Meet me? With Two-Bit meeting Nessin for the first time? Thus being the first mage he'd ever actually met and interacted with?
In the mornings, Two-Bit liked to run.
It was half-way between habit and enjoyment, but they’d never really shaken the practice, not since Phoenix - (Elfriede, it should be quietly corrected, but that was a name that hurt for them to say) - instilled in them a training regime that meant waking up at six in the morning for a run around the castle walls. An exercise that was made all the more terrifying by her insistence of booby-trapping the route, an activity which thoroughly annoyed the castle staff.
Luckily, Two-Bit did not have to worry about this on their usual morning job, which was, it should be noted, not at six anymore. It wouldn’t be that early until the depths of summer, when they had to wake up early to beat the intolerable heat.
No - in the delicate throes of spring, they finished around nine, and now they were resting, draped across a bench near a crosswalk and draining a reusable water-bottle dry of its contents. After taking a huge gulp, they let out a great sigh, lifting up their braid to allow some air to flow across the back of their neck… and they noticed it.
Or, more precisely, him.
It felt like a tingle going down their neck, or, perhaps, the sudden chime of a church bell - that single realization, that flash of insight that stopped them short. For a moment, they just… stared, brown eyes fixated on the figure at the edge of the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green. Slowly, they wiped their mouth, gaze flicking up and down the boy’s form - they’d place him in his teens, perhaps - and then they stood, pushing themselves off the bench with a slow, somewhat cautious movement.
They’d never scouted someone before, but Two-Bit was a person obsessed with duty, and to ignore someone with talent was… well, in their mind, rather irresponsible. So - despite feeling wholly out of their element - they put on a broad, confident smile, lofting a hand into a wave as they called out. “Oi! Hey there! Got a minute?”
Their boots thudded lightly on the pavement as they approached.
For a moment, Two-Bit had absolutely no conception that Viktor was referring to them. For one, they were hardly little, another, they didn’t really think of themselves as pretty, and - honestly, the phrase ‘pretty little thing’ didn’t seem like it should be applied to someone who could comfortably bench-press a bear.
When they did figure it out, they just sort of… stared at the door, though maybe that was because of the display they’d just witnessed. In fact, when it opened again, they had to pull themselves back together with a start, standing at attention as the woman appeared in the doorway.
“Uh! It’s fine. Hi, I’m Two-Bit,” they said politely, offering their hand. No need to make a big deal of it. “I run a store down on Rosewood. First Story Books! …I’m a very funny person.”
They’d been about to come in when the topic changed pretty drastically - so fast that it left them blinking a bit as they were taken off guard. Was this the infamous maternal instinct they’d heard so much about? “Uh – I mean. Okay, I promise I am definitely not intending to hurt him. If I was, er… do you… think I’d actually… take him back to his parent’s place? Rather than just having him - …”
Another pause. “Wow, I just realized how easy it would be for some creep to tell a kid ‘hey you’re a magus’ to lure them away and - and that’s actually super upsetting. Woah, uh. Poppies, has that ever actually happened? No wonder the Inquisitor is such a hardhat about people pretending to be magi - “ Given their expression, that line of thinking seemed to be distressing them quite a bit, but they soon realized that they’d deviated quite substantially from what they were actually supposed to be saying. “I’m being honest here; I’ve come here to make sure your son gets the resources he needs to be successful. I’m not clever enough to lie about that. I… really just sell books?” A wince. “I understand your suspicion, but, er…. I’m just… not? Here for trouble?”
They seemed to be significantly cowed by the intimidating powers of an angry mother.
As Two-Bit spoke, the tension and anger seemed to drain out of Nessin’s mother. As they finished, she actually looked a little guilty.
“I apologize. I’ve had some trouble in the past when it comes to Magi and my youngest son. I-” She cut herself off, looking pained. “The boys are probably done fretting over if they did the living room correctly right about now. Let’s just say I’m a bit paranoid now and leave it at that. You may come in now, if you still wish to after all that.”
She looked a bit more humored as she spoke her next line. “None of the others should be quite so intense. I’m Sam, by the way. Would you prefer to talk with me, my husband, and my son alone, without Vik there?”
She frowned slightly, not waiting for an answer. “Though I suppose I’d understand after my demonstration if you’d like to talk to just my husband and son.” She nodded to herself, opening the front door and walking into a moderately sized room devoid of furniture. There were scratches and scuffs on the floor, as if furniture had previously been in there but had been removed.
