Day 7

--- Jon ---

The front door of his apartment opened just as he was starting breakfast, the half-dead form of his mother stumbling through a few moments later.

“Are you just getting in?” He couldn’t help but ask with some concern. While it wasn’t unusual for his ma to pull the occasional late night to work through a case, it was unusual for her to pull an actual all-nighter, given how much she focused on his ‘training’ as it were.

“Yeah…” His ma yawned.

“I’m guessing something went wrong at the festival?”

His ma gave a snort of amusement. “That whole thing was a right clusterfuck…”

“That bad?” He frowned, something in the back of his mind already stirring.

“Villain attack, half a dozen Deviants wanting to play hero, and Sanctuary showing up at the worst possible moment.” His ma summarized.

“Yeah, that’s… bad.” He grimaced, before his eyes locked onto his ma as something occurred to him. “You didn’t get hurt did you?”

His ma rolled her eyes. “No, I’m fine. Just tired, is all. I’ll probably eat and crash out for the day.”

“If you’re sure…”

Scene Consequences

-Nothing notable.

-But the Hunter sharpens it’s blade by the Moon’s light, ready to Defend what it loves…

---

Normally he would’ve stayed home and made sure his ma was alright, but given how she hadn’t slept the night before and how he still needed to get his remaining school things, he felt safe in the assumption that she’d sleep through his little shopping trip. (And even if she does get up I left her breakfast on the counter, along with some migraine meds.)

Regardless, seeing as how he was already out shopping, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to take a quick detour towards a nearby store he’d found when scouring the internet for any local magical hotspots.

And from the moment he stepped into the Witch’s Wares, he could already tell the place was magical. Admittedly not because of any of the oddities on the store shelves, or the various candles and such lining the walls, but rather because (the store ‘s too many steps wide.)

It was a subtle thing, something most people wouldn’t notice right off the bat. But given how much awareness training his ma put him through, as well as the fact that he’d spent a little too much time dealing with similar -if more harmful- effects while fighting with the Corrupted of Blackwell, he could spot it a little more easily than most.

(I guess that’s one way to get a bigger store…) He couldn’t help but admit a little wryly, as he avoided thinking about what would happen if said effect collapsed while he was inside it.

(The arrow speared through the Corrupted bird responsible for the spatial distortion. As the creature died, the bubble of warped space the other Corrupted moved through shuddered once before expanding twice as large and then contracting into a third of the natural space, forcing the flesh and bone of the remaining Corrupted into a space barely big enough for one with an audible squelch.)

A shiver ran down his spine as he shook that memory away. (Yeah, there’s a reason this spell is usually restricted to luggage…)

“You going to stand at the door all day or are you actually going to buy something?” A voice called from the other side of the store.

“Oh, uh… you know Spatial Magic on a building is dangerous, right?” He asked more due to the fact that he couldn’t think of anything to else to say rather than anything else.

The dark-haired woman at the counter gave a snort of amusement. “What do you know? Someone who actually knows something about magic.”

“Um, isn’t this a magic shop?” He asked with just a bit of concern. “Shouldn’t everyone who comes here know something about magic?”

“You’d think.” The shop keep agreed. “Unfortunately, more often than not I get some idiot who thinks they can just read a book and start throwing around fireballs like it’s nothing.”

“Hmm, I’m guessing most don’t realize they need a foci to even get started?” That was something Miss Edna had to help him with when he’d gotten started.

“No, they think they can just buy a wand or some shit and that’ll take care of the magic for them.” The woman moaned, as he held back the desire to call out ‘language’. “Most people don’t seem to realize those only work for Arcane, and that only ‘hobbyists’ bother with wand twiddling.”

Again, he held back a desire to point out the fact that he was technically a ‘hobbyist’ (then again I made some pretty solid use of that hobby over the summer.)

He shook his head. “Yeah, no, that’s, uh… a thing.”

“Right, right.” The woman grimaced. “Sorry about that. It’s just rare for me to run into someone who actually knows their stuff. Normally I’m stuck selling knick-knacks to tourists or toys to kids.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” He tried to console her, thinking of the fact that Miss Edna’s toys and candies were her bread and butter, while the more complex stuff she sold was made to order.

“Still, uh, name ‘s Samantha Delacroix.” The woman introduced herself just a little awkwardly. “What can I do ya for?”

“Oh, uh, Jon. No H.” He greeted back, his mind warring between etiquette and De Sade’s whole thing on the power of a person’s name. “And I’m looking for a refill on enchanter’s ink, and um, I don’t suppose you sell any contracting catalysts?” He didn’t really need the ink, but he figured if three of the spell crafts he knew required it, it wouldn’t hurt to get some more just in case.

Samantha gave him a look with her amethyst eyes. “I can get you the ink no problem, but I’m going to need to see some certification if you want the catalysts.”

