Price check

“Yeah man, I don’t think that necklace is gonna sell here. Weird ass design.” Tony said, chuckling. “I’ll take the deer skins if you don’t want em, though. Toss in some pickles and we might be able to make this work.”

“Feeling awfully generous today, are we?” Sally asked. “What exactly do you intend to do with deerskins?”

“I intend to eat something other than flash dried fish, woman.” Tony said with mock severity. “These things’ll last a while, and we can trade them around.”

“Really?” Rose said, “Why not trade with Kevin? Doesn't he have access to a grocery store?”

Kevin leaned forward on one elbow. Once Rose started asking questions, the table had proven reasonably accommodating, treating her as a new tester. Indeed, they all seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion Gil would arrange for her promotion. Apparently he had something of a pattern.

“I do, but there’s hard limits on what I can trade for, and there’s not much overlap with what their ship’s synthesizer can make.” He explained, “My world isn’t supposed to have instant repair tools or whatever, so I can’t have them. I can’t trade for anything that could be considered a weapon, so no knives or metal pipes. I also don’t really want to have a bunch of animal hides or dried fish; given that my dog doesn’t like those like she used to.”

“Bite me.” Terra said, not looking up from her book or placing any real inflection upon her words.

“So… all the furs I’ve got, two doors of light, and a credit?” Gil said, pulling the conversation back on topic. “And in return I get the repair tool and the charging dock?”

“Yup.” Tony said, “I’ll warn you, it needs to still be mostly in one piece and recognizable, so it’s not gonna fix a scrap heap. This baby makes maintenance and spot repairs easy, though. Real easy.”

Gil’s friends had rattled off what they were willing to trade in a kind of rehearsed, casual manner. As much as they’d given him a hard time for being all business, hardly anyone came to the Bazaar purely to socialize. Everyone had a few things worth selling, even if it was just something common in their world but extraordinary elsewhere, like doors of light or Materia.

Lillibeth had some noticeably better weapons and armor, clearly enchanted in various ways, but Gil was already moving away from the medieval weaponry. It just didn’t seem like a good investment at the moment. She also had some magic rocks that could do everything from heal wounds like healing leaves to curse a region of the world with the powers of darkness.

“Why the fuck would I want to do that?” Gil asked with a laugh, “Seems like it would just make everything harder.”

“I’m pretty sure they reset things too.” Lillabeth said, “I haven’t completely cleared out any zones, since anything I can grind easily is also likely to just die against anything I need help for. I’ll probably go back later if I hit a stone wall.”

Tony and Sally were apparently stranded on some random moon that was mostly water, but they had a synthesizer that could make all sorts of things if fed raw materials. Not much that they’d offered had been so incredible as to prompt an impulse buy, though when Sally mentioned that they could mass produce mech suits he’d certainly perked up his ears. Unfortunately they were essentially powered deep sea diving suits, not built for combat and with a drill as their only real “weapon” beyond hydraulic powered punches. A bit tempting as a thing to feed into the Armory, but he decided against it as Sally explained the logistics of keeping them functional.

The repair tool, in contrast, was a very easy buy. It could somehow synthesize new material from gathered solar energy, and perfectly repair any remotely intact object. In the absolute worst case scenario, it would probably save him Marks by fixing his team’s armor manually instead of repairing them at the armory. It needed a solar powered charging station to be worth the cost, doubling the price for Gil, but Tony was a bro and charged him the minimum that the Company would allow. It could apparently be made pretty easily with common materials, though Sally muttered darkly about something called “crash fish” when he said so.

“I might come back here later,” Gil said, standing, “I’m gonna check with Vanessa, and there’s an exploit I want to try out before I get **** back home. Don’t go anywhere. I just want to be sure I have the credits to spare before I commit to anything, you know?”

Lillibeth rolled her eyes and took another pull from her drinking horn. Her rundown of her assets had given him an idea, and she seemed open to testing it out, but that didn’t mean he had everything he needed to pull it off. Not yet, anyway.

“I am at your service.” She said sarcastically. “At least if your offer actually pans out.”

••••••••••

Vanessa, in all her blonde executive glory, was leaning over her table smirking at another tester when Gil approached. It wasn’t someone Gil recognized. He rippled through two or three faces over a few seconds, so presumably they’d had dealings of some kind in the last few thousand years, but nothing that had lodged itself in Gil’s mind.

