Egress

2

Pamphilos walks down the front steps and joins a scattering of people walking down the grassy ally. He spots someone in a little way in front of him. "Avus, wait up!" he calls, lifting his arm in greeting. A man turns and scans the street before seeing Pamphilos. He smiles and waits while Pamphilos hurries towards him. 

"Good morning Phi," Avus greets him. 

"Good morning! Are you excited for today?" Pamphilos grinned mischievously.

Avus frowned and tilted his head. "Is something particularly exciting happening today?"

"Well, Sophie is bound to do something exciting-" Avus grinned and shook his head. "- but I heard your very favorite person, the Mangus, is visiting today." Avus' eyebrows drew together as he looked over at his friend. 

Pamphilos grinned and adopted an expression of over-exaggerated awe. "The Mangus herself! What a huge honor! Let's stand in line for hours to get her autograph!"

Avus glares. "Hmmph. I would rather test one of Sophie's concoctions on myself," he mutters. "Do you seriously want her autograph?" He asks, turning to Pamphilos incredulously. 

"Of course!" Pamphilos exclaims dramatically, clasping his hands to his heart. "She is my hero! Do you think she would sign my shirt?" He asks, turning to Avus. Avus looks troubled for a second, then grins at Pamphilos' overly dramatic performance.

He shakes his head and grins mockingly at Pamphilos' gray and yellow striped polo shirt. "If she does, it might even be an improvement." He grins at Pamphilos' confused expression and continues to walk as they approach a large, industrial building. Pamphilos' expression turns indignant.

"This is a perfectly nice shirt!" he complains. "Just because your wardrobe doesn't contain any color doesn't mean everyone else should dress like a cloudy day!" 

Avus chuckles at Pamphilos' affronted tone. Pamphilos starts to smile and soon they are both laughing. "You caught on to quickly!" Pamphilos laughs, "I had so many more great lines!"

  Avus rolls his eyes. "You overact so obviously when you're trying to bait me." 

Pamphilos laughs as they join a crowd of people entering the building. "I had you going for a second, though!"

Avus just shakes his head as they enter the building. "See you later, Phi." 

"See you! Try not to kill the Mangus with your withering scorn!" Pamphilos calls after him. 

Avus rolls his eyes again as he turns down a hallway and heads to his office. Pamphilos turns and enters the workshop. It is a wide, open room, currently in its typical state of disorder. Various groups were scattered around the room gathered around work benches. The benches were covered in different materials and several of the groups were engaged in loud arguments. Pamphilos headed to a bench covered in vials and flasks with various substances in them. The bench has a wide area of open space around it. Sitting near the bench is a particularly intense looking woman dictating to a young man scribbling down notes. 

Pamphilos approaches the woman.  "Hi, Sophie. Made any progress yet? " he asks, eyeing some vials with particularly odd substances cautiously. 

"Pamphilos. Good, you're here," Sophie says impatiently pulling him forward. 

Pamphilos sighs. "Good morning to you too."

Sophie ignores him and continues talking. " I think I've got it this time. I've added some iron, so it shouldn't glow anymore. Try it."

Pamphilos looks warily at the flask of shimmering blue liquid. "Are you sure?" he asks, not taking his eyes of the flask.

"Yes!" Sophie says excitedly, "Now add the charm!"

She leans in eagerly as Pamphilos reaches towards the flask. He looks at her one more time, then touches the flask. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and concentrates. After a moment he backs away from the flask. Sophie keeps her eyes fixed on the liquid. At first, nothing happens. Then the liquid slowly begins to turn clear. 

Sophie looks excited. "I think it's working!" 

Then, suddenly, the liquid turns into a thick column of smoke and rises straight out of its container. Pamphilos and Sophie watch as the steam rises up to the ceiling. When the steam reaches the ceiling, it vanishes and a patch of the sky appears. 

Pamphilos and Sophie stare in silence. 

"Well, the ceiling isn't visible anymore," Pamphilos ventures, "so I guess it worked."

Sophie sighs. "Terrance! Could you go see if that is a hole, or if it is actually invisible?"

The young man who had been taking notes looks up at the ceiling and sighs. "I'll go find a ladder."

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Interesting fact!

Iron can actually stop things from glowing in the dark! Apparently, it is a 'luminescence quencher'.