Mist of Shadows
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Traveling Magic Shop Part 18
🕑 Added 2024-05-07 05:56:55 +0000 UTCMyst smiled when the attractive blonde woman in her thirties walked into the shop with a seven foot tall giant. "Welcome to the magic shop, how can I help you?"
"Magic shop?" Neil Pelham asked as he glanced around the strange shop, a bit surprised that he didn't see more new age stuff since he was calling it a magic shop.
"It was easier and shorter than calling it 'The Shop of Tinkertech Like Stuff That Doesn't Fall Apart," Myst replied with a shrug.
"What happened to your freckles?" Sarah Pelham asked Amy as she walked over to where Eric and Amy were standing next to a phone booth.
"Magic," Amy replied with a smile, actually in a good mood for the first time in a while despite the fact that she was fairly sure she was going to get grounded when she got home.
"And the height?" Neil asked when he noticed that Amy was taller than Eric.
"Magic," Amy replied with a shrug.
Sarah shook her head. "I'm going to need a bit more of an explanation."
"It's magic, I don't have to explain, sh-tuff," Amy replied, glad that Carol wasn't there since she'd have already started screaming and or threatened Myst with a lawsuit.
"Shit," Neil offered, trying not to let his amusement show.
Sarah glanced at her husband then focused on Amy. "Try again."
"Magic potions," Myst cut in as he grabbed a bottle of cider from under the desk, wanting to cut things off before they built up steam. "How would you like to be twenty four again and have all of your old injuries erased?"
Neil glanced back at Amy for a second. "We have Panacea on the team, we're in good health."
"How many concussions have you suffered over the years?" Myst asked as he spent the mana to upgrade the cider's healing and age reduction qualities.
"More than a couple," Sarah said, having lost track of the number of times they'd taken blows to the head over the years.
"One potion and you're basically twenty four or twenty five again and in perfect health, I'll even give you a discount for being a hero," Myst offered.
"How much?" Neil asked, figuring Amy could fix any side effects with the 'magic potion'.
"Five dollars for the potion," Myst told him as he levitated the potion over to Neil.
Amy rolled her eyes. "Just take it, I already bought one for Dad."
Neil popped the cap then stopped when it was halfway to his lips. "You didn't get it from Leet, did you?" he asked warily.
"I wouldn't feed any of his inventions to a lab rat, well, maybe a Nazi," Myst admitted, not having a lot of use for Nazis, Neo or otherwise.
"That's fair," Neil admitted, then drank the cider before he could change his mind, finding it surprisingly good.
"Is this where you say gotcha or…" Eric trailed off as he watched some of the lines on his father's face vanish. "It actually works?!"
"I wouldn't sell it if it didn't work," Myst assured them as Vicky walked out of the bathroom in her street clothes.
Amy walked over and poked her uncle's hand with her finger and checked the changes, wanting to make sure that the potion had healed everything. "You're in perfect health, no signs of brain damage or any scars."
Sarah sighed in relief, glad that the potion hadn't caused any side effects. "Can I get a potion?"
"No problem," Myst replied as he grabbed another cider from under the counter and spent the mana to boost its effectiveness. "Five dollars."
"Done," Sarah replied as she pulled her wallet out of her pocket.
"What else do you have in the shop?" Eric asked.
"Magical furniture, plants, books, and games of various types," Myst replied as he floated the bottle of cider over to Sarah and collected the ten she’d pulled out of her wallet. "Lighters that let you control the fire and snow globes that let you store memories."
Sarah put her wallet back in her pocket, popped the cap on the cider and took a drink of the delicious tasting cider. "You'd think it would taste like chemicals or a bit off."
"I know, right?" Myst replied with amusement as he put the ten in the box under the counter. "Let me show you the beds."
"What type of beds do you have?" Sarah asked.
"Remarkably comfortable ones," Myst replied as he started walking toward the door that led to the furniture room. "Everything from beds that increase the amount of restful sleep you get to beds that dramatically increase your healing rate while you sleep. We'll have to take a look, I haven't had a chance to examine the new stock so we might find something interesting."
