Eyuzi System Mingle

[lord_wizard]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you like!
Action: The planet Lyuku, the Iskaulit, and anywhere else you want
When: Sept 1 to Sept 28

[After a rather short time adrift, the fleet is finally in range of another planet. Small, peaceful, and colorful, there is plenty to do and explore.

Maybe it's enough to forget that vague feeling of unease.

Or not.]

((SYSTEM INFO))

Comments

9/17 - Shopping

[nonightdriving]

[As one of the cooks for the First Breath, Ignis takes that duty as he does all his others: Very Seriously. He finds that shopping is pretty much the same everywhere and that he can do it without putting a great deal of thought behind it besides what would go with what and how long it would take to come up with a recipe for the things he finds. Or if any of his friends would care for a particular item.

It's comforting in a way.

He stops when a man approaches him wearing sunglasses and using a cane. It's surreal. And it takes everything in his body not to be rude and walk away, despite knowing that he's probably a member of the Fleet.]

I'm sure that I can spare some time to assist you. What is it you're looking for?

[Way to not be friendly, Ignis.]

[echovocation]

[Hmm...basket, smells like spices, fresh goods. He's probably in the middle of something, though his voice is as blankly polite as any other well-mannered person who just got interrupted in their task.

Matt offers a faint smile, both hands around the grip of his cane.] If you could point me in the direction of a fabric stall, I'd really appreciate it. Though I wouldn't refuse a rough estimate of paces, either.

[nonightdriving]

[Ignis isn't the type of person to be rude to another person because of something they can't help. Cool politeness is pretty much default, but even still he feels as if he can't relax around this man.]

There are some stalls and shops like that on the next lane over. Do you need some assistance getting there?

[echovocation]

[Hm. Strange. That's definitely the heartbeat of someone uneasy, but he's not nervous or feeling threatened...at least, Matt's pretty sure he doesn't. Is it the glasses and cane, or something more?]

Oh, I'm sure I can make my way. About how many stalls down? [Shuffles a little closer. Just a touch, not enough to invade the man's space, to see if he'll do anything to increase the distance between them.]

[nonightdriving]

[It would take more than a man with a cane to really make Ignis feel threatened. However, it's just that sort of person that has him out of sorts, even if the stranger hasn't done anything.

And there's probably a long-dead tutor rolling over in their grave at the lack of manners he's showing at this point in time.]

There's an alley that leads to the next lane about six stalls to the south. [And while he could see Matt's actions as a sort of challenge, Ignis doesn't move, instead writing it off as getting his bearings.] Are you certain you don't need more assistance than that?

[echovocation]

[Dude.....how he gonna find south] ...maybe a little, if you don't mind. I don't want to put you out too much.

[nonightdriving]

[Pray?

No, no, Ignis pays for a few more items from the current stall he's at and places them in his shopping bag.]

Follow me. I will at least show you to the alley.

[And as if he's just remembered that he's supposed to be the one who has manners...]

Ignis Scientia, cook on the First Breath. I take it that you are new to the Fleet?

[echovocation]

I guess I give off that 'new car' smell. [Or maybe it's because he doesn't recognize you Matt, don't be a weirdo] Matt Murdock. Not sure what I'm supposed to be here, but I'm usually a lawyer.

[nonightdriving]

[That comment gets a smile from Ignis, brief though it is.]

I can assure you that no strange smells of new metal and leather are wafting from your person. However, after a while, one does get a feel for who is from the ships on the Fleet and who isn't. I've been here nearly six months, but you also don't seem to be as into what this planet has to offer as the natives.

[It's basic logic.]

[echovocation]

Well, I'm not much interested in palm-reading or chakra crystals, or whatever else it is they've got here anyway. Just not my thing. [He kind of really doesn't like all that mystical stuff.]

[nonightdriving]

You're not the only who finds this all a bit...much. I'm more of a books and logic person myself.

[Ignis starts in the direction of the alley, trying very carefully to avoid staring too much at Matt's cane.

It still doesn't really giving him the best of feelings.]

[echovocation]

Was it hard to reconcile that with the whole...alien abduction? [Gestures slightly with the end of his cane at all of this shit.]

[nonightdriving]

[No one has actually asked Ignis that question before and he has to stop and think it over. They're a few stalls short of the alley, but that's not the point.]

I don't think I've ever really considered it. I'm here. I have yet to go back. I've just gone forward day by day.

[echovocation]

Probably the best way to tackle the problem. [Stick would probably lecture him on fighting against accepting the truth his own senses are telling him, yadda yadda yadda.] So you believe the whole thing about us not missing anything from our homes? About time not passing?

[nonightdriving]

[He's a practical man. That's a practical solution. Of course that would be the way that he would tackle things.]

Sadly, that would be something that I fully have to believe. I have friends here from my world from different points in time, but I haven't noticed that they're missing and the same could be said for my presence. Besides, my oldest friend was here before me and left. When he came back, it was from a different point in the timeline, but not much time had passed here.

[echovocation]

[And that ticker isn't even stuttering, though Matt didn't honestly expect it to. He sounds like a man convinced in just his voice.]

Any tips on how to come to terms with all of this? [Heavy drinking? Denial?]

[nonightdriving]

[Resigned is more like it.]

I find that keeping busy helps. I help with a garden. There are people with very nice libraries. I also happen to be the cook for the ship I live on.

[Besides, watching Noctis and Lunafreya can be a fulltime job and he's a man down in assistance.]

[echovocation]

So get myself a hobby. [He can think of a few.] Not to interrupt, but this is the next lane, right? You said through the alley, I believe.

[nonightdriving]

A hobby is generally sound advice for anyone in our position. The other options hold no weight with me, to be honest.

And yes, this is our destination, but there's a fruit cart toward the middle of the lane.

[echovocation]

Planning to check that out? [Since you're a cook and all. He sidesteps it neatly though, at the first tap of his cane. He's obviously used to navigating around sudden obstacles.]

[nonightdriving]

No, I've already been this way. I've been shopping for a while now.

[Now that he's over the first shock of things, Ignis watches the way that Matt walks around with little to no trouble.]

Pardon my insensitive question, but were you born blind or did this happen later in life?

[echovocation]

Not insensitive. [Abrupt, maybe, if Matt couldn't hear his heartbeat and the hesitation in the hitch of his breath.] And to answer, it happened when I was nine. Accident. I've been told that I'm lucky it wasn't later since it's apparently more difficult to adjust as you get older, but I'm not sure if I should feel grateful or not for that.

[nonightdriving]

[Yes, well, consider this as research. Research for a dreary future.]

I've never heard that before, but I suppose that shouldn't surprise me either.

[It's not as if there are a lot of blind people running around Eos where Ignis could meet before now.]

There are a great many things that are more difficult to accomplish once one is at a certain age. Though not impossible.

[echovocation]

Yeah, I heard that too. Something about the elasticity of the juvenile thought process...why you generally want to instill good studying habits young, all of that. [Matt sniffs, rubbing at his nose as they pass a spice cart. Pungent stuff.]

[nonightdriving]

[That actually gets a sharp laugh from Ignis.]

In my experience, it doesn't matter how young you start someone if they have no interest in learning things. You can only watch them learn the hard way.