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Character Worlds' Fair

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In the center of a bustling city stands its crown jewels, a trio of grand, enormous pavilions. Within the facade of this old palace churns a city all its own, bodies chattering and exploring and roving about in search of the exotic and new and awe-inspiring. After all, no place could be better, for here, in the form of these stalls and displays for this fair, is where the worlds have chosen to convene. On the convention floor, they hawk their creeds, their products, their livelihoods, all competing for the attention of attendees as diverse as they are. But who is this 'they'? Why, anyone, from anywhere at all. From friendly small businesses to ominous corporations, from rebellions trying to gain ground to dying regimes attempting to rekindle their glory, from scientists and scholars to artists and storytellers. If an attendee can think of it, it could very well be here. Who knows what you'll find?

  • Current Time: Noon/Early Afternoon (Day 2)
  • Current Weather: Clear


Hello, Writer's Block, and welcome to the latest installment of the Character Development Threads! These shared story exercises give you the opportunity to develop your characters, practice writing, and have fun alongside your fellow writers, no signups, profiles, or GM approval necessary. Want to join? If the thread's gotten long, there's no need to fear Archive Panic- just head on over to our discussion thread and say so, and we'll give you a recap of what's going on and good spots for working your characters into the thread; how you choose to do this is up to you. A little communication in endeavors such as these can go a long way towards having fun, helping others, getting that kink in your character worked out, getting your characters out of their comfort zone, or whatever you're here for, so if you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask. We're all for helping each other out.

This thread's designated trope page is here, and its map is here. Don't forget to add your contributions to the page!

In this thread, as the introduction and name suggests, your characters will be coming to a convention, a gathering open to the various and sundry worlds of our stories, whether as attendees hoping to see something cool... or as parts of the exhibition themselves. Yes, you, the writer, will be shaping not just the cast and plots, but the setting as well in the form of stalls and exhibits. Note that this necessitates that we keep a few small things in mind to keep things running smoothly.

  • Our standards of location for this thread are intentionally vague to allow ourselves the freedom to make up stalls on the fly as our plots demand, as well as to account for the fact that wandering around between stalls and chatting with your friends is as much a part of the convention experience as the stalls themselves. For the sake of keeping track of people, in lieu of standard location tags in the vein of [Market Hall], we recommend that you also append the names of the characters you're with.
  • Though you're welcome to bring a piece of home in the form of a stall and control the characters running it, you're also welcome to bring a stall that exists solely as a plot device without ever mentioning it again. The basic rules to keep in mind are to write a stall as long as it takes to fulfill its raison d'être, whether that's to develop a faction or similar in your work or to keep the plot moving along, and that stalls can be anything. More specific info can be found on the trope page linked above.
  • If you find yourself unexpectedly busy in other endeavors after entering the thread, there are easy ways to back out, whether you're writing for attendees or stalls. Attendees can step out into the covered walkways connecting the convention buildings or the adjacent courtyard for some fresh air and relief from the constant noise of the crowds, while stalls can suddenly become flooded with enough nameless background characters to render the stall too busy to reply to any troper characters that were interacting with it at the time.

With all that out of the way, we cordially invite you to stay and experience the Character Worlds' Fair! Onwards!

(Credit for this post and much of the work on the thread belongs to Crystal Glacia).

Fair has now concluded.

edited 31st Mar '15 2:06:36 AM by nrjxll

StrixObscuro from Somewhere in Massachusetts Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
#951: Feb 17th 2015 at 10:46:11 PM

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

"I did say that the pulse was a last resort... didn't I?" Lihiri asked, slightly alarmed. "I'm not that keen on dying, honest. I mean, I am a living weapon for a genocidal empire, so the thought that I might have to kill myself has occurred to me from time to time, but this isn't one of those times..."

"I'm not that eager to lose you, sweetheart," Nioba assured her. She turned to the others. "Used properly, the Disinfuriator projects an anti-magical field that weakens the faculties of any Zinji nearby," she explained. "I believe the effect radius is somewhere between ten and twenty feet. There's also a switch that allows this field to be concentrated into a beam that completely disables a single Zinji target. But these are normal functions of the device. What Lihiri alluded to is not a normal function, and would require removing the mechanism that allows the field to be concentrated into a beam. The effect would cause an explosion, sending magical energy outwards in a horizontal wave. I have no idea what the radius would be - this isn't the sort of thing they put in the manual - but the anti-magic released would be sufficient to effectively kill any Zinji caught in the blast." A pause. "Of course, while the anti-magic itself probably wouldn't have any effect on those of us who aren't Zinji, we would get hit by shrapnel."

"I did say that the rest of you would survive. I didn't say that you'd be unharmed..."

"At any rate, assuming that our targets are now aware that we're in cahoots, and thus it's too risky to try and lead them into an ambush, it seems to me that we have two basic strategies for engaging them - either hunt them down or somehow provoke them to come after us. Any ideas?"

