Mallside 9: Waaagh!

[Devixer]

M'usic Imporium

"I can't imagine them not ha-" Aiden's interrupted by Mil talking to him. Café? Wha? "Um. What? Do I know you?" Come to think of it, he doesn't look exactly like Aiden. He's just a little taller, and the choice in clothing isn't exactly the same. The Aiden that Mil knows wore a simple leather jacket, not the longcoat that this guy has.

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

Mil takes a closer look at this Aiden, peering with his one eye. Then he leans back, seeing those differences more clearly.

"Oh, your'e not him. You look very similar to an Aiden that used to work for me. Sorry about that. So, what can I get for you two? A guitar, some drumsticks, a flute?"

[Mee]

M'usic Imporium

Mil takes a closer look at this Aiden, peering with his one eye. Then he leans back, seeing those differences more clearly.

"Oh, your'e not him. You look very similar to an Aiden that used to work for me. Sorry about that. So, what can I get for you two? A guitar, some drumsticks, a flute?"

M'usic Imporium

"Sticks! Yes! Please! I need, like, 3 pairs. He's also guitar shopping." Catherine grins, even more excited at the music store visit. She's needed new sticks for a while. Maybe more cymbals too. Hmmmm.

[Devixer]

M'usic Imporium

"Yeah, I've definitely never worked here. Name's Aiden Kester, and slaying the greatest of devils and monsters is my game." Huh, they even have the same last name. "But I also play guitar on the side. And I lost my old one when I got to this Nexus. Fun times, huh?"

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

"Strange, strange indeed."

Mil thinks for a bit on all these similarities between the Aiden he knows, and this one. Same person from two places of yggdrasil? Maybe. But after just a brief moment, he focuses on the here and now.

"Well, we have guitars, as well drumsticks. Through, since you are in the fighting evil business, you might want some of my magical guitars. But if you don't want to combine business with pleasure, that's fine. You do tend to lose a bit from the music when you include battle features."

[Mee]

M'usic Imporium

"Strange, strange indeed."

Mil thinks for a bit on all these similarities between the Aiden he knows, and this one. Same person from two places of yggdrasil? Maybe. But after just a brief moment, he focuses on the here and now.

"Well, we have guitars, as well drumsticks. Through, since you are in the fighting evil business, you might want some of my magical guitars. But if you don't want to combine business with pleasure, that's fine. You do tend to lose a bit from the music when you include battle features."

M'usic Imporium

"Do you have any sticks that could be considered as 'brutal'?"

[Devixer]

M'usic Imporium

"Naaah, you'd need a pretty powerful soul to make a guitar that packs a punch and still sounds good. And not for nothing, but I doubt you got that. So I'll just take an excellent sounding regular guitar. Of the electric variety, of course," Aiden says, as if that was ever in question.

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

"We do have some sticks like that."

Mil ignores the insult to his ability in making and enchanting the instruments. It was something that happens from time to time, and a sale is more important.

"As for the guitar, the ones on the stand with a blue ribbon should be the kind you desire. Pick the one that you want."

Mil points at the stand holding the electric guitars. Its not up to him to pick out a guitar for the customer, after all they have different skins and sometimes that matters to the customer.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Small Wonders]

"Good morrow sir slash madam!" says the rather... unique individual standing outside. That is, standing outside, in a rather large fishbowl on steel treads. "How are you this fine morning and/or evening?"

[Outside Small Wonders]

So now she had possibly- the girl freezes dead in her stride as she nearly collides with the strange man. Two more feathers of her plumage burst into fire as she looks at him in surprise. "Err... excuse me." Who was this weirdo? More nexus strangeness she supposed. He didn't even know her gender, geez. "Good day." She then tries to move on, hopefully he wouldn't bother her more. It might seem rude but she didn't really want to hang around weird people more than necessary. They said they turned you into monsters if you spoke to some of them.

[spwack]

[Outside Small Wonders]

Cadmium gives a thin, sickly smile, then edges his way past the lady. However, he soon reaches an impasse: His motorised fishbowl is somewhat too large to fit through the door. "Proprietor!" he calls out "Would you mind awfully if I widened this here entryway?"

[Mee]

M'usic Imporium

"We do have some sticks like that."

M'usic Imporium

"Couuuld you point me in a direction? I'll admit to being somewhat lost." Catherine asks of Mil, honestly a bit lost in the store full of shiny wonderful stuff.

