005 - The best laid plans...

[redcladidealist]

Who: Lloyd Irving and anyone
Where: Arrival Point in District Two
When: Morning of the 16th
Summary: Lloyd and buckets of sand, and what he thinks is a well-thought-out plan.

It was almost that time of the month. Every month since Lloyd had arrived, right around this time (or a day or two from now), people showed up in this plaza. Every time it had happened, Lloyd had somehow missed the key point when the new arrivals started appearing. This time he was determined not to miss out. This time he had a plan. Even if he wasn't here to see it himself, he'd make sure there were still clues for him to find to help him find the Otherworldly Gate. To that end, he'd brought bucket after bucket of sand up from the beach.

Sand. Yes, sand.

And all morning long he'd been carefully spreading the stuff out, covering the plaza in a thin layer of grit. Better watch your step if you're passing through.

Not really thinking about the hazard, or the oddity of what he was doing, Lloyd went to pick up another bucket that he'd already filled with sand.

Comments

[cloakand_danger]

Yuan was walking the city, as he often did in his efforts to keep from becoming a total shut-in. The thought had occurred to him that there should be a batch of new arrivals soon, and so today his path was taking him to the square where they showed up every month, with some vague notion that perhaps in the days before the event, something might be somehow different. A buildup of mana, a watchfulness in the air...anything that might give him a clue as to how it was accomplished, and therefore how the process might be reversed.

Something was indeed different about the square, immediately noticeable as a gritty texture beneath his boots, and he frowned quizzically at the thin layer of sand spread over the ground. There didn't seem much inherent purpose to it, and he had to wonder why anyone would go to this effort. Unless sand was indeed somehow vital to the transportation process? It seemed unlikely at best.

And then he caught sight of a familiar figure hauling buckets across the square. Smirking slightly as he raised a quizzical eyebrow, he sauntered casually over to Lloyd.

"And just what, exactly, are you up to today?"

[redcladidealist]

Caught up in what he was doing, Lloyd hadn't noticed Yuan approaching until he was maybe fifteen feet away. Fortunately, he was saved from being completely surprised by the sandy scuff of Yuan's footsteps. Still, he was caught in the middle of pouring out the sand in the bucket he held, his movements jerking with a hint of startlement. He turned and looked up, and that smirk immediately made him defensive. Dammit, it looked like Yuan was coming over to mock him. That was last thing he needed.

"I'm trying to find the Otherworldly Gate," he said, straightening up. "What, what did you think I was doing?"

[cloakand_danger]

That sounded like Lloyd might actually be doing something useful. Still, Yuan couldn't resist the chance to get in a jibe. He looked around them at the sand on the ground in a deliberate gesture. "Well, at a guess, I'd suggest you never outgrew playing in the sand."

But the smirk faded away into curiosity as he switched gears. "I hope you remember that the Otherworldly Gate was caused by the overlap of the two worlds' poles. Unless this world also has a phase-shifted neighbor, I don't think it's the same thing, and if it was it certainly couldn't be bringing us here. ...Anyway, how would sand help you find it?"

1/2

[redcladidealist]

If Yuan was aiming to get a rise out of Lloyd, he definitely more than succeeded. The teen bristled at the implied insult and gritted his teeth. "How old do you think I am?!"

[redcladidealist]

Still glaring, he drew himself up as though to muster every bit of dignity he could. It never occurred to him that he was being baited. "I don't know what phase-shifting is, but of course I know it's not the same!" He didn't pause, didn't think about the incongruity of that statement, just plowed on. "But there's a Gate here and it's in the same place every single time. I'm using the sand to figure out where people show up. That way I can find the center!"

[cloakand_danger]

That was...actually fairly well-thought-out. Yuan ignored Lloyd's indignant glaring as he studied the ground pensively. Of course, even if they found the center, they were a long way from knowing what to do with it...but it was better to have something to go on than nothing at all, wasn't it?

"I'm actually impressed. Somehow, you've stumbled onto a halfway decent line of inquiry." Yuan crossed his arms. "I guess that means I'd better keep an eye on this mess with you. To make sure you don't miss anything."

[redcladidealist]

"You don't have to act so surprised." Lloyd scowled at the backhanded compliment. "It's not like I'm an idiot. I can see a pattern just like anyone else." And six times out of the six arrival times he'd been here for was definitely a pattern.

What did surprise him, though, was Yuan's offer. He eyed the man warily, still not sure what to make of him overall. Not an enemy, but not exactly a friend. "I'm just watching the plaza. It's not like it's that hard."

