Arrival in Breg Epona

Yeowang and Jayu's ship has come in, it seems. Or, more completely and less figuratively, the ship they'd sailed on from the Isle of Beginnings a couple days ago has made port here in Breg Epona. Yeowang walks down the gangway once it's laid down, dressed in what here are casual clothes: a flowing robe in a light color to her boots and a pale scarf over her head. She walks down the gangplank with a heavy trunk on one shoulder and into the bustle of the port of the City of Dragons as it is sometimes called, and she will wait for Jayu there at the foot of the gangway, setting her steamer trunk down.

Jayu comes down the ramp shortly after, carrying a steamer trunk full of 'his' clothes: they had been purchased FOR him, sure, but he was uncomfortable with the concept of owning enough clothing that it would require a steamer trunk to transport them all. Still, down he comes with his trunk, his nervous, yet somehow still a little charming, smile on his face as he comes up to Yeowang's side. "So. Here we are." He sets his trunk down momentarily as he takes in the sights of an entirely new land; Yamato as a whole is still new to him, after all.

    With all her skill with water magic, Naniko could likely have ridden a wave from the Isle of Beginnings. She could have bubbled herself and walked if she felt like staying dry. The main problems with swimming alone is you're alone. There's all kinds of things she'd have to deal with out in the depths of the ocean. Still, at least she could jump ship if things went south a bit more easily than others could.
    She's seen a couple of the adventurers fairly recently, and they seem to be packed a lot heavier than she is. She's barely got enough to fill the pack hunching out the back of her poncho. She sticks subconsciously a little closer to the ones she knows than others. She doesn't inspect anyone, however, letting the people keep their privacy, and in turn, hopefully they'd let her keep hers.
    Unfortunately, however, when one is keeping one's head down, one can miss other things. Turning her hooded head to watch a (to her) suspicious lander, Naniko shifts her course and bumps into the other two adventurers who she doesn't realize have stopped. She bows. "Oh, my apologies," she says. "Please forgive me."

Yeowang honestly doesn't know /much/ about Breg Epona, or Westelande, but that means she hasn't spent /much/ time here, or done any in-depth research. But she's a merchant, and knowing a bit about a place you way want to sell things is basic. "The Flame Lord Eugene rules Westelande with an iron fist, and seeks to spread his domination across the lands of Elder Tale in order to bring law to what he perceives as a lawless world. Westelande's primary Wave element is Fire, emphasizing its expansionist heart and passionate drive," she tells Jayu. "They're generally fine with adventurers, though they're wary about Spr-" and blinks as Naniko stumbles into her.

"Oh, hello there," she says, addressing Naniko. "We meet again, how are you?"

Jayu is wary of pickpockets when travelling with Yeowang. A pickpocket, back in the real world, had taken Yeowang's purse during a very important moment of theirs, and since, he has always been on the lookout. Luckily, he was able to spot that Naniko was not trying to pick Yeowang's pockets; she was just being unattentive. "Oh. Nice to see you again. How's life been treating you?"

    More being attentive to other things, she still blushes a bit when she runs into the other woman. "Hello," she says with a smile. She also looks over to Jayu and gives him a slight bow as well. "Hello," she says to him. She turns back to face Yeowang. "I confess, I was hanging close because I recognized you two." She holds out her hand to formally greet the other woman. "Would you mind a handshake? I can do fistbumps, too, if that's preferable. I'm Naniko," she points out, not that they couldn't get that from an inspection.

Yeowang wasn't even thinking about the pickpocket incident! But she did run the fellow down and get her purse back, so there's no reason for her to worry. She will take Naniko's hand and give her a firm, professional handshake, of the sort you get in a corporate boardroom, smiling warmly. "That's fine," she says, and as the handshake is completed, she says, "I am Yeowang, and this is my Jayu," gesturing to Jayu. "It's good to see you again."

Jayu blushes deeply at being referred to as belonging to Yeowang, but his sheepish smile confirms that he doesn't really mind. He, in turn, offers a handshake, though he allows Yeowang and Naniko to converse, with the intend to interject only if he has something to add.

    A handshake sets the tone of an entire interaction. Whoever Naniko inherited memories from knew how to return a firm, business handshake. She also shakes Jayu's hand, who is quite obviously not as serious about it. "I hope I'm not interrupting a romantic interlude," she says. "I've always been an extrovert, so I try to be around people, even if I confess to crippling fear, still, even after all this time in this form."

