[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"The... what?" Ghiln said, almost without meaning to. The proper nouns the proprietor had just used were unfamiliar, but more than that they were hard to parse even just listening to them. She had to wonder now just what was under that suit.

She lifted her head slightly in embarrassment. "Sorry - I just haven't ever heard of those things before. Or places, or species." Trying to move past the brief awkward moment, she considered the objects on display, taking a good, long moment to assess each one. Despite the verbal advertisement, she admitted to herself that she wasn't all that interested in the knife. The same went for the sword thing on the stand. But some of the other objects seemed more interesting. The glowing sphere thing, the prism, the ancient-looking disk-shaped object.

Though the one that seemed the most interesting to her was the tablet. She looked at it, then at the proprietor. "Actually, I think I'm most interested in that object there," she said, indicating it with a nod of her head. "What is it, exactly?"

She lifted her head again as a thought occurred to her. "Oh! Sorry, my manners - um, my name is Ghiln." She executed a short, polite bow from the upper torso.

edited 8th Feb '15 8:08:39 PM by nrjxll

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

"You needn't worry," Nioba assured Rey. "Killing is a grave transgression among my people. But slavery is far worse. I will not stop you from killing Nazerno."

"I would prefer to capture the Furor alive, if possible," Lihiri chimed in. "The Zinji are a dying race, and we cannot reproduce. Every one of us that dies brings us much closer to extinction." She looked momentarily sad at that thought.

Nioba laid a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"As for the weapons, of course there's more where the obano came from. Our house is pretty much nothing except weapons. And underwear. And those neat little vibrating things we brought back from that trip to Houda..."

"I think the pertinent question was whether it's possible for you to summon more weapons, dear..." Nioba said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Oh," Lihiri said. "No. I only designed the portal to bring the obano. But I could Fashion more obanos if I some similar object to serve as a base. A butcher's cleaver would work best, but a steak knife might also work."

"The obano is a ritual weapon, presented only to those who've earned it..." Nioba protested. She did not like the idea of having her ritual weapon copied.

"Well, yes, but from an alchemical standpoint, it's not difficult to reproduce. And tactically speaking, we could probably use a few more of them right about now..."

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"No problem! Welcome to my booth, Ghiln," Tevarian said, "and it's completely reasonable that you may have never heard of them before - this is an interdimensional fair, after all."

"Oh, and the tablet?" he said, picking it up with one of his arms (and setting the knife back down), "sure, that's an SCTC encryption demo tablet. A very mysterious and secretive species - the encryption in this demo tablet is strong enough that even some of the greatest mathematicians cannot tell if any information is encoded!"

"You can try it out, if you'd be interested?"

edited 8th Feb '15 10:56:54 PM by Sonzai

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

That's a relief. Nice to know we have some things in common.

Rey sniggered slightly as Nioba and Lihiri's conversation went sideways, before putting on a more serious expression. "I'll do what I can for the Zinji kid, but no promises. If it comes down to him or us at some point, I'm choosing us."

She looked down at the scabbard-ed obano on Nioba's belt. "And yeah, having more of those things couldn't hurt. I don't like getting into melee much, but if this armor you're talking about is anything like what the Vakaza had... yeah." Her mouth turned upward in a grin that had a slightly predatory tinge to it. "Hey, you mind letting me take a few swings with that one there? Just in case?"

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

If Ghiln had eyebrows, they would have shot up at the word "encryption". The words "mysterious", "secretive", and "information is encoded" following afterward would have just raised them higher.

"Yes! Yes, I would very much like to see that!" she said excitedly, her eyes seeming to grow even larger. Odds were, of course, that there was no way she'd been able to determined anything interesting about the tablet; the interdimensional issue would have been more than enough of a problem on its own, and when you added the encryption being apparently unbreakable to that, the endeavor seemed utterly doomed. But she found even just the thought of trying to be exciting.

As she reached forward for the tablet, she tilted her head slightly. "You said the species that made this was called the SCTC? Is that - what does that stand for, exactly?"

edited 8th Feb '15 11:59:56 PM by nrjxll

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

"True," said Marion. "I'll admit I ain't exactly the most eager of people. And she rather made up for that."

Money. Hmm. How should I go? Tactless or semi-subtle? Decisions, decisions. "Of course, if she was paying," Marion continued, "then wouldn't you have already gotten her money before she left? She would've paid to get in, so..." She flared her wings. "Or do you work on a trust system where people pay what they think the place deserves once they reach the exit? 'Cause that'd be a bit easily abused and often leave you a bit wanting, financially-speaking, but you know that already."

[Middle of Courtyard]

Walking towards the middle of a large courtyard with yellow-green eyes that adjusted quite quickly to the bright sun was a girl with short messy sandy colored hair and strange black markings all over her body. She wore a white short poncho, a white trimmed with red bikini tube top and matching shorts. Her sand colored cat ears perked up at all the noise as she looked about at the hustling and bustling of the fair.

"Wow, those folks I met on the way here weren't joking about how lively this place is." she grinned, "It's perfect."

She began to look around eagerly and spotted the marketplace nearby. Looking to her money pouch which hung on a loose belt she thought, "I should get a souvenir. It's always good to spend some money on yourself once and awhile."

