In the Darkness

Damian sighed , looking up to the moon as he stretched. The night had only just begun and he was glad to be awake so early. As he walked from the dark alleyway the darkness seemed to roll off of him as if it were smoke."Hmm what to do tonight..." he said to himself as his eyes scanned the area. He noticed a flickering 'open' sign in the distance. He started twords it.

The small diner had barely anyone inside. A waitress was cleaning up the mess from the most recent customer and a sign saying 'seat yourself' was hung over the please wait to be seated sign. The cook in the back was smoking , Damian could smell the tobacco burning even from this distance , a smell he greatly disliked.

Damian took a seat in a booth near the door , twirling his long silver hair in his fingers while he waited to have his order taken. The waitress approached him "What'll you have?" she asked. He watched her calmly , she looked 18 at best , small figure still a few blemishs on her face from puberty. "Whats the best thing on the menu?" he asked calmly. The waitress thought for a moment before responding. "You might want to try the waffles. The cook at this hour makes them really well" she said , brushing something off her apron. "I think ill take that" he said with a soft smile.

The girl jotted down his order then looked up , seeing him smile she suddenly blushed "Itll be right out" she said , then rushed off to the back where the cigarette smell was coming from. "I hope there's no ashes in my waffle" he said lightly to himself , as if not to be overheard...

Tonight was the first night that Akimoto had left his apartment in almost four days now. Working on another failed machina. Every failure drove him to try harder, but chipped away at him as well. This one was supposed to be a huge breakthrough. Maybe not as big as Taro, but still.

After his shower and shave, Aki walked out the front door and immediately made a direct course for his favorite diner. The food was good this time of night, and the waitress was polite and respectful. The machinist made his way to the door and proceeded to let himself in. The diner was almost empty and smelled of smoke. At least it didn't smell like burning flesh like my apartment, he thought to himself, tentatively rubbing his hand. The burn-mark wasn't too big, but it was fairly obvious. The machina he had been working on decided to overheat and explode, sending a nice piece of molten metal on a collision course for his hand. That'll teach him to forget a coolant system.

Looking around for a table he liked, he spotted the one and only patron in the establishment. He was sitting on the far side of the diner, one table away from Akimoto's usual spot. The blond-haired man made his way to the table and sat, waiting patiently for the waitress. When she arrived, he ordered, “Hello Lisa, long time no see. I'll have the usual and a cup of coffee.” The waitress departed, and Aki looked briefly at the other man. Something was off about him. He didn't know what it was, but there was something.

Reaching into his jacket, Akimoto took out what appeared to be a polished silver egg. Setting it on the table, he picked up the newspaper next to him and began to read. The articles were boring, but they would serve a good purpose soon enough. Data must be collected from time to time otherwise his friend would go out of date. Aki looked at the 'egg' and smiled. His masterpiece.

The smell of waffles filled the air , as the girl brought out a plate of waffles setting it infront of Damian with a cup of water. Damian nodded with another soft smile and the girl blushed and headed into the back again. He grasped he fork gently and began to toy with his waffle , running it around his plate as if inspecting it thoroughly.

Suddenly the fork plunged into the fork. Steam rolled out as if it was screaming in pain as it entered the mans mouth. The waffle fought full force , attempting to gag the man as he feircly crunched it into a waffle mush. The waffle gave up , sliding quickly down his throat as he swallowed it.

He smiled , enjoying the flavor of the waffles. His eyes set on the second one as he began to play with like he had the first , moving it slowly around the plate and then flipping it over. He looked over at the condiments , considering how brave to be. He softly touched the ketchup , then moved his hand away quickly , it would have been a bad idea he could taste it. A moment later , grape jam had been applied to the next victim. his tongue rolled around the knife he had used to apply it , cleaning it as he enjoyed the grape jam.

A moment later the second waffle was gone without a trace, water being used as a chaser to grape waffle. Suddenly his eyes widened , and he spoke to himself "Need chocolate" he said out loud. His eyes drifted over to the young man in the booth next to him , but they didn't linger , he was to busy thinking about what to eat his next stack of waffles with.

The man across from Akimoto was a very odd person. He toyed with his food like he was playing some sort of game. Food was nothing more than fuel. Fuel feeds the machine. Did this man understand nothing? Who cares what you put on it, a waffle is a waffle. Ugh. This man bothered the machinist.

Soon the waitress came back with Aki's 'usual'. His plate had eggs, bacon, sausage, and two pancakes. The coffee was delivered, and quickly and quietly Aki devoured the entire thing. The plate cleared of all its tasty contents, the man got to work. He looked at the egg-shaped device and said, “T-13, activate.” The little silver egg sprouted three legs and lifted itself gently. Now standing, the device began clicking rapidly. Once it stopped, Akimoto replied, “I'm sorry if you don't like this newspaper's views or ideals, you are reading it for the language. Next time I will get you a better one, but this is all they had.” After another bout of clicking from the machina, Aki spoke again, “No I will not ask for a different one. You get what you get. Sorry, Taro.”

