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 Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 7:35 pm
Quote: 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.” “Almadel!” chirped Nectaris, coming in through the barrier at almost a full sprint, and having to dig her heels into the dirt to stop herself before she crashed into a table of priceless artifacts. It was close, but she stopped about a foot short of it all. She wasn’t looking at any shiny baubles yet, though. Her grin was for the merchant himself. “I thought that was you! I’ve been thinking about you, y’know. I didn’t even lose my memories or anything this time!” A second passed, and she bit at her cheeks. “I mean, not new memories. Still kinda missing a lot, but-“ She wasn’t here to talk about that. She was here to see her cool alien friend and his cool alien things. “Yeah! Hi!”
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2023 10:42 pm
Almadel seemed like he was bracing for impact, but his smile never changed and he didn’t seem to have broken a sweat. “Nectaris,” he greeted. He let her name roll off of his tongue and he seemed perfectly delighted to see her in all of her enthusiasm. “I’m glad you haven’t lost your memories again, I would have been heartbroken to have to introduce myself three times. Usually once is enough, but I know Earth has its quirks. You look well!” Bright, and happy. He smiled, not just out of politeness but because he couldn’t help himself. “You’ve got so much energy, it livens up my night. It’s contagious, too. Were you really so excited to see me?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2023 1:16 pm
"Hey, if you'd had to introduce yourself again I'd be just as happy to meet you a third time!" she said, seeming lighthearted about it and still rocking a little bit. It would've actually been terrible, she was kinda terrified of loosing more, but, like, luckily not something she had to think about. "And, yeah! Of course I'm excited to see you. You're cool." It wasn't even just because he was an alien, or because he brought around interesting things, although she liked both of those facts. She knew other aliens, though, and she could find magic stuff on her own if she tried hard enough. There was something kinda fun and charming about his personality that kept her coming back. "You should come hang out more, Earth's gotta be more fun than whatever ruins you're kicking around in. Or, like, Velencya, I guess." It was cool that there was another place out there where people could live, but from what Nikki had picked up from her family, it sounded like it was a hot mess and not even in a fun way. "Oh!" she said, blinking like she'd just remembered something. "But I finished your custom order! Wanna see it?" She turned around to summon something from subspace where Almadel couldn't quite see, but he'd be able to hear a slight jingling sound as she turned over her shoulders towards him with a teasing little smile.
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2023 6:26 pm
Of course he wanted to see it! He couldn’t even respond to anything else she’d said because he was immediately curious about his custom order. He almost couldn’t even play it cool. “Oh, you can’t be a tease, dear. I’m hardly ever on Earth! And I’ve been waiting for so long.” He pursed his lips and batted his eyes, and leaned over a bit in his seat as he tried to peek around her to see what she was holding. “Don’t tempt me to ‘hang out more’ on Earth. It is so boring out there. I love my ruins, of course, but–Velencya?” His nose wrinkled. “ Please, no. So boring, too many rules. And they never let me come by, anyway. You must show me what you’re hiding there, I can’t take the suspense.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2023 3:42 pm
Nectaris didn't hold him in suspense for too long. Slowly, she turned around to show him the piece she'd made. The base of the jewelry was three dangling silver chains, attached to two rings on each side. These were heavily decorated, with amethyst and moonstone and a strangely marbled glass. It was delicate but also slightly geometric, with the stones shaped into ovals and the glass shaped into diamonds, and it was all in silver and purple that matched the rest of his clothes. "Okay, so you put these parts on your horns, see?" she said, pointing to the rings. "You can adjust them, 'cause I couldn't exactly measure you when you were off doing your space things. Then the jewelry part hangs down the back, it's like a half circlet?" She'd put a lot of time and money into this and she bounced a little bit with pride as she showed it off. "Oh, and most of the materials are just from here, but this," she tapped one of the glass pieces, "Is from my Wonder, so it's all, like, extra fancy!" He clearly liked exotic stuff, so she hoped he appreciated that part. Showing off hadn't stopped her thought process, though. "So, like, if they won't let you on Velencya do you get to hang out with people and have your market thing anywhere else? Or is this, like, the only place like that?" She knew there were at least a few other places with aliens, since they kept showing up in her house, but she also knew they were kinda few and far between.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 10:46 pm