By now, it should be clear to all except the most dense of us that sheep are secretly conspiring to kill us all and steal our pants.
Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#952: Feb 17th 2015 at 11:02:04 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Sure, that sounds great - we'll give it a try," Tevarian said, taking the chip. He also took out a small boxy device from underneath the table, and placed the chip into a slot on the top. The way I've been writing it so far is that whenever someone uses a card/chip with Tevarian, neither system actually does the conversion, but the fair's translation ability actually converts the currencies, like it translates languages. But Tevarian doesn't know this, so to him it looks like he didn't do anything, and their system did all the work.

After waiting for a moment or two, a small display lit up on the device, facing Tevarian, which said, 'OK' and '1.2=1'. "Oh, it looks like it worked, great!" he said, "based on this conversion rate, I would say that the tablet would likely run about 700 of your smus. Would you like to purchase it?"

"Oh, and the prism device is a Coilarian Energy Freezer - very rare and valuable," Tevarian said, "it can freeze energy pulses, lightning, and forcefields in midair, for many potential applications. Mostly academic, but it can be useful defensively as well."


[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

"I don't know," Hvpvdqia said, shrugging, "but I would think you would know more than me, for sure."

"I'm not really sure how much more information I have that you would want," she said, "I've pretty much told you everything about the ship - unless you want exhibit descriptions or what voSudir was wearing or something."

"And I don't need any monetary senses," she said, "I don't really have any use for them."


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

"I suppose it's like driving," she said, "I don't really have to feel the vehicle to use it, at least not entirely? Maybe our magic just works differently? Mine is mostly about manipulating constructed and natural energy fields. How does yours work?"

"And I don't have to leave right away," she said, "I honestly have no idea where they are, anyways. Just thinking out loud more than anything else."

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#953: Feb 18th 2015 at 12:15:26 AM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Ghiln blinked several times in surprise. "Seven hundred, you said?"

It was a reasonably expensive price, but still well within the limits of her Qvn Jxilkr personal funding. The real question, though, was if it was fair. There was certainly no way to tell from looking at Tevarian. Even with other qrtxians, her ability to read people was limited at best; it wasn't only her aptitude and love for tech that had put her in Green Section. With an alien from a completely unknown species floating in a box, the task would be hopeless

Still, she'd already decided to pay for the tablet. And she was fairly certain she could justify that decision to her superiors. As long as she could also justify it to herself, she'd hardly object to the price - and she was pretty certain that even if she couldn't decrypt the tablet, the fun she'd have trying would be good enough.

Besides, it was nice to be able to have the option of something she could do in her hotel room if she stopped being willing to deal with the fair crowds.

"Sure, I'll buy it," she told Tevarian, offering another smile - which then froze on her face as she heard his description of the hourglass-shaped artifact. For a moment she tried to speak, mouth twitching silently, before blurting out "What?!"

Her head lifted in embarrassment. "Um, sorry - so sorry. I just... how is that possible? How does that even make sense?" She was a tech being, not a science being, but she knew enough to be baffled by what she'd heard.

[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

Gerrune's mouth worked silently for a moment, before he spoke out loud, with his cheery tone seemingly unchanged. "Well, there's always the possibility of voSudir deciding to do something interesting," he said. "And I wouldn't be entirely averse to descriptions of the exhibits - though there would be a certain redundancy in it, as we could easily send one of our full-time associates to visit the ship ourselves."

He spread his arms expansively, fingerclaws extended. "But the possibilities I was speaking of are far wider than just one orl con artist! My dear, this is a place where anything can happen! You can understand, I assume, why we would be interested in having as many people willing to provide us with interesting information about the splendors here - as well as certain details of particular interest to my employer. And if 'monetary senses' don't appeal to you, I'm sure we can find something that does. Working with the needs of the contractual employee is one of the things my employer prides zemself on!"

He offered a clawed, scaly hand. "What do you say, my dear? Are you interested in hearing more?"

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

Rey was silent for a long moment. "Yeah, okay, so. In the future, let's really try and make the distinction between surviving and being unharmed clear at the beginning." Not that she was even considering the idea - come on, suicide (or however technical you want to be about it) as a ready option? That's just ridiculous - but it was always good to make these things clear right away.

She focused on the details of how the Disinfuriator - Path, that really is a stupid name - worked with a little more attention and a little less sarcasm. It sounded like Adrien's plan could work; that was an advantage in their favor. And it made the answer to the next question a little easier to figure out as well... though not any easier to say.

She looked down at the table, face furrowed and eyes hidden behind her glasses. "So I know that my soft nature and caring personality are probably making you think that I'll be in favor of sitting back and letting the enemy come after us, instead of us going after them." She looked up and grinned. "And that's exactly right. I mean, we already know they're after you. Since they know I'm not with them they're probably after me too. We already know an ambush is what's gonna work best for us, and we don't even have to come up with a lure.

