In the center of a bustling city stands its crown jewels, a trio of grand, enormous pavilions. Within the facade of this old palace churns a city all its own, bodies chattering and exploring and roving about in search of the exotic and new and awe-inspiring. After all, no place could be better, for here, in the form of these stalls and displays for this fair, is where the worlds have chosen to convene. On the convention floor, they hawk their creeds, their products, their livelihoods, all competing for the attention of attendees as diverse as they are. But who is this 'they'? Why, anyone, from anywhere at all. From friendly small businesses to ominous corporations, from rebellions trying to gain ground to dying regimes attempting to rekindle their glory, from scientists and scholars to artists and storytellers. If an attendee can think of it, it could very well be here. Who knows what you'll find?
- Current Time: Noon/Early Afternoon (Day 2)
- Current Weather: Clear
Hello, Writer's Block, and welcome to the latest installment of the Character Development Threads! These shared story exercises give you the opportunity to develop your characters, practice writing, and have fun alongside your fellow writers, no signups, profiles, or GM approval necessary. Want to join? If the thread's gotten long, there's no need to fear Archive Panic- just head on over to our discussion thread
and say so, and we'll give you a recap of what's going on and good spots for working your characters into the thread; how you choose to do this is up to you. A little communication in endeavors such as these can go a long way towards having fun, helping others, getting that kink in your character worked out, getting your characters out of their comfort zone, or whatever you're here for, so if you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask. We're all for helping each other out.
This thread's designated trope page is here, and its map is here
◊. Don't forget to add your contributions to the page!
In this thread, as the introduction and name suggests, your characters will be coming to a convention, a gathering open to the various and sundry worlds of our stories, whether as attendees hoping to see something cool... or as parts of the exhibition themselves. Yes, you, the writer, will be shaping not just the cast and plots, but the setting as well in the form of stalls and exhibits. Note that this necessitates that we keep a few small things in mind to keep things running smoothly.
- Our standards of location for this thread are intentionally vague to allow ourselves the freedom to make up stalls on the fly as our plots demand, as well as to account for the fact that wandering around between stalls and chatting with your friends is as much a part of the convention experience as the stalls themselves. For the sake of keeping track of people, in lieu of standard location tags in the vein of [Market Hall], we recommend that you also append the names of the characters you're with.
- Though you're welcome to bring a piece of home in the form of a stall and control the characters running it, you're also welcome to bring a stall that exists solely as a plot device without ever mentioning it again. The basic rules to keep in mind are to write a stall as long as it takes to fulfill its raison d'être, whether that's to develop a faction or similar in your work or to keep the plot moving along, and that stalls can be anything. More specific info can be found on the trope page linked above.
- If you find yourself unexpectedly busy in other endeavors after entering the thread, there are easy ways to back out, whether you're writing for attendees or stalls. Attendees can step out into the covered walkways connecting the convention buildings or the adjacent courtyard for some fresh air and relief from the constant noise of the crowds, while stalls can suddenly become flooded with enough nameless background characters to render the stall too busy to reply to any troper characters that were interacting with it at the time.
With all that out of the way, we cordially invite you to stay and experience the Character Worlds' Fair! Onwards!
(Credit for this post and much of the work on the thread belongs to Crystal Glacia).
Fair has now concluded.
edited 31st Mar '15 2:06:36 AM by nrjxll
[Market Hall—Youkai Showcase (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela, Masum)]
Masum's deception was basically successful. Suela still wasn't about to trust Masum, but she quietly chalked him up to a mortal source of trouble. "Ah," she said, "just as I feared. The reach of the dead gods reached further than we thought." She have an apologetic bow of her head, and as she closed the book, added, "I fear I may have brought up some grim memories, though, and I apologize for that. But I've recently taken an interest in the connection between the dead gods and the spirits most civilizations pay homage to." She then cleared her throat and added, "I suppose it's not a topic you'd care about, though."
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Xiong, ???)
Veneris sensed something strange about the woman, but lacked the training or knowledge to precisely identify traits beyond "strange/not strange". Still, she'd been tipped off that her usual paranoia was uncalled for here, and just gave Xiong a nod.
It was Xiong who greeted her. "We're just an informational tent," she said, "for Western Amalgamated Agricultural Supply. Y'know, let people know who we are, what we do, why we do it, that sort of thing." She smiled as she added, "and yes, I can take care of the tickets if you're hungry." She waved to the supply of food. The portions were actually rather generous; Western Amalgamated knew when generosity would be well-remembered. "Oh, and I'm Dr. Mary Xiong," she said, tapping her nametag. "If you're interested, I do a lot of work in the projects that grew... well, basically, everything here." Then, noticing the woman's clothes, she added, "and a bit of xenotechnology-slash-biology on the side."
edited 31st Jan '15 9:08:15 AM by KillerClowns
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels]
Well, ordinary scanners wouldn't really notice much that's strange - only highly detailed or otherwise non-visible means of inspection would truly reveal anything strange. She looks pretty ordinary upon visible or electromagnetic scans, only penetrating or active scanners should really see anything odd (like an X-Ray or nano-structural analysis.)
