'Be my desire!'

While he got to work with the labeling (and once again somehow speaking in innuendos he didn’t seem to get), Nanachi took a broom up in her paws and begun to sweep up. It wasn’t that the shop was particularly messy, but older buildings tended to settle weird and keeping things clean was a must, especially when one worked in medicines.

Once she was satisfied in the state of the floors the narehate walked over to get a good look at his progress. Jars were already labelled and correctly, causing her to give an approving hum. For a while Nanachi watched him work before finally chipping in.

“Better than I expected.” 

Large ears drooped forward as she leaned close, whiskers twitching slightly. Not too many people managed to figure out what was going on with the book even with the illustrations, but the runes were truly little more than a cipher of a more common language : even if they were an older variant.

“You’re well versed in languages too, then?” She inquired, plopping down on the floor next to him , focused primarily on the mage’s aura. It was different than the monsters of the abyss and the barrier that weighed down upon the entire land. So it was true that people were from different worlds entirely here. 

Different worlds meant more possibilities. Maybe this world wasn’t as bleak, then. As she watched the tip of her tail began to wag, thumping gently against the floor.

Focusing all of his attention on the task at hand - Schezo had to admit, while the runes had been puzzling at first: they were a lot simpler to figure out the meanings of than the complicated runes back home, so he was quite relieved for this (in comparison) simpler cipher of common tongue. It was a strange similarity that both his potential boss’s books and the Dark World used runes, though.

Perhaps proof that all realms were intricately linked in some way or another. Ah, but best not to get distracted: still, to know home was close by in heart if not physically was a nice warming thought.

The swift, sure work was paused at the other admitting he was doing better than expected: by that, he gauged that the language barrier had been the sole source of difficulty for potential workers here?

“Runes are a difficult barrier for many, I’d imagine, but my eyes are eagle-sharp! I catch every subtlety!” Except for his own awful wording, evidently, but that was a topic for another time, if the other wished to address it at all. “Indeed - I am a man who walked in a world of monsters, and one had to adapt and understand the language of runes quickly to survive...”

Nodding dramatically, he paused. He got a strange probing sensation there - was his boss trying to gauge his power? The other would sense indeed, a potent magical aura of darkness about the boy. It was strange, though. Like there was a ...something else, at the aura’s core, but it was very hard to note, like the magician didn’t want that part of himself being let loose. (Schezo was doing his best to hide any ‘internal kindness’ in his aura there.)

That might have been a failed attempt at him noting the other’s tail was wagging. There goes Schezo’s internal ‘cuteness proximity’ reaction, he can’t hold it inside anymore: he giggled and looked like a awe-struck child in a candy-shop as he spoke, there.

“Ah...I know you are human, as I am, but...your current ears are so cute! Can I pat them, please?”

   Irises of apathy blue, lacking some form of natural gloss, gaze upon the screen of her phone. Little to no contact had been made on her phone, minus the rare updates and text messages from a particular, and they had insisted on her getting an “Instagram.” And, when she had first heard of it, she had simply inquired “What is an instagram,” and “Is it like instant ramen.” Needless to say, her disconnection the technological social side was as broad as a sewing needle.Truly tragic.

    Yet, that was the fuss of coming from another dimension (and having memories of a presumably past life). Her hands tapped gently on the screen, attempting to refresh the screen. She hits the home button and returned to her welcome screen and she sighs. Looks like she’d need to figure this out for the tenth time. 

    Eyes peering up from the screen, the white witch found a wandering figure nearby. Maybe he seemed a bit more connected to this world than she was? As if she would truthfully find someone out of the loop asides from herself.

    Namine slowly approached them and tapped their shoulder. 

   “Excuse me, do you know how to use this?”

One wondrous thing of this realm was it was filled to the brim with fascinating curio that he, Schezo, never had seen back in the Dark World! It was really interesting: as a Dark Mage of many different talents, he saw such unfamiliar things as opportunities.

To gain more power and knowledge! Then, he would be another step closer to capturing Arle’s attentions all to himself, mwa ha ha. (Yes, sadly, he did just laugh dramatically to himself there.) His chuckles to himself as he set off were disrupted, however, at something poking his shoulder from behind. (Schezo had been so caught up in his daydreams of Arle, as usual, that he’d been oblivious to everything else.)

