Character Worlds' Fair

In the center of a bustling city stands its crown jewels, a trio of grand, enormous pavilions. Within the facade of this old palace churns a city all its own, bodies chattering and exploring and roving about in search of the exotic and new and awe-inspiring. After all, no place could be better, for here, in the form of these stalls and displays for this fair, is where the worlds have chosen to convene. On the convention floor, they hawk their creeds, their products, their livelihoods, all competing for the attention of attendees as diverse as they are. But who is this 'they'? Why, anyone, from anywhere at all. From friendly small businesses to ominous corporations, from rebellions trying to gain ground to dying regimes attempting to rekindle their glory, from scientists and scholars to artists and storytellers. If an attendee can think of it, it could very well be here. Who knows what you'll find?

• Current Time: Noon/Early Afternoon (Day 2)
• Current Weather: Clear

Hello, Writer's Block, and welcome to the latest installment of the Character Development Threads! These shared story exercises give you the opportunity to develop your characters, practice writing, and have fun alongside your fellow writers, no signups, profiles, or GM approval necessary. Want to join? If the thread's gotten long, there's no need to fear Archive Panic- just head on over to our discussion thread and say so, and we'll give you a recap of what's going on and good spots for working your characters into the thread; how you choose to do this is up to you. A little communication in endeavors such as these can go a long way towards having fun, helping others, getting that kink in your character worked out, getting your characters out of their comfort zone, or whatever you're here for, so if you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask. We're all for helping each other out.

This thread's designated trope page is here, and its map is here◊. Don't forget to add your contributions to the page!

In this thread, as the introduction and name suggests, your characters will be coming to a convention, a gathering open to the various and sundry worlds of our stories, whether as attendees hoping to see something cool... or as parts of the exhibition themselves. Yes, you, the writer, will be shaping not just the cast and plots, but the setting as well in the form of stalls and exhibits. Note that this necessitates that we keep a few small things in mind to keep things running smoothly.

• Our standards of location for this thread are intentionally vague to allow ourselves the freedom to make up stalls on the fly as our plots demand, as well as to account for the fact that wandering around between stalls and chatting with your friends is as much a part of the convention experience as the stalls themselves. For the sake of keeping track of people, in lieu of standard location tags in the vein of [Market Hall], we recommend that you also append the names of the characters you're with.
• Though you're welcome to bring a piece of home in the form of a stall and control the characters running it, you're also welcome to bring a stall that exists solely as a plot device without ever mentioning it again. The basic rules to keep in mind are to write a stall as long as it takes to fulfill its raison d'être, whether that's to develop a faction or similar in your work or to keep the plot moving along, and that stalls can be anything. More specific info can be found on the trope page linked above.
• If you find yourself unexpectedly busy in other endeavors after entering the thread, there are easy ways to back out, whether you're writing for attendees or stalls. Attendees can step out into the covered walkways connecting the convention buildings or the adjacent courtyard for some fresh air and relief from the constant noise of the crowds, while stalls can suddenly become flooded with enough nameless background characters to render the stall too busy to reply to any troper characters that were interacting with it at the time.

With all that out of the way, we cordially invite you to stay and experience the Character Worlds' Fair! Onwards!

(Credit for this post and much of the work on the thread belongs to Crystal Glacia).

Fair has now concluded.

edited 31st Mar '15 2:06:36 AM by nrjxll

Market Hall (Youkai Showcase)

On the western side of the market hall, not too far away from the food court, sat a small, yet fancy-looking stall. At the very least, it was as fancy as something consisting of four tables arranged in a U-shape with a cloth roof over the whole thing could get, anyway.

Each table had a piece of dark blue silk draped over it. Most of the wares this stall had to offer sat on the front two tables; to the left was a wide variety of jewelry, to the left were several tightly rolled-up scrolls, and in the very middle was a set of three sheathed swords sitting on stands.

Behind these tables towards the back of the stalls were four paintings along with some statues depicting various figures and scenes. Above these was a wide, exquisitely decorated banner with some big, bold Japanese characters written on it. To anyone able to read them, they roughly translated into "Mahiro Inoue's Youkai Showcase."

