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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[Oh dear (again).

[Hero puts a hand on Kel's head, laughing fondly (but also, kid, don't buy a weapon).]

Hiya, Kel.

Well, I was asking about this magic mallet, but I think we both know there's not much use for one in our household.

It’s magic, though, right?

We could find a use.

[They look cool, Hero. What, are they gonna walk out of here empty-handed?]

( Was there really no need? Hm... Asriel doubts it, but he seems to want to avoid seeing his own fortune for some reason.

He's never met a human so nervous before... Even if Chara could be a little distant, they'd seem pretty confident, too. )

Golly, you don't have to worry. It's can be a little scary being in a place like this alone. I'd be happy to have the company.

And, maybe if we stick together long enough, we can become friends, too.

That's exactly right! See, Mr. Hero, your friend understands! You never know what might come around a corner.

And a hero should always be prepared.

[Basil isn't making any sense. Sunny thinks he must be asking something else, but why now? He tries to take a step back and finds that he can't move his legs. They're stuck standing still. They can't keep upright forever! He reaches for Basil's sleeve and grasps, tugs.]

I...[Sunny's mouth hangs open. He closes it.

["Bad things will happen tonight."]

N-no...but...

Edited 2024-08-10 02:09 (UTC)

[It's gracious of him, though Armin feels some surfacing bitterness, resentment at someone that he doesn't even know. He ought to be a stranger - Eren's life was Armin's life for so long, but that hasn't been true for a long time. His anger isn't directed toward Maruki; not an ounce of it shows. He holds it all in the tension of his face, still hidden - the way his teeth grit.

[He tries to compose himself. He manages to lift his head without his neck breaking. Maybe that's all he can ask.

[His voice his terrible in that way that someone trying to dam a flood sounds - tight, watery, pained. He wants to scream until his lungs burst; his speaks quietly.] You know him.

How? Where...?

[ Of course Eren wonders at the nature of the dream, hoping for Armin's sake that it isn't a nightmare. But even "good" dreams can be sinister, and doesn't Eren's presence here mean it could never be good either? He still thinks this way, though, even if it's at odds with what he knows about himself and the world. ]

Yeah. It did.

[ Eren doesn't bother looking behind him. He knows what that ocean looks like. He's been walking through it for lifetimes. ]

If it's a dream, you can make it be whatever you want.

[ As if that's how dreams work. Maybe for someone who forgot how to dream, it seems like they should. ]

i. gateway:
[ Kurogiri feels a strange sense of calm as he examines the luminous stalls of the market, but also a grave certainty that he shouldn't be here. However—when he examines this conviction, he realizes he doesn't know where he should be instead. Or how he came to be here. Things are different here.

The drifting fog that covers every part of what would otherwise be his exposed skin—face, neck, hands, wrists—gathers around one of his hands, swirling slowly and deliberately. It soon expands, stretching out before him, then forming a vaguely round shape, a dark mass hovering in midair. Another moment, and the mass opens from the center outwards, like a gate opening in space itself, revealing a shadowy void beyond.

Kurogiri gazes into it, as if he might find an answer within, but he doesn't. He doesn't intend to go through it, either. It's dangerous to enter a warp gate, if he doesn't know where he is or where he needs to go. ]

It's come back.

ii. memories:
[ If you happened to take your place in line behind the neatly dressed man whose body is cloaked in dark mist, the unfamiliar memory that enters your mind will be dark and hazy, as if you're viewing the world through—a fog.

A tall man is standing in a dimly lit laboratory, gazing down at you. You can hear a low, buzzing machine noise from somewhere nearby. The tall man is partially obscured by the shadow of a large piece of metal and glass equipment (a medical device?) that rises up from the floor nearby. He towers over you—he must be more than seven feet tall. You feel small in comparison. If you can look away from the tall man and glance down at yourself, you'll realize you're stretched out on what appears to be an examination table. It's cold and uncomfortable. If you try to move, you'll find it difficult, your limbs and torso bound by restraints.

