Bristol Stacks's Story

((Is this the contract in regards to that psionically noxious stone? And stay away from that man in the blue hat he covers us in disease.)), Ductu's eloquent voice chirped into his brain.

Honestly the best thing about this bond with his silty-second Ductu was his 'clothes' never needed cleaning. He added his own embellishments of course since the girl was rather stuck in monochrome. There was something afoot and Bristol needed a good in to get back on the market. Someone had to keep the markets trading and healthy so even if he didn't need the money he loved the work. That rock Ductu kept complaining of seemed like a good idea since it was doing gangbusters on commodities trading. He'd come fairly close to it once but for the life of him didn't see anything special about it. Probably the ol' girl keeping it at bay he supposed and that meant bad news for the folks with lots of money around him.

Bristol looked into an office that while stylish was set up like a one-man command center. Some things were dusty but everything had its place and digital work boards were set up everywhere displaying news reports or economic studies. Most were divided by nation-state it seemed. A good clean couch with nothing in it and all the trash in the bucket. Even a live plant of some description. He could feel Ductu's interest in eating it. He knocked onto the door as to not surprise the man, "Mr. El-Zein? Bristol Stacks here I've been retained to give you a hand. It looks like you need a few men for battlestations in here!"

He stared at a commodities report on one board adding, "Though, what are you working on? A lot of these numbers are going up irrationally fast."

These projections were utterly disastrous and because of what he was seeing, Rashaad did not immediately hear the door until the person spoke and even then, it was only after the man's second comment he turned around and shook his head, "Not quite yet, I was checking projections and I have checked them multiple times and even discussed it with experts in the field on conference calls. The result is thus, the Turritoid Market is unstable and due the aura it creates it means everyone snapping it up thus the prices are shooting up and down. Normal... Yes..."

He sighed switching off the large monitor, "But due to this obsession with getting as much of the mineral as possible, there is intent on discovering the source and it is my job to check what would happen... If the source of mineral was discovered the Markets all trading this whether unknowingly or knowingly would go into catastrophic meltdown. I have checked constantly, even changing data to see if results change, but the commodity is hot yet no one knows the source, which means we have a mad grab for this and whoever has it could find many nations suddenly preying on them, but that is not the worse... If source is discovered then Market will be oversaturated and the Bubble will burst which could a massive depression of which the Intergalactic Stock Exchanges have not seen for a very long time."

Bristol raised a worried eyebrow at the numbers thinking back to his stay in hospitals with many patients on strong pain killers. Not to mention what happened afterward as their endurance sapped with the endless pain. He could hear the skittering of Ductu thinking about it as his voice turned serious, "Better get straight to work then. Supply and Demand implies rational actors this whole business will be squirrely to pin down. Addictive demand is infinite. If this thing has a stim aura then none of the players in this are remotely sane."

Hands behind his back Bristol looked over and pantomimed injecting his neck, "Have you seen what happens to junkies that need more so much it hurts? If someone finds stim mountain I wonder if it'd turn into the only stock on sale. Further complicating it the black market's gotta be going insane to get their hands on this stuff. I wonder what their last-mile theft rate is of whoever's carting the stuff around. It'll make it even harder to contain."

Ductu interjected and Bristol stopped to put a finger to the quite silent communicator in his ear so when he listened it didn't seem odd. It felt like she wasn't looking at him when she talked, ((There's a Jinhai in Hades Labyrinth that can get black market prices.))

He looked around at more numbers, "I could get my hands on black market prices at Hades Labrynth if you'd like. How have the portfolios of the major players changed as they got more of the ore?"

Nodding, Rashaad let out an almighty sigh, "Yes, no kidding this mineral a huge issue. I saw an Intergalactic Alert from I.E.E.C.A regarding the companies currently affected and all trading being stopped on those Corporations and Companies." he paused turning to one of the smaller screens as he began to read them off, "Stock if tumbling for Augmented Cititech, Mangocorporation, Singleton Paragon Mutual, Rivera Telesoft, Industrial Of Augusta and Acosta Dynocom. The CEOs have ceased work on anything except finding out the source of Turritoid. There is others who are acting weird, but it may be reckless behaviour due to the current financial climate. Thankfully, Baqui Industries, LogicRoad, Underlundian Medical, Mars Corp and TechCon are stable and don't appear affected. I would mention Sullen Engineering but they have gone quiet for a long time. Finally, Sol Enterprises being on Terra has not managed to get any of the substance."

