Job Details
It was a cold morning with a brisk wind blowing outside, with the suggestions of a storm apparently brewing high overhead. It was most likely raining somewhere close by, and the reduced temperature, as well as the gloom of the morning made it a very quick conclusion to arrive at, once one had simply looked at the skies. Still, this weather did little to affect the activities of the flourishing Hosenka. It was morning, after all, a little past eight, and there were clients to be responded to, and money to be made. As such, even though a good number of the more prudent folk carried umbrellas in their hands, just in case the threat of rain became all too true, there was not a single chance that a spell of bad weather would bother the business and activities of the flashy ‘Spa Town’. Not so far away, in the complex of canyons that housed the light guild known to Earthland as Luminous Rose, the activities and businesses of the denizens of the rose quartz crevasses continued their hustle and bustle with even less care than was present in the denizens of Hosenka major, for this subterranean fortress, built into the sides of a great rift in the earth south of the spa city, was so constructed as not to fear any natural threats made by the weather.
For those with little or nothing to do, such glowering mornings were the perfect time to hunker down in bed, or whatever contraption was used to facilitate sleep, and engage sleep with as much gusto as could be mustered, or if one had probably had their fill of slumber the night before, it was quite tempting to have a warm edible item at hand, while occupying oneself with whatever entertainment facilities were available. Others with a significant other would be sure to lend and borrow each other’s body heat, while engaging in matters better left behind closed doors. But for those with nothing to do, and lacking all such options as have been mentioned above, such mornings could be restless and difficult to manage. If the restlessness came from the mind, it was only worse. And it was in such a predicament as this that the Pergrandian young woman known to some as Nita Fortune found herself, with lots of time to kill and a lack of interest in, or presence of, the tools with which this process of slaughtering the being called Time could be achieved.
For the umpteenth time that morning, the blonde mage sighed as she picked her little nifty electronic device and stared at its glowing screen. It was supposed to be an iLac, but she had never really wrapped her head around comprehending all its abilities. Quite ironic, she mused, given that she was considered intelligent by those who had been patient enough to attempt to gauge her mental capabilities. Patient, because most people often wrote her off as the ‘brainless beauty’ stereotype, and while that was quite insulting, Nita was not given to attempting to convince them otherwise, for it was very likely that their opinions of her were irrelevant, or if they were not, she could find a way of manipulating this underestimation of her abilities to her own advantage. In any case, intelligence was often not universal, and that was one of the quirks of being human. People had fields in which they excelled, and others in which they were flops. If someone excelled in everything, such a person was a perfect being, and even the beings referred to as gods, despite people’s opinions or levels of understanding, were not perfect. The existence of a perfect being transcended everything, and it seemed that it was in human nature to strive towards a perfection they would never achieve. Pulling her thoughts away from such dismal thoughts, the Luminous Rose mage fixed her gaze on the iLac’s screen. Nothing of interest there either. With a frustrated grunt, she flung the glowing device at one of the pillows on her bed, and pulled her body off the sheets. There was no point remaining in bed if she was just going to mope the day away.
A hot shower did a little good for her mood, and by the time Nita exited her room, she was not in a particularly dour mood, although she was bored. Herein one would notice something strange about her. For all intents and purposes, the Pergrandian seemed to be of the more social, extroverted sort. But a true extrovert would be quick to seek the company of others, once bored. Nita only tended to seek human company only when she was in a good mood, or as a last resort, yet her apparently bright, sunny personality, coupled with her unnatural charm, made her a people magnet, a burden she had learned to bear rather skillfully.
Having escaped the confines of her room, the young mage decided that a walk would be the best use of her time, and perhaps help her find something reasonable to do. Perhaps she would head towards the mission boards. Maybe there was something interesting on the boards. Personally, Nita was not all for taking missions at the very present moment, but she didn’t mind seeing what items were on the board. Besides, she could always nab high-level but less urgent missions, to be done at a time when she felt more peppy and eager to see the world. There was also nothing wrong with providing advice, if anyone was willing to take it, on how some missions were to be navigated. Even if many people tended to undervalue Nita’s abilities, her guild members did not, and it did feel good to see that she was beginning to be recognized in the guild as one of the powerhouses of Luminous Rose. That was a victory, even if a small one. The more she was recognized for her power, the closer she was on the path to becoming a hero, someone that the people of Fiore, perhaps even Earthland eventually, would be able to depend on to live in peace and safety.
