modmachine: (Default)
Hᴇx - ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴅ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ ([personal profile] modmachine) wrote in [community profile] cityofhex2017-01-03 08:45 pm

WEEK 04

Weather: If you ask the residents, it's freezing, though it technically hasn't dropped that low yet. A rather nasty rainstorm does pick up steam late Tuesday and last well into Thursday night, however, so it might be a little justified on the part of the unfortunate souls stuck out in it.

Moon phase: Monday the 21st is the last-quarter moon, and the crescent is hidden behind clouds until Friday night.

Carried on from last week: After Ryoji and Kitty open an Underworld gate, the ice from the week before melts away over the next day or so, unsealing the rest of them. The thickly-built man can still be found watching the construction site, though no further strange accidents occur.

It's Black Friday Somewhere - the Goblin Market:

On Wednesday night, flyers start getting tacked up in weird places; the ink used in them is an ancient sort that runs in the rain, but if you can manage to find one that's intact, it speaks of an open exchange of goods... But the location is left mysterious. Those with any kind of supernatural sight, however, will find that the running ink leaves behind a quite useful map when the flyer is taken down.

The Goblin Market sets itself up in the early hours of Friday morning that can technically be called Thursday night, booths full of oddities going up in the central park while the last of the raindrops still sprinkle through the trees. The market is separated from the rest of the park by three strange gates set around the perimeter, all of them formed of two poles strung with flowers. Passing through them causes a strange sensation like stepping through the surface of a pool; inside the market, Changeling masks are disabled, and other illusions have difficulty working properly. Only the Covers created by the God-Machine, whether they belong to angel or demon, remain unaffected.

Almost anything can be found here for the right price, if you know who to talk to or just wander around long enough, and there are changelings on the ground practically from the moment the stalls are set up. The market is open for roughly 24 hours.

A few highlights;
  • The Boss: Whoever this guy is, he's Big News. Dressed in what seems to be a suit made entirely of burlap sacks, he has a glittering woman on each arm wherever he goes in the market. The expressions on the women are dazed and dreamy; they sigh periodically. Three glittering children follow after him, occasionally being sent on errands for this or that in the market, and they'll stop long enough to wave if they come across Kitty before going back to work. Occasionally, their boss pulls a glittering beetle or some other insect out from the folds of his suit... and eats it.

  • A pair of horned shopkeepers share a stall; one sells a variety of engraved weapons, and the other, star charts. Occasionally, the astronomer glances up at the sky and scribbles something down in a notebook in his lap. Strangely, though their booth has no cover, nothing within seems at any risk of getting wet, and the blade-seller can occasionally be seen flicking water away with his fingers. A banner across the front of their stall proclaims 'PROPHECIES CHEAP.'

  • A large enclosure is home to a number of strange animals, ranging from small birds whose voices induce synesthesia, to glittering insects (not unlike the ones someone else at the market is snacking on), to chimeras, to a single, inexplicably normal giraffe. Every couple of hours, the animal seller has to leave to chase down one of several pink puppies that attempt to escape his notice and run freely through the market.

  • At dawn and sunset, a golden-haired Fairest ascends the small stage in the back corner to sing. When she does, almost all the market goes still to listen to her voice. The only person who seems capable of moving is her black-wrapped companion; only his eyes are visible, and he rolls them regularly, but no one seems willing to test him by approaching the woman he accompanies.

  • A young woman sells gears that are clearly ripped off pieces of Infrastructure, for those who know what to look for. She doesn't seem concerned by the fact that a number of them are covered in blood or other fluids, or by the single angel who is doing a very poor job of finding excuses to walk past her booth repeatedly. Closer inspection will reveal that her dark 'skin' is in fact entirely made of wood, and gears like those she sells have been carefully embedded in it.

  • There is an informational booth from the local university, which seems to be accepting payment for winter tuition in whatever barter people have brought. It is by fair the most mundane-looking set of tables in the place, except for the slowly-growing collection of odd payments behind the registrar. Her assistant, a tired-looking adjunct professor, appears to be human, and occasionally rubs his eyes and mutters to himself over some of the stranger applicants.

