It Takes All Kinds [private]

As Sugary read the paper, he'd have mixed feelings about its contents from the imagery of the Big Top to the password itself. "... Someone must have either a good sense of humor, or a twisted one..." What he really focused on was the time and location, however as he seemed to look into thin air while thinking. "Badlands... Badlands... South-...!? Oh, dammit!" And so he finally remembered as he slapped himself lightly over his face. "There is no way we're gonna make that far a trip in one night! That's south of the continent!" He groaned, clearly not having expected the necessity of such a trip. His ears then began to try and consider the options for travel that did not include his precious wooden wings. "... A train is the cheapest fastest way I know of... To get us close anyway... Kimi, are you prepared to travel cross country tonight -assuming any trains will take us that far starting now-, or do you want to rest up here tonight?" He really wanted to go as soon as possible, but he would also accept Steppette's hospitality to its fullest were it necessary.

Kimi was just a tad bit distracted, not really paying attention to what Sugary was focusing on. Her thoughts circling around the terrible events of her past and what lead her to be a single unwed mother. Her ears twitched to the sound of his hand hitting his own face and she moved to see what he was looking at wondering what was it that caused him to facepalm. As she looked at it and read it, she really didn't know how to react about it because they gave date and times and even a password, though she didn't know what the badlands were.

She looked at Sugary when he said 'dammit' and tilted her head. Well it seems like they were going to be in for a long trip. "A train?" There were very few train's where she was from. In fact in the country she lived in there weren't any trains at all. so a lot of their travel had to be done by walk, or by carriage. Though she had heard of some mechanical beasts that were used as transportation further north of where she had lived. In the more technologically advanced cities. Kimi only shrugged her shoulder. "I'm ready to move at anytime." was her answer. She, herself, didn't actually know how far of a trip it would be, or how big the continent actually was, since well...she's new here afterall.

Sugary was quiet for a moment, twisting his lips and furrowing his brows in thought. "... No time like the present." He suddenly stated, and then placed the paper away as he turned towards the kitchen again. As he opened the door and held it open in case Kimi followed him right away, Steppette would be seen drinking a glass of wine before she finished it and glanced at Sugary.

"You are leaving, are you? I know that look."

"Sorry we can't stay, but yeah. We got a train to catch."

Steppette started to chuckle and then laughed. This caught Sugary off guard, but she would soon look straight at him and Kimi. "'Got a train to catch'... Classic! I envy your genuine drive for adventure. My stage is too small for you it seems."

Sugary smiled back broadly, catching on to what the elder mare meant. "Our stage is set right before us! The world will bear witness to our act...! We'll try to keep in touch though, it's the least we could do."

"Of course... Just remember you are still welcome. For now... Are you sure you don't need anything else from me before you go though? Some food, some bits?"

Sugary thought for a moment. "... I think I'm good for now." Then he and the elder mare looked to Kimi. "Is there anything you want or think we need? This is gonna be quite the trip."

Kimi looked at Sugary, one who was filled with emotions, finally make a choice. So it seems like they were going to head out right this moment. Kimi would have followed him inside, but she saw Steppette standing there already drinking wine. Kimi proceeded to at least move closer to them as she arrived in part of their stage talk. She looked between the two and could only give a light smile.

she was then asked of what they would need and she pondered for a moment. As it stands she was only aware of the item's she personally held on her, so she had no idea if Sugary had supplies on him or not, though she could assume he had something given that he did say that he was 'good for now' which could insinuate that he has supplies, but at the same time thinking back about when he tried to jump the fence for the tomato, and knowing that his ship was stolen, she felt that there was possibly a high chance that he didn't really have much on him.

"Any food and currency that could be spared is always helpful." Kimi was use to surviving on the land, but she couldn't exactly do that here, when she was familiar with it to begin with. Who knows if there were similar plants from her world to this world. She would have to be extra careful here, because some of the knowledge from her world, might practically be useless here. "Anything beyond that I am not sure. I'm not familiar with these lands here so I don't even know what to expect."

Sugary nodded and looked to Steppette. "I got my Inventory, but if you could spare a backpack along with that, I'd appreciate it... Please..."

