I casually waved to Mal as I wandered off to the marketplace; given his inclinations he was going to go track down news of what was going on. Fine by me, really... there were a few things that I wanted to try to find. For instance, I heard that Red Steel was neat, and I wanted to get a Wii. Oh, and processors for biological stuff. I could probably tinker something together, but it wasn't really my area of expertise and I'd much prefer to work on stuff that was more fun.
Of course, before that I snagged another beer, as wandering around without a drink in hand at this point in the con would almost be against protocol. The various stalls setup were featuring all sorts of wares, both mundane and not. Which was all well and good, and would provide hours of browsing entertainment later, but right now I wanted to get my Wii. While I'd made reservation arrangements while we were enroute, there was probably going to be enough of a demand for the things that it might get sold out from under me.
"Hey Dee," I muttered, apparently to thin air. A 3" tall holographic girl popped into existence at shoulder height, a bit off to the side of my field of vision. She was looking more or less like Cortana this week.
"Yeah boss?" she replied.
"There any maps around? Looking for Stan's."
"Hang on a sec... yeah, second row, couple back."
"Domo." Best PDA ever, really. Nevermind that I was trying for something completely different at the time, it all worked out fine. Mostly. I sipped the bottle of Guinness as I walked that way. Really, I suppose I didn't actually have to ask how to find Stan.
"Welcome, welcome to Stan's Kwalitee Danegoods!" he shouted from his stall. "The finest new and used goods from..." Dee had hid at the first sign I was getting close. Smart girl
"Just, please, stop talking," I muttered, wincing. Stan was a fixture, and had been picked because, among other things, he was the most likely to be able to hang onto the merchandise. But his voice gave me a headache... and that suit...
"What can I do for you, sir? There's a wide selection of current fashions, but today I'm selling them below cost to pass on the savings!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked, with a bit of an edge. He looked me up and down, taking in the Hawaiian shirt, the camoflage fatigue pants, the combat boots and the pair of swords crossed at my left hip.
"Nothing at all, sir," he answered smoothly. "Perhaps you'd be interested in..."
"No, stop... I'm KJ, I arranged shipment of a Wii, it's prepaid, could you get it so I can be on my way?" I interrupted, rattling off the statement all at once before he could start talking.
"Right away sir," he said, disappearing behind the booth. "And if you'd be interested in anything else, feel free to browse and... here we go!" He produced the boxed Wii, which I hurriedly crammed into my duffle bag. Before he could start talking again, I had fled the scene.
"Like hell I'm going to buy clothes from someone in lime green pants, a blue shirt, red tie, sombrero, and a purple and green checkerboard jacket," I muttered to myself, as I put my head down and proceeded away from the scene. Which is why I didn't notice when I ran into another congoer.
"Oh, geez, I'm sorry," I said as I helped him up, then paused and noted my shirt was soaked, my voice was higher and... oh yeah, I had breasts now. Great. "Uh... do you know where the nearest restroom is?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and mentally cursing the effects of cumulative handwavium exposure. He gestured to a corner of the room and I hurried off.
Really, I don't know why that happened. Okay, so I end up using handwavium a lot to make machine tools to make other things, and breaking them down afterwards sends some of the stuff in dust form around the section of the Explain Star's cargo bay that I sectioned off for the shop. But a pseudo-Jusenkyo curse? Personally, I vaguely blamed Dee, though I didn't hold it against her or bring it up. What's done is, and hell it vastly increased the number of characters I could cosplay as.
"Hey," she spoke up, appearing in the side of my vision again. "Ptichka sent out a message saying Mal wants to see us back at the Star."
"Just as well, only dry shirt I've got in here is too tight on me in girlform," I replied as I pulled on the Zim t-shirt in question and headed back.
Of course, before that I snagged another beer, as wandering around without a drink in hand at this point in the con would almost be against protocol. The various stalls setup were featuring all sorts of wares, both mundane and not. Which was all well and good, and would provide hours of browsing entertainment later, but right now I wanted to get my Wii. While I'd made reservation arrangements while we were enroute, there was probably going to be enough of a demand for the things that it might get sold out from under me.
"Hey Dee," I muttered, apparently to thin air. A 3" tall holographic girl popped into existence at shoulder height, a bit off to the side of my field of vision. She was looking more or less like Cortana this week.
"Yeah boss?" she replied.
"There any maps around? Looking for Stan's."
"Hang on a sec... yeah, second row, couple back."
"Domo." Best PDA ever, really. Nevermind that I was trying for something completely different at the time, it all worked out fine. Mostly. I sipped the bottle of Guinness as I walked that way. Really, I suppose I didn't actually have to ask how to find Stan.
"Welcome, welcome to Stan's Kwalitee Danegoods!" he shouted from his stall. "The finest new and used goods from..." Dee had hid at the first sign I was getting close. Smart girl
"Just, please, stop talking," I muttered, wincing. Stan was a fixture, and had been picked because, among other things, he was the most likely to be able to hang onto the merchandise. But his voice gave me a headache... and that suit...
"What can I do for you, sir? There's a wide selection of current fashions, but today I'm selling them below cost to pass on the savings!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked, with a bit of an edge. He looked me up and down, taking in the Hawaiian shirt, the camoflage fatigue pants, the combat boots and the pair of swords crossed at my left hip.
"Nothing at all, sir," he answered smoothly. "Perhaps you'd be interested in..."
"No, stop... I'm KJ, I arranged shipment of a Wii, it's prepaid, could you get it so I can be on my way?" I interrupted, rattling off the statement all at once before he could start talking.
"Right away sir," he said, disappearing behind the booth. "And if you'd be interested in anything else, feel free to browse and... here we go!" He produced the boxed Wii, which I hurriedly crammed into my duffle bag. Before he could start talking again, I had fled the scene.
"Like hell I'm going to buy clothes from someone in lime green pants, a blue shirt, red tie, sombrero, and a purple and green checkerboard jacket," I muttered to myself, as I put my head down and proceeded away from the scene. Which is why I didn't notice when I ran into another congoer.
"Oh, geez, I'm sorry," I said as I helped him up, then paused and noted my shirt was soaked, my voice was higher and... oh yeah, I had breasts now. Great. "Uh... do you know where the nearest restroom is?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and mentally cursing the effects of cumulative handwavium exposure. He gestured to a corner of the room and I hurried off.
Really, I don't know why that happened. Okay, so I end up using handwavium a lot to make machine tools to make other things, and breaking them down afterwards sends some of the stuff in dust form around the section of the Explain Star's cargo bay that I sectioned off for the shop. But a pseudo-Jusenkyo curse? Personally, I vaguely blamed Dee, though I didn't hold it against her or bring it up. What's done is, and hell it vastly increased the number of characters I could cosplay as.
"Hey," she spoke up, appearing in the side of my vision again. "Ptichka sent out a message saying Mal wants to see us back at the Star."
"Just as well, only dry shirt I've got in here is too tight on me in girlform," I replied as I pulled on the Zim t-shirt in question and headed back.