The cat girl then spotted a woman standing alone and looking confused and immediately rushed in.

"Hey there, couldn't help but notice you look like you're lost or something. Any chance I can help?" she asked in a rather loud voice that startled the woman.

"A-Actually I was thinking of going to the marketplace to buy my husband a gift and was trying to decide on what to look for before I entered." she replied, calming down after seeing the girl.

"Really? Well I believe I can help. I'm merely a mercenary but I can make some pretty interesting things. Check this out." she replied and looked to the ground beneath her and closed her eyes in concentration before moving her hands around and proceeded to erect a statue of the woman out of the dirt.

The shake made a few people gasp and scream and the woman stared up at it with wide eyes. "Eh? Eh? Shay of the Dunes at your service. Usually I use sand but I don't see any around here." she explained and didn't notice the large man who appeared behind her who yanked on her ear.

"Ow-hey! Watch it!" she yowled, sandy cat tail standing up straight.

"Stop disturbing my wife." he growled as he slowly dragged her away.

"Hey, hey, I was just trying to help her. And maybe get some coin on the side. That took a lot of energy you know!" Shay scowled as she was let go near the entrance of the courtyard.

As the man walked away, Shay brushed herself off and muttered, "That's the treatment I get for helping people? Yeesh."

She shook it off and decided to head to the Marketplace for now. For all she knew there might be someone there looking for someone to help in their problems for some gold. The girl wasn't about to let this incident ruin her time here exploring the famous Fair.

edited 9th Feb '15 6:58:43 PM by Sphinxyness

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

Veneris leaned back and blinked a few times. "I, uh, well." That certainly explained things. It was definitely a brave choice. Not one Veneris would have made. "It is written," she said, "he who hath nothing he would die for hath nothing to live for." (The translation magic used the Old English to serve as a hint that Veneris had switched from Lay Maurosian to Liturgical Maurosian, as she was directly quoting the Book of Unity.) Veneris supposed she'd die, or just risk her life, to save the soldiers of the organization that had given her so much, or to protect any of her fellow Maurosians who sought to change their society as she did. "I'm glad I could help you out on this quest for... ah, how rude of me! I never asked: where are you from?" She doubted she'd have heard of it, but something to note in case she met any of Iono's friends.

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

Suela tilted her head slightly. "Who ever said I was talking about 'fate'? I mean, I suppose I am, in a way... I do not believe fate exists, but there are many tales of it where I come from. Always, the hero must accept their fate, or suffer tragedy fighting it." There was a slight scoff here. "A metaphor for obedience to the laws and customs of one's people, perhaps." Then she sighed once more. Her mind raced to a connected topic. "Speaking of fate, I get the impression you intend for your daughter to inherit your store?" She left a number of implied questions in the air, curious to see which among them, if any, Mahiro took.

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

"Excellent," Sigmund said. "We appreciate your willingness to let us experiment, and I hope things go well. You are invited along to observe, if you wish. Xiong, do the honors?"

Mary pulled out a pair of strange devices from under the medical equipment; a cube and a sphere, both made of something that looked like stained glass, but with garish, extremely saturated tones, more akin to a rave than a church. The cube was may-colored, while each face of the cube had a different single shade. Xiong expertly manipulated them and said, "like Sigmund said, you're free to come with, though, y'know, we've never actually had anyone come through the portal..." A circle, perpendicular to the ground and about six feet in diameter, appeared. It led to what appeared to be the insides of a bank vault, lit in fluorescent white.

Even though the Fair's magic cut it down to a fraction of what it could have been, the reek hit Ksana's arconperception — and Iono's, if she had something similar — like the stench of a rotting corpse blown asunder. Western Amalgamated's native dimension, to the magically sensitive, absolutely stank of two terrible and alien powers, and it was a matter of opinion which was worse. First, the cruel, cold antimagic that was all that was left of the *Song*, the hideous *tone* that would erase magic, committing a callous and thoughtless genocide against every being in the multiverse that did not fit their ruthless definition of what could be permitted to exist. Second, wrestling against it, the hideous Eyes and Teeth, its own primal, mindless hunger and fury undisguised as it attempted to claw invisibly through the opening, stopped only by the Fair's powerful protections and the Song restraining it even as it too attempted to break loose and remake reality in its image. The physical effects of a magical being actually stepping through the threshold of that portal and immersing themselves in the maelstrom lurking beneath the placid surface of this reality could only be guessed at, but at the very least it would render the unfortunate soul blind, deaf, and dumb as the monstrous war crushed every iota of their perception.

Xiong was oblivious to the effect the portal, which appeared to mundane observers to be completely innocuous save for a soft shimmer like the surface of a soap bubble. She was ready to leave, and if Ksana somehow maintained a straight face, would simply head through the portal. She'd stop if Ksana made it even somewhat obvious that something was wrong, though.

edited 10th Feb '15 4:20:33 AM by KillerClowns

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Tevarian handed Ghiln the tablet, and said, "great! Now to use it, simply tap the screen to turn it on, then pick the demo mode."

