As Maggie searched through the bulletin board, her enthusiasm decreased more and more with each announcement, as most of the posted jobs required some sort of skill she didn't have. There was plenty of work for blacksmiths, enchanters, tinkerers, builders, cooks... But no so much for rogue homunculi with a severe lack of worldly knowledge.

Just as she was about to turn away in disappointment, an announcement caught her attention. In it, the next words were written:

That intermediate part was what really peaked her interest, as it was the only request she had seen that didn't ask for proficiency in a specific craft or profession, and it even said there was good money to be made. Even though a cynical person would have thought this was too good to be true, (ergo, why the announcement was still posted) Maggie was too naive to see any issue with it.

So, she ripped the note out of the bulletin board and started following the route illustrated on the map, hoping this job will be her ticket to the culinary marvels that the Citadel had to offer.

edited 2nd Mar '16 2:00:51 PM by VPhantom

The Citadel of Fate - Menkhos' Treasure Shop

Aster pondered on the options that he had been given for a second. " Well, there crystals are not the most important part right now. There mostly for use as Soul Gems in the process of making Mage-Blades and it is not like I get too many of request for those. It 's mostly just regular enchanted weapons." he explained and then pondered for a bit more before continuing, " Now let's ser ... Copper would be pretty good, if it is good with both magic and electricity, specially since both I and Raiken have an affinity with the latter, so it should be for customers as well as for my own experimenting. Silver looks pretty good to have some on hand, as does steel too, " at this point, he reached his hand into his large leather pouch and withdrew a large handful of gold coins and showed it to the shopkeeper " Would this sufficient for about 10 pieces each of copper and steel, as well as 5 pieces of silver?"

On the back of his mind, the young mage-smith thought about a somewhat related but different matter. Several weeks ago, he had posted notices on a number of posting board across town. Each of these announced his need for an apprentice of his craft. He had hoped that there would quick response, but there still had been none. He supposed people thought the part about earning money without a need for previous experience was too good to be true. He would probably find no one looking for the job when she came back home today. At least it was worth a shot ...

Citadel of Fate - Streets

Fortunately, it seemed that her weak barrier was still enough to impede the collision. Probably had something to do with the fact that the girl, while apparently to be tall, also seemed to be rather light.

Lumina dispelled the barrier and lowered her extended hand. It was at this point that the girl began to talk profusely. She wasn't able to get all that she was saying, but thanks to the superior hearing her large elven ears afforded her, she was at least able to understand that the girl was apologizing and that she and her companion where in a rush.

" I-It's OK, it was an accident after all. J-Just try to be more careful, O-OK?" she replied rather meekly, " W-Why all the rush, if you don't mind me asking?"'

"...I didn't...get it," Parker sighed, slumping in the rocking chair. However, not wanting to leave Ulysses disappointed, he tried as hard as he could to interpret what Ulysses had told him. Finally, he answered, "I think it's that...she turned you back on?"

"No, no, it's fine," Shinji said. "And... W-well," Shinji cracked a smile as he sputtered out the beginning of a thought, "male Kaitans don't have...boobs."

"...actually, why do Kaitans have," he stopped and fumbled for the word, "breasts anyway? Wouldn't you have, y'know, little teats? ...a-anyway, I'm rambling. Have a good day, ma'am."

Griffin snatched the bag of gold from Aster's hands and looked inside of it, ruffling through the coinage until he looked pleased.

"Yea," he nodded assuredly, "it's enough."

Citadel of Fate, Menkhos' Treasure Shop

Ulysses nodded, his noises implying something along the lines of agreement with Parker's statement. After that he fell silent for a short while, it was obvious he was not really used to talking to someone who couldn't understand what he said, not that he was annoyed by it or something, if anything he seemed kinda... helpless, or, more fitting, lost.

