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Staren <X-Concord-Chatter> 3 Count Kord says, "Staren, go get some chicken."
<X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Tamamo no Mae says, "Staren, go get more chicken."
<X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Seifer Almasy says, "Ugh, dammit. Hang on, man, I'll get a wheelchair or somethin', I'm sure the Moon Cell can do it. Don't feel right makin' you do her work."
<X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Staren says, "I was just gonna send a robot."
<X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Seifer Almasy says, "Ha ha yeah like hell you are."
<X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Seifer Almasy says, "Yeah you're not sendin' a robot with a checklist. C'mon."

    Staren sighs, and thinks out the logistics of this. He can't just go to AMATERASU's food court, they want raw meat to cook. What's relatively nearby in the warpgate network? His world is, but he doesn't want to go all the way to Lazlo... Wait a second. he doesn't have to.

    Staren gets up from his desk, walks through the kitchen, down the spiral stairs, and it could almost seem to be the inside of a house if the windows didn't all provde a nice view of SPACE. He steps onto the teleport pad, steps out into the moonbase, and with some slow, loping strides, enters the warpgate.

    Coming out of the warpgate, today's shoppers step into NEW BOWMANVILLE, the trading town that's sprung up around it. At a glance, it looks pretty modern, having been constructed in the last decade around the gate where there was nothing but open farmland before. It's a cool night, in the fifties farenheit, and two things stand out:

    1. The people around are a mix from all over the multiverse. Humans are the largest minority, but the rest are countless species, everything from plantpeople to tentacled aliens and what not. There's a noticeable number of people going about armed and armored -- adventurers here to buy supplies.
    2. The sky is lit up by something like a giant, electric-blue aurora that starts at the ground and goes up like a mile.

    Staren waits for everyone to arrive and then starts looking around. "Okay, supermarket, supermarket... there's gotta be one here, people LIVE here."

    Surveying the local storefronts, it's an eclectic mix. There are perhaps more adventurer supply stores -- survival gear, guns, and armor -- than most are used to. Also a lot of traders, importers, exporters and such -- the area around the gate is a trade hub, after all. Other than that it's a pretty normal modern mix. Sooner or later they'll come to a supermarket.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer Almasy is in a wheelchair.

     This is because, about a week and change ago, he put himself in a Very Risky Situation to protect his Most Important Person. It hurt. A lot. He pulled it off and protected both her and his life, but it still hurt. So he's now in a wheelchair, covered in bandages, being pushed by a weird-looking machine-program-y-thing. He's still got Hyperion in his lap, because of course he does, and he's still wearing his white coat with the red crosses on the sleeves, because of course he is. He's got the smell of medical supplies lingering around him at the moment, which is, again, not surprising, if he's been bandaged up and basically immobile for that long.

     The truth is, he's mostly just kinda stir-crazy. Being bored out of his mind with Caster is nice, but not being bored out of his mind is better. Not being bored out of his mind with Caster would be best, but since she's busy, he might as well go get stuff for her. Going alone is dangerous. Going in a big group, though, that's fine.

     The sheer number of Weird-Looking People puts him off, but that's fine. He'll adapt. He does his best not to stare at them, or the sky, as the drone pushes him onwards.

     "So you don't *actually* know if there's a market here," Seifer says to Staren in that 'Seifer's-not-impressed-with-your-train-of-logic' voice he does so well.
Nie Li     Although he's just a normal human at a glance, Nie Li might well stand out for his unusual outfit. Something of far east tastes, and not at all contemporary - or what could be considered contemporary for a dimensional melting pot, anyways.

    His first reaction upon stepping out of the warp gate is an amount of wide-eyed, curious awe. Though he doesn't just stand there like a kid - he leaps off to the side to not block the way.

    So much strange architecture. So many strange BEINGS walking the streets. And that power tingling his senses... "This place is teeming with heavenly energy! It's so dense, anyone can see it!" He gasps, as if this is an incomparably priceless treasure to come across.

    At this point he becomes torn. The benefits of finding a secluded area to cultivate this power, versus checking out this Supermarket place. Decisions, decisions!

    For now, though, he decides to stick with this impromptu factional outing and trail along with Staren. When Seifer arrives the boy looks over his shoulder, placing the voice quickly. And... the method of getting around. He can't help but wince a little at how laid up Seifer really is. "Whether one's here or not, it was well worth coming here. This place is a great find! Cultivating here will immensely help my growth." Whatever the hell THAT means.

    With a kind and friendly, if casual tone, he asides to Seifer, "Is it broken bones or something else that keeps you down? If your body's... clogged by something, perhaps I can help. Broken bones will have to mend on their own, though."
Nyrinel Nyrinel is staring at the ley line.

It's not really a surprise. It's huge, glowing, chock full of magic and super impressive. She's never seen anything quite like it -- or, no... no, she has, but it was contained to a singular location. This seems to run off towards the horizon. Never-ending. It's beautiful. It's...

A huge distraction. She hustles to catch up to Seifer and Staren as they move through the town, picking her way past the weird people around with the ease of someone who grew up in a city. The weird weapons and armor keep drawing her eye, and it makes her look like a tourist with all the rubber-necking. She kind of is.

"Everywhere has to have some place to barter for food, right?" Nyrinel ceases her wide-eyed gawking long enough to look at Seifer's condition. "You look like you got run over by a carriage. Did you lack a proper healer wherever you went? You should have called me."

Nie Li keeps getting the suspicious side-eye from the elf. "Broken bones are no trouble if you know your craft," she says, with no small amount of pride.
Seifer Almasy      "Caster's been taking care of me fine," Seifer tells Nyrinel, "An' that 'My Room' thing on the Moon Cell has healing properties. Just took a lotta damage. I took a Noble Phantasm to the face and bounced it back on its user to protect her durin' the last Fest."

     "Thanks for the offer, though."

     He shrugs at Li. "It's fine. Just took a ton of damage all at once, that's all."

