Iste

John breathed a sigh of relief as the last bell went, watching out the window as Frank climbed into the limo that had come to pick him and Vanessa up after his football practice. Sports was not exactly John’s strong point - although he had been trying today for once. The instructor rapped John’s knuckles with the end of his training bo, the light composite stinging slightly as the older man brought his attention back from the view outside. “Attention on the class until you are dismissed, please, Newman. Just because you’ve been joining in with the physical activities today instead of taking the literature option again does not excuse poor focus.”

Bowing his head, John apologized to the wiry figure, before returning his own training staff to the rack. He’d originally opted for the martial arts elective as his sports choice entirely because it allowed people to focus on theory as well as practical. Beyond the most basic of fitness training once a month, you could spend the entire time reading books on the origin of the various styles being taught and similar topics that were historically important to a warrior’s life. Important, that is, if you happened to be a warrior in feudal Japan, Korea or any one of the half dozen other areas that had contributed their combat styles to the curriculum.

He’d never thought it would have the practical use that it now presented to him - already, despite only the single afternoon’s training, he felt more confident with his staff after the instructor had made them all do some basic drills. At the very least, John hoped that when he got to go hunting for resources again he would be able to do a bit more than just wildly wave his weapon around and hope. It had also given him a rather interesting Quest, if only for motivational purposes.

It was pretty good as far as random Quests went - it was something he’d want to work towards anyway, would give him a bonus to his physical ability which would let him focus the rest of his efforts on building up his mental powers for more Cleric based coolness, and possibly even an upgrade for his trusty walking stick. Also, importantly, without a time limit there was the potential for him to win just by boosting his Stats via Leveling up - the Quest only said he wasn’t allowed to use Skills.

With his spirits high and the coast clear as far as the bullying duo were concerned, John left Ashcroft with a grin on his face. As he started walking, he pondered on his first destination in search of a place to build his shrine, the current plan being to start the afternoon’s scouting with the church. ”If that’s a bust, I can try the town hall. Gotta be a Barrier at one of those two,” he thought to himself, before his mind drifted as he passed the road that the cinema sat on. “Wonder if there’s something good on tomorrow? Should double back and check if I have time, need to think of more than just ‘sit in a park’ to do with Matilda.”

Debating his options for his upcoming date occupied John’s mind the rest of the way to the church. Finding a spot from which he could try to enter any potential Barrier unobserved was a little trickier; the building stood on the corner of two main roads, and the grounds butted up against rows of shops meaning there were no convenient alleyways to lurk in. In the end, practically feeling Malal seething at his lack of common sense, John gave up on entering from the outside of the church grounds and slipped through the wooden gate at the front of the lot.

The area inside the church’s low walls between the gate and the main door of the building was mostly paved with brick, an area for deliveries and so on, but a moment’s scouting around revealed a small graveyard at the rear with grasses growing thick amongst the stones. Given his history with the ghouls, a graveyard was far from an ideal place to enter a Barrier where John was concerned - but it did contain a couple of mausoleums that would hide him from the road and anyone watching from within the main buildings as long as he was careful.

Before he could dwell on just how foolish an idea this was, he slipped between the marble structures and attempted to enter a Barrier. The sky took on a by-now familiar oil-sheen, and he glanced around rapidly as he transferred back out again. Crouching down as if inspecting the inscriptions on a gravestone in the event that anyone showed up, he pondered on what he’d seen during his quick scan of the area.

The graveyard hadn’t been there in the Barrier as far as he’d been able to see - not demolished, not built over - the gravestones and mausoleums were just not there, replaced with a green carpet of grass. The church building itself was far less grand too, a much older wooden structure that he guessed was probably closer in appearance to the original church that the founders of Springfield had built rather than the modern stone and brick structure that loomed over him as he bit his lip and debated his next move.

“Alright,” John muttered to himself after a moment to pluck up his nerve. “No sign of danger so far… let’s take a better look.” Swallowing hard, he re-entered the Barrier.

