Kaelen is walking off, having Blazed the iron ingot.
Tali: You're still going to steal from them, aren't you?
Kaelen: Yep!
Tali: Anything I can do to stop you?
Kaelen, far away: Nope!
Tali: I don't see why I bother.
Kaelen, extremely far away: Me neither!
And in a brief moment he was too far away to hear any further protests. But she knew he wouldn't reply even if he could.
Tali: *sigh* I worry about him sometimes.
She walked the streets of the festival, hoping to spot Kaelen in the act and stop him. But if that didn't happen she would just have to suffice with the actual festival itself. The variety of sounds and smells berated her senses, it was always far too much for her. She never actually understood how people enjoyed it. She got the enjoyment of the games themselves, but this many? All at once? It was ridiculous.
Tali: I know why Kaelen likes it.
It was an ample opportunity to steal and Blaze. Most games involved the Blazing and Fabrication of specific things anyways, with many people Fabricating the wrong thing and having to re-Blaze it. So so guy Blazing a chair wouldn't be too out of the ordinary.
Tali, sad: Those again?
Once again she noticed the missing posters. There were more than last time. Maybe 16 total now. How many were going to go missing before the Security Force did anything?
???: Depressing, isn't it?
He was one of the game masters for one of the many games at the festival.
Game Master: You have to wonder how they're all going missing so close to each other.
Tali: I think whoever's behind it is paying off the Security Force.
Game Master: Oh? And what makes you say that?
Tali: Do you have a better explanation for why they've done nothing?
Game Master: No. No I guess not. Whilst you're here, want to play?
Tali: I don't see why not. What's the game?
The man stood to her side and she could see three plastic bottles on a table. He brought out a basic finger gun and held it out to her.
Game Master: Put your index finger into the gun and Fabricate small 1 Lux stone studs inside. Pull the trigger and fire them at the bottles. Knock down all three bottles and you win.
Tali: Alright, and what's the prize?
Game Master: This metal ingot.
The Game Master put down an iron ingot, by the size she guessed it was probably about 30 Lux, that gave her a maximum of 30 shots if she didn't want to loose Luminosity.
Tali: Right then-
She put the finger gun on, focusing inward and expending 1 Lux to Fabricate the stone stud, and fired it. She did manage to hit one of the bottles, but didn't knock it down. Shot after shot she fired away, and after 11 shots she managed to knock one of them down. At this rate she would end up loosing Luminosity instead of gaining it.
Tali, annoyed: Tch.
Game Master, smiling: Hard, isn't it?
Tali, annoyed: Just a bit.
Aiming for the second she fired round after round, doing even worse and taking 12 shots. If she didn't take only 7 on the next one- No, that wouldn't happen. That wouldn't happen. It. Won't. Happen. She fired once more, but used a 3 Lux stud, cheating, hoping the game master wouldn't notice, and the bottle went down.
Game Master: Seems like you win.
He passes the ingot to her, before going over to the bottles and Blazing them, taking her 26 total expended Lux for himself. He lost out 4 Lux assuming she had guessed the amount in the bar correctly. She immediately Blazed the thing to check. 25. She had lost Luminosity. She hated loosing not just Luminosity but in general.
Game Master: And by the way, I don't appreciate you cheating. Cheating has a charge, 10 Lux.
He noticed. She swallows her pride and Fabricates a 10 Lux pebble, the game master taking it and Blazing it. Meaning she has managed to loose 16 Lux total in some random Festival Game.
Tali, annoyed: Damn it.
Game Master: Shouldn't have cheated.
Tali, annoyed: Yeah yeah.
Muttering as she stormed away from the game she looked back at it, the board catching her eye. Were there always 17 missing posters?
Tali: -That's not right... There were 16. There were definitely 16.
Only... One of those faces was familiar. Sickeningly familiar. She hadn't seen it before she started playing so when did it get put there? She hadn't seen anyone come near the board while playing. Was she too engrossed in the game to notice? Or was the poster something the game master Fabricated when she wasn't looking? -No, he wouldn't know that she knew that man. He hadn't seen him. Probably.
Tali, scared: Please no... Please...
---
Kaelen was sulking, moving around the few shadows that existed at this time of day, trying to stay as obscured as possible in the light. He didn't want to be spotted stealing. He had been caught one too many times and would likely actually be arrested this time instead of just forced to re-Fabricate it, or at least something worth that much. He managed to hit his head on a board with missing posters, one of the many boards at the festival. They all had the same posters so it didn't really matter which you looked at. There were 17 posters on the board, and so when he saw what was on the board he knew it was on them all.
Kaelen, confused: -What in the...?
His own face was staring back at him.