Right behind the front two tables stood the proprietor himself, Mahiro, who looked fairly jovial as he waited for the first potential customers to appear. He appeared to be a Japanese man somewhere in his mid to late thirties, with black hair cut short that showed no signs of graying. Judging by the red and blue kimono with a black sash he wore, plus the fact that he looked very healthy for someone of his age, he was someone of great wealth or possibly just someone who wanted to make a really good impression on potential customers. Unusually for someone of his ethnicity (not to mention unusually for an apparent human in general), his eyes were blood red in color.

While Mahiro stood front and center, ready to greet anyone who showed interested, his daughter Nagako stood in the back and to the right of the stall. She appeared to be tending to the two cages sitting in front of her, which held numerous, live, black stag beetles. At first glance they all appeared identical, although closer inspection would reveal that the beetles in the smaller of the two cages were considerably larger than the beetles in the larger cage.

Nagako herself appeared to be a Japanese girl of around sixteen, and considerably shorter than her father. She had straight, shoulder-length black hair mostly tucked behind her ears. Her kimono was light blue in color with some slight floral patterning, coupled with a dark blue sash wrapped around her waist. In addition, she also had tied her sash in such a manner that the ends of the sash bore resemblance to butterfly wings, as well as wearing a gold hair clip in the shape of a stag beetle over her left temple. Like her father she had an unusual eye color for her ethnicity, although in her case her eyes were icy blue.

After some time of checking the beetles, Nagako turned to her father. "Everything seems good here," she said.

Mahiro looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. "Excellent. I believe we're ready to go." He looked back out at the main hall. "Now all we have to do is wait. Remember that we're here representing the whole of youkai culture. We want to leave a good impression on the other cultures here."

"Of course, Father," Nagako replied, before sighing. "I'd still like the chance to go see everything else, though. There's only so much I can do just standing here."

"We've been over this before, Nagako. The reason I brought you here was to teach you how to be successful. You'll need all of it to take over our family's business," came Mahiro's reply, with a stern tone of voice, "And as I said before we arrived, if you can show me you can do it maybe I'll let you explore a little. Let us focus on the essentials for now."

Nagako frowned. "Yes, Father." With that, she turned her attention back to the beetles and contented herself with watching them scuttle about.

edited 19th Sep '14 2:19:46 PM by Yomegami

Showcase Hall [Martian Dynamics]

A small whitish prefabricated building with an area out front under a raised tarp, in which were being shown off showing various bits advanced technology. Most of them seemed to be parts of larger and more complex machines; parts of a turbine engine here, an unidentifiable spherical object with lots of doodads on it there notable mainly for being about a meter across, other bits an pieces. There are a couple of obvious exceptions; a mid-sized construction machine of some sort with a bubble canopy and a five-meter-long gun designed for something with much bigger hands than a human.

A square flag flies above the building, divided in half horizontally: a distinctive rust or dirt red below and black with white speckles above; the speckles in the shape of the Southern Cross constellation if one looked close. The tarp and the building both have a large "MD" logo that fades from the same red to a sky-blue.

A half-dozen people in sky blue vests or overalls attend the area, along with one African-looking man in a dark blue suit. All of them seem to be a few inches over normal height, and some of them have oddly uneven tans. The man in the suit seems to be speaking with the others, one by one, quite earnestly.

edited 19th Sep '14 2:51:15 PM by Night

[Courtyard]

Nore ul'Alitoth, a Uelane woman of twenty, moved confidently through the crowds. She was short, but had a tough, wiry build that suggested a concerted effort to remain physically fit. Her skin was a dark sepia brown, and contrasted with her bright, sky blue eyes. Her hair, straight and trimmed short, was dyed the vivid aquamarine of tropical waters. She wore a toga-like garment of silk, tie-dyed with soft pastels to create the impression of a shining pearl, and fixed with a circular, silver brooch with a large pearl at its center. Underneath the wrap were simple clothes of pale grey silk: sandals, loose knee-length pants and a light, sleeveless tunic. She walked with the cat-like confidence of a woman whose mind and body alike were honed to a razor's edge. Depending on one's taste, this made her attractive in addition to or despite the sharp and angular features that were typical of her people. But there was also a certain nervous energy, though she was clearly trying to hide it under a mask of sophisticated boredom, a fascination with the new world before her, a curiosity and eagerness.