After observing you in silence for several moments, the strange man speaks.]

Do you know your name?

[ His voice is deep, resonant—and also oddly detached, as if he's speaking to an object rather than a person. ]

iii. dreams:
[ The world is gone. There is no earth. There is only, seemingly, the sky. You're standing on a cloud, and all around you are clouds—pillars, sheets, swirls, and walls of cloud. Puffy and pale, they look like ordinary clouds, but they're able to hold up under your weight. If you reach out to touch them, you'll feel some give beneath your touch, but there's also a strength to them, and they don't break, even if they do yield.

This place is strange, but serene. It has the feel of a refuge or sanctuary, if an empty one. Here and there, you can see the blue sky and golden sunlight through breaks in the cloud cover. At first glance, you appear to be alone here, but with the clouds piled all around you, you can only see so far ahead... ]

[[ ooc: or choose your own adventure! open to any and all canon points and AUs, including labyrinthum flavor. let me know if you want a custom prompt! pm or contact me on

teacuppity for plotting purposes. ]]

Ohhh, well... See we trade in different sorts of things... MM... BB-chan can see it now, yes, she will take one memory from Basil as a payment for something you can have on this table that someone else may want.

[ YEAH BASIL STOP GETTING CAUGHT! Anyway, BB gives a gesture to the table, ]

All items come with an additive that causes psyche changes of sorts, you could say.... Ahhh, a place that almost sells feelings, memories, hopes, and dreams. If you want to go back home, you'll have to start selling parts of yourself you need to give.

[More indeed. As the merchant speaks, Armin's stare takes on some edge. It's only Mikasa - someone he'd share almost anything with - so it's not as if there's any real reason to get worked up; that being said, he doesn't like the implication that if he'd walked up here with anyone else, he'd be in a different position.

[As well as that, the "more" was meant to remain between he and Eren.

[Nothing remains sacred. He looks at his friend - his dear friend, his best friend (there's only one of two left now). And he breathes, settles down.]

Eren [It will be hard to hear his name, Armin suspects. It's hard for Armin to say it.] showed me something. He showed me all sorts of things, actually.

He showed you things, too, right? [All of them...]

This shell was there. [It isn't enough to release Mikasa's hold.]

[There’s a softer, more genuine smile at that last statement. Basil hasn’t had a friend in a long time. He’s not sure he can believe it’s possible anymore, but it’s an offer he can’t take for granted....]

Ah… that’s very kind of you. [Fingers laced tightly together until now loosen. They don’t release completely, but he hasn’t seen a familiar face here yet. Maybe it’ll be okay.] My name’s Basil. What’s yours?

[Nails thrum on the fortune table behind him. Basil tries to ignore it.]

[ Maruki feels for him, terribly. One aching heart reaching for another. If he knew Armin better, he might sit next to him, put a hand between his shoulder blades. Offer what little comfort can be given in the face of tremendous grief.

As it stands, he can only answer the question gently. ]

We've been stuck in another reality together for some time now. A strange place, where many people are pulled from disparate worlds because of a wish they supposedly made. When I told you that sharing dreams wasn't uncommon in the reality that I'm currently in – he was one of the first people I met in dreams. The first person to house and feed me while I was getting my bearings in a strange new world. And the first person to attend counseling regularly.

[ His chest is warm, fond. So much has changed since then. ]

He's become a close friend. I'm lucky to know him.

[ And then, not as a placation (hehe) but as an entirely genuine sentiment: ]

When he tells me about you, I know no one else in any reality will ever come close. He misses you terribly. It's grief too, in its own way.

[Sunny reaches first, and that’s all the push Basil needs. The gordian mass of his own anxious hands frays at once, and he grabs for Sunny’s other sleeve, mirroring. It’s tight.]

But what, Sunny…? [Basil’s mouth is still pulled back, tense. His next words are hissed, hushed. He thinks he’s going to cry.] There’s nowhere else for us, is there?

