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

[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…

[Sure, then...If the fortune didn't say anything else, it's all over, and they can go...

[...but, they can't go. They're still here. Basil isn't telling the truth, and Sunny hasn't noticed himself gripping his own chest as he watches his friend's lips lie.

[Everything is not okay...]

There...has...to be more...

Th– There really doesn’t! [Ha. Hahahaha. Basil tries to muster a laugh; it looks more like a grimace. Sunny can’t be leaving, and want to talk about it now. Basil even tried, before he learned. Not now, hours away from…]

We can just… stay here. You, and me. [And it will be okay. He doesn’t dare reach for Sunny’s hand, but his own pry and tangle, bony fingers twisting, untwisting, perfect little knots…

[No...

[No, they can't stay here - at this booth where they can't walk away? What in the Hell is Basil talking about? None of this is okay! Sunny winces, his own knuckles turning bone white with their grip on his vest.]

We...can't...

[Sunny winces. Basil can make it better....]

We can. [It’s okay. He’d reach out, but he can’t untangle his own hands. Not yet…] Y-you don’t… want to go out there, do you…?

[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)

[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?

[Sunny's shoulders sink. The hand gripping Basil's sleeve still holds it, but his grip goes loose. They're still just standing here, but Basil's right. Where else is there for them to go? They leave this place, and then what? "Bad things will happen tonight," and no, no - that room, that house, that town is the last place Sunny wants to be.

[Still. Still. He hangs his head, shifting his eyes away, chewing on his lip. He doesn't do much with freedom, but he still doesn't like the feeling of being trapped; it won't go away once they can leave the booth.]

Maybe...maybe... [He repeats the word, softer and softer each time, until it stops making sound; then...] We could go...we could...r-run...

[His heart races. It's too terrifying, to free. They couldn't. It would never work, but they aren't in Faraway, so...so, maybe...]

B-ba...sil...

[Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe…]

[They could run. They could leave. Leave everything behind—like they were going to anyway, weren’t they? One way or another.

[Something in Basil’s gut lurches.]

Th… that’s right, Sunny. [He tries to take a step; can’t. Ignores it, ignores it, ignores it—] We can run… j-just you and me....

[There’s an ugly tap behind them, the vendor’s nails on the table. The future must be revealed, the vendor says, or maybe that’s Basil’s head; either way, surely Sunny hears it, too....

[Basil gulps.]

That’s… all there is to it....

[Sunny hears it. He grips Basil's hand too tight. He shakes his head. Basil's lying, but that isn't his fault. Sunny taught him how, right?]

A-anything...Say...s-say anything...

Anything.

[He grips his hands tight, too tight; so does he. They both hear it. They both know it.

[Basil shakes his head, too. Eyes wide, wild with… fear, is it? Is that what’s making him sick? No…]

Th-there’s nothing else to say! [Someone will be grieving tonight.] It’s just bad! And it doesn’t have to be bad! [Tighter.] It doesn’t! [Tighter, leaning closer…]

I know you won’t leave me, Sunny.

[No matter what Basil has to do.]

[It doesn't work. They're still trapped, and Basil is holding on too tight again. Sunny tries to pull away.]

Let go...I won't...

Let go...

I won’t, either.

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

I never will.

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

Cursed Night Market

:)

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jesus christ these two idiots will die here while armin stands behind them in line

don’t tempt them—

I literally hate them lmao I HATE THEM SO FUCKING MUCH

gag

actual tag (😇)

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we can fade out here as agreed lmao

the obligatory crosscanon vendor: