There was a knock on Ivran’s door, prompting the pale-faced scholar to momentarily drop what he was doing in order to answer it. Upon opening it a few moments later, he beheld the sight of an elf woman in her late twenties dressed in a baggy green merchant’s robe. She was definitely someone who would draw attention, but that wasn’t because she was some unbelievable beauty. While by no means unpleasant to look at, it would be hard to classify her looks as anything other than ‘not bad.’
It was her exceedingly tall stature at more than two meters, the ginger color of shoulder-length hair and those piercing blue eyes that made her stand out. All of these were features not commonly found in elf women, which had earned her a certain degree of ridicule and bullying while she was growing up. Harassment that, if she were to be honest, had never truly gone away even after she became a respectable adult.
Ivran Tol-Saroth was not like that, however, as evidenced by how his face lit up when he saw her.
“Fae!” he exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting you to visit me so soon!”
“What do you mean so soon?” she cocked an eyebrow.
“Well, it’s just that you said you’d need four or five days to complete my request. Did you finish early or something?”
“… Ivran, it’s been more than a week since we last spoke.”
“Oh…” the man said weakly.
“You’ve been working non-stop without getting enough sleep again, haven’t you?”
“I might’ve been…. A little…”
“Hmpf. ‘A little,’ my ass,” she grumbled as she entered his house. “Honestly, it’s a wonder you’re only mildly crazy with the way you carry on.”
This scrawny man with the oily green hair was something his peers would classify as an eccentric at best. While pretty much every other elf in the Dominion had been raised to appreciate and strive for normalcy and adhering to the status quo, Ivran was the opposite. He adored things like exceptions, oddities and quirks, as he saw every little thing that seemed out of place as something to investigate and poke at. Fae was hardly any different, as she has had to endure more than a few of his blunt and insensitive questions. She was a good sport about it though, mostly because Ivran approached her with genuine curiosity and desire to understand her.
A welcome breath of fresh air compared to those bigots that treated her like she was beneath them just for being born a bit different.
“Sorry, I’ve just been working on this new thing,” he apologized while closing the door behind her.
“Another of your revolutionary wonders?”
“Something like that… I’m pretty sure this one will pan out, though!”
“Honey, you said that about the last dozen or so doodads.”
“I mean it this time. Come, let me show you! I promise this one won’t blow up!”
Ivran led his sceptical guest down the dimly lit corridor. The house he was living in, while spacious, was also over a century old and its age clearly showed. The floorboards creaked, the door hinges squeaked and the roof rattled as if the entire place was moments away from collapsing. It was also built in a rather obnoxiously located and remote place on the side of one of Azurvale’s twelve hylt trees. While all of those factors did serve to make the rent dirt cheap despite the house’s generous size, they made it awkward for Fae whenever she came to visit.
“Will you be staying over tonight?” Ivran asked casually.
“I pretty much have to, won’t I?” the woman said with a sigh. “It’s already past curfew, you know.”
“Ah, no wonder why it was so dark out.”
Tol-Saroth led her through one of the doors at the end of the hallway. The chamber beyond it had once been a spacious dining room, but has since been converted into something else entirely. The tall windows had been firmly boarded up, shelves with various ingredients and materials lined the walls, and the dining table in the middle had been converted into an enchanter’s workbench. A series of magic crystals dotted the ceiling and walls, bathing the place in a sterile white light. The room was also incredibly tidy as per usual. Ivran liked to store, catalogue and organize everything in here to an almost obsessive degree, something Fae was well aware of.
Hence why she wasn’t expecting the sharp smell that assaulted her nostrils when she stepped into it.
“Ugh, what is that stench?” she grumbled while pinching her nose.
“Oh, that’s just Boxxy. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
“… Boxxy?”
“Yeah. Over here, see?”
Ivran lifted the lid of an old wicker box that had been placed at the edge of the aforementioned table, prompting the little ball of orange fluff inside to curiously look up at the two elves.
“Mew?”
“Is… Is that a cat?” Fae asked, her eyes wide. “Since when did you have a cat?”
“Since, uh, whenever it was I last visited your shop. Found the little guy abandoned in an alley and I somehow ended up adopting him.”
“You haven’t been doing any weird experiments on it, right?”
“Of course not. Well, not ‘weird’ ones at any rate. Just some basic fitness and health check ups.”
“Then why does it stink so bad?”
