One Day, Three Autumns [Marschal Leigh]

Job Description:

Even if those months had been a blurred blackout to him, it seemed that time had progressed nonetheless in Fiore. Much of the technology around here had quickly advanced and left behind places that lagged in getting so much as a working television. From what he had heard, Motor City was one of the best places in Fiore to get any and all things motorized. Not because it was a booming city in itself, but because it was located close to Neutral Grounds, where he was heading to. Why was he going to Neutral Grounds? He had learned of something called an "iLac:" a more advanced version of a communication lacrima. This "iLac" was able to not only call anyone anywhere in Earthland, but had a calendar, calculator, HP and MP tracker, and various other applications. All of these things would be quite useful to Marschal, so he had decided to take it upon himself to head out to Neutral Grounds.

Now, Neutral Grounds was known as a gigantic mega city, a place where all things technological were created and exported. If a steampunk themed place was where one wanted to go, then Neutral Grounds was the place to head to. It had towering buildings of metallic creation, with large gears, pulleys, and levers working to keep the city going. Steam and smoke rolled off from factories all over the city, blockading the sun from ever shining down on this mechanized world. Smog swam through the air, coating what little oxygen there was already hiding in the haze of working engines. Marschal found it nearly impossible to breathe nicely here, in the technological mega city, but it was enough to get him through. Whoever wanted to live here for the rest of their lives to ignore magic was mildly insane, only because of the pollution in the air.

Coughing, Marschal swept away some of the black smoke from his vision, squinting his eyes as he tried to see through it. He could hear people close to him chattering excitedly to each other as they waited in a line to a building. What building that was, he couldn't quite make out yet, but when he reached it, he poked someone in the shoulder with a clawed finger.

"Ow!" a girl's voice cried out, her hand reached up to swat away his finger and hold the area where he pricked her. "What do you want, asshole? Can't you see I'm busy waiting in line for the new iLac phone, just like everyone else?"

"Is that why everyone is standing around this strange building?" the mage inquired, eyes shifting to the light through the think fog.

"Yes. This is The Greedy Eagle, where all things phone related are sold, and they're just now coming out with the iLac today!" she squealed in response.

Marschal flattened his ears as she cried like a pig getting food then looked down the long line of people who waited for the store to open. He let out an exasperated sigh as the line was quite long and it looked like the store wouldn't be opening anytime soon. Leaning up against the glass window of the store, the man would wait with the rest of the people for the store to open. Taking out his magic gourd of alcohol, the mage took a sip of it; however, no feeling of refreshment swelled over him. It seemed that even in neutral grounds his alcohol was no longer imbued with the power of magic, but rather was just regular alcohol. Hiccuping, the man took another sip of the gourd and yawned quietly, tapping his foot against the ground. Today was going to be a long day, he feared, standing here, waiting for the line to budge as the doors opened.


A scream quelled the air as the doors to the store opened and people began rushing into the building to get to the iLacs. By now, Marschal had drank the entire gourd of alcohol and was now wobbling his way with everyone else into the store. He hiccuped and looked around, though many of one thing were filing his vision as he walked through the building. His fingers trailed along each and every object, from a small flip phone to a large, flat screen t.v. on its stand. Then his fingers wrapped around one of the iLacs and held onto it, just as a hand went to swipe it away from him.

"Sir, you can't be in here drunk," the cashier stated, across his arms over his chest as he warned the mage.

"Look, I jus' wanna come in here to get an iLac like everyone else," Marschal slurred out, stumbling forward to grab the lacrima again.

"Come back here when you're not drunk and then we'll sell you an iLac," the cashier stated, playing keep away with him now.

"Um. . . no. . ." he responded, a frown on his face as he reached for the lacrima and snagged it from the man.

With the lacrima now in his hands again, the drunkard stumbled toward the checkout, holding the item close to him. He chuckled a little to himself, then set the item on the checkout conveyor belt and watched as it moved forward. The soft beep of the scanner sounded and the light tapping of fingers on a keyboard caused him to look up.

". . ." he simply stared at the person who was checking out his item, only to blink and realize she had said something.

"Sir, that'll be 500 jewels," she extended her hand and waited for him to dig out his wallet and hand her the jewels.

The man swallowed a lump down his throat, lips partially opened as he moved his hand backward and dug into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and next a piece of paper that had '500' printed at the corners of it before handing it over to her. She took it from him and tapped on the keyboard, then handed the iLac to him and bidding him farewell. Marschal nodded and stumbled away from her, walking diligently out of the store and heading back the way he had come from.