[The Bizarre] Fear Workers (Open)

[Zlakalia]

(60th of Summer, 511AV) Selling anything is just a matter of fear. Zlakalia had read that before somewhere, but the words still carried their truth to her today. People wanted to be safe, have the safety of the right equipment, the safety of not missing out on a deal. She sold safety. Her cart was filled with safety scrolls and she was preparing to write out another. Even the words inked on the side in giant letters were assuring, trying to comfort people into needing her products. "Safer Travels: Get Yours Here!" Zlakalia had her ink vial out in front of her, the top pulled off. Her finger was being stretched into a long thin point, but it always took a chime or two to get it to shape. The ink was pungent, this vial was getting older and might crack as it dried. That would be alright at first, once she got past the top layer the ink should thicken. The cracked look gave the glyphs a traveled look anyway, which helped sell her product on the best days. Her finger was finally ready to begin the painting job. Before she began her work she took a look out at the shops around, most of them booths rather than her odd cart, trying to get people the most scared that the product they were peddling was necessary, vital to their daily lives. Zlakalia would normally be there with them, calling out to passersby, trying to convince them that her product would keep them the safest. But today had been a good sales day, she needed more product. Zlakalia slowly dipped her finger into the ink, feeling the substance form a small drop on its tip. She forced the tip to concave in, a hollow point sucking a bit more ink into it to write for as long as possible. She had tried using a quill in the past but it was never the same as using herself to get the job done. Zlakalia pulled her hand free of the bottle, examining the thick liquid on the end. It reminded her of blood with its thickness. It was nice to look at. She quickly went to work on the paper before her. The strokes were thin and long, wrapping around each other like her hair. Zlakalia kept her djed still as she worked, however, not imbuing magic into the glyphs. These 'good luck' charms could be sold to any non-magician, she just had to be careful who she showed them to. She had a few actual shielding scrolls behind her; she would show potential clients those first and move to the good luck if they couldn't tell the rather weak power. 'Let's see how the rest of this sales day goes.'

[Fela Meason]

60th Day of Summer, 511AV The market always titillated her senses: the warm spices and pungent fruits, the scrape of cloth as it was handed out and the clink of coins being exchanged. She shivered in delight. The bizarre was always a bit of a sensory overload but she loved coming here. She breathed deeply with a contented sigh. Maybe she wanted to overwrite all the bad memories she had there with good one, maybe she wanted to escape the madness inside her own head with the madness of the patrons. What ever the reason for her visits, they always served to make the day interesting. Today was no exception, she had already witnessed two thefts resulting in hilarious results and a singing Akalak. No kidding, a 6 foot tall blue man belting at the top of his lungs about fresh fish. The thefts were minor only little did the thieves know the shop keeps had been mages. Fela had giggled as the two boys were caught by an invisible wall of air and knocked flat on their backs. The merchandise had been returned and no harm had come to anything but the boys pride. Sad news for the shop keeps though as now most of the people were cutting a wide path and avoiding their shops. Magic did not go over well with most common folk. If Fela had needed anything from their shops she would have gone over there just to spite the masses. Fela continued her leisurely stroll through the bizarre stopping occasionally to examine the merchandise. Fela did a double take at the booth to the right of her, behind a cart sat a 1 foot tall puppet complete with a dark cloak and womanly features. The puppet was moving, her spindly fingers dipped in a jar of ink with a large piece of parchment stretched out in front of her. She was forming intricate shapes in black ink, Fela did not recognize any of the symbols on the page. She crept closer for a better look at the puppet and her cart. Fela had met a doll person once before but did not know anything about them. She didn't even know what they were called. She carefully picked up one of the scrolls from the cart and looked at it quizzically.

[Hayii]

