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 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:14 pm
The market of Amies was bustling, brightly coloured stalls selling everything from painted teaspoons to caged pixies. It was quite overwhelming for Inge, a sheltered fisherman's son who on rare occasions that he had visited the market in the past, had always been with his father. He glanced at the pixies - black skinned little beings with bright amber eyes. They glared back at him, poking spindly fingers through the bars of their cages, pointed teeth revealed by creepy smiles. "Like the look o' them?" The stall keeper asked, rattling the cages and sending the pixies within into a frenzy.
Inge shook his head and quickly made his way away from the stall... He wasn't here to buy, he wanted to know if anyone had an idea what the strange bottle he had was and what it did - apart from rust metal. Even if for some reason he did want to buy a pixie he didn't have any money.
Sighing he searched for a stall that looked likely to have knowledge on the bottle. Most seemed to be normal stalls, selling food or average little trinkets. Only a couple seemed to be slightly orientated towards magic - one of them being a stall draped in black velvet, a large pentacle drawn in chalk on the ground around it and several gruesome magical items on display, one of which looked like a severed hand holding a candle labeled 'hand of glory'.
He approached warily, the stall's wares seemed more sinister than good and he didn't want a curse or something placed upon him by an annoyed stall keeper... He held the bottle tightly in his grasp and took a step towards the stall wondering how to approach the stall holder, who currently seemed to be intent on staring blankly into a ball filled with swirling crimson mist.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:30 am
Aren really didn't like crowds. And being in this place made him uneasy since he had to put extra effort into hiding his true pale appearance. Despite the circumstances he knew he had to go to this marketplace today, he felt it was important. Especially since he felt the presence of a dust nearby. The feeling was subtle.. indicating that it was just still in a bottle stage. The teen dust looked around him, his gray eyes peeking from his scarf. Pixies and small sprites danced in their cages trying to escape obviously not happy being kept inside a small space. Aren sighed, the poor creatures. He hated humans who did absolutely anything just to fetch a good amount of gold.
He avoided colliding with shoulders as he walked (since everyone seemed ot be in a hurry) and covered his ears as some of the men shouted their wares and ushered people to their own stalls. The dust kept his composure and walked and walked until he saw a young teen holding a bottle--- he could not be mistaken, that was definitely a dust bottle, the appearance may be deceiving and make it look just like an old rusting piece of porcelain but Aren knew better.
The young man decided to wait until the young boy was more alone since telling him about the bottle in this place would not be proper at all. He followed the boy's gaze and his eyes landed on a stall keeper in front of him, apparently a bit hesitant. And he couldn't blame the human, the other person really looked scary. He blinked and inched closer to the other man but still not attempting to catch his attention.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:13 am
Inge coughed hesitantly, attempting to casually catch the stall keeper's attention. The man did not even blink and coninued to stare intently at the ball, the mist inside still seeming to swirl in meaningless patterns. Inge winced - he did not wish to interupt and his subtle efforts seemed to be not working. He moved a little closer and began to feign interest in the items for sale, perhaps if he looked like he was here to buy then the man would give him some attention.
He peered at the hand he had noticed earlier, it was withered and definately real looking (it even had a slight rotting smell about it). The candle held tightly in it's grasp was a greasy yellow and the wick was made of tightly spun... hair? Grimaccing Inge examined the small card next to it on which, in small spirdery writing, some details on the 'Hand of Glory' were written.
slightly shocked by the large price he backed away - if he somehow broke it, not only would he probably be cursed but he'd also have to pay and it would take alot of fish to pay off a debt that large...
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:06 am
Making his way through the persistent crowds (the people seemed to be multiplying by the second), Aren lost his sight of the young boy and his bottle. This made the dust very nervous he couldn't find the other again because of his carelessness. Fighting his way to his destination while skillfully still covering his appearance his eyes found their way to the guardian again, vowing not to lose sight of his objective again.
