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
[ABC Booth]
Nore tilted her head. Though she'd never heard of "Christmas lights," she got the general impression of what he was saying: the brain generates a lot of electricity. It seemed a bit much; she'd run it by others more familiar with such matters later. She also noticed that Nick had missed something vital; the main problem Nore had mentioned with the robots was that they'd be seen as slaves. Those laws didn't particularly help. Back to the main question.
"Okay," she said, "bioelectricity. I can see how that powers everything. But power's not much help if, like, mud short-circuits everything, sand messes things up, heat melts something vital, that sort of thing. I need to know the enhancements are able to withstand not just battle, but the stresses my homeland puts on everything. We frequently have to modify imported technology to survive, but the less of that we end up doing, the better."
Mad Scientist Wannabe
ABC Booth
Nick shrugged. "Well, I'll speak with my bosses, see if they'll do some military-grade testing, or if they've got it in the works. I'll try to contact you if I get an answer, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."
"Why don't you bring your friend over? My bite's not nearly as bad as my bark."
Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great
Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Adelphos #1, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion)
Mahiro shrugged. "Maybe some have, but do remember that it has been millennia since our last true interactions. By now, our kind is likely no more than myth to humans. As far as they are concerned, we do not exist. Those who do find us are not likely to believed."
He stopped there when the man pointed out the new customers. "Yes yes, of course," he said, "Now, taking into account the artist, the painting quality, and whatnot...." He looked over the man's chosen painting again, trying to remember all the fine details about it. After a few moments, he finished, "...the original price would be somewhere around fifty thousand yen, though given the nature of this place I am willing to make adjustments for foreign currency."
Nagako, meanwhile, was lost within her own thoughts instead of paying much attention to the current situation. She hadn't noticed the first two newcomers (though it was likely because they chose to remain silent), and she almost didn't notice the one who actually was interested in her wares. "Almost" being the key word there; it was rather difficult to miss the...creature who happened to be standing right there.
She looked over the newcomer as it examined her beetles. She appeared to be more curious about it than anything; she didn't even have a good word to describe it. The closest word she had for it was "dragon," but it didn't look like any dragon she was familiar with; besides the fact that its features didn't correlate with the Japanese dragons she had heard about in stories, it was too humanoid and especially small. Apart from that, however, it was nothing she couldn't adjust to quickly. It did look a little rough around the edges, but she had a better feeling about it than she did about that woman with the butterfly wings or the man with the critter.
When the creature complimented her beetles, she made a small smile and bowed her head. "Thanks," she said, "I bred them myself and tried to pick out the healthiest looking ones for this event. After all, I didn't want them to die on their new owners as soon as they brought them home." She chuckled a bit after this. "Might you be interested in one?"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
NO ONE SUSPECTS THE LAMP!
[[Market Hall – Youkai Showcase – Nagako, Mahiro, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion]]
“I don’t know how much that is worth,” Adelphos said, “Let’s see how much I have here.” He reached under his cloak and brought out an old leather pouch. He opened it and placed two gold coins from it on the table. Before closing it, however, he hesitated momentarily, looked back at Mahiro, and said, “I think it might be worth more than two, but I don’t have any smaller change to match the price. What to do?” He rubbed his chin, as if considering his options, but it was just an act. He’d already decided what he’d planned to do.
“Oh, I know,” he said finally, “I have a friend with a keen interest in insects. He’d be thrilled to have some from a foreign land. Tell you what, I’ll add in another gold coin if you sell me those beetles as well.” He placed down a third gold coin with a smile. He didn’t care much for the money; it wasn’t his to begin with. Any coin he had, he’d gotten off of a corpse or by raiding a city he’d taken. What mattered right now was the girl.
He turned to look at Nagako, only to find her talking to Marion. Adelphos cocked his head and slowly blinked a few times. As he saw through the Spectre of the Adelphos in the Showcase Hall, he noticed how similar Marion and Richard were, save for their color and clothing. Was it possible they were the same race?
[[Showcase Hall – Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]]
“I see. I didn’t expect that you made that distinction,” Adelphos said. At least the explanations at this stall were much easier to follow than the last one. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, are you the result of transfiguration or something else entirely?”
Curious, he thought, as he saw through the Spectre of the one in the Market Hall, so there are more like him about.
