Nexus Spring Market Fair

[varnished_truths]

Seemingly overnight, one of the grassy areas edging the Forum has been taken over by a spring market and fair. Part state fair, part craft fair, part Renaissance faire, there are attractions for all comers. Tents and booths of every size, shape, and color are lined up more or less tidily, sometimes with wide avenues between them and sometimes with paths skinny enough to crowd a single person. Goods and treats from the far-flung corners of infinity are on display. The general organization has magic and alchemical goods grouped together and slightly separated from the other tents; arts and crafts fill the area around it. Goods such as clothes and jewelry, plants, and vintage and antique items are in the back. Food is front and center, between the entrance and the rides. This is perhaps not an ideal placement.

To one side is a brightly-lit collection of rides and games familiar to anyone who's been to a state fair. A ferris wheel, flying swings, and all manner of reasons to regret that last funnel cake are blaring tinny music and sporting blinking lights. Remember: rides first, then eat. Classic games that test strength, agility, and luck offer plush prizes sure to delight anyone until the fur rubs off. There are also some animal rides near the exit.

In the back of the roughly-fenced-in area are the exhibits. There's a petting zoo with creatures mundane and more exotic, all promised to be tame; practical demonstrations of new magical and technological wonders; a juried art show; and a stage hosting a variety of performers changing on the hour.

((This is an open event. If your character wants to have a booth selling wares or food, set one up. If your character wants to perform or provide other services, go for it! Please note what sort of service you're providing, if any, in the subject line of your top-level comment. Basically, just run with it and have fun!

I offer pictoral inspiration and ask that any pictures used in comments not be more than 300 px tall (and it looks better if you can keep it about the same height as your text). Code to have your text wrap around your picture below.))

<img src="blah.png" height="300" style="border: 0pt none; float:left; padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:10px">

Comments

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Really." He says with a thoughtful crease across his brow. "Now that's a story I'd love to hear sometime."

If Skyfire is anything like him, it's probably not a story he wants to get into, so he's not gonna pry. Just ... he feels like he needs to let it be known that he'd be fascinated to hear how one becomes a dragon.

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

Skyfire would indulge his curiosity a bit, but only so far.

"I was exploring a planet, carrying experimental projects, while also collecting samples and crashed. Things got mixed up, wires got crossed and my formatting got messed up while the scans were trying to find something to model me after so I could survive... At least that's the short version."

He shrugs a bit "I'm not going to get into the long version..." That was a touch personal for having just met someone after all... but Skyfire's explanation may catch Han's attention in that it does sort of hint that Skyfire is likely not as... organic as he seems.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Huh."

Not the deepest response the Captain has ever given, but it's all he can think to say. It sounds like the kind of 'accident' that would just kill you in his galaxy, but ... the multiverse, the rules that apply to one zone don't always carry over into the next.

"Did your size remain constant or is this a lot ... bigger than you used to be?"

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

The accident probably should have killed him too, but then again, Skyfire was learning that sometimes the 'impossible' happened... and more frequently than he'd ever thought possible lately.

He can't help but look over at himself and frown. "You know, I'm not entirely sure... longer possibly?" Stretching a wing in consideration, and then settling it back on his back he adds "I'm positive I've lost mass at least. How much, I couldn't really say. I have no frame of reference on which to judge scale from before and after."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Not that Han was trying to be sneaky in obtaining information, but that tells him his new friend probably wasn't an everyday human to start with. He hasn't ever met any that started off so big that they can't tell weither they gained or lost mass when they became a dragon.

"Still." He says with his lips pursed into a thoughtful line. "I can't imagine what it would be like to wake up as something else entirely. I imagine it'd be hard on the ... psyche."

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

Skyfire nods a bit, not really wanting to get into that part of what happened. He then chuckles lightly.

"You clearly want to ask something, go ahead. I won't get offended or angry... I may choose not to answer however."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Guess I mostly just wondered if you were human to start with." He says with a shrug. You can't fault someone for that. At least he doesn't think you can. When you hear a story it's somewhat natural for you to fill your own experience into the blanks.

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

Oh, Skyfire most certainly couldn't fault him for it, but he was rather amused by it.

"Not even close." Well, what was the harm in telling him? "I was Cybertronian." It wasn't as if Skyfire was ashamed of what he is... was? Whatever, he really didn't know what he was considered anymore himself.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I'm not familiar with the race."

