Destination, because journey is to frustrating

[Deleted]

"Come on move! You stupid hunk of metal! You moved before!" Such was the frustration of a very specific clockmaker. It should be noted that Kano did a lot of strange things with logic that only a child could even begin to grasp at, but the shifter's next action was very straight-forward and perhaps a tiny bit reckless. Having used the immobile hour hand as a ledge she had grabbed onto and placed all of her weight on the minute hand eventually finding herself hanging from it with quite a bit of maneuvering required to get back on the stone ledge below.

Giving the hour hand another shove she found it moved with ease. "Of course, when I disconnected the winding mechanism I undid the workings that connect the distance between the hands. Oops, I'll have to re-do it when I finish setting it." The irritation in her voice would have been directed to the old man had she still been an apprentice, instead it lacked a true point. Checking her watch after moving the hour hand to where it needed to be Kano watched the second hand move waiting for the minute hand to move again so the tower would be as correct as possible.

Shifting the giant hand in sync with her watch the girl darted back inside to reconnect the tower's pieces. The whirring sound that greeted her proved that she had done everything correctly. This also meant returning to ground level would be a frustrating endeavor that made certain that the one who fixed everything inside it got out. Slipping between gears moments before they could squish her and walking with a pace unique to each gear she stood on as well as swinging from shaft to shaft with incredible speed, this was all required of the shifter as she made her way through the tower.

[Red_Tower]

Bill grinned as he watched the tower come to life once more. "She's good, real good. I don't see those kinds of skills often these days..." Sighing, the mage leaned back against the lighthouse. He would have to wait until she was gone now to jump. It wouldn't do to have her see him fall and break and splatter in front of her, and show up at the inn later that night without a scratch. He told her some basic things, but if she knew how hard it was for him to die, how would she react? It was nothing to worry about now though. He was just glad she didn't slip up while she was on that ledge. He probably would have been able to jump in time to break her fall, but he didn't, and she clearly had plenty of skill to get out of those kinds of situations.

Bill leaned over the rail of the light tower, watching down below to see when his companion was out of the tower and on her way. She reminded him of someone, at least her speed and agility. "That thief could snag something from your pocket and be on the top of a tower on the other side of town before you even knew what happened. Hmp, its been awhile since I thought about all of them. My friends..." The alchemist's thoughts continued on for a while, thinking about all the adventures and dangers faced with his old group of friends and rivals.

[Deleted]

Leaving through the door and shutting it with more force than necessary Kano began playing across the rooftops again. Most should be asleep now so windows were safer than before and the empty stalls and open canopies were fun to rush through or land on. Giggling as she passed the child's window the clockmaker moved far faster than Bill had seen in the alleyways or over hills. Slide across an empty clothes-line land on balcony railings, continue on, swing on a pole meant to hang an lantern land on a metal planter, it all whizzed by so fast.

Laughing as she skidded down a slanted roof Kano found herself near enough the inn to retreat to ground level. Making her way down via storm drain, the pace slowed to a reasonable walk as the shifter approached the door of the inn and entered. Walking even further and into her room the clockmaker did her job, and made some watches work again. What is a watch if not a wrist-worn clock?

[Red_Tower]

Bill grinned wide as he watched Kano flash by. "I knew she was holding back..." He said, a moment later diving over the rail of the lighthouse. The landing was a lot worse this time. His body was barely holding together. The mage took a while to get up, ring out his coat of blood, and clean up. He stood and watched the flames consume the remains of the jump. Once it was done he headed back to the inn. He groaned as he returned to his room and plopped down on the bed. The rapid healing process was rough, and doing twice in a few hours span made the aftereffect that much worse. He considered going to see if Kano was still up, but decided against it. Instead he rolled over in bed and rested, waiting for morning.

"No dreams, no sleep. After this much time, I should be use to it..." Bill laid there through the rest of the night, silencing his thoughts. He would wait until morning, and see what awaited him next.

[Deleted]

When morning came Kano was pretty done with making the watches work, and after readying herself she stepped into the morning light outside the inn. Now the thing is currently only five people here knew she was a clockmaker, the tailors, herself, Bill, and the mayor. This meant she had a moment to run off to town hall and have the cat fetch her a meal. Sliding the harness over the half awake cat and wrapping the cord around the platform the shifter sent her feline companion off to find something edible.

Spotting the mayor on his way to his job the clockmaker hastily made her way over to the man. "The tower should work smoother now, I gave it a years worth of wind which is the most it could take." Considering how busy the official was the conversation found itself to be very rushed. The girl bounded off quickly finding the child who's night she had interrupted. "Hey I kno-" Kano didn't usually interrupt people unless she was excited or nervous, still, "Yep! I'm Kano, what's your name?" The young girl was not as energetic as the teen speaking to her due to the fact that she was an eight year old who had just awoken but understood the fast words well enough. "It's Kida. How did you do that?"

"Do what? Fix all the watches in my pocket? Get the mayor's attention? Recognize you?"

