Maggie Thespian, more familiar to him as MagicIsTragic on the HardCored chatroom he hung out in, was very different from what James expected. The nervous chubby girl whose gaze kept frantically switching between looking at Silhouette and his associates and the floor or the ceiling was far from the bombastic gremlin he was used to. He knew people behaved differently online and in real life, doubly so when in a work setting, but he didn't expect her to be this timid and on edge. A little more serious than usual for sure, intimidated by being in the presence of multiple Super-level individuals as well, but not to the point she had shaking knees.

Perhaps she'd be dealing with the pressure better if TechnoGogo had come along, as she originally wanted her friend to.

But to be fair, James was ill-placed to talk about people behaving differently and how they dealt with stress. The ratlings' first day of school was coming up soon, and he had no doubt he'd be playing the overprotective parent before letting them go, whether he wanted to or not, and he had no doubt no one would liken a worried dad to the eldritch businessman that came to town bar passing remarks on their shared shadow theme.

James focused back on the situation at hand. He might have gotten much better at multi-tasking and managing different trains of thought but now wasn't the moment for that, especially when he had a feeling he was subconsciously doing it to dissociate and distract himself from dealing with meeting one of James' online friends as Silhouette.

"It is a shame you cannot present the magitech you planned to, but we will not fault you for this. We are here to judge ideas and work ethics first and foremost, current versions of inventions aren't as important."

Techlord nodded to James' words.

"Yeah, the bossman's right. He hired me back when I could only play with scraps and trash, it's thanks to him I got my hands on better materials and equipment. The same can go for you."

James could feel Decanov's urge to argue with Techlord for one reason or another, perhaps his manner of speech or mentioning playing with trash, but he also appreciated that the Draskian bit back whatever retort he had in mind to avoid disturbing or derailing the presentation. Still, he might have to look into hiring someone to manage relationships between his employees, and maybe look into booking a therapist or two as well while he was at it.

Mesker hummed in thought as he pulled on his wick-like goatee.

"I agree with the young Techlord. Materials are a major point in any project, but providing resources is one of the duties of an employer. I am more interested in seeing an innovative and functional enchantment on a copper coin than a failed attempt on a golden statue."

Maggie nodded vigorously at that, clearly putting more weight on the wizard's advice than anyone else's. Not that James could fault her, he was more than familiar with her love of the magical arts.

"Alright. Alright... So. I know your business is focused on self-defense items as of now, but I remember you expressing interest in more varied products. Is that correct?"

"Yes. Not all of the inventions we were presented today were related to defending oneself, and this wasn't a mandatory criterion."

"Right. Right...So! I would like to present something I first came up with last year during a heatwave."

She took something out of her back before presenting it to her audience, doing her best to appear confident despite her nervousness. The item was, at a glance, one of those cheap plastic handheld ventilators. It was a cylindrical piece of pink plastic that could comfortably fit in one hand topped with a fan. James could now understand her earlier remark, using such a cheap product as a basis for her work rather than a more custom creation wasn't impressive. With that said, the topic here wasn't the item itself, it was what had been done to it.

While James felt that to mundane eyes the ventilator wouldn't look special, the magic he could sense told a different story. There were a handful of runes involved, but the vast majority of the magic felt far more spread out, more like a coating with various flavors than the structured script Runar once used. He was far less familiar with regular enchanting, but he could almost taste the air, the water, and even the hints of poison and charm on it.

The fact he could taste magical shenanigans but not food was depressing but would be left to be explored later.

"I've been calling it the Summer Miracle, but the name isn't set in stone."

Decanov wasn't impressed, and his stare froze the girl in her speech.

"I've no use for one of those, but I still know they can be found in any store when temperatures rise."

Techlord tutted the Draskian, even going as far as to do a bit of finger-wagging. This time the robot made no effort to hide his displeasure, though he restrained to a scowl and crossed arms rather than shouts.

"You're only looking at the surface. She told us right off the bat her thing is magic, not tech. Let her go on."