The sparkle in Almadel’s eyes rivaled that of even his most lustrous gemstones. “Oh, you’ve put so much thought into this,” he said–an easy observation. She had every right to be so proud of this piece, it was dazzling. The only way it could look any better was on him. How could he stop to answer her question when he was still absorbing all the fine detailing on this beautiful piece she’d made just for him? It took him a good few seconds before he managed to shake himself from his stupor. “I’m sorry, this is captivating. You asked about my market?” He caught her eyes only briefly before his attention was back to the gift she’d made him. “There are no worlds quite like Earth, that’s why this planet is my favorite. I don’t get to ‘hang out’ much, but I’ve got a few customers here and there. The universe isn’t much about ‘making friends’ these days. But I’m a charming fellow, I get around.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:51 pm
"It's okay. You can look at it," said Nectaris, who was probably having just as much fun watching Almadel look at her custom piece as he was having looking it over. "You should try it on. I'm guessing you have a mirror around here somewhere?" It wasn't like he was lacking for stuff. "If not, you can use the camera on my phone, I guess?" Her real phone, which she had in subspace, because it wasn't like she was a senshi with a magic one. Maybe she should be careful about that, 'cause, like, her phone case wasn't exactly nondescript and she was pretty sure he talked to Negaverse agents, too, but, like. Whatever. He needed to see it on him! "But that's cool. I'm glad you're not, like, totally alone up there," she said. It was kinda a nice though, not to be totally alone in the universe, herself. "You know." She grinned. "As long as you keep coming back to see me."
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Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2023 5:01 pm
“I have many mirrors,” he said, with the confidence of someone who had spent plenty of time in front of them. “I’m my own favorite company. Well.” The corner of his lip twitched into a smile and his eyes raised to meet hers. “Second to you now, of course.” He moved a few things and produced a gorgeous, immaculate mirror and immediately propped it up against a stack of books. He leaned forward and wasted no time fixing the jewelry to himself. His fingers moved deftly and deliberately, and it was clear that he was no stranger to self-decorating. “I’ll have to find you something lovely, Nectaris. Are you looking for anything special, or shall I find something to surprise you?”
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 2:38 pm
Nikki was pretty sure that he actually said that everybody was his favorite, but she giggled all the same when he said it to her "I know your secret. I just gotta butter you up with fancy stuff," she said, grinning. "Also, like, wow. It looks super good!" That might have counted as buttering him up, but it was also true, and Nectaris was proud of that. She'd done her best to get all the colors and styles right, but it wasn't like she'd seen the guy in a year. She'd been going off of foggy memories. She was glad it had all worked out. "Which means, yeah. You owe me something good," she said. Her gaze actually lingered on the mirror that he was looking into for a second, but she decided it was more his style than hers. She liked stuff that was a little bit cuter. "I dunno," she said, with a quick glance across the table. "You bring anything that makes you think of me?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 10:21 pm
“Oh, many things. I’ve thought of you my fair share while I was gone. I never forgot a face. Especially a pretty one. And you’re so friendly and charming, to boot. Such good taste.” He’d gotten distracted wit the mirror again and hummed approvingly before he refocused and tugged a trunk closer. He pulled something from the top, like he’d been waiting for the opportunity to bestow it upon someone. “Jewels, fine silks, gilded trinkets. They’d all suit you. But you’re practical, too. So you need something lovely and functional, no?” He placed a pearlescent white box before her and expertly removed the lid. Inside were two things–a small notepad. The pages were iridescent and each sheet had a different design. The second, a quill pen with a dot of sparkly, golden ink still fresh on the point. He lifted the notepad and flipped through it briefly so she could see the array of single page designs “For all your ideas,” he said–and tore off the top page. Beneath it, suddenly, was the same design. He tore that off, too. A third. A new page seemed to restore almost immediately after the last was pulled. “You’ll never run out of pages. Or ink.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2023 7:57 pm
Nectaris's cheeks went pink at the compliments for a good five seconds before she realize what was happening and stood bolt upright. Flirting! He was flirting with her. Luckily, she knew what to do. She'd been practicing her own flirting really hard lately. "You gotta be careful," she told him. "If you keep talking to me like that, then I'm gonna start talking about how handsome you are and then you're really not gonna stop thinking about me." Oh yeah. That was a good one. If Fulg had been around, she was pretty sure that he'd be proud of her for coming up with it, but since he wasn't, she was gonna have to be proud of herself, and she grinned. Although she was quick to bounce over closer to the table and look at what he was showing her, 'cause his stuff was always good. She was expecting jewels or something, though, not magic paper, not literal neverending sticky notes. Maybe they weren't sticky, actually, but, close enough. She lit up, hands clasped in front of her. "This. Is. Awesome," she told him, and bounced twice. "I want it. Please."