  • A certain Art Student from said university, who is distinctly staying as far away from that booth as possible, and instead looking at a half-a-table full of magically bright pigments. It might be a bit difficult to recognize her, though, with the hood high around her head blocking most of her face from view and the streaks of temporary pink dye in her bangs.

  • A girl of about twelve, running about the market unsupervised, occasionally produces a strand of her gleaming silver hair to trade for seemingly worthless items. By day's end, these strands are one of the most in-demand pieces of merchandise in the market.

  • A creature that looks like nothing so much as it does a metal statue of an antelope harshly appraises goblin fruit at the various stalls offering such. In the late afternoon, one seller takes issue with this assessment, and attempts to start a fight, but passes through the creature as though it were air. In fact, the goblin fruit seem to be the only thing that it can touch.


EVERYTHING ELSE:

The Hunt is On: The day after the goblin market brings an unusual number of gun-wielding farmers into town - as well as their richer, fancier counterparts. There seems to be some tension between the two groups of hunters; those who spot an encounter between the two near the central parks can almost feel it in the air.At nightfall, the two groups assemble at opposite ends of the park, and chase... something through the grounds that previously hosted the Goblin Market. Though it seems to be a competition, neither group is successful in taking their quarry.

Spooky Scary: Network Zero goes through bursts of activity, and it’s started bursting again with rumors of one particular warehouse in the Sixth being haunted. Indeed, anyone who wanders over towards it can find a scruffy-looking Cameraman with a handheld camcorder poking behind boxes and trying to catch… something on camera.

Long Nights at Church:The greeter normally stationed outside St. Madeleine's church belltower seems uneasy, glancing up at the empty tower repeatedly throughout the weeknight services. Finally, on Sunday night, after all the human worshippers have gone home, she takes one of the largest of the handbells from holiday practice and takes it up the tower, ringing it twelve times at midnight. Over the course of the next few hours, several other dwellers of the night climb the steps and make their confessionals into the empty space, each ringing the bell when they have finished.
helborn: (yeah okay you wanna go?)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
"... That'd be.. useful. I'll have to think of a way to make sure I get to the right underworld... I wouldn't be able to climb out from Hades or something." Plus, he's not sure that Hades would help him given how much trouble he's given Aiden sometimes. He's not sure his mom will help him either, but you work with what you have.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Not sure about this])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
"I can go in with you for at least some of it," Ryoji offers, "I can find my way around part of where the Gate lets out." It might not be much, but... "How are you feeling? We might not want to go now if you're not totally rested."
helborn: (even in monochrome land i'll defeat you)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm... doing okay? I'm pretty refreshed, I hadn't done much before I showed up here." He shrugs, looking at Bob. "You feeling okay?"

He just gets a stare. That means something along the lines of 'what do you think, idiot?'
infinitemayonnaise: (who needs to worry with a big fancy gun)

Nitou | Open

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-01-05 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Goblin Fruit]
With Changeling masks not working right now, Nitou looks like a bipedal lion with bull-like horns sprouting from his forehead. But upon closer inspection, one might see a patch of feathers, a shiny patch of dolphin-like skin, or some green patch of reptillian scales. Nitou's clothing covers the worst of it, but this chimera is definitely made up of more than just two animals. He's perfectly at ease at this market, calling out hellos to people he knows and happily (and loudly) bartering with shopkeepers. He seems primarily interested in acquiring goblin fruit, and he's having varying degrees of success bartering both mayonnaise and the weird little bits and bobs he finds as he goes about his hoboing lifestyle.

After a while, he can be found up in the trees in the area, meticulously collecting raindrops from them in a little bottle. He's never found in an oak tree, and he'll only be found in yew trees later in the day.

[Let My People Go]
At one point, he'll also show up in front of the animal enclosure. "Hey! Hey! What are you doing, selling chimeras in there? They got rights and feelings and stuff!

Why, yes, he's trying to start something with the shopkeeper.