To make sure of this he walked towards the boy, and went right beside him. There, now he was sure he wouldn't lose him again. He needed the other to go to a more quiet place, he hated this location very much. His gray eyes peered at the boy at an item in display, mimicking the guardians disgusted look as he read the little note that described the item. He pushed those thoughts away and glanced a the boy for a split second, making sure he wasn't noticed by the other. Suddenly the shopkeeper looked at Aren, his eyes a little wide in shock, as if he had seen a ghost. His heart beat faster because of this intense stare. He was thankful it only lasted for a brief moment before the stall keeper snapped out of the trance and went back to whatever he was doing. The dust teen breathed out a sigh of relief and shifted his attention back to the guardian.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:22 am
The shopkeeper startled Inge as he snapped out of his trance-like state to stare at someone, or something in the crowd. Inge followed his gaze but saw nothing in particular that he thought would attract the mans attention - just the crowds of people milling around as per usual. The hairs on the back of his neck crept up, the shopkeeper and his wares were freaky and Inge was not at all comfortable, he was sure the hand of glory just twitched and he was aching to get away from the stall as quickly as possible.
At least the shop keeper was up and about now - not staring silently into the ball anymore but moving around the stall, picking things up, rearranging them seemingly pointlessly.
Inge cleared his throat again and mumbled a quiet, "excuse me?" The shopkeeper turned, holding what appeared to be a rabbit's foot on a braided leather necklace. His eyes were a vibrant cornflower blue and his hair was long and greasy, falling down to his shoulders, tiny skulls woven into it.
"Yeeeeeees?"
Inge grimaced - the man's teeth were also grotesque - filed into sharp points. When he had spoken they had been revealed and Inge had to fight back the urge to flee. The man's mouth somehow reminded Inge of the maw of a shark and he guessed that the man, with all his cursed objects, was probably equally as dangerous.
"I was wondering if... Well... You could give me some information on this?" He held out the bottle to the man, hoping that the man could give him a quick classification then he could leave - or if the bottle was cursed he could sell it and make a quick escape.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:04 am
The dust teen fidgeted a little in his place as the boy presented the bottle to the shop keeper. This wasn't a good idea in Aren's eyes. Was he going to sell the bottle? He couldn't do that, he was chosen to be the guardian and no one else. The young man stayed quiet in his place for the moment, only giving out a soft sigh to hide the rising turmoil inside.
He looked at the shop keeper as the guardian asked for information on the bottle. He could have asked Aren that question, no doubt he would have more information that any human had ever known. As if the bottle knew of the things to come, it moved a little in its place, unnoticeable to other people but the dust had sensed it.
Aren looked back at the man who obviously did not know what the word hygiene was, it was bad of Aren to think this since he was told never to judge appearances but in this case he couldn't help it. The dust was scared, quite frankly, if the dust bottle fell into the other man's hands.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:24 am
The man considered Inge's question and leant forwards squinting at the bottle. He frowned then snapped back, flicking something out of his pocket. Inge flinched, was it a wand or something to curse him? He felt a little stupid when he saw what it was really - a pair of half moon glasses that the man now had perched on the end of his slightly crooked nose. He peered through the glasses at the bottle and licked his lips as if he wanted to devour the little bottle. Inge took a step back.
"So what is it?" He asked, his voice a little shaky and unconfident - the man was creeping him out and he wasn't at all comfortable in this situation. The shopkeeper frowned and placed the rabbit foot necklace, which he was still holding in one hand, down on the table top. He seemed to consider something then sucked in a deep breath, the air whistling strangely through his pointed teeth.
"It's an artifact of muuuuuch magical potency." He croaked, knotting his fingers together and cracking them ominously. "Belongs to an ancient mage - he was eviiiiiiil. Created chimeras and set them loose in poor country villages. Eventually got captured though. They say he had his powers put in a bottle and sealed away." The man held back the grin that tugged at his lips as he saw Inge's reaction. A horrified gasp.
