Becoming monsters is the creation of AiLovesToGrow, setting used with permission
This idea comes from Amethyst Dragonfly. Amy and Dawn are her characters, as well. Quiverbow is the creation of Domochevsky, used with permission, as is the Rail Cleaner shotgun described here. Incidentally, that weapon is a real, if floam-flinging, weapon you can buy from him at GenCoMegaweks. Suri, described in passing here, is the creation of XelArtz, used with permission.
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Chapter 11: Back to Reality
Justin's dreams were really nice that night. Armful of girlfriend, big reduction in stress, a couple of easy Internet searches showing videos of what they'd nearly been witness to the tail end of... honestly, it was too nice to let a little insistent beep disturb. Without really waking, he reached over and slapped the alarm clock to snooze it.
At which point he found himself in a heap on the floor, somehow, said girlfriend giving him a look that could melt sand into glass faster than his Class Abilities. "Don't you dare, Justin! You already played hooky for one day, I'm NOT letting you go two in a row!" He might have been more irritated if she hadn't also been getting up.
Or if she hadn't joined him in the shower to make sure they both got clean. That helped.
It really struck him as he put on the morning coffee how little chance they'd had to do this. The little domestic things. They'd grabbed some groceries on the way back home. Through the magical doorway in his dorm room. Slowly, they were moving what few personal things they owned over to the seaside manor. Eggs were frying, sausage sizzling. The oven and range had simply appeared overnight one night, the coffee pot one he'd brought over. Nothing else had changed in the mansion as far as they could tell. At least, not since the day prior.
Well, one thing. Abbey no longer needed to pay him to make her coffee.
They were ready quickly. Almost quickly enough to make the walk to his first class unhurried. Almost. Justin would never say this out loud, but he was truly grateful for her rather insistent way of literally pushing him out of bed when need be. Like this morning. If he'd hit snooze one or two more times, it would have been a choice between having breakfast and getting to his desk in time for Literature.
It was sometimes odd to think about the life experiences of the people writing what he was now studying. Today's lesson would start off a short autobiography of a man who was born a slave, but managed to escape that life and become a celebrated leader. The more things changed... or Changed, as it were... the more things stayed the same. People were still people.
Literature did not often veer directly into world events, but between the ongoing caste meltdown in India and the Chinese Civil Wars, it seemed inevitable. More than ever, anyone could change the world. The trick was getting there. The step in front of him would be to pass the unit on this autobiography. Justin started taking notes, and remembered enough to marvel just a bit over how different his level of organization was now.
He would have been rather shocked to know what his girlfriend was up to. She, too, was doing some research this day, before her shift. Hers was just a bit different, though. She got the advanced knowledge of where exactly the new door led in the beach house, so she went and got a bribe in the form of a bag of jelly beans and got her blue behind over to Camp. A brief conversation along with the application of those jelly beans to a certain Workshop Aelf in one of the administration buildings got her easy directions and access to a few things.
First, a quick listing of the biggest rules of the Guild Hall. When she realized that there was going to be a LOT more there than a quick scan would let her learn, she picked up a book containing the rules. Didn't even cost her anything, the main Admin hall giving them out for free as a public outreach and press cooperation kind of deal. The person who gave it over to her gave her a knowing kind of smile, Abbey realizing a moment later that it was the same one she'd asked to get the Marshal a few days prior.
And likely one of the people who had researched her, and therefore who knew about the job offer.
From there, it was a very quick step to get back to Admin and find a map and a person. Now, there was something she actually used from her Class. As a Mariner, she could not become lost so long as she had an accurate map. No matter how confusing the area, as long as the map had the info she could find a dime blindfolded in a five-acre maze. Finding a numbered building on Crafter's Row was a cakewalk.
The sounds from there on a weekday morning were focused kinds of things. Hushed voices going over plans and schematics. Louder ones haggling one sale or another. A half-cybernetic Collie girl taking a break to grab a snack and stretch her hands (which didn't have obvious muscles to stretch, but there was no telling). Though interesting to her, they weren't her target and time was limited. No, Abbey was looking for a particular permanent structure, which a particular Enchanter used for her shop.
Quiverbow Ranged Weaponry. The sign above the storefront seemed to glow slightly, the shop-stall style open to air with a service bell to one side. One might be forgiven for thinking it looked like it should contain a carnival game, with some TRULY outrageous prizes on the walls. There was a pale, redheaded woman behind the counter who seemed to match the description Justin had given her. Facing her, though, was a rather distinctive man. Easily eight feet tall, broad, and looking like he was carved from solid stone. Probably because he was. The Gargoyle's rocky skin was gold-flecked, a shield slung at his back and a sword at his side. On the counter between them was a contraption that looked like a cross between a shotgun, a revolver, and a nightmare, as viewed through a retrofuturistic lens. Its various bits shone oddly in the light, and the Gargoyle was looking it over with a pleased look in his eye.
"
Das ist das Ding."
The words sounded German, the normally-harsh tones of the language were not softened in the slightest by his gravelly voice.
"
Das ist der Gerät.
" Her response was absolutely level, neither of the two's expressions cracking by a millimeter, but Abbey had the oddest feeling that she just missed an inside joke. The shopkeeper abruptly shifted back to English as one of her assistants emerged from a back room to hang a couple of longbows up on display, and take a couple of pistols off the shelves for reasons unknown. "I assume, then, that you want to pay in the usual way?"
"Of course, Quiverbow." He took a bag off of his belt and placed it on the counter beside her. "Half up front, half after the first opportunity it has to go Below. In this case, that will be tonight."
She immediately and without ceremony dumped out the contents of the bag, stacking Gold Coins with a practiced hand and sorting out bottles and indecipherable bits of material next to them. Though Abbey could not hope to identify the stones, the Coinage alone would have been enough to make her go get a manager if it had been handed to her at the Bank. She scowled. "This is not what we agreed on, Theodore. These materials are not refined. They will take time to be usable, and I will lose many of them along the way."
"I have given you fair value in kind for half the price of this weapon, Quiverbow. You get pre-purified materials if you sign on with
Golden Age
. You would be an Officer at the outset, as well."
"I have heard this argument from you before. I know better. All that would change would be that I lose both control of my shop and the right to sell to whom I wish. I would still be purifying my own materials, and you would still be dictating crafts. All this for the chance to ask you to try to get me things I need on occasion, if it is not too much effort."
