[The Bizarre] Tricks and the Trade [Open]

by **Jeb** on July 28th, 2011, 12:13 am

Summer 20, 511 AV

Jeb walked through the tightly packed walkway of the Bizarre. Interesting smells, interesting sounds, interesting sights, and a whole mess of people. Jeb liked the Bizarre, and would come here often for all sorts of nefarious purposes. Jeb sat down, leaning on the wall of a store called "Plate Palace". It seemed to be a store that was completely devoted to the sale of luxury and specialty plates. Jeb shrugged as he opened his pack, wondering why anybody would want plates this much. He drew out a bottle of ink, a quill, and a blank book.He uncorked the bottle and placed it on the ground next to him. Dipping the quill into the ink, he started to draw a figure onto an open page of the book.

It started with three circles, one concentric inside the other with the last and biggest acting as a larger border. An equilateral triangle was drawn inside the circles so that each of its three sides stopped at the middle circle. A small square was then drawn at the center of the glyph. Inside the small square, a single character was written, seemingly in gibberish. A knowledgeable person, versed in the tongue of the proto-humans of pre-Valterrian Mizhar, would realize that the character stood for focus. Similar glyphs were written inside the border created by the largest circle and the middle circle. The aforementioned knowledgeable person would have read the characters to say: "Deactivate Barrier When Stepped On".

Satisfied with his work, Jeb carefully tore the page out of his booklet and put away his book, quill, and ink bottle. He put his knees on the page so that it wouldn't fly away and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the tattoo on his hand, feeling his focus increase and strengthen. A strange substance started to slowly exude from a small hole in his right hand. The substance was thick and looked almost ethereal in the dim Bizarre light. It sluggishly flowed out of the hole like mollases flowing out of a bottle.

After a long while, he had finally gathered a sufficient amount of the res. Jeb willed the res to flow up into the air, forming a ball of pure res six feet above the ground. He then let the ball drop, willing the ball to pick up speed as it descended. The combination of gravity and Jeb's own will made the res move quite fast as it sped towards the focus of the sigil that he had drawn. As the res made contact with the paper, it transformed into water for a split-second before disappearing into the wrinkles of the scrap of paper.

Jeb let out a sigh of relief, panting with the effort that had gone into making his masterpiece. Only a few minutes of rest was needed for him to have enough strength for the next step in his plan. Jeb concentrated again, breathing heavily. He let djed form around his breath, creating a kind of invisible fog. It floated up, till it reached the doorway of the shop. A auristics user would then see the fog solidifying and weaving itself almost like a basket. The basket weave soon covered the door in shimmering blue light. This, of course, was only visible to an auristics or shielding user. To anyone else, there was nothing at all blockking the doorway to the shop. The last breath of invisible fog brought with it a small chunk of the cute little boy's hair. Jeb closed his eyes, trying to concentrate more. This was the hard part about shielding, something that even he had trouble doing sometimes. Biological tasking, or keeping people away from the shield. Jeb tasked it to not let anyone other than the owner of the hair, namely Jeb, through the shield. A passing-by shield user would see that the shield had gained a red swirl pattern that denoted the presence of the biological tasking.

Jeb admired his handy work. It was now finally time for the fun part. The devious child got up, and carried the piece of paper over to the door. He picked up part of the black welcome rug and placed the paper under it.He then drew his small knife and cut a small hole in the rug so that the focus could be seen through the rug.Finally, he made a quick, thin, shield over the hole. He made sure that this one didn't block or absorb djed, and instead blocked sight, making the hole with the paper poking out seem black. Only close inspection or magical powers would allow one to distinguish the shield from the rest of the rug.

"Help! Help me mister!!" called a young voice from the hallway. The owner of Plate Palace, a rather rotund individual in his late 50s, looked out of his shop. He had been busy polishing one of his more expensive plates when he had heard what seemed to be a cry for help. There, right outside his shop, he saw a boy, no more that five or six years old, crying out for his help and clutching his knee in pain. Having long nurtured a soft spot for children, the old owner rushed out the doorway and...his head crashed against an invisible force. A shimmering blue light appeared for a second before disappearing. The man looked around, dazed and confused. What had happened? What hit him? Deciding that he had still had to help the little boy, he set forth back out of the shop...and was again sent right back down.Now utterly bewildred, the man looked at the boy to see that he had gotten up and was now laughing at him. The nerve! The little boy had to be taught a lesson! The man now slowly walked forward, taking each step with utmost caution so as not to step into anything that he didn't want to step on. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a jet of ice-cold water burst from the floor and hit the unsuspecting shop keeper straight in the face. The shop keeper stumbled and fell outward, towards the exit of his store. He again hit the invisible force, this time knocking him out.

Jeb couldn't stop laughing. It had worked almost too perfectly. Jeb quickly dissolved the shields with a snap of his fingers, revealing the spot of the rug that had been cut out and replaced with what was now a small pile of ash. Still chortling, Jeb walked away through the crowd. After something this hilarious, he kind of wanted to spend money on something. Maybe something nice to eat?

by **Yanessavhanet** on July 28th, 2011, 2:33 pm

Today Vhanet had decided to spend some time meandering through the market of Alvadas, mostly because that was where the twisting and turning streets had taken her. While she certainly enjoyed the fun she could have with her toys, Nasilia and Seidaku, she'd been itching to have some real fun again. She missed the screams, pain, and blood she had enjoyed back in Ahnatep, and so she was on the prowl to find someone to satisfy her desires.

As she moved through the crowds a strange sight caught her eye. A young boy, little more than a baby, that looked to be pouring some liquid out of his... hand? Curiously she stopped a ways away and watched the young human work. The way the strange fluid gathered without him touching it, and then moved high into the air before coming down and vanishing into some paper, it had to be magic. Even more curious now she watched as he worked, staring at a nearby doorway for a time, and then hiding the paper under a mat?

