“HEEEEEYYY!!! Wakey-wakey kiddo!!!”
Faiz bolted up in bed, and immediately proceeded to smash his head into the (rather low) ceiling, yelping in pain and shock, ”
Through his blurry vision, he made out a large and pinkish figure looming over him, causing him to skitter back in bed, raising his blanket like a shield, “S-stay back! Whoever you are, I have space magic and I’m prepared to use it!”
A second, more familiar warble called out as the hulking mass advanced, “Ellery, I told ya, hold it! You’ve scared the little kid see? Hold on, I’m coming up.” Tendrils crept into view as Jesyll appeared.
“Aw shucks, I’m so sorry! Are you alright little friend? Oh dear..that looks like it’ll bruise.” The considerably softer first voice responded as the figure-now resolving into a humanoid shape as Faiz’s vision cleared-drew back, allowing the tubespawn to help Faiz up.
“Easy there boy, you dented your noggin on the roof right? Yeah, you’re not looking so good now…Ah, we’ll get that injury sorted out in no time, dontcha worry.” Their appendages trace the swelling part of his head, as he blinked again.
“You can worry over--me later! Care to explain who that is? Damn near scared me to death!” He huffed as he took a second glance at ‘Ellery’, as Jesyll had called it. The rosy figure was a Scrapskin, he realized. That explained its stature and loudness…
“Oh hello! I’m Ellery! I run this little shop here, and I’d have come by sooner, but I got saddled with a secret task for the Order, kehe. Jes told me all about how he saved you and-” The metallic colossus stiffened as it realized something, and then sheepishly turned to Jesyll, “Jes..you told the kid about..us, right?”
The tubespawn keened in an approximation of a sigh, “Buddy, I’ve told you before, don’t call me Jes. And yeah the kid knows about us.. but why would you even about this, much less inform anyone of any secret mission you’ve ostensibly been on? Is all that rust finally getting to your piping?”
Ellery’s lustrous face drew into a wince as it made to respond, and Faiz cut in. “Hold it! You two aren’t gonna ignore me and carry on arguing, nope. Let’s just move on.” He turned to the scrapskin and offered a hand, “Ellery, it’s..nice to meet you, even if you did startle me. I’m Faiz, as Jesyll told you.”
The burnished being extended one of its own metal arms, gingerly shaking his hand, “Hello little one! Nice once again to meet you, I hope I didn’t scare you too badly!” It seemed to have cheered up near immediately once he offered his greetings, “Gosh, you’re so small and cute, is that real grime in your hair? I haven’t met a real urchin before..”
Faiz felt his already pulsing head grow heavier as he stifled a groan. Was every member of this secret order such a blabbermouth? He took a moment to examine Ellery more closely. The Scrapskin was indeed made of a seamless metallic substance, as tales would have one believe, and could supposedly conjure up a host of shapes from its lustrous surface. They were bipedal in shape however, unlike the descriptions of shapeless blobs he’d read of before…
“Kid, I know Ellery is a big softie, but you’ve been shaking that hand for a while now. Did you hit your head that hard?” Faiz’s line of thought was interrupted by Jesylls warble. He shook his head and let go of its hand, stepping back.
“Do you make this a habit, being as abrasive as possible? It’s called being polite, I tell you. In any case, I’m starving right now, and I would rather be eating food, instead of hearing your japes.” As if on cue, his stomach growled.
Ellery (who had still been talking on) perked up even more at his words, “I knew you’d get hungry! I already procured food for you, here!” It proceeded to tear itself in half
Wait. What?
Faiz blinks and blinks again, processing the fact that Ellery, whom he had so recently interacted with…was now folded in half, its upper body melted into its lower half, revealing a perfectly preserved platter of food that had apparently been contained in its midsection.
Jesyll seems unfazed, a tendril reaching over to pluck out some vibrant fruit from the metal goo holding up the plate, bringing it to their beak. “”
Ellery’s unfettered voice echoed from its constituent matter, apparently completely fine through all this nonsense. Jesyll only warbled, “Aw, don’t be so heartless, you slagheap! This is a real delicious Ulef here, let me enjoy it. Hey kid, take a bite, come on. You’ll break its nonexistent heart if you don’t eat up, plus its good for growing lads like you.”
Faiz pondered whether he should scream, giggle or faint; All reasonable choices in this case. In the end, he nodded sagely as he reached the only logical conclusion for such a situation, and reached out to take a fruit. He took a bite. “....Tasty.”
After enjoying a hearty helping of fruit, Faiz stepped down the stairs to the Leviathan Snare proper, the shop still so dusty and derelict . He settled into a slightly less ancient looking chair crammed into a corner of the shop, set against some storage racks that looked old enough to have been last used sometime before the veiling.
Despite the early hour, and lack of light sources, the room was still bathed in a soft pale light, filtering into the chamber via a circular pane of glass set into the ceiling. Faiz supposed there wasn’t much reason to use other means of illumination here in Ragan, when all could avail the benefits of the captive Celestial. A real shard of the heavens, unfindable anywhere else…
Well, not quite that rare apparently. Faiz held up his wrist, looking at his darkened Lightdial, now speckled with twinkling pinpricks, a miniature cosmos of his own. Of course, having never seen a shadeless sky (like most people born in the past few centuries), he wasn’t entirely sure if whatever was up there looked like this. Certainly pretty though, even if it made him a walking target.
His mood soured as he grumbled to himself, “I’m basically a walking talking dinner for all sorts of nasties at this point..if only I didn’t get involved in this accursed mess. Curse that sack of rubber for getting m-”
“You called, kid?”
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Faiz looked up. Sure enough, the tubespawn was wriggling their way downstairs, followed by a remoulded and ever happy Ellery. “Did you two finish whatever critically important argument you were having then? Must’ve been some debate, I’ve been sitting here for ages!”
Ellery apologized, “Sorry for kicking you out the room for that, kid. You know how it goes, sometimes we gotta talk about big stuff. I wonder why the cleavi-”
Jesyll interjected before the scrapskin had the chance to speak further. “Ellery…”
“-er,nothing! We were just uh…discussing how to house you and make you happy, kid! Like getting you cakes and stuff, haha!” Its surface rippled with weakly disguised embarrassment as it deflected lamely.
Faiz couldn’t care less about whatever the two were trying and failing to hide, rolling his eyes as he stood up, “Whatever, sure. I don’t like cake by the way, tastes too sweet, Saltweed cookies are better and-not important, just...tell me what our plan is, where do we have to go now?”
Jesyll gurgled amused, “Have you even tasted a delicacy in your life kid? Did you buy it with that plucky attitude of yours?” They moved over to the storefront, examining the entry sign curiously, before turning to. “Also, I’m glad you asked me that! You see, ”
Immediately Faiz grew alert, dreading whatever was making the tubespawn so giddy. “What is it now? Don’t tell me you’ve found more horrors to beat me up?! Or are you going to ask me to give up my other wrist too?”
“No, don’t be silly! All I want from you..is money! Loads of it, so you’d better get collecting, starting immediately. We’re almost out of funding.” Jesylls tentacles seemed to be quivering with an effort to hold back laughter, as Faiz stared blankly at them.
“Have you lost it? Weren’t you literally just insulting me for being poor right now? How am I supposed to cough up cash on your whim? Aren’t you also part of that ancient order you boast about so much? Don’t tell me you all live in penury trying to look mysterious and decrepit, you must have some resources!” He felt a rage of impalpable proportions always being made a fool of by the tubespawn, because they clearly knew and withheld some vital information from him.
“Ellery can explain better than I can here, so I’ll let it speak. Go ahead buddy!” The scrapskin flowed over to besides them, quivering with excitement, “Golly! Can I really Jes? Finally inform a newbie all official like? Yaaay
It turns to face Faiz, head-part morphing into a facsimile of dour teachers glare, as it spoke: “Okay, listen up rookie! I’m going to tell you this once and once only! Ragan, this city you’re in right now, doesn’t use physical money! Yep, I know it sounds odd but keep those ears honed. Instead of a physical exchange, each citizen has a record account filled with Sigils of their wealth imprinted in the central administration chamber of the city. Think of it like a floating bank account, managed by the Assembly of Ragan. You follow so far?”
Faiz wasn’t sure why he bothered to ask in the first place, these long winded explanations always bored him. In any case, he could mostly predict what was going to be said, so he interjected dryly, “Let me guess. You can’t use this false coin outside this place, and so your very ancient and powerful order hasn’t bothered setting people up here to earn said wealth? And I further suppose there’s no way to convert real money to this false one?”
Ellery balked, its imposing demeanor faltering, “…yeah…erm..how did you know? Jes, did you tell the kid about everything? You set me up again!