     He's also doing the tourist thing a little.
Inga Freyjasdottir This is not usually where Inga would come to do her shopping. These days, she doesn't leave Dun Realtai very often. When she did come to do shopping she couldn't do in Dun Realtai, this still wouldn't be where she would normally go. But, alas, there are things she is craving she can't get there, and thus she's had to venture out.

Probably good for her anyway.

So she's carefully strolling down the street where the group is gathering, her walking stick in one hand working to off-set her limp a bit, an empty woven basket resting in the crook of her elbow on the other. She's dressed in her viking age best, a blue wool dress pinned at the shoulder with silver brooches over a white linen underdress, a light cloak thrown over her shoulders. The long white braid of her hair hangs over one shoulder.

She's been in the multiverse for a while now, but some of the beings she sees here still give her pause. She begins to wonder if she will be able to find the relatively mundane things she needs at the moment here. Though, maybe there's a merchant that might have some of the stranger things she's in the market for.

The energy of the leyline hums through her in a familiar sort of way, however, putting her a little more at ease. At least if something happens to her, she knows she won't have to go far. And it is beautiful. She wonders what world this is?

While wondering, she spots a familiar profile and tilts her head curiously. She approaches. "Hello Staren," she greets, looking to the small group that seems to be assembling. She recognizes Seifer as well, though its been a long time and she's not so sure he'd remember her.

As she can't help but overhear talk of broken bones, she blinks. "Indeed, broken bones are not so difficult normally--certain breaks are obviously more tricky to heal using...what I would deem conventional methods," she nods in agreement with Nyrinel. Magically, it's usually a piece of cake.
Solty Revant      Part shopping, part exploring, another unusual-looking person is wandering about the area. With green hair done up in a style that looks like it should be impossible and pointed furry ears like two green cones sticking out sideways on her head, Solty Revant is pretty visible no matter where she goes. And if that wasn't enough, her outfit is pretty unusual as well. She doesn't really have a list, she is just out shopping for a gift and wanted to see another world.

     But, seeing Seifer in a wheelchair is enough to draw her over, and her ears perk a bit as she catches the conversation. "Mr. Seifer!" she calls out as she approaches, raising a hand to wave to him, but when she gets closer she blinks a few times. "Wow...you really do look like you were run over by a carriage. Are you alright?" she says, then pauses. "...what's a carriage? Is that like a car?"

     Although Solty looks mostly like a normal human, anyone with special senses or scanners would be able to tell something is unusual about her. And while Seifer is the primary person she addresses since she met him before she still takes the time to bow politely to each person in the group with him before smiling and introducing herself. "Hello. My name is Solty Revant. It's nice to meet all of you!"
Staren     "I usually just pass through!" Staren retorts. "But I figured why drive all the way over there," he points west, parallel to the line, although there's nothing to see with buildings in the way, "when there's gotta be something here? Sorry I can't just check google maps on my phone, they don't have that kind of global standard... Hmm, maybe..." His eyes focus somewhere else, but while he's fiddling with the computer, more people keep showing up, including one unexpected. "Inga? What're you doing here?" Not accusatory, just surprised. It's not really her sort of place... Then again, with all the farms around, maybe she's helping one of them?

    And then Solty runs over. Staren looks between her and Seifer. "Uhhh... you two know eachother?"

    The place where they've all stopped is, conveniently, in front of a grocery store.
Kotone Yamakawa Shopping and she's always heard there were interesting bits of hardware and tech on Staren's world so why not though she wasn't quite ready to see the ruins of the SkyDome and CN Tower though, she had her little you blew it up, you hosers, moment. It's just by chance she's come here. Kotone in her stealth gear body suit to given its Staren's homeworld like hell she's not going there armed. She's been looking for gear and debating over some Wilks or Iron Gun gear the Wilks get her attention though.

"Mmm I should get one of these for Shen and Valen to play with."

She'll pick up the laser pistol and rifle and shove them into her MM unit.

Then she sees Staren, Solty and Seiger whom she bounces over to.

"Staren! Solty! Seifer!"
Seifer Almasy      Seifer does not remember Inga.

     It's not personal. Seifer doesn't remember a lot of people. It's not something he advertises. He holds up a hand at Solty and says, "Hey," and that would lead one to believe that he remembers her, but in truth, her name's gone, too. Names are one of the first things to go.

     "I split a big sword beam with my gunblade to protect Caster, then I turned it back on the guy usin' it," he says to Solty, "Hurt like hell, but I'll be OK. Mostly we're out on an errand for Caster. Gettin' some chicken for whatever the hell a katsu is." He shrugs and nods at Kotone. "Hey."

     "I know a lotta cute girls," Seifer says to Staren.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga looks over toward the grocery store, blinking in surprise. Oh, that's just what she needed. "Well, that is fortuitous," she comments, before looking back toward Staren. "I needed to go shopping for a few things I cannot get in Dun Realtai. Decided to try a different neighborhood," she replies. "Are you....all out shopping together?" she asks. Does the Concord have group shopping field trips?

Inga looks to Solty, who introduces herself. Inga flashes a quick, polite smile. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Inga Freyjasdottir," she replies. She looks to all the others she isn't acquianted with and nods to them as well, so she doesn't need to repeat herself.

Seeing no recognition from Seifer, she resists the urge to roll her eyes. People.

Kotone though, is familar. "Kotone, it has been a long time," she says with a sheepish smile--expecting she might get yelled at for falling off the face of the multiverse for a while.
Nyrinel Nyrinel frowns slightly at Seifer's insistence that He'll Be Fine, but doesn't press the subject. She doesn't do that sort of wound-banishment for free, anyway, and he doesn't seem like the type to like being indebted to basically anyone. Inga at least knows what's up; she flashes her a brief smile and inclines her head in a professional courtesy sort of way.

Solty gets a once-over. Something strikes Nyrinel as off about her. She does introduce herself though: "Nyrinel, of House Syneri. A carriage is... what is a car?" Blink, blink. She idly tucks a stray hair back behind her horn-ridge and one ear, gently touching what looks like a white pin with a tiny bird skull affixed to the end. Her eyes sliiide towards the storefront...

Nyrinel all but presses herself to the glass to peer inside. It's... a lot more than she's used to. "Woah."
Solty Revant      Solty blinks before blushing a bit. She's a cute girl? She smiles a bit shyly before giggling. She naturally assumes Seifer remembers her thanks to his greeting and his comment. Staren speaks up and she nods. "We met in..." She suddenly looks uncomfortable. "...well...it wasn't a good place. It was full of some kind of acid and I had to leave because I told Roy I wouldn't get in trouble while I was out. It was a mess because it was my first time outside my world and Roy was so worried already, so when I got back he thought he was right and tried to get me to stay in the apartment forever." She shakes her head and sighs. "But I can't do that, can I? There's so much to see, and I can help people!" She gives a determined double fist pump.

     Kotone greets her and Solty smiles happily before giving Kotone a hug. "Kotone! It's so good to see you! How have you been?"

     She bows to Inga as well, though looks surprised to meet a grown up who is shorter than her. Still, she smiles warmly to her, and to Nyrinel as well. When asked what cars are, Solty is happy to answer! "Cars are big machines that can be driven around a town to get you to places, and they can usually carry other people. I'm not entirely sure how they work, but I know they have some kind of engine." She pauses. "Does everyone keep their radios so loud that you can't hear anything? Roy turns his up every time we have to go somewhere. It makes it really hard to talk to him!"

     Judging by how talkative the young green-haired girl is, that might be the idea.
Nie Li     There's a LOT of people here who seem to know each other. Nie Li's not familiar with any of them, and while he's hardly afraid to introduce himself, he's decided to stay back and observe some of the socializing - listening and watching - to better grasp the local customs, such as they are.

    Boy are they quite different from what he's used to. A lot more bluntness everywhere!

    The boy adopts a deeply thoughtful look that one would rarely if ever see on a thirteen-year-old, and folds his arms while facing the group.
Staren     "Kotone! Fancy meeting you here!" Staren smiles and waves back. To Inga, he replies, "Not all of us, but it seems we all ended up here..."

    He looks between Solty and Nyrinel. His ears perk up and turn behind him at the distinct sound of a heavy vehicle's pneumatic breaks. He turns and points. "A car is like that but smaller, for fewer people." He points down the block to where a bus is dropping off passengers. "A carriage is a wheeled enclosure people ride in that's pulled by animals."

    He claps his hands together. "Shall we see about the chicken?" Not that he's trying to exclude anyone. It's a fairly modern supermarket, not that different from 20th century. Sliding automatic doors, shopping carts. The tech to do it all automatically exists in theory, but here they still have human -- or other species -- cashiers. Produce, dairy, meat, deli, bread, snacks, and so on, they have it all. There /are/ a lot of farms around here to source from, so there's plenty fresh. There's also the occasional weird thing that's come through the gate, or how the most expensive item in the seafood section is 'lake monster'...

    Perhaps the most obvious difference to people from Earth is the lack of a bazillion brand-name selections. There isn't a whole America, let alone world, full of brands -- There are three big cities in the local trade area, plus whatever comes by hovertrain from Northern Gun (the upper Michigan peninsula). So brands include more local mom-and-pop stuff. And there's a lower proportion in general, of processed food and snacks and stuff, though it's still there.

    "Wow, a lot of people here today... are you all shopping for groceries too?" Staren asks idly as he waits for the group to come in and sees whether they indeed go for the meat section or end up going after something else.
Inga Freyjasdottir "Ugh, cars. Cars are unpleasant," she remarks, then smiles sympathetically toward Nyrinel. "It is very overwhelming at first, isn't it?" she says. "It still overwhelming, honestly." Inga's eye is drawn toward the bird-skull pin and her mouth forms a small o of admiration. "Oh, that is a beautiful pin," she remarks. It's just her style. She regrets leaving all but one talisman behind today--her ever-present necklace with the hammer shaped pendant. She had a number of very nice skulls.

She smiles to the decidely perky Solty, chuckling quietly. Must be nice to have energy like that. Inga glances toward Nie Li, who has been fairly quiet, and nods to him. "And you are?" she asks.

She looks back to Staren and shrugs. "Yes, I suppose we should. Are you familiar with the area Staren? There's a few things I need that I will not find in a super market I'd like to look into purchasing," she asks, following him toward the meat section.
Seifer Almasy      "Lots of chicken, twenty millimeter diameter sheep casings, five pounds of ground beef," Seifer says to Staren when he says 'shall we see about.' "I'm sure she'll want some other stuff, too, so we'll just see if she needs anything else."

     Solty recounts how they met, and Seifer nods. "Yeah that place is pretty miserable."

     Seifer's never been in a supermarket before, exactly, but he's been in a large-scale cafeteria, and it's basically the same thing. Rather than being overwhelmed like everybody else, this time, Seifer actually seems sort of at home. This is probably a subtle hint for Staren, who's always kind of curious about Seifer's world, that Seifer's world is at least *reasonably* modern.

     Seifer whacks Staren on the back. "Pretty generous of you to pay for all this stuff. Man, what's /sea monster/ even taste like? Do they do free samples or whatever?"
Nie Li     Somehow able to realize that question was for him even when he wasn't looking at Inga, Nie Li turns her way and offers a child's smile. "Nie Li! I came out here to see the sights with my new allies. And yourself, miss?"

    He doesn't just stay there though. He follows on with Staren into the store, still distracted by the urge to Cultivate and do something with this amazingly abundant energy.

    But then.... the well-stocked shelves assault him with their great variety of foods. He's left gaping a bit at this after entering!