Hayii trudged through the streets of Alvadas, nonchalantly glancing down each side street she passed in search of The Bizarre. Though she'd been in the city for some time now, she was no closer to knowing how to decode the vast pattern of movement she believed the buildings to follow. After all, the locals had a way of finding their destination much faster than her; they had to know something she didn't. She reminded herself to ask the next annoyingly chatty local she met; not that she met many. Most people quickly understood that the girl wasn't interested in their fake friendliness and nosy questions from her carefully emotionless appearance alone. She looked down the next empty, negligible side street as she passed it, deliberately casual. Though her master was certainly long gone by now, the urge to not attract other's attention was too deeply ingrained in the girl for it to disappear just because she was now free. This time, she finally saw the windowless walls of the marketplace and quickly turned to walk in that direction. As she entered the building, Hayii was for a short moment overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people and the level of noise such a crowd inevitably makes, but she quickly regained her usual composure and steered towards the nearest food booth. A big vegetable pie made Hayii's mouth water, but that didn't make her want to buy it; she'd learned her lesson about the cuisine of Alvadas. Instead, she went straight to the man attending the booth and asked with what she hoped was a normal-sounding voice if he had any cheap bread; though she was now by her own standards rich, she wanted her money to last as long as possible. The salesman pointed to what looked like a bundle of five bloody steaks. Without a second thought, Hayii found the silver Miza the man demanded and took the meat. She was usually not this trustful of strangers, but she'd quickly found out that even if some would try to cheat her, asking yielded better results than guessing. She carefully took out one of the steaks and put the rest of the bundle into her backpack along with her pouch. As she bit into the remaining piece of meat, it became apparent that the shopkeeper had indeed told the truth, and her mouth was filled by the taste of a-few-days-old bread. The girl started to walk as she ate. After finishing the slice, she noticed something peculiar: a scroll-selling cart attended by a Pycon alone. The only Pycons she'd ever seen had been ones kept as pets, and she'd always assumed this was because they had the brains of an animal, but this one was writing! Using her own finger as a pen! Intrigued, the girl walked closer to the clay figure's cart, pretending to look interestedly on the scrolls while trying to catch a few more glimpses of the animate statue without it noticing. (OOC:Self Moderation - Traded 1 silver Miza for 5 loaves of bread)

[Caedeserus]

The ghost has been following the pycon for years now even if his only reason is to see if her goals of killing gods will succeed or if she will perish when she fails for aiming too high. Something to amuse him in his long afterlife, the thought of something so small would take down beings as powerful as gods. But it would not be a shocker. It had happened before when Myri the usurper ascended after taking down her predecessor and it might happen again with Zlakalia. Whether through skill or plain luck Caedeserus did not know but it would be nice to know he played a part in it too if possible. It would only mean he is closer to his personal goals and closer to passing through in peace.

With the shroud of soulmist not giving any personal form to the ghost, he was just there with no one but the pycon knowing of his presence. Like air. You don't really see its there but from personal experience you know it exists. The pycon from their relationship would know that he will always be near her so long she holds the sword. Quietly whispering to Zlakalia he questioned their purpose of wasting their time on peddling cheap trinkets instead of getting stronger. "Selling Shyke again, why waste time? Nader-Abastlas Zlakalia!"

Sighing, there were two new customer's coming to their cart. Its time to get to work. One appraising and one just looking. To the one looking he thought "If you are not going to buy, get lost" or something along those lines and shot out some soulmist towards the fruit cart behind her. Pushing inwards with his soulmist on the one fruits he thinks is the cornerstone of the precariously balanced pile of fruit on display, Caedeserus loosened the fruit and popped it out at the direction of human with the rest of the other fruit tumbling over to follow. If any of the fruit would stray from their path towards the woman with the scroll he would have to try and push those away as well.

[Zlakalia]

Zlakalia grimaced at the whispered words. She had told Caedeserus a thousand times their purpose here; Ionu was her target now and one day she would find him. The fickle old ghost had followed her on and off for years, always back with the sword when she needed it. It was nice to have him around, but his nagging could be incessant. At last she finished her work and looked back from the scroll before her, admiring the glyphs. Zlakalia's mind turned to thoughts of words of ease for this scroll. Something like 'the eye means protection as the scroll will watch over you' or something equally cheesy. Magic was a fearful thing, but fear promoted ignorance. And ignorance worked in her advantage. The glyph in the corner could facilitate overly-intricate directions, things most people forgot. It warded off people coming back for revenge or refund; she'd simply tell them they most not have followed the directions correctly. A tumbling of fruit brought Zlakalia's notice back from her work towards the world around her. There were two women nearby now, both eying her work and Zlakalia herself curiously. The apple cart's mishap seemed fortuitous luck, but she knew the crafty ghost must have had his hand here. It was a fun game the two played; tricking the naive into needing their work. Perhaps it would work this time. "Welcome to Safer Travels!" Zlakalia tried to give her voice a friendly personal infliction, like she was welcoming old friends. She turned to Hayii who was surrounded in apples. "It seems luck does not favor you today, those apples look treacherous as to unbalance your legs right from under you." Then towards the other where apples rolled away before coming close, "And it seems my good luck scroll has already aided you in keeping the ground solid." Now to them both, "I sell protection here for the time being. Good luck on your travels, anti-magic shielding, wards." As Zlakalia spoke she rumbled through her scrolls, pulling up different ones to show off. "Would either of you be interested in making your travels safer today?" Zlakalia kept the question open, knowingly waiting for responses or questions back.

