[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ejra blinked in honest surprise.

"Ah, well, of course I'll try to sell you my most expensive wares," he said, oddly echoing her thoughts almost verbatim. "But, hm... You seem like a..." He hesitated, closing his eyes for a moment. "Blue... and white mage. So let's start there, shall we? It depends on what you'd like. Spells for all occasions, you see. Invisibility, flight, immobilization of enemies, boons of strength and health for yourself and others. You can even summon allies and creatures to aid you in both work and combat. True, most of my spells were originally intended to be used in battle, but as you saw with the cloak, they have many uses."

He tilted his head, regarding her thoughtfully.

"Perhaps... Well, the Recall didn't work, but perhaps you'd be interested in a different spell meant to do the same thing—gather knowledge, or increase intelligence beyond natural bounds."

edited 4th Feb '15 8:17:02 PM by SolipSchism

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

"Well, usually - but I can do different moods! Right now I have on 'Summer Day'," Hvpvdqia said to Marion, motioning to her clothing. "I suppose I could try on 'Light Rain' - that one's much more cool and collected."

She stood up straight, as her look suddenly changed. Her skin became a dark gray, almost as dark as her hair, while her shirt changed from sky-blue to an overcast appearance. Her silver lightning-bolt earrings took on a faint bluish glow, her eyes changing color to a matching silvery-blue, while her skirt and hair remained the same color.

She held out her right hand, as a umbrella handle materialized in it, a central rod growing upwards, before fanning out into a full umbrella above her head. It was similarly dark-gray colored - but most strangely of all, light rain fell from under the umbrella and landed on Hvpvdqia and the floor around her. However, this rain seemed to be ethereal, as it disappeared upon touching anything else, so she nor the floor seemed to be getting wet at all.

"How about this?" she said, sounding surprisingly calmer than before, and possibly slightly lower in pitch.

Turning to the disk again, she said, "and about the large silver-colored fragment - I'm assuming you performed a nano-structural analysis. How did that inform you that it was from a different civilization entirely, and not just a specialized construction for a hitherto unknown purpose?"

"Also, it seems quite odd that a simple artwork would contain such a long-lived power source, or even perhaps a quantum transducer for indefinite support," she said, pointing to the sphere, "are you sure it is merely a work of art, and did not have any practical use?"

Note that she's not using any magic. She's actually a self-supporting patterned-energy lifeform, kind of like an independent Hard Light hologram. So she looks completely normal with regular sensors, but an X-Ray would show she's completely homogeneous and nearly transparent, and detailed or arcane senses might notice she's mostly composed of light and water, held together by advanced-technology energy fields. (Sorry I know this explanation is rather technobabbly. :P)

edited 4th Feb '15 8:29:17 PM by Sonzai

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

At the sight of Hvpvdqia's sudden transformation, Madame voSudir briefly mouthed What the - ? before pulling her mask of imperturbability back on. "Well!" she said cheerfully. "A display like that is certainly appropriate for the Ship of Marvels, if any place!" She subvocalized a command for Hazzer to observe Hvpvdqia more closely from now on, then waved at the drone. "Carry on, please, Hazzer-three."

"Madame voSudir and her property were not directly involved in the recovery of these artifacts," the disk explained to Hvpvdqia. "Indeed, she was not even alive at the time! However, thorough scientific analysis was done in both cases. The silver-appearing fragment was determined to have a material composition unlike any other known work of rakan origin, and the sphere contains no equipment save its power source and contragravity generators!"

"And so," voSudir followed up with a sweep of her hand, "the mystery remains."

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

"Blue-white mage." Ghiln tried to push aside the sheer fantastic weirdness of that description applying to her and thought for a moment. Blue... he said blue was knowledge, basically, and white was order and protection. I suppose that sounds about right. Although the landscape thing is very, very weird; I don't see a connection there at all.

Coming out of it, she tipped her head as she considered Ejra's response. "I'm not a... I don't fight, Zer Demori," she said politely, "so yes, that sort of thing wouldn't be what I want. But a spell of knowledge? Intelligence? I - I'm not entirely certain if that sounds safe, but if it is, then it's something I think I might want to try."

Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)

"The device is called the Disinfuriator," Nioba explained. "And yes, I know, it's a stupid name - the inventor thought he was being clever... At any rate, it resembles a long black metal staff with a cylindrical head and carvings all along the shaft. I believe there's a switch that activates it. When active, it emits a constant pulse that will disable any Zinji in a ten-foot radius. I've heard it can also fire off a focused beam that will effectively kill a Zinji." She paused. "For obvious reasons, we'll have to keep Lihiri away from this thing."

