The start of the journey [Open]

[Nihlus]

It had been almost a week since Nihlus left his home and was headed on the journey to find Inell. First he had to stop in Bern and meet up with his sister who was waiting for him in a town that was marked on Nihlus's map. Speaking of map Nihlus almost lost it the other day when he was practicing some of his fire magic. Some of the flames had gotten on the map and started to burn it. Luckily Nihlus quickly put it out but most of the map is now unreadable. The mark where Nihlus was going to meet his sister was still intact but the rest of it was still pretty hard to read. "Great," Nihlus muttered under his breath as he looked down at the messed up map. Hopefully there might be a nearby town or something so he could find a place to buy a map. It was still daytime so Nihlus would want to find somewhere to settle down before it became night and it would be nice to stay in a nice little town rather than sleep on the dirt ground again.

With that Nihlus packed all of his things and then started moving. He kept walking until he came to a river and figured he'd stop to fill up one of his bottles. As he was filling it up he caught a whiff of what smelt like cooking meat. Oh boy did that smell make Nihlus hungry. The young teen quickly filled up his bottle and then darted off toward the smell. He then found himself standing in front of the entrance to a large town that was full of activity. It was lucky of him to find a town like this and not a dead one which has happened before. Nihlus happily walked throughout the town with a big smile as he looked around to see all sorts of shops and street vendors around. The smell before was still strong so Nihlus decided to follow it again before finding a shop to buy a map at. He found himself at the side of someone's home near the window where the smell was escaping from. The young pupil peered in through the window to see a large family preparing to eat a meal. Nihlus was a bit jealous, it had been such a long time since his entire family was ever at one spot to eat dinner together. Either his father was never around or his older brother was off on one of his crazy mercenary jobs. His older sister tried her best to be around as much as possible but she was often gone also.

With all this thinking Nihlus didn't notice a guard behind him staring down at the boy with a upset look. "Mind tell me what you're doing kid? He asked with a stern voice as he glared down at Nihlus. Nihlus looked up to the guard with surprised eyes as he didn't even hear the guy coming up to him. He then put on a smile and said "I was just following the smell of the food that was coming from this house nothing else really," The guard then grabbed hold of Nihlus's cloak and dragged the boy from the side of the house and into the road. "Yeah well next time don't stand around someone's house like that people will get suspcious," The guard said as he let go of Nihlus. He was letting the rose haired kid off easy since Nihlus wasn't really doing anything wrong and he was pretty young and frankly this guard was being kinda lazy.

"Yeah thanks for the advice guard man guy!" Nihlus exclaimed as he patted the guard on the back and then scurried off before the guard could say anything else. Now he was back on the search to find a shop that might have a map for sale. First he wandered into a weapons shop and almost cut himself with a ax. Next he found himself in a butcher shop where he grimaced a little bit when he saw the butcher chop some meat and some bits of the meat flew everywhere. After two failed attempts Nihlus figured he asked someone where to get a map at. A nice woman told him that he could find one at a shop that had a sign that said "Jorge's Shop". It was kinda a boring name but if it had a map in there then whatever.

He wasted no time and went into the store and looked around a bit. The store had all sorts of things in it like old looking books and some wooden figures. It also had some tomes in it that Nihlus wanted to take a look at but he decided to just go up to the shop owner and ask for a map. "Hello there!," Nihlus exclaimed happily and with a smile as he walked up to a man behind a counter who he figured was Jorge. "I'm looking to buy a map and someone told me that I could find one here," Nihlus said as he placed an arm on the counter. The man at the counter looked at Nihlus with a bit of a questioning look.

"A map eh?" The man said with a bored look as he stared down at Nihlus. "One sec kid they're in the back," The man sighed as he then walked through a open entrance in the back of the shop and then disappeared to whatever was back there. Nihlus at first waited at the counter but quickly grew bored and decided to look around like some other shoppers were. This shop certainly interesting as Nihlus found many different things on display. He was mainly interested in reading some of the books that were out seeing as most of them were adventure books and Nihlus enjoyed those kind of books. Nihlus kept looking around as he waited for "Jorge" to come back with a map.