    "This... is a store?" It's not like any store he's seen before.
Solty Revant      With so much noise around and super hearing, Solty just naturally overlooks Nie Li. But, when Inga mentions him Solty blinks before looking over and offers a friendly wave. "New worlds are so amazing, aren't they? So many things that are different, yet things that are also the same!" she says cheerfully. When asked about shopping, Solty shakes her head. "I actually was just exploring a bit while looking for a gift for Roy. His birthday is coming up and I want to get him something good so he might not be so grumpy. But...we still don't know each other that well. I'm not sure what to get him.

     Solty isn't surprised by the lack of different brands. Her world is really just one city, and most of the shops are street vendors.
Nyrinel Nyrinel stops peering at the selection from outside long enough to see a bus. She blinks a few times, then nods. "Ah! I see. That is..." She trails off. It's actually a little bit unnerving, but only because she doesn't understand precisely how it works. She's seen animated conveyances before, but there's usually a necromantic component driving it all. That's... a lot of metal.

"Yes," she sighs at Inga, "it is. I think I prefer the forest, or at least a... a... /quieter/ city." Nyrinel brightens visibly at the compliment. "Thank you! You are the first person to say so since I made it. Everyone else always has so many reasons to be bothered by it. Throwing away perfectly good bones...!" She shakes her head.

Then she starts to look around. There's an awful lot of... an awful lot. She doesn't touch anything; she's just... taking it all in.
Staren     Staren nods to Inga, "Depending on what you're looking for, we can probably find a lot here."

    Pretty generous of you to pay for all this stuff.

    Staren's eyes widen slightly and there's a brief conversation on the radio. Years ago, Staren would have firmly insisted he never agreed to pay for anything, but now he can see the bit of social capital it would cost. He predicts that a few hundred credits is more than reasonable, but doesn't want to seem stingy, so he offers Tamamo a thousand. She freaking /doubles/ it. At least it's a two thousand credit lesson, and not a two hundred thousand credit lesson. Staren reaches under his coat to pull a wallet from his pants, and picks out a pair of black cards. They look like credit cards, but they're all-black, and have no visible magnetic strip or 'chip', the technology all hidden inside. Looking closely, one can see the number 1000 standing out in shiny finish vs the matte finish of the rest of the card.

    Staren hands them to Seifer. "Here's your budget."

    He then takes a moment to catch up on what else Seifer even said. "I dunno... and I doubt it, you probably have to cook it first. But you can get some if you want to try it."

    Staren turns to Nie Li. "Yeah. You put all the stuff you want in a basket, then you pay for it over there." He points to the row of cashiers.
Inga Freyjasdottir She smiles at Nie Li. "Inga," she tells him. "You have just joined with the Concord then? Are you new to the multiverse?" she asks, selecting some sausages and adding them to the basket on her arm. She can't get too many things, she wouldn't be able to carry it all. "Mmm, the 'supermarket' is well named. You can get almost anything you need in a supermarket. The animals a pre-slaughtered and cut up for your convenience--you need not even be involved. Strange isn't it?" she remarks.

Inga looks toward the 'sea monster' and purses her lips. "Fishy, I imagine," she answers Seifer. "You could probably ask for a sample," she adds with a shrug.

Inga looks back to Nyrinel, brightening. "I am used to that reaction as well--I most of my talismans and charms at home. Bones are some of the best material for crafting talismans," she says, obviously more than happy to talk shop, hoping she's found someone she has things in common with. "I agree, cities like this can be very overwhelming. You must visit Dun Realtai--that is where I have made my home now. Beautiful country, a fairly quiet village, land-spirits that are more or less ameniable," she explains, picking through the market's selction of fresh herbs. There's a few exotic offerings she keen to try.

At Staren's comment, she looks back to him. "I'm looking for bones--femurs specifically. I need to mend my bone fence and femurs are so difficult to come by."
Seifer Almasy      Seifer takes his two thousand and grins at Staren. "Sorry, man. She's kind of a handfull. I'll pay you back later." He says it in the way that clearly means he's fond of her handfull status and not upset by it, but he's also the kind of guy who dislikes being in debt. He counts out the money and gets himself wheeled up to get stuff. Sea monster does, in fact, go into his Handicap Cart (he has to have one right now, it's fine), as well as the ground beef, the sheep casings, and plenty of chicken. All in all he comes well under two thousand credits, and hands Staren back the rest, because Seifer is neither a picky eater nor a particularly outrageous shopper. The only thing that might stand out is some flavored breads of the type popular in Japanese schools, and those he only got a few of.

     "Here."

     "So are these usually so many, uh..." He looks around. "...aliens?"

     He shrugs at Inga. "I'm just gonna buy some. Chances are Caster can cook it up and make it taste good. If not, hey, I'll have learned that I don't wanna eat sea monster. Not much of a cook myself. Honestly not much of an eater myself. Mostly just ate what the cafeteria was serving."
Solty Revant      "You guys use...bones to make things...?" Solty asks much more quietly than usual. She isn't sure why, but that unnerves her a bit. She doesn't dwell on it long though. It makes a certain sort of sense when she thinks about it. "Hmm...what else do you do with bones? Bury them? Throw them away? At least they are getting used for something if you make something out of them. But...I'm not sure I would wear them. That seems...um..." She doesn't finish that as she realizes it would probably be rude. And she still shivers a bit at the idea of a bone fence. She looks at Nyrinel's pin again, then decides silently that such fashion just isn't her thing before moving on.

     Sea monster sounds interesting, but she isn't sure. "Hmm...Roy probably wouldn't want any, but...Rose might. She seems to like unusual things." So, Solty asks for some of the sea monster. Then she looks around some more, following after the others as they go. "...what would a Hunter like...maybe some armor...do they have that here?" she says as she looks around at the various shelves.

     When Staren hands Seifer some money, Solty's ears perk before she smiles. "That's nice of you!" Since they presumably don't have tactical armor of any kind at a supermarket, she pays for her monster meat as well and continues to follow the others.
Seifer Almasy      "My wife bullied him into giving me a budget," Seifer tells Solty, "'swhy I'm paying him back. I don't like bein' in debt to anybody."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa grins at Inga. "It's been a while I hope you're well, Inga. It's kinda strange to see Toronto like this I have to admit."