“Certification?” He repeated, his mind remembering several details from a half-drunk rant Miss Edna had given him about the institution trying to keep a good witch down, and De Sade’s scoffing at a system designed to instill a peace filled order for those afraid of the chaos of reality. Neither of which sounded like things he should repeat in polite company.

“Yeah, sorry, but I’m not selling a catalyst to someone who doesn’t have the certifications to be using it.” Samantha told him sternly. “That’s a good way to get both the Hunter’s Association and Sanctuary breathing down my neck, and I don’t need any of that kid.”

“No, I get it.” He really did. “I don’t suppose you know where I can get proper certification? My mentors were good but… they weren’t exactly conventional.” (I feel like that might be an understatement…)

“Common enough.” The shop keep admitted reaching under the counter. “Lots of magic users get it in their heads that they have to be this whole secret society type of deal, despite everyone already knowing about magic.”

While that didn’t really apply to Miss Edna, (I’m pretty sure De Sade may’ve run a cult on the side,) so he decided that assumption wasn’t wrong enough to correct.

Having found what she was looking for, she placed a case with four wells of ink and a silver band with a number of carvings inside of it. “Fifty for the ink and another fifty for the ring.”

He couldn’t help but grimace at those prices, just now realizing how much of a discount Miss Edna had been giving him over the summer whenever she’d given him liter containers of the stuff to practice with compared to the maybe pints worth in front of him.

And while he wasn’t strictly speaking hurting for cash, given what money he’d made in Blackwell while aiding De Sade, the fact was he was still a kid from a single parent family, and that price tag hurt his sensibilities for several reasons.

Rather than voice all of this though he instead asked, “What’s the ring do?”

Samantha gave him another look, this one more annoyed than the last, “It’s an Arcane Ring. You know what that is?”

“Um, yeah. It’s connected to a sort of database for magic users, almost like the mystical equivalent of a computer.” He answered, remembering how both De Sade and Miss Edna had one, if vastly different in design. “Though uh, they usually have a little more detail than this.”

Samantha’s expression softened a touch. “Yeah, this one just has basic access. Scans for affinities, magic capacity, and can also measure magic skills to an extent. Arcane Association basically hands the things out like candy, but the metal still costs money even if magic makes it easier to craft. Any idea why your mentor wouldn’t get you one of your own?”

“One probably wanted me to make my own and the other wanted to see how long it took me to figure out I needed one.” He admitted, figuring both actions were in line with Miss Edna and De Sade’s personalities.

“Rough.” Samantha grimaced. “Well, either way, it’s not official certification, but if the ring says you’re a decent enough level at something I’ll let you buy merchandise at whatever rank you score. Sound fair?”

“Fair enough.” He admitted, knowing a lot of people would’ve screwed him over or taken advantage of him already. “I’ll take the ring for now and get the ink later. I’ve still got some so it’s not an immediate problem.”

“Alright, then I’ll ring you on up.” Samantha nodded, taking the inkwells back. “And, who knows, maybe if you impress me enough I’ll give you a discount on something good.”

Scene Consequences

-Acquired ‘Basic Arcane Ring’ which can scan a target for their affinities and magic capacity as well as measure the mystical skills after a time.

-Gained a bit of Occult knowledge. (+1XP.)

-*New Quest* Proving Your Magic: aaa won’t sell you any of the ‘good stuff’ until you can prove you know your way around basic magic. (Note: The higher you score/ the more tests you do, the better the rewards.)

--Forge a Contract.

--Make a Potion.

--Enchant Something.

--Write a piece of Spell Script.

--Practice learn other magics before returning to the shop.

---

--Occult has been judged at E-Rank.

---

Normally a contracting circle was an extremely complicated affair.

This was because the circle had to fulfill four separate purposes. First was to find and summon a suitable entity for the contractor to bond with, second was to function as a sort of translator between the two, with the third being to work as a ring of protection between the contractor and whatever they summoned, and lastly was of course to form the contract itself.

Luckily for him however, the only thing he actually needed was the contract part of the circle, given how Pix was already there, they understood each other surprisingly well, and they had less than no intentions of hurting each other. All of which meant the bit of work he had to put into the spell script was significantly less than what most had to, especially since the bulk of the spell was apparently keeping the four smaller spells working together. Meaning that while the usual spell circuit ended up being about ten paces across, his could fit on a larger than average piece of paper.

“Alright, you ready to try this?” He asked, once he was sure the spell circuit was just right.

Pix gave him a determined nod as she hovered next to him.

“In that case we need to-” He was cut off as he heard the front doorbell going off. “Huh, uh, put a pin in that for just a moment…”

---

Having left his room and made his way to the front door, he was met by a stressed Miss Valentine bouncing her four-year-old son Kenneth on her hip.