Shadowing her was Solin ul'Oriyith, a tall and gangly young man of perhaps eighteen, with skin almost as dark as obsidian, pale, ice blue eyes, and straight, messy black hair. Though he also wore silk, he was dressed more simply, in sandals, an embroidered pink tunic, and white pants. His eyes were constantly darting around at everybody, only settling when someone came close to Nore (or occasionally on a particularly attractive woman or meal). He held a notepad and a pencil, and was constantly jotting notes, though even a native Uelane would struggle to read his terse and scratchy shorthand. At his hip was a truncheon of dark wood inlaid with intricate patterns of ivory. Attempting to examine these patterns would result in a sense of nausea and discomfort, however, for while neither Solin and Nore were mages, the Magocracy had insisted the former carry an weapon enchanted with the power of the Void... in case things went wrong. Whatever power was within, it was dormant and harmless for now.

The two finally made their way to a fountain, where they sat. "So," Solin said, still scanning the crowd for anyone who seemed too interested in following them and not being seen, "you're the boss. Anything you wanna see especially?"

Nore shrugged and said, "the Magocracy doesn't care as long as we tell them if anyone mentions them. We have a while; no need to rush."

They'll do more as the thread kicks up, just getting them in for now.

[Courtyard]

Samson Thane listened to some rather upbeat music that was playing in their earphones as they wandered through the courtyard of the fair in a rather dance like fashion. A tall and very pale skinned young adult, Samson had a small nose, thin lips, almond shaped eyes with golden yellow irises and a head of slightly unkempt medium length, dark brown hair on a square shaped head. Clad in a dark gray long sleeved shirt with black cargo pants and black sneakers, their upbeat dancing was quite a contrast from their choice in clothing. In their left hand, Samson held an open glass bottle of milk, which they would occasionally take a swig of from when they danced. The wire to their earphones trailed to their right pants pocket and swung slightly to and fro as they danced. If one looked closely, they could noticed bits of what looked like scars along the length of their arms.

Samson continued their dancing before taking a short break and sitting on the edge of the fountain in the courtyard. They took a swig of their milk before taking out an electronic device from their pocket and shutting off their music and removing their headphones. Samson let out a short breath as they surveyed the courtyard.

Samson is referred to with singular they pronouns

edited 19th Sep '14 8:33:30 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

[Market Hall (Food Court —-> Elsewhere)]

A little girl sat at a table. She was eight or nine, had tanned white skin and straight, black hair tied up in a ponytail with a purple elastic. She wore a light-grey t-shirt, along with some simple blue jeans and scuffed, white sneakers. She held a small chocolate milkshake in her hand, but didn't look too happy.

An older woman, in her mid-to-early twenties, stood beside her. "Now don't run off, okay?" She said to the younger girl. The pair of them had similar skin colours, though the older one had clearly spent less time in the sun, and similar hair colour as well, though only the younger one had hers tied up. The twenty-something woman had her long, black hair flowing freely behind her. It blended well with her black t-shirt, which, combined with her slightly frayed jeans, made for a rather unremarkable outfit. A fairly common look disrupted by the black sheath on her back, which housed a long, slender, single-edged blade with a squared guard and a long grip. "I'm serious! Do you understand?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "You're not mom, Selina!" She said. "Quit bossing me around!"
Selina put her hands on her hips. "Listen, you." She said. "I may not be our mother, bit I am in change, so if you're going to be trouble, then you can go home." The girl frowned as her older sister continued.
"Stay here, Tammy. I just need to do some shopping and I'll be right back. Just wait a couple of minutes." She smiled. "Then we can walk around all you like. Sound good?"
Tamara sighed and nodded begrudgingly. "Great!" Said Selina. "See you in a bit. Stay out of trouble!" And with that, she walked away.

But, with all the strange things and people around, what curious mind could resist the temptation to do some exploring? Tamara took a minute to finish her milkshake, then promptly chucked in in the nearest garbage can and wandered off.

edited 19th Sep '14 4:24:23 PM by Blackfire667

[Courtyard]

In the courtyard appeared two new arrivals to the fair. The first of which appeared to be a young woman, seemingly in her mid-20s, quite small in stature but with an athletic physique akin to that of a prize fighter, her shiny bronze toned skin ripples with muscles, with her long brown hair fixed into a braid which she let hang over her shoulder. Her style of dress made it seem that the young woman had just step out of a time machine from the 1980s, donning a pink sweatshirt underneath a bright blue denim jacket, with a similar denim miniskirt accompanied by a pair of white trainer shoes and neon yellow legwarmers. She glided across the courtyard in wonder, taking in the atmosphere of the concrete jungle she found herself lost in.