"I'd very much prefer not to be shut down, thank you..." Lihiri interjected.

"The device is at the Vardalgari Exports booth in the Market Hall. It's kept in a box near the back. The proprietor, Sotto Stimme, keeps the thing with him at all times. I'm hoping it's just because he thinks he can sell it...

"At any rate, it probably shouldn't be too hard to steal the damned thing. Guns are relatively rare on our world, and from what I gather, they are not so rare on yours, so your partner could probably just bring a big gun, wave it around threateningly, and walk away with the Disinfuriator..."

edited 5th Feb '15 12:20:54 AM by StrixObscuro

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)]

Rey silently repeated Disinfuriator? and put a hand to her head. The more she heard, the less it seemed like her hangover was getting any better.

She shook it off again and called Kel, eyes once more glazing over.

Kel? We've got a problem. The plan's not going to work. As succinctly as she could - internal communications were aggravating her just as much as everything else right now - she explained what had gone wrong.

...Right, Kel responded. What was I thinking, expecting things to be simple. So, what's my role in this?

Deploy the drones, then get over to the marketplace part of the fair. I need you to get an item matching this description. She described the... The Item That She Wasn't Going To Name Anymore.

"Get" it? How?

You're in an armor suit. Use your imagination. With that she refocused on the immediate world - though she left the channel open for future purposes - and gave looks from under her glasses to each of her companions in turn.

"Right, so that's Kel on the... thingy now. Meanwhile, what do we do? I've still got a couple of hours before the meeting where I'm supposed to... you know." She gave Adrien a particularly speculative glance; after yesterday she still wasn't quite sure where he stood on pretty much anything. "And, hey, you sure you want to get involved in this?"

Good night.

edited 5th Feb '15 1:08:33 AM by nrjxll

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Peter, Ksana, Xiong, Sigmund's transmission)

Sigmund smiled wryly and said, "I expected the demonstration would be something like that, but you brought up an important issue yourselves. I don't doubt your device's effectiveness against chimeras, but we don't have chimeras. We have the Void." He frowned as he checked a few reports. If general patterns continued to hold, the devices would work just fine against non-chimeric magic, much as Alice's abilities and several others had proved useful outside their native contexts. It did not hurt to be certain, however.

"We have, under very strict control, a number of Void Tree fragments." Buried deep, as the tribespeople of the Graveyard of the Gods had advised, but not inaccessible. "We can deliver these to you for testing purposes, or you can grant us control of a single device for our own testing. Your choice, but if you would prefer to do the testing in the Nexus, we will have to insist that you sign a waiver accepting at least partial culpability for any damages or disruption the Void causes here."

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono)

Veneris looked at Iono quizically and said, "well, no, they mostly engineer the seeds, pesticides, herbicides, though they've got a lot of other projects as well. You'd have to ask Dr. Xiong. But when you say 'grow food', I mean, what other alternative..."

Overhearing, Xiong leaned over and yelled, "food synthesis." Then, not yelling, but still loud enough, "It's a young field where we come from. Results haven't been promising, I'm afraid, so we're still stuck throwing seeds in the ground. Or, water, depending." (Xiong didn't know it, but Sigmund had quietly been suppressing the research, letting it trickle out so he could adjust and adapt his business strategy.)

Veneris nodded and said, "what she said, I guess." She frowned, uncertain what to say next. Then, "do you think any of your friends would have ended up here?"

[Market Hall - Youkai Showcase]

Suela nodded, jotting down notes. Certainly, their gods seemed far more benevolent than the gods she knew of. The dead gods would have killed anyone who they caught even expressing the possibility that they were flawed. "Do the gods of your land expect any sort of offerings?" she asked. The spirits of her homeland, according to the priests, were sated by offerings of wealth, incense, crops, the odd animal. A damn waste in Suela's opinion, and there was a bitter note in her question that hinted at her contempt for the outer realms, but she was in no place to start preaching her heresies. Yet.

