Watch as Tifereth discovers the wonders of magic and all the amazing (and cruel) things you can do with it! Featuring the Only Sane Man Vista and Domestic Troubles cured via food! (maybe, eventually, it's a work in progress okay)
Beautiful Miraculous Magic (and Horrible Crimes Committed with It) (Worm/Tinker of Fiction)
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Chapter 1: A New Family
(January 1st, 2011)
I had died; it wasn't much to talk about. Just a slip and fall down the stairs followed by pain and blackness. That really wasn't what mattered, though; the real focus was my new life. That's right, it turns out reincarnation was real, and I had been lucky enough to spin the wheel and go for another go around. The real upside to this was that I wasn't a baby or even a super young kid! I was eleven, which may be young, but it wasn't that bad.
Really, the main downside was my parents or lack thereof. They died, and more distressingly, I didn't feel much about that, a few embers of sorrow but nothing more. I wasn't sure if that made me a bad person or if my pre-memory self had simply cried out. I shook those thoughts away. I had a new lease on life, and I wasn't going to spend it being a mopy teen. Instead, I was going to enjoy it, and that was helped by the fact I had magic!
Sure, it was the kind of magic that would send people screaming and running to the cops. The power to rip open portals to what might be hell and construct staves that would cause heart-stopping pain would do that. However, it was real magic, the sort of thing that my past life, prior me? I wasn't sure how to label the me before now. This sort of thing could get confusing fast, a minor downside of reincarnation, I guess.
Anyway, moving past the confusing terms, I had scary magic I really wanted to play with. However, I was currently in the care of a somewhat nice lady who was taking me to meet my new parents, which meant magic would be put to the side.
The car stopped, and soon, I was outside in the city's thick snow. It was cold, but I wore a thick jacket, so I strode up to the door of the nice house. I wondered who my new family was going to be. I hadn't learned much from the driver but hoped it would be good.
"Alright, Tifereth. Let's get inside," the case worker, whose name I realized I did not know, said as she shivered despite my being ahead of her. Her thin jacket did little to shield her from the cold winter winds.
That was another strange thing, my name. I wasn't sure where my parents had picked it from, and until I saw it written down, I wasn't sure why I was named. Of course, the small nerd in me hoped it was from the Kabbalah because me of a prior life had been a nerd, and that was the sort of thing he fiddled with in his spare time. I'd just have to look at it some other time. Right now, I was going to meet my new family.
The driver rapped on the door before blowing on her hands and rubbing them together. When she received no response, she rapped on it again, this time harder.
"Get the door!" a rough and loud voice shouted, clearly coming from an older man, followed by a woman shouting back.
"I'm getting up! Heaven forbid you do anything useful!"
That wasn't good; maybe they liked to poke and prod at each other?
A moment later, the door was pulled open by a tall blond woman standing on the step with a faint scowl that she quickly smoothed over into a plastic smile. My own broad smile faded slightly, but I pushed it up. People had bad days, and I wasn't going to make hers worse.
"Tifereth, nice to meet you!" I beamed, reaching out to shake her hand. She looked down at me and rapidly did so, although her handshake was weak and cold, like a dead fish. She then quickly retracted her hand.
"Could you sign this paperwork?" the woman asked tiredly as she handed my new mother the paperwork. I was bouncing on my feet a little. I wanted to go inside and poke around the house. It looked nice, and I wondered what my bedroom looked like.
"Here you go, anything else?"
"No, that is all. Have a good day."
With that, I was pulled inside, and the door was slammed shut. I blinked but followed behind my mother as we walked toward what I presumed to be the living room, lit only by a TV's flickering light.
"Oh!" I said as I snapped my fingers, "What's your name?" It would be weird to call her mom; I could call her by her name first and work my way to mother or mom.
"Vanessa," she replied curtly.
We then turned the corner, and sitting in front of the TV was a skinny bald man who looked very unhealthy. I didn't know what it was, but when his head slowly turned to look at me, I was half worried his neck would snap from how thin it looked.
His jaw worked as he stared at me. I shuffled behind Vanessa, who promptly pulled me out from behind her and into the gaze of the man, whose eyes flashed with anger.
I ignored that; people could have a temper, and that was no reason to be rude.
"Hi!" I chirped, striding up to him as I reached out to shake his hand. When he looked down at my hand and back up at my face, I soldered on.
"I'm Tifereth; nice to meet you—"
"Looks like him," he muttered, cutting me off as he leaned close and looked me up and down, "Just the stupid name he would give his kid," he continued before his head snapped up to Vanessa, "And wouldn't you know that you stupid whore!" he shouted, his weak body not holding his voice back from shaking the house.
"I'll let you know that I did not have him!" Vanessa shrieked as she strode forward. The two of them were embroiled in the augment, their voices rising as they kept shouting.
I looked at the two of them shouting and fled; I wasn't dealing with that. Any tears in my eyes were a complete lie that I brushed away while running up the stairs.
I then slammed into somebody else as I stepped onto the second floor, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I wheezed as the air was knocked out of me; I could see a blonde-haired girl about my age looking down at me. She reached out her hand, and I grabbed it after a few seconds of recovering, and she hauled me to my feet.
"I see you got to meet the family," she remarked dryly as the screaming increased in volume. I cringed and nodded, causing her to sigh. She grabbed my hand and started leading me down the hallway.
I took a quick breath in and let my lips fall back into a broad smile, which seemed to be the natural state of my new self; I liked it. The more down and moody past self was no more; I would enjoy my second lease on life! The two of us soon entered a smaller bedroom, and when the small blonde flipped the light switch, I saw that this was likely to be mine as well, given the second bed crammed into the corner.
"Sorry about that. They didn't want to clean out the spare room," the person I suspected was my new sister commented as she jumped on her bed, turning to look down at me. (Not that she needed it; I was pretty short—a real shame, given that past me had been pretty tall.)
"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Tifereth!" I said as I shook her hand. I was going to ignore them shouting downstairs. I had a new sister right here!
She smiled as she shook my hand, a faint bemusement in her smile. "I'm Missy, Missy Brion, and I suppose you're a Brion now as well," she continued, and I then blinked at that. My mind raced at a mile a minute as pieces fell into place.
Well, shit.
The next couple of minutes were panicked mutters as I scrambled into my bed and tried not to panic at the fact that I was in Worm. Sure, I had cool magic powers, but this was Worm—there was a giant golden god who could just kill everybody!
I shook my head. Nope, nope! I was going to have a more positive life this go around, none of that doom and gloom. I sat up in the bed and flipped the covers I had pulled over my head off. Really, the worst part was that I worried Missy, and we were now siblings. That was rude. I was going to be the best brother this go around; I had an entire past life of it, so I'd be so much better now.
"Sorry about that," I told my new sister as I looked over at her with a smile. Sure, I had been worried, but I had magic powers, and no stupid space whale was going to keep me down.
"Just a few screws loose," I told her as I tapped my head, chuckling as I did so. Considering that I had memories of another life, I had no doubt that some people would call me mad, so I wasn't really lying.
"Well, that's good; everybody here has a few screws loose," she replied with a faint melancholic chuckle as she hopped off the bed and sat next to me. I leaned into her, and the two of us sat that way for some time, the shouting downstairs still keeping the same volume.
"Does this happen often?" I asked, to which she sighed and nodded.
"Yes, they've gotten worse since they came back together. They weren't officially divorced, but it turns out they both like money more," she told me, and I had a faint feeling that was my fault. Ideas about how to fix that bubbled up in the back of my mind. A whip that would bend their will to me would work, or maybe—
I shook my head, my hair smacking Missy in the face, causing her to sputter. That was for another time, and I doubted turning them into mewling, flailing beings with a lifespan of a few hours would be all that good, either. I'd only known them for a few minutes; maybe it was just a bad night. I hoped that was the case.
"I'm going to go make dinner," I said as I got out of bed and started working my way to the door. Missy grabbed my shoulder, and when I looked back, I saw that she was biting her tongue and thinking.
