The Park - Sunday morning

[mages_suck]

The island was calm. The people here were calm. It was weird, after being in a high-tension environment for most of his life. Fenris sought the unacknowledged comfort of trees. The bench was unoccupied, the ducks unspoken to.

He smirked a little. "Hello, ducks. Where's your human friend?"

The ducks didn't answer. He hadn't truly expected them to.

The bench was unoccupied, but why sit on a bench when that tree right there had a branch that begged? Catching it, he pulled himself up and took a seat. Leaning against the trunk, he pulled one leg up and let the other hang free.

[Open! Brooding McElfEars is in the tree looking elvish af.]

Comments

[2_old_for_this]

"Metal?" Peter shook his head. "No, why would I?"

[mages_suck]

Fenris ran two fingers down the white metallic scars on his chin, "Lyrium. Where I'm from it's..a primal substance. In its raw form, it will kill mages outright. Refined, it is a tool that amplifies and enhances magic. Some people take it as a drug. It is highly addictive. It reacts to the magic of my world and calls to mages. I would know a mage of my world, and one would know me, through these."

[2_old_for_this]

"It's deadly and addictive, and you have it grafted into you?" Pardon Peter, Fenris; that sounded like a terrible idea.

[mages_suck]

Fenris smirked one side of his mouth. "There's a reason I don't like mages. This was done to me to make me a better servant. More useful."

[2_old_for_this]

Peter's frown was a bit darker now, and directed not at all at Fenris. "I can certainly understand your hating them, then. I would, too."

He thought about asking if it were actively harming Fenris, since they had a lot of different medical and healing traditions around, but he suspected that would be a little personal for having just met.

[mages_suck]

"That and their propensity for possession does not endear them to me, no," Fenris said calmly. "You don't register on that level, if it's of any matter to you what a stranger thinks."

He didn't hate him outright. His scars weren't so much as tingling.

[2_old_for_this]

"It matters I'm not hurting you," Peter said. "It matters I'll know to be especially careful with magic around you, just in case." He shrugged. "Not that I use it much anyway."

[mages_suck]

The unexpected and unasked for kindness caught him a little off guard. "..Thank you. I appreciate the gesture," he said quietly.

[2_old_for_this]

"Huh?" Peter blinked. He hadn't considered it a gesture at all, just common courtesy. "You're welcome. Once you have clothes, what about the other things? Are you set for food? Or a place to sleep? Do you want a job?"

[mages_suck]

Fenris sat there for a long moment, processing the questions. From a stranger. It was going to take a minute.

"I am staying with a.. new friend, for now," he began slowly, "Food is easy enough, though I believe the custom is to purchase it in town rather than hunt for game. A job?"

He looked down at himself and then glanced up at his sword, "Do you know of anyone hiring a guard?" He had few translatable job skills. 'Kills things lots' was the primary one of them.

[2_old_for_this]

Peter nodded. "I honestly don't know if any of the local game is edible. There are a few places in town to buy food, though. Unfortunately there's not much need for a guard around here most days, but if you're willing to pick up new skills, most people will hire you anyway. I knew pretty much nothing about flowers when I opened the shop here."

He thought about it. "If you want to learn more about flowers - growing them, arranging them, and so forth - I've got a few days going spare. Otherwise, maybe someplace that needs someone who can do a bit of fetch-and-carry? You could try the Turtle and Canary down that way." He pointed. "I know the new owner is looking for someone, and they probably get a lot of large boxes in. Plus they sell food and all kinds of goods, so you could ask about running a tab there until you actually get a paycheck."

[mages_suck]

"The rabbits are edible," Fenris said dryly, "Or at least not toxic to elves."

He considered the options. "Of the two, the flowers sound more interesting. Something to learn about rather than straight stevedore work." More consideration, "I have a.. rectangle. The bank was able to exchange some of the money I came here with but refused to give me the exchange in this realm's currency. It's.. a rectangle.. to present as payment?"

Who the hell gives an elf a debit card, honestly.

[2_old_for_this]

"Oh!" Peter smiled. "You should be in good shape, then." He pulled out his wallet and took out his own card. "One of these?"

[mages_suck]

Fenris glanced at it and took his own from a pouch, "Yes. A different color. Does that matter?"

It was a standard debit card.

[2_old_for_this]

"No, they come in all kinds of designs," Peter said. "They use technology to store the information of how much money you have in the bank. Then the store can take what they need for what you buy, and your job can put more into your account, and you don't have to carry the actual money around with you. You can also use the machines outside the bank to take out just a little money if you want cash."

He put his away. "Around here, with so many people using different currencies, it makes more sense to convert it this way."

[mages_suck]

That.. sort of made sense. He glanced at the rectangle. "Do they clip it? How do they put the pieces back?"

He'd seen several machines outside the bank. He had no idea how to use them, but someone inside the bank must.

"They seemed exasperated with my coinage," he noted, still frowning at the rectangle.

[2_old_for_this]

Peter shook his head. "No, it's got...honestly, I'm not entirely sure how it works. There's a strip on the back that holds information, and a...square thing on the front that does, too. Machines at the stores and banks use that information to talk to each other and keep track of it all."

How to explain computers?

"Machines these days do things that seem an awful lot like magic, or like they're alive, but it's just because the technology is so advanced. I'm probably the right person to talk to about getting used to it - or one of them, anyway - and the wrong person to ask how any of it works."

[mages_suck]

"As long as it does work, I suppose," Fenris said doubtfully, "We have no such devices where I'm from."

[2_old_for_this]

"You're not the only one," Peter assured him. "We had them in my world, but they weren't quite as advanced yet. Plenty of people haven't had them at all. On the bright side, it's probably easier than figuring out the local currency and carrying it all around with you."