Inside though Aicha couldn't help but chuckle "S-Sorry... but that wasn't something I expected, I mean male Humans don't have breasts either, now do they?" She paused for a short moment - still chuckling she pointed at Shinji as if for him to look down on him and realize that fact for himself, she couldn't help it, since not only did that statement catch her completely off guard, but also that her... attributes weren't even that remarkable - neither by Kaitan nor by Human standards. And that was actually something that she quite enjoyed, this way she drew less... unwanted attention of the wrong kind, additionally unlike a few other Kaitan she covered them by more than just fur, all this meant that she couldn't really get why Shinji was reacting so awkward to her. Though while she was amused by Shinji's reaction she quickly became serious "Also we Kaitans are a lot more Human than you might think, if you want treat me like an animal... well I can only advise you against it."
While saying that Aicha indeed even made a serious face, that was not something she treated lightly. After a short pause though she smiled again "Oh... and if you want to go that route, just let me tell you preemptively - no, male Kaitan don't have what you would expect male cats to have... trust me, its better for us all." After she finished talking she flipped a few coins on the counter "For the food."

As she was doing this a sudden realization rushed through Aicha's mind... what if the reason for his behaviour wasn't her? What if the armlet she just brought was enchanted with a weak 'Attract' spell or something along those lines? Suddenly feeling kind of embarrassed Aicha tried to hide as much fur as possible under her cloak again, it wasn't even Shinji's words that made her feel uncomfortable, rather the fact that this maybe all happened without her knowledge and against her will.

edited 3rd Mar '16 1:20:43 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

"Oh, phew! Sorry, again. Well, me-"

She points at herself.

"-and my brother-"

She points at Thule, who nods again.

"Not much of a talker. As I was saying, we're going off to explore different places! So, we gotta get ready! Buy things we'll need, make sure we're packing the right stuff for the places we're going...Phew, what a lot of work it is, but like I said, busy, busy, busy! Don't have much time!"

Thule goes and leans against a nearby wall, clearly content for a moment to stand still.

And there she goes. She's probably going to start spouting our life story out next. Ugh...

Citadel of Fate - Menkhos' Treasure Shop

" Good, good. That should be all for today, but I will be sure to check back on here whenever I need something like this." Aster responded, " Um ... Could you maybe get me the rest of the ore pieces, so that I can get going?"

Citadel of Fate Streets.

When the girl mentioned that the man behind her was her brother, Lumina couldn't help but notice that there wasn't much of a resemblance between the two. Aside from both of them being tall, they didn't look much alike. She even noticed that the girl apparently had eyes of different colors, one being red, whilr other was black. It was definitely not something that she had ever seen before.

" T-That sounds really exciting. I s-shouldn't keep you any longer if you got so much stuff to do before you guys leave, but" the elven girl replied, " m-mind if I ask where you are going? T-To another Storybook? I-I'm Lumina, by the way. Lumina Ixpellys. It's nice to meet you."

Shinji, meanwhile, was hoping Aisha would've moved on by now, but as she continued speaking, his face drooped to an expression somewhere between annoyed, bewildered, and bored. He didn't mind her company, and getting the info about her species was nice or whatever, but he had to move on, unfortunately.

Seeing the coins on the counter, Shinji picked them up and opened the cash register, letting the coins drop into their own special compartment, then slamming it in such a way as to shake the counter a little.

Shinji began, "Thanks for the...information. It was...interesting?" He was really trying not to hurt her feelings.

Griffin didn't even answer Aster, instead merely grabbing a small burlap sack and placing Aster's ores inside it.

"Here."

He holds out the bag, impatiently waiting for Aster to take it.

Citadel of Fate, Menkhos' Treasure Shop

Aicha put the can of beef inside her cloak, she saw Shinji's face which showed her two things:
A: She clearly had overstayed her welcome here and
B: Whatever spell the Armlet may would hold, it was not an Attract spell, which was good at least.

She didn't mind the first thing though, that wouldn't be the first time her visit in a shop was shorter than she expected, sometimes she even was kicked out - and one time quite literally. Still, she was glad at least that the armlet wasn't enchanted, or at least not with something along the lines of an 'Attract' spell.