"That," she said to Nagako, "was an etching I took from the ruins of a temple to one of the dead gods." She realized Nagako would no nothing of such beings, but also didn't want to bore her with the whole of Yoth pre-Crusade mythology. So a summary. "Before humankind overthrew them, they were our world's rulers. Capricious, arrogant, mean-spirited beasts with a taste for human sacrifices."

edited 5th Feb '15 5:27:15 PM by KillerClowns

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Wall of teeeeeeeeeeeeext~

Ejra nodded, and seemed to suddenly take on quite a serious aspect as he leaned back against one of the shelves. It wobbled; he thumped it on one side, and that seemed to stabilize it.

"Well. You're wise to recognize the risk—truly, most magic carries some degree of risk with its use, but then, so does any other pursuit. The risk in blue magic, generally, is that of too much knowledge. You can temporarily increase your mind's capacity, but no magic can permanently change what you are, and eventually your limits, whatever they are, will always return. Should you ever find yourself with too much knowledge, or too many memories, when the magic fades, they will be lost—sometimes along with memories of your own, or knowledge."

He held up a hand and mimed pouring something out of a vessel. "Like overfilling a glass, the excess will spill out, unrecoverable, and if there was already water in the glass to begin with, some of that may also be lost. With careful use, it's easily avoided, but one must always remember the risk, and never overreach. And, of course, with experience, you will learn to better appreciate your abilities, and push your limits with less risk. While learning, though, it's better to err on the side of caution, and ease yourself into it with smaller spells rather than use stronger magic."

Ejra pushed off the shelf and turned around, peering between the trinkets scattered on it. "I've spells to recover lost memories," he said, "forge connections in the mind to improve the speed of thought, read the minds of others, dredge up and control the normally inaccessible workings of your own subconscious, implant false memories in others, predict the future, uncover the past, see across vast distances and through barriers..." His head popped up and around to peer at her. "If there's anything you want to know, my dear, there's almost certainly a spell to let you know it. Blue magic can do other things, of course—manipulate water and air, grant the power of flight, confuse the mind, transmute the flesh—if you've ever wanted to turn someone into a toad, there's a spell for that too!"

Shrugging, he flicked at what looked like a little wooden water-drinking bird. It bent down, pecked at a pile of coins, and stood up again.

"White magic, on the other hand, can heal wounds, enhance the body subtly—green mana is better at that, could turn an infant into a raging behemoth, but white magic can improve strength and speed as well—prevent and even subvert violence onto those attempting to inflict it. It can also," he added, his tone indicating a shift in direction, "impose order. It won't let you control a person's mind, but it can sap combatants of their will to fight or even move, bind and imprison offenders, prevent them from fighting or escaping if necessary. It can banish men and beasts to distant lands, or even to the Blind Eternities—the space between worlds." He almost mentioned invoking the Wrath of God, but decided she probably wouldn't be interested in a spell that could kill everything in a half-mile radius of the caster.

"In short, blue mana can do just about anything a seeker of knowledge could want. White mana is useful for peacekeepers and healers, but is not as concerned with the exercise of free will." Ejra shrugged again. "But a tool has many uses, does it not?"

Without another word, he plucked four items off the shelf. A small piece of what might have been chalk, a pebble of fool's gold, a little spiral seashell, and what looked like a blue cat's-eye marble. He described them in order: "Accumulated Knowledge, which leaves traces of itself in your mind each time you cast it, and feeds off its own residue. Each time you cast it, you will make connections and draw conclusions based on knowledge you already possess, but with each casting, you will learn more than the last time. Impulse, a wonderful little spell that allows you to look into your own near future, and change your actions to influence it. Brainstorm is much the same, but does not look quite so far ahead; however, it requires less mana to cast, about the same as that cloak, so perhaps it would be preferable. Foresee by comparison takes more power to cast, but allows you to remember the future—difficult to explain, actually; it gives you the memories you will have as if you have already experienced them. And of course, you can use those memories to influence the future—yet afterward, the memories will remain as if you had lived them, alongside the memories of what actually happens. You'll also be pleased to know that these are actually among my less valuable spells." He held them out for her inspection. "And there are still countless more, of course, should none of these strike your fancy."

edited 5th Feb '15 9:14:38 AM by SolipSchism

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]

Adrien looked worried, and shrugged to Rey. "I'm as much up for the chance to kill some slavers as anybody, but I'm not quite sure how useful I'll be. Especially considering I don't have a weapon." He drummed his fingers on the desk in frustration. "It's not something I'm used to, or care for."

Adrien leaned back in his chair, continuing. "I'm trained in swordfighting and practiced in combat with dueling staves, so I suppose if we somehow manage to get our hands on that device she mentioned, I can use that." He seemed as hesitant to speak the name of the device as Rey herself was.

