#darkgatefortress

"And so, we come down to our finalists, " Sully does the honors as a more neutral party, of course, as a theatre culture vulture pooka , he's prone to exageration, "Who have shed blood, sometimes their own, to bring us these five fingered wonders from the heavens, wrought in the fire of the muses!"

Colton is trying very hard not to roll his eyes.

Sylvi grins and squeezes his hand. "Oh, let him have his fun," she whispers to him.

"I'm the one walking around with a very basic prosehtic while he yammers" Colton says grumpily. It has been a while for him, "But fine."

"From Silverwolf, the Stealth Punch 500Xx..." He lets the X have a bit of a hiss, as Sully gesturess to the dark black leather and obsidian looking gauntlet arm provided by Wudlig now of Silver wolf, "With basic black on black inlays, but numerous hidden attachments including a chimerical punch dagger, a corkscrew, a carving knife, and a compass"

Wudlig waves to the crowd

Sylvi whispers to him, "Batman style."

Colton smiles at that// "From Rivervale, we have 'Maggot Mitt'..." once again they present the long glove seemingly constructed of some poor creature's hide layered with taxidermied maggots and worms. It writhes... "Complete with multiple prehensile attachments, a master work of Taxidermy"/At this point, it should be said, Sylvi is damn sure it wasn't the Chief who did this, hers would have been wood.

There's some guck sounds of disgust from the crowd, save for some sluagh in the corners going 'ooooo ahhhh' very quietly

Colton mutters "You're not going to let me touch you with that one are you?"

Sylvi fails to suppress a shudder. "Uh...no. Not so much. Ugh."

"And I'm gonna have a talk with Symon."

"He could just deny he's the one who made it. Sure, a Gwydion could tell but he might still do it."

"Then he'd have to admit that somebody else in Rivervale has taxidermy skills that good."

"Yes, makes me hungry just looking at it" Sully declares "For a scavenger, the very definition of finger food" THANK fully he moves on, "From Betrand The Glass master, the Bluestar Special!" The glass arm is in some ways like the original one, long lost, but has a blue tint to it's translucence that is liam hued with silver edges at the start and finger tips "Capable of luminsenece and light refraction"

"Ohhh...." Sylvi breathes softly.

"He does beautiful work" Colton admits

Then she bites her lip. It's not really fair for her to express a preference....

"Wait. He said capable of luminescence...but does it always glow? Can you make it not glow if you need to not be seen?"

"I don't know" he admits "Nocker made is a gamble"

She nods. "But...he did do the previous one...."

"From Earth Runes , commissioned by Baroness Coradel from her hard working crafters, Glitterbang !" The arm is adorned in beautiful gemstones in a silver weave. Colorful to say the least, surprisingly smooth for all that, "As suits a Fiona hold, it comes with both battle and vibrator settings"

A startled look

and a definite blush.

"Umm."

Blushes all around , this is a largely troll hold

"I...uh...wonder what battle mode entails," she tries gamely.

Colton says "probably impressive stuff" he says

"And lastly, but not leastly, brutal but not beastily, I give you the DarkGate Gauntlet" It looks like the gauntlet and arm of a work of armor, more simplistic in design, but worthy of a knight with sublte grooves here and there an the insignia of the hold at the joint. It has a rune in the open palm of it.

"Oh, that's impressive," she murmurs.

"It's gonna be a hard vote" Colton mutters to her back "Well, not the maggot mitt. No sluagh on the judging panel"

"Wait, do you get to try the finalists? See how each one works in practice?"

"Yes. " He nods "Wouldn't be fair otherwise, but for the purpose of the contest I agreed to abide by the decisions of the judges" He then whispers 'ALsso, I get a vote wit hthem, but honstly I'm not sure which one to go with. You have a favorite?"

There it is. He wants her opinion, and very likely will take it into account.

"Well, we're agreed that the taxidermied...although, uh, skillful...is Right Out. As for the others..." She considers a moment.

"The Batman one has a lot of useful items. Wudlig's is really gorgeous, but you have to wonder about the flaw. The Fiona one might have some really interesting benefits in battle mode," she adds before he can say anything. "And somehow the Darkgate one seems most...sincere? Knightly? I don't know. I wonder what the rune on the palm does."

"The rune on the palm pulls a weapon with the same rune to it' he answers "That one I know"

"Oh! So, you can code a weapon to fly to your hand? That's neat!"

"Pretty much. The blue glass one does glow, I don't know if it might kick on now and then when I don't want it to" Ahem "Haven't tested all mods on the Glitterbang but apparently it can blind foes and cause your weapons to sparkle"

"Mm-hm." She seems reluctant to offer any further opinion on Glitterbang's applications. "You're right, it's a tough choice."

"I think, initially, Wudlig's appeals most to me for the visual, but I don't think prettiness is your priority. Darkgate is a close second for me."

"I'm worrieed my sense of loyalty to Darkgate is biasing me" He admits "Maggot Mitt is out for me. Glitterbang , I think I'd pass but the others.. damn."

"Well...that's why there's a panel. To counteract your biases. Right?"

"Yeah" A nod

He might catch her giving the Fiona entry a curious glance.

Then she catches herself and looks back at him, clearing her throat. "So...maybe if you do the where-do-you-want-to-be-in-five-years thing? Which of these fits your vision of yourself in five years?"

Colton looks at her, and has a secret smile she just can't read.

She gives him a puzzled look in return. "What?"

"You ask very dangerous questions" Yet his smile broadens

She blinks. "Um." She bites her lip and looks at the arms again.