The Kaitan put the hood over her head again, hiding her ears. She couldn't really do anything here. Her contact was right though, the owners were indeed wolves, yes, but still, for now she couldn't tell them why she was here. Maybe at a later point she could come back to this, but for now she needed to go, search for other inhabitants from Foreer Beast that would join her cause. With a last nod which probably was concealed by the hood she went outside the store. "Ulysses, had a good conversation?" The clicks that came back seemed to indicate agreement "Good~ Oh and sorry I couldn't get coal here, we'll go to the next smith." She turned to Parker "Hope you got to know what you wanted~ Maybe we'll see eachother again~" She kinda wanted to wait for a reply, but didn't want to risk anything. In the end she stayed for just a bit, waiting if Parker would say anything.

edited 5th Mar '16 4:30:55 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

"Oh, nowhere in particular, really. Anywhere except Earthland, Albion and Mysteria. We're saving those last two for after everything else, and we don't wanna go back to Earthland until our journey is finished, am I right? I'm Fawnia. Fawnia Narciel, and my brother's name is-"

"Thule."

Thule has walked back up to the conversation, and uttered a single word. He nods at Lumina again. Fawnia looks a bit puzzled at her brother's sudden spoken word, but quickly shakes her head to clear her thoughts.

"Yeah, he's Thule. Nice to meet you too!"

She beams a wide grin as she holds out her hand towards Lumina for a handshake.

edited 6th Mar '16 9:01:02 AM by UndyingPhoenix

Citadel of Fate -Menkhos' Treasure Shop -> Moving towards Aster's house

As Aster gently took the burlap sack from the shopkeeper's hand (claw?), he replied. " Thank you, good sir. Have a good day. Excuse me, but I really need to go for now. I will probably come back here soon enough, so see you later." With that he started to walk towards the door, waving goodbye as he did so..

Then he silently walked out the shop and started to make the journey towards his house/workshop.

Citadel of Fate - Streets

Lumina gave Fawnia a shy but warm smile as she extended her own hand out and briefly shook the other girll's with it. As she did so, she replied, " Oh, I-I assume you guys came from Earthland if you only want to go back there after y-you are done with everything else, right?"

Then she looked at the two siblings really nervously as she prepared to ask her next question. " Um ... I-I hope I'm not a-assuming too much by a-asking this but ... M-Mind if I tag along with you two? I don't really have anywhere else to go and ... This place never felt like a home to me ever since I ended up here after I ... Was f-forced to leave my village in Mysteria."

edited 6th Mar '16 10:29:55 AM by JamesShields

"Yeah, we're from Earthland. But I've wanted to go see the other Storybooks since forever."

Fawnia then seems surprisingly happy at Lumina saying she was from Mysteria.

"You're from Mysteria too? Me too! Well, originally. Thule is from Albion, and that's why we're saving those two for last. Sure you can come with! Thule won't mind at all, right Thule?"

She turns to Thule, the grin still on her face as her eyes almost plead him to say yes. Thule's face remains firm, but ultimately he just shrugs.

"That's good enough! He's fine with it."

Fawnia looks back at Lumina, still beaming.

"Anywhere you wanna go in particular first? We'll have more than enough time to go to every Storybook, so we aren't picky."

Fawnia is practically jumping with excitement.

Citadel of Fate - Streets

Lumina was not sure at first regarding how to feel about Fawnia's excited declaration that she was from Mysteria too. The place didn't exactly bring her happy memories, aside from those involving her parents, who were always loving towards her despite how pretty much everyone else at the village had treated her and how they had tried to protect her from it, which unfortunately eventually led to her having to leave and end up here in this city instead.

Still, Fawnia's excitement was easily contagious and she couldn't help smiling at her in response. " Y-Yeah, small world, huh? , she replied. And then her smiled only got bigger as both siblings accepted her request. She then quickly bowed before them and happily replied, " T-Thank you. T-To be honest, I guess I have been yearning to the rest of the worlds ever since I end up here at the Citadel."

And then when Fawnia asked where she would rather first, the elven girl pondered for a few seconds before answering, " Well ... H-How about going to Deamoria then? I-I have often heard about the plants that grow there, herbs with legendary healing properties, that can heal grave magical ailments that nothing else can. A-As a Healer, that has always appealed to me. Though it might hard to get the locals to give us some, because of people that often steal from there, " Something seemed to have dawned on her while she was saying this, for she quickly added, " S-Say, somewhat relatedly, do you guys need any medical supplies? I-I always have plenty with me, but we can go to my house to get some to share if you want."

After a having followed the map as throughly as she could, Maggie finally found the house described in the announcement. Not wasting any time, she knocked the door, and waited for a response... And, nothing happened.

