Cursed Night Market

[pantheraliam]

Welcome

You’re not sure how you got here, but you don’t seem to mind. You feel a pervasive sense of calm with regard to your environment. You have entered what appears to be a night market. Perhaps the concept is familiar to you, or perhaps it isn’t. Colorful stalls, glowing with lantern light, line the path before you. You know what you need to do to return to where you came from. Investigate the various stalls - buy and sell what you have, until you’re able to purchase a path back. The merchants will take any currency that you have on hand. If you don’t have any, you will find some coins of an ambiguous nature in your pocket.

Rare Items

The first stall that you encounter boasts that you can buy and sell rare items. After trading a coin, the merchant hands you something - insists you take it. You don’t recognize the item, but the person behind you does. It is something extremely dear to them. If they check their person, they will find the item missing. If you attempt to return the item to them, you will find that you are unable to. Helpfully, the merchant offers that the person the item belongs to must tell the buyer a story about the item before it can be returned.

Fortunes

The second stall you encounter claims to buy and sell fortunes. Trading a coin, the merchant will relay to you a fortune, but, as you listen, you realize that it isn’t your fortune at all. With a cackle, the merchant explains that you must deliver the fortune with the person behind you. Neither of you can leave the booth until you have revealed to them their future.

Memories

The third stall you encounter claims to buy and sell memories. You can choose to sell the merchant a memory you would like to forget, or you can ask to buy someone else’s memory. Selling your memory will transfer it to the person behind you. In return, you will gain one of their memories. Buying a random memory will instead cause you to forget one of the people most important to you. In some instances, you might feel a great urgency to find someone, although you don't know who it is.

Dreams

The fourth stall you encounter claims to buy and sell dreams. Trading a coin at this stall will cause you and the person behind you to be transported into a shared dream. The dream may be about the highest point in your life or the lowest. It may also be about a close friend, there or gone. It may reveal your greatest desire or your greatest insecurity. Or any number of other things!

OOC notes

Suggestions on prompts: if you’re going to write one where someone will be seeing/receiving something from your character, it’s helpful to describe it in detail in the brackets in your TL. I know some of these prompts are probably a little confusing, but, I mean…it’s roleplay. Just fuck around. No one’s gonna police how you do things here.

Please feel free to top-level, tag in, and share this meme wherever you’d like - it is open to anyone. The four stalls mentioned are prompt suggestions, but you can go crazy and have any stall do basically anything you want. Please see/use subject line CWs. This musebox doesn’t have a dedicated rule list because it’s just for my personal shit, but please be kind, follow standard RP rules - just be nice! Do the right thing! If you have any questions, hit me up here.

code by Flyleaf ❖ inspired by event code by 10billionghosts ❖ background via unsplash

Comments

[sadpoem]

[No way no way no way no way no way no way no way no way...]

2/2

[captainspaceboy]

Not! Well. Yes-- Today? Hm. [Hold on. He scratches at the back of his head with his ray gun-- I mean...boba...jar...

[Hm. He clears his throat.]

I am Space Merchant! I sell boba teas across the galaxies! Select your flavor and prepare for your doom!

in the right place this time

[orange8ro]

[Kel slaps his own cheeks. Right. Focus, brother! You’ve got a deal to make!]

Yessir, two cups of boba, sir! That’s exactly what I’m ordering— Are you actually the real Captain Spaceboy?!

just 1/1 this time

[captainspaceboy]

Two cups-- [Captain Space-- Space Merchant stops and sighs; looks around to make sure nobody is listening, and...lowers his voice to a whisper, leaning in over the counter.]

I am the real Captain Spaceboy, yes, but right now I'm trying on the whole merchant thing - you understand.

[He straightens back up, clearing his voice and announcing:]

Space Merchant's refreshing intergalactic boba teas here!

:3c

[orange8ro]

[Ah.

[. . . Ahhhh.