“Living room is through the door to the left. I’ll be on the right, continuing making lunch. It’ll take fifteen more minutes,so you’ll be dealing with my husband alone until then. If you decide to leave before lunch is done, have someone tell me. I hate to make plates for people who aren’t there.“
The last line was spoken somewhat bitterly and she walked quickly out of the empty entrance room through the door on the right.
Some trouble sounded like a very interesting phrase, and they were, of course, thirsty for details. After all, they collected information like a crow collected shiny objects… though they knew enough not to push their luck when they’d just been scolded not moments prior. Best to start digging slow.
“Er, it’s fine! I – whatever… you’d like? I mean… this is your son’s future? You have a right to be there? I mean… I’d think you would…” They trailed off as they slowly entered, glancing around in apparent curiousity. Notably, they glanced at the ceiling before looking down, and the marks on the floor caught their attention almost immediately. They didn’t comment, wondering if, perhaps, Sam’s aside about the living room had anything to do with it.
Or perhaps they’d had to sell all their furniture recently? Or maybe… –
“Uh – alright!” Mentally chiding themselves, they dragged themselves back to reality, and as Sam left, they actually realized what she said. “Er, you don’t have to trouble yourself making food I’m fine, really!”
Scratching the back of their head, they made a little ‘huh’ noise, and then peeked through the door on the left – shoot, it was left, right? Was it? They should have been listening instead of mulling over stuff!
Immediately upon the opening of the door, voices rose and started to try to explain themselves all at once.
“Mom, I have no idea how you expected me and lil bro to get all–” Vik started loudly.
“Okay, but you were taking forever and I just thought it’d be better to–“ Nessin began, then they both blinked, seeing that this was not, in fact their mother.
“Oh, it’s just the mage. You said your name, no wait, sorry, title, was Two-Bit?“ Viktor grinned and opened his mouth, only for Nessin to cough pointedly.
“Oh alright. But I’d bet they’re used to getting comments on it by now.” Viktor grumbled.
“They shouldn’t have to be used to it! People should just be more considerate! I’m pretty sure whatever happened, it isn’t any of our business.”
“Did somebody say, Mage?” A redheaded man stepped into the room from a door at the back of the room, though his smile turned to a frown when he saw the state of the room. “You’ve sure made a mess of this place.”
Indeed, the room had books scattered on every surface, including the seating, the lamp was sitting on the floor, and there were papers on the floor around it. The bookshelves lining the walls were half empty.
“I’m pretty sure we don’t need the Dungeons and Dragon books to talk about magic; I’ve heard their magic isn’t quite the same. Neither do we need the Eragon books; you’re a magi, not a dragon rider. And is that my Harry Potter collection?” He shook his head, amused. “Never mind. Clear off the couch, at least, or we’ll have nowhere to sit.”
As they did that, he turned to Two-Bit. “I’m Ethan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope my wife wasn’t too hard on you.”
Viktor laughed. “So, we’re supposed to pretend that you weren’t at your window, ready to jump out of it a the first sign of trouble to save the day?” He asked dryly, looking up as he put a stack of books on one of the bookshelves.
Ethan grinned. “Yup. That’s what we’re pretending. Just like Nessin is pretending he understands what we’re talking about, and you’re pretending that you don’t have a massive crush on that girl from your work.”
Viktor groaned, raising his hands in defeat. “Fine, I’ll leave you three to nerd out over magic. Two-Bit doesn’t seem like a dangerous sort anyway.” Despite the joking tone, Ethan and Viktor’s eyes met for a moment, serious, before Viktor was grinning again. “Try not to nerd out too hard, dad.”
“Get outta here, you rascal.” He laughed, turning to Two-Bit. “So, as I was saying. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to take a seat?”
There was too much confusing stuff going on for them to really follow the conversation , so they just kind of… gaped, looking overwhelmed by the full force of an entire family. It wasn’t like they often went to big gatherings since they stayed away from festivals and had no family or relations. Really, they kept to their store, and bookshops tended to be mild, quiet places.
“I, uh - uh, you can call it a name, honestly most of us do in casual conversation - um… comments about what? Uh - I-…” they trailed off, their gaze falling on the scattered novels, and that seemed to restart their thought process. With some interest, they entered and began picking through them, making comments on their quality all the while. “Decent series, this one’s garbage - Eragon? Really? If you’re hoping that’ll tell you about magic, you’re sadly mistaken - but the dragon on the front cover should tell you that. Oh… Strike and Starling… what do you call it. Dungeon… master? They dungeon master one of these things in the comic shop. ”
A pause. They looked up at the group. “None of this is helpful, though. I’m sorry!”
