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 - Tevarian's Booth]
"Yes, these are city-sized processing cores we're talking about here," Tevarian said, "I, uh, don't have anything like that for sale, in case you're wondering."
"And they're not completely convincing," he said, "sure, everything looks the same, but there are no microscopic details, and atomic physics experiments wouldn't work, for example. So, it might look and feel real, but any reasonably competent observer can easily tell the difference. And generally everyone knows it's a virtual reality, they just prefer it to the physical world."
"Ok, the scan may tingle a bit, but it is completely harmless," the hologram woman said. She stared intently at Ghiln for about a minute, until her appearance suddenly changed into a practically perfect duplicate, clothes and everything. Ghiln might feel a slight tingle during the scan, as sub-molecular forcefields carefully analyzed her biological structure. Her voice even sounded similar, when she said, "appearance customization complete. Parameters that may be inaccurate are if your species changes appearance under certain circumstances, as well as perceptive data. Species data is merely a database of all relevant information about a particular species' biology."
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
Laugh and grow dank!
[Parking Lot]
Adrien gave a wry grin. "Yes, you definitely remind me of her. She-" He fell silent for a moment, considering, before he continued, "We work together. She's my partner. A sister in arms. I've known her for..." Adrien paused again, "Well, a good while now. She has that same kind of drive as you."
yey
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]
Ghiln blinked. "Um, is that something that's very common in your reality? Species changing appearance regularly?" She wasn't even sure what that would mean.
She decided not to press the hologram about it, though. Her behavior so far had been awfully aggressive when it came to questions, and she worried it would seem rude. (The hologram probably couldn't take offense, of course, but Tevarian might). For the same reason, she decided to accept the claim about city-sized computing cores being enough to create convincing simulations, much as it still sounded like an exaggeration, as the straightforward truth.
Her eyes moving back and forth, she studied the hologram. It certainly did look remarkably like her, though she wasn't entirely certain if that was a good thing - somehow it seemed a little egotistical. Perhaps it'd be better to use another qrtxian appearance - not that she really had time to figure out how to come up with one, though.
"So, um, to answer your question - no, we don't, unless I'm misunderstanding." She looked at her backup; it was just a couple of minutes until noon, which meant that she couldn't spend much more time here. And there was no way she could even try to justify purchasing the hologram. "And you should probably change back now. I don't believe I'm likely to purchase you" - she shifted into an amusedly self-deprecatory posture - "and I'm not so egotistical that I want anyone else who comes by here to see my face."
[Parking Lot]
Rey looked down awkwardly, not sure how to take that. It had been a little stronger than she was expecting. "Oh. Uh. Thanks, I guess."
Partly to distract herself, she ordered her backup to show the time. It was just a few minutes before noon. "So. I'd better get going to meet up with Nioba and Lihiri and the arena. You should head over to Kel. He's probably going out of his way to get the stick honestly, so there shouldn't be any awkwardness for you to walk into." A pause. "See you on the other side."
[Entertainment Hall — Ejra's Emporium]
"Bloodshed Fever". Nice name, mused Marion. Not the kind of thing that struck her fancy, though. Too much potential for collateral with guns and all. She took the rock and examined it. "You say 'flashbang'. So do you pour power into it and it glows, or do you store power in it for use later? And, if the latter, is it reusable in the sense that you can use some of the power, or is it all or nothing?"
She turned the rock over. Looked nice. Obsidian, maybe? Well, actually not. It didn't look glassy enough and the texture was wrong. But then what kind of rock was it? Ah, well. "And you're talking about 'red' magic. What do you mean by that?"
I've read the previous definitions, so you can summarize Ejra telling Marion if you want.
edited 4th Mar '15 11:40:41 AM by TeraChimera
[Entertainment Hall—Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]
Roger that. Also, I'm not sure if I misunderstood your last post or if you misunderstood mine, but the lizard's foot is a spell to summon a bellows lizard; the black rock is the flashbang. She sounds like she's interested in the flashbang so I'll assume she actually took the rock, not the lizard foot—let me know if I got that wrong.