"Oh - thanks!" Hvpvdqia said to the speaking disk, turning around.
Walking up to Madame voSudir, Hvpvdqia gave an almost-identical bow to her, at least as close as could be done given their differences in form. "Sounds good!" she said to Madame voSudir, "should I just walk in, then?"
She'll walk in, or follow Madame voSudir in, depending upon the answer given.
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Xiong, ???)
"That sounds good," the mystery woman said to Xiong, handing her one ticket, "perhaps I could try a burger?"
"Also, your work sounds interesting - I don't think I've met too many others in that line of work," she said.
"But what I really meant by my question earlier was what planet, nation, or at least part of the galaxy are we in now?" she said.
"Oh, and I am..." she said, visibly mentally struggling for a few moments to remember her name, before just saying, "...lost."
She'll remember more soon enough - the memory loss is a side-effect of how she arrived.
[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]
Shane was almost finished setting up his stall when two people walked up to him. He took a quick glance at them and said, "Here for the card, right?"
"Yeah," said Peter. Maybe six feet tall, Peter Wilson looked caught between the corporate and military worlds. His black hair was a short crew cut, but not quite short enough to be a buzz cut. He looked like he had some muscles beneath his black suit, but not much. When he looked at you particularly intently with his brown eyes, it was hard to tell if he was sizing you up for a fight or reading your body language so he could figure out how to sell you stuff. He had a duffel bag over one shoulder. Glancing at his companion, he said, "As long as you know where the stall is."
The second person rustled her wings and pointed at a map of the fair she was reading. "Yeah. Right here." A female chimera, Ksana Mhalre was wearing a suit in the same style as Peter, although hers was a pale gray. She was quite short; it'd be generous to call her five feet. Her scales were a vibrant ultraviolet, although the typical human would only see something straddling the line between dark purple and black. Aside from her color, she looked very nonthreatening; besides being short, she was a bit skinny and her claws were completely filed down.
"Great," said Shane. "Here." He handed the card to Peter. "Hope it goes well."
Peter nodded, and he and Ksana left as Shane put the finishing touches on his stall.
[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]
When Peter and Ksana arrived at Western Amalgamated's tent, they paused for a moment, seeing as someone was already there. After a moment, Peter stepped up to Veneris. "Excuse me," he said, showing her the side of the card with the symbols on it, "but who do I talk to regarding a business transaction?"
Ksana has supernatural senses, but doesn't really pay attention to them.
[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]
Having left her hotel room, Marion had decided she could use some stuff to do and headed for the entertainment hall, always mindful to keep tabs of what may or may not be interesting for the Fat Man. Then she noticed the spaceship (File and save, although could you pick a less garish color scheme?) and headed over to take a look at it. She caught most of the drone's spiel, and just as she was about ask it a question when Krott voSudir herself stepped out. Oh, timing.
"Hey, quick question," she said. "How can something be the most unique? If it's unique, isn't it one-of-a-kind already? Is there a way to be more one-of-a-kind than other stuff. Because if it's not unique, it's just rare, and I can understand rarest, but not most unique." Now, how do you react? Do you get defensive or just admit it's a marketing ploy? Or something else?
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Wonders]
Madame voSudir waved one of her arms in the direction of the entry hatch again. "Go on in, my dear," she said, a bit distracted by Marion.
The hatch led into a dimly lit corridor that appeared to go around the entire length of the hemisphere. Metal bars at about waist height extended across it on either side of the hatch, projecting holographic text reading ESSENTIAL AREAS - OFF-LIMITS. This left an archway directly opposite the hatch as the only direction for Hvpvdqia to proceed.
Assuming Hvpvdqia goes in:
Inside was a sprawling room that seemed to take up about a quarter of the interior of the hemisphere, filled with a variety of strange objects, either set within transparent cubes or standing as exhibits unto themselves. It was also dimly lit, though lights from the floor illuminated the exhibits. Among those closest to Hvpvdqia were a cube containing an elongated, four-eyed reptilian skull coated in dust and a plain gray book with no markings on its outside except for a vaguely chevron-shaped symbol; a hexapodal, skeletal robot with faded green paint standing by itself; and a cleared area where what appeared to be the hollow shell of a huge animal resembling an insectoid-cephalopod cross was suspended from the ceiling.
A third disk hovered inside the room, one light blinking as it "looked" at Hvpvdqia.
I can continue providing description if she advances further. Also, the disks are not using any kind of invasive scans on her.
