To Change Time

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Her words held a kind of wisdom to them and Ronin found that it pleased him. She'd been the right choice, though, he'd hardly realized he was choosing at all. Still, she was and he was glad of it as he turned back to the console of the ship and started tapping in coordinates and times. His time she'd said. His time.

Did he really want to go back to his time?

No.

But he'd told her to choose and she had, so their destination was set. It was better than explaining why he didn't want to go where she was asking to travel. No, better to just keep quiet and make the time worth it for this strangely brave blond. So deciding, he turned back to her with a smile as the ship began to shake again, the 'wind' pick up.

"Your wish is my command."

And then they seemed to be spinning, falling and then landing with nary a bump, and Ronin was laughing because the ship never did the same thing twice and he'd found the dropping sensation exhilarating. He reigned in the mirth after a moment, though, standing from where he'd stumbled and moving toward not the main door but another one entirely, beckoning Anya.

"You can't go out in this clothes. Come on, the ship will make you some appropriate ones."
 
Once again he pushed buttons and did whatever necessary to make the strange vehicle move. This time though it felt slightly different than the last time they had landed, and Anya was not prepared for the change. "Whoa." She stumbled backwards and were luckily able to be caught by the wall before falling down completely, then having to lean against it until the time machine came to a halt.

Thinking they would go out through the same door they came from, she had already started to motion to it when Ronin walked towards another door. So of course she stopped in her tracks and looked curiously at him. Was there a backdoor out the time machine? To what purpose? But that was of course not the case.

Instead there seemed to be some kind of wardrobe built into it. Even though it had been a small carriage on the outside, the inside was strangely enough so much bigger. How could that be? "There might be more appropriate questions to ask right now, but I just have to know. Is it normal in your time for a lonely man to keep women's clothing in his wardrobe?" She asked quite entertained by the thought. After all, women and men's clothing was divided completely in her time, and as far as she knew it had been through all of time. So if he would give her clothing he would have had to obtain women's clothing at some point, if he didn't expect her to wear his clothes which obviously wouldn't fit considering their height differences.
 
Laughter rang out through the hall of the ship and Ronin grinned, still chuckling even as he answered. "Actually, yes and no. Depends on your sexual orientation and how you prefer to dress, but no, in the context you are thinking of, it's not normal. Buuut, I don't actually have women's clothes in my closet." he shot back, giving her a glance as he opened another door and led her into a room that was completely empty. White walls with glowing blue lines and what he knew to be scanners were all over though and Ronin directed Anya to stand in the middle of the room.

"Just hold still. It won't hurt."

As soon as he stepped back, a blue light came from the scanners, sweeping over the woman and then just as quickly there was a string of data scrolling across the walls before a hissing sound announced a plateform sliding out of the wall on the left. On said tray were neatly folded clothes; a long swooshy skirt, tank-top, a jean jacket and sandals, everything in Anya's size. Perfectly so.

Ronin shrugged, a signature mark for him. "I'll leave you to change then." And with that, he exited the room and waited for his new companion to get ready, heading down the hall to get his own clothes. It did't take long to change into a pair of jeans and a form-fitting red shirt. It felt nice to be back in familiar clothes and he sat down in the main room, swiveling in the floating chair as he waited.
 
They stepped into a closet without clothes. Peculiar, she thought. Did he not say that they were getting clothes? She let Ronin lead her to the middle of the room, and even though she did not understand why he asked her to stand still, she still obeyed his words. At least this time. The blue light almost made her back away, but she were somehow able to keep still. What a strange light. it seemed like the suns first ray as it entered through the window in the morning, but it was now colored blue.

Strange things appeared on the walls, things she could not describe though it seemed like more numbers when she looked carefully at it. Why all the numbers? What was their purpose? Before she were able to figure anything out, something new grabbed her attention. Clothes came out from the wall, odd clothes she had never seen before. Was that the style this time period had? Even when folded the difference in clothing was clearly visible.