"I don't think that's a good idea; it's best if you let them calm down. We can make something later," my new sister told me in a hushed tone as the screaming downstairs started to trail off.
"Well, they're calm now, and I think some dinner should help. Besides, we need to eat, and I'll make some extra for them," I beamed as I told her, and Missy seemed to crumble as she sighed. However, her lips slowly forced themselves into a smile as she followed me.
I trotted down the steps and soon found myself in the kitchen, pulling open cabinets and the refrigerator as I looked around for something to make.
"Nah, I don't think we have the ingredients for that," I muttered at the idea of making some strange pie mixed with human hearts bubbled up. I didn't exactly have a source of hearts, and I doubted my new family would want to eat a pie made with human flesh—or, technically, muscles, I guess.
"Ingredients for what?" Missy asked, causing me to jump. She startled me; she should be louder when sneaking up on people.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me," I chastised her before deciding to explain, "I was thinking of making a meat pie, but you don't have the ingredients."
"That sounds like something Uncle Hod would teach you," she told me somewhat fondly. I felt a faint tightness in my chest, but I blinked rapidly and decided to ask a few questions as I rummaged for something else to make.
"What was he like?" I asked before realizing that could cause a few problems. " I-I mean, from what your parents told him, I want to know how they saw him. " That should be a smooth cover-up. I just wanted an outside perspective.
"Dad didn't really like him, said he was too caught up in occult nonsense," she said with quotation marks around the word occult, "Said he was stupid and trying to find some relief in the crazy world. He was nice when he called."
I nodded as I pulled out a pan from the cupboard and started to lay down the frozen slabs of beef on it. Dinner would be cheeseburgers. It was a classic and something I knew how to cook. It was also impossible to mess them up, and that was not because I was worried about messing them up. It was because I was a bit small, and cooking was harder than this. That's why, no reason else.
"Are you listening?" Missy asked, tapping me on the shoulder. I spun around, pan still in my hand, nearly hitting her in the face and sending the hamburgers sliding about inside the pan.
"Yup!" I chirped, my cheeks flushed with mild embarrassment as my mind scrambled to put together what she had been telling me. "He's weird and tangled up in the occult, according to your dad," I echoed her prior words back at her, and while there was a faint bit of anger, I did have to concede that he was likely weird. Who named their kid Tifereth without being a bit weird? Then again, I had amazing magical power rattling around in my skull, so I didn't have a place to talk.
"Huh, you were listening," she muttered, and I scowled at that, causing her to laugh and pat me on the head. My scowled deepend as I looked up at my new sister; it wasn't fair that she was taller than her. I was massive in my past life, towering, fierce, indomitable! I would figure out some way to make myself taller.
But first, dinner.
Dinner was awkward. My new parents had calmed down slightly, at least enough to sit down and eat the cheeseburgers I had made. However, there was an air of coldness, and it seemed the two of them were only doing this to spite the other—something to prove that they could sit down and eat dinner without it devolving into a screaming match.
"So, Missy, how was school today?" I asked. It was a bit cliche, but it was an excellent starting topic.
"It's Saturday; I didn't have school," she remarked as she dug into the burger. Ah, maybe I should have checked the calendar to see what the date was. That would have been smart.
"This is good," she continued, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, which was enough to snap me out of my mild embarrassment.
"Use a napkin," I told her as I pushed one across the table towards her. Just because you had your hand didn't mean that was your only option for cleaning your mouth. Napkins were invented for a reason! It was like eating a steak with your hands just because you could; a napkin was much better.
"Fine, fine," she replied, rolling her eyes, but she gave a faint smile as she wiped her mouth and continued eating.
"Anyway," I said, eager to move past my mistake; I couldn't help it that I just got reincarnated, or well remember my past life? I wasn't sure how all of that worked, and there was a faint niggling in the back of my mind that had the idea of just how to figure out some weird soul thing, but I was ignoring that because it was dinner time, and I was going to at least try to fix this whole situation!
"How was your day?" I asked Missy this time, not asking about something that didn't happen.
"Good, my..." she trailed off momentarily, her eyes snapping to Vannass and Mason before returning to me, "The internship has been going along just fine."
Right, she was a Ward, and that was her cover. Well, it would be best to nod along and not poke too deeply. I had my own powers, but I didn't want to get tangled up in all that nonsense.
"That's good. How was your day?" I asked, turning to Vanessa. She hadn't earned the honor of being called mother or even mom yet. She'd earn it once she proved she'd be a good mother.
"Fine, worked. I came home to this lug lying on the couch and doing nothing. Although dinner was nice," she replied, not missing the chance to take a dig at Mason, who had also not earned the honor of being called dad. However, I did preen at my dinner being called good. It was just cheeseburgers and some frozen vegetables, which were not all that hard to make, but I'd up my cooking game in the future. Family dinner would help solve this problem, I'm sure about it.
"Thank you," I replied, my broad smile growing larger as I turned to face Mason, "How was your day?"
"It was fine, but it got worse," he grunted, keeping his gaze averted from me. Alright, family dinner may be a bit harder than I thought, given that I seemed to remind him of his brother, who he clearly didn't like. Exposure therapy should work, though. Just hang around him, and he should like me. That's how biology worked, right? I was pretty sure people were wired to like kids, so I just had to wear down his distaste for his brother.
"Well, it should get better," I told him as I nodded and kept eating my food. It was good, but I already had mentioned that, and really, I was just trying to keep my mind off how awkward dinner was.
I'd have to make something better next time, maybe cook something up with my power that wasn't some strange mutating dish or involved human flesh. Despite the promises of the latter being very tasty it wouldn't be worth the effort to make.
This meant that this dinner kept being awkward as everybody ate without a word, except for passing things, of course. Despite Missy's habit of wiping her mouth with her hand, at least she had the manners to ask somebody to pass the salt!
I was happy that past me had packed pajamas and a toothbrush. The pajamas were plain; I wore loose shorts and a white T-shirt, leaving me nice and cold, which promised that curling up under the covers would be great! I nodded as I brushed my teeth and looked into the mirror. It was the only time I had looked into the mirror since I had woken up, and I liked what I saw.
I was young and a bit short, which was a shame, but I could fix that later, but my hair was nice. It was long and blonde, trailing down to the middle of my back. It seemed that I had good hair in both of my lives, even if the contents were very different. I'd have to put in the effort to keep my hair nice, but that was fine; I wasn't vain, but looking nice was worth the effort, especially since most of it would be spent in a hot shower scrubbing my head.
I sighed at the thought of a nice warm shower in this cold house; I then coughed and spat up the toothpaste I had choked on. Spitting out the remainder and washing my mouth with water, I set my toothbrush down and skipped into my bedroom; it was time to see how the new bed was.
It was a bit of a mess, or well, a bit of a missy because it was Missy's. I nodded as I clambered into my bed, which was tucked away into the corner. That was a good joke. I'd need to tell her once she finished brushing her teeth.
"Hey, hey," I said once Missy had entered our shared bedroom and climbed into bed. The lights were off, and the door was closed, meaning this would be even better, like one of those late-night sleepover jokes that everybody laughed at.
"What?" she asked, her voice already sounding sleepy.
"Why is this room so missy?" I asked, barely restraining my giggles as I heard a loud groan.
"Puns, really?" she asked, but there was an undercurrent of amusement that had me pumping my fist.
"Of course, puns are great!"
"If you say so," she replied chuckling as I heard the rustling of movement. "Good night, Tifereth," she told me, her voice muffled as she rolled away from me.
"Good night, Missy," I replied, and for a moment, my throat was thick with emotion before I beat it back and rolled over myself, snuggling deeper into the nice warm bed. I was going to get some sleep, and tomorrow was going to be even better than today—that I knew!
I soon drifted off to the screams of chaos and cosmic workings of beings beyond our understanding, ideas of strange and fantastical magical devices in my dreams as I cackled sleepy. This new life was going to be great!
