Come One, Come All! [Open]

[Marius Valdemar]

"Is this... is this water? It is! This is just water and cinnamon! Why, that two-timing filthy no-good piece of Svefra rubbish! I'll sooner trust a Symenestra from now on!" Marius flung the bottle to the side and wiped the liquid off from the bottom of his wrist, where he had been testing it. The 'Miracle Elixir' skittered across the floor of his shanty and came to rest in a corner with the rest of the rat droppings. Marius was still fuming too hotly to care where it had landed. "After all that trouble I went through to lift it off of him, he was trying to swindle me all along! If he were here right now I'd ring his grimy neck." To demonstrate this threat spoken to the air around him, Marius extended his hands and twisted them tightly in the air. The sharp claws of the gauntlet he wore on his left hand threatened to pierce his skin, and so he relaxed his grip.

The Svefra had found the boy distraught so long ago, trying desperately to find some cure for his dying mother. The man immediately jumped at the opportunity, and made a great show of a liquid in a bottle that seemed to pulse and glow that he claimed had the healing powers of more than any wizard could match. No doubt it would cure his mother of all her ailments! Marius was so excited that he reached to take the bottle right then and there, but the Svefra withdrew it too quickly. He demanded coin, but admitted that he could haggle for it since his cause was so dire. Sadly Marius had no coin to speak for whatsoever, and the sailor merchant had sympathized but dropped the elixir back into the pocket of his robe and said that he could not part with it free of charge.

The boy had made a hasty decision then. Calling tears to his eyes, Marius hugged the man from behind and began sobbing loudly, "Please!" and "I'll do anything!" Embarrassed, the merchant untangled himself from the clutching arms and hurried along on his way. But Marius had done the deed well, and he had managed to lift the bottle from the man's deep pocket by its neck, and now he had the Miracle Elixir he needed to cure his mum.

Unfortunately, she had passed on before Marius could get the medicine to her. Not that it mattered anymore. All that was in the past, he had now recently opened the bottle he had forgotten and tested the contents. Naturally, the supposed cure-all had been a sham all along. Of course, that didn't stop the anger he felt at all.

"Curse him, curse his 'potion', curse the ship he came in and left on!" Marius shouted again. That was when the idea occurred to him. If that merchant could do it successfully, why couldn't he? His gang of thieving orphans hadn't had much luck lately, and any coin he could bring in would help feed them all. It was only a simple matter of bringing the bottle to the busiest section of Alvadas (not to mention the one with the least amount of distracting illusions) he could find.

"Friends! Fellow citizens! Gather round, gather round!" He was now calling out. Many looked up at the strange, shouting, smiling child but no one stepped forward just yet. "I have here the solution to all of your problems!" That one drew a small crowd, and Marius help aloft the glowing bottle. "I hold here in my very hands, Marius's Miraculous Medicine! Have you a fever? Have you a broken limb? Then simply drink this and observe as your health quickly returns to you! Yes, my friends, you will be even better than before!"

This was turning out to be more fun than he had anticipated, not to mention the fact that he was a natural at it. Already people began to look on with interest, and Marius's grin became secretly sly.