Turning back to the man, he gave a long sigh, "So yeah, looks like Black Market is the best bet... If you can... please try to find the source of this if we can block the current source it may help... But outside of finding the actual source, we can't do much except try warn others off of this."

Bristol racked his brain to think of what those companies did as he'd kept up on developments from his wheelchair for what felt like decades now. Reading news and reports was mostly all he could do at the time. It felt like something squirming just under his scalp as Ductu rummaged around in his memories for related information. He mused to Rashaad while looking at the ceiling, "Most of those deal in transport in some primary fashion. The others deal in support structures for those. Medical ones must have come in tertiary contact for personnel that mentally broke when the first and second wave got hooked."

He raised an eyebrow, "Though why is Singleton Paragon Mutual in there? They deal in facility insurance and reclamation, don't they? They barely touch cargo. Most of their primary operations are in the black connections of secure contractors to check their buys of problem-solve so they don't have to pay out claims. Keeps their hands clean. Unless they got infected well after at the public auctions for the stuff."

Ductu nodded inwardly and he continued, "I'll have my people keep an eye out for links to this stuff on the black market. This thing is literally spreading like an infection and I know they have data mining tools and AIs to find a patient zero. The black market's going to be like rats spreading the plague. Or in this case finding the earliest evidence of abnormal behavior that matches all the examples we have now. We'd need to get our hands on a good one since there's more than health data it'll have to mine through."

A slight rapping came at the office entrance that belong to a certain stockbroker, Rashaad El-Zein, and a rather unexpected guest. From what information seemed to rapidly dance across the augmented reality field there was only one name that popped up with almost little to no data presently available to harvest.

"I hope I'm not interrupting your little pow-wow session here." Douglas Weskit smirked as his sapphire hues suddenly shimmered to an emerald green as his ARO system shut itself down on a simple mental command. The Gentleman simply brushed the faux dust from his designer suit and in a swiftly practiced motion brought his free hand through his copper locks. Everything about Douglas seemed remarkably precise and up tot he highest quality.

As for who Douglas is and for what his presence meant the only reasonable explanation was that the Right Hand of Mars Corp had a bit of fun to have whilst his leash was unhooked. "Mr. Stacks is it?" Douglas made his way into the office and offered an extended hand towards Mr. Stacks.

"Crazy new material present. I can only imagine that with the right buyers and the appropriate inhibitors in place messing with such a material would be like opening presents on Christmas Day." Douglas chuckled only to deviously smile as he turned and offered his hand now to Rashaad El-Zein. "Though I suppose none seem to understand the basic refinement process or even the dangers of such a material. "

Rashaad had heard rumours of MarsCorp's, Mr Weskit and even though those could not completely complete the eccentricities presented here. Although he had been warned by older men in the business MarsCorp always had an angle so he decided to be blunt rather than dance around any of the practicalities on display here, "A pleasure Mr Weskit, what brings the Right-Hand of MarsCorp CEO to Illumene, is it the weather or is it because you wish to play games? I have neither the time nor the inclinations. I am aware of the risks of the rock or mineral even. But, unless you can somehow persuade Market where I can't. Once the rock source is discovered I imagine we'll experience a chaotic market then the bubble will pop completely."

Turning to Mr Stacks he addressed him with an apologetic stare, "My sincerest apologies Mr Stacks, the Black Market is likely best bet. Unless Mr Weskit has better ideas." of course Raashad knew who he was dealing with, well enough to know this man was dangerous, but he had bigger concerns like preventing the Forecast he had seen in multiple models with a great deal variations in data based on what scenarios seemed plausible.

That, in essence, was Raashad's job, he was a Stockbroker, and Journalist in Economic side of things, he was a troubleshooter and constructed models for prominent voices in the Intergalactic Market. In fact, this exact model was a request from an anonymous yet rich stockbroker and they had asked him to be thorough...