It may have been a rude thing to say, but it was undeniable that the offensive odor in the room was emanating from this thing.
“Oh, that’s actually coming from the box. It’s, uh, cat pee.”
“What?! Why do you make it pee in a box?! Isn’t there, I don’t know, a better place for that stuff?”
“Obviously there is, but I don’t have a lot of choice. It must’ve suffered some kind of trauma and starts having panic attacks whenever I take it out of the box.”
“So you just leave it in the box?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s… Are you even looking after it properly?”
“Don’t insult me, Fae,” he said sternly. “I’ve taken responsibility for the life of a living being. I may lose track of time when I’m absorbed in my work, but I made sure to work feeding, cleaning and grooming Boxxy into Xera’s schedule.”
“… Are you really being responsible if you have your succubus taking care of your pet?”
“Of course. My familiars are like extensions of myself, you know.”
“That’s not what I meant. Are you sure it’s wise to leave this furball in that snide bitch’s care?”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“Wasn’t she the one that nearly set your bedroom on fire last winter because you asked her to keep the fireplace going while you slept?””
“Yes, that did happen, but it was my fault, not hers. You wouldn’t blame a sword for killing people, would you?”
“Swords don’t have wills and minds of their own, Ivran,” she bluntly stated.
“Sure they do. A few of them, at least.”
“What, really?” Fae asked with genuine surprise. “Wait, no, I’m getting off topic. If you’re really taking care of the cat, then why does its box stink of cat pee?”
“I already told you, it refuses to come out of its box. It sleeps, eats, pees and poops right there. I have Xera clean it regularly, but the wicker, uh, soaked up quite a bit of it. Even if I get the smell out it would just come back the next time Boxxy has to ‘go.’ That actually brings me to the request I gave you. You did get it done, yes?”
“Uh, yeah, I did. Have it right here.”
Fae reached into the Bag of Holding dangling off of her hip and took out a rectangular red cushion made from demon silk and stuffed with a special type of shredded foam made through alchemy. The specialty materials used in its creation were not only expensive and rare, but also difficult to work with. Thankfully Faeryn Bei-Ravara was a skilled Tailor with some well-established connections, so she was able to complete Ivran’s order to his exact specifications. The end result was a luxurious item whose softness, durability and texture were all first rate. While she was certainly proud of her handiwork, she couldn’t help but wonder why a down-to-earth Warlock like Ivran would want something this pointlessly fancy.
At least not until she saw her product and that wicker box at the same time.
“Wait, you ordered this thing to serve as a pillow for your cat?” she asked incredulously.
“Something like that,” the man replied while taking the item from her.
“That’s an… awful lot of money to throw on a pet.”
Materials and labor included, the total bill for that thing had come out to 680 GP. It was the sort of sum that would pay for Ivran’s rent, food, and other expenses for two months.
“No way around it, I’m afraid,” he claimed while inspecting the article. “I’m still a novice Enchanter, so quality materials are a must-have to make up for my shortcomings.”
“So… you bought your cat a pillow… that you’re going to turn into a magic item?”
“That’s the plan. Great work, by the way. Its Quality rating must be at least a Superior.”
“Masterwork, actually,” Fae proudly corrected him. “You know I always pour my heart and soul into my craft, no matter how ridiculous a client’s request may seem. After all, they could’ve gone to one of any number of other artisans, but they chose to entrust their designs and ideas to me. I think it would be insulting to give a customer anything less than my complete and total- You’re not listening to a word of this, are you?”
Indeed, Ivran had stopped paying attention to her even before she started boasting. It wasn’t anything personal though, he was just already busy with his own work. The luxurious pillow had been placed on the old dining table, right in the middle of a pentagram surrounded by several arcane sigils. It was one of four such diagrams carved into the long piece of wooden furniture, each one vastly different from the other in size, shape, and lettering.
The man responsible for vandalizing the table stepped away from the array of enchanting altars to get the components he needed from a nearby shelf. Fae watched him with a pang of irritation as he grabbed one ceramic, one crystal and two silver jars from his stockpile and carefully placed them around the pillow. He opened the first metal container and carefully poured the shimmering green dust within on top of the mystical diagram, making sure to completely fill the grooves he had carved in the wood. He then repeated the process with the runic symbols, this time using the yellow dust from the other silver vessel.
