Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick arrived at the [Mend]+[Cleanse] job full on mana. He knocked on the large front door. Thanks to [Meditation 7] he could walk and regen at the same time, but he was already on his 6^th mana bar of the day. He was doing too much. Bed time could not come soon enough… But…

Where would he sleep tonight? Would Al really add a third floor to the Sewerhouse, making space for Jane and Erick? That would be good enough for him, but Jane wanted—

The door opened. The sounds of screaming kids filled the street.

“WHAT!”

The pink dragonkin woman standing in the front door looked chastised as soon as she yelled the word. Red paint marred her face and shirt. Blue paint accented her trousers and hair. Yellow paint was, simply, all over. Her face, her hands, her entire self, had been messed by…

And here came the screaming dragonkin kids themselves, similarly looking like a Jackson Pollock painting, all of them every color of the rainbow, each one with different colored scales. Each of them wearing what had once been nice clothes.

Really nice clothes.

Erick looked around him. He was in a nice part of town. This was a big house. They were rich people.

Ah. Mana Exhaustion. He really shouldn’t walk around like this. He should have noticed the neighborhood before now. Was he dressed properly for this sort of place? No. Not in the least.

“Hume—” She cut herself off, saying, “Welcome to the Atriz house— Stop that, kids.” The screaming kids were pulling at Pinkscale’s clothes. She gently batted them away, speaking over the screams, “Are you from the Mage’s Guild? You really should wear your badge in view.”

“Oh!” Erick pulled out the badge from behind the collar of his shirt. “Sorry about that. I’m Erick Flatt from the Mage’s Guild here for a CL job at the Atriz house. I apologize for my manners and appearance. It’s been a long day. I’m a bit out of it.”

Pinkscale laughed loud. Tears trickled. She stopped herself before she started to cry.

Something happened among the kids and all five of them tore off, back through the house, screaming as they went, playing with each other in some strange, kid-like way. Why did they run away? Did Erick say something he shouldn’t have? Oh, no. Erick was really out of it. He shouldn’t have taken this job—

Pink lady didn’t give him a choice. “Thank all the gods and demons you’re here.” She stretched back, head to the sky. “Please, [Cleanse] me, right now. Big as you can. Grab as much of the house as you can.”

Shaped [Cleanse].

Thick air washed over Pinkscale, evaporating paint, continuing into the rest of the house like a stiff breeze. Unwanted paint footprints vanished from the wooden floor as hand and clawmarks disappeared from the papered walls.