Well. Except that he was notoriously short of attention span, but that was something he'd never acknowledged about himself.

[sweetjeans]

Coming form a world with such fear of exploration Jean hasn't found himself all that comfortable with venturing to far, the plaza wan't out of his range so for what little venturing he was comfortable with he chose it today.

Nice winter jacket providing a shield from the cold, nippy outside but never could it compare to training in this sort of weather.

His boots scrap over the sand, looking down to see the strange new surface. Jean knows, mud, grass, or stone but not sand. Having never been to a beach before in his life from humanities fear of what lurks outside the some-what safe walls of his human cities. A tilt of the head and the raise of the brow..

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd comes from the opposite end of the spectrum, having traveled all over his world as well as a good deal of the world connected directly to it. He's seen forests and deserts, mountains and plains, and even sailed across parts of the sea. A little sand on the pavement might be a little out of place, mostly because they're not in a desert, but the idea that sand might be completely foreign to someone never even crosses his mind.

With that oblivious lack of thought in his head, Lloyd pours another bucket out onto the ground. Using one booted foot, he scuffs it around, trying to get it spread out evenly. "Man, I should have thought about getting a rake..."

Another scuff, one that didn't come from him, alerts him that there's someone behind him. Lloyd glances back, but it's not someone he recognizes, so he just lifts his hand with a friendly smile, a passing greeting in case the guy just wants to walk on.

[sweetjeans]

"...." Jeans curious but not rude, he waves back, his smile frozen by the cold weather. Eyes looking down to the sand once again, scraping his boot across it..

A pause, he doesn't bother the other teen at first but Lloyd continues to spread the sand and it causes Jean to keep wondering what it's purpose is and what it is in the first place. "HEY! What are you doing..?" walking closer, everyone here has seemed to be friendly so far. There shouldn't be any worry of hostility.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd's not about to be the exception to the lack of hostility that Jean's generally found in this place. Definitely not for something as simple as walking up and asking a question. On the contrary, the red-clad teen has been hauling buckets of sand all morning and is more than happy for an excuse to take a break.

"This?" he said, pointing at the sand. "New people are probably going to show up soon. I'm trying to find the Gate where they come through. The sand will help me follow their tracks." As plans go, it's a pretty simple one. It's just a lot of work to haul up that much sand, especially by himself.

[sweetjeans]

"...."

Well, if someone were to use mud Jean can imagine it'd do the same thing. It wasn't a bad plan as he thought about it, if you're planning on following whoever made them that is. However, there was the initial question still on his mind.. "Sooooo, what's sand?"

Armin used to tell the boys of the 104th all about his nerdy little books he'd read about the world outside the walls. "That's what you can find at a... beach?? ....Right? Never seen the stuff before, okay."

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd blinked at the question. Then blinked again. "You're... kidding, right?" Who didn't know what sand was?

Only it looked like the guy was serious. He was even admitting to having never seen sand. Lloyd stared, boggling at the concept, and still not entirely certain Jean wasn't pulling his leg. Still, it was in his nature to take people at face value, so hesitantly he answered, "It's... kind of like lots of really tiny rocks. Like dirt, but it's just rock, no dead plants or anything else." He scratched the back of his neck. That wasn't quite right either. He reached down and scooped up a handful, which he held out. "Here, see for yourself."

[smallspot]

"Why are you covering the plaza with sand? Aren't you afraid the adults are going to get mad?" The question comes from a young, dark-haired boy who is standing a short distance away from Lloyd watching him with confused and curious eyes. Granted, Diarmuid himself is also passing by because of something to do with new arrivals--he's curious if they have started showing up yet--but he doesn't connect Lloyd's actions to that impending event.

What would sand have to do with the new arrivals anyway?

"Are you playing a joke on people? That's not nice. This is a big mess to clean up!"

[redcladidealist]

If he was honest, Lloyd would have to admit that he hadn't actually thought about how big a mess he was making. Even when it was pointed out, though, he shook his head, not seeing the problem. "It's not a joke. I'm using the sand to figure out where the Gate is we came through to get here. Why would anyone get mad about that?" He figured answers like that were worth a bit of a mess. Besides... "Don't worry. I'm sure it'll all wash out when it rains."

...yeah, it was probably pretty easy to tell that he'd never had to clean up this much sand.

[smallspot]

"But it is too cold now to rain. It's just going to snow and make an even bigger mess," Diarmuid frowns, not understanding why the boy is so unworried about the mess he's making.

"How will the sand help you find this Gate? Are you sure there is one? Maybe we just appeared here..."

If there is logic here, Lloyd, he's not seeing it.