"Lead the way," Neil said as he followed the shopkeeper into the large room with various types of furniture in different styles, ducking slightly as he stepped through the doorway. "There goes the budget."
"The prices are reasonable," Myst assured him.
"Good…." Sarah trailed off as she walked over to check the price tag on an expensive looking dining room table that fit what her sister had been looking for. "One hundred dollars? That seems suspiciously cheap."
"Everything is previously owned or was picked up for cheap from various locations," Myst explained as he walked over to a four poster bed and checked the tag. "My power lets me restore furniture to perfect condition."
"Makes sense," Sarah admitted, feeling a bit better about the price now that she knew he was probably grabbing damaged furniture and restoring it with his power. "The tag says that it purifies food and drink, does that mean it removes poisons or bacteria?"
Myst used his Upgrade ability to check the table. "And various chemicals that aren't particularly safe or useful like preservatives or certain types of fat. It basically makes sure that anything served on the table is healthy, including fast food."
"How long will it last?" Sarah asked as Eric started checking the tags of anything that looked interesting.
"Assuming you don't accidently break the table, the enchantment should last a couple of thousand years," Myst replied with a shrug. "You're heroes so I'll toss in a free boost to the table's durability."
"How much does that usually cost?" Neil asked.
"Depends on the people and my general mood, anywhere from five to twenty dollars to a couple of thousand if I'm feeling annoyed with the person. It doesn't cost me anything, so don't worry about it," Myst told her as he spent the mana to boost the table's durability so that it could survive getting hit by just about anything short of a nuke.
"We'll take it, how long will it take?" Sarah asked, knowing Vicky was rather hard on furniture when she wasn't paying attention.
"It's already done," Myst replied with a smile as he spent the mana to upgrade the four poster bed, changing it from a bed that increased your healing rate into something that would completely heal someone after a good night's sleep. "This particular bed increases your healing, meaning a full night's sleep will restore you to perfect health."
"How much?" Amy asked as she looked at the four poster bed that looked like something out of an old movie.
"That depends, do you want the grumpy healer discount or the real price?" Myst asked Amy as Sarah worked on drinking the rest of the cider, already looking younger.
"Grumpy healer discount," Vicky piped up before Amy could say anything.
Myst shrugged. "Fifty dollars."
"You could see that for millions, you realize that right?" Amy asked, ignoring the fact that he'd called her grumpy.
"You could take a flight to Hollywood and spend a week healing actors or DC and politicians and you'd never have to work again," Myst pointed out. "Sometimes it's not about the money."
"She'll take it," Sarah stated, wanting to make sure that Amy would be okay if she got hurt, since her power didn't work on herself.
"Carol is going to freak," Amy warned her, knowing that her mother would be worried about how it looked.
"I'll deal with it," Sarah told Amy, willing to put her foot down or stick the bed in the guest room if Carol decided to be completely unreasonable about it.
"Why do you have a dresser that conjures naughty clothes?" Eric asked Myst.
"Random chance," Myst replied with a shrug.
Neil smiled as he glanced at his wife. "Naughty clothes?"
Sarah smiled then shook her head, wanting to figure out how much the beds were going to cost before they worried about extras. "Let's grab the beds first."
"What does the tag say?" Vicky asked her cousin.
"It says the top drawer conjures risque underwear that last for twelve hours and the other four drawers clean, repair and fold your clothes," Eric replied.
"How much?" she asked thoughtfully, willing to spend a bit if it meant she could stop doing laundry and worrying about keeping her annoyingly white costume in pristine condition.
"It says five hundred," Eric replied, fairly sure she wanted the dresser to impress her boyfriend.
"So much for that idea," Vicky muttered, knowing her mother wouldn't let her dip into her savings to buy a dresser when she already had one. "Unless you're willing to make a deal?" she asked Myst.
Myst scratched his chin as he considered the question for a couple of seconds. "I can drop the price but I'd need a favor."
