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Falias, Knight of Earth

The tug-call of the Code was one that Marlin had become accustomed to, although he couldn't help but be curious as he let it whisk him away given that it wasn't that long since it hadn't been that long since the last time.

The coolness of the city due to the turn of the season made the heat of Mars somewhat jarring, but it didn't stop Falias from making his way to the coliseum or from finding himself a place up towards the side and back.

The knight standing at the centre (Scholomance) wasn't Hvergelmir and nor was it Babylon...

It wasn't Mistral either, although Falias recognised his colours as being that belong to Saturn - or perhaps it was less colours and more symbol.

The Knight wasn't one that he recognised, although it was perhaps not surprising given that Falias still didn't know that many knights and it didn't stop him from giving the knight down at the centre a small nod, before his green eyes shifted to glance around in part curiosity and in part thoughtfulness.

Venice, Page of Ganymede.

The last call from the Code hadn't been that long ago and yet he was being called again...why? By who? Those thoughts ran through his mind quickly as he came to a stop atop a store roof. He'd been patrolling, something he was only planning to spend an hour doing tonight, but now how long would he be out for? He could use the sleep, really he could, but there wouldn't be a call if it wasn't important. He'd figure something out tomorrow if he was tired during his classes.

Answering the call he felt the pull and in moments was no long in Destiny City, or any city for that matter. Anything one would think of when thinking of Earth was gone and in it's place was the landscape of Mars and around him was the wonder of Olympus. He could sense others, knights, and not too many either. When he made it to where he could see who was here he took note of one he didn't know...and two he did.

Rather than make his way toward her though he found a place to stand and lean against a wall. Arms crossed over his shoulders, his ankles crossed, as he waited to see what would happen.

Would anyone else turn up?

Is this all that’s left of us now? Scholomance looked out to the four knights, most foreign to him, and wondered how the universe had turned to limit them so. Did the Negaverse hunt the rest? What of the others who beta tested for him? Had their allies given up, gotten corrupted, or simply killed?

Smiling, Scholomance issued a nod to the four knights. Absently he smoothed the front of his coat.

„Good afternoon. I am Scholomance, Knight of Saturn. I’m sure you’re wondering why I sent for you, as I am not Hvergelmir or Mistral - and certainly both have earned their place by assisting the Knighthood as a whole.“ Could people tell who the Code called them for? Was there a battle raging that he knew nothing about?

„The Code called you here for the introduction of another signet upgrade. What could possibly be improved upon with Mistral’s most recent upgrades? Well, think of this more like an ‚app‘ - it isn’t quite a ‚software upgrade‘ for our rings, but it offers a touch of functionality that may assist a knight in times of need.

„I call it a Signet Ring Meter. It carries a lot of functionality depending on the needs of the user. At its default setting, the meter provides your vitals - oxygen levels, heart rate, blood pressure - and a fancy new addition that monitors the amount of magic left at your disposal, in seconds. Perhaps this would be the most important feature, as I am sure there were times of uncertainty in life where one’s last scraps of knight magic came into play.“ I, for one, know quite a bit about that. „These, I decided, were some of the most integral features that I could include in an initial release.

„In addition, you can create your own meters too. Hvergelmir, one of my beta testers, engineered a meter that recorded the levels of carbon monoxide in her body - a very clever use of the meter function. If you were, say, predisposed to gout, you could program a meter to monitor levels of uric acid in the body. If you have high cholesterol, you could check for that, too. The only limitation to this function is that the metered variable must be something inside of your own body. You can’t meter walls for asbestos, for example, but you can monitor levels of asbestos in your own body. Does that make sense?“ He paused, and looked to the small gathering for an answer.

Finally he turned his attention to the small satchel on the platform. After rummaging around in it, Scholomance produced a small circular plastic laden with gold interconnecting circuits. He held it up, semi-opaque as it was, given the paper backing. „This is the installation unit. It’s very simple to attach to the signet ring. It’s a flexible plastic circuit board, if you will, so you shouldn’t find problems with it. Venice was kind enough to test the original unit and found it didn’t respond well to heat, so switching to a plastic medium fixed these problems. All you need to do is peel the paper backing off and adhere the sticky side of the plastic to the underside of your ring. It goes right beneath the little signet gem, like so.“ Removing his own ring, he demonstrated the adherence at once.

„After that, you’re all set. Brush a finger across the signet stone and you’ll call up the meter interface, which shows you all the meters you have running. So, for example…“ He paused and called up his menu. A series of figures, visual and numerical, appeared before him. „My pulse is about eighty right now since I’m not used to these types of presentations.“ He smiled bashfully.

„Are there any questions before I disperse them?“

Tortuga, Page of Jupiter

Tortuga knew he had shown up late when he saw someone was talking. The redhead ducked into a seat as unobtrusive as possible and sat attentively. He must not have missed too terribly much since he was there in time to hear about the upgrade. As the fellow in purple who was running the show explained about it Tortuga got more and more excited. The sheer versatility of such a simple object boggled the mind and made the medic in him salivate.

