User blog:MockingJester/The Gary afterthought: Initiation

Elizabeth walks past the innkeeper. He was crouched beside one of his employees taking and giving room keys. His eyes salivate over the entirety of gold nested in her previous pouch, captivating him utterly in a grand tunnel vision.

The warm outside air greets her expanding lungs. The light welcomes her sight. Her skin feels the cozy touch of ambient temperature, a sure way to set one to a radiant day. Her whole self attunes in accordance with her senses, fully integrating the sensations waiting to be experienced under a second much deeper breath.

Her thoughts go to the nearest market, following behind her feet already tracing the path. Images of the asserted man pass over her mind's eyes, noting the detail of the hammer she spotted earlier. A blue metallic finish on the edge of the handle seamlessly washed to a dark shaft, most likely painted this manner...at least until the middle, which she remembers glowing with a soft microsphere. Probably the source of the hammer's strength, humming in blue and clad in a second sphere merging metal and reinforced glass. The black wood soon resumed the link from it to the hammer's head, yet bathed in a mithril color featuring a few notes of light merely present to indicate the status of its awareness. A stray of light lines across the head and beyond.

"Sounds as much unique to its user as his friend's rapier" she whispers with no thought to convey her words to anyone around her, rapidly observing the swirling crowd filling the veins of the streets, embroiled in their own immediate financial decisions.

Light comes to inhabit her oculus, presented as but a basis in an expert's array of spells. The people, the objects, the ambient light, all slowly begin to reject the concept of opacity, fleeting to its counterpart. Transparency to all but the outlines of their essence, instead, filled with the invisible force that is mana, only visible enough to avoid any unfortunate bump.

She sweeps to the right. She sweeps to the left, searching for an atypical fellow at the rhythm of five per second. Looking at the foreground. Nothing.

Her eyes increase in their acuity to the middle ground, forsaking the fore as but a sight unneeded. Sweeping a second time, looking for an oddity. Again, she meets none that bears the mantle of a foreign.

A heightened power now grazes her Witch sight, dissipating those at the middle ground as dust to focus on the background. Initially, nothing. The sea of mana she visually samples all dance in a uniform tide, bound by the attachment of the city as the people's home.

She sighs softly, looking anew. A bountiful tide of blue continued to stride before her, all tranquil, all inert all...

"Hmm?" Elizabeth adjusts her glasses as a spot of blue was different. Her vision tunnels around the blue who rejects familiarity with the tide of mana, allowing it to return to its non-visible state.

Another whisper seeps from her lips, quiet and poised as if she's had found something shortly forgotten "There he is...". The acknowledging of everything set aside in her otherworldly sight is immediate, yet gradual. The opacity, then the colors, then the movement. His movement.

Gary bore two hefty bags in brown, walking carefully. His step trampling away from anyone featuring any extra appendages. Horns, wings, slit eyes, fur. His price came as an impoverished walk, constantly forced to delay a pass or turn to a longer path.

"Come on...why is there so many of them?" Her concentration muffles out the ambient noise of their surrounding save for the complaint of a filled market, guiding herself through his unending whine "Seriously, it's not like some celebrity just up and keeled over in this place!"

Her walk is deliberate as it is modest. Fingers play on her glasses' frames over eyes that follow the exasperated individual. Being another stranger to the townsfolk, Elizabeth's makeup starkly stood out to the grumbling man, the latter's notice expending walking motion from his subconscious. He was still as a statue, mimicked by the woman as a subtle call.

Like a deer staring at something illuminating, Gary stares back, his mask unable to hinder the risen eyebrow of a dumbfounded expression "Huh, almost looks like she's staring at me..." The strangeness already peels off him, slow to turn in front of him "Aw well, probably just looking for--eh?"

Snapped back from the corner of his eye, Gary sees the woman lift a finger. A thought lights up in his mind, one that he directly contests with a slight lean to the side. He sees her moving as well, re-adjusting her hand "The hell?"

His reflex springs him to the opposite, trying to dismiss the growing potential of a stranger calling him out. To no avail, her finger again traced at the middle of his sight "The hell?!"

A hurry possesses Gary, the thought of meddling with some woman, an unwanted outcome for the lad. The leftover grace falls from his picked up pace through the mob at the opposite of the direction for the inn "Forget this...!"

His eyes turn to the opposite direction from where he flees from, the sight of sapphire dissipating amidst the crowd "Better a detour than--

His stomach tickles and rumbles as any would in the even of an omen. Stopping to wonder why the proverbial chill climbed up his spine, the answer came to face him. Literally.

"You..." A voice before him calls out. In his direction. To his person. The improvised jog Gary exercise went under utter disarray as he was but a few centimeters from grazing Elizabeth's finger tagging him as her interested. A finger following his discorded fall to the floor, his back taking the entirety of the blunt. Even with his savings, squandering good food is a vehement no to the disgruntled man.

