Freeform pbp Changeling the Lost game (IC)

[Cire]

An oxen beastling who had once called herself Jessica Sparks made her way through the incredible, colorful chaos that comprised the sprawling goblin market encircling her. Sounds and odors every bit as strange as the competing sights filled the air. An old goblin wearing a bizarre, flashing green hat took notice of the woman. Grabbing her arm with unexpected strength, the creature said, "Hey lady, you should you buy a pair of earrings from me! They will grant you good luck!"

The woman pulled her arm free. "I'm afraid that you're a few years too late to sell me luck."

[Nyrufa]

"This place is friggin weird." grumbled another traveler of the market as they did their best to maneuver through the crowds. They had just been propositioned by one of the merchants about selling him gingivitis for the 'low price' of his eye lashes. The merchant also seemed pretty convinced he wouldn't find a better price anywhere else in the market, to which the uninterested customer assured him that he very much could.

The would be customer appeared at first glance to be a rabbit with upwards pointed ears. But closer inspection revealed their body structure was unnaturally humanoid, walking upright with ease and having forepaws that were every bit as dexterous as human hands. Their fur was dark brown and their eyes were almost a hazel color. They wore a pair of blue jeans which were kept in place by a simple black belt,while his upper body was draped in a thick, denim jacket lined with gray fleece and had a hood that was currently worn down. The jeans outfit would suggest he was dressing for the fall season, except that he wasn't wearing any shoes, nor had any shirt underneath his coat.

He soon heard another would be customer being offered (i.e harassed) for a deal they didn't seem to want and looked ahead of him to see an oxen pry her arm free of the merchant's grasp. Shrugging nonchalantly, he moved towards the direction she was heading, making sure to stay out of reach of any other potentially grabby merchants.

[Cire]

As the humanoid rabbit headed in the same direction as the oxen woman, a pale, slender figure dressed in yellow robes stepped into his path. With a smile, this figure - a woman with a small silver stud nosering - held out a leather pouch. A jiggle came from this outstretched pouch, suggesting that it might be filled with something like coins. However, in this magical, crazy place, who could say for sure? The woman in yellow said, "I might have a job for you, if you are interested."

[Nyrufa]

Being forced to come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street, the jean clad rabbit almost bumped into the robed woman. He released a small, frustrated hiss as he quickly regained his balance and posture before laying his eyes on the bag.

"If I've learned one thing recently," he said in a hesitant tone, "it's to always read the terms of service before agreeing to anything." he finished, trailing his gaze up to look the woman in the face now.

Truth be told, a woman in yellow robes wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen today. But offering him a job out of nowhere and what he could only assume was payment up front would have set off red flags to anybody in their right state of mind. Although he admittedly had trouble recognizing what the proper state of mind was supposed to be during the last few months. That was about the time his life took a dramatic and presumably irreparable 'change' that flipped his sense of reality on its head.


"Details first, then I'll make a decision." the rabbit said, placing his forepaws into the pockets of his jacket and trying to keep himself alert for signs of danger. His ears twitching about subconsciously without him realizing it.

[Cire]

The woman nodded solemnly. "Fair enough. I will give you the details that you require. It is like this: nearby there is a goblin named Nundrex selling a thick tome with a cover as black as night itself. Sparkling silver stars adorn its cover. Within the pages of this book are many secrets that I would learn. I greatly want to purchase this book, but Nundrex will not sell it to me. Absurdly, the creature insists that it would be improper to sell it to me, or to any other woman. I tried my level best to persuade him to abandon his prejudice against my gender, but he remained fast in his loathsome conviction. Still, I would have this book for myself. To this end, I propose that you buy the book for me, and then give it to me. In return, you may keep what is within the pouch. If you agree to assist me, I will give you an item that I believe that Nundrex would be willing to take in exchange for the book. Naturally, I will understand completely if you would rather that I find another accomplice for this enterprise."

[Nyrufa]

Passing the woman a sideways glance, the rabbit quirked a brow, or at least made a facial gesture resembling it. Kind of hard to tell what constituted as an eyebrow when your face was covered in fur. "You just want me to buy a book for you?" he asked, surprised at the simple task. The way she was asking him made it sound like she was a school girl trying to get cigarettes from the gas station.

"Alright," he said, "I don't see the harm in that." pulling his right arm out of its pocket he made a casual sweeping gesture to indicate the market. "Where's this Nundrex guy located?" he asked.

Almost immediately after agreeing, the rabbit's mind was racing with second thoughts about this arrangement. Maybe their was a good reason the seller didn't want these 'secrets' falling into the hands of women. Of course, there was also a good chance that this was just another one of the esoteric terms of service the hobgoblins adhered to. For all he knew, the book could be nothing more than somebody's lost diary and the secrets were more of an embarrassing nature than anything of supernatural significance.


'I agreed to this too easily... the court warned me about that.' he mentally chastised himself.

[Cire]

The woman smiled when she heard the rabbit agree, and she then used her free hand to pull what looked like an egg made of blue glass from inside her robes. From where he stood the jean clad rabbit thought he saw what might be tiny, tiny fish swimming within the fantastic blue object. "There is little doubt in my mind that Nundrex will trade the book for this. Many would consider me a fool to even consider parting with it, but I must have the book. No matter what." With that, the woman handed over the blue egg, and pointed out Nundrex for the rabbit. It turned out that Nundrex was none other than the goblin who had just tried to sell lucky earrings to the oxen woman. The woman then also surrendered the leather pouch.