Ethan chuckled. “I apologize, you seem a bit overwhelmed. Though, if you think this is bad, you should see us when everyone’s home. And I suspected as much, in regards to the books.” He glanced towards the door Two-Bit had walked through, lowering his voice some.
“How much did my wife tell you about the Incident?” He frowned. “Not much, I’d suspect. Still, we’ve always been at odds about keeping it a secret, and if our boy is to be a mage then he should probably know what happened. I’d also feel better knowing somebody else knows.”
Nessin blinked, staring at his father confusedly. “What do you mean, dad? What haven’t you been telling me? What incident?”
Ethan glanced at him before turning back to Two-Bit. “How much time do you have? It’s a bit of a story. If you’d rather call your Primus and Inquisitor and have them here instead, there’s a landline on the far wall that you are welcome to use.”
“Er, a teensy bit. I live alone, you see.” Their tone didn’t seem to imply that it was a bad thing, though - perhaps it would be better to call it wistful. Spaghorde had been an active place, full of life and music. Pretty much every night, those who could play instruments gathered around the courtyard and had a time of it… and Two-Bit sort of missed having all those people around.
They kept smiling in that somewhat awkward, hapless way, though. No need to let on they, oh hey, all of their friends were dead and it was basically their fault. Haha!
“Er, incident? She mentioned it, I think, but…” They tapped their fingertips together in thought. They absolutely wanted to know about this ‘incident’, yes, but that also sounded like something they should call the Inquisitor for. Or…. perhaps… they should take care of it themselves, so as not to bother him? Which would he prefer? What should they do?
In the end, their hunger for information won out, and they approached the landline as they said, “I’ve got some time! Honestly, they’re both pretty busy people, but there’s someone else I can call. So I’ll do that, but it might take her awhile to get here… and you can tell me the story while we wait. Sound good?”
Picking up the phone, they began to fiddle with it. Being younger and, generally, less curmudgeonly than the older wizards, they were actually pretty decent at using phones - though… it was with some clear difficulty, as it took them a few tries to actually get a decent connection.
“Hi! No, no, I’m not interested in adopting today… this is Two-Bit, wondering if the Lady of the Hounds is available? She’s not? Will she be around soon – oh, yeah! That sounds good, okay. Could you tell her when she gets back thaaaat…. we’ve got a kid with talent at… Oh, what was it…” A pause, and then - as if delving into their memory - they repeated the information they’d seen on the mailbox, pausing a few times to correct it over the clearly not-great connection. “…Okay, got it? Great! Tell the animals they’re all doing a great job for me. Bye-bye!”
With that, they set the receiver down, letting out a great whoosh of a sigh. “Okay! She should be by within an hour or two, by my reckoning. That sound alright to you guys?”
Ethan smiled briefly at the phone call, amused, before getting serious, sitting on the couch with a sigh. “Alright, I suppose it started for me in the local bar. I’d been trying to figure out how to propose to Sammy, you see, but hadn’t any ideas on how to do so. That’s where I met Reddo.”
“Reddo?” Nessin asked, confused. “Who’s that?”
Ethan chuckled. “I’d tell you in a minute, if you wouldn’t interrupt.”
Nessin nodded for his father to continue. “Reddo was a mage, only a few years older than me at twenty five, and he was looking for a girl, Moneta.”
“I’d seen the girl at my college just a few days prior, and told him so. And then he’d asked about your mother and what she liked. I went on and on at him as he patiently waited, and then he told me some advice. ‘Don’t over think it. Take her likes into consideration, but if she loves you, it’s probably not going to matter much if you stumble a little.’ I was baffled.”
He smiled. “But Reddo was right. She accepted and we invited Reddo to the wedding. He’d already left town by the time we’d settled on a date, but it wasn’t hard to figure out where to send the invite.”
“Needless to say, he showed, and we got to know each other a bit. After a year of meeting up here and there, he started talking about settling down nearby. The important bit was when I spotted Moneta again. I mentioned it to him in passing. Hadn’t thought it that big a deal, but he apologized and left, giving us a phone number just for emergencies.”
“We took it seriously. While he visited once in awhile, we contacted him the first time two years later to ask him to be Vik’s godfather. He accepted, but couldn’t stay. He was determined to catch Moneta, who he said was dangerous.”
“Then, eighteen years later, our son awakened as a mage. We asked Reddo to come confirm and if it was true, to find him a teacher.”
“Moneta found out somehow, and tried to kidnap him. Viktor was the one to see him talking with her and panic. I don’t know what she was planning on doing with him, but I…” Ethan took a deep breath, looking down at his hands. “I shot her in the back as she ran with his unconscious body.”