[[Courtyard - Makoto, Steven, Kassandra, Rosa]]
Adelphos couldn’t stop his hands from trembling, but his cloak was doing a good job of hiding it. This feeling was new to him, some mixture of excitement and disappointment; the knowledge he had come here to find but just out of his reach. ASK HER, a voice shrieked in his head, FIND OUT WHERE SHE’S FROM. FIND ME A DRAGON.
Behave, Adelphos thought back to the voice, and don’t tell me how to do my job. He opened his mouth to speak, but coughed instead, his voice a little strained. “Pardon me,” he said, “As I was saying, those beasts sound impressive.” FIND ME AN IMMORTAL DRAGON. “Where exactly,” AN IMMORTAL DRAGON, “are you from?”
[[Entertainment Section – House of Horrors]]
Adelphos kept on watching through the Spectre as Leo put out the fire using a red crystal. He’d hoped the fire would be more of a challenge to him. Still, the fire had served its purpose. He willed the manager to enter with the bucket of water and put out the fire.
After doing so, the manager turned to Leo and said, “Something’s wrong with the arrangements inside; might have to call someone to take a look. You should leave, I’ll give you back your entrance fee.”
If I knew how I know everything I know, I'd only be able to know half as much because my brain would be clogged up with where I know it from
Just flowing with it.
[Showcase Hall - Bindery of Leison] (Lyra, Amanita)
Demiurge. A god with an intriguing name, Lyra thought. Amanita, being a goddess herself, seem to have a dislike against it. Not probing her further on it was probably the wise choice.
It slightly disheartened her when she caught Aida's glance while she handling several visitors alone, for Lyra had her hands full with the goddess of swamps.
Addressing Amanita's question, Lyra spoke, "Creation myths are vague, many and conflicting one another, but I recall sources which state that humanity is the last to come into being, how exactly I cannot say for sure. If I had to guess myself, I think we come into being the same way other animals and plants do; it is probably a happenstance that we have wisdom."
[Entertainment Section – House of Horrors] -> [Market Hall] (Leo)
Putting aside what sort of arrangement had to go wrong to cause such a fire, Leo gave the manager a nod, "It's quite the shame." he said. "I'm sorry about this. The fire might've something to with me forcing it even after you ran out of torches. You can keep the fee I paid." Leo bowed as he apologized.
Shortly after exiting the burned-out House of Horrors, Leo pondered again about what happened back there. It definitely wasn't his fault, and it wasn't the manager's either (he seemed genuinely surprised). Then it was reasonable to propose that the explosion was done by an outside force. Not to mention the cow-things, that, while posed little threat to Leo, would've been dangerous for normal people. The final point was the people who made it through; Leo found their reaction a bit off.
Leo concluded that the House of Horrors had something more to it. At the same time, Leo also concluded that his mood had hit its day low. Nothing seemed to go his way since last night, when he had to help the rough labor involved in preparing a stall. Thus, following a suggestion from his absent mother, the best way to deal with his situation is a decent meal. Glancing at a nearby clock, Leo decided to have his lunch early.
He had spotted several potential treats earlier around the time he bought the blue jacket that caught his eye. One would do. Leo then headed to the Market Hall.
edited 28th Sep '14 10:09:19 AM by FlowingCotton
"Well, I'm from Earth," Rosa admitted. "Not exactly the most exciting place, I know." She shifted her wings ever so slightly. "Philadelphia, to be specific. It's a good place to live, though fortunately the Sentinel headquarters is in one of the better neighborhoods."
"What about you guys? Surely you come from interesting locales if you have to deal with freakin' kaiju on a regular basis."
Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
[Courtyard]
Steve casually placed his hands into his jacket pockets. "Well, I'm from New York, and she..." he nudged his head towards Kassandra, "Is the Queen of her own island nation. Pretty normal places to live, really."
"You really don't understand the concept of secrecy, do you Steven?" Kassandra muttered through gritted teeth.
"Nope!" Steve exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.
edited 28th Sep '14 10:33:00 AM by LordGreyjoy
[Market Hall - Nhesvrasila, Inc.]
Ila floated down in front of the Nhesvrasila, Inc. stall, thinking, well, those other stalls were quite the waste of time. That archaeology place only had bones, no actual creatures. And that medieval weapons booth was mostly just Victorian reproductions. Not to mention Crystalline Curiosities - that was a total joke.
Once she landed, her wings folded up, and she said to the stall's proprietor, "Hello. I'm interested in your products, but I was curious as to what kinds of magic they are designed to protect against?"
