[OPEN]

[adun_toridas]

Characters: Zeratul and OPEN
Location: City Park, Shibusen Library and the Shopping District
Rating: G
Time: March 2nd, all day
Description: Zeratul sets out to familiarize himself with the city, and research the war and world he’s been thrown into.

[ooc: Action or prose is fine! There’s a separate thread for each location, or I can toss him anywhere else if you’d like!]

Comments

[City Park]

[adun_toridas]

Having taken shelter in the church to get out of the storm yesterday, Zeratul was more than happy to return outdoors. Without the sand and the wind, he could get a better sense of the strange city he was now residing in, and he decided to start with the closest place: the park. He had no idea if this Earth was anything like the ancestral home of the terrans from his sector, but it didn’t seem overly inhospitable. Having been raised on a desert planet, Death City’s weather was just another mild day for him. He was glad to see patches of vegetation could still thrive here as well, and spent the better part of the morning winding through the trees.

Zeratul eventually stopped his wanderings near the area where the daily training was conducted, settling down into a crouch to watch the comings and goings of citizens and guests alike. There were worse places he could have wound up, he supposed, but that didn’t do much to ease the transition. So many things hung in the balance back home, with the presence of the zerg swarm, the threat of the hybrids and so much more. It continued to weigh heavily on his mind, even if there was nothing he could do from here. It was almost certain he had been summoned for some greater purpose, but that eluded him as much as it frustrated him. Keeping himself from dwelling on it was proving difficult, and he doubted meditating would be any help either.

He contemplated returning to the church to find Tassadar, but ultimately decided against it. They both needed a little distance to come to terms with this recent turn of events, and Zeratul needed to see the city for himself.

[Library]

[adun_toridas]

The pursuit of true knowledge was never an easy thing, and nothing exemplified that more than having to scale Shibusen’s stairs once again. The promise of what the library might contain for Zeratul was well worth it though, and if it provided what he needed he would walk these stairs every day. His days as a scholar made this place irresistible to him, despite the fact that it was filled with the most archaic method of storing information. The paper books and tomes were old and well preserved, but they would not last forever. Unless the humans here began transcribing them to a more permanent vessel, he would mourn the loss of so much knowledge.

The next obstacle after the stairs was the heavy reliance on written language. Although his people had continued the practice of their writing, he had little to no exposure to human languages. With some help from the librarian, Zeratul gathered an impressive stack of books, split between foreign language dictionaries, grammar guides and anything that happened to catch his eye. It was going to take some time learning and deciphering these new languages, but it wasn’t something he hadn’t done before. Once he had mastered it, he could begin delving for the real information he had come to find here.

Zeratul managed to commandeer a table near the corner of the library, pushing the chairs out of the way so he could sit comfortably on the floor. At the very least the high ceilings here made it easy for someone of his height to navigate, but the size of the tables was unfortunate. He sat in silence, hunched over one book or another, thumbing through pages carefully to avoid damaging them with his claws.

[Shopping District]

[adun_toridas]

Finished at the library and his more traditional method of research, Zeratul found himself exploring the area of the city where the greatest number of people had congregated. While he had no use for nearly everything that was offered in the Shopping District, it still provided an opportunity to study. Most people shied away from him on the streets, but no one seemed frightened or overly shocked by his appearance. Given the nature of his fellow guests and the fact that this city had seen two protoss before him, he was thankful to be able to walk in peace.

If he was lucky, he could find someone to speak with about the situation of the war. Books could only tell him so much, and Tassadar’s experience was only one facet of the whole. Unfortunately, given his ragged clothing and harsh features, he hardly looked approachable. He needed only be patient, though, and he knew he would find at least one person to indulge his curiosity.

Zeratul made frequent stops throughout the streets, crouching down near corners or benches to silently observe those around him.