SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 49 - Gut Feeling

“I see,” spoke Trudy sadly. “She was an amazing person.”

Even though Kai’s leg was slowly healing, having to recount all the events of that painful day reopened the wounds in his heart. Kai coughed away the catch in his throat, but no matter how much he coughed, it wouldn’t go away.

‘She was,’ Trudy had said. She could very well still be alive, but if so, she was with one foot in the grave already. The more he thought about Clara, alone, coughing blood, the worse his cough became. He drank some water and felt some relief.

“That means we have a funeral to organize,” Trudy told Ariel, who was also in the room. The girl’s eyes were reddened and shiny. Kai understood her well. Clara’s passing was a huge loss.

“Does that mean we’ll go get the body?” Kai asked.

Trudy shook her head. “How could we? These old bones can’t carry more than a cup of tea, and the only one strong enough would be you, but look at your leg. No. Daisy’s listening,” she said, turning to one of the cybermonkeys in the room. “If she has the monkeys bring Clara’s body over, we’ll burn it in the pyre. If not, we’ll get some of her belongings and do it that way.” She stood up, creaking and groaning with the effort, as if she were an old tree being shaken by a windstorm. “I’ll get things ready. Ariel, can you please tend to Kai?” she asked lovingly.

“But elder, you… I-I can go with…”

“Thank you. Goodbye, Kai,” she said with her foot out the door and, turning back, winked her eye at Kai and she was gone.

Kai, eyes widened, exchanged a look with Ariel and saw how uncomfortable the girl looked.

“So… how is your leg?” she asked awkwardly.

“It’s fine. Thanks. And you? Are you alright?”

She nodded, and a few silent moments followed. Kai couldn’t decide if he preferred Ariel’s screams and annoyed looks or this awkward silence. Two months ago, he would have done anything to spend some moments with Ariel like this, but he just wasn’t feeling it right now. He let out a deep sigh. “You can go, Ariel. I already have everything I need.”

“But someone needs to look at your leg,” she retorted.

Kai closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them. “Just finished talking to it. It says it’s going well and that it only needs sleep.”

She smiled at his poor joke. “But, don’t you need company? Don’t you want to talk about what happened?” she asked.

“No, thanks. You can go.”

“A-are you sure?”

“Positive.”

She stood up with her brows furrowed together. “Well, get better soon, then.”

“Bye.”

She hesitatingly walked toward the door, turned back to wave goodbye, and was also gone, leaving Kai alone with his thoughts. He could tell Ariel wanted to stay and talk, but he had too much on his mind. He had just lost too much too quickly. He turned to his side and coughed. The catch in his throat was still there.

*

Kai wasn’t sure if Daisy had planned for it, but he was grateful that he’d had the neon city arena to get used to seeing so many people. Otherwise, he would still have been hypnotized by the presence of so many fellow humans. There were thousands of people walking around and dozens of game stalls.

Despite there being so many people and games, he had yet to see anyone win at one of the stalls. The only hint at victory had been at the beginning of the round when he heard that group of children cheering and the stall owner handing them a prize. Had he known it was a big deal, he would have run toward the stall after being teleported here. But how could he have known it then? Daisy had timed that moment deviously.

The prizes on display and the items used to play those games would probably get him common and uncommon cards. But the lack of victories in the stalls made him more suspicious that he was looking for moments when people won these games. If he somehow managed to capture a victory, perhaps he would find the secret Daisy had hidden in this arena.

It took him fifteen minutes of the round to come to this conclusion, and the pressure was on. Kai had not taken one single picture yet. Looking at the scoreboard, he was glad his opponent hadn’t either.

“So, Kai. What's the plan?” asked Maia from the side.

Even though he felt annoyed by her question, at the same time, he felt grateful for her keeping him focused on the trial. “From what I reckon, your mom has hidden something in this section of the fair, which reveals itself when people actually win in these games. I'm not sure what it is yet, but my gut tells me I should stay here and find out.”