The little egg fell silent, save the occasional whir of a gear. Aki went back to his coffee, sipping it slowly. He needed the caffeine, otherwise he was liable to pass out at any time. His exhaustion was reaching critical levels, and his two options were sleep and caffeine. Sleep was for people with nothing to do. Akimoto had much to do, oh so much. The problem was in order to accomplish said 'much' he needed a test subject. One that was alive, and had the capacity for magic. The blond-haired man hated magic, but he found himself needing it, in order to hate it more. Looking at the silver-haired man, he asked, seemingly randomly, “You sir, are you a spell-slinger?”

Waiting for the response, he checked on Taro, who was still reading, and his coffee, which he finished drinking. Looking back up at the man he said, “Well? I don't mean to be a complete and total ass, but time is money, which I don't have a lot of.”

Damian pushed his plate to the edge of the table , making a slight scraping noise at it skidded across. He listened to the clicks and clacks of the small mechanical being , technology rather fascinated him on some ends , but on others it simply found a way to annoy him.

The man before him seemed to be having a conversation with device to which he couldn't understand the devices speech. Perhaps it spoke directly to the man , such as the way Loki did to him. However it mattered , Damian could not understand the device and that was all he needed to know.

He heard the man ask him if he was a 'spell slinger' as the man put it which to what damian could tell , for the most part anyways , was false. "Hmmm , some might consider that a derogatory term. Perhaps you would like to rethink your sentence when asking others? But , if you want to know if i can control and element then the answer is yes."

During the time he was talking a low growing noise came a dark corner of the room. Damian immediately snapped his fingers and the sound stopped. A moment later the girl came back out to take his plate , and as she did so he said "Ill take another stack of waffles miss" the soft smile still tracing damians face. Finally he returned his attention to the man at the table next to his.

"Is there any particular reason your asking if im a 'spell slinger'" he asked , folding his arms in front of him and placing them on the table. His eyes seemed calm and controlled , but at the same time is gaze seemed almost uninterested as well , as if he doubted that the man would have any kind of interesting answer to his question.

The man began replying in frivolous prattle that did nothing to answer his question. He was simply wasting time, explaining to Akimoto what he already knew. Of course it was going to sound offensive, but that was fine. He didn't like elemental magi, and to be frank, he didn't care who knew about it. Then the man confirmed that he indeed was a spell-slinger, and proceeded to ask why. People and their fruitless questions. If Aki didn't have to answer them, the man would find out soon enough, but instead, he had to answer and see if the man would be willing to help him.

Aki hated free will.

“I am inquiring, sir, because I am looking for someone to help me with some tinkering I am working on. The person that chooses to help me will not be participating with the actual creation, but more along the lines of testing.” The golden-haired man took a quick sip of his coffee and continued, “If you are indeed a magi, then I would be...delighted...if you would be willing to aid me. There is only a very slight chance that any physical harm would be done to you. I am very sure of my work, and I tend to leave a very small chance for error. I am a machinist after all.”

All of what needed to be said now being said, Akimoto went back to his coffee. If the man agreed, that would be excellent. Hopefully he would live through the experiment. A higher death toll was not something Aki wanted. This device was being created so that he wouldn't have to kill anyone. No matter how badly he wanted to. If everything proceeded as planned, the man would demonstrate the technology worked, Aki would thank him, and he would leave. That being said, life didn't always do what it was supposed to, and people were very unpredictable.

Free will.

Akimoto waited for the man's response, his face completely emotionless. There was nothing this man could say that would throw him off, mainly because T-13 had already calculated almost every response this man could possibly give. The little machina didn't even have to, however, as Aki had already done the same. If he was nothing else, he was always prepared.

To be honest i would love to take part , however what type of magic are you needing. Do you need someone who uses their own power in the creation of elements or someone who simply manipulates the element around him.? he said , a questioning look in his eyes "You see i can do both , however i would like to know what it was i was doing and exactly how familiar you are with mages and the elements they use. As a matter of fact , this may seem useless but id like to know if you can name the major elements and how common they are." he said.

He knew his questions would seem random and unnessesary but they were indeed necessary , for him at least. This would allow him to know what level of sorcery to use and of what kind. Damian tilted his head to the side and , depending on how good the mans hearing was he may hear a low growling sound coming from the shadows near damian. After the sound stopped damian nodded but his view never left Akimoto. "Ah yes , i almost forgot. My names Damian" he said , smiling softly.

The man across from him agreed to help him, which was good news, but as Aki began to prepare for departure, he began asking more questions that were directed at what magic he needed and if he could name the elements. This man sure knew how to push this machinist's buttons.

“It matters not what kind of elemental magic you can preform, simply that you are capable. Additionally, the elements are fire, water, wind, and earth. The sub-elements, as trivial as they are, are ice, electricity, ground and nature. As to how common they are, I know not. I am a message runner, and barely leave the city. I do not usually socialize, and care not for the 'news'. I am a tinkerer, a mechanist. All I care about are my creations. Again, I do not mean to sound rude, or come across as an ass, but I tend to be blunt. I have no tact when it comes to conversation.”

With that, Aki stood up, grabbing T-13 and leaving enough cash to cover his tab. Looking briefly at the man, Akimoto added, “I am heading out, if you still wish to participate, you may follow. If you found my answers unsatisfactory, then stay. It matters not to me. Also. I am Nakamura Akimoto.” With that, he turned and headed for the door.