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Market Hall — Youkai Showcase]
"Maybe," said Marion. You don't want to know why, though. "Still thinking about it."
She watched them for a moment, then asked, "So did you breed beetles yourself? Impressive. I could never do something like that." Although partly true, it was also partly to butter up Nagoko. Marion was thinking that if she was flattered enough, she might lower the price a little. It didn't really matter all that much to her, but two dollars was two dollars, one way or another.
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
Myles and Richard glanced at each other, then quickly looked away, suppressing snort. Richard disguised his with a cough and said, "Ah... no. Not at all. I am a separate species from humanity entirely. This..." He flared his wings and waved a hand over himself. "...is completely natural."
"Let's put it this way," said Myles. "If he was the product of transfiguration, we wouldn't be here at all, since he's primarily responsible for all the transfiguration we studied in the first place, directly or indirectly."
[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]
The cashier — one Shane Keridan, going by his nametag — had honed a number of subtly useful skills in his time in customer service, one of which was the capacity to accept more or less any customer's appearance with no visible reaction. Ila's wings were a little surprising, sure, but he'd seen stranger. As for the other details... Well, people did all sorts of strange stuff to themselves. Who was he to judge?
"There is no one specific type of magic they target," he said. "The enchantments within them temporarily disrupt magic at the fundamental level, preventing the target mage from using magic for a time. Fifteen minutes at the minimum. Obviously, the method of triggering the effect depends on the specific product. And then there are products like these." He picked up one of the fanny pack odometer things and laid it on the table. "These AFG's — antimagic field generators — destroy free magic heading towards you and keep mages from using magic within a certain radius of you."
[market hall - food court > Nhesvrasila, Inc. > towards Youkai Showcase (Iris)]
Her day started off well, considering all of the toil that her court put her through once word got out that she was taking a day trip.
For lunch, Iris found a vendor selling lemon-flavored Italian ice, with just the perfect amount of tartness to wake her up for the day. Even the wyvern perched atop her shoulder went from cranky to happy-chirring after pilfering an unauthorized snack of some kind of meat from a sample tray. They insisted that she bring Mijo 'as a precaution', nevermind that she had, of course, destroyed things that could crush the tiny ratter-wyvern in a second and her race was seemingly unable to die. Obviously, the moment someone declares you to be somewhat important to a country, your safety becomes a matter of national importance. Of course. At least she managed to talk them out of giving her dragon-guards, most of whom would be lucky to even fit through the door, let alone walk on either side of her like how they usually did.
But, no matter. She had things to see, and she was so far rather satisfied that only the ones who were staring at her were also the ones who were gawking at everything. Just this short stroll down a single aisle showed demons, androids, and... a dragon? Iris slowed a moment as a faean-looking girl stopped in front of the stall and inquired about the offerings. Antimagic. A lovely little tool, nevermind that it couldn't stop a blade through the heart. She continued onwards.
The woman's appearance diverged enough from human to bring pause. Her skin was pale, light gray with blue undertones, her head was shaved bald, her chest was flat, and her admittedly light makeup, just mascara, a little eyeliner, and sheer lip gloss somewhat hid the fact that her vaguely Nordic features were fairly androgynous. Her most striking feature was one unique to her race, markings in the darkest black that had an appearance not unlike that of stylized suns with thin lines as their rays. The one that encircled her right eye was completely filled with rays, with one ray connecting to yet more suns that wrapped around the side and back of her head. She was of moderate height but seemed to stand taller, the dragon atop her left shoulder not weighing her down even the slightest. She dressed simply in Earthen Western fashion, wearing skinny jeans with a long-sleeved, aquamarine-colored blouse that was left unbuttoned to show a white camisole underneath and simple black flat shoes. A small coral-colored purse no larger than her spread hand rested on the same side as Mijo's perch, its strap crossing her chest diagonally, and a particularly eagle-eyed individual might notice the edge of a silvery-metaled cuff bracelet on her right wrist exuding some fairly complicated magic.
The wyvern almost could have been a fashion accessory considering how diligently he held his pose atop her shoulder, had his mottled olive-drab scales not clashed with her mostly blue outfit. For being so small- with his neck completely extended, he stood maybe as tall as a cat -Mijo's impressive crown of horns and titanium claws, talons, and even fangs left no doubt that he was built, bred, and modified to fight. At their brief encounter with the dragon-person, Mijo's interest was piqued, and he raised his head in interest, attempting to taste the air around Shane and studying him with gold-streaked eyes. But once they got moving again, he was almost jolted, and quickly went back to scanning their surroundings for threats.
edited 6th Oct '14 8:56:55 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Attitude is prohibited
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth with Tamara]
Tamara carefully picked the sword up off its wooden stand, pleased with how light it was, and slowly started to unsheathe it. She gasped softly and a look of awe appeared on her face as she saw the mysterious black metal of the blade. She was now convinced: this sword was destined to be hers! There was just one last thing she wanted to know...