"If you want specific planning..." She drummed her fingers on the table, letting the ideas flow until one came up on top. "They know about you girls, and they know about me, but not so much Adrien and Kel. So what I'm thinking is this: once Kel's finished getting supplies, the three of us head out somewhere public, while Kel and Adrien set up nearby. Then when they make their move, we spring 'em."

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#954: Feb 18th 2015 at 6:11:14 PM

[Camp Leatherneck] (Peter, Xiong, Isaac, Sigmund's Transmission)

"You catch that?" Xiong asked. (She'd reconnected with Sigmund as soon as the business had started and sent him a text message indicating success.)

For Western Amalgamated, this was quite affordable. Sigmund replied, "no, no, Ms. Winters worked with gold simply because she wasn't certain she could expect anybody to have any interest in paper money." He'd already mused about the many ways this deal could go wrong for Peter. But it wasn't his problem. He was tempted to haggle, as much matter of pride as anything, but decided the price was acceptable, and the good will in case of future meetings would serve him well.

But how many did he really need? Anti-magic was not a huge priority, in all honesty. In particular, the trans-dimensional missions were really an experimental investment. Any money he spent now was money that could go to something more genuinely important to his business; finishing off the potash cartels, ensuring his foothold in the former Democratic People's Republic of Korea as the provincial government transferred (de jure) power to Seoul, keeping various congresspeople from listening to certain luddite and anti-capitalist voices, that sort of thing.

"Given that our opposition is exclusively human and thus certain to be vulnerable to our own AMON, and many of our agents can generate their own biologically-based anti-magical fields..." I could absolutely start haggling now due to these facts. Pause a moment, let that sink in subconsciously but not too consciously... "I believe that fifty of these units at the stated price should be enough to deal with situations requiring their particular effects," Sigmund finally said. "How would you prefer your payment? I imagine the officials at the Fair have ways of dealing with the unusual nature of this transaction."

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

Veneris was still getting used to a world where magic was not a dark gift from the Eyes and Teeth. So needless to say, the magic talk flew over her head. However, her main concern, seeing Iono and Ksana recover from their trials, was going extremely well, so she was happy to simply sit and let the discuss their mutual interest.

Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#955: Feb 18th 2015 at 10:51:19 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Sounds great!" Tevarian said, pressing a few buttons on the transaction device. "If you could just confirm here," he said, pointing to a button on the other side, facing Ghiln. It also displayed '700' as confirmation of the price.

"Oh, and the energy freezer?" he said, "well, I've been told that physicists observe that it patterns the energy into a femto-scale lattice, which allows it to be handled harmlessly. They're still working out the details of the anti-gravity effect, though. They think it is something like a directional quantum transduction force, although obviously energy-static."

"Unfortunately, any of these devices people have tried to take apart have just resulted in them disintegrating, which makes the effect rather hard to duplicate," he said, "although I hear they've been making great progress at the Astra Institute. Despite going extinct a few thousand years ago, the Coilarians still hold some secrets."


[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

"Oh, I really doubt anything can happen here," Hvpvdqia said, "Inzami told me this is a Type 9-Stable Nexus, so I think the possibilities are actually rather constrained."

"And I don't think there's anything I need," she said, "also, I am already gainfully employed, as I mentioned earlier." She shot a quick glance at Drong, then turned back to Gerrune.


Waiting for Ksana before posting for Iono. EDIT: [down] Dang. :P

edited 18th Feb '15 10:55:20 PM by Sonzai

TeraChimera Since: Oct, 2010
#956: Feb 18th 2015 at 10:52:35 PM

[Market Hall — Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

Shane took the chip without much thought and stuck it in the register. He could figure out how to get it exchanged for money. "Excellent," he said. He printed out a piece of paper from the register and held it out a little. "Will you be taking your receipt or not?"

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Marion snorted. "Can't take too much credit beyond the initial meeting? Pfft. Don't be so hard on yourself. It's always the initial meeting that matters. Something's gotta get the ball rolling, after all. And in that kind of situation, coming up with that idea in the first place is impressive."

She glanced back to the helmet for a second. "So, lemme guess. He wants you to find these artifacts for him. But, obviously, you have them here. So what'd you do, yoink them out from under his nose and run like hell?"

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]

Swallowing the last of the algaeburger, Ksana tapped her knee with a finger. "Well, I... it... it's hard to say. Like, walking is technically just putting one foot in front of the other, but that doesn't really capture what walking really is. And, and the words I use, they don't really translate into English, so that's a whole 'nother hurdle. It's complicated."

She frowned and thought for a moment. "But... if I had to say something, it'd be that I push the state of things around and the universe changes accordingly. Not great, but that's the best I got."