[Ship of Marvels - Exterior]
voSudir turned back towards Marion with an amused smirk. "One would think, o winged literalist, that you had never heard an advertisement before. I seek to engage people's attention with the wonders and relics of the galaxy, to draw them in to observe the strange and fascinating. The drone's words are chosen primarily for that purpose - not to serve as a strict example of proper linguistic accuracy across a dozen languages."
She did another jerky bow. "Of course, it is up to you to determine the unusualness of my collection. Or not, if you choose to visit another attraction instead. As Hazzer-One has declared, the Ship of Marvels today is free, so my only interest is your interest."
Sorry this took so long. I was deciding whether to do anything yet with Rey and Kel or the qrtxian - decided to hold it off for now.
[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.] (Veneris, Xiong, ???, Peter, Ksana)
Dr. Xiong and Veneris exchanged wry looks. Then Xiong said, "apologies, but I think Ms. Veneris will be able to help you better than I can. Veneris, two burgers for the young woman."
Veneris quickly assembled a pair of burgers, put them on a paper plate, and brought them to the woman. Then she said, "here you are." Then she grabbed a folding table from a corner of the tent — same sleek style as everything else — kicked it open, and set up a pair of chairs. She motioned for the woman to take one, and sat in the other. "As for your question... I'm afraid we aren't entirely sure ourselves. A place between universes, I know that, and I know how I got here. But beyond that..." she shook her head, then, looking over the young woman with concern, said, "so, uh, are you okay? Maybe it's not my business, but I'm a medic by training, so I have to at least ask. If there's anything I can do to help, I'm listening."
Xiong took up Peter and Ksana, and, after examining the card, said, "me, for now. Anything too big or interesting I'll have to run by corporate, of course, but I've got a direct line to that." She tapped her ID badge. "Dr. Mary Xiong. Seems like Alice believs you'd be interested in the recipe for our AMON magic-supressant gas, but there might also be something you could send our way." Another table up, another three chairs. (They seemed to have quite a number of the things, lurking innocently in the back corners.) This one Xiong arranged like a desk, with herself seated on one side and a pair for Peter and Ksana on the other.
She suspected these two were worthy of respect. Confident and straight-to-the-point. Alice had taught her a thing about underestimating small, harmless-looking people like Ksana, though there seemed (thankfully) no further similarities there. The man definitely had a cerain military sternness about him, though. Did he somehow bring to mind a hint of a younger, smaller Sigmund, or was she just imagining it?
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
"Cool! Thanks!" Hvpvdqia said, walking inside, apparently not even noticing Marion. "Ooo!" she said at the holographic signs, then walked into the main hall.
"Ooo! Aaah!" Hvpvdqia said, walking around the hall, looking at each exhibit for about 30 seconds. Once she reached the robot, however, she stopped, and said, "hey - wait a minute! This stuff is pretty cool, but what exactly is it?" She looked at the disk, wondering if it could assist her.
Are there any cards/signs or other markers of what the exhibits are?
[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Xiong, ???, Peter, Ksana)
The mystery woman looked at the newcomers briefly, only looking at Ksana for slightly longer than a moment.
She then took the plate, and sat down in a chair at the table with Veneris. "Thank you," she said. Wasn't it one burger per ticket? Oh well, she thought.
"A place between universes?" the mystery woman repeated, "I suppose that makes sense... I think it was one of our theories of where we might end up."
"And... I think I'm okay," she said, "my mind is just in a fog at the moment, otherwise I feel okay - except maybe being a bit hungry."
She picked up a burger and took a bite, and saying (once she had finished the bite), "hey - this is pretty good! Thanks again for your hospitality."
Other than the surface unrealness - she's only strange upon further inspection, or if she does something out of the ordinary (which I'll write for if it happens.) :)
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
The disk whirled madly at Hvpvdqia's question. "Apologies, discerning sophont! The default assumption of the Ship of Marvels is that visitors have access to the ship's MetaLink overlay! As this is not the case, would you prefer text captions on each unique relic of the Ship of Marvels, or instead would you like this drone to provide basic descriptions of each of these fascinating rarities?" (The synthesized voice sounded as though it would prefer the second option).
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
"Ooo, that MetaLink sounds interesting - how would I use it?" Hvpvdqia said, "or you could just describe them to me, whichever's easier for you." She smiled and shrugged her shoulders at the drone.
Sorry it's short, but I couldn't really think of anything else for her to say...
edited 31st Jan '15 7:16:24 PM by Sonzai
[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]
Had voSudir just said "advertising", that would've been that. But being snooty? "Lowest common denominator," said Marion. "Gotcha." She walked into the ship before voSudir could reply.