Watching the prank play out Vhanet smirked lightly. Such a childish little ploy, it seemed the young mage was a scoundrel. Perhaps he would be useful as a new toy, and if he didn't play nice... at least she would have a good little meal. With a dark glimmer to her eyes she moved through the crowd after the laughing boy, and soon had caught up to him.

"Well, hello little boy," Vhanet's smile, along with the tone of her voice, was as sugary sweet as the most delicious candy, "You are quite happy! Did a good thing happen to you lately?" she paused and blinked, looking around as if in confusion, "Are you not with your Mother or Father?" she turned her sweet smile back to the boy, "Maybe you're being a big boy and helping them with an errand?"

by **Jeb** on July 28th, 2011, 4:37 pm

Jeb looked up, startled by the woman who had called to him. As a matter of reflex, he immediately started to breathe very slowly as if he was beginning to cry. His invisible breath started to weave another basket formation between the woman and him, but this time much more quickly. It was only one minute before the first one was finished, tasked to not let any living or once living matter other than him through it.

Jeb now started to make actual crying sounds, furthering the deception that he was just a shy little boy who had, perhaps, lost his mother in the crowd. In actuality, he was making a shield around himself as a second barrier in case of extra trouble. This one, instead of repelling biological matter would deflect an opponent's weapon.

A cursory glance at the short, pale woman revealed no weapons of any kind. Jeb knew that if he couldn't see any weapon, then it was most likely a blade, so he started to task the shield to stop bladed weapons. Jeb knew that this could take upwards of 2 minutes, so he would have to keep distracting her for his prank to work fully. He started to sob, covering his face with his hands to hide the fact that there weren't any actual tears.

"I can't find my mommy anywhere... And the plate man just got knocked out... And now a pedophile is attacking me. Waha" he sobbed viciously. This was sure to get her angry, hopefully enough to fall into his trap.

by **Centari** on July 29th, 2011, 8:05 pm

Centari had been watching as the boy's prank played out, her brow furrowed as she observed his little magic tricks. What was he? About two? And he was already so practiced at Glyphing and Reimancy, and whatever else that had caused that man to be so stupefied.

The Ethaefal lifted a hand to run her fingers along the glassy horn adorning her left temple in contemplation. She'd not found a reason to be bothered to stay in Alvadas... Until now. The sad thing was, this little human brat was a boy, and Centari had no use for child-men. They broke too easily, and didn't respond to physical pleasure like their grown counterparts. Now, if that boy was a girl, Centari could have taken the child and brought it to Kalinor to be raised as a surrogate. Surely the lovely pale things there would be grateful for such a gift, and maybe one would pay her for her duties. It had been oh so long since she'd collected a good amount of money for a surrogate.

Maybe there was some form of sex-change spell, or an animator could help her out. There had to be a way to make such an intelligent brat into a girl.

Her thoughts were inturrupted by the arrival of a pale, squat woman. If she was but a little shorter and had much more muscle, she could have passed for an Isurian woman. If such a thing existed. Centari had never seen an Isur female. This little woman, despite her physical deficiency, would make an excellent addition to the Harvest.

Centari licked her lips excitedly, because she knew that if she could find no use for the woman, or could find no way to make the brat a girl, she'd have two new subjects to study. And if they proved useless for even that... Well... They'd taste good too in a blood porridge stew.

She continued to watch their interaction from a safe distance. Her citrine eyes glowed eerily and deflected anyone from commenting about her appearance. An Ethaefal in Alvadas was hardly a celebrated matter, but some stupid humans still felt it necessary to bring attention to her condition. She had plans to watch, to wait, to judge. One for the Harvest, and one specifically for experimentation and animation. Perhaps there was an animator in Kalinor, after all.

by **Yanessavhanet** on August 2nd, 2011, 5:46 pm

It was very hard for Vhanet to keep from snorting derisively at the boy's poor act. It didn't take a good liar to spot a bad one, and Vhanet was pretty good at falsifying the truth. Instead of calling the boy on it though she decided to go along with his deception. It could certainly help play along with her plan. Calling upon her mark from Ionu she began to create an illusion of sound over both of them.

"It's ok Matthew," Vhanet said soothingly, an aspect of her illusion masking her accent, "Auntie Sarah is here. I'll help you find your Mommy. I just saw her not too long ago," she offered her hand to the boy as she smiled at him, "Go ahead and take my hand, and we'll go find her."

The second aspect of her illusion was changing whatever the boy said in reply to her words. If he reacted angrily or scared, moving away from her or slapping her offered hand away, his voice would call out for everyone to hear, including him, "No! I want Mommy, not you Auntie Sarah!"

On the off chance that he accepted her hand and played along, his illusionary voice would say, "Ok Auntie Sarah..." and be followed by the sound of a sniffle.

Either way, Vhanet's smile would gain a faint hint of a smirk as she looked at the boy, wondering if he would realize that his little plan wouldn't work so well when Vhanet could control what his voice said.

OOC :

by **Keido** on August 30th, 2011, 8:51 pm

Keido clapped his hands. It was good that Auntie Sarah was here to help the boy. Even if the boy did not like his aunt. He was a handful though. Maybe Auntie Sarah could use some help. Keido knew he needed some help here in Alvadas. And he needed it bad. He did not even realise the games of deception being played all over the place with the foul use of magic. He was a hopeless romantic in a cruel world.

"Auntie Sarah. Would you like some help with the boy?" A smile. A smile would help a lot in this situation and so Keido smiled at both the woman and boy.