Jjhutto_Son of Flame
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B3. Ch. 23 Big Dragon Energy
🕑 Added 2024-07-30 02:18:16 +0000 UTCOn the way back to his room, Tilly couldn’t help but glance down at his hand every minute or so. The multifaceted dark ring glittered knowingly back up at him and he wondered how noticeable it was to the people passing him on the road.
He had never been a big jewelry guy, metal accessories and firefighting just didn’t mix that well. He had managed to more or less ignore the bracelets seeing as how they sat under his sleeves most of the time. But with the new, very expensive ring added into the mix, he couldn’t help but feel like he had just walked off the set of Saturday Night Fever.
Sure, he had regrown an arm yesterday, but for some strange reason, that had felt more par for the course than his new style choices. He understood his old life was gone, hell, he fought monsters on an almost daily basis now. But this… this felt different, it felt like something new, but no longer foreign. He was different, and not all of those differences made sense to him right now.
It wasn’t that he hated or loved the growing power or wealth… Both had been true at one point or another in the last few weeks. No, what he was having trouble wrapping his head around was how natural it was beginning to feel. This was his life now… and surprisingly, that was starting to bother him less and less.
Walking through the streets however was not the same as meditating deeply over the internal implications of these changes, so he pulled a classic Tilly and shoved those thoughts down for later. As he navigated the busy streets, he unconsciously tugged on the cuffs of his jacket, covering the already hidden bracelets. Then that strange shivering sensation hit him again along his arms, and he looked down to watch the sleeves spontaneously grow two inches, falling at the first joint of his thumb.
“Thanks,” He breathed down to his jacket, once again struck by how sensitive it was to his needs, and what it was willing to do to help him. Well, not all his needs… It had never once changed to block a deadly blow. But that thing it had done to create a place to keep Kindle’s tiny fracture had meant a lot.
Almost as if it could hear his thoughts, the armor squeezed him around the shoulders and upper back in an eerie facsimile of a hug. Tilly tried not to shiver at the sudden thought of wearing something that might very well be sentient. Especially considering he had still not located anything that could suitably serve as boxers.
Tilly sighed in relief when the sliding door to his humble abode came up on his right. He stepped up and opened it, not hesitating to enter his own home. He was not at all prepared to find, not just Mochizuki waiting for him in his rooms, but the Auction House Auditor themselves.
Both of them were sitting comfortably on their knees at a low table. Tilly had never seen the table before, but it now sat naturally in the center of his one-room house, hosting a pleasant-looking tea ceremony. Tilly looked down at the threshold of his house and saw two pairs of sandals present near the door…
‘Shit! they removed their shoes!’
“Excuse me a moment,” Tilly breathed, attempting to sound as calm as possible as he stepped back out and closed the sliding door without hesitation. He had barely caught the look on their faces as his shallow distraction moved to block them from his sight.
‘Ok, read the room, Tilly… I have to take off my moccasins if I don’t want to be rude. That is not good considering I must absolutely stink. Nose-blindness, you are my Bane!’
Tilly rushed through all of his options, and in a split-second decision, activated Flame’s Wrath, covering himself in hungry blue fire. He especially pushed the outflow through his feet making sure to incinerate any grime or funk that had collected there over the days of training and walking. He canceled the Ability after what must have been less than a second and allowed himself a quick serious look, up and down the street, but didn’t hear any shocked screams and only saw a few people glance over at him in curiosity.
Kindle however tweeted happily from his front pocket, before snuggling back to sleep after her short snack. Tilly took a deep breath and opened the sliding door again, greeting both of his guests with a small polite bow. Making sure to school his face to nonchalance before he looked back up, he stepped in and removed his shoes calmly, adding his primitive moccasins to the neat row to the side of his door.
“Welcome to my humble home, I am glad to see you have already made yourself comfortable.” He addressed them in what he hoped wasn’t too stiff a voice. As was typical, he was completely lost on what etiquette was appropriate in this situation, but at least this time, he had avoided two major social pitfalls before starting the conversation.
“Mr. Tillman! It is my pleasure to introduce you to Talia, the Auction House, Assessor assigned to our humble Faction. Please join us and have some tea.” Mochizuki answered gesturing demurely with a smile that pulled slightly at the edges of her mouth.
“Mr. Tillman, it is an honor to meet you. As you can imagine, I have heard quite a lot about you in my short stay here.” The Assessor stated in a smooth, female voice, carrying an accent that was familiar in a vague sort of way.
“Only good things I hope!” Tilly answered with false cheer as he settled down at the table, noting that Mochizuki was already pouring him a steaming cup of tea. He nodded to her gratefully, and immediately took a sip, enjoying the warmth without any threat of discomfort due to his heat resistance and high Endurance.
“Now, how can I help you?” He asked attempting to hold on to his polite demeanor in the face of another one of Mochizuki’s surprises.
