Logs:Something Unfinished Part 1

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Cast

Vorpal

Setting

East Edge Market

Log

The East Edge Market is running today on partial capacity, most of the normal vendors are either marked as closed for the evening with signs hanging from their stands or there's hobs holding "be back soon" signs where they usually are. A few un-usual hob and critters are found tonight however.

A large gift-box stands right in the middle of the way to Peppy-Peta's Animal adoption, almost blocking the way there.

A market stall is set up on another path, blocking the view to Billybgrig's entrance, which displays a stunningly well organized display of crystals in all of the color of the rainbows and beyond.

In fact, almost every stall or area functioning this evening are all blocking a path or takes place on the usual walking place.

The rules of the market are stated at the entrance, as per usual.

Vorpal eyes the sun towards the horizon, considering how much time remains before sundown. Doublechecking to make sure nobody replaced her dark boot laces with white sneaker laces (they had not), she strode into what remained of the market for the afternoon, her unbearably sharp senses taking everything in at once. She's not here for something in particular for once, instead hunting for - for lack of a better term - adventure. A map to an unfound treasure, a memory of an unfinished journey, a piece of a puzzle she can chase to completion- anything to help quiet the ache that's been roiling more and more loudly as more and more of her compatriots find themselves Wyrder and Wyrder, leaving her feeling stagnant and small in comparison to them- and to what she used to be.

She needs a distraction. She slows, though, in quiet agitation as she realizes so many of the paths are blocked off and untravellable. With so much else off the market, so to speak, she diverts to examine the crystal display, drowning her frustration in a careful consideration of all the ways the polished stones brutalize light and fragment it into splintered, bloody spectrums of itself.

The crystal display is left mostly alone by what few people are roaming the market. Behind it manifest something that looks like a Hedge ghost of an androgynous humanoid for with long hair but side shaves, but might not be actually dead since they're obviously breathing, what with the little smoke that comes out of their mouth.

"Welcome!" a cheery, ethereal voice ... emanates? from the strange apparition. "Welcome to my lovely stand, how may I be of service today?" with only a little gesture of what passes as their hands, the words they're speaking writes themselves in the sames substances as the being before Vorpal

Vorpal glances up at the spectre, inhaling delicately to test the air for hints of what they might truly be, putting her tremendous senses to the test to try to identify the vapor, the being, to piece together any useful info, all of this automatic and irrepressible. "I don't know if you can be," She answered honestly. "I'm not searching for a finished piece. More for- something the opposite. Something incomplete, unfinished, that I might amuse myself by bringing to fruition. Like a puzzle, but less numbingly boring."


The scent and general sense of observation that Vorpal possess seems to indicate that there's really nothing where the shade is. It might just be a weird hologram or an illusion. Maybe something to do with the crystals on display?

"Some of these crystals contain dreams that were never finished, the owner woken up before they reached their natural conclusion." A few specific crystal, of varying colors sparkle in a rather clear fashion. The words constantly writes themselves in the air as well. "You could attempt to complete them yourself, if you were interested in acquiring one of them?"

That's a truly curious little mystery, and Vorpal quietly consults her own internal occult library as to possible explanations while the conversation continues.

"Hnn. I am- ill at ease owning a thing that was once a part of another. At least when it comes to a thing so intensely personal. Besides- I've learned my lesson to stay out of dreams when not strictly necessary. No, I'd prefer to be completing something less personal and more tangible. A broken piece, or a half-finished one, or a lost or stolen trinket. That's the sort of pasttime I'm after."

Just a trick of the light...

"Then I am ill-equipped to help with your predicament. I may also specify that the dreams were sold to me by the owner under ethical circumstances." As the explanation continues, the apparition extend their hand toward the large gift box further deep into the market. "Dolly Buttoneye is more likely to have what you seek." Everest (He/Her) - VorpalYesterday at 11:25 PM Being referred to the gift box is... not expected, and Vorpal blinks behind her shadowed brows, but turns back and offers a pleasant nod. "I much appreciate the direction, and apologize for taking up your time. May the afternoon prove profitable, yet."

And off she heads towards the... gift box..?

The manifestation disappears completely in thin air once Vorpal leaves toward the indicated direction. The Gift box is really the size of a tool shed in the backyard and when Vorpal arrives closer to it, following the clumsy path there, a door open from within it, tearing open the wrapping and the cardboard it seems to be made out of. A sign walks out, by itself, from within the box and sits next to the newly created entrance.

Welcome to Dolly Buttoneye's Gift Shop

The sign itself seems to waves or signal for the elemental to come into the gift box, excitedly so.

Its easy to LOOK unphased but its truly surprising when the sign tears free like the Capitalist bent on Ellen Ripley's recurring night terrors, but despite internal squicking, she nods her head politely and heads inside. Rude not to enter when the introduction required Sundering one's walls.

The interior of the gift shop is cramped and small, but packed full of a lot of random things, new and old, different materials, books and papers and figurine and knives etc.. Behind the counter is a hob that looks like a doll made out of a burlap sack, with buttons of eyes and dressed in denim overalls and a plaid shirt. Hair made out of hay.

She pulls on a little ring hanging out on her side, pulling out a rope until it's out a length of her arm and then it seems to get pulled back in. "Hello, welcome to Dolly Buttoneye's Gift shop! I'm happy to have you in today! Do you have any particular thing you're loo--" the voice stop when the string go fully back in and then she pulls it out again to continue. "--king for? I have more things than I have on display too, I can always ask someone to go fetch them for me if I don't have it in stock immediately."

Vorpal blinks. It takes a moment before she shakes her head. "Apologies. You remind me of another doll. She's more patches and yarn, though. Forgive the distraction."