-“Heeeello! Is anybody there?”

She uttered before knocking a second time... There wasn't a response again. She even inspected the building through the windows, but she didn't saw any activity inside of it.

-“Hmmm... I guess I could wait for them to arrive. I hope it doesn't take too long.”

She said before sitting right besides the door, as she impatiently rocked back-and-forth like a bored little kid.

Outside of Aster's House-Workshop

After wandering throught streets of the Citadel, which most of the time felt trying to wade your a labyrinth, Aster sighed in relief upon catching sight of his residence.

He intended to proceed as he normally would, quietly entering the house since it was unusual to get unexpected clients while the shop was closed.

However, he was stopped dead on his tracks when, upon approaching his door, he caught sight of a creature standing by it. Their skin was complete white and they had a body that looked like it was somewhat human in form but was rounded in a way that didn't seem to be possible to happen within his own species. It was also impossible to determinate their gender or if they even had one. He supposed it must some of sort of homonculus then.

He moved closer to them, taking notice of their beady-looking eyes. " Um ... Hello there. Can I help you?"

When she saw a man in a black cloak approaching in the distance, Maggie stood up in order to speak to him face-to-face. The blob-girl made a slight bow before speaking a polite manner:

-“Excuse me, are you the owner of this establishment? My name is Maggie, and I came here for the job mentioned in this announcement.”

She said before handing over the note to the man in front of her.

'Citadel of Fate - Streets

"Sounds like a plan! Me and Thule can heal, but it never hurts to be sure. We were going to go get stuff for the road anyways. Thanks for the offer, it means a lot."

Fawnia put on a less hyper, more sincere, softer smile. Thule remains stoic and silent.

And it means more money for getting souvenirs...something Fawnia might like.

An inkling of a smile cracked through his facade.

"Maybe," Parker said to Aisha. "Hope you get what you need!"

Inside, Shinji jumped as Griffin dropped the bag of coins on the counter, making a sharp thud.

"Please try not to drive away the customers, Shinji. You need them just as much as we do."

The boss was doing that thing again, Shinji always hated it when Griffin got serious with his words. The cognitive dissonance alone was making him uncomfortable. And it was always around him, too. He wondered if Griffin enjoyed getting into his serious mood around him just to make him squirm.

"S-Sorry, boss," Shinji said weakly as he scratched his neck. Griffin then pulled himself up onto the counter, making Shinji's skin creep.

"I don't want an apology, Atawalla," Griffin snarled, tapping his foot against the wooden countertop. "I want you to stop asking the customers such inane questions and quit distracting the customers. You were the one who wanted to make sure our sign wasn't driving away customers, so why are you doing it yourself?"

Shinji grumbled, "Fine, Jesus. For fuck's sake, get a hobby."

Griffin had heard Shinji's rude remark at the end, but he decided to let it go. Jumping off the table, he called for Parker.

"I better head inside," Parker mumbled to no one in particular. "Got to head out for the Wastes soon. Don't want to have nothing to sell."

The wolf shrugged and pushed open the door.

Citadel of Fate, Outside of Menkho's teasure shop

Seeing Parker didn't say anything Aicha turned around, the hood deep in her face. "Come Ulysses, we need to go to." Soon after, they were swallowed by the masses. "I'm sorry. I failed" Was all she said while walking.

Outside -> Inside of Aster's House-Workshop

Aster took the offered piece paper from the homunculus, who called themselves Maggie. He supposed that they were were a girl, then, which was good to know.

Looking throught the paper, he saw that it indeed one of the announcements that he put up about looking for appretince for his trade.

Smiling, he too bowed briefly before Maggie and then replied, " Indeed, I'm Aster Aingrav, the owner of this fine mage-smith workshop and I was the one who wrote this. It's a pleasure to meet you, Maggie. Now, just give me one second while I get this open." He the fished out a key from his leather pouch and used it to unlock the door, then opening it. " There. Now please come inside and we shall discuss details. Like I said the announcement, no previous training or experience is required. This is a somewhat unique craftwork that is best taught this way after all. But I would appreciate it if you could tell me any inherent strenghts that you might have, like any natural magic or well, actual strenght. Those aren't required, but they would give you a certain edge to start with. "

He then step into the house, while presumably continuing to converse with Maggie on the way. Once inside, Maggie would find a somewhat spacious room. The floor was mostly wood, but metal very much dominated the aesthetics of the room. There was a large metallic counter where several materials, such as ores and crysta, as well as some tools, were laid out. On the wall behind it was mounted a somewhat advanced-looking furnace. On a shelf, there several containers with some sort of powder, all of them having different colors and glowing with a mysterious light.

