humiliatious | Cursed Night Market

Entry tags:

event,
night market

Cursed Night Market

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

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[This was a bad idea.

[Why does Basil have to be the one to tell him? Then again, who else would be more fitting? Surely, their fates are intertwined. Maybe Basil's fortune is the same as Sunny's. It would only make sense.

[His hands nervously wring at the hem of his vest. He doesn't want to speak - doesn't even want to nod, but he has to. He forces his head up and down like it's on a rusted hinge.

[Please. Just...get it over with.]

[There is no one more important to smile for than Sunny—and somehow, in this night away from night, Basil manages. His stomach twists anyway.]

W-well… [They can’t leave the booth until the fortune is shared, the merchant said. Back home, they were rooms away.] It’s not… really surprising....

It said… bad things will happen tonight, but you knew that, right? [It’s about his grandmother. It has to be.] S-so it’s not much of a fortune....

["Tonight" doesn't seem much like tonight anymore, but, regardless, Sunny isn't thinking of Basil's grandma at all; even so, his friend isn't wrong. Sunny's felt it, too. Something bad will happen "tonight," perhaps behind a closed door...

[He was worried in the living room, and then...here.

[Now, it's all but confirmed - "bad things" with no name, but, yes, they'll happen "tonight". Sunny looks paler than normal - afraid. His hands continue to wring. Part of him wants to take Basil's, but he feels he shouldn't...]

Kn-knew...what? What...bad things?

[Oh. Did Sunny not know? Basil would’ve thought Polly said it, but maybe it got lost in the shuffle, or Sunny missed it.... Kel can be loud, after all, and it was Aubrey’s idea to stay the night. It’s all muffled, to Basil. He hasn’t resurfaced.

[He can’t tell Sunny that he was grieving. It’s not fair. No matter where Sunny goes, Basil can’t add to his burden....]

The fortune… didn’t say. [His smile is sheepish as it is nervous, nervous, nervous, pinched together like the knuckles of his fingers. Basil’s not lying. He’s not....] I think… we shouldn’t, um… [Is the vendor listening? He lowers his voice;] …pay attention, to things like that.

[It’s a clear night outside.]

It… isn’t important, out here. [They’re still in the booth. Basil forces the corners of his mouth up.] Nothing bad has to happen…

Wh-what is this?!

[It was then that the shopkeeper decided to add in that oh so helpful explanation, that should have honestly been mentioned at the time of purchase! Ciel was about to get indignant but then reality set in.

Oh. Oh no.]

A… story… about the ring.

[Oh. No.]

That’s… what it sounds like…!

[Slight, nervous laugh.]

It’s a lovely-looking ring… [Basil lets his hand hover, should the effect loosen at any point in the story. He pinches it, delicate, between pointer and thumb. Looks can be deceiving....]

[Why they're here, how they're here, where here is - Eren doesn't have the answer to those questions; there is, however, that pervasive sense of calm that seeps in through the humid evening air. Eren is dressed in his typical attire, baring some ornamentation from the respective Reiss and Ashengrotto families. Eren isn't a Reiss himself, but he acts on their behalf, and the marriage that Azul and Eren did eventually enter is founded on that connection.

[Founded, too, on not an insignificant amount of shared mischief, and perhaps a bit of mutual respect, by this point. Eren doesn't hate his husband - he just doesn't love him.

[Right?

[Even so, they're arm in arm as they enter the market, Eren pausing to take in all of the various colorful, glowing stalls.]

That's queer...

Where do you suppose we've ended up?

[Oh dear! Well.]

Magical mallets, huh? What in the world do you use one of those for?

[ Maruki has been

in a tea house with Kurusu leaning over the table to look him in the eye and swear to save him over and over and over, pressed up against a wall with a blade in his stomach, drunk on a balcony letting every festering wound of his heart ice over in the frigid air, cleaned up and interrogated over coffee, in and out of that goddamn Amplitheater again and again and again–

and he's been

sat on the couch in a dreamtime facsimile of his office over and over and over, pressed down against the ground with shards of glass embedded in his eyes and a rock smashed against his throat, tipsy in a dimly lit tavern brushing his lips over the back of a graceful and powerful hand, patched up and comforted in a broken down department store, in and out of that goddamn Labyrinth again and again and again–

and he's

with Eren eating lunch on the floor of a cramped counseling office, with Eren in the dusty marketplace of a distant planet that didn't really exist, with Eren in the palm of a Titan's hand, with Eren on a futuristic city's darkened street where he's about to be turned loose, with Eren holding him as he cries and grieves on a castle sofa, with Eren as glassy eyes stare blankly at him through discussions on the value of kindness, with Eren underneath a tree on a peaceful summer day, with Eren on a forest floor trying to breathe as he's stitched back together by shaking hands, with Eren on a forest floor in a circle of flickering lantern light baring the worst of their abilities in kind–

and he's

here–

with Eren.

A beat. A breath. A tremendous smile that breaks out over his face all at once, wide and warm, as an arm hooks around his shoulders in a gesture he neither expects nor needs to be returned. ]

I'd ask what the odds are, but I think we both know.

