[Nexus] Mallside I: You Do Not Know the Power of the Mallside

[Neon Knight]

[Concourse]

"Where is Zee now? And who's working on this?" Cierra takes out a small note pad. She might as well start writing stuff down. Remembering all the differences between now and then might be important.

[Rebonack]

[Concourse]

Amil thinks about that question for a few moments.

"You know... I'm not really sure to tell you the truth. I guess she's still north of the City where she fell over. But the giant monster body seems to be gone and there's just this weird forest there instead."

An obsidian forest, in fact.

"And I don't know if anyone is working on it. If by working on it you mean trying to figure out what happened to her? Or trying to wake her up?"

She has no idea in fact!

"I'm kind of surprised more hasn't been done. There were a lot of people that really seemed to like her," a shrug. "I dunno. Maybe that's just the nature of the Nexus. Things change and people move on."

[Neon Knight]

[Concourse]

"A forest, north of Inside..." Cierra marks this down on her notepad, along with all the other information she's been given. "And I mean both. So, no one has really done anything?" That doesn't seem right.

"Do you think it's dangerous there, in the forest?"

[Murkus]

The Mental Menagarie

"Oh. So we can transfer any knowledge between eachother? Whatever we want?" Adir's very obviously interested. He glances at Sakura. "Sure, we can do the couples thing. But, um, what would other people need our memories for?"

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

"Oh, some people just like to be more than themselves I suppose. Don't worry about people using your memories against you though, all donations are kept strictly confidential, and anyone uploading a memory or skillset you share with us would think it was their own. Besides that... alot of people have very interesting memories, and some people like to just see what others are thinking about. And if you do end up transfering your ability to read and write, you may know a spellings and definitions that our databanks don't have yet, which adds to our literacy program for anyone else struggling with languages." Waldorf shuffles by, dragging a new sign to place on the window. It says "Want to Learn a Dead Language? Inquire Inside!"

[Gullara]

[The Mental Menagarie]

Sakura wasn't even thinking about that their memories would act as the price. She was too caught up in how romantic sharing some memories could be. It's a shame because the memories in question are private enough that she wouldn't want to just give them to these people.

So it's understandable that she now looks a bit disappointed. Oh well, at least they can still probably do the reading thing. Learning to read is much less likely to involve something private after all.

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

As soon as Waldorf is finished with his sign, he'll limp his way back into the storefront. As he gets close to Sakura, he falls into yet another coughing fit, attempting to steady himself with a hand on her shoulder. If he makes contact, she should hear him speaking directly into her mind, without any of the hesitation usually in his voice.

"You adults are not the only couple here. If you wished, you could Know what your babe knows."

He then straightens, and continues on, but now Celena is glaring at him. Evidently she heard that attempted message, even if Sakura didn't.

[Lady Serpentine]

Now here was a dilemma for the young half-elf bard! He needed money, which is why he played, but didn't want to accept something for a song that he wasn't asked to play...

So he sat, merely saying "Thank you." And waiting to see what she was going to do....

In that case, she finishes opening the case, turns it so that he can see the contents, and says "Take what you think is a fair price."

Inside the case is an amount of money equivalent to what one would get if you saved every penny of working minimum wage for forty years.

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Menagerie

Strand shuffles into the menagerie, wearing his usual assortment of partially burnt, ill-fitting clothing, with the addition of a green chef's hat. It's quite possible he doesn't actually have any clothes that do fit him. Considering his skinny build, they might not even make clothes that fit him.

Looking about, he finds himself rather fascinated by the sheer variety of shiny things and shinier machinery, and will, unless someone stops him, sneak over to the nearest button and try pressing it. Just to see what happens.

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

Well there's no one really in the store, so who could blame him. When he presses the button, he should feel a brief upsurge of happiness, followed by elation and finishing off with a tiny bit of guilt. If he reads the placard, he'll find it says "Complimentary joy buzzers, please ring for help." There's a legend that goes along with it, and each buzzer is color coded. If he finds the matching color on the chart, he'll see the one he just poked is named "Guilty Pleasure."

Suddenly! A rather husky woman is behind him, "Sorry about that deary, I was in the back, what can I help you with?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Manegerie

Strahd leaps a little when the woman shows up out of nowhere, as he knows full well he shouldn't be pressing random buttons without knowing what they do. The fact that the joy buzzer left him feeling guilty doesn't help either. "I- Er... Ummmm... W- what doesh thish place shell?"

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

Oh we sell thoughts, feelings, beliefs, memories, nostalgia, skills, quirks and more! You seem very science inclined young man, I bet there is just loads and bunches of things you're itching to know about the known universe, and we have the life's work of oodles of scientists just sitting in our Megalithic Mystical Mind Manipulator just waiting to ooze into your head." she pauses to get a better look at him, before recognition dawns on her wide face, "I know you, you're that fellow Waldorf was raving about. He said he's never had a better taco in all his life. Why I simply must visit your establishment some time honey!"

