humiliatious | 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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?

Edited 2024-08-08 00:01 (UTC)

[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.]

[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.]

[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.]

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.]

[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?

Yes, I do. It belonged to Adria, the only mother truly ever known.

[Armin does not appear to be the only performer here. Saelfen tried his hardest to keep emotions out of his tone when he spoke, but even a slither of emotion caused his voice to crack. Some wounds never heal, and her betrayal still hurts.]

And the only person to ever bring me to tears.

[He gives the merchant a sharp glare, indicating he does not want the mirror. However, the merchant is not as easily persuaded. They guide the mirror to his unwilling arms, still grinning ear to ear.]

Must I keep this? I see no need for mementos of a past I'm desperate to forget.

[The emotion seems genuine enough, though Armin doesn't know this man whatsoever. Still, if he has any reason to lie, Armin doesn't know that either. It's an awfully personal anecdote, and he truly seems to want that mirror out of his sight.]

You could sell it. [A helpful contribution.] I hear that buying and selling is supposedly our path home.

That being said, I do understand that something like that might be difficult to part with.

Sell it? [He lets out a slight chuckle.] I am not sure if a broken mirror will fetch much in the night market, but I just want to get rid of it.

[It is unclear whether he refers to just the mirror or the emotions associated with it. In any case, it is clear that the elf intends to throw this mirror into the deepest ravine he can find, never to be seen again. If he can make a little bit of money by selling it, then so be it. If not, it’s going into the abyss somewhere.]

The same for your defiled conch. I doubt that would fetch much, but something tells me you plan on keeping it.

[Armin does plan on keeping it, but he doesn't say so. He addresses Saelfen's concern, instead.]

With all due respect, I have to disagree. After all, this isn't your usual market at all. People here deal in dreams, memories - items that you know, like that mirror. It has value beyond money-- Ah. Well, that can be both a positive and a negative thing.

Point being, if you've been given that item, and the way home is through buying and selling, the only logical conclusion is that selling that mirror would get you a step closer.

[The longer he listens, the more Saelfen wonders if this cracked mirror is worth anything to him. His hatred for his family is truly what drives him, what motivates him to keep going despite all odds. While he makes every effort to hide his past from others, the scars his family left on him are undeniable.

However, does it make sense to keep such an item? To hold onto the hurt? Saelfen shook his head. He must convince himself to sell the cursed mirror.]

Perhaps you're right. [He mutters under his breath.] The faster I sell this, the faster I can find my way out of "here".

[It's unclear whether he is referring to the night market or something from his past. Nonetheless, he heads over to the next stall to see what this seller has to offer. He then turns to face the blonde, his gaze full of curiosity.]

Are you searching for any other items besides that conch?

[The conch now in Armin's hands, he follows Saelfen to the next stall. They're in a precarious position. He'll wait to see what Saelfen experiences before taking the risk himself, if he can.]

Honestly, I wasn't searching for anything at all - aside from that path home, as I mentioned. It seems we've been forced into a game that we have no choice but to play.

Constantly being coerced into nonsense. [He sighs, exasperated.] The story of my life.

[While lamenting his misfortunes, Saelfen comes across an ornate purple vial that appears to be made of pure amethyst. He looks at the vial for a while, his blue eyes narrowed in scrutiny. Of course, he knew what it was, but he appeared hesitant to claim it.]

Tell me — [He casts a glance at the blonde from the corner of his eyes.] Have you ever regretted something so much that you almost wish you had let yourself fall instead?

Cursed Night Market

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