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

"Thanks!" Hvpvdqia said to Madame voSudir.

Then, turning to the disk, she opened her mouth, as if to say something - probably, isn't that just a repeat of the original description you just gave? but decided against it.

Instead, she said, "I suppose so. However, while these mysteries are intriguing, I can't help but feel that they are very disconnected from the other universes and dimensions I have been to. While that is not unexpected given the circumstances of this particular interdimensional nexus - the lack of context, and lack of other more concrete information is making it hard to truly appreciate these artifacts."

"I suppose if I had heard of the Rakan, Hrimmi Utility, or even Ghez Yanariem before, I could understand and be more impressed at these displays," she said, "but I'm afraid at the moment I'm not feeling much in the way of astonishment."

"Perhaps for interdimensional visitors - it would be best to show off artifacts of more intrinsic wonder, which depend less upon historical context?"

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono)

"I suppose that makes sense," Iono said, "but I think generally most food where I was from was replicated, or synthesized. Especially useful on long journeys around the galaxy and to unfamiliar places."

"Maybe that's why these burgers taste so good?" she said, starting on the second burger.

"And as for anyone else?" she said, thinking for a moment, "my team - we all went into the fracture simultaneously, so I would guess that they could also appear here, or perhaps in a place like this? I'm afraid this is beyond my knowledge."

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Oh, joy of joyous joys. A drama queen. Did she really need to change her clothes like that just because she decided to be in a different mood? Marion was reminded of the shallow teen girl stereotype; OMG, and I need THIS dress because it's cyan, which is for when I'm sorta sad but not really, and I, like, totally only have pastel blue, which is for when I'm not really sad but sorta am. Bolstering a poor self-esteem more than anything.

Besides, if the previous mood was her "Summer Day", then she'd never felt a proper California summer. Fucking brutal, even for reptiles. That summer day would probably be something involving BDSM. (All RACK, of course, but still.)

"Whatever," said Marion to Hvpvdqia. She looked at the sphere a bit more closely. Although "in the direction of" might be a bit more accurate. VoSudir was becoming quite interesting, admitting the fakes to people smart enough to catch on. A regular Barnum type. Give her some real cash, and Marion was a bit interested to figure out what she'd do with it. Maybe come up with something a bit more... classy, maybe? Show some restraint, look halfway official, and people could be a lot more gullible.

"Maybe they just put in a long power source," Marion said, half to herself, "because that was what they had in the way of batteries and didn't feel the need to downgrade? You only need a remote to have power for milliseconds at a time, but you don't use the smallest batteries you can if double-A's work just as well."

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]

Peter and Ksana looked at each other. "What do you think?" asked Peter. His voice was a bit lower, but not much. Either Xiong or Sigmund could still hear him clearly if they strained a little. "I'm fine with either."

"Well, I don't know what their Void even is. We really should have thought about that. If it reacts badly..."

"We normally don't do interdimensional business; it'd be stranger if we had thought of that. Anyway, I say we let them test it on their own. It'll keep any interdimensional effect... thingies to a minimum."

"Sounds good. And, personally, fésdivo tre'ságate siko hyonse pemtiavas. Tsi labados, siko naklei vendas, hra xhándivraen peste." And, personally, «I want a cave if the storm breaks. This way, if anything goes wrong, then it's not on us.» Ksana briefly switched to Menyic because there was no need for the WA people to know that she was leaning toward that particular arrangement largely to cover her and Peter's asses.

"True," said Peter, nodding. "Very true." He turned back to Xiong and Sigmund. "Very well. You may borrow a magflash for testing." He rolled the magflash already on the table to Xiong. "We may come with you if you want, but if you prefer to test in private, that's fine, too."

edited 6th Feb '15 8:38:51 AM by TeraChimera

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ghiln found herself appreciating Demori's more serious tone. It was good that he seemed to understand the reasons why she found the idea of magically altering her thoughts and knowledge a little dangerous - and it spoke well for him as a person that he was willing to spend time warning her about the dangers of the things he was trying to sell her.

Still, she hardly had a problem with tech that did the same kind of thing. So as foolish as the idea seemed in some ways, she couldn't help but want to at least find out more about how this magic thing worked. And certainly trying it could be a good way of doing that.

Of course, that left another question. "Um. I'm not quite sure how I would actually pay for any of this. My civilization has a different approach to economics then yours does, probably."

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

The drone whirled in place again. "This unit would be fulfilling its primary function by providing you with more historical context, sophont! Where, specifically, would you like to begin?"

Madame voSudir took a moment to let out a little sigh behind her veil. "That may not be necessary, Hazzer-three," she said, holding up a long-fingered hand. "In truth, my dear, this collection was not assembled with interdimensional visitors in mind. Such a thing is all but unheard of, after all. It was my belief that nonetheless it might remain appealing to visitors unfamiliar with its context - or indeed, that they might be particularly suitable for seeing it thanks to its novelty. If that's not the case for you in particular... well, that's unfortunate, but others at this fair might disagree."

She paused, and stroked the surface of the glass cube containing the crystal sculptures. "Besides, I hardly think all these objects are lacking in inherent interest, hmm? I myself am no art expert, but I've always been under the impression that a Yanariem piece is considered exceptionally exquisite in its own right, not just for its rarity."

She looked over at the disk, which was now hovering near Marion and the sphere, then turned her attention to the latter. "Perhaps. Both immithien power-generation and contragravity technology are widely believed to have surpassed our own."

As shifty as the museum in general is, the sculptures really are supposed to be fine art.

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ejra nodded and thumbed the side of his nose.

"Not to worry, not to worry—I accept all forms of payment, be it gold, silver, or any type of currency that I can exchange with the proprietors of the Fair. For barter, I'll gladly accept any items of value, including sentimental. You might have noticed that much of this magic is fueled by memories. Should you offer me an item of sentimental value, I can use the item's own history to forge it into a spell all its own, so very few things are truly worthless to me. The more memories you have of an item, the more valuable it will be."

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

Huh. I guess some people just don't like the weather no matter what it is, Hvpvdqia thought about Marion.

"Well, yes, these exhibits do have some novelty," Hvpvdqia said to Madame voSudir, "but in such an impressive gathering of worlds as this fair - one must not only consider the value of the activity one is currently engaged in, but also the opportunity cost of not visiting other interesting locations during this time."

"And so, I'm sorry to say I am more interested in something potentially more connected to my prior and potential future experiences," she said, bowing slightly, "and so I should take my leave."

If not stopped (or spoke to about not leaving), she would start walking out of the ship.

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ghiln shifted her posture slightly. She did not like the idea of giving up something of sentimental value just for what she anticipated being a temporary entertainment. Not that she was even sure she had anything like that on her - there was the linkpiece, but she'd always thought of it more as a tool than anything. Of course, she did have a Qvn Jxilkr discretionary fund, but it wasn't really meant to be applied to anything that she did just for herself. And while she could probably manage to convince herself - and anyone else who asked - that experimenting with this magic thing could serve the Qvn Jxilkr as a whole, it would be a little intellectually dishonest.

So instead, she tilted her head. "I'm not certain if I have anything like that with me right now. Um, in fact I'm not certain just yet whether I should actually buy anything here. Perhaps I'll come back later?"

She was a bit curious to see how Demori would react to that.

[Entertainment Hall - Ship of Marvels (Interior)]

Madame voSudir watched Hvpvdqia leave, then turned to Marion and folded her arms. "Did you really have to go and alienate my most amenable visitor, Zer Wings?" she asked with a sigh. "I liked her much better the way she was before." She shook her head. "Honestly. Weather spirits. So fickle. Why would she even expect me to have things from her universe?"

"Her comments could be taken as indicative of her native reality having much more awareness of interdimensional travel!" the disk said in its chipper voice. "As such, it is perhaps unsurprising that like many sapient beings, she assumed others she encountered would resemble her until proven otherwise!"

"I was mostly asking that of myself, Hazzer."

edited 6th Feb '15 11:36:56 AM by nrjxll

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ejra's face fell visibly. He'd heard—and used—the "I'll come back later" excuse to get away from pushy shopkeepers before; he certainly hadn't been born yesterday.

But to his merit, he perked up quickly and smiled, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes! I understand, you need time to consider, and I'm certainly not going anywhere soon. In fact—take this at no charge, and if you care to return, old Ejra will be happy to find you something else!" He held out the seashell—the Brainstorm he had described earlier—and tossed the rest of the spells carelessly into the mess on the shelves. He grinned and thumbed the side of his nose again. "Free samples, everyone loves free samples."