Once he was sure his magical powders were firmly packed in their proper place, he closed off both containers and used a small brush to clean up the excess. He next reached for the opaque crystal jar and began poking at the glass-like beads inside it with his finger. After sifting through it for a short while, he picked out six that he separated by size - two larger ones as big as eyeballs and four smaller ones about the size of a thumb nail. Fae couldn’t help but wonder how those things were made, as they were so clear and transparent it was almost as if Ivran was holding frozen soap bubbles.
Seemingly satisfied with his selection, Ivran put away the fragile-looking container and gripped one of the larger beads between his palms. He closed his eyes and focused for about a minute, then opened his hands up to reveal that the previously clear bauble was now full of bubbling water.
“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue. “Got way too eager, this won’t do at all.”
He tossed the object into the metal bin under the table, where Fae heard it shatter. Ivran then repeated his attempt with the other large bead, this time succeeding in producing one that was filled entirely with pure water. He then had to get another eyeball-sized ball to replace the one he messed up, though this one was left glowing with a bright orange light. He then repeated the process for each of the four smaller beads, pouring his mana into each in turn. When he was done, three of them glowed with a pulsing sky blue light while the fourth gave off a dull purple radiance.
“Okay, let’s see here,” Ivran mumbled to himself as he consulted one of his notebooks. “One part water and one part heat for the first one, then three parts force and one part space for the other one? Or is that a two? Damnit, I hate it when ink smudges like that.”
He then started channeling his Summon Familiar Skill, causing Fae to momentarily jump in place when the concentric rings of light surrounded Ivran. Ten seconds and over half of his MP later, the Warlock had succeeded in calling out one of his three familiars. This one was a beholder with heavily wrinkled ashen skin. His main eye was purely black with no discernible pupil, as were the tips of the twelve eye stalks that surrounded the floating head.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Hey, Torz,” he greeted it casually.
“Fooor the laaast tiiime, the naaame is Torzessirth,” the demon replied, his voice flat and words drawn out.
“You say it’s ‘for the last time’ every time though,” Ivran pointed out.
“One of theeese days… it will beee.”
“We’ll see about that won’t we? Now, remind me, what were the elemental components of the Self-Repair enchantment?”
“… Three paaarts force, one paaart spaaace.”
Torzessirth didn’t particularly want to answer that, let alone honestly, but the summoning contract compelled him. He was already used to this sort of situation, though. After all, it was extremely common for demons of his kind to be treated as living libraries. A beholder’s ability to thoroughly analyze both physical objects and magical phenomena made them quite useful as assistants to scholars and researchers. They had military applications as well, of course. They made excellent scouts or lookouts and offered Warlocks the defensive magic options their Job sorely lacked.
That said, as was the case with most people, different demons excelled at different things. Tol-Saroth’s familiar in particular was a chronicler, a subspecies of beholder that preferred pursuing academics rather than exploration. Especially when it came to matters of history, which was why Ivran had recruited him in the first place. The Elven Dominion had a habit of obscuring the parts of their past they didn’t like, so it was sometimes difficult to get an accurate account of old techniques and practices. Particularly when it came to questionable practices like Demonology or sensitive topics like utilizing the sacred hylt trees.
“Huh, guess I remembered it right, then,” the elf mused. “That’ll be all, Torz. Go wait quietly in that corner in case I need you again. And don’t knock over any of my supplies.”
The wrinkled head floated towards the mostly empty corner of the room while Ivran corrected his old notes regarding the Self-Repair enchantment. It might have been a popular feature present in nearly all types of magical equipment, but that was precisely why Ivran rarely performed it. He had his sights set on either exploring new ground or uncovering forgotten lore, so something as thoroughly commonplace as that did not interest him in the slightest. As such, it was hardly a surprise he was a bit unsure on the details surrounding it.
Having concluded with his slight mental detour, Ivran focused his attention on the last jar he had taken from the shelves - the ceramic one. He lifted the lid on it and took out not some mystical dust or arcane catalyst, but a cookie with some kind of crushed nuts in it. He tossed the entire thing into his mouth and silently offered Fae one, which she kindly rejected. Shrugging as if to say ‘more for me,’ the man ate a second one before returning the ceramic cookie container back to its shelf along with the other ones.