“I never got that gut thing you humans have. How does it speak to you exactly? Do you close your eyes and listen to your own bowel movements?”

Kai turned to Maia and wondered whether she was using the moment when he had joked similarly about his leg when meeting Ariel, as a clever joke. However, she looked genuinely curious, and he just waved her off. He kept visiting the different stalls scattered around this part of the fair and reached one that piqued his interest. It was a high tower, maybe five or six feet tall, with a gauge and numbers. There was a heavy, flashy red hammer leaning next to it.

“Step right up! Step right up! Where are the men among the boys who’ll ring the bell? Come and play at the high striker, gentlemen. Take a prize home.”

Kai stood around curiously to see what this game was about. A young man with some money approached the machine's owner, who directed him toward the hammer. He grabbed the heavy, red hammer and swung it once, hitting the machine. A red marker flew up but failed to reach the top.

The hammer drew Kai’s interest. He would take a picture of it. Tool cards had proven to be very powerful in previous rounds, and even though this hammer was here as a piece of entertainment, for Kai, it could also double down as a tool or weapon.

Kai pointed his camera at it and took his first picture of the round.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 21 of 22.

Hammer (Uncommon)

1 of 4

A tool to break stones or to drive nails.

Hp: 4

Vp: 0

The tool had good stats, and Kai found it worthy of a second shot.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 20 of 22.

Hammer (Uncommon)

2 of 4

A tool to break stones or to drive nails.

Hp: 4

Vp: 0

Kai noted his opponent hadn't taken a photo of the hammer. The scoreboard remained unchanged, despite the twenty minutes that had passed. Probably, his opponent this round was playing it cautiously, and taking their time exploring the arena. Or It could also be that they had taken photos of cards that offered no victory points. There was no way of knowing. He wondered what his opponent was seeing, but he guessed that unless he had the [Populated] upgrade, too, they were walking through a very different landscape than Kai.

Once Kai got a shot of the hammer, he looked at the tower that measured strength. One of the passersby was taking off his jacket and reaching out for the hammer. A group of boys his age cheered him on.

The young man grabbed the large hammer and hit the machine as high as he could, but the marker only moved up to about half the tower's height.

“What are you thinking, Kai?” asked Maia as she saw him watch the game with interest.

“That this might be a good spot to get an abstract card.”

“Ooh, how come?”

Kai got his camera out and pointed it at the high striker.

Capture failed!

Tries left: 20 of 22.

Kai clicked his tongue. He had thought that by using the combination of [Hammer] plus whatever picture this machine got him, he would get a card for power, strength, or something similar. But if Daisy didn't recognize the machine as a valid capture, how was he supposed to make it work?

Kai decided to wait as he watched several young men try and fail to ring the bell. A big, burly man in a sleeveless shirt passed by the machine, followed by a parade of children. As the owner of the high striker threw his pitch, the children pointed at the machine, urging their father to give it a go.

The scene was adorable, and Kai wondered whether that could be him someday. Would he also have the chance to walk around, spending time with his children like this?

“Get it, daddy! Go, daddy!”

“Get the prize, dad!”

“How much for a try, chief?” asked the muscled man.

“Two dollars.”

“What's the prize?”

“You can take your pick from any of those,” he said, pointing at a little stand with stuffed animals and balloons on display.

The man pulled two bills out and handed them off to the man. “Let's give it a go then, shall we?”

“Our dad is the strongest man in the world,” one of the children said while poking her tongue out at the man.

“I’m sure he is,” answered the man good-humoredly.

The man put one of his children, who was piggy-back riding him, down and picked up the large hammer as if it weighed nothing. The man's muscles were well-defined, and Kai wondered if Daisy had thought of a backstory for each projection walking around. Had she given a name to all of them? Were they based on real people? Or had she made them up? If so, what was the story of this man? Could he be a construction worker, or was he a professional weightlifter?

