Nexus Spring Market Fair

[varnished_truths]

Seemingly overnight, one of the grassy areas edging the Forum has been taken over by a spring market and fair. Part state fair, part craft fair, part Renaissance faire, there are attractions for all comers. Tents and booths of every size, shape, and color are lined up more or less tidily, sometimes with wide avenues between them and sometimes with paths skinny enough to crowd a single person. Goods and treats from the far-flung corners of infinity are on display. The general organization has magic and alchemical goods grouped together and slightly separated from the other tents; arts and crafts fill the area around it. Goods such as clothes and jewelry, plants, and vintage and antique items are in the back. Food is front and center, between the entrance and the rides. This is perhaps not an ideal placement.

To one side is a brightly-lit collection of rides and games familiar to anyone who's been to a state fair. A ferris wheel, flying swings, and all manner of reasons to regret that last funnel cake are blaring tinny music and sporting blinking lights. Remember: rides first, then eat. Classic games that test strength, agility, and luck offer plush prizes sure to delight anyone until the fur rubs off. There are also some animal rides near the exit.

In the back of the roughly-fenced-in area are the exhibits. There's a petting zoo with creatures mundane and more exotic, all promised to be tame; practical demonstrations of new magical and technological wonders; a juried art show; and a stage hosting a variety of performers changing on the hour.

((This is an open event. If your character wants to have a booth selling wares or food, set one up. If your character wants to perform or provide other services, go for it! Please note what sort of service you're providing, if any, in the subject line of your top-level comment. Basically, just run with it and have fun!

I offer pictoral inspiration and ask that any pictures used in comments not be more than 300 px tall (and it looks better if you can keep it about the same height as your text). Code to have your text wrap around your picture below.))

<img src="blah.png" height="300" style="border: 0pt none; float:left; padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:10px">

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Schön's Potions

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Prominently placed among the hawkers of magical goods, a kiosk under a colorfully-striped awning (whose colors are never seen to change, but differ every time one looks upon them) bears a brightly painted sign. Under it leans a smiling man in well-tailored suit and a sharp hat, his silver-headed cane leaning against the back of the stand.

The shelves of the kiosk are crowded with bottles, bearing calligraphied labels describing a variety of effects, with price labels ranging from "5 gp" to "5,000 gil," with a number of other currencies represented.

The sign, not to be mistaken for the Sign, reads:

[POTIONS]
[Clearance ~ Prices Reduced]
[All Currencies Negotiable]

The lower portion of the sign is taken up by a gold filigree pattern, although closer examination reveals that the pattern is also writing, etched and painted with gilt.

[Removal of a vessel or its contents by any means from this display constitutes implicit agreement between the party of the first part (the remover of the bottle or contents thereof) and the part of the second part (this establishment's owner and proprietor, known throughout the Nexus as one Schön W. Freund) to render the displayed price or an agreed-upon substitute within three (3) Nexus days of the vessel or contents' removal. If the party of the first part does not render the agreed-upon price within the specified time, the party of the first part will be Found In Breach by the party of the second part, who may issue all appropriate penalties and engage any appropriate means of redress, pursuant to the Breach.]

To one side, another sign hangs over a shelf of varied, unlabeled bottles.

[Mystery Bottles!]
[Free if consumed immediately.]
[Management not responsible for any effects.]

((LOL ALERT! The mystery potions' labels have fallen off. They might be ordinary potions, they might be something stronger, they might be something strange, or they might have spoiled. Drink one if you're feeling brave, and I'll roll for effects or you can choose your own. I will check with you in messages before settling on one, just in case.))

[losthunter]

It is the colors and the different bottle shapes that more attract Hunter to the booth. Then of course, knowing it is Schön's booth, makes it so much easier to linger.

Hunter is a little curious about the potions, but he is a little hesitant about making any purchases right now. At least, not without knowing more about them.

He lingers at the mystery bottles, a little confused by the sign underneath.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Hunter!" Schön flashes the young artist a bright grin. "How pleasant to see you! Enjoying the fair?"

[losthunter]

"Just starting to explore everything. But I have my eye on some cotton candy and elephant ears later." Hunter gives him a big smile in return.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"I understand the elephant ears are quite memorable. You shall have to tell me all about them."

[losthunter]

Hunter reads from that statement that Schön can't leave his booth. And from the quick look at the potions and their labels (for those that have them) -- it makes sense.

"I will bring you one."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

It's really best not to leave the shelves upon shelves of distilled liquid magic untended--even if he is trying to clear some of his stock out. "Thank you, that's very generous. Perhaps I can find something here to make a suitable token of gratitude."

[losthunter]

"Sounds like a fair exchange." Hunter is curious about the stock that Schön is selling. And trusts him to make a much more informed decision.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Spiderlike, his fingers crawl over the bottles as he murmurs, "let me see... ah!" Plucking up a small bottle of cobalt glass shaped like an owl and stoppered with a plug of beeswax, he suggests, "perhaps something to sharpen those artistic senses of yours a little?"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Hey, boss." Verity doesn't try to sneak up on Schön. She knows when she has a chance, and that she really doesn't. What she does have are a smile for him and a pair of Italian sodas; his is vanilla root beer and hers is something fruitier.

"This isn't going to be like the candy bars, is it?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Verity!" Schön flashes his favorite employee a grin. "How good to see you! Ah, thank you, I was just getting thirsty." He sips at the drink she's brought him with savor.

