This was gonna be great.
Mavin was excited. He was the most excited he'd ever been in a long time. He had his stuff packed all nice and neat in what he liked to refer to as his "gag bag," which was really just a bag he used to keep all his junk in, sacred or not. He had it opened up in the middle of the floor as he carelessly tossed things over his shoulder, not even bothering to check and make sure that any of it made it inside, or made it inside in one piece for that matter. Just because the bag was magically convenient didn't mean it kept everything from breaking. If he tossed a glass vial of that lizard's acid in there and it smashed open, it'd go all over his things and then, well, there'd simply be no more things. But he wasn't really worried about that. The thought didn't even cross his mind. He was just way too excited.
He was told by his own village leaders that the Elders, the Elders, called him for some sort of great mission thing to find that...what was it again? It was some sort of magical object. He knew it wasn't an orb or anything easily breakable. It wasn't anything typical, well, not too typical anyway, or else he would've remembered what it was. Ugh, that was going to bug him big time until he remembered what it was. It probably wasn't even that cool. It was probably something super lame, like a bo--oh duh. Yeah, it was super lame. It was a book. A lame, boring, dusty, old book.
It was still daylight outside with hours to spare of it when Mavin finally decided to leave his home. He hadn't been given much of a warning to this new, sudden situation, but the fact that he'd been given one at all instead of someone telling him that hey, you have to be there like, uh, now, made him feel a little better about things. That's what those stuffy old village leaders usually tried to pull on him anyway. They assumed he'd have plenty of time, but really, Mavin knew they probably just forgot. They were old and senile and--oh, god, he was going to miss them a lot. He was going to miss one of them in particular a lot more than the others.
"What's taking you so long? Are you still in here? Some warlock you are." Mavin felt a grin pull at his lips at the voice from behind him. He hadn't even seen the oldie wander around behind him. Maybe that's because the old geezer didn't even walk, he probably just showed up. Even of the leaders had a way of doing that, just showing up without notice, but this one especially was known for his tendency to pop up whenever and be either completely careless or indifferent towards the situation he just so happened to pop up into. Mavin shuddered at the memories of just stepping out of the tub and letting this old guy sneak a peek at his manhood. Ugh.
As soon as Mavin turned to face the sound of the voice, the leader was gone. "Huh?" And just the same, when he turned around again, there he was, Mr. Leader himself, standing way too close for comfort. Mavin let out an animated yell and stepped back a few feet, hand placed over his chest. His poor bag dropped to the ground with a distinct clink and clatter, and he was convinced more than just a couple of things broke. He groaned. "What."
The old man, clad in robes way too dramatic to serve any practical purposes, simply smiled; it was a big smile, a grin that stretched from ear to ear and showed each and every one of the gross, rotted teeth that shouldn't be in his mouth anymore. Mavin wrinkled his nose. He was a hundred percent sure they were only still there with the help of magic. "You take too long. You are always taking too long."
Mavin rolled his eyes and turned away to lift his bag, only to find it already being handed to him. It seemed like he'd snatch it rudely back, but he took it carefully and nodded a silent thanks despite the scowl on his face. It was a game to them, this small-talk banter. Mavin was annoyed, sure, but he definitely wasn't mad, and somewhere in there he and the old man both knew he was just itching to laugh. And just as soon as he thought of it, it happened, and a short chuckle escaped despite his attempts to look angry. He opened his mouth to say something back, but the bag in his hand singed his palms and he found himself dropping it again, wincing at the more distinctive crash of glass vials cracking against each other. His gaze instantly turned to the old man in accusation, who put his hands up in a childish "I didn't do it" manner. "That was you, Mavin. Are you sure your heat serums are not overflowing? I am sure you've added them all, as many as you could fit, despite the ban." They shared knowing looks as Mavin simply blew on the rope that held the bag closed and picked it up again, slinging it over his shoulder.
He wasn't ready to leave yet. "I'm so ready to get out of this place."
"I am sure you will miss me."
"--The least," Mavin added matter-of-factly with that smug little smirk on his face. To most, he might of stuck out his tongue for emphasis, but not towards this leader, not towards this person. They could play and they could banter, but Mavin still had more respect for the guy than he had for anyone else. He wasn't tip-toeing his way around, but he still managed to watch himself, tried to keep himself moderately in-line. It's the only time he bothered.
With a cane he didn't have when he first arrived, the elderly man jabbed him in the side with more force than a man that age should be allowed to have. "Watch it. I will have you fired."
He was always saying that. It never made any sense. Fired from what? Fired from knowing each other? Fired from magic? Fired from life? Who could know--the guy was going a little nuts in his old age. Mavin always just laughed along. "It's not like you're paying me."
"I guess we will see." See what? Mavin thought. They fell into silence as they wandered away from his small home, secluded from the others in the far corner of the village, closer to the exit near the woods than the entrance towards the trail to the next town, which is where they were headed now.
The old guy's name was Jeffrey, just like the name of the brother he didn't remember. Mavin knew he had a brother, an older one, and he knew his father killed him, but he didn't remember anything about him specifically. He didn't remember if they looked anything alike, or if he looked more like their dad (while Mavin tended more towards his mother, the last he checked), or if he liked card games or liked gems and runes more than potions and herbs, or any of that. He just knew that once a time he had an older brother named Jeffrey and, then he didn't anymore. He knew his mother called him Jeffrey a lot.
But he didn't want to think about that.