"Ah, well," Ejra said, setting aside the spells Marion had passed over, "it's a type of spell known as a 'sorcery', which means you cast it, it has an effect, and then it fades. It's difficult to explain without using circular explanations—rather like explaining color without mentioning the sense of sight—but the easiest way is to simply explain the process. You'll gather your power, and when you channel it into the trinket, the spell will activate, discharging all of the mana that you've given it. You can cast it again, of course, but you'll need to channel mana again. For scalable spells like this, merely channel the desired amount of power through the trinket. When you cut off the flow of mana, it will activate. You'll be unaffected by the flash, of course," he added. "The majority of spells—though hardly all of them—are designed so as to be harmless to their caster, and this one is no exception. Interestingly, when you gain more experience and finesse with this spell in particular, you can use it on multiple specific targets simultaneously—you could cast it on a crowd, for instance, and blind five particular people while leaving the rest unaffected. Truly curious!" he exclaimed, the living image of a snake oil salesman.
In response to her question about red mana, he explained all five colors in similar terms to what he'd told Ghiln earlier.
edited 3rd Mar '15 4:20:55 PM by SolipSchism
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono, Mev, Ksana)
Veneris said, voice slightly loud, "well, you could at least try to explain everything you're rambling about! I mean, because..."
She was mostly covering for two of the largest and most intimidating of the bearded acolytes. They moved behind Mev with uncanny silence and, without comment, one of them attempted to deliver a chop wreathed in magic-disrupting energies to his spine.
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]
"Sure, plenty of them do," Tevarian said, "for example, the Ouuylai can basically change their appearance at will. Plenty others molt, change color, things like that. I think most species have pretty stable appearances, at least in general."
"Ok!" the hologram woman said, her appearance suddenly changing back to the original form.
"So, is there anything else you're looking for, or will that be all for today, then?" Tevarian said.
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono, Mev, Ksana)
Mev didn't even try to dodge, believing himself immune. However, due to a twist of fate he could have never forseen, the anti-magical energies hit him, and disconnected him from the distant force that was powering his and Iono's abilities. Even though this disconnection was quite temporary, the force was responsible for his continued existence, as his nature had become so dependent on it, far beyond his knowledge.
And so, he almost immediately disintegrated into black carbon dust, the remainder of his matter settling down into a pile scarcely one-quarter his original size.
Iono stepped back, putting up her energy barrier from before, and said, "what - what did you do to him? Stay away - don't touch me!"
The force, which until now had merely obeyed Mev and Iono's instructions, suddenly took an interest in this distant corner of the multiverse. Someone was cheating.
Don't worry, the force won't (and can't) really attack or disrupt anything.
edited 3rd Mar '15 8:19:00 PM by Sonzai
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
Laugh and grow dank!
[Parking Lot]
Adrien nodded once. "I'll do that. Though, I don't think you've actually told me where to meet him. You mentioned a stall?"
yey
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]
Ghiln tilted her head, still nonplussed, but then shifted her posture back into an accepting one. At least some of those things sounded plausible enough, though she still had no idea how a species could evolve that could change their appearance at will.
Then again, maybe they didn't evolve naturally. It's not as if his meta-civilization hasn't seemed more advanced in many other ways!
She bowed from the waist. "Thank you, but I think that will be all for the moment," she told Tevarian. "I don't... I don't have so many monetary resources I can afford to spend all of them here." She thought a moment about the right words. "It's been pleasant doing business with you, and seeing what you had to offer, but I should be going now."
After waiting for his reply, she would turn and head back into the crowd unless there was some special reason to stay.
[Parking Lot]
Rey winced. "Oh, hells. Could have sworn I - right, never mind. He's over at a stall called Vard... something... Exports. It's in the Market Hall section." She added a couple of more precise data about its location with the help of her backup, then nodded to Adrien again and headed through the entrance and towards the Entertainment Hall.
Waiting on Strix now. Rey can be assumed to have arrived at the arena whenever you want.
[Entertainment Hall — Ejra's Emporium]
Solip: noted and changed. She was looking at the flashbang; I just misread something.
The first, then. "Hmm," said Marion noncommittally. Interesting, particularly the aiming bit, but still not really the sort of thing that she'd want. Too situational.
Something about the description of the different kinds of mana nagged at her. "Okay, so I'm assuming that none of the types of mana are inherently good or evil. How come, when describing black as ambition and power, you feel the need to clarify it as 'not evil', but you didn't do it with red, which you said was impulsive, destructive, and violent? What's so bad about ambition that you needed to say that? If you don't have ambition, you won't get anywhere significant in life."