Wait, he never did get the information who had told him to construct this model.

"Of course, MarsCorp was the one paying me for these models. I should have known..." scowling he sighed in annoyance having not realized this earlier, he felt rather embarrassed by this.

Ductu were meant to be observers, and that's what she did. the brace behind Bristol's spine raises a small flap alongside and red eye with silver sclera stares out at Weskit hidden underneath it. She couldn't tell where exactly but she knew when mages were afoot. It didn't bear mentioning for now and with a quick glance to see the newcomer hid back under the scale of armor. Colored portions that formed her eye held like a card stunt at some sports arena transmuted back into their particular vibrations of concordant psimass. The more complex apparatus of the telescope that allowed her a normal focal length took a few moments more to dismantle. Bristol was busy nodding the other direction at Rashadd's comment about the black market.

Bristol turned around from looking at some market numbers at Rashaad's sigh to extend a firm handshake through a matte black gauntlet. The feeling was smooth as Ductu absently subsumed microscopic dust and other detritus with a transmutation to more an 'edible' form of biological psimass. Silica or other useful things were consumed as building material. Clean to a fault what blue cloth Bristol wore over Ductu seemed like it just came out of the laundry.

Bristol nodded at Wescott looking at the cane with a distant sense of relief, "A pleasure to meet you! You can call me Bristol, Mr. Wescott."

He raised an eyebrow at Rashaad's lamentation but half-expected something like this came out of the prudent consideration of someone of power. Since he couldn't track much that actually existed looking over his own part of this job it struck true. Unsure of whether it was Ductu or himself he couldn't help but be interested after the target turned out so damn interesting.

At Rashaad he quipped, "Mystery is the fire of life. Besides I'd rather at least one of the players in this mess look before they leap. It makes this easier. I suppose if it can be processed that makes things much easier to contain. The ones still with some sanity would come to whoever's got it. That demand would be something to hit the ground running for."

"Weskit, though I do know a Mr. Wescott." Douglas smirked and as he leaned himself now against an interior wall facing the two. Douglas reached into his jackets interior pocket and produced a pack of Charlatan Reds, a possible favorite brand, but no lighter to ignite the cancer stick. Douglas took a single cigarette from its pack and placed it between his lips and crossed his arms against his chest.

Douglas watched the two and simply let sigh escape his lips as he took a breath to enjoy his company. "This material does sound familiar. I believe I once met with a man in great power to obtain something similar...." The Gentleman brought both his hands up to his face and magically ignited the lone Charlatan Red. Douglas took a deep breath in and exhaled but no smoke or scent was present.

"But before I elaborate more I think I need triplicate of those documents and possibly a good laugh." Douglas pointed between the two and then took another drag. "Mysteries aside this fantastic substance has the potential for many things but the price jumps are a bit silly."

As much as he detested the views of Mr Weskit he had to, unfortunately, admit that there was pragmaticness to his views as dismissive as they were. If the aura could be switched off, the effects of such a substance on Intergalactic Weapon's trade would be extraordinary. That being said, he neither cared or wished to interfere in such transactions. His job was entirely based on Economics whether writing pieces or creating models. Whatever happened once the problems were solved was none of his concern and he should remain neutral regarding what could come of this mess if it worked out Mr Weskit's favour.

"I can send you over the documents right now or copy them on the Cloud storage and have you collect them from there." turning to Mr Stacks he replied, "I just prefer to know who is asking for my help. I only did this without knowing because I was concerned about the trends. If I had known it was MarsCorp asking for such things I would have been less willing. As is, perhaps they can help and corner the market on this by discovering the source. If they can corner the market, then we could control this and perhaps remove the negative effect."

Raashad's eyes had bags over them, evidently suggesting he had not slept a long time, likely he had been focused on finishing this model and making sure it was completely correct.

Bristol paid full attention to Mr Weskit when he realized he'd gotten the name wrong. A wry smile comes to his face chuckling, "Apologies, Mr Weskit. My mind is on too many numbers elsewhere. I suppose there exist materials to restrict mental influences but that depends on what method exactly this material uses to affect the mind."