She would gingerly hop out from her chair and make her way to one of the various cabinets, pull out a medium-sized slightly used blue backpack, and made her way to the kitchen to start placing away some pin-pulled canned soup, vegetables, and fruit, and snacks with a few bottles of water. She then, without a second thought, levitated her purse, an extra blanket, and a small envelope towards herself and neatly placed roughly a couple hundred bits into the envelope and wrote her phone number on it while putting the rest away in the backpack.

Sugary wasn't about to question her generosity since she offered, but something nagged at him. "... Thanks, but are you really okay with sparing that much? We haven't even told you where we're actually going."

"I know, but I just want to make sure you get where you need to. Train rides are not too cheap either."

Sugary graciously smiled at her foresight. "Right... Again, thank you."

"Thank me when you get your wings back. And please..." stated Steppette as she offered Kimi the backpack and envelope. "Both of you take care. I expect to hear from your travels at least." Sugary waited for Kimi to accept or ask him to take the items before they moved out.

Kimi stood there watching the entire time, keeping silent and not saying a word. They were finally going to move on to someplace else, she would be lying if she didn't say that she wasn't at least a little bit excited. A new world, new sights, new creatures, new....ponies. It was a change from her life back at home where, in a way, the same thing's happened again and again and nothing really...new actually happened. That didn't, however, mean thing's were boring. She had her village to maintain, her shinobi's to train, her children to raise, politics, battling, surviving, living day to day never really knowing if one would even wake up in the morning, but in this world, thing's were drastically different, quite serene and joyful. It was...nice, if she were able to, she probably would have brought her kids here to visit, but for now she needed to figure a way home, a way to get back, and in the meantime, who can blame her if she was going to try and enjoy this place's peace.

Her attention turned towards Steppette who was holding out a backpack and an envelope to her. She momentarily looked toward's Sugary, before looking back towards Steppette. "Thank you very much." she stated as she accepted the items. She put on the backpack after she had placed the envelope inside of it. She looked at Sugary as she was ready to go at any moment, but then she held a look as if she remembered something. "Oh yes, I have something I would like to give you." she stated as she looked towards Steppette. "Please accept it as a token of my gratitude." she reached into her sleeve and then pulled out a long sheet of paper, that resembled those paper talisman's one would see in those foreign eastern films. Though unlike the eastern of the world here, her's was written in an entirely different language.

"Where I come from, we have a tradition of giving gifts of appreciation to those who have kindly treated us." she handed the paper over to Steppette, upon the paper would be dark black ink that was carefully calligraphed onto it with an intricate design shaping out what looked to be an oval the size of the sheet with kanji characters written out so they form lines in eight direction (the cardinal points; north, south, east, west) "My people call this a Fuda Kuchiyose no jutsu. Please keep this with you as it's meant to bring about protection to those that keep this." In a way yes, and in a way no, but Steppette couldn't honestly know what the true purpose of the tag. "It's how the villagers say a protective good luck charm."

Steppette hesitantly accepted the charm, not because she didn't trust Kimi, but because she honestly was not expecting anything else in return. Both she and Sugary admired the charm, and both were smiling for it, though each had a different reason for doing so. "Oh, how thoughtful! With all the hooligans lately, I could do with some protection! I will be sure to keep this." She didn't quite believe it worked literally, but the intent spoke volumes about the gift.

Sugary, as much as he was enjoying the good vibes going on, had to cut the moment short. "I... take it you both made your peace with one another then? Cause..." He opened his arms and gave a hug and friendly nuzzle to the elder mare. She, of course, returned it earnestly. "... We better get going... Farewell, Madam."

"Orehbuah , Masseur. It has been brief but enjoyable..."

Sugary and Steppette would step back from one another, and he would urge for Kimi to follow him out the back. This time though, he jumped high over both the garden and the fence much farther, and not a single clumsy act followed as he landed firmly, waiting for Kimi to follow and move out while waving at Steppette once more.

Kimi was glad that Steppette took the 'charm'. Sugary cut the moment short and said his farewell. Kimi would bow to Steppette. "Do take care." Kimi would then follow Sugary, she watched him as he jumped over the garden and the fence and landed with grace. Well he does have it in him to not be a fool. She thought to herself as she stood there just watching him. She smirked and brought a single hand up over her chest mumbled a few words under her breath and then just walked through the garden and out the back gate. No jumping, no fancy movements, she just simply walked the whole way. When she closed the back gate, she looked at Steppette one last time and smile and waved to her good bye.

