Fading Out

Watching a movie with people other than his mother was an interesting experience for John. Of course, the closeness was the first thing he’d remember. There was a simple pleasure in someone else's body heat warming his sides and feeling their laughter reverberate in his chest caused his heart to beat faster. At some point in the film, Aeolia and Vivian curled closer to him and John’s arms slipped around their shoulders, greatly increasing both factors, and John thanked Gaia and any other god that might listen.

Sadly, time flies and the final credits rolled, though the closeness remained. John twisted his head towards both girls and asked, “So, what’d ya think?”

“Hilarious,” Aeolia remarked with a wide smile. “Can’t say I got all of the references, but that comb the desert line was too much.”

Vivian’s lips quirked up at the memory. “That was quite funny. And the gag with the film already on video was well done.”

“We’ll have to do a Mel Brooks marathon later,” John suggested, happy his girls liked his choice of film. A sudden ping jostled John from his comfortable position and a pop up manifested before him.

Crafting Complete. Disk Bracelet of Veils added to your Inventory.

“Timely,” Vivian noticed.

“Yeah,” Aeolia added. “Guess we’ve gotta get up and give that thing a spin. Make sure it works and all. We were going to do another Barrier run, right?”

Her tone wasn’t all that thrilled at having to get up, but she still made the move to escape the comfy couch. John and Vivian likewise **** themselves free of the pleasant seat and relaxing embrace. Once up, John eyed his mana bar.

“I’m a little over half full on mana,” he reported as he opened his Inventory. “I could use Bask but that still would only get me up to around two-thirds full. If we wait an hour after, I’ll be back at full and the cooldown on Bask will be over just in case.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Vivian said. “It would give me a chance to iron out any issues with the bracelet’s array and let me prepare some in advance for our foray.”

Aeolia hummed, “I could do with some light exercise. Get nice and limber before fighting.”

The image of Aeolia bending over caused John’s pants to tighten and he was **** to adjust them.

“So, we gonna inspect the bracelet back in the kitchen?” John brought the conversation back on track.

“I suppose that’s as good as anywhere to do it,” Vivian said. “I think we should set up some kind of workspace. Somewhere we can keep raw materials. Those you don’t want to keep for yourself, of course.”

She added that last part hastily, like she was afraid she’d overstepped her bounds. John smiled at her. “A place to store all the loot would be great. I’ve a place set up at home, but I think keeping that for personal stuff and putting things we plan to sell or use for crafting here. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” Aeolia remarked as she headed for the door. “That trunk wasn’t going to be enough at the rate you’re getting stuff.”

Vivian bashfully smiled. “That’s settled then. I’ll have to get some storage and tables, but that’s not too much of a problem.”

“You two go ahead. I’m going to use Bask here and get it out of the way,” John said. “It’ll only take a minute and a half.”

The girls nodded and left the room, leaving John alone. He took a breath and closed his eyes. The slight warmth he had begun to associate with Vivian slowly filled him, like slipping into a tub of hot water. Once the sensation faded, he opened his eyes, idly wondering what a barrier created by Aeolia would feel like.

‘Probably like standing on a hill in a light breeze,’ he concluded after recalling what her magical presence felt like. ‘What does my magic feel like, anyway?’

He put that thought away as he rejoined Aeolia and Vivian. While the owner of the Barrier had taken a seat, Aeolia remained on her feet, drinking a glass of water.

“Ready to get some modeling done?” John asked, withdrawing the bracelet. Like the one sacrificed to create the recipe, it was a single chain with seven disks around the size of a quarter lining the outside. Unlike the sample, each disk was etched with a copy of Vivian’s array.

“Nothing fancy, but it looks like it works,” John reported, extending his second real creation to its intended recipient. “I’ll check out the Attribute and Evocation once you see if it works.”

Aeolia plucked the offered accessory and deftly fastened it to her wrist. The fit wasn’t perfect and the bracelet shifted freely as she moved her arm about to test the fastener.

