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

Armin Arlert | Attack on Titan | ota (please see CWs in journal)

[thebomb]

rare items; cw: blood, gore

a.) [The item that is handed to the person in front of Armin is, quite simply, a conch shell; however, the person holding it will find that it's covered in blood, clumps of hair stuck under dried scabs. Armin's face pales with recognition; he's not eager to claim it as his own, though...

[It would be impossible to let go of, now that he's seen it.]

Sorry. [Genuine enough.] I believe that's meant for me.

b.) [The item that is handed to the person in front of Armin is, quite simply, a book. He looks stunned to see it, hand beginning a reach, though...he pulls it back.]

Sorry, I...I recognize that book. I think...it belonged to me once.

memories; cw: violence

[There are any number of memories Armin would like to forget, though he doesn't choose any of them. one comes to mind. It's not the first - not the worst, either - but it comes to mind, as he's standing there at the merchant's booth. He considers buying a memory instead, then decides it should only be a last resort, if other booths don't work. He turns to leave, not realizing the memory has been transfered.]

dreams; cw: threads will include unreality

[For his part of the dream, it is, as always, the sea. Armin stands knee-deep in the water, pantlegs rolled up, but still soaking. He doesn't seem to notice anyone there, at first. He barely remembers the night market, or the booth where he sold this dream, or bought it, or...however it works.

[The ocean stretches on in every direction. The beach is large, too, though, even as it disappears over the horizon, more waves can just barely be seen. It's a world of water.]

wildcard;

[You also might find him snacking on some good food, wandering around - eavesdropping, even. Maybe he's coming up to chat - looks a little too friendly. Hit me with anything!]

rare items

[theartificer]

[A conch shell would make an attractive decoration in any home, but this one is covered in blood and hair. Saelfen recoils slightly in disgust, but he manages to hide his surprise with annoyance.

Why, by Lolth's malice, would he want something as heinous as this? The drow can't help but look at the merchant with disdain. He was about to curse the vendor and their ancestors when another approached.

He gives the blonde a wary look before quickly ushering the bloody conch towards them.]

What great evil plagues you to warrant such an item?

[thebomb]

[If Saelfen is offering the item, then Armin will take it - perhaps a bit too quickly, even. It is a repulsive thing. He knows.

[The question is massive. Armin doesn't know how to begin to answer. How is one meant to acknowledge the evil in their own hearts? That's what this conch shell represents.

[Armin doesn't look distressed nor disturbed - perhaps appropriately self-aware that what they're discussing is unattractive, but that's all. He puts a small smile on, inclining his head toward Saelfen.

[All good lies contain an element of the truth. Sometimes the best lie is almost the truth in its entirety. Sometimes its only withholding some of the details. And Armin doesn't have to tell him anything he doesn't want to.]

I can't say that I want it. It isn't that at all. [True.] I recognize it, is all.

It's a relic. Left over from a war. [Lie. It's a stain leftover from hope.]

[theartificer]

[A relic from a war? That certainly captures Saelfen's attention. He doesn't recall any significant war in his world. This elicits a curious hum.]

What war? Where was it fought?

[While the blonde is under no obligation to respond, Saelfen hopes he will. The disgust he felt from looking at the bloody conch fades and is replaced by intrigue. He wants to learn more about what happened, but he restrains himself from asking too many questions.]

[thebomb]

[This world is really just...this place, this market, as far as Armin can tell - at least, if the instructions on returning home are to be believed. With this conch shell in his hands, he's focused more on the present than the goal. It's been a while since he could say that...

[Still. It's clear that he and Saelfen don't come from the same place.]

My world. A war that came close to ending it. [There's no point in trying to hide it. It's not news.]

[theartificer]

When diplomacy fails, war is unavoidable, but I wonder what caused such brutality.

[He mutters as he looks at the merchant's wares. Unlike the boy, he sees nothing that belongs to him here. There were a lot of odds and ends, but nothing appeared to belong to him yet. However, the merchant appears eager to show him this cracked, medium-sized mirror carved from amber resin. Saelfen looks at it for a while, his blue eyes narrowing in mild disgust.]

But I've always heard that at war's end, peace tastes the sweetest.