"Follow me..." Elizabeth walks close to the struggle of keeping his twin bags from spilling to the floor, only to take one before his senses acknowledge the thievery. As they catch up, so does his voice "Hey! My bag! Give it back!" He rushes upside to his feet, jogging after the woman casually walking from the market.

"Dude, give me my bag back!"

"I will..." Elizabeth continues her pace, the perfect river of hair over her back shifted as her expression turns back to him, colored in a stoïc mannerism "...you just have to follow me".

"..." Gary grumbles anew, forced to closely follow the one holding his bag hostage as she leads him astray from his temporal home. They pass the street bearing the inn in a rapid footing without even leaving him to see the place of his rest.

Instead, they turn to a yet again another corner with a more controlled amount walking through the interim of morning and noon. Here, she gravitates over a flight of steps leading to a large brown door. Gary broadens his vertical sight to the edge of the frame. The whole thing stands as a quiet atmosphere as well as its surrounding.

Elizabeth's opening of the door only furthers this feeling of calm and stillness, which really sinks itself deep in Gary's discernment, rending his ears less audible to the ambient noise outside of the stairs. The same quiet seemed to welcome him to its halls.

"Your bag rests on a table for you to claim..." she speaks in a soft tone, subtly goading him inside. He takes a step within, presented to an entirely different air. The outside rabble is rejected at its closing door, leaving the man to a warm modesty. His sight follows his resting ears and touches via the vision of endless rows of tomes and books. Scrolls and notes, all laying in order.

Gary's mind springs to feel the architecture surrounding him. The roof is nowhere near as large as the height within. Neither is the place. He looks to the furthest his sight can allow him, beyond roads of books. His attempt drops as he turns to the inner fold of this place "Darkness...not surprised".

Walking to the center, Gary's first thing he sees is his brown bag filled to the brim with culinary materials and accessories "Oh snap! There it is!" His feet accelerate the walk to meet the lonely bag with light shed upon it. Light from a dangling crystal entombed in silver.

However, as he approached his belonging, more appeared. Raw material. Tools. A book opened to a particular page. Gary's thought diverted from the yearning to merely take hold of his bag and leave this place. He was intrigued. The glow in his eye spoke of his curiosity.

A curiosity spotted by the woman that basically dragged him by the bag to this place, to this table. She laces her finger over the items delicately laying on soft silk, one for each type of material "I see you are curious about what lays before you". Her voice remains ever motionless to his ears, drawing his look to her sitting self.

"Well, anyone would be, honestly. Shoving things in a table as if to expect someone to start crafting". Gary turned from her returned look to eye the things littered in order before him.

"Indeed, it is. That imagery you see in the book. You will craft it for me". She states, a voice risen in an ïoda of authority, to Gary's dismissal.

"Hold on, hold on...that was that stunt you pulled here?! Basically forcing me here just to build something I don't even know? Seriously?"

"I did, and am" She rebuts, her hands not placing their fingers under her chin and a placid stare to the confused man staring down the material.

"Huh-uh, yes. Get some random guy to make something for you while not knowing what it is. Fantastic idea. Just get someone qualified for this. I mean..."

Gary makes a pass to one of the objects. A series of shining bars dabbling in silver "A bunch of silver bars? That's straight up magic you're trying to wring out for whatever reason. Weird magic. And then..."

He passes over to several inert gems barely colored in a fiery tone "Magic gems the size of a finger. Fire, I suppose, with the orange paint over them. A fire catalyst?"

Finally, his pace ends at what looks to be sparkling dust. A reasonable quantity " The equivalent of dry branches used to jumpstart a fire. A trigger using dubious sources to light the whole thing? Really, you'd need some wizard just to comprehend what all of this is doing here..."

"I did. He stands right in front of me. An engineer who hides his profession with the knowledge of the material laying before him. And will be paid should he manage to bring the picture of the book alive for me to carry".

"An engineer? Me? Some random guy--hold on..." Gary's tongue twists in itself at the second mention "...did you say paid? You can't be serious..."

Elizabeth takes one of her hands from under her chin, ever comfortable with keeping her placid gaze upon her guest. Her hand disappears from under the table, only to rise after the span of a few seconds holding another purse filled with gold coins. She slides it over the table to his side.

"Fifty gold coins for every functioning results..." She whispers, watching the man count the potential bounty with no change to her expression, her hands joined in the other.

"No bronze or silver...this is all gold. This...this can't be real..." Gary mumble, unable to believe what he sees. What he feels. Paid by a woman to craft something he never saw before "High-end pay too, what the...?" He stops, his eyes moving from the reward "You want me to make FIVE of those?"

"Yes. I expect that you would find this suitable for your profession". She speaks with no hesitation, no ponder. She knows this interests him. The coins, less so than the prospect of putting his true education to work on an unknown object.