“As you know, my organization is committed to opening a branch in your Faction. You have been put forward as a representative, and I hope I am not too forward in this… But I am here to test your quality.” The Assessor answered without batting an eye.
Tilly tried not to stiffen in response, and Mochizuki chimed in, “Mr. Tillman. Feel free to be as direct and open with Talia as you would a close ally. She is bound by many heavy oaths to maintain client privilege, and will not share what she hears here with anyone. Even most of the people in her organization will not know the details of who you are and what you are capable of. It is why so many trust them with such precious and at times delicate business.”
“Yes, the advantages of the Auction House are well known. But the question here is: What level of auction shall we allow you access to? Your Faction will gain access to an inventory of plane-wide goods we facilitate for our 33% fee. But that is the common stock, available to all in our network. What makes you worth allowing access to our highest-level event?”
Tilly took in her words and breathed through them. He was getting heavy interview vibes, and he had never, ever done well trying to talk himself up before a future boss. He glanced over at Mochizuki and she gave him a slight nod, her eyes flashing briefly with a plea. ‘Hmm, maybe this wasn’t as planned as I thought. Which means I need to play this carefully… I can’t be myself, that never works… I don’t know nearly enough to be polite or try and play politician... looks like that leaves one option; Rich Asshole.’
The polite smile that had sat uncomfortably on Tilly's lips slowly turned downward, and his shoulders relaxed, matching the angle of his falling frown almost perfectly. Then in a fit of inspiration, he activated the Dragon Emmesary armor set, causing a rippling change to run down his equipment. He was pleased to note that the pocket holding Kindle was seamlessly transitioned to a front dress pocket on his new scaled suit jacket.
‘Armor, you are sooo getting a bonus when this is all done.’ he thought toward the equipment, not at all sure if it could read his mind or not.
The momentary change released the slight after-aroma of smoke from his hasty immolation outside the door, and he slowly placed his hands on the table, joining each of his fingertips in a pose he imagined a board room CEO might take on in the middle of negotiations. The move had the added bonus of fully displaying his fancy new ring and his Celestial Bracelets.
“Well, if you are here to determine quality, I should probably put my best foot forward.” He finally spoke, voice dripping with unfelt scorn as he picked up his cup of tea again and slurped loudly.
“While we never force exact figures from our sources, I have it on good authority that your liquid purchasing power is… underwhelming.” She stated slowly, searching out his transformation as she delivered the line, her eyes lingering on the ring. Then Tilly felt the slight mental pressure he had learned signified someone using Identify and his newly settled Dragon’s Aura, roared through the room. Tilly was only slightly satisfied to see the cup in the Assesor’s hand shiver briefly before calming to stillness.
Wanting to capitalize on the moment, he answered her veiled question with a rejoiner that was utter bullshit, “I assure you, the majority of my resources are well beyond your information network. I plan to sell extremely rare materials at your auction, and I will purchase any trinkets I see while I am there.” Then Tilly paused, allowing his frown to slowly climb up into a predatory smile. It was much less difficult that he expected to lean into the draconic mindset that came with this armor set and he briefly wondered if that was due to unwelcome mental influence… or even more disturbingly, if the armor awakened something that had always been there.
“This is all, of course, if my humble quality merits such access.” He finished languidly, covering over his sudden internal doubt with as much oozing confidence as possible.
The Assessor's eyes drilled into Tilly as he relaxed holding his empty cup in both hands. Under her gaze, he found that much of his initial nervousness had faded away. He knew he was spouting bullshit… but at the end of the day, he had looked much scarier things in the eyes and lived to tell the tale. He had already faced battles far more perilous than this, and he pulled on those experiences, drowning the room in his aura.
She blinked once, very slowly, and then released a small breath, “Very well, it seems that some of my sources were less informed than they thought. I am always happy to be wrong, and I hope you can excuse the passion in which we, at the Auction House, perform some of our duties.” she finished, any sign of being caught off guard, erased from her posture. Tilly dipped his chin slightly at the admission, and the Assessor stood smoothly to her feet.
“Mochizuki, thank you for your introduction. Mr. Tillman, I think I am going to enjoy working with you.” She said, faint lines pulling slightly at her eyes, in a brief suggestion of a smile. Then she glided around the table, and was out the door, in a surprisingly graceful but quick motion, leaving the two of them sitting at the table.
As soon as the door slid shut, Mochizuki held up her hand, and a faint pulse radiated from her, washing Tilly in static briefly before the noise in the room went back to normal. Then she let out a huge sigh.
Comments
Joshua Hutto
no, thank you
Joshua Hutto
This is the way
Wyatt Hilbert
Thanks for the chapter
DurzoMandragoran
Nothing like a little BDE to BS your way through a negotiation 😆
