[Task 3 II - Zadi]

Task 3 Part II:

After leaving the meeting room, Zadi noticed that his illusion was undone! Zadi noticed only shortly after the meeting when he wanted to scratch his nose with his right sleeve. He noticed that it wasn't black, but instead purple like his regular old cloak! This was bad. Zadi's identity was compromised! Or was it? It was too late with Azix since was a magician seemingly skilled with illusions, but with anyone else in the room, the Fanalis that couldn't possibly know about magic...maybe, probably didn't know that Zadi's illusion faded. Therefore, Zadi stayed chill as he walked over to the crates filled with weapons and armor and whatnot so as to make the transition from illusion to no-illusion seemingly purposeful. He then added a little sprinkle of information to mess with everyone's thinking process, possibly even Azix;

"Hope you guys don't mind if I take off the first layer of my illusion. Was getting difficult keeping up so many layers at once, hahaha!"

Even Zadi's gruff voice was gone and replaced by his regular voice so as to fit with his "new" pesona...Apollo the blonde guy. Hopefully the added info about "layers" made Azix think twice about whether or not he was seeing the real deal or not this entire time. The thing about multiple illusions is that the top layer is the weakest and the bottom being the strongest so as to fool magicians of any caliber into thinking that they have been seeing through a SINGLE illusion without thinking about there being another, even stronger one underneath. In Zadi's case, he hoped that Azix would second guess his belief that he'd been seeing the real deal and try as hard as he could to see through this "stronger layer". If that didn't work...then whatever. Zadi could care less now that he didn't have to worry about illusions anymore. He could just let everyone think what they wanted to and it would probably not affect Zadi in the slightest.

Anyway, upon arrival to the weapon, armor, and stuff-used-for-war crates, Zadi opened them using the hilt of his sword as a bit of a lever, but mostly using his Savage Ruby in order to put more oomph behind his crate opening. It was tough with such a small hilt-end, but the crates were eventually open. Zadi walked all around the six large crates and took an initial examination of all of them, hopping to get a feel of how long it would take before he was finished sorting them all. Would it matter if all the good and bad things were in JUST two piles? Zadi assumed so. On top of that, this reminded him of his days before becoming a magician. More specifically, the days before the Gawking Heron Era. He used to help the ships in the ports load and sometimes even sort all the goods for a payment every time. Minimal payment, but payment nonetheless. With his extra long sleeves now fully covering not only his left hand with wand, but also his right hand. Imagine gloves but rather sleeves. It would help keep his wand hidden, let his left hand be somewhat usable, and help a little in protecting Zadi from dangerously sharp, pointy, or rusty objects which he was bound to come across within such a huge assortment of things.

Zadi reached into the first crate and picked out the initially good objects, using them as templates for the rest of the equipment checks. For anything that had straps, he pulled on them to see if they were loose or sturdy. For bladed objects, he checked their flexibility and wobbliness. Too much of either and they were scrapped into a pile behind Zadi. Two piles behind Zadi, template equipment of all sorts, and a sharp mind for getting stuff done! Zadi was ready to tackle the six crates of war supplies!

With the first crate, there were several "bad eggs" that needed re-checking to make sure they weren't too poor to be used. The "good eggs" were very good eggs as they seemed newly made unlike most of the bad eggs. Most of the bad eggs seemed overused and possibly decades old. This first batch of equipment made it seem as though Octavius was desperate for war supplies. Sure they had a rough start with the invasion and death thing, but poor equipment is a very bad idea. Good thing Octavius wanted them all checked before they were handed out. Though Zadi isn't all that sure if Octavius would have had them checked if Zadi hadn't showed up. Fate is funny.

The second box of equipment seemed better, but not all that much better. A good number of leather straps were replaced by string and yarn while some equipment just didn't have straps when they were obviously supposed to. The bad egg pile was getting much larger than the good egg pile at a rather fast rate. It could be Zadi's obsessive behavior, but it could also be that this equipment was stolen from bandits rather than Kou troops or other old invading armies of the past. No matter, for the bad pile was just too big to be true! Zadi would definetly go through all of it again.

The third and fourth piles were alright. Half were good, half were bad. zadi could also be getting lazy, but his obsessive behavior didn't feel any less obsessive to him. Zadi wanted to ask the overlooking Sly for help in checking the strength of the equipment, but Zadi wanted to make sure that all the work was his own rather than the already trusted second-in-command. It was tough to keep quiet, but Zadi had the proper willpower.

The final two crates were much better than the others. It was funny how all the crates' qualities were from horrid to splendid. Zadi looked at the good and bad piles and noticed an extreme number of differences between the two. In this case, such a thing was good as it meant that all things were sorted properly.

"Done! Does this all look good?"