Her older sister, Selina, was a sorceress, and their mother was as well. Sorcery ran in the family, and Tamara was no exception. Being nine years old, though, her knowledge and abilities were limited. Nevertheless, she shut her eyes, concentrated, and felt for any magic contained within the sword.
Not entirely dead.
[Market Hall - Nhesvrasila, Inc. - Shane and Ila]
"Interesting," Ila said to Shane, "I'm interested in the antimagic field generator, but what is the effective range? Are any of the effects permanent? And would you mind if I tested one of them?"
She then pulled out what looked like a thin metal tray with twenty small glass lights embedded in it - straight out of thin air as if there was an invisible box right in front of her. "Always best to be sure just how it works," she said.
Ila glanced at Iris when she walked by, but paid her no mind at the moment.
Note that Ila does have a subtle magical aura, although it is very hard to detect - especially since it seems to be intricately interwoven with her physical form, down to the subatomic scale. It is somewhat active when she's flying, or holding something significant. It is also active when she's pulling things out of thin air, although it appears to be some sort of interdimensional summoning signal, her magic or abilities aren't actually moving or creating anything. Of course, what (if any of this) other characters can see is up to you. :)
[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth with Tamara]
When Tamara felt for any magic in the sword, she would certainly sense something, although it felt more like a gatekeeper than the true power of the sword itself.
The sword replied to her telepathically, and said, "Parameters Incorrect. Only the servants of O-Sojomi are authorized to wield the full power of this instrument." Note that the full power of this sword can be released, and actually pretty easily, too - even without using any special powers whatsoever. But the solution may not be obvious. :P
Tevarian said to Tamara, "any luck with it so far?"
edited 28th Sep '14 9:10:24 PM by Sonzai
Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.
[Courtyard]
Makoto immediately took notice of Kassandra once Steven had spoken up. A queen of an island nation? Perhaps there could be work opportunities.
"You haven't had any problems with large beasts, have you?" she asked.
edited 28th Sep '14 10:01:50 PM by Inceptiond
"Doki Doki Lit. Club" is a happy game where nothing bad happens. seriously tho? not for the faint of heart.
Market Hall - Youkai Showcase (Nioba, Lihiri, Mahiro, Adelphos, Marion, Nagako)
Nioba looked over the swords with some scrutiny. Vyzobian military doctrine held that weapons should be ugly and brutal, because they were used for ugly and brutal purposes. These swords were comparatively sleek, and she got the impression that the kind of people who wielded them favored skill and precision.
Lihiri, meanwhile, pored over the scrolls, but realized that she had no reference for understanding them. Some of them depicted humans, or at least humanoids, but beyond that, she didn't understand the significance.
Finally, she decided to speak up. "Excuse me," she asked the man in the kimono, "What language are these scrolls written in?"
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 (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Adelphos #1, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion)
"That deal sounds perfectly fine by me," Mahiro said, "If it were completely up to me than I would have accepted. But alas the beetles belong to my daughter, and I'm not one to override her wishes. You'll likely have to speak with her to see if you'll come to some sort of agreement, yes yes." He glanced towards Nagako himself, noticing the third new customer in the process. "And it appears she happens to be occupied at the moment."
At that point one of the previous newcomers asked him about the language on the scrolls. Now things were starting to get a bit busier, but he wasn't one to get annoyed at having to do so many things at once. Quite the contrary; he wouldn't have it any other way.
He turned to face the speaker. "It is Japanese, the language of the youkai homeland, yes yes. If you need further explanations, feel free to ask for them. Just be aware that it might be a while, I'm a bit busy here as you can see, yes yes." He motioned with his head towards the man in question.
"More or less," Nagako said to Marion with a nod, "Father's usually rather busy with his work, and he's not much interested in insects as far as I can tell." She made a brief, thoughtful frown. "Breeding them is a little tricky, so I don't blame you there. It took me a while to figure it out myself. I started with the kabuto-mushi since they're friendlier than the kuwagata-mushi I have here, but I decided to bring these instead of those as these are a bit more robust and could probably take the hustle around here a little better." She shrugged again. "Anything you want to know about in particular?"
edited 28th Sep '14 11:37:00 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
NO ONE SUSPECTS THE LAMP!