Citadel of Fate - Streets -> Heading towards the Mysteria District

" I-I can use healing magic too, but ... W-Well, let's just that it tends to tire me outside of healing minor wounds and there things for which herbs and potions do a better job anyway." She gave a even brighter smile in response to Fawnia's and to her surprise, Thule's, who she had pegged as quite stoic already. " A-And you're welcome. And I'm happy to share them. So let's get going shall we? My ... house is the Mysteria District."

While they walked her humble abode Lumina asked, " S-So, besides what we are gonna get there, what else do we need ?"

edited 10th Mar '16 11:19:22 AM by JamesShields

Maggie pondered for a moment, as she tried to think of any abilities she had worth mentioning... Despite the fact that her unique physiology and composition made everything about her worth mentioning, but her naiveness and lack of worldly knowledge made her believe she wasn't anything special.

After a moment of awkward silence, she said:

-“Well, I'm kinda strong... And also really malleable.”

She exclaimed as she compressed herself into a flat disc-like shape, before returning to her standard appearance.

-“I'm also really good when it comes to changing shape.”

Soon enough, she adopted the form a stout warrior dwarf she recalled seeing once, before turning into an attractive female elf scout, a small wyvern-like creature, and then back to her usual form. All the changes were rather accurate... Though, all the forms maintained her default white color.

-“...Oh! I can also do this!”

She said before kneeling before Aster, as she detached her right hand, which quickly transformed into a miniature version of herself which waved at both of them, before it started doing a goofy dance.

-“I don't know if that's useful in any kind of way, but I think it's really cute!”

edited 13th Mar '16 5:52:36 PM by VPhantom

Hearing the door close, Griffin instinctively turned to face Parker.

"You two done hitting it off out there," Griffin spoke up, much to Shinji's surprise and, soon enough, chagrin.

"Uuum, no," Parker awkwardly replied. "I just said goodbye to her, is all." Parker laughed to diffuse some of the tension, but he knew what Griffin wanted when the pup shot him a stern look. Not wanting any of Griffin's machinations, Parker returned with a grimace of his own before walking back into the kitchen.

"You guys gonna go yet," Faen asked from her smithing nook, located in an alcove on the far side of the kitchen. She was hard at work restoring an urn the Menkhos had picked up about two trips ago, with a small pile of other such treasures in various states of disrepair behind her.

Parker glanced over as he grabbed a small sack from off the wall and said, "Yep. We probably should've been out already."

Griffin then walked in. "I don't know...maybe we can have another stay-in day?"

"Griffin—" Parker hung his head slightly and sighed "—we got a job to do, okay? I think these two can handle the shop well enough without us."

Griffin put on his best pouty face. "Awwww, why not?" He then sat up on the counter beside Parker, purposefully obstructing him from the cupboard he was about to reach for. "We don't really know our customers too well anyway. I mean, we run this shop. Isn't it weird we don't really know who's buying from us?"

Parker didn't answer, instead picking up Griffin and placing him on the floor without a moment's hesitation before going back to packing their food.

Griffin snorted. "You don't think so, huh? You don't think we need to have more people than just Shinji in the shop during the day? What is someone steals some stuff?! Think about it, Parker—"

"Think about what, Griffin?" Griffin fell silent. "Think about how you want me with that girl? She's nice, I get that, but you know I'm still looking for her."

Griffin, now angry at how Parker was able to see through that, spat out, "And what, you're still fawning over her? Get real, Parker. Madrid was a bitch, through 'n through."

A deathly silence permeated the kitchen, even extending into Faen's nook, the smallsmith having stopped her laborious work to stare over at the Menkhos' theatrics. Shinji had even peeked in through the door behind the counter, and he had quietly sat by the cash register, having listened in and watched their argument unfold before Griffin's explosive reply.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Parker weakly said, "Let's just get out of here, Griffin. Don't want to start the day on a low note, okay?"