[Nyrufa]

At first, the rabbit confused the item to be some kind of Faberge egg, until he examined it more closely and saw there was something inside of it. How the fish managed to get inside of there was anybody's guess. But he soon placed it in one of his coat pockets, keeping his paw inside to make sure it was still in one piece; he had no idea how fragile this thing might be. The other paw accepted the pouch, which he placed inside the other pocket before directing his attention back towards the designated merchant.

'Well, I guess I was heading over there, anyways.' he thought to himself, giving a dismissive shrug. "Here I go, then." the rabbit said, before stepping around the yellow garbed woman and doing his best to head towards Nundrex without getting side tracked by any other merchants. Along the way, he casually thumbed the pouch contained in his pocket, trying to appraise its contents by shape and feel, rather than opening it for a quick glance.

[Cire]

Whatever was in the pouch felt like coins through the leather to the rabbit's touch. In short order, he was standing before Nundrex.

The old goblin smiled at the jean clad rabbit. Gesturing up to his green flashing hat, he asked, "Do you like it? Of coarse you do! It can be yours for just the memories of six kisses! Well, assuming you have six such memories. Wait! What am I saying? Of coarse you have many such memories; you're a rabbit. Am I right?" The goblin asked this last question with a wink.

[Nyrufa]

Oh, perfect, one of these kinds of salesmen. The rabbit looked to the goblin's hat when it was brought to his attention and for a moment, he almost considered buying it. But then he quickly shook his head to clear such thoughts away as he remembered why he was here. The price sounded cheap enough, but he didn't like the idea of somebody just plucking memories out of his head like it was common pocket change.


"Sorry, not looking for hats today." he said, giving the stall a look over as he tried to spot the book as it was described to him. He reminded himself that he was looking for something black with stars on the cover. He couldn't see anything matching its description from where he was currently standing, however. Though there were plenty of other things that his curiosity kept nagging at him to inquire about.

"I don't suppose you've got any kind of reading material in stock, do you?" the rabbit asked, subconsciously tracing his fingers over the egg that was in his pocket, it kept his mind focused on the reason for why he was here in the first place. He was almost certain that had he not been looking for a specific item, he would have fallen prey to the wonders of the market and begin shopping for things he didn't actually need.

"Because I was hoping to make a trade." he said, finally turning his eyes back to the merchant properly.

[Cire]

"I am always up for a good trade!" replied Nundrex with a grin. "And I did have three books to sell today! Luckily, I still have one left. The Best one! Let me show it to you."

Nundrex looked through his assorted offerings. He proudly present a large book with a bright orange cover to the rabbit. "What would you offer for this fine book? It holds many great secrets of power! Keep that in mind when you make your offer!"

[Nyrufa]

Only one book left, and it wasn't the one he was looking for? Well, that complicated matters, alright. The rabbit was once again tempted to just flat out ask about the object he was looking for. But he wasn't a complete novice when it came to haggling. The last three months, he'd received some basic training in how to bargain with a hobgoblin, and it was time to see if he picked up on anything during that period.

Removing his paw from the pocket that held the leather pouch, he traced a fur covered finger along the cover of the brightly colored book and made a soft humming sound, as if considering the purchase. While keeping his finger on the book, he passed a glance back to the merchant before speaking again.

"Well, a book of secrets is what I'm looking for." he said, "But I was hoping for something in a different color." with that, he finally took his finger off the book and put his paw back in its pocket. "You got anything in black?"

[Cire]

Nundrex sighed miserably, as if in defeat. "I did. Honest, I did: a pretty jet black book graced with twinkling silver stars. Such secrets it held! Alas, I sold it for that fancy marble chess set that you see here." After pointing out the ornate chess set he mentioned, he continued bitterly, "I should have gotten more for it. Much more! But I knew that I had to sell it before the Grandfather clock that I won it from manages to delude itself into thinking that it had lost it to me less than fairly. Is it my fault that the crazy thing cannot play poker to save its life? Well, is it? And, before you say anything smart, there was no rule - no rule at all! - against wearing lucky earrings!"

[Nyrufa]

At the mention of gambling with a clock, the rabbit suddenly had an amusing thought of the butler from Beauty and the Beast having a gambling addiction. Clearing his head of such nonsense, he sighed before asking the merchant if he had any records of the customer who bought the black book, or if he knew how to get in touch with them.

"It sounds just like what I'm looking for." he said calmly, "I was going to offer this in trade," he pulled the blue egg from his pocket and held it up gently so as to not break it, "but I suppose that's not an option now..."


'Did I just get involved in a quest chain?' the rabbit thought to himself, wondering if this simple errand was going to turn into an all day chore of running around town and trading one object for another. He didn't even know if the new owner would be interested in the egg he was carrying, meaning the trade might be impossible now. 'This is exactly why they warned me not to agree to anything without knowing what I'm in for.'

He was tempted to just go back and inform his patron the book had already been sold, but the Autumn court warned him about breaking deals after they were made. And he had no way of knowing how she would react to the information. Scanning his eyes over the market once more, he seemed to have lost track of the oxen girl from before, although that wasn't a high priority on his list right now.

[Cire]

Nundrex looked at the blue egg with clear avarice. "Well, that certainly would have been better than a chess set! My loss, I guess. I sold the book to an ice elemental. He is rather tall, and he therefore should be relatively easy to find. Since I have you here, would you like to buy a pair of lucky earrings? Might be a great gift for your girlfriend, if you have one."