flummox
verb (used with object)
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Most of the party had gone to sleep, leaving Dan on watch. He spent most of it not paying attention to the light forest. There was no need. There were no monsters around here, and bandits avoided roads that were too well traveled like this one.
Instead, he spent his time looking at the stars. This world did not have the concept of constellations, so he was making up his own. It was not as easy as he had once thought. It did not help that the skies here were much more populated with stars than back home.
A slight rustling from behind him drew his attention away from the sky. One of his party members, Anette, crawled out of her tent. She was bleary eyed and dressed in her night clothes. He appreciated the sight, even if there was little difference in the outfit from what she normally wore. The only difference was the robes she currently wore were a bit lighter.
“Hey, it’s not time to switch shifts.” Dan said. “Also, your turn isn’t next.”
“I know.” Anette said through a big yawn. “Just couldn’t sleep.”
“Bad dream or something?”
She shrugged and made her way to sit next to him. “Something like that. I was being chased by what I think was supposed to be one of those terror birds from your world.”
“Ah. Yeah, being chased by geese would instill a nightmare in anyone.”
“What’re you doing?”
“Nothing much.” He said, looking back at the sky. “Trying to make more constellations.”
“Those star patterns? Such an idiotic idea. The stars don’t tell stories. They’re beyond such things. And they certainly don’t make images.”
“You just need to use your imagination.”
“How about something more interesting? Tell me about your world some more.”
“What about it?”
“Well, you’ve never told me about the magic there. What’s it like?”
Dan let out a small, breathy chuckle. “There was no magic.”
“No magic? But that’s impossible. Magic is a fundamental force needed for life to exist.”
“Not where I’m from.” He paused. “We had something we called magic, but it wasn’t.”
“Can you show me? Maybe your people were doing magic without knowing about it.”
“I can show you a few tricks. I was never a magician, but I know a few things. I used to do them at my baby cousin’s birthday parties.”
He picked up a pebble and showed it to her. “Behold the teleporting rock. It’s in my right hand…” He closed his hands around the stone and waved his hands around. He bumped his hands together, slipping the stone into his other hand. “And now it’s in my left.” He showed it to her.
A quizzical, almost confused look came to Anette’s face. “That can’t be it, right?”
“It is not. For now, I bring it back to my right.” He bumped his hands again. This time, he slipped the stone into his sleeve. “Or did I?”
“Just doing the same thing again isn’t that impressive.”
“Hm, let’s see…” He opened his left hand to show that it was empty. “Where could the stone be…” He opened his right hand.
Anette recoiled in surprise. A confused look crossed her face as she looked at his empty hands.
“Some sort of matter transport? Maybe low grade reality manipulation? I need to study this. Can you resummon the stone? I want to see the mana residue on it. I didn’t even feel any power being used. Whatever it is must be very efficient.”
“You want me to bring it back? Okay, I can do that. I think I’ll send it right…here…”
He reached up behind her ear and made the stone “reappear” by simply slipping it out of his sleeve behind he raised it, hiding it in his palm until the right time. Anette yelped as she saw the stone. Dan laughed at her bewildered look.
“That…that’s impossible. So close, I should have felt something. How…what kind of magic was that? What element? What school?”
“It wasn’t magic.” Dan said. “The rock never disappeared at all. I just hid it while you were focused on something else. That’s all the magic my world is. Skill, misdirection and showmanship.”
She looked even more confused at that. The very idea went against everything she knew about magic.
“That’s…that can’t be. There must be something else.”
“There’s not. They sell cheap toys for kids that teach it. The really good ones can perform on large stages. But that’s all it is. A show. Sorry, Anette, but if my world has real magic, nobody knows about it.”
“Hmm. I’ll be the judge of that. Show me some more of these magician’s arts and I’ll determine if it’s real magic or not.” She seemed determined to get to the bottom of things. Dan’s lips curled up.
“Okay, fine. I don’t have a lot to work with here, and stage magic needs specialized equipment for the really cool stuff. But I’ll show you what I can with what I have.”
He went about performing more of his old, rarely used stage magic tricks for her. It was a bit silly to him, but she seemed to enjoy it. And at least the watch was no boring anymore.
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