“Well, I don’t think it’ll fall off,” she assessed. “Guess it’s time for my vanishing act. Now you see me…”

Aeolia began to fade from view in a manner that reminded John of the cloaking effect from those old science fiction shows; her form wavered as she grew transparent until the space she occupied appeared empty.

“So, it really works,” Aeolia said dryly, accompanied by the slight clatter of the bracelet. The air shimmered, the distortion vaguely in the shape of her arm waving at them.

Vivian groaned slightly. “I couldn’t prevent the distortions from movement.”

“That’s no biggie,” Aeolia’s disembodied voice sounded. “It’s not like you made this for me to go assassinating people. As long as it isn’t too noticeable, it should work fine. Especially if I’m flying high up.”

Aeolia faded back into view. “It doesn’t take that much mana to use either. Think we got it done in one.”

Vivian didn’t look too happy to leave her promised work in a non-optimal state. “I think I’ll keep tinkering with the array. If nothing else, it’ll be good practice to make better arrays.”

“Fair enough,” Aeolia remarked before turning her attention to John. “So, what’s the word on the details?”

“Let’s see,” John replied, tapping the sole Attribute.

Veil Generation: Bend light around the wearer to induce invisibility. Costs .25MP/min.

“Nothing special there,” John said. “Did it feel like you used a quarter of one unit of mana?”

“Um, hard to say,” Aeolia answered. “It didn’t really feel like I was using a lot. Your number thing is hard to translate into what I feel.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Vivian added. “Mana amounts are rather hard to quantify into numbers like that. Hmm, maybe we can use that to figure out how much one mana point is for us. Run the veil for four minutes to establish what one mana is for us.”

“That’s a good idea,” John said. “We’ve got to kill another hour or so before I’m back to full. That’ll kill a good eight.”

John withdrew his phone to check the time then let out a low groan when he noticed the lack of signal.

“I’m going to need to step out for a bit first,” he informed them. “It’s getting close to when I’d get out of school and I really don’t want my mom trying to reach me and getting nothing. Got to text her some story about why I’m not home.”

“That’s right!” Vivian exclaimed, fishing out her own phone from her pocket. “You need to buy a Barrier extension card for your phone. You can use my phone to access the Auction. You’ll have to step outside; I don’t think you’ll want to pay the extra for the delivery drone to enter my Barrier.”

“‘Delivery drone’?” John echoed as he accepted Vivian’s phone, already opened to the Auction’s app. The account name shifted from ‘VRLuminous’ to ‘The_Gamer’ and the displayed offers changed to reflect the change in accounts.

“Much faster than a truck,” Vivian answered. “The Auction prides itself on speed. Once you order something, they’ll get it to you in minutes.”

“Got it,” John said as he began to input his needs into the search bar. As he picked through the options, he frowned. “Looks like I’ll need to buy a ‘copy and paste’ sort of thing. Copy over my phone’s mundane functionally and add on the Abyssal stuff.”

“Sounds like that’s what ya need,” Aeolia chimed in.

“Yeah,” John said with a frown. “Just wish the whole thing wasn’t nine hundred dollars. That’ll put me down to twenty-nine hundred. Huh, listen to me. Two days with more than a few dozen dollars to my name and I’m already groaning about necessary spending.”

“Let’s hope the next Barrier we run has a lot of loot to sell,” Aeolia cheekily replied. “For the bank account’s sake.”

Vivian stifled a chuckle and John found his lips rising at their corners. “Well, no point in putting things off. Should I order here then head outside or just do everything outside?”

“Order now,” Vivian answered. “It will still take a minute or three for the drone to arrive. It’ll be locked on to your mana signature so you can wait in the alley.”

“Got it,” John said, tapping the item and finalizing his payment. “I’ll be back in a few.”

John handed Vivian her phone back and made for the door. He exited the Barrier smoothly, and under the leaving grace period, walked unseen down the adjoining alleyway. True to Vivian’s word, the whirl of a drone’s propellers soon reached John’s ears and he cast his eyes upwards to see a bulky, x-shaped drone drifting down.

