Nastasya had been going on a stupid shopping spree. It was stupid because she had not bought anything yet. She was as she definitely didn't like to put it: short on money. The jobs didn't pay as much as she wanted, her hotel was a luxury one so expensive and her new wardrobe didn't really help with that as well. Especially not if the clothing would get ripped and everything, it would cost more. She was walking around with empty hands and looking a bit lost. Not many people would see that expression on her face, you would really have to know her to see through that. She looked at Victoire who was dancing around the little puddles of water on the streets. It must have rained quite a lot this evening.

Her heels were making their clicking noise on the cobblestones of the main street of Oak Town. She thought about maybe looking for a job, but since her hatred for Mabuz, she would definitely not go there. That's when she literally bumped into the old man, "Doctor, such an unpleasant meeting to see you here." She said with a tone full of sarcasm. Mabuz however seemed to be rather pleased with the meeting and looked her up and down, oh no, no more syringes with weird liquid. "Anything I can do for you doctor?" She asked because the silence was more awkward than anything else. If he wouldn't reply in 3... 2.. 1.. she would leave. However before she could, he spoke. "I need you to find someone to help you. To test some hexes." She raised her eyebrow, the last time she had done a job like that for him she did it alone. Another reason why she hated him, for a second she thought about saying that he only had to wait patiently and Odin would show up. That seemed to happen a lot lately, she didn't know exactly where to find someone else so she actually hoped it would happen now too.

Doctor Stephan Mabuz, proprietor of all magical objects in Oak town, both legal and less so. An all round scientific man and a snivelling rat in person, who Odin had the misfortune of working for on multiple occasions, despite the tasks being menial things that the doctor was simply 'too busy' to do, or too lazy which was the more likely reason. But, like all the others who required their services of dark mages, he paid well, the only reason Odin associated himself with him at all. And yet, here he was, having a little chat to Nastasya Crowe, Odin's effective partner over the last few missions, of course he was interested, it could be another quest that the doctor was sending them on, which meant more money for both of the Grimoire Heart mages. Being a dark mage often meant associating with unsavoury characters for a greater purpose, it seemed today was going to be one of those days, as Odin approached, standing behind Nastasya after hearing the doctor request someone else to join her.

”No need to wait, I’m here. Finally managed to finish those hexes Mabuz, or are they as shit as ever? The sarcasm was dripping from Odin’s mouth as he spoke, ignoring the glaring face of Dr. Mabuz as the client responded, glad that a second person had arrived but annoyed as to who that person was. ”Well, I suppose you’ll do, Morningstar. I think I’ve managed to complete the first two hexes I asked you both to test for me. Take these and use them on whomever you wish, and report back to me with your results. The hexes are written on the paper, one to make someone uncomfortable, and one to make someone’s legs fail to function. Sooner you finish, the sooner you get paid and I can get back to work, so hurry up now.”

After handing one hex to Nastasya and one to Odin, the good doctor left them, no doubt heading back to his house to conduct more strange experiments. With a hex in his hand, Odin looked to his partner, ”Now that he’s fucked off, how do you want to do this? We can either run around together and find targets, or split up and cover more ground. At the end of the day, we only really need two random bystanders to use them on. I don’t care which option you pick.”

420/1000

She wasn't even surprised. Odin was there. It was the usual thing lately, with a satisfied smile she looked at him. There was still things she wanted to tell him but she never seemed to have the time. She frowned when she thought of that before turning back to look at Mabuz, whom seemed out of place out of his shop. Even though they were practically standing before it. It was funny how Odin didn't seem to like Mabuz as well, maybe she should warn him about the White Claudia as Mabuz had called it. So Odin would be prepared, well it couldn't hurt. She let Mabuz explain what needed to be done and grabbed one of the papers that he was holding up.

Mabuz hurried back into his shop and Nastasya turned to Odin and couldn't stop grinning, his sarcasm had made her day, "I think an easy job like this is more fun if we do it together. He had let me do this before, so we could basically enjoy a coffee, some whiskey or whatever and hex people from a distance." She wondered if he would see the fun in that, "Do you work for him a lot?" she asked as she took the first steps into town again, "I'm not sure if he will but he is working on a new experiment. He calls it White Claudia or something, making you see what you fear the most. I don't know how he does it, but it is everything but pleasant. I doubt he will ask me again since I warned him I would rip his lungs out or so but you never know if he is willing to look for someone else." It was obviously up to Odin if he would accept it but she didn't want Mabuz to not inform someone the way he did to her.