[redcladidealist]

That actually made Lloyd stop, at least for a moment, as he thought about the implications of what he was doing during a time of year when it would snow instead of rain. He frowned. He hadn't thought about that. On the other hand... "If it snows, isn't the sand a good thing then? When it snows, people use sand on bridges and roads to help them keep from slipping."

With that justification, he nodded to himself and pushed the concern aside. Focusing back on the sand, he gestured down at his feet - or rather, at the footprints behind him. "When people show up, they'll leave prints behind. I've been here for six months and people always show up here. That means there's something here, even if we can't see it. I'll use the prints to find where it's at, because it's probably right in the center of where everyone shows up."

See? Perfect logic.

[smallspot]

"Do they really use it like that? We don't get a lot of snow where I am from..."

Which would be Ancient Ireland for those keeping track...

Diarmuid does listen closely to Lloyd's plan. It is actually a good one except for one small problem, "How are you going to keep people from tracking across it before the new arrivals show up? If you follow those footprints too, won't you get confused? I mean, someone could just walk across the plaza like this..." The boy runs a few steps across the plaza before running back to Lloyd's side, "Lots of people do that! You could end up missing important stuff!"

[redcladidealist]

"Sure," Lloyd said. "Salt works better, but that's pretty expensive, and sand's a lot easier to get a lot of." Iselia doesn't exactly get a lot of snow, either, but it gets just enough that he knows the ways people deal with it.

Unfortunately, the kid brings up a good point, one Lloyd hasn't already thought of. He stares at the footprints with a frown of consternation. "Well, I..." Dammit, he's right, and there's still a day or two before he thinks people will start to show up. That's a lot of time for people to make other tracks. Reaching down, Lloyd brushes the footprints away with his hand. "I'll just have to come back and check and erase people's tracks." There. That solves it, right?

[capturespecialist]

It's certainly odd to come across. Crystal studies the sand - it's normal, perfectly normal sand - and, as soon as she sees Lloyd tromping around with buckets of what she's perfectly sure is sand, she waves him down. Just for some questions! Like...

"Excuse me!" she calls too, just in case he doesn't see her. It's easy to miss someone when you're hard at work. (She knows that, huff.) "Why are you pouring sand all over the plaza?"

[redcladidealist]

Yeah, he's a little distracted with trying to smooth out the tracks he just left, but he looks up readily enough when Crystal calls out to him. It's not like he's doing anything critical that would suffer from being interrupted.

"Huh? Oh, this?" He gestures at the sand, making a circling motion to include the whole plaza. "I'm going to use the sand to see where people come out when the next batch of new people show up."

[capturespecialist]

Oh.

Oh, that's a pretty good idea. She remembers being outside when she woke up, too, though the colder weather's got her wondering if they'd just put the new arrivals inside instead... Still, it's always good to be prepared. Crystal nods to show she gets it, he's good.

"Is there any way I can help?" It must take an awful long time to keep doing this on his own, especially with the size of the plaza and how many people walk through it every day.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd's under the impression that they're being brought here through some kind of Otherworldly Gate, something with a fixed point. That's the way Gates like that work in his world, and so far it's been the same in this one. The idea that the people in charge might have control over where they appear? Just hasn't occurred to him.

At the offer, he turns his head, taking in the work he's done. He's done a lot already, but the plaza's big. A smile, half rueful, half grateful, crosses his face. "I definitely wouldn't say no to some help bringing up some more sand. I mean, if you don't mind." Those buckets of sand can get pretty heavy.

First things first, though. He sticks out his hand. "I'm Lloyd. What's your name?"

[capturespecialist]

There's no hesitation in taking his hand for a good shake; she smiles with it. "Crystal, but you can just call me Crys. Everyone does. It's nice to meet you, Lloyd."

(Take that, Silver, she can be out and about and meeting people and doing things.)

When the shake's over, she reaches for her Meganium's Pokéball -- he'd be the best suited for this, being able to carry more than one bucket and not being too shabby on speed. "Where are you getting all this sand, anyway?"

[redcladidealist]

"It's nice to meet you, too, Crys." He lets go of her hand, then starts picking up the empty buckets - just two, but they can always get more from one of the places along the river that loan out beach equipment.

The little red and white ball catches his eye when she takes it out, but not knowing what it is, that's all he assumes it is. Just a toy, something she uses to keep her hands busy whenever she gets bored? He dismisses it as probably nothing more than that, focusing instead on her question.

"I'm getting it from the beach," he says, nodding in its general direction as he starts off. "There's one by the river. It's got lots of sand. Have you been there yet?"