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

"Yes I can. The sticks are on the stand by the drums. That's by the western wall of the shop."

Mil points towards the west wall, where its fairly easily to see the number of drum sets lining and mounted the wall.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

"What?!" There is a moment where there's only a gloomy, bare space behind the door, the stripped down shelves and spartan walls of an empty unit, and then the lights snap on - and the store is back along with its keeper. He scowls up from over the top of a newspaper, eyes glowing a particularly infernal shade.

"Oh fine. Go ahead."

[spwack]

[Small Wonders

The doors stretch and warp nauseatingly as Cadmium makes his way through. They flop, somewhat sadly, back into place. Cadmium brushes it off, "I'm sure they'll be fine later. Just don't, uh, don't slam them too hard." Mounted on his fishbowl, he trundles his way to the front counter, admiring the decor as he goes. What kinds of things can he see? "Now what can I do for you today." He pauses. "...I think you were supposed to say that. Sorry. Can we start again?"

[Devixer]

M'usic Imporium

"Coolio, I'll just be browsing." Aiden saunters off to the indicated stand and looks between the selection of the guitars. The one he ends up examining the most actually looks fairly simple.

[Mee]

M'usic Imporium

"Yes I can. The sticks are on the stand by the drums. That's by the western wall of the shop."

Mil points towards the west wall, where its fairly easily to see the number of drum sets lining and mounted the wall.

M'usic Imporium

"Coolio, I'll just be browsing." Aiden saunters off to the indicated stand and looks between the selection of the guitars. The one he ends up examining the most actually looks fairly simple.

M'usic Imporium

Catherine replies to both at the same time, in a very excited manner: "KAY THANKS SEE YOU LATER AIDEN I'LL BE OVER THERE."
Then she runs off to the western side of the store to go check things out.

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

"Alright then. Let me know when you found something you like."

Mil just stands back, letting Aiden look at the guitars. Hmm, that's not one he made, but if it didn't met his standards, it wouldn't be in the store. As for the drums sets and sticks, there's a fair enough of them. Some are factory made, others show that they were professionally made but not in a factory.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

There are things. Are there things? The light is terribly bright, and the air full of an acrid lemon scent, and everything beyond is a staticky-edged blur of colors. Like all of it was painted into being with a clumsy hand.

Only the shopkeeper, he's still distinct as he takes up a broom from behind the counter, a bald-headed specter in a trailing red bathrobe, going from shelf to shelf. With each swat of the broom, colors change and break into swirling patterns before collapsing into solidity once more, and with a vicious sweep the whole room seems to spin around them.

"Aha. There. Sorry for the, ah, the smoke, yes." As if on cue, the blurred veil lifts up, rising and condescending upon the ceiling into a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke, anchored by a spiraling, twisting coil that trails down to the lip of a great jade hookah, a monster of gold fittings and strange reflections stretched out on its beveled glass.
Besides the hookah sits a giant wooden hand, perched upon its fingers like a table with a chessboard scored out upon the top. Figures of brilliant coral occupy the spaces. Throw pillows, each embroidered with a homespun little homily, pile up upon around the game.

"There we are." Producing a crushed velvet cap from his robe, the shopkeep sets it on his dome and plops down on a pillow emblazoned Ask And Ye Shall Recieve, gesturing for his guest to take You Can Always Rely On The Kindness of Strangers. "Take a seat. What can I do for you today?"

[spwack]

[Small Wonders]

Cadmium steps out of the oversized fishbowl, revealing his legs as being completely dry. "My name is Professor Cadmium, First Class... correction, ex First Class Theoretical Arcano-technician of yadda yadda yadda. This is my counterpart Iteration L457-Y348." Cadmium pulls the oversized carp out of the oversized fishbowl and dumps it on the chessboard. It flops quietly for a moment, dripping. The drops of water reform according to the thoughts of the fish for a moment saying

hate cadmium hate hate hate

but Cadmium wipes them away after a moment. "There was an issue when we materialised into this planar state. Iteration LY has been somewhat inconvenienced by the transition, as I myself have. Tell me, wheres that accent from? I can't quite place it."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

"Mutt." The ancient creature grunts, pulling his chickenish legs into the lotus form. Fuzzy slippers dangle from his feet. "I have traveled, and will return some day, to countless distant shores. Picked up plenty. Accents, curios, magic.." The story trails off as he leans down over the flopping fish, quietly removing his shades and hooking them through the neck of his robe. The eyes beyond are bare and blind and full of ghastly fires.