In truth he'd been looking through someone else's eyes, through Ductu's helpful hands, to read a document. It sat on a trader's desk planets away and obscured names but recorded sales numbers and user IDs. The Jinhai were curious things collating knowledge of what structures were around them a logbook was well on their list to remember. Subworms crawled through ducts to seep into rooms when no one was looking or interfered with cameras. If there was a large quantity of that material the Way would certainly distend around the perturbation of human free will. Ductu explained it disturbed their transit medium.

Using Myrkul's Altar had proved useful as a skill but it was damn hard even with Ductu to help reach out to the thing. She more dragged his mind across to show him to a map of the Way. This disoriented him so Ductu held his body from falling over. Explosions of psychic power in reverse blow threads of the way toward planets. The map of threads was so impossibly large Bristol felt just then very small. Her soft inner voice intoned, ((There's only a few places where the Way wanders badly right now. I'll mark them for you, dear.))

He mimed an active communication by pressing his fingers over the communicator in his ear looking at Rasshad, "I have large transactions at Sungei Road all from the same seller then varying ones after but no names yet. How many people do you think actually sourced this material? A company?"

Astride Bristol's leg Ductu busily transmuted biological Psimass into thin cellulose paper with the details with carbon-ink text. While she had a headless dataslate to send text to Bristol's own tablet she was little better than a novice with it.

"We are the source." Douglas smirked whilst taking another long drag from his strange cigarette. The young man simply offered a wry smile and continued to lean himself back against the wall whilst taking in any facial reactions.

"Honestly..." Douglas paused slightly only to chuckle a little. "It is a bit of a experiment to see how the raw material will react under certain environmental constraints. It naturally radiates a strange signal due to tampering on a molecular level. If you would allow me to bluntly and effortlessly explain I'm sure my reasons will seem a bit more understandable than stock destroying propaganda."

The Gents eyes flashed back to a brilliant blue hue as his ARO kicked in once more allowing access to a multitude of files, some of which began to automatically download onto Mr. El-Zein's personal computer.

"No need to worry about my name Mr. Stacks. But please remain for the time as I'm sure this story will be the most riveting of all." Douglas wiped away the files from his view and kicked off his programs.

"I was asked by another company for aid. It turned out that due to a set of strange incidents and my peoples expertise on such things we had to investigate a quarantined off planet site....." Mr. Weskit frowned slightly at the thought of his next words only to brazenly sigh. "It seemed that due to the tampering of the materials atomic makeup it changed offering a unique frequency to all who could be susceptive to such things. The material was stolen from our labs and distributed throughout the universe, We suspect that the thieves are Aschen Agents or possible even terrorist from Terra. We are working on an identification and a possible cure to this ill effect. We wanted to see the results on the market from an annalist so that we can make our next move."

Of course, Raashad had his own unique theories on this, like he did not imagine the person who sold it was actually anything but someone with something bigger than they could imagine. Nonetheless, he added with slight smirk, "Now it begins to make sense, The Renev paid you to make the substance to be mined." noting the look he went on, "I had a rather shall we say worried woman approach me in the street after reading my article on the stuff and she told me a truly fascinating story. It was a power coup Five Nations once united to create a powerful Space Station called Jarrako Downs. The Renev were scientists and feared the war-like races so instead they spoke of a rare mineral claiming they discovered it. They knew what it did, and I imagine you are the reason all five of the Races were lost well mostly. Renev, are still sometimes seen." pausing he gave a slight chuckle, "So you made the mineral and her story was true. I am guessing you never intended it to be used as a weapon like The Renev did or at least unleashed. Seems to me from my understanding of this all, the choice is either get control of this or have the market suffer."

Turning he regarded them both away from his desk, "Whatever the case gentleman seems we have an issue that needs sorted otherwise we will end up terrible results..."