"What type of favor and how much?" Vicky asked, figuring she might as well ask.
"I'll sell the dresser to Amy for a hundred if she agrees to visit the local animal shelters and offers to heal the animals, fifty if she's willing to set up a charity event where she'll heal or fix genetic issues in pets for donations," Myst offered.
"How many times?" Amy asked, wondering if she could trick her sister into modeling some of the risque underwear and if the dresser would save her from having to get a bunch of new bras since she was going to have to replace everything she had.
"Just once," Myst replied with a grin. "Just put up a box that says donations aren't required but are appreciated and that seventy five percent of the donations will go to the local shelters."
"I'd have to report it as income," Amy complained, knowing things got a bit complicated when it came to using powers to make money.
"We can run the money through New Wave and give you a bonus," Sarah told her, knowing that it would be a nice PR boost and a chance to help people take care of their pets that they might not be able to afford to take to a vet.
"Fine, one weekend," Amy agreed, willing to put up with dealing with a charity event if it meant that she could see her sister in some risque underwear. 'I really need some type of de-lusting potion or something.'
"Cool," Vicky said as she pulled her wallet out and pulled out a fifty. "You can pay me back."
"Thanks," Amy replied.
"If Carol asks, don't mention the top drawer," Sarah told the group then headed over to the nearest bed to look at the tag.
0o0o0
"This is awesome!" Aisha squealed as she shot another thug as he ran out of the back room, having a blast with the video game that Rose had booted up to play while Myst was dealing with New Wave. "Where the hell did you get an eighty inch TV?"
"It's better than I was expecting and Myst knows a tinker," Rose replied as she watched Aisha's character slip past a couple of naked women dancing on a pool table in the club that she was raiding, rather amused that the game required a controller and a laser gun like Duck Hunt and that moving the gun around, moved the character's gun around.
"It looks like a movie," Aisha said as she capped another thug that had been walking out of the bathroom, glad that she'd invested in a tinkertech silencer for her character as the idiot hadn't been expecting trouble.
"Just a second," Harry told Aisha when he noticed an unopened can of coke sitting on a table in the game. "Do you want to see something cool?"
"What?" Aisha asked, keeping an eye on the various exits to the lounge so that she could shoot any of the thugs that showed up and the other on the naked dancing girls in case they tried something.
Harry walked over and reached into the large flat screen television, causing Aisha and Taylor to stare at him in disbelief when he reached in and grabbed the can of Coke off the table.
"How the hell?" Taylor asked when Harry pulled the can out of the screen.
"Magic," Harry replied smugly as he popped the top.
"Does this mean we can grab money or weapons?" Aisha asked hopefully as he took a drink of the soda.
"Incoming," Harry warned her, causing Aisha to dodge behind a pool table and shoot the thugs that had rushed in from outside. "Nah, just non-alcoholic drinks and snacks."
"That sucks," Aisha complained as she had her get to her feet and spin around so that she could check to make sure no one was sneaking up on her. "I mean, stealing snack food is pretty cool but money would be better."
"It would be nice," Taylor agreed. "Does that work for every video game or just this one?"
Rose gestured at the console they were using to play the game. "Everything you're playing on the console. Unfortunately, none of the special food in the RPG games actually does anything special in real life."
Harry finished another drink. "Probably for the best, otherwise you'd have to worry about tainted food or getting turned into a giant rat."
"Giant rat?" Aisha asked.
"Master Splinter from the Ninja Turtles," Harry replied with a grin.
"I thought he was a rat that got turned into a humanoid," Aisha replied as she headed for the back room, wanting to grab the item she needed for the mission and get out of hostile territory before she got shot.
"Depends on the version," Rose said as Myst, Amy and Vicky walked into the room. "Did you get everything sorted?"
"Yeah, they picked up some beds and split, they wanted to catch a movie," Myst replied. "Which game are you playing?"
"Snitches Get Stitches: Mafia Madness, you're basically a hitman for the mob in a corrupt city," Rose explained.