[He hasn't experienced a war, but Saelfen wouldn't be surprised if one broke out soon after his escape from the Underdark. After all, he was the one who ignited the flame between House Telabban and the Ustrain Clan.]

[thebomb]

[Diplomacy surely did fail, although...Armin will still attempt it once he returns to that world, eighty percent destroyed. "Peace" doesn't feel real anymore. Armin can't truly push himself to hope for it, even with the "Peace Talks" on the horizon - and he doesn't particularly feel like agreeing with Saelfen.

[That being said, Armin is a performer before he's even a human, so. He puts on a smile.]

It's a lovely way of thinking. I can only hope for the same.

[Armin's eyes land on the mirror. It's time to talk about something else.]

Do you recognize it?

> dreams !! (laby maruki, canon armin :3c)

[placation]

[ Maruki doesn't know him, not really– but he does. In the way that no one is truly a stranger in dreams, and– something else.

That would be strange enough, and then there's the fact that he hasn't dreamt since he regained Azathoth's abilities and was able to leave that facsimile of an office. He relives recent memories when he sleeps, sometimes, but that's the extent of it.

Either Somnius is fucking with him, or his subconscious is beginning to break in new and exciting ways. Perhaps both.

His own pantlegs are similarly rolled. The water is cool, laps at his shins. It's– peaceful, he thinks, though he's on edge by design.

Maybe they're sharing dreams again. Maybe he's new. Maruki keeps his voice soft so as not to scare him as he announces his presence. ]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. Are you... lost out here?

HEHEHE

[thebomb]

[The presence doesn't startle Armin. He sensed it, somehow, even before he heard Maruki's voice. At first, he doesn't turn from where he's staring out at the waves. There's truly nothing...

[At last, he faces the stranger. Armin doesn't recognize Maruki the way Maruki recognizes him. He's out of place; lost.]

I'm not...[No. He knows exactly what he's looking at.

[He smiles, easy. There's something beneath it.] I was just expecting to be alone.

[placation]

Ah, sorry, I can go...

[ Except–

It's been so long since he last dreamed, and he was never able to get himself out of them before. It took someone else waking him, or else he'd see it through to its natural end. He tries pinching his arm, sleeves rolled up to his elbows; no luck. Tries looking around for anywhere he could go to leave this guy alone; there's only water, and his feet feel leaden in the sand.

Maruki's mouth twists into an apologetic grimace. ]

It appears that's a lie. I can't. But I can keep to myself, if you don't want the company.

cw: LOTS OF BLOOD

[thebomb]

[Armin watches this man - polite, apologetic - pinch himself and turn in every direction, searching for a way to limit inconvenience. He feels fondness, grief. Human beings are, sometimes, such funny, awkward, fumbling things. There is kindness. There is, as ever, kindness...]

If you're pinching yourself, then...this is only a dream?

[It makes more sense that way. What he really saw was...

[Blood. It's up to their knees now. The stench of it is inescapable and everywhere. Flowing water becomes viscous, red rot.

[Armin watches the horizon, but there's nothing else.

[The world He wanted to see...]

Sorry...[Idle, distant. He sounds sorry, but...there's no horror. Shouldn't there be horror?]

I really was expecting to be alone.

YAY FINALLY I GET MY OWN BLOOD OCEAN

[placation]

[ Ah. There it is.

The blood startles him; of course it does. He staggers a couple steps back, arms drawing up protectively in front of him, but there's no threat to defend against. Just blood.

He's never been good with seeing so much of it, and this is more than ever before. His stomach turns. He wants Azathoth.

And the other dreamer–

Doesn't seem bothered at all. ]

Well, I wouldn't want you to be alone in the middle of this mess, so maybe it's glad that I came. But yes, it's a dream...

[ It's his lot in life to always have such an ironclad awareness of his own consciousness. It's exhausting.

He tries to offer a smile, nervous, fleeting. ]

My name is Dr. Maruki. Maybe I can try to help you get out of this...?

YAHOO and it wasn't even from Eren

[thebomb]

[It's only a dream, right? You don't have to hide in your own dream, right?

[Armin says:] No...