[Entertainment Hall — Ejra Demori's Fantastic Emporium]

Ghiln watched Ejra's face fall and felt a bit of an uneasy feeling from it. Maybe she was just soft from having all but zero experience with physical shopping, but he seemed genuinely bothered by it. Still, though, it wasn't as though she was just making an excuse - she might come back later, once she'd seen more of the fair and become aware of just what there was to spend her own funds on.

I hope that there's a tech store somewhere...

Again, it was also to his credit that he seemed to accept her departure instead of being insistent that she buy something. Though she couldn't help but flinch at how carelessly he discarded the rest of the spells; surely that couldn't be safe.

"Thank you, Zer Demori," she said, taking the seashell. "I suppose they do, at that." She wasn't certain if she'd ever try it, but there was no reason not to take it. Attaching it to her casualrobes besides her linkpiece, she executed a short but steep bow. "And thank you as well for... well, for teaching me about magic." There was no way to say that without it sounding odd, but the thanks had been both necessary and sincere.

With that, she turned and headed back into the crowd, requesting some chime music for her backup as she went.

And now I have no idea what to do with her.

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

"Oh," snapped Marion, "like I was supposed to know that mentioning that she was happy would cause her to decide to change her mood. After all, everyone knows that you can get to completely know someone from simply being in their general vicinity for... what, fifteen minutes? Twenty?" She snorted. "Seriously. Those were lit-er-al-ly the first words I said to her."

She briefly glanced out where Hvpvdqia had left. "And, be honest, would you have wanted her to stay like that? Sure, it was good for you then, but there's only so many times you can hear that sort of thing before it gets old." She opened her eyes wide and began spinning around the room, pointing at random objects. "Ooo, what's that? What's that? What's that? Ooo, that thing has numbers on it! What's thaaat? What's over heeerrre? What's this?" Her voice had gone up an octave.

Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela)

"Our gods are generally content with prayers. They do appreciate more physical offerings at times, but for the most part they do not demand much of us," Mahiro said.

He did notice the slight tone of contempt in the woman's question. He did find it strange that she apparently disliked the idea of offerings; maintaining good relations between the heavenly and mortal planes was something that was very important to youkai society, and offerings played a big role in that. However, he was here to make money, not question the religious beliefs of potential customers. As such, he chose not to comment on it.

Nagako grimaced upon hearing the woman's description. So that thing was apparently a god of some kind. It definitely didn't look like any god she'd seen. Between the appearances and what the woman said about their world's gods' behavior, it sounded like the sort of thing that made even Izanami look good in comparison.

She didn't get the chance to comment on it, however, as Mahiro had his own words to say about it. "Your world overthrew your gods?" he asked, a decidedly startled tone to his voice, "If we were to do the same thing, we have enough evidence that our world would simply stop functioning. I admire your people's willingness to take that risk."

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Madame voSudir laughed; it was even more throaty than her normal voice. "You haven't listened to the way Hazzer talks much, have you? I've grown quite beyond any annoyance at excitable, perky, irritating little buzzing things." She glanced in the direction of the hovering disk. "No offense, Hazzer."

"This drone possesses merely a programmed Simulated Intelligence and is therefore incapable of taking sincere offense, Madame voSudir!" the disk chirped in response.

voSudir sighed.

After a moment, she nodded at Marion. "You're right, of course, there's no way you could have known. And I suppose it could have been worse - she could have been a paying visitor. But still, I find an eager audience is something to be appreciated in its own right."

edited 7th Feb '15 5:39:43 PM by nrjxll

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono)

Veneris shook her head, as her previous worry and concern was starting to give way to a new feeling. She studied Iono with... not suspicion, not yet, but a certain thoughtful wariness. Iono is quite... cheerful for a woman who has been hurled into an unknown cosmos, separated from her friends, and is still reassembling her memories. It's uncanny. Reminds me of Alice, in fact... Creator, I hope I'm just getting paranoid. After a moment's thought, she decided to voice the most obvious concern. "You don't seem concerned for your friends," she said. "I take it you believe they can handle themselves?"

[Market Hall (Youkai Showcase)] (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela)

"The gods of our world also said the world would die without them," Suela said. She paused, reflecting on her own time as much as the long-fallen era. "Most texts say that the Crusade's leader had proof the gods were lying. But a few more hidden tomes say the Crusader expected the world to die when the gods did. The annihilation of the world in its entirety was seen as a better fate than a life as a toy to powers far beyond the world."

