She long measured the likely value of hunting that corpse walker. The tug of her arm reminds her why she was doing this. It will seem that there was a long rows of empty busted tables, barely stood shelters and the stench of decaying things. The faded sign was hung in a eerier breeze, 'open flea market - open Friday to Sunday'. Strange corpse beings shuffle between paths. Something was digging in wood pile. A strange hung up hazard suit was hooked on a shelter not far off from here - it looked like someone stood watching. But it is an empty suit that flaps in the same breeze that clattered the sign, the shreds of material flusters broken parts.
"What a bust?" A kid noted, and was arm knocked. She looked at each person reaction about the view. She does something strange, grapple of air into a fabric raw seaweed like gloop is pulled away to reveal a clear space, the veil taken off them. The view of the world they see completely changes.
"Wow!" Someone pulling a cart froze in shock, "You mage folks always show up without warning. Sheesh, normal people have to walk around. Not everyone can teleport about the place, sheesh." The grump goes around the group. Joana is the first to hit the floor, sand kicked up.
The world ahead is loud, alive. People. Stalls. the low level muttering of constant conversations. Bargains. Every stall full to the brim with all sorts of goods. Herb bundles. Vegetables. Butchers. A crystal sale. It wasn't just humans. Market has a few stalls with lizards running it. The heart of this place is full of drunks - the smell and terrible singing was not hard to miss.
"Joana! You got here early." A known contact came up and pulls Joana off the floor, "Wow, you all need shade." The contact made several checks that she wasn't a threat to them, "Food and drinks on me." They all trust the stranger, the guy looks back making sure that she wasn't going to follow or attack. She measures deeply and softly she logs her hosting as paused. She was not on duty anymore.
"Stuff!" The ender was gone. The sunlight put burns through it but it was already chasing the 'feelings' and emotion triggers. She puts her mock face back on, adjusting to human mock. She noticed no one waited for her, leaving her behind properly. She hovered about following them, the contact has did a good job disappearing in the stalls. Considering her options.
Yet, her eyes was snapped to drawings in chalk. Her soul been around here. She started following her marks. Old drawings. The chalk dusty as if touched up yesterday. These marks were glowing. Shuffling turning into twisted language matrix, it shows vivid images of things that became broken. A table came into view, her feet just drifted her. This table was floating without legs, floating plank that defies reality. The sky was 'night time' at this table. The cold hugs around her the closer she was stepping towards this.
"Commanded you to reach in, and pull out that feeling. Give it to me." The echo of the command that led to her fracture. She blinks softly as her humanity was back. Her small short child body. Bloody stomach. She wasn't breathing. She wasn't in control, due to soul command. Her hands moving automatically. But this time, her perspective stays inside her body... the hollow she became. This human body without the soul became hollow. She holding her soul, and she already knows its path.
Her soul is as always, crushed between the hands of the Clothus and then devoured by it. It became infected with her. Instead of having the ability to tome use with command of her soul inside the stomach, it was choking on her soul. She knows her soul better then anyone, how to shift states and other soul aspects. She was happy to turned against her for not being able to read. The Clothus drops the floor, hands dug at the throat. Gasping loudly for air. Slamming its chest, strangling its neck to stop the choke travel further. The Clothus wasn't dying or anything, that journey her soul will do from there will happen.
Leaving her human hollow corpse behind, soulless and has never left this universe. Her hollow turned self, looking down at the Clothus a last time. Her eyes torn away when the Clothus wasn't worthy anything else anymore, so she looked over at the gods that came to do their jobs. When Omens in his ways back then looked into her empty eyes.
The time of then and now snapped with a crisp sound.
She was back to the mutant shape, and with sudden depth of knowing her senses that much better consciously. She stood along massive chalk covered walls. An 18 wheeler length of strange wood plank stretched along with the wall, floating - no table legs underneath it. There is a small gap for her to be stood at the wall at her back. She knows this 'table' all to well. She broke out of mock shape, and pulls all her spare limbs to begin setting up for trades. The marks along walls was perfect advert for the objects she places at parts. She picked perfectly for the displays to gleam, and fake portions to be props. Her carvings placed between table parts, charms of protection.
