Liquid Liabilities (npc shiji)

The rest of the day had been...Nothing to write home about. Then again, he simply hadn't found anything worth doing yet. He strolled down the road, eyeing the stalls with a discerning and somewhat judgemental look. At least, until one caught his eye. Tucked off to the side with a hastily-scribbled sign on an old plank of wood 'DIY Potions'. DIY? Who the heck would think of something like that? His brows lifted, and then furrowed, and then pinched as he mentally worked his way through various feelings and internally convincing himself that it couldn't hurt.  (It could.) But it could be fun. It was the most interesting thing he'd seen all evening, and he saw no (convincing) reason to skip over it.

His steps were careful and deliberate, and his gaze remained sharp as he finally took the initiative to approach the stand. 
"If you get something good, perhaps I'll reward you." said the shadowy shiji.
His eara flattened, pinning back against his skull and horns so sharply that they made a soft 'fwap' sound, and his nose wrinkled into a scowl. A wee flash of teeth, before he smoothed his countenance back into something more managable, more tame. 
"I will play by the rules for now." He rumbled, barely keeping the acid from seeping into his voice. The underlying threat as that he would not always do such a thing. Regardless, he eventually drew himself to gaze at the ingredients, waiting until one of them tugged at him.

Skulls. A pile of round, white bone. Hollow eye sockets and cavernous maws gaped in a grotesque little mountain. Something about it.... whispered at him. A tiny thread in the back of his mind, and perhaps, one day, he would reach out to grasp it. Instead, he reached out to grasp a skull, clutching it in his palm. With a mighty CCRRAAACK and crunch, the bone crumbled in his hand. Shattered into shards under the force of his grip, h dropped the broken remnants into the cauldron with an almost bored indifference. He did not bother to dust his hands free of any bone residue.

As if he were casually thumbing through an old-school rolodex, he let his fingers ghost over each item until they stopped, seemingly of their own accord. A corked bottle, something dark and sticky oozing out from beneath it's seal. He grasped it, uncorking it and tilting the bottle just slightly to let its contents drip ot into his hand-- blood. Blood so deep, so scarlet that it's color was nearly black in the dull, flickering light. It pooled in his palm, somehow still warm as if just drained from a body, and with his head cocked to the side, he brought his hand to his mouth to let his tongue roll out across his palm. Hmmm.  No blood he'd ever tasted, though it's appearance and consistency seemed accurate.  The taste was less copper, more sweet. As if tree sap and honey had been blended into the concoction.  Hm. Curious, indeed.  With a mildly quzzical huff, he stretched his arm out to overturn the bottle over the cauldron, letting it pour freely into the bubbling pot. The swirl of deep red slowly overtook the color of whatever was within, darkening ever more until it glistened like liquid rubies, and he found himself entranced by it's beauty.
 
Only by the grace of happenstance did he manage to pull himself away to grasp at the next item. Or rather, it brushed at him/ A gust of wind brought the gleaming feather up and it brushed just across the knuckles of his still-outstretched hand, prompting him to grab it out of sheer reflex. Upon closer inspecion, it practically thrummed with a dull, pulsating light that lent weight to it's magical nature.  He turned it around and around in his fingers,  but he didn't taste it. That would be weird. Eventually, he came to the decision to toss it in. After all, it practically jumped into his hand itself, so surely it must know what it's deepest desires are. With nary a second thought, the feather went in, dissolving into the crimson liquid. An iridescent blue shimmer appeared upon it's surface, and with an almost wary eye, he watched as the strange shopkeep dipped in a bottle, and brought it back up to offer him.

Well.... bottoms up, then.