Author's Note: This is a Tinker of Fiction fic because my muse has held me captive. This is inspired by many ToF fics, but I Want a Refund is the main one. The specialties Tifereth has access to will lean much more toward magic and rituals than pure tech. Very few, if any, of the specialties will be technological, and if they are, it's because they're magitech. It will also be more light-hearted, at least from Tiph's POV, because I've written plenty of darker and grim SIs (even if this isn't really one), so it's time for one that's more fun.
I had died; it wasn't much to talk about. Just a slip and fall down the stairs followed by pain and blackness. That really wasn't what mattered, though; the real focus was my new life. That's right, it turns out reincarnation was real, and I had been lucky enough to spin the wheel and go for another go around. The real upside to this was that I wasn't a baby or even a super young kid! I was eleven, which may be young, but it wasn't that bad.
Really, the main downside was my parents or lack thereof. They died, and more distressingly, I didn't feel much about that, a few embers of sorrow but nothing more. I wasn't sure if that made me a bad person or if my pre-memory self had simply cried out. I shook those thoughts away. I had a new lease on life, and I wasn't going to spend it being a mopy teen. Instead, I was going to enjoy it, and that was helped by the fact I had magic!
Sure, it was the kind of magic that would send people screaming and running to the cops. The power to rip open portals to what might be hell and construct staves that would cause heart-stopping pain would do that. However, it was real magic, the sort of thing that my past life, prior me? I wasn't sure how to label the me before now. This sort of thing could get confusing fast, a minor downside of reincarnation, I guess.
Anyway, moving past the confusing terms, I had scary magic I really wanted to play with. However, I was currently in the care of a somewhat nice lady who was taking me to meet my new parents, which meant magic would be put to the side.
The car stopped, and soon, I was outside in the city's thick snow. It was cold, but I wore a thick jacket, so I strode up to the door of the nice house. I wondered who my new family was going to be. I hadn't learned much from the driver but hoped it would be good.
"Alright, Tifereth. Let's get inside," the case worker, whose name I realized I did not know, said as she shivered despite my being ahead of her. Her thin jacket did little to shield her from the cold winter winds.
That was another strange thing, my name. I wasn't sure where my parents had picked it from, and until I saw it written down, I wasn't sure why I was named. Of course, the small nerd in me hoped it was from the Kabbalah because me of a prior life had been a nerd, and that was the sort of thing he fiddled with in his spare time. I'd just have to look at it some other time. Right now, I was going to meet my new family.
The driver rapped on the door before blowing on her hands and rubbing them together. When she received no response, she rapped on it again, this time harder.
"Get the door!" a rough and loud voice shouted, clearly coming from an older man, followed by a woman shouting back.
"I'm getting up! Heaven forbid you do anything useful!"
That wasn't good; maybe they liked to poke and prod at each other?
A moment later, the door was pulled open by a tall blond woman standing on the step with a faint scowl that she quickly smoothed over into a plastic smile. My own broad smile faded slightly, but I pushed it up. People had bad days, and I wasn't going to make hers worse.
"Tifereth, nice to meet you!" I beamed, reaching out to shake her hand. She looked down at me and rapidly did so, although her handshake was weak and cold, like a dead fish. She then quickly retracted her hand.
"Could you sign this paperwork?" the woman asked tiredly as she handed my new mother the paperwork. I was bouncing on my feet a little. I wanted to go inside and poke around the house. It looked nice, and I wondered what my bedroom looked like.
"Here you go, anything else?"
"No, that is all. Have a good day."
With that, I was pulled inside, and the door was slammed shut. I blinked but followed behind my mother as we walked toward what I presumed to be the living room, lit only by a TV's flickering light.
"Oh!" I said as I snapped my fingers, "What's your name?" It would be weird to call her mom; I could call her by her name first and work my way to mother or mom.
"Vanessa," she replied curtly.
We then turned the corner, and sitting in front of the TV was a skinny bald man who looked very unhealthy. I didn't know what it was, but when his head slowly turned to look at me, I was half worried his neck would snap from how thin it looked.
His jaw worked as he stared at me. I shuffled behind Vanessa, who promptly pulled me out from behind her and into the gaze of the man, whose eyes flashed with anger.
I ignored that; people could have a temper, and that was no reason to be rude.
"Hi!" I chirped, striding up to him as I reached out to shake his hand. When he looked down at my hand and back up at my face, I soldered on.
"I'm Tifereth; nice to meet you—"
"Looks like him," he muttered, cutting me off as he leaned close and looked me up and down, "Just the stupid name he would give his kid," he continued before his head snapped up to Vanessa, "And wouldn't you know that you stupid whore!" he shouted, his weak body not holding his voice back from shaking the house.
"I'll let you know that I did not have him!" Vanessa shrieked as she strode forward. The two of them were embroiled in the augment, their voices rising as they kept shouting.
I looked at the two of them shouting and fled; I wasn't dealing with that. Any tears in my eyes were a complete lie that I brushed away while running up the stairs.
I then slammed into somebody else as I stepped onto the second floor, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I wheezed as the air was knocked out of me; I could see a blonde-haired girl about my age looking down at me. She reached out her hand, and I grabbed it after a few seconds of recovering, and she hauled me to my feet.
"I see you got to meet the family," she remarked dryly as the screaming increased in volume. I cringed and nodded, causing her to sigh. She grabbed my hand and started leading me down the hallway.
I took a quick breath in and let my lips fall back into a broad smile, which seemed to be the natural state of my new self; I liked it. The more down and moody past self was no more; I would enjoy my second lease on life! The two of us soon entered a smaller bedroom, and when the small blonde flipped the light switch, I saw that this was likely to be mine as well, given the second bed crammed into the corner.
"Sorry about that. They didn't want to clean out the spare room," the person I suspected was my new sister commented as she jumped on her bed, turning to look down at me. (Not that she needed it; I was pretty short—a real shame, given that past me had been pretty tall.)
"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Tifereth!" I said as I shook her hand. I was going to ignore them shouting downstairs. I had a new sister right here!
She smiled as she shook my hand, a faint bemusement in her smile. "I'm Missy, Missy Brion, and I suppose you're a Brion now as well," she continued, and I then blinked at that. My mind raced at a mile a minute as pieces fell into place.
Well, shit.
The next couple of minutes were panicked mutters as I scrambled into my bed and tried not to panic at the fact that I was in Worm. Sure, I had cool magic powers, but this was Worm—there was a giant golden god who could just kill everybody!
I shook my head. Nope, nope! I was going to have a more positive life this go around, none of that doom and gloom. I sat up in the bed and flipped the covers I had pulled over my head off. Really, the worst part was that I worried Missy, and we were now siblings. That was rude. I was going to be the best brother this go around; I had an entire past life of it, so I'd be so much better now.
"Sorry about that," I told my new sister as I looked over at her with a smile. Sure, I had been worried, but I had magic powers, and no stupid space whale was going to keep me down.
"Just a few screws loose," I told her as I tapped my head, chuckling as I did so. Considering that I had memories of another life, I had no doubt that some people would call me mad, so I wasn't really lying.
"Well, that's good; everybody here has a few screws loose," she replied with a faint melancholic chuckle as she hopped off the bed and sat next to me. I leaned into her, and the two of us sat that way for some time, the shouting downstairs still keeping the same volume.
"Does this happen often?" I asked, to which she sighed and nodded.
"Yes, they've gotten worse since they came back together. They weren't officially divorced, but it turns out they both like money more," she told me, and I had a faint feeling that was my fault. Ideas about how to fix that bubbled up in the back of my mind. A whip that would bend their will to me would work, or maybe—
I shook my head, my hair smacking Missy in the face, causing her to sputter. That was for another time, and I doubted turning them into mewling, flailing beings with a lifespan of a few hours would be all that good, either. I'd only known them for a few minutes; maybe it was just a bad night. I hoped that was the case.
"I'm going to go make dinner," I said as I got out of bed and started working my way to the door. Missy grabbed my shoulder, and when I looked back, I saw that she was biting her tongue and thinking.
