It Stole My Jewels. Twice.

Many focusing exercises were done over the past weeks to increase Samira's ability to control the spells that were seldom used and could easily cause disastrous effects when that concentration was broken. There was much better management with them than before, at least for such minimal usage. To say she expected to use them at the fullest degree was overstating things. She did not expect or foresee it as a possibility. Not anytime soon anyway. The instances of dangers of that level were few. Thankfully. There would be some concerns if it were common. Though, all the same, if she were to master her spells and abilities she needed to be able to practice them at full strength instead of holding back. It was one form of logic she didn't really understand when it came to her spirits' demands for her to excel in that area. What was she supposed to do? Set everything off in an area meant for training while knowing full well more than that one building would likely disintegrate in the process from just one of those spells? True she could likely find an isolated area but that would just serve to destroy the environment all the same. The only suitable area where she would not feel guilty using as a practice zone would be sin. But, well, she supposed that was still very inappropriate all the same. It was a conundrum. A temporary issue it was though for her spirits already had a solution. The same one that was spoken about much earlier before in very vague details before the whole focusing training started, and the same one that she had purposely ignored because of how the sun spirit would treat her inquiries if prodded.

That day she was told more in general terms, but the plan had bored her. She had already done what had been proposed once before. Using some strange alternate reality magic she was basically going to be going through some of her previous missions and jobs. Except they were going to be more difficult and also would not have the help with them as she had before. That had already been partially done during Vishnu's trial. That would be experiencing the same events not once, not twice, but three times. It was not fun or desired. Admittedly, she had also threw the idea from her mind and disregarded it out of fear as well. Some things needed to stay in the past, and constantly revisiting them was not something she thought would help with anything other than to make sure she didn't forget it. As if that were possible to begin with. Those were all scars that made up who she was currently, and even if given the choice for some magical amnesia she would refuse. As against the idea as she was though, the spirits that kept pushing for her to take part in the whole scheme had managed to convince her. Things would be different, they said. It wouldn't be an exact history lesson like before, they claimed. Results, direction, everything would be different. That had yet to be determined.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Samira inquired with a raised brow as she stared at the spirit of Chronos, who was sifting through some sort of book and looking around the area, uncertainty clearly written on his face. The longer he kept up, the more even she was starting to become uncomfortable.

"Well, erm," Chronos paused as he looked at the book again, flipped through some pages frantically, stared at them, and then looked up with that still uncertain expression. "No. I must admit that I do not."

A gentle sigh escaped the woman as she twisted a lock of her hair around her fingers. "This is to be an experiment then? I was not informed of this detail. It had been explained to me that this would be rather simple and without error. As if you were accustomed to this sort of thing."

"SIMPLE?!" Chronos slammed the book closed. Anger coursed through him at the sheer audacity that such a spell was called simple. "Maybe the actual god I represent could do this at the snap of his fingers, but I am just a spirit with a small part of what he is. I was not made for this sort of sorcery!"

"Vishnu had no trouble. Should I call for his aid, perhaps?"

"He cannot help!" Chronos shouted, rejecting the idea with all he could. "What he did before was invade and use what was in your mind. That is easy. Given your condition at that time it was made even easier for him. No doubt it was the equivalent of opening a book that is easy to read due to its colorful printed pictures."

"Oh." Really she wasn't certain if that comparison was a gentle insult towards her or not. Or rather, an insult to her mind. Being compared to a children's picture book seemed slightly degrading. Samira said nothing of it though and let it pass over. In the end, everyone had their own opinions, and her spirits commonly had harsh ones. The woman kept sitting on the large rock she had chosen as a temporary chair while she waited for Chronos to figure out... whatever it was that had him stumped.

In time, a small swirl of flaming particles appeared on the surface of a branch of a tree, creating the passive falcon form of one of her spirits. Miraculously the tree had not caught fire though samira was sure to frown at the thought as she glanced his way for a second before going back to amuse herself with watching Chronos. "Have you come to help?"