"Knock knock." She makes the merchant gestures with limbs visible, "Ugh...."
The stranger looked confused. She ignores them, to stupid to be a valued exchange. She was putting skulls on the last edge of table. She buffed dust off a few that hasn't been out awhile. She slips around to the over side of the table. A pair of limbs was petting a skull from her storage, a set of hands kept holding it for the rest of the time. Loving the being that used to be. This set off limbs were weak ones, useless from poor use. It gave her this aspect of danger, alert of warning to not steal from her. That she was a fitting monster in a market run by them; and really she is why this market exists. Her exchanges for tome repairs did this, created this space of abundance.
"Miss Trickster!" Someone spoke at monotone, was the first to gesture the corrected enough greeting. She returned the replies the gestures. They were soon on a bidding war of values. This 'union crest' undertaker manages a neat tidy deal of wax candles; her oldest stock finally getting off her hands. The undertaker carries the crat without feeling the weight - humming proud to obtained ward candle.
The whole party hung back with watching the event of the undertaker leaving her table, looked at Raven for answers and turned back to looking about the 'night' market. They just arrived from their tour of the 'day' market that they can access without harm. The Ender had showed them where to find her, mask smirking and a low purring.
Joana paces up and down her table. He put replacing trade bits, something that seems an occurring rule around here. Especially when prices don't need haggling and the trade was simple. Raven was a brave kid, he went to the side of the table that she was on. He was right up to her side.
"Why are you here?" he asked her, and she tilts with pondering how deep that question is. She wondered if he knew what he was asking. Did he know it was something from his own soul? She gave plenty of study in many parts. That she heard. She thought about these doubts. She thought an honest answer. The she considered the accepted answer. If he would understand it. She wasn't sure of the depth of his concern. Would he weaponize the knowledge, sometimes his afterlife self would do such things. Her limb soft pauses petting the skull while she go lost in deep thinking.
Deep down, there is some facts that shouldn't be talked about. She kept soul returning to this exact spot, just as her soul was thrown on the black sand shoreline that this puddle hovelled. This was where her late master not only crush her soul, but he attempted to pawn her off. He wants to let go of a useless human attachment to return to the Clothus realm. Humans in the Clothus realms are ghosts; useless, untouchable, and unheard. A soft brush of the skull to ground her with knowing she is here and now. Yet, stops with loosing her mind down the depth again.
It is the place she subsequently came back to after leaving every tome. She knew every route to every realm from here. She knew secrets here. In some way, this was her afterlife's return location. It is ingrained into her matrix that she will come here. She just made use of this return as a merchant. She is anchored right here, regardless of her souls will or not. Likely due to some attempt that a Clothus tried to pawn her off to a new master and failed. So breaking her service to her past first owner. Now she was tied right here, given no one took her after it. Freedom had a lead chain melted in her. There a sharp pain in her chest, a 'breath' of burning.
"That is a lot of complicated feelings." The ender vomited not far, "Ugh, please stop making her do that. It is loud. It is terrible." A few others are feeling her soul voices. She stopped because she noticed it hurt those around her. She turned quiet. She turned away from her Raven without answering his question. Her limbs are petting the skull back to normal rhythm and she was alert to being at the trades table.
"Raven." Joana wafted for the young man's safety, "You do realize that a mutant would have secret's for a reason. And if someone that powerful," Pointing at the ender mask, "is weakened by something like her." The rest doesn't need saying in a public space.
"Huntress of the time dunes." A strange creature greeting in many gestures. She studies this stranger for all the right measures.
It is not the local uses. This was another tome, another's world. A summons in plead. She softly replies, she knew their rules and gestures. That some universal parts make for basics. The creature takes a scroll out, made of blue paper. She takes it with her left hand. She reads it openly, as if it was just another mail day with a death god. She flustered her left hand as she gave wayward thoughts as she read properly. She burned the contract into black flames, a quest is marked in her crystal window. Nods and the creature sits down, waiting. It sits very still, on the floor. Exactly where she accepted the contract.