Zadi felt like he was talking to thin air. Sly's presence was rather nonexistent at the moment. He sure didn't seem like an ordinary Fanalis. All the same, Zadi felt like he just took a good leap within Octavius' trust-zone.

1,000+/1,000 words

290/290 Magoi/Stamina

Sly watched as Apollo sorted through the items, discreetly double checking the magician’s estimate on the durability of the items. When the pile of ‘good’ items began to grow, he took a more active part, using his Fanalis strength to test the strength of the metal portions and yanking on the straps to make sure they would not snap under pressure. For all the trouble the magician had given about dropping an illusion, he was at least meticulous in his work and seemed to have a decent eye.

After the ‘good’ pile was checked, Sly went through the ‘bad’ pile to sort them by needed repairs, one pile for things that needed to be taken to the blacksmith, another pile for straps and padding, and a third for items that needed to simply be melted down for scrap. When Apollo had finished his sorting task and Sly had double checked, Sly hopped on top of a box and gave Apollo a considering look.

“You did well. Octavius is usually pretty picky about who checks the armor, the last time one of the spot checkers missed a shield in crappy shape, the General broke his nose with it before making him repair it himself.”

Sly hopped down from the box, giving Apollo a clap on the shoulder, his Fanalis strength making the magician sway under the force.

“Well, I don’t know why you lied to him, but you didn’t do half bad work. Friendly word of caution for the future, though… there isn’t anything our General hates more than being lied to. It’s like spitting in his face, a show of disrespect. That man worked very hard for his position and doesn’t deserve your sass or better-than-you attitude. So cap it, next time. He has saved this country from more than you can imagine and does it out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t do it for the glory or to be called a hero. He does it ‘cause he can’t stand to see people oppressed or sad. He earned his respect and you gave him zero reason to give you any, aside from killing some grunts.”

Sly turned to leave the drop point for the weapons, already planning who he would need to send for the broken items and the scrap, as well as who would be able to divvy up the good items to their troops. Roark had promised to get them supplies, but he hadn’t promised how good it would be. Before he left the warehouse, he turned to look at Apollo with a sharp eye.

“Get some rest, mage. Octavius is pulling everyone back to the capitol, things are heating up. We will need all the help we can get when hell breaks loose and if you intend to be part of that help, you should rest up. There is a meeting in a week, if you want to join. If not, thanks for the help and try not to get killed.”

With that, he would be off, disappearing among the people and buildings like he had never existed. He didn’t get the nickname Sly for no reason, after all.

Sly rechecked everything and gave Zadi a very very firm "pat", so to speak, on the shoulder. It felt like an entire person tried to stand on his shoulder. Sly didn't seem to know how much strength he was using for Zadi almost fell towards his patted shoulder's side. Zadi staggered and regained his composure only to be bombarded with words. Zadi wasn't the kind of person to care all that much about someone's past achievements, much less hardship. Octavius knows what sadness and a tough life is like. Good for him, thought Zadi. Good for him. Without such things, a person cannot know what happiness is. As for the part about being disrespected when lied to, Zadi didn't care much for that either, because that goes for almost every living being anyway. Zadi didn't like the idea of "respect" so much as "kindness" for one required there to be another person while the other could just happen without thanks needed. Granted, respect is tied to kindness, but not in all situations. Being kind could also mean you are very rude in the process. Anyway, Zadi had enough with thinking to himself for Sly had already disappeared by the time Zadi walked outside of the storage facility.

"Damn...he's sly alright."

Zadi took head to Sly's advice and looked around for a gathering of Fanalis in hopes of finding barracks of sorts. Zadi wanted to make sure that people wouldn't know where he'd been living this entire time. Sure they knew it must be Typhon, but there might be clues as to Zadi's real identity over at the guild hall. After getting near the Fanalis barracks, Zadi got a few glances and stares. His illusion was long gone and rumors of Zadi being untrustworthy seemed to have spread quickly...maybe. It could just be that Zadi wasn't a Fanalis and looked a bit like a mage at the moment. Zadi decided to avert all the glares and stares by pulling the hood on his dark purple cloak over his head in an attempt to feel less glared at. It probably didn't help in the slightest, but it made Zadi feel secure. There didn't seem to be any bunks available, so Zadi found himself a corner to just sit and rest his mind. With the sleeves on his cloak being so long, Zadi tied them together without showing his wand. This would help keep the wand from getting out of the touch of Zadi's skin in case...well at this point Zadi wasn't using any magic, but he assumed that Azix was always watching...somewhere...somehow. If Zadi let go of his wand, then Azix...or maybe even Sly...would know that Zadi didn't have a layered illusion. Zadi then put his head against the corner of the walls and took a nap.

[exit]