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated tent]
Ksana twitched a little when she felt the acolyte's antimagic. Nothing painful, but a bit unusual, even if she could tell what it was.
So when Mev disintegrated, her response (after she got over the initial surprise) was rather blasé. The only way that could happen was if Mev was a magical construct and then, well, he wasn't really a person, was he? She stayed quiet, waiting to see how Veneris would handle it.
edited 4th Mar '15 9:32:07 PM by TeraChimera
[Entertainment Hall — Erja's Emporium]
Ejra smiled and nodded his head. "I qualified black mana because it is often misunderstood as evil due to its amorality—not immorality—and its ties to death and disease. But, yes, red is sometimes misunderstood as well. In truth, any of the colors of mana can be tied to evil actions and impulses—White can ruthlessly impose its vision of order and morality on others, blue can use its intelligence and cunning to manipulate and torment, red can destroy indiscriminately with no regard to collateral damage, green can be brutally unforgiving of weakness, and those are just a few possibilities; but it is equally possible for any of the colors to be used for good. Just as I can use a hammer to create or destroy, so can mana of all colors be used."
Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports (Sotto, Brosk, Kel)
Sotto sighed. This was not the first time he'd had to deal with someone who did not have physical tender, although he was disappointed at how many other cultures seemed to place their faith in things they could not physically hold. "Brosk, fetch that... thing the organizers gave us that allows us to accept non-physical payments..."
Brosk grunted and retreated into the tent, then returned with a bulky console with a touchscreen interface and a pad. He set it down on the ground before the guest.
Sotto smiled. "Just touch your payment implement to that pad thing and we can conclude our business, yes?"
Entertainment Hall - Concert Shell (Nioba, Lihiri, Ferl)
As they waited for their companions to arrive, Nioba attempted to make small talk with their host. "I feel a bit rude taking your space without knowing your name..."
The gaunt-faced man in the hooded robe smiled. "I am Brother Ferl, the leader of our humble gongoozling troupe."
"And that thing you do with your eyes is considered a form of entertainment on your world?"
"Mayhap 'entertainment' is the wrong word. Edification would probably be more accurate. Our Sight allows us to see into the gorls of others. Usually, those being examined do not experience nausea."
"What is a gorl?" Lihiri asked.
"It is complicated, young one. Picture a diamond. It has many facets that it shows to the world, but also has flaws which are less easily perceived. Our Sight allows us to see through the facets that others put up and perceive the flaws hidden within."
"And so during these 'concerts', you examine the audience and recite their flaws?" Nioba suggested.
"Exactly!"
"No offense, but I can't imagine that's the kind of thing that draws large audiences..."
"In our culture, knowledge of one's own flaws is valued, because it helps us to improve ourselves." Ferl paused. "Admittedly, this does not seem to be a universal value."
"Yeah, not many people like criticism..."
Cloud Gate Hotel - Room 1071 (Jidra, The Avatar of Carnage)
Jidra smiled as she hung up the telephone. She'd hired a few random fairgoers to serve as her eyes, reckoning that her prey would only be keeping an eye out for Azikathi. One of those informants had just reported seeing a Vyzobian and a Zinji in the Entertainment Hall.
She turned to the Avatar. "Our target has been spotted. It's time for you to move into position."
"Yes, Mistress." The Avatar moved out to the room's small balcony. It looked out over the railing for a moment, as if in curiosity. And then it spread a pair of large, glimmering fly-like wings and took off.
Meanwhile, Jidra put on her headset - "The targets have been sighted at a concert shell in the Entertainment Hall. GO."
Cloud Gate Hotel - Room -217 (Dimi, Nazerno)
Dimi received his instructions while Nazerno was busy washing the taste of vomit out of his mouth and splashing himself with cheap, hotel-provided cologne to hide any lingering scent of booze. Dimi almost felt some pity for the bastard. He has no idea that he's going to die very soon, he thought. Of course, there's no guarantee that I'll live through this day, either...
Finally, Nazerno emerged from the bathroom. "Well?"
"Our collaborator called while you were in there. The targets are waiting in a concert arena in the Entertainment Hall."
"Well, then, let's head out."
They left the room and headed up to the lobby.
