Skyside 4

[goto124]

[Crash Investigations]

There we go. Words in the darkness.
"You? Hello!"
Nai looks around curiously, up and down and behind, expecting that something is casting the shadow.

The shadowlady starts waving cute shadowflags with words on them. Words that change to other words.

"No," "no!" "Here," "I'm the" "shadow"

[ThirdEmperor]

[And then...]

A breath comes creeping out of the alleyways; A long, slow breath trickling through the sieve of brickfaced tenements and high rise offices in the shadow of the Cloudtops, snowflakes flitting through the air and vanishing to spots of damp on the sidewalks. Then the wind begins to rise, bitterly cold, and frost slicks the aspalt as cans go rattling and scuds of garbage rolling across the street.

A sudden winter has fallen on them, and the leaves of the lonely tree in the island at the street's center come away all at once, a storm of green turning to orange and brown even before it flutters past them.

[Recaiden]

[And then...]

Would you look at that. A talking shadow.

"Oh. Is this where you ask to ride in my shadow, and -"
And it's cold, suddenly, the sort of cold that jumps into your hands and seeps up your bones. The tiny flecks of ice forming on your eyelashes are easy to go, but despite that warm shirt, you feel the wind cutting into you.

Nai watches the leaves go. Beautiful.

Anything more, hard to answer.

((noticed, but TE has a plan here))

[goto124]

[And THEN...]

The talking shadow looks around at all the shadows of the leaves, the drink cans, and everything else flying about her. Managing to look frightened despite the lack of an actual face, she holds up a flag that said:

"Aaaah!"

How could Nai just watch the sudden wind and not get scared?

[ThirdEmperor]

[And then..]

Fog spills over the Nai's feet and threatens to engulf the shadow entirely, first falling in thin ribbons from the corners of the rooftops and gutters and then pouring down, rolling down the street as a river dense gray that bucks up into billowing waves - cold as being buried in a snowdrift. The last stabs of sunshine creeping over the flat tenement rooftops vanish as the sea pushes over them.

From somewhere in front of them, there's a stab of warmth, a last whisper of dry heat rolling in from somewhere beyond. Snow works its way into every crack and crease of the road, piles high against streetlamps.

[Morty]

MERC Office

Sam shakes his head.
"No, she got hurt because she was trying to protect me. I doubt they'd have cared if she'd run off. They were trying to capture me, but based on what the pig said while he had control of my mouth, I think he just wants to gloat in person before they shoot me."

"Hmm. They do sound nasty. Alright. I'll pass this information along to the boss, and he'll evaluate it. But it should lift a good part of the bill from your shoulders," Sabine says.

[Deathkeeper]

MERC Office

Sam nods.
"Thanks. Tell me when my friend wakes up. I'd like to be there." he asks quietly.

[Recaiden]

[And THEN...]

The talking shadow looks around at all the shadows of the leaves, the drink cans, and everything else flying about her. Managing to look frightened despite the lack of an actual face, she holds up a flag that said:

"Aaaah!"

How could Nai just watch the sudden wind and not get scared?

Fog spills over the Nai's feet and threatens to engulf the shadow entirely, first falling in thin ribbons from the corners of the rooftops and gutters and then pouring down, rolling down the street as a river dense gray that bucks up into billowing waves - cold as being buried in a snowdrift. The last stabs of sunshine creeping over the flat tenement rooftops vanish as the sea pushes over them.

From somewhere in front of them, there's a stab of warmth, a last whisper of dry heat rolling in from somewhere beyond. Snow works its way into every crack and crease of the road, piles high against streetlamps.

"Don't worry, you-"
Nai trails off as the fog starts to pool at their feet.
"Okay, you can worry. We should get inside. I should, anyway. Maybe you're not cold?"

This was, this way is warmth, a last bit of heat to cling to before they have to wake to the winter. Nai holds a hand out to the shadow even as she starts down the road.

[goto124]

[A Quick Walk]

"Told you"

The lack of sunshine gives the shadow freedom to walk - or rather, slink - all over the place. Anywhere she liked.

But she just made a friend, who's going that way. And so she follows, her raven black hair trailing behind her as she grabs the hand of Nai's shadow.

"Nah" "I think"

[ThirdEmperor]

[The Goblin Market]

Things! Things! In a dried out little park in Thunderhead, the smell of oil going past on the cold morning wind, a small convoy of battered and mud-stained trucks has arrived, a legion of tattered tents pitched. Branches that were barren yesterday bloom with flowers like pink stars. Strings of lights decorate every signpost.

A satyr wrapped in coats and overcoats and a trail of scarves leans against his truck, mittens wrapped around a steaming mug as he watches little men with rat-faces unload barrel after barrel stuffed with straw. In the thin gap between the fleet of old pickups, impossible creatures lope through the park, horned elves walking dignified before processions of stunted goblins.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

A hooded figure comes wandering towards the market. Peering at the booths lying just beyond the wall. After a moment she walks up to the Satyr, out of old habit she looks him in the eyes. Thankfully shielded by her sunglasses. "Hiya there mate. Is there some kind of fine for entering your fine establishment?"

