Chapter 318
It was now summer of 2070, June 8th, 2070. The sun blazed down downtown Toronto, heat waves visible in the distance where the cars were stuck at the red light. Walking down Queen Street West, their destination was a place called 'Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe'.
Gale was wearing one of the comfortable outfits that Rachel had bought him. A slightly oversized white t-shirt where the sleeves almost went down to his elbows and the bottom hem sat just at the right place above his waist. This was what she called 'cargo shorts'. Beige with too many pockets that he didn't know what to do with.
Why would he need so many pockets? He literally doesn't use any of them. Space storage was barely even full and had plenty of space. In addition to that, the whole outfit provided absolutely no protection against the elements. The sleeves were too short and the shorts didn't give him enough protection on his legs.
It was just fabric meant to cover his body. At least the ripped pants provided some semblance of protection from the elements.
As they walked, people on the street kept turning their heads as they passed. Not at him or Rachel, the twins, or Lily. Everyone had been looking at Erin.
Her blue hair completely attracted attention, but that wasn't what they looked at. It was her feet that were fake walking while she floated off the ground that made it look like she was ice skating in the middle of summer.
"You're not going to say anything about that thingy?" Gale asked, eyes pointing to Erin's feet.
Rachel shrugged. "I got used to it. People probably think she's just a street performer anyways."
"Street performers float?"
"The good ones do."
Gale looked back at Lily. "Are you even okay to walk now?"
Lily smiled. "I'm fine. Lady Esther gave me a top-up this morning."
Rachel grumbled something under her breath.
"What?" Gale asked.
"Stupid grandma," Rachel muttered louder. "Charging my friend for medical treatment."
"It's fiiiine, Rachel," Lily said. "Don't get so worked up about it."
"It's the principle of the thing!"
"Hey, fuck her anyways. She charged us $30 for the hospital visit," Kyle said.
"Like we even had a choice," Clyde shook his head.
Lily nudged Kyle with a smile. "It's fine. I'm treating you to the gelato, remember?"
"Oh hell yea, we ain't forgetting," Kyle said.
"I got my twinkie ready," Clyde said.
Arriving at Mizzica, the gelato shop was a small building. On its walls were blue and green floral murals. Wavy florals covered the entire exterior that made it stand out against the gray and orange bricked buildings all around.
And then there was the line. A long line.
The queue stretched from the entrance all the way down the block, at least twenty people deep. At the current pace, it would probably take around 20 minutes to get to the end while the sun was blaring down at them at 30C with no clouds in sight.
Gale didn't mind, though. He was used to this kind of weather. It wasn't that bad compared to the more tropical countries mom and dad took him through, where they had to live in the jungle.
Kyle tugged at his collar. "Yo Gale, aren't you sweating? I could probably just flash my badge and get first in line or something."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same. My shirt's armpits are already soaked," Clyde said.
"Did you really have to give us that much information?" Rachel asked.
"Yes," the twins said simultaneously.
"Why did you even wear suits?" Lily asked.
"Always ready for the job," Kyle said, adjusting his tie.
"Never know when an imp's gonna stab you in the butt," Clyde said.
"Ugh." Lily rolled her eyes.
Looking down at his current outfit, although it provided no protection from the elements, maybe that was the point of the outfit. The air was getting through his skin very easily.
"I'm fine with waiting," Gale said. Definitely don't want any more stares anyway with the twins' shenanigans. "This outfit also makes the weather bearable."
Rachel turned to him with a soft smile. "It looks good on you too."
"Does it?"
"It does." Rachel looked at the rest of the group. "The gelato idea was for Gale in the first place."
Kyle snorted. "You're biased." He turned to Erin, who was floating beside them with her usual blank expression. "Hey, floating bluey. Think you could cool up the air around us? We're dying here."
Before Erin could raise her hand, Rachel immediately took hold of it before she could do anything. Gritting her teeth, she said, "If you're going to do it, only cool the air around our bodies. Like against our skin so no one else notices."
"That is highly convoluted," Erin said. "The cold air would cool those around the group. Why do you deprive them of such benefit?"
"Because it's weird!" Rachel almost shouted.
Gale tugged at Erin's sleeve. "Please?"
Erin's eyes blankly stared at him for exactly two full seconds. Raising her palm, a small magic circle appeared on her hand in a flash.
Suddenly, the air around Gale's body cooled to a refreshing temperature. It swirled around inside his clothes to cool the warmest spots, and he could already feel the sweat evaporating as it did.
"Oh, that's nice," Kyle sighed in relief.
"Guuuuh. Much better," Clyde moaned loudly, causing a few stares from the lineup.
"Seriously, did you have to moan like that?" Lily elbowed Clyde.
"Moaning means it felt good."
