[Shin Akiba, Zakera Ward] Everything Must Go (Open)

The lights of Shin Akiba shine on all day, every day. Electronics, food, furniture, second hand goods...Shin Akiba has a lot of quality products to offer, carefully hiding the less quality products that will actually be leaving the store with you.

And once in a while, a few business owners will band together and say "Hmm...today is just a good day to sell." And so is born Akiba Madness: The once in a year(Hierarchy standard) event where sales are put out left and right, and the customers roll in. Temporary kiosks pop up, selling omni tools, make up, kebabs and cheap jewelry.

So, naturally, the place is crowded with customers, moving from place to place and attempting to manuver arms overladen with bags through the throngs of people. Sales clerks long for death. A few keepers scuttle about the place, and are gently blocked from businesses to keep the carefully crafted displays from being tampered with.

There is one kiosk where the clerk in question is receiving a tiny reprieve. After the asari's latest customer leaves, with a boxed data pad tucked under his arm, there is a distinct absence of customers. Alora T'Rinette gave a small sigh of pleasure, and quietly sipped her coffee. A nice, relaxing break after three hours of selling E-book readers and recommending the latest Liseri Cortenz novels to passers by. The Armali Literature Guild kiosk will be seeing more business soon, but for now, Alora had her coffee and could relax.

Relax, for maybe a few moments.

A woman approached, going over a genuine-paper notepad in her palm. Various cookbooks that were published this week, new recipes for Chris and a few parenting guides for biotics. The blonde sighed, rubbing her face with her palm. Everything was moving quickly- And her mind was distracted away from the asari behind the counter. Sarah would shove the notepad into her jacket pocket, giving the sides of her jacket a tug together before focusing her attention on the other woman.

"Oh- Uh. Hi, there." She realizes her mistake. Fuck. She'd fish the notebook back out and hand it over. "Do you sell these?" Included were some high-end cookbooks, a few movies- And the biotic parenting guides. The woman looked stressed, with sleepless rings around her eyes. She'd place her hands on the counter, a silver ring tapping slightly against the surface.

Alora's coffee disappeared instantly, and she gently took the notebook from the woman. An actual, physical notebook. Where most people would use their omni tools. Weird. But, putting that aside, Alora scanned the list, before frowning.

"Well, unfortunately, we don't sell movies here." She explained, and kept her eyes from rolling straight up to the "LITERATURE" in the sign directly over her head. No getting sarcastic with the customers. That ends in tears. "However, the cookbooks, which include some new releases this week, and this guide, we do have." She confirmed, typing into the kiosk terminal with one hand while scrutinizing the list.

"Baby Bloomer: A Guide for Parenting the Biotically Able, as well as Dallen's Cookbook Edition 4, Xenri's Recipes, 1001 Fantastic Soups and The Chef's Guide to Extraterrestrial Vegetables." She read off. "Now, do you have a device on which you'd like these specifically downloaded?" Alora asked, eyeing the paper pad that now sat on the counter space. Perhaps a juicier sale loomed in her future. "We do have several data pads available for purchase, for all ranges of special needs, occupational, special and medical." There had to be a better way to say that.

Sarah rubbed her nose briefly. Orange panels manifested, igniting and forming a tool around her right forearm, a ring of light behind her hand projecting a small screen. "I have an omnitool, I just scribbled these down for some reason or another- She was on the phone and I have it on my desk. I could use the new model though, if you have it-" She moved her arm down by her side.

"I'll buy those books. I'm sorry about the movie question." She offered a genuine smile, keeping the tool activated on her arm. "Have to get all of these for my lady- She has a restaurant just down the way." She gestured her arm back- pointing at a busy building next to a clothing store. "I just thought I'd run her an errand. How much for everything?" She asks.

Alora offered her the best Saleswoman smile she had before glancing down. "For just downloading onto your omni tool, the total here is going to run you 6348 credits. However, since you mentioned a restaurant, if I may have a moment..." Alora dipped momentarily before bringing up a slim box.

"This is the Armali Kitchen Aid Tablet, specifically designed for use in the kitchen! Since a chef often needs both hands free for moving around the kitchen, instead of relying on an omni tool, you can simply download all of your favorite recipes to this! The pad comes with a stand, a wall mounted adhesive mat, a magnetic seal for placement on refrigeration units and certain styles of walls. While admittedly bulkier than most of our tablets, the AKAT is designed specifically to water and heat damage, and is coated with Senteri grade smart glass, which will refuse to steam up in the hottest of kitchens!"

