Silhouette

When later that day James approached the old library Maviza had set up her magic shop in, it was as Silhouette. He didn't mind negotiating as James, especially when an opportunity presented itself as it had earlier, but he still preferred cementing serious deals as Silhouette. In this little facade he was carefully crafting, James would only be another of Silhouette's proteges, maybe one who had undergone the infusion procedure. It would explain his actions and loyalty but not make him important enough to be targeted. Hopefully.

Standing at his sides were his future shopkeepers, Larry and Barry, as well as their bodyguards, Mark and Jeffrey. The dastardly duo enjoyed a shared back of chouquettes, happily munching on the round viennoiseries with pearl sugar filled with custard, as the ratkin and lizardman trailed behind them, glaring at anyone who got a little too interested in the group as they carried black crates full of future products. The crates were a last-minute preparation made by James to facilitate the transport of materials, made with some salvaged wood from the broken furniture of the orphanage that had then been infused and fused. Their unusual blackwood color caught the eye, but it was better than just carrying everything with their bare arms.

"So, boss, which one is it?"

"Frankly, it matters not."

The two buildings sandwiching the old library were very easy to dismiss. James wasn't an expert in architecture and therefore may have dismissed some subtle details that would have otherwise made these two masterpieces, but all he saw was two roughly rectangular buildings with a storefront, two stories, and a black slanted tiled roof. The buildings were both an odd dirty beige bordering on yellow with splashes of green and covered in cracks, but he still had to admit they were in a better state than many other structures he had seen around the slums. Those two just looked like barely cared for places instead of ruined ones.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. You're gonna do the whole black thing with it too?"

"It would be for the best if only to ensure the whole structure won't collapse on you. But we should give it a new coat of paint too."

"Yeah, best avoid the creepy black look up here."

"You're a bit harsh, Barry."

"Larry, trust me, I ain't. I'd even say I'm being nice."

James would have probably rolled his eyes had he still had them. He slid forward and ignored their banter, forming a tentacle to open the old library's door, and acted as though this was his first visit here, moving his head to fake looking around the wooden interior despite his senses already catching everything going on in the magic shop and looking up when a ringing sound occurred without a bell.

Just like his first visit as James, Maviza was seated at the vendor's desk, reading a thick old book that he assumed was a grimoire. The green cursive tattoos covering her tan skin were as eye-catching as ever, though James couldn't help but notice that this time they appeared to have a very faint glow, just like her emerald eyes.

James slid closer to the desk and sunk further into the ground to put his head roughly at the same level as hers, though slightly higher.

A nice, casual height difference to say I see her as an equal, but still affirming myself.

"You must be Maviza."

The woman finally closed her book and put it aside, though she still took her time looking up from her desk to finally meet James' gaze - though the lack of eyes made that point a little moot.

"And you must be the Silhouette guy. I thought you'd be taller."

"I'm just being respectful, Maviza. So, you're the one I'm buying the building from."

"Renting."

"Yes, renting. At a more reasonable price than initially offered."

"Yeah, yeah. That James guy did the negotiating. Say, you two look very similar."

"You can say that. Now, since the negotiations already occurred, I took the liberty to note down everything in a magical contract manifested by a third neutral party."

"Oh? And what if I want to negotiate some more? Maybe I decided to go back on some of my concessions."

"I anticipated such an outcome, which is why I brought this."

James formed a tentacle and took out a small black pearl from his body, the size of a marble, putting it down on the desk.

"And this is?"

"If I remember correctly, the magical arts often make use of Cores, do they not?"

"Depends on what you want to do. So this is?"

"A shadow affinity Core carved right out of an animal. I wasn't able to identify all of its Aspects with certainty, but I do know it was Body Aspected."

"And you think a single Core would be enough to convince me?"

"If you are reasonable, yes. This is a high-quality Core, made of pristine black corite. I doubt you would easily find another like it in these parts."

"And you guarantee this wasn't taken from a sapient? Vengeful ghosts are annoying to deal with and can mess up a lot of rituals."

"I promise."

"Tell you what? I'm going to do something with it right now. If it's as good as you say then it should be obvious during the ritual. If it messes up, I double the rent or you find yourself somewhere else."

"And it exceeds your expectations?"

"Ten percent discount on any product for the first purchase of each month. For a year."

"Twenty percent, five products. Permanently."

"Fifteen, three. As long as you pay your rent."

"Deal."

James took out a scroll from inside himself.

"Let's put it on paper."

A short while later, the contract was signed and Maviza had set up some sort of ritual. It looked pretty simple, a small circle drawn with green chalk on the vendor's desk with a white feather in the middle. James couldn't tell exactly from what kind of bird the feather came from, but it was slightly shorter than a human forearm.

"Now step back. I don't want you to ruin everything."

James obliged, sliding back and raising his body in the process to imitate standing up. It wasn't necessary, of course, he was going to go back to his lower level to continue his conversation soon enough after all, but those were the little things that helped him keep in touch with his human nature.