[Would You Push the Button Manipulate Your Childhood Hero: Y/Y]

That’s right, Mr. Space Merchant. [Kel leans one arm on the counter, leaning in reaaaaaal close.] Your secret’s safe with me—but.

[He pulls his pockets inside-out. How pitiful; lint, paperclips, that chewed-up pencil, another crumpled receipt… naught but trash!]

I’m a little short on change, see. And it would really, really make my boyfriend’s day [eye point to Sunny, hint-hint; Kel’s keeping his voice down, but not so much that Sunny’s not in on the scheme] if we could have a good couple bobas. We like to share it; I sip some of his, he has mine. We bond. Like lovers.

[Nod nod. Follow…?]

[placation]

Of course. It's a necessity for me too.

[ Also an excuse. He recognizes it in both of them, but he'll let Armin have it. It's only recently that he's begun to face these truths about himself, he isn't about to force someone else to do the same. ]

I know that it's strange seeing ourselves through the lens of those who love us most. But you might be surprised by what he noticed about you.

[ Which, well. ]

I'm curious. How do you see him?

[placation]

[ Ah, it's always that way, isn't it?

Maruki nods and hums a sympathetic noise in his throat. When nothing else comes, he draws a deep breath and folds his hands together in his lap, as if in prayer. ]

You don't have to tell me every detail, but I do need to know what happened. I'm sure it's difficult to talk about... It may even feel impossible.

[ It's only the gentlest possible push. He hates to see anyone hurting; hates it more now that he sees it so rarely. ]

But it will be the last time you'll ever have to think about it. I can promise you that.

[notwalking]

If you don't, what's the point?

[ It's a quick answer to his question with another question. And Charlie means it, knows it well. Up until recently, he wasn't living deeply himself, and what was the point?

His debts to Keating will never be paid. Even with the consequences of punching that fink in his goddamn face. Especially with those consequences. His own carefully planned, empty life suddenly knocked off course to allow him to blaze his own trail. He will not let this all have been in vain. ]

You've asked me a lotta questions. Why don't you tell me what you live for?

[sadpoem]

[It does feel impossible. More than. Sunny can't even think of the right first word. "My sister--"; "I killed--"; "There was a--"; "We had a--".

[It's not enough. Can't be, right? What does Dr. Maruki need to know? Will he only take away what Sunny gives him? He couldn't recount the whole thing if he tried. Sometimes, he still barely remembers it at all. He went so many long, long years, never even realizing - not allowing himself to.

[His heart beats wildly in his chest, and his breath is already coming in short gasps. He can't possibly think of her words - can't calm down, can't focus - when he's thinking of her - the stairs - the violin - his anger - his fear - his dread - a crack - a crunch - silence - silence - silence--

[Sunny's eyes are wide. He looks at Maruki like a mirror, a monster. His hand grips the fabric of his vest over his heart.]

My sister. [Impossible. Impossible. His voice barely makes a sound. He can't, he can't...

[He shakes his head - bites his lip. He wants to run; takes a half-step back.]

She...she...she...she--

...fell...

1/2

[sadpoem]

[Sunny puts on his best "lover-as-described-waiting-patiently-for-dashing-handsome-gallant-brave-daring-boyfriend-to-procure-two-boba-teas" face, but it doesn't look much different than his usual face.]

[captainspaceboy]

Lovers? [He does not seem to consider this. Space Merchant's eyes narrow. The truth is, he hasn't been Captain Spaceboy in a while now. Before this...

[He was Space Ex-Husband.]

We're closed. [He turns dramatically away.]

[thebomb]

[How does Armin see Eren Jaeger?

[It's an impossible question. How does someone describe what water tastes like when you're thirsty? Eren Jaeger is a natural consequence of being alive, as ubiquitous as breathing. He is not a monster, but he is a plague. He is a person. He is a child, and an orphan, and a wound. Up until the very last moment, he was hope. He was salvation. He was a victim; of the world, of himself - of Armin too.

