In two minutes the sun will rise on the city of Overcoat, and in five a flower will be stolen.
— "Rise and shine, lad!" — Rico opened the door with his utmost strength and made it smash against the wall.
Inside the room, Aim was still half-asleep laying in bed, not for long though as he'd be up having breakfast seconds after; not because he had a great work ethic, but because Rico just wouldn't let him go back to sleep even if he tried.
— "You've got some work to do today boy, if you are willing to help your old man that is."
Aim scratched his eyes trying to get the first sight of the day. — "Yeah... I'll help."
— "That's the spirit!" — Rico turned to leave Aim's room — "C'mon then, I've got some scran with your name waiting on the table".
— "Wait, what's the work about?" — Aim was fully awake by this point.
— "Ah was supposed to get a wee package on the mail this morning but it hasn't arrived yet. Was planning on sending you to the post office to check."
— "Alright..." — Not yet out of bed though — "And what's for breakfast?"
— "Bread and eggs."
— "I'll be there."
And Rico closed the door to let Aim dress up.
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Rays of sunshine started pouring from the windows across the room, landing directly in Aim's forehead. Rico was still preparing his portion, whilst, being the three-meters-tall beast of a man that he was, struggling to not knock down anything in the comically small kitchen that he had had to put up with ever since he settled in this house, around fifty years ago.
It wasn't until the sun hit Aim's eyes and he started moving his head up and down trying to find a new comfortable position to keep eating that either of them opened their mouths.
—"So only one week 'till you become and adult, isn't that right?" — His eyes were still set on the pan he was holding, trying not to spill any oil over his arm this time — "To think that when Ah found yer ass in front of my door you were only two."
Aim had his mouth way too full with bread to speak.
— "Now the fun part of life starts, and by tradition you get to choose what to do from now on. So tell me, what's it gonna be?" — Rico dropped the eggs he had been frying for a while on a plate and turned around to grab a few more, taking some time to put his gaze on Aim's face while he spoke — "Are you planning to take up some fancy job on the city, or start hitting the books maybe? Or maybe yer gonna help this old man around for a while more?"
Aim had to drink some milk to help swallow the ball of food that had formed in his throat before being able to talk.
— "Well... I haven't decided on anything yet..."
— "Argh, c'mon lad, show some enthusiasm." — Rico turned again to the stove to prepare the new batch of eggs — "It's not everyday that you get to choose this kind of stuff."
Aim pondered over the question for a few seconds... Well, maybe ponder isn't the most appropriate verb, more like he gave some spare room to his question on the back of his mind; the whole front was already busy being on one side empty and on the other an utter mess to clean..
— "Staying here some more time doesn't sound that bad."
— "Ye sure about that? Ah was half-joking when I said it." — One, two, three eggs. They quickly started piling up. Rico turned to face Aim — "You've got yer whole life, sure, but you only get to be young for so long. Ah don't mean that you'll end up tied to a chair in a few years, just look at yer old man: a hundred years ago Ah couldn't even fend off three bears by meself, my record now's five!"
Rico started smelling the frier frying too much. Not that the eggs were burning, but he preferred them drinkable. He turned to the stove and continued his rant.
— "What Ah mean is that you have barely left this town the last sixteen years-"
— "You took me on that cruise some years ago." — Aim pointed out.
— "Aye lad, they invited me, I wasn't leaving you behind. And anyways, that's just rich people on a boat, Ah don't count that as travelling." — Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen. — "When I was young Overcoat was all we had, we could only leave the town to get wood and clear the paths. But when we finally landed, A'll tell you, Ah realized how little Ah knew about people, the world... Ah can't think of more examples, but you understand what A'm saying, right?"
Aim has heard his hundreds of stories thousands of times, and he would listen to them a thousand times more if he could. He was always captivated by RIco's tales, he would tell them with such passion, such energy and emotion, that sometimes you would swear you had fought those five bears alongside him. And so, Aim, had grown an interest towards the world, not necessarily for what was already out there, although he was also an avid fan of the unending pile of dusty history books they discovered when they opened for the first time the basement (Despite living there for more than thirty years before finding Aim under his doorstep, Rico simply didn't fit on the small stairway that led to the basement, so he never bothered), but insted towards the imaginary adventures that he would have out there, the history he was capable of making. The problem, however-
— "I, I mean, I just haven't decided yet." — was that he was too afraid to take the first step, or maybe afraid doesn't describe it best. He had fallen into a routine, and although he was always in reach of deviating from it, the fact that he didn't have enough experience to guess the consequences always kept him away from doing it. It was, in the end, much easier to dream.
Twenty, twenty one and twenty two, this one had two yolks. Rico gently smiled and sighed to himself, he was not at all oblivious to what I've just told you.
— "Well, you have one week to think about it." — Twenty three, twenty four and by now he had piled up way too many eggs even for him. He turned off the stove. — "In the meantime, remember to go pick up that parcel, if they have it."
Aim woke up from his dozing off and stood up from the table.
— "Start counting, I'll be back with your mail before you hit the hour."
RIco took a seat in front of his tower of eggs while Aim strapped on his boots.
— "Don't rush it, Ah wouldn't want you bringing home someone else's packet."
And Aim closed the door behind him.
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Around the time that this chapter started at, a hat-wearing weirdo strolled his way into Overcoat. The shape of his tall yet age-worn body couldn't really be seen under the wizardy light blue robe that he wore every single day, which in fact didn't leave any foul odor behind: wizard magic.
He tapped his swirly cane on the ground when he took the first step inside the walls of the city:
— "Bonjour ma belle ville." — He said in an extremely noticeable non-french accent — "If my cool magic instincts are correct, there is a flower within thy walls, and I'm here to take it."
There was hopefully more than a single flower in Overcoat, but what this weirdo was talking about was one very special kind of flower. They appear written in the legends of every single civilization of the past, and also in most science textbooks of today: the bismuth rose.
— "If I'm not mistaken, the courier should be arriving by..." — He lifted the right sleeve of his robe and took a look at his watch — "...now. If I want to knock them out cold the post office is probably not the best place to wait at. Let's see if I can find him before he gets there, in a narrow alley if possible."
And with that the shiny wizard pointed his cane towards himself and, slowly but surely, his body dissolved into a beautiful mist of sky-coloured sparkles. When invisible, however, he always forgot that his overly flamboyant boots left quite the deep footsteps, and locals also reported seeing a cat be petted by the air a few streets down, so he had his priorities too.
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