After that she would turn and walked up to the waiting Sugary.

Steppette waved back to Kimi as well, and would eventually close her door and leave the duo be on their way. "... A quest between two strange souls to far off lands... Truly a classic tale... I should write a novel again!" She'd chuckle to herself and her own machinations...

Sugary was looking a bit antsy as he began to jog in place while waiting for Kimi, urging her to keep up with him as he did start to jog in the direction he surely thought they needed to go for a train. He did wonder why she was taking her time while holding her chest. "Hey, you feeling okay...? You seem more at ease though."

Kimi would lower her hands and watch as Sugary started to jog and the distance between then slowly got bigger. Clearly he wanted her to hurry up and so she did and jogged alongside him. "I'm fine." she stated as she looked at him. "It's going to be quite the adventure, no?" she gave him a confident smirk. For now she would push her dark thoughts away, she would deal with them at a different time, possibly when she finally goes to sleep after the soldier pill's wear out, but that still won't be for another 60 hours. "Strange new lands, as one who lives the life of a ninja, that's about the only real advantage you get. So I can't help, but get excited sometimes, but other than that, i'm fine."

Sugary smiled and chuckled broadly. "That's the spirit!" Deep down as it were, he was still curious as to what her lifestyle was really like as a whole, not just her work. But that was a topic best saved for later. "
... Still... To think part of this adventure is about getting my ship back... Talk about going full cycle here considering that's how I got to expand my reach... I swear, you stick by me through this, and I'll be your friend for life!" There wasn't a single deceitful bone in his body towards her as he spoke, regardless of how she took his proclamation.

For the most part, he'd just plain be more focused on getting to the station than anything else going on around them. The city simply paled in its attractions compared to a prized possession. He'd also be wary for any others the likes of Al and the rowdy sailors though...

Kimi didn't smile on that mention of being friends for life though. Her thoughts had flashed back to a time where she once believed such words from others. Her gaze shifted ahead of them as she looked to others, however few there were, that are in the area. "Let's just make the most of it." she stated. She kept her pace steady and kept at Sugary's left side. "So tell me just how far is the otherside of the continent?" she figured the continent had to be big, but exactly how big was anyone's guess. "How many days do you think it'll take for us to arrive there?"

Kimi's eyes would occasionally look to the different types of ponies walking past. Many of which were either heading home after a long day's work, or heading out to party with friends. Eying their attire, their mannerism's, whatever she really could witness, she was pretty sure to say that she would stick out like a sore thumb with her current outfit. Maybe, next they get a chance, she should get a new outfit.

"Hm... Can't say for sure how long it would take... It depends on the trains we take running on magic, steam, or just good old strong legs." He paused for a moment to let the last one sink in just to make sure he was heard correctly. "I'm serious about that last one by the way. Some stallions will dedicate themselves to pulling small trains. It's really quite a sight... Really wanted to try that at least once. Those are usually around the southern train routes though. You rarely see them anywhere else."

He'd also notice she was staring at whomever she could, and so he'd inquire for good measure. "... See anything suspicious? Everything so far seems... normal for where we are from what I can tell."

Sugary didn't have an idea of how long it would take. Though when he mentioned about 'good old strong legs' she looked at him as if saying 'What?' Her mind was trying to process it. Then he emphasized on it a little and explained a bit. Her brows furrowed together and she opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, but she didn't and closed her mouth and only released a "Hmmm...." She decided not to question it, but they either had to be an incredible amount of strong ponies pulling the train, or a lot of ponies pulling it, which in a way would seem a bit counter productive.

"Everything so far seems suspicious to me." she responded to his question. "We're I come from we don't commonly have civilians with wings and horns and hooves."

It suddenly clicked inside Sugary's head that maybe everything Kimi was looking at was much more different to her than he originally realized, especially when she mentioned how even hooves were not something normally seen. Many thoughts swirled in his mind as to whether or not he misheard her, or there was even more to her that he's still overlooking. "I... I understand... But Kimi, if there's something you wanna ask me you just don't get, then go ahead. I'll do my best to explain what's what. Wouldn't do to think something's out to get you all the time when it isn't, right?"

