@dr; text; February 1st

[donttalktome]

A proposition for you, Beacon:

The Night Market is set to return this month, and with them, the machine that gives answers.
For reasons a certain subset of you will understand, I refuse to go anywhere near the thing ever again.
And yet, I still have questions.
Hold that thought for a moment.

Some of you have come to me with requests for new tablet programs. "Apps" as we call them, but I realize that term means nothing to people from worlds without it.
In the past, I offered my services relatively free of charge. Spirit of goodwill and all that.
But I did say it wouldn't last forever.

Henceforth, anyone requiring new apps or other technological assistance will be charged one answer from the Night Market's machine.
The answer must be to a question of my choosing, and it must be documented in order to count.
Payment is expected upfront, and all payments are non-refundable for obvious reasons.

If you require a portfolio of my work, you're probably already using it.
Aside from the few basic functions, a good deal of the apps on these tablets are mine.

If you require an incentive that isn't tablet-related, I'll lay one other offer on the table:
I still know the location of a place that this group has yet to discover.
But that'll cost you two answers.

The short version, for those of you too lazy to read:
If you want anything from me, you'll have to ask a question to the machine, and give me the answer with proof of where you got it.
A simple transaction, but if you have any questions, don't worry, those are still free.

[OOC NOTE: any apps/modifications characters request from Will still need to be approved as player projects by the mods. They will likely take some time to create, especially since he lost his fancy hacker tablet, so nothing will be instant. If you have any ooc questions, hit me up over at leucrotta or just PM Will's journal.]

Comments

[donttalktome]

Human brethren?
Where the hell do you come from?
I don't owe anyone anything just because we happen to be of the same species. None of us exactly got a choice in the matter.

Science is an act of curiosity. It's trying to make the truth more clear by experimentation. Figuring out how things work, and why, and how they might be used.
What I'm offering isn't anything like that.
It's just production, no questions involved.

Well why were you out shooting targets and putting yourself in danger with only one eye?
I can't be held responsible for your choices.

[featherknives]

Ionia. Not that you heard of it.
And that's why you all fall apart so easily. I'm not going to give a lecture, though. Humans never listen anyway.

Do good things come from science?
I've heard some of my people tried to pursue it because of this 'curiosity' but it always ended badly

[They end up being hunted down for their feathers and magic.]

"Half-blind, with murder intent and guilt for even breathing the air"
The second punishment was the killing urge. It forced me to go out and fight
You should be happy I didn't come after anyone in the village and instead killed some of the forest spirits instead

[He could've definitively been a target. A very easy target to sate her killing hunger.]

[donttalktome]

You do know that this place has plenty of non-humans, right?
And that society isn't always divided between species?
Perhaps where you come from all humans band together and betray each other, but that's not how my world works.

[Well, except for the betraying each other thing, but that's multi-species.]

Plenty of things come from science.
Medicine, technology, infrastructure, agriculture. The list goes on forever.
Of course, weapons also come from science.
It's neither good or bad, really. It's all in what you do with what you discover.

And anyway, it seems like you had enough control to stop yourself from hurting anyone in town.
I'm not just tossing that out there, either.
I had enough control not to do anything truly stupid, either.

[featherknives]

Mine was
And we thrived when people stayed away from us
For all the things you listed science does for you, magic did for us
Maybe that's why humans started to hunt us down. No need to do sciency stuff if you can get it all on the platter, for cost of mere Vastayan life. Sweet deal, right?

How does this science look like?

[...]

I'm setting out soon to comb through forest
I could keep my eyes open for things

[Maybe she finds some, you know, yeeted stuff from way back. She needs to know to recognize it.]

Having wits about oneself shouldn't be a miracle, but here we are, praising whatever it is out there that keeps us relatively sane

[donttalktome]

Well, it's obviously very unfortunate that humans resorted to such means where you're from.
But at least know that we don't do that in every world.
Still, guess I don't blame you for hating us.
I'd do the same thing.

[He already has, kind of.]

You're asking what science looks like?
Science is an act, not an object.
I think the word you're looking for is "technology".
And that usually looks like something that very much does not belong in the wild.
Something made of artificial materials, something that's too perfectly geometrical. Something that wouldn't exist without intervention.
Basically, anything made by people.

[featherknives]

I learned that here. I suppose some humans are better than others. White sheep in the herd of black ones.

[Not only she hated, but she also killed too. But that's off-topic.]

I know how technology looks like
I mean, this tablet is technology too, right?

I was thinking more of that other sciency stuff
That weird Pluto person was asking for it all over didn't they?
What was it called
Plutonium?
How does that look like?
And are there other stuff like that?

[donttalktome]

The plutonium?
Well, first of all plutonium isn't "science", it's just an element.
You can use it for science.
It's a mineral that glows, even in the dark. It'll look like a rock with a greenish light.
The only one I've seen in person here was a solid, fist-sized piece.
In that form, it's almost entirely safe unless you decide to put it in your mouth for some reason.
But if you encounter it in powder form, I wouldn't advise breathing any of it in.
It's poisonous, for lack of a better word.
I doubt you have much experience with radiation.

[featherknives]

[Listen it's all the same to her. Science or for science.]

Okay that won't be so hard to spot, even if I fly
Although, does it glow HERE?
I mean, there's no light from anywhere except for bonfire and our lanterns.
And no, I don't have expreience

[She doesn't know what that word means, but the way the guy phrased it sounds bad.]

Would you still have use from it in powder form?

[donttalktome]

It does glow here. I'm not sure why.
The glow doesn't exactly travel far, though. It's not very bright.
Pluto never said she didn't accept it as powder.
Unless you mean me personally.
I don't even remotely have the tools to make plutonium useful, regardless of form.