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.”
When Star Festival and Pride Season were over, Reiki owed Levi a serious conversation about how Reiki’s first few weeks (nearly two months) as a senshi had been going for him, what all he’d seen during the course of the past few weeks, and about that guy (Raymond Callahan, Reiki reminded himself) who he’d frozen up and just allowed Arsenolite to murder. Putting it off……didn’t feel good, if Reiki was honest (not least because he knew that “I’ll unpack everything after Pride Season, but I don’t have the emotional bandwidth right now and if I try, I won’t be able to make my bookings, which means not getting paid” was far from an ideal solution). Sooner or later, they were going to need to talk about things, and it didn’t feel right to keep putting it off, even though the other option was not getting paid.
Nor did it feel entirely right to power up and follow Levi off to go meet some……vendor? Of curiosities or something? When there were mysterious dead spots all over town that made people hallucinate monsters (or whatever was going on there), rifts opening in the fabric of reality to steal people for no apparent reason, and several very pressing questions nagging Reiki’s mind about the Negaverse, the Dark Mirror’s (arguable) allegiance with them, and whether or not this made them The Baddies or at least complicit?
……Still, the offer of meeting another actual alien was too much for Reiki to pass up, so here he was. Powered up and feeling like his fuku was someone else’s costume, perusing a table of objects that he mostly couldn’t identify, and startling somewhat at the smooth, deep voice. Then, freezing as he glanced toward the source of it.
The tall, incredibly handsome source of it.
With such fierce eyes, and that beautiful face, and the horns? Dragon horns? Reiki was pretty sure those were dragon horns.…
“Oh, I—I—uh.… Hi?” …Yes. Very good. Completely forgetting how to use words like an adult in the face of Sexy Alien, and right in front of the boy who Reiki actually liked. This was beautiful. Simply perfect. No complaints whatsoever (except for literally all of them). Fumbling some loose hair behind his ear, he smothered the impulse to say something stupid in High Valyrian and instead went with, “…Wow, your eyes are so—I mean, your selection’s very, uh? Interesting?”
Great. First alien man Reiki met, he’d traumatized, and now, he was sounding like an idiot in front of the second one. Loved that for himself, he really did.
Noir Songbird
The Space Cauldron
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2022 12:07 am
It had been some time since Elsa himself had seen the mysterious merchant that gave him that incredible cape, the one he slung over his shoulders to patrol in if it ever got too cold. He hadn't had occasion to pull it out yet this year, but he was sure he would; it was always helpful.
And, hell, he didn't even have to be powered up to use it. He lived alone, there was no one to question him if he bundled up in it on his own couch.
He hadn't dropped by the year before himself, but he'd heard people mention that their draconic friend had come back, and it seemed it was once again the right time of year for him to be around.
And there it was, the magical barrier that marked his presence.
Elsa smiled, fondly, as he led Murikabushi through.
It wasn't exactly surprising to hear Murikabushi stumble over his words; Elsa hadn't exactly been the picture of elegance the first time he ran into Sexy Dragon Man from Outer Space. And it wasn't like the effect was dulled, per se; just that the man next to him happened to hold a lot more of Elsa's attention, generally, than the one behind the table.
Still. Hot.
"Hi," he waved. "It's been a while, I dunno if you remember, but--a couple years ago, you gave me an amazing cloak in trade for a magical crystal, and I thought I'd bring a friend by to visit this year."
“Of course I remember,” the merchant purred. “I never forget a face. Especially a pretty one. It’s good to see you, Elsa.”
The way the Senshi’s name rolled off of his tongue must have been deliberate. “The wings are new, aren’t they? They look good on you. They really accentuate your features.”
He looked over Elsa briefly before returning his gaze to Murikabushi, and that coy little smile of his remained perfectly in place as he shamelessly took in him, too.
“Can you really see my eyes from there? Lean closer, if you like, you can get a good look. You simply must introduce yourself. Any friend of Elsa’s is a friend of mine. I’ll take good care of you while you’re here. No one leaves my table unsatisfied.”
amorremanet
Noir Songbird
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:04 pm
Somewhere in the daze of <******** me, aliens still exist and the guys are almost as hot as Elim Garak, Reiki still had functioning brain.…… Somewhere.…… Under the merchant’s gaze, Reiki didn’t feel like he could access his brain at all if he wanted to. Everything about him was too busy flushing hotter than the weather had been, feeling ready to swoon like a bodice ripper heroine at the slightest push, and following the request that he come in closer to the merchant—and, oh. Oh, wow.