Eventually, he'd hear what sounded like a train engine whistling not far off. "Ah! We're finally close to the station!" He certainly had more questions of his own, but getting a ride was paramount. Preferably a private ride, he thought.

Well it's kinda hard to figure out the right question's to ask when you're normally use to everything trying to kill you to begin with. Well no matter, she'll keep it in mind and nodded her head to what he said. "I'll keep it in mind." she stated as well and her ears twitched to the sound's of the train. It was going to be interesting to see the train, she only see the train in her world a tiny handful of times, so she wondered if the train here was similar or completely different.

She shifted her gaze over at Sugary and gave a small smirk. "What's the name of this station here?" she figured she'd ask something small. Eventually she'll come up with other questions later on. For now she was quite curious about the station they were going to come up too.

Sugary slowed down his jogging as they got closer to the station. He'd also rub his chin as, despite the station being right in front of them, he didn't know the real name of it. "Er... Sorry, but I really don't know the name of the actual station... Or any of the others for that matter. I've never ridden any of the trains in this region... That seems like the name though." He'd point to a large bronze plaque that was visible under the obvious Manehatten Station lettering high above where everyone could see them. The plaque itself read Colonel Trotmeiser Locomotives Building in an old carefully molded design.

The station itself seemed to be mostly recently renovated, but as they made their way inside into the not-so-crowded entry halls, there were a few very old pictures of the early stages of the rails, trains, and previously modest look of the station compared to the more contemporary yet practical setting. There was a convenience store, a cafeteria, and a Tour Guide booth aside from the ticket seller booths along with the current schedules and routes. The trains and platforms themselves were further ahead, but less visible.

"Hm... Kimi, please give me a moment... I need a map." He'd quickly lead the two of them to the Tour booth, purchase a recent map with some Bits he took out from his Inventory, and show it to her. "... See here? This is where we are..." He pointed at the city of Manehatten "... And this is where we're supposed to go..." he then dragged his finger over to the general location of the Badlands as he had no clue where the exact location of the Bazaar was even with the paper. "... As you can see, we're really quite a ways away. A train might not even get us to where we need to go without walking quite a bit..." He then looked to the types of purchases that could be made, and the trains available that would lead them closest to their destination: one was a cheap no-cabin ride train from city to city, another was a much more expensive semi-luxurious near express ride with cabins that only stopped once on its way south.

He looked to Kimi, considered the money they had, and decided to suggest upon preference. "The price might be steep, but the express ride will save us time, and get us a room. That alright with you?"

Kimi stopped alongside Sugary and listened to him. When he pointed out the sign she looked to that as well and read it. There was still a good number of people here given the time. Kimi only assumed this city as a whole didn't really sleep all that much. Something, somewhere was always happening. It was a nice place, the material's used were vastly different from the material's that are normally used in her world. She kept her pace up with Sugary as they walked into the station, even as she looked around she never fell behind while walking.

Then Sugary brought up the idea of a map and Kimis ears perked up. They have a map?! Well this was fantastic, this will surely give her a better idea of the continent and see just how different it was to her world. When Sugary brought the map over, she stood to his left side and looked at what he was showing her and her eyes widened. The differences were immense, this definetly was nothing like her world. She tried her best to not focus so much on the difference and listen to what Sugary was trying to explain. Where they were and where they needed to go. "I see..." she mumbled as she looked at the map with a focused look as if she were thinking.

She was snapped out of her thought's where he asked about the ticket. "Huh? Oh, no, I don't care what you get." she answered, she really didn't care, normally where trekking on mission's she was use to sleeping in tree's and on the ground, or in caves. So it didn't matter to her so much whether they rode in first class or coach. Though that did remind her. "What exactly is the currency here?" she looked at him with a curious stare.

Sugary blinked in mild surprise, then gave a light sight as he urged her to follow him towards the ticket booths while speaking softly. "Geez... You really are a fish out of water if you don't know that yet... I can tell you it's definitely not Gil. That was jarring for me." He seemed to briefly reminisce on something but immediately realized he let something slip out that he shouldn't have as he went wide-eyed briefly, and went back on track. "Er... That is to say, the currency is Bits. Remember what Madam Steppette placed in the envelope? That's pretty much what it is."

