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Bernon's eyes widened. "It's you! You're the one that tried to rob me!" He squared his jaw. I don't know what you want from me. What do you think I have?"
The intruder stared at the shield, then at Tanrial. He put away his knife, but didn't step away. "What kind of magic is this?" he asked, ignoring Bernon.
(sorry got to head to bed now. Se you tomorrow!)
Tanrial shrugged, “That’s none of you’re concern. Now, what is it you want with my dear friend here? It’s late and the hotels might close soon. I’d hurry if you want to make it in time.” She smiled sweetly at the stranger using her magic to make herself a cup of tea and drift it over to her, taking a sip.
(See ya tomorrow!)
He considered her for a moment, then turned back to Bernon. "The package. Brown canvas, green string, cylindrical. Where is it?"
Bernon stood up. "That? I can't give it to you. A dying family trusted me to deliver it safely, and I can't let them down." He folded his arms. "Who are you anyway? Why do you want that package so badly?"
The intruder stared at Bernon. "You have no idea how valuable it is, do you?" He shook his head. "Listen. I'm Mike, if you gotta know. I'm here for the package, and I'm not leaving until I have it. If you don't give it to me, I'll take it anyway. Get out of my way or get hurt."
“Listen, you can’t come in here making threats, alright? He says he can’t give it to you so he can’t give it to you. It’s that easy to understand,” She placed her tea down, “Besides, I could kill you right now if I wanted to, so you’re not killing him without yourself doing so first.”
Mike sized her up. "What do you care?" he asked quietly. "Also, I wouldn't make such hasty judgements about people like me. Your fancy tricks don't amount to much if you're too wounded to do them."
(lol this guy's a jerk but he's not a total villain. I kinda hope he'll stick around buuut I'm not sure how to make that work atm. ^^; )
Tanrial was silent, “Look, I don’t know who you are, how you could even find this place since I did make sure the glamour was up and and what the package is but you can’t just barge in here demanding some package from Bernon,” She stood up, “So, if you might care to tell me what in the name of the Mother it is then maybe we can come to an agreement.”
(Maybe after all this happens he could maybe work with Thranion/the King or something if we were to make them the villains?)
"Yeah," Bernon said belligerently. "I deserve to know why you're trying so hard to take this thing from me."
Mike sighed. "Look, it's an artifact from some civilization that lived before the world went to pot. Apparently it's a crucial part of some special machine or other. Either way, It's unimaginably valuable, and there are people who are willing to pay for its safe delivery. I intend to turn a profit, and that means getting the package off you and bringing safely it to the guy who hired me. That's all. It's nothing personal, I'm just not ready to take chances with so much money at stake."
(Idk, I like him too much to make him a villain lol…..maybe he ends up having to work with our characters for some reason?? They could ask him to help them with something in exchange for the package? Just brainstorming here)
(also I have to go for the night, sorry! I hope we have more time to do this tomorrow!)
Tanrial sat back down, lowered the shield and summoned a chair for Mike to sit down. She motioned to do so, “A machine part?” She questioned, thinking.
(Yeah, see ya tomorrow!)
Mike did not sit, only leaned against the mantelpiece, paying no mind to Bernon's glare. "I don't know much about it myself. The guy who asked me to find it said it could save a lot of lives and restore a generation's worth of lost knowledge. Bring it here and let's see what it looks like."
Bernon hesitated, then sighed angrily and went upstairs, quickly returning with a parcel that matched Mike's description. He set it down on the table and carefully unwrapped it.
Inside was a rectangle of metal, painted dark grey. A series of numbers and letters were printed on one side, along with several strange pictograms. The other sides were covered in small square holes, each marked with their own symbol. A few colorful cords trailed out of one end, and a a shiny, black thing that looked like a little window was set into the metal just above them. Finally, there was a set of buttons near the top that were worn with use, and a single light nest to them that was currently dark.
Bernon puzzled over it for a minute. "….I've never seen a machine part like that before."