If Ghiln were to tap the screen, she would see a simple text display, which said, 'Encryption Demo', and beneath that were two buttons, one said 'Encode' and the other 'Decode'. Both would lead to a text screen that said, 'Enter Key:'. At this screen, Ghiln could enter a password with the touch-keyboard, or speak one aloud. Upon pressing 'Done', the display would then either say 'Enter Information:' with a similar prompt for Encode, or display the decoded information for 'Decode', if the key was correct, otherwise the screen would merely say, 'No Information Found.' The tablet also had wireless interfacing capabilities, to allow for detailed key and information upload/download. I'm not sure if the systems would be immediately compatible, though, as they're based on Tevarian's universe's standards, and have no AI whatsoever. Ghiln might also notice that each key could store independent information, and that using the same key for Encode would merely overwrite the previous information.

"Oh, and the SCTC? That's not actually an acronym," Tevarian said, "it's just the closest transliteration of their name from their native language. They speak in... well, it's a bit hard to describe, but it's more like conceptual logic, and they have strict rules for the structure of words. For example, any organization or species is always in something like all-caps. I'm sorry, I don't know much more about their language, honestly." Inasmuch as his environment suit could look nervous, it did - as clearly xenolinguistics was a bit outside his comfort zone.

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

"Yes, we thought our sacrifices would be worth any help we could give to the billions more who were still trapped," Iono said, "I just hope it helped..."

"Oh, and where I am from?" she said, "well... I remember being from Earth, a long time ago... but more recently I've been working with the... the..." She tapped her suit where the letters GI were, trying to remember. "Galactic Institute. Yes, I was assisting them study the fracture."

She looked as though she was going to say something else, when she saw the portal.

Jumping out of her seat and standing up at inhuman speed, she summoned a spherical blue energy barrier around herself, holding her left hand up. It shimmered and glowed, and had a hexagonal structure to it, with very faint undecipherable magical text along the borders of each segment. She also summoned a metallic blue staff in her right hand, which was about half her height, and had a glowing blue diamond at its tip.

"What is that?" she said, quite loudly. Her voice was also distorted by the barrier slightly, as if she was talking behind thin glass.

While Iono's actions looked like ordinary magic to normal, and standard supernatural observation - someone with true vision, or perhaps more universal understanding might see that Iono herself actually had no magical powers whatsoever. She was merely instructing an external force to create the necessary modifications to reality to look as though she cast the observed magic. The force was acting from a great distance, and the source was far beyond the confines of this nexus - but a glimmer of its nature might be observed. It was cosmically powerful, although had only a minuscule fraction of its true power here, due to the extreme distance. It also seemed to be entirely subservient to Iono, as it did whatever she instructed, and would take orders from no-one else.

edited 9th Feb '15 9:25:45 PM by Sonzai

[Courtyard, near the Market Hall entrance]

Oblivious to the incident with the cat-girl, two men—one a young adult, the other an apparently elderly man whose sheer volume belied his age—were arguing heatedly outside the Market Hall. Well, that wasn't quite accurate—the older man was arguing quite heatedly while the other occasionally got a word in.

"I don't fucking care!" Emmesin bellowed, loud enough to be heard by the entrance to the Entertainment Hall. His face was beet red from the force of his shouting. "He could be a blind fucking streetwalker with one leg and seven fingers—he's an enemy of the state, and if we encounter him, you will do as you're fucking told and kill him!"

"Karl—"

"You are not my fucking King, Erris, and you are not a member of the fucking Golden Circle, and you will address me with a damn sight more respect than you give your fucking boyfriend, do you understand me?"

Somlan shut his mouth at that, drawing back a little in surprise.

"Sir, he said quietly, "Aeron is a totally unknown quantity. We don't know anything about him except that he's an enemy of the state. Even assuming I could recognize him, or detect him by his magical ability, attacking the man who dominated the Saavs overnight without so much as a minute's worth of reconnaissance would be suicidally reckless. I may be good, sir, but I've never been in a real battle—I'm a soldier, but only just. Besides, I have no idea what kind of laws are in effect at this Fair. For all I know, attacking a man like that, even a war criminal from our own world, might be a crime."

Emmesin grabbed the folds of Somlan's robe and pulled him up close. The old man's breath was hot on Somlan's face, and his inky eyes were massive. Somlan could see every dark wrinkle in the Vizier's face.

"A crime? Now, you listen to me, Erris. As long as we're here, I'm the right hand of our Sovereign, and my orders are your laws. And if it comes down to it, you will kill that fiend, and if you don't, I'll have you tried for treason upon our return. Should anyone here have a problem with violence, I'll take responsibility."

Somlan strained away from Emmesin's face.

"Ah—yes, sir."

The Vizier shoved him away. He stumbled a little, but righted himself quickly enough.

Emmesin rubbed at his temples and glanced around; he spotted the cat-girl, scowled, and stalked off into the Market Hall. Somlan followed the direction of Emmesin's gaze and gave a tired but friendly smile in the girl's direction.

"Work," he said weakly, by way of a joke.

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Madame voSudir gave Marion a long, considering look, then shrugged. "It depends," she said. "I know, I know, that's such a facile answer, but one thing you learn at a very young age in the Alliance is that there is no one rule that can be applied to every civilization. On some of the worlds I bring the Ship of Marvels, I insist that customers pay up front. On others, I allow them to set their own prices. It's not so problematic for me as you imply, not all the time anyway. There are many people out there who find a rare artifact or a compelling story well worth paying for."