Ronin left Anya to change by herself, which was appreciated as she would have to throw him out if he hadn't left on his own. It took her some time to get to the changing part as she was a bit busy with being fascinated by the clothes. Not because they looked beautiful or anything like that, but because they were so different. She was certain they would be more comfortable to wear during hot summer days than her long dresses, but they did not seem very appropriate during winter. Actually they showed far too much skin to be appropriate at any time where she came from.

But after some time, she finally did finish changing and walked out of the room. Looking at Rorin in his own strange clothes, which wasn't too different from the men's clothes in her own time period, she spoke. "I have to say that your people have an incredibly weird taste in clothing." She commented, but not with any implications that she disliked it. She definitely leaned towards like, mostly because it was easier to move in. But they still looked incredibly odd to her. "So, how do I look?"
 
"Beautiful."

A simple enough truth and Ronin smiled before standing, looking her over objectively then and he nodded. "You look like someone from my time period, though, to be honest, more girls where what I am wearing than skirts or dresses, but I figured you'd find those more familiar at this point." he offered, walking toward the door. Before opening it, however, his pale green eyes found her own of a darker shade.

"I have two rules for the first few travels and if you break them, this will be the last and only trip I take you on. They are simple; Don't wander off and don't try to change anything. This time period is unfamiliar to you and going off on your own would not be wise, and this might be your future, but it's other's history. We don't interfere."

Only after gaining a form of assent did Ronin open the door of the ship - that now appeared as a truck rather than a carriage - and lead Anya outside into the bright sun.....and the busy, crowded, overwhelming streets of New York where the technology verged somewhere between modern for the twenty-first century and yet a bit more advanced than that. To Anya...it had to look like an alien home planet.

"Welcome to America at the beginning of the twenty-second century."
 
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women wearing men's clothing? That would have been scandalous in her own time. Her mother would most likely faint if she saw her youngest daughter coming home in trousers instead of a dress. A woman should not try to be a man, just like a man should not try to be a woman, she would most likely say. The two genders would always be different and would never do the same kind of work. Those who tried to defy those unwritten rules went against God. Anya didn't particularly believe that God cared much about how humans dressed, God probably had other more important things to worry about.

Don't wander off, and don't change anything. Well, as long as he kept her tempo then she wouldn't mind the first one, and for the second one she was not sure how that would be possible to promise. "I will try my best, but your second rule is hard to obey as I've probably changed the future just by being here." She told him with a teasing smile.

As he opened the door, the sun blinded her for a few moments. It was no longer early morning, and the cold had left the air. Tall buildings appeared in front of her, taller than anything she had ever seen before, and the carriage had changed appearance completely into a big metal container with wheels. What an odd thing. Men and women walked around them, indeed many women wore men's clothing.

"I never thought there would come a day when I would see women wearing trousers. What comes next? Men in gowns?" It was indeed fascinating to see how different everything were. She could barely take everything in. A small metal carriage passed them without the support of horses. "How does that thing move?" She asked as she watched the thing disappear when it rounded a corner. "There is nothing to pull it forward." Anya commented, as if it wasn't obvious enough already.

That was not the only remarkable thing she saw. People were holding boxes against their ears and talking to themselves. Had this generation gone mad? One guy had some rope going from his pocket to his ears, and his head rocked back and forward as he walked while his lips moved without him saying anything. How strange. Was this truly the future? It seemed as if she'd come to the end of the world where everyone was going crazy. And still, it was only 300 years into the future.
 
Oh, she was right, they'd already changed things, but not too badly. He meant directly affecting the future; saving a life, averting a disaster already recorded, killing someone....all things that could lead to greater changes that would be nearly impossible to right. As long as they didn't go and try to play hero, the future should continue on as normal, Ronin knew.

Still, he said nothing of it, her words being enough to satisfy him for the moment and then he simply took in her reaction to his world, his time. He had to chuckle, resisting a snort at her first words, tempted to tell Anya that, yes, there were men who wore gowns, but then thought better of it. One shock at a time and this surrounding was overwhelming enough. Still, it was always interesting to see a new time through someone else's eyes and the dark-haired male watched his new companion closely, smiling a bit when her focus went to a car and then phones, an MP3 player next and headphones.