Shit. What came next. Keep smiling, place the box on the counter. "In addition, the AKAT also comes pre downloaded with over 40,000 recipes from all manners of races and cultures! Many of the classics are in here. Palavenian Roast Xemna, Verina Filet, Jambalaya from earth, among many others. It also includes the option to submit your own recipes to the Armali Literature Guild, as well as submitting alternative methods for popular recipes. It also contains guides to a wide variety of kitchen appliances and utilities. Any AKAT data pad will also come with a one year subscription to Cuisine of the Stars magazine, for an even wider array of culinary experiments!"

"So, if you'd wish to purchase this, it will only add 13900 credits to your total. Otherwise, I could download these to your omni tool, home terminal or your partner's omni tool for 6348 credits, via external access or one time codes."

Aaaaand breath. How in the name of sanity had she remembered all that trivia? The asari straightened her back and gave the other woman a winning smile that might have been just a tad too large.

Sarah stood there, wide-eyed for a moment, before considering the consequences. Did Chris already have this? She rubbed her chin. "Just a moment." She stepped away from the kiosk and removed a device from her pocket, unfolding it and flipping a power switch. The woman turned to glance at the clerk, then at the passing crowds.

Her visor kicked on- And she dialed out, palm against her ear. "Hi, the lady here is trying to sell me on a chef's omnitool. Do you want one? Oh- Okay. Okay, yes, that's good! See, this errand was a good idea. I love you, I'll see you in a bit." She turned, flipping the visor closed and stowing it back into her pocket. Deep breath- Bartering time.

She returned to the Asari with a warm smile. "Yes, that sounds about right. There's no way I can bump down the price, though? Maybe offer a shared discount with my partner's restaurant?" She clasped her hands together, raising her brows slightly.

Dasir Bon stood towards the edge of the crowded Shin Akiba, gaze fixed on his omni-tool, murmuring to himself as he pored through various advertisements for drone repair services and parts. Above him floated a bright green maintenance drone, which was emitting a series of beeps to what sounded suspiciously like the tune of "The Geth Go Marching". This particular maintenance drone, SPD-14, had had a rather bad encounter during one of its routine maintenance runs through Huerta Memorial the week before and had been acting up ever since. As Dasir Bon had been the volunteer responsible for the drone during the incident, it fell to him to oversee, and pay for its repairs.

“This … is most … unfortunate, SPD-14.” Dasir said to his drone companion, not looking up from his omni-tool. “Even if I ... perform the repairs myself … the cost of the equipment … alone would … deplete the funds allotted for this … week. I could … neglect the repairs of non-mandatory … components but it would still be necessary for me to skip at least ... three meals this … week in order to ... cover all expenses.” He looked up in time to notice a rather large male Earth-clan passing by, sloppily eating what appeared to be brown gloop piled on top of a tan pastry. Whatever the substance was, the man was making it look absolutely delicious, and Dasir Bon couldn't help but stare longingly at it as the Earth-clan passed by a kiosk selling eBooks and literary tablets. Neither the man, the Thessia-clan running the kiosk, nor the customer she was helping appeared to notice when a large dollop of the strange brown substance fell onto the kiosk near a small pile of the tablets, but Dasir did, and so, unfortunately did SPD-14.

“Contamination detected.” The maintenance drone beeped, zooming towards the offending substance before Dasir Bon could stop it. Dasir turned back to his omni-tool as quickly he could, sending out a short signal and overloading the drone’s systems, causing it twitch for a couple seconds before falling uselessly onto the floor next to the kiosk. Unfortunately, Dasir had not acted quickly enough to prevent it from starting its maintenance protocol, which, in the drone’s addled state, had not only disintegrated the brown foodstuff, but had also singed a large portion the tablet closest to it. Dasir Bon inched forward as subtly as he could to retrieve the defective maintenance drone, hoping the shop owner was too preoccupied to have noticed what just happened, he could not afford to pay for the costs of the damaged tablet.

On the edge of the general chaos, a hanar floated past, happily committed to his latest mission. He was searching for that elusive insight that would tie his appreciation of binary moral paradigms in multiple races' religions to the experience of the asari, who uniquely lacked a sexual or gender binary - as well as to his own people, to whom gender was practically non-existent and sex a matter of little importance. If he could make a convincing argument for the universal appeal of binaries even absent the ideological structures of gender-sensitive societies, he could complete an essay that would challenge the most eloquent dissertation of his fellow acolyte Raelissitau! The elders aboard ship might take greater notice of his potential if he were able to make a convincing counterargument.