Her companion trailed behind at a snails pace in comparison. Pasty, pale and with a tangled mess of bright red hair atop his head, the man appeared to be about the same age as the young woman. Decked out in an open red leather jacket and white tanktop, with a pair of stylish blue jeans and expensive trainers, the young man walked with a confident swagger not seen beyond characters in a stage play. "There, we're at the fair. Happy now, Princess?" he proclaimed.

The woman whirled to face her companion. "Calm down Steven, there's no need to be indignant."

"You can just call me Steve, you know," the man folded his arms.

"And you can just call me Queen, Steven. Or barring that, Kassandra. What is with the attitude, anyway. I noticed you seemed to have lost your eagerness to attend around the third time I explained that this is not a date."

Steve shrugged his shoulders. "World Fair's are just so... boring, you know? I get that basically anything more advanced that a lightbulb just amazes you, but you have to get that this is pretty dull for regular people."

Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "The entire purpose of this venture was to show me the facets of your world. You agreed to take here, so it's not my fault you find it dull. Besides, I had originally asked your friend Sara to take me, but she was busy."

Steve smirked. "Well, I'll try not to be a terrible second choice, Kassie."

"... Seventh choice, actually."

"Whatever," Steve sighed, "but did it really have to be a World's Fair? Couldn't it have been something more exciting?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know... a casino?"

Kassandra shivered. "I don't know what a casino is, but I'm certain it's something dubious."

"Fine. Where do you want to check out first so we can get this non-date over and done with?"

Kassandra spied the fountains and jolted over to one, beginning to cup water in her hands and drink from it.

"That's neither hygienic, nor an actual part of the fair, but whatever keeps you busy," Steve mumbled as he took a seat nearby.

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Off in one of the corners of the hall was another booth, somewhat smaller, but filled to the brim with a wide variety of antiques, gadgets, and artifacts. They looked as though they had come from an impressive variety of planets, species, and civilizations throughout time.

The title of the booth said:

Rare and Mystical Artifacts from Across the Seven Spiral Arms
by Tevarian T'jok

The purported purveyor could be seen inside, and was most certainly not human. He was about 6ft/1.8m tall, but scarcely looked like an organic lifeform at all, as he was wearing a highly-angular environment suit, in dark orange and gray. It had a triangular head, with glowing shapes for a single eye and mouth, that lit when he spoke. The 'arms' were six mechanical appendages, in radial symmetry around the cylindrical center segment of the suit, with three mechanical legs beneath. He seemed to be 'sitting' but that might be just an illusion due to his suit's legs being flat against the ground. What he truly looked like inside was certainly a mystery, although one would be safe to assume it was even stranger than his outward appearance suggested.

He picked up a small sign, and set it down on the booth's table with one of his mechanical arms. It said '50% Off Sale!' with black text on a yellow background.

Ah, I think this will be a proper advertisement. The Hxaons would likely be offended by such a ridiculous notion, but I'm told Terrans love that sort of thing, he thought, as the astute observer would likely notice that there was not a marked price on even a single item.

Featured items displayed on the table include:

• An old-looking futuristic energy pistol
• A small chevron-shaped chip with a glowing sphere mounted in the center
• A battered alien knife
• What looked like a japanese katana on a stand
• A tablet-like device, which was off
• A triangular-hourglass-shaped object, which refracted light like a prism
• And an Elvis Presley Record Album 'Blue Hawaii'

Feel free to ask about what else is visible on the booth, if there's anything that looks like X, ask Tevarian if he has any X, or what kinds of X he recommends.

[Market Hall - Youkai Showcase]

A most unusual person floated around the Market Hall - eventually hovering near the Youkai Showcase booth. She was known as Ila Locera, and looked generally normal from afar, with the exception that she was flying around using translucent butterfly wings on her back. Her appearance seemed to match that of a human female, about 20 yrs old, 5ft/1.5m tall, with very pale, almost pure white skin, and bright blue shoulder-length straight hair. She was wearing a tight spandex suit, white with blue lines and alien text, which fit her perfectly, but did not reveal any anatomy. Upon closer inspection, however, she appeared far too perfect in appearance to be natural. Her form was immaculate and sterile down to the most minute detail - not a single scratch, speck, or hair out of place. Her wings were intricately formed - the way they refracted and iridesced the surrounding light created a fantastic display of color down to the smallest visible scale. She looked like a moving work of art, more than an actual person - something that one would expect to be on display in a great gallery of the galaxy, not hovering around in such a lively location.