"There is no way that we get lost to the universe by heading to the human world." A gate of a god opened quickly and three figure step from it. Speaking divine tongue and very loudly announcing themselves.
The market around this area backed away. The evil hide in the deepest shadows. The frail ones folded into any small nook they will suffer at. She raises her right hand and the air stuck thick - turned solid.
She uses both hands and the three figures are turned to face her. She studies each and then she lowered her gaze of the one at the floor. She pointed. It stands. It removed a metal scythe, and two of the three was soul removed.
The air eases. The pressure that made things feel solid was gone. She brought it back to normal quality with snapped nail sound. The task was over.
"I warned them." The only fella untouched from the three of the gate crossing. She softly nods understanding. She poses about the tomes. The being got on with it. It is their work, not her. She respected a worker. The quest was fulfilled, the creature left with the souls it collected.
The two target gods that been soul scooped were coming back to alert, they were alive and seemingly untouched. As she thought, gods have multiple souls after all. The two staring at her, death experience means they see through veils - see her natural form. They stare hard with deep complex confusions. Then her soul spoke, they shivered and flee back through the gate door they came from. The tome grim nods and closed the gate behind when done. She turns with sorting out the replaced items along all her table surfaces with flicking her cloth to sink and raise items. The cloth is extension of herself. The skull was placed away with love, gentle soft brush as it sank into the 'table cloth'.
"I need a better quality." A being pointing at the sands. She has a whole rows of 10 gram bags. Each labelled of the locations they are meant to be from. Mattering not if the buyer believes or not. Some labels are the common names of what those sands are used for then what the sand is. None of it in consumable drug, it is for burning spells or summoning rites. She studies why they are assuming the sands were to poor a quality, and with a sense of looking about the thing. She figured what measures it was using. Looking for energy content of the sand pouches.
"Wrong segment." She wafted them around to the next table segment beside, the crystals and stones part. The customer hovered over all the items. Feeling the weak traces. She was measuring them as they measuring her sale goods. They paused in knowing she was very intent of measuring them multiple times. That her eyes flicked them head to toe - seven times. She really was tempted to claw the soul of it out. That last stare of exactly where its core was backed it away from her. She poses open hands, "You are yours. I am just a curious creature." that didn't bring them back forwards.
"What energy are you seeking?" She leans softly in seeing the little body micro-actions, "Living? Dead? Plants? Light? Celestial? Spells? Mmm... blood?" The shiver on the last one, "Bloods..." She softly nods with gaining the understanding.
"You are not the only creatures that seek blood for potent carry of things." She gave a slide stare over to Ender, and it chuckles with hand throw. She shook of its reaction and back the being, "Blood has many attachments. It is the book to reform. It is the history. It is the holding of the energy in a creature. It is part of a souls release." She softly sees they were afraid of her plenty, "What or whose blood? You have come to the right thing. You just didn't ask the right ways, speak the right tongues. You are looking with the wrong eyes and the wrong location."
"Lady Nightmare of the end at the edge of time itself." They hissed, "But you managed to leave the dream worlds." She snickered of such assuming thoughts. Even so, "The worms. The blood of the worms at the edge of dreams."
"Why?" She sighs, "Why that blood? You do realize how dangerous that stuff is. You think I look this pretty on purpose?" The fella studies her confused, "Oh right, you aren't using those eyes. You are looking at my mutant living flesh." She clicked her tongue, but it echoed a few levels of wrong, "You can't bring that substance among the real world anyways. Trust me, I know so." The guy stares at her deeply, "Do not make me pluck that soul out and lick you." They leave and she watches after them, eyeing deeply, "Idiot. Surrounded by idiots." She fusses her tables once more.
"Can I have what he asked for?" Raven stood at her front. He moved to replace that creatures standing spot. Her gaze was held where that thing left, tracking the likely ways it flees from her. She did considered chase but she has ties here. Not just that her soul was back here again.
"You have some already, why ask me? Why would you need my supplies? You have your own afterlife goodies. Heck, ask Omens. He would do something more then me." Raven studies her deeply, "That is unless he ate it all. Bird brains does like worms as most birds do." She huffed, "You would have figured out how to get your own. I do not stop you from hunting. I mostly just protect your soul." He sighed of that strange.
