Episode 7
Rubbing the fatigue from her eyes, Samantha kicks the shoes off her feet onto the hotel floor. Adjusting her aetherphone on a nearby nightstand, she groans and flops back onto one of the beds in the double room. "So... After the Greater Azure Alliance specialists, the ones that we ran into at the Amaranth Dining House, blasted off the barrier Sebastian's team left, they put their own up and sealed off the area tight."
She draws in a deep breath and sighs out loudly. "THANKFULLY, we got the power cell trailer back in one piece. SO, that's one rental deposit we'll actually get back. BUT, I'm still fighting MERC about SUPPOSED damages to other equipment."
Narrowing her hazel eyes at the vaguely dingy and faintly stained ceiling, Samantha huffs out her frustration. "Gods. Next time, I'm getting that supplemental insurance. It's not worth our time arguing with them about every little thing."
From the speakerphone, Howard's tone steadies to a neutral and calming cadence. "Huh. Interesting. Well, I'm glad that everyone got out in one piece. Be sure to give Radnae, Urdi, and..."
A faint groans slips out from the other side of connection. "Even that Ol' Harris a week off. Give them coupons to that spa and magical hot springs we got that advertising deal with."
With an audible breath in over the call, he directs his inquiry. "Now... Back to business... How much footage did you all manage to get?"
Samantha winces, drags out a pained groan, and slips a breath in. "A little. Between the military lockdown, that electrical thing which corrupted a bunch of recordings, and then not having power for most of the equipment..."
Rolling her eyes, she grits her teeth and rubs her forehead. "I'm surprised we even got THAT much. Gods, I'm not sure if it's enough for an episode. I mean, what kind of episode is this going to be?!"
She combs her fingers through her shoulder-length brown hair and waves a hand dismissively out. "They boldly eat, fail miserably on their first mission, and then go home to lick their wounded egos? That's at least an early to mid season thing. You can't just lead off a season with THAT. It'll crush our ratings."
A still silence hangs in the air. A low laugh grows into loud cackling through the speaker. Staring at her phone, Samantha's eyes bounce between confusion and concern, an uncertain squirm traveling through her body. From the other side of the double bed hotel room, Gerald halts work on his laptop, slowly turns his head, and narrows an uneasy stare on the phone. The laughing stops, and Howard exhales with a sinister glee. "Yes... Just THAT... With a little twist!"
Leaning an ear closer to her phone, Samantha contorts her face curiously with anticipation. "What kind of twist, Howie?"
Howard chuckles darkly to himself and explains with a proud, plotting tone. "You see... We have a team of young, ego-heavy, special little stars that just got their spotlight stolen by another team. A team of old, experienced adventurers that made them look like complete chumps. With all that happened... Soon to be on national television."
Blinking with the rush of ideas, Samantha's attention turns inwards and her eyes frantically sort through her mind. Seconds of eager contemplation play out on Samantha and Gerald's faces. Springing her eyes wide with revelation, Samantha sits up on the hotel bed. Gerald and Samantha exchange matching eager gazes. Samantha mutters under her breath. "Holy shit."
Howard snickers at the subtle sounds of epiphany and pride manifests into his voice through the phone. "Yes! We have something to catch all these young egos' frustrations and ire. Challengers... Conflict... Catalysts..."
Over the call, he darkly chuckles. "We've only been scratching the surface of the potential with the few little chance encounters that we've managed to capitalize on. BUT..."
A contemplative sighs sounds out, and Howard draws a deep, audible breath in. "THIS.... We've got real sparks happening NOW. I'm certain we can ignite something far greater from them."
A smug and satisfied tone exudes from the aetherphone on the nightstand. "We don't have to do anything! Especially NOW. We just need these two groups to be in the same area as each other. Then... Give them... Opportunities."
Drawing an evil grin across her light face, Samantha listens attentively to her phone, her anticipation renewed. "So, what's the plan? What do you need?"
Scratching of chin stubble resonates through the speaker, and Howard hums to himself, deliberation tempering his tone. "Keep the crew checking the spy cameras in their rooms at that roach motel. With those living conditions and today's humiliation, I'm pretty sure they are in the BEST of moods. I want you to arrange some video journal segments and pry as hard as you can into how they feel about the other group. Dig up some embarrassing shots to really get under their skin, so they'll be encouraged to be..."
A ominous laugh slips out. "Honest."
Howard hums briefly to himself. "I've got a few informants to call up... I wonder where Sebastian and crew are staying, because it's strange they've been in the area for so long and were doing regular work in the area. I got a feeling they are staying somewhere... Nearby."
Stepping out of the bathroom doorway in socks, shorts, and a simple shirt, Bach presses the towel on his head over his longer brown hair, a few strands from the white streak slipping out. He plods through the hallway and wanders out into space between the living area and the dining table. Scouting out a nice spot on the couch warming in the morning light radiating through the back sliding glass door, he pivots and slows to a halt. Pulling the towel down out of his face, he furrows his brow suspiciously. He faces the dining table and spots Aristespha and Sotalia sitting opposite of each other. At the end of the table, a chair slides out. Both Aristespha and Sotalia watch Bach expectantly. Aristespha directs Bach to the chair with a motion of the hand and a reserved smile. "Have a seat, Bach."
Cautiously approaching the chair, Bach maintains uncertain eye contact between the two. He sits down and glances at the still solid and stable golden shield disc and magical cord ensnaring the cyber-commando plasma rifle. Sighing uneasily, he lowers his head and grumbles. "Okay... So... Where do you want to start the inquisition?"
Gently lifting her open hands off the table, Aristespha cranes her head and levels a genuinely concerned gaze at Bach. "Bach. We just want to ask some questions, if you are comfortable with them."
Sotalia straightens her posture and curls a grateful smile at Bach. "Hey, you saved our asses yesterday. So, thank you."
She perks her eyebrow. "Also, we really want to help you out, but..."
Furrowing her brow, she narrows her stare and waves a hand out. "Gods damn it, you've got to give us SOMETHING to work with! This whole mysterious ability out of nowhere thing is really fucking annoying to work with."
Bach glances over at Aristespha's hand patting his shoulder softly. Maintaining a calm and purposeful voice, she focuses her violet eyes. "I know it is an uncomfortable subject. But... To help you out to the best of our abilities, we need to know more about your abilities. How are you able to perform these feats? And importantly, why have you gotten to this point?"
She draws in a slow breath through her ivory, blue and gray hinted nose and relaxes her posture slightly. "We can help you. You can definitely help us, as you have demonstrated. First though, we need some information to start with."
A strained sigh escapes Bach, and he briefly grits his teeth. Furrowing his brow, he grimaces sharply, bouncing his gaze between Aristespha and Sotalia. Seconds of tensing quiet pass. Bach relaxes and resigns into an acceptance. Tipping his head back, he settles back in his seat and draws in a long calming breath. "OKAY. I guess it's only fair. And..."
