Schmendrick the Magician!

magik stared at the man for a moment. why he’d chosen to approach her, she couldn’t figure out. she wasn’t exactly someone who screamed open. she also had quite a few questions about his outfit - did he actually have magic or was he one of those people who performed at children’s parties? if he was asking about herbs, perhaps he did have magic.

“i assume store bought herbs would not suffice?” she asked, tone only the tiniest bit sarcastic. “the mistwood likely has herbs, but it is dangerous.” oh well, she hadn’t had anything planned for today anyway. “i can take you.”  

It was true that she didn’t seem to be approachable, but Schmendrick wouldn’t  get anywhere in his world if he didn’t take chances. Seemed he made the right choices so far. “Store bought? Goodness, no, those have lost most of their connection to the earth at that point.” Sarcasm wasn’t lost on him, but he had his reasons for a ‘fool’s errand’.

The mention of the Mistwood got his attention, and he was all the more surprised at her offer to take him there. The magician smiled and gave a respectable, but small, bow. 

“...that’s new,” Schmendrick said more to himself once he spotted the rather large red feathered bird. He had found a bench to rest after a day’s performance work, dropping some bits of fruit and nuts on the ground for the park’s birds to snack on while he too helped himself to some. 

“You know, I wasn’t a faun for too long in that place but...it’s almost taken me half as long to get used to my normal legs again after being stuck with those.”

      ☼The pop of magic could have been as soft as a feather landing on a lake, yet Rapunzel perked up, enticed to seek out it’s source and like a bloodhound to a scent, so too did Rapunzel zero in, but bothered was the last thing she could possibly be.

      ❝ Is that- Was that-??? ❞ That hat, that cloak, Rapunzel all but shrieked. ❝ Are you a wizard?! Like an actual, real life wizard? ❞ She fully carried herself into the other’s personal space, hands grabbing at his fabric, examining it eagerly, as if there would be no other moment in her life in which she would get to see or feel fabric again.

      ❝ I thought I would meet a wizard once, he was supposed to be this big scary guy, right? Turns out, alchemist. Can you believe? ❞ She laughed at the memory. 

      ❝ Oh! I’m Rapunzel, by the way, and you, mister wizard? ❞

The fact someone had overheard his sad attempt had him prepared for the worst, but instead he was met with someone all too ecstatic to his chagrin. He stared, wide eyed as this golden haired girl clung to his makeshift robes and shouted about wizardy. Schmendrick nervously smiled, trying to gently pry her hands from himself as he laughed somewhat forced.

“Er, well...yes, I’m a wizard. Though, I can’t say that what you might have saw can really be called magic.” He cleared his throat. Rapunzel? That name...it reminded him of an old story, but he didn’t linger on it for long. “I’m called Schmendrick the Magician.”

“Yeah but they’re in another kingdom, and kinda jerky if you’re not from their kingdom. Or even if you are from their kingdom but a different species that usually belongs to another kingdom.” He made a face, remembering how long he had been in that kingdom before leaving in a huff.

“Stupid war.” He kicked the dirt with a frown. This whole situation sucked. “Just be glad you missed how this whole thing started. Everything blew up, there were meteors falling everywhere, a giant hand, voices that sound like your loved one.” 

It was deeply upsetting. And then he had been left by someone close to him. Which just made him hate everything more. “It’s probably best to avoid them.”

“Oh.” Schmendrick’s voice was quiet, understanding. Stupid war indeed. Prejudice was an unfortunate part of the human condition. He had been around long enough to see that far too many times. 

“You’re guess is as good as mine.” Jon sighed, feeling bad for not being able to help like he used to. He had seen the man struggling to walk, and had slowly approached to see if he could help, but he didn’t know how to teach someone to walk in a body they weren’t used to. “Everything changed a while back, even the wards aren’t the same.”

He hadn’t even gone to where the Golden Ward used to be to see if his home was still standing. “I mean, is it ok to assume you’re talking about the original island? A lotta the people here don’t seem to notice it’s much different, like it’s been like this since the dawn of time or whatever, but the people who were brought to the island noticed it’s different.”

“Though as far as like, general location, I think we’re in Airaisal, I think??”

This kid knew more than he gave himself credit for, and more than Schmendrick had been expecting. So his hunch was somewaht right, that he was once more in that strange city, only that it changed or the inhabitants were dropped somewhere else. Apparently this part was called Airaisal. Certainly didn’t ring any bells for him.

The wizard leaned against the tree, trying to act casual as if he hadn’t been tripping over his own feet and brushed off some dirt from his baggy sleeves. “Oh...good to know,” he said with a nod, playing it off that he wasn’t in any sort of panic. 

“Hmm...okay, let’s try this again,” the wizard muttered to himself, still feeling that familiar warmth of magic at the tips of his fingers. He tried casting something, whispering syllables and words foreign to this land but not to him.

Of course, nothing happened. “Oh, come on! I know it’s there,” Schmendrick hissed, his frustration causing a fizzling sound from his hands before there was a pop of smoke from his palm,. His green eyes widened at that and the noise had startled the finch that had decided to make have a nap on his shoulder.