"Better graphics than most of the cape games I've seen," Vicky offered as she studied the screen, surprised that the graphics didn't look weird on the giant screen.
Myst glanced at the controller that Aisha was holding in her left hand and the gun she was holding in her right. "Cool."
"It's pretty…" Aisha trailed off as Harry said, "Wire!" a second before her character tripped over the tripwire and the drywall exploded next to her head five feet from the boss's door, instantly killing her character. "Fuck!"
"That's bullshit, no one would put a trap like that in a hallway," Vicky complained.
"Probably should have stuck another point in perception," Rose teased.
"That's fair," Aisha admitted as she handed Harry the controller and the laser gun, doing her best not to curse up a storm since she wanted to ask Myst about the costumes. "So, how much do you charge for using the phone booth to get a magic costume?"
Myst pulled the remote for the phone booth out of his pocket and pointed at an empty section on the floor and pushed the button, causing the booth to appear. "That's up to Rose, it's her device."
"You're welcome to use it but we're going to enjoy the show," Rose replied with a grin as she gestured and closed the door to the room with a couple of shadow tentacles, figuring she'd have a better chance of getting Taylor to strip if the door was shut.
"Sweet!" Aisha replied as she dashed over to the phone booth, not particularly bothered with giving people a show if it meant she got a magic costume.
"What are you going to try?" Amy asked, curious if there was something better than the Supergirl costume.
"Rogue," Aisha replied as she stepped into the phone booth, wanting something better than a boost to agility and a whip. She lifted the phone and quickly punched in 76483 into the keypad and smiled when a pair of black cargo pants and a sheer green mesh shirt appeared on the bench. "Is it safe?"
Myst used his Upgrade ability to check the clothes. "Huh, we might need to see if we can combine the costumes, the Rogue costume gives you Levitation and a minor brute power while you're wearing it."
"Perfect," Aisha replied as she sat down on the bench and quickly took her shoes off, happy that she could actually wear the costume around town unlike the Supergirl costume.
"Can you boost the Levitation to Flight?" Vicky asked Myst.
"Probably," Myst replied as he double checked the Levitation power. "Yeah, we've got several options for Flight but I want to wait until she finishes in case the powers shift."
"At least the costume has pants," Amy mused, not taking her eyes off the attractive girl as she finished taking her shoes off and started stripping, wondering if she could talk her sister into picking up another costume so she could watch her strip again.
Aisha smiled at Harry as she dropped her bra to the floor, giving everyone a nice view of her breasts. 'At least I know he likes what he sees,' she mused as she unzipped her pants and worked on wiggling out of them.
"Shake it," Rose teased, enjoying the show.
Aisha finished pulling her pants off then playfully flipped Rose off and spun around so that everyone would have a nice view of her ass, enjoying the attention. "Do you like what you see?"
"Yes," Rose replied without hesitation.
"You need a warning label," Harry complained, not taking his eyes off the attractive girl as she slipped out of her underwear and dropped them on her pants.
"There's nothing wrong with enjoying the view," Rose replied, looking forward to seeing if she could figure out how to pull off some of Catwoman's tricks with the whip.
"Can you double check the clothes?" Aisha asked, wanting to make sure the costume was safe before she put it on.
"Sure," Myst replied as he double checked the clothes. "Huh, that makes a certain amount of sense if you're an Eldritch Abomination or a fan of comics."
"What's up?" Rose asked.
"The costume picked up the ability to knock people out with a kiss and a quirk that gives you a lock of white hair while you're wearing it," Myst explained.
"Rogue? Like from the X-men?" Rose asked, easily making the connection as she loved the show.
"It doesn't come with the ability to copy powers and you can control it but yeah, basically," Myst replied as he spent the mana to upgrade the brute rating that the costume gave so that she'd be durable enough to ignore bullets.
"Does that mean it's safe to test?" Aisha asked, making a mental note to look up the X-men when she had a chance.
"Go for it," Myst replied with a grin, looking forward to seeing how long it took her to figure out how to use the Levitation ability.
