trans_9 | Mingling at the Bazaar

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Mingling at the Bazaar

Next to the Mall Hotel, a large bazaar sprawled out through the streets. Food stalls, jewelery stalls, plastic surgery stalls...might want to stay away from that last one. But since the bizaar was close by, it served as a good place for the crew to meet up and start their exploration of XaXing.

[[ooc: This is just a general mingling post guys, so jump in and start threads, tag into other people's, whatever you want!]]

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If Eva blinks, she'll probably notice that the mask salesman is now somehow holding the mask, despite it being behind him only a second ago.

"Ah, this mask..." he says, holding its grey, textured surface to the light, "It is filled with an appreciation for things that go unnoticed."

Yeah, he doesn't answer Eva's question. What he does do is hand it to her for her inspection. Suddenly, and seemingly without transition, he's stroking his chin thoughtfully, as if considering her. "Of course, it could also be used for great mischief..."

She does notice. It's creepy. And yet now she's morbidly curious, especially at the mention of great mischief. She has a murder to plan, after all.

"What sort of mischief?" she asks, almost hungrily as her mind races. Edriss' return has brought the savagery in her bubbling to the surface.

The man is suddenly closer to her, very close.

"Masks have a life of their own, you know. Some of them are filled with anger, some grief... why, I once came into possession of a mask that was viewed as a portent of great disaster. It was used in the hexing rituals of an ancient tribe, a mask sealed in the darkness out of fear its powers were too dangerous to contain. Yes..."

"That mask..." Abruptly, the merchant's expression changes, and he seems congenial once more. He waves a hand almost carelessly at the mask he's given to Eva.

"Oh, but this mask is nothing like that, I assure you. Why not try it on? ...I believe you'll understand my words more clearly."

She puts her hand on his face and pushes him away, before he's gone again. Her brow furrows; she instinctively recoils at the invasion of personal space. "Well, you're giving me so much confidence in this little trinket, aren't you? I'll try it on after you tell me a little more about it. I don't want to end up in a Jim Carrey movie."

The contact is only for an instant, because as soon as Eva starts to push him away, the merchant is somehow several feet away, the mask in his hands.

"Well, if you must know the sordid details, this mask once belonged to a soldier. An unremarkable soldier in all respects. So unremarkable, in fact, that he was injured, stranded out in the wilderness and unable to return home -- no one bothered to lend him a hand, you see."

The salesman dons the mask and abruptly, he is no longer there. In fact, if Eva tries to look in his direction, her eyes will simply slide off, as if her mind is automatically filling in that portion of her visual field with empty space: nobody there, nothing to look at, move on.

He takes it off, and he's somehow there again. But he was never gone to begin with, of course. "Utterly unremarkable," the man repeats with a smile.

She starts as the salesman reappears, even though she knows he never left. Instinctively, she puts a hand to her gun holster, then slowly removes it and reaches for her wallet instead.

Well, that certainly holds her attention. "You don't really choose the best stories to sell your wares, sir," she says, reaching for the mask again. This could be the last piece she needs to finalize her plot to get rid of Edriss. "How much? How long does the effect last?"

Maybe not, Eva. But someone always wants what he's selling.

"Two hundred," he answers promptly. "And as long as you wear it, of course -- it's not a magical object. Certainly not."

"And there are no other effects?" She doesn't trust that there isn't a catch. "I don't have to sign in blood or promise my firstborn?"

"Certainly not," he says. "It's only a mask; nothing more."

The only thing you have to worry about, Eva, is whether you'll be able to sleep at night.

"Uh huh. Magic mask. Alright."

It still feels as if this is too simple, too good to be true. She has many more than two hundred credits. She hands them over. "I'll take it."

He takes the credits, vanishing them somewhere in his tunic with a smile. "Believe in your strengths, madam. Believe..."

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Mingling at the Bazaar

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)

Re: SHOP: ANSWERED PRAYERS (MASKS)