“Greetings,” a tinny recorded voice sounded from the machine. “Thank you for purchasing a MechCo All-Purpose SIM Card. Please place your phone upon the receiving pad, where your current SIM card will be scanned and copied over to your MechCo All-Purpose SIM Card. Once the process is complete, your purchase will be dispensed.”

John placed his phone on the marked platform, the white light that circled it flashing softly.

“Guess this is the work of those technomancers Aeolia mentioned,” John mused as the flashing grew in speed. A chime rang out as the light turned off and a small card was ejected from a slot on the front.

“Copying process is completed,” the robotic voice sounded. “Please remove your phone and MechCo All Purpose SIM Card. Insert the SIM Card into your phone and enjoy full voice, text and data usage inside Barriers. Thank you again for your purchase and enjoy full phone functionality. Remember to buy from MechCo for all your arcanotech purposes.”

John did as ordered and the drone let out a chirp as it ascended back into the sky. John watched it until it turned sharply and sped away.

“I wonder if it’s got some cloaking device,” he idly mused before shaking his head. “Okay, let’s get this thing plugged in.”

John re-enter Vivian’s Barrier and headed for the kitchen. Aeolia and Vivian’s hushed tones cut off as he entered the room. Vivian’s cheeks were slightly red and John regarded them curiously before focusing his attention on Aeolia.

“What’d I miss?”

“Oh,” Aeolia answered, “just some girl talk.”

“Yes, nothing major,” Vivian hastily added.

A small part of John wanted to pry, but he pushed that notion down, wanting to maintain their privacy.

“Well, delivery happened,” he said, flashing the SIM card. “Got to install it, then just text my mom telling her I won’t be home after school. Just got to think up something she’ll believe.”

“Hanging out with friends?” Vivian suggested.

John let out a rueful chuckle. “If I could tell her that truth, I would. That would invite a whole lot of questions I don’t have a good answer for yet.”

Vivian got the gist of what John was hinting at and frowned in thought. “Perhaps some version of the truth could be used. You could say you ran into someone looking for potential employees and went for an interview.”

John mulled over Vivian’s idea as he swapped SIM cards. The new one installed, John rebooted his phone. Once he saw the network indicator light up on the home screen and that there were no important messages or missed calls, he put his phone on the table and regarded Vivian.

“That could work,” he said. “I did ask her for some money yesterday so it wouldn’t be too out of there for me to jump on a chance to make money. It’ll make it easier to spend time in Barriers if she thinks I’m doing actual work.”

“Plus it’ll cover why you suddenly have money,” Aeolia chirped.

“That too.” John nodded as he opened up a text to his mother. “I’ll keep it simple. ‘Hey Mom. Ran into someone looking to hire some people. Getting interviewed soon.’ How’s that sound?”

“It’s a little vague,” Vivian muttered. “Maybe a touch too much. Put that it’s for a tech start up. Those are popping up all over, from what I hear.”

John nodded and let out a small laugh. “And she’d believe it with all the games I’ve played. Adding that in. And scheduling it to fire just after school would get out and done.”

Alibi set, John placed his phone on the table in case a response came, then said, “So, are we going to try that four minute mana test?”

“Yes,” Vivian answered. “Aeolia, is your mana reserve full?”

“All topped off,” she cheekily replied.

“Hold on for a second,” John said suddenly. “I completely forgot to check the Evocation. Mind if we get that info dump out of the way before we experiment?”

Both girls shrugged and John took that as a green light and recast Observe, the original display having timed out.

“Handy,” John remarked, directing his attention to Vivian. “It's not that different from what you did back in the Barrier.”

“It follows the same principle,” the redhead responded with a thoughtful frown. “I supposed since it’s running off an automatic system, if you will, it can’t handle something complex like movement.”

“Makes sense,” John said, closing the display. “I figure you need to actively control where a displaced image goes.”

“Are we going to do this experiment or am I just going to stand here like an idiot for an hour?” Aeolia asked, a smirk on her face despite the annoyed nature of her question.

“Right, let’s get to this,” Vivian said, opening a timer on her phone.