She floated down in a gentle breeze, and landed with a lightness as if she weighed only a feather, her wings folding together behind her.

"Hello," she said to Mahiro Inoue, "may I inquire as to what you have on display here?"

Note that since she looks so perfect, sterile, and unnatural, many people can have an Uncanny Valley reaction to her. Other characters can feel free to make up their own mind, of course. :)

edited 19th Sep '14 5:22:37 PM by Sonzai

[Courtyard]

A young silver-haired girl is sitting down at a bench, eating a sandwich she purchased from the Food Court. She is wearing a pair of small headphones, blue-tinted gun range style sunglasses, a gray hoodie with the sleeves rolled up, urban camo pants, and grayish-blue face paint. She has a cylindrical item at her hip, and a massive sniper rifle slung over her back. Her name is Makoto, and she is all business.

She finishes her sandwich, and quietly observes the other people at the courtyard.

[Market Hall, Advanced Biotic Cybernetics booth]

A young man in a suit stood in the booth. He seemed normal except for one key difference; his head was a computer monitor. Currently it was plugged into a projector showing a slideshow of various miracles that cybernetics can achieve; his screen was in sync with the projector. Both screens showed replacement limbs, replacement heads like his powered by the human brain, and a prototype of what's essentially a Replicant, a fully synthetic humanoid life form, still extremely experimental. Guy's name was Nick.

Also manning the booth was his boyfriend Alan. They were wearing matching suits, black with the company logo on them. The shirts were different, though; Nick's was purple, while Alan had chosen dark blue. Nick was also wearing a digital watch, the better to see when their shift ended with.

At the moment, Alan's attention was elsewhere. His eye had been drawn since setting up that morning on a small booth nearby, which looked like some sort of interstellar antique shop. Traffic was low at the moment, so he figured he'd go and see what was there.

"Fine," Nick relented. "I can do the spiel just as good by myself. But you owe me for this."

"I'll make it up to you during our break, I promise." Alan said, giving an affectionate tousling gesture to where Nick's hair would be if he still had any, before darting off to Tevarian's corner.

[Market Hall - Tevarian and Alan]

"Aha! You there!" Tevarian said in a robotic voice to Alan as he approached, "you look like one who might be interested in some fine artifacts from across the galaxy."

"Take this knife for example," he said, picking it up with one of his suit's mechanical arms, "actually used in the battle of H'J'!K'-'M*K, part of the Kr'ta!rk's planetary unification war, over 200 years ago!"

[Courtyard-> Market Hall]

A young woman stood in front of a garden display, observing the topiaries. She was dressed in a long, red cloak, with a white sword-and-star design on the back. Her blue eyes swept around the crowd. A vicious-looking scar on her right cheek marred an otherwise beautiful face, with curly brown hair and pale green eyes.

Yet the most striking feature wasn't her face, it was her wings. Protruding three feet on either side, they extended organically from her shoulders. Many thought they were metallic at first, though a touch would reveal they had birdlike feathers. The feathers themselves were iridescent, and the wings had rainbow-colored eyespots on both the front and the back.

Well, Rosa, time to see what's out there, she mused, heading off towards the Market Hall.

[[Market Hall-Tevarian's booth]]

Alan eyed the knife carefully. He may not have been able to perceive have the name of wherever it was from, but it looked pretty good. Still, wasn't quite what he had in mind.

"What would you recommend for an anniversary? Nick's been working on this for weeks, he forgot it's almost a year to the day since we started dating."

[Nick's booth]

Nick noticed a young woman with wings had entered the Market Hall. Hm, he thought, looks like another cyborg. He didn't notice that they were actually feathers.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he tried to get her attention. "Can I get a close look at those wings?"

edited 19th Sep '14 7:52:17 PM by maxwellelvis

[Courtyard]

So many people; Nore found them fascinating, while Solin was suspicious. Nore's attention was drawn to Kassandra and Steve. Their sense of fashion was completely baffling, and having never actually seen a redhead, Nore stared at Steve for a while, wondering what dye he used to get that natural look. Her staring finally ended when she switched over to studying the disconcerting dancer with the golden eyes. Like something out of the Canon of Okul.

