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"Each life should follow its passion. We know our loves, and tend them on behalf of the Bazaar. This, at least, is an arrangement that satisfies all."[1]
Mr Apples is a darkly cheery and overly familiar Curator who serves as a Master of the Bazaar. Mr Hearts is its alternate trade name in London.
In the Sunless Skies timeline, Mr Apples resides in the High Wilderness as the Chiropterous Hoarder.
General Information[]
"Fruits, bread, vegetables, barley, horse mushrooms and so forth... Immortality."[2]
Mr Apples governs trade in fruit, grain, vegetables, edible mushrooms,[2] and wood.[3] It also sells immortality[2] and that which is immortal,[4] such as Hesperidean Cider, a drink of eternal life that fetches a staggering price at the Bazaar.[5]
Apples sometimes visits the Big Top of Mrs Plenty's Carnival, albeit under a disguise and with security. Despite the precautions, it is friendly to those it chooses to meet with, offering refreshments and gossip.[6]
Mr Hearts' Domain[]
"Fresh meats! Rich and red!"[7]
A heart.
Mr Hearts controls trade in all manner of meat,[7] especially offal and exotic meats.[8] It supplies Mrs Plenty's Carnival with the famous Rubbery Lumps.[9] It is considered the finest butcher in London, and Hearts' butcher's tools are legendary among the city's chefs.[10]
"Mr Hearts" is actually a trade name used by Mr Apples.[11] This fact is kept secret from the public[12] and they are typically considered two distinct Masters.[13]
The Hoarder's Predicament[]
"What are you? Why have you come? If you are a customer, I have nothing right now, nothing I want to sell."[14]
In the Sunless Skies timeline, Mr Apples, now known as the Chiropterous Hoarder, resides in New London. It lives in a shop that once sold Hesperidean Cider,[15] but its supply ran out, so the shop was closed[14] and left disused.[16] Since the Masters have been declared enemies of the empire,[14] the Hoarder keeps a low profile.[17]
Other Names[]
"Raw meats, ripe and red! No, no wine. Not yet. Here, throw another skewer on the flame. There! The Saint on the Pyre, and the Saint of Flesh. And for my last trick — I'll throw this one in for free: the Paradisal Saint. Here, take a bite."[18]
Mr Apples is rumored to have been called Mr Barley in the past.[19]
A feast for all.
During the Third City,[20] Mr Hearts was known as the Lord of Blood.[21][22]
During the Fourth City, Mr Apples was known as the Khan of Roots, and Mr Hearts was the Khan of Hearts.[23]
In the Sunless Skies timeline, the Cult of the Sanctified at Avid Horizon[24] named Mr Apples the Paradisal Saint and Mr Hearts the Saint of Flesh.[18]
Appearance[]
"Mr Apples' eyes are pinpricks of diamond-hard light in the inky tapestry of its hood."[25]
"Swaddled in vermillion, it is a lean and spindly horror with the most velvety of ears."[26]
A Master.
As a Master, Mr Apples wears the standard attire[27] of an all-encompassing hooded cloak and gloves to conceal its talons.[28][29] Only its eyes are left visible.[30] Mr Hearts is said to have an "unmistakable bulk."[31]
As the Chiropterous Hoarder, it wears a red cloak that leaves its bat-like face and silhouette visible.[14][32] Its claws are uncovered[33] and it has dark-colored eyes.[14]
Personality[]
"Mr Apples seems delighted to see you. It presses honeyed wine on you and insists you try a variety of preserved fruits imported at tremendous expense from the Elder Continent."[12]
"The Chiropterous Hoarder is initially distrustful of your exposition and then transported at this epiphany. Appreciation without condition! What a winsome novelty!"[34]
The Butcher's Friend
Mr Apples has an affable and pleasant personality. It converses freely with its favored citizens of London, and has a warm and familiar demeanor.[6] It has a fondness for gambling,[35] reading,[36] conducting experiments,[37] and tinkering with machinery.[38] Apples may be friendly, but it is still well-aware of its role and position as a Master. It will admonish those who overstep[39] or question the Masters' administration.[40]
Mr Apples is supposedly an ally of Mr Veils.[41] It is familiar with fellow Curator Mr Barleycorn[42] and has a fondness for the merchandise sold by Mr Menagerie.[43] However, it harbors a strong dislike for Mr Pennies.[44][45]
As a Master, Mr Hearts views its employment under the Bazaar[46][47] as one of mutual benefit, as it sees itself free to pursue its passions and interests on the Bazaar's behalf.[48] It views its work as beneficial to London; in its own words: "London has such stories now! Salted with tears and spiced with the passions of the heart!"[49] It does not seem to have much fondness for the Curators[47][50] that were once its fellows in the sky.[51] It is aware of the Great Chain of Being,[52] but given its forays into immortality[37] and amalgamy,[53] it does not seem interested in abiding by its restrictions.[54][55]
As the Chiropterous Hoarder, Apples is still affable and is eager about its goals,[56] but it is also nervous,[57] suspicious,[34] and insecure.[58] It is unfamiliar with friendship[59] and charity, and it sees these concepts as puzzling.[60]
Businesses[]
"Duck under an archway, mind the step, down a corridor, follow the smell of chilled blood. Mr. Hearts' Exotic Meats occupies a dark corner of the Emporium for good reason."[61]
Mr Hearts has many businesses[61] and products to its name.[62] Mr Hearts' Exotic Meats Counter is an obscure stall in the Labyrinth of Tigers that is best avoided by the faint of stomach. It sells organs, bones, meats, and blood of an unknown source and grotesque form, with no regard for sanitation. Despite these unsettling details, the meats sold here still induce intense hunger...[63]
After the Great Hellbound Railway established a station at Ealing Gardens, Mr Hearts opened butcher's shop there.[64]
Products[]
"This charming toy says: I love you, kill me. Or: join me in the game of Knife and Candle-Lit Dinners. Or: here is the key to my heart. Or: you wound me. A thousand messages, a single gift!"[65]
A Key-to-Heart Dagger.
