eswareinmal | [11th of Rebirth] Abracadabrawhatever!

Characters: JW and viewers like you!
Open: Yes!
Where: The field between Schwanheim and the Two-Faced forest.
When: Mid-day
What: JW is making a lot of noise practicing magic on various objects/unlucky insects that happen upon him.
Warnings: You might temporarily end up as a newt? Just sayin'.

James had accomplished something monumental. He had learned how to cast without burning his fingers. Either that or his hands had taken so much punishment that the feeling had left them. It was a little hard to tell under the thick bandages that covered the end of each one. Either way, the tall thin man found shouting enchantments much easier when they weren't warped with screams of pain. On top of that, it seemed the magic in this world was very fussy and an accent was an accent was an accent and you just couldn't cast Schwiha'ei'n hau with a thick southern drawl. It had taken hours and hours of slow enunciation and even watching himself in the shards of giant mirror.

But then it had happened.

Behind a tumble-down shack, the place JW had decided to call home, he stood, feet wide apart, fingers out, shoulders squared. Before him was an old mead barrel and on top of it was a clump of dirt from which a single, strangled-looking daisy had suddenly sprouted. Raw magic crackled in the air around it. The edges of its leaves were a little crispy and it didn't stand up very straight, but it lived! It lived!

It was probably small potatoes to the other resident magic users, native or otherwise, but he'd done it!

He couldn't help himself. JW started cheering (variations of 'FUCK YEAH' and the like, it's not too hard to imagine) and pointing at the ground around him. "Schwiha'ei'n hau! Schwiha'ei'n hau!" Flower after flower, each just a little sickly, but each just as alive and real the first, popped up out of the tall grass.

James had created quite the pretty little meadow before his celebratory shouts of Schwiha'ei'n hau ended up morphing into Schweeho'ei'n heeua, which wasn't much of a spell at all and promptly resulted in a mushroom cloud. It killed all the grass within fifty feet of him and blew half the roof off his house.

Not to mention made one hell of a sound.

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Several loud bangs sounded from inside.

James, planks of wood under each arm, appeared from behind the shack. His clothing was speckled with burn holes. A single, pitiful flower was tangled in one of his horns. He puffed as he approached the white-haired boy and tried his best to look like he hadn't just set off something akin to a mini nuke.

"Yeah?"

... well that explained a few things.

"You all right...?"

"Never better." JW grunted and threw the planks on the ground near the little ladder he'd leaned against his house.

He turned his back to Bakura and started to climb to get a look at the damage. He seethed quietly. He was jealous of the boy and his ability to not make things explode. He would show up.

"What's happening in town? The king do anything useful yet?"

Bakura gave a small, rueful smile. "Not really. Safer to be out here than in there, I think." He'd caught sight of one of the girls who had pestered him about dance looking determined again and made a quick exit before she could spot him...

"Did you want some help?"

"I don't need any help."

No sooner had he said that, the front door fell outwards and sent up a small plume of ash. James slammed a fist against what was left of the roof.

"I have two gold coins. If you go to town and buy me some nails with one, you can keep the other." It caused him great physical pain to say those words. He didn't now a repair spell. He'd need nails. He didn't really want to go bother the blacksmith without scrap iron for a dagger.

"I don't need that sort of payment for something like that," Bakura pointed out. It was pretty clear JW needed to keep all his money if this was where he spent his time... "I'll take care of it."

JW peered over his shoulder and squinted his good eye.

Suspicious wizard was suspicious.

Nothing was free. Nothing. Especially not in this every-man/cat/unicorn-for-himself setting he'd found himself in. He didn't want to owe anyone anything, especially if they were better at magic than he was. He'd seen what debt did to people.

However.

The cheap bastard in him suddenly reared his head and decided to see just how much he could get out of Bakura. "While you're at it, get me a pry-bar. You know what that is?"

JW's suspicion was best saved for when Bakura got a specific look on his face, or was on a mission. Something small like this wouldn't be worth being deceptive over. Good will was far more valuable than any other sort of hold he could have over a person.

"I think so... like one of those things you use to open stuck things?" Or pry open locked doors/safes/other things you weren't supposed to but were sometimes handy to.

"Yeah, that exactly. I need nails and one of those."

Should he go for asking for bread? He stroked his chin and looked Bakura up and down, falling into a stretching, awkward silence. No. Not yet. He didn't want to push his luck.

"Got it!" Bakura nodded with a smile. "I'll be back in a bit!" he waved before turning to head into town.

There was a nice side effect to being in a storybook world, the main being that with his hat and robes on, people were quite often very happy to give him what he wanted with very little effort. Dippy girls were very easily manipulated into running errands (something he often used to just get away from them...) and with his healing magic, favors were very easy to give in return for services.

It was around 20 minutes later (5 longer than he had wanted to due to some trouble getting away from a small gaggle of girls who had gotten the wrong idea...) he returned, still wearing his robes and hat, with a good sized bag of nails and the crowbar.

"Sorry it took so long!"

During this time James had climbed down from the roof (or what was left of it) and taken to sitting down with his back against the woodpile rather than the house itself. Taking no chances. He was dozing, his chin in his hand, when that funny hat appeared on the horizon again. JW leaned up and waited for the kid to finally reach him before speaking again.

"You came back, huh?" He tried to hide the shred of legit joy in that statement. He half expected Bakura to wander off and not return. James knew he wasn't the most pleasant creature to deal with. But he'd come back. With everything he asked for! That...that was kind of nice. NOT THAT HE LIKED THE KID OR ANYTHING SHUT UP.

FETCH QUEST COMPLETE. CONGRATULATIONS, BAKRUA! YOU WIN A: vague approving nod.

JW stood again and dug around in his robes. He produced a single coin and a dead leaf. Both of which he held out in an awkward pleading gesture. PLEASE, KID. JUST. TAKE IT OKAY? He's not good at this gratitude thing!

"Appreciate it."

Bakura couldn't help but smile a the leaf and accepted them both with a smile. "It was no trouble," he assured with a warm smile. "Want me to see if I can fix the grass?" Since he was pretty sure he could at least do something about it! And being able to do something (that wasn't running from girls or feeling useless on quests) felt good.

James shook his head. "If I can make flowers grow, I can make grass grow." He weighed the crowbar in his hand. It was nice and heavy. It would make a good weapon once his house was fixed. He eyed a patch of ground near Bakura's feet and aimed at it with the tip of the tool.

"Schwiha'ei'n hau," he said carefully. A thin bolt of greenish light slithered through the air and struck the ground. A puny little daisy popped up and bent in the middle.

James tipped his head back and looked down his nose at the white-haired mage with a smirk. Beat that.

He wanted to impress this kid so bad.

Despite having his own magic and being somewhere all but seeped in it, Bakura was often very easy to impress when someone showed off their skills. He scooted back a touch to properly watch before a huge grin broke out on his face. "Aaaaa, that's so cool! Even without any seed, it worked?"

JW's chest swelled. "It's magic after all." With that, he turned his back on Bakura and shimmied back up the ladder, bag o' nails and crowbar in tow. "Yeah, so thanks and all that."

SCRAM, KID, I'M BUSY.

"Don't spend it all in one place."

Bakura hadn't ever tried creating living things out of nothing yet, just bringing health back to things already alive.

He nearly covered a laugh before nodding. "Let me know if you need any other help, okay?"

Back still to him, James made a vague 'shoo!' gesture with an arm while steadying a plank and nail. He would remember the boy's help though. He didn't owe him anything! He paid! Fair and square! But he would still remember.

[11th of Rebirth] Abracadabrawhatever!

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