“Hey everyone ! Ready for the big day ?” exclaimed cheerfully Calian.
The little group of people didn’t reciprocate his enthusiasm. Maeve was frowning while eating some toast, Adrienne was reading a book while her cereals were almost untouched, Melody was silently eating some porridge while her knee was slightly jerking, and finally Alexander was doing his best to maintain his usual emotionless face despite the large bags under his eyes. The room had a tense air, everyone was tired, only going on fueled by magical energy drinks and anticipation.
Calian snapped his fingers, prompting three pancakes to fly from their pile at the center of the table toward him. The pancakes were cutting through the air like hot knife in a butter, rushing so fast they emitted a slight buzz. As they were about to crash in the mage’s chest, a plate floated in front of him just in time to protect his white t-shirt from the food. As the mage sat, the plate set itself on the table, presenting the three flying pancakes for the mage to enjoy.
After a few hearty bites Calian took some time to read the mood. He’d learned to read his people over the past year and could quite easily tell when they were having issues that needed addressing. Calian had always attempted to avoid social interactions because he enjoyed the calm and quiet but he himself couldn’t deny he was quite gifted when it came to reading others.
He’d grown accustomed to everyone and could read their quirks. Alexander had trouble sleeping when something was bothering him. Once he’d gone almost four days without sleeping before collapsing while inscribing runes. Melody had some unconscious movements betraying her mental state, when stressed she’d often jerk her right knee and keep to herself with a slight frown.
Maeve and Adrienne were, admittedly, harder to read. It was probably because he hadn’t known them for as long, but they were still a bit veiled to him. Maeve was the more mysterious of the two, a outwardly relaxed and friendly girl with a burning passion for magic. Calian had met her at a National Park while handpicking some herbs. She had been sitting on a bench reading a book about plants and Calian had asked her a few questions he had about some plants he’d seen. They had met a few time more until Calian eventually decided to throw caution in the wind and tested her skills with magical plants, which was a huge success. He and the rest of the team had finally voted to formally ask her to work with them after a few weeks.
Overall Maeve was herder to predict than the rest because she didn’t seem really affected by any situation. Problems didn’t seem to phase her, she’d either solve them calmly after some reflection or seek help, never losing her calm. Calian had never really seen her express any strong emotions apart from a good laugh at a joke. He suspected her of being far more interesting but hidden under a layer of carefully crafted masks and polite smiles but had no proof. A few slips of the tongue of Maeve had let him catch a glimpse of her private life but nothing more.
Adrienne was by all means either extremely attention grabbing or invisible with no in-betweens. It was Alexander that suggested they look into recruiting her. She’d been a high-school sweetheart of him but they didn’t last long and ended up being friends in the end. They’d kept touch over the years and had sometimes met during some events. Adrienne was the daughter of rich parents who had made some good money by careful investments and some useful connections. Her parents had given her a home and everything she could ask for, but one thing had always been missing : their attention. Adrienne’s real family was a nanny and lots of books. Growing up she’d found in books the perfect distraction from her parent’s coldness, and later the books had become her refuge when she slowly understood where her parent’s fortune came from. For a long time Adrienne had refused to admit how her parents had made so much money. It’s hard for a teenager to come to terms with her parents’ making money from investments in pharmaceutical companies. It’s even harder when said pharmaceutical companies are making money by selling overpriced drugs to struggling people while her parents are collecting bribes and gifts from politicians.
During her teenage years Adrienne had veered off from the ‘perfect girl’ role her parents wanted and had explored other side of her personality. From the books she’d read she had countless heroes and stories at her disposal which made her quite attracted to role play games. After countless hours of D&D and a master’s degree of mathematics she’d set to make a life for herself far from her parents. Alexander had recommended her for her mastery of mathematics, her recluse tendencies limiting the risks of leaks and overall, her cheerful if shy character.
Calian had definitely noticed the shy and discreet aspect, Adrienne had observed silently for a long while when they introduced her to magic and offered her a job. However, after a while the veil of shyness had lifted slowly and she’d grown more and more comfortable with the team, to the point of being an ever-cheerful presence with critical mathematical insights in some magical aspects. She had upheld her bookworm attitude however, always ready to whip out a book from her bag to occupy a spare moment, and often choosing the calm of the library over their chatty evening in the Hall.
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Calian finished his pancakes and started the daily briefing, “Okay everyone ! How are your tasks going ?”
