Noblesse Oblige [Invite]

The last 24 hours had been unpleasant. ...Well, maybe unpleasant was too sweet a word to describe them. The last 24 hours had been utterly abhorrent. Kuro had never been in an attack pod before, let alone flown one rocketing through space at speeds that seemed to defy the laws of physics as she understood them. Regardless, she'd landed on Earth in one piece, somehow. And from there... She had no clue what to do next. 

It was the Konatsian nobles with a potential claim to the throne that she'd been seeking, but this was an entire planet - simply knowing they were probably somewhere on the planet wasn't a whole lot to go off when it came to seeking them out. To begin, Kuro had made her way towards the nearest Earth city she'd landed by, a city she came to understand was simply named 'East City' - presumably, it was somewhere East of whatever Earth used as its center location.

Kuro also supposed the one thing she had going for her was the fact that Konatsians, unlike Earthlings, possessed large, pointed ears. Earthlings had these strange little nubs of ears that didn't quite look right. Were they able to hear nearly as well as Konatsians? Kuro, personally, could hear so well she could even tell how strong someone was. She doubted any Earthling was capable of that.

Not too long after the girl had made her way into the city, Still garbed in naught but her royal guard uniform, she began to accrue strange looks from passerby Earthlings. No doubt due to her rather lavish garments. But she could concern herself with finding suitable clothing for her current situation later: for the moment, finding the missing nobility took absolute precedence. But who might she inquire for that sort of information...?

Well, on Konats, she supposed those in uniform were the ones in the know on the whereabouts of figures of importance. So, she'd simply need to find someone here in uniform and interrogate them! Now, where was a uniformed officer? Surprisingly, Kuro needed not look far before she found one speaking to an armed woman. She didn't know what the two were talking about, but, frankly, she cared not wait to hear. Instead, she approached them, tapped the uniformed officer on the shoulder, saluted him, and then inquired. 

"Sir," she began, "Are you aware of the presence of any of Konatsian nobility on this planet? I come from Konats in search of them. It is of absolute importance that I ascertain their whereabouts with as much haste as can be mustered, so if you have any information, I must have it." Surely he'd understand that, as a woman in uniform herself, she was someone he could trust with this information.

Though Kuro had spoken firmly and with a tone that she had believed to carry enough urgency that the uniformed officer would assist her in her search with haste, it seemed it was not to be. Whoever the officer had been speaking with prior to Kuro's arrival suddenly took off, and the officer gave them chase, leaving Kuro behind with a blank expression on her face. Was it customary on Earth to so easily ignore the plight of another? Especially a foreign military official - Kuro could never imagine herself acting in such a way! Regardless, as she watched the officer disappear from view, she began to wonder if she ought to give chase to him.

Before she had the opportunity to make that call, though, she turned upon hearing footsteps to find the very person who the officer had given chase to had returned to her side. Kuro blinked at them, and briefly wondered if she ought to alert the guardsman that his perpetrator had returned, although she stopped herself from doing so once the mysterious stranger spoke.

"You're familiar with a Konatsian refugee?" Kuro asked her in surprise. What luck that Kuro had just happened to stumble across someone in the know - and even luckier that they actually wished to help her track them down. The woman didn't give Kuro a chance to ask all too much, though, as she went off after a brief gesture that indicated Kuro should follow.

Seeing no alternatives, Kuro quickly followed behind the woman, who moved at quite the swift pace, until they eventually ended up inside of what appeared to be a small shop of some sort - one that gave off a pleasant, herbal scent as Kuro stepped inside. "A quaint locale," Kuro commented as she stepped inside. She took note that the blades that had previously been present on the other woman were now gone, though she elected not to comment. There were more pressing matters at hand. "You have information, then? Where are they? Our planet is in urgent need of their return."

This encounter was already taking a turn for the unusual. ...Well, not that it hadn't done that already. Kuro wasn't sure if she was making the best first impression on Earth society if her very first action was to consort with a criminal for the sake of seeking personal gain. However, it didn't seem that any of those officers were aware of her current meeting, so perhaps it would be alright. It was for the sake of all Konats, after all. "Hm?" Kuro furrowed her brow in confusion as the stranger both informed her there was no need to speak so formally, and that their drinks would be on her dime.