She toyed with the side of her vest, fiddling with some of the beads that hung there. "In truth, it's what I'd prefer to do all the time. I'm a purveyor of the unusual, not some money-bathing societal parasite. I want only as much reward as people feel impressed enough to offer. That is, after all, how economics work in theory, isn't it?" She shrugged again. "But owning a private starship is not an easy task. Sometimes you just have to set a flat price - I can always find visitors, in the end."

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Ghiln took the tablet eagerly and began fiddling with it, but her face fell at seeing the interface come up, for more than one reason. That is... rather less advanced than I was anticipating. Is this even going to be worth it?

She looked up at Tevarian wonderingly, but held her silence as he explained about the creator species. They sounded distinctly odd even for aliens, but it wasn't like she knew much about cross-species translation and transliteration. Though a very alien psychology might help explain why no one had ever managed to crack this thing....

Hmm. I wonder if I can interface this with my backup through the linkpiece?

Out loud, she asked, "Um. Exactly how much can I meddle with this? I mean - it's yours, unless I pay for it, and I don't know what your laws on data ownership are. I doubt I'll be able to decode it without brute-forcing it, and I definitely couldn't do that here, but just in case..."

[Market Hall - Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

Kel approached the tent in more than a bit of a bad mood.

He'd thought for a little while about which of the stalls to visit first, but in the end the answer was obvious enough: if he did end up having to steal the Disinfuriator (or whatever it was called), that would make any further shopping kind of difficult. Plus, it wasn't like he really wanted to do it if there was another way. Of course, Rey would hate resolving this without a fight, but that was exactly why he'd come here. From what he remembered of the stall, it seemed like a good place to go for alternatives.

What was irritating him was more just how many random inconveniences this place seemed to be throwing at him. Not just the big stuff, like the way finding one missing little girl had taken forever, or how he might now have to commit an unambiguous crime because of another mess Rey'd jumped right into, but the little things as well. The noise - humans were always so loud, and they seemed to dominate this place. The stares - same reason. The way he'd had to cut down on his jogging through the crowd because of how thick it was.

Trying not to scowl - though he wasn't sure the dragon-people could read his expressions, it couldn't hurt - he approached the tent. The same individual as yesterday was still manning it, and Kel raised his hand in a wave. "Hey there, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Yuzgalan. I stopped by briefly yesterday. I think my organization might have a need to check out your wares after all?"

Courtyard- Near Marketplace Entrance

Shay paused on her way to the marketplace when she heard very loud arguing near its entrance. So loud it made her ears bend down in annoyance as she crept closer to see what was going on. It was an older man arguing with a younger one and he was yelling so loud she could make out most of what he was saying. Something about going after a person who was an enemy of the state. It sounded complicated as the girl watched the older man storm off with a glance in her direction and saw the younger one looking at her as well.

"Work." he had joked and she smiled back at him.

"Sounds tough, though if you want, I could help. For a price of course." she replied as she walked up to him.

She may have not known who the person was the older man wanted to capture but as long as it just meant capture and not kill she would do it. It sounded fun anyway, tracking down a criminal. If he refused it was no big deal, she still had the Marketplace to explore. Though from the sound of things he may need extra hands. She thought about the older man and how he was the possible boss and not liking loud angry people she suddenly grinned.

"Actually I can even help you and put it on that man's tab. As long as he gets what he wants he shouldn't grumble too much." she added, "Name is Shay. What's yours?"

edited 10th Feb '15 10:51:30 AM by Sphinxyness

[Courtyard—Somlan and Shay]

Somlan shook his head as if to clear his mind.

"Ensign Somlan Erris," he said with a shallow bow, "at your service. We're—well, we're here looking for magic or science that can revive the dead, but now it seems we might have been followed by a—particularly dangerous fellow from our world. We know him as 'Aeron', though that's almost definitely a false name. He's a... warlord, and a wizard, and he's been making overtures of war at our kingdom for a few years now. Trouble is, I haven't the faintest idea what he looks like—no one does—and I'm guessing he's far too powerful for a neophyte like me to find him with magic alone."

He stopped, frowning; he wasn't sure what had compelled him to spill the whole story like that, but, well, there probably wasn't much point in hiding any of it. After all, even if she worked for Aeron—hell, even if she was Aeron—he doubted he'd be able to conceal his thoughts from the mage anyway. You certainly don't become the master of an entire race by being kind of good at magic.

[Market Hall—(Somewhat) Near Nagako]

The demons stirred, muttered, nattered amongst themselves.

...kill him...

...enemy...

...you will kill that fiend...

...far too powerful...

Masum would have smirked, but he'd flagellated such betraying instinctive responses out of himself years ago. It was flattering, though, to know that somewhere in the Fair, his enemies were so concerned about his presence that they were talking about him enough to disturb the demons. A mention here or there would have gone unnoticed—but the Rashaeans were talking of nothing else, it seemed.