Throwing one last piece of rare meat into their backpack, he then ruffled up Griffin's "hair" before dropping the full pack into Griffin's hands, who grunted as the weight of the pack almost pulled him over. Parker, his hind paws softly tapping against the wooden floor with each step, headed upstairs for now.

Citadel of Fate - Heading towards the Mysteria District

"Oh, don't worry about that. I made a list!"

She reached into a pocket, and came up with nothing. Confused, Fawnia started reaching into every single pocket, rifling through her backpack.

"Wait, it was right-"

"Ahem."

The sound of Thule clearing his throat cut Fawnia off. He stood there, waving a piece of paper currently between his two fingers.

"Oh! Right! I left it with you."

Looking embarrassed, Fawnia took the list. After a quick skim, she gave it back to Thule, who simply put it in one of his pockets.

"Okay, you don't need to worry! Me and Thule have more than enough money to buy food for the three of us. Since we're going to Deamoria, we don't need anything special. Now, let's hurry up!"

The excitement in the air around Fawnia was almost palpable.

Citadel of Fate - Inside of Aster's House-Workshop

Aster pondered for a few moments after witnessing Maggie's showing of abilities. After a while he said, " Well, strenght will definitely be useful. Maleability and shape shifting just might as well. Don't know about that detaching and copying thing ... It could be useful getting more things done at the same time, but it does involve a detaching a limb, which would make you yourself less capable ... "

After thinking for a few more moments, he added, " OK, just a couple more questions. Do you live nearby? It's important for to know since I start kinda early and keeping it like would be give me more time to teach you. And how soon would like to start to learn and work? And if you got any questions, ask away."

Citadel of Fate - Approaching Lumina's House

Lumina couldn't help chucking a bit at the two siblings' antics. They certainly had an interesting dynamic. Though did sadden her a bit too, since it reminded of what she had lost when she was pretty much forced to leave her home: her family. She deeply missed her parents and the kind way they treated in spite of how pretty much everyone else did.

She shook her brieftly as if to try to chase those thoughts away, before replying to Fawnia when the other girl had finished explaining what they still needed, " Ah, I see. That's nice. Though I do have money on me to cover for us if we did it."

Then they finally reached their destination. Lumina's current residence didn't ammount to much. It was a very simple wooden building, comprised of only one floor. It helped that it somewhat reminded her of her former home, but still wasn't enough for to call it a proper home just yet.

She finished out a large, old-looking brass key and used it to open the door. Turning to face her new companions, she said, " Please come in. Make yourselves comfortable while I go get what we need."

The room inside was of a very simple but comfortable design. There were a few seats on the center of it, arranged around a simple and small wooden table. Taking a large portion of it were a large counter and various chests and cabins.

Lumina went to the counter and began to sort things out. First she grabbed two medium-sized burlarp sacks and placed them on top of the counter. Then she started grabbing bundles of herbs and small bottles containing various potions and placing them inside the sacks. " There, that should cover for most injuries and ailments. Now just hold on while I go get my spellbooks. You never know what you might need to cast on a adventure like this."

She crossed the room and went through a door on the back, which led into a very simple bedroom. She searched the shelf and quickly found her three spellbooks. She then put into her pouch and went back into the main room.

She then grabbed the two burlap sacks off the counter and proceeded to hand them off to her companions. " There, now we're ready. We should get going now. We are going to get us food for the trip, by the way?"

-“That was just a demonstration.”, Maggie said as she knelt in order to reattach her hand, “I can manipulate any detached part of me... Though, the more parts there are, the more difficult it becomes.”

Then, looking back at Aster, she proceeded to quickly answer his questions:

-“Well, I don't have a residence around here... Nor anywhere for that matter. Right now, I'm looking for a place to stay, so if you know of such a place, that would be dearly appreciated. Also I'd like to start as soon as possible; I don't have any other duties right now, so time shouldn't be an issue. And finally, I don't have any other questions right now...”

She had just finished saying that when a growling sound resonated from her “tummy”. She put her hands around it as she inquired in a slightly embarrassed tone:

-“Well... I have a question: Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving right now.”