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
Cloud Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Adrien, Nore, Solin)
Nioba raised an eyebrow at Adrien's vague answer. Would it kill him to give more than one-sentence answeres? she wondered. She decided not to press it; he didn't seem like he had much relevant knowledge anyway.
She turned to Nore and Solin and offered a rueful smile. "Ahh, sleep. If I'd been smarter, I would have done that quite a while ago and probably avoided a lot of trouble. Maybe we'll canvas the lobby, and if we don't find anything, we'll call it a night..." She shook her head - the cider was definitely wearing off. She put a hand on Nore's shoulder. "Sleep well, friends."
"Goodnight!" Lihiri said cheerfully.
By now, it should be clear to all except the most dense of us that sheep are secretly conspiring to kill us all and steal our pants.
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok] They are—it hasn't occurred to Rashaeans to mint their coins at lower purities. That's my story for now, anyway, since I'm too lazy to do a lot of research on historical coins. :p
Somlan's face fell when Tevarian quoted him the item's price. He wouldn't be likely to earn that much in a year, and he certainly hadn't brought enough. The Vizier had the majority of their mission funds—no doubt out of fear that Somlan would blow their cash on frivolous gifts for his sweetheart back home—but even then Somlan wasn't sure how much the man had brought with them.
Of course, he thought wistfully as he set it back down on display. I want it, so I can't have it. Or do I have that the wrong way 'round?
He was still staring at the device when Zach asked his question. He blinked and turned his stare on the boy.
"I'm sorry? I don't... understand the question. What else would you make money out of?"
[Entertainment Hall - Ejra Demori's Fantastical Emporium]
Ejra's brow furrowed, and for a moment he looked almost intimidating, but it was a trick of the poor light; his expression was just one of concerned unhappiness. He took the lens and regarded it in his hand as if it were something unclean.
"Nothing? Well, that is a disappointment, my dear, I'm terribly sorry. Still, of all my wondrous spells and artifacts here, surely I've something to do the trick. Surely, surely..."
He tottered over to a shelf he hadn't touched yet, in a far corner of the tent, and rifled through the trinkets on that shelf. He hunched forward, ducking his head between the shelves as he searched.
"A dark sphere—no, that won't do. Gustha's scepter, well, yes, if the poor girl weren't lost then that would do wonders. An ornithopter? No, no, there's no room to set it up, let alone operate it. A welding jar isn't going to do anybody any good. Certainly won't get any use out of a spellbo...Now, wait." He straightened suddenly, rattling the entire shelf with his head, and backed out, gingerly rubbing the back of his skull with his free hand. In his other hand was clutched a large book—a very large book. There was no way it could have been on the shelf at all, let alone hidden by a bunch of trinkets. If it were opened and measured from end to end, the book would be wider than Ejra's shoulders, and it looked to be at least a handspan thick. He seemed to have no trouble carrying the massive thing, though. On the contrary, he hefted it as if it were hollow and made of pumice stone.
"A spellbook," he said, as if that explained it. "Not a grimoire, mind you—you'd think 'spellbook' would be a better name for a book of spells, but there you have it. This marvel opens the mind. It doesn't give you anything new—but it lets you use what you have with an efficiency that you would not believe. Open it, and you can understand nearly anything you see or hear, and draw conclusions, and draw conclusions based on those conclusions, and draw conclusions based on those conclusions. The man who sold it to me won it in a duel with a man who had stolen it from a queen's castle—a queen who had used it to build an empire. According to the story, once she had the book—I haven't a clue where she got it—she was able to deduce all of her enemies' actions well in advance, merely by remembering previous engagements. By looking at the clouds, you could tell whether it rained seventeen days ago on the other side of the world—or whether it will rain tomorrow, right here. I imagine you could look back on the last time you saw your dear sister and guess where she has gone, and will go, and find her with ease. And if she has fallen in with a stranger you have never met, no matter—that stranger has doubtless encountered someone else here, who has encountered someone else, and so on until somebody has passed you by. Merely seeing the tail end of all those interactions will be enough to understand all of them."