[Concert Time]
You'd best believe Nitou's going to listen to that golden-haired Fairest doing the singing. He is a very attentive member of the audience, and there's quite a bit of loud, almost-roaring applause out of him. He means well, but what is decorum? Can you eat it?
Edited 2017-01-05 04:16 (UTC)
infinitemayonnaise: (let me look and see what you stepped in)

Goblin Market

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-01-05 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, if Malin's worried about looking like human, she doesn't have to worry as much with this guy hanging around. He looks like a bipedal lion-man with bull horns, but there's a tuft of feathers poking out from his collar. He's rooting through the clothing like he doesn't have a care in the world. "Man, I wonder if they have anything that doesn't tear..."
infinitemayonnaise: (om nom nom)

Market Day

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-01-05 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
If Casper's enjoying the strangeness, get a load of this guy, this lion-man with the horns of a bull. He's loud, he's squirting mayonnaise all over a piece of strange-looking fruit on a stick (a literal stick, like he just grabbed part of a tree and made a kebab), and he is enjoying himself. "Oi, if you're hungry, that place over there has some pretty good stuff."
chalicejoker: (Suspicious)

Hajime | Open

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2017-01-05 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
[Infrastructure Saleswoman - NPC Requested]
Hajime knows good and well what the Infrastructure is. He's also pretty sure he knows what the guy who keeps making repeated excuses to pass by the booth is. Got to be careful.

He'll remember everything he sees; he only needs to visit once, casually, as though he's just a normal human. He keeps a curious expression on his face as he approaches. "...so what is all this stuff, anyway?"

[Goblin Market General]
Hajime knows better than to bring his camera to something like this. The reactions to the bonfire on the beach photography had been bad enough, but this was even more overtly strange. He supposes he should feel more at home, but he does not. He's distracted enough observing things that he has for the moment forgotten to try to give himself a proper curious human expression, which just might give him the impression of one who has done things like this so many times before that it's lost some of the novelty. Not what he's going for, but he should have thought of that before going in.
chalicejoker: (Uncertain)

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2017-01-05 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Hajime has a camera on him just in case there really is something going on here, but he doesn't expect to use it. There's already a cameraman here, though Hajime's got a film camera and not a camcorder. He hadn't been expecting to find the kid sitting on the floor all quiet like this.

...maybe he should leave before he's noticed...
chalicejoker: (Mopey)

Looking at the gear stuff

[personal profile] chalicejoker 2017-01-05 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't show too much interest." Hajime quietly comes up next to Kitty when he spots her looking at that booth from a distance. "This stuff is trouble."
helborn: (i'm at a fancy party pretending i'm cool)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
He looks around, and - sure is a lion-guy. He smiles, trying to be as polite as he can. No sense in upsetting the weird beasts here. "I'm guessing most people here don't take dollars as currency, though."
notachickenhawk: (Default)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-01-05 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
There's someone looking over his shoulder as he's bartering with one of the shopkeepers, and takes a step back as he turns around. "Is that stuff any good for people who aren't like you?"

Look, he's recognized that there are varying degrees of weird here. He doesn't want to like... turn his Horror pink or something because he ate the wrong thing.
runs: (duh)

[personal profile] runs 2017-01-05 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
"...If you need a place to stay, there's a tent city in the park where nobody asks questions, but in the middle of the winter it might be better for you to find a job and make rent as quickly as possible." The solution that her and Tobias found is good, but it is far from perfect and there's always the worry that they will be kicked out or some gang will claim the place. "There are always abandoned houses in the 6th that you can stay in for a night or two, too, but sometimes people wander in so that isn't necessarily safe."

Hm, what else. "If there's magic where you're from it might work differently from how it works here, so if you see someone or something that resembles someone or something that you know from home, they might not be the same thing. And there are a lot of vampires in downtown at night."
runs: (what the heck)

[personal profile] runs 2017-01-05 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not going to buy anything." She replies equally quietly. Figures that Hajime would say something along the lines of 'it means trouble'. It's gear stuff.

