open Cultures Unite (1x1 with GeneralDirection)

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Oh, ok. I see. I’ve never heard of anypony doing something like that before… or maybe I just forgot.” He replies, before returning his attention to the bracelets.

While the selection on display looks nice enough, Silver doesn’t see anything that would really suit his marefriend, Vesperr. He gets the attention of one of the salesponies and asks, “Hi there, I saw a sign about custom jewellery, would you be able to make a bracelet with specific gemstones?”

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

"Hai. We can easily do that, as long as they are natural, inert gems only. We don't make jewelry out of magic or magic-enhancing gem stones." The pony working behind the main display answers his question. Samurai walks up to Silver. "If you want jewelry with magic gem stones, let me know. I know a blacksmith that can make that happen." He tells him.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

Silver was about to reply to the salespony when Samurai mentioned something, well, a bit more interesting. “Magic gemstones?” Silver raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean, exactly? What do they do? I had some specific gemstones in mind, I don’t know if that matters or not.”

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

"No need to think to deep about it. There are gemstones that can enhance or grant magic to the user. Raw magic material like that has often been used to make magic items and weapons, some of which are taboo as they have either corrupted the user or could only be used for nefarious means. That's why it's illegal for a standard business like this to make jewelry out of magic gems. But soldiers like me get special exceptions." Samurai explains.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Can’t say I’m trying to corrupt my marefriend… I think you need to explain this a bit more to me. Doesn’t exactly sound safe, you know?” Silver says with a hint of worry in his voice. "She's... different when it comes to her fire magic. I wouldn't want to see anything mess that up. Maybe I'm just better off going the normal route." He sounds undecided.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai just shrugs. "That's as good as I can explain it. There's much we still don't know about magical gemstones. They come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. And each one can have its own unique magical effect. Not even I know much about them since, if I find any, it's my job to report them to higher authorities." Samurai says.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Well that settles it then. If you don’t know much about them, there’s no way I’m putting them into anything I plan to give to somepony I care about.” Silver turns back to face the salespony and spends a few minutes silently looking over their selection before speaking up. “So about that bracelet, I’d like something like that.” He points to a piece on display. “I know I said I wanted gemstones, but I think she’d really like the look of that one. So umm… how much is it?” He asks politely.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Just as the salespony in charge is starting to say a very specific amount, Samurai is putting the money down. "My treat this time." Samurai explains. When the salespony takes the money, Samurai leans in to whisper to Silver. "In our society, we prefer to pay in exact amounts. We try not to pay over, and we try not to ask for change, if it can be avoided. Since your society doesn't rely on money as much as ours, I thought I'd explain so that you'll be prepared next time." Samurai says. When the salespony comes back, the bracelet is now in a box. Very nice presentation. He gives it Silver.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Oh! I… you don’t need to do…” His voice trails off as the salespony grabs the bag of bits Samurai set down and hands him a box with the bracelet inside. Silver nods his head silently and waits till his friend finishes explaining to reply. “Thank you.” He says with a smile. “I appreciate you taking the time to tell me about your culture, but I do have bits, you don’t have to worry about that so much. It’s true that we don’t use money much back at home, however I do travel across Equestria quite frequently, and not everypony is as accommodating as you are. So I’m ok, but again, I do appreciate your generosity, my friend. How about we head to the art supply store next?” He suggests.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai smiles. "Just consider it a first time generosity. The first time you are here, I'll give you the all-expenses-paid tour. But the next time you come over, you're responsible for yourself." Samurai explains.

They exit the jewelry store together. "Arts? Of course, I know just the--" Samurai is cut short when he hears a scream. Like a switch, he instantly becomes serious. "Chotto matte." Samurai says before running off towards the source of the scream.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

~

“Of course.” He replies. “I still appreciate it nevertheless.”

They make their way out of the shop and are about to head to the art supply store, when a scream is heard all of a sudden. Samurai reacts almost immediately, taking off in the direction of the scream. Silver is confused for a moment, until he remembers how his friend has been stopping along the way to help ponies in need earlier, then it made a bit more sense why his friend took off. The kirin elected to follow his new friend to see what was going on.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Meanwhile in a different part of the city, a random mare cries out. "Stop him! Theif!! He stole my purse!" The mare says as a pony and cat, wearing burlap masks, run off through the streets. These two thieves have the stolen purse, snickering to themselves as they run. But their moment of celebration is cut short when they bump into someone blocking their path. "Hey!! Watch-- Oh no..."