They passed a home that wasn't really enough to be considered a home anymore, not since a few hours before, but Mavin didn't pay any attention to it. Jeffrey shot a side glance at him, but looked away. Mavin heard he was leaving and he suddenly decided he wanted to know if that old tale about the Big, Bad Wolf was true, the one with the pig's in each house, and the house became hay, and the wind blew it away, and the items inside were lost to liquid, and--Mavin doesn't know what happened to the house. He really doesn't. And that concerns Jeffrey, but the elder remains silent as they walk.
Jeffrey was the man chosen by Mavin's mother to take care of him. They were close friends and, at the time, Jeffrey considered himself a bit of a brother to the slowly deteriorating woman and it was a sad sight to him to watch her go. It was a sad thing to a lot of people. Although she was never really right in the head, she was a kind person who cared for others. She often went out of her way to help even if she didn't really have the time to. That's why Mavin was such a disappointment to them all. It was almost as if he had a point to act anything but like his mother, completely bratty, crude, obnoxious, and more trouble than he is helpful.
But he wasn't a shame. Jeffrey enjoyed Mavin, and Mavin respected him like an uncle, or a dad, but the latter was more silent. "Are you gonna miss me?"
The question was sudden, especially for someone as dodgy as Mavin, but Jeffrey maintained his composure. He shrugged. "I try not to stray into pointless things." What did that even mean? Jeffrey was good about that. Or bad, depending how you looked at it. Some people said he could see the future, but there was no definite proof of it, and he'd never admitted to it one way or the other. He was a good warlock, but even Mavin didn't believe he could see the future. That'd be impossible.
It made him nervous. "Sure," he replied. He glanced behind him and frowned as something occurred to him. "I did that." He nodded to himself, but he didn't smile. He just watched the poor homeowner pick up the pieces of the items in their nonexistent house. The person, whose name he couldn't quite put a finger on at the moment, caught them staring and didn't even have the energy to shoot them a glare. Mavin didn't like that. He didn't like feeling guilty. He didn't like doing things like that. It wasn't funny. It hadn't been a prank--not one he remembered. It hadn't been planned out or laughable. It'd been cruel and pointless and nobody had even been around to find it funny with him, not that he even did.
"I did that," Jeffrey chimed from his side. They turned to look at each other and Jeffrey nodded his balding head to affirm his words. "I did that," he repeated, and gave a shrug as he turned away. And for a second, Mavin was inclined to believe him. Jeffrey walked on ahead of him with that cane that returned yet again from nowhere, the cane that could be made of anything he wanted, but instead was constructed of rickety wood, occasionally infested with termites. It was natural and there wasn't a single magical thing about it, and yet Mavin had always found it neat. Maybe because Jeffrey had it for seemingly no particular reason, and that piqued his interest.
Who did that? Mavin followed in silence a few paces behind. The guilt was real, but now he wasn't so sure if it was justified or not.
They reached the end of the village and Jeffrey stopped and turned to Mavin with a cheeky grin, rotted teeth and all. "It was nice knowing you."
"Oh now I know you're just screwing with me." Mavin rolled his eyes because he saw that Jeffrey was still grinning, but he had to look away because--what if he wasn't? What if he could see into the future? What if he was just--...Who cared anyway? Ugh, he was getting way too serious about this. He was totally excited. This was going to be way fun. He was getting out of this stuffy village full of rotten, stuffy people, and finally going on an exciting adventure. He wasn't going to die. That was just bad thinking! He was perfectly fine, and he was going to stay perfectly fine.
The good-byes were short and shallow and Mavin was gone before he could tell Jeffrey he was going senile.
He's going to have dementia. But that wasn't something that was his responsibility to think or worry about, so he simply didn't.
So let's see what we've got to work with here. Oh, yeah, there was definitely no way Mavin was just going to bust in on this whole operation without a plan at hand. He had a scope with him and, from a distance, he could see a total of...count 'em: eight suckers. One from each race, but he already expected that. Ugh, what was that? Why did those chicks have to be so... Whatever. It was cool, he was cool, the situation was cool. Oh man, he wasn't just last, he was dead last. Well, who cared, right? At least he was here at all. And he knew just the perfect thing to show these speed-demons just what coming in first did!
All it did was slow them down.
Mavin circled the area, getting a little closer to get a better look with his own eyes rather than the manufactured one in the scope. He was just about to do it--he really was too--when he caught sight of one of those suped-up lookin' girls and he seriously almost blew a fuse and whatever he had out of the spell rebounded and shot him right in the forehead--it hurt, too--and it definitely wasn't the slow-down spell he'd been aiming for. It ended up being some sort of weird glowy spell and now he looked like a stupid, embarrassing walking lightning bug in the middle of the night for no good reason and he literally had no excuse to explain it, or any way of getting rid of it until it wore off. Whenever that would be. Ugh. Ughughugh. Screw this day, seriously.
Since he was a hundred percent sure that if he hadn't been spotted before, he definitely had been now, so Mavin picked up his bearings and strolled towards the group of people like he was prepping for a party, as if there was nothing weird or wrong or different about his natural appearance at all, as if it were totally normal for him to be glowing a dull, ugly yellow-green color. "So what's everybody up to? If you were waiting for me, I already went on ahead and checked everything out. Seriously, you guys are way too slow." Ugh, this was a little embarrassing, but he still couldn't help but laugh incredulously to himself about his own idiocy. It was a little funny. "So, yeah, stop being lazy and get your bums moving. Mommy Mavin's here to guide the way." Literally, like this.
He laughed.