Phony Pirate Practices

Mage perked up. Even without asking him, Soul knew exactly why he was so excited. Mage had asked him if he could try wearing his armor, once, after he found out what Soul looked like underneath it.

"We don't have this world's money," Soul said, "so we wouldn't be able to pay for anything. But would it be possible for us to try on some of the outfits in the shops?"

Us being Mage, but Soul suspected that Harry already knew that.

"Oh you can use the card if you want to buy anything," said Harry, "we have a...one week pass, one day pass, what did we even get again?"

"One week pass," said Stean. "And yes, might as well put that thing to use, we usually never end up using the shopping features on that thing since well...it is rarely actually needed."

"Oooh, I've been meaning to buy some..." began Vankous as well, before swallowing his words and the look that James gave him. "I need to procure some cloth for some social experiments I need to run."

Mage gave Vankous a look as well, but looked away moments later so Vankous wouldn't notice. A card must have been the money on this world. Harry talked about it in a different way than Mage was used to, but it made the most sense.

"Are you sure?" Soul asked. "We don't have any way to pay you back."

Harry waved it aside. "Money is..."

"Not a problem at all," finished Stean, with a smile in Soul's direction.

Soul opened his mouth to protest, only to stop when he realized it likely wasn't. Harry was old and powerful. It made sense that he would have wealth he could share.

"Okay," he relented. Mage was smiling from ear-to-next next to him. That alone was a good reason not to push it anymore. "Thank you."

Mage gave a nod in agreement.

With that out the way, the group set off towards the town. It wasn't particularly far away from their little cabin, well technically. This was an entire planet after all and this town was situated right smack in the middle of its one continent while the cabins lines the coastline. However, the convenient teleporter that was relatively close to the cabin was capable of instantly getting them there and since Soul and Mage would be joining them, that seemed like the reasonable option.

They were soon in front of the large white device. It wasn't much to look at. The resort had the latest models and they'd come a long way since the bulky and grand things of the past, the newer teleporters were a simple white platform, with designated standing points and a tiny raised control panel. This specific one was designed to carry ten people, so there was plenty of room.

James and Vankous were the first to get on board while Stean stood by the controls. Harry pointed to two small indents on the pristine white surface, marked in a dotted red circle indicator a standing point.

"You two just need to stand there and we'll be in the town in no time," said Harry.

Soul stared at the platform. He had to be giving it a look of confusion underneath his helmet. Mage, meanwhile, just gulped. He remembered the last kind of strange, unfamiliar transportation that Harry had used. It had been like a carriage but worse. Mage got nauseous thinking of how fast they had traveled. If Harry said it would take no time to get to the town, he probably meant it.

Mage dropped his voice down so only Soul could hear him—or was the only person who was supposed to be close enough to hear him. "It's a good thing you don't have a stomach."

Soul gave Mage a look, but Mage was already stepping onto the platform with a grim expression on his face.

Soul hesitantly joined him.

Once both of them were safely on, Stean and Harry proceeded to jump onto the last couple of places. Harry quietly chuckled to himself at Mage's comment on Soul's stomach before stopping as he realized that whisper was probably not supposed to be heard. Well, at any rate Mage wouldn't have much to worry about. The latest teleporters caused pretty much no side effects even for first time users.

Harry dialled in the destination on the control panel before pressing the execute button. There was a slight whirr from beneath the platform which glowed a pleasant emerald green and soon the familiar sensation of being gently swung through the sixth dimension encompassed them. The spikes of hot and cold coupled with the odd itchiness that had persisted in the earlier teleporters were barely noticeable now.

Soon they were standing on a similar but much larger platform in front of arguably the largest town this side of the galaxy.

The world switched around them with a whir, and Mage was left breathless when they were suddenly standing on another, larger platform. Everything was so alive here. There were people moving every which way, with snippets of conversations floating in here and there. Mage's tail went still behind him. He had never been in a place like this before. He wasn't sure he ever would be after leaving this world.

And no one was judging him. No one was looking his way. He couldn't tell if it was because there were so many people here or because they honestly didn't care, but Mage's vision started to go blurry.

He frantically wiped away the tears.

"Soul, look!" he said, turning to his best friend. "Have you ever been to a place like this before-"

He stopped. Soul was standing very still right next to him, his body language unreadable. Mage hesitantly gave him a poke. It was like when Zogin fell asleep and he did, too, but they had severed that connection so they wouldn't keep getting caught in dangerous situations.

Soul jolted.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I...I don't think my body liked traveling like that much."

Harry stepped off the pedestal and let out a small yawn. Using the teleporter was always the most boring to get here. Turning back to the other two, he offered them a smile.

"Are you both okay to continue?"

Mage didn't say anything. He looked at Soul, searching his body language for some sign that he was or wasn't okay. He wasn't stiff like before, but he still seemed a little off. Mage told himself that he'd talk to Soul as soon as they were alone again—if he wasn't saying more right now, it was because it had something to do with why he wore his armor.

He finally tore his gaze away from him.

"We are," Mage said. Next to him, Soul gave an awkward nod—still distracted by the sensation of traveling the way they just had.

Harry wasn't a hundred percent convinced with those replies but he didn't press the matter, making sure to give Vankous a pointed glance to cut him off before he asked something he shouldn't. Soul clearly had a lot he didn't want known and it was best kept that way unless absolutely necessary.

"Awesome," said Harry, nodding. "Well, do we start with the bedsheets first or is there any place you two would particularly love to go to? Just name it and it probably exists here."

Mage looked around the town again.

With how big it was, Harry was probably right. He took a deep breath as he thought of the possibilities a place like this would have. He wanted to try on different clothes here, too, but there was one place that immediately came to mind.

"Is there a bookshop-" Mage and Soul both said at the same exact time. The two looked at each other. Mage grinned, and Soul gave a small laugh from underneath his helmet.

Harry smiled at the two of them.

"We've got a few of those out there," said Harry, "Vankous, can you and James.."

"I'm going for the sheets," said Stean, "cutting him off, I do not need a repeat of that stupid trick. I'll join you three when I get them."

With that, he stalked off, leaving the three of them to exchange a look.

"Well, so what sort of books do you want to look at?" asked Harry.

Mage took a deep breath.

He knew exactly what kind of book he wanted.

"Do you have any stories?" he asked. He didn't care if they were real or fictional. It had been so long since he had held an actual book. Soul knew stories, but he didn't have books. All of those, according to Soul, were with Zogin, and those few books were mostly manuals and notebooks.

"I'd like to read about this world," Soul said, "and other worlds, too."