[He is a storm trapped in a glass bottle, but the bottle never breaks - the world just gets sucked into its mouth.

[He is a captive. He was born too big for his body; grew tall, but never tall enough. Eren is the ache in Armin. Eren is the void. Eren is impossible, and perfect, and pitiful, and wretched.

[He is adored. He is mourned. He is hatred. He is love. He is war. He is Armin.

[Surely, some of this does not have to be explained. Anyone who meets Eren must, at even first glance, come to realize, somewhat. But Maruki can never understand. It doesn't matter what Armin says. It doesn't matter how well he knows Eren.

[Silent and useless, at a complete loss, Armin smiles down at his hands, teeth bared like an animal.]

Oh, he's...

Selfish. Reckless. He only sees what's in front of him, but he can't...

[Armin shrugs, but it's hard to pick his shoulders up.]

I...see him as the most remarkable person to have ever existed. [Does it sound fond, or bitter? He can't tell.

[Fond. Of course it's fond. Armin hears the sob trying to escape before he can force it fully back into his gut, but he tries. He twists the tissues in his hands; tears at them.]

He's my best friend. [The words all come out in a desperate puff of air, like someone's just pulled a gag out of his mouth. He chokes on it.] He's Eren. He's beautiful, and he's funny, and he's not--

[Armin bites off his tongue. He shakes his head.

[Not what? Not evil? Not terrible - not completely?

[Not gone?

[Not...]

Here...

That's...what I can't imagine.

cw: thread becoming a DARE PSA

[dreamdog]

[Proko's answer is only slow by virtue of the lazy yawn that proceeds it. His smile is vapid and useless.]

To feel good, moya lyubov. [It's just that simple.] It seems you are not feeling good. We can easily change this. [He sharply clicks his tongue.]

[placation]

Hey. It's okay. You're safe here. There's no need to be scared.

[ Gentle, gentle; his tone couldn't possibly be any softer, any more soothing.

The distortions of his heart have never closed him off or made him cold to anyone's suffering. The opposite, really. He feels every bit of Sunny's pain as if it were his own, and his eyes are deep, warm wells of sympathy as he tries to catch Sunny's frightened gaze. ]

Let's try something else. Okay?

[ He brings his folded hands up in front of his face for a moment, presses his lips thoughtfully to his knuckles, then extends them out toward Sunny. ]

What would make you happiest? If that never happened to your sister? Or... something else?

[notwalking]

[ Charlie wants to be part of the counterculture. Very, very badly. He has dreams of ditching military school and college, running off to San Francisco, joining the Beats. Joining the merchant marines just long enough to get over to Europe and then fucking off, faking his own death, assuming a new identity. Something, anything– but it's so far from his grasp. He wants to be part of the counterculture, and he absolutely is not yet. The subtext of this conversation is lost on him entirely.

So he only stares at Prokopenko before his lips curl into a smirk. ]

Oh yeah? How are you gonna change that, slick?

[orange8ro]

[That’s right Spaceboy. Lovers. And if anyone can understand the value of a bond like that oh wait oh heck it wasn’t supposed to remind him of his breakup arc—]

W-what I meant by that was, uh— [Crap! Now Kel feels bad!] I mean, you’re not so scorned you’re gonna turn down a happy couple, right? It’d be a shame if… I mean, you’re Captain Spaceboy, so…

[Ah, heck. He was gonna blackmail him about his identity (as if Spaceboy isn’t recognizable from a mile away), but the whole thing’s a wash now. Kel’s sweating bullets. Curse you, conscience.

[Awkward neck scratch.]

Eh… forget it. I can lend an ear for one boba.

we can fade out here as agreed lmao

[bellismortis]

I won’t, either.

[And as long as no one moves away, it’s a promise he can keep.]

I never will.

the obligatory crosscanon vendor:

[slavetofreedom]

[Can you kids just homoerotically stab each other and get it over with already?]