Trams, Tourists, Tarin Oth

Tarin Oth was one of the younger settlements on this new land as part of a colonisation effort little over a century ago. Many from the old world travelled to Tarin Oth seeking new opportunities, and many opportunities were had. Never minding the indigenous population that certainly had their gripes, the founders of Tarin Oth had resources to reap.

In the core of Tarin Oth stood a complex array of towers and skyscrapers, and as the land sloped downwards toward the coast, the creativity of the architecture waned to fit for function more than anything.

City planners at least had the decency to keep all industrial foundries and factories off to some dingy corner of the city that, for the sake of lung health, many avoided.

Houses were closely packed together to conserve the little space they had to operate with, becoming more evident the closer you got to the docks.

Hundreds of ships came and went every day in a bustling ebb and economic flow. Crops, minerals, munitions, relics, and sometimes even people were among the few subjects of controversial trade from Tarin Oth.

Occupying the Qoranthi Peninsula, Tarin Oth had certainly made its mark on the map, for better or worse.

History lesson aside, standing not too far from the clinic they emerged from, Raian and Mochi remained utterly perplexed by the mess of a map plastered before them. Coloured lines intertwined with one another in odd shapes, stretching far and wide across an underlay of a simplified map of Tarin Oth.

The layout reminded the squid of the single time he had spaghetti. According to Raian, it was a map of where the trams go.

He’d seen one or two in passing in the first few times he had left the facility, but Mochi had never stepped onto one. The curiosity ate away at him enough to cause him to pace in his spot.

Incoherent mumbles escaped the handler as he traced the coloured lines.

“I’ve lived here for years and still I cannot figure this out…” frustration laced the man’s voice.

Mochi stepped forward, opting to have a crack at it. His eyes scanned the vibrant map, doing his best to not get overwhelmed by the gentle roar of a bustling city. In fact, being so out in the open, as much as he loved being outside, didn’t do too much good for the boy.

Such large crowds accompanied by even larger noises and unidentifiable scents all fed into a sensory overload that Mochi did his best to cover up. He didn’t want Raian to worry.

Finally, it clicked.

An index finger singled out a row of seemingly random words and numbers among many others.

“There!” he cried, “The X83 in seven minutes, that one goes to Falgrove Square, then we stop there, get the X22 to Kiur… Kyu… Keuh…”

“Kierrunun.”

“Yeah, that!” the boy shook his head, “Then from there we get this tram to that circle looking place, and we’re at the beach!”

With a beaming grin, he turned to his handler, expecting some level of praise. Instead, he was met with confusion, and a hint of despair. Raian’s shoulders slumped as he took a seat about the tram stop.

“Damn it, I’m supposed to be a scientist.” He mumbled miserably.

Taking initiative to return the favour whenever Mochi feels down, the boy extended a hand to gently pat his handler on the head, much to the latter’s surprise.

“Don’t worry, we’re all good and bad at things,” he did his best to reassure him, “like I can’t do a backflip but at least I can do this thumb trick now!”

The boy fumbled his fingers together in a confusing attempt to perform that one well-known ‘trick’ of separating your thumb from your hand, but after a painfully long stretch of attempts, Mochi gave up.

“Never mind, I forgot.”

“Why would you want to know how to do a backflip?” Raian fixated on that with a frown and teasing smile.

“I dunno,” Mochi said quietly, fiddling his fingers together, “it looks cool, and I want to be good at doing at least one thing.”

Mochi stumbled over to meet at Raian’s level, sitting comfortably just to the left of him.

“You’re good at plenty of things, Mochi.”

“Like what?”

“Well, for one,” the man raised an arm to tap a finger on the map behind them, “you’re also just good at puzzles in general. There’s plenty of things you can do that I can’t.”

The squid raised his head as their eyes met, though for once, he found it a bit of a struggle to maintain eye contact.

“I still want to learn how to do a backflip though.” Mochi spoke softly, but with a hint of determination.

“Alright,” Raian laughed, “I’ll get Unali to teach you.”