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Manegerie

Strahd's face breaks into a grin at the compliment. "Thanks! But, er, I'm not a scientisht. I'm a cook." He says, for once not particularly insulted by the dread insult of being called a mere scientist, in face of the glowing praise. "Sho, you, er, transhfer dreamsh around? Like a mental shimulation?" He asks, more than a little curious about how something like that would work. Despite his general hatred of science, he can't help but find certain aspects fascinating.

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

"Oh do pardon me deary, I didn't mean to offend. We can transfer dreams of course, and we do get alot of call for it, but mostly we deal in skills. The hard earned work of generations rests within this beastie. Magic, science, psionics, and other more mundane skill sets are all stored, just waiting to be accessed.Why I bet we even have a few recipes you might not have heard of yet. The true secret to our success is that we don't just give you a book and let you memorize it, it's much more involved than that. If you expand your knowledge here, it will be as if you had done these things your whole life! Culinary combinations unheard of for eons will spring from your fingers as they mix and stir and measure doing steps you can remember doing a thousand times over before you've even picked up a spoon!" Anyone else might insert a maniacal laugh here, but Rita is still her usual enthusiastic self, "Won't that be wonderful?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Menagerie

"W- wow. I gotta try thish." Strahd says, eyes aglow with thoughts of culinary supremity, not even noting the rather mad science-y tone of Rita's rant. "Er, how much doesh it cosht?"

[Rebonack]

[Concourse]

Amil shrugs. "I haven't heard anything at least. Maybe someone is working on it without saying then are?"

She honestly has no idea.

"It does seem kind of strange that someone so well known would die and no one would try to bring her back. Death of the famous in the Nexus lasts about as long as an average celebrity wedding."

That is to say, not very long.

"But what do I know, right? I just make sure the computers are running right. I'm no big Nexus personality. As for safe... No idea there either. Probably about as safe as anywhere else in the Nexus."

So no, not really.

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

"That's the best part! It's an even trade, some of our knowledge in exchange for copies of some of yours to add to the pile. Or if you prefer, we also accpet currency, but I'll warn you, our prices are pretty stiff. Selling the lost knowledge of the ancients doesn't sit right with the owner, so he implemented this system to keep anyone with alot of money from becoming all knowing and subsequently suffering from massive brain trauma and epileptic strokes as they realized the crushing futility of their own existence! We trade skills at a 1:1 ratio, if you spent two days honing your abilities, we'll give you two days in exchange. Memories are worth two thirds what skills are, and dreams are only worth half, since they degrade very quickly." she pauses to think a bit, then pipes up again, "Oh! And we no longer accept gardening as a tradeable skill, as it currently takes up roughly one tenth of our entire stock."

[Rebonack]

[Aurora Fountain]

Divaonar successfully delivered the jackalope! The buyer was quite pleased with his work and tipped him handsomely for the delivery. As one might expect this has made the boy rather pleased with himself.

And in typical child-like fashion he has decided to go spend his money on useless stuff!

Or...

In this case a hot-dog on a stick and some pink lemonade. As he meanders through the food court sipping his drink something catches his attention. Not his eye, mind you. This isn't the sort of thing one sees. Or even really smells for that matter. The sense is something altogether different than any humans happen to poses and so making a proper contrast is... difficult to say the least.

A certain young lady will probably soon find a half-drow boy sipping on his lemonade looking up at her curiously. There's something... off about him. Though it's difficult to place one's finger on what precisely it is.

"Hello. I'm Divaonar. What's your name?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Menagerie

"Huh." Strahd doesn't like the sound of that. There's no way he's giving up his recipes, but he already spent most of his money on starting Zombie A-Taco-Lypse. Still, there is some knowledge rattling around in his brain he'd be willing to share. "I have shome... shcience... shtuff I know. Shtuff my father taught me. I could trade that in."

[Slii Arhem]

The Mental Menagerie

"Anything you have is welcome, why don't we get you set up and we'll see how many years you'd like to trade." as she speaks the ominous looking cube once again descends from the heavens ceiling, and its wires and plates begin to twitch, almost like a thing alive. Waldorf is suddenly in front of it, replacing the old lawn chair with a new one. "Please, have a seat."

[ThirdEmperor]

Mental Menagerie

Strahd gives the machine a very suspicious look, but sits down in the lawn chair nonetheless. If this in any way involves his brains being removed, he'll be quite annoyed.

[AmberVael]

[Neon Coliseum]

"Oh, I see." Takara looks the machine over. "It's a strange game. Loud, and a bit random."

