The more she hears of that other language, the more it reminds her of what they speak at the Academy, except it's not quite close enough for her to be confident in any translations. Probably that is not the thing to focus on right now. If she spends much time with these people she'll learn their language regardless of where it comes from.

"Is it safe to go back in the car?" she wonders. "Though..." she looks at the tracks it's left through the flowerbed, and winces. "The car might not be the best way to travel here. There are roads more meant for cars, but they're pretty rare and I'm not sure how to find one from here."

The archer (who, now that Chantal is conversing with them face to face, is only humanoid, not human, with a distinctly, unnaturally red skin-tone and some odd sort knobby bumps around the crown of their head, under their hair), nods. "Hai, it's safe. What is the common mode of transport here?"

"Well, I usually get places by walking, but I think I saw a train station once, and lots of people seem to have bicycles." She starts tentatively picking her way through the flowers back toward the car, still paying an undue amount of attention to the theoretically safe ground.

"Aaah," the archer says, nodding with a mixture of understanding and consternation. "Fukitsu. It will be hard transport cargo," they turn towards the others, who are still quiet discussing the dino carcass. "Bikes and-to trains! S'kunai roads! Not good driving!"

This prompts the discussion to end with some frustration on the others' parts. Then the driver comes over, taking his helmet back off and causing his prismastic fire to illuminate the park again. "I never thought I'd regret seeing such a walkable city, but this does seem rather inconvenient. I'm Fib by the way. Do you have any idea how the locals are going to react to a dinosaur carcass lying here?"

She casts a glance at the carcass in question and considers it for a moment before answering.

"...poorly, I imagine. I haven't—um—you're a Conduit too, right?"

He nods, a bit solemnly. "Yup. I assume you are as well? I feel...good and bad about that."

...that is confusing and she's not sure what it portends but it is too late to stop and reassess so she is just going to Finish Her Sentence. "I have—I don't know if you know about the thing where it's... hard to be in worlds that you don't have enough powers from, it feels empty and wrong and no one likes you? I have that. And I'm working on this world but I still don't have enough powers in it. So I haven't actually spoken to anyone who lives here. They flinch and run away when they see me and it's very disheartening. Anyway, for that reason I cannot be very confident in my guesses about how they might react to things. But I think the dead dinosaur and trail of destruction are likely to cause a stir and it would probably be best to be farther away from them before sunrise."

"Oh, so that's not just a thing about me, or about my whole, uh," he gestures vaguely after the scene and in the direction they came from. "That's...good? Or bad." His fires dim a little, and cracks his neck. "Well, this was just the first expedition here, next time we'll know to try and bring...I don't know, a helicopter or something? Or just a few bikes, I guess. Uh...oh!" He leans over into the car and retrieves a silver hand-mirror from inside, before offering it to Chantal. "This place seems inconvenient for both of us to meet, but having another Conduit to talk with might be nice. Plus I've got a sort of interdimensional forum set-up that me, the revs, and some other non-conduit friends use, if you've got a computer."

"...I don't have a computer," she says, accepting the mirror and tucking it into her pocket with a clink. "I—um—I don't know how people normally find out they're Conduits, but I found out by dying. I haven't been back to Earth because it seemed like it would be awkward, especially since I don't have enough powers there either. So all I have is what I've been able to find or make." Her clothes do have a certain homemade look; the moonlight doesn't fully bring out the wine-red colour, but she's wearing a skirt and bodice and slippers all made of what seems to be a very soft and flexible leather with a slightly odd texture.

He nods. "I just had these awful dreams, and eventually they started being real!" He laughs, utterly mirthless. "And, fair enough. If you've got a bad situation, have you tried visiting a different Earth? I'd be happy to bring you stuff, especially if you've got something to trade. Just let me know with the mirror and I'll figure stuff out."

