[Nexus] Mallside III

[Halae]

(( >.>

Maybe I wasn't clear. that's not a potion of "Counter Werewolves" but a potion of "Revert Shape-changer"))

[orb_of_blood]

(( >.>

Maybe I wasn't clear. that's not a potion of "Counter Werewolves" but a potion of "Revert Shape-changer"))

((Oh, yes that does make more sense. Sorry! ))

In THAT case, Tyalla shrinks slowly back down to her normal self, fur disappearing, aspects of other creatures she usually wears disappearing too, until she's simply an elf again (luckily she's figured out a way to morph clothes). Huh? She looks herself over and all her old energy returns in a burst thatwassocool! Thankyousomuch! Whatwasthat? Speaking so quickly, she's difficult to understand, but she's definitely both happy and grateful.

[Halae]

[Azik's Enchantments]

"That was a shape reversion potion," Azik says, walking back behind the counter, "They're quite commonly used by individuals who have little or no control over their transformations. Lycanthropes are the most common users, of course. They are thankfully inexpensive to make, so you can get many quite easily."

"I warn you though, if you want to buy some, it's cheaper and better for yourself to develop a stronger control over your transformations, as they are more of a crutch than anything else. You may end up finding yourself dependent on them if you abuse them."

[orb_of_blood]

[Azik's Enchantments]

Tyalla looks a little sheepish. My elders say I'll never truly be able to morph because- hey look! Potions! what she'd meant to say was that she didn't have a good attention span, but that probably proved it nevertheless. She sweeps over to look at them. Those shape reversion potions are useful, but what if I want to keep my shape but have full control?

She turns to face him and accidentally knocks a random potion off onto the floor. ...oops. Yeah, she's rather clumsy. Not the best person to have in a shop with breakable potions.

[Halae]

[Azik's Enchantments]

"The reversion potion was free, but that will cost you. I suggest you keep your hands to yourself unless you ridiculous stores of money," is all that Azik says about the smashed potion laying on the floor. He also starts moving his beakers, alembics, and vials to places that are not likely to be touched by his exuberant customer, "Unfortunately, I don't have potions for that, but I have a belt that locks the bearer in their current form. Control is something you'd have to master for yourself."

[orb_of_blood]

[Azik's enchantments]

Tyalla stares. No morphing? But I like morphing! She also noticeably stands rigid, afraid to move about much more in case she breaks something else. Well in that case I'll take a few shape-reversion potions... but I'm keeping my ability! She takes out a small pouch. It's filled with gold and silver. Not an incredible amount of money, but there are a few hundred gold pieces. How much for... say, twenty potions plus... that? She gestures carefully and a little ashamedly to the broken potion.

[Halae]

[Azik's Enchantments]

"The twenty potions themselves would cost you one hundred and fifty gold. Normally they cost 10 gold apiece but I'm giving you a discount for buying in bulk," Azik states simply. Then he points to the broken vial, "That cost one hundred itself."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Aurora Fountain]

A robot, of a sort, has arrived here, though few robots wear clothes, and fewer yet have the physical form to look good while doing so.

This one, though, does; she - for the machine is not entirely mechanical, and the human part is female - looks like a rather pretty human woman, wearing a red dress, with gold and black designs on it, save that she has bronze skin, fine gold wire for hair, and silver teeth.

Said robot, having nothing better to do, appears to be watching Essy and Astra, though more so the former than the psyker; she's seen jugglers before, but even she can't bend like that, and this body's joints are designed to provide quite a bit of flexibility.

[orb_of_blood]

Azik's Enchantments

[Azik's Enchantments]

"The twenty potions themselves would cost you one hundred and fifty gold. Normally they cost 10 gold apiece but I'm giving you a discount for buying in bulk," Azik states simply. Then he points to the broken vial, "That cost one hundred itself."

Tyalla is reluctant to hand over two hundred and fifty gold, especially as she knows she has only around three hundred, but she recently acquired a job for a reasonable amount of pay and she really did need those potions. So she empties her pouch contents onto the table and counts out the money. Out of curiosity and irritation, which potion did I break?

[Halae]

[Azik's Enchantments]

"Strength Enhancement. For combat, and the like." Azik will count out the money he requires and not a copper piece more. He doesn't swindle his customers. Afterwards, he pulls a wooden box out from under the counter, opening it to show Tyalla the contents, ten potions. As she's looking that over, he pulls out another box, for the other ten. "They're in high demand, so I keep a lot of them in stock."

[Aurora Fountain]

Astra doesn't really see their spectator, his focus on the bottles, but he can tell she's there. As such, he calls out to her, "Mind sparing some money for the talented needy?"

She can probably tell he's focusing more on his act than on the crowd. must not be the easiest thing out there to do.

