Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

Airgetlam sighs and goes back to eating.

"I'd kinda like my device back, but ok then..." she mumbles. She pauses from her meal and feasts upon on of the buns they were given, and then she resumes her eating of her dinner. She looks over at Sharpe, surprised he has finished his food that quickly.

She looks back at the girl, and she takes note never to call her a witch, though while her response was rather tame this time, in the future it might turn into her berserk button.

"It has been quite odd, the whole situation with the cloaking device. It was damaged most likely beyond repair last I saw. You knew she had such a device, you knew it was broken, and replaced it with this new one."

Jack points to the timed cloak device.

"I've been dying for a chance to take it a part and analyze it. I admire the craftsmanship of it...ugh, I'm getting off topic. The only way you could have had all that information along with the fact that we were searching for the girl is if you have been stalking us this entire time. This leads me to 2 slightly unrelated questions. First, why are you stalking us, and second, what is your problem with witches?! I'll have you know that Miss Shetchno was the nicest adult I knew when I was young."

The girl shudders and looks away from Jack, frowning as he mentions witches. "I have no problem with them, I just don't wish to be compared to one or seen as one. This hat may seem like a... "witches hat", but its more than just that. And there is a reason I wear it. Yet often times because of it, people confuse me for one, when I am so much more." The way she says it, her tone and expression, make it seem like theres some bad history with it. She gathers her emotions and pushes them into the back of her mind. Smiling once more, albeit only little. "As for stalking, I've no need for it. Coincidences happen, and if you knew half as much as me you could easily figure out what type of person has what sort of things on them just by the way they walk and talk." she focuses on her food, having consumed a lot of it.

Sharpe turns his piercing gaze toward Jack, his hands interloped in front of his face.

"I wouldn't think you the kind of person to view witches, much less magic, in any favorable light yourself. I may not seem it, but I at least acknowledge how useful it is, even though I don't know such things myself."

He shifts himself forward.

"I apologize if you received any discomfort from talking with this man, scholarly miss."

Airgetlam feels some sympathy for the girl, she would get flak over her arm in new places, and likely will in the days to come. It's bad enough people want to examine it, which kind of freaks her out a bit anyway. She knows what it's like to be seen as something you're not.

She brushes a lock of her hair to the side with her left arm, and then replaces it in her lap.

"My question thus far though has not received an answer, and I would very much like my device back." She says with a tinge of sorrow to her words, those thoughts whisping out of her mouth.

Jian has been eating silently for a bit, following the conversation closely as it went along. He can't help but shake his head a little Jack accusing her to be a witch. He eats another bite and sets down his chopsticks for a second.

"I can relate to people claiming that you something that you actually aren't. It can be painful or stressful, depending on the context... I hope Jack didn't stir you up too much with the assumption of you being a witch. He sometimes can be a bit insensitive on a subject so don't take it too harsh...", he smiles faintly to assure her that no bad intentions were meant by it, then eating another bite before continuing to speak.

"Once again, thanks for your hints back there, you really helped us by giving out all that information. I feel like I need to repay you somehow else, I will have to come up with something."

He then continues eating again, nodding in approval to the food's taste.

"Well Sharpe, Miss Shetchno was an exception, and I like to think my views on magic have..altered...this then, so let's just sweep that under the rug if you wouldn't mind. "

Jack finishes his food.

"Grr...she knows something. Bloody basket of bullocks, I'm not asking the right questions...do I need more evidence?...ugh...think think think!"

"On the contrary, Jian, I'm the one who is unsettled here."

He turns back towards the girl, arms crossed, legs crossed, and casually wiping the small scraps of food from his mustache.

Let's assume you were able to figure out a strangers belongings along with the items' functions merely by looking in their direction. Let's assume you coincidentally had an item of the same extremely rare function, and you were a kind enough samaritan to trade your item for the stranger's knowing their's is broken. You are still glossing over the fact that you just happened to run into Jian, knowing his exact situation and the precise location of the girl he was searching for. I deduce that you know far more about us than we do of you, and I find all that quite unsettling."

"The doctor never explained how he knew where we were or where we were going when. What if this girl was behind that too?...no no no I can't just make baseless assumptions. If I start doing that, I'll look paranoid. But if the doctor did see her, it would help my argument. She'd be almost forced to tell us whats going on."

Jack leaves money for the food along with a decent tip on the table.

"Wait here. I'll be back soon"

Jack hastily runs towards the house ignoring a very bothersome stomach cramp.

