Arrival in Gigas

[bravenewmods]

The City of Gigas is unlike anything the people of Union have ever seen before. The city is immense, a sprawling metropolis that covers the land as far as the eye can see. Built up primarily around enormous centralized towers, unlike Union these towers are dark concrete buildings, covered in glass windows. The buildings seem to serve any number of functions, and have a startling variety in construction, style, and even size, creating a unique skyline that is breathtaking to behold. The city is connected with roads of asphalt, upon which whiz smoke-belching steel carriages at frightful speeds, the engines (and piercing, constant horns) creating an ever-present din that engulfs the city in loud, chaotic sound.

“Downtown,” as the Gigans know it, is a huge collection of stores, apartments, and businesses. Apparently, the larger homes are built in Calderan-style but tend to be further from the main commotion of the downtown areas, of which Gigas citizens assure Union citizens that there are several, each with their own district name and culture. The technology is quite advanced as well, full color televisions are standard in every home and built in devices so slim and with such sharp images that they seem decades ahead of Union’s own technology. Pokemon are still quite present in Gigas, many people riding flying types and the buildings having huge perches to accommodate them. As with the vehicles below, however, Gigas seems to regulate air traffic to individual lanes and the birds seem well-trained as they convey their trainers to and fro.

Humans are just that, here, Human. No unusual shapes and sizes like the Enlightened and Earthkin of the Union Alliance, and those displaying unusual traits receive odd looks. Like many civilizations to the east, Battling is a common sport though in this place it’s more like the combat arenas of old. Several stadiums dot the cityscape, the sounds of Pokemon Battles and cheering crowds echoing for blocks all around, and it’s a stadium where humans are not welcome. Unless, of course, they want to make a show and spar against a Pokemon, of course.

This is Gigas, the City of Reclamation. Union civilians have free rein to explore this grand city as councillors are invited into the massive capitol building to negotiate with the Gigan leaders. Gigas civilians, for their part, are polite, friendly even. While many of them are caught in the bustle of their daily lives they regard Union citizens with interest and curiosity, willing to talk about their city, extolling its virtues while complaining about the noise, the crowds, the lines, and the expense all the while. One thing is clear though, the people of Gigas are proud of their city and their accomplishments. This is their home, and they are eager to show it off to the world.

Comments

I

[wise_maiden]

[Eventually, though likely with some coaching as she took forever in trying to put a touring plan in the hotel for varied reasons, Raine is finally out and about on the streets of Gigas herself, dressed in very plain traveling clothes - no signs of mage robes here, an outward tell of her wariness than she's willing to admit.

She still can't avoid the desire to stop and take notes ever so often on what she's seeing, let alone refer to some of the ones she's already made, particularly when consulting a map, though she attempts to be more discreet about it, ducking into the shade of a building to do so. Strangely enough, she also doesn't seem to have any of her usual pokemon around her.]

[faithfulflame]

[That is strange to see, since most of the people who'd come with the group tended to keep one of their Pokemon with them, at least. And it sort of set off a small warning bell in her head. Raine was alone? presumably. And a little absentminded, if the notes were an indication. So, she waves, eyes flashing to identify herself.]

Raine-san, are you out all alone?

[wise_maiden]

[She pauses in her half-drawn quick sketch of the architecture, carefully closing the book and taking in that it wasn't a stranger casually walking by, with a thoughtful frown - that was Rei? The eye flash was certainly a signal and familiar. She's also mindful to check and see if anyone else was in the vicinity, but for the moment the street was largely empty.]

Don't worry, I have Lavender with me. [There's some vague amusement to that statement, since she seems clearly alone. Or maybe not? Her eyes slide over to one of her plain armbands, and back again.] The others are at the hotel. I thought they might get too tired having to walk around all day.

[She also thought the absol might seem too conspicuous, though there was a reason why she brought her, and that the pikachu might get too excited by the stores, or too naggy about remembering meals..]

[faithfulflame]

Lavender? [Not a Pokemon she believes she’s met, but she trusts that Raine does indeed have a watcher. Deimos at her side, and Sabaeus crawling in her shadow, with Phobos circling overhead, Rei had quite the entourage, and she was grateful for it. She was trying to seem casual, in character, but her demeanor shifts, worry creeping across her features.] Just Lavender?

[It wasn’t that she thought Gigas might want war with Union, no. It was more that she was worried someone might start something and make an incident, or some rebel might. Gigas had to have dissidents, right?]

[wise_maiden]

We're trying not to draw attention.