He glances between the other two. "I don't want to leave you guys in the dark. So... Um... Here's the quick and short version. After the encounter with the Nightmare Geist, I was left with limitations on the magical energy reserves I could use safely. I could get maybe one low level spell off. Then, that was it for half an hour or more. So..."
He wrestles with the words and winces his cheek below his eye. "I was... A lame mage."
Aristespha keeps her focus on Bach with a slight understanding nod, and Sotalia squirms uncomfortably with the subject. Narrowing her violet eyes, Aristespha dutifully observes Bach's body language. "What restrictions do you have?"
Bach pulls in a thoughtful breath and ponders quietly for a moment. "Well... My throughput from the abstract prism is limited. What I have stored on me, I can use just fine. But, if I use too much of that and tap hard into what's near me..."
Tilting his head to the side, he fights with an uneasy grimace. "Well, I risk a complete drain out. I just can't draw much from what's near me."
Sotalia blinks in surprise and aims her golden eyed gaze right at Bach. "Huh. That explains the physical weakness after the big stuff. But, you recover fast enough."
Scratching the back of head of brown hair, Bach shrugs nonchalantly and smirks indifferently. "I mean, I use what's on me just fine and tap a little in what's near me. But, I can't get the throughput to sustain any normal spells. Even direct casting can only help so much."
Aristespha maintains her examining stare upon Bach and taps upon the golden shield disc. "It certainly seems you found a way around those limitations. Describe it to me."
The long silence looms and agitates Sotalia. She bounces a confused glance between Bach and Aristespha. Bach grimaces and searches his mind for the words, his face at a loss for a solid expression. Sotalia twists her mouth in the bubbling frustration building and pokes Bach hard in the arm with a long nailed finger. "Well?! Describe it already."
Snapping out of the stupor, Bach rubs his arm and narrows an annoyed stare. "OW! I'm trying to! Gods, it's just a bit hard to describe. I mean, I don't know the official words for it all. There might not be official words for it all, even."
Sotalia crosses her arms and quirks her brow with an unamused twist. "WELL, how did you figure it out? Start there."
Bach nervously rubs his light tan hands together, darts his blue gaze around uneasily, and attempts cohesive explanation. "I, uh, was pretty depressed about not being able to cast spells. So, um, I thought about it a lot and obsessed over magical energy efficiency. Direct casting helped a bit..."
He eases out a dejected sigh and scratches the temple of his head. "But, even THAT was still too inefficient. It felt like there was still too much extra surrounding the magical flows. Like, the things were too bulky and involved. So... While laying around in my bed one night, unable to sleep and staring at the ceiling... Um, I tried to..."
The silence stretches out to seconds. Sotalia prods Bach in the arm again with an impatient stare. Bach reflexively shifts his body away from the poke and sneers back. Leaning towards Bach, Sotalia furrows her brow with a demanding tone. "Stop drifting off mid sentence."
Grumbling aggravated, Bach places his elbows on the table and holds his head in his hands. "I'm sorry! It's going to sound completely insane, but I tried to SEE the process of casting in my mind. To see a Foundational Construct function..."
He squints to an internal distance. "To LOOK... Where the Foundation Construct connects to the Abstract Prism? Gods, that doesn't make any sense when you say it out loud, I know."
Shaking his head in defeat, Bach pauses in thought and glances around. He meets Sotalia's bewildered, blinking stare and shifts his focus over towards Aristespha. Nodding understandingly, Aristespha addresses Bach with genuine interest on her face. "Bach. What you are describing is called Reverse Flow Perception. It is a process many at the Grand Library have been using for years to study magic fundamentals. It is a method of back-tracing how magical energy is manipulated via willing flow back up to the Abstract Prism and interpreting the sensations visually in your mind."
Snapping her head at Aristespha, Sotalia blinks incredulously and tosses back her dark red hair flustered. "Wait! What?! This is a thing?! Why haven't I heard of it?!"
Lifting an amused eyebrow with a playful smile to Sotalia, Aristespha chuckles with a smug tint. "Well, how many advanced theory classes and high-level magical analysis courses did you take in school?"
Sotalia snorts dismissively, rolls her golden eyes, and flicks back stray locks over her swept back black horns. Returning her focus back to Bach, Aristespha presents a respectful smile and an encouraging tone. "I would guess you studied what you saw, experimented further, and eventually got tangible results."
Bach nods within the confines of his hands and lifts his head up with a long sigh. "Yes. It took a LONG time. But, I kept on figuring out how to use magic a little more efficiently, control flow better, and perform new magical operations. The individual parts aren't hard to figure out. The real problem is applying them properly. The sheer number and speed you have to do so is really intense, to say the least."
A flit of confidence rises up from him. "I mean, it's gotten a lot easier as I've grown more familiar with it all."
Sotalia crosses her arms and tenses her fingers. With the internal irritation rising, she squirms anxiously in her seat. Simmering seconds pass. Sotalia grumbles and slides back. "Let's take this outside. The mission yesterday bumped our training time, so let's do it NOW. I want YOU to SHOW me what the hell you are talking about."
Shooting up out of her chair, she marches to the sliding glass door, slings it open, and swiftly struts out to the backyard training field. Bach scratches his head confused and returns his stare from the open door to Aristespha. Dismissively rolling her eyes, Aristespha calmly rises from her seat. "Do not worry. I believe she was just hoping for an answer she would easily understand and immediately use for her own practice of magic. She is a very powerful and capable mage."
Glancing out to the open field behind through the sliding door at Sotalia, Aristespha's tone lowers, and she leans closer to Bach. "And she has developed quite the competitive streak and temperament to match, too."
Bach shrugs and throws his hands up in the air, contorting his face at a lost. "Well, I don't know what to tell her. Hell, I mean, I couldn't do anything of significance for two years even after figuring out..."
He glances off to the side and squints. "The basics of... This? Gods, only recently have I gotten the hang of the big things you all have seen. It took FOREVER to get most my old spells adapted and working enough to function like they did."
Aristespha stands near Bach and waits for him to get out of his chair. "You will have to understand... This is a woman who has always had top of the class energy capacity and throughput. She has NEVER needed to optimize. There are spells she can cast with ease that would stress me too much."
Tightening her smile, she straightens her posture. "So, to phrase it nicely, her style of magic is NOT SUBTLE in the slightest. Now, she wants to develop that horribly neglected skill set."
She twists her face, fights against a grimace, and groans. "I have TRIED to advise her before, but she is a DIFFICULT student. She has tried so many gimmicks in some attempt to find shortcuts. Truthfully, I am glad she has settled her focus on direct casting. THAT is an actual method to optimize your spell crafting. So, I can only hope to keep her trying."