Inside the ship, Marion was underwhelmed by the first few exhibits. Were they interesting? Oh, certainly. But they hardly looked unique. Unusual, but not unique. Maybe if she actually heard their histories. She heard the drone's talk of verbal description, and, yeah, that sounded good. They might be the driest descriptions ever (which, admittedly, was still better than nothing), but going by the attention-whorish glitz of the outside, they might be peppered with little witticisms of debatable accuracy. "If you're not busy with her," Marion said, "I'll take the descriptions." Her statement was implicitly directed to the drone, but as she never took her gaze from the skull, it could've been aimed at anyone.
[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]
Okay, promising. "Thank you," nodded Peter. He took a seat at the table, straight across from Xiong. Ksana also sat down, off-center. "I am Peter Wilson of Nhesvrasila, as you can imagine, and this-" Ksana raised a hand and waved. "-is Ksana Mhalre."
Peter hoisted his bag off of his shoulder and put it on the table. "Now, I think that we have something we could offer you. While gas has its uses, there are also some drawbacks to it. In particular, it can be rendered almost useless by respirators or even a stiff breeze. This product, however, lacks those." He reached into the bag and pulled out a small object that looked a lot like a flashbang grenade. However, it had several differences, key among them being the lack of a pin or safety lever at the top; instead, there was a rubber button. Running down the side was a line of numbers from 5 to 1, all lit up. Right next to them was a small LED display, currently showing "05", with two more buttons right next to it.
"This," Peter said, laying it on the table, "is the N38 Magic Dispersal Grenade, more commonly known as a magflash. When activated, it converts electrical energy to the magical equivalent of white noise, disrupting magic within a radius of about thirty-five feet and rendering it unusable for around ten minutes. The grenade itself, however, is unaffected, allowing it to be reused — instantly, if need be. While it can only hold enough energy for five uses, as shown here-" He pointed at the line of numbers. "-it can be recharged."
He sat back a little in his chair. "I assume you have some questions, so feel free to ask them. I don't want to get ahead of myself."
edited 1st Feb '15 10:36:48 PM by TeraChimera
Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Dimi)
Dimi arrived in the lobby, looked around at the possibly hundreds of people from hundreds of worlds, and felt irritable.
All these people are free... and I am not, he thought bitterly.
He moved into the fray, grabbed a plate, loaded it with fruit and meat, and then found a small table where he hoped to avoid attention.
Cloud Gate Hotel - Room -217 (Nazerno)
Meantimes, ol' Nazerno roused hisself up, draggin' his old bones to the privy, where he did heave out his guts, down to his nuts. When his guts were emptied, he dumped hisself ass-down on the seat an' hefted his head. His grey pounded somethin' powerful bad.
"Oh, I am gonna be greenin' and grettin' all day," he groaned. "This is a most perversely place..." He cursed hisself, cursed the boy, cursed that Zobie bitch, cursed that green bitch, cursed the Empire, and even, while he was feelin' brave, cursed Jidra. An' then he felt his guts rising again...
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 - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
The drone whirled in place in front of Hvpvdqia. "Apologies again, intrepid sophont, but MetaLink access for this vessel requires internal implants in order to achieve the proper overlay! However, this drone will vocalize pleasure at the prospect of describing these select unusualities to the both of you!"
It hovered towards the nearest glass cube, and projected a short laser light onto the skull. "Before you, inquisitive sophonts, you see nothing less than the skull of a rakan, the precursor race whose empire once ruled over all this galactic arm! This remnant of a fabled civilization was recovered from a derelict rakan stargate nearly 103.4 standard Earth years ago, and subsequently acquired by Madame voSudir at considerable expense and some amount of personal risk! The substance you see coating it is preservation nanodust, necessary to maintain its integrity these millions of years later!"
The drone shone its light onto the book next to the skull. "Beside it, you see one of the three surviving Codices of the Gray Night, written in cypher by a mad kaorrl on lost Kao Jaln itself! Many superstitions and fables have emerged about these texts of a short-lived and mysterious kaorrl cult, which existed in the days immediately before the Great War led to the planet being rendered uninhabitable! This drone can assure you that no peculiar events have ever attended Madame voSudir's ownership of this book, but then she does keep it safely stored away!"
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Exterior)]
Madame voSudir folded her arms and sniffed slightly, but didn't bother following Marion.
The speaking disk continued its spiel to any and all passerby.
[Cloud Gate Hotel Lobby]
With a cheerful DING, the elevator doors opened again on the lobby, allowing several more hotel guests to emerge into it. Among them were the pair of gluvpaki that had previously gone upstairs, and Reyondh Agavhi, who today was wearing her long red coat over a baggy tan jumpsuit. The gluvpaki immediately made for the doors and exited the hotel, while Rey glanced around the lobby for a moment, until she spotted Nioba, Lihiri, and Adrien. She quickly headed through the crowd until she was standing next to them.