[[Market Hall – Youkai Showcase – Nagako, Mahiro, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion]]
“Oh, no, no,” Adelphos said, “I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting any longer. You may attend to her for the time being. We can continue when your daughter is free.” This is taking too goddamn long, he thought, if that lizard thing makes off with those beetles, this will all have been for nothing.
He turned to Lihiri, with a big smile and a bow, “I am Adelphos. May I have the pleasure of knowing of your name?”
[[Showcase Hall – Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]]
“Oh?” Adelphos said, with a just hint more surprise than he actually felt, “My apologies. You looked so much like a Chimera; I hadn’t considered the possibility that you were actually the one performing the magic. What world do you two hail from?”
[[Courtyard - Makoto, Steven, Kassandra, Rosa]]
“Whether you want to call my world Terra or Gaia is a matter of preference,” Adelphos replied, “and sometimes, as I finished explaining before you arrived, a matter of life and death. And I’m sorry to disappoint, but our world rarely encounters any truly enormous beasts. It’s much more likely for big threats to come in middling sizes.”
WOULD YOU STOP WASTING TIME, the voice inside started up again, ASK HER WHERE TO FIND THE DRAGONS.
SHUT. IT. Adelphos thought back.
“I have to ask though,” he said, turning to Kassandra, “Is there truly a need to keep your royal heritage a secret? I doubt anyone around here,” he swept his hand in the direction of the fair buildings, “is bound to take much notice of it.”
edited 29th Sep '14 11:11:41 PM by Elfhunter
If I knew how I know everything I know, I'd only be able to know half as much because my brain would be clogged up with where I know it from
[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]
Shane opened his mouth to say something, paused, then said, "Hold on." He ducked under the desk for a moment, then came back up with a slightly different AFG. "You might want to use this one," he said. "It's got a slightly different enchantment on it, so the antimagic is more of a... shell than a solid mass. You'll still be able to use magic within that shell, although it'll get destroyed if you try to send it outside that shell. From outside that shell, though, the effect is the same."
Shane paused for a moment. How to better explain this... His gaze wandered over Ila's wings, and- "So if, say, you supplement your wings with magic to fly, this one-" He tapped the second AFG. "-will still let you fly, while this one-" He tapped the first one. "-would disrupt the magic within you, rendering that impossible."
He laid the second AFG next to the first one. "But otherwise, the choice is yours. Feel free to try one."
[Market Hall — Youkai Showcase]
"Mmmm... not at the moment, no," said Marion, shaking her head. "Maybe later."
She sidestepped a little, moving to a different area of the stall. The jewelry caught her eye, and she moved to examine some pieces a bit more. Her posture was the same as before, but a sharp-eyed viewer would notice her wings twitching oh-so-slightly.
Marion was about to ask Mahiro about it, but it looked like he was rather busy. She slid back to Nagako. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about those pieces of jewelry, would you?" she asked. "I'd ask your father, but..." She flared her wings.
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
There was a second's pause. Myles managed to keep an almost-straight face. Richard didn't. He clapped a hand to his face and doubled over, shaking as snorts escaped from around his fingers. His wings trembled and began flexing a little.
To Adelphos, Myles mumbled, "Sorry." He glanced over at Richard, an "are you serious?" look all over his face. After a few more seconds of giggling, Richard slowly began calming down. Not fast enough for Myles, though, who delivered a light slap to the back of his head, shocking him out of his laughing fit.
Richard rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Hem. Yes. Well. Um. Look. You see, the thing is-" The words caught in his throat.
"His species," said Myles flatly, "is called chimeras. And on our world — Earth — humans can't use magic, while his kind-" He nudged Richard with an elbow. "-can. I gather things are different where you're from."
[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.] (Alice, Shane and Ila)
A small woman, at this point infamous in certain circles, made her way to the Nhesvrasila booth carrying a large metal suitcase with a spring green hummingbird logo and the words "Western Amalgamated Recon and Development". Alice was a terribly pale Caucasian, with short, greasy black hair, and brown eyes marked by dark circles. Her outfit was business casual: she wore a white blouse, a white and green jacket with the same logo as the suitcase, a knee-length pleated white skirt, and crisp blue jeans. Her size, build, and a certain something about her movement meant one could mistake her for a very sickly child of perhaps twelve at a distance, but lines on her face and a few gray hairs at her temples put her age at somewhere around forty. Her childish steps were more graceful than they seemed, however; she flowed through the crowd with uncanny speed, and every so often she'd take a moment to pluck somebody's wallet from their pocket and move it to the other. (Just for practice.)
