She strolls up to the lanky one, since they've actually paused enough to keep gawking, Maya's hand in hers and Hailey perched on her shoulder.

"Hello there," she says, smiling. "We're new in town — new to rather more than that, even — and I was wondering if you had a moment to share a few basic facts about this city, country, or more?"

Lanky stretches out, blinking their eyes and shimmying in place a little, a soft brown windbreaker tight against their shoulders. 

"Hello?" 

Their brow furrows a little. 

"I'm hardly the person to ask, but I can try to field your questions, sure."

"Thank you! So, first and easiest questions: what are this city and country called, and if you're familiar with interplanar or interdimensional travel as well, this world or plane?"

They blink again, a bit disoriented at the question, before locking their soft brown eyes with yours. 

"We call it 'The Gilded City', for most purposes. I'm not too sure what you mean by 'country', but we're in Alaria. I've never bothered looking into exotraveler tongue, so I don't know. The planet is called 'Respite', if that helps." 

She nods, grinning at them. "That helps quite a bit, thanks. The city's certainly pretty enough to earn a name like that, too. I'm Sable, and these are Maya and Hailey," she says, gesturing indicatively. "What are the major things going on lately? What sorts of interesting events or trouble have been happening? And all of that aside, could you tell us a bit about yourself?"

They give a quick acknowledging glance at each of them in turn. 

"There's the summer solstice festival in a few days - there's been a good few concerts and a lot of street food places popping up for the event." 

They're grinning a little, before they catch themselves and rub their hair back against their scalp. 

"The laser-bird migration just passed - it was a pretty light show but a bit scary..." 

They pause, searching. 

"Ms. Electra's popped up again for her customary 'shows'. That went well enough, but glad I got well clear of it." 

"As for me..."

They reach out their hand for a handshake. 

"Iza, student, architecture. Charmed to meet you."

"Well! That all sounds fascinating, and in some cases a bit threatening. Charmed as well, Iza!" She shakes their hand with a smile.

"Laser-birds definitely sound very pretty, but worrisome. How big are they?"

They smile a bit bashfully, and squeeze your hand firmly as they shake it. 

"Quite. I've heard some stories of ones as big as houses, but most of them land somewhere from pigeon to dog sized." 

"Goodness. And they emit lasers?" She shakes her head. "Does anyone get hurt when they pass by, typically?;

"The name says it all."

They nod their head down at a slightly suspicious angle, and shake it a little. 

"Mostly you just need to stay within the walls and in a proper ward-house and you'll be fine, though sometimes people do get caught out and wind up injured if they don't get swept up under the protection of the Enhancile guardians."

"Enhancile guardians?", she asks, tilting her head curiously.

"They're irregulars with unusual abilities who protect people. Magicians, technologists, Enish'terais'*, the works." 

* Lit. "World Womb Women", with an less literally meaning closer to 'mutant', 'super', or similar. 

Basically superheroes? Mages, tinkers, mutants or parahumans?

<Superheroes!>, Ruby cheers in mindspace.

"Well, they certainly sound like fun for meddlers like us to meet," she replies with a grin. "Always wanted to learn magic, get into trouble, save some people. Are there particular groups a newcomer with sparkly powers should go talk to?"

"A few, I expect. Probably the best way to do it is to search it up - let me..." 

They pull their phone back up and type quickly.  

"The Terai centre, probably? Down the Dragon line 'til you get to Brook's street, then down to Haven's stop."

She makes a mental note of the directions and nods.

"Thank you! Now what were you saying about a summer solstice festival? That sounds lovely."

"It's always good fun, yeah. There's a few different ones - there's the proper religious one, the casual semi-religious one, and then all of the convention cosplay and eating ones. As you might guess, I'm on the latter side."

She nods. "Yeah, we never really got into religion. No gods that verifiably existed in the world we came from. What sorts of things do people do at the cosplay and food focused ones? I presume there are lots of good food carts and the like? Exotic cuisines? What do people tend to dress up as?"

"Huh. Weird."

They let out a bemused little snort. 

"Usually it's about dresses and colors and doing all the little prepwork that it's not normally worth going through, you know? Food carts, buffets, slow dining, wines and cheeses, the works. Think the original point of the festival was showing your best face to their goddess - showing off your best on the date that you're closest to her, or something like that. Cosplaying heroes and fictional characters is part of it too, though - showing off the best of the art and things we've created, too." 

Was that surprise at the Earth she came from not having gods? Interesting.

"Oh, that sounds lovely. We'll have to make time for it. Can you think of anything else that's particularly important for newcomers to the Gilded City to know?"

"You should grab a transit map and pass as soon as you can, if you haven't already. Make a serious plan if you want to go past the outer walls - that's always a headache and a half to make sure is safe. Mostly though, you should be alright as long as you look things up as they come up and are willing to listen if there's something odd coming up." 

"That all sounds quite sensible," she replies with a nod and a grateful smile. "Where can I find those? And do they cost money? We may need to visit the Terai center first, if they do, because we definitely have no local currency yet."

That brings forth a bit of a furrowed brow. 

"The maps should be free at the station, and there'll be an ATM at Haven's station if you look around a little, and you won't need cash for intracity transit anyways. Even if it doesn't take your card, you should be able to find a bank on the network with a bit of a look, I'd have to think."