SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 50 - Yo Ho Incoherency

Looking around the bonfire, Kai let out a deep sigh. Sophie was the firekeeper for the day. Even though she was much younger than Trudy, she managed to look more tired and older than her. Then there was Ariel, and finally, Trudy.

Kai realized sadly that, after the last blight outbreak, he was the last man left in the sector. Well, the only one, if they didn’t count old Seth, who just kept to himself and away from everyone else. They only saw him if the exams drafted his name and Daisy’s cybermonkeys dragged him to the capital's central square.

The sight of only three other people around the bonfire made the gathering depressing.

“When there’s pain, that’s all your mind wants to think about. You need to focus your attention on something else. Remember that humans have the potential to endure a lot of pain, more than we imagine.”

Sophie’s techniques on pain management weren’t a novelty to Kai, and, truth be told, he had used some of them on his long, arduous trek from the mountains. It was a nice, easy lesson to get back into the groove of firekeeping after such a long time away.

“Hey!” greeted Ariel after the sunset bonfire. “How are you doing today, Kai?”

“Good. You?”

“I’m OK. Thank you!”

“And I used to think there were few of us back when we were 15. Now we’re four.”

“While you were away, there were only three of us. So your return is a big boost,” she said excitedly.

Kai nodded absentmindedly as he imagined only three people at the bonfire.

Ariel stayed next to him, even though Trudy and Sophie had already begun their march home. She seemed slightly nervous about something. “Ariel, do you need anything?”

She looked up and blabbered out, “I was wondering if you could come and help me at the museum. It’s my turn to keep the fire tomorrow, and I’d love to hear your opinion on my lesson.”

“I’m sorry, Ariel. I already have plans.”

“You do?” she asked, surprised. Kai could see her curious look and the question forming on her lips, but she stopped herself. “That’s unfortunate. Next time, then.”

“Yeah. Sure,” she said, smiling.

“OK! Bye,” Kai said, turning away and leaving the silent figure of Ariel behind. Kai had better plans for tonight. He wanted to try returning the fifth inhabitant of the sector to the bonfires. It was time to go see old Seth.

*

After getting the cards for [Strength] and [Accuracy], Kai looked for more opportunities to capture abstract concepts but only found games that tested reflexes and agility. But how could he photograph the concept of speed if he could only get one instant of fast movements? Unless he had some sort of special upgrade, he doubted he could make the shot. Judging the photographs too difficult to take, Kai went in search of greener pastures in other parts of the map.

The road with game stalls on both sides led to a square. At the center were the longest tables Kai had ever seen, every single seat taken by people having a meal. The tables were surrounded on all four sides by stalls almost as colorful as the ones in the gaming area, working hard to provide meals to the sitting patrons.

"Satisfy your taste buds with the most irresistible corndogs in town!"

"Don't miss out on the carnival's best-kept secret – our famous pretzels! One bite, and you'll be hooked!"

Salesmen just as committed as the ones in the games stalls threw their pitches to passersby, counting on the power of the alluring smell of their stall’s cooking to get the public's attention even if their calls and shouts didn’t pierce through the chatter.

The concept of a restaurant or a food court wasn’t as alien to Kai as that of the fair. He’d seen plenty of pre-turnover movies with scenes played in restaurants. What caught Kai’s attention was how colorful the food looked. Compared to the dried caked brown of the rations Daisy distributed, here food came in all imaginable shapes and colors. It almost looked like each dish was designed only to be looked at rather than eaten.

Kai remembered his [Jaguar] card and how much he had missed having cards with healing properties in the last round. Food seemed a logical way to increase a creature card’s HP, so he decided to stock up on healing cards here. The question was, what should he photograph? There were so many different kinds of food.

He watched an old man wearing a little white hat and a matching apron pour a bag of sugar into a machine that looked like a basin with air blown from it. The man put a stick into the machine, wiggled it around, and pulled it out with a cloud of colored thread. It looked fluffy and light, almost like a pink cloud.

Kai took a picture of it.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 13 of 22.

Cotton Candy (Uncommon)

Spun sugar confection with a cotton-like texture.

1 of 4

Hp: 4

Vp: 0

Even though it was there for the taking, it was still considered an uncommon card. Was it because if he didn’t have the [Populate] upgrade, this cotton candy maker wouldn’t have been here? He imagined his opponent walking around a deserted fair and taking a photograph of the moldy equivalent.

He moved on to another intriguing food stand. In it, a lady put sticks into green apples, then grabbed one at a time and bathed them in the sauce of a frying pan. The green apples emerged glossy, shiny, and red. The cooks here looked like magicians and illusionists who turned dull ingredients into colorful art pieces. Kai took a picture of the apple, too.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 12 of 22.

Candy Apple (Uncommon)

An apple covered in a shiny, sugar coating.

1 of 4

Hp: 3

Vp: 1

Both cards had high hp and low vp, as it was characteristic of healing cards. He saw other types of food being sold, but finding these two cards enough for now, Kai took off. Even though he had gotten good cards thus far, most of them only offered hp and no vp. If he were to win this round, he needed more cards with a good victory point count.

After the food court came the busiest section of the fair so far. People were screaming in terror, making Kai apprehensive about going in that direction. He wondered what horrors Daisy had hidden in the arena, but as he entered this new part of the fair, he realized that no one was being harmed. Giant machines spun, moved, and swung with no apparent reason, rather than performing the motion itself while people sat on them. The screams he had heard were of terrified people falling, swinging, and spinning at high speeds. What baffled Kai was that they were smiling while shouting.

Kai studied the machines for a moment and noticed how people were waiting in line and even paying to get into those machines.

“What’s the point of these machines?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Maia, not following.

“These machines. People just go in, move about for a few minutes, and then come out again. What’s the point?”

