Both a scientist and a loser {OPEN LS}

The clonk of horse steps hitting the ground were the only sound the young scientist heard outside of the carriage he was in. It was the start of new beginnings. Ever since the failed experiment the scientist’s body had undergone an unforeseen change in his body. A colleague at the university was trying to find a way to give a person who could not use magic the ability to use magic. The experiment went wrong and the scholar in the carriage became another casualty of science, and inadvertently the experiments success, because his lab was near the colleague’s lab. He had been fused with some of his botanical subjects, and now acted as a catalyst that could be a pot for plants to grow from. Unfortunately the scientist did not know anything about using magic, he wasn’t a mage, at least until the experiment.

The inside of the carriage was nice; it was a good thing the university owed him a few favors after the incident, which was mostly their fault to begin with for doing something so reckless. Boxes were on the back of the carriage, carrying all manner of specimens, from bryophytes to Pteridophytes. Some deceased Cnidarians, a Poriferan, and an Annelid worm,some parasitic flukes and many other species of creatures were all contained in Jars in one of the boxes, preserved in an alcohol solution used to keep the specimens from rotting. At this point many of the specimens were still kept for aesthetic purposes rather than for personal study. And just in case he missed something on the species of creatures the researcher could always study the previous specimens to some point. Another box carried research materials, such as microscopes, cellular slides, a few lacrima based lamps, and dissection tools. A third box carried chemicals he may need for experiments, such as acids and a few known poisons. These boxes were labeled as dangerous and to be handled with care. The scientist probably wouldn’t let anyone touch these boxes, as they were the most valuable. A fourth box carried research documents such as extensive lab reports and any notes he took on experiments he was currently conducting, at least what could be salvaged after the experiment. Lastly there was a single box with some extra clothes pairs of clothes for him, along with a few blank sheets of paper and some writing materials. This was what the scientist brought with him on his new journey.

The scientist in the carriage was on a new journey after the faulty experiment that changed his life forever. After he had acquired this magic power he needed to find and learn how to use and control magic. If he couldn’t control it, it could become a hindrance to his research. The scientist deemed it extremely probably that a situation like that would arise if something wasn’t done. Therefore he put in a request and resume to a magic guild that liked to send specimens to the college for study. This guild was known as Lamia Scale, and was the final destination of this carriage. As the nature of such a journey being taken implies, the guildmaster of Lamia Scale had accepted his resume. He was expected to be there this afternoon, and he was right on schedule as the carriage pulled into the city of Hargeon, where the guild resided.

The scientist sighed as he looked out the window. He did not want to have any part of society. The college itself allowed him to stay fairly withdrawn from the world and minimize his contact with it. He could leave in a carriage to the woods or whatever ecosystem he wished to study, and never have to come in contact with people outside the college, who knew not to disturb him unless it was important. The scientist doubted he would get such a luxury in the guild. The guild was not a place where you stayed so he would have to find a place of residence and would need to travel from that residence to the guild daily by foot. The scientist hated crowds and would have to figure out the best times to avoid them. Food would also be an issue. The guild would probably pay him to study the specimens they would have originally given the university so that was a good perk of coming. Due to his youth he rarely got first crack at some of the behemoth creatures that came to their doorstep via Lamia scale.

Soon, the carriage reached the guild hall and the scientist heard the clonking horse feet stop. “We’ve arrived sir Elwood,” the driver stated through a window from the front.

“Thank you Mr. Jones,” the scientist replied as he opened the door to the carriage and stepped out. Elwood was the scientist’s last name. The driver was careful not to state Mr. Elwood’s first name, which the scientist detested.

When Mr. Elwood stepped out of the carriage he wore black and white. His shoes were simple and brown; he wore black sweats and a black, long-sleeved shirt. Over that shirt he wore a white lab coat, signifying his scientific status. His hair was grey and messy, the grey color being a side effect of the experiment, and his eyes were a dull blue color. “I’ll remove my things and let you be on your way,” Mr Elwood told the driver as he started taking the boxes down one by one from the back of the carriage. The driver simply nodded in response, knowing not to interfere with the scientist too much.

