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.”
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.”
Autumn sighed as she slipped away from the main parts of the market, finding a discreet place to power up, and did so, becoming Demeter instantly. She'd kept the creepy little buggy fruit or seed pod thingy in her subspace, but she hadn't wanted to approach the market as Demeter—that seemed like a surefire way to suddenly find herself getting her butt kicked by an overly enthusiastic Negaverse Agent or Dark Mirror who didn't know that she was... well, kind of under the protection of two different Dark Mirror senshi already? In a way? Ugh, that made it sound horrible, like she was in bed with the mafia or something (and yes, she did just have the sudden realization what the "in bed" part of that actually implied, and only because she had a girlfriend that she'd barely kissed a few times and felt far too nervous to go any further). But the point was that she was totally cool with Dark Mirrors, and that information wasn't very likely to get passed around. Even though it totally should! Because she had a cool friend and a girlfriend (A GIRLFRIEND!!!) and they liked her very much and didn't want to see her hurt because she was kind of naive and stupid and—
Right, focus. Focus, Demeter!! She took a couple of deep breaths and stepped back into the crowds, making her way to the strange alien's booth. She didn't know what she wanted yet, or if there would be anything there, but everyone she'd talked to said that he had interesting items, things that seemed tailor made just for them, and so she went. She'd gone through all the trouble to get one of these freakin' terrible pods with Murikabushi, after all, so this guy had better have something good for her!!
Okay, no, she wasn't that mean, but he was some kind of really cool alien who had all kinds of stuff and he never seemed to be anywhere other than his booth, so in addition to the seed pods, she had some chocolate-strawberry brownies she baked herself to give to him and see if he liked any of Earth's food. And some cookies made with mango pieces.
She approached the booth, shivering a bit when he looked at her, because okay, like, he did totally look scary! But that wasn't fair of her! He was an alien, he didn't follow human social convention, and honestly, it was so rude of humanity to just demonize people like that, ugh—
Off track again, Demeter, she scolded herself, smiling widely at the booth guy. "Thank you," she said. "I, um. I have a pod?"
She pulled it from her subspace. "How are you liking Earth? Do you get to do anything around here?" she asked. "I mean, you're here, like, all the time, right? I have some stuff I baked for you, in case you don't get to experience much human stuff. If you want it, I mean. Some brownies and cookies. If that interests you, anyway, I'm not sure, you could totally just be here for business, but I think everyone deserves a little fun, too!"
Shut up shut up shut up! she wailed at herself internally, trying very hard not to feel completely intimidated by him and failing.
