h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*The stallholder closes his hand and the glow coming from it fades. He sits back coughing and gestures at the mark on Ezekiel's neck*

[Stallholder] I would have thought you could have seen that starting to glow more, or at least his trembling.

*He looks like he wants to say something else but is too tired and cold. He waves a hand across Calel and Ezekiel and the mutli-coloured glow starts to leave Ezekiels body and worm its way back to Calel's. He stands and tries uselessly to ring water from his clothing. Giving up he stumbles across the room behind the sack curtain and comes back with what looks like brown face painting stick. He sits beside Ezekiel and frowns in concentration painting a different symbol over the top of the exisiting one. He sighs as both start to fade, then throws the pot to the floor and slumps back against the wall closing his eyes in exhaustion ignoring the rainwater still running from his clothes*

[Ecg]: }Sigh!{
" ...tried staying out of it."
*Ecg lights a fire in the small stovenecked heater.*

"Is it done?"

*Sits there bored and does some sort of an exercise like push-ups or crunches where he settles himself on the ground, a little ways away*

*the stallholder rubs his forehead wincing slightly*

[Stallholder] We will find out soon. If they recover conciousness then yes. If within the few hours of daylight left they dont, then we can safely assume something went wrong

*he sets his jaw in concentration trying to control his shivering*

[Ecg]: "If you're chilly, I can make flames... um, do you come from around here? I don't; miss the open-sea sometimes."

[Stallholder]: *raises his eyebrows at Ecg*
Chilly? There is no heating in this room and my clothes are soaked through from the rain outside
*he shivers still which takes the edge of his remark somewhat*
*he sits for a little trying to wring a little water from his clothes uselessly since his hands are shaking from the cold. He grimaces and tries to stop, then gives up*
*quietly* I'm not from around here. Wood Elves do not belong in towns

[Ecg]: "Nor as those descended of water demons."

*Shakes his head a little*
"Here. Hang on,- just a moment..."

*Ecg holds both hands out in front of himself fom where he is sitting and causes a medium sized flame to sit in place, hovering a few inches off the ground*

"Better?"

[Ecg]: "... also do not."
*Shrugs a little*

[Stallholder]: *looks at the single flame for a few minutes and starts to laugh shakily*
Well its better than nothing I suppose
*he smiles to himself*
Want to see something?
*He leans foward and stares at the flame, then clicks his fingers a couple of times. With each click the flame multiplies until there are several suspended round the first*
There, a little warmer perhaps *he smiles at Ecg*

[Ecg]: *Squints an eye shut, while the other looks about kinda*
"...Have to say [I'm] impressed."

[Stallholder]: Its easy. I cant produce suspended flames that big myself, only big enough to light things. But I can reproduce. Here
*he rummages in his soaking wet robes and takes out a small piece of leather with a piece of carved Elfen silver hanging from it and sets it on the ground*
Focus on this in your mind, nothing else. Focus on all the things that make it up, then imagine it splitting so there are now two identical. Then channel your power into making it happen. Imagine it flowing into your finger tips and out to make the pendant. You dont have to actually click your fingers
*he smiles*
Thats just how I do things

*Ecg tries like h*ll*
The replica in his other hand is out of ice.

"Ah. You've magic of a different sort then."
*Tries it again.*

"Ever seen a stick made out of electricity? I can make objects out of that too. They go away when the wielder stops it though."

[Ecg]: *shuts his mouth and makes one out of rock using ground magic.*
~That's about as close as I am likely to be able to get. Metal's outside the elemental circle. Transmuting it certain ways is alchemy, and teacher says I'm not advanced enough yet to learn that.~

[Stallholder]: *laughs quietly* I'd say its not so much to do with 'types' of magic and more to do with how your mind works. You are probably trying to go about it the way you've been taught to work elemental magic. That is why I do not approve of creations like the magicians guild. It trains you to excel at one thing. If you dont get to work other types of magic, how do you know thats really where your skill lies?

[Ecg]: "Father'd get upset, [if] he found that out. Literal king's ransom is what he paid."


"There are some good bits though. I can make a helper/servant out of earth..."
*Nods*

"Homunculus, spring forth!"
*The diminutive-form forms itself up out of the floor.*

[Stallholder]: *smirks and shakes his head* As an Elf, I cant help but be against it. You learn one skill, you do not learn about the nature of magic itself.

*He sighs and walks past the homunculus calmly and around behind the sack curtain. Eventually he returns having let down his wet hair and changed into a loose kaftan-style piece of clothing with loose trousers underneath. He rubs at his hair absently with a towel holding a comb between his teeth*

[Ecg]: "well, yeah, okay... got me there, but check this out."

*The homunculus bends its knees and balls its hands into fists*
"Homunculus grow. Show him you know how to become a golem..."

*It turns into a hulking seven foot tall creature.*
"I can arm it using pieces of itself too. Like this..."

*One of the golem's hands turns into a hammer. The other sculpts itself into the blade shape of an axe*

"ceramic can cut stronger than steel,- it's just a great deal more fragile; however, I bet you knew that."

*the stallholder walks past it calmly and sits cross legged. He begins to comb the knots from his blonde hair*

[Stallholder]: Thats all very impressive I'm sure, but earth is still earth.

[Ecg]: "Sure, but apply heat from fire and you can turn the clay into pottery. Water and wind used together can produce sleet or hail, and so on."

*Ecg heats the axe arm until it turns into being hardened past the clay state*

"Here, not anybody can do this..."
*pulls a hair out from his own head... then has the homunculus chop down on it, so that the hair splits and curls away from its halves several times*

"Yeah, mainly its manipulating things that are already there, or making them out of nothing. Takes more energy that way though. That's why the easy way to do something is pull whatever you can that will help, out from around you. It makes things easier."

*the stallholder subtly shuffles closer to the fire and shivers a little still combing his hair*

[Stallholder]: You're trailing clay all over my room
*he clicks his fingers in the golems direction and it turns into a pile of earth again*
Please tidy that up, theres a broom out back if you need it

*Ecg blows a tuft of hair out from his face and shoves a flat-paqlm outward... causing the ground to resettle itself rather nicely*

"Tfft... broom? Well, okay. Wish I could show you some of the wind stuff; a tad messy indoors though, so nevermind."