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[Utari Onzo]

This is the in-character thread for the tour of the Origin colony. Current participants are members of the Alexylva Paradox corporation. To get involved, please contact Saede Riordan. Others are politely requested to limit themselves to listening quietly.

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Origin Colonial Authority, YC118

The rumble of the landing shuttle stirs Utari's eyes into focus as it hits atmosphere, disturbing his silent thoughts. Running a small set of prayer beads through his fingers and thumbs, the mix-blooded Amarrian moves his hazel-eyed gaze around the interior. There's no sense of panic in his face, rather a stillness. Prayers during a landing appear to be as much a habit to him as checking the doors are locked might be to someone leaving home.

The interior is as much as can be expected for a lander. Comfortable enough seating for the passangers, ample cargo space in the back, and a floating Cam-Drone buzzing just to the side. With touch down coming up, Utari decides to give the machine a quick system's shakedown with some test recording.

After a silent thought-command, it floats just above him, focusing its multiple lenses on the subject. In keeping with his usual sense of aesthetics, Utari's wearing his favoured gold and darkbrown, almost black, overcoat. Visible too are a pair of charcole grey trousers, and polished lockstep boots. The only other adornments visible is a small medallion pinned to his chest, the symbol of the Order of Jamyl, and a small black and gold amulet. Finished with this subject, the drone quickly peers over the rest of the shuttle interior and passengers, before uploading the stream to its master's Neocom.

Satisfied with the image, the Amarrian shuts down the drone for the moment, and peers out of the nearest viewing port as the shuttle burns ever further into the planet's atmosphere...

[Saede Riordan]

Renaissance. A lush and green world of towering trees, vast mountain ranges, and deep blue skies. The landing shuttle breaks through the puffy white clouds as the city of Foundation sprawls outside the viewports. From far above, the city resembles a  bullseye, with alternating rings of green parks and white stone structures. The shuttle spirals down into the center of the city, leaving white lines in the morning air in the wake of its passing.

A red haired copy of Saede sits on a bench outside the starport, watching shuttles take off and land in their smooth cadence. She lights a cigarette while she waits for Utari's shuttle to land. Dressed in a long duster coat with brown leather pants and a leather shirt, she does look quite the image of a frontier settler.

The starport is an elegant domed structure of white stone and glass, sprouting landing pads like strange flowers. It sits at the top of a wide hill, providing a commanding view of the five-mile wide circle of greenery known as Landfall Park. Pristine forests and meadows stretch away in all directions, gravel footpaths leading deep into the wilds. The park is criss-crossed with coloured monorail lines, branching out from the starport to a ring of gleaming skyscrapers; the First District, home of Government Offices, hospitals, research labs and the like. The First District completely encircles Landfall Park like a wall of glass and stone. The shining white buildings frame the otherwise natural skyline, creating an odd juxtaposition of nature and technology. At the edge of the District, the city is under construction: apartments, shops, universities, industrial sites, and small parks sprout up under a web of cranes and scaffolding. The entire city is a hive of activity, groups of people move throughout the park, atmospheric transports lift off from the port, and construction crews teem like ants in the outer districts.

Saede's implants identify Utari's shuttle as it spirals down to the starport and she tracks it with her eyes as it lands at the starport.

[Zerolaws]

Doc rushes to the starport to meet with thier visitors and Saede on time. Entering the building, he heads directly for the landing area and steps on the platform upon which their visitors' shuttle has landed.

[Aria Jenneth]

All through the descent, Aria has sat quietly, eyes closed, seemingly deep in meditation. Her face is expressionless, her breathing slow and regular. Her death grip above Utari's elbow, however, voicelessly declares that she does not actually like dropping out of orbit, however many times she might have done it.

Beside her towering companion, Aria's black-swathed form seems excessively tiny: diminutive, small-boned, fine-featured, and wraith-slender, an impression her close-fitting, high-necked top* only accentuates. Aside from her pale-golden complexion, the only splash of color is the golden frame to the obsidian locket at her throat. She's otherwise dressed pragmatically** in soft trousers and low-heeled, soft leather boots, designed for walking.

All of this is still and quiet as the turbulence of reentry diminishes. As the shuttle circles down, the pale golden fingers on Utari's arm slowly ease their grip.



* a complex yet practical garment combining aspects of turtleneck and wrap-around jacket. Its marketers insist on calling it a "dress," even though wearing it without separate skirt or trousers would get both embarrassing and drafty.
** assuming the sun doesn't get too intense; she's not really dressed for summer.

[Utari Onzo]

For the rest of re-entry, Utari's gaze is mostly fixed on the views of the planet, and the station where they land. His thoughts turn to his former home, a stew of lethal gasses, glass domes and extraction facilities. Planets you can breathe on are still somewhat of a small wonder to the man.