[Neon Coliseum]

"But apparently entertaining, at least once you get the hang of it. Still, maybe it isn't your thing." Grace smiles sympathetically. "Loud and a bit random and flashy pretty much sums up arcades though. It's not a subtle and quiet source of entertainment."


[Aurora Fountain]

It takes a second for Divaonar to get a response. Aleph is staring at the fountain and the people, and seems quite enthralled by everything going on around her, however, she does give a belated reply. "Oh. It's Aleph." Or at least, that's what she's settling on for the moment.

She takes a moment to turn her eyes on the boy, her eyes open wide, but not with fear or surprise, but as if she were expanding her area of focus to include him. "Who are you?"

[Rebonack]

[Aurora Fountain]

The boy doesn't look like he could be any older than eight years old. At least in human terms. He wrinkles his nose at her name. He's pretty certain he recognizes that from somewhere, but he isn't sure where.

Oh well.

It probably doesn't matter.

"Umm... I'm Divaonar. Divaonar Ezekiel Bar-Raril. I help at the Barkhouse Bestiary!"

He sure does!

Inherited his mother's knack for life-shaping. So it seems like just the right place for him. He also inherited orders to slay servants of the Old Ones wherever he finds them. Just like all his siblings. And this girl seems... suspicious.

He isn't sure why yet. And he isn't about to nom someone for no good reason.

"Do you work at Mallside? Or are you just buying stuff?"

[AmberVael]

[Aurora Fountain]

"No. I don't have money. But this place feels right. Big, open, safe. Busy though. A little too busy now." Aleph replies, her focus drifting off towards the crowd again. "Um, what are you doing here?" Her eyes snap back to Divaonar and fixate on him this time, narrowing on his head before panning down with smooth precision. "Working?"

[Rebonack]

[Aurora Fountain]

"Safe places are nice. Have you met any of the Mall Kopz yet? They're really funny."

The lady seems... odd. Divaonar considers her oddness whilst chewing on his corn-dog. Corn-dogs are good. They're way more tasty than the random dead things he finds every now and again. Though you don't have to pay any money for those.

Just contend with the other scavengers.

"Mhmm! Uh-" a pause as he swallows his mouthful of food. "Uh huh! I help mister Lando make the Custom Creature Creations. He says I inherited the skill from my Mother. She used to own the shop before mister Lando bought it."

The boy's brow knits slightly as his countenance falls.

"Mother has been asleep a long time now. I really miss her..."

[AmberVael]

[Aurora Fountain]

High functioning for his age. Making creatures? 'Asleep' possibly not a euphemism. Coma? Supernatural phenomena?

"Oh, um, I'm sorry." Aleph's sympathy sounds awkward, but genuine. "Would you like to talk about your work?"

[Rebonack]

[Aurora Fountain]

"My work? No. Ummm..." Divaonar bites his lip, trying to come up with some way to ask if this woman is a deranged cultist without actually asking if she's a deranged cultist. "I was kind of curious about you. You're..."

Vaguely smelling of Lovecraftian terrorhorrors?

No.

That's too obvious.

And possibly offensive.

"Different?" he tries, fiddling with his shoes a bit. "Or..."

He looks up at Aleph, as if trying to get a suggestion from her.

[AmberVael]

[Aurora Fountain]

Aleph blinks at Divaonar, watching him intently. High functioning. Unknown. Young. Provoking sympathy. Asking questions...
She looks a bit confused for a moment. "I don't know what you mean." The comment apparently has made her feel uncomfortable as well, and she twists a bit in her seat.

[Slii Arhem]

Mental Menagerie

Strahd gives the machine a very suspicious look, but sits down in the lawn chair nonetheless. If this in any way involves his brains being removed, he'll be quite annoyed.

((Sorry, missed this one))

The Mental Menagerie

Rita waves her hands around the theramin looking clump of wires and the chrome panel that acts like a screen pops out in front of them, "Okay, so I just need you to focus a bit on those years so I can get a good reading on how long they were and how much quality material we can ring out of your cute little noggin."

[Rebonack]

[Aurora Fountain]

The boy does a fair bit of fidgeting all his own. This is really awkward. It's a lot easier to pick out people tainted by the Old Ones when they have tentacles coming out of their faces. Non-tentacle-face people are a lot trickier!

Hmmm...

Maybe another route needs to be taken then?

"Well... Mother wanted my siblings and me to be careful about people that look like people. But aren't. Because they might be dangerous. And... I wanted to make sure you aren't one of those not-people people because you seem kind of nice and... none of this is making any sense, is it?"

Maybe he just doesn't know what he's talking about. Carcosa burger might be throwing off his senses.