Let it never be said that hanar can't be competitive when they want to be. Today, Laykalar was after more than spiritual enlightenment. Today, philosophy intersected with baser forms of self-improvement.

Today was a combination of frenetic activity, diverse crowds of tourists from all species, and a poorly timed scheduled excursion period. Naturally, this meant that levels of excitability in Laykalar had passed the "intense" stage and were rapidly approaching cataclysmic. So many varied intellects, from such diverse cultural origins! The intersection of so many currents of knowledge and spiritual awareness, churned into a foam of boundless possibilities! Frankly quivering with anticipation at the intellectual opportunities attending him, Laykalar weaved and bobbed through the crowds, searching for someone to make advances to, so as to gain the insight he sought.

Had the scholars of ''Greater Encompassing'' realized the extent of the chaos in Shin Akiba they might have thought twice before permitting Laykalar one of his eager attack runs on the station community. As it was, they were distracted by a dispute with the dock support workers over the terms of the ship's continued presence on the station. Some of the local decision-makers were trying to move them on, bemoaning the congestion of the docking bay by a private pilgrim vessel offering no practical benefit to reconstruction or supply. In response, the learned Tathissyl had opined that "the others are most egregiously promoting a platform hostile to the universal dignity of inquisitive scholarship, and as such are behaving in a manner entirely at odds with the virtues of Enkindlement." This hadn't gone down well, and, recognizing the brewing storm, Laykalar had been happy to drift off and immerse himself once more in station life.

His attention, sweeping between multiple points at a time by virtue of 360-degree hanar vision, fixed now on a shopper arguing loudly with a stall owner. Perhaps it was their frustrated appeal to a deity which had doomed them, for the inhabitants of Zakera should have learned, perhaps, to know better. The unfortunate soul's fate sealed by their choice of phrasing, Laykalar homed in on the intriguing shopper. This individual appeared a most promising choice for illuminating discussion!

"I'm...not authorized to set up shared discounts. I'm just a grunt here. However, with your purchase of five books from us, each over 1000 credits, in addition to a tablet, we can offer you a 10% discount on the tablet, which will bring your total down to 18858 credits total. We can also offer you membership to the Armali Literature Guild, which will allow you access to all the latest best sellers, the newest in e-reader technology, and-"

Bzzzap

"-offer you exclusive deals on books! Would you be interested in applying for a Armali Literature Guild membership?" Alora asked, eyes momentarily flickering to the Volus and the drone. From this angle, she couldn't see the singed portion of the tablet, and she shrugged it off.

"If you'd give me one second, sir, I'd be happy to help you!" She offered, before returning her gaze to the short haired human. Looked like business would be picking up again shortly.

Dasir Bon froze where he was when the shopkeeper spoke to him, his hand mere inches away from SPD-14. He had been discovered! Surely the shopkeeper had noticed the damaged tablet and would soon be demanding payment for her merchandise that he simply did not have. But then…miraculously she turned her attention back to the customer she had been assisting prior to the incident, apparently none the wiser of what had transpired. Perhaps then, he still had time to get away.

Without another moment’s hesitation he snatched up SPD-14 and fled from the kiosk as fast as his little legs could carry him, nearly tripping over the store’s Earth-clan customer in his haste. He only stopped when he was thoroughly certain he was out of sight of the kiosk, somewhere on the other side of the market place.

As his heart slowed to a more even pace and his breathing returned to its normal rate, Dasir found himself starting to feel a little guilty. It was not like him to ignore a defective product, quality assurance and risk assessment had, after all, been his purpose at Elkoss Combine if, not strictly speaking, his job. He’d willingly worked overtime to pinpoint any inefficiencies or hazards in the product designs, and brought each and every one to the attention of his superiors. Yet he had just left some poor shopkeeper, who had done nothing to him, with a tablet made subpar though his failure to act. Dasir momentarily considered returning to the kiosk to inform the clerk of the damaged tablet, before realizing that he could not tell her about the tablet without drawing suspicion to himself, particularly not after he had fled so hastily. No, going back was sure to only put him in a worse situation than he was already in, best to just forget about the whole thing and move on.

Trying to distract himself from the guilt, Dasir proceededed to scan the immobile drone in his hand with his omnitool, looking for any further damage the overload may have caused it. Unfortunately, it appeared as though the overload had not left SPD-14 unscathed, and his power source was now in need of repairs on top of everything else. “Make that … six meals this week,” Dasir sighed.