Standing up, Bach holds his arm out, points along his forearm, and furrows his quizzical gaze at Aristespha. "Okay... Are the magical runes on her arm another attempt at optimizing her spell casting? I've been wondering what those were."
Wincing sharply into a groaning cringe, Aristespha pinches the bridge of her nose. "Thankfully, they are just surface dyes that will fade out, eventually. But..."
Rolling her violet eyes, she shakes her head. "Gods... They look SO ridiculous."
In the large open field behind the ranch style house, Aristespha, Sotalia, and Bach stand near a lone stone boulder and propped up rocks in the middle of grassy landscape. Sotalia stretches her arms out and arches her back in her red shirt. Planting her orange canvas shoes down, she raises her palm into the air and closes her eyes. The runic markings on her dark gray striped arm illuminate, faint flows of magical energy rush out, and a flaming ball of orange hovers centimeters above her hand. She confidently grins with a wily glint in her golden eyes and glances back at Bach and Aristespha. "A fire bolt, direct cast, with runic optimization. Now show me your best version, Bach."
Bach blinks a moment and glances around uneasily, pondering his predicament. Pulling a devious smirk from the corner of his mouth, he perks his eyebrow with a hint of plotting confidence. Aristespha furrows her brow curiously, places her hands on her hips, and waits in amused anticipation. Bach walks up next to Sotalia and stares forward towards the target. Lifting his palm up, he firmly grabs underneath Sotalia's hand holding the fire bolt at the ready. Sotalia's confident exterior pops, and she blinks dumbfounded, searching for an explanation. A blue glow dimly pulses in Bach's eyes, and the fire bolt's outer flame dissipates. The ball shrinks slightly, and the orange fire blends into a blue hue. The roaring crackles give way to a fierce blowtorch hiss. Bach directs Sotalia's hand behind the bolt and adjusts the direction of her arm. Aiming for a stack of rocks next to the stone boulder, he releases Sotalia's hand. The magics hover for a few moments, and the bolt zooms off. A loud crack sounds, and it crashes onto the stony surface. A trail of magical gasses dissipate into the passing breeze, and a fading glow at darkened impact point cools.
Sotalia blinks in disbelief and gawks at the soot smudged rock. Holding her chin thoughtfully with a slight violet glow in her eyes, Aristespha surveys the situation with renewed interest. Bach poses a moment and nods with smug accomplishment. Recovering to her senses, Sotalia whips her hand around, snatches the collar of Bach's shirt, and yanks him down to her level. She bares her teeth, drills her golden eyes into Bach, and punctuates each word with a resting growl. "WHAT. WAS. THAT?!"
Bach fights for a calm and calming exterior and hesitantly meets Sotalia's piercing glare. "Uh, well, my best version of a fire bolt?"
Furrowing her brow into an irritated squint, Sotalia curls her other hand on the shirt collar and draws Bach closer. "OH..."
She balances a chuckle upon the ire in her tone and states plainly. "Don't be CUTE with ME."
Long desired satisfaction beams out from Aristespha, and she observes the unfolding exchange with smirking delight. Bach cautiously places his hands on Sotalia's forearms and gently pushes them away. Sotalia reluctantly releases her grasp upon Bach's shirt and aims a demanding glare squarely at him. With a nervous tremor, Bach smiles and chuckles. "I'll... Uh... Show you the best I can. It will not be easy, but I will show you some basics of what I did."
Sotalia rolls her shoulders, assumes a ready stance, and summons forth her previously confident posture. "Go ahead. I'm ready."
Bach motions his hand towards the stone targets. "So, well, get another fire bolt ready."
Holding her hand out, Sotalia concentrates and manifests another fire bolt. She maintains a careful watch of Bach, darting her attention between each of his motions. Hovering his hand next to the side of the fire bolt, Bach ponders a moment. With a bright blue glow in eyes, Bach's fingers tense, and he plucks the flaming orb away from Sotalia's hand. He levitates the magical ball of fire between both his hands, narrows an scrutinizing stare upon it, and hums thoughtfully to himself. Blinking in pure bewilderment, Sotalia flexes her empty hand and flashes a confused glance at Bach. Shuddering back to awareness, she cocks her head back and squints indignantly. "What the hell is this?!"
Sebastian's ethereal form lands nearby, and Aristespha grins mischievously, scooting close. Pointing at Sotalia and Bach, Sebastian leans close to Aristespha and whispers. "So, what's going on here, dear? I heard her yelling from inside the living room and had to check to make sure something wasn't going wrong with training."
Barely containing her amusement, Aristespha hides the grin on her face behind a hand and motions between Bach and Sotalia. "Your brother is instructing Sotalia on the finer aspects of magical optimization."
Blinking in surprise, Sebastian furrows his ghostly brow. "What do you-"
He tilts his head to the side, disbelief forming on his face. "Is she actually... LISTENING to him?"
Shaking her head, Aristespha smirks with a roll of her violet eyes. "Well. I would not say so in the strictest of definitions. But, his blunt demonstrations are reaching her in ways she just can't simply ignore. I believe it has been very effective. I have certainly learned by watching."
Sebastian squints curiously at the continuing exchange between Bach and Sotalia. "What's Bach doing right now?"
Bach points out a flicker of energy within the fire bolt spell. Sotalia furrows her brow with initial defensive flits. Her body language softens, and her eyes watch attentively. Aristespha giggles to herself and winks to Sebastian. "He's telling Sotalia the issues with her spell. He is quite literally picking it apart before her eyes and critiquing it."
Sebastian grimaces against an old memory rising from the back of his mind and grits his teeth. "Oh, he doesn't know how she gets. She'll- Wait-"
He narrows his translucent blue eyes and cocks his head incredulously. "Is she... Is she actually paying honest attention? And, NOT going on the defensive?"
Keeping her comments close to Sebastian, Aristespha nods and quietly laughs, selfish satisfaction slipping out. "She has been actually receptive. Something she knows nothing about, but she actually WANTS to learn it. Bach has made it very apparent that she should shut up and pay attention. So..."
Aristespha waves her hand out towards Back and Sotalia. "She actually is."
Sebastian shifts his gaze over towards Bach and Sotalia and crosses his arms. "OH... This is going to be good. Gods, I really hope this will get her to stop spending money on all those magical gimmicks."
Drawing in a faintly annoyed breath, Aristespha puts her hands together and glances upwards, vaguely hoping. "Oh, THAT would be so nice."
Sotalia grimaces intensely, locks her eyes onto her hand, and winces, cheek twitching. Keeping his hand underneath Sotalia's, Bach watches the fire bolt slowly form, specks of flame and waves of heat condensing. The orb manifests into its final stage, appearing very similar to many prior incarnations. Sotalia gasps tensely and exhales relieved. "Oh my gods. THAT took forever!"
