TBG Forums

"That's fine, I'm sure it'll make more sense once we get to..."
Elesa's voice trailed off as the trio stepped outside of the physics building.
In front of her were countless buildings across the skylline, towering far above her. Vehicles drove down the main road just to the right, as students walked around the open space of the university's campus. Every way she looked, there was something she didn't recognise or understand.
"This... is... this puts the castle to shame!" she stammered out.
"Welcome to Eastonshire," Phillip said. "Hope it meets your expectations."

April regards the campus with a mild expression, "the campus is an impressive display of collective human effort, but I imagined the castle for the seat of a kingdom's power would be even more so."

He waits for Elesa to start moving again.

"It's not just the campus. It's the whole thing! It's just so... overwhelming! How do you manage that many buildings that are all that huge?"
"Maths, physics, computers, and a lot of failed building designs," Phillip responds.
"Wow..." Elesa looks up at the skyscrapers, still awe-struck.
"Come on, we better get going. Only so much time in the day, after all," Phillip says, starting to walk down the main street. Elesa soon follows.

"What's the environment like on your side?" asks April, turning on the recirding function on his phone, "most people only have the press release on the news and rumors from supposed friends of the researchers."

"Well, uh... God, how do I describe this sorta thing? It's, uh, 'temperate', I guess is the word? Maybe? I think it's a mite hotter on this side, but that could just be today."

"Well drought season should be ending soon... then we'll have slightly cold rain for the next few months."

"Hm, I guess that explai-"
Elesa was cut off by Phillip grabbing her and yanking her back off the road, as a car drove past, honking its horn.
"Oi! What was that for!?" she said angrily, turning to face him.
"Sorry, forgot to tell you about how to cross intersections properly. You need to wait until the pedestrian light turns green, then we can walk across."
"...Oh. Why d'you have to do that?"
"Well, because otherwise the two-tonne high-speed metal boxes will probably hit and kill you."
"...Real friendly to us people walking, then."

"Modern transportation is extremely useful," says April, "A nation like Novatoland is built on the backs of good logistics and truck drivers."

"Well, I suppose there's a tradeoff to everything," Elesa replies.
"Come on, the light's turning in a second. Let's get going," Phillip says, as the trio continues walking.

Soon enough, they arrive at the parliament house of Novatoland: a grand stone building built on the top of a hill, with many columns across the front, leading up to an arched roof. Though not as tall as any of the surrounding buildings, it was still quite impressive.
"This looks like something you might see back in Ethrilia," Elesa comments. "What with the whole stone and pillars thing, rather than glass everywhere."
"It was built a pretty long time ago, so that'd make sense," Phillip says. "It's been updated since, but they've tried to keep the style. Anyway, I don't think we'll be able to see all of it, but there are some bits of it open to the public, so I can show you around a little. Hope I remember what I learned about the government from back in 8th grade..."

"Parliament has been divided on diplomatic or isolationist policies regarding rift technology and the new world as of late," says April to Elesa.

"Considering you're getting a tour of Eastonshire right now, I would say the diplomats are getting what they want."

Currently, General Manufacturing was privately backing isolationists, since it served them to stop their rivals from getting access to the new world. It was a fine balancing act to make sure the government didn't implement policies that tightened up security and surveillance too much that they couldn't slip through the cracks they made for themselves, however.
Anyway the parliament members with political ties to the University of Eastonshire had something to say about restrictions on Rift research. The news buzz had produced a substantial boost in funding.

Artemis slowly lifts the drum up and puts it aside. Surely the bot or whatever was gone now. She looked around for one of the doors leading to the terraces, which probably wouldn't be in good shape with all the construction. Unfortunately, it would take some time to find, as the builders decided to make the scaffolds into a maze, with all sorts of heavy equipment or bad placement blocking off access routes.

"Sounds a bit like it is in our world too, then," Elesa replies to April. "Most of the mages in the League are looking forward to all the stuff they can learn from you lot, while some of the royals are a bit iffy on the whole situation. Think you guys are planning to exploit us or something. Personally, I think all these restrictions around the Rifts are... well, the word I'm thinking of, I probably shouldn't be saying in polite company."
Phillip chuckles. "Sounds like we agree on that, then. Anyway, I'll show you around the parliament a bit, at least the parts we're allowed into."

April asks, confused, "I thought your country was led by a council?"

"Uh... no, not really," Elesa says. "The royals and lords have pretty much all the power. We manage fine enough, but it certainly seems nicer for the average folk to have a say in how things are run."

"Hm."
April doesn't tell her it's more complicated than that.

"What's next on your map?"

I swear I'm gonna slap somebody, anybody, who thought this was a good idea, she thought to herself, as Artemis had spent at least 3 minutes walking through this labyrinth of construction material and scaffolding, as if the workers wanted someone like her in this exact situation to suffer. At least whatever was following her was gone, for now at least. She slipped further into the mess and snatched a power drill while she was at it. Might come in handy.

April got a notification on his phone. He took his phone out and checked the notification.

He looked up and said, "Trespasser Logged? ...you two, this was great, but there's a situation at the office and I need to head back."

"That sounds... serious. Thanks for coming here, at least. I'll catch up with you later about our deal," Phillip says to Autumn.

Elesa studies her map. "Blimey... there's just so many things..."
"Why don't I just take you of a tour around downtown?" Phillip suggests. "I can point stuff out to you as we walk past."
"Yeah, that'd work," Elesa agrees.

April jogged out of the building and rang up transportation on a rideshare app.

(ok but do we wanna revive this)