Junk Magician

Chapter 3; Flywheel

Dimitri stepped out of the dark blue portal, waving with one hand back at Mr. Garrum from just beyond the boundary. The other hand was covering his mouth, as he had breakfast recently, and portals made Dimitri nauseous. Dimitri made a note to get some medulene, as it might help diminish the effects of portals sickness.

Once again, Dimitri couldn't help but to take in the look of the city. He was far from Elysium now, and differences in architecture went even further. Where Elysium had been built from the foundation to suit the needs of magicians, the city of Manchester stuck to its roots. It was the kind of town that had history baked into every brick layed, and spirit within every plank. Modern sat right by antique on every street block. It was a symphony of old and new.

Dimitri had always been a fan of antiquity, and the time he didn't spend tinkering would be dedicated to learning history. Dimitri clutched his anchor, he had modeled it after revolvers that the ancient cowboys used. He did it just because liked the way it looked, since the actual form of an anchor rarely made an impact on how spells are cast. Anchors are a very flexible device, and enthusiasts go to great lengths to make theirs look like all sorts of things. Some model theirs after firearms, a few made theirs appear as a deck of cards, and others liked using a smartphones out of nostalgia for their pre-Arcadian days. Even for magicians who don't have the time for customizations, the corporations who manufacture arjectulums offer them in a massive variety of shapes and sizes. The company Grimoire was put on the map thanks to their specialty book-shaped anchors. 

Dimitri though, he could never stray from his dream of living like a gunslinger. He used to watch all sorts of movies about cowboys and outlaws. It was about start-up townships and dusty saloons, greedy gold miners and noble sheriffs, expansive prairies and deserted wastelands as far as the eye can see. That is what the Wild West meant to him. That was the American dream.

He might not have ever been an American himself, but many of his neighbors, and even his mother, were born as citizens of the United States. Even though they were more than happy to thrive under Arcadia's flag, America's sense of blind patriotism never truly left them. This is the nature of Manchester; even though cities adjacent had already converted into a city plan near-identical to Elysium's, the people of Manchester refused to let their history be demolished. 

Dimitri tapped the chunk of hard plastic in his ear. Earlier that day, Lilias gave it to him under the pretense that he's always wearing it. The device is called an earwig, a gross name for what is essentially just communication device. Earwigs were first developed for military use back for the Conquest of '32, they allowed all bearers on the same network to be able to transmit their thoughts and sensations to each other. Even though earwigs became available for public use in the next year, the product never caught on. According to a few surveys, consumers refused to use earwigs because the act of sharing thoughts was anxiety-inducing and an invasion of privacy. For the military, the benefits far outweigh it's uncomfortable nature. An earwig isn't only capable of transmitting thoughts, but also sights and sounds. A user could choose to let other connected users see out of their own eyes, and hear from their own ears.

Since the public staunchly opposed the widespread use of earwigs, spellware development companies raced to come up with a different means of connecting people socially. Ltech, one of the big six, took inspiration from the obsolete smartphones of the old world. They invented a spell named 'Omniface', which came packaged with all the features that smartphones once had. Since 'Omniface' was a standalone spell, it would have to occupy one of a magician's five slots. CItizens didn't seem to mind this though, as latter versions of 'Omniface' had a massive amount of features and applications. In terms of raw communication, 'Omniface' and spells like it still pale in comparison to earwigs, but are far more comfortable and convenient to use.