"No. The very opposite. My expectations were higher than reality, it appears."

"Oh? I wasn't aware that you understood the complexities that comes with creating a false alternate reality of this one and editing certain criteria so that our summoner here can relive her past challenges at a higher difficulty and without worry of the destruction caused while in it. Don't evrn get me started on ensuring the reality collapses correctly without us getting stuck in it, making sure the spirit connection still exists between dimensions, creating exit points all throughout it, and-" the list went on and on. Chronos spoke more calmly than he had before, but the air around him was still tense. Likely there was more to it than just the task being more difficult to accomplish. From the list samira listened to about halfway before tuning it out, there seemed to be a lot of possibilities for... Problems. Many of them that might not have a solution or way of fixing it once it occurs. Why they couldn't just create a space in their own realm for a suitable training area was beyond her.

"Should we just cancel for now then and try again once you have figured it out? There are other things I could be doing than sitting here watching the result of zero progress. I am sure I could catch up with some acquaintances in town that could use my help with a job or two." Patience was something Samira had a great deal of. In honestly, she probably could have sat there all day without giving so much of a fuss. It was a complete waste of time all the same, though. Just as she had said, they were settled nearby Hargeon Town. Hidden away from the main populace, of course, and would likely only be spotted if someone managed to stumble into the area for some reason or another.

(WC: 1275)

Why had that town been selected? Well, it had been the first actual challenging job that the summoner had taken on. One that required actual combat. The ones before that... well they mostly comprised of delivery and gathering services. There was that incident with a lively gingerbread cookie, but she did not want to completely witness what sort of alteration that experience would have. Most likely it would consist of her fighting against some giant human shaped cookie. As amusing as that would have been, she was going to take a hard pass on that. Her spirits had agreed. And so that the next job she had taken while under the symbol of Lamia Scale had been selected.

That particular mission had been issued when a series of murders were happening around town. Many bodies were burned by fire and scalding water. All the work of a man that turned out to be a woman all along. An insane one at that, but one would have to be a unique case of psycho to hang out in the sewers and go on that sort of killing spree. The job had been completed without incident, and Samira had even gotten over her fear of dark tunnels that same day. Though, one must not forget the significant detail that she was not alone. Another member of her guild had also been there to take on that job. They were both novices at that point, and what came with that was the typical foolishness and crazy that they had to have been to not only want to take that sort of dangerous job, but to actually see it through to its end. In the grand scheme of things though and the long list of missions that would come later, it was the most normal of dangerous jobs that had her name attached. The goddess of Ishgar did wonder what ever happened to the mage known as Lucius Octavius, her teammate for that day. Her eyes had not seen him for quite some time, nor had his name ever reached her ears. Hopefully he was okay somewhere, studying his gravity magic and the hidden powers of that strange eye of his, instead of whatever other horrible and possible fates it could have been instead.

Chronos closed the tome with a snap. "I will have to agree here. I am not going to figure this out today. You should have never tried to rush me in the first place. This is not some simple hand waving 'spell' that a child can do at a magic show!"

"So disgraceful," the falcon muttered with a shake of his head. He felt shame for them. Not that either of them would agree with him that his standards were just fine. They apparently thought they were too high. But, it was what it was, now wasn't it? "I'll agree that accepting a local mission around here is a better example of productivity than remaining here as if you were a statue. You can go. Chronos and myself will continue work on this so it is at acceptable sustainability for another day." And that was that. Samira was free!