The teen made a little hand gesture to encourage her, but it was Mesker's following intervention that got her back on track.

"Yes, the young one is right. I can sense the magic. I have a good idea as to what you've done, but I'm curious nonetheless."

Maggie took a deep breath before continuing.

"Right. So, summer is horrible and awful. So how could I fix it? By making this!"

The girl then pressed a button on the ventilator turning it on, but rather than fan air as it should have the spinning of its dull pink plastic blades let it fly into the air, hovering next to Maggie's head with some minor bobbing up and down. Airborne as it was, and despite its blades being horizontal, it still sent a pleasant breeze at its maker, some of it even flowing to James and his associates to cool them down. A gesture that was appreciated, even though they were still in the colder months. James did have the heater running - he may not have cared about temperatures anymore but he knew others did - so the breeze wasn't the freezing gust it could have been outside.

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"The Summer's Miracle is the perfect tool to handle the hotter months of the year. It accompanies the person who last activated it and provides them with fresh air. I'm still working out how to set parameters like preferred temperatures, but it's already functional. And that's not all!"

James could tell. Ever since the thing had begun to hover he could sense it was doing something. It felt like it was slowly unleashing an invisible mist throughout the room, one that screamed of death, poison, and danger. He wasn't particularly worried, both because he trusted what he knew of MagicIsTragic not to try and kill people and because he could tell Mesker, the rune scribe, and James himself were the only ones to notice what was happening.

"If it senses the air gets too dry it will also puff out like a water sprayer, perfect for when the heat gets too much. And last but not least, it can deal with one of the worst problems of summer."

The nervousness that had been present in her every word despite her best attempts so far suddenly vanished, replaced with a cold yet almost bloodthirsty seriousness that for once James could associate with his online friend.

"The bugs."

Realizing the intensity of her own words, she suddenly shook her head to clear it and faked a cough, possibly to pretend the hint of violence in her voice was merely the result of a dry throat. No one bought it.

"Right. Anyway, the bugs. Namely, mosquitoes. Those are the worst of the worst. For people with blood, that is. And that's why I added in enchantments to chase them away!"

Mesker hummed in thought.

"A mixture of charms and poison... Could you elaborate on your thought process?"

"Yes sir! See, I figured that having an actual damaging aura would be a bad idea. Even if nothing went wrong and it successfully only targeted bugs, it would still kill all bugs, not just those attacking people. That would be needlessly damaging the environment and just cause tons of dead bugs to drop to the floor, which is far from hygienic. So! Instead, I decided to go with a weak charm, one tuned to focus on parasites."

"All parasites?"

She chuckled nervously.

"Yes, but no. Well, I tried to tune it to avoid the 'natural' parasitic flora and fauna in someone's body and to avoid people with parasitic mutations like mosquito-people, but it isn't quite perfect yet. It's part of why I decided not to use something that could cause real damage. The charm only releases an aura that says 'everything in here is dangerous and poisonous and should be avoided', and sapient entities should only feel some mild discomfort."

Decanov tapped his cheek, a quiet yet noticeable metallic ringing accompanying every moment of contact.

"Zalcien has no parasite that would concern me, but I see the utility of such a function. For it to be a secondary effect rather than the main purpose is perhaps a little odd, though."

Techlord chuckled as he shook his head.

"You don't get it, you don't feel the heat."

"As a matter of fact, I-"

"Yeah, yeah. Sensors and all that. What I mean is that you aren't negatively impacted unless your metal is melting. You don't understand how much it gets in the way of work, or just living. I've grown up exploring mountains of scraps, figuring out a way to deal with stuff being hot in summer was one of the first things I did."

"I have more fragile components, but I see your point. I am not the target audience of this product. As for manufacturing..."

His arrogant look at the piece of plastic sent a clear message, but he felt the need to spell it out anyway. The man truly loved his voice a little too much.

"This toy will be easy to produce, at least if we keep it as is."