“Pot calls kettle black, eh? No, I said nothing, and I did nothing you big lump. Boy’s clever, that’s all; Besides, we still gotta tell the kid about the prisma no? It’s the perfect time, so go on, get that schemalink out!” Their appendage trailed over Faiz’s bracelet, as they draw closer. Ellery truculently murmured curses as it moved over behind the counter and began rummaging through its shelves.
“Now, kid. You’re a bit too sharp for your own good, but this let’s me talk more so I forgive you this once. Ragan has a cute little device called a Turnstile in the center of its administrative district, which allows one to travel to a linked Turnstile anywhere in the world! It does cost an utterly ludicrous amount of sigils to use though, hence our need for loads of cash..”
They saw Faiz glance down at his once Lightdial, and preempted his question, “No, we can’t use the Empyrean again because it’d not only strain and burst your soul from overuse, where we need to go is sealed off from its energies specifically. However, that trinket of yours will see some use yet, fret not!”
Faiz grew hesitant, “Please don’t tell me I was right about you throwing me to another batch of horrors…what’s this thing gonna do now? More terrifying feats that will almost certainly kill me?”
Jesyll chirruped merrily, “Not exactly the plan but something similiar;you wanted more action didn’t you? What kid doesn’t? So… it’s gonna give you a weapon! No, forget that, many weapons! You’ll be ready for combat in no time once you’re done training!”
Though Faiz couldn’t help feel a faint sliver of anticipation at the thought of finally not being a useless sack on the field of battle, the emotion was tempered by the knowledge that the one offering said training was…, of all people.
“Train me how? And wait, what for? Do you expect me to fight for sport to earn your coin? I want a big cut in that case! Very big, yes.” He would have said more had they not held up a tentacle to stop him.
“Here’s a good idea kiddo, if you feel confused..maybe let the other party explain before setting your barkentines from port. To clarify, you aren’t a citizen of Ragan, so ordinarily you wouldn’t ever be able to hold an account here. However..” Their words drawl and linger, their tone the smug satisfaction of holding a solution over his head.
“However what? Just spit it out already, we’ve done this routine thrice today already, and it got old the first time you drew things out.” Faiz took the bait with a glower on his face.
“Everyone’s a critic these days, what shame! Anyway, there does exist a provision for granting citizenship to individuals who perform for the good of the city.” Their inflection is evidently sarcastic, “In short, we’ll need to grease a few palms and make a few- ahem-‘Donations’ before we can even think of buying our ticket out of here.”
“I still fail to see how this all involves me, and it’s such a needlessly complex plan. Why not just sneak through this Turnstile? Or-or just bribe said individuals to let us use it without paying more? I can’t help but feel this’ll all go down in flames.” The more Faiz thought about it, the less coherent the tubespawns plan became.
Jesyll keened in an annoyed inflection, a tentacle lightly smacking against his arm. “I wish you’d have some faith in me, kid. I haven’t lost it all yet. The key for the Turnstile is at all times on the city mayors person, and she’s a Star of the second Constellation. Unless you plan to filch the key from that usurper, we have no way to force things forward.”
“Ah ha! Found you!” Ellery finally returned from its long and treacherous voyage to the dangerous realms of below desk, where any manner of aged quill or torn parchment may have lain. In its shifting limb was held a faintly glowing and very dusty schemalink, the pyramidal stucture containing a decent amount of schemas within. “You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was extracting these jewels from that old witch, so mean he was.. I hope this helps, Jes!”
“Perfect timing buddy. Okay, kid, you know how to use schemas yeah? Throw some mana out, let information flow out. Go on, take it!” They urged Faiz to take it, which he reluctantly did.
Concentrating very hard on the cool sensation of water that mana was supposed to feel like, he envisioned it flowing from his spirit veins and down to the link. The response was immediate, the link growing brighter as the trapped schemas within surged into his mind. Withthe oncoming glut of knowledge starting pulling him under, he realized he'd forgotten to ask a very important question, “Wait..what is this even going to teach me?”
“Ooh, I can tell you! Jes said the easiest bribes to get are rare creature parts, so I got all sorts of hunting guides and beast brains on there! You'll be able to kill lots of big things in there if they don't getcha first! Enjoy yourself!”
Faiz thought curses towards the two of those fiends as hard as he could, before his mind folded inwards.