With his free hand—it seemed absurd that he could hold the tome up in one hand—he raised a cautioning finger. "Take care not to leave it open too long, though. If the man who sold me this book is to be believed, using it for more than a few minutes can destroy the mind. There are things man was not meant to know, and if you abuse this artifact, you can know those things. But for a simple task like tracking down a lost girl, a few seconds should be more than enough."
edited 12th Jan '15 11:49:15 PM by SolipSchism
[Markethall-Tevarian's stall]
At that, Zak's face fell just as well. It hadn't occurred to him that any kind of a medieval era would yet to realize the concept of paper currency.
He knew the according response would sound absurd to Somlan, and possibly Tevarian as well, but he couldn't quite back out of it now. Just go with it, he finally thought.
"Umm... Paper...? Sorta...? Where I come from...?" He shrugged, mentally preparing himself for whatever response came his way.
edited 13th Jan '15 9:26:01 AM by TroPartner
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok]
Somlan looked blankly at Zak. His kingdom makes their money out of paper? How does their economy not instantly collapse? But he shook his head. Maybe paper was a valuable commodity there. Maybe they were short on trees, or something. After all, paper was a relatively recent invention in Rashae, the idea itself filched from Dachrea—most religious texts were still scribed on vellum, which had been the norm up until about two hundred years prior, when books were rare and only the church, the government, and scholars really cared about the written word. Now, though, you could use paper to scrawl a shopping list for a day at market, and it wasn't even considered a waste.
He knelt and peered into the display case, and turned his eyes back up to Tevarian.
"Do you, um... Well, you see, I only have about forty sovereigns, all told. Is there anything that would make a nice gift that I could buy for that price?"
edited 13th Jan '15 9:49:40 AM by SolipSchism
[Food Court (Rey, Iris, Mijo)]
He looked up as the word 'Vakaza' appeared at the end of the list on the other half of the screen. "Vakaza?"
"Terrorist group. From some place called Zavi, I think." He nodded and the item on the list became Vakaza of Zavi.
"Anyway... that could be possible. The question here would be how they made this stuff if the particles managed to completely penetrate this supposedly indestructible material. A way to date this would be nice, too, but I should be getting back to work about now. Glad I could sort of help."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Market Hall ~ Food Court] (Joseph, ???)
"Yeah well, that other guy didn't want to march me off to some 'secure' temple." And he hadn't been nearly as unsettling as those two, although they all knew a little more about Joseph than he felt terribly comfortable with.
His large eyes, bearing the stern look of a hard skeptic, scanned the two slowly. He wasn't sure what he expected to see to convince himself one way or another about going with them. A nervous tremble, maybe? Or a drop of sweat, like in that one movie. But he saw nothing of the sort, which almost made the pair seem even stranger, somehow. Still, there stood the chance that they really would be able to help him. They weren't hardly the first people he'd met who were much more knowledgeable than he was and had access to resources much greater than he could imagine. Somehow they already knew that he had been traveling from place to place, from reality to reality. That kind of foresight wasn't exactly common. Besides that, he didn't have a whole lot to lose. Well, besides his money, clothes, and life. And the latter two he'd already lost or had come close to losing during the past week.
Trusting his own unlikely perseverance perhaps more than the word of the strangers, Joseph shrugged, sighed, and said, "All right, all right... I mean, why not?" He climbed off of his seat in what felt like the first time in hours, then walked over to stand in front of his two green guides. "Take me to your leader."
edited 13th Jan '15 1:00:11 PM by Ryuhza
every little word and every little step
[Food Court (Rey, Iris, Mijo)]
Rey nodded agreeably. "Yeah, thanks."
She poked around at what was left of her steak a little. Well, that was a bust. It was good to get at least a little information on what the Vakaza's armor was, but it didn't actually give her any help in figuring out what to do if she ran into Dragonfly or any other agents they had here. Well, what to do is obvious - shoot 'em in the head - but that only works assuming that all of their armor has the same design as Shark's. Which it could be, if I'm right in guessing that they're partly dependent on outside sources for the material.
She sighed, thinking again about giving Kel a call, and looked over at Iris. "So, what are your plans now? I'm probably going to try to get back and touch with my second, then go find someplace to get drunk at, which sounds like it isn't your thing."