Yeowang recognizes a business handshake, and seems to be taking Naniko seriously. She links her arm in Jayu's, trying to pull him physically into the conversation since he seems to be shying out. She smiles a bit wistfully at interrupting a romantic interlude, and she says, "We've waited two and a half years. Fifteen minutes more won't kill us. Anyhow, we've got the rest of our lives to be romantic, I hope Jayu, you won't begrudge Naniko a few minutes?"

She nods about being an extrovert, it seems pretty clear she's one also, but there is zero fear in her eyes, or in her posture. If a fight or flight response is called for, someone's getting their teeth kicked down their throat. "Fear? Of what? Breg Epona is quite civilized," she points out.

Jayu did, in fact, seem to be shying out of the conversation, but he definitely doesn't shy away from the affection given to him from Yeowang. He hugs her arm with his, giving her a warm smile that could melt glaciers before turning to Naniko, "Well, I can understand being in a new land, experiencing the unknown. I've only recently come to Yamato, so everything is new for me, more or less. Just remember, there PROBABLY isn't anyone hunting you down to rob you of your free will HERE."

    "People going bat shit, originally," Naniko explains to Yeowang. "Then griefers. Then palace landers." She sighs. "I haven't died," she says, very quietly. "I'm trying quite hard not to get dropped into a bad situation where I might." She runs her hands through her hair, pushing her hood back until it falls against her back. Her aqua hair is the length of bristles on a toothbrush. "To the point where I can count on my fingers the number of times I've eaten something that isn't menu food. I've been to Yamato before," she points out. "Just...I don't really have anywhere I really feel safe enough to call home," she explains to the pair. She smiles, looking between them. "Nor anyone who's managed to woo me, yet."

Yeowang nods entirely seriously at Jayu's admonition. "This isn't the Palace Lands, and we don't even /have/ those artifacts," she says gratefully. "But I'm showing him a few places, and I had to come here to meet a particular sage, so we're spending time together. It's a bit like a cruise ship, but ... different." She gives Jayu a wistful look. "Father's boat is much nicer than the one we were on," she tells him.

As to what Naniko is worried about, she nods sympathetically, but says, "There's really very few people like that anymore. The Palace Lands were a rough time, but griefers, I haven't met any." Luckily /for them/, her body language says. "But no one can attack you in a Root town unless you're attacking someone, so you're safe here. Or any Root town, of course." At the mention of wooing, she explains, "Jayu and I are, well, I suppose you could say we're seeing each other outside the game. But we live apart, so I thought it'd be easier to meet here. It wasn't, unfortunately, but we're here now."

Jayu gives a serious nod. "I understand how you feel, Naniko. I was in the Palace Lands until recently as well. It was... Not a good experience for me either." A full-body shiver goes through Jayu, one that Yeowang would feel through his arm. "So far, I have seen that Yamato seems like a paradise in comparison. It's safe here."

    Naniko's eyebrows raise. "Oh!" she says. "My memory donor's beloved was supposed to be playing this game, too. For simplicity's sake 'we'--" She uses finger quotes. "--were going to be playing this game together a lot." She scratches one of her eyebrows with a well-trimmed thumbnail. "After waiting up for over a day from flight delays, the beloved fell asleep, but I remember jet-lag, so I remember making a character to get ready. Maybe do the tutorial or something." She takes a breath and sighs it out. She smiles a nostalgic smile. "I'm ready, at this point, to move beyond the memory donor's beloved and find someone. It's just me in here, after all. New and different, just with borrowed long-term romance. I really want to believe those two are married and breeding like rabbits." She smirks a little happy smirk at the thought. Her smile fades, though. "And that's another thing I'm really scared of," she admits.

Yeowang puts her hand over Jayu's on her arm as he recalls the Palace Lands. "That was an awful place for players," she agrees. "Yamato is so much different, though, literally as different as night and day." As Naniko describes her own situation, Yeowang ahhhhs. "So, you -know- your lover's not in with you. That's rough," she agrees. "Jayu and I were so far apart. He was still in Korea, I was in Japan. We both weren't positive if the other was even in game until a couple weeks ago. I don't know whether I'd hoped he was, so we could be together, or I hoped he'd gotten sidetracked and been unable to get in, and wouldn't be trapped here. But it seems to have worked out for the best," she says, and looks to Jayu for confirmation.

"But as to finding another lover, are you really okay with casting off your lover outside the game? I couldn't be with Jayu for two and a half years, and there wasn't a moment where I thought to replace him."