"I don't think that's a good idea; it's best if you let them calm down. We can make something later," my new sister told me in a hushed tone as the screaming downstairs started to trail off.
"Well, they're calm now, and I think some dinner should help. Besides, we need to eat, and I'll make some extra for them," I beamed as I told her, and Missy seemed to crumble as she sighed. However, her lips slowly forced themselves into a smile as she followed me.
I trotted down the steps and soon found myself in the kitchen, pulling open cabinets and the refrigerator as I looked around for something to make.
"Nah, I don't think we have the ingredients for that," I muttered at the idea of making some strange pie mixed with human hearts bubbled up. I didn't exactly have a source of hearts, and I doubted my new family would want to eat a pie made with human flesh—or, technically, muscles, I guess.
"Ingredients for what?" Missy asked, causing me to jump. She startled me; she should be louder when sneaking up on people.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me," I chastised her before deciding to explain, "I was thinking of making a meat pie, but you don't have the ingredients."
"That sounds like something Uncle Hod would teach you," she told me somewhat fondly. I felt a faint tightness in my chest, but I blinked rapidly and decided to ask a few questions as I rummaged for something else to make.
"What was he like?" I asked before realizing that could cause a few problems. " I-I mean, from what your parents told him, I want to know how they saw him. " That should be a smooth cover-up. I just wanted an outside perspective.
"Dad didn't really like him, said he was too caught up in occult nonsense," she said with quotation marks around the word occult, "Said he was stupid and trying to find some relief in the crazy world. He was nice when he called."
I nodded as I pulled out a pan from the cupboard and started to lay down the frozen slabs of beef on it. Dinner would be cheeseburgers. It was a classic and something I knew how to cook. It was also impossible to mess them up, and that was not because I was worried about messing them up. It was because I was a bit small, and cooking was harder than this. That's why, no reason else.
"Are you listening?" Missy asked, tapping me on the shoulder. I spun around, pan still in my hand, nearly hitting her in the face and sending the hamburgers sliding about inside the pan.
"Yup!" I chirped, my cheeks flushed with mild embarrassment as my mind scrambled to put together what she had been telling me. "He's weird and tangled up in the occult, according to your dad," I echoed her prior words back at her, and while there was a faint bit of anger, I did have to concede that he was likely weird. Who named their kid Tifereth without being a bit weird? Then again, I had amazing magical power rattling around in my skull, so I didn't have a place to talk.
"Huh, you were listening," she muttered, and I scowled at that, causing her to laugh and pat me on the head. My scowled deepend as I looked up at my new sister; it wasn't fair that she was taller than her. I was massive in my past life, towering, fierce, indomitable! I would figure out some way to make myself taller.
But first, dinner.
Dinner was awkward. My new parents had calmed down slightly, at least enough to sit down and eat the cheeseburgers I had made. However, there was an air of coldness, and it seemed the two of them were only doing this to spite the other—something to prove that they could sit down and eat dinner without it devolving into a screaming match.
"So, Missy, how was school today?" I asked. It was a bit cliche, but it was an excellent starting topic.
"It's Saturday; I didn't have school," she remarked as she dug into the burger. Ah, maybe I should have checked the calendar to see what the date was. That would have been smart.
"This is good," she continued, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, which was enough to snap me out of my mild embarrassment.
"Use a napkin," I told her as I pushed one across the table towards her. Just because you had your hand didn't mean that was your only option for cleaning your mouth. Napkins were invented for a reason! It was like eating a steak with your hands just because you could; a napkin was much better.
"Fine, fine," she replied, rolling her eyes, but she gave a faint smile as she wiped her mouth and continued eating.
"Anyway," I said, eager to move past my mistake; I couldn't help it that I just got reincarnated, or well remember my past life? I wasn't sure how all of that worked, and there was a faint niggling in the back of my mind that had the idea of just how to figure out some weird soul thing, but I was ignoring that because it was dinner time, and I was going to at least try to fix this whole situation!
"How was your day?" I asked Missy this time, not asking about something that didn't happen.
"Good, my..." she trailed off momentarily, her eyes snapping to Vannass and Mason before returning to me, "The internship has been going along just fine."
Right, she was a Ward, and that was her cover. Well, it would be best to nod along and not poke too deeply. I had my own powers, but I didn't want to get tangled up in all that nonsense.
"That's good. How was your day?" I asked, turning to Vanessa. She hadn't earned the honor of being called mother or even mom yet. She'd earn it once she proved she'd be a good mother.
"Fine, worked. I came home to this lug lying on the couch and doing nothing. Although dinner was nice," she replied, not missing the chance to take a dig at Mason, who had also not earned the honor of being called dad. However, I did preen at my dinner being called good. It was just cheeseburgers and some frozen vegetables, which were not all that hard to make, but I'd up my cooking game in the future. Family dinner would help solve this problem, I'm sure about it.
"Thank you," I replied, my broad smile growing larger as I turned to face Mason, "How was your day?"
"It was fine, but it got worse," he grunted, keeping his gaze averted from me. Alright, family dinner may be a bit harder than I thought, given that I seemed to remind him of his brother, who he clearly didn't like. Exposure therapy should work, though. Just hang around him, and he should like me. That's how biology worked, right? I was pretty sure people were wired to like kids, so I just had to wear down his distaste for his brother.
"Well, it should get better," I told him as I nodded and kept eating my food. It was good, but I already had mentioned that, and really, I was just trying to keep my mind off how awkward dinner was.
I'd have to make something better next time, maybe cook something up with my power that wasn't some strange mutating dish or involved human flesh. Despite the promises of the latter being very tasty it wouldn't be worth the effort to make.
This meant that this dinner kept being awkward as everybody ate without a word, except for passing things, of course. Despite Missy's habit of wiping her mouth with her hand, at least she had the manners to ask somebody to pass the salt!
I was happy that past me had packed pajamas and a toothbrush. The pajamas were plain; I wore loose shorts and a white T-shirt, leaving me nice and cold, which promised that curling up under the covers would be great! I nodded as I brushed my teeth and looked into the mirror. It was the only time I had looked into the mirror since I had woken up, and I liked what I saw.
I was young and a bit short, which was a shame, but I could fix that later, but my hair was nice. It was long and blonde, trailing down to the middle of my back. It seemed that I had good hair in both of my lives, even if the contents were very different. I'd have to put in the effort to keep my hair nice, but that was fine; I wasn't vain, but looking nice was worth the effort, especially since most of it would be spent in a hot shower scrubbing my head.
I sighed at the thought of a nice warm shower in this cold house; I then coughed and spat up the toothpaste I had choked on. Spitting out the remainder and washing my mouth with water, I set my toothbrush down and skipped into my bedroom; it was time to see how the new bed was.
It was a bit of a mess, or well, a bit of a missy because it was Missy's. I nodded as I clambered into my bed, which was tucked away into the corner. That was a good joke. I'd need to tell her once she finished brushing her teeth.
"Hey, hey," I said once Missy had entered our shared bedroom and climbed into bed. The lights were off, and the door was closed, meaning this would be even better, like one of those late-night sleepover jokes that everybody laughed at.
"What?" she asked, her voice already sounding sleepy.
"Why is this room so missy?" I asked, barely restraining my giggles as I heard a loud groan.
"Puns, really?" she asked, but there was an undercurrent of amusement that had me pumping my fist.
"Of course, puns are great!"
"If you say so," she replied chuckling as I heard the rustling of movement. "Good night, Tifereth," she told me, her voice muffled as she rolled away from me.
"Good night, Missy," I replied, and for a moment, my throat was thick with emotion before I beat it back and rolled over myself, snuggling deeper into the nice warm bed. I was going to get some sleep, and tomorrow was going to be even better than today—that I knew!
I soon drifted off to the screams of chaos and cosmic workings of beings beyond our understanding, ideas of strange and fantastical magical devices in my dreams as I cackled sleepy. This new life was going to be great!