Finally she slipped near the Nhesvrasila booth, and her demeanor changed abruptly. The childishness was cast aside like a mask, and suddenly she was the image of professionalism, standing as tall as her small build allowed, left arm behind her back, right holding the suitcase at her side. She stood behind Ila, patiently waiting for her to complete whatever business she had.
She was suppressing her antimagical abilities, so most magical scans would detect nothing odder than which was visible to the naked eye. The only exception would be psychics, who would find attempting to read her mind (or, if they lacked control, her very presence) would produce nothing but excruciating pain.
[Showcase Hall - Bindery of Leison] (Lyra, Amanita)
Amanita smiled slightly. "Two worlds," she looked around, "and, more. All bear humans. Happenstance? No." She frowned. "No demiurge, though. Proof. Good." She put on her gloves, headed over to a large, ornate glass, and placed it on the desk in front of Lyra. "A souvenir. More, in truth... a reminder, yes. The price?"
[ABC Booth] (Nore, Solin, Nick)
Solin took a few steps forward, but Nore said, "my friend here is actually my bodyguard. And a trusted confidante and adviser, of course, but it's really my job to do the talking. He'll speak if he has something to say." Solin nodded his assent to this. "Now... do you have... a way of contacting your organization?" She recalled the Kykzavi had something for this, a... she finished aloud, "a business card, perhaps?"
edited 30th Sep '14 6:11:48 AM by KillerClowns
NO ONE SUSPECTS THE LAMP!
[[Showcase Hall – Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]]
Adelphos cocked his head at Richard’s rather extreme reaction. He didn’t take kindly to ridicule, but he was hiding his annoyance well enough. But his feelings shifted back to curiosity after Myles’ explanation.
“That is very much the case,” Adelphos replied to Myles, “Chimeras aren’t born naturally in my world. Well, alright, they do breed in the wild, but their origins can be traced back to some Sorcerer fusing creatures together. Like the little one over here,” he scratched the squirrel on its head, “or at least I assume he is. I haven’t met anyone who’s ever seen another one in the wild.”
“And it’s much too rare to see one that talks,” he continued, “That would suggest one of the original…components, for lack of a better word, was human. I haven’t seen one myself, but they say most of them just lost their mind to feral instinct and lacked the awareness to speak anyway.”
“About the magic though, all humans are capable of it and so are Chimeras; it just the type of magic they’re capable of is different. Inducing transformations in something, I’d put down as Sorcery rather than Awakened magic.”
If I knew how I know everything I know, I'd only be able to know half as much because my brain would be clogged up with where I know it from
Market Hall - Youkai Showcase (Lihiri, Adelphos, Nioba, Mahiro, Marion, Nagako)
Lihiri blushed slightly and attempted a curtsy. "I am Lihiri Kinra, the Zinj Avatar of Suffering." She paused, realizing that her new acquaintances were probably unfamiliar with such terms. "Erm, that means I'm like a goddess of disease. Except I'm not really a goddess. Or at least I don't feel like one. A bunch of Azikathians just said that I was a goddess, and I'm not entirely sure that they were really sane, because they wanted me to spread disease and suffering throughout the Nine Worlds, which doesn't sound very sane, if you ask me..." Another pause. "I really don't like causing diseases..."
Nioba sighed. "You don't have to tell people those kinds of things, babe..."
"That's Nioba. She is my beloved. She's a former Vyzobian Liberator, which means she goes around chopping people's arms off with her giant sword. But only if they practice slavery. Or are evil. Otherwise, she just beats them up." She paused. "If they deserve being beaten up, I mean..."
Nioba gave an amused snort.
edited 30th Sep '14 12:00:09 AM 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.
Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Adelphos #1, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion)
"Personally I would like to finish one thing before starting another, but if that is your preference than I shall work with it, yes yes," Mahiro said.
Immediately afterwards, the man turned and started conversing with the other two customers. Rather than intervene, Mahiro simply fell silent and watched and listened, waiting for someone to buy something or ask a question about his wares. The possibility of joining in himself never crossed his mind; he had a job to do here, and that job was much more important than anything else.