The trip to the mission boards did not take long, and soon the Pergrandian was scanning the missions on the board. There seemed to be few people around the area, so she could focus on looking at the contents of the board without being distracted. So far, none of the jobs looked rather outstanding; Nita was not minded to believe that the world was becoming a better place because of that, though. There were times when business was steep, and there were times when there wasn’t really much to do. This was most definitely one of those off days. Nita was about to leave the mission boards, when her eyes caught sight of a mission paper at a corner of the board. The Pergrandian picked the paper off the board and began to scroll through its details. She had never been to the River Village, although she knew its general location; it was north east of the Luminous Rose guild hall, and quite a good distance too. It seemed there seemed to have been a sort of curse placed on the people of the River Village, which was most definitely why the mayor of the village had enlisted the services of an exorcist. The exorcist’s prescription of the problem did seem to hold some merit, though. Rather than being a curse, the apparent reduction in the general vivacity of the village’s inhabitants was due to the souls of the villagers having been stolen. An interesting conclusion, but one that ticked the boxes. Nita was sure though, that the stealing of the villagers’ souls was not complete, else they would probably not be alive to begin with. But it was very likely that if nothing was done to rectify the situation, death would probably come to the villagers after a while.
If there was anything Nita was desirous to be known for, it was the fact that she was very uncomfortable with leaving people to suffer, especially when she thought herself able to provide help or succor of some kind. Her brow unconsciously furrowed into a frown of concentration. Initially, she had not really wanted to leave the guild premises today, but this was a rather sufficient reason to stop lazing about and do something about this mission. These people needed her help. What good was wanting to be a hero, when one saw that people were in need of help, and one decided to choose her personal comfort over the lives of people? Even if the River Village was quite a small settlement (which it actually was), Nita was not interested in helping just so that people could sing her praises. If she was to be seen as reliable, then everyone, from the well-known to the obscure, had to know her as someone they could put their trust in. Even if, on completion of this mission, people didn’t get to know of her deeds for the River Village people, she would sleep content with the fact that out there, people got another shot at life because of her. The blonde mage’s eyes traveled further down the page, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw the price attached to the mission. The fact that the pay looked rather good was definitely an additional incentive for the Pergrandian, and Nita was certainly not complaining about having more money in her coffers. She nodded as if concluding a conversation with an unseen entity. It was decided. She would go and help the people of River Village.
Preparing to attend to this mission didn’t take long, especially as Nita had already performed the necessary daily morning ablution called bathing. Before long, she was ready to go, although anyone who saw her would imagine that she was probably going on a date, shopping or something so much less dangerous than finding out why a village of fishermen had to have the ill fortune of growing bags under their eyes and having their hair fall off. She took a map and located River Village, just to have an idea of the general direction of the place, and then, in the comfort of her room, the Pergrandian held out her hand, and a blue dot formed in empty space a little higher than her head. The dot traveled downwards, forming a blue line that ran down till it almost touched the ground, and then the line began to expand left and right, until it became a rectangle wide enough for Nita to step into. For a moment, the young mage paused to be sure that she was not missing anything important, then stepped into the strange portal, which by now looked like the surface of a dark pool held perpendicular to the ground by some weird play of gravity, bordered by the bright blue that made up the limits of its dimensions. As if stepping into water, Nita felt the change in pressure in her ears, although there was not the usual feeling of cold, as though the water into which she stepped was of the same temperature as that of the room in which she had previously been. This was the Interdimensional Sea, that connected all points in the universe, or so it was said. As she normally traveled in this strange dimension, Nita swam for a bit, until she felt she was near her desired location. And then a portal opened, quite similar to the one that had opened in the Luminous Rose guild hall not many seconds ago, and through it stepped the Pergrandian.
If the skies above Hosenka were grey, they were positively black above the River Village, and the wind was almost howling as it blew with fury. A few heads slowly turned to look at the dripping mage, as she stared back at them, and then they turned away. That was a very bad reaction. Most times, when a portal opened out of nowhere, responses varied from curiosity to fear. These guys responded as though they had just seen a fish in a basket. And they were fishermen, so a fish in a basket would be the definition of ‘too ordinary to be graced with a name’ ordinary. Wow. It really looked bad.