[Camp Leatherneck]

That was easy. "A check will be fine," said Peter. The Fair had facilities for this; they'd checked in advance, just in case. "Make it out to Nhe- Actually, hang on a moment." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. Handing it to Isaac, he tapped the company name. "The spelling's a bit weird, so just make it out to that. And don't worry about the runes below, that's just the name in the Menyic alphabet."

Peter picked up the grenade from the table. "So should we get started moving the goods? I can't imagine anything else that needs to be done."

edited 18th Feb '15 10:52:59 PM by TeraChimera

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#957: Feb 18th 2015 at 11:37:52 PM

[Market Hall - Nhesvrasila, Inc.]

"Why not," Kel said. He took the receipt and put it in the container on his forearm armor, which sealed shut again with a hiss and click. Then he picked up the box and nodded to Shane. "Good doing business with you."

With that, he left back into the crowd.

PM me if there's a reason he needs to stay.

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Ghiln blinked slowly, not knowing any way to really respond to all of that; the hourglass thing had moved from sounding impossible to just sounding like gibberish. She fell back on ingrained politeness. "I will take your word for it," she said, and pressed one long, thin, scaly finger onto the button. "Is that particularly common in your reality - artifacts from extinct civilizations that operate on scientific principles not easily understood by modern beings?"

She paused. "Also, I'm curious: is Tevarian your surname and T'jok your primary name, or the other way around? Qrtxians don't have them, you see, so I'm always somewhat confused."

[Showcase Hall - Ship of Marvels]

"Actually, we never did find the original artifacts," Madame voSudir said. She shrugged, the motion beneath her shirt subtly different from a human's shrug. "In all probability, they were destroyed upon some occasion during one of the conflicts to sweep over the planet. It's not called the Disputed Region because those living within get along with each other, after all."

She gestured with one arm at the Corinarchi headwear in its case, grinning slightly. "No, these objects you see before you came from the collection of my unscrupulous employer himself. You see, once I had managed to talk his enforcers out of shooting or trampling me on the spot, I was... requested in non-refusable terms to meet personally with the g'vek in question. That let me get an excellent look at the collection he kept aboard his own private starship, which led me to determine the plan I pursued. Once onboard, I convinced him to let me use both of our ships to supposedly search for the relics, while in fact I had Hazzer contact the Etis-Tra Federation authorities with a generally accurate description of the situation."

She grimaced, but there was pride underneath it. "Now, the Federation is... not known for its fondness for sophonts of a non-etis-tra type - but that was what I was counting on. Since New Grathar was under their nominal governance, they weren't going to miss a chance to strike against a wealthy vokine who thought he could commit crimes there with impunity. While I was still stalling my employer, the etis-tra burst in with a patrol cruiser and arrested him and seized his ship. But while the ship was valuable enough to them that they would take it, the commanding officer wanted nothing to do with a lot of 'old vokine junk'. So it wasn't all that difficult to convince him to dump it all on the hands of their helpful orl informant before they gave me the 'get forthwith at once' speech."

She shrugged again. "And that's how the helmet of General Ladrana came into my possession. You can see why I needed to get its authenticity checked - carefully, of course."

[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

Gerrune exhaled a long, whistling sigh. "As you wish," he said, sounding obviously disappointed, then nodded to the etis-tra. "Mister Drong, if you would?"

Silently, the hulking alien opened the door and waved his arm in a gesture indicating that Hvpvdqia was to exit through it. Gerrune looked back at her. "If you should change your mind later, of course," he said, "we'll still be here. There's always room for another part-time employee, especially in a location such as the one we're in at the present moment."

edited 18th Feb '15 11:39:13 PM by nrjxll

Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#958: Feb 18th 2015 at 11:56:41 PM

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

"I also have no idea what that would be like," Iono said to Ksana, sounding confused, "sorry, Dalia would know more about these kinds of things, she's the scientist on our team."

"I hope I can find them, or at least they can find me," she said, sounding like she missed them.


[Showcase Hall]

Meanwhile, a cloaked man dressed all in black walked around the Showcase Hall, holding a small phone-like device, and following the direction its display pointed in. He's looking for Iono, and will meet up with her soon.


[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Thanks!" he said, "and yes, it is actually quite common, although most people don't really encounter those kinds of artifacts too much. Unless one is in that kind of business, like me, of course."

"For example, this Xenarian Calibration Chip," he said, pointing to the small chevron-shaped chip with a glowing sphere mounted in the center. "An artifact from one of the great precursors of my universe, it seems to defy all classification or analysis. It has seemingly-unlimited patterned-energy ability, and no definable power source, violating laws of conservation of energy, momentum, and mass," he said, "and all in an apparently-indestructible device, which seems to operate with a mind of its own, not directly controllable by anyone."

"So yes, where I am from," he said, "there are enough mysteries for a lifetime. And Tevarian is my primary name, if you're wondering."


[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

"Thank you for the offer," Hvpvdqia said, standing back up and walking out the door. She unfolded her umbrella again, and the light ethereal rain fell from it once more as she walked away.