"Never did turn into a fish. What was he before?" A bony finger prods at the unfortunate Iteration.

[spwack]

[Small Wonders]

"Metaplasmic psionic construct, mostly." states Cadmium. "Normally he stayed up in wherever, while myself, or various reincarnations of myself ran around in whichever planar state we end up in. Unfortunately, whoever or whatever designed this place made an absolute mess of the local neighborhood. The Nexus drew us all in, and we crash landed, so to speak. The emergency failsafes kicked in, and we materialised in, uh... Peter... Mcguire? I think that's his name. The backlash was nasty, let me tell you that, and fitting three brains in one head is a nightmare. I headed to one of the shrines, got ol' LY here moved to an appropriate host." he gestures to the fish, which flops around angrily.

hate hate hate you hate fish hate you

"Uh, yeah. That reminds me, we're here to find a new sentience matrix. A 40-teraflop processor would be marvelous, but I'm not sure about your technology level. If you don't have that, any large arcane-sensitive crystals would be just fine." Cadmium is looking a little desperate at this point. "Just anything to get it out of this thrice-damned fish."

[Devixer]

M'usic Imporium

Once Aiden's got the guitar of his choice, he starts to plug it into various amplifiers to test how they sound. Unless Mil has some reason to object, he starts out with a few basic chords and licks until he finds a sound he likes. Then, struck with inspiration, his playing evolves into something.

[ThePhantom]

M'usic Imporium

Object? Mil has a small stage area close to the entrance of his store for a reason. When people use his instruments it attracts others to buy them. So he just let's Aiden play.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

The ancient thing clucks, once, in surprise at Cadmium's strange and hurried little story. And then he laughs. It's a dry, unpleasant sound, catching and rasping against the dusty crags of his blackened lungs. "Oh, is that all? I can fix you for that."

He leans back, with a pursed smile and an appraising gleam to his fiery eyes. "But price, my boy, price is everything. You said there were three consciousnesses in that body of yours, yes?"

[spwack]

[Small Wonders]

Cadmium is speaking slowly and carefully, thinking about his words. "Well, one and a half now. Ol' Pete couldn't quite take the heat, and has backed off a bit, and LY has been moved to the fish. But yes, at one point the three of us did share this here cranium..."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

"Perfect then. I'll take him off your hands." The ghoul claps his hands, and takes up the mouthpiece of the hookah, proffering it almost forcefully towards Cadmium. "Breath deep." He instructs.

[spwack]

[Small Wonders]

Cadmium sighs. "I was afraid of this. Unfortunately, half of Pete's psyche is melded with my own. I'd need help in order to remove him safely, and the only person that can help with that is currently indisposed." he gestures to LY, who flops around vaguely. "We appear to have reached an impasse. I can't give you want you want, until you give me what I need."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonders]

His smile tilts a little crooked, and the old man sweeps theatrical hand to their surroundings. "The shop provides. You need only, breathe deep." He repeats, and in the smoky heat of the store, the oppressive haze looming overhead, his thin, scaly voice seems almost hypnotic. "The tobacco is harvested from the far shores of the Styx, and burnt with holy herbs, the fire stoked with the branches of ancestor trees. Breathe deep, and expel the weaker mind with your exhalations. With the same tool, I can free your companion."

[spwack]

[Small Wonders]

"Oh. Well that's... that sounds all right to me."

Cadmium breathes deep.

Say, how much for some of this as well? he tries to say, thoughts echoing throughout the shop.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Small Wonder]

The old man leans forward, breath stilled and teeth bared in anticipation, and suddenly his hand leaps out, to snatch something from the smoke of Cadmium's exhalation. Something silver and bright, it's light shining right through his waxy flesh. He tucks it away, into his robe, and sweeps the hat from his head.

"Trade secrets, I fear. But I'll do what you need." Lifting the fish from the table, he drops it in and reaches for the hookah pipe, sucking in a deep breath. Red fire rides on the smoke he spits, down into the hat. Words whisper past on a cold wind.

"And it's done." He tosses the tatty old thing onto the table, grinning. "Your friend, when he awakens, will be able to speak to you as long as you wear this, and cast himself forth from it to do whatever you need."