“well, it’s supposed to be a magic item. not the most impressive-looking, i know -especially after what they’ve done to it.”
if he didn’t have so much practice pretending to be personable, he wouldn’t have been able to keep the frustration from his voice - but as it is, he just lets out another little laugh, as though having told a joke.
“but i guess you could say it does have sentimental value. lots of it, in fact.”
though the sentiments he holds towards that tiny object are far from the kind that make you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. the gnosis - the real gnosis -, is his birthright, so the sight of it elicits both a righteous anger for having been denied it, and a sense of vindictive triumph for finally having it fall into his possession.
until the filthy scum in charge took it from him, that is.
“that’s why i have such a vested interest in getting something that resembles the original more closely… to be given such a cheap imitation of something so important - it’s sad, isn’t it?” he sighs, and for once, a bit of genuine bitterness bleeds through his tone.
“the cost isn’t a concern. get the most expensive materials, if you have to - i just need it to be able to act as an alternative energy source, at the very least.”
★ : ah, so he’d had one of his personal affects effected by the island. her burgeoning curiosity only grew in response to the lack of information provided, but marisa suspected that was on purpose on his part. fair enough. she relished this sort of mystery popping up in her midst; the island was so terribly dry of good, local drama sometimes.
‘it is kinda sad-lookin’, i’ll give you that.’ she twiddles it betwixt her fingers; the plastic is smooth and cool to the touch, but there is truly no magical power there.
‘alrighty then - i guess i’ll give it a solid go.’ she nods a couple times while still holding the chess piece in both hands, making eye contact with him from across the counter as she does so. this isn’t someone she trusts by any means, but a job is a job and marisa is tired of sitting around doing nothing all day long in-between the spells of chaos and discord that descend upon the island all too infrequently. the serious expression that settles across her features is uncharacteristic, but she feels it’s only appropriate to match the atmosphere of her would-be client.
‘but i’m not promisin’ anything. i’ll have something for ya by the end, but i dunno if it’ll be what you want it to be.’ already she wishes for access to the old hoard of things she kept back home in gensokyo, but there’s nothing to be done about that. she had had some good valuable items and materials in amidst the junk, though... a real shame. ‘but give me some time and i’ll get back to you when i’m done. a month tops. ‘kay?’