He pushed the demons down sternly and brought his focus back to his surroundings. Serendipitously, it seemed the girl from the stall had opted to go for a walk, heading for the courtyard. He followed at a distance, never looking in her direction or walking directly toward her—he had the invisible demons' eyes to see through, which made it easy to keep his distance without losing her. They couldn't stray more than a foot or two from where he stood, but at least they could look in all directions.

Masum was cloaked in near-invisibility (the term was a misnomer—in truth, the spell merely directed observers' attention around him, so that he was practically unnoticeable), but he knew better than to rely on magic around unknown quantities. The mind could be trained to see through his illusion, and besides, he didn't know what kinds of magic he might encounter here—for all he knew, there might be sorcerers here who even outstripped his own power, though he thought it unlikely. In any case, he wasn't about to get too close to the girl, cloaked or otherwise. The crowd ebbed and swelled around him, but never quite seemed to touch him. That was more the demons than his magic—they had some ability to influence the behavior of mortals, but Masum had never quite been able to codify what that influence actually was. They certainly couldn't control the mind or body (well, not without freely-given permission, anyway), or induce any strong emotions. They simply seemed to make things more—convenient for him.

Damn it. If even one of the demons had a fly or mosquito to possess, he could have observed the girl from halfway around the world, and the only sign of his influence would be the insect, buzzing along harmlessly, almost invisibly. Instead, he had to stalk her like a rogue, on the off chance she might return to where she kept her beetles.

Beetles. We don't want insects.

No. Meat. We want meat. Humans. Cats, dogs, rats. Birds.

Flesh and blood, feathers, skin, sinew, brain, organs, hair.

Shut up, Masum thought, and the demons writhed with indignation. If you find a rat, take it, but until then, we must take what we can find.

I realize I said when Somlan/Karl showed up that the fountain had a bunch of midges, which Masum might use, but... meh.

edited 10th Feb '15 11:45:45 AM by SolipSchism

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]

"Good, good," said Peter, nodding. "In that case, I th-"

Then the portal opened. Yelping out a "Xheva!", Ksana instinctively flapped her wings, knocking her chair backward and sending her sprawling on the floor. She shuffled backward on her tail for a few feet, eventually coming to a halt and slowly standing up. Her eyes didn't go wide, but they looked haunted; the expression on her face was more commonly associated with the thousand-yard stare. Her wings and tail were unnaturally still.

Peter jumped a little and looked between her and the portal. "Jesus, are... are you okay?"

"Not really, no," said Ksana. "I... It should be safe for you. But I'm not going." Her voice was flat, almost completely monotonous. "It doesn't... feel right." She didn't move her gaze from the portal.

"O... kaaaaay..." muttered Peter. He glanced at her one last time, then turned to Xiong. "Hem. Well. All right, given that you don't seem to have seen anything terrible happen around there, I'll go with you to answer any questions you might have had." He looked briefly at Ksana again. "You... haven't had anything terrible happen to people, right?"

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

"Hmm," said Marion. "Interesting." In more ways than one. "You know, sometimes people are willing to pay more if it's presented well enough, and, not gonna lie, the outside of your ship is a bit tacky. Bit of a red flag, some of the language you were using. Start with a bit of class instead, and people will be more easily impressed."

...Aaaand why don't I just go and say it? "Well, anyway, I appreciate your frankness in some of these exhibits-" She waved a hand around vaguely. "-but I think you could do a bit better presenting it if you had a little extra cash. Because red and green? Eugh. That could be changed. Want a large donation?"

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

"Yes, I remember you," said Shane, nodding. "Is there anything specific that you're looking for?"

He was about to let Kel respond when he added, "In case you need your memory jogged, our products include batons, stun guns, Mace, Tasers, and AFGs. Barring the last, all have applications outside of protection against magic."

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Madame voSudir looked surprised, though not offended. "Well, I would certainly not be in a hurry to turn down such a generous offer," she said. "But I would also point out that not every species has the same aesthetic perceptions. For Clanner orl - the civilization to which I have the honor of belonging - bright, vivid, contrasting colors are signs of life; they excite and inspire interest. That may not be true everywhere, but as I said, the Alliance is so vast and diverse that no one could please every taste within it, even if we're just talking about civilizations."

She did something a little between a curtsy and bow. "But as I said, I would hardly turn down the chance for a donation. The Ship of Marvels is not easy to maintain, after all. Though I wouldn't be averse to other contributions as well...?"

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

"AFGs?" Kel asked. "Sorry, but I don't think I've heard that acronym before."

He thought back to what Rey had told him about the capabilities of their opponent; it was kind of short. Typical, really. "And assuming it's not what that is, do you sell any kind of defensive equipment? Shields, armor, injections - that sort of thing?"

[Entertainment Hall]

As Hvpvdqia walked around the hall, she might have noticed that she was being followed. The following individual was largely concealed by a long brown coat, but his exposed head made it clear that he was not human: it was horizontally-elongated, slightly crescent-shaped, with exceptionally wide-set green eyes. The being had tan-orange skin and no hair.

PM me if you need further details (and if she notices; she doesn't have to) as I have no real idea what she can do or sense.

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Feel free to try it out," Tevarian said, "I erased all the obviously-keyed information, but if you find anything interesting, be sure to tell me!"