She then sighed wistfully. Enough about gods, living and dead. She turned to a new page. "Personally, I can sympathize. When your life's destiny is set out for you, when your fate is dictated by powers far beyond you that see you as nothing but a pawn... well, that's really no more a life than death itself, is it?" There was something in her tone, some melancholy, that suggested it was not long-dead gods she was speaking of.

Sorry nothing yet for Sigmund and Xiong, despite plenty of time. Mulling some bits over.

Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)

"Perhaps you should get some more rest?" Nioba suggested to Rey. "I don't think being exhausted will serve you well in the coming fight."

"I can help with Adrien's weapon situation!" Lihiri said. She reached into the small bag at her hip and pulled out a tiny key and a ring.

"What are you doing?" Nioba asked.

"I know I made you promise not to bring this, but I know how you hate to be separated from it, so I made a little enchantment, just in case..." Lihiri took the ring between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, took the key in the other, and slowly pushed the key through the ring...

There was a rumbling sound, and then, suddenly, a thing that looked vaguely like the unholy lovechild of a katana and a meat clever appeared in the air behind them. Nioba instinctively reached out and grabbed its hilt before it hit the ground.

Nioba actually smiled. "Obano," she intoned. "Breaker of Chains." She drew it out of its leather scabbard and held it before her companions. It had a nasty-looking edge to it. "This will cut through any armor from our world. I think we shall need it."

"And with that, you no longer need that other sword," Lihiri added cheerfully.

"Indeed." Nioba sheathed the obano, then undid the belt holding her other sword. She handed the other sword to Adrien. "Here. I hope this will suffice? The... Disinfuriator is not really a melee weapon. Its main purpose is to create a nullification field."

Cloud Hotel - Elevator —> Room -217 (Dimi, Nazerno)

As the elevator descended, Dimi ruminated on the events that had led to his enslavement by Nazerno. It was many years ago. The old bastard had become rich working as a bounty hunter in Woodshadow, which enraged the Empire, which had wanted his family to die off in poverty.

So they'd sent Dimi to kill him.

Nazerno had prepared. After leading Dimi on a cat-and-mouse chase through that filthy, miserable city, the old bastard lured him into a building rigged with ordinance. The explosions didn't kill him, but they did light him on fire, and he'd run, burning, out into the swamps. He'd been disoriented, and Nazerno took advantage of that and beat him within an inch of his life. He'd been outwitted, outdone. He deserved to be a slave...

We've been in your head this whole time...

He had not been beaten fairly. The Empire had made him surrender, because it suited their purposes for him to be Nazerno's slave.

And now, apparently, it suited their purposes for him to betray Nazerno.

The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival at the second basement. He got out and headed back to the room he shared with Nazerno.

[Entertainment Hall - Outside the Ship of Marvels]

Having finished walking outside the ship, Hvpvdqia took a look around the hall.

Perhaps I should find another location that is more conducive to an intellectual analysis, she thought, or perhaps somewhere to procure potential devices to aid me in my future missions.

Either way, she set off, walking around the hall.

Someone can bump into her if they want to. And note that she's still in her 'Light Rain' mood.

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent] (Veneris, Iono)

"Yes, I'm sure they can take care of themselves. And I would like to see them again, hopefully soon," she said, looking perhaps slightly concerned.

"But to tell the truth..." she said, getting a bit quieter, "we thought it was a suicide mission. Trying to solve a problem no-one could - in possibly the most dangerous way imaginable."

"I think it's a miracle I'm even here!" she said, "everyone else was sure we'd be erased from existence itself."

"And logically, if I am here," she said, "then the others would also appear here, or in a similar place - and so I'm sure they're fine."

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby (Nioba, Lihiri, Rey, Adrien)]

"Nah, I'm gonna be fine," Rey replied to Nioba, though she said it somewhat slowly and softly. "I'm hungover more than tired. There's a difference." She wasn't exaggerating - bullshit toughness had lots of strengths, but every competent merc knew not to overestimate their capabilities before going into serious combat. She wasn't really sure yet whether this was going to be serious or not, but it was at least probably going to be more serious than that thing with the Vakaza yesterday.

Still fun, though.

Hey, what time is it, anyway? She ordered her backup to overlay a clock readout on her field of vision. Still a while to go till noon, looks like.

When Nioba and Lihiri pulled their WFS out of nowhere, she did her best not to react beyond raising her brow-ridge. Then a thought occurred to her, and she spoke up. "Hey, you have any more of those things - or other weapons - tucked away wherever that one was?"

