text | un: Rocketman

[vrepit_no]

[Ignoring the fact that Weird Stuff is happening. Yep. Not commenting.]

Anybody interested in setting up a crystal swap? There are a lot of extra crystals with different properties floating around at the moment, so if you have some you don't want, maybe someone will trade you something you do want.

It doesn't even have to be crystals being bartered. There are a few types of stone I'd be interested in even if they don't have special magic enhancing abilities, for myself, but maybe we could trade services, like pairing up for quests, or getting someone to come figure out why your strawberries are wilting.

Someone was throwing out a bunch of banded agate and some quartz with some kind of inclusions in it. Some of them almost look like little landscapes in there. There's way more than I need. I've been tumbling them in a coffee can with some sand, so they're definitely not raw anymore, though I don't know that I'd call them professional or anything. Anybody interested? I could do some pictures, too.

Comments

Text : Un; Caster

[colchismagecraft]

yse

iiwould

[That was...probably supposed to be a 'yes, I would' but well, Day 2 of trials was a thing. She's exhausted but magic crystals!]

Text : Un; RocketMan - 1/2

[vrepit_no]

[It's okay, Caster. He's not that far out of college - he's seen some pretty bad drunk texts.]

Great! Did you go mining at all?

Personal Text Message : Un; RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

How're you doing? Everything okay?

Personal Text Message : Un; Caster

[colchismagecraft]

att the starst of the motnhs yes i dod

iassuseeyou as swel?

["At the start of the month, yes I did. I assume you did as well?"

There was a pause when he asked how she was. What reason would this stranger have to care? And- dammit. Caster knew she wasn't okay- that much was obvious from how much her hands were shaking as she typed.]

idont kpw whatcaligaw hope ointhgains oiut of this
asside from making us sduffer fornyhair own ammusement

["I don't know what Calliwig how to gain out of this, aside from making us suffer for their own amusement."

Personal Text Message : Un; RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

I didn't wind up going mining myself, but that's less important at the moment.

[He got most of that, and some educated guesses get him more or less correct wording.]

I'm not sure what exactly they're getting out of this, but no matter what it is, we've got to stick together. Are you injured?

Voice. un: metalmaster

[melonlord]

I want to know what you people do with rocks, besides jewelry or something.

I have a bunch.

Voice. un: RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

[Switching to voice![]

Depends on the person, really. Some people like to collect ones they like, some people want to make things with them, some people use them as magic focuses or as boosts for their magic. I have some sentimental reasons for wanting certain kinds, personally.

I understand that the ones people were mining have certain magic-enhancing abilities, so that could be useful.

Re: Voice. un: RocketMan

[melonlord]

Sweet. And people actually acting pretty normal. I was expecting something weirder.

Re: Voice. un: RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

[Ruefully]

Given everything else that's happened this week, I don't blame you. But as far as I'm concerned? Regular rock swap.

text; un: ensignledo

[ferrytale]

What is the purpose of collecting stones that have no magical properties?

[ he barely sees the point in collecting the magical ones as it is, mostly because he has no idea what to do with them. ]

text; un: RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

It's a personal preference. Some people think they're pretty, and like to surround themselves with things that they like. For some people they remind them of a particular moment in time or a person. Everyone who collects something does so for their own reasons.

[ferrytale]

Pretty? Are you saying people accumulate objects just to look at them? Is there an advantage to this practise?

[ owning things is already kinda weird so this is especially weird. ]

[vrepit_no]

Some people do, yes. It lifts the spirit or aids in memory recall, or may have some spiritual significance to them. Some people find that collecting specimens of every kind of precious or semi-precious stone rewarding. It gives them a sense of accomplishment, you know? There are lots of benefits, but it's on a per person sort of basis.

text | un: Helios

[fruitknife]

Huh. Didn't know there were rocks to swap, but sure, if anyone wants some food.

text | un; RocketMan

[vrepit_no]

That's a good trade! Definitely worth it.

There was a mining expedition earlier, and people were pulling out moonstone, rose quartz, agate, tourmaline(?), uh, hematite, amethyst... and there was one other, but I haven't heard of it before. Baogi? Bowji? Something like that.

[fruitknife]

Doesn't ring any bells. [Unless someone thought baozi was a rock, in which case Shinji has some bad news for them.]

Moonstone would be pretty fucking ironic, considering.

[vrepit_no]

...Sorry, I'm not remembering something. Ironic because?

[good_ideas]

[Anyone else making this post and Shiho would be trying to sell them her random river rocks. But since Shiro has always been nice to her:]

Does the sand thing actually work? I thought you'd need a big machine to do it. [She's intrigued now though.]

If I give you my rocks, could you do that for me?

[vrepit_no]

Hey, Shiho!

I'm still figuring out the ratios, but two parts rock to one part grit/water seems to at least knock down some of the sharp edges. Then I just give the can to an overactive dragon and he plays with it for several hours or until he figures out that I'm using it to occupy him - whichever comes first.

I can give it a try! And next time I empty a coffee can I could make you a tumbler if you want. By then maybe I'll have fine-tuned the process some.

[good_ideas]

H-Hi. [Right, greetings would have been in order, right??]

Having an overactive dragon has its uses, huh? Tama wouldn't do stuff like that. [Because: cats.]

You don't have to make me one, it's not like I'm going to be tumbling rocks all the time, you know. How much coffee are you drinking anyway...

[vrepit_no]

I haven't had real coffee in years! So I might be making up for lost time.

[He laughs, one of those warm chuckles on the edge of something larger.]

If you don't want one, though, I won't make you one. I want to get another one myself and see if I can set up a perpetual motion machine to keep it spinning so I can have one with coarser grit and one with finer grit for a better polish.

Video

[handsome_genius]

People are actually bartering around here? I thought it was all gold payments?

Video

[vrepit_no]

[Guess who has a bright grin for you? Shiro! Shiro does! He waves - he seems to be sitting at a desk in his hotel room with his phone propped up so he can sort the stones just barely in camera view.
.....Somewhere behind him is an intermittent rolling, clunking, rain-stick-with-rocks-in sort of sound.]

Hey, Yoon! Good to see you! Yeah, I think it depends on who you're talking to. The stores do mostly gold interactions, but if you're talking to other Travelers I don't know why they wouldn't be open to barter. What I'm suggesting is more like two collectors trading part of their collection for another piece to put in their collection, rather than trading for different sorts of goods, but I bet we could work that into it too, if people were interested!

Re: Video

[handsome_genius]

Huh, okay, that makes sense... if collecting is a big deal to someone.

[ Amassing personal possessions? Stranger than what's going on behind him, to Yoon at least! ]

Is "Travelers" what they call people like you and me? Because I've never seen a crystal before.

Re: Video

[vrepit_no]

[Shiro tips his head slightly to one side, thinking.]

Well... that was what we called people like you and I in the previous place I was in. Not at home, but between there and here. Since we traveled between worlds and or universes, it seemed pretty reasonable. I'm not sure if there's an official term here, come to think about it.

[Smiling, he picks up a pair of quartz shot through with black tourmaline and holds them up so Yoon can see them.]

The name "crystal" actually means something about the way that certain things are structured deep down inside. Most of the time, when you see a natural crystal stone, it has sharp edges to it, like the black bits in here. Some people like to enhance that by cutting the stone so that those sides are straight and smooth and catch the light better. Then they mostly use them in jewelry.

But these have been tumbled around with some other grit to help smooth the sharp edges away and polish them up. So this is black tourmaline crystals inside a quartz crystal.