Author's Note: This is a Tinker of Fiction fic because my muse has held me captive. This is inspired by many ToF fics, but I Want a Refund is the main one. The specialties Tifereth has access to will lean much more toward magic and rituals than pure tech. Very few, if any, of the specialties will be technological, and if they are, it's because they're magitech. It will also be more light-hearted, at least from Tiph's POV, because I've written plenty of darker and grim SIs (even if this isn't really one), so it's time for one that's more fun.
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Chapter 2: Friendship and the First Ritual
(January 2nd, 2011)
I rose with the sun. That might be a little inaccurate; it was more the sun peaked around the corners of my blinds, and my body decided that meant it was time to wake up.
I promptly blinked and rolled over, trying to get more sleep. However, it seemed that I wasn't going to get any more sleep, given that even after what felt like another couple of minutes, my eyes weren't even drooping. Well, an early start to the day would be good, so I hopped out of bed and left my bedroom, heading towards the bathroom.
The shower was very nice, and while I didn't have any shampoo of my own, I did steal Missy's. I was promptly punished for my theft when some of it got into my eyes, promoting flailing as I attempted to clean out my eyes as they burned.
The rest of the shower was fine, and I emerged in the bathroom a new man, clean and reborn by the baptism of fire! Or nice hot water if you want to be pedantic.
I then brushed my hair and got dressed in my pajamas. I had forgotten to grab my clothes from my room, so I padded back and pulled open the door before rummaging in my backpack. It seemed that I hadn't packed a spare set of clothes besides underwear and socks. That was a pain, but I'd hopefully get new clothes soon anyway.
"Why are you up so early?" Missy groaned as she pulled herself out from under her covers and looked at me with squinted eyes. I blinked as I looked up from where I had been squatting. I then looked at the clock sitting on her nightstand, which blinked 7:32.
"It's not that early; the sun's already up," I remarked, receiving a loud groan as Missy dropped back into bed and slammed her pillow on her face.
"Of course, you'd be a morning person."
"Well, duh, the sun has risen, and there's no reason to laze about," I replied as I started changing. Only my underwear and socks would come once I needed to wear them. Really, I was just a bit annoyed that my past self had forgotten to pack spare clothes. Not changing for a day wasn't the worst, but I needed some new clothes for school.
Well, I'll solve that later. First was breakfast, and I was thinking of bacon and eggs.
So, breakfast was once again very awkward, although not once again since this was the first breakfast I'd eaten with them. It might be better to say that the family meal was awkward, given that everybody was sitting silently and not talking.
"So, do you like it?" I asked Missy as she poked at her sunny side up egg. She had already eaten the bacon, which was good. Although she hadn't touched her orange juice, which was fair, apple juice was better. But we didn't have any of that or milk, which meant it was water, soda, or orange juice, and neither of the former two were breakfast drinks.
"It's good. The bacon was crisp. I'm just not that hungry," she replied as she started to eat the egg. She didn't seem all that enthusiastic about it, but it was better than Mason, who had left a few minutes ago, leaving his uneaten plate on the table. Vanessa, at least, was sitting there, although she was very bored and clearly not at all interested in eating what I made.
I sighed. My plate had already been finished, and so I was sitting here trying to form a connection with my new family. Only Missy had been reciprocating, but she was clearly not a morning person, so there wasn't much I could do.
Well, okay, that was a lie. I could do plenty. It was that I couldn't do anything legal and moral to make her a morning person. The methods that I had in mind involved things like shoving iron rods inside of somebody and pumping them full of magic that caused intense pain whenever they tried to fall asleep. Neat but not all that useful at making somebody a morning person beyond conditioning, which wasn't what I wanted to use on my new sister, perhaps on my parents—
Nope, nope. That wasn't going to be my solution; good food and good company were. Although speaking of company, I did need new clothes, especially since I was likely going to be starting school tomorrow.
"Can I get some new clothes? I couldn't bring anything besides these," I asked Vannsa, who looked up from her phone. Her face was pinched, but she nodded before looking back at her phone. Well, that was good. I'd have some new clothes, and maybe if she was this distracted, I'd be able to pick out what I liked.
Although this was a new life, should I really be wearing t-shirts and athletic shorts? I could get a collared shirt and some khakis, something a bit nicer. I suppose it depended on where I was going. I only knew of Winslow and Acadia I think it was called.
"Where am I going to school?" I asked, looking back at Vansaa, who sighed as she set down her phone, clearly thinking. It took a minute before she remembered, which was mildly concerning.
"Grenild," she replied before returning to her phone. A moment later, she stood up, leaving her half-eaten plate on the table. I slumped over and groaned, looking at that food my parents hadn't eaten. I suppose that could be my lunch, waste not, want not, and all that.
"Well, I'll get ready for that," I said as I pushed myself up and started cleaning off the plates as I tucked the food away.
"Thank you for breakfast," Missy told me as she set her picked-clean plate in the kitchen sink. I beamed at her as I gave it a quick scrub.
"Thank you, was it good?" I asked, receiving a nod in return.
"Yup, it was great," she replied, causing my smile to widen even more. I'll also be coming along with you. Mom's not the best with clothes stuff," she muttered, to which I nodded. She then turned and headed upstairs, likely to get dressed.
I just kept cleaning; I wasn't in a rush, and it was important to do something right if you were going to do it at all.
Missy was correct that Vanessa was a very poor shopper. I wasn't an expert on clothing either. Simply grabbing the cheapest and most comfortable in my past life didn't prepare me for the ordeal of having an older sister who was determined to ensure I had proper clothing.
It was nice and all, but as I strolled out of the changing room for what must have been the twentieth time, I was reminded of why I had gone full T-shirt and shorts before. Missy seemed to enjoy it, so I was willing to suffer.
"You can stop pouting," Missy told me, "We're finished," she continued, and my non-existent pout vanished as I spun on my heel and darted back inside the changing room. In the span of a few seconds, I removed the clothes I had been wearing and pulled on the clothes from earlier before returning to the main room.
"Ah, I have been freed from the cruel confines of my clothing—" I was cut off as Missy jabbed an elbow into my stomach playfully. I staggered back, gasping and heaving overdramatically before swooping and catching myself on the wall.
"Woe is me, assault by my dear sister who enacts such painful retribution, and so on and so forth."
"Anyway, can we get lunch?" I asked as I looked at Vanessa, who had been watching the two of us with a thin smile. Missy joined me in looking up at her, even if her posture was significantly less pleading.
"Fine," she snapped, "There should be a place nearby."
I pumped my fist in celebration, which Missy giggled at before the two of us followed behind her, holding my new clothes in bags.
The food court of the mall was nice. I hadn't been to many malls, so I couldn't complain, not when the smells mingled in the air in such an appetizing way. I inhaled them before I noticed Missy froze next to me, looking off into the distance. I blinked as I walked next to her and peered in the direction she was looking at.
It was an older teen; he had short blonde hair and broad shoulders. Sitting across from him, giggling, was a woman with long blonde hair and what might be blue eyes; I wasn't sure from this distance.
"Who's that?" I asked although I had a faint inkling. It was always better to ask. I didn't want to run at them if they were just two random people enjoying a meal.
"Dean," Missy said as she shook her head and the very faint blush on her cheeks faded, "and Victoria, they're probably on a date."
I nodded; that made sense, given Missy's reaction. I knew that she had a crush on him, which meant it would be the perfect time to go up and say hello. Besides, I wanted to see what the vaunted Gallant and Glory Girl were like in person.
"Come on, let's go say hello!" I chirped, my lips curling up into a shit-eating grin as I dragged Missy with me, "We're going to grab food," I told Vanessa, who nodded as she followed behind us.
Missy seemed stunned, so I was easily able to drag her over to where the two of them were sitting. As I approached them, I felt a faint flicker of something, like a little brush up on Victoria. I suppose that was the aura? It didn't seem to do all that much. It might have made her look a bit better, but then again, she was already blessed with great genes, so there was not much to improve there.