WC: 2057
It was a cold morning with a brisk wind blowing outside, with the suggestions of a storm apparently brewing high overhead. It was most likely raining somewhere close by, and the reduced temperature, as well as the gloom of the morning made it a very quick conclusion to arrive at, once one had simply looked at the skies. Still, this weather did little to affect the activities of the flourishing Hosenka. It was morning, after all, a little past eight, and there were clients to be responded to, and money to be made. As such, even though a good number of the more prudent folk carried umbrellas in their hands, just in case the threat of rain became all too true, there was not a single chance that a spell of bad weather would bother the business and activities of the flashy ‘Spa Town’. Not so far away, in the complex of canyons that housed the light guild known to Earthland as Luminous Rose, the activities and businesses of the denizens of the rose quartz crevasses continued their hustle and bustle with even less care than was present in the denizens of Hosenka major, for this subterranean fortress, built into the sides of a great rift in the earth south of the spa city, was so constructed as not to fear any natural threats made by the weather.
For those with little or nothing to do, such glowering mornings were the perfect time to hunker down in bed, or whatever contraption was used to facilitate sleep, and engage sleep with as much gusto as could be mustered, or if one had probably had their fill of slumber the night before, it was quite tempting to have a warm edible item at hand, while occupying oneself with whatever entertainment facilities were available. Others with a significant other would be sure to lend and borrow each other’s body heat, while engaging in matters better left behind closed doors. But for those with nothing to do, and lacking all such options as have been mentioned above, such mornings could be restless and difficult to manage. If the restlessness came from the mind, it was only worse. And it was in such a predicament as this that the Pergrandian young woman known to some as Nita Fortune found herself, with lots of time to kill and a lack of interest in, or presence of, the tools with which this process of slaughtering the being called Time could be achieved.
For the umpteenth time that morning, the blonde mage sighed as she picked her little nifty electronic device and stared at its glowing screen. It was supposed to be an iLac, but she had never really wrapped her head around comprehending all its abilities. Quite ironic, she mused, given that she was considered intelligent by those who had been patient enough to attempt to gauge her mental capabilities. Patient, because most people often wrote her off as the ‘brainless beauty’ stereotype, and while that was quite insulting, Nita was not given to attempting to convince them otherwise, for it was very likely that their opinions of her were irrelevant, or if they were not, she could find a way of manipulating this underestimation of her abilities to her own advantage. In any case, intelligence was often not universal, and that was one of the quirks of being human. People had fields in which they excelled, and others in which they were flops. If someone excelled in everything, such a person was a perfect being, and even the beings referred to as gods, despite people’s opinions or levels of understanding, were not perfect. The existence of a perfect being transcended everything, and it seemed that it was in human nature to strive towards a perfection they would never achieve. Pulling her thoughts away from such dismal thoughts, the Luminous Rose mage fixed her gaze on the iLac’s screen. Nothing of interest there either. With a frustrated grunt, she flung the glowing device at one of the pillows on her bed, and pulled her body off the sheets. There was no point remaining in bed if she was just going to mope the day away.
A hot shower did a little good for her mood, and by the time Nita exited her room, she was not in a particularly dour mood, although she was bored. Herein one would notice something strange about her. For all intents and purposes, the Pergrandian seemed to be of the more social, extroverted sort. But a true extrovert would be quick to seek the company of others, once bored. Nita only tended to seek human company only when she was in a good mood, or as a last resort, yet her apparently bright, sunny personality, coupled with her unnatural charm, made her a people magnet, a burden she had learned to bear rather skillfully.
Having escaped the confines of her room, the young mage decided that a walk would be the best use of her time, and perhaps help her find something reasonable to do. Perhaps she would head towards the mission boards. Maybe there was something interesting on the boards. Personally, Nita was not all for taking missions at the very present moment, but she didn’t mind seeing what items were on the board. Besides, she could always nab high-level but less urgent missions, to be done at a time when she felt more peppy and eager to see the world. There was also nothing wrong with providing advice, if anyone was willing to take it, on how some missions were to be navigated. Even if many people tended to undervalue Nita’s abilities, her guild members did not, and it did feel good to see that she was beginning to be recognized in the guild as one of the powerhouses of Luminous Rose. That was a victory, even if a small one. The more she was recognized for her power, the closer she was on the path to becoming a hero, someone that the people of Fiore, perhaps even Earthland eventually, would be able to depend on to live in peace and safety.