[Elias]

"I was just following the smell coming from the house, really." A loud voice was pleading in a melodramatic way.

"Don't stand outside windows like that, what is wrong with you kids this is the fourth person today." With some grumbling a metal man marched away. He was getting too lazy for this job.

Poking his head into the shop, The Crimson Mage was blessing Jorge's shop with the wonder of his presence. Also he was going to buy something while he was here. You see, he found the coolest little crystal on the way here, just sitting in a hollowed out stump that he had no real logical way of knowing it was inside. Still it was shiny, and the fact he probably stole it from somebody who was hiding it there was lost on him. He trotted up to the counter, in a blazingly crimson fashion. His white cloak floating behind his bright red robe, looking stylish as always.

"Hey! Guy who runs this place!" Elias barked, trying to get someone attention. He looked at the blue gem, somewhat transfixed but the truth was that the gem was far too... blue for his tastes. If only it was red, like skully. Truly a crime against the natural order, but hey it would probably sell for a pretty penny. He can buy more red cloth to mend his robe because he just can't seem to stop burning it.

"Hold on to your horses." A man in the back of the store grumbles. The Crimson Mage simply shrugs, tapping his foot. Whistling his theme song, which he just made up right now. The man eventually came from the back with a map. A map? Elias didn't order any map. This was a travesty to the service industry surely. He was rescind his complaints however, because he wanted money. "Hey kid, your map is here." He called out to someone. How rude! To ignore Elias like that! It was madness! Clearing his throat loudly, he focuses on the mage with a somewhat annoyed look. "What is it."

"I would like to exchange this jewelry for legal tender." This place was a pawnshop or something too right?

"Look I don't deal in jewer..." He began to grumble but then took a look at the item. "Well I'll be. That's a blue gem, worth quite a pretty penny. I'll give you 2000 for it."

"And I'll take it!" Elias grinned. Putting the gem on the counter and receiving a bag full of gold coins in return, a cheesy grin on his face as he opened it up and began to count out the coins.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes but ignored the eccentric man, instead he called out to the kid again. "Your map is here."

[Nihlus]

Nihlus was getting rather bored looking around the shop but found a few interesting things. He found a book on Dragons which was always interesting to Nihlus and a cool looking telescope. Maybe he'd buy that telescope while he was here to, sadly he didn't have the money for something like that. He had to save what he had to stay at an inn if he had the chance to and also to buy food. Spending it on something that he didn't need would be a waste. Nihlus then turned his attention back to that book on Dragons but before he could open it up and being reading it a bit he heard the door of the shop open. He turned his head to see who had came in and for a moment could have sworn it was Inell. Of course it wasn't just a man with a very crimson outfit, Nihlus honestly loved the color. He watched as the man walked over to the counter and asked for the owner of the shop who was currently getting a map for Nihlus. It was then that Nihlus noticed something that the man was caring.

A blue gem it looked like from where Nihlus was standing. Woah, those things were hard to find right? That guy must have some luck coming across something like that. Nihlus would have preferred if it was in a different color though, nothing against blue he just rather something else like maybe red or orange. He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard Jorge from the back. That guy was still looking for the maps? Either the maps were hard to find or this guy was just lazy. Nihlus sighed and then went back to looking in the book. He got so into it that he didn't even hear the man calling out to him about his map. His attention was grabbed out of the book when he heard some about 2000. Was that red guy selling his gem for money? Boy was that way more than what Nihlus currently had. Jealousy ran through Nihlus has he watched the crimson man and the shopkeeper made their exchange.

"Huh?" Nihlus said with a confused look as the shopkeeper had called him out yet again. Oh yeah his map! Nihlus quickly ran up to the counter and put out some money. "Oh yeah thanks Mr.!" Nihlus exclaimed with a happy look on his face as he exchanged his money for the map. He then folded up the map and put it in his bag that was on his back. Before exiting the shop since he was done with his business he figured he'd ask the gem man where he found his gem. "Umm excuse me Mr." Nihlus said as he poked the man in the side.

"Mind telling me where you found that gem at?" Nihlus asked with a curious look on his face. Maybe if this guy told him where he found the gem Nihlus could go looking for one. Then he'd sell it and make some cash which he knew would be nice.