Anyway, I was here to embarrass Missy and say hello, so it would be best to get on with the latter. The former would come soon, given how Missy was already coming to her senses.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Tifereth," I said, reaching out with a hand as Dean turned to face me, confusion on his face. However, when he saw Missy standing next to me, hands clasped, he nodded understandably.
"Ah, nice to meet you, Tifereth," he replied, struggling with the name for a moment as he shook my hand politely but firmly. It seemed the gallant name wasn't just for show; I'd met adults with worse handshakes than his.
"Nice to meet you," Victoria said as she smiled and reached out to shake my hand as well. Her grip was firm, if a bit strange; I wasn't sure what to call the strange slipperiness that her forcefield seemed to cause. That would be something to poke later; I already had a few ideas bubbling about how to test it. Although they were pretty lethal, maybe I should try throwing fire at her to see if it would pop her forcefield, even if her having a strangely mutated form and still possibly having powers would be interesting.
Missy seemed to have recovered from the shock of being dragged in front of her crush because she gently elbowed me in the ribs before smiling and waving at the two of them.
"Hi, we were getting lunch, and it seems he wanted to say hello," she remarked, to which Dean chuckled good naturally.
"Fair enough. If you want to sit with us, feel free," he said, and I could see Missy internally grin at that, although a moment later, she seemed to be rethinking that. She deserved to spend time with him, not wallow in self-doubt!
"Sounds great. We'll go grab some food," I told them as I once again dragged Missy off, this time towards a smaller pizza place. However, she quickly wriggled out of my grasp and walked beside me instead of being dragged around.
"So, pizza?" I asked guilelessly. Missy narrowed her eyes but didn't push, which was nice; I had a few other plans to get her and Dean in close quarters. Victoria would be a bit of an obstacle, but I'd figure something out.
"You've got a strange look on your face," Missy commented, and I blinked before I dropped my expression back into the normal smile for this body.
"No, I don't," I replied. She couldn't know about my plan; she'd be all embarrassed, and so on. I'd have to be subtle about it.
"If you say so," she remarked, clearly having fallen for my masterful deception.
"I do say so. Now, cheese pizza?" was my response, another clever diversion so she wouldn't suspect a thing.
We got a cheese pizza to share and quickly returned to where Victoria and Dean were sitting. I sat next to Victoria, leaving Missy to sit next to Dean. All I had to do was distract Victoria so Missy could chat up Dean. The real question was what to ask.
"Why are you pretty?" slipped out of my mouth before I could think of anything else, "Is it your aura or just good genes?" was what came next, and my mouth snapped close as my cheeks enflamed in a blush.
Victoria laughed, and when I scowled, she laughed even more. Dean and Missy had both stopped their conversation, and I could tell by Missy's smug look that she would be teasing me about this when we left. That meant I had to double down. She couldn't tease me if I wasn't embarrassed.
"So what is it? I mean, good genes, eating healthy, and exercise could count for it, but when I walked up, it was like somebody had painted you and made you look better. So that counts towards your aura, but it could—" I would have kept speaking, but Missy had leaned over the table to place a hand over my mouth as her expression was extremely embarrassed. Victoria's laughter continued, and Dean smiled slightly awkwardly as he watched me ramble about why his girlfriend was pretty.
"Thank you," she said as she stopped laughing. As for your question, I am pretty because of good genes, exercise, and the like. My aura can make people see me as slightly better looking," she explained. I nodded along; that made sense. It was a love/fear aura, and love could act like glasses that blocked out the worst bits of people, so if her aura was constantly on at a very low level, then your average Joe would see her a bit better.
"Huh, neat," I commented before picking up my pizza and starting to eat. That was step one down; now I had to keep poking her about powers, her being a superhero and the like. I mean, Missy and Dean were already talking, so I just had to keep it up!
Talking with people was exhausting, and I was happy to be home now. Sure, my newfound self may be cheery and overall more optimistic, but it was clear there were some similarities to my past self; I mean, sitting there for a few hours and just talking with Victoria about her powers, her life, and another nonsense gossip just drained me. It wasn't like I could talk about powers properly, either! I mean, I doubted she would take it kindly if I told her that her brain was hooked up to an extra-dimensional being that poked its fingers into reality to grant her powers. I mean, hell, I had that given my tinker power, and that was weird even for me.
Speaking of, thank you power for being amazing and letting me have incredible magical powers.
I waited for a moment to see if I got any reaction, and when nothing happened, I moved on. I'm sure the weird sliver of a cosmic whale enjoyed my thanks; I mean, why else would it pick me if not for the amazing data I could give it?
Speaking of data, I did need to make my very first item. I could do it now since Missy was at her "internship," Vanessa was somewhere out of the house, and Mason was passed out on the couch. So I could get started on my item for self-defense. I wanted to make a pendant that would let me kill people for power; however, I didn't have obsidian lying around.
I stopped as I was walking to the storage room on the second floor at that thought. Does being willing to kill people for power make me a bad person? Not if I just kill bad people; I mean, I doubted that anybody would complain if I murdered a Nazi. So I'd just have to murder only Nazis and the like to gain power, besides it wasn't like they were doing anything useful with their withered husk of a soul, so I was really doing them a favor by putting it to use.
Anyway, I tucked those thoughts away as I stepped inside the storage room, only to nearly be run over by a hoarder's dream.
Okay, that may be a bit dramatic, but still, this room was jam-packed with tons of stuff that you couldn't even see the floor. I hummed as I poked around, looking under piles of stuff as I searched for a single metal rod. It just had to be made of metal, and if it was fragile, that would be even better.
Searching took time, way too long. Once I figured out how to get my own resources, I'd make sure that they were all properly organized! You had folding chairs packed right next to mason jars, which were resting on top of an old and musty cot! All of this was madness, but in the depths of it, I managed to tear off a chunk of one of the folding chairs.
That left me with a long rod of metal about the length of my forearm. That was a bit big for my taste, so I grabbed a fortunately placed hammer and went to town on it. Thankfully, Mason was a deep sleeper, so my banging away didn't wake him up, and soon enough, I had two smaller rods, each one just big enough to serve as a wand. I set one aside. I'd use the next one later.
With that now, I needed acid to properly prepare the metal. To the cabinet under the sink!
Sneaking down the stairs, Mason was a deep sleeper, but there was no reason to risk it. I pulled open the cabinet under the sink and started to pull out the chemicals. Now, I needed to get this down real quick, so I started mixing. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but by mixing them along with some blood, which was very, very painful, and I would have to clean the steak knife later, I managed to have a small cup of acid.
The second-to-last step was to drip this over the metal wand, so I scurried outside and started pouring the cup of acid over my makeshift wand. Soon, it was pitted and had pockets and a singular hole. The final step was going to be the most painful, but no pain, no gain!
I let six drops of blood fall on the wand while chanting nonsense; the words didn't really matter; I just had to speak them. I could feel a swelling in my mind and the screaming of Chthonic gods as they sought to devour the souls of the living. My grin widened as I finished and held my thumb in my mouth for a minute, letting the bleeding stop.
I then reached down to the wand, still mangled and looking like a cheap piece of junk. As I held it in my hand, it seemed to purr, strange energy leaking from it and invigorating me. I grinned as I held it out and chanted the magic words.
"Nargluh!" I spat, the nonsense word seeming to darken the surroundings for a moment before I felt the wand fizzle and spit energy. I couldn't see it, but I could tell that it had worked; my first magical item was complete. It was a wand that would cause pain when I pointed it at people and said the magic words. Enough pain, and they would suffer a heart attack and die. I wasn't really concerned; this was for self-defense, and if somebody was attacking an innocent child, they deserved to die. Besides I'd have plenty of uses for dead people soon, so it wasn't like they'd be going to waste.
"You are beautiful," I whispered, giggling as I could feel the energy inside the wand. This was my first step on a long road of magic. I had so many ideas swirling around my mind and so many people who wouldn't be missed.
However, I heard a car stopping in the driveway, which meant that Vanessa and Missy were home. Did all my magic take that long? Looking up at the sun seemed to prove yes, and I didn't want to be caught, so I jammed the wand into my pocket, ignoring the scraping as its sharp edges tore up my shorts a little.