"I don't want it then. Take it!" Inge exclaimed, pushing the bottle towards the stall-keeper. He would have nothing to do with anything so horrible! Obviously the mage's power was leaking out or something, it was making things rust, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of a dark mage's wrath. He would just pass it over to the stallholder, a person who obviously had knowledge in dark objects and would be able to look after it.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:39 am
If his scarf wasn't hiding his face, everyone would see as clearly as day, the horrified look on Aren's face as the guardian gave the bottle to the other man. He did this rather quickly upon hearing the false story of the shop keeper who was obviously just trying to scare the boy with his stories. The older man was a sneaky person, and a human who just wanted gold coins-- and would do anything to attain them.
Aren would never let the bottle fall into the hands of someone like that.
His dust instincts kicked as his hand swiftly but gracefully touched the rust bottle with his palm and forced it back to the human boy's arms. Gray eyes went from this boy and the stall keeper, Aren's eyes filled with seriousness.
''Do not believe what this man is saying. He is a master of deceit and weaves false stories just to get gold.'' the shopkeeper looked very pissed at Aren's actions and words. The shopkeeper grunted and removed the pair of spectacles from his face and placed it on the side of the table, prepared to possibly attack this man who was accusing him. But the dust did not really care. He looked back at the boy and with a smooth and polite voice he spoke, ''I can tell you what that bottle is.''
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:59 am
Inge was taken aback as a stranger suddenly butted in - stopping him from giving the bottle to the stall keeper and forcing it back into his hands. He paused, startled, and listened to the new person's words. The story was a lie and the stall-keeper simply wanted the bottle so he could re-sell it? He tightened his grip on the bottle and took another couple of steps backwards, shielding the apparently precious bottle from the stall-keeper's grasp. "Thank you, I'd love to know what it really is.."
He smiled gratefully at the man who had intervened. He frowned slightly as he examined his face, it was ghostly pale and his skin held a slightly blue shade - quite unnatural. His hair too was odd, you could often describe certain people's hair as feathery for it's light texture but his hair was quite literally feathery and glowing slightly.
"You'll trust a... a... demon like him over me?!" Yelped the stall-keeper, quickly picking up on the fact that Inge was surprised by Aren's slightly supernatural looks. He stumbled around behind his stall and began digging out different things that he could use to 'prove' Aren was a demon. But Inge was not being taken in by the man's lies a second time. He could see now that the man was nothing but a gold grabbing phony. He would rather risk it with the less sinister looking person than be made a fool out of a second time.
He shook his head and glanced at the spectral man, twitching his head to indicate that they should escape from the man and find a quieter place to talk he slipped away into the crowd before the stall-keeper could stop him.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:19 am
The feathered dust managed to give the young man a small smile when he spoke. His eyes twinkled as the boy did not show any hostility towards him, after all, he was just a stranger who knew something about the bottle in the guardians possession. But for a brief second Aren's heart lurched as the boy stared at him intently, frowning as if he had seen something odd. Well obviously the dust was odd, he would explain all this to the boy in due time.
His chest tightened and his expression was a frown as the shopkeeper mentioned the word 'demon'. He called Aren a demon, and the teen was not happy about that. For a moment he was reminded of Azael and Illiana, as well as the war that was soon to come. Pushing those thoughts away he looked over to the man, his voice serious. ''I am not a demon, sir.''
Gray eyes darted back to the guardian who was signaling them to get out of that place, people around them were starting to give suspicious and curious looks--- not something Aren liked. He nodded his head at the young man and followed his path amongst the noisy crowds, ignoring the cries of the enraged stall keeper who was humiliated by Aren.
At last the two men came upon a quieter place, Aren looked to see if the bottle was still in the boy's safe hands, he was glad as he saw the slightly glowing bottle resting in his arms. He took a moment to catch his breath, removing the scarf from his neck, revealing his pale blue face and a smile that was on his lips.
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:30 pm
It didn't take them long to find a quieter spot and when they did Inge paused to stare a little longer at the stranger. He had totally removed his headscarf and was smiling kindly at Inge. Inge was a little confused by the man's blueish skin - did he have an illness? It was also possible that he was a demon of sort, like the stall-keeper had said. But somehow Inge doubted that such a kind looking fellow could be evil? However, there was that saying; "Never trust a book by it's cover."