[Vander Rimgate]

If he were honest with himself, Vander was sulking. "You need a vacation," he says. "Just go wander around for a couple of weeks," he says. As if I didn't know that that's code for...for... "Nuts, I don't know what that was your code for, Lucius, but I know it was code for something!" The last few words had risen to a growling shout; the thief could care less, though, since people seemed to forget he existed if he stood still long enough. Fortunately, he was only just coming to the outskirts of something that approached the title of "village," and as hot as it seemed to be, he doubted that anyone would show up to--

"Another one? Look, kid, if you're a bit lost, the place for a map is over there." Vander nearly didn't look at the droopy-looking guard, electing to ignore him and continue walking, but he was feeling a bit spiteful. So, instead, stopped abruptly and turned to the sorry-looking little man flashing a vibrant grin that and raised eyebrows that he knew did not look right under his muddy brown hair.

The grin became more genuine when the watchman's own eyes widened and he stuttered to a stop. Oh yeah, Vander thought maliciously, you're getting the full treatment, I think. See if you ever want to call me 'kid' after this. Pondering for only a second on what tone to use, the thief adopted what he called 'sales pitch mode.' "Oh, thank you sir," he belted out, only just slowly enough to comprehend, "I've just been wandering around for days and thank goodness I finally found some kind of civilization I will head there straight away thank you again bye!" Leaving the confused man behind, the brown-haired thief resumed his walk down the dusty street...and altered his course when he realized that he had just locked himself into at least looking for a map. The guard was decidedly a bit dull, but if he had any competence at all, he would be suspicious of someone who simply walked through town without diverting.

Ignoring the utter brilliance of the store owner's naming--'Jorge's Shop,' I ask you!--Vander gently shoved his way into the place before allowing his light demeanor to revert to storminess. He liked working for Lucius, but, at the same time, he despised being around anyone frustratingly more intelligent. Pondering his dilemma, Vander almost missed the budding exchange at the counter.

"Excuse me, Mr, mind telling me where you found that gem at?"

At the word 'gem,' all thoughts of Lucius down flew out the window like a flock of branded doves as the brown-haired man whipped his attention to the counter. Gem? In the middle of Podunk?

It wasn't hard to miss the conversants, seeing as one seemed to have bled all over his robes and hair--Oh dear Elimine those are his actual robes and hair--and the other had pink hair and an eager expression that were only slightly dimmer than his fellow. Despite the possible damage to his eyes, Vander couldn't help but pass them the occasional glance as he listened; good eavesdropping required eyes as well as ears, after all, and if that sack of coins was any indication, this...bright young man had hit a real treasure.

[Elias]

Something was jabbing him, but he didn't pay it any attention. He was far too focused on the shine of the golden coins in his hands. Then there was a sound in the air. "Hrm?" Elias turned his around. He was hearing voices again, but he didn't think these were the usual kind he heard. Of course there was people here and there doing here and there things because they were people, but he wasn't entirely sure where the source of the voice was. Was Elias being haunted? Oh sweet merciful fire, Elias could handle many things but ghosts were just too spooky. He put the amount of coins in the pouch that were originally in the pouch, 2000 as he was told. Which was good, Elias didn't count every single one because he had better things to do like being haunted, but he surprisingly good when it came to counting things. He once won something for counting the exact number of beans in a jar. It was something lame like a not awesome item.

Suddenly he looked to the left a bit and "GAH!" Wait what when did a kid get here? "Ugh, you scared me. Congratulations on your triumph." He wasn't being sarcastic at all, sarcasm was a tool Elias did not employ often. He was usually too busy being amused with simply living. He looked at the rose haired lad for a moment, slightly glossy eyed, as he stood as if he was expecting an answer. Oh. Oh! He asked a question. "The gem? I found in some hollowed out stump somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Obviously karma loves me." As it should, since he was the Crimson Mage. "There's no more though. Otherwise I would of gotten them and sold them and become rich." He'd melt the gold and make it a cloak! He'd be the GOLDEN CRIMSON MAGE. Wait that would probably be really heavy and choke him to death. It'd be fashionable though. Soooo fashionable. He looked at the kid for a moment then snapped his fingers, just realizing something.