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 - Vardalgari Exports]
Kel boggled. Oh. Well. That's kind of a surprise. He shouldn't have been surprised by it, really - it made sense that this place would be prepared for problems like that - but things working out in an unexpected way that was actually good was still something he didn't see much of at all. But at least I get to remain on the right side of the law. Apart from luring people into an ambush with lethal weaponry, anyway, but they have it coming.
He sent the appropriate command through the interface with his armor, and the forearm compartment containing his credit chips opened with a hiss. Reaching over, he took one out and, saying "Here you go," swiped it across the pad, then leaned back on two of his legs, waiting for the transaction to go through. As he did, he turned his head from side to side, keeping a watch for Rey's new ally Adrien, although he figured the latter would be more likely to spot him first. (Try as he might, Kel had never quite gotten the hang of distinguishing humans with one glance).
[Entertainment Hall - Concert Shell]
Rey moved through the crowds, humming a xenopop song to herself; she only had the faintest idea what it had originally been about (something to do with lepidi... or maybe human... businessbeings? Or something?), but it had a catchy beat that seemed appropriate for her rising spirits. She'd initially been a little down after leaving Adrien; it was never great for morale to think that someone actually would get upset if you got killed. But as she headed closer and closer to the target location, her mood lifted at the thought of the impending action. Enough fragging buildup already - let's get on with the show!
Her glasses spotted the arena before she did and alerted her to it with a flashing icon. She made in its direction - making sure her weapons were all ready as she went - and waved to Nioba and Lihiri once she got close enough. "Hey, guys. And hey... eye people." The latter brought another grin; the rest of them wasn't to her taste, but it was nice to finally see some other people here with good solid normal eyes.
She stopped in the middle of the crowd - raising her eyeridges slightly as she caught the rear end of the conversation - and looked around. "So. We're killing time until we start killing other things how?"
Laugh and grow dank!
[Parking Lot -> Market Hall]
Adrien bid goodbye to Rey and left for the market hall. When he arrived, it didn't take him long to locate the stall for Vardalgari Exports, and even less time to pick out Kel from the rest of the crowd.
He approached, not quite certain how to address this alien, and settled on introducing himself instead. "Are you Kel? My name is Adrien, I'm working with Rey. Do you have it?"
yey
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono, Mev, Ksana)
Veneris stepped away from Iono, visibly terrified of what she'd just caused to happen. "Oh," she said, on the verge of tears, "I didn't know, I didn't mean to... we only wanted to stun him... oh, no, oh no..." she stared, still clearly in shock. She'd handled a lot of terrible things in her time as a medic; it wasn't seeing somebody die, but the fact that, in a way, she had been the one to kill them. Sure, Mev had been rambling, perhaps even insane, but that didn't justify killing him.
After a moment's hesitation and a sharp glare from her, the acolytes took several steps away from Iono. However, they were quite at peace with what had happened; they had done their duty to the Temple.
edited 5th Mar '15 6:11:01 PM by KillerClowns
[Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports]
"No, I'm not," Kel said, "I'm actually Gevhet Rualis." He paused. "And... there's no way you'd actually get that reference, is there? Sorry. Yeah, I'm Kel."
He glanced at Adrien, taking in his appearance. The uniform was a bit of a surprise; he'd assumed that everyone they were working with were just 'concerned citizens', not any sort of official body. Of course, there was no reason to assume the human was here in an official capacity, but he still wasn't quite what Kel'd been expecting.
"And the transaction should be going through just now," he continued, before turning back towards Sotto Stimme and the staff.
Laugh and grow dank!
[Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports]
Adrien looked the shvuim up and down, then nodded. "Good. Do be quick, I believe we're on a bit of a timetable... and no, I indeed did not get that reference, though if you're anything like Rey, I'm sure it was suitably vulgar." He put on a dry smile, folding his arms. "Will you be assisting us directly, or is your only duty to procure the device?"
yey
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]
"Yes - a pleasure doing business with you as well!" Tevarian said as Ghiln left.
After she had left, he took the projector device from the hologram woman, and turning her off, set the projector device on the table to replace the tablet.
Might as well try to sell the hologram instead, he thought.
