Coming from the Northern sections of Hafen, she started out where the temperature range was -48C and within an hour by the Hafen-rail was in Londinium's 10C. Four hours after that she was in Amaterasu where the current temperature was 41C.
The cool icemaiden had divested most of her clothing by this point and was also dealing with another aspect of the location change, humidity. Northern Hafen was in high mountains with perpetual snow, heated by geothermal sinks. Londinium was inland and much more humid. Amaterasu, being on a peninsula, was just plain humid.
Her furs (taken from animals specially bred for such things, not pokeboys, as she'd already explained to a pokeboy-activist) were lying in a heap. Her thick insulated boots, so necessary for getting around outside the walkways and buildings up North - were also discarded. Gloves - tossed aside.
"Hot," said Maria to no one in particular, currently thanking Goddess that she had packed some other clothing. She was currently wearing a white tee-top over a swimsuit and sprawled out across her seat.
"Just wait till summer," said a girl facing across the cabin.
"It gets worse?" asked Maria.
"Ever been to Vishna?" asked the girl. "The beach at Gobo?"
"No," confessed Maria, tugging at the neck of her shirt to peel it away from her skin.
"It's mostly flatland, like most of Londinium," said the girl. "Gobo's at the low end. Hills at one end, Gobo and the beach at the other. Gobo is hot and in summer is even hotter. You can fry an egg on the street in June, five minutes."
"Sounds unpleasant," said Maria, feeling unbearably sweaty.
"You get used to it," said the really tall girl with a grin.
"You're from Vishna?" asked Maria.
"Gobo," said the girl. "Fishing village. Name's Kanna."
"Maria," supplied Maria.
"You normally go armed on the rail lines?" asked Kanna.
"It's got a lot of history," said Maria, realizing that her shoulder holster was pretty obvious in her current lack of clothing.
"I understand," said Kanna. She reached up with one hand and tightened the deeply tanned skin around her tricep. When she did, thin scars became more noticeable. "I got a lot of history too. Fought a Feydine back when I was four. It came up on the beach, held it away long enough for the adults to get there. Lost my little sister in an attack two years ago."
"Come on, you can't be THAT old," said Maria.
"Hey, I'm SEVEN," said Kanna, making that seem as if from an impossible age.
"Seven? Ha! I'm EIGHT!" proclaimed Maria.
"Hey, this is the station coming up," said Kanna, "and if I don't miss my guess - that kid standing next to the schoolmarm is the BOY."
"What's a 'schoolmarm'?" asked Maria.
"See the old lady with her hair in a bun? Classic schoolmarm," said Kanna.
"She's only in her thirties," estimated Maria.
"Like I said," said Kanna. "'old lady'."
(Posted Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:55)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.