"Hey! You kid. You're a.... hrm... A magic user, of some sort. Kind of. It's weak, but you have a fruity scent. Anima?" Most accomplished mages could sense magic, and for most it was a kind of vibe. A feeling almost, that you can't finger. Gut reaction that your body notices but your mind ignores. Elias was different, to him magic had smells. It was an odd experiment, where Elias was exposed to magic then a smell shortly after until he could eventually smell the object without having it around. The more he recognizes and acknowledges it, the more cemented into his mind it becomes. Anima was Peaches, Elder was Onions and Light was Vanilla. This kid smelt a little peachy. Also there were burn scorches on the edge of his clothes.

[Vander Rimgate]

"The gem? I found in some hollowed out stump somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Obviously karma loves me. There's no more though..." Vander almost stopped listening on hearing that, but through a combination of general boredom and curiousity--the pair at the counter was a little odd, if nothing else--he kept half of his focus on the conversation as he absently fiddled with just about everything in the shop. Some of it was decent merchandise, in fact, although Vander had neither gold to spend nor inclination to spend it.

The guy at the counter might, though. What is he planning to do with all that money? Couldn't hurt to talk to them, maybe, I've got nothing better to...oh, that is a really bad place for that stack of pots. The stack in question was, thanks to a clumsy bump on Vander's part, tottering just enough to mean trouble.

Thinking quickly, Vander wedged himself in front of the teetering stack, congratulating himself on a crisis averted. He then began pushing the stack back into it proper place.

The shifting pots behind his back told him that this was a very bad idea.

At what might have been the most inconvenient time possible, the shopkeeper noticed his shenanigans and shouted out in a panic. "Hey! What are you...? Get away from those! No, don't get away from...!"

"What he means to say," the thief cut in tensely, directing his words at the pair of mages, "is that I could use some help--" he snapped up both arms to catch the pot on top as it fell, "--right about now would be nice, please."

[Nihlus]

Nihlus jumped up a bit when the crimson man seemingly shouted when he finally noticed the rose haired boy. "Uh thanks?" Nihlus said completely confused as to why exactly he was being congratulated. This guy was coming off as really weird to Nihlus. He made a disappointed face when the man had explained where he had gotten the gem. What luck! How come this guy got to find some awesome valuable gem and Nihlus had nothing. Lady luck was surely not in the young pupil's favor. Maybe though his luck would change soon and he'd find something of value and he'd become rich! "Aww man that sucks!" Nihlus exclaimed as he then but his hands on the back of his head and made a annoyed face. Someday he'd find one for sure and he'd become rich. The idea of it ran through Nihlus' head and he almost completely ignored what the man had said next.

"Uh?" stuttered Nihlus as he was snapped out of his day dream. When the man had said the word Anima Nihlus began to pay attention again. "Oh yeah I'm the pupil of the sage Inell," He answered with a bit of pride in his voice. Nihlus figured that everyone knew who the sage was despite having no evidence of that. "I mainly use fire magic and as of late I haven't been the best with it," He added as he then showed his burnt clothes. "Do you use magic?" Nihlus asked before his attention was grabbed by something else that was going on in the shop. It had seemed that someone had gotten themselves in a troubling situation with a bunch of pots.

"I'll help," Nihlus said happy to help someone out. He quickly made his way over to the man who was having issues with the pots and started helping by trying to catch the ones that seemed like the other man wouldn't get. "What were you trying to do that got you into this situation?" He asked as he tried to make sure none of the pots crashed on the ground.

[Elias]

Elias crossed his arms in a huff. He was in the middle of an interesting conversation, something that only happens every time he opens his mouth, and it was abruptly interrupted by some goon and his leaning tower of pots. He wasn't about to help, little pink was already helping, and a third person would be more harm then help. Besides, he was far too wealthy to dirty his own hands with peasant work. It was an opportunity to show his amazing crimson catching talent, and be the hero, but it was a wasted opportunity. Accolade this small split three ways is mostly worthless. He didn't want to be known as the 'crimson pot guy' either.

