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

[runs]

"Of course there are." Good on him that he doesn't consider himself omniscient, but. "Won't the person in the booth be killed as soon as she leaves the market?"

Considering how much attention from the wrong sources she must be drawing.

[chalicejoker]

"I would think." Hajime frowns, actually takes the effort to emote that properly, before continuing, "yet she that she took all this in the first place and survived to sell it..."

Yes, this is interesting, and it's troublesome.

[runs]

"Maybe corporate wants her to do that, then." She still has no better name for it, so she'll just stick with it.

But really, it's the most logical explanation. If someone seemingly pisses off something very powerful and keeps surviving despite it, they likely work in the favour of what they are seemingly pissing off.

Which would support the idea that she's gutting demons, not angels.

[chalicejoker]

"Doubtful. Scrap's always brought back to reuse..." Hajime had done it often enough, hunting down and destroying things, bringing back the remains...

[runs]

"Maybe they are trying to catch a bigger fish by letting her do this, or they're trying to catch many smaller fishes?" Considering that whoever might be interested in purchasing something from her is probably someone corporate will have issues with.

[chalicejoker]

"It's an...awkward spot for a trap." Hajime appears to be uneasy with the whole thing. His expression may be well-controlled, but he's fidgeting a bit. "Too many people around, in too strange a locale..."

[runs]

"Traps don't have to snap shut where they are initially set." At least not this kind of trap. She's sure that something as powerful as Nogee has described this god corporate thing would be capable of tailing those it can make out here easily enough.

[chalicejoker]

"I wouldn't want to be walking out of here with a gear," Hajime agrees. "That's asking for trouble later on."

[runs]

"Exactly. And they can watch the ones that are just interested, too."

Watching a place that does gross shit to find people connected to it has been her job before, too. Sometimes you better not touch the most obvious part to get to something more important, or to many related parts.

[chalicejoker]

"Right." Hajime nods. "I might go take a look later, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting into." There's an unspoken request for her not to do the same.

[runs]

"...If they get you, would they reprogram you or just destroy you?"

Will he be safe to approach after this? Or should she be cautious to see if it's really still him?

[chalicejoker]

"Destroy." Hajime shakes his head. "There's no use for faulty equipment. And breaking free? That would be considered faulty equipment."

[runs]

"Good."

Maybe that needs explanation. "Then if I meet you later I will know that it's really you because if you got yourself in trouble and ended up caught you'll just be dead and not turned around."

[chalicejoker]

Hajime nods. "A wise thing to check on." He doesn't want to hurt the kid if he can help it. "I likely wouldn't look like this anymore if they simply tried to reprogram me. There wouldn't be a need for a human form."

[runs]

"So you would look like a bug thing?"

Like the thing he drew for her.

[chalicejoker]

"Possibly." Hajime shrugs. "Or I'd be remade into something else." It's...not a pleasant thought. He even takes the time to work his human face into the appropriate expression of unease.

[runs]

She nods.

"Don't get caught."

She's not going to tell him to not do something that she wouldn't do because. She probably would so poke that shop eventually if she was him. But the not being caught part is important.

[chalicejoker]

"I don't plan on it." He really would rather not to, and he hates that he has to keep running, keep hiding, can't just fight and win...

[runs]

"Good."

And with that she'll turn around and wander away.

And later go to investigate the gears seller in her own way and make no bad decisions in that at all.