She grins at Seifer and also looks to Solty for a moment grinning still.

"I'm doing well been on a few missions for the Paladins and generally kept busy by my other work."

She takes note of Nie Li for a moment but does not think too much of it for the moment. He might just be a local.

"Came to shop for some hardware, maybe even see if there's any good new hardware to plug into my body here."

she looks to Nyrinel for a moment tol;ting her head a bit.

"Oh chicken like actual Chikcen?"

She walks in plotting to get some shopping done as she's here.
Solty Revant      Solty blinks in surprise. "Oh, I see. That wasn't so nice." she says, her ears drooping a bit. Then she blinks. "Wait...you're married?" She considers a moment more. "...to...Miss Caster?" She smiles brightly. "That's nice! You two seem to get along very well!"
Staren     Staren looks like the subject Inga brought up is an awkward one. He lowers his voice. "Ah... necromancy is generally frowned upon around here. Too many bad associations, even if it has legitimate uses. I bet Nyrinel knows where to hook you up, though." As an afterthought, he says less softly, stroking his chin. "Actually, I guess just using a bone for a talisman isn't /that/ connected to it. More of a general mystical thing. Might be able to find something at some kind of magic supply store. But Nyrinel might be a better source, all the same. I imagine for making such fences you need quantity."

    Staren's eyebrows raise in surprise and he looks appreciative as Seifer says he'll pay him back. He's not THAT hard up for money yet, but it's the principle of the thing -- so Seifer wasn't /really/ trying to get free money out of him after all. He nods.

    Staren's own purchase is just some ground beef. He didn't need to go shopping at the moment, but hey, may as well take the opportunity for fresh hamburgers or that meat/noodle thing he knows how to cook.

    "Lake monster." Staren softly corrects, multiple times. It's not a sea, and he doesn't want Seifer to be disappointed because lake monster doesn't taste like sea monster or somesuch.

    At the question, Staren scratches the back of his head. "Yeah. This is..." he pulls a tablet from his pocket, displays a map of the great lakes region, and traces a rough 200-mile semicircle with his fingertip -- from Detroit, to halfway between Toronto and Sudbury, to halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, with lakes Erie and Ontario serving as the southeastern border. "This is one of the few places where nonhumans and magic users are totally accepted, and is relatively far away from the places they /aren't/, and is prosperous and protected enough for places like this" he waves a hand at the supermarket around them "to exist, and of course the warpgate is right here, so... anyway, that makes it a great place for anyone to settle, regardless of their species."

    To Solty, he notes, "I know we passed like two armorers on the way here..."
Nie Li     Nie Li nods to Staren's explanation, but his attention's largely on Inga for the moment. "It's not as though my home city has no stores in it... but most of the time, one asks the storekeeper for a thing. They're not all... arranged for the taking. Nothing truly valuable..." The sheer variety of this place though, is hard to get over. He's mostly just staring at the shelves as he begins to browse....
Inga Freyjasdottir To Solty, Inga nods. "Yes, bones are used for many things...why waste them if they can be used?" she asks. She doesn't expect her to understand the use of bones in magic. She understands many find this distasteful--just as they do her blood magic. Usually, they only complain a little when it is being used to help keep them alive though.

Inga nods to Kotone. "Indeed it has. I'm....well enough," she says. There's a distinct pause, but she shrugs and looks back to her shopping and prior conversations.

To Staren, she blinks. "It is not necromancy--it is a bone fence. You know, the very thing I have used to protect many people who would otherwise have been turned to zombies or horrible fishmen," she replies. "I need only a small quantity, for repairs. Bones are best for their magical quality, but they do not keep forever," she explains.

She's moved on from herbs and is selecting some fruit that's now out of season for home. "It is very strange when you are used to more limited offerings. Look at this. Oranges. I'd never tasted one before. They only grow in climated that are warm most of the year--right next to apples, the only thing that is in season in Dun Realtai just now."
Nyrinel Nyrinel ends up with an armful of fruit as she passes by it. She seems content to carry it around instead of going back for a basket.

"There is nothing wrong with wearing bone," says the elf girl wearing a bunch of it in the form of body armor. Seriously, it's kind of a theme for her. "I know a great many people who will wear leather, but for some reason are off-put by using another part! It is an excellent medium for holding enchantments. Also, when it is worked properly, it can be very pretty." She minutely adjusts the pin again. "The skull is a little much I suppose, but I needed something that spoke or sang to use instead of a 'phone.'"

"Femurs are good for weapon-making. I do not think I know how to make this bone fence you are talking about, but I most certainly know some amount of necromancy." She does not keep her voice down. "I am not a necroman/cer/, though. I am a cleric of the Eternal Elements. It is /totally/ different." Nod! She looks to Inga, asiding, "I am still looking for a place to source materials that are not foreign battlefields, but if I find one, I will be certain to tell you. I need some pieces for a teapot I am making."
Seifer Almasy      "Yeah, to Caster," Seifer confirms at Solty, "She's great. And, yeah, we get along real well." He's got a bit of smile on his face. He apparently does, in fact, mean it. He's...a guy who goes head-first in all ways, apparently.

     "And it's weird, right?! Wearin' an' makin' stuff out of people is weird. 'snot just me, right?" He looks at Solty for confirmation, then looks at Inga and Nyrinel and shakes his head. "I mean come on, drinkin' out of a teapot made of some dude is just weird. Clothes are one thing, I can kinda get clothes. But I couldn't eat off a guy's skull. I can't believe there's two people out here who'd do that."

     Seifer shrugs. "Ehn, I've gone down this road before. Although, seriously, why /don't/ you just use a phone?"
Solty Revant      "What sort of work do you actually do anyway, Miss Kotone?" Solty asks when the subject comes up. "Are you a Hunter, too? Roy has been a hunter for a long time, but he was really surprised when you hacked into that guy. Apparently Resemble stuff doesn't have wireless communication built in and you've caused a bit of an investigation into how it was possible for you to hack him. So far they haven't been able to find the devices in the Resemble equipment that allowed you to do that."