The trip to the mission boards did not take long, and soon the Pergrandian was scanning the missions on the board. There seemed to be few people around the area, so she could focus on looking at the contents of the board without being distracted. So far, none of the jobs looked rather outstanding; Nita was not minded to believe that the world was becoming a better place because of that, though. There were times when business was steep, and there were times when there wasn’t really much to do. This was most definitely one of those off days. Nita was about to leave the mission boards, when her eyes caught sight of a mission paper at a corner of the board. The Pergrandian picked the paper off the board and began to scroll through its details. She had never been to the River Village, although she knew its general location; it was north east of the Luminous Rose guild hall, and quite a good distance too. It seemed there seemed to have been a sort of curse placed on the people of the River Village, which was most definitely why the mayor of the village had enlisted the services of an exorcist. The exorcist’s prescription of the problem did seem to hold some merit, though. Rather than being a curse, the apparent reduction in the general vivacity of the village’s inhabitants was due to the souls of the villagers having been stolen. An interesting conclusion, but one that ticked the boxes. Nita was sure though, that the stealing of the villagers’ souls was not complete, else they would probably not be alive to begin with. But it was very likely that if nothing was done to rectify the situation, death would probably come to the villagers after a while.
If there was anything Nita was desirous to be known for, it was the fact that she was very uncomfortable with leaving people to suffer, especially when she thought herself able to provide help or succor of some kind. Her brow unconsciously furrowed into a frown of concentration. Initially, she had not really wanted to leave the guild premises today, but this was a rather sufficient reason to stop lazing about and do something about this mission. These people needed her help. What good was wanting to be a hero, when one saw that people were in need of help, and one decided to choose her personal comfort over the lives of people? Even if the River Village was quite a small settlement (which it actually was), Nita was not interested in helping just so that people could sing her praises. If she was to be seen as reliable, then everyone, from the well-known to the obscure, had to know her as someone they could put their trust in. Even if, on completion of this mission, people didn’t get to know of her deeds for the River Village people, she would sleep content with the fact that out there, people got another shot at life because of her. The blonde mage’s eyes traveled further down the page, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw the price attached to the mission. The fact that the pay looked rather good was definitely an additional incentive for the Pergrandian, and Nita was certainly not complaining about having more money in her coffers. She nodded as if concluding a conversation with an unseen entity. It was decided. She would go and help the people of River Village.
Preparing to attend to this mission didn’t take long, especially as Nita had already performed the necessary daily morning ablution called bathing. Before long, she was ready to go, although anyone who saw her would imagine that she was probably going on a date, shopping or something so much less dangerous than finding out why a village of fishermen had to have the ill fortune of growing bags under their eyes and having their hair fall off. She took a map and located River Village, just to have an idea of the general direction of the place, and then, in the comfort of her room, the Pergrandian held out her hand, and a blue dot formed in empty space a little higher than her head. The dot traveled downwards, forming a blue line that ran down till it almost touched the ground, and then the line began to expand left and right, until it became a rectangle wide enough for Nita to step into. For a moment, the young mage paused to be sure that she was not missing anything important, then stepped into the strange portal, which by now looked like the surface of a dark pool held perpendicular to the ground by some weird play of gravity, bordered by the bright blue that made up the limits of its dimensions. As if stepping into water, Nita felt the change in pressure in her ears, although there was not the usual feeling of cold, as though the water into which she stepped was of the same temperature as that of the room in which she had previously been. This was the Interdimensional Sea, that connected all points in the universe, or so it was said. As she normally traveled in this strange dimension, Nita swam for a bit, until she felt she was near her desired location. And then a portal opened, quite similar to the one that had opened in the Luminous Rose guild hall not many seconds ago, and through it stepped the Pergrandian.
If the skies above Hosenka were grey, they were positively black above the River Village, and the wind was almost howling as it blew with fury. A few heads slowly turned to look at the dripping mage, as she stared back at them, and then they turned away. That was a very bad reaction. Most times, when a portal opened out of nowhere, responses varied from curiosity to fear. These guys responded as though they had just seen a fish in a basket. And they were fishermen, so a fish in a basket would be the definition of ‘too ordinary to be graced with a name’ ordinary. Wow. It really looked bad.
WC: 2057