After the scientist grabbed the last box he gave Mr. Jones a blunt farewell, simply stating the last box was removed and to have a safe journey back. Mr. Jones nodded and said farewell to Mr. Elwood one last time before driving off.

The massive guildhall was certainly impressive. It wasn’t as tall as the university was, which towered over much of the city it was in, but the hall had much more girth and looked like a military base that stayed on the shore. Mr. Elwood wasn’t entirely comfortable living so close to the sea but the structure seemed stable enough. Mr. Elwood only had a few questions now. How was he going to get all of this luggage into the hall without anything getting stolen? He could only carry one crate and or suitcase at a time with his weak muscles. Such a question pervaded the scientists mind as he began to hypothesize a means of getting all five crates in at once so he never had to leave anything alone.

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word count: 1,103

Maya sat in the Lamia Scale guild hall, a rather hefty book on the physiology of magical creatures laying open on the small table in front of her next to the entrance of the guild hall. She had been spending a large amount of time these days going through the guild's immense library, whittling away her time reading up on any subject that might pertain to her...interesting situation. She'd made it through most of the books on magical theory at this point. Most of the ones she could understand, anyway. She was normally a pretty fast and eager learner, but the higher-level books with their technical jargon tended to make her head spin just a bit. She was sure that she'd be able to tackle them eventually. For now, though, she had to make do with the stuff that she could definitively wrap her head around.

The sounds of movement outside caught her attention, drawing her mind away from the pages of the book and back into the real world. It sounded like Lamia Scale had a visitor. This was rather commonplace, but Maya didn't usually have to greet them; she was very rarely the only one in the entrance hall these days. Still, it was worth a shot; maybe she'd make a new friend in the guild. She could definitely use that, what with things with Aera being strained and Gisen busy with her Guildmaster duties. After carefully placing her bookmark, Maya stood up and stretched slightly before making her way to the entrance. As soon as she made it, however, the sight made her stop dead.

Standing in front of the gate was a strange man in a lab coat, with greyish-white hair. That just so happened to be the only descriptor she had of the Doctor, the one who had changed her. Maya's mind raced. What the hell was he doing here? Was it even him? There had to be more than one white-haired scientist in Fiore. But there was the possibility, and that was enough to make Maya's already fragile facade of calmness fall apart. Her eyes flared red, her agitated state causing the Lacrimas within her to activate. She stood there, frozen for a few moments as she almost quaked in her shoes, before finally managing to get some words out. "W-what business do you have with Lamia Scale?" She stammered. "D-do you want to see somebody? Do you have a j-job? Or d-do you have another reason?"

Mr. Elwood stood there for a few moments, pondering his next course of action until a timid long haired person appeared before him. The person stammered, the words emanating from his or her, the scientist thought it was a male but was a little uncertain. Perhaps it wasn’t human at all. You never knew in places like this. The scientist was from a well known university and half the place barely registered as human, those that did register as human were either really good at faking it or hadn’t opened their mouths yet to prove they were some deranged subspecies of human that merely took human form because whatever higher power existed in the world decided to fuck with people on the day they were born. It made logical sense to hypothesize that magic guilds were of the same mold.

“I’m here to join the guild,” Evi replied politely yet firmly, not giving his name, more so out of embarrassment than a desire for anonymity. He didn’t want to talk too much to anybody and focus on figuring out how to control his newly found and undesired powers.


“Would you mind standing here to watch my luggage while I carry this one up,” Mr. Elwood asked as he pretty put the answer in her mouth, or didn’t let it come out of her mouth at all really, and walked off to carry the first crate up the stairs. Mr. Elwood placed the crate at the door in a safe place before walking down the stairs for the next one, quickly grabbing each crate of suitcase one at a time and carrying it up the stairs without giving the hooded person a chance to object.

Once the scholarly scientist got down to grab the last suitcase he faced the person again. “Thank you,” he said quickly, not really knowing anything else to say and not feeling like he should have said anything else. “Do you happen to know where Mr. Coestra is? I was told I was supposed to talk to the guild master upon my arrival,” Evi replied, assuming the timid person in the hoodie not to be the master of the magical guild that hunts monsters.

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word count: 367