Another, less flippant thought (not that her previous question had been a joke, but still) followed. "Also, want to check: are we all on board, this time, with killing these slaving fraggers? Like I said, Kel and I are doing this pretty much entirely because we think slavers deserve to die. So I want to clarify if we're going to have any disputing over it again." Adrien, at least, sounded like he was okay with it - but Nioba and Lihiri? She wasn't sure yet.

[Cloud Gate Hotel Lobby -> Courtyard]

As Rey talked with their - what should he call them? Mismatched crew, maybe - Kel made his way through the lobby. He'd already had breakfast (andkui thoraxes and glaze; sort of amazing what you could get here) while Rey was still sleeping off last night's fun, so he didn't mind heading straight out into the fair.

The reason he was out there, though, was sort of another story. Nobody ever became private security because they wanted a shiny conscience, but he hadn't exactly gone into the job to be a bully either. And even if the guy was shifty, it was hard to think of any other description for using his armor - and size, most likely; most of the merchants he'd seen here were human and they were small sophs for the most part - to shake down or downright rob from a shop owner.

Kel fell into a brisk trot, moving along towards the courtyard on his three legs in a fashion that would have looked very odd to most bipedal observers, but came quite naturally to the shvuim. Still, duty is duty, such as it is. Though I don't think I'll be writing about this one next time I send to my family.

He wasn't sure just yet if he'd make the exports shop his first visit, though. He hadn't mentioned it to Rey, but one of the other places he'd stopped yesterday seemed like it might be a lot more useful than he'd thought at first...

I have plans for him, but for the moment he's available to talk to.

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Ghiln had continued to roam idly through the fair, listening to the music coming over her implants; the initial chimes had shifted to more of a march-style fanfare that seemed vaguely orl, or at least orl-influenced. (Not that she was an expert or anything). Occasionally, she'd considered taking out either her linkpiece or the spell Zer Demori had given her, but she still wasn't sure about the latter's advisability, and the former had been inconvenient enough so far that she didn't mind taking a break.

Still, the thought had put her in a tech mood, and she looked around. For a moment nothing interesting - except inasmuch as the whole place was unusual - appeared. Then she spotted a booth apparently run by a large alien of unfamiliar species in an encounter suit. Like Demori's, the booth seemed to be selling all sorts of random... well, junk. But it was the kind of junk she felt much more familiar with.

Shutting off the music, she approached the booth and whistled lightly to get the proprietor's attention.

Ghiln.

Current Time: Late Morning

edited 8th Feb '15 12:26:03 AM by nrjxll

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Welcome!" Tevarian said to Ghiln upon noticing her approaching his booth. Hey, I think this might be my first non-Terran customer! he thought, unless I count those Yiizlons - but it'd be a stretch to call them customers...

"I have a variety of displays here if anything strikes your interest," he said, motioning to the objects on display:

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

"These are some of the more interesting artifacts I have available - take this knife for example," he said, picking it up with one of his suit's mechanical arms, "actually used in the battle of H'J'!K'-'M*K, part of the Kr'ta!rk's planetary unification war, over 200 years ago!"

"I also have an additional selection of merchandise," Tevarian said, "if you're interested in something specific - just mention what you're looking for, and I'll see if I have anything that could be of use."

Market Hall (Youkai Showcase) (Mahiro, Nagako, Suela)

"I don't consider myself to be a believer in such things as 'fate,'" Mahiro said with a shake of his head, "The way I see things is that what happens between your birth and your death is largely up to you, and the fortunate happenings and the unfortunate happenings are simply odd coincidences and a side effect of being alive." He frowned. "The idea of one's life being completely under the control of someone, or something, else is rather disturbing."

At this point, the conversation had drifted away from things Nagako felt she understood properly. Besides that, just how long had it been since the Youkai Showcase had been open? As far as she could tell, the fair was a lot more active now than it was when they first started setting up. Now looked like a good time to head out.

"Not to interrupt, Father," she started, "But I would like to take my leave now. Is that all right with you?"

Mahiro nodded. "I don't have any reason for you to stay right now, and I trust that you can take care of yourself. I have no objections."

Nagako bowed. "Take care, Father."

With that, she made her way out of the stall and into the fair at large. She headed in the general direction of the courtyard; she'd seen enough of the market hall yesterday and wondered what the other parts of the fair might have in store.