I created this. [He told Eren...that this is what he wanted, too.

[Belatedly, some social instinct seems to kick in. He's said too much - he knows that. It isn't a lie - that's new. He doesn't really want to lie anymore. It's only a dream, but...

[He puts on a more human smile.]

I apologize. I'm not making any sense, I know. You're a doctor?

rare items, a)

[cruel_world]

[ Mikasa remembers the conch shell. It had been clean, save for droplets of water and specks of sand, when Armin brought it up for them to see; his eyes had a spark in them then, like sunlight dancing off the surface of the sea. She wonders when it dimmed; was it when some part of him died on that roof or much, much later. ]

[ Now it looks like something out of a nightmare, out of a titan's stomach, out of the toxic sludge left in the wake of trampling colossals. When did it get like this?.. ]

[ She doesn't flinch nor drop it; she merely holds it, contemplative, as Armin claims ownership. If this is in some way the burden of guilt he now carries, she'd like to share it. It's not like her own hands are clean. ]

...I'm sorry, too.

[ Her own guilt is somewhere else, trapped between the things that never were and the things that could have been. If only things had played out a little different. ]

[ She opens her fingers, letting the seashell sit on her now bloodied palm; he can easily take it if he wants to, or he can let her hold it a little longer. ]

(whispers) who are u...mystery mikasa...

[thebomb]

[It isn't Mikasa's to hold. Armin takes it, gentle. It's prickly and hard and cold, but it didn't feel that way the first time he picked it up. Things changed. Maybe it really had all felt like a game once, in a way.

[He looks to his friend, barely inclining his head, a continued apology. He is a liar through and through. He could fool even Mikasa if he really wanted to, but out of everyone left in the world, she's the last person he'd want to hide from.

[He smiles. It's not very real at all. He thinks she'll notice.]

It's like I said, Mikasa. I think this one was meant for me. [Someone else, too, but he isn't here because the one who is here is also played by Pan.]

i wonder...

[cruel_world]

[ He probably could. She knows he could even if she didn't raise him that way. In this moment, however, she does not particularly care for truth. What difference could it possibly make at this point? ]

It's beautiful.

[ It used to be, when it was not smeared with blood and gore. ]

[ It still is. ]

[ It's a little grotesque perhaps, but she finds it fitting. A former dream with blood from their hearts. ]

[ Despite Armin's attempt to take it back, however, it's as if an invisible force is keeping it attached to Mikasa's palm, perhaps an inch or two away from it. Before she can think of any worrying implications, however, the merchant helpfully pipes up about the need for a story in order to complete the exchange. ]

...

[ She would think he doesn't need to do that. She was there when he picked it up on the beach, though it had not looked that way back then. Which means... ]

There's more to this, then.

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

[thebomb]

[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.]

u know in your heart... (oopsie!)

[cruel_world]

[ A lot of people probably get unsettled, or at least surprised, witnessing Armin get steely or say something unhinged. Mikasa knows what he's capable of, though. She thinks it a good thing. One can not make it in this world with no defenses at all. ]

[ Eren. He says the name and of course it hurts. There's an immediate shift to Mikasa's posture, not quite a flinch but it's as if she withdraws into herself a little more, a sad look on her face as she tugs her scarf a little higher with her free hand, as if trying to hide from the world. ]

[ She knows it was a mercy then, but that does not change how much she misses him. ]

[ And yet, if anyone can share her feelings, if anyone can understand, it has to be Armin, right? If anyone has loved Eren just as much, it has to be him. ]

Yes. [ Her voice is quiet. ] He... showed me a peaceful life.

[ Something she always wanted. Something she now knows he could not have lived, and yet he'd given it to her anyway, whatever amount he could manage. ]

I think I do...

[thebomb]

[Armin nods. Of course, Eren would give something to Mikasa. If no one else, Eren would give something to Mikasa. He asked Armin not to tell her what he said - that he never wanted her to move on, that he wanted her to think of him forever. Armin had just gotten done punching him square in the jaw for how he'd treated her; after that, he felt sad for him. Eren was a simple enough person, in certain ways...