Every year, Mr Hearts sends Mr Iron a Key-to-Heart Dagger. Mr Iron quickly auctions them off, making them available to the public.[66] It is said that the reasons for this practice are encoded in the mysterious Crimson Book.[67]
Heart-Cuts are a product sold during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose.[68] They're various meats cut into heart-shapes and include an actual heart.[69]
Mr Hearts' Deviled Hearts are sold at Mrs Plenty's Carnival during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose. Said to "fill the belly and fire the spirit," their unique blend of spices may cause a Correspondence sigil to appear in one's vision for a split second.[62]
Dwellings[]
"Mr Apples keeps its apartments on the ground floor of the Bazaar. You push the glass doors open – your sack limp on your back. Heavy airs unfold around you, hot, sweating and green."[70]
"A broad marble counter is strewn with knives and cleavers and gobbets of gristle. Carcasses hang from ceiling-hooks. The air smells of blood and peppery seasoning. A tuneless crooning emits from a hunched bulk. Is Mr Hearts committing a carol?"[70]
A Mostly Stuffed Bound Shark.
Mr Apples resides in rooms on the ground floor of the Bazaar[71] that evoke both a greenhouse and a laboratory.[72] These are filled with greenery and plants, including a Heart-Taker.[73] In its lab, Apples experiments with immortality, creating oddities like a stuffed Bound-Shark plaque that is still alive,[74][75] and a near-immortal entity contained within a jar.[76]
Mr Hearts works in a large kitchen with meats and utensils strewn everywhere.[77] Hearts experiments with new butchery tools here,[78] creating gadgets like a machine for slicing meats[79][80] or a failed device[81] that inexplicably acts as a spell-checker.[82][83]
Empyrean Redolence[]
"Hell's army grows with each breath you draw! No time to waste. None at all. Right, you're here to help me with my beasts. I'm breeding hunting beasts. To hunt devils! They need to be strong, and vicious, and pious!"[84]
"Mr Hearts produces a tatty square of supple leather from under its inky cloak and drops it on your table. Gaslights flicker as you scan the recipe. Cinnabar, hydrogen, salts of iron, tears of those who never loved... Your vision clouds to black as you read the parts written in the Correspondence. When you can see again, Mr Hearts is gone."[85]
Within the Fourth Coil of the Labyrinth of Tigers stands a breeding facility[84] managed by the Bishop of Southwark.[86] He plans on leading a charge against Hell, and would like to have war-animals for his army.[87][84] To this end, the Bishop wants to breed creatures from across the Neath with a "wings-of-thunder bat" in his barn,[88][89] hoping to produce a suitable beast.[84]
The "bat" in the barn is Mr Hearts in disguise.[90] When the Bishop sends it an animal to "breed" with, Hearts apparently eats the animal alive and produces a new being immediately after.[91][92] To "improve" the results of this process, Hearts developed a mysterious substance called Empyrean Redolence, consisting of "cinnabar, hydrogen, salts of iron," the "tears of those who never loved," and other ingredients or steps.[93]
The reason for Mr Hearts' odd practice is unclear, but it seems to benefit the Masters in some way.[94] As for the Bishop's plan, the Masters are wholly unconcerned.[95]
How Marvellous[]
"I was very old then. Lived too long, bored out of my gourd. I went to one of the Lords: the Lord of Blood. I beseeched it. Begged it to give me my heart's desire. The Lords, who had themselves grown restless, devised the game: the Marvellous.[96]
During the Third City,[20] a man from the First City begged Mr Hearts, then known as the Lord of Blood, to grant him his heart's desire. In response, Hearts along with the other Lords (Masters) devised the game called the Marvellous, finding six other players and using First City Coins as stakes.[97]
As of the Fifth City, Mr Hearts personally supervises the final round of the Marvellous in the center of the Echo Bazaar.[98][99]It also oversees the ceremony in which winners of the Marvellous receive their wish.[100] Hearts holds the Marvellous to great esteem, but the other Masters do not share this sentiment and see it only as a distraction.[101]
The Skies[]
"The Wilderness – lush and velveted with so many treasures, so many hungry tastes. There were others with me, yes. But none of them were as clever as me. I know how to make immortality. I know how to make collections that last. And this is why I must be careful, be small now."[34]
A Curator.
Mr Apples, like the rest of the Masters, is a Curator,[47][50] a bat-like being who once roamed the High Wilderness in search of treasures for its hoard.[102]
During the time before it arrived in the Neath,[47] Mr Apples knew the ways of immortality and preservation. This got it into severe trouble with the rest of its kind,[34] and eventually, Apples' transgressions forced it to serve under the Echo Bazaar to avoid "misfortune, failure, and fruitlessness."[47]
The Hoarder's Plan[]
"I tried once to hold immortality in a bottle. The cider. But it wasn't the same. My customers were convinced, but I knew the truth. You can't just drink eternity. It goes away, you see? But this is different."[103]
In the Sunless Skies timeline, London was moved through the Avid Horizon to the skies.[104][105] Most of the Masters stayed behind with the Bazaar in the Sixth City, but some, including Mr Apples, followed London to the High Wilderness.[17]
Now known as the Chiropterous Hoarder, Mr Apples seeks to amass a collection of immortality, including immortal entities and aspirants.[106] The Hoarder wants to become immortal itself to perfect its collection, letting it act as its crown jewel and eternal guardian.[107][108]
References[]
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