Solin was more concerned about Makoto. A woman dressed like a Terran hunter-killer and toting one of their rifles was always a cause for concern. He tapped Nore on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow behind, then walked up to Makoto. He did not hide his suspicion, but it was a polite and professional concern. "Quite the firearm you have there, ma'am," he said. "Expecting some kinda trouble?" He looked her over, seeking out military patches — especially the green hummingbird of Western Amalgamated. They seemed to have agents everywhere.

Nore peeked out from behind her bodyguard and added, "Nore ul'Alitoth, and my man here is Solin ul'Oriyith."

[Courtyard]

When Samson noticed Kassandra drinking the water from the fountain, they gagged and barely managed to hold back from vomiting.

"Jesus lady, that's gross! I mean I've seen stuff that was worse, but that stuff had an excuse."

Samson stared at the Kassandra and Steve in a mixed expression of disgust and concern.

[Market Hall - Tevarian and Alan]

"Hmmm... an anniversary?" Tevarian said, sounding uncertain, "I'm afraid I'm not much of an expert on Terran dating practices, so I don't think I can be of much help for suggestions."

"Is there anything in particular you had in mind, or that he might like?" he said, "perhaps I might have something that would work?"

[[Market Hall, Tevarian's booth]

Alan thought hard. "Well, he really likes purple things... electronic stuff; if you've seen him, you could probably tell that much... I've been thinking of getting him a faceplate, been getting a bit tired of all that beige. You have anything like any of that? Maybe if you got a good look at him, you might have some idea?"

Can you tell that I've never had to buy an anniversary gift?

[[Market Hall – Youkai Showcase – Ila Locera, Nagako, Mahiro]]

Adelphos walked through the thriving crowd, looking from one person to the other, smiling to himself. He was a man in his late thirties, though one couldn’t tell so just by looking at him. His bones of his face were set just right; he had just the right amount of fat, just enough skin and muscle, giving him a handsome face, while retaining an ageless quality. Of course, that had come about by his own design, having taken full advantage when the opportunity had presented itself. The same could be said for his mismatched eyes – the left one was a bright green while the right was a deep red. He had a slight tan and an outcrop of thick mud-brown hair which, though unkempt, only served to give him a much more rugged look.

He wore a rough, bright green cotton cloak, with edges of a much darker shade, though he’d kept the hood down. His cloak did a good job of hiding his hands, the palms of which were covered with cut scars, some still healing. It also hid the dagger that lay sheathed, strapped to the back of his waist. He wore a full-sleeved blue shirt underneath the cloak, with white wavy patterns running horizontally along the chest and arms, and brown pants over brown boots. What was of interest about his clothes were the two sets of bright green concentric circles on his shirt, about two inches wide and placed one above the other, that irradiated slightly.

On his shoulder was an unusual animal – it looked similar to a squirrel, but had large tufted ears, and was as white as ivory, with a few brown stripes here and there. However, it didn’t show any of the manic energy of a squirrel, instead sitting perfectly still and noiseless. Of course, it wasn’t a real animal, just the corpses of some animals he had brought together, reanimated and modified. He hadn’t even given it a name.

As he walked through the hall he saw a girl floating around on butterfly wings. That being the first unusual thing to catch his attention, he decided to follow her and see where she went, quickening his pace slightly. Adelphos caught up just as she settled down at a stall and, after overhearing her speak, said, “I’d like to know as well.”

[[Showcase Hall – Martian Dynamics]]

Adelphos moved from one stall to the other, waiting for something to catch his attention. He looked the same as the one in the Market Hall; same face, same clothes, same circles on his shirt, even the same animal on his shoulder.

What finally caught his attention though wasn’t a stall, but rather the skin color of one of the people running it. It was a dark brown, or was it black even, he couldn’t tell from this distance. But he had never seen skin like among the people of his world. And it helped that the stall was interesting as well, big constructs he had never seen before, though he doubted he could find anything he could use there.

As he approached, he noticed the men there were about his own height. “So what do we have here?” he asked as he arrived at the stall.