     Staren corrects her and Solty looks a bit sheepish. "Ah, sorry. Lake monster." she says, then hmms. "I will have to go check one of these armorers. But, it has to be light. Roy likes to be able to move quickly and quietly."

     Solty nods lightly to Inga, then blinks at the point Nyrinel makes before she puts a fist to her chin in thought. "That...is unusual. I wonder why that is?" she says quietly. Even she, a pre-programmed being, has that preconception. She takes a closer look at Nyrinel's clothing and accessories....probably too close a look, since she definitely invades Nyrinel's personal space. Just before she jumps back. "Out of people?!" she exclaims as Seifer says that. She looks quite horrified by the idea of products made out of people.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga nods in agreement with Nyrinel. "Indeed, it seems a bit silly to happily use leather and then scoff at bone," she says, shaking her head. She nods also to Nyrinel's quiet aside, giving her a look that implies she would be interested if and when she does find a reliable source.

To Seifer, she rolls her eyes. "I did not say it needed to be people--most of my talismans are animal," she says, then taps a finger to her chin. "I think the exception is my finger bones--those are human. But he very much deserved it," she adds, reaching over to try a free sample. It's not lake monster. Just cookies.

"I do not have a phone either. I did for a time, but it kept...breaking..." she says, trailing off and reaching to her earing, a pearl. That's her phone, essentially.

She shakes her head after a moment, and eats the cookie. "When did you marry Seifer? Suppose I missed the wedding." She probably wouldn't have been invited anyway.
Seifer Almasy      "Like a month ago. It's...complicated." Seifer holds up his left hand, and there's the signature, twisting red of Command Spells on the back. They're twined around his hand sort of like a fingerless glove, a big red *crest* just...there. "Caster's my Servant. I agreed to be her Master for...a buncha reasons. But she calls me her Husband, and, honestly, I like her. So...y'know. Worse things in the world than having a foxy wife."

     "Like actually a fox," he adds, making a motion with his fingers, "Like she's got tails and ears and shit. It's cute."

     "We haven't had a wedding yet. I promised her we would, though, so we could show up that damn red empress." Seifer leans back in the wheelchair as the drone gives an amusing thumbs-up motion, then a thumbs-down at the 'red empress.' "A big festival of some kind once we've got more people livin' on Moon Cell. I dunno, probably some fightin' stuff. Haven't really thought about it. Everybody'll be invited, though. Knowin' Caster she wouldn't have it any other way."

     "An', hey, look, I ain't got a problem with animal bones an' crap, I just feel weird about makin' stuff outta dudes."
Staren     A few people in earshot look over at the skull-bedecked girl saying the word 'necromancer' and find somewhere else to be. People are people, even near the city that espouses tolerance, it seems.

    To Inga, he replies, "I know, but talking about bone magic... Not /everyone/ here knows the difference. We might find something at a magic supply store, though." Oranges! "Well, globalization /is/ one of the reasons that people like such worlds. Although I'm not sure those oranges are actually from /this/ dimension. Unless they were grown with magic."

    Wearing clothes made out of people? "Ehh... I think maybe there's something to it, for mages. Magic and life are connected in a lot of worlds. Here, battlemages prefer armor made from the hides or chitin of supernatural beasts. What kinds of power might you get from a /person/, if they were willing? It's not often looked into, but there's potential for magic there, I'm sure."

    His ears turn to catch Seifer talking about his future wedding. "You're deliberately trying to show up Nero? That's, uh... that's gonna be quite a wedding."

    He's not sure whether he should be near, to see it, or far, to keep away from whatever chaos Nero vs Tamamo results in.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga's eyebrows rise. "A month. Ah...well...congratulations," she says. It's a bit of a bizarre story, but if he says he's married, well, good enough. He has some kind of symbol of the thing, even if there wasn't a wedding yet. That counts. "Who is the red empress?" she inquires. Her basket is full, and thus she is done shopping. It's all she can carry, and she's tired. She looks a bit enviously at Seifer's wheeled chair.

Inga nods to Staren. "I understand, I'll talk no more of it then," she says. She hasn't even gotten into blood magic, goodness.
Nyrinel "Because I have no idea what that is," Nyrinel mumbles about phones, "and it has gotten to the point that it is sort of embarrassing to ask."

Nyrinel's outfit is a big, loose robe in off-white over mail that looks like a mix of blue-dyed scales and bone-white slats made to mimic ('mimic'?) a spinal column from some long-backed beast, curling up her back, over her shoulder and spreading down her chest. There's bits of bone reinforcement from foot to waist, and even the pins in her braid seem to be made of the stuff.

"Human remains are plentiful when my people are fighting a war for survival against them," Nyrinel states frankly. "Further, the Elements demand sacrifice and appeasement, and creating things from them is one way to provide it. When I create art, I venerate Bone." She eyes the backs of the people kind of giving her a wide berth, but just kind of 'humph's and moves on.

"...besides," she adds, a little more soberly, "having what's left of you turned to something that will help your family and your people when you have passed is the only chance many elves have for some measure of eternal life."
Seifer Almasy      Seifer holds out his phone for Nyrinel to see. Then he takes the money back from Staren and holds it out to her. "Here. Take the rest of this and go buy yourself a phone. I'll pay him back. It's a shitload more convenient than a talkin' goddamn bird skull."

     "'s still weird, but I can see all that from your perspective."
Staren     Staren feels a little bit bad now for messing up one of Inga's conversation topics.

    But there's a lot of other stuff going on to respond to! He compresses the tablet down to a smartphone shape. "It's a communications device!" he exposits to Nyrinel. "From 'telephone', 'far sound', once portable ones become affordable on a world, they get pretty popular. And a lot of worlds figure, well, since you're always carrying it anyway, may as well make it do more stuff, so it becomes an all-purpose personal device, which you can use not only to talk to people but also to send pictures, or look up information, or play games, or listen to music. So, uh, that's a phone."