The children chanted their complete faith in their father, and Kai had a feeling that the man could actually make the high-striker’s bell ring. Kai got his camera ready and pointed it at the tower. As the man hit the machine with a powerful swing, the red marker shot up at full speed. As it climbed up, it slowed down a little but still managed to hit the very top, ringing the bell.

Kai managed to frame the man with the hammer still down, and the marker hitting the bell and took two pictures in quick succession.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 19 of 22.

Strength (Rare)

1 of 3

The power that be.

Hp: 7

Vp: 0

Capture successful!

Tries left: 18 of 22.

Strength (Rare)

2 of 3

The power that be.

Hp: 7

Vp: 0

“Yes, I knew it,” celebrated Kai.

“What did you know?” asked Maia impassively, dampening some of Kai’s enthusiasm.

“These games are a way for us to capture abstract concepts. I just got two [Strength] cards. Look!” he said, waving the two cards his camera had printed. “Can you see what this means, Maia?”

“Well, it means you now have a direction to strive towards. But you better hurry,” she said, looking at her naked wrist as if there was a watch in it. “You won't have forever in this stage.”

Kai pursed his lips, slightly annoyed at the lack of enthusiasm on the android’s part. She was such a party-pooper. He supposed she was right. He had spent much time in this part of the fair. He had to move.

“Let’s go. I want to see if I can get other cards like this.”

Kai went from stand to stand and eventually found one more stall where he believed he could get an abstract picture. Many of the fair’s games tested accuracy or marksmanship. This seemed a little more specific than strength and maybe less useful in crafting, but Kai had already invested time into figuring out how this stage worked, so he decided to give it a go.

He eventually landed on the stall where moving targets tried to elude shooters. As he had done in the high-striker, Kai didn’t forget to take a picture of the toy rifles.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 17 of 22.

Air Rifle (Uncommon)

1 of 4

The rifle can shoot small plastic pellets that hardly do any harm.

Hp: 1

Vp: 3

Capture successful!

Tries left: 16 of 22.

Air Rifle (Uncommon)

2 of 4

The rifle can shoot small plastic pellets that hardly do any harm.

Hp: 1

Vp: 3

It wasn't a bad card, even if it couldn’t be used in crafting. Like the hammer, if he fed it to a carnivore creature card, chances were that he would get an upgraded version of the creatures. He wondered if, like with [Flint Arrow], he also needed to get a photograph of the projectile for it to be usable, though.

After photographing the rifle, he considered what shot would give him the best chance of getting the card he was after. As he saw people playing, he could see there were good marksmen and bad ones.

He could do one of two things: point at the target, wait for it, and photograph the precise moment the pellet hit the target, just like he had done in the high striker. Or he could do that while the pellet was in mid-air. After he put his thoughts together, he realized that the reaction time required to take either of these photographs made them almost impossible to get right, and returned to the first stand he had visited: the ring toss stand.

At least here, capturing a ring tossed at the right angle as it hit the bottles or flew in mid-air would be easier. Kai positioned himself next to the stand and behind the place where people were tossing the rings and pointed his camera at the bottles.

Another couple came along, and again, the stand-owner was able to persuade the boy to stop and spend some of his coin in an effort to impress his date. Kai pointed the camera at the rods and waited patiently. The first toss and the second full stop were a bust. Although the third was a hit, Kai got the timing wrong and missed his opportunity to take the photograph. The fourth was a miss, and finally, when it came to the fifth toss, Kai got two photographs of the ring the moment it hit the bottles. He wasn't sure if it was necessary, but he was trying to frame both the mark, the projectile hitting the mark, and the tosser, repeating the formula that had worked with the high striker.

Capture successful!

Tries left: 15 of 22.

Accuracy (Rare)

1 of 3

The ability to aim true and hit a target.

Hp: 7

Vp: 0

Capture successful!

Tries left: 14 of 22.

Accuracy (Rare)

2 of 3

The ability to aim true and hit a target.

Hp: 7

Vp: 0

With this, he had the second abstract photograph from this fair section.

Ch. 48 - Prize-Winning

INDEX

Ch. 50 - Yo Ho Incoherency