[[Courtyard – Nore, Solin, Makoto]]

Adelphos had been sitting with his eyes closed for a while now, opening them only occasionally to give a cursory glance of his surroundings. His squirrel pet sat beside him on the bench. It had been decided that three of him, not counting the one at his own stall, would suffice to cover the fair, but he had had the bad luck of picking this spot. Through each closed eye, he could see through the Spectres on one of the other clones’ shirt, as they could see through the ones on his. But he had been here for a few hours now, and nothing of interest had happened yet.

That was until the girl with what appeared to be a big weapon on her back arrived. Currently she was engaged in a conversation with two others. He got up and made his way to the group. “Well, hello there, fine day we’re having,” he said as he came up to them.

Post for the entertainment section will come soon

edited 19th Sep '14 9:35:25 PM by Elfhunter

[Market Hall]

Rosa sighed. "Sure, why not? It's not like people don't touch the wings of every Fey that crosses their path, even with that good luck superstition."

"The name's Rosa, by the way. And you are?"

edited 20th Sep '14 8:36:01 AM by daird

[Market Hall - Tevarian and Alan]

"Hmm... I don't think I have anything like a faceplate, but purple or electronic, let me see..." Tevarian said, as turned around, looking through some bags, and opening a few boxes behind the table in front.

"Ah, I do have this Pracanite Art Crystal," he said, holding up a small purple diamond-shaped gem, about the size of a grape. Upon closer inspection, one could see lines and refraction points carved within the crystal, which looked like a great sea of cables. "It's supposed to hold the secret of eternity, but I really think it's actually just supposed to look pretty."

"And I do have plenty of electronics, like the tablet on the table here," he said, pointing to the tablet-looking object on the table. "It's a SCTC encryption demo tablet, I'm not sure if that would be of interest?"

"Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I have any purple electronics, but I could show you other electronic gadgets if that's what you're interested in?" Tevarian said, turning back around.

Actually, I've never gotten one either, although there are plenty of guides online. However, even given my inexperience, Tevarian would be much more inexperienced, as his species is... well, strange. :P

Market Hall (Youkai Showcase)

As it turned out, Mahiro didn't need to wait for long before customers started arriving. The first one appeared almost as soon as he finished speaking to Nagako. He didn't so much as bat an eye at the woman's unusual appearance. If he thought her unusual at all, he certainly didn't show it, and regardless he wasn't interested in learning more about her. It was time for business.

"Ah, a customer!" he said cheerfully with a huge grin, before noticing the man that had joined her shortly afterwards, "Two customers! My my, looks like my humble establishment is getting quite a bit of attention today."

He made an odd sort of chuckle, before continuing. "This here is my Youkai Showcase, dedicated to showing the absolute best youkai society has to offer." He motioned towards the jewelry. "Here we have the best jewelry money can buy, made by our best artisans. And over here," this time gesturing towards the scrolls, "are fine depictions of our society's accomplishments." Next were the swords. "And these weapons were crafted only by the best oni weaponsmiths." Finally, he pointed towards a series of silks hanging to his left. "And these are made of the finest jorogumo silk!"

He then turned back towards his two customers before clasping his hands together. "And all this can go for remarkably low prices. Enough to catch your attention, yes?" He then grinned toothily, in the process showing off his decidedly inhuman dentition, most notably his large canines that were almost twice as long as his other teeth.

Nagako, meanwhile, was much more attentive to the newcomers' appearances than her father, and was silently observing them while Mahiro hawked on and on. She wasn't sure she really liked the looks of either. She did think the woman's wings were pretty - anything inspired by insects was a plus in her book - but the rest of her just seemed...unnatural. She almost looked like a statue, yet moved like a living being. The man didn't bother her quite as much, although his little critter was disturbingly motionless.

They didn't look like they were interested in her, or even had noticed her for that matter, and neither looked like the type to be interested in stag beetles, and so she just let her father handle them and instead looked out over her part of the stall at the rest of the area. Her little part of the stall was placed in such a manner as to let people directly access her, and as such her view of the market hall was different from Mahiro's.

She sighed a little again, although this time it was wondering if anyone here was actually interested in what she was trying to sell, or if her entire time here would be spent helping her father with one thing or the other.

