It was already late in the evening but the merchant seemed unfazed by the passing of time. He sat, poised and elegant, watching the world around him. He didn’t seem bored, even as he leaned forward and laced his fingers atop the table; below it, he kept his toe tapping to some silent tune in his head. He was tall, by human standards, though while sitting down he didn’t seem particularly threatening. If you didn’t look at his face.
He had graceful features--sharp and refined. His chin and nose tapered to a point, giving him an air of sophistication, but that, combined with his slitted eyes and pointed teeth, there was something undeniably predatory about him. He watched with a hungry gaze and a mischievous, nearly sinister smile. His ears were pointed and were prominent despite being tucked behind his vibrant, multi-colored hair. The most intrusive feature that indicated there was something not human about him were the curling horns protruding from his temples and the oil-slick black scales that brushed his cheeks and forehead. He was well dressed, in a fashion obviously otherworldly, and seemed to enjoy dressing himself up in glistening gemstones.
His table was somehow both simple and overwhelming; it was draped in a dark purple tablecloth, with extravagant embroidery in different designs. Scattered neatly atop the table was an array of items that seemed to carry some magical weight to them.
He did not seem intimidated in the slightest and, upon noticing that the barrier surrounding him rippled when his visitor entered, he smiled.
He did not rise to meet them nor adjust his position in the slightest. He followed them with his fierce eyes and greeted, in a silky voice, “Welcome.”
Faustite was yet uncertain of his choice, but he decided to move forward with it. He would have another chance to reconsider at point of sale, he assumed, unless Almadel suddenly turned the brutish type. For an age, he agonized over whether he should bring the ink at all, but with his old youma already memorialized over parts of his body, it seemed foolish not to put the rest of the ink to use. Squiddy fought to advance his and the Negaverse's goals; surely it would have accepted something like this.
His approach to the barrier was slow, as a wrong step could light up the summer-dried forest. Almadel was fond of this view; far be it for the strange merchant to stay if half the trees burned down. That would be quite the shame, assuming Faustite survived his own bumbling bonfire; he might simply lay down in it from the shame of having started one so unintentionally.
Perhaps he was too focused on the trek there, or the barrier somehow concealed them, but Faustite hadn't noticed a Knight's aura until he stepped through the strange, rippling field. Sure enough, there was an imminently recognizable Hat and Curtain, sharing fifty cubic feet of breathing space with Almadel.
"Save your breath." Faustite eyed up the interloper as he made his way into the space. "He doesn't sell dogs."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 5:15 pm
Asphodel himself had only entered a moment ago, and he bristled visibly when a Chaotic aura entered the space. It was easy to guess who it was when the new arrival's presence immediately raised the ambient temperature in the space by roughly 30 degrees. The Knight's murky eyes rolled dramatically and he did not save his breath at all, instead fluttering the sheer fabric covering his face with a bobble-headed sigh.
"He doesn't sell tacos either. I'll be gone before you burn this place down, I promise," he replied disdainfully. Turning back to the merchant, he continued, "I'm just here to return something."
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:40 am
“Well, I’ll never say no to good business. I’ll take a return, let me see what you want to part with.”
If he thought anything of these two distinctly different energy signatures–if he could feel them at all–he said nothing of it. They weren’t fighting, and even if they had been–would he have cared, if it was far enough away from his merchandise?
He was unreadable except for how he wanted to be read–which, right now, appeared to be no more than a simple, friendly merchant, glad to have two charming customers.
“I’m glad to see you again,” he nodded to Faustite. “You’ve such a way of lighting up the room. I had a feeling business would be good tonight, so I’m glad to have you both.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 6:43 am
Faustite scoffed. "How do you know one of these isn't a taco dispensary? Better chance of him selling tacos than dogs…" Magical items produced all sorts of fantastical bullshit, if any of the ones he encountered were considered. Sure, none of Almadel's wares looked like taco dispensaries, but only the merchant would know for certain.
Rolling his eyes as the Knight's surliness, Faustite reached to flip the hat off of his head. Maybe Faustite would find a bald spot under it — wasn't that something to report in the Database.
When Almadel spoke to him, he felt both awkward for having gotten riled by the dour Knight, and flushed for being… Complimented? Called out? He couldn't be certain, but he was Noticed, and the boy was pretty, and he was nice to him, and — Faustite was hopeless. Utterly ******** hopeless. He rubbed his face with his hands, and pinched the bridge of his nose in his growing frustration at himself.
"Brought something, but… It'll wait for this one to leave." He folded his arms as he watched the Knight, expectant to see what was so worthless to him that he had to return it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:14 pm
The hat was knocked off of the Knight's skull, and he almost lashed out in response to the insult. The muscles in his body suddenly halted mid-coil, and he forced himself to reel in his thrashing anger and instead retrieve his hat from the ground. Faustite's feat had exposed a braid of dusty plum-colored hair and a frowning, thin face with a missing tooth, neither of which Asphodel was pleased to have exposed.
How anyone could be glad to see the likes of Faustite was a mystery he decided to leave unanswered. Instead, he gave a pointed look at the undoubtedly familiar wisp that had sparked into being to settle on his brim.
"I'm sure you recognize this," he said. "I traded it to you for those oils? And then that whole kaiju disaster happened, and after you ran off, it came back to me and started following me around." Unless it was a different one than the one he had traded. He didn't really care.
"That," he crossed his arms, "Was a year ago. Meaning I've been babysitting this thing for you for a year. I am now ready to return it to its proper owner and have it taken off of my hands." Then he inclined his head forward, meaningfully and expectantly. "And I think some payment for my services is in order, here. I'll take whatever I can sell for the largest amount of Earth money."
