Transmutation and Technology

Andreas found a tissue inside one of his pants pockets and handed it to Sally so she cleaned herself up.

Nobody else bothered them on the way back. The train ride was pleasantly boring for both of them since they already had their share of excitement for that day.

When they arrived, Andreas told Sally to put the bags in the living room, before sitting down on his chair and resting. Using his hands, he lifted up the right leg and put it on the table, so the limb was on the elevated position.

The Lamia just observed with worried look on her face.

Andreas reached towards his pockets but found out that he was out of pain killers. He lifted his head towards Sally.

"Can you go to the bathroom, and get me some of my pills? It should be in the locker behind the mirror on this floor."

He asked.

"Yes, I'm on it!"

Sally turned around and slid through the hallway, right into the small bathroom. She reached towards the mirror and found the box full of pills. But before she went back to him, she decided to do something with it.

She quickly chanted something, and her right hand started to glow. Then, by using her thumb and pointing fingers she made a small visor to see, and through that she inspected his medicine.

"No... That will not do." She said to herself.

Sally bit her lip trying to figure out what to do. She already knew the possible solution, she just had no idea how to apply it without him gettig suspicious. But she saw that Andreas was in so much pain...

"Okay, let's try it nice and easy. Should be fine, it's just a small breach..." Just as she said that, she snapped her fingers and she heard a familiar, distant noise, which sounded like popping the champagne bottle open.

"Can you hurry up?!" Sally heard her friend getting impatient.

"Just a minute!"

She couldn't break her concentration now. She took out one of the pills in her right hand and placed her left one in the same position. After that, she took a deep breath and blew air on her hands.

There was a small breeze around her that made her hair move when the pill she held started to disappear, like it was getting erased. However, the new one was getting created, seemingly exactly the same as previous one.

When she was done, she emptied the box to the garbage can, and just put that one, single pill inside. The Lamia was breathing fast and there were sweat droplets on her forehead, but she hurried instantly with the opened box to Andreas.

"It was the only one."

She gave him the box, not technically lying.

"Crap, I already used that. Only one left..."

He pulled it out and went to swallow it instantly.

Sally, to not observe him and seem suspicious, started to unpack her things.

"Where can I put all that?" She asked, pointing at her new clothes.

"There is an empty wardrobe there." He pointed. "It's yours."

The Lamia took the bags and went on to carefully place everything.

A few minutes later the pain attack was gone and Andreas could stand again. He decided it was the perfect time to show her the features of modern technology. They were sitting on the couch, side by side, feeling each others body warmth.

Sally's new phone was at least decent, he even made her an email account and set up a few other necessary things.

"Were you ever, you know, surfing in the internet? Browsing, scrolling?"

He asked, when he was installing some basic apps.

"I used the computer at AWIO to find a few things, but that's it."

He sighed. It looked like he was the one to give her tutorial about it all.

"Ok. Now, internet has pretty much everything inside it. Shops, houses, near infinite amounts of informations, funny cat videos, dumb YouTubers, great ideas and terrible executions, but most importantly it has dangers."

"Can it hurt me?" Sally asked, curious.

"Yes. If you are not careful, you can give someone your password, and then they can log in as you and pretend to be you, doing all kinds of messed up stuff. If you give someone this homes address, it can also happen. You are rather..." He paused, trying to find the right word. Andreas looked at his companion, and couldn't deny that she looked cute. "... Rare in this world. I could see someone wanting to kidnap someone like you for money or other things."

"That's horrible." She commented.

"Well, internet has all kinds of people, so like I said, you need to be careful. Same with credit card informations and banking stuff. Luckily for you, I'll take care of our finances, so you don't have to worry about it, just don't let anyone convince you that they need some rather quick cash. They might look like they need it the most, like they are on the verge of dying, or getting kicked out of the house and 500 dollars will save them. It won't, it will be a scam, they'll just try to extort you for financial gains, got it?"

She nodded.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Sure, go ahead."

She gulped first, because it wasn't an easy question, but the one that's been on her mind for a while.

"How can you afford... All that?" Sally asked, but he didn't answer, so she followed up. "Like, you have a huge house. You are able to take an extra person, someone like me, under your roof without mentioning expenses. You are buying things for me, I saw the price tags on the clothes, and they weren't cheap."

He sent her a sad smile.

"Benefits of my past life. When I was playing, I made enough money for a few lifetimes. I never spent a lot, except maybe for this house. I never traveled the world, or invested into things. And I'm conscious about how much I'm spending, don't worry." He stood up. "Here is your phone, have fun with it."

Andreas handed over the device to her and walked away. Sally did notice that this time he didn't even reach for the cane.