"Ugh, that sounds like something to do with her being your 'dream' wife." Raven's ex-roommate and close team mate knocked his arm, "The mage is really upset about how neat her spell craft kits are. He wants to know how much and how they work."
"Magic is magic. The method depends on the rules." She replies, "Cost of the spell materials is more about the intent of the spell and how much will be shifted for use. You burning down a house in the rain to you are sending a gale of wind to block sound escaping." The mage shook not understanding this, or rather it was a vague bland thing that he already knew and didn't catch the nesh.
She pauses there with glides down her table over to a customer. She trades a numbers haggling game with the customer. A lot of pointing and tapping. Slamming fists. Stacking coins. The customer went to swing a full punch for feeling cheated, and likely she did cheat the low ranker hunter. She caught the fist and crushed the finger bones softly. A soft pop and they squeaked. Running with tail between legs, goods and culched broken hand.
She smooths around to the table end with masked shadows. She eyeing the damned stood eyeing her 'food' stock. Measuring the damned... Gave some crystals over for free. They took and disappeared. She measures the relief of those damned that hung the air. Fusses her table and the goods the damned left behind. They were back to where they gloomed, not freed of business.
"We have to go find a place to rest." Raven spoke up towards her and she gentle pointed at the chalk art... at this moment, the art was invisible. It looked like a walk through into a small sandy car park of a motel. Joana walked in and out first. He gave a nod and the whole party walks into the motel. She pulls away all her merch, and packed away quickly. She gave a bow to the area.
"Leana." She stops short of following into the chalk, stepping back into the 'night'. Her eyes landing over an aged young man, "Don't go to the motel. There's a trap. We will be ok." She stares into the eyes of the teenager, his gained plenty over the survival of a mutant world. The technology is the brace crystal on his arm, close to the one he had as a edge of time watcher. She looks at the chalk gate one last time. She steps back to the table. She can't stick around all the time. She disrupts human time perceptions.
She doesn't set the merch table back up. She instead softly circles around this version of him. She leans forwards smelling him a little, yes the same one. She eased back, posed open hands and there a soft tilt of being embarrassed. That she did something so intimate. He stares at her for being strange, but there is a held back smile.
She knows that the way time flows when crossing these strange curtains, this universe's way of pulling time like a yo-yo. This was the kid of the party she just left to the motel through the one way gate. It is a one way gate for her... not them. But they have a limited amount of times entry into that place. A lot of realms have visit limits and time skips.
"Could you take me around?" He poses his arm to her, inviting her to link with him. She deeply considers this, looking into those eyes deeply with checking something. And right when she was sure, there flicked a little something else. She looked about this body, checking his language. She knows him to well... and there. This was a version of him that doesn't like, trust or have love for her. This was a performance, he did this a lot as an undertaker to use her as a pawn. So what was the context she missed this time? She doesn't have it right now.
"We can walk the day market." She pulls herself into a natural shape, the form she become settled into. She walks on all fours, and a cloth tail that wags and whips. She eases with relaxing a few tight joints, "Do you have a shopping list?" He took back his arm with looking down at her adjustment. He looked about that she was still hiding parts of her nature, but this was a much closer to her current true as it could be. He uses his left hand in pointing a direction and without waiting for her, walks that way. She softly trots following him. The glitching of time shifting, the way the world melted and then sharpened back. He was looking at his brace, a finger poses at his ear piece hissing some sort of tactical issue.
"The dark market is confirmed here." He hissed, "And the core element of the market has..." He looked back at how she still trotting at his back, "found me." He cringed in whatever follows a reply, "I wouldn't want to. She's not a human." He said with nerve, "Also she is still got a moral of one." She had finally had her eye catch on a stall of crystals. She stopped, sits with window shopping. He stops a few steps away, "Oh, she stopped a second. We are currently in the day sector."
