[Glow]

Within a sports building briefly renovated for the event, the Shard Inc exhibition has got well underway. Many screens have been changed to provide their logo along with one new advancement or another, and more physical representations of these shown in the various displays located around the different pitches. One has a variety of neurology developments, including some prototype mechashift linkage, while another contains a variety of miscellaneous technological advancements – some weapons research, some computer learning developments and materials research to name a few.

Yet the main attraction still lies in the one containing what really defined their brand; the area entirely designated to prosthetics. A variety of new replacement limbs and haptic sensors lined several of the displays, some even interactive – the limb copying the person’s own movements with a sensor attached to them. Various weapon integrations also were displayed, hoping to further interest the hunter crowd who were attending the convention. Most notably, however, was the area designated to showing off their ‘latest’ invention – additional limb prosthetics. Several screens were displaying videos with commentary about development of the project, uses of the extra limbs, and showing examples – loader-like detachable limbs for heavy lifting, nerve-controlled weapons systems and even additional arms that could be taken off or on with available port implants for hunters and huntresses.

Indeed, there was even a few members of Shard INC with such implants showing them off; one having the heavy duty arms curling around his back and smiling as he took heavy crates around the room without a care in the world, reminding people he didn’t have aura; another woman with a number of folding limbs holding various medical instruments, smiling and occasionally getting someone to show them a small bump or bruise and patching it up; and then a huntress in blue-black clothing, the signs of an implant obvious by the metal framework on her back extending to her shoulders, but just talking with some of the older hunters and huntresses about her face mask covering her eyes about the viability of the replacement limbs, keeping her cards close to her chest – the exhibition match was due fairly soon, the match why Shard INC had chosen the sports building (along with the space offered) - and the rules behind it were meant to be a surprise, after all. Two employees stood in a booth within the additional limb section, one with a ‘queries’ sign and another with ‘hunters’ – one was answering general questions, and the other was taking in someone’s weapon and semblance and offering ideas about what this technology could do to benefit them in the future, giving some example implantations - as well as offering tickets for a raffle to enter the exhibition match.

The final, main arena was left as it was, albeit with some fanfare added - it would be the sight of the exhibition match once the raffle was over. The other rooms were laid out almost in a circle around the sunken middle room, having glass windows all able to look into it; Shard INC had certainly chosen the right building to highlight their technology in the flashiest way possible. An announcer stand was being set up, along with some audience protection; there were stands surrounding the room, but they'd been moved back from the room itself and the dust forcefield tested in a few methods to ensure public safety in advance.

[ReaperJoe]

Smokey wanders around the exhibit, meandering from showcase to showcase absentmindedly.  There's a lot of advanced technology here, though he was mostly interested in the weapons research.  Unfortunately, so far he's been less than impressed with what he's seen.  Sure, the weapons here are a grade above the typical standard fare, but his dad was a one-man-show who designed and constructed weapons for Specialists.  Hell, his own gun The Good News was probably the most powerful weapon here, and it's technically considered a "light weapon".  Technically.

That being said, it's probably a bit unfair to write this company off without checking out their main attraction.  This Shard company's primary product was prosthetics, both in the form of replacement limbs and, at least now, additional ones.  Those exhibits were pretty flashy, too; there was a guy walking around with heavy crates, some lady with a bunch of fancy robotic appendages.  Smokey doesn't really see the appeal though.  Sure, he can see the use in, say, industry or the medical field, but he's pretty sure there isn't anything those limbs could offer him in the field that he couldn't do himself already.  Besides, what happens when something goes awry?  Some of the limbs look heavy, and if the dust supporting them (or whatever supports them) malfunctions for whatever reason, whoever's wearing 'em has to either abandon all that tech or drag it around with them.

Still, the company seems pretty proud of them, so much so that they've even organized an exhibition match against a decked-out huntress.  Though Smokey remains unconvinced, he's still curious to see how they'd actually hold up in a fight, so he walks over to the booth labelled "Hunters" to see if he can sign himself up.

"So, uh, this where I sign up to fight?  Name's Smokey Emberstone," he says quietly.

[nathan67003]

The first thing Nathan had done upon entering the event was hold in his instincts and stride directly towards the large 'RAFFLE'-indicating sign, wrote his name on a slip of paper and unceremoniously deposited it in the tumbling contraption. Afterwards, though, he let loose and meticulously inspected every sign, item, exposition and other that fell under his gaze.

While the things that usually interested him - materials research and weapons research, namely - weren't exactly all that advanced, he still took the time to read through all the blurbs an look at all the objects that were on display. That being said, he was through with them relatively quickly owning to their small numbers.