“Oh. I see what you mean. They are merely entertainment,” explained Maia.

Kai frowned while studying the nearest ride. What was fun about sitting on a boat that swung repeatedly? “Why is it fun?”

“The quick movements make human bodies produce adrenaline. Apparently, that’s something your race perceives as fun.”

Kai looked at a tall tower in which an elevator climbed slowly. Then, the elevator dropped, making people scream desperately, but it slowed considerably just before it hit the ground. He thought back to when he had fallen off the tree and the pressure he’d felt in his stomach as he fell. How could anyone consider that feeling fun? “It’s beyond me, to be honest. Do you know what this is called?” asked Kai, pointing at the boat that swung with people screaming at the top of their lungs.

“That’s called a pirate ship or a pendulum ride. First developed in 1893.”

Kai studied the attractions surrounding him. What was the point here? To get a picture of the machines that performed these motions? Was it something that simple? Or was it to take the picture of something abstract as he had done with [Strength] and [Accuracy]? What if he went into one? Kai walked toward the pirate ship, ignoring the people waiting for their turn. Courtesy of being out of sync with reality, he could just cut the line without fear of being rude. He just walked through the holograms, making it toward the machine.

As he arrived at the front of the line, he found a man wearing strange clothes. He had a bandana covering his hair and a patch covering one eye. He wore a white shirt with a vest and loose pants. He also had a scabbard hanging off his belt.

“A pirate,” exclaimed Kai.

“Someone dressed as one. Yes.”

“So cool,” said Kai as he grabbed his camera and took a picture of the man.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 11 of 22.

Pirate (Uncommon)

A criminal outlaw that raids ships.

Hp: 0

Vp: 4

Capture successful!

This was more like it! A card with high victory points. Perhaps he could enhance it even further if he healed it and then copied the healed version. Kai’s thoughts were interrupted by Maia.

“You have to explain something to me, Kai.”

“Yes?”

“In my history libraries, I see that pirates were outlaws who stole, killed, and did all kinds of things considered abhorrent. Correct?”

“Sure.”

“Then, a few centuries later, while the criminal occupation still existed, everyone began loving pirates. Children dressed as them, and there are multiple books and TV shows where they are portrayed as heroes. What is the sense in that? Why would your society venerate such criminals?”

Kai paused, looking at the new [Pirate] cards in his hand as they disappeared into motes of light and went into his inventory. “I don’t know.”

“Just now you said the pirate was cool,” she said the last word with air quotes.

“Right.”

“Yet, you don’t like my mother. Why would you think a criminal is cool while the savior of mankind isn’t? It’s illogical. I can’t compute this,” she spoke frustratedly.

Kai ignored Maia, equipped the dimensional gloves, and got ready to jump aboard the ship, looking for anything of value in it. Just as he was about to reach it, though, he hit an invisible wall.

“Really? This is the boundary?!” he asked, exasperated. The invisible wall stood between him and the ride, making exploring it further impossible. It seemed that Daisy didn’t want him to get on this ride.

People were about to finish disembarking the ship before a new batch of thrillseekers went in. Kai used the opportunity that the ship was empty and tried taking a photograph of it. He tried not to get the metal that strapped the book to the giant swing machine, hoping to make the ship look as real as possible.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 10 of 22.

Pirate Ship Ride (Uncommon)

An amusement park ride that performs a pendular motion.

Hp: 1

Vp: 3

Despite his effort to get the right frame, Daisy still did not recognize the card as a real ship, only as an amusement ride. He stopped himself from getting a second shot. He had hoped to get something good from mixing [Pirate] with this card, but he was no longer sure.

He had nine shots left and eighty minutes left on the clock. He still had more than enough time to explore the map calmly. He still hadn’t discovered any place with a secret recipe either. Where could Daisy have hidden it in this arena?

“Come! I want to see the other rides.”

Kai walked away from the pirate ship and passed by the elevator tower he’d seen earlier. Another group of thrillseekers were screaming hysterically as the elevator slowly gained attitude, only to drop them to a fake demise. The tower was impossible to miss, given how tall it was. As Kai considered whether there was a photo worth taking here, the repeated bangs and echoes of laughter caught his curiosity and drew him toward the next attraction.

There was a covered stand with happy music playing and a flat, shiny floor with several cars, each with a tall, thin antenna on top that reached all the way up to the ceiling. Like everything else in the fair, the cars were decorated in flashy colors and had picturesque cartoons and drawings. All the cars were parked in a chaotic array of positions and people were running toward the cars, eagerly getting behind the wheels.

“Are you ready?!” he heard someone shout in the mic, which was answered by a resounding yes.

The tempo of the music accelerated, and all the cars took off. Crowded as the ring was, Kai wondered how anyone could drive with so little space while avoiding collisions, but then he noticed that that was precisely the point of the ride. People were intentionally driving the cars against each other, trying to ram the others. He grabbed the camera and focused on the thick ring of rubber around each car that absorbed the shock, allowing people to bump without hurting each other.

“What are these called?” asked Kai, smiling. This was the funniest ride he’d seen until now. He could see how fun it was to ram someone else’s car.

“Bumper cars,” she answered.

“No wonder. Suitable name,” he commented as a child happily drove his green car at full speed against his mother’s, eliciting a burst of laughter from both of them. “We might come back here later,” he declared. Kai checked the map to ensure he remembered where this was and moved on to the next ride.

This one was well inside the boundaries of the map and was the first attraction which Kai couldn’t figure out what it was from the outside. The house was painted in alternating red and yellow stripes, and a long line of people were waiting to get in. Kai walked through the crowd of people and headed toward the house to discover what was hidden inside.

Ch. 49 - Gut Feeling

INDEX

Ch. 51 - Hall of Mirrors