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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.
infinitemayonnaise: (laughing in the grass)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-02-03 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Funny," Nitou laughs with a fang-filled grin of his own, "I could say the same thing."
notachickenhawk: (boy: casual)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-02-04 08:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah? You don't seem like the kind of Beast I know of." The taste in his mouth is... different. It's not like with a closer member of the Family.
infinitemayonnaise: (let me learn you a thing)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-02-06 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
"And once more, I could say the same!" Nitou laughs. "You don't have any fur or feathers or fangs or claws or anything!" Really, it's kind of sad.
notachickenhawk: (Default)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-02-06 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
"I've got feathers. They're just in here." He taps his chest, shrugging. "I have a Horror instead of a soul now. So it's the one with feathers, but since it's sort of my soul now I have feathers."
infinitemayonnaise: (possibly mildly confused)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-02-12 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Man, internal feathers sound like they'd be all itchy." Nitou shakes his head.
notachickenhawk: (boy: darkly amused)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-02-13 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
"No, not really. It's not... exactly physical, so it's not like it's tickling me." That would be really inconvenient if it was happening.
infinitemayonnaise: (i am not terribly enthusiastic about thi)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-02-20 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's good, because it sounds way unpleasant otherwise." Nitou shudders.
notachickenhawk: (boy: casual)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-02-20 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not too bad. It means I get to fly in dreams. And outside of it if I really need to."
infinitemayonnaise: (showing off that ring)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-02-26 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I can fly outside of 'em, too!" Nitou says with a grin despite having no visible wings or anything. Just feathers sticking out from a sleeve and his collar. "Flying's pretty great."
notachickenhawk: (boy: in the crowd...)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-02-26 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"It is. Not always the best for hiding, though. That's why I learned parkour." Showy, yeah, but not impossible by the laws of physics.
infinitemayonnaise: (om nom nom)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-03-04 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Nitou laughs. "Eh, turning invisible's good enough for hiding, as far as I'm concerned!" And even then, hiding is not his special skill.
notachickenhawk: ([birdboy])

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-03-04 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not everyone can do that, though. ... I mean I can just flat-out leave the physical plane, but I can't do that everywhere." And sometimes he just doesn't want to physically be his Horror, okay.
infinitemayonnaise: (contemplative)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-03-11 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, yeah, yeah." Not everyone is a mishmash king of beasts like he is, Nitou realizes this. "I guess you do have to be a little sneakier then."
notachickenhawk: (boy: casual)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-03-11 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
"I guess so. ... I'm Tobias, by the way." It's common enough. It's not like he's giving the guy a last name, too.
infinitemayonnaise: (laughing)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-03-11 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm Nitou! Kousuke Nitou!" Because what is caution? Some fae get weird about true names, but not this guy. Maybe it's not his real name. Maybe he only thinks it's his real name.

...or maybe he's just too damn honest for his own good and has no concept of "hey, maybe I should lie or give incomplete information here."
notachickenhawk: (boy: darkly amused)

[personal profile] notachickenhawk 2017-03-12 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Nice to meet a fellow Beast, Nitou. Even if you're not the same kind." And hey, it's been a relatively equal exchange of information. He's not going to complain about it, though they both probably need to watch what they say here.
Edited 2017-03-12 21:10 (UTC)
infinitemayonnaise: (this is going to be good)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2017-03-12 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, likewise." There's a big grin out of the chimera man. "Kind of neat to see the differences, though!"