    He hangs his head slightly when she brings up her species' lifespan. "We still need to do those experiments." he comments, softly and somberly.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga nods to Nyrinel. "Yes, that makes a great deal of sense to me," she replies. "I have used the bones of the people who lost the battle in order to protect the loved ones they left behind. If it were me, I would be pleased my bones were put the that purpose," she adds, finding somewhere to sit. She sighs, glad to get off her feet for a bit. She places her basket down and places both hands on her walking stick--which is also a talisman, carved all over with runes and staves.

It's okay Staren, she's capable of talking about non-creepy things, honest! "I prefer this...pearl thing I have. I could seem to manage a phone."
Solty Revant      Solty listens to all of this, then squirms a bit in discomfort. It makes a sort of sense, but...she doesn't think she'll ever agree with the use of human bones in anything other than proper burial. But, phones! "Roy keeps a phone with him, but he doesn't use it much except to call Miss Miranda about Hunter stuff. I have one, too!" She pulls out a phone that would be old by most world's standards, a black flip phone. She opens it and shows it to Nyrinel and Inga and anyone else who wants to see.
Nyrinel Nyrinel looks at Solty and Seifer's phones quizzically, and then listens to Staren's explanation. It's a bit reluctantly, but she takes the money. "This is... er..." She looks kind of conflicted. Then, heaving a sigh, she turns around and... heads back towards the front of the store?

She comes back a moment later with a basket with her fruit in it. She hustles and bustles a little, moving lightly on her feet and quickly from place to place. She ends up coming back with an almost comically large leg of meat, holding it by the bone. She points it at Seifer like a scepter or a sword and clears her throat. Her free hand (the basket is set at her feet) is held with her palm facing him.

"Flesh, feast upon thy imperfections.
Blood, drink deeply of thy impurities.
Bone, crack and crumble 'til thou art mended anew.
Spirit, know thine own shape, and bind it to this the broken whole.
"

Nyrinel touches the leg of meat she's holding with her free hand and pulls something like wispy white light out of it, then touches the light to Seifer's brow. It's warm. The light vanishes the instant it makes contact with him, briefly illuminating his injured body.

The leg she's holding immediately crumbles to dust.
Seifer Almasy      Nyrinel heals him.

     It's good healing. It's powerful magic. There's not enough there to fully heal him of his wounds, but there is enough there to let him stand. He stands up out of the wheelchair, a little bit shaky since he hasn't used his legs in about a week, and almost immediately stumbles. Then he rights himself. He has an incredible sense of balance, considering; most people probably would've fallen.

     "Damn."

     "OK, that's pretty handy."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga lets out a small laugh to Solty, looking at her phone. "Who is this Roy you keep mentioning?" she has to ask. She's sure she'll have more questions.

Then Nyrinel gets her rapt attention once she returns with a large leg of meat and begins to, obviously, cast a spell. As she is aiming it at Seifer, Inga presumes this is one of her healing spells, likely to mend bone. "Oohh...that is fascinating," she says, then moves over to examine Seifer more closely to see the effects of the spell. She will get in her personal space without a second thought, as only healers and creeps do. "That is good work," she nods to Nyrinel. "I generally use blood in my healing," she says. "They would not appreciate the use of it in the store however--but I believe Seifer has been on the recieving end of my healing before," she says with a smile. He's not likely to have forgotten having shimmery blood thrown at him that heals him.
Solty Revant      Solty isn't sure she likes the poem, but her eyes get as big as saucers at the display of healing magic and she lets out a rising 'oooooh!'. "That's amazing!" Somehow using bones to make talismans is weird but using a ham hock to heal someone isn't as much. "You're all b-" she starts to say, then Seifer stumbles and she instinctively moves to catch him. And with speed like hers it is nearly instantaneous. Even though it turns out he doesn't need her help he ends up with it anyway. "Well...mostly better I guess." Solty says with a giggle. She lets Seifer go, then smiles to Inga. "Roy is...well, he's...my dad I guess. He adopted me, but it hasn't felt right to call him dad yet. I tried once and he got kind of mad. See...his real daughter died in the Blast Fall about 10 years ago, and he lost his wife during childbirth so...he's still very touchy about it. But, I know he cares about me because he lets me stay with him and doesn't like me to be in danger!"
Staren     Staren heads off to get Seifer some local fish, because the poor man has never tasted /salmon/, for crying out loud!

    And then... Dramatic healing! Noone finds /that/ offputting here. There's some impressed 'ooo's from bystanders, and one human couple nearing middle age dares to approach. The man's arm and hand are in a cast, and he looks hopeful, but also too proud to ask the obvious. The woman elbows him. "Oh come on, Roger, ask! ...Fine." She looks back to Nyrinel. "Please, can you heal Roger? He had an accident fixing the tractor and, and we can't afford cybernetics..."
Nyrinel "I told you you should have said something," Nyrinel says, lightly poking Seifer in the ribs. Really lightly. She doesn't want to test that balance. Fortunately, Solty moves lightning-quick to prevent him from having to deal with falling on his butt.

Inga takes a look, and Nyrinel looks proud of the assessment. "I have had a lot of practice, but I usually have to use lesser spells faster. Blood..." She shifts a touch nervously from foot to foot. "Blood is -- where I am from, Blood, the Element, is dangerous and corruptive. I have seen a Priest of Blood cleanse mortal wounds by anointing them in his own blood and simply wiping it away like dust off a slate, but that sort of control is very hard to come by. I have not had nearly enough practice to do something like that safely. It would take... /years/." She says it like someone else would say 'decades.'

The bystanders kind of like that. Nyrinel goes from proud to nervous to shy in short order. She blinks at the request, and looks kind of awkwardly towards the rest of their little gathering. "Umm... I... I suppose I could. It will take a little bit longer, but, uh..." She isn't sure if she should be asking for compensation on this world. The credits she got handed are probably enough, right? That's how it works back home.