That doesn't mean he didn't enjoy the main attraction, though. Nathan had little, if any, experience either working on or with prosthetics, never mind researching them. Thus he learned of many, many, many things, absorbing the knowledge so graciously provided like a dry sponge soaks up water. He gave a go to the exhibits he could fumble with and happily questioned the demonstrators as to the prosthetics' capabilities, operation, feeling and any possible hindrances, from sleeping on your back to taking a shower. Seldom did his eyes look so bright and alive.

Alas, even that much had its limits - after several hours, he'd exhausted all he could do short of the 'queries/hunters' booth. As he approached it, the line for queries stretching for about a dozen people, he headed to the hunters side and waited a respectable distance from the guy already there - seemingly about the same age as he was, named Smokey Emberstone from what he overheard.

[Glow]

"Ah, yes!" The representative replies brightly, giving a smile that only seemed partially fake at worst - they seemed to be enjoying their jobs, at the very least. "You can sign up just by writing your name on this form here..." They trail off for a moment, reaching to get another of the printed sheets out from the box next to them and lay it out in front of Smokey; it seemed to almost be a copy of normal tournament waivers with a few snippets about confidentiality and possible risks to person or property, but even reading over the fine print nothing malicious or out of the ordinary appeared to be there considering the circumstances. The exact details of the fight were an individual hunter could take a round, or a team of two students with restrictions placed on their opponent instead. The paper required a few signatures and a 'profession' section, as well as details requested about semblance and weapons 'to avoid any accidents in testing'. Maybe the prosthetics weren't quite as optimised yet as they'd prefer?

"...and I'm also here to answer any hunting-related queries about the displays here; star attraction is discussing a theoretical prosthetic to help out with an individual's semblance or fighting style!" They continued peppily, leaning to the side a little to point at what some of the more detailed conversations had lead to; rapidly sketched ideas and designs for limbs or attachments designed for a variety of different styles and semblances. Though some seemed a little... implausible, there were a few that did seem to hold some merit to them. "But hold on just one second; there's a little bit of a queue, so I'm just going to get my colleague to help out..."

They walked away from the desk, half-jogging over to the back to poke their head out into the room behind the stall. "Forrest!" They called, and another employee with a cup of coffee and undone jacket looked through the doorway. "I could use some assistance here, get another queue going." The man blinked semi-tiredly, before giving a sigh and a little smile of acceptance, ruffling the woman's hair - much to her dismay - before chugging the coffee and patting their cheeks to wake themselves up. The female employee quickly moved back up to the counter with more dishevelled hair and a look of fond annoyance, before returning to her previous smile as she attempted to fix the hairdo. "Right, apologies sir - do you have any further queries?"

The other employee moved up to the desk as they buttoned up their white jacket with the Shard INC logo on it, waving to Nathan. "Ah, sir, if you could join this queue, we can get through people a little faster."

[ReaperJoe]

Smokey absentmindedly fills out the paperwork as the rep tries to interest him with her diatribe.  Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, most of it actually looked similar to the waivers he signed for the Vytal Festival.  He wrote "student" in the space asking for his occupation, despite part of him wanting to fight the huntress at full strength.  He only really paused at one section in particular.

"So, uh, what's this about 'semblance' and 'weapons'?" he asks.  "I know it says somethin' about 'avoiding accidents', but, like, it's a fight, right?  Kinda just looks like you're trying to giving your guy an edge.  Do we at least get to know what we're up against, too?"

"Guess while I'm here, might as well ask.  Those extra limbs or whatever, how do you keep 'em from draggin' you down?  'Cause, like, if I'm already carrying a lot o' weight already, there's no way I'm dragging all those limbs with me if somethin' screws up, ya know?" he continues, voicing his doubts about the effectiveness of the prosthetics.

[nathan67003]

As Nathan patiently waited, arms crossed (it doesn't mean anything) and face utterly neutral, he spent the time perusing the information he'd just gulped down. Quickly enough, though, he was called by the backup employee and decisively strode 2 steps or so over.

Sporting one of his rare, noticeable smiles and eyes like a kid that's been building LEGO for 15 hours straight without decimating his hands, he softly deposited his crossed arms onto the counter (just besides the edge on his side) and asked in a soft, singing tone "I'm here for the custom Huntsman prosthetic brainstorming." Unsurprisingly, he was at least 3 times more direct an concise as usual, albeit still completely polite.