It was time for dinner, and I was going to make it so much better than yesterday; I'm sure everybody would love it this time!
I rose with the sun. That might be a little inaccurate; it was more the sun peaked around the corners of my blinds, and my body decided that meant it was time to wake up.
I promptly blinked and rolled over, trying to get more sleep. However, it seemed that I wasn't going to get any more sleep, given that even after what felt like another couple of minutes, my eyes weren't even drooping. Well, an early start to the day would be good, so I hopped out of bed and left my bedroom, heading towards the bathroom.
The shower was very nice, and while I didn't have any shampoo of my own, I did steal Missy's. I was promptly punished for my theft when some of it got into my eyes, promoting flailing as I attempted to clean out my eyes as they burned.
The rest of the shower was fine, and I emerged in the bathroom a new man, clean and reborn by the baptism of fire! Or nice hot water if you want to be pedantic.
I then brushed my hair and got dressed in my pajamas. I had forgotten to grab my clothes from my room, so I padded back and pulled open the door before rummaging in my backpack. It seemed that I hadn't packed a spare set of clothes besides underwear and socks. That was a pain, but I'd hopefully get new clothes soon anyway.
"Why are you up so early?" Missy groaned as she pulled herself out from under her covers and looked at me with squinted eyes. I blinked as I looked up from where I had been squatting. I then looked at the clock sitting on her nightstand, which blinked 7:32.
"It's not that early; the sun's already up," I remarked, receiving a loud groan as Missy dropped back into bed and slammed her pillow on her face.
"Of course, you'd be a morning person."
"Well, duh, the sun has risen, and there's no reason to laze about," I replied as I started changing. Only my underwear and socks would come once I needed to wear them. Really, I was just a bit annoyed that my past self had forgotten to pack spare clothes. Not changing for a day wasn't the worst, but I needed some new clothes for school.
Well, I'll solve that later. First was breakfast, and I was thinking of bacon and eggs.
So, breakfast was once again very awkward, although not once again since this was the first breakfast I'd eaten with them. It might be better to say that the family meal was awkward, given that everybody was sitting silently and not talking.
"So, do you like it?" I asked Missy as she poked at her sunny side up egg. She had already eaten the bacon, which was good. Although she hadn't touched her orange juice, which was fair, apple juice was better. But we didn't have any of that or milk, which meant it was water, soda, or orange juice, and neither of the former two were breakfast drinks.
"It's good. The bacon was crisp. I'm just not that hungry," she replied as she started to eat the egg. She didn't seem all that enthusiastic about it, but it was better than Mason, who had left a few minutes ago, leaving his uneaten plate on the table. Vanessa, at least, was sitting there, although she was very bored and clearly not at all interested in eating what I made.
I sighed. My plate had already been finished, and so I was sitting here trying to form a connection with my new family. Only Missy had been reciprocating, but she was clearly not a morning person, so there wasn't much I could do.
Well, okay, that was a lie. I could do plenty. It was that I couldn't do anything legal and moral to make her a morning person. The methods that I had in mind involved things like shoving iron rods inside of somebody and pumping them full of magic that caused intense pain whenever they tried to fall asleep. Neat but not all that useful at making somebody a morning person beyond conditioning, which wasn't what I wanted to use on my new sister, perhaps on my parents—
Nope, nope. That wasn't going to be my solution; good food and good company were. Although speaking of company, I did need new clothes, especially since I was likely going to be starting school tomorrow.
"Can I get some new clothes? I couldn't bring anything besides these," I asked Vannsa, who looked up from her phone. Her face was pinched, but she nodded before looking back at her phone. Well, that was good. I'd have some new clothes, and maybe if she was this distracted, I'd be able to pick out what I liked.
Although this was a new life, should I really be wearing t-shirts and athletic shorts? I could get a collared shirt and some khakis, something a bit nicer. I suppose it depended on where I was going. I only knew of Winslow and Acadia I think it was called.
"Where am I going to school?" I asked, looking back at Vansaa, who sighed as she set down her phone, clearly thinking. It took a minute before she remembered, which was mildly concerning.
"Grenild," she replied before returning to her phone. A moment later, she stood up, leaving her half-eaten plate on the table. I slumped over and groaned, looking at that food my parents hadn't eaten. I suppose that could be my lunch, waste not, want not, and all that.
"Well, I'll get ready for that," I said as I pushed myself up and started cleaning off the plates as I tucked the food away.
"Thank you for breakfast," Missy told me as she set her picked-clean plate in the kitchen sink. I beamed at her as I gave it a quick scrub.
"Thank you, was it good?" I asked, receiving a nod in return.
"Yup, it was great," she replied, causing my smile to widen even more. I'll also be coming along with you. Mom's not the best with clothes stuff," she muttered, to which I nodded. She then turned and headed upstairs, likely to get dressed.
I just kept cleaning; I wasn't in a rush, and it was important to do something right if you were going to do it at all.
Missy was correct that Vanessa was a very poor shopper. I wasn't an expert on clothing either. Simply grabbing the cheapest and most comfortable in my past life didn't prepare me for the ordeal of having an older sister who was determined to ensure I had proper clothing.
It was nice and all, but as I strolled out of the changing room for what must have been the twentieth time, I was reminded of why I had gone full T-shirt and shorts before. Missy seemed to enjoy it, so I was willing to suffer.
"You can stop pouting," Missy told me, "We're finished," she continued, and my non-existent pout vanished as I spun on my heel and darted back inside the changing room. In the span of a few seconds, I removed the clothes I had been wearing and pulled on the clothes from earlier before returning to the main room.
"Ah, I have been freed from the cruel confines of my clothing—" I was cut off as Missy jabbed an elbow into my stomach playfully. I staggered back, gasping and heaving overdramatically before swooping and catching myself on the wall.
"Woe is me, assault by my dear sister who enacts such painful retribution, and so on and so forth."
"Anyway, can we get lunch?" I asked as I looked at Vanessa, who had been watching the two of us with a thin smile. Missy joined me in looking up at her, even if her posture was significantly less pleading.
"Fine," she snapped, "There should be a place nearby."
I pumped my fist in celebration, which Missy giggled at before the two of us followed behind her, holding my new clothes in bags.
The food court of the mall was nice. I hadn't been to many malls, so I couldn't complain, not when the smells mingled in the air in such an appetizing way. I inhaled them before I noticed Missy froze next to me, looking off into the distance. I blinked as I walked next to her and peered in the direction she was looking at.
It was an older teen; he had short blonde hair and broad shoulders. Sitting across from him, giggling, was a woman with long blonde hair and what might be blue eyes; I wasn't sure from this distance.
"Who's that?" I asked although I had a faint inkling. It was always better to ask. I didn't want to run at them if they were just two random people enjoying a meal.
"Dean," Missy said as she shook her head and the very faint blush on her cheeks faded, "and Victoria, they're probably on a date."
I nodded; that made sense, given Missy's reaction. I knew that she had a crush on him, which meant it would be the perfect time to go up and say hello. Besides, I wanted to see what the vaunted Gallant and Glory Girl were like in person.
"Come on, let's go say hello!" I chirped, my lips curling up into a shit-eating grin as I dragged Missy with me, "We're going to grab food," I told Vanessa, who nodded as she followed behind us.
Missy seemed stunned, so I was easily able to drag her over to where the two of them were sitting. As I approached them, I felt a faint flicker of something, like a little brush up on Victoria. I suppose that was the aura? It didn't seem to do all that much. It might have made her look a bit better, but then again, she was already blessed with great genes, so there was not much to improve there.
Anyway, I was here to embarrass Missy and say hello, so it would be best to get on with the latter. The former would come soon, given how Missy was already coming to her senses.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Tifereth," I said, reaching out with a hand as Dean turned to face me, confusion on his face. However, when he saw Missy standing next to me, hands clasped, he nodded understandably.