[Fela Meason]

60th Day of Summer, 511AV Fela's eyes widened and she jumped back as a pile of pristine looking red apples started their devious journey towards the girl who was now standing beside her. A small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth and she smothered a giggle that threatened the embarrass the poor thing. The apples seem to be avoiding Fela and flowed away from where she stood. To test this she stuck one leg out and watched the fruit jump away as if afraid to come near her. Neat. The doll that had drawn her attention over here began to speak. Her charisma flowed through her hurried and excited words as she showed off her many scrolls with great flair. Fela had a hard time tearing her eyes away from her face as it spoke, it was a mask of joy but her mannerisms and tones spoke of a different story. As Fela stared into that smiling face she knew that there was more to this puppet than she had originally thought. Would either of you be interested in making your travels safer today? She said as she moved her eyes back and forth between Fela and the red haired girl beside her. Fela put on a pleasant smile and responded, Is one ever safe in the city of Illusions my good friend? She placed the scroll she had been looking at back in the cart and took a quick look around the entire bizarre. The dangers of this place were apparent where ever one looked, a city of magic seekers and madman. How much for a good luck charm m'lady?

[Hayii]

Suddenly, apples gushed rumbling towards Hayii. The girl swayed for a moment before finding her balance again. She turned her head to give a puzzled look at the cart the fruits had been in moments before; while it didn't have high edges or anything, the pile must've seemed stable enough for its owner who was fast asleep on a chair behind it, the thundering apples not noisy enough to awaken the tired woman. I wonder what she did to deserve this? Hayii pondered, absolutely certain this wasn't an accident but an indication of the strange ways of the gods. She can't sell the apples now, if they are indeed apples... This is Alvadas, after all. The girl was slowly turning her glance back to the Pycon's booth when she, halfway through, noticed how the apples veered from the other scroll-shopper's leg as she stretched it out. Her head stopped in place as the thought hit her that maybe the cart's accident was meant to punish her - no, not punish. The gods could do so much better than this; maybe it was supposed to serve as a warning? But a warning against what? Hayii tried to remember everything she'd done that day but found nothing unusual. Maybe... maybe the god that did this can read minds? What did I think of before this happened? The girl sought her mind, so submerged in thought that she didn't immediately register the conversation between the redhead and the Pycon. When she did notice it, however, she was once again surprised by the intelligence present in one of those clay pets. As she thought that, an apple rolled over and hit her foot. Not hard, but enough for her to notice. And then she realized what all this meant. She'd thought of the Pycon as an inferior being, and the fruits had boomed towards her. She'd internally called her a clay pet, and the gods had sent one more warning. Hayii's eyes were full of wonder as she looked at the tiny being currently informing the unpunished redhead about the price of a scroll. How had a one-foot-tall animate statue of a pet race won a god's sympathy? One thing was sure, though. The scrolls must be deeply magical when their seller was defended by a god. Maybe she should buy one when the redhead was done...

[Caedeserus]

After popping the apple which started it all, the ghost shot some soulmist to one of the apples at the side. Covering it and pushing it along while he used it to bump other apples out of the way if any got too close to the one with the scroll. Then she tried to test her luck while she put her foot out. Caedeserus barely steered the apple away to miss her. This was hard work, pushing apples.

The plan worked...this time. Caedeserus was lucky that he did not need to go and do more. This peddling was getting boring and was nothing but a waste of time. But somehow the pycon was convinced it was good for her. How much can she get selling things like this? A real honest job instead of swindling strangers would be a lot better.

Zlakalia started giving her sales pitch. Crafty little pycon. Until today still no one suspected a thing. Even these two before her now. One was even considering buying a scroll. The other was looking at the pile of scrolls. Probably pondering on her stroke of bad luck with the apples. It was not her fault. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time without the right thing. Pity...

[Zlakalia]

The two girls were impressed; that much had crept up on their faces. Zlakalia had spoken smooth, the lines more rehearsed than either girl could know. She let a manipulative grin play on her lips for a second, hopefully not long enough to look suspicious. Her hair twisted up behind her, forming a roll in the back in an attempt to look more professional. It seems the first girl stepped up and was polite back while the second waited for her turn to speak. 'Humans. Slaves to their own order.' Zlakalia let her hand lose the form she had just focused on achieving and maintaining, shrinking back to a normal distance as she spoke again. "Perhaps we aren't safe." Zlakalia paused for a second, just feeling the knife still strapped to her back. It was reassuring to know it was so close. Zlakalia began to neatly organize her papers, showing off her overly long stretchy limbs. She was as much selling how unusual she was as she was selling her work. "All the more reason for a scroll to help! I've a special for today, merely 5 silver for a good luck scroll! Normally I'd sell them for 8 silvers like these more-powerful shielding scrolls, but you two look like you could use some spare luck." Of course the special was a lie. Zlakalia could sell them for 4 and still make a profit, but she hoped her bait would hook one of these girls.