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 Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2025 1:08 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." When she’d gone wandering, Saiph hadn't expected to see a well lit vendor’s booth atop a hill in the park. Curiosity had prodded her into checking it out and, as she stepped into the booth, she wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not. Being faced with a smiling alien was nothing that she had expected. She’d thought that it was just someone keen to get in as many sales as possible by the end of the festival. Though, she supposed that could be the case here as well. But what an alien would want with human currency was beyond her. “Um…” Saiph was clearly torn between bolting or going further in. The politeness ingrained in her soul by her mother seized control and Saiph went closer to the alien and managed a very tentative, “Hello?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:25 pm
“Hello,” he parroted, smiling pleasantly at the girl. “You’re welcome to come closer, I don’t bite. You won’t be able to get a good look at my wares if you’re trying to peer from all the way over there. Which is a shame, I’ve got quite the collection.” He sat up and gestured to the tables surrounding him, as if they were all treasures to be displayed. And, they were. They were just also treasures he was willing to part with. “Let’s not be strangers. I’m Almadel. Certainly you’ve heard of me? I have many friends in Destiny City. We should be friends, too.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 8:38 am
The array of ‘treasures’ combined with the alien’s self introduction made Saiph’s eyes go wide. Moving further into the tent, she nodded. She certainly had heard of him!
“You’re the reason we didn’t all die immediately after engaging the Hallow,” she said solemnly, one hand moving up unconsciously to brush against the snake mark on her arm. “You gave everyone those shield plans. I still have the pin and bracelet that were in those little bags you managed to send.”
It was, she thought, a little weird to be faced with someone directly responsible for such huge things and to have him be a strange guy in a tent selling stuff. The closest comparison she could think of was if she’d been told Santa was real and then met him while out on a stroll. Why she felt any kind of surprise she couldn’t say. Maybe it was just the strangeness of meeting someone who’d been talked up so much and then finding out he was perfectly ordinary.
Or as ordinary as a horned alien guy could be.
“Thank you,” she blurted suddenly, the words tumbling from her lips. She’d never expected to have a chance to say them and she didn’t want to waste the opportunity. Saiph could only hope other people who’d been up there had done the same. They all owed Almadel big time. “Seriously, thank you.”
The timing might have been suspect had Almadel been easier to find outside of the festival. But all of Saiph’s rather spotty knowledge indicated that it was super rare to find the man during the rest of the year. If she’d known where or how to find him, she would have thanked him much sooner. After a moment, Saiph moved closer again, eyes sweeping the tables curiously.
“Do you really visit people’s homeworlds to find stuff for a space museum?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 7:23 pm
“Oh, you give me so much credit,” he crooned, like he wasn't basking in the attention. “I suppose I did help out, a bit. You’re very small, aren’t you? You must have been so brave to go into such a battle. Really, I should thank you. I’m rather fond of Earth, myself. I’d have been devastated to lose it. I like to travel, so there are a great many worlds that are dear to my heart, but Earth is very high on the list. So I suppose, it is not incorrect to say I visit homeworlds and recover artifacts. But I’ve met several people who are rather cross with me. Ah,” he sighed dramatically, and rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. “But the universe is so big and empty. Don’t tell me you’ll be cross with me if I say my wanderlust takes me to empty worlds. It isn’t like I take from anyone who will miss it. But what should I do when a world is empty and dangerous and there are so many treasures left behind? The best I can do is preserve the legacy the people left behind, don’t you think?” Though he exuded a sense of melancholy obligation, his tail still danced behind him. “Why, what have you heard of my space museum? Only good things, I hope.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 8:03 am
Sighing a little, Saiph had to wonder just how she came across to others given everyone seemed to think she was very young and or small. Clearly, Chibi energy was strong stuff. Then again, Almadel seemed quite tall, so maybe, to him, she really was tiny.
"I'm not sure I've earned 'brave'," she said instead of what she was thinking. "Stuff like that is what people who are powered should do, isn't it?"
She was distracted from any further philosophical thoughts as the Merchant chattered on and she found herself laughing a little. Imagine being so well traveled that Earth was on a list of treasured planets. Incredible.
"It's kind of stupid to get annoyed or cross if no one was there for hundreds of years," she said, tone reasonable. Then, feeling daring, her voice took on a more confiding edge. After all, this was someone who'd helped millions and millions of people survive a cosmic horror. "To be honest, sir, I don't... really have an attachment to my world. I mean, I like it? But I don't get the type of memories that other people talk about when I go up. So, I suppose if you took anything from my planet it's not really a big deal. I wouldn't remember why something was important anyway."