The archer reaches a hand out, stopping briefly where Fib can see it, before gently squeezing his shoulder, causing his colors to shift around and flare briefly before dimming significantly, then brighten back up slightly. "Sorry. Anyway, anything you'd like to ask me, Lucky," he gestures to the nearer archer, then to the other archer and the rifleman "Clarity, or Sniper? Before we head off." 

She could say 'this is the longest conversation I have had in three years and I would actually prefer if you did not head off quite yet', but she can't think of a way to say that. Not saying it is so much easier.

"...where are you going?" she asks instead. She has several other questions, like 'there are multiple Earths?' and 'is jam a viable trade good?', but that's the one that comes out first.

"Uh, hm..." Fib dithers.

"Base?" Lucky offers.

"Oh, yeah! We need to drop the car back off at our base in the Rim so that the mechanics can look at it. And so we can figure out what we're doing for the second expedition here."

"If cargo is a concern you could bring cargo bikes. I see them a lot around here," she suggests tentatively. "I guess I don't know where you're getting your vehicles. Maybe cargo bikes are harder to get. If you... wait several more years... I'll have enough investment here to speak to people and maybe I can find out where they get their cargo bikes and give you some. Also, um... Do you usually bring dinosaurs when you visit a world? If so, ...why do you do it?"

"Cargo bikes make sense. And, I just have to. I don't really know why. If I stay too long in any one place it gets hard to..." He visibly dims, before shaking himself brightening again. "There's a thing, uh. It's not here yet, and it needs to come out of me, so I can't give up until it's done. Plus the revs need me help, and I'm responsible for them now."

"...I... see. Um." She pulls a jar out of her pocket. "You seem like you are having a very hard time. Would you like some strawberry jam?"

He's baffled by the offer, briefly, before smiling. "Thank you. I guess some strawberry jam would be nice." He turns to Lucky and nods towards the car, then turns to Clarity and Sniper and waves them over as well. Then they all pile into the car, dig a box of crackers and a case of water bottles out of the back. They also start talking amongst themselves again, discussing the logistics of acquiring cargo bikes.

Here is a jar of very nice homemade strawberry jam. It is not really a solution to any of these people's problems but it's what she had in her pocket.

"I also grow other fruits but strawberry is what I have with me right now."

Fresh strayberry jam on stale crackers with some old bottled water is a nice snack! The jam is certainly the centerpiece, and all four of them seem to enjoy it. Chantal's welcome to crackers and water too if she wants.

"Oh, nice. 'S'at in your Bevin or do you have something going on elsewhere?" Fib asks.

Oh. She has made people happy. How unexpected. She will take one cracker.

"Yes, it's in my Bevin. I have a garden there."

"Nice. The revs have the run of mine, mostly. Beds, showers, kitchen, sort of a way station. And it's where I keep the server for my forum and stuff. And windows."

"Who... are the revs?"

He brightens a bit as he make a surprised and embarrassed expression. "Right, that's, uh. They're locals from another world, Yomi, who are normally kind of ghosts, but I can revive them for a bit, with my, uh...breath-stuff. And if I bring them back to my Bevin while they're alive again and have them bond with the color-furnace, they stay alive permanently. Revs is short for revived, since there wasn't really a word for what they are now."

...thoughtful nod.

"I've heard of Yomi a little bit but I don't know very much about it. The worlds I've connected to besides Earth and my Bevin are this one, Arbor, and Brazen—well, and the Prison but I'm not sure if I'll ever go there, it sounds scary."

Fib nods. "The Prison isn't so bad, really, as long as you keep quiet around the trees. Pretty lonely. Not familiar with the Arbor, though. What's it like?"

"...I like it there. Um, but it wants you to be a tree. In a friendly way! It wants very much for people to be trees so they can be okay and not have to worry about anything because they're trees. I decided not to be a tree, personally." She tugs on the hem of her dress. "This stuff comes from there, it's very good for making clothes and bags and things. And there's also magic dirt that's really useful in my garden."