"It's called an engine. It's a machine that pumps something called gas through the car, that is what the metal carriage is, and it makes it go." He briefly pointed to a phone as someone walked by. "Those are called telephones or cell phones. They allow you to talk to someone over a great distance, even on the other side of the world. The telephone was invented in 1872, not far from your time." She might even live to see it come about naturally.

"And that is a music device. There are a lot of different names for it, but that one is called an MP3 player. Those wires are connected to a small box that plays music. Only the person who has the earphones - what those wires are attached to - in their ears can hear it."

Ronin looked back to Anya, a brow rising, pale eyes questioning. "You all right?"
 
Ronin started to tell her about cars and engines, pumps and gas. Anya of course couldn't understand much of it when it was such a simplified answer. But she didn't mention it as he started to point out the other things she had noticed. The boxes people were talking into apparently were telephones, which was used for communication through great distances. If she hadn't been traveling through time just moments ago then she would probably have said that such a thing wasn't possible. But after jumping 300 years into the future, communicating with people across the world seemed quite reasonable. She wondered if she would live long enough to see one, it would be invented in only 32 years. At least 32 years from the day she came back to her own time again.

While the horseless carriages was fascinating, their music devices was even greater. Did they walk around with a concert hall inside a box? Or was it like a phone, some people played music somewhere and they could hear it all the way there. She guessed that was the case as it was ridiculous to think that they would be able to shrink people into ants and make them play music inside a small box. Though who knew what this crazy world could do.

Anya raised her eyebrows, surprised at his question. "That's an odd question. It's not like a culture shock will give me a heart attack." She told him. Sure enough, she was completely fine, but also completely confused.

"Why do they carry around music in boxes? Isn't it more interesting to see the performers on the stage or streets doing what they love while giving their message to the world? It just seems so.... Lonely somehow." Not only did it seem like the artists would be incredibly lonely when no one came to see them, and only listened to them through a box, but didn't the people loose some of the feeling the music tried to convey?
 
Ronin snorted, grinning outright at her first comment. Oh, she'd be surprised just how badly someone could take time travel. Karen had thrown up for hours their first time...

But he didn't want to think about her, and the male shook the thought away, focusing once more on the one at hand. He started to walk then, beckoning Anya to follow. It was boring standing in one place, at least for him and there was so much more for her to see! "We carry around music in boxes because...well, it's easier, I think. Oh, sure, there are still plays you can go see and these things called concerts where the people you can hear in the boxes sing their songs on a stage, but those things cost a lot of money to go see and not everyone could see them at once. The ipod, MP3 player, radio and other such devices give everyone the chance to hear whatever music they want to instantly and at the same time."

He tilted his head, considering her view on the matter and finally nodded. "Lonely...yes and no. Music has just as much power to move people when they don't see who's singing as when they do. If you walk by an opera house, you can appreciate the music you hear inside even if you can't see the woman seeing it, yes?" Ronin smiled. "And not everyone listens to the music with headphones on. Sometimes there are whole groups listening to one song, dancing and having a good time together."

The male shrugged. "It's different from what you are used to in some ways, but in others, perfectly the same if you get down to the basics of it."

Ronin paused in that moment at the edge of the sidewalk and extended an arm to keep Anya from moving, too, pointing to a crosswalk signal. "When that shows the image of a walking person, we can cross. When it's a red hand like that, it means don't go in the street. These cars move a lot faster than carriages and if one hits you, it's most-likely you'll die."
 
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"Radio....." She mumbled, not having any understanding of the word nor it's use. But it seemed like that and the ipod thing was used for the same thing as an mp3. So why weren't they all just named mp3's then? Having different words for three things with the same function seemed ridiculous. But she guessed there must be some kind of difference.

Even after Ronin's explanation, Anya still didn't like how music was mainly heard through boxes. It just didn't seem like a natural way of listening to music. She had heard street performers from a distance before, and the joy from their performance shone through ten times more when actually seeing them dance and laugh while performing. It simply seemed like a waste to her.

Suddenly her companion stopped her, and pointed at a weird pole with some sort of sign on it. When he explained the purpose of it, it seemed even stranger. When carriages traveled then they were either nice and stopped when someone wanted to cross the street, or they kept going and the one wanting to cross had to wait for the carriage to pass them. Why the need for those signs? But if she would ask about every little detail she thought odd, they would probably not get anywhere for the next ten years.