Sarah sighed. "Fine, I'll buy it." She offered over her credit chip. "I'll be sure to come back in a month or two when the new books come out. Thanks for being helpful- And be sure to come by, okay?"

Hamilton was bored. It was one of those rare lulls in his normally busy schedule. No orders needed to be filled, Jahl was handling the counters and none of his usual contacts in the Terminus were responding, meaning he couldn't even get in touch with the other branches to see if anything was needed. He'd been so starved for things to do he even went to the headquarters and wandered around for awhile, asking random employees if they needed any assistance. When he realized after nearly an hour that his presence was making his workers deeply uncomfortable he finally decided to leave.

Hamilton was not a man who often had free time. And when he finally did he had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

So he was here, wandering the market looking for something, anything to entertain him. He had spent awhile pestering a Turian parts seller with requests for things like elbow grease and drive core fluid but after almost ten minutes of the Turian just not getting it he threw up his hands in mock frustration and left. Now he was coming up on a ebook store where, he idly noticed, one of the display items seemed to be on fire. Or at the very least smoking. Probably defective he thought to himself. Poor form to leave that on display. Customers would talk.

He jumped slightly as a Volus sprinted past him*, barely missing Hamilton's legs. "Hey! You go any faster and you're gonna start rolling! And who knows when you'll stop!" he yelled back as the Volus faded into the crowds behind him, cradling something in it's arms. Certainly not the politest thing to say but he honestly wouldn't mind if the Volus came back and shouted at him or something. At least it would entertain him for awhile.

*Well, as much as a Volus can sprint.

Dasir Bon had not noticed the Earth-clan shouting at him, nor was it likely that he would have stopped even if he had, but that did not matter, Dasir was fully prepared to put that unfortunate incident behind him and return to his original task of finding the right parts for SPD-14. It appeared as though the cheapest and best place for the parts he needed was a Turian owned establishment on the other side of the market from where he had ended up. Their advertisement even included a small app for locating their kiosk, which was a good thing because Dasir had never had much of a head for direction. The app allowed him navigate through the crowds with his eyes mostly transfixed on his omnitool, which meant that he did not truly look up until his device informed him that his destination would be ahead on the left. It was only then that Dasir noticed the uncomfortable familiarity of his surrounding environment. He had unfortunately not realized that the parts store just happened to be right across from the dreaded Ebook and tablet shop.

“It’s … alright,” Dasir told himself. “I’ve heard that aliens can’t always … tell Vol-clan apart. If I just go about my … business perhaps they will not notice … me.”

With that thought in mind Dasir walked toward the Turian parts store, cradling SPD-14 in his arms, and keeping his gaze fixed firmly in front of him, not even daring to chance a glance at the literature kiosk.

Laykalar arrived at his current target, pulsing with pleasure at the thought of a stimulating conversation. He still had some doubts as to the nature of the being or creature being referenced, though he knew from the context in which the name was used that it was likely relevant to his current field of study. The salarian shopper, who had invoked the name of Shrell in high-pitched near-hysteria, now turned from the kiosk in exaggerated frustration, breaking off the conversation and making for another stall nearby. His skin tone a rich pink, he was pleasing in appearance, although as ever the lack of subtle bioluminescence made him seem mute and non-vital, as though he were a floating corpse. It would have been disconcerting, were Laykalar not in the grip of enthusiasm at the thought of making a new acquaintance.

The salarian came face-to-legs with a hanar, who pulsed warmly. "Greetings! This one extends pleasantries to the other, and humbly inquires as to whether it may take a moment of the other's time?"

Aaaand the Volus was gone, And now she smelled smoke. Which was rarely a good sign when you sell electronics that aren't kitchen ware...which was a tiny bit ironic, considering the circumstances. Still. Game face. Paying customer. Alora took the credit chit with a smile and scanned the purchase through, before handing the tablet and a collection of downloadable codes for the books.

"Thank you so much for shopping with the Armali Literature Guild! We're glad to have you as a member now, and-"

Random shouting human.

"-Hope to see you again!" She plastered her biggest smile on before her eyes spotted the volus with the drone, who had stopped at the spare parts place just across from her kiosk.

Can't actually leave the shop- she began thinking to herself, before she saw the offending tablet. She plucked it from the display and it went underneath the counter, her "Happy Customer Service" smile momentarilly turning into a "OH holy shit this better not come out of my paycheck" face.

Looking the device over underneath the counter, she sighed in relief. It was one of the useless display models they kept out. Virtually useless. So that was a small relief. Now for the matter of whoever had attempted to set this tiny kiosk on fire.