Before they can make any big threats, they see who was in their way. It wasn't a random citizen; it was Samurai Equine, purposefully blocking them off. And he looks mighty stern right now. "Samurai Equine?! You're here all ready?!" One of the thieves says. "I think you both know how this ends. Return the purse." Samurai cuts straight to the point. A random citizen points out that it's Samurai, and a crowd begins to circle around and chatter about this. Thankfully, it's a wide circle. However, the thieves don't back down, despite backing up a few steps. Instead, one of them draws a knife! "N-not so fast, Samurai! This time, we have a blade, and you don't even have your sword!" The armed thief says. To which, Samurai gives a sly smirk. "And do you even know how to use it?"

The question momentarily leaves them stunned before the armed thief readies his blade and charges forward with a mighty meow. But just as he gets super close, Samurai slides to the side, grabs the cat's paw/wrist, and twists it as he turns his back to the 2nd thief. Mewing in pain, the thief drops the knife. The other thief neighs and tries to attack Samurai from behind, but Samurai was more than ready for this too. Taking a moment to trip the cat, whose wrist he is still holding, Samurai spins around and throws the cat thief right into his partner. BOOM! One-hoofed body slam; two thieves down for the price of one. The crowd may have backed up a little, but they are wowed! As the two thieves get back up slowly, Samurai has been gathering his magic. "One Thousand Years of Suffering!" Samurai grabs both of their tails, and lights the tips on fire!

The thieves naturally panic and shuffle all around to put out the flames. They were small flames, easily extinguished. They were never in any danger, but it served a purpose. It makes them panic enough that they drop the purse to put out the fire. During that moment of distraction, Samurai picks up the purse. "Hey thieves! Forget something?" Samurai ask, holding the purse. Seeing how things have changed, they angrily do the one thing they can think of. "TIL WE MEET AGAIN, SAMURAI!!", "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE US ALIVE!!" They say as they run away, roughly breaking past the crowd to make their getaway. Samurai just sighs and lets them get a short distance away, concentrating. "...Magic Horn EXTEND!!!" Summoning his magic once more, Samurai tilts his head down. With a rapid double snap, Samurai magically extends his horn, and pokes each of the thieves in their posteriors! From a distance, you can hear them cry out in cartoonish pain as they fall flat on their faces. And that was all Samurai had to do. The altercation lasted long enough for a police pony to arrive on the scene, blowing his whistle and running up to the thieves. "Wow. After 7 failures, they actually tried something. That knife was a real first." Samurai says with a smile, collecting the knife they dropped.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Samurai Equine

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

Silver watches with the rest of the crowd as his friend faces off against the two thieves, neither of which posing much of a threat as Samurai easily evades their attacks and finishes off the ordeal by sending one of attackers flying towards the other. The object that the fight was started over, a stolen purse, now to be returned to its rightful owner. The thieves run off angrily yelling as they disappear into the crowd, which shortly disperses after the commotion is over.

“Well, that was something.” Silver remarks as he slowly moves toward his friend. “You familiar with these two?” He asks.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

(Sorry for not replying sooner. Was too exhausted yesterday to log on.)

The crowd erupts with cheer when Samurai wins. Many comment about how he's done it again, and how they can always rely on him to keep the peace. Samurai goes over to the mare that lost her purse and hoofs it over to her. "I believe this is yours." Samurai says. "Arigato gozaimasu, Samurai-sama." She says as she takes her purse back, smiling and bowing, acting just as star-struck as the others. Samurai just gives a happy wave, blushing a little.

However, he is happy to see Silver joining him again. "Well, yes I am, actually. But first... Please excuse us, everypony! We have other business to attend to, but thank you for supporting me." Samurai first addresses Silver, then addresses the crowd, and finishes with a bow. They seem to be very understanding and allow the two friends to pass. Once the two of them have left, the crowd disperses.