She extends her hand, gesturing for the injured limb. Once she's got it, she cradles it in one arm and brushes it with the other, humming a gentle tune and shedding the same light along it with every touch. It'll take about a minute or so whereas Seifer's took only a moment, but she isn't using a ham to do it this time, and is maybe trying not to be so dramatic.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa Says "that's good, to hear." She notes to Inga before she goes back to her own She'll look over to Solty and says "Well before the multiverse? A mechanic I focus on vechile resoration old cars, convrting old cars to run on modern engines. I also make custom jobs too when I get orders I make a line of bikes that has been a modest success in the multivese."
Seifer Almasy      Solty moves to help catch him. Seifer waves her off after she's grabbed him; he's fine. Well, 'fine', he's still in some pain, but he can *walk* again, and that's good enough for him. Nyrinel elbowing him in the ribs notably gets a reaction - not a pained one, but rather, as she goes to do it, his hand comes up with Hyperion in it to block her with the hilt, and it's actually shocking that he manages to stop himself as fast as he does. Seifer is *crazy* good at what he does.

     He's also leaning on the handicapped cart. He gestures for the drone to take it, and the drone obediently does so, moving up to the register to scan and pay for Seifer. Seifer stretches a little. "Damn, OK. That's good. Thanks. You didn't have to but I appreciate it anyway."
Nie Li     Where has Nie Li been this entire time?

    Where indeed?

    It turns out, not far. He's found a corner of the supermarket with a coffee machine and some chairs, and decided to hang out here to sate the one curiosity of his that can't, AT ALL, be sated by looking at the shelves.

    This seems to have resulted in him sitting in a quarter lotus position on the floor, and...

    And he's glowing a brilliant blue-white. Or rather, it would seem that the glow is from the ley line energy that pervades the area being concentrated and focused around him and swirling and vanishing through his skin, his nostrils... well, basically just being sucked into him period. In huge quantities. The absorbtion rate is actually enough to form a noticeable focal point on spiritual senses, as vast amounts of energy are drawn in accretion-disk style and simply VANISH into the man who's become something like a black hole for them. He does radiate some power of his own, and it's slowly getting stronger. Bit by bit...

    next to him is a basket full of some foodstuffs of the sort that are simple to cook. Mostly packaged meats. And some produce. He hasn't grabbed anything packaged or canned because it's too unfamiliar at the moment!
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga nods at Solty's explaination. "Family is family even if blood does not link you," she replies, flashing a soft smile. Having had no blood family of her own, she believes this strongly.

Inga looks toward the approaching couple, then to Nyrinel. "I could help them," she offers. They'd better be careful though, or there will soon be a line.

As Nyrinel moves to help the man, Inga steps toward them as well. She could help things along, and also demonstrate her blood magic. If she gets thrown out of the supermarket, whatever at this point. She's is too interested to see how their magics would interact. Inga pulls the small knife from her belt and slices into her own palm as if she were cutting a bit of fabric. Blood wells, but is quickly directed toward the man's hand in a fine, shimmering mist that surrounds him like an aura, speeding up the healing process. Combined with Nyrinel, hopefully they will have him healed quickly.
Staren     The hope is bright on the pair's faces, and the man lets her take his arm. Under the cast it's mangled. They certainly don't complain that it's taking longer, and the tension has the other bystanders on the edge of their proverbial seats. Staren comes back and watches it finish. Noone complains about Inga's use of her own blood for an obvious good purpose. Roger gives a quietly surprised "Ah." as the magic flows through him.

    When the healers are done, Roger realizes the cast is kind of in the way now. Staren has the solution to that -- he pulls back his sleeves and the silver wristbands extrude tiny saws to cut through until the cast can be pulled apart. Roger looks at his hand, turning his forearm and wrist one way and another and wriggling his fingers. He looks from his hands to Nyrinel and Inga. "Thank you. ...Is... is there anything we can give you?"
Solty Revant      Solty watches in facination again as Nyrinel heals the man is healed. "You can just...heal people as much as you want?" she asks, amazed. Then Inga joins in the healing, and while blood is also a bit unnerving even when it is being used to heal she can't help watching. And the man seems fully healed when they are done! "Oh my goodness! If people had this power in my world they wouldn't have to use Resemble any more!" she says cheerfully.

     She blinks at the strange gathering of energy, then looks toward Nie Li. She tilts her head in curiousity. She makes her way toward him. "What are you doing?" she asks, reaching out experimentally to poke at the energy lines flowing into him.
Staren     Most of the attention Nie Li attracts is brief. Sure, it's /weird/, but he doesn't seem to be doing anything so they get bored and go about their business. A couple of people do stop to watch for longer, though. One is a girl with purple skin and small horns on her forehead in obvious mage robes, the other a man dressed like a WW1 fighter pilot. "Where is it all /going/?" she muses, and he pulls his goggles over his eyes and looks at Nie Li. "He can't possibly hold that much, can he? Excuse me, but what are you doing?" he asks, curiously.
Nie Li     "Hm?" Nie Li opens his eyes, the glow fading slowly as he ceases.. whatever he's doing. The thick energy surrounding him disperses back into the environment...

    The question gets a blink or two at first. Then... he realizes they're really asking that seriously. "...Ah! You have never seen anyone Cultivating soul force before...? Um. To put it simply, it's a method to strengthen oneself by absorbing energy." Listeners may get the feeling this is the VERY simplified explanation, by his tone.

    "There's so much around here, I simply had to see what would come of it!" And by the pleased look he has, they are Most Excellent Results.

    Solty's Poke is... well, the energy he'd gathered was so dense that there's some tingles and a feeling of warmth. But it's just raw magical energy, not concentrated enough to hurt or really... do anything.
Staren     The mages seem satisfied with this explanation, nod, and, able to tell that the released energy is harmless, continue shopping. They're certainly used to the phenomenon of people from other worlds coming to Earth and finding it's full of magic power!