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2023 11:35 am
The corner of Almadel’s lip twitched into a smile, and though it wasn’t anything dramatic, it still seemed to reach his eyes. “Oh, you make it sound as if I haven’t already thought about you during my travels. Please,” he gestured to the notepad. “It’s all yours. Perhaps I’ll convince you to write me letters sometime. You’re a Knight, you can send them anywhere as long as you have the name and face, yes? I’ll be quite lonely if you don’t write to me once in a while.” He batted his eyes for good measure, and though there was plenty of playfulness in his voice, he couldn’t deny that he would, actually, be interested in hearing what she–or Earth–was getting up to in his absence.
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 2:50 pm
She hugged the little pad of paper to her chest with a grin. The ink she was a tiny bit more careful with, sending it off to subspace right away. Hopefully it didn't find a way to break in there, 'cause she was totally gonna spend at least half an hour staring at it later. "Of course I'll write you stuff! Little notes so you remember me-" she said, her voice kinda singsong. "Maybe you can find something so you can write me back, when you're poking around up there." She paused, and squinted. "Not the rings, though. You can't take our rings! We're gonna need those when we awaken and stuff. I mean, unless you wanna take up a Knighthood, I could put in a good word with the Code, but," she shrugged, mostly teasing. For some reason he didn't seem like the type.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 6:40 pm
A rich, delighted laugh fell from Almadel's lips. "What would you tell the Code to put in a good word for me?" He could only imagine Nectaris trying to put in a good word for him. "Fortunately, I don't think you'll need to make the effort, I move around too much to be a Knight. And I'm really more of a lover, not a fighter, anyway. So much trouble. I'd have to do so much work, and all of this," he gestured to his wares, "Keeps me so busy already. Oh, but." He hummed thoughtfully and leaned back in his seat. "I suppose I might like to be a Cosmos Knight if I had the chance. It would be nice to gain access to some of their old strongholds. Did you know that some Cosmos Knights used to travel the universe and collect oddities and trinkets like I do? Ah, but it's not really the same these days, I suppose. Those of you on Earth don't have keys to anywhere fun. That I know of. If you meet any Cosmos Knights, tell them to invite me to their Wonders." Though he sounded like he was teasing, he probably meant it seriously on at least some level. His smile stayed perfectly fixed in place, because even if that was a nice dream there was a far more attainable one right here. "I'll do my best to write to you too, Nectaris. We'll see what this universe has in store for us."
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Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2023 2:22 pm
"Oh, I could tell the Code all kinds of nice things about you," said Nectaris, not sure if this fell under the flirting category or not but deciding that it didn't matter. "Like, what you just said?" About Cosmos knights collecting stuff? She'd never heart that. She didn't know much about those guys at all except that they glittered. "You're smart. You know your history. The Code would be big on that since it's all about, like, restoring ancient places. Plus you're, like, diplomatic, and that's okay. I'm more of a lover than a fighter too." She blushed lightly at that, 'cause she was running into the issue where she was maybe kissing Chaos boys too much, but they didn't really need to get into all of that just now. "But, yeah. It'd cut into your spelunking time." She couldn't really see it. He'd like the sparkly clothes, yeah, but then he'd have to fight like half his customers and that would turn into a whole mess. She started to take a step back, although she was glad that with her ring this wasn't really goodbye. "I'll see you around, Almadel."
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