[Being unassuming was a role she was used to, even though she wasn't particularly assigned to anything dangerous, just a general discomfort. Hence the plain... everything, and even an attempt to hide her accent. Unlike certain other mages. She tilts her head at Rei's surprisingly visible unease.]

Lavender is a ditto, and can transform at a moment's notice. We should be fine.

[faithfulflame]

Ah. That makes more sense.

[She reaches over to pat Deimos's shoulder, the Gardevoir visibly grateful for that. This place had her a bit on edge, and she hated being exposed like this.]

It's quite a place, isn't it? This city. A marvel of technology.

[wise_maiden]

I knew we'd be coming to a place more technologically advanced than Union, though I didn't expect it to be quite like this either.

[It was one thing to live under Gigan military rule for years, another to actually see what their own territory was like. It brought... a lot of questions.]

[faithfulflame]

Me either. I know...really almost nothing about technology like this. It's kind of astounding, really.

[It was just...holy wow.]

It's like they're trying to say they don't need Pokemon.

[wise_maiden]

In a way, it makes sense. They must have felt threatened by their lack of innate abilities, so instead they focus on technology, and ways to prove that they don't need spells to achieve their goals. It makes the pokemon something of a convenience to them, but used only in ways that don't elevate their position. [The stadiums and flying bird transportation after all, proved that they weren't entirely removed from them, though it wasn't a mutual relationship either.]

[faithfulflame]

It's almost heretical, frankly.

[But that's the old school priest in Rei, a product of Union.]

Pokemon and technology can coexist, happily, after all. We're an example of that.

[wise_maiden]

Perhaps these talks will present an opportunity for them to witness Union's culture and be influenced by it.

[Of course she was doubtful of that, not that she wanted to verbalize it. Gigas seemed more likely the kind of place that would want to impress the other way around if they felt threatened by it. Union's citizens had benefited from their good relationships with pokemon, with plenty of enlightened mixed in to even it out.

Most likely, a messy situation for years to come if nothing else forced it first, like the return and pronouncement of the gods. A lot to think about. ... But it was hardly the time and place here.]

Is that why you all seem out of sorts? Their opinions aren't anything surprising ...

[faithfulflame]

I'm out of sorts for a number of reasons. Heresy is one of them.

[The others, though, she's not eager to share. Some of them are silly, paranoia and all of that.]

An open street is not exactly the ideal place to talk about the rest. I'm just worried about what the Seekers said, and about where that might go.

[wise_maiden]

Indeed. It's an uneasy situation any way you look at it. [And the less said about it the better in these circumstances.]

Have you become more acquainted with the layout of the city? It's so large.

[faithfulflame]

I've been using the map provided, really. And Deimos had committed it to memory, as well.

[That's really a no, though.]

How about you? Any trouble getting around?

[wise_maiden]

I wouldn't say I've had trouble. The streets just seem so busy. It makes Union seem so small in comparison. I'm not sure how I feel about their transportation, either.

[The money it costs doesn't help. And while on some level there is a fascination in regard to it, there's still that old Sanctuary sensitive feelings toward the abundance of tech.]

[faithfulflame]

You mean those noisy contraptions?

[Rei does own a Rotomcycle, but these machines make her uneasy. They're loud, and the gas they produce is a little unseemly.]

They're horrid.

[wise_maiden]

So not a trend you see coming to Union someday. [It's both a serious question and not. Union had a way of making it's own trends... but how much would it be influenced by this much "convenience"?]

[faithfulflame]

With the kind of transportation hubs that they need, we'd have to rebuild half of the roads...and that would be prohibitively difficult. I don't think they're practical at all, so, it's unlikely.

[wise_maiden]

I prefer the cleaner air anyway. Hopefully it does stay that way.

[faithfulflame]

I highly doubt the council will allow anything quite like this place. It doesn't really suit our style, so...let's not worry too much.

There are nice things about it too, after all.

[wise_maiden]

There certainly seems to be a lot of convenience otherwise for ordinary day to day things. I haven't even seen magic that could replicate most of these results... I suppose that could be what they're going for.

[faithfulflame]

Considering their inability to produce either Enlightened or magic, it is almost certainly that.

[wise_maiden]

Are there some advances that you'd like to see in Union?

[After all, she had said she didn't think it was all so bad.]

[faithfulflame]

Color television.

[Rei answers that almost immediately.]

Improvements to our broadcast network too, and very possibly improvements to our medical systems and electrical grid.

[wise_maiden]

Those do seem more reasonable to look into. I remember being stunned by the photography equipment that Union had, and even that is taken up to an entirely different level here.