The drinks were fine - royal guards were paid well, and Kuro's coin purse was always on her. She wasn't sure what the woman meant by not needing to be so formal, however. This was simply how Kuro spoke. Was it not to her liking? Kuro's pointed ears dipped slightly and her mouth fell into a slight frown as she suddenly began to feel the slightest bit of self-consciousness about her dialect. Having grown up surrounded by military men and high nobles, it was simply the tongue Kuro had inherited. Speaking like a commoner was... Difficult.

"V-Very well," she slowly replied as she took her seat across from the woman. Kuro simply nodded as the woman showed her her recommendation on what to drink - if any hint of information on what she sought was to be found there, Kuro appeared not to pick up on it. 

When the woman waved down a servant and made her order, Kuro ordered as well. "I shall have the mango-indica tea, if you would kindly," she stated with a polite smile to the woman taking their orders. The servant nodded and jotted down what the two had requested, informed them it would only be a short while until their drinks were ready, and then returned to the kitchen, leaving Kuro alone with this stranger. Kuro was silent for a few moments, her posture upright and her face still blank with her usual stern expression, and then she spoke. "What is your information, then? If you truly know something, please inform me. Konats is in dire need of its royal heirs."

As the two women waited for their drinks in a mostly stern silence, the Earthling sitting across from Kuro suddenly inquired as to why Kuro was seeking information on these Konatsian nobles. A fair line of questioning, Kuro thought. It was only reasonable to be curious about why such a group of people were being sought out by an official from their own home world. However, Kuro was surprised the woman's first guess was that she was a bounty hunter sent to assassinate them. "No," she firmly replied after that accusation. "I am nothing of the sort." How should she put her position, though? She was under no real obligation to reveal everything to this stranger, but the stranger may choose not to help her after all if she refused to cooperate.

"I am a Konatsian royal guard tasked with defending the crown and any who wear it," Kuro finally continued after a moment of thought. "The previous King is dead. These royal heirs who have fled all possess a claim to the throne by birthright. I would seek them out because it is my duty to do so - any of them may wear the crown, and any one of them I must one day protect." Kuro hoped that was a sufficient enough answer without requiring her to delve into any personal details. Her life wasn't the one that mattered - the royals were the important ones.

Moments later, the servant again arrived, this time with Kuro and the stranger's drinks. Kuro nodded her head in thanks for the tea, then gently sipped from the cup. The burning liquid signed her lips and tongue, but its aromatic flavor was quite soothing after her long journey across the stars. Unfortunately, the woman still seemed to be stalling when it came to giving Kuro the information she desired. "That is true," Kuro replied. "I was named after the kuroyuri flower. However, I do not currently plan to bear any children." The time she would need off for her pregnancy, let alone raising the child... No, having children was not in Kuro's future.

Kuro was beginning to grow somewhat restless at this interaction. Though it had seemed to be a promising thread to follow at first, it was becoming increasingly clear to Kuro that this woman likely didn't actually know anything of value for her mission. In fact, she was asking rather basic questions about Konatsian politics that anyone with true connections would have already known all about. "No, it is, um," Kuro began as she glanced around the room, eyeing the exit. "There is normally a line of succession, but with the King murdered and his next in line vanished, things are rather up in the air. I am currently attempting to seek out any and all possible heirs, that is all."

And now this 'informant' was asking Kuro about the names of people she knew back on Konats, though, frankly, Kuro had already somewhat tuned herself out from this interaction. Each moment she wasted talking to this stranger was a moment she wasn't seeking out the royals themselves. There could be one right nearby, and she'd have absolutely no idea! Kuro elected not to answer the other woman's question, and instead politely told her, "I am sorry, but I think I truly must be going for the moment. If you do learn of anything, though, please reach out to me and you will be duly compensated for your assistance."

Kuro pulled a small coinpurse from the pockets of her uniform, then placed down a few zeni on the table to pay for her share of the drinks. "The tea was rather lovely, thank you," she said as she stood up, though she didn't offer much of a smile to the other woman. Then, provided she was not halted in her tracks by the other woman, she turned around and exited the shop, breathing a large sigh the moment she stepped out the doors. 

Now that that was over, where was she to begin her search in earnest...?