Honestly, I've been getting a bit tired of writing for her anyways... :/

edited 18th Feb '15 11:59:36 PM by Sonzai

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#959: Feb 19th 2015 at 1:48:33 AM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Thank you," Ghiln said. She glanced at the tablet, not quite certain whether she should take it now or later. "Do you prefer to be addressed by your primary name or surname? It's considered important to establish these things early among my species." And certain other civilizations, of course, but she doubted Tevarian's was one of them - otherwise, he probably would have mentioned it already.

"And it would appear that precursor civilizations are one thing both of our universes have in common," she continued. Her head tilted in another birdlike gesture, as she considered the information about the latest artifact - this 'Xenarian Calibration Chip'. For some reason, as incomprehensible as it sounded she had a much easier time pulling her mind around it than she did the other one.

"I suppose it only makes sense, though. The galaxy is very, very old, and that means there's a lot of time for intelligent species to evolve. And at least in my reality, they don't last very long, which means a great number of relics has built up."

[Entertainment Hall - Side Building]

Gerrune scowled after the departing Hvpvdqia, though he kept his expression controlled. "What a waste of good meeting time that was."

Once she was out of sight, he turned to the etis-tra. "Have your people keep an eye on her, Mister Drong. Discretely, obviously. And contact the tech bugs about finding out what the project resources would be for an electromagnetic disruptor."

He tapped one of his neck rings. "In fact, I should probably do that myself." As Drong departed, looking bad-tempered as always, Gerrune began to speak at length into the ring...

[up]Maybe you could change her 'weather conditions' again?

TeraChimera Since: Oct, 2010
#960: Feb 19th 2015 at 4:54:25 PM

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

'Requested in non-refusable terms'... That's a new one. Might have to see if I can use it sometime.

Marion whistled softly. "Nice. See, that's the kind of thinking I like. Not just having Hazzer contact the authorities — although that was good, too — but getting all the 'junk'-" She fingerquoted the word. "-from the ship. Yeah, it wasn't that hard, but that's still some quick thinking. Making the most with what's available and all." Of course, there was always the possibility that voSudir was lying, but Marion didn't particularly care. It was a good story at any rate. And the helmet, real or not, was quite purty.

Marion glanced around the hall one last time, then said, "Been nice talking to you, but I'm interested it looking elsewhere for a bit." She looked at Hazzer. "You find anything involving currency exchange?"

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]

"Good luck," said Ksana dryly. "Linguists've been trying for over half a century, and we still can't get some of the terms to translate right. It's just hard to translate stuff when there's no experience for it. And I'm not sure how science would help, since science is about taking measurements and recording what you find, and, well, science and magic don't exactly operate on the same wavelength. That's kind of what makes it magic. Otherwise it'd just be another area of physics or something."

SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#961: Feb 19th 2015 at 5:35:38 PM

[Courtyard—Somlan and Shay]

"Well," Somlan said decisively, "I spent all of my time yesterday in the Market Hall and didn't find what we were looking for. Not to say a second go 'round wouldn't help, but no sense looking in the same place, eh? Why not try the Entertainment or Showcase Halls? I imagine someone there might be, I dunno, showing off their... necromancy." He trailed off on the last word, sighing. "Emmesin should've brought a damn clairvoyant."

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#962: Feb 19th 2015 at 5:50:03 PM

[Showcase Hall - Ship of Marvels]

Madame voSudir did another half-curtsy, half-bow, then matched Marion in turning her head to face the little hovering disk, which spun and chirped "Indeed!"

It was then silent for several moments, until voSudir sighed and said "Elaborate, Hazzer?"

"Simulated apologies, madam! It took some time to connect to a link, as there appears to be no attempt at having a network covering this entire location, but one was eventually discovered. From searching through the available information, it appears that the fair itself somehow handles the currency conversion process, similar to how it apparently handles translation software - or an analogue of such!"

voSudir gave the drone a long look, then turned back to Marion and shrugged. "That's undoubtedly convenient, but I tend not to look at such conveniences too closely - they happen more often than you think, even considering that this is a 'Ship of Marvels'. So I suppose you should just... transfer the money however you would normally?"

Gault Laugh and grow dank! from beyond the kingdom Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: P.S. I love you
Laugh and grow dank!
#963: Feb 20th 2015 at 12:16:14 PM

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]

Adrien cracked a small smile and nodded to Rey. "Sounds good, I like it. Though, we should probably find somewhere that isn't too public. Any ideas?" He glanced around the table.

yey
Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#964: Feb 20th 2015 at 9:29:53 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"It really doesn't matter to me, but I usually go by Tevarian," Tevarian said, "and feel free to take the tablet whenever you would like to."

"And yes, we do have quite a few as well," he said, "speaking of which, are any of the other relics here on display of interest to you?"