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
"No worries," Alice said, sounding genuinely appreciative. "Thanks for at least taking a look, seeing if you could spot anything special." She took a look up at the sky and said, "anyways, it's getting late, and I'm afraid I've got to get going. After a little incident — that fixed itself before we needed to, thank Zombie Jesus — we're gonna be working extra on security for the stall my corp's setting up for the 'morrow." She gave a curtsey and said, "pleasure talking to you, and if you've got any more questions, experiment ideas, whatever, look for the Western Amalgamated stall. Sorry I can't stick around." With that, she headed off.
[Food Court (Rey, Iris, Mijo)]
"Good night!" A smile, and the screen went blank. Iris listened as she closed the cover back over her tablet and put it away. Mijo suddenly got up when he saw that Acquati was gone, then shimmied up her sleeve back to his favorite perch.
"And you'd be right about that." She closed up her candy box. "Takes far too much of it to make me feel any of its effects. I did tell my court that I was going on a day trip, and I wouldn't be surprised if they took that to mean I was only going to be gone while there's still daylight." A tiny chuckle at the thought. "Either way, I think it's best that I head home. I'm new to these 'interdimensional' places. I'm not sure when I'll get the time to come back to one, but I hope we might cross paths again... whenever that day comes. Also..." Iris opened up her purse and took out the tissue-wrapped wad of paper notes their 'employer' shoved into her hands. "I'm sure there's someone here who might exchange this for something useful. I took one of each denomination, otherwise it's of no use to me. Cephast barters to this day and I still have more money than I know what to do with."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Food Court (Rey, Iris, Mijo)]
Rey ate a last piece of steak and stood up, glancing up at the sky through her glasses. Twilight at last.
"Well, it's been different," she said to Iris. She considered asking her about the tablet thing - seemed pretty different from what else she'd heard about Iris's world, Acquati aside - but decided it wasn't worth the trouble. "Nice working with you, Iris. Mijo." And learning from you. "Me, I didn't really do any of this for the money, but good luck with your figuring a way to spend it."
She snapped off an orl salute, forearm held level to her eyes; her old instructors would have considered it insultingly sloppy, but for the modern Reyondh Agavhi it was as respectful as she ever was for anyone. "Let's do this again sometime, should our feet cross paths." That too was a little more formal than she was used to, but hey, why not?
[Showcase Hall — Side Building]
"Very well." Marion left the room without another word.
She stole a glance at the sky, then, at her watch. Hmm. "So I assume," she said to Gerrune, "that he's going to want me to keep bringing him information until I leave or he's satisfied? Because..." She nodded at the sky. "...there might not be time for it today."
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
"All right," said Richard. "See you."
After Alice left, Myles said, "We're not up tomorrow, right?"
"Nope," said Richard. "Tomorrow's free. Thinking of doing something?"
"Eh, I don't know. Maybe. But we should probably think about packing up soon."
"Alright."
[Showcase Hall (Marion, Gerrune)]
Gerrune followed Marion outside of the building and looked up at the sky himself, using one hand to pull off the strip of transparent cloth that had covered his eyes. After a moment of staring in the direction of the sunset, he turned his snout towards her.
"Yes, that should be no problem. In fact the Fat Man will be unavailable for the remainder of this day anyway. Your employment is intended as a long-term business - or at least one lasting until you elect to leave the fair, or it leaves this location."
He inclined his head towards her, then pulled out a small triangular tablet and examined it. "Now, I'm afraid I'm going to be quite busy myself for the next few hours. A genuine pleasure doing business with you, Zer Rakivata." With that he turned and headed back inside.
[Food Court (Rey, Iris, Mijo) > out]
Iris stood and set the rest of the money on the table, it really was as good as kindling to her. "I won't forget it." She gave her a small smile and inclined her head, and Mijo bowed his head deep with his free wing spread. A person-sized portal rippled into being behind them as they bid their farewells.
"Good night, Rey." Iris turned around and strode on in.
Rey could see into the portal, that it led into a clay-walled atrium colored red and orange by the setting sun in the many high windows and the candles below. The pair of staircases on either side of the nearly three human-high arched doorway only underlined the sheer massiveness of the otherwise dragon-sized room.