Tapping a button on her tablet, Aristespha sits cross legged on a nearby log and relishes in Sotalia's efforts. "Seven minutes and fourteen seconds to be exact."
Bach pulls his hand away and nods at the stable, orange flaming ball pulsating near Sotalia's palm. "So, that's just one tweak you can do. Practice that a bunch, and we'll cover the many others later."
Sotalia wipes a few beads of sweat from her forehead and brushes some of her dark red hair over a horn. "This is so ridiculous! It's so excruciating! The amount I have to hold back and all the little details I have to handle..."
Slowly averting his gaze with a tight smile, Bach glances back over to Aristespha and Sebastian. Sotalia continues her extensive rant to herself, and Bach simply shrugs with an awkward grin. Shaking her head of long silvery blue hair, Aristespha rolls her eyes with a commiserating smirk. She stands up from the log, walks over to Sotalia, and pats her on the back. "Welcome to what many of us have to contend with."
Sniffing the air, Bach searches the clouds streaming overhead in the afternoon sky. He squints over at the house and steps in that direction. "Let's go back inside. I'm getting a bit hungry, and it's getting really cloudy. The dark and stormy kind of cloudy. It's kinda also starting to smell like rain."
Loosening up her shoulder with a rolling shrug, Sotalia levels her arm out, closes one eye, and releases the fire bolt, sending straight into the center of the boulder. "Sounds good to me."
Aristespha joins Bach at his side, keeping pace with him through the backyard field. "So... I have a question about the magical materials you create. How are you stabilizing the magical energy? I have done research into similar methods for medical uses, but longevity has been a persistent and common issue I keep encountering."
Bach searches his mind with flicks of his eyes and furrows his brow in thought. "Geometric substructures. That's what's given me the best results. I found that most spells don't bother messing with the substructures of the magical energy lattices and matrices, since they aren't intended to be permanent things. For example, I created my first stabilized energy dish after watching a chemistry show on fullerenes. Seemed like a good structure to use."
Piquing her interest, Aristespha quizzes Bach with a focused gaze upon him. "Oh. So a disc similar to the one you created recently?"
Blinking his blue eyes, Bach furrows his brow and cocks his head of longer brown hair. "Uh... No. A dish. Like the ones you eat on. I mean..."
He grumbles into a sigh and slacks his shoulders. "Okay. Well, this is, uh, embarrassing... I, uh, yeah..."
Swallowing his pride, he tips his head and shame up towards the skies above and shakes his head. "That week I created that first one? Um, I hadn't washed dishes for a LONG time and really didn't want to waste money on paper plates. And really didn't feel like doing the dishes...
Averting his face from Aristespha, he uneasily chuckles. "So, I got inspired to form a dish. It worked decently enough. Still faded away after a week, but I refined the process since then."
He stares ahead towards the house and smiles with a humored snort. "In fact, I eventually made a set of dishware for eight people that included dishes, bowls, saucers, tea cups, glasses, and spoons. The knives and forks were a bit hard to-"
Aristespha steps right in front of him, and Bach coasts his words to stop. Cutting a glare right through Bach, Aristespha barely contains the sheer exasperation seeping out. "You mean to tell me... Your kitchen was stocked with stabilized energy..."
She leans her glare closer, her pitch dropping lower. "DISHWARE?!"
Immediately recognizing THAT tone from Aristespha, Sebastian reflexively juts his arm out in front of Sotalia. They both stop a few meters behind Bach. Sebastian motions Sotalia around the confrontation, and Sotalia unquestioningly agrees. The two circumnavigate around at a safe distance with a cautious watch of the situation nearby. Aristespha pinches the bridge of her nose, closes her eyes, draws a deep breath, and exhales slowly. "It's okay. It's fine. A little frustrating that an intriguing development in magical materials was used to manufacture..."
Snapping her stare back upon Bach, she firmly states. "DISHWARE."
She motions her hand out to the side. "So, am I to guess that your prior landlord has them now?"
Bach bites his lower lip and warily nods with a defensive smirk. "Yeah... Yeah."
He briefly narrows an accusatory stare and relaxes. "When I was ABDUCTED and then released to my room here, I called my landlord and told her to sell or keep whatever was left to pay this last month's rent.
Perking his brow, he shrugs his shoulders and grimaces. "I mean, it wasn't bad dishware. Non-stick, microwave safe, and it looked pretty. Hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure my old landlord probably has already rented the place out again. Knowing her, she probably advertised it as furnished now to scam a higher rent."
Aristespha grumpily pivots away from Bach and stiffly steps away. Bach searches the area and follows behind her with a half-hearted plea, holding his hands out to the sides. "Well, I can create more. Would you like a set? I'm sorry, I don't know what is significant or what isn't these days when it comes to higher magic. I've kind of been out of the loop for some time."
Aristespha sighs heavily, relaxes her shoulders, and halts in front of the sliding glass door. A recognition of opportunity sparks in her eyes. She lifts her head and faces Bach with an unamused, faintly forgiving grimace. "I actually have many magical materials I have designed for medical use. I can create small batches, but they are prototypes. You help me create them, I will start teaching you medical magic. You will need to know it anyway to properly manufacture the materials."
Bach puts both thumbs up in agreement. "Hey, that's fine with me. Just let me know what you need. I'll see what I can do."
A cunning smile emerges on Aristespha, and she glances at the magical cord on the dining table. "Start with ten meters of the magical cord stuck on that gun and enlightening me on its properties."
Bach, Cideeda, and Dretphi sit around the dining table with thick roll-out pads and layered cloths covering sections of the tabletop. Detaching the barrel of her field stripped sub-machine gun, Dretphi runs a cleaning rod down the length. Cideeda checks the ejector of her shotgun, oils a few spots, and removes the bright orange safety plug from the chamber. Cycling it to her satisfaction, she puts the rubber chunk back in and stows the weapon into a carrying case. Bach hovers the cloud of parts for his plasma pistol between his hands. With his fingers twitching, a few parts shift with the final tweaks and lock into place. The pistol reassembles itself and floats gently down to the pad in front of Bach. Cideeda shakes her head with a toothy grin. "That's STILL fascinating to me. By the way, since you are done, could you..."
Leaning over in her chair below the table level with her long fluffy tail counter-balancing, she hoists up the magically webbed up plasma rifle upon the tabletop. She taps a claw tip on the weapon and lifts an eyebrow. "Could remove the jam in and ON this thing, please? I'd really appreciate it."
Bach reaches out, grabs the magical cord attached to the rifle, and draws up the slack. Coiling the bundle in his hand, his eyes flick blue, and a pulse of magical flow rushes down his arm. Energy threads retreat from the gun, and the excess material dissipates back to the thick of the cable. Lifting the bundle off the table, he glances around with an uncertain grimace, searching spots around the area. Dretphi curiously quirks her brow. "What are you looking for?"