[Glow]

"Ah, right!" The representative replied to Smokey. "Well, part of it is that... it is new technology, of course. It's best to avoid going up against, say, a semblance that would rust metal - even if the theory shows it should be protected by the user's aura constant covering it." She sheepishly explains, looking apologetic. "Of course, you get to know what their semblance is before the fight, while they won't actually be told yours - it's just to prevent accidents, really. There's too many experienced eyes here to pull any tricks. More to the point, you should be at the advantage here; they're not going to be using their normal weapon! It's meant to be a showcase for the implant, not just her skill." She pauses for a little bit at the titbit of information she gives, glancing to the eye-masked faunus with a Shard INC logo on who had been standing about the main showcase without meaning to, before flushing a little and looking back to the hunter-in-training. "Ah, uhm- you, didn't see anything." She murmurs with a conspiratorial, slightly embarrassed whisper.

"And, well- it's a point that was brought up a lot during testing! Put simply, there isn't really a direct way of preventing it when you start out, as far as we know - just ways to minimise the effects. Aura helps lessen the burden for hunters, especially with constant saturation of the limbs due to their direct connection, and therefore more lightweight materials can be used since aura will help shield the limbs from the worst of the effects - not that we skimped out on structural stability, though." The representative furrowed their eyebrow as they thought over, before continuing. "From what we've seen so far, barring the larger sets of limbs-" and they pause here purposefully, trying to look innocent as possible. They'd seen the 'student' on the form, and were feeling nice today. "-mobility is usually counteracted by further training and simple acclimation to the additional weight. Of course, the limbs can be removed or even exchanged with properly build components; we use a 'port' system, almost like plugging in a very, very sturdy USB to a computer. With the computer being your nervous system. And with aura shielding the internal components, just as it shields that of weapons, there tends to be a remarkably low failure rate. In fact, with the known stresses of hunting, we've managed to make tentative strides in self-repair; only baby steps for now, and reliant on a constant direct connection to the user, but even in this set the wiring has some ability to repair itself!"



The employee talking to Nathan blinked, before their grin widened. Their first talk and they've already got the fun job, a fact that they lauded over the other employee with a wink and receiving a stuck-out tongue in return, before the pair of them realised they were presenting a new technology in public and both blushed before looking back to their potential customers. "Ah, right!" He embarrassedly replied, before the enthusiasm returned to his tone. "So, the first question we'd need to ask is what your semblance and weapon are - you can write it down if you don't want to talk about it publicly, and it doesn't need to be too detailed unless you want it to be."

[ReaperJoe]

Smokey's eyes were kept locked on to the rep's while she explains the paperwork.  To be honest, he's skeptical of the explanation she gives.  Wouldn't they have tested for those situations before bringing it to an expo?  He feels like they're just trying to mine for information, though it's anybody's guess as to why.  Though, companies dig for information all the time, that's nothing new.  Besides, his semblance really isn't all that impressive on its own, and they were planning on giving the combatants info on their fighter's semblance.  All things considered, that's technically fair.  Both sides have equal amounts of information, it's up to them what they do with it.

Smokey's a little concerned that his potential opponent won't have their weapon, but, for all he knows, the opponent could be a hand-to-hand specialist, which would mean the weapon is kind of a non-issue.  And with the way this company's touting their prosthetics, it probably wouldn't be unfair to consider *them* a weapon on their own.  That being said, they're definitely not for Smokey.  Reading between the lines of the rep's spiel, it seems that in order to get a new arm and leg, it'll cost him an arm and a leg.  Plugging into his nervous system?  That just sounds like an incredibly invasive surgery with an equally incredible price tag.  The Emberstone family isn't exactly hurting on cash, but that's definitely more than the gunslinger wants to spend.  And that's before all the cutting-edge techno-babble.

Still, he is curious to see how they'll hold up in a fight, so he continues filling out the paperwork, giving the rep a quiet "A'ight" to mask his doubts.  He fills in the semblance slot with "Immovable Object" with no further explanation.  When he gets to the weapon section, he pauses for a minute to glance behind him.  I don't think you'll be relevant this go-round, sorry girl, he thinks to himself before filling in the space with "Revolver/Volley Gun".  If he gets to the stage, it's gonna be Matchstick's show.   

[nathan67003]

Nathan looked on as the employee prepared himself, not missing the slight banter that occurred between him and the employee next to them. As for what was required... "Well, I was a Vital Festival finalist, so I imagine pretty much anyone with a scroll can look up my stats or stuff, so I don't mind. My semblance basically allows me to generate and release kinetic energy into things I touch. It's not exactly what it is, but it's a more simple and accurate description than the real deal."

As he spoke, he gingerly unhooked Ergia from his back - for he had brought it with him - and deposited it on the counter separating him from his interlocutor. Perhaps a bit too excitedly, as he noticed in hindsight, as it made more of a slam than he thought it would. "And this is Ergia. Staff, assault rifle and jump pack all-in-one, extremely efficient use of Dust, uses custom tungsten rounds."