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

"Wait, what do you mean science and magic don't cooperate?" Iono said, now looking very confused, "how is that even possible? Science is just a method for understanding how reality works, I don't think there's anything I've ever heard of it can't be applied to."

However, before she could say anything else, the man in all black burst into the tent. He pulled down his hood, revealing his orange hair and matching eyes. He was remarkably average in build, about 6ft/1.8m tall, and his black outfit covered the rest of him extremely well. In fact, it was so black that light seemed almost to disappear into it, to the point of making the rest of his figure hard to determine, even up close. "Iono! I can't believe I found you!" he said, as the two of them hugged briefly.

"Mev!" Iono said, "what happened? Did you appear here too?"

"No, I appeared on this crazy island, and have been looking for you and everyone else for weeks," Mev said, "you're the first one I've found, but I'm so glad you're ok."

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#965: Feb 20th 2015 at 11:43:28 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Thank you," Ghiln said again. She took the tablet and stowed it safely away in her robe, then considered the question. Her large eyes darted from one artifact to another, and she shifted her head back and forth, scales crinkling with thought.

"Well," she said out loud after a few moments had passed, "I'm not a warlike person, so I don't think any of the weapons would be appropriate for me. And the, um, Xenarian Calibration Chip - that sounds exceedingly dangerous," she dipped slightly in a placatory stance, "no offense intended. But that thing right there" - she pointed at the 'Blue Hawaii' album (though she had no idea what it was, of course) - "that thing looks interesting."

She was silent for a moment, then added "And any of your other items that you think I might find interesting - you can bring those out as well, if you want." It'd be interesting to see if Tevarian could tell what her interests were, or thought he could.

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]

Rey frowned. "Well, we're going to want someplace at least kind of public, since that's what they'll be expecting as a meeting site," she said. "But yeah, even if having a firefight in the middle of a marketplace goes over well" - and on that note, it was interesting that no one had ever bugged them about the Vakaza thing yesterday - "you just know some fragging civilian's going to get zemself shot if it's too public. You'd think they'd have the common sense to get out of the way when it starts, but nooo."

She tapped her fingers on the table. "It's also going to need good cover - both for you and Kel, and for us to scramble to when things go up. Though it sounds like we can set up the weapon-which-I'm-not-going-to-name-anymore wherever we want... shit, I wish I had access to a map of this place."

She glanced at Nioba and Lihiri. "And hey, am I missing anything here? You know these characters better than we do."

Sphinxyness Sphinx Chan from a dream world Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Hooked on a feeling
#966: Feb 21st 2015 at 10:07:00 AM

Courtyard with Somlan

"Necromancy?" Shay repeated in a surprised tone. Did he mention anything about this wizard having necromancy and she just wasn't paying attention? Necromancy was a taboo in her land and if it was the same for Somlan, she could understand more why this man needed to be stopped. However this didn't damper her spirits one bit at the mention of the Entertainment and Showcase halls. "Sounds like a plan. I think we should start at the Entertainment Hall cause it's like you said. Somebody could be there showing off their magic." she replied with a grin. Despite this man she signed up to chase sounding more and more dangerous, the adventure of it all seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun. When Somlan had sighed mentioning a clairvoyant she gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Relax, I'm sure we'll find something." she added.

edited 21st Feb '15 10:07:26 AM by Sphinxyness

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"
Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#967: Feb 21st 2015 at 4:43:45 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"That's understandable," Tevarian said, "it takes a special kind of collector for Xenarian artifacts. If it makes you feel any safer, this one has been completely inactive and done nothing at all for the last 20 years. I was hoping something might happen in a place like this, but it looks unlikely." Tevarian sighed a bit.

"Oh, and that is a 'Blue Hawaii' record," he said, motioning to the Elvis Presley Record Album 'Blue Hawaii' on display, "I've heard it was made by a Terran King from long ago. I'd let it go for about sixty."

"As far as other artifacts," he said, "I'm afraid I don't have any other SCTC devices - they're quite rare, given their secretive nature. I'm not sure I have much in the way of encryption either, unless it's commodity or financial..." He thought for a moment, is there anything else she would want? I'm not sure how many more tech mysteries I really have available...

"I'm afraid all my best mysteries are already on display," he said, "if there's something practical you're looking for though, I could see if I have anything that might help?"

TeraChimera Since: Oct, 2010
#968: Feb 21st 2015 at 5:14:11 PM

[Entertainment Hall — Ship of Marvels]

Marion frowned. "Well, I normally don't do it electronically, so... I guess they'll change checks for you." She pulled a checkbook and pen out of a pocket and, after a few moments' thought, scribbled out a check for two million dollars.

Handing the check to voSudir, she said, "You should be able to exchange that for money here, although I can't say how, sorry. I know that, in some cases, it's possible to just scan it and transfer the money, but I don't know how that'll work here."