With touch down complete, the Amarrian puts the prayer beads away. Using his now free hand, he offers a reassuring gentle squeeze of the one that's gripped tightly on his arm. "Ready?" The contrast between Utari's own slightly deeper golden skin, a legacy of the Ni-Kunni, and Aria's shows. It's more sun kissed looking, with a practically permanent glow.

With another thought-command, Utari activates his mechanical companion, which floats gently beside the couple as they make their way out of the lander and onto the pad. It pans a panoramic view of the surrounds, people and sky line, much like Utari's own eyes as they search for their hosts.

[Saede Riordan]

Saede snuffs out her cigarette on the concrete and drops it into an ashtray before rising from her seat and wandering up the white stone ramp towards the docking platform.

She stuffs her dark brown and tattooed hands into her pockets, and whistles a tune to herself as she wanders up the curving concrete structure towards the correct platform, where Utari and Aria's shuttle is gently steaming in the sunlight.

She nods to Doc when she encounters him at the platform and smiles as she waits for Utari and Aria to emerge. The city quietly hums in the distance, waiting.

[Utari Onzo]

Upon noticing Doc and Saede, Utari leads the way over to them. He offers a warm smile, first to his good friend, then to the primary host. A bow, in Amarrian fashion, follows.

"Saede, thank you for hosting us on this tour. I look forward to seeing what sights you have planned. Doc, it's always good to see you friend."

[Saede Riordan]

Saede smiles and waves as Aria and Utari emerge from the shuttle.

Saede returns the bow with one of her own, albeit in the Caldari fashion.

"I hope to provide a memorable experience, we can always use the posiyive press." She chuckles and gestures to the city beyond. "Well then, shall we begin?"

[Aria Jenneth]

Aria bows in turn, matching Saede's Caldari mannerism with her own. Safely on the ground, her mood seems to have changed completely-- neither anxious nor masked in superficial serenity, but seemingly frustrated at her own lack of ability to see everything at the same time and determined to compensate by getting a good look at anything and everything possible. Consequently, when she's not actually acknowledging someone or remarking on something, she always seems to be looking somewhere else.

"Saisieni, Doc, Saede. And ... yes, please, lets! ..."

[Zerolaws]

Seemingly pleased to see Utari and Aria, Doc tries to the return the bowings albeit imperfectly. He manages to put his usual grin like a cheshire cat on his face under amused looks of Utari. He has things on his mind to sit down and discuss with him but those can wait for an appropriate time so he chooses to keep silent except for some ceremonials.

[Saede Riordan]

Saede smiles as she beckons the group forward, "Did you guys have any luggage to take care of? Because i can arrange to have it brought to the hotel. And did you want to visit the hotel first or shall we go explore a bit, maybe grab a bite?"

[Utari Onzo]

Utari's own eyes focus mostly on one thing at a time, pausing long enough to take note and appreciate any given view when not in conversation. His Cam-Drone, on the other hand, maintains a polite distance as it scours the surrounds of the landing pad, recording as much of the activity as possible.

"Personally, I'd like to get stuck into the thick of it right away, but what do you think Aria?"

[Aria Jenneth]

Having thrown Doc an unreadable glance, followed by a polite bow, of sorts, and detached herself from Utari, Aria is playing more the camera drone than the dignified tourist. It's hard to tell how much she really understands of what she's seeing, but she seems determined to take in as much of it as possible. She seems to have just finished taking a quick inventory of the skyline.

"Oh. Um. Thick of it. Definitely. Please. Um. No luggage." Beat. "Ever." Another beat. "Hm. It hadn't ... occurred to me, but that could ... be a bad habit. Kredits do carry weight here?"

[Saede Riordan]

Saede laughs and nods her head, "Yeah, Origin doesnt have a local currency, we use ISK for all economic exchange."

She leads the group down the gently curving ramp down to ground level, through the security checkpoint, and out into the bright morning sunlight.

"A side effect of that," she continues, is that even the lowest paid workers in Origin make an order of magnitude more then their Known Space counterparts, creating a strong an thriving import market."

She leads them down the hill away from the landing pad. The towering trees begin to loom up around them. The concrete footpath turns to gravel as they head down into the woods. "I thought we'd start with a little nature hike, take a trail through the park and into the city, sound good?"

[Utari Onzo]

Utari arches a brow slightly at Saede's response. "Wouldn't that make Origin's economy vastly lopsided? By that I mean an overly strong currency can result in money bleeding out in imports, but not back in with exports. Do you export goods out?"

He nods his agreement to the walk in the park.