[orb_of_blood]

Azik's enchantments

Tyalla sweeps her few remaining coins back into the pouch and puts it away again. She smiles kindly at Azik. Thank-you for your help. taking the potions, she'll be on her way, leaving the store and the mall.

[Slii Arhem]

Aurora Fountain

Essaila does notice their onlooker, and turns on her hands sharply to get a better view. Astra will be able to get a good look at her through Essy's eyes no doubt, and share in his sister's stupefied shock. It looks like a robot, but nothing so massive or clunky as what they'd see at home. Heck, it seems almost human.

Well, if it's willing to watch and willing to pay, she'd better give it a good show.

Her legs unfold and hit the ground hard, springboarding her high into the air where she flips backwards, pulling her arms in close to her body to execute a tight spin. She lands on her hands again, quickly whipping her legs down in front of her and rolling her entire body around her hips. When she comes up she's in a split, and reaches her arms down to pull her legs up above her head, locking her feet together just above her hair.

Ta da!

[Haruki-kun]

[Concourse]

A bell rings. Anyone hoping to hear a bell ringing will be thrilled, those who hate the sound of bells may not be as happy. Those who are indifferent may just be puzzled about where the bell is located. A quick glance around that the bell is ringing because someone is tolling it. And that someone is none other than Psi-23.

She is standing next to a box with a coin slot on top of it. Next to it is a sign reading:

Depositing funds within container is suggested. Accepting the previous suggestion is suggested.

"Loading. Loading. Complete. Now in the process of utilizing sound to attract subjects' attention. Confirmed. Now loading speech pattern. Advertisement mode activated." She raises her voice a little more. It's more than a regular speech, but less than screaming.

"Our current endeavor requires more funds. Any source of income would be appreciated. Depositing funds will result in subject owning less funds and Unit owning more funds. Unit will not utilize said funds for personal use. All funds will be redirected to further finance the endeavor."

It should be noted that she is tolling the bell with magnificent tempo, and does not stop. Ever.

[Inigo Montoya]

An over-the-hill swordsman walks over to the cacophony, fingers in his ears. He scans the sign quickly, and then tries to get the Psi-23's attention.

"Excuse me? What are you collecting money for? A charity? A group? Evil demon monkeys from beneath the Underdark?"

[Haruki-kun]

"Subject detected," says Psi. "Comment identified as Inquiry. Loading. Replying is suggested. Suggestion accepted. Loading answer. Complete.

All profits will be utilized to further fund our current project."

[Inigo Montoya]

Inigo is about inquire what this 'project' is, but decides against it. If (she? it?) was evil, she/it wouldn't be begging for money. He pulls out a couple of gold coins and tosses them into the bucket.

"Here ya go. May I make a suggestion though? You may want to...be a bit more quiet. Just a tad."

[Haruki-kun]

"The profit obtained from your relinquished funds is appreciated." She continues to toll the bell. With perfect tempo.

"Such a thing is not encouraged. It has been concluded after investigation that noise can be successfully utilized for attracting attention from subjects who would otherwise fail to detect Unit's prescence."

[Inigo Montoya]

"Well, can I at least know what you're raising money for?" Inigo asks. He's pretty curious about it now. "Is it a plan to build more...whatever you are?"

[Haruki-kun]

Psi tilts her head in confusion. "Negative. The Foreign Interaction Device program has been terminated and no further units are being produced. Our current project is referred to within 'Nexus' as 'fundraising'. In order to further fund project 'fundraising', more funds are required. In order to raise the funds, Unit is now conducting 'fundraising'."

[Inigo Montoya]

Inigo blinks. He blinks again. "...So, you're raising funds to...raise more funds? Where will all this money go?"

[Haruki-kun]

"Redundant question is detected. Expanding is suggested. Suggestion accepted." Psi pauses and begins her explanation, still tolling the bell perfectly.

"Loading explanation. Loading. Loading. Loading. Complete. Now proceeding to exposition.

It has come to a particular organization's attention that fundraisers are currently lacking staff due to the implicit fact that staff participating in fundraising events will be doing so with no monetary reward. Due to this, the organization sought out volunteers who would be willing to raise funds to pay the volunteers, thus turning the volunteers into employees of fundraising organization, with benefits.

The organization, however, encountered obstacles due to no volunteers being available for work with no monetary gain. As a result of this, Unit is currently the only volunteer available. Unit accepted the work in exchange for being able to log the Data from the workings of 'fundraising'. This is possible because Unit has, at the present time, no interest in monetary gain.

This entire operation has been successful in terms of Data gathering. Fundraising has failed entirely due to 'Nexus' lacking a working economy."