"And as far as laws on data ownership?" he said, "We... haven't had any of those for a long time. Part of the reason their encryption is so valuable."

"But feel free to try to crack it - I mean, the encryption, not physically," Tevarian said, "the actual device is pretty durable - but not indestructible."

"And if you want to view the encrypted information, you'll need to use the wireless link mode - just press the button on the top there, and it should display instructions," Tevarian said, pointing to the top edge of the tablet.

On that edge to the left, was a very thin button, easily missed as it blended very well with the exterior casing. When pressed, it would switch the tablet between demo and wireless modes. In wireless mode, it instead displayed the text 'Wireless Mode' with a reasonable amount of smaller text below, describing a relatively simple interface protocol, and the necessary frequencies and modulations to connect. I'm assuming the fair's translation magic would also translate this description into units that Ghiln, or one of her devices, could understand. If she tries to connect, I'll write what happens then. :)

[Entertainment Hall]

Hvpvdqia walked around the hall, not finding much of interest to her at the moment, until she noticed someone following her.

Opting for the direct approach, she turned around, and said to the being, "hello - can I help you with something?"

Hvpvdqia has relatively few advanced sensor abilities, and they're pretty much all on-demand, rather than passive - so I'll write if she's using any of them. On the other hand, there's plenty of strangeness about her nature and abilities. :P

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"All right, then, I'll try. Thank you!" Ghiln said quickly. She then turned to messing with the tablet until she was able to bring up the mode the shop owner had described, hissing slightly in excitement as she did so. The thing might have looked primitive - no, that was too harsh a word, but it was certainly less advanced. However, it was still just familiar enough for her to understand easily how to use it, yet also different enough that figuring out the twiddly bits was fun. (In fact, it was fun enough that she barely showed any awareness that Tevarian was still there).

Her mood darkened as she turned on her linkpiece to connect, though. Just as she'd expected, it still couldn't find any comprehensible local link to connect to (now that was a case where the word primitive seemed more appropriate). Mostly unconsciously, she shifted into a bad-tempered posture as she began the connection process. She'd decided for now to stick to working through the linkpiece; as safe as direct neural interfaces were, linking your brain to totally alien technology was another one of those things that didn't seem quite sensible, or safe.

[Entertainment Hall]

The alien jumped slightly at Hvpvdqia's notice. "What? Howdja - never mind!" he exclaimed in a rough-sounding voice. "My boss... 'scuse me, my employer wants to talk with you."

[Showcase Hall - Western Amalgamated Tent —> Camp Leatherneck] (Xiong, Peter?)

Xiong and Veneris exchanged a long, concerned look. Sigmund was the one who spoke — to Ksana explicitly, but Iono implicitly. "Is the Eyes and Teeth trying to break through from its foothold in our universe? Some theorized this wold happen; our own magical senses and sensors are calibrated to a universe suffused by its essence, so it's not something we notice immediately." He was sincere as he finished, "I apologize for not considering the possibility and warning you." He was unaware the Song's essence was equally appalling; to mundanes such as him, it was an ally. "It won't get through, the barriers are too str... fundamental." There wasn't a barrier in all the multiverse strong enough to stop the Eyes and Teeth, but fundamental worked. "To the best of our knowledge, it is impotent across dimensions without a willing carrier." (This was true to the best of Sigmund's knowledge, though his knowledge was incomplete.)

Xiong cleared her throat and said, "yeah, um, sorry for not realizing the portal to our universe might not be the, uh, most pleasant thing. It's harmless, like Sigmund said, as long as you stay on this side. Anyways, this portal leads to our testing facility under Camp Leatherneck. Military debacle we picked up as our own, made some modifications. So, yeah, invitation is still open, to anyone who isn't magical." She grabbed her tablet, putting Sigmund on hold, and headed through the portal. If Peter followed, it would be closed shortly after; otherwise, it would close as soon as it became clear he wasn't interested.

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

"Yeah," Veneris said when the portal closed either way, "sorry about all that. We, uh, we forget where we come from. What it means to live there." There was a long, awkward pause before Veneris decided to change the topic. "So, er, Iono... what you were saying before that, um, interruption? About people being... trapped?" She doubted it would be a cheerier topic.

edited 15th Feb '15 4:31:08 PM by KillerClowns

Courtyard- Near Marketplace Entrance

Shay returned the man's polite bow with her own as he introduced himself and said "Pleasure to meet you." before he explained the situation.

And the situation sounded even more complicated than she imagined. A warlord wizard that was trying to cause wars back in this man's home planet? And he didn't even know what he looked like? Shay stayed silent in thought for a few moments. Catching this guy could rake in lots of money, but it was also incredibly dangerous. She usually didn't take requests that had a high chance of causing her death. She valued her life way more than money. It also didn't help the situation seemed dire already. Trying to find a powerful wizard who no one knew the appearance of was going to be very difficult. Still she would feel kind of guilty if she just said no and left this man to conquer this on his own.

"Alright, I don't know who this Aeron person is either to be honest but if he's that dangerous and needs to be stopped...I'll try to help. We may not know what he looks like but maybe we can find him other ways. Maybe find his subordinates or lure him out somehow. As for taking him down...well we'll have to think on that as well. I know some magic but I'm probably not as powerful as you describe him to be." She said the last part with reluctance. Shay never liked sounding weak but she definitely wasn't ignorant enough to claim she was stronger than she was.