As such, he let out a startled “Bwaaah?!” on being poked, jumping a little before whirling with wide eyes to the offending poke-r.

“Who are you, to prod at the great Dark Mage Schezo’s defenses without invitation? My dark aura is not one that someone should approach as innocently as that!!” As much as Schezo was being dramatic, his tone came off as more warning-like than angry there: because he was a rather tainted individual, and he wouldn’t wish someone to taint themselves by poking him!!

Though, the strange object being held out distracted him. “Ah? It looks like a strange....square summoning circle! One you can lift around with you! I’ve never seen such a summoning circle as that before, goodness - it’s all glowy and with words on it and everything!”

         Another life, it felt like it. Once a teenager thrusted with responsibilities of securing the world, deserting the idea of vigilance and participating actively in a facade to be plainly college student stirred unease in her sometimes. As she was seated away on the ledge, feet slightly dangling, her eyes were scanning through the pages of an old journal from the olden days of Gekkoukan High. Fingers barely trace through the written words and the sometimes rushed near “chicken scratch” in the moments before the Dark Hour approached. 

   “Huh–?” Glancing upward and away from her notebook, closing it fast, a sensation came nearby. Her sight focused on a figure who seemed as if they’d stepped out of an RPG, or, at least, from their wardrobe, it hadn’t been the most “normal” and this is something coming from one who handled a shirtless antagonist who wore a thorn crown. High school was truly an interesting phase. 

    “Is something the matter?” For some reason, the strange male had been accentuating over something that was just a part of normal life…. 

Goodness, whenever he thought he had a handle on human life: something problematic like THIS had to happen, and it certainly had him in a most irritated mood! Humans had such strange customs: yes, he knew he should be somewhat used to it because of being in Primp, but he’d been in the Dark World a long time, he reserved the right to question it! He wished he could talk to Arle about it, but she wasn’t here yet: and he wasn’t the type to keep his complaints pent up!

No sir! So he grumbled and stomped about to try and stem some of that frustration - it seemed a stranger had noticed his grumbles and asked innocently as to what the matter was, though. He felt a strange...sort of magical vibe from this one. It wasn’t like any power he’d sensed back home before: almost like an extension of her? Ah, he was still too grumbly about the problem to focus on powers for once!

“Yes, something is very much the matter! You know how there’s a variety of fantastical food available in this human world? You have to stand in a line to be served once you get the food! Why can’t you just grab the food when you’re in a hurry, throw the money down, and go right through?!”

Folding his arms in a huff, he continued:

 “The Dark World was never so rude with rules, you grabbed whatever food you liked! Granted, you had to fight monsters for it half the time, but still - it’d be more convenient if you had the power to dart through when in a hurry...”

Part of Nanachi is tempted to take advantage of this poor boy’s wording, how he seems oblivious to the double meanings his language might hold. Unfortunately it does not seem like any sort of lesson would be learned from such a thing and why would Nanachi wish for him to stop? Their amusement at his unique style of speech far outweighs any incentive to ‘correct’ it.

“Firmly in hand would be the right way to do it!” A snickering remark as the Narehate pulls themselves up and stands upon the counter to tower over the boy. A dark mage… perhaps he holds some level of magic that could undo the Abyss’ curse in time. To go back to being human was something Nanachi had never dared dream of but the prospect was exciting.

“Very well! I am Nanachi, what the dwellers of the Abyss would call a ‘narehate’. It’s a term meaning ‘the shadow of one’s self’, since I’m no longer human.” Large ears perk upwards as the Nanachi adjusts their hat and points one large paw towards the shelves nearby. They had to come up with a test and fast, can’t seem incapable in front of the newcomer.

“I’ll do ya the honor of becoming my apprentice if you can sort through these plants and properly label ‘em! There’s a guidebook on the shelf, though it’s written in the language of the Abyss. If you get stuck feel free t’ ask, I won’t dock points. Oh, an’ try to not open the jars… some of that stuff you really don’t wanna be breathing in without a mask.”

That’s right… they were just going to make him help set up shop. 

Congratulations, Dark Mage Schezo, Nanachi is already viewing you as a chore boy.