[Market Hall – Youkai Showcase – Ila Locera, Mahiro, Nagako, Adelphos #1]

When Adelphos walked up to her, Ila glanced over at him, and thought, interesting, he looks like a miaii... She's perceiving that Adelphos seems to be in multiple places at once.

Then, listening attentively to Mahiro's description, she thought, he's trying too hard - I feel like he should be selling used vehicles...

Once Mahiro was finished, she said to him, "a fine selection of merchandise, indeed. I am interested in the swords, but would you say they are more in the style of Masamune or Muramasa?"

Are any of the items at the booth enchanted or magical? Ila has a sort of magic-sight, that allows her to see Adelphos' connection to his copies, as well as other enchantments or spells that might be active. (At least to see that they exist, she may not be able to see their true nature, etc.)

edited 19th Sep '14 10:29:37 PM by Sonzai

Showcase Hall [Martian Dynamics]

The man with suit turned to the newcomer. "Do you mean us," his wave took in the general area of the stall, "or us?" The man's attention, so he'd probably noticed the fact that while Dimitri's suit had a pin of the same look as the flag above the building...save that it replaced the dirt/rust red with blood red.

"Everything here's Martian Dynamics products, or parts thereof." He gestured to himself again. "I'm Dimitri. I know the name's odd considering my looks. A relic of Russian intervention in Cuba." What on Earth was that...squirrelly thing? Dimitri wasn't colony-born, but he hadn't actually been to Earth in about ten years. That still didn't look like anything he'd ever heard of.

edited 20th Sep '14 12:31:21 AM by Night

[Showcase Hall - Bindery of Leison]

Amongst the stalls is a mid-sized one themed green. Subdued yet soothing, it stood out amongst the group of stalls it was located in. Hanging on the walls of the stall are unusual lamps, curious sources of illumination shaped a transparent cube, contained within a glass ball. The light it gave was a tad unnatural, yet doesn't feel out of sync with the atmosphere of the stall itself.

On prominent display was an assortment of what appeared to be small pieces of rectangular glass. Each bearing differing colors within the visible spectrum. Carved upon them are ominous yet structured lines that bore meaning unknown to a layman's eyes. Placed on a bed of fine sand, the pieces of glass almost seem to glow under the ambient light. And those blessed with a sense not present in normal people might sense something else coming from those shards of glass. In a separate display the label 'Souvenirs' was hung, which contained various pieces of glassware. From a purely aesthetic point of view, those vases and cups and decorations deserve to be the centerpiece of the a stall seemingly about glass, yet they are presented as the side dish.

Behind the display, stood a young woman black straight hair. Her subtly green eyes showed welcome to any curious visitor. She was wearing a dark green blazer over blue-themed casual wear. Her posture was straight and sharp, her guard always up and alert showing signs of a trained mentality.

On the corner of the stall was another girl, visibly younger and shorter than the previous one, she wore the same blazer as the other girl, which seemed to be a size too big for her, over a black shirt and long pants. A tired expression was visible on her face as she lazily sat behind a less prominent display, mulling about the state of affairs back in her homeworld. Her pair of red eyes leered about the waves of passing visitors, and then focused to the other girl. "Lyra, didn't you feel tired from last night's preparations?" she asked.

Lyra shook her head, "The fair has just begun, Aida, we can't afford to look bad this early in." she said, "Still, will you be fine working both shifts? Honestly I'd concern myself with that if I were you."

"I'm not the outgoing type to begin with. Staying within the bounds of the stall suits me more." she replied. "Anyway, Leo sure was cheerful when he went out earlier."

"In a fair like this, he won't be able to contain his adventurous spirit. To begin with, it's for his sake that I begged father permission to attend the fair. His 'grounding' isn't exactly over, after all." Lyra said.

With a low hum, Aida nodded. As she continued to eye the high spirits of people walking about, A lingering feeling told her that it would be a very long day for all involved.

edited 20th Sep '14 3:36:15 AM by FlowingCotton

[Courtyard]

Kassandra's eyes widened, realising that Samson was yelling in her direction. She turned around to face them, allowing the water cupped in her hands to drop and splash on the floor. "Gross? It's... water." Kassandra's voice shifted into a hushed whisper as she turned towards Steve. "They do drink water here, right?"

"You'll have to excuse my... friend here," explained a rather annoyed Steve, "She's not from around here. She's from... uh... Canada, or something."