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

"Oh," said Marion. "Well, red and green look clashing to me, so..." She flared her wings. "Still willing to donate, though. Maybe you can get some color-changing skin for the outside that lets you tailor the ship's color to wherever you land. I mean, you seem like a good entrepreneur, and I want to help that along."

Then she stopped talking and frowned. "But I don't know of any way to transfer money, checks or otherwise. Different banks and whatnot. But there's got to be some way to change money, 'cause there's all the booths where you can buy stuff. Hnng. Should've paid more attention outside. You wouldn't happen to know of anything like that, would you? Maybe there's instructions online or something." The last line was muttered, half to herself, like Marion was just vocalizing her thoughts.

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

"Oh, sorry," said Shane. Frigging frigging frig- "I thought I had explained them to you yesterday-" -now I look frigging stupid- "-but I had you confused with someone else, believe it or not." He grinned awkwardly. -and he might not buy anything- "One of those days." -and why the frig is everyone coming here looking for military-grade stuff?

"I'm sorry, sir," Shane continued, "but we generally do not stock items like that. However, there is still a chance I can help you. What, specifically, are you looking for defense against?"

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent —> Camp Leatherneck]

Peter was about to head through the portal when he stopped. After a pause, he looked at Ksana again. "You... you're sure you're okay?"

Ksana's voice was the same dull monotone. "Yeah. As soon as that closes." She hadn't moved from her ramrod-stiff stance. A close observer would notice that her breathing was shallow and she hadn't even blinked.

"Alright," said Peter quietly. Eventually, he turned and followed Xiong through the portal. "Is the military facility necessary," he asked Xiong, "or just a convenience?" His voice was a combination of apprehension and inquisitiveness; mainly the latter. "Because, well, you saw how Ksana, um, reacted."

[Western Amalgamated tent]

The moment the portal closed, Ksana cringed, took a deep, sucking breath, and collapsed into a chair. She was shaking a little and looked... withdrawn, for lack of a better word. She was slightly hunched over and her arms, legs, and wings were all pulled closely together. "Xhevaxhevaxhevaxheva..." she muttered.

edited 15th Feb '15 7:53:32 PM by TeraChimera

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

When Ghiln connected to the tablet, she would see two familiar commands in the protocol, Encode and Decode, which worked quite a bit like the textual equivalent, although obviously faster and providing arbitrary-length keys and data.

However, there was an additional command, not present in the text interface - Browse Encrypted Data. Upon opening this protocol, she would likely see that the simple design and capabilities of the tablet belied its true nature. For here, there was an immense amount of data that could be viewed or downloaded. Approximately one Yottabyte in total amount, it seemed to contain an entire civilization's combined works. There was art, music, stories, science, entertainment, everything. Even what looked like some silly character-interaction based collaborative writing projects. The total is something like at least a hundred times the size of the entire internet today. :o

Upon closer inspection, the data was only superficially recognizable - all the art was random, the music sounded like noise, and the stories looked more like random assortments of words, scarcely even a coherent sentence could be found. Clearly, as strong as the algorithms in the tablet were, they were vastly aided by the galaxy of apparently-irrelevant information one would have to sift through.

[Entertainment Hall]

Hvpvdqia looked at the alien slightly suspiciously, and said, "that sounds amenable - as long as no undue demands are made, of course."

"And I should note that I am already gainfully employed, if that is what you are inquiring about," she said, "if not, I am ready to depart whenever you are, as I have no commitments at the moment."

She would then follow the alien, as long as it didn't look like anywhere too strange or dangerous. She might follow there too, but she'd at least comment on it first. :P

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

Once the portal closed, Iono let down her barrier, and slowly took her seat again, still holding on to the staff, however.

"Unpleasant... yes," Iono said, staring into space a bit, looking both slightly terrified and deep in thought. "Yes, trapped," she said, coming slightly back to reality, "all those who are still left behind where I came from."

"Our world, our reality - it fractured," she said, now sounding deathly serious, "breaking and shattering logic and the laws we knew. Billions died in the catastrophe, and the rest of humanity has ever since been trapped by its will and force! That is why we went on our suicide mission - that is why we left!"

"What I saw in that portal was a cosmic struggle between two entities that should not exist," she said, "and so I can draw only one conclusion - that your world will suffer the same fate as mine."

edited 11th Feb '15 11:26:24 PM by Sonzai

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Madame voSudir shrugged. "There's a reason why I chose not to request payment from my visitors here," she said. "Or, more precisely: there are several reasons, most of them relating more to my relaxation than any inconveniences caused by this fair's nature... but that is not lacking as a reason either. Perhaps you could inquire of one of these other proprietors?"

"Alternatively," the still-hovering Hazzer-disk piped up, "if properly instructed, this operating system could attempt to connect to a link within this fair and look for instructions! You do know one exists, as we used it to determine our current location!"

"Excellent point, Hazzer," voSudir agreed. "Take care of it, will you?" She looked over at Marion. "And may I say again, your generosity is quite appreciated. Perhaps I will take the opportunity to consider a more alterable color scheme, at that."