He assumes it's a race. At any rate, it's not all that uncommon to find things in the Nexus that he's unaccustomed to, despite the vastness of his galaxy. The prefix 'cyber' seems to suggest something a bit ... mechanical.

"Then again, this place has me realizing I don't know everything after all." He says with a smirk and a shrug. "There probably just aren't any where I come from."

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

"I'm honestly not surprised. As far as I know, up until I left on my exploration we had never made contact with any organic humanoids. If that has changed since, aside from my own experiences, I do not know."

A sad shake of the head, and then a smirk "To know it all, must truly be the most horrible fate in assistance. To never find the joy of experiencing something new and have everything become a boring, bland, existence of tedium... I am glad you found a way to discover something new once more." He's joking around, but the words still do true in his mind.

At the mention of there possibly not being any where Han is from, Skyfire lets out an honest and amused laugh. "Don't discount it. Even a single universe is infinite, you would be surprised at what could be hiding out there."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han's background is being in a position of not having enough answers and acting as a thief - where success is often influenced by how well you've planned. His general inclination is that you can never know enough.

That said ... Skyfire raises a good point and for a moment, it seems as if the cocky young pilot is considering the words.

"I can see that conversations with you are going to be ... thought provoking." He says with a tilt of his head. "It makes me think you're old or maybe that you have an old soul, anyway."

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

Skyfire tilts his head and grins at Han. "I think the human saying would be 'Older than dirt'." It was nice to just be able to talk to others that didn't look at him with fear. He was going to miss this if he had to go back to the universe he came from. "While I'm not sure about the 'dirt' part, I can safely say I'm very old by organic standards."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I follow you, pal." He says with a nod. "Far older than I can ever expect to be."

It's not that Han isn't afraid of anyone, but he doesn't see any cause to be afraid of Skyfire. The fact that they're different from each other doesn't inherently bother the Captain the way it does for other people. He was, more or less, mothered by a Wookiee. He's met sentients of all shapes and sizes.

"I suppose I should probably let you get back to work." Not that Solo hasn't enjoyed the conversation, but at a certain point, he is keeping his friend from his craft. "It's been nice talking to you, Skyfire."

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

Those words cause Skyfire to grimace. "A fact that I would like to forget to be truthful." Outliving everything organic that he comes to care for, to use a human term, sucks.

Han's reactions, heck, the reactions of everyone he's met in the Nexus have been fairly open and welcoming. It's a nice change from where he'd been stranded.

"It's been nice talking to you as well. If you need or wish to leave, feel free... but don't leave if you're worried about keeping me from my work. Sadly there haven't been too many takers." It was after all nice to have company, but he'd not ask him to stay, only make it clear that his company was indeed welcome for as long as he chose to stay.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Well, how long is it going to take you to carve a human sized chair? Han is free for most of the afternoon. When it starts to dark though ... it's time for him to go to 'work'.

"I suppose I have a little while longer."

Han folds his arms across his chest and thinks over the regret that he detected in the dragon when he mentioned outliving humans. "I've noticed the long life span seems to be a blessing and a curse. My ..." He stops and starts again. "Dewlanna. She lived past six-hundred years old."

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

No chairs, but he had made a few stone benches with animals as the supports, and if it looked like Han was really needing to sit, Skyfire would curl up his tail a bit and offer to let Han sit on it. It was a more comfortable seat than a stone bench at least. When it starts getting dark, Skyfire would be putting stuff away for the evening... and likely debating whether or not to just sleep at the lot for the night.

"It really is..." He'd not give up the short time he's had with the organic friends for anything, but it really hurt when he lost them.

Skyfire doesn't pry, but he does take note of the pause there. Six hundred years, that was still only a tiny amount of time to him, but to an organic that was a very long time indeed. "She must have seen a lot of amazing things."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

For now, he's fine. Han's used to sitting for an extended period and then suddenly having to be on his feet for a few hours. Sort of depends on how long they get to talking for.

And 600 is very old for a Wookiee. Almost double the expected age. She was the oldest being Han has known so far by a landslide. Well ... until today at least. "I wish there had been more time for her to tell me about all the things she must have seen."

Hard for him to keep it together admitting that, but he manages. It wasn't just that Dewlanna had died, untimely and in saving Han's life, it was also the circumstances he grew up in. He was expected to work hard on the Trader's Luck and there never seemed like enough time to spend with the only parent figure he ever had.

"So, what does all those years give you in terms of advice for a young pilot?" He has to change the subect. It's not even a particularly good change, but ... it has to be something else.