[Red_Tower]

Bill heard Kano wake up, and so hopped out of bed and grabbed the supplies for his stall off the small table in the corner. He threw his leather satchel on his shoulder and snatched his staff and headed out the door. He saw her coat tails speed off as he stepped out of the inn, so he figured he'd catch up with her later and go set up shop. "Second ring, eh?" He spent a while searching for just the right spot. He found a spot a little bit out of the way from the rest of the stalls and shops, making sure it wasn't going to block a path. The mage set large wooden poles to mark the corners. After that he took his wand off of his staff, and with a few quickly muttered words he pointed his wand at each post in turn, waving it up then down, which raised the poles straight up, and drove them into the ground. With a little grin he put the wand back for the time being and began draping fabric up over it. Before he knew it, he had a small tent stall set up.

Bill headed back to the inn and got the table and sign, rushing back to his shop. He hung the sign up above the opening of the stall, another small grin as he looked at it. In large, neatly painted, flowing letters was "Magician & Alchemist" sprawling across it. The mage began setting up the table in the back of the tent, putting out magical and scientific contraptions and resources. "I suppose now we wait..." Bill muttered to himself as he tweaked the things he had laid out.

[Deleted]

"NO! How were you-mph!" Kano had placed her hand over the kid's mouth as soon as she had inferred what Kida meant. "I just was. Now I have to go help people because I am a clockmaker." The last bit was because the shifter was well aware people were listening and just as she had predicted the end of the child's question she knew what came next. The immediacy of the effect was what made her laugh, hands behind her and some careful stepping got her away from the sudden crowd. "Seems like I'm off!"

Tearing her way down the street the girl was careful enough to avoid most obstacles, such as small children or not so small people carrying crates. Reaching down quickly and grasping at Tuono who was now laden with two meals, one for him and the other for his owner, Kano dashed towards the warehouses. The hope here was to fine a quiet hidey-hole to eat in before chaos set in. Trying about three times with no success the shifter made for the rooftops. Spotting Bill's tent-stall-thingy she sat down on the corner of the building opposite it and watched the people pointing up at her. "Hey Bill are you actually in there or was that placed there to mock me with your relative peace?"

[Red_Tower]

Hearing Kano call out to him Bill poked his head out of the stall. "Of course it's here to mock you, I just happen to be working in it. I saw your work last night, well done. Though I'm surprised you're not on a job now, lazy?" The mage called back, flashing her a big grin and a wave. He was actually surprised she stopped by to see him already. The day was just beginning and he knew she'd be piled high with work before he knew it. Still, it made him happy to see her drop by. Of course, he realized, he didn't recall ever telling her what he actually did.

[Deleted]

"Does actively avoiding working count as being lazy? I did run across town twice just to get rid of the people who were following me because of my job." Tuono chose to make his distaste at being yanked around like that known and try to leave. Kano simply scooped him up again and removed the food, leaving the harness on and giving him a grin. Unwrapping the fish for her cat the shifter made it clear she wasn't going to take the harness off him. Laughing a bit as the tom gave an indignant meow the girl bit into the danish that had been packed carefully into the bag previously on the platform.

[Red_Tower]

"It's procrastinating, which is being actively lazy. You don't have to stay up there ya know." Bill didn't really think she'd come down, but he figured he'd try. The effort was made, and that's what mattered. Also he could tell the cat wouldn't mind getting down. Whatever she did, it wouldn't affect him too much, unless if a lot of people noticed her. She'd probably run again, leaving the people at his doorstep. So he might get a bit of extra business if she did, but he didn't care about it. He grinned at the image in his mind of a hoard of people coming after her, getting dead ended by the weird guy in the tent.

[Deleted]

"True, but I'm to busy proving your point." Finishing quickly Kano stood, jumped across to another rooftop, looked back at Bill and grinned before very pointedly staying up there. 'In order to spite you.' After getting out of eyesight the girl made her way back down and headed to the outer ring, knowing that this was were she should be.

Kida stopped the clockmaker on the way, nagging her mother for money to buy a watch. Of course being who she was Kano was very kind about it, explaining the basics of keeping the watch intact and pointing out how long each would last mostly for the mother's benefit. Continuing on the girl moved to the outer ring now simply waiting for the inevitable hailstorm of people.

[Red_Tower]

"Fine, go on then, I'll see ya later anyways." The shouting between the clockmaker and the alchemist drew a bit of attention from the people in the ring, which brought a few curious onlookers over to see what was going on and how Bill knew the new big hit in town. He would give them a short explanation saying they were both traveling artisans before going into what he offered. Most went on their way after that, though Bill knew they would tell others or come back themselves. And a couple here and there stayed and looked at some he had to offer, some buying things right then, others leaving an order for later. Things were going pretty well for the mage.

Bill knew most people wouldn't have need of his magical talents, but he always put it on the sign and made mention of it to people. Every now and then in these towns someone would need something of the arcane sort, which always brought a light to his eyes. "No luck so far on that one." He muttered to himself as he finished with a potential costumer. "But this is still day one."