound often works wonders in starting a conversation. They begin to sign, hands moving with delicate fingers. "<Map of the Palace Lands?>" Their expression is questioning, one hand held perpendicular to the other, wiggling like a river against a landscape. The system gives an understanding of this type of language as much as spoken word.

Of course, that's when Yeowang also offers a greeting. Tian takes an open hand and moves it from their temple to the side, echoing the greeting. "<Hello.>" The Cait Sith normally wears that mask of theirs, but with it set to the side, their expressions seem more open and easy to read.

Not that Jazz isn¡¯t substantially stand-out herself with all that darn purple and twee and the maids outfit. She is so focused on what she is doing that she doesn¡¯t notice the arrival of the others until Tian calls her attention directly.

A look up. A blink. Just about luminous amber eyes widen in a flash of surprise.

¡°¡¦ ASL! Even that! I hadn¡¯t even thought ¡¦ but of course! It makes perfect sense. Uh, yes. it¡¯s the Palace Lands,¡± she offers, some sheepishness creeping into her expression. Yeowang¡¯s presence is given its due: a tip of her head in greeting.

As a measure of Yeowang's distraction this morning, she only now realizes Jazz is here also. She was sitting so quietly by the edge of the pond. Looking unhappy, but that's Jazz's thing, she's come to realize, and anyhow, Yeowang's not the cheering-up-others type. "Good morning," she says to Jazz.

She nods her head as Tian returns her greeting, blinking at the understanding of the sign language. That seems unusual, or at least unexpected. She studies him, or possibly her, for a moment, and after what may seem like a pause as she decides on her next conversational gambit, she goes with, "How are you both this morning?" She will head on over and look to see what Jazz is studying so intently.

Tian's head tilts ever so slightly at the recognition. Even within the Palace Lands, most suspect the Cait Sith of using Chinese Sign Language rather than the American variation, but Jazuhanzu is correct. There is a small bob of the head given from the Cait Sith to acknowledge this much, and a hint of a smile that looks a little strange on their painted features.

Forming a hand into a fist, they extend only the pointer finger and then flex it, giving a somewhat confused expression, then Tian finger spells a few characters. "<Mysteries of ETO.>" This is followed by a shrug. Tian can offer little by way of explination on how the translation works.

However, they do seem curious about that map. Reaching over, they motion over the map above Kallamore. "<Have you been here?>" Tian touches thumb to fingers and then taps next to their mouth, then at their cheek. "<It was my home.>" There is some sadness in their expression.

As for Yeowang, Tian looks up and over towards them, canting their head slightly before offering up a sign with both hands held open, moving together across their chest. "<Worried.>" With a shake of their head, a quicker series of signs follows. "<Crowned are utilizing new tactics. Need to find a way to reverse their hold on Mac Anu.>"

The head tilt's meaning is lost on Jazz, totally, but then she nods.

"Still, that has possibilities. I wonder if ..."

She stops herself, then clears her throat. A glance towards Yeowang again. "You're right, yeah. If I had any clue how to do it, I'd help, but it's all a bit beyond me." A glance down, then a nod.

"If it's on the map, I've been there," she adds after a moment.

Yeowang spoke Chinese, Korean, English, and Japanese in RL, but not any sort of sign, so she could not tell American Sign from Chinese. But the game gives it to her in Korean, which is her native language. Which is a bit weird, even so.

She nods to Tian's concern about the Crowned and about Mac Anu. "Yes. I've heard they somehow took control of the Guardians, which is an issue of some concern. It has not been explained to me how this was done, or how it's even possible. But that it -was- done is clear. I agree with the need to find a way to reverse it, but I have no idea how this might be done." She arches a brow at Jazz's truncated speculation, and says, "Wondering is all we have at the moment, feel free to wonder. We're in the Brainstorming part of the planning cycle, just trying to generate ideas."

With Jazuhanzu confirming that they have, indeed, been to Kallamore, Tian gives another faint hint of a smile and then signs, "<It is different than it was. We're different.>" The Cait Sith doesn't elaborate on this other than shaking their head. In the year since the Apocalypse, it is likely that many things changed in both Yamato and the Palace Lands.

However, Yeowang's comments is what seems to seize hold of the fox-wolf's golden gaze. "<They never did this before.>" Tian explains with another slight negative shift of their head. "<Didn't need to.>" The Palace Landers already controlled the cities, so why would they?

Tian's dark eyebrows draw downward in concern and speculation. Without the mask on, it is easy to read the shift of emotions across their features. "<My contacts are looking into it. I expect some answers soon.>" They tap fingers against their arm as if showing some signs of impatience at that.

Tian's words make her tilt her head. "...ah," she says after a moment. She's put together what's happened. "You must be one of the Uncrowned, then," she says. She's heard of them, after all, but she hadn't had the opportunity to lay eyes on one until now. A blink at Yeowang, though, and she explains, "No. I was just thinking about the revelation that sign language can confer its meaning and I just ... know what they're saying. It makes me think about the possibility of whether or not a constructed language, one we make ourselves, could work. What would it take for it to start making sense? A practical experiemnt for later." A wry tone to her voice, even if she isn't smiling. She never smiles.

Then to Tian, "I'm J... I'm Jazz," she offers with some resignation.

Yeowang nods about things being different now than they were before. Though she's closer now to who she was before the game than she was at te start. She's growing into what she sees as her RL self. That's probably egotistical, but she was entirely happy with herself in RL, unlike most of the people she's met in game, so that's her current goal.