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent >> ???] (Veneris, Iono, Ksana)
"I... I... just can't..." Iono said, visibly tearing up, "no! Stay away from me!" And with that, she leaped into the air, her and the energy barrier phasing through the tent at the top, as she flew away.
Once in the air, she flew quickly to a set of doors, and out of the hall.
That will be all for her (and Mev) for this thread.
edited 6th Mar '15 10:19:23 AM by Sonzai
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports (Sotto, Brosk, Kel, Adrien)
The machine pinged, signifying that the transaction had gone through. "The Disinfuriator is yours!" Sotto announced. "A pleasure doing business with you..."
Entertainment Hall - Concert Shell (Nioba, Lihiri, Ferl, Rey)
"Yes, we're pretty much playing the waiting game now," Nioba replied. "I spotted a guy trying to covertly watch us a few minutes ago before running off, so I'm assuming that he's an informant who has gone to alert Nazerno and his slave of our presence. I assume they will be here in another minute or two."
"This is Ferl," Lihiri said, pointing to their new acquaintance. "His people have this thing they do with their eyes that makes people want to vomit."
"Hail!" Ferl greeted amiably.
edited 6th Mar '15 9:50:41 PM by StrixObscuro
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.
[Entertainment Hall — Ejra's Emporium]
Marion had a feeling that her question hadn't been completely answered, but she decided not to press the matter. Cross-reality semantics would be a bitch. Besides, she got the basic gist of it anyway. "Makes sense," she said, nodding. "People like to assign things to the 'good' and 'evil' piles, but nature doesn't really care, does it?"
What is it with me and not asking things today? "Out of curiosity, what kinds of black mana spells do you have? Big or small," she added.
[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]
Shortly after Iono left, Ksana took a look at Veneris. She rustled her wings a little and coughed. Probably should say something to her. "Um. Hey. You know, in case it matters... I'm not completely sure he was an actual person." Okay, so how I do I explain that? "I, um, I felt what he did-" She nodded towards the acolyte. "-and there's no way it could affect a normal flesh-and-blood human like that. So he was probably some kind of a magical construct, and they can't be self-aware where I'm from, so they're not people. So. Um. Yeah." She coughed again.
[Entertainment Hall - Concert Shell]
Rey checked to make sure all her weapons were online again, then held up her hand and waved at Ferl. "Hail back at you," she said. She gave his eyes a further glance, then turned towards Lihiri and lifted her eyeridges. "Seriously? They don't look like bad eyes to me." She glanced quickly back at Ferl. "Not that I want to see a demonstration."
That would be very bad.
Heh, 'see.'
She reached around her back and pulled the long, needle-like silver PBrifle loose. "Hey, you did remember to warn these guys that they're about to be in the middle of a fragging combat zone, right? Because they are. Like, any time now."
[Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports -> Courtyard]
Kel tilted his head, looking amused. "I see you've definitely met Rey. Actually, Gevret Rualis is a famous shvuim author from centuries ago. And also female. Not that you could probably tell." He gave Adrien a sideways glance, though; you never knew.
He took the Disinfuriator - dammit, I am not going to think of it by that name - from Stimme and nodded. "Likewise." Then he set off towards the courtyard, which they would have to cross to get to the entertainment hall. "Why wouldn't I be involved all the way in this?" he asked Adrien as they walked. "I'm part of Rey's unit" - the only other part of Rey's unit, in fact - "and I hate slavers just as much as she does. I may not be quite as excited about this whole thing as she, but I've have at least as much reason to be a part of it as you do, I think."
He looked down at the... object he was carrying. "Besides, how could I miss a chance to see whether a massive stick turns out to be a useful weapon?"
Twelve o'clock exactly arrived at the fair with a strong breeze blowing from the south, cooling the day some. However, it remained bright and sunny.
- Current Time: Noon/Early Afternoon
- Current Weather: Clear
Laugh and grow dank!
[Market Hall -> Courtyard]
Adrien looked Kel up and down, then shrugged. "I suppose I'm still getting used to the idea that strange being such as yourself even exist. And additionally, I can't imagine those three legs lend especially well to competence in combat."
The sides of his mouth quirked up in a slight albeit good-natured smile, though if Kel were unfamiliar with Human forms of expression, the gesture may have been too subtle to notice. "As for that fancy stick you paid for, I know for a fact that they can. It just depends on who's wielding it. A good portion of my time growing up was spent learning how to wield dueling staves, which came into vogue after swords were banned from use." He still had the Obano hanging from his belt, which would likely make a better weapon than the re-purposed Disinfuriator, but it still felt good to have a potential backup.
