Setting Up Shop

[Soldier 75]

Darkness crept across the sky. Eric and Jams had been walking for a while now, but had found nothing but forest, so far. Noticing the disappearing light, Eric stops, calling for a rest. The mage sighs, glancing out into the dim expanse of plants.

"I guess we're sleeping under the stars again. Want to help start a fire Jams?"

[Jams Bolero]

The sky was shifting into its twilight blue hues.  The sight of a lone star indicated that others were soon to follow.  Something about this star, how bold it was to shine so bright on its own, was strangely familiar to Jams.  For now, though, all he knew was that night was arriving soon.

“Yeah,” Jams agreed, “that’d be a good idea.”


…

It took about five minutes for them to gather ample firewood for the fire.  Eric lit it with his magic, and the two sat underneath the twilight.

Jams sighed.  “This is gonna be a pain to do over and over again, I can tell.  Definitely when we go to explore the other verses, where wood may not be as common.”  He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “Do you figure we could conjure up a more consistent home?”

[Soldier 75]

"Now that you mention it, that might be a more practical approach. It never crossed my mind that we could use Omnilium to create a structure." 

Eric gazed out into the forest, briefly examining the dense foliage. Thoughts as to the full implications of this new revelation ran through his mind, forming fantastical ideas. Eventually, he began to consider the more practical applications. Could they simply summon a fire, instead of gathering firewood? They had been able to summon food, and even a weird flying comet. Why not a building, or animals, or anything for that matter?! Turning to Jams, Eric opened his mouth to begin describing all of his myriad visions, but stopped, deciding to instead discuss the immediate topic: shelter for the night.

"I recommend we construct a small one-room residence, and take it down in the morning. What say you?"

[Jams Bolero]

Jams only needed to think about it for a moment.  "Yeah, that could work," he pondered, "but we already have this nice campfire that we worked to create.  Plus the fact that buildings aren't exactly natural may point us out to foes, and thus could be more dangerous than it is worth for just one night."  Not wanting to turn down his friend's idea, however, he continued.  "We could summon a roof over our heads to keep any potential rain away."


...Three seconds later...


"Wait, we could've just summoned a campfire this whole time."

[Soldier 75]

"How could I not have thought of this before?!" Eric closed his eyes, and held his hands out in front of him. A few moments later, a blazing bonfire appeared in the middle of the clearing, lighting up the surrounding foliage. Several creatures fled into the darkness. One lone pair of glowing eyes remained, before turning into the shadows of the jungle. 

"Well that is certainly disturbing, yet relieving at the same time. Now let us see what we can do about shelter."

Eric once again shut his eyes, imagining the design. Clay walls materialized, the front several times longer than three meter-long sides. Rounded corners connected the slightly sloping, curved roof. One square door carved itself in front of Jams. The hooded mage opened his eyes, and brushed past his companion, into the structure. Simple wooden beds lay in separate corners, albeit devoid of any covering. Eric peeked back out, beckoning Jams inside. 

"I left the beds empty, so you can summon your own bedding."

[Jams Bolero]

Jams walked inside the building and saw, as Eric mentioned, two beds looking rather bare in the blanket department. He took this opportunity to summon himself one; it was a rainbow quilt split between the six basic colors. He tucked its sides under the mattress and snuggled under the tight covers, drifting off to sleep…

…

The next morning, Jams got to work preparing his house. He imagined a forest would probably be a fine area to build a home in, but had bigger plans than just a mere house. When Eric got up not to long after, he asked him “Do you think a soda bar slash auditorium type establishment would get much attention here?”

[Soldier 75]

Stretching, Eric yawned and sleepily replied, "Out in the middle of the forest? There is barely anything distinguishing this clearing from everything else. Not to mention the lack of trails leading here. If it was me, it would have to be a pretty darn good establishment for it to outweigh the long trek through the woods. And I am pretty sure there is no settlements nearby, but go ahead and build if you want. I'll be happy to help. I honestly have nothing else on my schedule, and I'm not going to leave the one familiar face I have." Eric strode outside, calling behind his shoulder, "I'm going to make some breakfast."

[Jams Bolero]

“Yeah, that’s probably right,” Jams acknowledged. “We could post signs around the place order to gather attention, but that seems like a pretty poor way of attracting people to the bar.” He put his hand to his chin, pondering if there’s any nearby civilization to establish themselves at. A discussion with Melody from earlier comes to mind, as she mentioned various areas such as Mokugakure, Yggdrasil, and...

“I got it!” Jams exclaimed, as he started pacing around while occasionally glancing at Eric. “There’s this place called Ambrosia, right? Melody told us about it earlier. Had some giant pink castle and a giant pink palace in the middle, should be due south of the portal. Well, we could set up shop there! That’d give us plenty of customers!”

Upon further consideration, it proved apparent to Jams that perhaps the people would not enjoy their plopping down in their city. “Hmm… well, if they don’t want us there, we just gotta prove that we’re two cool guys just looking to keep things calm and have a good time and stuff. Generally be nice people, at the least. By the way, what’cha making there?”

[Soldier 75]

"I'm sure they will be perfectly willing to accept us." Eric said rather optimistically. "We just have to find our way back to the portal... Jams, do you know which way we came?" He looked around, confusion spreading across his face.

Jams stepped forward, pointing to what the mage thought was west. He smiled saying, "It's this way." The duo set off into the forest once more, once more braving the dense forest.

...

Jams emerged from the foliage first, stepping out into the open space surrounding the portal. Eric, hood drawn tightly around his head, pushed back a dense bush as he followed his companion out into the open. "Finally, we found the portal. You said north, right?"

"That is literally the exact opposite of what I said.  It's south, apparently not that far away. We could probably walk there, get there maybe just before noon." Jams, now following Eric, pulled out his flip-phone as they began to walk. Yet again the two figures were swallowed by the trees, setting a course for civilization.