13 Suns

--- Jon ---

“Alright kid, lesson time.” His ma told him as they took a seat on a city bench after one of their regular morning runs.

“What on?” He asked, knowing a number of ‘mental’ lessons his ma liked to teach him while they were cooling off during the slower parts of their mornings.

“Mm, how about a review.” His ma decided as she sipped on the coffee she’d bought from a nearby bakery.

“Again, what on?” He repeated, taking a bite out of the muffin he’d gotten from said bakery. (Meh, mine are better.)

“Sanctuary Combat Classes.” His ma glanced at him. “What are they?”

“Sanctuary’s system of identifying the methodology of a given target, by what kind of threat it represents in the field, as well as the best counter classes to take each one down and the combat classes that should avoid them in turn.” He summarized.

His ma nodded before prodding, “And the classes themselves are?”

“The offensive classes are: Bruiser, Scrapper, Blaster, and Marksman. With the first two representing melee, and the last two representing ranged.” He started. “After that are the tactical classes of: Tactician, Infiltrator, Puppeteer, and Slaver. Though that last one is getting some traction to have its name changed by a couple of heroic masks given the connotations of the word.”

“Doubt it will be.” His ma admitted. “The class is named that way to reduce victim blaming after one is taken down. If they changed it it’d reduce hostility towards Slavers, but it might split that hostility with some of the victims.”

“Someone who’s been enslaved is a victim, while someone who’s been brainwashed might be a sleeper agent?” He figured with a bit of a grimace.

“Yep.” His ma confirmed before giving him a look out of the corner of her eye. “And you’ve still got one more set.”

“Right, the support classes: Medic, Overwatch, Guardian, and Scout.” He finished.

“Good.” His ma nodded. “Now, let’s talk about who’s got an advantage against who.”

Scene Consequences

-Gained 1XP to Combat and Awareness.

--Currently: Combat Lv. 5 (7/12) and Awareness Lv. 8 (5/18).

---

Samantha Delacroix studied his Arcane ring with a bit of intent as she moved her hand through the air seeing an illusion that was apparently only visible to those touching the ring.

“Well, you’re no expert, but at the very least you’re good enough for me to sell the E-Rank merchandise to.” Samantha admitted in a dry tone. “Maybe D-Rank if you’re a good enough customer.”

“Thank you.” He smiled, knowing that the only reason she’d had him jump through such hoops was because she was making sure he wouldn’t hurt himself with some of her more dangerous materials.

“Sure, whatever.” Samantha shrugged before reaching under her counter for something. “Anyway, you said you were looking for a contracting catalyst right?”

“Right.” He nodded.

“Then -unless you’re looking for something specific- this is what you’ll be wanting.” Samantha told him, placing what looked like the top half of a human skull on the counter.

“And that is?” He asked after a moment of silence.

Samantha blinked. “Huh, that usually freaks people out given the aesthetic.”

“Why?” He frowned. “I mean, it’s clearly fake. The color and lighting are all wrong for bone.”

Rather than elaborating Samantha seemed to stare at him in that odd way more and more people seemed to be. (And I still don’t get it!)

“Okay, just going to pretend there’s a reasonable explanation for that.” Samantha commented for some reason just before shaking her head and explaining that, “this is a Confidant Contracting Catalyst.”

(Ooh, alliteration!)

“This extremely complicated piece of spell work, takes over a standard contracting circle and rewrites it to scan your magic and then summon a contract highly compatible with you and your magic.” Samantha continued with her sales pitch, before suddenly making a very annoyed expression. “I will point out however that this is not some mystical soulmate-type bullshit, and that there are several possible creatures compatible with you. This is a business arrangement so don’t go into this with some weird overattachment thing. If you make friends good for you, if not oh well.”

He couldn’t help but blink at that little tirade. “Um, that seemed a little… heated?”

Samantha sighed before apologizing. “Sorry, it’s just every time I sell one of these things people try to pull some fate and destiny bullshit, and then come complaining to me about a refund because they don’t get along with their summon or fuck it up on their end.”

“Sounds rough.” He was honestly kind of glad Miss Edna never left him to run the counter at her shop, despite how much time he spent there.

“Thanks.” The tired shop keep gave him a huff of amusement before letting out a tired sigh. “Anyway, if you want it this’ll run you about two hundred bucks.”

He grimaced, hard. “Ouch.”

“I know it’s pricey,” Samantha admitted with a touch of sympathy. “But since I made you go through so many hoops I’m actually offering it at dealer price.”

