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Gl!tch~
Oooh! Please! I want one of those!
Name: Mahmud Seshat
Swag: Mr. Freeze's Clay Vase! Useful, and also lovely to look at.
Request: To Mr Freeze: I want to know more about you... tell me something about yourself! Like your favorite book, or something like that!


"Hemera!"

Mahmud practically bounded over to the booth and bumped into it. There was a small moment of panic where he pulled back and inspected the booth for any damage. Once it was established to be safe and sound, however, his attention was turned straight back to his friend. "I saw you on my tv! Kind of!" Making a little pinching moment with his fingers, Mahmud tried to demonstrate his point... and failed to do so without chattering again. "Its sort of on my microwave... three inches big..." With a bright smile, he continued speaking at the speed of light. "You did such a good job! You and your partner! Was he that friend you were looking for? Was it really hard? Do you even remember me? Its Mahmud! You showed me the Library! Your look is so good! Lace looks really nice on you ya know... oh!"

It seemed that at that moment, he noticed the other person in the booth. Briefly bristling when he realized his mistake, Mahmud shot up to stand straight and tall. There was a moment where he visibly scanned Afryse once, twice, three times... and then finally relaxed again, putting on a small smile once more. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude..." Mahmud held a hand out to Mr. Freeze. "I'm Mahmud. Your... friend helped me a while back. I wanted to support you both this competition." It was then his eyes fell to the vases, and he seemed to brighten up to his initially friendly disposition. "Did you... make these? These are beautiful..."

Nictor nervously made his way through the crowds, feeling rather skittish and jumpy. He hadn't been this bad in ages, and he spaced out staring at his own reflection whenever he caught it when passing the front windows of the stores that lined the streets. Then, inevitably, he would get jostled and jump so violently he nearly brained himself and wound up hitting the offender, more often than not. Then he just felt worse and stuttered out a poor apology before absconding away.

He hadn't felt so off key in a while. It had grown to be more of a rare occurrence than a foregone conclusion that his living state of being existed within a realm of isolated and volatile anxiety. Somehow, he was having a worse time trying to reconcile his recent encounter with Toothy than he had his rather disastrous St. Perigee gift delivery trip to Kolako. Considering that, he probably shouldn't even be out and about right now, given his state of mind, but he'd seen a few clips of the Superstar Authority broadcasts and he'd recognized Hemera up on stage.

She knew him long enough, knew enough about him, that he didn't think she'd be bothered if he didn't decide to drop by. The crowds were certainly a deterrent that he was always hesitant to brave. Yet here he was, stumbling his way through the masses to locate the booth with the familiar tealblood.

It was some sick curiosity that drove him, a deep and terrifying resignation that wished for nothing more than to see this done sooner rather than later. Toothy had seemed nice, had offered to help Nictor with something he found difficulty in and didn't let Nictor's less than enthusiastic attitude ruin his mood. By the end of the encounter though, Nictor wasn't sure what to think of the blueblood who had tried to beat him into a pulp. Would Toothy have stopped at pulp? If Nictor hadn't, by some stroke of luck, managed to wear the other down, would that final strike at his face been followed up with worse? He didn't know and it confused him enough to give him a migraine and nearly bring him to tears again. The problem was that he trusted Toothy, as stupid as he was for it. He'd trusted the blueblood and he'd tried to kill him.

Nictor desperately tried to shake the notion away but it wouldn't leave. Instead it haunted him, smothering him slowly, and now sitting at the cusp, waiting. Teetering back and forth, back and forth.

He trusted a highblood and see where that got him. Trolls were violent and terrible and he knew that, he always knew that and now it had been proven. Now, it was just a matter of time before everyone else turned on him too. He thought of Kolako and felt a disgusting deathly warm spread in his gut. It was warm like rotten meat left to decay under the heat of day, reheated and gross and utterly rancid.

That gross, deathly warm feeling is what drove him from his hive that day to see Hemera. Was he imagining it the whole time? Was she ever nice to begin with or had he somehow tricked himself? Would she turn on him to? Was he assuming the worst of her for no reason now? He didn't know, his thinkpan was utterly fried and he just, he knew he had to go see her.

Which is what led Nictor to standing in front of Sparkling Snow's booth, fingers digging into his own arms hard enough to bruise as he stared on in a daze, slowly approaching Hemera. When he was finally close enough to talk though, he finally realized he didn't know what to say.

"I...uh, h-h----hey, He---mera," He stuttered, voice thinner than usual, as if he barely had enough air to speak. And he looked like an absolute wreck. His brows were furrowed in a slight upwards tilt, eyes big and almost watering. His smile was shaky and more of a weak grimace than anything else. The real attention getter was the way his face was bandaged up across the middle, covering a lot of his cheeks and nose, the shape distorted under the thick wrap with spots of fresh blood blooming across the fabric. "I j-j-just ah----I w-w-want---ed...I---I dunno. I dunno. S-s-sorry."

Afryse carefully placed pot after pot on the shelf, making sure each one looked the right way. Symmetry was a valuable thing in art, especially in showing off artistic wares. Was this fine? Humming, he tilted his head to the left, then the right. "That should do --"

Then some idiot, a teen, damn near ran into their booth. He wanted to seethe at them, to cut them down for their stupidity but remained quiet and furious with cold disinterest as the redblood chatted with Hemera. Another friend? She seemed to collect them easily.

Mahmud's question caught his ear, forcing the ice prince to stop sulking and actually pay attention. "Yes, they are." Okay, a little too terse. He WAS trying to be a star, and his persona was one of polite smugness, "But only those with a good eye can tell such. Thank you. I have been making art on and off for all my childhood. Mostly on, that is." He chuckled softly, loosened by the friendly question.

"How did you and Hemera meet? I hope it wasn't over her cooking."

Altered table doilies- he never would have known! "They look like they would be a lot of work, but very well done work. I thought you were going to name a designer, or something." He grinned, shrugging a little as he adjusted the pot in his hands. By that point Mr. Freeze had come over and introduced himself. "Thank you. The table said you made this- is that true?" He held up the pot, then continued, "I was thinking of putting plants in it- do you think if I make a hole in the bottom carefully it will break?" He'd hate to do that- but he supposed he could use it for something else if modifying it to hold plants wouldn't work.

Gl!tch~

Magician Arcana