The two continued to wait for their tram as Mochi admired the views he could get from this street. Brick houses lined the edges of the street as an ascent to his right lead farther up into the city. He wanted to know what was beyond, but that would have to wait for later. Instead, he was going down the sloped city.

Crowds continued to pass on by, until a rather exasperated, elderly dwarf beckoned for a seat at the bench. The dwarf, being wider than he was tall, forced Mochi to press closer to Raian than he wanted.

He had no problems being close to the man, but the matter changed when prying eyes were everywhere. From the sounds of the mumbling emanating from Raian, it seemed as if he were trying to count backward from a thousand, going seven at a time.

Amidst the obnoxiously loud coughing of that same dwarf, the tram finally made its passing, not exactly stopping, but slowing down just enough for anyone to hop on or off, and leading the boy by the hand, the did so effortlessly.

“There’s a seat there.” Raian pointed out possibly the only free spot on this rather ornate, bronze vehicle.

Rows of benches were built into the walls of the tram. Seating was obviously a second thought in this case, but it was enough. Mochi practically threw himself at the remaining spot, hitting his back harder than intended as Raian gripped about a pole in the middle of the tram for support, towering over the squid.

The smells in this place weren’t exactly pleasant, but it’s not like they were going to be here for long as the tram rattled away along its route. It was utterly overwhelming, at least, in a good way. There was so much to see, so many things to look at, and yet it all passed by too quick for the boy to get a proper look at.

As much as Mochi despised the concept of hills, he wouldn’t mind coming back up here just to get a better look at everything.

The tram gave a rather sudden jostle as a bellowing shriek tore through the skies above, startling the boy more than he’d like to admit. Such noises weren’t uncommon in the facility, but that didn’t stop Mochi from jumping up and sticking his head out the window.

Not too far below the clouds, a colossal, winged beast soared through the skies with an astonishing amount of grace for its magnitude. Placed accordingly along its blackened scales, a complex array of shifting metal plates seemed to act as armour.

“What is that?!” the boy cried, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Caluxi Dualwing.” Raian leaned closer, placing a hand about the back of Mochi’s collar, ready to pull if he goes too far.

With an eighty-metre wingspan and two sets of wings, this bad boy can carry so many goods. Mochi couldn’t decide whether to fixate on its wings generating an enormous amount of lift, or the sizeable container strapped to its underbelly.

He spun around to see if his handler shared the same awe he felt in that moment, only to gaze upon a look the boy had never seen before. It was a look of pure scorn, aimed directly at the winged beast. His grip about the supporting pillar of tram’s centre tightened until his knuckle turned white.

“Raian?” Mochi called out to him.

The man’s eyes fluttered as his hateful stare eased up, and that familiar smile Mochi knew and loved slowly came back. A slight wave of relief came over the squid, even if he did somewhat doubt the authenticity.

“Are you okay?” the boy blinked with a slight shift of his tendrils.

“I’ll be fine,” Raian spoke with a slight heaviness, giving a gentle pat about the squid’s shoulder, “don’t worry.”

“Do you think dragons are scary?”

Mochi continued to watch the man as his eye twitched ever so slightly, he was unusually quiet in this moment, and it worried him.

“Yeah,” his handler spoke hoarsely, and swallowed, “I guess you could say that.”

“Well don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” Mochi bared his teeth. “As long as we’re like, far away, because—”

The boy stuck his crimson head out the window again for a moment before swiftly returning.

“Yeah, that’s a really big one.” He said flatly, “Maybe if it was like, this big, then I could protect you.”

Raian watched the squid vaguely measure some odd dimensions spanning perhaps one or two feet with his hands. A sharp exhale escaped the handler as he cocked his head away to conceal a growing smile; that one Mochi couldn’t doubt the authenticity of.

The sudden force of Raian pulling on his hand pulled Mochi to his feet as the combined swerve and movements of the tram pushed him to headbutt his handler in the chest.

“Sorry!”

“You’re fine, you’re fine!” Raian paid no attention to it as he eyed up a sign saying ‘Falgrove Square’.

The tram came to a gradual slowdown, and the two hopped off to continue on their journey, doing their best to weave past the rather rude citizens aiming to barge past them.