[Benji's Apartment] Heart Rain

by **Bennar Witt** on March 17th, 2015, 5:52 am

7th Spring, 515A.V.
Bennar’s Apartment

Benji groaned as he looked out the window of his modest apartment to find rain tapping his windowpanes. The light wash of a springtime storm was welcome compared to the frostiness of the previous winter, but he was not overjoyed at having to walk to work in it. For his part, Benji enjoyed the rain very much. In normal circumstances, where he could hold up in a dry shelter and observe it with a watcher’s appreciation. But he was a working man now, and would have to walk across nearly half of Lhavit to reach the Obsidian Club. Rain was an entirely different experience when it fell upon you.

So Benji decided to cheat it a bit. Or rather, to attempt to.

The fledgling mage was eager for any chance to flex his arcane power. The city was very strict on such things, but he reckoned he was safe within the walls of his own home. His simple woolen coat would be a dreary defense against the rain. Unless he made it better with a little bit of reinforcement. Benji smiled nervously to himself as he fetched the coat, it lay strewn across his chest, rumpled where he had left it in the early morning after his late shift the previous day. Dressed in only his undergarments and pants, Benji carefully laid the woolen coat across his humble table.

With that done he stood, contemplating the task ahead. It would not be hard, he was more than experienced enough to shield a coat. But he wanted to do the task in the best way possible. And that took thought. As he recalled his fundamentals flashes of auburn hair and a bright set of eyes. The windows into a soul too pure for him to look upon for long, compared to the mundane murk that was his own. But that was long ago and far away.

He fingered the amulet about his neck. Fingers ran across etched letters without thought, a tick of comfort. Lori.

He raised his hands in front of him and began to focus. Nothing like a bit of magic to distract from past regrets. Perhaps that was why it was the only thing he was good at, he thought ruefully to himself. The self-loathing that came with memories of her was an ill taste in a city where he thought he had escaped such things. Sure he told himself he was here to make a new life and give his family more room; But would he have left Alvadas if Lorainne was still there?

Focus, focus was what he needed now. The mage, or server depending on who you asked, started to extrude his djed in a fine layer of the life-essence that he spread across the outer side of the coat with practiced fingers. Though he was no master, he was becoming increasingly accomplished in at least spreading the djed evenly. As his hands moved he was lost in the ritual of the thing. The deeply personal process left no room for other thoughts and all was ignored while he worked.

The djed slowly spread across the coat in what was mostly even thickness. Benji felt back with both his instinct and his mind to places that needed repair and mended spots when need arose. The whole process took nearly three minutes. However, Benji felt it was timeless, as he always did when weaving his magic.

He found the process a double edged sword in that it was a deeply emotional part of him. One that he identified with as his primary self-worth. And yet one of his magic’s most attractive qualities was his ability to forget emotion while he worked it. To forget the past.

To forget Lorainne.

by **Bennar Witt** on March 17th, 2015, 4:34 pm

Benji’s movements were smooth and slow, the physical aspect merely a guide to the deeper significance of the magical component. His djed spilled from him in a controlled manner, like slow water through a chute. He was careful to craft a uniform layer across the coat’s woolen exterior. But Benji was not only spreading the djed across the coat, he was tasking it as well. That was the whole purpose of the exercise, after all.

The youthful mage imprinted on the djed as he spread it across the mundane article of clothing that water was not permitted. He let that thoughts, that rule, that law become an intrinsic part of the djed that he was giving up. He manipulated it to seep into the djed, like water into a sponge. Or paint onto a canvas perhaps. That was how it worked. He would create the little rule, and when mixed with the raw djed it would become like a law of nature within that small shield.

The whole process was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Shielding was his least dangerous hobby, and the one learnt to protect him from the others, but the idea was still harrowing on some mental level. His Reimancy and Morphing were both more intrusive and deadly when it came to self-mutilation, but that was why he had endeavored to become so learned in Shielding.

Finally he felt that the shield was strong enough and well-crafted enough to be tested. Benji sighed as he let himself stem the flow of djed and blink himself back into reality. He tilted his head either way, feeling the stiffness crack out of his neck. The rain was still a slow, lazy drizzle against the unyielding panes of glass.

The tea industry would benefit greatly from this rain, but it does nothing for me. The thought had come randomly to him. Perhaps a testament to his youth as the son of a merchant. Though he liked to deny it, he thought like his father.

Benji grinned, a mirthless crook to his lips that was more bitterness than nostalgia. Lori had loved the rain though. She had ran through it between awnings in Alvadas, and pushed him back into it from safety, giggling. He felt himself smile at that memory. Friends were a rare currency, and he had struck gold with her. But now he was in Lhavit and had a job to get to.

His linen shirt was on the corner of his bed. He crossed the small apartment and donned it gracelessly. Ben made a half-hearted attempt to make his hair look more presentable, but figured it would damped down with the rain anyway, so who cares. Then he donned his newly magicked coat and stepped outside his door to test the functionality of the thing.