( Asriel glances at the table behind him, expression darkening for a moment before his attention goes back to Basil. He... gets it. He knows what it's like to feel afraid of the unknown. )

It's Asriel. It's nice to meet you.

( They may not have a chance to leave if they don't get a fortune for Basil. )

... Do you want me to get your fortune for you? It can be scary when someone else might know your future, but... you don't have to read it alone.

[No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no—]

[Basil takes a deep breath through his nose. The impatient thrumming stopped....]

It’s nice to meet you, too, Asriel. [He hopes the fortune is vague. God, he hopes it’s vague, and ambiguous, and leaves everything to the imagination and the blanks can only be filled by Basil, like how Asriel seemed to understand a deeper melancholy in his own.]

I-if you insist… I hope it’s a good one, haha.

[Basil shuffles aside, to let Asriel take first place in line. His feet feel like lead, scraping across deadwood.]

(ooc: Same mun as the bellismortis Basil further up. Kel has a more thorough infopost—and a paid, this month, so come get ‘im while he’s hot)

my stall now
[It’s anyone’s guess how a teenage boy ended up on the merchant’s side of a stall, but sometimes a fella needs coin, and he’s been set up with some real tasty delicious wares to sell!

[Reads the sign: ‘Milk.’

[He hates milk, is the thing.

[But! No matter! These cold glass jugs aren’t gonna sell themselves, and they’re getting warmer by the second, and that’s really no fun for anyone. So, at the first appearance of another soul at this less-traveled intersection, Kel quits slouching, jumps up, and waves his hands with a big ol’ grin.]

Got milk? I got milk! Getcha fresh dairy here, straight from… some unreadable mystery farm! Good for you, good for your bones—just one coin a pop!

wildcard?
(You know. One of the actual prompts. Or anything else! Toss me a starter or request one. We have fun.)

[He notes the other boy's unease and offers his hand for the other to take. As much as it would be nice to be tall and strong, being small and adorable had its uses, in this case it was putting the other youth at ease.]

Let's take a look around together first. Maybe we can watch it happen to someone else while looking for the... least offensive option ourselves.

[Eren is less eager to sell memories - there's no telling if the memory he tries selling will be his own. Leaning in toward his husband, he murmurs a question into his ear:]

Do you have one to sell?

i'm on the wrong account for asking this q BUT pretend i wasn't lazy

if a character is physically unable to dream on their own... would the dream stall still work on them 👀

[Armin takes Eren's hand. He shakes his head.] Not me, Eren. I've never been able to control what I dream.

But you took me where I wanted to go. You showed me everything we promised we'd see...

Where else is there to go, really?

I'd like to stay with you. That's all, for now.

[Just a little more, a little longer in this wonderful, terrible dream. When he wakes up, Eren will be gone again. It happens every morning.]

I love you. Did I forget to say that last time?

I met you in a dream. [Pause.] Once.

Then, my head was full of fake memories of you. I thought we grew up together. You did too, didn't you? [When they were hunters, he means.

[Looks like it's time for reminiscing now, instead. Eren starts moving toward the smell of food, not signs promising magical journeys.]

[ And Charlie certainly catches that wickedness. Normally, he wouldn't give a shit. Adolescent and cocksure, how people respond to life or death wasn't his concern until very recently.

It strikes a nerve, still too raw to have been numbed by ice and rage. ]

Death's boring, huh? What's that all about? No, really, I wanna know.

[Well.]

It's more fun not to, yes?

Not to die? Yeah. Pretty sure most people would agree.

[ Most, not all. ]

Not sure I'd call it a side effect of living deliberately, though.

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Page 7 of 14

Cursed Night Market

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Kurogiri/Shirakumo | My Hero Academia | ota

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(shaking) please... (also wow me forgetting my own rules immediately OOPS he did NOT take it)

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1/2

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Kel | OMORI

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