Johnnie strides- glides may be the better term- through the store, studying the items on display. "I'm looking for an adventure. Something partdone, unfinished. That I could complete myself. An unused map, a memory of a stolen treasure, but something with no claim left to it. Do you follow?"

Dolly pulls on the strings again and start talking again. "How committed are you to the 'yourself' part of your desire? I'm not judging you, I'm only trying to see if I have the thing here or if I have to send for it!" she slip down the stool she was sat on revealing her diminutive size of barely below 4 feet as she begin to rummage under the counter. "I have several unfinished project, people always want to forget abotu those, so they give it away for what they think th---" another pull of the string " -- ey want more."

"Hm?" Johnnie murrs, curious at the distinction. "What difference between something I complete, and something I complete myself?" Johnnie smiled faintly to herself at Dolly's tiny stature, unbothered. "I'm simply looking for an adventure I could undertake. If I can't complete it personally, it doesn't much meet my need."

"I meant by yourself! Alone, or are you planning to bring others." Dolly explains from beneath the counter, retrieving what looks like a wooden suitcase. She sets it on top of the counter and resume her seat on the wooden stool. Then she pulls a keyring with way too many keys on it and start slowly combing through them for one in particular.

"Ah!" That gave her pause. "I think- I'd prefer to be able to manage alone. Sonething where others could assist would be fine but I'd prefer not to need anyone else." She watched closely while Dolly moved, curious. "Would you need an idea of my capabilities, or do you know enough by reputation?"

"I'm good! Thank you!" Finally Dolly finds the proper key and opens the wooden box and inside of it are a ton of post-it notes, little notepad pages torn away from the pad, similar for small notebooks. The hob spends a few moment searching through them and pulls out one written in red ink on a pink paper, its crumpled up and folded. She pulls on the string, to speak again.

"This is a map to a sunken fort in the hedge someone wanted to forget after they tried to get some kind of plan there." She tugs at the string before it finishes getting back in "This will help you go to this swamp and maybe finish what the person started there. They left their camp, equipment and notes at this place, so you should be able to pick up where they left."

"Would that be suitable for you?" Dolly doesn't hand it over yet, likely expecting payment before doing that.

Johnnie's eyeshines light up in the depths of their shadows. Its a faint response, but sincere enough to leak past her nearly immutable Visage. "Quite so. Sunken ruins, abandoned camps- surely it will suit. What would you like in return? I can fetch you any manner of hedgefruit before I go, to ensure your payment isn't dependent on my success; I could hunt a troublesome thing for you, or if you have an asking price, I'm listening."

"I could use a few different things!." Dolly indicate the string she keeps pulling on to speak. "I could use a different voice for a time, so if you could let me borrow yours for a time, that would be good enough. Or maybe give me some of your words to complete my vocabulary for when I use my other voice box." The doll gesticulate excitedly toward a box on the shelf, this one with a wind-up key attached to it.

"If not, I could use some new furniture, mine are getting tired and might want to retire soon. Or take a vacation" Almost all of the furniture in the Gift shop acquiesce in some way, before resuming their complete immobility.

"I don't have a mouth, so fruits aren't useful. Maybe if you could let me bottle a whole bunch of your glamour, you look like you're pretty full!" She pulls a Sam Riegel sized flask from behind the counter and set it on top.

Johnnie listens closely, considering all the options. Truth told, she was inclined to be generous to the adorable little doll, and her asks weren't all that demanding. She considered carefully, then stated, "I actually wouldn't be opposed to lending you my voice for a time, but I'd rather have the chance to learn sign language first. I'll save that for another time- if this goes well, I imagine I'll be a regular. As for now, I am quite topped up and would be more than willing to share. I'll even throw a second share within a week of my return should everything go well. Call it a tip?"

Dolly seems content enough and present the flask toward Vorpal. "That would be very welcome." The flask itself isn't particularly heavy right this instant, but when touched, it's rather evident that it's not mundane in nature, even though the appearance seems simple. One can intuit easily how to pour glamour inside of this bottle and this one can hold alot of it.

Johnnie reaches out to take the flask and nods approvingly once she has it in hand, starting to shift her own gathered emotional essentia into the vessel, monitoring what she herself has left. ((She's gonna go one Glamour at a time so she doesn't waste any, and she'll stop and check with Dolly at ten!))

The more Johnnie fills the bottle the heavier it gets, a little like it was filled with liquid of some sort. It doesn't get unbearable though, it's a wonder how Dolly can carry it efficiently with her size and tiny fingers. The bottle becomes full when Johnnie puts in the 9th portion of glamour inside. "Thank you!" (-9 glamour)

Johnnie seems pleased with how that played out, replacing the cap and passing it back to Dolly. Truth told, SHE has far more trouble with it than Dolly herself does, though she does her best to play it off. "I'll consider this a fine deal- and I did mean it when I said I'd likely be back again. I find myself with more time on my hands than tasks to fill it with, and profitable ventures like these are a lovely reward in and of themselves, even if I've little personal use for what I find at the end."

Dolly gives the small post it note to Johnnie and the moment the transaction happen, when it's accepted, the little pink post-it note turns into a larger map, with the same colors in a flash of red, white and pink sparkles around it. The map and notes to get there are certainly clear enough, even if a bit chaotic and unclean.

"There you go, I hope to see you again soon!"

"I'll make sure you do," croons Johnnie, tipping a wink to the adorable little doll. "Just make sure you're still around these parts when I do, hm?" A smile, a touch larger and more genuine, and she slips out, study the map and already starting to plot out the journey in her head!