The girl smirks when Jack takes off. She can't help but find it funny that she should bump into anyone, when really, the boy came up to her on the docks and asked her for advice on a person she had seen not too long ago. Well no mind to the matter, she thinks and returns her attention to Jian, simply nodding friendly before answering Airgetlam's question.

"Well, your device is at my home, currently. I think. It's broken anyway so I thought I'd lend you one of my spares since I've long abandoned such primit-... such technology for my magic. Well the one I've given you is a bit old, quite a bit and outdated. So it only lasts a minute, or even a few seconds. But it should be enough until I repair your old one. Or I guess it would be the new one in that case." She brings her hand to her chin in thought and stares off a bit. "Yes I suppose so, and I've just had an idea for it too." She slides off her chair and pushes the cloth curtains aside. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to attend to." She says and disappears off into the night.

The woman owning the stand comes out from behind the kitchen area into the bar area and nods at the remaining people. "Want to close soon, so sorry. Please do not stay too long if you can." she says and sits back down on her chair. "Tomorrow is big business, if you want to come again."

Sharpe nods to the woman behind the counter.

"Yeah, we'll make sure you get some business, the food was great." He says to her. He cocks his head toward Jian to pose a question.

"What's the name of this place anyway? Might as well give them some advertisement." He says. He gets up and walks behind Airgetlam. He leans close to her, brushing some of her hair covering her ear out of the way.

"Look on the bright side, now you can give yourself a challenge, have to rely more on pure stealth and your wits than any sort of mechanical assistance. Not to say it's worthless or makes you any less legitimate. Just take it as a way to sharpen your skills." He says, coming away smiling and rubbing her back a little.

"Needless to say, I feel like we've inconvenienced our servers long enough. Shall we?"

Airgetlam raises a finger as Jack walks out.

"B-but I already put down the money!" she says, but alas, it's too late, he's already taken flight. She looks down at the money pile he's put down and the one she put forward, and takes money from her pile corresponding to amount in his.

She feels Sharpe give his say on the matter regarding her device and nods, seeing that he has a point. The device likely won't be around forever, and at some point she might lose it for good, so while it pays not to abuse the gift, it's always wise to keep your skills up. Technology and Magic exist to enrich life, not define it.

She finishes up her dinner and wipes her mouth with a napkin, and slides the plate forward. She gets up, turns about-face and concurs.

"Yeah, besides a nice bed sounds excellent right about now."

She pulls the hood of her cloak over her head and pushes the curtain aside. She looks up to see the stars. She ponders how things will go, that they will do tomorrow, and even where their paths will lead them, how they might ultimately intersect, and converge into one.

His hand stretches out to get a sweet pork bun, but it simply twitches once, they're all gone and eaten up. He stares at the empty plate with his arm extended for a moment, sighing. He's reminded of something a few weeks back. He simply shakes his head in a bit of a sad expression.

Jian, being a bit absent then answers to Sharpe's question. "Hé xiàhóudūn", he says off the bat. Then finishing up his meal, listening to the others carrying on with the topic. Having eating the last bit he wipes his face off a little, placing the chopsticks onto the plate, placing his hands together, bowing once. The others seem to now walk out, which leaves him with the woman from the restaurant for a moment.

"I am sorry for the time we took to eat. I am sure you're tired and await a long day tomorrow. I will return after running a few errands then. I hope that the spices I handed over will help in making the meals get their own unique taste."

He bows once smiling, then finding his way out too. He drops one hand on Air's shoulder, one on Sharpe's, with a bit of a stern face. "Please... you're both lucky that the woman didn't get the impression of getting mocked by your attempts to talk to her in her native language... Sorry if this is a bit of a mean thing to say, but just stick to what you speak best, she'll understand it just fine."

He then takes a few steps ahead, walking in a slow pace, sliding his hands into his pockets, being back into thoughts, looking around absent-minded.

What was it the assassin said? 'have the girl, there are others'... What if that girl knows what he was talking about. dammit, she'll never talk unless I convince the others that she's up to something."

Jack reaches the house. He pauses for moment. His heart is warmed watching Hitomi sleep. Getting back to the task at hand, He find the doctor immediately.

"Doctor, doctor wake up... Now I know this is going to seem like a random question, but it's very important. If the answer is no, you can go back to sleep. If the answer is yes, I need you to come with me as soon as possible. When you met up with the group outside the central district, was it because you were sent by a girl with a witch hat?"