"This is going to be awesome!" Aisha exclaimed as she grabbed the sheer green shirt and pulled it on over her head.
"Have you figured out which costume you're grabbing?" Vicky asked Taylor.
"The one with pants," Taylor replied without hesitation. "Having Flight and a brute rating would make walking around the Bay less terrifying."
"You should try being black," Aisha grumbled, thinking about the Empire. She quickly grabbed the pants and pulled them on when she heard the bell in the other room, letting them know that someone had walked into the shop.
"Make sure she doesn't break anything flying around," Myst told them then headed back into the main room, shutting the door behind him. "Welcome to the magic shop, how can I help you?" he asked the three young men that had walked into the shop, obviously gang members, but also obviously not all from the same gang.
"Are you serious about this being a magic shop?" the blond guy asked, scratching a fresh tattoo of a swastika he had on his neck.
"Yeah," Myst replied as he gestured and conjured a ball of fire.
"I told you, the damned shop wasn't here yesterday and you know what that means," the Asian teen said smugly.
"I don't know, I don't see a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling," the other white teen said as he looked around the store’s ceiling, searching for any errant stuffed reptiles.
“Dude, that’s not mandatory and we don’t live in a Terry Prachett novel otherwise things would make a lot more sense,” the Korean kid argued.
"Pretty much," Myst agreed.
"I'll lay out the situation, let us know if you can help, okay?" the blond asked.
"Sure," Myst replied with a shrug, wondering what two neo-nazi and an asian gang member were doing hanging out together and why they seemed so chill with one another.
"We grew up on the same block, then Lung fucked things up for Frank," he said pointing at the Asian looking guy.
"My grandmother came over like eighty years ago as a child, I'm not even sure she knows the language but I'm still Asian enough to get screwed," Frank complained.
"I didn't want to join but I saw some shit so it was either join or get lead poisoning," the kid with the fresh tattoo complained. "Do you have a way out?"
"That depends, do you have anything keeping you here?" Myst asked.
"No, Oni Lee blew up my parents' shop because they wouldn't pay protection money when Lung first showed up, I've been living with my Grandmother and she died a couple of months ago," Frank explained.
"No reason to go back, Dad's a drunk and I'm failing classes because I have to earn my keep and all that shit," the other guy complained.
"Do you want to keep the tattoo?" Myst asked.
"Fuck that, if you've got something that can get rid of it, I want it gone," the blond complained, rather unhappy with the tattoo that a couple of assholes had given him.
"Cool," Myst replied as he gestured at the blond teen and used an Erase spell on the tattoo, causing the ink to vanish. "Okay, you've got a couple of options, we can change your faces and you can leave the city or you can use a magic fortune telling machine to jump worlds."
"No Endbringers? No gangs?" Frank asked, figuring anywhere was better than Earth-Bet.
"Where do we sign?" the blond asked, wanting to get out of the Bay without getting tracked down and killed for leaving like some of the people that had tried leaving the gang.
"No signature is required," Myst replied as he finished opening the box around the device that looked like an old fortune telling machine. "If you want to leave together, you need to hold hands when you put a quarter in the coin slot and pull the lever."
"That's it?" Frank asked.
"That's it," Myst replied with a shrug.
"Where will it send us?" the other white kid asked.
"No clue," Myst admitted, "but I doubt it has endbringers."
"Screw it, let's do it," Frank said as he pulled a quarter out of his pocket and walked over to the machine with a creepy fortune telling that looked like a zombie in an old fashioned suit.
"Best of luck," Myst told the teens as they held hands and put the coin in the machine.
"Thanks," Frank replied then pulled the lever, causing the three teens to vanish.
"That's one way to deal with the gangs," Myst muttered as he headed back to the game room, curious what the girls were up to.
0o0o0
Comments
Mist of Shadows
Pretty much. I wanted to show that sometimes people are just people.
ZeroLink21
Worm is shitty enough that I could actually see this as a way to get rid of a minority of both the abb and e88