She broke the surface tension of the portal and slipped back home, and it faded closed.
That's a wrap for me, folks.
edited 14th Jan '15 9:03:44 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok]
"Sorry it's out of your price range," Tevarian said, "but since the Coilarians are extinct, I can't really offer it for less, or I'd be taking a loss." That, and gold and silver are worth about 1/10th as much in Tevarian's time than they're worth now.
"However, I do have a variety of more affordable artifacts, such as these Pracanite Art Crystals," Tevarian 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. "They're supposed to hold the secret of eternity, but I really think they're actually just supposed to look pretty." It is just a fancy synthetic diamond-like gem, and has no magical or technological abilities or properties. It is really hard to scratch or break, though.
"I have virtually any color one could want, and I'd be willing to part with them at about two of the gold coins per crystal," Tevarian said. And best not to get involved in the discussion of paper money, he thought, this person must be from... well... I don't even know, half a millennium ago, at least?
[Food Court - Joseph, ??? >> Walking towards the Courtyard]
"Thank you for agreeing to accompany us," the woman said, "and you are always free to leave if circumstances are no longer desirable for you."
"The temple is this way, it is not very far," the man said, as they walked out of the food court and towards the central courtyard.
Assuming Joseph follows them...
"Also, a quick question before we arrive," the woman said, "if the cloaked figure from before was not going to take you anywhere, how were they going to return you to your home?"
They should arrive next post unless they're interrupted, or Joseph stops or something. :)
edited 14th Jan '15 7:43:32 PM by Sonzai
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok]
Oops, I totally just realized Somlan had an internal monologue in response to Zak... without actually responding to Zak.
"I have to ask," Somlan said to Zak. "Why paper? Is it rare where you come from? Is that why you use it as currency?"
When Tevarian held up the crystal, Somlan's face rose just as suddenly as it had fallen a moment before. He held his hand out as if to say, May I hold it?
"That could make a hell of a ring," he said. "And wouldn't you know it, my mother is a jeweler who's put trinkets on the fingers of two kings and a queen. She could mount one of these in a ring that'd look positively magical, she could." Somehow, his expression got even more excited. "A Silver Circle band! I can't believe I never considered that before, actually. Sorry, I—" he held up both of his hands, backs to Tevarian. On each middle finger there was a simple silver band, polished to a high sheen. "Long story, basically means I've trained as a wizard. But one of those, mounted on something made out of one of these...."
He smiled stupidly to himself, imagining some romantic scenario and the giving away of jewelry.
[Markethall-Tevarian's stall]
"Um, no..." Zak responded, trying in vain to find an explanation, "It's not that, it's... well, they do... weird stuff to it... I think... I think it's got something to do with cotton?"
He then stopped, blinking oddly at the spectacle Somlan was making. Finally, Zak covered his mouth, trying not to snicker at the sight.
[Market Hall ~ Food Court —> Walking to Courtyard] (Joseph, ???)
Joseph followed along silently, occasionally eyeing his two escorts in the hopes of somehow learning something useful about them—or at least something that would make him feel just a little less lost—but mostly he just did his best to avoid accidentally bumping into people, or getting his feet or tail kicked or stepped on. Even fully clothed and standing within a crowd full of sore thumbs, he felt just a little exposed, but that was probably owed more to his current mental state than anything else.
He didn't immediately respond to the question asked, instead frowning deeply, then opening his mouth, closing it, opening it once more and opting to ask a question of his own. "Have you been watching me? Like, were you two listening in when I talked to that other guy?"
every little word and every little step
[Food Court (Rey) / Entertainment Hall - Ejra Demori's Fantastical Emporium (Selina, Kel, Ejra]
Rey stared after the closing portal silently. That's not something you see every day.
After a moment, she shook it off and tapped one finger on the side of her glasses. The opaqueness slowly cleared away from them, leaving them looking less like futuristic sunglasses than a pair of ordinary glasses that happened to be set into a futuristic frame. She smiled thinly - always nice having normal light on a human planet - and turned her head back and forth, looking around the food court for a bar or somewhere else to get a drink.
But first...