Nathan momentarily wondered if he could be physically seen holding back from gushing about all of this stuff that he was quite frankly endlessly passionate about.

Probably not.

[Glow]

The employee with Smokey gave the form one last look-over, humming to themselves for a moment before nodding and placing it into the box of forms. "Right, thank you!" She replied gratefully, offering out a hand to shake with the smile. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask about?"

Looking over the weapon, the representative with Nathan got more enthusiastic himself - it looked like they were really passionate about what they did. "Wow, quite advanced stuff here. Very compact for what it does! I think I remember seeing you back then, so it's something to start from, certainly." He replied, scratching his chin. "Certainly, some of the basic implantation features we tried out might be of interest - mechashift by thought, for example, which could be helpful for a weapon with several different forms and possibly save a little bit of space for further compaction. Does your semblance release more energy if the object is swung with more momentum on hit, and does it have kickback?"

[ReaperJoe]

After looking around and thinking for a bit, Smokey responded, "Nah, that's about it."  And with that, he gets up from his spot and heads back out to the rest of the expo.  Maybe he'll find something else to do while he wanders around waiting for the fight.

[nathan67003]

Decidedly, enthusiasm was contagious, as Nathan appeared to respond in kind. "Oh, that can be done? Directly by thought? Huh, interesting. Don't think it'd be really worth it in this case, though, since most controls are Aura-activated.

As for the semblance, no, the energy released is entirely independent of movement. It does add to it, though, so if I used my semblance to hit a ball with a bat, the ball would get hit with the normal, semblance-less amount of energy plus the semblance's energy. It has no kickback, either - in fact, when the energy is being released, almost all change of momentum is impossible for me, I think. Haven't really tested that one, though."

[Glow]

"Ah, that's fair! It provides a minor benefit in speed of transmission, and another in it still functioning even with a lack of aura, but you hold a good point there. It's a gateway to some future technologies, really, but- well, you know how it is." He stated, tapping his nose knowingly. "NDAs and all that. Either way; in that case, extending the amount of energy given out directly might be useful, some kind of pneumatic or otherwise force-enhancing implant! Separate limbs to channel your aura directly through, particularly ones with a longer reach, might help to give your semblance a longer effective range as well."

The employee muses for a moment, before snapping their fingers. "Taking advantage of the generated kinetic energy in some form may be useful, too - something to charge with the release of energy, perhaps, or a mobility option if you could direct release in some form. Alternatively, an implant to grant some mobility to help you get close enough to give off the energy could be useful - we've had some success with smaller jump jets and muscular-skeletal reinforcements, which would both help give off some extra energy from your attacks at that." He blinks at a buzzing of his earpiece, and then gives a grin over to the hunter-in-training. "Can talk a little longer about this, but it looks like we'll be doing the exhibition match soon, and I doubt you want to miss that."

[nathan67003]

Nathan intently listened to the man speak, holding back a mild curse when NDAs came into play. But from what he was hearing, something like... spider limbs? More limbs on the back? Limbs that could extend, possibly violently? It could grant him positively ludicrous mobility and reach as well as pack more of a punch than normal... Oh wait, the match was starting? Damn! Time to wrap up.

Without losing the excitement in his eyes, he said "Alright but here's my idea real quick: extra limbs on the back that can stretch several meters and have a lotta power to them and/or arms that have the same properties so I can throw someone a punch from six plus metres away. Anyway, this was fun! Thanks for your time!" With that, he nabbed Ergia and took off towards the small arena he'd seen earlier in a quick jog. Maybe he'd have the time to converse more afterwards... Hopefully.

[Glow]

"No worries, see y- ah, he's off. To be that young again." The employee mused, before getting jabbed in the side by the other one under the desk with a murmur of "you're not that gold", and a brief squabble before both regained their professional personalities as a new set of people walked up to the desk.

The chairs around the sunken main arena, at the reinforced windows of each of the surrounding rooms, were starting to get busy - people getting into a surrounding few rows of chairs. Inside the arena proper, more people had started flooding in with a few security guards waving people in this way or that, and letting them get to their seats. Nathan and Smokey would both be guided in, waiting for people to get settled as one of the implanted employees from before took to the stage - the one who had been hanging back a little.

She had two large wolf ears on top of her head, looked a little thin, and was wearing a dark black and blue ensemble. Despite this, the far more notable features was the faint glowing from underneath her fringe, showing a glimpse of the drawn-down faceplate, and the odd black structures currently resting on her shoulders and reaching down to her back. She seemed to be waiting for a signal, another employee in the announcer's booth asking for people to please quiet down.