"Yeah, we ain't doing that. No offense Maggie, but I ain't letting something like that get out of here. If your friend doesn't want to, I'll redesign it myself."

"It will be no problem either way. It isn't as though your design would be more complex."

Yeah, no, that last remark was a little too hostile for the setting. James didn't want whatever feud these two had come up with to scare their potential hire away, even if he still had his reservations.

"Techlord. Doctor. Your input is valued, but I believe you have spoken enough for now. Mesker, if you would?"

"Yes. The enchantment work I see is solid. Clever to include a few runes to lighten the load and avoid spending too much on a more usual but far more complex enchantment. There is no outright flaw, though I can spot a few places where modifications could be made to resolve the issues you mentioned earlier. Well, runes are not my specialty, so take my word with a grain of salt on that specific matter. I will say, it was a good call to use a charm rather than a poisonous aura. Even outside of the problems you brought up, there was also a risk of faint leakage over time that could lead to toxins forming in the bloodstream."

The cubby girl paled a bit before nodding.

"I will let my colleague continue on the topic of runes, but to finish my analysis... Well, this doesn't exactly concern you young lady, but Techlord, make sure to have a magic practitioner nearby when you work on your redesign. Too many modifications on the objects will require adjustments in the enchantments, and there is also the matter of possible redundancies."

"Will remember to."

"Good."

The rune scribe cleared her throat, looking for permission to talk. James sent a subtle nod, inviting her to.

"I will begin by saying that inscribing runes without leaving physical marks is impressive. That said, it is counterproductive. Firstly it causes unnecessary difficulty and costs otherwise unneeded resources, secondly it devalues the product. You are not making a discreet weapon for assassination, you are making an item you want customers to notice and recognize. You saw how Doctor Decanov was skeptical, the average customer will have a similar sentiment. Techlord, that is why I wish to be present to assist you and our young creator if she passes and she agrees: to show you where to place physical runes to improve the design and facilitate production. You will still need some of our scribes to do the actual enchanting, but that would lighten the load."

Maggie nodded.

"Larry, I suppose you have a positive opinion on all this."

"Oh, absolutely, boss. This is gonna sell like hotcakes. These might be more popular than anything else we make."

"Blake, if you have the time.

"I'm here, I'm here! I absolutely agree with our black-and-white manager here. I see a lot of potential. Smooth out the production, figure out a better design, and you'll have something great on your hands. If you don't hire Silhouette, I will."

James was thankful he didn't have the facial features necessary to frown. He understood this was supposed to be a jest and a compliment for Magic, but he didn't doubt the Black Bank manager would do as he said. Her idea was great, and James was surprised no one else had come up with something similar, at least in Zalcien. Perhaps people had but didn't sell it and kept it to themselves, or the current models were too expensive to be worth it. He'd have to look into it just in case they risked copyright infringement.

He still felt unsure about mixing his lives. Outside of the awkwardness of being his friend's boss, all of Silhouette's employees so far were people who could defend themselves. Even Larry and Barry, as goofy as they were, had survived in the slums and shown more than once they weren't deadweight in a fight. The fact was that Shades Of Penumbra was a target, and letting her join unprepared would put her at risk.

Then again, the same goes for everyone else. I had Mesker include the danger clause in the contract, but most people didn't pay that much attention.

"Thank you for your time, Miss Thespian. We will call you back to share our decision."

"Thank you, sir."

She bowed before snatching her creation out of the air and putting it in her back, only remembering to turn it off when it tried to drag her up with it. She chuckled nervously before bowing one last time and leaving. Blake didn't give James the time to ponder and arrange his thoughts before speaking again.

"She was probably my favorite so far."

James held back a groan. He trusted Blake more than he once did, but the Black family still came with strings attached. Maggie might even be more at risk working for him in some ways, though this time from the family itself rather than its enemies.

James let his gaze focus on his waterfall painting.

He learned to deal with killing people, he'd have to learn to deal with mild discomfort.

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