After a moment of thought, Adrien held out a hand. "Say, do you mind if I examine that? If I might need to use it, it'd be good to know how it works. Nioba didn't exactly provide any instructions."
yey
[Courtyard]
"Technology's a big equalizer," Kel opined in response to Adrien's comment about how he didn't seem that physically-suited to combat. "Besides, shvuim aren't sprinters like you bipeds, but we have pretty efficient metabolisms. I haven't really eaten since yesterday and I'm fine. That can be useful sometimes in the field."
He handed Adrien the stick. "Sure - though I get the feeling we're not going to be using this primarily to hit people with. I also have this" - he indicated the boxy device he'd bought from Nhesvrasila, Inc., which was now attached to the back of his armor - "as an alternative. It projects a magic-blocking shell, or something like that."
He was silent for a moment as they continued to cross the courtyard towards the entertainment hall. Time was running out to get there.
"By the way - if you don't mind, what's that uniform for? You an officer?" It certainly looked closer to an officer than an enlisted being, though he wasn't sure how much that counted when it came to someone from a historical-analogue reality.
Or, just another reality, period, of course.
Laugh and grow dank!
[Courtyard]
Adrien gave a conciliatory nod and mused, "That does indeed sound useful, though moreso for a scout than a frontline combatant. And technology does do a great deal to even things out, though it'll never quite be able to truly supplant in-born differences."
The two of them walked a moment in silence, then Adrien continued, "And no, I'm not an officer. Not at my age, not quite. No, I'm an Errant. Specifically an Errant-Junior, which is kind of like a footsoldier. We all wear these kinds of outfits, and if you think this one is fancy, you ought to see what some of the Errants-Senior wear- assuming you catch a glimpse of them out of their autoplate. You'd be quite lucky to. Not common, that."
He tapped a silver badge pinned to a spot on his chest. It bore the image of a rapier overlaid by two crossed pistols, depicted in metalwork of exquisite quality. It wasn't the only piece of jewelry pinned to his uniform, but it was the most distinctive and conspicuous. "If you're wondering, much of this is official Mercastin livery, though only the Errants-Senior get to wear House sigils and coat-of-arms and such. Being a Venture Company Junior, I'm afforded no such privilege."
yey
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]
"That would have to take an... an insane amount of processing power, though," Ghiln said, blinking rapidly in surprise. "I mean, that's the entire reason why we can be sure - well, mostly sure - that we're not in a simulation right now! If you can just substitute for the real world so easily - and on a personal level...!"
Her voice trailed off, not sure how that sentence would have ended - although certainly there would have been something in there about not expecting their tech to be anything recognizably like hers. Or, indeed, like technology period. Encounter suits. Why is it that the gods always wear encounter suits?
Trying to distract herself from this very unsettling turn of events, she turned back to the hologram. "Well, um. I consent to a scan," she said, "although I'm not sure what you mean exactly by species data. Or parameters, for that matter, in this context."
[Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports]
Kel sighed, then froze. "Wait. You mean - you specifically want physical currency?" Because that is absolutely something I have on me.
He had no real way to know whether the price itself was good or extortionate, but if 900 dracs was roughly analogous to 900 SMUs, that was definitely affordable with the AMS funds. Certainly it wasn't cheap - Rey-yelling-at-him not cheap - but if they could afford the... the weapon, there really would be no excuse for not buying it fairly.
But if Stimme would only accept something physical... well, he'd have to figure out what to do then if it happened.
[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby -> Parking Lot]
Rey chuckled. "You're pretty okay too. But seriously, I'm kind of an action junkie." Well, really, not 'kind of' at all, but the qualifier always made it sound more... understandable. "I literally live for this stuff. I can get why it wouldn't be as much of a lucky week for you." Her expression darkened. "Especially with the whole hostage thing and all."
For a few moments she was quiet as they walked out of the hotel and into the parking lot. Then she stopped and turned towards Adrien. "Okay, I might as well ask now, since if I ask you to tell me once we're through with this that just means one of us is gonna get shot. So - who's Nyris?"