a.k.a. Katana

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The first thing Katana noticed was that the city was clean. There was no trash littering the street, no broken down cars or hunks of busted up furniture. Katana walked past large buildings that were mostly dark that lined the outskirts of the city and made up the outer skin of the snake shape. They were short and wide and made of brick. Then the next layer of the snake seemed to be more commercial. Some of the lights were on, but even they seemed to be closed for the night.

The innermost part of the city was a bustle of activity. There were store fronts with brightly colored clothing in all shapes, furniture, food and strange items Katana could not identify. There were giant segmented trains that whizzed by overhead and ran the length of the city and tiny wheeled chairs with wagons attached to the backs that people rode through the streets on. They seemed not to own them, but rather parked them and left and someone else might use it and zip away. Most people were walking and there were no clams or truck-type vehicles like the one she had ridden in. Such vehicles probably wouldn't have even fit on the narrow streets.

Katana walked through the city wide eyed and amazed. Her head buzzed with the images, sounds, and smells around her. She felt like an infant seeing so much for the first time and being able to make sense of so little.

The people were all different colors, shapes and sizes. Katana couldn't find a common theme concerning fashion. Some people wore outlandish colors and shapes, others wore plain robes. Some people had pristinely clean clothes and some looked as sloppy as she did. It was difficult to tell the difference between men and women in some instances, and Katana was surprised to see so many bare-chested women. There were too many hairstyles to make sense of, but many of them had something to do with ribbons and some type of braids or twists.

Katana probably wouldn't have looked so out of place had her expression not been one of pure bewilderment. She had told herself not to stare at things and to act normal, but it was impossible. Being cool was never her greatest talent anyway. She walked on like this for some time before finally sitting on a bench outside of a multi-storied building in the shape of a bowtie.

Few people seemed to notice her and she wouldn't have noticed if they had. She simply sat and absorbed all of the bits of information that manifested in front of her. Who knew how long she would have sat there if someone hadn't said something to her.

She suddenly realized that there was a person in front of her who had stopped and was staring at her and asking her a question. "Huh?" She muttered hearing his strange speech. She wasn't even sure he was talking to her. He repeated the question again. "I...I can only speak Skureki." Katana answered in a rehearsed tone. She had said the line so many times to so many people.

The man's pudgy face broke into a smile and he re-phrased his question. "Are you alright?" His voice was just a little more high-pitched than one would expect for a man his size. "Uh...um, yeah. I mean yes. I...well, it's a really long story, but I just got here and I was just resting." She tried to explain. It was difficult to focus on him when there were so many strange things screaming for her attention.

"You do seem lost. Where are you staying?" The man continued. His hair was bleach blonde and stood up on end and there were shapes painted onto his cheeks, chin and forehead. He was sort of rumpled looking, but every article of his clothing matched perfectly.

"I'm not. I was lost but then I found here." She said pointing to the bench. She wished desperately for better language skills and a decent pair of clothes. The man chuckled. "My name is Jundid. No offense or anything, but you look like you could use some help?" He offered. Katana smiled. This guy could be a rapist for all she knew, but she had to take the offer and hope for the best. He didn't look any creepier than anyone else on the street.