"You didn't have to be so loud about it."
The group settled into the line, slowly shuffling forward as customers ahead of them received their gelato and left.
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Gale glanced at Erin. She was floating perfectly still, her blank eyes staring straight ahead, apart from her rhythmic breathing, she showed no signs of life. Her pulse was also incredibly slow compared to his, at around 38 beats per minute. If she didn't breathe, he would've mistook her for a floating dead body.
One thing that popped up in his mind, though. Why didn't she call this line up process illogical and inefficient?
"You're surprisingly patient about this situation," Gale said to her.
"Your question is odd. Waiting in queue is a logical conclusion for when a processor is overloaded by requests. The gelato establishment has limited processing capacity. The line distributes demand over time. It is far more logical than one hundred percent of the woman of fire's requests."
Kyle and Clyde burst out laughing.
"She's got you there," Kyle said to Rachel.
Rachel's eye twitched. "I'm going to remember that, floating bluey."
"Your memory is irrelevant to me."
Lily slowly turned her head to Kyle. "Speaking of work, what's happening with the Sterling recruitment?"
"That's happening next week," Kyle said.
"The team already prepped up the cabin," Clyde added.
Gale looked between them. "What's that?"
Kyle grinned. "Sterling uses a cabin in the woods to filter out and categorize students into different classes. You know, see who's got what it takes."
"It's basically a survival test," Clyde said. "Drop a bunch of new recruits into a cabin, see who's smart and who can survive, and assign them based on performance."
"Is it dangerous?" Gale asked.
Kyle and Clyde exchanged a look.
"Every year, there might be a death or two," Kyle said. "Sometimes a critical injury that ends a career before it starts."
"But that's the life of an Aurian," Clyde shrugged. "Best to pressure cook them before they die on a mission that'll cost the Path millions."
Rachel shook her head. "I still can't believe you got the school to even say yes to that stupid idea."
Kyle smirked. "What can I say?"
"Perks of breaking the system," Clyde smirked.
"Oh, there's also the Global Youth Triangle Summit coming up. Anyone going?" Lily asked.
"Hard pass," Kyle said. "That shit's expensive, bruh."
"Same, unless it's for work," Clyde said.
"Why not just ask Carl?"
"Already got in trouble a month ago. That's probably a hard no."
"What did you even do?"
"Shot up a whole lobby full of imps, what else?" Clyde said.
"Ugh, idiots," Lily grumbled, turning back to Rachel, who tapped her on the shoulder.
"The preliminaries are already done?" Rachel asked.
"Yup." Lily nodded. "And Witch Ashen is coming this year along with Witch Ember."
Gale looked between them again. "What's that?"
Kyle pointed at Rachel. "This is your fault. You haven't been teaching your boy anything--Ow!"
Rachel smacked Kyle in the flank.
"What was that for?!" Kyle shouted, earning more stares from the line up.
"Just because!" Rachel sighed, shaking her head.
"It's just a hidden magical school tournament," Clyde said. "3 schools, Sterling Institute, Ordo Trianguli Aurei, and the Martial Alliance. 16 of the best students compete one versus one with a max stage of Late-Attuned and cannot have awakened for longer than 5 years."
Nodding slowly, Gale kind of got what that was. Basically, a fighting competition of younger people who are enrolled in those prison-like hidden magical schools.
"It's like teenage magical Olympics," Kyle said.
Rachel hissed at them. "Shush! We're in public!"
"The woman of fire's worries are needless," Erin said. "I have noted that urban apathy is prevalent in this city. The citizens do not react to unusual phenomena. This leads me to believe that this world has been in a state of peace for too long."
Everyone turned her way. She hadn't spoken up until now.
"Yet rift appearances increase by the month," Erin continued. "And the citizens do not bat an eye. The culture is fascinating."
"If you put it like that, that's kind of bothering me..." Lily mumbled.
Rachel cleared her throat, turning to Gale while mumbling about stupid floating bluey. "Do you want to go to the tournament?"
"You should! You'd be able to see a lot more fighting styles there. Cultivators from the East, mages from Europe, shamans from South America. It's a great learning opportunity," Lily jumped in.
That indeed was a good idea. Yuxuan's fighting style completely threw him off guard due to it being highly specialized against other humans. Besides, one of these days, he also needed to learn how other humans fight so that he could counter them.
"I want to go," Gale said. "But do we have to fly on a plane?"
"Of course we do. How else are we going to get there?" Rachel said.
Gale tugged at Erin's sleeve. "Could you fly us there?"
"Flight is an inefficient expenditure of my time," Erin said. "Every moment spent on such a different pursuit is a moment diverted from my research on devising alternative synthesis methods for the Rift Aperture System."
