Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( Not like it needs to be a PRP because it's a little impossible for most people to get at them, as they're in Canada...but all the same, I decided to do it just to be extra safe from certain vizards with a penchant for killing people *coughhackFEIYsneeze* ))

Ryan stepped out of the senkai gate...and onto an underground platform. He'd heard of the subways in New York and the London Underground, but this platform didn't look like either. At least, he hoped he wasn't in New York or London...

Luckily for him, not too many people were on the platform at the moment. The sign on the opposite wall read "Westbound - Vancouver", which gave him a bit of a start - Ryan had never heard of any sort of train or subway in Vancouver.

To speak of the devil, one came into the station at the exact moment - and no one appeared to be controlling it. Automatic trains...amazing, was all Ryan could think. Noting the signs pointing to the exit, Ryan decided to wait a bit for Envy, as he already didn't know where to go right now - he didn't want to leave Envy alone in a strange place either.

Ryan nodded toward the exit - the train's doors had opened, and many people were heading that way. "Out. Like the sign says." Ryan was trying to take charge, even though he'd never been to Vancouver...not like he hadn't wanted to see the Pacific coast at least once.

Hoping that Envy was following, Ryan headed down the corridor. He followed the twists and turns until he reached a staircase...a moving staircase. Not really caring that it was moving - though his first step was slightly tentative - he walked up the staircase as if it was a normal one. He walked forward, past the entrance to a Hudson Bay Company store, and outside.

After the warmth of Soul Society, the slightly cold air bit at him a bit, but Ryan didn't really care. What he saw was a marvel, and had it not been for the sign underground, he would have believed he was in New York City. People walked all around him, and the street was busier than he could have imagined. Looking to his left, he saw that he was at an intersection - the street he was on was marked as Howe Street, while the cross street was Robson Street, a street he actually had heard of. Cars filled the road like he never could have imagined, and the intersections were marked with signal lights - lights! So many lights about him, most of them off, but all of them electric. The towers of the city stretched higher than he ever could have imagined, higher than the tallest buildings of Regina had been.

Ryan was struck dumb. How the world has changed in the time I've been gone...how it has grown. I knew Vancouver would be big...but I could never have dreamed of it being this big. And it's warm, too. Comparatively, yes, it was warm, as a sign flashed the date - October 22, 2008. This time in Saskatchewan, he would have been bundling up more and seeing the thermometer outside standing at about 30-35 degrees - the sign flashed the temperature in both measures, and Ryan noted that it was about 45 right now. "It's...wonderful," were the only words Ryan could muster at the sights.

And sounds. The Sereitei, even on a busy day, had not been so loud with the noise of cars, of horns in the distance, of loud sirens, and machinery off in the distance as well - even though Regina had been a bit more noisy than he'd been used to, and even Halifax and Toronto had been fairly noisy...nothing like this! He hadn't heard anything even close to this level of noise since he'd been in Berlin and London, over in Europe after the war, and now Vancouver seemed to be as great as those cities. Which makes them ever the greater...

To the complete opposite of Envy, Ryan was feeling slightly uncomfortable in his jacket. He slipped it off, handing it to Envy. "Here, take it...it's too warm for me, personally. I'll be one second...wait here."

At that, Ryan quickly slipped into the Hudson's Bay Company store. Inside, he found it was now a store called "The Bay", but otherwise, it was still as good as ever. It took a little looking, and a few rides on something called an elevator, but he found a down jacket. The price amazed him - two hundred dollars - but he simply pulled out a charge card he had in his wallet and, of course, charged the coat to his squad. No harm, no foul - and the whole thing hadn't taken him ten minutes. When he walked back out, he had put the jacket into his suitcase, as he wouldn't be needing it. For now, at least.

Ryan then nodded to Envy, walking toward the intersection. He'd seen large buses on the other side of the road, and, upon crossing the street, saw a bus stop. There was a small cylindrical object on the pole that marked the stop, and Ryan looked it over, trying to see if one of the buses went to the airport - one did appear to go there. From what he remembered...he pulled the change out of his pocket. Two-fifty for him, and two-fifty for Envy...all in coins, as well. Amazing, how things work now...

And as it would happen, the bus he was waiting for was coming down the street now - that was quick. At this rate, we'll be at the airport in no time.

Ryan never noticed Envy running into everything as he waited - he was more interested in the display on the bus, which seemed to show the bus number and its destination in lights. Simply amazing... came through his mind as it stopped and he got on, motioning for Envy to follow even as he paid for both of them - with another display made of lights showing the amount he'd put into the fare box. How the world has changed since I've died...displays made of lights, small typewriters inside these ticket boxes... (Ryan looked at the back of the ticket, where the time the fare expired was printed, among other things) ...and even small plastic cards that simply slide through a slot and can be used as money. What else is there in this world that will amaze me, I wonder...

Ryan handed Envy the second ticket as she stepped on, then took a seat for himself as the bus started moving. It was really quite fast - it passed many other stops and only stopped once more before going up onto a bridge - the Granville Street Bridge, no doubt. Ryan was simply amazed by the view of the city, though - from False Creek, Vancouver looked so massive, and only one part of the city was behind him. To the west he saw another bridge, and past that he could barely see a building topped with a silver-colored sphere - a building he had no idea existed. That didn't interest him so much as how massive Vancouver was, though. He whispered softly as the bus passed over the bridge and onto land again, past 6th, then 7th, then 8th Avenue before stopping for a red light at a street marked as Broadway: "It's...it's massive. It's bigger than Toronto was...this is just impossible!"

Ryan looked back at Envy. "I don't see the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Empire State Building, or the World Trade Center anywhere around here, so I'm pretty sure that this isn't New York City. Like to go there sometime. Go to all the landmarks and all that. Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building...those sort of places."

Ryan nodded. "Yes, we are. We're surrounded by mountains - this isn't Saskatchewan, this is British Columbia. Hell, even this hill is too high," he referred to the hill the bus was ascending, which seemed to level off at around 21st Street before the bus had to stop at another red light at...West King Edward Avenue. "Don't worry, though..." Ryan pulled two slips of paper out of his pocket. "I have the tickets right here..."

The bus started again and got going, past 26th, 27th...a series of streets, then 33rd...continuing on toward what seemed to be a large river - the Fraser River, if Ryan remembered his rivers correctly. "It won't take long, it seems...the tickets seem to lie, because they have us stopping in Calgary only twenty-five minutes after we leave...if I'm right, that should be at least a ninety-minute flight.

"Peanuts...well, food was provided on the flights, but it didn't taste terribly good. Let's hope the quality's improved since I last flew." Ryan watched the streets go by...41st, 45th, 49th...they were getting ever closer. Ever so close...

After about 70th Street, the bus went around a corner then up a ramp onto a bridge over the Fraser River. Ryan marvelled at the new bridges (Ryan saw another bridge not far to the east, which was about the same level yet seemed much busier), which weren't wood and didn't seem to require wood trestles either, nor did they have to open to allow boats to pass under them. Down went the bus, toward something that was undoubtedly an airport...then went up another ramp and over the road they'd previously been on. Ryan stood, motioning to Envy. "This is where we get off..."

The bus took another left turn, then a quick right into an area like a parking lot. Ryan went out the front door, walking toward another slot that was marked as being for a bus that went to the airport itself.