(no subject)

[boldygoing]

James T. Kirk absolutely loves marketplaces.

It's not necessarily because he's looking for anything, per se, although he does often keep an eye out for interesting books to add to his collection, or maybe a bottle of some kind of exotic alcohol, or some kind of pointless alien gizmo with which to annoy Spock with its purposeless existence. No, he just loves the sheer diversity each bazaar brings to the table.

No two markets have ever been alike, in his experience. Sure, it's not quite as exciting and mysterious as exploring deep space, but it's something of a microcosm of the same, all sorts of goods and cultures thrown into close quarters, and one never knows what one might find just down the street.

His shipboard gold uniform may stand out a bit in the crowd as he meanders along, a faint smile on his face as he leans in to examine someone's wares on display, just enjoying being out and about in the fresh air.


[OOC: Retconning Jim eating bacon in this thread. Hadn't fully considered some of the elements in his backstory at the time.]

Comments

Standard Disclaimer is the New Black

[brave_heart_verity]

[Before I tag in: Ver's got a truth-sensing curse stuck in her that she can't turn off. She knows when people are lying and she can see through illusions; she doesn't know what the truth is or have psychic powers. More details here. If you don't want to deal, let me know, I know it can get annoying.]

[boldygoing]

[I'm aware! Full steam ahead. :D]

[gate_crasher]

There's a white-scaled lizard person in a fine blue robe browsing a stall of powders; spices by the look and smell of them. He examines pinches of this and that, but in the end shakes his head and turns away--running straight into the gold-shirted human. "Oh. Excuse me."

[boldygoing]

Oof. Serves Jim right for not paying attention to his surroundings. The lizard-man doesn't hit him quite hard enough to knock him over, but he does stagger back a step or two, his face already shifting to a sheepish, apologetic expression. "Oh, sorry. Wasn't watching where I was going. Are you okay?" The lizard-man doesn't look injured, but it's only polite to ask.

[gate_crasher]

"My apologies," the lizard-man replies, hooded head dipping in a sincere nod, "the fault and the distraction were mine. I am well, but if you are injured...?" The lizard is reaching for you, Kirk, and its hand is glowing with a silver-white light.

[boldygoing]

Kirk's eyes widen a little bit, though it's more holy-shit-what-is-that-because-that-is-kinda-cool than a fearful response. "I'm fine, thanks... what is that?" And it belatedly occurs to him that flat-out asking might be rude. You can never tell with different species and different cultures, and he's wracking his brain to come up with any lizard-people besides the Gorn and coming up pretty much empty.

[brave_heart_verity]

To an intragalactic flyboy like James Kirk, pink hair and tattoos probably don't even rate on the scale of interesting things he's seen this week. They don't much stand out in an interdimensional marketplace, either. It's probably just as well. Verity's only looking to do her shopping. She weaves through the crowd with the ease of a local, one hand balancing a basket full of groceries (including the requisite two baguettes and bouquet of flowers) on her hip when she stops to look at this or that. By the look of things, she's either got a massive appetite or is shopping for a crowd.

When Jim comes into view, she gives his uniform a curious look that doesn't bear the flicker of recognition. Star Trek didn't feature much in her childhood, and it's not the sort of movie her Asgardian friends would have dragged her to. He gets a brief smile of 'yes I see you seeing me looking at you let's not make this awkward' before she looks down at the piles of alien fruit. Or maybe heirloom, and this is what food looks like when the taste hasn't be bred out?

"Try these," she suggests a moment later, pointing to a stack of golden plums. "They're sweeter."

[gate_crasher]

"It... is a simple healing spell," the lizard answers, sounding a little puzzled. The approaching hand halts, withdraws a little. "Is your world one without magic?"

[boldygoing]

Her appearance honestly wouldn't stand out terribly much on the Enterprise herself either, so Jim doesn't take much special notice of her until she speaks. But once she does, she has his attention, and he smiles at her, glancing over her briefly in what might be more of a tactical assessment than anything inappropriately sexual. "Thanks for the advice."

He does reach out and pick up one of the plums, lightly testing its ripeness with his fingertips, and he nods a little toward her grocery basket. "Do you know a lot about the food here? I haven't seen a lot of this stuff before." Minus the Earth-like foods, anyway.

[boldygoing]

Some kind of biological healing field. Amazing. Bones would have absolute kittens over that if he was here. "Not really, I guess? Unless we're talking about the kind that is indistinguishable from advanced technology," he adds with a grin.

[gate_crasher]

Kittens? Khajiit is innocent of this crime.

Jim's remark gets another puzzled look from the lizard, who folds his hands into his sleeves, the glow fading. "No... you are quoting something, yes?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity would do terribly in Starfleet. Honestly, how long could anyone expect her to last before she got court-martialed for calling out a C.O.?

His tactical assessment is welcome to pick up on the two rings on her left hand and the lean muscles under the tattoos. The facts aren't necessarily related. She nods and gives him another little smile. "You're welcome."

While he explores the plum, she quickly strikes a bargain with the seller, trading a handful of beads for a small paper bag of the plums. Her gaze follows his down the basket while she tucks the fruit in with the other fare, and he can see her thinking about how much of it is 'alien'. Then she shrugs. "I've been here a while, and I like to cook. I'm pretty knowledgeable about most of the stuff in this market. You're new here?"