Bach twists his mouth indecisively. "Well... Trying to find a place to put this. I don't want it. I'm full up energy wise, so breaking it down is a waste."
An evil smile emerges on Cideeda's light brown face, and she eagerly holds her hand out. "Hey! Let me have it! I got an idea."
Bach passes the coil over apprehensively. Signaling both Bach and Dretphi close, Cideeda lifts the cord up. "Sotalia has been wanting this ever since we got back from the mission. She's left it alone..."
She flashes a sharp smirk. "Probably because she couldn't figure how to get it off the plasma rifle. And, the only reason she hasn't walked off with the whole thing is because I'd come looking for it."
Tilting his head to the side, Bach blinks confused and narrows his gaze. "Wait, why would she want the cord? I mean, I think Aristespha seems more interested in magical materials than Sotalia."
Dretphi chuckles softly to herself, eyes the hallway, and whispers. "She likes to collect magical oddities. Of all varieties. An obsession."
Flicking her furry ears, Cideeda playfully groans with an emerald green eye roll and scoots her chair back. "Gods, that's a NICE way of putting it. When it comes to oddball magical garbage, she's practically a damn hoarder. If it wasn't for all the folded space frame carriers we have, we'd need a separate trailer to haul it all."
She peeks at the hallway entry, wagging her long fluffy tail, and walks softly into the kitchen prep and pantry area. Stepping next to the garbage can near the garage door, she waves the cord side to side at Bach with an excited grin and plops it upon the tile floor. A few stealthy steps later, she aims her voice towards the hallway. "Hey, Bach!"
Bach blinks bewildered and tilts his head confused. Cideeda points at Bach and motions her hand from her mouth to the hallway. An understanding sparks in Bach, and he aims his voice down towards the hall archway. "Oh, um. Yes?"
Cideeda gracefully slides herself into her chair and raps her claw tips upon the tabletop. "What do you want me to do with this magical cord from the plasma rifle?"
Searching his mind for a response, Bach projects his casual tone. "Uh, well, I don't know. I don't want it. Just put it by the garbage can in the kitchen for now."
Grabbing hold of a chair next to her, Cideeda dramatically slides it around. She mentally counts off a few seconds with furry ear twitches and moves the wooden chair back into place. Leaning out to the team, she whispers. "Now... Act like you're working and wait for the show."
The three work on their tasks, occasionally sneaking a peek towards the archway. Minutes of idle activity pass on by, and faint wooden creaks sound out from the hall. Sotalia confidently strides out of the hallway. She casually glances over the gathering at the dining in route to the kitchen. Humming a tune to herself, she adjusts her loose fitting t-shirt in front of the refrigerator. She opens the door to the fridge and briefly darts her eyes towards the dining table. Behind the cover of the open fridge door, she slowly dips down below the line of sight from the bar window into the space from the dining table. Clanks and plastic shuffles sound out. In between the thinly veiled diversions of rearranging fridge items, frustrated, quiet grunts and clumsy movement upon the tile floor contrast the other noises.
The scrambling sounds stop with a relieved sigh. Sotalia pops back up with a vegetable snack pack and a sports drink in hand. Pulling her shirt down over the waistband of her shorts, she casually closes the fridge door. She swiftly steps to the hall archway with a nonchalant exterior. Cideeda winks at Bach and Dretphi. Sotalia passes near the dining table. Cideeda flicks a part off the table towards Sotalia. "Oh, damn it. Hey, can you get that for me, Sotalia?"
Sotalia freezes mid step, pivots slowly, and nervously smiles. "Oh! Sure."
Squatting down to the floor, she keeps her back straight and her midsection quite inflexible. She snatches the part from the floor, carefully stands back up, and drops the piece into Cideeda's awaiting hand. "There you go. Now, back to reading! You all have fun with your, um, fixing and stuff."
Sotalia swiftly slips into the hallway, and faster footsteps upon wooden floor echo out. Placing her elbow on the table, Cideeda props her chin within her hand and just shakes her head. Dretphi returns her gaze from the hallway and smiles humored. "She does try."
Cideeda shrugs and dismisses with a wave of her free hand. "Oh, I know. Wrapping the cord around the waist wasn't a bad idea. I've got to give her some credit this time."
Scratching the back of his head, Bach bounces his confusion between Dretphi and Cideeda. "Huh. Okay. Why be so secretive? What am I missing here?"
With a toothy grin, Cideeda laughs and points towards the hallway. "Oh! It's because we've given her so much shit about collecting all that magical crap. She says all the time that she's totally going to prune and clean up her collection. But, when something catches her eye, she'll try to get it without us noticing. That way, we don't have a chance to call her out on it."
Dretphi taps Bach on the shoulder, smiling. "Matter of her pride. Similar to when she stole your last piece of bacon at the Amaranth Dining House."
Bach blinks his blue eyes and furrows a distant stare inwards. Moments of sorting through a rush of memory play out on his face, and Bach's jaw drops. His expression slips into disbelief, and he straightens his posture with the realization. "The fuck? She stole a piece of my bacon? Wait, what- Why?"
Perking her furry ears with a surprised flick of her tail, Cideeda covers mouth and giggles. "OH GODS. That's right. I thought I saw her fork move down on your plate."
She glances up into her mind and nods with a hint of respect. "Wow. She actually moved quick that time. I only caught a bit of it out of the corner of my eye."
Bach leans forward in his chair, a tight frown on his face, and furrows his brow contemplatively. "But... Uh... Why didn't she just ask, or just order some more?"
Dretphi locks the last part into her submachine gun and places the reassembled weapon in its case. "Pride. Image. Ego."
She uncovers something on the floor. Her arm muscles tighten, and she raises her huge machete up and carefully places it down upon the tabletop. Sorting through her repair kit, she procures a magnifying glass and starts inspecting the glimmering edge. Bach carefully examines the section of blade closest to him curiously. "So, what are you looking for exactly? It seems like it doesn't have a scratch on it."
Gliding a metal pick along the edge of the blade, Dretphi quickly examines it to satisfaction and glances up from the magnifying glass. "Inspecting the blade. Verifying the enchantment upon the edge remained intact. Our last enemies were significantly hard."
Cideeda breaks from examining the plasma rifle and gazes at Bach with an inquisitive glint. "Speaking of which... Bach? Have you done any weapon or armor enchantments before?"
Blinking in thought, Bach furrows his brow and stares internally. Seconds later, he shakes his head and grimaces. "No. I don't think I've ever really tried any REAL enchanting. Never had any spare weapons or armor to experiment with."
Dretphi and Cideeda exchange eager grins. Cideeda leans close to Bach, perks her furry ears, wags her long, fluffy tail, and flutters her emerald green eyes at him. "Would you like some?"