She listened as he spoke and nodded in agreement. It all sounded very logical to her at any rate. If he was saving and preserving things, he was, in his own way, keeping those worlds alive in a manner of speaking.
"Like I said, it'd be stupid to be cross with you. But sometimes people think with their emotions instead of their heads. Maybe I'd be the same way if I had old memories, I don't know. As for your museum..."
Saiph paused, dredging up the bits of whisper and rumor and word of mouth she'd picked up. She wanted to give as honest and thought out an opinion as she could.
"It's big and kind of overwhelming, but also really beautiful when giant bug things aren't trying to eat everything. I'm sorry to bring those up, but they were a big part of stories filtering around. I like the museums we have here, they're neat. I would imagine that yours would be like, a million times more impressive because you have stuff from who knows how many different worlds! It has to be fascinating."
As she spoke, Saiph was looking over the various things spread out over the tables. If each thing was something from a distant and lost world, how much history was Almadel sitting on? Still, she meant what she'd said. It would be silly to be mad about it. He seemed to at least be more respectful of the things he found than most Earth explorers.
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2025 6:22 pm
Almadel made a disgruntled noise and his face twisted briefly. “The bugs! That’s what they tell you? The bugs? Oh,” he huffed indignantly but drew in a breath, calmed himself, and then smiled sweetly once more. “Well, yes. I had an infestation one time, and everyone was very lovely and helped me handle it. And if they think my museum is big and overwhelming it’s only because they don’t know how to appreciate beauty. I spent much time perfecting the layout. All of my exhibits? Exquisite. They got the ‘beautiful’ part right at least. If you appreciate museums, you’ll appreciate mine. I have the best collection in the galaxy. Perhaps you can come up and join me some time.” The offer might have been lip service, but it might have been sincere too. Almadel didn’t dwell on it because he was instead gesturing to his tables. “After I can clear out my collection somewhat, of course.” He’d help her find something nice. He had ideas, of course. …He just wanted to get to know her a little better, too. “What do you mean, that you don’t have the type of memories that other people have? Don’t all Senshi draw from the memories of their past life? Written on your starseed, like pages of a book in a language only you can read?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 10:50 am
”In fairness,” Saiph replied gently, trying very hard to not laugh at how indignant Almadel seemed, “that was the only time most people saw your museum. I kind of got the impression that there hadn’t been a lot of time to stop and admire the exhibits. And maybe it was just the bugs that made things feel overwhelming?” she smiled a little. Certainly, if she’d been fighting giant bugs in a big place filled with lots of things, she’d have been overwhelmed by everything too. It was just how people worked. But she’d apparently hit a nerve and since she was enjoying talking to him, she was very quick to try and soothe his ruffles.
“I’m sure it is amazing,” she said. “And I’d be honored to see it all one day. Museums are very interesting and I like thinking about what people were like way way back. The museums here are good, but I don’t think they could compete with one like yours.”
Pausing to look over more treasures, the chibi senshi had to wonder just how Almadel’s collections were if he had to bring parts of them to Earth to try and get rid of. Pointing out a particularly pretty metallic disc, she decided that praising his offerings might be a good way to cheer him up.
“You’re a stronger person than me. I don’t know if I could ever be willing to get rid of parts of my collections if they were as pretty as what you’ve got here. You must’ve had to memorize so much and learn so much. It’s honestly very inspiring.”
That last might have sounded questionable, but Saiph meant every word. She knew that she couldn’t do what he did and manage to keep all those worlds and people and things straight in her head. But he did and he seemed to enjoy it. She had a lot of respect for that. Even if he was asking her about things that she didn’t like to think about. But they were alone and she had a feeling that he wouldn’t judge her too much. So where was the harm in confiding?
“My understanding is that most senshi will see things from a very long time ago. Things that show them what their homeworld used to be like. I don’t see things like that. I see things that I recognize from here, like parts of the park. One memory was of, I guess, me talking to an old lady in her house. I knew her name and that we’d been related. But I don’t know who she is. Probably is because Cuan… I’m sorry. My cat hunted her up online and found her. This old lady I don’t know is still alive and in Destiny City. Cuan won’t tell me anything beyond that.”
Looking up at Almadel, she shrugged a little helplessly.
“If I’m not having memories of my homeworld, does that mean something is wrong with me?”
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