Instead he took the moment to look around the shop again. He had a handy amount of cash, and was in the market of blowing it on something that seems cool at that moment. In true Elias fashion, he found something quite interesting. Lifting it in the air for a moment, feeling its weight. Not even staring at the scene, he called. "Hey, shop guy!" He tried to get his attention, but he was busy fretting over POTS. What did those pots have that he didn't have? It has already stolen little pink, now shopkeeper guy! Truly the greatest threat to his constant attention he had ever faced. Those pots would rue this day. "Shop guy! I'm buying something over here!"

"Not right now!" He replied in a grumbled grunt. Desperately trying to find a balance in his pots, slowly regaining some sort of stability.

"Alright, I'll spend my 2000 gold elsewhere." Elias replied in true crimson fashion, which is to say like a bit of a spoiled child.

"Argh! Fine, you two watch those pots." He barked at the true trying to catch the falling items. For the most part the tower was already mostly stable, the two had done a good job.

"Now that's a good man." Elias smiled, most smugly at his victory over the spotlight stealing pots. "I want this staff." He said, laying the intricately carved wooden staff adorned with a large round gem at the top atop the counter.

"A... mend staff? Wouldn't of taken you for a cleric." He was a bit taken aback, but otherwise fine. Stealing a glance away every few seconds. "1000 gold, it comes with a strap so you can carry it on your back as well." Well that was handy.

Elias put the hard earned gold he randomly found upon the counter. "Alrighty then." One might ask why the crimson mage was buying healing staves, that one may be pounded in the face with a thousand fists for daring to question him.

[Vander Rimgate]

To Vander's relief--although he would never admit it--the pink-haired kid immediately rushed over to pick up stray pots. After the pupil began helping, restoring the teetering stack to its original, boring condition was simple. Stepping away from the stable stack, Vander began brushing dust off of his shirt and hair.
"These could do with a dust...ing." His call to the storekeeper, which began in a somewhat-artificially friendly tone, twisted into a deadpan when he saw that said small-businessman was doing what merchants did best: selling something that was no doubt worthless but pretty.

"Thank you. It's a bit of a daring escapade without any of the daring part, really," he said to Nihlus, still brushing himself off and feeling more than a little disgruntled. I'd thought I heard someone throwing a tantrum over there, but the big Crimson Peeve over there could have at least helped. Not that they'd needed it, but he couldn't have known that looking at the situation, could he? Plus, there was this little thing called manners...

The thief decided not to dwell on it. Yet. He was still looking for something to do besides knock over dusty pots, so he turned again to the pink-haired--breath deep, don't laugh, you've seen weirder--pupil. He had managed to hear something about magic, but had missed anything remotely important besides 'no more gems.' "So," he asked his helper while continuing to ruffle out the (probably minute) remaining dust in his hair, "I didn't catch you name. Call me Vander." There was no reason to lie, at least; the kid was apparently alright with being helpful, so Vander assumed he could give him some respect.

[Elias]

Giving the shiny new staff in his hand a few practice swings, because that's how healing staves worked, he looked over at the pot related disaster area. It was well taken care of, and now the two were talking to each other about something. Something Elias clearly did not care about, so it was probably something dumb. Like stickers, or self-restraint. "Thank you kindly pal." Elias tipped his non-existent hat to the man. That reminded him, he really needed a hat. Maybe he'll buy one. He did have a hefty amount of disposable income, or he could make one his self. The clothes he wore now were all sown by his own hand, well except the cloak. That was a gift.

Now he was rambling mentally, how embarrassing. "Hey, do you know where a hat shop is?"

"There should be one down the street." The man replied lazily, not really paying attention to the eccentric elephant in the room.

"Looks like my future is decided. I must seize this opportunity with great gusto!" Who said Gusto? Elias was inordinately energetic over the whole thing, to the point he looked crazy to most people. That was because according to most people, he was crazy. "Thank you my good man, you will be forever remembered I swear! This store will be famous as the place the Crimson Mage decided to buy a hat!" Even Elias wasn't believing half the things he said anymore. Still he liked to keep up the illusion.

With a swoosh of the cape Elias vanished. Never to be seen again by any of the curious onlookers again. Except those who totally saw him again.

"What a nutter."