A constant curtain of rainfall drops down upon the rural region surrounding Amaranth Valley. Water flows through the manmade drainage paths along with the natural topography, and the trickles merge into larger currents. The creek in the nearby woods swells to the edges of its banks, the water sweeping away loose debris. The chorus of drops upon the roof drums a low background drone inside the ranch style house. Bach places down a large rifle barrel next to others on the tabletop. Tracing the length of the barrel with his studious stare, he rocks his head side to side uncertainly. "I... I might be able to do something. Um, anti-friction coating inside the barrel? Maybe some micro-grooves on the rifling? I'm really not sure what you'd want on something like this."
Cideeda energetically pantomimes something bursting out in front of her. "Can you make it so the rounds sent through it explode into fire on impact?!"
She leans closer with an eager, sharp grin. "That's possible, right?"
Bach's face blanks, and he tilts his head blinking. Cideeda's excitement wanes, and she gauges Bach's reaction. Lowering his head down to inspect the barrel closer, Bach furrows his brow, and inspiration brews within. He mumbles a debate with himself and mutters out a grand plan. "But... Put mechanisms to... How much energy can I take from the round and convert... Then..."
Perking her furry ears, Cideeda cranes head around and focuses upon the quiet discussion. Pieces of words slip out, and excitement flushes back into her face. Reading the mood shift, Dretphi awaits in anticipation. Bach pulls in a deep breath and holds his forehead contemplatively. He mulls over the options in a series of unsure winces and uncertain grimaces. Taking his hand off his forehead, he furrows his brow and shrugs with a hand held up. "It would take A LOT of testing to get it right. There's a good chance a barrel might get melted in the process. Or, at least, get REALLY REALLY HOT."
He glances off the side of his thoughts. "Might melt the rounds before that point... What would that do..."
Dretphi and Cideeda smile at each other. Sitting back in her chair at the dining table, Cideeda stretches her light brown arms back and flexing her clawed fingers. "More reasons to shoot guns? Well, I'm not going to argue."
Bach picks up a submachine gun round on the table and grabs a shotgun shell in the other hand. "I might be able to do something with these rounds. I know I need to be careful with the submachine gun stuff, since there's stuff with, like, the gasses and recoil that are important."
Granting an understanding nod, Dretphi cracks a smirk on her tan face. "Gas operated with an intricate mechanism. Do not worry. Will explain later."
Bach smiles gratefully and turns his attention to the other munition. "Shotgun shells, I think give me a little more room to work in. We might have to do something to barrel, depending on what you want."
Sinking back into the chair, he sighs and squints distantly at the figures inside his mind. "It'll take some time to figure it out... And, I can only make so many a day. Now, if you want simple part performance tweaks, THAT I can do fast enough."
Cideeda and Dretphi discuss amongst each other, pointing out specifics in the party arsenal. During the detailed debate between the two, Bach casually picks up his plasma pistol on the pad in front of him. He removes the power pack and presses the safety discharge button a few times. Holding up in the air, he points it at the ceiling and rotates it thoughtfully. Narrowing his blue eyes, he gazes upon the workings of the device, angles different components into view, and examines the machine in his grip. He relaxes his shoulders, and a flush of blue illuminates his stare.
Flows of magical energy creep up along his arm onto and into the plasma pistol. The weapon partially disassembles. Parts shift, new magical components manifest in place, and the assembly melds together. The top lifts up, the sides of the barrel housing expand outwards, and the muzzle slides forward a few centimeters. Gaps between the outer casing fill with magical plating. Minutes of methodical process later, the last traces of flow drift off the magically bolstered plasma pistol. A confident, roguish grin grows from the corner of Bach's mouth.
Bach admires the device in his hand. Furrowing his brow against flits of doubt, he fights back the uncertainty and summons up an experimenter's courage to the unknown. His blatant satisfaction fades against the awkward stares of Dretphi and Cideeda. Resorting to waving a hand in front of Bach, Cideeda narrows her gaze. Bach blanks his face, and his eyes dart around the room with embarrassment filling in the gaps. "Uh... Y-yes?"
Cideeda exhales briefly with relief and grins toothily. "Good, you're back with us again. You zoned out for a while there, and we didn't want to interrupt you."
She rolls her eyes and smirks at Bach. "But, I figured you were done when you started to admire your latest doomsday weapon like some kind of evil mad scientist."
Shuddering with a frown at the last part, Bach's gut tenses up uncomfortably. He eyes the plasma pistol with less enthusiasm. "Yeah. Well, this might be a bit overkill."
Dretphi pats Bach on the shoulder. "Overkill today. Enough kill tomorrow."
Cideeda nods, flicks her furry ears, and gives Bach a knowing gaze honed from experience. "Oh, don't be afraid to put a few aces up your sleeves. The key is to keep them hidden until they are needed the most. A lot of people forget that part."
She points at claw tip at Bach. "Don't want to give your enemies time to prepare."
An odd comfort exudes from the wisdom, and Bach relaxes. Agreeing with an accepting nod, he shifts his attention back to the plasma pistol. "Yeah. First, I have to find out if everything I did actually works. But, until then..."
The magical augments gradually vanish. The floating parts hover, reassemble themselves, and lock back into their original places. Bach places the pistol, holster, and power cell into a nearby case. Idly brushing her platinum braids, Dretphi eyes the glimmering edge of her machete and perks her brow at Bach. "What can you do for melee weapons?"
Gritting his teeth, Bach rocks his head side to side. "Ah. Yeah... If you get the weapon how you want it, I know how to apply a stabilization matrix onto and into it to help keep it that way. It's similar to what's on your machete right now. As for putting magical edges on things, I'm actually a little wary to experiment on THAT."
He twists his mouth against a grimace. "Especially after my experiences making a knife and fork with stabilized magical energy."
Wagging her tail curiously, Cideeda blinks thoughtfully. Catching a similar reaction from Dretphi, Cideeda levels an inquisitive stare at Bach and awaits a further explanation. Lowering his head in embarrassment, Bach summons his composure. "Okay. Long story short. The knife sliced through the tough steak I had... Right into the last ceramic plate I had left."
He briefly grits his teeth and glances off to the side, his eyes drifting down to the floor with a playback of memory. "The fork fell off the table, landed tines first, and stuck itself a centimeter into the vinyl and wood floor."
Dretphi and Cideeda stare in wide-eyed shock. Bach throws his hands up in resignation. "I know. After that, I've avoided THAT application until I can make anything like that safe. Well..."
Narrowing a glance off to the side, he curls a humored partial smile. "At least safe enough for the user. Gods, I'm glad that fork fell off before I tried to eat with it. That would have been a BAD time."
He holds up a finger and smirks with a tinge of confidence. "Now, spoons on the other hand... THOSE, I can do just fine."
Inspiration glints within Cideeda's emerald green eyes, her long, fluffy tail wags eagerly, and she perks her furry ears. "Make me a spoon."
