Prelude: Nonohara's arrival (Ehlana, Humble Athena)

[Ehlana]

Hime shoots a quick worried glance at her brother, quickly masking the worry with assumed irritation. Absently, she tosses down a large slug of sake and then almost immediately starts coughing. "Aheh...Ahhe.... She swallows with difficulty.

I do -not- see what Nushi sees in that stuff.

"Aheh...Eh...can you help us find a person like that?" She rubs her throat, attempting to suggest by her manner that any reference to her sudden fit of coughing would be most unwise. Then her brow abruptly wrinkles.

Wait...did he say "centuries"!? Then...mother and father would be dead.....and...I'm not very sorry if that's so....

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

"Hmm," the bartender says, rubbing his chin, "Too many people come through here to know who knows which world, but I can tell ya where to get started."

"The name's Mitchifer by the way, likely be seeing a lot of you while you look. Now over there," he points to the area with the banners and doors, "Are where most of the shops are located. Ralista does divinations and might be able to help, but she has a pretty high price. She's good for a diviner, but like most is still cryptic and indirect. The man at the Money Exchange might recognize any coin you have but it's a small chance, the exchanges are mostly handled by magic." he waves a had at the tables, "And there is another great resource, the travellers from the various planes who may have been there before. Be careful with them though, they can't do much to ya here but may follow when ya leave. A moment..."

He pauses long enough to slide over to an elven customer a dozen feet down, scooping coin from the bar and filling a wine glass for him before returning.
"Where was I? Ah, you will likely need some way to get along until you find your way back. You can get some direction to possibly good work from Ralista, but as I said she'd expensive and often indirect. There are also a number of company's you can hire on with in some of the rooms in the shop area, that will give you some experienced people to travel with as well as pay. And if you need some privacy and a place to rest, you can rent a room from me."

[Ehlana]

Examine feelings later. When not talking to a strange spirit that keeps dropping bombs on you.

"Pleased to meet you, Mitchifer, I am Nonohara Himeko and the useless lump over there..." She waves a hand at Nushi, speaking of him disparagingly, as is only proper. To speak well of one's own family members is conceited and her mouth is working on courteous autopilot anyway. "...is my twin brother, Nonohara Nushizumi."

If we had any coins on us the Money Exchange might be at least worth a try, but I don't... I'll have to ask Nushi. As for this Ralista, it's great if we can pay her fees but I don't know how much my jewelry will fetch... Hime twists the elaborate golden bracelet, shaped like a dragon, that encircles one wrist thoughtfully. I think the best plan is to check her prices and then, if it's too expensive, we sell my jewelry to get equipped to hire on with these "companies"....

"Mitchifer, expensive is a relative term. Can you give us a more precise estimate of this Ralista's fees? Or should we check with her? I do not wish to keep you from your work." When not angry, i.e. when not dealing with her brother, Hime is usually polite, if somewhat abrupt in manner when she's intent on getting something done.

[Humble Athena]

"Oh? Chilled sake, thank you." Nushi responds, still looking around in amazement. How is it that are speaking the language? Is it some kind of spirit-magic? He raises an eye at Hime's introductions, but doesn't contradict her. Arguing is more appropriate without an audience.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

"Ha," the bartender lets out a bark of laughter, "You can never tell what that witch-woman will ask for." he shrugs as he reaches back to take a small pitcher of sake from a chilling bowl, "I already tol' ya she's expensive, but to be more accurate they are things of value to her. As often as not, the requests don't make much sense, just have to be exactly what she asks. Once I heard she asked for a single pattern repitition form a certain turtles shell, but considered the deal broken when they gave her the whole shell."

He pours the chilled sake to the brim of another ceramic cup for Nushi, returning the pitcher behind him when finished.

[Ehlana]

Hime nods thoughtfully, familiar with such strange persons from the tales of her home. She doesn't touch the sake again, but she plays with the cup as she ponders. After a few minutes, she gets abruptly to her feet.

"Well, I guess that the only thing to do is to go ask what she might want of us then." She states decisively. "Thank you very much for your help, Mitchifer. You've been very kind. C'mon, older brother. Let's go talk to the lady, you can drink more later."

[Humble Athena]

Nushi thanks Mitchifer, then sips at the sake casually while the discussion continues. He almost sputters when Hime suddenly cuts the conversation short.

"But sister, you are so much more practiced at the talking than I am, whatever do you need me for?" he asks. Nonetheless, he empties the cup in one last gulp and follows.

[Ehlana]

Hime's tone is decidedly dry as she sets off, limping as little as possible. "Because you're much better at dealing with women, older brother."

And I don't want you to get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, I'd prefer you were around. You might be induced to help me out of it.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

The pair make their way across the Inn, with no one paying any attention to them.

Ralista's shop is just off the common room, an empty table covered in a purple cloth just ourside of doorway with only bead hanging over the entrance. You assume she is inside the shop, which is confirmed as a woman passed through the beads to grab a deck of cards of the table and bring them inside. She is a small slender human woman, standing at less than 5' in height with a dark complexion, long red hair festooned with beads. She looks to be in her fifty's and badly weathered, but moves with the grace of a dancer.

[Ehlana]

Stepping cautiously through the curtain of beads, Hime bows politely to the old woman, respectful of both her her age and her possible powers. She also shoots a look at her brother, warning him not to make one of his prize-winningly tactless remarks in front of Ralista. "Are you Lady Ralista?" She inquires, the "Lady" being the closest cultural approximation to the -sama suffix she actually uses. "I am Nonohara Himeko and this is my brother, Nonohara Nushizumi." She makes the introductions again and hurries on to business. "We came to this Crossroads Inn by accident and we would like to go home..." Her voice briefly loses some of it's certainty, but quickly recovers. "...and we hear that you can assist us. If so, we would, of course, be willing to make whatever return for your help that we can."

[Humble Athena]

At Hime's scaothing look, Nushi sticks his tongue out at her quickly, but bows low with respect when introduced to the old fortuneteller.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

While most of her work is done as a fortune teller, you can see that her shop also has a number of odd items that look totemic. The dark complected lady eyeball the two for several second before speaking.
"If ya wan' ta git 'ome jes tell Mitch which worl' yer from. Him knows the Hallways."

[Humble Athena]

Nushi bows low to the woman again before addressing her. "Good woman, that is where our trouble lies. Unfortunately, we do not know what name our world is known by here. We have no proper name for it."

[Ehlana]

"We call it simply "the world", Lady Ralista." Hime elucidates. "And that is not very helpful to identify -which- world. Until arriving here, we had knowledge of only our world and the spirit world which overlies it."

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

"Ah," she says, holding up a long-nailed finger, "Dats where da prol'em is. Until ya kin figure dat one out ya cain't do much ta get 'ome. Da 'elp dat I kin give is were a route dat yer fate kin take ya, an' it may no be home. Ah'll give ya some advice-no-charge as I be figurin' ta see ya much more in da future."

She pauses a moment, letting what she has said so far sink in, "Git ta know people 'ere, dem's been over ta many worl's and may know yers for its name. Careful though, dere be jus' as many bad ones here as good ones. Until den yer gonna need ta survive, an' goin' off on yer own ain' too good an' idea. Dere be a num'er of places dat hire people like you, an' da good ones 'll take care of ya too. Fin' one a dem an' you kin get botha whatcha need - da cash and da information."

She leans back a bit and scrutinizes them again, "If'n ya want anytin' else or an actual readin' it'll cost ya."