"Thank you for back then. That must've been a grave mistake on my behalf considering the fact you seemed so passionate on stopping me...?" He smiled cautiously and ran a finger around the circumference of the bottle. A few sharks glimmered within and he stopped. Until he found out more about the object he didn't want to make it too active - it was better to be safe than sorry after all.
He paused, then continued to get down to business. "So, you said you knew what this bottle really is?" He asked, motioning to the bottle clasped in one hand. A slight look of worry crossed his face, it was possible that the real identification of the bottle could be worse than the fake... If so... He would be able to give it to this new, seemingly more trustworthy man?
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:04 am
''Yes.'' Aren smiled softly, ''It's called a dust bottle.'' the young man prepared for the worst reaction from this boy because his next words were going to be quite unbelievable. And from experience and the teachings of Aevah, most humans will not really believe this absurd but true story. He paused a little and allowed himself to collect his thoughts before speaking to the guardian. But where was his manners? He had to introduce himself first.
''I am Aren. I am not a human, i'm a dust.. the race of 'new life'... And I came from a bottle like that.'' he said very slowly and carefully so that the boy would not miss anything. ''It's hard to believe I know but that bottle your holding.. It will grow eventually and a dust will come out of it.'' Gray eyes scanned the boys face, examining his reaction. It would be a lot to take, especially since the boy was a bit young.
The pale dust smiled as the bottle sparked, a sign that it was developing well inside and felt a bond with it's owner.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:10 pm
That was definitely not the answer he had been expecting... A person coming from his bottle? A race of new life called dusts... And the man in front of him was a dust? He nodded his head slowly, there was no reason to disbelieve the man and even if what he was saying was untrue, it would make real difference. Just be a slightly annoying joke - he wasn't asking for anything, unlike the man at the market. But still, he would be in-charge of the new life should the man be telling the truth. He'd take on the role of a father. He hadn't planned on being a father till he was much older and now he would have to prepare for a child and try to explain it to his own father...
"So... Do all bottles do what mine does?" He asked, digging around in his pocket as he spoke and pulling out a single copper coin. He held it to the surface of the bottle and showed it to 'Aren'. It was instantly covered in a layer of greenish copper rust. "It rusts any metal it touches? Can you do that?" He assumed that this new race of life must be different to humans, for a start Aren didn't have a natural skin tone or hair... Maybe they also had supernatural powers too...
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:22 am
Aren bowed his head slightly and went closer to the boy as he held the rusted coin in his hands. He touched the piece of metal briefly before he stepped back and rested his hands to his sides once again. "Each dust have different essences. Each are unique. What you have there is a rust dust, it's very peculiar." he paused and smiled, "I think that one will be a handful."
The dust examined the guardians face, he did look quite troubled and Aren knew that he had thousands of questions to ask but... the boy would learn in time. "Don't worry, you were chosen to have this bottle for a reason. And you will learn about everything in due time." the pale dust then brought his brown scarf to his face and wrapped it around with one smooth movement of the arm. He took a step backwards and waved his hand at the boy, indicating a goodbye. It was rude of him to leave the boy like this but he couldn't stay for long.
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:14 am
Inge gave his thanks to the other man as he wrapped his face once again in the scarf and strode away, leaving his mind full of unanswered questions.. A rust dust? That why the metal rusted nearby - but if that was so, what was Aren's essence? And How long would it take before the bottle turned into a child? What should he expect? And How did Aren know the dust from his bottle would be a handful!? He was chomping at the bit to ask the questions but Aren obviously had other things to do... It would be rude to expect him to drop everything and answer all his questions - he had said, after-all, that in time he would have everything revealed to him...
So until then he could only wait...
"Well... I didn't expect that..." he murmured, looking at the soon-to-be-child in his hands. Sighing he turned on his heel and strode towards the harbour - he would have to think of a way to tell his father that they would have another mouth to feed... Not a pleasant task.. He frowned at the rusted coin still clasped in his hand. "Damnit.. He muttered, tossing it away, it was useless now - "Note to self... Don't let the bottle near money..."
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