Bach and Dretphi exchange confused stares and squint expectantly at Cideeda. Slyly smiling, Cideeda waves a hand towards the kitchen counter with cereal boxes upon it. "We'll place it over there. Then, we'll see how long before Sotalia steals it. We can even get a betting pool going."
A greed glint lights up Cideeda's eyes. "I'm sure Aristespha will want to join in."
The collective plot manifests between intrigued glances at each other. Bach holds his palm up, and a flash radiant blue illuminates his eyes.
Dragging her wandering gaze across the dimly lit bedroom, Aristespha refocuses upon the screen, jots down a few lines of notes, and saves the document on her tablet. She reaches behind her and rearranges the pillow stack to a supportive satisfaction along her back. Sebastian's ethereal visage materializes next to her on the bed. He nonchalantly hangs an arm around her with the ethereal form phasing with the contact. "So, brushing up that sex scene in the chapter of your latest slash fic?"
Aristespha lets the tablet fall onto her night-gown covered chest and gently swings her amused gaze at Sebastian, sarcasm tinting her voice. "Why, yes! I think I have settled on a surprise three-way now, with a voyeur hiding in the closet."
Sebastian grins smugly and meets Aristespha's gaze, perking his eyebrows. "Ooo... Is that a double entendre?"
Pausing in thought, Aristespha snorts lightly and vainly hides a guilty smile, averting her gaze away briefly. Sebastian peeks over and motions for her to flip the tablet back up. "So, what were you actually writing down?"
Aristespha tilts the tablet up and reveals a sundry of writing with magical symbols, scribbles around curious points, and overflowing footnotes. "Oh. Just my research. Nothing really that exciting. Unfortunately..."
Sebastian's translucent blue eyes wander towards the title line of a referenced paper. "Effects of counter-phased magical energy exposure?"
He blinks a few times and aims his stare upon the digital page. "Wow. Huh. That's an oddly specific field of study. What are you reading it for?"
Furrowing her brow, Aristespha sighs and gazes at Sebastian. "Your brother, of course."
She slowly scrolls a finger upon the display and scans over the dense lines of text. "So far, it's all inconclusive. Again, there is certainly more to his story that he has yet to tell."
Sebastian drops his head down and ethereally groans. "In time, dear. I'm really sure he'll tell it all in-"
With faintly glowing violet eyes, Aristespha holds onto Sebastian's hand and speaks softly. "It's okay. Really. We all have our stories that are uncomfortable to talk about. And..."
Narrowing her internal stare, she twists her pondering smirk. "I have gotten enough information to begin to understand how he manipulates his magic."
Against the flows of magic coating Aristespha's hand, Sebastian lightly squeezes her hand and ponders out loud. "Begin to understand?"
He turns his head and gazes at her face, hoisting up an playfully incredulous eyebrow. "You? Don't you have it figured out? You usually figure these things out well before I even know what the question was, dear."
Twisting her mouth, Aristespha shrugs her shoulders and groans into a sigh. "Sebastian, I consider myself very proficient in magical knowledge and practice. But..."
She stares right at Sebastian and tugs at the corner of her mouth. "To put it in a common way... Some of the shit your brother does would freak out the experts well above me at the Grand Library. I honestly have difficulty perceiving half of what he does."
Sebastian blinks in astonishment and grows more concerned with a tinge of worry. "Is there anything I can do? Anything I need to look out for? Or, maybe anything I can ask him?"
Aristespha slides down into the bed sheets and sinks her head of long silvery blue hair into the plush pillows. "No. Not right now. He's fine. He has outstanding control of his abilities, and he is capable. It's just..."
Gazing down at Aristespha, Sebastian turns his head curiously. "It's just...?"
Pulling up the sheets, Aristespha squirms for comfort within the covers. "I have diagnosed and treated people with magical disabilities. I have discussed advanced topics with professionals who specialize in that field. People have found effective ways to treat, compensate, and work around such disabilities. But..."
She drifts off in thought, gazing at Sebastian's concerned face. "I do not believe anyone has taken the route Bach has, certainly with any degree of success. Especially not to such an extreme..."
Sebastian slowly leans over Aristespha into the line of her stare up to the ceiling, cocking his head in a mix of concern and curiosity. "No one has taken the route? To such an extreme? What are you talking about?"
Aristespha draws in a long, deep breath, refocuses her gaze at Sebastian with a few blinks of her violet eyes, and ponders out loud. "I have read up the case studies and even interviewed a number of people with different kinds of magical disabilities. Some developed such issues through extreme over-exertion. Others through gross malpractice of magics that were already horrifically dangerous. And, a few, that developed conditions after encounters with a Nightmare Geist."
Glancing over at the tablet, Sebastian squints at the on-screen document's title and nods slowly. "Counter-phased magical energy exposure?"
Furrowing her brow, Aristespha sighs and wrestles down a frown. "Yes. Exposure to such can have a variety of long-term to permanent effects. Reduced throughput from the Abstract Prism. Reduced capacity for the amount of energy you keep near you. Hindered ability to flow and will what is on you. The frustrating part is how inconsistent the developed issues and severity of those issues are."
She rolls her eyes and groans with a hint of sarcasm. "The only consistent aspect is how inconsistent it is."
Brushing her long hair back with her fingers, she studies the thick text on her tablet screen. "But... How to explain this..."
She narrows her stare internally and wanders her gaze between the thoughts in her mind. "Almost all people with counter-phased magical energy exposure related magical disabilities CAN NOT will flow as they have previously. Attempts to do so either are greatly diminished or completely ineffective."
Sebastian gradually nods and peeks at the notes written in evuukian script in the margins of the tablet's document page. "Okay. That sounds kind of familiar."
Drawing in a long breath through her nose, Aristespha huffs out hints of frustration. "But, it is NOT."
Turning his head quickly to Aristespha, Sebastian blinks, awaiting further explanation. Aristespha narrows her focus upon her pondering. "As I said, these people CAN NOT. They try and try in different ways. They exercise their ability to their utmost limits and exhaust themselves. From there, many develop compensation tactics and explore means to refine their abilities. They are aware of their limitations and work within them."
Sebastian furrows his brow and drifts his ethereal form into a sitting position on the bed, crossing his arms. "Okay. Again, that sounds kind of familiar. I don't see what's different from what Bach is doing-"
Aristespha snaps a stern stare at Sebastian. "That is NOT what he is doing."
Rearing his head back, a wave of concern washes over Sebastian, and he awaits quietly. Aristespha relaxes and sighs out her tension, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What I mean is... People with such limitations account their entire..."
She rolls her hand in a holding pattern for the rest of her though. "Budget of power. And, they anticipate on using that entire budget if needed. Bach..."
Squinting her eyes, she glances off to the side with an uncertain grimace. "It feels like he's AVOIDING getting near that limit."