“Strange…” Tanrial muttered trailing off. She lent a forward a little to get a better look at the symbols and pictograms on the side of the piece.
One looked like a square cut into four smaller squares and turned at a slight angle. Another one looked like a sideways water bottle with a check mark next to it. Still another showed some kind of wheeled container with an X over it. They seemed to be grouped at random, and none were repeated.
Mike studied the object from his place across the room. "My grandad was a mechanic," he said. "But he never worked with gadgets like that. It must be from something more high-tech than most machines."
“None of my people use stuff like this so it’s not Eyvn…” Tanrial muttered, “It has to be human, whatever it is. None of the civilisations I know of use technology.” She said a little louder.
Bernon frowned. "The family that gave it to me told me to take it to the most eastern city in the country. They were refugees from that area, and one of their ancestors had rescued this doohicky when their old home was destroyed in a hurricane. They wanted to help the people who still lived on the coast, they said, by sending it back. But they were too sick to make the journey, so I offered to help."
"My employer lives in New England," Mike said. "He told me that he was one of the few people who still knew how to use machines like this. He wanted to save the world with it and get rich and famous, I guess."
“I want to know what it does. How it’s gonna save the world, supposedly.” Tanrial felt a small pain shoot through the stomach and tried not to wince. She hoped that Mike or Bernon hadn’t seen it.
Mike noticed, and his eyes tracked her for a second, but he didn't inquire. "I think this is only part of the machine," he said. "The brain, so to speak. I don't know where the rest of it is, so we can't turn it on."
Bernon sat forward. "The family said it was like a book, the biggest book you've ever seen, and it has everything in it. History, science, religion, math, old literature……all in this little box. No idea how that works, but apparently the book explains how to do all kinds of things, such as cure diseases that are supposed to be incurable, and how to speak any language, and how to travel to the stars."
"You can see," Mike remarked drily, "why this thing is so valuable."
“Could it…” She trailed off for a moment, “Could it hold something else? Like something that could, I’m just thinking out loud here, kill anything that wasn’t human? Obviously there are… things and creatures turning up that humans might not want so could it hold that information? If it has information to cure diseases then could it have information to make one?”
They both looked at you. "In theory, I guess," Bernon said uncertainly. "Humans have been known to do jerky things like that before."
"I'll bet there's military data on there at the very least," Mike put in. "Missile plans, bio-weapons, top-secret info on other countries. That kind of thing could easily end up in the wrong hands and result in even more destruction. Believe me, there's plenty of people out there who hate magic. So essentially, yes."
“Great…” She sat back in her chair running a hand through her hair, “I don’t like that thing, it’s giving me a weird feeling.”
Bernon looked concerned. "Like how?"
“I don’t know it’s just…. wrong. It’s like… a burning. Not too painful but uncomfortable. You noticed, didn’t you?” She looked at Mike.
"I noticed you flinching," he said. Then he studied the machine part with narrowed eyes for a moment. Turning to Bernon, he said, "I don't feel anything. Do you?"
"Um….I don't think so? Maybe a little, but I could just be imagining it because Tanrial mentioned it."
"Hm. Tanrial, huh? You said your people don't use technology. Maybe something about it is bad for you because you're a magic-user. Not sure, just a guess."
“You’re probably right. But… it can’t be just a magic user,” She glanced at her friend, “It must be because I’m not human although you said you felt something, Bernon.”
"Oh right," Bernon said. "Because I can do magic now, but I'm still human. So maybe that's why it only partially affects me."
Mike squinted at Bernon. "You can do magic?"
"Yeah," Bernon replied casually. "I can control electric water and fly and turn into a giant scary bear. What you got?"
Mike shook his head. "I don't need that stuff."
"Mkay. That's good because you don't have it in the first place." Bernon wrapped up the machine part again and tucked it under his arm. "I'm putting this back upstairs for now."
(Sassy Bernon is my new fave thing lol)