The Spring sky was dark and heavy with water as he made his way through the weaving platforms and spiraled pathways that made up the innards of the apartment building. A cool wind, a freshly washed city. It was not so unpleasant, truth be told. But he had yet to step into the rain.

by **Bennar Witt** on March 23rd, 2015, 4:15 am

Benji’s boots splashed minuscule waves across the shallow puddles arranged in any place not protected by a roof or canopy. Lhavit was wet, not in a frigid way or in a depressing way, but in a light, nourishing way. The rain fell in a lazy, springtime manner that cooled the air, though not as icily as the previous winter. Benji tried to avoid the deepest of puddles in areas where the ground was concave or where flooring had warped by gravity. But it was everywhere, and he could not avoid most of them.

The streets and avenues were mostly deserted. It was probably because of the early hour, the night was barely beginning. But Benji thought that even for the afternoon it was desolate. Perhaps people were disinclined to leave their warm, dry homes because of the first of the spring rains? Did that bode for a boring shift, he wondered.

As he walked, Benji thought of Lori. Her laughter rang in the sanctuary of his mind and that ever-emotive face smiled gleefully. She had an easy smile. Her whole face would form to it and make it so infectious that no amount of macabre mood could shield one from it.

For a moment Benji felt utterly alone in the rain, walking amongst the spirals of Lhavit. For a moment he was lost in memory, the city empty save for his solitary pilgrimage through the rain.

He frowned down at his feet as he walked. They were getting quite soaked. He scrutinized them more closely. They were getting unnaturally wet. It was as if the rain fell harder on his boots than anywhere else. He continued to think about this problem as he walked through the city. But as Benji stepped under the arched roof of a public bridge he felt an odd sensation. As he walked the rain stopped falling on all but his feet. Then when he looked down at them again he found that it was actually runoff from his coat. It puttered to a stop as he watched, frowning.

The shield!

It came crashing down on his mind with all the force of a sack of potatoes. His shield upon the coat kept the water from soaking into it at a normal rate, instead it just ran down with gravity to pour upon his feet. Benji groaned at his own stupidity. He had been doing shields for years! Why hadn’t he seen this coming?

Lori spun in the rain on an Alvadan summer dusk in his mind’s eye. Oh yea. He had been distracted.

Benji sighed and glanced around the small foot bridge. No one was around. The young server kicked off his shoes and glanced around again. If he was caught it could spell a punishment for him. But it wasn’t harmful magic, he told himself, so it wasn’t too bad.

Benji began to focus once again, the stress of the public magic serving to hone his focus like a cold blade’s edge rather than scatter it. He did not want to get caught. The young mage began to force his djed out of his physical form and into his manipulating hands. The mage began to lay it on the shoes like a painter. The seamless way it coated the shoe evenly gave him an inexplicable and deep sense of satisfaction. The exertion from the djed loss felt subtle and appealing, like healthy exercise.

Benji inwardly hoped no Shinya would come strolling down this particular back alley bridge.

by **Bennar Witt** on March 24th, 2015, 3:34 am

Benji’s nerves began to fray as he crouched there in the bridge, the situation developing in his mind to be more and more rash. What would he say if the Shinya appeared? He decided to press on and not think about the possibility. In life you only get ahead by taking risks, his father had said. Here he would risk punishment to keep his shoes dry, or rather, keep them from becoming even more wet than they already were.

He thought back to the task he had given his previous shield that day. To impede water from entering. He mimicked the task here. Gently coaxing the mental rule from his mind and laying it upon the caked djed now surrounding the first shoe, he let it attach itself like a floating mite of dust to a surface. The intangible concept met the djed and soaked into it. He could feel the shield take on the purpose.

When he was satisfied that it had worked he began on the second boot. The youth was still crouched down, his ankle panting with a dull ache from his body weight. His eyes were on the second boot, but not focused in on the physical. His smooth, unlined features were relaxed and he breathed deeply from his nose. It was all part of the process that he went through to do his magic. He was not sure how other mages did it, but this was his way and had been since the beginning.

Finally he let his hands fall. Tired eyes closed for a brief moment as he let out the air in his lungs. He had shielded the outer surface of both boots. Benji hoped that the moisture they had already absorbed would warm and evaporate as he walked in them, through the mouth of the boot. They were still wet, but would at least avoid further dampening…in theory. He had treated both like the coat, so they should act the same.

Benji grunted as he shoved both boots back on his feet gracelessly. He glanced about, once again making sure no one had seen him. With an unnaturally hurried gait he once again began walking to the Obsidian Club. As he stepped out into the rain on the other side of the small footbridge he glanced down at his feet. They were wet.

He could not tell if the shields had worked. His feet and boots were soaked from nearly half the walk from his apartment. He supposed that if it was still raining when he was off that he would be able to tell more certainly.

He sighed into the rain. He was always filled with a trepidation after doing magic, as if his singular journey through the magical arts had no landmarks. He had nothing to compare his achievement to. Lori was gone and he was alone. He hd been alone the whole time really. He knew next to nothing of what was proper.

That was really the case for most of his life. He was just a boy floundering in the wide world with no way of knowing if he was on the right path. Benji snorted ruefully at his own idiotic mental meanderings.

Get your dumb behind to work and earn a coin like everyone else, dolt! He reprimanded himself silently, then tucked into a hurried walk through the rain. He was almost to the bar, and night was rising.