The Lantern Festival (9) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
It was late in the Earth evening and the day's crowds had left for the safety of their homes. Rhysi, still not comfortable with her human glamour, had released it as soon as she perceived her true form to be more benefit than risk. After switching, though, she'd returned right to where she'd been squatting as a human most of the evening: in front of the, now closed, lantern booth.
Rhysi needed to spend money to get on of the lanterns. Rhysi absolutely did not want to spend money to get one of the lanterns. Once money was spent, then there was no further chance to get something else with the money that was now gone. The potential of it was gone! Never to be regained.
A frustrated sound rumbled in her throat as she squatted, narrowed eyes sliding away from the booth and landing on...something shiny on the ground! There was something shiny on the ground, and it was now hers! Maybe she could exchange it for a lantern tomorrow? But no...if she exchanged it, she wouldn't have it anymore...
The moment of internal conflict caused Rhysi to be a bit slow to move toward the dropped star charm.
daekie
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 11:07 am
Historically, money had never really been a factor for Strix, but crowds?
Crowds were the second-biggest factor possible. (Noise was the biggest.) (Even with headphones on, people were so loud, and people felt so entitled to grab their headphones if they didn't appear to be listening, which?? Ugh?? Ew??) It did mean they'd been waiting until nighttime to check out a lot of the Star Festival, which then also meant most of the booths were closed, but what were you gonna do, honestly.
At least people were more likely to leave them alone as Pax. And they kind of had better pockets as Pax, if subspace counted, which it maybe did? Maybe didn't. ...hey, was that one of the new star charms on the ground? And they didn't have to interact with anyone for it? They'd take that.
Admittedly, yes, there was an alien also reaching for it, but she was slower than they were, so it was a non-issue, and ideally she knew to mind her own business.
"Mine," Rhysi stated firmly, her short bow already in hand and firing off a shot at the intruder, The Thief. The Taker of Things.
She had been slow to snatch, but she was not at all slow to shoot.
"Leave."
She finally stood up straight, and while she didn't tower over most humans the way a lot of her fellow Valencians did, she did have the satisfaction of towering over this one.
Cadet Weapon: Energy Shortbow - fires a blaster shot firing rate - ten seconds effect - tingling and numbing sensation for 5 seconds upon contact
daekie
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 2:24 pm
Pax would've denied making the noise in the first place if anyone had ever asked them in the future, but the little shriek they made upon Getting Actually Literally Shot (...with an energy weapon.) (but they hadn't known that when she'd pulled it out!) and stumbling back was not their finest moment. "What's your - what's your - your problem," they forced out between gritted teeth.
Okay! Not a nice alien! Probably should've predicted that, but who shot someone over a stupid star charm?? Seriously??
"There's plenty! Just take another - take another one!"
Scrunching her face, Rhysi considered the question. Did she have a problem? Actually, yes...yes she did.
"Money." She stated flatly. It was, really and truly, a sincere explanation. Money was absolutely the problem. Oh course, holding an energy weapon up to someone and making that sort of statement might not have quite the impression she intended.
daekie
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:04 pm
Oh, yeah, that was a thing people actually thought about, didn't they.
Maybe she had alien money?? What did aliens have for money. Was it like... human money? Wait, no, that didn't make any sense, because there wasn't even human money, there was thirty billion different forms of currency and memorizing exchange rates was so annoying, it wasn't Human Money. (Thankfully, Pax had managed to skip right over the step where she had a weapon pointed actively at them, and that meant they should probably be frightened, or something. Irrelevant.)
Did the vendors take cash? They had to take cash. This was a big stinking festival, if they weren't taking cash they'd have to lose out on how many sales? That made sense. Pax counted out on their fingers, making sort of miscellaneous clicking noises with their tongue as they tried to remember if they'd actually brought cash in subspace. Had they?
Technically, no, but only in the sense they'd brought the really stupid wallet with Shadow the Hedgehog on it and the cash was inside it, not floating loose in whatever subspace actually was. Ugh. Why did they even still have that wallet. With incredibly efficient motions, Pax opened their wallet, grabbed a $20 - two $20s, actually, just to really make sure (make sure of what?) (they hadn't gotten that far.) - and handed them to the alien.
They didn't say anything, and their face remained fixed into a vaguely disappointed-disgruntled sort of frown, but, hey! It was forty bucks! How much could a star charm be? Fifteen?
Watching the human...did the powered ones really still count as human? Well, they were at least human-based. Rhysi put thought away later, something to posit to others within the Vanguard, and continues to watch the other make clicking noises and count. Acts that seemed perfectly sensible as a response to her answer. She didn't know what was meant by them, but they suited the one across from her.
Looking at the wallet, her eyes dilated slightly. She'd seen these types of illustrations all around. Cartoons? They were called? Anime? She felt intensely drawn to their bold, stylized shapes and colors. What a wonderful item to hold money! MONEY! They were giving her money?
Taking the cash from them with wide, shining eyes, Rhysi first held it up to the light to verify legitimacy. She wasn't sure how, but she'd seen vendors do it regularly throughout the day. It looks very good to her. Immediately slipping the money into subspace, Rhysi pulled out a handful of candy and handed it over to them, solemnly stating, "We're friends. I will fix things for you."
It was, perhaps, a lot like unlocking an NPC.
daekie
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 5:22 pm
As far as Pax was concerned, every part of this social interaction had made complete and perfect sense, aside from the part where she had shot them with a gun.
"Okay," they said, and took the candy without complaint. Yesss yes yes. Snacks. "Cool."