His eyes really were even more arresting up close. Like staring into the sun specifically because your parents told you not to do it.
“……Hi,” he said again, fumbling the exceedingly simple question for a good moment while he tried to remember how his tongue worked. “I, uh—Murikabushi.… Senshi of hunger? If that’s……I mean, it comes up a lot in introductions? So……if it’s important?”
Elsa laughed, and did a little turn to show off his new uniform. Really, it wasn't his fault that Almadel was handsome and full of flattery.
"Pretty new, yeah. I like them; really pull the whole outfit together."
It was cute, too, to see Murikabushi flustered. Elsa probably could have stood to warn him that the mysterious merchant he was bringing him to was both very handsome and very charming, but he supposed that he couldn't warn enough to really provide any kind of inurement.
He took a moment to wander over to the table. "Murikabushi is new to all of this, and I thought it would be a nice treat to bring him by your table. Since, as you said, no one ever leaves unsatisfied."
amorremanet
my many many apologies to everyone in this rp
The Space Cauldron
solemnly swear to fail less hard in the future. love u guys.
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:39 pm
“Senshi of Hunger? Oh, I see,” the man nodded knowingly, “That explains why you look like such a snack. It’s nice to meet you, Murikabushi.” He batted his eyes innocently enough as he slid his attention back to Elsa.
“Coming to my table was certainly the right choice. I like to see happy faces. Handsome ones, too. And you both came dressed to impress, so I’m sure I’ve got a good evening ahead of me. I’m glad to hear you’ve been taking care of yourself. And that you’re looking after your new friend.”
He took another moment to admire them, perhaps a bit more professionally this time; he sat up a bit straighter, but his tail twitched as it hung towards the ground.
“So, what can I do for you two lovely young men tonight? Are you looking for anything in particular, or just browsing? I’ve got quite the selection,” he said, gesturing to his spread of assorted treasure.
Fun as getting flustered by a beautiful dragon man from outer space surely was, something didn’t feel quite right.
Which was stupid, honestly. It was stupid, wasn’t it?
Nobody here had done anything untoward. No one had said anything wrong or addressed Reiki incorrectly. Powering up and donning his fuku was supposed to be like Clark Kent ******** off into a phonebooth and coming out as Superman: dispensing with the masquerade you showed off for the world at large, shaking off the dead-weight of who you pretended to be in order to exist in civilian life, emerging from a chrysalis of illusion and becoming who you really were, the truth of you that. Such a magical destiny was inscribed on Reiki’s starseed, wasn’t it? On a deep, even fundamental level, his soul named him Murikabushi, Senshi of Hunger, so Levi—no, ********, wait, he’s Elsa right now—and the Merchant had no reason to address him as anything else.
So, why did hearing them call him by the name Murikabushi—why did saying it for himself—have the same ‘rusty nails meet chalkboard’ feeling that tended to accompany Arsenolite using his disgusting mouth-hole to make words?
“I mean, I’m, uh…… It’s sort of like……” Putting aside any of these stupid, unhelpful feelings……proved somewhat more difficult than Reiki enjoyed. Hopefully, he could make himself smile and pass off any hesitance or fumbling as nothing but awkwardness in the face of a very handsome man? Plain, simple side-effects from the humiliating ordeal of trying his best not to proposition a hot alien right in front of the boy he really liked? “Elsa? Didn’t entirely tell me what to expect? Just that you’d have a lot of interesting things?”
Idly, Reiki supposed he should try to narrow down an area of interest, considering the vast array that Almadel had scattered across the tables, all so enticing and yet, Reiki didn’t want to touch them, for fear that he might break something.… He thought of Kerberos, with his promises of bioluminescent bunnies, who said that every senshi had an entire planet up in space that gave them their power—at least, if they got lucky enough to not be Chaos rats.… Although he kept smiling politely, Reiki’s heart sank in his chest. Had he done something wrong—in either this life or some previous one—to make his starseed fail to present itself sooner? Was something about him broken, that made his planet not even want him, so he had to rely on the Chaos of the Dark Mirror Court?
…………It was hard to imagine anything like that being true of Levi, but it probably wasn’t Reiki’s business to ask. Bringing it up was probably nosy. Invasive. Rude.
“Something from space probably isn’t hard for a man of wealth and taste like you, right?” Looking up from the table, he added, “Maybe the planet I’m named after? But—really, I’m a slut for anything related to space……”
Like a promise of playing with bioluminescent bunnies that, realistically, Kerberos had likely only put down on his significantly more metaphorical table to be nice.