She nods as Tian replies that the Guardian thing is a new tactic, understanding that they didn't need to take cities away from their current owners in the Palace Lands. 'Contacts looking into it' is more progress than she can claim, so she says simply, "Please let us know when anything is uncovered. My greatest concern is we may need to sneak into the Palace Lands to undo this problem." And that's a small part of why she's trained herself to sneak, which is not a skill she possessed in RL prior to the game, but seemed quite important here in the current circumstances.

To Jazz, she can only shrug. "It seems meaning is conveyed regardless of the means one uses to communicate. So, the requirement may be the intent to communicate and some attempt, however imperfect, to communicate the idea. You know, there's a party game where you attempt to act out ideas, and the other partygoers attempt to deciper the idea." She means charades, which she's never played. "It may be interesting to see how well communications can be exchanged with charades."

Tian closes their right hand into a fist and bobs it forward in a gesture that is reminiscent of a nod, while also nodding their head at the same time. "<Yes.>" It's a simple enough sign, acknowledging themselves as one of the Uncrowned. Where their wolf mask sits in their lap, Tian holds it up, having obviously removed it. Though they have jewelry in their ears, none of that really qualifies as head-gear.

Their head tilts once again, as if considering Jazuhanzu's comments about language. "<Not all things that communicate information, translate.>" Tian holds hands in a c-shape, motioning their mouth like talking though no sound comes out. "<Language seems to.>"

For Yeowang, there is another bob of the head and affirmative sign. "<We want to know as much as you do.>" Tian signs quickly, their expression going from concern to fear to uncertainty.

At the introduction, Tian seems thoughtful for a moment, before offering up a series of finger-spelled letters. "<Tian Lang.>" Then, they offer up two signed symbols which the system also translates as: "<Tian Lang.>" Last, they tilt their head, as if showing something, and repeat the same two symbols as before. One hand sweeping above the head, the other making a gesture akin to drawing a canine face over their own. This time, the system translates: "<Sky Wolf.>"

Then, as if to explain, Tian signs, "<Name spelled. Name said. Name meaning.>" Then, after a pause, they add, "<My sign-name also works.>" None of the gestures offered seem to be their sign name, since that is, perhaps, something more private and not meant to be shared.

"... yeah. I wish I could have been there, I wanted to be there... I was just too far away from Mac Anu to help anyone when it happened." She lets out a grunt, her shoulders set and her body seemingly weighed down with a mountains worth of regrets.

"... not that it would have changed much, but I owe it to people to try. If I can help..."

Yeowang nods gravely at Tian wanting to know also, and hrms at the introduction. "Sky Wolf. Tian Lang." She nods. "I am Yeowang," she says, a trifle awkwardly. The game name being different from her given name is a bit confusing after all this time, perhaps? To his comment, she replies, "Hopefully we will find out soon what may be done."

She herself came from a meeting where the Landers denied her request to put down an entirely new shipyard from the ground up. Sure, it was a huge project and might take years, but no one's given her a timetable. "I was here also," she says to Jazz. "Though from what I have heard, there was nothing that /could/ have been done that wasn't done."

"<Many died.>" Tian informs them with a shake of their head. "<I was there. Better safe here than dead there.>" The Cait Sith lets out a breath, which is likely one of the few sounds they usually make. "<Best aid is to help refugees. Help Adventurers protect Eas.>" Many seem to suspect that Eas will be the next place targeted, with it's close proximity to Mac Anu and it's ties as an Adventurer-created city.

Taking in the names, Tian offers each one a nod before seeming to consider the situation. "<Other ways to help. Find what you are good at. I watch. I hide. I create weapons and accessories to aid others.>" Tian holds up their hands as if shadow-boxing, "<Wasn't a fighter, but... still help where I can.>"

"I'm not much of a fighter either but I'll head to Eas if I can. Maybe I can help there. I'd like to know more, though. More about what happened ... over there. " She glances up for a moment and then adjusts her hat. "I imagine you're sick of sharing it though."

Yeowang arches a brow as to what she's good at. Well, maybe as a financier, but her brother's got the cutthroat attitude for business much more than she does. "I'm afraid my specialty is fighting," she says wryly. "But," she turns to Jazz, "I understand that Eas is evacuated and doesn't intend to stand. That's disappointing, but they are choosing to fight another day rather than bleed the enemy. I do not purport to be a tactician, so I cannot say if one is better than the other. But a castle defense was, historically, an ideal opportunity to make an attacker buy land dearly. But this is different from history, so who can say?"

Tian's expression is one of understanding, "<It is okay.>" They have been asked many questions since making themselves known in Yamato, and it does not seem to bother them in the least. "<In simple terms: Some Adventurers tried to take advantage of the situation. Tried to manipulate, control, even kill prominent Landers.>" Tian pauses, seeming to think before adding, "<Different circumstances in each Kingdom. But for the crimes of a few, we all were punished. Many have died. Lost forever.>"

That play of emotions remains on Tian's features, as if they were remembering some of those losses all too intimately. Then, looking towards Yeowang, the Cait Sith shakes their head, "<They intend to fight. They could use more fighters.>" Tian looks uncertain, "<I am best gathering information to aid them, for now.>"

Clearly, they have heard something different than what Yeowang has said. "<They will make them hurt if they choose to strike Eas.>"

"I heard... heard a bit like that, yes, but good to hear it confirmed. Despite the revelation, not sure bleeding them works quite the same way in this setting that it might otherwise." She raises her fingers to her temples and rubs them gently. "I'll try to help if I can, if they'll have me."

Yeowang nods as Tian explains what had happened in the past. She had heard something similar, though not quite so specific, perhaps. She had also heard about Eas from Wake that they planned to retreat and give ground and only make a token resistance, so he's not sure who Tian or Jazz heard otherwise from that's more reliable? Sadly, she laments, "At this point, I don't think I'll be able to get there in time."