“She dropped him, of course, and somehow disappeared. When he awoke, he didn’t remember anything. Our son was completely devoid of any memories of us, of what he liked or disliked, even what his name was.”
Nessin frowned, but managed to bite his tongue.
“I called Reddo, told him what had happened. I don’t understand how your magic works, but Reddo said he could restore things; that he could restore our son to a previous state, to the day before this happened.”
“I…Sam and I argued about it. Sam didn’t want magic to be used on him, not since magic caused his condition. It was the only thing we could think to do, however, and I trusted Reddo, even if Sam didn’t anymore.”
“Reddo came out of the room saying that he’d wake up fine, with his memories, but said that Moneta couldn’t have died. He told us that he’d find her, and that he wasn’t coming back until she was dead.”
Ethan looked up from his hands to Two-Bit.
“Sam thought he’d be back. She was stubbornly insistent that he’d come trouncing back in as always. I thought different; I may not know exactly what went on between him and Moneta, but he was obsessed. He would kill her or die trying.”
“We haven’t heard from him since, and Sam is a bit bitter about the lack of contact, as well as paranoid about magi.” Ethan finished.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nessin asked immediately after he was done, drawing his fathers attention.
“I was afraid.” He replied quietly. “Of a lot of different things. In any case,” He cleared his throat, looking back towards Two-Bit. “That’s what happened. Any questions?”
He looked very much like he hoped there wouldn’t be any but knew better than to really believe it would be true.
They stared.
They opened their mouth. Closed it. Opened it again, squinted, and their brows furrowed in an expression that clearly conveyed: what.
“Do - do the police know about this?” they asked, as if praying that they did. “Or -- or, the Inquisitor? The Inquisitor knows, right? The Inquisitor knows that some crazy wizard lady is - wait. When you said disappeared, did you mean.... magic disappeared, or like... normal disappeared? Context clues seem to imply that this ‘Moneta’ person is a magus, but it’d be nice to get an explicit yes / no on that. Anyway! Does the Inquisitor know there’s some crazy lady running around that tried to kidnap a child with talent? Because that’s kind of a big deal!”
They gestured somewhat emphatically, fingers uncurling away from their palm. “This ‘Reddo’ guy - (kind of a plain name, honestly, it’s just Latin, maybe he wanted to stay kind of lowkey?) - is he like... does anyone know he’s hunting down this weird lady, or is he some vigilante? I know some places don’t care about that kind of thing, but we kinda have standards in Ebott! Although...”
Pausing, they began to pace, clearly thinking the matter over with quite a bit of enthusiasm. “The attempted kidnapping - was that six years ago, too? Because then, I guess it’d make sense he’d be going it alone. Elfriede would be dead, ex-Inquisitor Grizzly would be busy, and - depending on the timing of all that - it’d be right during the big territorial dispute. Still! I really hope someone with some actual authority in the city knows about this ‘Moneta’... person...” They trailed off and - with a flash - seemed to realize something.
“Wait. Moneta? Seriously? Moneta, doing things with memory?” They scowled, placing their hands on their hips and huffing in irritation. “Talk about a literal god complex! That’s so tacky! Though, it’s interesting she’s going by ‘Moneta’ instead of ‘Mnemsoyne’. If you’re going to claim the same name as a god, why be ambiguous about it? Unless the bit about being Roman is important, or she also wants to connect herself with Juno - or... I guess, if the person who gave her the name in the first place wanted to do either of those things, I’d just assumed that anyone who’s arrogant enough to share the same name as a goddess would also pick their own name...”
It seemed like it was full-on lecture time with Two-Bit. "Could be the Latin connection, I guess, Reddo uses a Latin-based name too, and they probably had history. In that context, moneta means money, and the memory thing could be, like... a hidden aspect? I know some people do that if they wanna, y’know. Be sneaky and clever. Oh yes, I’m Moneta the Prosperity Witch! is a great cover story for doing weird experiments in your basement.”
A pause. They seemed to realize they weren’t portraying magus society in a very comforting light at the moment. “Not. That. A lot of people do weird experiments in their basement or anything I mean, I’ve heard some stories but that’s, like, other towns, nobody, uh, nobody really - tolerates that kind of thing, here... and -- ahh, jeez, I’m sorry, you really didn’t need to hear all that name stuff. It’s - kind of my specialty, so I can... really go on and on about it, aha...”
Grinning in shame, they rubbed the back of their neck. They’d probably talked long enough for Sam to make food.
