CH18

“So I’m on the right track then. I should be able to make it smaller no problem, but how will I get it sturdier? Is it just a question of what materials I use?” He looked up from his mutterings and turned to Thera. “How did it feel to use? Was there any issues?”

“Nothing major, I was able to use that spell about as well as I can with Falk’s staff.”

“That’s good, but you could only do it once. I would like you to at least get four uses out of it before it breaks to put me on par with what Falk thought I could do. I’ll have to experiment with some of the materials in the shop, maybe try something that has natural earth resistance? Or should I try to make a better composite material?”

“Um, so you think you’ll be able to make something stronger then?”

“Without a doubt, it’s more of a question of how long it will take. For now let’s head back to the shop.”

As they wandered back into town Ben decided it was time to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while now.

“So just to be clear, do you not like being touched in general or is it something about me in particular that bothers you?”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“I mean it’s pretty obvious. Any time I’ve come close you’ve backed off immediately. It’s not a problem or anything. I’ll totally respect your boundaries, I just want to know if it’s because of me in particular.”

“It’s not you, I just… I’m not one for physical contact. If you’ll respect that then it’s fine.”

“Alright cool,” A small load felt like it had been lifted from Ben’s mind. Everyone has their preferences, he was just happy to know it wasn’t anything against him as a person. “In that case, want to grab a bite?”

“I say I don’t have a problem with you and your first thought is to make a move on me?” She responded, going on guard immediately.

He raised his hands in defense of himself. “Woah now, nobody’s making a move on anybody, least of all my teacher’s niece. I just thought it would be nice to try and get along since we’ll be working together for a while. I don’t really know anyone in town aside from Falk.”

She let out a long sigh at his response, it would be easier to reject him if he was trying to flirt instead of just wanting to make a friend. “Look, you seem like a nice enough person but I’m not looking to make any friends. All that does is complicate things.”

“Fair enough,” He responded with a smile, though inside he was more than a little crestfallen. He really didn’t have much of an idea on how to meet people and currently his only social interaction was with Falk and Myriad.

<Am I not enough for you though?>

It would just be nice to have some more company outside of my head.

Still, he was hungry anyway so he stopped at a food cart for a bowl of… well it was something and the taste wasn’t bad so it probably didn’t matter, before scarfing it down and making it back to the shop.

They greeted Falk and Ben went back to the storage room to grab some new materials. At this point he had a pretty good idea of the properties of what was around so he grabbed a few that seemed like they could be useful and got experimenting.

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