The decision to walk to town was an easy one. Taking portals to get where she was going was convenient, of course, but it did take the journey away from it all. Sometimes she just wanted to walk. See the sights. The people. Use that time to think a bit. It was nice. Being in familiar territory on a nice sunny day made it even more so. During her walk to town, after exiting the more deserted woodsy part of the area, Samira walked through a park that was bustling with activity. Along the way she came across a group of vending machines, all lined up and containing snacks and drinks. None had the same thing. Some had a couple of people waiting for their turn to get something to last them until dinner. Samira glanced at them until she got to one that was available. Her stomach growled a bit. Hungry but not overly so. Getting a snack right then wouldn't hurt. It was probably a good idea to eat something then anyway in case Chronos figured out his little experiment and put back being busy on her daily agenda. For a couple of minutes she stood there quietly and stared at all the items behind the glass. What should she get?

"Hmmmm," she hummed as she went into a state of thought that was probably much too serious for such a trivial thing. "Hm?" The Goddess of Ishgar had been ignoring the stares and chatter of those around, but there was one she could not ignore. Her eyes shifted to the side, catching sight of the small figure floating in the air at her side. "That prank is still in effect?" Samira asked. The one floating beside her was actually a spirit of hers. One that was tricked by another with a transformation prank a long time ago and still the guy was reduced to being cute and doll sized. Not a very intimidating look for one called Hades.

The spirit's glowing green eyes changed shape to two sideways arrow tips that pointed at each other (><). The reaction brought a small smile to Samira's face. It was a humorous situation for him. Often she wondered just how long that appearance change was going to last and Every time the answer seemed to be ongoing. "What are you doing out here?"

The spirit drifted closer to the vending machine and pointed a claw at it. "Snacks."

"All right. I can get us both something." She took her eyes off of the machine and spirit just long enough to call forth a money pouch from the celestial vault that she stored pretty much everything in. "What do you-" the woman couldn't finish her sentence. She was too speechless at what she saw. The doll-sized spirit had attached himself to the glass and was now sliding down the surface slowly as gravity pushed him down. A thick line of drool remained in his place. "Uh," Samira blinked. Okay then. "I am guessing there are cookies in there that you want." That was the only snack that would get such an odd reaction from that particular spirit.

Hades had reached the bottom of the vending machine and toppled to the ground. He floated back up and pointed to a small bag behind the containment glass. His eyes once again shifting shape, but this time looking more cheerful as they became arrow tips that pointed upwards (^^). Samira stepped closer to the machine and leaned in closer to read the printed name on the bag. "Mr. Khookie Krum's dangerously saintly cookies. With sprinkles." Samira cringed while reading the name. From what she could see on the package, the cookies were like animal crackers. Though the difference was that instead of taking an animal shape the cookies there were shaped like Wizard Saints. Past and present. With sprinkles. And enough frosted sugar that just eating one cookie was to doom oneself to a form of Diabetes most certainly.

"Sprinkles!" Normally a child would have shouted the word in great cheer while waving their arms and jumping around like small little lunatics. Hades was the opposite. He had said the word so seriously with a cold stare that to deny him of sprinkles would be nightmarish for the one that dared. Unfortunately his small look still made it a laughable threat for those that didn't know any better. Samira did though and blinked, taken aback by the small spirit's tone. "Oh dear, now I worry that Serqet is rubbing off on you." Not so much in the threatening category since the two didn't share the same tone at all. It was more of the ridiculous nature of it all. One would expect the threatening tone to be for something much more serious. Yet it was for simple cookies. Out of a basic vending machine. Samira had to wonder if the actual Hades had a deadly desire for baked goods as much as her spirit version did. That'd be amusing as a secret. "All right. I will buy these for you. I am curious to see these cookies." Maybe she would even try one. Felt a bit odd to bite into a cookie shaped like an actual wizard saint but it should be interesting to bite the heads and limbs off as well.

"Gooooooddddd. They are delicious. The gods and goddesses are covered in icing!" The small spirit was excited now, the deadly tone having disappeared the instant the summoner made his day. He couldn't wait to take the bag and eat every cookie inside. If Samira thought that she was getting any she would be disappointed! That girl could get her own bag! That he'd probably actually take for himself. She didn't need to know that.