"Why is some of it bloody?"
runs: (cat: yo what up)

[personal profile] runs 2017-01-05 07:22 am (UTC)(link)
It takes her two run-ins to put two and two together, but then Kitty grins and leaves the market for a couple of minutes to find a safe place to shift and tuck away her things. She's not wandering around aimlessly when she returns, instead heading straight for Nitou.

Hey.

Annnd she'll start to climb up his side as soon as she has his attention, just so nobody thinks that they just found a free kitten.
movingon: (coat)

[personal profile] movingon 2017-01-05 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
People that she didn't expect to run into here: Hajime (though she probably should have).

People who she doesn't want to run into in this city ...okay, that list is far longer, but in the end the only named item on it is the aggressive bug guy.

Either way, Hajime gets a glare whenever they cross paths, but she'll try to stay away from him. This seems like the worst place to start a fight, and going by earlier interactions that's probably what will happen.
runs: (I got this)

[personal profile] runs 2017-01-05 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
He's not the only one who found a puppy, Kitty got one too.

And has absolutely no idea what to do with it. She's a cat, dogs are... y'know. (Very obviously a cat right now that her mask has failed and looking at her surroundings she figured that contacts wouldn't be necessary, so that in the dim lightning most of her eyes are reflective yellow, and the slightly odd form of her eyes stands out much more.)

"Hey!" She wanders over to where Ryoji is, holding the puppy that she just caught in both hands, and stops next to where he is. "You got one, too." She's still undecided what to do with hers. Technically, she knows where they go, but since they aren't there any more...
movingon: (coat)

[personal profile] movingon 2017-01-05 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
It's more that she's worried about looking very distinctive in this place. She's considerably less worried about looking ...not human, which makes walking around a lot easier. A coat can only do so much about wings, a tail and your feet and legs not quite working as human ones do any more, and so she usually shuffles around more than she walks. Here, she doesn't need to.

...She does feel a little bit of an odd kinship with this guy, though. Being made up of all kinds of different parts... Which is part of why she doesn't evade a conversation (the other is that, despite having Corwin now, she still craves interactions).

"You could ask."
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [With my scarf])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Ryoji laughs. What an interesting bird! "Alright... well, I know where a Gate is, if you want to try..." He's pretty clearly not sure about this at all, but he's willing to help if Casper thinks it'll work.
helborn: (i'm not an anime protag i swear)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Huh." He thinks about it, and shrugs after eating a bite of burger. "I'm immune to cold, so that makes things easier." It should, at least. There's the chance someone might ask weird questions, but he should be able to make them leave peacefully. ... Probably. He's not totally sure if Bob feels the cold, but he's got a jacket, at least.

The idea of him working makes him look slightly... concerned, though. "I don't know if most jobs would be good for me if they involve physical labor. Someone who looks like I do shouldn't be able to pick up heavy stuff easily." Then again... "Maybe the library needs help?"
helborn: (yeah okay not sure about this)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's worth a shot, right?" He smiles a little bit, scratching Bob's head fondly. "And... uh. Well. I haven't actually been down there in a while. Just once, really. So... if you've got experience..." Help. Please.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Wink])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Ryoji shoots him a grin. "Don't worry, I'll help! Gimme about ten minutes, I'll be right back and then we can go." He just needs to get some things.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Nope, too late. Ryoji spots him and waves with a bright smile. "Hi! How are you? Are you taking pictures?" He seems to usually be taking pictures.
helborn: (you're kind of cute)

[personal profile] helborn 2017-01-05 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure. Need me to help you?" He can be helpful! Probably. Possibly. Bob looks at Casper and pecks the side of his head. He knows what you're thinking. Don't you dare.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Happiness])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Kitty having a puppy is kind of hilarious, honestly. "I did!" he says with a smiling, patting the dog on the head, "I guess they must have escaped from somewhere, huh?" That's a shame. He kind of wants to keep it but it would probably look weird. And is likely too expensive.
dangerouslyinlove: (Ryoji [Smile])

[personal profile] dangerouslyinlove 2017-01-05 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure, if you want! I'm just gonna pick up stuff from my dorm real quick." He doesn't mind taking Casper if he doesn't want to wait. Ryoji will start leading the way towards campus, then.

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