"That's okay," Nagako said to the not-dragon, "Just let me know if you do decide on it."
At this point she would have gone back to her idle watching, but a scarce few moments later the not-dragon returned and asked her about the jewelry on display.
She frowned and shook her head. "Unfortunately, probably not. I'm just the bug girl here. I mean, I might be able to vaguely describe some of them if Father really is that busy, but that's about all I could tell you." She glanced towards her father. "Speaking of Father, he appears to be freed up now. You should be able to ask him now."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
Richard flared his wings. "Well, not where I'm from. Like I said, our chimeras are completely natural. Got our own taxonomic nomenclature and everything." He paused. "Although, I have to ask... what's the difference between Sorcery and Awakened magic. I mean, I study these things, and I can't think of any differences like that in my world, so-"
"Richard, I don't think he wants to get into semantics," said Myles. "It's probably the same as the differences between transfiguration and elementalism here."
"Then he doesn't have to answer," replied Richard. "But I want to know, so I'm asking."
Myles snorted and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything in return.
[Market Hall — Youkai Showcase]
"Ah. Thanks anyway," said Marion, nodding. She didn't move to Mahiro immediately, though. Instead, she spent a few more moments looking at the beetles. She was still deciding whether she wanted to buy one.
But she soon pulled away and turned to Mahiro. "Beg pardon," she said to him, "but could you tell me anything about your collection of jewelry here?" She waved a hand over said collection. "I'm thinking of buying a piece or two."
[Courtyard- Adelphos, Makoto, Rosa, Kassandra, Steven]
Rosa had to agree with Adelphos on this one. "Trust me, royalty isn't as uncommon as you might think. I work alongside Prince Alket of Hyria everyday, and he's perfectly normal. Well, except for the fact that he's made of living water and tracks puddles all over the floor, but that's beside the point."
Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Adelphos #1, Nioba, Lihiri, Marion)
Nagako just nodded in response to the not-dragon, although she kept watching it up until it finally went to speak with her father. Afterwards, she turned back out towards the fairgrounds and went back to her idle watching. For a minute there it actually looked like she might be making a sale, but apparently it wasn't to be.
Admittedly, it did bother her a little; after all, she did spend a lot of time trying to breed some good beetles for this event and it'd be something of a shame not to sell at least one. Besides, selling some would likely increase the chances of her father letting her wander around. With all that in mind, however, she really did want the best for the beetles. If none went home with someone else, she at least would make sure they were well cared for. She also reminded herself that the stall hadn't been open all that long.
Upon being spoken to, Mahiro turned to face the speaker. "Yes yes, most certainly," he said, before looking over his collection himself. "All of these come from the best jewelers youkai society can offer. They weren't all made by the same artisan, but I've at least made sure that none of them are subpar quality. After all, it wouldn't reflect well on us if some were subpar, yes yes." He turned back towards the not-dragon. "If you have a specific item in mind, I can tell you more specific information about it. Just let me know, yes?"
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Showcase Hall — Drs. Tsaadlo and Whittaker]
Myles opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and changed his train of thought. "Well, I'm not really the one to explain that." He glanced at Richard meaningfully.
Richard stopped trying to figure out what was up with Adelphos; different worlds, probably different magic, probably something he wouldn't find out. Taking Myles' cue, he said, "That depends on the situation. I suppose that, under most circumstances, you would say it's induced in the subject via magic. But if the inducer is also the subject, then, well..." He flared his wings for a moment. "...I guess you could say that's an innate ability. Though that particular variation's usually called shapeshifting."
As he spoke, Richard didn't pay much attention to the squirrel. He could feel its connection to Adelphos, but he simply assumed that Adelphos was giving small nudges to its mind to keep it from acting up; not unheard of for certain pet owners.
[Market Hall —> Youkai Showcase]
Well, Marion hadn't seen anything that looked as intriguing as it, so she headed over to the Japanese booth, and — youkai? Interesting. Those were... some kind of Japanese spirit-creature-type-things, if she was remembering correctly. Marion didn't like to admit it, but she knew less about Japanese culture than she ought.
Her gaze flitted from one object to another until she noticed Nagako's beetles. Moving to get a slightly better look, Marion watched them crawling around their cages. It was always a little strange, seeing bugs move like that. "Nice beetles," she said to Nagako.
edited 27th Sep '14 6:32:58 PM by TeraChimera