[boldygoing]

"It's an old Earth saying," Jim says, shifting stance a little so he's not immediately in the walkway, not all that eager for a repeat performance from any other inattentive pedestrians. "Weirdly, one that was said before First Contact, so it's not like humanity knew about telepathy and warp drive at the time. I guess it really all depends on how you define 'magic'."

[boldygoing]

"First time," he affirms, lifting the plum to his nose to smell it. Not as fragrant as his preferred kind of apple, but pleasant enough to hint at the flavor, and he digs in his pockets to find something worth trading for. His 'fleet account is probably no good here, after all, and he can hardly barter away his communicator if he wants to get back to the ship in one piece. "I've done the alien market thing before, but it doesn't win points for consistency from planet to planet."

[gate_crasher]

The lizard steps out of the flow of traffic, as well, smiling with a row of pointed teeth. "If definitions of magic are what you seek, you have come to the right person. I am something of a scholar on the subject." Extending his hand again, sans glow, he adds, "my name is Shade-Seeker."

[boldygoing]

Oh fantastic, this guy's people do handshakes. His grin becomes all the more genuine as he reciprocates the familiar custom, glad that he doesn't have to try doing anything weird with his hands. The Vulcan ta'al took forever before he could get it right consistently. "I'm Jim Kirk." He decides to leave off the rank for now; technically he's not on duty at the moment, and he's found it can be intimidating to some, especially when he's trying to be friendly.

"So," he says, hoping that this isn't a horrible tactical mistake, "how would you define magic?"

[gate_crasher]

They're both leaving out titles, and for similar reasons. "I am pleased to meet you, Jim Kirk."

At the question, Shade-Seeker draws in a long breath, then grins, catching himself before he launches into a deeply esoteric explanation. "In plainest terms, magic is an energy which can be shaped and directed by the proper tools, one of which is the will, to accomplish tasks. With sufficient magic, sufficient will, and sufficient (heh) creativity," there's that grin again, "it may accomplish goals which run counter to the other, understood tendencies of natural processes."

[boldygoing]

Part of Jim reeeeally wants to ask if quantum physics would fall into this guy's definition of magic, but Shade-Seeker might not have a clue what that even is, so he refrains. "By that definition, no, we don't have anything like that. That we know about." Very important qualifier when the vast, vast majority of the galaxy remains unexplored.

[losthunter]

Among the market place displays there is one that has art work on display. There is some portrait work, where the faces hanging up on display might belong to someone that is actually shopping at the market today. There is also some other artwork, mostly landscapes, or those depicting life in New York City.

There is also some handmade jewelry at the booth too. Most of those pieces have incorporated rose petals in some fashion.

The artist himself is currently working on a large canvas, completing a live art peace that might attract some attention. Hunter is a tall man, and the parts of his body that are exposed right now (which include his face, shoulders and arms), are covered with a vine-themed tattoo. There are a few scars on his face, and a large silver tree piercing on his forehead.

[boldygoing]

Jim has never really been the type to hang art on his walls, but Spock is, so the captain wanders over to browse, in case something strikes him as particularly Vulcan-y. He's the type of guy who likes buying random gifts for his friends, and now that he's the top dog on the Enterprise, it's not like it'll come across as currying favor with anybody. Flirting, maybe. But what's wrong with that?

The jewelry catches his attention, and he looks over the pieces, raising his eyebrows a little at the recurring rose motif. How romantic.

"You do all these yourself?" he calls out, flashing a grin at the artist at work. It certainly doesn't hurt that this guy is easy on the eyes.

[losthunter]

Hunter turns towards the person speaking to him. He flashes a friendly smile himself. "Yes. I did."

It doesn't strike him as strange for the question to be asked. After all, it wasn't that long ago that he used to hire a 'stand-in' vendor who would deal with the clients, while Hunter himself stayed out of sight.

But after being in the Nexus, he doesn't hide himself anymore.

Standing up, Hunter moves to where Jim is standing by the jewelry. "I also can customize a design, if you don't see anything that quite fits what you are looking for."

[boldygoing]

Jim hasn't seemed to notice there should be any reason why people would stare at Hunter, besides the part where he's flipping gorgeous. Par for the course, in his experience. "Nah, I'm just window-shopping right now. First time here. What's with the roses?"

[losthunter]

Unfortunately for Hunter, being sent away by his father, and practically locked away from society for the first year after his appearance had changed did impact his life. But he has good friends now who accept him. It makes the difference.

"Oh that..." Hunter laughs. He holds out his left arm, where the dead rose bush takes up a lot of property space. It also seems to be the 'starting' point of the rest of the tattoos, as the thorns twist and turn up his arm.

"I have a personal connection to roses. They are quite symbolic to me."

"And all of these are made from a rose garden that I keep."

[gate_crasher]

Shade-Seeker doesn't know what quantum physics is, but he'd be very interested to learn. If it's anything like the rest of his life, learning would entail somehow journeying to a quantum realm and grappling with its fell ruler to wrest away quantum secrets and end the threat posed by that dark, uncertain lord. "Ah. I wonder, does a lack of magic make life more predictable, or less? But it would be difficult for you to answer, without a frame of reference. Perhaps I should ask whether it is of interest."

[boldygoing]

Jim grins at Shade-Seeker and shrugs a little. "Our mission is exploration and learning all about other cultures and technology, so that does sound like it's up our alley. Can't promise that I'll understand it, but sure, why not?"