Up close, it was clear that Rey looked thoroughly miserable. Underneath her sunglasses, her eyes were rimmed with visible blue blood veins, and she staggered slightly as she walked. She carried only one of her guns, at least obviously.
"Hey," she told the trio. "We gotta talk."
edited 31st Jan '15 10:46:37 PM by nrjxll
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
"Oh. Well, I don't have any implants," Hvpvdqia said to the drone, "so it probably would be easier just to describe them - thanks!"
Once the drone had begun describing the skull, Hvpvdqia walked over to it and looked closely, saying, "wow!"
When the drone described the book, she walked over to it and looked closely as well, saying, "fascinating! So, what's the book about?"
[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]
Adrien looked reticent, but after a few moments of considered silence he nodded slowly. "Interesting. If you think you can make it work, I see no reason why you shouldn't try. Do you have samples of the pathogens that inhabited that dead terrorists' body that you can work from?"
yeyCloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Adrien, Rey)
"Don't need a sample," Lihiri insisted. "It's all in here." She pointed at her own forehead. "Somewhere. I never forget things. I just misplace them sometimes..."
Just then, Rey arrived, looking out of sorts, and insisted that they needed to talk.
"Goddess, you look awful," Nioba said. "What's happened now?"
edited 1st Feb '15 1:50:15 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.[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Adrien, Rey)]
Rey pressed a hand to her head. "It's nothing," she said. "Hangover. Pass soon enough."
She blinked behind her glasses, refocusing. "Right. There are people after you. You two," she clarified, indicating Nioba and Lihiri. "Some kind of slavers or something. They say they're with" - her eyes glazed over for a moment as she accessed her backup - "an Empire of some kind. Didn't get any proper names, but there were two of them. An old man - long arms and legs, gray-green skin, kind of lowlife. And a kid, blond, human-looking, but with - mmm - pointy ears. Seemed much brighter than the old guy. He might have figured out I wasn't being honest with them and not told his boss, so I'm not sure whether he's hostile or not."
She winced again as someone set something down too loudly at the next table. "Anyway, Kel and I are gonna try and lure them into an ambush. Hate slavers, both of us. Thought we should touch base first, though."
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
The drone whirled again. "Excellent question, visitor! And one that remains largely unanswered! Parts of the cypher have been identified, proving that much of the book is a religious text typical of a kaorrl post-Second Expansion Primordial Winter cult. Yet large sections remain gibberish that defies all analysis! Historians, sociologists, and even occultists have all attempted to decode it over the five centuries since its creation, but the true nature of these sections so far remains unknown!"
[Entertainment Hall - Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]
The female qrtxian who had arrived earlier
had continued to wander around the courtyard for a while, content to watch the various strange people going about their business, and to let her scales soak in the heat of the rising sun. Eventually, however, she had entered the Entertainment Hall. After glancing idly around the attractions for a few minutes, she hissed and made her way over to Ejra Demori's emporium. There, she whistled loudly to get the proprietor's attention.
"Erm. So when you say you sell spells, you mean - what?" Her voice had a distinctly birdlike quality, even when compared to most other qrtxians.
edited 1st Feb '15 7:06:14 PM by nrjxll
Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela, Masum)
Nagako really doubted "Akarui the Diseased" was actually what it was called; the two people in front of her looked like they came from two vastly different cultures, if not two vastly different worlds. It looked like the woman was ready to drop the subject, and Nagako was tempted to ask her what her word for that thing was. At the same time, however, she wasn't certain if she wanted to know more about that thing, and the name the man gave it was just an apt descriptor as any. Plus, it looked like the conversation was going to veer into things she spent very little time thinking about and probably wouldn't understand all that well.
Instead, she turned her attention back to the man. Somehow, she got the impression that he was trying a little too hard to make himself look good, yet another thing that made him remind her of Adelphos. She was half-tempted to point him in Adelphos's direction; she imagined the two of them would get along very well.
She kept that thought to herself, however. "I can't promise anything, but I'll keep you in mind should the situation change," she said to him with another smile. And I really hope it doesn't. It was bad enough yesterday. "I hope you have a nice day, at any rate."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian![Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]
"Pointed ears?" Adrien leaned in. "That sounds more Elven than Human to me..." He trailed off.
Adrien straightened. "Alright, given that this seems like the more pressing threat, I say we ought to deal with it first. Now, if only I still had my weapon, I might be able to help the two of you."
yey[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]
"Preservation nanodust"... Riiiiiight. Or maybe you just couldn't be bothered to dust it. Marion's interest in the ship was waning by the second. She was seventy-five percent sure most of the stuff here was fake, their "histories" made up to fool the gullible. Because, seriously, "nearly 103.4 years"? Nobody used that combination of precision and approximation unless they were trying too hard.