[Inigo Montoya]

Inigo digests this information. "I think...I get it. Makes sense, I guess. As much as anything does in Nexus now. Not that it made much sense back in the day mind you."
He puts another two gold pieces in the tin.
"I think you'll need all the help you can get."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Aurora Fountain]

Astra doesn't really see their spectator, his focus on the bottles, but he can tell she's there. As such, he calls out to her, "Mind sparing some money for the talented needy?"

She can probably tell he's focusing more on his act than on the crowd. must not be the easiest thing out there to do.

Aurora Fountain

Essaila does notice their onlooker, and turns on her hands sharply to get a better view. Astra will be able to get a good look at her through Essy's eyes no doubt, and share in his sister's stupefied shock. It looks like a robot, but nothing so massive or clunky as what they'd see at home. Heck, it seems almost human.

Well, if it's willing to watch and willing to pay, she'd better give it a good show.

Her legs unfold and hit the ground hard, springboarding her high into the air where she flips backwards, pulling her arms in close to her body to execute a tight spin. She lands on her hands again, quickly whipping her legs down in front of her and rolling her entire body around her hips. When she comes up she's in a split, and reaches her arms down to pull her legs up above her head, locking her feet together just above her hair.

Ta da!

[Aurora Fountain]

Ouch. That looks painful even for Talnissa, and she'd be sure to turn her nerves off before she did anything of the sort.

But, there's no denying that, based on Essaila's condition, both in terms of how thin she is and her posture, they're telling the truth about being talented and needy. And the robot still has plenty of money.

"Considering the quality of the entertainment, and that you obviously need it, I can certainly spare a bit," she says, starting to approach them, a small slot in her left palm opening as she does, and beginning to dispense coins into her other hand.

Assuming they let her get near them, she'll carefully set the handful of money on the ground, and keep adding to it. And adding. And then some additional adding after that; she's not planning on stopping until a year's worth of the money she was paid at the Mental Menagerie is in the pile.

[Halae]

[Aurora Fountain]

Astra has, in fact been avoiding looking at Essy's mental images, focusing more of his psychic talent on the juggling than anything else, so he doesn't see anything from Essy's eyes.

Still though, when the clinking of coin hits the ground, he stops juggling and just stares. That's.... that's a lot of coin. And... is that gold? This weird robot lady is giving them gold?!

Astra just stares in shock at the growing pile of money, his hands holding the dripping technicolor bottles. Who the hell was this robot to have this kind of money, that it could just throw away?

Of course, no way Astra is going to stop her. That'd just be stupid.

[AmberVael]

[Movie Mania]

Grace exits the movie theater, and rubs at her forehead. Sauron II: The Eye Lasers of Hate, was about as good as she thought it would be. That is, completely awful. What a complete waste of time.

She takes a stroll around the mall, but will eventually head back to her office after checking in on the arcade.

[Slii Arhem]

Aurora Fountain

Essaila likewise goggles at the massive pile of money. That- That's more than she'd ever seen in one place! She doesn't even know if they have something to carry that much gold!

She untangles her legs, and quickly bows to their generous patron. The next thing she does is scoop some of that gold into her wok and walks over to the person ringing that insufferable bell. She isn't sure what she'll do, but if she can manage to stop the ringing then today would be just perfect.

Keep the ladybot with the money busy while I shut this up. We're never going hungry again!

With that quick message to Astra, she leaves him with the pile of gold, trusting him to watch over it.

[Haruki-kun]

[Concourse/Fountain]

"New subject approaching. Engaging in Verbal communication. Confirmed. Greetings. Relinquishing funds for fundraising is suggested." She will stare at Essaila as long as she's there.

[Slii Arhem]

Concourse/Fountain

Essaila frowns, her lower lip sticking out in a pout. She sets down her wok full of coins and gesturing to the bell. She holds her hand out and makes a grasping motion, indicating she wants the bell, then points at the pile of coins, showing she'll exchange money for it.

The plan is foolproof! Well, barring any minor inconveniences caused by miscommunication.

[Haruki-kun]

[Concourse/Fountain]

Psi tilts her head. "Verbal communication deemed impossible. Analyzing signals. Confirmed.

Analyzing. Analyzing. Analyzing.

.... Subject appears to be interested in exchanging the bell for funds. Is this correct?"

[Slii Arhem]

Concourse/Fountain

Essaila nods, a cheerful smile breaking out on her face, although her lips don't part to reveal her teeth. The tick in her eye is growing at the continued ringing of the bell, but the mere hope that it could be stopped soon lightens her mood somewhat.

This is the best thing that ever happened to them! They got off the hive-world, got to eat something that didn't taste like death, and now they have money! Woo! No matter how hard he is paying attention, Astra should be able to feel the elation rolling off his sister in waves.