She's in a light, hilly forest, standing on a well-packed gravel trail. There's a yellow-painted wooden sign a bit down the path that says 'picnic area --> 250m' 'transit lot ---> 1100m' '1800m <--- scenic view'. The weather is fine, slightly chilly, slightly cloudy. A bird chirps in the distance and wind rustles through the trees.

The trees are soothing. (She wasn't distressed, really. Not about herself, anyway. But there still aren't many good ways, to be taken and executed. And the trees are soothing.)

She nudges a leaf, to see if they are regular trees (and not illusions or magical constructs or artificial recreations or). She looks around.

(She's not dressed for the weather - she's not sure why they let her keep her shoes, but they did, but she's dressed only in a washed out thin robe, past her knees, a strip of patched slightly more colorful cloth looped over one shoulder. She draws it around herself, a little).

What does transit lot mean?

The trees seem to be real, though some of them have signs of being cut away from the trail at some point. 'Transit lot' is a place for vehicles - to store yours, or to rent one, or to call one from far away, little ones and bigger ones, but not the huge ones.

That's good to know. 

She'll try going toward the scenic view. It might tell her a little more, about what kind of place she is. And there might still be people there already, but they're less likely to think she's come there to steal their vehicles.

As she walks to the scenic view a somewhat chubby jogging woman with dark hair in strange loose, light clothes and some sort of hard ear covering breezes past her with barely a glance.

The scenic view is a small hill just above a set of river rapids that wind around a rocky valley. There's a man here who is staring at some sort of glowing rectangle as he sits on a wooden bench.

To the left the terrain rises higher, and to the right a flat plain. There's a black road cutting across the plain, where a strange looking carriage is rolling along by itself, and what looks like it might be a farm faintly visible on the horizon. 

What's the ear covering like? The glowing rectangle could mean computers, or magic (or something else). The carriage rolling by itself could mean automobiles, or magic (or something else). Neither of the people have tried to attack her, or yelled at her, or even taken much notice of her.

The view is pretty. It's not likely to harm anything to take it in, and she does, the hill and the river and the valley and the plain. 

She'll stay here a little - it seems a place it's likely to be alright to stay a little, and she'll see if any more people come by, or talk about anything.

The ear covering looks a lot like a tough set of over-ear headphones, worn from long use.

Nobody else shows up for a little while. The man using his little computer chuckles at something a couple of times, and when he puts it away he looks up at her and says, "Hey, where did you get those clothes?"

She looks down at herself, even though she does remember what she's wearing. If she tries to think how she would say 'second hand' in this language, does she get something that doesn't mean anything she wouldn't want to mean?

She does.

She'll say that out loud, then. And, "I'm afraid I don't remember where, exactly." (And those should both show up as true, if the people who live here have a way of telling.)

"Ah. I know someone who squees* about handmade clothes. Do you mind if I take a picture and send it to her?"

*"Nerds out" - The connotation is affectionate happiness for someone else's excited obsession, and it being very normal to have an excited obsession.

"I don't mind." She can hold still or come closer or hold part of the robe out for a picture. 

He smiles and takes the picture, keeping her face out of it, and sends it off.

"Cool. Thanks! I bet she'll have a hundred questions later."

She can smile back. "I hope she enjoys it." (The way he took the picture looks more technological than magical, she thinks. But of course it could still be the other way, or both, or something else.)

"Mmhm." He'll stretch his arms slightly then act like the conversation is over and go back to reading something on the device, if she says nothing else.

She says nothing else. She was worried he'd ask her for some way to contact her, but it looks like he isn't going to. That might mean they have - targeted scrying or telepathy, or a very good database of people he can search from something he has, or. Or a lot of things. She won't know now. 

But it would be better to leave, now, in case he's just overlooked it and will remember. She looks around a last time, smiles at him again, and walks back to the trail.

He was friendly, even when he talked to her. She'll try to walk to the picnic area.

The picnic area contains some picnickers! A family(?) of nine, including three men, two women, and four children. The children are maybe four to six years old, running around and playing some sort of ball game. The adults are hotly discussing some kind of - war?

"Say what you will, the Wardens are in a great position. Marky's got twelve factories up already. They have more resource points and better commanders. They've got Siv and Rushdown too. The snowball is win."

"The Guards aren't exactly a pushover, look at yesterday's highlights - a big raiding party captured a whole truck convoy carrying rares. Logistics is useless if it gets stolen and you can't last long enough to build up."

"Wardens just have to last long enough to get their airfields up and the hit and run will have to stop. That's, what, another two weeks?"

"Well, sure, but can they even - or by the time they do, they'll have lost the dirt advantage, Guards took half of Icefall Gorge yesterday-"

"Hello!" A man on the edge of the conversation shouts out. "We're all stuffed but have some leftovers, want a simbeef burger?"

She smiles at the children.

...She hopes it's not a war (not that it does anything, to hope), but it sounds like it could be a war game of some sort, maybe, also. (What is a snowball, rares, dirt advantage, resource points?)

