A Materia

Dante had purchased the materia yesterday.

He sucked at using them but he just couldn’t help collecting them in the hopes there’d be some sort of synergy with one that would make up for his poor aptitude for it. His old teacher had told him countless times that it didn’t work that way but he couldn’t give it up. Materia could make you powerful. It was the key to actually getting ahead in this wretched city. He could go out and fight monsters and make a ton of gil. He could live the good life and he wouldn’t have to worry about any gang members trying to push him around.

Plus, you know, he could impress Tifa. She wasn’t just the owner of the bar; she was also this bad ass fighter and complete master with material. She could literally destroy buildings single handedly and she’d played a huge part in saving the whole damned world a couple of years ago.

He held up the red summon material, letting the overhead light shine through it. Not that a dud like this one was going to get him anywhere. It was supposed to be a Shiva summon but it had stopped working recently. That was the reason Dante had been able to afford it with his meager salary. He hoped it would miraculously start working again, though the burly merchant had assured him this wasn’t possible, that it was merely a pretty stone now.

Dante rubbed his thumb across it as he wished it would start working.

He stiffened his eyes shooting open wide as a deep red mist swirled out from the center of the material. It whirled through the air about his arm in greater and greater circles, growing larger with every passing second before it flowed over the table and down into the chair across from him. It rose up from the seat now the general size of a person’s torso and the tail of the mist coming from the material started to wither. It stopped entirely as the blob of mist in the chair suddenly took the shape of a person. A feminine shape with the outline of a rather large and voluminous pony-tail sticking out the top.

Then suddenly the red mist became a real woman. An astonishingly beautiful woman with golden-brown skin and black hair the color of shimmering night. Her lithe torso was covered in only a tight red bikini top across her modest but shapely breasts. She had large triangle shaped golden earrings, as well as a gold clasp for her pony tail. Her supple lips curved in a smile as she regarded him, revealing her bright white teeth.

Dante was confused but also elated. This could only mean-, “Um…hi, ms. Uh Shiva?”

Her smile turned a bit wicked as she tilted her head slightly and wagged her finger teasingly, “Nope. You must mean the previous tenant. Do you wish to play with her?”

Now Dante was really confused, “I’m sorry?”

“I don’t know, Dante. She’s pretty frigid. You sure you don’t want someone a bit hotter?” She leaned forward towards him, revealing a bit more cleavage as she reached out and lightly stroked the back of his hand with a finger in small slow circles.

Dante felt his pants tighten down below the table as he couldn’t quite miss her implied message. But still, what was going on? Did the merchant screw up and give him the wrong summon material, one that actually still worked? One that summoned a really sexy chick who was now flirting with him?! “Um… Hi! I’m Dante-uh but you knew that uh- What summon are you- I mean, what’s your name?”

She pulled her head back, lifting her chin and giving him sort of a haughty critical expression, “You’re mistaking me for one of these lesser spirits you have here. I’m something much more. I’m a djinn and you can call me Jasmine.”

“Oh! I’ve heard about your kind…” he thought back, trying to dredge up the memory, “… a sailor from one of the other worlds. Wait. That can’t be right. That was a monster…”

He jumped as Jasmine slapped her hand down upon the table and all of the background raucous background noise of the bar completely stopped, “Now you’re being insulting. A fiend stealing my illustrious name that may have been or perhaps one of my kind, a chained,” her nose wrinkled as she said the word with derision, “was doing some mortal’s bidding. I am a goddess.” She waved her hand to encompass the area beyond their table and he followed the motion.

The entire bar had gone completely and absolutely silent because everyone had stopped moving. They were frozen. A mass Stop spell, it had to be but the power to hit everyone at once even- His shocked eyes fell upon Tifa standing stock still in the middle of poring a drink behind the bar. Tifa was so powerful that the vast majority of Time Mage’s couldn’t affect her. She even had a Ribbon! That relic made her immune to all sorts of status affecting magic.

And then Dante’s eyes focused on the **** frozen in a stream in mid air. This wasn’t Stop at all…

A hand grasped his chin and pulled his head back in Jasmine’s direction, “I see you are properly impressed. Now, let us get to the fun. I’m a djinn and what we djinn so very much like to do is grant wishes.”

“Wishes?” he asked uncomprehendingly.

Jasmine sighed, “Seriously? How did I find a world where there aren’t even myths and stories about us? Listen closely. You say ‘I wish’ and tell me what it is you desire and then I make it happen. No matter what it is. You can have anything just wish for it.”

It was too good to be true! Dante could not believe it but there was no denying the time frozen room around him. He thought furiously and it didn’t take him long to figure out what he wanted, “Uh…. I wish to be really good at using material-uh the best! Make me the best at it!”

Jasmine was silent. She cocked her head to the side as she stared at him. She looked displeased, “No.”

Dante was all too aware of how powerful this entity was, so he wasn’t going to be rude. Odin might as well have been sitting in front of him and he really did not want to be bisected into oblivion, “Um…okay? It’s just I thought-“

“I don’t like that wish. It’s boring. Try again. Think hard about what you really want.” Then she turned her head, resting it in her hand and pointedly looking across the room. He followed her gaze to Tifa and his eyes lit up.

“Oh! I wish that Tifa would fall in love with me!” he declared with enthusiasm.

Jasmine’s head snapped back, her eyes glowing, as she smiled very wickedly, “Excellent.”