"Sir, I could give you assistance now if you wish!" She called, attempting to convey the words "Get over here." As politely as possible without employing biotics.

Why was it so hard to find anything, nowadays?

His list was a simple one - he had drawn it up carefully before leaving his apartment - and he didn't like it when he was left with gaps, not when he wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Zakera Ward was a mess, and the politicians didn't seem to want to *do* anything. If only he was in Tayseri instead (and it wasn't often you heard that, really, which just showed how bad things were, that it should seem an attractive alternative). That turian assemblyman, Vallario; for all his bombast, he clearly had station security in mind. Why couldn't his own representatives see it? Really, it was appalling. And the supply chain was totally inadequate too, as he was once again being reminded. This was the Citadel, for shrell's sake!

If he could have ordered over the extranet, he would have, but the only local suppliers didn't deliver directly, you had to go down to the market and get the goods yourself, apparently. At the moment, he was searching for a deterrent for vermin. He avoided the Basin like the Aegohrian redpox, but the Basin, it seemed, had come to him. Joolisan blue crawlers; disgusting little things which combined a hideous bloated body with an over-abundance of legs. He didn't like things with more than two legs, and the more legs there were the more he wanted the creatures *gone*. Where had they come from, anyway? He hadn't received any shipments from Sur'Kesh. The crawlers were attracted to the salarian fruits he had in his kitchen, of course, and it was horribly unsanitary. For all he knew they were dangerous. Diseased. And now the stall owner was telling him she didn't have anything suitable, despite the local directories assuring him she would. Well, that was fantastic. Zakera was going to the pits. Though, thinking about it...wasn't it Tayseri who had that parasite outbreak? Disturbing...

He sped off for another stall, and collided with a hanar, which had drifted up alongside in a quiet attempt to ambush him, if he knew anything about hanar, which he did.

"Excuse me -" he began, but the hanar had launched into its introduction, melodious voice irritatingly mannered.

"No thank you, I'm really not interested. Wisdom of the Enkindlers, yes, not interested in converting thank you..."

How to get around it?

Just ignore her…that was what he was going to do. There were lots of “sirs” in the general area she wasn’t necessarily calling out to him; maybe someone else had come by during the few minutes he was away. Though… that didn’t explain the “I’m about ten seconds away from using my biotics” tone of voice she seemed to be using, but maybe she was just having a bad day and was normally grouchy with everyone. Yes, that was it, and the best thing for him to do would be to ignore her and proceed with his acquisition of the necessary parts.

“Sir…” Dasir said to the Paleven-clan manning the kiosk. “Do you have any … power cells for a … SPD class maintenance drone? Or for a … SPC class if they’re … cheaper, I can easily … rework them to fit the SPD.”

Hamilton turned and looked up, hearing someone calling towards him. He saw that the Asari at the Kiosk was gesturing towards him. Oh she looks happy. he thought to himself. He'd never actually had a job that didn't involve working behind some counter or another and if there's one thing he'd learned in his interactions with others in the galaxy it was that retail workers had a glorious body language all their own. So universal it was that things like gender, species, race or religion were completely irrelevant. The Asari was telling him to get over here and buy something or leave quickly.

Hamilton stepped jauntily over to her and scanned his eyes over the display. Hey, smoking one's gone. She works quick. He decided she didn't deserve to have him toy with her like he had the Turian who, by the time Hamilton had left, looked like he was about to brain himself with one of his own parts. Well, okay. He wouldn't toy with her as much. "You sell ebooks, huh?" He said, starting with the thing he knew would likely irk her the most. Clerks hated to have the incredibly obvious pointed out. The words "Armali Literature Guild" were plastered in massive, glowing letters perhaps 3 feet in front of him, just above the Asari's head and the only way he could miss it was if he was wearing a blindfold. In the split second before she spoke he had another, even better idea.
"Got any good romance novels?" He said, interrupting her response."Maybe ones about Humans and Asari?" he added, grinning widely and adding a wink.

If there is a single more obnoxious thing to do to a woman working retail than flirt with them, Hamilton sure didn't know it. If he was completely honest with himself he'd never been even slightly interested in Asari women before, blue skin and hair tentacles spoiling his view of them somewhat, but the poor clerk didn't know that. Best case scenario: I push her buttons for awhile before I buy something and leave to make it up to her. Worst case scenario: she flirts back and I let her down gently. I think I made a pretty good choice in how to entertain myself. he thought, failing to realize the Asari was a biotic.

[Please see OOC note.]