Bristol reached down to the thickened piece of armor on his hip where a seam opened. He pulled a piece of mineral paper from his hip with information on them. Ductu even imitated from his hip a machine sound she'd heard of something that printed documents. Bristol looked them over for a little too long the ledger page he recognized in part though the worm's senses were different. The worm's eyes saw the document with some depth he couldn't yet describe but here the flatness was 'normal'. The second was a colorful heat-map with convoluted psi-signal readings in esoteric format for human mages. The curling text pointing to sources was from specific unknown sources his skills couldn't even remotely discern. Maps of Way disturbances recorded by arcane psionic creatures didn't make as much sense to ones like himself let alone in 2d but the map held to the plane of this region. At least it could be read by the suitably trained he assumed. Ductu could use some quality time with him training her how to use the headless dataslate he got her.

((I don't like the idea that this material is an open threat to mankind, you know. There's many things I still want to know. There's a thing or two you're going to have to teach me how to use, later.)), said Ductu inside of his brain. He could feel the smile on her. The tone caused his mind to wander if briefly but returned in short order to the matter at hand. She learned human habits quickly enough to be very distracting. Of course she was always listening to him think, the impish tart, ((I draw from bonding to learn any human skills. I'm supernaturally flexible.))

Bristol sighed and offered the sheaves of several resilient transmuted papers to Weskit, "Here's what data I have, Mr Weskit, with apologies that the document is stored in analog. If you're the source of this material then this set of transactions can't be you I think. It's too recent. The other I can't read but I'm told may be pertinent to the signals this substance is outputting. If this material put down a number of races that doesn't bode well for us let alone the market if we don't get it under wraps."

Douglas continued to lean against his seat. There was little reason for him to even want the market fixed let alone save countless corps that could easily be consumed in a massive takeover. More floundering companies made more easy profits.

"So lets say we spread the word about this little problem. Offer a way for those affected to pull their stakes up and flee, what then?" Douglas took another drag from his smokeless cigarette and took up the paper to look over. His eyes seemed to shimmer as he looked over the numbers. "I say it is by far more beneficial to see how far this can go and take up our call here. If I needed to suggest anything to help it would be corporate takeovers of these minor companies."

Of course despite Raashad having heard how hostile MarsCorp could be even he was truly horrified at what was trying being said. He did not show it, but instead tried to be diplomatic, "Mr Weskit, perhaps from outset may seem beneficial but the markets are my concern. They are my business after all. We should want less reckless individuals selling arms and trying to buy up arms. If nothing is done, we could well have Intergalactic Corporate War where no one wins and it would make the World Wars of Terra look like amateur hour." with that she went on, "I am aware how powerful MarsCorp is Mr Weskit, but I know you would rather not have the danger of the bigger fish syndrome. If war breaks out from Intergalactic Corporations, there will be an arms race and in the end one will stand supreme. No competition and a monopoly develops... All in all, nobody wins."

Turning to Mr Stacks, he hoped he would understand was being said here....

Bristol considered the option of putting all of this material on one person's hands. What would it result for only one addict having a supply versus if all of them were broke? But they'd eventually find out where all of it was. Ductu stated the obvious into his ear then mentally looked away, ((I'm fairly sure you know what the addicts already do when they're broke. Oh, A new Dicta from Myrkul comes?))

With his bond to Ductu he was forced to listen to the tinkle of glass from somewhere and he'd gotten used to the noise as she talked to Jinhai. The noises were usually contained and directed this was different. Hearing anything through Ductu's sense of Psionic proximity was usually just rage but its particular raw 'sound' left him knowing better than to bother looking for it. Instead this time a crescendo raced up just before a shockwave of psychic sound hit him like a freight train full of glass. Volume and sharpness pushed all other thoughts out of his untrained mind and the breath out of his lungs. He fell over sideways with a flap of his arms. After rediscovering which nerve his lungs were attached to he found himself on his hindquarters. He stumbled sideways upright before rubbing his temples.

He blinked and tried to gather his last thought as Ductu quietly mulled Myrkul's proclamation. He coughed, "Uh, sorry. Latent medical issues. Where... was I?"