Sebastian rocks his head side to side and shrugs slightly. "Well, given how he practically collapses when he pushes himself too hard, that makes sense. I mean, you wouldn't want to be completely useless in a big fight. And, it makes complete sense to pace yourself in general."
Clicking off the tablet in her hands, Aristespha exhales the traces of her irritation and sets the device down off to the side of the bed upon a pile of books and notes. "That does make some sense, Sebastian. I guess. The problem is I can NOT figure out what would drive someone to choose extreme optimization and going beyond direct casting to such a degree. There are easier and more available ways to budget and pace your magical abilities."
She flops back upon the stack of pillows on the bed and grumbles, contorting a sneer. "Something has driven and is driving that development."
Sebastian cocks his head to the side and studies the intellectual annoyance manifesting on Aristespha face. "You're frustrated that you can't figure this out."
Aristespha crosses her arms over the sheets on her chest and huffs, averting her gaze away from Sebastian's truth seeking stare. Shaking his head, Sebastian chuckles reassuringly and drifts his ghostly form to a laying position upon the bed. "Hey. You have to consider my brother here. He was already really skilled at direct casting and didn't even quite realize it. He didn't know what to do after the whole incident, so he left everything behind. So, it's not like he had access to or was in the right frame of mind to get help and services to tell him other methods. So..."
He props his head upon his hand and shrugs his shoulders. "This stuff was probably the first thing he found that got the results he wanted, and he just went for it. It sounds like he had a lot of time to explore and develop all that he's done. Think about it. You lose so much, and you finally find something that works. Wouldn't you go all in on that?"
Aristespha narrows her stare upon Sebastian, quietly contemplates between side to side rolls of her head upon the pillow, and groans out her begrudging agreement. "That... That does make sense. It is a logical conclusion. That may very well be the case."
Spotting the forming smug smirk upon Sebastian's face, Aristespha snaps a point at Sebastian and playfully squints her eyes, her very long, pointed ears twitching. "Oh, do not act like this is some great intellectual debate win for you."
Sebastian rolls his eyes away and exaggerates a long, dramatic sigh, faux pouting. "You can NEVER let me have a win in that department."
Shaking her head, Aristespha huffs into a chuckle and snorts. "FINE. You presented information that has swayed me to another likely explanation, that with all current information... Sounds more plausible. I have to agree with you."
Glancing over at Aristespha, Sebastian grins devilishly. "Was that so hard?"
Aristespha squirms around under the sheets and settles into her spot upon the bed. Perking an eyebrow, she slyly smirks. "Absolutely excruciating."
Her hand reaches out for a nearby nightstand lamp, and she twists a light switch. With a few clicks to different light levels, the bedroom falls into darkness. Through the bedroom window, the cloudy night sky passes by, small gaps between the stormy coverage revealing a few stars. Within the room, a collective of small and dim device status lights illuminates the larger surfaces and edges of the space. Sebastian's visage dissipates into the sword within its sheath at the side of the bed. "Night, dear."
Aristespha smiles softly and sighs. "Good night, Sebastian.
Mischievously squinting her eyes, Aristespha mumbles to himself. "...still think he's avoiding something..."
From the sword, Sebastian's voice resonates out. "What did you say?"
Aristespha pulls up covers over her face and dismissively states, hiding her expression from sight of the sword. "Nothing at all."
In the vast control center, under the aged lighting of old overhead lamps, an alert flashes up on the screen of the console in the front line of rows of idling computer equipment. A chime rings out from a newer laptop upon the nearby desktop space, and a new status message scrolls up on a terminal window. Snorting towards some semblance of consciousness, the blue scarfed man in a worn office chair stirs from his slumber and blinks his gray eyes, searching around the lines of computer stations and idle equipment. He squints his attention up to the large flat monitors upon the room's front concrete wall and wanders his stare down at the old, dust bordered screen immediately in front of him. Summoning the rest of his consciousness, he leans closer to the console and studies the latest prompt.
"Transfer Completed."
The blue scarfed man opens his eyes wide, and an eager smile parts his lips. He slowly nods and turns his attention over to the laptop. Swiftly typing out a well-rehearsed series of key commands, he watches the scroll of text from terminal windows and grins slyly. "Yes... All there. Just what the notes said. Good. Very good."
He exhales a long sigh of relief and relaxes his shoulders, stretching his neck to either side with brief winces at the furthest extensions. Furrowing his brow, he eyes the old computer console before him and rests his hands upon the worn, aged keyboard. He types in series of commands, responses ranging between error statements and acceptable commands spewing forth lines of output text. He cocks his head to the side, glances around the huge dimly lit room, and searches the darker recesses away from the illumination of ancient overhead lighting and glowing magical orbs hovering around. He levels his attention to the screen in front of him, shrugs indifferently, and types out a long command at the blinking prompt. With a tap of the return key, he sits back in his chair and waits, expectantly scanning the vast space of control systems around him.
From the shadows, a loud, muffled thunk sounds out. A motorized feed mechanism churns, and a servo driven belt rolls back and forth. A chorus of rhythmic high pitch noises peak out of the background din of idle computation, and the swift flutter of moving paper sounds out. The scarfed man stands up from the rolling seat, maneuvers around the rows of computers system and over roughly organized piles of old documentation, and wanders towards the source of the technological cacophony. Within a corner of the huge room, a lone, free-standing industrial dot matrix printer dutifully prints, a constant output of tractor feed paper folds precisely into the output tray.
A humored smile widens on the man's aged face, and he slowly nods with an appreciative hint in his tone. "All this time... You still work as you always have. Yet another old way that still functions as it should."
Pages leave the ancient machine, lines of text appearing with increasing contrast with each pass of the old printer head. Blank paper tractors into the system, the vibrations shaking years of dust from the material. Minutes of printing halt, and the last page feeds out to the dividing perforation. The scarfed man rests a gloved hand one side and gently pulls the other side with his free hand, the paper tearing cleanly. He sweeps up the stack of output and walks back over to the front row console, quietly chuckling to himself and nodding satisfied. Searching around the space near the computer system, he opens up his large hiking pack and retrieves an expanding folder. He sorts through the mix of older papers, newer documents, and pages of written notes, briefly inspecting each section on his hunt. Stopping at one part of the packed container, he pulls out a large, thick packet of paper. With each careful motion, he unfolds the map larger and larger.
Glancing around the area, he finds a small table, clears the dusty junk off the top, and lays out the geographical chart upon it. He flops the fresh printout upon the map. From a pocket of his worn cotton dress pants, he retrieve a pencil. Pulling the office chair over a few stray cables and folds in the deteriorated carpeting, he sits down, pulls up close to the tabletop, and studies the map and printout. He bounces his attention between the two and parts a plotting grin, narrowing his eyes upon the list on one document and glancing over to a spot on the chart. "Now... Where to search next?"