[Showcase Hall — Western Amalgamated tent]

"Yeah, science looks at the world," said Ksana. "But it looks for consistency, and then magic comes along and blows that consistency out of the water. Sure, science says you need fuel to make fire, and it's completely borne out, until..." She held up a hand and muttered, "Vanarh." Fire immediately appeared in her hand. "Viola. Fuelless fire, against all science." She flared her wings and the fire vanished.

When Mev came up, Ksana stayed silent. This wasn't her business. If he or Iono wanted to stay around and talk a little more, okay, but otherwise, she should just stay out of things.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#969: Feb 21st 2015 at 6:25:22 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

Ghiln considered for a moment. Terrans is another name for humans. I'm not sure if they still had kings by the time they had the technology to make records - well, other than flatbooks anyway - so is Tevarian trying to sell me a fake? But sixty SMUs doesn't seem that unreasonable.

As far as other possibilities went... "Well, I don't have anything in particular I'm looking for," she said, "but I'm curious what your most up-to-date information technology is, if you have any to offer." If there wasn't anything, she decided, she'd probably just move on, perhaps coming back for the record later. She could always ask Tevarian about himself, of course, but while he seemed pleasant enough there wasn't anything that made her particularly interested in socializing with him either. And it wasn't like he'd tried to initiate anything of that nature himself.

[Showcase Hall - Ship of Marvels]

"Wow, a physical check!" Madame voSudir exclaimed as she took it from Marion. There was a certain element of irony in her voice, but it wasn't quite possible to tell whether she was entirely joking or not. "I almost want to put this up in my collection instead of exchanging it - it might end up being worth more over time."

"You see," the Hazzer drone explained without apparent prompting, "virtually all monetary interchange within the esteemed Madame voSudir's reality is done through nonphysical means, intrepid sophont!"

voSudir hushed it with a hand and nodded at Marion. "Thank you," she said, "and don't be concerned. I'm certain Hazzer and I can determine how to exchange this."

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#970: Feb 22nd 2015 at 4:07:36 PM

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

"Oh," Veneris said when Mev arrived. "Glad you two found each other." She offered a slight bow and said, "I'm Veneris, this is Ksana, and you obviously already know Iono." Then, to Ksana, she said, "it's not something I think about, but I still think I'm with Iono; you didn't really respond to her point. Also, I feel like some of my friends would have something to say about 'against all science'... ah, what was it?" Dr. Rose had a comment about science and theology, that felt relevant. "What was it..."

[Camp Leatherneck] (Xiong, Sigmund's Transmission, Peter)

"Got it," Isaac says. "I'll head off and get this to the boss in person; got some other things to deal with as well."

Sigmund said. "As to the delivery, we have a spare portal available on one of our agents; simply tell us where to deploy it."

"Away," Xiong added, "from any magically sensitive persons, of course. It'll also get us back."

edited 22nd Feb '15 4:22:43 PM by KillerClowns

StrixObscuro from Somewhere in Massachusetts Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
#971: Feb 22nd 2015 at 9:34:07 PM

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

"Perhaps there's some abandoned attraction in the Entertainment Hall that we could use?" Nioba suggested. "That might provide us with some cover while still being public enough..."

Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports (Sotto, Brosk, Priest)

Sotto Stimme smoothed back his slicked black hair as he watched another customer walk away, merchandise in hand. It had been a profitable morning. He'd sold several copies of the Codex Necrosis to a warlock from Gaarthalak, a set of iron swords to a fledgling warlord from a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and a bottle of corpsefire wine to a hipster from Seattle (if Sotto had possessed more scruples, he probably would have been more concerned about giving corpsefire to someone who obviously had no idea that it was used in necromantic rituals, but Seattle was on an entirely different world, so it was their problem now.) And yesterday had been even better. This fair, with its mix of people from different worlds, all with their own ideas of what was valuable, had allowed him to sell off a number of items that had been collecting dust back home, and he'd even sent a few of his boys back to Muttra to fetch more stock. Sure, there'd been the occasional difficult customer, but his massive bodyguard Brosk had managed to keep most of them at bay, and the few who had been more troublesome... well, he did have a Vardalgari Orthodox priest on staff. That corpsefire-addled git had his uses.

Yes, indeed, this day was going quite swimmingly for Sotto Stimme.

By now, it should be clear to all except the most dense of us that sheep are secretly conspiring to kill us all and steal our pants.
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#972: Feb 23rd 2015 at 1:52:16 PM

Sorry this took so long. I'm getting a little tired of Fair, but I want to at least bring this particular storyline to a natural conclusion.

[Cloud Gate Hotel - Lobby]

Rey frowned again, leaning back in her chair and staring off into the distance behind her glasses. "Not sure what that would be. I didn't really spend a lot of time there yesterday, except in the food court." She folded her arms in front of her. "Which I don't think is what we want."

She winced slightly as a bit of sunlight from outside reflected off the mirrored walls and into her face. According to her backup, it still wasn't quite noon, but the sunlight was already getting to be too much for her even with her glasses. She dimmed them slightly with a mental command. When all this is over, I think I'm going to take a long nap somewhere dark.