Edited 2024-08-08 06:11 (UTC)

[Ciel keep his hand aloft, he’d have to see if he could could get away with telling as little as he possibly could…]

That ring belongs to my family, the Phantomhives, it’s worn by the head of the house, and as the current Earl, it is mine.

[Yeah, nope. Not budging. Okay he’d have to continue- as much as he disliked bringing up his brother.]

There was an incident that lead to the death of my family, and my twin brother and I were kidnapped. He swallowed the ring to keep it away from our captors. It worked…

[STILL NOT BUDGING?! TO HELL WITH THIS ENTIRE PLACE.

No. Nope. Staying calm. Just pretend like it’s a normal everyday thing.]

Though they killed him in the end. I… retrieved the ring.

[Well, he tried to anyway. Someone else did it in the end, but that should be enough for the “story”.

Sorry for any secondhand trauma this causes, Other Kid.]

[ Tell me the version of Maruki that you want, the prompt that you want, and I will make you the bespoke starter of your dreams ♥ ]

[The Eren that met Maruki in Somnius stopped wanting to be touched once he found himself too sickening, and the Eren that met Maruki in Seven couldn't afford to want to be touched, but the truth is, the real Eren - who is, ever Eren, at his core - finds no more comfort in anything than he does the embrace of someone he loves. After a parting? Fuck. What pride does he have left? Maruki knows all of it. The world has ended again and again and again, and at the end of all of it, he's somewhere else - some new Hell, and always that one, same, familiar face.

[He'd rather be dead right now, but what else is new? He isn't. He's here.

[Maruki's arm slung around his shoulders, he returns the gesture in kind, though reaches with his free hand to grip the nape of his friend's neck, solid and sturdy. He looks him in the eye.]

Inevitable, as always.

[He drops his hand away from Maruki's neck, his arm away from Maruki's shoulders - but, the older man can keep hanging on as long as he'd like, really.]

This time...I remember at least a few others.

[Mostly, Basil keeps steady. He can be a good listener, he likes to think, and the ring is clearly very important to the boy. Its story isn’t happy....

[Basil frowns. Family death. A killed brother. The “retrieval” can’t have been pretty, metallic through—

[He kills the thought.] I– I’m sorry.... You’ve had to give up so much....

But… a-at least it’s back to you, where it belongs…? [The smile doesn’t quite make it. Basil looks away. Please fall, ring....]

[While their marriage has helped him grow more familiar with things on land, it was still new overall, and at times overwhelming.

The brightness, the colors… the crowds. The latter of which had him politely holding onto his husband’s arm, nothing out of the norm appearance-wise, but internally he disliked being so needy.

Fortunately, his own curiosity proved a suitable distraction. Again, this was all very new to him. So while he didn’t venture far enough to be out of reach of Eren, he was curiously leaning to inspect this and that.]

I haven’t the foggiest. A market of some sort?

…Do terrestrial markets usually look like this?

((ooc: may I interest u in a canon armin prompt on this lovely 12:49am? perhaps even...laby canon muki and canon armin? hm hm - I'd also take a starter))

[Small mercies, the ring does drop into Ciel’s hand before he’s forced to trauma dump more. He’s quick to put it back on his finger where it belongs, then proceeds to glare at it for a moment like the object caused this on purpose.

Then he smooths himself out like it was nothing beyond a mild bother. Don’t worry about it.]

It’s quite alright. It was three years ago now, and I have grown in my role as Earl. It’s fine.

[Just a really bad birthday and subsequent Christmas present.]

I will make it a point to keep a better eye on it, lest it find a way to abscond again.

[As soon as the ring drops, Basil lets out an audible sigh of relief, as if it might be his ring he’s kept tense about. Ciel smooths out, and Basil slumps. The ordeal is over…!

[…Well, maybe? Basil won’t push, but he finds his now-free hands wringing back together. He glances quickly over his shoulder, to see if the merchant’s eavesdropping.]

I-it wasn’t, um… [Hushed, just in case;] your fault, that it went missing....

[With Basil’s head ducked between his shoulders, he’s about eye level with Ciel, if not slightly lower.]

M-maybe we can talk… somewhere else…?

[Eren feels the grip on his arm, uncharacteristic of Azul's usual touch - unless he's nervous, Eren realizes (perhaps for the first time). He pulls his arm just a little more snuggly toward himself, strengthening his grip on Azul as they begin to move through the market.]

It's definitely a market, but not like one I've ever seen...

[They're in a marginally more modern setting than Eren and Azul are used to, though he hasn't quite noticed that, yet.]

Weren't we just underwater...?

[ Congratulations! You have the utmost pleasure of standing in line with a clean-cut boy in most of a prep school uniform. He's ditched the jacket, loosened up the tie, and donned a black beret for the occasion. His voice has a slight New England drawl and while his demeanor is generally louche with a lazy, aloof confidence, there is an ever-present undercurrent of rebellion that walks a fine line between mischief and anger.