While on the short waiting line for the luxury express trip, some of the others in the row seemed to judge Sugary and Kimi with curiosity and bafflement. Just about everyone else but them wore clothing that identified them as White Collar citizens. Sugary, personally, merely kept focused on getting on the train, as well as the price for the trip for two. "... We're both gonna have to pitch in for sure... I have Bits, but most of it was on the ship..." He sighed again, thinking on how he truly hoped the gamble for paying more for a faster ride would be worth it.

Eventually, it was their turn, and so Sugary prepared himself to pay up, though this time, he looked to Kimi in case she decided to make use of the given money now or later. Either way, he was feeling the pressure.

Kimi arched a brow at his comment, partially feeling just a tiny bit irritating that he said that, but there was no point in arguing here. She arched a brow as she pondered what he meant about gil. Though she didn't directly comment on it as she was mostly just giving him a confused look while he was all wide-eyed. Well at least she knew that her yen was going to be useless here, so there goes that idea of exchanging currencies.

"I see..." she stated as she pulled from he backpack the envelope and felt it, feeling the coin's that were inside. It did feel pretty heavy and bulky. She, however, didn't open the envelope. She put it back into the bag and waited in line with Sugary. While she waited she felt many eyes upon her and she looked around searching for those whose eyes were on her. When she did find them she only stared back and tilted her head. She took note of their attire and how different they appeared from the ponies she had seen earlier in the day.

Was an event going on? No, she felt that it was something else, but she couldn't quite figure it out. She would look back toward's Sugary and pondered about telling him that others were looking, but she stayed quiet until it was their turn. She looked at him when he looked at her and tilted her head. "Go on, pay for the tickets, if you fall short just take some from the envelope, that should help cover for both the tickets, right?" she also wasn't aware of how much thing's actually costed here. Was there a 1 coin bit, a 5 coin bit, a 10 coin bit, she wasn't sure about it, though in truth she didn't care so much about the money, if she needed too she would have snuck onto the train if all else failed. She pulled out the envelope from the backpack again and held it out to Sugary, just in case he needed it as well.

Sugary considered the circumstances and Kimi's words. Part of why he felt compelled to comment on her being out of place despite the obviousness of it was due to his own initial experience. However, he managed to make sufficient Bits eventually since he had the advantage of dealing with a broad number of tasks by having his ship and kitchen available for use. He was concerned that life as a Mercenary would be that much harder for the both of them if they lacked their own base of operations, especially a mobile one in such a rich and vast world full of wonders and danger. He really didn't want her to go through the same problems he did at an earlier time, so he was more determined to help her. "That's okay, just hold onto that for the both of us. Maybe you'll do a better job of guarding it than I did?" He smiled after the question, trying to make humor out of a harsh reality.

But no matter how harsh reality may be, it didn't mean he hesitated to part with a hefty sum of his remaining bits as he ordered two train tickets for the both of them. It was now just about getting to their designated area as the seller pointed out which platform was theirs. Sugary urged Kimi to follow.

The train itself, still being prepared for departure, was a steam train alright. It was also rather colorful in design, with each wagon almost looking like a child's version made full scale, though the interior decoration seen through the windows still spoke of luxury as intricate lamps, chandeliers in the dining cars, the fact there were dining cars, and silk curtains among other things could be seen. "... This better be worth the price..." said Sugary to Kimi in a hushed voice. He also would've boarded with her right away, but there was still a line to wait for as a stallion up ahead was frantically looking in his belongings for his ticket, giving Kimi time to take in the sight of the other trains and various passengers from different areas of Equestria coming and going...

Kimi gave Sugary a light smile when he told her to hold onto the bits. She nodded her head and decided it was best not to make a direct comment on what he just said. She put the envelope back in the backpack and closed it shut before wearing the backpack again. It definetly is difficult to steal from a ninja especially from the world she's from. You'd have to be some sort of deranged idiot, or extremely confident in your skills to try it, but she had to come to terms with the fact that this world was different than hers. They didn't have the same troubles that they did. This world didn't need to have shinobi's. They didn't need to constantly have a massive group of people to hire to constantly do thing's for them. At least not on the scale that it happens in her world.