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

Kel gaped before controlling it. Just how many people at this fair could he get mixed up for? Although he had seen at least one other shvuim, in passing. So it wasn't totally impossible...

"Yeah," he said more coolly, "I don't know if we're looking for protection against something in particular. I was just wondering what sort of defensive equipment you had. It doesn't have to be anything particularly serious - something like basic riot armor or shields, except for magic, would do." You know, if that analogy actually makes any sense.

"And can you tell me about the AFGs as well?" He mentally speculated for a moment on what the term might abbreviate to; assuming the translation was accurate, it could be something-something-guns. Anti-something-guns, maybe?

[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

The etis-tra - for such was the name of the alien's species - looked surprised again, then waved Hvpvdqia after him. "Well... okay then. Come on, man's this way."

He moved quickly, if somewhat cautiously, through the crowds, until he reached a part of the fair where they were much thinner, near the edge of the entertainment hall. A small brick building, looking like a large if well-maintained storage shed, stood here, with a smallish reptilian alien waiting outside.

"Ah, Mister Drong, excellent work," he said in an high-pitched male voice. He bobbed his triangular snout in a short bow of sorts to Hvpvdqia. "Cy-Par Gerrune. I hope Mister Drong was not impolite in bringing you here, Miss - ?"

Ghiln coming tomorrow.

edited 12th Feb '15 12:35:23 AM by nrjxll

[Camp Leatherneck] (Peter, Xiong, Isaac)

Xiong laughed and said, "the vault's necessary, but the military facility? Just a little something Sigmund picked up for our development projects here." She smiled wryly. "US Military built this thing back in '08, with the intention of transferring it to the Afghans after everything settled down. Complete debacle; maintenance would've been too much to be worth keeping, demolition costs were ridiculous, leaving it alone wasn't great for the environment either. We bought it off Karzai for a token," well, by Sigmund's standards it was a token, some of it legal, "and can keep the place running fairly cheap because we have good logistics." She glanced back conspiratorially at the the portal. "Uncannily good logistics."

"Anyways," she said, "we've set up our magic testing facility here for a variety of reasons." The vault's door opened itself, revealing a stark white facility that must have been added after the purchase, and continued to follow Western Amalgamated's general style. She headed to the nearest lab door with Peter and nodded at the head scientist there, a wiry African-American with glasses, a worn and unnecessary labcoat worn like a fashion statement, and a wry smile. "Mary," he said, "sounds like you brought us a new toy." He pointed to the central table, which had an intimidating gray case on it that looked like it could contain an explosion. "Tree's in there. Don't worry, we've got the addies ready in case it goes wrong." He then turned his attention to Peter. "Dr. Isaac Rose. Mary's the expert in this stuff, I'm just here as an observer and formality. Already been briefed on the 101 stuff, but questions or things you need to mention 'fore we get started?"

Running a bit late already, more later.

edited 15th Feb '15 4:30:03 PM by KillerClowns

[Courtyard—Somlan and Shay]

Somlan tilted his head at Shay's claim to magic. His eyelids lowered and his expression went slack, his eyes rolling slightly back for a few seconds. Shay might have felt a slight breeze on her cheek—or she might have felt nothing at all.

Somlan came back to himself and nodded.

"There's some kind of power in you," he said. "It's not the same as what we have on our world, so I can't compare what we can do—but I'd be glad of the help." He sighed. "And here I was thinking this was a shopping trip. Well, in the meantime, I do still have a mission. I haven't actually been sent looking for Aeron—have you been around the Fair at all? Any hint of the kind of resurrection magic or technology that we need?"

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]

Adrien coughed to stifle a chuckle, looking down and suddenly becoming very interested in straightening the front of his uniform.

After a few awkward moments, he spoke up again. "Well, erm- I agree with Rey. That does sound like a good idea. No offense," he proffered the sword Lihiri had given him, "but this doesn't seem like it'd do much against the kind of foe you describe. I'd much prefer an enchanted blade such as yours, or- failing that- my nullshot carbine. But the Vakaza took that and I don't know where it is, so I suppose one of these will have to do."

[Showcase Hall — Ship of Marvels]

"Oh, yeah," said Marion. "Good idea, getting him to check. And if he doesn't turn up anything, I'll check some of the other vendors. Or at least look around a bit more. Hopefully they can take checks." Anything else would be a bit unwieldy.

"And, you know, while we're waiting, why don't you show me the next room? Just so I can see a little more." Marion's hopes weren't that high for them being anything more interesting than what she saw here, but you never knew.

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

Hello, serendipity. "Actually," said Shane, "I believe I do have what you're looking for." He grabbed a box from behind him and put it on the table. "This is an AFG, more properly known as an antimagic field generator. When activated, it will create a region within which magic cannot be used, and any magic entering it will lose coherency and be destroyed. It has no effect on nonmagical objects. Are you looking for something like that?"

[Camp Leatherneck]

"Pleased to meet you," said Peter, nodding. "I don't have any questions-" You learned not to have them as a self-defense salesperson. "-so let's get to testing. I hope our magflash will fulfill your requirements."

edited 15th Feb '15 7:53:19 PM by TeraChimera