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Overconfident And Underqualified

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:00 pm
by Charlie
The Commons, Kalzasi
90 Searing 122


A floating door.

This hadn't been here before, Charlie would have remembered. It floated a few inches off of the floor in the very center of the The Steady Hand's back room, giving off an untrustworthy aura.

Charlie inspected it, but found it looked otherwise normal. "Ms. Dorothea?" Charlie called out to the front of the store. No response, she had already gone home for the evening. The young man looked to the pile of tailoring he had left to do, and then back to the door. Oh what was the worst that could happen? This was probably just one of the many people he fancied trying to sneak him into their estate without their family knowing. Yes, that had to be it. Why else would it have appeared here, when he was alone? There just was no other explanation for it.

Shit, which one was the Traversion mage again? Hilda, or maybe it was Henrietta? It didn't matter though, he would recognize them when he stepped through the door and into the awaiting arms of someone stunning.

As if.

Charlie swaggered through the door, confident as could be with an effortless grin on his face and the sort of composure that hid nothing about how grandly Charlie thought about himself. It didn't even falter when he looked around and it suddenly became clear Charlie was not anywhere close to where he thought he would have ended up. To have changed his disposition would have been to let on that Charlie might have made the slightest miscalculation in his assumptions. That was never going to happen.

Instead, Charlie took a seat without a moment's hesitation. Charlie had no time for second thoughts when it was hard enough to come up with the first one. "Charlie Angelov." He said, tone too casual.

When asked to surprise Kynne, again there was no hesitation on Charlie's side. "Sure thing." he agreed almost as soon as the words left Kynne's mouth. "Think of a number, any number." He said, though the instruction itself mattered little for what came next

In an flash, he began channeling aether, though the only indication of it was his glowing blue irises. With Kynne's symphony in view, Charlie helped cultivate a single, simple melody. Charlie was careful to ensure it was harmonious with every other thought, subsuming anything contrary and making itself real. To this end, he focused on the structure of the symphony rather than its content. The melody Charlie spent so much work perfecting contained within it a single number.

"Ninety-four!" Charlie said with grand showmanship, at the same time surging Kynne's symphony with surprise that far exceeded what should have accompanied a party trick. Charlie let that emotion linger for just a few second, really hanging on that astonishment before finally withdrawing it and leaving Kynne's mind as it was before.

Expectantly, Charlie raised his brows. "Forgot to mention I'm a professional Willbender. Pretty good, right?"



Re: Overconfident And Underqualified

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:56 pm
by Aegis

Captain Kynne obliged the young lad and produced a thought at his direction. He watched as Charlie's eyes glowed blue. And a great, overwhelming surprise took hold of Captain Kynne. "Wow! You really guessed the exact number that was in my mind! Fascinating!" There was genuine, pleasant shock upon his face and within his aura, a childlike wonder. As the emotion was withdrawn from Kynne's mind, though, something followed after it entering into Charlie's own.

With the thought gone, a smile grew upon the Captain's face, "That is pretty good for one so young and carefree. You should be quite proud of yourself." The Captain stood up from his chair, extending a hand to the young man, "Welcome to the crew of the Duck." And Charlie's symphony was reveling in the delight of the offer. Because of course he would be offered to join a crew with absolutely no details. He was Charlie and he'd just impressed the captain.

And of course Charlie would accept. Why wouldn't he? There wasn't really any other choice.

And Charlie would see that the captain's elven visage was gone, and was replaced by an exact replica of Charlie, physically and Symphonically, though in the captain's attire. The hand was still offered, "Let's have a tour, shall we?"

A door appeared in the wall behind Captain Charlie, opening as he approached. It opened right up to the upper most deck of the ship, overlooking the ocean she was sailing upon. The sun was bright, the wind was crisp, and the crew was busy down below on the deck, doing the things that crews upon ships do. The Duck was large, far larger than she had any right to be, and she was beautiful.

"The Duck is our dear friend and we're going to take her home, aren't we?" Captain Charlie walked over to the steering wheel. "Want to give her a go?"

It was at this point that Captain Charlie was gone, and Kynne was back. He was looking at Charlie in admiration, "What are your orders, Captain?"



Re: Overconfident And Underqualified

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:59 pm
by Charlie

Charlie gladly shook Kynne's hand, still all carefree smiles. "It's a pleasure to be aboard." He said, not finding any particular reason to question why or how he'd been chosen. Theirs was a world of wonder, and you'd think yourself sick if you bothered trying to understand any of it. Instead, Charlie's only question was of a far more mundane variaety. "The Duck, you said?" Charlie confirmed. "Not for nothing, but don't ships like these have fearsome names? The Burning Blade, Solemn Intent, Falling Guillotine, that sort of thing?" There was no mockery in his voice, or even judgement. It was just an odd name.

Charlie stood up then, and blinked as Kynne disappeared, replaced by another Charlie. This at least confirmed one thing to the mage. He did look amazing, and it wasn't just the clothes propping him up. His doppelganger even managed to make the captain's attire work, something he'd only ever seen one or two other people pull off. "Of course, lead the way!" Charlie said, still surprisingly unflappable. He had already walked through a floating door onto a magic ship, he wasn't going to stop over a bit of mimicry, no matter how uncannily accurate it was.

Charlie stepped through the door and out onto the deck of the ship. Contrary to popular belief, Charlie still felt wonder, and it swelled in his chest then. He stared off over the bow in bright-eyed amazement. It was breathtaking in the purest sense of the word, and Charlie's voice died in his throat.

For a few blessed seconds, Charlie was unable to speak.

It didn't take long for him to shake off the intrinsic and infinite beauty of the world, and he offered a nod to Captain Charlie. "Of course!" And with that, he stepped behind the wheel. That Charlie didn't know where he was meant to go, or how much to turn the wheel mattered little, and he bloomed with excitement just by holding the wheel.

"Let's get this old girl home." Charlie agreed, and pointed past the bow of the ship. "Loose all to the wind and chase that horizon."