WEEK 04

[modmachine]

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.

Comments

Casper | Open

[helborn]

[New Kid on the Block]

There's someone new around today. A teenager wanders through downtown, a raven either perched on his shoulder or flying nearby. He's not trying to gawk, but it's hard when there's so many new things. Not that he's never been to a city, but it's been a while since he's seen one like this that isn't so... damaged.

A few people keep staring at him due to the bird, but he doesn't pay attention to them. Anyone nearby who has any sort of association with death will get long stares, and those with heightened senses of hearing will hear a slight mechanical click as he walks.

[Market Day]

Casper is slightly overjoyed when he finds one of the weird flyers, and keeps bustling about in the market. He's not buying anything - not yet, at least - but he's definitely enjoying the strangeness. He's gotten a few offers for his raven, but he's not giving up Bob. Bob does not seem thrilled with the offers, and sticks close to Casper. Anyone who can understand raven-speech will be able to hear them chatting to each other, though most of Casper's speech is in English.

New Kid

[runs]

It's his smell that stops Kitty dead in her tracks as she pushes past him through a crowded place. So far, everything has been smelling like home, more or less - like the underlying scent everywhere around the place that she grew up in. She didn't really notice it until now, when she suddenly is engulfed by a different scent entirely. It takes her a bit to identify it, longer than she is near it.

Her curiosity picked, she turns around once she's a few people away - vanishing in a crowd and slipping through it fast are both easy tasks when you're half as tall as everyone else - and then she follows him, the scent aside also quickly noticing how bad he is at not being conspicuous. She has to think of the guy with the colourless eyes. Such a scent - she can identify it now: clean, fresh earth - shouldn't stick to a human. If he's human. Which you can never be sure of here, apparently, especially if people smell weird. But the people who smell weird tend to do their best to not stand out, and running around with a raven and staring at the area like it's new...

Nothing is conclusive here. But it would be nice to know if she's not the only person who doesn't belong here. And maybe he would know a way back.

She finally catches up with him when the throng of people thins too much for her to still stay hidden.

"Hey."

[helborn]

He turns at the sound of someone addressing him - everything is so loud, he'd forgotten about that part of cities since he hasn't really been in one since his senses got kicked up into overdrive - and smiles, even as a vague scent wafts towards him.

"Hey there. What's up?"

[runs]

"Are you new?"

She could be more cautious about this. But a. she's not in the mood (she's rarely in the mood for the complicated long route) and b. ...'being new' could refer to all kinds of things. Right?

[helborn]

"I... uh." He should say no, but... "Yeah. I... just got here."

[runs]

He just earned a point on the gained this cat's interest meter.

"Where were you before?"

[helborn]

"Um..." How to explain... "Heading towards the East Coast. We were just over the border into... Kentucky? I think? I'm awful at American geography, there's too many states."

[runs]

"I know where America is." If she sounds a bit proud of this, it is because she is. Look, her geography isn't that bad. All a place needs to exist on her mental map is a good or at least Urban Brawl team. #priorities "I've never heard of Kentucky, though. Is that anywhere near Chicago or Manhattan?" Okay, maybe she knows slightly more geography than "sports" team geography. At times, things that she learned through work exist in her knowledge, too.

[helborn]

"South of Chicago, west of Manhattan." Someone showed him a map of their route and it looked super long. He's more eager to actually get there than know how long it will take because he's sure the answer is depressing.

Bob stares down at her, before squawking in a way that gets Casper to shift his shoulder and turn to stare at the bird. "Be nice."

New Kid

[dangerouslyinlove]

Well. That's sure a thing that's happening.

The sense coming off of this guy is... really, really weird. And very death-y, so naturally it gets Ryoji and Thanatos's attention. Thanatos flares up, frustrated by its own confusion, but Ryoji is much better at putting on a smile. It's probably for the best he's the only one most people see.

He approaches Casper, looking politely concerned. "Hi! Are you alright?"

[helborn]

Casper turns slightly to address whoever's approaching him, and stares. There's a definite sense of death around the other teen, and is that - that's definitely something he's never seen before hanging near him. A ghost? But it's different somehow...

He almost misses the question, and just smiles back. "Uh. Hi." His eyes flick over towards Thanatos, not sure if he should mention the ghostthing or not. Maybe the guy doesn't know? "I... uh. I don't know? I think I'm kind of lost."

[dangerouslyinlove]

That... he was definitely looking at Thanatos just now, wasn't he? The geist bristles a little, coffin wings flaring. Ryoji tries his best to ignore him. "Do you need help? I know the area pretty well... where are you trying to go?"

But then again, the last time he met someone who was 'lost' was Kitty. And normal people should not be able to see Thanatos.

[helborn]

"Um... home. But no one here seems to understand what I mean." He bites his bottom lip, trying to ignore Thanatos' display. That's... concerning, but he's not sure if he should leave it alone or not. "No one here even seems to know what America or Canada are."

[dangerouslyinlove]

...Nope. None of those ring any bells, but it does answer his questions. "I'm... not sure we can get you home, no," he says apologetically, "Did you just get here? Do you remember how?"

[helborn]

"I... walked through a door. And then I was on a street, but I shouldn't have been, and the door was gone. And yeah, I just got here." He looks up at the raven, which doesn't answer. Look, he's got no idea either, okay?

[dangerouslyinlove]

Yeah that raven is also weird. But Ryoji tries to give him a reassuring smile. "I have a friend who that happened to, too. But I wouldn't really go around talking about it to most people... I can try and help you at least get settled and stuff, if you want? What's your name?"

[helborn]

"I... yeah. Probably. And I'm Casper. What's your name?" He looks right at Thanatos and raises an eyebrow. You want to give him your name too, buddy?

Market Day

[infinitemayonnaise]

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."

[helborn]

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."

[infinitemayonnaise]

Nitou grins. This grin has entirely too many fangs. "Some do, some don't, but that makes it easier, you can just barter with a lot of things."

[helborn]

"I kind of just got here, though. I don't have a lot of stuff on me that I can give up." He does have some relics, but he can't really give those up. He needs those for his abilities.

[infinitemayonnaise]

"You don't always need stuff on you," Nitou says, "Some of these guys will let you do something for them, or they'll trade memories and stuff."

You know, a normal barter system.

[helborn]

"... Favors, huh? I... know some other people who do that. I guess I'll have to figure out just what sort of stuff they have here. I don't know what sort of stuff I'll need in this place." He could need pretty much... anything, really.

[infinitemayonnaise]

"As long as you got food and a tent," Nitou says, "You'll be fine." There's a pause. "And clothes. People get kinda upset if you run around naked."

[helborn]

"I've got clothes. The cold doesn't bother me, but food's a good idea." He'll have to ask what kind of favors people want in return. He's already in debt to his mother, he doesn't want to make it much worse.