1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

III (1.3)

Half a week passed in utter boredom. Todor got late for work four more times and his pay got docked. 15% of my salary lost because someone keeps taking my parking spot ... Even though he kept going to work earlier and earlier in vain hope of outsmarting the parking space thief. But alas he got late more times than not.

Luckily he got off work early on Friday so he tried to relax. That wasn't going so great either. He caved in and got few history books about Three Banners War thinking he could glimpse what kind of ideology each side was pushing. It was quite the interesting read but he just couldn't concentrate. After reading the same page twice and still getting lost in his own thoughts he slammed the book on the table. Mihos opened one of his amber eyes, looked at Todor and then closed it again. It had nothing to do with him after all.

"I am going for a walk, Mihos." the cat waved his tail once lazily without even opening his eyes.

Todor grabbed his peacoat, phone and house keys and run out like someone was chasing him. Halfway across the yard, he realized he was wearing house slippers. He made a face and walked back replacing them with his boots. Finally ready he left the aging building in a random direction.

After fifteen minutes of mindless walking, trying not to think he noticed he headed for Human Town. Placed on the west side of Moriganhold, it was a large collection of stone, brick and steel buildings which looked like a patchwork of different styles, eras, and cultures. Mainly because it was just such a patchwork. For some reason, Knitting placed parts of two hundred different towns together in one place. The population of this part of Moriganhold was largely human so the name Human Town stuck even after many campaigns to change it to something more dignifying.

He went there a few times but he always felt uncomfortable. These people were different from him. They were born in the world where there are magic, orcs and elves and many other oddities that Todor couldn't grasp yet. But he wanted a change, his very soul ... or some equivalent of it since Anadori and Morgs claim humans have no souls, urged him to act. Every day became the same. Wake up, read about physics and engineering of telecommunications, get depressed since he can't really revive such an enormous infrastructure by himself. Go to work, get even more depressed, get home, shower, go to bed. Repeat.

He stopped and looked at the darkening sky. Clouds started to rumble in the east. It will rain soon. Where am I going? He thought in frustration. Suddenly he felt a tug at his sleeve. He looked down and he saw a small elf boy, looking at him. He was eleven or twelve years old, his blood red hair bound into a braid. Boys ears were huge and pointy going back behind his head like some kind of antennas.

"Hey mister, do you know where I can buy Nintendo 64?" the boy asked.

"I have no idea," Todor said reflexively. "But let's find out," he added motioning the boy to follow him. He hasn't seen a console since all of his got destroyed in the small fire a few years back. He was lucky his house was well built and he managed to pay for damages.

"Alright, but just so you know I have location bracelet." the boy said moving to walk beside him.

"Oh, how good for you," Todor said dryly. The boy grimaced.

"Not so good. My mom can find me anytime she wants and I can't get it off unless she unlocks the charm on it."

"Bummer. Glad my mom didn't have one of those when I was growing up." Todor responded turning left at the next crossroads.

"Where are we going?" the boy asked trying to keep pace with Todor's larger steps.

"I am guessing there must be electronics store somewhere around here," he answered absentmindedly looking around. He thought he saw a sign for 'MagicWaveStop' store somewhere around here. Ah, there it is.