His hands and eyes then moved to a row of wooden jewelry boxes on a lower shelf, each one containing a small selection of magic gemstones. From these he took two raw, unprocessed gems - one piece of aquamanarine and one lump of shatter-quartz. He brought the materials back to the enchanting table and arranged them around the extravagant pillow alongside the elementally-charged beads he had prepared earlier. He was placing them in a certain geometrical pattern described in his notes, even using a ruler to make sure none of them were even a millimeter out of place. He also used a piece of blue chalk to carefully added a few extra sigils and shapes to the diagram etched in the heavy wooden table.
With his preparations complete, Ivran put both hands on either side of the enchanting altar and started channeling his magic into it. Luckily for him, this old table had been carved from a single piece of hylt timber, which he noticed had excellent mana-conductive properties. It saved him the trouble of having to spend money on getting a ‘real’ enchanting station. Not to mention he felt this setup worked better for him than the traditional stone and metal equipment at his teacher’s place.
The only problem was that the piece of furniture wasn’t all that well anchored to the floorboards, which were not the most stable of surfaces to begin with. This meant the table, as well as everything on it, started vibrating with a dull buzzing noise due to the mystical energy being channeled through it. It wasn’t enough of a disturbance to make Ivran’s enchantments fail, but it definitely wasn’t helping. The elf would definitely need a more solid foundation for his workshop once he started tackling more challenging and delicate formulas further down the line.
After several minutes of this, Ivran was suddenly enveloped by a multi-colored flash of light and a burst of smoke accompanied by a sharp bang.
“Fuck!” Fae blurted out after jumping in place. “Are you alright in there?!”
“Fine, yes!” Ivran assured her as he dispersed the vapor cloud with his hands. “Nothing to worry about, this sort of thing happens all the time.”
His guest begged to disagree, as she had seen other Enchanters work before. And while they did many of the same motions as Ivran, except for the snacking on baked goods, none of them had their work blow up in their face. However, she knew better than to question this guy. He would either refuse to answer or explain himself in such a way that made him sound like he was speaking a foreign language.
What she chose to ask instead was something far more productive.
“Well, did it work?”
“Mmm, the pillow is still in one piece, so probably,” he picked up the article in question. “Let’s find out, shall we. Torz, chew this up a bit.”
He tossed the item at the beholder in the corner, who caught it in his maw and mangled it between his spike-like teeth for several seconds before spitting it back out. Demon silk was a tough material so the most he’d done was rip it up a bit and slobber it up, much to Fae’s dismay. Ivran, on the other hand, calmly walked over and watched with a goofy smile as the soggy pile of fabric and foam stitched itself together while simultaneously drying itself off. It only took a few moments for it to return to the shape it was in when it was first delivered.
“See?” the Warlock grinned at Fae. “Worked like a charm.”
He picked up the magic pillow and brought it over to Boxxy’s wicker box.
“Always found that phrase to be odd, though,” he idly commented. “I mean, what is it talking about? Mind magic meant to charm people? Or those silly trinkets the charlatans in the market force down the throats of the gullible and the stupid? Because let me tell you, both of those things are unreliable at best.”
By the time he was done with his tangent, he had already placed the freshly enchanted cushion beneath his pet cat. It fit perfectly at the bottom of the box, of course, though he struggled a bit in putting it there without taking little Boxxy out of its rectangular home. The orange furball seemed to appreciate its new bedding quite a bit, however, as it instantly started bouncing around and scratching on it in a very energetic manner. Seeing his hard work being appreciated like that made Ivran smile in a way that Fae had never quite seen before. Granted, they had only known each other for a few years, but it was the first time she’d seen him this plainly happy about something.
“Not to rain on your picnic, but what was the point of that?” she asked after a short while. “I get that you wanted to spoil your pet a bit, but do you really want a pillow like that to get soiled?”
“Hmm? But that was the whole point of this,” he replied in a confused manner. “It can’t pee on and stink up its box if that’s in the way.”
“So you’re saying you paid me to make the most expensive pillow in town just so that some runt can defecate all over it?”
“… Yes?”
“You do realize there are more frugal ways of doing that, right?”
Though Fae had accepted his request and his coin without question, that was when she was treating him as a customer. As a friend, however, she couldn’t help but doubt what was going through his head.
“And for that matter, why did you even bother enchanting it?!”
“How else am I going to put Self-Cleaning and Self-Repair on there?”
“… Self-Cleaning? That’s a thing?”
“Oh… I forgot to mention that, huh?”