"There has been carriage accidents resulting in death too." She replied, as it sounded like he believed that carriages were completely safe. Horses could get out of control for many different reasons, and people got hurt because of that, and at times they even died.

"So your females dress as males, your buildings are taller than the tallest of trees, you carry your music in boxes somehow, you drive horseless metal carriages, and you can talk to people from across the planet." Anya said, trying to remember everything she had seen during the last two minutes of her stay in that strange time period. "I bet there's nothing else in this time period that can surprise me." She then continued, hoping she would be wrong though in great doubt. How could anything be more amazing than what she had already seen? "If you don't tell me that.. I don't know.. Humans have learned to fly or something, then I doubt there's anything that can get to me by this point."
 
"I know, but the deaths that result in car accidents outnumber carriage accidents in the millions." he explained, a bit distracted as he looked around, recognizing a street and the memories that came with it. Such was hard about visiting your own present time after traveling for so long - everything looked the same, felt the same, but you were different. The memories seemed distant, the people stuck and yet...they were your roots. One had to come back to them at some point and when one traveled in time...well, roots were good.

Maybe.

Ronin was shaken out of his thoughts - gratefully - by Anya's talking and her summary made him nod, but her last statement made him grin and then outright laugh, pale green eyes sparkling with their own brand of mischief. "Oh, but we can. In things called planes and helicopters. We've even been to the moon, but that's a different kind of flying and it's in a space ship." He knew she might think he was teasing and so raised a brow, still smiling.

"Would you like me to show you?"
 
Outnumbers them in the millions? How did humanity even survive with such death traps? There shouldn't be enough people on earth for humanity to keep on living if millions died because of something like carriage accidents, or cars. If they hadn't solved some other million killing problem like sickness to compensate of course. What Anya did not know was that the worlds population had grown at an incredible speed during the 20th century and that it now lived at least 6 billion more people on the planet than it did in her own time.

Instead of bringing up how weird it sounded that they would dare to drive in such dangerous things, she decided to let it go. After all, nothing would change just because she told him that it was crazy. And the other topic they got into was a bit more fascinating.

Anya looked into his green eyes, shock colored her face. She could believe him when he said that they had learned the secret behind flying, but his last statement was so ridiculous it had to be a joke. "It is not nice to lie, gentleman or not." She corrected him. "There's no way you've gotten to the moon. It's unreachable." She did not know much about astronomy, but she knew that the distance from the earth to the moon was pretty far, on top of that, both the moon and the earth was constantly moving. She did doubt they could fly higher than the birds with their planes, whatever that was, and even if they could, how could they be precise enough to land on something that moved?
 
Something in Ronin's eyes flashed, a hardness that had not been present before, and then it was gone just as quickly and his tone was almost casual, but there was a hint of what could turn into a biting quality to it when he answered. "You will learn very quickly that I don't lie, Anya and I have no respect for people that do."

There was clearly some kind of history there, but he passed it over quickly, smoothly relaxing again back into the subject at hand and once more he started walking, shooting her an amused, knowing glance. Ronin was very good at being mysterious. It was rather easy when you knew so much more than everyone around you most of the time.

"Oh, we haven't only reached the moon, impossible as it seems to you, but we've also reached Mars." Ronin grimaced then, nose wrinkling in a rather comical expression as he tilted his head just a little and shrugged a bit helplessly. "Though the first trip didn't...well, go according to plan. An accident happened, and, uh...everyone died. Took us about forty more years to set up a new expedition, but that one worked."

The dark-haired male gave the blond a look then, half-puzzled and half-amused. "You know, you just came from the past, into the future, in a time-ship. You might think that hearing mankind has gone to the moon and Mars wouldn't be so hard to comprehend when you put it in perspective of what you've just recently done yourself."
 
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There was something in Ronin's eyes, only for a moment, that concerned Anya. Something harder than he had showed before. Something she could not understand. This time traveler must have many secrets, a past that weighted on his conscious, but whatever it was she thought she saw it was gone far too fast for her to know for sure. Maybe she looked too much into it. And even if she didn't, who was she to ask of his past? It should not be of her concern before he decides that she's worthy of her trust.