[Maybe some small part of him feared that Eren wouldn't have the courage to give Mikasa what little he still could. He's glad to hear that that isn't true, though his smile is sad, subdued.]

Eren showed me all of the things we always dreamt of seeing. Not just the sea, but the fiery mountains, the fields of ice, even lights in the sky. It was beautiful...

[Armin indicates the shell with a nod, starting to reach for it again, then remembering. He pulls his hands back.]

Eren noticed this shell for the first time - the way it looks now. He couldn't see what was in front of him at the time...[Not until it was far too late...]

It's not much of a story, really. You get it. More than anyone, I think...

That shell...is Eren's sin, but...it's mine too. [For what he's done, the lives he's taken. Mikasa will understand. That's why he tells her. That, and a trust that runs so deep it rivals only that that they felt with Eren.

[Come to think of it, that trust was broken too; maybe Armin truly trusts Mikasa more than anyone.]

I don't mind it. I accept it, I just...[He wishes that Eren and he were still together to shoulder that sin.

[He shrugs, unsure of how to say it.] Well, I accept it.

dreams bc i am as terrible as ever

[dreamsofwings]

[ Is this Armin's dream? Or is it Eren's? It's impossible to say. Their oceans blend together, Armin's sparkling blue that they imagined as children and Eren's distant, too-dark water that he will fill with blood.

It's still water now, though. This is a dream, not something he's controlling. Probably.

He turns to look for land, but there isn't any. They're standing here calf-deep in water. When he turns again, he's facing Armin, the different colours of the water clashing at their feet. ]

What do you think happens now?

GOD I AM EATING THIS makes it worse

[thebomb]

[Right. Eren's here. This is how the dream is meant to be. It comes to him so often, now that Eren's gone. It's the world they both wanted deep down, isn't it? Empty...]

You don't usually talk to me here. It's nice to hear your voice.

[The waters do indeed mix at their feet. That seems right too. Eventually, it will all be blood.]

Nothing happens now. It's only us.

[dreamsofwings]

[ Is this the world Eren wanted? Maybe. Probably. He wanted a blank slate, the world wiped clean. At least here there aren't carrion birds, birds that flew fast enough to escape the heat of the titans. ]

I don't usually dream.

[ He'd have to be asleep to dream, and he doesn't know when he last slept. Does he sleep at all after breaking out of the jail cell? Does it count that he was unconscious while Ymir rebuilt him in the Paths? In his head he's been awake for eons.

Either way, he doesn't really dream anymore. What point would there be in having dreams now? None of that matters. ]

It's nice to hear yours too.

[ Armin's voice not yelling at him, neither of them are crying (yet). Just them and the blue ocean. This is what he's longed for since he was a child. Isn't it? ]

[thebomb]

[He longed to see the ocean, which made up so much of an unknown world - as a child, though? He didn't wish for nothing but. It's a dead wish - proof of rot; Armin should be gutted.]

Your dead, aren't you? I didn't think you could dream. [And it is, as ever, only a dream, as far as Armin knows. You could spend your time in dreams yelling and screaming at the ghosts that haunt them, or you could take in the muddy ocean and reach for a moment of peace.

[It's his dream. He doesn't want to get angry. And he doesn't feel angry. Eren is here. It's nice to hear his voice.]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren's eyes go a little wide at that. ]

Am I?

[ Is he? He could be dead. He has to die for it to end. That's always been true. There was only one ending they could reach.

He doesn't remember dying. He remembers the moments before, because he already knew what they were like. He'll be ready for that long before it actually happens. But here in this water, the future is blessedly blank. ]

Maybe we're both dead.

[ In the end, no one makes it out alive. That's just life. And Armin did make him a promise. Eren can't hold him to it, but he knows it wasn't a lie. ]

[thebomb]

[Armin seems to consider this. What would Hell look like? Maybe the Hell they created (the water is getting redder), but it feels a bit too peaceful for that. He's had this dream a thousand times. It's playing out just like it always does, and it's no Hell - not until he wakes up again.

[Armin heaves a deep breath - smiles, shakes his head.]

Sorry, Eren. I didn't think I'd be the one to break that news to you. No, I think I'm still alive. I've had this dream before. I do all the time.