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

The satyr squints, leaning down to try and see beneath the hood. "Nah. Nah, just the warnings."

"Don't eat anything. Don't look too long at anything. Everything's got a cost. You got a watch?" His tone lurches alarmingly from boredom to curiosity as he asks the question, head tilting aside in a curious way. A casual kick sends a ratling on its way as the little goblin tries to pause its work and watch them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

Dena's features are easily distinguishable underneath the hood, high angular cheekbones, a small narrow nose, all features associated with the "cursed" ethnicities back home, like her own race, the drow or the jivara.
The satyr might pay more attention to the white serpents peeking out from underneath the top of her hood as she nods however.
"Cool, cool. But I assume it's free to leave as well?" Fey were tricky, you could step in the wrong puddle of water and suddenly you had upset a naiad.

She presents her wrists, revealing the naked space in-between her gloves and her long-sleeved shirt. There is a distinctive lack of watches. "Why?"

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

Or an elf. The satyr sees an elf, and a bit of snake, and not much cursed nonsense or nuthin like that. Tips his trucker's cap, as much as the horns jutting out beneath will let him. "Just 'bout the only thing that's free. For instance.." Digging a grubby hand through the innards of his jacket, the fey digs out a watch, a real watch, a shining gold band with chrome hands crawling a matte black face.

"You'll want one, and this one'll run ya... What's the name of the first friend you stopped thinking about?" His eyes are eerie, flickering from dark to bright as the shadow of his hat's bill crosses by.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

"That's mighty generous of you pal, but why do I want one and what's the price exactly?" Dena asks with a faint smile, hiding her suspicion by a friendly tone, looking back into the satyrs eyes.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

Almost human eyes, if you're looking at them straight on. But he only holds her gaze for a moment. "Only what I said, the memory of the first friend you ever let fade. Or at least the name. S'only a watch."

"Or are you wondering how we'd take it?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

"That would be good to know if that's a common price around these parts, pal." Dena replies. "Parents told me to stay away from people like you, ya know?" She adds with a small smile. "Steal me away into the couldtops they said."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"Mirror'll do it. Or with a needle. Need's your permission, breath or blood, little magic, but me.." He shrugs, shifting on his hooves, leaning in closer to the medusa. A much broader smile than her's. "I got a better way." The satyr's hand touches her chin, the skin strange, warm in a different way than human, and he tries to kiss her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

She regards the satyr curiously behind her sunglasses once he leans closer. She knew that smile though, fey or man, that confident smirk always seemed to suggested the same thing. She gently takes a hold of his wrist as he places his hand upon her cheek and holds her other hand against his chest to create just enough distance for her to lean out of his way. "Better." She muses, as her smile coming to match his. "But first you ought to tell me why I need to keep track of the time around here." Her eye-lashes flutters suggestively. "Or are you simply a handsome clocks salesman?" He had said it just was an ordinary watch. But he had seemed to suggest it was useful here. Perhaps it was easy to lose time at this place? She had heard of people disappearing for centuries in fey realms but coming out swearing that just a few minutes had passed.

[Murkus]

[The Goblin Market]

A flying market stall arrives here.

The rickety wood-and-steel box is an enclosure of its own, complete with floor and roof. A faded sign along the stall's brow reads 'TOYS - CONFECTIONS - CURIOUSITIES' in deadened red-and-yellow. A wooden wing extends from either side of the little shack, and they beat more rapidly as it begins the descent. The stall lands in the very midst of the Market, kicking up dust, and out steps the tall man Sticks. It doesn't seem that he intends to sell anything out of the stall... only that it was his means of transportation.

"Mm, subtle place, very subtle. Your average Nexus-dweller wouldn't look twice at this place. It's perfect," Sticks murmurs, glancing about. Why, is that Dena there? That nice lady from the mercenary company?

[Deathkeeper]

The Goblin Market

His apprentice stumbles out of the rickety thing, coughing a bit at the dust of their landing.
"I think you're underestimating how curious people get when things are on sale, Sticks." he says idly as he puts his familiar on his shoulder to watch his back for cutpurses.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"Well, time flies when you're having fun, don't it? You could have a lot of fun here." He stops at her hand on his chest, pouting with mock shame before the grin comes creeping back, and takes only the smallest step away. "Lots of folk might want to keep you. Some of them just need a little attention now and then, some of em, well.." He whistles, and she can take from that what warning she will.