Nastasya seemed to want the two dark mages to stick together during this quest, as it was hardly going to be difficult to hex two random bystanders. She suggested they both go and enjoy the day while they make people suffer, potentially enjoying a drink of something while they did so. To that, Odin raised an eyebrow. While it was a good idea to pass the time doing something else while they waited for the right targets, there was one place they would not be allowed to enter while on this mission. "I'm all for getting drinks, but not in the Swineherd. If people started getting hexed while under my roof, it'd be bad for business. There is another bar that recently opened up not too far from here, trying to steal my customers and money, we could go check out that place, I'm sure no one would mind a few dark mages practising magic if they weren't aware of it in the first place." A devilish smirk had formed on Odin's usually neutral face as he plotted. The other pub wasn't really stealing his business, it was run by a local boy trying to make his way in the world, but it was for that reason that Odin wanted to watch it fail. A young boy trying to start up his own business, it was almost admirable, and it would feel fantastic watching it crumble.

"Mabuz? I've done a few jobs for him, most of them with you though, and most of them pretty dull. Deliver a package, collect and mushroom, test his hexes, it's yet to be that interesting unfortunately." As Odin replied to Nastasya's question, he started to become interested at this' White Claudia' that she mentioned. Another quest from Mabuz, one that required a dark mage to be tested on, which caused his partner to see her worst fears, to the degree that she threatened her client with a very painful death should he ever request her for the testing again. Odin, as of yet, had not received any message from the doctor about this new drug, but he was very interested in its potential. "Hmm, well if you're no longer in his employ for the White Claudia, he may come to me for a new subject. It may make you see that which you fear the most, but nothing you see in a drug can harm you really. Its mental trauma, nothing more. I'd like to see the good doctor try and use it on me, I feel he'd be sorely disappointed."

868/1000

As she had suggested to stick together and go for a drink, she had thought it wouldn't be smart to go to the Swineherd Pub, so it actually hadn't crossed her mind. She nodded about the suggestion for another pub, one that had just started and was stealing some of his business, "Why don't we point out that it is some sort of cursed." She grinned with the idea, using the hexes on the people in that bar would probably give it a bad name. She asked Odin to lead the way for she had not seen the bar as she had been on her tour through town, she must have not paid attention to it. In the mean time she told him about the White Claudia, he had a point that it was only mental but not everything was. She had seen the shadow again, the one that had lured her into the trap of her becoming a vampire. She shivered almost unnoticable as she thought about it. She shrugged with Odin his answer, "If you say it like that it sounds like fun."

She entered the bar and people looked up once they heard her heels making the ticking sound on the wooden floor. She looked at each and everyone of them before she grabbed a table at the corner. She ordered a whisky, because she didn't feel anything after she became an undead, she didn't even taste it anymore and thus it didn't matter. She turned to look at Odin for a few seconds before she got the first hex on the table. She let her eyes linger over the people in the bar before she picked one, without any movement of her lips, she said the first hex unheard: "Stimuli" She wanted to laugh about the person that now looked highly uncomfortable but it was not a good idea to do, so she didn't but it was interesting to watch.

She got the other hex too, it was easy for her, "Decrepify" She muttered in the same no noise way as the first time. The spell didn't really work, the guy that went to the bar to get a beer and walk back to his table could still walk, he only stumbled because he now had a limb. Mabuz still wasn't doing all too well with his hexes apparently. She kept her eye on the person she hexed first to see how long the effect would take, but since it took a while, she decided to talk to Odin about nothing important, so it wouldn't be obvious that they were the one pulling the hexes. She still wanted to tell him, but it was not a good idea to do that in the middle of this bar.

She would leave after the Stimuli spell stopped working and after she finished her whiskey to head to Mabuz and get her money.

"If you try hard enough, anything can be made to sound fun."

The next few hours passed by in a blur for Odin, as he led Nastasya to the pub in question that he had mentioned, all the while listening to what she had said about the White Claudia. It seemed very likely that Mabuz was going to require another test subject after Nastasya's threats. After all, she was a dark mage and not someone to be trifled with.

As they entered the pub, they took up position at a table nestled away in the corner, while they both ordered, Nastasya opting for a whisky instead or her normal, more fruity preference, and Odin just getting a beer. The two hexes were used, the first being a success and the second, as it had been last time, only partially working, making Stephan Mabuz, once again, a failure in his work. After paying the barman for the drinks, the two mages left to report back to Stephan, Odin smirking as he told the doctor that his hex had failed once again. After being paid and dismissed, both Odin and Nastasya went there separate ways, no doubt destined to meet up again soon enough.

1073/1000

-Exit-