—-
Kel had been trying to fight off an increasing feeling of annoyance as Selina and Demori kept going back and forth over different magical tools for finding her sister. He was trying to be understanding about it - Selina had done a good job earlier of getting under his skin when it came to how he was acting - but it was hard to shake the feeling that this search would go on until the universe came to an end at the rate it was going.
So when Rey called on his communications implant, he was happy to take it.
Hey, Agavhi. How's it going?
Been a weird day, Kel. You free?
Not just yet, but I'm hoping I will be soon.
When you are, meet me at the hotel. Got a few questions for you about some of the fun I've had today.
With that she hung up. Kel sighed; 'fun' pretty obviously meant one thing with Rey. And it seemed so quiet today...
Mostly just establishing the current situation for both characters. I still have no actual contributions for Kel to make, but Rey is available for interaction.
edited 14th Jan '15 10:08:52 PM by nrjxll
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok]
"It sounds like an excellent gift to me," Tevarian said, "if you're interested, I also have a variety of other colors." He then held out a small box, with about twenty similar-looking gems, across the spectrum from deep red to violet, including a dark grayish-black, and clear as well. Jeez, I don't know why everyone is so interested in these, but hey, know your market, I guess, he thought.
"Feel free to hold any of them if you want to," Tevarian said, holding the crystals up for Somlan to look at or observe individually.
[Walking towards the Courtyard >> Walkway >> Temple Entrance - Joseph, ???]
They walked out of the food court, and turned into one of the covered walkways surrounding the Courtyard.
"We and others have been observing all public locations within this fair," the man said, "and many other places as well."
"We do not observe any private events or locations, however," the woman said.
"This data is necessary for us to interpret the Will of the Multiverse," the man said, as they stopped up against the corner wall of the walkway. "We have arrived."
They both put their hands up against the wall, as a symbol of taking the integral of infinity appeared on the wall. A moment later, the wall revealed a door, which slid upward, revealing the temple inside. The room visible within was a medium-sized hall, about two stories tall, with curved support columns leading to a bright light on the ceiling. Directly below was a great sculpture that looked like a sphere with a ring, both glowing with a white light, suspended up halfway to the top by a fountain of sparking water lit from below. Lining the sides of the hall were normal-sized doors, most likely leading to other chambers.
The two adherents walked inside, motioning for Joseph to follow.
"Welcome to the Temple Aeorinin," the man said.
"Feel free to come inside," the woman said.
If Joseph were to enter, he might notice a few other things upon a further look. First, on the right immediately-inside wall, there was a row of lockers, with a large creature next to them. It looked a bit like what one might imagine a cross between a frog and sumo wrestler might look like, and was lying back, apparently asleep, in a comically-strained folding chair. It was greenish-blue, at least 3m/10ft long and 1.8m/6ft high, when sitting down, and had gray metallic clothing on, apparently skin-tight, but somewhat thick.
In addition, a few benches could be seen next to the sculpture, and a very boxy humanoid-esque robot was sitting on one of them, staring at the ringed sphere. Across on the other side, only partially visible, was a person, seemingly made of white light, and dressed in ethereal robes, floating above the floor.
Note that Joseph doesn't have to enter yet, and someone else will be here shortly to ask the real questions. :)
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth - Somlan Erris, Zachary Jackson, Tevarian T'jok]
Going to work on extracting my character so that we can go to the next day before the Time Vortex implodes due to time being suspended for too long.
Somlan's head bobbed a little as he peered at the crystals, and he plucked out a deep, dark green one.
"I think this'll do nicely," he said, peering into the inner designs of the thing. "I'm not the family jeweler, so I can't really say much about it, but I'd like this one. Two sovereigns, you said?" He fished the coins out and offered them.
[Showcase Hall — Side Building]
Marion nodded to Gerrune as he left. Once she was alone, she took another look at the sky. Too late to do anything resembling investigating.
Time to retire, then. She left the fair proper and headed to her room at the hotel. Good place. The minibar was even more gratuitously expensive than usual, though. Or maybe it was just her.
Got it.
[Markethall-Tevarian's stall]
"Who are you buying them for?" Zak asked curiously, picking up his own interest in the gems.
[Courtyard ~ Walkway —> Temple Entrance] (Joseph, ???)
