Despite having traveled with the Doctor and having been awake on Stacy for however long now, there's still certain aspects of 'modern' life that Jamie often finds himself fascinated by - even if it's something he's experienced before. Watching the moving pictures in the media library is definitely one of those things. There's so many to choose from, he often doesn't know where to begin. Usually, he winds up picking something at random. This time around, it happens to be something called 'Back to the Future II'. During the movie, he can't help but wonder about what he's seeing. For instance, what would the Doctor or any of his other companions think of a time traveling DeLorean? Or a flux cap...capic...that 'y' shaped thing with the glowing lights? But what catches his interest the most is the hoverboard chase. Stacy's a big ship. Something like that would come in very handy, if they could figure out how to build it. The main problem, of course, is how to get started.

However, there's an easy solution for that, at least to Jamie's mind. All he needs to do is go down to the Sensoriums and imagine up one of those boards to test it out. Once he's done that, he can maybe see what would be needed to turn it into something more real. It doesn't really occur to him that a fictional technology might not translate so well - especially since he never really got a good look at the inside of the thing. All he knows is that it won't work over the water, so he's going to avoid that.

A short time after the movie ends, he can be found down in the Sensoriums, ready to try out his idea. Something that resembles a skateboard without wheels appears, floating slightly above the ground. It's pink. Very pink. Jamie quickly switches it to a much nicer red color before hopping up onto the board, fully expecting it to start right up. It wavers a bit but doesn't otherwise move. Frowning, he takes one foot off and pushes it against the air, like he saw in the picture. It continues to sit there, not doing much of everything, and Jamie scowls down at it. "Och, why isn't it working?"

The TV screen in La Casa Smize lights up again.

Tyrantmail,

You can't buy class, but you can buy soda!

Fiercely in Love,
Tyrant

The remaining contestants are hustled away to their first photoshoot. The set, unfortunately, has no beautiful backdrops or glamorous outfits for the contestants to wear. Instead, it is a dingy store-room with an empty claw machine. A few stylists mill about, carrying nude-colored spandex bodysuits and setting up the mirrors for the contestants.

Jay Emmanuel rushes up to greet the contestants. "Hello, models! Today we're going to be protesting the commodification of women's bodies by presenting you all as naked and for purchase in a giant claw machine! Now, I know this is your first photoshoot, but it's going to be very. Tricky. Because. It's going to be a group photoshoot! Which means that you're going to be in groups of two, stuffed into that vending machine and doing as many different poses as you can!"

Jay does not seem even slightly aware of the irony of this photoshoot.

"Alright, models, get to work!"

The previous night, the team had learned the details of the situation. King Demetrius Fenley had once been a fair but strict ruler. Three years ago, he had acquired a new advisor, a beautiful woman named Diana Wynnthrope, who came from a small nation on the other side of the mountains. The changes were subtle at first, with the king becoming more suspicious of others’ intentions and enacting harsher laws.

Baron Archand had noticed these changes, and had spoken up about the new laws. He had always respected his king. What had happened?

Nasat was located near a mine that produced precious gems and metals for the kingdom. King Demetrius had become convinced somehow that the town was not paying its fair share of taxes, and accused the baron of hoarding said gems and metals to fund an army and take the crown. Archand had done everything in his power to refute the false claims, but to no avail. So, with word that the king was sending an army to seize the rebellious town, he had sent for aid from his friend Baron Raleigh in Pertus. Raleigh had readily agreed, also being uncomfortable with the new laws, and was further seeking the help of the bronze dragons (bronze dragons that looked exactly like Crucible) in the nearby mountains he had his own alliance with. Unfortunately, Raleigh’s troops would not reach Nasat before King Demetrius’s.

It was impossible to find a person in Nasat that wasn't helping to prepare for battle in some way. Even the children were busy, packing food and clothing for evacuation and carrying supplies to and from for the adults.

There was an entire section of the town dedicated to the creation of weapons and armor: women making arrows, blacksmiths forging blades and breastplates, and engineers building siege engines. Oil was being gathered, along with firewood, and a fire brigade was sent out to place buckets of water in strategic locations throughout the town. Mages gathered and shared their spell components with each other.

Nasat was clearly a town where everyone was used to helping their neighbors, and happy to do so.

Baron Archand was not adverse to getting a little dirty and helping out himself, either. While making his rounds, he worked the bellows for the master blacksmith for a few minutes, chatted with a group of older ladies while fletching arrows, and dug one of the holes for a wooden spike with a shovel.

Sentries had reported that King Demetrius's forces would arrive the next day, and there was much more work to be done.

[OOC: Backtagging in the previous post is definitely okay and encouraged! The next post will be going up on November 26th.

Feel free to NPC the townspeople in the first subthread! You can be creative with how your characters help with preparations, too, so have fun with it!

All subthreads are open!]

After a quiet scare with a little laser in his pocket, Billy had come to an alarming conclusion: he needed a pocket protector. The little device, the one true sign of a nerd, would keep him from poking or shooting himself. But that wasn't all it could do! With Billy's mind at work, he came up with another idea: the pocket trap. With some clever signaling coding, he could trap the hand of anyone who tried to pick his pocket. It would definitely help keep his morpher safe!

He wound up stretched across a meat-couch of the Observation Deck, working on adding little strips of identifying material to what was undeniably a pocket protector. Maybe he wouldn't make it cool (nothing could do that), but he'd definitely make it useful.

As he worked, there was a certain undercurrent of excitement on his face. He smiled more often, sometimes looked far into the distance, and could be heard humming if the observer was close enough. Something good had happened to him, and maybe it wasn't entirely due to the pocket protector.