He found his demolished train of thought looking up while speaking to reconstruct it, "Mr Weskit has a point in large. Though I think it would be good to buy some of these damaged companies. At least to get more information to where the rest of the load is. It may be bad to cut off circulation entirely let alone stockpile it all at one spot. What happens when a all of them go into withdrawal? I don't think they'll just sit there and be bought for long. The instant they get wind of who's stockpiling all the goods you'll have a thousand irrationally-paid mercs heading for it."

More directed to Mr. Weskit he shook his head then asked, "Ah, How much of many of those transactions on that logbook do you think have been on there more than twice Mr. Weskit?"

"Well Rashaad this is why I work the business and you theorize the outcomes...." The Gentleman seemed to be cut off as the other seemed to collapse but for only a minute. Douglas almost seemed worried until Mr. Stacks proposed his own thoughts followed by a question of his own.

"It would not be my first rodeo Mr. Stacks but as for your question I believe I saw five or maybe eight different transactions that appear to be duplicated." Douglas frowned slightly as he reached over to offer his fellow aid in order to get back to a seat. ""I might be mistaken however on those transactions so don't hold me to it."

Rubbing his temple with his forefingers he took this into consideration and said, "Yes, it could work buying out the companies affected would net us two things, one we would finally have information on their source and also it would drastically decrease the threat. I don't like it in truth, but there is a practicalness and methodicalness to what you say that I can argue with." pausing he turned to the large screen and said, "Computer, draw up a list of the companies and corporations that are most isolated and give us projections on their economic influence." there was some flashes and beeps, as the computer processed the data. Waiting, it would reveal a large bar chart showing a list of the Corporations their trading partners, their subsidiaries and finally their economic clout, "That, gentlemen, is how you approach this. Not with a gung-ho attitude of buy, them all out, instead go for weaker ones and trace their trade partner, eventually we will come to the big fish and at that point, MarsCorp has such sway over this material it has to trade with you. Or face complete isolation in the Market. Mars Corp gets to control their substance again and reckless corporations are lost. It's a win-win to me."

Pointing to a console on his desk, he indicated, "Now, gentleman, take a copy of this graph and we shall discuss more in future. I know we all have our reasons for this... But, whatever they are, we all have the similar goal. Good day gentlemen."

Taking a helping hand Bristol sat down near Mr Weskit. His head suddenly felt like it got struck with a steel bat. Warm and kind of fuzzy at first then damn the pain started. Squirming along his thoughts told him she attended to him even if she was busy unpacking her 'Dicta' whatever that might be. He'd have to ask later.

He rubbed his eyes then looked at Mr. Weskit to listen as small black lines raced along a bloodshot sclera. They stretched the minute tubes back together with telekinetics long enough to transmute heat from blood at least enough to seal vessels back together. Ductu couldn't safely generate a rekindling of living flesh as could Jinhai. They merely transported and differentiated stem cells to fit holes too big to stretch around the body with intelligent bricklaying that human flesh was otherwise normally incapable.

Bristol accessed the graph provided by Rashaad then nodded at Weskit, "Thank you, sir. My head's seen better days even if it's still sharp. I suppose you're sharp enough in other ways to fend off the inevitable mercs if this stuff's in their pad that much as a frequent flyer. More power to you, literally, I suppose. The same shipments stolen more than thrice really borders on a comedy of thievery, though."

Ductu's headless datapad downloaded the data as well when her full attention returned. Bristol could tell she was relieved but the voice sounded worried, ((It worked! I figured out the buttons. Everything will be okay, Bristol. I'm taking care of things inside. I didn't think the Dicta could hurt Mankind that weren't attuned. I guess that's because we usually bond with psi-wielders. Sorry, dear. Myrkul's vein had to let us know our threats weren't what we thought they were. Also, Wing City Business district is under siege, again.))

Bristol sighed at the two as tinnitus fired on and off in his ear, "Also, somebody's blowing up wing city again. Business district. That's one city of the damned. I hope we don't need any records or buys from there, Raashad. It might be hard to get off that side of the planet."

The Gent simply accessed Rashaad's files wirelessly and projected the information before him eyes using the ARO that seemed to be presently active for Douglas. The Representative from Mars Corp simply smiled and sent his orders through a simple nod.