The air was still around him as he carefully picked his way across the grass. The Barrier ended somewhere on the far side of the wall; there didn’t appear to be any sign of any hostile creatures here - although John kept a wary grip on his staff in any case. He had entered the Barrier via a graveyard after all; the odds of there being undead somewhere around still seemed quite high. Reaching the front of the church, John paused as he realized that the structure lacked doors - instead a plain archway led into a cool interior. One that was currently inhabited.

The space inside the church was occupied by a rather curious framework - miniature scaffolding that ran from floor to ceiling but was surely too small for anyone to climb. Except, it was being climbed - and lived in - by what seemed like hundreds of tiny figures. At John’s arrival, some of the nearest paused briefly to glance in his direction, before carrying on with their work - although what looked like a wave of whispers seemed to pass across the entire structure until at last a figure slightly larger than the rest swung down from somewhere by the rafters on a rope elevator, coming to a stop hovering in front of John’s face.

“What’ll ye be doin’ here, laddie?” John took a step back from the voice as the creature’s - no, it was more like a tiny man’s - face swung a few inches in front of his eyes. “Ye no ken what I’m sayin’? Gaia preserve us. Kann Yew Understand Me?” The tiny figure spoke slowly, in a voice that clearly indicated that he thought John some kind of giant idiot that had stomped into whatever this place was.

“Y…yes? I mean, yes, I can understand you - sorry, you startled me,” John replied, taking the time to cast an Observe on the figure, just as it leaned over the side of its elevator and spat towards the floor below.

“Got a good look, did ye? Right, now, I ask ye nice again - what’ll ye be doin’ here?” The pictsie’s tone was sounding less friendly by the second, and John did the only sensible thing when facing someone that much higher Level than him. He apologized.

“I’m really sorry for intruding on your home - and the scanning; I didn’t know anyone lived here, and I was looking for somewhere I could build a shrine to Gaia,” John ventured - Jimmy had sworn using Gaia’s name before, so it seemed safe enough to mention her name at least.

Jimmy frowned, then sighed. “Ah right. Ye don’t look like the usual kind tae be building shrines, but I can see how ye’d come to be looking through the old church right enough. Well, this is our home and ye cannae be building inside, but we don’t use the land tae the rear if ye fancy setting up shop there and don’ mind the clan borrowin’ yer wee shrine for our own offerin’s and such. Cannae spare the space for anything fancy in here for the Lady, so it’d be nice to have a proper place to be doing our prayers.”

The sudden switch in the man’s attitude caught John off balance, a feat that seemed to amuse the pictsie intensely. “I can tell ye haven’t had much to do with right-sized folk ‘afore now. We don’ be holding a grudge unless ye wrong us, and if ye do, we settle it right sharp. Off with ye now, I’ve got work tae be doin’ - just let us know when ye be back to build yon wee shrine, alright?”

John backed out of the church in a hurry, leaving the Barrier as well without thinking about where he was standing. To his horror, he appeared right in front of a member of the real world’s church congregation. Freezing, John’s brain ran rapidly through the possible outcomes - the elderly gentleman in front of him might have a heart attack or something due to the shock of John popping out of thin air, and then there was the potential punishment from Gaia…

Wrinkled skin pulled into a smile. “Lovely weather, isn’t it? So nice to see a young man around the place - and from that fancy academy too. I see you came from the graveyard - doing a history project perhaps? If so, you should really speak with the reverend - he knows a lot about the local area. Can’t stop now, got to get the good seat for the evening service before Mabel steals it again.” The old man tipped his hat and brushed past John, right as a familiar chime echoed in his head.

John stared at the Achievement, then at his cash balance, then back at the Achievement. He turned, and watched the elderly man walk into the church. He turned back to the gates and the road outside. “Okay…” he said in a shaky voice, trying and largely failing to calm his racing nerves. ”Go check the movies, go home, talk to Mal, go to sleep, and pretend that didn’t happen,” he thought to himself as he approached the wooden gateway - and then tentatively stepped through.