He kept his thoughts to himself until the presenter asked for questions at which point his hand shot up immediately but lowered it politely when someone asked a question of their own. Tortuga smiled as he recognized the voice and a glance over at the speaker proved his guess right, Venice was here and just asked a really valid question.

"Is it possible for others to view the meters as well? If so how? Which meters would appear? Is it possible to set the vitals to appear as the standards in the case of 'sharing' the information?" As a EMT having access to such information from anyone he would be in theory treating in the field would be extremely helpful. His excitement over this upgrade was only dampened by the knowledge that he had yet to get his ring, he had yet to even visit his wonder. He had been to this place more times then he had been to his own 'home'.

Tortuga winced as he asked, "Can we attach the upgrade at a later date? Unfortunately I haven't found my ring yet but I can honestly see a serious benefit to this and would love to have it." He held his breath, hoping the knight who was running the show would say yes. Hoping he would still give Tortuga one even though he had been avoiding going to his wonder and as a result hadn't gotten his ring yet.

“All good questions,“ Scholomance acknowledged in kind. Gloved fingers fiddled with one another at the front of his jacket while he considered a response.

„To your question, Venice, I will say yes and no. It doesn’t slow down the ‚app‘, but it definitely clutters the display, and slows down the ‚user‘ since you have to spend time looking at the lot of them. There’s an option in each meter to turn off its display when you open the app, which should save you some time. It, ah… Runs off the bandwidth of your planet, so to speak? It’s probably not possible to bog the meter function down.“ If one managed to do so, that invited some serious implications about one’s well-being.

„I’m afraid I don’t know your name,“ he commented toward Tortuga, „but it is possible for others to see the meters. There’s no function to encode their display, so if you’re using it around enemies, you need to exercise caution. I don’t have the technical expertise to add a function like that, but it’s something to pass on for the more engineering-minded. As for your other question, and the earth knight’s question, it’s possible to find and attach the meter add-on at a later date. Since you’re here right now, you can grab one and hold onto it until you find your signet ring. I also made some of Mistral’s upgrades in case people lacked those, but they’re not a prerequisite to using this function. For the people who aren’t here, I believe it’s possible to discover the blueprint at one’s planet like with the other Mistral upgrades. If you know someone who wants one and needs help building it, you can refer them to me.

„And lasty, a disclaimer - since I am not as good at creating these things as Mistral is, there’s probably still a few bugs here and there. If you find some, please continue to report them to me and I’ll work on them as best I can. And if you don’t find any bugs… I suppose that’s something I can add to my knight CV.“

He shrugged, then stepped off the platform. The satchel came with him, and he held the bag open for others to peruse at their leisure. „If there’s more questions, feel free, but I invite you to try it for yourselves.“

Another knight had turned up but still...this was just sad. To see so few knights here, and knowing more were out there back in Destiny City, why had they not come? Were they too tired? Too busy? She couldn't think of any reason to not be here aside from some battle, as nothing else seemed acceptable. When the code called there was a reason - a purpose and to not answer it...how could they ignore a call about who knows what?

Her anger, cold and harsh, and was kept at bay and hidden by the folds of her coat as her hands fisted the fabric. Her pale eyes were cold but didn't show the anger she felt at such a lack of turn out. "How can no one answer the call." She whispered so only Hyperborea, who sat next to her, could hear. She may not be the most active knight but she was here. Where were those who were more active, who out ranked her? Two here did out rank her but two did not. Where were the others?

"We'll see if we can get two upgrades to bring with us...to give to the other two." The other two in their brigade. They would equip them if they could, it would be best if they had this new upgrade. Standing slowly the dark haired squire made her way down to where Scholomance stood. "Thank you...for coming up with such an upgrade." It would be useful, hearing how the knight of the cosmos had added something to it, she liked that it could be customized to be more helpful. It would do well for them all.

Reaching down to grab one for herself she stepped back in order to set about adding it to her ring now, she'd rather not wait on it to be honest. She had to wonder if there wasn't some big thing going on back in Destiny City, though she hadn't felt anything before leaving, and the chance of that and getting swept up into that before she got the upgrade added - no, she would do it now.

Hvergelmir, standing at the back of the room, was presently wringing the water out of her hair as she approached. Her clothing, by contrast was completely dry -- it was just her hair that was continuously slogging down the sides of her face, trying in vain to hold its elaborate powered hairstyle while simultaneously being wet and very heavy. She resigned herself to just pushing most of the wet strands out of her face.

She hadn't liked being late -- although she'd had little choice, this time -- but fortunately, she knew the bulk of what she assumed Scholomance had been explaining to them here, so she made her way forward with an abashed smile toward their host and friendly glances to the other people assembled there.

"So you've worked it all out, then?" she asked, content to assume she was understanding the situation correctly. "Any more ideas coming down the pipeline after this?"