Unrecognizable

~Chapter Fourteen~

Lucky for him, by the power of rocket spamming and lucky maneuvering, Scar was able to get to his destination in a mere matter of minutes. Landing right in front of Larry, Scar quickly emptied the contents of his pouch into a chest; grabbed his spellbook, a notebook, and a quill; and set up some chairs and a table outside.

Larry chirruped in greeting and moved his head down for Scar to give him a little pat pat. The wizard obliged gladly, rubbing his snail's head as a purr-like sound seemed to emanate from him. Scar chuckled, and leaned back again, opening his notebook to a blank page and setting it on the table. He also opened up his spellbook to a page very helpfully labeled 'Stuff'. Dragging his finger down the page, he landed on a scrawled word, 'Animation'. The action of bringing something inanimate to life. 

Simple enough.

...Or not. As the rest of the sunlight drained out of the sky, Scar's notebook filled with quick-written, yet somehow clearly legible, notes and sketches. The spellbook was definitely helpful-- the notes on animation were easily deciphered by the wizard. The issue was transferring the direct magic to magic applied by crystals. As the sunset waned and the moon peaked over the horizon, Scar used the light from his crystal that he still wore around his neck to illuminate his writing. Even though he could see perfectly well without it-- the effect increasing his sight capabilities, after all-- it was a force of habit that he couldn't shake, and the crystal itself was a nice example to glance at from time to time.

Eventually, when he deemed his research to be done, and was ready to begin enchanting, Scar quickly went back inside Larry's shell to retrieve a certain heart-shaped, clearer than glass crystal. Scar had been saving this one for something special, as it was one of the few crystals he had that were actually shaped like something, and this was as good a time as any to use it. He quickly climbed back down the ladder and retook his seat at the table, and continued to finalize his preparations.

Scar didn't even notice, as he worked, that the admin hadn't arrived until the moon was at its peak in the sky, when said bee-suited Hermit came crashing down right into the water off the shore, making a relatively large splash. Lucky for Scar, nothing got damaged, but he must've jumped out of his skin, as Xisuma chuckled as he resurfaced.

"Sorry, Scar," he said quickly, climbing out of the water and checking his suit for any leakage. "I got a bit caught up in my work and couldn't make it on time." 

Scar blinked. Since when was X ever late? He had never 'gotten a bit caught up in his work', and often even came early. X had been acting exceedingly abnormal lately, hadn't he? The admin had seemed... off... for almost two weeks now. Scar wondered if there was anything going on that troubled him. "Are you alright, X? You've seemed a bit out of it for awhile now."

Xisuma waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, no, I'm fine," he reassured Scar. The wizard nodded slowly, uncertain, as he continued. "Bit of work to catch up on, that's all." Directing his gave to Larry, the Hermit smiled. "Hi, Larry!" The snail chirped in response, obviously pleased to see X and Scar couldn't help but smile.

X sat down in the chair opposite to Scar, his eyes drifting immediately to his spread of supplies. Gesturing to them the Hermit asked, "Seems like you've been up to a little work as well. What are you doing with all of that?"

Scar, who was not prepared in the slightest, quickly fumbled his crystal and held it up. It wasn't yet enchanted, so it was somewhat hard to see for even Scar, who had his handy sight aid. "I'm working on a new crystal, actually. A lot different from my other projects." He held up his notebook to show the admin.

X nodded. "Oh?" He squinted a bit behind his visor. Scar was confused for a moment before he realized, of course X couldn't see it. He didn't have Scar's crystal.