Pick a line to stand in, any line to stand in: ]

i. rare item

[ Said schoolboy is peeking over your shoulder (or around you, if you're taller than him) to take a look at the book in your hands: A weathered and beaten forest green cover with a golden laurel around Five Centuries of Verse. If you open it before he can get his hands on it, you'll find an inscription. ]

Looks boring. I'll take it off your hands so you can try again, how about that?

ii. fortunes

[ Oh. He has your fortune? No thanks. He folds it up, and his hands tuck into his pockets as rocks back on his heels, smirks, shrugs. ]

Ever heard of being the master of your fate and the captain of your soul? A fortune isn't gonna tell you anything worth hearing.

iii. memories – cw suicide, emeto

[ He's a cocky, headstrong, aggressive person who still thinks he can forge his own path in a world tailor made to beat him into the shape his father and teachers want him to be. Under most other circumstances, he wouldn't even consider giving away a part of himself, no matter how ugly.

But he's also seventeen and grieving, so.

Of course he'll sell the memory of being the one who had to wake everyone in the middle of the night to tell them their best friend, their poetical leader, their figurehead, their Puck died. Of course he'll forget the endless snowfield, the silence broken only by Todd's screams, the slush he shoved in his mouth to clean off his acrid sick as he retched and babbled through his denial. Of course.

It's yours now, stranger. What's he get in return? ]

iv. wildcard

[ either hit me here or at mackleberry with whatever you want! please note: have not played charlie in ages, have not played straight up regular canon charlie in LONG AGES, bear with me. there is no info post in his journal. if you haven't seen dead poets society by now that's your damage. ]

Edited 2024-08-08 07:32 (UTC)

[Truth be told, he’d normally much rather go off on his own. This boy didn’t look particularly useful, but he was one demon short of a bulter, so if nothing else, this might be a case of beggars can’t be choosers. As much as Ciel hates to admit it, once his pistol was out of bullets, he was functionally useless.

So he put on his best “well adjusted member of society” face (a small, normal pleasant smile), and gave the other a small nod.]

Of course, lead the way.

[Lead him anywhere funny and he’ll shoot, though. He’ll probably miss, but it’s the thought that counts.]

I… I don’t remember- it’s all rather hazy…

[He thought about it and… yes, the last thing he reneged they were underwater, weren’t they?

But that brings an all new concern to the forefront of his mind, and he pulls away to start frantically padding his jacket for something.]

I don’t have my potions on me.

[That was… less than ideal in a place so unfamiliar- especially of they didn’t know how they got her or when the last time he theoretically took his potion.

If he wasn’t already cold-blooded, his blood would be running cold right now.]

[Hm?

[Prokopenko, glassy-eyed and lazy-grinned, turns to face the young man in line behind him. He is at a similar level of preparatory school undress - blazer missing, shirt rumpled, tie knotted with numb fingers.]

Boring? [His voice is lightly accented - something Slavic, maybe. He nods up toward the sign hanging above the stall.] "Rare," it says. [The boy giggles - then, sensing the other might reach, holds the book high above his head. Even if he doesn't reach, that's alright.]

No, I want to read it-- [He turns his back on the other boy, lowering the book and flipping open to - ah, yes. A lovely, handwritten inscription.]

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately."

Live deliberately...

[He ponders to himself. Hm.] What does it mean?

the way i'm coming for you. run.

[Ah, dear, yes. The potions. Azul won't do well without them for too long, Eren knows. It does press some urgency to return home, even through the hazy contentment of the evening's spell. Eren's eyes sharpen as the flicker over in Azul's direction.]

Stay calm. [There's some edge to his tone, but he isn't being impatient.] Do you know how much time you might have left?

[ Somewhere in his mind, there is a moment that doesn't slot neatly into any timeline of any reality that he consciously remembers: High above Odaiba in the middle of the coldest night, flat on his back, tears in his eyes, reaching for the stars and wishing more than anything that he could be allowed to fall into his crumbling reality and die along with it.

Whatever that's about, Maruki's not entirely sure. But it stirs in him with Eren nearby, one soul brought back against its will singing out to another.

He keeps his arm around Eren's shoulders for a few moments longer before dropping away as well, but his grin doesn't fade. He vaguely recalls being so filled to the brim with wretched sorrow– but why? Does it matter anymore, now that Eren's here? ]

I remember– too much, I think. Is this how it always felt for you to have so much in your head? It's confusing, to say the least...

[ Because for all the ways they were so terribly the same, that was never one of them. Not until now, shattered fragments of memories of dreams of realities of dreams of memories piled atop one another like so many flakes of snow. A certain mental unsteadiness as he tries to ease into it. He braces a hand against a nearby stall, just in case. ]

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Cursed Night Market

fortunes : ) select the ending of your choice

EVIL

whenever they thread together it's like "use the highly nervous icons"

:)

The story of that ring is gruesome as a heads up!

I am completely canonblind and good with any content!

closed to forbiddenlore (AU)

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Well then big spoilers ahead too

Takuto Maruki | Persona 5 Royal | pre-12/24 / third semester / postcanon / laby / au / WHATEVER !!

cw: suicidal ideation (as ever)

delicious spoilers (on which note, implicit spoils for Basil’s canon here)

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Already been spoiled to Omori, go ham!

o7

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Charlie Dalton | Dead Poets Society | OTA

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rare item

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oh same hat! cw suicidal ideation too!!