The pause was long enough for her to shift upwards as mimic human. She uses the local trades tactics. Greeting. pointing. Taps. More pointing. Bargains. taps. Sold. She puts a stack of coins down and the items she wanted is pushed to her. both sides take at the same time. She backed off holding her new crystals. She thumbs the surfaces and eyes piercing about the minerals structure. She tucked the stones away into her pockets. She lowered back down, back to feeling natural. She tilts about feeling the air and walks on the spot in a circle. She flexed listening to all sorts of directions. She sat back down. She softly to te floor, seeing energy.
"You found the tome eater." She shot a direct stare into this being, and with seeing how its changed with the times. She smirks. Less mimic of her, more becoming of itself. The ender title as a solid being, "Ugh, I forgot that your able to see." She tilts with a chuff, "And understand me." That make Raven sharp stare between, "Anyways, complicated past lives aside." It purrs, "Can I have some of that worm meat?" She sighed and tilts a long time with debating how to and what exchange is being offered.
"Why do we need worm meat?" Raven asked confused.
"The assumption of what you think is a worm is your issue." Her voice rose with a vibration that feels fizzy, the tongue matching the ender's, "And this is the waking human world. What are you expecting really?" Raven flexed his shoulders, feeling the language slide off him like unseen slime. She tilts away from them with eyeing a new table stall of market goods.
"I would like to repair a soul." The ender speaking, "And whom best at such job as the one that eats the language off the pages." She tilted that she heard and listened. But She isn't appearing to be bothered or strange.
"Wow, what is that?" And finally, the folks that are with Raven arrived. Someone took out a device to record images with, the lens mechanically adjusted between moves. She whipped her tail across the front as the image tries to capture - blurring the image. The camera man looked at the capture still and frowns confused. She stomps her foot down and the language was clear.
"You may call me, Miss Vesper." She matches voice, language and tone, "You know my greeting" She makes soft hunter motions, a middle ranker's greeting of sigil, "and you know the rules of exchanges around here. I would kindly like to warn you about taking photos without permissions. It is no different to smiling with bare teeth." The camrea is lowered and then put away, "My classifcation belongs in the abyss tome; I am my own entry. Do not tempt me to find yours." The group looked at each other, "I borrow voices often. I will use someone else's later." The slide of staring to Raven, he posed open hands.
"Miss Vesper is a Trickster. But her scheme isn't anything to do with us." Raven sighs, "She does in fact have no filter. She will likely start talking to those we can't see, when we least expect it. And stare at things we can't." She gets up off the floor, stretched like a lazed dog getting off a coach. That shiver and roughed fur, slight grimaced of joints and the shake when stood up right. She trots circles them a few times and then goes trotting to some other segment.
"Wait!" Raven runs after her, "Where are you going?" She wasn't trying to loose them, she was just leisurely window shopping. Stops and starts. Staring at things. She cares not for it the stall was a damned or a human. She even less cares if it was a mutant. She was making an exchange with a god eater in a poster, the group is deeply stood back confused.
"You are right, I can't actually tell it this insanity or that we are the blind." A member voiced, "So all those stalls she exchanged with up to this point are all doomed."
"Yeah, they are about to be in bad luck to the point of death. We kind of need her to survive and get out of here." he admits, "Unless we are lucky to meet a god."
"They be ate around here." She voiced with once more taking a random stranger voice to do so, "Gods can't be among the human world without risk. There is danger that humans are immune from." The group having heard her as she finished with the wall. She lowers and sits, "You want to leave. You should know how to hire my services."
They looked at each other and then Raven took out a very old torn paper. Her guide mark on it. He took out a suited herb bundle, more to match the group number. They nod of this being ready to leave this place. He drops it at her. She caught the exchange. She smells the herbs and burns the note. She shifted to her guiding form. She lifted a easy gate, she fed the gate and then pulls them all to fall into it with her. They free fall the space for a while. She caught the smells of energy. She claw caught the exit and throws each person through it. She flexed into it last.
They all groan with the harsh treatment. She sits in a soft cat bun, eyeing over the group. Her tail plucked the Ender from being left behind, tossing the being of its own heap on the floor beside her. She softly tail flicks amused, eyeing over the squirming aching bodies and the lip wobble complaints.