“If you’re broke, just say so.” Vanessa said, drumming her fingernails on the table. “I’ve got a much more reliable customer waiting right behind you.”

The man sighed and produced a bottle of glowing liquid, which he handed to Scarlett. In return she handed him a pistol and a few extra clips of ammo, then seemingly forgot his existence.

“So, how’s the chocobo treating you?” She said, tidying her wares.

“Better than I expected, honestly.” Gil said. “I taught it how to fly, and suddenly it’s the best form of transit I have.”

Vanessa clapped her hands sarcastically, fingers on palm, though she did smile.

“Excellent. Here for another?” She said. “They eat plenty but they really are excellent mounts.”

“Nah, I was actually hoping to buy some soldiers.” He said. “Last time, you mentioned that you could swap out people in your retinue for new recruits. Do they need to be the same tier?”

“No, but I do have standards, Gil.” She said severely. “I’m not going to accept a bunch of useless fellows from the ziggurat so you can have soldiers. I do still need underlings.”

“Maybe, but I bet you’d make a trade for some pretty faces.” Gil said. “I know your tastes. You like to be part of a harem, not to mention how you pass the time before that. Besides, it’s not like I’m asking you to vent your entire retinue. How many soldiers can you spare if I can find some cute girls for you to bully?”

Vanessa snorted, but didn’t argue the point.

“I’ve got about twenty I’ve broken to the lash, plus the chocobos and a few bioengineered monsters.” She said thoughtfully. “Tell you what, if you can find some tier ones that are to my taste, I’ll pick through whatever other filler trash you’ve got to make up the difference in value. If you bring along tier two ladies, I’ll toss in one piece of materia each. Deal?”

“Deal. I’ll leave the next part of the negotiation to my apprentice.” Gil said, patting Rose on the shoulder, “Meet me at the ziggurat with the tablet. I’m gonna start looking for our guy.”

Rose looked up from where she’d been examining a purple marble, called a Cover materia. When last they’d been in the bazaar, Vanessa had mentioned that it strengthened the body but created a strong instinctive urge to throw oneself between allies and danger. As Gil left, Rose met the mature blonde’s eyes and smiled.

“So…” Rose said, “I understand you have been trying to develop new types of materia to enable your predilections. Yes?”

“Quick to catch on, unless Gilbert coached you.” Vanessa said. “What of it?”

“Can you use something else as a seed, or a pattern to map off of?” Rose asked, “For a piece of materia, I mean. Would an item that achieves something akin to your goals be an object you’d be interested in buying?”

“Perhaps.” Vanessa said, “Get on with it, or I’ll start looking for new customers.”

Rose pulled out the Whore’s Necklace and slapped it on the table.

“This can turn any woman who wears it, and I do mean any, into a whore.” Rose stated. “A wanton, willing, profit driven whore. Would that be of interest to you?”

“It may indeed.” Vanessa said, smiling, “So what exactly are you angling for?”

“For one, if you do manage to make something with this, I’d like a copy for my own use.” Rose said with a wink. “We can pay for that when it becomes available, however, so I’ll only ask that you let us know if you can make two and give us an opportunity to buy later. I’d also like to buy another iron bangle and the materia to fill it. The cover materia may be useful for a new friend my husband has recently acquired, and I notice you have a new yellow marble there. What does it do?”

“Sense Materia.” Vanessa said, glancing down at it. “Standard issue for the boys in the lab. Let’s the user dredge up all sorts of relevant information about a target, and quite a lot more irrelevant information.”

“Cover, sense, and an armlet, plus another restore and a fire materia.” Rose said, “In return, I’ll give you the necklace, and we can have a bit of fun. Do we have a deal?”

“You’re trying to seduce me?” Scarlett said, laughing. “How novel. Do you honestly think I have any trouble finding lovers?”

Rose leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“You build your life around finding the right kind of lover.” Rose said, “If not a trade, how about a wager? I’ll give you exactly what you want. If I can, you toss in the elemental and healing materia. If I can’t, we just trade the necklace for the two new types. Deal?”

Vanessa snorted derisively.

“Sure, why not.” She said, “If you can satisfy me, or at least tide me over, I’ll give you a few extra trinkets. I win either way.”

Rose backed off, still smiling.

“Good. Then I’ll take the first few things in Gil’s name.” She said, “Then I’ll go get a few… materials.”