Log:No Place Like (Ridders)holm, Part 3

The Fall of Riddersholm 2018/06/12 Jak 3

Jak soon finds himself turning onto a main street with plenty of foot traffic. Aside from the flying vehicles and platforms above, he doesn't notice any ground vehicles. The road is built with slabs that look like an artistic mosaic, a mix of modern materials and a cobblestone aesthetic.

To Jak's right, a person steps up to a large hexagonal slab on the side of the road, and double taps his foot. The hexagon projects a holoscreen and the citizen says something clearly. The seams of the hexagonal pad light up and project walls of light all around the citizen, who a moment later disperses into particles, to be reassembled at his destination. Public teleportation transport. Who needs cars?

Storefronts and cafes and little shops line the street, as well as markets. They all look like they're "manned" by machinery and machines.

Straight ahead, further in the distance, towers another building apart from all the other skyscrapers and gardens. It looks like a grand castle or palace of clean white stone with several towers, which looks medieval in some ways. Banners with the symbol of a stylized sun made of a circle surrounded by triangles fly from the battlements.

This castle...is iconic. A symbol. Even Jak can remember the palace of the royal family, though he may or may not remember the names of the royals: King Omar and Queen Gwenerva Ogden, and the princess, Amara. Every Riddersman knows about them. Though their castle is on high, the royal line has long mingled among the citizenry. From a food cart nearby, Jak recognized the scent of his favorite food from when he was a kid. It's a comfort food dish that immediately brings thoughts of hime. This feels to real to be a dream.

Jak's wonder and amazement over the pavement soon passes, though only because something much shinier and obviously more advanced made it self appearant. He was just wondering where the ground vehicles were when he sees the man step up onto the slab and then teleport out of there.

He raises an eyebrow while wondering to himself, .o0( Incredible. I wonder what the range is on that thing & where they''re hiding the rest of the teleporter?)

He passes by it to take a closer look, though doesn't step on himself. Instead he makes a mental note to watch for sudden arrivals while he's here.

Jak looks happily at the wares of the mechanical shopkeeps & stallpeople- stopping to watch a ballet being performed by constructs made of water and at another stall a keeper regales him of the journey his trinkets have made to find Jak. If only he knew who he was talking to. Range isn't really something that impresses Jak by any measure.

But one vendor selling what appears to be a pair of shoes that generate a razor thin board of hardlight that can be rode like a hoverboard is something that impresses Jak greatly. He's making googily eyes at a pair, making eyes at the castle rising up in the background as memories slowly seep back into his mind.

He remembers the royals well- it was one thinghe was certain someone would know out in the big world, so he used their names often. Yet still no matter who he asked, no one had ever heard of these royals.

He's about to engage the vendor to see if they could work out a way for him to pay or something he could trade when a familiar smell hits his nose.

He sniffs twice, each time deeper than the last as he spins on his heel trying to source the smell.

Its something he hasn't had in 13 years- not since his 12th birthday, or... but that wasn't the word they used for it. He tries to remember what the word for 'birthday' was in Ridderfolk. This nags at him for only a moment before it begins sinking in that he's found his long lost homeland.

He continues sniffing out a vendor, trying to put a name in his head to the smell in the air. He's become a bit of a foodie since being a glovetrotter, always looking for hints of his homeland. Unfortunately for him Ridderfolk do a lot of importing, but very little importing. So since the culture is such a mishmash, he found lots of similiarities to dishes of his homeland but nothing quite right.

A perfect example of this 'not-quite-rightness' os this dish he's chasing right now. What he smells initially looks like the Pakistani dish Daal Chawal but fried in a ball of tight seaweed and then sticky rice. When fried it all cooks together and what you get is something that tastes quite a bit like a seaborne pierogi with a very bright & sweet afternote that radiates through his body as he remembers the taste of it vaguely. He's tried to replicate the flavors but to date he's been unsuccessful.

"Fresh Foisbreq Sireacl!" He says aloud, beaming with pride though probably sounding like quite the fool as he gets even more eager to find the vendor with them for sale.

As the crowd parts, Jak sees a robotic cart automatically crafting the Riddersholm speciality. The trick is lightly freezing the daal chawal-like mixture before shaping it into balls and wrapping it up in seaweed and sticky rice.

The self-crafting cart uses an arm with a scoop at the end to make a ball of the daal chawal, before many other smaller arms start to wrap it up in seaweed. Another arm flattens a portion of sticky rice into a circle before the seaweed package is placed in the center. Then the rice gets rolled up and around the ball before it's dropped into a cylinder. The cylinder beeps a second afterwards, and the robot pulls out the freshly 'flash fried' Foisbreq Sireacl and places it on, of all things, a paper plate before offering it to a Riddersman.

It does all this at rapid speed, taking mere seconds to craft a ball of the treat.

"Wow... I do remember those. So well I can taste it... how could I ever have forgotten?!" Jak exclaims as he suddenly feels they he's very hungry- despite having just left a festival specifically for a hangover cure. He watches a few more of the staple street dish get created for customers passing by until he can't help himself. Even daydreaming about the shoes that would let him ride around on the trail of a highligther don't keep him from always returning to the dish in front of him.

He steps into line and waits his turn. Once its his turn he asks, "This smells amazing. Do you take DaeCoins or American cash?" He tries to play it cool but he desparately needs the mechanoid to say yes to either question! If not, he'll have to find some place to exchange his coinage.

When Jak comes up to his turn in line, the robot flashfries another quickly yet perfectly assembled ball, puts it on a paper plate, and offers it to him before Jak can pay or get his answer. Without question, it waits for him to take the plate.

Jak hesitantly takes the plate. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Tttttthhanks...?" He says, always happy to partake in a free meal despite always being suspicious of them.

He steps out of line and says, "I appreciate it!" He adds enthusiastically, hoping the bot understands him like Aval did.

Nothing was free out in the "real world", as a young and lost Jak discovered early. But he was so young, the concept of payment and money never came up in Riddersholm.

The robot makes mechanical musical sound that comes across as 'Your welcome' in tone, it's scooping arm waving politely before it goes back to cooking. This robot doesn't have quite the full sentience or sophistication of Aval, being built for a more singular purpose.

The ball is crispy on the outside, a nice golden color that provides a crunch before giving way to sticky goey rice goodness and the flavorful package within.

"That's going to take some getting... used..." He says as he takes in the aromas of the Foisbreq Sireacl. His mind going back to his own family droid making him this often when his parents were working late. Or Early. Or during high holidays. Or his Firstday. Or during the King's Annual Speech. He forgot how much some of those memories stung- its no wonder he 'lost track' of some of these memories.

He folds the paper plate up, using it as a wrap for the ball of deep-friend streetfood and then prepares to take a bite by blowing it off as he wanders back to the shoe-stall with the 'Lightrunner' shoes. Well of course that's not what they're called in Ridderspeak. But that's what he's calling them.

He takes a bite through the golden shell with eagerness he's rarely felt before. A flood of nostalgia rushes over him like he's never experiened before.