“Yes. Yes, you did.”
“I’m not surprised you don’t know of it, to be honest. It’s a bit obscure, but quite potent. Whether it be blood, mud or fecal matter, it will completely annihilate any stains and lingering smells within seconds.”
“Really? Something that convenient is obscure?”
“Well, you see, it requires a much higher charge than something like Self-Repair. Cleaning an item of foreign contaminants is a far more complex and demanding function than something like mending it back to its original shape.”
“… Is it?” the woman asked, knowing full well what would follow.
“Of course. Take for example, oh, I don’t know… smithing. Shaping the metal only requires a hammer, an anvil, and a strong arm. But removing the impurities from the ore? You need an entire furnace for that. One clearly demands a lot more energy than the other, and common fabrics cannot hold the mana needed to make Self-Cleaning work. Sure, high-end adventurer gear has the capacity to accommodate it, but there are far more practical enchantments that could be used instead. Not to mention that heat and water are near-opposite elements, so combining them can create volatile energies that hold a very real danger of compromising the base material’s structure should it be subjected to excessive foreign energy of a conflicting nature, which could cause an arcano-synthesis failure that invariably would lead to a transmystological phenomenon known as-”
It was at this point that Fae’s brain instinctively tuned out Ivran’s words. She just sort of sat there, nodding dumbly from time to time as she wondered whether she forgot to turn off the lamps in her house.
“-which, according to Hubert’s Law of Resonant Energies, would just end badly for everyone. I’m not boring you, am I?”
“Oh, no such thing, honey,” she reassured him. “Please, do go on.”
It was a lie, of course, but she didn’t want to ruin Ivran’s fun. He had been a good friend, customer and confidant to Fae, someone who patiently listened to her whenever she went on a frustrated rant. Letting him enjoy the sound of his own voice for a while was the least she could do to pay him back for that. Not to mention that, even if she barely understood what arcane laws and magical theorems he was trying to explain, the sheer excitement with which he did so was rather contagious.
“In conclusion,” he said as the lecture finally drew to a close, “Self-Cleaning is far more trouble than it’s worth.”
“I see,” the woman replied. “I learned something new today, thanks for that.”
“Heh. You’re quite welcome.”
“You know, I’ve been wondering lately, have you ever thought about becoming a teacher?”
It was a legitimate suggestion on Fae’s behalf. Though his people skills could use some work, Ivran seemed exceptionally knowledgeable about the arcane arts for someone who’d only turned twenty a month ago. Not to mention he was clearly passionate about the subject. Admittedly teachers weren’t very well paid, but it was a more respectable occupation than being an adventurer, at least in her opinion.
“I don’t think I’d be good at it,” he furrowed his brows. “I don’t think I have the patience for it. I’d also be forced to keep repeating myself over and over rather than exploring my ideas.”
“Speaking of which, didn’t you have something to show me earlier? Some... experiment of yours?”
She was fairly sure that him making a piss-proof bed for his cat, while certainly unique, was by no means a ‘revolutionary wonder.’
“… Oh! Duh! Sorry, got a bit distracted, but yes, I did make a breakthrough.”
He hurriedly walked over to one of the shelves and produced a wooden disc with a diameter of half a meter and a thickness of six or seven centimeters. The timber wheel was covered in numerous etchings similarly to the table, though these had a much more linear look to them. Lots of straight lines that either ran parallel to one another or intersected at angles that were multiples of thirty degrees wide. Fae could clearly see them, too, as they had been filled by some sort of bright green gunk, probably alchemical in nature.
“So… what’s it do?” she asked the big question.
“Right, so, see this magic circuit?” he traced some of the faintly glowing lines. “New technology! The gnomes in Horkensaft came up with it, though it’s still in development.”
“Wait, it’s foreign?” Fae’s eyebrows rose. “How did you get your hands on it?”
The Elven Dominion had some strict laws and beliefs about preventing ‘cultural invasion and appropriation,’ so things like ideas, art and knowledge were rarely allowed to cross its borders.
“I heard about it from this state-approved merchant,” Ivran revealed. “He only told me about the concept, though, so I had to figure the rest out by myself.”
Well, that would certainly explain the waist-high stacks of cracked, burned or splintered wooden wheels in the corner where the beholder was still silently floating.
“I’ve got a long way to go, but I was able to make a functioning, uh, prototype, I guess you could call it. Here, let me demonstrate.”