She meant to stay back, but if she's been seen she's been seen. She walks forward. "Hello!" She isn't going to say no to food, if it's food that she can eat. What is simbeef? "Thank you," she says first, either way.

"Snowball" is when the player with an advantage naturally gets more advantages and eventually wins. "Rares" are just... Rare and valuable things. "Dirt advantage" refers to controlling more territory. "Resource points" are places where resources are found. And simbeef is..... Plant-based beef substitute.

"Well, we can't let it go to waste after all. Here." The patty in question is spatula'd off of a miniature electric hot plate, onto a bun. "Cheese? Ketchup?"

It might be a game. If it's a war she can't do anything, right now.

She walks closer so she can take the plate if they hold it out to her. "No thank you," to the additions. She smiles. "Thank you very much." If none of them are eating any more she can't use them as an example, so she can just do her best to eat politely, and hope politeness is not something more complicated, here. She is very good at not eating like someone who is eating for the first time in days; they shouldn't notice that.

One gestures to the empty second picnic table, but they go back to their discussion of the war. It... Does seem a lot like a game? Probably a game, especially when they mention an old scandal where someone was found to be cheating. They talk a lot about it, quickly enough and with enough context that not much of the fine details are particularly understandable. One mentions maybe wanting to join the Wardens 'for the next war'. Though it sort of sounds like the outcome of the game is more important than just a simple game.

They pretty much ignore her if she doesn't stick herself into the conversation, and nobody introduces themselves. They'll offer another leftover burger if she finishes the first.

She'll sit at the empty table. Keep listening. (If it's a game it already doesn't sound like a simple game, there are weeks involved.) If they say war outloud she can pay attention to the meaning and connotations of the word. Can see if they look at the children when they talk about the war, and what feelings they seem to show.

Does what they say have any information on what the scandal involved, and what happened to the person found cheating?

She doesn't stick herself into the conversation. Will take another burger, and thank them. (And eat it. It would look too strange to save it, probably. And she doesn't know how soon Mia and Jewel will get through.)

They do say war out loud! And the connotations are - exciting and tense and dramatic, but it would be so terrible if it actually happened for real - okay to think about and okay to play games with but definitely not okay to actually do unless it's vitally necessary. This war is apparently going to decide which of two groups gets to own an island for the next three years, and they make enough references to computers that it's probably played as an elaborate video game.

The scandal was an unauthorized form of spying-on-the-enemy- Doing so outside of the narrowly allowed bounds, by receiving help from a referee. The cheater was banned from the rest of the current war and his faction punished by a moderate temporary disadvantage (disbarment from entering an area for a week) and the referee was banned from refereeing for life.

That is very relieving. And, probably computers, then. She wonders if it's something Jewel might like. 

The contents and results of the scandal are also relieving.

She pays attention more to other things. How everyone is dressed, and if anyone defers to anyone else and how, and how the children resolve conflicts if they run into any in their game...

The clothes seem... Oddly plain? Loose, comfortable looking things. Cloth shirts and long pants, some with hoods attached. Often stained and some of them are more ratty and threadbare, as if they hardly care whether they're new or old. Two of them are wearing glasses. They don't seem to especially defer to anyone - except for specific domain knowledge. The conversation starts and stops and switches topics abruptly, though. When someone wonders why cars' ranges are fairly short everyone very seriously listens to one man talk about electrochemistry and battery density. Nobody introduces themselves to calls each other by name the whole time. After a while, one of them starts glancing in her direction every minute or two, perhaps trying to figure out why she's still there.

The four kids have a few toys scattered around them - a little car, some colorful blocks, a couple small devices-with-screens, a ball, a puzzle object of some sort that looks like a colorful cube with manipulatable pieces randomly sticking out of it, and are all bundled up in warm clothes. After a while of playing some kind of ball game, they start gathering sticks and leaves and building something with them and their blocks. One child shoves another for taking the better sticks and the other shoves back, shouting, until one of the adults shouts at them to 'be nice!'. This stops the fight for a bit, but then the smaller one screams and kicks the other's blocks, making the other three yell and setting the small one to crying. One of the women goes over there to break it up, kneeling down and talking softly to them.

Wearing plainer and older clothes while having these others things could be less good if it means there's some problem with clothes in particular, could be good if they choose it and so there might be less trouble while she and Mia and Jewel start out (though Jewel will be a little sad if that's all they have). She listens to the different conversation topics. Hearing about local technology is helpful.

Devices with screens are non-precious enough to give to children who scatter them (or it's something else). She notices how the adults are with the children. Can't judge from a few people but - it could be better than other things.

She won't overstay her welcome. She stands, and thanks them again, and leaves. 

Will try walking to the transit lot, now.

She doesn't pass anyone else on the way. The transit lot is a smallish concrete lot with a small row of car-sized parking spots, a metal structure that says 'bike storage', a few cars with long black cables coming from small kiosks plugged into them, and a long loading area with benches and roofed shelters nearby. The autotram to Wheatspring is every one hour during daylight, according to the sign. It lists a meaningless-without-context number as the cost to summon it immediately instead.