"Good morning Lena! Here for some more shock resistant gloves? You were... oh. Thallion. Hi. And who is the new kid? Please keep your hands off the materials, and the counter. I cannot stand cleaning up after you lot."

"Good morning Silvra! No, my brother is not here to try and convince you to allow the school to come here on a field trip. No, we are here for some help," Lena states, leaning on the counter, obviously comfortable with the surroundings. "You see, we had this kid wander his way into town a few days ago, and have noticed some weird things about him. We are trying to figure it out.

"If you are looking for medical advice, I would recommend talking to the doctor, not me. He has the medical knowledge to know what's right and wrong with him."

"Still salty about the kid finding his father wasn't his due to the field trip incident?"

"Don't...even mention that day."

...

"Anyways, the issue is that the tester could not read him, and we want to make sure it's still in calibration. Something about specialized realignment of the dingle arm and parametric fam? I don't know, that's why I came here."

"No problem! But there will be a fee!" Silvra says in a sing-song voice.

"No issue, just the regular tuneup. Also, we have come across a high grade translator, which brings us to the next question. Do they make listening based translators?"

----------------------------------------

Ethan, Magic shop

Entering in, I was expecting blue and green smoke from incense, maybe a few glass cabinets containing some high end devices and a wall of smaller magical trinkets. I was not expecting a wooden desk, and just a wall of shelves covered in little pouches. The place was messy, and smelled of the electronics lab at university crossed with a clock repair shop. Like the cross of burnt electronics and oil.

I have no clue what is being said, but it seems like Lena knows this person, and Thallion and this woman do not like each other. Looking around, I find a few clocks, and start to look closely at them.

I suddenly feel like I am being watched. Turning back towards the counter, I see the woman glaring. I make a point of showing my hands are in my pockets, and not planning to leave any time soon.

I keep perusing the store, eventually staring off into space looking at all the clocks at once, as well as the pouches of gears slowly swaying in time with the giant pendulum clock in the back. Just like any small town, there is one clock shop, and as always, I have no clue how it stays in business. It cannot survive off of battery replacements here even! There are no batteries!

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I am pulled back into focus by loud tapping on the counter. Looking back, I see them staring at me, Thallion and Lena look red in the face, as if they were arguing. I cannot remember as I was too busy staring off into space about clocks and how a low tech society can keep this running, but also have the ability to summon me!

I walk over to see what they are staring at, and as soon as I get close, the woman grabs my hand, and tries to splay it open. I immediately close my hand, thinking she is trying to do something bad as I don't know her. She tries to pry my fingers apart, but I grasp tighter. Eventually Lena says something as most of her fingers are caught amongst my knuckles. Finally she relents. Lena, picks up the translator, activates it and starts talking.

"Please let her see your palm. She is overly curious as we just spoke about what has happened to you."

"The woman, seeing Lena use the device, quickly snatches it out of her hand and exclaims, "I don't know who or what you are, but you just made me several day's pay richer, whatever you did to the tester, did a good number on it. It barely functions now. I am going to have to tear it apart completely to see what broke and put it all back together! Let me see your hand!"

With that outburst, I open my fist, showing my palm, she dives on it like a snake hunting mice. she pokes my hand, prods it, rubs it and exclaims, "Remarkable! No port at all! You are completely cutoff from it! Let me get my latent scanner. Usually I use it to test inscriptions for leftover charge, but let's see what it does near you!"

I look to Lena, who nods, and Thallion, who nods vigorously, probably more to sate curiosity rather than my safety.

The woman brings it out, waves it near me and my chest and says, "I am not picking up much activity...hang on, there is an extremely faint positive charge, but most grass contains more in the negative region!"

looking directly into my eyes, she exclaims "You definitely are not from here ,probably not even this planet! Slightly positively charged! You probably find most living things slightly burny to touch, don't ya!"

I nod, thinking about how all the food I have eaten has tasted slightly bitter, but mildly enough that it is hard to distinguish from sour, just...not... right.

"Ha! nailed it in one! This opens up so many possibilities, like trying to understand how he moves and works! He probably doesn't even have a central system!"

"I know! I wrote several pages last night concerning the impacts of the lack of the central system in living organisms and in fact have several theories to test, including those of blood and vision!" Thallion states, brushing against the translator as he too probes the panel of the scanner.

"Stop it you two! Or get a room! He is right here, and talking about him like a frog to dissect is not the best idea, considering what he did to those guards! God, you think I am the only one with a brain in this-"

Zzzzt zzzzt

I reflexively pull my hand away as I feel the familiar buzz of a cell phone in my pocket. Confused, I pull out my phone and notice it is still powered off like how I left it. Reaching into my pocket again, I pull out my work phone.

'WARNING Battery at 15% Charge now or powering down soon'

Great, my work phone is almost dead. I shut it down, saving the last bit of power in it. When I look up, all three are staring at the scanner, wide eyed.

I wave my hand in front of their faces to get them to respond. The woman picks up the translator, and states, "S-sorry sir, I did not know you were a grandmaster magician. Please excuse the mess."

"WHAT?!"