(Word Count: 1491
Total So Far: 2766)

Samira took a couple of jewels and slid them into the money slot. Hades waited patiently and eagerly. In the money went, the machine sucking the currency inside and making noises as it processed the amount. "Good day Fiore citizen!" The machine spoke cheerfully in a male mechanical voice. "Please make a selection." Samira entered the code for the cookies and then stepped back. Both she and Hades stood there. Watching the machine work in slow motion as the metal spiral that held the bags spun. Closer the bag moved to the end. It was almost there. Hades began to shake where he hovered, glowing eyes wide with excitement and dreams of snacking on the explosion of cookies that would surely occur when he tore the bag in half.

Then the unspeakable happened. The spiral stopped moving. Without dropping the bag of cookies into the retrieval slot. The machine had taken the money and refused to let go of the prize! "Thank you for your purchase, Fiore citizen. Have a nice day!" Hades gasped, eyes growing and nearly popping out of the dark hood that hid the rest of his face. His clawed hands covered where his mouth should have been. Such horror that a vending machine had stolen what was rightfully his! Samira remained passive. The most she did at first was stare and blink. Then she pressed more buttons on the control panel, including the one to get her money back. The machine refused to do anything and just demanded more payment for another purchase.

The doll sized Hades went berserk and started to pound on the glass and threaten the vending machine with colorful swears. "That is not necessary..." Samira told him calmly as she watched. He kept doing it and all the while more attention was drawn to them. "Please stop that..." The woman sighed hopelessly as the spirit continued his tantrum. He had apparently lost his senses. It wasn't as if she were so broke that she couldn't just try again with more money. The pounding on the machine tactic sure wasn't getting them anywhere.
The spirit calmed himself when he heard the paper slips go in and begin to process. But the result was the same. The metal spiral refused to move and the two were met with the have a nice day automated message. Hades yelled angrily and slipped through the door of the retrieval basket. "No, no, no, no!" Samira reacted as he moved, grabbing onto him and pulling to get him out of there. "Stealing is wrong, Fiore citizen. Please enter a correct form of currency."

The machine forced the spirit out, spitting him out as if he were a piece of gum. Now that was annoying. He slipped out of Samira's arms and flew back to the machine and fused with it, possessing it. His intent was to take control of the way the machine operated and thus free that cookie bag. It backfired. The vending machine started shouting something about errors and its automated messages were mixing with each other. Hades removed himself from the unstable machine, just before the thing grew legs and went nuts. Oh... This was similar to the recheeserator now. The machine took off and started spitting out snacks and drinks as if it was all deadly ammunition to be used against hostile foes. The targets? Random people that were near but now had scattered to escape the bottles, cans, and bags of snacks.

Samira watched the spectacle with slow blinks of her eyes. There was always something. Well, she supposed she should put an end to the madness. The vending machine was destroyed by a bolt of lightning, courtesy of Zeus lending Samira a minute amount of his powers for that second. It was just a vending machine, after all. Taking it out didn't require much at her level. The vending machine sparked several times over and burst into a mini explosion before falling over. Problem solved. All that was left was cleaning up the mess, which Samira did.

All the items that had been shot out without payment were put on one of the nearby picnic tables. The machine itself was moved back into its slot but clearly inoperable. Two bags of cookies were taken as her prize. They had already been paid for so she saw no reason not to claim them. Though she wondered who was it that she was supposed to call about the machine and all of those freebies on the table. Eh, maybe she'd just pay for everything and let the park locals have the snacks and drinks. With the machine clearly not working though, who was she supposed to give the money to? Even that solution wasn't a good one. Well, looks like the mission she set out to find was going to be fixing the vending machine. If only she knew how. The summoner just ended up using Janus to teleport the machine and the money to the local authorities. All of it appearing randomly and falling onto the ground of the central office. At least she also sent a note so they'd have some idea as to what was going on instead of them thinking that there was an invasion of failed appliances going on.

(Word Count: 880
Total So Far: 3646)