And if the stuff wasn't fake, well, it just seemed boring. Like the book. Books could be interesting; Marion had seen some illuminated manuscripts in her time, albeit only in photographs. "Beautiful" was the best way to describe them. But this? Gray on gray. Hoo-bloody-ray.
She leaned over the book, pretending to look interested. "Large parts of it untranslated, hmm?" she asked the drone. "But you said some parts of it were translated, so they must use different... I dunno, languages or cyphers or whatever for each bit. Do you have any theories why different sections of it were written using different methods?" Probably some malarkey about a code or language 'only readable by their leaders'.
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Hvpvdqia said to the drone, sounding slightly disappointed, "too bad it's something that doesn't sound very interesting to read."
Then, perking up again, she said, walking over to the robot, "ooo - but what's this? Is it a lost Kr'ta!rk battle drone, dredged from the depths of a derelict cruiser?"
And pointing at the large animal shell, she said, "and is that a fossil of a lost species, only once found on a distant rogue planet, expelled from it's home system, leaving it to drift throughout space for eons?"
"Hey! This tour guide stuff is fun - maybe I should do it more often!" she said, smiling.
Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)
Nioba and Lihiri looked at each other, slightly baffled at how Adrien would not know about the Azikathi, before remembering that he was not from their world. "They are elves," Lihiri said. "Well, technically, Azikathi and Zinji, which are races descended from elves, but still..."
Nioba sighed. "On our world, the elves interbred with other races, creating new races. And then they disappeared - nobody knows where. First came the Azikathi, the product of elves and humans. Then came the Llogari, the product of elves and dwarves. And finally, came the Zinji, the product of elves and zana.
"The Azikathi were the most numerous, and thus most likely to take over the realms controlled by the elves, but they were also ruthless and cruel. Thus, before departing, the elves magically stripped them of most of their strength and magical ability, lest they exploit the elves magic-driven technology. They hoped that the Azikathi would learn humility and forge a pact with the Llogari and Zinji so that the elves' legacy would be assured by all of their children."
"Instead, the Azikathi tried to exterminate us," Lihiri said. "Those of us who still live cannot reproduce, and there are... other limitations. I'm sure it's not escaped you both that I am... not normal." Lihiri's tone darkened. "That is their doing."
"They also enslaved my people. It's a very long story." Nioba turned to Rey. "What you've reported is very worrying, indeed. The Empire would no doubt like to reclaim Lihiri, I've no doubt about that, but I've heard of the man you're describing - Nazerno - and he's the son of an exile, and from what I've heard, he has very little love for the Empire, and they have even less love for him. Then again, he's spent almost all of his life in Woodshadow, a kingdom that would very much like to see me dead, and he is greedy and stupid, and with his advanced age, probably desperate for one last score upon which he can retire. Perhaps the Empire offered him some considerable reward, or perhaps he thinks that with the Empire's resources behind him, he will finally manage to kill me and claim the bounty..."
She looked at Rey. "Thank you for the warning. But I would be very careful about this ambush you're planning. Nazerno may be an idiot, but there's no chance the Empire would hire him and not keep tabs on him, which means that there may be actual agents of the Empire here as well. The blonde Zinji could be one of them..."
Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby —> Elevator (Dimi, Jidra)
Dimi had seen and recognized the green woman, of course, and watched her approach the table. He barely had to look at the woman to whom she spoke to realize who it was. He'd been betrayed.
Or rather, Nazerno had. There was still a way out of this. Dimi quickly finished his breakfast, and calmly and quietly stood up and made his way to the elevators. Going back to his room wasn't an option, naturally, so he instead hit the button for the top floor.
"And where do you think you're going?"
He jumped. Jidra was right next to him.
"You're... you're not here. I know this trick already..."
"Really?" Jidra grinned. She grabbed Dimi by the neck, lifted him up, and slammed him on the floor. "Did that feel like an illusion?" she demanded. Her hand was still around his throat.
He instinctively tried to pull her hand away. "You're in my head. All of this is in my head..."
"Of course it is, boy," she said. She leaned in close. "The truth is, we've been in your head this whole time. Did you really think you'd realized Nazerno's stupidity all by yourself, when so few of your race are even sentient? We've been feeding you these ideas for years, nursing your resentments."
Dimi's head started to spin as he considered all of the ramifications. "Why?" he asked.
"Because Nazerno is an embarrassment to the Empire, the Vyzobian needs to die, and the Avatar of Suffering must be returned." She pulled her hand away. "Get up."
He stood. "What happens now?"
"You're going to go and fetch Nazerno. Once you do, I will give you further instructions. Follow my orders, and you will live. Try anything clever, and you will die. You're not the only asset we have here."
Suddenly, the elevator announced that it had reached the top floor. Dimi looked around and considered his options. He hit the button to go down to the second basement.