"The 'Will of the Multiverse'," Joseph murmured, nodding slowly, "Right, right..." He desperately wished for somebody else to be there with them; someone that he could share a knowing look with. Maybe that was his problem- or one of his problems, anyways. It seemed as though, for the past few days at least, there hadn't been anybody around who was on his same level, or even hovering near it. No wonder he felt homesick.
When his two escorts revealed their temple—somehow hidden right on the fairgrounds—Joe was at a bit of a loss for what to say, or do, for that matter. When they had said that they would take him to a temple, he wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting. A large tent, maybe? Definitely not a secret wall leading into what looked like the entrance of a luxurious hotel.
He remained standing outside for a few seconds, tilting and pointing his big lizardy head this way and that to get a better look of the place. It wasn't until the green-robed woman explicitly invited him inside that he'd even thought to make a move for the door. It all seemed so pristine; even though Joe had been cleaned up a bit before ending up at the fair, he still felt somehow too dirty to enter.
He finally did take a cautious step inside, then a few more, to clear his tail from the door in case it was planning on closing behind him. However, at that point, he went very much back into his mode of standing still and looking at everything—though avoiding making eye contact whenever possible.
All he could think to say was, "Did you guys have to get a permit for this? I think I was supposed to have one, but nobody ever bothered me about it, so..."
every little word and every little step
Attitude is prohibited
[Entertainment Hall - Ejra Demori's Fantastical Emporium]
Selina stared at the strange book, quite intimidated by its apparent power and origins. "That seems kinda dangerous..." She said, uncertainly. "But, if it will help me find Tamara, I'll try it." She tried to sound more confident than she felt. Taking a deep breath, she gingerly held the book in her hands, gulped, and opened its strange, eldritch pages.
The sudden rush of knowledge left her breathless, and for a moment, she thought that she might have become omniscient. She wasn't stunned for long, however, and soon focused her mind on the last time she'd seen her sister. It seemed like so long ago, but in actuality, it couldn't have been much more than an hour ago, maybe two. The images rushed to meet her mind, and she smiled as she perceived her sister; unharmed, a little anxious, but in good company. She didn't know the stranger who was with her, but the book told her that this person - apparently a spirit of some kind - was totally benign, at least towards Tamara, and the book was very convincing. She felt the urge to pursue more knowledge, and the book made so much available to her, but she remembered what the old man had said and resisted the urge.
She slammed he book closed and passed it back to Ejra, quite exhausted by the experience. After a moment she started to giggle, and abruptly, she threw her arms around Kel and hugged him. "I saw her! I saw her!" She said, excitedly. "She's safe and I know where she is! Oh, thank Hecate!" She almost bolted out of the tent there and then, but stopped just before leaving. "Oh, um," She said to Ejra. "Thank you so much! Do I owe you something? Money, or..?"
[Market Hall] (Food Court) (Nagako, Tamara)
"Oh. She's not here..." Tamara was visibly disappointed. "Well, maybe she'll come back here? I mean, it's not like she'd leave without me..."
Right?
She turned to Nagako. "Hey, do you want to sit and wait with me? I'd really appreciate it." She walked over to the nearest table and sat down. "Anyway, I've heard of Japan. Never been, though. What's it like there? And what's it like in a hidden city? That sounds cool." She said, swinging her legs underneath the table. They were just a little too short to reach the ground. "Could you move to another city if you wanted to? The way Selina moved to San Francisco? Mom says people have to get jobs to afford to move away from home. Selina works as an airplane pilot, kinda. Do youkai have to get jobs?"
edited 16th Jan '15 8:56:49 PM by Blackfire667
Not entirely dead.
[Food Court - Joseph, ???]
"We are adherents of the Will of the Multiverse," the man said, "and we give you our word that you will not be harmed in any way."
"The data requested is merely an interpretation of your journeys," the woman said, "and what they can inform us all about the Will of the Multiverse."
"The temple is within this fair," the man said, "and while we could ask you about your experiences here, those who would answer your questions cannot leave."
"Yes, the Oracles cannot leave the temple," the woman said, "and they may be able to reunite you with the cloaked figure from before. Who you seemed so willing to trust."
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.