He gripped the circular object with both hands and started charging it with mana, making its green circuit glow brighter in response. When he was done, he released his grip on it, making it spring out of his hands. The disc straightened itself out so that it was floating perfectly parallel to the ground. It then began steadily flying around the room in a series of straight lines that drew a perfect hexagon in the air with every lap.
“See? Pretty great, isn’t it?” Ivran smiled widely.
“… Yeah, okay, I will admit, I’ve never seen anything do that before.”
Even if there existed a plethora of magical means to make both objects and people fly, this was the first time she’d even heard of an autonomous item like this. It was an odd yet interesting thing, like watching someone write backwards. That said, much like the aforementioned example, Fae had difficulty thinking of how this could be of any real use. At least until she remembered how much of a pain in the ass it was getting to Ivran’s house from ground level.
“Say, couldn’t you use this to transport people around the city?”
“Uh… what?”
“I mean, can this thing carry a load? Like, a person’s load?” Fae clarified her inquiry. “While it floats them from one branch to the other?”
“… Huh, I didn’t even think of that.”
The Warlock had been so focused on getting the magic circuit to work that he hadn’t given any thought to what sort of practical applications it might’ve had. The question regarding how much weight it could carry, while intriguing, was something else he’d never considered.
“So… something like this?”
Deciding to try a little experiment, he picked up Boxxy’s box and carefully placed it atop the floating disc as it passed by. The item continued carrying it along its predetermined route, though it gently lost altitude as it went. It was at this point that the cat noticed something quite odd. The ride was so smooth that it felt like the ceiling overhead was moving around from the critter’s perspective. Its curiosity eventually got the better of it, and it poked its head out of its ‘room’ to see what exactly was going on.
“Mrrrow?”
It naturally got quite stumped to see that its home was now flying, making it meow questionably at its confusing surroundings. It was hard to tell what the kitten was thinking, of course, but it seemed strangely excited given the way it was bouncing around in its box. At least until it leaned against one side of it too much, making the floating platform tilt under its weight. Seeing that the wicker box was about to slide and fall off, Ivran dashed to catch it before it could slip off completely. Boxxy likely wouldn’t have been hurt since it was only about twenty centimeters from the ground at that point, but he didn’t feel like dealing with one of the cat’s freak-outs should it fall out of its safe space.
“Heh,” Fae chuckled at him. “I don’t think your invention is approved for feline use.”
“Ah, yes,” the man awkwardly replied while placing Boxxy back on the table. “Seems I’d need to scale it up quite a bit before it can be of any real use, but… it needs some work.”
While making the platform bigger would allow it to carry more weight, it would also make it heavier. Not to mention it would require a lot more ‘juice’ to keep it afloat. And by Ivran’s initial estimates, the sort of charge necessary to carry a ninety kilogram person over a distance of a hundred meters was, in layman’s terms, way too freaking much. Stabilizing the thing so it wouldn’t tilt from uneven weight distribution was another problem entirely.
“Actually, make that a lot of work,” he added.
The sheer amount of effort and resources he’d need to pour into such a project honestly made him want to scrap the idea entirely. It wasn’t like he was looking to make anything other than a proof of concept anyway. Not to mention the xenophobic government would never approve of a transportation method that was based on foreign technology.
“Well, if nothing else, it at least helped your cat come out of his shell a bit,” his companion shrugged. “Or did it always do that?”
Ivran looked down to see that Boxxy was still poking its head over the edge of its box while using its little paws to prop itself up.
“Huh. Not sure, actually. It’s the first time I’ve noticed it go that far without going crazy.”
He gently stroked its fuzzy chin with a finger, causing it to close its eyes and purr quietly in response. It was a small thing, but Ivran couldn’t help but think that if this little guy liked his invention enough to partially overcome its mysterious trauma, then perhaps other people might approve of it as well. It wasn’t as if he’d suddenly figured out how to resolve the myriad of issues this ‘floating elevator’ concept faced before it could be considered feasible, let alone viable. He simply no longer felt like giving up on the idea before it even got off the ground, so to speak.
“Speaking of crazy,” Fae spoke up, “when’s the last time you had anything to eat other than those cookies?”
“Uh… I don’t think you’d like the answer to that.”
“No. I definitely wouldn’t. Now come on, let’s go see what’s left in that pantry of yours.”