Jack bursting through the door is almost like a blurr to Clarent as she is startled out of her sleep, from under her heavy sweat blanket. She frowns at him as she tries to focus, still propped up against the wall on her damp bed. She groans and reaches her hand out to him, for reasons she can't explain herself. Shortly after losing consciousness and falling, nearly off the bed and only narrowly avoiding its post. The loud chatter wakes up Hitomi who jumps up with a mock roar and proceeds to climb onto the doctors stommach with sudden found energy, causing him to wake up as her heavy weight falls onto his chest, blowing the wind out of his lungs.

A few moments later the rest of the group arrives at the front door of the house with Jian in the lead.

Sharpe crosses his arms. As he walks.

"From my understanding, trying to speak in someone else's language usually means you're trying to respect and understand their culture, but signifying you have an interest. However, I do acknowledge that some use it just to be assholes. I will refrain from it in the future then." He says. As they come upon the house, Sharpe opens the door and walks in.

"I'll go check on Clarent, see how she's doing." He says, looking back. He drowsily places his foot on the first step and uses the railing to help pull him up. He arrives at Clarent's door and hears Jack a door down or so trying to wake up Doc as it seems. He pushes open Clarent's door and notices her drooping out of the bed, sweating up a storm.

"Oh shit, not again."

He walks over to her and wipes some sweat from her forehead and heaves her back into bed.

"Dammit, I should have taken your hoodie off before I left, that would have helped!"

He keeps the blanket off her and he rests her head on her pillow. He tries to rouse her from her unconscious state.

"Clarent, I'm going to get you some water, you're really burning up, so I need you to take your hoodie off. If you feel anything else is making you hot, take it off, comfort helps keep the heat down. I'll be right back."

Sharpe gets up and runs back in the hall. He looks down the hall to where his room would be, and he rushes into it. He spies his belt and frees his canteen from it, running back into Clarent's room. He sees Jian and Airgetlam downstairs still, and yells to them.

"We should have bought some soup or something for her while we were out!" He runs back in and leans over her, holding his canteen to the side of her mouth.

"When you're ok to sip, let me know. You need fluids, and I don't think Doc's magic is going to help with pathological illness, so far I've only seen it work with combat wounds or first aid."

Airgetlam keeps her eyes shrouded by her hood with just her mouth and nose sticking out as she walks. She strolls into the house, and sits down in a random chair, looking at Jian.

"You wouldn't know any protraction would you? We're going to need it to get this place up and running." She looks up as Sharpe yells at them about soup.

She looks at Jian, eyes wide.

"Shit... we really should have gotten her something... I guess we'll have to do that when the sun's been in the sky for a bit..." She walks upstairs and walks into Clarent's room, tapping Sharpe's shoulder.

"A-anything I can do?" She asks.

Jian's rather unaffected, as he knew that Clarent's in a troubling state due to the message he received when he stepped outside with the girl. His concern is not too increased by such, as he was already feeling like this as soon as he stepped back in to finish his meal earlier. He sets down his backpack, going through the spices for a moment until he finds sweet clover, which is known to calm a human's body a little. He also keeps searching afterwards, finding some balm in combination with his grinder aswell. Having found all he needs, he walks upstairs into clarents room.

"Cut the water for a moment...", he says, sitting down then leaning over Clarent for a moment, setting all the items aside. He runs his fingers over her face for a moment, then resting it on her body to feel the heartbeat, nodding to himself for a moment. He grabs the grinder and the balm, patiently grinding one leaf after another into small bits. Having done so he puts the grinder and the balm aside again, grabbing onto Clarent's left hand, putting the fingers below the joint of it. He nods again, then putting his fingers above the right hand's joint. He then looks to the left for a moment, thinking about what he's feeling. "SHUO-MAI", he says quietly.

"I feel what's going on... it's fast and strong, her body is in excessive, but empty heat. Her Qi-bloodcirculation then is causing a pulse increasement. With a YIN weakness, vacuity heat is generated by a relative YANG surplus..."

He knows that people are not sure about what he's saying, but he assures them that he knows what he's doing. He takes the balm he grinded, opening her mouth a little, he rubs a bit of it onto her tounge and then spills it down with water from Sharpe's canteen. He repeates this with the sweet clover, alternating back and forth a little.

"This will calm her a little, but I will have to go to the markets tomorrow, I know somebody who can help.", he then says, spilling down the last bit of spices carefully.

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