"Gentleman I will take my leave. I've sent for an invite to be sent to both of your home residents to attend a party of sorts. You have time to make the appropriate changes I assure you." With that Douglas took his leave.

A man approached from the transit network of the city with someone whispering what was heard into his ear from Jinhai quietly watching news broadcasts of the parade with nervous eyes glancing at them. They passed on through Ductu the ruckus starting at the gate. The bombastic imperial Cain had his good points he supposed though he'd clearly been too long accustomed to power. The same could be said about himself in some respects. He needed to be out more in the public eye the old habit of hiding behind a desk died with the disease that trapped him there for what felt like forever. After some consulting with Ductu and a lot of data collection he tracked down where the Jinhai had created their form of morgue. Hideous to look at but their goals were in the right place. There were a great many people still in beds down there and the black robed creatures weren't a kind to announce their business unless you bothered to ask. So he asked. After several days collating identification profiles what data he had was on his datapad. Some of the bodies had extensive damage and lost a lot of identifying features. Until the Jinhai had enough parts to finish rebuilding the people so they could talk they'd just be John Does. He was going to look into them a little further to try and pick out more before igniting a fervor of hopefuls around the Jinhai's underground 'warehouse' but it had to come out eventually.

The man's hardsuit made little but a thin scuff as he walked light carefully tended hair bouncing in the busy air. The clothes were ever immaculate from Ductu cleaning them continuously. He had a few sets of different decorative bits for different occasions but his normal blues looked quite well on him he thought. The instant he wasn't trapped behind a desk managing finance and organizing jobs he put himself together physically. He didn't keep servants, his father called them a 'moral hazard', tending himself perfectly well as Ductu was more his second. You paid a good man for his labor and thanked him for the effort. It made him less visible in the public eye but those that recognized him he looked at with a smile while making his way toward the old man with just grievances.

A glove that felt like soft-leather set on the the one who had lost his whole family, "Bristol Stacks, looking for me I hear? I'm afraid I don't come from a place familiar with the public eye. Too long behind a desk I fear but I try to break old habits. I've been busy tracking down a place of sanctuary built by the hooded silent fellows moving around lately. I came when I heard about the parade's little meeting."

He offered the man the tablet of names hair shifting with his head to favor one side glancing questioningly at Cole, "As much as I love a good meeting of the... pajamas? Ah, minds, rather? Business before pleasure. I don't suppose you recognize any of the names or faces here?"

He raised an eyebrow at possible eavesdroppers saying louder, "And I pushed it on Civ-net. Just ask the Jinhai if you recognize one. They don't bite they just don't talk, hmm?"

Many of the faces were covered in a thin luminous webbing that looked rather like frosted webbing but the faces were all intact if some with new scars and a missing eye or two. Jinhai apparently couldn't fix heads that got pounded too hard but eventually ran out of... spare parts. He paid the sleepers respect to not take full-body shots. Many in the warehouse were just too weak to move as vast rekindling drained them of personal energies to rematerialize the joins. Once Jinhai had been given a sense of medicine they just set up a ward and cared for the recovering patients themselves. Some of the EMTs knew where the place was and dropped by when resources were scarce. Few realized what the industrious builders had been expanding below the disused boarded up warehouse on main street. Jinhai were seen to congregate there but Jinhai weren't that interested in lighting and dark holes weren't too inviting.

Mr. E loved parades! They were usually so much fun, and he got to meet all sorts of wonderful people and shake all sorts of hands. For that reason, he cheerfully walked, his wife, equally rotund though certainly more human in appearance, rode in the mayoral vehicle. Unfortunately, it seemed like something had cropped up. Curiosity brought the man, dressed in a polo shirt and khaki slacks, up to the front, leaving his designated spot to see what had happened.
“Oh dear.” He murmured taking it in. He stepped up, and spoke first to the imperial commander. “Hello! I’m Mayor Mr. E, and I couldn’t help overhearing the problem. If you speak with the police department, we have excellent mages on staff who specialize on retrieving people pulled to other dimensions. Wing City problems, you know?” He laughed at this. “ho, ho ho! You get rather used to it. Student mages let their magic out of control, and of course, we’ve got more than one ley line in our esteemed city! I’m afraid we’re rather a magic hot spot! Ho ho!”