"Honestly? I don't entirely know. The mystery bottles are just that--mysteries, even to me. The condition on their price is so I can find out what they do. I hope you're enjoying the fair?"

[brave_heart_verity]

His favorite now, is she? That's quite the pedestal. She'll enjoy the view while it lasts. "You're welcome."

She looks over the bottles while he's explaining, contemplating something. Surely not drinking one, he knows she's not the sort to do that. But there's something going on in that pretty little bean of hers. "What good is it to know what it does after it's gone?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

She's competent, reliable, and building him a museum. She's earned it.

There's a lot going on in that bean of hers--so much that calling it a bean undersells it considerably; there are Colombian plantations that should be so lucky. "It can be informative, to see how a spell degrades," he explains, "or it may be that I sometimes have more than one of something, and would like to know what the rest do." That latter comes out more like an admission.

[brave_heart_verity]

Well. When he puts it like that.

"Ah." She could have guessed the second part. Maybe the first. But the admission is appreciated and safe with her, as he well knows. "You know... I don't know if I can do it, but I'd be willing to try and see if I can identify what's in them. It'd be good practice for my alchemy. If you have any left after the fair."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Oh?" His brows rise, intrigued at the offer, before he smiles. "I shall take you up on that, I think. And on the subject of taking up, there is a young man here at the fair who I think might make a good addition to the museum staff in some capacity. I shall have to introduce you when he returns."

Paging Hunter?

[brave_heart_verity]

She smiles when the offer is accepted. It's a good deal for both of them, especially if she can manage to figure anything out.

"Oh yeah? 'In some capacity'?" Ver gives Schön a measuring look. Usually, she'd ask if he's trying to be difficult, but she knows this is his natural state. Well. One of them. "You've found someone you want to keep close, you mean, and I get to find a way to keep them busy?"

She doesn't mind, but she has to say these things on principle.

Paging Hunter, indeed.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Difficult is, indeed, his natural state. He spreads his hands innocently at her proposed clarification of terms, however. "Verity, I would not presume to tell you how to execute your duties or arrange your personnel. I have every faith that there are any number of tasks to which the young man would be suited, and his temperament is so agreeable that I think you will be pleased to employ him, as well." All true.

After a beat, he concedes almost under his breath, "and he is someone I would like to see safe and prosperous, with which I believe you are well-positioned to assist."

And he appears...

[losthunter]

Hunter has been enjoying the sights and sounds of the fair, especially since taking that Potion of Owls Wisdom from Schön. Everything is so much brighter. All the rides have this ethereal glow to him.

It is a good thing he carries around a pad of sketch paper... because has he been inspired. There are so many fair moments that he has been able to capture quickly. Little stories that will become bigger canvas later.

And he has gone to a few food booths, enjoying the tastes of the fair too.

He is returning to Schön's booth with two bags of cotton candy and two plates of elephant ear's balanced in one hand. And a helium balloon tied to his other arm. There is also a little blue ribbon on his T-shirt too.

His smile is large as life. And it gets bigger when he sees Verity there.

"Fates align nicely. Two beautiful people at one booth!"

[thepizzalord]

A large kiosk of potions is a great way to draw a wizard's attention. Though he's dressed from neck to toe in futuristic black armor, the well-worn leather duster over top of it speaks to less technologically-advanced origins, as does a handcarved staff topped with runes that he carries in his gloved left hand. A silver sword is strapped to his back, and the compact pistol on his hip is just as futuristic as his hardshell armor.

Harry Dresden stops in front of the kiosk and raises an eyebrow at the signs. "Y'know, if I didn't know better, I'd be surprised you could get away with selling mystery potions without some kinda regulations on that. Talk about schmuck bait."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

((How much magic is Harry able to perceive, or see through? I understand from cultural osmosis that he's had some dealings with the fae in some of his books, but I'm not up on the details.))

"The Nexus is surprisingly regulation-light," the thin man points out. "As you are aware. May I interest you in something, sir, or are you here to gawk at the brave and curious?"

[thepizzalord]

((He does have a thing called the Sight that lets him see people and things as they truly are, but he has to use it on purpose and whatever he Sees is burned into his memory forever (memory never fades, ever, so seeing something traumatic can literally break his mind) so he doesn't use it unless he has to.))

"Mostly curious to see who's been dumb enough to drink unlabeled potions that they didn't brew themselves," Harry admits. "Any takers so far?"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

((Good to know. If he doesn't have the Sight up, then Schön looks as he appears in his icons--a well-dressed man with an odd resemblance to David Bowie. There's some feeling of magic about him, as he has a few spells and magic items active upon his person, but nothing that tries to act on the people around him.))

"None yet, but the day is young. One never knows--one of these might be quite beneficial; a philter of youth restored, or the like. I'm quite certain I had one of those put by at some point."

[thepizzalord]

((So noted!))

"Those are overrated anyway. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've been asked to make those for someone. Almost as much as love potions," he says, rolling his eyes a little. It's pretty clear he won't make those, either.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Love potions," he echoes, his voice positively dripping with disdain. "Tsk. There certainly won't be any of those, unless somethings spoiled."

[thepizzalord]

Harry chuckles a little. "Well they are on clearance, and I'm assuming you didn't taste-test 'em."