“I’m guessing two hundred is dealer price.” He commented, already pulling the money out, even if it’d set him back a bit on his self-imposed allowance.

“Usually runs for four.” Samantha nodded with a wry grin. “Which given all of the licensing and receipt crap I have to go through on my end to sell one of these things, I feel is fair in most cases.”

He couldn’t argue with that, though could check that, “this is guaranteed to work?” before handing over his money.

“Outside of that soulmate bullshit? Money back guaranteed.”

Scene Consequences

-Quest Complete: Prove Your Magic: Jon has passed Samantha Delacroix’s test of his magic, getting her to agree to sell him her more mystical wares as well as giving him a discount on one of her more powerful products.

--Gained: Confidant Contracting Catalyst- can be used to summon a high-compatibility summon. (1 Use.) (Note: Contracting Level does not influence available summons.)

--Unlocked the Witch’s Wares as a Store.

Store/Funds Tutorial

-Stores can be visited to buy items for 1AP, but during said visit you are allowed to buy multiple items as long as funds allow. (Voting purposes store sub-plan/vote will be treated as a blocked item.)

-Jon has an amount of funds leftover from his time working for De Sade, but he has a set a limit of ($100 every 5th turn) on his spending to try and make it last a reasonable amount of time. That said, while he is not willing to dip deeper into his hidden funds, he is willing to use any money he picks up through normal means, such as his baking.

---

While he was tempted to use the Confidant Catalyst he’d gotten as soon as he could, he also realized that summoning some unknown creature likely related to the concept of Hunter while babysitting Kenneth was a probably a bad idea.

So instead, while he kept Kenneth passively entertained at his side, he decided to take a crack at learning another concept. And given his current preference towards defensive magic and his hope of working out a way of making magic easier for Pix, he tried focusing on a way of using Defender to try and increase the magic of an area.

And while he hadn’t necessarily found the answer to that problem, (I think I might’ve found a step in the right direction at the very least.)

Fortify was a concept that seemed to be an empowerment sort of magic, the kind that when mixed with another concept -(something I still need to figure out)- could amplify or focus the effect of whatever concept it was bound to. Similarly, if used it just by itself he was fairly certain that the concept’s effects would manifest in a way that would improve whatever he applied them to. Largely in a defensive way, but there might be a few exceptions.

The downside to this empowerment however was the fact that Fortify, seemed to imply a certain stationary effect. What this meant was that while holding still whatever effect he used the concept for would be amplified, but in exchange should the target of the effect move then said effect would actually weaken to a point of being less effective than his other defensive concepts.

“Guess it’s more of a tactical defense, huh Kenneth?” He asked the toddler laughing as Jon continued to lift and lower him a foot in the air with one hand.

“Uppsies!” The toddler giggled.

“You’re right, I should look on the upside of things.” He nodded seriously. “Even if it’s not exactly what I’m looking for, I think I’m working in the right direction at the very least.”

He just had to figure out what he was missing.

Scene Consequences

-Learned new Concept: [Fortify]

--Added a tier below [Defender]

-Gained 1XP to Occult

--Currently: Lv. 5 (4/12)

---

“Kenneth wasn’t too much of a problem was he?”

“No, he really is a sweet toddler.” He assured Ms. Valentine. “We spent most of the time playing games or reading.”

“Yeah, he loves his stories.” Ms. Valentine smiled as she picked Kenneth up.

(Especially when Pix gives a light show with them.) He mentally added with a nod. “Still, everything go alright with your work?”

“Same old, same old.” The young mother told him. “Though I should be off for the next couple of days, so you don’t have to worry about watching Kenneth for a while.”

“You sure?” He frowned with some concern. “I mean, this was technically my first time watching him regularly, so if you want I don’t mind giving you a day off.”

Ms. Valentine gave him another smile. “I appreciate the thought but my days with my little man here are all the time off I need. Isn’t that right sweetie?”

Kenneth snuggled into his mother’s side as she held him close.

This time he was the one to smile. “Alright, well you just be good for ma alright little one?” He told Kenneth, bending down just a bit as he addressed the toddler.

Kenneth gave him a nod as if perfectly understanding him, getting a laugh out of Ms. Valentine as she admitted, “He always is.”

Scene Consequences

-Grown a bit closer to the Valentines.

-Gained 1XP to Childcare

--Currently: Lv. 7 (4/16)