"Ah, nice to meet you, Tifereth," he replied, struggling with the name for a moment as he shook my hand politely but firmly. It seemed the gallant name wasn't just for show; I'd met adults with worse handshakes than his.
"Nice to meet you," Victoria said as she smiled and reached out to shake my hand as well. Her grip was firm, if a bit strange; I wasn't sure what to call the strange slipperiness that her forcefield seemed to cause. That would be something to poke later; I already had a few ideas bubbling about how to test it. Although they were pretty lethal, maybe I should try throwing fire at her to see if it would pop her forcefield, even if her having a strangely mutated form and still possibly having powers would be interesting.
Missy seemed to have recovered from the shock of being dragged in front of her crush because she gently elbowed me in the ribs before smiling and waving at the two of them.
"Hi, we were getting lunch, and it seems he wanted to say hello," she remarked, to which Dean chuckled good naturally.
"Fair enough. If you want to sit with us, feel free," he said, and I could see Missy internally grin at that, although a moment later, she seemed to be rethinking that. She deserved to spend time with him, not wallow in self-doubt!
"Sounds great. We'll go grab some food," I told them as I once again dragged Missy off, this time towards a smaller pizza place. However, she quickly wriggled out of my grasp and walked beside me instead of being dragged around.
"So, pizza?" I asked guilelessly. Missy narrowed her eyes but didn't push, which was nice; I had a few other plans to get her and Dean in close quarters. Victoria would be a bit of an obstacle, but I'd figure something out.
"You've got a strange look on your face," Missy commented, and I blinked before I dropped my expression back into the normal smile for this body.
"No, I don't," I replied. She couldn't know about my plan; she'd be all embarrassed, and so on. I'd have to be subtle about it.
"If you say so," she remarked, clearly having fallen for my masterful deception.
"I do say so. Now, cheese pizza?" was my response, another clever diversion so she wouldn't suspect a thing.
We got a cheese pizza to share and quickly returned to where Victoria and Dean were sitting. I sat next to Victoria, leaving Missy to sit next to Dean. All I had to do was distract Victoria so Missy could chat up Dean. The real question was what to ask.
"Why are you pretty?" slipped out of my mouth before I could think of anything else, "Is it your aura or just good genes?" was what came next, and my mouth snapped close as my cheeks enflamed in a blush.
Victoria laughed, and when I scowled, she laughed even more. Dean and Missy had both stopped their conversation, and I could tell by Missy's smug look that she would be teasing me about this when we left. That meant I had to double down. She couldn't tease me if I wasn't embarrassed.
"So what is it? I mean, good genes, eating healthy, and exercise could count for it, but when I walked up, it was like somebody had painted you and made you look better. So that counts towards your aura, but it could—" I would have kept speaking, but Missy had leaned over the table to place a hand over my mouth as her expression was extremely embarrassed. Victoria's laughter continued, and Dean smiled slightly awkwardly as he watched me ramble about why his girlfriend was pretty.
"Thank you," she said as she stopped laughing. As for your question, I am pretty because of good genes, exercise, and the like. My aura can make people see me as slightly better looking," she explained. I nodded along; that made sense. It was a love/fear aura, and love could act like glasses that blocked out the worst bits of people, so if her aura was constantly on at a very low level, then your average Joe would see her a bit better.
"Huh, neat," I commented before picking up my pizza and starting to eat. That was step one down; now I had to keep poking her about powers, her being a superhero and the like. I mean, Missy and Dean were already talking, so I just had to keep it up!
Talking with people was exhausting, and I was happy to be home now. Sure, my newfound self may be cheery and overall more optimistic, but it was clear there were some similarities to my past self; I mean, sitting there for a few hours and just talking with Victoria about her powers, her life, and another nonsense gossip just drained me. It wasn't like I could talk about powers properly, either! I mean, I doubted she would take it kindly if I told her that her brain was hooked up to an extra-dimensional being that poked its fingers into reality to grant her powers. I mean, hell, I had that given my tinker power, and that was weird even for me.
Speaking of, thank you power for being amazing and letting me have incredible magical powers.
I waited for a moment to see if I got any reaction, and when nothing happened, I moved on. I'm sure the weird sliver of a cosmic whale enjoyed my thanks; I mean, why else would it pick me if not for the amazing data I could give it?
Speaking of data, I did need to make my very first item. I could do it now since Missy was at her "internship," Vanessa was somewhere out of the house, and Mason was passed out on the couch. So I could get started on my item for self-defense. I wanted to make a pendant that would let me kill people for power; however, I didn't have obsidian lying around.
I stopped as I was walking to the storage room on the second floor at that thought. Does being willing to kill people for power make me a bad person? Not if I just kill bad people; I mean, I doubted that anybody would complain if I murdered a Nazi. So I'd just have to murder only Nazis and the like to gain power, besides it wasn't like they were doing anything useful with their withered husk of a soul, so I was really doing them a favor by putting it to use.
Anyway, I tucked those thoughts away as I stepped inside the storage room, only to nearly be run over by a hoarder's dream.
Okay, that may be a bit dramatic, but still, this room was jam-packed with tons of stuff that you couldn't even see the floor. I hummed as I poked around, looking under piles of stuff as I searched for a single metal rod. It just had to be made of metal, and if it was fragile, that would be even better.
Searching took time, way too long. Once I figured out how to get my own resources, I'd make sure that they were all properly organized! You had folding chairs packed right next to mason jars, which were resting on top of an old and musty cot! All of this was madness, but in the depths of it, I managed to tear off a chunk of one of the folding chairs.
That left me with a long rod of metal about the length of my forearm. That was a bit big for my taste, so I grabbed a fortunately placed hammer and went to town on it. Thankfully, Mason was a deep sleeper, so my banging away didn't wake him up, and soon enough, I had two smaller rods, each one just big enough to serve as a wand. I set one aside. I'd use the next one later.
With that now, I needed acid to properly prepare the metal. To the cabinet under the sink!
Sneaking down the stairs, Mason was a deep sleeper, but there was no reason to risk it. I pulled open the cabinet under the sink and started to pull out the chemicals. Now, I needed to get this down real quick, so I started mixing. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but by mixing them along with some blood, which was very, very painful, and I would have to clean the steak knife later, I managed to have a small cup of acid.
The second-to-last step was to drip this over the metal wand, so I scurried outside and started pouring the cup of acid over my makeshift wand. Soon, it was pitted and had pockets and a singular hole. The final step was going to be the most painful, but no pain, no gain!
I let six drops of blood fall on the wand while chanting nonsense; the words didn't really matter; I just had to speak them. I could feel a swelling in my mind and the screaming of Chthonic gods as they sought to devour the souls of the living. My grin widened as I finished and held my thumb in my mouth for a minute, letting the bleeding stop.
I then reached down to the wand, still mangled and looking like a cheap piece of junk. As I held it in my hand, it seemed to purr, strange energy leaking from it and invigorating me. I grinned as I held it out and chanted the magic words.
"Nargluh!" I spat, the nonsense word seeming to darken the surroundings for a moment before I felt the wand fizzle and spit energy. I couldn't see it, but I could tell that it had worked; my first magical item was complete. It was a wand that would cause pain when I pointed it at people and said the magic words. Enough pain, and they would suffer a heart attack and die. I wasn't really concerned; this was for self-defense, and if somebody was attacking an innocent child, they deserved to die. Besides I'd have plenty of uses for dead people soon, so it wasn't like they'd be going to waste.
"You are beautiful," I whispered, giggling as I could feel the energy inside the wand. This was my first step on a long road of magic. I had so many ideas swirling around my mind and so many people who wouldn't be missed.
However, I heard a car stopping in the driveway, which meant that Vanessa and Missy were home. Did all my magic take that long? Looking up at the sun seemed to prove yes, and I didn't want to be caught, so I jammed the wand into my pocket, ignoring the scraping as its sharp edges tore up my shorts a little.
It was time for dinner, and I was going to make it so much better than yesterday; I'm sure everybody would love it this time!