He offered a wide smile to all of them. “And I’m sure that the Terran National Government, who I’m sure must of coordinated your defense of our lovely planet, would be thrilled to see you all so fired up about the defense of our only Space port! Unfortunately, you must be aware that special permits are required for military parades involving foreign forces yes?” He said, concern clear. “I’m afraid I don’t recall seeing any come across my desk.”

Still, he managed a smile to the other candidates. “I look forward to the race! Why, competition is the best sort of thing for Wing City! And of course, I’d be happy to advice the winner, should I lose, about some of the more wild eccentricities or our city! Especially how to deal with some of the insurance companies, and which construction companies can be trusted to rebuild quickly, and with quality product!” He worked hard on ensuring low insurance rates, despite the high disaster levels of the city, and on finding the faster quality construction companies around.

"What in Larkson's name is all that racket...?"

A fluffy pink cloud floated above Wing City like a lazy balloon on a summer day. The cloud glistened under the midday sun like powdered sugar, yet its shadows were thick like traces of ink over a pink canvas. It bobbed in the sky for a moment like a lure on the surface of a pond. Metallic creaking, like springs, disturbed the fragile peace of the empty sky.

A brown hoof extended and draped itself over the side of the cloud. It was followed by a bear's paw that gripped the edge and pulled up a very bemused goat's head. Discord scowled, biting his lower lip with his single overbit tooth, and huffed a cloud of icy steam that dislodged his yellow sleeping cap.

Discord rubbed his bloodshot eyes with a clenched gryphon hand before looking down at the commotion in the city. He blinked - one eye and then the other - as a wad of cobwebs fell out of his ear. His eyes suddenly snapped open, eyelids flapping as they rolled like a pair of overexcited blinds, and his yellow nightcap fluttered off into the wind to blind some poor bicyclist.

"Oh, look!" Discord grinned ear to ear, "Something's finally happening down there. About bloody time. I've been getting a horrid kink in my back.

The draconequuis stood up on his cloud. His hoof and reptilian leg easily found traction against the puffy substance, and he stretched his mismatched limbs towards the sky. He let out a great yawn and twisted his back a grand total of negative one hundred and thirty seven i degrees bi-clockwise. Discord winced as his spine made a convincing impression of fireworks display before he floated into the air and allowed his lower half to spin into place.

"Ohhh yeah..." he sighed. "That hit the spot. Now, let's see what we have here..."

Discord snapped his fingers and sent his fuzzy yellow pajamas giftwrapped to a balor in the lower planes (addressed from a rival pit fiend, of course) before floating down to the cloud. He snapped his neck and a hurricane somewhere transformed into a cannibalistic butterfly. The draconequuis finally reached up, grabbed his eye, and extended it out like a telescope.

"Ich, politics." he spat the word, which promptly flew off into the stratosphere. "Not my favorite brand of chaos, but it has potential. I'm sure I can spice things up a bit..."

Discord rubbed his paw and talons together as his reptilian tail swept across the cloud. It left a state-of-the-art sound board in its wake with a score and three pi buttons, knobs, and thingamajigs that not even he knew the purpose of, but that was part of the fun, wasn't it?

He plopped down on a granite chair, pulled on a pair of headphones, popped open a bag of cheetos, and cackled madly!

Discord twisted a few knobs, and a moment later the Imperial Commander's voice would slowly rise in pitch as if the a steady supply of helium was introduced into his breathing space.

Right next to a woman with bewitching and beguiling beauty appeared chuckling as she watched the Imperium's Guardsman voice enter realms of Falsetto, "It's a start certainly. But I think we require a little more, finesse. Your talents are certainly humorous, but I think you are missing something, being you have made the Imperium Speaker such a fantastic Soprano, how about he sings everything!" turning to the Chaotic being she immediately targeted the speaker with this jinx and at once everytime he spoke, he would only sing and combined with the falsetto tone to his voice, it was causing a rather humorous result." nodding she smirked, "As I said Dear Discord, finesse, you provided the voice, I provide the music!"