Melody instantly snapped back to reality, her knee stopping mid movement and the frown disappearing as her gaze focused on Calian, “We’re all set for our most important magical objects sales ! Our flagships are ready : the light constructs projector, hoverboard, golem cores, mana infuser and detonator runes are all set up and stocked up. The more mundane objects aren’t yet completely stocked up but they are our less important projects so I deemed it acceptable. We are notably behind on the wind gloves, mana marbles and enchanted furniture”
At this Calian nodded, satisfied with her explanation, he turned to Alexander by habit, an implicit order had been established a long time ago and they had unconsciously stuck with the routine since.
Used to the daily briefing Alexander perked up and gave a concise report on his tasks advancement. “I’m all set with my distribution network. I’ve especially kept close with my contacts in the army and I’ve contacted someone somewhat close to government officials. Most have been given a few potions samples, enough to arouse their curiosity and keep them interested when I explained that I’d send them some more interesting objects in the near future. They are expecting our samples soon and I’ve agreed with each one of them that if they spread words of our products a share of our benefits would be given. Overall our sales network is really starting to take shape,” explained Alexander. He hummed for a second, focusing his eyes on something only he could see before continuing, “I’ve talked with a few trustworthy mates we could recruit when we go public, so on an HR point of view we’re not too bad, we’ll have people we can recruit relatively quickly.”
Calian nodded, “I’m not sure how people will react to magic, so I don’t have any plans yet for our expansions. Remember everyone, our goal is securing contracts with governments and big companies, consumer goods will come later.” After his reminder the mage nodded for Adrienne to start.
“I’ve made lots of progress in my studies of the runes. They are incredibly closely related with mathematics and I haven’t yet figured out all the intricacies and rules of runes, some things are still eluding me, but from what I’ve seen and the books you’ve given me I feel like we could go above and beyond by studying runes as a branch of mathematics !” exclaimed Adrienne. After a second, she shook her head and apologized, “Sorry, as soon as I start talking about runes I could go crazy and spend hours discussing it. The main runeschemes are ready, the spell disruptor, shield, mana capture, sound dampening and neutralizing runes are ready to be distributed to competent authorities requesting the runes. The only issue I have is with the gravity rune, if I follow blindly the instructions given by your book it’ll work, but I don’t know why. And we know if I make a rune without knowing why it’s useless because I’ll only be able to replicate it exactly as it is, and the possibilities of improvement or integration are nil. So yeah, I still have some work to do.”
Calian noted the slightly downcast tone of the short haired women and consoled, “Hey Adrienne you’re already doing a fantastic work ! You have probably a better grasp of runes than I do thanks to your mastery of mathematics. I can only compare and exchange with you because I’ve had years to learn runes and get familiar with how magic works, okay ? Don’t put yourself down.” Calian smiled gently and seeing Adrienne’s two dimples he knew he’d successfully prevented a self-doubt episode to their favorite insecure bookworm. He shifted his gaze to the always calm, if slightly frowning and fatigued, Maeve.
“I’m ahead of schedule for the potion stocks. Energy drinks are always a hit on the market and our production is only increasing with the demand. Our mundane potions are slowly gaining more tractions, our biggest hit during last two months are the anti-smell potions and the steady-mind potions. Our stock of more aggressive potions is complete, from strength to dexterity to acute vision and speed we’re ready to hit the market. From my research however I fear we’re going to be obstructed in our sales by two things. Authorities tend to frown upon doping substances being available for everyone, so they’ll probably try to regulate our potions. And pharmaceutical companies will probably be pissed about being stolen such a large source of revenue so they’re surely going to try and obstruct us. So while on paper potions are our strongest pillar they are also the most unstable one I think…” explained calmly Maeve, provoking various reactions in her audience.
Calian nodded, during the past year he’d grown even more familiar with the subtleties of Earth, and especially the big organizations and businesses. He liked Maeve reasoning and her honesty when exposing the problem. Alexander was tilting his head, apparently thinking about the problem and its solutions. Finally, Adrienne was poking some food in her plate with her fork, visibly dispirited by the topic.
As everyone started discussing the issue of magical potions legality Calian decided to bring the attention back to the main topic. He cleared his throat and started, “Alright guys, thanks for your reports, I’m really happy with the jobs you’ve all been doing. You’ve really pushed yourselves above and beyond and I had no right to ask so much of you for the little benefits I’m providing. But that’s about to change. I never made it a secret to you guys, our finances are not good, our expenses are always going up due to our constant experiments, and our incomes aren’t following. As popular as our potions are, they still are borderline illegal and not many people need them.”
Calian made a pause for dramatic effect, looking at everyone present, “We’re Medeis and we will make magic available to everyone ! Tomorrow, the world will know what magic is.”