It would be nice to have something to look forward to afterwards. She could already feel the stirrings of excitement and tension at the thought of action, and it was even stronger this time, because for once in her career it was actually going to be for something she believed in and not just thrills and money. But that meant, of course, that she'd also come down extra badly once the fight was finished.

Abruptly she stood. "So, who says we go ahead and start moving? I'm sure Kel has reached the damn stall by now."

[Market Hall - Vardalgari Exports]

In fact, Kel had just arrived at the stall in question. For a long moment, he stood there, observing it and thinking. Anywhere else that wouldn't have been very intelligent, but this fair was so weird that even a large shvuim in armor didn't seem to be drawing much attention. From a technical standpoint the stall didn't look like much trouble; the owner seemed decidedly non-threatening and his muscle-being, while certainly large, wasn't all that threatening without some kind of tech. If asked to give a threat assessment of them, he would have been dismissive at best.

The thing that really had him thinking, though, was the moral side. It wasn't something that most mercenaries worried about very much, but he'd always liked that Agavhi Militarized Security's business tended to be with other people in 'the game'. Just smashing his way in to some being's stall and robbing him wasn't what he did - but it was what Hegemony soldiers did. Have I really come to that? He didn't even want to picture writing about this one to his family.

He tilted his head, looking down his beak at the stall. Well, not yet I haven't. We can at least try talking. That settled, he approached the stall and made a clicking noise with his beak to get the owner's attention.

"Hello," he said. "I'm interested in buying an item I'm told you have?"

SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#973: Feb 23rd 2015 at 5:24:50 PM

[Market Hall] Picking up right where I left off in Masum's last post.

Masum swore internally. The girl was gone—the thrice-cursed demons, bickering amongst themselves and slavering over the prospect of meat—

—Meat—

—had distracted both themselves and Masum, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. Viciously he reined them in, silenced them with stinging anger. They cast about, but she had vanished into the crowd.

Masum smiled at a passing shopper, giving a polite nod of the head and stepping out of her way as she walked by. The demons sniffed in her direction but he reined them in again. Fucking animals. They were like a pack of dogs, sniffing each others' asses and chasing after every distraction that came up. He'd be glad to return to the Steppes and be back in proper company, the company of his masters—his slaves—his benefactors—instead of these imbecilic shades that gave him as much grief as they did assistance.

The Rashaean mage was nowhere nearby—his magic would have bled through reality and suffused the area like smoke—but the demons could smell the older man somewhere close. Not a concern; the old fool hadn't a lick of magical talent, and had never seen Masum's face. His clothing was generic enough that it wouldn't mark him as being from Emmesin's world, even among such diverse company as this world offered. Still, best to keep away from the man. Masum followed the demons' instincts and moved away from the direction in which they smelled him.

If he'd lost the girl who might be able to provide his friends with bodies, he'd just have to find another option. It wasn't as if he wasn't surrounded by vermin anyway.

edited 23rd Feb '15 5:26:39 PM by SolipSchism

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#974: Feb 23rd 2015 at 6:47:12 PM

[Market Hall - General]

As Masum seethed, a small metallic object hovered over the heads of the crowd until it arrived in front of him, where it descended to face level. It was shaped roughly like a boomerang, with its central point facing towards Masum and small green glows coming from its two ends and its lower side. The object hovered for a moment, emitting a quiet hum, then made a crackling sound. A high-pitched male voice spoke up:

"Ah! Excuse me, zer? Could you spare a moment of your time? My employer and I have been observing your activities, and we would be interested in doing some business with you that should be mutually profitable for all of us."

Sonzai Since: Sep, 2010
#975: Feb 23rd 2015 at 9:04:24 PM

[Market Hall - Tevarian's Booth]

"Most up-to-date information technology?" Tevarian repeated, sounding a bit confused. What technology doesn't involve information these days, he thought. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure what you're looking for, maybe it would help if you mentioned its use?" he said, "basically all technology these days operates on or uses information."


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

"Oh, sorry, I got a bit distracted," Iono said to Ksana, "but honestly, that sounds less like science, and more like dogma to me. If magic works like that, then the accepted scientific consensus is obviously wrong. Maybe in your world magical fire works differently, or uses magical energy for fuel instead. Either way, if your scientists aren't studying it, then it sounds more like a religion than science."

"A pleasure to meet you two," Mev said, bowing slightly as well, "but I'm afraid our meeting will be short."

"Why? What's wrong?" Iono said to Mev.

"I have something important I need to tell you," Mev said.

"I do too, but you should go first," Iono said.

"This Nexus must be destroyed," Mev said, in a deathly serious tone.

Iono merely stared at Mev in stunned silence.

edited 23rd Feb '15 9:06:34 PM by Sonzai


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