nexus_crossings | The Silence of the Storm

Rations have been cut. Again. Everyone is on one bowl of watery soup a day. Sometimes with crackers, sometimes not. Most people are too tired and weak to do much more than sit around and talk, and nobody discourages them in the slightest. Work has to be rotated constantly as people weaken quickly, but the fires still need to burn, people still need to guard the cooks and rations, and the sick still need to be tended to. Soon the hardest job is keeping up morale while the big expedition comes back. All the gods and heavens of the multiverse help them if they don’t come back with supplies, and soon.

The boundaries have tightened to an almost suffocatingly small space. It doesn’t take much to imagine where they will be by the end of Winter, which at least makes planning a little easier. People are already relocating to deeper in the Plaza. Unfortunately it means that those who have enough energy to often end up fighting with their neighbours, as the close quarters tests everyone’s patience. There are a few spaces carved out for like minded people to shelter from the dreary situation. Mechanics and those like them have set up a nice little place close to the Crossroads Café, and a break area for those helping the sick is sheltered in a room behind the injured and ill. Zandros moves from groups to individuals, looking for help in creating some form of morale boosting display that will adhere to Isidor's instructions. People are surviving in whatever ways they can, but it's reaching breaking point.

((It's the Final Event Post, everyone! OOC Post is here! This is for those stuck at the hub while the Main Expedition is going on. There will be a second part to this post for the Return of the Expedition. In the meantime, have fun!))

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"You can't remember memories that aren't yours, but someone's got'em." He drums his fingers against the chest. "So you interested or just here to play twenty questions?"

"I mean...both?" Danny gives the goblin a cheeky grin. "Can't blame me for being curious, can you? We don't get goblin markets back where I come from anymore. Not since 1908, I think. At least not in the States."

But all right, he's not going to push his luck too far. "My mum had a lot of boyfriends, but only one that ever gave me the time of day. She was working on my ninth birthday and he took me to lunch and the zoo and then we rented movies and watched 'em until she came home. It was a favor to her, but it was good. That's my offer, the memory of that day."

He'll miss it. But he also won't be shocked if it's not accepted. It's an opening offer.

"If you ask anythin' else I'm gonna have to charge you for the answers." Although Drulb says it in good humour, it's not necessarily a joke.

The offer is a good start. This kid knows what to bargain, which means they can get into the thick of it. "One nice memory of some stranger for all these books? No chance." He scratches his chin thoughtfully. "How about one strong memory for each book, another for the chest, if you want it. How about... a memory about magic, eh?"

Danny's almost surprised he hasn't been charged already. "Fair enough," he says, but his grin lingers.

"He wasn't a stranger. He dated my mum for six months until he got transferred to Germany and they broke it off."

"And that's a lot of memories. I think you'd better throw in the chest for free if you're looking for memories about magic." He frowns. "I'm only an apprentice, you know. Not like I have a lot of knowledge I can afford to lose. But..."

He thinks a minute, because he has a lot of unpleasant memories of magic, but that doesn't make them less valuable to him. "My master used to take the shape of an owl. A barn owl. First time I saw him he was outside my window in the dead of night. I didn't sleep the whole night, because he was watching me."

It was a blend of fear and anticipation that kept him up, but the mental image of the barn owl peering in his window is so vivid it's almost tangible.

Drulb simply shrugs at Danny's protest. That sounds like a stranger to him. Anyone can pretend to be anyone for six months and then vanish. Still, he's not going to argue with his potential customer.

He waits for Danny to think and finally share his offer. It's Drulb's turn to think, then. "Those two memories for three books. How's that? Any more and you'll have to give me something else."

Danny's judgment about strangers might be a little skewed. He never had a father; his mother had boyfriends but never remarried, and six months was definitely on the longer end of the spectrum of her relationships. At least, it was while Danny was a kid. He hasn't seen her in a few years. For all he knows, she's remarried now. Maybe even with other kids.

That'd sting.

Anyway. He considers the counteroffer and eyes the spines of the books again. He could keep up his haggling, maybe get them all, but he's only got so much to offer. What happens if he accidentally bargains away something he really needs?

He's not prone to discretion, but in this instance, he's wary, and that's probably a good thing. "Yeah," he says. "I'm callin' it. Deal."

He offers his hand, meeting the goblins eyes so he looks less intimidated than he actually is.

Drulb grins a nasty, toothy grin, and tugs down his sleeve. Long fingers with untrimmed nails wrap around Danny's hand in an shake with a good grip. "Deal."

Whatever Danny offered Drulb, he won't be able to remember them anymore. Memories, but which ones? Hard to say. It's like he never had them.

"Three books, then," Drulb says as he releases Danny's hand and goes back to leaning on the open chest. "You're getting them at a steal, kid."

The clawlike nails almost change his mind. Danny's own fingers are remarkably well-manicured considering the weather around them, nails painted glossy black with silver glitter stripes on the third finger of each hand. When he does shake, though, his grip is strong.

In days to come, Danny will find his phobia of owls is gone. Why he thought they were so creepy, he can't quite recall.

He takes the book he was allowed to preview, then picks two others based on how interesting the titles look and clutches them to his chest. "Bet you say that to everyone," he tells Drulb archly. "What are the chances I'll see you around again?"

Of course he says that to most everyone, but it makes him grin to be caught out like that. No harm in making the customer feel special, after all. Every trader needs a little repeat business now and then to keep them ticking over.

"Eeh, business has been alright. I might show up again sometime. Between markets o' course. I'd say you'd like to see them alright. Don't doubt you'll appear in one some day, an' you'll find me then."

The Silence of the Storm

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