Sugary bought their tickets and they headed for the platform. It was quite the sight to see, the style of architecture here was much different than the ones of her home. Thing's were more straight, if that made any sense. They used different material's for their building's that wasn't the simple wooden buildings, or natural building materials like that's use in her world, depending on the country your from that is. Thing's were, Kimi tried to thing of a good word for it and thought for a moment. Her eyes wandering about to the new things before her. "Processed." she mumbled out to no one in particular, mostly just to herself.

When they arrived to where they needed to board, apparently there was a hold up as someone was looking for something. Kimi tried to look ahead from her position as much as she could. She saw many different kinds of ponies, and non-ponies. There were griffon's, donkeys, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and possibly many others. Looking to Sugary when he mumbled about this better be worth the price, she couldn't help, but giggle at him. "It was your choice. Don't get upset now if it's disappointing." Kimi was just following along with whatever means of travel Sugary decided was best. She's normally use to trekking cross-country on foot. But while this hold up was a tad bit annoying, Kimi didn't mind it so much as she got to see the different kinds of creatures there are here. She couldn't exactly think of them as...'people' per say, mainly because when she would say people she'd think of humans,and not ponies.

Culture shock really, maybe that would subside overtime. She whispered to Sugary. "Okay, I get the three different kinds of ponies things, but what are they over there?" she asked as she pointed in the direction of a group standing about of what looked to be a griffin, a donkey, and goat.

Sugary grumbled mildly at his choice as per reminded by Kimi. He crossed his arms and looked upwards briefly. "This isn't the kind of thing I usually rely on, but it just may turn out to be practical this time. We get a fast ride, food, beds, time to think and prepare, and hopefully time to spare at our arrival... May as well spend extra in exchange. We might lose track trying to get there on our legs the whole way. I'm confident in my stamina, but even I need to stop and rest." Of course, he didn't normally have Ninja Food Pills to rely on, but that was a another matter.

When asked about what the creatures were that Kimi pointed out, he looked towards them and carefully pointed out which was which. "That's a griffon, a donkey, and a goat... Any others you see that you can't name?"

In the time it would likely take for Kimi to ask again or not, the stallion up ahead would finally find his ticket and proceed to enter. Slowly, all the others would board as well as the Pegasus mare checking tickets by the entrance in a jet black uniform and cap took notes and verified tickets. "Next aboard... Are you two sharing a room or going separately?"

Sugary would be quick to answer. "Together... Unless you're really not okay with that?" He really did want them to share a room. It made talking in private much easier.

Kimi was told what they were and she blinked and held an empty stare. They had such creatures in her land, but looked nothing like that! Kimi pursed her lips together as if attempting to contemplate it in her mind, but she couldn't think further on it too much since the line started to move and it snapped her from her thoughts. As they proceeded further up the line she'd whisper to him. "I'll be sure to ask, it's just a bit much to process those three." she was referring to the three that Sugary just told her what they were.

As they arrived closer and closer Kimi's eyes looked towards the train looking it over, while it was rather 'childish' in it's appearance, it was still structured in the same manner as the one that's in her world. "It's rather peculiar..." she whispered. "I see things that look similar, but yet there is so much more that isn't. Make's it hard to believe that I'm no longer in Tea country." They finally arrived for their turn to get on. To which Kimi would answer. "Together's fine, no need to check with me on small decision's like this."

Sugary smirked back at Kimi, somewhat amused in her reply. "To you, it's small; To certain others I've been with? It's practically mandatory. Really, I'm just glad you're making things easier on me to work with, we have a lot more to discuss on the way." He was particularly referring to his own set of questions he had in mind for her.

Having gotten the confirmation he needed, he made sure that the attendant understood what they wanted. The attendant then held out a quill -ironically- in one wing, ink in another, and a parchment in her hand so as to get their signatures. "Please give me your tickets and sign here on the joined dotted lines." She had her other hand held out, ready to receive the tickets.

Sugary was the first to sign, being closer, and wrote down in easily readable lettering after lightly dabbing the quill in the ink... a name that did not sound quite the same as his when read out loud.

X...Mercado Azucarado

It was now Kimi's turn to write her name down as he placed the quill back in the bottle and the attendant held both out for her so they could board the train officially after signing.