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 - Ship of Wonders (Interior)]
"Multiple theories have been offered!" the drone said. "None, so far, have been conclusively proven!" It paused and turned its blinking 'eye' towards Hvpvdqia, but stopped without speaking.
"Not quite," a hoarse voice said from the archway. Without making any noticeable sound, Madame voSudir had entered the archway leading out into the rest of the ship. Note that she simply moves very quietly by nature and practice, so if either of the other characters have extra-normal senses they may have noticed her before this. "But not half-poorly speculated and told, either. You would make a fine tour guide, my dear." She favored Hvpvdqia with a smile.
She gestured at the robot. "In truth, that is a warrior-drone of the Viridian Abomination, recovered from the ruined heart of the Engine of Nightmares itself nearly two centuries ago. Perfectly harmless now, of course, but once that metal horror was among the foot soldiers of the most dreadful AI blight ever to sweep over known space." She turned to indicate the insectile shell. "And that there could be its organic cousin: the remains of a clutchrix of the racnizeroth Swarm; a mindless super-soldier bred only for war. Consider yourself doubly fortunate: the racnizeroth have bred no more of these terrible creatures since the end of the Swarm, so finding one entirely intact is perhaps genuinely unique." That was directed at Marion.
She stepped closer, so that she could speak her next words under her breath to Marion privately. "As for your question about the book - don't spread this around, but I suspect it's a fake. Oh, it's certainly one of the authentic Codices of the Gray Night, but there is some reason to believe that there never was a cult or an untranslatable cypher - just some kaorrl prankster who'd read too many stories about Winter cults and cosmic horrors and decided to try and bring a bit of them into everyday life."
[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)]
Rey glared through her glasses. You can spread all that random shit about the history of your world without blinking, but you need basic business spelled out for you? "I wasn't planning just ambushing them alone," she said with some irritation. "I wanted to see what you could do to help. Don't get me wrong - Kel and I would do this anyway; we're mercenaries, yeah, but slavers die free of charge on Kral and Essui. But you obviously know hells-lot more about these people then we do."
Without asking permission, she took a chair from an empty table, pulled it up to theirs, and slouched down in it. The hangover was already starting to wear off - she wouldn't have left Kel and their weapons otherwise - but sitting up totally focused was still a bit much for her. "So, starting with the blond... Zinj? Should probably let you know that we don't have have elves where I come from period, except in formulaic human fantasy fiction." And it's not like I could tell the difference - you all just look like weird humans to me anyway. "Anyway, what I know is that he had this whole conversation with his boss in their native language after I got them to agree to a meeting at noon that I'd supposedly be turning you over at. I thought he was tipping him off, but they seemed to go for my offer, and the old man - Nazerno? - I don't get the feel that he was smart enough to pull off a counter-bluff. But even if the kid saw through it and didn't tell, I wouldn't trust him - especially with this stuff you're saying now about the Empire also wanting his boss dead."
She put her elbows on the table and propped up her head on them. "Anyway, I sent for some extra materiel for Kel and me, but we're still... our plans are still at a very formative stage right now."
edited 1st Feb '15 11:29:51 PM by nrjxll
[Market Hall—Youkai Showcase (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela, Masum)]
The demons were hissing at Suela. Masum reined them in sharply—he doubted they could show themselves to her or anyone else lacking Masum's unique qualities, but there was no sense letting them get too uppity.
"Afraid not," he said. "I don't mean any disrespect, only I'm not very religious. I'm not even sure I got the name right, actually. In any case I doubt it's the same creature, you know, coming from another world."
She mentioned another thing.
Ah, good point.
"And, um... did you say 'gods'? I don't think that thing looks like any god I've ever heard of. The one I was thinking of, Akarui, he's a devil, a powerful demon. Assuming he's real, anyway. I'm not actually sure what he looks like, but I'm pretty sure he's the one with a thousand eyes."
Looking back to the shopkeeper's daughter, Masum inclined his head again. Funny thing was, as the years went by, he got angrier and angrier, but it actually got easier to control. In the old days, when he was young, and his friends were new, he'd killed... well, a lot. At least a few every day. These days, his anger was darker, colder, deeper, but he also knew how to hate quietly.
"Please do," he said brightly, "and I'm sure I will. Thanks for your time."
Leaving it on an ambiguous note in case Suela would like to reply, but otherwise, it can be inferred that he wandered off.
[Entertainment Hall - Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]
Ejra started out of his chair; he'd been napping again, but he was on his feet remarkably quickly for his apparent age. He gaped a little at his newest customer, but only for a second.