Jayu chuckles softly to himself, "I mean, I suppose if I had to choose, I would rather exist than not. And if we truly are just copies of our former selves, well, I definitely would be happy that Yeowang was here, too. I mean, if us being here, copies of ourselves, has no effect on us in real life, why WOULDN'T I want Yeowang to be here with me?" He scratches the back of his head, "I mean, think about it this way. You just escaped Hell. You have a WHOLE LOT of built up Karma. And now that you are in Yamato, you can start spending that saved up Karma."

He gives a small sigh, "Of course, if we are memory copies of our Real Life counterparts... I don't really think that makes our memories any less important. I have seen what happens to adventurers who have LOST all their memories... Have you? If you had, you'd know that those memories are very important to us. You know?"

    Naniko sighs again. "It's my mindset," she admits. "I'm lonely, and while I still have strong feelings, it is my belief we only have the memories of the people who were playing the game. That this place is completely different and separate from that." A beat. "If I'm wrong, what's the donor's body doing? Is it dead? In a coma? You think we're getting out of here? What if this is just Heaven or Hell or Limbo or something, and we were all the victims of another Flash of Death, but fatal, this time? Only reason it looks the way it does is because we were connected when we died. I don't know anything," she points out. "I choose to believe that, after the apocalypse, someone with identical memories to mine got up, went to bed, snuggled up to the beloved, then they made love and got married and have at least one kid by now." She shrugs. "Because what good is there in assuming I'm in a common ward with everyone else, on life support, and in a coma or just one of many people who vanished and left behind a VR setup?" She seems to realize something after she answers the other two. "What happens when your memories are gone? I just assumed you'd become a vegetable or a lander or something."

Yeowang gives a wistful sigh for adventurers who've lost themselves. She nods to Jayu about the importance of memories. And she can't really argue Naniko's position. "Our selves here are indeed different from our selves outside the game," she agrees. "I'm not very good at martial arts in the game, but I have other skills I barely understand. Archery?" She smirks, shrugs. "That's what I get for letting Inseyong coach me into my character build." She smiles ruefully.

"So, if you're lonely here, and you know your lover's not here, I suppose there's no harm in finding someone. I hope you can, I've heard other players have, and live in a village in the back of nowhere. Somewhere in Ninetails, I think?"

Jayu seems to think really hard about Naniko's predicament. He hesitates for a moment and returns to that nervous smile he typically wears, "Well, I am lucky in that Yeowang is here. And... If I had died in the real world, or if I were in a coma, everything I have left behind is being taken care of, so... I have no REAL reason to want to return, if we even ARE real people trapped in a game."

    "I have...odd qualifications," Naniko says. She sighs and rubs the inside corners of her eyes with her index fingers. "I'm complicated," she says. "I don't remember this much anxiety and depression before the apocalypse." She sighs and looks between the two. "You really are lucky to have each other," she says. "And I agree with you," she says at Jayu. "At this point, my memory donor is either as good as dead or missing presumed dead. This new creation is where life is, now."

Yeowang smiles to Jayu and says, "I'm /fairly certain/ we're not -really- stuck in a game. Grandfather wouldn't stand for it," she says with a laugh. She smirks to Jayu. He knows enough of her personal situation to understand. She arches a brow about Naniko's 'odd qualifications', but nods about it being complicated. "I think everyone's complicated, though, so don't feel bad for that. Everyone's situation is unique." She eyes Jayu and smirks. "Even Moonyoung. Do you think she's managed to land that young fellow? I don't think my former fiance made much of an impression on her."

Jayu smiles softly at his memories, "Well, she did seem to... ah, prefer... Younger men. From my experience. When I left, I think they, she and Kang Rok, were planning on going on a date, so I guess things were pretty serious. He's actually gotten to be pretty dependable, you know?"

    Naniko listens to the conversation. It's obvious she's trapped in some deep thoughts. "I can't really see where this is heading," she confesses, "but I do know I interrupted your evening." She smiles and bows respectfully toward mostly Yeowang. "It was nice meeting you both. Maybe we'll be able to meet under happy circumstances."

Yeowang nods to Jayu. "I didn't see much of him, I was mostly gone when she met him," she agrees. "But i'm glad they've found each other." She nods to Naniko, and says, "I don't think any of us know with much certainty what will happen or where anything is headed. And I say this as someone used to doing the steering." She returns Naniko's bow, and says, "It was nice getting to talk to you again. Hopefully we can meet in happy circumstances, yes. Take care!"

Jayu bows in time with Yeowang. "I hope your travels help you find what you're looking for." Ooooh. That's deep.