“Oh, Jon, uh, is mom home yet?” The younger mother asked. “I know it’s a bit early, but I kind of need to ask her a favor…”

“Uh, yeah. She’s in her room asleep, she was stuck working through the night because of whatever happened at that festival yesterday.” He tried explaining. “Is something wrong?”

“Um,” Ms. Valentine bit her lip for a moment as she glanced between Jon, Kenneth, and the end of the hall. “Work called in and I need a sitter to watch Kenneth for a few hours. Normally I’d ask the Jeffersons but something happened yesterday and they’re not here right now. And then Boris and his Wife are, I don’t feel right making them watch Kenneth when they already have their hands full with their grandkids.”

“So, you were hoping ma could watch him for the evening?” He finished for her.

“Yeah, but if she’s asleep already-”

“I can watch him.” He immediately offered.

“I, what?” Ms. Valentine blinked.

“I said, I can watch him for you if you want.”

“I’m not sure, I don’t want to-”

“Ms. Valentine,” He interrupted her again. “I spent my summer helping watch twenty something pre-teens, a four-year-old isn’t going to kill me.”

“But that’s-”

“And ma is here if anything does happen, I can just wake her up if need be.” He cut off whatever defense she was trying to come up with.

Ms. Valentine started gnawing on her lip again as she thought it over. “You’re sure about this?”

“Like I said, it’s no trouble at all.” He assured her, taking the little one off her hands.

“Kenneth be a good boy alright?” Ms. Valentine told her son, kissing him on the forehead. “Mama will be back soon enough okay? Thank you for this Jon.”

With that Ms. Valentine made her swift exit, before she could be any later to her work, and as soon as she was out of sight her toddler started fussing reaching for where his mother was.

“Ah, ah, little one it’s okay.” He soothed, his time helping Jill with the various sick and injured children of Camp Bet giving him more than enough experience calming upset children. “Like your ma said, she’ll be back soon enough, alright?”

This seemed to do little to actually calm the littlest Valentine, and as such he decided to try his hand at a unique alternative.

Carrying the little one back to his room, he pushed his door open to see a bored Pix laying on his bed. “Hey, uh, we’re going to have to put a pause on that for a little longer. We’ve got a guest for the time being.”

Pix gave him a curious look before spotting the toddler in his arms. The little fairy immediately gave him an excited trill before flying over and hovering all around the little one.

“Yeah, my neighbor Ms. Valentine, asked if ma and I could watch her little one for a while, and while puts a pause on our stuff I figured you wouldn’t have a problem with it.” He explained as Pix followed him back into the living room, where Brutus was lazily getting up as things seemed to be getting more active.

“Alright, you two keep an eye on Kenneth for a minute while I make a bit of space.” He told the two as he set the toddler on the floor and began pushing the furniture around a bit to give them more space.

Normally he’d try to keep Pix a secret from near everyone but given how Kenneth was only four he figured anything magical about her would be glossed over as childhood wonder if the toddler told anyone. And given how most fairies had an odd soft spot for children, he felt Pix would be madder at him for not letting her help than for asking for assistance.

(Just have to figure out how to entertain a fairy and a toddler for a few hours…) He thought to himself as he looked around a bit, before letting his eyes fall on an old boxset he hadn’t seen since he was kid. (Huh, that could work.)

Moving back to the kitchen he quickly made an easy snack for Kenneth and Pix to both munch on if they got hungry, before moving back to the living room setting the TV to run an old recording of his favorite show as a kid. “You need anything else little one?”

Kenneth gave him a hesitant shake of his head as the toddler began to gnaw on his snack.

“Okay, well then, I think you guys are going love this.” He nodded back as he pressed play on something he felt every child should watch at least once. “This was my favorite show back when I was around your age.”

“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day~”

---

As luck would have it, the littlest Valentine eventually dozed off after a couple of episodes with a full tummy. Giving Jon and Pix the perfect opportunity to try and wrap up the project they’d started before being interrupted.

“Okay, so if all of this is written right.” And given how he was basically copying it from the book, he felt safe saying it was. “Then all we need to do is both run some magic through this.”

Pix nodded before putting her hand on one of the outer symbols connected to the circuit, before he put his own hand against another.

As he clutched the medallion in his hand, he began to feel a sort of cool-warmth spreading out from the enchanted metal in his hand. One that slowly began to creep and crawl its way across his body, down his arm, through his hand, and into the slowly glowing spell circuit.

Electricity seemed to spark and dance along the circuit as the ink began to steadily glow brighter.

Across from Pix was glowing as she fed her own magic into the circuit, the crackling energy from her side of the circle notably smaller than his own, but still crawling towards the center of the circuit, same as his.