"Good morning! My goodness, those eyes are striking. They are eyes, aren't they? Positively stunning. Ah, I'm terribly sorry, too forward of me. I'm Ejra, of course," he said, bowing far too deeply, "and these are—well, spells. Trinkets and artifacts imbued with the ability to cast spells, that is, but that's such a mouthful. Some of them have their own effects independent of a user—the ones we typically call 'artifacts'—and others, the real spells, that can only be used by someone with an inborn talent. Rest assured, though, natural magic ability or no, I've many, many items to interest you. My favorite theory—pure speculation, of course, but there are some fun legends to support it—is that each one contains the memories of a dead sorcerer—or a dead 'walker—who used to own it, and that's where the power comes from."
In anticipation of the question, he added, "A 'walker is somewhere between a sorcerer and a god—and between you and me, I'd put them closer to the latter. Dangerous sort to get mixed up with, even on a good day. But they're mercifully rare, even in places like this."
With that, he just sort of stopped talking, as if that were as good a place as any to end his answer to the question. He smiled expectantly at the qrtxian—he didn't know the name of the race, but he'd seen one or two about—ready to assist should she have any further questions or wish to try any of the merchandise.
edited 2nd Feb '15 7:40:13 AM by SolipSchism
[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]
"Thanks!" Hvpvdqia said to Madame voSudir, taking a more ordinary-human-looking bow, "I already have another job, but if it doesn't work out - I suppose I could always try out that!"
Hvpvdqia then took a closer look at the robot, and said, "interesting! I've heard of plenty of AI wars before, but I've never met anyone or anything from any of them. Most of the AI's I've met so far have been pretty nice!"
Turning to the insectile shell, she said, "I have seen things like that, though - back in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, there were plenty of similar-looking creatures on Earth. Although some were more reptilian, of course. I'm not sure if evolution really counts as total war - but based on what I've seen, I'd probably have to say so."
[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]
As he listened, Adrien's expression turned dark, but he said nothing.
"Well," he said to Rey, his voice turning hushed, "I think you'd better develop on it pretty quick, because I'm sure I just saw someone matching the description of that kid you mentioned enter that elevator. Just him, without his low-life minder."
His tone gained a note of urgency. "He seemed to be getting breakfast, but left pretty quickly once he noticed you." Adrien seemed at the edge of his seat, leaning over his half-eaten breakfast with his elbows on the table. "If you're looking to flip him, we might not going to get a better chance."
yey

[Market Hall—Youkai Showcase (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela, Masum)]
Old reflexes surfaced, well within his control, but strong. Emotional. That was no issue—it had been years since an honest emotion had shown itself on Masum's face. But the demons licked at the edges of controlled panic—They know I'm not what I seem. All of them—the merchant, the half-naked bitch, They know. Enemy. Enemy. Enemy.
He suppressed the panic; it was an old reflex, practically vestigial these days, a remnant from a time when he needed to be concerned about what his enemies thought of him. All he showed was a mild smile, and a slightly puzzled furrowing of the brow as he regarded the drawing—careful, maintain the self-doubt; you are a visitor, a stranger, a young man unfamiliar with this world, not too confident, polite and respectful yet slightly fearful of strangers and unknown customs, willing to concede a great deal in the interests of staying conciliatory—
Our master would like it. So you should not like it.
A simple sentiment, but true.
"I..." He furrowed his brow, and drew back slightly from the drawing, enough to show discomfort with a depiction of something obviously evil but not enough to be a caricature of disgust. "I'm sorry, but it's unfam..." Don't overplay it. Let honesty give you a semblance of earnestness. "...Hm. Well, I can't say the style is familiar; I only really know anything about Saavik tribal art"—from my homeworld—"from my homeworld, which is a much simpler and brighter style. But the..."—yes, you are uncomfortable, it is a monster—"creature... might be a servant of Versiver, the Adversary. A devil, we call them." He frowned deeply—searching his thoughts for the name of the servant he had in mind. He made sure to look suitably uncomfortable with the topic of devils.
Akarui.
"Akarui," he said. "It could be Akarui, the Diseased. I believe he's meant to have a thousand eyes."
Looking up from the drawing, he let the merchant see his honest disappointment in response to her fucking prevaricating polite declination. It was a carefully-crafted forced smile, the smile of a man who has been refused what he wants and is unwilling or unable to find another way to get it. Pity could be a powerful motivator, and if that failed, at least she'd see weakness and submissiveness. Being seen as weak was a strength in itself.
"...Oh." His face fell. "Well, I mean, don't trouble yourself on my behalf." He shook his head and straightened up, smiling. "I'm sorry. It's really no big deal. But if you do decide to offer them for sale, could you keep an eye out for me? I'll be browsing around and I'd really appreciate it."
I'm honestly sorry for dedicating so little space to Masum's reply to Nagako, comparatively speaking, but, well, I'm shitfaced and this is the best I could come up with. :o
edited 30th Jan '15 11:07:58 PM by SolipSchism