But at least there was a comfort in his words, and she did indeed believe him when he told her that he did not lie. That was something she would remember. Once again they started to walk, and his mood was back to normal. She looked at him astonished as he told her about their Mars trip. While she did not know much of astronomy she did know that Mars was one of the planets closer to the sun. She had no idea of the order of the planets though, so she didn't know if it was one of the planets furthest away from earth or the closest one. Either way, it must be a long trip.

"Maybe so, but we are traveling in time on earth, we haven't jumped off the planet. So traveling to a different planet does seem like a fantasy to my ears." She tried to explain to him. Both were remarkable accomplishes, but they were very different from each other. Just because you could do one didn't mean you could do the other.

"It sounds to me as if you're just killing each other all the time. Carriage... I mean car accidents kill millions, your mars traveling killed people. Do you do anything that doesn't kill someone?" It was a rhetorical question, she probably didn't want to know the answer and she hoped they valued human life a bit higher than that. Her own time period wasn't much better though, she had heard stories of children, women and men working to death in factories in certain parts of the country, and even in other parts of the world. Usually it was the poorest of the poor that did that kind of work, and poverty didn't seem to be a problem in this world. At least it didn't seem like that with all the weird things everyone seemed to own. Though they might just be in a good area, all countries had some rich man areas where poor people usually were chased away.

"Anything else you wish to tell me? I think it's best to get everything that might shock me to death out of the way immediately."
 
She was insightful, this one. It was refreshing even as it was a challenge and Ronin took a moment to truly think of an answer. Tilting his head back and forth as they walked, debating possible replies, discarding some, analyzing others and possible responses, reactions. And then discarding those too until the list got smaller and smaller. It only took all of a minute.

"We actually do a lot that doesn't kill anyone, but I'm afraid mankind, at this point in our existence, has found more ways to kill and hurt each other than we have found ways to accomplish peace. It's unfortunate, but the truth." Ronin shrugged a bit, glancing at his companion. "There are nearly eight billion people in the world, but we can't seem to combine that intelligence to figure out how to get along. It's shameful, really."

He sighed and ran a hand back through his unruly hair, taking a left and entering Central Park, a place a bit quieter than the streets and far more beautiful. He stuck his hands in his pockets, seeming to know exactly where he was going without having to look around overmuch. "Now, what to tell you? Hmm...there are many things and yet nothing at all. What I might think you'll find shocking, you might not at all. And what I take for granted as normal, you might find the most interesting or horrifying thing of all. It all depends on the person in question, doesn't it?"

He gave her a grin, both mischievous in a way and yet serious as well.
 
Anya waited patiently as he seemed to think of a proper answer. Though considering whom it was she was talking too, proper might not have been the right word to use for it. As if he did anything properly like one should. Eventually an answer came, and her mouth hung open because of it for a pretty long time.

"Eight b..bill..." What a number. No one had even thought of counting all the people in the world in her time period, but she could imagine there were far from such a high number. Eight billion people, how was that even possible? That was definitely the information that had gotten her closest to a heart attack so far. That number was one she could not comprehend, it seemed so unreal.

"It might be so." She answered him, still a bit shocked from his previous statement, but started to recover. "But I cannot know what will shock me before I hear about it." She told him. "You just have to take a wild guess on what might shock me the most. Sadly enough I think you've past that point just a minute ago, so try to find the second most shocking thing."

"Or, just show me what you take for granted. Because surely I won't know of it and you might be surprised by my reaction." She added after a seconds pause. "I would love to see a flying machine though. A ... helicopter was it?" She did recall him asking if she wanted him to show her one, though it sounded strange if those flying devices were that easily accessible.
 
Of all the things to make her stutter, Ronin had not anticipated the number of people on earth to be one of them, but when he took a moment to step back from what he knew and his perception of the world - and he'd grown up knowing all these things - he could see how that information might be startling. He'd certainly seen some things in his travels that had thrown him, simple as they were! He wasn't going to judge Anya her surprise over this.