"Good. Now watch a master at work."

Still sitting in her seat, Maviza raised her right arm and began to mouth something, silent whispers escaping her lips but so faint even James couldn't hear them. The tattoos on her tan skin began to glow, and a light minty green mist escaped her closed fist to flow over the feather and the circle. As the mist rolled over the chalk it moved, slithering from a sole unbroken line into curved words and letters James couldn't read while keeping a circular structure. The words glowed in turn, and the feather began to slowly spin on its axis. Maviza held the small black Core under her raised right arm with her left one, holding onto the orb with her index and thumb.

Maviza opened her fist, and the mist turned into a cloud of smoke that descended upon the Core, rolling over her fingers as it siphoned the darkness of the orb, going from light minty green to a thick impenetrable black, covering everything on the desk except for the green glowing words of the rituals which light managed to shine through. In fact, their glow grew stronger and stronger as the ritual continued, small green sparks leaving them to die off in the inky cloud, which James idly noted was probably not meant to happen considering Maviza's eyes were slowly widening, surprise written all over her face.

Then at once, the cloud of darkness began to spin, turning into a small contained hurricane of magic, black and green turning madly as the words written in chalk were scooped up in the wind, the bright green glow and the overwhelming darkness of the Core struggling against one other before they collapsed into the feather.

And just like that, it was over. No more cloud of magic or shining sigils, the only thing left on the desk was the feather, now a black color with a green shaft. Maviza, her face to bored neutrality, picked it up and took out a piece of paper from one of the desk's drawers. She held onto the feather on the green shaft, as one would with a quill, and randomly scribbled on the paper, though nothing appeared. She tried again, this time feeding magic into it making the feather's green glow, and the tip of the feather's shaft left black marks as it passed. Maviza then put her finger on one such scribble and rubbed it before checking both the paper and her finger, both free of any ink smudge or stains.

"Uh. Acceptable."

"Does this mean you will uphold your end of the bargain?"

"Wait a second. I have one last thing to test."

She poured magic into the newly made quill once more, and this time rubbed the black of the feather itself on the paper, the scribbles disappearing anywhere it touched.

"Good."

"Good?"

"It means you get the default offer at least. Now we move onto the real test."

Again she poured magic into the quill, but this time instead of drawing or writing on the paper she used it on the very air, black marks escaping the glowing green tip of the quill to make symbols that defied logic and gravity. When Maviza tried to touch them with her hand it passed through them and remained as they were when she removed it. Of course, when she poured magic into the quill and used the feather on those floating scribbles, they disappeared just as they had done on the paper.

"Well. I guess you know how to find good Cores at least."

"I do hope we will have a long and fruitful partnership."

"Yeah, yeah. So, how did you get that Core? You weren't kidding when you said it was high quality."

"I have my ways. Now, if you don't mind, my men and I don't have all day and we'd like to set up shop as soon as possible."

Maviza rolled her eyes but obliged, taking the scroll that James handed her and unfurling it on the desk. She used her newly made quill to add to the initial agreement the deal they had just made before pressing her thumb on the bottom of the scroll, her magic spreading to form her name with cursive letters, similar to those of her tattoos but still readable, and James quickly followed by placing a tentacle next to her name, shadows spreading to form his alias.

"Thank you. Now, if you would lead us to our new shop please."

"Yeah, yeah."

It turned out the building James was now renting was the one to the right of the old library, not that it mattered considering how similar it and the one on its left were. The inside wasn't all that impressive either, the walls were the same ugly beige as on the ones outside but at least they weren't as yellowish and lacked any splashes of green, spared from the outside world as they were, the willing was a dirty white thing made of plaster with moldy black spots, and the floor was a thing of classic checkerboard tiles. At least there were still shelves and a vendor's desk, and the layout of the building made it so that there was a storeroom behind the shop proper, and the floor above the main one had been arranged as a living space. It would be a bit small for Barry, Larry, Mark, and Jeffrey, but it would do.

"Welcome to your shop. Do whatever you want so long as there's still a place I can sell when you're gone."

"Thank you, Maviza. I do hope you removed any possible curses or hexes that may have affected me, my employees, or my future customers."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Have a good day."

"Have a good day too."

James waited for her to be outside of the building and past his senses before he talked to his little band.

"Well then, it's time for you to set up shop. Barry, Larry, you're in charge. When you're done, go buy paint."

"Uh, boss, what was that about hexes and curses and stuff?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I made sure to add a clause for this sort of situation in the contract anyway."

"Oh. Good."

"Barry, don't be so gloomy! We get to set up our own shop!"

"Yeah yeah."

Mark put down the black crates he was carrying and turned toward James.

"Uh, bosssss. If you don't mind me asssking, what are you going to do?"

"Tonight, I'll infuse everything here. But for now?"

If it weren't for how it would have ruined his speech, James would have probably sighed.

"I'm going to dig."