For some reason, that made the werewolves howl with laughter.
Barion huffed. “You’re so childish. Thanks a lot, Mavis.”
The witch nodded happily. “You’re most welcome, Barion. I must say, meeting with you lot does an old woman good.”
Nobody commented on the ‘old woman’. Appearances could be deceptive enough under normal circumstances. When dealing with paranormals, they were nothing but a fleeting image nobody with half a brain would pay any attention to. Milo had an entire brain, so he kept his mouth firmly shut.
“Can we please go over the list?” Barion was pleading now.
“We’re waiting,” Quirion commented. “I must say, brother, you get derailed too easily.”
“Says the man who can dive into a full lecture about ink stones at the drop of a hat,” Dre murmured. Milo was glad when Quirion seemed to decide to ignore that statement.
“Fine. So, this is what Jon and I came up with. Since we thought we could give everybody who sent a video that made it to the final round some feedback, we designed this list.” Barion held his paper up and started to read. “First, we judge the overall impression we have. Like, how’s the lighting of the film, does it lure the viewer in, what are the first images, and do they make us curious about what’s to come? Is this a film we’d be inclined to watch further and why? Why not?”
“I assume we have to find nice words if the film doesn’t appeal?” To an outsider, Amber’s question may have seemed mean, but Milo knew the banshee truly didn’t have a clue. She didn’t have much contact with humans in a social environmentwhere they didn’t die shortly after meeting her aka hearing her scream and they would probably have to makeanotherlist for her with words that were considered ‘nice’.
“Don’t worry,kochanie, I’m going to help you.” The glint in Emilia’s eyes made clear that she wasn’t being altruistic.
“Do you still have that thesaurus we bought for you?” Sammy smiled encouragingly. “These can be a great help when the right words elude you.”
“Well spoken, Sammy.” Quirion nodded. “A thesaurus is always a most fascinating read.”
“The next point,” Barion chimed in before they got derailed again, “is costumes, make-up, and weapons. This is also a special category in which extra prizes can be won.”
“Okay. But what exactly makes a good costume? Or make-up? Do we judge weapons for how realistic they are?” Allienna, the demoness who liked to go into battle with a double headed ax and a broadsword so heavy, even Declan and Troy had trouble holding it, seemed genuinely concerned.
“Uhm, Allienna, I’m not sure ‘realistic’ is the term I’d be using here. How about we see if the weapons fit into the logic of the video they’re presented in? Otherwise, most of those videos are out.” Jon sighed. “I mean we did some outrageous things regarding weapons in the game. No wonder people got a little…enthusiastic.”
“Enthusiastic? Please, Jon, some of these weapons look like macho wet dreams wrapped in the worst superiority complexes available.” Emilia snorted.
“If you mean the weapons in the game, they are historically mostly accurate. Except a few details here and there that were bound to be presented wrong, of course.” Quirion cocked his head. “Though I have to admit I haven’t seen the videos yet so I can’t say anything about the accuracy of the weaponry presented there.”
“Believe me, it’s even more outlandish.” Emilia winked, showing she didn’t take the whole thing as seriously as she might pretend.
“Then let’s proceed and see what we’ve got.” Quirion nodded in that regal way that made Milo think all kinds of inappropriate thoughts.
There was another lengthy discussion about what exactly made a good script—Declan and Troy thought the quality of a film was greatly improved the more explosions there were, while Allienna insisted that the more complicated the ties between the feuding parties, the more fun it was to watch, Mavis and Maribel declared how grossly the showing of muscles and naked skin was underrated, with Emilia chiming in that there was a difference between action film and porno, while Amber looked more confused by the minute—which was ended by Alerion declaring that the script should be judged by referring to the game. To Milo’s utter surprise, they all agreed on that, like, actually, really, wholeheartedlyagreed, before a heated discussion about the definition of martial art restored balance to the universe. In the end, they managed to watch all of the ten videos that had made it into the final round. To avoid an all-nighter, Jon and Barion collected everybody’s sheets to evaluate them before they announced the winner.
Quirion then took Milo to his library for the night so they could have an early start working on the other things the SBW wanted to see from him. It was sweet and overbearing at the same time, but because it came with free breakfast from wherever in the world Milo wanted, he went with it. Croissants fresh from Paris were nothing to be sneezed at.
Chapter Eight
Quirion looked out of the huge window in the dining room, humming a happy tune and watching Mildred, who was again busy moving the silt in the moat. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought maybe her belly looked a little swollen, though it could totally be the lighting, and a gentlemen never asked about a woman’s soft bits, especially considering the female in question wouldn’t be able to understand him, not to mention answer.
Almost two weeks had passed since they’d sent Milo’s documents to Beverly and Rasputin, and he should be hearing back from the SBW any day now. Quirion was in high spirits because he knew Milo would get the funding. When he had helped him with the report about the state of his research, Quirion had almost burst with pride at how far Milo already was. And once he got the funding from SBW, he could finally incorporate magic into his work, which would make it go that much faster. Quirion had already prepared a few books that might be of interest to Milo, especially regarding hive minds under the influence of low-key magic. Maybe Milo would even be able to find a way to use the Earth’s own ambient magic to operate his nanobots, thus making them marketable for human use. The possibilities were endless and Quirion couldn’t wait to accompany Milo on his quest to unlock them all—for purely scientific reasons, of course. It wasn’t that he was thinking of the young man more and more in a romantic setting, no, not at all. Strictly professional, that was him.
Mildred seemed to be satisfied with her work, because she settled in, lowering her front until the water of the moat engulfed her and only her eyes and nostrils were visible. It was an eerie sight, especially when she winked, the grayish haw a stark contrast to her brownish coloring. Quirion shook his head. Why was he contemplating the colors on his toad friend when he could be visiting Milo and asking him if there was anything new from SBW? He got his claws out to slice space and time, walking through the rip as soon as it appeared.
Milo was in his lab, his head bowed over some papers strewn across his desk. The man was chaotic in his research, the one thing about him Quirion couldn’t fathom. His own workplace was always immaculate, because neat surroundings guaranteed neat thinking processes. Then again, Milo’s research wasn’t neat or straightforward. It required a lot of flexibility of the mind, which seemed to transfer to his surroundings. A topic that could be interesting to research one day, when Quirion wasn’t busy getting closer to his…young man? Friend? Protégé? None of this sounded right. The one word that would sound absolutely right was unfortunately the one he didn’t want to think.Mate.
“Oh, hey, Quirion. It’s nice to see you.” Milo smiled broadly, looking up from whatever he’d been reading.
“Hey, Milo. I’m here to ask if you’ve heard anything from SBW? There should be some kind of response by now.”
A concerned expression fell like a shadow over Milo’s face. “Yes. I did hear from them just an hour ago. An email.”
“What’s wrong?”