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 4:46 pm
Almadel’s eyes followed the wisp with an almost sad, longing look. His lips pressed together into what almost appeared to be a pout. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and sighed. “Oh, if only I could make such a trade. Chances are, it would just follow you home. Trust me, I didn't want to leave empty handed. Really, things would have gone over smoothly if I’d actually gotten all of them back. I’m afraid you have to blame your peers on Earth if any weren’t returned to me. Or if they were manhandled. It’s so cute, you want to give it back to me? I’m sure I’ve got a platinum ring around here–that’s still valuable here, isn’t it?”
He fished around before pulling out a little wooden box. Inside was an array of different rings. “Surely such a thing can’t be giving you that hard a time. If it chose you, certainly you must be pure of heart. It’s imprinted on you.”
He looked at Faustite, “Don’t you think?"
Back to Asphodel, "Although, if I were small enough to fit into that hat, I think I’d find every excuse I could not to leave, too. –How are those oils, are they treating you well?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 5:50 pm
Faustite, for all that he was quiet during their exchange, had leveled a half-lidded glare at the back of Asphodel's head for his utter lack of response to Faustite's antics. Hat knocked to the floor, and nothing — they just carried on a conversation as if it never happened. Asphodel didn't get to ignore him like that. He wanted this one gone, and if he wouldn't leave for something like that, then Faustite would have to try a little harder.
So he reached out carefully, quietly. Pinched part of that drapey hat curtain bullshit between two fingers, and waited. He watched the fabric begin to darken around his fingers. Wouldn't be long now —
Then he heard pure of heart. He paused, took a moment to process, then had to let go of the hat curtain, as he'd begun to laugh. It was a wheezy, rasping thing, one that doubled him over and brought tears to his eyes. Pure of heart? Asphodel was one of the most bitter, curmudgeonly individuals he had met in his short life. Nearly as bad as Aue, who was quite rotten, indeed.
And if a wisp sticking around meant anyone was [i[pure of heart[/i[], then that would have to apply to him, too. Faustite knew that couldn't possibly be true. Either Almadel was being sarcastic, or he was lying for laughs.
When he'd recovered enough to wipe the tears from his eyes, Faustite breathed a steadying sigh. Then he used Asphodel's hat curtain to dry his hands of the black tears.
cibarium
heart
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 4:21 pm
"I'll have to agree with my friend here, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," grumbled Asphodel over the agent's ashy laughter, while lightly smacking at his wrists with a free hand in an attempt to reclaim his personal space. "So I'm stuck with this thing forever?" He groaned, thoroughly annoyed, and looked at the merchant like he was taking the whole thing personally.
The wisp, meanwhile, zipped over to float in front of Faustite's face, and stubbornly kept that position.
"Alright, just tell me what it is and what it needs from me. You don't have any books on it, do you?" Doubtful he could read them if so. "The oils are working just fine, by the way." He could give a testimony, but he was in a hurry to not be in the same space as the walking grill with a rebellious teen attitude.
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:30 pm
Almadel smiled politely, but seemed a bit amused by Faustite’s response. “You poor thing, you’ve still got a bit of a smudge. Here, in case you want to preen a bit.”
He reached to the side of the table and dusted something off–not that he needed to, everything on the table was already well-kept for showing off. He presented Faustite with a small hand mirror, but paused just as he did so. “Oh, no. Not this one. It’s not really good for viewing the here and now. Still fun,” he said, and flashed the mirror so Faustite could see the way it reflected not him, but a previous incarnation instead.
He turned his attention to Asphodel and mused for a second before he said, “I don’t have any books, I’m afraid. I’ve got a nice glass jar you can keep it in if you need some alone time, but I’m afraid it’s not for us to demand anything from such a cosmic creature. You should count yourself lucky to have its attention, truly. Try giving it some attention, don’t just ignore, don’t reject it. There’s power in it, and if you help cultivate it, it will grow. I’m not sure into what, though. I never got the chance to find out, myself.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 6:18 am
Friend, he said. Faustite rolled his eyes.
It was, however, interesting to hear that the Knight was stuck with his fragile little wisp, as that meant Faustite was likely stuck with his own, and Albite was stuck with that birdlike abomination. Perhaps Hat would find a suitable bookcase in which to dump the thing. Or, he might leave it on his Wonder, like the place was a storage locker. Faustite supposed he could kick his own into the Rift, but —
Faustite waved the small creature away violently when it dared to trespass in front of his face. Incorrigible, untrainable things, the lot. Better if Almadel could simply take them all back, imprinting be damned.
"Tell me if it grows into something useful," he said as he flicked the creature back toward its owner. If his own would grow into a gag for Waru? Then that thing was getting invited out of the bookcase as soon as possible.
Then Almadel caught his attention, mischievous thing that he was, and Faustite's gaze narrowed at the familiar-but-not figure in the mirror. A very similar likeness to himself, it was, but he recognized those endless black dreads from a few untold memories. He'd never described Velvet to anyone, partly for never seeing his face, partly for that being none of anyone's business; this artifact had to be real, then.
And along the bottom — he wondered what that said.
You did that on purpose went unspoken, but his deadpan stare at the sassy shopkeeper said it well enough. He hesitated, spared a look at 'Uranophane', then decided he wouldn't guess the circumstances behind the bottle that he brought. The Knight was smart, but not necessarily interested in Faustite's affairs.
"Want that mirror," he told Almadel. Then he removed a crystal bottle from nowhere, a party trick for a half-full well of ink. "Will you take this?"