And not ten feet away from this shameless scene, a stall lands. Little wisps of cloud stick to the wings, and things come loose from the undercarriage as it sets down, things podged together from eggshell white chitin and bright pink flesh, scuttling away on malleable legs. They'll blend right in here. All around them strange sights lope, promenade and crawl, parting around the tinker's skywagon without a glance.
Some, most of them, are rather piecemeal beings, walking on borrowed legs and speaking in strange tongues, a tall man made of bronze shouting at the two in the groaning of an elephant as he tugs on a leash that disappears beneath their craft.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

"I see what you mean." She says with a small smile as she glances at the watch to see if more time had passed than she first had imagined. But her attention is soon drawn to flying market stall. Was that the toy-guy the had been hired to "protect"? What in the world was he doing in skyside, in a fey market no less? She was pretty sure their "protection" didn't extend all the way here.
"Looks like someone is having fun already." She muses with a glance at the satyr. "Think I'm gonna meet up with them actually, but first you mentioned a clock right?" The gorgon gestures at his watch. "To the price the memory of a childhood friend I believe." She elegantly raises an white eyebrow questioningly as she smiles at the fey. Dena wasn't even sure her memories extended back that far, nearly a hundred of years did things to your memory. Immortality or no immortality, memories of people you hadn't met for such a long time faded fast.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

A grin. "Right. And then you got interested in the how.." He leans in, and the kiss is.. odd. There's a hazy, dizzying feel of weightlessness, and fragmented memories fill her head, bewildering as they rush through and scatter thoughts into old tastes, old scents, bits of childhood. What she thinks she remembers, that hardly matters.

There's also rather a lot of tongue and lips involved.

She comes away with cold metal pressed into her hand, the watch ticking steadily. "Careful out there. Caveat Emptor and all."

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

She could probably have gotten a watch another way, or use one of her own. But she had try out one of these fey bargains first if she were to shop around here. And all in all, this one wasn't too bad. Or at least it didn't seem to be.
Dena looks down at the watch and then up at the satyr again. "Always am." Not that she was sure what the proverb he said meant, but she could always look it up. Her lack of an academic education had yet to prove a major obstacle as long as she kept quiet about it. People simply believed that you knew what you were doing as long as you looked confident doing it. "But I don't suppose you could give me some directions for later? I'm looking for glamours, a type of disguise specifically."

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

"Why, what do you mean, I-- Oh!" Sticks perks up as he sees the leash that is stretched taut beneath the bottom of his shed, and the bronze creature who holds it. "Oh, no! L-let me, er, pardon me!" Sticks rushes back into his stall, shoving past Jim, and quickly murmurs something to whatever spirit powers the contraption. It flutters a few feet off the ground, wings beating, and Sticks returns to the side door, peering downwards.

[Raindrop District]

Adir is hard to keep quiet on the ride over. He and Cessie sit (or perhaps stand) awkwardly together on the skybus, gliding through the strange city. The stag feels the familiar sense of unease with a new, wide-open place, and that unease works his mouth to death. He talks about what they see, the fantastic things that go by in the bus windows, even though he is well used to the fantastic by now.

They step off into the rain. Adir puts his arm above Cessie's head, like the good gentleman he is, and ushers her quickly toward shelter. The overhang of a roof beneath a huge neon sign. In front of them, the traffic on the street is sparse but steady, silhouettes in the rain. "Okay, so," Adir starts loudly, ruffling a hand through his damp hair. Water glistens on his brown leathers. "That creep said an apartment complex, right? There's gotta be dozens in this zone alone. What I'm thinkin' is, we scope the seediest places we can find. I bet she was on the lookout for creeps, and if we're lucky, one of them mighta just looked at her. Hell, maybe I'll pick up her scent somewhere out of the rain."

[Deathkeeper]

Goblin Market

Jim wipes his brow with a hand, already exasperated, and looks around a bit at the closest stall. What sort of things do they sell, that Sticks was so excited about?

[ThirdEmperor]

[Goblin Market]

"Ah, all business huh." He wipes the back of his arm across his mouth, and nods his head towards the thoroughfare, the colorful tents waving in the breeze. "Dunno anybody personally. But look for flowers, white flowers. Nice people."

--
A creature like a flattened skunk creeps out from beneath the cart, hissing angrily as winds itself up the bronze man's legs, and clings there as its owner shouts again in his bellowing voice and raises a hand with an unmistakable signal as he goes on his way.
The carts around them are selling - gosh. So many things. So many places to start. Smoked glass jars capped with black wax and copper wire, full of soft amber liquid that rattles violently. Masks carved from unvarnished wood, whistling and calling to passerbies. Wicker cages hold in dancing flecks of light. A tent that's no more than a framework of sticks where spiders weave their way between, hanging dripping lines of gossamer that the stall's attendant, an elf with not a scrap of hair or clothing, gathers onto a creaking loom.

[Shadowcaller]

[Goblin Market]

Dena's eyes are drawn to what he pointed out. Perfect. "Wouldn't have gone to skyside if it had been a pleasure trip, beau. But perhaps I'll come back later to spread my wealth around if things go my way." She raises her hand in a gesture of farewell. "But until we meet again then. Take care." She then walks off towards Sticks and his flying shop. Looked like they had ran into some trouble.

"Need any help?" The gorgon asks politely as she approaches the shop, keeping a certain distance due to the skunk.

[Murkus]

[Goblin Market]

Sticks cringes away from the shouting fellow and his rude gestures. He glances at Jim, if only to make sure he's still there, then turns his head to Dena. "I-I don't think so, young lady! Making more of my own trouble it would seem," says the tall man. "A-ah, I'm Sticks. I apologize for staring at you a moment ago, I thought you were someone else."