Eventually the two tendrils of mystical energy brushed against each other and something snapped into place.

The circle sparked to life with one final blinding flash of power, before incinerating the paper and leaving a glowing sphere of magic behind.

Pix gave him a curious look, wondering if this is what was supposed to happen.

“Okay… uh, give me a second…” He quickly picked up one of Miss Edna’s magic books before finding where he messed up and how to fix it. “Alright, so, apparently I screwed up on marking who the designated contractor was, which is usually included in the connection between the summoning and protection scripts. All I have to do is take the spell sphere in palm and apply it to a part of my skin where it’ll be absorbed and leave a ‘contractor’s mark’ until the spell switches states.”

Nodding to himself, he put the book down before looking at the sphere in hand. (So, uh, temp tattoo… where should I put it? Somewhere Ma won’t see by accident preferably…)

With that thought in mind, he tugged at the collar of his shirt before pressing the sphere of magic into the left side of his chest.

As soon as the light met his flesh, he began to feel a faint sort of feel-good burn spreading out from the point of contact. Once it had fully entered his skin, the last point of the sphere began to glow before spreading out across his chest in a series of arcane symbols he could only half-decipher. When the symbols finally quit spreading they glowed once more before contracting and twisting into the image of a side eyed silhouette of female fairy about the size of Pix herself seemingly sitting as she hugged her knees to her chest and framed by twisting series of thorned vines and flowers.

“Huh,” Even if he couldn’t see the mark properly without a mirror, from what he could see it was still somehow both artistic and simplistic at the same time given how it was drawn solely in blank ink.

Feeling something odd coming from the mark, he put his hand to his chest and pushed his magic into the mark, before slowly pulling at the foreign yet familiar magic that had begun to build within. There was a sudden flash of light, and he found Pix sitting in his hands blinking in confusion before turning an excited gaze at him.

“Guess this means you’ll always be close to my heart, huh?”

Scene Consequences

-Forged a Contract with Pix.

--Can now summon Pix to Jon’s location for a small amount of Magic.

---When summoned Pix can use Jon’s Magic reserves in place of her own, allowing her a greater amount of power for the duration.

-Thanks to forging this Contract outside of normal methodology gained bonus XP to this task.

--*Skill Level Up* Contracting: Lv. 3 (0/8)

--*Skill Level Up* Script Craft: Lv. 3 (0/8)

-*Task Complete* Prove Your Magic: Forge a Contract. (Scored an E)

---

“Thanks again for watching Kenneth, Jon.” Ms. Valentine thanked him, as he let her into the apartment.

“It’s like I said, I’ve got no problem watching him whenever you need.” He assured her once more.

“Yeah…” Ms. Valentine gave him a soft smile, before looking around a bit. “Your mom still asleep.”

“Yeah, she does that from time to time.” He admitted. “She spends a few days running herself into the ground and then just blacks out for the next day or so.”

Ms. Valentine gave him a concerned frown. “That… can’t be healthy.”

“Why do you think I get onto her for her health so much?” He asked with a wry grin, before shaking his head. “Either way, Kenneth passed out about an hour ago. He’s right there on the couch with Brutus.”

Ms. Valentine turned towards the couch and let out a cooing sound as she caught sight of her sleeping toddler using a sleeping Brutus as a pillow. “Aww, that’s adorable.” She told him, taking a photo of the little one on her phone.

Once that was done she walked around the couch and gently shook Kenneth awake. “Come on baby, we need to head back home now.”

The sleepy toddler blinked a couple times before crawling into his mother’s arms. “Did you have a good time with Jon, sweetie?”

Kenneth mumbled something unintelligible but did manage to give a faint nod as he curled into his mother’s arms.

“Hm, guess that’s a yes.” Ms. Valentine chuckled, as she adjusted her grip on her little one and started making her way to the door.

As she stepped out of the apartment, Ms. Valentine gave him a soft smile. “Like I said, thanks again for doing this Jon. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t here.”

“And like I said, it was no problem at all.” He told her, “Now why don’t you get the little one to bed, it’s late enough that you should probably be getting some sleep too if you want to make it through tomorrow.”

“Right, you too, I guess.” Ms. Valentine nodded back with another smile. “Good night Jon.”

“Night, Ms. Valentine.” He waved, gently closing the door behind the single mother, before letting out a calming sigh, and earning a curious look from Pix as she flew out from her hiding spot now that they were alone once more.

“I think I needed that more than I thought.” He admitted with a soft smile, a warm feeling in his chest right next to his new Contractor’s mark. “Helping someone I mean.”

Scene Consequences

-Regained a small amount of Mental Health.

-For babysitting and watching a master’s work gained 3XP to Childcare.

--Currently: Lv. 7 (3/16)

-Grown a bit closer to the Valentines.