"But you could also learn a lot about the natives' usage of ether at the tournament, right?" Gale asked. "What if there's something unique there? Some technique or ability that you've never seen before?"
Erin stared into his eyes for exactly two seconds.
"A logical conclusion. I accept the request. I must then delegate material synthesis production research to Sarah Chen during my absence."
"Wait. Since when have you been working with Ollie's company?" Rachel asked.
"The short one's company is the most technologically advanced out of all companies in this world," Erin said. "This is due to its integration with technologies acquired from rifts. However, the usage of artificing is highly primitive, thus I took initiative to improve their methods. Currently, this world does not have the necessary capabilities to produce the star forge. We are synthesizing materials to create it."
"Star forge?" Clyde whistled. "That sounds expensive."
"How much is that going to make?" Kyle asked.
"Do not equate science to what your culture calls 'making bank'. The directive of pursuing money through science originates from barbaric logic," Erin said. "It is simply for science."
"Laaame. Whatevs," Clyde said, pulling out a twinkie from his pocket.
Somehow, it wasn't squished or melted. Again, Gale saw the power of the Twinkie's immortality.
Finally arriving at the front of the line, the lady behind the counter smiled at Gale.
"What can I get for you today?"
Staring at the menu on the wall, there were a lot of options that he didn't even recognize. Pistachio, amerna somethinng, fior...something, dark chocolate, and so on.
Rachel leaned on his shoulder. "You could go for Amarena Cherry or the pistachio. Both are pretty good. First one is sweeter than the latter."
"What are you getting?" Gale asked.
"Pistachio with a second scoop of dark chocolate," Rachel said.
Turning back to the lady behind the counter, Gale ordered, "I'll have the pistachio with a scoop of dark chocolate, please."
Rachel smiled at that, then spoke up to add in her order. "Make that two of the same, please."
"Sure thing, please go ahead to the other side of the counter," the lady said, gesturing them over to the payment machine on the other side.
Moving over and pulling out his phone, he double tapped the power button and held it against the terminal. A small beep confirmed the payment. They moved to the other side of the counter to wait for their order.
Gale was getting used to the men and women behind the counter and this payment thing. Though Ollie had to teach him how to pay his credit card bill the first month he missed the payment.
Kyle stepped up next. "Hazelnut with pistachio."
Clyde followed. "Fior di Latte."
Lily ordered after the twins. "Just pistachio for me."
Then it was Erin's turn, floating to the counter with her fake walk that made the lady behind the counter lean forward to see what she was doing on her feet.
"What can I get for you today?" the lady asked with a forced smile on her face as she leaned back.
Exactly two minutes passed as she didn't get a response from Erin. At this point, the people in line behind her started glaring at the back of Erin's head, obviously trying to make her notice them.
But alas! Unfortunately for them, the floating bluey does not care for social conventions.
"Caffe gelato," Erin finally said.
She floated to the other side of the counter without acknowledging the glares boring into her back.
Rachel tapped the terminal for her and then asked, "why cafe gelato?"
"Coffee is meant to be consumed hot," Erin said. "This establishment serves it cold in a frozen form they call 'gelato'. This contradicts the fundamental nature of how the product 'caffe' is traditionally prepared. I must research why."
"For science?" Rachel asked, rolling her eyes.
"Correct."
"Just admit you like eating."
"Believe what you wish," Erin said. "It is simply for science."
Gale smiled. "Having fun is also for science."
"Incorrect, young lamb. There is no space for fun in science."
One by one, they were called, and their orders slid across the counter. Cups of colourful gelato with small wooden spoons sticking out of them. After the group got their orders, they walked out the rear doors and onto the sidewalk, where the lineup had gotten bigger.
Scooping up his first bite, Gale expected something sweet, like most of what Rachel had taken him to for bubble tea. What he got instead was a complex mixture of flavour.
The pistachio was nutty, rich, and not too sweet while also having a creamy mouthfeel, along with the dark chocolate that had hints of bitterness that balanced the nuttiness.
It was complex.
If before he had only liked sugar, this one was a mixture of things that made the sugar more potent. Smiling widely, he continued to scoop up more bites one after another.
Clyde took a bite of his while watching Gale. "I was expecting you to cry or something. Like your first bite of a twinkie."
"I would, but we're in public," Gale sniffled, forcing himself to hold back the complex emotions.
"How is it?" Lily said. "This place is my favourite."
"It's very good," Gale nodded, scooping up more. "Rachel's picks are really really good."
Rachel's cheeks flushed slightly at that, a smile formed on her lips.
Kyle looked over at Clyde's cup and snorted. "You're a dumbass for picking milk gelato. That's literally the most boring option on the menu."
Clyde shrugged. "Sometimes simple is best."