He could, however, be inwardly amused by it, though.

"Second most shocking thing? Hmm...." The dark-haired male grinned and shrugged a bit. "Let me think about it. I'll get back to you." He chuckled then and nodded a bit to her request before frowning just a bit in thought. "Actually, I can't get you to a helicopter so easily, but I can show you a plane well enough. Will that satisfy?"

An airport he could take her to. Helicopter...well, they tended to be for far more important things, harder to get around, though, it wouldn't be impossible for him. Just inconvenient.
 
Another device with different names even though they seemed to be doing the exact same thing. How big could the differences be if both were meant for flying? Either way she didn't raise that question as she guessed there would be far too many oddities like that, and it felt easier to simply accept them as cultural differences in different time periods.

"Hard to tell since I don't know the difference. But I suppose it'll be just as sufficient. " She replied. "Lucky for you, I am from a low class family, so my standards shouldn't be too high for you." Maybe that was a bit of a lie. She could guess that if he ever got some high class lady with him on a trip she would adore anything and everything he showed without questioning it, while Anya would look at them much more skeptically though still amazed by the progress. But when it came to everyday things that had nothing to do with time traveling, her standards were incredibly low. Which didn't help Ronin very much at the moment.

"So how come your people are driving something so dangerous as cars when they can just fly to their destinations?" Anya then asked him. It would make sense if flying was more dangerous and created more accidents, but in that case, why have them? Maybe their people had a fetish for death.
 
They started to walk again, destination in mind now - though, they'd need to take a cab once they got out of the park - and Ronin answered his companion's question promptly. "Because to fly in planes, we need great big machines that can fit hundreds of people at a time. Most people fly long distances, like across the states, hundreds and hundreds of miles or even to the other side of the world. We can't fly from one end of a city to the other. It would be a waste of fuel and far too expensive. BUT, to get from one point in the city to another could take hours if we walked or even used a carriage or rode a horse. So we use cars. They can move almost three times faster than the fastest horse and many people can afford them and the fuel they use."

Ronin glanced over at her. "It's a matter of convenience. You'll find that the further you get in the centuries, the more you'll see that mankind invents things that can be dangerous just for the sake of making life easier. It's not always right and sometimes it's downright stupid, but it's the way things are."

The male frowned a bit as they stepped back out on to the busy sidewalk. "Now, a helicopter only fits about five or six people for some modules and up to forty people on others, but they are usually used for the army, hospitals and air tours of a city. They aren't as numerous as planes and cost more to fly in because they are not as common."

Ronin had hailed a taxi by this point and he slipped in, looking up to the blond and scooting over for her to join him, pale green eyes both challenging and reassuring at the same time, a feat few could accomplish, but Ronin had down perfectly. "Well, come on."
 
Those planes had certainly not been anything like what she had imagine. She had believed their flying devices had been smaller, like a car, and only had as much room as a normal carriage. That seemed to be a better way of flying to her, but if they couldn't make something that simple and only make them ridiculously big, then it couldn't be helped.

Anya was reluctant towards going into the strange car with the words TAXI on it. What if they would be part of the millions that died because of those things. But she weren't going to pass on it when he had such challenging and reassuring eyes. It was mostly the challenge that got to her. As if she would seem scared for something he was completely fearless for.

"That indeed sounds stupid. Safety should go before convenience. And what's wrong with taking it slowly?" She asked as she sat inside the car and closed the door. "If you take it slowly, then you can enjoy the nature more while traveling, whether it's by foot or carriage." She gave as an example. Personally she didn't travel much as her family didn't have the means to do so. The furthest she had gotten away from town was a three hours stroll for a picnic. "And walking some hours is healthy, it strengthen the body. Rushing through life will only give you headaches."

Once she was done trying to lecture his weird culture, she once again became amazed. The cars sounded quite a lot, but at least the sound was a bit toned down when sitting on the inside. The seat was quite comfortable and she could see some weird buttons and some kind of wheel in the front. She had seen something like it in a book once, though that had been a steering wheel on a boat and had been made of wood. This wheel seemed to be made in a material she did not recognize.
 
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