Welcome to Gaia! ::

The merchant must have noticed something different about her even before she’d approached, but he didn’t seem at all put off by her non-human skin tone. He seemed curious about her, though visibly excited even if he managed to keep his enthusiasm mostly to himself.

“I am a merchant, yes. Looking to trade, not sell. Earth currency, you know. Doesn’t really have much place outside. You’re a far way off from Velencya, aren’t you?”

He glanced over his shoulder, up at the sky as if he thought he might be able to see the synthetic world from here. He couldn’t, and spent very little time looking for it before he turned back to her.

“Have you gotten lost on one of your missions, stuck here on Earth? Or has something happened to Velencya?”

“Oh, I have a little bit of everything,” he said proudly, visibly delighted with everything she had to say. “I know a bit of Velencya. Truthfully, I didn’t know it still existed, it’s been years and years since I’ve heard even a whisper of your kind. You’re very elusive. Not that I can blame you, of course. With what happened to Velenia and all. You know, I might have something. Hold on,” he said, and he rose from his chair. His tail was twitching and he took a moment to dig around in some of the boxes behind the table.

“I’m interested in all sorts of things. Shiny things, one of a kind things, historical things. I’m a collector, too. I’m not just here to do business. You’re young, so I doubt this will mean anything from you. I don’t think anyone’s been back to Velenia in all these years. I have a few relics, though. This, oh. Here we are,” he said, and he pulled out a small pendant. It looked as though it belonged on a necklace, but it looked as though it had broken off. Though repaired, the necklace wasn’t in the best of condition.

“This is in my list of projects, it’s not fixed. If we’re being honest, I really couldn’t get it to work again. It’s supposed to show the lunar calendar–Velenia used to have two moons, but I’m sure you knew that. A few months ago–Earth time, I’m just estimating–it lit up for a little while, but it’s stopped working again.”

The pendant opened up to reveal an iridescent blue background–the sky–and two pretty, opalescent moons. They were both on their own track, but the mechanism seemed to have stalled. It had nothing to wind it, but careful examination would reveal that it could be cleaned and tinkered with.

“Maybe it’s just run out of energy? I don’t know how you charge things, do you have any special Velencian batteries on you? Here, I’ll let you hold it. You can look. It’s a treasure, a rarity, for sure, but it’s broken so I’ll give you a discount. If you’ve got something worthwhile to tempt me with.”

“No, no.” He offered a hand eagerly, and curled his fingers as he gestured for her to pass the jar over. “You’ve piqued my interest. A world between worlds is, no doubt, hard to come by. I find treasures all over the universe, but I highly doubt this is all there is. I can get around, just about anywhere. But between worlds? It’s worth investigating. Don’t be so quick to discount your discoveries. Besides,” he smiled–politely. Charmingly.

Not at all nefariously.

“It’s not often you meet a lost species. I might be willing to be a little extra generous, all things considered. Maybe you can keep me if you find something else in the future.”