His eyes lower again, fixating the tools as a sign of acceptance "Good. I will be observing your work. Worry not about my presence..."

"Sure, whatever..." Gary's voice lowers to a whisper as he takes hold of the tools and a silver bar "...not the first time someone gets curious anyway..."

Hours upon hours of work awaits Gary as he keeps the tome close to sight. Being unfamiliar with the item he was to make, baby steps were in accordance. Though, to his credit, the first prototype made shined to likeness to the detailed sketch on the page. From melting the metal to shaping it, his first task went to building the required pieces, his most consuming work.

In every step of the way, Gary's senses made the sight of the woman's eyes moving with his hands. His subtle and brash movement. No singular act escaped her. Frankly. he felt as if it was some test with the way she eerily watched.

Fortunately, the task was more time consuming than it was impossible, as five replicas of the picture now laid on the table, with still leftover material. Gary slumbers backward on his chair, exhausted by the mental inquiry this simple craft brought on his mind. Too many potential mishaps...

"I see you are finished with your task" Elizabeth rises from her seat "Then I shall test the veracity of their functionality. Move aside".

Her finger never leaves the table, tracing across its squared-shaped top to the other side where Gary hurridly departs from the chair. In fact, he already has his hands on his two bags and purse, looking to vacate the premises.

"Are you not staying to meet the fruit of your labor?" She turns to him with a violet stone on her hand.

"You told me to bounce. So I bounce--

"Merely from your chair, engineer. Surely you must be curious as to what exactly you made..." With no time to allow him a rebuttal, Elizabeth rubs the violet gem on her hand, manifesting a purple shade. One that she places at the heart of the spiked corners. It hums for seconds before bursting to an air of flame and heat. Or so it would seem...

Gary quickly reimburses path and takes a closer look, his bags left beside him "Woah...a fire...no, hold on..." The fire's dance was unnatural, all too perfect for a flickering element. He closes a hand, still under the scrutiny of the place's keeper. No heat...

"Aw great, all of this for magic candles..." Gary raises his eyes in exasperation.

"You seem disappointed in your craft, engineer" She retorts.

"Well, having hours spent on what is akin to a candle isn't a proud investment..."

"Arcane candles, engineer. Those who work in hostile environments would think otherwise of such a devise. Being able to assemble an item by mere sketch is no mundane feat". Her tone gains confidence, pressuring genuine praise in her words in spite of her expressionless visage.

"Yea, if you say so..." Gary's hands go to the bags, the things that got him here, to begin with, "If that is all--

"Actually..." Elizabeth gets herself up mid-sentence, walking in a rather sultry manner hidden by the ordinary attire. She snaps two fingers, chaining up to the rest of what are revealed to be magical candlesticks to light up in their make-believe flames. Crossing to Gary, she raises a hand his way, liable for a mid to firm shake "This little trial conducted has asserted a potential benefit among the two of us. If you would not mind, then I request a periodical return from you to this place to assist me in the technical side of crafting and building. Of course, you will be compensated for your time".

A faint smile scribbles on her face alongside her inviting hand to Gary. "So, you want my technical expertise once in a while? And how will you contact me? I'm not exactly one that lives here".

"Do not concern yourself with trivial matters. I would not be extending a hand if I did not have an answer for that".

"Hmm..." Gary turns up his eyes, briefly to think. The two-hundred and fifty coins resting in his pocket weighted heavily to her side. His metallic-coated hand stretches back to meet her finger-devoid glove "If you think you can a hold of me, then sure, I'll come to make certain things. It's not like there's an abundance of engineering need anyway".

"Excellent. Then we have a deal..." Their joined hands rise and fall as rigidly as possible, as typical of handshakes. Her other hand reaches out of her pocket "You should hold on to this". Her held hand swirls behind his own to aid in an unseen opening of palm long enough for an object to land on his hand. A gem-encrusted in a bloomed lazulite flower of metal. Its core softly glows in a pattern before growing inert.

"This will tell you of whenever I would require of your services. Its activation should prompt you to seek a reasonably open space for me to come to seek you with your next assignment". Her hand closes his fingers on the lazulite.

"Sure, I'll make some space to put it on". Gary watches her close his palm in an unnatural gentleness. He feels her fingers wrap around him, the soft touch rubbing on his hand. Of course, the lapse between her closing and their separation is short, as both made a step back fro the other.

Gary turns and walks away. Walks away through the door over her stare. Her hand was once more in her pocket, this time taking hold of some gleaming powder in her walk back to the further folds of her domain...

--- The morning and noon passed to the evening, marked by an orange sky making way for the dark. "Geez, I really sunk time in this place, did I?" He speaks to himself in the midst of his walk in a street starved of other idle walkers.

Gary opens his palm, revealing once more then lazulite flower of iron. A beauty to behold. He was well to make sure not to lose it...