Schezo nods rather enthusiastically with a beaming grin of continued confidence, clearly spurred on by the other verbally agreeing with him - clearly, ‘Dark Magic’ does not also include mind-reading, luckily for Nanachi’s continued amusement. “I am quite heartened by the fact my potential future employer agrees with me, yes yes!”

Speaking of his potential future employer, actually - he didn’t pick up on it before, because of being preoccupied with shoving his usual ‘cuteness proximity’ reaction and instinct to act a cute animal straight-out bluntly if he could pet them really really far back (part of him still wanted to ask that, but you couldn’t just ask that of your boss, he knew that!) - but there was the unmistakable aura of dark curse magic about her.

He knew what the vibe of one who had been cursed felt like as a sense of him ‘picking up on’ powers using his abilities: the fact she called herself ‘no longer human’ in her explanatory sentence confirmed his ability to - as usual - to be right on the money. How and why did this curse happen?

Ah: now was not the time for getting sidetracked. He highly doubted someone he just met wanted ‘sympathy’ for the curse, and for him to apologize about it, so he focused on the task at hand. (Well, if it were him under a curse, he wouldn’t want unneeded sympathy either.)

The task at hand seemed simple enough - sort through those curious plants and label them correctly! Even if the book was in another language, he’d adapted to new things in the Dark World oft enough to roll with something unexpected this time as well!

“I shan’t let you down: those herbs will be no match for my nimble and dexterous strokes of momentum!”

Looks like Nanachi would continue to get amusement from Schezo’s bad wording for a while. He headed right for the guidebook first - after all, it was best to skim through it and see what the plants actually were named in that official thing first before labelling them! He didn’t take long to go through the tome, before getting to work.

The rabbit-like shopkeep was buried in the back of the store, sorting through boxes that they are still unpacking. Jars and paper bags clutter the floor behind the counter , taking up space while Nanachi works until the bell on the door chimes and someone stops in.

Two large, brown ears perk up and are quickly followed by the rest of the narehate, their wide eyes blinking in momentary confusion before a smug smirk crosses their lips at the boy’s words. Did he not understand what he was saying? Judging from his attire it might be something lost in translation but that didn’t stop Nanachi from giggling.

Hat is adjusted on their head and the bark planks hanging from it rustle with the movement. Nanachi rests up on the (rather short to match their height) counter, leaning on a propped up elbow with an amused grin. Little white whiskers are twitching although they stifle their laughter.

“Oh man. That’s a new way t’ ask for a job and I’ve never had anyone ask me for a job before.” He was indeed enthusiastic which was a good sign.

“You wanna work here, is that it? I wasn’t thinking of hiring any help but hey, I’ll hear you out kid. Are you at all good with herbs and medicines? If you’re confident in it I could draw up a li’l test to see what you know. Or you could stock the shelves and gather for me. Y’know, grunt work~.” 

In the very worst scenario it would be an amusing waste of time. 

Schezo is aware of a light jingling behind him as he makes his dramatic entrance - but was too caught up in making it suitably important for a grand entrance worthy of a ‘great Dark Mage’ as himself to care. Sadly, it seemed as though nobody was actually there to behold his amazing display, for he saw nobody. After all that effort, really?

Wait, no: someone was there, but seemed to have been busy beforehand. There was a strange rattling of wood, before fluffy ears poked up over the counter, a fluffy bunny-like creature that somewhat reminded Schezo of Carbuncle soon following suit and looking somewhat bemused at it all. He’d seen some strange things in his realm, so a talking bunny wasn’t odd to him.

...It was exceedingly difficult to hold his usual ‘cuteness proximity’ reaction in check, however. 

“Ah? Nobody’s asked as I have before? Well, where I come from - if you desire something, you grasp the opportunity firmly in hand at the first chance you get as directly as possible, so it seemed the best way to go about it here too!”

Schezo's wording continues to be awful. Despite not catching his own double entendres, the dark mage nodded in enthusiasm when asked if his intent was to work here. When asked if he was good with herbs and medicines, his eyes only shined even more with energetic enthusiasm.

(Please stop this dork mage.)

“I, Schezo, the Dark Mage - have much experience with herbal remedies, either potions or curatives, yes! It comes with part of my ‘title’ as a necessity, after all...mages oft have to collect remedies or ingredients for their own concotions. Insert whatever test you should like - my body is ready for it!”