Once more, Samurai leads the way to the arts supply store. "Gomen nasai, my friend. It was a little noisy with everypony around like that. Indeed, I have encountered those two before. They're antics are nothing to be worried over. Some purse snatchers, a few rebellious teens causing mischief, and the occasional disgruntled office worker. That's about as bad as it gets around here. Well, most of the time, that is." Samurai explains.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Samurai Equine

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

(No problem bud, all good!)

“Ah, sounds like they’re nothing worth worrying about, then.” Silver remarks. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘most of the time’?” He asks. “I suppose I never asked, but do you have like, wars and stuff going on here?”

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

"Wars? No, that's more of an ancient era thing, before the era of Mistmane or the Pillars. Things are mostly peaceful, except... This part of Equestria does have an enemy I've been keeping at bay, but he always manages to come back. I hope you never have to face Snow Leopard while you're here. He's far too dangerous for any one creature to handle." Samurai explains.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Well, it’s good to hear there’s no wars, but Snow Leopard?” Silver asked. “Name doesn’t sound familiar. Why’s he so dangerous? What does he want that you have to keep him at bay? Nothing good, I’m sure.” He commented.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

"He doesn't want anything. He only wants to destroy, and that's why I hope you don't have to encounter him." Samurai says.
They soon arrive at an arts and crafts store. In this store, they having many different art supplies of all kinds. Stuff for beginners, intermediate, or expert artists. Common and exotic art supplies that Silver may have never seen before. But what's really interesting is the large variety of fancy carrying/display cases for the supplies. Seems having a fancy item you can show off is half of the experience.

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

Silver is somewhat confused by how this Snow Leopard doesn’t want anything, but he decides not to dwell on the subject as they head into the art supply store. As he looks around, he realizes that if he didn’t have good self-control, this could be a dangerous place for his wallet. But he wasn’t here for himself, he was here to get something for his younger sister, Charlotte. He immediately knew what she’d appreciate and grabbed the largest package of coloured pencils he could find, along with one of the fancy-looking carrying cases the store had on display. The kirin heads to the register with his items before he has time to grab more things. As an artist himself, the temptation is hard to resist.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai was eyeing the ink sticks when he sees an acrylic paint that interests him. "Ah, this one is especially nice. The pigment was made from local..." Samurai stops when he realizes Silver isn't right next to him anymore. He's all ready in line to purchase what he wants.

Samurai joins him again. "Find what you wanted?"

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

Silver turns to his friend with a smile. “Yep! I’m just a bit more knowledgeable about art stuff than jewelry.” He said as he placed the supplies on the counter and waited for his items to rung in. “I know that she’s been wanting a new set of coloured pencils so figured I’d take the opportunity to fix that.”   

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

Samurai looks at the ones he picked out. "You have a better eye for quality than you think. Those are dual purpose colored pencils. You can use them like regular ones, or you can whittle the lead down and add water or some alcohol to the shavings to create water color. The pigment should be stronger than most cheap versions. That's why the lead core is so much thicker than usual." Samurai explains, paying for the items as soon as the price comes up. Once again, first-day generosity. "You know, in Japone, something as simple as this is seen as a very special gift. School foals might show something like this off to their fellow classmates. It means their family wanted to have something nicer than the standard school supplies."

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Thanks again, my friend. You really don’t have to pay for everything, you know. But yes, you’re right, these are special, my sister does painting as well as drawing so I thought these would be a good fit for her.” He explained as they left the store. “It is her job after all, so I try to be supportive of her because she loves doing it. That’s interesting, what you mentioned about the school foals. I suppose that makes sense, I do want her to have nice things. Now then, I’m all stocked up on gifts, where are we headed next?” He asked.

[Samurai Equine 51,129]

@GeneralDirection

"It's just for today, I assure you." Samurai reassures him. After making sure Silver has collected his stuff, Samurai and Silver step out. "Hmm... Let's see... You've seen bits of our culture, our more modern innovations, and you've got plenty of souvenirs. I wouldn't want to overload you on Day 1... And it'll probably get late soon... Is there anything you're curious about? We could always check and see if the status of your free citizenship has been approved." Samurai says. 

[GeneralDirection 1,047]

@Samurai Equine

“Free citizenship? That’s a thing here?” Silver sounds a bit surprised. “I had no idea… I just got here. That sounds like something that would be hard to get. I’m down for whatever you wanna do though, doesn’t have to be all about me.” He smiles.