The Scrollrack, Spellshop and Misc.

[Charith]

A tall girl with wild white hair saunters by the day after, and blinks when she sees the ashes of the Scrollrack. She walks back and reads the numbers on the houses carefully, back and forwards until there can be no doubt which building has gone. She enters the shop of the neighbours across the street.

"E-excuse me?"

The shopkeeper, a gruff-looking man with a red nose and coarse pink hair- standing vertically from his head on either side- looks up from the collection of potion bottles that he was polishing. He sells no scrolls, no potions, no components, only empty bottles in every size and shape. From over his bone-rim spectacles he looks the girl up and down, noting the black under her nails, the dust and cobwebs in her hair, the faded, poorly mended clothes, the filthy bare feet. He even thinks to detect the vague scent of vomit about her, and curls his nose.

"... do you- er, do you know what- eh..."

The man remains quiet and watches her with a disapproving glare. Charith can feel herself flushing and she fidgets nervously with her sleeve. The man's glare increases.

"Uh... the S-Scrollrack- didn't it used to- ehm- d-didn't it- d-d-do you k-know..."

The man start tapping impatiently on the counter. It is terribly quiet in the little shop, with the door closed and locking out all sounds from outside. Most of the shelves and showcases appear to be held up by magic, presumably to make sure that extreme tremors from outside- carriages and the like- don't make the bottles fall off. Charith shuffles back a bit in a shy attempt to put more of a distance between herself and the shopkeeper.

"D-do you know w-where the owner of the S-S-S-"

Then the shopkeep loses his patience.

"GET OUT!"

She jumps, and almost loses her balance, knocks over a floating shelf, turns and runs and trips and tumbles head-first into a big showcase of expensive crystal. KABLANGABLANG! Half the shop comes crashing down on her. She holds her arms over her head and screams. When the last tiny little bottle has trembled, almost come to standstill, then fallen off the shelf anyway and crashed to a thousand pieces right beside her, despite of her fumbled attempt to catch it, the shopkeep is looking less like a human and more like a tomato- he has taken about the same shape and colour. Charith looks around in amazed embarrassment.

"I-I'll p-pay..."

"GET OUT!!"[/size]

As he is looking about ready to jump for her throat, the girl escapes the shop and finds herself out on the street again. She sighs and stares pensively at the remains of the Scrollrack.

[Physicker]

A year later. Time has moved on, things are different from what they were. The remnants of the former spellshop have been cleared up, a new tenant has manifested himself here, an alchemist of sorts. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have much skill in his craft, and the shop falls into malaise. Disinterest works its way, and so, finally, the shop is abandoned. The shop attracts as much eyes as a bare stone walls for the next year.

That is, untill he comes. He's a human, middle-aged, probably in the 40's. He has grey hair which fall around the top of his face, not short, but not remarkably long. His features not so much handsome as sharp; though age and expression lines mar it around the eyes and mouth. In short, there is nothing remarkable about this ma. Except that his blue eyes show the confidence that comes with knowing.

The man stops infront of the shop. Ten minutes pass. He crouches. He runs his hand over the stone. Finally, his hands rest on a blackened brick.

That brick used to be a part of the scrollrack. The fraud had been too poor to remove the stonework, and had built the new shop on the old fundamentals. But its an awful coincidence for this man to know that. Or to take an interest to it.

"So. Perhaps.... is this it then?"

He doesn't speak common, but for the sake of things, let's assume he does. He fumbles in his pocket, and takes out a piece of stone.

A piece of blackened, clay-oven baked brick.

"Similiarity enhances sympathy... the old maxim."

He then mutters something incomprehensible.

Suddenly, there is the crackling sound of something shattering under the stress of shear force. The piece of brick in the man's hand crumbles.

He looks up at the shop. Smiles.

The brick in the wall has shattered.

He has found what he had been looking for.

[Jingzu Lunaria]

"Excuse me, sir?" Asked a nervous looking man in thick armor. He held a halberd to him like a lifeline. "I'm sorry, but someone said they saw you blow up a brick in this building. I'm sure nothing like that happened, but, uh..."

[Physicker]

Physicker stands up and turns around, still slightly smiling.

"But naturally, you need to check if everything is in order. I have to admit; there is a shattered brick which I did touch. I assure you, it was not my intention to vandalize property. But, erm..."

He gives a slight shrug.

"It was damaged already."

His speech has the drawl of someone not really used to the common language. Fluent, which hints at least a moderate learning ability, but slow and awkward at times.